Isla Chiloe’, Puerto Montt, Puerto Varas, Frutillar

Posted: April 13, 2012 in South America
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Isla Chiloe’..magical little island..well not that little but I am comparing now everything to the size of Brazil/Argentina.

1st stop: Ancud. Surprisingly there was free wifi on the 15 minutes ferry journey that we did to arrive to the island. This is the size  ferry:

The weather was not great..rain, misty..so we found a hostel with Benny went to eat fabulous seafood on the fish market and early night. The first surprise with Benny was during the night….I was up late doing some admin (after 4 days of no access to wifi on Navimag kinda made me keen on catching up with the world), when Benny after 5 mins of going to bed started snoring in a way that the Aussie guy coming in to the dorm to sleep could only say: This is selvage!

Apparently people heard him downstairs…so..I hoped i would get some sleep which I did but I kept waking up to the incredibly loud snoring melodie…The Aussie guy had enough at some point and climbed up to Benny’s bed to hit him 🙂 Now if I think back to this action, I am still pissing myself of laughing.

Next day Benny had pokerface..maybe I should have told him something but I didn’t..So we are at Easter Saturday now…everything was closed. The main reason I wanted to check Ancud out was the penguin community living very close to it along with sea lions, but 2 problems occurred..

  1. I just missed them by a week
  2. National holiday …life completely stops

So in the afternoon I grabbed Benny to go to Castro (Capital of Isla Chiloe;) I used the word ‘grabbed’ deliberately as the poor guy had no clue( and interest) in where we are going, what we are doing, he just tagged along because ‘I speak Spanish and he doesn’t so it’s good for him’ I kinda quoted him here…At the beginning I kinda enjoyed his company..learnt a few things about him, such as him working as a rescue man (not sure if it’s ambulance or fireman but one of the 2..I needed a lot of patience to his English), him having a family back home but he decided to go travelling at the age of 50+ before pension, that he eats rice with every meal and many other things. But then he started to annoy me big time..simply with his uselessness..and his inability to choose between 2 suggestions of mine that was coming from his lack of interest I think…or I don’t know.

Anyway..after arriving to Castro i made our way to Palafito area which is little houses built on poles

There was a hostel which was recommended by Lonely Planet but sadly it was full. Luckily I popped into the Tourist info before where they gave me a kinda ‘underground’ cheap hostel (not advertised as a hostel- called Hostel Mirador, Palafito), which was managed by a 14-15 year old little guy who kindly showed us the room. It was a private room with 2 single beds…As soon as I saw it I remembered last night and the snoring so the first thing coming out of my backpack were the earplugs..I think these were the last ones so whoever laughed at me at the beginning on taking 40 pairs of earplugs on my trip and making me uncertain on my decision (followed by reducing quantity) can admit here that it wasn’t a bad idea in the end considering taking large amount of this helpful tool! The person knows exactly that he made a mistake therefore I am expecting a comment to this post from him/her.

I planned to stay in the hostel 2 nights, so the afternoon when we arrived we visited Castro..very nice little town with all the Palafitos, restaurants and hidden gems like this for example:

Next day early rise: Plan was to go to Isla de Quinchao. Since our hostel didn’t offer breakie and the whole city was closed at 9.30 am we went to a hostel where some Navimag folks stayed (oh we kept bumping into people from the boat, it was funny) and i begged for some breakfast to us obviously with payment..aaaaand who was having breakfast there?? My favourite couple on the boat from Barcelona: Xavi and Mariona!!

I briefed the story to them on Benny. They were about to go on my second day plan to the National park, so I asked them if we can come with them.

So we spent the day together in the green, then finished the walk with a nice meal in Parador Darwin restaurant. In the evening I sat in a cafe, did some admin and decided to send off Benny that night..(giving him a day notice). He didn’t seem to bother  too much..

In the morning we went to the little island and to Achao (capital). I lost Benny pretty early, and couldn’t find him anymore in that little island (ok.. ok i was mean and didn’t put a 100% into his research)

I went to a few places on the island, then returned to Castro, got a sim card (along with a phone- paid about £18 which was a full credit) then took the bus back to Puerto Montt, as there were 2 more little towns I wanted to visit. I decided that I will try to couchsurf.(whoever is not familiar with the term can look it up here: www.couchsurfing.org)

I had one guest back in the time in London but I never stayed at anyone’s house. Luckily Ricardo replied to my request but said that we wasn’t going to be at home as he is working during the night, and his parents are away too, so he said he would leave the keys under the doormat…PEOPLE, I DON’T KNOW WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THIS BUT I FIND IT QUITE INCREDIBLE!

Let’s see the risk factors for me:

-keys are not going to be under the doormat and i would need to look for accommodation in the middle of the night

For him:

–          Considering that i had no feedback on my couchsurfing profile and even thought he heard my charming voice over the phone I could have been a psycho murderer, thief, robber…i could have put his house on fire or do whatever the f…ck I wanted!

He took the risk and left the keys for me under the doormat….Thank you so much again Ricky, if you are reading it.

So I spent 2 night at his house. It was so nice to have a lie in and not to worry about check out before 11am, living in a family house with a cute dog, having amazing meal that Jeanette cooked (she works in the house every day) Please meet Ric, Pitufo and Jeanette:

I visited the 2 little towns I wanted: Puerto Varas

And Futillar:

You can see the German influence here.

The next post is going to be Pucon, Santiago and Valparaiso.

Laters!

Patagonia-last stop (Chile): Puerto Natales, Torres del Paine-W trek, NAVIMAG

Posted: April 7, 2012 in South America
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After the beautiful Argentina and the first 3 stops of Patagonia I jumped on a bus and crossed the border to Chile. The bus ride is 5 hours from El Calafate to Puerto Natales and leaves usually at 8 in the morning. I had heaps of things to do on that day (27th), like find out more about the W trek and the Torres del Paine National Park, hire a tent, sleeping bag and all the necessary equipment for 5 days of camping. I was a bit scared of this adventure since I knew I was going to do it alone but when I got to the town and found an excellent hostel (Dos Lagunas), Alejandro (the owner of the hostel) explained me the trek and the park very well and also there is a session every day in a place called Erratic Rock where you can meet people and hire gear too.

So I went there, met a lot of people and got to know the following info:

So the W trek was named after the shape of the hike you need to do in order to accomplish. Here is a map:

The easier (and therefore the most popular) way of doing it is from West to East. So from the Glacier Grey to the Torres del Paine. Obviously the highlight is the Torres, but you need to calculate a few other factors such as weather for example.

