So it seems as though Nicole's grand adventure is going to be cut short.
While I had hoped it would make sense to wait around for my foot to heal, after a day of minimal walking and pain in the ol foot, I realize that it aint going to happen. The last week has basically consisted of my sitting on my ass, wasting money, and getting fatter. I wont lie, I am pretty much devestated as I was looking forward to extending my trip, not cutting it so short. That said, I have had an amazing 3 months, perhaps my most amazing 3 months ever, and wouldnt change a thing. I have appreciated every place I have been, and every person I have met, even up until the great fall.
Hopefully, (if I end up getting a round trip ticket) I will make it back within the next few months, if not it's been real. Thanks to everyone who has kept up with my trip and sent me messages along the way.
peace out.
Niclo
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
Friday, November 25, 2005
The stupid things I do
SOOOO it seems as though I broke a ligament in my foot.
What does this mean...well first it means that I can put absolutely no pressure on my foot without intense pain. Second, it means I am stuck in Iguassu, unable to visit the waterfalls, for the next 3 or 4 days. And third, it means that my trip may be cut short rather than extended.
How did it happen you ask...welllll I fell down one stair. What happened was a big group of us, 15 or so, had gone to a bar/ dance place. It was around 4 in the morning, I had had a few drinks, nothing excessive, and a group of us decided to go back to the hostel. Nili was walking ahead with this guy she was interested in but who I had the feeling was kind of a sketch ball. I was walking with this guy from Amsterdam, talking about shat. All of a sudden I realize Nili is gone. Being the good/ responsible friend that I am, I assume she is off being raped or something and I freak out. At this point I also realize that I am completely lost, and that niether me nor Amsterdam boy know where we are going (Nili was with the locals) After a while we find our way home, and I go running looking for Nili. The guy at the desk tells me she is not there and to go to sleep. I refuse and run into the hostel in the pitch black where I fall down literally one stair and break my ass. I later find Nili watching TV (turns out local guy was a sketch ball, long story) I considered strangling her for having ditched me but I decided not to.
Anyway...The moral of the story is my foot hurts like a bitch, though its much better today than yesterday.
Happy Thanksgiving by the way....
Nicole
What does this mean...well first it means that I can put absolutely no pressure on my foot without intense pain. Second, it means I am stuck in Iguassu, unable to visit the waterfalls, for the next 3 or 4 days. And third, it means that my trip may be cut short rather than extended.
How did it happen you ask...welllll I fell down one stair. What happened was a big group of us, 15 or so, had gone to a bar/ dance place. It was around 4 in the morning, I had had a few drinks, nothing excessive, and a group of us decided to go back to the hostel. Nili was walking ahead with this guy she was interested in but who I had the feeling was kind of a sketch ball. I was walking with this guy from Amsterdam, talking about shat. All of a sudden I realize Nili is gone. Being the good/ responsible friend that I am, I assume she is off being raped or something and I freak out. At this point I also realize that I am completely lost, and that niether me nor Amsterdam boy know where we are going (Nili was with the locals) After a while we find our way home, and I go running looking for Nili. The guy at the desk tells me she is not there and to go to sleep. I refuse and run into the hostel in the pitch black where I fall down literally one stair and break my ass. I later find Nili watching TV (turns out local guy was a sketch ball, long story) I considered strangling her for having ditched me but I decided not to.
Anyway...The moral of the story is my foot hurts like a bitch, though its much better today than yesterday.
Happy Thanksgiving by the way....
Nicole
Monday, November 21, 2005
HOTHOTHOT
I feel as though I am in the middle of an internet tour of Argentina HOWEVER it is so unbearably hot here that my choices are limited. We spend a few hours outside and then need airconditioning. The choices are going to a restaurant (which ain´t gunna happen as we have recently decided we are in desperate need of a diet) or an internet cafe. Thus since coming to Argentina I have started visiting 3 or 4 internet cafe´s per day.
SO Tucuman was interesting. We were walking down the street early in the morning (around 10) looking for a good ol fashion ensalada de frutas (back to the diet thang) when some dude starts talking to us in English. Sitting on a windowsill was this blonde caricature of a man asking, in perfect english, what we were doing. I told him we were looking for fruit salad which he ignored. For the next 4 hours we talked with this dude about his time in the states, his ¨lover¨frank, and pop culture I think he may have been slightly insane but it was good times. Every few minutes he would break into songs from ¨rent¨ or quotes from random movies. He then dubbed me the happiness fairy ...mmm´k...
