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Well, just been introduced to this site by a friend, looks cool. Sat at work here, counting the days-just over 3months and i'll be landin in Santiago de Chile, with 6months to get to LA, by land alone, happy days...... 
Feb 07, 2005 09:00 PM Further South
Well theres been a lot of moving about since the last entry.....
Headed out to Isla de Chiloe which is about half way down chile, a wee bus journey, then a ferry...Ferry was cool-saw dolphins, sea lions and penguins on the way, without paying the price of a tour! Headed out to the National Park there, another bus journey, some old lady kind of tricked us into coming out to her camp site on the west coast of the island by suggesting we couldnt camp anywhere else, gringos! Turned out ok tho, was set in amongst loads of trees, lakes, quite like scotland actually, but with the sun beating down constantly, which was niced. As with Scotland, there was midgys everywhere too, and these things like clegs, which pack a nasty punch-half of my hand swelled up and became all red and blotchy, thought it was the start of elephantiasis or something, but its calmed down now thankfully...... Also there were loads of these big red bumble bee things, constant pests, flying about the head, relentlessly......Campsite was near a national park and massive beach too, with miles of white sands and continuing nice weather...
Met some circus folk in the campsite too, drank wine and rum, and tried to pratice my spanish, which is coming along slowly....
After that, we headed back up to Puerto Montt, and got a 30hr bus journey down to Punta Arenas, which is near the bottom of the world, and then another hefty 1, about 11hrs to Ushuaia, in Argentina, which is the southerly most city on the planet, weather is still reasonable, but windy as....
Anyway arrived here a couple of hours ago, walked the length of the city about 5 times before we could find a bed for the night, in with a local family who take in backpackers etc, breaky included-always a bonus, so should be fine....
Not sure of the plans from here, plenty to do before headin back up northwards....
Off just now to eat, been livin off rolls and tuna pasta for 2-3d now, so going to find ourselves a hearty feed, the meats supposed to be good here, and i guess the local cerveza will be too....
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Jan 31, 2005 09:00 PM Headin´ South
Well thats us been on the road now for 4 1/2 days now with some nice stops made. First we got the bus from Santiago to Valdivia, which is a City on the coast, a 10hr bus journey, by night tho so not so bad, just slept...There we walked around a bit on fri morning, in the pouring rain! Went to a cool wee fish and veg market by the water, where sea lions and many birds came to feed! Was nice to have a wander, but even nicer when the rain cleared. By early afternoon, the sun was out and the temp had picked up so we headed back out for a walk along the harbour type area, and stopped off for some local wine. At night there was a "Fiesta de la Cerveza", which consisted of lots of Germans dancing and singing and drinking cheap beer, 50p a pint, was cool, but the German music was a bit relentless!
Following morning we headed off for Petrohue, a small tourist like village on the shores of Lagos Todos del Santos, where there was a huge Volcano, Volcan Osorno, weather was amazing, many clear views of the volcano and surrounding Andes, all creating a breathtaking landscape. We crossed the lake from the touristy part and walked through a forrest and along to a beach where the local lady charged us to camp on her part of the beach. So we stayed there for 2nts and enjoyed the scenery etc, while living solely on bananas, cheese sandwiches and cheap wine, classy!
Then we set off for our current location, the island of Chiloe. Bus was boring, boat was cool-amazing backdrop of the Andes, and sea lions, penguins and dolphins all visible from the ferry, felt like Sir David! We arrived here last nt in Castro, the main town on the island, and treated ourself to a nice shower, some steak and chips last, was sweet. Also got lucky with the hostel choice down here, "El Mirador" -good price, power shower, nice comfy beds, and a big breakfast so happy days.....
So now were heading for some more camping out in Parque Nacional de Chiloe, before heading further south towards Torres del Paine etc, Im about to take my last shower for at least 2days!!
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Jan 25, 2005 09:00 PM The Beginning
Well, those few months have flown by, and already am sat here in Santiago de Chile. Got here on Sunday night after a mammoth trip, 4 flights and 2 car journeys to take me from my front door in Dundee, Scotland, all the way to Plaza de Italia, Santiago de Chile, where Iv been staying. Weathers been nice, sun sun sun, a big change from what was left back home, those of u bck there in Dundee will know the score....
