tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37283553632050213872024-03-13T23:45:16.372-07:00Jørn Bjørn - What Made Me BrokeAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13361008535071780658noreply@blogger.comBlogger209125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3728355363205021387.post-11560883392229504972014-07-13T10:58:00.000-07:002014-08-05T13:35:51.186-07:00The Costs of Doing an Around the World Trip<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BRGFwfXwSYg/Ui9fe6hBeII/AAAAAAAArFk/Gwjh4Kqu9w8/s1600/Skjermbilde+2013-05-25+kl.+15.30.38.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BRGFwfXwSYg/Ui9fe6hBeII/AAAAAAAArFk/Gwjh4Kqu9w8/s640/Skjermbilde+2013-05-25+kl.+15.30.38.png" height="323" width="640" /></a><br />
Now, a month after getting home, we have looked at our bank statements and done a thoroughly calculation of absolutely all our expeses on the trip. The following amounts are in Norwegian Krones (NOK), per person and includes everything except flights and insurance which I have added in the conclusion part.<br />
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<u><br /></u>
<u>Trans Mongolian Railway (21. feb-10.mar):</u><br />
Countries visited(and duration): Russia, Mongolia, China (17 days)<br />
Booked in advance: Ruski Huski trip 14 500,-<br />
Amount spent on this part of the trip: 2500,-<br />
Total per day spending: 1000,-<br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TTuzCr_woJU/UwSRNp1JdCI/AAAAAAAArjc/asXjKgqtpcM/s1600/Island+Hopping+in+the+North+Pacific.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TTuzCr_woJU/UwSRNp1JdCI/AAAAAAAArjc/asXjKgqtpcM/s1600/Island+Hopping+in+the+North+Pacific.PNG" style="height: 137px; width: 173px;" /></a><u><br /></u>
<u>Island hopping in the Pacific (10. mar-25.mar):</u><br />
Countries visited (and duration): Philippines, Palau, Micronesia, Marshall Islands, USA/Hawaii (15 days)<br />
Booked in advance: Hostels 1500,-<br />
Amount spent on this part of the trip: 8500,-<br />
Total per day spending: 666,-<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YyiMs9dkmYU/U8K5aidn_3I/AAAAAAAAshw/GELb-9inZqA/s1600/Skjermbilde+2014-07-13+kl.+18.51.07.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YyiMs9dkmYU/U8K5aidn_3I/AAAAAAAAshw/GELb-9inZqA/s1600/Skjermbilde+2014-07-13+kl.+18.51.07.png" style="height: 164px; width: 174px;" /></a><br />
<u>Traveling independently in Northern South America (25.mar-14.apr):</u><br />
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Countries visited(and duration): Colombia, Ecuador, Peru (20 days)<br />
Booked in advance: Hostels, Macchu Picchu day trip 2750,-<br />
Amount spent on this part of the trip: 5000,-<br />
Total per day spending: 388,-<br />
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<a href="http://media.gadventures.com/media-server/cache/f4/f3/f4f30b12e68fef077e5126c29ba1d8f5.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a><a href="http://media.gadventures.com/media-server/cache/f4/f3/f4f30b12e68fef077e5126c29ba1d8f5.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a><br />
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<u><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /></u><img border="0" src="http://media.gadventures.com/media-server/cache/f4/f3/f4f30b12e68fef077e5126c29ba1d8f5.png" style="display: block; float: left; height: 175px; width: 175px;" /><br />
<u>Traveling through Western South America with G- Adventures:(14.apr-13.may):</u><br />
Countries visited(and duration): Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay (30 days)<br />
Booked in advance: La Paz to Buenos Aires Adventure 10 000,-<br />
Amount spent on this part of the trip: 5000,-<br />
Total per day spending: 500,-<br />
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<img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-lkdx5W_i6So/U8K3vTQVBNI/AAAAAAAAshk/cG5wX_DuxYk/B4F02E43-A015-4B97-9952-1C0748320ABD.png" style="display: block; float: left; height: 192px; width: 185px;" /><u>Traveling through Eastern South America with Dragoman(12.may-1.jun):</u><br />
Countries visited (and duration): Argentina, Paraguay, Brazil (19 days)<br />
Booked in advance: Andes & Amazon, Buenos Aires to Rio 8500,-<br />
Amount spent on this part of the trip: 4000,-<br />
Total per day spending: 658,-<br />
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<u>Conclusion:</u><br />
With flights costing 26 000kr per person and insurance costing 3000 per person, the trip ended up with a total around 80 000 krones/ 10 000 euros for 104 days. That is less than 800kr/100 euro per day including flights and absolutely everything except gifts and souveniers. That might sound like a lot, but it is less than double the amount we spend when staying at home and saving up for trip. So, in conclusion, for less than double the money you spend when working and sitting in your couch at home, you can travel the world and have thousand times the fun. </div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-a945dz-SwQc/U6CTq88jCGI/AAAAAAAAsfQ/MNaOZYMHN8M/s1600/http---makeagif.com--media-6-17-2014-MEeGoy.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-a945dz-SwQc/U6CTq88jCGI/AAAAAAAAsfQ/MNaOZYMHN8M/s1600/http---makeagif.com--media-6-17-2014-MEeGoy.gif" height="320" width="180"></a><span style="font-size: large;"><i>
"With its many mountains, Norway has got to be a great place for Downhill biking"</i></span><br>
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I am not sure if the guy I met in Brazil was telling me this or asking me this, but it was true. During this and last summer I have gotten to try out some of the many tracks you will find in Scandinavia, but with a littlebit of creativity you can also find tracks pretty much anywhere. The many long stairways in Bergen city center is one that I found pretty cool, and I have also seen people cycling down from the summit of Dalsnibben to the sea of the Geirangerfjord.<br>
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The summer ski resorts with dedicated tracks for downhill biking that I have tried are the following:<br>
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<u>Oppdal Bike Park</u><br>
<b>Open:</b> From May to October it is open on weekends, thursdays to sundays 11.00-17.00<br>
<b>Number of lifts:</b> One gondola, <i>Hovden</i>, serving 7 slopes. There used to be a chairlift as well, Vangslia, but this was closed last year as new owners took over the resort<br>
<b>Getting there:</b> From Trondheim by bus with "Nettbuss Nordfjord" takes two hours and costs 188kr for a student and 125kr for a bike. From Trondheim by train with "NSB" takes two hours and costs 152kr for a student and 101kr for a bike.<br>
<b>Lift pass costs: </b>100kr for one ride with the gondola, 210kr for one day pass, 360 for a two day pass<br>
<b>Comment: </b>Oppdal is a quiet little town where it is easy to pitch a tent where you want in the woods. The lifts are within biking distance of the city center, and are pretty quiet with just a few bikers, some sheeps and some tourists walking the trails. There is also a nice viewpoint on top with a restaurant and luggage storage. The slopes are varied, but some are a bit hard to reach now when the chairlift is not open, then you need to push your bike across to the other side of the mountain. The slope called "Superflytløypa" was definitely my favorite, going through the woods, with a few good jumps.</p><p><br>
<br><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-eSatFhuYDLo/U7TTUGR_8lI/AAAAAAAAsgo/-5MnaGJv87E/7BF6963F-B87A-4BAA-A7CA-DAFFFCD10B66.png" style="width: 351px; height: 351px;"> <img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-HSrvjkX5pho/U7TTVHdurWI/AAAAAAAAsgw/-F9mSSdxiv8/582D01C8-968B-4845-A263-6131A2F0946A.png" style="width: 351px; height: 351px;"><br>
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<u>Mount Ulriken, Bergen</u><u style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="font-family: Times;">: </span></u><br>
<span style="font-family: Times;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><b>Open:</b> Open every day, but hours are depending on season: May-Oct 09.00-21.00 and Oct-Apr 09.00-21.00<br><b>Number of lifts:</b> One gondola, "<i>Perle&Bruse</i>".<br><b>Getting there:</b> Just ride your bike fifteen minutes from Bergen City Center!<br><b>Lift pass costs: </b>90kr for one ride with the gondola, 150kr for round trip or two sepparate trips</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: Times;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><b>Comment: </b> There is one dedicated downhill bike track, with quite unexpected jumps that can be hard to spot. I quite liked riding down the walking trail to Landås/Nattland, but there were no other cyclists in the tracks and places where carrying the bike was neccessary.</span></span><br><br></p><p style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-4qqIErL3OnI/U6CXgc1T7dI/AAAAAAAAsfk/gNY0XX5oZ1g/918A706B-0620-481C-A530-89C5EB666336.png" style="width: 442px; height: 249px;"><br></p>
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<u>Hanguren, Voss: </u><br>
<b>Open:</b> From June 7st to August 24th, it is open every day from 12.00-16.00<br>
<b>Number of lifts:</b> One gondola, "<i>Dinglo & Danglo/Hangursbanen</i>", and the chairlift in Bavallen for selected weekends.<br>
<b>Getting there:</b> From Bergen by train with NSB takes 1h 10 mins and costs 138kr for a student<br>
<b>Lift pass costs: </b>100kr for one ride with the gondola, 210kr for one day pass<br>
<b>Comment: </b>Voss is a town known for its extreme sports, and the slopes are well used by people who know their stuff! You can easily bike from the city center to the gondola or even pitch your tent on top of the lift. <p><br></p><p><br><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kBf4MYoGuu4/UiNMm94JjuI/AAAAAAAArDY/CFLkz_w-nCY/s320/Downhill+Oppdal.jpg" height="320" style="display: block; float: right;" width="234"></p><p>
<u>Åre Bike Park</u><br><b>Open:</b> From June 6th until some time in the late summer<br><b>Number of lifts:</b> Up to seven lifts can be open for the summer season. Most of them are open from 10.00-17.00</p><p><b>Getting there:</b> From Trondheim by train with NSB/SJ takes 2h 40 mins and costs 166kr for a student<br><b>Lift pass costs: </b>275kr for one day pass (45,- for the card itself)<br><b>Comment: </b>It is Scandinavias biggest and best. The red slopes have lots of jumps, especially "Uffes" and "Shimano" That go from the top. The red trail of "Finbanan" followed by "Kanonrøret" fun park can be run from the lower lifts and have some great jumps, drops and wall rides.<br><u><br><br><br></u><b>My next downhill adventure will go to..</b><u><br><br><br><br></u>
