Category Archives: Destination

Cusco, Peru – Impressions

August 10, 2013 Keyman 1 Comment

Cusco in Southern Peru is the historic capital of the Incan Empire from its establishment in the 13th century until the Spanish invaded in 1534 and sacked the place, destroying many of the Incan buildings so they could create their own city in its place. There are still a few Incan structures left, some temples and some think stone walls. Cusco was supposed to have been built in the shame of a Puma, a sacred animal of the Incans.

Like La Paz, Cusco is build in a bowl, although it’s nowhere near as large, only one or two of the bowl walls have housing built on them. And unlike La Paz, which is totally built using clay bricks, there’s not a single clay brick house in sight.

Cusco is high in the Andes at around 3400m above sea level and has a lot of old spanish architecture dotted around the city…

There are also many plazas around the central city and most have fountains. There are more fountains here than any other single place I’ve been to in South America. There are also more tourists here in Cusco than I’ve seen in one place elsewhere in South America. There’s good reason for this, Cusco is 71km away from the number one tourist site in South America; Machu Picchu. When walking around the city, there are groups of tourists 20-30 thick walking everywhere.

There are quieter places in Cusco, many of the roads around the city central are cobbled and rather quaint.

Then, while in Peru, one must try one of the delicacies, deep fried Guinea Pig. I compare it to dark duck meat, and while it was nice, it’s not something I’ll be eating all the time.

On the streets of Cusco, around the central plazas, are lots of hawkers trying to sell different tours and the like. they go along with the many, many tour operators stores everywhere. But tours aren’t the only thing they’re hawking, they also push massages, suggesting you’ll need one after climbing to Machu Picchu.

My next stop is a small town called Aguas Caliente, literally ‘hot waters’ or hot pools. It’s only 4km from Machu Picchu and other than the Inca Trail is the only way to get there. My aim is to be up at 4am to make the climb to the hidden city to be there at sunrise and to miss most of the tourists. And while I love to hike, I plan to not do the Inca Trail as I call it Disneyland, there are just so many people walking it that it goes against why I like to hike, the serenity and quiet of nature. There are plenty of other places in Peru to hike and I have a couple planned.

The Lone Trail Wanderer

Destination, South America

Lake Titicaca, Copacabana and Isla del Sol, Bolivia

August 7, 2013 Keyman 1 Comment

At 3800m above sea level, the massive Lake Titicaca is the highest navigable lake in the world. Stretching 190km in length, the blue watered lake just disappeared off into the horizon.

From the Bolivian side, Copacabana is the city on the lake and the only way to get there from La Paz is by bus, also meaning a 15 minutes ferry ride, as the direct road actually crosses into Peru and back again. Copacabana as taken from a ferry…

There are several small islands near the southern end of the lake…

With the major island on the Bolivian side is Isla del Sol, the Island of the Sun, a place where the Incas believed the sun lived. There are more than 80 ruins on the island, this one being the Temple of the Sun…

The most common thing to do from Copacabana is to catch a ferry to Isla del Sol. Landing on the Southern pier there is a daunting set of steps leading up. It’s more daunting knowing that at altitude it’s going to be a difficult climb.

At the highest point of the island is a small castle which is being built for tourist purposes. On the island there are numerous hostels and restaurants for the Gringo visitors, of which there are about 250 a day, some choosing to stay overnight, while others return to Copacabana.

Small communities are dotted all over the island, with 800 families living here…

Off to the east is Isla del Luna, Island of the Moon.

When you’re this high in the mountains, you don’t expect to see such a massive lake, but it’s a thing of beauty. While Copacabana is a typical Bolivian small city with plentiful brick buildings, there’s also a large tourist base and plentiful hostels and hotels. With many of the hotels offering similar prices to the hostels, it’s often a better choice to treat yourself.

Unfortunately while I was here, it was Bolivian Independence week and there were markets everywhere. The unfortunate part is that all accommodations are more expensive at this time of year.

Next, I head off to Cusco, capital of Peru.

