Saturday, March 21, 2009
Uruguay
Colonia, La Paloma, Cabo Palonia, Punto del Diablo
Colonia
We were originally planning on traveling down the Argentina coast to spend some time on the beach, but found out that the beaches in Uruguay are much nicer...and closer! The easiest and quickest way to get into Uruguay from BA is by fairy. We took a short, and expensive (60 dollar) fairy ride to Colonia, which is a small and pretty border town in Uruguay. We stayed just for one night, but I will always remember Colonia as the town where Ilie got bit by the feared to be rabid dog , and the random parade where the children painted their bodies, and the plump shirtless ladies shimmied their breasts.
La Paloma
Early the next day we took a bus ride to La Paloma, which was about three or four hours away (that seemed so short to me after spending four days on the bus the week before). We arrived not knowing where we were going to stay, but the town is small enough that we were able to explore the entirety of it in order to find the best deal on a hostel. We actually ended up staying at the most expensive option, only because it was so hard to resist! So we decided to treat ourselves to a nice hostel for the three nights that we were there. The hostel was directly on the beach, the rooms were nice, the owners were nice, and we were able to meet some other travelers. We spent our days relaxing on the beach, the evenings wondering around, and the nights cooking delicious meals at the hostel. We hapenned to arrive in La Paloma the day after the high season ended, so there were not that many people in the town. The town is set up for a lot of tourists, so many of the shops and restaurants were closed down while we were there. It made the visits to the beach really pleasant because it was easy to find a location with hardly anybody in sight. The beach was huge, white sand spreading out longer than the distance of the whole town. The swimming was awesome as well, the temperature of the water was perfect, and there were few waves, and no rocks, making for perfect swimming.
The second night that we were there we experienced the biggest lightning storm that I have ever seen. Other people at the hostel didn´t seem to be as phased by it as I was, but it was absolutely incredible! Thousands of lightning bolts were striking directly in view over the ocean at every second, so the entire sky was lit up constantly for over an hour. I went to the beach to watch it, the lightning just kept on getting bigger and closer, and the thunder kept on getting louder...I stayed out there on the sand watching until it started to pour down rain...the heaviest rain that I have ever seen or witnessed in my life! We happened to be cooking a big meal out on the BBQ at the time, but the whole thing got destroyed by the massive rain. Being outside for just one second would get you completely drenched wet. We ended up finishing preparing the food inside, then the rain stopped. The next morning it was beautiful, clear and sunny.
On our fourth day there we decided to start our trek to the next the town...
Cabo Palonia
Visiting Cabo Palonia is an experience that I will remember forever. Cabo Palonia is a small, remote town with no electricity. There is only a small, sandy raod that leads into the town--the only way to get into the town was to take a 4-wheel truck that hauled tourists and their luggage to the remote community of "hippies". It seemed that there was little authority in this town, or that everyone who lived or visited there had the same common interest--smoke weed and live in tranquility...even the great invention of electricity was nowhere on their needs list. There was a completely peaceful vibe to the town, however, our experiences and memories of Cabo Palonia are a bit bias due to teh extreme rain storm taht was passing by during the two nights that we stayed there. Supposedly unusual for this time of the eyar, we were lucky enough to witness what seemed to be the next "El Nino". Heavy and deafening rainfalls drenched and partially flooded teh small town, including the kitchen of our tiny yellow house. However, as drastic as the rain seemed, that lasted non-stop the entire time we were there, the town still seemed completely at ease--
We treated this experience as a great opportunity to huddle together in our small yellow house, while during the day we cooked delicious soup, melted chocolate in our coffee which we drank consistantly all day long (we needed something to boost our energy !) and read books when we needed a break from each others company, and during night where we would drink heated wine mixed with fruits, reminiscence over college experiences, and shared personal stories by candle light. Oh yeah, and I can´t forget to mention that we spent as many hours sleeping as we did awake :)
Cabo Palonia would have been a fabulous place to spend a couple days on the beach, if the weather permited it. The beach was massive, spreading out far beyond the town itself, pretty white sand, and a completely relaxed atmosphere.
Punto del Diablo
Leaving Cabo Palonia and coming to Punto del Diablo made us feel like we were entering into real society again. Punto del Diablo is further north on the coast, not far from the border of Brazil. We spent more time in this town than the others, falling in love with it right away. As soon as we got into the small, surfing town we had not a clue where we were going to stay. We didn´t come across any hostels while hunting for a place to stay, while it is common for tourists to rent a small house or cabana. We ended up renting a small house....with no electricity! It was in a fantastic location, tucked back behind the main part of town, close walk to the beach, and fantastic views of the beach from the balcony. Ruby, Ilie, and I stayed there for five days. The town was really small, and not much going on, but we were happy to finally have nice and hot weather, making our stay there amazing. We spent most of the days on the beach relaxing. The current was strong and the waves were big, so we had a great time getting knocked around by the waves...we we even had to get told by the lifeguard to come back to shore because we somehow ended up too far out...oops!
