Summary
| I traveled from February 28 - April 28, 2000 to the following countries, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil (a little), and Chile. I decided to create this journal so you could follow me in my journey as well as for me to keep my journal in an electronic format. The focus of the trip is nature, so I shall be spending a considerable amount of time in Patagonia, which is in the south of Argentina and the Andes Mountains, which are primarily in Chile. |
Highlights / Statistics
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Some of the Most Exhilarating Activities during my trip (all
in my journal) :
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Trip Journal
| Sun, Feb. 27, 2000 - You may ask, travel status,
"where is he going?" Well, I am off to South America for 2 months as of
Mon., Feb. 28. I decided to start this, so people could get an update on
what I am up to. I will attempt to update this page as I travel around,
will shall see how easy that is to do. I am a little excited and nervous
about the trip, but very psyched to go.
Mon, Feb 28 - I am doing my final preparations before going off. I have everything I need except a pair of flip-flops. One cannot imagine how hard it is to find them (the thin ones) during the winter. Well, everything else I have (especially my brand-new Goretex jacket that I bought today). Off to the airport. Tue - Wed (Feb 29 - March 1) - I have arrived in Buenos Aires and ended up meeting a native (female, of course) on the plane ride. When we arrived we (her mother as well) took a taxi together into the city. She then helped me find the Hostel. At the Hostel, I am sleeping in a room with 4 bunk beds, but only 5 of us are in there. The ages vary, from 20-50. As for the Argentinean food, it's inexpensive, but everything else is NY prices because the peso is pegged to the dollar. I ate dinner the first night with an Australian guy, very cool. Dinner for both of us was 13 dollars. After dinner, we walked around and saw the waterfront, it was a lot nicer at night with all the colored lights. I have been walking around a lot, and have gotten comfortable with moving about in the city. My second day I headed around and went to the BA National Art Museum and saw a fair amount of work by Picasso and Monet. I heard excellent comments about it in the Hostel, and was impressed by such in Argentina. Besides that I went to a Japanese Garden and then the Zoo. The Zoo had penguins bathing in 85 degrees (F), imagine. After the Zoo, I took a bus back into the center of the city to buy a hat (note, this is the first item I have lost, I'll keep a running count :-) As for food... steak is a popular food here, so tonight I have steak on my dinner plans. Also, wine is cheaper than "agua con gas" (a.k.a seltzer), but I still drink "agua con gas" with a glass of wine for dinner. I am headed to services (Jewish) tomorrow night and then Saturday I am off to Iguazo (lots of waterfalls and a very large dam) by plane. BA is a very large city, imagine LA, there is a center though that most of the major attractions are in. And I have been walking around each day, today was the first day I took a bus, the buses are quite confusing, but inexpensive ($.70). Another handy aspect, because the dollar is pegged to the peso, I did not have any pesos, so I bought a drink at supermarket and gave them $20 USD, and received the change in pesos, who needs banks. Well, off I go to buy a hat. Thu, March 2 - Walked too much much on Thursday and I am feeling the effects of it in the evening... I'll know more about my pain tomorrow. I saw the "changing of the guard" at the military circle, the zoo, and a Japanese garden. I could not tell if the fish in the pond at the Japanese garden were gold fish or something else. But they were huge, around 12-16 inches. Well, during my long trek to the zoo, which was a few miles in the middle of the day (and no I do not have a hat yet, a mistake, but I bought one later in the day after hiking about) I relaxed by a lake before heading into the zoo. The zoo was smallish, but they had a wide assortment of animals, from penguins to camels to eels. After my zoo visit, in which is A La Carte, you pay for each area of the zoo separately, a first for me in my worldwide zoo travels. This time, I took the bus back (see I am smart) and attempted to get my airline tickets from the student agency, but they had closed 10 minutes before. I therefore headed home and went out to eat along a street called Defensa. I had bife de chorizo (translation... some excellent steak) and my favorite type of beverage... "agua con gas". Definitely a place I would highly recommend for anyone traveling to Buenos Aires. Off to sleep I go. Eating so late here is not my favorite thing to do and this is difficult because most people eat dinner usually around 9pm - 10pm. I tend go at about 9pm, and it's usual empty. Fri, March 3- I woke up a little later than usual because I am little worn out from walking around so much in the city. This is my first trip traveling alone internationally, so I over did it. I'm still learning my walking limit. I did some reading in the morning and headed out to a museum near the hostel. It is a military museum of the nation's history from their beginning. Afterwards, I took a bus to Calle de Florida Street (the main walking street) and walked around a little. I then headed up to pick up my airline tickets. Afterwards, into a really busy mall called Pacifero Mall along Calle de Florida. After a wander around the mall, it was time for lunch, can you say pizza. It seems the Argentinean's and Italians are very close, many have family in Italy or are originally from there. I then did the internet thing and then raced off to the hostel to change for temple. I took a bus back (I am finally understanding the bus routes) and then took another one to services. Turns out that I arrived an hour to early, the police officer made a mistake earlier in the day when I asked him the time, and services started at 7:30. Services went well and I meet 2 Californians at services and had dinner with them. Afterwards, I headed home and along the way I saw a street party... part of Carnival. All the kids were running around trying to spray each other with this type of shaving cream, so I walked around the two or three blocks in fear of my clothing. :-) Off to sleep. Sat March 4- No breakfast at the hostel, the workers woke up late, so I went out and bought some bread, yogurt, and pear juice. We still had to pay $10 that evening, I guess sorry was all they had to say. I then headed out via bus to Jorge Berry Airport (on the edge of BA near the water) to catch my flight to Iguazo (the area in Northern Argentina) that has "the falls", as in waterfalls. I slept on the flight (2 hrs) up and took a public bus into town which dropped me off at the hostel, it really is a hotel, but they charge a lot less for those traveling with the Hostel Int'l card. I had my own room and bathroom, see it really was a hotel. And then I took the 4:30pm bus into the Nat'l Park to see the falls. Words won't do justice to the falls except to say that Niagara Falls is only large flow of a fall. You'll just have to see the photos, and there shall be a lot. I took about a roll of them. I also met a TV crew from the BCC filming in the park. They were filming for a documentary about this little animal about the size and shape of a raccoon with an ant eater nose. Well, afterwards... I headed back to the hostel and fell asleep with no dinner. Sun, March 5- Woke up at 7:30am and headed back to the Nat'l Park of Iguazo. I hiked around along some of the trails I missed the afternoon before. I ran into the BCC crew again spent 2 hours watching them film. It was quite amazing how close they would get to the animals. The documentary was on their behavior, something that has never been studied before. I then took this boat ride that gets near some of the falls, it was a total waste of money and I got really wet. Which is not cool when you are wearing jeans and shoes, this would have gotten a different reaction if I had a bathing suit and sandals on. I then hiked some more and had lunch and then took a bus ride to another point in the park to take a boat ride to see the top of the falls. This was pretty cool. They also had a sign that listed all the large falls in the world. Angels Falls in Venezuela was missing, one of the guys said it is approximately 300-350 meters tall, the largest in the world. I then took a bus back and walked to the casino. Not much happening there so I found a movie theatre that was playing Eyes Wide Shut in Spanish, so I had dinner quickly and headed to the theatre. Well, it turns out I was the only one who showed up and they would not show it with only 1 person, they need 5 people there. So I walked back to the hotel and there was a parade, so I watched it. There were kids of all ages dancing and wearing different costumes. Afterwards, Mr. Serebin headed back to sleep. Mon, March 6 - Woke up and ate breakfast in about 5 minutes because I needed to catch a 9am bus ride to Brazil. Of course... carrying my pack I get lost on the way to the bus terminal and therefore I am forced to run with it. I caught the 9am bus because a car had parked in front of another bus that prevented any of the buses from leaving. On the bus ride, two Israeli girls were sitting behind me so we chatted and I assisted them during customs because they literally knew almost no Spanish. They knew where they were staying so I headed with them there. It was a "bed and breakfast". We (the girls and I) finally went to the falls on the Brazilian side and walked around there. There is only 1 trail on the Brazilian side, therefore it took about 3 hours. We finally made it back and I left the girls off at the B&B and walked around the little city. The girls were a little slow for my travel pace. All the stores were closing early because of Carnival. On my way back, I saw the girls and ran up behind them to scare them, aren't I nice. Well, I headed back and went to dinner (a whopping $4 dollars it cost, note sarcasm) with an Australian couple and then headed back to watch a little Spanish TV, the first in about 