Rivers and Beaches

Wouldn't be Nelson without rivers and beaches...

A waterhole in the Aniseed Valley where we swam

Post swim - Bex, Alith, John, Andre

Tahunanui beach

Berries

Wouldn't be Nelson if we didn't pick a few berries...

Picking Raspberries with the folks

On the road (and water) again...

I'm now in Nelson. Crossed the Cook Strait today. One ferry, hitched one combie van (with some young Kiwi guys and a German girl heading to a hippie festival), and one pickup truck (with an old codger born and raised in Motueka - North Island is foreign territory).

View of Lyall Bay heading out of Wellington

I arrived in Nelson just before the bus (which was following the combie van out of Picton). Not bad for free rides and some interesting people to talk to.

The Bluebridge heading to Wellington

The rocks near the passage from the Strait to Queen Charlotte Sound

I'll now be in the Nelson area for the next 3 weeks, plus or minus a few days. I'll be staying with the family and having a few more adventures with my house/flat mate Andre to add to our last two summers...

http://malcyb.blogspot.com/2009/06/hitching-in-south-island-1.html

I appreciate...

understanding conversations

I appreciate...

drivers stopping for me when I'm standing at a pedestrian crossing (let alone the driver of a large truck who indicates for me to cross!).

I appreciate...

a relaxed and ordered approach to boarding and disembarking buses.

I appreciate...

a quiet and relaxed city.

I appreciate...

drinking water straight out of the tap.

Top ten

After this flight home, its obvious why Air NZ and Auckland Airport are top 10 in the world and Aerolineas and Ezeiza Airport are not even close!

• Walking to gate and everyone gets lost at the same point. Signage anyone...?
• Bitten by a mosquito

• I get to passport control after waiting 20 mins and get told I have to fill out a form that I didn't know about... great, go to the back of the line...

• Why's everyone so serious...?

• Plane is delayed. Surprise. But no announcements about why plane is delayed. C+
• Surprise security search after passing through the gate! What!? Who does searches there? Great. So everyone who emptied their bottles for blasé security #1, then filled them up, now has to gulp it all down again! And its such a thorough search, it takes 45 mins to get everyone on the plane! I just hope they are as thorough with the engines... since this must be the most isolated (virtually over Antarctica) flight in the world!

• We're taking off – should our seats be upright? Tray tables stowed? Seat belts on? No...? Ok...

• Old seats, average projector for movies, staff manner blah, need water? Go get it. C- Why do governments run airlines? Its a bad idea.

• We're landing - “please stow your tray...” Boom – we just landed. B-

• Smiling faces

• Sounds of Tui

• Maori art and sculpture

• Free chocolate

• Kiwi accents! Ah.... Like a hot shower after a hard tramp or a soft warm bed after enduring a storm. Everyone understands my English!

• Special e-passport processing for Kiwis and Aussies. Oooh cool. It looks like something out of a scifi film. Scan your passport, take ticket, insert ticket into machine, look at machine, you're identified, off you go! Sweet as!
A-
• People asking if I need help.Imagine that?!
A+
• $10 for 1 hour of wifi?! Thats 30 pesos!! Lame. I've just come from the land of plentiful free wifi!

• Saw more cultures in 10 mins than I have in 2 months!
• Paid with plastic more times in 20 mins than I have in 2 months!

• Bought deodorant using my phone!
A
• Free drinking water. Whoa. What a novelty, and its right next to pricey bottled water... stoopid Kiwis!


I'm back

Using wifi in Auckland. 10 bucks! What a rip. Its free in Welly, and all over South America.

The plane was delayed by 1.5 hours which at least killed 1.5 hours of my epic wait in Auckland.

5 hours down, 5 to go...

I planned in a buffer for the unreliable Aerolineas Argentineas but my planing went a bit skew wiff...

ms

Bigger than Texas

There's something about coming from a tiny little island in the South Pacific, which makes it hard to comprehend the size of the America's.

Take the Andes, for instance:

Length - more than four times NZ

Height - average height 4000m (300m higher than Mt Cook)

Width - similar to the South Island

Try comprehending that NZ!

Moments of Iphone Love and Kindness (MILK)

A glimpse into a traveling geek's head...

Arrive at Iguazu falls and realise I forgot to put the 2gb memory card back in my phone. That means no video footage. Doh.

iPhone doesn't have, or need, removable memory.

Wander around my street in BA with large camera attracting too much attention.

iPhone would have been a little more discreet.

Londoner in Puerto Iguazu shows me a Spanish learning application on his iPhone. If he can't speak a phrase right he can pick one from the list and have the phone say it. It also has games to help learn vocab. Very handy!

I have too many cables and tech accessories.

iPhone would squash my ipod and phone into one, which would mean less stuff.

Processing video from my Nokia phone:

Take out memory card, put in adapter, insert adapter into computer, copy to Mac, convert each file from phone format to a compatible video format.

Waste lots of time organising media or use iPhone to sync everything across already in the right format...

Surprisingly, there are quite a few flash phones in the Paraguay interior, so an iPhone would actually not standout as much as I originally thought.

Maybe in a couple more generations the lense will be decent enough to sometimes substitute the massive DSLR... in fact these guys are substituting it now: 

http://photocritic.org/amazing-iphone-photos/ (scroll down for pics)

Anyway, I'm not obsessed, what are you talking about!?

Yo no entiendo por qué...

I don't understand why...

