Short Update & Links

Things have been rather busy this summer, but I've managed to get some photos up here. Highlights of the summer:

1.) Hiking in the rockies - kanaskis, Yamnuska
2.) Climbing/Camping in the rockies
3.) Trip to Vancouver Island

I've also started a new "photo blog" which I've been better at updating than this one - although only about one to two times a month until construction season eases up. Anyway, enjoy the photos.

Pablo Neruda

I meant to mention Pablo Neruda actually during some of my blog entries, especially in Chile, but never got around to it. He is one of the most famous poets in Chile, and in South America for that matter. We went to one of his houses in Valparaiso - a very eclectic place. During some of my research before my trip, way back in February 2008, I came across this poem that I really like by him.

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Tell me, is the rose naked
or is that her only dress?

Why do trees conceal
the splendor of their roots?

Who hears the regrets
of the thieving automobile?

Is there anything in the world sadder
than a train standing in the rain?

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More Pictures from South America

Well I'm back in Canada and back to work after a short stop over in Toronto for a week on my way back from Lima.  Overall the trip went way too quickly, but time flows a bit differently when traveling.  This trip was definately more fast paced than other extended trips I've done, but with that fast pace I was able to see quite a bit in a short period.

 

I've upload a more extensive photo album at the address below for those who are interested.  The GPS I brought along worked wonders so most of my photos are now 'geotagged' to the location they were taken.

 

http://picasaweb.google.com/amevans22/SnapshotSouthAmerica

 

 

Pisac, Ollantaytambo, & Machu Pichu

I had arranged a three day, 2 night tour from Cusco to Machu Pichu in Cusco. We visited the ruins of Pisac and Ollantaytambo the first day and both have incredible views from the top of their terraces. It's pretty amazing to see such stone construction up so high on such steep mountains. The irregular stones were shaped to fit together perfectly and with no mortar of any sort.

As much as I dreaded Machu Pichu for it's crowds and overall "touristyness" it does live up to its name. Set within a stunning landscape your first view of the place is one of the best. I tried to get up to the top on the 'first bus' as promised on my tour, but after being passed by 12 buses on their way down from the site already, I resigned myself to waiting in line like most others would that day. The mountain seen in the background of Machu Pichu is called Wayna Pichu and actually has it's own ruins at the top. Only 400 people a day are allowed to hike that trail (about a 30-60 min scramble to the top) so I skipped my tour and headed straight to the entrance - only to be number 106. I passed about 50 people on the way up though :) Views from the top of Wayna Pichu down to Machu Pichu are also incredible, and again I was amazed at how a civilization could build such a structure at the top of such a steep mountain!

Puno & Cusco, Peru

Overland from Bolivia, around Lake Titicaca to Puno was my first stop in Peru. An interesting little town, know for its fiestas. I happened to be there for one of them, but not exactly sure what it was for - seemed to be a military thing of some sort. I didn't get a chance to get out on the Lake and see some of the islands and floating islands. A packaged tour bus took me from Puno to Cusco, which was a bit much at times shuffling along with the 100 other people at various historic sites along the way, but an experience none the less.

Cusco was a beautiful colonial city, but definitely well into the 'gringo' trail with backpackers and tourist agencies on every corner. Arranging my future travels to Pisac, Ollatytambo, and Machu Pichu was fairly easy, but after doing a tour I'd recommend to anyone with a little time and effort to DIY.

La Paz, Death Road, & Copacabana

The road from Potosi to La Paz on the overnight bus was much better than the one from Uyuni, though not the most comfortable night bus I've been on. Not a huge city compared to others in South America, but the setting of La Paz is pretty impressive where buildings and houses creep out of the valley floor and out over the rim.

