Camper van!!!

Oh yes! Three nights so far!! It is great... just as long as the weather is good and not wet... (crossing our fingers). It is a great van with a kitchen in the back and a fold out madras in the middle which means that we are sleeping very good... with real sheets and covers. Not that cold either...

Yesterday I made a "McGyver"-mosquito-net to keep the mosquitos out of the "sleeping-area" while we were cooking dinner.
We have left Auckland and snorkled by the Goat Island... got to see nice fishes and cray-fish(not that common!!). Then we went to see big trees in Kauri forest and ended up on a lovely camping-ground just by a nice lake.

Yesterday we moved quickly over the landscape... and I drove for the first time!! It wasn't that hard actually! Today we are in Waitomo caves and we did the black-water rafting looking at Glow-worms!! It was amazing... floating down the caves on a tube with no lights... soooo coool!!! The worms were glowing in the ceeling... a bit cold but the hot shower after got us warm.
So... we are now heading to the smelly town Rotorua, but before that we need to find somewhere to spend the night. Since sun goes down by 19 we need to plan and cook dinner before that... then we go to bed around nine... But we rise early! And mom... thanks for the "pann-lampa" idea.. it is brilliant in the van!!!
Miss you all a lot...
Pictures soon... I hope... not that easy to load them up... but soon...
Cheers mate!
/Tina

Auckland

We have now arrived in Auckland, and things couldn't be better! Well, aside from Tinas allergic attack (don't worry, she's fine now ...). The flight from Santiago （12 hours）was easier than expected. We left at 10 PM and after a meal and a movie it wasn't that hard to get to sleep (for me). Tina had to struggle a little bit more. A couple of days earlier, she had got this small rashes. looking like small mosquito bites. The itched a little but it wasn't that bad ... But during the last afternoon in Santiago and especially during the flight to New Zealand, the rashes really got more aggressive and we're really itching like crazy! So at 4 AM (local time) we landed in Auckland and took the first cab to the Auckland city hospital. They advised us to go to another hospital since they could see/treat her right away and since the other hospital was less expensive. Another 10 minutes in taxi and we finally got to see a (quite sleepy) doctor, who told us that it probably was a allergic reaction to something . We got a prescription for medicine, but the pharmacies didn't open for another two hours ... So Tina had to bare with it a little bit longer ... We grabbed an early (6 AM) breakfast at a McDonalds cafe (second this day, surprisingly good)! We then went down to the city center and picked up the medicine. It didn't worked right away but during the day it finally (and thankfully) started to get better ...

At 8 AM, we left our backpacks at the hostal, and wondered down to the harbor ... We wanted to check out the time schedules for the ferries out the islands in the Auckland bay. We planned to go there the next day. But we wanted to visit two islands; Rangitoto (volcano) and Waiheke (beaches, wineries and art exhibitions). We suddenly realized realized that it would more or less be impossible to the both islands in one day. Therefore, we took a really fast and spontaneous decision to catch the next ferry to Rangitoto (leaving in 3 minutes). We made it ... =) and well on the island we started to walk up to the summit/crater (1 hour). Compared to the previous walks, this was really a walk in the park (literary as well, we we're walking through a thick forest=)! The weather was great and the view from the summit was fantastic (especially the view of the city skyline)!!! We went back to the city center and grabbed a fantastic lunch at an Asian food court! We spent the afternoon in Auckland domains, a huge, calm, green park in the middle of Auckland. We almost fell asleep lying down in the grass (for us, it still felt like 3 AM in the morning).

The next day (yesterday), we took an early ferry out to Waiheke. After a nice breakfast on a bench next the ocean, we walked up the biggest town on the island, Oneroa. Instead of walking on the road, we (of course) took the scenic, lowland route through a calm forest (spotting some odd birds on the way). The tourist info advised us to visit a nearby vineyard called Mudrick. It was located on a small hill, and was only a 20 minutes stroll away. When approaching the vineyard, we were amazed by the great views and the stunning location!!! It looked like a small paradise! And of course, the had plenty of weddings all year long. =) We tried six of their wines (great whites, not so good reds) and had a rest to enjoy the fantastic scenery ... For a bit too long, sadly ... We realized that we were about to miss the buss to the next winery, and ran back down to the bus stop in Oneroa (Tina even enjoyed it, too much energy ...). More wine tasting on the next winery (Goldwater Estate) and then we continued to on of the great beaches on the island - Onetangi. It was so beautiful and calm (we're almost alone). An hour on the beach was just what we needed! The water wasn't too bad either, a bit cold at first but really clear and turquoise.

