torsdag 30. desember 2010

Wet wet wet

Totally chilled out after three days of rest & recreation, it was about time to use some of the energy. Tonje headed for the beaches in Florianopolis and the rest of us embarked a plane to Foz do Iguazu, to see the beautiful waterfalls situated between the border of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay.

"The bus is leaving in five minutes, so you´d better hurry up!" the guy behind the reception said, and we started running...a little bit too late. Hm, what to do? Well, there is always a taxi around. Roberto´s big smile and good offer (after a bit of bargaining) was hard to resist - taking us to both sides of the waterfalls including the border crossing for a small amount of money. After all we are backpackers travelling with style ;)

The Argentinian side of the waterfalls gives you a close up experience...



....whereas the Brazilian side gives you the greater picture..


Breathtaking is the key word! :)

lørdag 25. desember 2010

Rest & Recreation

The estancia San Pedro de Timote in Uruguay can be summarised like this: three days of eating, sleeping, horse back riding and relaxing by the pool.... :)










mandag 20. desember 2010

Girls just wanna have fun!

"Salud!"




Sitting on a roof top terrace in Palermo Viejo with a cold beer in our hands. On the floor, a lot of shopping bags; shoes from Florida street, leather bags from calle Murillo, Havaianas and sunglasses from the streets of Palermo. Why did we bring 75L backpacks already filled up??!

We had just finished our beers as the rain caught us by surprise. While the streets were flooding we snuck on a bus and headed home :-)


Back at our hostel, we put on our party wear (deep down in our backpacks we managed to find something wrinkled). Glowing with excitement, we were picked up by our private driver and taken to the well-known tango bar "El Viajo Almacén" in San Telmo.




A backpacker´s happy surprise: a 3-course dinner, wine included! and the show hadn´t even started yet :-D
If you think tango is just a dance - think again! We found it both hot and steamy!  :-)


We were placed at our own small table in front of the stage watching professional dancers swirling to music played by a live orchestra - a magnificent show!

2 hours and a few glasses of wine later, we were ready for a girls´ night out. Posh backpackers as we are (at least for a night) we told our driver to take us to one of BA´s hot spots. And guess were we ended up? Palermo. Being back in our quite so familiar neighbourhood we entered the club Sugar.



We had a blast dancing to great music (i.e "Take on me"), hanging out with locals and backpackers and catching up with an "old" friend from Mendoza:-)


"What?! 5 o´clock?! You must be joking!" Somewhat tired but absolutely pleased, we found ourselves in bed with a big smile on our faces an hour later.

After spending four days in BA we are all agree - this is a GREAT city for girls who just wanna have fun! :-)


søndag 19. desember 2010

The World's Most Amazing Bus Ride

Who would believe that 14 hours on a bus could feel like 5 minutes? And that you actually didn't want to leave the bus!?

Let us tell you about our journey from Mendoza to Buenos Aires..


 
Entering the bus we were greeted by Javier, our host for the night. We were soon comfortably seated in our almost fully reclining seats, the engine started and our journey had begun...

Soon after departure our host announced that a bus bingo was taking place: Bingo Andesmar.
Since our Spanish is a little bit rusty we didn't fully understand what was going on, but hearing something about a bottle of wine made us join. And this is how it turned out:






Thrilled by our victory we celebrated by a dinner and a movie (included, of course).



The Malbec went perfectly with the 3 course dinner. Sometime during the second movie (believe it or not, we had non dubbed American movies) we fell asleep and slept like babies. The soft blankets kept us warm through the night.

Javier was already serving breakfast as we woke up, a typical Argentinian breakfast consisting of coffee and some sweet cakes. "Are we here already?" And YES, we were :).

Rut & Tonje

fredag 10. desember 2010

A Warm Welcome :)

FANTASTIC! :) This is how we would describe going from snow to sunshine! Not only that - we were also reunited with our dear friend Renate who managed to escape the freezing cold north (i.e. 17 degrees below) aka The Kingdom of Norway. "Give us some Malbec wine!"



