It's not winter, but it's fucking cold.

This last week has had some fairly good days weather-wise. The strong patagonian sun dominated the skies of Bariloche, although today was very different. It was forecast to rain, i thought it would have been a few isolated showers - how rain has come since i came here almost three weeks ago - but they really meant rain, precipitation, and lots of it. I opened my eyes at about 10am to the sound of strong gusts of wind trying to blow the house over, a violent sound, synchronized with the everlasting sound of rain hitting the roof. I closed my eyes and wrote the day off.

I eventually got out of bed by about three in the afternoon, lounged around for abit until the rain- which had not stopped since i first heard it in the morning -eventually stopped at about six thirty. It was very cold outside; the coldest i've felt for a long time, not that i'm complaining, it's better than sweating your bollocks off in Iguazu and as proven by my very late lay-in's these days i sleep better in it too.

I managed to get another digital camera, nothing amazing but it takes photos at some 10m pixels which is good enough to capture the sights of the area. I took a few shots of the lake this evening to test it out and i was more than happy with the results.

Hopefully in a few days i will have a response from the ministry of education and start the complicated process of translating my english education into something that is understood here. If this is done by January 14th (the day i have my driving test), i will be on the road hitch-hiking south shortly after, i don't think i'm gonna go all the way south to Tierra Del Fuego and such just yet, but i'm gonna head for a group of mountains in the area of Mallin Ahogado, near El Bolson. I plan to spend a few days around there climbing those mountains, staying at the different mountain refuges and taking a few photos to share with the world. I will then hitch back up north to Bariloche for mid-February at latest. That's the plan if things work out between now and mid-January.

Hope you all have a good Christmas and i will post a few more photos before the new year!

Thanks for reading,

Santiago.

En las piedras

So i arrived in Bariloche some 10 days ago, since then i´ve spent some time in remote areas of the mountains, diving from rocks into glaciar rivers, rafting, climbing, and a whole lot more. There is too much to do here, the options are just endless. 10 or more asados later i´ve met some really cool people, reunited with cousins and family members i haven´t seen or spoken to in over 10 years, and of course reminded myslef how beautiful this place is.

When i lived in England things were okay because i have some good friends there -always keeps the spirit up- but seeing this place again makes me never want to leave. I decided i´m gonna use my ability to speak English to my advantage and study tourism, become a tourist guide and eventually a mountain guide.

Living a simple life here ,for me at least, would be far better than anything i could achieve in England, simply because i love the place so much and i have so many different places to go in my free time. Trying to sort out the tourism course which starts in April, once this is done i might hitch south to Ushuaia in February or March and get to know the southern part of the country. I´m finally learning to drive here too which is a lot cheaper than the 900GBP you have to pay in England. I should be visiting England in the summer, so that´s June or July, just for a few weeks but will be good to see everyone again!

Santiago.

be right back

Hey all,

Arrived in Bariloche all good, Aconcagua was an excellent day out. Will write about it when i get more time. Heading down to El Bolson about 120km south with my uncle so i might not update this for a week or so but i promise i'll do so when i get back!

Santiago.

Mendoza

So i woke up at the expensive 50 pesos a night hotel in Villa Mercedes - i could not be bothered to find somewhere cheaper, my feet were hurting and i was falling asleep just walking along the road, a hard day's hitching had taken it's toll on me.

I left the hotel 40 minutes after they knocked on my door indicating that my time there had ran out (i had only paid one night, so until 10am). I made my way to the ruta 7 which goes past Villa Mercedes through San Luis city, La Paz, and eventually Mendoza. I asked around the petrol stations if there were any trucks heading out west, with no luck i waited and waited, walked from one side of the ruta 7 which was itself more of a dual carriage autopista, after about four or five hours waste and having got no where i got tired of waiting around in the hot sun and dry dirt. I had an asado from a nearby parrilla for 20 something pesos and went over to the bus terminal, 3 hours and 53 pesos later i was on my way to Mendoza, the 'easy' way.

I hope to hitch more in the south but it seems people over here are not as keen to pick up strangers, still, Salta to Mercedes wasn't a bad experience for my first time doing it - some 1200km.

In Mendoza i arrived at about 11pm, found a nice hostel near the bus terminal which similar to the one i was staying at in Salta, it's 35 pesos a night and has a swimming pool. Cristian, the main man here, let me know about a tour you can do in Maipu with some wineries, you basically hire out a bike for the day and cycle from winery to winery tasting different wines and foods. I don't even like wine but i thought it'd be cool to try it since Mendoza is famous for it's wines. Now that i've done it i'm glad i did because not only has it opened my mind into wine, which i have come from never drinking it to now possibly ocassionally drinking it, but i also met some fun people on the tour, everyone seemed friendly and talkative with each other even if no one really knew anyone. There were people from Norway, Oregon, Canada, and many other places which i now fail to remember. I hung around with a group from the states who were visiting Mendoza for just a couple of days as their last trip in Argentina. Justin, Amy and Rebecca were studying spanish in Buenos Aires since July and are going back to the states at the end of next week. We cycled back into the bike hiring place about half an hour late and went into the city to get some food. At their apartment they were renting for the weekend we cooked up some chorizos, milanesas and prepared a salad which was washed down with Quilmes and Mate, a very nice combination and a very sociable night. They're heading back to Buenos Aires at the end of today but as Becky is staying an extra 10 days just to 'travel' for a little more around Argentina i suggested she came to Bariloche at the end of her week in Buenos Aires, by this time i should also be in Bariloche and we could once again meet up.

For the rest of today i'm gonna chill by the pool get some things organised and just rest.

Tomorrow i'm heading out to some of the mountains in the area, in specific the base of mt. Aconcagua, at over 6000m it's the highest peak in the western hemisphere, and whilst i don't plan on taking it on right now, it will definitely be interesting to visit the basecamp as i would like to climb it in the next few years.

I will probably end up heading further south to Bariloche on Tuesday but i'll report back on here after my day out to Aconcagua on Monday.

Thanks again for reading!

Santiago.

"there was no doubt about it, i was heading south."

The last few days have been amazing, i can hardly find words to describe them but i´ll try my best.

Day 55.

