There's no place like...

Thailand

2011-04-12T21:20:00.000-07:00

We arrived in Bangkok airport after a big, tiring weekend in London and met up with my brother Jeremy here. He was rearing to go! Our first plan of heading to Koh Tao to do our diving and chillax in the sunshine had been squashed by the recent floods here.. so the secondary plan was to try for Phuket. Again we were unlucky as apparently the buses were not going here because of the floods. A quick look at flight prices confirmed that we would NOT be going to Phuket. So Bangkok it was for at least the night. After securing a cheap but nice guest house we headed out to the Khao San road area for dinner and a few drinks. Of course the few beers turned into a few more and the large Chang's at 6.4% didn't take long to take hold. A couple of buckets of Sangsom later and we were wandering through the streets of Bangkok on our way back to the guest house that much worse for wear.

Not such a good idea!

Day two in Bangkok saw us not venturing out until around 11am with only an hour to figure out what we were doing before check out time. As it turns out buses to the island we had decided on for sunshine only left at 8am in the morning. Oops. A 2^nd night in Bangkok it was then. With the day itself we did very little. I was feeling very rough and the boys were not up for much either. We wandered Khao San Road and around and then chilled at the guest house before heading out to the same place as the night before for cheap Chang and good live music. Dan and I also treated ourselves to a Fish Foot Massage.. I actually couldn't stand it for long as it just tickled too much. Some of them were so big they actually hurt when they started to nibble! Dan got into it and came out with silky smooth feet.

Khao San Road

Not so sure at first...

They were everywhere!

Relaxing into it a little bit more...

After just a few beers we started to head back to the guest house... but not before the boys had a second meal of Pad Thai off the street.. amazingly good! Followed by a cocktail of deep-fried bugs. Big bugs. They both tried a mixed bag of crickets, grasshoppers, scorpians, frogs, silk worms, locusts amongst more. Apparently they were all not too bad – the frog tasting like crackling! I was forced to try a small locust which I managed and then a larger cricket. This did not go down so well.. or at all and I was left gagging on the street much to their delight.

Deep Fried Frog

Cricket or some leggy insect!

Scorpian... mmmmm

Jeremy was loving it!

Ewwwww

... and thats not gonna go down!

The next day we had the mini van ride to Koh Chang. It was a painful 4.5 hours cooped up before we arrived at the ferry and then had a short ride to the island. We found a nice place just across the road from the beach and settled in ready for some beach and sun. Of course we awoke the next day to rain. We waited it out before hiring motorbikes for the day to explore the island. We ventured down one side of the island zooming up and down the hills and winding roads. The boys kept debating who was the unlucky one to have me on the back as it was hard with 2 people to make it up the hills. Jeremy loved the bikes... highlight of his trip so far apparently! Although he was unable to wear a helmet as his head is too whopping. The island was nice and the weather turned out ok... it was super hot when we were not moving on the bikes. We returned to White Sand Beach for a well deserved beer after our mission. We ended up having a good night out and all found ourselves on the mechanical bull! Dan was supposed to be the only one as he lost a bet regarding knowledge about Speights Ale. Of course he was wrong against us South Islanders! We then moved from place to place as all seemed to close on us. We were always the last in there. We finally looked at the time and it somehow had become around 3am. No wonder everywhere was closed!

The boys relaxing with their Cubans

View point

Lonely Beach

Hookah Apple Sheesha!

The next day was to be our sun relaxing day but again it rained. And it continued to rain all day. Great. So we didn't do a lot. Slept in. Ate. Chillaxed. And went for a swim in the warm warm sea before a nice dinner and early night.

White Sand Beach

UK

2011-04-12T19:40:00.000-07:00

We had a very quick but awesome 12 day visit with friends and family in the UK – the highlights included picking daffodils in the sunshine for Charlotte's birthday...yes I said sunshine!, the Swindon dog races, the visit to Oxford, visiting the Wiltshire countryside in our tour a la Charlie, meeting Basil the dog, the visit to Devon, and catching up with everyone in London and beyond. So good to see everyone!

Streets of Oxford

Basil

Wiltshire countryside view from Charlie's Mum's place

A quick bit of sightseeing that Charlie and I managed

Boys together again

The aftermath of Saturday night...just before our plane to Bangkok!

Brazil

2011-04-08T02:10:00.000-07:00

Once we had done the Argentinian side of Iguazu falls we felt it only fair to do the Brazilian side as well.

We crossed the border, dropped our bags in storage at the bus station and headed off to see them – all of which took far longer than expected and we had another bus to catch!!

They were however well worth it. Most people we met preferred the Argentine side to the falls but we both liked the Brazilian. There was certainly more to do on the Argentine side in the way of walks etc but we liked the overview that we got from the Brazilian side.

After the falls it was a 22 hour bus to Rio......a 22 hour bus that turned into 26! We reached the bus station and hailed a cab to Sao Cristovao and to the family we were staying with in Rio.

Yet again we were received with great hospitality and warmth although it was a little harder this time as there was very little English spoken and we had no knowledge of Portuguese – other than thank you which we repeated to pretty much everything.

Our first day in Rio was somewhat wasted as we had to stay in and wait for our Sambodromo tickets for the carnaval. That evening however we were taken out by one of the daughters and her boyfriend to their local bar on Ilha do Governador with a live samba band, good caprihinas and nice cold beers!

Our second day in Rio was far more eventful as we set off first thing in the morning by bus to find a hotel in a massive city we had no idea how to navigate. All was OK though and we made it to our required meeting point to be picked up and be taken off to go hang gliding over Rio!!

We signed our lives away on a disclaimer, received our student hang gliding licence and headed off to our launch area high up in the national park that overlooks Rio.

Once there I was given my training – essentially putting one arm round my pilot while the other held his t-shirt at the waist and then running quickly at the same pace as him for about 5 metres. Job done! I was now ready to take off! Shit!

The extensive training....just a short 10m jog!!

Uh-oh!! I'm nervous!!

Soaring through the sky!

Flap those wings!

After having done bungy jumps, sky dives and paragliding you would think that running off the side of a cliff with little more than some fancy canvas and a skateboarding helmet between me and certain death would be a little less daunting. I can assure you it wasn't! We were suddenly running into the abyss with my pilot telling me to keep looking at the horizon when suddenly the ground wasn't there anymore and we were swooping through the air above Rio de Janeiro. Awesome! We flew above the national park, sky scrapers and sea before coming into land on the beach – although expensive this was totally worth doing and an amazing way

to see some of Rio!

Alana followed me down about 20minutes later and was nicknamed 'Road Runner' by her instructor because of her legs at take off – check it out below!!

Can't seem to upload the video yet... but watch this space!

We also visited Copacabana beach and chilled out with a beer. Unfortunately it had clouded over since the morning so we werent able to visit the statue of Christ or Sugar Loaf, two of the other things we had planned to do.

That evening Mabel (the daughter of who we were staying with) and Leandro, her boyfriend took us to Lapa (a district in Rio). Here the carnaval party was in full swing with thousands of people partying in the streets. These gatherings are known as 'Blocos', where people follow a bus or truck which has either a band or music pumping out of it and you just dance along behind it in the street.

We stopped in at a bar along the main drag of the Bloco, sheltering from the rain having a couple of drinks while watching the madness! It was a great night.