2 weeks. I also spoke with a German and his travels in the US and abroad, talking about traveling. He lived on the street literally for a year, sleeping behind malls and in alleys, and I thought only the homeless did this. He also had was thrown in jail for hitch-hiking in Texas, what a great state. No more for today. Tue, March 7 - Still in Brazil... I woke up at 8am and woke up the German fellow as well. He wanted to see the world's largest dam, Itaipu, as well. So we headed out via bus and we finally arrived at the entrance, to find out that it was closed because of Carnival. Sometimes holidays are not so jolly. So, I was only able to see the entrance and read all about the dam in the information center. How sad! I therefore thought about going into Paraguay to see the dam, it was open on that side, it connects the two countries. But decided against it when I found out they had different money and I had to be in Argentina by 3pm. It was already 10am. So, I headed back to the B&B and chatted with the Australian couple (for the record, he is from Australia and she is from New Zealand). I took a photo of them and the Israeli girls and then caught a bus back to the Argentina side. I had lunch and boarded the bus at 3:30pm. This was like no ordinary bus, it had seats what went so far back it would make travelers in First Class on planes jealous. There was food service as well on board, dinner and breakfast was included, and I did not eat too much of it, not the best food in the world. Well, sleeping on a bus was not easy knowing how horrible drivers are. It was a double-decker, and I rode on top, so seeing all the passing vehicles was interesting. The scariest thing, was when the driver would turn the headlights off when driving behind vehicles And then pass them, and wait until he was in front of them and then turn the lights on. That was not cool. But I knew if we hit something, it was going to lose, that was the only good thing about being in this huge bus. Well, I went to sleep dreaming of crashing... pleasant thoughts. But, I finally woke up to the sunrise which was pretty. And we arrived in Buenos Aires in 1 piece 16 hours later. Wed, March 8 - I caught a bus from the bus terminal to the hostel and put my stuff down and took a needed shower. I then walked around and picked up various information from the various regional tourist offices. Each region in Argentina has a tourist office pushing that region. So, I went to all 4 offices and then attempted to contact an Argentinean that I took to services (Jewish) in NYC, but was unable to contact her. So, I walked around some more and started planning my trip to Patagonia. I had a quick dinner and then said goodbye to the Buenos Aires native and she recommended I visit Bolivia, so I have now started to plan around that even though I have no material or even a tour book on Bolivia. The beauties of traveling. Off to sleep. Thu, March 9 - Woke up at 7:30am and got ready to catch my flight to Ushuaia. I had stored some valuables with the hostel in their safe, so when I went to get it removed, the lady at the desk was not able to. So, she said come back at 2pm. I nicely informed her that I had a flight at 10:05am, and needed my stuff now! She called another guy who struggled to open the safe. My stuff was not there... (30 minutes later) and so the lady started looking for the phone number of the manager... could not find it. While she was looking for it, I suggested we look around the desk area... and bang! There were my valuables laying out for the taking. Everything was there, but it was now 9am. So I ran to the bus and took it to the airport. I arrived at 10am and ran inside, but I was too late. You have no idea how angry I was. The next flight was the next day at 10:05am again. So, now I had another day to spend in BA. :-) I caught the bus back to the hostel and the lady at the desk played dumb and I ignored her. Well, I decided to do some relaxing at the hostel and save some money because I had to pay an extra $20 for the change. So I went to the supermarket and bought lunch. I spent a whopping $2.08. I then relaxed at the hostel and while I was chilling out, I started chatting with a Brazilian girl. We went to see La Boca, a neighborhood which is know for the brightly colored houses. We also stopped by and were able to get inside of the soccer stadium. Very cool! They have barbed wire to separate the various sections of the seats, it looked more like a prison than a soccer stadium. We then returned and I wrote a few postcards (They are very expensive, so don't be too upset if you don't get one. The postage alone cost me $1.25 per each postcard.) After writing the postcards, I ended up chatting with a few other hostel inhabitants. And we all decided to do dinner at the hostel. Pretty good for hostel home cooking, and only costing $3.50. After dinner we went to a live radio program. All in Spanish of course, so after an hour of "enjoyment", the seven of us left and headed back to the hostel to hang out and relax. I finally went to sleep at 3:30am. Fri, March 10 - Woke up again at 7:30am, this time I kept all my valuables on me. And off to the bus to the airport. I caught the flight down to Ushuaia with no problems. And upon arriving, I took a taxi to the hostel (no bus from the airport). I am sharing a room with 3 others about the size of 8'x8'. It's really small. And for the first time, I am on the top bunk. :-) Well, I went food shopping for dinner and breakfast tomorrow. I then relaxed for about 30 minutes and off to the naval museum and the prison. Ushuaia was originally a prison colony, similar to Australia. After the museum I headed back to the hostel for my "fancy" dinner of pasta with butter and garlic and a side of cucumber. I then chatted with a few other travelers and then to sleep. Sat, March 11 - Woke up at the usual time and had my "fancy" breakfast of bread, cold cuts, cucumber, and tea. I then caught a bus ($10 roundtrip) out to the National Park. There were four of us in the little minivan. We drove for about 45 minutes and then one of the "passengers" said something to the driver and we stopped. The three others got out and I sat there. I realized that it was one guide and two other visitors. I therefore asked the driver where we were in the park and what time the bus headed back. He said 1,3,5, and 7. It was now 9:45am. So, I started my trek in the park, not really knowing where I was going. I saw the group 100 feet ahead of me and finally caught up to them. They had stopped before a fork in the road. Therefore I decided to go left and walked for about 100 yards and then turned around to see which way they went. Of course they went right. So, I decided to turn around and go right as well. Still not knowing where I was I continued. I lost them as soon as I walked back to go right. There was a trail so I followed it. Still not knowing where I was going. I walked for about 2.5 hours and so many pretty things. It was deafly quiet, and me not seeing anyone, made me realize I was in the middle of no where. I also had the opportunity to use my new watch, which has a digital compass built-in to it. It came in handy when trying to decide which way to go. When I finally got to the end of a road (Route 3), which was on the map. This map is not even worth mentioning, because all the roads have no signs. Some of the trails had signs, which was a little more helpful, not much more though. I then asked a minivan driver where one of the trails was, and he assisted me. I therefore had an idea where I was. I then walked another 4 hour trail which was amazing, along the coast. Because the weather was slightly cloudy, I need to go back there so I can get some better photos, it's worth it. The last 1.5 hours of the day was walking in heavy downpour, I can say the new jacket is water proof, but my jeans are not! Another night inside, this time plotting out my next point outside of Ushuaia. More sleep. Sun, March 12 - I woke up and it was raining and very cloudy, so I decided to make this a day or R&R, literally. I read most of the day. It was very cloudy, so cloudy going into the mountains made no sense, so I walked around the city and took in the "beautiful" smells of the harbor. It seems that stagnant water is common in Argentina around harbors, I don't understand it, since this is not a common problem in the U.S. The temperature is also about 45 degrees, a little chilly for my taste, but better than the heat of Buenos Aires. That evening, I found out that they had a movie theatre, so off I went to see Sexto Sentido (Sixth Sense). Great movie, but I did not like how it was subtitled, it was significantly different than the English. Earlier in the day at the Hostel, I watched with a native Argentinean, the movie The Edge. Which I think was translated better. Well, the movie theatre was packed, at least 250 people. And the cost was only $4.50, not bad for a recent movie. It seems that later in the evening, the price increases, the midnight showing cost $6. People eat at 9-10pm, a little too late for my taste, so I had an "early" dinner at 7pm. After the movie, the hostel was hopping, so I sat down and chatted about this "can't miss" Chilean National Park (Torres del Paine) about 700 miles from Ushuaia on my way up thought Chile. So I will be going to that, and will hopefully be able to do some ice-climbing. There are cabins in the park, so you hike from one place to another, I am very excited about this area. Ushuaia is beautiful, but you need to pay for everything. Nothing is so close. And they don't have buses around the city, so you need to take a taxi or minivan anywhere. Even from the airport, there is no bus, only taxis. Very annoying. Well, hearing about Torres de Paine made me realize that I will cut my time in Ushuaia short and move on to this area. I simply need three days of cloudless days to fully appreciate it. Off to sleep. Mon, March 13 - It was cloudy this morning, and so I am starting to doubt that it will become sunny every again, just kidding. I see there is a break in the clouds, so this afternoon I am planning on going on this boat tour of various surrounding islands that contains sea lions. I spent the morning