<u>Oslo Sommerpark Tryvann</u><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-y9sHDeL-hKs/UiNSQ1bgNlI/AAAAAAAArDo/GCfP_paclMU/s400/oslo+bikepark.jpg" height="281" width="400" style="float: right; display: block;"></p><p><b>Open:</b> August 19th to October 13th, Wednesdays-Thursdays (15-20) / Saturdays and Sundays(10-18)<br><b>Number of lifts:</b> 1 chairlift serving 6 slopes<br><b>Getting there: </b>Take the number 1 tram from Oslo City Center, get off at Voksenkollen Station (second to last) and walk for ten minutes from there to Tryvann Tower. Ticket price is 20kr if you by it on beforehand or 30kr on board the tram.<br><b>Lift pass costs:</b> 65kr for one ride and the day passes costs 235kr on weekdays and 260kr on weekends<br><b>Comment</b>: I'll definately bring my bike to Oslo next time I go, as the tracks here look fun!<u><br></u>
</p><p><br></p><p style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-cwHNVElxru4/U7TS1EosiAI/AAAAAAAAsgg/Y04huxESI4I/43FB1BF3-16B7-4F1B-BA1E-85962730085A.png" width="650" height="366.7083333333333"><u><br></u></p>and hopefully I will get a downhill cycling video up and running sometime soon :)<br>
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<p></p>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13361008535071780658noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3728355363205021387.post-77570081780162762472014-06-05T21:53:00.001-07:002014-06-09T22:36:12.407-07:00Skipping the Jet Lag From Long Travels<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-rPeAgT6ZJfI/U5FJY8oI2FI/AAAAAAAAsac/gNgvGRMHl_Q/1183293C-D250-4938-9AE2-C4AB01568433.png" height="488.04166666666663" width="650" /></div>
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<i>Catching up on some sleep on overland travels in Brazil</i></div>
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<span style="font-family: ‘Lucida Console’, Monaco, monospace; font-size: x-large;">"West is best, and East is a beast!"</span><br />
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.. is a saying commonly used to describe the jet lag you get when traveling by plane over longer distances. And in most cases it really holds true, as you by travelling westward would just experience a longer day than usually, then go to bed a bit earlier and wake up all synced and rested out the next morning. When going East on the other hand, you will travel towards the clock so that you might find yourself wanting to go to bed at noon and waking up at 2am in the morning feeling like it is morning already.<br />
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In my case I was going east from Brazil to Norway, and since I had an morning exam and then work the day after I got back, I figured that something had to be done in order not to turn into a real brainless zombie when getting back. And it worked as well, making the transit painless, with absolutely no feeling of being unsyncronized with the new time zone, and by using the steps listed below you should also manage to do so:<br />
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<b>1. Set off a days to adapt days at the end of your trip. </b>The app "Entrain" will help you find out how long time you will need in order to fully recover from a jet lag after your travels, depending on your sleeping patterns and the amount of light surriounding you throughout the day. I set my arrival day 72 hours before I was actually going to arrive, so that I would be fully adapted already before getting back.<br />
<b>2. Wake up at appropriate times for the timezone of your destination.</b> "Entrain" will give you a list of times when you should turn on and off your light, and also when you should go to bed and wake up. This is done very gradually in order to make the transaction go as smoothly as possible.<br />
<b>3. Catch an overnight flight</b>. If you are going East, you might have a flight leaving at 10 and landing some time in the morning or around noon, local time. If you manage to sleep through the whole flight you will both save time and also adapt more easily to the new time. Sleeping pills might help, especially if you can get your hands on some melatonin based ones, which are legal in almost every country except Norway.<br />
<b>3. When you arrive</b>, try to get as much direct sunlight as you can. This will help your inner clock adjust naturally to the new time zone.<br />
<b>4. Drink lots of water</b>, and then some more! Hydration is really important and is also why should avoid alcohol and too much coffee while adapting to a new time zone, as this will reverse the effect, making you even more dehydrated.<br />
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So these are the tips that really did the trick for me, so if you dont feel like experiencing insomnia, fatigue, diarrhea and confusion (all symptoms of jet lag) from travelling, you should consider trying them too!<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13361008535071780658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3728355363205021387.post-2392916345093425082014-06-04T11:23:00.001-07:002014-06-09T22:34:19.365-07:00A Last Hooray in Rio de Janeiro<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Times;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">We had already been amazed by the beautiful ocean road that we drove from Paraty and Rio de Janeiro, but when we rolled into the city center of Rio in the early afternoon with the sun shining in our backs and the 30 meter high Jesus statue greeting us for our arrival, we felt great. It was the last ride of our overland tour, the last stop on our around the World trip and </span></span><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); font-family: Times;">a city that we had big expectations of. Our minds were full of images of how we imagined the city to be like with nice beaches where people walked around in small swimsuits, people drinking capirinhas and dancing samba in the clubs and some of the worlds most beautiful sunsets from the many hilltops surrounding the city. After almost a week spent in the city, we concluded that Rio de Janeiro, although a bit too popular among tourists these days, was quite living up to our high expectations and perfect place to end our trip that had already been going on for three and a half months. </span><br />
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<img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-h3tp-CHgjAQ/U5YjyeP6uhI/AAAAAAAAsdw/aZGxLQcDqfU/9DB55093-363C-4D38-BF1F-C2FCE321EB77.png" height="866.6666666666666" width="650" /><span style="font-family: Times;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">One of the things that made Rio so great, I thought, was that it both had great selection of beaches (Copacabana, Ipanema and Lebron) and lots of hikes and sights close to the city. There was no need to make compromises as we could spend several days relaxing at the beach and then have most of the sights done with a single day tour that we had booked in advance as everything was within such a close distance. In our packed day trip we first set off to see a waterfall, that I must say did not impress a single bit as we had just seen Iguassu Falls and were soon heading back to Norway where big waterfalls are sights as common as the many eucalyptus fields we had spotted while driving here in Brazil.</span></span><br />
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<img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-9cLBrVciYRE/U5YjW9L-SNI/AAAAAAAAsdI/xnNJx4l_zdc/A44F86F3-3645-492E-A98C-EC53BE260410.png" height="488.04166666666663" width="650" /><span style="font-family: Times;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Next stop was the Corcovado mountain, where shuttlebuses and an elevator took us up to the summit where statue of "Christ the Redeemer", one of the Seven New Wonders of the World, was awaiting us. The platform where the statue was standing had great panoramic views over the city from all angles, but was just increadibly small for the amount of tourists that were there. There was no way of getting a picture with more than your head together with the statue without getting at least ten more people in your picture. The place was quite claustrophobic and we were happy to say "been there, seen that" and leave after just ten- fifteen minutes there.</span></span><br />
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<img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-eUCciNoLTlg/U5YjuMZdRKI/AAAAAAAAsdg/0fDPJeOhuW0/8A19D102-0D5A-4D77-8B29-4C4D22167484.png" height="866.6666666666666" width="650" /><span style="font-family: Times;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">From there we drove with a beautiful view through our windows, through the hilly neighbourhood of Santa Therese, where all the rich people fled to escape the tubercolosis that was raging downtown in the sixteenth century. After that we stopped sor lunch and a walk through the Selarón Stairway in Lapa, made of random tiles from all over the World. It was quite interesting to see how there were three tiles from Norway, including one saying "God Jul"/ "Merry Christmas", while there were over ten from Khazakstan, including one tile for every letter in the countrys long name. </span></span><br />
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<img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-jHnS5ilNu9s/U5Yjrl8-MPI/AAAAAAAAsdY/MtBnAg-oyNI/A615DEB6-A7E0-405A-90BB-148477C47BBC.png" height="488.04166666666663" width="650" /><span style="font-family: Times;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">When the tour was finished we had the option of getting dropped off at our hostel or at the bottom of the Sugarloaf Mountain, which is the symbol of Rio and a place that really has to be visited for a sunset view. W</span></span><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); font-family: Times;">e had heard that walking a path halfway up (took us 30mins) was gonna get us half price on the tickets, but we soon found out that those rhumors were false and that there is no way of escaping the 30 usd that the cable car costs other than bringing your student id which gives you half price on the ride.</span><br />
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<img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-rj_dT5lqpw4/U5Yj0EKKnXI/AAAAAAAAsd4/zhMmwz8zVzE/1F0E0796-A690-49F3-A3F4-58AB2949C5DB.png" height="488.04166666666663" width="650" /></div>
