Well the last time i attempted to try and write this blog im guessing maybe the extremeness of my loation and the mass of snow had an affect on causing a lack of internet connectivity, but fear not, i have returned to finnish what was started!
Life in the southernmost city of the world provided lots of fun, from skiing (im pretty sure i now hold the record for he worlds most southern pong wiffy) and sledging down perilous slopes (ok maybe not that bad), to the oppertunity to create from scratch our own two story castle of snow that was temporarily called home, to learning that in Argentine, a night out doesnt begin till at lest 2am, and can last straight through to ridiculously early hours of the morning... Ushuaia could offer it all and more, not bad for a town that initially consisted of a population solely of convicts.
Ushuaia had it all, and we even began to explore the joys of homecooking in our hostels kitchen ranging from stir fry like dishes to making several pizzas all from scratch, not to mention explore the bars, but not before 2am at the earliest, and talk about the english artists whom are kown so well for theyre musical inputs into the country, the journey home proved to be the most entertaining (Otra posta!!!!). The joys of singing karaoke to a bunch of people who no not wht you sing, or at least attempt to are also not to be missed, but interesting still are the results of gathering an englishman with the french Maire-Lou, and Wendy (from hong kong)... Perculiar indeed!
Leaving the land of Ushuaia after calling it home for four days we spent a lovely 12 hours plus bussing back up north, not a simple matter as to leave Ushuia we hd to go back into Chile and its customs, only to then have to go back across a ferry boat and through Argentinian customs once more to return to Argentine... no easy matter that was for sure. Heading into Punto Madryn, a town famous for its whale population, and noticeably hotter climates we made home for the night at our hostal and decided that the morning to follow we would set out to explore on bikes.
Morning broken, and a group of four weary travellers later with bikes under foot we set off for a 24km round trip to punta loma to find a seal reserve and a rather interesting journey...within the space of five minutes not only had we spotted our first whale, but also a rather large flock of flamingos sunbathing along the beach... well i guess even they need a holiday from time to time. The reserve was not quite what we hoped for, the entrance fee had risen drastically, so when we decided to covertly sneak into the area on foot, a ranger with a raher oversized pair of binoculers spotted us fairly early on... Needless to say our plot and despite great character acting our pretending to be armadillos was not quite up to scratch for this people spotter.
Back in Madryn it was back with the bikes and off to the harbour for a good few solid hours of whale watching, it was pretty unbelievable really we had been lucky enough to witness the odd whale fling itslef from the waters only to come crashing back down whilst we had been cycling, but it seemed that now we were within an arms reach the whales just wernt up for frolicing around. Theyre pretty amazing to watch, and quite a surprise when they sneak up on you when your not ssuspectng and attempt to spout you with water, but who can truly blame them when they somewhat had a face onloy a mother could love.
Before the watching ran dry we were treated to a rather payful whale whom had taken to swimming about upside down, a sea lion who was lucky there were no orcas about, and a rather strange little penguin who seemed to be able to scare off the mamoth whales... What more wildlife could you ask for in a day?
Bussing it to Esquel with the use of yet another overnight bus we arrived the next morning, Miika and Mio setting off on a steam train journey whilst in the mean time Cherrelle and i set of to the little welsh settlement village of Trevlin in search of a welsh tea-house. Arriving and finding what we sought, it wasnt long before the tea and cakes began to flow, from rum laced fruitcake to pink strangeberry cake, to dulce de leche and chocolate... a cake for every occasion.
Back in Esquel we caught a bus to Bariloche, famous for its amssivley immense ski slopes and resorts, arriving in the pouring rain (the third shower wed had since being in ecuador) we found accomidation and settled down for some much craved sleep.
The slopes proved to be a challenge, not least for the fresh mounds of snow that laced every run, but also for the fact that when you hit a slope that suddenly becomes flat, snowboards suddenly become alot of work. The day however was truly fun, continuing from what i had learnt in Chillian my confidence on a snowboard soon increased and sooner than i knew it i was blasting down the snowy slopes faster than greased li9ghtning!!!
