¡¡¡¡¡¡ Felices Fiestas !!!!!!!

... ¿Queeeee Pasooooooooo? ¿Queeeee Pasooooooooo? ¿Queeeee Pasooooooooo? ¿Queeeee Pasooooooooo? ... cantava un guitarrista monetero la cancion de Bersuit cuando entramos Argentina por tren en el norte.

Ha sido increible todo que hemos visto y hecho con Nicolas hasta ahora. Por la forma que hemos viajado no hemos tenido problemas serio o tenido que enfrentarnos con una situacion que no sabemos como reaccionar. Amigos, la informacion sea internet o el libro de Nick, la suerte y el resto de dinero nos han ayudado a seguir rumbo pa adelante. Y entonces seguimos el viaje!

Hasta ahora hemos tenido el previlegio de visitar muchos lugares deste gran continente de Sur America. Siempre falta el tiempo para conocer bien los lugares en donde hemos estado y uno trate de balancear ese ritmo de seguir el viaje ooooo quedarse para conocer y al final uno siempre se queda dudando la decision porque me podria haber ido pero me podria haber quedado un dia mas, en fin uno tiene que tomar una decision y disfrutar el momento y no volverse loco con el plan perfecto porque no existe.

Como decia hemos visitado varios lugares en este viaje con Sir Nicolson. De todos lugares que hemos visto yo notaria: Machupichu, el Salar de Uyuni, Torres del Paine, Valparaiso, y Cordoba. Realmente entre la experiencia y el lugar la combinacion me dieron personalmente muy lindos recuerdos desos lugares. No quero quitarle nada de los otros lugares que vimos porque realmente fueron magicos tambien pero pensando en lugares y experiencia propia esos lugares se destacan mas que nada.

Ahora esta Navidad por primera vez me toco pasarla lejos de mi familia. Menos mal la pase en Buenos Aires que en otro lado porque realmente no tienen tantos avisos Navideños como lo tienen en otros lados. Es decir en los EEUU para esta epoca todos estan vueltos locos con la musica de Xmas y todos andan comprando, consumiendo, gastando como si mañana el mundo se fuese acabar. Ahora me acuerdo la locura es tan extrema que la gente VENDE el parking en los mall para el 24 de Diciembre por el dia!

Igual tuvimos una linda cena en el Hostel "Casa Buenos Aires" preparado por un Brasilero Fernando muy buena onda muy cagado de la risa y muuuuucha comida. Vinieron varios amigos de una chica francesa que tambien se estava quedando en el Hostel y en fin la pasamos muy bien.

Claro, habia mucha comida, y muuuuucho vino, creo que habian como 18 botellas de vino. Nos quedamos en el hostel hasta las 5 de la mañana conversando y de ahi salimos a un bar cerca que conozia un chico ingles de travestis y bixa loca para todos lados. Wajjjhhhh!!!! Fue muy divertido porque era la unica barra abierta a esa hora asi que nos quedamos ahi tomando mas y mas. La chicas se fueron de vuelta al hostel dellas y nosotros con Nicolai volvimos al nuestro y caimos muertos a las 8 de la mañana. Tal fiestita navideña... Espero que ustedes tambien la han pasado bien, espero que mas tranquilo pero igual bien.

Sorry por el mensaje largo pero tambien queria tomarme un tiempito para pisar bien el suelo y dar me bien cuenta de donde estoy y todo lo bacan que ha sido este viaje. Les queria mandar un saludo muy grande a todos ustedes con quen no le voy a poder dar el abrazo del año nuevo hasta bastante mas tarde. Espero que la pasen muy bien esta fiesta y que tengan un muy pero MUY bueno 2008. Que les vengan lo mejor de lo mejor y que este año sea tu año. Que sigamos compartiendo mas memorias para que nos podamos cagar de la risa despues.

Aunque uno sufra ahora hay que darse cuenta de lo que se viene y pensar que lo que uno hace es por el bien de un futuro mejor. O por ultimo para mirar atras y decir que mierda estava pensando y que carajo se me metio en la cabeza. Un besote grande!

