So, once again it's that time of the year, when Travelling Today, your
favourite Bi-weekly Travel mag, hands out it's annual awards. In the 'super lad'
category, for 'Best all Round
RTW Travellers', the winners are Steven
Tideswell and Stuart
Luffman, having successfully reached the halfway stage in their epic 9 month jaunt. Our Spanish reporter Trev
El Lure went to meet the boys in
Bariloche where they shed some light on how things have gone, and what is still in store...
Trev: Hey guys, firstly, many congrats on gaining this
coveted award. You must have been through quite a lot. I understand you have just arrived here from El
Chalten though.
That's somewhere I've always wanted to go, how was it?
Steve: Well, damn good if you want honesty Trev. On the first day we did a 6 hour Hike to
Cerro Torre and took in some fantastic landscapes, really variable stuff, some climbs, some glaciers and a view of the peak itself.
On the second day we strode out again on a 8 hour hike to
Cerro Fitz Roy, which was a much more challenging accent at the end, but such a good vantage point to reach, and well worth the effort. You have to go, the rumour is it's some of the best hiking in the world, and from where
I'm standing
I'd find it hard to disagree. Not so cool was the 36 hour bus from there to here. We
actually spent the day that marked half way
entirely on a bus, and the night before and after!! Worth it though, the scenery here also looks fantastic, just the view from our hostel dorm is enough to get the blood pumping.
Trev: That certainly does sound good. How does it compare with other aspects of your trip though, for example, what would you consider to be your favourite five minutes?
Steve: Absolutely no idea. I do remember however, having the most amazing feeling of
exhilaration when I stood on the maid of the mist at Niagara when we went up to the falls and I got battered by the water. But I also think times like the taxi ride from Lima airport are real highlights, when I felt serious culture shock and a million and one things blew through my mind as the possibilities for the continent played out in my mind. The mix of excitement and fear like that should be classed under a whole new emotional bracket.
Stu: Mine has to be the five minutes we took the craps table to the cleaners. One, because of the shear adrenaline of the moment, two, the
financial benefits it had as has meant we can now afford a skydive and three, I always dreamed of any amazing Vegas moment and that was it!
Trev: Wow! I guess there has also been some lows though right, what was the worst five minutes?
Steve: Aha!
That's far easier. It has to be when, after spending a whole night in Lima being sick every hour on the hour, I was taking my most recent dash to the toilet, but having particular difficulty containing myself. I got to the toilet in very bad shape, managed to get in and get the door closed, swivel and expertly aim into the bowl before the convulsions overcame me, only to find that the toilet seat had been put down. The velocity at which liquid left my body, coupled with the position of said seat resulted in a redecorating on a biblical scale, which I had to try and clean up still feeling like death. Not fun.
Stu: Slipping on the fishing boat in Miami, after not catching any fish, and having searing pain through my leg combined with the sinking feeling that travelling could have come to an abrupt end. Again not fun.
Trev: Nasty. I guess in moments like those you start to miss some home comforts. What would you say you missed the most?
Stuart: I would do some horrible things for a roast dinner at the moment! Also miss having a bedroom to myself and playing sport/going to the gym. Also I suppose, at a push, friends and family are slightly missed too.
Steve: Ah, it may sound cliche but the
friends and
fam jump out. One of the best aspects of travelling is the human one, the people you meet and share experiences with, but even if the
memories live on, the relationships tend to only last a few days. It will be nice to get back to some solid relationships and beer time.
Trev: And the least?
Stu and Steve: Responsibility...
Trev: Ha ha ha. Fair. Surely you are getting some interesting food to replace that roast dinner though boys? What would you say the best meal you have eaten is?
Steve: We've had some crackers. The
Chicago deep pan pizza, which is actually deep, not like the crap you get in the UK is a winner, so is the fresh fish we had in Florida, but the overall best has to be Argentinian steak. What a texture and flavour, super stuff.
Stu: Agreed...
Trev: Nice, can't beat a good steak! Talking of
Chicago, what would you say were your favorite and least favourite cities? You must have been to a few by now!
