Dan Dalzotto

It’s been a long time between posts. I actually I have so much to tell you, but i have decided I won’t be saying much in this post. Rather, I am going to let my amigo Nikon do most of the talking.

But I’ll sneak in a quick word in beforehand.

Sadly, I am a little scared that my literary skills will ruin the experience, as outsiders all we hear of Colombia is bad news, it really does get a bad wrap, but from experiencing 2 months traveling from place to place, everywhere in this country I have never felt more at home, more safe or welcome. I think Colombia just so happens to be THE most incredible place on my map. It’s so unbelievably diverse, the people so friendly, so hospitable, so passionate, so generous, and the women… my gosh, so amazingly beautiful, everywhere you look.

So without any more ascii,

Bienvenidos a Colombia.

Ok first up, probably the most incredibly postcard-ish place on the map, Parque Tayrona.

No photoshopping required.

I played this guy at dominos and won. Man, he could have ate me. (Little does he know I am made of soya, not really a Colombian favorite dish.)

Well… It happened, I am sorry veganism. I was told if you wake up from sleeping in a Cabaña (The hut 2 photos above) and a happy hen has laid an egg on your bed while your asleep it’s freakingly amazingly good luck if you eat it. Unfortunately I don’t belive in luck, but I belive in proving that I am haven’t completely lost the plot going ecoligically crazy on yo’ asses.

Don’t tell my vegan friends, but yes, muy muy muy delicioso!

I seem to be finding paradise, every place I visit,

This is Minka. (Below)

I hope the photos are talking to you well. Next up I spent a few weeks in the coastal town, Santa Marta. Greetings and felices go out to Farouk and his fam.

Just your average sunset in the caribbean coast.

I got to share one of the most incredible moments, at my couchsurfing hosts’ house with two classical guitarists filling the air with the most incredible sounds.
(Carlo, it felt like Saturday night in San Francisco minus Paco de Lucia.)

This is Cartagena.

Filled with some of the most amazing architecture and incredible inhabitants, Cartagena was an sure-fire part of the globe to drop the backpack for a week and just live. Shout outs goto to the incredible Diana, muchas gracias chica samaria.

Again, I am finding paradise every place I visit, Bucaramanga, districto Santander.

Oh yes, word to the wise, in Colombia the gas attendant fills up the gas.

I repeat, in Colombia the gas attendant fills up the gas.

The south of Colombia, my 1st point of entry of Colombia was spectacular, I was fortunate to spend time couchsurfing in Pasto & Popayan, Cali and Medellin.

All I can say is travel by bus. Some of the most incredible landscape just rolled by the window,

I even thought I saw where the infamous Windows XP background was shot.
(That’s nerd joke #003 on my count)

Met some pretty heavy Bowie fans.

Check the buiding in the background (yellow), that’s painted on baby. (click to enlarge)

Enjoy these shots from magical town called Villa de Leyva.

Bogota. Huge city, huuuuge.

This is about as Movember as Colombia gets. But i’d emplore you to explore the mammoth Museo Nacional if your passing by.

Cooking, experiencing and eating Indian with some friends.

Mariachis and alcohol.

Wow, not exactly roughin it. La casa de mi amigo.

Wow, that is Colombia, so far.

Incredibly beautiful, passionate and an excellent place to let the backpack collect some dust.
I hope you come visit.

From Colombia with love,
– Señor Dalzorro.

It must be the musky body odour scent of militia soldiers or the soul-less charm of currency-exchange men, but depressingly shady border towns somehow always attract me.

I crashed out in a town just south of the Ecuadorian border, place called Tumbes. Not much to see or do here, except drink booze with the locals before the middle of the day, that´s when the temperature and humidity becomes painfully un-livable, then sleep for a few hours, wake up round dinner-time and repeat, only because the evening heat is unbearable all the same.

I found out traveling in the low season (over here), does have some unusual perks. My hostel staff were so bored hosting only one room (my room), I got a free tour around the town, taken out to dinner, half price accomodation, they even gave me free cable TV. Yep, even the naughty channels.

Holas go out to my lovely hotel staff/guides/amigos of Tumbes, Karen and Marciel. Below you can witness my two attempts to balance out the height when being photographed with locals. The first shot is bad for your posture and the second really damages your knees.

