First off you can have my intinerary (or whatever it would be, you'll read below...),
La Paz to Lima $50, 27 hours
Lima to Mancora $30, 18 hours
Mancora to Guayaquil $13, 8 hours
Guayaquil to Tulcan $20, 15 hours
Ipiales to Cali $13, 10.5 hours
Cali to Bogota $20, 13.5 hours
Brings us to a total of $146 and 92 hours of actually sitting on a bus. the distance between the two cities (as the bird flys or by road im not sure) is 1508 miles.
So i decided to get a bus direct from la paz to lima peru. i could have probably saved a little if i had gone to lake titicaca first, then switched buses for the ride to lima, but i wasnt feeling well in la paz and took the easy way out. I ended up having to change buses in the peruvian lake town anyway, which was annoying, considering thats what i was trying to avoid. no matter. a total of 27 hours later i was in lima, and the ride wasnt so bad, they fed us--pathetically small amounts of food, but what do you expect?--and the seats were good enough to sleep in (with the help of a little diazepam). upon arriving lima i found the bus to mancora, the northern peruvian laid back beach town i was going to rest in and had lunch while i waited the few hours for it to leave.
Same thing to mancora, easy ride, comfy seats, not much food. when i arrived in the morning i found the hostel i stayed at the last time i was there, right on the beach. all did for the 24 hours i was there was drink juice on the beach, eat amazing cheap seafood, and sleep on a bed. next morning was off to ecuador, which was fine, except the bus wasnt air conditioned and thus very hot. we arrived in a big dirty nasty city in ecuador called Guayaquil. i found a bus from there to the town on the colombian border meant to leave in 20 minutes. perfect...or so it would seem. nobody seemed to know from what area this bus departed, but i was pointed in a direction and after asking a few people i found a bus that could be it. i showed the driver my ticked and asked if the bus was going to Tulcan. he looked at the ticket (in low light) and said "yeah yeah yeah, tulcan." after about 20 minutes of driving the conductor came on to check tickets, he looked at mine and said (in spanish, i have translated it for your benifit) "no, this bus isnt going to tulcan. its going to salinas." i didnt know where salinas was, just praying it was near the border of colombia. but no, it was 2 hours due west and once we arrived i learned there were no buses leaving till 3 am. i was pissed. like just about to break some windows or something, but i realized i would be able to get to colombia if i was arrested in ecuador. so i found a hostel, slept the night, ate more seafood, and went back to guayaquil where i bought the same ticket again, and got on the bus. just over 15 hours later i found myself at the border of colombia.
easy crossing, no difficulties, i love being american, half the time i get through quicker than the locals, or even the europeans, dont ask me why. the border town of colombia is called ipiales and is famous for a cathedral they have there. i bought my ticket out, left my bags at the bus station and found my way out to the church. its unbelievable. forget notre dame. ill get photos up when i can, but its built clinging the side of a massive canon. its amazing. i then took my night bus to cali (and then would proceed from cali to bogota cause it was cheaper that way than to get a direct to bogota from ipiales).
i got to bogota last night, took a city bus from the out-of-town into the hostel district and was dropped a block from my hostel, from a city bus from a big ass bus station a half hour ride away. maybe that doesnt sound like an accomplishment on screen, but i was proud of myself. i switched hostels this morning cause i dont agree with paying for breakfast or internet when your already paying for a bed. so i found my new hostel (which is new itself--only been up and running for a month) and will spend a day or two chilled out to get over a little cold i have. which i got right upon coming into colombia (a place where swine flu may actually be a problem) and convinced myself that i probably got it from all the buses i have been taking. i dont think thats true, cause im not dead yet, but lets keep our fingers crossed.
well there you have it, 7 days, $146, 92 hours sitting on a bus, and god knows how many kilometers later i made it. it wasnt so bad.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Ginger's Paradise
I didnt realize just how long its been, wow.
alright, i left the animal reserve with an aussie named gemma. we headed to santa cruz, which apparently a lot of people think is beautiful, but its really just another big city with no character. hot, dirty...not great. but we managed not to spend too much money, although we also didnt see 3-D movies, go to aqualand or anything else we planned. after a few days we headed off towards a town called samipata (which has not ATM) but we stopped off at a farm called gingers paradise.
It was started by an american guy married to a bolivian and their 3 children. you can pay a certain amount and just hang out, or pay a little less and work with them for a few hours in the morning. but the farm is all organic, and they are almost completely self-sustainable. they grow almost all their own food, solar panals create electricity, a wood fired oven makes food and hot water, its quite amazing. it would have been cool to stay longer (money and time gave us only 3 days there) because i think there is a lot to be learned from the family. and the day before we arrived they had a baby monkey given to them, so i kinda helped them figure out what kind of food it needed and when and all that.
then it was off to samipata, the place people say will be the biggest hotspot in bolivia soon. the only problem: almost all the awesome things to see and do--ruines, waterfalls, treks, jungle...--are taxi rides away from the town, and with no ATM (and being poor travellers in general) we werent able to do much. although we did take a shared taxi to some waterfalls the last day, only to find that these normally deserted and serene falls were teeming with the local bolivians yelling and playing soccer and volleyball, since it was may 1, they all had holiday. so not quite as nice as it could have been, but at least we got round to doing something.
from there headed back to santa cruz for a bus to la paz, and gemma waited an extra day for her bus to sucre. although when i got to the santa cruz bus station, i realized why gemma couldnt get a ticket for that night--may 1st--and had to wait an extra day. apparently nobody wants to work on that day, even though they celebrated it not on monday, like the rest of the world, but on friday (they already dont work on saturday or sunday) and kept the celebration going on monday and tuesday, so everything shut down for almost 5 days. that included the buses. not one bus was in the massive santa cruz terminal. so i stayed an extra night and left the next day.
