Travel Reports from Kjell

Oslo, 19.02.05

Travel Report No. 12

On 4.02. I went by bus and ferry from Puno in Peru to the capital of Bolivia, La Paz. The trip took one day, with a stop in the town Copacabana on Lake Titicaca on the Bolivian side. This town has become a very popular destination for tourists. I climbed up on a little mountain in the middle of the town, with a lot of religious monuments on the top. Took some pictures. The entry into La Paz is spectacular. You come from the high plain Alto Plano about 4 000 masl and then you see down on the city dramatically situated on the sides of a wide gorge, with strange rock formations on the sides. I got in touch with a travel agency upon arrival, and was advised to leave the next day for Orouro where the annual Carneval del Diablo was starting. There was a carnival in all of Bolivia this week, but it is in Orouro that it really happens. I was picked up at my hotel the next day 5.02 and after a three-hour bus trip I was taken to the seats with direct access to a private house behind. The owner of the house had made this available to travel agencies that sold it to the visitors. I got a great seat at a corner where I could watch the processions arrive and turn right. The size of this carnival, the incredibly imaginative and elaborate costumes, some ugly, some tasteful, the decorated vehicles, the dance, the music, the gorgeous women, the sweet kids, it all made an almost overwhelming impression. It was particularly popular to spray people with foam and water and throw small plastic balls of water. For this reason it was possible to buy cheap rainwear. Foreign visitors were popular targets. Later I met a German girl who told me that she was with a tourist who got a bucket of water over his head. The Bolivian boy who did this was out of luck, because this group of tourists had prepared themselves with spray bottles and sprayed him down with foam. I was lucky, because where I was seated there were not many people who did this. But there were a lot of friendly natives who offered med drinks and were interested in a foreigner’s impression of the carnival. Took a lot of pictures. This carnival is really huge and spectacular. I may perhaps be considered a spoilsport when I say that the enormous resources spent on preparations and costumes should instead have been used for better purposes, such as public health and education.
In the evening I took a bus to Uyuni. It was around 8 PM that I entered a dark bus without control at the entrance, with a lot of people elbowing their way in. When I took of my backpack and threw it into the seat, I noticed that my waistpack came loose. I understood at once that it had been stolen, but as it was dark and with a lot of people, there was nothing I could do. Besides my waistpack I lost one pair of reading glasses, my good Footprint South American Handbook 2005, and a few other small things. However, this time I had stored important documents, credit cards and money in a safe place, so the loss was first and foremost a nuisance. I reported the theft to the police in Uyuni, for insurance purposes. It was clear that this time, too, the thieves had been quite professional. The bus trip to Uyuni was the least comfortable I had experienced during my stay in South America, without lighting, and also without heating. So for this reason and because of the theft, I was not particularly happy this night.
Uyuni is a small town 3 660 masl, and point of departure for excursions in the region. So the next day, 6.02. I started a four-day excursion, in a Toyota LandCruiser, of course. First to the Salar Uyuni, which is supposed to be the world’s biggest salt plain. When we arrived, it had rained so much that the plain was under about 10 cms of water. It was a strange sight to see cars and vehicles driving on the water. There were the same light effects as on the Titicaca Lake, but also a mirage, which made it seem as if the vehicles and islands were hanging in the air. We paid a visit to the Hotel de Sal, a hotel built from salt. Some of the furniture was also made from salt. Then Isla Inkahuasi, with some strange mountain formations in a mix of coral and volcanic stone, and with some enormous cactuses. Overnight in the small village San Juan. The next day, 7.02. we visited a number of lakes: Lagunas Canhara, Idonda, Charcota, Onda, Ramaritas and Colorada. Some of these are salty, others contain the mineral borax, which is supposed to be used in the production of crystals. In these lakes there are also algae, which in addition to the minerals give the water various colours. Red, green, blue and even red (in the Laguna Colorada), which caused beautiful light effects. We also passed by the Arbol de Piedra, which resembles a petrified tree. Overnight at Huayllajara. The next day, 8.02. we got up very early. It had been cold during the night, so that the driver had difficulties removing hard ice from the windshield. He was reluctant to use the vehicle’s defroster, because he feared that it would cause the windshield to break. So in the beginning he drove with his head out of the side window, while we passengers were shivering with cold. We experienced sunrise at the Fumarolas, active hot geysers. Again beautiful light effects with rays of sun through sulphuric smoke. Then we continued to Aguas Termales, where we took a long bath in the hot springs. The next stop was Vale de Rocas, with the strangest rock formations I had seen. I found a pair of good sunglasses here, probably as compensation for the reading glasses I had lost. Then we stopped in the town Villa Mar. It was at the end of the carnival week, with music and celebrations, and people were staggering around drunk. The same was the case in Culpina, where we spent the night. At this hostaleria, Pueblo Moreno, they had a baby vicuña, which was so cute that it attracted the attention of everyone, with patting and pictures. It was interesting to note that it obeyed the woman who took care of it. The next day we visited the beautiful church Iglesia San Cristobal and a cemetery for trains. The latter was a junkyard where old trains were rusting to pieces, with a lot of garbage. I do not quite understand why they wished to show us something as sad as this.
During the night I took a bus back to La Paz, where I took a city tour 10.02, in a double-decker bus with an open roof. The city is, as mentioned above, spectacular. Impressive buildings and monuments, new and old architecture mixed, a mess of electric cables, and teeming with people. The tour included a visit to the Vale de Luna, where the rock formations also are quite strange. Shot a lot of pictures.
11.02 I went by air to Santa Cruz. The city, which I had no time to get an impression of, lies on a big flat plain about 200 masl, so now I had returned to a hot and humid weather. Then train to Quijarro on the border with Brazil, and then across to Corumbá on foot and by taxi. I had planned go back to Rio from here by air, but it turned out that the plane went only twice a week. So, bus about 30 hours to Rio via Sao Paulo with arrival late at night.
The next day I used to get rid of some money and a long jogging trip along the beach. Plus a great lunch and dinner to celebrate that I had completed the circle.
The air trip back to Norway went without problems.
So I now am happy to be home. It is supposed to be like this: It should be a pleasure to leave, and a pleasure to return. The trip has been a great success, despite the fact that I was robbed twice and had had a bout of influenza for a while. I have mentioned before that travelling is hard work. So it was, especially at the end, where I had a tight schedule. But I kept going and enjoyed it a lot.
I would like to return, but then I will give priority to mountain trekking in Chile, Peru and Bolivia, but also Chapada Diamantina in Brazil, with good equipment brought with me from Norway. Now it is first and foremost a pleasure to be home, and I look forward to relaxing and resting.

