Footprints around the World
15. Mar 2019
Having arrived in Salvador, I took an Uber to Hostel Quintal da Sereia – for a stopover totally fine. Having taken a look at the beaches close by, I went to the city center. What a great afternoon full of shopping and strolling around through the amazing historical quarter with its colorful houses and colonial-style buildings. What a shame that I had to leave after one day – but hey: Colombia calling! 🙂
23. – 27. Feb 2019
Finally having left Argentina for good, I arrived in Púcon inmidst the Chilenean lake district. and checked into my hostel French Andes – a very nice and new one with actually the best hostel beds I’ve ever slept in. Then I discovered that Jonathan who we had met a couple of weeks before in Uruguay, was in Púcon at the same time. Thus, we went to Cani National Park together the next day – it was a nice but pretty hard hike through woods and bamboo forests up to the top. Nevertheless, we were rewarded with a great view over five lakes and three volcanoes.
On the way back, we met Pedro – a Chilenean staying in his holiday house nearby in Huerquehue National Park. He invited us for the next day, put a pizza on the BBQ-grill and took out the kayaks for the lake. What a great and relaxed time we had all together! 🙂
We also decided to do the volcano tour on our own instead of with a guide. Unfortunately, we had to turn around soon since the wind brought the gases in our direction and we didn’t have equipment like gasmasks etc. Nevertheless, it was a great hike with awesome views! Afterwards, we took a stroll in the town of Villarrica, chilled at the beach in Púcon, and had a drink before I took the night bus to Santiago.
28. – 29. Feb 2019
Having arrived in Santiago, I was welcomed with a free breakfast in Boutique Hostal Merced 88 (very clean and great breakfast but a little sterile and the staff is not very helpful) where I immediately got to know Lars from Switzerland, Ethan from England, and Daniel from Mexico to spend time with. So we went shopping for outdoor gear and did some sightseeing in the city before I hiked up the San Cristobal hill, got lost and ended up in the mall again… That night, we had dinner and drinks on the rooftop – lots of fun, glad I got to know you guys! 🙂
1. – 2. Mar 2019
The next morning, Lars and I took the bus to Viña del Mar at the coast North of Santiago. There, we got lost looking for Hospedaje Casa Recreo but after having given them a call, they picked us up and we spent the evening at the sand dunes Concon where we had dinner in awe of this amazing view. Afterwards, we headed to the fan party happening because of the International Song Festival that was going on in Viña del Mar – the greatest and oldest in South America! And that night, the Backstreet Boys were in town taking many fans back to their teenage years… 😉
After having slept in, we went to Valparaíso just a couple of minutes away by bus. And what a great hostel we stayed at here! Check out Hostal Las Latas – lovely staff, great deco, good breakfast, amazing views from 3 terraces, and even free laundry! And what a unique city with all those hills, funiculars, and street art! Really worth a visit and a stroll through the streets – and that’s what Lars, Daniel and me did. At night, we hung out at the hostel and the next day, I went back to Santiago in order to take my plane to Brazil where carnival had already started…
1. – 5. July 2019
Having arrived back in Chile after 4 months, my fellow traveler Débora from Portugal and I had to get used to the higher prices here again. These are at least double the ones we paid in the other countries. Well, at least Rey Lagarto Hostal in San Pedro de Atacama was a nice one and it also included free bikes. 🙂 Having chilled at the hostel for a bit, we went into town to check out the cute little pedestrian streets in the center.
The next morning, I took one of the bikes and left with Francois and Antonio from Switzerland for a bike tour. We went to the Moon Valley near San Pedro where one can find the most unreal landscapes ever. It really looked like on the moon there with the salty hills, the huge sand dunes, and the impressive canyons. Best expressed in pictures:
Afterwards, I just rode the bike around the area and up on a hill where I met Sol and Eric from Chile and watched the solar eclipse with them. A quite breathtaking spectacle right before a beautiful sunset took place.
At night, I took the bus to Iquique in order to see a bit more of the North Pacific region of Chile. Having arrived in Hostel Club Cavancha veeery early in the morning, Cesar was so kind to give me a room at that ungodly hour. For me, that meant sleeeeping in before exploring the city! And it indeed is a very nice one with a long promenade along the sea, numerous sea lions at the harbor, and a beautiful city center with houses in colonial style.