• petty theft is so common in SA but we always leave a cash tip and it doesn't get stolen...
• cops stand around on street corners looking bored
• BA residents are so ridiculously good looking
• the city doesn't own the pavement/paths – which means they end up in whole lot of different patterns and don't tend to get maintained well
• Latino's are so keen to share their music with the whole neighbourhood
• the "cool" motorcyclists rest their helmets on top of their head...? I'm sure its great for ventilation around the lower face but not sure how it'd help in an accident...
• following on from the previous point, I don't understand why Latino's aren't concerned about risks... in Paraguay the second highest death statistic is "accidents" and I'm sure its similar here.
• salt and sugar are the staple diet
• rubbish often doesn't make it to the bin
• someone doesn't introduce cheap flights in SA
• no one seems to mind news agents displaying porno in direct view of children (its interesting to see how repressed societies deal with new found freedom – kids will grow up thinking its normal to upgrade to a 2.0 body)
• some buses are all blinged out! (something to do with the collective bus system here, a bunch of families buy a bus together and then they make it all slick (UV lights, aesthetic mirrors, decorations, loud whistles instead of horns... curious).
• University education - choose a career path, study for 7 years (equivalent to degree plus masters) and pay nothing for the privilege, thanks government! But perhaps they should focus on the 20% unemployment rather than free degrees...?!
• Latin America can't just have one standard greeting – is it handshake or kiss? 2 kisses or 1? Who gets a hug? Who initiates, older or younger? If its an elder male, is it kiss or hand shake? If its kiss, who gets kissed first in a group...? If you're sitting down, does everyone stand to kiss someone new? If you're in a movie and someone arrives late, do you all get up and greet the late comer...? Do you kiss with a hat on or off?
• Here's my answer for the whole world, starting now – girls get one kiss on cheek, guys get a hand shake. Done. Simple. Nice.

Bombo legüero

On returning to BA last week, my first task was to purchase a bombo legüero. I've played Argentine folk music with Javi a number of times over the last few years. This has lead to a growing desire for a hand carved, goat skinned, traditional Argentine bombo of my own...

Well, now I have it!

So many Bombos to choose from!

We spent an hour testing them all since each one has a

slightly (or not so slightly) different sound.

Got it!

Giving it a test. Sounds awesome!

Asuncion to Jujuy

There's little reading required in this post, just a short video about my trip from Asuncion to Jujuy last week.

27 hours. 3 buses. 1600km. Over 10 terminals. One international border. Five provincial borders.

The music in the video is from the Motorcycle Diaries soundtrack. I thought it was appropriate, since everyone is calling me Che and his trip was pretty inspirational! Its 1953, he's 23 and training as a doctor in BA, him and his mate Alberto travel 8000 miles, much of it on a rather cruddy bike, they cross the Andes, the Amazon and the Atacama desert... very cool.

Fortunately, unlike him, the result of my fact finding trip is not armed revolution! After the fact, we can all see how useful that was...

Note the queue of trucks on the right of the road in the vid. There was a good hundred or so, all waiting in 35+ degree heat to get through to Argentina!

You know you're not in NZ when...

You're out at mid-night and kids are out too!

Widen it!

Yah. Thanks to John Deere Mom my blog is now wider!

Jujuy there mate

Jujuy came and went in a flash! This post will hopefully explain all the pics I've uploaded.

I was in town for 4 days and met up with a friend from Wellington, Louise. Louise's husband Trent was posted on a student exchange to Jujuy in the 90's. They've been back before for a visit but this time Louise wanted to learn the language solo.

We spent a day in Yala hanging out with her "family" at their weekend house.
Took a day trip up to Humahuaca and Purmamaca which involved a 4 hour return bus trip.
And a couple of visits to the comedor that Louise and Trent have supported.

Humahuaca

This town was particularly amazing. It's a Spanish
colonial town founded in the 16th century next to the Grande River at 2940m in a gorge with the same name. It's really dry here, hence the cactus, which grow at 1cm per year.  Before the Spanish, a number of different indigenous people lived in the area, possibly as far back as 10,000 years! They travelled as far as Upper Peru to trade (in 2009 it takes 40+ hours of busing to get to Peru). There are still Incan ruins in the valley, unfortunately I didn't get to see these.

The town was also important in the war of independence between 1814 and 1821 - a number of battles happened in the area. Now its a great place for tourism without being overly touristy. You can buy some amazing arts and crafts, eat the best empanadas in Argentina (we had way too many!) and see some great examples of Spanish Colonial architecture.





An hour down the road is Purmamarca which we also visited. Amazing coloured mountains are the standout of this area plus more arts and crafts.

Comedor
The Comedor is an eating and study place for kids in a very poor area of Jujuy. The majority of kids in Argentina either do morning or afternoon school, so the local kids come when they aren't in school.

Despite some pretty tough stories, these kids are battlers and thanks to some Kiwi support the Comedor now has a leak proof roof and a secure wall to keep out petty thieves. Unfortunately, their homes aren't as waterproof and on one of the wet days that I visited, most of the kids weren't there because their homes had been flooded.

                                                                                                   Outside the Comedor

P.S. If the photos look out of line with the text, its Bloggers fault!

You know you're not in NZ when...

you've got a premium, lie-flat, leather clad suite in a double decker bus and you pass a farmer riding in a horse and cart.

Paraguay interior

While in Paraguay, I made a brief video of my travels through the interior. Check it out:

I'm on the road again, again, ag...

I'm sitting in a cafe. The air con has cooled the place to somewhere in the early 20s. I'm drinking a fruit smoothy, using free wi-fi and catching up on some multi-media tasks.

For my 12^th and last bus trip, I've booked a “suite” seat for the 20 hour trip to Buenos Aires. I think this means I'll have a lie flat seat. Sweet! Plus all the normal perks like air con, hot meals, alcohol, movies etc. All for the grand price of $135 NZD. Not bad!