Unfortunately when we woke the weather wasnt the best again and we werent able to view Christ. Again it would have to wait till tomorrow. Instead we explored Copacabana a little more, bought some Havaiana's (flip-flops) and then went to meet Donald (a friend we had met in Peru) for a couple of cheeky beers in Ipanema.

When we got to the meeting point, a bloco was just starting to warm up, people were dressed up and the beer was flowing. We had a brilliant night in amongst the party, chatting to people and drinking beers and frozen caprihinas. After just a quick couple of beers, it was 2am when we got to bed......very early for carnaval standards.

Donald, Alana and I

A few partygoers!

A small pizza for dinner.

Today we are pretty excited! Tonight we are going to the Sambadromo to watch some of the best schools floats!

Today we were taken to see Sugar Loaf mountain by Mabel and Leandro. We didnt go to the top but we walked inside the national park at its base which is home to all sorts of animals including a lot of small monkeys.

One of the monkeys

Sugar Loaf from the beach

We again put off going up to see Christ as the weather was again not the best....fingers crossed for tomorrow! For lunch we were taken to a restaurant within a market and had 'Carne do Sol' – LOADS of meat, chips, veg and rice. It was really tasty and there was so much of it we had to take a doggy bag of leftovers (which still included 2 steaks!). When we got back to the house we had a quick snooze before getting ready to head to the Sambodromo.

When we arrived it was already packed, even though we were there 2 hours earlier than advised! We managed to get decent positions to view the parade at the front of the stand though and had an amazing night watching some awesome floats. We thought the 4^th school – Unidos da Tijuca - was the best, but they were all VERY impressive!

We eventually got home from the parade at about 6am but were up again at 10am! We HAD to go and see Christ today – it was our last chance. The weather, however didnt look to promising.....maybe it would clear by the time we got there though.

It didnt! Infact we were lucky to get there when we did as just after we left it got really bad. We had at least managed to see Christ up close, we just didnt get to see the amazing views the position has to offer out across Rio.

Cristo Redentor seen we headed back to the beach and chilled out with a cheeky beer and some chips.

When we returned to the house, we were bought a massive pizza to share with the family and thanked them for having us stay before we packed our bags and got an early night ready for our trip in the morning.

We said goodbye to the family and thanked them once again for their hospitality and headed to the airport. A quick and easy flight and we were in Salvador heading to the bus station ready for the next leg of our trip – an overnight bus to Lencois in Chapada Diamantina National Park.

We arrived at 5am after probably our worst 'bus sleep' of the trip. We didnt do much with our day other than run some chores, catch up on sleep and work out our way around town.

The following day we had another lazy day in the sweltering heat at a swimming hole with a natural waterslide about 30mins walk from the town. It was nice to relax properly, enjoy some sunshine and cool off in the water. The waterslide didnt half bruise my backside though!!

The water slide

Nervous....

Committed.....

Done!

It turns out we had enjoyed the sun a little too much, as although we had put sun cream on we both got quite badly burnt. Bathed in cooling moisturiser and more suncream we decided to go on a tour today. We went first to another swimming hole with a waterfall about 30mins drive away. As it had rained hard in the night this was much fuller than it is normally with a bit of a current and a lot of water coming over the fall. We relaxed here for a couple of hours, swam and ate our lunch. We then went to see the most famous view of Chapada Diamantina at a mountain named Morro do Pai Indacio. As you can see below the view was pretty amazing!

I believe I can fly...

Strange pygmys were everywhere!

From Chapada we headed back to Salvador and stayed in Pelhourino. The area has been just done up by the government so it is now a beautiful world heritage centre, although the areas around were still pretty run down and it could be dangerous to wander in to them.

We spent the two days we had there checking out the local area and walking down to the beach. It was tiring just doing this due to the 36C temp!! MORE sun!!

Chillin out to the max....

and relaxing all cool....

shootin some b-ball outsida school....

3 months of following the wet season guaranteed a silky white body!

After our brief stop in Salvador we flew down to our final stop in Florianopolis.

We had a great few days here enjoying the sunshine, attempting to surf and generally relaxing after our busy few months in South America!!

It was now time for us to head to that cold, wet and grey island I was born in. We should have been on the home straight......we checked in for our flight and were told there was an hour delay (typical bloody British Airways), no biggie, we waited patiently for the flight. We then overheard a guy tell his friends that he had heard a guy who was meant to be on our flight was now on Air France as our flight was non-existent! Brilliant! We went to investigate further and were told that our flight was not cancelled but would probably not be leaving (best non-committal quote ever!)!! Excellent! We were transfered onto another flight and ran to another terminal to get the flight. Flight cancelled!! ANOTHER ONE??!! Back we sprinted to our original terminal to ask why we had just been transfered onto another cancelled flight, they had no clue but soon we would be put onto another flight while our luggage took the grand tour of Sao Paulo airport! Finally, everything was sorted, we boarded our Air France flight and crossed our fingers and thankfully we were soon in the air heading towards Paris. A short stop over in Paris and we were en route to Heathrow. 40mins later and finally we we arrived. Our South America adventure over.

Soon to be landing in France..

We had an amazing 4 months, our only regret is that we didn't have longer! Ah well, next time.....

THE END!

Till next time....

Argentina

2011-03-09T13:37:00.000-08:00

After crossing the Andes and 200 photo's later (seriously!!) we arrived at our hostel in Mendoza at 1am. Unfortunately they had made a bit of a mistake with the room arrangements so it meant that Alana and I were in different dorms, something they would rectify in the morning.

We were up early to run some chores (change some money, laundry etc) before having a long day of hard drinking.....I mean, appreciating the fine bouquets and full bodied taste of the Marbeck grape!

We travelled by bus to a small town just outside Mendoza called Maipu and hired a couple of bikes to tour the vineyards. We experimented with a tandem but quickly decided that if we didnt have the co-ordination to control it sober, then after a couple of vino tintos we defintely wouldnt!

The tour was about 10kms long with several vineyards offering tours and a glass of wine for free and others that charged a small fee. Most of the people doing the tours didnt seem interested in paying, however Alana and I stopped at quite a few of the ones that charged and were lucky enough to sometimes have the place to ourselves.....and it wasnt exactly expensive – most places were charging around NZ$6 for a tour and 3 tasters of wine....a taster actually being a large glass!!

Guzzle! Guzzle!

Its a hard life!!

Not wobbling at all......promise!!

After a day of vineyards and many tastings, a bottle of wine at lunch and the 32C heat, it was safe to say we were slightly worse for wear. We tottered back to our hostel in search of a cool shower, some food and a snooze in our slightly drunken haze – unfortunately when we got back we discovered that not only were we not in the same dorm again, new people were now in our beds! Brilliant! It took the hostel about 3 hours to sort something out for us during which time the heavy red wine fuelled hangover was starting to kick in and we were getting irritable! Eventually after much messing around we managed to get beds (in seperate rooms), showered and fed. We didnt get much sleep however as that night there was a massive impromptu party – Alana's room was right next to the bar and so couldnt sleep for music and people coming in and out of her room. She even had some drunken Aussie jump into bed with her at one point and ask to spoon!!

The following morning we packed up and checked out ready for our next bus that evening. We spent the day walking around Mendoza and visiting the large local park. We also found a great 'Menu del Dia' deal where we got a starter, main and dessert for less than NZ$10! We weren't expecting great things from the main but it was great. A massive piece of steak, salad and potato.