<span style="font-family: Times;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">After having seen the upper class houses in Sao Paulo just a few days earlier, it was also quite interesting to do a guided trip to Rochina (means little farm) which is the biggest Favela (Brazilian shantytown) in Rio de Janeiro. Here it is said that over 1% of the population do drug dealing, and our friends who had done the same tour a week before got their tour cut short because there was a murder occuring in the favela at the time they were there. When taking pictures in all directions, we caught some people shying away from the cameras and hiding their faces. "Thats just because they are drug dealers", said the guide, but even though the favela was full of crime, really poor, dirty and noisy, a lot of the people we met were smiling friendly at us and kids were happy to pop up in front of our cameras for pictures. </span></span><br />
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Times;">Now I feel absolutely no need to go to Rio for the Carnival or when the World Cup kick off, as the city is definately both expensive and lively enough already, and I would have guessed double prices and owercrowding could not make a stay here better. Go see some samba in the clubs, hike the summits, visit the stadiums for a football game or just relax on one of the many beaches and I am sure you will also love Rio as much as we did.</span><br />
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<u style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="font-family: Times;">Just some travel tips you should consider when traveling to Rio:</span></u><br />
<span style="font-family: Times;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Brazil is pretty expensive, and Rio even more so! Expect to pay around 30 dollars for a dorm bed if you want to stay near the beach (eg. <a href="http://www.cabanacopa.com.br/contact.html">the one we stayed at</a>). </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">If you are on a budget, you should consider eating at the many "por kilo" houses where you weigh the food you choose from a buffet and order drinks from the waitors. The tap water in Rio is also the best I have tasted in South America and drinking that instead of bottled water can save you some money.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The Hippie Market in Ipanema is huge, runs every Sunday and should be visited if you can. Because we were tired from turning our clocks around we did not go, but we got to visit the night markets that open at 6pm on weekdays which we found great for shopping, and we were told that the Hippie Market was even better!</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">If you decide to visit the favela you should really go with a guide in order not to get lost and go to the wrong places, but the rest of Rio (and Sao Paulo) felt really safe and clean and prepared for the World Cup starting here in two weeks.</span></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13361008535071780658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3728355363205021387.post-55615254363894714012014-05-26T09:35:00.003-07:002014-05-26T13:43:56.722-07:00The Portuguese Colonial City of Paraty<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Paraty is a small town on the coast of Brazil, between Sao Paulo (six hours) and Rio de Janeiro (four hours). Beautiful, old and calm are the words best describing the city and when going here it is worth staying for a few nights. We had four, which was great for just relaxing and laying on the beach.<br />
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The roads in the old center are paved with rocks, but not like the ones you find in old European cities. The city center roads are made up with huge rocks, and although it is beautiful and really old it is a pain to walk and drive on.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pTTeDtV7h7M/U4Np5UpqpSI/AAAAAAAAsY0/7g-tTvPV5pQ/s1600/DSCF8198.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pTTeDtV7h7M/U4Np5UpqpSI/AAAAAAAAsY0/7g-tTvPV5pQ/s1600/DSCF8198.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a>During the time we were there, there was a jazz festival called the <a href="http://www.bourbonfestivalparaty.com.br/ipad_bfp_2014.html">Bourbon Festival</a>, a free annual even that lasts for three days. All hostels and hotels were full and the city center was packed with mainly Brazilian tourists that had come for the concerts. On our last day on the monday everyone had escaped the city and there were just us and a handful of other tourists to see in the streets, which was great as we were exhausted from the night before and just wanted to relax. <a href="http://www.sereiadomar.com/portal/">Our hostel</a> was located right on Jabaquara beach, which was just a ten minute walk from the city center and a really quiet place to do so. The prices here in Paraty are also a bit more expensive than the other places we have been in Brazil so far, which probably has to with it being really small, but still a very popular destination for tourists. Boat rides over to Ihla Grande are also expensive (85usd) but take just one and a half hour with speed boat. Booze cruises with sail boats are also a popular activity with a much better value for the money (40usd) and everyone in our group did so but us. It is drawing towards the end ouf our trip and our travel budget so the last day here in Paraty we will just use to charge up for our last stop on our journey which is Rio de Janeiro.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13361008535071780658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3728355363205021387.post-80229269380153588332014-05-25T11:24:00.000-07:002014-06-05T21:26:46.090-07:00Sao Paulo, Home of Both Rich and Poor<p>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kids getting the city ready for the 2014 World Cup starting in two weeks</td></tr>
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Initially we were supposed to stay two nights in Brotas, a small city four hours outside of Sao Paulo known for its outdoor activities such as rafting, canyoing and mountain biking, but instead we after just a night we decided to jump off our organised tour and travel to Sao Paulo by ourself instead.<br>
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Mauricio, a Brazilian guy from Sao Paulo that I studied with in the US met us when we arrived and drove us around to show us his city. And in a place with 22 million inhabitants there were one city center for each of the many districs so a car was more or less neccessary to get a good overview of the massive city. On our bus ride on the way into the city we had seen huge areas with settlements of shabby huts known as favelas. It was a bit sad to see that the majority of people in the suburbs were living under poor conditions while the nicer areas in the city housed people with several cars in their garages. Mauricio and his friends were of the latter and for us that had gotten used to roughing it with our overland truck and tents it was great to relax in a nice house with good food and a soft bed.<br>
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In the evening we went to a couple of parties of his college friends. Friends who belonged to the few percent of Sao Paulo who are super rich. As a contrast to the upcoming Favela tour in Rio it was a true experience to see their multi floored houses that had swimming pools, tennis and basketball courts, gyms and plenty of other rooms, all protected by tall walls with electric fences on top and security guards. They also drove bullet proof cars and had drivers, maids and gardeners to help them in their daily life.<br>
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At both house parties that we visited we felt very welcome and people were very interested in hearing about our home country and our journey so far. Everyone also told us that the North of Brazil was the place to go, and since we will fly home in just a week and will not have time to do so, we will definately have to come back some day. And then we we will also make sure to spend some more time with our new gotten friends in Sao Paulo, the biggest city in South America.<br>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>One of the houses we visited in Sao Paulo<br></i><br><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-KR6MUOPwTBw/U4gznpyio7I/AAAAAAAAsaI/Lt1v7N874mY/F0CDDB6B-EB9F-4260-8737-5BCC05541542.png" style="width: 545px; height: 409px;"><br><i>The huge areas where the poorer people live, these taken from Rio</i></td></tr>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13361008535071780658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3728355363205021387.post-16382772969802082042014-05-24T16:04:00.001-07:002014-05-26T13:44:42.744-07:00Pantanal, Day 3<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
On our last day in the Pantanal we finally got to go on a safari game drive in daytime, which we had been looking forward to the most in Pantanal. Like you probably know, game drives can be an all or nothing thing and unfortunately for us we did not see much that day. Luckily we had seen a lot on the night drive and riding safari, so we did not mind as much and left the place around noon with a full stomache and a top impression from the Pantanal.<br />
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Should you still be wondering what the Pantanal really is, it is he Worlds Biggest Wetlands in the center of South America stretched between Brazil, Bolivia and Paraguay. It has more than hundred species of mammals, hundreds of species of birds and thousands of species of plants. To get there you probably would have to book a tour from a travel agency in advance, that would typically include a stay at one of the farms with all food and safaris included. When people look for wildlife experiences in Brazil it is usually the Amazon that gets all the attention, but since the Pantanal probably probably will surprise you with animals that you have not heard of before, and sine these are so easy to spot in the open landscape, you should really consider going to the Pantanal instead.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13361008535071780658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3728355363205021387.post-37066718066269457852014-05-20T10:46:00.001-07:002014-05-26T13:45:02.082-07:00Pantanal, Day 2<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
In order to take advantage of the morning hours, when it is less hot than the middle of the day, we got up at 7 o'clock to go cayaking.<br />
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Even though we did not see much animals other than hawks and caymans on the river it was still a great paddling trip. The water was as quiet as it could be, and reflected the sun and blue sky that was over us. Halfways we also stopped to try some traditional Brazilian mate tea, which was served ice cold to us while we were listening at stories about the flora and fauna. It was not before noon that we got back, which was perfect as the food had just gotten ready when we arrived at the lodge.<br />
