RTW: Exchange in Chile

New blog open

2007-04-22T05:45:00.000-07:00

So from now on I'll be writing here: stenback.wordpress.com

Mainly in Finnish but also in English so that those interested and not capable of following the worldly language of Finland can also see what is goind on every now and then.

R.I.P. RTW:Exchange in Chile

Home sweet home

2006-09-09T23:03:00.000-07:00

Not much to say there, unsurprisingly there is something unsurpassable by all the wonders along the way, and that is coming home, meeting the girlfriend, having some dark bread, having a sauna and seeing all the friends again. That is why the blog was left unfinished for a while.

Seeing my house from the air as the plane landed was really a sight for sore eyes:

Soon after my arrival I headed for my birth place, Lappeenranta, to see my mom and to visit the family summer house with Johanna. Some pics:

Eventually, things are getting back to normal. Here I am at the party for new students of my university, with the traditional party overalls:

Now what was supposedly left was to end the blog. However, the past week has shown that it might be a good idea to keep on writing, so I'll probably change the headline soon and continue to write about various stuff going on in my life here. To my surprise, I'm told there are readers.

Now, upon arrival, I'm faced with the question of "What was the best of all?". I tried to figure it out, but could not pick one that was above others in everything, so here are some "bests" (keeping in mind, of the places I went to):

Best country overall: Colombia (people, food, prices, culture, nature)
Worst country overall: Paraguay, though unfair to judge by a that short of a visit
Best city overall: NYC, no competition really though Buenos Aires was a good number two
Worst city overall: Ciudad del Este
Closest to paradise: the islands of Fiji
Farthest from it: the mines of Bolivia
Cheapest: Thailand
Most expensive: in some cases Cuba, in others the U.S. (considering service along the price the most expensive is all Cuba)
Cheapest gasoline: Venezuela, 1 euro buys 35 liters
Most expensive gasoline: did not check all, but of the ones I did I faintly remember it to be New Zealand
Most positive surprise: the overall Colombian experience
Most negative surprise: the pushy and arrogant Peruvians
Most inexplicable language: Patois of Jamaica
Best spanish: (northwestern) Mexico, was there ever doubt..? Quite pure (pronouncing as it is written) dialects are found also in Colombia and Panama.
Worst spanish: Chile (sorry to say but that is the case)
Best climate: Venezuela or Colombia
Worst climate: Chile
Place I liked best for living: Panama
Worst: Paraguay
Felt most safe in: Auckland
Most unsafe in: Caracas
Least corruption found in: Australia
Most corruption found in: Venezuela
Most tourist-friendly country: Canada
Least tourist-friendly: Peru
Best government (my opinion, considering the individual situations like the economy, minorities, foreign relations, etc.): New Zealand
Worst: Venezuela
Richest (seemingly, not necessarily absolutely): U.S. -doh
Poorest ("): Bolivia
Best wines: Chile (BY FAR, even Argentina does not come close)
Best food overall: Mexico (Worst: Bolivia)
Best meat foods: Argentina (Worst: Thailand)
Best sea foods: Chile (Worst: Panama)
Best junk foods: Chile (Worst: Cuba)
Best (/worst) chicken foods: too tough to say, lots of it everywhere
Best beers: Chile or Argentina (Worst: Venezuela or Paraguay)
Best coffee: Colombia
Worst: Chile and others that do not use other than Nescafe
Best drink: Bloody Caesar, Canada or Pisco Sour, Peru
Worst drink: Fernet Cola, Argentina
Most beautiful women: Brazil (Least: Bolivia)
Best native music: Mexico or Colombia
Best parties in: Chile
Most stamina for a party: Argentinians
Most unreasonable drinking habits: Bolivians
Most hospitable people in: Fiji (Least: Peru)
Best sight of all: Macchu Pichu (Second: Moreno Glacier, third: Salar de Uyuni, fourth: Iguazu falls, fifth: beaches of Parque Tayrona)
Most frustrating thing: the stiffness of the communist system in Cuba
Most disgusting thing: the slaughtering of llamas in Bolivia
Coolest activity: Climbing the volcano in Pucon (Second: diving in Taganga, third: cruising the Florida Keys in a convertible, fourth: trekking in the jungles of Amazon, fifth: snowboarding in Ushuaia)
Most interesting history: Cuba
Best cheap accommodation facilities in: Colombia (Worst: Jamaica)
Best beaches: Colombia (Worst: Peru)
Best airline used: New Zealand air (felt like a king there)
Worst airline used: Varig (urging anyone to stay the hell out of their "service")
Best buses: Ormeño, Peru
Worst buses: Viazul, Cuba (lacking resources) or Greyhound (inexplicable shit)

..that's all that came into mind right now..

The thanks for this trip of a lifetime go to:

- My mother Mariitta, a great woman who never questioned the decision to spend all my money and more on this and for all the support I was given,
- My girlfriend Johanna who always believed in me and never doubted me for a second in any aspect,
- My family and friends who kept me sane (?) during the trip by just asking how I was doing,
- Johanna for the great times in Thailand, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Brazil,
- My co-travellers from Fiji for a great week,
- Carlos for royal treatment in Mexicali (I REALLY owe you one),
- My compadre Jesus Maria Peraza and his family for their hospitality and a feeling of belonging after all these years,
- Some divine intervention that led me out of Peru against all odds,
- All the people living at Santo Domingo 1568 this spring for unforgettable times (Anibal, Ximene, Chris, Alvaro, Pedro, Ilaria, Gael and Cindy),
- Gael and Cindy for all the trips, parties and general support during the studies,
- Charlotte, Robin, Sebastian, Maria Jose and all others that made my time at UAI an experience,
- Patricia, Kata and Simo for paying me a visit,
- Kiki, Markus, Ossi and others for the foreign Finnish-bonding,
- My fellow travellers in Bolivia for good times,
- Simo for hosting us at Buenos Aires,
- The Finnish Embassy and especially Jacob Cohen for all the professional help with my passport in Brazil,
- Victor for his company and pro traveller advice in Venezuela,
- Felipe for his company in Colombia,
- Kalle for good times in Miami and
- Alex for all her help and letting me crash at her place in NYC

Moreover, to finalize with some facts and figures, this was a total of:
- 5170 hours, 216 days and 7,5 months
- 19 countries and 63 cities
- roughly 56000 kilometers and 73 hours by air, 2700 kilometers and 85 hours by sea and 22300 kilometers and 467 hours by land (not including travel within cities), which sums up to 81000 kilometers (more than twice around the World) and 625 hours (26 full days) spent solely travelling
- unimaginable number of memories and experiences, many new friends
- ...and so many euros I do not wish to know. ;)

My favourite song says: "It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right -I hope you had the time of your life" -and I can say that I really did, not many people have the luxury of stating they have fulfilled one of their biggest dreams by the age of 26. In the words of the Dead Poets Society, this was all about "sucking the marrow out of life", a ride truly to remember. Thanks to all you for reading the blog, especially for commenting on it and for those interested I promise to keep on writing soon.

Oh, Canada

2006-09-09T22:31:00.000-07:00

I've said it before, but I'll say it again: The U.S. bus system loses in many respects to several of the ones I used in South America. Greyhounds are expensive, service is mostly poor and it rarely includes extras like movies (equipment might be there though), they are late, etc. -remarkably like a bus system one would expect to see in Russia, for example. Anyway, I had to enjoy it one last time (for now) to get to my last destination: Niagara and Toronto.

Niagara was a sorry attempt for waterfalls after seeing Iguazu, but nevertheless a good place to stop by for some hours to check it out.

There too the falls are divided by the national border. Here is "the American side":

And the Canadian side:

Where the falls were sort of a disappointment, Toronto was a positive surprise. I would characterize it as a smaller, more calm and much more clean New York.

Some sights from the CN tower:

Of course, there is not much to tell from one day in Canada, especially as it is not all that different from Finland anymore. At that point I was just getting ready to go home.

Best national "dish" tasted: Bloody Caesar (a spicy drink made out of vodka, my favourite Clamato juice, spices and lemon)
Best national beer tasted: Molson's Canadian
Best experience/sight: Niagara falls

New York, New York

2006-09-09T21:13:00.000-07:00

"Start spreadin' the news, I'm leaving today
I'm gonna be a part of it: New York, New York"

The city definately lives up to its reputation. Before experiencing it myself I could not understand why on earth someone would want to walk around in a t-shirt proclaming they love the city.. But it took just about five minutes to get an idea why, and after five days I was ready to join the fan club. That city has it all and more.

Apologies to those that have been looking for an end to the blog (I'm learning that number of people is far bigger I had expected), I have been quite busy the past weeks. Anyway, here goes, the highlights of NYC:

Lower Manhattan from the ferry to Liberty Island:

Lady Liberty:

The Wall Street Bull (made out of 7000 pounds of bronze and originally placed in front of New York Stock Exchange without permission):

Being a business student, I just had to see Wall street and, even though my wet dream does not include it, the NYSE:

The WTC site was quite awe-inspiring despite of the recent outside criticism that New Yorkers are taking their time to fill up the hole in the ground.. The plans for 2010 show that they will end up showing the World that they are not intimitaded by cowardly terrorist acts.

The new photo exhibit next to the site was equally impressive:

Among the things I liked best besides (or, actually because of) its many faces was the food. I was not afraid to spend a little more on it though at this point there was little extra to spend. Best pizzas I have ever tasted were found in the Italian restaurant Grimaldi's in Brooklyn:

I also visited what is seen by many the best steak house in New York, Peter Luger's. However divine the taste was, the 60 dollars spent for the steak and a glass of wine seemed a bit overdoing it after the great steaks in Argentina, which cost about a tenth of it or less.

The Brooklyn Bridge offered some great views:

Due to lack of time, I did not go to many museums, but the sign on this one was enough to lure me in:

Among the must-sees there was the Empire State Building and the sights it offered of the city:

Curilously, probably the place I was most intrigued by was the United Nations, too bad I had to "just" go on the tourist tour as my friend TP was no longer working there:

Times Square:

Some other places of note:

Besides the museums that I missed, the one I regretted the most was not having a chance to see a Yankees baseball game.. But, there are only so many things one can do in NYC in five days.. And shopping possibilities were not to be overlooked, so eventually a lot was left for my next visit. I was lucky to be able to stay at my cousin Alex's place in East Village so I got to see something refreshing outside the almost-eight-month hostel rally. I was asked which part of the city I thought was the best and I could not decide between East Village and Little Italy, but those two were above others in my book -East Village by the general atmosphere and Little Italy because of the great restaurants there.

Leaving tne U.S.:

Best "national" dish tasted: Pizza at Grimaldi's
Best national beer tasted: Budweiser
Best experience/sight: The UN

Visiting the capital

2006-08-25T07:41:00.000-07:00

DC passed by quite fast. I was really just looking forward to getting into New York (which, by the looks of things, might just be the greatest city on Earth), so I spent a little over 24 hours in Washington DC, checking out the sights. This time I'll let the pictures tell the story, as there was little to say about the city besides its monuments (that for staying there a day).

The Bush residence, thank god not too long anymore:

Lincoln memorial and the famous sight (felt just like Clint Eastwood sitting on the stairs, just did not catch any pigeons there):

Washington memorial, yet another fallos symbol:

"The hill", admittedly much more impressive than the copies of it presented in Buenos Aires and Havana (I guess it is the overall setting and the white colour):

To finalize my DC experience, I went to spy on Pentagon and check out the Arlington cemetery on the other side of the Potomac river. The amount of identical, white-stone graves in Arlington really silenced me.

Will Smith: Miami

2006-08-22T09:33:00.000-07:00

That song does have a point -it describes quite well the Miami and South Beach areas. The heat is definately on, the water is really clear and cars quite expensive -and the parties do go out until the break of dawn. And this seen from a point of view of a budget traveller! I was positively surprised by the city.

The journey out of Jamaica tested nerves, but I made it. I had hidden all the objects that indicated they were cuban made on my person and the 40-minute "chat" (as the customs official called it) plus extensive baggage search did not provide them with a reason to deny entry. Thanks to the recent terrorist activity I got my bag searched in every possible corner, unlike other passengers. I must look suspicious then..

Arriving I immediately sensed the total change of atmosphere, but after all this time it sure feels good to get some real service, on time and without something missing or wrong (ok, one has to pay up to 15% for it too, many times included in the price..). I also met 5 Finns during the past 3 days, one of whom accompanied me for a trip to the Florida Keys (and, coincidentally, who I had met in my student life adventures earlier). We rented a convertible (oh, yeah) and cruised for a day around the southern tip of Florida and Miami with all its beaches, clubs and celebrity homes. Enjoying the junk food culture and Mexican immigrants' cooking to the max, sipping rum runners and catching the last decent rays of sun on the trip -that's all that Miami was about. I can recommend it.

Art deco of Miami:

Hotel backyard of the rich and shameless (not including me just yet):

South Beach, not too sunny that day:

Cruisin' on the bay:

Shaq's flat and a typical boat passing by:

House of the champs:

On the road:

(in this one me and Kalle are breaking the law at 70 mph in the Florida Keys)

The Southernmost point of the continental USA, in Key West:

Irie, mon!

2006-08-17T13:20:00.000-07:00

As the scenery changed to Jamaica, I could not help but feel a bit of relief to get out of Cuba. Yet, I was not too welcome as the customs official questioned me for nearly half an hour before being convinced that I can be allowed access. Makes me wonder what kind of a special treatment is waiting for me in Miami -just hope they let me in the country. Let's see.. passed trough Bolivia, Venezuela, Colombia, Cuba -all U.S. favourites - and now carries a passport issued in Brazil, with no info of entering the country.. Not the best starting point, but keeping the fingers crossed..

Anyway, two things hit me as soon as I landed here, both of which I did know of but were still a shock: I must be the only white person in Kingston (have not seen many in 4 days) and these people speak a non-english (or properly called patois english.. for those of you unfamiliar with it, an example would be "irie" in the headline that means basically alright) that is not within my range for a five-day visit. But other than that I stick out like a sore thumb and understand very little unless people make the effort to switch to real english, Jamaica is "irie". And yes reggae is everywhere, as well as ganja (the marihuana the rastafaris puff ritually, still illegal though).

I ended up staying in Kingston and never made it to the north coast to flock with fellow tourists (though intended to), as I got a major neck pain from shitty ergonomy of the local internet cafes (spent a day answering emails..), I actually could not move anymore. So there was I enjoying Jamaica in the no-aircon -room virtually paralyzed from the neck down.. Lucky I got some relaxants from the pharmacy, now I can move (like a robot, but still) and head for the plane tomorrow. Kingston itself is not all that beautiful, local highlight being the Bob Marley museum.. but here are some shots anyway:

Residencial area around Kingston:

Descriptive statues from the emancipation park (girls can zoom in):

Bob Marley museum:

The Jamaica house, residence of the prime minister (Queen is the english one):

And finally, disappointment to you who were waiting me to get rastas -I'm too fond of the long hair and decided to keep growing it, but I did get cornrows so I did not chicken out totally:

No McD's here by the way (did not do so well here!) though people are major junk food consumers and looks like they have a problem with fat people almost equal to the U.S. -I actually feared for my life when a small 130-kilo Mrs. was trying to get pass me in a local buss..

Best national dish: Patties (kind of meat pies) with salad and bacon
Best national beer: Red Stripe
Best experience/sight: Bob Marley museum

Hasta la victoria siempre

2006-08-17T10:28:00.000-07:00

-Ernesto "Che" Guevara

So then it was time for Cuba. I have to admit I knew rather little of the country coming in, but now I have some kind of a picture. After all, this was the first contact with real communism as I never went to the Soviet Union before its downfall.

On a general level I'd summarize that every U.S. president since Eisenhower and their politics towards Cuba together with uncle Fidel and his response to it have f-ed it up for everybody in Cuba, for tourists and especially for the people living there. Still, Castro is beloved among his people and despite the poor conditions people live in he is still a revolutionary hero. Judging from what I came to learn during my stay the revolution was actually a good thing but the following socialism drove things to their current state. And to my ear the ultimate socialism, or communism, was just Castro's response to the U.S. politics. Man do the Cubans hate the Americans.. According to a popular theory the U.S. meddelled in the affairs with a poor excuse and eventually this led to the infamous Platt amendment that guarantees U.S. the right to intervene when ever it sees fit (that is why Guantanamo still exists).

So much for the history lesson, but eventually no matter what is the opinion about who is the guilty party, things are quite.. interesting there. What is good of the communism is that cubans have a health care system unparallelled by almost any country in the world -and the doctors are world famous for their skills and knowledge. On a general level all cubans are well educated and quite intelligent, plus the illiteracy rate is very low thanks to a huge alfabetizacion campaign of the governement. Also, arts and sports are blooming (sports internationally as well: some 20 odd medals in the olympics is not bad..) though the actual money that artists and athletes see is pennies compared to other international equivalents. Cubans themselves have two favourite sports, it seems: baseball and domino (yes, it is a sport).

But then there are the downsides. I did not know wether to laugh or cry at the sight of the interior of a supermarket. Gimme a break.. there is virtually no choice, and you buy the one pasta there is, be it good or bad. If the market in Cuba ever opens, there is work for all you marketers and advertisers. A lot of work (see the sneak pic below). Internet is a luxury locals can't afford at 6-14 USD per hour (that is why I skipped updating the blog there) and functioning poorly anyway. Thanks to U.S. trade embargo there is scarcity of everything: you are given a 30 meal menu in a restaurant and all they really have is fried chicken. Many cars are barely functioning as they are repaired with the most imaginative of things, plus they pollute a hell of a lot. And when the only spare parts supplier, the Soviet fell, cubans had to import a million bicycles from China to keep Habana on the move. Thus, the ration card is still in use and everything personal is under control, even travelling within the country. Also incredible is that the intelligent university guys and gals drop out to scam the tourists, as that makes them a better living than practicing medicine for example. Still, the worst thing of all, in my opinion, is the lack of everything, especially opportunity and choice. Now it is official: I think commies suck big time!

For a tourist it gets even more interesting. The country fights to maintain a double economy, with two currencies, and some things allowed to cuban natives and some allwed only to tourists. Tourists do not have to wait for days to get on a intercity bus as the locals do, but in many cases tourists pay of the same product or service the same sum of money (say 5 for example), with the exception that 5 cuban pesos is 25 times less than the tourist money, 5 pesos convertibles!! Of course, one has to think that cubans have entered their workload for the common good to get these prices, plus that the average salary of a cuban is somewhere around 15 usd per month. But still it pisses a tourist off to get treated that way. There is just no way to live cheap there, I almost doubled my travel budget there and ended up slumming (or what of that is allowed for a tourist who can slum for a 20 usd a night equivalent at someone's home, a casa particular) for several days. All the time the cuban government is sucking money off the tourists the people are poor and live their life in lucha (struggle) and all cubans I talked to comment their lives by no es facil, it's not easy. But people try to bend the rules, like as I was supposed to use only given taxis (tourist taxi), the 25-time fare a horse carriage driver was able to get from me (1 whole USD) made him beat the hell out of his horse to make it run faster to avoid capture by the police. And another great point about the double economy is that changing dollars to pesos convertibles there is always a 10% commission (excluding the exchange rate), that does not apply for euros. U.S. versus Cuba at its best. The export rules are interesting too: the beautiful and cheap artworks (see below) found all over Cuba are either not allowed to take out or then you need to queue for bureaucratic permits. You can take the famous cigars out ok, but then you are bound to hit a snag entering the U.S. as anything Cuban is forbidden. I cut the labels off my t-shirts bought in Cuba.

And the cuban government keeps stubbornly on going with all this. There was less propaganda than I thought, but some still is seen, especially around the U.S. affairs office. But in TV the only thing is educational programs and even the soap operas carry a message like "beware of aids". Of course the news coverage is "selective". And all the while people maintain a certain Caribbean carelessness and they are seemingly happy with music playing all around all the time. Incredible.

Some propaganda:

Here's some U.S. - Cuba play: the U.S. put some propaganda on the top floor of their building so the Cubans put up "some" black flags on the same height in front of it..