The weather in Patagonia is changing hourly and also the end of March is pretty much the end of the season. Autumn, cold nights, stronger wind, more rain. But you can always get lucky. I had no clue until the first day where shall I start, west or east so I relied on the weather of the first day which was nice and sunny when I entered the park.

So the gear I hired:

-1 tent

-1 sleeping bag (with temperature of up to -5 degrees)

-1 matt

-1 cooking kit (gas, head, pot)

Renting price for 5 days: 45.000 CHP (around £60)

I wanted to start fresh and relaxed but after a random decision of going out for a meal with the people in the hostel and Alejandro I managed to down a half bottle of wine that actually woke me up and made me want to discover a bit more the bars in Puerto Natales. Bed at 1am.

Day 1:

Bus left Puerto Natales at 8am. The park is about 100km from the town so we enjoyed the picturesque landscape for 2 hours hoping that the weather will be superb. Most of the people I was in the Eratic Rock with started from west to east. Since I sensed a good weather I started from East to West with 15 kg on my back and 5 on the front in the small backpack.

The first part of the W is the most difficult part…UP UP UP…for 3 hours…until you reach the free camping place: Campamento Las Torres. I took a little video on my way:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFcpO0obv2Y&context=C4054ae1ADvjVQa1PpcFNCTI4Oj0rFdqKxDuuLe41zWtwc0UQBGQ4=

Once I reached the camping, I registered, built the tent and went up to the Torres (it’s another 45 minutes of killing hike uphill-on rough rocks- but without the heavy backpack). The wind was very strong but I had a perfect view in sunshine on the Torres. I have to say it was amazing..but if I wanted to be completely honest, I preferred Fitz Roy in El Chalten. These towers were impressive but just 3 piece of stones with no glaciers and snowy top..and maybe I was missing the company of Greg and Marzena as well.

After careful examination of the view I went back to the camping and a few sips of Palinka helped me crash at 6pm..until…I heard someone outside my tent saying: Kip Kop, kip kop. This is a Hungarian way of knocking on a door…it was Bea, who I met in Buenos Aires!!!!! She saw me on the list of registered people in the camping and found me! Such a nice surprise! We both jumped of joy to see each other and spent the rest of the night together gazing stars and chatting to other pple. It was her last day..and my first one.(she started a few days earlier from west to east that’s why we managed to bump into each other)

We agreed that even though I had a long long way to go on the second day to the camping site, we would go up to the Torres again for sunrise. So we left at 6.30 am, arrived at 7.20 and hoped to see those burning red colours on the Torres that the sun paints on them but unfortunately it wasn’t a sunny day so we ‘just saw this’:

I took a video too:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTbRwXyq5yI&feature=relmfu

So carrying on with Day 2:

I packed my tent and the full backpack and made my way down to do the U turn..

Unfortunately turned out later there was a shortcut (which wasn’t very obvious as the trail is designed to be made from west to east) so I earned myself another 6 km more by going back to the starting point and doing the U as per shown on the map. The map unfortunately didn’t say that there would not be an obvious trail to go on, so I ended up walking with my heavy stuff 4 hours long without meeting anyone and without being sure that I am on the right way..Here is a little taster:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zl19z05UihM

Around 3pm I managed to get on the right track and I met a person finally who said that it was another 4 hours to reach the camp…I thought I would die…honestly..the exhaustion and the wind against me almost broke me. I had to stop a lot..I was crying swearing, I was surprised and enchanted by the view..I was laughing and happy to suffer. It was weird J Eventually after 5 hours I reached the Campamento Cuernos around 8pm (6000 CHP for the possibility to camp, but having a hot shower really helped me recover). I had no problem falling asleep:)

Day 3.

In the Cuernos I met Tasha and Denise (OZ and Swiss girls). They were both very nice, and were similarly exhausted and with full of blisters and back/shoulder pain, like me.

At 10am I made my way to Campamento Italiano (free camp 2 hours away). I got there at 12.30 and decided to have a quick lunch and go up to the French valley which was meant to be the second highlight of the W. I didn’t tell you but despite all the sufferance and physical challenge the landscape on these 5-6 hours walks since I started was absolutely stunning. On the first day when I saw the valley that lead up to the towers almost made me cry (of joy)…check this:

Also the tough second day was quite impressive scenery:

So back to day 3..lunch in Campamento Italiano. A group of Spanish speaking people invited me to sit with them so I did and we had lunch together. Was amazing, I could practice my inexistent Spanish…I have to say Italian helps a lot in South America. Around 2pm (sunshine, no sign of rain) the camping guard (Roberto) joined us and offered to take us somewhere off the beaten track. So the 6 of us went very close to the glacier in the French valley through rivers, climbing big rock..a great experience. After that we made our way to the normal track towards the first view point (Mirador).  Unfortunately it started raining..and the route was very steep and slippery too, plus you didn’t get to enjoy the view because of the rain. So I didn’t go up to the second view point . Went back to the camping, met Iain there (I have been travelling with him since Lencois in Brazil but I was always 1 day ahead of him since Buenos Aires!) We had a little evening reunion in Roberto’s house (cooked together and had a nice chat there in the warm while outside it was raining constantly). Around 1 I went to my tent hoping that the rain would stop by the morning. It didn’t. Cold and wet night…that’s all you need 🙂

A few pics on the 3rd day:

So on the 4th day I washed the tent in the river and we continued with Cora and Carmen (2 girls from the group, the other 2 guys went opposite direction) towards the Lago and Glacier Grey.

This is the route that made me sad…4 month ago a group of Izraeli people decided to have a little cooking party on the trail (strictly forbidden! You can only cook in the camping), and they left the fire on after moving on…a massive part got completely burnt down. It was so sad to see all those black trees…check this:

The rain stopped and the sun came out but the wind was incredibly strong. It took 2 hours to arrive to the Refugio Paine Grande where until 31st of March (the day we were there) there were 2 catamarans to take the passengers back to the point from where the bus left the National Park. At 12.30 and 6pm. We got there after 1pm, so the question was to go up to the glacier Grey and sleep one more night in the park, or go back to Puerto Natales and celebrate our hard work with a beer and a nice meal. To be honest with you I had a lot of reasons to opt for the 2nd choice..

  1. I did an amazing job on my own completing the rest of the W starting with the most difficult and most beautiful part…
  2. I didn’t feel like sleeping in a wet tent
  3. After Perito Moreno glacier (El Calafate) it would be hard to find a more beautiful glacier…so Grey didn’t appeal too much.

