My different point of view to the trip - Yannick

After all those blogs by papa I have to tell everybody my point of view about our adventure. We started off in rio ( I know you know that, but anyway ), which was amazing. One night my parents and the people we were staying with (ronaldo and renata ) were going to a bar and so they asked them what they would do with me and they casually said " he'll come with us ".At first I thought they were joking but apparently in Brasil KIDS  are allowed into bars !!!!!  Well I thought they would be partying and dancing and all of that, but what do I say, you adults are soooooooo Boring. I mean on days you want to have fun and all that you go to a bar, and your idea of a fun night in a bar is talking to people with a glass of beer in your hand. Or maybe that's just with my parents and you do more fun things than THAT ( hopefully ) !!!!!!! My parents kept saying Rio is 'naturally blessed' ( I'm sure papa had written it in the blog ). I did not really care about the naturally blessed part and all that, but rio was amazing even otherwise.

We then went to Minas Gerias which to me was actually not so great. In minas we went to SJDR which was really boring. And tiradentes which was pretty and all that but it looked like a town for old people ( not as in older than me,  like 70 or 75 year olds ) who just want to sit around looking at the sky. In tiradentes we had heard from some one that we could do trek to the spring of a water fountain which was in supposedly the center, but it looked like it was in the furthest part from the center, in the city of 4 blocks by 4 blocks. The trek was a complete waste as we went a long way, it was not at al hard but it was long, and then just came to a dead end. The trek was full of beautiful vegetation and all that...but whats the point if you go for a trek to find some thing and then just reach a big dead end.

We went back and forth from rio to other places because we wanted see other places but we had to be close to rio cos we had to receive our chile visas. After that we said bye to rio and left for ilhe grande. Ilhe grande was nice but if it was known for it's beaches I would not be impressed. The sea did not have a single wave, just calm waters in which u can just sit next to and gaze at. I would have put ilhe grande in my bad books if what happened the next day did not happen. Early next morning, about 11 o' clock (I know that's not early but anyway ) we made plans to trek up to a water fall. By 11:30 we reached the trekking track. It was a 5 km trek. The path was...up hill, down hill, up hill, down hill and it went on and on like that. Midway or 1/4 the way a huge ( about 3 foot ) snake slithered right in front of me!!!!!! I did not spot it until It got into the grass!!!!!! I could have stepped on it!!!!!!! Well that was NOT the reason that changed my opinion of Ilhe grande. The waterfall was amazing.....mamma said she wanted to get under the waterfall. Which at that point, I thought was a stupid idea cos the waterfall was like an air conditioner from on the rocks 15 feet away. I knew they would freeze to death so I decided not to get under the fall even though I had swimming shorts on. So mamma got out of her clothes and  was in her bikini and papa took of his shirt and they went in. Just as they got In this couple  reached the place I was at. Even they started getting ready to go into the falls. ( I don't think they would have if mamma and papa weren't in already. As soon as they got in papa dragged me in as well. He helped the woman get right under the fall. When I reached under the fall I stayed only for 1 pic. It was freezing. And mamma who won't get into the sea unless it's not at all cold was relaxing on a rock under the fall.

After we got out we started to chat with the couple. Their names were nana (which i thought was a short form but i was wrong ) and andreas .We found out they were german and they had sailed across the Atlantic in a sailboat which  was 38 feet!!!!!!!! They asked us if we had plans and all that so we made plans to cook dinner on their boat.  We bought some ingredients and everything and got onto a 'dingy'. Andreas rowed the dingy to Their boat...which I think was quite hard cos there were 4 other people to row. Once we got into the boat he told us that we were gonna go to a quieter place and papa sailed or drove or whatever you call it halfway and the next half I sailed. It was fun but 5 mins from the destination there was a spider on the wheel and, I have a phobia of them, I got distracted and kept going right and so Andreas had to steer the boat back to the proper course.

We then went snorkelling, which did not work cos it was to big and the water got into my eyes....but even without the snorkelling gear I saw zebra fish, a huge starfish and  some weird glowing thing. After getting back we ate Doritos and drank coke ( adults drank beer and mamma drank juice ). Dinner was pasta and some fruit or veggie.

The next day we left Ilhe grande, nana and Andreas gave me some crepes which I ate on the bus Journey to Sao paulo............in Sao Paulo we were gonna couch surf for the second time in the trip with this girl called luiza. Well Sao Paulo was fun but it was not touristy at  all..........Which is completely fine by me as they had many parties and I played füsbal. We stayed at luiza's grandmothers house as there was no place in her house ( actually she stays with her parents, she's 25 ) cos her parents and her sister Maria, who is 16, her brother henrique and herself. I have realised that I get quite lonely in hostels and all that, but I love couch surfing....it's more fun.