I decided that as I could not take any with me to U.S., I'd smoke a quality cigar every day, accompanied with some cuban rhum. I ended up liking, surprisingly, the Montecristos best, and Havana Club reserva took the prize among rhums as I did not get to taste any Matusalem which is supposedly even better.

Then there is one more thing that you can not miss in Cuba: Che. Che Guevara was everywhere with his motto that now decorates the headline of this post as well as my apartment wall. On this trip, I have really made an effort to get to know his life, work and thoughts as he is still among the most known and respected latin american men. The cuban kids rally on with "seremos como el Che", we will be like Che, which I find a very noble goal.. It is not his politics he fought for but the way he did it that fascinates me. Here's him in the museum:

Followed by his monument in Santa Clara:

Myt 9 days in Cuba was spent mainly wondering around (walking to save money, lost at least 2 kilos there) and learning stuff about the culture and the country overall. 5 days in Havana was enough so I took off for a tour to Trinidad, a beautiful colonial town in the south coast, Santa Clara that was the place of the greatest (and decisive) victory by Che during the revolution, finishing off at Varadero, a gringo tourist hell that, though surrounded by beutiful beaches, sucked me dry of my money and gave me the urges to move on. On general Cuba is very safe even in the big cities, it has many incredible monuments but the system really gives me the creeps. A nice place to see and understand, but I do not think I want to return unless the economy opens some day -which cubans are proud to say will not happen when Castro dies.

Trinidad:

And the obligatory visit to the beach -view from my hotel lobby in Varadero:

Best national dish tasted: Lobster in chili sauce with arroz congri (also called moors and christians, meaning a mixture of rice and black beans)
Best national beer: Bucanero
Best experience/sight: The Che memorial in Santa Clara

The Picture show follows.. Some famous hotels of Havana, lower the Hotel Nacional:

Other Havanna shots:

Plaza de la Revolucion:

Fidel's Tank:

Bonus, a funky tree:

From the capitolio, modeled to look like..?

To finalize, some pics of the old cars:

Canalandia

2006-08-17T10:02:00.000-07:00

Introducing the country that is known for.. its canal. Sorry for the long delay, but Cuba turned out not to be the place to update one's blog -or generally acess internet. Now I am in Jamaica already, leaving tomorrow for Miami. Anyway, some words about Panama:

The big American influence leads back a few years, up until when they were guarding their interests in the canal. The French tried to build the sucker first, but imagining they could level the canal to the sealevel. This obviously involved a lot of digging and people dead of poor working conditions and diseases. Not the bright point of French engineership. Enter Americans and design the current system that involves lifting the boats to a reservoir lake level and lowering them back down. The principle is quite the same as in my home town canal, the Saimaa canal. Except that it goes two ways and is a little bit bigger. Here are some shots from the canal:

Rest of the city tour included just the Puente de las Americas and the old town:

Thinking that after 12AM it is possible to find a bank in the modern Panama to get some euros for the dollar-stiff Cuba turned out to be a mistake. Banks close at 2PM and in the whole banking district there seemed to be only one bank to give out euros (out of some 30 banks or so)! Of course this was among the last I looked for, as the bank tellers in other banks were reluctant to tell me where this could be done. So no euros which meant loosing 10% of my money in Cuba. Thank you Panama.

On the other hand, there were surprising benfits with the ISIC student card, like two movies for one. At least I got to see the Pirates of the Caribbean finally -not as good as the first one, but sympathies to the question "why is the rhum always gone?" ANd the answer is the same as well.

Best national dish tasted: Panamanian breakfast (steak!!, eggs, coffee, tomato sauce, mushrooms..)
Best national beer tasted: Balboa
Best sight/experience: The canal

Rhum, beaches and scuba

2006-08-02T18:16:00.000-07:00

I have just left South America. Sniff. But there is still one month left of the trip, so better make the most of it. After all, after two days in the gringolandia of Panama I'll be in Cuba.. Panama City surprised me with its similarity to some American cities that have big Latin influence. They even use the USD here, and the nice prices of Columbia seem to be a forgotten dream already -Still, a bic mac sells for 2,29 USD (1,80 euros) and the meal for 3,29 (2,58 euros) so I'll live.

The last days in Columbia were full of partying, chilling on the beach and diving. The first greater experience was the bus travel between Colombian cities in the guerrilla territory. The companies have big tables (below) that tell how many of their passengers have "had accidents", have been injured or died in the past couple of months. Just radiates with confidence that usually the number of dead was down to like 1 or 2 per month. Also, the travel itself is constantly interrupted with highway police carrying loaded M-16s and a standard 4 full clips in the weapon belt (which, by the way, says US in big letters) in addition to the one attached to the gun.. They also have little fortresses built on the road stops in case the bus is filled with your average housewife guerrillas that start WW3 when pulled over. One police even said they have bazookas hidden in their booths. We lived a brief moment of fear on the road, as we were asked to get down for the second full inspection in a 10 kilometer road -the women onboard refused to be inspected again so the policeman entered the bus with a new attitude and a finger on the trigger of his loaded rifle.. And suddenly had a much more receptive audience. But anyway, a 50 kilometer trip lasted for almost two hours!!

Eventually I did get to Tayrona National park, and after a bumpy truck ride and some 40 minutes of jungle trail I found my way to what was the most beautiful beach I have ever seen. Just look at the pics below, they don't even do justice to the place.. Tourists that made it there were all sleeping in hammocks or snorkeling in the clear waters nearby. I can highly recommend that place to anyone who likes beaches. All it takes is a little patience to get there.

From there I went on to a village called Taganga, which is good for two things: partying and scuba diving. Ok, there is a nice beach nearby too.. There I spent the last few days tasting local rhum, smoking local cigars and just being a stereotypical tourist. I'd say that though Cuba is more famous for the beforementioned products, Columbia can be proud of the quality of their own as well. And diving -anyone who has not tried it is missing a world of its own. I was sold after the first two minutes (which was about the time to get the hang of it), that was something I will definately do again -many times. I always guessed it as I tend to like water sports, but it still surpassed all my anticipations. Plus, in Taganga it is dirt cheap: for instance, an open-water certificate course goes for 160 USD -a price even Thailand has a hard time to beat. Some Taganga highlights:

All in all, the country I liked best in all of South America was definately and without a doubt Colombia. Here's a couple ones for my Columbian friend Felipe (see, I got the sombrero volteado):

Best beer tasted: Club Colombia
Best national dish: Bandeja Paisa (beans, rice, sausage plus other meats in one plate)
Best experience/sight: Parque Nacional Tayrona's beaches

Caribbean life

2006-07-28T09:53:00.000-07:00

There is time for vacation and then there is time to take a vacation from the vacation. This is the vacation vacation, and where else than in the Caribbean coasts of Colombia. Islands, beaches, open air aquariums, snorkeling and mud baths in a 2,5 kilometer volcano.. etc.

And: I got a flight to Panama eventually, with a little struggle for a cheap price too. This had to be celebrated in a chiva, a local party bus where they play vallenato, a local music and serve aguardiente, the local liquor. The concept is to drive around for four hours and get started for a party that ends in a bar. I wonder if this idea could be imported to Finland?

Cartagena, Colombia!

2006-07-25T15:46:00.000-07:00

Incredible. I was really looking forward to this, and for a reason. I mean, Colombia is the crown on South America's head -if that could be announced just by knowing the northern parts of the country.

Venezuelans put up a persistent struggle before I got out of there. About 10 road blocks with "documentación, por favor" and a stuck-up border official were the highlights. Plus a guy who clogged the bus bathroom before it left the terminal for its supposedly 15-hour trip to the frontier. No worries, just arrived 6 hours late finally to Cartagena, plus I got more taste of the South American bureaucracy: being stuck at the border, the ladies in our bus suggested that we bribe the official to let us pass -and so we did. He got like 35 euros worth and let the bus pass without an inspection. You just gotta love these countries. And some people still wonder how smuggling is possible!

Then, after changing the bus in Colombia the scene changed immediately. I had some rhum with some locals as nobody can watch the Van Damme greatest hits (or should I say misses) about the tenth time (I mean, why do the bus company guys love them so much?!?) sober. As the journey went along, we picked up about twenty football fans coming from a game and serving us with aguardiente, a local (or, Columbian) booz. So we partied all the way to Cartagena and suddenly the 28-hours in a bus were not all that bad. No sign of guerrillas here and no formalities of any kind, mind you.

Then I got to see the city. It is an old colonial town (actually bearing the name Cartagena de las Indias), and back in the day this was the major port for shipping the Indian gold to the old continent. This also made it a tempting place for pirate attacks and guys like Francis Drake made a go for it in their time. The Spanish then fortified the town, and the remnants are still surrounding the old town -plus there is a big ass fortress on the side of it. Mind you the place is also right next to the Caribbean coast and this all makes it just about the most incredible town I have seen on this trip. Also, in the old town the buildings are still mainly colonial style: 16th century architecture with narrow streets, palaces, churches, plazas, monasteries, etc. -see the pics below of the town, followed by the fortress. And if this was not enough, right now there are Caribbean games of nameyoursport here in Cartagena, so there is a lot going on. And the snorkeling, diving and chilling on the beach is still ahead..

I have eaten twice in McDonald's in my three days here. Shameful? Something wrong with the local food? No, but as I went in to see the Bicmac prices -6900 pesos (2,22 euros) for a burger and 9100 (2,93 euros) per meal- I noticed the same kind of salsa bar McD's had in Peru. Imagine combining 6 extra ingredients to a normal McProduct, among them 4 spicy salsas -now that gives a new kind of life to the burger. I decided to live in an even more Westerner style and went to movies to see Pirates of the Caribbean in order to "get into the vibe". Only they weren't passing it anymore so I had to see the new Superman. I was not too overwhelmed.

On a different note, I still lack a clear way to get out of here on time to catch my flight to Cuba from Panama. There are no roads to Panama, so obvious ways are via sailboat (primary option, cheaper and sounds just too good to be true) or via plane (no direct ones from Cartagena, so it will cost a bit..). Time will tell what happens, as for now the sailboats are going rather irregularly to say the least.

Republica Bolivariana de Venezuela

2006-07-22T11:43:00.000-07:00

This time I'm writing this from Caracas, Venezuela. I got my passport after all on tuesday in Manaus and headed straight for the border, as I was starting to be fed up with the millions "want jungle tour?" -questions, my gay hotel keeper who was continuously commenting on my outfits and the general non-spanish linguistic atmosphere. At this point I would like to express my sincerest gratitude to the Finnish consul of Manaus, Jacob Cohen, and his son. I owe them one, as they really worked to get me the passport. And guess what was the delay owed to? Brazilian post. I will not get started on that now, but just to ask, would you as post officers try to deliver business mail (marked especifically to be delivered in business hours) either on saturday at 5 PM or on monday at 20.30 PM? Seriously, there seem to be all kinds of idiots around.

From Manaus the journey continued over the northern border to Santa Elena and straight onwards to Ciudad Bolivar. From Manaus that was about 30 hours straight, thank God with breaks. On the way I met Victor, a Mexican restaurant keeper and a traveller extraordinaire, who accompanied me all the way until today as he went on to other adventures. Anyway, Ciudad Bolivar was a disappointment, because we stopped there with the intention to go see Salto Angel, the world's highest waterfall (nearly one kilometer of height). However, it is so deep in the jungle that we had to either take a three-day jungle trip or pay a ridiculous 230 euros per head to fly over it. So, as we were a little short on time, we took off to Caracas without Salto Angel, making also sure that this would not be the last time I come to Venezuela as this is something I do want to see. At least there was the rio Orinoco that some at least might know of the song Orinoco flow:

As we were waiting for the Caracas bus (actually killing time as we had like half a day for it), we sat down for a few drinks. Victor, a part from being a nice and funny guy to travel with, has this unimaginable charm with women of all ages wherever he goes. So before we knew it, he got us invited to a party in the neighbourhood. Ok, I must admit it sounded a little too much like an attempt to rob us and leave there wandering without money, but it wasn't. This "party" was the local restaurant keeper, a woman in his fifties, that had invited us actually to her place to rip Victor's clothes off. And as they moved on to negotiate restaurant business and other hot topics of the day, I was left with her probably underaged daughter to wait for them. That must have been the most stuck-up conversation I have had in my entire life. In the three days I knew him, Victor showed remarkable talent of getting me into awkward situations like this one -I can only imagine what the lady expected me to do with the daughter in the meanwhile.. So Ciudad Bolivar did leave us with something to remember after all. Man we were laughing in the bus remembering the situation couple hours back. Here's me and Victor having a few beers at the local:

Still, it was a little disappointing as we did not get to see the waterfall or even any Tepuis close up (we could see several from the bus windows). Tepuis are the high, flat-topped mountains typical to Venezuela. They have formed during thousands of years, so that they actually have their own ecosystems on the top. Too bad I did not get any pics of them either.

What there is plenty of in Venezuela is (Simon) Bolivar (see above). He is considered a saint and revered up to the point that the actual name of the country is Republica Bolivariana de Venezuela. For those that do not know, the dude is directly or indirectly responsible for the independence of just about half of South America. The "Venezuela" part, by the way, comes from the fact that the first thing the Spanish saw upon entering the coast were houses on stilts -hence: Venezuela, or little Venice. But Bolivar is the man here: even every little pueblito has a Plaza Bolivar and you can see Bolivar's pictures everywhere, surpassed in quantity only by the pictures of Hugo Chavez, the current president. The elections are coming up and he takes full advantage of the position, leaving any possible challengers very little room to move against him. The people on the street hate Chavez, but as there seem to be no even half-ok challengers, he will probably take yet another term in office. I'm pretty sure his government is controlling the media, at least TV shows just some propaganda-like shit all the time. He is also one of the heads-of-state -trio so dear to the mighty USA; Castro in Cuba, Chavez in Venezuela and Morales in Bolivia.

Anyway, we decided to get the hell out of Caracas as fast as we could after seeing the important sights. This was because of the total chaos on the streets (just like Bolivia) and generally a little unsafe feeling we got there, especially during night. First we had some errands to run like me getting the Cuban tourist visa, etc. but then we decided to see how efficient travellers/tourists we actually were. And all the major sights of Caracas, including a charming little town an hour away called El Hatillo, were seen in one long day. Victor said he has travelled around the world for about thirty years and it shows with his bag of tricks and skills of planning things. I'm still a newbie after all. Some pics from the Pico del Avila, a sightseeing point that is reached via a 20-minute cable car, then the centre of Caracas and El Hatillo:

Now on to the usual stuff: a bic mac here is 6800 bolivarianos (2,5 euros) and a meal 10100 (3,7). Not to give you the wrong kind of impression, Venezuela has all the western world stuff, as it is rich with oil (and was living it large some years back) though in my opinion it has more issues than good things related to the oil -not to mention the country overall which preceivably has several problems. But it is a beautiful country and will be a destination for me on a later note. And yes guys, it has also those Miss Universum -types, as I'm told some families start to build a Miss Universum from birth with proper training, nutrition, etc. But in general I'd say Brazilian chicks are better looking. One more notable thing about Venezuela is that football is not THE sport here, it's baseball. I guess there was too much competition around or something. ;)

In Brazil:
Best national beer tasted: Brahma
Best national dish: Rodizio, the eat-all-you-can meat feast
Best experience/sight: The best experience was the jungle tour, but of sights Corcovado takes the cake.

In Venezuela:
Best national beer tasted: Solera
Best national dish: Pollo en brasas, kind of a grilled chicken, with pasta
Best experience/sight: The trip to Pico del Avila, a sightseeing spot over Caracas

Welcome to the jungle

2006-07-17T15:49:00.000-07:00

..said my private indian guide Frank on one sunny friday morning. I took a three-day tour from one of the many agencies in Manaus, paying what seemed a lot at first but what became more reasonable as the tour went on. Before leaving I packed up on meat in a local rodízio, where you have a salad bar and complement it sitting on the table and signaling with this kind of disks (below) to the waiter if you want them to bring you more meat -eat all you can of every kind of meat, garlic bread, cheese, etc -genious!

On the first day we woke up at 5 to catch a bus to the middle of nowhere. Our goal was a small shelter (that is, a roof and nothing else) up Rio Urubú, some 250 kilometers northeast of Manaus, and the journey was done by bus and a rather long boat ride upriver (second pic below), accompanied by some river dolphins. Arriving at 11 in the morning, we had a breakfast of coffee and bananas. Here is also one of the first things I encountered -these dudes scream really loud:

First we took a three-hour canoe trip in the bushes (first pic below). Frank took the canoe straight into what seemed like unpenetratable wall of wood and leaves. There we had a different view of the Amazon already with lots of animals (like a big ass spider I nearly grabbed by accident) in it. The thing about Amazon was that if I was not hiding my camera in a water-tight bag I was too surprised by the animals to take pictures (or the subject was moving too fast and too far), so unfortunately you will not see any discovery channel pics here, just pictures of the two things that could not escape, me and the jungle. Anyway, next we had a lunch of chicken and rice, which was followed by a three-hour piranha fishing trip that did not produce one single fish though "the waters were swarming with piranhas". For dinner we had chicken and rice. The day was sealed with alligator spotting at 8 PM, as it was already so dark you could not see the end of your nose. We found one small alligator right at our feet.. Before "going to hammock" (no beds there) at 9 PM I got ambushed by black ants that were out hunting (a sting causes very high fever), but managed to run faster than them and escape. Going asleep was a little hard, as the crickets, monkies and especially frogs were having a rock concert and some intruders found my hammock every 20 seconds or so. Oh yeah, there were no mosquito nets as "here we have no mosquitos", though I could have sworn I heard several. A sunset from our "base camp" as the second one below.

Then, after waking up at 4 AM, well rested but just waiting for the light, I had time to wonder how I eventually, about 11 PM or so, got used to the idea that I was not alone in my underwear. At 6 AM Frankie woke me up for some coffee and bananas (both of which tasted great here even before the trip), because this was to be the actual jungle day. Here's Mr Jungle Jim (or, as Frank said, Jackie Chan) ready for adventure.

And in we went, for four swetty hours partly on trails but sometimes just by Frank's gut feeling. He was an especially crazy guerrilla as he had served in the Brazilian army as well, so I did not make a fuss about my own army background there.. Here are some shots from the trail (last one a "small" spider web, note Franks head in the bottom-left corner):

Then we got to our hideout in the woods, the "shelter".. I was slowly starting to regret I asked Frank to treat me without the silken gloves. Upon arrival we cooked lunch -chicken and rice.

On the jungle trail I among other things, scared away a wild pig that I'm sure was not even half as scared as me, saw some monkies (yep, genuine jungle monkies!!), about a dozen different birds, a fresh print of a jaguar and so many spiders I am starting to hate them. On our afternoon walk deeper into the woods I saw more monkeys and even a red Macau (a big parrot-looking red bird). I was exhausted and could not wait to get to camp and have a dinner of -you guessed it- chicken and rice.

I was not too sure I wanted to sleep without any real shelter, but at this point Frank revealed to me that the first days' base camp might not be a good place to go back to, as our cook who came with us up to there had gotten sick with malaria. Oops. So much for the no mosquitos -guarantee. There was nothing to be done except double the dosis of malaria pills and spray repellent like a madman. So in the woods we slept. Before going to sleep we had some wonderful talks about women in an each-one-teach-one method (talking about languages, no Brokeback Mountains there..) though he probably got more out of it than me. Anyway, portuguese is rubbing in and now I can communicate, though still quite poorly.

After another night well slept with several different insects and some armadillos that wanted to dig into our provisions of chicken and rice, I insisted that we get back to the base camp as I was genuinely worried about our cook who we had left there alone with malaria. So Frank rushed us through the bush like a crazy, and we arrived in two hours (compared to four going there) to find out that the cook was up and laughing with some friends who came for a visit from the village nearby. Frank just said: "I told you he a strong man". Nuff said. In camp we had a breakfast of coffee and bananas. Here's my breakfast moment with a parrot that could whistle:

Then we had time to kill before we were supposed to be picked up in the afternoon, and suddenly Frank came to me with bad news: there was no more chicken, we would have to catch our lunch! Upon hearing these dreadful news I was virtually running for the canoe even though I was still a bit dazzled by the morning exercise (BTW: I will from now on try to avoid eating chicken and rice forever). This time our trip was more productive, we got a total of five piranhas (I got two and the biggest one), which was hardly enough (though it was really good) for two grown men. Lucky we had rice left..