Packed everything into my backpack today, which now weighs just 13kg after i mailed some unnecessary clothing and things to Bariloche. I got a taxi out to the main road out of Salta, i needed the taxi to take me out to a crossroads i was told divided the route northbound and southbound, which would make it easier to hitch south especifically. I got the taxi past the toll station just out of Salta and when the fair was accumulating i decided i wanted to pay no more, i said to the driver to turn around and go back to Salta where possible, i would continue from here by foot. I started walking and within ten minutes of having my thumb out a Fiat Fiorino pulled up about 20 metres in front of me. I ran to it and asked the man, in his forties, sitting inside if he was going south towards Cordoba. He said today was my lucky day, he was going to Santa Cruz, right in the southern end of the country so he would have no problem dropping me off in Cordoba on his way. This was more than 1000 kilometres covered in just one ride, fucking ace!

Pedro turned out to be a very nice man, he wanted me to go all the way to Santa Cruz with him but i said i wanted to visit some places in this part of the country first. He was on his way home after buying a house, a pharmacy, and submitting his daughters into some good schools in Salta. He was not poor to say the least. He owned about 6 other pharmacies at least and had the fiorino as a form of transport so his wife could deliver supplies. It was a new car, only 1000 or so km driven. The fact that a bird hit one of the side mirrors at 145kmph meant that we stopped by at Santiago Del Estero to see if they had a spare part to put the mirror back together, they didn´t. We taped it up and continued on our 10 hour journey.

When i eventually arrived in Cordoba i was dropped off at a petrol station, i had no idea where i was and no one knew of any nearby accomodation, one of the guys there said i could take a taxi to a nearby place, what a brilliant idea. "you can call one on 434-533 or just wait here" - "well i don´t have a phone so i guess i´ll wait". Two seconds later a cab goes past, one loud whistle from my friend at the petrol station turned the cab around and brought him to us. I explained my situation and the man said for a few pesos he could take me to a hotel somewhere. I jumped in and a few minutes later we arrived at a hotel, he said he didnt know the price exactly but i should go and ask. It was an expensive hotel, or at least too expensive for me at 60 pesos for one night. The taxi driver said that was way too much and offered to take me towards the town centre and bus terminal where cheaper accomodation is available, i asked how much that would cost for him to take me there, without a pause he reached for the meter and turned it off as he said "don´t worry about it". For a dirty hitch hiker who is trying to get by with as little money as possible this was a dream come true. We arrived to an area with a lot of hotels and hostels, i said this would be a good place and he dropped me off, i offered 20, maybe 30 pesos, but he said no just 10 (that was the price before he turned the meter off and drove about another 10 minutes). It´s really amazing how when you talk to people and explain your situation, the majority will try and help you in any way they can, it kinda gives some hope for this world.

I managed to get a room for 30 pesos that night, which was very cheap but very basic accomodation. I slept like a baby, woke up about 8 and got a 1 and a half hour bus to Cuesta Blanca, i didnt really know what to expect apart from a river here. The bus took me to a little, very quiet town with a beautiful river running through it. I thought "this will do" and looked for a campsite by the river to set up my tent. The campsite had three very friendly labradors, some of the best dogs i´ve ever seen, they were more playful than i was tired, and that´s a lot. I set up the tent and about 10 minutes later a violent thunderstorm came over the skies above. I jumped in the tent then put on some waterproofs and came back out to make the tent more waterproof, once this was done i jumped back in and slept through the rain, not before putting my elbow through the screen of my camera and breaking it in the process, the screen is no more, i think it still takes photos i just can´t see what i´m doing so it´s auto mode for now.

I woke up to a beautiful sound of the nearby stream rushing through, and opened my eyes to a beautiful labrador laying by my tent, paradise some might say, completely peaceful, i went for a walk in the nearby hills then set off to the nearby road that went through some mountains and to the next town some 110km away. The first car that went past i stuck my thumb out, and it stopped. Federico was on his way to a job he had in this next town, he worked selling some farm machinery of some kind. From this next town i walked 5 km during two hours and had no luck with the rides, i waited at a YPF for one more hour before a man with a very old mitshubishi gave me a ride to the next town about 20 minutes away, it was hardly anything but it got me out of that shithole. From this town i waited again about an hour before a double cabin pick up stopped. I jumped on the back and for the next 45km i was in heaven, watching the road disappear behind me like a dream come true, the skies above perfectly iluminated by a powerful sun that was directly to my left, there was no doubt about it, i was heading south.

The young lad dropped me off at a small petrol station where i bought a chicken sandwich from a family that owned the cafe next to it. They said if i stood by the tree and stuck my thumb out i´d be once again heading south in less than half an hour, very impressed by their accuracy i went over to the tree, looked at the time and waited eigerly. Sure enough, 25 minutes later, a beaten up renault traffic stopped and gave me a lift to where i am now, Villa Mercedes. I decided to stay the night here and try hitch the remaining 500 or so km to Mendoza tomorrow.

I wrote this two days ago and i am actually in Mendoza now as i publish it, i will update this on how i spent all of yesterday getting here later on tonight.

Santiago.

South

I´ve decided i´m going to start heading south tomorrow morning, firstly to Cordoba, i hear there are a lot of streams and rivers in the area so i might spend a couple of days there. Will update this as soon as i can.

Santiago.

Salta

I got the ´flechabus´ coach from Iguazu to Salta at 11am, the service was appalling...no toilet paper, no water to flush the toilet, about 10 stops even though we were told direct, a technical stop to change the tyres, half the seatbelts didn´t actually work...the list is endless. About 20 odd hours later we finally arrived to one of the most beautiful cities i´ve ever seen. I say ´we´because next to me on the coach sat a couple who were also heading for Salta as travelers and they invited me to stay with them at the hostel and visit the various places around the area together. Eduardo lived in the same neighbourhood as me some fifteen years ago, and we got on really well, his girlfriend Kirsi is from Finland and this is her first time in Argentina, she´s a nice person too and like us loves all the Inca influenced cultures of the area.

