Travelling through South America

The end my friend... with a snif and a tear!

2006-06-26T16:20:00.000+02:00

This is probably the last communication on this weblog and it comes from Holland. With an unhappy feeling I have to say:"We're back!". Unhappy because it is premature and because the eye problem Henk was having is more than a problem. For everybody who does not know, he is now in a hospital in Holland, soon to go back home though, but his right eye will not function for a few months. The infection he got in Cartagena was far worse then we could ever have imagined. So on the 17th of June we got a plane back to Holland.

Well some last pictures from Cartagena. First of all things you see there quite easy. Like modern transportation methods and idyllic houses.

Next a happy Henk and Berend. Henk with his constant wink and myself already prepared for the cold Dutch weather with my jeans!

So this is it people, thanks for paying attention to our travels, we did it all for you. Especially the people that don't like travelling but do like far away countries! For people who wish to replenish our credit card accounts, send an email and we will give you further instructions where to leave the money, plata, moneda, dinero, cash, geld, knaken, dollars etc....

Cheerio people
HENK Y BEREND

Playa Blanca

2006-06-02T17:53:00.000+02:00

Hola amigos, so a new update of what we´ve been up to. It is quite a lot. We set out to go to Colombia, heading from south to north. However, due to elections, the farmers in the south decided to block the road, to make some point... So we got stuck in beautiful Pasto, where there is nothing to do. This could take 15 days, so we decided to fly to Cartagena. Cartagena is situated at the Caribean and is very warm and as a bonus it is also very humid, but after a few weeks we got used to it.

Cartagena is an old town with a nice old centre, some pretty fortresses, but we prefered to go to the beach. So we did, planning for 4 days max. we ended up staying there for 7 days, very low budget.

The road to the beach was complicated, we went by bus, by canoe and by motor taxi. very nice, especially the boat for 16 eurocent..

Well what did we do on this beach. Mostly nothing, except swimming, snorkling, eating, sleaping, walking and sunbathing. So cool and a lot of nice sandy beach around with nice trees, donkeys and cows that scare you like hell in the middle of night.

Oh and of course, the beds.. we slept for 6 days in hammocks, never did it and the first night was not that comfortable, but later it was perfect. Sleeping is so nice in a hammock especially when it is warm and of course a musquito net!!!

At the moment plans changed a bit, because of medical problems. We are back in Cartagena, waiting for good news from the doctor. Henk has an eyeproblem and needs a lot of rest, no light etc. So that sucks.... big time.

Oh one last nice pictures to show you, is a picture of a sloth, just wandering through the park here in Cartagena. It took us so much trouble to take pictures of it in the jungle and now at 10 cm away I could see it, so cool!!

Last hint of information, we have a ticket back to Amsterdam, for the fourth of July!!!! So people start planning big surprise parties etc....

Jungle trip

2006-05-12T23:23:00.000+02:00

Ok the Jungle, there is so much to tell. We arrived there with rain, instantly realizing why they call it the rain forest. For the people living in Europe, well aware what rain is like, hmmm this is different. We sat in a boat and although it was raining cats and dogs, it was warm. Warm rain, like a natural shower, we felt right at home there.

The last part of the boat trip was dry and we arrived at a lodge in the middle of the jungle close to the border with Colombia and Peru. The location was great and the food was even better there. And for all the people we have met and told us that they were killed by mosquitos, bad luck for you I guess. We have in total maybe 5 mosquito bites, together... It had something to do with the acidity of the water there, which the little buggers do not like. I don´t care, I was happy and so was Henk. Oh the lodge on the left was ours, we shared it with Tamar and Elinor, two Israeli girls. The picture on the right is the dining room with a couple of hammocks for the afternoon siestas.

The only downside of jungle tours is that it is so darn difficult to get good pictures of all the animals. But what have we seen than. We saw monkeys (apen), sloths (luiaards), birds (vogels), spiders (spinnen), frogs and toads (kikkers en padden), piranas (piranjas), catfish (meerval), pink dolphins (roze dolfijntjes) and many more. To give an idea what they look like... and try to find the right names.

The night hike was in the rain, but with flashlights we managed to see some nice spiders and other insects. It is amazing how big they become in the jungle, a tarantula as big as my hand or a lobster grasshopper the size of my hand with nasty looking spikes on his legs.
We also went pirana fishing which is a strange thing. Normally it is important to stay silent and wait, but with piranas you just throw in a hook with meat and start beating the water with the stick it is on. Just great!!! They come for the noise and start eating like crazy. The strange thing with piranas is that there are 25 different types in the amazone in Ecuador, but only about 6 are actually carnivores. So most of them will not bite you if you fall in, hahaha.
On another night trip, by boat, we went with flashlight and search in trees for red eyes. Either belonging to snakes or birds and in the water to aligators. The first snake we found was seen by the guide. Imagine pichdark, about 50 meters from the trees and he starts saying.. do you see that. Of course we don´t, but he was always right. So by boat we go to the tree and yes there is a small boa, roughly 40 cm. How did he see that, well all the animals in the pictures are discovered by the guide and none of us was able to see it.

Trees are also a bit bigger than in Holland. One tree we saw needed 20 people to get around it. It was 55 meters big. Most trees are also a complete ecosystem on their own. It contains about 150 different species of insects. It is covered with plants and fungus and other stuff. Plus it is also a refuge for butterflies, birds, reptiles etc... It is just an amazing tour and if you have a change to go in the jungle, just go!!!

