Posts with tag 'South America'

Dont cry for me Argentina

Hi everyone, Matt here from Sunny Argentina the first stop on our South American adventure :-) So first stop Buenos Aires and what an amazing and huge city as were to find out yesterday when we went to explore with our city map and ended up walking for five hours, these things deserve a beer or three.

Well first major place we visited was the La Boca neighbourhood which is an old port town built by Migrants mainly Italian but also some Scots as we were to find out later on at a visit to Boca Juniors who have a player by the name of "Carlos McAllister". The main attractions of La Boca are the colourful Cominito area where all the houses are painted in bright colours, people dancing tango on the streets without a care in the world, Artists selling paintings of their work and an abundance of eateries and coffee shops. Only a few streets away is the imposing home of La Boca Juniors Football club, the Bombenea. The Bombenera is possibly the craziest stadium i have ever seen, a mish mash of terraces and the pitch is within touching distance making the atmosphere on match day immense and you can understand why the fans are known as "the twelve’s" as in twelfth man. We didn’t actually get to sample a game due to there not being one for a month but we will put that right in Brazil.

We also managed to get around all the other bright and colourful neighbourhoods but i have to say Boca was my favourite. All in all an excellent four days in which we managed to see most if not all of the City, visited the famous Bombenera, Sampled a famous Argentinean steak, hit a few bars and clubs, managed to get by with having only received one fake note, a common occurrence so we hear and our Spanish is slowly improving from awful to not quite awful, Enjoy the pics next stop is Rio....................

La boca Neighbourhood

La Boca club shop

La Boca Stadium

Martin Palermo signing autographs

Trophy Dispay

Night out at Cro bar club

The Girl From Ipanema Wears a Thong on the Beach

I´m back again. Posting myself this time. We are in Rio de Janeiro at the moment. Arrived here from Buenos Aires on Monday evening after our flight was delayed a couple of hours. We headed straight to Ipanema by bus looking for the Mango Tree Hostel. Not knowing the address, that was a little awkward to find so we just ended up staying in a place called Karisma. We booked into a 6 man dorm for 3 nights and for 2 of them had the room to ourselves. It was a nice hostel in a really chilled out area. The hostel was converted to a house and all the people working there are really sound, even brought us out one of the nights.

Anyway, the first day in Rio we went to the beach in the morning, followed by a tour in the evening. The tour brought us to the Christ the Redeemer statue on top of Corcovado. Its the famous one that everyone knows. The view from there was really good and the statue itself was impressive. Our guide told us that it was given to the city by the French. Makes you think that they should stop giving away all the really famous statues... After that, I found the rest of the tour a bit pointless. We went to Maracana, the football stadium but never went inside. We saw where the Carnival goes along but it was just an empty stand when we were there and then quite possibly the ugliest Cathedral I have ever seen. Looks like it was designed by the guys who did the Arts Block in Trinity. In saying that though, I did have a good time and did enjoy seeing the city a little more.

That night then we headed out so the next day was written off due to a hangover. We just lazed about mostly. Yesterday then we changed hostels to Copacobana, just to see what it was like. Its a nice enough hostel but the rooms are terrible. There are 4 sets of bunk beds stacked 3 high in a room with no floor space to speak of. They have a pool here though and it is near to the beach but I dont think any nearer than where we were in Ipanema. Yesterday evening we went to the top of the Sugar Loaf Mountain to watch the sun set. That was really cool, even if I was a bit more terrified in the cable cars than I let on!

Today it was back to the beach, where we bought a ball and played some football on the beach. We obviously are not very good so the Brazilians would have been laughing at us. Tonight then we are off to Lapa to the street parties which we are looking forward to and then we head back to Ipanema for our last 2 nights in Rio. We´ll take in a soccer match on Sunday before going to Ilha Grande and on to Iguazu from Monday.

Pics are on the way so until next time...

Brian

Mrs Meecham will be happy to see more photos of Matt. As for Mrs Corrigan, I´ll get some up of me soon incase you forget what I look like

Inside the horrible Cathedral was nice but very dark

Matt on Sugar Loaf. He has some photos of me... honestly

Monkeys hang around Rio and our Hostel

Really, it is my blog, not Matts :)

When the sun went down, everyone clapped. Not sure why, it was inevitable really!

