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Published: October 29th 2009
Days 149 - 168: Buenos Aires (Arg), El Calafate (Arg), Torres Del Paine National Park (Arg), El Chalten (Arg), Buenos Aires (Arg), New York (USA)
Executive Summary •
Status: At the end of an amazing trip!
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Current location: New York, New York
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Notable incidents: Stayed in the best hostel of the trip, camped in the frozen tundra of Torres Del Paine National Park, lost our food to a Puma, had my watch stolen, saw a different side of Buenos Aires, watched the “best derby in the world” and nearly missed my flight home!
Full Report Jules: “And now, the end is near, and so I face the final curtain.
My friend, I’ll say it clear, I’ll state my case, of which I’m certain.
I’ve had, a trip that’s full, I’ve travelled each, and every highway (literally!)
And more, much more than this, I did it cheeeeeeaply.”
So yes, it’s come to an end. After 168 days, I’m back in NYC but let’s wind it back a couple of weeks ….
With the mascara still running down my cheeks from mum’s departure, it was time to embark on the final leg of the trip, and one
of the bits I’d been most excited about - Patagonia.
First up was a decision - Patagonia is a massive area and so, with such limited time, I couldn’t do everything. I’d already decided that the southern part of Patagonia, including Tierra Del Fuego and Ushuaia (the most southerly point in South America), was going to be a casualty of my decision making because it was still freaking cold down there and because that whole part of the world will be combined with my Antarctica trip (whenever that happens!). My other decision was whether northern Patagonia merited exploration and more explicitly, did I want to see more whales? I really enjoyed seeing the hump backed whales in Ecuador - definitely in the top 10 things I’ve done in South America (see later) - and there is a place about 20 hours south of Buenos Aires, near a town called Puerto Madryn, where Southern Right Whales are currently mating. With unlimited time I would definitely have made the trip but with limited time, a day to get down there, a day to see the whales and a day to then get another long bus down to central Patagonia to continue
my exploration, seemed like a lot of time to see something that would no doubt be great (as later evidenced by the photos of some fellow travelers that had made the trip and seen the whales) but would arguably be pretty similar to what I’d seen in Ecuador. I therefore decided that central Patagonia would be where I would focus my efforts and with this decided, I got a three hour flight from Buenos Aires down to El Calafate, the main town in central Patagonia.
El Calafate’s main attraction (other than the fact it has an airport with direct flights from Buenos Aires) is the nearby Perito Moreno Glacier, which is where I headed on my first day. The actual glacier is about an hour and a half’s drive from El Calafate and although the weather started out sunny when we left El Calafate, it was very cloudy once we got to the glacier. Our guide insisted that we were very lucky to see the glacier on a cloudy day as apparently it looks much bluer under cloud cover than it does on a sunny day. I wasn’t entirely convinced by my degree of “luckiness”, a sunny day would
have suited me just fine, but the glacier was nevertheless a spectacular sight and indeed much bluer than I had expected! Anyway, after seeing it from 97 different angles, including what I now realize was an unnecessary boat trip (for an extra US$10) to get up close to the face of the glacier, we returned to El Calafate.
The next day I got an early morning bus five hours south to Puerto Natales across the border in Chilean Patagonia - I was back in the country in which I had started this trip, exactly 150 days previously! The reason for visiting Puerto Natales was to explore the nearby Torres Del Paine National Park, which I’d read was one of South America’s most spectacular National Parks. My plan was to do a five day trek in the park called the ‘W’ Trek and although doing the trek alone was not expressly forbidden, it was not recommended and hence from the time I boarded the bus my senses were heightened and I had dialed up my ‘friendly’, ‘charismatic’ and ‘great trekking buddy’ dials - I was in friend finding mode!
Unfortunately for Nathalie and Tim, they had no idea what
they were in for as they innocently boarded the bus in El Calafate, and as I put on my best impression of a US Presidential hopeful - if there’d been a baby to kiss I’d have been all over it! - I did all the things that I hoped would curry their favour. They were American, which was hugely helpful in terms of language, and although I momentarily reached for the “ABORT” button when they said they were from Texas, they quickly clarified that they were actually from Austen, which I don’t really count as Texas, and so I carried on schmoozing. By the time we got to Puerto Natales I thought I’d played it pretty well - friendly but not stalkery, interested but not scary and attentive but not in your face. With my usual immaculate planning I did not have anywhere to stay in Natales so as we disembarked the bus I casually asked them if they minded if I tagged along with them to the hostel they had been recommended. They were either too polite to say “no” or genuinely didn’t mind and so the three of us made our way (after a bit of orientation with
the compass on Tim’s watch - I liked him already!), to the Erratic Rock Hostel, which turned out to be one of the best decisions of my trip so far. From the moment we walked through the door and were met by Bill, to the moment we left, our stay was excellent and I think it has to rank as my favourite hostel of the entire trip.