Let`s travel by train!

2006-05-06T22:43:00.000+02:00

After our cowboy experience we thought it was time for some action, so what do you do? Travel in the cold on the roof of a train ofcourse... The trip between Rio Bamba and Alausi was beautiful! And to show how grateful we were, we gave the local kids, who really came from everywhere, some bad teeth by throwing lollies to them. By looking at the faces, I don`t think they liked the flavor that much...

After the traintrip we had to go back to Quito but it seems that it wasn`t an original idea...

Horseback riding in Baños

2006-05-06T22:01:00.000+02:00

Another primera vez, finally we can call ourselfs real caballos... or cowboys!! In Baños we went horseback riding together with two girls from Norway, Janne and Grette, and a girl from Israel, Gali!!

The trip was four hours on the back of a horse, pretty intense for the first time. The horses had the idea of running from time to time, which is kinda scary. Bouncing like frogs on their backs, not knowing when they stop or how to stop them. Just plane crazy.. But it is good for pictures making.

So the trip is with five people on the first one you see Grette, Janne and Henk. Henk already is letting his instincts getting the best of him and scouting for bloodthirsted Indians. The second pictures shows Gali and me, as you can see, I am not so sure of Indians!

On they way we had some nice views on waterfalls and a big mirador to look over the town. Very impressive all, especially the horses since they just did everything, we just had to whisper to them to stay on track.

Well the downsides of horse riding, it messes with your back and it just shapes you. So we walked like oversized pretzels for a few days with a hurting back. Nevertheless it was all worth it!!

Great time in Quito!

2006-04-30T00:05:00.000+02:00

After our relaxing period to rethink and recover our trip and bodies we thought it`s time again to go back to civilization... Therefore we used Quito and two lovely ladies. Although our characters were absolutely, totally, utterly completely different we still managed to spend two fantastic days togheter! Maybe this was also because of the present of the large amount of Rum-Coke we got from the hostalowner Pierre... Headache and a strange feeling in the stomage is the result but we still managed to shoot some nice pictures of the things we`ve seen in the city!

Making a trip through South America, we believe integration is a very important thing! Berend is here trying to shoot a bear... For me it`s just cold in Quito what it`s unbelieveble after the sunburning time in Puerto Lopez!

Oh by the way, as you all may know, we are now very close to the Equator (evenaar voor de hollanders) and although we don`t understand why just here is the monument (because it`s a line) we had to go there and make really touristic photos... The egg is because our guide showed us the experiment that only on the Equator it`s possible to put an egg on a nail (cause of the gravity). He was trying for a very long time and Berend managed to piss off the guy to put the egg in five seconds on the nail haha, sorry guide!

Beach, ocean and jungle time

2006-04-29T23:39:00.000+02:00

Now we are in Ecuador and we have been to Cuenca first. This is a very nice town with beautiful buildings and compared to Bolivia and Peru it is like we came to an increadibly rich country. Since today we are in Quito we know better and Ecuador is relatively richer, but still poverty is huge! But let me entertain you with Puerto Lopez and all the relaxing we did there.
So first our house, a little cabaña with hammock (hangmat) so ideal for relaxing, unless of course your back is completely burned, things that keep happening to Henk and me. And than on 50 meters from our house the beach, ideal for frisbeeing, swimming and drinking Zhumir.

We stayed quite a long time in Puerto Lopez, altough absolutely nothing happend there, ever, but the atmosphere was just great. One day we decided to go by bike (budget savings) to a place called Rio Blanca. Well this was absolutely a stupid idea, at 35° and no shade with too much climbing. We did not sweat this hard during the trip but we arrived anyhow. Here we did a short tour through the jungle, wich is actually secundary jungle and not that rich of animals and vegetation as the primary jungle. Still it was for Dutch standards increadible. We do go into the actual jungle soon. Well the pictures speak for them self, beautiful nature with quite dense vegetation, and some nice animals. Taking pictures of these animals is difficult since they do not always wich to stay put, as was the case with the monkeys.

Oh if you are afraid of spiders then do not go into the jungle, there are pretty nasty ones living there, but also nice butterflies!

Henk and I also went snorkling, seafishing and kayaking around and near Isla Salango. Due to the fact that we were very enthousiastic by it all, we sort of forgot to take pictures of the snorkling and the seafishing and the kayaking. Blame this on the fact that the sun cooked our brains during the trip.... But we did manage to make some nice pictures of the surroundings there.

The fourth time

2006-04-19T02:42:00.000+02:00

Alas my friends, again it happened and this time it is the most amazing one. What happend one might ask, well we have been robbed again!!! Again you might wonder, yes again, the fourth time as the titel says. Hmmm what happened. Well we were on a night bus and this time we were cramped (ik geloof dat dat zwaar opgesloten betekend) in between the seats. So we were confidend with the bags between our legs, solid not able to move ourselfs. Well the next morning we woke up, trying to get something to eat from our bags and discovered that my mp3 player was stolen, next we discovered that Henk´s bank card was stolen and then Henk checked his bag and discovered that they took some cd´s. Amazingly only South American music, because U2 and Aerosmith were still there, they had good taste apparently!!!

Okay now we are in Cuenca, Ecuador and tomorrow we go to Puerto Lopez, that is the idea. This is a good thing, because we can now go to the beach, some islands and a national park! Pictures will follow soon within a week we hope, and if not than just bother us with emails!!!!