The long, soft sanded beach made for a perfect running condition, as I enjoyed doing early in the mornings. We took advantage of the kitchen in our house, and cooked almost every meal while we were there...something I had barely done since I left Oregon. Our stay there was for the most part uneventful, but extremely relaxing..
The culture in Uruguay seemed much more relaxed than Argentina---a lot of the people reminded me of Eugenians..(I better had enjoyed that atmosphere as I would be spending most of the remainder of my trip in Ecuador where the people are quite different!). The small beach towns seemed to be full of people looking to get away from teh chaos of the real world to a place where they can live simple and peaceful lives. It reminded me of how Hawaii used to be when my dad first moved there in the 70s....
I would definately go back to Uruguay....
Colonia
We were originally planning on traveling down the Argentina coast to spend some time on the beach, but found out that the beaches in Uruguay are much nicer...and closer! The easiest and quickest way to get into Uruguay from BA is by fairy. We took a short, and expensive (60 dollar) fairy ride to Colonia, which is a small and pretty border town in Uruguay. We stayed just for one night, but I will always remember Colonia as the town where Ilie got bit by the feared to be rabid dog , and the random parade where the children painted their bodies, and the plump shirtless ladies shimmied their breasts.
La Paloma
Early the next day we took a bus ride to La Paloma, which was about three or four hours away (that seemed so short to me after spending four days on the bus the week before). We arrived not knowing where we were going to stay, but the town is small enough that we were able to explore the entirety of it in order to find the best deal on a hostel. We actually ended up staying at the most expensive option, only because it was so hard to resist! So we decided to treat ourselves to a nice hostel for the three nights that we were there. The hostel was directly on the beach, the rooms were nice, the owners were nice, and we were able to meet some other travelers. We spent our days relaxing on the beach, the evenings wondering around, and the nights cooking delicious meals at the hostel. We hapenned to arrive in La Paloma the day after the high season ended, so there were not that many people in the town. The town is set up for a lot of tourists, so many of the shops and restaurants were closed down while we were there. It made the visits to the beach really pleasant because it was easy to find a location with hardly anybody in sight. The beach was huge, white sand spreading out longer than the distance of the whole town. The swimming was awesome as well, the temperature of the water was perfect, and there were few waves, and no rocks, making for perfect swimming.
The second night that we were there we experienced the biggest lightning storm that I have ever seen. Other people at the hostel didn´t seem to be as phased by it as I was, but it was absolutely incredible! Thousands of lightning bolts were striking directly in view over the ocean at every second, so the entire sky was lit up constantly for over an hour. I went to the beach to watch it, the lightning just kept on getting bigger and closer, and the thunder kept on getting louder...I stayed out there on the sand watching until it started to pour down rain...the heaviest rain that I have ever seen or witnessed in my life! We happened to be cooking a big meal out on the BBQ at the time, but the whole thing got destroyed by the massive rain. Being outside for just one second would get you completely drenched wet. We ended up finishing preparing the food inside, then the rain stopped. The next morning it was beautiful, clear and sunny.
On our fourth day there we decided to start our trek to the next the town...
Cabo Palonia
Visiting Cabo Palonia is an experience that I will remember forever. Cabo Palonia is a small, remote town with no electricity. There is only a small, sandy raod that leads into the town--the only way to get into the town was to take a 4-wheel truck that hauled tourists and their luggage to the remote community of "hippies". It seemed that there was little authority in this town, or that everyone who lived or visited there had the same common interest--smoke weed and live in tranquility...even the great invention of electricity was nowhere on their needs list. There was a completely peaceful vibe to the town, however, our experiences and memories of Cabo Palonia are a bit bias due to teh extreme rain storm taht was passing by during the two nights that we stayed there. Supposedly unusual for this time of the eyar, we were lucky enough to witness what seemed to be the next "El Nino". Heavy and deafening rainfalls drenched and partially flooded teh small town, including the kitchen of our tiny yellow house. However, as drastic as the rain seemed, that lasted non-stop the entire time we were there, the town still seemed completely at ease--
We treated this experience as a great opportunity to huddle together in our small yellow house, while during the day we cooked delicious soup, melted chocolate in our coffee which we drank consistantly all day long (we needed something to boost our energy !) and read books when we needed a break from each others company, and during night where we would drink heated wine mixed with fruits, reminiscence over college experiences, and shared personal stories by candle light. Oh yeah, and I can´t forget to mention that we spent as many hours sleeping as we did awake :)
Cabo Palonia would have been a fabulous place to spend a couple days on the beach, if the weather permited it. The beach was massive, spreading out far beyond the town itself, pretty white sand, and a completely relaxed atmosphere.