Anyway, after checking in, it was down to business. My due diligence on the bus had revealed that Tim and Nathalie were looking to do a similar thing to me, namely the W trek, and were also looking to start the next day. However, like me, they didn’t really know what was involved and so when Bill told us that his colleague Rustyn (real name!) was giving an informational talk at 3pm which covered the W specifically, we grabbed our maps, paper and pens and went along and listened. It was a very useful hour and although we had gone in thinking we would do the Refugio option (where you do the W in five days and stay at pretty comfortable Refugios each night along the way), a couple of things convinced
us to change our minds, namely the price (about $60 per person per night for the Refugios) and the passion with which Rustyn talked about the camping option (not to mention the fact that the camping option was free for three of the nights and $9 for the fourth night - although we would have to rent camping gear). So we quickly did some calculations and after we worked out that the camping gear would cost us about $40 each for the entire five days, we were pretty much sold.
.
Actually, Operation Find Friends actually went a little too well - when we were renting our gear, Tim and Nathalie, appropriately, got a two person tent and I, appropriately, got a one
person tent, however Rustyn looked at us and suggested we might like to get together in a three man tent. Our faces must have been a picture but after we explained we didn’t really know each other, the three man tent talk ceased!
So after picking up our camping gear, and buying enough food to feed the three of us for five days (including US$60 worth of dried fruit and nuts - who knew!!) we packed our bags and I have to say I was pretty excited.
During the talk, the first thing that Rustyn had said was that it is pointless trying to predict the weather in Patagonia, where four seasons in one day happens most days. And so, when I peered out of the window that evening from the warmth and comfort of my bed in the Erratic Rock (complete with real duvet 😊) and saw snow, I was not that surprised. When I woke up in the morning, however, and there was three inches of the stuff covering the ground outside, the camping option began to look a little shaky. However, the excellent Erratic Rock breakfast of fresh bread, omelet, juice, toast, home made jam
Very cold on Day One of the W
You can't really tell from the photo howwindy it was, but it was fricking windy!etc etc made us all feel better and we boarded the bus to the park full of optimism that the snow would subside and that camping was still a great option.
Torres Del Paine is a couple of hours drive from Puerto Natales and along the way, the snow stopped, the sun came out, the sun went away and the snow started again and by the time we got to the catamaran to cross the lake to start the hike, the wind was blowing hard and the snow was falling horizontally! Well, we were prepared, our bags were water proofed and we had gear for all occasions so as everyone on the boat donned their Gore-Tex, so did we.
On the boat journey we met another American, Garret, who was planning the same first three days as us and a lovely couple from Burnley, in the north of England, Rick and Leigh, who were planning a longer trek than us by starting a full day’s hike away from the actual W. However, from the look of them, I had no doubt they would catch us up given a) their age (23) and b) the fact they had their
own tent - obviously serious trekkers! So the boat dropped us off at Pehoe which is at the foot of the left hand ‘strut’ of the “W” and Tim, Nathalie, Garrett and I set off, into the freezing tundra, to head up the left hand side of the ‘W’ as far as Glacier Gray, not entirely sure whether this whole thing was a good idea or not.
Well, that first day was tough. The weather actually wasn’t terrible, in as far as it didn’t snow (that much), but it was windy and cold and the views along the way weren’t that good as it was pretty cloudy. Having said that, all things are relative, and my first glimpse of Glacier Gray, our destination for night one, was still pretty impressive.
After about five hours trekking we got to our camp site, which was in a fantastic spot right next to the glacier. It was also deserted, as a) it’s still very early season in Patagonia and b) loads of people must have woken up that morning, seen the snow and postponed the start of their trek by a day (very sensible people!), but we were undaunted and went
about clearing patches in the snow to set up our tents. We also got the stove going and soon had water boiling and our pre-packaged pasta meal bubbling away nicely. It turned out to be delicious, especially with some snausage and hot sauce and after almost finishing an entire bottle of Pisco, in anticipation of a cold night, we hung our food out of the reach of animals, and retired to our tents! Rustyn had given us the genius idea of filling our water bottles with boiling water just before bed to use as hot water bottles so as I snuggled up in my tent I was feeling pretty smug - fully bell and warm toes ha! ….. Jules 1 - Patagonia 0.
