Category: South America

  • Memories of Itaipu

    Had to bid farewell to one of my favourite T-shirts today, I think it was a birthday present aquired visiting the colossal Itaipu damn in South America – one of the 7 wonders of the modern world. Good memories from South America.

  • The Rules of Travelling

    During our trip in South America we always joked about the Rules of Travelling: basic rules of thumb that ensure that you get the most out of your travels with the least amount of hassle/pain/irritation, especially when backpacking. These will also work on city trips. The Rules have been developed and refined on the numerous…

  • More pics

    The backlog is going up online at last – back in the land of fast connections, hurrah. Final posts will be up later….cheers!

  • Lake Titicaca

    We just got back from a cool trip on Lake Titicaca, the famous body of water that borders Bolivia and Peru. We took a boat out and visited the man made reed Islands of Uros, and then continued on to the lovely Island of Amantaní, where we stayed with a local family that put us up…

  • World’s Most Dangerous Road

    We’ve just had the most exhilarating, scary, amazing and mind numbingly mystifying experience possible. After chilling for one day in La Paz (world’s highest capital at 3,600m above sea level), we decided that it was time for some action. Yungas Road, also known as the World’s Most Dangerous Road, has more fatalities per km than any…

  • Uyuni, Uyuuniiii!

    After Potosi we took off for Uyuni and the Salt Flats, it was another 6 hour bus journey through bumpy gravel roads, but the scenery was really spectacular – amazing mountain ranges and lamas all over the place! Uyuni is a town out in the middle of salty nowhere, not much going on apart from…

  • Think your job is hard…?

    Then try mining for silver in Bolivia! In Potosi we had the opportunity to visit the local silver mines to experience what life is like for miners in Bolivia. Just before leaving Sucre we watched a movie called “The Devils Miner“, which gave us some background on just how hard life can be, especially for…

  • Toto, we’re not in Kansas anymore

    We arrived in Bolivia last Friday and spent the first night in the wealthy city of Santa Cruz. The hotel was supposed to have a sauna and a swimming pool, but the former wasn´t on, and the latter was ice cold but we bravely had a swim nevertheless.  It was like swimming in a lake in Finland…

  • Welcome to the jungle

    I am writing this in the border town of Corumba, which has excellent pizza al forno and is very charming, we are going to fly into Bolivia in a few hours time, so it will be bye bye Brazil! We spent the last few days in the wetlands of the Pantanal, staying in jungle lodges…

  • Muy Bonito!

    After hot Asuncion we headed to back to Brazil. The bus had airconditioning this time, so in principle the 5-6 hr journey was going to more comfortable than the cattle-car experience previously. Only the driver decided to earn a few extra guaranis and the coach stopped literally every 5-10 minutes to pick up a few…

  • Soy una Legenda en Paraguay

    That’s right, we have arrived in Paraguay! We left Foz de Iguazu yesterday, it was a hot morning and it was only going to get hotter from thereon. The border crossing to Paraguay was an alternative immigration experience. We arrive at the Brazilian checkpoint, which is just over the bridge from Ciudad del Este which is…

  • “Poor Niagara”

    is what Eleanor Roosevelt reportedly said when she first saw the Iguazu Falls. Although I wouldn´t diss the Niagara Falls, Cataratas do Iguazu is pretty awe-inspiring. The name of the falls, which are located on the border between Brazil and Argentina, derives from the Guarani words i (water) and uazu (big), and that´s exactly what it is. The sheer number…

  • About Sao Paulo

    Sao Paulo is 3 times the size of Paris, and the official estimates for the population of Sao Paulo are between 18-24 million – the error margin is bigger than the whole population of Finland!!  It´s a crazy, busy, polluted, and at times quite a depressing place to visit. On the way from Paraty (the last 1.5…

  • 34 in Sao Paolo

    Good morning, thanks for all the birthday wishes, I can report that although I suffered some big city angst on entering this mega city, we went out last night with most of our group (some Taxi comedy resulted in a third of the group being lost) and drank what turned out to be very strong…

  • Paraty

    What a change of pace! Rio was brilliant fun, but I just love this sleepy little town, full of great cafes, bars, shops and beautiful old Colonial buildings. We arrived yesterday at noon after a 4.5 hour coach journey (the coaches here are very comfy, not like the horrible contraptions we get in Europe and…