drinking tea and chatting with a women who is staying at the Ushuaia hostel who owns the hostel in Mar de Plata (a city located south of Buenos Aires that is on the beach). It was interesting talking with her about how she got started with Hostel International. Mar de Plata is not on my list of places to visit, but it was still interesting to talk to her. I headed out and walked around and had a little lunch and then found a boat that went out for 4.5hrs to see penguins, sea lions, and a little lighthouse. The mountains as we went out were huge, and since Ushuaia is at the base of a few mountains, I quickly realized how small the city was and how large the mountains were. The penguins were quite active, running and diving into the waves on the beach. I took a roll of film just on this boat ride alone. The mountains, penguins, and sea lions were very fun to watch, it seemed like they put on a little show. The boat was a catamaran, which makes traveling on water very smooth. I found out later in the evening that a huge black cloud that we saw when we were leaving port in the afternoon, I was told by a ship employee that it was the garbage dump burning trash, so I took a photo, it turned out that an explosion happened at a plastic factory. Well, dinner was ok, Ushuaia is really over priced, but still has a beautiful look. Off to sleep. Tue, March 14 - Cloudy and rainy again, need I say more. Another day or reading and relaxing. At about 2pm, I headed out and took a walk to try to buy an airline ticket up north to Torres Del Paine. Turned out that the plane was full, so I bought a bus ticket (12 hours or so) instead. After buying the ticket, I ate lunch and did some investing in stock from Ushuaia. Don't you love the internet. I then headed home and plotted the rest of the trip, that includes Bolivia. While I was plotting it out, one of the other travelers had the travel guide, Let's Go South America, so he ripped out the Bolivia section and gave it to me. Now I have a guide book for Bolivia, that should make it easier now. I really had not thought about how I was going to explore Bolivia without a travel guide. I took another walked to buy dessert for my "home" cooked meal, after that I finished my second book (Bad Love) and therefore left that book and High Fidelity (which was given to me for this trip [about an Englishman's unsuccessful love life]) in the hostel in Ushuaia. Well, off to sleep. Wed, March 15 - Woke up at 5:45am, still dark out and realized that I had not gotten my valuables back from the hostel owner, so I had to wake him up at 6:15am. I was not happy about that neither was he when I woke him up. He could not find it, and I was suppose to be at the bus at 6:30am, therefore he looked for about 10 minutes before finding it. I really did not want to miss another connection (like the plane in Buenos Aires), so after he found my stuff, I ran out the door with my backpack and started off. The day before, I had rehearsed the walk, so I would not have to look for street signs at 6:30am in the dark. I immediately find the street and the bus was still here. I caught the bus, and decided that from this time on... I will always hold on to my valuables. Letting someone else hold my stuff is simply complicating things for me and I really don't need that. So, the 12 hour bus ride which included a 30 minute ferry ride which the bus rode on was quite interesting besides the different landscapes (from mountainous to flat plans), the ferry ride turned out to be rougher than any of the bus ride, and the front windshield was cracked in various places and had a metal guard covering the entire thing. There were white crests on the water and fairly large waves (10 foot) through out the ferry ride. On the bus on the funnier side, I met an American who was carrying a video camera for 6 months, and recording a hell of a lot. He had over 30 hours of video, I asked him if he was planning to edit it, yup, that's going to take a few years. I wished him good luck, I am going to stay with my still shots. We arrived in Puento Arenas, Chile and I made my way to the Backpackers Paradise Hostel. I then headed out and had dinner. While I was looking at the menu, two words popped up that I did not know, vacuno and barros. So I looked them up in my dictionary, vacuno means cowpox or vaccine and barros means mud, clay, or pimple. Obviously, something is missing in the translation. Why take the chance... so I decided to have pizza for dinner. Afterwards, I headed to the movie theatre to see a movie, Double Jeopardy. It turned out that they are in a separate time zone, so I had an extra hour to spend before the movie, so I checked out a supermarket for an hour. After the movie, I headed home and when I arrived, the hostel owners were up and watching some American crime show, so I watched it with them and they offered me vino caliente (hot wine). So I happily accepted, and it was hot red wine with a slice of lemon. Very good, and took the sting out of the coldness outside. It is around 40 degrees here. I then headed to sleep. Thu, March 16 - Woke up and headed out to see the Naval Museum. It was quite good, even though it was only 4 rooms large. They had models of the boats they currently have in their Navy and I watched an English film on the Peking, first sail boat to go around Cape Horn (the tip of South America) and how it endured a few very rough storms. The boat ride was filmed using B&W film in 1920's or 30's by one of the sailors on board. I then headed to another museum, a house that was owned by an extremely wealthy family. The house was in excellent condition, visitors had to wear slippers on the wood floors, that's how they keep it in such good shape. I took a few photos, they had all the furniture in place, like the owners had just moved out a week before. Entire rooms had furniture from France and other's from England. Simply beautiful. I then headed to a penguin park (Sen Otway) which was about 1.5 hours outside of the city. There were about 50 penguins, a big disappoint when I had previously seen a few hundred on the boat ride outside of Ushuaia. I then headed back and had dinner with 2 other Germans I had met earlier in the day that recommended the park. Dinner was excellent and then I headed back to the hostel. Someone had moved my stuff, so I was not happy, nothing was taking though. I then went to sleep. Fri, March 17 - Woke up and planned to see the Patagonian University, which contained some antique farming equipment, mostly machinery. The walk there was interesting because I walked through a very wealthy community and also the municipal cemetery. This is no ordinary cemetery though, but one that contains many wealthy individuals, because the cemetery itself is very well maintained and the mausoleums (ms) were the fairly large (15ftx15ft9). Only mausoleums were in this cemetery. Onward to the Univ.,. I arrived at the University about an hour and a half later. I was not too impressed by the farming equipment so I headed to this Free Shopping Zone (where there is no tax) in the city and walked around. I then took a bus ($0.30) back to the hostel. The hostel is about 4 blocks from the water, so I walked along the beach. The beach was extremely dirty, people definitely don't go to the beach during the summer if the beach looked like it did. It is currently fall in Chile. A quiet day in the afternoon, spent sometime reading and relaxing with the owners of the hostel. The owners have a dog that recently gave birth to 9 puppies, so I saw them, so cute. well, off I go to catch a bus to the next city. I caught the bus to Puerto Natales and the six hour ride was one of my trip's most "enlightening" for me. I did a lot of thinking on that ride, it was quite easy since we had choir music in the background. I'll give you an idea of some of the thoughts that went through my mind. During this trip, I have realized that I am the type of traveler who makes changes on the go. Yeah, me. I like to plan everything. But, I am willing to accept people's opinion and change my trip just by someone's praise of a place (such as Bolivia and Torres de Paine). Originally I was only going to Argentina and Chile, but now Bolivia has become equal to the other two. Spending little money everyday is addicting. Trying to spend less and less until your only spending a dollar on lunch, is bad! I went to the supermarket and bought lunch for a dollar, and would not spend $0.60 for a drink. I have to realize sometimes, not to go overboard, keep myself in check. Two other thoughts that'll comment on are, I have a drinking problem (with H20 with gas [a.k.a. seltzer, club soda, mineral water]). Yup, you laugh. I'm a wateraholic. I have begun to watch my drinking because finding bathrooms are not the easiest thing down here in South America. And the other realization, is "Yo quiero un perro!" (I want a dog!). My guess is in about 5 years, I shall get a dog. I love them. Well, the other thoughts are too personal for the web, so sorry. :-) Onward in the travels. I arrived in Puerto Natales and ended staying at a Swiss run place, Casa de Cecila. I read they have excellent breakfasts. We shall see in the morning. Goodnight. Sat, March 18 - Woke up and had an excellent breakfast. Homemade bread and jams. Walked around a bit, and bought another $1 lunch (it is addicting), and then in the afternoon, I went horseback riding. I took a zodiac (inflatable motor boats) across the river and to a couple's ranch. They own the entire island and 35 horses. I spent 3 hours with two other people riding through cow pastures and hills. The views were... good. Not as good as I would learn about in 3-4 days time. I returned to the Casa de C. and with the help of an English girl planned my Bolivia portion, of what things to see and who to talk to for various things. I then asked for a recommendation for dinner and ate at a restaurant that pays for the taxi ride to the restaurant. I did not believe they would pay, but that was true, and dinner was $8, for all you can eat lamb, potatoes, salad, bread, and a bottle of beer and H20 with gas. That was a lot of fun because the owner had me help prepare my dinner, cut and mixing the lamb on the grill. I then played