About an hour later, I woke up shivering, with a freezing cold water bottle by my feet and for the next eight hours, or however long it was, I froze my butt off, quite literally! After booth review, the initial score was revised to “Jules 0 - Patagonia 1”.
Anyway, I didn’t feel like I slept very much at all that first night, but I must have because around 8am I was woken by Nathalie
screaming “Oh My God! All our food is gone!”. Like good campers, we had hung our food the previous night from the rafters of the “kitchen” (hut), but like complete amateur campers, we had hung it above a table and by morning all four plastic bags were torn to shreds and completely empty: “Jules 0 - Patagonia 2”. My inspection of the animal footprints (of which there were many!) lead me to the conclusion that the animal in question had been a Puma or Mountain Lion but the others were less convinced and offered the much less exciting proposal of Fox. To this day the argument is unresolved - see the photo of the footprints for yourselves and let us know what you think!
Anyway, upon further inspection it turned out that although all the bags were empty, the stuff was mainly just strewn all over the floor and the only things that were actually gone were Garret’s salami and cheese - the “animal” had turned it’s nose up at our packet soups and instant pasta while thankfully the bottle of hot sauce (which won the consensus “Most inspired supermarket buy” award) was also in tact!
So after
that little bit of excitement, we packed up the tents and headed over to the Glacier Gray viewpoint, which was right next to the camp site. The weather was better than the day before so we got a pretty good view of the glacier and the start of the Patagonian ice sheet (from whence it comes), which is the third biggest ice sheet in the world, and although we (well “I”) desperately wanted to hike down to it and see how close we could get, time was against us so we satisfied ourselves with the panoramic view and started the five hour hike back to Pehoe, the previous day’s starting point. The weather continued to improve throughout the day and the views on the way back were much better than the views we’d had on the way up 😊. Back at Pehoe, we rewarded ourselves with some chocolate and continued on to our next campsite, “Italiano”, another two hours further along, up the middle part of the ‘W’. As I predicted, Leigh and Rick also caught us up at Pehoe (a pretty impressive on their part!) and once we reached camp, we got dinner going - paella this time -
and retired to bed.
Night two was less cold than night one, but it was still pretty frigid and I was glad when morning came around and I peered out of my tent to see clear blue skies 😊. We left our tents and packs and spent Day Three exploring the middle part of the ‘W’ - Valley Francais, which had some great views. The idea was to trek three hours up the valley to a place where you can get a glimpse of the Torres Del Paine (three granite monoliths after which the park is named) but partly out of exhaustion and partly because we were planning to see the Torres at sunrise on Day Five (and hence didn’t want to spoil the surprise) we only made it an hour and a half up the valley before finding a sun drenched hill top and having a well earned rest!
On the way back down the valley, we ignored all the safety precautions that I’m sure you’re supposed to take and got up close and personal with the glacier, which was a lot of fun, before getting back to camp, taking down our tents and trekking another two
Me not looking happy on the morning of Day two while Tim inspects the damage to our Paella
(Even though the animal had had a nibble, we decided it was fine and had it for dinner on night two!) hours to our next campsite - “Cuernos”.
Cuernos means “horns” in Spanish and the campsite is so called because it is set at the foot of the Cuernos mountains, which are so called because (you guessed it) they (kinda) look like horns. There was also a Refugio at Cuernos and, as we’d promised ourselves before we started the trip, we splashed out on a hot meal. It may have cost 10,000 Chilean Pesos (about $20) but it was one of the most delicious meals I’ve had on this trip, partly because we ate it indoors, in the warm, which was lovely! Alas, we eventually had to venture back out into the cold, to our tents.
Day Four was a long day. We finished off the middle of the W and then started up the right hand side all the way to the Torres campsite, which was just a short 45 minute (uphill) hike from the Torres Del Paine viewpoint, which we planned to negotiate at sunrise on Day Five. About three quarters through the day we had as quick stop at Refugio Chileno where I had a delicious cheese toasty (which tasted even better as I “forgot” to
pay for it!) before continuing to our campsite. The Torres campsite was probably the prettiest campsite we stayed at, and definitely the warmest, or rather ‘least cold’, and after another delicious pasta dinner (with snausage and hot sauce obviously) it was bed time.