As night falls the statue of Christ watches over the city and faces Portugal

Look its me... really!!

One Year On...

So a year ago today, me and Jonny touched down in Bangkok. 365 days later I´m most of the way around the world in Paraty in Brazil. People at home have gotten themselves into a recession so I´ll have to go home and sort that out in a couple of months :)

As I mentioned we are in Paraty now. A little town between Rio and Sao Paulo. We are staying a couple of days here mainly to just chill out and to say goodbye to beaches for a while (well Matt is, I´m loving having a hammock again).

Since the last post we´ve been out in Lapa which is the part of Rio that has the street party at the weekends. We had locals showing us how to samba and I think at one point Alison broke out some of her Riverdance moves, had to be done! We had a good night there and then left copacobana to go back to Ipanema. A bit more time playing football on the beach there too. The Brazilians must have thought we had never played football before.

On Sunday we did the favela tour. It was interesting to see what goes on there and to be honest, the sense of community is class. Something that is lacking a bit now in most other places. It did feel a bit uncomfortable for me doing it as part of the tour, but I think I was the only one so it is a good thing to do if you are in Rio. That evening then was off to the Maracana to watch Flamengo lose 1-0 to Vitoria. The game itself was a dour affair but the atmosphere before the game and when Flamengo actually had a couple of chances, it was unreal. They had a goal disallowed for offside which went down like a fart in a spacesuit and the female assistant got all sorts of abuse from 41,000 fans for most of the second half. In fairness, she was having a shocker of a game.

After Rio we went to Ilha Grande. We stayed in a place called Che Lagorota or something like that anyway. Was a good place and the island itself has a great feel to it. We trekked to a beach and just lazed about all day so was fairly good.

Now we are staying in Serra do Mar in Paraty. Its a class hostel here. Somehow we managed to be given a private room and I got a double bed!! For the same price of a dorm too! Excellent!

On Sunday Ipanema beach was very busy, lots of people and Umbrellas

One of the streets was closed off and used as a pedestrian street

The beach had bars along the top. Mmmm... Coconuts

Rochina is Rios biggest favela and was the biggest in South America but apparently one in Venezuala is now competing for the honour

Me Pete Alison Matt and Henry on the way into the Maracana

Me and Matt in the Maracana before kick off

As the atmosphere hotted up, the Roman Candels were lit

The waves on Ipanema beach were scary at times. The broke so close to shore and were fairly violent. The current was really strong too.

Big signs told you the temperature and time. That day got up to 28 degrees

A boat in a bay on our way to the beach

No Paraty!

So yesterday we left Paraty and due to 2 full buses we are now hanging aroung the bus station in Sao Paulo. Its and hour into the city and apparently there is nothing to do when you get there so I´m taking this time to put up some pictures.

The name of the place we stayed in Paraty was called Sereia do Mar which is one of endless spelling mistakes and typos I noticed in that last post. Too lazy to fix them so ignore them :) Anywho, Paraty is a great little town. We made an effort to go out one night there but we were back early. Went to a place in the Old Town called Dinho. It was a small place with a good crowd and live music. Would have been a good night I think if we were up for it but in our heads we had a long bus journey the next day, which was cut substancially short by the bus being full.

A piece of info for anybody going from Sao Paulo to Iguazu, its an expensive bus journey. Works out at about 90 euro I think but havent bothered to work out an exact price. You can fly but I think that is an extra US$150 again (from an overheard conversation).

Anyway, I have little enough to say right now and only really wanted to put up some more photos.

Enjoy...

Brian

Me and Matt missed the bus to the waterfalls and figured we´d be ok walking, judging by the map it looked ok. After 3 hours of a walk we saw no waterfalls. Not to worry, Iguazu is the next stop

One of the streets in the old part of Paraty. Town became a big port with the Portuguese after the found gold nearby.

Another street, with a tree this time!

There was buntin on some of the streets but I´m still not sure what for

Not just any church... an old church!

From what I know. ¨Oi¨ means ¨hi¨

For those who cant speak Portuguese, it says Coca-Cola

Flowers in our hostel

Iguazu Falls

Iguazu falls was the latest outting we have had. When Elanor Roosevelt saw the falls she said, "poor Niagra". Now I have never seen the Niagra falls but Iguazu is amazing. The devil´s throat being the main waterfall there, dividing Argentina and Brazil. At 150m wide and 700m long it the devil´s throat is the largest of 275 waterfalls in the system. Iguazu falls is smaller only than Victoria falls in Africa and in terms of the size of the "curtain of water" is vastly bigger than Niagra!