Warm regards,

Kjell



Travel Report No. 11
La Paz, 4.02.05

I spent the morning of 24.01 in Ica. First I visited the Museo Regional, small but good. The mummies made a strong impression. They have been balsamed in fetal position and wrapped in the beautiful textiles they made. As the Vikings and other civilizations they were buried with important belongings. In this region the corpses have been particularly well preserved because it is so dry; it almost never rains. The only water here comes with the rivers from the mountains or from subterranean sources. In the outskirts of Rica there is such a source, Huacachina, forming an oasis around a small lake with green sulphurous water, surrounded by tall sand dunes. I took a bath in this water, which is supposed to be very healthy. This oasis has seen better times, because the installations around the lake has more or less been abandoned by the local authorities. For example, the cubicles intended for the tourists to change clothes, had been used as toilets. It was not exactly attractive. Some people were sand surfing down the beautiful dunes.
In the afternoon I took a bus to Lima, where I found a room in the private house of Señora Jordan, a vivacious elderly German lady. Her hobby is birds, and she has a lot of cages in her yard, with colorful birds. Some of them had babies. The birds sang loudly and beautifully in the morning, joined by birds from the neighborhood, in a true cacophony. The house is near the Parco del Amor, which is on the shoreline. A lot of young couples swoon here, especially at sunset. Once a year there is a championship in kissing here. The record is a little more than 26 hours.
The national dish of Peru is ceviche. It consists of white fish marinated in lemon juice, onion and chili. The dish is normally served with corn on the cob, toasted corn, yucca and sweet potatoes. Ceviche mixto also contains shrimp, squid, mussels and other seafood. I had this dish in the evening of 25.01. It was a great, hot experience.
The day after I took a city tour. Lima has eight million inhabitants. The city centre and the suburbs are shrouded in fog eight months of the year. Vast and dusty slums on the hills can be seen from the city centre. The city has a lot of historical buildings and impressive museums. In the old town there is Plaza de Armas, surrounded by great buildings, among them Palacio de Gobierno and the cathedral. One block further away there is the baroque San Francisco church, which was completed in 1674 and withstood the earthquake in 1746, because the stones had been put together in a special way. The church is famous for its wall ceramics and its carved wooden ceiling. I also visited the catacombs under the church. Don't quite understand why human skulls and bones are considered to be interesting. In the afternoon I visited the part of Lima called Pueblo Libre. There they have the Museo Nacional de Antropologia, Arqueologia e Historia. Once more a superb exposition of Indian art. I will not go into details, but I was particularly impressed by the beautifully decorated jugs, showing an almost incredible imagination. The museo also has a huge model of Machu Picchu, the famous Inka city. On the wall behind there were big pictures from the city. When you pushed a button, the place on the model and the picture were illuminated at the same time. A useful preparation for the Inka Trail. 27.01 I took a plane to Cusco, 3 310 meters above sea level. This old Inka capital is estimated to be founded about 1100 AD, and has later developed into a trade and tourist centre, with about 275 000 inhabitants, most of the Quechua Indians. Churches from colonial times, monasteries, and a lot of pre-Columbian buildings are mixed with shops, bars, restaurants and hotels for the several hundred thousands of tourists who each year visit the city. I took a city tour 28.01 and it was interesting. It included a visit to Sacsayhuaman, the ruins of a religious ceremonial centre, on a hill in the outskirts of the city. The stone walls are particularly impressive, put together by huge stones, some of them more than 130 metric tons, fitted together with an incredible precision. Each stone has a unique shape, and is in a way a sculpture in itself. The place has apparently been a sanctuary and a temple for the Sun God. In the afternoon I visited the Inka Museum. This shows the development in the region, from pre Inka times to the present: Textiles, ceramics, metal work, jewelry, architecture and technology.
The next day, 29.01. I started the four-day Inka Trail trekking. First by bus via Ollantayambo to 82 kms from Cusco, then at foot with a backpack to a camp site called Wayllabamba, at about 3 200 a.s.l. I wound up in a group of 11 people. Three Brazilians, and Argentinean couple, two Swiss girls, a Korean, a Frenchman and a Slovenian. The latter was the one I had most contact with. He was in good shape, had travelled a lot in South America and was 55 years old, that is, adult. The tour operator used porters who carried everything common, such as tents, food, chairs, etc., so that wee carried just personal effects. My backpack weighed only 11 kgs, so it was quite agreeable. The porters were small people, but strong and carried up to 30 kgs. They are supposed to have a bigger heart than us, and one litre more blood. Most of us had problems with the altitude. It didn't take much movement before my heart began to pound. The next day we went over a pass at 4 200 masl, with an overwhelming view up and down on high mountains. The trail took us to some Inka ruins that indicated the high level of civilization that the Inkas had. Later this day it started to rain, which made it difficult for some in the group who were not properly equipped with mountain boots and good rainwear. The second night we spent at 3 600 masl at a place called Pakaimaio. It was quite cold, and the night became difficult for those who did not have dry clothes and sleeping bag. The third day became a bit easier, with overnight at Wynawayna 2 800 masl, still with a splendid view on mountains appearing and disappearing in the clouds. The trekking was no lazy life. We got up at five the two first days, and at four the last day, because we wanted to see the sunrise at the Inti Punku pass. We did not see much of the sunrise, but we had a fantastic view down on Machu Picchu, situated on a mountain ridge over the river Urumbaba. The site shows a complete Inka city. It had been hidden by the jungle for centuries, until the explorer Hiram Bingham stumbled upon it in 1911. Afterwards the place was examined by a group of researchers from Yale University. Everything about the place is impressive: The ruins, the stairs, the terraces, the palaces and the sources with the aqueducts. And the location between the high forest-clad mountains. We got a good presentation from our guide, and then we were let loose to explore the place on our own. Some of us decided to go up on the mountain Huaina Picchu. It was almost straight up, on a trail with steps partly cut into the mountain side. On the top we had a superb view on the mountains around and down on Machu Picchu, the valley and the river, all in good weather. In the afternoon we took a buss from Machu Picchu to Agua Calientes, where we had lunch and then we took a narrow gage train back to Cusco. The trail was so steep that the train had to cross backwards and forwards to get up. Came back to Cusco relatively late, and continued the next day to Puno, i.e. on 2.02. This trip turned out to be a pleasant sightseeing, where we i.a. Saw the famous baroque church Capilla Sixtina del Peru I Andahuaylillas in the province Quispicanchi, further on to Raqchi, where there are the ruins of the Viracocha Temple. Viracocha is/was the creator of the universe, and the highest of the Inka gods. The gods of the sun, the moon and Mother Earth (Pachamama), are all lower gods. It is mainly the huge middle wall that remains, and some round columns, with a stone wall under and adobe above. Really magnificent. In the evening we came to Puno, which lies at the north west coast of Lake Titicaca. The town has about 100 000 inhabitants, lies at 3 855 masl. On 3.02 I took a boat trip on the lake. First to Uros, which is 42 floating islands. Uros was the original population, but later they mixed with the Aymara people, so that there now are no "pure" Uros left. The reed is the base for all this population. The villages float on it, they build their houses and boats with it, they eat the core of it, and they use it for various types of medicines. The people have become totally dependent on tourism. I took a trip with one of the reed boats. It was interesting to learn that underneath and hidden there were 1 500 plastic bottles to keep the boat floating. These boats last on the average one year. The trip went further to the island of Taquile, with more ruins, Inka and pre Inka. The island is six kms long about one km wide. The population live mainly from tourism and the sale of woven textiles., with a cooperative aware enough to maintain the original culture, which to a large extent is bound by social rules. The Titicaca Lake is the world's highest lake. The water is blue and clear, and reflects the light from mountains , sky and clouds in a particularly beautiful way. It apparently has something to do with the thin air. 60% of the lake lies in Peru and the rest in Bolivia. They have introduced rainbow trout in the lake, and it becomes up to one metre long On 4.02 I went to the capital of Bolivia, La Paz.
It is suits me to stop this report here, and I will send the last one when I get home.

Warm regards,

Kjell.