We went for a few drinks and something to eat on the first night and that´s when we realized just how beautiful this city is, the sun seems to be always shining, and it´s 35c + hot but not humid, it´s really enjoyable. The city is full of culture and the places play typical northern music which includes Zamba, Chacarera, etc. There are also a lot of Peruvian groups playing Inca style music with Panpipes and other traditional instruments, this music gives the area a really historic atmosphere and it feels like you´ve been taken back in time a few hundred years to when the Indians still populated the area. The food here is magnificent, Salta is famous for their empanadas and it´s no wonder why, they´re always made fresh and always taste like the best you´ve ever had!

Yesterday we went for a walk in a place called Cafayate, it´s about 4 hours away by coach. The way there is amazing, you go through the cordillera in an area that´s very dry, and has some strange and wonderful rock formations that keep you amazed every second of the the two hours you drive through the area. Cafayate is your typical small village from the north of Argentina, the people are so chilled out it´s unreal, the atmosphere is uniquely relaxed and the weather was sunny as anything. There was a walk some 6km from the town that followed a stream up a mountain towards a series of waterfalls. It was probably the best walk i´ve ever done, you had to find your own way through the rocks, crossing the stream and deciding which side was the easiest, safest or just best to walk up the mountain from. Some parts were a little dangerous, but we eventually found our way to the beautiful waterfall in the middle of nowhere, some 2500ft high in the Andes. There were several points where the stream had natural pools where you could take your boots off and take a swim at, it´s one of the most beautiful things i´ve ever done.

Salta is a magic city, the culture keeps you amazed at night and the mountains never fail to impress during the day, the hostel we´re at is cheap but we´re living like millionaires, Ed and Kirsi will be heading up to Jujuy tomorrow where even more amazing things await, i´ve been invited to go with them for a few days until they head up to Bolivia which i might take up, would be interesting to see the salt deserts and other unique things Jujuy has to offer. From then on i´d definitely start heading south, possibly to Cordoba.

I love being back in Argentina, you can get in a car that´s falling apart and it´s normal. So many things don´t work as they should, so many things go wrong, but you don´t get angry and you certainly don´t really make a big fuss out of it, you just laugh and label it as 'nice to be back home!'.

Santiago.

Que manera de traspirar loco!!

Sitting here in an internet cafe in Iguazu, just downed an ice cold bottle of Quilmes, like most of the liquid i drank today it will probably sweat out of my body in the next two minutes. Arrived this morning at about 7.30am, i found a small campsite with basic facilities on the way to the falls, it´s about 1.5km away from the town centre which is handy. I originally planned to stay in Iguazu for about five days, but as it is i´m now at the end of day one, having walked all three of the walks on the Argentine side and i´m still sweating my bollocks off. I heard that the Brazil side of things is not as close a view, it´s more of an overall view, and you can see the stands from this side of it, there´s only about two places that stand out into the falls like they all do on this side. I was told i´d be dissapointed after having seen all the Argentine side has to offer, and if i decided to go tomorrow to Brazil it would take only a few hours, then more sweating, then another humid night in the tent before i can leave for Salta.

I decided i´m not going to visit the Brazil side of Iguazu and leave tomorrow morning for Salta on the 11am ´flechabus´. This one goes direct to Salta and takes about 24 hours, hopefully it will be like the 18 hrs it took to get from Buenos Aires to here and it won´t actually seem like that long of a ride. I didn´t want to hitch out of Misiones because it´s so humid and it looks just as hard as it would be to hitch out of Buenos Aires, i spoke to someone who has hitched around the West of the country where Salta, Cordoba, Mendoza and Bariloche are and according to his experiences it´s a hell of a lot easier around there, so i will see what Salta is like and possibly start hitching south from there. I´ve saved myself about four days by leaving Iguazu early which means more days climbing in the Andes or staying in any other town i fall in love with.

The Iguazu Falls were absolutely amazing, when you actually get to stand right next to them there are no words to describe it, you are just astonished by the amount of water that is going through there and the force of the current, you don´t just see this, you feel it.

On the walks around the various sections of the falls you go through the rainforest that is located around the falls, very dense vegetation and wild life is thriving, some monkeys were even coming close enough for humans to touch them. I am glad i decided to come this far north as i agree now with what a lot of people say about the Iguazu Falls, it´s something everyone has to experience at least once before they die, it´s just amazing.

There are more photos of today on my facebook so get on there if you want to see more, some of them came out really good, and i´ve got a couple of videos of the monkeys which i´ll upload as soon as i get some more time.

Anyway that´s it for now, i´m gonna grab something to eat head back to the campsite sleep then head off to Salta in the morning. I´ll update this as soon as i can from Salta.



Santiago.

Iguazu

Hey all, arrived ok.
Will write a better update tomorrow or the day after.
Off to see the falls now. laters!

Santiago.

´che flaco, que paso?!´ , ´Viajamos por todo el mundo pero solo aca pasa esto!´

I am now finally in Buenos Aires, arrived here this morning and after a hilarious wait for the luggage to come through on the carousel i got a bus to Retiro where i have a 6 hour wait until my 18hr coach to Iguazu leaves. I will be arriving at Iguazu at about 7.30am on Tuesday, and hopefully have a nice shower at a campsite shortly after!

It´s good being back in Argentina, it didn´t take long before this place showed what it is, the police didn´t let the luggage handlers put the bags on the carousel without them first being scanned, but the pc for the scanner was broken, which resulted in 200 or so passengers getting way impatient with the luggage handlers, those of you who have been to Argentina will understand the title of this post - which is an insight into the language that was going around this morning, fucking hilarious!

Will update this from Iguazu as soon as i can, have a good start to the week everyone!

I´m off to eat some empanadas and sanguches de miga mmmmm...

Santiago.

Say Hello, Wave Goodbye

Today is my last day in Mexico, it´s been an interesting two weeks. A place so different to where i was living yet somehow i felt like i belonged to this city, i did not feel a tourist, i did not feel out of place. It was probably a good thing, security wise, that the people i have been staying and mixing with are not on the 'poor' end of the spectrum. I have enjoyed good accomodation, excellent food, good clubs, welcoming people and an insight into urban poverty in Mexico.

In this last week i've really noticed how much i dislike being in a big city though. A place where you can physically see the polluted air, you spend more time getting to the place you're going than the time you spend there, nothing is free, it's not uncommon for people to work 16 hour days, and perhaps worst of all, everyone seems to be a slave to a life they don't even want.