So we took the 6pm boat, and went back to Puerto Natales, had the great meal and crashed IN A BED, IN WARM BLANKET in a hostel we found with the girls.

The next day I went back to Dos Lagunas (where I stayed the first day, since I paid it already and Alejandro was very sweet) and spent the afternoon there uploading pictures and doing some planning (outside it was raining so i didn’t feel too bad staying indoors..I know i shouldn’t have even if it wasn’t raining as since I started my trip I had only 1 day off in BA when I was sick, and sometimes you need to rest but I am incapable to do so)

Did you notice my friends that for the first time I didn’t make any April fool joke? 😛 Surely you did…that’s how tired I was after the W.

On Monday (2nd April) I checked into the Navimag, and boarded to the ship. After a few drinks on board and Salsa with Rodrigo (one of the coolest people who works on the ship) I went to sleep and set the alarm to see the sunrise. It was great:

On the first day the weather is pretty shit..rain and therefore not great view on the glaciers and fjords of Chile..It’s a pretty chilling trip..I bought 2 bottles of red and a few beers..Iain and Roberto are here and other cool people so I am studying Spanish, resting, playing cards etc. The meal is nice..it’s a full board with breakie, lunch and dinner.

Well the night was absolutely amazing..a lot of dancing..(salsa, merengue, baciata and the rest)..I don’t know but the people on the boat are not massive party faces…only a little part of the people were there so i had the whole dance floor and dancers for myself.:) Loved every minute.

On the second day the weather was slightly better..until 3pm when we arrived to Golf of Penas and had a very rough 12 hours..lots of people throw up and were lying in their beds sick. I started to feel a bit weird too but it was more of a cold coming than seasickness. After an hour of chilling I was fine, had dinner and watched ‘Into the Wild’. No party was available after so I just went to bed.

Last day on the boat..usual breakfast, presentations on flora and mammals of Patagonia. Everyone started to feel that this was the last day/night together, people got to know each other by then, groups were formed. Really nice group of people..In the afternoon Benny, my friend from Hong Kong gave me a beer so I started drinking in the pub. Later on I joined the second Capitan (Enso) who was sitting by the bar. We had a very nice chat, and as the beer started to kick off I felt like climbing up on the highest point of the ship but it was closed, so Enso opened it for me if I promised not to tell anyone. After this he invited me to join the Official’s table (Capitan, second Capitan and all the VIP staff)…I didn’t believe what I heard so ladies and gentleman, I had my last supper with them, in their cabin at the principal table (because there were 2 for the slightly lower level staff- and here we are not talking about the people working in the kitchen), stylish with a glass of Chilean red. What an experience. My Spanish is pretty good by now so I could converse with them easily. They were all above 50 so obviously they also enjoyed the company of a young Hungarian girl travelling alone….

After dinner, we had bingo at 21.30…how funny..my first real bingo game after working in the industry for so long..I didn’t win   🙂

Bingo was followed by other fun games like limbo, apple game and finally salsa..Rodrigo was far the best dancer so I made the most out of the night. Everyone was pretty drunk..couples were formed by the end of the night so by 1am the pub was pretty empty. Since we arrived to Puerto Montt at 4am and we had to leave the boat by 8 I decided to stop drinking and go to sleep.

Breakfast at 7, and we left. First time it was so weird to leave a group of people that you were stuck with on a boat..I got half of the people’s details..And we will probably bumb into each other in the area.

So Benny decided to come with me for a while to discover Chile. We are on the bus now to Isla Chileo after a few hours of walking in Puerto Montt (very nice fishmarket with delicious seafood empanadas).  I love Chile so far!

Patagonia-2nd /3rd stop: El Calafate/ El Chalten

Posted: March 27, 2012 in South America
Tags: , , , , , , ,
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After a very pleasant bus ride to El Calafate (fabulous drivers and great crowd on the bus) I hooked up with a Polish girl (Marzena) and a French guy (Greg), so since none of us had a hostel booked we decided to listen to Lonely Planet’s recommendation: I keu ken.

It was a cool hostel, not many people, helpful staff. We planned on a quiet afternoon, decided to cook Spaghetti alla Bolognese together and crack a bottle of Malbec with it…It felt like being in a restaurant..in the middle of nowhere, nice music, no crowd (imagine this scenery: )

Turned out quite quickly that 1 bottle of wine wasn’t enough for the 3 of us, so while i cleaned up the ruins of lunch, Marzi and Greg went to buy another one. After that we decided to do a bit of sightseeing (it was dark already). Calafate has a special vibe..it’s very touristic but it’s a superb little town with wooden houses and North Faith and Colombia branded shops something like this:

After a 3rd bottle of wine and a couple of beers we knocked ourselves out around 1am. Next day 8am bus to Perito Moreno glacier. 2 hours bus ride, 100 Pesos entrance fee to National Park and 2 options to choose from: boat to glacier and 3 hours walking or no boat and 5 hours walking around glacier. We chose option 1.

View from boat:

Walking path:

Returned to Calafate at 4pm and me and Marzana had a bus to El Chalten in the evening.

It’s a 3 hours bus ride from Calafate with a 20 minutes stopover at Hotel el Leone.

Again we didn’t have a hostel booked and since it was late when we arrived we went into the first hostel (La comarca) and stayed there throughout the whole time we spent in chalten. It was a great choice as the guy who was running it was very friendly, helpful and hardworking.

So imagine El Chalten as a little young (built in ’85) mountain town. It’s not a party town, people come here to hike. There is no entrance fee to the National Park, you can spend here days just to enjoy the mountains and get sorted your life in your head. (you need a bit of a stamina to do 3-4 days hiking) El Chalten operates only 6 month of the year. We came here in the very end of the season as winter is coming and based on what we saw in the nature (twisted trees) Patagonia in winter is windy! So all these people who are running hostels, supermarkets or any other business pack up and move to Buenos Aires or somewhere else. This guy is running ON HIS OWN this hostel (which is always packed because it’s the closest to the bus station), cleans every day the rooms and common places and during the day works on the top level of the hostel to finish. All my respect is his. Oh yes and there are not many places in Patagonia or the North of Argentina where you can find a hostel for 40 pesos (around $8)/night.

So day 1 in el Chalten..Laguna de los tres (the main path that people are coming here for: to see the Fitz roy). This is a 5 hour walk up to 1500m (3 hours back so altogether 8). Difficulty level- medium to high. The last 1.5 hour is killer…imagine something like this:

But all the efforts you put in this climb pays off in the end…having this view:

After enjoying it for hours we made our way back to El Chalten..needless to say by the end your knees and legs are fairly sore so stretching is essential. We decided to ease the pain with a few beers in the Cervezeria in the evening along with Greg who arrived a day later from Calafate.

