Cordoba, Argentina

Cordoba depresses me. I arrived Sunday morning and the city was ghost town until noon. Many people suggested me to come here, because Cordoba is a great city, the 2nd biggest in Argentina, and blah blah blah. Bah! It's not the first time that happen something like this, that the place isn't above the average but everybody seems enthusiast of it... Maybe it's something wrong with me, but I guess it's only matter that once you've tasted Champagne water doesn't appeal you anymore. Many times I think back at the 2 years I lived in Rome. Rome was an incredible city: full of history, culture, tourists, fun... According to what a Frenchman met in Uyuni said "Rome is the most beautiful city in the world". I agree. Sometimes, travelling all around South America, I ask myself if is it worthy to travel for entire days just to visit newborn historical sights or nasty cities, when you can see much more interesting and rewarding historical things in just one afternoon's stroll in Rome. Living there was amazing, even if tough for many reasons. I could say that for some short moments I felt something closer to what is called happiness. Then everything quickly drowned away, but I'm glad to have lived that experience, at least to understand the meaning of the word "richness": to feel rich, to feel the need of nothing else, even with an empty pocket.

Cafayate, Argentina

Well, the point is extremely easy: I had the first "bife de chorizo" in my life and I've fallen in love with it. Just when I was thinking to have done and tried almost everything during this journey, I've found a shack near the bus terminal offering "bife de chorizo" at low prices to make me change my mind... Yeah, I still have many things to learn indeed. But you really cannot understand until you try how perfect, how delicious, how incredible, how sexually exciting, a t-bone can be in Argentina! While you chew it and it melts slowly in your mouth and explods into a tasty kaleidoscope of undescribable flavours! And the chilly glass of local white wine served with it's the perfect complement for such king's lunch. Well, I always thought deeply if it was right or not to kill animals just to eat their meat, and watching all the waste of meat people usually do without thinking a minute about animal's life made me even more doubtful. But now I know that those animals are killed for a good cause! I loved that slice of dead cow in my dish as much as I wouldn't ever have done it if he was alive... I will always remember that bloody wonderful cow. And I must admit it was also a great deal if compared with the quality offered: just a little more than 5$ for a full dish with french fries and one glass of wine, maybe the best deal I had uptill now. Well, in Bolivia I had many cheaper meals but the quality wasn't higher and the last day before leaving Bolivia - you still don't know this - something I ate made me suffer the pains of hell for one night, and the common bathroom of the hostel obviously had no current water for that occasion... But it was obvious he had to happen sooner or later, for sure. I didn't have any other stomach trouble since the first days in Russia and I was pushing myself to the very human limit, eating almost any kind of crazy food on the streets, in just-for-locals shacks, or any shitty place you can imagine. Epic was the lunch I had for 80 cents in La Paz (1 soup, 1 main dish and 1 drink), the 1$ meal I had in a Chinese restaurant in Cuzco, or the 30 cents dish of meat to eat with no forks (aka with the hands only) had in Puno. Ok, after eating in those places at such prices, the only next step available would have been a meal directly into the sewers, I thought.
Anyway, the news of the day is that I'm still alive after having travelled along one of the most scenic routes in Argentina and, maybe, the whole South America. Because of that route I reserved a ticket for the front seat on the upper deck of the bus: was the first time I ever had that place. Everything was fine until that stupid driver hitted with the upper deck of the bus a tree branch, exactly in front of my head... I've seen a tree hitting my head. The glass shattered, some splinters explodes on me but, for my luck, the glass didn't fall out, otherwise I would have been in serious serious troubles. Fuck off bloody fate, is that all you can do??? Ah!

Tourists? Bah!

-Where did you travel before?
-Well, let's say something like around the world... it's almost 7 months I'm on the road.
-What? Alone? You've been really lucky that nothing bad happened to you! You could have been killed, you could have been slaughtered!
-Maybe the vampires out there don't like the taste of my flesh...
-But how... how could it possible you did it???
-If you want, you can.
-Mmmmmh... are you son of a rich?
-Maybe. What about you, are you son of a bitch?

Tilcara, Argentina

As soon as I crossed the border to Argentina and I've seen all those Fiat cars running, one guy with the slogan "Napoli siamo noi" printed on the t-shirt and another one wearing the Juventus jersey, I realized that Italy is not too far from me now, that my journey is not too far to the end. It's two days I'm in Tilcara, a small town in Northwestern Argentina, in the Jujuy region, in the middle of the Quebrada de Humahuaca - a world heritage site famous for the vivid shining colours of its mountains. I came here upon suggestions of an Argentinian couple met in Quito who strongly suggested me to see it, so here I am! I've visited many small interesting Quechua-speaking mountain towns during these days: Purmamarca, Humahuaca, San Salvador de Jujuy and Iruya, an incredible isolated tiny town at 4000 metres high, reached only by a gravel unapproachable road. Was definitely worthy to be seen. The only shame there was a bonehead guy into the ticket office who made me miss the bus because he had no change! Yeah, you understood well! I missed my bus because he didn't sell me the ticket because he had no change for my money! What the hell??? By the way, the geographical area included within the boundaries of Southwestern Bolivia, Northern Chile and Northwestern Argentina is really stunning, I didn't expect so much: higher mountains, geysers, salt flats, unbelievable colours, there's all. Here the landscape is similar to Arizona and Nevada, it looks really close to those US states, except by the fact that there are no tourists at all here! Well, to be honest is not spectacular and deep like the Grand Canyon, the Bryce National Park or the Death Valley, but for sure it's similar as well as amazing. The morphology must have been the same as the colours, the rock formations and the cliff shapes are identical.
Anyway, after some weeks spent on the Andes in 5 different countries, tomorrow I'm gonna leave this mountain range. Now I can say with no doubt that the Andes are higher, wilder and bigger than the Alpes, but the Alpes are definitely much much much more beautiful. Word of Lonelytraveller, Amen.

