Worldtour Diary Part VI 23rd December 2006- 18th January 2007
Going back to the 24th ofDecember, the day I arrived in Sao Paolo, Brasil.
So it was Christmas...at least in Europe. Hardly any Christmas trees, lights or sth, more than 25 degrees and a mess on Christmas Eve which made me think much more of football than of a holy celebration. "Jesus hooraaayyyy". Not sure whether Fc Sao Paolo already signed him..in each case the people applauded strongly.
The day after I got confused so much that I ended up in a town I - and most of the Brazilians- have never heard about.
Managed to bring myself the following day to Curitibia, a small ( 2 million habitants ,-) ) charming town, which so far is my favourite Brazilian town.
Noticing that I was one of the only tourists was the one thing (everybody told me before that this town would be boring), noticing that there ARE nice people even in Brazil the other.
Spent 2 1/2terrific days over there discovering the thousands of different parks, football stadiums ...and all that testing my hitchhiking skills.
Went well!!!
After hitchhiking I tried sth new. Couchsurfing ,-) But...not on the "official" way. Arriving on the coast of Santa Catarina state I knew where all Brazilians have gone to to celebrate New year´s Eve.
Finding no hostal in three different towns I slept in the house of a Brazilian girl, getting to know the whole family ..who all spoke German.
As they were orignally living in Blumenau, a Brazilian town with 70% of Germans and even the Oktoberfest (not in December of course)..this wasn´t too surprising..but for me sth completely new.
Finding a day after a hostal in Florianapolis finally, I enjoyed the beach over there but got once again a little bit disappointed about Brazilian partying. If this New year´s Eve was the"second best party in Brazil, so in the world", as ALL Brazilians told me...then Cologne and carnival are from the moon.
So...2007 and after some weeks of "comfort" traveling I found my sporty roots again and tried myself again not only in nightbusing, but as well in rafting (in Souther Brazil, Canela), streetflooding (in Porto Alegre), partying (Canela).
Finally I crossed the border, arrived in Montevideo , Uruguay and had the opportunity to say "YEs, sometimes prejudices are true".
Even though both townsin Uruguay (Montevideo and Colonia do Sacramento) had not much to offer (Ok, a lot of history....Montevideo with the first worldcup stadium, Colonia as a world heritage town)...I just loved it...because people were just amazingly friendly....and the party with local and Argentinian folk music in Montevideo was just one thing. Sth NOT TO FORGET!!!
Next border crossing to Argentina...and again another thing NOT TO FORGET.
Basically I went only for one reason again to Buenos Aires. To see Shiran.
And the "political" chats we had, the tears we cried together arm in arm were definetely worth it.
After those emotional moments I in a way got back in flush.
And in the heat ,-)
More than 35 degrees in Mendoza made wine tasting "dangerous". Not as dangerous as entering a closed football stadium....But...to be honest the running away from the police was only half as quick as my run from the hooligans in Nice 2004.
Having eaten too much on the free buffet in Mendoza I decided to "work it out"...ending again in some sports in the mountains.
Rafting, rockclimbing, cycling and hiking up to 4300m on the highest mountain of South America , the Aconcagua (nearly 7000m!!!) and its surroundings made me feel again like in the beginning of my travel. calm, relaxed and just HAPPY!!!
My new Argentinian friends with whom I spend three great evening singing Argentinian folk songs contributed a lot to this and so I was a little bit sad leaving them to my last stop, Chile.
This border crossing was definetely sth special...this time without any bribing, cos Chileanean police seems to be much less corrupt...but more due to the way i crossed the border.
First time in my life I WALKED a border...the rest of the 300km between Punte del Inca and Vina del Mar I hitchhiked with different means: cars, buses, roadworks machines...nice one!!!
Most of the money I saved on this way got stolen (snapped out of my hands) while paying in a supermarket in Vina del Mar, but it was a nice experience though...
Passed my first day in Chile in Vina del Mar, a nice beach town with some interesting museums just beforing to nearby Valparaiso, another world culture heritage town with thousands of hills to discover.
As I suppose the "discovery" of neither this nor the capital town (Santiago de Chile) will be a major point of my travel I already finish this diary part before leaving on Sunday night to New Zealand...
But...of course ..you will be able to read all the details as well on my homepage.
And...for those who still have too much time to waste...I just updated my pictures...
Next diary from another continent!!!
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