Rio de Janeiro, BRAZIL

At last I made it to the world´s most beautiful city!! RIO. Indeed a lovely place. Went up to the Christo Redendor statue today and tomorrow will go up Sugar Loaf rock. WOW....the view of the city from high up at the Christ statue was awesome! I walked along Copacabana beach and Ipanema beach a few times since I arrived yesterday. While not such a dangerous city as many travel books warn you about, scams are still around. Somebody ¨accidentally¨ dropped some bad stuff on my shoe today and another immediately offered to clean up...this is an old scam to get hold of my bag which at that time contained my camera. I´m way too streetwise for these scammers!

Within the next two days I´ll start my trip up north along the coast towards the city of Salvador (about 2,000 km) and will visit several towns and villages along the way.

Internet is hard to find here in Rio so I will not update my blog regularly.
Adeus (the Portuguese for Adios...Spanish ¨goodbye¨)

Iguazu Falls, BRAZIL

I spent most of the past two days around the spectacular Iguazu Falls on both the Argentina and Brazil sides. What an experience. This, in my opinion, is far more exciting than the Niagara Falls in Canada and about the same levelof excitement I experiened at the Victoria Waterfalls in Zimbabwe (Southern Africa). The falls are huge with many observation points...some cleverly built paths take you up to right in front of huge sections of the falls where the thunder plays off 2-5 meters right in front of you. A very wet boat ride takes you to almost right underneath the falls. Indeed an incredible experience.

Ciudad de Este, PARAGUAY

Spent a few hours in the town of Ciudad de Este, Paraguay today which was a pleasant experience. Makes me think of Bolivia and Peru. Nice people, interesting sights, and certainly makes me interested in visiting more of Paraguay....next time.

Buenos Aires, ARGENTINA

I´m back in Buenos Aires and enjoying my last weekend before flying off to Sao Paolo (Brazil) tomorrow, for a connecting flight up to the Iguazu falls. At the falls I will spent time on the Brazilian and Argentinian sides, and will also go into Paraguay.

Its a beautiful sunny weekend in Buenos Aires and a nice warm 25 celcius. This afternoon I'm seeing a football game at the famous Boca Junior Stadium -- match between the big rivals....Boca Jr. and River Plate. Apparently this is going to be an amazing experience to see the thousands of fans go nuts in the stadium. Tonight my last Parrillia Tenedor Libre (BBQ Buffet) and tomorrow morning at 7:40am my flight leaves for Brazil.

STUCK in Puerto Madryn

After 2 days of seeing lots of wildlife (whales, elephants seals, sea lions, penguins, guanacos etc), my flight got canceled this morning (Aerolineas Argentinas -- main airline here) is on strike for the next three days. No other flights out to Buenos Aires. I have no choice but to take the 17 hours bus and will now arrive in BA tomorrow morning.

This is life! Adios!

Puerto Madryn, ARGENTINA East Coast

Arrived by 25 hour bus trip from El Calafate near the Chile border to Puerto Madryn near the Valdez Peninsula. Main attraction here is the abundance of wild life: Whales, Sea Lions, Elephant Seals, Penguins, Dolphins, Birds. Today saw several Whales from the beach as well as Sea Lions. Tomorow I´m going on a full day trip to see all these animals from close-up.

El Calafate, ARGENTINA

I arrived by plane from Ushuaia this evening at the small town of El Calafate. This is THE place to see the world biggest and most impressive glaciers. Over the next 2-3 days I will be experiencing these glaciers in all possible ways...including a 5 hour Catamaran trip among the glaciers and ice bergs. After this I´m going by bus to El Chalten (about 5 hours trip) to visit Mount Fitzroy and 2 days later will return to El Calafate.

UPDATED SEP. 18TH
Well, yesterday I did the catamaran trip among 5 glaciers, including the huge Upsala Glacier. ...and thousands of big floating icebergs. Felt like I was in Antarctica! Today I spent the whole day around Perino Moreno Glacier, the world largest and most active glacier. Moving at two meters a day, yet not advancing one centimeter as huge chunks keep falling off into the water. This glacier is 60km long and 60 meters high above water and up to 202 meters below water. Its awesome to hear and see these huge chunks of ice breaking off and falling into the water. Sounds like thunder or a gun shot when chunks break off. An amazing experience indeed.

I changed plans (again) and will skip southern Chile and the town of El Chalten (for Mount Fitzroy)...so tomorrow I am taking a 25 hour bus ride across Argentina to the Valdez Peninsula to see the Southern Rightback Whales, possibly Orca Whales, Elephant Seals, Seals, Sea Lions, and Penguins.

