Final Post

Well, I figured I mine as well make one final post before I head home in a few days. I am now in Bogota... Yeah, I know, my last post I was in Bogota too but since then I have flown to Cartagena in the north of Colombia, traveled to a town called Taganga and got my diving certification, went to Parque Nacional Tyrona to see some beaches, a town called San Gil where I went caving and paragliding, and Villa de Leyva where I pretty much did nothing (quite nice).

Just thought I would post a few final pictures for those of you that I won't see in awhile and can't show you in person.

Bogota: its prettier when you can't see the details...






Cartagena with lots of cool little streets that look like this. Didn't get very good pictures of Cartagena...


I took a boat to this beach outside of Cartagena.


After Cartagena I went to Taganga. This is where we stopped to eat lunch every day while I was getting the diving certification. The diving was cool and we saw some cool stuff like sea turtles, big lobsters, and lots of different types of tropical fish... jumping off this cliff was fun too. :)


After Taganga I went to Parque Nacional Tyrona... there are lots of really nice beaches there and there are not many people at all. I had to hike for about 2 hours to the beach and about an hour of it was through mud that often almost came up to my knees... it was worth it though.






After Tyrona I went to San Gil where I went caving and paragliding... not really any pics of either... I did crash paragliding which wasn't much fun. I went to a little historical town called Villa de Leyva after that. It was really nice to just relax for awhile. And yeah, now i'm back in Bogota.

My plane leaves at 1am on the 17th and I should be back in Missoula by the 18th and Red Lodge on the 20th.

Chau South America!

Lazy....

Really lazy when it comes to posting. I have traveled a bunch since last time I posted and don't really want to load a bunch of pictures on... i'll throw a few up.

After Iguazu I went to the Pantanal which is a tropical wetland outside Campo Grande. Lots of animals and stuff... here is just a pic of a croc.



I stayed in the Pantanal for 4 days and slept in a hammock. It was fun, saw a lot of cool animals and had a good time swimming in the piranha/crocodile infested waters.

After the Pantanal I flew to Rio de Janeiro. Didn't think I was going to like it for some reason even though everyone says it is great. I ended up having a really good time. Very cool city with great beaches and a lot to do. I climbed a mountain called Sugar Loaf and watched the sun set over Rio which was really nice. Went to a crazy Favela party in some really shady neighborhood in a really poor area of Rio. Hung out on the beach. Got bed bugs from a crappy but cool hostel. Ate some good food. Met some cool people. Good times... minus the bed bugs.





After Rio I flew to Manaus. Pretty shady city but was still ok. VERY hot and humid there... felt like I was going to die. I booked a boat through the Amazon that was supposed to take 36 hours. It ended up taking 4 days... and we stopped getting fed after 2. Fun stuff.

Made it to Leticia, had trouble leaving Brazil because I am an idiot and somehow got into Brazil illegally w/o an entry stamp in my passport.

Flew from Leticia to Bogota.... now I am in Bogota.

Seems like a cool city but I don't have a lot of time to travel through Colombia, Ecuador and north Peru so I think I will leave on Saturday or Sunday. I am going to the far north of the Country and then going to make my way south until I get to Lima... hopefully I don't have to take any more flights and can just make it back by bus. I don't know if I have enough time or not though... we'll see.

Foz do Iguaçu

Just a few pics from the Brazilian side I did yesterday because I am bored and sitting at a crappy hostel in Campo Grande. Going on a Pantanal tour tomorrow (tropical wetland tour).

I think I liked the Argentinian side better but the Brazilian side had a lot to offer as well. It gave you better views from far away and there were some really bright rainbows that I managed to catch on film (Argentina had these too but not quite as bright so couldn't really capture them).







I spent about 7 hours on the Argentinian side and only spent about 2 and 1/2 on the Brazilian side. There just wasn't that many different areas to walk around like the Argentina side had.

Oh here was the 88th butterfly I saw... I couldn't managed to catch 1-87 on film. Sorry.



After the Pantanal I am going to either fly straight to Manaus, Brazil or take a bus to Rio de Janeiro and hang out there for a few days before flying to Manaus. From Manaus I am going to take a boat through the amazon and cross into Colombia. Just waiting on someone to see when they are going to be able to make it to Manaus so I don't have to make the shady trip alone. Hah, I'm such a weeeener.

By the way, it really sucks to be in a country where you only know 2 words of the language (obligado=thanks and falar=to speak). I can't say a damn thing or understand a damn thing here. Craziness.

Buenos Aires and IGUAZU!!!!!!!!!!

I'm in Puerto Iguazu right now which is the boarder town before I move into Brazil. The Iguazu falls are located just outside this city which are absolutely AMAZING. I'll get to that in just a bit.

First, Buenos Aires. I only stayed in B.A. for about 4 days. It was a nice city but I was ready to get out of the city for awhile because I had stayed in Santiago/Valparaiso for over 2 weeks. There were lots of cool old buildings... more so than any of the other cities I have been to.