-Ri

un Tributo a Jun: el Cyclista Vagabundo

To my English-speak friends,

Time flies. It is two and a half years since I left Japan. And it is the third time that I spend the New Year's Day in the Americas. Two years ago I saw the wonderful dawn of 2006 in Grand Canyon, the US, and one year ago, I welcomed the New Year in Costa Rica with local friends of mine. And now, I'm in Bolivia. They say that it is one of the furthest country from Japan geographically. At last I've come to the other side of the world with two wheels.
The more I'm surrounded by the exotic environment of the Third World, the more I'm conscious of my identity as Japanese. Wherever I am, I cannot help but remember my beautiful country. I carry on the odyssey, while I dream of the moment I set foot on my motherland again and of many places I haven't been to yet by turns.

Merry Xmas and A Happy New Year! How're you? I'm Jun. I'm writting to you to greet you and to say to you that the landscape of Bolivia is just amazing. Especially the immensity of the altiplano knocks me out. Do you know about the altiplano? It's the Andean high plain that sits at around 4,000m above sea level. You know, Lake Titikaka is on the north end of the vast plain. You've been taught that it's the highest navigable lake of the world in your school days, right? Yep, the lake itself is large and beautiful, but towns on the shore are some of resorts, I think. It may be difficult to feel the great nature and even the sacred legend of the Inca due to the existence of too many tourists.
The real wilderness is in far south. Here the sky is just wide and clear, and the horizon seems to have no limit. The sunrise and the sunset can be divine. In Japan, my small country, you'll never get a grand view like this.

Hundreds of framingos which play in a red lagoon, a 6,000m peak which rises behind of an aquamarine lake majestically, and the world's largest salt flat which is blindingly white to the horizon,,,, All the things what I see here are dreamscapes, and seem to say to me;
Welcome to the paradise!
This may be one of the most wonderful terrains on the earth, and, definitely, the trip to here was one of the most scenic routes I've ever taken. If you've got a chance to travel to South America remember that the Bolivian altiplano is a must-see. (However, I don't recommend you that you've got a bike trip around here like me because of the nightmarish roads.)

Now, I'm leaving this immense plateau and descending the Andes. But I don't mean I leave Bolivia. I'm gonna work at a wild animal refuge that is in the jungle to take care of poor animals as volunteer for a month or two. It's gonna be a great experience for me. Since no internet is available there (and no electricity is also available!) I won't respond to your email for a while. When I come back to the civilization I'll give you an impression about the Tarzan's life.
See you!

I'll give you my best energy so that you've got a great time on these Xmas holidays with your dearest person.

Jun, the vagabond cyclist

Torres del Paine

Unreal! Unbelievable! Wow! Amazing! Geezgolly! OH MY GOSH!!!! YAY! SUPER DUP... *stop*

This place is seriously one of the most beautiful places I have seen on this trip. There is something about Machupichu and all the energy you feel when you are there that makes it more magical than this but the experience we had in Torres del Paine was undescribeable. We did the "W" tour in four days which is quite a hard trekk on the amount of supplies we had and considering the distances we traveled, 120km in four days, with our big bags, going up and down the hills in a constant battle with yourself to push and keep pushing until the end of the day when you can sit in your sleeping bag and have that dry sandwich that somehow tastes like heaven.

The colors of this place, the size of the mountains, the ruggedness of the trekk, the idea of two young brothas trying to make it to the next camping spot without getting stuck. But this is park is not meant to be seen only by hardcore athletes like us. No. This can be seen at a leisurely pace for the older people we just wanted to do it in four days and stay at all the free places available. Because we had a limited budget and that services in the park were very expensive, $2 for a tea, we brought everything we consumed and only stayed in the places to camp that did not charge money to camp. You can also stay in a nice room in some hostels, leave your bags in the room, and go for a hike to see the park. This was not how we traveled though. We pushed and pushed from one place to the next and were able to see what most people see for a limited amount of money in a short period of time.

