Thursday, April 16, 2009
Understanding Israeli Society
If I were a professional journalist this is the article I would have written about visiting Israel. It is dead on.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Nir is Far blog update
As you may have noticed, I got way behind on my blog. Big shout out to those people who insisted that I start back up (especially John). I've now gone back and written entries for everywhere that I have been. If you want to catch up from where I left off, start with Cairo and work your way from there.
I've been catching up at the hostel in Cordoba, Argentina and all the people here think that I'm an Internet-addicted loser who doesn't go outside. Tomorrow is my last day in Cordoba so I'll try to take advantage.
I'm flying from Sao Paulo to Washington, DC on May 13th for the official end of my trip.
Thanks for reading guys and keep the comments coming :)
I've been catching up at the hostel in Cordoba, Argentina and all the people here think that I'm an Internet-addicted loser who doesn't go outside. Tomorrow is my last day in Cordoba so I'll try to take advantage.
I'm flying from Sao Paulo to Washington, DC on May 13th for the official end of my trip.
Thanks for reading guys and keep the comments coming :)
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Bariloche, Argentina
I make it to Bariloche right in time for Passover. The 30-some hour bus from El Chalten arrives at 6 a.m. the morning of the Passover Seder. I walk over the Chabad house and go through the necessary security paperwork so that I can attend the Seder that night.
The Seder itself is insane. There are 500+ Israeli backpackers crammed into a gym. The wine and matza are flowing. And every Israeli seems to someone how know everyone else from South America, the army, high school, etc. Even my cousin Adi in Israel said she knew people at that Seder. The whole Israeli backpacker in South America is a blog entry in itself that hopefully I’ll get to.
Next stop – Cordoba, Argentina
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| From Bariloche, Argentina |
The Seder itself is insane. There are 500+ Israeli backpackers crammed into a gym. The wine and matza are flowing. And every Israeli seems to someone how know everyone else from South America, the army, high school, etc. Even my cousin Adi in Israel said she knew people at that Seder. The whole Israeli backpacker in South America is a blog entry in itself that hopefully I’ll get to.
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| From Bariloche, Argentina |
Next stop – Cordoba, Argentina
Sunday, April 5, 2009
El Chalten, Argentina
El Chalten is the so-called trekking capital of Argentina. Check out some pics:
It was also when I finally left the Noah’s Ark crew. I went off by myself on a bus to Bariloche, Argentina.
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| From El Chalten, Argentina |
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| From El Chalten, Argentina |
It was also when I finally left the Noah’s Ark crew. I went off by myself on a bus to Bariloche, Argentina.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
El Calefate, Argentina
The main attraction in El Calefate is the Perito Moreno Glacier. The cool thing about it is that it melts before your eyes and you can see (and hear) huge pieces of the glacier break off and fall into a lake below, causing a huge crash and large waves. Coolest glacier ever.
The American guy, Israeli girls, an Irish guy, and I all CouchSurf at a guy’s house in El Calefate. We buy groceries and the Israeli girls cook up a mean Shakshuka. It was very entertaining listening to the Argentinean guys attempt to pronounce it as the gobbled it down. Very cool CouchSurfing cultural exchange.
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| From El Calefate, Argentina |
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| From El Calefate, Argentina |
The American guy, Israeli girls, an Irish guy, and I all CouchSurf at a guy’s house in El Calefate. We buy groceries and the Israeli girls cook up a mean Shakshuka. It was very entertaining listening to the Argentinean guys attempt to pronounce it as the gobbled it down. Very cool CouchSurfing cultural exchange.
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| From El Calefate, Argentina |
Monday, March 30, 2009
Torres Del Paine, Chile
Our adventure begins! We take only what we need to survive and we’re off to Torres del Paine. We arrive right before dark and set up our tents before it start to pour. We had joked that as “Noah’s Ark” we might have to have wild sex orgies to repopulate the earth. Well no sex orgies yet, but torrential rain – check.
The next day we’re off to see Grey Glacier. All in all it’s a 10 hour or so hike. We see awesome views of the glacier.
We camp that night. The next morning we lose the Italians to a leaky tent and bad weather. But we pick up an Israeli girl whose friends decided to bail. Because of the bad weather all we do is carry our bags to the next campsite and set up our tents.
The next day the weather is bad so everyone decides to take it easy. However this means that we’d miss the beautiful “French Valley”. For some (insane) reason I decide to press on ahead. I get to the base camp at the bottom of the French Valley and it’s pouring down rain. Everyone is huddling in a shelter and quietly munching away at lunch. It’s cold and no one really talks. I catch up with the German girls who were the only other two you decided to tackle the French Valley. One of them has a really bad knee and had to walk with it straight like it is some wooden pirate leg. Hardcore.
I arrive at the “Mirador” which is supposed to have the beautiful view of the French Valley. More like Mirador of Infinite Fog overlooking the Valley of Death. I have a good laugh at myself and just as I head back I run into the German girls. They made the difficult climb even with the bad knee, but I’m too cold to hang out and I head back.
I get back to camp completely soaked, but in the end I still have a fun day
That night we have really, really crazy winds. Every few minutes someone would run into the restaurant on the camp grounds and yell that another tent had flown off and we all run to help them secure it. One guy from Wyoming loses his tent completely only to find it the next morning in a tree:
The only way we are able to secure our tents is with comically large rocks:
The next day we have a very long walk ahead of us. We consider only doing part of it but in the end we hike all the way up to Campamiento Torres so that we could wake up early the next morning and see the “Torres” at sunrise.