a game where you swing this string with a loop attached to it trying to latch this hook on the wall. The owner, Don Chicho, was a pro, he turned off all the lights in the restaurant and did it lights off, and backwards. Hilarious! He then drove me back in his car to the the place I was staying. It was a very funny night. Well, more sleep. It never ends. Sun, March 19 - Woke up at 4:45am to catch a 5:30am bus. Breakfast was waiting for me, with hot tea at 5am. Had a little breakfast and off to the bus. I headed off to El Calafate, Arg. We arrived at 1pm and I walked to the hostel. The time is one hour ahead of Puerto Natales. I had lunch, and then signed up for a glacier tour in the morning. Another day just checking out the new town. I bought my dinner and vegetables for the next two days. While in town, I bumped into the German (Markus) and we chatted. I then headed home for a small dinner and a little reading. Nada mas. Sleep. Mon, March 20 - On to the glacier, Perito Moreno. Well, it is one of very few glaciers in the world that is still growing. It is about 4 miles wide, 10 miles long, and 150 to 210ft tall above the water. It is another 360 feet underwater. It's a monster. It grows about 8 inches a day. The entire ice region in Chile and Argentina is 13,000 kilometers. Huge, in other words. Words cannot describe the feeling one gets when looking at this huge piece of moving, growing, and cracking ice. I took about a roll and a half of photos that day. I spent 2 and a half hours of being mesmerized by it. I only hope my photos do justice to it. After returning that day, I walked around the town and watched the sunset. I'm still in shock. I met someone who had worked for Swiss Air that traveled a lot, who had just returned from one of the Antarctica trips. He was a blast to listen to. All the horror stories from traveling in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. Well, after my pre-bedtime stories, off to bed I went. Tue, March 21 - Woke up and decided that yesterday's glacier time was not enough. So, yesterday on my walk of the town, I bought a ticket to do some ice-hiking on that same glacier. We drove out to the national park again and we took a boat to cross the water that separates the viewing platforms from the glacier. Off to do some hiking. Well, we strapped on the crampons (imagine 8 spikes attached to your shoe) and off we went on the ice. They seemed to work like magic. One simply had to trust that they would work, something that is not easy since I had no prior experience with them. The feeling of walking on a glacier was amazing, especially since the day before I had seen how large it truly was. Well, an hour and a half later we toasted the walk with whiskey and chocolate. I met a really nice couple from NYC and a pilot (part of a flight crew from someone's personal plane, a Gulfstream 2). During that bus ride back home from the park I learned about Mach (the speed of sound) and how it is based on temp. We had a great conversation about aviation. During the ride back, I also learned about Butterfield and Robinson, a tour group dedicated to the wealthy. That was amusing to watch these individuals, and their tour guide carrying their brown bag lunches. Need I say more. My conversation with the pilot was quite a learning experience. Unfortunately, the other couple from NYC, I never exchanged numbers with, so I was forced to leave a message with the hotel they were staying at. Get this, the only phone the hotel had was a satellite phone, and I called them to leave a message. The area is fairly remote, so that no phones (cellular or landline) are there, only Sat-Phones.. We arrived back and back to the hostel for my home cooked meal. I splurged and bought a yellow pepper for a vegetable, that cost a whole dollar. Some more reading and off to sleep. Wed, March 22 - Headed back from El Calafate via bus to Puerto Natales. I arrived at 1:30pm and was lucky enough to get the last bed. The ride down was fairly rough, so there was mud all over the outside. Another disconcerting thing, was that the driver would stop every 45 minutes (this was a 6 hour ride) and walk around the bus and then fiddle with the hood. Not something that was very comforting. Well, we arrived all right and I then bought lunch and prepared for my hike (5 days at Torres Del Paines, Chile). I bought various food for breakfast and lunch. Each dinner will be in the park's cabins which are separated by about a 7-9 hour hike. I therefore brought my food back and then took a walk to look into a 3 night ferry ride through the various waterways and fjords. I bought a ticket for that, so next week (Thur.) I'll hop on that. It is suppose to have some beautiful views. Thu, March 23 - Caught the 7:30am bus and we had a unplanned stop to deal with a flat tire. The tire was in such bad condition that the side walls had ripped apart, literally (I have a photo of this). Well, changing a flat turned into a major deal because the jack that was stored on the bus was not larger enough to jack up the bus, so we had the opportunity to go scavenging for pieces of wood to put under the jack. I guess the idea of a larger jack was not thought about, because with the amount of dirt roads, this was definitely not the first flat the driver had seen. After swapping the tires (my knife played a role in removing the spare, it was tied on), we continued to Torres del Paine (will be referred to in the future as TaP = Torture and Pain). Well we arrived and upon signing in to the park, they ask how long is the maximum you plan in the park. That way if you do not emerge, they go looking for you. Before entering the park, I had decided to hike the "W". So I took the boat to the hiking trails (which is at the bottom of the left-side. We arrived at 12:30pm, and I immediately dashed off to my first destination which was a mere "3 hrs" away (13 Km or 8 miles), the top of the "W". The terrain was quite hilly and very rocky, so there were lots of ups and downs. Remember, that I am carrying a full pack, a sleeping bag (I rented in Puerto Natales), and food for breakfast and lunch for 7 days. So my pack was not the lightest. I huffed and puffed and took a total of 10 minutes of breaks in my trek to the first point, a cabin in the woods (Grey Refugio). It took me 3.5 hrs to the cabin and no one passed me so I knew I was not so slow. Upon arriving I checked in and went outside to look at Grey Glacier. A larger glacier than Perito Moreno, but difficult to see because it wraps around a few mountains. It is part of the Arctic Ice Cap. I sat by the water right outside the cabin and soaked my throbbing red feet in the icy water. Pieces of ice float down this lake that fall off the glacier. So, you can imagine it was a little chilly by the water, but because the trek was difficult, or so I thought, my feet hurt. Well, I headed inside and ate dinner and then off to sleep I went. I also found out that my plans for tomorrow, another ice trek was full, so no trek on the glacier or this trip, tomorrow is the last day of the season. Off to sleep I go. Fri, March 24 - Woke up at 7:30am and off I went to do some hiking up the mountain to see more of the glacier. I also attempted to follow the ice trek group, they were near the shore while I was on the trail which seemed to go higher and higher. So, finally after about 1.5hrs of hiking, I headed down the side of the mountain off the trail (which is a no-no, in case something happened to me no one would know where I was). After following a stream down the side of the mountain for 2 hrs, I finally reached the shore. It was quite steep, so down was a lot harder than up. I finally made it to the glacier and watched it for about 2 hours. Absolutely amazing. I then headed back and drank 2/3 of a liter of red wine in a box (all the food is brought in via horseback, so nothing can be glass) and chatted with a group of Brazilians. After dinner, I decided to go to sleep early (9:30pm) because I was going to hike back down the "W" to the starting point (bottom left) where the boat left me off tomorrow, good-night. (5 Km or 3.1 miles) Sat, March 25 - Woke up at 5am to the sound of rain, hard rain. So, I knew it was going to be a delightful hike in the rain. I had previously decided to hike with the Brazilians so off we went at 10am in the rain. Lucky for me I bought a rain poncho a few days before for this type of thing, so before the wind picked up, it served some use. This time we took more stops along the way so total trek time was 4 hrs (13 Km or 8 miles) to the next cabin (Refugio Pehoe). The Brazilians then caught the boat out and I met a couple from Australia. We chatted and I had dinner. It turned out that we are going to be taking the same boat ride (NaviMag - cargo ship that goes through the fjords or glaciers in Chile). They were quite funny, so it was an amusing night, off to sleep soon because tomorrow is going to be a long day (9 hrs planned hiking). Off to sleep. Sun, March 26 - Woke up at 7am and quickly ate breakfast and was out the door and hiking by 7:45am. And I thought this was going to be easy. I hiked from the lower left to the middle of the "W" and saw the center, the Valley of Frances. As I walked through the valley, mountains towered on either side of me. The mountains were brown up to the top, and then the peak was black because it was granite. While hiking to the lookout (Mirador) it started to snow, how pretty you think, not exactly what I was thinking since I had hiked for about 3 hrs before and I knew the trail was going to be steep. After reaching the Mirador, I took few photos and a Californian took a photo of me. This was at the center of the "W", I then headed down and towards the bottom right. That is where I needed to go for the next cabin (Los Cervios). I left my pack (wrapped in my rain poncho) at the bottom of the "W" at a camp, the "W" is actually a script "W" so there is overlap. After I reached Los Cervios at 5pm, I was extremely exhausted. I had hiked 26 Km or 16.1 miles that day, and this was suppose to be the longest day of the entire hike. But knowing that I had completed about 2/3 of the entire hike, I was quite satisfied. This cabin had no electricity, everything