Travel Report No. 10

Ica, 23.10.05

The trip from Bariloche to the little town San Martin de los Andes took about four hours through beautiful scenery. The town (about 20 000 inhabitants) was a disappointment. It lies at the eastern end of Lago Lacar, on a flat plain, with pleasant mountains around, built primary for alpine skiers. The town is totally uninteresting and without character. The best I can say about it is that it is a useful point of departure for excursions. 12.01. I took a boat to a place called Quila Quina, also based on tourism, but with a few farms run by Mapuche Indians. They had been proud and were less subjugated by the invading Spaniards. The farms seemed poor, but are spectacularly situated on plains between tall mountains. These Indians raise cattle, but I found it interesting to see that they had so many beautiful horses grazing freely around the farms. My trek turned out to be longer than I had anticipated, more than 40 kms altogether, and led me to Lago Escondido (the hidden lake). Once more a memorable experience of nature. I just jumped into the lake, very refreshing and cool, had my lunch and started back immediately, because I was a bit worried that I would miss the last boat. The next day I took a bus and a ferry to the town Panguipulli in Chile. There I had an hour’s pause (just enough for dinner) before I caught a new bus to Santiago. I found a hotel that was a little to expensive for my budget, but it was centrally located and within walking distance from several interesting sights. I spent a couple of hours in the Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino, that is with art created before Columbus arrived. It had an impressive exposition, modern and stylish, and showed an incredible diversity in the artistic expressions. I had not known beforehand that this art went back to about 3 500 BC, and was found in a lot of different Indian societies, not only Inca, Maya and Aztec, each with its own characteristic expressions. It was also interesting to learn about their extraction of copper and the production of alloys, with different uses and qualities. Most of these objects were used in religious rituals, and not so much as tools and weapons.
In the evening a saw a little group painting graffiti on a building. One group member told me that the building (Calle Londres No. 38, later changed to No. 40) had been used for torture under Pinochet, and that the person who was writing the text NI PERDON NI OLIVIDO had himself been tortured in this building. The small group had reserved every Friday afternoon and evening for actions of this type. I took a few pictures and will check if any Norwegian papers are interested. The nest day I took a city tour, which was quite interesting. Santiago (5 mill inh.) has mountains all around and was nominated as the second most polluted city in the world (after Mexico City). The authorities have for a few years tried to improve the situation, so that now Santiago is estimated to be the fifth most polluted city in the world. They have enforced drastic restrictions on the use of cars, old cars have been prohibited from driving one day per week, catalyser made obligatory, lots of trees have been planted, the city’s 15 000 buses will be reduced to 4 000, a new system of collective transport is being constructed and will be completed in a couple of years, etc. They guide also touched on recent history about Allende and Pinochet, and I appreciated having my poor knowledge of history brushed up a bit.
16.10. I took a bus to Valparaiso. This city (290 000 inh.) has a big port, and reminded me of San Fransisco, and is located on 42 cerros (hills). The flat part near the ocean has been reclaimed and filled out with rocks and old ships. The residential areas have been developed in a chaotic manner, with beautiful mansions and shacks next to each other. For this reason there are no real slums or favelas. In an attempt at decentralization the country’s national assembly (Congress) have been moved to Valparaiso and located in a huge, modern building. I have never before in my life seen such a solid mixture of styles. One building, quite square, in an old style, have got a huge cube of a building, in black glass, placed on top of it. Much of the view has been spoiled by tall and ugly buildings in the harbour. The owner of the pension where I lived, is from London, of Indian origin, and he had worked earlier as a city guide. He gave me an individual tour, and I learned quite a bit about the city, which has an interesting and turbulent past. It was an important base for trade in the 19th Century for American and European businessmen, it was an international banking centre and an important port for shipping between the east coast of the US and California and for European ships rounding Cape Horn. Then the decline started: Steam ships started to stop at the coalmines around Concepcion, the transcontinental railway was opened, and then the Panama Canal in 1914. But now Valparaiso is being revived. It has become the cultural capital of Chile, a part of the city is now protected by UNESCO, and much is done to renovate the old part of the city, and to build new museums and galleries. The city has 15 elevators transporting people up from the flat part to the cerros, the oldest one form 1883, originally driven by a steam engine. So you understand I have been a bit fascinated by Valparaiso. However, I shall spare you for more details. You can find them in books anyway, in case you are interested. Personally I had my first bath in the Pacific for many years. I think the last time was in the San Francisco Bay area in 1981.
From Valparaiso my trip went by bus to Iquique. 25 hours through a completely arid area. Nothing was green, only rock and sand, but with a nice view of the Pacific. Iquique is a pleasant town (about 145 000 inh.). The name is from Ayamara and means a place for peace and rest. That suited me fine. I relaxed by spending time on a beach, swimming and enjoying a view of the sun setting in the sea. The town has a duty free area, Zofri. For once I managed to control my desire for shopping electronics, so the only thing I bought was an inexpensive wrist watch.
After Iquique I spent a lot of time in buses. First to Arica (175 000 inh.), which is about 20 kms from the border with Peru. It is dominated by a big cliff (Morro) by the sea and with sand dunes around. A lot of Bolivians come here to enjoy the beaches. In the evening I was lucky enough to run into a carnival called Con la Fuerza del Son (with the force of sound). And there was a lot of sound, especially from huge drums and heavy blowing instruments (or whatever you call them). I perceived the music to be a strange blend of Latin and Indian rhythms, German ompata and pop. One feature of the music was a kind of alternate communication between the heavy and the light blowing instruments. The costumes were colourful, shiny and elaborate. The day after I climbed up on the Morro, had a nice view of the town and the coast and took a few pictures. Then I took a bus to Tacna on the Peruvian side. From Tacna to Arequipa, which is a big port (1 mill inh.). The city is 2 380 meters above sea level. It was cool when I arrived there in the evening. The city also lies at the foot of the snow-capped volcano Misti (5 822 m.a.s.l.) and other higher mountains. I did not see this because it was dark and I had decided to continue during the night to Nazca. The reason is that I have to prioritize my travel a bit more strictly; I have booked the famous Inca Trail for 29.01.. The trail is closed all of February because it is the rainy season and the trail will be closed for maintenance. I have to admit that I was happy to get out of the bus in Nazca early in the morning after 25 hours of travelling.
In Nazca I took an air trip with two other passengers to see the famous Nazca Lines, or geoglyphs, as they also are called. I suppose you all know about these huge drawings on an enormous mountain plain. They were discovered in 1920. Some believe that some of the lines have been used as landing strips for space ships. The drawings are of a humming bird, spider, monkey, parrot, killer whale, condor, dog, hands, and various geometric figures. Some people think that one of the drawings is of an astronaut. The origin of the lines is still a mystery and there are numerous theories, most of them to the effect that they have had religious significance and use. In any case, and whatever, the lines are impressive, interesting, formidable and still mysterious. I managed to take a few pictures, which will be pleasant to watch later. However, I will try to get some better and more professional digital pictures later.
I have managed to lose a cable I need to charge the battery of my pocket pc on which I have written my reports so far. So my next report I will have to write in an Internet café. That will probably be my last report before I return to Norway. Then you will have my last report when I get home.