The Lone Trail Wanderer

Destination, South America

Andean High Plains and Salt Flats, Bolivia

August 1, 2013 Keyman 1 Comment

High in the Andes is the Altiplano Plateau at an average altitude of 3750m above sea level. There are many attractions on the Altiplano, the most popular of which is the Salar de Uyuni, a massive salt flat where an inland salt lake drained leaving only salt. While some people just come here for the salt flats, many do the longer tour along the length of the plateau with the Salar as the first day.

I decided to do a 3 day tour, not including the overnight bus to and from Uyuni…

Day 1
The bus from La Paz to Uyuni was comfortable, but the road wasn’t. The ride is 10 hours, the last 7 being over a rocky dirt road. This was an overnight bus, so the last 7 hours were when we were trying to sleep. Strangely enough, plentiful sleep was had by all.

Once the bus arrived in the town of Uyuni, there was over an hour before the tour started, so a quick look around town and half an hour later I’d seen most of it.

There were six of us on the tour and we were packed into a Land Cruiser and taken to our first stop, the train graveyard.

Trains were used for many years as a major goods transport means around this area of South America and Bolivia, but most stopped over 40 years ago. There is still a line running from Bolivia to Chile, however. The graveyard is not that large and is definitely a tourist stop around the old rusting trains. In the car park I counted 30 4WD vehicles. If each had 6 tourists then that’s 180 people starting tours today, plus drivers. This was not counting the 4WDs we saw leaving as we arrived or the ones arriving as we left. It’s the middle of the high season, after all…

Next was a quick stop off at Colchani for some markets, selling things made out of hardened salt and Llama wool. Colchani is right on the edge of the salt flats and is a major refining town.

Then we were onto the Salar themselves, stopping just inside where workers from Colchani were scraping patches of unrefined salt into piles. There are plentiful piles there already and they’re not as sandy as they look but very hard. I stood on one and it was solid. We even tasted the salt but it only had a faint salty taste.

Another 30 minutes away, we stopped at a hotel made completely from blocks of salt. We then drove 80km across the flats to Incahuasi Island, a large rocky outcrop in the middle of the flats. From different places on the island you can see where water would lap at the beaches during wet season when it’s surrounded by several centimetres of water.

We stopped for lunch before exploring the rocky structure of the island with its huge old cacti, some of which have been dated as being more than 900 years old.

Leaving the island, we drove for a couple of hours across the flats, stopping briefly for some photos of the open salt flats…

…before leaving the flats and coming to our overnight destination, Hostel Samarikuna in the town of Villa Candelaria, another building made from salt bricks. Llama chops for dinner!

Day 2
We left Salar de Uyuni early in the morning and drove across the vasty smaller Salar de Chinguana which is less white than the Uyuni salt flats. We stopped under a series of volcanos along the Chilean border on a patch of very white and very strong tasting salt.

Next we drove to the lava fields under Volcan Ollague to look at various rock structures made by dried lava.

The road became rockier as we made out way past several lagoons most of them with their own flocks of Flamingos, some pink and others not so pink.

We stopped at a vantage point over one of the lagunas for lunch.

After lunch, we drove for a couple of hours through the Siloli Desert where no vegetation grew.

The barren landscape is nothing but rocks and sand under the ever present volcanoes, of which there are more than 50 along the plateau. We travelled along the Andes Ranges wall for some time, stopping only to climb a rocky embarkment where I spied an Andean rock rabbit, but it was too quick to get on camera.

Next, we stopped at a large stone forest with the famous Stone Tree. It’s very much like the Remarkable Rocks in Australia, formed by a lava bubble that came up through the surface, hardened and eroded over time.

Lastly for the day, our trip took us cross country another hour to Laguna Colorado, a lake where sediment has turned it a milky red, with patches of floating snow.

Flamingos stand in its waters sifting for food. We were dropped off at a mirador on the lake and walked around it to our accommodations for the night.

Day 3
The temperature dropped to -15°C overnight. We were up at 4.45am and getting ready for the day. After breakfast we were off into the icy darkness along a road which looked to have been plowed. The road itself was clear but on either side a wall of snow sometimes up to two metres tall.

