Tommy & Martin: Las Americas 2007

Howdy!

The gallery website has been “down” for a while now - pictures have now been relocated to this site:

http://picasaweb.google.com/lasamericas07

–> This new gallery contains many more pictures than the last one, check it out!
(if you use Picasa, you can download albums directly into your own computer)

And can you do the JTB? if not, please check out (again) our youtube clip, rehearse and make your own

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvAdMlnyQiY

ps: check out the re-designed Disosuperfly website at www.discosuperfly.biz

Regards,

Tommy (Stavanger) and Martin (London

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Dear beloved subscribers!

Hope you’re all out there… alive and listening! We’re still here, alive and kicking… or rather - dancing!

July is here, and supposively summer is here aswell. But temperatures in Norway hovers around 15-20 and weather is rather moist and unstable. Not quite the equivalent of Fiji nor Brazil.

After returning from our trip, we’ve been busy catching up with friends, family and cash flow. I’m (Martin) working for Statoil this summer - whilst Tommy has got a job in one of Norway’s largest movie productions, namely “Wide Blue Yonder” (starring Brian Cox and a few other Norwegian and int. “celebrities”)…. be sure to watch for his name in the credits!

Now…. Tommy and Martin a.k.a. Discosuperfly Productions - or “Discofilms” if you like, would like to present to you …. (drumbroll):

Can you do the JTB?

Please: if you can’t see the movie below, click the link under to watch it on YouTube - and yes, share it with everyone you know!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvAdMlnyQiY

…. a big thanks to everyone who helped us filming etc!

thanks for your attention and interest during our trip, who knows - we might be back even before you get to unsubscribe

- Tommy & Martin

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….and we’re back - with a BIG update! prepare for a long read, so get that coffee and pack of biscuits ready

After our Brazilian adventure, we flew down to Santiago de Chile, to start on the last phase of our journey. Santiago would be the most southern destination on our trip, and from here we would make our way northwards towards Quito (from where we fly home in May).

Chile is a very different country than Brazil, very different indeed! With a shape like the crust of Argentina, Chile stretches from the southern tip of South America all the way up to Bolivia and Peru. In other words, Chile´s geography is one much similar to Argentina. Skinny and clinging on to the Andes, which separates the two the countries…Chile can only be compared to Argentina, climate and locationwise. Being the booming economy of South America the most recent years, Chile has the financial strength and stability the other countries are lacking. This is visible throughout the country, with a clear European feel present and the feel that everything is very different from other South American countries. Not only do people look differently, but prices even remind us of back home (no thanks!!!!!!!).

Santiago is by far Chile´s largest city, with appx. 6-7 million inhabitants. The city has a very new and impressive metrosystem, with most stations and trains not being older than a couple of years. When we asked some Chileans if the metro was new, most people answered: “no it is old, at least 2-3 years”. What is not so nice with Santiago´s transportation infrastructure is the heavy smog floating and hovering above the city at all times. To tourists like us, it only took us a couple of hours before we noticed the smog in our throats and eyes, slightly itching and annoying.

We spent two days in Santiago, on beforehand we had heard 50/50 good and bad things about the city. Some people claimed it to be a great venue for late night socialising, others complained about prices and pollution. All in all I guess the experience is very individual, to us it was a very pleasent one, perhaps it was because we stayed in one of the best-value hostels in South America, “Andes” (at the street corner of the metro stop Bellas Artes).

There is a lot to do in Chile, like in Argentina there are almost endless amounts of trekking, horseback-riding, hiking, climbing and skiing opportunities, but this time around we were only there for the cities, and we knew we head to get back on track northwards - so we headed to Valparaiso, hoping to be charmed by the so epically described old town, supposively boasting with artsy decorated buildings, now protected by UNESCO.

Valparaiso is famous for two things: logistics and art. The city is Chile`s most important seaport and has for centuries been a merchant town, acting as a pit-stop for North American ships sailing down and crossing the straits of Magellan. Cape Horn. After the Panama canal opened, the city has lost its monopolic glory on the western coast of South America, but it yet remains an important port to Chile, pacitic cargo boats and eastern Argentina.

The industrial view towards the every so busy port of Valparaiso

As a tourist destination, Valparaiso is famous for its old town, which is protected by UNESCO. This part of the city consists of old, charming buildings from the booming age where the city received immigrants from all over the world - leaving their mark on the city through architecure and cultural life. Many artists are attracted to the city to study the coloured houses, which often have paintings and special decorations on the outside.

After spending a day strolling around the city and checking out the recommended sights and places, we found the local Irish bar, where at night we celebrated St.Patricks day, the day that everyone is allowed to be Irish! The place, “Bar Irlandes”, was crowded with people eager to get their hands on a pint - which on the occasion was coloured green! We hooked up with a Swedish guy from the hostel, Johan, and entered the Valparaiso night scene as Norwegian-wannabe-Irish, perhaps not always convincing for others, but at least a funny evening! (Fun fact: the only Irish in the bar was the owner!)

Local artists leave their political expressions on walls throughout the city…

One of the famous lifts that take you between streets in the steep hills of Valparaiso.

Crossing the Andes to Mendoza

A few days later we decided to head towards Mendoza, in Argentina. Johan, the Swede, was going the same way and joined us for the bustrip. Mendoza, Argentina’s major wine region (70% of all wine in Argentina is made there) is only 8 hours from Valparaiso, but to get there you have to cross the Andes, which at daytime allows for some spectacular views! At one point we drove past a alpine center (Chilean side), but there was no snow - so no luck in trying to get a few hours of skiing!

Zig-Zag-ing up the mountains

The bustrip crossed the Andes at altitudes of above 3500m above sea leve, but seeing as this was only for a short while, we did not sense the change in altitude. At times there during the winter there can be metres of snow, but due to the sun and unstable wind and weather, the snow only stays for a short while.

No snow - no skiing!

Mendoza
Despues Chile, we headed off to Mendoza. Lovely Mendoza. Warm, pleasant little wine town, or at least it seems so. It feels like a little country village, but has in actual fact close to a million inhabitants. We sought upon us to try what the town had to offer. First up was paragliding, which was so and so (Watch Martin paragliding on YouTube, click here!).

Tommy paragliding…

Bike-wine tour, with an American guy that looked like Borat. Very nice. We rented a tandem-bike and together with Borat, Johan the Swede and Yvonne the Germany we explored the fab. tastes and origins of Argentina’s famous Malbec…We visited two wineries, one very modern and high tech…and the other one more oldish, rather more typical-winery-looking. Both were interesting, leaving a good impression on us regarding the production and quality of the region!

The wine is filtered several times so that all bits and pieces of grapes are removed…

Mendoza produces 70% of Argentina’s wine, and the most famous grape is the Malbec, which lately have received several good reviews back home in Norway. For those of you interest and capable of reading Norwegian, check out the following links:
-“Argentinske godsaker”
-“Malbec, Argentinas juvel”
-“Du trenger bare kjøtt”

Maybe this is the birthplace for the grapes…the essence of that good wine you had last weekend?

Rafting, pretty poor actually. Horseback riding in this western looking scenery. Where the only thing missing were cardboard indians to fire at. Good fun.

Rock climbing with a Brazilian tour guide. One of the best things about the trip. Junior was his name and he didnt care if I had climbing experience or not. He just climbed ahead and I followed. Worth doing. The guy was like a lot of Braziilans with a lady in each town even though he was married. Solid entertainment he was. Last we went out with our new Irish friend David, who me met in BA,. He was currently studying in Mendoza and took us to the hottest night club. Unreal. So many wonderful looking girls in one nightclub. It even succeeded Vegas standard. Though worth mentioning is, that their conversational skills and social curteousy was at the other end of the specter.

