Top 5 Spots

Ok I have been home for over a week. And I have had some time to reflect back on the wonderful journey. And many people have been asking me for my highlights. So I decided to compile a Top 5 list. This is the first of a few. Yes I have lot of time, yes I still love my blog, and yes I cannot get off the travel-bum mindset just yet!

Top 5 Spots:

Machu Picchu, Peru

Despite the amount of tourist, despite it being used in just about every possible adverts that you can think of, despite it being expensive, despite not being able to hike the Inca Trail to get to this ruin (3 months advance booking required) and despite it being touted as the "New Seven World Wonder" as voted in by popularity poll. Machu Picchu did not disappoint. Getting up there, seeing the ruins covered in a mist, it felt like only I was privy to this surreal other-world. The setting is spectacular, as it is surrounded by high mountain peaks and deep valleys. How did the Incas manage to build this city so high up the mountain?

Galápagos Island, Ecuador

It cost an arm and a leg, literally, if you got bitten by a shark that is! Otherwise it just hurts the wallet of a backpacker with the flights, the cruise and the Island tax. But I can say this place is well worth the cost and effort to get to. You may not have realized, but The Galápagos archipelago is comprise of many, many different Islands, all unique in it's own way. Many host animals that can only be found here. Such as the Galápagos Sea Lion, Giant Galápagos Tortoise, the Blue-footed Bobbies, the Galápagos Land Iguana and the Marine Iguana. And the most incredible thing for me, is that the animals are so friendly, since they know of no human predators. The baby Sea Lion would just waddle right up to your feet. And it took a lot of self control not to get down to pat them! The landscape is also varied and stark: Windswept, volcanic, green and lush, dry and treeless... Finally there were new and wonderful experience to had! Like having stingrays swim over and touch your feet as you waddle into shallow water!

Mount Roraima, Venezuela

Ever read Sir Arthur Conan Doyle "The Lost World" and about it's amazing dinosaurs at the top of these errie Table Mountains? Ever seen Angel Falls? The highest waterfall in the world which drops 1km down one of these Table Mountains? At 2,810m Mount Roraima is the tallest of them all, located in the South Eastern part of Venezuela, just across the border from Brazil. The trek up the mountain is an adventure, and at the top, it is a totally different kind of world. Wet and stony, sparsely filled with animals and insects unique to the mountain. We lived in natural caves, exploring the surface by day. I felt like a caveman!

Patagonia, Argentina/Chile

Big big big!!! The area that is, stretching from Southern Argentina across to Chile. The Patagonia region is a wonderland for hikers and nature lovers. It serves up big mountains, big glaciers, big open empty space and big juicy lamb and steak. It is my favorite hiking region, as the setup allows easy access to many of it's parks and mountains. My favorite peak here is Cerre Torre. It is a series of sharp, jagged and rocky peaks. Some top with a lofty mushroom like snow cover. It is also one of the hardest peak to climb as it is all about your rock climbing skillz! Glacier Moreno is just mind blowing. Imagine standing 300 meters away from an ice shelf, at 70 metres tall, 2.5 km wide and then watching HUGE chunks rip off it and hits the water with a massive force, causing ripples all the way around, and hearing the explosion echo back. Un-fuckin-belivable! It is also a advancing glacier, one of three according to some sources. So nothing like the glaciers we have in New Zealand!

Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia

It is completely flat, blindingly white, and it stretches out as far as the eyes can see. This is the world's largest Salt Flat folks! Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia is 10,582 km², and at 3,650m above sea level, it is one of the highest too! Due to the flat, horizon less and white environment, it is also the spot where groups of people pose for all kinds of abstract and ultimately, pointless, photo shoots. I know because my group did it too! And if you love salt, this is paradise! Lick it!

Home Free

So it has almost been a week since I arrive home.

I tell ya, it was good to catch up on 7 1/2 months of lousy sleep! There was no need for ear plugs or eye mask, as there are no lights being turn on or plastic bags being shuffle round as I slept!

