Mar 07

Welcome to the site...

It´s a bit ramshackle at the moment, and not easy to navigate in chronological order. But if you want to do it this way, then follow the path Arg (5 parts) - Uruguay - Brazil - Chile - Bolivia - Peru - then it should follow my trail.

Although this is strictly-speaking a blog, I have decided against describing every last detail of my time, and thought some pictures would do a better job. I hope you enjoy them.

Buenos Aires was my home from the start of the trip, and this building took up the entire block next to my flat. It's called the Palace of Water, and houses one of the smallest and least exciting museums I've ever seen.

This picture below shows a portion of a tomb at Recoleta Cemetery. It's where Evita Peron, among others, is buried.

Christmas, apart from being incredibly warm, was very low-key. Decorations like this were scarce. The chap to Santa's right is Carlos Gardel, a famous tango singer. I'm not sure what the gnome is doing there.

This flag was hanging in an artists' workshop.

The last two were taken in La Boca, which is home to Boca Juniors' stadium, and some brave use of colour.

Brazil was home for two weeks, including the four days of Carnaval, in February.

It was amazing, with great music everywhere, random street parties and one main centre-piece competition at the Samba Drome, where local neighbourhoods try to out-dance, out-smile and out-camp eachother.

The whole thing demands a lot of late night staying-power, and apparently it's fine to spend only one day of your week up and about sightseeing.

This is what happened to our tram during Carnaval. Do visit the interactive section for an all-singing, all dancing film version.

This photo shows a favela and the statue of Christ in the background. You can take guided tours of both places.

Very close to the tram terminal is the city's Catholic Cathedral, with great stained glass stretching the entire length on all four walls.

After Rio, I started my overland bus tour, stopping first at a fishing village called Parati.

Shortly after that we visited what I think is the most impressive set of Brazilian waterfalls that I've ever seen. They straddle the Brazilian and Argentinian border, at a place called Iguacu. The first photo is from ground level, the second from a helicopter.

Below are some pictures of a two day mountain trip we made from Bariloche, the main town in the north of Patagonia. The photos are taken chronologically, from the drive there, to the stay in the mountain refuge, to the brush with a wild animal caught on camera on the climb down.

The view of Mount Tronador from the van on the way there.

This is the view back down to the valley where the climb started.

Early morning view of the mountain top.

The refuge sleeps as many people who climb that particular day. There were about 20 or so on this day.

A close shave.

The links below are all courtesy of youtube, which has a few films of mine, plus some music from South America.

1) This is the film of the samba street party which halted our tram ride in Rio.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYqZINVFeuE

2) A quick view from the top of Mount Tronador, on the Argentinan/Chilean border. We stayed in the small lodge that you can see at the start.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmvEzds55UY

3) In Argentina, although tango is better known, the music that was seemingly everywhere was cumbia. It's been described as having the rhythm of a three-legged horse, and you could also say it's a bit cheesy. Anyway, this was the big summer hit when I was there. It's called "Bombón Asesino" (Killer Sweetie)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6n_lKyEB998

4) The other cumbia track I heard a lot, and started to quite like, was "No Me Arrepiento de Este Amor" by Gilda. Not sure what it means.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5y90fvLVSU

5) I listened to a lot of Rock Nacional in Argentina, and still popular is Gustavo Cerati, who was in an eighties band called Soda Stereo, complete with pushed up jacket sleeves and back-combed hair.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOkIinpXv-c

6) In Brazil I didn't get to know any particular song, but the name of the drumming that accompanies the Carnaval street parties is batucada, and it's extremely infectious. Here is an example I found on youtube, which gets going after a couple of minutes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGFyTO9Wudw

7) Colombia seemed to be the place where so many different sorts of music originate. One very popular style, the Vallenato, is an accordion based folk music from the northeast. This song is composed by a bit of a Vallenato legend, Alfredo Gutierrez, with a video that sort of works, if you forget the original tune that goes with it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tiw6c5YRAo

8) In Nicaragua I was lucky to be there for the annual celebration of their revolution, where I heard this song blasting out everywhere. It is the offical tune of the Sandanista party, now back in power.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqplKh3q9TA

9) Central America was where you could hear a lot more music in English. In Nicaragua one bar played non-stop Spanish versions of Western 80's songs. Here is one of them...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Pc1ZaDRvGY