been in la paz for a few days now, and im leaving tomorrow morning for puno. they have a sunday night thing here called cholita wrestling, and its bolivian women and men doing WWE style fake wrestling. quite funny, i have some decent pictures and videos of that. but at the wrestling they were handing out surgeons masks "so you dont get swine flu". but even people in bolivia are making precautions if they run tourists buisness and everywhere you see posters saying "beat the swine flu, we now have updated airborne disease defense systems with our tour
group." its hilarious.
anyway, tomorrow starts the many day bus journey to colombia. i dont know how much internet access ill have, but ill try and get an update out at some point, i dont really know how long its gonna take me to get there. oh, land border crossings, im excited...
alright, i left the animal reserve with an aussie named gemma. we headed to santa cruz, which apparently a lot of people think is beautiful, but its really just another big city with no character. hot, dirty...not great. but we managed not to spend too much money, although we also didnt see 3-D movies, go to aqualand or anything else we planned. after a few days we headed off towards a town called samipata (which has not ATM) but we stopped off at a farm called gingers paradise.
It was started by an american guy married to a bolivian and their 3 children. you can pay a certain amount and just hang out, or pay a little less and work with them for a few hours in the morning. but the farm is all organic, and they are almost completely self-sustainable. they grow almost all their own food, solar panals create electricity, a wood fired oven makes food and hot water, its quite amazing. it would have been cool to stay longer (money and time gave us only 3 days there) because i think there is a lot to be learned from the family. and the day before we arrived they had a baby monkey given to them, so i kinda helped them figure out what kind of food it needed and when and all that.
then it was off to samipata, the place people say will be the biggest hotspot in bolivia soon. the only problem: almost all the awesome things to see and do--ruines, waterfalls, treks, jungle...--are taxi rides away from the town, and with no ATM (and being poor travellers in general) we werent able to do much. although we did take a shared taxi to some waterfalls the last day, only to find that these normally deserted and serene falls were teeming with the local bolivians yelling and playing soccer and volleyball, since it was may 1, they all had holiday. so not quite as nice as it could have been, but at least we got round to doing something.
from there headed back to santa cruz for a bus to la paz, and gemma waited an extra day for her bus to sucre. although when i got to the santa cruz bus station, i realized why gemma couldnt get a ticket for that night--may 1st--and had to wait an extra day. apparently nobody wants to work on that day, even though they celebrated it not on monday, like the rest of the world, but on friday (they already dont work on saturday or sunday) and kept the celebration going on monday and tuesday, so everything shut down for almost 5 days. that included the buses. not one bus was in the massive santa cruz terminal. so i stayed an extra night and left the next day.
been in la paz for a few days now, and im leaving tomorrow morning for puno. they have a sunday night thing here called cholita wrestling, and its bolivian women and men doing WWE style fake wrestling. quite funny, i have some decent pictures and videos of that. but at the wrestling they were handing out surgeons masks "so you dont get swine flu". but even people in bolivia are making precautions if they run tourists buisness and everywhere you see posters saying "beat the swine flu, we now have updated airborne disease defense systems with our tour
group." its hilarious.
anyway, tomorrow starts the many day bus journey to colombia. i dont know how much internet access ill have, but ill try and get an update out at some point, i dont really know how long its gonna take me to get there. oh, land border crossings, im excited...
Friday, April 24, 2009
La Clinica
Alright, i have quite a lot to write about. so i guess we´ll get started.
I got the bus to a small town called Villa Tunari, which is right by Parque Machia (where i was planning on volunteering). as the bus came into to "town" (really just a stip of resturants and hostels along the "highway") it was raining like i have almost never seen it rain. the bus was continuing on, so i was pretty much tossed out on the ground with my backpack, and after the 5 second or so walk to the covered area of a hostel was already completely soaked. but they gave me a room for cheap and dinner as well. the next day i headed down to the park, talked to some of the volunteers having lunch, and waited around till 5 for the tour. we walked through the sub-tropical jungle and monkeys were running about and all that. i then was assigned to work in the clinic because you have to stay for a month to work with cats, which is stupid because (tangent) people start with a cat and work her or him for a few days and then get so tired that they change, so the idea that we couldnt even see the cats cause the would freak out is ridiculous considering that several of the workers only could handle one or two days with them anyway, so why couldnt i have done a couple days, just like those who promised to do a month, and then switch to something else (or just went to see them and take some pictures), just like those who promised to do a month? alright, back on track. the clinic sounded fine to me, and they needed a guy and someone who could speak spanish with the vets (i fill both those requirements) and ended up being fine because it was almost all monkeys that we were working with. its also the first step in the process of rehabilitating an animal. (first they come to us, the vets make sure they are healthy and then monitor their behaviour for awhile, then they go straight to the mirador, where they still get taken care of, or they go to monkey park, where they become free, but still fed. if they have some sort of problem then they get sent to quarentine, where many live in cages and continue to get medicine and observed until they are ready for release.) the first few days were pretty tough, the swiss-french woman (who studied to be a veteranery assistant in australia, and would therefore have a swiss-french-australian accent when saying some words, and would use terms like "well done matey" when refering to me or the monkeys, and all of which i found hilarious) ran a pretty tight ship, and everything had to be done exactly right, and then done again, and maybe one more unneccessary time just for good measure. she could be a bit condesending and once told me as i was cutting carrots for the monkeys, "jeevon, dont cut the carrots like that, monkeys arn´t humans." well thats when decided for sure that, in fact, monkeys arn´t humans, something i had been on the fence about at first.