Today we are in Corrientes (though actually Resistencia at the moment, home of 400 outdoor sculptures) Tomorrow I head to Iquassu. Super excited though hoping it isnt hotter there than it is here....im thinking it probably is.
peace out
SO Tucuman was interesting. We were walking down the street early in the morning (around 10) looking for a good ol fashion ensalada de frutas (back to the diet thang) when some dude starts talking to us in English. Sitting on a windowsill was this blonde caricature of a man asking, in perfect english, what we were doing. I told him we were looking for fruit salad which he ignored. For the next 4 hours we talked with this dude about his time in the states, his ¨lover¨frank, and pop culture I think he may have been slightly insane but it was good times. Every few minutes he would break into songs from ¨rent¨ or quotes from random movies. He then dubbed me the happiness fairy ...mmm´k...
Today we are in Corrientes (though actually Resistencia at the moment, home of 400 outdoor sculptures) Tomorrow I head to Iquassu. Super excited though hoping it isnt hotter there than it is here....im thinking it probably is.
peace out
Sunday, November 20, 2005
Change of plans
So I have started reading The diary of Anne Frank in spanish. Maybe a slightly wierd choice but I figured I should read something I already know and the store I went to had very few choices.
Two days ago Nili and I made the decision that it made more sense for us to split up for the next month and a half as we want to go in different directions. The plan was basically that today I would go east and she would got south. Thankfully, as we both needed more time to digest the idea of solo travel, she decided to just follow me east for the time being. We are heading to Corrientes. From there I will head north to the Iguassu Falls (largest falls in the world) and then we will meet up again in Uruguay. Then from there we will head to Buenos Aires. After that everything is fuzzy . I am considering adding a month or so to my trip, which would change everything. For example, as of now I am skipping the southern tip of argentina as well as patagonia. aaaah....we will see.
Two days ago Nili and I made the decision that it made more sense for us to split up for the next month and a half as we want to go in different directions. The plan was basically that today I would go east and she would got south. Thankfully, as we both needed more time to digest the idea of solo travel, she decided to just follow me east for the time being. We are heading to Corrientes. From there I will head north to the Iguassu Falls (largest falls in the world) and then we will meet up again in Uruguay. Then from there we will head to Buenos Aires. After that everything is fuzzy . I am considering adding a month or so to my trip, which would change everything. For example, as of now I am skipping the southern tip of argentina as well as patagonia. aaaah....we will see.
Friday, November 18, 2005
BEEF
Plenty of fun stories to tell that will not be told because some nameless people have lossed story privelages (cant spell) for everyone.
Will say that Argentinian beef is all its cracked up to be, though after experimenting I have found that argentinian mcdonalds is nothing special.
off to Tucuman tonight.
Will say that Argentinian beef is all its cracked up to be, though after experimenting I have found that argentinian mcdonalds is nothing special.
off to Tucuman tonight.
Wednesday, November 16, 2005
Chile to Bolivia to Chile to Argentina
I wish I were a better writer so I could explain how amazing and wonderful everyday here has been. Its unreal to live every day and really feel like its being lived to the fullest. I know its cheesy, and I kind of have to roll my eyes at myself, but its just great to be so happy and feel so right all the time.
ANYYYWAY...Getting from Chile to Bolivia was a bitch. Jason, Nili and I took 2 buses totalling around 27 hours to get from Iquique to Uyuni. The second leg of the trip was in basically a converted school bus. It was especially wonderful because we drove through terrain without a paved road. In the words of Nili it was like being in '' a giant vibrating machine.'' It was almost impossible to see as our eyeballs shook around in our heads. What made the trip especially special was the lack of bathroom and the extreme food poisoning I came down with half way through. I'll spare you all the details.
We arrived in Iquique at 4 in the morning. Nili slept on the bus while Jason and I played dominos with some local kids in the street. At around 7 we went to a hostel where we slept the day. That night we headed out for some ''American'' food at a local restaurant owned by a guy from Amherst, MA. It was especially random becaue Uyuni is one of the smallest least interesting towns I have been to yet. We ate fresh baked cookies with whole milk, and the best pizza I have had in ages.
