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Day 63 & 64: 1 & 2/9/12
Got up bright and early to get myself ready for the long flight. Still felt rushed though when it was time to get the taxi. The taxi driver had no English but was killed trying to show me the sights- like the train station and a big massive glass building that I was told was 'school police'.
Had plenty of time at the airport but needed most of it as there were long queues for check-in. There had been a power failure in the morning so the printer for the boarding passes wasn't working. They wrote one out for each person (hence the queue!) and then you had to get your boarding pass at the gate. I read on the website that there was an international tax so I had taken out enough money to pay for that but there didn't seem to be any tax so I spent a while wandering around the shops trying to spend the money!! I had about 17000 pesos, which is about 30 USD which is quite hard to spend in duty free! Any good stuff like perfume or make up is way dearer than that!! So eventually I bought two bottles of water for the flight and some books (including the New Zealand lonely planet so I can get planning soon!!).
There were loads of people at the gate for boarding. Of course they boarded my section last. There were 75 rows with 10 seats in each row- 3,4 3. That's a big plane and a lot of people!! The first 42 rows were either business class or premium economy. Pretty fancy!
The flight was delayed at first because there was a communication problem with the tower after the power cut earlier in the day. When we took off the flight wasn't too bad. I had a window seat and The guy beside me moved seat so myself and the guy the other side had a bit more room! I watched the end of Mirror Mirror, started to watch Dark Shadows with Johnny Depp but it seemed fairly crap so I watched Friends with Kids. It has the people from Bridesmaids so I thought it would be good, but it's not great. Then I watched Forest Gump- I had forgotten it, it was so long ago that I had seen it. Watched big bang theory and modern family then. They served a lunch fairly early in the flight and then turned off the lights presumably for people to sleep- but it was the middle of the day!! I attempted to sleep for a while but it was no use!! So I watched the Three Stooges which is really stupid funny! Then they served another meal and turned the lights of again. This time I slept. I'd say I slept through the last four hours of the flight- when I woke there was only a half hour left. Not too bad for a 14 hour flight!!
We landed in Sydney safely anyway! Due to our late departure there was a bit of a panic about everyone with connecting flights. Ther were ground staff there to tell everybody where they needed to go. Immigration first. There was a small queue but they went throug h them fairly quickly. They didn't ask too many questions at all- I was expecting way worse. When I went to America before it was way worse. Had to collect my bag then which took a while as it seemed to be one of the last to appear! Then I had to go through customs. I had ticked yes to a few boxes just incase- they warn you a million times to declare anything you ate unsure of! So I had to declare my shoes and the jewellery I bought. She wanted to inspect a good bit of t he jewellery and brought one of my runners off to spray them. I had been going I bring some Dulce de Leche which you can only get in South America but they seem to be very strict about food so I left it behind me. Anyway, don't think the lads would like it. After that I had to go to the Domestic Transfer Area where they took my bag again and I got a bus to the domestic area. Qantas seem to have their own transfer section, their own transfer bus and their own domestic departure section. By the time I got to the gate I had only about 10 minutes to wait before they started boarding. Timing was just fine, but I wouldn't have liked to be any later arriving to Sydney!!
I had a window seat again and a spare seat beside me so plenty of room! I was wide awake now so I spent my time writing all this! It's half eight Sunday evening now but on my watch it's only half six in the morning! Time difference is crazy! While I'm trying to pass the time on the flight I thought I would recap the South America trip below.
No immigration or customs to go through in Brisbane because I'd been on a domestic flight which was handy! When I got to the baggage carousel, Mike was standing there waiting for me! It was great to see a friendly face and be able to talk to someone who knew me!
Got the bag and drove to his house fairly quickly. Settled back with a cup of tea for a catch-up. Plenty of chatting and then called it a night as Mike had to be up early in the morning. It was already pretty late for someone that has to be up at 5! Pretty sure I'll be conked for many hours to come after barely sleeping for the last few days! Can't believe I'm in Australia- have absolutely no plan for the next few weeks which is lovely!!