Anyway, I look up at the TV above me and notice a bird that looks a lot like a Kea, some scenery that could easily be Milford and then the subtitles mention Te Anau. Ha! It is NZ. Classic.

Cataratas del Iguazú

Couple weeks back I visited the tremendous Iguazu falls. Here's some video footage of one of the hundreds of falls...



When I get back, you might get to see a video of me taking a jet boat into the falls!!

Systemic corruption

How do you help people when education/health/work government handouts are stolen?

How do you stop stealing when the police are corrupt?

How do you make the police accountable when the government is corrupt?

How do you make the government accountable when the people accept that right and wrong are negotiable?

Through conversation with locals and foreigners living in Paraguay and Argentina, it has become apparent that these same sequence of events happen throughout Latin America.

I was in an English class in Yuty, Paraguay and one lady told me NZ was recently ranked as the most honest country in the world. Paraguay was the second to last in South America. She wanted to know why this was...

I wasn't sure how to answer. Perhaps its due to the, admittedly imperfect, Christian values that British colonies were founded on...? Her response was that they were also founded on Christian principles...

I thought about it afterwards. Perhaps Protestant colonisers from Britain would have had different values to Catholic colonisers from the Mediterranean? My history needs some work here. Add this to my homework list.  Although, I don't have to go far for information.

Either way, our country has a foundation of honesty, trust and a certain work ethic that doesn't exist in Latin America, especially Paraguay (which has only recently thrown off the shackles of a dictator). In fact our society takes these values for granted and is passionate about protecting them.

So my question is, if you are a secularist/relativist/agnostic wotchamacallit, how would you introduce these values in a society that suffers from corruption? If you sing “God Defend NZ” but don't actually believe it, how do you translate the protestant work ethic to another culture? What do you use as a reference point?

And, if you are a Bible believer, how do you communicate the concept of Grace when right and wrong are negotiable...?

Fork lightning, go fork lightning!

While traveling in an over night bus to Jujuy, I noticed some flashing light outside (but no noise) so pulled back the curtain and this is what I saw...



Crazy huh?!
In an average week in SA, I probably see as much lightning as I'd see in 6 months in Wellington!

Jujuy

A little piece of info I borrowed from Lonely Planet about my current location.


Originally a key stopover for colonial mule-traders en route to Potosí, Jujuy played an important part in the wars of independence when General Manuel Belgrano directed the evacuation of the entire city to avoid royalist capture; every August Jujuy’s biggest event, the weeklong Semana de Jujuy, celebrates the éxodo jujeño (Jujuy exodus).


San Salvador de Jujuy (now commonly known simply as Jujuy) was founded in 1593 as the most northerly Spanish colonial city in present-day Argentina. It was the third attempt to found a city in this valley, after the previous two incarnations had been razed by miffed indigenous groups who hadn’t given planning permission.


According to Wikipedia, its population in 2001 was 237,751.

View Malc's el mapa de sudamerica in a larger map

A long way...

2 countries, 3 buses, too many terminals and 27 hours. Thats how long it took to get from Asuncion to Jujuy!! Gah.

Google Earth tells me that, as the crow flies its about 800km's... but I don't want to know!

I don't think I'm going to beat that time record for a single journey, multi-leg trip, in a long time (he says touching wood).

You know you're not in NZ when...

The cop at the supermarket door holds a rifle and wears a bulletproof vest.

Impressions of the interior

Culture

The racial blend here couldn't be more of an inversion of BA if it tried! There are very few white people, apart from a third generation German community or two (who still speak German). Almost everyone has Guarani indigenous blood and speak Guarani.

Language

Imagine a foreigner visiting the East Coast and someone fires out a local phrase with their best Beached-as accent in rapid time:

“Kia ora bro, hows your whanau? Wanna have some kai at my whare? Sweet as.”

Thats the Kiwi parallel of Jopará, combining Spanish and Guarani. The Guarani accent carry's over to Spanish. This has meant very little understanding on my part. I had a few attempts on bus rides but usually it came down to me doing most of the talking and asking yes and no questions.

Rain

If you look at my photos, you'll see I experienced the typical campaña (the name for the country side) rain. Locals hang out for this weather, it brings a large drop in temperature but also the end of any activity for the day. Storm water drains flood, houses often rain on the inside, streets get covered in water and become very slippery if they aren't paved (which they often aren't) and generally no one goes anywhere, at all. Even if they think its going to rain and it doesn't (don't trust the weather forecast) they stay where its safe.

Dogs

Dogs have one use only in Paraguay. Security. Its not a pet, its a way to scare off anyone who gets the wrong idea. And Paraguayans hate dogs, so it works. In fact, you won't ever hear someone telling off a dog for barking, that's what they're supposed to do! But, in the evening, the dogs are often let off duty and allowed to catch up with their mates, wandering round town in gangs, barking at anything/nothing. However, if you do want to come on to the property, stand at the gate and clap five or ten times. This is the accepted method of getting the occupiers attention.

Superstition

Never eat water melon with anything else, it should always be eaten on its own. If you get sick, it was because of the water melon. If you don't get sick, its because you're a foreigner.

Milk should be drunk only in the morning.

Look out for a blond blue eyed legend “The Jasy Jateré is an elflike childish figure with blonde hair and blue eyes. He likes to eat wild honey and is sometimes said to carry a golden staff. "Jasy jateré" means "piece of the moon," perhaps referring to his bright aura or fair complexion.” Taken from Guide to Paraguay. This legend has been passed down through the generations and is often conveniently used by mothers to scare their kids into taking a siesta or doing their homework.