the days were long, starting at 7:30 and ending at 6:30 with a nice break for lunch, but the work was rewarding. several of the monkeys got on very well with me and it was suprised when i was saying goodbye to them when i realized i would miss them grooming my hair, eating earwax, going through all my pockets and sticking their hands in my mouth. it was quite interesting though that 6 of the monkeys would attack Lise (pronouced lease) just because she was a girl, and therefor i was the one who had to feed them. that may have made her feel a little inferior, but its just a fact that most animals at the park, and in the animal kindom in general, respond better to males than females. its a dominance thing. but over the course of the two weeks i was working there we lost one monkey, one baby tejon (an almost anteater-like mammal that nobody knows the word for in english), but let 4 monkeys free into the wild, which was nice.
the volunteers at the park were some of the most sababa (islaeli word for cool) people i have met in a while though. one aussie girl (who im traveling with now) i met one night in la paz, not even thinking twice, and the she showed up at the park and we became pretty good friends with mike from london, jackson the asian looking kiwi, who lives in south china, many of the 15 (50% or more of the volunteer population) israelis, oliver from germany, fabrice from london, brad from california and various others im probably forgetting right now (thats how you know they´re good friends...).
as i was working i thought of things to mention when i got round to writing this post, and i think much of that is escaping my mind right now, but you have read the important bits. we arrived in santa cruz yesterday morning at 5:30 and found a hostel that ended up costing twice what the lonley planet said (as usual). we just changed today but have been disapointed to find that this city which is known to be more brazilian than bolivian and always warm and sunny. we woke up this morning to a light mist that escalated into a downpour and shows no signs of letting up. our hopes of going to aqua land today (a bolivian water park; im thinking it will be a couple rusty slides and a guy spraying water on you from a hose, but who knows) have been crushed by the weather. gemma wanted to go despite the rain, saying the point of a water park is to get wet, so who cares. i was able to convince her otherwise so i think we´ll go disco bowling instead. if not then a 3-D movie might be the activity, just to make sure we really soak up the brazilian-bolivian culture here.
I got the bus to a small town called Villa Tunari, which is right by Parque Machia (where i was planning on volunteering). as the bus came into to "town" (really just a stip of resturants and hostels along the "highway") it was raining like i have almost never seen it rain. the bus was continuing on, so i was pretty much tossed out on the ground with my backpack, and after the 5 second or so walk to the covered area of a hostel was already completely soaked. but they gave me a room for cheap and dinner as well. the next day i headed down to the park, talked to some of the volunteers having lunch, and waited around till 5 for the tour. we walked through the sub-tropical jungle and monkeys were running about and all that. i then was assigned to work in the clinic because you have to stay for a month to work with cats, which is stupid because (tangent) people start with a cat and work her or him for a few days and then get so tired that they change, so the idea that we couldnt even see the cats cause the would freak out is ridiculous considering that several of the workers only could handle one or two days with them anyway, so why couldnt i have done a couple days, just like those who promised to do a month, and then switch to something else (or just went to see them and take some pictures), just like those who promised to do a month? alright, back on track. the clinic sounded fine to me, and they needed a guy and someone who could speak spanish with the vets (i fill both those requirements) and ended up being fine because it was almost all monkeys that we were working with. its also the first step in the process of rehabilitating an animal. (first they come to us, the vets make sure they are healthy and then monitor their behaviour for awhile, then they go straight to the mirador, where they still get taken care of, or they go to monkey park, where they become free, but still fed. if they have some sort of problem then they get sent to quarentine, where many live in cages and continue to get medicine and observed until they are ready for release.) the first few days were pretty tough, the swiss-french woman (who studied to be a veteranery assistant in australia, and would therefore have a swiss-french-australian accent when saying some words, and would use terms like "well done matey" when refering to me or the monkeys, and all of which i found hilarious) ran a pretty tight ship, and everything had to be done exactly right, and then done again, and maybe one more unneccessary time just for good measure. she could be a bit condesending and once told me as i was cutting carrots for the monkeys, "jeevon, dont cut the carrots like that, monkeys arn´t humans." well thats when decided for sure that, in fact, monkeys arn´t humans, something i had been on the fence about at first.
the days were long, starting at 7:30 and ending at 6:30 with a nice break for lunch, but the work was rewarding. several of the monkeys got on very well with me and it was suprised when i was saying goodbye to them when i realized i would miss them grooming my hair, eating earwax, going through all my pockets and sticking their hands in my mouth. it was quite interesting though that 6 of the monkeys would attack Lise (pronouced lease) just because she was a girl, and therefor i was the one who had to feed them. that may have made her feel a little inferior, but its just a fact that most animals at the park, and in the animal kindom in general, respond better to males than females. its a dominance thing. but over the course of the two weeks i was working there we lost one monkey, one baby tejon (an almost anteater-like mammal that nobody knows the word for in english), but let 4 monkeys free into the wild, which was nice.
the volunteers at the park were some of the most sababa (islaeli word for cool) people i have met in a while though. one aussie girl (who im traveling with now) i met one night in la paz, not even thinking twice, and the she showed up at the park and we became pretty good friends with mike from london, jackson the asian looking kiwi, who lives in south china, many of the 15 (50% or more of the volunteer population) israelis, oliver from germany, fabrice from london, brad from california and various others im probably forgetting right now (thats how you know they´re good friends...).