It was also such a liberating feeling, to chuck my iPod, camera, passport and moneybelt out, leaving it lying around without the fear of having it stolen.

After my recovery. :) I spent it catching up with my girlfriend and mates. It was a mission trying to talk to everybody at once as I was so excited to see them all!

Advice on people returning home though, is to tidy up your photos before attempting to show them! As otherwise nothing is in a chronological order, and nothing is censored! haha

So, back in the job hunt now. Back to normality, back to a routine, something which I did miss whilst being on the road. But I am not so sure about it now. It is always that way isn't it? That the grass is always, ALWAYS, greener on the other side. :)

So folks, that's it! Hope those of you whom are still on the road continue to have an excellent adventure! Just remember it is all about the experience! And that it is something you will look back in later on in life with lots of fond memories.

As for those who are still thinking about heading out, well... WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? LIFE'S AN ADVENTURE, LIVE IT!

Suerte!

Aerolinea Argentina

Folks, do NOT fly Crap-o-lina Argentina. It rates as one of the WORST airline I have ever flown with.

Here is their scorecard:

On the way there:
No personal entertainment system behind seats.
The in-flight projector screen had serious discoloration.
The captain's intercom was so distorted you couldn't hear his announcements.
Attendant never attended when I page them.

The return flight:
Flight was delayed by 2 days.
No personal entertainment system behind seats.
They played a total of 1 movie on the 13 hours flight.
No working headsets. Had to use my own earplugs.
Attendant never attended when I page them.
Toilet do not provide hand moisturizers.
No magazines shelves on board.
The food sucks: Sticky pasta, melted butter, cold buns.
No orange juice on the drinks tray: Only coke, sprite or water.
They lost my luggage at Auckland Airport.

Score: F-

And I am not the only one! Simply Googling "Aerolinea Argentina crap airline" will bring out lots of results of other unsatisfied customers. So I hope this airline dies a quick and painful death! <evil>

Goodbye Buenos Aires Goodbye South America

Well, in 30 minutes time I will be in a taxi heading towards the airport.

My South America adventure is finally at an end.

Feeling very mix right now...

But this morning, I gave my shoes and t-shirts to a street family. Actually they were living only a block from my hotel. The street people are seen everywhere around Buenos Aires. They live under fly-overs, in the parks and public squares. They are the ones waiting at traffic lights to wash windshields, they are the ones begging on the streets, and they are the ones seen rummaging through rubbish sacks with their shopping carts as soon as the sun goes down. Very sad. Especially when you see the rich living right next door. This isn't just a Buenos Aires problem though. It is a pattern seen right across South America, from Bogota to Rio de Janeiro.

Anyway, I don't need them anymore. It will be a while before I leave home in search of another adventure. Most especially after I seen the damage done to my bank balance. LOL!

Regardless... I haven't had time to reflect on my adventure yet. As today has been one big rush to get presents for home. Co-incidentally I bump into two travellers I hung out with down South. Martin the other Chiwi and Collin the American. It was great to see a familiar face after hanging out alone mostly in Buenos Aires.

Otherwise this has just been another beautiful bright and sunny day in South America! :)

PS: As seen in the photo I will be missing my beef very much upon leaving Argentina!

Last thoughts on Argentina

Argentina has a lot to offer. It has one of the best natural wonder I have seen: The Iguazu Falls and the Patagonia region. It has hands down, the best beef I have had anywhere. It has the best and most luxurious bus transport system I have ever seen. It also has some of the most beautiful girls in South America.

However, the one constant thing that has been irritating me during my past 5 weeks here in Argentina are the people. They are certainly different to the rest of their South American siblings. As a tourist I have seen too many unfriendliness, cold-shoulders and snobbishness shown. Others say this is mainly from the "porteño" aka people from Buenos Aires. But I couldn't agree less! I felt the same attitude when visiting the Patagonian region and the Lake district region.