Warm regards,


Kjell





Travel Report No. 9

Bariloche 10.01.05


The evening of 30.12 I boarded the ship Magellanes. It was to leave for Puerto Montt early in the morning. I had planned to eat well onshore, send my report No. 8 and then buy a bottle of champagne for New Year's Eve. This did not work out at all, because it was not allowed to return onshore once you had embarked. It was a consolation that I could have a cabin for four all to myself, with a private bathroom. The weather the next day was bad, so that the view on mountains and glaciers was a bit reduced.
New Year's Eve turned out to be pleasant. I got in touch with a Spanish Basque called Agostin. He did not speak English, but I was happy to discover that I could communicate quite well with him in my mix of Portuguese and Spanish (Portugnol). The party was lively and I was glad I had not managed to buy champagne, because the bar on board served huge quantities of it free. Both Agostin and I consumed enough of the Chilean pisco alcohol pisco, and we had a pleasant time at the bar in the outskirts of the noisy party crowd. On New Year's Day there were not many people to be seen for breakfast. Later in the ship made the only stop before Puerto Montt, at Puerto Eden, a small Indian community about 170 people, where there remain only eight persons of the original Indian tribe called kaweshkar. This village is beautifully situated on the Mesier Canal. Agostin and I had a pleasant walk around at a time the sun was shining. The weather had been very changeable. The ship sailed through long fjords, sounds and canals very similar to Norwegian landscape. In the evening we started crossing some open ocean. Lots of people, including some Brazilians I had established contact with. I slept and ate a lot during this boat trip, which was quite all right after the trekking I had exposed myself to.
Puerto Montt of about 110.000 inhabitants and is a a harbour town which has grown a lot since the salmon breeding started in the region. I continued directly to the island Chiloé, which was supposed to be so beautiful. It was, almost as beautiful as the many similar places in Norway. It is very green, with much rain, and clear air like in the autumn in Norway. I went to the fishing village Chonchi, which was supposed to be very idyllic. It was not. Old and rusty boats, houses and other buildings in a very bad state of repair. Even the seashore promenade was badly maintained, with wooden benches having rotting and broken boards. The windows in the restaurant where I had my evening meal were so dirty that it was almost impossible to see the nice view of the sea. The whole thing was a bit sad, and the next day I returned to Puerto Montt, where I stayed at a good hotel while the rain was pouring down. The following day I went to Osorno, which is well known for its big volcano. The town lies on a vast plain, and even though the weather was partly sunny, it was impossible to see the volcano. It turned out that the volcano is about one hour's drive east, and that you have to be an experienced mountain climber and rent equipment to go to the top. I chose instead to go to the town Entre Lagos, which is beautiful located on the Lago Puyehue. I used this town as a point of departure for a trip to the top of the volcano Casablanca. So 6.01 turned out to be a beautiful day. I took the bus for half an hour to Aguas Calientes. From there it was 18 kms to Antillanca, from where my trekking started. There is not much transport on this stretch, so I walked for seven kms until I could get a hike with a Chilean family. In this way I was able to start my walk at an altitude of about 1.000 meters to the top which is at 2,240 meters. An interesting hike in a very volcanic landscape. Because of the altitude my heart beat faster than normal, and I had to rest quite often. It was a bit cold and the clouds changed rapidly, so the view varied a lot, when it was sunny, I could see several volcanoes. The tops of the highest ones were in the clouds. When I started the walk, I crossed a crater which was about one km wide. On the top of the volcano, there was a smaller crater, where one half was covered by a glacier. Quite a dramatic view. This was supposed to be at the busiest time of the tourist season, and I did not see one human being during my walk. I hitched a ride on the bed of a pickup truck going back to Aguas Calientes. There I spent about an hour in an outdoor bath with quite warm water. After the effort of the walk, it felt heavenly.
To go to Bariloche in Argentina, I had to return 80 kms to Osorno to buy a bus ticket, and then travel the same way back through Entre Lagos. Stupid, but it seems that Chile needs to establish better routines in some areas. The trip again went through some beautiful landscape. At the Argentine border station they had planted the Norwegian silver birch. It was the first time I had seen this tree in South America. I had a bit of trouble finding suitable lodging in Bariloche, because the town is very popular among tourists, and the hotels are full and expensive. But after the first night in a relatively expensive hotel, I found a cheaper one right near the main square. The town is nicely situated ton the southern shore of Lago Nahuel Huapi and has about 78 000 inhabitants. It is attractive and has a lot of good hotels, restaurants and chocolate shops. The dominant architecture is called Swiss Bariloche, with a lot of buildings in wood and stone. So it is like a Swiss Alp town on a lake with beautiful mountains in the background. The first great experience I had here was the restaurant Kandahar. The description in my Footprint Travel Guide is accurate: Small, warm atmosphere, cozy, exquisite food and wine, with a fabulous pisco sour. It is run by the ski star Marta Peironei de Barber, for those of you who know something about sports. The table they gave me was in the bar. When I ordered a pisco sour, they told me that they had run out of pisco the evening before. A Swiss guest at the next table got a bottle of pisco from her car, and the situation was saved. So, another memorable meal, with pepper steak and a beautiful wine. I had a chat with the Swiss lady, who told me that she was retired too, and that she had moved to Bariloche a couple of years ago. He main hobby was gardening, and she could tell me that the similarity with Switzerland in many ways was superficial, i.a. Because of the climate, because outside the oases sheltered by the mountains, the landscape is quite arid. The vegetation is also different, even though there are a lot of beautiful trees, among them the big Patagonian beech and a lot of trees imported from Europe and other places.
8.01. I visited Argentina's most famous hotel, Llao Llao, to have a glimpse of the luxury the rich are wallowing in. The hotel is splendidly located on a small peninsula, with dramatic mountains quite near by. The cultivated landscape, with exotic trees, a golf course and swimming pool contrast starkly with the rough mountains around. Security was strict, with a lot of guards, because people who are not guests are not allowed into the hotel. I nevertheless was allowed to have a drink in then bar. Once more a pisco sour, six times more expensive than normal. But I took great pleasure in observing the luxury, and also the view through huge windows. Then I made a walk in the surroundings of the hotel, where I took a lot of pictures. I also took a picture of the toilet with its golden wash basins. I was interrogated three times by security guards, but they allowed me to continue. To make it quite clear: Even if I had had enough money, I would never go to such a hotel. (For the same reason that I prefer a canoe to a cruise liner.) But it was a pleasure to catch a glimpse of the lifestyle of the moneyed.
The next day I had another great mountain trip. (Sorry if this becomes too repetitive.) I went to the top of Cerro Lopez, at an altitude of 2 076 meters. Quite a hard trip, up 1 200 meters. If it had been steeper, I would have needed climbing equipment. But also this time the view was worth the effort. Normally it is quite windy, as it is at the time I write this report, but yesterday was quite calm, with a clear sky. It was possible to see all the way into Chile with its volcanoes, but at the same time to the town Bariloche I relaxed for quite some time at the top, ate my food and drank my water, and dried my wet clothes at the same time. When I finally made it back to the road, it had started getting dark, but I was lucky to get a ride from a Brit who works with exploitable minerals. He does caving, and has even visited the caves in Fauske in Northern Norway. He told me that he and some colleagues had located the biggest caves in Chile, at an altitude of about 4 000 meters.
This evening I will have another meal at the Kandahar. Tomorrow I will continue to the town San Martin de Los Andes, which also is supposed to be very beautiful.
A small observation: In Portuguese a retired person is called "aposentado", while in Spanish it is "jubilado". With my imaginative etymology to me the first word means a person who has sat down, while the latter means a person who is celebrated.

Warm regards,

Kjell


Travel Report No. 8
Puerto Natales 30.12.04

Dear friends,

22.12. I took the bus from Punta Arenas to Puerto Natales which has about 20 000 inhabitants and is beautifully situated on the fjord Canal Señhoret, which in turn is an arm of the Esperanza Sound. The town is surrounded by beautiful mountains and even if it is teeming with tourists heading for the national parks in the region, it has a quiet and relaxed atmosphere. Also here the houses have walls of corrugated iron in bright colours. Besides eating well and preparing for the trekking in the Torres del Paine National Park, the most interesting thing I did was to take a taxi out the Monumento Natural Cueva Milodón. This is a cave (70 metres wide, 45 metres high and 270 metres deep) formed by an ice-age glacial lake, where remains from a huge prehistoric ground-sloth called Milodón have been found as well as traces of people who lived here 11 000 years ago. The cave is impressive and I took a lot of pictures of it. I was alone when leaving the cave, and spotted a couple of playing red fox whelps, which I also managed to get a few pictures of.
The rest of this report will mainly deal with my trekking in the Torres del Paine. This park is on the Chilean side in
Southern Patagonia. "Torres" means towers, and the park has this name because the huge columns of stone in the southern part of the park resemble towers. They are particularly beautiful because they are composed of granite and other kinds of stone in different colours. People from all over the world flock to this park, particularly from Israel, USA, Canada, France, Spain, Germany and Japan, but also from other countries, including the neighbouring ones. The park has a well developed infrastructure, with well marked tracks, hostels, hotels, camping grounds, bus and boat services.
I made a three-hour bus trip to the park on the 24.12. And managed a six- hour trek to the viewpoint Base Las Torres, at an altitude of around 1000 metres. (Had left my backpack behind at the Hostería Torres.) Just when I arrived, the sun disappeared, but the sight of these enormous mountain columns in various colours was nevertheless magnificent. In the foreground there was a lake, grayish green from the melting glaciers, and above a huge mountain surface, quite smooth, with beautiful multi-coloured rock patterns. On the way up I met a pleasant Australian lady called Shani, who I also met later during my trek. The sun came back when I was walking down from the mountain at a leisurely pace and I just enjoyed the view. I celebrated Christmas Eve with a box of Chilean sardines, some chocolate, a cognac and the first cigarillo after a long period with the flu, some of the time in company with a couple of German girls.
When trekking in this park there is mainly a choice of two routes, one called the W (recommended duration four days) and the other, which makes a circle further into the park, and which is called El Circuito Cordillera Paine or the Circuito Grande (recommended duration 7 days). I of course chose the latter, because I had to be on board the ship to Puerto Montt today.
I had rented a tent, the backpack and a stove. I had brought a light sleeping bag with me from Norway, and a silk inner liner. Then I borrowed a blanket from my landlady Rita here in Puerto Natales, which I stitched together to form an extra bag. This was necessary, because it was quite cold some of the nights. As usual I carried a too heavy backpack, with two cameras, one light and one heavy, my pocket PC, keyboard, iPod, other electronic stuff, including four chargers. And then I carried far too much food. I ate the heavy items first, but did not manage to finish it all before my return.
The first lap was from the Hostaria Las Torres to Campamento Seron, through a beautiful landscape. I remember particularly some vast fields of daisies, several square kms, surrounded by impressive mountains and glaciers in the background. I have never seen so many daisies in my life. This trek has an estimated duration of four hours. I used six, partly because I took it easy, and partly because I was bothered by blisters (too new boots). The next day I walked to Campamento Dickson, six hours, partly in the company of Shani. The Dickson camping ground is the most beautiful I have visited. It is situated on a plain, partly forested, with a view on a glacier above a lake. There were lots of riding horses on the plain, and I spotted a red fox crossing it. The next day became a trial of strength, eleven hours of trekking over the Paso John Gardner, at an altitude of more than 1200 metres and then down to the Campamento Paso. I was lucky and had sunshine (but strong winds) crossing the pass. From the top I had the most overwhelming view I have ever had in my life, down on the enormous Glaciar Grey, with other glaciers branching into it, with an island in the middle at the point where the glacier hits the Lago Grey, so that it calves into the water on both sides of it. With spectacular mountains on the side. Awesome is the word my guidebook uses. I even saw a huge part of it fall into the water. It sounded like an explosion, and then it formed big waves in the water where there were icebergs of various sizes already. Just to show that I don't only notice the magnificent. At one point, on the tree line, I noticed a colibri which had mistaken the red ribbon marking the trail for a flower. It flew disgusted away. I had definitely had enough when I finally arrived at the Campamento Paso in the evening. I was even a bit tired on my trek the next day to the Campamento Grey. During the night the weather turned bad, with cold wind and rain. This continued during the last lap to the Campamento Pehoe. But then my backpack had become less heavy, my shape and feet better, so the trek went like a breeze. After a wait of four hours in Pehoe (which I used to write most of this report), I took the boat and the bus back to Puerto Natales. I'm renting a room in a private house here, and my landlady Rita has taken good care of me.
A pleasant side of all my trekking is that I have been able to tighten my belt two notches.
This evening I will board the ship Magellanes, which tomorrow morning leaves for Puerto Montt, with arrival time on 3.01. There will probably be a party on board tomorrow
Warm regards,
Kjell