as i was working i thought of things to mention when i got round to writing this post, and i think much of that is escaping my mind right now, but you have read the important bits. we arrived in santa cruz yesterday morning at 5:30 and found a hostel that ended up costing twice what the lonley planet said (as usual). we just changed today but have been disapointed to find that this city which is known to be more brazilian than bolivian and always warm and sunny. we woke up this morning to a light mist that escalated into a downpour and shows no signs of letting up. our hopes of going to aqua land today (a bolivian water park; im thinking it will be a couple rusty slides and a guy spraying water on you from a hose, but who knows) have been crushed by the weather. gemma wanted to go despite the rain, saying the point of a water park is to get wet, so who cares. i was able to convince her otherwise so i think we´ll go disco bowling instead. if not then a 3-D movie might be the activity, just to make sure we really soak up the brazilian-bolivian culture here.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Parqu Machia
Alright, this is going to be lame cause i am super tired. expect a very detailed post in about a week.
I dont work with pumas, i work with monkeys in the clinic of the animal refuge called Parque Machia. the work is quite hard, we start very early and end quite late. what i can tell you is that today 2 monkeys jumped me and one stuck its paw in my mouth while cleaning my ear, and the other wrapped its arms and legs around my neck and head and wouldnt let go. that (or something similar) is not an unusual occurance. also, monkeys (and tejones--i dont know the word for them in english, but they have long noses) poop non-stop.
more in a week or so, but i am still alive and thriving, more or less.
I dont work with pumas, i work with monkeys in the clinic of the animal refuge called Parque Machia. the work is quite hard, we start very early and end quite late. what i can tell you is that today 2 monkeys jumped me and one stuck its paw in my mouth while cleaning my ear, and the other wrapped its arms and legs around my neck and head and wouldnt let go. that (or something similar) is not an unusual occurance. also, monkeys (and tejones--i dont know the word for them in english, but they have long noses) poop non-stop.
more in a week or so, but i am still alive and thriving, more or less.
Sunday, April 5, 2009
10 Days in La Paz
Ok, i understand its been a while, but at the same time, not much has been going on. The bus that went from northern chile to la paz was interesting. it took about 8 hours and started at sea level peaking at around 4000 meters. thats a lot of altitude to cover in just 8 hours, enough so, apparently, that the girl sitting next to me got altitude sickness and was throwing up in a plastic bag for the the last 40 minutes. lovely. it was pretty hard on everyone else as well, by the end of the trip (which, by the way, was not air conditioned, and instead they decided to blow hot air on us for most of the way) most of the bus was groening in some sort of pain. i had a wicked headache and made a b-line for a hostel bed to try to sleep it off.
over the next couple days i met 2 hilarious british indian girls traveling with their white british friend, a scottish indian guy my age, and two friends traveling together from outside of london. this was the la paz group this time, as we had a blast. i guess the only problem would be that with nighlife as good (and cheap) as it is in la paz, it encourages becoming degenerate. and after a couple days you have seen everything to see, and soon the lifestyle becomes going out till very, very late (some would say early, as in the morning), sleeping half the day, eating, watching movies, and repeating. with a day off here and there. needless to say, its good to have escaped.
although a few days before we left, i learned that bolivia would be playing argentina for the world cup qualifiers. we got tickets (just 5 of us) for $15 (decent seats, too) and headed to the stadium on game day. and what a day it was. we all made guesses as to how bad argentina would beat bolivia. (argentina is 2nd from the top in south america, bolivia 2nd from bottom.) but the first goal went to bolivia, and soon we realized that something amazing was afoot. it must have been the altitude, because the final score was bolivia 6, argentina 1. it was the worst they have been beaten in a long, long time. and the fans went wild.
now i am in a place called cochabamba. tomorrow ill be catching a mini bus out to a small town called Villa Tunia, where there is a wildlife refuge. i have agreed to spend 2 weeks out there volunteering with sick and hurt endangered animals. internet is supposedly "occasionaly reliable," so it might be some time before another blog post comes along. but its sure to be an expierence.
over the next couple days i met 2 hilarious british indian girls traveling with their white british friend, a scottish indian guy my age, and two friends traveling together from outside of london. this was the la paz group this time, as we had a blast. i guess the only problem would be that with nighlife as good (and cheap) as it is in la paz, it encourages becoming degenerate. and after a couple days you have seen everything to see, and soon the lifestyle becomes going out till very, very late (some would say early, as in the morning), sleeping half the day, eating, watching movies, and repeating. with a day off here and there. needless to say, its good to have escaped.
although a few days before we left, i learned that bolivia would be playing argentina for the world cup qualifiers. we got tickets (just 5 of us) for $15 (decent seats, too) and headed to the stadium on game day. and what a day it was. we all made guesses as to how bad argentina would beat bolivia. (argentina is 2nd from the top in south america, bolivia 2nd from bottom.) but the first goal went to bolivia, and soon we realized that something amazing was afoot. it must have been the altitude, because the final score was bolivia 6, argentina 1. it was the worst they have been beaten in a long, long time. and the fans went wild.
now i am in a place called cochabamba. tomorrow ill be catching a mini bus out to a small town called Villa Tunia, where there is a wildlife refuge. i have agreed to spend 2 weeks out there volunteering with sick and hurt endangered animals. internet is supposedly "occasionaly reliable," so it might be some time before another blog post comes along. but its sure to be an expierence.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Settle in
Alright, it has been far, far too long. i hope you are in a comfy chair with some snacks and beverages, this may take a while.