We arrived yesterday in Puerto Iguazu on the Argentinian side. Our first place to try was Hostel Inn as we have heard good things but it was full so we wandered around til we found a room in Las Palmeiras (I think thats the name anyway).

Today we headed to the falls early to avoid the rush. We got the 8.30 bus to the falls and if we had gone any later it would have been a nightmare because its high season and the crowd build up fast. After a walk to the side of the Devil´s Throat we went to go on the boat trip. This was 20 minutes that brought you right up to the water falls and needless to say, got you very wet! It was well worth doing but if you are doing it, bring some spare clothes.

After that with the bad weather and considering the crowds and bad weather we called an end to our Iguazu trip. In fairness all we didn´t do was go to the top of some waterfalls but I feel that we havent missed out on anything we didn´t see already.

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Tomorrow, if the weather is good, we are doing a helicopter ride on the Brazilian side and then to Paraguy where I want to buy an iPod to replace mine. 3 countries in one day! Will finish the post then ;)
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So today is the tomorrow mentioned above. No flights because of poor weather so we just went to Paraguy where we bought a few things... like a razor to get that thing off my face!

Later

Brian

Matt on our way to the Devil´s Throat

The Devil´s Throat

The Devil´s Throat again. Cooudlnt see all of it from the top. I think the spray goes up about 200m!

Can´t remember the name of this fall but was able to get a low shutter speed which gives the effect of curtain of water

Other of the water falls. Our boat brought us right beside on of them!

Dry... for now!

Now for a few pics of me!! I´m not photoshopped into this one.

Signs warned us to beware of snakes the size of men!!!

Salta

So after a 23hr bus journey we arrived in Salta looking for the 3rd of Keirans Hostel recommendations, we never did find the first two but im happy to say it was third time lucky on this occasion!

Salta itself is clean, well kept and orientated like most Argentinian towns around the main plaza that's overlooked by lots of Spanish-style colonial architecture.

We only stayed the two nights in Salta and on the first we had an all you can eat BBQ for 25 peso´s about 4 pound or 7 Euro´s with the other members of the Hostel, this gave us a great excuse to practice our Spanish or for me especially realise how bad i actually am! this will change once we take lessons in Bolivia i hope! after the BBQ we headed into town with some new friends and the night ended at around breakfast on Sunday morning, needless to say Sunday was spent rehydrating and feeling sorry for ourselves.

On our final day we headed into town to check out the local neighbourhood take some snaps and seek out a little resteraunt we visited to get some Empananda´s(the local delicacy) only to find it closes on a monday! oh well another excuse to revisit Argentina in the future.

Later were heading to watch Batman and then get the night bus to Bolivia so tune back in, in a few days for some pics of the salt flats.

Caio for now amigo´s

View at the police stop

Me Bri and Rita

Brian, Rita, Sue and Gráinne

The Gang night out

Water feature in the Town Park

Local means of transport

Malvinas/Faulklands are obviously a touchy subject around here

Matt takes a rest on the bridge in the park

This is one of those buildings you see a lot in postcards.

It's Life Jim, But Not as We Know It

We left Salta and headed for the border with Bolivia. After a 7 hour bus journey the first thing you notice is the freezing cold. After that the border with Bolivia doesnt open til 8, not that we had a clue how to get from the bus station to the border. When we finally walked there, the difference between Argentina and Bolivia was obvious. Much more Indigenous people and much poorer. The bus from Villazon to Tupiza showed some of the country side, barren and as one of the lads put it, like the moon. Nonetheless, it was amazing to see and the scenery was class.

One night in Tupiza then and it was off on a tour of the salt flats, Salar de Uyuni. This was a 4 day 3 night tour which we spent most of in a jeep, starting in Tupiza and ending in Uyuni. we were in a group with a French couple on their honeymoon. They were a good laugh but I think Anna wanted some nicer places than the ones we stayed in! On the trip we saw geezers, boiling mud, giant cactai, red lakes, green lakes, white lakes, flamengos and some of the most amazing views you could imagine.