Travel Report No. 7

Puerto Natales, 22.12.04

The 18-hour bus ride from Buenos Aires to Puerto Madryn went in a haze of cold and fever. The bus was very comfortable and almost the whole tour went through a flat and arid landscape. I have never before travelled so far over such a vast plain. Puerto Madryn lies on the Golfo Nuevo and has around 50 000 inhabitants. The town was founded by Welsh settlers who arrived in 1865. It is a good point of departure for excursions: Peninsula Valdés lies around 70 kms east and Punta Tombo three hours by bus south. The next day I spent in bed with my cold, but the day after I took a tour to Punta Tombo, which is supposed to have a penguin colony of about a million birds. This type is called the Magellan penguin, and is about half a meter tall, black and white. I learnt a few things about this species. They have two kids, but get normally some more eggs. The extra ones they pick holes in to attract insects which they in turn can feed their young ones with. We saw some more animals, among them the guanaco (a type of lama), the rhea (a type of ostrich) and armadillos. On the way back we had a brief look at the towns of Trelew and Kaiman, both founded by Welsh settlers. They constructed canals which made it possible to live from agriculture. The architecture shows clearly the Welsh influence.
The next day I took an excursion to the Peninsula Valdés. The first stop was a three-hour whale watching boat trip. The waves were quite big, and we were well sprayed with sea water. I was both wet and cold, which didn't improve my health situation. But if I survive, the trip was absolutely worth the trouble. The huge whales really poised to be admired. Sometimes they shot straight up, with more than half of their bodies above the water, at other times we saw the huge tail above the water. At one point I was standing at the stern of our little boat and could see the whale swimming right under me. This species is called the Southern Right Whale. It does not cross the equator, but on the northern hemisphere there is a Northern Right Whale. At other places on the peninsula we could see big sea lions and elephant seals. It was at the end of the period when the mother elephant seals nurse their young on land. They had lost so much fat that that their bodies looked like half full grey sacks of fat, with the empty skin folds floating around. They cannot walk, but crawl along the beach in a way that reminded me of larvae.
13.12 I made another 18-hour bus trip to a town called Rio Gallegos. I spent the night there and continued the next day for Ushuaia. A large part of this trip went through Chilean territory and the bus crossed the Magellan Strait by ferry. Ushuaia is the world's southernmost town and is beautifully situated on the Beagle Channel, with snowcapped mountains and glaciers in the background. Beagle is the name of the ship Darwin travelled with when he did research on animal life in this region in 1832. Ushuaia has around 45 000 inhabitants, is very touristy and is for this reason more expensive than other places. I took an excursion on a beautiful sail boat the first afternoon. It turned out to be a very pleasant trip, where we went ashore for a walk and got a lecture by the guide on local flora and fauna. At the end of the tour we came quite close to a colony of sea lions. Then it started to rain. They say that in this area you can have four seasons in one day. However, it rained without stop all the next day. After the boat trip I had another memorable meal: King crab in Roquefort sauce. In Norway there are lots of complaints about the king crab invading the coast in the north of the country, but I would like to know why we don't find more of this delicacy in Norwegian restaurants, or in the homes.
Later I visited a couple of museums in Ushuaia. I remember particularly well the maritime museum, situated in the old federal prison called Presidio del Terra del Fuego. The history of the prison was described in detail both in Spanish and English. The story of several famous prisoners, many of them political, I found quite interesting. Another museum showed the eight different species of penguins, stuffed.
The highlight of the stay in Ushuaia became another mountain trip, to the top of the mountain Cerro Guanaco in the Parque Nacional del Terra del Fuego, about a 1000 metres high. I was lucky to get a pleasant and sporty 27-year old Argentinean girl, Carolina, as a tour companion. I had not fully recovered from my cold (I haven't yet either), so Carolina went first and made a track in the 20 cm snow near the top. The weather could have been much worse, and I managed to get some good pictures of a breathtaking view. We even spotted a guanaco crossing the path in front of us.
From Ushuaia I took a plane to Punta Arenas in Chile. This is a town of around 15.000 inhabitants, on the east coast of the Brunswick Peninsula, facing the Magellan Strait half way between the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans. The situation of the town deteriorated when the Panama Canal was opened, but it is still a likable town with wooden buildings in vivid colours. Nevertheless, what I remember this town best for are the meals I had in the restaurant Sotitos. Beef and lamb. Aperitif: Pisco Sour, made from pisco, an alcohol made from grapes, lime, sugar, egg white and angostura. You understand that I'm having a rough life here, and it is in fact beginning to show: I have not become any slimmer.
After Punta Arenas a three-hour bus ride to Puerto Natales, which is a good point of departure for trekking in the famous national park of Torres del Paine. Tomorrow I will rent the equipment I need for a one-week tour in this park.
Warm regards,
Kjell


Travel Report No. 6
Buenos Aires, 8.12.04
The trip from Colonia to Buenos Aires on 3.12 went with a huge catamaran, and the crossing of the Rio da Plata took only two hours. Everything went smoothly, also with the hotel, which was cheap and centrally located. The next day I took a city sightseeing tour, which was OK. On this tour I met a 30-year old South Korean, who was surprised to learn that I had worked in North Korea. A very pleasant guy, very polite and with respect for us elderly. In the evening I had a very enjoyable experience. I turned out that there was a tango restaurant only about 100 metres from my hotel. Small, inexpensive, but good. I was greatly impressed by the show, even though most of the singing was lost on me because of the language. Most of it seemed hulkingly dramatic. The dance, on the other hand, was so good that it almost seemed surreal. The coordination, the rhythm, the speed, the passion and the creative variation were almost overwhelming. Took some photos I'm not satisfied with, but they are nevertheless pleasant souvenirs.
The next day I had the pleasure of being robbed by some really professional thieves.
On a beautiful Sunday morning, with an oncoming cold and some fever, I was walking from the Casa Rosada (the seat of the Government) in the direction of the harbour. On a big lawn, without many people nearby, I suddenly discovered something I thought was bird shit on my clothes. An Indian couple, looking healthy and friendly, offered their help in cleaning my clothes with paper towels and some water. They discovered more and more of the yellowish brown liquid and I was really taken by surprise. The whole thing went very fast, and it took a little while until I realized that I money was missing from my wallet. Since I had not heard about this trick before, I was really caught off guard. I lost money worth about 300 USD, and a little later I discovered that my VISA credit card was gone. The thieves managed to shop for about 130 USD before I managed to block the card. I don't blame myself for being tricked by these professional thieves, although I felt pretty stupid afterwards. What I do blame myself for is that I had kept so much money and the credit card in my wallet. The day before I had got some money out of a hole in the wall, and I had been careless in that I had not put the money and the card in the place I normally keep them. I have travel insurance, but this does not cover loss of money.
The police could tell me that they knew the thieves. The man was from Peru and the woman from Chile. One police officer told me that he had arrested the couple three times, but that they had been released immediately each time, and that he found this frustrating. They received reports of about ten such thefts per month.
The professionality of the robbery reminded me a bit about the tango I had watched the day before, with an incredible dexterity and a coordination between the two in distracting my attention. It turns out that the thieves are well known and called "mustazeiros" from "mustaza", which means mustard.
I fortunately have two more credit cards, so the theft does not seriously disrupt the rest of my trip. The unpleasant feeling I had after this remained for some time, but I felt a bit better after I had showered and washed my clothes. The whole experience was a solid lesson, and I will be more careful about the way I store my valuables for the rest of the trip. I tried to get back a little on my own by going to the press with the story, mainly because I believe that tourists should be be better warned about this trick, and because I think the "mustazeiros" should not be allowed to operate as freely as they apparently do. The article, with picture, will be published in the Diario Clarin. (Some of you will perhaps think I go to extremes to get into the news.)
Then a few unconnected observations: It is cheaper to take a taxi in Buenos Aires than it is to take a bus in Oslo. The city has a well developed metro system, although a bit run down. A ticket costs about 0.25 USD. Because there were great delays the first time I took the "subte", everyone could travel free of charge. The people here, although I experience them as very friendly, do not have the same smiling surplus of energy that I found in Brazil. The women look more ordinary, and not quite as hooked on their own bodies.
Otherwise I can report that I have caught a solid cold, and keep coughing and sneezing. It is not exactly enjoyable, and I have cancelled sightseeing for the time being. So I might just as well write reports or take a bus to Puerto Madryn. It leaves this evening and will take 18 hours.
All for now, amigos. Take care!
Um abraço,
Kjell