We drove through the icy mountains landscape as the sun began to rise, stopping at a man-made geyser…

…then to a field of natural geysers.

It was so icy we only got out long enough to take a photo before getting back into the warmth of the vehicle.

We then drove to an aguas caliente – a hot pool fed by a natural spring at nearly 5000m above sea level. Three of us stripped down in the icy weather and threw ourselves in. Most people refrained from getting in, but the heat of the water in the cool air was amazing! We finally got out after about 30 minutes when some of the other vehicles had arrived and other travellers had braved the water. Getting out was not as cold as expected, the hot water having lifted our core temperatures enough that the skin chill was not enough to cool us.

Once dressed, we were off again and an hour later was at Laguna Verde – Green Lake. We didn’t stay long in the freezing winds before heading to the tri-border of Chile, Argentina and Bolivia. It was here I said goodbye to my five travelling companions who were heading into Chile, me alone with our driver who didn’t speak any english, for an 8 hour trip back to Uyuni.

We took an alternative route back to the Laguna Colorado through a frozen wilderness and a rugged but more direct route towards Uyuni. About ten minutes before we were due to stop for lunch the passenger steering stabilising hinge snapped leaving the wheel hanging at an odd angle. The driver began taking it apart and after an hour had it in pieces. It was going to take him a lot longer to fix so I was squeezed into another 4WD that had stopped and was off again.

The next stop with my new crew was a place called Valle de Rocas with some impressive rocky outcrops and spires.

On our way again, we were 20 minutes from Uyuni when the 4WD got a flat tire on the same wheel as the previous vehicle!! Argh! They didn’t have a spare either, having already had a flat tire on their adventure. We flagged down another vehicle and borrowed one.

We eventually made it back to the Uyuni ready for the overnight bus back to La Paz.

Overall, it was another great experience along an amazing mountainous landscape. Next, after a brief stop off in La Paz, I’m off to Lake Titicaca.

The Trail Wanderer

Destination, South America

La Paz, Bolivia – Impressions

July 26, 2013 Keyman 1 Comment

Nuestra Señora de La Paz (Our Lady of Peace) is Bolivia’s second largest city – after Santa Cruz de la Sierra – and is set high in the Andes mountains on the Altiplano (high plains in spanish). The city is built in a bowl, almost like a crater, with the rich and middle class living towards the lower areas in the centre. When the city began to expand the only way it could go was up, so in all directions the houses were built up the sides of the bowl. The poorer people of La Paz live in the brick buildings that span all visible walls. At night, the lights of the city are a marvel to see, both from the centre looking up and from the rim looking down.

On the southern horizon of La Paz is Bolivia’s 2nd tallest mountain, Illimani, at just over 6,400m. Illimani is only the 18th tallest mountain in the Andes.

As you arrive in La Paz by bus, you will no doubt travel around the top of the bowl and be amazed when you look down at the sprawling city below. However, for the first couple of days, the central city – no doubt where you’ll be staying – seems a little dirty and run down, with the calls of Bolivians trying to sell you whatever they can or the beggars silently holding their hands out to you. As you slowly explore the city over the first couple of days, it grows on you very quickly. There’s a certain charm about La Paz.

La Paz has plentiful markets and shopping areas, but there’s a strange thing that I’ve found about Bolivia in general is that they don’t have just one store selling something, they have an entire block of small stores selling the same thing. As an example, I spent 2 days in the city of Santa Cruz before coming to La Paz and found a three story mall with about 100 shops in it, 95 of them selling mobile phones. Most of the stores were selling exactly the same models too. This is the same in La Paz, I walked through the hardware sales section of the central city and there were shop after shop selling exactly the same thing, with even smaller booth shops set up in front of the other shops selling the same thing also. It did make it easier when I was looking for a new sleeping bag, all the adventure stores were grouped together as well.

The location of La Paz enables it to be a hub for many different activities, with plentiful hikes across the altiplano, the Death Road, and busses leaving for the jungle to the north or the salt flats to the south. In the city there are a couple of parks and miradors, but most things are just outside the city. When walking around the city, you will note a plentiful small plazas and the occasional piece of architecture. On one day, I caught a taxi to The Megacentre, a multi level mall with large movie theatre. When you enter the centre, you wander if you’ve left Bolivia.