At the evening, we had reserved a table at the Orbit restaurant, situated 192 m above the ground in the Auckland Skytower (the tallest building on the southern hemisphere, 300 something). From there, you had a fantastic 360 degree view (the restaurant rotated) over Auckland and its surroundings. And the food was probably the best we have had on this trip so far. I had a steak and some mash potatoes and Tina has a red snapper (fish) and veggies. For the dessert, we tried the Swedish cheese cake with figs and ice cream. It was almost like the Swedish cheese cake we get at home (think Froedinge), but not quite. Still great!!! All in all, a(nother) great day on our trip. Life can be harder ... =)

Today, we'll pick up hour camper van and start our trip around the North and South islands of New Zealand. We can't wait to get started!!! Take care, all!

Ciao!

Last days in Chile!

Well, we are today leaving Chile! On the way to New Zealand we will loose one day... the 24th of March(sorry Bruna.. I still wish you a happy birthday!!). The last days has been hectic... we came to Santiago and were surprised by the cleaniness and freshness of the city. We had been told by some people that Santiago was not much to see so we were gladly suprised.
We spent two days strolling the streets... the first day it was not a fast strolling since my legs and toes were so sore...
The weather was warm and we followed the Lonely Planet walk around the city. Found some great places to eat and got to see the "Slumdog Millionare", a really good movie!!
Friday we left the city real early for a small town 3 hours away called Talca. There we got to visit a winery and got to a National park for a 4 hour walk. My toes were still sore so we did not climd the entire mountain.. but got to see some fantastic views of the mountains.
Late saturday night we got back to Santiago and slept for a few hours before we took an early bus to Baños Molinas Sunday morning. It was high mineral hot springs in the middle of the mountains.. when we got there we felt peckished to go for a small walk in the national park... but since we just brought our sandals... we were recommended not to. So, we got to continue our "Vändâtta" competition with a beer and an empanada before we got into the "hot" spring. It was amazing to sit in the yellow water in the middle of the mountains... and the sun was so warm and nice... I loved it.

So, today we are leaving Chile and it has been a pleasure!! More pictures soon... promise!!
So long dude!
/T

Impressions of Chile

- a bit more americanized/europized than Argentina.
- cleaner
- by the sea there is actually cold breeze...
- buses are more modern.
- not that friendly atmosphere as in Argentina... of course we met some very nice people in Chile.
- a lot of coins... 10 000 chilean pesos are 150 SEK, then you can imagine how many coins they have since they have a "one peso" coin... madness.
- PISCO SOUR!! Delicious drink!
- a very nice picant tomatoe-salsa served to bread before dinner.
- no actual trends... that I have noticed. The "hockey-hairdue" is long gone...
- they like paper-work... it took us 2 hours to cross the border to Chile, and we filled in 3 different notes that needed stamps from two different cues. When we got to the bank to get money, they filled in a lot of papers... and then we needed to go to another cue to get all those papers stamped several times.
- they have plastic-stands on the streets... they actually plast stuff... books, cards... etc.
- natural juices!! Oh man... they are so good made from the freshest fruit... mix chirimoya and raspberry and you have like a desert... slurp.

a few days left in Chile to find out more stuff....

Valpo, Viña and a little walk

To continue where Tina finshed in the previous post ... Yes, I was "at home" watching Liverpool completely humiliate Real Madrid in the 4-0 win at Anfield! And since then, we (Liverpool) have also enjoyed a comfortable win over our fierce rivals Man U at their home soil (ended 4-1 after some spectacular goals by Torres and Aurélio). But that's history, enough about football ...

Since our last post (from San Rafael), we have left Argentina and headed over to neighbouring Chile. We left San Rafael early in the morning (5.30 AM) and switched bus in Mendoza to cross the Andes to our final destination in Chile - the costal town named Valparaiso ("Valpo"). The bus drive wasn´t that bad at all (3 + 8 hours), but that border crossing could have been easier - we spent two hours in the customs ... A LOT of paper work to be done (seem to be a common denominator for Arg). And when you think your finally done, there is always another queue to stand in (also very Argentinian) ... But we had read about it earlier so it was expected ...

