After Montevideo we took a bus headed west to Colonia del Sacramento. We left Montevideo late in the morning and arrived in Colonia around 2pm. The bus took forever because they were picking people up and dropping people off, seemingly in the middle of nowhere. We had no idea where they were going to or where they came from. When we finally arrived we walked to our hostel, El Viajero. It was pretty nice, clean and a cool common room with TV. After settling in we walked around the teeny, tiny town. It's very quaint; filled with windy, cobbled streets. Next we went to a few museums. We bought a ticket for less then $1 that got us into about 7 museums in the town. Then we climbed to the top of the lighthouse to get some good views of the city and of Rio de la Plata, which separates Buenos Aires and Colonia. It was SO windy up there! In fact, pretty much everywhere we've been to in Uruguay is windy! Thankfully we didn't fall off, and we made it to dinner. We ate in an old tower by the water. Unknowingly, we ordered a pretty expensive bottle of wine. Overall our meal was good, but pretty expensive!! We walked back to the hostel and watched TV for a bit before going to bed.
The following day we were leaving at 5pm. We checked out of the hostel at 11am and left our bags in the hostel's garage. We walked through the city some more to kill time before catching our boat. There wasn't a whole lot to see, we could walk through the whole town in about an hour. We ate our last meal in Uruguay and went to catch our boat to Buenos Aires!
At the ferry terminal it took forever to get through customs and stuff! Leif also had to pay about $25 to leave the country, because he didn't keep some sheet we got when we entered Uruguay. We were never told to hold onto it, but thankfully I did. Our boat ended up being 30 minutes late. But at least we got into Buenos Aires by 7pm to catch our overnight bus to Iguazu Falls. We needed to catch a cab to the bus terminal, but we only had Uruguay pesos left over. Thankfully the driver accepted USD (which Leif's dad gave him before we left)! After buying some apple gatorade we hopped on our overnight bus. About 17 hours later (which included a viewing of SuperBad!) we were in Puerto Iguazu, Argentina!
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Friday, January 25, 2008
Montevideo Part Dos
So after we wrote our blog we went to go get some food on the main drag downtown and then to our surprise we saw all these people setting something up. We asked and discovered it was the begining of Carnaval for Montevideo. So we decided to grab some food at this pizza place and had a few beers and watched the parade start. Which reminds us, when you order a beer it only comes in 40oz size; there is no small beer. It's awesome! Then we went out and joined the people for about two hours. They had some nice floats, costumes, there were singers, dancers, a latin rapper that all the teenyboppers seemes to know. The kids were running wild, the parents literally had their newborns and mate in hand. It was cool to see Carnaval get started out here but after a while it all bled together. This was just a precurser to what we will see in Rio!!! At least we got some good pictures because in Rio we won´t be bringing the digital camera just some disposable cameras, so who knows how they will turn out and hopefully someone wont steal them like they did in Amsterdamn for new years a few years back!
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Montevideo, Uruguay
Hola from Montevideo! Well, this is our last night here and then it´s off to Colonia del Sacramento. This blog won´t be as exciting as most, since we kinda came to the city during an off time. We missed out on the nightlife because we were here Monday through Thursday, and not a whole lot is going on. Plus, the city is kinda deadish because Montevideoans go to the beach towns during summer (like Punta del Este, where we just came from).
Okay, we arrived by bus Monday night. Our hostel is located in Ciudad Viaje (the old town), which is close to all the sites and lots of bars and restaursnts. The hostel was pretty nice and fairly clean. However, we came to find out we're in a 6bed room/storage unit. The hostel workers come in and out during all hours to get mattresses and linens. It´s kinda annoying. We ventured out to find some comida on our first night. Barely five minutes into Bartolome Mitre (street with lots of bars and restaurants) we were acosted by a preteen. We gave him 10 pesos (.50 cent) and tried to go on our way. But he kept trying to give us this book. We said no, no gracias, but he was very persistent. We finally took it to get him off our back. A block away we looked at it and discovered it was a daily planner from 1991. How useful!! Before we got to the restaurant several more kids came up to us asking for ¨moneda, moneda.¨ The kids are very persistent and travel in packs. Before we were scared of stray dogs, now we're wary of roaming children. There are like 5, 6, 7 years olds wandering the streets alone begging for money. And they´ll come right up to you and pull on your clothes. It´s really sad, but you have to become immune to it, because you can´t give money to everyone.
