One year traveling around

Yeah, already a year that I’ve start this travel adventure that came’s from a wish when I was 20, and I was living in London.

I have been in many places that I wanted to go like Vietnam, Laos, Japan, Australia and Patagònia. I also visit places that weren’t on my first plan and have surprised me like Perhentian island in Malaysia, the south of China, Chiloe, Iguaçu and the south of Brazil.

I thought about taking the flight back that I have for now (The Roundtheworld ticket is only valid for 12 months) or not, but didn’t take me a lot of time to decide to make a little bit longer my trip.

So, I’ll be traveling on my rhythm along faraway lands sending posts telling what I am doing.

The Rhythm of the traveler, apart to be personal, changes every day you wake up. From the sun light that came’s from the window or from the clock alarm that warn you that you have to do the Check-out of the hostel or you have to run to catch a bus.

Because I am moving all the time, I have to take a lot of transports, sleep in so many different places, try to bargain always for save some money that can help to do another thing (you can see I am not like a politician here..). Because there are activities that one wants to do it and even there are expensive, when you are there you have to pay and enjoy it.
Do a long time travel is like having a job without fix hours and no holidays. The good thing is that you have chosen to do it.

Those days in Santiago I’ve stayed at Luis (Germán brother) place and his family. Has been three days of personal time, choosing staff that I send to Tarragona (at the end I send 10kg!), to relax a little and watch the match MOUdrid 0 – Barça 2.
My camera has been affected for crossing the Andes and in two days didn’t work at all. Luckily after two days work again before I bought another new one.

Right now I have Valle del Elqui, the desert of Atacama and Bolivia in my mint. My closest future. As I want to continue making real my wishes, I’m going there.


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Versió catalana
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Santiago, Algarrobo, Isla Negra and Valparaíso

After sleep and sleep, I suppose for the jet lag and the high temperature of Santiago, we have lunch at Susana’s place and we watch “Inception”. Lazy day!

Next day I arrange to meet with Luís (brother of a really good friend in Tarragona, Germán). He pick me up and we went to the centre of Santiago to walk thru the typical galleries, watch (from outside) some of the cafés con piernas, where the waitress are only very little dressed.

We walk around the Centro Cultural del Palacio de la Moneda and we visit the Museo Precolombino where there is a really good collection of all the different cultures before the arrive of the Europeans.
Luís have a lot of knowledge of Santiago and Chile, perfect!

Between Auckland and Santiago, the longest day in my live

It has been the longest Sunday ever. When I say long, I mean it has been extremely long, a total of 36 hours being Sunday 16 of January 2011.
And what I did all this hours?

Well… starting with some night live in Auckland with Sarah, sleeping few hours (not many because I had to pack all my staff) and going to the airport to take the plane.
At the cue to check in, I meet Asunción, a Chilean going back after being in a wedding in New Zealand and, as many of the Chileans that I meet till now, they like to meet people and share histories.
At the airplane we seat next to each other … 9 hours watching movies, talking and trying to sleep.

I arrive at Santiago, change Continent, change language, changes…
The most estrange for me is the change of time... I took the plane at 16:30 of 16 January in Auckland, and I arrive at 12:30 of 16 January... I’ve win time even the flight was 9 hours!
Asunción offers to give me a ride to Susana’s place (Couchsurfing/Chile). Her husband and her kids are waiting at the airport and they give me the ride… good start, no?

Susana offers me stay in a nice room with toilet at her apartment. She is also engineer, she left all her obligations for travel for a while and now she is coming back . She find a good job, and she still have few weeks off…
I arrive, I take a shower and we eat something.
And we go to Parc Padre Hurtado where there is a Beer festival, Bierfest Santiago that for 5 euros entrance you can try all kinds of beers of the festival… Sun, music and good beer.

Doesn’t end the day here, first we go around Bellavista neighborhood and we take the car lane to go up to Cerro San Cristóbal. Mote con huesillo to drink with a really good panoramic view of Santiago while the sun is getting down.
Susana meets her friend Jorge (also Couchsurfing, Chile) at a Japanese-Chile restaurant. To drink I try the classic Pisco Sour.

Jorge is a journalist in a television and never end to tell histories and jokes. Is impossible to get bored with Susana and Gorge together!
We go back to Susana’s place…

At 00:00 of 17 January I clean my teeth’s and I go to sleep.

Long long day….

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Versió catalana
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