Thursday, December 30, 2010

Sandiago de Chile

Sandiago,
A city with so much to see. From museums and art, to parks and people, architecture and public planning, Santiago has an incredible mix. Throw in good food, especially seafood, and good drinks, like german style beer and Chilean wine, and you have a place that i can spend a few good days in. While there I met up with Jess from my old work. It always great to see people from back home and some local perspective (seeing how real people live) is part of the joys of travelling.

Aguas Caliente
A stop off on the way to sandiago was a little hotspring town outside of orsrno that features beautiful walks through forests and mountains of the lakes district and of course hot springs. Shown in the picture the swimming pool is at quite hot and a river next to it that is freezing for $5 you can indulge in both.





Wednesday, December 29, 2010

A Dozen travel tips, learned the hard way

A few tips for the world weary expert and the egger beginning alike:


1. Be Prepared – a motto for more than scouts and condoms. Sun Tzu once said something about a journey of a thousand li and and some carts and stuff, it all sounded very profound so he put it in a book called “the Art of War” and sold millions of copies. What he was prattling on about was the importance of PROVISIONS. Whether you are setting off on a walk, invading a foreign country, hanging around an airport, or just staying in for the night, with a little forethought it can be a big success. Buy up when you’re in big (cheep) towns. Yes ok there is the problem of weight (makes you strong) but just 1kg of bred some apples maybe an avocado or a tomato or two and a bottle of water can save you from starvation, extortion, and boredom – and has done all 3 for me many a time. Alcohol is possibly the most important provision! A small (half to two) litre cask or a bottle shoved in the bottom of your pack is a great way to find entertainment where there might be none. It has 3 great uses: 1 – it staves of cold, boredom, and fatigue as it helps you sleep even around snorers 2 – It’s a great way to meet friends and be social, There’s a big fat line between sitting around a table doing nothing and drinking together, if you like the company offer them something 3 – it can be Ridiculously cheaper than buying something in whatever backwater you’re in. As my old drill sergeant would say “Always remember the 6 Ps: Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performances” At least i feel he would say this if i had one... and probably add “if not at least have some grog at hand”
2. Always carry toilet paper! You would be surprised how many places won’t have it. Reasons include cost, religion (clearly god hates clean bottoms, that’s why he created babies), hygiene (apparently), to plumbing all combine to mean that western luxuries like toilet paper are a self-catering necessity. Even toilets where you pay up to 80c to get in will have toilet paper only at the door, and you have to take an ‘appropriate’ amount with you to the stall. A mistake only made once.
3. Always carry around some spare cash when heading outside of big cities, Local currency, US dollars and Euros are good too. You only have to be stuck in one out of the way town with a broken ATM wondering if you should eat, go to the observatory, or sleep on a matress to realise this is very good idea.
4. Drink Local, Act Global. There’s nothing wrong with being a tourist, and sometimes it’s useful. Local drinks and local dishes are an important part of travelling, and so is having a good time. There is a cost, and generally this is EITHER financial (top notch touristy places) or health and wellbeing related (dodgy street food, seedy pubs), but both are worth it, fine food and “cultural” experiences are their own reward. Sometimes this can get you into some trouble but a few sufficiently badly pronounced phrases (fake it if in an English speaking country), and a sincere apology is usually all that is required for anything like a free bus rides, being sick, being lost, insulting someone’s mother, or just about any other ‘accident’ you can think of. Don’t be afraid to experiment, but be prepared for the risks.
5. If you see a map of the city and you don’t have one take a photo of it! Even if you don’t think you need it, you can always delete it later. You can always look at it later on playback, and it is amazing how often this will come in handy later.
6. The eReader is my friend. You can, often unexpectedly, spend hours waiting for things like buses, friends, queuing in line, or just for the waiter. Having a good book to read is great, having 80 good books including the lonely planet, maps, and multi-lingual dictionaries is AWESOME! At 165g i would recommend it to anyone, anywhere, always. (it is also a good conversation starter at bars)
7. WiFi for All. There is wifi everywhere and having a computer or phone that can access this is a great idea. Often you have to pay a good deal of money for slow connections on PCs in a dingy room when a laptop would find a wifi in just about any main square, cafe, or hostel. HOWEVER, think carefully about how much a laptop weighs, 3.5kg may not sound like a lot in the store but it is a monster of a thing to be carting around with one hand everywhere add another kg for the adaptor and a few charging cables and you realise what your carrying. Also battery life of 100min is not a lot when most movies are 125-135min. To people setting out i would suggest a EeePC or similar light weight and up and 11 hours of battery they are very handy when travelling – but get good insurance because unlike my brick they are popular with the undesirables too.
8. The extra few dollars for nice overnight busses (5-10 bucks) are SSSOOO worth it because you can sleep on the bus saving you not only accommodation costs but a day wasted on buses or lying in the hostel recovering from busses.
9. Lemons – they are good. An upset stomach or a loss of appetite can be really annoying as it can sap energy and leave you feeling apathetic. Drugs will generally target the symptoms and so you will ‘crash out’ later. A simple dish of Civiche, or some lemon in hot water, even tea, can be all you need to pick you up. Luckily south america has them in plentiful supply.
10. Buy credit cards in the USA. Lots of things want you to use creditcards in the USA, from hotels to vending machines to petrol stations to WiFi hotspots... don’t feel like paying the $5 fee (for a $2 drink) from OZ credit cards? Simple, buy a credit card at the supermarket. Preloaded with 50 bucks you too can be a cash free plastic fantastic American. Also good for when you want to make discreet purchases... not that sort of purchase boys, i was thinking motels where you want to run off with the towels... not that I would, you understand.
11. Airports are a great place to hang out, watch a movie, or even sleep. Why get a taxi at 2am when you can have wifi and semi comfortable benches to sleep on till morning and then get a bus and check into your hotel, saves you a nights accommodation, the taxi fare, and you get be one of the cool people on the benches. With snow/rain outside, everybody is doing it these days.
12. Don’t write travel tips -they just tell people how many ways you have fucked up on your travels. No one will take your advice cos it’s all fairly common sense stuff that you have heard yourself. Until you actually make the mistake it doesn’t sound so bad... you know if it’s not happening to you, if YOU don’t go hungry. Tips are always stuff like, keep track of your belongings, Double check dates on your booking BEFORE you hit that confirm button, which we all know is a good idea but woops.

