I’m in Bolivia

Well I’m in Bolivia, after my bus arrived at 5am and I huddled in the corner of the bus station with a couple of Australian girls who also made the mistake of taking the earlier bus… Immigration doesn’t open until 7.

But got into Bolivia just fine, managed a visa, exchanged money, and snagged a 2 hour bus ride for $2.  It’s cheap here, but also dirty, you certainly get what you pay for.

My first town is Tupiza, a small little town that isn’t too special, expect that I can afford a private room with a bathroom for only $13 a night, and it’s the launch point for a 4 day jeep tour that I’ll be starting tomorrow…

Iguazu Falls

Second largest waterfall at Iguazu

I’ve never been to Niagara Falls, but from what I’ve heard, Iguazu makes it look like a leaky faucet.

I left Mendoza on Monday, and spent the next 30 hours, minus a brief layover in BA, on busses heading to Puerto Iguazu.  It was for the sole purpose of watching water fall off a cliff…  I really hoped it would be worth it.

Everyone I’d met along the way had assured me that Iguazu falls was really amazing, and worth the trip, no matter how far.  I’d have to say there were right on. 

Iguazu Falls is located right in the narrow boarder where Brazil and Argentina meet.  This makes for an interesting development between two rival nations, as each claims to have the better side.  Though from what I heard, yes only from people in Argentina, Argentina has the better side, and everything you can see from Brazil you can also see from Argentina.

Most tourists spend one or two days on the Argentinean side, and then migrate to the Brazilian side for a final day, however, for an American it requires a travel visa and more than $100 just to cross to the other side for one day, so it would just be Argentina for me.

I was skeptical at first that I’d have enough to do for 2 full days, but there was plenty to check out at Iguazu.  I arrived early to hit up the train to the far side or the river, to see the largest falls, Devil’s Throat.

Then I went through the lower trail, which gave some great views of the 2nd largest falls, and the island in the middle.

 

Also, from there you can jump a boat and ride right up under some the waterfalls, getting incredibly wet.

There were also a whole bunch of animals along the way.

The place was huge, and I hit up a few other hikes, the upper trail which sits atop the 2^nd largest falls, and a trail through the jungle away from the crowds.  Iguazu really was a great place with amazing views.  I’ve never seen anything remotely close to it.  

Iguazu Falls Reaction

Iguazu falls was not what I expected, in both a great and negative way.  It’s like the Disneyland of nature, the only place I’ve found where you can hike for 3 hours without your shoes touching the dirt.

Don’t get me wrong, Iguazu is amazing, so much so in fact that I feel like it ought to be exclusive, VIP, I feel like you should have to earn a view, climb a mountain, swim the river, spend 3 days being eaten by mosquitoes, just to get a glimpse.  I don’t think that everyone with a camera, 20 dollars, and 4 free hours should have the privilege.  Would Mt. Everest be as cool if there were a chairlift to the top?

However, being commercialized has its advantages, namely a boat ride into the heart of the falls in which you get soaking wet and a train ride that leads to a path over the river right up to Devil’s Throat (the larger falls).  The river above the falls is so big that you have to walk for 10 minutes, over nothing but water, and that’s just half the river.

But at the end of the day, it had the same feeling as Disneyland, at first magical, and then overdone.  Like, it’s annoying that all my photographs have already been taken by millions of people before me.  Also, right as I was leaving, I found this:

The Sheraton Hotel of Iguauz, not 10 minutes walk from the falls

I’m super glad I got to see it, I just wish it hadn’t been so easy…

I was robbed…

I’d been traveling for 2 months in South America, a place where getting robbed is like crossing the street, it happens all the time.  This was more or less, inevitable…

I didn’t lose much, just my dignity and pride (so again not much), and my lunch.  The culprit:

The look of guilt

It was mostly my fault, I got lazy and let my guard down for just a second.  I had brought bread rolls with ham and cheese (my staple lunch) in hopes of making a nice lunch while at Iguazu falls.  I had set everything out, meat and cheese in a packet ready to go while I cut the bread.  I saw the creature (thief) out of the corner of my eye, approaching ever so cunning, climb on his hind legs right at the edge of the table holding the meat/cheese.  I had but a second to react, but I froze and he got away clean.  I swear I saw him chuckle as he ran off.