Getting back into town we had some well deserved beers with Frank (right) and his friend and I was dreaming of McDonald's (seriously). Too bad there is no McD's in Manaus. In Rio there was, and the index showed 6,40 reais (2,32 euros) for the burger and 9,95 (3,61 euros) reais for the meal, by the way.

What did I learn from this trip? I'm actually a city cowboy, no matter how much I spend time outdoors trying to convince myself and others of the opposite. I reached the point where there were just too many insects for me, and I have seen other tropical forest without that effect. Amazon took the cake, by doing that and also otherwise, you can literally feel the life around you there. Notably though, not once did I complain, so I can still go home (or move on if I get the passport sometime this century) with some respect.

Rios do Brasil

2006-07-17T15:06:00.000-07:00

Rio de Janeiro, by the way, has something to do with a river after all. Despite his name hinting towards absolute geniousness, the discoverer and founder of Rio, Gaspar de Lemos, mistook the big bay for a river in one January early 16th century.. Thus: "river of January".

That was where I got an extra day, thanks to the utter incompetence and antiservice of Varig, a shitty Brazilian flight company. This bad word-of-mouth is owed to a record (in my book, most likely a big number on a Latin American scale as well) of seven uninformed changes in the flight time. My personal favourite was the "lets take off 5 hours BEFORE and not tell the customers" -joke. As luck would have it, I did something I normally do not and checked the flight time the day before. Not that it really mattered, as that one was overbooked by about 15 people and the next one would be the next day.

Good thing in all this caused such grumpy looks (I was among the least grumpy, as I had time to kill because of the passport situation) that we all got rooms in a five-star hotel in the center of Rio. I was so damn lazy after all the hassle I slept for the remainder of the day, taking advantage of the free mega-buffets (for you sushi fans, yes, there was great sushi included, buffet style..) and extra services (massage, gym, sauna - a regular joke of a sauna by the way, I caused amazement being naked - room service, etc.) found in the hotel. A view of the Sugar Loaf from the hotel window:

The next day we got on the again and again delayed flight (with no food on a 6-hour flight just because it had a stop in Brazil) eventually to Manaus. I had at least 4 days to kill (actually, now the number is 5 and growing, the passport saga is not over yet) and the jungle was the local attraction. Of course, in addition to the jungle the small river in between had to be seen.

Manaus is not along the actual Amazon river, so after a bus ride I got to the real thing. An awesome sight really, the river is HUGE, and right there some 12 kilometers from Manaus the actual river Amazon starts, in a place called Encontro das Águas, or meeting of the waters. The name comes from the fact that there the dark violet Rio Negro from the north and the light brown Rio Solimões (in the picture below) originating all the way from Peru, meet. And the funny thing is that the waters do not mix, they just flow side by side from there (I tried to ask but even my guide did not know why is that). As I was there on a low speedboat on a cloudy day so all pictures of this were mainly a waste of time. Just take my word for it, a sight to remember.

Up the creek without a paddle

2006-07-10T17:16:00.000-07:00

Or, as in this case, up the Amazon without a passport. The quality of Finnish passports sucks. The passport was in quite ok condition (and believe you me, I checked it VERY carefully before this trip) and now the first page is almost torn away. Good thing I only need to take a national flight tomorrow, maybe the official won't notice it or care about it.. keeping my fingers crossed! But get this: I was actually adviced to tape it togther so it will not break totally!!! In my book that could be considered as forgery, wouldn't you agree?

I was, as you might guess, I little bit worried there for a while. Good thing what Finnish officials lack in passport-making they make up at service and efficiency. The embassy being located in the capital, Brazil (why, oh WHY was that city ever created!?!?) there is only a consulate in Rio. But the person working in the consulate deserves all the credit she can get. From the instant "I do not know, maybe you should try to get to Venezuela with that passport and hope it is accepted" she worked to change the answer to "we will get you the new passport to Manaus in less than a week". She is a lifesaver, I can breathe again.

Now I'm treating my passport like a piece of fragile parchment to get to the Amazonas to wait for a new one there. I'm really looking forward to the next month now. It is a little sad to be travelling alone again, I kind of got used to having the better half with me, but a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do..

City of God

2006-07-10T16:46:00.000-07:00

.. was a movie that did paint a quite different picture of Rio de Janeiro than the one we as tourists were introduced to. One of the most beautiful cities I have ever seen, incredible sights (and this is not just on the beach..) and the most famous beaches in the world are far (not geographically) from the misery of the favelas (slums). Still, I can not help to be maybe a little too cautious here, like taking a taxi always when moving around during nighttime, but it is probably just a good thing in the end.

Upon arrival we headed for a samba bar. My two courses of portuguese in 2004 still left a language barrier high enough that the communication of getting to a samba show with dance (meaning we wanted to see samba dancing) led us to a seemingly popular samba bar with some hot new group playing samba and the people dancing there themselves. No near-naked dancers there, but the music was actually really good as was the ambience.

The next day was the sights day. This started off at Corcovado and Cristo el Redentor. Like so many movie stars in nature, this stubby 30-meter fellow was a lot smaller than the pictures lead you to understand. Now I give tribute to the photographers, as I had imaged it to be like 70 meters tall at the very least. You CAN see it almost everywhere even at night, but it's not dominating the city by any means despite its high position at 710 meters above everything. Sights from the statue are breathtaking, however as well as the statue seen at close:

I recommend you check Johanna's blog as she gets home and updates it, she has usually better pictures of the same spots.

Different kind of sights are offered on the beaches of Ipanema and Copacabana. Here's a normal sunday afternoon at Ipanema:

And to all you guys, yes, the Brazilian chicks are really fine. However, in this case too I am afraid their beauty was put on too high a pedestal, as I was not left in awe despite it all. I was more amazed of the fact that I was actually standing there on that beach. Being there with the girlfriend did not have any effect on my observing capacity, as there seemed to be enough volleyball players and surfers to distract her as well..

We continued with some shopping to find (and fill) the extra piece of luggage that was to be sent to Finland with Johanna and finalized the day with a romantic post-sunset visit to the Pão de Açúcar, the Sugar Loaf. It features Rio (or its lights) in all its beauty and is reached by a cable car (and curiously, the mid-stop on the way features a popular early-evening hang out that plays the loudest disco music I have heard in a long time). The perfect way to spend the last night together.

Before heading for the airport we dropped in for a morning swim at the nearby Copacabana beach. Most likely the greatest month of my life.

Iguazu falls and Paraguay

2006-07-10T16:07:00.000-07:00

The next stop, Iguazu falls in Northeastern Argentina, was starting to look a bit gloomy like the last days of Buenos Aires thanks to the relentless stomach flu. However, upon arrival in the warmth of Iguazu, we were feeling better. The only problem was that I as the tour operator had counted one day too few before Johanna's departure to Finland so we needed to tighten the oh so loose schedule a bit.

Arriving, we headed straight to the falls from the airport to make use of the afternoon. And, regarless of warnings, we went on the infamous rip-off Gran Aventura that took us on a truck ride towards a boat trip that eventually got us all wet under the falls. Good thing we knew to change clothes before at the very least.. Here's the one that wetted us and some shots on the boat:

The falls were breathtaking, as you can see from the pics. They are right at the Brazilian frontier and the biggest fall of them all, Garganta del Diablo, describingly Devil's Throat (fourth pic below), is actually right at the border. They might not be as high as some others, but man they are huge! After seeing all that water move and especially being thrown around and showered by it you can really start to appreciate the powers of nature.

Here's a national park inhabitant that had some plans for me:

To make up time we were trying to move ahead on the same day (what happened to the illness?), but after considering the choices we stayed until next evening to get Paraguayan stamps and go check out the falls on the Brazilian side as well as we did not have time to go through every piece of it the first day. This all was, of course, nicely thought but it seems that anywhere in Latin America all timetables are shaky theories at the very best. First we slept late as we were surprisingly still feeling sick (now WHY on earth was that?), then arriving everywhere seemed to take forever by public transport (good thing we rich European punks can always take the taxi that for us costs peanuts) and finally Paraguay wouldn't give stamps for one-day trippers (once asked, the dude stamped a complimentary stamp on our amendments -pages in the passports, the second page, WTF). With some adjustments and a little bit of hurrying, we managed to pull it off nicely with a lunch in Paraguay and a relaxed tour of the Iguazu falls from the Brazilian side (above) and make it with a couple of spare minutes to our 22-hour bus ride to Rio.

Paraguay, or better put Ciudad del Este, a small commercial output on the "triple frontier", was chaotic, ugly and there for one purpose only: selling virtually anything to Argentinians and Brazilians flocking there for cheap prices. Sadly, I found out that not far from Ciudad del Este the Paraguayans have built the biggest dam in the world, destroying in the process falls greater than those found on Iguazu. I'm seriously lacking respect for that nation but I won't judge them finally just yet based on a few chapters of Lonely Planet and 2 hours wondering on one remote outpost of the country. Here's proof:

By the way, we shared the bus trip experience with a Finnish girl, Heidi, that we met in Puerto Iguazu (the Argentinian village in the area). She studies in Hanken (across the street of my university in Helsinki) and her big sister was in the student board the same time I was at KY - and she herself knows one of Johanna's Mexican friends from Thailand as well. The world is shrinking as I type.

Argentina:
Best national beer tasted: Quilmes
Best national dish: 500 gram bife de lomo with chimichurri (hot tomato salsa) and french fries -I was in heaven
Best experience/sight: Best experience probably snowboarding in Ushuaia and the best sight the Moreno glacier (winning Iguazu falls by an inch)

Paraguay:
Best (& only) national beer tasted: Pilsen
Best (& only) national dish: everything by the kilo, a buffet of partially unrecognizable Paraguayan food
Best experience/sight: Walking the birdge out of there and crossing river Paraná

U R GAY

2006-07-10T15:41:00.000-07:00

Next we took a trip to Uruguay, which turned out to be even less marvellous than we had been told: to start we waited for the damn boat to leave for two hours because "the docks were closed" due to heavy fog. Ok, admittedly it was heavy but what happened to high-tech? Next we were treated with a fog thicker than thin paper and the laid-back beach town we went to seemed more like a ghost-town. Plus the whole trip was done more in the purpose of "just going to Uruguay" anyway..

Anyway, we took off on a day-trip to Colonia, an old (17th century) smuggler town an hour away from Buenos Aires on the Uruguayan side of the river delta. On that particular day the town was really dead and during siesta we had trouble to find any open doors there. An old man in the old lighthouse wanted us to pay to go on top of it to see the sights but he obviously hadn't stuck his nose out of the door all day as you could barely see 50 meters on street level. I'm told on a clear day one can see to Buenos Aires from there.. Well, the traveller's luck has to run out sometime, right?

Uruguay gave us also a nice case of stomach-flu, which kept us more or less still the next few days. More bad luck followed: the French football team woke up after sleeping on their 1998 success and killed Brazil (again), which was not in our program as this meant there would be no party in Brazil either. Good for the angry, headbutting bald man, but they could have lost this one for us. No sympathy for them after the final, none whatsoever.

In the half-living state during the flu I managed to visit Teatro Colon, a Buenos Aires landmark and supposedly one of the best theatres in the World. It was impressive with its vastness, decorations and the fact that almost everything was of marble. However, I think it was a bit smaller than the Vienna Opera and it was definately smaller than the St.Petersburg equivalent.

Here's a way to appeal to consumer:

Earlier we had visited the grave of Evita and wanted to go to the museum, but the illness kept us in bed for that. For those that do not know: she was a working-class heroine that as president Peron's wife was a spokesperson for the less fortunate and women -among other things- and is now respected for that.

After regrouping, we still tried to visit Tierra Santa or the "Jesus park" that, according to website, was open -but wasn't! Argentinians do have something to learn about updating information as they change to, say, winter schedules in a Christian theme park. All we saw was the gate. :(

Of course, once in Argentina and Uruguay, one has to try the Mate, a tea-like hot drink. I bought a kit to Finland as well, so beware guys..

In Urugayay,

The best (& only, actually not very good) national beer tasted: Patricia
Best (& only, very good!) national dish: Chivito, steak sandwich with various ingredients like bacon, egg, etc.
Best experience/sight: The lunch...

Resting in Buenos Aires

2006-07-10T14:55:00.000-07:00

..is just about impossible to do if you are there to see the sights, experience the culture, shop, eat well and party. And why wouldn't you be, as there is just so much of all that in the city, and to do it is all relatively cheap. Definately one of the greatest cities on Earth and a number one backpacker's choice forever. I'm joining the long list of travellers that can highly recommend Buenos Aires. Even if the weather is not that good, it kicks ass!

The city itself is big and even all the sights/places to go are thrown around the city so that they are hardly in walking distance. Luckily the taxis are dirt cheap there. :) There are some 13 million people, again depending on how you count, in Buenos Aires. The place has strong Italian influences, but overall it is a real melting pot of cultures and you can find almost anything you can imagine -or at the very least that is how it felt. Bic Mac index shows that a single burger is 7,50 pesos (1,9 euros) and a meal 10,50 pesos (2,7 euros).

At this point I would like to express my gratitude to the Germans to have eliminated Argentina. Thanks a lot, we missed a good party and I spent 11 euros on an Argentina shirt almost for nothing. "Saksa on paska maa." At least we got to see the game in the airport and drink several glasses of champagne on our first class flight to honour the German victory.

We met up with Simo upon arrival and to everyone's surprise this led us to a night out. After hard-core travelling just the thing to do is to stay out drinking and partying until morning, and in the Argentinian case that actually is the morning. We left a bit after 5AM thinking about the next day and seeing the sights, but the "locals" kept on going.. And still we were not able to get up to see everything we wanted. The rest of the time we decided to keep less on the party and more on the take-it-easy mode as we were already a little exhausted of the speed of travelling and with lots to see. Here are (in order): Plaza 25 de Mayo; the biggest street in the world, 9 de Julio; some buildings in the centre; me with local fallos symbol; and a U.S. copy-paste senate building.

I had tried my skating skills out with Johanna in El Calafate on a big frozen bay, and as faith would have it, we got to do it in a rather korny (and small) ice-skating rink in Buenos Aires as well. I was definately getting the hang of it, as this professional move demonstrates:

After some short negotiations we also decided to go on to take a tango lesson. I was a little intimidated by the couple swirling away in the sunday antique fair (first pic below), but we went anyway and it turned out to be loads of fun in the two-hour session of Tango Milonga. Simo, who got to change partner after every song (note: I chose to stick with the imported Finnish one, just so that none of you get any ideas..), got even more out of it as he was doing some moves on about everyone between 15 and 60 years of age. After tango we enjoyed a good dinner at a local Vietnamese restaurant to honour Philip's (Simo's roommate) last night in Buenos Aires (last pic).

Oh, and here's a career move:

It's the end of the world

2006-06-28T16:18:00.000-07:00

"..as we know it.." This trip has reached (and passed) its southernmost stop, in the words of REM. We spent our Juhannus in Torres del Paine, a big national park in southern Chile and probably THE trekking/hiking/camping place in the country. Sorry you all who called with drunken/happy messages from the midsummer parties, I could not listen to any of the voice messages. I'm sure they were lovely, thanks.

In Torres del Paine we first saw the caves of the Milodon, a prehistoric creature whose remains were found in the cave. The big fellow looked like this:

The real sights of Torres del Paine were of course all the scenery. Here you have one postcard shot of the mountain range (which is in fact the heart of the national park) and within it the actual three towers (torres). The other one is of the first part of the Patagonian glacier we saw, the Glaciar Grey (pieces of it in the front and the big mass itself barely visible in the distance).

Travelling to and from the Fin del Mundo itself, Tierra del Fuego, was not all that easy. Here I'm freezing on the crossing of the Magellan strait:

The southernmost destination on the whole trip was none the less than the southernmost city in the world, Ushuaia, on the Argentinian side. As we got there, the people were celebrating in the centre as Argentina had just won Mexico in the World cup. I kept my Mexico-sweater well hidden at that time -and in anticipation of the upcoming fall of the Germans we both bought Argentinian football shirts..

In Ushuaia we first got acquainted (again) to the Argentinian food culture (now I'm officially in heaven with all the eat-all-you can meat around) and had our share of the party. The next day was spent chilling and walking in knee-deep snow (without snow shoes, of course, but why should crazy Finns care) in the Tierra del Fuego national park. This was the first time the clothes really were not adequate for the place where we were..

To the upset of all you skiing mainiacs, we also went for some snowboarding in the southernmost slopes in the world, Cerro Castor right there in Tierra del Fuego. It was rather cold at first, but the scenery just took ones breath away. And though some slopes were still closed, the majority was still in good enough shape. On top (or bottom?) of the world, mom:

Our visit to Ushuaia was completed with a boat tour in the Beagle channel, where we saw, among other things, an island full of sea lions (too bad, no penguins here this time of year..).

Our next stop was El Calafate, some 18 bus-hours north of Ushuaia. There we took a peak of one of the most active ice fields in the world, the Glaciar Moreno. I could not fit the whole chunk in one picture, as it is 5 kilometers wide in the front and 14 km long (you'd think looking at the photo below that the mountains in the back are closer than 14 km away, wouldn't you?). The front of it is "just" some 60 meters high and it moves some 40 cm per day, breaking every now and then. Being there you can hear the ice crack and sometimes see the pieces falling into the lake. You are left in awe and I myself with a huge urge to go to the Antarctic some day..

On a different note, being here (both Chile and Argentina) has really opened my eyes to the machismo and the general male attitudes here.. Maybe it is just the jealous me talking, but I feel like having some words with some of the drooling guys around. Or then again, maybe It's not just me: a father of two was taking pictures of Johanna in the supermarket with a camera phone -while carrying his daughter! All while talking to the girl: "look how beautiful she is".. Seriously, what kind of a sick a-hole would do that?!? Maybe I should just feel flattered, but some guys really go too far.

All in all, this has been one of the best things (if not THE best) ever! I've kept the schedule tight as I usually do, but Johanna has been great about it and we have really enjoyed the trip even while seeing lots of stuff. Now the next thing is the anxiously expected Buenos Aires, a place of which everybody I meet spills nothing but exceptional reports. And besides, Simo owes me one -or two. ;)

To seal this entry, here are the basic things about Chile: Bic Mac Meal is 2100 pesos (3,05 euros) and the lonely burger 1550 pesos (2,25 euros). The specialty of McD's there is the quarter pounder with avocado.. Also, I did pass all my courses!! The better-quality-than-HSE -formula did not apply in giving the grades, obviously, but I'm just glad to have no problems back home then. In regards to the thesis, I might have some interesting news by the next entry, but can't promise a thing quite yet..

Best national beer tasted: Escudo. Extensive tasting. Second only to Tecate in the world (so far).
Best national dish: Churrasco italiano (a hamburger-like fast food with mayo, avocado and tomato). So shoot me who does not agree.
Best sight/experience is just way too hard to decide.

Midsummer around zero degrees

2006-06-22T16:10:00.000-07:00

Yeah, that is the deal for me this year. We just arrived to snowy Puerto Natales from Puerto Montt on a 3-day ferry ride. It was an experience indeed.. The sea-stomach trained by the Finnish marines and numerous adventures around Tallinn and Stockholm boats was given a ride for the money on the less gentle waves of the Pacific. Let us just say that the movie Perfect Storm was made reality in front of my eyes with some 30-foot waves rocking the boat.. I did do better than Johanna who had to really fight it, but all in all my respect for the crazy dudes sailing the Magellan strait and up the Chilean coast hundreds of years ago just went up a couple hundred percent or so. Here are some happy sailors before the open seas (it was not actually even a storm..) and the Navimag "cruiser":

Have a nice Juhannus y'all, I know we will be enjoying it hiking in one of the most famous national parks in Chile, the Torres del Paine, before heading even further south. Keeping the fingers crossed that our "winter" clothes can keep us warm once we hit the end of the world..