The next day we headed off on our Uyuni trip. My group was 6 people. The three of us, A girl named Jamie from CA travelling alone on month 13 of her trip, a girl named Angela from Framingham, MA, on month 5 of her trip, also travelling alone, and a German dude on month 12 of his trip also travelling alone. At first I was a little concerned, as we have not encountered many Americans and was curious what the dynamic would be like, but these people were so awesome. The first day was pretty chill, we visited the salt deserts and took many crazy group perspective shots (i'll post them tomorrow and you'll see what I mean). Then we visited a train graveyard. Then we headed to our hostel in the middle of nowhere. From there was an amazing Mirador (look out point), that Jason, Matt, Angela and I decided to climb to. It was basically hard core climbing but was well worth it when we got to the top. All you could see was white salt straight to the horizon. Haha, oh yes, I skipped something important. Angela and Matt had been to Potosi, a mining town, the day before. In true boy fashion Matt decided it would be a good idea to purchase bolivian dynamite and '' blow things up.'' While, I was slightly concerned the other 3 thought blowing up a ginormous rock on top of the mirador would be a great idea. Despite being made fun of for saying I didnt want my eyes to blow out, I heard my moms voice in the back of my head and decided to walk about 200 feet away from the rock behind another gigantic rock and watch from there. Angela eventually followed me but the boys stayed close. After around 6 minutes the rock exploded. It was super cool looking and the sound around the mountain was awesome.
The next day we saw flamingos, a red lake, a green lake, and a white a lake, as well as a tree made of rock. Everything was cool. That night the temp dropped to around negative 15 C and we were staying in a joint in the middle of the desert with no heat or electricity. We decided to keep warm we needed to play kings and drink lots of rum. It was lots of fun and we all talked straight through the night and got to know eachother. It was amazing hearing other peoples reasons for travelling and their perspectives on being travellers in general. I will really miss them all though we will hopefully all cross paths in the next month or so.
The next day we arrived in Chili where Nili and I immediately caught a bus to Salta, Argentina. After getting on the bus we realized that the trip was 12 hours. Neither of us were happy about this, though the trip turned out to be the best bus ride so far. Sitting around us were around 20 Argentinian rugby players who attached themselves to us within the first 5 minutes of the trip. One guy had a guitar with him and they sang songs for most of the trip (including an adorable rendition of NY, NY). At one point, as the sun was setting outside, and the mountains were particularly amazing, and the boys were playing an awesome song, I looked over at Nili and realized we were both crying from happiness. Ah...I wish I could explain the moment, or the moments, but I cant. Life is good, life is good.
Last night we arrived in Salta at around midnight. Somehow while I was showering Nili made us plans to go get food with these 2 rastafarian argentinians. We ate sandwiches and spoke in spanish. Tonight we are going out to some cool music joints in salta with them. Should be fun times.
thats all folks....sorry for the length...
Nicole
ANYYYWAY...Getting from Chile to Bolivia was a bitch. Jason, Nili and I took 2 buses totalling around 27 hours to get from Iquique to Uyuni. The second leg of the trip was in basically a converted school bus. It was especially wonderful because we drove through terrain without a paved road. In the words of Nili it was like being in '' a giant vibrating machine.'' It was almost impossible to see as our eyeballs shook around in our heads. What made the trip especially special was the lack of bathroom and the extreme food poisoning I came down with half way through. I'll spare you all the details.
We arrived in Iquique at 4 in the morning. Nili slept on the bus while Jason and I played dominos with some local kids in the street. At around 7 we went to a hostel where we slept the day. That night we headed out for some ''American'' food at a local restaurant owned by a guy from Amherst, MA. It was especially random becaue Uyuni is one of the smallest least interesting towns I have been to yet. We ate fresh baked cookies with whole milk, and the best pizza I have had in ages.
The next day we headed off on our Uyuni trip. My group was 6 people. The three of us, A girl named Jamie from CA travelling alone on month 13 of her trip, a girl named Angela from Framingham, MA, on month 5 of her trip, also travelling alone, and a German dude on month 12 of his trip also travelling alone. At first I was a little concerned, as we have not encountered many Americans and was curious what the dynamic would be like, but these people were so awesome. The first day was pretty chill, we visited the salt deserts and took many crazy group perspective shots (i'll post them tomorrow and you'll see what I mean). Then we visited a train graveyard. Then we headed to our hostel in the middle of nowhere. From there was an amazing Mirador (look out point), that Jason, Matt, Angela and I decided to climb to. It was basically hard core climbing but was well worth it when we got to the top. All you could see was white salt straight to the horizon. Haha, oh yes, I skipped something important. Angela and Matt had been to Potosi, a mining town, the day before. In true boy fashion Matt decided it would be a good idea to purchase bolivian dynamite and '' blow things up.'' While, I was slightly concerned the other 3 thought blowing up a ginormous rock on top of the mirador would be a great idea. Despite being made fun of for saying I didnt want my eyes to blow out, I heard my moms voice in the back of my head and decided to walk about 200 feet away from the rock behind another gigantic rock and watch from there. Angela eventually followed me but the boys stayed close. After around 6 minutes the rock exploded. It was super cool looking and the sound around the mountain was awesome.
