Leaving BA we head south once again. Our next destination is Puerto Madryn, but it's a long hot drive for two days. Sat in the back everyone continually nods off to sleep. It passes the time, however an ache in the neck is the unfortunate consequence. This region is The Pampas and is initially a continuation of the cattle country giving way to crops including huge fields of sunflowers. The crops eventually fade away to be replaced by, not a lot actually. The Patagonian steppe, a vast, flat, dry, treeless, featureless scrubland as far as the eye can see. For miles and miles and miles. It's windy too which whips up the dust. At one point visibility is down to only several metres.
The wind is still blowing strong when we reach the camp site in Puerto Madryn which makes cooking a little more challenging. With the addition of Jordy and Anna the cook groups have been mixed up. This is a shame for me as John and I worked well together, although Dave is a willing assistant! Louise on the other hand is delighted as other Stuart is "useless", irritating her with an inability to even chop an onion and not without drama, given that he has been on these overlands before!
Puerto Madryn was originally settled by Welsh immigrants in 1865, but the supposed Welshness doesn't seem evident to us. It's not why we're here anyway. It's the wildlife on nearby Peninsula Valdes that is our focus. The sea lions are good to watch, the males grunting and squabbling. The elephant seals are huge by comparison, but would only move less if dead! We see a cute hairy arrmadillo foraging in the car park. The area is good for whale and Orca spotting, but we are too late and too early in the year respectively. In fact it was here that the Blue Planet footage of the Orca beach attack was shot. To make up for the lack of Orca we take a Dolphin spotting boat trip the next day. For this the timing is spot on with plenty of Dolphin action. The challenge is to get a good photo.
Further south along the coast the landscape changes from flat to undulating. This may not sound like much, but is a source of great interest to us after days of nothing. The pretty coastline is revealed as we drive close and onto unsealed roads to visit the penguin colony at Cabo Dos Bahias near Camarones. It's a great site, not people busy and very close to the Magellanic penguins! There is another penguin of a different breed on the beach looking completely lost and confused! We can't help feeling sorry for the poor thing. Leaving the colony Jordy, Anna, Dave and I use the roof seats. It's much less dusty than last time which is good as we bush camp that night for the first time on the trip. We find a great spot and are rewarded with a clear view of a nice sunset on a pleasant evening.
It's an early start as we hit the road continuing south through Patagonia. The landscape varies between undulating and flat. At the end of the day we visit a petrified forest which is more interesting than it first sounds. The landscape is barren even compared to the scrubland on route. Scattered around lay the trunks of 150 million year old trees, now turned to stone with eroded escarpment as the backdrop. We camp nearby at a campsite with a wild west quirkyness. Route 3 from BA feels the truck tires once more as we head south towards the Chilean boarder where we will camp before making the crossing to Tierra del Fuego tomorrow.
Wednesday, 28 January 2009
Sunday, 25 January 2009
Four Nights in Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires sears with the heat of unbroken sunshine. Sticking to the shady side of the Europeanesque streets is a must at almost all times during the day. Even late into the evening the temperature is still up near the thirty mark. We still decide to walk about anyway as it is easier and we have done a lot of sitting on the truck recently, so a bit a exercise is required. This all makes the hotels cold shower, due to a broken hot water boiler, unimportant. We get a discount and breakfast all the same, for the 'trouble'!
Our first walk takes us to the well-to-do area of Recoleta to see the even more-well-to do Cemetery of Recoleta. Graveyard to the rich and famous it is like a miniature city of mausoleums in a grid layout. It could feel morbid, but is fascinating instead. Moving on to Palermo we finally find a place to eat lunch and after a huge steak sandwich we instantly understand the siesta. The heat compeling our eyelids together. We take the metro back.
The barrio of San Telmo retains some colonial architecture, now inhabited by cafes and antique dealers. It is quiet on this early wednesday afternoon. We relax in a square over some juice. Nearby a gentleman pedals kitchen knives sharp on a converted bicycle. We take an advised taxi to the old port district of La Boca. Apparently it is not safe to walk there, but is ok in the tourist Caminito streets. It is touristy, but we still liked it. The is a buzz here from the music and the brightly coloured buildings, the paint originally pinched from the shipyard in a bid to liven up the poor neighbourhood. We sit and people watch over a couple of cerveca; the Tango dancers making extra cash posing for photos, the Maradona lookalike vying for business. The downside is we get slipped a fake 20peso bill in change at a store. The return taxi driver is the one who points this out to us.