Punto del Diablo
Leaving Cabo Palonia and coming to Punto del Diablo made us feel like we were entering into real society again. Punto del Diablo is further north on the coast, not far from the border of Brazil. We spent more time in this town than the others, falling in love with it right away. As soon as we got into the small, surfing town we had not a clue where we were going to stay. We didn´t come across any hostels while hunting for a place to stay, while it is common for tourists to rent a small house or cabana. We ended up renting a small house....with no electricity! It was in a fantastic location, tucked back behind the main part of town, close walk to the beach, and fantastic views of the beach from the balcony. Ruby, Ilie, and I stayed there for five days. The town was really small, and not much going on, but we were happy to finally have nice and hot weather, making our stay there amazing. We spent most of the days on the beach relaxing. The current was strong and the waves were big, so we had a great time getting knocked around by the waves...we we even had to get told by the lifeguard to come back to shore because we somehow ended up too far out...oops!
The long, soft sanded beach made for a perfect running condition, as I enjoyed doing early in the mornings. We took advantage of the kitchen in our house, and cooked almost every meal while we were there...something I had barely done since I left Oregon. Our stay there was for the most part uneventful, but extremely relaxing..
The culture in Uruguay seemed much more relaxed than Argentina---a lot of the people reminded me of Eugenians..(I better had enjoyed that atmosphere as I would be spending most of the remainder of my trip in Ecuador where the people are quite different!). The small beach towns seemed to be full of people looking to get away from teh chaos of the real world to a place where they can live simple and peaceful lives. It reminded me of how Hawaii used to be when my dad first moved there in the 70s....
I would definately go back to Uruguay....
Cultural Differences between Peru and Chile-Argentina
We noticed a cultural difference right away between Chile and Peru...first of all Chile is a lot more expenisive (we spoiled ourselves the first month staying in Peru because it is one of cheapest countries in South America). Prices of things in Chile, and Argentina are more similar to the U.S. Chile and Argentina are also a lot more Westernized than Peru, mainly because they have a lot more money (Chile is the richest country in S.A.). We actually went and saw a movie in a theater...the mall was even nicer than most I have been to in the States! It was nice seeing a movie in English, but spending some time in the crowded mall made me realize that I missed the more indigenous culture of Peru...
We were taken notice of a lot more in Puru because we looked much different than most of the locals. But we were also generally treated nicer in Peru because a lot of them took fascination in tourists....especially White tourists speaking English. In Chile it seemed that the people were not as patient with us when we were trying to communicate with them in Spanish, while in Peru it seemed that the people enjoyed trying to help us understand them. I liked that about Peru.
Many places in Chile, and especially Argentina resemble European cities...many people call Buenos Aires the Paris of South America..haha. Buenos Aires is also known to have some of the most plastic surgeons and plastic surgeries in the world! It was quite different interacting with people here, compared with the Indigenous Peruvians of the Sierras.
There are also a lot more street beggers and venders in Peru...it is common to have adults, and children begging for money, or begging you to buy something, mainly crafts, food and art while following you around...they are extremely persistant....while there is a lot less of this in Chile and Argentina. There is also a lot less whistling and honking on the streets from men in Chile and Argentina...which was nice! Also, the driving in Peru was out of control. The worst we saw was in Lima...it appeared that there was absolutely no road rules...I´m not sure what the road cops were supposed to be doing, but it didn´t seem that they were attending to any violations. Drivers would honk for every reason, even just to say hello or tell a car to pass, or to tell a person to get the hell out of the way....there was continuous non-stop honking EVERYWHERE. It seemed that Chile and Argentina had a more structured driving system, where the drivers would actually obey the road rules..
So there is a really popular snack-food thing that is sold everywhere in Chile and Argentina that totally groses me out...it´s a fatty hotdog, or two, smothered in ketchup, mustard, sour cream, guacamole, onions, and topped with small french fries....I don´t know how the people here seem to stay pretty thin!
To come....
Cultural differences between SA and The U.S. Oh so many!
We were taken notice of a lot more in Puru because we looked much different than most of the locals. But we were also generally treated nicer in Peru because a lot of them took fascination in tourists....especially White tourists speaking English. In Chile it seemed that the people were not as patient with us when we were trying to communicate with them in Spanish, while in Peru it seemed that the people enjoyed trying to help us understand them. I liked that about Peru.