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95 percent of Pantanal territory belongs to private owners, and the farm we stayed at, Fazenda San Fransisco was over 15 000 hectares big. For the afternoon we went horseback riding, which like the canoing earlier was within the boundaries of the farm. Just a few minutes riding away from our lodge we saw an armadillo, an ant eater and lots of falcons and other birds. We rode for a couple of hours through fields with cows, wet mud and high grass in the heat and finished with a little cooler sunset.<br />
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In the evening we had a lecture about the story, geography and biodiversity of the Pantanal which was really interesting before having a late night barbeque at one of the nearby mountains.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13361008535071780658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3728355363205021387.post-19731279315005589132014-05-20T08:15:00.001-07:002014-05-26T13:45:22.649-07:00Pantanal, Day 1<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
The drive from Bonito to Pantanal was just a few hours, so we arrived <a href="http://www.fazendasanfrancisco.tur.br/">our lodge, San Fransico</a>, in the early afternoon with plenty of time to do some exploring already on the first day.<br />
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After filling up on a really good lunch at the Lodge we went on a boat tour on the river where could try our fishing luck with the piranhas, where only a few of us managed to catch some. As there was not enough for dinner, we let our guides use them to show us how quickly the Caymans, Black Hawks and Black Collared Hawks arrived when the piranhas were thrown back into the river again, and lets just say that none of us wanted to fall over board after seeing how quickly the fresh water crocodiles snapped up the fish from the water surface.<br />
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After dinner it had become dark and at 6.30 we set off to go on a night safari, to try to spot some of the nocturnal animals that wander around in the wetlands at night, which there were many of. We managed to see some tapirs (the biggest mammal in South America), ocelots (which look like small jaguars), copybaras (worlds biggest rodent), ant eaters (which were much bigger and hairier than I had imagined!) and lots of ouls. Pantanal is filled with all kinds of exciting animals, many which I did not even know existed, and I almost cannot wait until we will get to see it all in daylight on safari drives the next couple of days.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13361008535071780658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3728355363205021387.post-9006853304939855872014-05-18T15:27:00.001-07:002014-05-28T01:14:20.716-07:00Bonito Means Beautiful in Portuguese, and is a Name Well Deserved<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Bonito is a place hard to reach by your own as there are very few buses going there, so when we parked up to our hostel there were just a few Brazilian road trippers there from before and then there came an other overland truck from Tucan travel after a couple of days. Bonito is also mainly known for its crystal clear waters like Rio de Prata and Laguna mysteriosa, which also lays a couple of hours outside of Bonito and when booking a snorkelling or diving tour there you also have to arrange your own taxi which would cost more than 90 us dollars so arranging everything on your own will cost a lot and require a bit more effort than we would have to go through.<br />
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After spending the first day cycling around and expoloring Bonito on rental bikes (9usd) we had a snorkelling trip at Rio de Prata booked for our second day. Since everyone were going we also got the overland truck taking us and we got our own guide. As Bonito is really practicing eco-friendly tourism, we were only allowed to go eight in the river at a time and they also told us really strictly that we were not allowed to have sun screen or mosquito repellent on and that we were not allowed to stand in the shallow river or use our legs to kick as this would stir up the sand at the bottom making it less clear for people coming after us.<br />
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Before getting into the water, I was imagining it looking a littlebit like <a href="http://www.whatmademebroke.com/search/label/Iceland">Silfra in Iceland,</a> where you can dive and snorkel in between the continental plates separating America from Europe, but I was positively surprised when I saw that the waters were just as clear but had 20 different types of fish that were not at all scared of us when we snorkeled past them. Some were around a meter in size while others were really small swimming around in schools, nibbling on our arms and legs as we swam past them.<br />
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Our snorkeling guide did not speak any English, but that was fine. When walking through the jungle he pointed at a cobra and we looked at the cobra, when he whistled at the birds we listened to the birds whistling back and when he smelled a tree we just went and smelled the tree after him.<br />
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After the snorkeling we also got a really good included lunch and got to relax a bit in the hammocks while waiting for the people diving in the Mystery Lagoon (Lagoa Mysteriosa) which is in the same place as Rio de Prata. When the divers came up they also told us that the diving also was absolutely magnificent where you at 80 meters debth could look up and see the sun and trees at land. People even have gone down to 270 meters debth in that tiny river and still not reached the bottom, which also has given it its name as no one knows how deep it really is. Bonito means beutiful in Portuguese, a name well deserved as its crystal clear lakes are one of the most beautiful places I have ever visited.<br />
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<i>Photos: Jan Bosker and Elke Dekker</i></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13361008535071780658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3728355363205021387.post-65674655521319276872014-05-17T17:40:00.001-07:002014-05-18T15:55:18.967-07:00Iguassu Falls on both the Argentinean and Brazilian Side<p>
</p><p>
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bzi93hT9oC8/U3fmcSLtKBI/AAAAAAAAsUk/kCwEGoNkayQ/s1600/DSCF7514+_Snapseed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bzi93hT9oC8/U3fmcSLtKBI/AAAAAAAAsUk/kCwEGoNkayQ/s1600/DSCF7514+_Snapseed.jpg" height="480" width="640"></a></p>
<p>
<br></p>
<p>
<br></p>
<p>
Iguassu Falls is (one of) the biggest waterfalls in the
World and connects Argentina with Paraguay and Brazil. It attracts over a
million visitors every year and is one considered as one of the ”New Seven
Wonders of the World”. It consists of 170 individual waterfalls together making
up the broadest waterfall in the World.</p>
<p>
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p>
<br></p>
<p>
Our overland group had decided that instead of staying one
night in Port Iguazu in Argentina and then pack our tents to move on to Foz de
Iguazu in Brazil, we should go straight to Brazil and spend all three nights
there instead. As we got there late in the evening there was not much to do
other than staying in at our hoste, Hotel Paudimar, do some cooking and
afterwards having some drinks at the bar to use the rest of our Argentinean
Pesos and celebrate that two days of straight driving was over. Since we only
had two full days at the national park, we had decided that it would not be
other than fair to spend one day on the Brazilian side and the other taking a
shuttle over to the Argentinean side to fully explore the waterfall and make up
our own minds about which side was the prettiest. Some short facts about each
of the sides:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p>
<br></p>
<p>
<u>The Brazilian side: </u><o:p></o:p></p>
<p>
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b>The city</b> on the Brazilian side is called ”Foz de
Iguazu” or just ”Foz”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p>
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal;"><b>
</b></span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b>Entrance fee</b> to the national park costs 23 us
dollars which includes a shuttlebus going from the park entrance up to the
”Devils Throat”, which is the biggest waterfall and the highlight for many when
visiting the falls<o:p></o:p></p>
<p>
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal;"><b>
</b></span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b>Our highlights </b>on the Brazilian side was to
first see the whole waterfall from a distance to see how huge it really was and
afterwards walking to walk towards it until we were standing right at the very bottom
of the Devils Troat. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p>
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal;"><b>
</b></span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b>The absolute minimum time t</b>o explore the falls
from this side is three hours, where the rest of the day can be spent going to
Ciudad del Este in Paraguay or to the Itaipu dam which is the second biggest
dam in the World. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p>
<!--[if !supportLists]--><b><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Best tip</b>: instead of taking the panoramic
elevator up beside the Devils Throat, take the walk instead and be alone for a
while. The national park on both side is really crowded so I am sure you will
appreciate it!<o:p></o:p></p>
<p>
<br></p>
<p>
<u>The Argentinean side:</u><o:p></o:p></p>
<p>
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b>The city</b> on the Argentinean side is called
”Puerto Iguasu”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p>
<!--[if !supportLists]--><b><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Entrance costs</b> 17 usd and includes unlimited
rides with the train between the viewpoints<o:p></o:p></p>
<p>
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b>Highlights</b> being walking through jungle and
along the roaring falls where we saw ”coies”, fresh water aligators, tucans and
gigantic catfish<o:p></o:p></p>
<p>
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->The minimum time to explore the park from this
side I would say is a full day<o:p></o:p></p>
<p>
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal;"><b>