The next day we saw flamingos, a red lake, a green lake, and a white a lake, as well as a tree made of rock. Everything was cool. That night the temp dropped to around negative 15 C and we were staying in a joint in the middle of the desert with no heat or electricity. We decided to keep warm we needed to play kings and drink lots of rum. It was lots of fun and we all talked straight through the night and got to know eachother. It was amazing hearing other peoples reasons for travelling and their perspectives on being travellers in general. I will really miss them all though we will hopefully all cross paths in the next month or so.
The next day we arrived in Chili where Nili and I immediately caught a bus to Salta, Argentina. After getting on the bus we realized that the trip was 12 hours. Neither of us were happy about this, though the trip turned out to be the best bus ride so far. Sitting around us were around 20 Argentinian rugby players who attached themselves to us within the first 5 minutes of the trip. One guy had a guitar with him and they sang songs for most of the trip (including an adorable rendition of NY, NY). At one point, as the sun was setting outside, and the mountains were particularly amazing, and the boys were playing an awesome song, I looked over at Nili and realized we were both crying from happiness. Ah...I wish I could explain the moment, or the moments, but I cant. Life is good, life is good.
Last night we arrived in Salta at around midnight. Somehow while I was showering Nili made us plans to go get food with these 2 rastafarian argentinians. We ate sandwiches and spoke in spanish. Tonight we are going out to some cool music joints in salta with them. Should be fun times.
thats all folks....sorry for the length...
Nicole
Thursday, November 10, 2005
Peace out Chile you're too expensive....
SOOOO yesterday I visited my first Chilean hospital...dont worry I think I over reacted to the possibility of the same problem I was having before. The doctor gave me a less strong antibiotic and told me to come back in 3 weeks...hmm
Anyway I feel fine now.
Today Nili, Myself and New friend Jason went paragliding. The initial running off the side of a cliff part was slightly scary but it turned out to be aight. Well at least the first 5 minutes. While it was beautiful I ended up being kind of naush and ending my trip after 25 minutos.
As for new friend Jason (JEREMY) he is a hair dresser/ makeup artist in LA. Apparently I could benefit from some black lowlights and auburn highlights. He also happens to be part owner of ''MY SPACE'' which means he is awesome because he has many expensive electronics and is always buying us shtuff. The plan is to keep him around as long as possible. Possibley the nicest boy ever, possibly gay, possibly not.
Tonight the 3 of us are heading to Ururu, Bolivia where we will then catch a bus to Uyuni, where we will then take a 3 day trip through the Salar Desert. SUPPPPER EXCCCITED.
peace in the middle east
Nicole
Anyway I feel fine now.
Today Nili, Myself and New friend Jason went paragliding. The initial running off the side of a cliff part was slightly scary but it turned out to be aight. Well at least the first 5 minutes. While it was beautiful I ended up being kind of naush and ending my trip after 25 minutos.
As for new friend Jason (JEREMY) he is a hair dresser/ makeup artist in LA. Apparently I could benefit from some black lowlights and auburn highlights. He also happens to be part owner of ''MY SPACE'' which means he is awesome because he has many expensive electronics and is always buying us shtuff. The plan is to keep him around as long as possible. Possibley the nicest boy ever, possibly gay, possibly not.
Tonight the 3 of us are heading to Ururu, Bolivia where we will then catch a bus to Uyuni, where we will then take a 3 day trip through the Salar Desert. SUPPPPER EXCCCITED.
peace in the middle east
Nicole
Wednesday, November 09, 2005
CHILEEEEEE
SO thanks to poor planning and pure stupidity Nili and I missed our bus to La Paz. Rather than waiting around in Puno until the next day we decided it made more sense to spend the next 20 hours travelling to Iquique, Chile.
