Our journey hasn't even begun and we've already started to bicker. The application process should be the easiest part, but when it came time to write the 70 word bio - shit hit the fan. 70 words seems like a lot but it really isn't You've got to be concise; Kevin draaaaaaaws things out - even in speech, as you can see in the video. Cue 1:33 you can see Lisa's impatience ... *spit it out Kev!!*. But at any rate, this is the jist of what we came up with to showcase our dynamic, our strengths, and our weaknesses.
"We've known eachother for six years, having lived together and dated for 4. Often a ying to the others yang, we seem to balance one another out. During this competition, Kevin will probably do the navigating as Lisa is constantly disoriented. Lisa will solve difficult problems with Kevin's patience and mental capacity can't be of contribution. Though stubborn and agrumentative, love and respect will trump any conflict. We. Are. Glorious."
Keep your fingers crossed!!! And - as always - thanks so much for the continued support!
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Monday, February 25, 2013
Amazing Race Canda
I don't know if anyone follows this blog anymore - we haven't posted anything since we returned home from our fantastic South America trip a few years ago. We've had several adventures since then, but (with any luck) we are about to embark upon the biggest adventure yet. THE AMAZING RACE - Canada
What a phenominal platform in which to showcase Canada, and let the world know we're not just about snow and igloos and polar bears and poutine.
Show your support for the West Coast by checking out our application video! If you like it, feel free to share it with anyone and everyone!! xox
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0g8787emMpM
What a phenominal platform in which to showcase Canada, and let the world know we're not just about snow and igloos and polar bears and poutine.
Show your support for the West Coast by checking out our application video! If you like it, feel free to share it with anyone and everyone!! xox
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0g8787emMpM
Sunday, January 25, 2009
The Final Countdown Begins
Well we´re back in Buenos Aires. Round 2.
Jason and Nicole Hatton show up today after a week spent on the beaches of Mar del Plata. So, minus Alex, all of the Hattons are now in South America.
Jay and Nicole are up for a good time so we spent to majority of the next few days hangin out with them. The first day we hang out by the pool and catch up on 5 months of lost time. We fill that time void with beer and wine and oddly enough, its Lisa and Nicole who are a bad influence on the nice little Hatton boys. Tsk Tsk.
The Dakar Rally is wrapping up so we go and watch the closing ceremonies. Our VIP wrist band have been rendered usless until now. Too hungover to stay and watch all of the competitors cross the finish line we head towards the exit when we stumble across a banquet. Our VIP passes spring to life and we suddenly aren´t too hungover for the free wine and roast beef sandwiches provided... (which Lisa and Kevin will later discover caused their minor dose of food poisoning. Stupid wrist bands)
(3rd place Robby Gorden)
A main attraction in Buenos Aires is the cemetary. It seems kinda morbid but its a spectacular display of 18th century architecture ... for the dead. Muah-ha-ha-ha. The likes of Old Generals and war heroes, as well as Madonna ... I mean, Evita were buried here. Its a maze of hundreds of above ground tombs, some of which are crumbling and the coffins inside are slightly broken to reveal their decaying contents.
¨WAIT, what was that?¨ cries a terrified Jason.
¨Ya, I heard that too ... it sounded like a scream¨ says Lisa
¨Oh my God guys, this place creeps me out¨ says Jason
¨Help meeee¨ is heard in a high pitch tone in the distance
¨Oh crap guys¨ says Jason, now shaking
¨Wait, wasnt that Lisa?¨ the ever so clever Kevin points out
Hahahahahaha. Why would a spanish ghost be screaming in English? we later ponder. Nicole is off staring at statues, not really paying attention to her terrified husband. Not moments, a cat walks by and Jason jumps.
The next day, we decided to take a train out to Tigre, another section of BA, for a river boat ride. On the way down, Lisa is far to ill (probably from the roast beef and empanadas) so she returns to her room while Kevin, Jason and Nicole venture out. There isnt much to say about the river, it was dirty and gross and when you used the toilet on the boat, it drained directly into the water. But of course, that didnt stop the Argentineans from swimming next to it and waving proudly at the tourists. (We have to point out that there isnt just 1 boat, there is 30 boats all fitting about 60 people in a series of 5 rivers that all join together .. so the water is a murky brown to say the least.) They arrive back to the hostel to find Lisa, incredibly bored and anxious to go out as she ate an apple and feels a little bit better. They quickly get dressed and we all head out to Dinner and a Tango Show. Because we havent booked in advance, we didnt have the luxery of an immaculate show. We were greatly dissapointed so 3 out of the 4 of us decide to drink. The beers arent cheap. Now we are even more dissapointed. But hey, it´s Jason and Nicoles last night in BA with us, and they got to experience the art of tango. We still had fun.
Its wierd to think the Hattons have all come and gone this month, and we still remain. Its off to Villa Gesell, 5 hours south of BA, where the beaches are the main attraction.
Villa Gesell is apparantly a ¨laid back dune community¨. When we think of this, we imagine Punta del Diablo, a very tiny town with dirt roads and no traffic. Boy were we mistaken. Its fairly big and extremely busy! The beaches are shoulder to shoulder and the city sleeps for maybe 1 hour a night. We find a hostel on the main drag ... big mistake. Our road closes down at night and becomes a passenger street. All the Argentinean teenage vacationers, street performers and live bands come here to party until dawn. Arcades are open 24hrs a day, and the pubs all spill onto the street. Little children with their moms and dads are up until 4am or later and yet rise again at 7 to make just as much noise. Needless to say, we didnt get much sleep. Not because we partied to hard because there isnt much to do here besides the arcades, but because no one sleeps. One of the nights we made use of the arcades and hit up its bowling lanes. Apparntly with more beers, Lisa gets good. She gets a strike for her first turn and Kevin gets zero. Final score : Lisa 96, Kevin 42. Same thing with pool the next night. Lisa wins 2 of the 3 games. She has a sweet tactic you see. She doesnt sink any balls (not because she sucks, no no, its her tactic) and waits for Kevin to sink all of his. Then, he cant get through the abundance of Lisas balls to hit the black ball so he accidently sinks them for her. She catches up and calls the 8 ball to its home in the corner pocket and wins the day! She is a shark.
So, since our last futbal match in Rio was a dissapointment, we decide to give the sport another chance. There is a big game in Mar Del Plata between BA´s 2 rival teams - Boca Jrs and River Plate. (Coke is the major sponser for the Argentinean soccer league. Rivers colors are red and white. Boca Jrs home stadium refused to have coke as a sponser unless they were to change the colors because they didnt want red and white on their stadium. Coke agreed and displays on their stadium probably one of the only black and white Coca Cola adverts in the world.) Boca won the Argentinean Cup in December against River so this game was a grudge match and bound to be awesome. We get there and there are cops on horses and riot police lining the entrance. We got dropped off at the Boca entrance (because you have to declare who you are cheering for when you buy your tickets) and we chose Boca because there are more Boca fans and there is saftey in numbers. The police only allow people in about 20 at a time. Then women and men separate to be searched, then they go through few more series of guards, then meet to go find their seats. We have seats right on the line between the River fans and the Boca fans. The only thing that separates us is a 10 ft high barbed wire fence and riot police guarding it on either side. But that still doesnt stop fans from taunting eachother and throwing whatever they can get their hands on, over the fence. The game was awesome and entertaining. We sang songs which we didnt understand, fans threw air bombs onto the field and there was a great firework display compliments of the River fans. At then end of the game, the helicopter cops flew around and made sure all the River fans had left and told the police when it was safe to release the Boca Fans. So for an hour we stood behind a barbed wire fence with an entourage of 40,000 other people all waiting to leave through 1 gate waiting anxiously to be released. When the riot cops finally freed us, there was no need to use our legs to hold us up, the mob did that for us. We were guided through the mob safely to our tour bus for a 2 hour bus ride back to Villa Gisell. We arrive at 4am, have to walk 10 blocks to our hostel and of course, hundreds of people are still lining the streets singing Boca songs and cheering.
