A lot of things have been said about Colombia,  mainly that it is a dangerous country to travel through on your own. We had our moments of doubt and were certain that transition through to Venezuela would be the sensible thing to do.
We convinced ourselves that while keeping close to the main roads and only drive during daylight,  we would be safe. This reassuring made us alter our direction despite rumours of road blocks, guerillas and kidnappings and head on to the northernmost city on the South American continent; Cartagena.
Starting off the second day went fine until about five kilometres out of town… A long snake of cars, busses, trucks and even horsecarriages queued up in front of us - our passage north was blocked by some of Mother Earths droppings - a huge pile of dirt and passing would not be possible for at least five hours! We conferred with some locals and went off the main road and continued on a secondary road.
The road was mountanious and winding, but fine - for a while, then torment went loose. Graveled roads and endless roadworks concluded in numerous hours of driving anyway. However the marvelous landscape and the picturesque villages lining the road like a string of pearls made up for our wretchedness. The day had reached the time where the sun turns slightly orange and discovering of a safe place to stay was vital.
Some time went and a big banner arching the road caught our attention - Hotel Real Dinastia - you place in heaven. No immediate signs lead us to this sanctuary and we took the first possible road and discovered a consealed steep driveway lined with big white Greek columns which took us to a “luxury” compound caressed by vast land and high trees. We ended a long driving day by cooling off in an enormous pool edging a hillside where we grasped in our minds, the fantastic view of the mountains surrounding the valley.
Trusting in sheer luck we continued “fearlessly” towards the north. The winding roads never seemed to end and time was not on our side. Hours before sundawn we started our search for a place to stay. Hotels was not abundantly found at the Colombian countryside and we prepared ourselves to drive through to Cartagena inspite of the fact that darkness would be our close traveling companion for quite some time.
Adrenallin was about to brim over in my veins each time we had to stop for road toll or the military forces in the dark. The light was slightly enough to lit the passage and shape silhuettes of oildrums and armed soldiers blocking the road. During the day this is nothing to be concerned about but somehow the dark intensifies these situations and makes you feel exposed.
The lack of signs made us wonder if we were on the right track until we saw the purpur light illuminating the line where the sky appears to meet the Earth  -  Cartagena was within our reach - safe!

Mountains and rivers in Colombia

Popayan

A little girl is sitting glued to the television. She is like in a trance, she cannot hear you - and out of your reach, she is amongst weird animals. Tell her to go there - she would stare at you and say: unthinkable, unreachable - like the moon…Things change and here we were where everyday was a new unbelievable adventure seeing amazing creatures on their special place in the world. We went from one hemisphere to the other twice whilst criss-crossing between the islands.It was not the fact of being on a fantastic yacht for a week, neither the food - not even the excellent group we were - it was the mere thought of being there - voyaging the vulcanic islands of Galapagos.

See all the Galapagos pictures here

Again we somehow managed to hit darkness before finding a place for the night. The last 5 km was a descending hill with lots of hairpin bends. We ended up right at the shore passing lots of fishing boats and small houses outlined by the small kerosene lights scattered in the dark like a starlite sky. After a short while we more or less were at the end of town and lucky for us there was a hotel.
We went for a walk in the night and found a nice little restaurant. They were about to close the kitchen. Since two expected guests had not arrived we could have their meals. Some time went and the two guest did arrive - so we all shared what was left…
After a night in a poorly bed I was awaken by an amazing music of seabirds, waves and wind. I wrapped  the bedlinen around my body and went to sit on the edge of our porch outside the room. With the calming salty wind smoothly touching my cheak I watched some surfers taking advantage of early morning wave breaks.

Just as the beer, there is a town called Quilmes, though this is not the place where the beer was originated. In the sixteenth century the Spanish conquistadors deported the last 2000 villagers to Buenos Aires. One of the descenders named an area Qilmes in the outskirts of Buenos Aires. Later on a brewery was started to produce the sparkling fresh beverage with the unmistakable blue brand and the beer was named after the area.
The other Quilmes is a location with some less known ruins in the Andean northwest of Argentina. We went there since it was on our way. It appeared that the people from Quilmes had been blocking the entrance to the site for 45 days and were about to lift the block as we came by. The leaders of the blocade, some old women claiming to descend directly from the Quilmes Indians, had strongly requested to the government, that part of the profit from the tourist attraction should benefit the people instead of the current owner, a private company that had bought the location for next to nothing many years ago and still paid the same very low rent for the place even though his profit had risen considerable - Some things just never change..