Lastly, unless you have come from the high areas of Peru or the salt flats, you are going to have to deal with the altitude. The lowest point of La Paz is 3,500m while the highest is 4,200m. So, for the first day in the city, you might have a serious headache and it will be hard work climbing the numerous hills or stairs, as the lack of air will have you gasping like crazy. There are plentiful ways to deal with altitude sickness, pre dosing with altitude pills, chewing on coca leaves, buying special coca powder (no, not cocaine, although that is derived from the leaves) or similar. After a few days it gets easier, although you may still have issues climbing steps.

My time in La Paz has been most enjoyable and I would recommend a visit if you are in the region.

The Lone Trail Wanderer

Destination, South America

Death Road, Bolivia

July 26, 2013 Keyman 3 Comments

Leading 69km across Bolivia from La Paz to the small town of Coroico is a road called North Yungas Road. North Yungas Road has another name, Death Road, and in1995 it was christened the world’s most dangerous road because of an estimated 200-300 deaths each year. Death Road runs along the side of a precarious cliff for most of its length. If you tip over the edge, it is 600 metres straight down and there aren’t any guard rails to stop you.

Because of the danger, a new road has been built over the course of 20 years ending in 2006, although there are parts that are still under construction and some impatient Bolivian drivers still tempt fate on Death Road. Since the mid 90’s when most of the traffic started using the new road, the road became a tourist attraction. People suit up and ride mountain bikes along most of the length of the rocky and dusty road. Since the road starts at about 4700m above sea level and finishes at 1200m, very little pedalling is required, you just steer, brake and try not to fall off. Since 1998 there have been at least 18 cyclists die on the road from about 25,000 cyclists who have ridden it…

So, with all that, one must be tempted by the attraction, so a small group of us from a couple of hostels decided to join the masses and ride the Death Road… We were one of about five adventure groups doing it this particular day, with a total of about 40. With 69km there was plenty of room for us.

The day started out slowly, it had rained overnight, which meant that higher up, it had snowed. We were picked up at 9.30 and waited at the bus station for about 2.5 hours before the police opened the road. Then with everyone going at once, it took us nearly 90 more minutes to get through the check point out of town. For a ride that was supposed to begin at 10.30, we finally got started at 2pm.

At 4,650m it’s icy and we all shivered while getting into our clothing for the ride. Then after safety instructions we were off along the first 9km of road which is fully sealed. Being sealed means an easier run and for some a faster one.

The first part on the sealed road was amidst amazing views of the snowy peaks. The sealed road can be made out on the left of the photo below… We made good time overtaking slower trucks and buses as we raced along.

Then, we were back in the van and driven to the official main entrance to Death Road, where it actually becomes a rocky, dirt road. We had a late lunch then headed off, still dressed in out full kit as it was icy, and those without sun glasses had tears streaming down their faces. After a time we stopped to pose for photos – something we did regularly along the road.

A couple of times during the ride, we were tailed by a truck and had to pull off to the side to let it past.

As we got further along the road, it began to get warmer and thankfully the van we came in was following us down so from time to time we could strip off some of the layers. On one of the more famous corners of the road, we took photos on the edge of cliff. Some of the group were more cautious about being close to the edge while others of us were less worried. That’s me on one leg…

Again as we got lower, the temperature grew warmer, and even passing under the occasional waterfall sprinkling the road was not enough to cool us down. Then we were forced to pull to the side as a series of trucks went past…

About three quarters of the way down, some of the locals were having a celebration on the side of the road and we stopped for photos.

By the bottom of the road, some of us had stripped down to singlets in the heat.

At the end of the road, we were back in the van and taken to a resort where we spent only an hour (if it hadn’t been for the wait earlier in the day, we would have stayed longer). We did get to have a dip in the pool, some food and a couple of beers before getting back into the van and the 3 hour trip back to La Paz.

Overall, it was a very fun day with a fun group of people. The road was nowhere as dangerous as imagined and was exhilarating enough that I have considered doing it again.

