Friday, February 27, 2009
2nd Week Back In The US of A
So I've been back for weeks as of tomorrow and I can't tell you how many times I've look up flights back to South America! So I'm having some what of a difficult time readjusting to life and culture in the United States. So I have to tell you one of the coolest ending of the trip. On the day of my flight back the States, me and several of the cool people I met in Valpo, who had also traveled to Mendoza, all went to Mr. Hugo's bike rentals (side note, if you're going to be in Mendoza and want to bike and wine taste, go to Mr. Hugo, he is the coolest!!!). So we rented bikes and off we went. I was able to hit up three wineries and one chocolate factory before I had to head back to the hostel to pick up Jim and head to the airport. It was such an amazing way to end the trip. I really miss South America and backpacking lifestyle.
Monday, February 9, 2009
I Ought To Be Ashamed Of Myself!
So we arrived in Valparaiso, Chile last night after spending a ridiculous amount of time on buses and in bus stations. I really like Valparaiso, you can def see the European influence on the city. So the neighborhood we're staying at is called the Cerro Alegera (I think I spelled it right), it's known for all of the street graffiti. It's not graffiti like the ugly tagging you see in the rough neighborhoods in Los Angeles, but rather there is beautiful and strange murals scrolled all over the walls. I spent the day walking around the city taking in the sights. I was so focused on looking at all the art and buildings and everything that I got a little twisted around. I found myself in a very residential area and I felt rather out of place. Without knowing which direction to walk, I stopped an older woman and asked her for directions. I was incredibly surprised when she responded in English and asked me how old I was. I thought it was a strange thing to ask, seeing as I was asking directions, but I answered her. To further my state of shock she irately shouted that I ought to be ashamed of myself. I stood there with my mouth open totally confused. I figure she was offended by my awful Spanish. I think I stammered "why" and she angerly shouted "asking for money at your age!" This made laugh a little, and then I explained that I didn't need money I needed directions. The woman was so embarrassed that she must have apologize a thousand times. She ended up helping me get directions back to my hostel and walking with me for a good part of my walk home. After she understood I wasn't asking for money, she was really friendly. I learned that she is an English teacher for local High School and she had a granddaughter going to College in Nevada. The experience turned out to be one of my favorite experiences in South America.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Wrote Yesterday!!! Finally got Internet!
I’m becoming very at home in the bus stations of South America. So with less than a week of the trip left I figured it would be a good idea to start heading back towards Mendoza. Over the course of our travels we have moved rather far into the Northern part of the country. Just to offer up a little background information Iguaçu is very far north and borders Paraguay & Brazil, Mendoza on the other hand is much more central and is closer to the Chilean border. So I figured rather than going straight back to Mendoza and spending more time in a city that we’ve already spent a week in, I thought we should head to Valparaiso, Chile. I have heard from numerous people on our trip that Valparaiso (Valpo) is very beautiful and a must see in South America, so off we go. There’s only one little obstacle… getting to Valparaiso has proven to be quite the challenge.
So yesterday at 2:30pm Jim and I boarded a bus to Buenos Aires, thinking that because Buenos Aires is a large city it would be fairly easy to get to Valparaiso from there. We arrived here in Buenos Aires at 8:30am. I immediately went to work trying to find us the best way to get to Valpo. The only bus that goes directly to Valpo is sadly full today and our only other option is to first take a bus to Mendoza and then take another bus to Valpo.
Okay so this doesn’t sound like too big of a deal right? It isn’t really other than the fact that the next bus for Mendoza is at 6:30pm. Even if I could find us a sooner bus, it wouldn’t help because there is only one bus a day to Valpo from Mendoza and it leaves at 8:30am. So here we are hanging out in the Retiro Buenos Aires, bus station until 6:30pm where we will board another bus, ride overnight to Mendoza and then once again board yet another bus and off we go to Valpo. The good news is I was able to buy both bus tickets, so we won’t arrive in Mendoza and be told the bus is full and have to wait another day and I have already booked a hostel in Valpo for Sunday and Monday night, so at least when we finally do make it to Valpo we’ll have somewhere to stay.