It´s off to Buenos Aires for the final leg of our journey. Round 3 in BA ... we`re getting kind of sick of it. Home will be bittersweet.
Jason and Nicole Hatton show up today after a week spent on the beaches of Mar del Plata. So, minus Alex, all of the Hattons are now in South America.
Jay and Nicole are up for a good time so we spent to majority of the next few days hangin out with them. The first day we hang out by the pool and catch up on 5 months of lost time. We fill that time void with beer and wine and oddly enough, its Lisa and Nicole who are a bad influence on the nice little Hatton boys. Tsk Tsk.
The Dakar Rally is wrapping up so we go and watch the closing ceremonies. Our VIP wrist band have been rendered usless until now. Too hungover to stay and watch all of the competitors cross the finish line we head towards the exit when we stumble across a banquet. Our VIP passes spring to life and we suddenly aren´t too hungover for the free wine and roast beef sandwiches provided... (which Lisa and Kevin will later discover caused their minor dose of food poisoning. Stupid wrist bands)
(3rd place Robby Gorden)A main attraction in Buenos Aires is the cemetary. It seems kinda morbid but its a spectacular display of 18th century architecture ... for the dead. Muah-ha-ha-ha. The likes of Old Generals and war heroes, as well as Madonna ... I mean, Evita were buried here. Its a maze of hundreds of above ground tombs, some of which are crumbling and the coffins inside are slightly broken to reveal their decaying contents.
¨WAIT, what was that?¨ cries a terrified Jason.
¨Ya, I heard that too ... it sounded like a scream¨ says Lisa
¨Oh my God guys, this place creeps me out¨ says Jason
¨Help meeee¨ is heard in a high pitch tone in the distance
¨Oh crap guys¨ says Jason, now shaking
¨Wait, wasnt that Lisa?¨ the ever so clever Kevin points out
Hahahahahaha. Why would a spanish ghost be screaming in English? we later ponder. Nicole is off staring at statues, not really paying attention to her terrified husband. Not moments, a cat walks by and Jason jumps.
The next day, we decided to take a train out to Tigre, another section of BA, for a river boat ride. On the way down, Lisa is far to ill (probably from the roast beef and empanadas) so she returns to her room while Kevin, Jason and Nicole venture out. There isnt much to say about the river, it was dirty and gross and when you used the toilet on the boat, it drained directly into the water. But of course, that didnt stop the Argentineans from swimming next to it and waving proudly at the tourists. (We have to point out that there isnt just 1 boat, there is 30 boats all fitting about 60 people in a series of 5 rivers that all join together .. so the water is a murky brown to say the least.) They arrive back to the hostel to find Lisa, incredibly bored and anxious to go out as she ate an apple and feels a little bit better. They quickly get dressed and we all head out to Dinner and a Tango Show. Because we havent booked in advance, we didnt have the luxery of an immaculate show. We were greatly dissapointed so 3 out of the 4 of us decide to drink. The beers arent cheap. Now we are even more dissapointed. But hey, it´s Jason and Nicoles last night in BA with us, and they got to experience the art of tango. We still had fun.
Its wierd to think the Hattons have all come and gone this month, and we still remain. Its off to Villa Gesell, 5 hours south of BA, where the beaches are the main attraction.
Villa Gesell is apparantly a ¨laid back dune community¨. When we think of this, we imagine Punta del Diablo, a very tiny town with dirt roads and no traffic. Boy were we mistaken. Its fairly big and extremely busy! The beaches are shoulder to shoulder and the city sleeps for maybe 1 hour a night. We find a hostel on the main drag ... big mistake. Our road closes down at night and becomes a passenger street. All the Argentinean teenage vacationers, street performers and live bands come here to party until dawn. Arcades are open 24hrs a day, and the pubs all spill onto the street. Little children with their moms and dads are up until 4am or later and yet rise again at 7 to make just as much noise. Needless to say, we didnt get much sleep. Not because we partied to hard because there isnt much to do here besides the arcades, but because no one sleeps. One of the nights we made use of the arcades and hit up its bowling lanes. Apparntly with more beers, Lisa gets good. She gets a strike for her first turn and Kevin gets zero. Final score : Lisa 96, Kevin 42. Same thing with pool the next night. Lisa wins 2 of the 3 games. She has a sweet tactic you see. She doesnt sink any balls (not because she sucks, no no, its her tactic) and waits for Kevin to sink all of his. Then, he cant get through the abundance of Lisas balls to hit the black ball so he accidently sinks them for her. She catches up and calls the 8 ball to its home in the corner pocket and wins the day! She is a shark.
So, since our last futbal match in Rio was a dissapointment, we decide to give the sport another chance. There is a big game in Mar Del Plata between BA´s 2 rival teams - Boca Jrs and River Plate. (Coke is the major sponser for the Argentinean soccer league. Rivers colors are red and white. Boca Jrs home stadium refused to have coke as a sponser unless they were to change the colors because they didnt want red and white on their stadium. Coke agreed and displays on their stadium probably one of the only black and white Coca Cola adverts in the world.) Boca won the Argentinean Cup in December against River so this game was a grudge match and bound to be awesome. We get there and there are cops on horses and riot police lining the entrance. We got dropped off at the Boca entrance (because you have to declare who you are cheering for when you buy your tickets) and we chose Boca because there are more Boca fans and there is saftey in numbers. The police only allow people in about 20 at a time. Then women and men separate to be searched, then they go through few more series of guards, then meet to go find their seats. We have seats right on the line between the River fans and the Boca fans. The only thing that separates us is a 10 ft high barbed wire fence and riot police guarding it on either side. But that still doesnt stop fans from taunting eachother and throwing whatever they can get their hands on, over the fence. The game was awesome and entertaining. We sang songs which we didnt understand, fans threw air bombs onto the field and there was a great firework display compliments of the River fans. At then end of the game, the helicopter cops flew around and made sure all the River fans had left and told the police when it was safe to release the Boca Fans. So for an hour we stood behind a barbed wire fence with an entourage of 40,000 other people all waiting to leave through 1 gate waiting anxiously to be released. When the riot cops finally freed us, there was no need to use our legs to hold us up, the mob did that for us. We were guided through the mob safely to our tour bus for a 2 hour bus ride back to Villa Gisell. We arrive at 4am, have to walk 10 blocks to our hostel and of course, hundreds of people are still lining the streets singing Boca songs and cheering.
It´s off to Buenos Aires for the final leg of our journey. Round 3 in BA ... we`re getting kind of sick of it. Home will be bittersweet.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Dont Believe Willy .... Oompa Loompas Dont Exist.
Our original voyage was to northern Argentina but because of the unexpected accident, we ended up travelling south of Neuquen to the city of Bariloche. After much persuasion, we convinced Chelsea (Kevs sister) to join us in our adventure. We once again pile into the metal cage of death for yet another road trip, hoping that we dont get caught in another lightning storm.