Next, I’m off for a three day hike through the Bolivian mountains.

The Lone Trail Maniac Cyclist.

Destination, South America

Campo Grande and The Pantanal, Brazil

July 18, 2013 Keyman 2 Comments

The Pantanal is one of the world’s largest wetlands. It’s situated in Western Brazil with a very small portion stretching over the border into both Bolivia and Paraguay. I decided to visit The Pantanal for a couple of reasons, firstly it’s known for its animal species and secondly, it was a stop off on the way to Bolivia. The bus ride from Rio de Janeiro to Campo Grande is just under 22 hours. To continue on to Santa Cruz in Boliviawould mean at least another 16 hours. 38 hours on a bus isn’t my idea of fun.

Campo Grande is a city of nearly 800,000 people, but it looks fresh and not run down like Rio. I stayed in the creatively named Hostel Campo Grande, although in all fairness there aren’t many hostels in the city. The hostel looked to be a rather large and nicely set up place, with many rooms and a swimming pool – it gets fairly warm out here in the middle of South America. I did have one major issue with the hostel, though, when I went to cook in the kitchen, I found a single pot, no pans, and nothing else but an old wooden spoon. Thankfully breakfast was absolutely amazing, with fresh rolls, many types of fresh fruit and good coffee.

The thing about Campo Grande is its access to The Pantanel. I was planning a 3 night stay in the hostel, then to make my way into The Pantanal on a tour and hope to get dropped off at the Bolivian border afterwards. At breakfast on the day after I’d arrived the owner told me of a group of English university students who were coming from Foz do Iguaçu and were planning an overnight stay in the Pantanal before being delivered to the border of Bolivia. If I went with them my night’s stay in the hostel would be free. With 90 minutes before they arrived, I raced around packing, buying strong insect repellant and cooking the last of my food.

When the English group arrived we were packed in a van with a bunch of others and driven several hours into the country with a single stop off at a Brazilian per kg buffet restaurant. We were dropped at a road crossing where we boarded an off road truck and driven along a bumpy dirt road. As we drove we could start to see the wetlands beginning around us…

We continued on, driving over wooden bridges that creaked under our weight, until we came to this large metal bridge across the river with riverboats anchored along its side…

A little while later the truck had a flat tire and we hung out watching chickens and dogs until it was fixed. About a kilometre later we sighted the first set of Caimans – members of the Alligator family. There are apparently more than 40 million of them in the Pantanal.

As we travelled along the road the sun went down and the 15 of us on the back of the truck reapplied insect repellant and hunkered down as it went from hot to cool in the space of 30 minutes. In the dark we eventually arrived at a river where we could see houses lit up on the other side. We waited as several boats were sent to collect us and our luggage.

Once we arrived and were assigned rooms, we were taken to the food hall where dinner was waiting: several different salads and Piranha stew. It’s quite strange seeing the mean looking heads looking back at you from the stew… It tasted pretty good though, although it does have quite long bones.

After dinner, we were taken out on a boat in the darkness to see some of the wildlife. We saw several types of birds sleeping in the trees, many bats flying around the river and on the way back, many brief sightings of shiny Caiman eyes.

After a night’s sleep in the heat, I woke to the these views outside my room.

Then back to the main building for breakfast…

After breakfast we were taken back out on the water…

To look at some of the wildlife again… I put some of the features of the camera I’d bought in Pucón, Chile to good use – the 21x zoom and close up mode. This Caiman’s head is only as long as my hand.

We then settled in for a spot of Piranha fishing and between the six of us managed to catch four. Not as awesome as I’d hoped but some is better than none.

We then headed back for lunch and as we’d just come ashore, we were alerted to a Yellow Anaconda that had been spotted near the shore. We were gathered around to look at it when one of the locals walked up in his bare feet and in one swift movement grabbed the snake just behind the head and dragged it onto the land. The Anaconda wasn’t happy and tried to slither back to the river but the local held it by the tail pulling it back so we could get photos.