At 5am on Day 5, we woke up, left our tents and backpacks and started the hike up to the viewpoint. The climb was pretty steep and on top of that it was cold and dark and I think we were all thinking “This had better be worth it!”. When we finally got to the viewpoint we got straight back into our sleeping bags, which we’d thoughtfully brought with us on the climb, and sat and waited. When the sun did rise, it didn’t disappoint as it lit up the granite towers red, then orange, then yellow and finally grey - definitely the best sunrise I’ve seen on this trip and it definitely made the climb worth it.
The rest of the day constituted the four hour hike back down the right hand side of the W to the Hosteria Los Torres where the bus picked us up to take us back to Puerto Natales,
but not before I had a delicious - if a little expensive - steak sandwich 😊.
By the time we got back to Puerto Natales we were all completely exhausted. The hike had been great but it had also been hard work. We covered 87km over three full days and two half days on all sorts of surfaces - snow, mud, grass, gravel, rocks, boulders and tree roots - and we couldn’t have been happier to be back at the Erratic Rock, which was lovely and warm, had hot showers and those oh-so-comfy duvets 😊.
My original plan had been to shoot off back to El Calafate, the day after finishing the trek, but my knees were sore and the Rock was so comfortable that I decided to stay and have a recuperation day.
After my recuperation day it was back on the bus for the five hour trip back to El Calafate and then another four hours up to El Chalten.
El Chalten is a very young town, only founded in 1985, and boy does it look it! It’s tiny at the moment but once all the pending construction is completed (the whole place is
pretty much a building site) it will quadruple in size. It’s situated in the Parque Nacional Glaciares and is surrounded by the mightily impressive Fitzroy mountain range. On the evening of the day I arrived I caught a glimpse of the Fitzroy mountains, which tower impressively over the town, as the sun set, but alas I didn’t have my camera handy so I didn’t get a shot. This turned out to be a bigger mistake than I could have imagined because that was the one and only time I saw the mountains - for the entire time I stayed in El Chalten they were shrouded in cloud 😞
However, although it was cloudy I still managed a couple of days trekking. Each morning I set off in the hope that maybe the clouds would clear … and each evening I returned disappointed. And yet, despite that, I still enjoyed the treks and will definitely be back at some point in the future to see those suckers bathed in sunlight!
Other than the mountains, there really is nothing else to do in El Chalten (except have a shower - the hostel I stayed at had THE BEST showers of
the entire trip so far!) so, given the weather, I only spent three days there before heading back to El Calafate to get a flight back to Buenos Aires for the last few days of my trip.
When I had been in BA before, I had been with mum, so I think it’s fair to say that there is a side of the city we chose not to explore i.e. the side of the city that exists between 10pm and 8am. So I was determined to rectify that on this return trip. Fortunately, I had a partner in crime by the name of Ally, who I had met at the airport the week before when I’d dropped mum off. Fortunately when I got back to BA, she had plans (and friends!) and didn’t seem to mind when I invited myself along.
So after a delicious (if a little pricey) dinner in Palermo, we all went back to Ally’s hostel for a bit of pre-gaming where we met a few Argentinian guys who were heading out to a club so we decided to join them. This all sounds normal enough but what made it a little different was that
we started dinner at 10pm, got back to the hostel at about midnight, and went out to the club at about 2am. That’s just how Portenos (people from Buenos Aires) roll! We felt pretty pleased with ourselves when we rolled out of the club at about 5.30am only to be greeted with literally hundreds of people who were still queued up, trying to get in - at 5.30am!! What is wrong with these people!?!
The next day I felt pretty sketchy but I had commitments! I had to start the NYC reimmersion process - McDonalds for breakfast (delicious!), then college football, wings nachos and beer all afternoon at an American Sports bar 😊
In the evening there were plans to go out, but they never really materialised so we had an early night - 1am.