Stu: Good question, we have been to a fair few now with some excellent ones jumping out. For me, it has to be Rio
de Janerio! The weather, the beach, the music, the partying, the women....and with Jesus looking over it certainly seems like a place God has designed! Least,
probably, Lima. When one-third of the population live in one, large, polluted
metropolis the results are not ideal for me.
Steve:
Hmmm, I'm gonna head back to the US for this one. There's a titanic battle for the number one spot going on between San Francisco and
Chicago. Maybe the Pizza swings it, perhaps it was the sorority party we got dragged into, or maybe just because it was so damn cool, but
Chicago gets it. Worst? Well,
Stus had a good shout there, Lima is so bloody busy and noisy, but at the time I found it really exciting (apart from the illness!). I'd go for Miami. I found it really pretentious and
disappointing, and
soooo expensive. It was also on the 'it's so hot i feel like my entire being is going to melt' side of too hot for me.
Trev:
OK, I see where your going with those. Let's stick to places you have stayed. How have the hostels been? Whats been your favourite hostel?
Steve: Hostels are epic. They are so cheap, and if you book the good ones they can be as good as or better than hotels, you just have to be willing to stay in a dorm. They are so much more social than hotels too. Picking out the best one is very hard, all the best ones have different highlights, from the
Jacuzzi and hippie attitude of
Asheville (we love you Justin!), to the expert advice and fresh cooked muffins at breakfast we found in Niagara (we also love Patrick), in fact, damn it, I can't choose between those two.
Stu: There certainly have been some amazing ones,
CapanaCopa as well in Rio should the thrown into the mixer! Although I'm gonna say
Bon Paul and
Sharkys in
Asheville. Justin was amazing and a hot tub!
'Nuff said.
Trev: A hot tub, in a hostel, wow! These hostels must have provided some good nights too. What do you think has been the best night so far? And the worst hangover?
Stu: The night spent at a sorority (female frat) party was pretty good as you can imagine! Made even better as we
didn't go out expecting it and with cheap drinks and good music and with some baseball batting before hand it
certainly was a great one! Worst hangover, after free drinks for a few hours in Rio and trying to keep up with Josh 'The Machine' Carter, was fairly jaded the next day!
Steve: Worst hangover... Montreal, I was taken out for pretty much the whole day. Bloody Australians. Best night could well be Halloween in San Fran. We went from zero to full costume and cocktail in hand in about 20 minutes, generally had a laugh, and any night that ends with you locked in the laundry room with a french girl can't be bad. In the word's of one of the guys in the hostel the next day '
Ooooooh, what an evening'.
Trev: Does sound like fun lads, and I feel your pain. I guess to get that drunk you must have sampled some interesting international drinks, no? Best and worst of those?
Steve: Worst is easy, and somehow we managed to get it on my birthday, thus keeping the dirty drink alive for all the lads back home. It was
Chicha, and was sampled, and quickly left in a bar in
Cusco. The best is a little harder, but I think the wine we tried at the winery along the edge of the Niagara river takes the biscuit. I believe it was 'Niagara view', look out for it, but don't expect it to be cheap!
Stu: Worst and best from me both from
Cusco. Worst, by far, the
Chicha as Steve has already pointed out! It was horrific! Best is a drink called '
Pisco Sour' which is a cocktail with lime and egg and a white spirit called
Pisco. Very sharp, sweet but pleasurable taste.
Trev: Very nice. You have covered such a distance now you must have a favourite journey? And one that was more horrific than the others?
Stu: There have
definitely been some horrific journey's undertaken but equally some amazing ones. Best for me was the scenic drive down the winding road of route 1 from San Fran to Santa Barbara. With the car just hugging the mountains and the pacific ocean below I can see why its
described as the best road in the world. Worst, after taking 25 night buses and counting, there is one that stands out. From La
Paz to
Uyuni, 15 hours of being thrown out of your seat on a disgusting Bolivian bus without a toilet and therefore no sleep. Not for the faint-hearted!