After a while it was released and slithered back to the water where it just sat there showing off. This snake is only 4 metres long and is as thick as my arm at its thickest. The largest Yellow Anaconda to ever be measured was just over 5 metres and just under 100kg.

After lunch, they deep fried our mornings catch. Very tasty. The English group and I were then driven on the back of a truck further along the rocky dirt road towards the Bolivian border. Along the way we spotted a Capybara, the worlds largest rodent. For perspective this one is almost a metre in length. I’d say nose to tail but they have no tail.

Towards the end of the journey, we drove up into the hills and I could see back towards the Pantanal.

Overall, while my Pantanal experience was rather short, there isn’t really that much out there in the world’s largest swamp. It turned out to be rather cheap, including 2 nights accommodation, saving the cost of another bus from Campo Grande to the border and several meals. However, for every extra night the price would have skyrocketed. I was yet another adventure in my travels.

Next I’m off into the lower plains of Bolivia, to the city of Santa Cruz.

The Lone Trail Wanderer

Destination, South America

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – Adventures

July 8, 2013 Keyman 1 Comment

Rio de Janeiro is Brazil’s second largest city. There’s so much going on in Rio that it’s one of the more interesting and entertaining cities I’ve been to in South America. Rio is nestled among some monolithic hills on the edge of the bay similar to the Glasshouse Mountains on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Australia.

The city is rather spread out with a pair of small national parks nestled within the city. And, unlike elsewhere in South America, there’s a decided lack of dogs in Rio. Which means there’s a lot less dog crap on the streets and that cats reign supreme in the city.

My 24 hour trip to Rio was my longest bus ride to date. Most buses I’ve travelled in have been semi-cama (half bed) – similar to many air line seats – while there have been a handful of full-cama – almost full bed. The bus to Rio was all full-cama and quite comfortable but it didn’t have a food service. This turned out well though as for al meals the bus stopped at buffet restaurants that charge by the kilogram .

When I arrived in Rio, I found it to be the dirtiest city that I’ve been in so far, with graffiti covering the majority of the buildings. It didn’t give me the safest feeling. I quickly caught a taxi to my hostel, which turned out to be a very small place with people jammed into 3 small rooms and very little else. One bathroom for 18 people is just not enough. The hostel was also in a central area of town and not in the more famous beach areas. It was very cheap, so I guess you get what you pay for.

A couple of days later, I did a walking tour around the city to some of the more prominent sites in the central city and Lapa, the famous samba party suburb next to it. The city has many well designed buildings, churches, museums and municipal theatres.

The cathedral is like no other cathedral I’ve seen.

It holds 10 thousand and has amazing acoustics. Looking up from the inside…

Then, from the central city you can look out across the bay to the suburbs on the eastern shore.

Next, I booked a full city tour, to do some more of the touristy things. It took me to the Lapa Steps built by a Chilean artist…

… to the Lapa arches, Maracanã stadium before up the mountain to see the most famous of attractions in Rio, Cristo Redentor – Christ the Redeemer.

The hill it stands on gives great views over one part of the city and the peninsula that ends with Sugarloaf Mountain.

Lasty, we were delivered to the end of the peninsula and took cable cars up to Sugar Loaf mountain. The views from both mountains are amazing.

Getting to the top of the monolithic Sugar Loaf is a two step journey, the first up to Morro da RCA then up via the cable car another 1500m to Pão de Açúcar (Sugar Loaf Mountain).

We stayed up there until sunset and watched the lights of the city appear below us. Definitely a spectacle to be seen.

After a week in a tiny hostel in the city, it was time to move to the beach, so I booked three nights at a Copacabana beach hostel. On the second day, I hired a bike and rode the length of the busy Copacabana and Ipanema beachs.

While it’s the middle of winter, it’s a beautiful 27ºC here and the beach has plentiful sun bakers, kite surfers and beach sports. The classic brazilian bikini is everywhere…

Rio de Janeiro has been an awesome experience. It feels more like a group of very different cities all merged in together.