This actually turned out to be a good thing because on the Sunday we were going to watch arguably Argentina’s biggest football rivalry - the local derby between Boca Juniors and River Plate, which ended up being an all day event. The match known as “El Superclasico” (gotta love the modesty) was at River Plate’s stadium and although the match didn’t kick
off till 4pm, we got picked up from our hostel at 11am. Maybe the idea was to make us feel like we were getting better value for money by stretching the day out but that is pretty tough to do when we’d paid 320 pesos (about US$80) for our tickets, which had a face value of 40 pesos (about US$10), but it was a massive match, tickets had sold out really quickly and that was just the price we had to pay, there wasn’t much we could do about it! One added bonus was that we were joined at the game by a couple of friends from home, Sarah and James, who had literally arrived in BA that morning to start a nine week trip round South America.
So anyway, we got picked up at 11am but true to South American time keeping we didn’t leave till 11.30am and by the time we got to the stadium it was about 12.30pm. When we got there, the stadium gates weren’t even open but there was already a pretty sizeable contingent of River Plate supporters and both James and I felt very relieved in our choice of T-shirt colour - we
were both wearing red, River Plate’s colour, which was good as we were sitting in the River Plate end. So we milled around outside the ground for a while, until the gates opened, and once they opened we headed into the stadium via about nineteen different checkpoints. We found our “seats” and after James kindly did a burger run for burgers that we all enjoyed, despite James telling us that if we’d seen them being made we may have enjoyed them slightly less, we were ready for the game, unfortunately it was only 1.30pm so kick off was still two and a half hours away. However, the stadium was filling up, the sun was shining and the atmosphere was definitely building.
At 2pm two teams ran out on to the pitch, one wearing Boca’s blue and yellow and one wearing River’s red and white, and started playing a game. I was a little confused because I was sure the ticket said the game didn’t start till 4pm and the stadium was still half empty so we assumed that the teams that were playing were the reserve side. Anyway, they played a whole game (which incidentally River lost 1-0) and
A mini avalanche in Valley Francais
(it may look small, but the noise was incredible!) while noone in the stadium appeared to be paying any attention, it helped while away a couple of hours. It did surprise me that they played a whole game on the same pitch that the senior teams were about to play (I mean I don’t think that would ever happen at Anfield for example!) but the pitch held up remarkably well. Speaking of Anfield my spirits had improved during the morning after Liverpool beat United for a much needed win back in the Premiership - and kudos to my bro who updated his facebook status before the game saying it was 1am in Melbourne and he was driving into town to watch the Liverpool game which kicked off at 3am his time - good commitment!
Anyway, once the reserve team game finished, the atmosphere really got going. Unfortunately we weren’t provided with song sheets so found it difficult to sing along with the songs the River fans were singing but through my limited Spanish vocabulary I did manage to pick out a few words, such as ”Boca”, “Assholes” and “Bitches” so am guessing that the nature of the River chants were maybe not the most complimentary towards their Boca
The happy trekkers
(clockwise from left - Rick, Garret, Me, Natalie, Tim & Leigh) brethren at the other end of the ground.
The atmosphere was different to a Premiership game. The first thing that struck me was the amount of paraphernalia the fans had brought with them and had used to decorate the stands. There were massive banners (as in MASSIVE!) and enormous long streamers that stretched from the front of the stands all the way to the back and I couldn’t help but think that if you happened to be behind one of these things, you wouldn’t have the best view of the game! Anyway, as kick off approached, the chants got louder and louder, everyone in the crowd got given coloured plastic sausage-shaped bags that we blew up and then waved in time with the chanting and it was pretty electric!
The game kicked off and River belied their position near the foot of the current league table by dominating the first half against a Boca side that seemed to lack any invention and certainly no cutting edge. River missed a penalty and a hatful of chances but didn’t manage to score from a free kick to lead 1-0 at half time. Throughout the first half the crowd chanted and
sang incessantly (I’m pretty sure I heard some more not-particularly-complimentary songs directed at the Boca fans) but one thing that I did find strange is that the chanting and singing appeared to be almost entirely independent to the game that was going on. What I mean is that when you go and watch a Premiership game, there is singing and chanting and all that good stuff but the crowd is also extremely reactive to the game with lots of oohs and aahs as shots are taken and tackles made, lots of verbalized comments on the respective merits of the referee and his assistants, particularly pertaining to potential defects in their eyesight and questionable follicle coverage, and plenty of unsolicited advice directed from the fans to the players about maybe what they should have done with that cross from the right. However, the River fans just chanted and chanted and chanted. Yes they celebrated the goal, and there was some mild harranging of the striker who missed the penalty, but if you’d closed your eyes it would have been very difficult to know what was going on in the game just from the crowd’s chanting - it was a very surreal
experience.