It was easter sunday on one of the days and luiza was going to take us cycling around the city cos on sunday, from 7 in the morning to 2 in the afternoon there is this thing where one lane of the road is shut down for bicycles. mamma didn't wanna come cos she wanted to help luiza's dad make the easter lunch. The bicycle thing was supposed to be 7 kilo meters or something....but i think luiza must have been thinking about the number 7 when she said that or maybe she was going to mutiply it by 4, but she forgot. Affter 7 kilometers passed luiza told me we had half way to go. once the next loooong 7 kms got over i thought we were back but for some reason i did not regonise this place as the one where i rented my bike. And of course this was only the the half way stop. so when i asked luiza where we supposed to leave our bikes and she told me that we had to go back...i was wondering if 7 k was actually that long. cos im sure i would have done 7 k in 20 mins in a car. the ride back was really hard cos we did not even have any water with us....and it was raining...it was not raining heavily, but heavily enough to make me tired even quicker. after the terrific bike ride there was easter lunch. it was not even really easter but luiza parents were not going to be there the next weekend which was the real eaaster..so they decided that the party was gonna happen that day. It was mamma's b'day so we ate cake and all that. But the best part was playing foosball. luiza had invited a lot of people...so when me and maria went to the basement to play foosball a whole lot of people followed. One of luiza's friends named Corneilio was 6 foot 10 inches tall, and he was the 2nd shortest amongst the 5 who made his basketball team!!!!!! luiza had only 1 rule and that was if someone beat the opponent 10/0 then the loser has to go under the table. Papa and Cornelio lost to someone 10/1 which just saved Cornelio the trouble of getting his 6 foot 10 inch body under the table. Later  on maria and me beat papa and cornelio 10/0 and the picture of Cornilio trying to get under the table was priceless.

We then went to foz do iguaźu. Well this waterfall made the one in ilhe grande look like.....a needle in a hay stack......a very very big hay stack!!!!! The Brazilian side was nice and all that but all we did was look at it......and well get soaked by the spray of water ( that was fun ). On the Argentinean side we took a boat ride to get under the falls. That was probably the most amazing thing I have experienced with nature. We saw 3 or 4 rainbows, got completely soaked  and had fun.

Buenos Aires was our next target. The bus we took to get there was called "rio uruguay". It was the best bus ever.......they gave us snacks, drinks ( they gave papa whisky, liquor and last of all champagne ). We thought maybe the buses in Argentina were better than in Brasil. My first impression of buenos aires through a taxi window ) was: New York. Everybody was wearing black, it was busy with people on the streets and all that. The hostel we stayed in was a rubbish hostel. Breakfast was basically just bread and.....a replacement for butter. One day they forgot to even give us breakfast!!!!! But even now papa says it was the second best place we stayed in because of the people ( not only the staff ) we met in the hostel. The highlight of buenos aires ( for me ) was the footballgame. It was between 2 teams I had never heard of. The fans of the team I was supposed to support were all yelling abuses at the other team. All ages, kids, adults, grandfathers. So when children abused the parents would tell them to stop, and 2mins later they will start abusing. My team won the match. It was great fun.

The next best thing we did in BA was lujan zoo, it was great...i got to pet and hold lion cubs and tigers, but i was not allowed into the older lions cage...which was a bummer. But it was really good fun. since the keepers liked us a lot they asked  us if we wanted to take the cub to its mother...so i got to carry the cub outside the cage which was amazing. On the last day in Buenos aires one of our friends, Gaby, told mamma that her friend wanted her to cook an Indian meal, at her restaurant,  for lunch. The meal was not at all spicy...but for gaby she could not even finish half of the food on her plate. Her friend Carolina had no problem and she loved it.

Peurto madryn was the next destination. we basically went there because some travellers we met recomended it . The main thing we were gonna do was a tour. We had many options but we chose the "peninsula valdez" tour. the tour was gonna take us to see penguins, sea lions, elephant seals and orca which are basically just killer whales named differently cos killer whales dont kill anything but thier food and they are dolphins, not whales. The guide told us that seeing the orca is very rare. he told us that only 10% of the tourists see them, and this tour is taken every day. The guide kept telling us we probably wouldn't see the penguinds as they were starting to leave. but we were lucky and we even saw the ORCA!!!!!!!!!!!

The hostel in peurto madryn was the best one ever, it was just amazing. if i ever go back to Peurto madryn then i will definitely stay there.  The end of the world was coming up. Ushuaia was reallllllly beautiful. You could see the mountains from the hall in our hostel, which was pretty cool. We went for a trek up to a mountain, and for the first time I saw snow!!!It was proper snow when we got to the mountain area, not just some stupid, lame ice that you cant even make a snowman out of. although the snow was so cold that it burned my hand when i tried to make a snowball.  Next we walked around, took pics with the end of the world sign, typical for travellers in ushuaia.  That was it for the end of the world, i think people only go there, for the fact that they can say " ohhh i been to the end of the world and all that hocus pocus.We took a flight out if Ushuaia to El calafate, cos it was the same price as the bus AND it was shorter AND we wouldn't have to go through the chilean border.

In El Calafate, on the first day we walked around town and this dog followed us for hours. I named him woof. i would keep throwing stones into the lake and he would bound after them and jump into the freezing waters. Once we got into town i could not see him and i suddenly saw him jump into a car and drive of with a lady.
The next day we trekked on a glacier...it was the most amazing trek I have ever done. I never thought it would be so easy to walk on ice. The tour guides explained everything very well. It was lot of fun. In the end there was a surprise which was whisky with glacier ice, but I only got to drink water.

The glacier looked like the description of Mount Diablo in Heroes of Olympus except that it was flat and spiky rather than tall and spiky. It was huge, 30 kms long, adn 70 feet high outside the lake and 110 feet below the water.

I hope the trip continues like the glacier walk...and I have a strong feeling that it will. I thnk thats probably the most positive thing i have said since bieng above 10 years old. The trip is definitely changing me

yannick