Anyway, just been enjoying the city and the weather, and winding down from work etc, which took about a minute to forget! Also been eating nice food, cheaply, and trying to get stuck into learning more Spanish with variable success...
We leave tonight in the bus to Valdivia, which is about 10hours South on the Chilean coast, supposed to be real nice. Weve been told of this cool island in the middle of a lake where people go to camp and chill, sounds perfect....
Anyway, watch this space for the stories.....
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Jan 01, 1970 01:00 AM Its been a while......
Well guess its been a few wks or so since the last entry, old typing fingers are gettin lazy, specially in this heat.
Think i left off somewhere around the bottom of the world before.....Spent some time in Ushuaia in ths sth of argentina, was cool, hired bikes and took on a couple of mighty challenges in the national park there, weather was perfect, but the roads etc werent-spent most of the time on unpaves roads, and on trails designed for walkin so was tough work, good fun tho, except fot the next day with pains everywhere from havin the bones shaken about by those bikes......Some cool views of lakes n glaciers, and across the Beagle Chanel made it all worth it....Treated ourselves to some nice steak too, and local beer was pretty good too, no Tennants yet, but itd be crap over here anyway id imagine....
Fired on back to argentina after that, to see another huge glacier, the perito moreno glacier, which breaks up before ur eyes, big icebergs fallin off regular and makin tsunamis, only prob was tourists everywhere, mostly from the states, gettin a bit overexcited, as they do.......
Flew up from there to BUenos Aires on tue, got a el cheapo flight whis was cool, have just been seein the city here, cool place, big n humid tho, nice new harbour with loads of big yauchts, and loads of old important buildings around. And more steak, had a sweet 1 last nt, nice and bloody, mmmm,
So, not much really goin on here now, plenty more culture to be soaked up, if uv loads of money to spend on food n drink. Unfortunately all the nt clubs are shut here due to a big fire a couple of mnths ago which killed 200...Theyre all shut to have their safety reviewed, maybe should hav thought of that before they opened....So no partyin in the "party capital" for us....too pricey anyway, just been drinkin in the hostel, with the other revellers here, banters pretty good in general....Only prob here is bed bugs, am covered in big lumps and theres no mosquitos around, joke, even got one on each palm which is unheard of..
Then spent the next 3wks travellin up the south american east coast, headed to Uruguay from Buenos Aires in the ferry as planned, spent a brief time in Montivideo, just another big city, and we were keen to hit the beach asap so headed up the coast to Punta del Este....Cool spot, loads of nice beaches, and cool bar/clubs, only thing was it was a bit of a rich kids playground, so a bit more pricey, still not too much tho, and well, it wasnt just the beaches which were kind to the eyes! After there, headed further up the coast for a more chilled spot-Punta Del Diablo, a wee village, loads of beach huts, and small houses etc, the vibe was chilled indeed...Lay about there for a while, soakin up the sun, and the grappa, which is this kind of rummy drink, nice enough....Loads of cool rocks and crazy waves, was cool as, suppose u had to c it.....
So headed on from there, up over the Brasilian border, and made our way to Ilha De Santa Catarina, where part of Florianapolis is...At the other side of the island tho, things are a lot quieter, met loads of people there, from all over-scotland, england, ireland, US, oz and on.... And we got lucky as with the apptment-got this huge one with massive balcony, rooms, big kitchen, and living bit, and all clean as, and for cheap as, shared it with these two girls fro California, were sound, totally layed back so suited me and D as u can imagine!
After another few hangovers, and numerous bites from basically anything that moves while I sleep, we headed on up the coast. More buses, and a train this time thru loads of rainforest, was pretty cool, some dodgy tracks tho across gorges and big drops, but we got there...From there another bus then a boat to Ilha Do Mel, a wee island, no cars or development, just wee pousadas (kind of cabin/house things) and e few houses, and scattered small restaraunts, met more people, guys from england and some norwegian girls, and all shared this big place, was nice enough, the bites were a bit mental tho, I dont know whats biting but u should c some of the results, not good, just dealing with it tho....