(Stop on route to Bariloche)
To get an idea of what Bariloche is like, imagine Whistler meets the Swiss Alps. It is nestled inbetween snow capped mountains and a gigantic glacier lake. Barliche is a ski resort in the winter months and an adventurous nature habitat in the summer. We arrived to be delighted with the crisp, fresh air and no humidity. But the sun was still shining bright so we did manage to get in some rays on the beach.
(view from gondela)
On one day we decided to go horseback riding. We were taken up into a secluded part on the forest where we picked our horses. We got geared up in tacky jackets, velvet helmets and chaps. Chelsea and Lisa were not impressed. But once we started our adventure the disgust in the awful taste in outfits faded away. We were trotting through the Andean Mountain Range and the view was breathtaking.
(Stop on route to Bariloche)To get an idea of what Bariloche is like, imagine Whistler meets the Swiss Alps. It is nestled inbetween snow capped mountains and a gigantic glacier lake. Barliche is a ski resort in the winter months and an adventurous nature habitat in the summer. We arrived to be delighted with the crisp, fresh air and no humidity. But the sun was still shining bright so we did manage to get in some rays on the beach.
(view from gondela)On one day we decided to go horseback riding. We were taken up into a secluded part on the forest where we picked our horses. We got geared up in tacky jackets, velvet helmets and chaps. Chelsea and Lisa were not impressed. But once we started our adventure the disgust in the awful taste in outfits faded away. We were trotting through the Andean Mountain Range and the view was breathtaking.
(Lisa the Horse Whisper´er... ¨Tranquilo Eduardo¨)The delicacy on the menus in Bariloche was Wild Boar. So of course, that´s the first thing Kevin orders. ... Yet another delight to check off his mental list of foods to try.
Another adventure we set out on was white water rafting. Unsure as to whether or not the guides spoke English, we were game for it anyhow. The rapids were class 3 and 4 with the occasional 1 or 2 thrown in. Those were lots of fun though because we were allowed to jump out of the boat and float through the rapids. We got to the end of the 13km river and as we got out of the boat and hiked up to the van, we realized that we officially rafted all the way to Chile. The day ended with a massive meat BBQ feast with free wine, of course.
Because the city is a ski resort for half the year, there a plenty of ski lifts and gondalas still running and available to use. We went on a gondala trip up the top of one of the peaks and had a breathtaking view of the scenery. Obviously, words cant do it justice, so take a look at some of our photos for a better idea. After that, we ventured to the Chocolate Museum. It actually sounds much cooler than it actually was, as no one spoke English and there was so Oompa Loompas dancing and singing for us.
One wierd thing about Bariloche is the St. Bernards. There are huge 150lb dogs EVERYWHERE. You can stand by them and take a picture or buy a stuffed animal, or trinket, or t-shirt, or mug, or hat or whatever you can imagine with a St. Bernard on it. We asked around and even googled what the deal with it is, but it remains a mystery.
(Sunday morning mass)After a short lived but very fun time in Bariloche, we were off to see Buenos Aires, yet again. This time, it´s a 21 hr bus ride so we decide to splurge and get first class tickets. Kevin has been looking forward to these kinds of busses since we first passed through Argentina a few months back. The seats recline 180 degrees as well as they have an isolation wall between you and the people in front and behind. Also, they serve you free wine and whisky. The bus sterward took a strong liking to the 3 of us and returned many times in the night to ensure our glasses were never empty. In fact, he gave us a few bottles of wine and 2 chicken dinners each just for the hell of it. He probably had a crush on Kevin
.
(Bus to Buenos Aires)
(Bus to Buenos Aires)Monday, January 12, 2009
Goodbye 2008, Hello Road Trip
THEN
NOWWhen we told you you were in for some excitement, we weren´t kidding. Make sure you have your Timmy Ho´s lid on tight, because we´re in for a wild ride.
December 28th, 2008
The Hattons (Donald, Natalie, Alexandra and Chelsea) are due to arrive at 2pm. Kevin and Lisa make a wonderful welcome sign and cab out to meet them. This is no ordinary cab ride my friends. This is a 50 min ride out of the city at break neck speeds, as per usual south american driving. But we arrive safe, giddy and excited and b-line for the arrivals gate. We wait there for 2 hours when we figure something must be wrong. Lisa finds a payphone and calls the hotel they are staying at. Sure enough, they arrived to the hotel 20 min prior. Apparantly there are TWO exit gates for international arrivals. Of course there would 2 gates, we´re in South America and things are backwards. We take another expensive and deathly cab back into town and greet the family.
For the first day we caught up on 5 months of missed gossip and the girls constantly ragged on Kevin for his yeti beard. For the next few days we all hung out by the pool, went shopping, took a city tour, drank lots of wine, but mainly helped Don with Dakar preparations. For all of you who don´t know about the Dakar, it´s the most grueling motorcycle-car-truck rally in the world and Don Hatton is the only Canadian competitor. The race consists of 15 days and 10,000km of Argentinian and Chilean terrain.
So here´s a fun fact. Buenos Aires notoriously sucks for New Years. All the citizens leave town for 2 days and go either north, south, east or west. Anywhere but the city. Who woulda thunk it? The city of 13 million people was like a ghost town. So New Years consisted of the most elaborate and wonderful buffet at the Sheraton Hotel which gave us an opportunity to dress up for the first time in 5 months. Kevin looked smashing in his new python shoes and Lisa looked ravishing in her sparkly dress and new purple satin shoes. But back to the buffet. It managed to check a few things of our mental list of things to try. Eg: Caviar, Rabbit, and Ceviche. Mmm mmm.
We retired to Miro (the camerman) and Gary (the mechanic)´s room for some wine and shots. Speaking of shots, Miro is from Slovakia and brought some of his father´s famous Borovicka(Slovakian Moonshine). For the countdown, we ran up to the 25th floor to watch the fire works from the huge bay windows. It was spectacular. For the city being dead it was crazy to see so many explosions all across the horizon. Leroy was there, dress to the nines, and stole Kevin´s midnight kiss. Lucky Bastard.
After the countdown had ended, everyone staying at the Sheraton went to bed because they had a long day of Dakar prep first thing. So Kevin and Lisa decided to break into the Sheraton 2009 Dance Party. We walked in like we owned the place but in the end the party was dying down so we naturally went and got more wine and partied just the two of us.
Jan 1, 2009
Hungover, we crawl out of bed at noon to meet Team Destination Dakar for the Dakar scruteneering process. This is where they go over all the participants vehicles to make sure they meet regulations. It was a long drawn out process but we got to have a close up look at all the vehicles involved. And with our fancy team shirts, we were able to by pass all security and get into areas forbidden for the public.
Jan 2, 2009
It´s the ceremonial start for the Dakar so the whole day is dedicated to last minute details. The team rushes over to the starting gates decked out in matching shirts and Canadian flags and scream as loudly as possible when Don Hatton #116 reaches the podium. Kevin lifts Lisa up onto his shoulders as she wave the flag as proudly as possible to make sure Don sees them in the midst of 500,000 spectators.
Jan 3, 2009, 5am
It´s the actualy start of the Dakar so we groggily make our way once again to the starting gates and watch as Don and the rest of the field start their adventure of a lifetime. That evening, the 2 of us get to enjoy the company of the Hatton women for a 15 hour bus ride to Mendoza .... Wine Country.