On the second day we went on a much easier route to Cerro Torres where similar view was waiting for us but still not quite the same.

Marzena left in the evening to go to the End of the World and we had dinner together with Greg and his friend who arrived in the evening.

On the last day I had my bus back to Calafate at 1pm, so I packed, checked out and did a very easy 2 hours walk to a waterfall. After Iguassu I won’t even insert this picture:)

Calafate was easy..quick sock shopping for the W trek in Puerto Natales (4 nights 5 days starting from Wednesday…cross your fingers for my survival please) and a quick visit to Laguna Nimez.

Right..off to sleep…waking up in less than 5 hours. Update on Chile soon! Thanks for reading 🙂

Patagonia- 1st stop: Bariloche

Posted: March 22, 2012 in South America
Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
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After a pleasant 23 hour bus ride I arrived to Bariloche in the afternoon ( 15th March). The hostel  (TangoInn) seemed very nice with Jacuzzi –which i didn’t take advantage of. The first day in a new place is always a bit hard. Sometimes you don’t feel like meeting new people and telling them your story over and over again. But once you do it, there will always be some nice people who give you good tips for your future destinations.

The first 2 people I met were ok however I couldn’t really talk to them as they were pro travellers (the girl from London has been travelling for years, the Aussie guy has been travelling for 13 months) and they were fairly big-headed about it. But after I met Tal (from Israel) and turned out we are in a very similar position both with regards to travels and private life, we decided to spend the next day together.

Let me give you a bit of overview on Bariloche. This nice little city is in the middle of Nahual Huapi National park. The city itself is famous for its chocolate and meat of course. Backpacker’s call it a party town..I cannot comment on this as I didn’t go out. From Bariloche you can go to the mountains doing  1 or more days of trekking. So on Thursday we went to the Lago P. Moreno Oeste (Lake) which was surrounded by a 30km road. (Circuito Chico) We hired mountain bikes and cycled around the lake. Beyond the picturesque view all over, you can have different side attractions, like turning to a side road you can lock your bike and do an hour trekking to a Mirador (viewpoint) or to a very nice cost part of the lake. During this trip I found the absolute perfect place if I ever wanted to get away in the future from my everyday life and just enjoy the stunning view, silence and the eco house for 2 weeks. Check this out:

http://www.millaqueo.com/es/

We returned to Bariloche exhausted but satisfied. It was great doing some physical activity after Buenos Aires.  I had an early night.

The day after we planned with Tal our next days as it turned out to be great hanging out with her, and then we went to Lago Gutierrez, did some kayaking on the lake and hiking to a view-point. Since we had a few heavy days ahead us we didn’t celebrate St. Patrick’s day, instead I chatted to Angie and Phil (Swiss couple who were half way on their year trip and they gave me very good tips for my next destinations. Angie made me a really nice bracelet. She learnt the technique in Central America..I think I should do the same considering my love towards jewelleries :).

Early rise in the morning..destination: Pampa Linda (Nahual Huapi National park ). We arrived at 11am, built the tent in a camp where the season was just over so all facilities were unavailable. (yes, what you  are thinking is true: we didn’t shower for days…:P and we were the only people in the camping) The first thing we did was a half day horse riding given that there was a range, 2 guys were living there looking after the horses hoping that many people jump on the occasion like we did. Riding the horse just reminded me of Babolna (the city I lived for a while in Hungary- famous for its Arabic horses). I never got the opportunity to ride the horse as freely as I did here..crossing rivers, forests, riding fast on green fields…my biggest dream has come true. Oh yes and the destination with the horses was the Black glacier. We got to the bottom and were watching the glacier to fall…i wouldn’t even dare thinking about seeing a glacier live when I was sitting in my geography class at high school..studying about the Andes..I took a short video on this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTzjDMWXBqs&feature=youtu.be

It was fairly cold in the tent..around 6-7 degrees…i wasn’t quite geared for this temperature but I survived. I have to add that at some point during the night we heard human steps approaching to our tent so we freaked out and slept with a tiny knife each in our hands..we wouldn’t have been able to kill a mouse with those knives but it gave us certain security J Turned out in the morning the human steps might have been only horses or cows eating pleasantly the grass just steps away from the tent.

Next day we hiked 15km-s (about 5 hours) up to the glacier. The aim was to reach the Otto Meiling Refugio and if we have the stamina go back to our tent, but the weather was so cloudy that just  before the Refugio we decided to turn back because it was very dangerous to continue..Even the last km was very mad from us to do considering that Tal was on a tour (with guides) on a similar mountain in Pucon (Chile) about a month ago with similar weather conditions where 2 people fell off the rocks and died…..

We returned to Pampa Linda just after sunset absolutely knackered..8 hours hiking..no wonder.

The last day we went on a short hike as we had to get back early to Bariloche and we planned to do this hitchhiking. However there is a rule on the roads here, people can only leave Pampa Linda before 9am or after 4pm. In-between cars can only come up to Pampa Linda as the roads are so narrow and dangerous that 2 cars don’t fit on it next to each other.

So we found an Irish family who was heading down with their caravan at 4 and we asked them if we could hop on and get a ride down, they agreed. Very nice family and it impressed me how great the idea is for a family to travel in a caravan…great spirit!

Once we arrived to the main road we had to hitchhike again because they went to El Bolson (opposite direction to Bariloche). After 1 minute on the road, a Pickup stopped and we hopped on.

I enjoyed the ride as you can see on the picture:)

Once we arrived to Bariloche I had a few things to arrange, such as buying bus ticket for the next day (time to say bye to Bariloche and move on to the South), return sleeping bag, collect my bags from the hostel, do some food shopping for the 26 hour bus ride and go to the famous El Boliche de Alberto restaurant to try this:

I am on the bus to El Calafate now..for about 9 hours..I cannot wait to see the famous Perito Moreno, Fitz Roy and Torres el Paine.

Hey Guys…I miss you…Keep those emails coming as I have no time to follow your everyday lives on Facebook but i always find time to reply to a personal email. x

Buenos Aires/ Tigre/Colonia (Uruguay)

Posted: March 14, 2012 in South America
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
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Beautiful architecture, friendly people, hot tango dancers, melting steaks, cool city districts and sunshine..this is Buenos Aires.