As I sat down on a bench to eat just the bread, he returned with his family (I’m kidding – gang) of about 10 and they ran me off my bench, which to an anteater is equivalent to running someone out of town.   

 

Well my friend, you may have won round one, and round two, but I’ll have my revenge…

PS. Everyone else thinks the anteaters are super cute which annoys me, they also all give me concerned looks when I try to kick and throw rocks at them, which annoys me even more.  If only those people knew what I knew, I feel like I’m getting setup…

The Wine Country

To me, St. Patrick’s Day should involve three quintessential ingredients: drinking early, drinking often, and drinking something green.  I think my St. Patty’s hit the nail right on the head…

I arrived in Mendoza on Friday morning, after a rather enjoyable bus ride over the Andes Mountains from Santiago, Chile.  I scored the last remaining bed in what my research said was the best hostel in Mendoza, Hostel Lao.  It wasn’t anything too special, just a pretty chill place, that was small so it was easy to make friends, free wine after 8pm, and a book exchange filled with gems (I found the second book in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo series – I was reading the first book at the time, and the Steve Job’s book).

I quickly met a girl in my dorm, Allie from Australia, who wanted to hit up a bike tour of a few wineries the next day.  I had been on buses for about 19 hours with the sole purpose of hitting up a bike tour, I was solidly in.  My plan was to have a few drinks that night, on account of the wine tour the next day, and St. Patty’s the next night… but it’s funny how plans often deteriorate in Argentina….

After dinner things got started around the table outside (the one with the free wine).  The group that started small eventually grew to include half the hostel: 5 brits, 2 kiwis, a dutch couple, a french girl, and a yank (me).  When we had filled the table with empty beer bottles we decided to head out, it was just after midnight.

The night was pretty fun, but I won’t go into too much detail.  It was just one of those nights that we kept losing members of the group.  First two of the British girls disappeared into a bar, then one of the British guys took off.  Half of the group retired early (2am) when we decided to try and hit up a club, a plan that failed when me and the guy from New Zealand were charged the gringo entrance fee of 50 pesos, while everyone else got in for free.  We were annoyed and just got out of there, a smart decision considering the early start the next morning.

When I got back the hostel I wasn’t sure of the time, I just remember Allie waking up and asking me if I still wanted to go wine tasting (yeah – duh), and that she’d wake me up in 3 hours… christ.

The activities of Saturday began promptly following the developments of Friday night.  Awake before 8am, showered and caffeinated, I was ‘ready’ for the day.  We hit up a local bus to ride out of the city and into wine territory.

We went with the hostel recommended Baccus – Vineyard Biking and it was a great choice.  The owner Miguel, a very excited Argentinean, customized a wine tour for us based on our preferences and how far we wanted to bike.

The first winery was Cauas de Weinert, a fancy winery with a gated fence and buildings more than a hundred years old.  Our host gave us a full tour of the vineyard and a full explanation of the wine making process.  The highlights being the super massive barrels they use:

They also specialize in aged wines, we tried 4 wines, all the reds were before 2005, a merlot and a malbec, and both were incredibly smooth.  They even had a 1977 malbec, these bottle were the only ones left, and each bottle run over 700 dollars:

The next two vineyards were similar, Filosofos and Pulmary, in that they were both family owned, both small, and both grew all their own grapes.

Both also had very nice wines, the tours were ok, but being that it was our second and then third explanation of the wine making process, I felt like I should have been giving the tour.

Our fourth and last vineyard was the illustrious Alta Vista.  It was by far the nicest of all the places we saw and at 2.5 million bottles produced a year, it was also pumping out the most wine.

The last stop on the tour was not a vineyard at all, but rather a little local shop to taste chocolate and liqueurs, A La Anilrgus.  When we walked in not only was it obvious that I was feeling tipsy, but that the woman who ran the shop only spoke Spanish.  She first gave a brief introduction and tour, and then explained each item in her shop, again all in Spanish.