Every thursday the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo walk around the plaza with a small group of followers. They hold banners and where head scarfs or miner helmets in rememberance of their children who vanished during Argentina's Dirty War of the 70s! Some mothers hold pictures. It's a sombre affair, but the crowd is small and mostly tourists with the odd hawker.
Obviously a trip to Argentina will involve proper steak and we oblige in an old time Parilla. Right in the window a huge log burns on a fire, cuts of meat hang on posts around the edge. My sirloin is good, but not the best I've ever had. It is however the biggest. It's enormous! The other requirement is Tango. So on the last night the overlanders, including our new travellers Anna and Jordy joining us from the Netherlands, go to the grand Cafe Tortini for dinner and a show in there small back room theatre. Everyone seemed to like it alot more than we did rating it as average. I didn't 'feel' it and Louise reckoned her old dance teacher would have some stern words with the two dancers.
We decide that BA is a good place for people watching from any number of pavement cafes. Oh, and watching the buses which look cool in 50s retro style some even with white walled tires.
Our first walk takes us to the well-to-do area of Recoleta to see the even more-well-to do Cemetery of Recoleta. Graveyard to the rich and famous it is like a miniature city of mausoleums in a grid layout. It could feel morbid, but is fascinating instead. Moving on to Palermo we finally find a place to eat lunch and after a huge steak sandwich we instantly understand the siesta. The heat compeling our eyelids together. We take the metro back.
The barrio of San Telmo retains some colonial architecture, now inhabited by cafes and antique dealers. It is quiet on this early wednesday afternoon. We relax in a square over some juice. Nearby a gentleman pedals kitchen knives sharp on a converted bicycle. We take an advised taxi to the old port district of La Boca. Apparently it is not safe to walk there, but is ok in the tourist Caminito streets. It is touristy, but we still liked it. The is a buzz here from the music and the brightly coloured buildings, the paint originally pinched from the shipyard in a bid to liven up the poor neighbourhood. We sit and people watch over a couple of cerveca; the Tango dancers making extra cash posing for photos, the Maradona lookalike vying for business. The downside is we get slipped a fake 20peso bill in change at a store. The return taxi driver is the one who points this out to us.
Every thursday the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo walk around the plaza with a small group of followers. They hold banners and where head scarfs or miner helmets in rememberance of their children who vanished during Argentina's Dirty War of the 70s! Some mothers hold pictures. It's a sombre affair, but the crowd is small and mostly tourists with the odd hawker.
Obviously a trip to Argentina will involve proper steak and we oblige in an old time Parilla. Right in the window a huge log burns on a fire, cuts of meat hang on posts around the edge. My sirloin is good, but not the best I've ever had. It is however the biggest. It's enormous! The other requirement is Tango. So on the last night the overlanders, including our new travellers Anna and Jordy joining us from the Netherlands, go to the grand Cafe Tortini for dinner and a show in there small back room theatre. Everyone seemed to like it alot more than we did rating it as average. I didn't 'feel' it and Louise reckoned her old dance teacher would have some stern words with the two dancers.
We decide that BA is a good place for people watching from any number of pavement cafes. Oh, and watching the buses which look cool in 50s retro style some even with white walled tires.
Wednesday, 21 January 2009
Through Cattle Country
Leaving Iguazu, after a nights camp near the falls national park, we head south. Our next destination is the wetlands of Esteros del Ibera, near the town of Carlos Pellegrini, for a bit of wildlife spotting. First we have a stop in the town of San Ignacio Mini for a look at an old Jesuit mission and lunch. Built in the 17th century and now in ruins the site and history somehow fails to catch our interest. Maybe the baking midday heat is also a factor that drives us to lunch sooner.
As we travel further south the landscape changes, the hills reducing and the trees thinning until we are travelling though vast flat open vistas under a huge sky. This is cattle country.