including the lights were gas powered, we were that isolated. Everything came on horseback, including all the ingredients for dinner which was prepared by the only true "chef" in the park. A true honor. And then off to bed. Mon, March 27 - Yesterday I had met Marlene (Swiss girl) and "Volka" (German guy, I do not actually know his name, but it was pronounced something similar to this) and so we had decided to set off in the morning to the next cabin (Refugio Chileano), which was "only" 6 hrs away. Along a cow pasture we separated so the final 1.5 hrs I went my own pace and ate lunch on a rock on the side of a mountain which was "wearing a hat of snow and ice". The final hour was along side a mountain that was made of sand, so during rain storms, this was not where I would want to hike. Upon arriving at Chileano at 2pm, I was told that the next day was going to be bad weather, so I decided that I was going to go to the top of the Torres (the peaks which the park is named after). I had decided I had enough of the TaP (Torture and Pain) and wanted to finish and depart the next day. So, off with the Marlene and Volka we went (they arrived first to the cabin) to the top. Well, this was definitely the most difficult trail of the park, and the last 45 minutes were pretty much at an 75 degree angle, in other words, really really really steep. The climb was over rocks about 3-4 feet (or 1 meter) in diameter. Quite difficult to climb over. I thought about giving up, but realized this is what I had come to the park for and decided I was getting to the top. And to the top I got. Words can not describe the feelings of conquering this mountain, I now can honestly understand the mind state you get when climbing mountains. The peak or failure. Well, on the top of the Torres there is a lake which was formed by a glacier that is still melting. Torres is actually 3 peaks, North, South, and Central. It was spectacular. At the peak, Par (from Sweden, note the "a" has two dots) had left 15 minutes after me, and arrived at the peak first. So, all 4 of us took photos. Amazing. Ok, enough ohh and ahh. We headed down and had the worst dinner of all the nights. But, dinner was not that important, since tomorrow we just had only 4 more hrs of hiking and we were done. Before dinner, my stomach hurt, so dinner was not the best thing for it. I do not know if it was from exhaustion or something else, but immediately following dinner, I went straight to my bed to lay down (a.k.a. sleep). This turned out to be the longest day because originally I had planned to stay one more day in the park, and go to the Torres the next day. Well, the tally for today was 30 Km or 18.5 miles. I hope I never hike this much again in one day. Tue, March 28 - I woke up knowing today is the final day in the park and all I need to do is hike out of the park which is mostly down hill. So, off we (Par, Lotta [Sweden], Tony [England]) and I go. We arrived at the final cabin and decide to relax on the grass there for 2 hours before heading to the park entrance to catch the bus back to the city (Puerto Natales). I walked around on the grass barefoot, what a calming feeling. So, we have the option to take a mini-bus to the entrance of the park (US $3) or hike another 7 Km or 4 1/3 miles. So, the addicting mindset we are in, we hike the final 7 Km. That took only 1.5 hours, not bad. We final arrive at the entrance and watch foxes playing. They look like little dogs, very cute, but very fast. Well, the trek has been completed. The final day we hiked a total of 12 Km or 7.5 miles. And the total distance that I hiked on Torres Del Paine was 99 Km or 61 1/3 miles over 6 days or per day 16.5 Km or 10 1/3 miles. I do not believe it myself, but my feet are still feeling sore two days later as I type this. Upon returning to Puerto Natales, we all went out for dinner at Don Chicho for lamb. It was OK, not as good as the first time I went. But, it was fun overall. I knew I was going to sleep well that night. And sleep well I did. Wed, March 29 - Woke up and relaxed. That's all we did, relaxed and stayed off your feet as much as possible. We thought about filling our packs up with rocks and hiking about, but decided to stay in for the day. We went and bought lunch, but that was about it. Dinner was cooked by Par and Lotta (with Tony doing the cutting of vegetables) so the only task left for me was washing the dishes. After dinner we watched a little TV and then off to sleep we all went. Thu, March 30 - Par, Lotta, and Tony all left for El Calafate at 6am so after swapping info, I had breakfast after they left and made a list of things I needed to buy. I am on my last roll of regular film (as opposed to APS), so I will buy some today and need to get my day pack fixed, the strap is going off. Tonight I am taking the NaviMag (the cargo ship that heads up north to Puerto Montt about 1000 Km or 620 miles. This is suppose to be beautiful, because Chile has so many little islands that are untouched and all the fjords and glaciers in the region. Well, off I went to buy film and some other essentials and to get my day pack fixed. I brought it to a sewer to be repaired. $2 later, and the bag was back to new, well not quite. I made dinner and then headed over to board the NaviMag. Boarding was at 10pm and I was the first one to get on the boat so I had the option of which ever bed I wanted. I was told to make sure I was one of the first, because some of the beds are near the engines. Not so good when we are traveling all day and night. Well, I picked out my bed and then headed upstairs to check out the other travelers. The Australian couple, Dave and Daniella, I had met previously were there and everyone else was new. I then headed to sleep. |
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Fri 3/31 - Sun 4/2 - I was abroad the NaviMag ship Puerto Eden, known simply as NaviMag. I woke up at 9:30am, missing the announcements over the loudspeaker for breakfast. I therefore wondered when the crew would discuss safety abroad the boat. Note, we had left port in the wee hours of the night and still did not know any of the emergency procedures. Finally at 11:30am, they explained to us the emergency procedures. Well, besides this... the first two days were cloudy making seeing the beautiful landscape difficult. Finally, the third day the sunny showed up and I was able to judge the vistas. Well, I was disappointed with the sites. The boat wreck was a highlight, but otherwise... just a lot of rolling green hills and coast and some snow capped mountains in the far distance. Nothing too memorable. The people and the interactions on the ship were though. I got into an argument with some of the staff on the boat because the crew kept stressing that the food was ¨el mismo¨ (the same), for the separate dining areas for the lower and upper class customers and in reality it was not. Economy was separated from cabin class. That saying ¨Separate, but Equal.¨ Separate is not equal, no matter what. Here is me fighting for freedom... read on. So, each tea time we had to leave the movie area and go downstairs to get our tea and cookies. Well, one time I decided that I was tired of going downstairs and so after the cabin class was done getting their tea and cookies I went over and started taking some tea and one of the crew asked me if I was economica, and I said yes. He informed me I had to go downstairs. I asked why... ¨because economica eats downstairs¨ was his reply. I said ¨Why?¨ He stressed it was el mismo. I simply said, ¨El mismo, no es importante si es el mismo¨ (the same, it is not important if it is the same) and continued to pour the tea and cookies. After I took the cookies, he took them off the counter. I thanked him sarcastically and left. I then decided to wander downstairs and get those cookies. Those cookies were tea wafers, while the cookies upstairs were cream filled. Liars! I returned upstairs and continued reading, even though the movie was on. Well, Daniela then went to get ¨cabin class¨ cookies and tea she would not be served. So, she went downstairs and there were no cookies. So, she returned and asked for ¨cabin class¨ cookies and tea again explaining that there were none downstairs in ¨economica class¨. He said ¨No, economica class is downstairs.¨ She walked away pissed and told me what happened. 5 minutes later... one of the senior crew walked over to her and asked what happened. She explained and the crew member informed her that the food was the same and that... I immediately cut in and let her know that was not the case because I ate cookies from both classes, and the cabin class cookies were superior, and were clearly not the same. I also informed her that one of the kitchen staff insulted me and I was not pleased with his behavior. She then walked away. 5 minutes later... she returned with the cabin class cookies for Daniela. Victory for economica. :-) It was amazing to witness the separate classes, each would talk with their class and avoid contact outside of it. Something so unimportant... yet the layout and method of doing things always reinforced this. You can tell I walked away from the NaviMag with a bad taste in my mouth. I really do not know if I would recommend it for this reason until the low season when there is only 1 class. Mon, April 3 - After the NaviMag arrived in Puerto Montt, I went with the Australians, 2 Colorado-ians, and a Japanese guy to a small hostel. We left our stuff and headed out and wandered the city. We visited the bus station to plan each of our next few days, and then we all split up. I visited the Train and Historical Museum ($0.20) and then walked past a plaza in which I saw the weirdest thing I have seen on the trip so far. There was a crowd that was forming around a group of kids. I noticed that some of the kids (teenagers) had white stuff in their hair. I slowly walked closer and noticed that there were three guys standing in a row facing the middle of the crowd with their hands on their head. All 3 had white stuff in their hair... I also noticed about 5 people in the crowd eating bananas. I then noticed that there were 3 girls on their knees in front of the guys using their hands... I thought maybe they were "working" on bananas, but the object looked pink. My interest was peaked (no pun intended), so I soon became one of the crowd and saw that the girls were sucking on condoms. I could not believe it. I watched for about 30 seconds and then I noticed that the condoms were getting smaller and smaller. I finally realized when one of the girls "finished" that she pulled the condom out of his pants and that their was a pin hole at the tip of each condom and they had to suck out all the yogurt in the condom. It was a game they played. This was no game I have ever seen. A slightly similar game I played at my birthday parties when I was around 10, was with strings and a marshmallow tied to the end and whoever ate the marshmallow won. You can say this "sucking condom" game has evolved. Well, after the girl won, she walked away smiling and chatting to her friends like nothing weird happened. I wanted to take a photo, but decided not to because I was so close to the crowd. If I only had a zoom... :-) Well, after that, the rest of my day was uneventful. I walked around Puerto Montt a little more and then headed back to the hostel to have dinner with the Australians and the Japanese. We then headed down to the fish market that is in every guidebook. We all ended up eating seafood soup. We decided to buy ice cream in the supermarket for all of us to share when we returned to the hostel. We then chatted about our plans for the next few days and off to sleep we went. Tue, April 4 - Off to the bus station I went to buy my ticket to Bariloche, Argentina. I realized when I was on the bus that I forgot to take a photo of the hostel, I take photos of each place I sleep at. I was not too upset, since I would not return there because the hot water lasted for about 15 seconds. Well, the bus ride was quite beautiful because about 3 hours of it are in the Nahuel Huapi National Park. The border crossings are all in this national park. 8 hours later I had arrived in Bariloche and then hiked about 3 miles to the hostel where I was staying at. I still do not understand why the bus terminal is outside the city. Of course, it was raining, so it made the hike even more pleasurable. When I finally arrived and dropped my pack off, I wandered around the town looking for the excursion that visited the black glacier and "the waterfalls of Baroliche". I found it and then found a rain cover for my pack (it is actually my sisters´ finance's pack [as of May 6, 2000 Brother-in-law], Rob). I had been looking for that cover about 3 weeks. I then went shopping for dinner and some chocolate. Baroliche is known for their chocolate shops, so I had to verify this with a few taste tests. The chocolate was good, but I still think that NYC has some better chocolate. I then made a phone call to mi madre to let her know that I was doing well. I guess e-mail and journal entries do not count. I then watched Scarface with a few other guys at the hostel. Off to sleep at 1am. Wed, April 5 - Woke up at 8am for the excursion and had a quick breakfast and made my lunch. The trip visited Ventiquero Negro (Black Glacier) and Cascada Los Alerces (the Water Falls). Both sites were located in the Nahuel Huapi National Park. The water fall was OK, I've seen many water falls, so the ones I see now must be spectacular, otherwise, I am not impressed. The Black Glacier was fascinating looking. The glacier is black because it is mixed with dirt and stones. We then sat on stones and I realized that the stone I was sitting on was compressed dirt, so I started to break it apart with my Leatherman. Wow, very impressive the "dirt" rock and the glacier. The fall season is approaching in this region so many of the trees are yellow and red. So mountains caps seem to be red now. There are also these extremely thin and tall trees that are bright yellow, so they stick out in the landscape. Besides red and yellow, we have a little orange as well. The excursion was in a mini-bus with 10 other people. The guide only spoke Spanish and we really got our money's worth, so talked the entire time. I guess she likes to talk and she probably thought that if there was a touch of silence she was not doing her job. She talked about her talking at one time saying that the first few years she had trouble filing up all the time, but now she is able to. How lucky I was! Well, we returned at 7pm, and I made my fancy homemade dinner of pasta, garlic, and water. Dinner cost me nothing because I used all the free food that was left by other travelers. I was quite impressed with my self on that one. Well, I did some reading and talked with the owner of the hostel about bike riding. He said he could rent me a bike for $12 for the day, so tomorrow at 9am, I'll be off. Goodnight. Thu, April 6 - Woke up at 9am and rented a mountain bike from the hostel's bike store. I was off by 10am with my plan to circle half of Lago Perito Moreno (same name as the Glacier, in El Calafate, but I am in Baroliche, Argentina). Well, my relaxing day bike riding turned into a 42Km (26 miles) journey. And this was the shortest circle I could do. I took a hour break overlooking the lake and ate lunch and read part of my book. That was extremely relaxing, but that was about half way, so I still had about 3 hours left. I finally returned at 5:30pm. The views were very colorful since it is fall now in Bariloche, Arg. I then relaxed a little bit before heading out and snacking on some chocolate before my "extremely expensive" dinner. I returned to the hostel and had my "free food" meal, food that was left by other travelers (i.e. pasta, rice...). Another night of my famous pasta and garlic meal, hmmm. Well, after the long bike ride and the need to head out the door at 6:30am, I decided to make it an early night (11pm), after some reading. This was a hostel that should not be missed when visiting Bariloche. It is called Alberque Hostel located at Elifin 406. Price per night was only $6 w/o bedding and renting a bike was only $10 because I stayed there. Pretty cheap. Goodnight. Fri, April 7 - Up at 6:15am and it is dark as the middle of the night. Well, the previous night I paid a visit to the Remis (Taxi) office and requested a cab at 6:30am to the Bus Terminal. I would rather not hike to the Terminal in the dark, I would have if it was daylight. Well, the bus left at 7am and I had to make 2 connections (Osorno, Villedivia) to get to Pucon ($18, $2.65, $2). What's in Pucon you ask? The only active volcano in Chile, yup and I am going to climb it (weather permitting). Well, I finally arrived in Pucon at 5:30pm, and normally I go to a hostel listed in my Lonely Planet, but since it was rainy and a lady was at the station selling her hostel. I followed, and my Australian friends (David and Daniela) were there, talk about small world (or as we travelers refer to it the "Gringo Trail.") The 3 of us then went shopping for dinner and I booked my volcano hike with the company they took since this company provided gas masks (the cheaper ones don't). The gas masks come in handy when you reach the summit and do not want to breathe in sulfur fumes. We then returned for dinner, and I had my typical gourmet meal, but was "spoiled" when the Italians at the hostel (more accurately half a house that has four rooms with 2 beds in each) offered me some of their excellent, truly excellent meal, vegetables (mushrooms, peas, onions) with a cream based sauce with pasta and salad. I swear the cook was a chef back in Italy or I have not had some very good Italian food in a while. Later in the evening I re-organized my backpack, the little things like this make me happy. I also roughly planned out my final three weeks. I'll be back before you know it. Wow, time has flown by. Goodnight after a little reading (the book is about 450 pages that's why I have been reading it for so long). Sat, April 8 - I woke up at 5:42am for some unknown reason. My alarm was set for 6:30am. Well, it was rainy so the volcano hike was postponed (when I booked I was told if it was rainy that it would be postponed). I therefore decided to get up at 7am and have breakfast. I also noticed that the wood burning stove was out, so I went outside to the woodpile and gathered some wood to start the fire. Well, at 7:20am, I attempted to make the fire. Well, an hour and a half later I finally succeeded. The Italians watched me as I struggled to get it going. I figured out the trick was to build a tee-pee of wood with the thinner pieces on the outside. Well, once the fire was lit, I realized I better use it, so instead of making my tea on the gas oven I made it on the wood burning stove. Even though I spent a hour and a half on the fire, I guess, I got caught up in succeeding. I was pleased once it was done though. Who cares... if I spent 3 hours on it, as long as I am happy, that is all that matters. As of 10:30am, it was still rainy, but I decided to do some rafting. So, I took the 11am rafting trip (though class 4 and 5 rapids, in other words some rough rapids). It turned out that only 3 of us ventured in the rain to do it. Well, the rapids were intense. We had a 4 meter (12 foot) and 3 meter (9 foot) drops. Talk about intense. And then part of the rapids we had to walk about 1 Km (3000 feet) because the rapids are class 6 (you need to be trained to do class 6 and above). So, the guide went down in the boat as we walked along the shore. He tied the boat to him and down he went (dropping at 1 point down a 10 meter (30 foot) drop. I thought the raft would flip, but nope. The entire trip no one fell out. The raft had two foot grips and extra rope along the side (normally, there are no foot grips). Most intense rafting trip I have taken so far anywhere. No photos, we were not allowed to bring anything, and we wore wet suits and boots. Awesome! Afterwards, I returned to the hostel for a shower and then was suppose to meet some English guys to watch some Rugby Finals, but it turned out that soccer was being shown on the TV, no rugby. So, off I went to wander around the town some more (a one street town) and make plans if it rains again tomorrow. I think I will do some ATV-ing (4 wheel off-road motorcycles). Well, off I go to have dinner. My fingers are crossed about hiking the volcano.