After a 20 hour bus ride from the Iguassu Falls I arrived to Buenos Aires. I have to say this trip was rather pleasant with its 3 course dinner and Malbec, breakfast, convertible seats so you almost felt like sleeping in your bed, great crowd..i didn’t have problems with the air conditioning either so in Argentina it’s definitely worth doing the long distances on bus..(toilet liquid only..however there is always one or two who doesn’t consider this making the whole bus suffer until the smell clears from the air con…

Unfortunately upon arrival my usual acid problem came out, and I guess this was a warning from my body on the need of slowing down a bit…

I really wanted to see my great Argentinian friends, Nati and Lia though so I decided to be stronger than the pain and went out in the evening for the first steak in Recoleta district….

Well…I have always been a big fan of steak but this one…just made it my top 1 food during my stay in BA…the steak here absolutely amazing. I have to say that I wasn’t 100% happy with the wine though but maybe I didn’t choose the right Malbec (this is valid for my whole 1 week stay in Buenos Aires not just on that night).

We didn’t stay out long, just literally a quick catch up, dinner, laugh and home.

The next day I didn’t feel good at all, so I decided to have a lazy day in the hostel. I did the right thing even though I was going mental if I thought about wasting my time instead of exploring outside but hey…you need to take a break sometimes don’t you?

Early bed time, good sleep..and I was the old Aliz again!

Next day I decided with Iain (we met in Lencois and met again at Iguassu so we travelled together to Buenos Aires) to take the yellow hop on hop off City bus to get an idea about the size/structure of the city so we can pick the locations we would like to explore more in-depth afterwards. I ended up buying a 2 day ticket because BA has a lot of things to offer. Museums, parks, history.

It has become very quickly clear to me that Palermo is going to be my place…with it’s little Parisian bohemian atmosphere, crammed with art galleries, book stores, bars, restaurant. In fact I changed hostels half way because my initial hostel was in the centre and Palermo was a bit out.

Lia and Nati looked after me -they were sweet, we met almost every day. Rollerblading, house party, dinners, deep chats, we did everything together. It’s been very nice..

On Sunday I went to Tigre to check out the market, Delta tour and the legendary casino that everyone was talking about:) in the evening I went to San Telmo, where there is a massive handicraft market on every Sunday along with live tango show. I enjoyed it a lot. Then on Monday I decided to do a day trip to Uruguay- Colonia town.

Everyone recommended it instead of Montevideo and Punta del Este so I did it. Too bad that I haven’t checked the weather beforehand…That day was just a disaster.

I set my alarm at 6am, as I ordered the taxi for 6.40 (ferry left at 8am but check in started at 7am) Events on the day:

1. alarm didn’t go off, the receptionist woke me up saying that the taxi arrived. 2 minutes to get ready and check out. Luckily I was packed..I am learning:)

2. I was convinced that the Colonia Express ferry left from the same place as the major Buquebus one…well it didn’t so I had to take another taxi and go to somewhere else..obviously I was late.

3.once we left the port the waves were just incredible..i have never had a ride like this.. spilt coffee everywhere and half of the people throw up

4.got a travel buddy half was who was the loudest person on the ferry making sure to keep the people entertained during the rough trip..he probably partied through the night so he felt confident coming up to me and making fun of me in front of the people..luckily it was funny so i joined him in his game

5.In Colonia..dark..and tornado..I have never seen a rain like that…I knew I had only a half day as my ferry back to BA left at 4am..so I tried to make the most out of the situation and rent a car..after a few of them tried to screw me over i decided to go sightseeing in the rain..needless to say I didn’t enjoy it and i got absolutely soaked in rain ..and in addition to that it was cold and i was wearing a linen dress…

So after all this I went back to the ferry station and in the moment of getting back on the return ferry the sun came out..31 degrees..Murphy..

In the evening I met my Hungarian gaming fellow Gabor..he started travelling a week after me and i was always one step ahead of him. Same day I met a Hungarian girl who stayed in the same hostel..small world.

So yesterday we had our farewell night with Lia and Nati..I am sad to leave them and this great city but Bariloche is waiting for me and the whole Patagonia…

Waiting for the bus at the moment and will arrive tomorrow 2pm.

In fact I need to leave now.

Few pics of Buenos Aires to make this post more colourful:

Salvador/Lençois/Belo Horizonte/ Ouro Preto/ Foç do Iguaçu

Posted: March 6, 2012 in South America
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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After the Carnival Fever I started to actually live Brazil instead of partying it through.

I spent in Salvador 3 days (21-23 February) but I only saw the city in Carnival decoration and in its post carnival ruins.

Pelourinho (the old town centre ) was very nice though with all the colourful little houses attached one to another. If you’d like to get the feeling of  Pelourinho, check out Michael Jackson ‘s They don’t really care about us clip. (Rio vs Pelourinho http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNJL6nfu__Q&ob=av2e ).

Salvador Bahia is the largest city on the northeast coast of Brazil and was the major place for slave trade. This is a typical Bahian outfit:

I stayed on the seaside –the area is called Barra- in Hostel Porto Salvador. I wasn’t very happy with the staff. In my Rio hostel  (Books hostel) the staff was so much nicer. They helped a lot. For example in Brazil you cannot book a flight or bus online unless you are Brazilian citizen as they require  the CFP number (personal society number) at the booking which is linked to your credit or debit card. Felipe in Books hostel paid for my ticket without hesitation (and without even telling me that this was his intention to do..)he just bought it and i gave him the cash. In this Salvador hostel I asked the staff if there is a chance for me to book through them and they just  said that they didn’t have their cards on them..oh well..This is just an example to show you how nice certain people are in Brazil like those in Books Hostel. Another thing that I didn’t quite like was that since I was planning on taking the 11pm night bus to Lençois, and i wanted to make the most out of my the last day, but when i checked out they just told me that they were really sorry but their storage room was full and they won’t take responsibility for my bags if i leave them at the reception. Great…so I stayed in the hostel all day. Admin day..you need a few of them.

I was advised to go out quite early to the bus station (Rodoviaria) because it’s not safe to travel on buses after dark alone..so I arrived at 8pm to the station and although I asked prior to that about 5 people if I needed to buy a bus ticket in advance and all said it’s not necessary because they never run out of tickets they did on this occasion:)

Luckily I met a nice guy from Israel –Nir- he was in the same shoes as me so we decided to stay at the station and wait for the 7am bus there. I didn’t sleep at all, he did a bit…after 5am those 2 hours were killer. At least i had no problems sleeping on the bus for 6 hours.