With most of the afternoon gone we turn off the main route and on to a dirt road. This is the first opportunity we get to use the Drago' truck roof seats. A raised bench and roof hatches allow passengers to sit half out the truck for a 360 view. Louise, John, Stuart and I take the chance. It's hot and dusty as we occasionally disappear into the dust trail of passing vehicles. We get filthy, but it's still good fun. The idea was to bush camp and go to the lakes the day after, but the plan is changed and we push on to the lakes in one day. We're back inside as Riki puts in a full-on drive along the sandy road. It's a beautiful evening as we race into the sunset. Now this is why we have a truck. We reach camp as night falls. The noise here from the insects is incredibly loud and the site is swarming with bugs. They fly into your face as soon as the head torch goes on! Irritating! The camp site lays at the edge of Laguna Iberia and we get up early to take a boat trip on the calm waters. We are looking for specific wildlife and we succeed. Much bird life, Caiman, Marsh Deer and our favorite the Capybara, a massive, but cute rodent that sort of looks like a big otter. As the day progresses it gets hotter and hotter. Everyone does little else except sweat, even well into the night!
The following day is a drive day with added police check points. This is normal on the highways here. Also standard practice seems to be the 'problems' they find with the truck. Riki and Renee end up paying a fine, but not as much as first suggested!!
The destination for this drive is Buenos Aires(BA), but it takes a day and a half driving. Riki and Renee fine a good campsite. Mercifully cooler and bug free. It's a big site and is very nice. Some of us play volleyball with some Argentine kids and carry on by lantern light into the night!
The journey to BA is completed the next day. We spend a while driving round the city unable to turn left then find out the hotel's hot water is broken. We decide to stay anyway and get a discount and breakfast into the bargain. It's so hot here that cool showers aren't a huge issue. It's not like the UK where the water would be unbearably icy. We have four nights and three days in BA to do our own thing.
As we travel further south the landscape changes, the hills reducing and the trees thinning until we are travelling though vast flat open vistas under a huge sky. This is cattle country.
With most of the afternoon gone we turn off the main route and on to a dirt road. This is the first opportunity we get to use the Drago' truck roof seats. A raised bench and roof hatches allow passengers to sit half out the truck for a 360 view. Louise, John, Stuart and I take the chance. It's hot and dusty as we occasionally disappear into the dust trail of passing vehicles. We get filthy, but it's still good fun. The idea was to bush camp and go to the lakes the day after, but the plan is changed and we push on to the lakes in one day. We're back inside as Riki puts in a full-on drive along the sandy road. It's a beautiful evening as we race into the sunset. Now this is why we have a truck. We reach camp as night falls. The noise here from the insects is incredibly loud and the site is swarming with bugs. They fly into your face as soon as the head torch goes on! Irritating! The camp site lays at the edge of Laguna Iberia and we get up early to take a boat trip on the calm waters. We are looking for specific wildlife and we succeed. Much bird life, Caiman, Marsh Deer and our favorite the Capybara, a massive, but cute rodent that sort of looks like a big otter. As the day progresses it gets hotter and hotter. Everyone does little else except sweat, even well into the night!
The following day is a drive day with added police check points. This is normal on the highways here. Also standard practice seems to be the 'problems' they find with the truck. Riki and Renee end up paying a fine, but not as much as first suggested!!
The destination for this drive is Buenos Aires(BA), but it takes a day and a half driving. Riki and Renee fine a good campsite. Mercifully cooler and bug free. It's a big site and is very nice. Some of us play volleyball with some Argentine kids and carry on by lantern light into the night!
The journey to BA is completed the next day. We spend a while driving round the city unable to turn left then find out the hotel's hot water is broken. We decide to stay anyway and get a discount and breakfast into the bargain. It's so hot here that cool showers aren't a huge issue. It's not like the UK where the water would be unbearably icy. We have four nights and three days in BA to do our own thing.
Sunday, 18 January 2009
Chasing Waterfalls
Leaving Trindade we hit the road for three days solid driving. It's camping all the way with the cook groups doing their own shopping. There are three cook groups. I'm with John and Louise is with the other Stuart. We get our other jobs too. Louise and I are on loading and unloading tents. Everyone puts up their own tent of course.
The weather has been typically overcast, but on the third day it lashes down with rain in the afternoon. It's still raining as we approach our destination. The thought of having to pitch a tent is not an appealing one for anyone. Amazingly and thankfully we get 11th hour sunshine and a big chunk of relief.
All the rain does have a positive impact on the object of our journey mind you: Iguazu Falls. And they are in impressive flow. Laying on the border of Brazil and Argentina the area is a national park in both countries and falls plural is the correct word. 74m depth of cliffs with a width of about 2.5km contains 275 falls. It's an incredible sight on a huge scale. Both countries have their own walkways and viewpoints with the Brazilian side, where we spend our first day, having the most complete overall view of the falls. It is here on the Brazil side that we take a boat ride up to part of the falls and then keep going! We get a total drenching. We must be getting old as we thought it was a bit daft, although a group of local scouts on the boat looked like they were having the most fun they've ever had.