Salta
Arriving in Salta, we were determinded to only make it a few day lay over before heading into Bolivia. Noticable activities were watching the premiere of the anticipated 300. What a shame. It may be cinema porno for adolescent easily influentiable teenage spray kids, or your average Brit, but beyond its impressive visual it had a thinner plot than Kate Moss´ wasteline. So much for looking forward to the most homoerotic movie of 2007. We cried ourself to sleep.

Salar de uyuni
During our trip, when we met people - we always asked if they had tips and recommendations to locations we were heading to. Most people had the same experiences, they all loved Buenos Aires, some hated Santiago - whilst others were exited with it. Bolivia it seemed made a great impression on most people, South Americas’s only third world country did not impress people with its cuisine or its climate. Personally I think that Bolivia stood out because that is really what it does - it is a very different experience, especially when compared to the atmosphere surrounding the highlife business districts of Buenos Aires, Sao Paulo or Rio de Janeiro. Unlike other countries, Bolivia is landlocked after a historical war with Chile, leaving them without access to the pacific ocean and no exotic beaches to offer tourists.

When we left Salta and headed to Uyuni (at the salt planes) we knew that we were travelling towards the most budgetfriendly country on our trip. Bolivia is cheap, dirt cheap - in fact, it is so cheap that when I look at the people who live there I feel bad, as if I were an employer and I was underpaying all of them. Of course our stay in Bolivia was a relief both to our budget and the feeling of travelling very poor and literally avoiding any highcost items or experiences.

3kms outside Uyuni is the “cemetrario de los trenes”….a graveyard for old locomotives… In the picture: Boas,Martin,Jeremy,Susan,Jonathan and Tommy.

Uyuni is a small village located in the “outskirts” of the world’s largest salt planes. The “city” (town rather!) has 14,000 inhabitants, of whom most are involved in the tourist industry, with the salt planes as the main (only…) attraction. Locationwise, the town is remotely set in the Andean mountain range at 3400 metres above the sea level, approximately 8 hours north of the Argentinean border. The train ride from Villazon (BOlivia’s bordertown) to Uyuni was one of spectacular views! I have never beore rode a train in such beautiful landscape where every curve and bend of the railroad track provides with stunning almost jawbreaking views of the Bolivian highland. The ride passed the area close to the village of St.Vincent, where the American duo “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” ended their lives in the early years of the 20th century (the men were made famous by Paul Newman and Robert Redford in the movie bearing their names). Some people argue that they were killed, but in fact experts claim that they took their own lives during an ambush by the Bolivian army.

Back to Uyuni! We arrived late at night, it was cold and dark. With our newly befriended fellow travellers (Boas, Jonatham and Susan from Holland and Jeremey from dowunder) we quickly rushed out of the train, ready to roam the streets to make sure that we secured beds for the night, before the other backpackers/travellers! The next day we spent exploring the numerous tourist shacks, offering various tours to the salt planes. After consulting a tourist information office with a ranking service, we ended up with a company called Blue Line, and the next morning we were all off on a 3 day trip with two Bolivian brothers, one of them Franz the driver and the other one, Juan the guide and master of the English language.

Note: This was the FIRST time we used the Norwegian flag… we have not been on a world crusade showing off nordic patriotism!

The trip itself exceeded all my expectations, we had a really good time driving for hours in vast and empty terrain - playing games in the car and listening to each others iPod. For food breaks, the brothers would make meals in the trunk of the car, and every day we had a new dish. We did not see the salt planes until the last day, a decision we made on forehad based on recommendations from other backpackers. By doing this we got to save the bast for the last, and enjoy the sunrise on the gigantic and endless, white salt planes. The planes cover 12,000 square kilometres and vary in depth from just 1m to a 12metres. Any rock or mountain formation that appear in or around the planes contain traces and pieces of coral formations - from waaay back in the past when everything was covered with water.

It is difficult to describe everything we experienced during our trip, because we saw so much and did so many different things. But to sum up I can say that we drove up to a max altitude of more than 5000 m. above sea level, we bathed in hot springs (NICE!!!), saw many different animals, got a sightseeing throuhg a 1000+year old graveyard with authentic mummies stowed into natural coral formations. All in all the trip left us with a lot of impressions, and it was only natural to recommend Blue Line to other backpackers. For 3 days…all included, we paid $80 per person.

At the salt planes, it is both fun and easy to manipulate angles and depths of images…here Jeremy is angry at his fellow travellers and just about to step on us!

La Paz
La Paz is the highest situated capital in the world. The city is so crowded and busy that the people who flock to it literally fills up the valley, like an overfilled cup of water. Perhaps not the best analogy - but seeing as the valley actually creates a physical bounday between whats inside the city and outside, a lot of people and business try to “fit in”. This does not necessarily create the Manhattan-effect, where people build taller and taller buildings… no one can afford that in Bolivia. Instead, people are everywhere, and there are almost no regular (private) cars, the streets are merely filled with taxis and random bus services.

A view from one of the hillsides down into central La Paz

The crowded atmosphere does not make it as charming and fascinating as perhaps a business district, it provides chaos. And if you add pollution, cold climate and regular rain - well then I guess you do not really have the most beautiful and efficient city of South America at your feet. Sorry to say, but even though its different to be in La Paz, and see all the people living on the streets, with more pharmacies around than there are Starbucks in Seattle (is it possible???) - it just gave me the feeling of “wanting to get away”. Of course it was culturally exciting to see the extremely religious parades during the easter (no photos allowed!), the whole town kind of had a suppressive and sad feeling to it.

At the witches market you can buy dead lifeforms in many shapes and sizes….dont know what it will be good for, but I guess it cures something?

There are tons of things to do in La Paz, and most people are nice - in addition its dirt cheap, so if it wasnt for the location and the temperature, I might have sticked around longer. But at that point (at least I), we were a bit fed up with the altitude and the temperature. Even Vikings enjoy some sun and hot climate!

Martin at some gathering square in downtown La Paz…yes it was cold!

Leaving La Paz….
Martin and I split up for a bit, having different objectives. He stayed in La Paz, I went with the bus to Rorrenbaque. I had heard things to fear from Bolivian bus trips, so it wasn’t without prejudice I entered the 11 o clock bus for the little Amazon town known as Rorrenebaque. When the bus finally did take off two hours later (an expected delay in Bolivia) it was with me crammed in a seat fit for midgets. The first part was cruisy. Then the latter part of the infamous death road started and the bus was now turning and churning in race car speed with up to 400 meters straight drops on various sides of the gravel path. The bus driver had tecno trance music on the whole time, I think to keep the cocaine flowing freely in him. As the night progressed and the road eventually flattened out and the half dozen chickens and pair of cats and one stinky dog on the bus had quieted down and I kicked my feet up buddha style and leaned back to enjoy a fruitful 3 hours of sleep before somehow the now overdosing bus driver had managed to get the bus stuck in a deep mud pool. This led to the first highly celebrated toilet break of the 16 hour drive. Everyone went out into the bushes and I decided to keep what little dignity I had and go a little further than the rest. Up the road I started focusing on a tree and a big lump it had in the middle of the branches. Mind you it was dark and only possible to see throught the siloutte of the sky. Suddenly that big black lump dropped eloquently from the tree like a wild animal, and I without having interest or a death wish to investigate the matter closer I chose to ran like a girl back to the bus and there I enjoyed the company of the numerous farm animals that would surely be a prey before me. As eventful as only a Bolivian bus tour can be, it ended in the wee hours of the next morning and I joined my pre booked trip to the Amazon

It started strong. First we had to drive four hours to the river side. Along the way we stopped to. you know what, i rushed into the closeby gras and went about my business as I realize my business is also the business of a two meter long anaconda at my feet. Momentarily paralyzed, I in retrospect am glad the snake decided to slither away instead of choking me to death. I managed to muster the words snake and our guide plummeted in after the anaconda to catch it without luck. LIttle did we know that the day after, our daylight hours would be spent in knee deep water chasing a giant acnaconda we never got to catch nor see, neither did any other groups that week, and so it turns out that me and the Australian guy who shared my panic were lucky enough to get to see the infamous beast up close early first day.

