Bolivia - Never Stop Pushing Yourself

I've only been in Bolivia for two weeks now and I'm already in love with this country. The juice ladies are genuinely happy to serve you, the food is unique and tasty if you know where to look, and overall the country is just as diverse as Canada if not more so. Jungle, mountain ranges, amazon basins, silver mining towns, and incredible topography. 

Railroads to Nowhere

I'm quite freaking in love with this country. But more so because it represents a Challenge to me than anything else. I`m that guy who looks at a mountain from the base and see it mocking me all the way up until I`m the one laughing at the top. I've completed 20 hours of Spanish lessons to help bolster my fledgling skills, a full day of cycling down Death Road including doing my first single track, and in about an hour I'm off to begin a three day climb to summit Huayna Potosi at 6088m.a.s.l. So what do I really mean by a Challenge?

Have you ever taken an intensive Spanish course? Some of you travelling would have for sure so you'll understand. Four hours a day you get drilled with dozens of new words, verbs, grammer and different rules to string it all together. All while the teacher is mostly speaking in Spanish. Because why not? One of the more frustrating things I've ever done because I struggled. Big time. Mixing up verbs, switching up conjugations, not being "imaginative" with my sentences.. Spending hours after class attempting to do homework but mostly finding ways to fill my stomach with snacks. I became utterly frustrated with the entire language. I made excuses - What a stupid decision to learn this language, this language makes absolutely no sense, should have never done this, etc. Until I finished my classes and got thrown into the real world again. All of the sudden I could understand heaps more, my sentences came out the way I actually intended them to, and people actually started to understand me. It was mentally exhausting, but it was something I set in front of myself that I'll never regret tackling. 

Spanish 101

Death Road. It used to be The World's Most Dangerous Road for simple reasons. It has blind corners, it's barely one lane, and if you go off the road and off the cliff, you'll disappear about 300m below into the jungle. Many drivers have died this way until they constructed the new road, and now many tourists have gone over cycling. Including a French lady about two weeks ago.. Rest in peace. That being said, this was one of the most intense and exciting things I have EVER done. Hurtling down a thin gravel road on a full suspension bicycle with tight corners and sheer death waiting for me at all times. I loved it.

And then I fell.

Not too badly, and into the mountain and not over the cliff. But enough to shake me up a bit. Enough so that when I was given the green light to attempt my first single track (a steep and rocky path meant for one rider at a time) I was quite hesitant. However life isn't meant to be taken through the eyes of a coward. I honestly can't remember the last time when I've genuinely been scared about my own personal safety. But I choose to nut up and go for it. I'm alive, it was epic, and I'm proud that I choose to step up to the plate instead of taking the easy way out. 

Death Corner

Huayna Potosi. I love to hike. I love to climb. And I absolutely love being outdoors. I`m also Canadian and I never get cold taking my pet penguin for sleigh rides around the neighborhood. I've done my fair share of hiking back home but what I've never attempted is trying to climb a mountain above 6000m. Lucky for me that Potosi is 6088m above sea level. The most difficult thing about climbing mountains like this is that there is barely any oxygen in the atmosphere at these heights. Meaning that even in La Paz at about 3600m, I was winded walking up a two minute hill on my first day. With about 12 hours of hiking, climbing, and scrambling ahead of me, I`m pretty damn nervous. While I'm not exactly in my peak condition, I understand how Altitude Sickness can crumble my goal of summiting with a throbbing headache and full body exhaustion. One step at a time right? After all it`s all about getting that photo anyway!

I look at most things in life as a challenge now. Not because I`m a competitive asshole, well not all the time anyway.. but a competition and a challenge are quite different anyway. But mostly because everything is brand new, difficult and well.. challenging. I visualize myself conquering something and I set myself to it. That's just how I live life though. If it's not a challenge, why am I even doing it? 

Why would I continue to ride the path of complacency when I can push myself in all disciplines and simply become a stronger person?

Always keep pushing yourself towards your goals, never stop running the race that you set before you.

Channy

Instagram & Twitter - itsnathanchan

October 8th - Wild Rover Hostel, La Paz, Bolivia

World's Largest Salt Flat - Salar de Uyuni

Well after three days, minus 15 degree winds and one bitterly strong case of altitude sickness, I'm mostly alive and have managed to make my way into Bolivia! Three days of driving in a rugged Landcruiser with simple accommodations and a lack of internet has left me with one of my new highlights of the trip. 