Arrived to Lençois at 2.30pm, occupied my hostel (Daime Sono) right in the centre of this little town). Patricia was very nice she looked after me, and this compensated the basic features of this hostel.  So in the afternoon me and Nir took a walk and went to the first waterfall. Lençois is an old mining town. Miners began searching for diamonds in alluvial deposits. They settled in makeshift tents, which, from the hills above, looked like bed sheets drying in the wind – hence the town’s name: Lençóis (sheets).
The only way to make the most out of the place was to book tours as it’s in a massive National Park (Chapada Diamantina) and people cannot just go and explore. Plus we are living in a commercial world aren’t we?

In the evening again, I had no sleeping problems at all.

We booked a tour for next day which was an all day one with 6 different attractions:

  1. Poço de Diablo waterfall –we spent an hour here swimming
  2. Morro do Pai Inácio- amazing landscapes
  3. Alto do Pai Inacio- hiking up high then jumping and having fun on top
  4. Gruta da Pratinha- blue lagoon, snorkelling in a cave
  5. Gruta Azul- even bluer lagoon
  6. Gruta da Lapa Doce- cseppkobarlang

Fab day, great group, we made friends very quickly and went out in the evening to a Reggae party. It was fun. The party was in a house owned by the Bob Marley looking Zion…on 20 square meter about 50 people danced, drank, chatted, got stoned..

Next day most of the people who took this tour and attended the party just chilled, so we met up and went with our tour guide (Hernandez) to rebeirão- which is a kinda natural aqua park. It’s well known that I love aqua parks so the slides were my top spots. After a long day in 35 degrees we returned and went out for dinner. I haven’t really talked about food yet.

Based on 3 weeks experience I have to say Brazil isn’t a major tourist attraction because of its food.

I tried a few things but the fruits are far the best. Just to mention my favourites:

açai, cupuaçu, piña,guava, papaya

The Brazilian cuisine has lots of deep fried and bbq meat. You can buy food in restaurants ‘al peso’, where u pay by the weight of your food. I tried the famous feijoada but i found an organ in it that i couldn’t identify and based on the look it didn’t trigger the need in me to examine it in –depth or continue eating it.

I tried Farofa (a dish of toasted manioc flour with small amounts of flavoring ingredients such as pork, onions, hard boiled eggs or different vegetables)

Moqueca- typical Bahian food, similar to a curry.

Coxinha- it’s a pear shaped breaded fried chicked snack.

Tapioca- it’s like a sweet or savoury pita bread

Dulce de leche- a lot of people (especially aussies were surprised that in Brazil they serve cakes in the morning that you can have with jam, butter or dulce de leiche.  It is prepared by slowly heating sweetened milk to create a product that derives its taste from caramelised sugar. It is a popular sweet in Latin America, where it is known under a variety of names. In Chile, Ecuador and Panama, it is known as manjar.

On the last day of Lençois we booked another tour which was a day of hiking in blasting sun uphill  to Brazil’s highest waterfall called: Fumaça. When we got to the top the view was sensational..

You had to lie down on your tummy on hanging cliffs to see the waterfall.  The height is probably the greatest in Brazil but the volume of the water was very small as it was dry season.

But before arriving  to the waterfall we had a bit of an adventure lol.

The tour guide (different to the previous one) had to walk slowly because a group member was struggling uphill.

So the rest of the group (7 people incl. me) decided to try to find this waterfall alone…you can imagine what’s next: we got lost 🙂

After going circles and circles we developed great experience in identifying the difference among the paths which at first seemed to be all the same. Eventually we met other groups who helped us with directions but upon arrival to the waterfall our guide was nowhere. He went ‘into the wild’ to look for us…and came back after a couple of hours pretty pissed off but at the same time relieved that we were there.

The view was something similar:

After this we walked downhill back to the minibus (I became a roast chicken). On the way we saw a snake sliding slowly in the bushes. Turned out it was a boa constrictor..even if i freak out of snakes it was quite an experience see one of these ‘in person’.

After this we went swimming to a natural lake and then back to Lençois. Only few hours were missing until my bus at 11pm back to Salvador so we went for dinner, said bye to each other, packed and left the town. I was sad..it was amazing..I kinda feel that i will have problems let great phases go..but this trip is all about enjoying a place for a bit then leave.

I got to Salvador at 5.30 am on the 28th Feb. Went straight to the airport and took a flight to Belo Horizonte. The only reason why i got a ticket here is because this was the cheapest option to go down towards Foç do Iguassu by plane otherwise i would have needed to take a 15+ hour bus on a more expensive rate.

I have to say my Portuguese is improving..using my Italian, French and Spanish makes a unique language that Brazilians kinda understand. Hardly anyone speaks English which is quote frustrating every now and then.  On the plane a Brazilian girl started chatting to me. She told me about her terrific time in Salvador during carnival the fact that she will not have money now for a while to travel anywhere. She offered me to take me to the hostel i booked for 15 REALS (taxi fare from Belo Horizonte Confins airport to downtown is around 90 RLS normally). Her stepfather and brother came to pick her up so in the car they told me a bit about Belo Horizonte and Brazil. We did some price comparisons in house purchase and rental Brazil vs. London/Hungary. I have to say Brazil is an expensive country for people earning 1/3-rd of what an average Londoner earns.

The hostel I stayed in was very nice, I found myself in the middle of a Portuguese lesson as soon as I arrived which was very useful and raised the curiosity in me towards this language. I like the sound, I like the people, I like the spirit, so why not learn it?

The next day I did some admin washing and beauty hours and in the afternoon i visited Belo Horizonte..this amount of time was more than enough for this city. It’s just a typical city…nothing special..a few parks and nice buildings, and as I got to know from Chris the hometown of Sepultura.

The 3rd day I went on a trip to Ouro Preto which is recommended by Lonely Planet and it’s about 2.5 hours distance from Belo. On the way there we stopped for an hour because of construction works on the road which created again a ‘survival union’ among the bus members. I chatted to a Peruvian lady (around 65 years old) who gave me her facebook details and suggested that we meet up later on in Peru. Great!:)

Ouro Preto is a little town famous for its churches and position surrounded by mountains. In the old town there are little artiginal shops selling local products. One of my favourite was Douce Leite and the different coconut products. An afternoon was enough also to this little town. On the way back the bus broke down so we didn’t skip the 1 hour wait..

And now..I am on the bus to Iguassu Falls..27 hour Marathon ride which started very good.. Bus left BH Rodoviaria at 8am and made it until BH suburbia when it broke down…2 hours wait for the new bus..Initially it was 15 minutes (Brazilian time which is min. 40) but the driver got lost so we had another hour and 20 mins to wait..it was great. We are 4 of us on the bus..2 military police men with proper guns and an old fellow ..i am assuming he is drunk.

