Mendoza, Cordoba, Patagonia

The sense that you get on leaving Buenos Aires via bus is of driving forever through suburbs - it takes at least an hour and a half to leave the city limits. When you do, though, you come face to face with Argentina´s most prominent feature - nothingness. Most of the country is basically empty, and many parts of it could aptly be described as desert. I took this photo when our van broke down on the long road between Malargue and Mendoza, but there´s similar landscape in any number of places. I completed a 48 hour bus ride yesterday, which was less fun than it probably sounds...

In Mendoza, I spent two weeks studying Spanish in a local institute, which was good, and also a good way to meet people here. I´ve also studied a bit from CDs. He aprendido un poco, pero dispacio... There´s some cool stuff around Mendoza, too, like horsetrekking in Cachueta (pictured below; Andrew from England features); rafting; and a weird and slightly undignified (but fun) activity called canopying, which is kind of like being attached to a giant flying fox. I also went up into the Andes a couple of times, to see the sights up there and to day walk a bit too. It´s strangely difficult to arrange to do overnight hiking around Mendoza, though.

From Mendoza, I headed to Malargue, famous for its outdoor pursuits, apparently. I took a mountain biking day trip out to Castillos de Pincheira (pictured below), and we also headed up to the thermal baths at Las Leñas, which was an odd experience - more like being admitted to a run down hospital from the 1950s than the relaxing experience of somewhere like Hamner Springs in New Zealand. After, we walked in the mountains there, too, and saw some other minor sights. Malargue was kind of a bit of a write off though, I had really wanted to visit nearby (100km, nothing by Argentine standards) Parque Provincial Payunia, but there were no trips running - at this time of year, it is the off season for everything except skiing.

After returning to Mendoza for a few days and catching up with friends there, I headed to Cordoba. Cordoba is a large university city with some nice colonial architecture, and was good for an explore.

The blatantly missing steeple of this Cordoban church symbolises the imperfections of man.

In Cordoba, I also met with a friend from Malargue, who persuaded me to make a trip down into Patagonia. It´s a long way to Patagonia, and then again between different places once you´re there... lots of 24 hour bus rides, so I´m glad that I managed to go with company. Once you get down there, though, there´s some really nice things to see.

Perito Moreno glacier, definitely one of the most amazing things I´ve seen in my travels. It dwarves the glaciers in New Zealand.

Penguins, and a Southern Right Whale, near Puerto Madryn, on the east coast of Patagonia. The whale watching was really good, there were a lot of whales, all really close to the boat, and quite a few did some jumping out of the water, too.

Hiking near El Chalten, Patagonia. This was really good, too, it´s a very beautiful area.

Another photo from the same hike... this one shows what I think is Mt Fitzroy, plus you can see the little glacier in the background.

I might add some more photos to this section if I manage to obtain them from my travelling companions.

Buenos Aires

My arrival point in Argentina was Buenos Aires, which is a huge city (nearly 10 million people) on the East Coast of Argentina.

Buenos Aires can look quite pretty from the right angle and at the right time. I have a suspicion that the cool lighting effects are at least partly due to the smog, though.

More often, though, the streets look a bit more like this. There´s a person sleeping in that lot somewhere, too. It´s a huge, bustling, noisy and poluted city, with slightly depressing suburbs that stretch on for over an hour and a half when you leave the city by bus. The city does have it´s upside though...


¿Tienes carne? ¿Quizás una cerveza pequeña? (Tina from Germany is pictured).


Pomelos from a market in Tigre, near Buenos Aires... I just liked the photo.

Of course, as well as eating and drinking, I also saw a couple of tango shows, went to visit Evita´s grave in Recoleta cemetary, and had a good explore of the city. A lot of my visit to Buenos Aires just seemed to pass by in some kind of pleasant blur, though, which I gather is a common experience in this city.

After leaving Buenos Aires, I headed west to Mendoza.

Serbia to England

I arrived in Belgrade, Serbia, in the early morning, and took the train out of town again that evening, having left myself little time before a rendezvous in Hungary. On the overnight train from Sofia to Belgrade, I had an interesting conversation with a man who spoke excellent Serbian but no English, who attempted to discuss the intricacies of the World Cup Final headbutting incident with me, using mime and the words ¨Futbul¨and ¨Good¨. Further inspiration for learning Spanish in South America. The centre of Belgrade is largely rather pleasant, although I did manage to find and take photos of this bombed out building near the train station.



Belgrade´s castle.


During my trip through Eastern Europe, I spent an inordinate amount of time waiting in train stations at night, so here´s a photo. This is in Belgrade.
In Hungary, I met with a friend from Veliko Tarnovo and headed out to the vineyard of the friend´s friend´s father, near Lake Balaton for a couple of days relaxation. The food, wine, company, scenery and walking trails were great, though the lake resort itself made me appreciate New Zealand´s beautiful waterways and access to the coast.

View from the train, on the way back into Budapest.



