Three full days driving through Bolivian wilderness on the way to Uyuni was simply breathtaking. White lagoons, green lagoons, red lagoons, all sorts of lagoons. Andean flamingoes, condor flamingoes, chilean flamingoes, only three sorts of flamingoes. Small potholes, bathtub sized potholes, hidden potholes, many potholes. And salt. Miles and miles of beautiful salt. 

To say that we drove on a road would simply imply that the Bolivians had built a road to begin with. It was in fact more of a path that EVERY single jeep/landcruiser followed and took slight deviations from trying to find the least bumpy way. As I said, accommodations were simple. The first night was at about 4300m above sea level with -15 winds howling outside, zero heating and 20lbs of blankets ontop a thin bed with a concrete base. The secound night was slightly better inside of a "salt hotel." Seriously only slightly though. 

My lack of sleep through Chile decided to catch up with me all of the sudden and deliver a one-two punch on the first night. Or maybe three.. Or four? Waking up multiple times throughout the night to sweats, chills and a horrible headache I couldn't wait till morning. Yet morning came along with a raging headache, barely enough energy to run to the bathroom and a stomach that could only accept hot tea. Did I mention I could barely keep warm? I definitetly wore more than half of my clothes that day. 

Despite a hiccup throughout the secound day I was able to rally pretty hard and get all the snaps I still wanted. Waking up before sunrise the final day we departed in the complete darkness and raced off to make it to Salar de Uyuni for sunrise. Salar de Uyuni is just as epic as all the hype surrounding it makes it out to be. 

Never ending. Totally white. Completely flat. Until you reach the far side. Besides the rubber tire trails. Except for Isla de Pescado. Almost an oasis in the middle of the Salar, a great mass erupts from the Earth studded with giant cactus and an easy 15 minute hike to the top of the mound. Furthur past the Isla we stopped to take photos. The Salar is perfect for funny shots as the depth of field is completely destroyed here. 

One last adventurous stroll through the Train Cemetery on the far side of Uyuni and I was on the most eventful bus I've ever been heading deeper into Bolivia and continuing my journey north. 

Currently In Sucre, planning on bunkering down for a week or so to learn some more spanish! Ciao. 

Channy

Instagram & Twitter - itsnathanchan

September 28 - Celtic Cross Hostel, Sucre, Bolivia

Final Week in Chile - Me Gusta

Chile has been good fun. Period. With  my final hour in the country today I thought it might be a good time to catch up on what I've been up to lately instead of the tangents I like to write about. From the beginning of the week then.

Santiago

Arrived in the city only to find that I had missed my good friend Euan by a few hours.. However another friend from Ushuaia was actually there in my hostel so it was a good surprise instead. I spent my first day exploring the city by foot, discovering the city barrio by barrio. Not going to lie when I wasn't too impressed by it. Big cities all look like other big cities in my opinion. I awoke the following day to Fiesta Patrias! The 18th of september is Chile's version of Independence day. With huge parties called Fondas, everyone in the city is either at one, at a park bbqing or hawking their wares to tourists and locals alike.  I literally spent a solid two hours eating street food in Parque O'higgins, everything from mussel and fish ceviche to goat and chorizo sandwiches! Later that night I met up with Max, a friend from Valpo and had a blast late into the evening. Even ended up meeting 3 Vancouverites who lived about 15 minutes from me! Travelling eh?

Mote con Huesillo - Peach nectar, barley, rehydrated peaches

Cue the best 24 hour bus ride of my life. 

San Pedro de Atacama

A gringo town in the middle of the Atacama desert. Literally just built on the backs of restaurants, tour shops and bike rentals. I was lucky enough to spend 4 solid days in the dusty town. On my first day in the city, I actually ended up bumping into a friend that I met in Ushuaia (another one) and we immediately made plans to go sandboarding later that day! After an evening of finding sand everywhere and sweaty legs, we arrive at day two which was quite a relaxing day. Slept in, got some coffee with amigos, biked through a few canyons and had my first proper meal in about two weeks. Two more full on days of tours, good snaps and a complete overhaul of my Bolivian "itinerary" and now I'm off to Salar de Uyuni! It's been funny hanging out with new friends from different hostels these few days however I've literally not stopped to say hello to anyone in my own hostel.. Oops! 