We arrived late afternoon in Valpo and (after having spent the whole day on the bus) we decided to walk the 2 km to our hostal. The city of Valpo in located on and around a number of small hills (each like 100 m high), and there´s a funicular up to each of the hills. Our hostal was on Cerro ("hill") Constitución. Since we didn´t had any change yet (only 10000 peso bills (like 15 Euro)), we decided to (instead of taking a funicular) walk up a street to get to our hostal. In was that a hard "climb", but in those conditions (heavy backpack, warm sun, too much clothes) we were really happy when we found the hostel ... On the evening we went the restaurant recommended by LonelyPanet (LP) - "Pasta y Vino". The specialized on just that, and nothing else! Since we both love both pasta and wine, it wasn´t a bad choice :-) And the whole experience was fantastic - superb food, excellent wine, cosy interior and friendly service! The only downside was probably the cost - well over budget at 50 Euro (for Chile that's really expensive) but if was worth every penny of it!!!

The next two days we walk around all the Cerros and Barrios (neighbourhoods), looking at all the exta-ordinary architecture and wall-paintings. That´s pretty much all there's to do in Valpo, and although it´s indeed a really nice city, two days are more than enough. Hence, the next morning we catched the "collectivo" (like a small bus) to nearby (10 minutes) city of Viña del Mar. We were told that the train/metro was a safer option (than collectivo), but why play it safe ... I want to go local!!! (Sorry mom!)

Valparaiso

Viña is much cleaner, safer and richer that Valpo! It´s like night and day! Some people don´t like Valpo at all and continue to Viña right away, but I really appreciated Valpo just as much! You just have to know what to expect! In Viña we checked to must-see tourist attractions, like "reloj de flores" (a huge clock made of flowers), some castles and a great park! We (Tina especially) also got to swim in the Pacific Ocean!!! It was quite cold though (18 degrees Celsius I would guess), and when I asked the life guard if it was dangerous to take a swim, he said "5 metros bien, 10 metros no bien". Hence, we didn´t really take a swim, just tipped to toes in the cold water. But we got to work on our fading tan at least, which was nice!

After two days in Viña, we took an early train in-lands to the village of Limache. From there, we catched a "collectivo" to the nearby village of Olmue. Next to Olmue is a natural park containing the 1890 m high montain called La Campana. I´d read that the walk/hike up this montain should be really nice, through green forrests and with rewarding views at the top. The LP stated that if you don´t go in sandals, you should have to trouble doing the walk (up and down) in about 7 hours. It sounds like a long and quite hard walk (7 km to the top, +1000 m altitude), but I figured we had the whole day so we didn't have to stress. We found a nice cabaña (cabbin) right away, changed clothes, dropped off our backpacks and catched another collectivo to the park entrance. We signed in and paid the park entrance fee. The ranger told us that it normally takes 4,5 hours to the top, and another 3 hours back down. Still not knowing what waited, we eagerly started the hike at 10 AM ... After some two hours walking in the (partly shaded) forrest in a pretty steep trail, we arrived at a sign telling us that we only had another 1,8 km to the top, but that 1,8 km would take another 2 hours to complete ... We looked up at the summit (which felt really close but at the same time the trail seemed to disappear or at least it looked much steep now. We hadn't expected another 2 hours to the summit (since we had been walking quite fast), but we decided to take it in small steps, and take a decision later on whether to abort and return back down or to continue. The trails did continue, although it was much steeper now and sometimes it felt more like climbing than walking. We paused often and discussed whether to continue or not. We didn´t had that much water either ... The sun was burning and we started to get really tired. Obviously, this "hike" was much harder than we had expected! It felt like the summit was so far away, and it was mentally hard not knowing how close (or far) we were to the summit. After quite a lot of swearing (from both of us) and after a final suger kick from some snacks, we could finally see the a glimse of the sign declaring the top of the mountain! What a relief! And what an achievement!!! We were tired, happy, proud, all at the same time! The 360 degree view was breath-taking! In the west, you could see the Andes and Aconcagua and in the east, you could (if you really tried hard) see the Pacific Ocean! We snapped some pictures, entered our names in the log book, and put a card deck card (with a swedish flag on the back side) with our names and the date on it next to a rock.