Steve: The worst for me, not
surprisingly, also
occurred in Bolivia. The 20
ish hour bus back from
Rurrenbaque, which was delayed leaving for 5 hours, then dropped us of in the middle of nowhere for a rest stop and promptly
disappeared to fix its front wheel and left us stranded for hours trying to work out what was going on in our still very broken
Spanish. When we did finally get back on the Bolivian stomach demons came too and on a bus with no toilet this is no small deal. I had a horrific 6 hours at the end needing to
relieve myself, the wild rover hostel toilet, with toilet paper and flush was a sight for sore eyes. The best is a real random one for me, it was the Greyhound that took us to Niagara. I don't know why, but with the leaves turning into
their autumnal colours, the sun shining, some good music playing I really got what we were doing and had the best feeling of adrenaline and excitement for
absolutely everything, an amazing feeling.
Trev: Amazing stuff, your making me jealous, I need to get back on the road! We've talked a bit about cities, but what was your favourite natural phenomenon?
Steve: The
Perito Moreno Glacier. An
unbelievable and crucially, dynamic, feature. I want to go back already and feel that excitement again.
Stu: Agreed, what a
natural phenomenon!
Trev: OK, it seems that one was easy. Maybe this will be harder. What are you most looking forward to in the second half?
Steve: A Sky Dive in NZ (Cheers Vegas!), meeting monks in Nepal, hiring Scooters in Vietnam, and India in general. I could go on. Maybe you should come back in another four and a half months Trev?!
Stu: I second the Sky Dive shout, literally cant wait, also for the
Bungy too. The OZ beach, beer,
BBQ lifestyle and the any means possible travel in SE Asia are two others that jump out. The fun just keeps on coming.....
Trev: Not a bad few months ahead then boys, congratulations again for the award, thank you for your time, any last thoughts?
Steve: Well, I have, but unfortunately when I started to write them down it started running to multiple pages, so maybe I'll put a link up if people are interested to read when I've finished... It may take commitment though!
Stu: Only to say if anyone reading this is thinking about travelling, in any form, just do it!
You will never regret it. No other time will you be able to see and do so many amazing things and meet countless incredible people along the way. It also gives you time to think whats important in life and what you want to achieve, and that can never be underestimated. Also you begin to realise that the fun
isn't in completing something but in the ride you took to get there...
Firstly apologies for the lack of posting, this is due to the severe lack of Wi-Fi in NZ (and the fact we are so busy!) After a rash, last minute change of plans we spent a day at Mount Maunganui in the Bay of Plenty and decided to try our hand at body boarding in the incredible surf the area has to offer and we were not disappointed! We spent a whole morning riding, being submerged in, bailing out of ,and just generally loving the waves and by the end getting pretty good! And after a nice, but very hot, stroll to the top of the Mount, we decided Rotorua was beckoning and jumped back in Sonny.
We opted for the hour long Kaikura River, Class 5 rafting that included a 7m waterfall drop, the highest in the rafting world! On our boat was a girl from Derby who got feet and metres confused and was suddenly very, very nervous. During the safety briefing they said the drop could go three ways…1) We complete it with no problems and celebrate accordingly. Happy. 2) We flip the raft and end upside down (no celebrations for that one), with 1 in 6 ending like this! 3) Very similar to 1 except upon celebration we find we are missing a member in the bottom of the waterfall as they have decided to go economy class! Luckily enough option 1 was taken and the rafting was one of the best activities undertaken so far, with adrenaline to burn. We were even allowed to do 2 of the rapids out of the boat, on our gluteus maximous’ which added an extra bit to an incredible experience! Sweet as!
