Latin America

February - August 2017
A 189-day adventure by Elly
  • 58footprints
  • 13countries
  • 189days
  • 236photos
  • 0videos
  • 19.5kmiles
  • 12.7kmiles
  • Day 33

    Buenos Aires

    March 7, 2017 in Argentina ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    Within the first ten minutes of arriving to BA, these two guys on my coach had already been robbed of their bags with their money and passports in. Luckily, I got a taxi from the bus station to my hostel so I was okay, but this instantly put me on high alert.

    When I arrived at my hostel I decided to try and work out what I'm going to do when I get to Torres Del Paine in Chile, as this requires some forward planning. With not all the availability for camping which I wanted, I think I have managed to book accommodation to hike the 'W' route. I'm so excited, this is one of the thing I've most been looking forward to when coming to South America.

    My hostel is by far the worst one I've stayed in South America so far. It's in a really good location and the rooms are actually quite nice but it just lacks any sort of vibe and is not good for solo travellers looking to meet people. Most of the people staying there just lie in their bed in the dark ALL day it's so weird. On the plus side though it was cheap, but I know for next time to not book somewhere on price but on atmosphere.

    Other than that, I'm loving BA and have managed to do the six things I wanted to do whilst there:

    1. Visit San Telmo market on Sunday and watch the tango in the market square which I loved (it felt like we had been transported back to the 1920s with all the music).

    2. Go to Recoleta cemetery and see Evita's grave - this place is eerie af and you wouldn't think a cemetery would be one of the must do things in any city but it was really good to see.

    3. Eat steak (parrilla) - this ended up being expensive but so worth it. I met a really great English couple in Iguazu and have been meeting up with them in BA. They described me eating steak as 'introducing a vegetarian to meat for the first time' which I found hilarious because they had to explain to me that bifo de chorizo was a cut of meat and wouldn't come out with chorizo on it.

    4. Visit La Boca, this really colourful neighbourhood in the south of BA which something I didn't want to leave without doing but the tour we went on was very disappointing.

    5. Go to La Bomba Di Tiempo on Monday night. Everyone who I've met that's been to BA raves about this so it was definitely good to go and see what all the fuss was about.

    6. Volunteer at Fundacion Banco de Alimentos - I've been planning to do some volunteering on my way round South America. This is a food bank in the suburbs of BA. I did two days of sorting food, checking sell-by dates and packing them into boxes for distribution and I really enjoyed myself (and met some really lovely people). For me, BA is a tale of two cities as there is a lot of poverty which you don't see in the city centre so it was interesting getting to know a different part of BA.

    Next stop is Ushuaia, the southern-most city in the world and the gateway to Patagonia. One of the things I have most been excited about this trip.
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  • Day 41

    Ushuaia

    March 15, 2017 in Argentina ⋅ ⛅ 8 °C

    So what is the bottom of the world like? It's a great place to visit to say you've been but it's not somewhere you want to stay for a long time - very cold and VERY expensive.

    I only wanted to spend 2-3 days here but ended up staying longer than expected because the buses don't run everyday and the one I wanted was full. Over the course of my time in Ushuaia I did manage to get a feel for the place as the southern most city in the world.

    I celebrated my 24th birthday in Ushuaia too - that day on I went on a tour across the Beagle Channel to see sea lions and walk with penguins. We had to get a tiny motor boat to the penguin island where we saw different types of penguins including king penguins and also Magellanic penguins. They are so cute - and we got to get up really close to their nests and take photos.

    On the other days I went to the prison museum which, as you can imagine, is a pretty bleak place. I also decided to put my hiking skills to the test and climbed Glacier Martial which is 825 metres above. The hike was 25km in total and took me about 4 hours. The weather that day was particularly bad, the wind blew me off my feet and onto the floor at one point because it was so forceful. When I reached nearer the top it started to sleet and snow really badly but the view from the top was well worth it.

    Next stop is... 🇨🇱 CHILE! 🇨🇱 Punta Arenas for one night before I catch the bus to Puerto Natales so I can do the W trek of Torres del Paine.
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  • Day 46

    Torres del Paine

    March 20, 2017 in Chile ⋅ 🌙 29 °C

    After having only spent 3 days in Chile, all I can say is I LOVE CHILE. It's by far the most beautiful place I've been on this trip.