Sun, April 9 - The day of the volcano trip and it's cloudy, what horrible luck. Part of the sky is clearing, some there is some hope. I go to the tour office and we wait an hour before attempting to do the climb. We are told that the visibility is at about 20 meters (about 60ft). As we drive, it seems to be clearing. The trek up Volcano Villarrica involves a 5 hour trek up and 2.5 hours are on ice. Can you say physically challenging? Yes! The gear they provide includes crampons, heavy duty climbing boots, pants. shin guards, mittens, hat, jacket, backpack, gas masks, and an ice axe. Well, hiking up was grueling and I really thought I was going to quit. There were ten of us going up, with a guide in front and in back. Well, we got to the top and the views were amazing, the bright red lava inside and the it was hot, even though this volcano had an ice cap on it. We had climbed above the clouds and had an excellent view of the other mountains around. Well, up was 5 hours and down took only 1.5 hours. How, we slid on your backs down the mountain, crazy!!! We used the ice axes to slow down as we slid down the mountain. The entire time I was thinking if I slip and let go of the axe, I am dead. That's all that was on my mind. Scare stuff. Well, we finally got down and back to the mini-van and off to Pucon. I'm Alive!!! The tour office had beer and diplomas for us for climbing and reaching the summit. I quickly headed back to the hostel and gathered my stuff for the overnight bus ride to Santiago, total cost of the ride $8. Mon, April 10 - Arrived at 7am, and looked into my next bus ticket further up north while I was at the bus terminal. I then started my walk to see two museums that are near the bus station (with my pack on). Both are closed because it is Monday. So off to the hostel. The hostel is huge, looks like an apartment building minus the elevators (top floor is 5). I was on 4. After dropping off my stuff I was off to see the city, it's larger than Manhattan and spreads out for at least 10 miles in each direction from the center of the city. I took the subway to FedEx off my shot film back to the States, this was the one thing I had in my possession I did not want to lose. So I sent 12 rolls off and continued my walk around the center of the city. I saw the US Embassy and the Cerro Saint Lusia (a hill that overlooks the city), and various government buildings. Bought 5 more rolls of film which I negotiated for. And then walked around the city some more before heading over to see a movie, 3 Kings. After the movie, I hunted down a restaurant review that was in the Lonely Planet for Santiago. Last time I specifically look for a restaurant in a guide book. I also saw the fish market in Santiago, actually the outside of the building because it was closed when I arrived. Took a taxi back to the hostel because the neighborhood was kind of sketchy. At the hostel, I stayed in a room that contained two bunk beds, but only one other guy was in the room with me. Well, off to sleep. Tues/Wed April 11-12 - Downstairs for breakfast in the hostel, met two girls that I saw on the NaviMag so we chatted over breakfast. Then I got my pack and off to check out those 2 museums, the Train Museum and the Natural History Museum and then catch the bus north towards Bolivia. I caught the 1pm bus north to Antofogasta which is a Northern port city in Chile. It was scheduled to arrive the following day at 11am, 22 hours later. The longest bus ride I have ever taken in my life. It was a great ride though, there were about 15 people on the bus and we played Bingo and the bus made frequent stops in various cities along the way. We finally arrived at 11am and so I planned on staying in Antofogasta for 1 night. But I walked around and saw that the once active port town was slowly fading away and decided that I would rather get into Bolivia faster so I walked back to the bus terminal 2 hours later and planned on taking the 2pm bus ride to Calma. I did see the fish market and sea lions at the port. There was a gentleman scaling an eel like fish near and water, so I took a few photos of him and the sea lions along with these huge birds. Well, I finally caught the bus and made it to Calma and then fell to a scam, I think it was, that the last bus was leaving in 10 minutes which was the truth, but the distance was in dispute. So, another traveler and I shared a taxi to the edge of town where we caught the bus. The total cost of the ride for each of us was $1. I bargained the taxi driver down from $1.50 a piece. I thought we were getting ripped off, but decided that for a $1, I would take that chance. So, we finally caught the bus, $1 to San Pedro and this extremely slow and in poor condition bus. Only locals were on the bus, and these kids were running up and down the bus, it turned out they were the drivers children. Not the most relaxing rides. Two hours into the ride, I was sitting and reading and I said "Oh Shit!" I had just realized I had left on the bus ride to Antofogasta my fleece*. I explained this to the Mexican traveler I was with and I decided I would phone the company Bus-Tur and ask them if they found it, I had placed it above my seat. We finally arrived in San Pedro and I called Bus-Tur, but they said they did not find any fleece*. Say goodbye to that. Well, while walking around the little town we bumped into David and Daniela, the Australians. Thu-Sat April 13-15 - Off we went to the Salar de Uyuni (in Bolivia) via Colque Tours, I had heard about them extensively whenever I mentioned I was going to Bolivia. They were considered the people to go with when traveling in Bolivia. Our entire group consisted of 3 LandCruisers and ours had 6 of us in it plus the driver. The occupants included Jeff (Vermont), Mike (Idaho), D&D (Austalians), and Tomomi (Japan). Salar de Uyuni is in the Reserva National de Fauna Andina. The drive through the desert was colorful, cold, and just absolutely... words can't describe it. We saw green, red, and salt lagoons. Rocks that looked like with were out of the movie Return of the Jedi. And vast flatness and extremely high altitudes. Animals that looked similar to llamas, but are slightly different called vicunas. Our first day we were at an altitude level of 4300 meters (~14,000 feet), 2nd day 3600 meters (~12,000 feet). I was extremely dizzy the first couple of days therefore I took a fair amount of pain killers to reduce the constant mind splitting headache I had. Each day we drove about 4 hours and each LandCruiser carried it's own food, so we stopped for lunch whenever we wanted. The 2nd night we stayed in this little town called San Juan which had houses that were made from brick of dirt and water, it does not rain there really. It's actually one of the driest deserts in the world, having rained only once 80 years ago. It is part of the Arica desert. Well, dinner tonight was separate from the entire group and we stayed separate from them as well, we did not even see where they were staying. Well, off to sleep we go. My little room consisted of Mike, Jeff , and myself. On the third day we emerged onto this huge desert, and it was all white. It was the Salt Desert, literally white in all directions. Size, 100km (East to West) x 200km (North to South) and 10 meters deep or 64 miles x 124 miles x 32 feet deep. Extremely large! Think of a lake and then imagine if it was all white and made of salt. Weird thoughts. We also saw a salt hole along out trip, so I brought some salt back to the U.S. The molecular structure is in a square formation, therefore the salt is in tiny cubes. We arrived on the third day to the city of Uyuni in Bolivia and we (the 6 of us plus another gentleman from Holland) took a evening bus to Potosi. It arrived at 1:30am in Potosi, but since it was an overnight bus we were allowed (tried to) sleep on the bus until the 6am and then we headed into the city to find a hotel to stay for the day. We found a place and then another buy and myself went and took a tour of the sliver mines. Potosi is known for mining, especially silver mining. The city's economic viability is based on this mine. The mine tour included buying dynamite which cost a total of $8. We carried a lantern and boots and a rain coat to walk through the mine. The tour was quite fascinating, with workers working 12/24 and 36 hour shifts it explains why they have so many accidents. Killing hundreds each year in the mine. The tour guide looked like she was forty even though she was 21. Her brother 23 had died the year before in an accident. It seems that the Bolivian run portion of the mine is more dangerous than the United States portion of the mine. Various countries have bought portions for their use. We saw them use hammers and chisels and a piece of dynamite to pull apart the rock. What a slow process, but at least they make money off it. We returned to the city and off to La Paz tonight on another overnight bus ride. We left Potosi because of the strike that was about to cripple the city's transportation. This time we actually had seats that leaned all the way back unlike the ride from Uyuni to Potosi. Mon, April 17 - Arrived in La Paz at 6:50am and then headed downhill to Hotel Torino, a recommendation by anther traveler. We had breakfast and then the 6 of us walked around the city and went to see the government building near our hotel. Since we were walking around with Tomomi, we looked for this Japanese restaurant, we never found it, but instead ate at a Chinese one. We also watched the Boston Marathon that day. Then back to the hotel and I left the group to buy my ticket via TAM ticket to Rurrenbaque (Rurre). I then headed back to the hotel and saw the movie La Playa, then back to sleep. Tue, April 18 - Breakfast with the whole group (6 of us) and then saw an exhibit about Maldivia (National Park outside of Rurre) by National Geographic, a few museums, and then the prison. The prison tour was $7 and showed us how corrupt the system is. The tour was given by a prisoner in jail for drugs. Highlights