Mindset

Its sometimes hard to understand the mindset of the locals here. Due to decades of dictators, no one trusts anyone else (which is fair enough, I wouldn't want to disappear!). So the idea of setting up a collective to share resources and get ahead, isn't that appealing. And due to always being told what to do by someone in authority, leadership ability is in limited supply.

As its really still an oral culture, education is focussed on rote learning. In fact, for the big end of year tests, they'll often have someone work out the answers for the students, and their job is to memorise them...! So kids don't learn to problem-solve or analyse. This often means people don't consider improving what they have and are unlikely to take on new ideas.

They often have large families and one kid will be the chosen one. Food will sometimes be taken from the other children, to make sure the chosen one is fit and healthy. They will be the one that attains their subsistence farmer, father's aspiration to get out of hard labour and go to University. And probably never return.

Its a virtue to cheat and not be found out here. I don't understand. Who's idea was it that cheating was a good idea...? The Spanish? The Catholics? The indigenous people? More recent immigrants? After writing that, I heard some people considering the impact of dictators and how cheating could be one way of getting one over the hegemony that rules you. I know if I was ruled by some heartless and corrupt dictator, I wouldn't be too keen on following the rules either!

Corruption

Speaking of cheating... I've heard multiple stories of locals complaining about the corrupt government and then in mid-sentence, doing something dodgy themselves. Mechanic needs petrol so syphons it out of a customers bike. Airport worker is in a rush, so they bribe someone to get their bag out first. U.S military leaves masses of medication in a hospital and within days it disappears. And yet, they don't see a connection between small person cheating a small amount and big person cheating a big amount... but perhaps this has something to do with the recent remnant of dictators.

Rules

As with the rest of Latin America, rules are ideals only [see mindset and corruption]. If you get caught, its because a cop wants to top up his salary, flick him some notes and no one's the wiser. Seat belts? Helmets? Smoking inside...? Road rules? Petty theft...? Nah.

National assets

Paraguayans have time and strength. This is their greatest asset. Here, there is no need to figure out ways to reduce employment cost, its the cheapest part of the equation. You only have to look at the process of manually stone paving the roads to understand how cheap labour must be! So improving agriculture for the everyday local doesn't require mechanisation (and if you're Monsanto or one of their cronnies, please, go somewhere else!), it just needs someone to employ some of these people with a few more efficient practices (rotating paddocks, less cattle = more meat etc). However, finding that person could be a mission in itself... (see mindset).

There's plenty of time to hang out. Locals stop at least twice a day for long tereré sessions. Sitting outside under a tree, chatting away and escaping the stifling heat. They'll often get up at 4am or earlier to work on their farms so they can stop during the heat. And they can be very friendly too.

Mr Asuncion Bus Driver, deserves respect

He's often driving a bus that looks like its from WWII.

Which means he has to manually change gears.
He takes passengers money, sometimes notes, and gives them change and a ticket.

Occasionally someone on the sidewalk will wave a $100 note at him, he stops, changes it for them and they get off again! Either they're a mate, or he's taking a cut.

Its 40 degrees outside, so the wind coming through the window feels more like a fan heater.
He wears trousers, because every self-respecting Paraguayan man wears trousers.
He drinks Tereré to keep cool.
He talks to his girlfriend on his mobile.
There are no bus stops (except downtown) so he picks people up and drops them off anywhere on the route.
To keep up with the timetable he stops for passengers for as little time as possible (jump on the bus, quick!).

He navigates around the curious driving of the locals, some very rough streets (NZ has gravel roads that are smoother!) and the leaking water mains all over the city.

Mr Asuncion Bus Driver.

Respect.

Things I didn't realise I took for granted in NZ...

• Grass
• Dogs as pets
• Storm water drains
• Honesty and trust as integral parts of a society
• The city maintaining the pavement/path
• Mild temperatures
• Short distances - The mountains and the sea can be reached on the same day (maybe even the same hour!), anywhere. And getting across a NZ city is a piece of cake! Well, maybe not Auckland...
• Intelligent traffic lights – there's another blog post there...
• Plastic - Eftpos, snapper, c/card – generally not needing cash
• Snapper on the bus – You don't have to tell the driver where you're going, you don't have to know the right price and no need for annoying coins in your pocket.
• Complimentary water
• No stares when I pull out my semi-large camera
• Leadership ability
• Booking things on the internet, fast.
• Talking fast and being understood.
• Hot water cylinders
• Police solving crime rather than creating it...
• Not having to explain where my country is, all the time. Or which Kiwi I'm referring to (fruit, bird, people, sports team)
• Rubbish is picked up

Venturing into the devil's belly

Well, not exactly. I took a bus to downtown Asuncion today. At 9am. I thought it'd be cool enough to handle a couple of hours of sight seeing. Wrong.

Point to note in this weather info is the "heat index", what it actually feels like.

If I'd stayed any longer, I'd have to buy a bottle of water at least every hour! On the positive side, it doesn't matter how much you drink... you never need the toilet!

Fortunately I'm heading to Jujuy, Argentina on Friday/Saturday and over there the heat index is lower than here.

Like today for instance, 38c... great.

Updated - BREAKING NEWS:

I just went for a drive to the terminal to buy an international bus ticket (thats a new term), and passed three digital temperature signs on the way...

42, 46, and 44 (the real temp not an index) - thats a record heat wave...

for me!

You know you're not in NZ when...

it takes more than 20 hours of busing to get to the sea and yet you're altitude is only 100 metres...

Back to home base #2

After 5 days in the interior I have returned, to laptop and wifi, woop woop!