Part two of uber day was a trip back in time to the Tamaki Village to experience some Maori culture. On the bus/Waka jouney there Steve volunteered himself to be the ‘chief’ of our tribe with various duties. The first of which (pictured) was to greet the tribe so they could assess if we meant any harm before letting us into the village for a wander around (Steve: This is meant to be intimidating, and staring down a fat Maori after he’s jumped about with his spear in front of you certainly is!!). Next up was a Maori show with various songs, poi, and ending in the formidable Haka, pretty cool. Followed as a Maori-style ‘all you can eat’ dinner of various meat incl NZ lamb and fresh fish, cooked in an earthen oven, which we enjoyed a lot of! The evening finished with a sing-song, Maori speech and a ‘Haka’ performed by the 4 chiefs of the tribes, incl Steve. 
Definitely had to be seen to be believed! Our crazy bus driver then induced a karaoke style singalong on the bus home where Steve did ‘Yellow Submarine’ and I did ‘Swing Low’ all whilst going around roundabouts multiple times! Pretty good day eh?!
Ok, so the bus journey from Mendoza to Santiago may well have included the most horrific border crossing to date, but the road cuts like a bullet through the Andes, and I can’t recall enjoying a more scenic bus journey. Santiago itself only gained around 36 hours of our time, but they were well spent musing the markets, climbing to vantage points and eating hotdogs (clearly a big thing in Chile). We also entered into a fun game of ‘Spend the Peso’ at Santiago airport, trying to eek every last drop out of our money in the minimarket when we bought dinner. We got down to 30 Pesos, which will buy you nothing when you consider you get around 800 to the pound. Gratified with our achievements, we tipped this to the girl in the shop who had to put up with us asking ‘how much is this… and this… and this…’.
90 mile beach is perhaps the best thing I have ever seen to involve sand and water. It literally stretches as far as the eye can see (and further), and the best bit is you can drive on it!! Much fun was had…
Stu also found some fishing gear in the hostel (but no bait), but still proceeded to catch what I understand to be some sort of snapper and a mackerel. Indeed, this success planned the rest of his day, returning and using the little guys for bait, he hauled in three more fish which we cooked up for dinner that eve! That certainly helps keep costs down! While he was out catching said fishies, I went for a wander along the beach. Very nice indeed. That eve we bombed in back down south to Waitomo Caves and slept in the car park of a hostel, managing to pop in in the morning for a shower and breakfast. A very reasonable place to stop considering it cost us $0.
This morning we visited the caves themselves, taking in the famous Glow Worm cave and also Ruikuri caves which was pretty damn good. The plan from there was to get to Roturua, but I’m currently in a hostel lounge in Tauraunga, which just shows how much flexibility the car has afforded us!!!!
Day 1 included a nice wander around the town itself and then a hike (just can’t get enough of them) up to Cerro Otto, 3 hours walking from our hostel. This led to some unbelievable scenery and mild sunburn and was cracking fun. The evening we attempted the holy grail of cookery, the roast potato! Somehow it took nearly 3 hours to cook but with some delicious Argentine steak, was just what the doctor ordered!
Day 2 and a bus to Cerro Camapanrio for, as National Geographic put it, one of the top ten views in the world. Big statement but it did not disappoint with a 360 view of this magical area of Patagonia. After this we undertook ‘Circuito Chico’, a 24km bike ride up and down the mountains around one of the areas lakes. With perfect weather and great bikes great fun was had by all, especially the spectators to our glacier lake dip to cool/freeze vital parts off! A big BBQ, more 80p wine and party in our hostel finished off our time in Bariloche perfectly and we set off, albeit delayed and without Bingo, cheers Andersmar, to Mendoza.
With Mendoza producing 70% of Argentinain wine and us gaining ‘end-of-continentitus’ we had one thing on our mind and for once it wasn’t hiking! After of couple of chilled days trying to regain some vital energy and meeting a girl in the hostel who went to BRCC, small world? We undertook Mr Hugo’s Winery Bike Tour. Now Mr Hugo’s ‘tour’ was very different to previous tours. On meeting he gives you a bike and a map and you head off for some well deserved wine tasting and also some liquor and chocolate tasting which were delicious apart from the 75% Absinthe! When you return, slightly worse for wear and with a police escort for part of the ride he gives you a glass of Vino, very nice, then another, then another....until standing up becomes a challenge! Mr Hugo’s enthusiasm, friendly manner and unlimited supply of nice wine was a great end to a redonkulous 3 weeks in Argentina and an unbelievable 10 weeks in South America perfectly, which for me had called and raised North America.I am currently writing this on a bus to Santiago after a 5 hour delay at the Chilean border as we get ready for our flight to NZ late Thurs to embark to Continent 3 of the trip and a country that we have both dreamed of going to for years....This definatly beats working!