</b></span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b>Best tip:</b> walk the 2 hour blue path beside and
down to the falls and try a boat ride at the bottom (20usd). It takes you under
and through the falls, which gives you both a cheap adrenaline rush and
beautiful view from the bottom.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p>
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It is absolutely worth going to both falls and spending a
whole day in each, but if you had a gun pointed to your head or a really tight
budget I would say that you should choose the Argentinean side over the
Brazilian, as it is cheaper and also much cheaper. The national park was really
touristy, somewhere between Victoria Falls and Niagara Falls but that is also
for a reason. Iguassu Falls is absolutely awesome and a must see when traveling
in South America. <o:p></o:p></p>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13361008535071780658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3728355363205021387.post-24339246194804881252014-05-16T18:52:00.001-07:002014-06-20T06:12:58.869-07:00Ciudad del Este, Paraguay<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Ciudad del Este is a small border town in Paraguay, located exactly at the end of the friendship bridge from Brazil. The city is mainly made up of shopping centers and street markets, as loads of Brazilians and other tourists seeing the Iguazu Falls go over to do some cheap shopping as the level of income and shopping prices are way lower in Paraguay than Brazil and Argentina. Just like other border towns (e.g Tijuana on the US - mexican border), the city has a really bad reputation with loads of cases of corruptied police, scams and muggings. We went over to test these rhumors, and our very low expectations of the city might actually have helped us have a much better time there than we had expeted.<br />
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As our campsite at Hotel Paudimar, was located about 12 kilometers out of Foz de Iguacu (the city on the Brazilian side) we thought it would be best to do the trip from the Iguassu Falls National Park, as the overland truck would bring the whole group there on one of the days. From the falls there were buses market "Parque Nacional-Aeropuerto-Foz) leaving about every hour from the main entrance of the falls. The bus was just a local one, costing one dollar and taking 30 minutes since it was stopping along the road to pick up passengers. From the end station, which was the bus station we just had to walk accross the road and jump on one of the buses saying "Foz-Ciudad del Este", which was leaving every ten minutes in both directions. The price was around two dollars per person where we got a ticket that could be used for a new bus on each side of the border where we got our passport stamped.<br />
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Once at the other side of the bridge it felt like we had stepped into an other World. All the streets were filled with trash, there were cars honking everywhere and people trying to sell you things everywhere. A guy at one of the corners told that he could get us special deals on cameras, so we followed him into a building, down a hallway guarded with two policemen with shotguns and and down a cellar where they sold stolen goods. The unsecure feeling we had down in that cellar stuck with us even on the street markets where we were offered opium and in the many shopping centers where people were smoking inside and people were selling all kinds of things that were either illegal (lots of fake stuff!) on the other side of the border or just much cheaper as it is a duty free zone. The prices and all the fake stuff reminded us actually a lot about China and the crazy traffic and chaotic streets about India. It is weird with borders which sometimes can feel like portals into other worlds, and the friendship bridge really is one of those. You can get some really good deals and some shopping centers are not as bad, like the one ten meters behind the Paraguayan immigration office, but the city is really shabby and there will be lots of people trying to rip you off, so weather you should bother visit the border town really depents on what you are after. Lots of Brazilians go over for some good bargains and if that is what you are looking for then maybe you should also do to. If not then I would much rather stick to Iguassu Falls which have several days worth of sights.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13361008535071780658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3728355363205021387.post-71272114707643291072014-05-16T08:12:00.001-07:002014-07-30T23:20:42.250-07:00Overlanding through Argentina and Brazil<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
The last leg of our 3,5 month around the World journey has already started, which is a journey with an overland truck going for 21 days from Buenos Aires to Rio, through the drylands of San Ignacio and the wetland of the Pantanal, with stops at the Worlds biggest waterfall (in volume) in Iguassu, the Worlds clearest snorkelling waters and the beaches and islands of Paraty.<br />
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So far the truck has taken us 1300 kilometers from Buenos Aires to Iguassu falls on the Brazilian border. We have been driving two full days from early morning to right before sunset, in time to set up our tents for each night. Except from the cities, where we live in either hotels or use proper camping facilities, we do bush camping which means that we will stop at some quiet place along the road to camp in the nature.<br />
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We are also cooking almost all meals our selves, and we rotate in groups for the shopping, cooking and cleaning. In addition each one of us have a special responsibility (eg. gas tanks, lockers for passports, the water tank etc) on the truck to ensure cleanliness and safety of us and our things. Gas stations are usually where we find our toilets and where we do the cooking stops, but like yesterday where we made a lunch stop at a UNESCO heritage site (The Jesuit Missionary ruins of San Ignacio, 9 USD entry), we also try to stop to see a few things along the road.<br />
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The overland truck is spacious, and the many hours on the road is spent sleeping, reading and knitting for some. We also have stocked up with 300 liters of drinking water so that we will not be needing shops and gas stations once we go into the jungle. Our truck has also had a small breakdown along the road, as both our guides (which are girls btw) are trained in mechanics so after less than an hour we were back on the road again.<br />
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As we have been getting closer to the Pantanal and the Amazon, which are known for their wildlife, the birds have gotten prettier, the animals have gotten more exotic and the insects have become much bigger. Last night we found a tarantula looking spider outside our tent and the ants climbing the trees here are as long as a full grown grape back home. I guess this is just warm up for what is coming ahead as we go further into the Brazilian countryside.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13361008535071780658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3728355363205021387.post-49423466847246777602014-05-12T01:32:00.003-07:002014-05-12T01:32:50.221-07:00Buenos Aires, my Favorite City in the Whole World!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Initially we were only supposed to stay one week in Buenos Aires and then travel on to Uruguay, but after just a couple of days in Uruguay we turned back to stay another week in Baires. With the very favorable economic situation for tourist here at the moment, we have lived like kings spending almost a two month budget in just two weeks, mainly on shopping, wine and good food. The city has just so much to offer and to experience it all I would reccommend spending at least ten days, but if you just want to have one perfect week I have put together an itinerary which should not dissapoint!<br />
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<b>Monday</b> - La Bomba de Tiempo is a drum show/concert only running on Mondays, and is something that should not be missed. Most peope at the show are hippies and at the entrance you will see lots of people selling hash brownies/space cookies but it is still not a very shady or scary place. The drinks inside are really cheap (6US for a liter of wine) and the athmosphere is great. A must do when in BA on a Monday!<br />
<b>Tuesday</b> - As Sundays and Mondays are the best days to go out you will probably be a bit reduced today and need some fresh air. If so, there is a great bike tour with <a href="http://www.babikes.com.ar/portfolio-item/our-tour-7/">BA bikes</a> (23US) that will take you on the Southern route to see the main attractions of Buenos Aires like the colorful and lively La Boca, Puerto Madero where there is a new expensive bridge that is supposed to look like a couple dancing tango but really does not, and San Thelmo which is considered downtown and is the oldest part of BA.<br />
<b>Wednesday</b> - Going to a football match is something everyone told us was a must do in Buenos Aires, but everytime there was a match on we had other plans. We went to the Boca stadium though, which is quite small but is supposed to be the wilderst experience as they have the craziest supporters. River and Velez have the biggest stadiums though and should be a bit easier getting tickets to.<br />
<b>Thursday</b> - Cycling is the best way to see a city, so today you can do the northern route with <a href="http://www.babikes.com.ar/portfolio-item/our-tour-7/">BA bikes</a> to see the rest of the city including Ricoleta with the Worlds most impressing cemetary, the upscale Palermo where all the rich people live and more. There is also free tango lessons at 8PM in Milhouse Hipo to prepare for the saturday tango class.<br />
<b>Friday</b> - You will need to dedicate a full day to shopping in Buenos Aires walking along Florida/LaValle in the morning and heading North of Palermo for lunch and afternoon shopping. In the evening you should head back to <a href="https://www.milhousehostel.com/">Milhouse Avenue </a>at 8PM where there is a Rooftop barbeque for 8 dollars (wine at own expense).<br />
<b>Saturday</b> - Go to a tango class and tango show (39US$) where you can learn some basic steps and afterwards see how the professionals dance. The price includes a three course meal selected from a menu and all you can drink with soda, beer and wine, so you will probably see a lot of people choosing to stay out in the city after the show is over, even though most Argentineans do not go out before 1-2 in the morning.<br />