My hostel in BA lacked character, but had probably the best location a hostel in BA could. My first room was inhabited by israelis, my second by asians, and my third by a large norweigen fellow, a aussie-looking guy who slept all day, and a cool couple from LA. 3 rooms in 4 days, dont ask me why. i ended up becoming pretty good friends with them. anyway, i have already done almost everything there is to do in Buenos Aires except go to a soccer game and see a drum show called "la bomba." well the only soccer game while i was there would have cost me $70, which is insane considering that tickets normally go for $10. so i skipped that. i was all ready to go to la bomba with the californians when the woman behind the front desk told us they cancelled the show till next season. i guess its a summer thing. brilliant. i ended up spending my time walking the streets and looking at things for sale, which i didnt buy. except sandals, i found a pair of trendy flip flops for $3, so i got those.
After four days i was ready to leave, and Santiago, Chile, was the destination. I got a fancy bus with my own TV screen, watched "Baby Mama" (hilarious if you like saturday night live), and got comfortable for the 22 hour ride. Made it to santiago, found my hostel (which didnt have free breakfast, something at which i was appalled!) and settled by the pool. for those of you who dont know, my mom and sister were do to arrive the next day for a 2 weeks of traveling with me. They showed up the next morning and we got our things together to find another hostel (the one that didnt serve free breakfast was a bit rowdy--and didnt have free breakfast!). amid the excitement and confusion i realized last night that i left my pen drive with 4GB of photos in the computer there, and when i went back an employee told me he found it and put it behind the reception desk, but it wasnt there anymore, again, brilliant. so thats something i have to sort out.
But we found our new hostel, had a delicous FREE panacake breakfast there, and then headed off for a walking tour of the city, after receiving not-so-good advice from a cynical owner. after many blocks and being lost more than once, we found the house of Pablo Neruda, a famous chilean poet. it was a very interesting muesum-house tour. the man collected everything from pictures of watermelons to colored glass to stamps to unmatching cutlery. he also built his houses (i say houses because he had 3, and we were lucky enough to visit 2 in total) like ships, a few rooms had slanted floors and low, narrow doorways. we also saw the government house and went to a museum about Allende (a democratically elected Marxist president) who killed himself after a CIA-backed coup overthrew him in 1973. Sidenote: Allende and Neruda were friends, and Neruda died just a few months after the coup.
Next day we were off to Mendoza, where we ate nice food (unlike in santiago, where we were unlucky with resturant choice) and rented a car and drove around to several wineries and an olive oil factory. that evening we drove up to Cerro de la Gloria (glorious hill, as the sign translated it) looked over the town as the sun set, and climbed on the statue at the top. A visit to the Mendoza Zoo was the next days activity. the zoo was quite large and varied, although, as with all zoos, pehaps, the animals didnt seem to be enjoying themselves fully. we took a night bus back out to the Chilean coast that night, to a town called Valparaiso, a very european, bohemien-esque city. the houses were all brightly colored and beautifully restored, and apparently UNESA declared it a world heritage site. we ate seafood (the thing to do, according to the guide book) and walked amoung the pretty houses and chic cafes. we took a bus down to another one of Pablo Neruda´s houses, one meant to be even more amazing, but it seemed a little less exciting than the first. perhaps because we had a downright boring old woman as our tour for this one, and the man who lead us around in santiago was cheerful, happy, and possibly a bit crazy, but an excellent guide.
Now it was time for kerewyn´s chosen activity...horseback riding!! we headed up the coast and were picked up by the company (really just a family with an unruley three year old, but who can blame him). the horses were quite nice, and i told him we wanted fast horses but mom made me say we (exept for kerewyn) didnt have much expierence. so he put me on what i found out to be a slow, fat, and slightly asmatic horses that was the slowest of the bunch and simply refused to go where i directed. renaming her hidalgo helped a bit, but kerewyn and her race horse left us all in the dust. after three hours of riding that was fine with me, the slower and less bouncy the better. we were all soar the next two days, but dinner in a revolving resturant helped a bit. i must say, it seems unfair that a 300 gram (or 10 oz) steak with shrimp, more tender than perhaps an steak i have ever had, should only cost $9 or so in a revolving resturant 23 stories above the waterfront. still, with sides and drinks the bill rises quickly, although remains much less than one would pay north of mexico.
Off to a place called Quillota the next day. the only responses we got when telling locals we were going to quillota was, "oh, its warm there," and "hmmm, why would you got to quillota?" the reason: my dearest cousin Sela is an exchange student in the "warm" town of quillota, and we couldnt very well not visit her. we headed out, found a hotel, and had chinese. i talked to sela that night and she said she couldnt meet with us untill 8:30 the following evening, so we would have all of the next day to kill. so it was back to the coast. we lay on the beach in the sun for a few hours, then headed back. we also had chilean enpanadas, meat or chicken or jam and cheese filled pies, usually fried, and a completo which is an extra long hot dog with tomatoe, avocado and mayonaise. they are actually quite delicous.
We waited around in the hotel room back in quillota and when my mom went down to check the lobby, guess who came back with her? sela!! hurray, we managed to meet, in chile of all places, after 2 years. in the words of borat (and say it like he would) very nice! we chatted and told stories and caught up, then headed out for dinner. we found a Pakistani resturant called K2 (i wonder of the average chilean knows what K2 is) and dinned there. the food was quite good, once we sent the chicken back to be properly cooked. back to the hotel to talk and catch up more, until sela´s host sister picked her up. it was very nice to see her again.