Storage challenge

Tomorrow I leave home base number two, in Asuncion. I've been staying with the Stout family for 3 days and now they've hooked me up with some people to visit, for a 6 days or so journey through the interior of Paraguay. This means that I'll be leaving some stuff in storage here, and in Buenos Aires, and 4 houses in Welly and a few things in Nelson. Thats 6 houses, 4 cities, 2 continents. Does anyone want to see my six houses and raise me a city...?

The itinerary looks something like this:

Tuesday: Caazapa

Wednesday: Vegros

Thursday: Yuty

Friday to Sunday: San Francisco

Back to Asuncion

This is plan E though so we'll see how it works out in reality. The rain could change plans dramatically, as it has already. Rain + dirt roads = no travel.

View Paraguay tour in a larger map

Go west, young man...

With Iguazu done, I head west to Asuncion [ah-suun-see-oon].

Another classic travelers tale awaits...

I start by leaving a bit late (10am) which means its hot, I've got 15 kilos or so in my 2 bags which feels more like 30 (turns out I hadn't adjusted the straps properly...). The local bus which usually goes straight to the terminal... goes on a wonky tour across town.  Fortunately my new French buddy (every backpacker is your buddy really) spots that we need to get off before we head back to where we came from.

Now I have to find my way through a new part of town, with my packs and very hot and humid weather. Splendid!

Make it to the terminal, wait for about 40 mins and get on the bus to Ciudad Del Este. So far so good. I attempt to chat to the locals on the bus, with the theory that the more people I know, the more chance someone will help if it all goes wrong. End up "chatting" to a girl from Asuncion. I invert those commas due to the very basic nature of the chat but she was very helpful.

We get stamps leaving the Argentine border and at that point I ask the driver if he can stop at the Ciudad Del Este border (Lonely Planet said to watch out for this, I could get in a spot of bother if I don't get stamped in). He says something like "Sí Señor" which is a good sign and then mentions "otro bus" ah yes, also good. LP said to get off the bus and get another one after the border process. We cruise straight through both Brazil borders which would have concerned me if I hadn't read up about the trip before hand.

At the Paraguay border the dude mentions something that sounds like "cuarenta" and I start thinking - oh right, thats how it works, I give you 40 bucks and you give me a stamp right...? I ask "pesos?" and he looks at me with a curious look like I don't have a clue what I'm talking about. You're right buddy, absolutely no idea. The word rolls around in my head a bit...
Oooh, "cuanto" something about how long...? Ah "dos semanas" 2 weeks. Maybe that was what he was after, who knows, he stamped my passport anyway. Ha.

I wait for another bus, a dude comes up to me and says "cambio". Ah change, good, no idea whether he is legit but I could do with some guaranís [gwah-rah-nee - roll the r and run it together]. Have no idea what rate is good or how much to get, so I give him 20 pesos, he gives me 21,000 g's. Woop! Man, I'm rich! Until the bus comes and I pay 8,000. Hmm, maybe I should have got more...?

Next challenge is to get to the terminal, I mentioned terminal to the driver using my best Spanish accent. He seems to understand... Here's hoping I end up in the right part of this crazy border town - everything is tax free here so there's electronics shops and riff raff all over the place! Everyday thousands of people come across the bridge from Brazil and Argentina to buy tax free and sell it back home.

After rolling through the back streets for a while, we finally enter the terminal - yusss! Made it. Phase 2 complete. Now I'll call Tom in Asuncion, get some food, change some more money, go to the toilet and hang out while I figure out which bus is best, until...
the back door opens and three guys are asking everyone - Asuncion? Asuncion?
Well, ah, yeah but...
And before you know it, after a split section decision and some cheeky locals trying to drum up business, I'm on a bus to Asuncion! No call, no toilet, no food but 40 pesos. Sweet! I end up deciding to try and get there as quick as possible rather than hanging out. Lonely Planet said to bargain until just before the door closes but when you're paying about 12NZD for a 6 hour trip, playing hard ball seems curious. Probably if I'd got a flasher bus we wouldn't have been stopping every 20 mins and I would have ended up getting there quicker but... oh well.

During the trip various vendors get on the bus and sell drinks, food, dvds, books... you name it! Fortunately I hadn't used all my currency and was able to get a coke and a local bread, thing.

The sights along the way were intriguing - farms riddled with foot high termite hills, very rough roads made from flat stones (apart from the highway which was very good), lots of agriculture, some very poor areas, many groups of people sitting under trees in the hot midday heat drinking Tereré - like Maté in Argentina but cold. I hadn't really considered the heat until I realised there was a small leak in my window seal and the air coming through it felt like a fan heater! Wowsers, I'm glad I got air con and now realise why buses have curtains closed in the middle of the day!

After an hour of slowly progressing through Asuncion I finally make it to the terminal, find a phone, make a call and wait. Tom arrives 20 mins later and phase 3 is complete. Woop! Too easy.

You know you're not in NZ when...

the neighbour throws mangoes from his lawn onto the road!

Hostel life

If there's one thing I really like about a hostel life, its the range of different people I meet. Of course we're all young backpackers so we have that in common, plus everyone speaks English which is a nice change but everything else is different. For instance:

• A London marketing director for a large hotel chain currently on gardening leave - left his wife behind for a 5 week holiday around Sth America - wife is fashion editor for Times - bit of a cool metro couple.
• German fine arts student / photo journalist (in Sth America and Middle east) - traveling through SA for 2 months, next stop Cordoba.
• Young American guy, recently graduated from Memphis, traveling while he has the chance but no  graduated friends have found work yet.
• Irish girl managing construction of Olympic stadium in London, taking a break and cruising around SA for 5 weeks.
• Couple of German girls (its not a hostel if there aren't Germans and Brits there) who are studying in Santiago for a semester. Taking a couple of weeks out to travel through Argentina.
• Spanish guy semi-retired. Teaches sailing in the summer, was introduced to America's Cup and NZ for the first time when A.cup came to Valencia (1 hour sth of his home). Coming to NZ next year.
• Young French guy who writes his own music while traveling and sells electronica music via internet to fund travels. Likes India and Nepal (wears traditional clothes from there), is travelling Sth America for ages.