At the shops, it feels as if the staff seems annoyed to serve. They don't seems to want to work in the place. Nor have I ever seen a smile on their face. Never, nunca, nada...! Only an indifference. I have never seen such horrid customer service. Can you imagine working in a customer facing role back home and treating your customer like dirt? It would be unheard of! Whilst participating in adventure activities, I feel I was treated as a number with no feelings. An example was at my glacier trek, where the tour guide had no personality nor did he make the group feel welcome.

So as a joke I would sometimes challenge myself to crack them up, just to see if I can re-arrange their face!

Now this feeling is shared by fellow backpackers, as well as foreigners working in the tourist industry. My bicycle tour guide, a French man name Damien, has lived in Buenos Aires for a year, and has a "porteño" girlfriend. He mention that the locals here have an European attitude: The indifference and cold shoulders. But to be honest, besides getting this feeling in France (of all places!) I did not feel it when travelling through the rest of Europe. So maybe Damien is referring to the famous French snobbishness!

Unfortunately for me, the people is probably the most important matter to me when visiting a foreign country. This is more so over it's scenery, food and adventures. And in South America, Argentina would rate at the bottom in terms of their people status.

Scam Scam Scam!

I cannot believe this, as since Venezuela nothing else horrid have happen to me. Until today, when I was almost caught in a scam!

It all started as I was walking down an alleyway from the crap-lolina airline office, I felt something spray on my back. As I turn around I saw a guy pointing towards me to tell me I got something on my back. And then he looked up as if to see where it came from. I knew immediately it was a scam and made sure he did not come near me. I looked at him and pulled my bottom eye lid down, to show that I am watching him.

In case you are wondering how this scam works. It goes like this: You get dirt sprayed over you, some good pass-byer pretend to help you clean it off. But in reality it is just a distraction for them to pick-pocket you or take off with your possession. I have heard it from too many tourist to know not to let this fooker get near me.

I really wanted to hit him... Hard. But there were just too many other dodgy looking folks in this alleyway. So I thought better of it and walked away. Later on I took off my shirt to wipe the stuff off. It turn out to be some sort of orange juice mix.

To be honest I was just flaggerblasted, like why was I picked on? I look like a badly dressed backpacker, walking in sandals and a un-labeled t-shirt. And yet this fooker thinks I have money!!!

Flight Delayed

Crap-lolina Argentina has done it again!

Due to a 2 days pilot strikes my return flight home has been delayed for 2 days. So now I will be arriving home on Tuesday morning instead of Sunday.

But at least I got my dream finish. :)

After much complain - that I have no more money left, that I am going back to work and that I want compensation dammit! They have put me up in a classy hotel (which I checked out beforehand!), along with my own room I got air-con, private bathroom, cable TV, gym, sauna and with all meals included.

Wh00p Wh00p!

Note: I am only being put in a 3 star hotel... boo hoo! It is called the Hotel Presidente. Sounds very flash. Actually I can't complain as I did view the room and am pretty stoke with the luxury. I am just a dirty old backpacker remember! haha!

Car crash outside my Hostel

This morning I woke up to see this in front of my hotel. A car manage to flip itself upside down on the narrow streets of San Telmo.

I can't believe it! And it seem like no one else could too. Thank gosh no damage was cause to the surrounding buildings.

I reckon it is somebody's Valentine's day gone wrong. Ho ho ho!

Recoleta Cementerio

I visited Recoleta Cementerio. This is South America's most famous cemetery. Upon entering I was impressed by the grandure and size of the tombs. Most of them are family tombs, so that more then one generation is buried within.

Have a look at the photos and see what you think.

.... I found many wondering cats in the cemetary. Somebody seems to be looking out for them as cat food and water are left out in little plates all around the area. Interesting...

The cemetery is 10 acres in size. It contains 1000 tombs, and it is completely full. There are no space to increase, and that the only way to buy a plot for your family is off an existing family whom cannot afford to maintain their tombs.

The irony about the Recoleta Cemetery is that it is surrounded by shops, cinemas, night clubs, cafes and restaurants. It cracks me up as I wonder what the original planners would have thought of all this!