The 'Death Road' of Bolivia, or the Yungas Road as it's also known as, was quite an experience. Equipped with full suspension bikes, disc brakes, and helmet of course I felt a little better starting the 65km journey. Almost all downhill, with a total descent of almost 3600m, good brakes were definately needed. The first half of the trip is actually on a paved section of the "new road" and you can bomb it down pretty fast with only the wind slowing you down. The second section is where it got a little tricky, used as the main highway to the jungle from La Paz up until a year ago, this road is only about 3m wide in many parts - with up to 600m drops on the one side! There was no 'bombing' down this section, especially after hearing that an American tourist died just a few days earlier doing this very route! Views were incredible throughout (when the clouds weren't there) and it was really interesting to travel through 7? different climate zones while we decended from 4800m to almost 1200m.

Copacabana was a small, very touristy border town I spent a night in on my way to Peru. Not a lot to say about this place, except that it was on Lake Titicaca and it had an interesting church.

Uyuni & Potosi

Uyuni is located close to the Salt Flats in Bolivia, this town was
little more than a stopover for tourists coming from or going to the
desert. It did have an interesting train graveyard which a sunset
made even better. Some of the best pizza I had on my trip was had in
Uyuni as well, an expat from Boston has set up shop called Minuteman
Pizza.
A 7 hour bone rattling bus ride from Uyuni took me to Potosi, once the
silver capital of the world and the highest city in the world (4050m).
Potosi Mountain is still mined today, but some geologist estimate
what is now a human ant hill of tunnels and precarious mining
practices will collapse within a couple of years. The Mint is a must
see in the city, showcasing the transition from manual minting tools,
to more mechanical means with a donkey (shown above) to the steam
powered machines that were used up until the middle of last century.

Atacama Desert & Salt Flats, Bolivia

From the oasis of San Pedro de Atacama, we headed into Bolivia and continued through the desert on 4x4s for three days. San Pedro was approximately 2500m, but upon entering Bolivia the first day we got up to 4800m and slept at 4200m which is quite a jump in altitude. Combine that with freezing temperatures at night and the smell of diesel fuel (for cleaning the refuges floors) not surprisingly a few people on the tour felt pretty ill. A constant headache at that altitude is common and luckily that was all I had to deal with.

Our third day in the 4x4s was spent on the Salt Flats near Uyuni, Bolivia. You can do some cool camera tricks out there, with no depth perception. Wish I could have spent more time making stupid pictures out there. They harvest and process some of the salt by hand for consumption, so if any are interested the going rate for 50Kg of salt is about 9 Bolivianos (about $1.3 CAD), flight to Bolivia not included.

San Pedro de Atacama

San Pedro is a place of extremes, nothing but sun in the day, cold at night, and one of the driest places on earth.  This is one of the most beatiful places I've been too in South America with stunning sunsets (above) and geological formations that seem out of this world. 

Salta, Argentina

Salta was the first stop on the tour and we spent a couple of nights here, I was able to see Calafayte (a small wine region), and catch a local show with singing, dancing, and stories I couldn't understand. The drive from Salta to the wine region was spectacular with the mountains showing all sorts of colours from greens to browns to to reds, although I couldn't capture it in a photo.

GAP Tour #2 - Bolivia Crossing

I won't elaborate too much on this tour since the itinerary is online here. This tour takes me from Buenos Aires to Salta, San Pedro de Atacama, Salt Flats, Uyuni, Potosi and finally to La Paz (ending on April 25).

Off the Beaten Track

From Rio until Buenos Aires I was traveling solo after parting ways with Sarah, Tom, Michelle, and Megan. My overall plan was to make it to Buenos Aires by April 14 (about 7 days) to meet up with the second organized tour I just recently signed up for. From Rio I went south to Curitiba, then Torres (a little surfing town further down the coast, photo above), and finally to Montevideo before reaching Buenos Aires. All told I was in transit for over 40 hours in that week - a lot of moving around for me.

Curitiba is known for its green design, but I can't say I stayed there long enough to take in many of the sights. Torres was the highlight for this stretch, wish I could have stayed longer. A really chilled out town that seemed to have the perfect wave to learn how to surf, although I never tried. Montevideo was a strange experience for me after arriving from Torres on an overnight bus at 7am on a Sunday morning. The streets were deserted and it made for a strange walking tour of the city.