Next I head towards Bolivia, stopping off in the Pantanal, the worlds largest wetlands…

The Lone Trail Wanderer

Destination, South America

Iguazú Falls, Argentina and Brazil – Impressions

June 29, 2013 Keyman 5 Comments

On the border of Argentina and Brazil are the mighty Iguazú Falls. One of the seven new wonders of the world, the falls connect a national park in each country. The falls are among the seven largest waterfalls in the world, a third larger than Niagara Falls.

From the Argentinian township of Puerto Iguazú it’s easy to see both sides of the falls. The Argentinian side has many wide cascades of water at several levels while the Brazilian side has the Devil’s Throat, a U-shaped section of the falls. Here are details of both with prices correct as at June 2013:

Argentina – Cataratas del Iguazú

The trip from Puerto Iguazú by bus takes about 15 minutes. The Argentinian side is the more expensive of the two parks at $170 pesos (about US$34), but it has the larger tourist area. There are several different walks in the park and a boat tour that takes you up close to the cascades. The boat tour – the Gran Adventura – is fairly expensive at $350 pesos (US$70) but I booked it anyway. Near the booking area I came across some South American Coatí scavenging for food.

It was raining on the day of my visit, so I bought a cheap rain poncho. After booking the Gran Adventura, I had an hour to kill so went for a walk around the park along a trail creatively named, ‘The Lower Trail’. Because of the rain and an excess of water going over the falls The Upper Trail was closed, which was a shame as it leads across a series of bridges to a platform above the Devil’s Throat.

The lower trail leads down the bank, past many smaller waterfalls to several lookouts with different views of the flatter side of the falls. At one point, the trail gets very close to the cascades where the spray is thick in the air. Thankfully for the poncho I stayed mainly dry.

The Gran Adventura begins with a 30 minute safari through the rainforest where a guide introduces several different native trees and I got to see my first ever monkeys in the wild.

Then we were strapped into the boat and shot off at full force along the river.

With so much of the thick dirty brown water coming over the falls, the water eddies like crazy and even the big jet boat was thrown around. With the amount of spray coming off the falls it was difficult to get close to the churning water coming down the Devil’s Throat…

…so we spent more time getting close to and drenched by the cascades section.

Then it was a crazy ride back along with the river, back into the safari trucks and out of the park.

Brazil – Cataratas do Iguaçu

The trip to the brazilian side of the falls takes about 30 minutes, including a short stop at customs. Because it’s considered a tour, no fees or visas are required.

Brazil’s park is larger overall but with a smaller tourist area. It’s cheaper at $41 Reals ($US21). To get to the viewing platforms, you need to take an internal bus which can drop you off along the way depending on what tour you want to do. They also have boat tours similar to the Argentinian side.

The park’s main path is slightly shorter than the Argentinian side but has better views, beginning with a view across the river to the cascades section of the falls…

As you get closer to the Devil’s Throat, the trail zigzags up the wall to a viewing platform right at its side, which provides awesome views of the upper river pouring right down the Devil’s Throat.

While there was a section also closed because of the height of the water, the views were still amazing.

With no rain today there were plentiful moths and butterflies about. They will land on everything at a moments notice. If they weren’t so colourful, they’d be considered pests.

Overall, the falls are a definite must see. While you can be happy seeing just one side, it’s not hard to see both and well worth the money spent.

Next I’m off to see the wonders of Brazil and Rio De Janeiro.

The Lone Trail Wanderer

Destination, South America

Buenos Aires, Argentina – Take 2

June 29, 2013 Keyman 3 Comments

After several months travelling around the southern portion of South America I returned to my starting point of Buenos Aires. On my initial visit, I’d only spent 3 days there and hadn’t seen a lot of the city. On my return visit, I stayed 10 days to hang out with a group of locals I’d arranged to meet and to see some of the sights of the city, like the main courthouse.

On my second visit I staying in the central suburb of Palermo at a hostel chain called Hostel Suites Palermo, which had an above average but nothing to rave about. Palermo is described as an up and coming suburb, but with homeless people living at the end of the block perhaps ‘slowly up and eventually coming’ is closer to the mark.

