Trindade, Brazil. Looks like a fun place to me.  Especially if you like a Mud Fight!

I haven’t been to Trindade myself.  But one of my other travel addicted friends has (ironically, his name is Anthony as well).

He passed on a photo and a video about Trinade to me, so I’d thought I’d share this pretty cool place with you.

From what I’ve seen, the Trindade region of Brazil looks like a beach paradise.  Trindade is located on the border of Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo and is looks like one of those great places where you can just chill out for a while.

And also have a Mud Fight if you feel like it.

If you are around at Carnival time at Trindade, you can visit the nearby Paraty region for the Bloco de Lama festival.  The way this festival works is that participants in this festival have a mud fight, and then perform a samba dance through the streets to worship spirits of the dead.

Here is an example of the mud fight.  It looks like a scene out of a horror movie!

I’m a bit wary of covering myself in mud.  I did this kind of thing in Turkey a few years back during a midnight booze cruise out to some island where there was a mud bath.  Unfortunately, the mud was laden with sulphur and I smelt like I walking fart for weeks.

But anyway, here is a video Anthony produced for Lonely Planet TV about the Trindade region.

Check it out, it looks like a lot of fun!

Thanks for making me have itchy feet so now that I want to go to Trindade, Brazil!

Argentina is a magnificent country – and when you are there, you should check out many of the Argentina Wine Tours that are held in their wine growing regions.

You can judge how ingrained a wine culture is in a country by simply buying the cheapest bottle of plonk to test how good it is.  I bought one for about $AUD0.80 and it was really good!  If I bought alcohol for that price in Australia, it would be classed as methylated spirits!

The Mendoza region, not far from the Chile border, contains around 800 wineries (yes, that’s right, 800) and is a good place to undertake an Argentina Wine Tour.  I tried to visit them all, but I could only manage two.

Wines from Mendoza usually specialise in the red varieties, including the supberb and velvety Malbec (wash down a big steak with one of these).  The San Juan region to the north specialises in white varieties.

But check out the size of this wine barrel I witnessed on an Argentina Wine Tour!  I felt like placing my mouth underneath the tap Homer Simpson style and taking a few gulps!

‘Yes, I’ll take this one!’

If you want to find out more about the magnificent Argentina Wine, check out Wine Routes of Argentina and The Wines of Argentina, Chile and Latin America.

Other things to do in Argentina after pickling your liver with some fantastic wine drunk on an Argentina Wine Tour - check out the state of their banks, some Beaver Dams, and scoff down a few tonnes of the Best Steak ever!

The Chilean town of Valparaíso is located on the Pacific, west of the capital of Santiago.

The most notable thing about Valparaíso is its barrios (or suburbs) that are engrained into the hilly surrounds, and the method of transport required to access them from the flat city centre are called Ascensors.

Ascensors are bizarre ‘elevators’ that are over 100 years old and are used by locals (and unfit travellers like myself) who could not be stuffed walking up Valparaíso’s large hills – as shown below:

Each Ascensor has its own operator, but what is remarkable about these metal coffins is that they are operated purely by mechanics and gravity, with no trace of any electrical system.

Judging by their rustic character, I think the only maintenance performed on these Ascensors may have been the yearly tin of grease and a paint job that probably occurred when lead paint still graced corner hardware stores.

But I loved riding in the Ascensors.  Even though it felt I was trapped inside a metal coffin!

Other things to do in Chile after riding in an Ascensor – have a ‘Coffee With Legs’ .

Salar Uyuni – is a mighty impressive Salt Pan at high altitude in Bolivia.

There is a standard trip on the Salar Uyuni that takes around 3-4 days, taking in a ton of amazing sights you won’t see anywhere else.

The Wild Junket travel blog recently featured an interesting post about the Salar Uyuni.

Anyway, an abosrbing part of the trip is how locals produce salt.  This is not an especially difficult or fascinating process, but I found how the locals make a living from the salt pan an important lesson of being an entrepreneur.

Check out the photo of this man below.  He makes his living out of digging salt out of the Salar Uyuni salt pan.

Or so I thought.

He has a fantastic grasp of mathematics and business sense.

Why do I think that?

Well, salt has a market price of $USD1 per 50 kilogram bag (or over 100 pounds) - which would be enough to give your entire family hypertension.

However, this salt maker charges $USD1 per tourist to show them how salt is made, and how he doesn’t manage to blow up his gas bottle, himself, and everyone else when he tries to seal a bag of salt with heat.

Considering there are usually 6 tourists per group, and scores of tourists passing through per day, he would make magnitudes more money from showing tourists how to make salt, then from actually producing it and selling it alone.

I figured I could apply his maths to somehow to get rich and create some dodgy pyramid scheme, so I could become a Professional Backpacker!

He has a pretty sustinable business plan – somehow, I don’t think he’s going to run out of salt at the Salar Uyuni any time soon…

Other things to do in Bolivia after seeing the Salar Uyuni Salt Pan – check out the Day Of The Dead and cycle down The World’s Most Dangerous Road.

Colonia del Sacramento in Uruguay is a good excuse to fill a passport page from a day trip from Buenos Aires (That is, Exit: Argentina, Entry: Uruguay, Exit: Uruguay, Entry: Argentina again).

Colonia is easily reached by ferry from Buenos Aires, and Uruguay on face value seems similar to Argentina in many respects (for example, they both knocked out the Socceroos from qualifying for the Soccer World Cup), except it’s a bit poorer than its giant cousin.

Colonia was formerly a Portuguese port later invaded by the Spanish.

A photo of one of Colonia’s quaint streets is shown below:

Argentina and Uruguay have the same affectionate relationship as Australia and New Zealand – Uruguay is jokingly referred to by Argentines as ‘another province’, however, I’m unsure if Uruguayans cop the same jokes regarding amorous liaisons with attractive sheep (ironically, its economy was heavily based on wool).

I enjoyed walking around charming cobble-stoned Barrio Histórico or La Colonia Portuguesa at Colonia, shaded by the sycamore trees and whitewashed buildings.

The most interesting part of this trip was discovering a sand sculptor who created a series of 10 upper torsos in the sand, meticulously painted with the national soccer team jerseys of 10 South American countries – Uruguay, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, Peru, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador and Bolivia. 

Bienvenidos a Uruguay was sculpted in a semicircle beneath the sand soccer torsos.  I moved closer and discovered a photo portfolio of other sand sculpting conquests from other parts of the continent.

And here is some photographic evidence

Hmm, a decent way of making a living – building sandcastles all around South America.  Another way to become a professional backpacker!

Other things to do in South America after checking out Colonia, Uruguay – have ‘Coffee With Legs’ or check out the Day Of The Dead.