Moving on up...Bariloche via Ruta 40

I don´t know why I thought it would be fun to be on a bus for 2 days. Maybe because someone had told me the Ruta 40 was legendary (legendary unpaved that is!) or was it because I was reading Che Guevarra´s book "The Motorcycle Diaries"... I have no idea. Was it worth the slug and boredom. Still not sure, the buses were uncomfortable, the unpaved road gave me a headache and the journey was frutratingly slow (think 20 km per hr). At least now I can say I have seen the Argentinian desert over 3 states. Nice.

Although I did meet some random Argentinians in a bar, went drinking all night with them, had some mate to wake myself up and boarded the bus 15 minutes before it was leaving not having slept all night.

Quick Stop into Chile - Torres del Paine

Having been completely mesmerised by the landscape and people of Argentina I followed a random traveller´s recommendation and decided to see how it was on the other side of the border, engaging on a 4 day trip to Torres del Paine (Chile).

Observation # 1

Argentinians and Chileans have a love-hate relationship which affects the random traveller in that neither have information on either. So you end up stuck in one country with no information on what happens in the next country until you get to the final destination. Bothering. Yes.

Observation # 2
Breathing will cost you in Chile. It is soooooo expensive. Think European prices and South American level of service.


Observation # 3
Torres del Paine is probably one of the most beautiful places on earth (and I am not even a hiker!)

Observation # 4
I can now galop with one hand (ever so briefly!)


The trip to Torres was a fun experience. Still feeling slightly out of place not wearing enough GorTex to fit in with the Hiker Crowd, I was glad to find some like-minded travellers in the form of Silky (Germany), Lee (UK) and Seb(UK) who much preferred drinking 1 Eur Gato Negro wine and playing cards. Erhem. Stay assured that we did make it out to the different miradors to see the Torres through every angle possible. In the end we decided it would be much more fun to strike a pose at every stop. The end result came out like this:

Living like a gaucho ... Argentina

I had compiled a list of what I wanted to experience during this trip and I am glad that I have been able to tick a fair few off. Surprisingly to some, being in Gaucho-landia Argentina was right up there on my list. Maybe it came from having spent 1 year living in Texas amongst the cowboys but being on an estancia appealed to me.

What better place to do this than Patagonia. The landscape is one of the most beautiful I have seen and well let´s be honest...you may not like CowBoys but G-a-u-c-h-o-s are hot (in a horse-smelling, rugged kind of way!). Check for yourselves!



I had met an German girl called Silky in El Calafate who also wanted to be a Gaucho. So we took the day to go visit an Argentinian Estancia and do some horse riding. After a brief introduction about the history of the Estancia (over tea and cookies...thank you very much!) we were taken to our horses. I was told that dear ol´"Paloma" would be my friend for the next hour.

I saddled up, excited but slightly worried that I had not been on a horse since I was 9. It started nicely enough, Paloma (aka My Jolly Jumper) was calm and seemed quite happy to be going for a walk. We rode through the most breathtaking scenary I have seen whilst on a horse; snow capped mountains surrounding huge turquoise lakes, condors flying above, the scent of blooming flowers and cows mooh-ing as we approached them. I think if all my senses could be triggered at the same time this would be it!


By the end of the ride, my confidence has increased tenfold. I was really getting into it. No, right..no, left...go...stop...yikee..yakee...go! As the ride was coming to the end I could also sense that dear ol´Paloma had had enough of having a city slicker on her back and wanted to get back to her cosy barn. As we approached the estancia, the walk became a trot (painful) which then became what I think is a galop (think of indians galoping in a spaghetti western and you would be close !). As the speed increased I held on for dear life, trying to "enjoy" this moment of wind-in-hair-on-a-horse.

Pure freedom ... really.

El Calafate and the mighty Perito Moreno Glacier

I arrived at my hostel aptly called the Marco Polo (makes you feel adventurous when you stay in a place called Marco Polo!), settled down for a few minutes, reading the traveller´s bible to figure out what this new place had to offer and how I would go about doing it. This is now my routine.

More than just a touristy small town in the middle of nowhere, El Calafate is the main stopover for anyone wanting to go see the Perito Moreno Glacier, one of the few glaciers in this world that is not retreating.