Adventurous Pusko

2006-06-18T17:00:00.000-07:00

Taking off from Santiago was not as easy as I had anticipated, but also the excitement of the upcoming travels were a good motivation to get everything organized, send a package to Finland and say goodbye to the rest of the people.

From Santiago we took off to Pucòn (or Pusko, as "one" co-traveller thought the name to be at first), a small city some 500+ kilometers south of Santiago near the Argentinian border. It is the place in Chile to do it all when adventure travel and experiences are concerned. I was a bit worried that we might be wasting our time there, as I had heard the weather had been terrible there for a while. However, when we arrived, the sky was totally cloudless.

First we took a tour of local sights and then made sure we had ourselves booked on the climb on top of a 2900-meter volcano (Volcan Villarrica) for the next day. We were in luck indeed, as we later heard that in June 2005 only one day was good enough for climbing the volcano. Here are some pics from the first day (in the last one you see the volcano):

Climbing the volcano was a bit strenuous, but not as much as I had thought. It was a bit dangerous though with the possibly extreme weather conditions and the fact that the volcano is in fact active (pool of hot magma in the crater all the time). The steep price did include all the necessary equipment and insurances, plus expert guides.

The climb started early in the day to have a chance to get there and back before dark. At no point were we guaranteed to reach top, but again we had luck and were blessed with clear weather (even climbing in a t-shirt at times) until the 5,5 hour climb was done. I did not even care that that day the volcano was spewing out so much vapor (last photo below) we could not see the magma in the crater. I guess you cannot win all the time, huh? Especially as coming down went fast due to clouds gathering behind us on the top (by the time we were down again you could not even see the volcano anymore -and the next day the weather was terrible all day) and thanks to the guides that led everybody down the slopes on our asses, a little childish fun to seal the deal.

On our last day in Pucon wew still went to bathe in the hot springs before we headed to the happy couples' capìtal of the world, Puerto Montt (look closely at the statues in the picture). From here we will take a 4-day ferry to Puerto Natales, luckily already tomorrow.. To see the female thinking about this trip, go see Johanna's blog (link on the left).

Happy days

2006-06-18T15:34:00.000-07:00

Finally, Johanna arrived to Chile. Four months can seem like a lifetime, but good things are worth waiting. I decided to forget my student status for a while and celebrate a few days as if I had the lifestyle I hopefully will some day. Those good (and warm, a novelty in Chile) hotel nights and dinners at restaurants left a bit different picture of Chile in my mind after all.

Getting good at it, I took Johanna for what is referred to "the Stenbäck tour" of Santiago and its surroundings. Here are some shots from it, trying to avoid repeating myself:

Sunset in the smoggy Santiago at night, some student protest messages (I bet all you KY guys get a kick out of this) in a local school, then a good-bye -shot from Cerro Santa Lucia (in the dead centre of Santiago, and no, we did not agree to wear the same color shirts..), some pelicans on our suite balcony in Viña del Mar and finally, the "devil" that is said to haunt the wine cellars of Casillero del Diablo (look closely, on the back). BTW, a major Thank You to Sami who finally made me see the light on using Flickr to put the photos here (hence the different look). You can click the photos to see them (and others) in my Flickr site better.

I believe I can fly

2006-06-08T23:47:00.000-07:00

"..I believe I can touch the sky.." Yup, did some paragliding in Iquique. On my way back "home" to Santiago I stopped over in this city in the Northern parts of Chile, as it has a geography quite unique (basically, huge sand dunes close to the sea) and especially good for paragliding.

I had to take a tandem jump as there was no time to take a course and quite frankly, the prices were ridiculous. I paid 40 euros for under 30 minutes of flight time, doing it tandem. And, we had to wait for 2 hours for the wind to pick up. I told the instructor not to say I am too heavy for the slow winds so he did not say much in the remainder of the trip. Conclusions are being drawn as we speak.

Ok, the airtime itself was fabulous. We were just floating in the sunny air over the beaches of the city (something this country could use some more again) and landing smoothly on the sand. Still, nothing compared to a good bungee-jump. I was just left with the urge to do a real skydive. Sorry mom, there must be something wrong in my head..

Coming to Santiago was a real no-thank-you. The last five hours of bus moving south towards Santiago was pure rain. The fall is here. I also read from the newspaper, that there are major floods in the place in mid/south Chile where I am supposed to go with Johanna soon. But that is not all - in Santiago a major strike has begun, by the students! They are negotiating with people four times their age for better financial possibilities to study and who knows what else. My "local" school that usually lets out hundreds of annoying teenage "gringo"-shouters on weekdays had today just about every chair of the building thrown into the entrance portcullis with very threatening signs all over the place. Good thing is that the strike came now and not weeks earlier, as I'm not so sure how I could have explained in Finland the courses I did not pass with the phrase "But we were on strike"...

Bye bye Bolivia

2006-06-08T20:00:00.000-07:00

So, that chapter of the journey is done. Having enjoyed my bloody trip to La Paz so much I continued straight to Copacabana, on the shores of lake Titicaca (not the famous Cuban city -just yet..). This time the bus took me all the way though I did have my doubts there for a while. Lake Titicaca is a 9,000 sq km "puddle" in the middle of the mountains and in a genuine Bolivian style it is the world's highest navigable lake. Beautiful clear water everywhere, not to mention that on the Bolivian side (it is half Peruvian and half Bolivian) there are significant places for the Inca culture, like the Isla del Sol in the picture below. The Incas believe that the Sun was born there, and also at the Northern end of the Island there is a sacred rock called the Rock of the Puma out of which supposedly the first Inca emperor arose. Too bad that the two Inca colonies on the island were having major disagreements at the time and it was impossible to get to the sacred rock by boat and there was too little time to walk it (total of 6 hours walking) thanks to the ferry timetables. Also, the ferry "forgot" to pick us (me and two locals) up at the agreed time, but we managed to get to the mainland anyway and started a long complaint-process, which ended up at me being paid 85 bolivianos in return of the original 15 I had paid for the trip. So I guess my spanish is starting to be on the '98 level again.. This time the key to winning the argument was that as I was a lawyer, I would bring the police to investigate and all the tour guides would lose their jobs and pay immense compensations out of their puny salaries to me and my fellow passengers.. Lucky they bought the story much better than I did myself. ;)

Here's a shot from the slopes of Isla del Sol. Notice how the sun shines on your face even in the shadow.

Here below is the town of Copacabana. Also quite touristy, actually surprisingly so as were many places I saw in Bolivia. I spoke more English in two weeks in Bolivia than in three months in Santiago! But anyway, Copacabana was touristy in a nice way, they did not try to scam you out of your money though service was on other level. Well, except for a small boat ride incident. This town also showed a second surprise that the shores of Lake Titicaca presented -this being that Bolivia actually has some beaches. The first surprise was that Bolivia has an Armada (logical, as it has SOOO much coastline) and according to one emblem, at least four divisions in it as well. Impressive. Actually, the debate relating to the coastline is still on in the minds of the Bolivians. Now they transport all their sea-faring goods to Arica (Northern Chile). Chile would have granted them a right for a port in the Pacific, but Bolivian pride could not accept such bits of mercy after getting their asses kicked in the war. But speculation is still a hot topic in the press at least.

After Copacabana it was time to head to La Paz. The capital is a quite peculiar town with only a bit over 2 million people in it. It is also shaped as a bowl or a stadium, and it is said that it is impossible to get lost there. I beg to differ, as street names are rarely marked and they change every now and then (however, not after every second quarter like in Peru). Talking about street names, Bolivians have really overdone the Latin American trend of naming the streets after significant dates. Either they have loads of these dates or then they used the NON-significant ones. And they even love them so much, that they extended this trend to school names and others, like bus company names. Such use of imagination can rarely be witnessed: You can say that you got the 4th of July's bus in front of 18th of September elementary school and headed down on 6th of December.

The city of La Paz is guarded by the year-round snowy-peaked mountain Illimani in the background in the photo below (some 6,400 meters high), though the city itself is only at 3,600 meters (still, in genuine Bolivian style it is world's highest.. capital), with a depth of the "stadium" being an impressive 400 meters.

Being true to my blogging habits, I went to search for a McDonald's to get a Bic Mac index number, but just to learn that they had closed the McD's there long ago.. Burger King did fight for existence with its only one surviving restaurant, but that was not of any help. Anyway, the actual reason why McDonald's are not operating there remained unclear, but I'm guessing there are politics involved. Too bad as I'm sure this would have been a price winner (or loser) on the comparison, that cheap is the country. I mean, I had a hard time spending 120 USD on anything even remotely usable in a week (this includes already lodging, 2-3 meals a day and trips totalling to some 35 hours). But the good thing about La Paz is their immense number of street vendors. I'm surprised if any supermarket sells anything there, that much of the vendors were scattered on the streets with different products ranging from plasma-TVs to hair care products and cheesy novels. All in all, Bolivia was an experience to be recommended, but not for everybody.

Best national beer tasted: Paceña centenario

Best national dish: Piqueo Macho (meats and vegetables mixed with strong condiments, local "pyttipannu")

Best sight/experience: Mine tour (the most unforgettable being still the sacrifice of llamas -easily)

Censored!

2006-06-05T07:26:00.000-07:00

To you all that already saw the pictures in the last post and liked them, good for you. For those that saw them and didn't like them, I'm sorry. And for those that did not see them, I can arrange that you get to view llamas being killed, skinned and hacked into pieces, I have so many photos that you can cetrainly feel the atmosphere if you want to..

I took the most horrendous ones out since this is an open blog and you never know who enters here. Yes, there is a conscience after all. In addition, websites have been closed for less and I have put too much time and effort into this blog just to see it closed because of some pictures. The original idea was to shock you with the reality here as much as it shocked me, but as you can not get a virtual bloodbath, better just leave a couple photos to give the general idea.

I chickened out -so shoot me. ;)

A man's job

2006-06-04T16:35:00.000-07:00

_DISCLAIMER: Viewer discretion: Photos at the end of the post can be shocking, so faint of heart and animal lovers should not go there..._

*EDITED*

As promised, here's some enlightenment about mining in Potosí. Mining (at least there) is by far the toughest job I have seen, and not just physically. Now all you überfemisists can wave your fists in the air and rip your skirts, but I was there and I am telling you, that mine is no place for a woman. Actually, it is no place for a man either, but there they are. I know I would not last even a day of that stuff, three hours was already pushing it and I was just observing!

They work at inhuman circumstances, in the heart of the mountain (level 5, some 700 meters underground) it is over 50 degrees and already on the second level (some 250 meters under ground) breathing is difficult and photos taken there show particles in the air. Of course, compared to sea level we are still talking about over 3500 meters.. Though diseases are just the second most common reason for dying (most common being exploding or dying in a cave-in caused by one), it is said that few live over 15 years past the day they start to work in the mines. Most common diseases they die of are respiratory diseases or stomach problems. Back in the glory days of the city they brought African slaves to the mines, but they could not take it and were put to housework instead. Now there are about 400 mines in the area, with some 38 mining companies and over 12,000 miners. One group of workers can produce about 8 tons of minerals per week, so no lazy business there..

I went on a tour that took us to the miners market, a mineral refinery (less impressive) and a mine itself. Probably the most amazing part for me was the market, where we went to buy the miners some gifts as a thanks for having us for a visit. Anybody could just walk in and buy dynamite! Also, second big hit on fridays is pure, potable alcohol (96%) which is the miners' delight (NOT mixed). And third, as the country is Bolivia, Coka leaves. All these and much more stuff were on sale at this market because all the miners pass it on their way to work. And buying any of those things is completely legal! At this point I must add that the Coka leaves are not a drug, they are actually used for everyday tea as well.. So even though I got to "try" all of the above, I will keep off the refined Coka, prefer beer and not begin a career as a terrorist. To explain why miners like that stuff, the dynamite is rather obvious but pure alcohol is preferred as it is best to carry the least amount to the mine and it lasts long and it supposedly even tastes good (get a load of these guys!!). Coka leaves are traditionally chewn (with or without catalysts, but I was told the proper amount is 200-500 leaves at a time!) here to get rid of hunger, tiredness and pain -the miners' main excuse is that they can not bring food to the mine so their luch must be Coka leaves. Here's one happy camper with his purchases -dynamite, pure alcohol and a bag of Coka:

The mine itself was also quite a shocker. The first picture is the happily unaware "before" picture. Then you have me at the fourth level (we did not go deeper, thank God) and finally an "after", a walking corpse again totally unaware of anything and just minutes before the dynamite explosion..

In the mine they revere the tio, the mine god. It has many forms but as Chiristianity tried to get rid of it, it is often depicted as the devil. Tio needs to be living happily with Pachamama, Mother Earth (bfore every drink you must pour some on the ground -or floor- for her), so that the miners are safe and get the riches out of the mine. Pachamama's dealings are next, at the already infamous end of the post. Before that also a picture of men at work on the third level, note the particles in the air.

So, I stayed for an extra day in Potosí as there was a big miner celebration in honor of Pahcamama coming up. The deal was, to make a long story short, that the miners had a day off and after a morning of soccer games the groups bought some living llamas from the market and sacrificed them in front of the mine. Heavy alcohol use, explosions and barbecue were also in the picture. So here we go with some gruelsome evidence of the event (EDIT: I took out the most shocking photos, see next post):

*CENSORED*

*CENSORED*

*CENSORED*

*CENSORED*

Blood bowls were thrown everywhere, as the blood blessed their houses etc. -well guess who also got a good load of it? Yep, the right man in the right place, me. I got llama blood all over my side and at that point had no choice but to travel 11 hours in a bus with bloody clothes. Luckily they were black so nobody (hope) noticed. I left the party before the alcohol use got out of hand; when I got on the bus I saw them fixing something with dynamite..

But, in the end, such wonders are going on in the Unesco World Heritage list town, Potosí. Now I invite all the chicks (and guys) who got interested to go join a mining group in Bolivia!

No coast in Bolivia

2006-06-03T15:07:00.000-07:00

Had to come and see it myself. Some of you know why this is important to me: it is because I lost a Trivial Pursuit game once in 2003 because the game claimed that the only South American country without a coastline was Paraguay. Obviously, this is not the case. For those of you that do not know it, I got an official apology from the company that makes the game and survived as the moral winner after all.

Bolivia is probably among the least known countries in South America (at least to all you Finns), so I will bother you all with some exceptionally useful info I got during my stay here. Bolivia is a country with amazing natural beauty - I can say it already though I have seen but a fraction. Just see the photos in the last entry. It is also a country of over half of people of indigenous backgrounds –as the current president, Evo Morales, who is nationalizing everything to the joy-joy of greedy American corporations..

The country is known for just about “world’s highest” everything, like Potosí, where I am now, which is the world’s highest city at 4070 meters above sea level. Makes you breathe quite heavily just tying shoe laces. The country has suffered from chronic territorial losses to Chile (their chance of coast went there), Paraguay (which makes you wonder if these guys know anything about war) and Brazil (who took their rubber). Still they have nature from one end to other (from the mountains I have seen to the rain forest with their Jesuit missions). To top it all off, the DEA started an anti-drug program here, but the cooperation of Bolivians was “suggested” by the threat of ending monetary support. Gotta love the USA with their bag of tricks..

Potosí itself is a magnificent town. I bet none of you knew that in the beginning of the 17th century it was one of the biggest cities in the world with nearly 200,000 inhabitants. This was all due to its vast mineral riches, at that time mostly silver. In the mid 17th century it had a crisis as the silver could no more be obtained without chemicals and their use polluted the water of thousands of people in the region. In response, they made big lakes in the mountains to distribute the drinking water to people and to use hydropower to operate the smelters. Mining is still the city’s main livelihood and it is painfully visible in the everyday life as well (more on mines in the next post). I’m really liking Bolivia, as it is the first country truly uncorrupted with “western manners”.

Picture-perfect landscapes

2006-06-03T13:45:00.000-07:00

After the little “accident” in San Pedro in Chile I took off towards Bolivia, a country I had heard much good about (but less so before arriving to Chile). At the time of departure, there was only one problem: the painful experience of sitting almost anywhere thanks to the hard touch of the bicycle saddle.

The tour I took was a 3-day jeep trip to Uyuni, a town in the Southwest of Bolivia. Rarely have I been so overwhelmed by a tour.. The essence of the whole country (more on that in the next entry) became clear quite early on: as we were on the frontier area of Argentina, Chile and Bolivia, getting out of Chile on a paved road, all of a sudden the guide told us: “now we go to Bolivia” – and took a turn straight into the desert from the paved road (that was leading to Argentina).

Now I’ll let pictures talk more. The first stop was at Laguna Blanca, a lake made white by all the chalk in it (first photo below). After that we saw Laguna Verde (green because of the copper in the lake –second photo, note also Volcano Licancabur in the background) and after some awesome desert sights (third photo) and some hot springs (fourth photo) we arrived at the first overnight stop at Laguna Colorada (differs in color, now red thanks to the lithium there –fifth photo). In the photo (or its enlargement) you can see the last flamencos of the region still hunting for some microbes in the water.

It was a bit cold over there in the height of the mountains as well, but not to scare Johanna (my girlfriend coming to Chile very soon, finally) too much, they told me it does not get colder than this (-15 Celsius) in the south of Chile..

The first overnight reminded me again of my military service. Our room was some 10 below zero and the rented sleeping bags were made for – you guessed it- midgets. So not too much sleep there, but the journey continued in the jeep to the Arbol de Piedra (or, Stone Tree) below.

After that we had a long run of dying villages and generally boring sights (except the lake below) before entering a hotel that was total luxury after the first night. If you are wondering how someone would pay for such shit, I can tell you that lodging, travel, food etc. were all included for the three days on the 65 USD price. And just one night's lodging was feeble, otherwise we were really taken care of in the tour.

The last day we headed for a sunrise on a cactus-filled island, Isla de Pescadores. Here is also our team of 7: Shane and Suzie from Ireland, Marco from Canada, our driver Lucas (a pro driver who had a glass eye and thus wore sunglasses even in the night!!!) and Gunther from Germany in the upper row and me and Gunther’s wife Inga in the front.

Last I present to you a typical view of the Salar of Uyuni, a huge salt plain (12,000 square kliometers, at places over 1 meter of salt... the water in the ground trying to get out makes those hexagons) followed by a picture of me on a very old locomotive in the cemetery of trains close to Uyuni. The translated text says “asi es la vida” = “such is life” and on smaller text in the front: “se necesita un mecanico con experiencia –urgente!” = “in need of a experienced mechanic –urgent!”

Operation: Atacama

2006-06-02T16:40:00.000-07:00

The words of my Reserve Officer School instructor crept into mind: "There is no pain and agony is just a feeling". I "accidently" cycled 80 kilometers in the desert in one day. Oops.

The story began with sitting-muscle-training 26 hours in bus, which were eventually rather painless as the past days in Santiago had been quite hectic and I slept most of the way. Arriving, I had an extra day in San Pedro de Atacama, which is a small but touristy place and often referred to as THE gathering point of backpackers in Northern Chile. Prices are high, but there is also loads of touristy stuff to offer from fancy restaurants to all kinds of tours imaginable, as it is promptly in the Bolivian border and right north of the Atacama salt desert.

On my extra day I had this sudden urge of taking a mountain bike out for a run, after all San Pedro is one of the best mountain biking places in Chile, and that is saying a lot in a country as hilly as Chile. I had planned to just see the nearby Inca fortress and then maybe go check out a famous (backbacker famous, that is) sunset in Valle de la Luna, however I had my doubts as the place was 15 clicks away from town. And what happened? I got overly excited about biking in that terrain and the Inca fortress was far from my mind as I blasted beyond it. Describing is that the fortress was 3 km away from town and when I had cycled about 12 km I started to wonder where the damn thing was. Check out the valley where I was from the photo below, you can just imagine how I could not focus..