The general mix of people here are Americans, Brits and Europeans with the occasional Australian chucked in.  There was an indication of the number of Europeans present when all our passports were together for the border crossing to Brazil. There were 12 burgundy Euro passports and one NZ one. Easy to spot!

The falls

How do you even begin to explain the impact of these falls? I like facts so here's a few:

• Greatest average annual flow of any waterfall in the world.
• 275 falls
• Height of longest drop 82 metres
• 2.7km long
• Surface of water flowing over falls is 40 Ha (Niagara is 18.3)
• Annual peak flow 6,500 m³/s (but with the rain we've had its going to be busting that rate for sure!).
• Mist rises between 30 and 150m above the devils throat.

My travel buddies for a day - a Swedish lawyer (speaks 4 languages, is a mean pool shark and obviously has Swedish genes...), a Spanish nurse (very extroverted but no English unfortunately) and his Argentine lawyer boyfriend (based in Barcelona and does speak good English, during his English classes when they wanted to give them a hard test they used Kiwi and Aussie accents! haha). A cool group of people to hang with.

This is out in the middle of the water - my boardies are being blown back by the spray, its a bit like walking into a storm.

As usual, more photos in Picasa: http://picasaweb.google.com/mdshearer/Sudamerica#

Busing in Argentina...

...is like traveling first class!

The 16 hour bus ride to Iguazu was a piece of cake thanks to:

• Lollies for starters
• Hot dinner - aeroplane style with dessert followed by coffee and mint biscuits followed by whiskey or champagne
• Beer, wine, coke, sprite with topups (I'd have been more keen for coffee and/or alcohol if I knew it wouldn't stuff up my sleep...)
• Breakfast
• Very spacious seats. There were 3 per row (2 - aisle - 1)
• I could lean right back (160 deg) combined with a leg rest, made it pretty comfy
• Movies - were pretty good, apart from the German film with Spanish subtitles... and the fact the speakers can't be turned down.
• The ride wasn't that bumpy which meant I could actually read a bit

I'm on the road again...

Its time to leave home base and explore a bit. First up is a 15 hour flash bus ride for 90 NZD to Iguazu falls.

I'll be there for 4 days.

A typically atypical, travel story

Ok, I want to travel north. Catch up with a friend in Jujuy, visit a missions organisation in Paraguay, possibly connect with a contact of a contact in Missiones and see the mighty Iguazu falls.

The catch is, I need a Visa for Paraguay. Most likely due to diplomatic reciprocity (Paraguayans are probably not part of our visa waiver programme...). A visa requires proof of exit from the country (return trip of some kind). So I spent quite a lot of time trying to figure out my schedule, balance with what other people are doing so I could book a bus into and out of Paraguay.

However, you can't really book a bus into Paraguay. You really got to be there. Fortunately, a friend had been before and suggested, along with Javi that perhaps the NZ flight would do as proof.

Ok x2, I want to travel Monday, visa takes 24 hours, plan to head to the consulate on Thursday. Its kinda last minute due to the mucking around I'd been doing figuring out dates but I've got all day.

Nope, I don't have all day, at 11am I found out the consulate closes at 2pm... great. Just great.

Race off, get paper work printed, get cash to pay an exorbitant fee of $45USD (thats lots here) and head to the subway which will get me almost to the consulate door.

The subway is closed. Ha ha, very funny, there are 6 lines carrying thousands of people on trains every 5 mins, its never closed, its never late. No really, the subway is closed. Dang those unions!

Achk! Ok, have to figure out which of the hundreds of buses roaring by, goes to town. My little map book has all the bus routes but it doesn't actually mark where they go as there are too many. Text Javi.

Its flippin hot, there's taxis everywhere, its ridiculously noisy on Cabildo, there's a massive line for the bus. I squish onboard but this bus is going no where quickly, so many people at every stop and traffic is manic!

A 20min subway ride turns into a 40min bus ride. Its 1.45pm and I've still got 15 blocks to go... I give up on the bus and decide to walk. I can't run, its too hot and I'm dressed like a local with jeans on. So I stroll along thinking I'm going to miss it for sure. Think about taking a taxi but I'd be paying money to get there too late and anyway, there all taken!

Arrive at consulate at 2.05pm. It closes at 3pm.

Lady asks for documentation. I've got a waist bag thing inside the front of my pants for security, stick my hand down to grab passport.

“are you alright”

“sorry...?”

“Do you need to go to the toilet?”

[Ah yeah, in NZ when we need to go to the toilet we just stick our hand down the front of our pants...].

Fill in forms except...

Where will you stay? – not sure

What is your arrival date? – not sure

What is your transport? – not sure

How long are you staying for? – not sure

Initially I thought this would be a problem but it wasn't. Good! What kind of backpacker knows where they'll be in a whole 9 days...? Gee whiz...

Ok handover forms, lady asks for 45 greenbacks. Can't you take Pesos? Nope, greenbacks. Oh crud. I've got 30mins to get the cash. She gives me vague directions but I'll find it for sure.

I don't find it. Shouldn't it say something obvious like dolores? Or Cambio? Exchange, something like that...? Nup. I go back at 3 empty handed. Fortunately, she feels bad that she didn't give me proper directions and says if I bring in the currency tomora they'll do it in 1 hour! Sweet!

