Munich

Finally arrived in Munich. :-)
I got picked up by Martin and Sandra and went with them to Studentenstadt for having Wiener Schnitzel with Pommes and Weißbier. A perfect welcome to Bavaria!
Afterwards we went for meeting Till, Vilma and Bernie to Pobolowsky's and catched up a bit.....

Back in Munich!

Brussels

The stopover in Brussels was quick. Just a few hours to get an impression of the city. The connection from the airport was easy and cheap and allowed to be in the city center in 15 min.
So I visited the inner city and the main tourist attractions. Very nice!!

Seafood street in central Brussels

Grote Markt

New York City

Just arrived in New York City. Not too cold actually.....can manage it after the warm weather in South America.
Let's see what the Big Apple's offering! :-)

Times Square

Downtown Manhattan

Rio de Janeiro

The busride was longer than expected. I was quite surprised of it taking 18 hours....but I got there and have at Carmens apartement a place to stay in Leblon.

Praia de Leblon

Praia de Ipanema

Me in the Sambadrome

Sambadancers on a platform

Sambadancer

Floripa - Armacao

Almost a Brahma commercial out of the Restaurants window

With Anna

Florianopolis

15 hours in the Bus and finally you´re at the prestine beaches of Ilha de Catarina at Florianopolis!! Gonna hang out here for a while and try to improve my portuguese....
:-)

Praia de Armaçao from the hostel terrace

Rainbow in the evening

Iguazu

Almost two years ago we visited the biggest waterfalls on earth at the three-countries-border of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay.
But that time I sticked to the new stuff and visited only the worlds biggest powerplant Itaipu at the Brazilian-Paraguayan border.
Huge!!!

In fron of the Itaipu Dam

The dams huge wall

The pipes with a diameter of 10m!

Buenos Aires 2

With Mariana and her friends at her parents place in Hurlingham

Fishermens´ Club at the Rio de la Plata

Going out at "Sahara" in Recoleta

Buenos Aires

Mi querido Buenos Aires! I was already worried I wouldn´t make it to Buenos Aires today. We went out yesterday in Santiago and came home very late...so just trough online check-in I made it to get my flight.....puuuuuh!But I got here and gonna have a beautiful time here in BS! :-)
It`s like I said a few days ago. Perfect weather, friends, best meat, tastiest wine....can`t complain. I visited Boca, San Telmo, Recoleta and Puerto Madeira so far. Especially Boca and Recoleta is supernice.

The colourful El Caminito in Boca

Palacio Municipal am Plaza 5 de Mayo

Main shopping area at Calle Florida

Santiago

I arrived well in Santiago de Chile yesterday evening and checked into the Chimba Hostel. Perfect decision. It´s in the heart of Bella Vista and I got to know all hostel people during wine tasting :-)
Had a great time yesterday! The next day we went up the mountain to catch the view over the city. Great with the Andes in the background. :-)

Great time with the Chimba travellers

Santiago de Chile with the Andes behind

Colonia Tovar

Close to Caracas is a little colonial Town founded in the mid eigtheenhundreds by a group of german settlers. Colonia Tovar still says of itself "A piece of Germany in Venezuela". At the weekends it´s crowded of Venezuelans visiting the german style buildngs and try out some typical german dishes. Is typical german food really sausage? I still can´t believe that...
Best of all: they have their own brewery! :-)

Colonia Tovars church. In front Café Kuhstall

Visibly german architecture

The local beer: Cerveza Tovar

Caracas

I almost didn´t make it to Venezuela as security at the Medellin airport was so tight. I got into the plane more than 10 min delayed...puhh.
Also the start in Venezuela wasn´t easy. I couldn´t cash money as a foreigner and needed to go into the bank, cue up and fetch money at the counter - with passport and fingerprints of course. Very secure....
Arriving in Caracas was...hmmm...also not very traveller friendly. I still don´t have a city map and traveller hostel just don´t exist. The one called "Backpackers Hostel" is just the cheapest hotel that tries to rent its crappy rooms through its name.
But finally I found good value and could start exploring the city.

First impression of Venezuela in Caracas´ Metro

Everywhere Hugo Chavez slogans

View over the city from the Torre del Oeste, Venezuelas highest scyscraper

Medellin

Unfortunately I had only 2 days left for Medellin. Too short to explore that pretty city. The arrival at night showed illuminations high up the hillsides. Shortly after I could see the whole city at night from the Mirador Poblano at a private fairwell party.
Fortunately I could stay at Annes place who we got to know in the Tyrona National Park. Handy coincidences! ;-)

Plaza Botero in Medellin

Old american schoolbuses in front of Columbias only Metro

Juli and Anne in the Metrocable

Bogotá

Bogotá´s a great city! We didn´t expect it that great. The locations between the hills is fantastic and you can catch some great views over the whole city from the Montserrate Church uphill. Also the part of Candelaria, the old town, is really pretty and keeps us strolling around.

Unfortunately Martin has to leave today at noon for getting back to work in Munich. Has been a great time again travelling together again.

Bogotás city center from the Montserrate church

Plaza Bolívar

Mit Angela, Martha und Ivan im Café Rio del Amazona

Barranquilla

At first we didn´t like Barranquilla that much but when we got to know some locals and went out with them we changed our mind. Really cool to see all the people training for the Carnaval that gonna be Barranquillas highlight that year. We even got whitened our faces with maiz-flower to get some more taste of the Carnaval! Fun!

Training for the big show

Party with Marta and Karina

Whitened and with a typical, coastal style sombrero

Cartagena

Cartagena is as beautiful as everybody says. We arrived yesterday night and strolled around in the narrow streets of the old part of the city. Today we´ve been spending totally exploring the city. Greetings from Columbia!

Historical part of Cartagena

Jumping dolphin at the Oceanario on Rosario Island

Playa Blanca close by Cartagena

Tayrona National Park

The National Park of Tayrona at the carribean side of Columbia is famous for its beautiful beaches. And very right, they ARE beautiful. Even though the water is not as warm and turquoise as in Belize for example, we enjoyed the beachlife. We also visited the ruins of Pueblito, an ancient city in the jungle of the Park.

Beach of "La Piscina"

Al Cabo Beach

Description in Pueblito

Taganga

After leaving Shakiras city Barranquilla we went straight to Taganga, a little fishing town where also heaps of people spend there holiday....we arrived exactly in between the high season of public holidays. Nevertheless we enjoyed the carribean again and did some really cheap diving with a bavarian dive school.

Martin and me at Taganga Beach

Brasses at El Pato divesite

Spotted moray