The next day was traveling day… I took it very relaxed and arrived in La Posada Gallo in Arica in the evening. In the morning, it was time to check out the city center with its cathedral designed by Gustav Eiffel, the harbor, and of course the hill where the last battle between Chile and Peru took place in 1880. This place is historically very important since Chile annexed Arica with its victory. And they are very proud of that as everyone can see on the hill. 🙂
In the afternoon, I crossed the border to Peru where I took a Cruz del Sure bus from Tacna to Lima (24 hours in total) in order to catch my plane to Mexico…
5. – 8. Jan 2019
Having said goodbye to friends and family, my adventure was about to start with an Iberia-flight to Madrid and the connecting overnight flight to Buenos Aires. We had lots of turbulences due to bad weather conditions but several meals, movies, and a friendly Argentinian girl next to me kept me right as rain.
I arrived in the morning but had to spend several hours for immigration and finding my way to the city – TIPP: get a SUBE card in the kiosk at the airport and take bus no. 8 to the center instead of Tienda Leon, that’s much cheaper.
Having arrived in the hostel Malevo Murana in Palermo (the best spot to reside since there are many bars and restaurants), I refreshed myself and started to explore the city with Nadine, my friend from Hamburg, who had arrived a view days earlier.
We took a stroll to the botanic gardens, some parks and the huge flower made of metal at the Plaza de los Estados Unidos next to the faculty of law. On the way back, we crossed San Telmo, the quarter where Tango is still kept alive on the streets.
The next day, we took the bus from Plaza Italia to La Bocca in order to admire the amazing street art there and walk past numerous colorful Caminitos. Afterwards, we went to the city center – Plaza de Mayo with Casa Rosada, the obelisque etc. nearby. From there, it was just some steps to Recoleta cemetery where also the remains of Evita can be found.
The next day, we jumped on the ferry (Colonia Express was the cheapest for about 45 USD) to Uruguay. It only took about 2 hours to get there.
16. – 18. Jan 2019
Having arrived in Puerta Iguazú, we stayed at 125 Hostel, the very best hostel ever with clean beds separated by curtains, a pool, a giant breakfast (eggs, sausages, cake, fruit etc.), and lovely owners.
When visiting Iguazú, you should definitely make the effort to go to both sides. We first went to the Brazilian one where you have a panoramic view of the giant waterfalls and can go to a platform nearby the Garganta del Diablo (ATTENTION: Bring a rain cover for your camera since all the stuff gets soaking wet!). Oh, and be aware of the coatis that sneakily steal cookies out of your bag. It’s an amazing spectacle staring in awe at the tossing masses of water.
On the Argentinean side, you can take several routes to get close to some of the waterfalls. It’s worth trying to walk along all of them and also to take the train up to the Northern part (better in the later afternoon since it’s not as crowded as in the morning). If you would like to spend another day in the park, e.g. to get on a boat, you can get your ticket stamped and only have top pay half the price when entering again.
Besides the natural spectacle of water, there is also an amazing amount of birds, geckos and butterflies roaming about the woods surrounding the river.
When staying in Puerta Iguazú, make sure not to miss the light show at 8pm at the place where Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay meet. It is beautiful, displaying the traditional dances of all three countries.
25. Jan – 2. Feb 2019
Having arrived in Salta, we did the check-in at our hostel La Salamanca, took a shower, and slowly began feeling like human beings again after 20 hours on the bus… Then it was time to get something for lunch – at Rey Carancho where we got a great menu deal (bread + main plate + dessert + lemonade) which was delicious. Afterwards, we took a stroll in the city center which is declared to be the most beautiful one in colonial style in whole Argentina, and then climbed San Bernardo hill with a great view over the city.
The next morning, we had to get up early in order to take the bus to Humahuaca where we were taken by a taxi driver to the 14-colored-mountain Hornocal – a truly amazing view! Our hostel Alojamiento El Cardon (Don’t stay there – the owner tries to trick you, turns off the wifi, and locks the kitchen at night) was situated in Tilcara. In this cute little town in the middle of the mountains, I climbed the Cerro de la Cruz and bumped into the first carnival parade – what a spectacle it was! 🙂
The next day, we went to Iruya, a town amidst the giant Quebreda, where we did our first more requesting hike to the Mirador de los Condores. What a breathtaking view we had on top of the mountain! Afterwards, I went to the river and did a second, smaller hike to the Mirador de la Cruz. That night, we stayed in Tilcara again, but this time in the hostel Tierra Andina near the terminal.
In the early morning, we took the first bus (5:35 am) to Purmamarca in order to see the sun rise at the Hill of Seven Colors. It was an amazing view and definitely worth postponing breakfast to this spot where we were all by ourselves. Afterwards, we went to the Salinas Grandes, Argentina’s salt desert where it is possible to take funny photos.