In Argentina i will be alone, just another hitch-hiker with some sketchy plans to simply head South. This is how i want it, as many have before said, there is something beautiful about being a stray, a voyager whose only home for the time being is the road. I've been waiting for this moment a long time, and finally i guess all those hours of working, thinking, and planning have paid off.

I will be leaving Buenos Aires just hours after i arrive, i don't want to hang around the cities for much longer, if i do, i will either go insane or get robbed. Either one is not good right now. Iguazu will be my first destination, i won't hitch this leg of the trip because i have no idea where the best place to hitch out of the capital is, and because it will probably be the most dangerous leg of the trip, probably best keeping to the security and comfort of a paid coach for that one.

From Iguazu i will eventually head west, towards the Andes mountains and begin to head southwards somewhere in the region of Salta. I am still undecided about whether crossing to Chile near Mendoza or continue south and visit Chile some other time. I guess it depends how easy it is to hitch rides around the area. I plan to arrive in a city called Bariloche which is as some of you may know surrounded by mountains. The plan is to stay there for a few weeks or months and climb a lot of mountains, some of which i already have in mind, others i will pick and choose as i see them.

The next step is to then hitch to the far south, Ushuaia and ultimately the end of the world. I´m not sure how easy this will be to do but i will soon find out.

I know hitch-hiking is not the safest of things to do, and more than one person have expressed their feelings against me doing this, but it is what i want to do and have wanted to do for a long time, much like climbing Everest, when i want to do something i don't - to a certain extent - get put off by the risks involved. We're only here once so why live in a cage?

I will do my best to regularly update this blog.
I' m off to truly enjoy life, hope you all can one day do the same.

I love you all,

Santiago.

'But you know he'll always keep moving
You know he's never gonna stop moving,
'cause he's rolling , he's the rolling stone.'

Baker Street by Gerry Rafferty.

The Killers

Last night we went to see 'The Killers' here in Mexico City. It was a huge venue but an even bigger crowd, the place was packed and everyone of course, was singing along to the most popular songs like Mr. Brightside and Bones. It became apparent that i had a really good view of the stage where ever i stood, Mexicans are quite short you see so i was looking straight over everyone to a clear view of the stage...good times!

On Saturday we went to a club in town called 'Bull', they play mostly rock music which in my eyes makes it way better than anyother club i've been to. The drinks were pretty good too, you get 6 coupons which you can swap for drinks throughout the night, but to our enjoyment Thamara had about 60 of these saved up from previous nights... so basically a free bar - we love you Thamara!!!

They also have 'tribute' bands there every night, on Saturday 14th it's tribute to 'The Beatles'. Hopefully will be going to that and heading off to the airport straight after to catch that 8am flight to Costa Rica, Peru, and finally Buenos Aires.

The food here is good, really good. It's obviously not as good as it is in Argentina for me personally, but it beats anything you can get in the UK or USA for that matter, the cost of living here is low and the currency exchange helps too. Being a butcher back in England, i was like an assistant so the pay was about average for a job you can walk straight into - if you took what i was earning there and put it into Mexican Pesos to spend here, then i´d be earning similar to a professional.

That's it for now anyway, i hope you're all well and life is treating you nicely, 'cause it's going super good for me!

I will write at least one more post before i head off into Argentina.
Thanks for reading!

PS: here are a couple of videos which i filmed when i was out in the states - i forgot to post them.





Santiago.

The Killers

Last night we went to see 'The Killers' here in Mexico City. It was a huge venue but an even bigger crowd, the place was packed and everyone of course, was singing along to the most popular songs like Mr. Brightside and Bones. It became apparent that i had a really good view of the stage where ever i stood, Mexicans are quite short you see so i was looking straight over everyone to a clear view of the stage...good times!

On Saturday we went to a club in town called 'Bull', they play mostly rock music which in my eyes makes it way better than anyother club i've been to. The drinks were pretty good too, you get 6 coupons which you can swap for drinks throughout the night, but to our enjoyment Thamara had about 60 of these saved up from previous nights... so basically a free bar - we love you Thamara!!!

They also have 'tribute' bands there every night, on Saturday 14th it's tribute to 'The Beatles'. Hopefully will be going to that and heading off to the airport straight after to catch that 8am flight to Costa Rica, Peru, and finally Buenos Aires.

The food here is good, really good. It's obviously not as good as it is in Argentina for me personally, but it beats anything you can get in the UK or USA for that matter, the cost of living here is low and the currency exchange helps too. Being a butcher back in England, i was like an assistant so the pay was about average for a job you can walk straight into - if you took what i was earning there and put it into Mexican Pesos to spend here, then i´d be earning similar to a professional.

That's it for now anyway, i hope you're all well and life is treating you nicely, 'cause it's going super good for me!

I will write at least one more post before i head off into Argentina.
Thanks for reading!

PS: here are a couple of videos which i filmed when i was out in the states - i forgot to post them.





Santiago.

Ciudad De Mexico

I left New Castle shortly after four am on Saturday morning, Jon kindly gave me a lift to the Amtrak train station in Indianapolis, about an hours drive away. The train departed about half an hour after i arrived, and about four hours after that i was in Downtown Chicago - and it was fucking cold.

I had to get the train on Saturday because my flight was leaving at 10.30am on Sunday, and with the first train being at 6am there was no way i would make it in time. The other factor that contributed to a very long day in Chicago was that the cheapest train was the 6am, it was about half the price to the trains that ran after during the day.

So i basically arrived at Chicago 24hrs before my flight was leaving. I decided to kill some time by walking around the city, i wanted to see lake Michigan, partly because an airfield that's on its shore was featured on the MS flight simulator series as the standard airport, so i really wanted to see the place for real. The airfield went a few years ago and they built a park there instead, but i walked right up to the lake and saw about a mile away the newly developed airfield site - it pretty much looked just like on the simulator.

The wind was very cold, it felt like January in England, and my backpack weighing just under 20kg i wasn't up for walking around much longer. I went and found the underground station that runs a train directly to O'hare, it starts off as an underground trian but then comes out overground - much like the DLR in London. 14 stops later i was at the airport, where another train took me to my home for the next 20 hours...Terminal Five.