Last thing, which is quite important we are back to the two man team. We had a great time with Birgit, but we had to leave her in Ayacucho where she is now working with street children. We had a great time with her, especially Henk ofcourse, but me too, what a wonderful woman. Birgit enjoy your time in Ayacucho and see you in Holland.

Machu Picchu

2006-04-06T02:43:00.000+02:00

Hmmmm, we've been there, finally one of the highlights of this trip. Seeing Machu Picchu and walking in the valley that surrounds the Machu Picchu, we have so many beautifull pictures that this time it was really hard to make a selection so the amount is a bit larger than normal. Hope you do not mind!

The first pictures shows the group, consisting of the guide Rene, two French New Yorkers Matthieu and Philippe, and of course Birgit, Henk's sweety and Berend le Chacal. The journey was pretty rough from time to time, crossing a big tumultuous river with a cable car, two by two. Or small ridges with 60 meters of space underneath you. Or crossing a river, bare feeted, because our guide could not find a bridge in the night. Or finding a big tree on the railway, which had to be chopped into pieces with axes, due to the lack of a chain saw. We just climbed the tree and continued, but for the train people, well they almost cried. You just got to love it!!

Walking trough valleys we saw a lot of different fruit trees. We never knew that avocado grew on a tree, that bananas had a really big flower (unfortunatelly it opens up in the dry season, what a shame) We saw trees with oranges, citrons, papaya, sort of tomatos (but not the real ones), bananas, avocados and many more that for us were unrecognizable. Henk became really happy when he stumbled upon a bush or tree with coffee beans, pfff look at his face!

Something about our guide, Rene, or the French way for people familiar with Alo Alo.. Rrrrrrenee. Our conclusion of our guide was that he was not a guide, but the most friendly and helpfull Peruvian we met! His physical condition was not what you expect of a guide as you can see on the following pictures. We even lost him at a certain time, but a nice cup of Ron 'Rum', coca leaves and his increadible good spirit kept him going till the end where he just collapsed on his bed. Thanks Rene!!

Finally, a few pictures of Machu Picchu. This place as you can imagine is just amazing so telling about the detailes we will skip and just give some eye candy! Oh the Llama, the holy animal of the Inca's, was making fun of us.... but we did not care, we conquered the Machu Picchu, whow as Philippe always says (the man with his tongue hanging outside).

The trip we did was visible from the Machu Picchu, which made it more special. We came walking from the top along side the river and crossed the river to continue on the railway track. This same track brought us later from Aqua Calientes to NOT Urubamba, where Rene was waiting for us.... silly us!

Lago Titicaca

2006-04-05T19:26:00.000+02:00

After a really relax time in Arequipa we went to Puno to see the Titicaca lake. There we did of course a tour on the lake to see the floating islands. It's a very nice boat trip and aside the fact of the high rate of tourism (the family on the island even have song a Japanese song for us...) but it's very nice for the photo-album!! The islands (there are aprox. 25 of them) are completely made of cane, it's a sourch of food and building material. They make boats, houses, souvenirs of it

The boattrip continued to a fixed island called Island Taquile, a beautiful example of Pacha Mama. Just a nice little fact, the inhabints wear there hads just the way of there emotion of that period of about 3 hours. And not the mention if they are single or married which is give away in the size of the pompons on the clothing.

People on these islands are living of tourism for a big part of their life. Also the little children for instance ask about one nuevo soles for a picture. So I played a little bit the dumb tourist when one of these kids asked if I wanted a picture. She did not understand it but took it anyway.

After the trip the next day we went to Cusco/Cuszo. It is not neccesary to bring food on these trips because on the way people are always selling food. Things like pan con queso, choclo con queso, choclitos, or drinks and ice cream. Always for one soles (0.25 euro).

Trips also tend to be very interesting during election time. This trip included a strike half way and we did not have to pay more, amazing!! The stones on the road are from a big monument on a hill next to the road... silly Peruvians.

Sandboarding, dunebuggys and flying

2006-03-24T23:47:00.000+01:00

Ah, the exiting things. We went to Ica and Nasca and did "The Best" things there. In Ica there are a lot of sand dunes and the only thing you can do there is use them for sports, nothing else to do in that town. Actually it was the only reason we went there. But it was amazing, sliding down sand hills, lying down or standing on a board at extreme speeds. For us who had no boarding experience or skills it involved some nice falls. But just enjoy.

And of course there are a lot of nice views to be found in such a deserted place. Oasis or sunsets, its all there.

After Ica we went to Nasca where we visited the Nasca lines. These lines date from 400 B.C. to roughly 1300 A.D. It is amazing to see from the sky, so we had to go by plane. For all of as a first one, such a small plane, but we survived and it was cool. You can see a monkey, a killer whale, a whale, a spider and lots of other things from the sky. So to please the eye.. a few pictures. A condor and a hummingbird.

The two proud passengers sitting in the back, feeling happy oh so happy.

Passports stolen.... as in again robbed

2006-03-24T23:25:00.000+01:00

So since we are updating the world of our travels.... Here the lesser update. We were leaving Huaraz to go to Lima and at the busterminal it happened. It is such a shitty happening everytime and again for Henk it is worse. His bag got stolen, with his personal things and our passports. Yes, we know it is not smart to keep three passports in one bag. We know we know!!!