After arriving at out riverside we all got on a little river cano with a little engine. We tuc tuct away for two hours amongst monkeys in trees, pink freshwater dolphins and flooded green bushes. It was hot and sweet and as far from home as you could get. A lost world indeed. Halfway along the trip to our pillared bodegas, we stopped to swim with the pink dolphins. Allegedly as long as the flippers are there, the crocs and, piranas and anacondas stay away for you to enjoy the perfect tempered murky, but fresh water. It was delightful. At camp, which is one big connected fleeting wooden tree housed building with sunset teracce, the dinner was waiting. The remaining days were filled with chasing crocodiles, which we did see, harassing monkeys, chasing the elusive anaconda and swimming with dolphins. And everytime we got hungy our own chef lady cooked up a grand meal. All in all, three days with luxury treatment for less than 50 dollars. Bolivia is cheap. So cheap you start feeling like a millionar and not a mere poor backpacker.

After the trip I decided one way with the bus was enough and I had to wait two days for the planes to depart due to muddy take off strip. I spent the days reading and laying in the hostel hammock. And when feeling sociable hung out with two girls from the Amazon trip. An Israeli girl and a German girl, who depsite constant bickering and arguing were good friends. Even though the German girl would say to the jewish girl; snell Jeuden and she would respond vete Nazi. All in good humour. The world has come a long way and I found the lack of political correctness to be hilarious. Screw political correctness.

….our gallery @ http://gallery.discosuperfly.biz is slightly updated, we will however return with one final newsletter in a few weeks, with more pictures and after that, we have a very cool suprise in the form of a creative multimedia product hehe

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Our website: http://www.discosuperfly.biz/travel
Our gallery: http://gallery.discosuperfly.biz

Next location: Bolivia
Current location: Salta, Argentina
Last location: Mendoza, Argentina

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Prepare for a BIG update!

Porto Alegre (Martin)
Our first stop in Brazil, was Porto Alegre. The city is appx. 7 hours from the Uruguay border. Porto Alegre is not only one of the largest cities in Brazil, it is also regarded as the one of the most important cities of Southern Brazil. The city is a cultural, economical and political center… but as we quickly found out.. it was not a center of tourism. During our time in PA we saw no other tourists, and there are literally no hostels around, the only decent in price we could find was a semi-dodgy-prison-cell-lookalike “hotel” called “Hotel Uruguai”.

Tommy enjoying the company of Antonia`s girlfriends in the backseat…

We chose to visit Porto Alegre to meet up with an old schoolmate of Martin from Venezuela, Antonia. At the day of arrival we were tired, hungry and the very humid and hot climate in PA made our hunger for food even greater. As we met up with Antonia, she took us to a highclass steakhouse/churrasceria where waiters would literally lineup to serve you any type of beef. In fact, each guest was given a green/red brick to indicate if you want more (green) or if you had enough (red). During the meat-feasting we caught up with memories from our days in Venezuela, although far from bestbuddies or really close friends at the time - we shared many funny memories about people and places.

The food at the restaurant was amazing and it was a perfect star for our Brazilian adventure. After the meal Antonia took us for a drive, showing us around in the city…telling funny tales and old stories from all her good times in the city.

Yes I know I look funny! To my defense I think I was chewing a VERY sour piece of lime… quite sour indeed!

Later, we met up with her friends; Duda, Julia and Moria…. After enjoying a chopp (draught beer) downtown we wanted to head to town and check out the (according to Antonia) very good clubbing scene of Porto Alegre. However, the girls were tired (!!!!) from partying too much the day before. Oh well, I guess we just arrived on the wrong day….

Florianopolis - Ihla de Santa Catarina, Barra da Lagoa (Tommy)

The other days at Ihla De Santa Catarina, were spent tanning, surfing, hakisaking and eating icecream. Lots and lots of icecream. I like icecream. They have icecream parlours were you pay and weigh. Brilliant concept for those of you out there that want to taste every little flavour. In Floridanapolis it is feasible. One tiny little teaspoon of every sweet delicious icecream sabor you can imagine. I like icecream. I´m considering putting straps around a little freezer and have icecream with me everywhere I go. Say it with me, I love icecream. It dont matter if you´re a chocolate, straberry, kiwi, mint, orange, banana, hassel or vanilla icecream. Its all part of the icecream family. I pass no judgement on what color my icecream is. If the world was as liberal as my icecream views are we´d be getting somewhere. Or in the words of J. Seinfeld - Look to the cookie Elaine. I say look to the icecream Martin. Look to the icecream.

When we weren´t eating icecream we visited excellent rock diving areas to show off our fenomonal cannonball skills. Casper a dutch surfer also showed us to a famous beach known as Praia Mole. Praia Mole makes Venice Beach look like fat camp. Stit galore and ssa fantastico.

All in all Florinapolis was good for a little while, but there were some drawbacks. Prices, unfriendly people and the icecream melted very fast are worth mentioning.

In the end of our stay we met up with these two funky Swedes Wictor and Philip who joined us to Foz de Iguazu.

Florianopolis, the view from our hostel in Barra da Lagoa

Iguacu Falls (Martin)
After a looooong busride, we finally arrived on the Brazilian side of the Iguacu Falls. Having been advised to simply skip this side and rush to the Argentinean side we disobeyed the tips and recommendations given by the local tourist boyscout and headed back to Argentina. The difference is more than a border; the Brazilian side has only one look-out to the falls, the city is smaller and considered more boring and the prices are between 30-50% higher. Naturally, if you have good time, one would prefer to see it all from all sides. However, time was not on our side, and even though we were going back to Brazil, we couldn´t waste a second.

On the first night, we took the Swedes out to dinner - and taught them about the Argentinean beef culture… Ingen kjoettbullar her!

As we made it to the Argentinean side we quickly found our way to the hostel, recommended to us by the owner whom we met in Florianopolis. The name was “Hostel Sweet Hostel”, but after a couple of days, I felt more like calling it “Home Sour Home”. Basically, this was a family´s house, with a couple of extra bed rooms, limited water supply shower, no breakfast (even though they said so!) and the “free internet” was merely the family`s own computer, available for usage whenever the teenage child was not enthusiastically enganged in an MSN chat or some dorky computer game. No, even though it was cheap - this felt like a paid intrusion into a home.

The falls are huge and spreads over a large area, making small waterfalls everywhere… the nature around is stunning with 1000s of butterflies, caymans, turtles and plenty of exotic trees and birs!

Victor, Tommy and Martin - posing in front of the massive and humming “Devil´s throat”!