MENDOZA
We´ve already been here but only for a day. So this time, our plan is to live it up. Unfortunatley, something happened and we had to leave Mendoza unexpectedly. I suppose Mendoza is just not in the cards for us. We did however enjoy short lived time there. We were able to experience a Wine Tour as well as an Olive Oil Planation tour and live like locals dining at sidewalk cafes under a canopy of trees. On our 3rd day we were on our way to go horseback riding when Nat got the heart stopping phone call that Don had crashed badly and was being flown to the city of Neuquen for medical attention. The doctors had informed us that Don had broken his C4 vertebrae and needed surgery immediatley. And being that the rally is french, and the doctors are spanish the information we recieved was from both languages muddled together into an incomprehensionable and emotion-less english. ¨No worry¨ they said. ¨He be fine. He might be paralyzed, but alive. Its no problem¨ As a group we decide to make the 900km journey to meet Don in Neuquen a.s.a.p. The girls frantically pack up their stuff while Kevin rushes off to Budget Rent a Car. We finally get the car at 5pm and load it up with 5 passengers, 3 giant suitcases, 2 giant backpacks and about 8 day bags/purses. We were able to jam all this and tie the trunk down with a pair of shoelaces. Not bad for a piece of crap Ford Focus. About 4 hours into our drive we enter the worst lightning storm any of us have ever witnessed. The whole sky is illuminated with sheet lighting and there are often forks of lighting going every which way. At one point, the lighting formed a ball with about 5 forks jutting out of it. It´s really hard to describe but it looked like a monster and the forks were reaching out to consume our car. Suddenly we heard a crackling all across the windshield ... the car had been hit. We´re all freaking out so Kevin hauls ass to get us out of the eye of the storm and 3 hours later, we finally see our last flash of lightning. When we notice the car is just about on empty we decide to pull into the first town we´ve seen in 200km. The only gas station in town reminds us of a scene out of Deliverance. Keep in mind there are 4 cute white girls, a trunk overflowing with luggage and only 1 scraggly cripple to protect them. Kevin was afraid that hooligans were gonna mug us for the luggage and take advantage of the girls. The girls, on the other hand, were more afraid of the fist sized beetles flying into their hair. To top the whole experience off, the station will only allow it´s customers $40 pesos worth of gas, which is equivilant to 15 litres. So for those of you who dont drive, that´s less than half a tank and the next town is 3 hours away. However, with good fortune we made it to the next station using only the fumes in our tank. To our suprise this is one of the Dakar rally´s gas check points and, at the early hour of 330am, the station is packed with spectators. We arrive to the city of Neuquen at 5am and crash at a hotel for a few hours before we are allowed to see Don in the Hospital. We get there and it turns out that the only damage Don has suffered is a cracked sternum, cracked ribs, bruised lung, ripped ligaments and a little bit of internal bleeding. There are no visible scrapes or bruises on his body, expect for a cut knee, which occured the day before. He´s in rough shape but it´s nothing compared to the fear of paralyzation that was instilled in everybody just a day before. Don was released after just 3 days but must promise to continue daily medical examinations in whatever city he is in.
After a few days in butt fu*k no where we tried to return the rental car. But of course, despite what the Budget clerk in Mendoza said, there is no Budget in Neuquen. We now have the choice of taking it 13 hrs back to Mendoza or 6 hrs south to Bariloche. Bariloche is the chocolate capital of Argentina so ....
Bariloche, here we come!
December 28th, 2008
The Hattons (Donald, Natalie, Alexandra and Chelsea) are due to arrive at 2pm. Kevin and Lisa make a wonderful welcome sign and cab out to meet them. This is no ordinary cab ride my friends. This is a 50 min ride out of the city at break neck speeds, as per usual south american driving. But we arrive safe, giddy and excited and b-line for the arrivals gate. We wait there for 2 hours when we figure something must be wrong. Lisa finds a payphone and calls the hotel they are staying at. Sure enough, they arrived to the hotel 20 min prior. Apparantly there are TWO exit gates for international arrivals. Of course there would 2 gates, we´re in South America and things are backwards. We take another expensive and deathly cab back into town and greet the family.
For the first day we caught up on 5 months of missed gossip and the girls constantly ragged on Kevin for his yeti beard. For the next few days we all hung out by the pool, went shopping, took a city tour, drank lots of wine, but mainly helped Don with Dakar preparations. For all of you who don´t know about the Dakar, it´s the most grueling motorcycle-car-truck rally in the world and Don Hatton is the only Canadian competitor. The race consists of 15 days and 10,000km of Argentinian and Chilean terrain.
So here´s a fun fact. Buenos Aires notoriously sucks for New Years. All the citizens leave town for 2 days and go either north, south, east or west. Anywhere but the city. Who woulda thunk it? The city of 13 million people was like a ghost town. So New Years consisted of the most elaborate and wonderful buffet at the Sheraton Hotel which gave us an opportunity to dress up for the first time in 5 months. Kevin looked smashing in his new python shoes and Lisa looked ravishing in her sparkly dress and new purple satin shoes. But back to the buffet. It managed to check a few things of our mental list of things to try. Eg: Caviar, Rabbit, and Ceviche. Mmm mmm.
We retired to Miro (the camerman) and Gary (the mechanic)´s room for some wine and shots. Speaking of shots, Miro is from Slovakia and brought some of his father´s famous Borovicka(Slovakian Moonshine). For the countdown, we ran up to the 25th floor to watch the fire works from the huge bay windows. It was spectacular. For the city being dead it was crazy to see so many explosions all across the horizon. Leroy was there, dress to the nines, and stole Kevin´s midnight kiss. Lucky Bastard.
After the countdown had ended, everyone staying at the Sheraton went to bed because they had a long day of Dakar prep first thing. So Kevin and Lisa decided to break into the Sheraton 2009 Dance Party. We walked in like we owned the place but in the end the party was dying down so we naturally went and got more wine and partied just the two of us.
Jan 1, 2009
Hungover, we crawl out of bed at noon to meet Team Destination Dakar for the Dakar scruteneering process. This is where they go over all the participants vehicles to make sure they meet regulations. It was a long drawn out process but we got to have a close up look at all the vehicles involved. And with our fancy team shirts, we were able to by pass all security and get into areas forbidden for the public.
Jan 2, 2009
It´s the ceremonial start for the Dakar so the whole day is dedicated to last minute details. The team rushes over to the starting gates decked out in matching shirts and Canadian flags and scream as loudly as possible when Don Hatton #116 reaches the podium. Kevin lifts Lisa up onto his shoulders as she wave the flag as proudly as possible to make sure Don sees them in the midst of 500,000 spectators.
Jan 3, 2009, 5am
It´s the actualy start of the Dakar so we groggily make our way once again to the starting gates and watch as Don and the rest of the field start their adventure of a lifetime. That evening, the 2 of us get to enjoy the company of the Hatton women for a 15 hour bus ride to Mendoza .... Wine Country.