Travel Report No. 5
Buenos Aires 4. December 04
The bus trip from Florianópolis went like a dream, in a very comfortable bus with reclining seats of leather. I arrived at the Hotel Palacio before six o'clock in the morning of 1. December. Slept a few hours and then strolled around in the city of Montevideo. The highlight of the day was the lunch in the Mercado del Puerto. This building from the 19th Century has been rebuild to house several restaurants specializing in grilled meat roasted on large spits. Both Uruguay and Argentina are great meat countries and meat is eaten for almost all meals. I started the meal with an aperitif called "medio medio", half dry white wine and half sparkling white wine. I had "asado da tira", which is grilled ox rib, with a dry rosé wine. I almost get sentimental when I have such good food. In the afternoon I took city sightseeing tour. Uruguay has a population of about 3.4 million, and about 1.3 live in the capital. What is most striking is the rich residential neighborhoods. There are slums here too, but apparently they are not quite as poor as in most other places. In South America. The city lies on the Rio Plata, which is very wide here and has grey but clean water. The beaches are fine, but because of the colour of the water, they are not quite as inviting as beaches by the sea. The whole country is quite flat, with the highest hill a bit more than 500 meters high. The city has a peninsula with a lighthouse and an old fort with a view on the city centre, which is dominated by a communication tower in a futuristic style.
All of the next day I spent on a sightseeing tour to Piriápolis and Punta del Este. Here there are beautiful beaches and even more luxurious houses. One of the highlights of the day was Casa Pueblo at Punta Ballena, the home and the gallery of the multi artist Carlos Paéz Vilaro, built in a Spanish Moroccan style. He had built the house himself only with the help of friends and local fishermen. He had made every effort to avoid straight lines. The exceptions were the windows which were either square or round.
Punta del Este itself is one of the world's most fashionable holiday spots and is a study in luxurious residences, even with roofs made from marble. They are mostly owned by filthy rich people, among them some world known celebrities. The houses are empty most of the year.
The most unique sculpture I saw on this excursion was some enormous fingers of a human hand sticking up from the sand on one of the beaches near the town centre. (Didn't catch the name of the sculptor. The uttermost part of the Punta del Este is curved. There is a roundabout near the lighthouse, with four intersecting streets, with each of them having a view of the sea at the end of the street. I thought you had to be on an island for this to occur, but in any case I saw it and thus it must have an explanation.
The next day, 3.12, the trip went to Colonia del Sacramento, which was founded by Portuguese settlers in 1680. The town has the only well preserved colonial architecture in the southern part of the continent. It is very popular, idyllic and picturesque, with an nice lighthouse standing among ruins. My little walk around this town was aborted by a sudden rain, and I was soaking wet when I made it to the ferry to Buenos Aires.
A few observations: People walk around with a cup of mate and a thermos to keep it warm. Seems to be both a statement of fashion and lifestyle. This drink made on the basis of leaves imported from Brazil has a high content of coffein. I like it and will import both the cup and the leaves from Rio upon my return to Norway. Then something which to me looks like an anachronism: In Montevideo garbage is collected by horse and carriage.
The Spanish spoken here has a marked local pronunciation. Despite this I understand spoken Spanish better than Portuguese, even though may Portuguese on the whole is better than my Spanish. The reason is that they speak more slowly and articulate more clearly.
It is suitable for me to round off my report here, so that I can start on a new country in the next one.

Warm regards,
Kjell

Travel Report No. 4
Florianópolis, 30.11.04

Dear friends,

For your consolation: This will be my shortest travel report so far. I send it now, to make a break between the stay in Florianopolis and the round trip I'm making to the neighbouring countries.

Sometimes, when I sit down for a beautiful meal, get up from the table afterwards, or lie down in the sun after swimming, I say: Que vida dura! I cannot quite understand why my Brazilians friends laugh when I say this.

I have had some very pleasant weeks in Lagoa da Conceção, even though the weather has been unstable. Some walks, some jogging, some swimming, some excursions to beautiful beaches, a lot of good food and drink, a little reading, some enjoyable parties. During these parties I have met a lot of new people, among them Stein, a Norwegian medical doctor who lives with his family in Lagoa. It appeared that he lives in a house owned by the ex-husband of Celisa, the friend I met last year in Lagoa, and who works as a language teacher. Stein's wife Noris is a painter. Her home page is www.noris.no. By coincidence I have met quite a few painters this time. First it was Portuguese Isabel da Fonseca Gaivão, then Ruy, who lives in the same condominium as I do, then Rodrigo de Haro, who probably is the best known painter in Florianópolis, and finally Noris.
I have cooperated a bit with Celisa in that we have exchanged lanugage lessons, Portuguese and English. In my opinion it has worked well, and there is a possibility that we will continue on the internet.
I have been particuolarly lucky in that I have received a lot of assistance in planning the rest of my trip. Both Lila and Bia know the continent well, and the latter runs a an adventure travel agency with hed husband Rudy. So Bia has put my itinerary on an electronic map that I now have on my pocket PC. Bia, assisted by Lila, has put up a list of the places I will try to visit. It seems clear that I will not be able to squeeze in everything, but I refuse to stress to make it. The first part of the trip will be to Montevideo in Uruguay, Buenos Aires, Peninsula Valdes and Patagonia. The weather so far south will be a bit cool, and I will have to buy some warm clothes, probably in Buenos Aires.
So now my stay in Florianópolis is over this time. It has been very pleasant because I have met a lot of interesting and likeable people, and rewarding because of the excellent assistance I have received, first and foremost from Lila, but also from Bia and a lot of other people. I'm prepared to reciprocate when/if they come to Norway.

Warm regards,
Kjell

PS: It is now possible to visit my blog on www.kjelljm.blogspot.com. Will add more photos later.

