The green land of adventure

More about NZ. So when i was booking my ticket and after that everybody was assuring me that it's gonna be winter in NZ in August. That's why I scheduled only 2 weeks as I don't like when it's freezing cold. Apparently NZ, at least the North Island, is the greenest country I ever seen. It is beautiful. The ocean, lakes and rivers all have a deep turquoise colour. Exactly like in the travel magazines. You feel that the population of this country is not the biggest one, which I enjoy. It's very clean, well organized, feels very safe and just relaxed. Lots of free space and air. I'm not sure what about living for a long time with all this free space around but and one thing I'm sure the place I gonna live will have lots of space. (desert?)
Although I think that maybe NZ has not more beauty itself but it's just not destroyed and transformed by a human as the other countries are. It's natural as it's been created and this is what we found so amazing.
I saw dolphins in the ocean. In Whitianga there is a beach where with a low tide you can find hot water springs, dig a whole which fill with a hot natural spring water and simply stay in your own spa for ca. 2 hours, which we did (7am so sunrise as an extra to it!.
Auckland is a very pretty city. Harbour that is full of bars and safe to be there which is not usual for an harbour area.
Within one week I met 2 Polish guys here! One tourist guide and the other skydiving instructor.

I found out about the earthquake in Peru, Pisco (which I visited some 2 months ago. Here are the pics:
http://s20133.gridserver.com/peruenemergencia/index.html

TANDEM SKY DIVING

As soon as I arrived in Taupo - world capital of bungee jumping and skydiving - I checked in the hostel and the girl at teh reception said "if you wanna jump (which I always knew I wanted despite of being tremendously scared)do it today as the weather is great and today you can see both sides of the island". So did I. 5 minutes after i was on the van taking us to the airport. Which probabely was the best option: no time to think.
And I did it. I meant to jump from 12 000 feet which is 3000m eventually I decided to take 15 000 feet - 4500 m. first 65 sec is a freefall. That means you just fall with no parachute whatsever with 200 km / hour. that means 3km in 65 sec untill you reach 1500m when your instructor opens the parachute. The speed is amazing. You're in shock. I can't describe the speed and pressure of air and wind. I thought my cloths are falling apart and the wind is blowing the skin out of my face.
And then is gliding. That's the part I love.
The whole experience is unbelievable. And I have to say I love gliding as I did love hang gliding but free fall is too much adrenaline for me. I'm happy I did it. It's like crossing another line for me. There are less and less things I'm afraid of. Almost nothing.

A dla tych ktorzy nie czytaja po angielsku napisz po polsku: skoczylam z samolotu. Oczywiscie w tandemie z instruktorem. Z samolotu z wysokosci 4.5 km gdzie pierwsze 3 km to swobodne opadanie. bez spadochronu. 200 km/godz. Mocne wrazenie. Jestem szczesliwa, ze tego sprobowalam.

Santiago

I'm in Santiago de Chile. It's winter here, we saw Andes covered with snow during the bus ride and at the moment Santiago - Mendoza region is a popular destination for the winter sports.
I was told that Santiago is just a capital, big city, nothing special. Actually I found it to be a pretty city. The colonial, neoclassic architecture next to the highrising modern buildings. The city is very clean, well organized, really civilized, green, looks rich. I walked a lot today to see as much as possible and mostly I saw the parks and banks and business districts. Santiago is a second face of Chile comparing to SPA - I haven't seen any hippies. Just suits and ties, ties and suits.

I have 3 days left in Sth America and I have to say I'm looking forward to the new continent and new adventure. At the moment I sound like an old traveller saying that I've been for 4 months on the road and I've got enough of Inkas, ruins, lagunas, museums and artisany...

Argentina

From San Pedro to Salta in Argentina was only 12 hours bus ride so I decided to cross there as I heard a lot good about province of Salta. Argentina - very European, people very friendly and very relaxed, especially about timing. Long siestas so between about 1 and 6pm the streets are empty, even in the town of Salta size the only people at that hours are tourists. I made few trips to the surrounding villages where the time stopped and you can see a lot of folklore and artisany. The whole bus ride allows you to watch the amazingly beautiful landscapes: so many colors of the earth and vegetation, including cerro de 7 colores - mountains of 7 colours and in fact they are of 7 colours.

Then I went to Cafayate - little town famous for its wines where you can visit bodega (winery). You are explained about the production of wine, some wine testing and all is free. I also tried ice cream made of wine, not such a great thing though, prefer creamy ones.
Then from Cafayate I took 3 buses stopping in la Rioja, eventually arriving in Mendoza after 2 days. Just knocked. I have to mention that surprisingly a European girl travelling on her own is a stranger and more surprising thing in Argentina than in Bolivia or Peru.
Then, asking for a vegetarian sandwich in Argentina is asking for too much...

Mendoza is a very pretty town. Again, so relaxed, with several plazas and stalls selling lots of nice and this time - original stuff. I was sorry that at the moment I can't fit anything more into my backpack.
I stayed in this posh hostel where for the first time in 4 months there was...central heating! I couldn't believe it. Gosh, I forgot to write that when I arrived in Chile I found 2 taps: 1 for cold and 1 for HOT water and the showers are always very hot, 24 hours! Wow wow wow!
More botegas as in the region there are - as far as I remember - more than 700 wineries. More wine testing. I also have to say that understanding Spanish really helps as I can visit on my own places where the guide or explanations are exclusively in Spanish. Then I can talk to Argentinians and have to admit they are very friendly, helpful and fun. Looks that they know how to have a lot of fun with no much effort. Dancing and singing. Some live music (everything starts after midnight and with 1 ours delay).

Valle de la Muerte and Velle de la Luna

I need to say the landscape here is amazing! Yesterday I walked in the canyon among the cactuses, had bath in natural hot pool and in the afternoon I went for this trip to the so called Death Valley and the Moon Valley. We walked through the desert and it was an awesome axperience. Today I just went for a ride on the bicycle - the roads are like empty and eventually you ride among the red rocks. The place is so relaxing, everybody seems to be friendly. You can walk and look and around and nobody pushes you and convinces into bying anything. Just smiles. I think I like Chilean people.
Unfortunately the internet is so slow Im not even trying to upload the pics.