Good hostel - Bad Hostel. At the end of the day, you actually just sleep there, and in Iguacu, there`s hardly time to sleep. The nearby falls are considered some of the largest in the world. Actually, the proper Spanish name is “Cataratas del Iguazú”. The waterfalls consists of about 270 falls along 2.7km of the Iguazu River. The falls range in height from about 60m to 150m (The Devil`s Throat). Some people we met said that Niagar Falls was much better, but by looking at facts and the location and I would surely vote for Iguacu:

Size `em up!
-The water falling over Iguazu in peak flow has a surface area of about 400,000 square metres (1.3 million square feet)
-Niagara has a surface area of under 183,000 square metres (600,000 square feet)
… only the Victoria Falls in Zambia and Zimbabwe is larger with an area of over 550,000 square metres (1.8 million square feet).
In terms of water volume:
-Victoria’s annual peak flow is 9.1 million litres per second
-Iguazu’s annual peak flow is 6.5 million, though in times of extreme flood the two have recorded very similar maximum water discharge (well in excess of 12 million litres per second.).
-Niagara’s annual peak flow is about 2.8 million liters per second,

We did the boat trip, joining a massive RIB with 2 x Yamaha F250`s under the falls. No surprise but we did get soaking wet yes! But it was extremely cool to experience the falls “from within”…

Travelling with the Swedes, we all got obsessed with Boar and the Borat language.. HOW MUCH!??? Jigshemash!

Sao Paulo (Tommy)

Just wanting to check out Sao Paolo briefly, we came in with the bus in the wee hours of the day and put our bags in storage. Having heard several dodgy things about the city we decided to bring all our visa cards and money just to test what these Sao Paolo hoodlings were worth. I bet Kristianslyst is more hard core. Kidding.

With many million users a day, the subway system was highly functinonal and the best way to get around. The city is unattainable big. It was impossible for us to get a proper grasp on it. Mexico city which according to Mr Know it all Martin is bigger but felt half the size. Sao Paolo is almost a country within itself.

No showering for the last 48 hours had us polluting the already polluted air extensivily more. One bar of soap. One handicap toilet. One big sink. Two dirty backackers. And a range of disgusted looks added with five minutes and yours truly were smelling like daisies. We are learning the way of the backpacker. Or the way of the hobo if you want to call it that.

Having given up on seeing Sao Paolo at its fullest we searched for my favourite place. A cinema. After having pursued a dozen directions on cinema locations, only ending up at nudie boot cinemas we at last managed to track down a standard cinema. We watched ghost rider, and thats all i got say about that. In the evening we headed back to the bus station and set our sails (metephorically speaking off course) for Ihla Grande.

Aftermath: In Sao Paolo you are legally allowed to drive on a red light at dark due to car kidnappings and general crime associated with your car not moving. What ever that means.

Morcheeba - Sao Paolo is a sweet song. “Sao Paolo if I drink anymore I will drown.”

Claudia was missing from Sao Paolo. Where were you? Other Sao Paolo girls weren´t that impressive.

Ihla Grande (Tommy)

Wild monkeys like bananas, too bad I stuffed it with acid. Revenge is a bitch. Monkeys on acid. Now that´s comedy for you.

…There were no snow peaked andes mountains. No broken plane. No artic cold. Not a pile of dead bodies from a previous proud rugby team, now all prepared to be eaten. None the less I was lost in the mountains and nobody knew I was there. Ethan Hawk was in Alive, I was as well. After having reached the Peak of the parrot (Pico the papagui, i believe its in Portugese) I managed to loose the trail back and got stuck in a dense tangling bamboo snakey forest. It seems stupidity never eludes me. The cruel little monkeys were laughing at me. Jumping from tree to tree like they were all that. Damn you monkeys. No snakes hissing yet. Maybe I was in luck. After having tangled and untangled for the better of half an hour I managed to get back to the top again and I found the trail. Sweet, sweet trail. Look who´s laughing now monkeys. Evolution, that´s who laughing. Haha…

Florianapolis had been a bit of a disappointment. Ihla Grande was the destination that needed to salvage our Brazil beach paradise impression. We headed out to the island with a charming yellow fishing boat. Clear skies. Friendly sun rays. and azur calm seas had our expectaions rocketing. Paradise was at our feet. After arriving at our hostel, which had its terrace in the lagoon, it was appaerent Ihla Grande was on our side. First day we took a boat to a recognized beach called Lopez Mendez. Its considered one ot the top 10 beaches in the world. It offered everything you want in a beach. Monkeys. Surf on the far side, calm seas on the other end. Rock pool areas. Warm ocean. Shaded palm areas. And most importantly of all, no constructions. No skyscrapers. No cabanas. Only two portable soda stands. After doing what Martin does best. Laying in the sun for hours at an end. We walked back on a nice jungle walk for two hours to get back to the hostel. At the hostel a large barbeque was just starting with as much meat as you could eat. And Martin can eat a lot. Every hostel in Brazil claim they make the best bittersweet caprinha. Aquarius on Ihla Grande is no exception. Who am I to argue. Its good to be a backpacker.

Stranger, Jennny, Martin, Roha, Fairbrother, Sarah

Later that evening after doing social calls I realized that there were almost ten Norwegians at the hostel. I´m telling you. Watch out. Before you know it we will be stocking up our long viking ships and boarding your dock. Just wait, one of these days I tell you. It wont be a pretty sight.

Next day was spent exploring the town, which have 500 inhabitants. All of them which are genuinly nice, and happy to be were they are. On other notes the island have got 90 beaches, 60 of them are uninhabitated. Several jungle treks. Water falls. Monkeys and the occasional snake in Paradise.

The day after, Martin and I felt adventures and went to find a notorious waterfall. First part was easy sailing, but when the trail divided we got lost. And before we new it we passed a crazy deranged black guy yelling Walt. A little further up the track we saw a dodgy arabian looking guy fiddling with some antenna. And when we finally reached the top of the waterfall we saw a stunning beauty showering. It was like a Herbal essences commercial. We named her freckles.

Lopez Mendez, yes, she walked in front of the frame voluntarily

Martin all baby oiled up for your viewing pleasure. Haha

The Island was a delight, but Brazil is expensive so we decided to punch through and leave paradise. Rio was at our feet. Martin left first. I had been looking at the highest mountain of the Island and decided to join him later. Papa de Papagui was gonna be mine… …After having fought through the jungle for 4 hours, I got on a boat and headed for Rio, Ipanema.

Rio de Janeiro (Martin)

Leaving behind the tropical paradise of Ihla Grande, we entered the almost as tropical and almost exotic city of Rio de Janeiro. Until now Buenos Aires has been our favourite city, but Rio despite its higher prices and more dodgy-feel are definitely challenging Buenos Aires. What makes this legendary and so much talked about city beautiful is simply the location and the people! Perhaps one could argue that Buenos Aires` planned layout and clever infrastructure makes it superior in mobility, but BA does not come near to the beauty of Rio de Janeiro. The city is located between hills, small mountaintops, long beaches, green forest areas and lagoons in between the beaches and the hilltops. Never before have I seen a city so close to nature, but still being so urban and metropolitan.

The beautiful view from the Jesus Christ statue, appx 700m above sea level… in the middle is Ipanema beach..

The view towards the Sugar Loaf (center) and Copacabana (right).. notice all the bays, hills and beach areas…

Now in Rio there are plenty of things to do, even when its not Carneval! Since we were flying to Santiago de Chile in less than a week, we cut down activities to the most basic stuff that we wanted. The first day we signed up for a Favela Tour, which is quite pricey, but the trip is organized by a charity… and most of the money the received they use to run and upgrade a child-care center in the Rocina Favel (supposively Rio`s largest favela). Before coming to Rio, we had heard stories of other people doing this trip - and they all said it was worth it, even if it might seem dodgy. Having heard some scary stories from the barrios of Venezuela, I hesitated at first, but on a second consideration we signed up.