We did a city tour provided by our hostel. The guide spoke English pretty well, but wasn´t always so sure of herself. The tour lasted about 3 hours and we got to see a lot of the city we probably wouln´t have otherwise. We saw the first public space, the first church, the highest building in South America in the 1920´s, the futbol stadium where Uruguay won the 1st World Cup, the president´s house (he lives among the people, and he doesn´t even live in the richest part of town). We drove along what we thought was a beach, but it was brown. Come to find out, it´s a huge river, you can´t even see the other side! It was kinda odd. We also learned the origin of the name Montevideo. It means the 6th mountain you see traveling from east to west. The Spanish named it that after coming here from Spain. Also, the originator of tango actually came from Uruguay, and they have the documents to prove it! So that´s a little fun fact, considering Buenos Aires seems to have the monopoly on the tango scene.
The majority of our 4 days were spent sleeping until noon, walking around the city, and visiting some museums. All the museums here are free! And also pretty relaxed on security. We saw some interesting archaeological artifacts from a long time ago. We also visted a museum that housed lots of furniture, clothes, and other things that belonged to the wealthy Uruguayans during the late 19th century - early 20th century.
All in all, Montevideo was a charming and interesting city to visit; kind of a smaller Buenos Aires. However, it would have been nice to be here on the weekend for the nightlife. But I guess it´s nice to have a break every once and a while. Tomorrow we´re off for one more night in Uruguay. Then we´ll be on an overnight bus to Iguazu Falls, which should be amazing!!
Okay, we arrived by bus Monday night. Our hostel is located in Ciudad Viaje (the old town), which is close to all the sites and lots of bars and restaursnts. The hostel was pretty nice and fairly clean. However, we came to find out we're in a 6bed room/storage unit. The hostel workers come in and out during all hours to get mattresses and linens. It´s kinda annoying. We ventured out to find some comida on our first night. Barely five minutes into Bartolome Mitre (street with lots of bars and restaurants) we were acosted by a preteen. We gave him 10 pesos (.50 cent) and tried to go on our way. But he kept trying to give us this book. We said no, no gracias, but he was very persistent. We finally took it to get him off our back. A block away we looked at it and discovered it was a daily planner from 1991. How useful!! Before we got to the restaurant several more kids came up to us asking for ¨moneda, moneda.¨ The kids are very persistent and travel in packs. Before we were scared of stray dogs, now we're wary of roaming children. There are like 5, 6, 7 years olds wandering the streets alone begging for money. And they´ll come right up to you and pull on your clothes. It´s really sad, but you have to become immune to it, because you can´t give money to everyone.
We did a city tour provided by our hostel. The guide spoke English pretty well, but wasn´t always so sure of herself. The tour lasted about 3 hours and we got to see a lot of the city we probably wouln´t have otherwise. We saw the first public space, the first church, the highest building in South America in the 1920´s, the futbol stadium where Uruguay won the 1st World Cup, the president´s house (he lives among the people, and he doesn´t even live in the richest part of town). We drove along what we thought was a beach, but it was brown. Come to find out, it´s a huge river, you can´t even see the other side! It was kinda odd. We also learned the origin of the name Montevideo. It means the 6th mountain you see traveling from east to west. The Spanish named it that after coming here from Spain. Also, the originator of tango actually came from Uruguay, and they have the documents to prove it! So that´s a little fun fact, considering Buenos Aires seems to have the monopoly on the tango scene.