So we went to Lima to the consulate and there we were helped perfectly. One thing about the Dutch, they are efficient. In just one or two weeks, she told us, we can have our passports back. They will even send them to Arequipa or Cusco if we want it. So 47 euro´s lighter we are waiting for the passports... and so the story ends!

Route Peru

2006-03-24T23:13:00.000+01:00

Nou hier is voor degene die geen atlas thuis hebben en toch willen weten hoe wij nou precies reizen door Peru, voila!
Dit is de volgorde van de reis:
1. Lima
2. Mancora
3. Trujillo
4. Huaraz
5. Lima
6. Ica
7. Nasca
8. Arequipa
Oh ja, de stippellijnen geven de route aan die wij verwachten nog te gaan doen. Bij Puerto Maldonado gaan we waarschijnlijk de jungle in, maar goed niks staat nog echt vast. Dus we zullen zien!!

Peru with an extra person

2006-03-15T22:45:00.000+01:00

Hello everybody, finally a new update it took quite a while to find a pc that worked. But here we are again, and we need to introduce a new member, Birgit. She is Henk´s girlfriend and will be travelling with us for a month. The did not see eachother for three months so you can imagine how happy they where to see eachother at the airport in Lima. So first a happy picture.

We visited Lima just for a day, because we had set our minds to some quality beach time. Nevertheless, Lima is a pretty impressive town. It has a rich culture and it is very chaotic.

With very choatic, we mean cars passing on the left, the right, constantly using the horn and the traffic can get so increadibly chaotic that traffic lights do not work anymore. So they use policemen in open barrels with nice visible hats and of course protection from the sun.

After this short cultural sidestep we went to Mancora, a beach that is famous for its surfers. Yes there were a lot of surfers there, we just went for relaxing so we enjoyed the sun, the beaches and the juices. So parents in Holland don´t be afraid that we do not life the healty life.

And of course a nice picture of the beach and the hostal where we stayed.

Just to let you know, yes we all got sunburned pretty intense..... but hey, we´re Dutch

What´s for dinner?? Some small facts of Bolivia

2006-02-26T20:06:00.000+01:00

Because we can´t give any visualisation of all what´s happening over here, we change for this moment our strategy and are focussing to the ´food chapter´. This cause Bolivian people know how to cook something what surprises us daily in everyway you can imagine... We will give some example:
A dish served with a half a scull of a sheep with brains and eyes (do I need to continu) ready to be sucked... And the strangest thing was that the jaw (with teeth) was quit tastefull! Today we have eaten (soupy) dessert-rice with, we think, a melange of squashed patato and fat (mmmm ;)) and some meat. Berend couldn´t eat this as it was a lunch and too disgusting to eat it all... So the only thing we really enjoy over here is the streetfood! Perfect hamburgers for less than 1 USD is our basis for going all day long! No, that´s not really true, as the Pique a la Macho is really delicious (and cheap as everything over here, 1.25 USD), the meal is mostly too big for 1 person and constains lots of (pork)meat, patas fritas and some salad. Hmmmm, I think I´m getting hungry, what´s for dinner?

Stolen camera

2006-02-24T15:57:00.000+01:00

Short update.. well it happened again. This time our only camera got stolen. Together with 2 memory sticks and about 700 pictures probably dating back to Torres del Paine. So to the people we have met so far. If you read this and you have nice pictures of Henk and me participating, will you be so kind to send a few nice ones to our email adresses.

Voor de mensen in Nederland, geen fotoos voorlopig helaas en dus ook niet van de Salar de Uyuni, zoals eerder belooft was.

Gegroet uit de carnaval capital of Bolivia

Salar de Uyuni

2006-02-22T19:17:00.000+01:00

Hi there everybody greatings from 3670 meters of altitude. Report from Uyuni, where we visited the Salar the Uyuni for 3 days. This means travelling around in an old Toyota and stopping at some of the most beautifull and strangest things you will ever encounter. I myself (Berend) suffered the first 2 days from a terrible cold, but still enjoyed the landscape, in between the tears and the sneazing.

There is a lake which is used for the supply of salt and it is increadibly big with just a little bit of water on top of it. It contains hotels, which are completely build from salt. Pretty amazing.

The National Park contains green and red lakes, places that smell a lot like sulphur pits and geysers, complete with thermal baths. Rock formations that have been named the Salvador Dali rocks because... there very strange. Rocks that look like trees or like faces. It is all so strange and beautifull at the same time.

The animals are just funny, the first Llama you see is shot with the camera for 15 times and than the next day you find yourself surrounded by Llamas at a distance of just 3 meters. The same with the flamingos, which you might expect at warm places not at 4800 meters. Still the first 4 we saw were increadible and than at the next lake you see a few hunderds of them. Some white but most of them had the fluorescent pink color we all know them for. Another strange animal you can find here is the rabbit. Hmmm does not sound so strange, but when you see it has a long tail it does look strange. From upclose it really is a cute little missbreed between a rat and a rabbit, but still I guess it would do good on a BBQ.

Sleeping is a whole new experience on its own. Never slept on beds made from stone for instance or having blankets that are half my size and still find a way to sleep under them. Unfortunatly, no pictures about this anymore...

The next stop for us will be Oruro, where according to the people here, the second biggest carnaval in South America is celebrated. Hmm will be my first time ever to celebrate this Roman Catholic invention.... but it will be interesting non the less.

