Trying some absinthe (hard to see, but the sugar is on fire):
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Mendoza, Argentina
Mendoza is a beautiful city located in the foothills of the Andes in the northern part of the country, and is the wine capital of Argentina. About two thirds of all Argentinian wine are produced in the surrounding region. I arrived about a month late to go to the annual wine festival here, but I still had a lot of fun going around to the different Bodegas and sampling all the wine. A really nice bottle of wine could be had for around $5 US, so I got to drink a lot of good quality stuff. Also, Argentinian meat is AMAZING. For about $10, you can get what would probably be a $40 steak in the US, with appetizer and wine. Even the quality of the meat at the grocery stores is really high, and super cheap. Not a whole lot more to say about the city, but it was really chill and laid back. Here are a few pics:
Trying some absinthe (hard to see, but the sugar is on fire):
Trying some absinthe (hard to see, but the sugar is on fire):
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Santiago, Chile
I really liked Santiago as a city. It felt pretty safe (I walked across town with some guys at 3am without any problems) and it was very developed. It almost felt like I was in California or somewhere in the states.
The first night I got there, I overheard some guys in my room speaking in Portuguese. I asked them where they were from and it turned out one of the guys was from Rio, where I been twice now. We got to talking and it turned out that he was here to support one of the local Rio soccer teams, Flamengo. I told him that I had seen his team play twice in the Maracana, so he let me borrow a jersey and invited me to go to the game with them:
We sat in the visitors section, which was filled with Brasilians supporting the team.
Since I was the only gringo there, I got interviewed by one of the Rio sports channels (in Portuguese, mind you...) about why I was at the game, what I thought of the fans, etc. My Portuguese vocabulary isnt particularly big so I'm sure I sounded like an 8 year old, but it was fun nonetheless:
Flamengo ended up losing the game 2 to 0, so the mood was a bit down afterwards, but it was still a fun experience. When the game ended, we had to wait about an hour before we were let out to make sure no violence broke out. They had full riot police and everything.
Afterwards, we went out to for some beers and hit up a local discotec. For a wednesday night, it was pretty happening:
That was probably the highlight of Santiago for me. Other than that, here are a few views from the city that I took while walking around:
The first night I got there, I overheard some guys in my room speaking in Portuguese. I asked them where they were from and it turned out one of the guys was from Rio, where I been twice now. We got to talking and it turned out that he was here to support one of the local Rio soccer teams, Flamengo. I told him that I had seen his team play twice in the Maracana, so he let me borrow a jersey and invited me to go to the game with them:
We sat in the visitors section, which was filled with Brasilians supporting the team.
Since I was the only gringo there, I got interviewed by one of the Rio sports channels (in Portuguese, mind you...) about why I was at the game, what I thought of the fans, etc. My Portuguese vocabulary isnt particularly big so I'm sure I sounded like an 8 year old, but it was fun nonetheless:
Flamengo ended up losing the game 2 to 0, so the mood was a bit down afterwards, but it was still a fun experience. When the game ended, we had to wait about an hour before we were let out to make sure no violence broke out. They had full riot police and everything.
Afterwards, we went out to for some beers and hit up a local discotec. For a wednesday night, it was pretty happening:
That was probably the highlight of Santiago for me. Other than that, here are a few views from the city that I took while walking around:
Viña del Mar / Valparaiso, Chile
The morning after I got to Santiago, I decided to head straight to Viña del Mar, a beach town on the coast of Chile about two hours away by Bus. As far as travellers go, the place was pretty dead. And actually, Chile in general was pretty quiet. In the two hostels I stayed at, there were usually about 5 to 10 people there at any one time. Since Im traveling solo, this made it a bit boring at times because there werent a lot of people around to hang out with. Either way, the town was nice and relaxing. Here are a few pictures:
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Cusco, Peru
I´m on hour 6 of my 12 hour layover in Lima on my way to Santiago, so I figure now is a good time to add a new post. I just spent about the past week and a half in Cusco, a colonial town in the mountains close to Machu Picchu. The town has a very colonial feel to it, and most tourists stay close to the main square called Plaza de Armas. The plaza features a fountain in the center with two large cathedrals, and lots of restaurants and nightlife in the surrounding streets. I spent the first few nights there enjoying the city and going out at night.