Off to santiago the next day, where we legged it around with our packs until finally finding a place with room. on the recomendation of a gay british couple we went to a place called "Las Vacas Gordas," or The Fat Cows to us english speaking folk. once again, delicious food for outrageously inexpensive prices, and (what appears to be a trend amoung more upscale resturants in chile) we recieved a liquor--amaretto, camomille, or mint--on the house. even kerewyn got one, although thankfully didnt drink it.
The next day mom and sister bought some things one can only find in chile or neighboring countires, we went bowling, found out our artesanal market was closed (it was sunday), got ice cream, and walked around the plaza by our hostel. i sent some things home with mom, traded her backpacks (mine is now smaller, lighter, and of a better quality) and the taxi picked them up and wisked them off to the airport. it has been a lovely two or so weeks, although it feels good to be on my own again as well. yesterday i took the 30 hour bus from santiago to the top of chile and tomorrow i am headed back to La Paz. hopefully the swedish couple and the british girl from the eltronic music festival will be there, we will see.
Hope your behinds arnt too soar, i know mine is :)
My hostel in BA lacked character, but had probably the best location a hostel in BA could. My first room was inhabited by israelis, my second by asians, and my third by a large norweigen fellow, a aussie-looking guy who slept all day, and a cool couple from LA. 3 rooms in 4 days, dont ask me why. i ended up becoming pretty good friends with them. anyway, i have already done almost everything there is to do in Buenos Aires except go to a soccer game and see a drum show called "la bomba." well the only soccer game while i was there would have cost me $70, which is insane considering that tickets normally go for $10. so i skipped that. i was all ready to go to la bomba with the californians when the woman behind the front desk told us they cancelled the show till next season. i guess its a summer thing. brilliant. i ended up spending my time walking the streets and looking at things for sale, which i didnt buy. except sandals, i found a pair of trendy flip flops for $3, so i got those.
After four days i was ready to leave, and Santiago, Chile, was the destination. I got a fancy bus with my own TV screen, watched "Baby Mama" (hilarious if you like saturday night live), and got comfortable for the 22 hour ride. Made it to santiago, found my hostel (which didnt have free breakfast, something at which i was appalled!) and settled by the pool. for those of you who dont know, my mom and sister were do to arrive the next day for a 2 weeks of traveling with me. They showed up the next morning and we got our things together to find another hostel (the one that didnt serve free breakfast was a bit rowdy--and didnt have free breakfast!). amid the excitement and confusion i realized last night that i left my pen drive with 4GB of photos in the computer there, and when i went back an employee told me he found it and put it behind the reception desk, but it wasnt there anymore, again, brilliant. so thats something i have to sort out.
But we found our new hostel, had a delicous FREE panacake breakfast there, and then headed off for a walking tour of the city, after receiving not-so-good advice from a cynical owner. after many blocks and being lost more than once, we found the house of Pablo Neruda, a famous chilean poet. it was a very interesting muesum-house tour. the man collected everything from pictures of watermelons to colored glass to stamps to unmatching cutlery. he also built his houses (i say houses because he had 3, and we were lucky enough to visit 2 in total) like ships, a few rooms had slanted floors and low, narrow doorways. we also saw the government house and went to a museum about Allende (a democratically elected Marxist president) who killed himself after a CIA-backed coup overthrew him in 1973. Sidenote: Allende and Neruda were friends, and Neruda died just a few months after the coup.
Next day we were off to Mendoza, where we ate nice food (unlike in santiago, where we were unlucky with resturant choice) and rented a car and drove around to several wineries and an olive oil factory. that evening we drove up to Cerro de la Gloria (glorious hill, as the sign translated it) looked over the town as the sun set, and climbed on the statue at the top. A visit to the Mendoza Zoo was the next days activity. the zoo was quite large and varied, although, as with all zoos, pehaps, the animals didnt seem to be enjoying themselves fully. we took a night bus back out to the Chilean coast that night, to a town called Valparaiso, a very european, bohemien-esque city. the houses were all brightly colored and beautifully restored, and apparently UNESA declared it a world heritage site. we ate seafood (the thing to do, according to the guide book) and walked amoung the pretty houses and chic cafes. we took a bus down to another one of Pablo Neruda´s houses, one meant to be even more amazing, but it seemed a little less exciting than the first. perhaps because we had a downright boring old woman as our tour for this one, and the man who lead us around in santiago was cheerful, happy, and possibly a bit crazy, but an excellent guide.
Now it was time for kerewyn´s chosen activity...horseback riding!! we headed up the coast and were picked up by the company (really just a family with an unruley three year old, but who can blame him). the horses were quite nice, and i told him we wanted fast horses but mom made me say we (exept for kerewyn) didnt have much expierence. so he put me on what i found out to be a slow, fat, and slightly asmatic horses that was the slowest of the bunch and simply refused to go where i directed. renaming her hidalgo helped a bit, but kerewyn and her race horse left us all in the dust. after three hours of riding that was fine with me, the slower and less bouncy the better. we were all soar the next two days, but dinner in a revolving resturant helped a bit. i must say, it seems unfair that a 300 gram (or 10 oz) steak with shrimp, more tender than perhaps an steak i have ever had, should only cost $9 or so in a revolving resturant 23 stories above the waterfront. still, with sides and drinks the bill rises quickly, although remains much less than one would pay north of mexico.
Off to a place called Quillota the next day. the only responses we got when telling locals we were going to quillota was, "oh, its warm there," and "hmmm, why would you got to quillota?" the reason: my dearest cousin Sela is an exchange student in the "warm" town of quillota, and we couldnt very well not visit her. we headed out, found a hotel, and had chinese. i talked to sela that night and she said she couldnt meet with us untill 8:30 the following evening, so we would have all of the next day to kill. so it was back to the coast. we lay on the beach in the sun for a few hours, then headed back. we also had chilean enpanadas, meat or chicken or jam and cheese filled pies, usually fried, and a completo which is an extra long hot dog with tomatoe, avocado and mayonaise. they are actually quite delicous.
