Cape Town...... And so little time

Greetings from South Africa again!

I'm afraid I am short on time so this is going to be more of a photo update than writing but suffice to say I have seen the Cape of Good Hope and been to the top of Table Mountain and they are amazing. Tomorrow I leave for three weeks in the South African wilderness and I hope to keep up my notes as I go but I know I will be without wifi for a long time so you might not hear anything until I come out the other side.

So......  Photos.  Cape of Good Hope and Cape Point first.....

And a stop in Simons Town to see some penguins but unfortunately they looked a little sad as they were molting so they weren't waterproof and couldn't swim.

And today, up Table Mountain.  Stunning!

Ok, that's all for now.  As I said, I'm going to be completely off grid for the next three weeks.  There should hopefully be a bunch of uploads once I get a good wifi connection!

The sharks are circling

Well I made it to Cape Town and it's beautiful here.  First on the agenda, swimming with the sharks.......

Yup, I went cage diving.  It was amazing.  The bay is full of great whites.  By all count we saw six different ones today, and because of the conditions they were coming from deep and leaping out of the water.  They realise on overcast days you can't see into the water so they come from under their prey.  I saw one come out of the water right in front of me and swim so close to the cage I could nearly touch it.  Amazing.

Unfortunately I didn't get many great photos but I know someone who did and their going to send them along, I'll post them when I get them.  For now here's what I got (besides seasick, as did half the people on the boat at final count).

Wrapping it up............

Well the Latin America part anyway........  Since I'm switching continents this feels like the right time to write a quick summary of the last 6 weeks.

Where to start..........  Well the beginning seems to make sense, maybe a quick highlight reel, a nod to the not so highlight parts and a comment on what's ahead.  I think that makes sense.

So the beginning, where is the beginning?  If I'm honest I think it goes back to 2012 when I moved back from China, a relationship of 10 years ended, another started, lasted for 10 months and then right on the day I handed my notice in finished in pretty flattening circumstances.  Twice in a year I've stepped away into a relatively solid 'plan', based on the assumption that someone was coming with me or waiting on the other side, just to be left like Wile E Coyote chasing the Roadrunner over the cliff.  I keep going for a while but sooner or later the Roadrunner is there with a sign saying 'Gravity' and an arrow pointing straight down.

So that was the starting point, not too thrilled with life and plummeting towards the canyon floor.  

I tried not to let it show too much in what I was writing but there were plenty of times i just wanted to put my head under the pillows and pretend the world didn't exist, not to mention wondering if I was doing the right thing - not to spoil the surprise but now I'm  pretty sure I am - I also didn't want to admit that I'd made the same mistake twice.  Fool me once and all that.  

I guess my ultimate point here is to thank all the people I have complained to, whined at and generally been pathetic, for not turning away and giving me the appropriate metaphorical smack in the head when I deserved it.  I'm sure you all had your own problems at the time but you took the time to listen to mine and for that I will be eternally grateful.

Anyway, the start, the first flight, and already I was doubting if I should be going to Nicaragua (not to mention whether I should be going at all), not much English speaking, a real unknown quantity.  Would I be better going to Costa Rica?  Well I stuck with it, and I'm glad I did.  The first day was Volcan Telica and that was just stunning.  Fortunately I had a day to dry off afterwards but it was a bit of a double edged sword with time on my hands to replay the last few weeks and months.  San Juan del Sur was a disappointment from a nightlife perspective but gave me one of the best sunsets I have ever seen, Granada was lovely.  Peaceful, relaxing and a few things to do here and there, I'm glad I stayed there as long as I did.  I even got half a job offer to come back in a years time and manage the hotel I was staying in if the owners decided to take a break.  Kind of tempting if I could get my Spanish better.

From there to Panama and the canal was impressive but the city itself left me cold - and really really hot and humid - not quite the vibrant place I was expecting.  Oh well, it was really just a stop over anyway.

Then into Santiago, a lovely city.  Nice people, safe feeling and all around nice place to be.  From there the Atacama desert and then the Salt Flats, definitely one of my top five.  Mendoza and Argentinian wine country next and that was great, a nice outside dining setup and a really nice vibe to it - dinner with my tour guide didn't hurt either :o).  