Anyway, during half time, some people with big black plastic bags started going round the crowd dishing out old newspapers which everyone started diligently ripping up into small pieces. We duly copied and accumulated our own pile of ripped up newspaper, which incidentally included an extremely sexually explicit pornographic magazine which someone on our row had picked out of the black bag, and sat their expectantly not sure what to do. Well, when the teams came out for the second half, everyone in the entire stadium threw their ripped up paper into the air and it really was an incredible sight. James was a bit slow with the camera but hopefully he got a picture of it cos it was an amazing sight!
The one downside was that it created a lot of debris, which had to be cleared (partially) from the pitch before the second half could start but it’s definitely one of the sights I’ll remember most from my trip around South America.
Anyway, the second half started with a couple of very quick sending offs - one for each team, both of which I missed! - before Boca took control and scored an
equalising goal. The goal was celebrated by the Boca fans, obviously, and the River fans did go a bit quiet for a few minutes but soon they were back up to their original volume chanting away for the rest of the game. The game finished 1-1 and everyone seemed fairly happy with the result, although it definitely felt like the game itself was almost secondary to the fans main goal of the day which had been to come to the game and have a great time.
The actual quality of the football was pretty mediocre. It was noticeably much, much slower than a Premiership game and the quality of the finishing was woeful at times but all in all it was a great experience and while I still prefer the atmosphere at a good English footie game, the Argentinians certainly know how to have a good time and we could certainly learn a thing or two about stadium decoration from them!
So that brings me to the last day of my trip. I checked out of my hostel at 11 and whiled away the day mostly eating steak and drinking wine before heading to the airport and very
nearly missing my flight. My flight confirmation said the flight departed at 10.50pm, but the airline’s computer system had messed up and forgotten about the clocks going back so it actually left at 9.50pm. So, when I got to the check-in desk at 9pm, there was no-one there and the security guy told me the flight had closed. I was outraged and was soon surrounded by Continental staff apologizing but saying there was nothing they could do and I would have to fly the next day. I knew there was something they could do so I asked them where I could collect my voucher for a night’s accommodation at a 5-star hotel in Buenos Aires, after all, it wasn’t my fault that the email confirmation was wrong. Suddenly, the flight was no longer closed and I was rushed up to check in by about five little Argentinian fellas and made the flight comfortably.
So, I’m now back in New York and it’s a very strange feeling, this whole end-of-travelling thing. On my previous two big trips in ’98 and ’03, pretty much the only reason I came home at the end was cos I had run out of money.
This time however, the money has gone better than expected but yet I’m actually feeling pretty ready to be home. The trip in general has been pretty strenuous with huge variety in temperature, weather and altitude and the sad truth is that I am getting older and the old body needs a break from the daily grind of backpacking (not to suggest that the trip has in any way been a “grind”), and in particular a different bed each night - most of which have been slightly too short! I’m also looking forward to seeing friends, obviously, and even more obviously, to getting back to my beloved ESPN, while I will also be extremely happy to see Westy again 😊 after losing Wolly in Iguazu 😞
I can’t finish this blog without a few thankyous (in no particular order).
• First of all thanks to
Sim for being truly brilliant - you surprised me (and yourself!) with the way you took this continent in your stride and dealt with everything that was thrown at you, even if there were a few tears along the way!
• Thanks to
my mum - just for being my mum, but also cos she
was the second best travelling buddy I had on the trip.