Saturday, December 25, 2010

Christmas in a Cold climate

Christmas Eve started much like any other day, overcast with spattering of rain on my hostel window. My carefully laid plans of rising early to go walking in the park were dashed a sudden inflammation of my Icantbefuckedacitice. This cleared up about lunchtime though the weather did not. I headed out to Parque Nacional Chiloé
Where I met and instantly fell for 4 lovely Québécois, we walked through what I
would swear are Tasmanian forests to a wide expansive beach. Being 42 degrees south the vegetation was amazingly similar to home. To fight the Chill, and fortify our spirits, we consumed a Christmas bottle of Pisco sour on the wild windswept beach before the return journey to Castro. Along the way i got free French lessons, realising i had forgotten all the French i ever knew - and was not coming back in a hurry. Here, on a terrace overlooking the bay at dusk, we settled into a feast platter of cheese crackers and the forbidden fruit, along with a bottle or two of the local wine. Finding a restaurant proved more difficult but we finally found a place where we could sample the seas bounty. I had a large dish of shellfish, meat, potato and salmon. Parting company we returned home at 2am full of Christmas merriment.
Here i discover that my hostel has a curfew at 1am, and had now bared the doors and would not open to me even after extensive knocking... Calling on my inner cat burglar, i vaulted a barbed gate, sailed through the unlocked window and, by light of my camera, snuck my way back to my room. As cosmic proof that i should not take up a life of crime i was then confronted my an angry looking, bare breasted, Chilean man wielding a six-shooter like John Wayne incarnate - and i don’t know if he was the good the bad or the ugly. (I mean he had a RUGER?? What is this 1920’s?) After a heated exchange, involving his incessant shouts asking if I was ‘loco’ and me in my bad Spanish (and accidently a few French words - cos they felt right) giving him a piece of my mind for locking me out without warning, we each retreated to our rooms untill mañana. Sufficiently ruffled by the encounter i did not immediately sleep - i got up late, to an unsatisfactory breakfast (prepared, very slowly, by John Wayne himself), i left and met up with the lovely Canadians girls and headed for some penguins up north on Christmas day.

All in all an Unforgettable Christmas.

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Valpo and vina del mar

Valparaiso, Chile. Has lots of murals/graffiti and arty feel about it but in a really pov, unpretentious, kind of way. Most are on derelict or half abandoned buildings, some in slummy regions or dark alleys, the paint is flaking, cracked and worn, or freshly painted over. There was a hostel “the house of adventure” which form the outside looks like it has seen better days with worn and striping paintwork, there were sheets hanging out some windows and traces of eggs thrown from balconies, urine in the streets, and an atmosphere somewhere between a college/dorm and a brothel... needless to say I was instantly tempted to stay there but i had already paid for a nice place in vina del mar. There are also some beaches, cabelcars, historic buildings and other attractions but i think the rough but warm, like a city of sin for tourists, feel of the place is what drives visitors to this place.

