Last couple of weeks probably have been the most testing so far in my current RTW trip. Travelling around southern Peru, Northern Chile and now Bolivia for last few days. Average altitude has been above 3000m (currently at 4000m+ city of Potosi), meaning that at daytime the sun is harsh (and my nose is red), but as the sun sets, temperature drops below zero. Forget about heating, hot showers, internet or other such luxuries, I did not even have running water for several days whilst hiking the mountains. But there’s a big payback and that is the amazing scenery that you get to see and experience.
6000m+ volcanoes with snowy tops, lamas and emus (big running birds, that were too fast to get a picture) wondering around in the wilderness. Ough, I almost forgot about the condors that we spotted whilst hiking, they might not look like much, but their wingspan is around 3m. Some parts of the mountains that we passed were like a surface of moon, surreal formations of dessert and rocks. Overall, very satisfying and unique experience.
Posts Tagged 'Travel'
Into the Wild
Published March 20, 2011 Travel Leave a CommentTags: arequipa, chile, emu, lama, mountains, peru, rtw, south america, Travel
What they don’t tell on the news
Published March 4, 2011 Travel 1 CommentTags: bogota, colombia, rtw, south america, Travel, trip
You only hear about Colombia when something bad happens (just like Latvia, really). Forget about Guerilla fighters and Pablo Escobar, that stuff was in the 90′s. Now Colombia is a place to be, safety has improved dramatically in last 10 years (it is now much better that anywhere in Central America or Mexico I’ve been), people are as friendly as it gets (even that frown face in the picture turned out to be a good egg), so put your travel shoes on and come over here when you get a chance.
Colombia is basically one huge mountain range, and every big city is in some kind of valley or on top of the hill, great for vistas, but not so great if you want to get by road anywhere, average speed is 30km/h tops, so flying is a much better option, I learnt it the hard way (after spending 14h on the bus to go few hundred km).
I already mentioned Colombian love for plastic surgery, its a shame really, as the original stuff is not half bad, Colombian woman have got to be one of the prettiest in the world (by my own subjective standards). And they know how to have fun, Andres Carne de Res, one of the hottest restaurant and party spots in Bogota was full on, steak and aguardiente was tasty, but I was no match with locals on the dance floor (you see I grew up with silly folk dances, not salsa or merengue).
Pics from Colombia here.
Crossing the Line
Published February 26, 2011 Travel Leave a CommentTags: border, crossing, crossing the border, crossing the line, passport, stamps, Travel
Most of the time its red, sometimes its yellow, but no matter what colour, it always brings me excitement, I think I have a border crossing fetish. 76 countries and couple hundred of border crossings later, there are still things that surprise me. Every exit/entry into new country is potentially disaster in waiting (officers on lunch break) or a pleasant surprise (free wi-fi), you never know before it hits you.
Here’s couple of my most memorable, best and worst border crossings to date. Actually my latest crossing has to be up there in the top 5, coming in Colombia by a small boat, from Panama. Connecting villages on either side have no road access, just the sea and inhospitable Darien jungle, full of drug traffickers and guerillas, where kidnappings are still commonplace. Another fun water border crossing was going by boat from Vietnam to Cambodia via Mekong delta, where you stop in the middle of river by the barge to get an exit/entry stamp. Then there is Israel, which is officially at war with three of its neighbours, so travelling around this region requires some advance planning, plus the lovely Israeli special forces in black suits that question you as a potential terrorist suspect. San Marino is an interesting spot, where there is no border crossing (it’s just a rock in middle of Italy, what crossing), but you can get stamp for a fee as a souvenir. And to finish the top 5 would be lovely autonomous region of Transnistria, self proclaimed independent republic (part of modern Moldova) that is stuck in Soviet times from 25 years ago. Entering it, you pretty much disappear, as officially you’re never there, so if something goes wrong, you’d have to sort out the mess or else.