A side note to potential snowboarders, the security strap is very handy for when you want to use your board as a sledge... It stops your board from running away and taking a bath in freezing cold rivers, you have been warned!
Two days passed in Bariloche before a 20hour bus ride came to call destined to take us to the capital and party town of Argentina, Buenos Aires. The bus ride for some reason passed in a blur of amazing scenery ranging from odd mountainsides to lush green fields lined with cows (well Argentina is known for its love of Beef and its leather produce, if not just its Tango).
Arriving in BA for about 2pm we dumped bags and hit the movies for a showing of Se Busca (wanted) before heading to bed... ¨But Danny its a friday, you should go out¨It took just these words fro Miika, and a hot shower to convince me that gettig out of bed would be a good idea, It was a friday and im in BA, the party hadnt started yet so i had plenty of time to rummage through my wetaherd clothes crammed into my backpack and find a decent t-shirt for the night. Follwing the crowds of trendy teens and early twenty somethings i eventually stumbled into a club eminating electreo and house music, and somehow entered a time warp for it wasnt until the music ended that i realised it had almost reached 8am!!!!! It really does seem like in Argentina once you start a night on the town, your in for the long haul!
With 2 hours kip, it was up and out again switching hostels and eventually moving out to explore BA, Plans intercepted however by a group of three Aussie girls From Sydney i soon found myself wrapped up into conversations over coffe ranging from travel, to film and ontoto one of their friends puppy stories... Followed up by exploring a hippies market surrounded by people performing all manner of circus skills from juggling, tightrope walking and even dangling from a tree on cloth. Before heading off to some shops and eventually home, it was a chance encounter with a mime that proved to be the highlight of the day.
I can assure you being immitated by someone who looks like they should be locked up is quite odd, but also entertaining not to mention entertaining and yet still disturbing for all those with the fortune of witnessing the specticle, but the real joy comes from outsmarting the mime and causing him to leap over a fence whilst your stil on the other side Danny 1, Mime Nil! The night that followed was rounded off with a trip to a salsa club with many enthusiastic young dancers eager to strt there stuff to the sounds of shakira and other latin beats.
Onto today and its been a slow yet eventful day, sleeping until the cleaner came nocking at the room it was off and out to explore BA, Running into David an argentinian from Mendoza it was off for a now to be informative tour of the city, miniture spansh lessons (Finnaly sussed you out Cherry, hah) an talks about dear old Maggie Thatcher and the likes of Evita.
As of yet what the night holds is to be seen, with an invite out to some local discoteca, i could be in for a long night, we shall see!
Sunday, August 31
Friday, August 22
Vamos El Fin Del Mundo! (To the End of The World)
So, now the possibly somewhat potentialy lacking in sanity group of travellers that we are have now arrived at the worlds most southern town, Ushuaia, and what can i tell you about this exotic and far flung destination, well i can safely tell you that there are plentiful amounts of snow, nestled a mere 600 miles from the land of Antartica, i guess its hardly suprising!
Hell hound at the hostal... Balacon!!!
Antartica, Thada way!!!
Saturday, August 16
Heading South... Hopefully!
Heading off from Santiago we found refuge for the night in a cold correogated metal shack in a small town nearby to Chillian for the night before mving on the next day towards chillian and what we were hoping was a snow covered little wooden hostel at the base of yet more snow capped mountains... Unfortuneatly this wasnt to be the case...
We found our little wooden lodge in the form of a hi hostel, so wooden lodge, Check. Snow on the otherhand was nowhere to be seen, apperantly the winter had yielded little of the much sort after snow in the area. So feeling slightly cheated we ate breakfast catching the opening of the Beijing olympic games before being accompanied by sam the alsation con pup as we took to treckking up the mountain road to the ski slopes at its summit.
Some time later after pausing occasionally to play in patches of snow we somehow managed to hitch a ride up the steepest section of road to the top of the snowy mountain in the back of a pickup truck atop alot of firewood and somebodies snowboard, thanking the driver at the top and with no intention of actually going to do anyform of snowrelated activities we wandered over to the snowy slopes... The temptation was just too much.
