TravelStream™ news feed for member allgoingsouth on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/allgoingsouth en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Mon, 15 Dec 2008 12:40:20 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/allgoingsouth/1/1228929780/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/allgoingsouth/1/1228929780/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/allgoingsouth/1/1228929780/tpod.html Mon, 15 Dec 2008 12:40:20 -0500 Screw work, let's go chew some cocoa leaves!

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Pucon, Lake District, Chile

We took a flight from Punta Arenas to Puerto Montt over the snow capped Andes and the smoldering volcano, chaiten. We had to spend one overnight in probably the only dodgy neighbourhood in Chile near the bus terminal in Osorno so we could get to the town of Pucon. The town itself is a picturesque little place nestled between a lake and an active, snow-capped volcano. Brenda was so overcome by the volcano´s beauty that she dragged Niall up to its ten thousand ft summit, where we were able to look into the dark pit of it´s crater and hear the magma bubbling and boiling far below. We were then provided with plastic nappies which we used to slide down about 5000 ft of the Volcano, at times spinning around and being propelled head-first down the volcano´s side - one of the more exciting ways we traveled so far this trip.   The next day Brenda relaxed on the black sand beach while Niall went off hydro-speeding, rafting without the raft - not as much fun as he thought it would be.That evening we steamed ourselves in the natural hot springs in the beautiful surroundings.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/allgoingsouth/1/1228405260/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/allgoingsouth/1/1228405260/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/allgoingsouth/1/1228405260/tpod.html Fri, 05 Dec 2008 10:53:13 -0500 Screw work, let's go chew some cocoa leaves!

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Porvenir, Patagonia, Chile

Due to the outrageous cost of bus tickets to Ushuaia we instead took the Ferry across the Straits of Magellan to the Chilean town of Porvenir - its not in the guide books because there's nothing to do there worth mentioning, but at least we were on Tierra del Fuego. The landscape there is very similar to the west of Ireland, barren, rolling bog land, few trees but lots of sheep and cattle looking for shelter from the howling wind.   One night in the quiet hamlet of Porvenir was enough so the next day we made our way back to Punta Arenas.
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Punta Arenas, Patagonia, Chile

The organised Chilean bus system brought us to Punta Arenas where we caught a ferry to Isla Magdalena which is home to 160,000 penguins. It was quite entertaining to watch them waddling into the water, building nests, fighting, making more penguins and attacking Brenda´s bag. Unfortunately we were a bit too early to see the chicks out of the underground nests.
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Puerto Natales, Patagonia, Chile

Crossing into Chile, we were struck by how similar it is to the west of Ireland, apart from the snow covered mountains. We hired camping equipment in Puerto Natales for our 5 day trek in the spectacular Torres Del Paine. The camping was enjoyable in a sick kinda way but the highlight had to be kayaking between the surreal icebergs on Largo Grey - Niall had a tough experience paddling for two as his chunky guide had food poisoning (cough...! hangover) and spent more time puking than paddling into the howling wind.   The scenery really was ice age impressive, watching avalanches sliding down the hillside like rivers of snow, sailing across bright blue glacial lakes and drinking from pure glacial streams.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/allgoingsouth/1/1227105420/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/allgoingsouth/1/1227105420/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/allgoingsouth/1/1227105420/tpod.html Wed, 03 Dec 2008 10:50:40 -0500 Screw work, let's go chew some cocoa leaves!

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Puerto Madryn, Patagonia, Argentina

We took another overnight bus south to Puerto Madyrn, to visit the valdez peninsula. Travelling by Argentine bus isnt so bad, the food is good, the seats roomy, and the movies are in english! The peninsula was a bit of a let-down, we saw whales and elephant seals, but we were kept a long way from the animals, not like the galapagos at all!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/allgoingsouth/1/1228144800/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/allgoingsouth/1/1228144800/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/allgoingsouth/1/1228144800/tpod.html Wed, 03 Dec 2008 10:49:21 -0500 Screw work, let's go chew some cocoa leaves!