Tumbes attractions were few, but this once is worth a mention, a conflicting monument of Jesus hitchin a ride to heaven via a spaceship. (Below)

Crossing the border into Ecuador elevated temperatures, headaches and prices. Paying for things in US dollars really does hurt the money belt.

I would like to tell you I spent a lot of time exploring the south of Ecuador, but the reality is I fell ridiciously ill, ended up spending 2 weeks lying in a seedy bed, in a dodgy hotel and yes, it just so happened to be in another shady border town, dark days.

Lets just say food safety and hygene standards are only a pipe dream down here in the border towns of Ecuador.

Scene missing…

But with a clean bill of health, I trucked off to visit the nations capital Quito. Must admit, it is pretty, the presidents pad (below) oozed of wealth and pretty flowers. But after awhile awing the rich, one gets a little bored.

So I did what any white-guy would do, mountain bike down the a freaking crazy big volcano, Cotopaxi.

Ok well the from the glacier I rode down. My travel insurance doesn´t list Idiots propelling down snow on a bike under the Covered section. Which was fine by me, I guess.

Fun times, but more appealing was getting the hell outta town and visiting some prime amazon jungle, the Malaria-Rockin-Area called Cuyabeno. Incredible part of the world. Put this place on your list, and hurry. Chances are it won´t be long before the place cleared, poached, flattened, exploited, mined, etc.

 Here´s a few I prepared earlier…

A hairy bum, so like us.

I´d be crazy by saying that wasn´t the highlight of Ecuador.

After a few days lazing down the amazon, bus plopped me off to another shady frontier town, Lago Agrio. Not the best place to kill 12 hours if your waiting for a Colombia-bound bus.

The picture below is me working at an electrical store assembling poorly crafted childrens bikes. Truth is I just wanted to practice my spanish with the cute girl working there, but the boss siezed the opportunity for slave labour.

Ok, I have a little story to tell you.

Every now and then, one finds himself in a compromising situation with a automatic gun pointed right at one´s chest at 3am in the morning. A situation that could have easily been avoided.

Catching a rickety old night bus from Lago Agrio to the Colombian border, I was exposed to numerous identity checks, baggage searches and general routine army legal mumbo-jumbo, always resulting in the bus stopping for hours at a time.

Please learn from my little mistake and dont take powdered soy milk in a plastic container, triple bagged in black plastic bags and stuffed in the bottom of your backpack. I soon realised it has a strikingly similiar appearance to a local export of that reigon. Haha, that was an interesting night.

Colombia is next, and wow, can not tell you how incredible it is. Ok, next post.

Yours desperately, - Dan

Peru Peru, you continue to woo… me.

I really can´t  get enough of this place. Do come say hi. Continuing my travels, I took a little time to explore all things Nazca and Ica. A flight over the Nazca lines was a little exxy for my money belt, so I replicated the experience by placing postcards of the lines next to my feet and looking though my camera lens. (Photo depressing, therefore not neccesecary) But here´s one of a taxi that I caught. American Muscle actually reigns down here.

I did find a little cemetary outside of Ica drew my attention, I was loving that my friend, though over 700 years old, had a head of hair that most people in the present day would be jealous over. Truly lusturous.

Which made me think, If I spend a lot of time out, immersed in mother nature, will I have rich, full-bodied, bountiful hair? (Below, this place calls itself Socma, just out of Ollantaytambo)

Moving on, after a brief visit to the capital of grey skies, grey buildings and grey exhaust fumes (Lima), I decided to get my bum back to the place I needed to see more of, Cuzco.

Now, it´s only natural when a person and a town take their relationship to the next level, that one has slow down his travels and become more of a guardian and/or custodian for his new love.

If you wondering, yes, that man is me, and the woman-town is beautiful beautiful Cuzco. I decided to dock myself back in there for a month to learn spanish, do some volunteer work and eat. (Actually, that is the correct order of daily events.)

I´ve plonked my backpack 10 mins out of the main beat of Cuzco, a district called San Sebastian, it´s a wonderous place where prices aren´t gringofied, a place that has no english subtitles on the menu, it´s wonderous.

But sadly people do like setting fires to entire mountains. (Pictured below) This was the vista from my room, day one.

Rolling back into Cuzco, I settled into a loving awesome incredible home-stay (casa de familiar as the locals call it). It really felt like home, maybe because my real dad and host dad shared likeness in hair-styles and cardigan choice. ¡Hola Tula y Eloy!