We waited around in the hotel room back in quillota and when my mom went down to check the lobby, guess who came back with her? sela!! hurray, we managed to meet, in chile of all places, after 2 years. in the words of borat (and say it like he would) very nice! we chatted and told stories and caught up, then headed out for dinner. we found a Pakistani resturant called K2 (i wonder of the average chilean knows what K2 is) and dinned there. the food was quite good, once we sent the chicken back to be properly cooked. back to the hotel to talk and catch up more, until sela´s host sister picked her up. it was very nice to see her again.
Off to santiago the next day, where we legged it around with our packs until finally finding a place with room. on the recomendation of a gay british couple we went to a place called "Las Vacas Gordas," or The Fat Cows to us english speaking folk. once again, delicious food for outrageously inexpensive prices, and (what appears to be a trend amoung more upscale resturants in chile) we recieved a liquor--amaretto, camomille, or mint--on the house. even kerewyn got one, although thankfully didnt drink it.
The next day mom and sister bought some things one can only find in chile or neighboring countires, we went bowling, found out our artesanal market was closed (it was sunday), got ice cream, and walked around the plaza by our hostel. i sent some things home with mom, traded her backpacks (mine is now smaller, lighter, and of a better quality) and the taxi picked them up and wisked them off to the airport. it has been a lovely two or so weeks, although it feels good to be on my own again as well. yesterday i took the 30 hour bus from santiago to the top of chile and tomorrow i am headed back to La Paz. hopefully the swedish couple and the british girl from the eltronic music festival will be there, we will see.
Hope your behinds arnt too soar, i know mine is :)
Thursday, March 5, 2009
An Amazing Adventure and Wild Weather
I arrived in Punta del Diablo with pretty high expectations, not a good idea when arriving anywhere new. All the hostels there are very expensive, except for one, so that was where i was planning on staying. i didnt know where it was, but i knew it was an HI--hostelling international--hostel. i saw a sign for an HI hostel with an arrow pointing up a dirt street, so i headed up there. a few blocks later i found a hostel and asked if it was the right one. they said no, i had to go up a few more blocks, to the left a few blocks, and up more. i did that and didnt find anything. it was very hot, my backpack was heavy and i was tired and frustrated, so i went back to the hostel to stay there for the first night and find the other place later. well, the "hostel" that gave me directions was $70 a night and only had single rooms, so i cancelled my plan. i tossed my big pack into some bushes and headed back to town to ask around there. the tourist office was closed (i didnt see it open once during the 5 days i was there) so i went to an internet cafe. i got more concrete directions and went back to get my backpack and headed off. it ened up being about a kilometer outside town, but i found it. very basic, cold water, broken computers, but it had a kitchen and a TV and it was half the price of the next cheapest in town.
i settled in and had a couple days of relaxation and easy beach going. then i met a really annoying swedish guy, and we went on the mission of all missions. he said there was a big fort (the kind people battle over in war) about 5 kilometers away (3 miles, or so) and we should walk there. i was up for it, even though he was annoying. we left at two or so, and walked along the beach for about 2 hours, then asked someone where to go. they said follow the road up there until you get to route 9, then take that and you'll see signs. so we did that, another half hour or so of walking, and started seeing signs. we followed the signs down a dirt road, through a campground, until the signs stopped. i asked someone where to head next. they said we had to walk all the way back to the main road and around to the fort. but let me explain something about south americans. if you ask one person you'll one answer, and someone else will give you a completely different answer, so you have to ask maybe 3 or 4 people to get an idea of where to go, and its best if they work in a shop or something, because they probably know the area better. we found someone who worked in a shop and for us answer number two was, "oh you're close, head up that road, take a left, and you'll be there soon." we went with that answer. we found the fort, which was massive, but all locked up. at this point it had been about 3 hours since we left the hostel. we walked around the fort and found a place to climb the wall. so we both climbed up the wall, saw some security guards walking around, and quickly scurried back down. there were cactuses where we were walking and the swede had never seen a cactus in the wild, and tried to pick the "fruit" that was growing on it. the "fruit" ended up being a pouch of those tiny thorns that you cant see but hurt like hell when they are stuck in your finger. he spent a while working on getting all those out, while i tried to pull one of the thorns off the cactus itself, and in the process got a cactus thorn splinter, which is still in my finger and hurts like hell.
we planned on taking the bus back but learned the bus didnt come during the week of the "off season" months, which includes march. so we started walking back. we got to a point were we could take the road or the beach. at this point it wasnt dark, but the sun was getting to the setting point. we decided on the beach, but we had to walk through a kind of wooded area to get there. ok, that will be fun, we though. its going fine until we get to a really thick part. i cant explain what happened next, because ive never seen anything like it, but ill try. the trees and plants were so thick you couldnt just walk through them. fortunatly for us, most of the trees in this part were very dead and dry, so we were physically kicking apart braches of trees and breaking through dead trees to keep going toward the sound of the ocean. we had to army crawl to get through some parts. now its getting darker. not dark, but the sun is setting, and pretty quickly. after fighting to get through one part, we would just find ourselves facing the same thing again, but it seemed to get thicker and thicker every time. there were parts we actually had to find our way AROUND, because without multiple machetes it wouldnt be impossible to get through. it took a solid 45 minutes untill we got to sand. and at that point we were scraped up and bruised and in pain. we headed toward the beach, which we could finally see. its dark now. the last part we have to get through are some tall reeds, which end up being about 8 feet tall, and so thick--and sharp, i actually cut my hand on them--that we couldnt push through. i was leading at this point. so i reached up and started pulling them down, and after i pulled enough of them low enough, i jumped horizontally on them, using my body weight to pass through. we swam through the rest like that until we could walk, and promptly found we were in a swamp, and sunk in the mud and water past our ankles. but we finally got out and onto the beach. then it was just another 2 hours back to town. we ended up getting to the hostel at about 11. upon arriving we poured hydrogen peroxide over our wounds, and made pasta. after 7 hours of walking we figured it was a solid 10-15 kilometes that we walked. insane.