Leaving Mendoza to get to Cordoba (Argentinas next largest city after Buenos Aires) didnt exactly go according to plan. Our bus was over an hour late, during which time we were teased with 3 nice looking, large seated buses arriving and departing. We eventualy got on our older, slightly tired looking bus and headed off to our destination.

It was about 9am when I awoke to find we had stopped, due to breakingdown! We were meant to have arrived in Cordoba at 7am but we were now stuck over 100kms away with the choice of either waiting for the bus to be fixed (they had no idea when the mechanic would arrive) or paying for another bus to get to Cordoba (the bus company were not willing to pay). We paid for another bus.

In Cordoba we had a relaxed day, caught up on some sleep and got nice bottle of wine.

The following day we visited Argentinas oldest church, most prestigious school (which only allowed girls to attend in 2001!) and walked along the river front.

Jesuit Church Museum Courtyard

Iglesia Catedral

Along the river (currently a stream) front.

We also found a bakery that sold dulche de leche meringues. Even Alana couldnt handle this much sugar in one sitting!!

An optimistic smile in the beginning...

A promising start...

Its GOOD!!

So.....much....sugar....

OK. I'm done!

On Sunday we finally arrived in Buenos Aires and checked into what is probably the nicest hostel of the trip – we were 8 hours early for actually being able to go to the room but they allowed us to have some breakfast and then told us there was a chill out room downstairs and some communal showers.

After a little snooze downstairs and freshening up we walked down to San Telmo markets. The market is held every Sunday and is over 2kms long. There is all sorts of tat and antiques for sale and as you can imagine Alana and I made a couple of 'small' purchases, the highlight of which being my new stylish cowboy hat!!!

Indiana Jones eat your heart out!!

After the markets we went for a nice steak dinner.....although we were the only ones in the restaurant!! Argentinians dont eat until 10pm or later, something we weren't quite used to yet!!

After the best nights sleep we have had in sometime in the nicest hostel we have been to so far we headed off to the Recoleta, the wealthy neighbourhood of BA to visit the cemetery. Gruesome you may think, but the tombs here are pretty spectacular. It also houses Evitas final resting place, which is rather simplistic compared to the surrounding extravagance.

Evita's final resting place.

A few other graves and details on them...

Of course some graves were better cared for than others!

We also discovered what was to become part of our daily routine for the rest of the time we were in Argentina......Freddos! Freddos is an ice-cream parlour with some of the best ice-creams we have ever had. You could get ¼kg for about NZ$6 of 3 different flavours – a treat certainly worth having!!

Other BA highlights were going to see La Bomba Del Tiempo – a drum group.
Below is a video stolen from YouTube - ours weren't very good.

The colourful neighbourhood of Caminito in La Boca – famous for its Tango and coloured, corragated iron clad houses.

Colourful buildings.

Spot the difference.

A little more colour.

A really good graffiti tour. Our tour guide was brilliant. She had been doing the tour for over 7 months but was as enthused on our tour as if it had been her first – highly recommended if you are ever in BA (www.graffitimundo.com)

We learnt all about the artists and their passions and influences behind their work, we also visited some of their galleries.

Graffiti is widely tolerated in Argentina due to a history of using graffiti to express political propoganda. Many people will allow or even invite artisits to use their property to paint their artwork. One upside of having street art on your wall is that often taggers will respect the artwork and leave your wall alone. There are some amazing pieces all around town, a few of which are shown below.

Some of you may recognise this one....the artist sold the rights to the Ramones!

We also went to a Tango class which started off fun but there were too many people there to try and dance properly without banging into other couples. Plus, Alana and I were beginners to say the least.

We also did a bit of shopping in BA. There are some big malls with a lot of designer stores for prices cheaper than home (we didnt buy from) and boutique stores around San Telmo with a lot of cool clothes, jewellery and gifts.

After 5 days in Buenos Aires we headed an hour south to La Plata to visit and stay with a friend I had made while working in a bar in New Zealand – Martin.

He and his family were very hospitable and welcoming to the two tired, sweaty and dishevelled travellers that turned up at their door! After a couple of beers, a quick shower and a bit of a catch up we were treated to a traditional Argentine 'asado' (BBQ), with beef, pork, chorizo sausages and plenty of sides. It was safe to say that this was probably the largest meal we had eaten in sometime and extremely enjoyable.

We hadnt eaten until 10:30pm, as in keeping with Argentine tradition so it was late before we left to go out and meet Martins friends for a quiet drink in their local pub. We went out for quite literally a couple of pints but still did not get home until 3:30am!

The following day after lunch with the family Martin took us to the La Plata cathedral which offered views out over the grid system designed city.

La Plata

After a cheeky ice cream we headed back into BA to go and watch a football game - San Lorenzo v Racing at San Lorenzo stadium.

Although the teams were not the best to watch there were 3 goals (2-1 to Racing) and the fans were enthused and the atmosphere was awesome.

Football over, Martin drove us back to La Plata and we went for 'Pizza in a cone' for dinner – which was as the name says, pizza....in a cone!!

Like it says on the tin!

Another quick shower and some time chilling out, we started drinking while we waited for Martins friends to come and meet us. We then went BACK to BA again for a night out at 'Cro Bar'. This was a bar/club which was very cool, the music was not entirely to our taste but after a couple of inhibition removing tequilas we were pretty into it!!

The La Plata crew out in BA!

We were up after only a couple of hours sleep (and managing to sleep through our alarm), said goodbye and thank you to the family, Martin was again driving us back to BA so we could get to the bus station in time to catch our bus to Iguazu Falls.

We had had a great time in BA and with Martin. Argentina and especially Buenos Aires is up there with our top picks so far!

Iguazu Falls, probably one of South Americas most famous landmarks crossing the borders of both Argentina and Brazil were pretty impressive, however we weren't reduced to giggling messes as the guidebook suggested we might be! After a long night on the bus we ventured to the Argentinian side as soon as possible. We walked most of the many trails, getting soaked on a couple and saving the best for last – Garganta del Diablo (Devils Throat).

LOOK! Waterfalls!

Enjoying the view.

Short Round: “What is Sankara?”
Indiana Jones: “Fortune and glory, kid. Fortune and glory.” (Temple Of Doom)

Getting a little wet!

At Devils Throat.

Chile

2011-02-24T13:57:00.000-08:00

One of the first things we noticed in San Pedro was just how expensive it is here in Chile. Prices are similar to those back home, which after coming from Bolivia is quite a shock!

The first day in Chile was pretty uneventful although we went out for a few drinks in the evening and Roberto taught us a Bolivian dice game - Alana loved it!!

Another early morning start. This time we are off on a horse ride in the desert.

We met at the 'ranch' and were given chaps and a rather fetching straw hat each to wear.

Toy Story 4 - Jesse and.....

Woody get lost.....

in the Atacama desert!

We then headed off on our trusty steeds out into the wilderness (albeit with a tarmaced road running alongside it!). This time I was fortunate enough to be given an actual horse rather than a mule but Alana still said I was too big and looked ridiculous on it!

During our 3 hour ride we managed to go through an oasis, across a river, through the valley and along the sand dunes. Some of the views were amazing and the way the light hit the rocky hills was quite romantic.

Although expensive, the little town of San Pedro was quite pretty and we enjoyed our time here, but for now we are on a mission to find some sun and sand that is close to water rather than the middle of the desert, we are now off to the beach town of Caldera.