I checked at Mexicana's desk that my flight (mx817) was all good and that the terminal remained open 24 hrs, to which i was happy to hear an affirmative answer. There was really not a lot there apart from a few pricey restaurants and a McDonald's, so i got a cheeseburger and sat down. For the next 15 hours i sat there listening to my ipod and reading ¨Between A Rock And A Hard Place¨ by Aron Ralston - he was trapped in a Canyon, i was trapped in a fucking airport.

I could not sleep no matter how hard i tried or how tired i was, i simply just layed there hopelessly trying to give my eyes some rest, i finally went into a very deep sleep to R.E.M at about 4am on Sunday morning, i woke up just after 6 thinking i'd overslept and missed my flight, i had to look at the time for about five minutes before i realised that only two miserable hours had passed. I got a Mcmuffin as Mcdonald's re-opened for the day just before and went off to the desk again to check if it was all good. This time the lady took some information and realised that somehow my flight was booked for mx817 (10.30am to MXC via Cancun) but money had been paid by the travel agents for MX801 (14.10 MXC direct). I was not amused, and didn't quite understand how the hell that came to happen, but the solution to the problem was simply to wait for the 14.10 and get on that one instead. I went and read my book again for a few hours, checked in my backpack, and to my delight at about nine or ten am i met a man who was also waiting for his flight, we chatted for a while and out of nowhere he comes out with the best question i'd been asked all day - ¨want a beer?¨ - of course the answer was yes and three budweisers later i was ready to go through security. The beers sure helped those last four hours go by a bit quicker, but the view of the tarmac and various planes going past also did a good job keeping me occupied.

So that was Chicago, i took off at about 14.15 and four hours later i was in Mexico City, where it was very cloudy by i hoped it would clear up within the next few days. I met Fanny, her brother, and Andrea who is the girl im staying with, i knew Fanny already but they are all very nice people and a good set of friends to be around. The drive to Andrea's took about half an hour - the traffic is fucking mental, everything is so quick and sketchy, it's a bit like a big 'free for all' but we eventually got home safe and sound.

On Monday we met up with Fanny again and went off for some breakfast at one of the shopping centres around here, it had an open view of the volcanoes on one side of it and what with the day being sunny and cloudless it was a very nice place to eat! We went and played some pool later on in the day and had a few drinks, we met up with some of their friends, Thamara, Karla and a few others.

Today we pretty much just chilled out, went to a plaza a few stops away on the underground or 'metro' had some ice cream, a beer and i briefly played a couple of games of skate with some kids that were around there. The buses here have music blasting out in them, like it is in Argentina, and although they look like theyre falling apart, its nice to be back into this type of place, seems closer to what i was used to a long time ago.

That's all for now, tomorrow i'm heading out to a skatepark and hopefully meet some more skaters and chill with them for a little while.

I like this place, the sun is always shining - or at least has been since Monday morning - the traffic is a bit more exciting to say the least, the buses blast out Cumbia, i can go back to speaking spanish to everyone, and the food and drink situation is so much better than in the US!

I love being back in a developing country, not only because it's different to what i've had for the past eight years but also because it has so much more character and is something that brings me back to my roots.

I know this has been a very long post but i couldn't spend 24 hours alone in an airport without telling about it! haha, thanks for reading this and i'll post a little update within the next few days.

Santiago.

¨That boulder did what it was there to do. Boulders fall. That's their nature. It did the only natural thing it could do. It was set up, but it was waiting for you. Without you coming along and pulling it, it would still be stuck where it had been for who knows how long. You did this, Aron. You created it. You chose to come here today; you chose to do this descent into the slot canyon by yourself. You chose not to tell anyone where you were going. You chose to turn away from the women who were there to keep you from getting in this trouble. You created this accident. You wanted it to be like this. You have been heading for this situation for a long time. Look how far you've come to find this spot. It's not that you're getting what you deserve - you're getting what you wanted.¨ - Aron Ralston.

bye, bye USA!

I came into this town as a stranger, and i'm walking out with a handful of friends who are just amazing, from day one it was so easy to meet people, everyone is so friendly and welcoming. I'm so glad i chose to visit Jon in New Castle rather than visit California or the Rockies as a tourist, this has been such a good experience and have made many friends for life.

I'd like to thank once again, those who have helped me out in any way, Jon you've put up with me for a whole month that can't have been easy, ha ha thanks man you're great! Steve and Donovan your place is where it's at thanks for letting me stay all those nights! I'll be back one day, i'd like to see a bit more of the USA and maybe the return trip will be in the form of a road trip, whatever it is i will definitely stop by New Castle, Indiana. I'll try my best to keep in touch with everyone, the next few months i might not so much as i'll be backpacking but once i settle down somewhere you'll all hear from me.

I hope you guys get your skate park, and that the skate scene here just keeps on going for many years to come, you guys have heart and that really shows, it's so easy to just have a good time!

I'm on my way to Indianapolis now, hopefully catch a train to Chicago and be in Mexico by Sunday evening, i'll update this again once I'm there.

Thank you everyone for everything!

Santiago.

"Wind in my hair i feel part of everywhere,

Underneath my being is a road that disappeared."

"Guaranteed" by Eddie Vedder.

"Let your dreams be your pilot, imagination your fuel."

Here in New Castle, there is currently nothing to skate apart from a piece of flatground in the form of a basketball court, you have to get in a car if you want to skate something half decent. Hopefully in the months to come this will change because of the love and determination of one man. Anton Payne, whom i had the honour of meeting a week or so ago, is working towards the goal of raising $100,000 for a skatepark to get built.

His plan included running 3 marathons in 3 days, a distance of 80 miles, from Kettering Ohio to New Castle Indiana. He did this run in order to raise awareness and show people that he actually cares about skateboarders in the town and their need to have something where they can skate without constantly being looked down upon by society.

I saw Anton finish his run, he was so exhausted he could barely move, but he did it, and it was such an astonishing performance which hopefully helped to jump start the movement. He organised a gathering for all skateboarders and BMX riders, and even managed to get a few ramps and rails together for the day, the little things matter most.

Below is a link to his website, where you can kindly donate anything you are able to give, however small - it all makes a difference.