Sunset from Valle de la Luna

Laguna Altiplanica

Anyway I'll be crossing Salar de Uyuni in a 4x4 Jeep for 3 days without internet! Expect some awesome photos from the Salar ;)

Channy

Instagram & Twitter - itsnathanchan

September 24th - Aji Verde Hostel, San Pedro de Atacama, Chile

A Few of My Favourites - South America

Well. I´ve gotten a little tired of writing. More and more throughout this trip my photography has gotten slightly better each and every day. I thought I´d like to showcase a little more of that throughout my blog. Thus here are some of my favourites so far from South America, with plenty more to come!

Iguaçu Falls - Brazil

I was lucky enough to see the falls from both Argentina and Brazil with my sister Rosalyn. We arrived in the park after a miserably long bus ride to find sunshine, a slight breeze and gorgeous rainbows. Of a full afternoon of posing, taking selfies, running through the crazy mist to the platform in the bottom right corner, this was my best shot of the day.

Rio de Janerio - Brazil

One of the few days I wasn´t baking away inside the Fifa Fan Fest, I managed to actually explore the city.  I spent the day exploring Ipanema and Copacabana beach before heading to Arpoador which is a huge rocky cliff in between the two beaches. Climbing all over I was able to take this shot of a young Brazilian debating whether to jump in or not a few hours before sunrise.

Easter Island - Chile

Ahu Tongariki. Battling the grogginess of a 6am wake up, intense patches of rain and wind, we managed to drive our 4x4 to Tongariki only find a bitter, dark and cloudy sky. However as the sun started to rise, the clouds started to evaporate. A dusty rock, my phone, and the camera strap provided a perfect tripod setup for this long exposure shot.

Easter Island - Chile

Two from Easter Island?! Obviously you need to get your ass out here then! Eating a Rapa Nui Ceviche at La Kaleta in Hanga Roa with an Aus couple, the sun was falling into a spectacular cluster of clouds. Excusing myself and getting out of the way of an American group eating dinner, I managed to snap this photo just before the mains arrived.

San Pedro de Atacama - Chile

I actually didn´t take this photo, although I did configure all the settings myself. The credit for the photo goes to Henriette my German friend who I met in Ushuaia and was lucky enough to find again in San Pedro. After a good few hours of sandboarding, we made our way over to Valle de la Luna and walking around barefoot, made my way to the end of Mirador de Kari where I was able to catch the end of a sunset.

Hope you enjoyed! Let me know if you do. Like, comment, share, retweet, follow me. You can not do me a greater compliment than by doing any of those for me!

Channy
Instagram & Twitter - itsnathanchan
September 22 - Aji Verde Hostal, San Pedro de Atacama, Chile

The City of Street Art and Graffiti

Graffiti. Street art. Murals. I love it all! One of my favourite things about travelling through South America is finding beautiful street art in the most obscure places. I've seen some thought provoking art in Sao Paulo's Beco de Batman/Batman Alley, some horrible tags in dreary Rio Gallegos, and even vivid murals and tags throughout Patagonia, especially in Bariloche.

One city kept getting raved and raved about though especially as I came closer and closer to it. Everybody whose passed through has fallen in love with it, and that gets me quite excited. Seeing the photos wouldn't do it justice, I had to go. Being two hours west of Santiago, it was not exactly far out of my way, even though I had been planning all along to go..

Valparaiso

This city is ridiculous. Built on a great concave hill, the base starts in the huge port district and works its way up through the banking district, the restaurant and bar district and then all the way up into the favelas. On every single street you'll see graffiti and street art. From simple tags to elaborately detailed murals. I spent half my time in the city just taking snaps! This city is easily one of my favourite places on this trip so far not only for the snaps, but also for the speed and vibe of the city. Why keep trying to describe it when a picture is worth a thousand words after all? While my photos may or may not be worth a thousand words by themselves, here are five. They definitely count for at least a thousand.

Oscar the Chilean born in Sweden brought me here

Along Rua Alemania

Close to Pablo Neruda's house

Somewhere in Valpo

Apparently taken in a very dangerous neighborhood

Currently in Santiago however leaving for San Pedro de Atacama in about an hour. Seriously need to sleep. So badly. Yay for 24 hours of bussing..