Here is a classic shot of the cemetery with McD's billboard behind!

And finally, not forgetting the most famous person in this cemetery. Evita Peron. Anybody who watched Madonna in that Hollywood film will not all about her. Every person in Argentina look to her like their Princess Diana. She was charming, she was beautiful and she held much influences amongst the people being the wife of a president.

Unfortunately she died age 33 of cancer back in 1952. Her tomb was actually in Spain, before being bought back to Buenos Aires in 2000.

More info on Evita here in wiki.

Final week in Buenos Aires

Last week of travel, and I am back in Buenos Aires.

How do I feel about this? After 7 1/2 months on the road...

Well, awesome really. :) I am actually looking forward to going home. This trip have been different to previous trips because I have something to come home for! For a start, my beautiful girlfriend is waiting for me, that I have a career to look forward to going back into, and finally... The next 2 years could be an interesting time in my life! ;)

But enough about that...

Right now, to end my travels in Buenos Aires is the best thing that can happen. This city of 12 million has SO MUCH to offer.

For a start, there are good food to be had everywhere. In fact, I have been stuffing myself so much that last night I decided to stay in and cook. The meat here are of extremely high quality and just simply mouth watering. Two nights ago, I went for dinner with Ziv, an Israeli. We ate at this legendary restaurant by the waterfront, which is famous for it´s "Tenedor Libre". Which is buffet to you and me folks. And guess what, it was H-U-G-E. We got to try every part of a cow, from tender baby steaks, blood sausage (non unlike black pudding), T-bone steak, chorizo (spicy sausage), roast pork and more. And I love this, for 15 USD we also got free bottle of wine, a big salad bar and desert to choose from.

My only advice is, DO NOT EAT DINNER AT 11pm like the locals! Otherwise you will spend all night digesting your meal like me! hahahaha it was sad, but I had to walk 12 blocks to try and digest all of it.

Then there are the culture stuff like world class museums and art galleries to check out.

And finally there are the shopping. Enough said!

Yesterday, with 4 days left in my travel. I left sleeping in a "domitorio" for the last time, and decided to have some luxury by checking into a single room. Woo-hooooooo! No more rustling plastic bags, no more bag zipping sounds, no more alarm clock ringing, no more door slams and best of all, no more lights being turned on in the middle of the night!

Wh00p!

Wh00p!

What do you know about Uruguay?

So I spent 4 days in this small country, stuck between big brothers Argentina and Brazil. Uruguay have a population of 3.3 million, with the majority of it's people - all 1.7 million of them, living in the capital: Motevideo.

Uruguay, like Paraguay, is not really famous for anything... So I enter the country not knowing too much, aside from that I found the folks to be much similar to the Argentinians, in their love for beef and their "gaucho" (cowboy) culture, their love for "mate" (the tea), and that they the same slang and slur in their vocab.

I enter Uruguay by catching a ferry from Buenos Aires to Colonial. Colonial is a pretty and tiny town by the seaside. Fought and won over between the Spanish and Portugese for decades, before changing hands for the last time to the Spanish.

This place probably invtented the word "tranquillo". With little traffic, tree lined streets, rocking chairs in front of houses, and long "siesta" time. In the afternoon many shops are closed, the business people are all having their extended lunch, the older folks are sitting outside their house, and the kids are fishing off the rocks. The old part of the town is listed as UNESCO World Herritage to preserve it's old buildings, city walls and the wobbly cobble path.

I fell in love with Colonial straight away. I love the idea of having an "open" house where people can peep in to see what their neighbours are up to, where people greet each other on the streets, and where the "siesta" time seems to last forever. Finally, the sun are spectacular. I spent my evenings sitting by the waterfront, watching the sun go down, the sky darken, and the boats returning to port. Tranquillo!

