Tommy & Martin: Las Americas 2007

….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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