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El Calafate, Patagonia, Argentina

After an endless bus trip where Niall made friends with a police man who was fascinated by his camera at a drugs check point we got to El Calafate which resembled an alpine theme park where we befriended a guy who is writing a book about couch surfing around the world for 5 years. He provided the entertainment in the taxi on the way to the perito moreno glacier, having gorged on some space cakes before leaving the hostel. The glacier itself is spectacular, being enormous, it´s eerie blue face dropping into the lake below it with enormous crashes.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/allgoingsouth/1/1226962320/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/allgoingsouth/1/1226962320/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/allgoingsouth/1/1226962320/tpod.html Wed, 03 Dec 2008 10:39:12 -0500 Screw work, let's go chew some cocoa leaves!

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Buenos Aires, Capital Federal District, Argentina

After a quick overnight in pretty Colonia, Uruguay, which could have been a town in Italy, we made our way to BA. We chose to stay in Palermo which is an upper class neighbourhood filled with cafes, bars, restaurants and the coolest furniture shops around. It was beautiful there during the weekend but the weekdays brought cars, pollution and building work which knocked the gloss off it. Simple things like getting change for the buses and changing money always seemed to be made difficult by the unfriendly population but we can see how people would fall in love with the place as it has a certain Paris resemblance.   The highlight of the stay was our visit to the Religious theme park, complete with re-enactments of the Nativity scene, Genesis and half hourly Resurrections. It was hard to keep a straight face as it was so tacky but some people around us seemed genuinely moved by the experience. On a more serious note, don´t go to Temaiken wildlife park, it´s just another animal prison.  Our visit to the japanese gardens were far more enjoyable and on the way we stopped at a feline park where instead of feeding the ducks we fed some feral cats.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/allgoingsouth/1/1226249340/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/allgoingsouth/1/1226249340/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/allgoingsouth/1/1226249340/tpod.html Wed, 03 Dec 2008 10:24:32 -0500 Screw work, let's go chew some cocoa leaves!

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Ilha do Mel, State of Parana, Brazil

We took a noisy, crowded small ferry to Ilha do Mel, a small island which could have been on the set of Lost for a weekend of sun and sand. It´s a charming little place with no traffic and the main street is a sandy path. We stayed in a rustic (no soundproofing) cabin with hammocks strung up outside. Apart from sunbathing we visited the lighthouse at one end of the island and got destroyed by thousands of horseflies walking to the ancient portugese fort at the other end. It was a great change from the traffic and noise of Rio!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/allgoingsouth/1/1226416560/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/allgoingsouth/1/1226416560/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/allgoingsouth/1/1226416560/tpod.html Wed, 03 Dec 2008 10:23:00 -0500 Screw work, let's go chew some cocoa leaves!

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Florianopolis, State of Santa Catarina, Brazil

A relatively short bus ride of 4 hours took us to Florianopolis where a thunderstorm which nearly drowned the pair of us set the scene for the next few days. We stayed in a lovely hostel where our room was a mini apartment and the owners treated us like long lost relatives instead of homeless people, the only disappointment with the beautiful island being the non stop rain which drove us to a shopping centre and the cinema, (if you see James Bond, believe us when we say Bolivia does not have the luxury options portrayed in the film).
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/allgoingsouth/1/1224799620/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/allgoingsouth/1/1224799620/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/allgoingsouth/1/1224799620/tpod.html Mon, 17 Nov 2008 15:53:42 -0500 Screw work, let's go chew some cocoa leaves!

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Uyuni, Bolivia

The tour continued the next day by entering the Reserve Edwardo Avora where the scenery became more spectacular by the hour. Our first stop was at an ancient graveyard then continued on past flamingo populated lakes which were bright red, green, blue, all with a shoreline of pure white borax which made for an otherworldly contrast. The desert scenery around the lakes continued to amaze, looking like they had been freshly painted by a gifted artist.   Accomodation was in a bitterly cold hostel dorm with no electricity where we slept in our clothes under layers of blankets and sleeping bags. The next morning at dawn the tour was topped off with a visit to a geothermal field where we were able to play with a geyser and walk between boiling mud pools which were a huge contrast to the sub zero temperatures provided by the 5000 metre altitude.
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