Tommy and me on a roof, with the favela in the back… 300,000 people lives here..”

Most houses rests on very unstable pillars of concrete, many houses collapse during a year..

In comparison to a barrio (like the ones in Venezula), Favelas are more organized with people responsible for housing rights, water/electricity rights and throughout the entire favel most services and products can be bought. Even though most people cheat and steal power by connecting a simple cord to the electricity lines that run across the street, things are (at least in this favela) run according to a certain set of rules. If they are constantly upheld, I do not know. But as we were told, firms in Rio have to pay the transportation for their workers, and so workers near Rio are favorized over those living in the cheaper suburbs, hence more people accept a lower standard of living, in the downtown favelas. Our trip through the favela started with a motorcycle trip from bottom to the top, where our guide took us through the narrow streets on a 3 hour walk in between schools, houses, shops, mini-bars and a art studio. It was amazing to see life from the inside, childrens would flock around us and were eager to be photographed. Most people I think appreciated these trips, on weekdays backpackers like us would come by twice a day.

The children were very happy to receive candy, sodas or cakes that we bought in a small favelashop.

I do not just walk into a favela like I walk into a mall in Norway. Having worked with charity and somewhat similar conditions/environment before I felt like taking the opportunity of seeing as I had the chance. Now I know a lot of people would not do it, and some strongly advises against it, but at the same time it is about the attitude and signal you send off, who you are with and the location. We were told that it would be safe (you can never be sure though…), and I did not bring any flashy gadgets, credit cards or money with me… at least not a lot. But - experiencing the favela I realised that even though these people live like this they do not necessarily mean or want trouble. One of the reasons why people do live like this is proximity to the city (workside, prev. mentioned) and the community and nature surrounding Rio. During our trip through the favela we met a lot of different people, children, artists, old/retired people and off course the more dodgy people carrying weapons. Obviously, the place is not always a place of peace. Luckily, the tour operator works together with these “thugs” as they too do not wish to harm the neighboorhood….

Tommy, the tourmembers and the children of the favela - proudly showing off their toys…

On the other days of our Rio adventure we did the classic tourist sites of the Sugar Loaf and the Christ statue. Both deliver spectacular sights, with panorama views in each direction.

Catching the last sun on the Sugar Loaf, Christ in the back…

On the Sugar Loaf, Copacabana beach in the back..

On the Saturday of our stay in Rio, we met up with Fabiola - who we met in Buenos Aires. She took us to a bar and restaurant with her two friends, Monique and Sofie. At first we had a lovely meal on a eat-as-much-as-you-can-pizza place, then a couple of drinks at a nearby bar(with cinnamon! nam nam) and later we went to a local disco/nightclub, were me and Tommy felt like we were the only gringos around! Gringo or non-gringo, the place was cool and the music was cooler. In the later hours, the place played Brazilian funk, which is a very weird genre…consisting of massive funky strange beats and a very ugly boy voice screaming quite dirty words to the audience. Despite my different taste in music, I liked the atmosphere and the funk was cool…

Looking “too” cool at the peak with the Christ statue…

65metres of impressive stonecarving!

In addition to browsing the streets, shops and tourist sights we also checked out the Ipanema and Copacabana beaches. These are perhaps the most famous beaches in the world, and I will have to say that they attract quite a crowd. Ipanema is divided into “cool-zone” (urban jetsettes/beautiful people)… more sporty zone and the gay-zone. Copacabana has even more divisions… but we preferred Ipanema, the area is nicer, safer and the beach looks better. Important to notice though is that the water quality is quite poor…but who goes to a beach to swim??? We did not bring our camera to Ipanema, but suprise suprise…. the atmosphere cannot be caught on tape, go there and experience it yourself… hah!

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Our website: http://www.discosuperfly.biz/travel
Our gallery: http://gallery.discosuperfly.biz

Next location: Santiago, Chile (15/03)
Current location: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Last location: Ihla Grande, Brazil

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After several successful days in Buenos Aires, we figured it was time to head north and check out Uruguay and Brazil. As there is only a small ocean/large bay between the Buenos Aires area and the Uruguaian city of Coloniel, we chose to embark on our northbound journey by boat.

Coming from Buenos Aires, we did not really have any expectations towards our stay in Uruguay. We had only heard good things about the country, and we knew it was supposed to be similar both in terms of language and price level. Our first stop was Montevideo (1,3mill.people) , a quiet and very relaxed capital set on the shore. The city is ranked as the city in Latin America with highest quality of life and regarded among the 30 safest cities in the world(I´d go for Buenos Aires!). We didnt really explore the city itself, but spent a good while walking along the boardwalk, enjoying the oceanic view and enjoying some hacky-sack practicing under the sun.

I like Uruguay´s flag! The sun emblem is the ‘Sun of May’; it is a symbol of freedom and independence. The nine stripes represent the nine provinces of Uruguay, which existed at the time of the flags creation.

Regarding the city name, Montevideo. According to Wikipedia, the first theory is that the name originates either from Portugese meaning “I see mountain”, or that the Spaniards recorded the location of a mountain in a map as “Monte VI De Este a Oeste” meaning “The sixth mountain from east to west”. Personally, I saw so many cinemas in the city, I think the name stems from the time when people were building cinemas, hence in Norwegian: Monter Video! haha, typical Martin humour…. ey?

It didnt seem like there was much going on in Montevideo. The hostel we stayed at was nothing like the one in Buenos Aires. Functional-wise it could be compared, but the atmosphere was dull and the Borat-wannabe-without-purpose receptionst was the only thing that made it stand out. Music wise, playing Red Hot´s latest album on repeat is what I would regard as mean audio-torture!!!! Anyways, we survived and left on the morning of my birthday, heading to a small coastal fishing village by the name of Punta del Diablo (about 5hrs northeast of Montevideo, towards the Brazilian border). Most people tend to visit Punta del Este, which is the Argentina-Uruguaian-SouthBrazilian answer to any hot-pricey-partying location in Southern France. A quick look at our budget, Punta del Diablo seemed both more plausible and “unique”.

Punta del Diablo was/is unique, but perhaps not as paradise-ish as we expected, reading and hearing about it. We do not know why it is called “the Devil´s point”, perhaps it is because of all the beetles that appear in the dark of the night, leaving beetles corpses/carcasses literally everywhere. In my opinion, Punta del Diablo is no place to visit if you fear creepy insects or if you can´t handle sudden and unexpected beetles to randomly fly into your face, upperbody or even ears/hair. Haha. On the contrary, the place is a popular site for surfers and hippies/artists. The beaches are nice, the landscape is almost untouched by commerical tourism and the streets are unpaved, with small restaurants/pubs along the mainstreet towards the oceanfront.

Our first night in Punta del Diablo was spent at a “hostel” some 8 blocks (appx, 1km, first time I heard someone calling wild nature “blocks”) from the beach. The place was cheap, but the dorms had some 25-30 beds, the choice seemed simple - a private tent was easily much more preferred. In the evening we had a few drinks with the hostel crowd, and later we searched the town for a open bar…only one place on the beach was open, but it was my birthday, and naturally we had to celebrate. Let´s just say I wasn´t the cleverest guy at dancing that night!

