Bariloche-Penisula Valdez-El Calafate

well, i think i ll have to keep the tempo high and i do.. a lot of people thought my journey would be impossible.. im about to proof them wrong.. still enjoying my time a lot.. and just decided to put more in :)

what is wrong with me? i dont know but i guess i just sleep less and the fact that i ll be back home soon give me energy.. after the day hike in bariloche.. i went out for real.. relaxed the saturday( it was raining anyway) and took the night bus to puerto madryn, where mo and carlyn already waited for me with a rental car taht took us to the famous peninsula de valdez.. the wildlife paradise!!(see fotos)
after celbrating mos birthday staying on the island for the night in a little chalet with seaview and bbq.. baking birhtday cakes at 4am and going back the next morning to puerto madryn... i luckily got in the same bus that mark and shaw (remember the medellin crew, right) took from buenos aires..(sadly i had to leave the crazy canadians again :( )
well shawn and mark made the trip south to a party event that is unchallenged, it was marks birthday on sunday as well.. happy birthday !!
so both were still drunk and dead, and the only one up for party was the fat guy that wanted to sit on my seat and didn t except that everybody was sitting on seats that did not match with the tickets... he was stronger.. more into his case and finally got me out of my seat by threating that he would just sit on top of me... uuuuaah
well, rio gallegos was ashort stop.. we arrived late but still got the last three tickets.. on the bus tu el calafate... which left 7min later!! somtimes u got to be lucky...
today we just arranged a car.. leaving tomorrow to do the welt famous moreno glacier hoping we can whitness some ice breaking of the glacier-... and then we ll check out fitz roy range.. on of the top mountaineer areas in the world.. this place unbelievably full with unforgettable sights.. and unbelievably expensive as well...
so much for that.. got to drive a lot tomorrow.. starting early.. so i ll get the bbq started now and get some awsome worldfamous argentinian beef on... cheers to the world...

germany will have me back soon..

changing luggage on the fly.. left bus broke down.. right bus came and oicked us up.. in the middle of nowhere.. bienvenido a patagonia..

looks like we are gonna get some awsome sunsets here in patagonia... on teh way south to rio gallegos..

btw.. i am back at the atlantic ocean!! after more than one year...and at the other side, of course..

me and caros shades

i had to buy a new jacket.. too cold here.. but now im so warm ( jacket sais it goes to minus 40 ) i can shoot fireballs..

drinkin some red wine at the beach at sunset for mos birthday, almost got true.. except u couldnt see the sun at the baech and mo couldnt drink wine cause she was driving.. we

and u could get really close... and talk to them.. and i think i did understand what this one said..and no upper right corner.. that is not a fence :)

penisnula de valdez = wildlife paradise.. that means 90% no animals.. than a lot of sheep.. but yeah.. to be fair.. some whales and some penguins..!

unfortunately the weather wasnt that good.. otherwise we could have sold some of our pictures.. at least the ones including mo and caro :)

we payed more.. therefore got a smaller and faster boat, not that many people and a lot closer to the whales

and my retarded but extremely funny canadian hiking partners..btw happy birthday mo!

with david from ireland, some whales..

whale wathcin tour

the way down from the rock was kind of of the beaten track... literally.. basically just straight down.. an we ended up in one of these places were the wealthy built their cabanas.. and got escorted out by guards... cause its private propperty and acces forbidden.jjj

after making fun of mo all the time i had to ride somthing, too.--- i think i choosed well

from downstairs... the rock

from above...

next summit i made up for the flamingo and did something new...

after summit stunts we entered the funky farytale forrest.. as some genious once called it.. and trained our riding skills... at least mo..