of the tour included an offer to buy any kind of drugs we wanted, a description of the "intro" given to sex offenders and child molesters (it includes bottles, hot peppers, and some nasty shit [pun intended]), cable tv, and huge locks on cells to protect their personal property. The tour was extremely enlightening. We then walked about a little more and then had dinner. We bumped into some people we had met on the NaviMag tour back in Chile, talk about Gringo Trail. After dinner we headed back to the hotel and I chatted with Mike before heading to sleep to wake up at 6:40am. Mike had a very similar personality, cool guy. Off to sleep. Wed, April 19 - Up at 6:40am and caught the bus to the airport. Well, I was able to get onto the early flight on TAM, Transport Air Military, and therefore an hour later we landed on the grass landing field. I then caught a ride into town on the back of an open pickup truck carrying my pack. 0.68$ I was in town. Lunch, a three course meal cost a total of a $1. The meal was plantains, soup, and rice with beef stew. I then searched futilely for un moto, a motorcycle to rent to drive around town. Also for the fun aspect. I was not able to find one, so I simply walked around. I then headed back in the afternoon and did some reading on the porch of the hotel and finally went to sleep at 10pm. No dinner tonight. I have my own room with a fan. Quite luxurious. Thu, April 20 - Up at 6:40am again, and so I decided to take a little walk around town and to the waterfront. After breakfast ($1.68) later I was off to the "El Selva" (The Jungle). There were only two of us for the 3 day hike in the Jungle. So, off we went on a 1.5 hour boat ride into the Maldiva National Park. We final arrived and into the camp grounds we went. We arrived and the guide who was suppose to take just us, was given another group that was hiking for 4 days. Therefore the boat driver and the guide discussed what possibilities existed. The guide gave us the option of going with the 4 days hikers, but making the 4 day hike into 3, or to stay in the base camp and take days hikes. We decided to go along with the 4 day hikers and off we went further upstream via the boat. We then hopped off the boat and split up all the food and shelter. Everyone took some to carry it. Both guides made bags out of natural rope. They cut pieces of some trees and then ripped off a portion of the bark that was used as rope. Once the guides had made their bags we started off with our hikes. The first portion of swamp, the guide instructed us to take off our shoes and socks. I asked why, and he responded that we should try to keep our shoes dry. Bare foot we walked through the 20 foot swamp area. This is the jungle, and so I was not to comfortable doing this, but I was third in line so I thought if there was a problem, the 1st or 2nd person would be in trouble. No problems occurred, and we came to another portion of swamp that the guide simply walked through with his shoes on and so we followed, the mud went up to our knees, shoes and socks were muddy and wet for the entire day. We finally arrived in the evening to our first base camp and we setup camp, rolled out our tarp and tied our insect netting up. We then made a fire and made our first dinner in the jungle. Off to sleep we went. Fri, April 21 - Off the next morning, the guide who had grown up in the jungle for about 5 years showed off this knowledge of the jungle. We drank from a "water vine" and also saw bats in a hollow tree. A few birds, but no other animals when walking with the whole group. The group was comprised of 7 guys and 1 girl, a guide and the cook. There were 5 Israelis, 2 Australian (the one girl), and me (1 American). We hiked the entire day until about 4pm when we reach our next base camp. We arrived and near the base camp was a large river and since we did not have enough food for all 10 of us, the guide had prepared us to go fishing. Well, fishing started at 4pm and as each hour passed, I doubted that we would be having dinner, but at 7pm, the solo female caught our dinner. 2-3 foot catfish which ended up feeding all 10 of us for 2 meals. Dinner and the following lunch on day 3. During the fishing along with beach, I took off my shoes and socks and walked along the beach. Throughout my time on the beach, black bugs would land and take off, I did not feel them biting and they really did not bother me. So, after dinner we all went to sleep and I was in for a surprise the next morning. Sat, April 22 - Well, I woke up and my ankles and foot had swollen and bite marks appeared. Those little black flies even though I felt nothing were biting me all of yesterday. Well, we had one more day to hike. With my feet so swollen walking was quite difficult because my feet felt extremely tight, but within the first 5 minutes my shoes and socks were wet and everything felt a lot better. All ten of us hiked together until lunch, and then the two of us "three dayers" left with the cook to walk ahead and return to base camp. Walking with just the three of us we ran into a herd of 200-300 wild boars. It was absolutely amazing. This was the first exposure to animals in the jungle. The jungle smelled when walking though the area they were in. The cook had us hide at one point because we had gotten in the center of some of the boars and it could have become dangerous, so we ducted down at one point and climbed onto this log that crossed a stream. Another event was towards the end of the hike when the other guy shook the line used for crossing a river and the cook, who was guiding us while the true guide was with the other group, missed with the machete and the tip of the blade went though his jeans and into his ankle. We taped him up with bandages, but the bleeding would not stop, so we started walking again. The cook was definitely in agony and we finally arrived back by 4:30pm. The cook then went into the jungle to find a root that would help this injury. We caught the boat back to Rurrenbaque and the other 2 day hiker and I shared a hotel room and then had dinner. Then to sleep. Sun, April 23 - Off to the water portion of the jungle known as Las Pampas. We (8 of us excluding the driver) were crunched in a jeep for about 3 hours. We then had lunch while we waited for them to bring our food and other equipment to the boat. All other stuff was on the roof, so they needed to make an extra trip. In the meantime, we had lunch and then took the 20 minute ride to hop on the boat for another 2.5 hours before reaching base camp.That evening we went on a alligator hunt in a boot (only to look at them). We found a whole family and the guide even picked up a little one in which we took some photos. The mother approached the boat while the guide had the baby in his hands so he quickly returned it when the mother was only 10 feet away. We then headed back to our base camp after some photos. Mon, April 24 - Woke up and did a dry land walk for about one hour. Nothing too exciting, but we then took a boat ride and swam in alligator infested waterways, why you might ask, because according to the guide, wherever their are dolphins, it's safe to swim in the water. I did not believe the logic, but the guide went swimming first, so I hoped that it was safe. It was also extremely difficult to get photos of the dolphins, they are extremely fast animals. The back to lunch and an hour and a half siesta (nap time) and then we went off on an anaconda hunt. 1.5 hours later and no anaconda, but we had the opportunity to walk through knee deep swamp. How fun, more wet shoes and socks. I also was given the opportunity to carry the machete during our afternoon anaconda hunt. We ended up returning early because the guide had hurt himself early in the day when taking a walk with one of the girls and he fell from a tree. Therefore we had a relaxed evening and muchos hablamos. Tue, April 25 - Woke up and had breakfast and then we packed up and all hopped in the boat for our return to the bigger city. During our ride back we had a swim and took the boat straight back to the pickup point for the jeep. We then all arrived and went to the same hotel, the Santa Ann (garden in center). Then dinner for all 8 of us. After dinner there was a parade in town and then to sleep. Wed, April 26 - Caught the flight back to La Paz. It was delayed an hour due to mechanical troubles, something that is not too reassuring in Bolivia. I also got the cold sweats on the flight back, not something that was pleasant. I also felt like I wanted to throw up and extremely weak in the knees. I then bought my ticket to Buenos Aires and did some internet. I was traveling with Caruso, the guide from Las Pampas, he was in La Paz for the doctor because he hurt himself when he fell from the tree. It was also Caruso's first time on a plane, something he enjoyed immensely. In the early evening I went shopping for various things, bags, sweaters, and other Bolivian made things. I also had my day pack fixed again, and the sewer did some basic maintenance on the bag. Back to the hotel to sleep. Thu, April 27 - Woke at 5am and took a taxi to the airport. Caught the 7am flight out to Santa Cruz, also in Bolivia, the flight to Buenos Aires makes a stop. I finally arrived in Buenos Aires and took a mini-bus to the city and then hopped on the internet to get in touch with my Buenos Aires contact. Went to her office and off to her apartment we went. We then visited a neighbor and then back to order dinner, a little delivery action. Then to sleep and tomorrow I return. Fri, April 28 - Woke up and had breakfast alone, Mariana had left for work already. I wrote her a thank you and off I went to the my favorite restaurant in Buenos Aires, Des Nivel (address: Defensa 855). A lunch of steak and I was happy. What a way to end a trip with an excellent meal. I then dropped by her office to return her keys and off to the airport I went. No bumps or problems. Sat, April 29 - I arrived at home for an excellent breakfast with my mom. Happily ever after. |