Island Hopping - Take One

Yesterday, myself and two British guys decided we were too good for an organised tour, we should hire some canoes and spend the day paddle to some of the 65 Islands surrounding Paraty, Brazil.

I heard them come home sometime early this morning: with the hiccups. Error 1.

We all slept in until 9.55 (breakfast finishes at 10 so I ran out in PJ´s to eat (be cause breaky is FREE). Error 2.

We decided not to rush things (cause the boys were hung over), that a trip to supermarket so we could take a packed lunch and also stop see if we could get some snorkeling gear. Error 2. Snorkeling gear was really expenisve and we decided not to buy- so it was a waste of time.

Decideing to walk to the next beach for canoe hires (it might be cheaper) we saw the sign directing us to the beach via the forte on the headland.
We found a jungle path lkeading in the same direction as the beach . Error 3. The jungle path left us stranded on the headland and because the boys didn´t want to walk back through the jungle, so one of them swan to shore.
The plan was he would return with a canoe and return for us two who were minding our dry posetions. Error 4, he never returned.

The second British guy swam over to the beach looking for him. He never returned.

So then there was me, left with all out shit and a stray dog.

Lucky, for me, a local fisherman laying his nets nearby offered me a lift into shore.

Tomorrow, the canoes are already booked, from the beach right in front of our hostel, the boys have promised not to drin tonight (for their own welfare).

See below the picture of myself and my savour.... And hopefuly tomorrow, a better ending to our adventure!

The Fo(n)z

Legend has it that a god planned to marry a beautiful aborigine named Naipí, who fled with her mortal lover Tarobá in a canoe. In rage, the god sliced the river creating the waterfalls, condemning the lovers to an eternal fall. Naipi as a rock and Taroba as a tree in the falls over looking his lover for eternaty.

Personally I think he was pissed off with the comercial value of the apparent slow flowing waterfalls of the times and decided 275 Waterfalls, some individual falls are up to 82 meters (269 ft) in height, 1746 Mean anual flow rate (m³/s) (thats more rainfall then any one Australian will see in their life time.* 250 types of butterflies (too many to photograph), 71 types of mammals, dozens of species of reptiles and amphibians, not to mention the sub tropical forest might just beef it up a little.




And he was right, there are a shit load of tourists at the falls.
Iguazú, the small town on the Argentinian side where most people stay, is a sleepy little place in comparrison. Who knew it packed in so many (dumbarse) tourists…. Sorry but I HATE crowds!! Its the pack mentality, drives me insane!

So with the promise of no tourists, monkeys and Jaguars, armed with aeroguard, sun block, the sexiest sun hat youve seen since Clint Eastwood this side of 60 and some good advice (if you see a jaguar, dont run, yell scream and make yourself look twice your height using clothes or what ever else is handy (flashes back to The Gods Must Be Crazy II), I set off on my own, to a hidden water fall and a swim.


Turns out… not so much alone. 10 metres on my tail was a little german ginga (aka red head) and there he stayed for the rest of the trek….and the rest of my stay in Iguazú...like every where I turned there he was ready to talk - usually when I was jjust about to leave, so then I would feel rude leaving.
On the trail it wasnt so bad, I walked quicker so was always in frount and was a very small man so it was lucky for him I was up front, scaring all the wild life away.

No monkeys unfortunately, just Coatis (see animal digging in a bin video? Thats a Coati) and a Tucuan. (YEAH!)


Ok better make this a short read. Today I went to the Brazil side. Was also good. Took some more photos of falls/butterflies. Got bit by Mozzies. Tomorrow going to Rio DJ, Brazil
See more photos of the falls etc here:
(Igauzo set http://www.flickr.com/photos/mybestfriendjen/sets/72157622869860593/)
Or see all sets here ...
www.flickr.com/mybestfriendjen


*Exclusive of Tasmainia and all other places in Australia where it rains anually.


PS. spell check not working and neither is the apostophy key. sorry!

Q. How Many Animals Can You Fit In A South American Zoo?

A. As many can breed in the one cage.
Although they did try to separate the male Ostrich from the sixty or so females but the fence fell down and well, who we to stand in the way of love?

It is quiet heart breaking to walk around a South American Zoo, but the South Americans do so at their own peril, with plenty of warning signs about not feeding the animals, not to approach the cage nor to touch or tap on the windows of the cages but with not one caretaker insight, who’s to stop them?

Why not climb over the barrier to get a Picture of the tiger, or stick your hands through the cage to get a better photo of a bear, (ok, I did this one also!) or pass a chocolate coated biscuit to the Gorilla who is holding his hand out and blowing the kisses that previous participates of the zoo have taught him will be rewarded with food.



The pacing elephant was a sad sight in Santiago, Chile but the Mother elephant who was swinging back and forth in front of the bars which separated her from her infants. With no shade and barely any water for many of these animals, it really does make you wonder, does anybody care about these animals?


Sorry to bring you all down, I still love the Zoo, it’s just one of those things that re-enforces just how lucky we are in Australia.