However, we were very aware that we had the hardest part left - the decent! We knew that a small mistake could be really dangerous. So we decided to take it really careful on the way down. That we did, some 4 hours later (at 6 PM) we finally returned to the ranger station, just in time to "sign out" before they closed. Even more tired, with dust all over us and with several aiking chafes ... But still happy and if possible even more proud over our selves! We made it!!! We looked up at the summit from the ranger station ... It we would have seen that sight that same morning, I don't think we would have started the hike at all ... =) A memory for life!!!

San Rafael

We have now been in San Rafael for two days! One day of wineyards and one day of visiting the great canyon; Atuel! It was a nice day today... the sun was shining and we got picked up at 9.30. We went for some nice views in the canyon and a good lunch. By afternoon it was time for river rafting! I was a bit shaky since I have never done it before... and the guide did not speak any word of english... When he said something about "no lo haces... NUNCA"...(don´t EVER do this) I did hope it was nothing serious.
Although it was a calm rafting and we just got wet as hell... our guide played some laughs and threw us in the water from time to time... but it was a blast.. and what a view.. to just cruise down the river in such a canyon.
Promise to post pictures as soon as I get to a computer that can recognize my camera.
Tomorrow we are heading for Chile.. can not believe Argentina is done... Well, I loved it.. and look forward to the weeks in Chile.
Jacob says hi... he is at the hotel, cheering for Liverpool... and I guess they beat Real Madrid!! Perfect!
Good night, and see you in Chile!
/Tina

Chile, here we actually come!
(This is taken from top of Alta Montaña en Argentina... on the border to Chile)

Mendoza and Alta Montaña

Yes, a couple of days has gone by. We spent them in Mendoza. Took the night-bus from Buenos Aires the 3rd of march. The bus was ok, good possibilities of sleeping if it weren´t for the bumpy roads... and we got wine!!!

Well in Mendoza in the morning of the 4th we got to our hostel and just re-packed and got out to Maipú, a nearby village for some wineyards. We rented some bikes... but maybe we should have checked them out a bit more before we headed off since Jacobs bike got loose in the handlebars. Although we got to see 3 wineyards with tastings and one olive- farm and one Chocolaterie. The weather was perfect and we got on the bus back by 6.

Jacob by our bikes!

The other days of Mendoza went by with some calm activity by the streets and parks. We got to be a part of the harvest fiesta in Mendoza by standing in a long line for pizza. Also we got to a cool place called "The Vines", a tasting house with just tastings of different wines. And finally I got to taste some sparkling wine!!

The last day we made a mence by going to Alta Montaña. We had some hard time deciding if we would go with an agency or by ourselves. The choice were in the end easy since we decided to go on the saturday an no agency went that day due to the harvest fiesta in Mendoza.

Ok.. so, we took the regular bus to Las Cuevas(40pesos each for going there and back). The bus took nearly 5 hours. We started at 7.00 in the morning.

By Las cuevas we had a plan of hiking the 8 km to the top where the piece statue Christo is placed(on the border between Argentina and Chile). But, a guide advised us to go by bus up there and then hike another trail which was more fun and not by the road. So we took the bus to the top by the antique road that was between Chile and Argentina.

On the way to the top we had a great view of the mountains and Aconcagua in the back. On the top it was freezing cold and the wind was hard. But we got to see the statue, took some fotos and headed down again by 1.15.

We grabbed a hamburger by a place at Las Cuevas and headed for our own hike. And I say... we were on our own. It was only us and the mountains... We hiked upwards for 1,5 hours and it was hard since the air is thick at 3500 meters altitude.

By 16.15 we were back down and took the bus to Las lagunas de Horocones and walked the tour there... then we took the road down to Puente del Inca and landed there at 18.45. We ate a brilliant soup of lentils and a hamburger, took a beer and was so pleased with the day.

The bus home took only 3 hours(can you imagine the speed down since it took 5 hours up... thought I wouldn´t survive..). Save and sound we were at our hostel at 24.00... tired but oh so happy. What a day!

Today, we are at San Rafael.. heading for some steak and tomorrow hopefully visiting some bodegas and on tuesday rafting on Rio Atuel. Take care all of you, we miss you!!

/Tina and Jacob