Florianápolis, 11.11.04
Travel Report No. 3
After an 18-hour bus ride from Rio de Janeiro to Florianápolis 28/29 October, more painless than expected, I was picked up at the bus station by my friend Lila (who visited me in Norway this summer). She took me to Lagoa de Conceição, to the apartment I will live in for a couple of months. It is a small flat next to Bia's and her husband's house. (I met Bia last year). They travel a lot, as does Lila, so I will receive expert assistance in planning the rest of my trip. My flat is small, but OK and only about 50 meters away from the water in Lagoa. Well equipped and inexpensive by my standard. Lagoa is a small and attractive little town with a lot of shops and restaurants by the lake Lagoa on the Ilha de Santa Catarina. Very popular among both Brazilian and foreign tourists. The center is a bit to busy for my taste, almost choking by the traffic. I can see the center from across the lake where I live, at a peaceful and pleasant distance. To sum up my stay here in Florianápolis, it has been a lot of delicious meals of shrimp, oysters, fish, meat and good pizzas. I'd like to single out a memorable meal at Liliane's, a friend of Lila's: Shrimp na moranga, and shrimp com catupiry, the latter made by Lila. Then there have been several trips along trilhas, dunes and beaches, a nice art exhibition of paintings and sculptures, in company with friends and acquaintances. Plus a few jogging trips. The first became three times as long as planned, so the old man was pretty tired when he returned after dark. The weather has been variable, but on the whole better than before. Briefly, a pleasant rendezvous with people, food, drink, culture and nature, so I'm enjoying my stay here. Also it is a pleasure to jump right into the water from where I live. Sometimes a bit too much alcohol during the day, with some social pressure. But then the caipirinha is a bit too tasty....Wednesday 3. November, with Lila as my private chauffeur, we went to Aparados da Serra, a mountain area about three hours by car south west of Florianápolis. The trip turned out to be interesting for several reasons. We came up on the Campos en Cima da Serra, an undulating mountain plateau about 8-900 meters above e sea level, with green fields, dotted with patches of forest, reminiscent of parts of Scotland. Especially the characteristic pine tree called araucária attracts our attention. Then we came to Itaimbezinho, a huge canyon 5.800 meters long and between 600 and 2.200 meters wide and 700 meters deep. A truly dramatic sight. After this we came to our pousada at Cambará do Sul. After pouring rain early in the evening we could go out and have a comida caseira: Caipirinha com grappa (so strong that I could not drink it all, very rare!) meat of beef and chicken, tortei (massa recheada com crème de obobóra), polenta na chopa (grilled), radiche, onions, eggs, potato cooked in vinegar. All with vinho colonial, tasting a bit to much of grape juice for my taste. Then, after a healthy and tasty chocolate drink, made on unpasteurized milk, at another place with my cigarillo, I had had far too much of everything, which I regretted the next day. Then we went to the Fortaleza Canyon, bigger than the one the day before. Because of the rain the day before, a dense fog had developed and filled the whole canyon. We waited a while for it to lift, which did not happen. So we just had to go back to Cambará do Sul. By then I had got a solid stomach infection with fever and I had to spend the rest of the day in bed. So with the fog and the results of the American election this turned out to be a perfect day.Fortunately I was in better shape the next day. We continued to Canela, and visited the two parks nearby. The first, Parque do Pinheiro Grosso, has the giant araucária, which is truly impressive. Then on to the Parque National de Caracol, with a beautiful waterfall in another canyon. There is a long stairway down to the bottom near the waterfall. We have a lot of beautiful waterfalls in Norway, too, but here the surrounding nature and vegetation are different. Also it was interesting to observe how well the tracks and installations had been integrated into the landscape. The next town was Gramado, a place for the wealthy, with beautiful residential areas and a center imitating a Swiss alpine village, far too kitsch and artificial for my taste. I liked, however, the fancy chocolate shops. We visited one where the chocolate was made and packed in situ. We then followed the federal highway BR116, which all the way to Novo Hamborgo went through a very scenic mountain nature which all the way seemed like a park, with blooming jacaranda and hortensia along the way. In the afternoon we arrived at Porto Allegre, which is the biggest port in Southern Brazil, with about two million inhabitants. It is located in a vast flat lowland called the Depressão Central, which i.a. supplies the country with rice. The city is not exactly beautiful, with a lot of industry, but it is interesting, both from a historical and cultural point of view. The center has several old buildings with a striking architecture.We were met by Lila's mother, Wilma, a vivacious, knowledgeable lady of 76, with a keen sense of humour. We had dinner in a nearby restaurant, where we had the best meat I had tasted in Brazil up to then.The next day we visited the Parque Estadual de Itapuã. We had some pleasant walks along the Guaíba, which is a large pocket of the fresh water Lagoa dos Patos, where all the ships come in to Porto Allegre. We were lucky enough to have a capable local guide who could enlighten us on the park's history, fauna and flora. We saw some beautiful yellow cactus flower, both on trees and small balls on the ground.The next day became the highlight of this trip. Lila, her mother, sister Ursula and I went to a place near Tapes, an hour and a half drive South of Porto Allegre. We were heartily received by Luiz Américo, his wife Maria Inés, their daughter Mariana and their son Felipe with his girlfriend Patricia. They own a beautiful piece of land, with a small lake, where they among other things raise sheep and cattle. Luiz Américo runs this place on a hobby basis and has built the main building himself. Felipe, who is a law student, lives permanently on the farm. Luiz Américo, a tall and handsome man, has a stone face with lively eyes revealing a warm personality and a great sense of humour. He is a civil servant of the state, for the time being functioning as a liaison officer between the state of Rio Grande do Sul and Toyota Japan, who are setting up big port facilities in Porto Allegre. On the farm he has a million projects. One of them is to restore a slaughter house, which, after having experienced the red tape of the authorities, he intends to run independently. Furthermore, he has inherited a lot of stuff from an uncle, Vitor something, who was a well known nuclear scientist. Luiz Américo wants to make an exposition of this. He showed me proudly a number of objects he has collected, where I remember best threading tools of different sizes in beautiful wooden boxes and an old hand carved double barreled revolver with two triggers that had belonged to his great grandmother. Maria Inés spins wool from the sheep on the farm, dyes in natural colours and weaves clothes and other things from it. Felipe grilled a lamb thigh, and we had a meal I am not likely to forget. I was taken a photo of, with a big bone in one hand and a glass of beer in the other, accompanied by a lot of laughter. Felipe then entertained us with an impressive horse riding performance. Without using force and with a close cooperation with the horse, he made it follow his directions, even without reins. Took a few pictures of this. In the afternoon we got a sightseeing in Tapes, which has a nice port for pleasure boats and a huge hotel in English style, with a thatched roof. When we got back to Porto Allegre, Ursula was picked up by her son André, who is a gym teacher/basket ball player and about two meters tall.The next day Lila showed me around in the center of Porto Allegre and then we had another great meal in a restaurant with Luiz Américo and Maria Inés. On Tuesday we went back north to Florianápolis along the coast. There is about a 300 kms long beach along the coast of Rio Grande do Sul. It makes a very strong impression. We had another good meal (shrimp in béchamel sauce) in the town of Laguna, which is the most run-down and dilapidated small town I have seen in Brazil.Upon our return to Florianápolis, Lila had qualified as a great travel companion, good guide, patient language teacher and a skilled driver.
If I still have your attention, I can tell you that I now intend to have a few lazy days in Lagoa, without much to report. I'm also beginning to plan my trip to the neighbouring countries.
Regards from Kjell.

Travel Report No. 2
Rio de Janeiro, 28.10.2004
Only a few lines this time. I'm going to Florinápolis later today, and it thus is a natural place to en my second report in English. Since most of you are Brazilians, you may have been to these places I tell about here, so please bear over with me for reporting stuff you know more about than I do.
After three days, a lot of rain and a lot of food and some shopping I headed northwards from Rio for Petrópolis by bus. The trip took only a little more than an hour, but during that time I experienced some of the most impressive mountain scenery so far in Brazil. Tall mountains with dense vegetation, but also a lot of bare rock, blooming trees and villages in old Portuguese style. Petrópolis seemed to me to be a scruffy city squeezed between tall mountains and teeming with people. Quite a few sights such as churches, museums and sculptures.
My jogging shoes had died, and I used a full afternoon on finding a new pair. This is not so easy when you are a fanatic about sports equipment. At the same time I bought some new clothes, good quality and of course very cheap compared to prices in Norway. I needed some more clothes because the mountain air was a bit cool. At the same time it was a pleasure not to have to use the air conditioning. The next day I just strolled around the city and and looked around. I spent more than two hours in the Museo Imperial which is the old palace of the Emperor Dom Pedro II, who in the middle of the nineteenth century made the city the summer seat of the Government. A most impressive museum that showed well how the imperial family had organized their lives. The most special object is the Emperor's crown, set with 639 diamonds and 77 pearls. After having shuffled around on the precious wooden floors with felt soles with an electronic guide that spoke to me in English, I felt exhausted and I asked myself why I spent my time on something like this. There is no end to all the curiosities of human history and why should I use the limited space on my harddisk for this, which after all is quite peripheral to my life and background? This is how I felt, even though I realized that this museum represents an important part of Brazil's cultural heritage, with a lot of school classes visiting.
The next day I went to Tereosópolis by bus, through an even more impressive mountain landscape than the previous trip. 23.10 I started a beautiful mountain trip into the Serra dos Orgãos. The trilha went 1.100 meters up to the top of Pedra do Sino, which is at 2.263 meters above sea level. I have never walked so high on such an easy track, which zigzagged up leisurely up the mountain side up to Abrigo 4. From there it was about 20 minutes walk up to the top, on a much steeper track. I spent an hour on the top in the late afternoon, while more clouds came in, but I believe I got some interesting pictures. In the evening the weather turned bad with strong winds and a lot of rain. Fortunately it eased the next day, but the wind was still quite strong. I headed for the top of a mountain called Papudo, with some huge rounded stones on the summit. The trilha up there was not comfortable. I had to climb over these stones or crawl under them, some places on my knees. However, the view from the top showed that the trouble was worth while. I got some pictures of the approaching bad weather and had to wait in a cave until the worst part had passed. I was dripping wet when I came back to the Abrigo, but I had fortunately some dry clothes there. I was not very cold, because 18 to 20 degrees C is not bad for a Norwegian. I was not very unhappy to leave the Abrigo the next day, because the whole place was stinking from urine in old mattresses. The trip down from the mountain was in thick fog, but fortunately without much rain.
I will now "entertain" you a little about my luggage: I normally drag to much with me, and this trip is no exception. I have a huge bag with big wheels which I have put large shoulder straps on, for places where it is difficult to roll it. In addition I have a small backpack, that I can take as hand luggage into planes and buses. On the trip to Parati and Ilha Grande I managed with only the small bag for almost two weeks and it felt good. The big bag will come along to Florianápolis, but when I go to the neighboring countries, I will try to manage with the small one. It is possible to attach smaller bags on the outside of the backpack, but I had some trouble finding suitable bags. (The sports shops I have found so far in this country are not great.) I wound up by buying two isopor mattresses for camping in order to get the covers. The mattresses I gave to some of the poor people who sleep on the street near my hotel in Rio. This kind of charity does not feel good, but it must be better than throwing the mattresses away.
This will be all for now. The next report will probably be from Florianápolis in about a month.
Um abraço,