<b>Sunday</b> - The market at Defensa street is huge and is something you cannot miss if you are looking for souveniers to bring home. Here there are mainly collectors and handicraft makers gathered on nearly fifteen blocks to sell their stuff. Also there is a cultural event close by, on Avenida de Mayo where they have music concerts and food from a new country every week. Many restaurants and shops are closed, but these events plus the good night life and weekly football games makes sundays great in BA.<br />
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Tomorrow morning at 6AM we will be leaving Argentina and spend the next few days in San Ignacio and Iguazu Falls, and I am sure that as soon as we leave I will start missing the beautiful city of Buenos Aires!<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13361008535071780658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3728355363205021387.post-51191739406077096742014-05-07T06:56:00.002-07:002014-05-07T06:56:19.741-07:00Colonia del Sacramento, a Small Portuguese Colonial City<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Colonia del Sacramento is a small Portuguese colonial town listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is also a city that is quick and easy to get to from Buenos Aires, which makes it perfect for people who want to get out just for a day or two for sightseeing, visa runs or to pick up usd for exchange at the Argentinean Blue Market. The 50 minute boat ride costs around 30 dollars one way or around 38 dollars if you buy a boat and bus combi ticket that takes you even further to Montevideo.<br />
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The city is really small with its around 20 000 inhabitants, and the city can easily be seen in a day. We arrived early in the morning and rented bicycles (4 dollars/hr) to ride around on the rough stone paved streets that made up the old city. It was a really quiet and relaxing place with plenty of small parks to have a picknic and many small restaurants with ocean view for dinner. The main attraction of the city is probably the lighthouse (faro), where lots of people go up (about a dollar entrance) especially around sunset to get a view of the city.<br />
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There are also a few hotels and hostels, but I think as long as you get there early and take a evening bus or boat out you will feel that one day is enough to explore the small city of Colonia del Sacramento.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13361008535071780658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3728355363205021387.post-58714180916388927722014-05-05T15:30:00.001-07:002014-05-07T16:02:38.309-07:00Montevideo, the Captiol of Uruguay<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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When arriving in Montevideo, a city with around one and a half million people, we were surprised about how small the Uruguayan capitol felt. From <a href="http://www.elviajerodowntown.com/">our hostel</a> downtown, we could walk to about everywhere in the city center and got to see the main sights and all of the main street just in a few hours on a morning walk. When we got to the coast we continued to walk along La Rambla, the seaside promenade for many kilometers and many hours. It continued forever and after we had walked our feet sore we regret not just renting a bike for the day (14 dollars) from our hostel instead so that we could have seen even more beaches along La Rambla without getting too exhausted.<br />
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Montevideo really is the capitol city with the nicest beaches that I know of, and I would have loved to travel onwards to more Uruguayan coastal cities to see how they are like. Unfortunately we were there at the start of winter, and although people still were surfing in the ocean, there were little activities at the beaches. In the summers I have heard rhumors of the locals getting all bronzed up, playing beach volleyball and going rollerblading along the beach, just like in Santa Monica, California.<br />
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Food was good here as well, and we have grown especially fond of "Chivito", the local variety of a hamburger, which is much more tasty, cheaper and bigger than a regular hamburger. It is consists of a sandwich bread with either a piece of beef or a chicken filet together with egg and vegetables. We had also planned to go eat at the "Estancia del Puerto", a meat bar feautured in Anthony Bourdains show, but when we were told by others at the hostel that it had turned into a tourist trap we decided to go to a regular "parilla" (steak house) to get some beef instead. Meat is something Uruguay is famous for, and the beef we had almost lived up to the gourmet meals we had gotten used to in Argentina.<br />
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If there is one thing I have noticed about Uruguay, it is that there are a lot of horses! On the busrides between Colonia and Montevideo we saw a lot of horses walking freely, in the cities we saw a lot of horses used as delivery trucks and garbage trucks and the capitol also had the most horse statues I have ever seen in one place. With Uruguay being one of the richest and most developed countries in South America I would not have expected horses and horse carriages being that common any more.<br />
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With it being almost winter and all, there was not a lot to do in Montevideo but to walk around and I think a couple of days here was enough. If we would have had more time I would have loved to travel around more in Uruguay to visit a Bodega (winery) and a Guancha (horse ranch), had a few days with beachholiday or to travel onwards to one of the many nearby Uruguayan cities.<br />
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<i>There are so many horses in Uruguay that they even use horses instead of garbage trucks!</i></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13361008535071780658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3728355363205021387.post-55909121785436524192014-05-04T07:50:00.001-07:002014-05-04T08:47:15.613-07:00Dining in Buenos Aires, the Paris of South America<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Normally I would not even mention food in my travel blog, but for our stay in Buenos Aires our restaurant meals deserve a chapter to themselves when talking about our travel experience in this city. Here we have eaten like never before on our trip and would like to share our reccommendation of some of the restaurants we visited:<br />
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<a href="http://www.arambururesto.com.ar/">Aramburu</a>, will by far be the most memorable meal and the most expensive meal we had. The restaurant is really small, with just room for twenty people who are sepparated from the small kitchen with just a glass wall. In order to get a table you have to call a few days in advance, and when you get there you will have to knock on an almost hidden door to get in. The menu is the same for all guests, just varied by seasons and consists of 12 courses with accompanying wines. Even though the food arrived quickly after each course was finished, it took us four and a half hours to get through all the meals. The visit to the restaurant was just as much an exiting experience as it was about the food itself, as most of the meals came with surprises such as aroma with liquid nitrogen, creating a smell to accompany the tasting of the meal, a meal served on rocks and a big selection of of topping to be tried with one of the desserts. With wines and tips we paid around 700 pesos (70dollars) for our meal, which anywhere else would have cost a fortune. It will be worth only eating pasta for a week to get this experience once when in Buenos Aires.<br />
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We found a place right next to Hotel Carsson in Viamonte Street where we ate lunch almost every day, as they had a huge selection of meals that you could pick from at a price of only 60 pesos per kilo! It was our best value restaurant in Buenos Aires, and it was not possible to get tired of it since they had every dish imaginable.<br />
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We also used the <a href="http://www.buenosairesdelivery.com/capital-federal/helados">Buenos Aires Delivery</a> app a lot to have sushi, and even ice cream sent to our hostel, <a href="https://www.milhousehostel.com/buenos_aires/home.php">Milhouse </a>(which btw also served good food, but only until 6pm).<br />
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Argentina is also known for its quality meat from happy cows fed on green grass in the Pampas, and almost every other day of our two weeks in Buenos Aires we have gone to different restaurants to try to find the best beef in South America. We have narrowed it down to the three places we liked the most and can truly reccommend:<br />
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<a href="http://www.parrillalabrigada.com.ar/">La Brigada</a>: I dare calling the best beef I ever had, and ever will have. When the waiter served us our steak, he cut a little piece of with a spoon to ask us if we wanted a new one, less or more well done. A normal soup spoon! I honestly never thought it was possible to cut meat with a spoon, but when I put the piece of meat in my mouth it almost melted in my mouth and chewing it with my tongue would have been enough.<br />
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<a href="http://www.parrillalacabrera.com.ar/">La Cabrera</a>: was also a place where we got served real tender Argentinean beef. The best part of this place except from the delicious food, was that they had happy hour between the hours of 7 and 8 where the first ones showing up got 40%. There was a line outside and you pick your meal while waiting for them to open, then you pay upfront and get your meal served really fast so that you can leave before other guests arrive around 8, as Argentineans wont even consider calling it a dinner if the meal is served before 8 and on weekends they would sometimes have their dinner as late as around midnight! Great for us who could enjoy a luxurious beef meal with wine for around 300 pesos per person (at happy hour)<br />