It was a great experience for us two "youts" as we both were able to enjoy the park, get a ton of exercise and bring the two of us even closer. After you go through such a challenge with another person you begin to find out what makes the other person tick and what makes you tick as well. You are both faced with the same challenge and you push each other and help each other to get through it. I think I make it sound like a horror story we went through. It was great, just rough at parts, but still amazingly beautiful with heavenly pictures everywhere we looked.

I highly recommend people to go see Torres del Paine at your pace. It is worth the trip all the way down south. We almost killed each other at the end of the trip but we made it and now we are better for it. is joke i make joke! we are not any better...

Saludos desde Mar del Plata. Os quero mucho,

-Ricardo

TREN AL SUUUUUURRR

The title is a song by Los Prisoneros a rock group from the 80s de Chile. Clasico!

From Bariloche Nicolson and I went to Puerto Montt and the next day to Chiloe. Chiloe was absolutely beautiful, and our experience even better. We got to Castro, the main city on the island, and went looking for a cheap place to sleep. After a few consultations we decided to split forces Nicolai would stay and take hold over the bags and I would go and ask more hostals in the area. And so I did and found a really nice one by the water for a really good price too. On the way back I quickly stopped by to get a type of empanada typical de chiloe: milaco, milcao, maicalo, ... no me acuerdo, but it´s a potato bread stuffed with pork and it is absolute deliciosness.

I arrived back to Nicolson´s spot and found him talking with Crisitian "el cofla" our new found friend. He was offering us a place to stay in his friend´s house a lawyer in the city for free! How and when do you begin to trust a person? By their looks? By their conversation? We did and were lucky that he was not a thief and really did let us stay in his friends house who gave us shelter, food, drinks, and good fun. His friend was indeed a lawyer from Santiago working in Chiloe. He had many friends in Castro from Santiago living and working in Chiloe who actually liked it better in the south than in the city. Luis was Cristian´s friend and he was quite nice.

Luis´s friends took us to a festival typical of Chiloe the next day where we saw customs from Chiloe like moving a house with bulls, typical music de Chile, and typical food from Chiloe. Nick and I each had a curanto... what a mistake that was. This massive gigantic dish can stuff almost stuff a small army. It is a pile of seafood, meat, milcao, more seafood, more meat, and more milcao and all of the food is cooked in a whole in the ground with rocks that have been heated up in a fire beforehand. Delicious! Please see the pictures when they come.

After Chiloe we headed even farther south. We took a 33 HOUR-BUS-RIDE from Puerto Montt to Punta Arenas. From Punta Arenas we took a bus to Puerto Natales where we headed farther up to Torres del Paine. Next one we talk more about it. CIAO!

-r

Border crossing in the SOUTH!

Hello everyone on our bandwagon of adventures and escapades!

We crossed the Argentina-Chile border down near Puerto Montt yestday and our heading our way down south to Chiloe (birthplace of my dear friend Joseph Perloff) and onward to the legendarily beautiful park of Torres del Paine! Everything is green here and mountains flank us on all sides as well as lakes (the area is the lake district!) So anyone that reads this in Seattle, know that I am know in the second Washington with similiar color and freshness that surrounds that fair city.

We met three hombres de EEUU (USA) in Salta up in the north of Argentina and again as we were leaving Mendoza for Bariloche in the south. As we all sat in a transitionary city bus station in the south the three lads opened up their guitar cases and gave us a run down of songs that Jerry Garcia and David Grisman would be proud to have heard. Since Ricardo and I purchased a guitar back in La Paz we´ve been trying to learn various songs by ear (which I have to say Ricardo has been picking up in rapid pace!) The lads gave us good tips on how to grapple with chords and learn recently practiced songs in new ways. If you´re reading this pops: do you know the chords for the planxty song you always used to play? Send them to me if you get the chance! Oh and play your guitar while you´re at it! it´s probably up for a new stringing!

All three of the traveling trio go to Colorado college with is a school that has one class for 3 weeks straight every day, pretty intersting learning style. One of the guys went to Sierra Leone for a 3 week stint with this class and studied the societal structures in the post war era country.