San Pedro de Atacama, Chile

Third desert I'm facing during this journey: after Gobi desert and Nevada desert, it's time for Atacama desert in Chile - the driest desert in the world. Two days I'm here and I must admit I had stunning times. Unbelievable has been the first day while crossing the border and passing from the snowy freezing cold of the Bolivian mountains down to the hot desertic sun of Atacama in just 1 hour's bus ride - 45 kilometres only! The feeling I had was the same one I felt passing from China to South Korea: two countries geographically closed but distant many years in reality. Back to civilization, I thought! Even Chilean people is truly different from Bolivians. All the persons from Chile I've met on this journey are really nice and friendly - truly good people - while the Bolivians (but it's better saying the indigenous poupulation of the Andes) are friendly and nice like an early morning kick in the balls... San Pedro de Atacama is a small "tourist resort" in the middle of the Atacama desert, settled at the altitude of 2800m. It's like an oasis for tourists, a Chilean version of Las Vegas without all those stupid casinos and entertainments for adults that the City of Sin has. I like it, even if prices are overcharged and you can see only tourists walking the road. But the nature is really stunning, many interesting sites to visit that I reached renting a bike for both two days: the Moon Valley, the Death Valley, the Pukara, the "Salar de Atacama" which is the third largest salt flat in the world... I loved to cycle into the loud silence of the desert with the warm sun taking care of my skin. One bicycle and one desert, that's all I need to be happy like a kid.

Uyuni, Bolivia

Tupiza, Bolivia

I spent one day in the cozy town of Tupiza and I had the feeling to be back in United States. The landscape is really similar to the American one, with red rocks and mountains which remind me suggestive states like Arizona, Nevada or Colorado. Maybe that's the reason why the two famous thieves Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid moved here to end their "careers", as Butch Cassidy was killed here in Tupiza. Nowadays, Tupiza is a nice place to spend one day or two, for enjoying slowly the beautiful nature on a bike or an horse. And, yes, after more than two weeks I've finally seen again the rays of the sun! Then I moved to the small town of Uyuni by bus, the roadtrip to Uyuni has been the real highlight of the day and totally justified the detour I had from Potosi to Tupiza: almost 7 hours on a narrow gravel road up on incredible colorful mountains and gorgeus sceneries, for 4 euros only then! I was dreaming how beautiful should be to ride it on a bicycle, but honestly was unbelievable also from a giant bus on those small tracks...
Tomorrow I leave for a 3 days tour to the Salar de Uyuni, the biggest salt flat in the world.

Journey to hell: Potosi, Bolivia

Today I've had one of the most memorable, valuable and interesting experience of all my journey. I'm in Potosi, in Southern Bolivia, the highest city in the world at 4070m, a city that lives today's present on the same mining "industry" which gave it a glorious past (in the early 17th century Potosi was the most populated city in the world with 160,000 citizens). There are more than 450 mines around the city and the conditions the mineworkers are subject are among the most subhuman in the world. As I hopefully will be never a mineworker, I thought it would have been a remarkable experience to have a tour into those mines to understand better what it means working in such places. Well, Dante has probably took the inspiration from a Bolivian mine to write his Divine Comedy: that's the hell on Earth, for sure. Let start saying that into those mines are employed about 20,000 workers, a couple of thousand of which are between the age of 12 and 16. Bolivian law forbid underaged workers but there are no controls, so nobody cares about their rights. The life expectancy for the adult workers is 42 years old, which dramatically decrease to 28-30 for people who starts working at younger age. They work 8 hours a day, 6 days a week, 50 metres below the ground at a temperature close to 40 degrees celsius. Moreover, outside the weather is awfully cold and in wintertime it can be minus 20 degrees. As this wouldn't be enough, the houses have no heating system and hot water is a real luxury... The average salary? 200 US dollars per month. To survive (just for few years) to this impossible conditions, they chew coca leaves all day long, starting early morning, and they drink pure alcohol at 96%.
Having a tour into one of those mines just for few hours has been eyes-opening for me. Once more, it was the closer thing to hell I've ever seen. Walking (but it's better say crawling) those narrow dark labyrinth of tunnels, with mineral's dust making the air unbreathable and the hot climate making you sweat for each single step, into the mud, along arsenic-covered rocks, potentially dangerous gas and an endless effort required, made me definitely understand I'm a very lucky one. I cannot ignore that.Before leaving, the guide (which is working as a miner as well) told us not to forget to have children, as it's the only important thing in the world. His life expectancy gives him no hope: just few more years left, if he's lucky.
For sure, I'm gonna leave this place with less energies but a little bit more of consciousness and wisdom.

PS: The picture above shows you all the consciousness and wisdom I was talking about... Just a stupid tourist who plays with dynamite!