Monday, December 20, 2010

Island Time

I’m not sure i quite have the concept of the ‘laid back’ Easter Islands down pat. Arrived at 1pm, checked in by 2pm mountain biking up the tallest hill to ancient ruins by 3pm, awesome downhill though gum trees and home by 6pm. Cup of tea, few bites to eat, out to town, sunset over the bay with a bunch of moai (head statues). Next day 40km of biking across a wide range of terrain (mostly flat, pavement dirt and tracks) to see all the statues, houses and beaches. Which would defiantly have been better if my bike had 2 pedals... one fell off halfway through but i eventually found a way to ride that involved kind of pushing the pedal in with one foot and cycling with the other in an awkward gait that would make a chronic stroke victim look coordinated. Still great little island.

But then again I’m not sure that the locals get the island pace either (... mum, don’t google “Easter island riots” everyone here is happy and all is well). My excuse is i did spend a few days in pisco valley soaking up the uhm atmosphere in this fruit and grape growing region, then bus and plane and lots of idleness. I am looking forward to civilisation again so i think a few days in Valparaiso is just what the doctor ordered.

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Got Salt?

A 4 day jeep safari across southern Bolivia turned up amazing salt flats (140km long and deep enough to cut bricks out of – that they make houses out of!), flamingo rich lagoons and geysers, as well as awesome lava flows that where perfect for climbing. Luxuries are understandably limited in this terrain, and 7+driver in a jeep is always uhm cosy, especially for 6-10 hours a day. But here were some nice hot springs and some cool sights that i think speak for themselves.

Word to the wise: Don’t buy bolivian salt! After having personally stood on driven over and licked (not in that order) the salt that will then be dried crushed and packaged to be sold... On the up note there are signs telling you not to pee on it so maybe you’ll be OK... maybe.
Also navigativg a train through the salt flats using the Einstien field equasion is not recomended as this derilict train will prove.

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Cheap Thrills

Hanging around the street markets and dodgy vendors you find you can get just about anything for a good price. In Cusco I picked up a Hat ($3) some sunnies ($2) and a alpaca wool jumper ($8) after feasting on Quail eggs (5 for $0.30) and a half litre of fresh juice made to order ($1.20). This is due largely to the poverty of these counties where even doctors, lawyers and teachers are forced to drive taxis to survive. Take the town of Juiinetta with a population of 250,000 there are more than 20,000 tricycles (bike taxies) in juiinetta and the principal industry is smuggling... some to Bolivia (e.g. alpaca knickknack for Petrol) some of it within peru. This is a problem as crime doesn’t pay, at least not taxes – the result is dirt roads, poor schools, and no infrastructure. I don’t know if my tourist dollars help, hinder, or don’t affect things but i’d like to think i’m putting some cash into their economy. This may all be over as in Chille i am paying about 2-3 times more for most stuff brining it much closer to prices back home... but there are still some to be had.

The wide variety of experiences too is not to be underestimated. In Lima it was death for breakfast (catacombs), virgin sacrifice for lunch(temple,) jumping off cliffs in the afternoon (paragliding), and more drinks than you can point a stick at in the evening (hostel bar!). And that’s just one day. Others included Breakfast with hourses (riding them not eating them) followd by off road for lunch (and getting boged) eating sand for dinner thanks to my impressive sandboarding skills, and watching the sun set over some of the worlds strangest landscapes. Of course there are also days of sitting on a bus and days of lying in a hammock, hiding from the world watching movies, or catching up with new friends, or just planning where to go and what to see – And these are generally my blogging days. Chillaxing!

Of course this sort of easy lifestyle comes with its fair share of setbacks. More that the occasional 14 hour bus ride on a seat that doesn’t recline that well, with a fat man snoring behind you. Hostel interruptions and other forms of sleep deprivations. I have gone through 3 hats now for reasons ranging from forgetting on a bus, to using it as a emergency containment vessel when the alch...altitude got to me on a bumpy curvy road bus. I’ve been burnt bitten and stabbed by various insects plants animals and unidentified assailants. And had to put up with the most profane toilets that would make Rammstein go pale and hold each other for support. I write this now from a hostel where the crackling thunderstorms occasionally cut the power and let alarms join the tumultuous night sounds.

The Culture too can be hard to comprehend and we too quick to judge sometimes. For Example the other day I saw some people at a cemetery/church/temple/thing setting fire to stuff – walls, rocks, incense, the baby Jesus. At first i thought you can’t go and set Jesus on fire!? But then I thought compared to eating his body and drinking his blood, it’s probably the nicest thing to do. And anyhow how can you not support setting things on fire for no apparent reason. The mix of Inca and tribal traditions with Christianity is still an uneasy one.
But all that is what makes travelling fun, the unexpected.