In Bariloche, we attended a local bar called Che Papa with a local from our hostal. Wall to wall pictures of Che Guevara (photos and artist renditions as well) made for an amazing collage. Later that night seemingly on a whim the owner pulled out his saxaphone and another attendee picked up a guitar and began to play heartfelt, passionate songs of Buena Vista Social Club (traditional cuban music for whoever doesn´t know, go listen if you´ve never heard it!). The guitarist´s voice was flawless and the addition of the sax gave these old songs a new body. The rest of us picked up any instruments we could find or simply our hands and joined in. Hopefully we´ll find more spontaneous acts of music further on our travels. (I made a video of one of the songs so our next project will be to add a video section to the blog! Stay tuned!)
Right now Ricardo and I are feeling a little of the pressure of time and so we´re not stopping at a local farm around Puerto Montt to work for a few days in order to reach parks in the south and Tierra del Fuego for hiking and camping.

Hope all are well and if you can let us know about news in your respective areas we will devour every word!
Cheers!
Nick and Ric

Border Crossing!!

So I just want to say that we crossed the border from Bolivia into Argentina yesterday so we are freewheelin in a brand new country!! Brand new couldn´t be a truer phrase: roads, towns, cars, stores, food, hostals, etc. are all much more developed than in Bolivia. We enjoyed are 2 weeks in Bolivia with heavy bus travel from north to south (except for 2 trains in the south, love that smooth travel!). For 4 days we stayed in La Paz where we: got altitude sickness (I fainted, something I´ve never done in my life), bought everything we ever wanted (a guitar, a futbol, futbol jerseys from around the world, speakers for our ipods, and goodies for folks back home!), hung out with friends, and met the vice president of Bolivia ÁLVARO MARCELO GARCÍA LINERA who is a friend of our gracious hosts: Joel, Dora, Magali, and Nicole Bransky.
Afterwards we headed to Lake Titicaca where we swam (muy frio!) climbed rocks, and hiked for 7 hours. We caught a row boat through high waves finally reaching isla del sol where there was no dock. I learned to make some necklace and bracelet designs which I plan to use to create an item out of the aligator teeth I took from Bolivia. We met amazing people from all across the globe as well as right next door.

After lake titicaca we headed south of La Paz by train to Uyuni where we entered the Salar de Uyuni which is a salt desert the size of lake titicaca (imagine being in a desert where instead of sand every single kernal you see is made of salt). We stayed for one amazing sunseted swept night and finally made our way down to the Bolivia-Argentina border at 2:30 am on the train. Nothing but desert and cactus for miles on both sides of the border and after 9 hours on the bus (1 hour to navigate along a highway that had burst open with mud, rainwater, and rocks after a heavy thunderstorm, we thought we were in safe developed Argentina!) we arrived in the city of Salta where we are right now. Tonight we head for Cordoba on a 12 hour bus and then try to make our way down to Mendoza over the weekend!
We wish everybody love and hope you enjoy our Traveling Tricks!
Nic and Ric

NEW PICS!

HEY EVERYBODY!

There´s new pictures on our shutterfly link! We´ve been at a house in La Paz for the past 4 days so we´ve been taking advantage of the computer and the insane amount of time that shutterfly needs to download pictures. So now there are pictures up all the way up until the last city we were in. Lima, Valle de Colca, Cusco, Machu Picchu, hangin out with awesome kids in different countries, Brazil, long bus rides in Bolivia, animals of the Bolivian jungle (monkeys, tropical birds, alligators, and anacondas oh my!) Enjoy!

WHOA! we need to catch up

So, sorry about the last message being a little crazy in the order of events. I didn´t notice on the blog that the last entry was in Chile!

So we did spend two weeks in Peru after flying from Santiago to Lima on October 15th. we spent about 4 days in Lima. Then we headed to Arequipa on 14 hour bus ride south to visit with Ricardo´s dad and see the Colca Valley which has condors and a 4000 meter altitude. 3 days later we were off to Cuzco where we stayed with Ricardo´s best friend, Narda´s family. We bought a program for a 4 day hike to Machu Picchu. Then we went to Puerto Maldonado in Northeast Peru in the jungle where we stayed for a night and then headed north to Brazil! We stayed with a Brazilian family who were living in Bolivia and then headed to Riberalta the next day where we are right now in Norther eastern Bolivia. In 45 min we head on another 12 hour bus south where we will be camping in a national park (Shout out to Charles Howard- Mckinney!). Hope all is well and there should be new pics up in 4 days! Love, Nick and Ric

Change of Plans!