Dead Calm...

When I was on the catamaran to Colombia, in the middle of the open sea, for a couple of times I've thought at the movie "Dead Calm" (Ore 10: Calma piatta, 1989). I was thinking what the hell I gonna do, in a such place, if someone goes crazy? That was the kind of thoughts everybody does, but everybody knows it's just a stupid thought resulting of the too many movies we have watched in our lives. Well, sometimes imagination is closer to reality than what you ever may think. Especially when me is involved.
The captain wasn't the friendliest person on Earth, but I must admit he has been almost always kind with me. He taught me the first steps how to swim, he gave me as a present an (half) bottle of rhum before leaving, and he asked me if I wanted to help him on the boat for the next month. What if I said him "yes"? What if I decided for living that experience in the Caribbean Sea?

http://www.tvn-2.com/noticias/noticias_detalle.asp?id=46978

La Paz, Bolivia

It's a long time I'm dreaming about traveling in Bolivia. Now I get it and I'm quite disappointed. I'm in La Paz, whose full name is Nuestra Señora de La Paz, and is the highest capitol of the world setted at 3600 mt on sea level. The urban sprawl is huge and even if the mountains surrounding the city can be charming for some views, many neighborhoods are scary as the poverty rate is really high and crime out of control. The main thing that shocked me is watching to all those working kids on the streets, on the buses, everywhere: they sell ropes, clone cds, coca leaves or they shine shoes. Underaged work isn't allowed, but authorities are probably unable to do anything when poverty bring population to this point. Ok, Bolivia is the poorest country in South America, but I didn't expect so much, honestly. I mean, if I hadn't travelled all those previous third world countries maybe I would be scared now to walk down the streets of La Paz, as some areas look more like dangerous favelas. More news soon to come.

Sad news from Panama

God, that`s too bad and it`s not a joke as I was thinking at a first glance.
Jean Pierre Bouhard, the French captain of the boat I took from Panama to Colombia, has been found murdered last Saturday, thrown into the ocean with the body tied up with chains and an anchor.
Javier, the Spanish guy who asked us 60 dollars each at the hostel the day before sailing (and the same one who Jean Pierre reported as a scam on us), he`s supposed to be involved in the crime.
At the moment, Don North - the owner of the catamaran Levante - and the boat itself are missing.
You can read the full articles here:
http://www.panama-guide.com/article.php/20110210144018231
http://www.panama-guide.com/article.php/20110210171954941

Lake Titicaca, Perù

At a first glance Puno scared me, then it was fine, and at the end I loved to walk its suburb... Puno is settled on the Peruvian shores of the Titicaca lake - the highest navigable lake in the world - at an altitude of 3600m. At night it's awfully cold here. The city is in huge partytime because of the Candlemass holiday: people is playing and dancing and making shows in each corner of the city, almost all night long. It's really interesting to see how happy and full of life they are despite of the tough weather conditions (think here is summertime now, I don't even wanna think how awfully cold it should be in winter).
As the weather was cloudy but not rainy, today I've been to visit the amazing floating island settled in the Titicaca. The floating islands are an archipelago of about 50 small islands created by Uros indios by using a layer of ground and multiple layers of plants, which allow the island to float for about 10 years if well preserved. Imagine these guys, wasn't too much isolated for them to live on the Andes at 3600m, they wanted to move living in the middle of the lake! Well, the reality is that they started building these floating islands to escape from the Spanish conquistadores in Pizarro's era, then it become tradition living there.
Anyway, as usual, with the first cold winds and bad weather, my throat start to be sore. As I'm running out of the cheap medicines got in China, I went to a local pharmacy to try to get some Amoxicillina. I'm saying "trying" because all over the world is sold only under medical prescription. Well, for the guy into the pharmacy there was no problem at all to sell it for few "soles". I only wonder what else he sells with no prescription... Mmmmmh, maybe is this the business I was looking for? eheheh

Arequipa, Perù

I'm back to Arequipa from a 2 days trip to Canyon del Colca, which is the deepest canyon in America (more than the Grand Canyon) and the 3rd in the world. Rolling mountains up to 4900m, lamas, alpacas, vigognas, cheap traditional food among locals: I loved it. The weather was unpleasant (like everyday here, regular weather till noon then rain) but the scenery was definitely worthy the effort. I'm talking about effort because sleeping at 3600m with no heater, when rains turning slowly into snow it's not properly a joke... But I don't regret at all, I've been lucky and happy to be there 'cause I've also seen the Andean condor in action, a bird close to extinction, with more than 3 metres' wings and around 12 kilos' weight, which make the Andean condor the heavier flying bastard among the animals. Cool, uh?
Anyway, you gotta know it's pretty funny for me to keep record of the all strange mutations my name has when printed on a bus ticket here in South America: Mateo Doncelli, Matted Donceli, Mattheo Donicelli... Well, today I've got the brand new "Mateo Gonzales" which is my all time favourite. Mmmmh, maybe this is also a sign of fate... Maybe it means that from tomorrow I gotta change my life into a new me, into a new relaxed one, into a Mateo Gonzales? Maybe, why not.
Tomorrow it's my birthday. Will be exactly 6 months I'm on the road. Many memories, places, cities, adventures lived, persons come and gone. The time of my life? I'm celebrating it moving to Puno, on the gentle shores of lake Titicaca.