Many places in Chile, and especially Argentina resemble European cities...many people call Buenos Aires the Paris of South America..haha. Buenos Aires is also known to have some of the most plastic surgeons and plastic surgeries in the world! It was quite different interacting with people here, compared with the Indigenous Peruvians of the Sierras.
There are also a lot more street beggers and venders in Peru...it is common to have adults, and children begging for money, or begging you to buy something, mainly crafts, food and art while following you around...they are extremely persistant....while there is a lot less of this in Chile and Argentina. There is also a lot less whistling and honking on the streets from men in Chile and Argentina...which was nice! Also, the driving in Peru was out of control. The worst we saw was in Lima...it appeared that there was absolutely no road rules...I´m not sure what the road cops were supposed to be doing, but it didn´t seem that they were attending to any violations. Drivers would honk for every reason, even just to say hello or tell a car to pass, or to tell a person to get the hell out of the way....there was continuous non-stop honking EVERYWHERE. It seemed that Chile and Argentina had a more structured driving system, where the drivers would actually obey the road rules..
So there is a really popular snack-food thing that is sold everywhere in Chile and Argentina that totally groses me out...it´s a fatty hotdog, or two, smothered in ketchup, mustard, sour cream, guacamole, onions, and topped with small french fries....I don´t know how the people here seem to stay pretty thin!
To come....
Cultural differences between SA and The U.S. Oh so many!
Monday, March 2, 2009
Long bus journey to Buenos Aires
Wow, four days straight in the bus....we did some calculations, and it ended up being about seventy hours to get from Cusco to Buenos Aires. Because direct buses only go between large cities, we decided to split our trip up and travel from town to town. We left Cusco friday evening, taking the first of our bus rides to Tacna (arriving the next morning), which is a small border town in Peru. We crossed the border the same day and got our next bus to a beach town in Chile called La Serena. We stayed there for a night and two days. It was the first day we experienced hot, sunny beach weather since we left Lima. The town was really cute, but there was not much going on. The next day we took a night bus from La Serena to Mendoza Argentina, arriving the next morning. We stayed in Mendoza (wine county) for about six hours...we were abe to walk around and see the city. The city was really nice, and clean...there were a lot of large city squares and parks, and we were able to lay and relax and take in some sun.
Finally, our last bus ride from Mendoza to Buenos Aires. This was another over night bus. We arrived in BA the following morning where we took a cab to the hostel that we had reserved. We stayed in BA for two nights. Our hostel was really nice, probably the nicest that we had stayed in so far...although it was the first time that we got a shared dorm room. Ruby and I met our friend from back home, Ilie at the hostel who we were going to spend some of our trip with. Ilie had already spent some time in BA a couple years ago, so he told us about the main things that we should go and visit. We went to see the famous, and gigantic cemetery. It was massive, every tomb stone was as tall as a building, the cemetery was set up like a small town...we didn´t even have enough time to explore the whole thing, but we did make sure to make it to view Evita´s grave. BA was huge, we didn´t nearly even see the whole city. I liked it though, although I don´t think I would want to live somewhere so noisy and busy!
BA is the first place that we went out and experienced the famous Discotecas of South America. We went to a discoteca thursday night and danced until six in the morning! It was a lot of fun experiencing this because I am used to all of the bars closing at two in Oregon...and people don´t even go to the discotecas until two. It wore us out though, and the next day we started our journey to Uruguay where we spent a couple weeks at lazy beach towns.
Finally, our last bus ride from Mendoza to Buenos Aires. This was another over night bus. We arrived in BA the following morning where we took a cab to the hostel that we had reserved. We stayed in BA for two nights. Our hostel was really nice, probably the nicest that we had stayed in so far...although it was the first time that we got a shared dorm room. Ruby and I met our friend from back home, Ilie at the hostel who we were going to spend some of our trip with. Ilie had already spent some time in BA a couple years ago, so he told us about the main things that we should go and visit. We went to see the famous, and gigantic cemetery. It was massive, every tomb stone was as tall as a building, the cemetery was set up like a small town...we didn´t even have enough time to explore the whole thing, but we did make sure to make it to view Evita´s grave. BA was huge, we didn´t nearly even see the whole city. I liked it though, although I don´t think I would want to live somewhere so noisy and busy!
BA is the first place that we went out and experienced the famous Discotecas of South America. We went to a discoteca thursday night and danced until six in the morning! It was a lot of fun experiencing this because I am used to all of the bars closing at two in Oregon...and people don´t even go to the discotecas until two. It wore us out though, and the next day we started our journey to Uruguay where we spent a couple weeks at lazy beach towns.
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