On the second day we strode out again on a 8 hour hike to Cerro Fitz Roy, which was a much more challenging accent at the end, but such a good vantage point to reach, and well worth the effort. You have to go, the rumour is it's some of the best hiking in the world, and from where I'm standing I'd find it hard to disagree. Not so cool was the 36 hour bus from there to here. We actually spent the day that marked half way entirely on a bus, and the night before and after!! Worth it though, the scenery here also looks fantastic, just the view from our hostel dorm is enough to get the blood pumping.
The flight to Rio Gallegos was far more interesting than anticipated. We breezed through the quiet airport corridors and settled ourselves for a little power nap for the three hours it took to speed south. This was largely unsuccessful but we caught as much rest as we could. At one point I was rudely awoken by the drinks trolley slamming into my knee. On arousal, I also realised this contained the in-flight meal (served at the sociable hour of midnight), which Stu and I both preceded to decline in favour of some well earned rapid eye movement. Broken sleep took us to the proposed landing time, and sure enough we descended through cloud to be graced with the lights of Rio G. below. As I do on these occasions, I fastened my gaze through the little portal on the side of the aircraft to watch the final moments of flight exhaust themselves. Landing gear came down, so did the plane. I estimate that at approximately three seconds before the plane should have grounded itself a rather strange event passed in front of me however. All the lights in Rio Gallegos went out. This sudden blackout decided to spread its tentacles into the usually immune airport terminal for good measure and I also witnessed the lights go out on the parallel runway. My general response was initially, 'I'm sure that's not normal' and then 'I'm sure that's not good'. My concerns were confirmed when I glanced in Stuarts direction and saw the most bewildered look I think I've ever been party to, etched on his still half asleep features, and then when drives gunned the engines with all his might and the plane shot back into the air like a frightened rabbit. Needless to say, the power cut could not have come at a worse time, not could the airport have had a worse set of backups! Still, we did indeed manage to land after a scenic tour of Rio G's outskirts. Stu then smuggled some bananas through customs (we did buy them in Argentina, so couldn't understand the fuss) and then we both laid in the very comfortable and warm terminal and finished our nights sleep (hopefully sarcasm is still apparent in blog posting...).
El Calafate is very small. It's also for the most part fairly shoddy. It does however have some rather impressive surroundings and also affords access to Los Glaciers National Park. So we went there and sampled the Perito Moreno Glacier, which is massive. Like, truly huge. It is also one of the most dynamic natural spectacles we have come across and genuinely can consequently be described as very exciting. At first it just looks like a big chunk of ice, which isn't far off, but you only have to stand around for a few minutes to start hearing the cracks, creaks, and bangs. And then, if you are as lucky as us you also get to see chunks as large as 20 storey buildings just fall straight of the edge and plunge into the waters below. We managed to witness quite a few of these outstanding occurrences, but there was a serious cigar moment to come. There was one chunk of ice that looked like it was rather precarious. We both agreed that if it fell it would be the piesta resistance. It was perhaps a 20m high, roughly 8m diameter cylindrical affair, and so we always kept one eye on it and subtly prayed. After about 2 and a half hours we found ourselves on the balcony closest to this monster, and we basically sat there starring at it, half in awe, half in anticipation, sharing thoughts about how amazing it would be, that if, after all this time it actually went. Then stuff started falling out of a crack behind it. Then its neighbour fell. By this point we were on the edge of our... balcony. After about another half hour it simple slid off the top of the glacier, cascaded and exploded into a million pieces and thundered into the water accompanied by and almighty roar and crash. 