the next day was grey and colder and wicked windy, but we headed to the beach anyway. people were fishing off the rocks where all the waves break, and i was convinced they wouldnt catch anything--what fish swim in that part of the ocean, right?--but one kid caught like 5 fish in 20 minutes or so of us watching. we headed back to the hostel and BBQ'd with some canadians and french people and a german. the next day i awoke to steady rain, which sounded nice on the metal roof. but it didnt stop. in fact, it just got worse. it rained and rained and stormed and was windy and cold all day and all night. in fact, it was so bad at night we lost power quite a few times, but it didnt stop the argentines from showing us more drinking games. im in a different town now, and headed back to buenos aires tomorrow. i think i can find cheap sandals there, which im still missing since my camping adventure.
i settled in and had a couple days of relaxation and easy beach going. then i met a really annoying swedish guy, and we went on the mission of all missions. he said there was a big fort (the kind people battle over in war) about 5 kilometers away (3 miles, or so) and we should walk there. i was up for it, even though he was annoying. we left at two or so, and walked along the beach for about 2 hours, then asked someone where to go. they said follow the road up there until you get to route 9, then take that and you'll see signs. so we did that, another half hour or so of walking, and started seeing signs. we followed the signs down a dirt road, through a campground, until the signs stopped. i asked someone where to head next. they said we had to walk all the way back to the main road and around to the fort. but let me explain something about south americans. if you ask one person you'll one answer, and someone else will give you a completely different answer, so you have to ask maybe 3 or 4 people to get an idea of where to go, and its best if they work in a shop or something, because they probably know the area better. we found someone who worked in a shop and for us answer number two was, "oh you're close, head up that road, take a left, and you'll be there soon." we went with that answer. we found the fort, which was massive, but all locked up. at this point it had been about 3 hours since we left the hostel. we walked around the fort and found a place to climb the wall. so we both climbed up the wall, saw some security guards walking around, and quickly scurried back down. there were cactuses where we were walking and the swede had never seen a cactus in the wild, and tried to pick the "fruit" that was growing on it. the "fruit" ended up being a pouch of those tiny thorns that you cant see but hurt like hell when they are stuck in your finger. he spent a while working on getting all those out, while i tried to pull one of the thorns off the cactus itself, and in the process got a cactus thorn splinter, which is still in my finger and hurts like hell.
we planned on taking the bus back but learned the bus didnt come during the week of the "off season" months, which includes march. so we started walking back. we got to a point were we could take the road or the beach. at this point it wasnt dark, but the sun was getting to the setting point. we decided on the beach, but we had to walk through a kind of wooded area to get there. ok, that will be fun, we though. its going fine until we get to a really thick part. i cant explain what happened next, because ive never seen anything like it, but ill try. the trees and plants were so thick you couldnt just walk through them. fortunatly for us, most of the trees in this part were very dead and dry, so we were physically kicking apart braches of trees and breaking through dead trees to keep going toward the sound of the ocean. we had to army crawl to get through some parts. now its getting darker. not dark, but the sun is setting, and pretty quickly. after fighting to get through one part, we would just find ourselves facing the same thing again, but it seemed to get thicker and thicker every time. there were parts we actually had to find our way AROUND, because without multiple machetes it wouldnt be impossible to get through. it took a solid 45 minutes untill we got to sand. and at that point we were scraped up and bruised and in pain. we headed toward the beach, which we could finally see. its dark now. the last part we have to get through are some tall reeds, which end up being about 8 feet tall, and so thick--and sharp, i actually cut my hand on them--that we couldnt push through. i was leading at this point. so i reached up and started pulling them down, and after i pulled enough of them low enough, i jumped horizontally on them, using my body weight to pass through. we swam through the rest like that until we could walk, and promptly found we were in a swamp, and sunk in the mud and water past our ankles. but we finally got out and onto the beach. then it was just another 2 hours back to town. we ended up getting to the hostel at about 11. upon arriving we poured hydrogen peroxide over our wounds, and made pasta. after 7 hours of walking we figured it was a solid 10-15 kilometes that we walked. insane.
the next day was grey and colder and wicked windy, but we headed to the beach anyway. people were fishing off the rocks where all the waves break, and i was convinced they wouldnt catch anything--what fish swim in that part of the ocean, right?--but one kid caught like 5 fish in 20 minutes or so of us watching. we headed back to the hostel and BBQ'd with some canadians and french people and a german. the next day i awoke to steady rain, which sounded nice on the metal roof. but it didnt stop. in fact, it just got worse. it rained and rained and stormed and was windy and cold all day and all night. in fact, it was so bad at night we lost power quite a few times, but it didnt stop the argentines from showing us more drinking games. im in a different town now, and headed back to buenos aires tomorrow. i think i can find cheap sandals there, which im still missing since my camping adventure.
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