Rio de Janeiro

When first reading about Rio I began to have some trepidations of going there, just because of the reputation for crime in the city and it being so much worse than other cities.  I'm happy to say that after being there my impressions of this wonderful city have changed and I had no more problems than the other big cities I've been to in South America (Santiago and Buenos Aires).  That is to say I've had no problems.

My time in Rio was pretty packed over the 6 days I was there and not a lot of time was spent sunning on the beach - mainly due to the fact that it rained every day I was there.  Highlights: Favela tour, Cristo Redentor, Football Match (Flamenco Vs. Vasco), Lapa (going out and the colourful steps), and the beach of course.

I think the top thing for me in the city was the touring one of the Favelas.  This favela (Rocinha) is the largest in the country housing 200,000 people in one square km.  Ther are over 750 of these favela communities in Rio alone and it houses some 20% of the city.  It was an amazing experience to tour through the streets and alleys really opening my eyes to the community within the slums.

Iguazu Falls

Simply put, these are the most spectacular falls I've ever seen.  One picture doesn't really do it justice, nor would several.  The waterfall system consists of 275 falls along 2.7 kilometres.  We saw the falls from both sides (Argentina & Brazil) and you get two very different perspectives from either side.  In Argentina, the trails and bridges are more extensive and it's like a zoomed-in perspective, while on the Brazil side it's more panoramic.  We got up early for one of the days we were there to beat the crowds, but only for a couple of hours before we were pushing our way to the rails for the best picture.

Buenos Aires

From Mendoza we (sister Sarah, Megan, Tom, and Michelle) headed to
Buenos Aires on an overnight bus and I'd have to say the 'ejectivo'
class is the way to go! On a double decker bus, we had a six seater
compartment to ourselves with bottle service, full dinner, and fully
reclining seats-to-beds. To extend our theme of luxury, we rented an
apartment for a few nights which is the way to go if you're traveling
with a group.
We took in an all-you-can-eat BBQ, one of those 'things you do' when
you're in the city. The wine was atrocious and 1 litre each was
included, but the meat wasn't too bad. We tried to catch a football
game but after braving the long taxi ride and the rowdy crowds the
game was sold out and the visitors section (although empty was closed
to ticket sales).

Mendoza, Argentina

A couple of bus rides, 2 hours at the border, and a beautiful drive
through the mountains got me from Valparaiso to Mendoza. I was there
for four days since there are plenty of activities in and around the
city. We took in the surrounding wine country by bike, only managing
to visit a couple wineries, but we were able to sample several good
types - the Malbec being the most widely used grape in the area.
We headed out rafting in the mountains for our second day. Although
the water was low this time of year we still managed to surf a few
times in the rapids.
The city itself has massively wide avenues and streets, most of it
delegated to wide pedestrian walkways. It seems that after a major
earthquake back in the day the city planners of the time allowed all
this room for the collapse of future houses and building when then
next major quake hit. Thanks to them this city is one of the most
pedestrian friendly cities in Argentina - except of course when
crossing the road :)