So initially we were going to go to the Amazon in Peru but seeing as we want to spend a good 2 weeks in Bolivia we´ve decided to head up to Brazil! Makes sense right? Well we*re heading up there and then down to Bolivia! Just thought I'd send a quick note! All is well and extremely hot in Puerto Maldonado! Nick

Escucha Familia!

Well well. The technical reason why Nicolas and I stayed in Santiago for so long was that he needed to renew his German Passport. The idiot... i mean Nicolai decided the best day to check when his German passport expired was the day before he flew to Santiago... nice dude! Well in Chile he realized that both for Bolivia and Brasil he needed to get a visa. But for Germans a visa was not required. Anyway we had to stay another week in Santiago after La Serena and get that done.

And so we did. And so my birthday came up, and so did my grandfather's 90th birthday celebration, and so did all my brothers and parents come together. My sister Carolina flew in with Mateo my nephew, my brother Gonzalo, and the dear Diannita. Never have I ever celebrated my birthday in Chile and evenmore never have I ever celebrated my birthday with my entire familia! We did it in style with a lot of food and a lot of more familia from my dad and my mom's side.

For my grandfather we had an even bigger gathering. His four kids were finally all together again and a lot of their family too. That is all my family, a whole lot of my cousins, all of my mom's brothers and sister, and extended family, dogs, nannies, etc, etc. We all enjoyed the party very much and it was absolutely fabulous to see everyone in such high spirits even for a brief moments. The part that complimented our trip with the Nickster was that we were able to see all of them and receive all their support as we were embarking on our trip beginnning with Lima in Peru. Gracias mi Familia Querida.

La Serena y Pisco Elqui

Despues del inovidable Valparaiso viajamos con Nicolas a La Serena. De La Serena viajamos al Valle Elqui donde se hace el Pisco Chileno. Aca no voy a empesar la discusion del Pisco y de cual es mejor y como se prepara y todo eso. El Pisco es rico por lo que es y me gusta tomarlo cuando comparto con amigos, compadres, y nuevos amigos.

La Serena se encuentra al lado de la ciudad de Coquimbo. Ambas me dieron la impresion de ser analogas a Vina del Mar y Valparaiso respectivamente, en el que los cerros coloridos de Coquimbo me hacian recordar los del Valpo, y lo plano que es La Serena como asi es Vina. La Serena es le ciudad de donde viene mi abuelo Pizarro y sus hermanos. Tengo mi Tio Federico, tio abuelo, que vive en La Serena y que nos ha recibido con mucho carino. Tambien fuimos afortunado de qudarnos en la casa de mi amigo Felipe Lira que quedava al lado de la playa.

Y asi con toda el apoyo familiar y de amigos nos fuimos en bus al precioso Valle del Elqui. Visitamos Vicuna donde se hace el Pisco Capel y esta el observatorio de Mamalluca de donder vimos entero el Milky Way, Jupiter y tres satelites, y cuantas constelaciones. Tambien estuvimos en Pisco Elqui que es un poco mas retirado y mas tranquilo, ahi nos quedamos en un camping precioso al lado del Rio. En fin fuimos a Montegrande la casa de la profesora poeta y Premio Noble Gabriela Mistral.

El Sabado en la noche fuimos con Marcela que nos cozino muy rico y Nicolas a Coquimbo a carretiar. Fuimos a un bar reggae que tocava musica rockera de todo tipo de las buena como Pink Floyd, the Cure, the Clash, etc. Luego fuimos a otra discoteca rockera donde la cerveza estava bien barata, buena, musica y buenas chicas. El resto es historia de borrachos...

VALPO!!

Holla!!