We hadnt anticipated on actually making it up the mountain so now that we had arrived at is summit n the doorstep of the slopes the thought of getting on the slopes was all too much... We just had to, after all, wed made it to the top, so scrounging what money we had on us we managed to pool together enough to get everything we needed forthe day... Including Snowboards, Board in hand, we were off with nothing to stop us. Literally!
After a good 5 hours of boarding and mastering the seeminglessley endless slopes (and the fine art of boarding a ski lift) we called it a day as the slopes began to close and made way back down the muntain on foot until with my words of "amigo por favor" a kindly old man in yet another pickup allowed us too ride in the back, so perched atop two rather large gas canisters the size oof water tanks, we rode back down to our hostal/lodge for an expected dinner that tuned out to come with a gratituatry three course waiter service. Rather bizzare in all honesty.
Leaving Chillian the next morning we returned to the small town hoping for a train to Puerto Mont, yet however the trains were still on strile so that meant hanging round a dead town until close to midnight for an overnight bus, oh the joys, this then roughly translated meant numerous hours sitting out in the train station watching episodes of painkiller janeuntil our bus was ready to go, not the best way to cure mind numbing monotomy butit was something.
Next morning in Puerto Mont we arrived a day in advance of our four day ferry taking us further south down Chile to Puerto Natales, stocking up on food and feeling a new addiction to manajar (a toffee like substance) forming and a trip to the huge ripleys shopping centre we made it through to the next day in which we discovered upon arriving at the harbour that the ferry was a day late. So with little option but to sit out another day in Puerto Mont we returned to the shopping centre for trip to the cinema to watch wall-e and la momia tres! Thus now re-affirming never before hatered towards Brendan Fraiser and wishing his end could come rather swiftly.
Next morning we arrived at the harbour and after sitting round for a few hours, borded at 2 via a huge wagon lift that took all the ferys passengers up to the top deck in one go before the ferry left three hours late of its initial departure at 7... Four days away from land, what lay in store the next foiur days was anyones guess.
The first two nights were incredibly rough, and i can say fairly surely that all aboard were suffering the effects of the rough night time seas, at least we had three meals a day to tide us over, almost all of which were more than welcomed by us, somewhat the best we had eaten for a while. With the occasional sighting of Dolphins on and off through the day our last night was by far the calmest and the one in which we all got the most kip.
A snowy way to start the day.
Waking to a blizzrad of snow in the morning we prepared to leave our cabiny home of the last four days to swap pur newly aquired sea legs for those of a land lover, so rather shakily we departed the ferry before being jumped by a rather over enthusiasctic mad chillian woman offering accomodation in the unfamiliar town of Puerto Natales, narrowly avoiiding all out warfare and a slanging match between representatives for each house, hostel and god knows what else we tumpled upon our current lodging.
Theres not much to say about the town of Puerto Natales, its small, everything is closed, and there is no ne to be found anywhere, but saying that if you wander to the supermarket, you will no doubt find the towns entire population bustling like ants around its isles... Saying that, tomorrow (Sunday) were hopefully heading further south, and if its like this already who knows what life will be like at the end of the world!
We found our little wooden lodge in the form of a hi hostel, so wooden lodge, Check. Snow on the otherhand was nowhere to be seen, apperantly the winter had yielded little of the much sort after snow in the area. So feeling slightly cheated we ate breakfast catching the opening of the Beijing olympic games before being accompanied by sam the alsation con pup as we took to treckking up the mountain road to the ski slopes at its summit.
Some time later after pausing occasionally to play in patches of snow we somehow managed to hitch a ride up the steepest section of road to the top of the snowy mountain in the back of a pickup truck atop alot of firewood and somebodies snowboard, thanking the driver at the top and with no intention of actually going to do anyform of snowrelated activities we wandered over to the snowy slopes... The temptation was just too much.
We hadnt anticipated on actually making it up the mountain so now that we had arrived at is summit n the doorstep of the slopes the thought of getting on the slopes was all too much... We just had to, after all, wed made it to the top, so scrounging what money we had on us we managed to pool together enough to get everything we needed forthe day... Including Snowboards, Board in hand, we were off with nothing to stop us. Literally!