San Pedro de Atacama

2006-02-14T17:48:00.000+01:00

Aha next the dryest place in the world as is told by people. First we had to make a pitt-stop in Calama. Nice place we found out. We had to wait here for about 5 hours and so we did, waited and waited. Than at 17:40 we should be leaving but we discovered that the bus had an hour delay. Too bad, so we went to the other side of the street where there was a beer sign, to stop there for a beer. Inside we discovered to our pleasant surprise that the waitresses were wearing all yellow tops and short very short skirts, later a few girls dressed up in black tops and short very short red skirts. All very pleasant, so we had a beer, and being foreign, the ladies liked us, like they liked us VERY much. But we left of course after a beer to get the bus and later a guy from Chile told us that they might have been prostitutes. Hmm that really puts things into perspective, hahaha.

So next stop, San Pedro de Atacama... here we really saw some beautifull things. So first a few pictures. This is the town in daylight and during a sunset. Not what you are used of of a normal town, the roads are not paved, but the atmosphere is great here.

Being for Chilian standards an expensive city, we decided not to stay here too long. So we managed to jam a few excursion into these days. So bicycling through the area resulted in pictures of very dry suroundings and vulcanos in the back ground. You just gotta love it.

Next stop would be the Moon valley and the Death valley combined with a visit to some caves. Sounds cool... thats what we thought, but it got cancelled because it was very cloudy and a bit rainy. Next day it was even worse, but we went anyway. Which was a big fiasco, with all the rain nobody was going to get out of the car. Not even the Dutch people, so no pictures and no visit, because the next day we went away. Oh a picture of the rain to prove it, the guy is working on dikes (we Dutch just love those).

What we did see was Los Geysers del Tatio and this is totally impressive. Is is located the highest and it is the most irregular field in the world. And we had the change to be there. The tour was very good, which means the guide could speak English, for us a benefit. The first picture is taken still at night, because thats the time they are most active. The water is about 87 degrees, so to bad we did not bring eggs.

The geyser field is surrounded by mountains, also known as vulcanos. And the area is quite big. It is not a national park, because six months ago this very special place is sold to the Italians to industrialize the place. STUPID

While we were there we had a bath in the very hot water and aaaaah, we liked it. Henk burned his hand a little bit, so it really is quite hot.

On the way back we toured the area by day light and saw some very nice looking sites and even animals. Yes, animals do exist in Chile, oh and the meat of the lama tastes delicious!!

Viva el vino tinto!

2006-02-08T15:24:00.000+01:00

Hi everbody,
After all the sparclin´ nature, we thought is time for some culture! As mentioned we did a small tour from El Calafate to Mendoza via Rio Gallegos. (just for fun look at a map of South America and find out that this is completely irrational...). So after 47 hours and a bottle of Teachers we arrived in the hart of Vino Argentina! And for those who still think wine grows in a bottle...

Oh by the way, Mendoza is a perfect spot to chill out and enjoy the weather and people!! And there is a park that is truly amazingly nice.

So after 4 days we believed wine and girls are not everything, we went to Chili´s capital. The trip was amazing (especially the borderchecks, pffff!) right through the Andes what brought some beautiful views!

Now after spending some days in Santiago de Chili we can say this city is actually quite nice and cosy! It doesn´t feel that you´re living in a big city, but it has got all the facilities of one and that we like a lot! Even some big mountains right in the city that had to be explored... So if you look carefully to the middle building with the reflection, you might see Henk and me standing on top of the mountain!!! SO LOOK PEOPLE LOOK.

Furthermore, spending some time with Chilian students the city gave us a warm welcome! Although the prices are doubled comparing with the argentina ones we had to eat pollo all the time with the famous chillian beer, Escudo (1 litre costs everywhere 1000 peso, which is about US 2,-). And to make it save back home, the local dogs are the perfect boddyguards!

Lekker bikkelen in Patagonia!

2006-01-28T21:20:00.000+01:00

Sorry for those who are not able to understand anything of our beautiful language, but we had some complains of our mothers and yes there words are the law...
Zo eindelijk weer eens een nederlands berichtje, dat leest wel zo gemakkelijk. We zijn nu in El Calafate (zuid Chili)en hebben een revalidatieperiode ingelast vanwege onze ontberingen in het nationaal park Torres del Paine. Daar hebben we 6 dagen als ware commando´s geleefd en onze krachten gemeten met een groep israelische jongens waar we de tocht mee deden. Met onze rugzak met alle benodigdheden voor de gehele tocht was dit enorm afzien maar zeer zeker de moeite waard gezien de fantastische omgeving die Moeder Natuur ons aanbood!

Verder is het erg goed vertoeven in Puerto Natales (het dorpje bij het park) waar we lekker tot onze rust kunnen komen en fatsoenlijke maaltijden (en warme douches, pff die ga je missen hoor) krijgen zodat we na El Calafate helemaal klaar zijn voor Santiago de Chile waar we de 30e naar toe vertrekken. Helaas is dit nog wel een klein tochtje van 46uur, dus nemen we onze slaapspullen ook mee in de bus...
OK we gaan er vandoor, we hebben al wat whisky gekocht om deze morgen te nuttigen met het ijs van de gletsjer dus je merkt het al, we redden het hier wel hoor!!! Ook nog gauw even wat fotoos van de prachtige, behorend tot de meest actieve gletsjers ter wereld, Glaciar Perito Moreno!!!!