Then there is US customs, consistently (been there 3 times) the worst and most inefficient entry/exit procedure. Foreigners are made to feel like nothing upon entering the land of dreams. Considering that most of us arrive after long haul overnight flights to the states, queuing for 2-3 hours (even if you just need to catch a connecting flight and not even entering US) and looking at the bored faces of customs officers who take 10 minutes on average to process a foreigner is really testing. I once got shouted in full voice for stepping in the wrong queue and don’t get me even started on visa process that we used to have to go through before ESTA was introduced for Latvia. Its a shame that worlds biggest power has border crossings that are shambles, they could learn a thing or two from Chinese on this as well.
To finish on the high note, there is of course Singapore. Not only the most open worlds economy, but also one with most efficient border control. They manage to process the same level of information as US in fraction of a time, and there are always enough officers on shift so there are never queues for more than 5 minutes, no rudeness and no silly questions about terrorism, just straight forward efficiency.
Et voilà, that has been my experience so far, what about you, anything to add or challenge?
Fishing in Panama
Published February 19, 2011 Life , Travel Leave a CommentTags: bocas del torro, fishing, panama, paradise beach, rtw, Travel
The things you do when you have lots of time, but limited money. Fishing tours can be expensive, so we come up with all kinds of DIY solutions, like borrowing a fishing line and go fishing straight from the rocks of some breathtaking shorelines, like this one. You can see the catch was not the biggest one, but I’m still proud of it, plus I got to work on my tan, not a bad way to spend a day.
Besides our fishing tours, we also had resident snake (boa, I think), that was living in the bush, just behind the house. I was playing peek-a-boo with it in the afternoons. It was so much fun, I can assure you the snake giggled if there is such a thing, we called it Bob, so that it rimes with boa.
A Perfect Hostel
Published February 14, 2011 Life , Travel 2 CommentsTags: best place to stay, guidebook effect, hostel, perfect, rtw, Travel
I wish there would be one. During my travels in last few years I’ve stayed in 70+ hostels. A few were excellent, some were dreadful, but most where just enough to get by. As every good traveller I am still on the lookout for that perfect spot, a place you want to return, a place you would miss upon leaving.
Here’s a simple 10 point scale, how I rate my stays:
1) Location – does not necessarily need to be bang on in the centre of town, but needs to be easily accessible by public transport/on foot.
2) Price – relative to the living costs in specific country, I do not expect hostel to cost the same in Australia (£20/30$) as in Cambodia (£3/5$), but it should be value for money
3) Cleanliness – hot showers, is it cleaned daily, soap in a bathroom, mats by the door
4) Friendliness/vibe – both staff and visitors, it can make or break the place. Staff that constantly tries to up-sell me tours or large groups of ignorant teenagers can ruin the best of the places otherwise
5) Breakfast – weather it is included in the price, if not, in some places that can pretty much double the actual cost of staying there
6) Wi-fi – nowadays a must, for all those ever important Facebook updates and Skype calls
7) Bed/sleep – is the bed comfortable, are the noise levels reasonable during night
8) Space – is there lounge area, kitchen, garden or any other common areas to hang out and meet people
9) Additional freebies/stuff – like free towels, free bikes, pool table/games, swimming pool (yes I’ve been to couple of places that have those).
10) Would I recommend it to a friend – the most important one, what it all boils down to, given all the factors above, do I think the place is good enough to recommended it
Most places are let down by the same old things. A most common one is ‘guidebook effect’, meaning if a place gets raving review in lonely planet or similar guide, you can be sure that by he time you get there, it has doubled its prices, lost a free breakfast and got dirtier, along with other ‘updates’. Its a shame really, but popularity normally comes with negative correlation in standards.
The other common failure is advertising but not delivering, like offering wi-fi that never seems to work, or hot shower that is cold for 23h of the day et al.
Although none of the places I’ve stayed, get my perfect 10, a few of them do stand out from the rest. It’s all subjective, of course, but here are a few of my recent favourites: Udee in Bangkok (Thailand), El Roble in Playa San Diego (El Salvador), Albatross Backpackers Inn in Kaikoura (New Zealand), Hangout@Mt.Emily (Singapore) . If you are ever in those areas, I can highly recommend them.
