I arrived in Rio 6 days before the start of the Olympic games and the place was humming with expectation. And when I say expectation, what I really mean is last-minute preparation. As proof of this, I took a photo of a set of Olympic rings, wrapped in plastic, that arrived at night as I…
Category: Travel
Last hoorah in Buenos Aires
Dear reader, please forgive my absence: I got rather carried away in Rio and have not put metaphorical pen to metaphorical paper for quite a while. Our protagonist (yours truly) was returning to Buenos Aires from Mendoza at the end of the previous post. Let us reprise: I had selected to stay in the neighbourhood…
I say, “Malbec”, you say, “?”
Mendoza! That’s right, the Argentine city is synonymous with high-calibre, new world wine and, as an oenophile, that was reason enough to visit whilst in the country. I made a reservation on AirBnB then headed to the Buenos Aires bus terminal to board and overnight bus to Mendoza. Not only were the tickets more than…
Patagonia – Narnia meets Middle Earth
As I write, the dawn is weaving patterns of red and gold through the cloth of cloud on the Patagonian horizon. I am on a bus heading from El Chaltén to El Calafate: places of which I was totally ignorant until a week ago. Where and what is Patagonia? It constitutes a third of Argentina…
You’ve been tango’d – a week in Buenos Aires
Hello from Argentina! Rather a few days have passed since my last post so I will try to give a (witty) summary of my movements: I left you last in Cape Town as I prepared for my 39-hour (layover in Doha inclusive) transit to Buenos Aires. That was about as much fun as it’s sounds…
Cape Town and the Garden Route
If you have ever heard a semi-inebriated South African extolling the virtues of Cape Town, you would think the place was a second Eden – paradise on Earth. So, with this reputation preceding it, it had a lot to live up to. I will freely admit that winter might not be the optimal time to…
Chobe #2 and Victoria Falls
The following morning, our assistant guide and chef, Job, delighted us with a mountain of French toast before our schedule visit of a model village of a Caprivian tribe. Our guide for this activity’s name was Gift, a diminutive chap whose good favour we gained immediately by giving him a foil-wrapped gift of the part…
Bush men and hippos
A new tour departing from Windhoek meant a new group with which to familiar myself. The U.S. Librarian and Brenda, one of the Canadians were the only repeat offenders from the previous trip of northern Namibia. I therefore had to shake seven new hands and try to not immediately forget the seven new names that…
Northern Namibia #2
The following morning, whilst I dozed on the bus, we crossed into Damaraland, a beautiful desert region of Namibia where the language has five clicks in addition to more familiar phonemes. We were advised that we would be visiting a village of Himba people, a tribe native to Angola and north Namibia, and that we…
Southern Namibia tour
A delicious Lydia-breakfast later (see previous post) and I was clambering aboard a 14-seater safari truck with 13 strangers, to commence a three-day tour of Southern Namibia. Throughout the morning’s drive I worked on familiarising myself with names and back-stories: Brazilians x3: all living in Sao Paulo Canadians x3: a couple from Vancouver and a…
London to Windhoek
Rather a lot has happened since my last post so forgive the bombardment of mini posts: only now have I returned from a lengthy spell without Wi-Fi in the Namibian desert. London fly-by: I departed from Saint Petersburg mid-afternoon on Friday 27th. My attempts to charm the lady at the check-in desk into giving my…
Flying colours
It occurred to me at 40,000 ft, early this morning, probably somewhere over Chad or the Democratic Republic of Congo, that I should write a post about air travel. Of course, there are always local idiosyncrasies, however, many aspects are universally true. Firstly, let’s identify some of the best-loved air travel personalities: The first-time flyer:…
seen2screen 