Then… I found it, the greatest restaurant in all of South America. A vegetarian restaurant that was my 2nd 3rd real home every day of the week.

For AU$0.60 lunch was served in 3 courses including a delicious drink. I couldn´t belive how cheap it was, I couldn´t understand why I was the only customer. (Below)

On top of the incredible food, the restaurant staff were amazingly helpful, they even did my spanish homework for me. Score!

At this point in time I was at a 2 year old level of yapping spanish.

Yes, the food was incredible, and so was the pictures hanging up on the walls. I couldn´t not let this piece of, let´s call it artwork, get off scott-free. Check out the angle/trajectory of those salmon, flawless. (Below) 

I would tell you the address of this place, but sadly it´s no-more. Having just my AU$0.60 each day, including tips is not enough to sustain 3 employees wages. (The Photo below is out of focus because my lens was filled with tears)

Cuzco was incredible to watch, transport strikes, riots and more! University students were protesting because of inflation to transport, and what better way to show your pissed than plonk rocks in the busiest street in all of Cuzco. Pretty incredible stuff.

Keeping busy in Cuzco wasn´t hard, each day I attempted studied Spanish for 4 hours, highly recommended on my Things to do in Cuzco if you know no Spanish  list, is learn/study through FairPlay. A NGO run by single women, who give you lessons solely in Spanish, 2 hours of Grammar (literally chalk and talk) then your whisked off for another 2 hours for a Practica lesson to road-test your lingo with locals walking around town, markets, etc. etc… And yes, wednesday nights you don an apron to learn how to cook eat local dishes. And yes, the menu even catered for wierd vegans.

I also knocked over 3 weeks of volunteer work for FairPlay drawing pictures for their Kindergarten, it would have been only 4 hours work, but alas, I was on a PC. Haha! Nerd joke # 001.

After an incredible months stay in Cuzco, it was time I started to show signs of aging. I have this thing every year called a birthday and i get a year older. Unfortunately, it is custom to celebrate your cumpleaños (b.day) by putting your face close to a cake and posing for a photo. Now as you can see, that hand pictured to the right, is going for the back of my head, and my head is really close to that cake, filled with everything un-vegan imaginable.  My question is are you breaking vegan law if you ingest nasally?

Bye bye Cuzco, I love you. Next was a bus to Lima, to couch surf before heading north to the Peru/Ecuador border, Tumbes. My host in Lima was a sucker for turtle necks clothing and centimental posing.

Oh before I forget, there was one facet of Cuzco that stood out to me, wealth.

Locals here arent really arent oozing with dinero, but every now and again you see something that was a bad idea then, and a bad idea now.

Pictured below is a house in close to where I was staying, the thing I love is that the owner though it was imperative to design his house-front according to his interests. from left to right.

Dice: Gambling
Beer mug: Alcohol
Knife (pointy thing): Fighting
Face: She/he likes Lego?

Sounds like a great character.

Ok that is more than enough blabble. Ecuador awaits, love you all.

Plopzotto. 

Peru Peru, its time I put up part 2.

The group and myself docked ourselves in the gringo mecca Cuzco for a week and bit. Plenty lined up, first up was laundy, then out to check the Inca ruins that surround the area.

For those who haven´t experienced anything Inka in the flesh, its a bit surreal… These rocks (below) are freakin big, freakin heavy and amazingly stacked perfectly into each other. There´s nothing sticking them together besides besides gravity and some clever Inka engineering. They ain´t moving for nobody.

This site is called Saqsaywaman, pronounced Sexy-woman.

People were mistaking me for a Inka stone when I was posing for this shot, its probably my rock solid physique messing with peoples minds. They´re only human I guess.

Bussin around all things Inka that day, we visited the Sacred Valley. Again filled with Inka ruins, man these people knew how to construct. No mortar, no concrete, just gravity and a helluva lot of muscle.

Not only did they ´rock´ (get it) at construction of houses, but these peeps had agriculture down pat. These terraces (below) were they birthplace for all things veg a few hundred years ago.

Most gringos are thrashin out stupid amounts of cash for amazing hand-made crafts, which I must admit, are incredible. Unfortunately I am not made of soles, (Peruvian cash) so i´ve found snapping shots of ornaments more economical and lighter on the backpack.