... and got almost blown away from the wind

tried to do the flamingo...

we mdae it up on snow level... good that i bought my new jacket afterwards.,. i love the warmth. now..

not as warm as bay of islands or whitsundays.. but therefore snowcovered mountains...(well there might be a connection...) and two crazy canadians.. who are definitely fit in hiking.. a bit retarded ... and most of the time funny..

hiking up cerro oto... underneath the gondula.. is free:)

so fruehstueckt es sich gut

and then it looked like we ate enough so the sun finally decided to come out today... view from the hostal , 10th floor, beautiful

thursday is -everybody cooking day-...in the hostal in barriloche... we were like 30 people, outide it was raining inside chimney and food and wine.. very cosy..

with a bunch of israelian guys

we spent the last day in mendoza.. at the pool..playing guitar, eating and drinking

argentina and the beef!!!

my english :)

well to cut down all discussions about my english... the last post was translated automatically by www.babelfish.altavista.com ... so dont blame me.. just enjoy the funny resulting english.. cause i think the message stays clear...

i hug the world from cold barriloche.. the little swiss village in argentina..surrounded by stunning lakes, home of argentinas best chocolate and unfortunately covered by rainclouds as far as u can see...but the hostal is nice..

The World and You

If we would reduce the whole mankind to a village of 100 inhabitants respecting the proportions of all existing peoples, then this village would be arranged as follows:

57 Asians
21 Europeans
14 Americans (north and south)
8 African

52 would be female
48 would be men
70 non--white
30 white ones
70 non--Christians
30 Christians
89 heterosexual
11 homosexual
6 persons would possess 59% of the entire world wealth and all 6 would come from the USA
80 would not have sufficient housing conditions
70 would be illiterates
50 would be underfed
1 would die
2 were born
1 would have a PC
1 would have an academic education

If we regard the world from this view, it becomes clear to everyone that the need after zusammengehoerigkeit, understanding, acceptance and education is necessary.
If you did wake up this morning healthy and not ill, you are luckier than 1 million humans, who will not experience the next week.
If you never experienced a fight of war, never the isolation by shank, felt Agonie of the tormenting or hunger - then you are luckier than 500 million humans of the world.
If you can go into the church, without the fear that it is threatened to you that one arrests you or kills you - you are luckier than 3 billion humans of the world.
If in your refrigerator meal is, you are tightened, a roof over the head have and a bed for putting down - are you enrich as 75% the humans of this planet.
If you have an account with the bank, something money in the purse or something change in a small box - you belong to 8% the wealthy humans in this world.
If you read this you do not belong to the 2 billion humans not to read to be able. And... You have a PC!

Someone said once:
work - as if you dont need no money
love - as if you have never been hurt,
dance - as if noone looks
sing - as if noone listens,
live - as if the paradies was on the earth.

Travel drawbacks.. the halffull glas

the old question: is the glas half full or half empty... it lies in the eyes of the one looking at it...

many people keep saying my journey is working out well and yes im happy.. i think im lucky as well.. but i have to admit that u only see the things i put in the net and read the things i tell u... for example yesterday

1) waking up in a bus at 3am cause a fat bus driver is pushing u.. got to go out get two stampsat the border crossing chile argentina, unfortunately santiago andmendoza are hot, but the border crossing in the night is not.. freezing 20min surounded by snow...
reaching mendoza, realizing the hostal u wnated togo is heaps tooexpensive, so much for cheap argentina,
joining 5 israelienasto find ahostal that was supposed to be cheaper, waiting for cabs.. drivin through the whole city.. and yes.. hostal is chep and .... full for ever!
great next cabs next waiting next driving.. will this go on all day?
fianlly founda hostal... taking a bike to do mendozas famous winery tour.. on my own ofcourse.. but found out, wineries here prefere to show u how to make wine instead of giving u free wine tastings..
so all way up the hill to the zoo.. south americans biggest btw... interesting looking but unfortunately closed on mondays.. somebody musthaveforgetton to tellme...
doesn t matter.. cero gloria is just 20min more up the hill, famous lookout... whos views are generously protected by trees so u cant enjoy them...
what a day... maybe tomorrow will be better...