On the first night we stayed in a small village up in the mountains. The altitude was about 4200m and the town had a population of about 250 people. The temperature we were told was about -7 that night, with the second night promising to be colder again, staying at an altitude of 5000m. Our room for the first night had no glass on the window, concrete floors and a corragated iron roof. Insulation obviously not a concern here :) Thankfully on the second night there was a more sturdy structure so the extra few degrees didnt harm us too much. It was said to be -15 degrees but it was cloudy that night so not sure if it got down that far.

On night 3 we stayed in a hotel made of salt. Basically it was blocks of salt carved into the shape of bricks, with salt on the floor. Chairs and tables also made of salt blocks. It was much warmer there as we were back down to about 4000m and the hotel itself was kept warm.

The final day was the highlight of the trip. Salar de Uyuni, the largest salt flats in the world, containing 10 billion tonnes of salt! It is a flat and white and after that, there is not much else that can describe it apart from pictures.

After finishing the tour, we arrived in Uyuni. General advise was get the f*** out of there as soon as you can. It didnt take long to see why. It really is not a nice place. There is nothing to do or see there apart from the salt flats and train cemetry which we had already seen. The only problem, no buses leaving to Sucre for 3 days because of elections! After some asking around we managed to get a guy with a jeep to bring us to Potosi which is where we are now. Its only 3 hours from Sucre where we hope to get to tomorrow. The jeep journey started off eventful with the driver crashing 2 minutes into the trip. Thankfully it was only a small tip and no damage was done. After that, it was plain sailing.

Potosi itself is a mining town and is also the world's highest city. Think it is about 4800m. The main attraction here are the mines but after hearing that they are full of asbestos we will be giving them a miss.

One last little thing, altitude makes it near impossible to climb small hills and you get sunburnt when it is 2 degrees!

Til Next time

Brian

I have over 200 pictures from this trip so I have only quickly took a small sample

The women all wear bowler hats here and are very aged. The cook on the trip was 32, looked 52!

Evo Morales has a lot of support in small towns for the up coming elections

On the second day we were up at 5:30

At this point we are higher than Mt. Blanc, Europes highest mountain. Higher to go!

Mud boils at 200 degrees

The smoke is full of sulphur. Basically, the place stank of rotten eggs!

Unfortunately it wasnt particularly nice weather. The lake was red. From algae and sediment apparently

Me at a big rock thing

the big rock thing on its own

Candles light the room in the salt hotel. Electricty is off at 9:30

This train has died!

Spanish, Biking and San Pedro

So it has been a while now since the last post and a lot has been going on. Well not a whole not but enough. There was Spanish lessons, a graduation party, blockades, the Worlds Most Dangerous Road and San Pedro prison.

Spanish lessons is probably the place to start. Me and Matt got to Sucre and the next day started Spanish lessons. We had a class of just us with Aida Rojas. If anybody is doing Spanish in Sucre then I would definitely recommend doing it with her. I have her details so if anybody wants it, send me an email. She has the coolest parrot too by the way. It talks... a lot! She is good teacher and does a lot of grammar too so it basically gives us a basis to start off.

In Sucre we stayed in hostel Cruz de Popyan which is a great hostel. There was a cool common courtyard where people sat out, talked and studied Spanish most of the day. There was always a good group of people to go out with. Niamh, who is a friend of the girls living across the hall from us in Sydney, came and stayed a week too. We had a real good laugh with her. After 2 weeks of Spanish then we had a graduation party. 8 of us rented out graduation robes and had a night on the town. Sucre is a really good place to go out and by the end of my time there I was a fan of the Shisha bar.

After the graduation party we were meant to head to La Paz but because of blockades we had to wait there another week. Blockades are common around Sucre but it was hard enough to fill the days without having Spanish classes.

Finally on Friday we arrived in La Paz. Then Saturday we went cycling on the Worlds Most Dangerous Road. It got its names in the 90's after a study on the amount of deaths on a road per km. Nowadays there is very little traffic on it though. The road is 3m wide at the narrowest point with cliffs of 60m to 600m normally inches away from you as hurtle down hill. It was really enjoyable though.