    The actual journey into Chile was a bit of a faff as crossing the border took 3 hours whilst the immigration police ransacked people's bags looking for fruit, cheese and meat (but ironically no mention of drugs or guns). After that it was pretty much plain sailing to Punta Arenas and then Puerto Natales, the base for Torres Del Paine.

    I've spent the last 5 days (4 nights) camping in Torres Del Paine, one of Chile's national parks, as I've been hiking the famous W trek which is about 75km walking and I was so lucky to be blessed with such good weather (after hearing horror stories about how bad the wind/ rain/ snow can be!).

    I won't bore you with all the details because it will literally make no sense to anyone who hasn't been, but it was 5 days of intense walking with a big rucksack, camping and chilling in the refugios, meeting some really nice people, having jokes along the way and seeing some of the beautiful nature and countryside that Chile has to offer - it's truly serene/ still/ out of this world. Next off I'm back into Argentina to El Calafate, for one of my last stops in Patagonia before I head back up north where hopefully it's a lot warmer.
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  • Day 50

    El Calafate

    March 24, 2017 in Argentina ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    Back to Argentina 🇦🇷 El Calafate is the in Santa Cruz province of Argentina and it is a really pretty little alpine town. The main reason to come is to visit the Perito Moreno Glacier in the national park, so I'm only staying a few days to do that and then leave because Patagonia is very expensive!

    Los Glaciares National Park is 82km north of El Calafate so I went on a tour to go and see the glacier. It's probably (apart from Iguazu) the coolest nature I have seen so far on this trip! The glacier itself is 5km wide and 70m tall. The closer you get to it the more you realise just how huge it is, and they say that only 10% of it can be seen above the water so it's even bigger below. The day itself was really sunny and so picturesque. If you wait long enough you can even see and hear some of the bits of ice fall off the glacier which is really cool. We had 4 hours there which was a very long time so I managed to get loads of photos.

    Next up I've got a 2 day bus to Bariloche 😖 before I say goodbye to Patagonia for good and head up north to eat cheese and wine (and hopefully catch some more rays as my tan from Brazil is now virtually non-existent). Patagonia has been literally amazing but I am sometimes a bit disappointed with how ridiculously expensive things are which make it an off-putting place to come. That being said I've seen some incredible landscapes which you just don't get anywhere else in the world!
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  • Day 55

    San Carlos de Bariloche

    March 29, 2017 in Argentina ⋅ ☀️ 14 °C

    To understand Bariloche you first have to understand the 32 bus journey it took to get there from El Calafate which was, by no definition dull but BY NO DEFINITION fun or something I ever want to repeat.

    The journey was going great until half way through, when we stopped off at Perito Moreno and picked up Willie - a crazy Argentinian man who thought it would be a good idea to provoke us by singing, playing the guitar, shouting at the tv, laughing hysterically and generally being the biggest pain of my life. That being said, he was a great uniting force for the rest of us on the bus and that's how I got to meet 2 South Africans and 2 Danish girls :)

    So fast forward, we finally arrived at 1.30am in Bariloche. Arrived at the hostel and the next day decided to walk round town - bumped into the South Africans and planned to do the cycling route round Circuito Chico the following day. I then got to the bus to Campanario which is this amazing view point of all the lakes in Bariloche (known as the Argentinian Lake District).

    The following day I met the saffers and 2 other Argentinians from their hostel and we headed out to do the Circuito Chico. This was really fun but really hard - I haven't cycled properly in years apart from the odd bike ride so it gave my muscles a real workout! At points we (mainly I) had to walk up the hills because I was so out of breath! We stopped off at different points including the Patagonia Cerverceria which is one of the best breweries in Patagonia apparently. We sat in the garden and had a beer in the sun with this amazing viewpoint. Bariloche looks a lot like Swiss Alps so you can imagine how pretty it was.