MENDOZA
We´ve already been here but only for a day. So this time, our plan is to live it up. Unfortunatley, something happened and we had to leave Mendoza unexpectedly. I suppose Mendoza is just not in the cards for us. We did however enjoy short lived time there. We were able to experience a Wine Tour as well as an Olive Oil Planation tour and live like locals dining at sidewalk cafes under a canopy of trees. On our 3rd day we were on our way to go horseback riding when Nat got the heart stopping phone call that Don had crashed badly and was being flown to the city of Neuquen for medical attention. The doctors had informed us that Don had broken his C4 vertebrae and needed surgery immediatley. And being that the rally is french, and the doctors are spanish the information we recieved was from both languages muddled together into an incomprehensionable and emotion-less english. ¨No worry¨ they said. ¨He be fine. He might be paralyzed, but alive. Its no problem¨ As a group we decide to make the 900km journey to meet Don in Neuquen a.s.a.p. The girls frantically pack up their stuff while Kevin rushes off to Budget Rent a Car. We finally get the car at 5pm and load it up with 5 passengers, 3 giant suitcases, 2 giant backpacks and about 8 day bags/purses. We were able to jam all this and tie the trunk down with a pair of shoelaces. Not bad for a piece of crap Ford Focus. About 4 hours into our drive we enter the worst lightning storm any of us have ever witnessed. The whole sky is illuminated with sheet lighting and there are often forks of lighting going every which way. At one point, the lighting formed a ball with about 5 forks jutting out of it. It´s really hard to describe but it looked like a monster and the forks were reaching out to consume our car. Suddenly we heard a crackling all across the windshield ... the car had been hit. We´re all freaking out so Kevin hauls ass to get us out of the eye of the storm and 3 hours later, we finally see our last flash of lightning. When we notice the car is just about on empty we decide to pull into the first town we´ve seen in 200km. The only gas station in town reminds us of a scene out of Deliverance. Keep in mind there are 4 cute white girls, a trunk overflowing with luggage and only 1 scraggly cripple to protect them. Kevin was afraid that hooligans were gonna mug us for the luggage and take advantage of the girls. The girls, on the other hand, were more afraid of the fist sized beetles flying into their hair. To top the whole experience off, the station will only allow it´s customers $40 pesos worth of gas, which is equivilant to 15 litres. So for those of you who dont drive, that´s less than half a tank and the next town is 3 hours away. However, with good fortune we made it to the next station using only the fumes in our tank. To our suprise this is one of the Dakar rally´s gas check points and, at the early hour of 330am, the station is packed with spectators. We arrive to the city of Neuquen at 5am and crash at a hotel for a few hours before we are allowed to see Don in the Hospital. We get there and it turns out that the only damage Don has suffered is a cracked sternum, cracked ribs, bruised lung, ripped ligaments and a little bit of internal bleeding. There are no visible scrapes or bruises on his body, expect for a cut knee, which occured the day before. He´s in rough shape but it´s nothing compared to the fear of paralyzation that was instilled in everybody just a day before. Don was released after just 3 days but must promise to continue daily medical examinations in whatever city he is in.
After a few days in butt fu*k no where we tried to return the rental car. But of course, despite what the Budget clerk in Mendoza said, there is no Budget in Neuquen. We now have the choice of taking it 13 hrs back to Mendoza or 6 hrs south to Bariloche. Bariloche is the chocolate capital of Argentina so ....
Bariloche, here we come!
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Edited... Now with more excitement for your reading pleasure!
Once again we´ve taken way to long to update the blog, so you might want to get a Timmy Ho´s coffee before sitting down to catch up on our journeys.
Punta del Diablo feels like a lifetime ago. It was an excellent few weeks in which we hung out at the beach day in, day out. Our routine was simple--
*Wake Up *Eat a grilled ham and cheese sandwich and drink packeted cappaccinos while lying on the hammock *Apply way too much sunscreen and head to the beach at around noon *Lie down *Play stick ball (a brazillian game with paddles much like ping pong rackets,but bigger .. and a racket ball) *Jump into the warm ocean and play in the waves *Lie down some more. Maybe even fall sleep and burn a teensy bit .. *Leave the beach at 5pm *Hunt for food at the market, go to the bungalow* cook it* Kevin snacks on candy before dinner * eat it * Kevin snacks on candy some more which hurts his belly after having that litre beer with dinner*share a few bottles of wine* play cards or watch a movie* go to bed.
*Wake up and repeat
On one fatefull day, our routine was disturbed by an American couple. Johnny and April of Miami, Florida. Ages 40 & 49. We felt like having a lazy day so we decided not to cook and Kevin wanted to go out to the local pizza pub. While we were there Johnny started chatting up a storm and wanted to buy us another round of beers. He suddenly became Kevin´s best friend. So for the next 2 nights we´d go out, get drunk, and be merry.
Punta del Diablo feels like a lifetime ago. It was an excellent few weeks in which we hung out at the beach day in, day out. Our routine was simple--
*Wake Up *Eat a grilled ham and cheese sandwich and drink packeted cappaccinos while lying on the hammock *Apply way too much sunscreen and head to the beach at around noon *Lie down *Play stick ball (a brazillian game with paddles much like ping pong rackets,but bigger .. and a racket ball) *Jump into the warm ocean and play in the waves *Lie down some more. Maybe even fall sleep and burn a teensy bit .. *Leave the beach at 5pm *Hunt for food at the market, go to the bungalow* cook it* Kevin snacks on candy before dinner * eat it * Kevin snacks on candy some more which hurts his belly after having that litre beer with dinner*share a few bottles of wine* play cards or watch a movie* go to bed.
*Wake up and repeat
On one fatefull day, our routine was disturbed by an American couple. Johnny and April of Miami, Florida. Ages 40 & 49. We felt like having a lazy day so we decided not to cook and Kevin wanted to go out to the local pizza pub. While we were there Johnny started chatting up a storm and wanted to buy us another round of beers. He suddenly became Kevin´s best friend. So for the next 2 nights we´d go out, get drunk, and be merry.
One evening Kevin offered to do the dishes. How nice. Wet sponges give Kevin the willy´s so he stragically picked up the sponge between his forefinger and his thumb. Luckily he did so because a teensy tiny scorpian had crawled up the pipes and had made the sponge its new home. Thanks to Indiana Jones, we all know that the tiny ones are the most poisonous. But of course, that doesnt stop Kevin from playing with it until it scurried back down into the drain.
So to help give an idea of how small Punta Del Diablo actually is, we must tell you that there are no ATM´s or banks. The closest place to get money is Chuy, a border town 45min away. We each only had about $100 pesos left ($4USD) so we hopped on a bus for $30 pesos each and headed into town. Its a hole in the ground but kinda cool because it borders Brazil, so one side of the town is Uruguay and one is Brasil. Everything on the Brazil side is priced in Reals and everything in Uruguay is priced in Pesos. Its like that Simpsons episode. Brazil - Uruguay, Brazil - Uruguay.
So to help give an idea of how small Punta Del Diablo actually is, we must tell you that there are no ATM´s or banks. The closest place to get money is Chuy, a border town 45min away. We each only had about $100 pesos left ($4USD) so we hopped on a bus for $30 pesos each and headed into town. Its a hole in the ground but kinda cool because it borders Brazil, so one side of the town is Uruguay and one is Brasil. Everything on the Brazil side is priced in Reals and everything in Uruguay is priced in Pesos. Its like that Simpsons episode. Brazil - Uruguay, Brazil - Uruguay.
One day we felt very adventurous so we decided to hike to Uruguay´s only National Park. Kevin was super excited because there was Fort there, available for touring. So we packed up, got directions from our hostel keeper, and prepared for our 2.5 hour hike. 3.5 hours later we reached our destination. It was well worth the effort.
After Punta del Diablo we went to Montevideo for a day. It is the oldest city in Uruguay and the architecture reflects this. There are tons of antiques to buy for super cheap so we spent some time wandering the markets and antiqueing.