Unfortunately, I have now started to fall asleep almost immediately as soon as I get on a bus or plane so I didn´t actually hear anything of what the guide was jibbering on about while we were making our way to the glacier. I don´t think I missed that much.

As we were driving towards the National Park, I suddenly caught a glimpse of it. It was a little like the first time I saw the pyramids. Sheer surprise. It got even better as we got closer. It was only by standing by the viewpoint that I realised the sheer immensity of this natural beast. You would to if you stood face to face with a wall of ice that is 60m high and that is still advancing. I could actually hear the ice move. I could have spent hours there watching the ice and waiting for the next break (I was lucky enough to see one huge piece of ice fall off and hit the water).


Other than seeing the Perito Moreno, two cool things happened to me on that day both of them being random encounters.

Previous to starting my trip I had done a little research (as you do) mostly to figure out what to pack. I started reading a blog called Cinco Tierras, written by a belgium couple who were embarking on a 5 month trip across five countries in South America. I have sporadically checked their blog along the way but had no idea where they were. Yes, I bumped into them. I actually recognised them as I was walking down the stairs. Incredible...I was so excited I couldn´t resist going up to them and talking to them. Now looking back, I realised it must have been pretty weird for them. But anyone who reads blogs knows that you feel like you know these bloggers. That was a pure random moment. I might not remember names but nobody can say that I am bad with faces.

Story no. 2 is also a good one especially for the francophone. I had started to talk to an old argentinian couple while in the queue (I wish I had taken pictures of all these people!), as we go about the usual introductions (who you are, where you´re from etc..) it so happens that one of their sons lives in Sardinia and that they have family in Nice (sweet eh!). Although this is cool it gets better. As they tell me about their son is Sardinia they mention that they were extras on a french film while they were on holiday visiting their son. Ah, really...which one ? .... none other than Les Bronzes III !!!! These films and the respective actors are a true french institution. I mean how cool is that!!!!

Ushuaia, Tierra Del Fuego

Although I had been warned about the weather conditions in Southern Argentina, I was completely unprepared for what was about to hit me. I had arrived from Buenos Aires which baked in 35C heat and was shocked to find myself standing in flip flops on the airport tarmac in 5C temperature and complete day light at 11 pm.

So here I am, the tip of South America, El Fin Del Mundo. I was pleasantly surprised by Ushuaia. Images of a grey bleak port city quickly dissipated as I walked about town checking out the main street and the port beautifully set against the backdrop of snow-capped Andes mountains.

Having purchased a beanie hat to cope with the freezing temperatures I was ready to brave the conditions and go explore the Beagle Channel, its Lighthouse and the many sea lions and cormoranes that inhabit the area. The boat trip was extremely scenic and despite the strong winds we were lucky to get enough sunlight to have nice views of the coastline. It´s an odd feeling to look at the coastline and realise that well, that´s it...there´s nothing now until Antartica.

Talking about Antartica I had told myself before getting to Ushuaia that if there was an opportunity for a last minute deal I would take it. That is exactly what happened on my last day here. As i walked down to the reception of the hostel, a poster advertising an 8 day Antartica cruise for $1800 was there staring at me. A regular cruise goes for $5000 so the deal looked pretty sweet. Oh..what to do ?

(...)

Naaah....I am not in Antartica...but at the Perrito Moreno Glacier next to El Calafate. Cheeky I know :) although tempted I decided against Antartica. Instead I bought a flight to Easter Island for the end of February (I would much prefer to spend time checking out the hot Easter Island men! ).

Back in BA

Having spent a few days at the beach it was a bit of a shock to make it back to the city. I spent the day with Karen walking through La Boca, cheering to an empty Boca Juniors football stadium (no Maradona was not there unfortunately) and spending far too much time drinking red Martinis on ice at El Balcon in San Telmo while waiting for a 5 minute tango show.

Here´s a little somethin´somethin´requested by Spentrails ...


Off to check out the end of world now...

Taraaa

Monteviedo and Punta del Este, Uruguay

It was a spur of the moment decision but it was worth it. I had originally been scheduled to fly out to Ushuaia on the 4th January but decided to change my flight to the 8th and follow the girls up to Uruguay for some beach time instead.