First thing I have noticed about Chile is that it is soooo much more expensive than Peru. While we paid around 12 soles (less than 4 dollars) a night in Peru for a private room with our own bathroom, we are currently paying 4500 pesos (around 9 dollars) for a dorm room with shared bathrooms. While this might not seem like a huge difference, and my dad thinks im a jerk for being so horrified by these prices, 5 dollars makes a huge difference in this part of the world. That said its actually nice being in a dorm because we have been forced to meet people. The new plan is to head with our new ¨friend¨jason to Bolivia to visit the Salar desert (a desert made entirely of salt). Happy Davey Jones?
ok thats it for now, heading to the beach
Nico
First thing I have noticed about Chile is that it is soooo much more expensive than Peru. While we paid around 12 soles (less than 4 dollars) a night in Peru for a private room with our own bathroom, we are currently paying 4500 pesos (around 9 dollars) for a dorm room with shared bathrooms. While this might not seem like a huge difference, and my dad thinks im a jerk for being so horrified by these prices, 5 dollars makes a huge difference in this part of the world. That said its actually nice being in a dorm because we have been forced to meet people. The new plan is to head with our new ¨friend¨jason to Bolivia to visit the Salar desert (a desert made entirely of salt). Happy Davey Jones?
ok thats it for now, heading to the beach
Nico
Sunday, November 06, 2005
Peace out Peru
I have spent the last few days in Puno. We saw the festivities of Puno day and took a boat to multiple floating islands in Lake Titicaca. These islands are made of reeds. Its really quite amazing looking though Puno itself isnt very beautiful. Today we went to a Fertility Temple, which was one of the stranger places I have been. It was basically an inclosed room full of many giant penises.
Nia left today to go process sugar up north near Ecuador. It was really sad to see her go. ¨Ceviche Mixta¨is no more. From 5 to 4 and tomorrow we lose Pippa and Naomi. The only members left are myself and Nili. Tomorrow we cross the boarder into Bolivia where we will stay about a week until we cross through to Chile.
Time is windddding down.
Nia left today to go process sugar up north near Ecuador. It was really sad to see her go. ¨Ceviche Mixta¨is no more. From 5 to 4 and tomorrow we lose Pippa and Naomi. The only members left are myself and Nili. Tomorrow we cross the boarder into Bolivia where we will stay about a week until we cross through to Chile.
Time is windddding down.
Wednesday, November 02, 2005
I got my friends back!
YAya...So I found my friends today (they made me go back at the internet). Its so nice not to be the lone female traveller anymore. While travelling alone can be ¨character building¨I officially prefer to travel with other people. The question now is whether to head to Puno with Nia for Puno Day on the 5th, or stay in Cusco for a few days with Nili and Pippa. Sooo many choices. Whatever, as long as I am with people I am happy.
Nicole
Nicole
Tuesday, November 01, 2005
Cusco
So what did you all do for Halloween? I spent mine on a 10 hour bus ride sitting next to a middle aged man named Javier that smelled like butt and tried to convince me to share a blanket with him. For the first time ever I didnt sleep much on the bus and spent most of the 10 hours convinced that the breaks were malfunctioning. In addition, I lost my hat on the bus, and we arrived early, at 4:30 in the morning. Since it was so early, I was suffereing from slight altitude sickness and I was in a bus station I didnt know, I found a group of women (these types are at every bus station) trying to find tourists to go to their hostels and chose the one closest to the plaza de armas. Weeeelll turns out its not as close as I thought, I was waaaay overcharged in the cab and welll ya thats it. The other news is that I have no idea where my friends are. Hopefully I will find them tomorrow.
Ok enough feeling sorry for myself. Seems to be the theme of my last few posts. All I can say is travelling by yourself is not as fun as having another person. Last time I was here I had both my brothers. That was much more fun despite Jeremy refusing to believe that I had altitude sickness and eating a whole cuy right in front of me. Even going to the bathroom becomes an issue. When there is noone to watch your pack you just cant go. Also its easier to motivate yourself to be productive with others around. Right now I cant decide whether to do some site seeing or just get acclimated to this ungodly height. Would be nice to have a second opinion but oh well.
OK NOW really enough feeling sorry for myself. I still have half of 100 years of solitude (quite fitting title for the occasion) to read in my room.
ok peace out
Nicole
Ok enough feeling sorry for myself. Seems to be the theme of my last few posts. All I can say is travelling by yourself is not as fun as having another person. Last time I was here I had both my brothers. That was much more fun despite Jeremy refusing to believe that I had altitude sickness and eating a whole cuy right in front of me. Even going to the bathroom becomes an issue. When there is noone to watch your pack you just cant go. Also its easier to motivate yourself to be productive with others around. Right now I cant decide whether to do some site seeing or just get acclimated to this ungodly height. Would be nice to have a second opinion but oh well.
OK NOW really enough feeling sorry for myself. I still have half of 100 years of solitude (quite fitting title for the occasion) to read in my room.
ok peace out
Nicole
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