I follow directions and end up at a little tourist info store. Not what I expected. They use a little calculator to work out a rate for me. Ha! This ain't NZ now but I got my cash.

Friday, I head back early (aghhh). Everything goes fine. I chat to a young Paraguayan dude who's been here for 5 years and is getting his papers sorted. He has many American friends he has practiced English on but he gets annoyed that they complain a lot about the food (I'd like to say I was surprised but isn't that why every street has a Maccas and a Starbucks...?). He teaches me some Guarani, I capture it into the mobile, this'll be handy, the further out in the country you go, the more Paraguayans mix up Spanish and Guarani. Perhaps this could be a NZ situation in 20 years...? (except the further into the city you go the more the mix up...). I practice on a 4 year old next to me, he seems to get what I'm saying, and laughs!

Me - Mbaeichapa?

Him – Oami!

Me – [in spanish] Muy bien!

The next thing I know I have my visa and this typical travel story comes to an end. See, you just don't get stories like this if you don't travel!

FAQ

Why are you going to Argentina?

I've had this thing about South America since I did a work exchange to California in

02/03. Now's the perfect time to check it out. Got savings, got a cheap flight, got no rent cost in NZ and I've got a place to stay in BA. If the region rings my bells while I'm here, I just may come back for a longer period, some time in the future...

What are you going to do there?

Umm... Figuring that out as I go. I'm interested in community development in poorer areas and with indigenous people. So far I've connected with a local church who have a couple of things going on that I've checked out. I'll also be heading up to visit SIM in Paraguay and visiting a friend Louise in Jujuy [hard to pronounce - kindof like hu-huy except softer and with more breath...]. And will be getting right into the tourism and visiting one of the seven natural wonders of the world - Iguazu. See my calendar for dates as I figure them out.

You like to travel but you don't like tourism...?! What gives?

Yeah, when I was traveling in the U.S in 03, I spent three days in Vegas. Although there was some amazing sites to see there, I came away with a bitter taste in my mouth, so to speak. I had dreams of working on cruise ships, sailing around the Greek Islands, traveling through Europe and generally participating in all the standard things Kiwi travelers do but that vision came unstuck. Vegas was not a nice place, to me it felt like an incredibly oppressive place and despite being amazed by the Bellagio and the Venetian, after three days I was very keen to get out. There was really only one reason for that city to exist, to support an industry based on greed and selfishness. That experience had a lasting effect on me and impacted my world view in terms of how and why I travel.

But in saying all that, tourism is still a great way to develop an economy and I really enjoy meeting new people, experiencing and participating in their culture and comparing and contrasting it with my own. I can't see that desire disappearing anytime soon. However, when I'm traveling I want to be contributing not just consuming. I want to get to know people, not just take their picture.

Ok but aren't you just doing the typical tourism thing now?

Yes and no. I don't have any issues with tourism in itself, its just the motivation behind the tourism that sometimes gets on my nerves. If you enjoy western specialities like consumerism and individualism then you're not really going to get what I'm going on about unfortunately. I think our western approach to tourism, is very self-oriented. We look for the latest buzz. What can we take from this country? What experience can we have which will make a nice badge on our chest? (Not to say that I don't have fun collecting "badges" but its not the priority). Tick off a few nice places that we can say “I've been there”. Or maybe its just some kind of self-actualisation thing...? Trying to discover who I really am... But do we actually contribute anything (apart from some cash)? Do we actually get to experience what it is like to live in that area? Struggle with the issues and systems those people struggle with...?

If you like travel so much, why don't you leave NZ and head off overseas permanently?

NZ is my home and that's where I'm meant to be right now. I've got an awesome crew that I'm looking forward to returning to. For me, travel seems so much more exciting when you have people to share the stories with and to journey with over the long term. Also, I have lots of great projects and people to be involved with as soon as I get back to Welly so, it's unlikely you'll see me leave NZ for any greater length of time in the next 4 years or so...

Any other reasons for traveling? (15/11/09)
Every time I travel I always want to record it in text and photos as I go but the travel tends to be too much too fast and I run out of time to write. This trip is a chance to put my ideal travel philosophy into action. I've basically taken the maximum time possible for my schedule (2 months) and gone for less rather than more. If I was a proper backpacker I'd be racing around trying to see as much as possible but this trip is the opposite. I'm trying to go slow, meet people and allow plenty of time to write about my experiences. Its still travel so I won't have time to write epic national geographic pieces but at least I get to record it all and a few people get to travel along with me.

[This post may get updated over time]

Hair hair!

Facial hair is pretty standard here. Good.

I guess it should be expected though, since the stereotypical Puma has a scraggly beard, bushy dark hair and some girth to his eyebrows...

Of course, perhaps 1 in 30 males actually looks like that.

Also, over these last 3 weeks, I have now spotted 2 ginga beards! Woop, woop! You guys rock. One was a jazz musician with a grey cheese cutter just like mine, the other was an Hasidic Jew and his beard rocked!!

But thats not my point. My point is that my beard is bigger than everyone else's (except the Jew).

Now, to figure out how to say that en Espanol... ;)

*This story is dedicated to Nich DC :)*

What do you do?

When you've got 500 bucks in your pocket but you can't afford the $1.25 bus?
You have to have coins for the bus.
Coins are precious so shop keepers won't change your money for you.
You could buy something and hope for some change... but shopkeepers aren't stupid, they make the prices round figures, so no change there.
You could try and change with a friend but they prolly need their change too.
You could queue up at the bank for 20 mins but thats a pain.
And to make matters worse... the $1 coin (they use the $ sign despite the fact the currency is called pesos...) is worth more than $1, due to the metals its made of, so it regularly gets stolen and smuggled into Brazil to get melted down which means they are a rare commodity.
The one saving grace is there are no annoying 1c pieces like there are in the States...! Gah.