Machu Picchu, Perù

So now you're expecting from me to write how beautiful, unbelievable and amazing Machu Picchu is... No! I won't write it! I was tempted to write that it's just a stupid bunch of rocks on a stupid hill, but it shouldn't be fair nor true. I'm angry because, yeah, Machu Picchu is nice, and if you're an history junkie it can be awesome, but the problem is that the area is a tourist playground with hords of freaks coming from all over the globe to see the astonishing "lost city". First of all, I'm in Cuzco since 3 days and they charge you even for the air to breath, tourists are treated as cashcows. They can do that, because the average tourist in Machu Picchu is the sort of freaky gringo - the rasta peaceandlove one going up there to feel the energies-of-the-universe and stuff like that - the one who climbs the Wayna Picchu mountain with radio turned on, the one who has previously seen only one mount in his life: his mom's mons pubis... Endless queues at 5am, crying babies, loud people, you don't miss anything up there. Second, everything is awfully expensive, too much. I mean, paying 70 bucks for a 1 hour and half return train ticket to reach it (the Inca trail is closed this time of the year), 55$ as entrance fee, and 8 more dollars if you want the bus to bring you directly in front of the archeological site, sounds to me like an insult to all the poor people I've seen on the streets, those selling rope to earn few cents just to survive... In a country where the average salary income is about 200$ per month, it's crazy paying all those money (money which obviously goes in the pockets of the rich politicians in Lima, not to the population). By the way, the view is pretty cool, but it's definitely overshadowed by the crazyness of mass tourism. My suggestion is: come to Peru', visit Peru', skip Machu Picchu... Let's stop the mass tourism madness! Let's give the Inca's lost city his lost dignity's back! And if you're thinking now, yeah, he's talking about avoiding Machu Picchu but he went to visit it, I reply you that it was a mistake driven by that fuckin' Lonely Planet guidebook... Macchu Picchu is considered in that book as the very souuthern America's highlight and I followed those advices, I was slave of Lonely Planet advices, all the travellers are slave of Lonely Planet advices! All the people I met was following the same route suggested by that stupid book: there is no more creativity in traveling, travels are not anymore a personal decision and way to grow, an exciting way to explore the world and living new adventures. No, it's just a matter of following the path shown by Lonely Planet's authors. Lonely Planet is the teacher who says to all his students where to go and what to do...
Well, it's since a long I'm not student anymore and I've always been the only teacher of myself. So I've thrown that supid guidebook away and I've got my freedom back. Now I'm gonna travel only by the advices of the people I meet on my way.

Lima, Perù

Lima, more than 8 millions of population, an high crime rate, and lots of poor people. It's not a nice city, I spent there one day and was enough to see what Lima has to offer. But you know what, it's charming to me. Lima has a huge urban sprawl, with a true middle-eastern taste, dusty gravel roads and mountains surrounding the city. I climbed to the top of Cerro San Cristobal, to see the skyline of the city as well as the poorest neighbouroods: I found them charming, I don't know why. Should be great to walk around those areas catching pics of he people, talking with them and listen to all the stories they have to tell. Yeah, should be great, but it's not time for me to be killed just for few pics and stories, the view from above is enough for now. By the way, on the road heading to the top there was the writing you see in the picture on the left side (which literrally means, Pantani lives on). Pantani was my favourite cyclist ever, when he was attacking the steep uphills of Alpes was such a fun I never had anymore watching a cycling competition, I don't care if he was doped or not, was a great show and a great athlete, that's all. His story impressed me a lot: during his career he has always been extremely unlucky, many accidents avoided him to win as much as expected, and when he won the Giro d'Italia and Tour de France the same year, he was treated in Italy like a living God, everybody was talking about the phenomenal Pantani, the newspapers were writing daily how great he was. Then, the year later he has been disqualified from Giro d'Italia when he was first: nobody talked anymore about him, people started insulting him and saying that all the competitions he won was just because of EPO and the other drugs used. From that point he started his endless way down. The epilogue was dramatic: he was found dead for cocaine and benzodiazepines overdose, alone, in an awful hotel near Rimini, the Saint Valentine's day at the age of 34.
I loved to read that in Peru', a country so far away from Italy, someone still remember him.

Huaraz, Perù

It's the second day I'm in Huaraz, on the Peruvian Andes, and it's the second day of rain. Unfortunately this time of the year is rainy season in the Andes and I better lose the hope for the sun in the very next few days... Huaraz is settled at 3100 metres high, it's close to the Cordillera Blanca and Negra and it's supposed to offer unbelievable views and hiking trails over the surroundings 700 glaciers, the 230 mountain lagoons, or the peaks over 6000 metres. Maybe when the weather is clear it's true, not now for sure. Today I joined a tour to see a glacier at 5000 metres high: I've been surprised by myself 'cause when I was there at such altitude I was hiking quick like on sea level, no headache or breathing troubles at all, I've been the first one to reach the glacier and back without suffering too many efforts. I don't think it's only due to the tea with coca leaves I had before starting... I'm at my turning point: my body is going to be fit again, I'm not 90 kilos anymore like when I started this journey - I guess about 20 kilos less now - and my endurance skills are definitely the one I've always had.
Yes, I'm back.