I’m trying to stay positive about the experience, trying to remember the journey is just as much a part of the adventure as the destination. But one thing that would make the journey a whole lot more fun would be WiFi. I hate how hard it is to find a wireless Internet connection. I am more than capable of killing a day by playing on the Internet but sadly at this point that isn’t a possibility. Currently Jim is taking a walk around the bus terminal and I’m sitting on the ground next to one of the few outlets I could find, writing this blog, while being stared at by 3 police officers (all of which, as well as a few others has come over and told be to be careful because I have a laptop, I appreciate their concern but of course I’m going to be careful, I’m not totally retarded!) Perhaps when Jim returns from his walk I can wonder around and possibly pick up an unlocked Internet connect. Honestly I don’t care if the only available connection is in a bathroom stale, I’ll just sit down and hold my nose and off I’ll go surf the World Wide Web.
Oh something else fun and exciting to write about… on late Wednesday afternoon Jim and I were quietly reading in our room, when we heard a knock at the door, to our surprise outside the door stood our long lost Irish travelling buddy, Neal. Neal and I ended hanging out that evening and then covering from our hangovers much of the next day together. It was so nice to see my travelling friend one last time, even if we both were rather hung-over. Neal well be spending a little more time in Iguaçu and then tripping around the more northern South American countries, while Jim and I (as I have already stated) are making our way more south, so Iguaçu was really our last little visit but it was nice and I have greatly enjoyed getting to know Neal. Not to mention he and his travelling expertise have been a great asset in planning mine and Jim’s trip.
So yesterday at 2:30pm Jim and I boarded a bus to Buenos Aires, thinking that because Buenos Aires is a large city it would be fairly easy to get to Valparaiso from there. We arrived here in Buenos Aires at 8:30am. I immediately went to work trying to find us the best way to get to Valpo. The only bus that goes directly to Valpo is sadly full today and our only other option is to first take a bus to Mendoza and then take another bus to Valpo.
Okay so this doesn’t sound like too big of a deal right? It isn’t really other than the fact that the next bus for Mendoza is at 6:30pm. Even if I could find us a sooner bus, it wouldn’t help because there is only one bus a day to Valpo from Mendoza and it leaves at 8:30am. So here we are hanging out in the Retiro Buenos Aires, bus station until 6:30pm where we will board another bus, ride overnight to Mendoza and then once again board yet another bus and off we go to Valpo. The good news is I was able to buy both bus tickets, so we won’t arrive in Mendoza and be told the bus is full and have to wait another day and I have already booked a hostel in Valpo for Sunday and Monday night, so at least when we finally do make it to Valpo we’ll have somewhere to stay.
I’m trying to stay positive about the experience, trying to remember the journey is just as much a part of the adventure as the destination. But one thing that would make the journey a whole lot more fun would be WiFi. I hate how hard it is to find a wireless Internet connection. I am more than capable of killing a day by playing on the Internet but sadly at this point that isn’t a possibility. Currently Jim is taking a walk around the bus terminal and I’m sitting on the ground next to one of the few outlets I could find, writing this blog, while being stared at by 3 police officers (all of which, as well as a few others has come over and told be to be careful because I have a laptop, I appreciate their concern but of course I’m going to be careful, I’m not totally retarded!) Perhaps when Jim returns from his walk I can wonder around and possibly pick up an unlocked Internet connect. Honestly I don’t care if the only available connection is in a bathroom stale, I’ll just sit down and hold my nose and off I’ll go surf the World Wide Web.
Oh something else fun and exciting to write about… on late Wednesday afternoon Jim and I were quietly reading in our room, when we heard a knock at the door, to our surprise outside the door stood our long lost Irish travelling buddy, Neal. Neal and I ended hanging out that evening and then covering from our hangovers much of the next day together. It was so nice to see my travelling friend one last time, even if we both were rather hung-over. Neal well be spending a little more time in Iguaçu and then tripping around the more northern South American countries, while Jim and I (as I have already stated) are making our way more south, so Iguaçu was really our last little visit but it was nice and I have greatly enjoyed getting to know Neal. Not to mention he and his travelling expertise have been a great asset in planning mine and Jim’s trip.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Welcome to the Jungle!!!