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Yi-pi-ki-yay, MoFo!


So today I discovered the real wild west. The place Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid were gunned down, a land of steep canyons, cacti, fast horses, a hot sun in a clear blue sky, and the sort of eerie stillness you expect at the ok-corral just before midday. Turns out that the real America is in Sothern Bolivia.

I stumbled off the overnight train and arrived tiered confused and utterly unable to form a coherent Spanish sentence at my hostel/booking agent. There i met my twin saviours, speaking flawless (from my point of view anyway) Spanish they had just negotiated a 5 hr horse ride with guide, and invited me along. At Bolivian 10:00am (11 something) our own little Sundance kid guided our posse though the impressive formations, gullies and ravines of tupiza.


The special riding hat turned out , unsurprisingly, to be a cowboy style ‘sombrero’. My horse, let’s call him black thunder (because ross was boring name for a horse), was lively but obedient (mostly) stallion who loved to lead and loved to canter, easily outpacing the kid’s mare. So yeah, Turns out cilantro means walk not cantor, woops!

See you cowboys....

Saturday, December 4, 2010

La Paz, descent into madness.

La Paz the market rich capital of Bolivia. Here you can buy everything from hats, socks, dried lama foetuses, plumbing supplies, great juices and salads, knitting supplies, electrical and more.

I happened to be there for a colourful street festival, a kind of combination all saints day and black (negro – read indigenous) pride festival. What they lacked in musical or dance skills they made up for with loud flamboyant costumes and the occasional fireworks explosion.


I went on a downhill mountain bike ride down the north yungas road, across nearly 70km and down nearly 3.5km vertically. It features some breathtaking views and some killer drops. Riding through waterfalls and along precipitous roadways the gravel route is an easy but enjoyable ride through Bolivian highland and jungle. It ends with a quick dip and lunch before returning to LaPaz via the same road (on a fast mini-bus). You also get a free tee-shirt, a free cut to the face (should have watched those branches) and the right to say “I survived death road”.

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Copa, Copacabana - Lake Titicaca

After a few nice days on lake titikaca catching rediculessly slow moter boats I hoped accross the boder to Copacabana, a charming little village on the boarder of Bolivia peru. Here i stoped for several hours to drink jucies, eat lunch hike up to a little mountain cemitary and sail on a sailboat... for 10 bucks I initially thought that I was renting it for myself. However (luckily for me) it came with ‘El Capitán’. Sailing involved about 15-20 min of rowing, due to my obvious muscular physic, i was doing at least half. Grasping the splintering hulks of wood in my powerful clutches and with my demi-godlike muscles flexing beneath my taught shirt, I rowed with much sound and fury - and sadly little actual forward momentum. Once we got to more open water we attached the rudder and sail. Impressed with my creative steering and cores plotting skills, I finally attempted to tack. Unable to clearly establish my intentions and then heroically cocking up the turn by getting the mainsheet (or is that an outhall) caught on the ore and having the boom flap uselessly in the fallow breeze ‘El Capitán’ helped out with a few strokes of the ores and then attaching the boom back where it belongs. So impressed was he at my nautical skills that promptly promoted me to head bilger which i excelled at. With ‘El Capitán’ at the helm i attempted to make some small talk amongst two salty sea dogs as we were. This too did not go as planned – possibly because i don’t know my pico from my.... uhm actually that’s the only Spanish word i learnt and i’m not sure if it’s sail, boom, gaff, rig, or sheet. The explanations ‘El Capitán’ gave were short involved nodding generally limited to ‘Si’ and at one point followed by something that sounded an awful lot like ‘You’re not paying me enough for this shit’. At this point i should take a moment to describe the boat to a sailor i would say it’s a small squaresail (gaff rig) like a couta... however unlike the beautiful king-billy pine example that some of my families sometimes sail up the Tamar, this one has ores made of rough round timber with two unequal sized planks nailed on; the boom floats freely (no goseneck) till you tie it (a twine downhall?) to one side of the center bunkseat, which then occasionally needs to be banged in again with an ore; The bilge pump consisted of a cut open coke bottle; The sheet is tied on to a rusty hook not fed though a non-slip thingy or a figure of 8 thingy (yep run out of nautical terms); There is no centre board, and the rudder will lean in at a 45 degrees angle when trying to steer. All of this seemed as natural as raindrops on kittens to ‘El Capitán’ but it was ‘Muí diferente’ from where i was sitting. ‘El Capitán’ guided the boat back to the pier where i leapt off and moored our boat and payed the good captain upon which he looked for the first time impressed :)

A Fun day and one of my best bussing days so far.