Trujillo, Perù

Arriving in Trujillo,Peru, is definitely a step back from all the other countries visited recently. Entering the city early morning into seems to be arrived in Africa, or Guatemala at least, because of the dusty gravel roads and all the houses low and adobe (which means built with mud bricks...). Locals suggested me to keep the eyes wide open as Trujillo is considered an extremely tough city. I'll do my best. Meanwhile I go visiting some ruins spreaded near the town, then I have a night bus to Huaraz, on the Andes.

Cuenca, Ecuador

I'm spending more time than what planned here in Ecuador, but I like it. From Quito I moved to Puyo, a small city in the Eastern side of the country where the Amazonic jungle begins. The only things you can do in Puyo is visiting a small rainforest park, a monkey recovering centre or searching for a shaman to get ayahuaska. As getting ayahuaska needs a 5-day preparation, and I don't have that time to waste, I've chosen for the first two things then I moved away. 10 hours by nightbus later I arrived in Cuenca, considered by many the Ecuador's colonial jewel... First of all, it's unbelievable how many people overestimate the beauty of a place just because they're in holiday mood; so many persons told me that this city is great, something unbelievable, something not to miss at all. Well, I wonder if this people have ever been to Europe (I should say Italy, but I wanna be politically correct), because every stupid city in Europe can be charming as much as Cuenca, or even more. Anyway, for me Cuenca is ok, but nothing more. After all the countries I crossed and the amazing things I've seen, I'm definitely getting hard to please... Personally, I enjoyed much more going to the surrounding indio village of Guacelo (and, of course, enjoying their public markets with all those delicious food which markets always have to offer...) or visiting Ingapirca, the most important Inca site in Ecuador.
Tomorrow I move to the village of Sagaturo, then Peru'.

Quito, Ecuador

Quito, the capital of Ecuador, a city that lies at 2800 mt on the Andes and just few kilometres from the equator line. In a way, this city reminds me Naples, with no sea of course, as it's surrounded by mountains and the colorful houses have a true colonial Mediterranean taste. The colonial centre is pretty and the weather is pleasant, many beautiful churches and really really cheap prices. In the picture, it's me crossing the equator line: one leg in the Northern emisphere, one in the Southern one. The monument was built whereas the French geodesic expedition found the equator in 18th century, but the real equator line (as displayed by GPS) lies about 500 metres from that point. I've been there as well and the demonstration had was stunning: when the water was flushed from a washbasin on the equator line the water was falling straight, just one metre left to the equator, in the Southern emisphere, the water was flushing clockwise, and just one metre right to the equator the water was flushing anticlockwise with an very higher strenght, because of the higher magnetism of the Northern emisphere. Another curiosity: do you know why among all the countries crossed by the equator, it was chosen Ecuador to find it? Easy, because Ecuador is the highest one!

Otavalo, Ecuador

After last days' overdose of beaches, sea and sun, I'm finally back to my beloved mountains: I'm in Otavalo, Ecuador, on the Andes! Only the name - Andes - sounds soooooo exciting to me, as it's one of the 2 words which rebound in my mind since years (the other one is Himalaya) and now I'm here, among colorful indios and peaks over 4000 mt! The way to Ecuador has been pretty scary as I've got a night bus from Colombia and the mountain roads has been approached by the driver too fast for my taste: I mean, 90 km/h on a small mountain road with no guardrails and hundred metres precipice on the left side sounds to me too fast for a giant bus... I didn't sleep too much there, too busy in prayers! eheheh Here in Ecuador prices are finally more affordable than Colombia (in Colombia everything was very expensive and transportation was maybe even more than Europe!), so I've got a private tiny room for 7 dollars with bathroom and - music please! - hot water! It was in Mexico the last hot shower I had... after all this time I was almost forgetting how great hot water is!
People is very friendly here, everybody saying hello, everybody smiling. It makes me think about Milano, where people is afflicted by a superiority complex: they think to be the best in the world because rich and stylish, however, social relations are extremely poor, everybody's suspicious, smiles a species extincted. Here they don't drive Porsche but, hey!, who's the real rich one?

Valle de Cocora, Colombia

Everybody told me how cool Medellin is, I spent half a day there and for me was enough. Maybe because as soon as I arrived the city greeted me with a demonstration of the mothers of desaparecidos, or maybe because of the Botero park full of aged prostitutes fatter than the statues of Botero itself, or maybe because of all the police which was stopping me to suggest me to hide the camera as it wasn't safe to walk there alone, or maybe because of all the transexuals waiting for partners out of each hotel... Well, the only decent thing I've seen in Medellin was the viewpoint over the city from the top of Cerro Nutibara, that's all. So I moved to the "zona caffettera" of Colombia, a countryside area famous for the production of coffee (and coca as well). I reached the lush and green Valle de Cocora for a one day hike over the mountains, among giant wax palms and free colorful hummingbirds, which was really interesting. Then I moved to Salento, a small colorful village in the middle of zona caffettera: the funny story of the day is that when I had a walk to the top of the hill for the viewpoint over the city, I've seen a path through the woods I decided to follow, but after few meters appeared in front of me a paramilitary guy with gun and all the rest, saying me that I wasn't allowed to walk that way... I wonder what he was protecting! Coffee plantations maybe?