Channy

Instagram & Twitter - itsnathanchan

September 19 - Landay Hostel, Santiago, Chile

Six Days On Easter Island

Iorana means Hello in the Rapa Nui laungage. Iorana to my Easter Island post! A tiny little island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean makes this one of the most isolated regions of the world. Just the idea of Easter Island (or Isla de Pascua in Spanish) was enough to set me off and send tingles down my spine. Definitely worth every dollar of that expensive plane ticket.

I spent six full days on the island, and I think that was a perfect amount of time considering how much there is to do for such a tiny place. The history and culture is as intriguing as it is mysterious and is plagued with guesswork as no one was actually there to document it all. Essentially the Moai were carved and erected on platforms where important figures of society would be buried, always turned to face a village as to protect it.  In the final years, clan battles wiped out many Moai as they would destroy the moral of the opposing clan.

7 Moai at Ahu Akivi

I ended up camping in Easter Island, renting a tent on site and using my jacket as a pillow because all other accommodations were ridiculously expensive. While my accommodations were simple enough, the water side location was simply stunning. Costing about 11$ dollars a night for the tent, across the street was a 400$ a night Eco-Lodge just to put things into comparison.

My evening view

I was fortunate to do quite a bit with my more than sufficient amount of time. I was able to go scuba diving for the first time, try Rapa Nui ceviche and drive a stick shift SUV across the entire island. Here are my three favourite things abouts the island.

Orongo 

An abandoned village on the edge of an inactive volcano. Hiking up the trail leaves impressive views of Hanga Roa (the only village on the island) as well as a topside view of the old crater which is now a wet marsh. Taking about an hour from the village, I was tossed around by strong winds and was barely able to get an acceptableish photo at the top. On the far right side of this photo lies Orongo, but the true beauty was from the mirador/viewpoint.

View from Mirador Rano Kau

Caving

The island has an impressive array of caves throughout the island, mostly on the west side. The most memorable one had the smallest possible opening I've ever seen. Popping on a head torch I squeezed in and was instantly forced to make myself as tiny as possible to not smack my head into the damp cave roof. I made it about 30 meters before the tunnel split into two and at the end of both is a sheer drop with a fantastic view of the coastline. Straight up Lord of the Rings Frodo buisness going on here.

Sunset from the caves

Ahu Tongariki

In the southeast region of the island is the famous Ahu Tongariki site. 15 Moai line a huge platform and make for an impressive view. Originally meant to 16 Moai and all with a hat, the Japanese team who was in charge of restoring the site ran out of money before completion, leaving the hats and the final Moai on the ground right next to the already erected Moai. The location itself is jaw dropping. Craggy ocean rocks get pounded by the waves behind the Moai while hills surround the entire platform leaving Tongariki as a centerpiece. I was fortunate enough to see it twice, once in the daytime and once for sunrise. Words really can´t do justice to the beauty of it, but I think a picture can.

Sunrise at Tongariki

Currently in Santiago, made a quick stop in Valparaiso which I loved and it is pretty unfair to Santiago. After coming from three places I loved, Santiago has absolutely no chance of tickling my fancy. Chilean Independence day tommorow and then off on a 22 hour bus to San Pedro de Atacama!

Channy

Instagram & Twitter - itsnathanchan

September 17 - Landay Hostel, Santiago, Chile

The Travel Stories No One Talks About

Trekking the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. Snorkeling with sea lions in the Galapagos Islands. Racing through Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia. These are some of the epic (and often lofty) stories you hear from fellow backpackers doing the South America circuit. While stories such as these are everywhere for the epic factor, it makes me wonder - What about all the untold stories? All the stories that get bumped behind scuba diving on Easter Island? The ones where you're actually not doing something as epic as climbing volcanoes? Maybe doing something that everyone does like taking a bus but no one talks about? Doing something that you would never have thought of doing before your trip? Well, here are a few of mine.

Remember that time I bussed for 56 hours in 3.5 days?