I also spent two days in Motevideo, the capital. First impression again is the friendly folks. Amazing for a capital city. And when I got on board the bus with my backpack, people actually stood up to offer me their seat. The city itself isn't very exciting for tourist. But I enjoy walking the streets and seeing a real living city, where it's citizen get about on their day-to-day business. Thankfully the city is still in the midst of celebrating the carnival. And I manage to catch some of the performance at a open air theater. They had a stage set up with different groups singing, acting out sketches, and some fantastic back street boyz style dancing. The celebration is probably pale in comparison to Brazil but hey, at least I got a taste of it, without blowing my budget! :)

Made it to Uruguay!

Yey, I am finally in Uruguay.

Just for a few days... In order to see the historical city of Colonia and later the capital Montevideo.

There were no dramas entering. Other then a 20 hours bus ride from Bariloche to Buenos Aires, followed by a 1 hour ferry ride across the harbour to Colonia.

So am pretty tired, but happy to have well... finally made it across all of South America. CHOICE BRO!!! :)

Malvinas son Argentinas!

The Malvinas aka Falkland Islands. As we all know, Argentina tried taking it back from the Brits back in the 1982 and was defeated soundly in a matter of weeks by the Brits.

You'd think that is the end of that. But no they just can't give it up. Therefore you see plenty of signs, street names and even Hotels name after the Malvinas. I even saw the Malvinas listed as a part of Argentina in some maps around town.

As an Englishman told me in Ushuaia. England would more then happy to hand the Falklands back to the Argentine... But it is the Falklanders themselves whom do not want this to happen! LOL!

Chiwi Chiwi Chiwi oi oi oi!

I can't believe this... After backpacking for 7 months, I finally meet not 1, but 2 other Chiwis!!! And all in the same bloody hostel (Marco Polo) here in Bariloche. And all 3 of us are travelling alone. Unbelivable!

I met Andrew from Papakura, and then I met this guy, Martin from Kingsland.

It certainly is cool to see other chiwis out there. Keep it up! :)

Hotel Llao Llao

This my friend, is the most expensive hotel in Argentina. It is call Hotel Llao Llao (pronounced 'Yao Yao'). It is situated in the Lake Districts region. As you can see it is surrounded by lush mountains, glaciers. This photo also grace many Argentinian tourism leaflets.

Me and my mates tried going in for high tea but guess what? You need a reservation. We reckon that was their way of fobbing us of.

And no wonder, coz after checking it's website http://www.llaollao.com/ The cost of the cheapest room in low season is 255 USD, and the most expensive Presidential Suite is a mere 3050 USD. Oh and don't forget to add VAT (tax) on top of that.

Anyway, the photo was taken at the perfect time, at sun down, with 10 minutes of golden ray on this golden hotel.

Finally... Is it just me, or does ' Hotel Yao Yao' sound Chinese? LOL!

The perfect day!

I had the best time with Marty and Odette on Saturday. Marty's from Aus and Odette's from the States. We decided to hire bikes and cycle around the lake district area of Bariloche.

This is Marty and mua in our supercool bike whilst Odette shows off her little pinky bike with training wheelz. Did we look GOOD!

The course we took contain lots of stops along the way. From doll houses (Marty loves dolls), lake side beaches (which we swam in the freezing cold water!), coffee stop at golf houses, lots of photo opportunities and finally to a home brew pub for dinner and drinks. There were also pebble skipping competition along the way (which I won I won I won!!!)

All in all a perfect day!!!

My favorite peak

It really went from omg mouth wide open to lots of dribbles running down at the sight of each new mountain in the Patagonia region for me.

But this *IS* my absolute favorite mountain of them all in this region.

It's name is Cerro Torre. And it is located in the Argentinian side of Patagonia.

As you can see, it looks amazing, with a number of smaller peak on it's right side. Cerre Torre is apparently the most difficult mountain to summit in this region due to it verticle length and the top being completely covered in snow and ice.

Indeed, but I still met a number of climbers on their way out there. They included Bulgarians, Americans and Argentinians.

I went to the base of the Cerro Torre as part of a glacier hiking group. Ont he way to the glacier we had to cross this river belly up.