Cartagena de Indias, Colombia

After two hours by boat from Capurgana' to Turbo, one day on a bus to Monteria, one transfer to a different bus after crossing by walk a collapsed bridge, one night spent at the bus station of Monteria waiting for the 4am connection service, and eight more hours on the bus, I finally arrived in Cartagena de Indias, considered as one of the fines colonial towns in America. The old city is nice but, in all honesty, there are too many tourists which make me feel the city like a fake entertainment park for gringos in search of cheap emotions. Cocaine sellers are everywhere, everybody has "blanca" in their pockets and weed as well. It seems to me that the main exported product of Colombia worldwide is considered by many people a real must-to-do and not a dangerous drug; a pride for the whole nation and not a shame like it is. Think only that pushers are not afraid to sell their "goods" even in front of a van filled by policemen, think that many t-shirts on sale have printed the face of Pablo Escobar - the infamous powerful drug lord who ruled the country until mid '90s - and even think that most of the tourists here are those kind of "tourists" in search of nothing else but the illusions given by a chemical "fiesta".
Many things to think about... so let's think, let's think.

First day in South America...

I really don´t wanna spend a word to comment the picture above... Who read my blog knows that there´s a kind of curse pending on my head for the first day I'm in a new country... Well, until now I was missing flooding in my own personal collection, I can say now I filled also this gap. Anyway, it's not only my misfortune's fault this time, this is a very special year for central America's countries as January is usually a dry month but rains are still falling down heavily. Just think that about three weeks ago the Panama canal has been closed for the first time in his history because of the rains and consequently floodings.
The picture above has been taken early morning in the Caribbean town of Capurgana', Colombia, after four hours' rain.

San Blas islands, Panama

The fact that I've broken the promise once to cross the Pacific ocean doesn't mean that now I'm allowed to fly during this travel. This journey is an overland journey, and still it is. For this reason, to reach Colombia and avoiding to walk through the infamous Darien gap (which guidebooks defines it like a potencial suicide trip) I've sailed with a catamaran through the San Blas archipelago for 5 days to reach the coast of Caribbean Colombia. It has been a nice adventure to live and, even if some things have gone wrong because of the bad organization of the journey and the unpleasant neglect of the "captain" I have great memories about that, about the beauty of the islands crossed, about the fun had and all the rest. The group was right so it was fine to share time with them even if sea sickness made my time sometimes quite hard. Almost all the world was heading to Colombia on that boat: 5 australians, 4 dutchmen, 3 french, 1 danish, 1 english, 1 greek, 1 gringo and, last but not least, 1 italian lonelytraveller. Central America is gone now, welcome South America!Here is a short chronology of the 5 days spent on the catamaran "Levante":
Day 1 - As soon as we arrived to Puerto Lindo where the catamaran was anchored we met the "captain" of the boat - an aged French pirate - who told us that the "vice-captain" who came the day before at our hostel to explain the details of the trip and collecting 60 dollars each, had nothing to deal with him, so was a scam... He also told us that the boat had 15 beds only, no matters if we were 17, two people had just to sleep on the floor, it's easy. We also knew that the departure time was supposed to be at 8am, but it was late and the "captain" decided to leave the harbour only the next day. All day long drinking rhum, beer and vodka on the boat. One day wasted, but good party at least.
Day 2 - Recovering from day 1 drinking session. We sailed at 6,30 and the sea was extremely rough. It was hangover first, then hell for many hours to me. I discovered to be not a good sea wolf: sea sickness stroke me, I puked twice. For dinner the "captain" fished one small shark and one barracuda, so we ate shark ceviche and fried barracuda. Strange story this one, I was pretty sure that catching sharks was illegal almost everywhere in the world... Maybe Panama is part of that "almost"? No, I don't think so.
Day 3 - The perfect day. The sunshine was high in the sky, and the San Blas islands with their palms and reef barrier were rising like lonely mushrooms all over the sea. Waters were calm and warm, colors unbelievable. The "captain" stopped the boat near an incredible island, like a dream one, those kind of places you think exist only on postcards or Hollywood movies. No other boats, no tourists, no buildings at all: just a small spot of white sand surrounded by a deep green/blue sea with coconut trees, that's it. Well, maybe few people knows that I don't know at all how to swim, I just tried few times when I was kid and then no more for all these years. Facing that sort of paradise on Earth I thought within myself - now or never - then I jumped off the boat and, you know what?, I swam! Yeah, maybe more than swimming it's better say I was floating like shit, but, hey!, I did it! And few minutes later the Australian teacher took me off the safety jacket and I started swimming and swimming and swimming like I never thought it was possible for me to do before. An unbelievable day to toast at evening with the guys on the boat and few shots of cheap booze. Cool!
Day 4 - Sailing all day long. Sea a little rough mixed with a little hangover made me sleep almost all the morning, trying to avoid sea sickness: this time no problems. We passed near an island with a village of Kuna indios, was astonishing to me to see their huts, their colorful clothes, sometimes their painted faces... Unfortunately, the "captain" decided not to stop down there, even just for few hours: big shame on him. In the afternoon, he fished another big barracuda that we ate fried for dinner. We officially went out of drinkable water. By the way, one of the aussie guys woke up in the middle of the night and found enough water in his body to start pissing on the matress of the main hall instead out of the boat...
Day 5 - Cloudy and almost rainy day. The last leg of the trip. Few hours' sail then we approached the Colombian coast at Sapzurro around at 2 pm. Then we took a small boat to the nearby village of Capurgana' where is settled the immigration center.