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<a href="http://www.sigalavaca.com/">Siga La Vaca</a> is a really good "tenedor libre" (all-you-can-eat) restaurant which was great for us to do in the beginning of our Buenos Aires stay, as we then could try a littlebit of all kinds of beef to find our favorites. The meat and prices were good which clearly was reflected in the long line of people waiting to come in around 9 o'clock when we left. A bottle of wine was also included in the buffet price at 180 pesos per person.<br />
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You will also get a good steak meal for around 100 pesos pretty much in every restaurant, and even at our tango lessons/ dinner show that we went to (<a href="http://www.complejotango.com.ar/">link</a>) only cost 390 pesos and included a quality steak with unlimited wine. There are still endless places where we have not visited, plenty of restaurants that you would have loved as well, and if you go to Buenos Aires you have to be careful so that you dont end up rolling back to your own country.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13361008535071780658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3728355363205021387.post-64625369578574773352014-05-03T18:25:00.001-07:002014-07-13T11:16:49.655-07:00Get Everything Half Price When Traveling in Argentina!<p>
It is no secret that the economy in Argentina is not going so well at the moment. For the tourists going to Argentina this is good news as everything gets cheaper, but locals are loosing their money from inflation and jobs from poor company turnover. Some people make protests in the street and are not happy with the foreigners exploiting the situation even more by the three steps I am about to tell you, and maybe you will understand after some background information.<br>
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Ever since the Argentinean Peso started to drop significantly in 2012, people started to change their whole savings into other currencies to secure themselves against their money becoming worthless. The government was then quick to put a ban on the US dollars and other currencies, and as a result the Argentineans could not withdraw foreign currency or change their currency, even when going abroad. And just like all other illegal things it became available in the underground at much more expensive prices. The profits were big as well, which probably is the reason why you will find (probably) hundreds of people in Florida Street and LaValle Avenue shouting "Cambio", "Dollars, "Euros" etc in hopes of buying some dollars of you that they can sell to the Argentineans afterwards.<br>
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Therefore; when travelling to Argentina<b> bring as many dollars as you can get</b> as you can sell them to as much as 10-12 pesos when they at the official market rate are only worth around 7-8 Argentinean Pesos. Even restaurants and hotels will sometimes accept dollars at the "blue market rate", which <b>would save you/ give you around 30% extra on everything you buy!</b> If you cannot get dollars at home you can just take a ferry over to Colonia in Uruguay, which costs around 60 US dollars round trip (market rate) where you can withdraw as many dollars as you want from all ATMs. When exchanging on the street you have to be careful to get real notes (not fake ones) be descrete and jump into a taxi once you have done the exchange. How much people offer you for your dollars also depends a littlebit on the amount and shape of your dollars (crisp hundreds are the best), but <a href="http://www.ambito.com/economia/mercados/monedas/dolar">this link</a> will show you daily updated rates of the dollar on the blue market.<br>
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Once you have the money changed you should go crazy when shopping as Buenos Aires is the perfect city with good selection of stores and cheap prices. Argentina, unlike most other South American countries is not a place where bartering is common. But, the economy is not going too well and the shops are very eager to get you to buy from them, so there is some leeway, namely <b>asking for a cash discount, which many places is around 10% </b>which can save you some money if you are shopping a lot. And hey, you already have all your money in cash from exchanging money from dollars, so why not ask for it?<br>
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On top of that, all tourists have a bonus when shopping abroad. Namely that they are not obliged to pay tax on the things they buy as long as they are leaving the country for good within three months of the purchase. When shopping we <b>asked for tax free/ tax refund forms so that we could get 17% of everything we bought refunded upon departure </b>from Argentina. We got refunded our tax both at the harbour when leaving to Uruguay and at the border post when leaving to Brazil and if you are planning on flying you can also go to the tax office at the airport to get it refunded there as well.<br>
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So if you if you are planning on going on a shopping holiday soon, make it Buenos Aires in Argentina- the Paris of South America, as you will not find as good selection for as cheap anywhere else than here at the moment. </p><p><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-mzzwDo5Si4M/U8LNDQWDqvI/AAAAAAAAsiI/TXrvKnv0CwQ/2163533B-F125-4E72-B1B4-A4DAB2BD0F02.png" width="650" height="458.25"><br></p>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13361008535071780658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3728355363205021387.post-24984035403194299042014-04-30T20:35:00.000-07:002014-05-03T08:56:03.380-07:00Salta in the Argentinean Northlands<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
About two hours after passing San Salvador de Jujuy by bus, we arrived at Salta, our first stop in Argentina. We had absolutely no impression of the city prior to our arrival, and that might have helped us getting the good experience as we had when being there.<br />
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Salta was our first big city since La Paz, and it was also the most western city we had visited so far on our travels in South America. Our hotel was located right next to the main shopping street, which was pretty much where we spent most of our time in Salta.<br />
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For the evenings we also went to the Balcarce street, where most of the restaurants were Peñas, traditional Argentinean restaurants with folkloric live music. All of the bands playing did quite a bit of talking to the restaurant guests and invited them up for dancing with their dance performers. One of the dances also ended up in the whole restaurant getting up and dancing bologne out on the street. A visit to a Peña is definately something that should not be missed when going to Argentina.<br />
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Photo: Harwin Gill</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13361008535071780658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3728355363205021387.post-41161290565248186822014-04-26T19:16:00.000-07:002014-04-26T20:07:43.358-07:00The Wine Region of Cafayate<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Around 200 kilometers south of Salta is a valley called Cafayate which is known for its good conditions for growing wine, having around 240 sunny days a year. I had booked a 12 hour day trip that would take me there starting with an early hotel pickup at our hotel in Salta around 7 o'clock. The first part of the trip we were just people up more and more old spanish speaking people, that snored the first hours of the drive. Our guide had not made it any easier either, speaking non stop for the four and a half hours it took us to reach Cafayate. The second half of the drive was through some pretty spectacular mountains as well, but with her pointing at every rock, telling us that they looked like frogs, munks, seals, ships, castels etc it was also a bit hard enjoying even that.<br />
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It was first when we went down the mountains and into the small town of Cafayate that things looked a bit more promising. Our guide told us that she was not licenced to guide in wineries so she let us off the bus, free to do a wine tour of Domingo Hermanos and to explore the town by our own for a few hours. Since everyone but me and a Taiwaneese guy were Spanish native speakers, the tour was done in Spanish only. We were shown the whole process of producing wine, from the wine yard where the grapes grow, through the machinery, storage tanks and finally to the highlight that everyone had been looking forward to: the wine tasting. The tasting was not like I have tried before where we would get a littlebit in the bottom of the glass, but here they poured three almost full glasses for each to drink, one white and two red.<br />
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The Taiwaneese guy had been sitting next to me on the bus the whole day without saying a word, but after the tasting he suddenly had gotten the curage to come up to me and ask if I wanted to look around the town and have dinner with him, and with a new gotten friend the long ride home went much quicker taking me back to our group in the evening for a last night out in Salta.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13361008535071780658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3728355363205021387.post-83568825057078832012014-04-24T20:31:00.001-07:002014-05-03T17:44:08.185-07:00San Pedro de Atacama, an Oasis in the Worlds Driest Desert<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">San Pedro de Atacama is a small town in Northern Chile with both Bolivia and Argentina being accessible within a few hours drive through the driest desert in the World. Everything of a tourists interest such as restaurants, travel agencies souvenier shops and kiosks are located in the small main street, and the tinyness of the city makes you feel safe at any time of the day.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The price levels are much higher than everywhere in Bolivia though, and also higher than elsewhere in Chile. Most restaurants are more fancy than what we have gotten used to so far on our trip, but then again it is a city far from other cities and it is also where a lot of well off chileans go on holiday.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">There was also quite a few activities possible such as hiking, biking, rock climbing and swimming in a salt lake that were advertised in the travel agencies. We chose to go for a sandboarding and Valle de La Luna/ Moon Valley combination tour that took us back 30 US dollars. The sandboarding part is something that would dissapoint every snowboarder, since it was hard gaining speed on sand compared to snow. Additionally you had to walk up the sand again after each ten second run. It was a great group activity though, and everyone seemed to have great fun and learned how to ride, even with no prior experience.