For our last night in Brazil we go out for a meal to a great all you can eat restaurant where you help yourself to the salad bar and then gentlemen serve you, at your table, with as much spit roast meat as you can put away. Fantastic!
I must mention the Brazilian people at this point. They have seemed genuinely happy and helpful along the way and interested in the truck.
The morning after we cross painlessly into Argentina and spend a day at the falls. This side has a well implemented series of walkways that get you closer to some of the falls. Our favourite was the upper circuit which starts modestly and then opens into a sweeping vista containing curtains of water draped over the cliff line. The most spectacular is a double fall. The first a plummeting wall of water, the second a thundering torrent of white frothing water kicking out eruptions of spray on impact. Both sides feature walkways that lead into the spray if that takes the fancy or simply stand back and admire the power just out of reach. This is a very beautiful place and well worth the big drive days.
The weather has been typically overcast, but on the third day it lashes down with rain in the afternoon. It's still raining as we approach our destination. The thought of having to pitch a tent is not an appealing one for anyone. Amazingly and thankfully we get 11th hour sunshine and a big chunk of relief.
All the rain does have a positive impact on the object of our journey mind you: Iguazu Falls. And they are in impressive flow. Laying on the border of Brazil and Argentina the area is a national park in both countries and falls plural is the correct word. 74m depth of cliffs with a width of about 2.5km contains 275 falls. It's an incredible sight on a huge scale. Both countries have their own walkways and viewpoints with the Brazilian side, where we spend our first day, having the most complete overall view of the falls. It is here on the Brazil side that we take a boat ride up to part of the falls and then keep going! We get a total drenching. We must be getting old as we thought it was a bit daft, although a group of local scouts on the boat looked like they were having the most fun they've ever had.
For our last night in Brazil we go out for a meal to a great all you can eat restaurant where you help yourself to the salad bar and then gentlemen serve you, at your table, with as much spit roast meat as you can put away. Fantastic!
I must mention the Brazilian people at this point. They have seemed genuinely happy and helpful along the way and interested in the truck.
The morning after we cross painlessly into Argentina and spend a day at the falls. This side has a well implemented series of walkways that get you closer to some of the falls. Our favourite was the upper circuit which starts modestly and then opens into a sweeping vista containing curtains of water draped over the cliff line. The most spectacular is a double fall. The first a plummeting wall of water, the second a thundering torrent of white frothing water kicking out eruptions of spray on impact. Both sides feature walkways that lead into the spray if that takes the fancy or simply stand back and admire the power just out of reach. This is a very beautiful place and well worth the big drive days.
Monday, 12 January 2009
The Overland Begins
The overlanders get together for a meal out in Rio on the night of the seventh. We go to a restaurant known as a kilo place. It's a buffet where you serve yourself and pay by the weight. There is another trip going north from here so we all go together as the numbers are small. We only have six plus the two crew and the other only four plus the two crew. We will pickup another two passengers in Buenos Aries.
Our crew are Renee from Brisbane Australia and Riki from Dunedin New Zealand. The other four are from England. Dave is from Herefordshire as are Jane and Stuart. Last but not least is northern John from Sheffield. At this stage we are youngest two out of the passengers!
In the morning we we meet Gus. She's the truck. Then it's all aboard for the start of the road trip proper. The first destination is a about four hours down the coast to a place called Paraty. It's a popular beach resort with Brazilians and as well as the beaches features a quaint little old colonial town. It's white washed buildings with the yellow and blue borders are similar to Seville. It's a hostel stay here for two nights. It's a cool place, but the room is crowded and hot. The coastline here is really beautiful and there is a boat cruise organised for the group, but Lou and I take the (only we think) opportunity to do a days diving instead. Everyone has a great day out. The dive boat, Mr Big, is very good. The instructor/owner speaks great english although communication from the the shop ain't so good as they tell him we are discover SCUBAs! Once he finds out we are qualified we get to do our own thing. His day just got much easier as the boat is not busy. The vis on the dives is not great, but they are easy. It's like the tail end of tropical waters in terms of life and coral.