Then, things got even worse. The road ended into a tunnel through the mountains, and what do I do? Instead of turning back I trust my flawless sense of direction and ride into the tunnel. On the other side I found the closest thing to heaven that can be found in the desert: a 3-km (or more), medium-steep downhill ride along a dried riverbed. Even the flawless sense of direction said not to go there, but I couldn't resist. Definately the best biking experience ever, no doubt about it, it made the day even in the end after all the trouble. The first downside of the perfect ride was that after it I popped out into a part of the desert that has the descriptive name of Llano de la Paciencia, or the plane of patience. In the photo below you can see me with my ride -the mountains on the back are about 20 km away.. Lucky I had a compass in my Nokia and a couple liters of water so I eventually found back to the city and even the Inca fortress alive. The fortress, however, was a big disappointment after the ones I saw in Peru.

More excitement to the trip brought the fact that in the area there are still unfound mines in the ground, heritage of the Chile-Bolivia(&Peru) war. This meant that I had to stay on routes already travelled - but even right next to the bike trail I found an old cannon ammo.. The idiot in me almost woke up as I was considering scenarios of how to detonate it, but I quickly continued the search for civilization (mainly because it was too hot to do stupid things and because there was no cover for the pieces of the ammo anywhere).

The story did not end there. When I got back to town I knew the trip had been a bit longer than I expected, but no idea as to how long.. Then I found two Chilean guys who were heading to the beforementioned sunset and as I am extremly hard to persuade, even more so if the task is insane, I followed them. After the cycling menace I still had to climb a huge sand dune to see the spectacular sunset, and I crawled there with my last ounces of strength just to witness a sunset behind clouds (below). Wow. And to top it all off, other 15 kilometers back to town in the cold and dark desert.. I was quite blown away as I asked in the bikeshop if they could estimate my travels that day and the answer was: "Man, the car rentals are next door. I'd say 80 kilometers, give or take a few."

Here's also a picture of my Chilean friends-at-arms. I promised to put the photo on the blog so here it is. The guy in front was a crazy local hobo that insisted on being in the picture.

Best pit stop ever

2006-05-27T04:57:00.000-07:00

The fat lady has sung. It is over, three interesting and unforgettable months here in Chile are about to end. Though not finally yet, but in a matter of hours there will be one happy man on a bus to San Pedro de Atacama, from where I start my Bolivian tour just to come back in two weeks for the final goodbyes, and more importantly, the girlfriend. ;) Anyway, yesterday as all my duties here were done, it was time for the victory cigar I got from my French friends. I even shaved for the occasion, I figured that since there are other internationally famous Finnish monsters now, this one could retire already.

The past week was indeed a really shitty one, but hey, one can't enjoy all the time. Haven't had any trouble sleeping the past two nights as all the schoolwork was done. Actually some exams did not go all that well, but it was not a matter of lack of trying. Also, the actual progress of the thesis for this trip is still a big unknown, I got plenty of data and articles and people who can help me via internet, but I still wasn't too convinced myself (bearing in mind that I need to finish it in the fall...).

Now, as I am packing all my life in a backpack again, it feels a bit sad to leave. Then again, focus of this whole thing was not to study, but to make the trip so in that sense this was the best pit stop ever. This seems like an appropriate time to throw in some conclusions..

WHAT I AM GOING TO MISS ABOUT CHILE

- The people. You just have to love them, and once again in 3 months I have had the pleasure of meeting some great people, some of which will surely be my friends for years to come.

- Quality of courses (ok, not all but some were by far among the greatest I have ever seen).

- The atmosphere of the house. So much for my bohemian life style.

- The "savage dogs" of the house. If it would not make me feel so insecure about myself, I could use the word "adorable" to describe them.

- Escudo (local beer). Mi mejor amigo del barrio.

- Gym of my school. Too bad I didn't realize to take a photo, maybe later -it was big and overly well equipped.

- Big city life -living in a metropoly is just so different and it kind of grows on you.

- Wines. This place is wine heaven. Nuff said.

- Movies that are so cheap I was practically ripping them off at the rentals. I think I rented some 60 movies or so in 3 months.

- One of the cleanest, nicest, most secure and most effective metro systems in the world.

- Gas stove. Does wonders when you are cooking, as does having a big kitchen.

- The forbidden things here: a sign in the door of my local store says no ingresar animales (don't take animals in) and under it is a picture of an elephant?!?! It is impossible to enter without smiling every time.

WHAT I AM NOT GOING TO MISS ABOUT CHILE

- The room wihtout heating on those below zero nights (and no, it does not help to be a Finn, even ezkimos would not like that), freezing my butt off.

- Smog and the screaming micros that spew out its main ingredients.

- 1,5 hour schooltrips that just annihilate you on a day that has classes from 8 AM to10.30 PM, completing it all into a mind-boggling 17-hour experience.

- Group workers that don't give a shit about deadlines in a place where just about every minute late costs you points. Or to generalize it more, promising one thing and not delivering. Enfuriating. At the last group work session I just had to take control. It can not be that difficult to assign responsabilities and put timelines to them. Now they think I am a control freak for teaching them some A's and B's about project work..

- Insta-coffee. These people have no clue about real coffee.

- The flip in attitude when people get into metros. Many turn into complete assholes, and despite the vastly imminent instructions to let people get out before you rush in, nobody gets the picture. I am generally on the bigger side here, so if I just get angry enough at the idiots I turn into an asshole myself and just ram the midgets out of my way -and blame the Swedes if someone asks.

- Local hot dogs. Completo = hot dog with excessive mayo, italiano = completo with excessive avocado and tomato (and mayo -colours of the italian flag..). You can not fit these babies into your mouth so you best eat them with a fork. Hot dogs. With a fork. You can not taste anything as there is too much of everything (but the meat).

- Pisco, the local grape liquor taken with lemon and egg white (Pisco sour) or coke (Piscola). Major source of headache even in small quantities. Pisco -I feel ya.

- Scooching in front of my computer with no table or chair. Does wonders for your back especially if you are writing a 20-page report.

- Not being able to talk about politics. A big no-no here. Strong opinions and often quite opposite. After renting a car to drive around central Santiago, talking about politics is the worst mistake one can make. Just was glad that when I had lunch at Pinochet's nephews' house (which I didn't know at the time) I did not open my mouth about politics.

I probably forgot something, but that is what came into mind at this point. This has been a ride, seriously a great experience to learn and understand everything and I am glad to have made the most of it. I will probably be logging off for a while now, but before that some pictures of "the last supper". Below is a photo with some friends from school: Benjamin (Chile), Maria Jose (Ecuador), Robin (USA) and Paola (Chile).

Boiling point

2006-05-23T06:55:00.000-07:00

Red Bull consumption: up 250%
Coffee consumption: up 300%
Sleep: down 50%
Food consumption: down 80% (estimate)
Alcohol consumption: down 80% (well, Finland DID win the Eurovision song contest)
Sports: down 100%

The department of statistics is happy to announce that we can reject the hypothesis null of all exchange life in South America being laid back.

The last week has been quite.. effective. As my friend Kata arrived here we did all the usual tours of Viña, Valpo and nightlife of Santiago and on the side I managed to pull off some 4 final projects and 1 exam that I am not sure that I have passed or not.. 2 days, 2 projects and 2 exams to go, not to mention that the thesis needs some work still to get to the stage I wanted to get to by the time I leave. Which is in 3 days (for two weeks and then back for a week). It is simply amazing how I can get myself into these messes from time to time. Some people never do learn. Like boiling water: it moves in a lot of hurry before it vaporizes off.

It's not as if the workload is THAT much, though the level of Masters' studies IS better here than in my university, I am sure of it now -and this already excludes the fact that I am operating in a foreign language that isn't english.. Also the other students spend their nights studying, whereas they pass their days studying as well (the last few weeks, that is) -unlike me, thus the fuss. But enough about the "life is hard" -whining as it will very soon be everything but hard, just to let you know why there have not been any mails or chats for a while. Here are some shots for the audience of the past week:

To celebrate the 26 years, I got to pick the food:

I trust you all know the brand below? If not, endulge yourself on your next visit to the licor store or Alko. Try out el Casillero del Diablo, for instance. The name comes from the story the winemaker spread out that there was a Devil living in the wine cellar. This effectively stopped all thievery..

The grapes are small and look like fresh raisins because they do not want the excess water in them.

Valpo's "beautiful" docks, again, and Kata and me on the tour.

Out with the Finns again - I really did not have the time, but we just had to celebrate Lordi's victory! I put Ossi's and Kiki's links on the list for some more interblogging, by the way. Here we are with Markus and Ossi (he's the guy I knew from my KY times) in a great club, Blondie's, that was made from an old theatre and man it was huge! I mean, you have a hard time finding something like this in Europe as well.. Too bad the shots of the dance floor itself are too dark to put here.

Third-of-life crisis

2006-05-14T22:29:00.000-07:00

Life expectancy of a Finnish male is 74.99 years (CIA The World Factbook). Third of the sentence is just about done, and suddenly I do not feel that young anymore. It would be easy to think that there are two thirds left, but at the time when you are at the crossroad you kind of start to see things from the other point of view. Or probably it is just the consuming lifestyle here with too little sleep, stress about the studies and too much partying that make me feel old.

Simo came back from Easter Island and we went out again with the newly discovered Finnish friends. The next day we were planning a trip to Viña and let's just say that we could not leave as early as we originally planned. But the sea air really did us good and we started to gain some colour in the face again. Since public cries for photos, here you go with some fresh shots. First one of the party and then Valparaiso, where we took a boat tour of the docks (not a very pretty place as you see -containers everywhere).

The sea lions had their own boat there (?!). Thanks to fishermen throwing leftovers to them, they hang around the dock though the water is really bad down there -I mean, I would not swim in it.

Finnish mafia and Dalai Lama

2006-05-07T12:57:00.000-07:00

It seemed that Wappu, the first of may celebration would be totally boring here as I spent the two days working on my thesis, believe it or not. But then, as we were all a little down about not having any Wappu party, we sort of accidentally had one after all. It all started with just some BBQ, but then it somehow got out of control, you know how it is with some beers and a sunny afternoons.. So, we saved Wappu. Over and out.

It wasn't long after that that my friend Simo flew in from Argentina. He knew some other Finnish people here and now we really have a Finnish mafia in Santiago to counter-attack the French one. Yesterday I was having lunch in a party of four Finnish people and one French. The tables have turned. And just guess do we know people in common if I can find common acquaintances even with Swedish people.. The other Finns here are students of the Turku School of Economics and one of them was in the board of their student Union the same year I was in the KY board. Everything will change now for the rest of my stay, I'm sure of it. Don't know how this all goes together with the studies, but I'll have to work something out.

Anyway, as Simo, the lucky bastard who flew to Easter Island for a week, was here we went for some up-town partying together with the other Finns and some other exchange students. Rabbit for dinner in a fancy restaurant, preparty in a huge flat equipped with a quite decent balcony overseeing the richest parts of Santiago and afterwards a litte too many piscolas (Pisco and Coke) in a local club were just enough to give Simo the nice C U later for the morning flight. In the picture you have the Finns in the front, me, Kiki, Markus and Simo and in the background there´s Bob and whatwashername from Australia. Cups hold the treacherous Piscola.

The next day Dalai Lama was visiting Santiago and we had to see that, of course. The dude was sitting in front of a 2/3 full arena of people talking about peaceful interaction and compassion (here on the big screen, not enough zoom for a live shot, sorry). That Nobel really hit the spot there. He was a good speaker and took his audience though one small part of it (at least) was not really in the most receptive of modes thanks to some genuine Pisco headache.

Now I am getting back to the dark age of studying again for about 2,5 weeks -projects are piling up and thesis overload is imminent, but having to hurry is not that much of news for me. Just did not expect it to happen in exchange. The mid terms were quite two-fold: some subjects went really well and others not so good as I apparently do not know how to apply theories to everyday problems that well. A college degree after my MSc, perhaps? ;)

Salesmen and security

2006-04-29T22:13:00.000-07:00

Now I'm giving you all lots to read in your office on monday morning. Hope you enjoy (the first posts made today are more interesting than this one, I promise), and feel free to drop me a line yourself if you have the time.

As always, I am trying to figure out why things are like they are in a given country. In Chile there are two things that are very common but taken to the extreme: the salesmen and the security. There can be up to 5 people selling you something in a small store; they have their own supply chain going on in the store -and I mean in a store that could be run by two or three persons max. First you ask one salesman of the product you want, he points you to the right direction. Second salesman is the one who presents the product to you. Should you decide to buy, you are given a receit which you present to third salesman, who takes the payment. The fourth salesman checks that you have paid (they give a stamp) and the last one delivers you the product if payment is really made. I mean, if they think that works faster than with one or two people they must be joking. The only explanation I can think of is that they just want to have the payment separately (for security), but it still does not explain all..

Then, it is true that Santiago is a safe city by Latin American standards. But that is, according to my theory, because of the übersecurity of all places. They have guards and police everywhere. Sometimes I just get the "someone is watching you" -feeling, as they are virtually in every corner. In central Santiago you can have carabineros (police) moving around in a fortified bus that resembles an all-terrain vehicle. The place where it is taken to the extreme is my dear university with all the rich kids in it: you can not take a leak there without somebody reporting on it. In the supermarkets the guards stalk you, I counted 6 guards visible in addition to the cameras and behind-the scenes operators in my local, medium -sized supermarket. But, I guess Chileans like their safety. And this way there are less unemployed people. ;)

Through the brick wall

2006-04-29T21:58:00.000-07:00

Now everything is back to normal (if there is such a thing) here, and I finally got an answer from my thesis instructor and now I am actually starting my thesis! I know many of you did not expect to see this day at all, let alone the day when it is finished. Also, I made a study plan in order to graduate in time, and man did I get pissed off. I should have done it years ago! Making the plan I realized that I have a load of garbage in my degree, I have taken way too many courses that I didn't have to take.

The good thing is I have studied everything I found interesting, but the bad thing is that I still need loads of courses that are compulsory for the degree. If I need 160 credits for a MSc, I will end up with AT LEAST 220. Welcome everybody to my graduation in spring 2008 at the soonest.

Then the thesis.. of course I started with enthusiasm, but there is so much stuff that I need to do here, along with the normal everyday life and studies (which, of course, get tougher by the end of them), that it will be tough the last month. My friends here said that you might as well try to put your head through a brick wall, but I am motivated to do it, as it is crucial for the thesis to get the data here (it handles the Chilean telecommunication industry). So probably there will not be that many posts emerging in may..

Cena Finlandesa

2006-04-29T21:38:00.000-07:00

Yup, it was my turn to show some national cuisine as every other foreigner in my house had already done it. At this point huge thanks to my mom that supplied me with some key ingredients from Finland like reindeer meat. This was the menu:

Starters: Smoked reindeer rolls

Main course: Meatballs and potatoes made in the oven, served with Finnish mushroom (kanttarelli) sauce

Dessert: Vanilla ice cream with cloudberries and chocolate sauce

Due to my background in the Nordiska Ekonomie Studerandes Union, I just had to give them a taste of some sitsi (sitzfest, table party = singing, eating and drinking in good company) culture and we had ourselves some good old Russian vodka for that. Everybody was amazed by the dinner and I also got to answer a lot of questions about Finland so 10 more people now know what is the real deal with the country. And to top it all off, I played music of some of the most famous groups of Finland, like HIM, Rasmus, Apocalyptica, Nightwish, Bomfunk MC's etc. Special thanks for Juuso and Minna who supplied the music.

Anyway, overall a good representation of Finland in one dinner with actually tasty food. Cry me a river, Berlusconi.

Pablo Neruda kicks ass

2006-04-29T20:45:00.000-07:00

Let me enlighten you: the dude won a Nobel, wrote some excellent poetry, worked as an embassador for his country but most of all he seemed to have life completely figured out. Doesn't matter that he was a little weird and a communist -nobody's perfect, right?

On my tourist tour through the worthwhile places I took Patricia to Isla Negra, some two hours from Santiago. It is not an island despite the name, and it is mainly known for the fact that one of Neruda's houses is there. Now you ask yourself "how sorry is that?", but you should have seen the house! Unfortunately we were not allowed to take photos inside, but here are some from the outside:

First you see the house. It doesn't seem like much, but he really made everything like he wanted. The house is very long and narrow (he wanted it to remind him of Chile), with different parts. He designed his bedroom so that every day the first rays of sun would hit his head and the last ones his toes. He also had a "small" fixation on the sea and ships, so he included things like round windows, round ceiling and parts of actual ships in it (like a huge, 4-meter anchor in the backyard). And all of course making the most of the place where the house was situated: the second picture is what he would wake up to every day or the last thing he'd see from his bar at night. Get a load of that.

He was also the worst kind of collectionist (but never admittedly, he just said he was cosista, liked nice things) and therefore the house looks like a museum. His favourite things were the statue-like carvings people used to hang in front of old ships (don't know the word in English but you catch my drift, like ship's hood ornament) which were all over the place, but he had virtually everything from African bug collections to seashells, not to mention loads of art from his friends of the art circles around the world, including names like Picasso for example. Everything was done to the last detail, I have seriously never seen something like that (below one example of his "things").

He really knew how to live. Not just the house, but the tales of him living it to the maximum, organizing get-togethers in his house with his friends (he valued friendships a lot and considered his friends even in the house: a separate toilet for men that was covered with erotic pictures) and just basically enjoying life in every way imaginable. Too bad I do not have talent as a writer..

Later we visited also his other house down here in Santiago. It is called La Chascona (meaning someone who's hair is messed up), and it was equally impressing. Neruda built it as a house for his third wife, which at the moment of construction had to be kept a secret since he was still married to his second. There was even more imagination put into that one: he made passages in the yard that connect the three different sides of the house in a semichaotical manner. That gave the impression of his lovers messed-up hair, thus: La Chascona. There he included things from ships as well as in the other one, but he also constructed a river flowing on one side of the dinining room to get the feeling of being afloat. The bad thing was that the house suffered in the military coup as Neruda was a communist, for example 3 original Picassos were burned by the army.. Idiots.

All in all, he really had it all figured out. I don't really like poetry that much but after these eye-openers I'll have to get better acquainted with Neruda's work. He was the man in his time.

Visiting Valpo

2006-04-29T19:59:00.000-07:00

Last week I had Patricia, a friend I just met when I was passing by Mexicali, here for a visit. Of course we had to make the tour of the worthwhile places and do that while partying almost every day..

We passed through Viña, where we had a great time partying with the French in their apartment. It is becoming a trend here to not continue the party in a bar, which can mean one of two things: we are either really having too much fun just by ourselves or we are just getting lazy and old. Or maybe both are true, who knows. The penguins were a great hit in the party, and below you got Gael showing some moves.

Anyway, from Viña we continued with Patricia to Valparaiso, which was definately worth the visit. I will need to get back there someday for some serious clubbing, as some of the places there looked really cool. Valparaiso is just some 10 minutes from Viña in a bus, and the funny thing is that I remember most of the maps I have looked at showing Valparaiso as a bigger city than Viña, which it actually is not. The importance of Valparaiso has been diminishing along the use of its big port. However, it sill houses a naval base, the Chilean Congress and is the capital of the 5th region (instead of using the actual names, Chileans have their country divided into 13 regions with the imaginative "names" of 1st, 2nd, etc. except that Santiago is its own Región Metropolitaneo). "Valpo" has just some 250,000 inhabitants and with that its just a bit smaller than Viña that keeps growing as a holiday resort/summer house city. And for those Finns that think it is disturbing that people flock into Helsinki, here's a fact: Valparaiso and Viña are among the biggest cities after Santiago, as its region houses about 2/3 of the WHOLE population of the country!

The city itself was all about the port, which just about ratifies the whole existence of the city. The locals were also really proud of their engineering wonders, small cable cars that run up the mountainside connecting the oceanside with the rest of the city in the hills. Personally I did not see their wonder, but then again, my education in engineering is not quite at the MSc level yet so maybe I missed something crucial...

Travel plan adjustments

2006-04-18T14:44:00.000-07:00

I noticed that there is some space within my travel plan and thus I decided to make some new arrangements (something to look for when study motivation gets closer to zero). It is all starting to come together now and I will probably end up seeing a lot more of South America than I anticipated earlier.