Today then was San Pedro prison. It costs 300bs (€30) to do the tour. After reading the book Marching Powder, it was somewhere that me and Matt both had to see. It is an actually prison and the tour is given by one of the inmates. The tour is in the Posta section of the prison. To understand this you have to realise that there are 8 sections in the prison. When a prisoner is arrested they have to pay an entrance fee into the prison. After that they have to buy their own cell!! They actually own the deeds to the cell. When I say cell, they have cable tv, mobile phones, and pretty much anything you can buy outside the prison. There are shops take-aways recreation rooms all available to the inmates. Even the prisoners families live in the prison. In fairness, the tour was only ok but it was worth a look.

Tomorrow, we head to Cusco so the Bolivian adventure is almost over.

Spanish lessons with Aida

Graduation night in Sucre

Jamie Matt Carolyn and Catherine

A few squares didnt dress up! ;)

Aida came for a drink and drank of her own accord!

Behind the bar in Joy Ride

Some people were better than others at drinking games!

The important thing is that everyone was having fun

Mick was a great a laugh and always up for one! Una mas!!

La Paz has taken a more literal meaning to a zebra crossing

Me, Matt and Jamie get ready to tackle the worlds most dangerous road

The Universitario mask gets an outing at midget wrestling!

South America Guide

So I am back home now. 3 months and 8 countries after leaving Australia! Here is my summary of things that we saw and did in South America. Anybody thinking of doing it, stop thinking and just do it. You won't regret it...

Firstly is Buenos Aires. We stayed in the Centro area but the main party area is Palermo. Its a great city and very European. Kind of like a mixture between Madrid and Bangkok. We spent 4 nights there and that is enough there. We walked around a lot but there is a metro system there if you get lazy. Things to see are the Bombenera where the Boca Juniors play and Caminito area in la Boca which is beside the stadium. There are tango dancers in cafes and plenty of other things to do and see around the city. We just wandered around aimlessly for most of the time.

After that we flew to Rio. This is my favourite city in the world. There is so much to see and do or if you are lazy or hungover you can just chill at the beach. We spent some time in Copacobana but mostly in Ipanema. If you are going there I'd recommend Ipanema. Christ the Redeemers statue is one of the wonders of the world now and you can make your way up there on your own. For a similar price though you can get a city tour which takes you there and other places so we did it that way. Try and get to the statue early though because it gets very busy and hard to take photos although if you are patient you will get the photos you want. When in Rio dont miss sunset on the Sugar Loaf. Everyone claps when the sun goes down but not sure what else they might have been expecting. Games are on in the Maracana most Wednesdays and Sundays and if you are lucky you might get to see a local derby. Flamengo games are meant to be the best because most people in Rio support them. You can go on your own and buy tickets there or for 3 times the price you can go with a group (bealocal.com). Lapa is the going out place on Fridays and Saturdays where there are street parties. That is really cool. The favela tour is good too. Its a little voyeuristic but it gives you a better understanding of what goes on there and is definitely worth seeing. Rio has a bad reputation of being dangerous but if you have common sense, dont walk too far at night, dont carry around more money than you need and dont give money to muggers unless you are sure they have a gun/knife, it isn't bad at all. No worse than any city really.

From Rio we went to Ilha Grande. There are no cars or ATMs on this island but its worth chilling out there for a few days. Ferries only go once or twice a day and leave from Angra dos Reis (there is another town too but I forget the name of it). The last one at 4.30 when we were there but there are other boats that bring you to the island for a bit more money. On the island there are plenty of beaches and walks you can take but there are lots of mosquitoes so bring repellent.

After Ilha Grande we went to Paraty. This is an old colonial town between Angra dos Reis and Sao Paulo. We were meant to spend 2 days there but spent 5. Our hostel was called Sierra del Mar and was probably the best place we stayed in. It was cheap too for what you got. Maria runs it with her boyfriend and both were really sound, Maria is hot too! There are waterfalls outside the town that you can cycle to or get a bus, don't try to walk it. We did and were walking for 4 hours and barely saw a river. Was nice to walk around the smaller towns around it though. Paraty itself is a class town and really beautiful. There is a beach across the road from the hostel too for chilling out on and you can rent kayaks etc.