We were so damn happy! And so damn lucky!! It must have been like that for days. The fact that we picked it out, waited for so long, and actually saw it fall was far beyond unlikely and possibly one of the best moments we've had yet. The glacier is truly unbelievable, and as I said... exciting. We would jump at the chance to go back one day and watch it twist and turn and fall again.
With the New Year antics over and plenty of time to explore BA (maybe to much time if were honest due to flight booking) we undertook the sights and sounds of the city including the following:
The famous BA Bar Crawl which was messy to say the least. Which led us to really live like the locals and stay up till 6am and wake up at 3, which is still classed in BA as 'the morning'!
It defined the term 'melt in your mouth' and was by far the best steak we have ever eaten. And to get a bottle of wine and two desserts as well for the grand sum of 10 pounds each, we certainly didn't leave disappointed.
hris Rock and Borat and with limited English but unlimited energy he taught us a few steps and we went from there! Watch out for us on this years Strictly Come Dancing. We then had a break before watching the hour long tango show which also including singing, music and much more and exceeded both our expectations. Every act had some new and was finished with a Spanish rendition of 'Don't Cry For Me Argentina'. All in all, it was a fantastic night and certainly worth a visit.
The consequences of our plan B style malaria resistance techniques in Iguacu prodominantly corcerned copious amounts of sweat. With temperatures still hanging around the 30's we were covered head to toe. Two elements made this worse. Firstly, no-one ese seemed to be taking any sort of precautions, with everyone lounging round the pool in our hostel covering only the bear minimum of skin. These people were either all on malaria tabs, or had little regard for the advice of the NHS, either way, it made us feel even hotter, but we simply wern't willing to take the risk. Secondly, we couldn't drink the tap water, which is no small matter when your perspirating at a rate comparable to the flow of the natural spectacle you came to witness.
We also worked out that by the bus times availiable we were best leaving for Buenos Aires a night earlier. We felt we had seen everything we wanted to in the day we had, would have had little time the next, wanted to get south in good time for new year and also wanted to minimise the time in our hot, potentially malarial situ. So, we boarded the Calsberg bus. Unfortunately I am not saying that Calsberg operated the bus, but if Calsberg made buses... You get my drift. We had an evening meal on board, with drink (including wine if you fancied it), followed by a nightcap of either Whiskey (yes, Whiskey) or Coffee liquor (yes, coffee liquor). Good films on the flat panel TVs, fully reclining uber compfy chairs and then breakfast with fruit juice in the morning. We had heard about Argentinan buses... but this?! And fairly cheap!! We arrived in BA the day early, and planned the time we have here.
Buenos Aires is one of those cities that we both fell in love with on arrival. Some cities you grow to love, so you may have a great time in and love them for the memories, some, like Chicargo and San Fran before are simply amazing right from the moment you touch the soil and take your first whiff of the culture. We were therefore aready in love before our city wander in the day yesterday (New years eve), but it keeps getting better, and now we have had one of our best new years ever...
After changing hostel to the one we had already booked before our change of plans we learnt there was a bit of a BBQ party going down. Naturally we were inclined to attend, but we really wanted to be out in the street at midnight. So, we went and bought some 80p botles of wine and 50p bottles of beer (unbeleivable!), got very merry in the hostel and made some chums, but at 11.30 we wandered to an Obelisk in the city which is known as a kind of symbol of Buenos Aires hoping that other people would have the same idea. It was lovely. Not a heaving crowd but a sizeable congregation surrounded the structure and by the clock in the distance we measured the moment and cheers and fireworks lit up the night all around. It wasn't some eic specticle, but in a way it was so intimate and homely that I loved it in every way. As more fireworks were dotting the sky a group of lads, who were clearly a choir or similar starting singing carols, seemingly completely impromptue, and completed the atmosphere.
Even better, when we got back to the hostel we caught the massive hunk of chicken and slab of beef that BBQ man had laid on the coals and had an amzazing meat fest and met more peeps, including some crazy dutch, eating till about half two.