Ricardo and I have been a bit, meaning a lot, behind on our entries about our adventures. So here is our written account of some of the events of the great city of Valparaiso! First night in to the city we were planning to spend one night with the brother of a good friend back in Washington D.C. (VITO!). Vito was actually our guide the last time that Ricardo and I visited Valpo. Since there was a bit of an Asado happening at Nico´s house (Vito`s brother) we got to meet a lot of Valpo natives. Every person we talked to said that it`s impossible to spend only one night in Valpo! So we said Ya Po, Huevon! One night turned into 3 and we got a chance to drink in the great beauty that is Valpo! Every nook and cranny surrounding Nico´s house is more interesting than the next. When you mix a lugar like Valpo with lots of artistic history, Pablo Neruda for example, with a giant port, add waves and waves of internationals, great seafood, and lots of students looking for cheap housing you get: paint splashed on every wall, graffiti that would be a crime to paint over with one color, stencils galore, and an ever repeating song about Valpo bursting out of every window at some point in the night on the weekend ("... la plaza de la Victoria ehhh es un centro social...").
If you go to Chile, Valpo is 2 hours west of Santiago...GO!!!!
Love, Nick and Ric

Pichilemu

I, Ricardo, have been to Pichilemu before so I knew what to expect. The only problem was that never have I been to Chile for the National Independence Day "El Dieciocho". This year el dieciocho was on a Tuesday. That meant the entire country was celebrating Friday night from the week before, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday... the actual dieciocho.

We arrived on the 17th with Joe, Beca, Nick in one car and followed my friend Francisco, his girlfriend, and their friends in another. We arrived to the hotel we were going to stay and we had not even picked a room and I had beef in my mouth and a piscola in my hand. I picked my room, put my bag down, and joined everyone else for a delicious asado. Heaven! We all went to the Fonda and the rest is history.

The next day we woke up around noon to yet another asado. I didnt even make it to the bathroom and someone handed me a beer and more beef. CARNIVORE!!!! We kept the same rythm the entire day. Drinking eating, dancing during the day. Cueca danced by everyone even gringos y gringas.

Some definitions for yalls. Cueca is the traditional Chilean dance. The dance assimilates a rooster chasing a hen right before he STEPS on her. In Cueca there is no stepping, at least not in public. A Fonda is where you celebrate the 18th of Sept. A huge party for adults kids old people, everyone who feels like feeling Chilensis. A lot of Cueca, Cumbia, Reggaeton to dance too and everyone is PRENDIDO. Okay a bit too much dictionary for now.

Quite difrfferent than the 4th of july. I will be amazed anyone that makes it down to here. Saludos y hasta la proxima. Will try to update more often.

PUNTA DE LOBOS:

JUEVES, 13 SEPTIEMBRE, 2007

Aca estamos finalmente juntos con Nick en Santiago. Ahora somos dos y podemos dejar el doble de la cagada. Uno mas burro quel otro.

Mi hermano Manolo (jr. como le puso Nick) con Nick me fue a buscar a mi con mi madre. El aeropuerte de Santiago es medio loco a la salida porque hay 47 compañias de taxi ofreciendote su servicio.

Llegamos todos a la casa de mi hermano en Plaza Ñuñoa, tomamos desayuno con mi cuñada Pamela. Luego llego la suegra de mi hermano, se fueron ellos al aeropuerto porque se van de viaje mi hermano y mi cuñada a Mejico. Y mi hermano me dejo su camioneta, un celular (+5697-768-4085), y su departamento. FULL SERVICE, NO FOOLIN AROUND!

Aca agregaremos alungas fotos mas. Promesa salir por la ciudad a sacar mejores fotos. Reporte Numero Dos Terminado! Pfffftttttt

This is the travling tricks first post and I am reporting on our first traveling location: CHILE!!!

At the present I am the only one of the Nick and Ric duo within the country but in few short days we'll both be trottin about the town of Santiago! Plus my old friends Joe and Beka will be arriving in this city on the 15th after their amazing trip down south to Chiloe (about 15 hours south of Santiago on the bus!).

Ricardo's brother Manuel is housing me at the moment with his wife Pamela. I'm gonna have a quick tour of the city when he gets back from work.

Here's to more entries and PICTURES once I figure out how to do everything on the BLOG universe!

-Nick