However, the main reason I came to Cusco was to see Machu Picchu. I decided on doing a 4 day jungle trek along one of the older Inca trails to get there. However, due to the horrible wet season the path to get there was destroyed in a lot of places, and because the guides hadn't walked the trail for about 4 months since the closure, much of the time they were trying to figure out the way to go as we went. For example, a lot of the time we had to cross landslides that had taken out the road or paths:
At one point, we a landslide had taken out the road the night before and was still mildly active, so we had to run accross it one-by-one when the construction crews said it was ok to avoid being hit by falling rocks. At a few other points in the trip, the river had gotten so high that it had taken out a lot of the bridges, so we had to cross it on basically a steel rope with a cable car attached to it:
On the second one, we were probably about 100 feet high above the river. It was a bit sketchy, but alright.
Despite all that, the views from the trail were pretty amazing.
And of course, Machu Picchu was well worth the wait:
At the end there was a bit of a fiasco with everyone getting their train tickets at the end (I somehow got two, some people got none, some had names misspelled, etc), but for the most part everything worked out. It was definitely one of my favorite things that I have done so far.
However, the main reason I came to Cusco was to see Machu Picchu. I decided on doing a 4 day jungle trek along one of the older Inca trails to get there. However, due to the horrible wet season the path to get there was destroyed in a lot of places, and because the guides hadn't walked the trail for about 4 months since the closure, much of the time they were trying to figure out the way to go as we went. For example, a lot of the time we had to cross landslides that had taken out the road or paths:
At one point, we a landslide had taken out the road the night before and was still mildly active, so we had to run accross it one-by-one when the construction crews said it was ok to avoid being hit by falling rocks. At a few other points in the trip, the river had gotten so high that it had taken out a lot of the bridges, so we had to cross it on basically a steel rope with a cable car attached to it:
On the second one, we were probably about 100 feet high above the river. It was a bit sketchy, but alright.
Despite all that, the views from the trail were pretty amazing.
And of course, Machu Picchu was well worth the wait:
At the end there was a bit of a fiasco with everyone getting their train tickets at the end (I somehow got two, some people got none, some had names misspelled, etc), but for the most part everything worked out. It was definitely one of my favorite things that I have done so far.
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Lima, Peru
I spent about 4 days in Lima, and by the end of it, I was ready to leave. I was staying in Barranco, one of the nicer neighborhoods in the city. Here are a few pictures
Other than Barranco, another neighboorhood called Miraflores, and a few other select areas, the city felt pretty run-down and dangerous. I was warned by taxi drivers not to wander more than about 5 blocks from the city square if I didn´t want to worry about being mugged. Other areas were pretty similar. In addition, there wasnt a ton to do in the city, from what I could to tell. The nightlife was decent, but nothing that couldn´t be found in other cities.
The city was very cheap though. Hostels were under $10 a night, and a full 3 course meal could be had for about $3-4. On my last night, I decided to "splurge" and go to a really nice italian place. It ended being about $12 for a full dinner including wine and appetizer.
Here are a few more pictures.
Right now I am in Cusco. I´m leaving Monday to do the 4 day hike to Machu Picchu, and then on the 11th I´m flying down to Santiago Chile.
Other than Barranco, another neighboorhood called Miraflores, and a few other select areas, the city felt pretty run-down and dangerous. I was warned by taxi drivers not to wander more than about 5 blocks from the city square if I didn´t want to worry about being mugged. Other areas were pretty similar. In addition, there wasnt a ton to do in the city, from what I could to tell. The nightlife was decent, but nothing that couldn´t be found in other cities.
The city was very cheap though. Hostels were under $10 a night, and a full 3 course meal could be had for about $3-4. On my last night, I decided to "splurge" and go to a really nice italian place. It ended being about $12 for a full dinner including wine and appetizer.
Here are a few more pictures.
Right now I am in Cusco. I´m leaving Monday to do the 4 day hike to Machu Picchu, and then on the 11th I´m flying down to Santiago Chile.
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