Well, hello again I guess. So, in case you all don`t know I`ve left Brazil. Why? I dunno. I think I was just in search of an adventure, and that is certainly what Ive gotten myself into. Just as a brief outline as to what Ive done so far. I went from Floripa, to Iguazu falls, and then from there to Buenos Aires. I did all of that by bus, it was long, to say the least. i think 31 hours on a bus in four days. From BA I flew down to Ushuaia, Argentina. This city is affectionatly known as "el fin del mundo" for those of you who dont speak Spanish that means end of the world. Ushuaia is the Southern most city in the world, located in Tierra del Fuego a cool 1,000km from Antartica. It was cold, the weather was unpredictable, the water looked scary. This was Cape Horn, where the waters of the southern Atlantic and Southern Pacific meet. It has been well known throughout sailing history as one of the most dangerous and terrifying places to be while on board a ship. The weather, well what can i say we were near Antarctica. It would snow for two minutes then be sunny then sleet and rain at the same time and hour later. It was fun. I`d also like to remind everyone that I packed thinking I would be living on an island in southern Brazil for 8 months. Needless to say, I was not appropriatly packed for the Southern most city in the world. I was cold. Quite cold. I bought a hat and a jacket, and yes even then I was still cold.
By the way, when I say "we" I mean myself and my friend Mike from Minnesota who I met in BA. We decided to travel together, because its just more fun that way, and I am a firm believer in safety in numbers, especially when going into Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia. Which it appears to be where our adventure is heading. Mike is a good kid, I`m going to need to teach him how to drink tho.
From Ushuaia, we went to Puerto Natales, Chile. Here we did two day hikes. One local one that was about 5 miles, and another one that brought us into the national park Torres del Paine. Here we did a 25km hike to see the "torres" in the park. Pictures should be up shortly on facebook. From there we went to El Calafate, Argentina to view Perrito Moreno glacier, one of the only glaciers in Patagonia (the name for the part of the continent we are on) that is actually advancing and getting bigger. It was impressive. I am actually writing from Perto Natales right now having arrived back here a few hours ago. in 4 hours, Mike and I will be boarding the Navimag boat (check it out online) and sailing up the Chilean coast to Puerto Montt for four days. I hear that its a sight seeing tour meets booze cruise. The ship itself is a cargo vessel that was partially trasformed to carry people, reasonably comfortably from what I hear, up the coast. This should be fun.
Some side notes...My trip right now is looking like this, and its all done by bus: Bariloche for Christmas, Mendoza for New Years, Salta after that. Then into Bolivia, Uni, Potosi, La Paz, Cochamba, and copacobana. Then Peru, not totally sure here we are hiking the Incan trail for sure and going to check put Machu Pichu. we`ll hit up some of the major cities as well. Then to Ecuador, who knows here, and then into Colombia, Cali, Medellin, Cartegena, and Bogota. At this point, sometime in late March Mike will be leaving. From there I plan on hoppin on a boat with a hammock and taking an 8 day boat trip down the length of the Amazon to Belem on the deck of a boat in my hammock. From there I am working my way down to Rio. That should bring me to the start of May when I will be flying to Buenos Aires for probably two weeks and then home. At that point I will have made an almost perfect circle of this continent. Missing Only Venezuela, Paraguay, Guiana, French Guiana and Surinam. I really think this has potential to be the trip of a life time. I plan on getting robbed at least once, I plan on waking up in a gutter in Bolivia or some other gem of a country more than once, and I plan on having heaps of stories to tell you all if I can bring myself to go to an internet cafe, if im in a city with electricity or internet.
I want to tell you some more about my past few weeks but that would take a reasonably long time and I dont totally have that at the moment. Ive met some awesome people though, had some amazing times. Said goodbye to some friends, made new friends, meeting up with people I thought I wouldnt see again its cool. Let me tell you by the way, There are 10 million Israelis down here, all traveling after their mandatory military service. And I have to say, all of the Israelis that I have met are awesome. I actually went to a hanakuha party in BA at a club and it was out of hand. Thats a story for later though. Lets just sya after leaving the club at 630 in the morning I ended up at the airport bar 45 minutes away with my new argentinian friend and a couple kids from the hostel. Mind you, none of us had to fly anywhere that morning. More to come. If you have no friends from that part of the world. make some. Also, if you ever make it to Buenos Aires stay in hostel Estoril. Greatest place ever, absolute shit show. Alright im off I have to go buy some booze for this boat ride. Nothing like cheap rum and high seas, you can call me Captain Jack Sparrow. If we dont hit any icebergs ill be writing again in a few days explain about my life up until this point. Take it easy all.
Merry Christmas, Happy Hanekhua (spelling), and happy New Year
Captain Jack
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