We left Paraty and got a bus to Sao Paulo and then on to Iguazu. Book the Sao Paulo to Iguazu bus in advance. Its about 100 euro. In Iguazu the most popular place on the Argentinian side is Hotel Inn. We stayed in some little shitty place though nearer the town. The falls are better to be seen from the Argentinian but people say to see it from both. On the Argentinian side you can take a boat under the falls, bring spare clothes, you get wet!! You can also do a day trip to Ciudad del Este in Paraguay for some cheap shopping and black market goods.

Salta was our next stop, where we stayed for a weekend. I cant tell you too much about it coz I got the worst hangover of my life here and spent a full day in bed. Its a university town and as you can guess, really good to go out in! From Salta we went to Bolivia. The border crossing is a pain coz Bolivia dont open their border til 8 am. Its cold there and finding the border walking isn't too easy either.

On the Bolivian side we got the bus to Tupiza. We started the Salar Tour from here. It cost about $100 for 4 days. You spend an awful lot of time in the jeep and it gets to about -15c at night. After that there is nothing bad about the tour and is well worth it. The food they give you is good and considering where you are you are well looked after. Have a look at the photos for yourself to see just how good it is. The tour stops in Uyuni and the best advice possible is get out of there ASAP! Its a shit hole. We had problems because the election was the next day and no buses were running. We eventually paid a guy from a tour company to drive us to Potosi. Potosi is the highest city in the world. The main attractions there are the mines and a huge mountain (about 6300m I think). We didnt do either, walking up a hill at 4800 is though enough never mind trying to climb a mountain. The mines are full of asbestos too so didnt want to take the risk.

Sucre was next up and we stayed here for 3 weeks. 2 weeks to learn Spanish and 1 week because we got blockaded in. This is a common occurance around Sucre so if you are tight for time don't go there. There was no trouble inside the city itself. We spent 2 weeks doing Spanish with Aida Rojas. Shes was really good and cheap and I have her email, etc if anyone wants lessons in Sucre. Her parrot is cool too. Sucre is a great town. Its really small and all the people there are really friendly. We even took in a soccer match while we were there. The shisha bar is good for drinks too.

From Sucre to La Paz we went by plane because of blockades but they were of course lifted the day we booked our flights! We stayed in the Wild Rover hostel. Its a bit of a party hostel and sells Barrys Tea!! Excellent. From there we organised the bike ride with Gravity and our trip to the midget wrestling. Also our bus out. La Paz is a big city and isnt much different from any other big city. Do the bike ride dont bother with the wrestling and probably get out of there soon after. We visited San Pedro prison, the one from the book Marching Powder. It was expensive and not that great but we had to see it after reading about it. Read the book if you are going to go. Stuart is the guy you go to see in there. Stay away from Jacques, he's meant to be crazy. If Stuart is gone, try looking for Daniel. There is a big cocaine culture in La Paz if you are into that too but I have no info for anybody on that.

The bus from La Paz to Cusco is fine. No dramas. Cusco is where you do the Inca Trail from. If you want to do the original book it at least 6 months in advance to be sure of a place. If you dont want to be tied by time then you can do an alternate trek when you are there. Matt did one but I didn't so cant really advise people much about it.

While Matt was on the Inca trail I headed to Trujillo in the North of Peru (this will be new to anybody who has been reading the blog). I spent a couple of days there and waited for Matt to catch up. It is Perus second biggest city which I didn't realise until afterwards. There is Chan Chan, an old archaeological site and the temples of the sun and the moon. I didn't visit any of them! I stayed in Casa de Clara which was a nice hostel but a bit weird. Judging from the look of the rest of the places though was the best pick.

After Matt met back up with us we went to Huanchaco. This is a nice little beach town. Its quite the whole time but there are more people around at the weekends. It is very popular for surfing. I am told that it is unique because the surf is so consistent. Basically you can surf all day every day. Not that I did. I spent most of the time lying down and drinking. It was the first place that we had been able to wear shorts since Sucre! We stayed in My Friend hostel. It was very cheap and the food there was class. I would definitely suggest it. For a little bit more, hostel Rubalong looked good too. It has a class view of the beach.

What I dont recommend is a bus from Trujillo to Quito! 29 hours on a bus is too much. It was very tough work and painful. Have money to buy stuff at the stops or it is awful. I can't give much advice on Quito because we didnt stay there very long.

That is about all I can think of about South America the way we did it. Any specific questions, just ask!! :)