Panama City, Panama

Capital cities in central America are all nasty sights: they're ugly, dirty, dangerous. Cities like Guatemala City, Managua, San Jose' and, yes, even Mexico City, are those kind of places where you never would like to be after dark. And when the sun is high they shine in all their endless decay: just holes in central America's ground. Panama is not too much different from them, but maybe is the best one. The modern skyline with skyscrapers reminds of Asian or North American metropolis, the old town is colorful and well restored, charming enough for those who face for the first time the Caribbean area, and, last but not least, there is the canal, one of the most incredible and challenging infrastructure ever built. Weather is extremely hot, sometimes cloudy, often rainy. Time to sail away, time to reach Colombia in 5 days by boat on the Caribbean sea through the San Blas archipelago!

Boquete, Panama

It's since few weeks heavy rains hit Panama all day long and flooding kill many people. Now I know what heavy raining means... I arrived yesterday night in Boquete, a small mountain town settled in the middle of coffee plantations (the coffee which grows here is considerate as one of the best worldwide) and supposed to be kinda heaven for outdoor activities. Maybe it is, for sure it's not when rainy: I've hiked through the forest to the way of San Ramon waterfall (the one in the pic), an easy walk with the right equipment, a sort of hell with 13 euros no-waterproof shoes and just plastic bags to preserve the other stuff... Was just 1 hour, 1 hour and a half walk, but all time long has been under the rain, with a stupid umbrella in the hand and the most heavy rains I've ever seen on the way back. Useless saying I'm completely wet now. As no buses were passing there, with two other american guys, we hitched a lift from a couple from Panama City, ending all together eating strawberries and drinking coffe in a local bar... No reason to stay longer here as forecast weather is bad as well.

Manuel Antonio, Costarica

No, there`s not a mistake in the title of this post, the name of this village is really Manuel Antonio! After one night spent in San Jose`, the capitol of Costarica, I moved to this village on the coast of Pacific Ocean because is near to the homonym National Park. Today I hiked into the National Park and it was really worthy to come here as the wildlife seen was stunning: lots of monkeys everywhere, hummingbirds, iguanas, lizards, sloths, crabs and other animals I don`t know what they are... Unfortunately the shitty camera (but mainly is fault of the shitty lens) I use didn`t allow me to take pics as wanted, but anyway some shots taken I guess they`re pretty cool, that`s enough.
By the way, coming from Nicaragua I was thinking how cool was to discover that country: a place which was something like a black hole on the geographical map to me, as I knew almost nothing about Nicaragua before reaching it, it quickly turned into one of my favourite central America spots, for the wild beauty of the almost-tourist-free country and the unbelievably friendly people. Well, Costarica is different, as the influence of United States is really strong (you can see Pizza Hut, Burger King and McDonald`s spreaded almost everywhere) prices are expensive, villages converted into tourist attractions and, finally, a different less charm as it seems to me more `fake`. But you come to Costarica for his lush nature and incredible wildlife, not for anything else, and nature here - trust me - is unbelievable.
I will greet the new year from the beach just few metres from the hostel where I stay in Manuel Antonio. Happy 2011 to you all.

Isla de Ometepe, Nicaragua

I'm back to mainland after a couple of days spent on the beautiful Isla de Ometepe, definitely a great place and an interesting experience to live. First, the way to the island from Granada by ferry was really really crazy, it takes about four hours of travel to get there and everything was fine until sunset even if waters were pretty rough. After sunset things went wrong and wrong. It all began with a child puking, she was the one who opened the show: after few minutes for a curious chain reaction everybody started to puke almost everywhere, on the floor, into thrashbins, into bathrooms, directly in lake... After one hour in a such way I blessed the arrival to the island because I was going to be sick as well. Anyway, the morning after, I rented a truly shitty bike and I cycled all around the southern volcano of the island. In Tikal, my head was roaring with stupid Axl Rose's voice and his "welcome to the jungle" song, now was time for Madonna and "la isla bonita". Yeah, because that island was really a sort of paradise on earth, with small gravel roads, no cars at all, colorful small villages isolated from anything, banana's trees, chicken and pigs roaming free... Well, cycling there for - I guess - about 50 km in one day has been challenging (mainly for my ass), as the roads were in an extremely bad condition (as the bicycle itself), but I will never forget the quiet and the peaceful there. I will also remember all those people living isolated from the so-called civilization, into those houses with no floor, no shoes, no electricity, but friendly and (maybe) happier than we are in our rich countries, while welcoming you with big smiles and the children offering you free fruits like it's used to do with a long time friend.
Different perspectives: that's the real value given by any travel.

Granada, Nicaragua

Christmas far from home is weird for definition, but I must admit I wouldn't have find a better place than Granada for it. I've a nice tidy private room with bathroom in the main road for few bucks per day, definitely comfortable and, finally, a little bit of privacy after all these months travelling in youth hostels with no privacy at all. So comfortable that I decided for some rest after the last days' frenziness and Antigua's parties: Christmas' eve I have been sleeping at 8 pm! The weather here is sunny and warm, like in European summertime, and I really enjoyed strolling down the local market eating tons of cheap fruit and drinking the local beer "Tona" or "Victoria", coming in 1 litre bottles for 1,5 dollars each. I also discovered the pleasures of local shacks which are truly different to all the other shacks where I ate during this travel: different to Mexican shacks, different to Guatemaltecan shacks, Chinese or Mongolian ones... Caribbean shacks are weird and charming! I mean, if you think it's charming eating with old caribbean music coming from a jurassic juke box bigger than 3 fridges and full of useless blinking lights while drunken locals select music on it just to show the only foreigner how cool is their music, or like having the tableclothe full of cigarette burns, or like the roof made by straw and the meat roasted directly out on the streets... Well, in few hours I'm gonna sail to Isla de Omotepe, a small island lying in the middle of Lake of Nicaragua with joint volcanoes and small villages along the coast. More news soon to come.