During the night a rain storm sweeps though and in the morning when we leave our way is blocked by flooded roads. We get out another way, but see much evidence of damage from a burst river.
The next destination is only a short way down the coast to Trindade to our first camp by the beach. It's popular on the weekend with people from Sao Paulo. In the afternoon we take a walk to a small waterfall. It's more of a take part affair rather than admire from afar. The track up is dodgy and I sustain my first injury slipping on a rock. A chunk of skin is removed from my forearm. The campsite is a battleground of music, but the winner is a bar that starts the savagely loud techno in the evening and doesn't stop until 5:30am!! The loser is everyones sleep. Apparently it wasn't there before.
Our crew are Renee from Brisbane Australia and Riki from Dunedin New Zealand. The other four are from England. Dave is from Herefordshire as are Jane and Stuart. Last but not least is northern John from Sheffield. At this stage we are youngest two out of the passengers!
In the morning we we meet Gus. She's the truck. Then it's all aboard for the start of the road trip proper. The first destination is a about four hours down the coast to a place called Paraty. It's a popular beach resort with Brazilians and as well as the beaches features a quaint little old colonial town. It's white washed buildings with the yellow and blue borders are similar to Seville. It's a hostel stay here for two nights. It's a cool place, but the room is crowded and hot. The coastline here is really beautiful and there is a boat cruise organised for the group, but Lou and I take the (only we think) opportunity to do a days diving instead. Everyone has a great day out. The dive boat, Mr Big, is very good. The instructor/owner speaks great english although communication from the the shop ain't so good as they tell him we are discover SCUBAs! Once he finds out we are qualified we get to do our own thing. His day just got much easier as the boat is not busy. The vis on the dives is not great, but they are easy. It's like the tail end of tropical waters in terms of life and coral.
During the night a rain storm sweeps though and in the morning when we leave our way is blocked by flooded roads. We get out another way, but see much evidence of damage from a burst river.
The next destination is only a short way down the coast to Trindade to our first camp by the beach. It's popular on the weekend with people from Sao Paulo. In the afternoon we take a walk to a small waterfall. It's more of a take part affair rather than admire from afar. The track up is dodgy and I sustain my first injury slipping on a rock. A chunk of skin is removed from my forearm. The campsite is a battleground of music, but the winner is a bar that starts the savagely loud techno in the evening and doesn't stop until 5:30am!! The loser is everyones sleep. Apparently it wasn't there before.
Sunday, 11 January 2009
Her Name is Rio
The first sight we see is the famous beach suburb of Copacabana. It's not that busy, but I guess that's the rain for you! In fact heavy showers and low cloud are the feature of our first two days in Rio. It's not cold though, staying around 22. Much better than the 2 I think we reached in the UK. So after standing on the beach under an umbrella for a few minutes we relocate to a bar for a couple of ice cold beers.
Later on that evening we go out for food near the hotel. We both order lasagne and get enough for about four people! A quirk of the Brazilian menu system, as we later learn about, is that portions are often for two even though it's not indicated! The next night we order one menu item (steak, chips, rice and roasted manioc flour) and it is plenty for two.
On the second morning we catch the tube into the centre and arrive to the heaviest downpour yet. We had intended to take the tram to the neighbourhood of Santa Teresa, but given the tram was fully open sided and the rain showed no sign of easing we went for lunch followed by an ice cold beer! Later on that afternoon while back at the hotel the rain stopped and we go down to the beach for a look. Our hotel is in the Flamengo neighbourhood and the beach is five minutes walk away and has a view down to Sugarloaf mountain. The top has disappeared into the low cloud and this is the reason we have not tried to go up it or the icon of Rio that is Corcovado. Instead we go for a long walk along the seashore walking track. The sky gets brighter as we go, but Sugar Loaf's peak is never revealled. Cruelly we still get the sun even through the thick cloud and I now have a replacement head already.
The 7th is technically the start of the overland trip, but other than a introduction meeting in the morning we have the day to ourselves. Luckily the rain has stopped and there is some blue in the sky. The top looks clear from the beach so we decide to take the bus to the Sugar Loaf cable car station. Well we try to take the bus as the first two sail right past. The buses here need to be very enthusiastically hailed to stop. The locals stand in the road pointing at the bus they want! The driver doesn't take money, there is a guy at the turnstyle for that. The driver does however put the foot down immediately and thrash the bus over the uneven roads.