Buenos Aires was next up and I have to admit I may not have given it a fair go but it's still one of the biggest disappointments.  I've met people after that went there and said they loved it but I'm sorry it didn't do anything for me.  Patagonia on the other hand was a star.  The glacier walking, the hike to Mount Fitz Roy, the tour around the Beagle Channel, all excellent.

Next was up to the Brazil/Argentina border and the Iguassu falls.  Truly spectacular but the highlight was the boat ride.  I was starting to get tired by the point and simple beautiful things like the falls needed something more.  Going under them in a boat fit the bill quite nicely!

And last but not least, Rio.  Thankfully I got to see it, not just clouds and while the buzz dies down with the weather I had it is still a great city.  Here, Rio may have been helped by meeting up with another traveller I had met in Iguassu and also Regiane, for some local flavour.  I've said it before, a city is about the people you know,  not the bricks and mortar or the landscape.

So that's a summary of all that's happened up until now, I've probably talked about more things in this than I would ever have done anywhere else.  The beauty of the blog is that it gives you the feeling of immunity in confessions, but you've got to be careful how you use it :o)

So, a highlight reel, a not-so highlight reel and what's ahead.  Let's start with the bad news first.

The not-so top 5 highlights

5 - Travelling alone (when you book as though you are part of a pair).  It's hard work, and there are times you just really want someone to talk to or get you out of your room and doing something.  This was a tough one to put in the not-so top 5 since if I'd been traveling with someone I wouldn't have met half the people I did, hence the qualifier of how I booked this trip.  Like I said, I thought I was part of a relationship when I was organising this, and booked myself in more hotels than hostels, more planned than winging it so I knew I had wifi and could stay in touch with her.  Lesson learned, maybe!

4 - San Juan del Sur.  Again, I know I was out of season but this place just didn't have a vibe of being particularly welcoming at any time of the year.

3 - Google Drive.  I'm sorry, but the whole thing with it caching copies of what you upload is ridiculous.  Having to delete it and reload it every so often is just irritating.

2 - Buenos Aires.  Again, this may be my preconceptions at play (one of the people that told me how amazing Buenos Aires was was the girl that broke up with me right before I left for this, I might have wanted to prove her wrong).  However, my memory is pretty clear, of a city that really didn't seem to buzz, just getting by with some simmering tension about the politics.

1 - Too many sights, not enough action.  When I look at the trip I saw a lot of amazing sights but I can't say I really had a lot of adventures.  This ties back in with number 5 but it's a little bit clearer and if I'd thought about it a little more I could have avoided it, even taking everything else into consideration.

So now, the highlights.  And since I'm going to be looking for a job soon I'm going to practice for my next career.........

Would you like......... with that?

5 - A giant statue of Christ the Redeemer and a buzzing Latin American city.

Putting the weather aside, Rio really lived up to the billing. It had life despite the weather and I can only imagine what it would have been like in the sun and the heat.

4 - A giant mountain in Patagonia and all the hiking trails you could ever want.

El Chalten was fantastic.  The trails were a challenge but doable and I had company which was a relief as doing the hike up to Laguna de Los Tres would have been tough on my own.  All around, the place was friendly, I think I forgot to mention I even got a book trade in a shop that hadn't opened yet when I started talking to the owner of the local microbrewery.  Challenge, friendly people, some company, perfect!

3 - A huge bubbling volcano that you stand on the edge of / A blizzard while you walk on a glacier

The very first thing I did and it hasn't been beaten by much.  Honestly, this came very close to being second but not quite.  The volcano itself was dramatic but the tropical storm that came during the descent just made it all the more.

Again, the weather played a role here.  While a lot of people would prefer clear skies to see the mountains and the expanse of the glacier, doing this in freezing temperatures with snow blowing all around just worked, it added to the challenge.

I tried to separate these two but just couldn't so they get equal billing and my top five gets a sneaky sixth member.