There´s really not much to say about Uruguay. We really enjoyed it. The people were nice, the weather was great and it was a wonderful change from the wet weather in Brazil. We didnt see any tourist attractions, we just kinda lazed around on the beach. So it was terrific for us, just not so interesting for you to read about. Sorry for the dissapointment. But look out, this next bit is a doozy.
After a 2.5 hour ferry ride from Motevideo, we arrive in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It´s Christmas eve and smoking hot. We arrive at our hostel and it is terrible. No air con so the room is actually hotter than outside because there are no windows. And for some strange reason there seems to be a water leak so it feels like a steam room. But hey, it´s Christmas Eve, time to be merry right? Lisa has some friends (Geordon and Marylin Rendle) in BA that attend an English speaking church and they invited us to join us for a candle light service. To get there, we must take an old rickey train at a run down station. Bus terminals and train stations are always dingy, but this one was a little scarier. We got into the first cabin and take a seat. A smelly degenerate teenager walks by but eyes Lisa up like none other. Yes, she looked cute in her little white dress ... but still it was a bit much. We have to add also, that the train had about 4 other passengers on the entire thing at this point. After a few minutes, the degenerate comes back and plops down right next to Kevin and directly in front of Lisa. Never taking his eyes off her for a second, he takes the knife (not a butchers knife, but not quite a swiss army knife either) from under his sleeve and starts stabbing at his water bottle. She is super uncomfortable but doesnt want to get up and leave for fear that he might get offended and then do something awful. So she sits there, smiles politely and says Hola! , but not a sign of emotion ... not even a blink. His eyes were fixed. Kevin takes her hand and they quickly get up and walk to the other end of the train. After that, no sign of the degenerate and they made it to church on time. After visiting with the Rendle Family, its 11pm and following the Argentinean culture, it´s time for dinner. The 2 of us found a cute little Chinese Food buffet next to our hostel that was bursting at the seams with locals. As 1159 struck the clock, the everyone started getting anxious for the Christmas Eve countdown. Midnight was the best minute ever. Everyone was hugging and yelling ¨Feliz Navidad¨ while Lisa caught herself yelling Happy New Year. (Oops) The cooks came out and hugged and kissed Kevin while the owner came out to deliver free sparkling wine to everyone! Since when does South America give stuff away for free? ´Tis the season I suppose.
When we got back to the hostel we decorated for Christmas. Found some stockings (aka our hiking socks) and made a tree out of branches and Lisa´s dangly earrings.
On Christmas morning Lisa, keeping up with Sadler Tradition, read the Christmas Story from the Bible before opening gifts Santa brought. There was no turkey, but we found a nice restaurant and a couple bottles of wine and had a nice evening, just the two of us.
Buenos Aires is known for tango. So we got a touristic packaged deal on boxing day for a night on the town including a tango lesson, followed by a wonderful 4 course meal with all you can drink wine, (of which we took full advantage) and lastly a spectacular tango performance.
December 27th. Lisa turns 23. We take the train out to a smaller suberb of the city called Tigre and explore the infamous Buenos Aires Fruit Market. I dont think any actual fruit was sold, but there were lots of handy-crafts and home decor items. It was a lot like Ikea. Come to think of it, Ikea products are probably all bought here. Don´t be fooled with the Swedish lie. For dinner, we got dresssed up and went out for another nice meal. Kevin suprised Lisa with asking the waiter to bring over a piece of cake with a candle in it. Because after all, you can´t have a birthday without a birthday cake. Afterwards, the waiter hooked us up with some fee birthday shots. Mmm.
STAY TUNED, THE REAL EXCITMENT BEGINS WHEN 3/5´S OF THE HATTON FAMILY ARRIVES TOMMORROW.
Buenos Aires is known for tango. So we got a touristic packaged deal on boxing day for a night on the town including a tango lesson, followed by a wonderful 4 course meal with all you can drink wine, (of which we took full advantage) and lastly a spectacular tango performance.
December 27th. Lisa turns 23. We take the train out to a smaller suberb of the city called Tigre and explore the infamous Buenos Aires Fruit Market. I dont think any actual fruit was sold, but there were lots of handy-crafts and home decor items. It was a lot like Ikea. Come to think of it, Ikea products are probably all bought here. Don´t be fooled with the Swedish lie. For dinner, we got dresssed up and went out for another nice meal. Kevin suprised Lisa with asking the waiter to bring over a piece of cake with a candle in it. Because after all, you can´t have a birthday without a birthday cake. Afterwards, the waiter hooked us up with some fee birthday shots. Mmm.
STAY TUNED, THE REAL EXCITMENT BEGINS WHEN 3/5´S OF THE HATTON FAMILY ARRIVES TOMMORROW.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Floods, sunhine, beaches, lightning, more floods, beaches again
(Kevin and Lisa dualing)After Rainy Rio (12 million people) we went to Paraty, Brazil. A teensy like beach town filled with old school charm and only 28,000 people. The town has portuguese 17th century historical builings with giant cobblestone streets where mangy dogs run free to pee all over it. The first few days didnt consist of much as it was rainy there too, but when the sun finally came out near the end of our stay we took full advantage.
The hostel itself stares towards the beachfront. So with the beach so close but the winds so strong, it was a bit of a dissapointment. But there were some hammocks and computers and lots of Canadians to keep us occupied.
Paraty is an old pirate town so a big attraction is taking a Pirate Boat (tall ship) around the bay. We stopped to snorkel, enjoy several different beaches and warmest ocean water possible. We saw different kinds of fish and then ate them for lunch later, throwing our scraps into the water for the sea turtles. They didnt enjoy Kevins beer he spilled over board though, and it wasn´t Kevin´s intention to share.
The next day, with the sun still shining, we took a 4x4 tour of the surrounding towns. We went up to Paraty´s beloved natural waterslide. It´s a giant rock face softened by the rushing water from the upstream waterfalls. They only thing is you must position yourself very carefully as there is only a jagged-rock-free space 5 meters wide at the bottom. Kevin, being the gentleman he is, lets his lady go first. After swimming in the waterfalls and slides we went to a Cachaça Distillery. Cachaça is the Brazillian drink of choice, much like Pisco in Peru and Beer in Canada. Cachaça is made out of sugar cane so we were able to eat some cane raw and take shots of this disgusting liquor. After the booze came the coffee plantation situated in an old muesum esque house with jarred snakes and giant guns. A very random array of items that we took advantage of playing with for no particular reason.
Time to leave and head off to our next destination where the weather will hopefully better, Florianopolis. As usualy, we buy our tickets in advance so we are all ready to go in the morning. Our hostel calls us a cab who ends up being down street and he was on his way to meet other guests and take them to the bus station too. But, he says there is no room for us so he will go and come back. The town is tiny, so this should take all of 7 min to drive, there and back, and only 20 min to walk there. This dumbass driver took his sweet sweet time and picked us up with 3 minutes until our bus is scheduled to leave. But hey, no bus in South America has EVER left on time, so if we are 1 minute late, no biggie right? Wrong. We get there a mere 2 minutes late and the bus has already left. So, we buy brand new tickets and wait around for 5 hours in the rain for our next bus.