We then had a choice of one of the sweet liqueurs and one of the more alcoholic bottles.  For the first I tried one of the chocolate and fruit mixtures, and for the second the choice was easy as I was getting drunk and it was the only one that was green… absinthe.

Yes that absinthe, the one made from wormwood, is 75% alcohol (150 proof), and made Vango cut off his ear.  This was my first time trying it, but I’ve wanted to for so long.  Consensus, pretty f-ing strong and pretty terrible tasting, but it gets the job done, and I felt wasted after just my one shot (which I more drank than shot).

With the bikes returned and back on the bus, I was having a grand ol’ time, but as soon as we got back to the hostel, I just wanted a snooze.  I slept til it was good and dark outside.

That night was meant to be a rampage of the city, an all night booze fest, instead it turned into drinks around the table in the hostel once again, with the same familiar faces, everyone either feeling the effects of the previous nights or of that day.  We rolled out to a nice sushi dinner at midnight, and had a few nightcap drinks to wrap the evening up around half 2.  I was beat and wanted nothing more than to sleep, but I’d certainly like to think I accomplished something on St. Patty’s Day 2012.

Villarrica Volcano

Sometime while traveling things just work out terribly, and no matter how hard you try things are just not going to cooperate.  For the Pucon (Villarrica) volcano, some travels had tried for 2, 3, even 4 days in a row, waking up at 6am and heading to the base of the mountain before having the trip that day cancelled due to weather.  The day before the group had gotten half way up before the trip was called on account of high winds.  Near Patagonia, the weather changes so quickly and frequently that you really need the weather to be on your side….

And sometimes while traveling things just work out, no matter what you do.  You plan and try and scheme your way through, and even when you make the ‘wrong’ move, it works out for you.  Luckily for me, Pucon was the later.

I had tried to sign up for the volcano summit the previous day, but with so many days in a row being canceled, there was a large groups ahead of me persistent to try again.  I got pushed back to the next day, opening up a great day of canyoning instead.

Today the weather was just perfect, not a cloud in the sky, no wind, warm weather, it was perfect.  I had met a Canadian couple in San Martin de los Andes that said the climb is very cold and to bring lots of warm clothes.  Now if there’s one thing I know, if a Canadian tells you it’s cold, you listen. 

My wardrobe is designed for most South American climates, that is to say, hot, humid, beach, and jungle… not snow.  So I basically just layered up and put on all the clothes I brought.  Well what did I learn, Canadian’s can’t quite handle the cold, you really need to trust the Californian.  After the first climb I was down a jacket, and moments later was hiking in a t-shirt, still sweating.

When we arrived at the base of the mountain, we were given the option to either take the chair lift, or walk the steepest portion of the climb.  The way the guild’s phrased it, it was like, ‘unless you are in great shape, you should take the chairlift, we really recommend that everyone take the chairlift.’ (oh and by the way, the chairlift is another 12 dollars).  Then they ask for volunteers to walk, my arm was the only one that went up, and I could also see the disappointed look in the guide’s eye who would be accompanying me up the first climb.  I was shocked that there was even a lift, I want to say ‘I climbed the volcano,’ not ‘I rode to the top of the volcano.’

To their credit, the chairlift section was the most difficult, both because I was wearing 5 shirts and because my main exercise for weeks has been walking to the bus terminal, to sit on a bus for 15 hours.  Also, I was with all the other ‘good hikers’ who were basically running up the mountain, so the pace was somewhere between a jog and a full out sprint.

However, at this blistering pace, we managed to catch the massive main group not 20 minutes after we reached the top of the chairlift section.  At first I felt great about my catching up abilities and strength for the rest of the climb, when I noticed the near snail pace of the main pack.  It was going to be a long and slow accent for this summit.  Some guys already had ropes tied around them and were being pulled up the mountain by the guides, some girls were just sitting down on the trail, refusing to continue on.  I began to think many of these people must have thought climbing the volcano would be more fun.