Click here to enter runningforsomething.com

"These streets are your streets, this turf is your turf,

Don’t let anyone tell you that you’ve got to give in,

'Cos you can make a difference, you can change everything,

Just let your dreams be your pilot, imagination your fuel,

Tear up the book and write your own damn rules,

Use all that heart, hope and soul that you’ve got,

And the love and the rage that you feel in your gut,

And realise that the other world that you’re always looking for,

Lies right here in front of us, just outside this door,

And it’s up to you to go out there and paint the canvas..."

The King Blues - What If Punk Rock Never Happened?

Above are lyrics from one of my favourite songs, which i thought summed up the fact that sitting on your butt achieves nothing, and with enough love and willpower you can achieve anything.

In the next week i'm going to be leaving New Castle for Mexico, it's been an amazing experience to see what life here is like, a town where deprivation is around everywhere but who's people are all so friendly and have so much heart.

That's all for now folks!
I'll post something on here before i leave.

Santiago.

Kettering, Ohio

Drove down to Kettering in Ohio on Saturday, home to one of the best skate parks in the country. It consists of various street obstacles - blocks, manual pads, stairs, rails, flat banks, more manual pads, paths, more blocs. The drive there, with a brief stop at Richmond to meet a guy called Anton, was really not as long as i expected it.

The park is super fun to skate, i love street skating so this place was perfect, and i am confident to say that this was probably the best skate park i have ever been to. (There's photos of the place on my Facebook).

Met up with Alec Denker too (he coincidentally lives just down the road from DC Plaza), we share a common interest in the outdoors and climbing, it's really nice to meet the people you have been talking to for a long time and actually have a proper chat with them.

We are getting so much footage for this internet edit we're working on, it should be a good one! Below you should be able to see a panorama of Forest park in Noblesville, this park is about 40 minutes drive away from New Castle and is so much fun it closely follows DC Plaza on the list of awesome skate parks!

Anyway, i know this was kinda a pointless post but i wanted to share what DC was like as i've been looking forward to visiting that park for so long - it was definitely worth the wait!

Santiago.

On the way to Indianapolis.

Noise, Spiders and Coffee.

The last few days have been about settling down in a place i can call home until November. I heard a lot of bad things about American people, perhaps it's only this region, state or town that defies them, but i am telling you right now, the American people are some of the friendliest people i have ever met. Customer service is top class, whether you head into an invidual shop or a big "Walmart" - heck, even McDonald's! Really enjoying my time here, you can start a conversation with anyone you meet.

Started polishing off plans for Mexico too, my friend Stefanie is taking a few days off school (as many as possible) and we're heading down to the beach, before coming back and going to see the Killers on Nov. 8.

We're working on a short skateboarding video which will be finished right before i leave, it's just for a laugh but we're getting some real good shit down. I will post that on here once it's done.

That's it for now, I will post up a few more photos of parks around here soon - hopefully heading down to the DC Plaza in Ohio on Saturday, that will definitely be good for photos/footage.

PS: I'd like to correct something i wrote on the previous post. Gas/Petrol is not $2.30/litre, that price actually refers to per Gallon, which makes gas here about $1 per litre...a lot cheaper than in the UK! - i guess that kinda explains why there are so many big trucks around, they're everywhere.

Santiago.

Into the unknown

Now that i am finally here, and a little bit more settled down, i'll dedicate a few minutes to update you all on how my arrival into the USA went.

Heathrow airport was good, not a lot of choice of places to eat when you wait for your plane to be ready, i mean there was Wagamama's and such, but nothing cheap like Mcdonalds or something. Nevertheless, i found a JD Whetherspoons which came in handy, had one of their breakfasts, which is a little more expensive inside the airport compared to the ones in the towns. Another pint of Fosters later and my gate was about to open.

So i headed down to gate 10e, which was actually a bus stop. The bus takes you out to where you're going, which to my understanding of Heathrow's layout was somewhere near Terminal 3. From there you board the aircraft, which happened to be a Boeing-777. Twin engined jumbojet which took off from runway 27Left and flew over the pond at no lower than 38000ft and no slower than about 500-600 Mph.
Upon boarding i asked a member of crew if there was any chance of visiting the cockpit before the flight starts, he explained that it was a little hard to do these days. So i went down to my seat which was 35c, An aisle seat in economy class which was near the rear of the plane. The legroom was way bigger than i remember it being in previous flights, which i was very happy about, and next to me sat a senior couple who were very nice to talk to and very polite, i explained how i didn't want the window seat because i'd hate to have to bother someone every single time i want to get up for a walk or use the bathroom, but that i didn't mind a single bit if they wanted to get out. I think they were fairly grateful for this and we got on real good throughout the eight hours we spent together.

Half way through the flight the same crew member came to me and said that it would be okay to visit the cockpit once we landed, providing it was all good with the Captain. So i asked again upon leaving the aircraft and i was invited to the cockpit, had a little chat with the captain, took a few photos of the flight deck. Really amazing to be actually there where it all happens, hopefully be doing that again in the flights to South America as regulations are less strict down there.

Once i arrived to Chicago O'hare Intl. Airport, i had to be processed through customs, along with the other 4 or 5 hundred people that arrived simultaneously on two or more flights. This process took an awfully long time, i watied for about an hour. On the other hand when it came to my turn, they just asked me a few questions about my travels - what i was doing, where i was staying, what was planned when i left the states - to which i answered very honestly saying i was visiting friends as it's a cheaper way to travel and didn't really have a lot planned apart from that. They were cool with it and on the first of October 2009 i got a toursit visa in the USA which lasts ninety days. Stoked!

Once i got my backpack from the conveyabouts i made my way to the departure hall where i was met by my friend Jonathan. Him and two of his friends - Ethan and Mitch - had driven about three or four hours to reach Chicago from Newcastle where they live. I wasn't aware of how far it was and the drive back was even longer, we got stuck in traffic for about three hours so we didn't get home until about 10pm. This was a very long day. I think i will be getting the train back, Chicago's highways are too busy for my liking.

Anyway after that we eventually got some sleep and woke up on friday at about eleven. We picked up Ethan and Mitch once again and drove down to get some "gas" and food. Prices of petrol are pretty similar to the UK - about 2 dollars 30 something a litre of unleaded. - The food you get in regular petrol stations is with all honesty junk. Crisps, chocolate, more crisps, a lot of stuff with preservatives and generally unhealthy. You can grab a warm cheeseburger from there for about a dollar but i even wonder what the hell is in that! It will be hard to eat healthy whilst trying to keep a low budget, but all i can do is try. Mcdonald's is a lot cheaper than in England, you can grab a regular BigMac meals for $4.59, thats with unlimited refills.

