South America (and Mexico)

 

Here's the plan so far: Myself and Craig depart from our respective home cities of Brisbane and Sydney on the 13th of November. We meet up in Fiji airport and fly to Los Angeles, and after another few hours in an airport we fly to Mexico City.

 

We'll spend a long weekend in Mexico then continue onwards, and southwards, to Colombia, flying via Bogotá to Santa Marta, in the North, then travelling by road across to Cartagena before flying South to Cali. From there we plan to bus-it down to Quito, Ecuador, taking a few days to see the south of Colombia, whilst trying to remain with all our internal organs intact (don't worry mum!).

 

From there it's on to the Galápagos Islands, Peru (Lima, Nazca, Cusco, Machu Picchu), Bolivia (La Paz), Argentina and beyond...

 

It's not all set in stone, stay tuned..! 



 

Santiago, Chile

This was my last day and night in South America. I had a flight out at 6am so I didn't do much. 

I caught a bus from Concon back to Viña del Mar then another bus from there which took just under two hours. I didn't actually arrive in Santiago until 2.30pm.

I went to a bar for a few beers before an early night for a 3.15 start the following morning. Just when I was thinking that this post, the last of the blog, was going to be really boring, a fight broke out then a bloke threatened to kill me!!

Street near the centre.

Plaza de Armas - centre of Santiago.

Here I'm enjoying a beer and reading my kindle...

...then there's an argument at the door between a couple who were eating at a table close to mine and the staff. The woman then starts slapping a waitress! Two policemen on horseback just happened to be going past at the time.

Nothing came of it, the couple reluctantly parted with cash that they seemed to think wasn't theirs to pay and they walked off.

Next thing this bloke appears begging. There was a couple at the table directly opposite mine who were leaving at the time. They had almost a full plate of chips, so they tell the bloke he can have them. They get up and leave and he sits down. Here I've given him some small change so I can take his picture, no problem at this point in time!

He was keen to show this tattoo off. After he finished the chips he proceeded to put the knife and fork into his pocket. There was a waitress on the other side of me at the time so I told her, this is when he said he was gonna kill me!!

About 36 hours later. I'd flown from Santiago to Panama, then on to the Dominican Republic, then on to Frankfurt. In Frankfurt I had to travel 100kms by bus to another airport before flying to Lanzarote - this picture taken from the bus...

...the last time I'd seen snow was at 4600 metres above sea level in Peru!

Concon, Chile

Just thought I'd post about Concon for completeness, as nothing of real interest happened here! At this stage I didn't want to do anything, too many places in such a short space of time! Just as well, there was nothing to do in Concon, except visit the beach. There wasn't even a bar, just a handful of restaurants. A half hour bus journey brought me here, just North of Viña del Mar.

I'm actually blogging from Lanzarote where I'll spend a total of 15 days. When I arrived at the apartment that I had booked for my first week I had this tremendous feeling - simply 'cos I was going to be in the same apartment for a whole week! Finally I got all my stuff out of that f*ckin' backpack!

The biggest beach in Concon was right at the end of my street.

Typical street.

This was the centre of things!

Viña del Mar, Chile

I took the 15 minute bus ride from Valparaíso yesterday. This is the most popular 'seaside' resort in Chile.

It's a nice place, and not as overpriced as Punta del Este in Uruguay, although similar.

I hope this isn't going to take long, as the battery in my laptop is not looking good and I'm ready for bed!!

The horses have an "arse-bag" as well as a nosebag!

I like to try the local food, especially seafood. The South American Handbook states that the "caldillo de congrio" is the most famous local seafood dish in Chile. I tried various restaurants for this, lots of them had it on the menu but none of them actually had it. I settled for this, "paila marisco"...

...still a soup, tasted good but had the consistency of rubber! Bowl of rubber = AU$22!

ValparaIiso, Chile

Valparaiso has significant history, if you read the South American Handbook!! Apologies again, I've been blogging and sipping beer for a while now!!

Actually, the place was a bit of a breath of fresh air after the last few places I'd been in. There was almost a return to the 'simple' life, by that I suppose I mean that there was signs of poverty, but the place was split between what appeared to be an attempt at tourism, a small 'city' culture, and the "bohemian" feel (as described in the South American Handbook!!). Ok, here we go..!

The border crossing took ages. I'd done a 'land' crossing before, but never on the same bus. It had to be coordinated by a guy on the bus. We all had to get off and on various times to get passports stamped, and all the luggage had to come off and go through 'airport style' scanners, in our presence.

Snow on the hills at the border.

The border is at altitude, my decent into Chile from Argentina.

Sea lions - remember them..?!!

This coastal path was interesting...

...oh, here's the sea lions again!! Funny watching them take many attempts to launch themselves onto this ancient structure. The guy on the left failed time and time again...

Here we are back to the abandonment! God knows how long this train's been here, but it isn't a 'feature'!

Have you read the South American Handbook yet?! Apparently Valparaiso has suffered form lots of earthquakes, whether this is a result or not I'm not sure - you tell me!

Looks more like Colombia or Ecuador here, but there's various parts to the place.

Likewise, a guy selling empanadas!!

A stone's throw away and it appears a lot more modern.

Sorry, it had to be done!!

This is where I stayed. All this 'art' is a tourist attraction. There were guided tours down my street...

Stray dogs everywhere.

Mendoza, Argentina

Apologies, this is a short post. Mendoza was a let down for me. It's just a small city close to the Chilean border. It's famous as a wine producing region, but that didn't interest me much. After an hour in the place I book a bus out the following morning!

My digs

Another dump!

Sorry, this is all I've got! We stay in an 'English' pub for a while then move on to an Irish one, before I say 'adiós' to Craig and Ian, until Chile that is...



I almost get on the wrong bus the following morning. I'm at the correct stance 25 minutes before departure. I give my backpack to the guy loading the stuff into the hold and he gives me a receipt. I then try to get on, showing another guy my ticket. He tells me it's not the right bus, so I have to get my backpack off again. This bus leaves at exactly 8.40am, the time mine is supposed to leave from the same stance. If it wasn't for a few other people hanging around I would have been convinced there was a mistake made and I was left behind. Two hours later our bus appears and we finally head for the Chilean border, and beyond. Read on....

Punta del Este, Uruguay

It's been a while, but I think the bus from Montevideo to Punta del Este took 4 hours...!

It was extremely expensive, particularly for accommodation. It was going to cost AU$160 for a room each for the night, it's AU$60 for a bed in a dorm! We shared a 3 bed room, never again!!!

Apparently the Argentinians and Brazilians flock here at this time of year, so clearly prices are inflated.

Cosy!!

It's just a beach resort, and not even that great, considering the price of everything. One night was enough for me, I wasn't staying in that room for any longer!

We bus-it out the following morning, 10 hours back to Buenos Aires via bus and boat - nightmare!

Ian fights 'nodding-dog' style with the curtain on the bus!

We pre-book (separate!) rooms in a dive back in Buenos Aires and fly out to Mendoza, still Argentina, the following morning. This was mine, it was worse than it appears here! We arrived at midnight.

View of the centre of Buenos Aires from my room.