Santiago de Chili is helaas nog niet gelukt en we zijn nu gestrand in het pitoreske dorpje Mendoza.. Hmmm wat gaan we daar doen, waarschijnlijk alleen maar wijnproeven, omdat zoals de betere alcoholisten onder ons wel weten. Goede Latino wijn komt uit Mendoza!!!!

Ushuaia happenings

2006-01-20T17:43:00.000+01:00

Greetings to the world out there. A short update about our whereabouts in Ushuaia, Fin del Mundo. One thing we learned there is that we are terrible climbers and we are feeling sour to the bone. Nevertheless, we´ve recovered and are at the beginning of a new tour through another national park, cool aye. But what about Ushuaia since the title is about happenings. First thing we did to tire out our legs was mountainbiking. A very nice way to see the surroundings and in the end we were covered in dust.

We climbed a glacier there which was the second torture for our legs but the view was amazing and in the top we even tried to cross the glacier, but we discovered why people call it a glacier and had to return. For peopla who are wondering what it was, hmmm, the glacier is like a solid rock of ice covered with snow. Only at certain places the snow is not there and then we had to walk up a steep slope of ice. Which is impossible wearing sneakers and a bit cold...

The third torture came the next day. Upon the glacier, Gary had the bright insight to organize a football match between a team of Ushuaiaans and an international team. Within one day he succeeded and we got to play against a team of well trained taxi drivers. The match was supposed to be two times 30 minutes with a small break in between. However, since everybody enjoyed themselves so much the game went on and on and on and..... it lasted 2 hours and 20 minutes with a 5 minute break in between. We of course were no match for the well trained and superb players form Ushuaia... hmmm we lost with 20-23. Ah well I had great fun........

The last torture was the last day in Ushuaia. We went with 5 people to the national park, finally and did the most difficult track which went to the top of the mountain there. Agonizing pain.... is the best description for the track. However, the views were breath taking and even pants taking. From the top we had a 360 degrees view over the park and well... something you will never find in Holland. So for the pure spoiling of the eye for all of you who have not yet been to Ushuaia a few pictures.

End point journey to the very south of America...

2006-01-12T21:26:00.000+01:00

To make all of you happy we show a few pictures of our Caipirinha-party, with all our thanks to our prof Rossy!!! We strongly advise and suggest if any of you reading this comes to South America in the future, try to arange such a party, of course guided by the hand of a willing Brazilian!!

And for you Shannon Patrick (alias the ´Mouth´ haha!) yes there was also beer...)

The last days of BA was absolutely great, relaxed and fun as they should be! I´m sorry for those are left out, but a selection for these past days is a difficult thing, so that´s why we used the group photo (sorry for the quality, so if any of you have a better one, plse send it to us!)

OK let´s do some maths... Our journey to meet the end of the world was divided in three trips. 1. BA to Comodoro Riverdera takes 23hrs, Comodoro Riverdera to Rio Galloges takes 11hrs, 2. Rio Galloges to Rio Grande takes 9hrs and finally Rio Grande to Ushuaia 4hrs takes what makes in total 47hrs all after each other. Now that´s what we call tripping! (of wij hollanders gewoon kilometervreters). But we must say, the trip was absolutely magnificant.

This is the very first sight of Ushuaia so enjoy.......

Be robbed and travelling for 46 hours

2006-01-12T00:43:00.000+01:00

I people, gotta keep it short this time cos I'm hungry.!! We tried to leave Buenos Aires and we thought we had it all planned to the very last detail. Only we got robbed, robarro or something, bestolen etc.. So we missed the bus, no worries people the only things that got stolen were very personal and unpricable things...

Happily we got a free ticket for the next bus on the 9th... so we did try to leave again the great city of BA. Yes this time we had succes. We travelled for 46 hours all the way down to arrive in Rio Grande.. a beautifull city in the south. Tomorrow we will set our sails for Ushuaia which is the most southern city of the world according to the Lonely Planet, however Henk just informed me that that same Lonely Planet tells that it is another city. Silly me, did not arrive to that chapter yet.

If we had pictures of the criminals that took Henk's bag we would place it on the internet. For people that worry alot, don't we are okay and still very able to travel.

Adiosios from Henk and his little side kick, Berend

Tigre and San Telmo

2006-01-04T17:18:00.001+01:00

Because our trip to the south of Argentina was delayed we had some more time just to take some tours outside and more inside BA. First we did San Telmo again, which is the hart of Tango. We´ve got quite some pictures and movies of the dancing, cause it is so beautiful and defines how these artists can dance!

Also Tigre is a piece of nature and culture you have to see if you are in BA. In the good old days it has been known for its smuggling capabilities because of all the small narrow waterways. We did not find anything valuable, but we really did not looked for it also. It´s like Venice, because of all the water and no roads. But Tigre is in the middle of a delta district, so you´ve got a lot of nature and I would say, if you want an original place to spend your honeymoon, take a piece of paper and write in big TIGRE!

However we must warn future people going into the dangerous wildlife of Tigre. Some places look idylic, but we were chased by a pack of wild dogs, that we could only get rid of by looking harmless... for me that was very difficult, Henk succeeded in it so the went away and we managed to take a picture of one of them, which is now placed there as a warning sign.