So 2 buses and 17hours of travel later we arrive in Florianopolis where it´s flooding terribly and people are dying. The part that we were staying at was beaches and resort area, so to say the least, it was deserted. But the sun was out after a few days so we took some much needed surfing lessons. Kevin, with his foot, did suprisingly well and Lisa caught her first waves ever. It was lots of fun. There isnt much to say about Florianopolis. The beaches are brilliant, the surf is huge, and the people are friendly. Since there was no one else staying at our Pousada, the owner gave us the biggest room for the same price. We had an open ¨living room¨with a fridge, stove and tv, .. and the first time in our trip, we had access to a DVD player. We took advantage of it and became best friends the movie store clerk next door. The town closes up at 8pm not leaving much to do in the evenings so it was nice and relaxing to cuddle up to some Christmas movies and beer. .... Speaking of which, Kevin got himself into a prediciment. You see, he likes to try as many new beers as possible. So when he goes to the market, he buys only singles instead of packs. After studying the label intently and taking its picture (it´s a routine he has, dont ask why) he discovers it is SEM Alcohol (without alchohol) After Rainy Rio (12 million people) we went to Paraty, Brazil. A teensy like beach town filled with old school charm and only 28,000 people. The town has portuguese 17th century historical builings with giant cobblestone streets where mangy dogs run free to pee all over it. The first few days didnt consist of much as it was rainy there too, but when the sun finally came out near the end of our stay we took full advantage. The hostel itself stares towards the beachfront. So with the beach so close but the winds so strong, it was a bit of a dissapointment. But there were some hammocks and computers and lots of Canadians to keep us occupied. Paraty is an old pirate town so a big attraction is taking a Pirate Boat (tall ship) around the bay. We stopped to snorkel, enjoy several different beaches and warmest ocean water possible. We saw different kinds of fish and then ate them for lunch later, throwing our scraps into the water for the sea turtles. They didnt enjoy Kevins beer he spilled over board though, and it wasn´t Kevin´s intention to share. The next day, with the sun still shining, we took a 4x4 tour of the surrounding towns. We went up to Paraty´s beloved natural waterslide. It´s a giant rock face softened by the rushing water from the upstream waterfalls. They only thing is you must position yourself very carefully as there is only a jagged-rock-free space 5 meters wide at the bottom. Kevin, being the gentleman he is, lets his lady go first. After swimming in the waterfalls and slides we went to a Cachaça Distillery. Cachaça is the Brazillian drink of choice, much like Pisco in Peru and Beer in Canada. Cachaça is made out of sugar cane so we were able to eat some cane raw and take shots of this disgusting liquor. After the booze came the coffee plantation situated in an old muesum esque house with jarred snakes and giant guns. A very random array of items that we took advantage of playing with for no particular reason. Time to leave and head off to our next destination where the weather will hopefully better, Florianopolis. As usualy, we buy our tickets in advance so we are all ready to go in the morning. Our hostel calls us a cab who ends up being down street and he was on his way to meet other guests and take them to the bus station too. But, he says there is no room for us so he will go and come back. The town is tiny, so this should take all of 7 min to drive, there and back, and only 20 min to walk there. This dumbass driver took his sweet sweet time and picked us up with 3 minutes until our bus is scheduled to leave. But hey, no bus in South America has EVER left on time, so if we are 1 minute late, no biggie right? Wrong. We get there a mere 2 minutes late and the bus has already left. So, we buy brand new tickets and wait around for 5 hours in the rain for our next bus. So 2 buses and 17hours of travel later we arrive in Florianopolis where it´s flooding terribly and people are dying. The part that we were staying at was beaches and resort area, so to say the least, it was deserted. But the sun was out after a few days so we took some much needed surfing lessons. Kevin, with his foot, did suprisingly well and Lisa caught her first waves ever. It was lots of fun. There isnt much to say about Florianopolis. The beaches are brilliant, the surf is huge, and the people are friendly. Since there was no one else staying at our Pousada, the owner gave us the biggest room for the same price. We had an open ¨living room¨with a fridge, stove and tv, .. and the first time in our trip, we had access to a DVD player. We took advantage of it and became best friends the movie store clerk next door. The town closes up at 8pm not leaving much to do in the evenings so it was nice and relaxing to cuddle up to some Christmas movies and beer. .... Speaking of which, Kevin got himself into a prediciment. You see, he likes to try as many new beers as possible. So when he goes to the market, he buys only singles instead of packs. After studying the label intently and taking its picture (it´s a routine he has, dont ask why) he discovers it is SEM Alcohol (without alchohol). This is the presise moment we discover something very important about Kevin.
¨To drink or not to drink¨Kevin asks himself, debating thouroughly out loud. Keep in mind, he´s tasted it and it´s just as good as any other beer he has tried so far.
If I pour this out, I am an alchoholic. But if I drink it, I am just putting empty calories into my body¨ he says.
Now we all know that Kevin does not care about empty calories. The giant empty bag of gummie candies sitting on the table right now is proof. He is just making excuses so he doesn´t have to face the fact that he is an alchoholic. After much deliberation, he pours it out and hangs his head in shame and self loathing. However, by the bottom of his next litre beer, he is in fine spirits and oddly pleased with his previous decision.
So it´s now Saturday night and we are in a foriegn country, famous for Carnival and it´s massive parties. So what better way to say goodbye to Brazil than under the Big Top? The local circus is in town!! We kick back and watch some trapeze artists, witness some explicit behavious from some clearly homosexual clowns and mow down some cotton candy.
Sunday morning, 9 days after our arrival here, and it´s already off to Punta Del Diablo, Uruguay. It was a good time to leave though because as if out of no where, we started finding mosquito larva everywhere. In the kitchen, bathroom, and even under our pillows. How they got through the mosquito net we hung up, we´ll never know. Besides the disgusting larva, we found hundreds of wings. That´s right, just wings. No bugs attached. They were on the floor, on the net, and in the beds. Thank the Lord it was our last night.
The hostel itself stares towards the beachfront. So with the beach so close but the winds so strong, it was a bit of a dissapointment. But there were some hammocks and computers and lots of Canadians to keep us occupied.
Paraty is an old pirate town so a big attraction is taking a Pirate Boat (tall ship) around the bay. We stopped to snorkel, enjoy several different beaches and warmest ocean water possible. We saw different kinds of fish and then ate them for lunch later, throwing our scraps into the water for the sea turtles. They didnt enjoy Kevins beer he spilled over board though, and it wasn´t Kevin´s intention to share.
The next day, with the sun still shining, we took a 4x4 tour of the surrounding towns. We went up to Paraty´s beloved natural waterslide. It´s a giant rock face softened by the rushing water from the upstream waterfalls. They only thing is you must position yourself very carefully as there is only a jagged-rock-free space 5 meters wide at the bottom. Kevin, being the gentleman he is, lets his lady go first. After swimming in the waterfalls and slides we went to a Cachaça Distillery. Cachaça is the Brazillian drink of choice, much like Pisco in Peru and Beer in Canada. Cachaça is made out of sugar cane so we were able to eat some cane raw and take shots of this disgusting liquor. After the booze came the coffee plantation situated in an old muesum esque house with jarred snakes and giant guns. A very random array of items that we took advantage of playing with for no particular reason.
Time to leave and head off to our next destination where the weather will hopefully better, Florianopolis. As usualy, we buy our tickets in advance so we are all ready to go in the morning. Our hostel calls us a cab who ends up being down street and he was on his way to meet other guests and take them to the bus station too. But, he says there is no room for us so he will go and come back. The town is tiny, so this should take all of 7 min to drive, there and back, and only 20 min to walk there. This dumbass driver took his sweet sweet time and picked us up with 3 minutes until our bus is scheduled to leave. But hey, no bus in South America has EVER left on time, so if we are 1 minute late, no biggie right? Wrong. We get there a mere 2 minutes late and the bus has already left. So, we buy brand new tickets and wait around for 5 hours in the rain for our next bus.