Next day we hooked up with two Norwegian girls, Tone and Linn, who we met in Buenos Aires. They came all the way from Buenos Aires just for one night…quite a journey! We ditched the hostel and rented a somewhat “charming” and rather unfinished beachhouse, at $40 per night.

Our very own beachresidence, quite the experience..

Norwegian meet-up in Punta del Diablo, no clubbing without a proper “Vorspiel”!

I would recommend people to visit Punta del Diablo, it is truly uniqe, and going there you travel for hours seeing many towns and the very beautiful landscape of Uruguay. The location is very remote, with few shops/mercados, no banking possibilites, a bus-station that looks like a kiosk, internet cafes are called “Cyber” and the town itself only has a population of about 400 people.

Getting away from Punta del Diablo, you can either go south to the more urban areas of Uruguay (Montevideo/Punta del Este…) or you can catch a bus to souther locations in Brazil. To do this you need to reach the bordertown of Chuy, located EXACTLY on the Uruguaian/Brazilian border. In fact, the mainstreet divdes the city. Most people speak both Spanish and Portugese and the city has a very “harry (redneck)” feel to it. This means that it can be compared to bordershoppingtowns in Sweden or Germany. Big families from Brazil flock to Chuy to buy cheaper electronics, beer and candy (why is it always that its the stuff that makes you stay home and get unhealthy that is tax-free???).

Arriving in Chuy we missed the first bus at 12.30 to Porto Alegre in Brazil. Next bus was scheduled at 23.00, giving us plenty of time to explore this “very exiciting” town. Before leaving, we had to complete immigration procedures, getting the Uruguaian exit stamp and the Brazilian entry stamp.

More on Brazil and the exotic adventures in country of beaches, capirinhas and bikinis soon…

At last, a few statistical facts about our blog:
-61% of our visitors are returning visitors
-We have had a total of 3,500 pageviews and 1,200 unique visitors
-51% of our visitors get to our site via www.discosuperfly.biz/travel, the rest via links/google/e-mails
-64% of the visitors are located in Norway
-7% of the visitors are located in United States
-English is the dominant language of our visitors
-20% of our users use Lyse Internett (Norway)

Take care, and use insect repellent!

- Martin

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Next location: Ihla Grande and Rio (Brazil)
Current Location: Sao Paulo (Brazil)
Last Location: Iguazu falls (Argentina)

In US of A its all about the Benjamins, in Argentina its all about the beef.

The truly amazing thing with the Argentinian beef is not that its the best youll ever taste (it is), its not that its the nicest red color, its not that it costs you close to nothing, its not that it makes you want to go primal and go hunting naked (it does)…

its the fact that it is so tender you can use your tongue alone to handle it. No teeth needed. It is almost like butter, yet with the greatest texture.

But from one type of beef to another, gayclubs and dancing shirtless on stage. Haha, ill get to that.

Martin and I flew in to Buenos Aires from Caracas on a Saturday morning. After having a quick breakfast we went looking for hostel. Luckily it was still early, so that killer summerheat was still dorment. We found a street with three in a row. Things were looking good. The saturday was spent walking around and checking out the city, which is huge and majestetic for the most. Our initial impression was that the Argentinian girls were subpar lookwise compared to the Venezuelans beauties we had left behind. In retrospect, I was wrong. They are a different kind of gorgeous.

Later that Saturday we met up with a friend of Martins from Venezuela called Mario. He was a nice guy and showed us around. Sunday we met up with Andreas a norwegian aquintance of Martin. Cool dude, very similar minded. He took us out to a famous beef place which changed my view on vegetarians from respected animal friendly individuals to fu¨¨ing loosers. If you dont eat meat changes are i dont trust you. haha. After having our religious beef experience we thought it about time to check out the infamous BA night scene. We were told that the only place happening on a Sunday was a semi-gay club called Amerika. A nightclub is a nightclub we figured and headed out with Andreas.

Amerika was fully gay. Half the men had sunglasses and their shirts off. Maybe a nightclub isn´t just a nightclub, but a beer is a beer. Regardless, the night turned into day and we all stumbled home after a great party.

Half way through the week we changed to a hostel called Portal del sur. Best hostel I´ve ever stayed at, staff were legitamately friendly, the guests were all cool and we were a bit like a big family. We ate dinner together and went out together. Good times. Great success.

BA is called the Paris of South America, Martin found that description right on. From the dog shit in the street to the old and classical architecture. A great city to just walk around in

A great place to visit is the famous graveyard in Recoleta. Hundreds of above ground graves. New ones and old ones. Some were creepy as… (hell). Flies were buzzing around and hundreds of cats roamed the alleys. And though many tourists were there, its so big you can wander freely. If it was in US they probably would have put up speakers with crow sounds and chain rattling, but personally I think it was a fairly respectful place for Evita Peron´s body to rest.

Halfway through the week, by freak coincedence, Tone a Norwegian girl I went to University with on the Gold Coast recognized me in the hostel lobby. She and her friend Linn were the first Norwegians we had met on our trip so far, and it turns out I knew one of them. Norway is a small country.

We both undertook spanish courses during the week in Buenos Aires. Martin felt it was better with one lesson there, than his whole 3 months course in Norway. Personally I have learned enough to make myself understood with an extensive amount of hand gestures.

The last day we went outside the city to a little colonial suburbish town of BA called Tigre. A city built around its swampish southern US kind of canals. Charming place.

All in all Buenos Aires is strong on my recommandation list.
it has a has a great vibe to it, safe, pitoresque and dirt cheap for anyone from a country with a stable currency.

Check out the rest of the pictures from BA on http://gallery.discosuperfly.biz

Chao
Tommy

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Last location: Caracas, Venezuela
Current location: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Next location: Brazil (on Monday)

Our website: http://www.discosuperfly.biz/travel
Our gallery: http://gallery.discosuperfly.biz

When Colombus first arrived the Americas (1498) he arrived on the shores of Venezuela. Upon seeing the hut-on-water like civilization they nickname the country Venezuela, meaning “little Venice”. Venezuela has since been known for its petroleum industry, the environmental diversity of its territories and of course, its women (Venezuela still has the world record for most Ms.Worlds). In terms of its nature, Venezuela can provide you with tanning and swimming on the Carribbean coast, hiking in the Andeas at 5000m+, trekking in the jungle in the Amazon, riding on horses like cowboys (Llaneros) in Los Llanos, fishing piranhas in the orinoco delta, the colonial charm of small villages outside Caracas and on the coast and of course, the world´s largest waterfall, Salto Angel in Canaima.

All of these features gave birth to the reference; “Tierra de Gracia” (Land of Grace). Which makes sense, considering these mentioned attributes…if you come to think of it, can you ask for more?

A new brigde is under construction on the highway from the airport to Caracas. The construction area creates a bottleneck that can vary the trip from anything to just under an hour to 3-4hours.

Perhaps the only thing lacking is what is still resisting Venezuela from beckoming a major tourist destination and a rich international economic player…this thing is called stability. Currently there are a lot of political turmoil surrounding President Chavez, his “agenda” and how the Venezuelan people react towards what is happening in their country. In economic classes, Venezuela is used as an example in foreign exchange lectures, no wonder…last year inflation was at 17%, and just recently Chavez said he would cut parts of the VAT to “improve” inflation numbers. In addition to this, the country has already imposed price controls on meat and sugar, another measure to fight instability. Even though these numbers might seem like they could provide a tourist with a cheap vacation, or perhaps a company with cheap operations, there is the additional crime level, which currently are among the highest in South America (particulary in the area of murder and rape…). Some numbers we were presented with said that in the male age group 15-40, more than 35% of deaths were related to shootings/murders. That is very scary…

A very good view of Caracas, behind the mountain (El Avila) is the Carribbean…

We arrived in Venezuela on monday the 5th of February, during our stay we would stayed at my dad´s colleague´s family (Thank you Tjaalands!)..and so they helped us out with transportation from the airport to Caracas. If this is not pre-arranged, you will probably have some 300 Venezuelan men approaching you, literally fighting each other to offer a taxi.