The majority of our 4 days were spent sleeping until noon, walking around the city, and visiting some museums. All the museums here are free! And also pretty relaxed on security. We saw some interesting archaeological artifacts from a long time ago. We also visted a museum that housed lots of furniture, clothes, and other things that belonged to the wealthy Uruguayans during the late 19th century - early 20th century.
All in all, Montevideo was a charming and interesting city to visit; kind of a smaller Buenos Aires. However, it would have been nice to be here on the weekend for the nightlife. But I guess it´s nice to have a break every once and a while. Tomorrow we´re off for one more night in Uruguay. Then we´ll be on an overnight bus to Iguazu Falls, which should be amazing!!
Monday, January 21, 2008
Punta del Este, Uruguay
We departed Buenos Aires by boat, first class! We arrived in Colonia del Sacramento and transfered to a bus. About 5 hours later we arrived in the beach town of Punta del Este. It's a really nice, but expensive beach town. It's famous for its beaches and its discos. Our hostel, Backpackers de la Barra, was a little out of the main city, BUT it was closer to all the cool clubs. After checking in we went to Rex's, which advertised the best chivito in town! Chivito = steak sandwich. Order it completo and you get ham, cheese, egg, lettuce and tomato. It was the best..and first.. steak sandwich ever! That night our hostel was very lively, with everyone drinking and getting ready to hit the town on a Saturday night. Around 2am we left and walked 2 blocks to Crobar. We had a flyer that said free entrance for 2 people. But the doorman said that was wrong and we had to pay. But the manager came up, and reluctantly let us in. Yay! The club had a courtyard in the center and was surrounded by 3 different rooms. We stayed mostly in the room that played pop/top40 like music. And the DJ played some really good songs!!! The room had a window looking outside, so as we were dancing we could see the sun coming up. The last few songs all the guys were scrambling for girls to take home..it was kinda scary/funny. We walked home in the bright early morning and ran into our Aussie roommates, who were coming home at the same time.
The next day after waking up around 2:30pm, we spent the rest of the day at the beach. The beaches are filled with really fine sand, which makes it hard to get off your body! Surprisingly, it got really cold around 6pm so we headed back to the hostel. That night we returned to our favorite place, Rex's, and got another chivito!
Our last day there we checked out and then spent a few hours at the beach. We were in the sun for about 5 hours, so you can imagine we're a little red! We thought Argentines loved their mate, but we think Uruguayans love it even more! People carry their cup, thermos and tea around with them everywhere! The beach, the bus station, walking down the street, etc. Around 5pm, we walked to the bus station and caught our bus to Montevideo.
PS: We love apple Gatorade! It's everywhere here!
The next day after waking up around 2:30pm, we spent the rest of the day at the beach. The beaches are filled with really fine sand, which makes it hard to get off your body! Surprisingly, it got really cold around 6pm so we headed back to the hostel. That night we returned to our favorite place, Rex's, and got another chivito!
Our last day there we checked out and then spent a few hours at the beach. We were in the sun for about 5 hours, so you can imagine we're a little red! We thought Argentines loved their mate, but we think Uruguayans love it even more! People carry their cup, thermos and tea around with them everywhere! The beach, the bus station, walking down the street, etc. Around 5pm, we walked to the bus station and caught our bus to Montevideo.
PS: We love apple Gatorade! It's everywhere here!
Buenos Aires
We arrived in Buenos Aires in the morning of Saturday, the 12th of January after a 14 hour bus ride from Mendoza. The bus was actually prettty comfy! Our hostel, Che Legarto was really cool! It had its own bar and restaurant, free internet, kitchen, common room with TV. We shared a room with a Canadian who was working at the hostel bar.