• Thanks to
Fred and
Matt for being third best travelling buddies - and teaching me Canasta
• Thanks to
Toby and
Belinda for everything you did for us along the way, from San Pedro all the way through to Cusco
• Thanks to
Freddie and
Kirsty for letting me win at Canasta so much 😉 and doing such a great job of negotiating that seven-in-a-cab trip to Chan Chan
• Thanks to the
Galapagos massive for making a great experience even greater - likewise to the
Inca Trailers and the
Lost Cityers • Thanks to
Natalie and
Tim for letting me share the W experience with you, even if you wouldn’t let me share your tent 😉
• Thanks to
Pao for showing me, at the third time of asking, that Bogota can actually be a very fun city
• Thanks to
Ally for providing friends, football tickets and a couple of very fun evenings in Buenos Aires
• Thanks to
Jamie and
Ana for being my surrogate family in Jeri
• Thanks to the
Fluid Feeling and
Skyrider massives for introducing me to kite surfing
• Thanks to
Felix for getting me (and Sim) up Huayna
Potosi
• Thanks to
Neeta,
Anika and
Kristine for keeping me up to date with all the goings on back in NYC
• Thanks to
James & Marissa,
Luap,
Sazzle & Jim’ll,
Anton & Bev,
Mr and Mrs Meerkat and
Tamara and everyone else who paved the way in South America and gave me such un-erringly great advice
And finally thanks to
everyone else I met along the way. You all added to my travelling experience in your own unique way and for that I will be eternally grateful (well, when I say eternally, that’s maybe a slight over statement, maybe I will define eternal as “up to three nights free accommodation on my couch in New York”)
Adios amigos!
Jules
P.S. In place of the like’s and dislike’s on this final blog, Sim & I put together a few top 10s from the trip which really brought home to us what a fantastic experience this trip has been.
Top 10 experiences • Travelling from San Pedro De Atacama to the Uyuni Salt Flats - Bolivia
• Wara Yassi wildlife refuge - Villa Tunari, Bolivia
• Summiting Huayna Potosi - near La Paz, Bolivia
• Amazon adventure - Rurrenabaque, Bolivia
• The Inca Trail and Macchu Pichu - Peru
• Sand dune jumping - Huacachina, Peru
• Whale watching - Puerto Lopez, Ecuador
• The Galapagos islands - off the coast of Ecuador
• Kite surfing - Jericoacoara, Brazil
• Backpacking Rio to BA with my mum and in particular the Iguazu Falls - Argentina/Brazil border
Honourable mentions: • White water rafting - San Gil, Colombia
• The W Trek - Torres Del Paine National Park, Chile
Top 10 most memorable moments - both good and bad! • Hiding from the Bolivian police and the subsequent bus journey to Potosi and finally arriving at the Koala Den hostel in Potosi - Uyuni to Potosi, Bolivia
• Playing with the monkeys at Warra Yassi wildlife reserve - Villa Tunari, Bolivia
• Climbing Huayna Potosi, followed closely by having a shower in Toby and Belinda's apartment after getting back from Huayna Potosi - La Paz, Bolivia
• Our trip to Rurrenabaque including the worst 4x4 transfer ever, searching for damn Anacondas and swimming with pink river dolphins (and piranha and Caiman!) - Bolivian Amazon
• Driving through the roadblocks - Copacabana to Puno, Bolivia/Peru
• Arriving at the not-so-sunny Sun Gate - Macchu Pichu, Peru
• Bridge swinging - Banos, Ecuador
• Our Galapagos
trip including swimming with sea lions, turtles and sharks on the good side and Sim's jellyfish sting and not being able to fit into our jeans after only eight days on the boat on the down side - Galapagos Islands, Ecuador
• Finding a hostel at 2am and then a few days later Fred walking through a plate glass door - Medellin, Colombia
• Kite surfing in Jeri including the photoshoot at The Lagoon - Jericoacoara, Brazil
Honourable mentions: • Touring the Cerro Rico Silver mines and then stinking for days afterwards - Potosi, Bolivia
• Seven-in-a-cab on the way to Chan Chan - near Huanchaco, Peru
• Wings, beer, American Football and learning to dance Reggaeton - Bogota, Colombia
• Camping with Jamie and Bridget in the Peruvian Amazon with Terturiano - near Leticia, Colombia/Brazil/Peru border
• Polo lessons, El SuperClasico and clubbing - Buenos Aires, Argentina
• Scrabble, a lot of Scrabble - Everywhere, South America
Top 10 vistas • The Salar Uyuni salt flats, especially the view from the top of Isla Pescado (cactus island) - Bolivia