There's places like Taco bell with very cheap food also, but as i say i'm going to try keep it as healthy as possible.

On friday we went to a couple of skate shops, Imagine in Newcastle where i picked up a "chocolate" deck for $53, and Rise in a town about an hour away to grab a pair of Lakai Select shoes at $50. These were a little cheaper than you'd get them in England, i guess because they're not imported here.

We visited a couple of skateparks in the region which were very good, built to a very high standard - all concrete, good transition, smooth ground - and very well spaced out - something that lacks in a lot of British parks.

Today is Saturday and we should be heading down somewhere past Noblesville, the weather is just about holding but rain looks very probable.

I will be updating this better as soon as we get the Internet fixed at Jon's house where i'm staying, as at the moment i'm having to write this from Mitch's. I will be posting some photos i've been taking along the way very soon as well. We've been filming a lot of skateboarding as well so we'll hopefully have a short video edited and online by the time i head down to Mexico.















Having a great time here, thanks for reading this!

Your Son, Your Brother, Your Friend,

Santiago.

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I'm as free as a bird now

I'm leaving for the airport in a few hours, everything is packed. Very happy that today is actually here and that most of the hard work is done. Gonna miss everyone in England, thank you for everything you have given me for the past eight years, I hope to see you all soon!

"If I leave here tomorrow
Would you still remember me?
For I must be travelling on, now,
'Cause there's too many places I've got to see.
But, if I stayed here with you, girl,
Things just couldn't be the same.
'Cause I'm as free as a bird now,
And this bird you can not change.
Lord knows, I can't change.

Bye, bye, its been a sweet love.
Though this feeling I can't change.
But please don't take it badly,
'Cause Lord knows I'm to blame.
But, if I stayed here with you girl,
Things just couldn't be the same.
Cause I'm as free as a bird now,
And this bird you'll never change.
And this bird you can not change.
Lord knows, I can't change.
Lord help me, I can't change. "

Lynyrd Skynyrd - Free Bird.

Thirty four and counting...

...It is now just 34 days until i leave the tarmac at Heathrow. I've managed to have my vaccinations mostly sorted out now so with any luck infected mosquitoes will not be a huge problem!

Really looking forward to mostly the freedom that will come from traveling alone, and the characters i will meet along the way. Reading the "Motorcycle Diaries" really gives a feel of what tramping around South America is like, let's just hope 1953 wasn't too different to 2009!

For the past few days I've been looking for a small digital camera so i can take a few snaps along the way, if you're lucky enough maybe post a few on here every once in a while, to some as proof that I'm still alive, to others simply to see how long my beard has grown!

My good friend from Mexico has bought a few tickets to go see "The Killers", which will be awesome as well as going to Acapulco for a few days, finally some sunny weather, and maybe dare i say; a proper summer?!

We'll see about that once i get to South America!

A quick update on my plans

It's something like 75 days until i leave England now. I've been thinking of my plans a bit more closely, mostly things i want to do once i arrive in Argentina.

I will keep to my original plan of going from North to South, covering as much as i can, and doing so by land. I want to board the "Tren De Las Nubes" - which translates to train of the clouds - because literally it goes through some of the highlands of the Andes throughout a 16 hour journey. This train however, stops running for the "rainy" season on November 31, I arrive in Argentina November 15.
So i will first of all be visiting the Iguazu falls for only about 5 days at most and from there making my way West towards the Andes. That's all i have planned for now, the rest of the trip will be more 'go with the flow' style, and just hitch-hike in any southern direction, eventually reaching Bariloche in Patagonia.

Snowdonia 28 to 31 May

Waking up to the sound of downstairs' burglar alarm isn't exactly on my top 10, but on Thursday this faulty alarm proved itself especially useful as it went off just before my alarm, at 3.28am to be exact.

It was about 5am by the time we were in the car and slowly making our way to that wonderful place that is Snowdonia. We stopped only a couple of times, it wasn't the most comfortable of rides with all the equipment crammed into the car. We eventually arrived at our campsite for about mid-day.

Tents set up, well fed and happily hydrated with plenty of water, we set off on our first walk which took us across a ridge and up to a summit of 320m. From here we followed the ridge right down to the other end where it descended to a lake and the path soon led us back to our campsite about 1.5km away. The weather was moderate, a few clouds at just over 300m limited our visibility slightly, the forecast was to improve over the weekend with some very sunny weather during the next couple of days.

On Friday we awoke to a cloud-less sky, ignoring our plan to sleep well into 10am we set off early in order to get the most out of the sunny day. It was beautiful, all the peaks that were covered the day before - and most other times i've been there to be honest - were now perfectly visible and glowing in the morning sun. I decided to take us to the Glyders, a group of mountains to the North East of Snowdon whose peaks reach about 950m. We started off with a nice walk up into the base of the first mountain, and climbed up a steep path that lead its way up a ridge and was at times a very steep path. From here we walked the top of the mountain range, descending and ascending from peak to peak. The famous canter lever rock was about 3/4 of the way into the walk and a steep descent down the side of Glyder Fach left us standing at the bottom of Tryfan, which i did attempt but was too windy and would have taken too long to summit in the short period of time we had left of the day (one for next time). From Tryfan it was another half an hour or so to the car. We walked about 8 hours that day.

It was Saturday morning when for the second time in this little holiday i was awakened by words which described the amazing blue sky above our heads. Today we were going for Snowdon, the highest mountain in England and Wales which stands at 1085m.

After finding a suitable spot to park the car - it's extremely busy on Snowdon - we made our way up the "miner's track". It starts off long and fairly flat but eventually takes you to the bottom of the North Ridge where you have a steep climb up to the top of the ridge. This leaves you just 90m from the summit which is an easy walk up. We made the climb in good time, i decided on more than one occasion to skip the zig-zags on the path and a climb straight up - a move which can be quite dangerous at times, but faster and certainly more enjoyable if like me you prefer the "off the beaten track" style. The summit was ridiculously busy, we're talking about 200 people up there. Not my idea of a nice mountain and is a clear disadvantage of climbing easy mountains, but the astonishing views all over and the perfect weather more than made up for it.