Since it was a Saturday in BsAs, we had to go out! We prefunked a little until 1:30am, then we walked to a club nearby. It was huge and in a really cool building; it looked like a ballroom in a palace or something. Unfortuately, drinks were expensive and it was trance all night! So we decided to go to another club, Amerika. it was about 40 pesos (12USD) to get in, BUT you got free drinks all night!! Yes, FREE...ALL NIGHT! Not only that, the bartenders are not stingy with the liquor. We danced on the second floor which had pop mixed with electronic for the beginning of the night. Around 3amish we headed downstairs to the main dancefloor. All of a sudden from the ceiling above foam started to fall! And it kept coming throughout the night; at one point the bubbles reached our chests. It was amazing! Just like dancing in a huge bubble bath with thousands of strangers! We finally left around 7am, and thankfully caught a cab home despite being soaking wet!
Our second day we visted Recoleta Cemetery, which has Evita's final resting place. The cemetery was really cool. Next we went to the Bellas Artes museum, which had lots of international artists, as well as Latin American. Later that night we went to this bar, because we thought they had karaoke. But no such luck, just some drag queens doing a comedy act. We talked to an Israeli guy who didn't understand what was going on either. It closed a little after 2am, and on our walk back to the hostel we ran into a local. We started talking to him, and we ended up buying some cervazas and going back to his place. He showed us some photo albums from past trips to Bolivia. Between our Spanish and his English we got along pretty well. We stayed until 6:30 and then caught a cab home.
On the third day it was ridiculously hot!!! 100 degrees and humid! So we didn't do a whole lot that day. Slept til 3pm and tried to walk around a bit, but it was miserable. At night was better and we walked to get some pizza.
The fourth day was much better! We wandered through Av Florida, the main pedestrian street with lots of cafes, restaurants, street performers and shops. At night we went to a tango show. Which was incredible! The footwork is so intricate. They also breaked up the tango dances with singers, a live band and a folklore style musicians. One of the coolest things was when a lady dressed in a white gown on a balcony sang Don't Cry for Me Argentina in Spanish. Everyone at our table was drunk; they kept ordering bottle after bottle of wine! We went back to the hostel around 12:30am, and decided to hang out in the bar for a while and drink a 1 1/2 litre of Budweiser. About an hour later it started to rain. Then came the thunder and lightning, and more rain! The bar area flooded...which sucked...excpet we got a free pitcher of beer! It settled down for a bit, and then flooded again. So, more free beer!
The fifth day we went to the Latinoamericano Art Museum, which houses the biggest collection of Latin American art in the world. Afterwards, we went to the Evita Museum. There we saw some of her clothes, newspapers clippings, television footage of her speech and her death mask. Later on we also saw the Casa Rosada, where she stood on the balcony to give her speech.
The sixth day we mostly just ran some errands. We also went to a mate bar, where we tried mate for the first time. FYI: Mate is a type of tea that pretty much everyone drinks here! It was pretty good. That night we went to the Roxy Club, where a promotion group, Club69 was having a party. Several people from our hostel were also going. The flyer said it's "the most amusing electronic party!" The dancers were dressed like club kids from the movie Party Monster. There were break dancers and gogo dancers. Around 4am this big drag queen in a red dress came out with a cake, and all the dancers sang happy birthday. Then they passed out the cake to the crowd. We made our way to the front and got the last piece of cake to share! Yum!! We were kinda getting tired, when all of a sudden a man and woman came on stage. They were dancing around, and eventually the chick started to strip. We saw everything! Everyone (aka guys) were taking pictures. It was great! After the strip show (around 6:30am) we decided to call it a night! oh and PS - all the clubs in Buenos Aires smell like weed!
The morning after Club69 (the seventh day) we had to wake up early and change from our 8 person room to a 20 person dorm. Boo! But at least it was only for one night. Our last day in BsAs we went to a neighborhood called La Boca. There were really colorful houses and tango dancers in the streets. That night we decided to go to bed early, because we had to wake up the next day at 6:15am (which is normally when we are stumbling home!) to catch a boat!
Thus far, Buenos Aires has turned out to be our favorite city! It's cheap, good food, nice people, great bars and awesome nightlife! If you ever get a chance, come here...and take us!!