San Pedro town

The bus ride was the best we have had yet! We managed to get promotional seats downstairs in the full-cama area (fully reclining seats) and got some snacks, it was a great trip until at 1am we were dropped on the side of a dusty motorway and told that the twinkling lights in the distance were where we wanted to be! Brilliant!

Luckily we were dropped with another backpacker from Canada who spoke better Spanish than us and after half an hour of walking we came across a group of people who told us we had at least another hour of walking before we would get to the centre of town – we opted for a taxi!

After dropping the Canadian at her pre-booked hotel we went off in search for somewhere to stay for the night. We searched and searched but there was no room at any inn! In the end we literally squatted outside a hotel who were nice enough to let us use their bathroom. Thankfully it was a warm night so we didnt get much of a chill, we were however the fascination of every drunk who came ambling past on their way home.......we didnt get much sleep!!

As morning rolled around we headed down to the beach front and drank a bottle of yoghurt for breakfast. This seaside town wasnt as nice as we had been expecting but the people were. We were sat outside a naval office when an officer came out and spoke to us, telling us if we needed any help/use of the bathroom etc we were more than welcome to come inside.

We finally managed to get a room at about 11am in a rundown little hostel that cost us a whopping NZ$100 per night!! We decided to only stay for one and booked our tickets to Santiago for the following day.

After a quick shower and change of clothes we headed down to the beach where we chilled out for the afternoon, the following day was spent in a similar fashion, although we did manage to find a rocky area away from the main beach with a couple of sea lions basking in the sun on it which was cool.

Caldera Beach

Beautiful blue water with the desert backdrop.

Catching some rays!

In Santiago we visited the usual city sites, stopping for a Valentines picnic at Cerro Santa Lucia and enjoying a bottle of wine with dinner.

Cerro Santa Lucia

Some of the Santiago skyline

Check the mountains in the background

Plaza de Armas

A mix of old and new...

We both enjoyed Santiago which although a busy capital city still seemed quite relaxed and slow paced. The people were kind and courteous and have made us want to return.

We are now off to Argentina, crossing the Andes.

Potosi and the Salt Flats tour

2011-02-18T17:33:00.000-08:00

We decided to stay only one night in Potosi (the worlds highest city). After arriving at 7am we set about finding somewhere to stay and then headed into town to book ourselves a tour for the day. We went to an agency recommended to us and got a tour of the local silver mine for half the price of the rest in our group!! The mine has been open since the Spanish invaded and has some 10,000 people working in it. The conditions however are poor and many of the miners die young due to lung conditions bought on by the aspestos and other carcanegenic dusts. The conditions are also quite hard with little changing in conditions or equipment used since the Spanish. During the time the mines were owned by Spain and they used slave labour some 9million people died in the mines in a 100 year period!

The tour was pretty good although the tour guide was a little bolshy. We went down about 1km into the mines through very crampt shafts and saw many of the miners working. We also saw a statue of their god which they bring offerings to to bring them good luck in the mining and safety.

Into the depths.....

The god of the underworld....if you look carefully you will see he is EXTREMELY pleased to see me!!

Crawling around in tunnels made for people half my size.......brilliant!

The mine apparently goes as deep as 4km underground where it gets to temperatures of 62C+. There are no lifts or proper ventilation. The workers have to walk into the mines the same way as we did and are paid by what they find rather than a salary. It is extremely hardwork and certainly not something I would ever want to consider doing.

One of the workers. He fills the sling with rubble for eight hours a day with nothing more than a shovel!

Never a sexier miner!!

After the tour our lunatic of a tour guide let us pose with lit dynamite.....even in your mouth! Needless to say Alana and I declined, fearing our heads may blow off much like Wile Coyote's!!

The most dangerous woman in Bolivia?? Possibly!

After Potosi it was on to Uyuni to start our Salt Flats tour. Uyuni it turns out is possibly the biggest dump Bolivia has to offer, although we have been assured by other travellers there are worse! The town is solely there to mine the salt and cater to the tourists wanting to see the salt flats.

We had a great group consisting of Alana and I, another Brit (Ian), his girlfriend Dominique (German), Max (Dutch) and Cecilia (Italian).

The tour started with a trip to an old train engine cemetery on the edge of town. There used to be quite a few trains running through Bolivia but now there are only a few destinations still in operation.

Toot-toot!!

The cover of my new album titled 'Another wet 3 day tour'!!!

After the train cemetery we headed to the Salt Flats. Yet again due to the rain our experience was slightly different as the flats were now more of a lake. We did still manage to take some silly pictures however and got some amazing pictures of the sky being reflected in the water.

Our first night was a long, long journey as our driver seemed to have no idea where the accelerator pedal was.

The town we stayed in was like a ghost town.....we only saw a sign of life at the place we stayed. It was pretty spooky and I wouldnt have been surprised to wake up and find some lunatic standing over my bed holdig a dripping knife!

Thankfully the night didnt hold any such excitement and we awoke the next day to a breakfast of stale bread and tea.

We visited lots of lagoons on the second day, some which were different colours and many with Flamingos.

We also saw the Siloli Desert and the Stone Tree.

Stone Tree

Our second nights accomodation was somewhat interesting. It seemed we were sleeping in a schools classroom. There was no running water and the only heat came from an old wood stove.

It was another early start in the morning, although when we awoke we found the other groups that had also stayed with us (in different rooms) had already left for the day!

We went first to visit the Geysers and Fumaroles which although were quite impressive were similar to those in Rotorua. Alana and I were keen to move on from there to the Hot Springs which were our next destination. The water was 32C and given the outside tempetature was about 10C this was a very welcome stop. We stayed in for about ½ an hour before heading onwards to Salvador Dali Desert and visiting the last of the lakes on the tour - Laguna Verde.

Hot Pools! So good.

Laguna Verde

Once we had completed the lakes, Alana, myself and Cecilia were taken to the Chilean border to cross while the others went back to Uyuni.

The border crossing went off without a hitch apart from the bus driver almost falling asleep! Cecelia asked someone at the front of the bus to talk to him to stop us hurtling off the roads to our imminent deaths. He turned out to be Ecuadorian (now living in New York) and joined us in our quest to find a hostel in San Pedro.

Pampas and Jungle

2011-02-12T05:53:00.000-08:00

The Pampas tour was a 2.5 hour drive down another potholed and muddy road. Our driver was essentially a lunatic and although we had one small stop (we came off the road in the mud and we had to push the car back out) we made the journey in 2 hours less than the other buses!

We were then put on to a motorised canoe and headed through the river (a nice calm, gentle one) towards our camp. We stopped along the way to see some animals that were alongside the river bank before finally getting to our accomodation.

A few of the animals we saw from the boat

Our accomodation was situated in mosquito heaven.....or for us mosquito hell! These bastards were as big as your thumb nail with the appetites of starving men. The only way to escape them was too be on the boat going fast so they blew away or in the middle of the day as the heat got too much for them.

Sometimes not even that helped as they sheltered under the seats on the boat and could bite through jeans! Alana ended up with a backside resembling a pepporoni pizza and I was covered in bites all over my back. Our only escape was under our mozzy nets at night which thankfully worked very well.

In the evening we went Caiman hunting on the boat with our torches and spotted a few along the banks and one small one alongside the boat.