• The Yungua valley from the World's Most Dangerous Road - La Paz, Bolivia
• View of Macchu Pichu from Wayna Pichu (once the clouds cleared) -
Macchu Pichu, Peru
• Watching the Condors - Colca Canyon, Peru
• Cabo Del Guia beach - Tayrona National Park, Colombia
• Sunset on the beach in Taganga - Taganga, Colombia
• The Lagoon - Jericoacoara, Brazil
• Rio De Janeiro - Brazil
• Perito Moreno Glacier - near El Calafate, Argentina
• Views down Valley Frances - Torres Del Paine, Chile
• Sunrise at the Towers - Torres Del Paine, Chile
Top 5 best night’s sleep • The warmth of the Koala Den hostel - Potosi, Bolivia
• Toby & Belinda's apartment - La Paz, Bolivia
• Casa Del Playa - Mancora, Peru
• Jamie and Ana's place - Jericoacoara, Brazil
• The Erratic Rock Hostel especially the proper duvets (especially the first night after the W trek) - Puerto Natales, Chile
Honourable mentions: • Cruz Del Sur, Full Cama bus service - La Serena to Iquique, Chile
• The luxury of the Archipel II - Galapagos Islands, Ecuador
• The showers at the Valle del Pioneros hostel - El Chalten, Argentina
Worst 5 night’s sleep • Night one on the Salt Flats tour - somewhere in the Altiplano, Bolivia
• Last night in San Pedro De Atacama - Chile
• Night one in La Paz - Bolivia
• Mid camp on
Huayna Potosi (especially with the snoring) - La Paz, Bolivia
• Night one in Mancora with the kitten - Mancora, Peru
Dishonourable mentions: • Double room for $4 - Copacabana, Bolivia
• The hostel we stayed at in Puno - Puno, Peru
• First dorm room experience on the first night at the Platypus - Bogota, Colombia
• Night one on the W trek - Torres Del Paine, Chile
Top 10 meals • Fried chicken and chips at Sami's - Cochabamba, Bolivia
• Roasted chicken and roasted vegetables at the Koala Den - Potosi, Bolivia
• Star of India Curry House - La Paz, Bolivia
• Sim’s lunch on the beach - Montanita, Ecuador
• Andres Carne De Res - near Bogota, Colombia
• Dessert from the dessert place - Cartagena, Colombia
• La Cabrera - Buenos Aires, Argentina
• Breakfast at Erratic Rock Hostel - Puerto Natales, Chile
• Poor man's pasta, snausage and hot souce on night one of the W trek - Torres DelPaine, Chile
• Cheese toasty, Albergue Chileno (all the better as it was free!) - Torres Del Paine, Chile
• Nathalie and Tim's guacamole - Puerto Natales, Chile
Honourable mentions: • Ice cream - Valparaiso, Chile
• Everything we ate at Jack's café but especially the French
Toast - Cusco, Peru
• Cocktails, chips and dips at Casa Cartagena - Cusco, Peru
• Burger, fries and coke after the Inca Trail (despite the cost!) - Macchu Pichu, Peru
• Full English at that café - Huacachina, Peru
• Cheap spaghetti bolognese, garlic bread and coke at My Friend restaurant - Huanchaco, Peru
• Grilled tuna - Mancora, Peru
• Ribs at Mirador bar (especially cos we never paid for them) - Taganga, Colombia
• Pasta at that place in Taganga - Taganga, Colombia
• Steak sandwich after the W trek - Hosterilla Los Torres, Torres Del Paine, Chile
• Patrick-oroskas on Caipi Street - Jericoacoara, Brazil
• Delicious burgers the size of our heads from the dodgy burger stand - Medellin, Colombia
Worst 5 meals • Jules's overcooked pasta meal - Iquique, Chile
• Sim’s overcooked rice meal - Potosi, Boliovia
• Noodles and hot dogs on night two climbing Huayna Potosi
• Dodgy chicken sandwich (and the aftermath) - Cusco, Peru
• Dodgy chicken sandwich (and the aftermath) - Ecuadorian border on the way to Banos
Dishonourable mentions: • Trucha a la Salsa Tomate (Trout in tomato sauce which was actually trout smothered in ketchup) - Copacabana, Bolivia
• Bolivian soup with every freaking meal - Bolivia
• Hot
dogs while camping with Jamie and Bridget in the Peruvian Amazon - Brazil/Colombia/Peru border
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Meerkat
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Welcome back to reality
It's amazing just how jealous you can be when you have just done a similarly long and crazy trip but hey I always am. This last one brought back some great memories of my trip from way back, great photos again. I'm currently on a work jolly back in Australia, so my travelling hasn't exactly slowed up, and lynda and I are now committed to being back in N America at the beginning of Feb, maybe we'll find you over on the west coast soon? Great work on chasing those flamingoes I wasn't allowed and the buggers never took off!!! Take care