I mostly just walked around town and visited parks... and obviously ate the steak. The steaks were pretty good and fairly cheap (about 6 or 6 bucks) but generally when you order a steak that is what you get. A slab of meat on a plate. Anyways, I visited the cemetery which was pretty damn cool imo. There were TONS of statues...



Lots of cool mausoleums...





There are many famous Argentinian people buried here but I don't really know much of the history (or pretty much any of the history of Argentina) so I didn't know which mausoleums were the famous people or not. It was a really amazing cemetery though.

I also went to the Botanical gardens which was... well, kind of just like any other park. It was nice though.





The famous El Caminito street in Buenos Aires was a bit... meh. Way to many tourists (and people trying to sell you shit) and to me seemed kind of like a fake/wanna be Valparaiso. But it had purty colors!!



And people dancing Tango...



I went to a tango show the last night I was there too. It was pretty cool but I wasn't allowed to take any pics. I got dinner for free too which was awesome! It was like a $30 dinner too with all you can drink wine... woot!

That's about it for ol' B.A.

Iguazu Falls is by far the most amazing sight I have ever seen in my life. I wish I could somehow describe it or capture it on film somehow but I just don't think it can be done. Absolutely amazing... and just think how many fish die every day from this thing...













I took a ton of pictures... these are just a few. My camera died shortly after La Garganta del Diablo (Throat of the Devil... the one I am standing in front of) which was a pretty depressing feeling when it shut off. At least I got almost everything on camera. After La Garganta del Diablo I found a hike off the beaten path that had very few people on it. It lead to a swimming hole at the bottom of a waterfall. On the way back from the swimming hole I saw some type of monkey in the trees... was kicking myself for not charging my battery at that point but I guess I will see plenty of wildlife when I go to the Pantanal in Brazil.

Tomorrow I am going to Brazil. I don't know if I am going to do the Foz do Iguacu side of the waterfalls or not, I probably will. After that I'm going to Campo Grande, Brazil to visit the Pantanal... from there who knows?

Santiago y el Viaje

Just a couple more pics of Santiago and the amazing bus ride to Mendoza. The up loader for pics doesn't seem to be working so i'll have to do this a different way...

The last week of Santiago there were only a few days that were nice. One day I managed to go out while it stopped raining and I went to el Museo de la Memoria. The building was pretty cool but because of the earthquake almost the entire museum was closed.



After that I started to walk to the museum of Pablo Neruda's house but it started pouring rain so I decided to wait until the next day to see it. The house on the right side was just part of his house... it is actually 3 different buildings that you have to access by going outside. When he was living there, there was rivers flowing right outside his windows and he had bridges over them to get from one section of his house to another.



I wasn't allowed to take pics of the inside but it was really cool. He was a huge fan of the ocean (even though he couldn't swim and sailing made him sick) and he made his house to resemble a ship. He has 3 different houses in Chile and all 3 are completely different. It would be cool to see the others but I am going to head to warmer weather...

Here are a couple buildings, damage from the earthquake and a few views from Santiago after the rain took a break.









On the bus ride from Santiago to Mendoza (11 hours rather than the 6 it took the first time) the sky was absolutely amazing and the snow covered mountains couldn't even come close to being captured on a camera.



Tomorrow I am going to take a night bus to Buenos Aires. I think I might buy a guitar in BA if I can find a decent cheap one... It would be nice to be able to play while traveling around but is going to suck to have to carry a guitar around. I'll probably stay in BA for 4 or 5 days before heading to Iguazu. Really looking forward to seeing Iquazu.

Santiago

I have been in Santiago for a little over a week now. I think I am going to stay until Friday and then head to Buenos Aires. I changed my return flight and will be returning to the states on August 18th. That means I have a little less than 2 months left. I am going to try and make it up to Ecuador and Columbia after I see part of Brazil. I am pretty sick of cold weather so I really want to get up north as soon as possible.

I like Santiago ok... I'm not much of a city person but as far as cities go it seems like a nice city. There are a lot of really old buildings that are pretty cool.







And this art museum had a lot of old photos of Santiago with these same buildings in the photos. My camera battery died right after I took this picture so I didn't get any more of the museum or the stuff in the museum... hmph.



I went to the top of a viewpoint in Santiago... it was a great view of the city... and the smog.



But if you pretend it is just clouds its actually quite beautiful.



Yesterday I went to a vineyard and did wine tasting. It was pretty cool but I wish we could have learned a little more about the process of making wine. Also, we only got to try 2 different types of wine... nonetheless, the building was really old (1886) and cool and it was a fun trip.









While that other stuff was really cool... this is how they actually do it now. Kinda takes away from the whole romantic feeling doesn't it?



I think I might go to a few more museums in Santiago before I leave so I will probably make another post of Santiago. Then after that the plan is to go Buenos Aires, Iguazu Falls, Rio De Janeiro, and the Pantanal. Then after that make my way as quick as possible across Bolivia and Peru up to Ecuador and spend the rest of my trip in Ecuador and Columbia. We'll see how long I can stick to a plan... i'm not so good at making plans...