    That evening I met up with the saffers and Danish girls - we were gonna go for some drinks but there was one thjng we had to try first 🍦 ICE CREAM of course, as Bariloche is also famous for its ice cream. It finished us off however and after that we all had food comas and went to bed.

    Next stop is Pucon in Chile. Leaving Argentina again (sad) but I'm gonna be coming back in a few weeks time to do Mendoza (I didn't have time before going to Santiago and didn't wanna rush). I love Argentina, it's so hard to leave as there's so much to do here and so much more I haven't explored. I know I'll be coming back for more. Until next time..
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  • Day 56

    Pucón

    March 30, 2017 in Chile ⋅ 🌙 9 °C

    Pretty Pucón. After another 12 hour bus ride 🙄 (I'm so over them) I finally got to Pucón in Chile. This place is super nice, it reminds me a lot of Mt Fuji in Japan as the town sits in the view of the volcano and is surrounded by lakes too.

    The whole reason for coming here was to climb the volcano because it's still active and you can see lava at the top, but I'd heard from a few people that the clouds were so low that some people had to turn back only half way up the volcano and didn't see the lava/ get their money back (it costs about £100) so I thought it was too risky and decided I will climb a volcano in Central America instead. 🌋

    When I got to my hostel I met Sam and we decided to go to one of the thermal springs the next day. We shopped around for a deal and managed to go to one of the cheaper thermal springs and when we got there it was virtually empty and we had the whole place to ourselves. It was (a less than luxury) spa day of thermal pools, lunching and red wine. My perfect day. Over lunch time we found out we had mutual friends and had even been a the same birthday party together 😂 this world is seriously too small. In the eve I was sad to say bye when he left for Santiago but hopefully we'll meet up again.

    Next day I met up with this Swiss girl Sarah who was on my bus from Bariloche to Pucón. We decided to go and find this waterfall which was about 5km away. It was funny because we got within 20m of the waterfall and could hear it, but couldn't find it because there were no signposts and the map they'd given us was really inaccurate. We walked past the place a good 5 or 6 times and had nearly given up and decided to walk back to the town when we bumped into two Americans, and then 2 locals who gave us a lift and showed up to the waterfall (which we would have never of found without them). After that we hitched another lift back to town as we were exhausted. It was a 6hr walk in the end.

    Next I'm off to Santiago which I'm sooo excited about as I'm staying with a friends I met in São Paulo and were going to BRUNCHHH. Been hyping about this brunch ever since Rio. 🙌🏼
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  • Day 59

    Santiago

    April 2, 2017 in Chile ⋅ 🌙 19 °C

    After spending the past month in Patagonia, arriving in Santiago has made me realise how fun it was to be in a city again.

    I've been lucky to meet two English girls who live in Santiago, and one of them Robyn invited me to stay at her apartment for a few days. Her apartment was in Las Condes which is a really nice part of town 👌🏼

    We also met the other English girl Lucy and went for food at Parque Arauco which is a shopping centre that reminded me of Westfields in Stratford. It even had a TopShop and I felt so at home (although I'm too poor to actually buy anything). We ate really good Peruvian food and it was so nice to have the gang from carnaval back together again. In the evening we went on a hilarious night out to Casa Jungay and ended up getting home at 6am. The next day was a bit of a write off (we didn't make it to brunch but I might go next when in Santiago!) but it was such a fun evening.

    The following day I met up with Lucy and Hattie and we went to look at some cool street art in Museo A Cielo Abierto. After we went to Santa Lucia for coffee and cake, and to walk up and see one of the city's viewpoints. Santiago as a city itself very pretty but it is surrounded by the Andes mountains range. In the evening I met up with Robyn and her friend Alana and we went for more drinks - this time we got buckets of mojitos and piscolas and a huge plate of chips with meat (so good).

    The next day I moved into a hostel because Robyn's mum was coming to stay for her birthday. I arranged to stay in the same hostel as the couple I first met in Iguazu (Lucy and Andy). As they were arriving later in the afternoon, in the day I met up with Sam who I met in Pucón and we went to the museum about Chile's dictatorship in the 1970s. It was really interesting but I was feeling a bit hungover and we got the audio tapes which went on a bit. After we got ice cream and I went back to my hostel and waited for Lucy and Andy to arrive 😃 (I was so excited as I had such a fun time with them in Buenos Aires). When they arrived it was soo nice to see them again and we caught up on everything we'd done since we last saw each other.