After a long day going north we past a place called La Merced, not that theres anything special about this little village, only when lying in our tent with a moscitonet between us and the sky, fire flies with their flourescent green lights were dancing a ballet, accompanied by thousands of crickets all singing with each their special tune. Totally astonished by this fantastic scenery made by nature, we fell a sleep tired and happy.

There is something uncontrolable and passionate about fire, once started you will never know where it will end. Even though you know it is dangerous you want to come close and feel the heat as long as you are sure to retreat safely.
Entering Esquel we saw some smoke high up on a hill - it was not obvious if it was an “old” fire or one just started. Mario had just mentioned to contact someone when a pick-up with an insignia on the side of the car saying: “Incendios Forestales Chubut” meaning fire fighters of the forest in Chubut. Mario was not late to catch their attention, since he made a quick u-turn and chased the pick-up down a dirt road with more holes than dirt leading to the hill. I could feel his adrenalin rise as he took off with his camera towards the firing hill.
What we did not know at the time was that the fire had been smouldering since the day before, and that there were already several fire fighters there, meaning that they had not been able to extinquish the fire for a while.
I followed Mario’s every move on the hill and saw him go dangerously close to the licking flames. It did not seem to bother him, he was in front of the fire monitors, between the fire and the firefighter, on top, below, on the side - he was everywhere.
After a while several other fire fighters entered the scene and I saw their equiptment and clothes up close. Mario had only a t-shirt and jeans!
After a couple of hours “he came down from the mountain” smothered with coal dust , a tired look in his face, bruises and scratches allover, but safe!

If spelled by the Torres del Paine, this totally comatized me. The Perito Moreno Glaciar is by far the most gigantic phenomenon I have ever seen. Its greatness embraced me like lianas twirled tightly around my body preventing me from falling. I saw huge chunks drop and heard the music of the white power pressuring against the gap between the mountains. For two whole hours I was grounded at the same spot with my eyes fixed at the ice cube. The white mass caressed my cheek with the wind sweeping lightly over its surface and I finally came out of the doze.
There’s is no way to fix this greatness in a photo, we had to try though and let you be the judge.

Spelled by nature
If you ask me, one of the wonders of the world is located in Chile… Various statements support this claim by calling Torre del Paine the most beautiful national park in South America.
The landscape was an abundance of colours and shades competing to conquer your heart. The galactic clouds were kissing the highest peak of the Torres del Paine and we were in heaven.
On top of this, we had the oportunity to enjoy Christmas dinner at the Pehoe Hostal – viewing this magnificent scenery.
We just had to stay in the park for at least two full days. The next day we explored the other side of the massive and found a nice spot from where we could trek – after consuming the fruit, chocolat and water we brought within the first hour we recognized that we would soon be lacking carbonhydrates and H2O and that we are no trekkers (again) and went back to the camp. We had a well-deserved siesta and woke up to the sound of horses… not a couple of horses – at least twenty just outside the tent – what a thrill.
Torres del Paine made us comprehend the meaning of breathtaking…

Marked by fire
The third place in the national park we aimed to go was Lago Azul (the blue lake). After the two prior sceneries it was difficult to get excited – and the weather was a little dull. We turned around and sat off for the Argentinian border. After a short while a big cloud of dust some hundred metres from the car caught our attention. The cloud soon dropped to the ground and revealed a little fenced area with some horses, one falling slowly to the ground by the force of ropes held by three men and another trudging backwards as if it knew – I’m next. Mario explained that they were taming wild horses and grabbed his camera and ran to the fence.
Coming closer we saw the eye of the horse following any movement towards all points of a compas. The yellow red iron stamps reflection in the mirror of its soul. The sizzling sound, the evil smoke, the body twitching and the letters SL determined the future of this creature.
Non of us had ever seen something like this before and we were both immensly impressed by the spectacle…

A glimps of Chile
Strangely enough you have to cross the southern part of Chile in order to reach the Argentine part of Tierra del Fuego (the Land of Fire). It was supposed to be an easy part. What we did not know, was that the day we chose to cross was the traditional go-visit-the-taxfree-Punta Arenas-day. Stuffed like herrings in a barrel we found a queue each and waited patiently to do our papers. Well, after all together ten hours with no water or things to put in your mouth, waiting at border crossings, taking a bite of Chile and riding the ferry over the Strait of Magellan we had returned to Argentina and reached the “uttermost part of the world” – Tierra Del Fuego.