Scooting around that day, we docked at a local farm, for some reason I think the lack of technology down here in Peru is making me go loco. (Below)

After a big day of all things Inka, it was back to town for the night. Cuzco looks pretty incredible at night. (Below)

The next day it was finally time to exert my little vegan muscles, a 4 day trek in the Lares Valley ending in Machu Picchu.

The trek was quite spectacular, visiting rural communities in stupidly high altitude, so much fun. The local kids appreciated terrible coin magic tricks and paltry cartoon cariactures drawn by yours truly. The group I trekked with were fantastic, still the minority with my dietary choice, but the food prepared by the cook was simply incredible.

The trek ended in Machu Picchu, and the view was fantastic. Wayna Picchu simply blew my mind. Its the mountain in the background. Highlight of the day was trekking to the top of it.

40 minutes of climbing these ergonomic steps (below) tested my lungs.

But the view from the top was pretty amazing.

Equally amazing was getting to the top of Wanya Picchu and seeing the Scud (Mark Phillopoussis) contemplating the his next career move. It didn´t look too promising. (Below)

Not many opportunities to snap a good shot without a fluro North Face GORE-TEX jacket in focus, but i managed to squeeze this one in. (Below)

That was it for Machu Picchu, heading back down into Cuzco I was cornered by this group of hoodlums who wanted blood. (Or a game of street soccer.)

Cuzco and it´s surrounds were/are pretty incredible. After a few days healing the blisters and bruises, we were out of altitude and into the normal air-pressure town of Arequipa and the Colca Canyon.

Arequipa is a big city, but its burbs have a real harmony with agriculture and landscape. These guys aren´t earth movers, more so they work with the landscape, really incredible to see. (Click the photo to enlarge)

I think night shots of Plaza´s might be my fancy for shooting in cities.

I´m hitting the ancient lines of Nazca next, then its off to gringo-ville Huacachina to sandboard down mountains of painful, painful sand. Peru is a really big place.

P.S: Give it up for my Nonna (grandma) who used a computer for the first time and commented on the last post! woohoo!

Chao por ahora. (Ciao for now.) - Blogzotto

Hi Peru, can I come and visit you?

(He said yes!) Bussin’ right out of the Bolivian border we headed to the cute tourist town called Puno. Here was my 1st glimpse of/and experience of Latin America’s Tuk Tuks. These things can actually reach quite good speeds, provided the tyres are actually inflated.

I’d go as far as saying Peru’s national fabric is corrugated iron.

Anyways, Lake Titicaca was 1st on the agenda, now due to laziness I have been skimping on pre-researching the destinations that i’ve been visiting, and have opted for the ’oh wow this place is incredible’ experience. When I did finally listen, I was totally blown away to find that this lake sits a tidy 3800 or so metres above sea level. Pretty amazing view.

What really impressed me was the reed islands, people live, eat, sleep, dine, dance on these floating meccas. In most places the floor is made of reeds 1-2 metres deep, felt like you were walking on a waterbed.

Patrolling the borders was my little amigo, Joseph. At an early age of 10 he was quite passionate about his job, he was also passionate about bribes of pencils and origami fish.

One of the island debutantes was smooth enough to get me back to her place, get me all dressed up and dance for her.

She said I looked good in white.

(They dont have the web on the reed islands, her husband will never know.)

Jumping islands that day, we settled for a night on Amantani Island. Our group was adopted out to loving faux-parents who fed us a delicious array of Potatoes. 4 varieties on the one dish. Man they read my mind. Our casa was a lovely mud-brick 2 story palace, (pictured below right) unfortunately, the bathroom was a cold, dark hike away at 3 in the morning.

Winding down that evening the views were pretty amazing. Glad to see no high-rise apartments blocking the view. Give it time though…

Struttin’ out of Lake Titcaca/Puno, our posse is heading to Cuzco to visit all things Inca. More soon, Peru is a big place.

Enter Bolivia, incredible.

Heading out from San Pedro de Atacama, it was only a short drive to the border of Chile and Bolivia. Border security was minimal, quite possibly nonexistent, funnily enough the immigration building was barely holding up in the wind.