First I will head to Bolivia in late may to see the Salar de Uyuni (thanks for the tip, Simo) and the Lago Titicaca that I missed thanks to the bus problems in Peru. On the same trip I'll go check out Northern Chile. And the best part: my friend Carlos from Mexico might join in for the ride!

Then it will finally be time to see Johanna again in june and we'll be making a modest tour of the main sights of Southern Chile, Tierra del Fuego and Southern Argentina before heading to Buenos Aires, Foz do Iguazu and Rio de Janeiro. By the way, by the time we are in Rio it will be semifinals and finals of soccer, so if Brazil goes all the way this year there will be an extra carnaval..

And that is not all, since I got some 22 days to spend in Costa Rica according to my earlier plan, I will try to change it so that from Rio I will head to Manaus instead to check out the Amazonas (!!! another dream come true !!! ) and then find a way to get to Costa Rica, probably first to Venezuela and I'll see it from there what seems convenient so that I can continue the old plan as intended from Panama City. After all, at this point many things could have gone wrong already and I´m not about to relive the Peruvian bus mishap. Just have to find some malaria medicine for this part of the trip but I think I can come up with it somewhere..

NOW this is starting to look like a real trip! ;)

Surfin' Easter

2006-04-17T13:00:00.000-07:00

The exams are over for another 6 weeks, hopefully I got through them. The high emphasis on applying science to use left me dazzled and for some subjects I frankly cannot say how the exams went. This week I´ll get the final ruling of the teachers..

Otherwise, life here is continuing like usual. Long schooldays and trips to/from school, gym every schoolday, 3-day weekends, lots of DVDs and lots of good, meaty food and local wine. The audience might be pleased to know that I finally gave up the beard-growing and cut it. After all, it was getting to be quite nasty after 10 weeks.

Also, I have now officially experienced the first stomach problem of the trip (I bet you can not wait to read on..). Eating everything everywhere has not affected me yet at all and I was starting to think that my stomach could handle just about anything. But it couldn´t handle downtown Santiago´s Burger King. The MFs probably put some laxative in it, no wonder they were smiling so much when they served the burger. And there I was, happy to get good service.. Anyway, on my way home it really hit me. And anyone who has been in the situation knows that when you gotta go, you gotta go. The nearest place was at that moment the movie theatre, and of course they would not let me use the toilet without being a customer. So I bought a movie ticket and thought that relief was just around the corner -but to top it all off, there was a young couple in the toilet engaging in some other kind of activity, and I seriously felt like Mr. Bean as I sat in the booth next to them. But the movie V for Vendetta turned out quite good..

Easter holiday for semana santa was long enough after all: we got a 6-day vacation instead of the promised 4 days as one of our teachers did not want to work on monday. That's the way to do it! Knowing this it was about time to take upon another trip, this time finally to Pichilemu, the surfer's paradise I had been dreaming about for a month already. And it was just that, a surfer's paradise. The city lies a good 4-hour drive southeast of Santiago, alone in the edge of the Pacific and it just happens to have one of the best left breaks on this side of the continent. It is all about beach, hostels, restaurants, bars and alcohol stores to accomodate all the surfer flocks that go by -especially in vacation times like Easter. Arriving on friday the place was swarming with people and by monday morning it was dead again.

So, I finally got to try surfing with some instruction with the Los Lobos del Pacifico Escuela de Surf. It was every bit as hard as all the other newbies have said. I would estimate snowboarding to be about 5 times easier, or then it is just the Finnish blood talking. Anyway, in a short but a bit rough three-hour "making myself humble again" -session it became clear that I would need some serious practice to really get the most out of this sport. Every time I even got on the board the ride was just about over: "I'm doing it, I'm doing it, I'm really do.. sinking". This is unfortunately one of the sports that are hindered by the old knee injury. I just couldn't jump on the board as my knee would not bend sufficiently -and the struggling method (as my teacher conveniently described it) takes too much time to really start surfing.

Still, a great experience! It is surprisingly tough physically, getting thrown around with the board tied on your ankle, then getting up and fighting the currents and waves, paddling until you catch a good wave -and do it all over! I was so overcome by the experience that I did not feel at all the cold temperature of the ocean (ok, the wetsuit did help a lot). Quite the contrast, as after 3 hours of being in the water I had to wear the warmest clothes I have to survive the sunny beach weather on dry land..

I spent the rest of the weekend with Gael and Cindy riding, lying, walking, talking and drinking on the beaches, just to relax and get our minds off the smogs of Santiago. We also met a nice newly-wed Chilean couple that just insisted that we play cards with them in the camping grounds we were living in. I could imagine something else to do on my honeymoon but they seemed to have fun. Everyone has their thing, of course..

Beach, party, rodeo

2006-04-02T04:51:00.000-07:00

Now that is what I call a way to prepare myself for the mid terms.. Last week we had the semana mechona, which means the week when the new students are "properly recieved". Good thing that we, the intercambios, were not considered as new since at least one local university threw paint at the new students, ripped their clothes to shreds and made them beg for money on the streets. I do not know if this was the case for UAI as for us the semana mechona was more about partying..

As usual, the party was in Viña and there we went again. This time I was crashing in at Charlotte's (the beforementioned Swedish girl, next to me in the picture), but eventually most of the time we were on the beach. The greatest part was when the bar we went to opened the doors and let the people on the beach with a huge wide-screen playing music videos, coolers full of beer and everybody partying like crazy. Of course, the next day was spent chilling on the beach again -you just gotta love those Viña's casual fridays at the beach..

The highlight of the week was still the national rodeo finals that were held in Rancagua, some 1,5 hours from Santiago to the south. We headed there with Gael early in the morning to see as much as possible as the rodeo started at 8 AM and the tickets were a little pricey. The first 50 runs or so we were trying to get the hang of how they give points for the performances. Because I am sure you all are dying to find out as well, here goes: there are two vaqueros that drive the bull around the arena between their horses, with the aim of trying to hit it with the horse and lift it up the wall at certain points of the arena. Points are given based on what part of the bull hits the wall, head giving only one punto bueno and the ass the maximum of 4 puntos buenos. If they miss the running bull, they get two puntos malos and if it escapes from between the horses while running it is one punto malo.

Ok, there you have it. The real deal was to see the skill of the riders and the perfect control of their horse (they actually ran sideways). Now what made it all a bit less intriguing was the treatment of the bulls. As one might suspect, they got pretty banged up every now and then, and there were two guys whose job was to get them up and running again. This included hitting, pulling their tail, flipping them over (see pic), shouting and kicking. That was not for everybody, even I hated that part of the treatment of my future meals.

Nevertheless, a good show and a long, hot day with quite a few tasty beers and greasy food. Nothing like a weekend with all that to get me prepared for the exams..

Livin' it large in Viña

2006-03-25T07:21:00.000-08:00

The last week has been all about studies. My personal favourite is wednesday (which has momentarily claimed the shittiest-day-of-the-week -award from it's otherwise unbeatable holder, monday) when I start school at 8 AM and finish it at 10.15 PM. Ain't nothing like a good 14-hour schoolday to motivate you -not to mention adding the trips to the times, making the day about 17 hours long. Nice. So lot of time is spent here:

Good thing the house I am living in was a wise choice. It is nice to come home as there's something going on almost every day to take your mind off the studies. Last week we prepared a dinner as it was cumpleaños of one of the house residents, Diego (the dude with the hat). Diego is a Chilean art student. Others in the picture (starting from the left) are my French colleagues Cindy and Gael, then the guy with the facial expression is the owner of the house, Aníbal, and next to him is Alvaro, a Chilean Ph.D. The girl on the right is Chris, an Australian art student.

The week brought also a bit better (and more bitter) taste of the differences between Viña del Mar and Santiago. What you see above is a view from one of the apartments the exchange students have there. Compared to my view of two doghouses, a fence and a crumbling next-door building I can see clearly now (-the rain has gone-) why someone would like to live in Viña instead of Santiago. And this view being from the cheaper apartments, as most exchange students live in what are called los Torres, three big tower-like houses on the very shore of the Pacific.

The actual reason for my visit to Viña instead of Pitchilemu where I wanted to do some surfing was an official welcoming dinner for exchange students. The occasion was formal but unfortunately my backpack did not include anything even remotely formal. I went in jeans and a normal shirt which I did not even have time to iron as I had to run from the classes to catch the bus. I can vaguely remember the days when I wore a suit.. what has it been, almost three months now? Anyway, the food at the dinner was crappy and the occasion itself a joke, but the real value of the trip was to meet all the other exchange students. I even discovered that one of the Swedish girls' cousin is dating a friend of mine in Finland. Anyone still think the World is big, huh?

Before heading back to Santiago we (that being the Santiagueños) had a casual friday at the beach. The water was rather cold (no Gulf stream here) but the waves just asked for some body surfing, so I just had to go in. I'm still spitting sand, but it was worth it. However, I was immediately followed by a show-off sea lion just to prove I had no talent for it. To top it all off, we had ourselves some quality sushi (in your face, sushi fans!) in one of the many touristy restaurants in Viña.. I have to get back there next week as well as there is some great BSc -student party that lasts for three days, so there's probably some more Viña coming up..

Let's study this weekend?

2006-03-19T07:14:00.000-08:00

I cancelled all my weekend travel plans so that I could study, as UAI does not let you off the hook that easily. In most subjects they have a lecture control in every class to make sure everyone has read all the articles. Good thing about that will be that there is no super excitement for the exams.. Plus there is the matter of Statistics, a course I took over three years ago in Finland and at which I was -or am- in need of some serious brush-up.

As one might suspect, studying has not played such a big role after all. The almost four-day weekend that starts every thursday at noon turns easily into an almost four-day party, or so it seems. And to top it all off I got sick with a nasty flu that has kept me in bed for the past day already. Nice thing that movie rentals are cheap here (and yes, I finally saw the Jarhead which other bloggers have been fussing about -and digged it).

Lesson learnt: do not (even try to) study on the weekends. It can be done during the week and the lecture materials I can read in a bus on my way to some new adventures. Oh and also, barbecuing in shorts and a t-shirt in the middle of the night might not be advisable either, as the winter is coming and the freezing, below +10 centigrade -temperatures are just a couple of months away ;) .

Next weekend it's time to break some waves in Pitchilemu!

Extempore take-off

2006-03-13T12:47:00.000-08:00

Last thursday we were having dinner in the house and counting all the frustrating stuff that the week had brought us and after a few glasses of wine I decided to head out to Argentina for the weekend with my French friends. And so we took the overnight bus to Mendoza on the other side of the Andes. One of the least nice things in a long time, the bureaucracy kept us on the border (me with shorts freezing in the cold mountain air) for a good hour with no particular reason. But such is life, we did not get discouraged but made the most of it. Unfortunately we just missed a tour of the local bodegas, but were able to correct this by finding some excellent local wine on our own. The best ones we tasted in Mendoza were of local Malbec but they were still no match -to my taste- to the Cabernet and Merlot wines produced locally near Santiago.

So, with a Lonely Planet in the hand, we headed out for the supposedly most exiting stuff in the region -the Puente del Inca, a natural bridge that has hot springs around it dying it all yellow was, according to the book, something to see. You can draw your own conclusions from the picture above as to its magnificence.. Ok, it was a sight but definately not worth over 3 hours in bus. Good thing the place was some 1,5 hours hike from the Aconcagua natural park, so we headed for the biggest peak in the continent. There we were faced with some of the great sights the Andes have to offer. Here you go with some pics:

Despite the chilly winds the long bus trip turned out quite well after all, as you can see above. To top it all off, we had a taste of the famous Argentinian parrillada con tenedor libre, which basically meant all the barbecue meat you can eat, with salads and sides. It was worth the reputation and in addition, dirt cheap! Argentina really is a budget traveller's paradise and we just went to one of the most expensive cities in the country.. Can't wait to get to Buenos Aires, that will be something else. The people at first touch did not seem very friendly, especially with car drivers who seem to consider pedestrians as insects to squash, but the place grows on you after a while. It is not as European as Chile (in UAI most students are second- or third- generation Europeans, for example) and Argentina has a stronger identity as a nation. One thing to note is that everything seems to have stopped suddenly (as in a crisis...) as the cars among other things are like straight from the eighties. Our hospedaje owner did take his time to explain that Argentina was doing better than any other South American country before the crisis -and that now "the one on top" is Chile. Newsflash! Anyway, it was also curious to see that cars there did not run on gasoline but on gas. At least that was what everybody was putting in their cars regardless of the type of car.

Now, after a relaxing weekend we are back in (the school of) business with all the to do -things glooming in sight. But I did not leave Argentina empty-handed: I managed to get a nice dose of Andean sunburn. "The sun can not be that strong in the mountains.." -Strike two!

Mañana strikes back

2006-03-13T11:27:00.000-08:00

Yep, just as I was under the impression of an organized metropoly with everything working on time etc., the so called human factor came to play. What seemed in talks to be the very next instant has turned into days and might turn into weeks. I knew about the "mañana" -phenomenon already and ignored it, but it's still very alive and kicking! The past week was mostly spent in waiting for someone to do something they promised to do a while back. Be it curtains to the room, be it a monitor I agreed to buy or be it contact information "I'm just sending you", I was kept waiting.

Waiting can be fun, though. You can just do nothing with a good reason! And after all, I had my own room where I could do nothing! The room I eventually got is quite big, some 50 sq. meters in size. And all it basically needs is curtains as everybody passing (that being virtually everyone in the house) can see the most of my room. Not to forget the dogs, of which the more intelligent beast is in the pic below -they try to sneak in through the low windows that I previously kept unlocked to sleep on my comfy chairs...

I am also in the process of getting a computer (might take a while though I have everything save for the monitor..) to get some work done on my thesis and also on the normal courses, as the courses seem to have a rather different workload than the ones in Finland. Especially the course investigaciòn del mercado is going to cost me some work as the teacher speaks spanish so unclearly and fast that even the Chileans can't keep up all the time. And the class attendace is kept extremely strict, missing over 25% for ANY reason results in failing the course (so bye bye those long weekends) and entering over 5 minutes late equals missing the class. Also, the amount of readings is sufficient to make even the most ambitious HSE professors happy.

Yet, not to complain, the courses are carefully organized and they are taught by experts with excessive demand for interactivity, so I might end up learning something (!). And, as I mentioned, the sports facilities are excellent in my campus -and the bachelor -level students still have obligatory courses in P.E.! I myself ended up with a total of 4 courses after fighting the red-tape-people for a while. Gladly, as having more would have meant no social life at all. Anyway, us masters students get to use the sports facilities as we like so the extra time between classes will be well spent.

Still, it will be a bit hard getting myself up for the early mornings as the school is REALLY far, see from the picture above, the small white dot in the background next to the mountainside (on the right) is the campus. The picture is taken from a viewpoint in the very center of the city (thus the cablecars) and the house is just some 15 minutes away -in the opposite direction.. On top of the same hill there is Santiago's equivalent to Rio's big statue -not nearly as visible, though, thanks to both "some" difference in size and the smog.

The truth shall set us free

2006-03-02T12:27:00.000-08:00

That is the motto of my university, Universidad Adolfo Ibañez -or at least it is written under the emblem of UAI. The past few days have been spent, as one might guess, trying to start a life here. Of course, it has not been without surprises or problems, but overall it has been ok.

The orientation for us was in Viña del Mar, a city some 1,5 hours away on the pacific shore. That is where most of the exchange students will be, as there is the other campus of UAI. I could see why as we cruised along the beach road after the orientation.. But, I am decided on staying here in Santiago despite all.

I will move in tomorrow with my two new French friends, Cindy and Gael. They are living in the center of Santiago and have been a great help so far as they spent the past semester in Viña del Mar and know their way around. We make 60% of the exchange students of UAI Santiago, as we are just a total of five.. So far Cindy and Gael have helped me in everything, getting a new mobile number (+56 87232443, the old is not in use anymore!!!), getting the flat, organizing my studies, etc. -and drinking beer! They seem like really nice people and living with them, one Italian student and three Chilean artists should make this 4 months quite memorable. Oh, not to forget the dogs in the house - one of them accidentally mistook my toes as sausages or something and grabbed a good hold of my sandal the other day.. Big and on the slow side, but very friendly the two of them.

Anyway, about the university itself: it is a big ultramodern campus with outstanding athletic facilities including a swimming pool and unlike in most of Santiago, the air is fresh (if someone did not know, there is so much smog that Ciudad de México would be proud, see pic above)! This all is due to the fact that it lies about an hour trip (metro+bus) from the house, up in the mountainside. As it is a private school almost everyone goes by their own car and us poor foreigners and a minority of other students get to wake up at inhuman hours. Still, in a weird manner, I like it. Or I like the idea of living in a "normal" Chilean house, close to a bohemian neighbourhood of Santiago (to mom: it is still quite safe as there is so much people all the time) and the lively city centre and going to school in a perfectly equipped private university with not so big classes and a chance to keep in shape and breathe real air. Here you see a view of one of the windows and some arcitechture of the campus.

The only worry I have at this point is with the courses. I managed to get an amount of them that might satisfy even the results-driven International Affairs of Helsinki School of Economics.. Results-driven because they seem to expect that I complete the studies of 5 months in 3 months. Obviously, the people here look at me like I was crazy asking for more courses than is the norm and aiming to start my Master's thesis at the same time.. But anyway, at the moment everything should be ok, depending on the room available on the courses and about 10 other things I just might be able to pull this one off and make it back on the RTW track in time.

Santiago -against all odds

2006-02-27T13:26:00.000-08:00

Despite all the great things I was waiting for this, arrival to Santiago. Tomorrow it all begins with orientation days and all. I feel like a freshman.. Just hope I get my apartment issues sorted out soon to really get started on the exchange studies part. Yep, might not feel like it but I will study. At the very least 3,5 months! Ok, there might be some other activity as well so stay tuned..

Anyway, last times in Peru were again interesting. I had planned to go to Puno, a city beside Lake Titicaca to get a look on their floating island and the lake itself. Everything was booked and looking good for my timely arrival to Lima just hours before the plane left. Then became the day of the trip. We started late (which is pretty much the norm) and stopped by at a tire shop to change a tire for the bus (but of course you do it with the passengers already on the bus!). At this point I was estimating that the visit to the Islas Flotantes might be shorter than expected, as I still had a bus to catch in Puno.

Then, some 30 kilometers up the highway in the Andes, in the altiplano with no living thing in sight, the radiator broke down and we stopped the bus close to a stream. However, we couldn´t get off the bus. There was no signal for the cell phone either, and I was starting to worry about the whole visit for the Islas. However, we continued what I estimated 1 hour late of schedule. Then something else broke down and we stood again for some 30 minutes, still remeining in the bus. People were getting quite pissed off.

The journey continued with a speed of 10-35 kilometers per hour depending on whether we were ascending or descending, and still nobody was let out even as we passed some small towns. When we got to a toll booth people were hanging out of the windows and screaming to the cop to pull us over. It was not like he had to make an effort, as the toll booth was in an ascent.. As we got out of the bus I am sure the driver was scared for his life -and actually it was good to have the police there at that point. As a cool, calculating Finn I was already worried that I'd miss the connection bus to Lima at that rate which would mean missing the flight as well. I went to talk to the driver and asked about his plan, and he said, all sweating, that "just up the hill and we cruise down to a bigger town" (Juliaca). That was enough. I had the map and I knew it was at least 150 kilometers away while he insists that we are "almost there" at 20 kilometers per hour. I used all the street skills from previous encounters with the Latin law, threatening him with the Finnish embassador who supposedly is a close personal friend and their army of lawyers who will have him fired in no time and.. as I was screaming for my rights as a paying customer and the overall lack of respect and service skills from their part, I got the rest of the foreigners to join (what a lawyer the world loses in me) and eventually the cop had to cool things down by stating the obvious that it would be best to keep on going until other buses pass/we get to some kind of a town and that the complaint will be taken to the police in Juliaca to sort things out. And so we did go on in the bus, at running speed. Eventually we got to a small town where all of us in a hurry chartered a small bus (at 1 USD per head) to drive us the remaining 100 kilometers to Juliaca.