    Deciding we wanted to have good pizza which has been hard to come by up until now, we managed to find a really great Italian restaurant that even did mozzarella dippers. The pizza was spot on and we had lots of wine to go with. After 4 days of drinking I was supposed to be going to Valparaiso the next day but sacked it off in favour of just doing nothing and getting ready for Easter Island as I had to be up at 3am the next day to go to the airport.

    All in all, Santiago was really fun - so nice to catch up with people that I've met along the way and of course, meet even more new people. I wouldn't say there is a lot to do in terms of site seeing but it's like London in that it's a really fun place to go out to eat or drink. That being said, I've eaten and drunk far too much and now I'm looking forward to reigning it in a little over the next few days at least.
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  • Day 66

    Easter Island

    April 9, 2017 in Chile ⋅ 🌬 25 °C

    Arriving on Easter Island was so surreal! Like can't actually believe I made it here 😱. In a way, it was like being back in Brazil as it's so tropical here! Finally I might get my tan back.

    Amazing as it is, as Easter Island is really expensive I've opted for camping and I really like where I'm staying! (Bar the typical Chilean style of customer service - slow verging on non-existent). The campsite backs onto a beach and so every night you can cook dinner and watch the sunset with one of the fisherman playing the ukulele in the background. I love my tent, I've been sleeping so well here - so much better than in hostels - and so I was sad to leave my happy place :(

    On my first full day on Easter Island I walked to Orongo Village where there is an extinct volcano. On the way, I stopped at Ana Kai Tagata, a cave by the sea where you can see drawings on the cave walls from the Rapa Nui ancient civilisation. I also got a misleadingly named 'hop-on hop-off' bus around the island, but it only drives you round and you see the maoi statues from the bus - you can't get off!

    On my second day I hired a bike and cycled to some of the closer moai statues, Ahu a Kivi and Ahu Huri a Urenga. On the plus side I've been really active since being here and my non-existent cycling skills seemed to have improved since Bariloche as now at least I don't have to stop and walk up every hill. Just the odd one now.

    If I didn't think I'd already done enough hiking on this trip to last me a lifetime, I also climbed up to Mauna Tere Vaka which is the islands tallest point (507m). Although it was a long walk, there was a really nice viewpoint at the top. It makes you appreciate how small/ remote the island is as you cannot see anything but sea.

    On the last day, and in my opinion the best day, I took a guided tour of the island to see all of the main sites (and get a lot closer to them than I was on the bus). It was good to get some the history of the place because you don't get any of that otherwise. Although it's all pretty amazing, the highlights for me were Rano Raraku, the quarry where the Rapa Nui tribe used to carve the moai statues. This was such an amazing place, as there are nearly 400 moai statues here and some were left unfinished and still half-carved into the rocks. After this, we went to Ahu Tongariki which is the most famous of the sites because there are 13 statues there all lined up (this also makes a pretty good picture). Last but not least, a little bit of beach time at Anakena beach which has white sands and turquoise waters. Being here really reminds you that you are on a Polynesian island.

    I also met this Austrian guy at my campsite who I hung out with. One evening we were walking along the beach when we came across an expensive-looking hotel and outside there were lots of signs and it looked like a there had been a protest. We got talking to a woman who told us that the land the hotel was built on originally belonged to one of the indigenous families who live on the island. The Chilean Government had asked one of the family members to sign a document but she couldn't read or write, so unknowingly signed the land titles away. This had resulted in a huge legal battle and at one point the army had to be called in because the family would not leave the land and so they cut off the water/ food/ electricity supplies to try and make them leave. We met the family and they invited us to eat their fish with them caught straight from the sea. I'm including this because although I am a tourist and tourism can be such a wonderful thing for the economy, it's also important that we realise how tourism can negatively affect local communities and do our part to be responsible and minimise the harm.