Buenos Aires has 3 million people and is quite spread out. Because of its size and with the lack of national parks in the province, walking around the city was where most of my exercise came from. One afternoon, I made plans to catch up with a new friend and walked an hour along one of the main streets lined with shops. When I finally got to the meeting point, the shops continued off into the distance.

The next day, I walked in the opposite direction along the same street. An hour later I arrived in the city centre and again shops had covered the entire distance and stretched on into the distance. On my walk I stopped in at El Ateneo Grand Splendid, the bookstore to end all bookstores, an old theatre that had been converted into a book store. It’s the most famous bookstore in Argentina but has very few books in english.

Near the centre of town is a large group of parks and on the next sunny day I wandered around a pond full of geese and sat reading on a bench as skaters and cyclists went by.

On the next day it was forecast to rain, so together with a girl I’d met at the hostel, we checked out some of the more cultural features of the city centre, several monuments which we called ‘boob monuments’, as they all contained carvings of topless women. Then when it began to rain, we looked around several museums and galleries in the area.

With Uruguay on the far side of aptly named Rio Uruguay, I caught a ferry across to Colonia on the next sunny day to tick that country off my travel list.

Overall, Buenos Aires felt different to my previous visit. But during that earlier I’d been suffering culture shock. The ever-present doggie doo was still a major problem in Buenos Aires. I did see a handful of people pick up after their mutt only to find the bags of doggie doo left in the middle of the footpath. Progress is slow…

Next I headed to my final Argentinian destination, Puerto Iguazú and the country’s other major attraction, Iguazú Falls.

The Lone Trail Wanderer

Destination, South America

Colonia, Uruguay – Impressions

June 21, 2013 Keyman 3 Comments

Uruguay’s full name is ‘The Oriental Republic of Uruguay’, an english translated perversion of the name which actually means ‘The republic east of the Uruguay (river)’.

From Buenos Aires the ferry takes just over an hour to get to the small town of Colonia del Sacramento. It’s a must visit if you’re in Argentina’s capital for a few days. Although the trip can be a little expensive, about US$75 return, half of that for border taxes.

After a mad dash across Buenos Aires in a taxi, I made the ferry with about 30 minutes to spare and once through customs and onboard the catamaran, I promptly went for a nap for the hour and ten minutes it took to cross.

Compared to the madly bustling metropolis that is Buenos Aires, Colonia is small, quaint and tranquil. Much of the 500-year-old original town is still there with its original cobblestone roads and buildings.

As part of the ferry booking there was a walking tour around the original township, nestled at the end of the peninsula. We walked to what was left of the wall that had separated the town during the War of Independence. The wall is now only about 30 metres long with a single gate and drawbridge, the rest having been removed. As a welcome there was a white-faced mime standing on a boulder just on the inside of the gate.

Many of the old buildings have survived through the years and are protected by the government. Some of the buildings weren’t so lucky and have had new buildings built within their old structures…

Other buildings have been refurbished and converted to other uses, in this case a restaurant…

After the tour, I went to find something to eat and found a restaurant where a singer could be heard inside. Outside, there were three old cars that had been converted to other uses… this one into a two-seater table for the restaurant. The other behind has a garden growing in it.

DSCN2536

The restaurant was lovely as was the entertainment and they gave the prices for the meal in US dollars, Argentinian pesos and Uruguayan pesos, but it was expensive unless you’re actually paying in US dollars.

After lunch, I walked around the township enjoying the quiet. I stopped at an ATM in hope of getting some US dollars but it had run out. Many people come to Uruguay from Argentina to get US dollars to sell on the black market, sometimes for twice its value. I was unlucky, they’d run out by the time I’d got there. Later I headed to the bay to watch the sunset. Just to the left of the island, the buildings of downtown Buenos Aires can just be made out.

The trip back across the bay was uneventful and at approximately 10pm local time, I arrived back in Buenos Aires.

This was my only trip into Uruguay. After a couple of more days in Buenos Aires, I traveled north by bus to my final destination in Argentina, Puerto Iguazú – one of the 4 largest waterfalls in the world and home of the Devil’s Throat, Iguazú Falls.

The Lone Country Hopping Trail Wanderer

Cutting a trail around the world, one country at a time…