Bussing. Long distance busses. They're quite different from local transit and even from Greyhounds back home in South America. Quite comfy, usually with some sort of meal service, leg rests and ridiculously foggy windows. After a busy week in Buenos Aires, I hopped on my first one to Puerto Madryn. 20 hours. Sleeping through most of it, I did enjoy my non-sleeping time watching the barren landscape fly by, reminiscing about Buenos Aires and watching two horrible movie in spanish with subtitles that were also in spanish. Waking up in Puerto Madryn, did a day on the tourist circuit, and then back on the bus tour, this time to Rio Gallegos. 19 hours However this bus was two hours late, and an hour after departing we changed busses adding on another hour. We arrived at the bus terminal to bitterly cold winds and freezing rain A fair amount of spanglish later and I was sitting in a metal caged bus bound for Ushuaia. 11 hours. Quickly ruining my first four immigration papers, I was slow to fill out my secound round of papers. Exit Argentina. Enter Chile. Get onto a barge. Sail for an hour. Back to the bus. Exit Chile. Enter Argentina. Get locked in the bus with Elysium playing as the driver visits a friend at his house in Rio Grande. Arrive in Ushuaia 4 hours later than planned. 2 degrees outside. Birthday in an hour and a half. No idea where my hostel is. Sweeeet.

Sketchville Bus

It was really fun getting lost walking through Sao Paulo without a map

Arriving in Cafe Hostel in Sao Paulo after spending a few days couchsurfing with Bruno, I was left in a bit of a situation. I didn't want to be in the city any longer, and there wasn't any place worth going to as I had to meet my sister in Iguaçu in a few days. Stuck. I decided to kill one of my days in the city by walking to an Art Exposition about an hour walk from the hostel. The map I was given only had main streets listed thus making it a pretty ineffective map.. Leaving it behind I set off in the general direction, knowing the address and neighborhood it was in. I walked. And walked. And got thoroughly lost. I asked a nice older lady for directions and she kindly wrote down perfect instructions for me.. in Porteguese.. and to the wrong location. About two hours later, one giant bridge crossing, many jeering hobos and a very sweaty back, I arrived at a Hyundai dealership. Going into the blissful air conditioned building I proceeded to get directions in english for the last part of my journey, a mere two minute walk to my destination. How ironic to get english for the final stretch while stumbling through Porteguese instructions for a few hours.  It was still a pretty cool art exposition. Worth it. 

Art.

Do you like waiting? Welcome to travelling. 

I HATE waiting. For anything, anyone, all the time. Punctuality is a mantra I run by and when things are late and I have to wait, I'm put into a terrible mood. Working as a cook for the past four years has instilled a sense of punctuality in me. Whether it be 90 secounds out for a pan of brown butter gnocchi or setting a 4 minute timer on the deep fryer for spicy chicken, being on time counts big time. Which is great when I missed my connection in to Pucon and the next bus was full. Stranded in Osorno. 7 hours in a rainy city I had no interest in.  Good fun. Or when I woke up at 6am to hike up to Christ the Redeemer only to hit a massive horde of tourists at the ticket office. They all turned and stared as I approached. I was dripping sweat from the hike as they were adjusting their safari hats and fanny packs which I guess makes me the gringo. Also good fun. Ros and I went from Puerto Iguazu to Concordia on an overnight bus and we tried to get into Salto the same day. Arriving at about 630am in Concordia, we found out the bus was at 11am. I asked where to buy tickets and unfortunately thought that we were to pay on the bus. So at 11 we checked our bags in and hopped on the bus. Only to be asked to leave because we didn't have tickets.. Running to the newly discovered ticket office across the street and not insidethe  bus terminal, they wouldn't quickly sell me tickets even though there was heaps of space. We then caught a ferry later in the day. At about 6pm. My fault really. About 12 hours of waiting, eating horrible pizza, and searching for wifi. Sorry sis :)

Waiting for Football

Backpackers have all these connotations of being awesome at travelling. Super well organized when it comes to transportation, accomodations and everything in between. The epic rugged economic traveller who knows the best way through it all. 

In reality though, we're probably the worst at it. Missing flights or buses because we can't keep track of days. Not having a hostel for the night because we couldn't be bothered to book one online. Scrambling to pack everything in the morning because there was "tons of time" before having to leave. Having no idea how long to stay in one place or where to go next, because no one has a clear path, only a general direction to go in. Epic times eh. 

Decompressing from Easter Island. On the  way to Valparaiso right now. Pretty flustered. Many many bus tickets were purchased in about 15 minutes. Like 4. I think. Or 3..

 Next post will be about Isla de Pascua once I figure my life out in Valparaiso!

Channy

Instagram & Twitter - itsnathanchan

September.. something, Ruta 68, close to Valparaiso, Chile