At the border our group jumped into a 4×4 and hit the road with a cook and driver for a 3-day stint through the Altiplano and Salt Flats. Highlights included freezing cold hostels, water bottles not wanting to defrost after a night left in the 4×4, ridiciously mouth-watering amazing Quinoa soup hand-made by our lovely cook, miles and miles and ´kilomiles´ of endless salt-flats, (Below)

Lagoons riddled with real (not-plastic) Flamencos, (actually this photo below is too small to see them in the background.)

Nearing the end of our 3 day Salt-Flat-Mecca drive we stopped into a community on the outskirts of the Flats that process the salt that i´ve been dusting my chips most evenings, we got a little tour of the factory (well… a room) of how it all goes down.

A beautiful salt-stained automobile chose to retire outside the factory, looks a little sad.

A short drive out of the salt-loving community we hit a train cemetery on the outskirts of Uyuni.

After a brief visit to Potosi we arrived into the lovely (seriously lovely) town of Sucre. So very colonial and clean, and probably the most insanely vibrant market i´ve been to so far.

It was very easy to be a vegan that day.

P.s the butcher/meat section of the market was eye opening. I wont put the photos up, you´ll all turn veggos.

That was a good day. Next stop was the hustle and bustle of La Paz, I couldnt resist and stroll at night through the markets or a 60km downhill ride along death road. Sadly no photos from the ride yet.

All up, enjoyed Bolivia much more than Chile, so much diversity in the landscape, people and food.

Speaking of food, Bolivia is the mecca for all things Quinoa, (the greatest grain/protein of all time) I´ve been munching on Quinoa cereal, Quinoa soup and all things carbohydrates.

Peru is up next, i´ll be hitting Lake Titicaca first up.

Wow, freaking wow, Chile.

After a long time soaking up Melbourne and its surrounds, the Godess of Travel whispered to me and said, “South America, Dalzotto, Now!”

First destination is Santiago, Chile: home of erratic drivers, smoggy streets and processed food every corner you turn onto. Once I met up with the Local Transport Tour things started getting under way, bussin right out of Santiago heading north. Photos do not really do the landscape much justice.

Fresh off a night bus our group hit the lovely beachside town of La Serena. Unfortunately the place has quite a bit of poverty on the outskirts, but the new Mega Mall sadly overshadows the once-lovely vibe that graced half of the city. I thought the city walk was quite impressive at night (below).

We stayed at this lovely hostel run by an lovely elderly couple, both who were gracefully shrinking in size size as the days roll by, the hostel walls were filled with newspaper clippings of NASA space missions, photos of their travels, but nothing tops the fake flower arrangement, it really made the place look and feel like Barbie and Ken´s retirement home. (Below)

I couldn´t help myself looking through antique stores in the hope I might find a few cheap Caroma stools, 15000km away from their rightful owner (that´s me) but all I found were crazy as push-bikes…

and posters of the greatest band that ever made music.

Heading out of the La Serena in land, a bus dropped us off in the desert, San Pedro de Atacama. The driest desert on earth. And people (incl tourists) inhabit this place like you wouldn´t (or would) believe. These horses were only too happy to pose for me at 7 in the morning.

Being the white-guy that I am, I couldn´t resist a bit of pedal-power into high altitude, I think I miss my bike. Parents, please send my bike over.

I know its a bit of a dad-thing to do, but museums over here are freaking out of control. And i´ve been to every museum in each place we´ve stayed at. I thought this Inka design was awesome (below).

Pretty amazing place, and I skimmed on so many facets of my trip, so here are a fewin short form.

Food: Awesome, not that much vege options but when you find one its like “wow oh my god i mean like…” Other from that, there is a hell-uva lot of processed meats that require no refrigeration (go figure) sold in little stores dotted around town. For most of the time it was Ensalada y Patas Fritas (Salad + bowl of chips) in Santiago, further out I was chomping on vege soups, quinoa risotto (amazing!) and my backup; Marmite and bread (Pan).

People: Locals talk waaaaay to fast, though quite friendly and accomodating, especially to foreigners who ask for sin queso, sin leche, sin huevos (without cheese, eggs, milk) in every meal they order. Met some like-minded folk, but still waiting for that romantic dinner with a fellow-vego at a Steak house.

Environment: Chileans don´t mind a good rubbish bag on the side of the road, and cars rarely get any tune-ups sadly.

Next stop is Bolivia, OMG i can´t waiii…