This was first time hiking on glacier, and it was a neat experience! I also got to try ice climbing (ok so it was only 60 degrees or so) with ice axe and cramp-ons.

Unfortunately our little group only lasted 2 hours on the glacier. I wish it was oh so much longer especially since it took us a good 4 hours just to reach the glacier!!!

Lets climb a mountain!

Yes ladies and gentlemen, these 3 fella's (well 2 guys and 1 chick) are about to climb Cerro Fitz Roy. A beautiful granite peak at 3405 metres. But because of the straight vertical granite face you can't just hike up this mountain and lots of technical (rock and ice climbing) skillz are required. Ok so you can't quite see it here as it is in the background, but I have post other photos of this amazing mountain in the blog.

Anyway, I spoke to these Argentinians. They reckon they can get to the top in 2 days, around 26 hours of climbing all together. Good luck to them!

Glacier Moreno

CHECK OUT THE SIZE ON THIS BEAST!

Yes people, this is Glacier Moreno. The *ONLY* advancing glacier in the ENTIRE world!

It is massive!!! Here are the stats: The main face of the glacier is 5 km wide, with an average height of 60 metres above the surface of the water, with a total ice depth of 170 metres. AND, it advances at an average of 2 metres a day... That is around 700 metres a year!

MASSIVE! And you know what, it advance so far out that it dam the river in the photo: Brazo Rico. The last time this happened in 2004 the strain on the river was too much (it rise 30 metres) that the end result was a spectacular rupture. And guess what??? It dam the river again this year (yes 2008) and they predict the rupture to happen in March. I wish I could see it then!

But throughout my time there you can see massive chunk of ice shave off the face of the glacier into the water below. After hitting the water you hear the slight delayed echo in the air. And then the local and foreign audience present goes wild with claps and cheers!

Find out more on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perito_Moreno_Glacier

Hiking Mates

Thankgod, after loosing Jens I manage to find other people to hang out with. So here we are, on our last day of the trek.

From left to right people I met on the Torres del Paine hike. Matthew (BRI), Ben (NZL), Miguel (ESP), Collin (USA) and Marty (AUS).

Torres del Paine National Park

I spent 4 days hiking at Torres del Paine National Park. An amazing park in the Chilean side of Patagonia. It certainly is my favorite hike in South America, as everyday I got to see something different. Me and Jens (my German partner) followed the classic "W" shape route hiking from the West to East side.

This is our camp site on day 1, situated at a beautiful camping spot called Paines Grande. As you can see I have beautiful mountains for backdrop. There are also a lot of tents around us as it is peak hiking season right now. And no wonder too as we had an absolute jewel of a weather throughout!

The trek on day 1 is along a very expose ridge, with a huge river full of ice bergs floating down the side. It also explains for the state of these trees. Unfortunately the wind took it's toll on a German girl I met. She got pushed over by the whilst attempting to take a photo. She ended up rolling down the hill and breaking her leg. Yicks!

This mountain range in the French valley is what I saw on day 2. Basically you trek high up to this valley, and at the view point you are surrounded almost all the way (260 degrees) by mountains.

Unfortunately I lost Jens on day 3 of the trek. He had to turn around because of a stuff knee. It was a bit daunting for me being such a green camper as it meant that I had to carry everything whilst climbing more hills. Nevermind coz I did it! :)

This is the legendary Torres del Paine at sun rise on my last day of trekking. Seeing the golden rays of the sun touching the tip of these 3 granite rocks. Shaped by centuries of the retreating force of glacier ice, was mesmerizing. The rocks perturbs into the sky sharply and stand out against the surrounding landscape. The highest point is the middle - Cerro Paines Grande at around 2750 metres. The South Tower is at 2500 metres whilst the North Tower is at 2460 metres.

I can now go home happy. I have came to South America, and have seen everything I wanted to.

The Patagonia region was the last must-do thing on my list. And it has not disappointed. In fact, I may go as far as to say... It may have been the highlight of my trip in this region!