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The Death Valley had the worlds third biggest salt reserve, after Uyuni in Bolivia and Salt Lake City in the US, and walking through the salt caves, seeing how massive it was really fascinated us. Every little bit of the enourmous mountain that we walked through was compact salt crystals, created from yearthousands with almost no rain and just covered by a littlebit of dust. The caves were really narrow, and as we climbed through them we could hear the salt mountain cracking several times every minute, just like a big iceberg would do. The last part of the tour was watching the sunset with an included coctail in the Moon Valley, which was the perfect end to our last evening in Chile. </span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13361008535071780658noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3728355363205021387.post-27477692823567876862014-04-24T20:08:00.002-07:002014-04-26T19:14:46.925-07:00Bolivia/Chile Desert Crossing, Day 3: Geysirs and Crossing into Chile<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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On the last day of the desert crossing we were up at 6 in the morning, frozen as a stick and just wanting to get into the car with maximum heating on. It was going to be a long day with lots of driving, but that was something we did not mind at all as our view from the window the last day had been like we were driving through our four climate seasons. We started with the crystal white salt flats, then drove past lagoons with flamingos and then through valleys with thin ice in the middle, cracking underneath us. For our last day we would pass through the worlds driest desert, before ending up in Chile.<br />
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Today we also had a few noteworthy stops along the way:<br />
- Arbol de Piedra ("the rock tree" at 4412m) was one of many very interestingly shaped rocks made out of lavastone that had been shaped through centuries by the strong wind.<br />
- Laguna Colorada (4278m): if you are planning on stopping at just one of the lagoons, then Laguna Colorada should be the one as it is the biggest, has the most flamingos and the most colorful red water of them all.<br />
- Solar de Manana geysirs (at 4850m!) and the Polques Hot Springs (4400m) were right by the Chilean border and was the perfect place to have lunch after a nice hot bath. Right before we<br />
- The Laguna Verde (at 4400m) was the last thing we saw before we arrived at Hito Cajon which was the border post on the Bolivian side<br />
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The immigration office was really small and placed in the middle of the desert, and could have easily been mistaken for a bathroom stop or totally overlooked, but our guides stopped the cars and told us to bring our passport in for a stamp, before a junmping into a minibus waiting for us at the same parking lot that would take us the last couple of hours to San Pedro de Atacama in Chile.<br />
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Even though the passport stamping was super quick it was still the longest border crossing I have ever come across. The drive between the immigration office in Bolivia and the immigration office in Chile took us almost an hour of driving, first through more desert and then on bigger and better roads that we had seen our whole time in Bolivia. After letting the Chileans look through our luggage and stamp our passports, it was just a quick half hour drive before we arrived in San Pedro de Atacama.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13361008535071780658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3728355363205021387.post-48275739061852368732014-04-24T07:54:00.002-07:002014-04-24T10:08:17.585-07:00Bolivia/Chile Desert Crossing, Day 2: Desert, Lagoons and Flamingos<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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The ones who wanted to get up to see the sunrise over the Salt Flats did so, while the rest of us just got up for breakfast around half an hour before leaving the hotel at eight. We knew we had lots of driving and lots of sights on our programme and even though it was early in the morning everyone were eager to get going.<br />
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Since we had forgotten to take a jumping group photo in the Salt Flats yesterday we did a quick stop to get it done on the way to <i>Isla de Pescadores</i> (3653m), a coral island with more than 6000 really old cactuses. The place also had an altar for sacrifice at the top, with a view of the Salt Flats on all sides. Quite a beautiful place to be, but unfortunately like every other stop along the way through the desert crossing, it was just for a short while before we got back in the car.<br />
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Our next stop along the way was in the tiny village of San Juan where we stopped for a lunch which included beer for some. Luckily for those it was not far to our next stop and bathroom break, a viepoint of "Volcan Ollague" which is an active volcano with a height of 5868 meters and smoke coming out from the top.<br />
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The last stops for the day, around half past five in the evening was Laguna Canapa with its many flamingos and Laguna Hedionada where we would spend our last night of the desert crossing at a freezing cold hotel in the height of 4186 altitude meters.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13361008535071780658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3728355363205021387.post-40066944457421723542014-04-23T19:18:00.003-07:002014-04-26T19:15:05.016-07:00Bolivia/Chile Desert Crossing, Day 1: Uyuni and the Salt Flats<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Having spent the night in Uyuni, a small town with just 20 000 people and overpriced souveniers, we were ready to leave around noon to start our three day desert crossing with four wheel drive cars that would take us to Chile.<br />
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Just after ten minutes of driving we had our first stop, which was the famous train cemetary where tens of trains were just left in the desert to rust. We were stupid not to hear the explanation that our guide gave us, as we were too busy looking around at the trains, but we got the more exciting part where he told us about the train robbers "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" who ended their long train robbing carreer here in Bolivia.<br />
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Another half hour drive we stopped at the Colchani at 3653 meters asl, which is the closest town to the Salt Flats, where all the locals were living off salt production and selling salt souveniers to the tourists crossing by. We watched a woman making the salt, and when asking how much she sold it for she said that she made less than 3 dollars for 50 kilos of fully processed, packaged salt.<br />
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After just another ten minutes drive we were inside the Salt Flats, where we could see heaps of salt being left to dry. Another twenty minutes of driving through crystal white salt desert, we made a stop for pictures, which seemingly was something everyone had been looking forwards to the most on our whole trip. Our stay there was just for an hour, which was not nearly enough as more than half the time was used for group photos, but afterwards everyone just ran off like crazy, taking pictures in all kinds of positions.<br />
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Just forty minutes drive we arrived the Salt Hotel just in time to watch the sun set. The hotel was really beautiful and located right at point where the Salt Flats ended, and tomorrow we will be up really early to watch the sun rise over the Salt Flats before we continue our journey through the desert on our way to Chile.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13361008535071780658noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3728355363205021387.post-72303542858296063632014-04-20T08:51:00.002-07:002014-04-20T09:50:30.247-07:00Potosi and the mining tours<p>
Potosi is the worlds highest city with its 4090 meters and was once one of the biggest and wealthiest city in all of the Americas because of the mines of Cerro Rico ("Rich Mountain") that brough out more than 60 000 tonnes of silver. The mines have also claimed more than 8 million lives, and there are still a lot of people (also young children) working at around 200 of the total 500 mines today. Conditions were poor, as described in the movie "<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0441001/">The Devils Miner</a>", and since the Spaniards had pretty much depleted the mines for silver before they left, the people today are risking their lives for rests of copper, zink and small amounts of silver, usually paying very poorly.<br>
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The main role (Basilio) of the Devils Miner and another guide showed us around in one of the caves still being worked, while explaining the life and working conditions in the mines. People were running around in the narrow caves with filled out trolleys, usually shouting in time for us to jump to the side before it swooshed right past us. The mine we visited was primitive and we also walked past miners hammering a spear into the wall to make room for dynamites. To keep them from eating during their eight to ten hour shifts, they had their cheecks filled with coca leaves, drank sips from bottles of pure alcohol and smoked cigarettes with dark tobacco rolled with thick paper. Although some told us that they had been working in the mines since they were eight and for fourty years, the life expectancy after starting to work in the mines would drop to around fifteen years.</p><p><br></p><p>The guided tour was very strong, but also interesting and well worth the 20 US we paid, including tips and gifts for the miners that we bought at the bottom before setting off. We bought some crisps and soda for the kids, and some bottles of 96% alcohol (less than a dollar for a bottle), coca leafs and cigarettes for the miners. We also bought some dynamite for ourself (20B/ less than four dollars) to blow up inside the mines, which I personally thought was the highlight of the tour. </p><p>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13361008535071780658noreply@blogger.com0