By the time I arrived in Juliaca, I had missed the connection bus 2,5 hours ago in Puno (an hour away from Juliaca) and was desperate to get to the airport in Juliaca t get a flight to Lima or had that been impossible, a bus straight to the Chilean border as there would then be no means to make it to the flight to Santiago. Cathcing a taxi to the airport I saw a bus for Lima -the same company as I had reserved my seat from to the Puno-Lima connection! They had technical problems too, and I caught up with the bus and got to my nice royal class seat (they can be almost turned into beds..) and traveled happily to Lima. I never made it to Lake Titicaca and never got my 7 USD back for the shitty bus trip, but I got back on schedule just as miraculously as I slipped out of it. Lake Titicaca I will have to visit from the Bolivian side later.

Curiously, on the way to Lima they did not accept dollars in the mountains though they were good everywhere else. So I ended up living some 50 hours with 2,5 liters of Inka Kola, a local beverage that tastes like candy, and the few sandwiches served in the royal class bus. Coincidentally, I had not been to a MacDonald's yet in Peru and upon my visit to one in Lima I must have tasted the best MacBurger(s) ever.. On a separate note, they had home delivery (I thought that was supposed to happen in very few MacD's in the whole world?) and also a great and free salsa bar. BicMac was at 9,5 soles (2,18 euros) and a meal for 11,5 (2,64 euros).

And as this was not enough, 30 soles (about 9 USD) was stolen from my front pocket in the parking lot of Lima airport. Good thing I do not keep more money there at a time.. Maybe it was the bitter taxi driver from whom I bartered a cheap ride to the airport. I did not think about it much, I was just glad to have made it there on time.

So on a total, Peru offered memorable moments..

Best national beer tasted: Cuzqueña
Best national dish: Saltado de Alpaca
Best experience/sight: Machu Picchu seen from the Caretaker's hut. Wow.

Awe in the lost city

2006-02-27T12:34:00.000-08:00

It was all I imagined and more. Getting there was a job itself and the train ride seemed neverending -even despite the awesome landscapes presented all over the place (below). The atmosphere in the train was expecting at the very least, everyone tried to marvel the sights and the other ruins along the way but all we really cared about at that point was getting to the damn lost city. The train made zigzag stops that took a total of about 40 minutes to navigate and it did not help at all the anxiousness of people.

Arriving to Machu Picchu (note the correct spelling) required the trip to the mountain itself and the options were to either hike or take a bus to the top. Having arrived with the later tourist train (thus the site being full of them already) and with a huge headache either from the Pisco sours (drink from grape brandy Pisco, national drink in Peru) the day before or too little sleep in the past few days, I took the bus. Walking down had to do for the experience part.

There was one more obstacle: the ticket to the site. The only functioning ATM in the Machu Picchu pueblo (known as Aguas Calientes) only gave out dollars and the ticket at the gate could only be bought in soles. "Luckily" there was a jewel store in the facilities that could go to the lenghts of exchanging the money -at 3 soles per dollar as the actual course was about 3,35. So I paid over 10 percent extra, cool. At this point, having paid some here and some there, I just started laughing. The scene from Lethal Weapon 2 creeped into mind where Joe Pesci goes: "They F*** you at the drive in, they F*** you at the.." Just hope that fat peruvian bureaucrate chokes on the entrecôte I just bought him.. At least I think I scared the lady in the jewel shop. Anyway, the price to pay was worth it easily. The sight that I had seen so many times in pictures was there! With no clouds, I could see the whole place in all its glory (see pic). Even the tourist masses did not bother me at that point. Probably the most impressive moment of the whole trip was there and I just laid back for a while. It is just out of this world, I can not describe it better. I was left in awe of the place. Though my stop in Peru was intended for nothing else than this, I suddenly did not care what else the country would have had to offer me.

First of all, the whole place is indeed carefully hidden. No wonder that even the greedy conquistadores didn't find it. It's difficult to imagine the Incas building the site up there, a few kilometers up a very steep wall from the river Urubamba valley. And around it there are similar mountains all around the place. I had trouble breathing just taking my time with the smaller steps.. The site itself is built on a small field between two peaks and it houses all kinds of wonders from the temple of the Sun to the ceremoneal baths. And it was all carefully planned to serve a purpose, the windows placed in a given manner, etc. The lamas wandering around just completed the picture of the great site.

For the future, the Inca Trail, probably the best known hike in the continent is a must. Now I had no time (3-4 days) or gear for it -and it was still closed for cleaning. I saw some unbelievable fotos of it in my hostel walls and that is definately something to see and experience. There are Inca ruins everywhere along the way and Machu Picchu is just the grande finale.

The day was nicely finished with the walk down the mountain. Arriving at the town the rain started falling, and it did not seem to have an end. Once again I had luck! After a filling menu del dia it was just another neverending train trip to Cuzco...

The Puma City

2006-02-23T12:49:00.000-08:00

Having nothing to do with the sports wear company, that is how Cuzco is known. That is because one of their Inca emperors, by the name of Pachacutec (had to check that one), was a big visionnaire that among other things decided that the city of Cuzco should have the form of a Puma. In the picture below the zigzag figures are from some ruins 15 minutes outside Cuzco, and they are the teeth of the Puma. The actual tooth stones in the corners weigh over 300 tons so that you understand their size... Of course now the city has some 350 000 people and has outgrown the Puma figure long ago. Anyway, one of the many landmarks of the city is the statue of the same visionnaire. I will not bore you with pictures of churches, as almost everywhere here you have the plaza, then you have the church (however magnificent it may be) and some governmental organs. Just like Helsinki, no imagination!

Tomorrow I am going to Macchu Picchu -I got the last "cheap" 68 USD backpackers ticket! Usually the only last tickets I get are just to fill up the economy class so that the next person in the queue gets a free upgrade to business class.. Anyway, it will be a whole day experience with train of 4 hours, bus 30 mins and walking in the citadel grounds for some time -the train leaves at 6 am to arrive back at 8.30 pm. The place really is in the middle of nowhere and I am not that surprised that its rediscovery celebrates just its 95th year this year.

I couldn't resist the urge to take a photo with locals and llamas (actually, alpacas). Of course the lady could not see through the image screen of the camera so below you have the best of three pic.. Plus the alpacas would not stay still -in revenge I had me a big alpaca steak for lunch (quite good actually). The surpsiring thing is that quite many people still wear the traditional Inca clothes (with all the colours). Of course this might be partially because they just dress up for tourists. As the cultural (and former) capital of Peru, Cuzco has put all the imaginable colours in their city flag and it bears notable resemblance to the international gay pride banner.. But I was told early on not to make any remarks to that direction.

Peruvian peculiarities

2006-02-23T12:04:00.000-08:00

To arrive to Cuzco was not as easy as it seems on the map. When I heard the travel time in bus I was a bit amazed: "What do you mean 600 kilometers in 21 hours?" But once in the bus I did realize that the Andes are still today quite difficult to go over. And in addition, no other mountains come even close to their beauty.. Well, that being the ones in Europe, the Appalachians, the Rocky Mountains and the Blue Mountains. My ears popped about 50 times in those 21 hours and arriving here at some 4000 meters I did have trouble breathing. Here is one of the views from the bus..

In the few days in Peru I have noted some peculiarities. First one being what I already mentioned, they try to rip me off more than anywhere else. Now I just answer straight up: "No, I am not a gringo; si, si hablo español and no, I do not want your help or service." I got fed up with their ruhtlessness so I decided to drop the mr. Nice guy act -and it helps! But that is not the only strange thing.. For example, in Lima there are no beaches though it is right on the coast. There is a 50-100 meter drop to a motorway that rus right next to the ocean. They seemingly do not like tourists, or what? And they go further with ads than I have seen even in America: their main road splitting the city is decorated with huge floral plantations that are atually company ads. First thing I see heading for downtown is an amount of roses the size of a house greeting me with Deloitte's logo. Also, this is the first place on my trip where I have noted that speaking to a cell phone is actually illegal while driving (for those that do not know, that is the case in Finland).

The lengthy busride to Cuzco was quite nice though there had to be the obligatory one screaming child that just would not shut up. They offered us food and beverages and topped it all off with a plastic bag, that was introduced as the emergency bag. At first it seemed funny but as we got up high in the mountains a couple people in the bus demonstrated what it was for. Once again I was lucky as I did not get any altitude sickness. Then, riding through the small pueblos in the mountains, the kids amused themselves and all passengers of the bus that had their window open (like me) by throwing water balloons at the bus. So I got quite a rude awakening and the Peruvians a good laugh. Later I saw young people throwing them in the streets at each other and once I finally asked about it in a grocery store the salesperson just said that it's very common in Februry (the carnaval month) to do that -and aimed one at me from behind the counter! Lucky again, I am not as old as I seem to be and was able to dodge it. I think I would prefer the carnaval habits in Rio, however..

So much for the peculiaritiues for now.. Cuzco is a quite nice mountain town: it is about 10 times prettier than Lima even with all the half-houses around. It hides a very long history, as there are still parts of the city that are built on Inca ruins (the one in the pic is a spanish church built on Inca ruins). The people here are more tolerant to tourists and have some respect whereas in Lima they are just plain rude -like bugs you can not just brush off. Overall, the Peruvians I have talked to eventually seem to be very polite, open and nice people. That is, once you have bought something from them.. Anyway, I am stuck in Cuzco (which is not actually all that bad) for an extra day thanks to a strike of the public transports yesterday. Stupid labor unions, what good ever came out of them? ;)

They love me for my big.. dolares

2006-02-21T09:10:00.000-08:00

I arrived to Peru yesterday, after a short landing in Costa Rica (they did not let us out of the plane, so did not bother to call Sami, who is studying there). In the picture you can see what the most of Costa Rica seems from a plane.. Anyway, Lima does not seem all that dangerous as everybody has told me. Ok, there are safer places but still this has not yet given me the creeps. I am spending one day in Lima to see the sights before I head out to Cusco for a glimpse of Macchu Picchu and if there is time and timetables are as they should, I should be able to reach Lake Titicaca too. The thing here seems to be that as they see me looking like a gringo they want to steal mis dolares, if not by attacking me, by raising the prices. And the basis I use for bargaining being a year-old Lonely Planet Shoestringer book, it seems to me that even with bargaining I end up paying too much. The guys in my hostel told me that this is fortunately not the case as the prices are indeed higher than in the time the book was written (for example, a bus ride to Cusco was supposed to be 30 USD according to the book but ended up at 40). The style of bargaining changes totally, however, as I change from english to spanish and that is the best way to get even close to normal prices.

Anyway, I'm still a bit stunned by the awesome welcome they gave me in Mexicali. It was just unbelievable, I had such a great time there and the reception I got was just like I was a long lost brother - and this was not just the exchange family but everywhere! I promised to go back before 2010 (as it was 5 years since my last visit).. I must admit, the place has left its mark on me as even after all I already went through this stop was by far the most awesome -even though there was not that much new things to see. Below you can see some people from the last evening's carne asada (a BBQ party Mexican style, note that it is cold in the desert as we all have jackets on) and a sunset from the Rumorosa (the mountains that lie between Mexicali and Tijuana, here at 4000 ft.). I also made a video of the place where your car goes uphill when it is put on neutral gear, so that all you nonbelievers can see it when I get back home. :)

I forgot to add the Bic Mac index in the last post, as there are not that many McD's in Mexicali (why would they have with all that incredible food) we actually had to look for one. A burger was 31 pesos (equals 2,2 euros) and a meal 53 pesos (3,8 euros), and though it is probably one of the most pricey places to live in Mexico it is still cheap by Finnish standards. Concluding the great Mexico visit:

Best national beer tasted: Tecate (a huevo, compa)
Best(-ever) national dish: Tacos de carne asada con tortillas de arina
Best experience/sight: My friend Carlos singing and playing a guitar in a restarant (y pisto gratis!)

Chingon

2006-02-18T15:50:00.000-08:00

What you see as the headline is the word I would use to describe Mexicali and its people. Of course, this is a very subjective view as this is the place where I stayed in exchange seven years ago and some of my best friends live here. What the headline means is unfortunately somewhat hard to explain, but let us just say it is a masculine way to say that something is excellent.

Mexicali is a growing border city in the Northwesternmost part of Mexico, a couple of hours east from Tijuana. In the past seven years the number of people living here has doubled and the city is spreading across the desert quite fast. It is known for its supposedly unfriendly climate as it is in the middle of desert and in the summer it is one of worlds hottest places, in August of 1997 I got greeted with some +50 centigrades. However, it soon became clear to me why someone would stay in here: the people, the food, todo, is in a word, chingon. As I do know this place I have just spent my time meeting friends, eating what is likely to be worlds best foods and, of course, partying.

Due to its Chinese immigrants this place has excellent Chinese food, and to this date I have failed to find it as good anywhere else. And then there are the tacos.. That was a true story of love at first sight. There just are not this kind of tacos anywhere else, you will have to take my word for it. Even in Mexico it is just the Northwest that eats wheat tortillas (which are NOT like what you can buy in stores in Finland, I am told the difference is in the flour), and within these tortillas you should put meat (and NOT minced meat but good beef) to make tacos de carne asada con tortillas de arina. And to my American friends, forget about Taco HELL, they have no clue of what is going on.

Anyway, this being my third visit here, I am happy to see that my friends here are basically all doing great. Some are married and with kids and others are either studying (like my godson Luis, the accountant) or doing what they like to do for living. For example, one of my fellow exchange students, Olivier from France, lives here now as a teacher (so it is not just me that loves this place) and my good friend Carlos is making his way in singing and playing guitar. In the picture above you can see my comadre (that is how I call the mother of my godson) with her granddaughter and below I'm in a bar with my friends Fer and Carlos.

At this point I would like to thank everybody for the great reception I got, especially Carlos and his family and the family of my compadre Dr. Peraza. Ya saben, en Finlandia tienen a su casa cuando les conviene.

Escape from LA

2006-02-15T11:32:00.000-08:00

Asi es compas, I arrived in Mexicali, Mexico!

It is almost as coming back home after a month of travelling. Los Angeles had not changed, if possible the latin influence just grew as in places I would hear more Spanish than English. Lucky I can manage both, it was not just once or twice than some people were talking about me behind my back and were a bit amazed as I corrected thier suspicions in Spanish.

On a general level, the prices are a bit lower than in Finland. Bic Mac country sells its goods at 1,99 USD and in a combo at 3,65 USD -but that does not really tell the price level here as this is simply THE place for fast food. One thing that I had already forgotten and that actually annoys me a lot is the addition of VAT on the price. So that the above mentioned prices are actually 2,16 USD (1,81 euros) and 3,96 USD (3,35 euros). The people then.. well, I have been critisized of speaking harshly of the Americans -let me clarify that I have nothing personally against them, it is just the picture the majority of them gives out to me that is unfotunately somewhat negative. This trip to LA brought up some of the not-so good qualities, but also some better: I met some older men in a sandwich house queue and once they found out I was from Finland they just insisted on offering me a dinner in exchange of some stories about Finland and my RTW trip. On the other side of the coin Americans are quite open, friendly and immediate.

But, about LA.. This, like most of America, is not designed for people who do not have cars. The public transport system is a joke for a metropoly the size of LA. Or, better put, the system might be defined as merely faulty, but the information about the buses etc. is so non-existent that whoever is responsible should quit their jobs, make worldwide public apologies and get a nice job in something that has nothing to do with service to other people. It does not help at all that all the locals have cars and when questioned, they go: "Well, I think some buses pass from there but I have no idea where.." Luckily I was not in a hurry to get anywhere.

Where I actually got to was a hotel in Venice beach. I would at this point thank my friend Sami for recommending it, as despite the high price it was a great place to stay. Literally AT the beach! From there I went to see the sights at Santa Monica (but did not manage to catch any Baywatch babes) and Hollywood. In Hollywood I accidently stumbled upon the Governator's star on the walk of fame, and there you have it:

But the absolutely greatest thing about the time I spent in LA was in the Lakers game. Though it was all Lakers and no Jazz, the atmosphere was something else. That is something you can not get in Finland.. Well, anyway, Kobe was just playing around and stepped in only when the feeble other players of Lakers couldn't keep the gap (especially Kwame Brown was a total underacheiver). The game ended at some 94-86 but it really was all about Kobe and had he made the effort the numbers would have been very different. Luckily there were some awesome dunks (alley-oops!) and blocks to see. (The pic is 30 mins before game, at the game they actually had almost a full house..)

Ocean crusader departs for LAX

2006-02-10T17:44:00.001-08:00

And the last moments in Fiji were something out of postcards. The last days of the tour were spent in the northern beaches of Fiji, namely Volivoli Beach and the before mentioned Nananu-I-Ra, where I stayed on my own. Three days of snorkelling, kayaking and chilling out on the beach and hammocks. 110% vacation feeling, I was really on Fiji time there.. I spent most of my beach vacation with three other guys from South Africa, UK and Australia (left to right in the pic below).

I am afraid that the desire to get the PADI (diving) cetificate is ever growing, and the snorkelling and intro dives on the coral reefs did not ease the itch at all.. probably that will not be on the agenda for this RTW trip or it would be cut short, but again, more stuff for the future there. To ease the longing I took a kayak for a tour around the Nananu-I-Ra island. Everything started out nice with dolfins and stingrays swimming next to the kayak, but about halfway home some thunder clouds came up suddenly and this overly confident ocean crusader had to paddle like a maniac -not the least to survive the west end of the island with its head-high waves... Luckily the kayak was good and I myself incredibly lucky and I got back to the hostel safe and just in time for dinner. The next day was spent in less adventurous surroundings..

The Feejee Experience trip concluded with a visit to the local mud pools. As all you see written here was the highlights of the trip, I'd say it was worth it. Had I known what I know now, I would've stuck more to the beaches. But then again, now I know stuff about the real Fiji that the beach could have never shown me (newsflash here: the last Fijian cannibal is said to have eaten all his enemies, keeping them alive to see themselves being devoured piece by piece, and as a mighty chief he rounded up a number of some 900+ eaten enemies..). Overall, Fiji is a great place and I highly recommend everyone flying over the Pacific to take the load off for a week or so in Fiji. It's simply incredible.

Now I will switch myself to the all-American attitude and get ready for some In&Out burgers, Lakers match and Venice beach.

Best national beer tasted: Fiji Bitter, the sportsman's beer
Best national dish: Kokoda (raw fish with lemon, onions and coconut milk)
Best experience/sight: Nananu-I-Ra survival ocean kayaking

Feejee Experience

2006-02-10T17:44:00.000-08:00

Now I finally got to an internet cafe that has what it takes to update the blog with pics and all.. So, my time here is about to end and I will head back to the already-so-familiar LA and tierras Mexicanas, I can hardly wait for it.. I do not know why, but the left-hand driving system is driving me nuts, or I am getting used to it. Curse on Her Majesty's Kingdom for introducing that to so many parts of the world (that being for me the whole of this trip so far). Next I will be driven over as I look the wrong way crossing the street in the states. How sad would that be?

Anyway, here I did the so called Feejee Experience tour. It was a 4-day tour of the main island of Viti Levu and I stopped by at one of the beautiful islands next to Viti Levu (called Nananu-I-Ra) as I had an extra day to spend somewhere. And though I was a little scared by the price, in the end the tour was totally worth it. The first day took us to one of the top five beaches in the world (presumably), Natadola Beach. Midday there was not designed for Nordic meat so I kept in the shade for the most of the time not to redo the damage of Koh Chang.. From there we continued to Sigatoka sand dunes where we got to sandboard down one of the steepest dunes. The speed is not like in the snow, but quite enough still.. Between all the activity during the day we got loads of information on Fijians, their ways of living, history, culture, etc. and this kept on for the whole trip so I could say that I know more about Fiji now than an average Finn.