Before the snow section we stopped to eat lunch and put on our crampons.  My keen travel sense allowed me to quickly pick out the 3 non-Israeli trekkers on the trip (hint, there were the only ones speaking English).  It was Brenda (who I already knew was on the trip and who I had met previously in Bariloche) and two Australian travels.

After lunch, with the crampons on, we learned the safety basics: how to walk (seriously) and how to stop if we should fail step one and begin sliding down the mountain.  The safety was key though, as three weeks prior two people died on the volcano.  I guess the conditions were terrible and they should have not been up there. A huge gust of wind knocked two people down the glacier, both lost their ice axes making stopping nearly impossible, and fell into a crevasse.  Rest assured, this was on a much colder day, where the ice never softened, making conditions much more dangerous.

We walked in lines, single file, up through the snowy section.  I was honestly mostly concerned that if another person fell they would hit me, but the actual climb was cake.

We reached the top of the 9,300 foot peak around 1pm.  I was super stoked to be at the top, before I realized how I thought it sounded cooler to climb to the top of a volcano, than it actually was because of one reason… sulfur.  The sulfur smell was so pungent that to actually take a full breath made me cough violently.  My eyes began to burn, along with my nose and throat.  All of the guides wore masks, which I wished was included in my gear bag.

  

The good news was that the views were gorgeous, the wind was blowing generally in one direction, so we scampered over to the non death-by-sulfur side to make the experience much more pleasant, and we got to see LAVA!!

 

But as cool as the lava was, the best part was definitely the decent.  By the late afternoon when we started to head down, the snow was good and slushy, basically turning the whole volcano into a giant slide (with huge massive crevasses everywhere – wouldn’t want it to be too easy).  Basically we put on full snow gear that was provided in the gear bag, and slid on our butts down the whole slope.  We used our ice ax as a brake to keep from flying out of the ice tunnel that had been formed from all the previous sliders, or as an ore for more speed (if you were cool).

We charged down the dry section of loose gravel and rocks, making it very easy on the knees and super fast.  It was a great climb and a great day.

At the finale, we went back to the shop to drop off all the gear, and the guides all gave us fresh cold beers to celebrate.  With so little water and food in my system, I got a quick 2 beer buzz… it was an amazing day, and maybe my favorite of the trip thus far.  

One of my favorite days – Canyoning

Canyoning, as the name would imply, is when you basically walk down a canyon, river, rocks, cliffs, and all, and repel down waterfalls when the river disappears beneath your feet.  It is great fun.

At first it sounded a bit sketch, I remember zip lining in Costa Rica, where I wouldn’t call the safety standards -- stringent.  The cables were wrapped around trees, rotting wood, didn’t matter.  Anyways, who knew what repelling down a waterfall would bring.

From the moment I met my guide I knew it was going to be a great time, he was an Austrian named Wolli, spoke in a funny almost Pee-wee Herman (but not annoying), high pitched voice, and he seemed to bounce from word to word.  My fellow adventurers were named Arne, Lukas, and a girl I don’t remember (she wasn’t very friendly), two were from Germany and another from Austria.

The day before it had rained and was cold, but today the clouds cleared and it was perfect conditions for getting wet.  After getting dressed head to toe in neoprene, we began marching through the jungle, barely following a trail.  Eventually the trail disintegrated into us just walking down the river.  It was sick.

We worked on our technique by sliding down slippery sections:

Acrobatic maneuvers to overcome difficult sections:

And use ropes to get down the 20 to 30 foot waterfalls:

Two of the waterfalls were pretty easy, well as easy as doing something I’ve never done before, 30 feet off the ground, getting hit in the face with freezing water can be….  The second one was actually tough, had to deal with a large lip right at the top of the cliff, then transition from one rock face to the one adjacent, all while getting pummeled by water:

During the whole middle section the river basically turned into a cave, almost no light could get in, the water got very narrow and deep in the middle, so we used our arms and feet to straddle the water and stay dry.  It was incredibly fun, I tried to get a few pics, but the camera was getting incredibly wet and foggy:

  

It was a super fun day, one of my favorites.  It started to get cold after a few hours in the wet wetsuits, but our driver brought us hot tea and cookies when he picked us up.  A great end to a great day.