Hello from Puerto Iguaçu! So I know I kind of fell of the map for a bit but I’m back. To catch you all up a few days ago Jim and I adventured from Montevideo, Uruguay to Salto, Uruguay, and then ventured from Salto to Concordia, Argentina. From Concordia we moved onto Mercedes. In Mercedes we took a breath, actually caught an evening at Carnival, and made plans to head to the wetlands, Los Estros del Ibera.
Okay so a really quick overview: Salto in my opinion, well, sucked! Small town with not a lot of people who spoke any English and worst of all no Internet, oh woe is me. Then Concordia, I thought was lame when we arrived but I actually had a fairly pleasant time for the short while we were there. I at one point took a 17 block walk and the small town was rather attractive.
*** Side note: I’m writing this blog in word and then transferring it to the webpage because I don’t have Internet in our room and don’t want to write a blog in the lobby, sooo I don’t remember what I put on the last blog, so if I’m repeating myself, my apologies. Anyways so we get to Mercedes and it’s small but not at all a bad place. The hostel we stayed at was highly recommended online and many people stated that the best part was that the woman who ran the place was very helpful in planning trips to Los Estros del Ibera. Being as the wetlands are kind of an off the beatin track tourist attraction I figured it would be good to bring in a little help in planning this excursion. Graci-ella (spelling?) was very helpful in planning our excursion. One must understand that the wetlands are in a town called C.C. Pelligrini, the town has a population of 600 people (yup that’s only two zeros). Also there are no banks, bus stations, restaurants, Internet, and very few phones (many of which are not accessible to tourists). Thus it is very important that the hostel be a full service type of place.
So our trip included: 2 nights stay in the hostel, 4 dinners (2 for each of us), 2 lunches (1 for each of us), 4 breakfasts (again 2 for each of us), a 2 hour walking tour, 2 hour horseback riding tour, and a 2 hour boat tour. Sadly none of these tours were with English speaking guides being as there is only like one boy who speaks English in the whole town, but we made due (on a related note my Spanish is improving).
So for brevity’s sake I’m going to sum up the experience by saying I’m thrilled that we went! The wetlands were amazing, we got to see monkeys, these cute large rodents, which I forgot the name of but looked something like a cross between a rabbit and a guinea pig only about 10 times bigger. We also saw some beautiful birds wild flamingos included and I got the get closer to alligators than I ever expected (this thrilled me… seriously)!!! Oh and I can’t forget to talk about the bus ride to the wetlands (I know I’m back tracking a bit but it’s too good not to talk about). So if you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to go four-wheeling in a jam-packed special education bus, just ask me and I can tell you its kickass. I caught air many times and squealed with delight every time. So more on the wetlands adventure… the food sucked, the people were lovely, met a Danish couple who are great (note the are instead of were, they are still a part of our adventure). So when we left the wetlands we had two options.
Take the fun bus back down to Mercedes and then go back up to Iguaçu (which would be rather inconvenient)
Or to hire the 4x4 and driver from the hostel to take us to Valisora (Spelling?) and then take a bus to Iguaçu. (this was the options we were leaning towards but we needed two more people to share the 4x4 with) This is where our lovely new Danish friends come into play.
They too where wanting to take the 4x4 to Iguaçu and were delight to share the experience with us. Oh and if I thought the 4-wheeling in the bus was fun, the 4x4 doing somewhere between 80 and 100 miles per/hour on a loose dirt road was even better (I’m aware I’m a little nuts).
So a 4x4 ride and 2 bus rides later the four of us arrived in Puerto Iguaçu. Due to the high volume of tourists, we even all ended up in the same hostel.
*** Another side note: I sent a bit of time talking to them tonight and I have to say they are really wonderful people.
Anyways so today Jim and I (and the Danish couple, but we didn’t know it at the time) all went to the famous Iguaçu Falls. Today has been hands down my favorite part of the trip. The Falls are breathtakingly stunning and I honestly think that I have a better understanding of what heaven may look like. The lush green sub-tropical jungle surrounding The Falls only added to my amazement. (I took lots of pictures but due to extremely slow Internet connection I will have to wait to post them). I think tomorrow, since I have scheduled that as my relax day, I will write another blog dedicated to just talking about the experience at The Falls. So it’s 1 am here and I would like to finish my book tonight so I can pass it along to the Danish couple, so I’ll sign off for now, but stay tuned more on Iguaçu to come. Much love and devotion. J
Okay so a really quick overview: Salto in my opinion, well, sucked! Small town with not a lot of people who spoke any English and worst of all no Internet, oh woe is me. Then Concordia, I thought was lame when we arrived but I actually had a fairly pleasant time for the short while we were there. I at one point took a 17 block walk and the small town was rather attractive.