I can’t wait to post this once I am at Iguassu:)

So that’s it, I am leaving Brazil..i saw only a few out of many many breathtaking places. Next time I will do the North and the Amazonas or Pantanal.

Argentina is my next post.

Beijos

Ok so I decided to add the Iguassu Falls experience here..The bus ride took slightly more to arrive here..actually 34 hours so i guess from now on 16 -20 hour bus rides will not cause problems..

I got the hostel and stayed in. The day after Tracy came to pick me up and go together to the Brazilian side of the waterfalls ( Tracy was the first person I met upon the start of my trip in Rio and we went together to Ilha Grande so she is special for me). It was so nice to see her again after 3 weeks..we arrived to the national park and saw the waterfalls…well…words cannot describe how stunningly beautiful the scene is…we spent the whole day there walking and admiring this Unesco World Heritage…

Once we got home we took our stuff and headed to the Argentinian side. The boarder crossing was a very easy process ..no questions, no hesitation, stamp and go. After arriving to out hostel we had a beer with Tracy and went out to celebrate her birthday with the first Argentinian steak and Malbec. Then after midnight headed to the only night club in Puerto Iguassu: Cuba Libre. we were the only guests..too early hours for Argentina,,so we went to the bar next to it to drink and chat..4am it was hard to walk back to the hostel:)

And today we had to wake up fairly early..8am and go to the Argentinian side ..

La gargante del Diablo….is something …unbelievable..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElANZawiHvY&feature=youtu.be

Tomorrow the plan is to go there again early in the morning because it changes from the morning to the afternoon.

Taster:

So that’s it for Brazil…I’ll write soon about Buenos Aires and Uruguay.

Carnival 2012 Rio de Janeiro

Posted: February 22, 2012 in South America
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I know a lot of you were already expecting a sign of life from me..so here I am after a crazy week in Rio…

After an emotional goodbye to my friends especially Claire at the airport I walked though the gates knowing that this year will be my year with all the ups and downs that it involves..

After waiting 4 hours in Rome to my connection flight (it was delayed due to adverse weather conditions at Fiumicino) i was on the plane at 1 am towards Rio de Janeiro..It was safe, no turbulences, some sleep, some films..and after 12 hours and 30 minutes I landed.

The heat hit me..29 degrees, excited passengers, great pre-carnival atmosphere and my past behind.

Certainly i left my waist coast on the plane so i had an extra 30 mins wait till someone got it for me. I took a cab and arrived to Books Hostel in Lappa.

I started with a beer and Facebook till i was waiting for check in. Tracy was the first person who walked into the room. She is Aussie from Melbourne, very nice. Then Lili came in from HUNGARY:)  A real surprise ..she is nice too, and then slowly I met the other people, namely D and Son from San Paolo (siblings) and Nati and Lia from Argentina.

In the afternoon we went with Tracy to a pre carnival street party..it was AWESOME!  And that time I didn’t know that this is only the start…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wk-jF2oeKAY&feature=youtu.be

Had my first Capirinha..they make it with about 3 table spoon of sugar but the lime makes it a bit bitter..it has become my favourite drink in no time:)

In the evening i passed out around midnight due to the long flight but next day i was ready to go up to the Corcovado mountain to see Cristo and the stunning view to the whole city. Whoever hasn’t seen the pics yet on Facebook can do it here. But this is what I’m talking about:

In the afternoon I met the above mentioned crew and we went together to the Sugarloaf mountain with similarly superb view.

We spent a whole afternoon up there just chatting, getting to know each other, then I had my first Brazilian hotdog which has literally everything in it starting from cheese, quail eggs, grated crisps, ketchup, mayo, gherkin and some other ingredients that are hard to define. We sat down in the beach with a beer and continued to know each other’s life stories..Brazilian live music was a fantastic addition to the atmosphere.

The day after me and Tracy left at noon to Ilha Grande which is fairly large island about 150 km far from Rio. We booked accommodation there but since nobody knew where it was when we arrived we got to the hands of a great salesman called Hans (don’t judge by name..he is Brazilian:). We shared a house with 4 Chilean girls (there are a lot of Chileans in Brazil because they have cheap flight between each other), and in the evening Hans came to the house to teach us how to make Capirinha ( I’m struggling to believe that it’s a regular service given that on that night the attraction of Tracy and Hans bloomed into a nice holiday fling). On the second day we did a bit of trekking to Lopes Mendes (one of Brazil’s most beautiful beaches):

It was a 2.5 hour trekking in a forest where we saw monkeys, wild nature and as I got to know after the trip (luckily) full of poisonous snakes…

The water is warm unlike in Rio and the waves are usually great ..perfect for surfing.

In the evening Nati and Lia (AR girls) came too so we stayed in the same house and I learnt a lot about the history of Argentina. Now I cannot wait to go to Buenos Aires to see them because they are 2 of the most fantastic people I met so far.

After a chilled out 2 days on the island I went back to Rio on the 16th. Carnival started on the 17th so the choreography was pretty much the same every day: from 6pm drinking in hostel, then around 10 out to street parties till the morning, then 10 in the morning heading out for day parties, go home in the afternoon to have an hour power nap and continue the night..I have to say it took a lot out of me but it was the most unique and exhilarating experience in my life. One night I went out with a Brazilian girl (who showed me how they celebrate here:P) and a kiwi girl plus many more people from the hostel. And the night after my 2 beautiful Argentinian friends surprised me in the hostel so we got smashed and had tons of fun together. (they came back from Ilha Grande on that day). The cherry on top of the cream was certainly the Sambodromo (parade) on the 19th. I planned to go to this one with no hangover and relaxed as it starts at 9 pm and finishes at 6am in the morning meaning that 1 samba school is marching for more than an hour..and there is 7. We got there at 7 to have the best possible spot within my section (7). I went there with Tim and Sasha (Aussie travelling fellows- they both told me excellent tips for my itinerary). The costumes, the atmosphere, the samba…it was just my world..i got lost before sunset and came back to ‘my world’ just after sunrise…Brazilians know how to dance..for sure! I would recommend to everyone this stunningly beautiful event!

On the 20th I had my flight booked to Salvador so that I can have a bit of taste from the Carnival here. Due to the heavy party session in Rio I didn’t have the strength to go out on the fist night (I got to the hostel just after midnight) so I rather had a good 6 hour sleep. And here we are now..over (or in the middle) of the last night of Carnival. It is very different to Rio..there are trucks with music that you can follow within the security lines or without depending if you bought a ‘VIP’ T-shirt. (I didn’t because i knew I wouldn’t want to go crazy here..it is supposed to be a bit more dangerous than Rio ).