Vamp Van
Published February 5, 2011 Photography , Travel 2 CommentsTags: around the world, central america, el salvador, guatemala, honduras, playa san diego, rtw, ruins, tikal, Travel, trip
Fancy a ride? Sure, but let’s wait till the sun goes down. Meet notorious VW camper van, made in Brazil, with ridiculous air cooling system (instead of water), as a result it only runs in cold or mild temperatures (below 20-25C), not great for tropical weather of Central America. When the sun comes out, it overheats and slowly grinds to halt. Then you need to sit and wait in the shade for it to cool down (which we did for 2-3h). We named it a vampire van, as it is any good if you only ever drive it during the night, perfect to shuttle a few vampires around town. Otherwise it’s a sweet little car and runs perfectly.
I’ve been mostly offline for last couple of weeks due to very limited internet access in El Salvador and Honduras. Just arrived in Nicaragua and it is slightly better here. But being offline has its side benefits of course, I’ve met some amazing people on the road, had some long and sophisticated as well as some short and more alcohol fuelled conversations, but all is good. El Salvador is nothing like what I’ve heard before, all the gang violence and stuff, it actually has the most sophisticated capital in the region and southern beaches are amazing, Playa San Diego is highly recommended.
In Honduras I spent a good few days couch-surfing Jorge’s pace in Zambrano, tiny village in the middle of nowhere, but extremely peaceful and with great company. During day we were day tripping around area in the notorious Vamp van and during night we cooked dinners, Clive was playing guitar, Vanyoak was telling his crazy hitch-hiking stories et al.
Here are short and sweet photo sets from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras.
Thought piece of the day: Central America is like a good wine, better to be enjoyed in a good company and I was lucky to have one.
Like this:
Hollywood
Published January 22, 2011 Life , Photography , Travel 2 CommentsTags: city, crazies, driving, hollywood, la, los angeles, photoshoot, rtw, Travel, us
Welcome to the ultimate American dream, Los Angeles, the city where millions of people come to realize their dreams. Eventually a few hundred make it big time, slightly bigger share are doing ok and ‘living the dream’ in the entertainment industry, but the rest end up working in restaurants, bars and doing other handy-jobs waiting and hoping for their big moment to come, as an actress, writer, model etc, and it is very obvious to which group a person belongs to.
If you walk down the Hollywood or Sunset boulevard, you’d think LA has the highest rate of crazies per capita (made up from people who ‘did not make it’), the chances are that most people you see on the streets will be weird in one way or another, cross dressers, homeless, old hippies, grandma dressed as schoolgirl, you name it, it’s all there. The trick is that nobody actually walks in LA, everyone drives, so the only ones walking down the street are tourists from Europe or locals that are off the grid.
Talking about driving, I experienced it first had, when we rented a car, getting out of town in rush hour can be tricky, we got stuck on 12 lane high way for almost 2 hours. But that’s ok, I don’t mind, LA is all about extremes, from top to bottom, celebrity villas in Hollywood hills vs gangs of South East LA, that’s what the town is all about.
One of my favourite movies (Crash) depicts LA perfectly: “It’s the sense of touch. In any real city, you walk, you know? You brush past people, people bump into you. In L.A., nobody touches you. We’re always behind this metal and glass. I think we miss that touch so much, that we crash into each other, just so we can feel something.”
Another one is with bad boy Tom Cruise (in Collateral): “17 million people. This is got to be the fifth biggest economy in the world and nobody knows each other. I read about this guy who gets on the MTA here, dies. Six hours he’s riding the subway before anybody notices his corpse doing laps around L.A., people on and off sitting next to him. Nobody notices.”
Ok, enough with the movie quotes, here’s a quick photo shoot that I managed to do in LA, thanks to my lovely couch-surfing hosts, Veronica and Ryan.
Paradise lost
Published January 15, 2011 Life , Travel Leave a CommentTags: fiji, lost, pacific islands, paradise, rtw, Travel, trip
The Pacific islands of Fiji, is a great little stop-over if you’re flying from Australia/New Zealand to America/Japan or vice versa. It’s not an obvious budget travellers choice as most people come on package tours and stay in all inclusive resorts. But the place grew on me and after first few days of struggling, I did find my way around and started to like it.