*** Side note: I’m writing this blog in word and then transferring it to the webpage because I don’t have Internet in our room and don’t want to write a blog in the lobby, sooo I don’t remember what I put on the last blog, so if I’m repeating myself, my apologies. Anyways so we get to Mercedes and it’s small but not at all a bad place. The hostel we stayed at was highly recommended online and many people stated that the best part was that the woman who ran the place was very helpful in planning trips to Los Estros del Ibera. Being as the wetlands are kind of an off the beatin track tourist attraction I figured it would be good to bring in a little help in planning this excursion. Graci-ella (spelling?) was very helpful in planning our excursion. One must understand that the wetlands are in a town called C.C. Pelligrini, the town has a population of 600 people (yup that’s only two zeros). Also there are no banks, bus stations, restaurants, Internet, and very few phones (many of which are not accessible to tourists). Thus it is very important that the hostel be a full service type of place.
So our trip included: 2 nights stay in the hostel, 4 dinners (2 for each of us), 2 lunches (1 for each of us), 4 breakfasts (again 2 for each of us), a 2 hour walking tour, 2 hour horseback riding tour, and a 2 hour boat tour. Sadly none of these tours were with English speaking guides being as there is only like one boy who speaks English in the whole town, but we made due (on a related note my Spanish is improving).
So for brevity’s sake I’m going to sum up the experience by saying I’m thrilled that we went! The wetlands were amazing, we got to see monkeys, these cute large rodents, which I forgot the name of but looked something like a cross between a rabbit and a guinea pig only about 10 times bigger. We also saw some beautiful birds wild flamingos included and I got the get closer to alligators than I ever expected (this thrilled me… seriously)!!! Oh and I can’t forget to talk about the bus ride to the wetlands (I know I’m back tracking a bit but it’s too good not to talk about). So if you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to go four-wheeling in a jam-packed special education bus, just ask me and I can tell you its kickass. I caught air many times and squealed with delight every time. So more on the wetlands adventure… the food sucked, the people were lovely, met a Danish couple who are great (note the are instead of were, they are still a part of our adventure). So when we left the wetlands we had two options.
Take the fun bus back down to Mercedes and then go back up to Iguaçu (which would be rather inconvenient)
Or to hire the 4x4 and driver from the hostel to take us to Valisora (Spelling?) and then take a bus to Iguaçu. (this was the options we were leaning towards but we needed two more people to share the 4x4 with) This is where our lovely new Danish friends come into play.
They too where wanting to take the 4x4 to Iguaçu and were delight to share the experience with us. Oh and if I thought the 4-wheeling in the bus was fun, the 4x4 doing somewhere between 80 and 100 miles per/hour on a loose dirt road was even better (I’m aware I’m a little nuts).
So a 4x4 ride and 2 bus rides later the four of us arrived in Puerto Iguaçu. Due to the high volume of tourists, we even all ended up in the same hostel.
*** Another side note: I sent a bit of time talking to them tonight and I have to say they are really wonderful people.
Anyways so today Jim and I (and the Danish couple, but we didn’t know it at the time) all went to the famous Iguaçu Falls. Today has been hands down my favorite part of the trip. The Falls are breathtakingly stunning and I honestly think that I have a better understanding of what heaven may look like. The lush green sub-tropical jungle surrounding The Falls only added to my amazement. (I took lots of pictures but due to extremely slow Internet connection I will have to wait to post them). I think tomorrow, since I have scheduled that as my relax day, I will write another blog dedicated to just talking about the experience at The Falls. So it’s 1 am here and I would like to finish my book tonight so I can pass it along to the Danish couple, so I’ll sign off for now, but stay tuned more on Iguaçu to come. Much love and devotion. J
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