In the morning of the second day we went looking for Anaconda. We trudged around a stinking, fetted swamp in a vain search for a snake. We were not successful. On the way back however we did spot a snake swimming in the water ahead of the boat, not an Anaconda but atleast we had seen a snake!!

Searching for Anacondas

When we got back we had the first proper shower in four days. We and I am sure the others around us were pretty happy.

After lunch we went looking for the elusive Pink Dolphins to swim with. It wasnt long before we started to see a few of them but they werent interested in hanging around and playing with us, which in all honesty with fine as none of us really wanted to get into the water!

We managed to see quite a few dolphins but they were extremely difficult to photograph.

They were right there......we promise!

After our final night we were meant to watch sunrise over the Pampas but it was raining so we managed to sneak a couple of extra hours sleep. In the morning we went Pirhana fishing. This proved fruitless and we later heard that it was almost impossible to catch Pirhanna in the wet season as they are to spread out and prefer to head to clean water rather than the swamp. It was worth a try though.

Who has the biggest crocodile grin??

The Pampas tour was good and although we didnt catch Pirhanna or see an Anaconda we really enjoyed it. Among other animals, we did get to see:

Caiman
Alligators
Toucans
Sloths
Pink Dolphins
Capawara (largest rodent in the world)
Howler Monkeys
Titi Monkeys
A range of different birds
Spiders
Lizards
A swimming snake
and Turtles

After a brief night back in Rurrenabaque we were on the jungle tour. This had been paid for by the tour agency as a replacement for our rafting trip.

We headed into Madidi National Park by boat. Once moored we had to help carry our supplies along with our things into the jungle accomodation. Before getting there we had to cross a river up to our thighs and then across a tree trunk spanning another river/muddy hole which I of course fell into! Gutting after only just getting all of our washing done the night before from the rafting trip!

The jungle tour consisted of 3 walks into the jungle. Two day walks and one night one. One of the day walks was for animals and the other for plants.

The jungle trip was completely different to the Pampas and we really enjoyed it. We were quite lucky and we able to see quite a few animals on our walks (usually it is difficult due to how dense the forest is). We were lucky enough to see:

Wild boar – a small group of around 30 and then the next day a group of over 100!
A snake (it was really rare to see this type of snake as they usually hide in the water as the boar like to eat them!)
Tarantula
Many other spiders – in this area there were 11 species and 9 were poisonous.
Bullet ants (if they bite it hurts as though you have been shot apparently, for up to 24 hours!)
Red ants
Leaf cutter ants (my highlight!)
More ants
And more ants
A massive toad.

Some of the plants we saw that the jungle has to offer included:

A 'natural viagra' plant
Jungle weed – doesnt look like cannabis but apparently once the leaves are dried ad smoked it has the same affect.
A plant that helps with arthritis
A garlic tree
One that helps if you have been bitten by a snake
LOADS of hallucinagenic plants

After these two trips we flew back to La Paz in an 18 seater plane/coffin, straight down to the tour company to get our bus tickets/speak to them about a partial refund and then onto Potosi.

The Rafting Trip

2011-02-11T08:11:00.000-08:00

The Tour Company Jargin (my own words).

The rafting trip is a pleasant 5 day, 4 night trip casually drifting down the river marvelling at the beautiful landscape flanking you. From tropical cloud forest to deep and awe inspiring canyons the rafting trip is the quintisential way to see the jungle and reach your destination of Rurrenabaque.

When not slowly meandering round the graceful curves of the river there will be stops for us to explore the rainforest, experience the flora and fauna and swim in beautiful lagoons and waterfalls.

At night you will camp on the side of the river or in local communities adding to the experience of a lifetime by hearing the nighttime calls of the jungle.

This is an experience you will not forget!

For more information go to www.deep-rainforest.com

The Reality.

It did not start well.

We were due to leave at 5am, so at 4:50am we were up, washed, clothed, packed and ready to go. We got downstairs to our hostel reception to be given a message, delivered the previous evening that informed us that we would now be leaving at 7am! Brilliant! We trudged back upstairs, got back into bed and then just as we were falling back asleep we awoken to the call of our reception clerk telling us our taxi had arrived.

We were met downstairs by our guide for the trip, Ivan and loaded into the back of our car before picking up two girls that were also on our trip from another hostel. They were Trine and Muni from Denmark.

Over the next 7 hours we drove to Guanay along the road that we would have taken if we had gotten the bus. It was potholed, muddy, thin and dotted with landslides – we were all thankful that we were in the car rather than the bus as we fish-tailed around the corners.

Once in Guanay we were given a couple of hours to ourselves before we were to return and start the trip down river. We amused ourselves with a couple of beers and set about getting to know each other a little better.

When we returned to our meeting place we were informed that we were unable to start the trip as one of our guides had been drinking since midday and was now not only completely shit faced but had also gone AWOL!

Due to this fact we were put up in a hotel for the evening instead of camping (as you can imagine....gutted!). We were particularly happy with this outcome when, in the middle of the night it started to rain. Monsoon rain. It rained so heavily that we had to move our bed away from the window as rain was coming in and hitting us (there was no glass in the windows just mozzy nets). By the following morning however, the rain had almost cleared up (a bit of drizzle) and we were set to start our trip.

Over breakfast I enquired with our guide if it would still be safe to go on the rafting trip given the amount it had rained the night before. We were told it would be no problem. This tour had been running for many years and besides we had experienced guides with us.

We then got to the river and saw our raft.......

I am unsure why I am holding my life jacket so weirdly, I think after seeing the raft and the speed of the water my nerves took over!!

So, our raft was little more than inner tubes, bamboo and bailer twine. Excellent! On top of that was to sit, our luggage, the food, tents, stove and 8 fully grown people. Add to that the river was now a raging torrent with whole trees and logs drifting downstream and we had us one hell of a rafting trip/group suicide depending on your point of view!

As we clambered aboard this ten year olds summer holiday project, the people of the town started to appear on the bank of the river to see off these crazy Gringos.....would we be stupid enough to leave.....yes, it appears that in fact we would!

Barely 20 minutes into our trip we were forced to stop at an abandoned (for the wet season) gold mine along the side of the river to fix a puncture. A puncture in a raft. Wonderful! Yet another omen we decided to ignore.

The raft waiting for its puncture to be fixed!

Sitting quite low in the water...

The girls drifting merrily, merrily, merrily downstream (about 5mins later all hats in this picture were MIA!).

Puncture fixed we were back on the raft, crashing through rapids as we headed quickly downriver. By now, although we were wearing rainjackets and ponchos over our lifevests we were soaked from the waves of muddy river water that had crashed over us but were having quite an enjoyable time. Then we started to come round a bend.

Up ahead was the worst rapids we had seen. The central wave about as high as me (atleast 6ft) was looking daunting as we headed straight to it. The main guide started shouting at the other guide in Spanish, I started to shout 'Paddle', we all braced ourselves, the outcome was inevitable. We hit the wave and were immediately flipped into the raging torrent of muddy water.

Given the (bordering on child abuse) dunking I had been given by my father in my childhood everytime we were near water and the fact I am a reasonably strong and confident swimmer I didnt panic to much as I hit the water, found I was still under the raft and pulled myself out. When I surfaced however I was the only one out. Shit! I thought I had been under for a longtime and I knew Alana would be panicking hard. Either that or she could now be half way down river with one of our bags that had come loose and was a good 200m away.