For me this would be the first time in Venezuela since I left in 2001, 6 years ago. For Tommy it was his first time on the continent. Our plan was originally to fly in to Caracas and then catch a bus towards the Brazilian border. However, during our stay in Caracas we realised the risk we would take and after talking to several people, we chose to deviate from Plan A and go south by airplane (to Buenos Aires, where we are now…). The area that we would pass through is far inland, in a poor area influenced by a border conflict (Venezuel vs. Guyana), gold miner problems and we were told, very untrusty (corrupt) officals. Suddenly, Argentina´s $4 steak and $1 beer sounded much more tempting….

Yet another capital city conquered…what´s next?

But we got a week in Caracas, and a good week it was. It was nice to see the city again, and to finally be on the South American continent. To my surprise it was difficult to spot any big changes to the city, the changes were more present in the psyche and the general tension/feeling in the streets. In general people are very friendly and Caracas is a modern and beautiful city, with many green parks and the jungle almost fighting to make it through modern urban civilization.

Me in front of Mirador Plaza, the place I used to live….

During our stay we went hiking in the Avila at 5:45 am (almost pitch black at start!), saw the Simon Bolivar museum, checked out my old neighbourhood, visited and dined in the carming city of El Hatillo and I got to return to the school I attended, meeting the staff and seeing the renovated campus area.

Tommy hiking in the “jungle” of el Avila…

Our week went really fast, and very smooth. We got to see lots of Caracas in a very short while, and we owe big thank´s to Tjaaland´s and Misje/Mossige, who were really friendly and nice to us. Hope they enjoyed having us, because we certainly had a very good pitstop in Caracas….

Tommy enjoying Venezuela´s national dish, Pabellon (black beans, minced beef, rice++).

Our gallery is now updated with pictures from Venezuela (we only miss 3 pictures, coming soon):
http://gallery.discosuperfly.biz

Big thanks to everone in Caracas…!

Take care,

Martin

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Last location: Caracas, Venezuela
Current location: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Next location: Brazil or Norther Argentina (on Sunday)

Our website: http://www.discosuperfly.biz/travel
Our gallery: http://gallery.discosuperfly.biz

Its been a while since our last update, actually its been 4 countries and 4 capitals! Our original plan was to only have short stopover in Mexico City, but we decided to fly in earlier, making it 3 days. At first we had our doubts about Mexico City, mostly because of old rumours of heavy traffic and crime. Once in town we settled at the Hostel Mundo Joven, which is a nice and very social traveller’s hostel in the centre of town, Centro Historico. The hostel was cheap, clean and its guests were from all over the world.

First day we joined two americans from our dorm on a day trip to the ancient pyramid city of Teotihuacan (40km outside Mexico City). Before we got to see the pyramids we saw several smaller sights downtown and visited a canteen/ranch were we got a insight into local art, food and drinks (yes, Tequila). The remainders of Teotihuacan depict a very mysterious image of the people that used to live there. At one point in time, the city was considered the largest in the Americas. Basically, the city served as the capital centre of the ancient civilization in Mexico. The city consist of the Avenue of the Dead, that runs from the Pyramid of the Moon (in the above picture) throughout the city, ending at the foot of the larger pyramid, the Pyramid of the Sun. Teotihuacan was home to a population of approximately 200,000.

The view from the top of Pyramid of the Moon.

Once we returned to the hostel, the trip guide, Moncia, arranged for all of us to join her and her friends on a salsa club downtown. After a few hours and a decent meal we headed into the first night out in Mexico. To our surprise, our nordic stiffness and motoric movements did not scare away the local girls, it must have been the way Tommy communited through the extensive usage of his LonelyPlanet Spanish Phrasebooks. I guess the girls found it extraordinarily charming when he approached them, book in hand….asked them to dance - literally reading from the “Social” section of his language bible… (I must say though, just two weeks into South America, his spanish is really improving.)

A police officer in Mexico City…

The next days were spent strolling the streets of Mexico City. To my surprise the city has a very nice feel to it, compared to Caracas it feels much safer walking around as a tourists. People are very friendly, there are a lot of police in the streets (maybe too many??) and the city´s age and size makes it even more interesting. I wish I had more time to see more of Mexico though….Will definitively go back in the future.

Leaving the country I thought I had lost (it was in my backpack) my immigration card (the one you get once you arrive…not a big problem really, as the immigration office can issue one on the spot. But when your flight leaves at 06:50 and the office opens at 08:00, then there is really not much help to get. After a bit of chatting with the check-in-counter-guy I was told to go through the security control and once inside the departure terminal, approach a guy on the immigration desk. At first the man was not willing to help me out, it was difficult to understand his Spanish - as most of his teeth had fallen out…but after a bit of talking I understood this; ” go to the bathroom, put $50 in your passport and give it to me”. On the verge of doing something that in most cases would be considered criminal, I was nervous as I did not know what consequences this could bring me, if caught. Seeing as I did not want to stay back for a later flight, I did as he asked and once airborn, nobody had even checked me for this silly expensive immigration card! I guess that was a lesson learned…

Tommy in one of the empty dodgy streets of San Jose.

The next day we had a 24 hour stop-over in Costa Rica. We caught a cab to the capital, San Jose..had lunch and basically returned to the airport a few hours later. San Jose was not that interesting, a bit dodgy perhaps and it was not comfortable walking around with all our luggage. Next morning we flew to Caracas. We havent got around to upload the Venezuelan pictures yet, so expect another update quite soon…

The football team of Trinidad and Tobago was on our Caracas flight, this guy was obviously embarrassed about the match the preceding day (they lost 4-0 to Costa Rica)….hehe.

Our gallery is updated with pictures from Mexico and Costa Rica, http://gallery.discosuperfly.biz

take care,

Martin

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Please, DO NOT click on the unsubscribe link below, if you want to read our newsletter online. Simplye visit our site or click on the title itself (Vegas baby, Vegas!).

Our website: http://www.discosuperfly.biz/travel
Our gallery: http://gallery.discosuperfly.biz
(The picture gallery is updated with plenty of pictures from San Francisco & Las Vegas)

—

Usually when a girl has her face this close to mine I’m making out. Temptation strikes, but I’ve got a firm grip on my vallet and pass it on as nothing more then a tease for a lapdance earning. I like beer, but beer tastes truly divine when there are hot chicks prantzing around as far as I can see. Some young chump has been escorted to the center stage where five 10’s are undressing him down to his boxers. To my left my cousin is enjoying the fruits of a wellspent 20 dollars. To my right Martin seems to be saying to himself five words made famous by Chris Rock (champagne room and stuff). He is doing well for himself. The three of us are kids in a candystore, an adult candy store. There is a clear danger of a sugar high. We are located in the biggest burlesque show/joint in the world. Only in Vegas baby, Vegas!

After having slept nonstop on the bustrip back to LA, Gunnar my cousin picked us up downtown and our journey to Vegas started. A few obligatory stops on the way saw us arriving in Sin city lunch time. We checked out all the casinos while still daylight, gambled a little bit (lost), and looked around for what to do later.

