Ever considered going kitesurfing in South America? If not, it’s time to reconsider! Many South American countries are full of river dams. Where there’s a dam, there’s an artificial lake. Where there’s an artificial lake, there’s oftentimes real strong winds. Many of these kitesurfing lakes are rather obscure for the kite community, yet are famous locally for their reliable, strong winds and tiny waves. Watch out, some of these locations aren’t for beginners. All of them do have schools that offer classes but ask yourself if you want to tackle these beasts when just starting out. Perhaps you’ll be sittingContinue reading
Chile
71 Reasons to Visit South America in 2017
Whether you’re a hitchhiker, a digital nomad, or a holidaymaker, South America is absolutely phenomenal. Let’s not hold off on that long-desired trip to the southern hemisphere any longer! Without further ado, here’s your randomly ordered justification to go ahead and get south the coming year: 1. Firstly, pick up fifty shades of Spanish! As a result of colonialism, South America is quite homogeneous language-wise, with Spanish and Portuguese being the most spoken. Or mix ’em up and you get “Portuñol“. Learn just enough Portuguese to make your trip to Brazil easy-peasy with Duolingo or Memrise. So instead you want toContinue reading
Springtime in Uruguay! (Laguna Merín)
My 90 days are almost up, but dude, I’ve had a good time in Uruguay! What’s all this excitement about? Probably the not knowing what to expect and the fact that this hemisphere of the earth would slowly, but surely warm up in the course of a few months come spring. Near the end of my stay I can finally say: Toss your coat and take off your long pants, because springtime has FINALLY come to Uruguay! Uruguay Trip Summary I did a little tour of the country as you can see from my route map. It gave me the time to explore theContinue reading
Ushuaia: “The End of the World” or whatever…
Twelve days ago I had my last ride to Ushuaia, Argentina. Ushuaia also goes by “The End of the World” (Argentina’s greatest marketing success!). I smoked my last cigarette upon arrival. Today I leave the place that embraced my – for now – last cigarette butt. I’ll hitchhike back to where the sun wants to shine. I just made this silly plan to quit smoking four weeks ago. That’s when I still thought it would be poetic AF to go cold turkey at the End of the World. Little did I know Ushuaia would be a supermassive black hole forContinue reading
Chile to Argentina: a Border Crossing Vlog
In my second vlog ever (first vlog here), I’m hitchhiking across the border from Chile to Argentina over two days’ time. The border crossing is at Paso Rio Jeinemeni. That’s a river that forms the border per the 1902 agreement between Chile and Argentina. The small river drains into the binational lake called Lake General Carrera in Chile and Lake Buenos Aires in Argentina. The lake also has a native Tehuelche name: Chelenko. I’m running out of days on my Chilean visa, so I have to hurry! I wasn’t paying attention, because 90 days seemed like an endless time atContinue reading
The Chiloé Archipelago
It’s hard to imagine I’ve spent nearly two weeks here, but the time really did fly by island hopping and digital detoxing in the Chiloé Archipelago. It’s a group of islands in the south of Chile that many drivers had spoken of before about how special this place is. Not a single driver was like “So you’re going to Chiloé? It’s pretty average there… better skip it”. South of the Ruta 5 The main road in Chile, the “Ruta 5” just continues on the island like there wasn’t some water to cross. My truck driver named Walter drove from theContinue reading
It’s a Vlog! Hitchhiking Southern Chile
I had been playing around with this idea for a while now but here it is… my first vlog! Some fans had shown their interest before in me making a video of a day in the life of a hitchhiker, but I never really went for it until now. It took some nerves to use that ‘recording’ button for the first time with my face in it, but what’s really the difference from taking a photo? That’s just beside my complete lack of video editing skills until I tried with the help of Windows Movie Maker and what Youtube provides,Continue reading
Blackberries: Autumn is the New Summer
It’s the season of the free blackberries in the south of Chile! These kinds of bushes surrounded nearly all my hitchhiking spots. Somehow, nobody else eats them. I wonder why, as it’s tasty, healthy and most importantly completely free. A bush like this in a public area in Europe would have been looted the minute the blackberries turn ripe. Perhaps this hassle-free food is nature’s way to compensate for the freezing nights I’ve spent in my tent around Puerto Montt and the Llanquihue lake. Autumn has definitely arrived in the southern hemisphere and yet the days have been blessed withContinue reading
South! Por Favor… (Chile)
“SOUTH” por favor, señor. It is the only hitchhiking sign I’ve really needed to travel down Chile. Chile is the skinniest and tallest country on earth and it shows in its road maps. A month ago my drivers already offered me (truck) rides to Puerto Montt. But until now I always responded that I wasn’t traveling that far south. At least, not yet. Until now. I’ve actually arrived in Puerto Montt with Jonas and it wasn’t as daunting of a journey at all. Three thousand kilometers just in this country, just so far. The hitchhiking sign saying “SUR” hasn’t survivedContinue reading