In Budapest, I went caving underneath the city, which was much more adventurous than I had thought it would be -- lots of long tight squeezes and clambering about. I should end up with a photo or two from that trip eventually. I also visited the House of Terror (pictured), a sobering and informative monument to the oppression Hungary suffered under the Nazis and then the Soviets, before capitalism liberated the country and Budapest was elevated to its current status as a stag party mecca.

I flew out of Budapest and spent a few days in London, before catching my flight onwards to South America. The best thing about London (apart from maybe the improved weather) was catching up with friends new and old, from countries as diverse as New Zealand, England, France, and Poland - who hosted me in grand style. Other highlights were spending a bit more time in London´s legendary museums, cooking a nostalgic Thai meal, and attending both days of Fruitstock (pictured), a huge free festival in one of the parks (Hyde Park?); ¨Aim¨ played there, which I thought was really cool, and may mean something to some of you also.

Next, I flew onwards to Argentina.

Bulgaria

I spent nearly two weeks in Bulgaria, and I thought it was a particularly cool country. I started by travelling direct from Istanbul to Veliko Tarnovo (pictured) which is a really nice place -- cheap (and great) beer and food, some nice scenery and impressive buildings, mountain biking, hiking, ancient monastries, some waterfalls, and the friendliest little hostel I´ve ever stayed in. I ended up hanging out there for a week, and also meeting some really great people, some of which I was to travel with more later on. I did have some nice photos of the interesting art in the monastries and of the mountain biking, but my camera card died -- any extras anyone from VT can email me will be received with thanks. I´ve still got this rather quirky little collection though...


Does this man look strangely familiar to you? (William and Joel, L to R).


Could it be possible that this man has bought a stripper with him on this visit to a cave? Anything could happen in Bulgaria.

Some photos need not (perhaps cannot) be explained.

After leaving Veliko Tarnovo, I headed with a couple of the others to Varna, which is an interesting beach side town with nice weather, dirty and crowded beaches, good beachside bars, a lot of locals on holiday, the worst hostel I´ve ever stayed in (Flag Hostel), and a briefly diverting, if somewhat seedy, nightlife. Thence, on to Serbia.

Turkey

Merhaba,

It´s been a while since I wrote, so apologies for any vital omissions from the story so far. I´ve also had horrible camera trouble, so there´s some really cool stuff I don´t have photos of -- if you were with me at the time, and you do, then I´ll be forever in your debt for a couple of the best.

Last time I wrote to everyone was from Istanbul, Turkey. Shortly after, I met my parents, and we spent two weeks on an Intrepid (the company) tour of the country. This was my first guided tour of anywhere, so that was part of the experience too.

Istanbul, formerly Constantinople, is an ancient city that features some really cool old buildings. Probably the most impressive from the inside is Aya Sofia, which dates from the 5th century and was a Christian church in Byzantine times, was then converted to a mosque, and has now been deconsecrated so that it can accommodate the streams of curious tourists. This photo isn´t of Aya Sofia, because it´s being renovated and there´s scaffolding everywhere, but you can always google it. The photo is of the Blue Mosque, which is comparatively recent (500 years old), but is very impressive to see also. There´s a lot of atmosphere in Istanbul when the prayer calls are happening late at night, and the Blue Mosque is all lit up nicely. My mother, who teaches history, was in her element, and even I was inspired to pick up a book on the history of the Middle East on my way out of Turkey, which I´m still slowly making my way through.

This is our trustworthy guide Faruk, and behind him the white embankments of Pamukkale. One of the most interesting things about doing a guided tour was that our guide was a young Turk who had recently completed military service. At one point, we were all trapped together on a boat for five days, giving me a chance to get some insight into the experience of growing up in Turkey, and on Turkey´s views of the many political intrigues it is involved in.

Mum & Dad (or Sharon & Brian as their mothers call them) explore the ancient ruins of Hierapolis (parts of which date into the BCs). We went to Ephesus too, which was also cool -- better preserved and restored, but more tourists.

Ampitheatre in Hierapolis.

This is a café in Seljuk. Once you leave Istanbul, the lack of women in public life is very noticable (you see them working in the fields, though...). At one point, we were in a seaside town, and we saw a group of about 100 men, all drinking, eating, and dancing together... at home it´d have to be a gay bar, but in Turkey it´s quite normal. From a western perspective, it´s not only restrictive for the female half of the population, but surely a bit boring for the other half?

The history of Turkey is everywhere -- this is a ruined castle on an island in the lake near the village where we stayed. It´s possible, and quite fun, to swim out to the island, jump from the rocks, and throw lakeweed at the local imam.

This is a photo from the same village. Despite the developed look of Istanbul, people in the villages here still drive their stock into the village at night and take them out again at night, reap grass for hay by hand, and hand milk their cows. Actually, I used to have to hand milk our cow when I was young, so it´s not so far from modern life in New Zealand after all.

This is a photo of some Turkish gulets, including ours. We spent five days at sea in the beautiful Mediteranean, which is incredibly blue, warm, and inviting. We played chess, cards, and some stupid but amusing games of Faruk´s inspiration, as well as going hiking on the islands every day, sometimes to some very interesting places (including a ghost village from the forced evacuation of Turkey´s Greeks early in the century), and swimming a lot.