Having taken a Bus to Yuyui and then to Salta, we finally had been able to board the one to Cafayate and arrived there in the middle of the night. Nevertheless, we were warmly welcomed at our hostel Lo de Chichi (definitely one of the most idyllic hostels ever with lovely people, a wonderful garden, and a very reasonable price). The next morning, after we’ve had breakfast under the grapevines, we went to the goat farm passing huge vineyards on our way. In the afternoon, we took a walk though the city and then went on a tour to the Quebrada de las Conchas – an amazing sight with its colorful rock formations. At night, we had a BBQ in the hostel garden and in the morning, we went to one of the vineyards for a tasting before boarding the bus to Tucuman where we entered the night bus to Mendoza.
In Mendoza, we had a bed in Hostel Suites which was great for a very low price. On the day of our arrival, we just took a stroll through the city and the huge city park San Martin where we even got a free ride by the police since it apparently was not as safe as we thought it would be… The next day, we had booked a tour to the Andes with Backpackers Travel: first, we visited the two towns Potrerillos and Uspallata, then the huge ski area Penitentes (of course, there was nobody during Summer). One of the highlights was the Inca Bridge which just looked like in a fairy tale with all its natural colors. Afterwards, it was time to at least set foot to the area directly next to the highest mountain outside Asia: the Aconcagua (6.961m). There, we did a small hike in the national park passing lagoons and enjoying the views before our last stop was Las Cuevas, a village situated just 2km away from the border to Chile. On our last day in Mendoza, we finally went to Maipu, where most vineyards are situated, despite heavy rain… There, we got a private free tour at Bodega Lopez which was great since it finished not just with a small tasting but six glasses of wine for each of us at the bar.
Being already a littly tipsy, we took a taxi from the hostel to the airport, flew to Buenos Aires where we had a delicious BBQ and a few drinks with Franco, Emiliano (You should definitely check out his brand BORN TO TRAVEL!), and Martin before we had to catch our flight to Ushuaia at 4:35 am in the morning.
3. – 6. Feb 2019
The view out of the plane window was just amazing when we woke up high above Ushuaia – commonly known as “the end of the world”. Although having slept only 3 hours, we decided to drop our baggage at the hostel Yakush (great hostel but the people working there were not too nice) and go to the Tierra del Fuego National Park. This land is declared to be the end of the world since there is no other land to be found before Antarctica (where I wanted to go but dropped that idea because of the high price: 8.000 EUR for 10 days). We did some hikes in the forest, along the coastline and at a beautiful lake before dropping into bed totally fatigued in the evening. The next morning, we went through forest and around hills to the beautiful Laguna Esmeralda where I was the only one who took a swim because of the freezing cold water temperature (kinda like the Eisbach in Munich in late Autumn 😉 ). In the evening, it was time to relax and enjoy the sunset at the harbor. On our last day, we decided to go on another hike – this time to a glacier high in the mountains which in called Glacier Martial. It was a great day again and we waved goodbye to the end of the world early the next morning during sunrise…
13. – 17. Feb 2019
Having crossed the border to Argentina again, we arrived in our hotel in El Calafate in the early evening. Yes, I did not make a mistake when writing HOTEL – it really was one! We got a cheap 3-bed-room in Amigo del Mundo which was very neat and had a great breakfast with a view.
That evening, we also treated ourselves with a restaurant dish – I had Quanaco (a kind of lama) burger which was delicious! The next day, we slept in, chilled in the lounge, and then went to Perito Moreno Glacier in the afternoon. This sight was just amazing! The glacier is larger than Buenos Aires itself and every couple of minutes a huge piece of ice breaks off and falls down into the ocean with an enormous sound. That truly is an unforgettable natural spectacle that everybody should see at least once.
That evening, we continued our journey to El Chaltén, the climbing capital of South America. Good thing that our hostel La Comarca was situated right next to the bus terminal when we arrived close to midnight. The following day, we decided to start with a hike to Cerro Torres and had to experience that the weather conditions in Patagonia are unpredictable: sunshine, rain, and wind crossed our way and when we had arrived at Laguna Torre, this had grown to a strong storm that wouldn’t allow us to carry on to Mirador Maestri.
The following day, we took the chance to see Fitz Roy although it was still a little stormy. After that 12 km hike up, we were rewarded with the sight of the beautiful Laguna de los Trés in front of that majestic mountain. When the rain got worse the day afterwards, I just went up to the Mirador de los Condores and the Mirador de las Aguilas before chilling a couple of hours at the hostel since we had to take the night bus to our next destination.