Kjell


Travel Report No. 1

Rio de Janeiro, 19.10.04

So here I go again. Travelling is quite a job, but somebody's got to do it. Left Oslo on 29.09 in the evening and arrived in Rio early in the morning the nest day, pretty fed up with air travel. I checked in at the same hotel as last year in Catete, where I was recognized and greeted with a smile, which is always pleasant. Then it rained continuously for two days, but with a pleasant temperature of 21 degrees C. Saturday 2.10 came with beautiful weather, so I could go jogging on the Praia de Flamengo. On the same day I met Vania's daughter Marcela and her boyfriend Fernando. After helping me with a few practical matters, they took me to the birthday party of Fernando's uncle. Very enjoyable, with excellent music performed by adult musicians. I have never been hugged by so many people I don't know.

Because of the weather, I haven't been to the beach so much. I took a four-day trip to Costa do Sul, where I lived in Arraial do Cabo. It was OK, and the trip to Búzios was pleasant. As you know most of the tourists here are mostly wealthy people from Rio and São Paulo. In view of the social inequalities in this country, it didn't feel so good. But then ago I should feel the same way coming from one of the richest countries in the world. One consolation is that the money left from tourism falls on both high and low.

After the Costa do Sul I returned to Rio for one day and then started on the Costa Verde. I first stopped in Paraty, which as you probably know is protected both by the country and UNESCO. The old Portuguese architecture galleries, shops and restaurants. There was a chance to eat and drink well here. This was at the time of a holiday here, so there were a lot of Brazilian tourists all over the place. On Sunday 10.10 I took a boat trip with a lot of likable and beautiful youngsters. There was too much loud music of a type I have not yet learnt to appreciate. Several stops with swimming in clear and refreshing water. The whole trip was OK, but not great. The next day I appreciated more. Took a mountain trip which started up the Caminho do Ouro. As you may know this road was constructed for the transportation of gold from Minas Gerais down to Paraty in the 17. Century. The road was paved in 19. Century and parts of it were restored and reopened in 1999. The same uneven pavement is also found in the old part of Paraty. At the end of this restored road I found the entry to a trilha with a sign that one should not enter it without a guide. This I just ignored, in the hope of finding a mountain top with photo opportunities. This turned out to be interesting, because the trilha followed the paved road for a long stretch, but it was pretty overgrown and it was clear that there had been a long time since people had used it. The weather was humid and the stones pretty slippery. Had to climb over fallen trees and big roots. After more than an hour I did not arrive at a mountain top, but at the gravel road going from Paraty to Cunha. I continued up this road until I arrived at the border between the states of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, at about an altitude of 1000 meters. Then it was so foggy that I just hitchhiked back to Paraty with an ice cream producer who drove like a madman. An interesting trip with a lot of impressive nature and exercise for the old man.

Tuesday 12.10 the trip went by bus and boat to Ilha Grande, which is quite a paradise both for Brazilians and foreigners. The island, which is more than 190 km² and has a lot of small and long beaches between bare or vegetated rocks and huge round stones.. Ilha Grande is largely a nature reserve, with restrictions on development and motorized transport. I decided to walk all around the island, staring from Abraão. Most of the time good tracks with lots of noisy and colourful birds and now and then snakes and big lizards crossing the track in front of me. A lot of ups and downs, good exercise with a relatively heavy backpack. The first day I walked for seven hours, with breaks for a swim and a beautiful moqueca for lunch. Found a reasonable, comfortable and unusually clean pousada in the fishing village of Matariz. The next day I walked from Matariz to the Praia Grande de Araiçaitiba, a five-hour trip. I managed to make a wrong turn, and lost one hour, but as compensation I saw the most beautiful bird so far, mostly a deep luminous red, but with some black, which I believe is called "tie sangue". It was almost unreal. Saw the same bird again in Parnaioca. In Araiçaitiba I found a big pink pousada right on the beach, with a balcony and a view on the beach and the ocean, at a very reasonable price. I washed some clothes and put them to dry under a roof. The next day came with pouring rain and my clothes were still soaking wet, so I decided to stay one more day hoping the weather would improve. It did, and the trip continued to Parnaioca via Provetá and Aventureiro. This part of the trip was interesting because I knew there were no pousadas on this stretch. Fortunately for me the lady running a camping site had a room to rent. This place was the most basic I had experienced in Brazil: Not a plate for the breakfast and nothing to put on the old bread for breakfast. But the people were very friendly, and I was happy I had a roof over my head and something to eat. Otherwise the place was a small paradise, with a beautiful beach and the waves at a suitable distance so I could hear the beautiful song of the birds. If the weather had been better I would have stayed there one more day.

The next day I got a long trip back to Abraão, nine hours, with just a break in Dois Rios for lunch and one for a swim in Lopez Mendes. This part of the trip was perhaps the most challenging, because the trilha between Cachadaço and Lopez Mendes was not shown on the official map, and was also difficult to find in the terrain. A lot up and down, dense vegetation, fallen trees that I had to bypass, or climb under or over, with branches on the ground functioning as traps for my feet. This south side of the island is better protected and less developed and therefore has a richer wildlife. Lots of iguana-like lizards and snakes, sounds of birds and also some bigger animals that probably were apes. I sweated a lot on this stretch and drank between five and six litres of water, sometimes one litre at the time. I celebrated the successful completion of the tour with a delicious dinner in Abraão.

I wanted to climb up the Pico de Papagaia the next day, but it was cloudy, so I went back to Rio instead.

I have cancelled the trip to Chapada Diamantina, because I had mistaken the time my friend Teresa was free to go there by one month and because I found out that I need more time for that. Will have to remain for my next visit. Will instead go to the Itaiaia National Park and the towns of Petrópolis and Tereosópolis for a week, starting tomorrow, before I head south for Florianóplis.

Otherwise I can report that I have got a national mobile phone number: +55 41 21 8205 1688. With my cell phone I now have access to the internet, email and SMS. It is a bit expensive with a prepaid card, but I now longer depend only on internet cafes. I spent a long time getting this in order, because of a miserable and incompetent service from the TIM telephone company. I'm still not able to send email from the phone, only receive. After a few hours TIM gave me the phone number to Sony Ericsson. There they were able to speak English and had the competence to advise me on the problem immediately. An easy way of getting in touch is to send an SMS message.

Otherwise those who know me will not be surprised when I tell that I have dragged with me a lot of electronics. This means that I have brought with me a lot of music on my iPod, which can play on a set of loudspeakers in my room. I also have a good small radio which I can attach to the same speakers. Also I have taken along two digital cameras, one big and one small. It has already turned out that the equipment is better than the photographer.

Again it has been a great pleasure to find again Brazilian food and drink. The problem is that there can bee too much of a good thing, so that I have to discipline myself. I have particularly had a lot of açai na tigela with granola and suco de maracujá. There are more than ten kinds of fruit offered for breakfast at my hotel here in Catete. An adventure for someone who is not used to this great variety.

This will have to be the end of my first report in English.

I hope you are all in good health, prospering and thriving.

Um abraço,

Kjell