The length of the queue at the cable bar station indicates that this is the day everyone has been waiting for. Thankfully it moves well enough and we get to the top for some stunning views over the Rio city and coastline. Christ the Redemer upon Corcovado teases us for a while before the clouds part and we get a glimpse at the full statue. Now this is Rio de Janeiro.
Later on that evening we go out for food near the hotel. We both order lasagne and get enough for about four people! A quirk of the Brazilian menu system, as we later learn about, is that portions are often for two even though it's not indicated! The next night we order one menu item (steak, chips, rice and roasted manioc flour) and it is plenty for two.
On the second morning we catch the tube into the centre and arrive to the heaviest downpour yet. We had intended to take the tram to the neighbourhood of Santa Teresa, but given the tram was fully open sided and the rain showed no sign of easing we went for lunch followed by an ice cold beer! Later on that afternoon while back at the hotel the rain stopped and we go down to the beach for a look. Our hotel is in the Flamengo neighbourhood and the beach is five minutes walk away and has a view down to Sugarloaf mountain. The top has disappeared into the low cloud and this is the reason we have not tried to go up it or the icon of Rio that is Corcovado. Instead we go for a long walk along the seashore walking track. The sky gets brighter as we go, but Sugar Loaf's peak is never revealled. Cruelly we still get the sun even through the thick cloud and I now have a replacement head already.
The 7th is technically the start of the overland trip, but other than a introduction meeting in the morning we have the day to ourselves. Luckily the rain has stopped and there is some blue in the sky. The top looks clear from the beach so we decide to take the bus to the Sugar Loaf cable car station. Well we try to take the bus as the first two sail right past. The buses here need to be very enthusiastically hailed to stop. The locals stand in the road pointing at the bus they want! The driver doesn't take money, there is a guy at the turnstyle for that. The driver does however put the foot down immediately and thrash the bus over the uneven roads.
The length of the queue at the cable bar station indicates that this is the day everyone has been waiting for. Thankfully it moves well enough and we get to the top for some stunning views over the Rio city and coastline. Christ the Redemer upon Corcovado teases us for a while before the clouds part and we get a glimpse at the full statue. Now this is Rio de Janeiro.
Monday, 5 January 2009
Arrival in South America
We arrived late last night to a warm and humid Rio. Getting through the airport is a thankfully straight forward and speedy process.
It's funny that we were talking with Amy and Simon about the joys of air travel and then ended up with a couple of classics. The person in front of me puts the seat right back about two minutes after take off forcing everyone behind to do the same to avoid chewing on the upholstery. The guy next to Louise is taking up a little bit more room than he was allocated.
It was a long day of travel and waiting. The taxi driver in Rio didn't hang about mind you. There were a couple of hairy moments on that one, but we made it in one piece to the hotel. The room is plain, but clean and spacious.
We have just had breakfast and are about to go out for a poke about in Rio. We have two days to ourselves before the start of the overland trip.
It's funny that we were talking with Amy and Simon about the joys of air travel and then ended up with a couple of classics. The person in front of me puts the seat right back about two minutes after take off forcing everyone behind to do the same to avoid chewing on the upholstery. The guy next to Louise is taking up a little bit more room than he was allocated.
It was a long day of travel and waiting. The taxi driver in Rio didn't hang about mind you. There were a couple of hairy moments on that one, but we made it in one piece to the hotel. The room is plain, but clean and spacious.
We have just had breakfast and are about to go out for a poke about in Rio. We have two days to ourselves before the start of the overland trip.
Sunday, 4 January 2009
To the Americas
We are on the move again after a short break in the UK at Mum's guesthouse. Thanks Mum!! Thank's also (and again) to Amy and Simon for letting us crash last night.
We are at Heathrow Terminal 5 just boarding the plane to Rio de Janeiro. South America here we come.
We are at Heathrow Terminal 5 just boarding the plane to Rio de Janeiro. South America here we come.
Thursday, 1 January 2009
Europe Summary
Well, we had a great time on our three month whistle stop tour of Europe. And yes, three months is a whistle stop tour. It would be possible to spend three months in individual countries. We saw a good chunk of the European continent travelling through on the train mind you. A mode of transport we both enjoyed. Watching the landscape change out the window adds a continuity to the trip rather than individual holidays by airplane.