Since it was a Saturday in BsAs, we had to go out! We prefunked a little until 1:30am, then we walked to a club nearby. It was huge and in a really cool building; it looked like a ballroom in a palace or something. Unfortuately, drinks were expensive and it was trance all night! So we decided to go to another club, Amerika. it was about 40 pesos (12USD) to get in, BUT you got free drinks all night!! Yes, FREE...ALL NIGHT! Not only that, the bartenders are not stingy with the liquor. We danced on the second floor which had pop mixed with electronic for the beginning of the night. Around 3amish we headed downstairs to the main dancefloor. All of a sudden from the ceiling above foam started to fall! And it kept coming throughout the night; at one point the bubbles reached our chests. It was amazing! Just like dancing in a huge bubble bath with thousands of strangers! We finally left around 7am, and thankfully caught a cab home despite being soaking wet!
Our second day we visted Recoleta Cemetery, which has Evita's final resting place. The cemetery was really cool. Next we went to the Bellas Artes museum, which had lots of international artists, as well as Latin American. Later that night we went to this bar, because we thought they had karaoke. But no such luck, just some drag queens doing a comedy act. We talked to an Israeli guy who didn't understand what was going on either. It closed a little after 2am, and on our walk back to the hostel we ran into a local. We started talking to him, and we ended up buying some cervazas and going back to his place. He showed us some photo albums from past trips to Bolivia. Between our Spanish and his English we got along pretty well. We stayed until 6:30 and then caught a cab home.
On the third day it was ridiculously hot!!! 100 degrees and humid! So we didn't do a whole lot that day. Slept til 3pm and tried to walk around a bit, but it was miserable. At night was better and we walked to get some pizza.
The fourth day was much better! We wandered through Av Florida, the main pedestrian street with lots of cafes, restaurants, street performers and shops. At night we went to a tango show. Which was incredible! The footwork is so intricate. They also breaked up the tango dances with singers, a live band and a folklore style musicians. One of the coolest things was when a lady dressed in a white gown on a balcony sang Don't Cry for Me Argentina in Spanish. Everyone at our table was drunk; they kept ordering bottle after bottle of wine! We went back to the hostel around 12:30am, and decided to hang out in the bar for a while and drink a 1 1/2 litre of Budweiser. About an hour later it started to rain. Then came the thunder and lightning, and more rain! The bar area flooded...which sucked...excpet we got a free pitcher of beer! It settled down for a bit, and then flooded again. So, more free beer!
The fifth day we went to the Latinoamericano Art Museum, which houses the biggest collection of Latin American art in the world. Afterwards, we went to the Evita Museum. There we saw some of her clothes, newspapers clippings, television footage of her speech and her death mask. Later on we also saw the Casa Rosada, where she stood on the balcony to give her speech.
The sixth day we mostly just ran some errands. We also went to a mate bar, where we tried mate for the first time. FYI: Mate is a type of tea that pretty much everyone drinks here! It was pretty good. That night we went to the Roxy Club, where a promotion group, Club69 was having a party. Several people from our hostel were also going. The flyer said it's "the most amusing electronic party!" The dancers were dressed like club kids from the movie Party Monster. There were break dancers and gogo dancers. Around 4am this big drag queen in a red dress came out with a cake, and all the dancers sang happy birthday. Then they passed out the cake to the crowd. We made our way to the front and got the last piece of cake to share! Yum!! We were kinda getting tired, when all of a sudden a man and woman came on stage. They were dancing around, and eventually the chick started to strip. We saw everything! Everyone (aka guys) were taking pictures. It was great! After the strip show (around 6:30am) we decided to call it a night! oh and PS - all the clubs in Buenos Aires smell like weed!