Atop the mighty steed!
After a good 5 hours of boarding and mastering the seeminglessley endless slopes (and the fine art of boarding a ski lift) we called it a day as the slopes began to close and made way back down the muntain on foot until with my words of "amigo por favor" a kindly old man in yet another pickup allowed us too ride in the back, so perched atop two rather large gas canisters the size oof water tanks, we rode back down to our hostal/lodge for an expected dinner that tuned out to come with a gratituatry three course waiter service. Rather bizzare in all honesty.
Leaving Chillian the next morning we returned to the small town hoping for a train to Puerto Mont, yet however the trains were still on strile so that meant hanging round a dead town until close to midnight for an overnight bus, oh the joys, this then roughly translated meant numerous hours sitting out in the train station watching episodes of painkiller janeuntil our bus was ready to go, not the best way to cure mind numbing monotomy butit was something.
Next morning in Puerto Mont we arrived a day in advance of our four day ferry taking us further south down Chile to Puerto Natales, stocking up on food and feeling a new addiction to manajar (a toffee like substance) forming and a trip to the huge ripleys shopping centre we made it through to the next day in which we discovered upon arriving at the harbour that the ferry was a day late. So with little option but to sit out another day in Puerto Mont we returned to the shopping centre for trip to the cinema to watch wall-e and la momia tres! Thus now re-affirming never before hatered towards Brendan Fraiser and wishing his end could come rather swiftly.
Next morning we arrived at the harbour and after sitting round for a few hours, borded at 2 via a huge wagon lift that took all the ferys passengers up to the top deck in one go before the ferry left three hours late of its initial departure at 7... Four days away from land, what lay in store the next foiur days was anyones guess.
The first two nights were incredibly rough, and i can say fairly surely that all aboard were suffering the effects of the rough night time seas, at least we had three meals a day to tide us over, almost all of which were more than welcomed by us, somewhat the best we had eaten for a while. With the occasional sighting of Dolphins on and off through the day our last night was by far the calmest and the one in which we all got the most kip.
A snowy way to start the day.
Theres not much to say about the town of Puerto Natales, its small, everything is closed, and there is no ne to be found anywhere, but saying that if you wander to the supermarket, you will no doubt find the towns entire population bustling like ants around its isles... Saying that, tomorrow (Sunday) were hopefully heading further south, and if its like this already who knows what life will be like at the end of the world!
Wednesday, August 6
Climates Chilian!
Believe it or not since my last post weve now arrived in our newest country, the land of Chile, however heres a bit f a round-up of our antics following my last blog...
25th: Departed La Paz on an overnight bus to Potosi.
26th: Potosi, small town infamous for its silver mines (no mines mind, the workers dont do weekends)
27th: Bus ride to Sucre, Bolivias capital... how its a capital compared to La Paz i will never know, its small tiny, and no where near the city la Paz is but hey, this is Bolivia!
28th: Returned to Potosi, weekend gone it was off to explore the silver mines where we discovered numerous toiling miners, zinc, fool´s gold and the joys of playing with explosive substances!
29th: Left Potosi for Uyuni, after our bus broke down three times along the journey we arrived into a cold and dark post-apocolyptic town of nothingness ahead of our journey unto the Bolivian salt flats.
30th: Wandered Uyuni, stocked up on warm clothing ahead of the freezing nights and played amongst the corpses of decomposing trains at the out of town train cemetary.
31st: Uyunian Salt flats day 1- Salt museum? Salt hotel?? Salt flats, a vast expanse of white nothingness... Great fun for taking comical photographs, but not so much fun for the eyes. Spent the night in San juan, the smallest town known to man.
August 1st: Bolivian Salt flats day 2 - Alien landscapes, visits to volcanoes, flocks of Flamingos, rocks that look like trees, red lakes and the coldest night imaginable.
2nd: 5am start, gushing guisers, and a fantastic morning dip in a hot spring was alost worth the agro from our childish driver... Lucky we parted ways at the Chilean border point.