After a speedy and scenic drive with the famous and rapid company El Rapido we all of a sudden found ourselves in wine heaven: Mendoza :) Believe it or not, despite being in the middle of a desert, this place is the best place in the world for growing the Malbec grape. And let's not forget about the Savignon Blanc, Merlot, Shiraz, Cabernet Savignon, Cabernet Franc and many many others - we didn't want to let any grape down. Hence, we didn't ;)


Signing up for a wine tour with Trout & Wine was the best way to complete our mission: Discovering the art of wine making while enjoying some quality wines. After 4 wineries, 13 spectacular wines, a 5 course gourmet lunch and a beer by the hostel pool, we were ready for bed... :)

Mendoza has a lot to offer for adventure seekers - rafting, horse back riding, bike & wine (if you dare - we didn't...) and climbing Aconcagua (6 962m). We would love to explore these opportunities, hopefully we will next time (there will definitively be a next time!). We enjoyed Mendoza a lot, but Buenos Aires is waiting for us!



søndag 5. desember 2010

Weather report from South America

To all of you thinking that we are spending our time on a beach, soaking up sun (and drinks) all day long: You are SO WRONG! This is what we actually have been doing:

Consuming large amounts of coca tea - good for staying warm and keeping the altitude sickness away

Bikinis are a "must have" when camping in the Andes!


Don't forget the down jacket and alpaca hat when going on boat trips at 4000 meters above sea level! 

Freezing cold in the desert

Chilean red wine and cheese - a good warm up for hiking in Patagonia

Hiker's lunch in Patagonia. Check out our brand new Mega Food Flask - kept the noodles almost warm... 

Beach life in Patagonia

Need we say more???

lørdag 4. desember 2010

Trekking the W-Circuit in Patagonia

Crossing Chile by plane, 3400 km from Calama in the north to Punta Arenas in the south, we were ready for a week in Patagonia. Our mission was to trek the W-circuit, spending the nights in refugios (can be compared with the cabins of DNT).

Ut paa tur aldri sur...

...med en appelsin som bensin!

Hiking up for check-in at the first refugio we couldn´t avoid the German girls behind us stating: "the weather here is just like in Norway"! They were totally right. Five days of trekking in all four seasons; sun, rain, fog, showers from the lake, moderate gale, hail and fresh snow in the mountain side. Where are our new powder planks?!

It´s incredibly fascinating how fast the weather can change, and also how diverse and beautiful the landscape is. Looking to the right we get the feeling of beeing in the Alps and looking to the left we are all of a sudden in Wales, except the sheeps are replaced by cuñas (deer).


After long days of hiking with heavy backpacks it feels like heaven to arrive at the refugio taking a hot shower and having a three course dinner accompanied by a glass of red wine, before finding the sleeping bags for a good night sleep.

Trekking in Patagonia is just like trekking in Norway, steep and snowcapped mountains, smiling people wherever we go - except that everyone greets each other with a "hola". We feel at home!:)

fredag 3. desember 2010

3 days in the desert

After a 10 hours bumpy busride we arrived in Uyuni. Paved roads are almost non existing in Bolivia, and after some horror stories from other travellers about this journey, we were prepared for the worst - constantly banging our heads in the bus ceiling and jumping from side to side, buses with no heating even if temperatures can get below zero outside.. etc. The "preparations" paid off - the bus ride was not at all as horrible as we expected. Some of us even managed to get some sleep :)..

After a quick toothbrush at the bus station baño we jumped into a jeep with Inga, Jan, Anna, our cook Clementina and our driver Johnny. And off we went to explore the Bolivian wilderness...
"Did we take off to a different planet?" From our jeep window we see a redish/brownish landscape, vulcanos, sand... and.. snow!?? No, it´s SALT! We have arrived at the world´s largest salt flat.White as far as you can see - a beautiful contrast to the clear blue sky. We jumped in excitement!


It´s hard to face the fact that we are driving on a lake (or what used to be a lake) and in the middle of it... and island - Fish Island. No fish to be caught, though. Instead lots and lots of cactuses (hm, and tourists).


The next two days we visited the famous stone tree, basically a rock shaped like a tree in the middle of the desert..


..lakes in various colours and sizes...
Laguna Colorada gets it's red colour from alges
..and while eating lunch we had the chance to observe the flamingos. Jan said it pretty good: "Actually I have never seen a pink animal before"..(We don't count pigs as pink)..


Having spent 3 days in the desert we´ve seen a lot of Bolivian nature and wilderness. But not only that.. We have also experienced a basic Bolivian hostel. The word basic means:
- no heating
- no window in the room
- only 1 flushing toilet for 10 dorms of 6 people
- the hostel common area equals the cold and dark 20 meter long hallway with 2 bulbs hanging from the roof

Interesting!

Bolivia is a fascinating country - very poor but very diverse and beautiful! :))