Soon after however, Alana's head popped up out of the water, a brown mustache of mud on her face and I hauled her onto the now upturned raft. Now everyone else started to appear. Trine was up on the other side of the raft, the guides were out, so was Ivan. Muni and our cook Carmen (also Ivans wife) however, we still nowhere to be seen!

Alana then spotted them both. They were still under the raft with only their heads sticking through the inner tubes! Carmen had been hanging on to a rope when we capsized, a rope that had managed to intwine itself around her wrist so that she was now stuck under the raft. Muni, not being a strong swimmer had panicked and not wanted to let go of the raft incase she drifted away. Ivan helped Carmen and Alana saved Muni while I helped the guides get back the few bits and pieces that were floating along side us as we hurtled, now completely at the whim of the river downstream.

We all clambered back onto the upturned raft, now sitting on the inner tubes while our bags acted as buoyancy and the head guide managed to steer us into the side of the river using the only 1 of 3 paddles we had left (typically the one that was already broken!). Once safely at the side we disembarked our vessel and the girls headed up the steep bank, while the guides untied the remaining bags from under the raft and Ivan and I hurled them up to the girls.

Once all the bags were off it appeared that we had gotten lucky and that the only bag missing was the one containing the camping stove. All our bags were safe and thanks to the waterproof bags Alana and I had been given for Christmas a couple of years ago, the majority of our things were still dry. Infact all we lost were one of Alana's flip-flops/jandles and her hat. Unfortunately although not lost, Alana's camera had gotten wet and died, only to be resurected a few days later, but now with a grime film covering the lens.

Off the raft we were in the jungle. Essentially lost. Thankfully, we found a village about 20mins walk away and to the amusment to the local children, turned up dirty, wet and slightly in shock.

We were to spend the night here.

Once we had managed to get into some dry clothes and have a shower of sorts (the water came from a stream and due to landslides was only slightly less dirty than the water we had come out of), we started to feel a bit better. Alana and I played card games with the local children and tried to dry our clothes in the sunshine.

After something to eat we crawled into our tents quite early. It had been one hell of a day!

We were alive!!

Our resting place for the night.

The following day we were taken back to Guanay. As we passed the river it was evident that the day before the water had been atleast 2metres higher than it was today. We could probably get on the raft again.......not that that was going to happen!

After lunch in Guanay we headed to the next town and caught the bus (the bus we had tried to avoid) the rest of the way to Rurrenbaque.

Once we arrived we were straight on to the Pampas tour.

Bolivia

2011-02-11T07:31:00.000-08:00

Copacabana (or just Copa) was our next stop on Lake Titicaka, on the Bolivian/Peru border (we were the Bolivian side). This is the highest natural lake in the world and again an important site for the Incans. It was believed that this was the birthplace of the world and all life had come from here.

Sunset in Copa

The Isla del Sol and Isla de la Lunar (literally the island of the sun and island of the moon) are on the lake. We went on a day visit to the Isla del Sol. After being dropped off on the northern side of the island we had a choice to make. We could either mooch around the Northern side and then catch the boat to the Southern side and do the same OR we could walk from one end to the other over a 5 hour period and then catch the oat back to town. Guess which one Alana decided we were doing!

The trek along the island was quite enjoyable although the sun was quite oppresive and the trek itself took us longer than we had first thought it would. The views were nice and it was good to be able to walk together at our own pace.

Bloody woman!

Alana....sorry, I mean a Llama!!

From Copacabana it was a short bus journey (3 hours) to the Bolivian capital of La Paz.

When we arrived we immediately looked into going to the jungle and pampas. We were told about a boat trip that took us down the river visiting the 3 different types of jungle – the cloud forest, semi tropical jungle and then finally the tropical rainforest. Brilliant! The only problem was it only went on Wednesday and needed 6 people. It was Thursday and there were (including us) only 4 people confirmed! We decided to wait for a week in La Paz as there would surely be more people interested in a weeks time. Plus there was plenty to do in La Paz to keep us occupied.

La Paz

The first tour we did in La Paz was the 'Worlds Most Dangerous Road'. This used to be one of the main roads to La Paz but there were often accidents where motorists would plunge to their deaths 600m below after coming off the side of the one laned road.

We were going on bikes. In the rain. Thankfully the bikes looked to be in pretty good nick and had hydraulic breaks and good tyres. We were also given helmets and elbow/knee pads and gloves to help protect us should we fall off.......the bike that is, not the road!

The tour started on a tarmaced piece of road towards the WMDR so we could get used to the bikes etc. This was fun in itself as it was more than steep enough to get some great speed up without peddling and hoon around the corners.

The WMDR however was a completely different different kettle of fish. It was essentially a track with stones and boulders scattered throughout the desent along with a few waterfalls and rivers running across it. This may not have been the best idea!!

It was fun though and although the views were again a little spoiled it probably made it safer as we were able to concentrate more on the ride and our safety. There have been 28 deaths on the road (well probably the valley below!) since 2008 so the concetration was needed.

The road with waterfalls sweeping across it.

Its a long way down!

The ride was great fun and although our only just dry shoes were once again soaked we would both do it again.

As, while I am writing this I am being looked at over my shoulder, I'll have to conceed that Alana was faster than me and hooned down the road at breakneck speed, even saying at one point that she would like to get into down hill mountain biking!!Bloody idiot!!

Ready for anything!

That night we met up with a couple of Aussies we had met on our trek and went out drinking with them.They were flying out in a couple of days time going back to reality so a big night was needed. It was had!

After getting home a little worse for wear at 5:30am we spent most of the day in bed. When we eventually did get up it was only to go out for dinner with them to the Steak House as they flew out the following morning.

We had an awesome meat platter with steak, Llama, chicken, black pudding, chorizo and ribs accompanied with fries and as much salad as we could eat. Awesome!

The next trip we did was to Chacaltaya (a mountain) and the Lunar Valley.

Chacaltaya used to be the worlds highest ski resort but due to global warming this is no longer the case. In 1940 there was 1km of snow recorded at the resort, in 1980 ½km and now they are lucky to get a metre. Apparently it hardly ever snows........hardly ever that is, unless Alana and Dan are visiting!!

Instead of rain, this time the amazing views of Lake Titicaca, La Paz and Huayna Potosi (a 6088m peak thats popular to climb) were blocked by snow! We did however get to appreciate some of the different coloured lakes on the way up (due to iron, copper and lead deposits from the ground)before heading off to the Lunar Valley.

At the top

Some of the lakes.

The Lunar Valley was located just outside La Paz and has rock formations sculpted by the wind and rain that look (funnily enough) like the moons landscape.

Where's Wally?

OUCH!

A cheeky moon at moon valley!

It had almost been a week of us waiting in La Paz and apart from the drinking, eating and tours we had also managed to get me a haircut (basically shaved on a Number 3 as the barber couldnt understand English and my Spanglish does not go as far as explaining how I want my hair cut!) and visit the witches market. It was now the moment of truth, could we go on our boat tour?

No. We couldnt!

Unfortunately no one else was interested in the boat tour, however the company could offer a rafting trip, following the same course along the river but taking a little more time (2 days). We decided that this was the best option we had, not wanting to get the bus to Rurrenabaque (the Jungle and Pampas) and not being able to fly both ways.

How naive we were!