The morning after Club69 (the seventh day) we had to wake up early and change from our 8 person room to a 20 person dorm. Boo! But at least it was only for one night. Our last day in BsAs we went to a neighborhood called La Boca. There were really colorful houses and tango dancers in the streets. That night we decided to go to bed early, because we had to wake up the next day at 6:15am (which is normally when we are stumbling home!) to catch a boat!
Thus far, Buenos Aires has turned out to be our favorite city! It's cheap, good food, nice people, great bars and awesome nightlife! If you ever get a chance, come here...and take us!!
Friday, January 18, 2008
Mendoza, Argentina
Hola!! So we arrived in Mendoza, Argentina (the heart of Argentina's wine country, with over 600 wineries) after a 6 hour bus ride from Santiago, Chile, which was actually quite pleasant. Two hours of which were spent at the border, but we finally arrived in late afternoon. We took a cab to our hostel, Ruca Potu. It's run by a family; the dad is this big, jolly Argentinian, his chain smoking wife, and two chubby kids. The best part of the hostel was the free wine!! Yes, FREE wine! A barrel was set up in the kitchen, and you could fill up your glass any time of the day or night. So of course we took advantage of that!
The first thing we did after checking in was find some comida! We walked into town and found a cute Italian style resaturant. We had appetizers, yummy pasta with pesto, and a bottle of wine..all for just $18USD!! It was awesome; we've never been so full! Thankfully the walk back to the hostel helped us to digest. The second we got back we started getting ready, and drinking our free vino. We went to this club that had a drag show at 2am! Oh yeah, people don't start eating dinner until like 10pm, and don't go to bars and clubs till like 1 or 2am, and don't leave until 6 or 7am, cuz that's when the after parties start. The drag show was really fun, including artists such as Madonna. Afterwards there was dancing to really good music, a mix of electronic and top 40ish tunes. And that's really hard to find, so we were enjoying it! We even got to hear Gimme More by Britney Spears! Woohoo! We took a cab back to the hostel around 6am, but unfortunately didn't have a small enough bill for the driver. So we stumbled into our 12 person dorm, and rummaged through our bags to find some dinero. We finally found a 10 peso and handed it over.
We slept in the next day, and then went out to explore the city. But not before getting a morning glass of red wine. It was a really pretty, cute town; and pretty much everything is in walking distance. We saw an archaelogical museum, a park and just wandered the streets. For dinner we each had a 40oz of Stella. Leif had a HUGE sandwich while I had two teeny, tiny empanadas! We got back to the hostel, got ready and started drinking again. We planned to go out to this club, but ended up talking to this pothead Pharmacist from Ireland and drinking wine until 6:30 in the morning! Oh well!
Three hours after passing out, we woke up, packed our stuff and went on several tours of wineries. Without time for breakfast, our hostel owner took us around in his van to a bunch of wineries. In total, we had about 6 glasses of wine, a glass of champagne, and a shot of absinthe! A very hearty breaktfast!!
We killed a couple hours at a really cool gas station, complete with tons of food and an internet cafe. We walked to the bus station to catch our overnight bus to Buenos Aires. Unfortunately, it was late and we ended up waiting around for like 2 hours. The bus was actually quite comfy, with good food and a game of bingo! About 14 hours later we arrived in Buenos Aires!! So stay tuned for a fun filled week in BsAs!!
The first thing we did after checking in was find some comida! We walked into town and found a cute Italian style resaturant. We had appetizers, yummy pasta with pesto, and a bottle of wine..all for just $18USD!! It was awesome; we've never been so full! Thankfully the walk back to the hostel helped us to digest. The second we got back we started getting ready, and drinking our free vino. We went to this club that had a drag show at 2am! Oh yeah, people don't start eating dinner until like 10pm, and don't go to bars and clubs till like 1 or 2am, and don't leave until 6 or 7am, cuz that's when the after parties start. The drag show was really fun, including artists such as Madonna. Afterwards there was dancing to really good music, a mix of electronic and top 40ish tunes. And that's really hard to find, so we were enjoying it! We even got to hear Gimme More by Britney Spears! Woohoo! We took a cab back to the hostel around 6am, but unfortunately didn't have a small enough bill for the driver. So we stumbled into our 12 person dorm, and rummaged through our bags to find some dinero. We finally found a 10 peso and handed it over.