Nighttime. It was time to show what we where made of. Thanks to the Fijian whiskey we had brought the party progressed very nicely. Nothing much was happening at our casino so we went next door to MGM. Feeling like a milion dollar in my suit and tie outfit I sat down on the texas holdem table thinking it would only be a matter of a few hours before I would get comped up to some pimp ass suite. 20 minutes later and 70 dollars less reality hit. I better start playing clever or the nights partying would be in jeopardy. A natural remedy would be the complimentary drinks. Not being used to tipping, Martin and I had forgot to give the usual gratuity to the coctail waitress, This had caused her to be under our rader for the last half hour. I would be damned if I was gonna lose money and not get free drinks in the progress. After a while I finally spotted her again. Standing up from my table I made a big gesture for her to come over. Tipping up front secured her never being more than a minute away with next drink. Thx Carl Svangtun

It was 12, the night was young. I had won back some lost money and waited for Martin by going to the casino night club. In the que i met three Brazilian dudes, when I said I was from Norway they gave a kind of whatever look. That shit doesn’t slide with me so I naturally pointed out to their agony that Norway is the only country in the world that have beat Brazil more time then they have beat us. It shut them right up. Dont get me wrong, they were cool dudes and said that I should be excited to come to Brazil. Expectations are already high. I met up with Martin in the poker part a little later. He didnt get in with his shoes, so we went to a bar and swapped shoes, I got in having already been in, and Martin could now join. So there we were, two young men from Norway entering a Vegas nightclub. We walked sturdy in and never looked back. The rest is history, our history, not for your eyes or ears.

Next day we entered a Texas Hold em tournament. There were around 60-70 people in the tournament. I was rather hung over and had a constant annoyed face at the table because of it. This proved invaluable, well not invaluable as I know the amount of money I won. Nobody could read my face or reactions as I constantly look like I was in agony. After bumbing out most people on my table including Martin and Gunnar I was moved on to different tables and in the end placed fourth on the final table. Sweet.

Later on we went to stri… burlesque show. The biggest in the world actually. It’s called Saphire, check it out if you are in Vegas. It’s fun for boys and little bit for girls. And it is nothing like that shitty club Hollywood on the Gold Coast. The remainer of the night was spent gambling all games known to man.

I may add, that the casino’s in Vegas are quite spectacular in all their capitalistic excess and pompus extravaganza. The themed hotels, Ferrari stores, million dollar suites and all that disco. I would hate to live in Vegas as it represents so many of the things I detest, but its awesome to see for a weekend and go back on ones way.

We drove back to LA early Sunday. I slept in the back of the car like a sinless baby. A paradox perhaps.

Tommy

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Current location: Los Angeles, United States
Next location: Mexico City, Mexico (1-4feb) –> Caracas, Venezuela

Our website: http://www.discosuperfly.biz/travel
Our gallery: http://gallery.discosuperfly.biz
(We realise that our newsletter contains a few bugs, messing up the title link…but please bear with us…its all about the content…ey?)

Having seen the famous sony commercial (watch it below, recorded in San Francisco) we simply had to head up to the Bay area to check out this charming and supposively “European-ish” city. The cheapest and easiest option for us was to catch a Greyhound bus, leaving 5 times daily from LA. The bus was ok, for $45 each way we got a 8hr ride in a non-sleeping-friendly environment consisting of stiffy seats, crying babies, a very loudtalking driver and not to mention the same as us aged traveller who looked like MadMax and smelled like a rotten animal corpse….At first we thought it was the combined smell of all the passenger’s BO (of course including us), but the moment this guy left the bus…everything was back to normal. That last 30min of sleep really helped….

Even though the San Francisco Bay area is home to several million people, San Francisco itself only houses appx. 750,000 people. This makes it a small city compared to LA, NY and other famous US states. Nevertheless, San Francisco has charm, and LOTS of it… If I were to settle down anywhere in this country I would seriously consider to live in SF. The bay area around the city allows for plenty of trekking possibillities, beachtrips, sailing and huge national parks (e.g. Yosemite). During our 3 days in SF we didnt really see any drawbacks about living there…actually the only thing that really sucks about this place are the property prices! Even though California itself is supposed to be expensive property price, San Francisco boasts small charming city houses no smaller than Norwegian cabins…priced at $1,5-2million (if you’re lucky!). Below you can see a perfect example of one of these houses, situated in the heart of SF….With that price, you even get to park at an angle! WOW!

Our first day in SF was spent walking around, simply scouting sights…check out what to do and where to go. The hostel we stayed at (Amsterdam…dodgy name for SF but really a nice place…) was located on Taylor street, basically 10-15min walk from the famous Lombard Street, the world’s most curbing street.Below: Lombard St.

Next day we rented hybrid bikes, $22 for 24 hours. We figured this would be the cheapest and best way of exploring this fantastic city and the surrounding area. Biking over the magic Golden Gate and into the high-end rich sub-urban Sausalito, we left behind at least 30km.
On our way over the bridge:

The Golden Gate itself is the strait that connects the San Francisco Bay to the Pacific Ocean, the Golden Gate bridge was built in 1937 and is one of the (maybe the most) most famous suspension bridges in the World. The bridge is 27m wide, with 6 lanes and has a total length of 2,7km….with a span of 1,3km. Sadly the bridge is a notorius site for suicide, on average there is a suicide jump every second week. Funny though, compared to Sydney Harbour Bridge (The Coathanger)…The Golden Gate bridge has no anti-suicide measures other that the standard “do not jump” posters….I guess it’s all about the aesthetics.

With sun all day, we bought food at a local mart and ate lunch outside, roadside…frenchstyle!

After exploring the nearby towns, its high-class marina and the local forest/woods park, we headed to the nearest ferry point to catch a boat back to SF.

“The Rock”, Alcatraz
After logging onto MSN and randomly nicknaming myself “Martin in San Francisco”, my old friend from Norway…Torkjell hit me with an email saying that he was ALSO in SF. I did not know he was there, and he did not know I was there…appearently he had just arrived 2 weeks earlier to commence a study abroad programt at Berkely university. Anyways, Torkjell was excited that some of his fellow Norwegians were in town and even ditched a 3 hour lecture to join our trip to Alcatraz.

Alcatraz was very interesting…even though it was not that mytical and exciting as I hoped. The island and island-area was quite boring and a lot of the pathways were locked off, with a sign saying “Closed - for your safety”. Damn that! I wanna see more!…Actually, the only thing that caught my real attention was the prison cell audio tour, which by the way was ultracool. Everyone got a headset and we all walked around like zombies, guided by different voices in all over the place. The audio even included inside trivia provided by former inmates. On our way out, we stumbled upon a elderly man in the souvenir shop, he had been in for bank robber and did time from 1959-1963. Torkjell bought his book and got it signed.

Torkjell walks the line…

After spending more than a week in LA, meeting with Tommy’s relatives it was finally my time to meet some Svangtuns! Last night in SF, Carl Svangtun, my dad’s cousin flew in from Vancouver for a business meeting the next day. I had never met Carl before, but we’ve emailed a few times over the past years. Carl was superfriendly and very generous as he invited to a nice sushi place, buying us food, drinks and loading off a few clean Canadian jokes. We certainly had fun that night, and o’boy did we have a quiet and sleepy trip back to LA. As soon as we entered the bus Tommy hit the seat and slept ALL the way to LA. Thanks Carl!

at last…Our first YouTube video… a Seinfeld tribute (push play!):

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