Dried Llama fetuses in the witches market - good luck if buried under your house apparently!

A stall in the market.

Machu Picchu

2011-02-11T06:48:00.000-08:00

Our apologies for the break in updates, the internet connection in Bolivia was too slow to even try updating, plus we were busy with all sorts of adventures that you will read about shortly.

A brief overview of the BEST coldest, wettest most miserable days of our lives!

We had to get to Cusco a couple of days in advance for our trek to acclimnatise to the altitude so we would not get sick on the trek. We spènt this time looking around Cusco which itself is a beautiful city and buying some souveniers........Alana purchased a new jumper that was so big and woolly it also meant we had to purchase a new bag to keep it in!!

A view from the main square.

Another view from around town

The famous 12 sided stone......go on, count them up!

The Trek

Day One.

We started pretty early at about 5:20am. As any of you that know Alana and I we weren´t the most sociable of people on the trek at this hour! We continued on a bus to a small town and had breakfast, bought some sweets (Snickers and Skittles which would later become lifesavers!!) and a walking stick. This was the single most important and best purchase I have EVER made!
Once breakfast was over and everyone had introduced themselves we continued to the beginning of the trek.
It was an easy trek on the first day with plenty of stops so the guides could gauge everyones fitness. I managed to keep up a relatively good pace even though I was carrying both Alana's and my stuff and 5 litres of water giving the backpack a combined weight of about 20kg's (2 backpack Norton has nothing on me!!).
Even though it was an easy walk we soon learned the difference between gringo flat (actually flat) and Inca flat (steady inclines).......we soon learned to hate Inca flat!!

Our group at the beginning of the trail

She had almost had enough!!

One of the Inca sites on day one

Day Two (The challenge day)

After the good weather of yesterday we awoke o what would become a common occurrence.....rain, well actually a misty fog with intermittent rain. This was actually quite welcome because within 10 minutes we were sweating horrendously as we munched on our coca leaves (taste not recommended!!) and began to climb 1200metres up to 4200metres above sea level. The beginning of the day wasn't too bad but then we hit 'Dead Womans Pass'. This was a killer! We trudged slowly but surely up these steps refuelling with Skittles that were immediately burnt off.....all the while I was STILL carrying the backpack which I was rapidly becoming to loath!

The little engine that could!

At the top (4200m). The smiles were Skittle fueled....we were buggered!!

Unfortunately as it had been raining (as visible from the photo above) after all our hardwork there was no rewarding view at the top of the pass, our reward came in the form of now being able to go downhill to our camp. This however was probably worse on the legs than going up, but nothing was going to stop us now we had the end in our sights! I couldn't wait to get this bag off me, have a cup of tea and possibly change into some dry clothes (rather than the current ones that were drenched not only with rain but also sweat!).

Our camp on day two. It brightened up as soon as we arrived!

Day Three

We were awoken early again by our guide and our 'tent service' (basically being woken up and offered a tea, coffee, hot chocolate or coca tea at the door of our tent – something I could get used to Alana!!) and set about getting ready for what was meant to be the most beautiful day.

After yet another amazing breakfast we set off on what was to be a far easier day then yesterday. We only had two small passes to cover and a bit of 'Inca flat' before we set about our descent on a staircase that is affectionately known as the 'Gringo Killer'!

Unfortunately after a bright and hopeful start it began to rain again and the clouds and mist set in meaning we were unable to view any of the spectacular scenery that is common on this day of the trek. It did however make us view the beauty that was immediately around us. There were many flowers and plants flanking the trail along with the mountain itself. The others on the trek were of course treated to yet another day of Dan and Alana beauty so they were happy at least!

After our lunch stop we had to pass through the Inca caves where they had carved their route through the rocks to continue their route to Machu Picchu. These were pretty cool although slightly slippy in the wet. We also visited an Incan fortress which was also impressive. They had good planning when it came to where the wanted to place important buildings. Often they are in a position to survey surrounding landscape for miles and in some instances are almost impenetrable.

Eventually we hit the Gringo Killer, which thankfully turned out to be a little easier than expected. Most of our group made such good time that we decided to take the longer route to the camp and visit another Incan site.

When we arrived at the final campsite we were able to have a hot shower (we didnt bother) and have a cold beer (we did bother!!) before having an early night ready for our extremely early start the following day.

Day Four.

As there are many tourists and tour groups along the trail it is important to be up early enough to be one of the first groups to make it to Machu Picchu and hopefully get some good pictures without too many other people in the background.

We started at 3:30am. Yes. Thats right. 3:30am!! In the rain. We quickly made our way to the gate ready to start day four of the trail and were lucky enough to be the third group to arrive meaning we were able to shelter from the rain while all the other groups stood out in it while we waited for the gate to open at 5:30am.

Due to the amount of rain, the gate was late opening as an official had to run along the trail and ensure there had been no landslides during the night. The trail had been closed for the two days previously due to this and the tours had had to descend down the hill and follow the train tracks around to the local town and then bus to Machu Picchu adding an extra two hours to their time and obviously a making it a disappointing way to end the trail.

As soon as the gates opened and we were able to go we were off to a flying start. The weight in the backpack giving me extra momentum, sometimes scarily so. I was doing well and not far behind Alana and the others at the front of our group, overtaking the other tours in front of us and making good time until I hit the climb to the Sun Gate. It was only about 50 steps but they were incredibly steep......I was almost on my hands and knees crawling up them!

The amazing view from the Sun Gate!

The view from this point of the trail is again supposed to be stunning but due to the rain (it was pouring down by now) we were unable to see anything. Before I had time to catch my breath Alana informed me we were off again and we continued our sprint to Machu Picchu.

When we arrived, although soaking wet and completely knackered the view was well worth it and we were exrtremely glad we had decided to go on the trek rather than get the bus. Alana and '1 incredibly heavy backpack Norton' had made it!!

After waiting for the rest of our group to arrive we were taken on a tour of the site. Im not going to lie, it was miserable. Although the tour was really good we were all tired, cold and completely soaked. Even our waterproof shoes were now squelching as we walked around.

After the tour was complete we spent about another 2 hours walking around on our own, although we didnt climb Wayna Picchu (the mountain in the background) as the clouds kept coming in and making visibility almost impossible.

We bused down the hill to the local town (Aguas Caliente) and headed to the hot springs to warm up for a couple of hours, before heading back to Cusco on the train and bus, eventually arriving at 2:30am after an extremely long but most satisfying day.

You may be wondering why the trail to Machu Picchu is so long and hard, or maybe you're not but I'm going to tell you anyway.

Only royalty and important Incan figures were allowed to follow the trail we took. They believed that the higher they climbed the closer they were to their gods and therefore the more divine they could become. Commoners that visited Machu Picchu would climb afar quicker and easier path to the summit.

Although, the site is quite large the main inhabitors were religious figures and Incan astrologers. They experimented a lot with growing different crops at altitudes they were normally unable to grow at (usually coca) and studied the stars intently.

As you may have noted above (I believe I mention it once or twice) I was carrying a heavy backpack throughout the trek which certainly took its toll, however there have been many other people carrying far bigger loads along this trail that deserve a mention.

Firstly were the Incan slaves who would have carried the Incan leaders on thrones along this path when they deemed it necessary to visit Machu Picchu, which must have been overwhelming. The second group of people were our (and other groups) porters who would literally run along the trail carrying twice the weight I was and set up our camp and make our meals. They are incredibly fit and worked tirelessly for us, always with a smile and always with a 'Hola' as they passed!