Travelling by train had the added bonus of allowing me to do the blog updates! Before we left I configured my phone and blog to email posts to the blog. I thought I would mostly use this for backup or the odd instant posts, but as it turned out I did almost all of them on the phone. Much more convenient than Internet Cafes and cheaper too. The email cost was very low much to my delight. The downside was having to type the lot of a mobile phone keypad, but saying that it is still easier than trying to write, with a pen, on a wobbly train. We check the blog online when regularly in Internet cafes and read the comments. Thanks for all those.
I've enjoyed doing the blog. I only hope it was interesting to read. It will serve as a good diary for us all the same. Reading it back should be interesting for us and I'm sure we'll go "Oh yeah" and "Forgot to write about...". That's been the challenge. Trying to write about a place after a few days or less and briefly to save getting R.S.I. in my thumbs!! Wonder if I did Europe justice.
We have to say: Ruth, you were right! We should have taken a laptop. So many people were travelling with Ultra-portables and so many hostels / hotels provided free wireless Internet. And the storage, preview, backup and upload of digital photos would have been much easier. We ended up getting a portable hard drive and backing up to that when we could, although a few Internet stations were closed off units and therefore unable to attach devices. This and the fact that uploading to the net was very slow. Not to mention the time taken to look through them all. Over 4500 in total!! Hence the reason why I did not manage to upload that regularly and fell behind. I have been catching up with the photo uploads over the last few days so take a look.
The Blog will change for the South America stage of our travels. A new map and some links to the Flickr photo sets. I'm not sure what anyone thought of the slideshow, but I found the quality to be poor and it slow to load sometimes, so it is getting dropped for a simple picture link. Let me know if you miss it!
We are joining an overland tour in Rio which will take us all the way to Quito in Ecuador, via Tierra del Fuego taking in some wild remote places. Hopefully emails from the phone will work again. Just gaps with a couple of posts at the same time probably. It may sound like madness then that we are not going to take a laptop to South America. The trip will be a bit more rough, so decided not to buy one. Sure someone will have one though! As the route is (mostly) set I've (roughly) drawn the route up front and will put a Red 'We are here' marker on it when I can. So it will be a 'Last Internet available here' marker more like.
Here's to the next stage.
Travelling by train had the added bonus of allowing me to do the blog updates! Before we left I configured my phone and blog to email posts to the blog. I thought I would mostly use this for backup or the odd instant posts, but as it turned out I did almost all of them on the phone. Much more convenient than Internet Cafes and cheaper too. The email cost was very low much to my delight. The downside was having to type the lot of a mobile phone keypad, but saying that it is still easier than trying to write, with a pen, on a wobbly train. We check the blog online when regularly in Internet cafes and read the comments. Thanks for all those.
I've enjoyed doing the blog. I only hope it was interesting to read. It will serve as a good diary for us all the same. Reading it back should be interesting for us and I'm sure we'll go "Oh yeah" and "Forgot to write about...". That's been the challenge. Trying to write about a place after a few days or less and briefly to save getting R.S.I. in my thumbs!! Wonder if I did Europe justice.
We have to say: Ruth, you were right! We should have taken a laptop. So many people were travelling with Ultra-portables and so many hostels / hotels provided free wireless Internet. And the storage, preview, backup and upload of digital photos would have been much easier. We ended up getting a portable hard drive and backing up to that when we could, although a few Internet stations were closed off units and therefore unable to attach devices. This and the fact that uploading to the net was very slow. Not to mention the time taken to look through them all. Over 4500 in total!! Hence the reason why I did not manage to upload that regularly and fell behind. I have been catching up with the photo uploads over the last few days so take a look.
The Blog will change for the South America stage of our travels. A new map and some links to the Flickr photo sets. I'm not sure what anyone thought of the slideshow, but I found the quality to be poor and it slow to load sometimes, so it is getting dropped for a simple picture link. Let me know if you miss it!
We are joining an overland tour in Rio which will take us all the way to Quito in Ecuador, via Tierra del Fuego taking in some wild remote places. Hopefully emails from the phone will work again. Just gaps with a couple of posts at the same time probably. It may sound like madness then that we are not going to take a laptop to South America. The trip will be a bit more rough, so decided not to buy one. Sure someone will have one though! As the route is (mostly) set I've (roughly) drawn the route up front and will put a Red 'We are here' marker on it when I can. So it will be a 'Last Internet available here' marker more like.
Here's to the next stage.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
