Back home

I'm now back home in Cardiff, and it's difficult to believe that it's all over. It's been a great adventure - I've been to some amazing places, and met some fantastic people along the way. Was it a life-changing journey? Quite possibly, but time will tell to what extent.

My travels aren't over yet, because I'm flying out to Australia next week. However, I've decided not to continue the blog, mainly because as the title says, this is a blog about South America, and I'm happy to keep it as that. Obviously it wouldn't be too difficult for me to change the title, but I think it's time for me to relax and enjoy Australia and New Zealand without the burden of having to publish my experiences every few days.

One piece of housekeeping: I wrote in my very first blog post that when I returned I'd have the photo of me setting off on my trip retaken. I did that (thanks Dad), and you can see the photo below. The original photo is here for comparison (obviously it's taken from a slightly different angle). I don't think the differences are too earth-shattering.

Every travel blog I've ever read ends with some kind of summary of the journey, and I don't see any reason to break with tradition. I'm not going to give an overall favourite place or best moment, but I'll leave you with a few facts and figures about my South America trip:

Favourite countries: Brazil, Colombia, Peru
Favourite cities: Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro
Favourite small towns: Baños, Jericoacoara
Best natural sight: Uyuni salt flats
Best outdoor activity: Canyoning in Baños
Best historical site: Machu Picchu
Most extreme experience: Roraima trek
Favourite foods: Peruvian ceviche, Peruvian pollo a la brasa
Worst moment: Becoming very ill on an overnight bus in Peru
Number of days spent in South America: 189
Number of blog posts written: 58
Number of countries visited: 10
Number of overnight bus journeys taken: 19
Number of jaguars seen in the wild: 1
Number of times fallen in love: 1
Money spent: Not a clue

Buenos Aires (again)

I arrived in Buenos Aires early on Friday afternoon, with a couple of days to spare before my flight home on Monday. I decided to return to the hostel that I stayed at when I was here at the start of my trip, and I was quite impressed that when I arrived, the hostel owner immediately recognised me (although he didn't remember my name). Unfortunately it hasn't been as much as fun here as it was last time, but I guess that would have been a bit much to expect. Anyway I'm glad I've had this weekend in Buenos Aires, because I didn't spend very long here back in April, and I've had the chance to see a few more parts of the city that I didn't have time to see first time round.

On Saturday morning I went for a walk around La Boca, which is a slightly rough working-class neighbourhood that begins just a few blocks from my hostel. I didn't go to La Boca last time I was here because I'd been warned that it was dangerous, and I didn't particularly want to take any risks. However, having been to plenty of dangerous places in the past six months without anything bad happening at all, I decided I'd take my chances this time, and of course it was fine.

Firstly I went for a look at La Bombonera Stadium, the home of Boca Juniors, which was one of Diego Maradona's teams during his playing career. I was just about able to catch a glimpse of the pitch through the fence. I then continued to El Caminito, which is La Boca's most famous street, with its colourful painted metal houses and its craft fair. Predictably enough it was extremely touristy, with tango dancers and even a Diego Maradona impersonator willing to pose with you for a photo, for a small fee.

In the afternoon I caught the metro to Recoleta, which is the complete opposite of La Boca - it's one of Buenos Aires' most exclusive neighbourhoods. I began my visit at Recoleta Cemetery, which is the resting place of many of the rich and powerful of Buenos Aires. It contains literally thousands of tombs, all of them above ground, which are laid out in blocks like a small town - here and here you can see a couple of the cemetery's 'streets'. The cemetery's most famous resident is probably Eva Perón (aka Evita); her tomb was one of the more modest ones, and this is one of the plaques on the vault. Some of the tombs are extremely grand, for example this one belonging to Dorrego-Ortiz Basualdo, but the weirdest one was definitely that of the poet Carlos Guido Spano (below), which resembled a pile of rocks with a couple of trees growing out of it.

After spending an hour or two wandering around the cemetery, I went to see the nearby Floralis Genérica, which is a giant mechanical sculpture of a flower. Every evening at sunset the flower's petals close up, and at sunrise they open again, taking twenty minutes to complete the transformation each time. Unfortunately the flower was quite stationary the whole time I was there though. It was such a beautiful afternoon that I couldn't resist lying down in the sun on the grass next to the sculpture (it's a tough life travelling), and there I stayed until it started to get chilly, at which point I went for a look around the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes (National Museum of Fine Arts). I was surprised at what a good museum it was too, with works by artists such as Picasso, Van Gogh, Manet and Degas, as well as a version of The Kiss by Rodin.