    Leaving was pretty sad as the place is so special, but I'm happy I choose to come here and experience such a beautiful and historic place. It's also made me really want to explore more of Polynesia (hehe). But now back to South America and onto the next leg of my journey. Back to Argentina (this country keeps pulling me back!) for wine and cheese.
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  • Day 70

    Mendoza

    April 13, 2017 in Argentina ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    Mendoza was hilarious and I'm so glad I didn't skip it! Firstly the bus from Santiago was amazing, we drove through the Andes and the view was just incredible. I spent most of the journey gaping out the window and filming on my GoPro. Also such a small world I met an English guy on my bus who grew up in Welwyn Garden City and went to St George's.

    I came to Mendoza for one thing and one thing only: wine. With Hattie who I met in Santiago, and Chris who we recruited in the hostel, we got the bus to the Maipu wine region and straight to Mr. Hugo's bike rental. At our first wine tasting we also met a really nice couple from Essex and united to form a super team called 'the Mendoza maniacs' and started our Tour De Mendoza in peloton formation.

    The wine tasting was so much fun but escalated so quickly from small glasses to bottles and bottles of wine. By the end I was so drunk that I could no longer cycle in a straight line without falling over and eventually fell into a ditch and managed to cut my lip. Then the tourist police pulled me over and gave me a lift back to Mr. Hugo's because the brakes on my bike weren't working and the bike was completely written off. Even though we got back to Mr. Hugo's an hour late with a completely broken bike he didn't seem to mind and invited us all in for mango juice. I don't remember the bus back but that's probably for the best and I think I pretty much passed out when we got back to the hostel.

    The next day was a complete write off and ended up having a film day which was just what was needed. Hattie and I thought we were getting the same bus back to Santiago in the evening but it turned out my bus was the one half an hour later! My luggage was already on the other coach so I had to fish it out quickly before it drove off.

    Now I'm leaving behind Argentina for good and I'm feeling pretty sad about it! This country is so incredible, I've had loads of good times here and seen some amazing things - from BA to the end of the world, and back up through Calafate and Bariloche. There's still so much more of the country that I haven't explored, and so I'd love to come back one day and do the north. Thanks for the memories Argentina - and my very sore head! Don't cry for me.
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  • Day 72

    San Pedro de Atacama

    April 15, 2017 in Chile ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

    I have heard so many good things about San Pedro so I was so excited to come here. Before heading there I made another quick stop off in Santiago, to visit Robyn again as it was her 21st birthday party. We went on a night out in Las Condes which was really fun and I was prett hungover the next day for my flight to Calama.

    The flight there even was so cool as the views over the mountains were amazing. When we got to Calama there were mini buses to take us to San Pedro. The whole journey spent looking out of the window as this place makes you feel like you've just landed on the moon. I've never seen anything like it.

    The next day I booked a tour to the salt lagoons. There are 7 lagoons which you drive to and 2 you can swim in. Although it was cold, swimming in them was so fun as you only float - there is more salt in the lakes than the Red Sea! After we went to watch the sunset at a viewpoint overlooking the moon valley. That night I also did the astronomy tour. You go out into the desert and away from all the light pollution and can see the stars. We were explained the constellations and also able to see the moon, Saturn, Jupiter and over star clusters really clearly. This was one of my favourite parts of my stay in San Pedro because I've never really done anything like that before.

    On my last day in San Pedro and Chile as a whole, I went on a tour to see Valle de la Luna, 'the moon valley'. It was so much fun because I met an English girl named Holly and we got on really well. The first part of the tour was caving which was cool. You can really understand why it is called the moon valley because there are rock craters and sand dunes everywhere. At the end of the tour we went to watch the sunset over the valley which was perfect for photos. The sky turns an amazing red colour and the mountains turn purple. In the evening we out for pizza but we were so delirious from being out in the sun all day and kept forgetting what we were talking about.

    The next day I'm headed off on the Salar de Uyuni tour which marks the end of my travels in Chile 🇨🇱. Chile is an awesome place with some of the most breathtaking, out of this world landscapes I've ever seen. I'll be leaving in behind for Bolivia which I've heard a lot about and can't wait to explore.
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