Santiago & Valparaiso

From Punta Arenas we flew back to Santiago, for a second more extended
look at the city (the first time we flew in and flew out at the start
of our tour but saw little more than a couple restaurants and the
airport). I can´t say that I explored this city very extensively even
the second time, but I managed to get up a couple of the hills in the
city and sample a few more restaurants.
Santiago to Valparaiso on the coast was an interesting journey due
mainly to the fact that we got on the wrong bus! Luckily it was
heading to the same place, but unluckily it was a different company so
we got to pay twice to get to Valparaiso. My introduction to this
port city was a negative one because we found after heaving out bags a
couple of blocks that our accommodation had been given away (or never
booked online in the first place). A bit of a haggling (or pleading)
at the bus station got a cramped space for a night in a nicer part of
town. After that rough introduction I warmed up to Valparaiso and its
very close neighbor Viña Del Mar. While the first has much more
character with and colourful and eclectic mix of houses piled on top
of one another through the numerous hills, Viña Del Mar is the beach
resort that all the Chileans go to.
We were lucky enough to be in Valparaiso over Easter, and a strange,
but quite normal tradition for Chileans is to burn an effigy of Judas
on Easter Sunday. We wondered what all the numerous dummies with a
cup for change in their hand were for but all the pieces came together
that night. Kids from all over the neighborhood gather around a
burning effigy stuffed with change trying to grab the coins that drop
while the dummy hovers overhead occasionally dropping a fiery leg or
arm on top of an unsuspecting child. We all held our breath several
times as a lump of change was thrown under the dummy and dozens of
kids gathered closer, only to have the man holding the burning dummy
swing it more vigorously! A fun and exciting ending to Valparaiso and
to Chile.

Punta Arenas

An interesting city to spend a couple of nights at the end of our
tour. The weather cooperated in being very cold and rainy for the
entire time so we were forced to do laundry and catch up on all things
Internet related. A couple of highlights: King crab (delicious), the
cemetery, and an Indian's foot.
The cemetery was actually recommended in guide books as 'a place to
see' because of the varied history of the immigrants who settled in
the area - a very large percentage of Croatian settlers interestingly.
The Indian's foot was attached to a full statue in the main square,
it's said that if you touch it you'll come back to that place some day
- we shall see.

Torres Del Paine

What a place! I have so many amazing photos from this place it was hard to pick only a few to post here. Our tour included the classic "W" hike over three days in the park. Although the link points to a 7 day trek, we cheated the second day by taking a bus and catamaran to our second camp.

Altogether we hiked over 55 kms in the three days and by the end of the second day both me and my sister were suffering from various blisters and sore knees. Over the three days we developed a complex form of what we called "blistology" in mostly futile attempts to remedy our feet for the rest of our trekking with combinations of "second skin", band aids, tensor bandage, and moleskin.

The first hike brought us to the base of Las Torres peaks (north, central, and south) shown in the first picture above. A 5 hour uphill battle and 3 hours back. The second picture illustrates what seemed to be a rarity in Patagonia, because it was so calm. We had almost three days of almost still air for at least part of the day. You could almost flip this photo upside down and have the same image.

An easier hike the second day brought us to the middle of the W with views of a few smaller glaciers and some spectacular mountains with two very distinct types of rock (photo above). Our third, last, and longest hike (22 km) took us to Lago Grey and Glacier Grey, the second largest glacier in South America. One of the many rogue ice bergs from the glacier drifted into a bay by the lookout point and looks strangely like the Opera House in Sydney.

Boat Cruise: Puerto Montt to Puerto Natales

Our preparations for this 3 day voyage through the fjords of Patagonia began with the purchase of several bottles of wine and several more litres of water. I found out later that drinking water was plentiful and free and that we were also traveling through channels as well as fjords, though I like the word fjord more.

All told we were on the water for 73 hours, 12 of those on the exposed portion of the South Pacific where swells can be quite rough, although apparently our trip was only 4 out of 12 for roughness (why the 12 point scale I don't know). The scenery during the time aboard was like a moving post card, with vegetation getting progressively shorter and sparser as we traveled south. We took a 4 hour detour to see the Pio XI glacier, the largest in South America, quite a site to see (photo above) and probably the highlight of the cruise for me.

The photo of the stranded ship was a sugar cargo ship which ran a ground navigating this channel in the 1960s it remains today as a lighthouse and a stark reminder of there the shallow water is.

Puerto Montt

I arrived to Puerto Montt at midday from Santiago and as an added side trip we headed south to Parque Nacional Alerce Andino.  The most hiking I've done in a while at over 11 km total; it was a nice change from the sedentary lifestyle I'd had on planes, transfers, and hotels the couple of days prior.  Highlights, beyond the lush temperate rain forest we were hiking through included a 3000+ year old local species of tree (the oldest known to be in the area), a waterfall and Lake Chaiquenes (the halfway point of our hike, picture in the previous post).

