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Dear Followers!
I must say I have been quite bad to update my blog and facebook. I guess now with the milage I am covering, I want to make the most of the places I am staying! So I am happy I have managed to upload some pictures.
The last weeks in Brazil were very hectic. Did a lot of traveling from Ouro Preto to Ilha Grande to Sao Jose dos Campos (where I grew up in high school) to Paraty. It was nice to see more places outside of Rio. I think by working as a volunteer I got to see the uglier side of Rio which can hardly be forgotten. But all in all a good experience.
On 3rd Jan after a short visit of a high school friend in Sao Paulo, I headed off to Argentina. It was just a short 3 weeks but I must say the landscape was spectacular and I was able to see a lot of places. As you can see from the pictures, I did a lot hiking, biking, and anything to be in the outdoors! It was great. Perito Moreno, the glacier in El Calafate was stunning. El Chalten was a big surprise...loved the hiking there and met some wonderful people! All different ages...so I do not feel that old! Especially the hike to Laguna de Los Tres was stunning. Also my stay in El Chalten at Albergue Patagonia was excellent...small farm house with excellend staff and nice people.
I almost forgot Buenos Aires...I must say what impressed me most were the beautiful old buildings...I sometimes thought I was in Barcelona on the Passeio de Gracia. The bike ride through San Thelmo (favourite area) and La Boca was great...your learn more about the history of the place. Only thing is that I still had to shake of the fear of getting mugged...like Rio, Buenos Aires is not anymore one of the safest places to be. And before I forget, I really enjoyed the stakes there especially at Desnivel in San Thelmo which is a super place to go out!
Bariloche gave me the feel like I was in Switzerland...beautiful mountains and lakes. I biked together with two Dutch girls the Chico Circuit which is quite tough if you are used to Dutch flat landscape to bike on. Was nice to be active after the 2 day busride from El Chalten to Bariloche. But I got to see dry, flat Patagonian landscape! Unfortunately, I was not able to hire a car to go up to the 7 lakes. Good excuse to come back some other time! As an alternative, I hiked to Refuge el Frey...tough walk but really rewarding (especially the hot chocolate on top of the mountain).
From Bariloche I made my way to Mendoza to do some wine tasting. Stayed in a very relaxed backpacker...yes I am getting used again to sleeping with 4 to 6 people in the room! Biked my way through the vinyards. Had some lovely wines. Although I must say I have been spoiled by seeing the wine houses in South Africa which are stunning! Mendoza is itself not such an interesting town...lots of partying Argentinians! That is anyway really good to see that alot of Argentinians travel in there own country...especially in the month of January.
So after a lovely 18 days I was stuck at the airport in Santiago de Chili for 5 hours... Luckily I had a 14 hour stop over in LA so I could not miss my flight to Australia. ;-) Was a long journey and due to the delay I could not venture out to see the city.
I must say that Argentina was fantastic. It is so diverse in scenery. In addition, it was very easy to meet people there while traveling. Having just started backpacking after Brazil, I was happy to meet so many spontaneous people
As it is now really nice weather outside here in Byron Bay, I am off to the beach! Hope you enjoy the pictures!
Big hug, Saskia
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