We slept in the next day, and then went out to explore the city. But not before getting a morning glass of red wine. It was a really pretty, cute town; and pretty much everything is in walking distance. We saw an archaelogical museum, a park and just wandered the streets. For dinner we each had a 40oz of Stella. Leif had a HUGE sandwich while I had two teeny, tiny empanadas! We got back to the hostel, got ready and started drinking again. We planned to go out to this club, but ended up talking to this pothead Pharmacist from Ireland and drinking wine until 6:30 in the morning! Oh well!
Three hours after passing out, we woke up, packed our stuff and went on several tours of wineries. Without time for breakfast, our hostel owner took us around in his van to a bunch of wineries. In total, we had about 6 glasses of wine, a glass of champagne, and a shot of absinthe! A very hearty breaktfast!!
We killed a couple hours at a really cool gas station, complete with tons of food and an internet cafe. We walked to the bus station to catch our overnight bus to Buenos Aires. Unfortunately, it was late and we ended up waiting around for like 2 hours. The bus was actually quite comfy, with good food and a game of bingo! About 14 hours later we arrived in Buenos Aires!! So stay tuned for a fun filled week in BsAs!!
Monday, January 14, 2008
Easter Island
Hello all, it´s been a little while since we last blogged but we are trying! So our flight to Easter Island was delayed like 5 hours which sucked because we lost half the day BUT one of the Amazing Race finalists was on our flight! The island looked just like Hawaii. There was only one teeny tiny town. The total population of the island is barely over 2000. We kept seeing the same people over and over again. Our hostel was nice and we lucked out and got a private room, eventhough we paid for a 4 bed room. The room was a bit musty and hot inside but we survived. Just like in Santiago there are stray dogs everywhere. The first night we went out to eat at a restaurant by the water and it was expensive like everything else on the island. We then went to the Aloha Pub and had some beer. On our walk home we were attacked by dogs. It was scary!! There were gangs of dogs all around us, and they kept barking. They kept getting closer to us, and so we started to run. The next day, we learned that if dogs start barking at you, DON'T RUN, cuz then they'll chase you!We were afraid of the dogs for the rest of the trip there!
We decided to rent a car and guess what....it was a stick shift. Neither of us could really drive one well, but I (Leif) got in the swing of things. We got a map of the island and drove around stopping to look at all the Moai. It was amazing. They were huge and it was hard to think how they made such things back in the day. The roads were horrible. They were dirt roads on hills and had a lot of pot holes and rocks in the way, so it made for a fun adventure. We stalled a few times. Later on in the day I taught Katie to drive a stick shift. At our stop at the 15 rowed Moai it started to pour!! It was nice because all the tourists left and we just ran out there with blankets on our heads and took some amazing photos. Then on our way home there was a road that was slippery like ice but it was just mud. We ended our day going to the beach. While we were swimming we were able to see the Moai, it was unbelievable.
Everyone on the island was laid back and we enjoyed the rest of the time. We also saw this movie called Rapa Nui that was produced by Kevin Costner. On our last night we had the best empanada ever. We also went to this French restaurant to get some dessert and beer and when we ordered from a French bastard he took our menus away. He said that he served food and kicked us out but not before asking if we came from the moon. He was a jerk but in retrospect it was funny. Then we bought our own beer and some candy and watched the sunset.
So we saw the Amazing Race guy at the beach but didnt want to bother him. Then he was on our flight back to Santiago and he was standing behind us. We started talking to him and he actually went to Roosevelt High School. Talked to us about the Seattle school system. He also gave us tips about how to get onto the amazing race. It was pretty funny.