Second day of the trip was totally awesome. We headed to the mountainous rainforests for a three-hour walk, of which the last 40 mins were knee-deep in a stream! This led us to the upper parts of one of Fiji's rivers, so we chilled downstream on some tubes. And to top it all off, we went for a swim in a waterfall.. We had a chance to jump from the top of the waterfall to the pool below (anyone seen the movie The Beach?), a little under 7 meters drop -and as a sucker for dares I did it, of course. Not to worry, I swam in the pool first (another one for mom). The night we spent in the capital of the South Pacific, Suva partying with the Feejee Experience people (AKA the green bus family, see lower for why).

Third day was the time for our cultural stuff. We visited a village in the mountains for some MORE kava (that stuff is drunk apparently in every possible occasion) with the local chief (NHL shirt guy in the pic above preparing the great stuff). Also, we got to donate (what a great opportunity!) some stationary to school kids -no, seriously, it was impressing to see how things are done there in the middle of nowhere and helping them out with some pens, rulers and writing pads we got earlier from town was really no trouble at all. Especially as they later took us bamboo-rafting (known locally as bilibili-rafting) on the local river. One peculiar thing about the village was that everyone had to wear a skirt (or sarong or sulu) in the village. Here you see me pose with one on in front of our spectacularly ugly green bus.

How about Fiji?

2006-02-04T21:34:00.000-08:00

Ok, I will try to post a few words of Fiji as weel, hopefully it works... So, arriving here the "Don't worry, you're on Fiji time now" -attitude met me at the airport in the form of four dudes playing guitars singing Pacific style tunes screaming Bula! to everyone (hello!). The hostel is great, the greatest I have ever seen for 4,50 euros, beating both Sydney and Auckland hostels by a mile though they had triple price. We have a pool, cheap restaurant and bar, lockers, beach, etc.

Coming to town (I thought the hostel was in town and did not make use of the first chance to get money from an ATM) took its time and toll. I walked 8 kilometers in over 40 degrees to become haunted by all sellers of any imaginable good. Eventually I folded and went with one to his store, but it was not as terrible as I thought. He introduced me and some other foreigners to Fiji culture and we drank the kava, a traditional drink made of the root of the kava plant. Tasted like some bad herbal liqueurs, and it is actually sold as and alcoholic version in the airport. But, after all his trouble I just could not leave the store without a purchase. So now I have a lucky charm (nay to anyone naughty and Irish at this point) which is a shark tooth necklace.. Actually it was for luck as seeing it around my neck cut the number of eager salesmen to half.

I think I must stop this now as the internet cafe is overrun by fanatic rugby fans. If I thought New Zealanders were crazy with rugby, then Fiji people are lunatics! There was a major tournament going on until yesterday and Fiji won the finals (after beating the famous NZ All Blacks in semifinals) and the noise and participation of the crowd was incredible. Now they are just watching replays.. Everyone from kids to elderly are into the game here. I must say, the game itself is somewhat more interesting than American football as there are not so many pauses. It also showes the Fijians as they are: very open and immediate and easy going. And talk about their hospitability, how many of you readers no matter where you are from would take a total stranger to your store and explain for over an hour your nation's ways with no guarantee of sales? That is what kind of people the Fijians are.

Oh, and before I forget, the Bic Mac index showed a 4,45 for the burger (2 euros) and 6,85 for the meal (3,1 euros). Price levels are ok, but still not even near thai prices...

Problems in paradise?

2006-02-04T21:06:00.000-08:00

Ok, it must be evident to all of you who sometimes read my blog that there are problems. Luckily they are all due to shitty Internet cafes in Fidji that have windows 98, browsers not supporting this or whatever. I have thus far failed to find any place that allows the use of USB's so might be a while until real updates with pics. Also, I have tried to chill a bit as this constant travelling is taking its toll on me. Don't worry, everything is ok! (that one was for mom..) Tomorrow I will embark on a 5-day adventure tour around Viti Levu, main island of Fidji -so probably next time you will see activity here might be up to next sunday or monday.

But anyways, about New Zealand (the massive Fidji package is coming up later, hopefully with pics...): I spent the last full day in Rotorua, a city some four hours south of Auckland. The place looked like an American midwest small city that was dropped between beautiful mountains and a huge lake (Lake Rotorua). In this setting there are hiding some old Maori villages, which are right next to geothermal wonders like hot spots, mud pools, geysirs, etc. becuase the Maori believe that those are gifts from their gods. Due to shortage of time I picked the "one stop shop" there, Te Puia. There I saw the Maori habits, how they live and make their handicrafts -not to mention all the natural wonders among them, including Pohutu, a geysir that erupts some 30-40 minutes per day peaking at 40 meters of height. Later I spent time wondering in the town itself and noted that the people actually have hot spots right in their backyards, so the area is really active! And the dead are buried in sealed coffins above the ground as the earth's crust is too thin for safe digging.

My hostel in Auckland was some 3 kilometers from the center, so I had to walk through the hills (more like mountains) in a hurry in the morning to catch the bus to the airport. Upon arrival to the airport I walked straight into a bar, totally dehydrated and exhausted, just to be greeted with an unappreciating question: "You are one of the early birds, aren't you?" So what if I just really needed a cold one at 10.30 am? Luckily, customer is king in that country as well.

Concluding, New Zealand is a place with numerous activity opportunities (especially extreme sportsmen and -women and adventurers, head here...) ranging from skydiving to sailing and glacier hikes. This place has everything one could imagine nature having. The older parts have beautiful beaches and sand dunes whereas you have the young, big and snow-topped volcanic mountains right next to them. One would need a month the very least to say that has experienced this country. Have to get back here as well, some day when I am not too old for all the experiences.

Best national beer tasted: Steinlager
Best national dish: Lamb cutlet in sweet and sour garlic sauce
Best sight/experience: Te Puia trip

Kia Ora!

2006-01-31T22:45:00.000-08:00

= Hello! in Maori language

New Zealand has been the least amazing place so far.. :/ Quite the opposite to Sydney, I just walked through all the major sights and places I wanted to see, including the Auckland Museum (!), in 10 hours. In the picture below you see me under a legendary sailboat (Auckland is "the city of sails" and Kiwis, A.K.A. New Zealanders, are quite proud of their sailing team) that will supposedly guarantee New Zealand victory in the future. Another big boat I saw in the museum was an old, 100-man Maori war canoe. Much cooler than the sail boat but did not get a very good picture of it, as it was almost as big and trapped indoors. Another big thing here, besides sailing, seems to be rugby. I have seen so much hype about it that I will need to catch a match on ESPN or something afterwards. I'm told the All Blacks are real badasses.

Bic Mac would have cost 4,45 local money (NZD) equalling roughly 2,5 euros with a combo (meal) of 6,65 NZD or 3,7 euros. There are surprisingly few MacDonalds' here, it is not in many major cities you get to really look for one. Auckland is a bit bigger than Helsinki, but I bet Helsinki has more McD's. Then again, here they have many other fast food joints. And the local food is almost as hard to define as in Finland it seems: I asked a few times and the answers vary.. however, I did get some excellent lamb cutlet a few hours ago and tomorrow I'll try fush 'n chups (local fish 'n chips). Beer has a wide range here, some are ok but I also tasted Swedish-like water-beer, which is, sadly enough, called Export gold. Well, they do export mostly Lapin Kulta from Finland so there must be a pattern here to see..

The locals keep more to themselves here and kind of remind me of Finns in that way. Again like Finns, they are very nice and considerate every time you deal with them. And the Maori culture is seen surprisingly much in the whole national scene and they have a totally different status than many other indigenous cultures. Many street and place names are Maori names and their culture is seen as an essential part of New Zealand, even in the signs in customs they have text in Maori (don't really know what the language is called, just making up stuff here). There are lots of Chinese people here as well, it must be a matter of time as Chinatown Helsinki starts to build up.. I myself live in a remote hostel that is in good neighbourhood (is there a bad one here?), cost about the same as in Sydney but they have everything from breakfast to free drinking water (and vodka, thanks to some Swedish girls), so it was a good pick.

This is also a country of rules and regluations. Can not do this, can not do that, must do this.. they put me into customs inspection just because I had been hiking in the wilderness in the past 30 days -all just so that I would not ruin their biological party here. Ok, I was a bit frustrated at that point but the nature surely is one of the greatest wonders here. That is why I just booked hugely expensive bus tickets to Rotorua, the big Maori culture & Geothermal area. A four hour bus ride here equals a 6 hour train travel in Finland -in price! Rotorua better be worth the trouble.. I am more and more convinced that the best way to experience this country is to rent a car (they are quite cheap, actually, some 16 euros per day!) and have some money and loads of time. This is not a place for sightseeing (ok, maybe the natural park is that as well) as much as it is a place for experiences. You get the full range of activities here from diving to skiing. Anyway, about the rules, below is a picture of a bit peculiar one.

Noted a couple other funny things, like their most used traffic lights. They have three alternatives: cars east-west, cars north-south and pedestrians. The lighs make a funny Gameboy-death-like sound and people start crossing everywhere come pedestrians' turn. I was a bit confused as people walked diagonally over the crossing and some Chinese dudes went to the very middle to take pictures of the street that was still in Chinese New Years decoration! One other funny thing is that New Zealand is overall a quite active volcan area. Auckland is built ON three old volcanoes, and there is nothing that says that there could not be another one erupting right next door. Even in the museum there is a simulation about one popping out in the popular beach next to Auckland -I asked some locals how they felt about it and they just went "No worries mate, that's why we have scientists"...

Exit Australia

2006-01-30T00:02:00.000-08:00

Last post here.. To summarize, a great country with lots to offer. One other great thing about Australia has been that I found wonder and interest in many "regular" things like the aquarium, for example. As the flora and fauna is so different here, there was loads of interesting stuff. I definately need to come here again for a longer trip with more financial means..

Best national beer tasted: Toohey's New
Best national dish: prime BBQ rib in black pepper sauce w/ fries
Best sight/experience: hiking in Blue Mountains Natural park

A glimpse of outback in the Blue Mountains

2006-01-29T02:01:00.000-08:00

.. well, not really. A guided tour that included hiking. I am embarrassed.. But that was the choice for little money and even less time. I can recommend Ozadventures to anyone with a tight budget but urges to see and learn a lot. It was a well spent 63 AUD for a full day trip including 1,5 hour trips (one way) and lunch.

Starting out early we headed for a wildlife area to see some wild kangaroos. I got loads of useless information from the guide, so I'll share some with you. The name kangaroo came to use when white men asked the aboriginals what the animal was called. They replied with a term that meant "I do not know what the hell you are talking about" (or something similar, free translation) and that term was "kangaroo". So that is where the name came from...

Also, the Blue mountains have their name since in their area there are lots of eucalyptus trees that contain a specific kind of oil which then reacts with fine particles of the atmosphere creating a kind of fog that bends blue light especially well. Hence: Blue mountains. They took us for two 2-hour tours in the mountains and the cool tempered rainforests there, teaching all sorts of stuff about the flora, fauna and aboriginal habits there.. Won't bore your with more of them, but here is a nice picture from a waterfall/rock by the name of Witch's face. Any idea where the name came from?

And here I stand at the end of the tour in a lookout where you can see the famous "Three sisters" -rock formation. It is said that a medicine man turned his three daughters to stone as they were threatened by a big monster with unrecognizable name -and later on running away from the same monster he lost his magic wand and thus can not turn the sisters back to life. This is the biggest tourist attraction in the area, and joined to it there is world's steepest railway up the hill, some 55 degrees incline or something. Those interested can check it out from Guinness.

The last times here I will probably just lay low, eat well and go see the aquarium and get myself mentally ready for the trip to Auckland!

How to experience Sydney in 5 days

2006-01-29T01:09:00.000-08:00

.. I don't know! This place has so many things that in that time I can merely scratch the surface. But what a scratch it has been. It was a bit of a shock coming here from Thailand where one could do everything he pleased with virtually pennies. Sydney will definately increase the budget, but then again, someone has said that you can not take it to your grave.. Note to people travelling to Australia: make sure you have the ISIC with you -it gives you great discounts here!

The BicMac index here showed 3,45 Australian dollars (equals about 2 euros) with a meal worth 5,75 AUD (3,3 euros), so in that respect it should be relatively cheap. But it is not, at least services cost equal amounts as in Finland. On the freaky side of the fast food news, they have their own MacOz, where they put beatroot -what is up with that? They seem to have it all sandwiches etc. And also, due to someone local having rights for the original name, Burger King was licensed here under the name Hungry Jacks. The actual Australian food -and beers- is absolutely fabulous! Steaks, BBQ, potatoes (which totally eluded me in Thailand) -I am in heaven! One thing that puzzles me is that how on earth Australians can be that hard party animals as alcohol is not very easy to come by: you can buy bottles from bars (or their backyard sales) or some very scarce liquor stores. Then again, there is more than enough bars.. Just made a note of it trying to find me an Australian wine with acceptable price-quality ratio.

As to the people, I like Australians. In Sydney the atmosphere is like in a laid back U.S. metropoly, the people seem frendlier and they are not as full of their own superiority: for example, at least 5 Australians I have talked to actually know some words of Finnish! And the Chinese-Japanese-Pacific influence is very strong here and it makes the atmosphere very relaxed. It is like someone took a big city and turned it to relax mode.

I took a sightseeing tour (seemed like a good place to start) and ended up in Sydney Tower (mistake with huge queues and prices and not THAT much to see), from where the above picture is taken. There is the famous Harbour Bridge behind me.

But of course, then there is THE Sydney opera house. I think I have had it up to my ears with it by now though I never entered the pricy tour inside the building not to mention an opera.. It is a beautiful, almost monumental building however and totally lives up to the reputation it has as a breath-taking landmark. It might have been even greater from above the harbour bridge or from a boat, but budget is budget and I did get to see quite enough as it is.

Then there was the famous Bondi Beach. As you can see, it was rather crowded but an experience nevertheless. Nice to see some surfing culture however unreal and merchandise-filled. The funny thing was that all the swimmers were guided to this 100-meter piece of the beach because that was all they could monitor?! There we stood, some 200 people almost hand to hand.. Maybe a time to get more lifeguards, or maybe I am missing something?

Leaving Thailand

2006-01-24T19:58:00.000-08:00

In Koh Chang we just ate well, hung out on the beach, took a scooter ride to see the rest of the island and one day was spent on a snorkeling trip. And yes, the red meat means sunburn -too much time in the sun and not tough enough block. But such is life, it is a principle for me not to complain about sunburns. :)

Now I notice that the food is good as long as you know what you want. For me as long as I keep to the rice menu basically anything that comes out of the kitchen is good. And the street barbecue is delicious here as well! We did have to check out the Bic Mac index too as we came to town late returning to Bangkok -60 baht or about 1,3 euros with a menu for 98 baht or about 2 euros. Also, as I kept surprisingly well in my budget and even under it I decided to blow it up by ordering the suits. Cost even a bit more than 150 euros but we got delivery to Finland included so they will hopefully be there as we get back.

Now I will head to Sydney -but not before going for seconds on sights, food and maybe even the massage! And it is damn tough to leave Johanna here, I would like to take her along for the ride...

Best national beer tasted: Singha
Best national dish: Chicken with fried rice and chili
Best sight/experience:snorkeling at Koh Wai

Island paradise in Koh Chang

2006-01-24T19:36:00.000-08:00

And then became the day that we left the thick air and crowds of Bangkok behind for some real beach life. Though we did not even get to DiCaprio's "the beach", this was enough for a Finnish guy..

After a 7-hour trip by bus, boat and taxis we arrived to the White Sand Beach of Koh Chang. Curiosity of that trip was that it cost 370 baht from the beginning (about 7,5 euros). The hostel we took was quite exotic and rugged but cheap. For low-budgeters I can recommend Bo's Independent hostel in the northern side of the beach (see picture). Basically it was a group of falling-apart bungalows on a mountainside, 5 meters from the sea (just out of the picture). The view was quite reasonable, though (the above picture).

Like a true tourist

2006-01-24T18:49:00.000-08:00

Be a tourist, act like a tourist. We went to see Bangkok's big Grand Palace, which was actually nothing compared to the Wat next to it. They know how to build their temples here (there is gold and gems everywhere and it is there for everyone to see and touch), and though the Thais love their king the worship of the emerald Buddha statue in the temple was something else.

And a true thai tourist can not pass a thai massage or a thai boxing match either, so that had to be done. The massage was great and contrary to some guys' beliefs it was done with full clothing and there was nothing sexual about it.. The boxing match was not as eventful as one might think, but it was above all a show -not as much as a free wrestling match but in a different way with ritual dances in the beginning and a rythmic music in the background during the fight. What made the fight less eventful was that as fighters tried to score points there was no flying kicks or stuff like that but mere close contact with knees mostly.

Cheap diet country

2006-01-18T19:51:00.000-08:00

Then a bit about what has been going on here.. it has been two days since my arrival and already a lot has happened. After not sleeping for couple of days (not due to anxiety but due to work I had to finish in Finland and the excess of coffee consumption), the body warned me with a small fever, so the first day passed mainly resting. In the night we took off to a boat cruise and a tour of the main tourist street, Khao San.

For those of you that don't know it already, I'm staying with my girlfriend here as she has just started her exchange studies in Bangkok University. She has this unbelievable deal of an "apartment", she is living in an hotel, very cheap I might add, in the 20th floor (see pic in previous post) with ROOM SERVICE giving out a standard bacon and eggs for merely 1,2 euros, for example. I'm guessing my living in Chile can not beat that.

Then, on the second day we went to the Finnish embassy to vote and stayed in teh center to look at the sights and shops. The basic stuff (pants, shirts, shoes) have all a VERY low price range, thank God I'm on a backpack trip or I would have spent a lot here. For example, genuine Adidas Superstars for 25 euros. I have not checked out the Bic Mac index yet but there is still time and might actually go do that since so far the Thai food has been very.. surprising. Sometimes it is quite good and at other times tastes like shit. Mainly I already learned that meat is not to be ordered here, better stick with the birds despite the threats of fever you guys read in the news. Anyway, later on we headed out for the night market, which is quite big and also surprisingly was not a real bargain place like most of the similar areas here.

Coming up: a trip to Koh Chang island (as Johanna has monday and tuesday off from school we'll spend a long weekend there)...

Pics from Bangkok

2006-01-18T19:43:00.000-08:00

Here are some pics. The first one is the Siam Paragon mall, the second one is from a boat cruise we took with my girlfriend, Johanna and the third is from the balcony of Johanna's hotel (20th floor).

The first leg of the race: Bangkok

2006-01-18T19:27:00.000-08:00

Bangkok was everything I imagined and more. There's high skyscrapers (check out Siam Paragon, the big and ubermodern mall above) and loads of shit beneath them (did not bother with a picture of that). People are very considerate, however, and surprisingly it feels very safe even in the bit dodgier areas. For example, in Rome people are animals trying to get into the metro, but here it is as easy as in Finland -no pushing, rushing or malas palabras.

It is pretty hot and the air is not that good here in the city. But man is everything cheap! This place really defines the word. And you become blind to the prices, I found myself commenting that 1,5 euros for half-a-liter beer was "quite a lot".. I counted about 30 euros per day for the duration of the trip, but it would be a challenge to spend that much on just living here. A full meal for about 100 baht (about 2 euros) makes living cheap. Still, I am a bit tempted to have made a couple of suits (measured to size) with shirts etc. got an offer of a full set tuxedo and a suit for 150 euros. Cheap as hell, but sending them to Finland might prove challenging. We'll see, the price there would be about triple and the quality is also damn good!

The route

2006-01-14T11:16:00.000-08:00

So here´s the route illustrated as some people already reading the blog (WTF!?!) requested. This map includes the locations that I'll try to visit during the trip for a bit longer stay. Also, you have there some times that tell you when I will be and where.

At this point I am almost ready to go with two days remaining.. If U have some Q´s, you can send them to kasper.stenback (at) gmail.com -that is the address I will be using for the trip.

I will try to keep the posts short so that you can actually read them and post more often rather than writing a mile-long post every time.

Countdown: 41 hours and counting!

Blog open!

2006-01-04T18:23:00.000-08:00

Today, on January 5th I open the blog for the upcoming RTW trip. Tickets are bought, the visa is being made and insurances are still open.. but there is still some time..