Getting used to ‘Fiji time’ is the first step of recovery. ‘Fiji time’ is a way of doing things there, in a week I was there I did not see a single Fijian running for anything, they like to take it slow (ok, I saw one guy running to jump in the pool, if that counts). Nobody is ever in a rush, which is cool with me, only that very little ever gets done, as the favourite activity is just sitting around and chilling.
Fiji has dozens of small islands scattered around the big ones, and that’s where all the tourist action takes place. Prices are steep, equal to Australia or New Zealand, but islands are pretty nice, mostly with only one or two resorts on each and tropical beach/reefs all around, like this one here.
The best bit probably was evenings by the beach, when people sit around and various more or less authentic shows, like this local fire show in one of the places I stayed. Plus you get to drink kava, traditional Fijian drink, which looks like muddy water and tastes even worse. It’s made from pulverised roots mixed with water and is lightly intoxicating, like after drinking one cup, your tongue and lips will go numb ( a bit like local anaesthetic that you get at the dentists), quite good stuff if you get over the bad looks and taste.
Hobbit land
Published January 3, 2011 Photography , Travel 4 CommentsTags: albatross, dolphins, fishing, landscape, nature, new zealand, Photography, Travel, trip rtw
As most of you may know, a little known movie “The Lord of the Rings” was shot in New Zealand, and for a good reason. Hobbit land is indeed full of serene vistas and amazing wildlife. It’s every hikers/bikers/cyclists dream come true, rough and painfully beautiful terrain with first class amenities along the way.
I would not come all the way to New Zealand to bungee jump or skydive as those are not unique experiences for this place ( I can bungee jump in my grandma’s garden), but I would definitely come to see and experience first hand all the unique landscapes and animals surrounding this island. During my short visit I still managed to do several beautiful mountain hikes and bike rides, tickle dolphins, catch a fish or two, feed an albatross, wake up a lazy seal, sunburn my nose (twice, as NZ sits under gaping ozone hole, no pic, too scary), await New Year by the ocean at 25C and eat the biggest Christmas ham ever, among other things.
Here is full set of pics from New Zealand, I’ve changed some of the photo retouching approach, to try and do justice and bring the landscapes more alive, hope it works. Happy 2011, by the way!
Down Under
Published December 21, 2010 Travel Leave a CommentTags: australia, backpacking, bush, rtw, sydney, Travel, trip
In Australia it is indeed all upside down. The trees shed bark and not the leaves, its summer here whilst UK is covered in snow, you have blue/red/green parrots instead of pigeons sitting on park benches and kangaroos are roaming wild (once you leave the city) instead of being locked in the zoo.
Good coffee can be had almost everywhere, even the tiniest hole in the wall will do a decent flat white. It was a pleasant change after 3 months in SE Asia, where dry/powdered or condensed milk is a norm (except Singapore and Bangkok), here you get a nice full fat. Also coffee is just the right temperature, around 60-70C, perfect to get the best of aroma and flavours, not the overheated stuff that you get elsewhere. I now understand why most of the good quality/independent coffee shops in London are run by Ozzie’s or Kiwis.
Sydney has a good feel to it, a bit too neat for my liking, but very pleasant to be in, the weather is warm for most of the year, lots of nature nearby, good pay (if you can get a job). A walk across the harbour bridge is great way to get some scenery in and burn those calories, highly recommended.
I also had a chance to get out into the wilderness for a few days, driving a car in Sydney’s traffic and narrow mountainous roads is no fun (or lots of it, depending how you look at it). I went fishing for the first time in a very long time, that brought back lots of childhood memories. I even caught couple of carps around a kg each. And did I mention about the stone wall that I helped to pull together? For my efforts I got a chance to engrave my name on one of the stones, as can be seen here. Thanks Justin for arranging all this.
Here are some pics from Australia stopover. Christmas is coming, I can smell it in the air, greetings from far away New Zealand.