This morning (Sunday) I caught the metro to Palermo, another smart Buenos Aires district, and I went for walk around Palermo Viejo, which is the oldest part of the neighbourhood. It was mainly posh boutiques and bars, and not particularly interesting, so I don't have a lot to report. After lunch I returned to San Telmo, which is the neighbourhood in which I'm staying. There was a huge crafts and antique market going on there all afternoon, both in San Telmo's main square and all the way along Defensa, which is the main road running north-south through San Telmo. This was the view along Defensa - it was full of people for as far as I could see. After spending a couple of hours walking around the market (and buying nothing), I spent the rest of my final afternoon in Parque Lezama (below).

That almost brings an end to my South America blog, but it's not quite over yet, because I plan to publish one final post when I get back to the UK on Tuesday.

Colonia del Sacramento

I've spent the past day in Colonia del Sacramento, which is Uruguay's oldest town, founded by the Portuguese in 1680. The main reason for coming to Colonia is to visit its colonial-era Barrio Histórico (Historic District), which is a UNESCO World Heritage site. Colonia is located just across the Río Plata from Buenos Aires, so on weekends in summer it tends to be packed with Argentinian tourists, but at this time of year it couldn't really be more peaceful. The Barrio Histórico is pretty small, so don't worry, this post won't be very long.

I started my visit at the Portón de Campo, which is the reconstructed 18th century City Gate. Just to the left of the Portón de Campo is a piece of the original city wall, leading down towards the river. From there I spent the rest of the afternoon walking around the Barrio Histórico, which is quite picturesque, and full of sycamore-lined streets such as this one, and buildings like this 17th century Portuguese house, and this slightly more modern colonial house in the Plaza Mayor. In the nearby Plaza de Armas I saw the Iglesia Matriz, which is Uruguay's oldest church, dating from 1699.

I also visited Colonia's lighthouse, which was constructed directly in the middle of the ruins of the Convento de San Francisco, which was destroyed by fire in 1704. The lighthouse is the closest Colonia has to a Torre Antel (see my previous post about Montevideo), so of course I went up to the top of it to get a view of the Barrio Histórico, as well as a view of the Río de la Plata (below).

If you look closely enough, the skyscrapers of Buenos Aires are just about visible on the horizon on the left-hand side of that photo - they're a bit easier to see in this photo though (you might need to zoom in). That's how close I am to my final destination, and I'll be catching the ferry there later this morning.

Montevideo

I'm staying in a room with a view here in Montevideo. That slightly crazy-looking building is the Palacio Salvo, which was the tallest building in South America when it was constructed in 1929. It's located in Montevideo's main square, Plaza Independencia, and I took that photo from the balcony of my hostel room.

I arrived here on Monday morning from Florianópolis after thankfully the final overnight bus journey of my trip. I've now spent a few days seeing the city, and I actually quite like it, although it always helps when the weather's good, which it has been for the whole three days. I spent much of Monday walking around the city centre, as well as the Cuidad Vieja (Old Town). I started off in Plaza Independencia, in the centre of which is the Mausoleo de Artigas (Artigas Mausoleum) - see the photo below. All South American countries have their independence hero, and José Gervasio Artigas is Uruguay's.

Artigas and his horse are facing east towards Avenida 18 de Julio, which is central Montevideo's main thoroughfare. The Ciudad Vieja is located in the opposite direction, and begins just to the west of Plaza Independencia. I went to Ciudad Vieja's main square, Plaza Constitución, on one side of which is the Cabildo, which was the seat of government in colonial times. Opposite the Cabildo is Montevideo's cathedral, known as Iglesia Matriz, which is Montevideo's oldest public building, having been completed in 1799. I then went for a look around the port area, including the large customs building.

I always think a good way to understand a city is to see it from above, so yesterday morning I visited Torre Antel, which is the headquarters of Uruguay's government-owned telecoms company, ANTEL, and is also the tallest building in the country. I was given a personal guided tour of the public viewing gallery on the 26th floor. My guide was a friendly chap, but for my benefit he spoke in a strange mixture of Spanish and English, although he had such a strong accent that I couldn't really understand much of either. Anyway this was the view towards Montevideo's old town and the port, and the photo below shows the view looking back towards Plaza Indepedencia.

In the afternoon I visited a few museums, starting at the Museo del Gaucho, which had a collection of very ornate cowboy-related paraphernalia, such as belts, spurs, knives, and cups for drinking mate. I then went to the Museo de la Historia del Arte, where there was a big collection of copies of Roman and Greek statues, but apparently not a single original work (it didn't quite compare to the British Museum). There was also a display of pre-Columbine Latin American artefacts, some of which were original. My personal favourite was this huge head, although there was absolutely no information about it at all. Afterwards I went a walk down the very long and straight Avenida Libertador General Lavalleja to the Palacio Legislativo, which is the current seat of the Uruguayan government.