2 - A big flat piece of salt

Stunning scenery, a great group of people to travel with and some adventure.  This really did have it all.  I had read about it but to say I've been there and spent three days at that altitude is pretty cool.  I will never underestimate air again :o)

1 - The people I've met along the way.  Starting with the Aussie and the Dutch girl on the volcano climb to Regiane in Rio the vast majority of people I've met have been amazingly friendly, with fascinating stories, great personalities and willing to help.  Of course, there have been a few exceptions - some of you may remember my rant that some people should have their passports taken away - but on the whole it's been a great group of people and the memories just wouldn't be the same without them (in some cases wouldn't have been possible).

So that's my interview practice, at some point I will remember what I'm actually supposed to say - hopefully wherever I end up has a training program :o)

Some Honourable Mentions

My cameras and iPad.  The cameras have been through rain, snow pretty much anything I could throw at them and they're still working.  The iPad has been great for backing up all the photos and keeping me in touch and letting me write this blog.

The food.  I've tried some amazing food along the way, beef and fish mostly and the vast majority has been excellent.  Hopefully it will continue.

Everyone who is reading this - even if there isn't anyone at all - it's been good to put my thoughts out there so even though I'm on my own it feels like I've got someone to talk to.  Thank you, and thank you for the comments, they really are appreciated.

So what's next?

Well, right now I'm on a plane flying across the Atlantic to South Africa.  A three night stay in Cape Town and then a safari tour through Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe.  I don't know the size of the group or the people who will be in but hopefully they're up for a laugh and an occasional game of cards.  I'll be able to do a couple of updates from Cape Town but that will be about it until I reach the hotel at Victoria Falls I would imagine.

And then it's home for Christmas, not the original plan but I admit I'm looking forward to it.  This traveling lark is fun and all but it gets tiring after a while.

Rio - the city where it's always sunny........

Except when I show up.

Apparently the weather was up around 40C the day before I arrived, the beaches were packed and the city was humming.  By the time I got there it was raining and had dropped to a high of about 30C.  The locals apparently get kind of grumpy when this sort of weather is around so I kept quiet about the coincidence.

Anyway, the city still had a pretty good buzz about it and felt pretty safe to walk around, even later on at night.  They've been doing a lot of work to tighten up on that the last couple of years but one of the people I was talking to who lives here told me it had been slipping again recently.  Let's hope they get it together before the World Cup shows up.

Anyway, some of the sights, and I was pretty lucky to get them.  First day was Corcovado, the mountain with the statue of Christ on the top.

He's pretty big!  And you get a great view of the city, providing it's a clear day.  Fortunately for the short time I was up there the clouds stayed away.

The Sugarloaf mountain

The Maracana - famous football stadium where the World Cup final will be played.

Ipanema beach and a natural salt water lagoon.

One of the Favellas (slums) climbing up the hillside.

Shortly after we left there the clouds came in, but nothing like when I went up Sugarloaf the following day.......

It's two cable cars to go up.  The first takes you to the top of Uca, and then the next Sugarloaf.  It's a great view from up there, again, providing the weather cooperates.......

Copacabana beach.

Corcovado.

And then the clouds moved in and all you could see was white.

This is from Uca looking up. From the top it was just white.

We did see one of these little guys scavenging for crumbs.

But unlike the film it didn't sing or dance.  Yet again, I have been lied to by Hollywood.

And finally the beach, but with the weather the way it was there weren't many people out and about.

All in all Rio was pretty nice, it would have been good to see the sun at least once but never mind.  I ended up with my last night in an area called Lapa with a Brazilian girl, Regiane, who I'd met in Ushuaia and was kind enough to agree to show me some of the life in the city.  It's a nice bar area but she was telling me that with the rain it was pretty quiet compared to how it would normally be on a Saturday.  Very quickly about Regiane, she's from a city near the Amazon and she spent a good chunk of the time feeding my nightmares by talking about spiders that jump at you if you try to hit them with a broom or swimming in the river where there are piranhas - apparently they only attack if you have an open cut somewhere.  Thankfully there were some really good drinks and food at the bar so it wasn't that difficult to sleep 😄

One thing I will comment on, after spending a month muddling around in Spanish and just about getting to a point where I could handle a restaurant and some simple greetings and thank yous I got to Rio and ran face first into Portuguese which sounds nothing like what I'd been used to.  I got by with pointing and such like but it was tough.  Next stop is Cape Town where I'd like to say the language will be easier but I know better than to make such assumptions.