Merry Christmas from Granada, Nicaragua

Backpacking through some countries is an act of faith: faith in people, faith in themselves, faith in the future. Everything could happen, as safety is a word almost non-existant. I crossed El Salvador and Honduras with a night just-for-locals bus, which means squeezed like an animal on the hardest and most unconfortable seat ever. Next to me there was a guy from Nicaragua keeping me informed on his drinking status at every border: "First bottle of rum gone, second one ready to go!". The bus had two long stops for pinched tires. The capital of Nicaragua, Managua, is completely different to Guatemala, as the houses are low and dusty and messy and it really looks like a middle east city with horses used for transportation and an incredible poverty rate. As soon as I arrived in Granada, the colonial gem of Nicaragua, I understood I shifted to the caribbean area when a prostitute moved to me, officialy to offer a 2 hours massage for 5 dollars, in reality asking continously to keep my bags to help me... maybe trying to rip me off? Curse of the first day? Don't know, I only know that the city is colorful, warm, happy and I'm far thousand miles from home or any other place to remind me that today is Christmas.
Stories are gifts to share: stories are the only gifts I can give you for this year.
Merry Christmas to anyone.

Antigua, Guatemala

It's almost 3 days I'm arrived in Antigua, the "antique" capital of Guatemala. I've been to visit the Pocaya volcano and the Lake Atitlan. But before coming to Antigua, I spent 2 days in the jungle of Semuc Champey and Lanquin. Well, it's better I move out quickly from here: definitely too many temptations...

Tikal, Guatemala

I'm in the colorful Guatemala! I left Mexico with sadness as I love that country, but reaching Guatemala has been cool and exciting as well as I had to take one van, then crossing a river by boat and later one bus on a dusty gravel road to Flores, near Tikal. I'm happy now because crossing the border between Mexico and Guatemala is considered an hot spot for the presence of many bandidos robbing people along the road. The landscape has changed and I'm in a tropical paradise, among Maya ruins, screaming monkeys and many many trees... Welcome to the jungle!

Palenque, Mexico

No, the picture hasn't been taken in a local zoo, but at Canyon del Sumidero...

Are you hungry?

San Cristobal de Las Casas, Chiapas

I'm in San Cristobal de las Casas, a town settled at 2000 metres high in the middle of the Mexican state of Chiapas. It's cold and rainy. But it's cool. Almost indios only here, it doesn't seems possible to me thinking that just few days ago I was in United States. Crossing the border between US and Mexico is the most impressive, the most dramatic, the strongest ever, as everything change so quickly you really cannot believe there's only a short strip of land to divide such huge differences. Well, I arrived early morning with a night bus from Oaxaca and I've been to visit the mountain town of San Juan de Chamulo, where people believe in a mixture of Catholic religion and Maya traditions, with the result that inside the main church of the town believers go to heal their problems turning on candles, bringing offers or killing chickens as sacrifice to the Saints... What else to say? Charming.

Oaxaca, Mexico

Visiting Mexico at this time is not the safest thing to do as narco trafficants are fighting between themselves and against the army as well. News reported that last night there has been another slaughter with 13 people dead. Where? In the city of Guadalajara. Just read the previous post...
Steve McCurry? No, Matteo Lonelytraveller!

Teotihuacan, Mexico

Yeah, I was right: honeymoon with safety is over. I read from the news that the city of Morelia (exactly where I wished to go...) has been closed because of a huge fight between narcos and the army: what I understood from the papers is that the police caught the boss of "la famiglia" - a gang of narcos from the city - and for that reason the battle started, with shootings among population and 5 policemen dead. I also had my scary moment the first day in Mexico: after a stroll in the centre of Guadalajara (which is the 2nd biggest city in Mexico) I had to reach the bus station in the suburb, I've got the right bus, I've fallen asleep and I missed the right stop... Well, I understood was the wrong way only at the last stop which was in San Pedrito, a fuckin' dangerous suburb on the hills of Guadalajara, something like a favela, something where you don't wanna be at 20 to ten (exactly as the good Sebastian Bach was singing in one of his best hits "freaks come out at nine, and it's 20 to ten") Well, I asked info for a bus to the station and this guy started pushing me saying "I show you the way, follow me, follow me along that dark, empty, long alley...". No way, I got the first taxi available. Then he wanted to follow me as he was saying he was going to the bus station as weel, once arrived he asked me if I wanted his 'company' now or in the future: he was a bitchman.
Anyway, after a one night bus I arrived in Mexico City, just for a short visit to the beautiful Teotihuacan pyramids, and then I've been to the city centre to see the cathedral and the few interesting spots this massive city (15 millions people!) has to offer. Mexico is cool.