Adios!

Ushuaia, ARGENTINA -- Bottom of the World

I made it....I´m at the bottom of the world -- Ushuaia, Argentina, is the most southern town on our planet. Only a few weeks ago I was at the TOP of the World, Lofoten Islands, Norway (about 500km north of the Arctic Circle).....Now I am in Ushuaia, at the BOTTOM...at the very southern tip of South America. The distance between the Lofoten Islands, Norway, and Ushuaia, Argentina, is about 15,700km! What a beautiful little town surrounded by snowy mountains and the sea. From here it is only a hop, skip, and a jump....and you´re landing in Antactica. I am trying to get on a boat to Antactica and will hopefully know tomorrow if I can get on. I don´t have extremely high hopes. If I can´t get on....then in 2 days I´ll travel north along the Chile border through the snowy mountains and glaciers. Ushuaia is about 5,900 km south from where I was just a few days ago -- Bolivia.

UPDATED I went on a boat trip along the Beagle Channel and saw a breeding colony of Sea Lions, lots of Imperial Cormorants, Dolphin Gulls, Steamer Ducks, etc. Also walked the neaby National Park today which was really nice. I truly love Ushuaia!!...and I must come back to do Antarctica....explorer boats to Antactica only run from Nov to Feb.

Buenos Aires, ARGENTINA

I am back in Evita´s town, Buenos Aires. Let me recount....a week ago I spent 18 hours on the bus to Salta (Argentina), then 4.5 hours to Humahuaga (Argentina), then 2 hours to the Bolivia border, then 2 hours to Tupiza (Bolvia), then 5 hours to Uyuni (Bolivia), then the 3 day trip to the south west (about 10 hours driving), then 2 hours to San Pedro (Chile), then 12 hours to Salta (Argentina), then 18 hours to Buenos Aires (Argentina) .

It was all a fantastic week and I captured about 1,000 awesome pictures...but I am dead tired now. I´m off to bed. In 2 days I am flying down to Ushuaia (Argentina)...the world most southern town!

ZZZZzzzzzzzzzzz
Keep your critisizm of others to yourself -- blurting it out will only expore your weaknesses

Salta, ARGENTINA

From San Pedro in Chile I arrived in the town of Salta, northern Argentina (a 12 hour trip). Will sleep here for 1 night. Quite a nice town. Lots of mountains in the area. Cool people I must admit. I´m tired and off to bed now. Adios!

Respect your body -- you only have one!!

San Pedro, CHILE

I left Bolivia this morning and I´m now in the tiny town of San Pedro de Atacama (Chile). This is my 4th time entering the borders of Chile. I´ll stay here for a very short time before moving on to northern Argentina. Adios!

Count your blessings even though we all have too many to count

South Western BOLIVIA

THIS my friends, is one of the most amazing experiences I have ever had.

The worlds largest salt flats -- the Salar de Uyuni (salt lakes of Uyuni) is 12,000 sq km at an altitude of 3,653m.... Do you realize how big this is? It took us about 45 minutes just to cross the salt lake (driving at a speed of about 80km per hour). Salt...nothing but salt! Roughly in the middle of the lake (which is dry right now but at times covered under water), is Isla de los Pescadores (Fish Island) which is over-grown with amazingly beautiful giant cacti. Further on we saw many lakes in the desert-like environment -- many lakes sporting several bird species of which most notably the James species of flamingoes. Saw some Llamas, Vicuñas (cousin of the Llama), and long tailed rodents related to Chinchillas.

The second night we slept next to Laguna Colorado (or Red Lake) with tens of flamingoes. What a sight! The thin air was reallly cold...down to about -10 celsius so we had a cuddle up to stay warm!

The next day we spent time at Sol de Mañana with its geyser basin at an altitude of 4,950m. This was scary to say the least.... Within the very natural surroundings we found geysers, boiling mud pools, steam vents...all a real scary experience. Down in Rotarua (New Zealand) paths lead you to safe viewing distances of the boiling mud pools and vents --- but here in Bolivia is absolutely no paths....as there is nobody around you...just you and the power of the earth. I took many brave steps around the noisy hissing of steam and bubbling mud to take some awesome photos!

We then moved on to a nearby lake ...yip, with flamingoes and several hot pools (known as Termas de Polques) ...where I took a well deserved dip in the 30 celsius clear sulfurous waters surrounded by nothing but unspoiled nature...at an altitude of 4,200m

We ended the day at Lake Verde, a turcoise lake at an altitude of 5,000m near the 5,930m cone of Vocan Licancabur.