This morning (Wednesday) I decided to go a bit further afield, and went on a long walk along La Rambla, which is a riverfront promenade leading out to Montevideo's eastern suburbs. After a couple of hours I ended up in Pocitos, which is often likened to Rio's Copacabana because of its crescent-shaped beach with apartment blocks lining the shore. However, the beach was fairly empty, which I guess was unsurprising considering it was a weekday in early spring. After eating a massive Canadian chivito for lunch, I returned to the city centre, and in the afternoon I went on a guided tour of the Teatro Solís, which is Montevideo's oldest theatre, built in 1856. Below is a photo of the theatre's main auditorium.

All in all, Montevideo is quite a pleasant place, and it's certainly one of the most civilised cities I've been to. Incredibly, some drivers even stop for you at pedestrian crossings, which is definitely the first time I've seen that happen in South America. They have great steak here, and the girls are pretty too, so it gets my seal of approval.

That just about brings me up to date. Tomorrow morning I'm heading to Colonia del Sacramento in western Uruguay.

Florianópolis

I spent Friday and Saturday in Barra da Lagoa, a small town in the north of Ilha de Santa Catarina, or Florianópolis, as the island's more commonly known. Having become a bit bored of staying in deserted hostels recently, I decided to stay at the Backpackers Share House, which is probably Florianópolis's best known party hostel. Generally I avoid hostels that describe themselves as party hostels, but since it's currently the low season and the weather is bad, I figured that any other hostel would be virtually empty, and at least I'd have a chance of meeting some people at the Share House.

I think I made the right choice too, because it was one of the best run hostels I've stayed at, and it wasn't completely crazy either, because it was only about 25% full. Every one of the staff made an effort to talk to me and learn my name, which is pretty rare in my experience, and they also cooked good meals every evening, which most of the guests went along to, making it easy to meet everyone. Another bonus was that every evening at caipirinha o'clock (7:30pm) you could claim a free caipirinha, although that was obviously a clever ploy to get everyone in the bar and buying more drinks.

When the weather's good, Florianópolis is a big beach and surfing destination. I already mentioned that the weather was bad (it was cold and windy, with some rain), so the beaches were empty, although there were still a fair few people surfing in the sea near Barra da Lagoa. It was pretty good weather for hiking though, so on Friday afternoon I went for a walk along a couple of trails near the hostel. I began by going down to one of the bays just along the coast, from which I could see across to the northern part of the island (see the photo below).

I then walked up to a lighthouse on the top of the hill, and on the way back to the hostel there was a good view of the canal that runs through Barra da Lagoa, joining the ocean to Florianópolis's biggest lake, Lagoa da Conceição. That evening I had my free caipirinha, as well as two more that I had to pay for (damn, their ploy worked), and the meal was roast beef with mashed potato and vegetables - it was definitely more British than Brazilian, but I enjoyed it anyway.

On Saturday morning I went for a longer walk that took me south from Barra da Lagoa, over the headland and down to Galheta beach on the other side. There were good views from the top, including back to Barra da Lagoa, to Lagoa da Conceição, as well as to the south of the island. This photo shows the view as I approached Galheta beach, which as you can see here I had entirely to myself. I then walked back up to the top of the headland, where I took this self-portrait in a very windswept spot (as you can see, my third beard of the trip is coming along quite nicely). I then got completely lost while trying to find the trail that leads to where the canal enters Lagoa da Conceição (I wanted to get there because I could then cross over the bridge and catch the bus back to Barra da Lagoa). After numerous wrong turns I eventually made it down to sea level, then got lost again, and finally made it to the bridge and caught the bus back to the hostel.

In the afternoon I visited the Barra da Lagoa base of Projeto TAMAR, which is a charity dedicated to the preservation of sea turtles. They had about twenty turtles of various species in a series of tanks, including this guy and his friend in the photo below.

Most of them were living in tanks containing nothing but water, which didn't seem like much of a life for them, and I didn't understand why they were being kept there. A few of them were even hitting their flippers against the side of the tank, apparently in an attempt to get out. When I was back in the hostel I spoke to an American girl who'd also been to the turtle centre that day, and since she spoke Portuguese, she'd asked about why the turtles were being kept in the tanks. She was told that all of the turtles had been rescued as babies, and they'd now have to live their whole lives at the centre because they wouldn't survive if they were released. I guess the other obvious reason is that it gives something for people to see when they go to Projeto TAMAR's visitor centres.

Yesterday was election day in Brazil, with a new president being elected to replace President Lula, the man who can take most of the credit for the great improvements in Brazil's economy over the past eight years that have made it such an expensive country for me to travel around. There'd clearly been a lot of last minute campaigning going on, because on the way to the bus station yesterday morning I saw literally tens of thousands of discarded election leaflets littering mile after mile of Florianópolis's roads. How typical that after I've put up with seven weeks of very visible and often noisy election campaigning, it all ends on the very day that I leave Brazil.

I've now moved on to Montevideo in Uruguay, at the start of my final week in South America.