So now it’s almost 2am..time to sleep but my body is not used to going to bed this time..I stay 2 days in Salvador and then I am going to a city 5 hours bus ride away called Lencois (Google images are very very charming when you search the city). Then I decided to go back to Rio to stay a bit in Ipanema beach because during carnival I stayed in Lappa which is the most fun but not the most beautiful and safe part of the city. Plus during carnival you have no time to do the tourist stuff so it will be good to see how Rio de Janeiro is when it calmed down..

If you would like to experience a great Formula 1 ride, hop on a bus in Rio..first of all to get in you need to pass through a spinning iron gate. That’s how Transport of Rio avoids free riders.

Well..some people still find the way I guess…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Np1Jl8263J4&feature=youtu.be

Then if you are lucky, you can have a seat and you survive the ride with minor injuries. If not, grab anything you can to hold onto and hope for the best.

Little annoyances:

-on day2 my iPhone died..RIP

-my camera got stolen from my lap by a 5 year old but managed to get it back with the help of a guy who has previously run the Marathon

– Brazil is expensive…even though it’s a fabulous country and i would love to spend here more time I cannot because after 10 days I am over my monthly budget..

– You cannot book any flights on the south Brazilian airlines unless you are Brazilian (ID number is linked to cc)

– Food is not the best..lot of deep fried stuff but the fruits are amazing especially mango

– Brazilian men are quite pushy..during carnival they have the ‘excuse’ to kiss anyone without permission so once eye contact made you can expect a kiss coming..from here it’s up to you if you return it. It’s not uncommon seeing couples having sex on the beach or in an alley

– Toi Toi toiletts are disgusting..i chose to pee on the street instead of going into one

So it’s 3am now..got some company that delayed the finish of this article. I should go to sleep. Feel free to comment/ask anything that you feel I missed out.

Bye now x

Before departing….

Posted: February 11, 2012 in Before the trip
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So..here I am on the 11th February..the date that seemed so far away back in May when I booked this trip.

I am all packed…and miraculously i fit in a 65l backpack and another 9l ‘handbag’. The backpack is 17kg…more or less what I planned:)

Contains the following items:

-1 pair of jeans

-1 pair of waterproof trousers

-1 pair of shorts

-1 pair of light trousers

– 3 skirts

-5 tops

-2 cardigans

-1 fleece jumper

-1 fleece waistcoat

-1 pair of adjustable trousers (can be zipped off so it turns into shorts)

-underwear (enough for 2 weeks)

-1 bikini

-1 jumpsuit

-1 summer dress

-running kit

– universal tap (to be able to wash)

-earplugs

– medicines against everything starting from diarrhoea (4 levels), flu, malaria, etc

– hygienic items

– 2 travel towels

– 2 pairs of flat shoes, 1 flipflop, 1 pair of walking boots and running shoes

-Pacsafe anti-theft equipment

-waste belt

-1 water camera, 1 compact camera, 1 dslr with 2 lenses (fix 50 and 18-200)

-1 laptop

-documents (few copies of passport, insurance, tickets)

-diaries, books

-and my little ram: Peter

 

Have a sneak preview on what I’m going to wear for a year…..FASHION IS OFFICIALLY OVER!:P

http://youtu.be/I3l5c2YuvxY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYAwXz5c_js&context=C34775e5ADOEgsToPDskKXNfl6JlL_rrtHntRS3b6Y

 

See you guys soooooooooon!! Have to rush off to the airport now.

 

Last minute…ALWAYS!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My Malta crew..cheers Bas for hiding!

Posted: January 22, 2012 in Uncategorized
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The crew..Bas is hiding!!! by radekaliz
The crew..Bas is hiding!!!, a photo by radekaliz on Flickr.

Malta for newbies

Posted: January 20, 2012 in Malta
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As the first stop of my trip I’d like to share a few good tips to anyone who decides to visit Malta or decides to stay on the island for longer. I try to exclude the emotional roller coaster and focus on the facts.

After spending here 3 months I can say that this place is very easy to get to like. From March till October it offers the best day and nightlife crammed with gigs, music festivals, local festivals and so on. Regular bands/Dj-s on the island are: David Guetta, Deadmau5, Snoop Dogg, Too many DJ-s, but the metal lovers can find plenty of local, Italian or English bands too on the rock.

When it comes to Malta, most of the people think of PaceVille, the most popular area among teenagers where the parties end with the sunrise (or even with the next sunset). Once you visited the area a few times most probably you will try to avoid it. For alternative music fans I can recommend a fantastic little place in Balluta bay called Muddy Waters. Don’t judge by the size! It’s probably similar to the size of your loo, but with friendly people, great DJ (sometimes live bands), cheap booze. Perfect place to end the night. Here is a bit of a taster:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uhU52QR-34&list=HL1327369355&feature=mh_lolz

Eating out:

You have a wide choice of restaurants with Mediterranean cuisine..fusion of Italian, Maltese. The national food in Malta is the rabbit stew. Why? I don’t know..I haven’t seen a single rabbit hopping around on the streets…anyway..this is something that you can die without bad conscious for not having it.

Personally my favourite restaurants are:

Gochi- fab sushi place, nothing fancy but apparently the best sushi on the island..try their noodle soup! It’s on the way to Paceville just after Spinola Bay. Service is a bit slow.

Vecchia Napoli– an excellent Italian restaurant..pizza and calzone is the speciality, but try their calamari soup as well. Again, the service is slow also here. It’s just after Balluta bay. Saying that, almost next to it there is the best ice cream place in the island.

Peperoncino– recommended by Tripadvisor. Superb food, excellent service. Price is in line with all these but overall good value.

The good thing about Malta is that you can explore Italy (Sicily is only 50 miles and 2.5 hours away with the Catamaran ) and the sister island: Gozo and Comino.

Renting an apartment is fairly cheap (compared to London at least), you can get a 3 bedroom apartment with the sea view for 900-1000 euros. Be prepared that due to the humidity, flats get really cold during winter with expensive aircon heating. (you’re better off getting a gas heater and humidity extractor) Mold is a common ‘friend’ of people in the flats, especially in penthouses.

Clothes shopping is not great..expensive and bad quality.

Be aware of Maltese drivers..I caused myself an accident as a pedestrian just by crossing the zebra. YOU NEED TO MAKE EYE CONTACT WITH THE DRIVERS.

I met some extraordinary people here during the roller coaster ride that i will not forget.

Take care and keep in touch!

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