Lago Fagnano
We could have had full steam ahead and continue to Ushuaia but after a couple of hours driving in showering rain under a threatening black sky we turned off at a little town right at the edge of the huge Lake Fagnano stretching from Tolhuin and into Chile with it’s well over hundred kilometres in length. It was a true winner… At first we asked for shelter so we could still pitched the tent. Well non of the shelters had roof? Luckily for us though. We fell in love with a charming little cottage ten metres from the shore of the lake and booked it for two nights. It had a enormous wood burning stove and heaps of firewood abundantly encircling the place. The place is runned by Roberto Berbel, a very nice guy - who I am sure could embrace the whole world if you’d let him. When he left us the key to the cottage he said, “Use the place, do whatever you want, move the furniture around, whatever - it is your house.” He is a true fugiono born in Ushuaia and came to the lake some 19 years ago. He also conquered the lakes borders with a hydrobike inspite of his fear of the great big waters - he even wrote a book about it “Expedición Fagnano,” in Spanish. We had some totally unfergetable days there and wanted to return when coming back from Ushuaia - but the place was fully booked over Christmas, well it wouldn’t be the same anyway - so life goes on.

Petrified Forest
We were not sure if we should visit this sight. 150.000.000 reasons why we should. In this moonscape scenery some huge trees about a 100 metres high and up till three metres in diameter, fell to the ground about 150 million years ago and through different ages of being burried in ashes from the surrounding volcanos and covered by the sea for several thousand years, this petrified forest became what it is today. Unbelievable, only by touching you can feel the difference. In this Jurassic forest once lived some of the largest dinosaures in the world. Some bones found on a field some 20 years ago in Neuquen sized the “Argentinosaurus Huinculensis” to be about 40 metres in length and 18 metres in height, which you might say is a humbling lesson in size. (source Lonely Planet)

Hunting Killer Whales
We left Puerto Piramides to explore the whole of Peninsula Valdés. It is a circuit of about 300 kilometres. Punta Norte was supposed to be the place to see killer whales, sea lions and elephant seals. There was a bunch of animals there but no killer whales… So off to the next point Caleta Valdés in our hunt for the great killer. Well, this one was the home for hundreds of penguins, the small wobly walking mix of a bird and a fish – but still no killer… Last chance was the Punta Delgada – very touristic and not really that nice – and guess what, no killers. After driving up and down the coast to find a cool place to camp, we stopped for a Quilmes (Argentina national beer) and a dip – the bay water was freezing cold even for a viking, I can say for a fact since I was the one dipping.

Almost blowing away
Finally we found a spot and pitched our tent, unfolded the chairs for a sun downer overlooking the sea. The wind was so strong that we needed to dress up like beduins. We heard the well knowned sound of speedy pistons coming closer. It was the same German bikers we had meet the day before in Puerto Pirámides. They took a few shots, gazed over the sea, maybe looking for whales playing in the disappearing sunlight, just like we did. Well, they left soon after and just in irony Mario imitated some jazzie dancing whales, and would you believe it - they actually appeared. Some 300 metres a couple of Killer Whales were splashing around – what can you say…? We realized that it would be quite a challenge for our tent to survive the night as the wind was hitting from all angles. We took the chance and looking through the net roof of our tent we were rewarded with the incredible Southern Cross lined by a crystal clear galaxy. Well, the tent survived and so did we.

Buenos Aires
We arrived to Buenos Aires driving the widest avenue in the world… Avenida nueve de Julio - 20 lanes! It is huge. In spite of the many lanes, traffic jams are a everyday problem though… This really confirms, that creating wider and wider streets does not solve the traffic problem – only makes space for more cars. Mario had found a neat little hotel in the center of town, meaning where everything happens. During the few days we were there, the new president – Cristina Kirschner was cheered by the people and the new mayor of Ba As joined his public office meaning thousands of people in the street and loud music everywhere. At first we thought that it would be terrible with all the people yelling their hearts out and drums from hell just below our balcony. Well, all this action did that the streets were blocked – no traffic – no smog, so when ever it got frantic we hided away in a café surfing the internet.