South America 2012: 30/6-2/9
Places visited:
Peru- Lima, Paracas, Nazca, Arequipa, Colca Canyon, Puno, Cusco, Puerto Maldonado, Lima
Bolivia- La Paz, Sucre, Potosi, Uyuni, Salt flats, La Paz
Argentina- Salta, Cordoba, Iguassu, Buenos Aires, Ushuaia, El Calafate
Chile- Santiago, Easter island, Santiago
(Brazil-2 days in Iguassu)
(Paraguay- 2 hours in Iguassu)
Amazing sights: Nazca lines, Cahuachi pyramids, Cruz del condor, Uros Islands Lake Titicaca, Sacred Valley, Macchu Piccu, jungle birds and animals, moon valley la Paz, potosi silver mine, salt flats Uyuni, iguassu falls, all of Ushuaia, perito Moreno glacier, all of Easter island and of course all the hills and mountains and varied landscapes in all the countries!!
Best bit: I loved most places I went to but think it has to be Easter Island. So much interesting history with beautiful scenery all around and a great music and dance show.
Worst bit: Has to be the day at Maccu Pichu when the girl fell off the mountain- it was the scariest thing I've ever seen.
Essentials: hand sanitizer, toilet paper, Spanish!
Annoyances: you can't flush your toilet paper, altitude, not many people speak English and not many English speaking tourists, the distances between places- long bus journeys (had a 13hr one) and many flights (think I had 16), bilingual tours that promise to speak English often means its just you and the guide speaking English!
Culture: Peru and Bolivia were very similar. People were fairly poor but kind. Lots of people still wear traditional dress but they have all modern technologies. They still believe in Pacha Mama and have lots of festivals related to that aswell as being Catholic. Argentina and Chile more like Europe with white people (particularly Argentina) and modern lifestyles. The cities Buenos Aires and Santiago could be any city in the world.
These countries are so big there are lots of native cultures on their history and still some today, even though the Spanish wiped out a fair amount! It's a pity that when they came they tried to get rid of everything rather than embrace their cultures. I think us Irish people must be pretty resilient considering we still have our language (albeit in small amounts), music, dance, sports, etc despite all the years of oppression we had!
Sport: There was soccer everywhere- you could often see pitches in the middle of nowhere! Interestingly I didn't learn about or hear of any traditional or native sports. Soccer is the national sport in all the countries I went to. I saw some people playing rugby aswell.
Transport: Long distances as mentioned! Buses were mostly good with comfy seats, blankets, food, drinks, etc. Flights with LAN were generally okay. Flights with Aerolineas Argentinas often delayed. Services in Bolivia were a different kettle of fish- didn't really keep to schedules or anything! Driving in Peru and Bolivia was ridiculous- a lot of drivers seemed to prefer driving on the wrong side of the road and loved to overtake on corners! Also they beeped all the time- the noise in the cities was terrible! In Argentina and Chile it was much more civilised, even though there was an awful lot of traffic in Buenos Aires and Santiago.
Music and Dance- in Peru and Bolivia the traditional music usually involved panpipes. Only saw the dancing in the Colca Canyon region which was a lot of hopping around the place! Very bright costumes and sometimes quite scary masks! In Bolivia, especially La Paz, the salsa and other latin dances seemed popular. In Argentina of course the tango was big, but also Samba. In Easter Island the costumes were like Hawaiian outfits, ie grass skirts an very little else. Music was very catchy and involved lots of shouting as well as nice melodies! I've realised I really like going to music and dance shows!
Language: Spanish is the main language obviously. I couldn't believe how many people had no English. Peru wasn't too bad as there were mostly English speaking tourists. After that it was mostly people who spoke Spanish. Of course there are some native languages also. In Peru and Bolivia some people speak Aymara. In Easter Island people speak Rapa Nui. If I go back to South America I need to learn more Spanish. Or Portugese of course if I go to Brazil. Or the language that they speak near the border which is a mix of Portugese and Spanish- think its called Portungal.