Voor de minder engels sprekende mensen. BA is erg divers. Precies als onze bronnen (dank je Eddy en Marieke!) gezegd hebben, je kan gemakkelijk 1 tot veel maanden in BA verblijven. Elke keer zie je weer nieuwe dingen/facetten die BA een ander gezicht geven. De gebouwen, het eten, de tango, de geschiedenis en daarna kom je tussen de mensen en de gastvrijheid en de passie voor hun land en hun fiestas is hartverwarmend! Het klinkt allemaal erg idealistisch maar de stad heeft gewoon heel erg veel, iets wat je altijd bij zal blijven.

Merry Christmazzzz.... and a happy newyear!!!!

2006-01-04T16:55:00.000+01:00

Hola everybody!
Although 2006 is already started, here´s a small update of our days of a (white?) Christmas. With a lot a super cuisine food, perfect argentino vino tinto and champagne the atmosphere was incredible!

Just to take the two big parties altogether, new years eve was also incredible! Not only because the youthhostal is amazing and making friends is as easy as ordering meat, but especially we were together, healthy and happy! (ahhhhhhh.....)

So just for all you:

!!!!!!! HAPPY NEWYEAR !!!!!!!!

And of course what is partying all about, champagne and bjoetifoel wimmen

Uruguay

2005-12-28T17:33:00.000+01:00

First of all one thing people should know is that Uruguay, like Argentina is also warm and sunny and warm, so one thing we did do there like do in Argentina is sleeping in parks.

Since Argentina and Uruguay suffered a lot in 2001 with the banking thing you find in Uruguay similar situations as in Argentina. People waiting in que for the bank. Thinks which still seem strange since you find so many banks in Montevideo and also in Buenos Aires.

After Montevideo, we went to Colonial, which is a small old coastal town across the river from Buenos Aires. It is in this place where Henk and I did some karaoke and were instantaniously famous. Singing Spanish songs without knowing a word of Spanish. No pictures exist from this great moment, so we have to do it with our fifteen minutes of fame in Colonial Rock.

What we did do here is surrender our bodies to the sun, a quite nice experience, however we like always forgot to wear sunscreen. Hmmmm, you can't have it all can you. So in the evening we were suffering a bit... but wie mooi wil zijn moet pijn lijden!!

Viva el Uruguay!

2005-12-28T17:21:00.000+01:00

Dit voor de nederlanders die graag nog wat meer info willen hebben, hoe we reiste en beleefde...
Na de watervallen zijn we met de bus naar Montevideo, Uruguay, gegaan. Omdat we in Salto in de middle of nowhere werden gedropt hebben we met een slimme taxi-chauffeur kunnen meerijden om de grens over te gaan. De eerste indruk van het land was meteen super, een voorbeeldje... Salto is de twee na grootste stad van Uruguay en is qua oppervlakte massaal! Echter geen huis is hoger dan 2 hoog en omringt met heel veel bomen en er is werkelijk niks te beleven op de straten, waardoor het stadje meer op Centreparks begon te lijken. De mensen die je tegen komt, zijn heel open en een gesprekje voeren met een voorbijganger is net zo normaal als een ´hallo´ bij ons in ´s Gravenmoer... Dit om je een beeld te geven.
Ook Montevideo doet niet aan als een grote hoofdstad, waardoor je je heel gemakkelijk thuisvoelt. Het is wel vreemd dat ook hier de economie erg zwaar te verduren heeft de afgelopen 50 jaar, waardoor de auto´s en huizen erg oud en slecht onderhouden zijn. En vergis je niet dat dit voor de mensen erg knaagt, want je vind regelmatig foto´s van de jaren 40-50 (met drukke hoofdstraten en rijke mensen op chique feesten/diners)toen Uruguay samen met Argentinie 1 van de rijkste landen ter wereld waren. Maar de mensen zijn er heel open in en erg trots en samen met de relaxedheid is ook dit land heel gastvrij!
OK, na Montevideo is Colonia del Sacremento aan de beurt! Colonia is een heel mooi oud stadje, er gebeurd heel weinig waardoor je super rond kan lopen/fietsen. Zoals Berend en ik concludeerde, ideaal voor de witte broodsweken, lekker eten, veel zon, cultuur en natuur!

Iguazu the waterfalls

2005-12-28T16:58:00.000+01:00

Hi folks, so we have been to the waterfalls and seen it. Hmmm what to say, I think the pictures show a bit what it is all about. We loved it anyways.

You understand that these are the waterfalls

And another one

Ola chicos y chicas

2005-12-14T18:39:00.000+01:00

Again news from the front. Yep we really try to keep you updated of our plans. So the upcoming plans.. they are starting to evolve as we go along. Tomorrow the 15th we take a very luxurious bus to Foz de Iguazu. These are the waterfalls that are world famous... so when you are in South America, go there. We stay there for a day or maybe two, because as far as we know there is nothing else to do there. After that we take again a bus (still have to book it) to either Porto Alegre or Rio Grande. If you read this and know a reason why we should go to one of them and not the other let us know. We will continue south to Montevideo, sort of a competition with a specific person in Holland who we have to beat by visiting more capitals in the world (we will win). And finally we are back in Buenos Aires for Christmas and New Year, same hostel.

Something about Argentinian people. We were amazed about the fact that in a regular store in the most important shopping street in BA there are more people working than shopping in a store. For instance an electronical store had about 7 to 9 persons waiting outside the store to take you by the hand and show you their shop. Which also was filled with sales people. And even though the store was crowded, I bet you there were more sales people than actual costumers.