2) the border crossing was unreal..full moon snowcovered mountains, and this fresh cold but clear air..after three days santiago smog really refreshing...
found a cheap hostal with free breakfast(croissants) and already met 5 isrealis..
hostal has cheap bikes.. so i could organize stuff for going south and get to know the city at the same time..
got the last place in plane from ushuaia to buenos aires...and argentina turns out to be cheap for real.. good after chile..
found a great downhill area and even though land was cover by dorn bushes the bike made it!!
good work out.. shower and some good argentinian wine for dinner...

i learned: the important thing is to have or not to have a glass :)

mendoza = summer = hot = less cloth for everybody = more smiling people = i like it but still got to go

if argentina should win the worldcup...iknow why.. they send footballplayers in the back of the soccerfield to lift stones in the sun@30�C.. thats training camp argentinian style... i said respect.. and kept driving through that dried river bed.. i was driving in couse i got lost.. a bit

up there hard work in that heat... down there a lot of fun...

unfortunatesly it was so empty of people.. that someone brilliant converted it also in a private dump..

my 2$ bike from the hostal stand sback a lot after the high tec bikes from bolivia and peru.. but it did its job...and i did find a moto/bici cross wonderland..background

el cerro de la gloria... medozas famous lookout.. so many trees u cant see anything.. but i was a good workout to drive up with a bike...

yepp thats her... funny school break games in the park at 30�C in the city where that piece of water is the only one, i called it eating sensfully my first liter of ice cream in years...

3 guys and on girl, can u see her?

Mendoza - Argentina

so ho...

next country next adventure... but first i want to send a big thx to astrid and the girls for letting me stay for free in santiago... and use the internet and and and... it was feeling like havin a home again.. for 2 days :)

anyway... santiago was nothing much i could tell... i met some old friends fromthe casa roja.. had a lot of lets go for a beer situations... met the girls... and fall asleep friday night.. but made up for that on saturday..when i went for a beautiful dinner with guada... birthday party in a bar... after i left the girls i made my way on my own through santiagos night life.. ended up in la feria.. a propper club and followed a couple of (how i found out later) gay guys to an after hour... just to return at 10am with fresh bred rolls home... why am i telling that? i think i havent been out propperly in ages... cause over here (australia, sa) everything closes so early..

so now i am in argentina... which is refreshingly cheaper than chile... there is free breakfast in the hostal... it is summer...hot hot.. pupils throw each other in public fountains.. i try to organize the rest of my trip--- at least till ushuaia..

which i ll keep doin now..

so talk to yall later

mattes

i can see u ...

giving us a propper sunset..thx

in darwin, australia they say u have the most beautiful sunsets, because the smoke of the bushfire turns the sky red.. in la serena there is no bushfire.. but somebody must have tried to copy the effect.. something was seriously burning...

which we did afterwards at the beach.. of la serena

but the graps seem to grow... so enjoy the pisco..

the elqui valley looked a bit like an oasis in rather brown and dead mountains...

La Serena and the Elqui Valley

from San Pedro de Atacama, just a little horribly expensive town in the middle of the driest place on earth, we decided to leave directly down south towards santiago.. doin a beach stop in la serena..
luckily there was no sun, which makes a beach town rather unattractive... so we took a bus and drove into elqui valley.. the place where chiles pisco (grape brandy) comes from...
still not having any sun... i gave up and bought my bus ticket to santiago... but before leaving.. we had at least some kind of sunset...

so now im back in santiago.. for the weekend.. wanted to go out.. but fall asleep... which gave me the time to do all this here :) well and i think on sunday i ll make my way to mendoza, argentina!!

will write again.. after i got a propper beef..

mirror image and tour over... left the jeep and got into a shuttle bus to chile..

hot springs on 5000m... 2m from the pool the ground is frozen... boojaahh

i got lost... had to jump my way out..

after we spent another night in the desert at 4800m above sealevel...-15�C and basically just drinking ron... we found some geyser the next morning at 5am!!

so we better left fast

couldn t climb up myself, but we got jamie up .. just to find out that climbing the tree is stricktly forbidden... oops..