We took a ferry and a bus to Monteviedo, the capital of Uruguay. The town is nothing spectacular in itself. What was spectacular was that we had to sleep in a window-less and fan-less 6 bed dorm in 30C heat and aggressive mosquitoes. Needless to say it was not fun. I ended up sleeping on the sofa in the lounge instead.

We walked around Monteviedo which has some cool old buildings, and a Market/Restaurants where you can eat meat until you collapse (which we did!). Also it was entertaining to see every second person walking down the street with a thermos and a cup of MATE. They love the stuff.

We quickly moved on to Punta Del Este, the supposedly most famous beach resort in South America. To me, it looked a lot like Surfer´s Paradise, Australia. It was nice enough. The beaches were nothing to write home about and the 25 USD per night for a dorm bed was stiff. But we ate lovely ice cream at Freddo (they have dulce de leche ice cream!!!) , had our palms read by Magdalena -see pic below (I will get married once and meet the father of my children in 2008!) and checked out the casino (I lost).


It was also time to say goodbye to the Danes. I have been meeting up with them sporadically since September but this time it was goodbye for good (or until I get back to Europe). Sad moment. But as a final present I thought I should post my favourite picture of them as thank you for the many (many!) moments of laughter we had together. I will miss you!

New Year 2008 - Bring on Buenos Aires

It was a close call but i made it in time to Buenos Aires for New Year. I suffered yet some more delays in Point A Pitre, missing my connection in Cayenne (does this sound familiar?) and having to stay in Cayenne for one night. I actually shed a tear (frustration) when the Air Caraibes person told me that I would have to stay in Cayenne until the 31 st to get the next flight out. Luckily for me, I was not alone to deal with this "shit" (excuse my language) and I was surrounded by a highly efficient team consisting of a moaner/complainer (aka "le raleur"), a negotiator (Eric aka "le negotiateur") and a v lucky person (Serge aka "Le rescape").

"Le Negotiateur"

"Le Raleur"

"Le Rescape"

Thanks to these guys, we managed to get on an unscheduled charter flight on Saturday to Belem. Once in Belem that was not quite the end of my worries as I had missed my connecting flights to Buenos Aires. To make a long story short I travelled for 2 straight days non stop to get down to Buenos Aires. I will have to write an extensive complaint letter to Air Caraibes.

Once in BA, i relaxed. The heat was stiffling but it just added to the cool atmosphere of the city. I wandered around the Barrio of San Telmo, where street entertainers were playing music and dancing in the streets. I met up with the Danes again and Karen (who I hadn´t seen since Central America) as we were all staying in the Millhouse hostel in Central Buenos Aires. We spent most of our time walking around the city, eating steak and drinking Malbec. In that order.

New Year´s Eve was a fun affair. People here don´t seem to go out for diner on the 31st so we were a bit stuck for choice. In the end we had diner in a local restaurant round the corner of the hostel, eating steak and drinking Malbec (erhem) in the dark (due to a power cut). We then made it back to the hostel in time for midnight. Due to the intense heat (lovely sweaty photos to prove it) we stayed outside drinking Carribean rum in the street. At 2 am we moved on to an outdoor club called Konex. All good fun. Got home a 9 am the next morning.


1 st Jan 2008 : Slept all day and ate McDonalds

Not a bad way to start 2008 in my books!

Christmas 2007 in a french paradise island

I finally made it to the sunny island of Guadeloupe on the 23th December. I arrived late at night and had to fork out 85 Eur (gasp!!!) to get a taxi from the airport to the hotel. Tired but happy I crashed almost immediately on by massive bed and slept in a diagonal position for once!

I headed to the beach the next day with my brother and his family and then quickly made my way back to the airport to pick up my parents.




Christmas day was heaps of fun. We spent the day in the house rented by my brother and his wife s family and celebrated there by splashing in the pool and having a BBQ. We also decided to head to the beach to enjoy some Champagne while catching the sunset. It was pure bliss.


I couldn t have wished for a better christmas this year. I was lucky to be surrounded by my family in an environment that bring out the best in people (ie. sun, beach, coconuts and rum!). It allowed me to stop "travelling" for a short time and be "normal"...although the island did cut a big whole in my wallet (ie French prices in paradise).

And to finish it off here s a picture of little William....deja un tombeur...