Puerto Montt as a town had very few highlights for me beside the large dinners with wine.  The city's mainstay is Salmon farming, which over the past 20 years has more than tripled the population to more than 300,000 people.  The town and area has a large German influence due to a large number of immigrants.  Much of the local buildings reflect this influence with intricate wooden siding.

The remaining two days in the area were spent on day trips - one to Chiloe Island to the south and one to Orsorno Volcanoe.  Chiloe was a marathon of a day, taking in the towns of Ancud and Castro, and also the Penguin colony on the west coast of the island (the highlight for me with breathtaking scenery along the coast).

Snow-capped Orsorno (picture in previous post) also has a ski resort, although closed for their summer, it still offers scenic chairlift rides up a rickety double chair at half speed.  We opted for the equivalent 40 min. hike instead.  Another lake (Emerald) and waterfall ended our day trip to Orsorno.

A quick story in photos.

I don´t have a lot of time to type at the moment, as I´ll be catching a ship for a three-day cruse to the south (Puerto Natales).  Pictures can say more than I can with the time I have.  I´ll have a better update from Santiago in about a week.

Picture 1 - 11k hike day one in Puerto Montt
Picture 2 - Chiloe island, penguin sight seeing
Picture 3 - Orsono Volcanoe, north of Puerto Montt

Enjoy.

Pre-Departure in Toronto

After a bit of a delay in Calgary, and re-routing through Edmonton, I reached my first destination yesterday - Home.  The packing and preparations continue until Wednesday at which time I leave the county for Santiago. 

The picture above shows the first leg of my journey through the Lake District and Patagonia, in Chile (Itinerary here).  Details will surely follow once I get to South America.

Snowshoeing & GPS

I got a neat little gadget a few weeks back that lets me track my GPS coordinates every few seconds. This may sound pretty geeky, and it is, but the great part about it, besides being able to see the route we took snowshoeing in Kananaskis on the weekend (above picture), is that I'm also able to geotag all the photos taken during that time. Basically, the GPS data logger and the camera are linked by their time stamps and with a little software each photo is tagged with coordinates so they can be viewed in Picasa or flickr on a map.

Pretty cool I know! So hopefully I'll be able to tag most of my South America photos and be reminded years later (or next week) where I took them.

South America 2008!

Hola!

The planning has started and departure is only a few weeks away.  I'll be updating this blog from time to time instead of mass emails.  Hopefully I'll have some stories to keep your interest and even some pictures if I can figure out how to post them.  There are some older posts from a previous trip to Europe on this blog so feel free to look through those if you want. 

A brief itinerary of my trip:

Toronto - March 1-5
Chile - March 5-25 
Argentina - March 25-April 1
Brazil - April 1-12
Argentina/Bolivia - April 12 - May 1
Peru - May 1-14
Toronto - May 14-18

August 2005 - February 2008

Two and a half years have gone by since my last entry here and although most of you will know what I've been up to over that time I'll give a brief synopsis for those that don't.

August 2005 - after returning from my two month Europe trip I proceeded to look for work around Toronto, branching my search out to Western Canada in January 2006. I had a brief part-time stint at the GAP during that Christmas and my clothes folding habits have changed ever since.

From March 2006 until now I've been living in Calgary - working at an engineering firm called EBA Engineering Consultants. I've been doing mainly Airport Engineering there and have had the chance to go to Iqaluit in October 2006 for a couple weeks as part of one of our projects.

During this time I've been able to do a bunch of things:

• Travel to England, Wales, Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, and Montenegro in May 2007 with the family (Photos)
  
• Climbing in the Rockies
• Snowboarding in the Rockies - Lake Louise, Kicking Horse, Sunshine, Norquay, Revelstoke