All photo´s can be seen on http://www.flickr.com/photos/mybestfriendjen

Chile; Pichilemu

Arrived in Pichilemu (Pi-chi-le-mu) today.
The bus ride was meant to take two hours but we are on South American time and there were a lot of locals to collect on the way.
So it was nearly four hours of amazing country side; cactus grows wild here (like the one in your backyard mum!) and it’s currently in bloom. The grass is the colour of the sand it grows in, while in other parts it’s orange like the out back of Australia and the grass in theses parts is so green you wonder where it gets all that water from.

Crops of strawberries grow, farms of pollo (chickens) and heuvos (eggs), and in-between is the strange black wood of a green bushy tree. Fields of bailed hay, fields of white daffodils, fields on wild flowers either purple or yellow and in the rolling hills that meet the beach, pine forests surround lazy lakes. And the occasion smell of home from the gum trees planted here to make paper.

All the while lurking in the background, following your every move is the snow toped mountains f the Andes.

And finally there she was, Pichilemu girt (ha ha! I just used girt in a sentence) by its lakes, ocean and course black sand.

It’s absolutely amazingly beautiful here.... but cold so I’ve head back to Santiago and Mendoza, Argentina tomorrow, where it’s hot and my hostel has a pool! Giddy-up!

More photos up @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/mybestfriendjen

Photo Blog

Hey!
You can now see all my photo's via this link!

Chile: A Friend For Life

"Want am I doing here, I don{t like living out of a backpack, it{s not nice here and I don't know anyone... I want to go home!" Were my fist thoughts on arriving here in Santiago Chile. Then I met Miranda, another Australian girl travelling on her own. I have a friend! And the first night was spent drinking $2.00 wine (we were after a cheap bottle but didn’t work out the conversion until we got back to the hostel) BBQ Chiroz sausage and smoking from a hooker with about 20 other backpackers from all over the world.

So Miranda has been my little travel buddy for the last few days. Wondering the streets we found the Funicular to San Cristobal (statue of San Cristobal, at the top of a hill, accessed by a 'funicular' i.e.: tram that goes a short distance and only up hills). The zoo, which was quiet sad because the animals didn’t{t look happy, but we still had a good time, a lot of street art and marveled at the architecture.

Oh my good this place is amazingly friendly, cheap and in some spots astoundingly beautiful. The Andes amazing, street art fantastic, the men (Avinash avert your eyes), we have been admiring those from a distance, buildings such as the Bellas Artes and the structure around Plaza De Armes amazing, the Mapocho River EWE! Look it up here to read some of it{s history and see it's pristine condition *cough* How ever if you don{t want to read from the link I will say two things about it; it's rapid and it smells.

For the last two days we were in Vina Del Mar and Valparaiso, staying overnight at Vina and walking the following morning with two travel companions (a couple of mangy stray dogs) who seemed to know the best root to travel. It took about 1 & 1/2 hours. The entire day included about six hours of walking. Me feets hurts now! But it was all worth it, more street art, a terrify taxi ride up the hill/mountain (they call it a hill, I call it a mountain!) to poet Pablo Neruda's house.

Pablo Neruda. I want to live like him. His house was full of ordainments/art/artifacts that had been gifted of collected from all over the world; beautifully presented. He was a cheeky little fucker too. Playing practical jokes on his guest (this man had three wives and visitors every night of the week) and dressing up in a smoking jacket and painted on trash to make a cocktail he called the party starter; champagne, cognac, contreu and a little orange to top it up and mask the taste. It was amazing and you could almost imagine him living there. He also has a house in Santiago close to where I am staying. Miranda went to see it today but so I may see it tomorrow on my own.

Today I went into the main shopping area. I can barely purchase a pack of cigarrillo's on my own (that's how good my Spanish is) but I decided that I needed to venture on my own aka grow some balls. So I ask for directions at the Hostel (I needed a phrase book) for the shopping area, two litres of water, my red hair flowing in the wind and I{m off.

I somehow missed the turn off and ended up in an area which I should NOT have been in. Ok, crap. ABOUT TURN and high tall my arse out of there. I knew I was in trouble but then some little kid, whilst looking at my bag said something in Spanish. Someone else laughed. I'm assuming the translation went something like this, "Hey Lady, nice bag but you won’t own it for long".

I did eventually find several bookshops, a second hand book market and a lovely little dress shop but no phrase book. I also collected about seven wolf whistles, a coyote call, two comments shouted from a car, hissing and half a dozen Spanish murmurings. Mental note: next time you go out on your own (in day light!!!) wear a plastic all over body poncho.

So tomorrow I say goodbye to my little buddy Miranda, who is off to Lima and head south to Pichilemu via over land bus. I will miss her but adventure and vulnerability await!

Chao me amego's for now.

My Best Friend Jen now on-line!

Hi Guys, a quick note to let you know that I have decided to start a blog that will feature my endeavours and interests; travel, fashion, arts, crafts, creations, the ideas and process of creating my fashion label 'My Best Friend Jen', an on-line progress diary so to speak.

I have selected 10 people to receive every update (can't see myself doing to many and will keep them short!), so if you have received a blog notice in your email box then you are a select few.

Feel free to ignore, comment, advice, spell check, rant or anything else you see fit but most importantly if you don't want to receive them, let me know and I'll take you off the list.

xx My best Friend Jen

PS. Please feel free to "follow" my blog by selecting from the right hand menu, for no other reason then to make me feel extremely self-important. Cheers