So 2 buses and 17hours of travel later we arrive in Florianopolis where it´s flooding terribly and people are dying. The part that we were staying at was beaches and resort area, so to say the least, it was deserted. But the sun was out after a few days so we took some much needed surfing lessons. Kevin, with his foot, did suprisingly well and Lisa caught her first waves ever. It was lots of fun. There isnt much to say about Florianopolis. The beaches are brilliant, the surf is huge, and the people are friendly. Since there was no one else staying at our Pousada, the owner gave us the biggest room for the same price. We had an open ¨living room¨with a fridge, stove and tv, .. and the first time in our trip, we had access to a DVD player. We took advantage of it and became best friends the movie store clerk next door. The town closes up at 8pm not leaving much to do in the evenings so it was nice and relaxing to cuddle up to some Christmas movies and beer. .... Speaking of which, Kevin got himself into a prediciment. You see, he likes to try as many new beers as possible. So when he goes to the market, he buys only singles instead of packs. After studying the label intently and taking its picture (it´s a routine he has, dont ask why) he discovers it is SEM Alcohol (without alchohol) After Rainy Rio (12 million people) we went to Paraty, Brazil. A teensy like beach town filled with old school charm and only 28,000 people. The town has portuguese 17th century historical builings with giant cobblestone streets where mangy dogs run free to pee all over it. The first few days didnt consist of much as it was rainy there too, but when the sun finally came out near the end of our stay we took full advantage. The hostel itself stares towards the beachfront. So with the beach so close but the winds so strong, it was a bit of a dissapointment. But there were some hammocks and computers and lots of Canadians to keep us occupied. Paraty is an old pirate town so a big attraction is taking a Pirate Boat (tall ship) around the bay. We stopped to snorkel, enjoy several different beaches and warmest ocean water possible. We saw different kinds of fish and then ate them for lunch later, throwing our scraps into the water for the sea turtles. They didnt enjoy Kevins beer he spilled over board though, and it wasn´t Kevin´s intention to share. The next day, with the sun still shining, we took a 4x4 tour of the surrounding towns. We went up to Paraty´s beloved natural waterslide. It´s a giant rock face softened by the rushing water from the upstream waterfalls. They only thing is you must position yourself very carefully as there is only a jagged-rock-free space 5 meters wide at the bottom. Kevin, being the gentleman he is, lets his lady go first. After swimming in the waterfalls and slides we went to a Cachaça Distillery. Cachaça is the Brazillian drink of choice, much like Pisco in Peru and Beer in Canada. Cachaça is made out of sugar cane so we were able to eat some cane raw and take shots of this disgusting liquor. After the booze came the coffee plantation situated in an old muesum esque house with jarred snakes and giant guns. A very random array of items that we took advantage of playing with for no particular reason. Time to leave and head off to our next destination where the weather will hopefully better, Florianopolis. As usualy, we buy our tickets in advance so we are all ready to go in the morning. Our hostel calls us a cab who ends up being down street and he was on his way to meet other guests and take them to the bus station too. But, he says there is no room for us so he will go and come back. The town is tiny, so this should take all of 7 min to drive, there and back, and only 20 min to walk there. This dumbass driver took his sweet sweet time and picked us up with 3 minutes until our bus is scheduled to leave. But hey, no bus in South America has EVER left on time, so if we are 1 minute late, no biggie right? Wrong. We get there a mere 2 minutes late and the bus has already left. So, we buy brand new tickets and wait around for 5 hours in the rain for our next bus. So 2 buses and 17hours of travel later we arrive in Florianopolis where it´s flooding terribly and people are dying. The part that we were staying at was beaches and resort area, so to say the least, it was deserted. But the sun was out after a few days so we took some much needed surfing lessons. Kevin, with his foot, did suprisingly well and Lisa caught her first waves ever. It was lots of fun. There isnt much to say about Florianopolis. The beaches are brilliant, the surf is huge, and the people are friendly. Since there was no one else staying at our Pousada, the owner gave us the biggest room for the same price. We had an open ¨living room¨with a fridge, stove and tv, .. and the first time in our trip, we had access to a DVD player. We took advantage of it and became best friends the movie store clerk next door. The town closes up at 8pm not leaving much to do in the evenings so it was nice and relaxing to cuddle up to some Christmas movies and beer. .... Speaking of which, Kevin got himself into a prediciment. You see, he likes to try as many new beers as possible. So when he goes to the market, he buys only singles instead of packs. After studying the label intently and taking its picture (it´s a routine he has, dont ask why) he discovers it is SEM Alcohol (without alchohol). This is the presise moment we discover something very important about Kevin.
¨To drink or not to drink¨Kevin asks himself, debating thouroughly out loud. Keep in mind, he´s tasted it and it´s just as good as any other beer he has tried so far.
If I pour this out, I am an alchoholic. But if I drink it, I am just putting empty calories into my body¨ he says.
Now we all know that Kevin does not care about empty calories. The giant empty bag of gummie candies sitting on the table right now is proof. He is just making excuses so he doesn´t have to face the fact that he is an alchoholic. After much deliberation, he pours it out and hangs his head in shame and self loathing. However, by the bottom of his next litre beer, he is in fine spirits and oddly pleased with his previous decision.
So it´s now Saturday night and we are in a foriegn country, famous for Carnival and it´s massive parties. So what better way to say goodbye to Brazil than under the Big Top? The local circus is in town!! We kick back and watch some trapeze artists, witness some explicit behavious from some clearly homosexual clowns and mow down some cotton candy.
Sunday morning, 9 days after our arrival here, and it´s already off to Punta Del Diablo, Uruguay. It was a good time to leave though because as if out of no where, we started finding mosquito larva everywhere. In the kitchen, bathroom, and even under our pillows. How they got through the mosquito net we hung up, we´ll never know. Besides the disgusting larva, we found hundreds of wings. That´s right, just wings. No bugs attached. They were on the floor, on the net, and in the beds. Thank the Lord it was our last night.
Anyhow, 2 buses and 17hrs later, we arrive in Montevideo, Uruguay... 5 hours southwest of where we want to be. The bus just simply didn´t stop at our destination. So at 5am we catch some breakfast at the bus terminal and wait until 6am for the money exchange to open as we aren´t gonna get far in this country with our Brazillian money. Then we buy new tickets and wait another 3 hours in the terminal for the bus. After that, it´s 5 hours backwards to our original destination. It was a long few days, but once we got there, it was totally worth it.
Punta del Diablo is a remote fishing village of only 700 residents and just as many tourists. This place is only beggining to be a tourist destination so half of the city is currently under construction. Everyone is making bungalows for the gringos to rent. The village has dirt roads, no traffic lights, no stop signs and the friendliest people we have met in South America. We managed to find a wonderful place 200m from the beach with hammocks on the deck overlooking the ocean.
We´ve got 12 days to enjoy the beach and the quaint small-town feel, then it´s back to big city living.
Punta del Diablo is a remote fishing village of only 700 residents and just as many tourists. This place is only beggining to be a tourist destination so half of the city is currently under construction. Everyone is making bungalows for the gringos to rent. The village has dirt roads, no traffic lights, no stop signs and the friendliest people we have met in South America. We managed to find a wonderful place 200m from the beach with hammocks on the deck overlooking the ocean.
We´ve got 12 days to enjoy the beach and the quaint small-town feel, then it´s back to big city living.
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