Ok until next time
Katie and Leif
We decided to rent a car and guess what....it was a stick shift. Neither of us could really drive one well, but I (Leif) got in the swing of things. We got a map of the island and drove around stopping to look at all the Moai. It was amazing. They were huge and it was hard to think how they made such things back in the day. The roads were horrible. They were dirt roads on hills and had a lot of pot holes and rocks in the way, so it made for a fun adventure. We stalled a few times. Later on in the day I taught Katie to drive a stick shift. At our stop at the 15 rowed Moai it started to pour!! It was nice because all the tourists left and we just ran out there with blankets on our heads and took some amazing photos. Then on our way home there was a road that was slippery like ice but it was just mud. We ended our day going to the beach. While we were swimming we were able to see the Moai, it was unbelievable.
Everyone on the island was laid back and we enjoyed the rest of the time. We also saw this movie called Rapa Nui that was produced by Kevin Costner. On our last night we had the best empanada ever. We also went to this French restaurant to get some dessert and beer and when we ordered from a French bastard he took our menus away. He said that he served food and kicked us out but not before asking if we came from the moon. He was a jerk but in retrospect it was funny. Then we bought our own beer and some candy and watched the sunset.
So we saw the Amazing Race guy at the beach but didnt want to bother him. Then he was on our flight back to Santiago and he was standing behind us. We started talking to him and he actually went to Roosevelt High School. Talked to us about the Seattle school system. He also gave us tips about how to get onto the amazing race. It was pretty funny.
Ok until next time
Katie and Leif
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Santiago...
Hola amigos...we are currently in Santiago where it is HOT AS HELL!! be jealous that we are going to come home dark. We left you all in Valpo and we were adaptorless, and it was scarry because we needed to charge our camera to have pictures obviously. The owner of our hostel told us of a place that should sell them. Thankfully they did so we wil have pictures of Chile to show everyone when we get back. After we had a sigh of relief we had to find the bus station in the heat with 30 pound bags on. Eventually we just grabbed a cab and then got a bus ticket to Santiago, but had to wait for two hours. While waiting there a little kid was casing the joint, and we were scared that he was trying to rob us. We also talked to an old Chilean woman. who said we were beautiful and asked if we were brother and sister. We finally got on the bus with no airconditioning, and was the ghettoist bus of the bunch. Oh well, we finally got into Santiago around 5pm. A young guy on the bus probably could tell we were confused and asked if we needed help. He helped us get our metro passes (BIP cards) and told us which line to take to our hostel. Once we got off the metro and went above ground, ANOTHER helpful Chilean (this time an older gentleman) helped us find our way to our hostel, and gave us a brief history lesson of the city along the way. Our hostel is in a really trendy part of town, with lots of bars and restaurants; it´s like the Belltown of Santiago!
Today we did a walking tour. We visited some museums, the Presidential Palace, several squares and parks. After our first museum visit, we were sitting at a bench park, when all of a sudden we were approached by gypsies! They´re tiny little things, but were pretty menacing and kept wanting money and to tell our fortunes. We said No gracias! and got outta there!
That´s all for now...more to come!
Today we did a walking tour. We visited some museums, the Presidential Palace, several squares and parks. After our first museum visit, we were sitting at a bench park, when all of a sudden we were approached by gypsies! They´re tiny little things, but were pretty menacing and kept wanting money and to tell our fortunes. We said No gracias! and got outta there!
That´s all for now...more to come!
New Years in Valparaiso, Chile
hey all, we spent new years eve in valpo chile on the coast two hours west on santiago. we watched the biggest fireworks display in the world it was awesome! we watched them from our hostel which over looks the bay. we then went to the town square in the middle of the city where they had live music and everyone was dancing and drinking! then we met up with some of our fellow hostel friends at this bar and danced there for another hour or so then finally made it back home and ate some food and went to bed. today we went to the beach and got some sun! katies still pale though haha...but the water was pretty cold. we are heading to santigo tomorrow...ill write soon...
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