Food: You can get Western food everywhere- pizzas, pastas, meats, etc. Steak or lomo is big. Rice is served with everything! Bread also is served at every meal- white bread all the time which is very annoying when you don't want to eat white bread! Local dishes are different in every region but are usually types of stews and casseroles with alpaca, llama, other meat or fish or sometimes beans. Generally the local food is quite tasty. If you dont have some kind of stew they don't have too many vegetables- rice and meat!
Money: ATMs are pretty easy to come by so rarely any hassle there. They take USD everywhere- it would probably be nearly easier just to have that although you vent take it out in the ATMs. Peru have soles, Bolivia have Bolivianos and Chile and Peru have Pesos. In Chile and Argentina its mostly thousands you'd be spending, which is ridiculous. I don't know why they can't just get rid of the last three zeros and talk in normal prices- the money chapters in Maths must be a pain in the ass over here!!
School: Generally children go to school for about four hours in the morning (before 12) or they can go from about 2-6. This means you see children and teenagers going and coming from school all day. I never figured out of the same teacher teaches all day or if they have different teachers. A lot of schools are private and good schools and colleges are very expensive.
Vocabulary:
Claro - they say this all the time. It seems to mean okay or sure. They say it when nodding along to someone else who's talking and they say it when surprised about something someone says. It's also the name of a phone company!
No hablo espagnol- most important phrase, along with....
No comprende!
Buenos Dias- hello/good day. In different accents it sounds like Bon dia!
Gracias- it really sounds like grassy ass in some places, in others just gracia.
De nada- you're welcome
Si/No
La cuenta por favor- bill please
Donde estan Los banos- where are the bathrooms?
Donde esta.... And point to the name of the place you want to go!
That much will get you by!!!
When they are asking something they often seem to just use one word, like just saying 'banos?' when wondering where the toilet is which helps when you aren't able to string a sentence together!
However, when the guides are explaining things in sentences, it takes way longer than the English explanation. They seem to have roundabout ways of forming sentences that use way too many words!
If people think you understand some Spanish they keep talking at you very quickly so it's easier to just saw you don't understand anything!
Travelling alone:
It was definitely better when Muireann was with me- she is such good Craic anyway so great fun to travel with! It was fine to be on my own though. I was glad I had everything booked and organised and it all worked out according to plan!! It would have been very difficult to organise things when I didn't have the language. If I was somewhere where people spoke English, even if it was just the other tourists that spoke English I would have no problem going on my own again. I'd prefer to be with people but of I really want to go somewhere in the future and nobody else wants to I won't have a problem heading on my own- even though I mightn't do 6weeks again, quite a long time to be talking to yourself!!
Expenditure: Do I even want to think about it?????!!!!
I had written down everything I booked before I left but hadn't totalled it as I didn't want to know how much I had already spent before I left!! Just totalled if there and it's €7331. Flights and group tours really bringing up the prices! A lot of the places I flew could be done much cheaper by bus but they took hours, sometimes days!!
I kept track of everything I took out of the AtM over there or anything I use my card or the dollars for. That total was€3445 which wasn't too bad for nine weeks I don't think! I accounted for some bank charges but I think others were dearer than expected so it provably was 3500 anyway.
So using the 3500, it totals to €10831!!
Mother of God that's an awful lot of money!! Most of it was for having it all organised before hand with groups where possible so I think that was worth it! It was a once in a life time experience though so well worth every penny!!! I ate in restaurants and cafes rather than cook at hostels so that made it dearer. However I didn't really drink and the only stuff I bought was jewellery and postcards so I think most people would probably spend as much one way or another! If you took the cheapest transport possible, picked the cheapest rooms in the ceapest hostels, booked the cheapest tours in each location and cooked for yourself you might manage it much cheaper!! But, I do like some comforts!!
I can't think of anything else at the moment!! South America is a pretty big place with lots of interesting places to see and a very colourful history. I would definitely likd to go back. There are lots of places I'm Argentina and Child that sound nice, also northern Peru and all of Brazil as well as Ecuador and the Galapagos islands and other countries further north. Will have to spend a few other full summers there if I'm going to see it all!!
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