Iguassu Falls - or, "I will never be dry again!"

This is the end of my time in Argentina, it's had some highlights and some lowlights but I'll get to those in a few days when I'm hauling across the Atlantic.  Anyway, the last days in Argentina have been at Iguassu Falls, one of the seven natural wonders of the world, you can see why........

2.7km long, falling from a height of 80m at its highest point.  The sight and the sound of this place is almost overpowering.  

The falls themselves are on the Iguassu river which runs between Argentina and Brazil.  Paraguay is also near but doesn't have any of the falls.  Actually, you can see what they call Hitos, or boundary markers in each country from a certain spot.....

Paraguay

Brazil

And........

Argentina.  Well, actually I think they're putting a new one in, here's the one that's there now.......

Anyway, back to the falls, really the main attraction.  As with Niagara the falls are actually in two countries, Argentina has the largest portion of falls while from Brazil you can see the whole length of it, both have viewing platforms that wind around the falls and give you different viewing platforms.  Let's start on the Brazil side.

This is one of the main complexes of the falls seen from Brazil, on the left is San Martin is one of the biggest.

This is only fall on the Brazilian side and from here going up river is the 'Devil's Throat' but I'll get to that from the Argentina side.  As you can probably see there's a lot of spray and keeping everything dry is nearly impossible, it's actually really impressive how close you can walk to the falls on both sides.....

So that's from Brazil, as I said it's more of a panoramic view than anything else but gives you a good feel for the overall size of the falls themselves.  So now, over to Argentina.

They have three trails there, upper, lower and then out to Devil's Throat.  First up the upper trail which, surprisingly enough leads you out over the top of the falls, about 650m.  Apparently they are working on extending this by am additional 1km in the next two years.

Oh, while I think of it.  As you walk around you need to be a little careful where you put your hands on the railings........

And where you're walking.....

This is in the middle of sub-tropical rainforest so there's plenty of things that will bite if you're a little careless.

After the upper trail, the lower trail, letting you get right up close and personal with the falls.

I know I look pretty soaked in that picture but it's not all from that waterfall, more on that later.

And finally, the Devil's Throat......

This is a narrow area with, I think, 7 falls emptying into it.  What the wind is doing defines how clear a view you get.  The viewing platform looks like this from the Brazil side.

So now to the highlight of the day.  Similar to the Maid of the Mist at Niagara you can take a boat trip right up to the falls.  This one is a little different however and with a certain amount of Latin flair.  For a start it's a lot smaller boats and able to ride the rapids up to the falls.  Second, they park you really close in to get a great view of the falls up close and personal.

You get given a waterproof bag for your stuff (including your shoes) and then once everyone has taken their photos you wrap everything up and they drive you right in and under the falls.  If you want to experience anything like this you simply have to go down to your nearest fire station and ask the nice people there if they wouldn't mind pointing three of their hoses at you and turning them on full blast.  It's just incredible the way you get battered around, forget opening your eyes, just not happening.  Oh, and I had a great idea, I had my waterproof jacket with me, so that will stop me getting too wet, right?  

Wrong!

No matter how tight you think you seal those things up there will always be an opening and with that amount of water and pressure it forces it's way inside the jacket.  And the thing about waterproof things is that it works both ways.  I ended up with my own personal swimming pool wrapped round me.  It's a great cure for a hangover though!

So that's it, the end of Argentina and just three more days to go.  Today it's a flight up to Rio de Janeiro and then off to South Africa.  With a bit of luck there should be a couple of people to meet up with in Rio that I met along the way.  While I'm sure Rio is an amazing place, again I stand by my statement that a city is the people you know there, not the physical place.