On the way we picked up supplies at the beautiful Hostelaria. It’s a luxury hotel where rooms begin at $267 USD a night (VERY expensive for us poor backpackers). We hang out in the lobby but feel very uncomfortable being around normal people who are wearing fresh clothes and don’t smell bad. The clean bathrooms are an unexpected luxury.
Unfortunately the German girls do not hike all the way up to Campamiento Torres because of the bad knee. Once we reach camp (in the dark as usual) we run into two friends who we had met along the way and we all had dinner together. Afterwards we huddle in the snow drinking tea but soon go to sleep so we can get up at 5am to catch the sunrise.
The next morning we get up at 5am in the dark and race up the mountain. When we arrive at the top we are shocked to see the German girls there. They greet us with (a very heavily accented) “You’re Late!” Turns out they had gotten up at 3am from the lower camp and hiked the whole thing in the dark. Crazy. We cuddle up in our sleeping bags and watch the sunset come up over the Torres. Definitely an amazing experience.
In the end we hiked about 70 km. We get back to Puerto Natales and say goodbye to the English girls who have a ferry to catch and the German girls who have to move on. It’s the sad beginning to the breakup of “Noah’s Ark” :(
The next day we’re off to see Grey Glacier. All in all it’s a 10 hour or so hike. We see awesome views of the glacier.
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| From Torres del Paine, Chile |
We camp that night. The next morning we lose the Italians to a leaky tent and bad weather. But we pick up an Israeli girl whose friends decided to bail. Because of the bad weather all we do is carry our bags to the next campsite and set up our tents.
The next day the weather is bad so everyone decides to take it easy. However this means that we’d miss the beautiful “French Valley”. For some (insane) reason I decide to press on ahead. I get to the base camp at the bottom of the French Valley and it’s pouring down rain. Everyone is huddling in a shelter and quietly munching away at lunch. It’s cold and no one really talks. I catch up with the German girls who were the only other two you decided to tackle the French Valley. One of them has a really bad knee and had to walk with it straight like it is some wooden pirate leg. Hardcore.
I arrive at the “Mirador” which is supposed to have the beautiful view of the French Valley. More like Mirador of Infinite Fog overlooking the Valley of Death. I have a good laugh at myself and just as I head back I run into the German girls. They made the difficult climb even with the bad knee, but I’m too cold to hang out and I head back.
 |
| From Torres del Paine, Chile |
I get back to camp completely soaked, but in the end I still have a fun day
 |
| From Torres del Paine, Chile |
That night we have really, really crazy winds. Every few minutes someone would run into the restaurant on the camp grounds and yell that another tent had flown off and we all run to help them secure it. One guy from Wyoming loses his tent completely only to find it the next morning in a tree:
 |
| From Torres del Paine, Chile |
The only way we are able to secure our tents is with comically large rocks:
 |
| From Torres del Paine, Chile |
The next day we have a very long walk ahead of us. We consider only doing part of it but in the end we hike all the way up to Campamiento Torres so that we could wake up early the next morning and see the “Torres” at sunrise.
On the way we picked up supplies at the beautiful Hostelaria. It’s a luxury hotel where rooms begin at $267 USD a night (VERY expensive for us poor backpackers). We hang out in the lobby but feel very uncomfortable being around normal people who are wearing fresh clothes and don’t smell bad. The clean bathrooms are an unexpected luxury.
Unfortunately the German girls do not hike all the way up to Campamiento Torres because of the bad knee. Once we reach camp (in the dark as usual) we run into two friends who we had met along the way and we all had dinner together. Afterwards we huddle in the snow drinking tea but soon go to sleep so we can get up at 5am to catch the sunrise.
The next morning we get up at 5am in the dark and race up the mountain. When we arrive at the top we are shocked to see the German girls there. They greet us with (a very heavily accented) “You’re Late!” Turns out they had gotten up at 3am from the lower camp and hiked the whole thing in the dark. Crazy. We cuddle up in our sleeping bags and watch the sunset come up over the Torres. Definitely an amazing experience.
 |
| From Torres del Paine, Chile |
In the end we hiked about 70 km. We get back to Puerto Natales and say goodbye to the English girls who have a ferry to catch and the German girls who have to move on. It’s the sad beginning to the breakup of “Noah’s Ark” :(
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| From Torres del Paine, Chile |
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Puerto Natales, Chile
Puerto Natales is the pit stop on the way to Torres Del Paine. On the way here we meet two German girls and two Italian guys on the bus. So now we’re ten:
- two English girls
- two Israeli girls
- two American guys
- two German girls
- two Italian guys
We christen ourselves “Noah’s Ark” (we’re two of everything) and celebrate with a dinner that involved cheap Chilean wine, big burgers, and mussels that resemble small human hearts – yum!
- two English girls
- two Israeli girls
- two American guys
- two German girls
- two Italian guys
We christen ourselves “Noah’s Ark” (we’re two of everything) and celebrate with a dinner that involved cheap Chilean wine, big burgers, and mussels that resemble small human hearts – yum!
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| From Torres del Paine, Chile |
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| From Torres del Paine, Chile |
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