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  • Vera and Tom

South America

A 127-day adventure by Vera Read more
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  • Vera and TomSouth AmericaVera and Tom

    Santiago

    February 9, 2016 in Chile ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    Got back to Chile to our friends Cami and Cristian from couchsurfing, we stayed with them the following 3 days. Santiago is the most European style city we've visited in South America, the cars stop at the zebra and there are actual bus stops instead of just waving them off! It also has a really nice atmosphere, lots of green spaces and areas with lots of outdoor bars. Visited the centre, the Palace, some touristy shopping streets with restaurants, the arts and crafts market and a park which was on the top of a little hill. On the top there was a church and a viewpoint with lots of interesting plants and rocks, it was cool! At the end of our long day we had homemade traditional food and some friends of our friends were waiting for us.Read more

  • Vera and TomSouth AmericaVera and Tom
    11

    Los Dominicos

    February 10, 2016 in Chile ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    Our hosts joined us for the day and we headed off to Los Dominicos. It's called 'pueblito', little town, and still seems a bit that way despite being absorbed by the edge of Santiago's sprawl. There are some beautiful old buildings and dozens of little shops selling all kinds of strange things perfect for souvenir hunters.
    We bought a few little things including some Chilean paprika type stuff which we later mixed with salt and coated the rims of our beer glasses with, as per Cami's instructions. She assured us that it is typically Chilean, called Michelada, it's certainly strange to have spicy beer but not completely terrible!
    Another local speciality is Mote con Huesillos, which we tried later at the city's biggest park. This one really is weird, some kind of juicy stuff with a dried apricot floating around in it and a layer of wheat at the bottom which you eat with a spoon, an interesting experience.
    In the park is funincular which we (very bravely) took up the hill. It is very long and steep but the views over the city are amazing. At the top we found a huge Virgin Mary statue and lots of concrete crosses painted in bright colours.    Read more

  • Vera and TomSouth AmericaVera and Tom

    Valparaíso

    February 12, 2016 in Chile ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    Valparaíso is famous for its colourful houses, steep hills and many funinculars going up and down and all over the place.
    We arrived here at the second attempt, having overslept the previous morning. It almost happened again after a few too many Piscolas (pisco and coke) the night before, but we managed to drag ourselves onto a bus.
    It is a port city in a bay full of huge container ships and some Chilean navy boats almost as big.
    Seeing the queues for the first funincular we came across, we opted to walk up the hill. It was tough going, especially with our hangovers, but worthwhile to see all the funny little houses and a great view of the port from the top.
    Back down the hill again and we had a wander around the centre and went tweezers shopping, don't ask. (I can explain why! Tom lost my whole toiletry bag a couple of days before :p - Vera) We also met a couple of student types whose job seemed to be to help lost looking tourists with hangovers, ideal! They directed us to 'the world's oldest funincular', not sure about that but it was certainly terrifying. At the top of that one we found more great views, lots of street art, lots of postcard sellers and Beethoven Street, complete with piano staircase.
    After a spot of tea we hopped back on the bus to Santiago.

    Unfortunately our fuzzy morning heads had meant we had managed to bring the camera without its memory card, rationing us to only a dozen or so photos for one of South America's most photogenic cities, bugger. It also means those few photos are stuck on the camera until such time as we can find a cable to fit it. Watch this space.    Read more

  • Vera and TomSouth AmericaVera and Tom
    11

    Sao Paulo

    February 15, 2016 in Brazil ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    A brief visit to Brazil was interesting as even if Sao Paulo is massive (21 million people) we managed to visit some different areas. Our first story/impression: got on a crowded bus from the airport to the centre, after a while there was a loud crack like the sound of a stone hitting the windscreen, then another. The driver started to slow down but then all the locals on the bus started shouting. We were very confused until a couple of guys explained to us what was happening.

    "People are throwing stones to try to make the bus stop so they can rob us"
    "But don't worry we won't stop and this kind of thing doesn't usually happen."
    "Welcome to Brazil!"

    The first day was about being so hot for the last time in South America and attempted and failed to find the Japanese market, still had a nice day and went to the food market and some other areas.
    After 3 months in Spanish speaking countries we couldn't stop saying 'gracias' for everything and discovered how big the difference is between Spanish and Portuguese, mostly we had just no clue what was going on.
    On our last day in South America the weather decided to prepare us for England, didn't stop raining, also ironic that due to the rain there was no electricity just like at the really beginning of our trip in our first hostel in Colombia. Anyway, had a nice burger in a completely dark jazz club and talked through the last 3 months :)    Read more

  • Vera and TomSouth AmericaVera and Tom
    1
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    Casablanca

    February 16, 2016 in Morocco ⋅ 🌬 14 °C

    19 hours stop over between Brazil and England. Unfortunately we didn't see anything from Morocco but at least managed to find out that the hotel is provided by the airline in case of an over 8 hours stop over, so got some free lunch and breakfast and been in another continent :)Read more

    Trip end
    February 16, 2016
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