Since arriving in Chile however there has been a drastic and heavily noticeable difference Bolivian and Chillian cultures... Most of all being the paved and smooth roads that welcomed us into the country followed by the extremely polite and friendly Chillean people themselves.
After arriving in the quaint little typical S.American esque town of San Pedro we spent the day before departing on a gruelling 24hour plus bus ride to Santiago at 7.30pm, not arriving at our destination until gone 8pm the next day, smooth going thanks to impecable roads, but hell due to its duration. santaigo on the other hand is a perculiar city, we arrived a little tired but have found, so far that it is a city full of prospect and is rather like something you would expect to find travelling around Europe, not south america. (Its kind of like singapore mixed with switzerland with its modern and crisp architecture and its mountainous backdrop).
Yesterday being the 5th was a bit of a break from the norm as the four of us took a trip up and off to the Andean mountain range to the resort of valley Nevada for a day full of skiing and snow, and yet despite my distinct lack f expertise atop a set of skii´s still managed to hold my own against the other proffesionals darting about... Even when attemoting a jump as i reached its peak my skii´s took flight and i rolled back to its base of soft thigh high snow!
now however it is with my sunburnt face that i must say farewell for now as shorly wee off to go explore the remains of santaigo and decide what to do for the rest of the day!
Adios mi amigos!
Danny!
(¨p)
25th: Departed La Paz on an overnight bus to Potosi.
26th: Potosi, small town infamous for its silver mines (no mines mind, the workers dont do weekends)
27th: Bus ride to Sucre, Bolivias capital... how its a capital compared to La Paz i will never know, its small tiny, and no where near the city la Paz is but hey, this is Bolivia!
28th: Returned to Potosi, weekend gone it was off to explore the silver mines where we discovered numerous toiling miners, zinc, fool´s gold and the joys of playing with explosive substances!
29th: Left Potosi for Uyuni, after our bus broke down three times along the journey we arrived into a cold and dark post-apocolyptic town of nothingness ahead of our journey unto the Bolivian salt flats.
30th: Wandered Uyuni, stocked up on warm clothing ahead of the freezing nights and played amongst the corpses of decomposing trains at the out of town train cemetary.
31st: Uyunian Salt flats day 1- Salt museum? Salt hotel?? Salt flats, a vast expanse of white nothingness... Great fun for taking comical photographs, but not so much fun for the eyes. Spent the night in San juan, the smallest town known to man.
August 1st: Bolivian Salt flats day 2 - Alien landscapes, visits to volcanoes, flocks of Flamingos, rocks that look like trees, red lakes and the coldest night imaginable.
2nd: 5am start, gushing guisers, and a fantastic morning dip in a hot spring was alost worth the agro from our childish driver... Lucky we parted ways at the Chilean border point.
Since arriving in Chile however there has been a drastic and heavily noticeable difference Bolivian and Chillian cultures... Most of all being the paved and smooth roads that welcomed us into the country followed by the extremely polite and friendly Chillean people themselves.
After arriving in the quaint little typical S.American esque town of San Pedro we spent the day before departing on a gruelling 24hour plus bus ride to Santiago at 7.30pm, not arriving at our destination until gone 8pm the next day, smooth going thanks to impecable roads, but hell due to its duration. santaigo on the other hand is a perculiar city, we arrived a little tired but have found, so far that it is a city full of prospect and is rather like something you would expect to find travelling around Europe, not south america. (Its kind of like singapore mixed with switzerland with its modern and crisp architecture and its mountainous backdrop).
Yesterday being the 5th was a bit of a break from the norm as the four of us took a trip up and off to the Andean mountain range to the resort of valley Nevada for a day full of skiing and snow, and yet despite my distinct lack f expertise atop a set of skii´s still managed to hold my own against the other proffesionals darting about... Even when attemoting a jump as i reached its peak my skii´s took flight and i rolled back to its base of soft thigh high snow!
now however it is with my sunburnt face that i must say farewell for now as shorly wee off to go explore the remains of santaigo and decide what to do for the rest of the day!
Adios mi amigos!
Danny!
(¨p)
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