The picture with the colourfull houses is taken in the Caminito, a very colourfull street in Buenos Aires. In this place the have also a lot of Tango dancers on the street, which on occasion ask you to dance. Hmmm

This is Henk with his hairdresser. I think in Holland a lot of people are now cheering and some are crying that Henk lost his hair. Nevertheless it was great, the guy was a little bit out of balance (hij liep zo scheef als een deurkruk) but was doing his very best to make it a perfect treat for Henk. And I did not see or hear Henk crying, mission accomplished.

So what do we do all day, this pictures shows what we do. Isn´t that what a holiday is about?

En dan nu voor de mensen die er geen snars van begrijpen omdat het in het engels is. Wij snappen het ook niet hoor die rare taal hier. Continue vrouwen die zeggen dat ze besos willen geven, tja wat doe je dan als hollandse man......

Viva Buenos Aires!!!

2005-12-11T14:18:00.000+01:00

OK sorry the non-english speaking people, but now comes some stuff for the homefront:

Dag allemaal!
Het is nu ´s morgens vroeg, nou ja half elf, maar voor Argentijnse standaarden is dit vroeg...
Het leven hier in Argentinie is erg goed, vrij Europees, gezien de mensen, kleding, muziek, gebouwen alleen de auto´s doet meer aan die oude cubaanse films...

Oh je zou eens moeten zien en horen, voelen swat ik nu hier beleef! Ik zit nu in de jeugdherberg, enorm verkouden, maar je beseft ook echt hier dat dit niet Europa is. e muziek, het spans het verkeer dat continu voorbij komt, maar voorla de mensen. Erg bedrijvig maar langzaam tegelijk. Nooit verlegen voor het gesprekje of nafluiten van een schone senorita, haha! tja het is waar...
De mensen hier spreken nauwlijks engels maar zijn erg behulpzaam en dankzij onze handen en het poco spaans dat wij hebben/spreken gaat alles heel gemakkelijk!

Oh tussen twee haakjes, het heeft gisteren geregend en gedonderd, dat verwacht je niet hoor, maar goed de tempratuur overdag is erg super. Rond de 25/30 graden en een frisse wind maakt het bewegen hier erg gemakkelijk, al wordt het best koud ´s avonds waardoor een T-shirt met lange mouwen of sweater toch wel handig is!

Nou vandaag wordt het weer een super dag, we gaan vandaag naar La Boca! Dit is een oude wijk van BA, vol met geschilderde huizen en tango dansende artistiesten op straat. Ook gaan we naar een wesdstijd van de Boca Juniors (ja Leon, die tegen Ajax hebben verloren) die heel belangrijk schijnt te zijn voor het kampioenschap die in handbereik is voor Boca. Dus Ben ik zal wat foto´s maken kun je later meesmullen!! Maar goed, ik zal er niet teveel aan toewijden maar voor de niet-geinteresseerd-in-voetbal-menswen in ´voetballand´ is dit een soort koninginnedag, maar dan gekker, uitbundiger, chaos dus! haha!

OK tijd zit erop, jongens en meiden, internet is hier erg gemakkelijk bereikbaar dus contact via de mail is erg gemakkelijk dus hou die msn aan en dan ´spreek´ ik jullie via de mail! Vreselijk, maar ja dat is de nieuwe technologie zullen we maar zeggen...

PS, geen foto´s vandaag helaas maar dat heeft meer te maken met de traagheid van de pc hier... dus jullie zullen geduld moeten hebben voor visuele ervaringen... Doei!!
Groetjes,
Henk en Berend

El start!

2005-12-06T20:17:00.000+01:00

Buenos dias all!
As you can see is our spanish not completly in tiptop shape but we are trying and we must say it´s improving day by day!
The first days when we were staying in Tarragona with Felix, we´re filled with culture and a lot of boose... The surrounding here is absolutely superb and the people are really friendly and hospitable! For instance did you know that Tarragona was the first city after Rome of importance of the Roman empire. So we have notice, there is so much to see here from a culturale perspective that it is increadibly amazingly fantastico for two Dutch guys who think that windmills and tulips is culture.

For people that worry about our health, rest assure, there are no dangerous animals in Spain. Dus mensen we zijn nog gezond en alles is prima.

And a good tip for everybody that likes to go abroad, try to make friends there in advance people. It makes staying somewhere and seeying things somewhere so much easier. So Sara, you will see us in June!!

Time schedule

2005-11-02T10:39:00.000+01:00

Hi everybody... a short update. The first month of the trip is planned. At 2 December we leave from Eindhoven Airport to Barcelona Girona. We will stay with a friend in Tarragona (for anyone interested in this adress, contact me ;-)). We continue the trip on the 7th of December, when we fly to Madrid, from where we will fly to Buenos Aires on the 8th of December. And here we stay untill roughly the 2nd or 3th of January 2006. Any suggestions or tips to do here you can leave as a comment, we do appreciate everything you people do for us, since you will be at home, working and complaining about the wheather!!!!

It all started on the 14th of August

2005-08-14T13:03:00.000+02:00

Yes, finally we managed to use the internet and book a ticket. Whoohoo, proof is shown below. By accident the booked ticket has a departure city.. called Madrid. Hmm now we have to go to Spain

Bueno, first step has been taken and now there's no one back...! We arrive in the warm continent of South America on the 8th of December at midnight. Hmmm not so good