City tour stroll
Mario showed me some of the famous sites of Ba As. Even though taxis fares are very cheap we somehow managed to forget about that and walk our soles thin on the sidewalks of the huge city of fresh air…Espresso: We had an espresso at the nearby and famous café La Biela. My first visit in a series of visits to café’s of Ba As. Well, an espresso in Argentina, is not just any espresso – it is simply fantastic! When you order an espresso, you get a glass of water, some cookies and of course the espresso.You drink water to cleanse your taste bud, drink the espresso and eat your cookies and leave. Your order will be served in less than a minute and will cost you next to nothing – I wonder if I ever will experience that in old Denmark.J

Recoleta
For reasons I do not know, I just had to visit La Recoleta, the cemetery where Evita Perón rests. Mario really feels that it is depressing and a waste of time to visit any cemetary. For me this cemetary is monumental with all its mausoleums, statues and livelyness. Very different the cemetaries in Denmark, which I find depressing why I never go there… Mario refused to take any photos. Well, now I have my own camera… you see, so I manage to catch a crumpy Mario at Evita’s marbel mausoleum, actually my first photo on this trip.

La Boca
Just at the banks of the river Riachuelo starts the poor but very colourful quarter of La Boca. The beautiful houses in various strong colours and odd shapes sheltered early Italian immigrants. Couples dressed in traditional tango outfits were not dancing but only there to sell pictures taken together with passer-by tourists. There was a look-a-like Maradona – just incredible, the only way to notice the difference was to have the real one next to him. How can you not have your picture taken next to D10S (God)? Well I did not J While being there we witnessed a demostration against the extremely polluted river. People were dressed up in carneval style carrying a huge black litter fixed banner between themselves forming the river Riachuelo. It is a problem various presidents have promised to do something about though non have until now.

Tango
Darkness were upon us and we were taking the last stroll down the huge Avenida nueve de Julio and back to the hotel, when we heard the weak sound of weaping violins and a spell-binding bandeon a few blocks away. The intense tunes strike your heart before your mind. We were drawned by the sound of tango right down to the very street we lived in. For about 5oo metres there were several with live tango music. People were dancing on the stage in front of the orchestra, on the street, on the sidewalk – everywhere. Dressed in black from the glistening grey hair to the spit shining shoes. The wrinkles count his years and with agility his rheumatised hands are holding the woman of his last tango this evening; a very young supple lass with unruly locks, the jeans tight-fitting like paint and the waist uncovered. She is like a puppet in his embrace and the sleepy look in their faces reveal a mutual passion for the tango. Mario asked me to dance and even though I wanted, I could not decline. Reclining when asked by an Argentinian is strictly unheard-off and degrading for the man. So in order to save the evening I accepted and had the time of my life, dancing tango with the love of my life in front of at least 2000 people – not to mentioned that it happened where the tango was born in Buenos Aires. Beat that!

Café Tortoni
Mario had booked a genuine tango show and even though what we experienced in the street was authentic, this evening would be in a locality, where tango has been performed since it’s early days in 19th century – Café Tortoni, which also is a very famous restaurant. Well, Mario ows me a dinner there when we return to Ba As at the end of our journey. I was really excited and the show exceeded my expectations by far. We were seated at the very first table to the stage. A funny thing is, that everytime I spectate a intim concert and I am able to see the musicians getting ready, unfolding the racks, checking the microphones and the sound, tuning the instruments and so forth – I feel that we have something in common and I really want to jump on stage and perform… Of course that never happens and thank goodness for that! People have paid good money to see some professionals performe, not a pale chubby Dane in shorts.

Goodbye
Actually I were supposed to relax for a week after my last day at the job. The Spanish verbs should be swotted and intensive listening to Spanish television a must! Well, the only Spanish channel we’ve got is TV-Bingo and sports. I got to a hundred and gooooaaaaaal!

Lufthansa LH510
The clock beside the wolrd map on the 20” screen, hanging from the sealing in the plane, tells me 13 hours and 45 minutes to destination. I close my eyes and snooze for an eternity, I think – 13 hours and 40 minutes to destination… After having been sandwiched forever between a smelling French businessman and an engineer from Tirol, the backrest from the seat in front about 10 cm. from my nose, four movies without sound, several kilometres up and down the plane floor, it sounded from the speakers “we will land in Buenos Aires in a few minutes”…

Who’s the Savage?
Unlike several airports in Europe it went smoothly and quick through Ezeiza (Ba As airport). Arriving on the other side and a figure stood waving – was it Mario…? Is it possible to forget one anothers appearance in less than a month? He looked like on who had been “on the road” for long; suntanned and relaxed and here I were in my new clothes covering my milky white legs, still a bit stressed from my last day at work. Forget about it! You have arrived… The adventure starts now!