Had planned to hit another island first a wee bit south from here, but wouls hav meant too ,much waitin about so were gonna do it on the way back down when were done here.
So like I said, were just gonna hav to amuse ourselves here for a few days, shouldnt be too hard Id say.......
Well thats me done with Brasil for now, ended up spendin a week in Rio, soakin up the atmosphere, the rays, the caiparinhas, cool as.....Did all the tourist stuff - Christ, Sugar Loaf, the favelas, etc, also saw some of the city via our own self conducted bus tours, a much cheaper option than the 200 US dollar a head deals!! Thats the only complaint about this place-its 1 thing chargin toursits a bit more but it just took the .........everywhere chargin much more than norm, well tryin, once we converted our pidgeon spanish into pidgeon portuguese we usually managed to argue them back to norm prices which was ok....Like i say that was the only complaint out of a million praises so not so bad at all! Met loads of people in the hostels there, from all over again, some cool, some not.....Met this weirdo who claimed he was from Sweden, but he had a cockney accent, and couldnt tell us his last name, where he came from, or speak swedish to us, then he was sick, bizarre!! Met loads of the same people we have met up the coast actually which was cool, ended up stayin with 6 others we had stayed with in Ihla Do Mel.
So after Rio, we headed for Ilha Grande which is a, well, big island surprise surprise. 2hrs down the coast and a rocky 2hr boat journey with a hangover took us there, worth the journey tho, full of jungle, with 103 beaches i think it was scattered around, no roads or cars tho, just treks and boats from place to place, some beautiful beaches tho, one called Praia Lopez Mendez, suppesed to be the best in Brasil, could hav been......So spent time chillin and drinkin there, plenty more caiparinhas, and cervezas, staeyed with 4 from Hull who wed met in Rio in this really nice posada, spacious with a big kitchen, livin room, and hammocks all round, real nice.......and after 3d there it was time to head on again....
From there we headed west on a wee 15hr bus journey to Foz Do Iguacu, the huge collection of waterfalls u may or may not have heard of on the border with argentina and paraguay, honestly breathtakin. There are national parks on bothe the bres and arg sides, the bras side gave a kind of overview of the place and the arg side was right up near all the biggest part of the falls, was mental, cant even describe the sheer volume of water comin down, it was actually scary....went on this boat ride two which went right under some of the falls got drenched, all good tho....
From there we decided to head on towards Bolivia, thru Paraguay first...spent a bit of time in Cuidad del Este on the brasilian border, typical border town, a bit wild, where anything goes! Not much to do so went on to Asuncion , the capital....Is bigger than glasgow in population, but u would never believe it...The people were nice enough, but even the centre had little to do, did find this cool wee place to watch some local dancin and eat some local food, and saw the token buildings... did see one building that, when a dictatorship, u would be shot for lookin at it, we did get in trouble by the armed guards for standing on the same side of the road as it, no joke, but didnt get shot tho so was ok!
Wanted to see more of the country but there is virtually no transport network set up, so its next to impossible to get anywhere so we came on here after a couple of days there...
Here being Santa Cruz in Bolivia....We got here last nt after spening about 28hrs on a bus from asuncion, most of which was spent on a mud track, goint thru nowhere, the bus constantyly rattlin along in the boling heat, was really tough on the head, so hard to sleep, and there was jackie chan movies back to back to back to back and on, which is OK for a while but 8 in a row, at full volume so u canhear it over the noise of the bus, got a bit much.....Bus got a flat tyre, and broke down twice too just to add to the fun!! All part of the experience tho......
So were plannin to spend quite a while here in Bolivia, 3-4wks prob as seems like a cool place, just been wanderin around today, bought a new tshirt just then for equiv of 1.50! Had to treat myself as everything light coloured that i brought is ruined! the people seem real friendly all around, and theres a cool feel about the place, and plenty to do around the country so happy days.....
Anyway sorry its a bit long, and bitty, all cut n pasted from bits of mail...Pics to follow soon
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