In addition to the above...we saw a lot of other things -- to much to write about right now.

Bolivia is amazing -- to say the least. I must return to see the rest.

Respect others and it will be returned to you multi-fold

Mountain Village of Atocha, BOLIVIA

Plans didn´t work out as well as I was hoping for as I could not get a bus all the way from the Argentine border to Uyuni (Bolivia) . I had to stop at the town of Tupiza (Bolivia). Fortunately, I met a few friends who also need to be in Uyuni tonight so together we rented a 4-wheel drive jeep and driver to take us on the 5 hour journey to Uyuni. We went up to about 5500m above sea and the mountains were absolutely spectacular. At some parts there was hardly any road so we drove down the river bed....often through deep pools. Its 10pm now and we decided to call it a night so we stopped at this small village of Atocha in the mountains. Will sleep a few hours and at 6am travel further to Uyuni. Hope to be there by 8am to get on another 4 wheeler to start the 3 day trip towards the south west (in the direction of Chile). Will see huge salt lakes, flamingoes, thermal springs, volcanoes, geysers, and bubbling mud pools...and spectacular rock formations. Internet is hard to find and often extremely slow. While on the 3 day trip we will have no access to Internet so if I´m silent for a few days -- don´t get worried. I hope to be back in Buenos Aires next Sunday as I´m flying to Ushuaia on Tuesday. (Ushaua is 5120 km from the Bolivian border I crossed today). Adios. Respect all -- nature and humanity -- its all we have

Humahuaca, NORTHERN ARGENTINA

From Buenos Aires I arrived in the northern town of Salta (18 hours bus ride) and from there onwards to the little rusty muddy one-horse village of Humahuaca (another 4.5 hours). The village of 6,200 people, mostly of the Quechuan tribe, is 3000m above sea. Nestled in the most amazing mountains and rock formations, its an interesting town with very interesting looking people. Had dinner at quite a nice restaurant. Most of the meat was Llama...and of course I love Llama meat. Tomorrow morning early further north to cross the Argentina / Bolivia border at the town of La Quiaca (Argentina) and Villazon (Bolivia). From there I head further north and hope to sleep 8 hours north tonight in the village of Uyuni. Next morning early I hope to get on a 4 wheel drive to tour the salt lakes and thermo area for 4 days. Till later. Adios. Give more love and devotion than you get and you will get more than you expect

Change of Plans

Due to extreme cold, rain and possibility of snow in the world´s most southern town, Ushuaia, I decided to postpone my trip down south and will now depart for Salta up in the far north of Argentina. A 22-hour bus ride from Buenos Aires will hopefully safely bring me into Salta tomorrow morning from where I will continue furher north into Bolivia and then across and down to northern Chile and then back into Argentina (which will be my 4th time entering the borders of Chile). Ten days from now I´ll be back in Buenos Aires and will then again attempt the far south. What I will see in the far north: Salt lakes, geysers, very high mountains, colourful native people, flamingos, volcano, and desserts. Promise to be an unforgettable experience. Will keep you posted as I move along. Adios!!

Smile and the whole world smiles with you -- be grumpy and arrogant, and all are rude in your eyes.

Buenos Aires, ARGENTINA

Its about time that I write something about Buenos Aires -- or BsAs or BA as the locals refer to this city. I'm frankly not too sure yet how I feel about BA. It would be unfair to describe this as a great city as there are a great too many people living in poverty here. It sure hurts to see young people and children digging through garbage bags with their parents at midnight. As garbage are only collected in the wee hours of the morning, by midnight most bags have been opened and scoured for anything valuable such as bottles and card board boxes. I must admit that BA is the city with the most visible poor people I have seen so far during this trip. Sadly enough, most of the poor seem to be very decent people -- certainly not the typical poor folks I have seen in other places such as America and Eastern Europe. Poverty to the great extent as it is, is a fairly recent problem here which started with the financial collapse of the Argentina economy in 2001. Since then unemployment soared.

Poverty aside for a moment, this is a great city. While the infrastructure is falling apart, here are many beautiful old buildings, very friendly people, and probably the best to me......tons of excellent Parrilla -- BBQ -- restaurants. A huge 5 star buffet with eat-as-much-meat-as-you-can from the spit, with a bottle of wine, cost only US$7. Not bad! I am eating very well!

Tomorrow afternoon, Sunday Sep 4th, I am flying down to the world's most southern town -- Ushuaia at the southern tip of South America. See you there and hopefully we can hop on the Russian icebreaker to Antarctica!

Give more than you expect -- always. Happiness will flourish inside you!