After eventually reaching the car, and driving back to our campsite we concluded that this had been another fairly long day, just over 7 hours.

Sunday was our last day and we had to make our way back home. We had lunch by a lake near Capel Curig, laid in the sun for an hour or so then drove back along the busy motorways.

It was an excellent holiday, everything turned out really nice and it was a great success, but for me it was more like a mere drop of water to someone who has just walked across the Sahara desert. I think it's safe to say i am more than looking forward to my next visit to the mountains.

Plans for Snowdonia/May

Plans for May 25 week are starting to fall together now, should be leaving very late Wednesday or Thursday and spend a few days in the mountains with the family. Will be a good chance to finally climb the mountains again, it's been way too long. I'm planning to time-lapse record the whole car journey to about 3 minutes long, will be interesting to see if it actually works!

Snowdonia on Gold D of E 2008

Sheffield and Manchester

So on Tuesday i had a bit of a lie in, woke up about ten or eleven am, took a few things out of my pack that were no longer necessary, mostly food, and made my way to the train station - bought a book on the way to read on the coach, Sir Edmund Hillary's High Adventure which basically goes through how he got into mountaneering and how he came about being the first to successfully summit the world's highest peak. A very good read and although i've yet to finish it i recommend it to anyone - it's inspirational even for someone who isn't particularly a mountain freak.

I made my way to London Victoria without any real problems, apart from the fact that i was purposefully 2 hours early and therefore decided to go for a pint at one of the nearby pubs.

After around four hours and a stop at Milton Keynes for the Nottingham passengers whose driver had ran out of hours, i arrived at the Sheffield Interchange. I suspect it was around 9pm and i had to wait an hour or two for Sam to finish work and meet me.

Wondered around found the skatepark and chilled with some BMXers for a while, it's a really nice park with some steep and large hips and flat banks, would be good to learn some park down there as most of ours is based on street stuff.

After meeting Sam (he was fashionably late), we went for a walk up the top of Ski Village which is basically a random hill in the middle of Sheffield that hasn't got many houses and is mostly woodland. The view from this place was; as Sam had very rightfully told me; astonishing. I have never seen anything quite as good in England and was very glad we decided to do that instead of drink at a bar. We eventually got to his at about 2 or 3 in the morning and got some sleep.

Wednesday he had work during the day so i woke up at my own pace, met Sam's housemate who was Theo, really decent bloke very nice to talk to and we shared some funny moments over the period that i was with them. Their house had a couple of problems, which mainly consisted of a slug infestation which has been there for about two years, i mean we drained the sink to do the washing up and found a huge, dead slug laying at the bottom of the sink where all the washing up had been soaking. Apartently their land lord is a bit of a t-nuc and does nothing to get the problems sorted. Oh and the bath felt and sounded like it was about to fall through the floor whilst you were having a shower.

I made my way back down to the skatepark on Division street - after going past the skatepark and getting a new bolt as i managed to wear the thread on the old one - and met a guy called Tom, he was really friendly like most people up North seem to be. We chilled had a game of skate got some food and eventually went our separate ways when i went to meet Sam once again.

Over the next two days we spent a lot of time in pubs - to socialise more than to drink - played a few games of pool, and best of all, met a lot of the people who Sam had met over the last two months that he'd been there.

It's cool that Sheffield is a student city, literally full of the buggers, but that means we benefited from the cheap service offered by the bars and pool tables at the Uni.


To cut a very long blog short enough for you to be able to read without falling asleep, Sheffield was amazing, the people were really friendly and down to earth, the town centre very clean, and the skateparks good fun.

Manchester was just a short train ride away which i did on Saturday morning. Train was to the airport and was packed, but after finding my way out of the station into the heart of the city i was quite happy about it all. A very nice city and it feels pretty much like London. Sheffield was more of a town - at least it felt that way. There was a little skatepark under the motorway in Manchester which was proper safe, the locals were cool, at least two of the Harmony guys were there, and i chilled there for a few hours. In the evening i went to the Just For Kicks gig which went really well and had a very enthusiastic audience.

There is so much more stuff that got done but i simply haven't really got the time to write it all down, but that's an outline of what i've done for the last week. I really enjoyed it and very much look forward to my next trip, which is likely to be Snowdonia in May.

Plan B

So was up early this morning, went on down to a spot near the dual carriageway which heads to London, after about 4 hours i decided that hitch-hiking to Sheffield ain't worth it since not a single car had stopped.

I've booked a ticket on a National Express coach for tomorrow, hopefully that one will pick me up!
Will post photos of this week up soon.

"The North (M1)"

I've got a week off work in March and whilst im going to visit my friend Sam in Sheffield, i fancied something different other than train or coach.

I'll be leaving on the Monday with a week's supply of clothes and some food, walking up to the dual carriageway that heads North and holding a sign saying "M1 , The North".

If all goes well i should be in Sheffield preferably on Monday, perhaps Tuesday.
I've never hitch-hiked before, and i know it's especially hard to do in the UK, but I'm all up for trying.

Once in Sheffield i shall be staying until Saturday and heading over on the 24th to the Just For Kicks Manchester gig so i will probably see you there!

Bon Voyage.
Sant.

The Plan

The plan is to leave London on October 1st and be in the vicinity of Chicago within a few hours.
Skate, Film and have the best of fun for a Month.
I will aim to leave again from Chicago on November 1st heading Southwards to Mexico City and Acapulco where i will chill, skate and enjoy the sun for two weeks.
Finally leave Mexico on November 15th and head to Buenos Aires, Argentina. From Buenos Aires i will travel by land, mostly by coach, but other methods such as hitch-hiking will not be rare. Head up North to Iguazu then South via the Andes, do this for about 3/4 Months.

I will post any photos/videos/thoughts about or during this trip on here, so keep a look out, especially come October.

Early Days

I will be using this page to update the world on my travels. Just bought the flights for my first adventure. I Will be leaving London on October 1st and heading to Chicago. More details will be posted here soon and on-going updates from October 1st of everything that happens.