So what do I do?
I try to get the train or subway as much as poss and always pay in notes (to get change).

A reintroduction to grass

Grass, Malcolm. Malcolm, grass. Ah, pleased to meet you my long lost friend! (If you're in a rush, skip to the pics at the bottom).

Weekend before last I headed out of town for a weekend camp with Javi's church and in the process was reintroduced to something I take for granted in NZ. Unfortunately in this city, grass is a very rare commodity, and where it is, it is not looked after anywhere near as well as back home.

Anyway, to keep it brief, here's a few of my observations:

The people
There was approx 40 of us, which was a nice size, not too overwhelming for this spanglish speaker. It was an interesting mix of people from both lower and middle class backgrounds. Ex drug addicts, troubled teens and a mix of middle class types. Predominantly European though, as is most of BA.

With a lack of language and cultural understanding, its hard to know whether the jokes are funnier here or people just laugh harder but a good time was definitely had by all, late into the night. I get the feeling that this culture is generally a bit more “extroverted” than home.
But thats hardly going to surprise anyone! They were very welcoming and I immediately felt at home, which was nice, in only my 2nd week.

The time
Things run later here. Start later, finish later. I like.

A good example of this is Sunday arvo. After we were packed and tidied up, we sat around for a couple of hours and waited for everyone to finish, so we could take a group photo and all say our goodbyes (combinations of hugs and kisses).
I was sitting there for a while trying to comprehend this. Sure, I have lots of time to sit around and enjoy the slow pace but I couldn't imagine this happening back home. Don't you guys have to get busy or something...? Don't you have “stuff” to do? You know all that weekend biz to catch up on? No? But you're back at work tomorrow and you're prolly going to be commuting for hours... No entiendo, una papa (see Ultimate Phrase blog).

The futbol
Of course I couldn't pass up a chance to play the beautiful game and connect with the locals. They have an annual singles vs marrieds game at the camp but the English speakers were all married, so I swapped allegiances. Despite my football ignorance, lack of fitness and general language inability (who knows if they have terms like “man on” or “line” in Espanol, or who they were telling me to kick it too...), I managed to have a good time!

Fortunately my standard strategy paid off. Stay at the back, get in the way of any one attacking and pull off the occasional successful tackle (since the place was pretty wet, the more splash the better!). One tackle that got me particularly soaked had the crowds roaring with delight!
Well, crowd of 10 anyway, I can dream.
Afterwards one of the opposition teens attempted to tell me I was “good” and via translation, I wouldn't let him play his game, combined with various pats on the back. Haha. Yuusss. Little did they know...
or maybe they were just being nice. Its fair enough though... with the All Whites somewhere below 100th in the world, there would be no expectation that a Kiwi could actually kick a ball.

The time factor mentioned previously did come into play here too. I asked one of the marrieds when we were going to finish the game (at this stage I was about ready to crash!). The reply was something like "when we win..." ha! Eventually with some more questioning from me, there was some chatter and movement amongst the players...
Half time.
Oh great! Half time. Just what I need.
Yes... I get the feeling things works a little different here.

All we need to do is give it an English name and it will be cool...

Need some cool technology? Not sure where to go? No need to worry coz we've got...

MultiHard

The shop for all your technology needs.

Seriously!

Bam!!

The day started with a bang. Literally!

At 5.55am on Sunday, it was raining, not that I was aware of that, I was blissfully asleep until...

The loudest but shortest sound I have ever heard, combined with a seriously bright light, blasted me awake! I jolted up and said something like “oh my goodness!!” I know, the next lamest thing I could have said was “hi-de-ho neighbourinho” but I'm just reporting it how it was...

My first thought was that a bomb had gone off – which is not inconceivable, since two Jewish buildings (including inhabitants) in BA have been obliterated by extremists in the last 5 years.
However my initial shock was calmed by Javier,
apologising for his city,
again.

Turns out it was fork lightning. Extremely close to our building.
Whoa!

Words can't articulate the ridiculous sound of that much energy firing through the sky. A laser from a sci-fi style space craft is about the best I can do but without any explosion on impact. Crazy.

Traffic problems solved!

I think I've found a solution to Auckland's traffic problems!

No need for motorways, no need for public transport...
Just bust down 10 or 15 blocks, a hundred buildings or so and create a 20 lane behemoth of an avenue!!

I present to you the lovely 9 de Julio Avenue...

The picture can be deceiving... there's at least another 3 lanes on either side, which you can't see!

Or perhaps a one way, 11 lane avenue is more to your liking...?

What d'ya reacon JB...?

Home base

Tres de Febrero is where I'm based. I'm staying with my friend Javier and his mother Vita in the Nuñez barrio (neighbourhood). Its three stops on the train from Retiro station which is pretty close to the downtown area or the subway gets even closer to town (runs under Cabildo).

View Malc's el mapa de sudamerica in a larger map

The three residents of 2966:

Me

Estoy visitando Argentina por 2 meses. 
Hablo un poquito de espanol (speaks small spanish)

Vita
Born in Bolivia, emigrated to BA over 20 years ago. With limited kitchen resources, manages to cook/blend/juice up a storm!
No hablo ingleise.

Javier
Spent half his life in Bolivia, half in BA and last 3 years in Welly. Is currently on a decent break at home before returning to Welly at the end of the year.
¡Hablo espanol y ingleise!

Tres de Febrero is Feb 3. Javi doesn't know why the street is named after that date, or why the parallel street is named Sept 11! Curious.