Our chef Eddy with the cake he had made for our last night. The food was amazing throughout the trip!

Peru

2011-01-25T11:18:00.000-08:00

Mancora for New Year!! We arrive in the small fishing village type town after another fun bus journey and our first land border crossing of the trip in the sunshine......yes, finally, SUNSHINE!!
We pre-booked our hostel, which it turns out is more like a resort than a hostel! We didnt have to pay at the bar (everything went on a tab....dangerous!) and although we were right on the beach we were fenced in and had a nice pool, bar and hammocks to relax in.

View from our room

The hostel!!

It was a hard few days!!

It was nice to relax and enjoy the sunshine for a few days with the odd cerveza......well, maybe a few more than the odd one! A couple of nights before New Year we had a couple of relaxing drinks after dinner. We were just having a couple of beers until happy hour rolled round....a couple of vodka´s...no harm there right?? Normally, probably not but when the shots were 50ml standards and Alana had the equivalent of 250mls/8+ shots in about 40mins plus the previous beers it didnt make for a pretty end of the evening!! Well, so I'm told, I passed out as she hugged the toilet.......

The next few days were spent chilling out by the pool and enjoying the sunshine.
New Year rolled round and we got set for a big night. Once dressed in yellow and gold (the colours for Peruvian New Year - to symbolise Incan colours and prosperity for the coming year) we headed to the bar and started slowly, watching a group of Aussies do Centurion/the hundy-club finishing at 8:30pm!! God only knows how they managed to carry on till 5am!!
We were quite sensible and only got a little drunk, socialised and danced the night away! It was a great night and we met a lot of good people.

From Mancora we went to Lima. Although a massive city, we both quite liked it. We visited the Catacombs at Monasterio de San Francisco and saw the collections of bones from the 70,000 plus people that have been buried there.
After strolling around we went for a nice lunch where we had the most amazing cerviche (raw fish with lime and chilli) and our first pisco sour (the national cocktail). In the afternoon we went down to the coast and walked through Parque Del Amor (Park of Love).

Monasterio de San Francisco

Huacachina was the next stop. A tiny town surrounding a lagoon in the middle of the desert surrounded by mountainous sand dunes. We only spent the one day there but had a great time going dune buggying and sand boarding.

Next stop was Nazca for a flight over the 'Nazca Lines', we were all booked in and ready to go but when we arrived we were told that we were unable to fly! Apparently there was an accident a couple of months ago and so the government brought in a lot of new safety requirements. This meant that out of 18 companies that used to do the tour only 3 were now still in business!! On the day we arrived there were only 2 companies working as the other was grounded for maintenance. We asked to be booked in for the following day but they were only able to secure one place. Alana kindly let me take the spot, however when we arrived the following day and took the flight there was infact a space free next to me!! NOT HAPPY! Apparently they leave open spots for people that just turn up to the airport and are willing to pay horrendous amounts of money!!
The flight itself was quite good but it was difficult to enjoy it fully while bouncing around and trying to take photos of the different pictures in the desert. Only the hummingbird was clearly visible, the others were sometimes a little difficult to make out but it was great to see them in real life rather than on National Geographic!

The Hummingbird

The Spider

From Nazca we headed on yet anbother long bus journey to Cusco ready to start our Machu Picchu trip!

Ecuador

2011-01-14T15:06:00.000-08:00

Quito

We arrived in Quito for Christmas Eve and arived at our hostel......our dark, dank, horrendously overpriced hostel! Given the prospect of spending Christmas Day in this place we opted for going on a tour to the Otavalo Markets - the largest open air markets in South America - visiting a few other places en route including a chance to stop and take a picture on the Equator line.
We had a quiet Christmas Eve night with only a quick Margarita and a meatfest of a burger and went to bed early.
Christmas Day came but alas, Father Christmas obviously got lost on his way to find us as my stocking was empty!
We joined the tour on a surprisingly full bus first stopping at a shop that made models and figurines. They were crap! Remember FIMO when you were younger, the dough that was baked in the oven......well this place made a living from it.
We then went to a bakery to see and old clay oven in progress......but actually we didnt because there was no baking going on(!) and then on to the Equator line. This was a brief stop but quite interesting. Equador is the only country on which the Equator runs over a glacier and is the best one for astrology as it has fixed points on the horizon, everywhere else is too flat or dense with jungle.

At the Equator as marked by GPS

Having Christmas in both hemisphere's!!

The markets were quite good with all sorts of touristy tat for sale by indignious sellers. We bought Alana a bag, Alpaca wool jumper and the two of us some art work. We even came across some Alpaca fur hats.......which I may well still purchase (much to Alana's horror!!).

Should it be this one??

This one?

Or maybe.......

On the way back we stopped at a lake before going back to Quito for Christmas dinner. We cooked our own at the hostel thinking nowhere would be open (turns out loads of places were because only 45% of Ecuador is Roman Catholic) and had steak and veg.....well we thought it was steak, on reflection it may well have been some old car tyre!
A bit of a disappointing Christmas, but these things happen and we still had New Year to come!!

We also went south to the town of Cuenca. Old Colonial style buildings and really chilled out. Had we have had longer apparently the surrounding mountains and jungle are pretty amazing!
It had a nice river we walked along to some old Incan ruins before visitng the museum to see shrunken heads!
Another highlight of Cuenca (for Alana!!) was me ordering a 'Chocolate Especial' - from the hot chocolate menu - thinking that it would be hot chocolate with marshmellow, cream, maybe even a couple of hundreds and thousands.......but no.What I actually received (as Alana laughed at my crushingly disappointed face) was a hot chocolate with cheese! YES! Thats right, CHEESE!! Its actually a speciality here but to be honest I didnt find it that special!!

Travelling from Cuenca on to Mancora in Peru for New Year was an interesting/nerve racking experience. We travelled for about 4 hours on a wet, muddy single lane dirt road with drops of 100-200m on one side. Meeting other vehicles coming the other way was interesting as we inched past the other vehicles and fish tailed around corners in the mud. We did eventually make it back on to paved road and finally to the Peruvian border!

The river in Cuenca

Not fallen out yet!!

Colombia

2010-12-26T18:33:00.000-08:00

14th - 24th December 2010

We arrived in Cartagena and got to our hotel in the 'Zona Rosa' (Red light district!!) - the hostel was actually quite nice apart from everytime it rained,which was often, our room flooded! We learnt to keep everything off the floor pretty quickly and thankfully nothing got ruined!
Cartagena's old town (the area we were staying) is still pretty cool with lots of narrow cobbled streets interconnecting with each other and still has elaborate walls circling the town with fortifications. We spent our first day walking around the town dodging thunder storms and checking out the area.

From Cartagena we went on a tour to a mud volcano (Volcan de Lodo El Totumo) which stands 15m high but is over 2000m deep! We climbed to the top of it and jumped in! It was strange and difficult to balance in because of your buoyancy, one wrong move and your legs were sliding out in front of you! Apparently the mud has some theraputic properties and minerals contained with in it......we just thought it was good fun!!
Once in the Volcano you were grabbed for an 'optional' massage which of course wasnt really optional at all, but felt quite nice as....ahem.....men rubbed their hands all over my mud slathered body!

At the bottom of the Volcano

Enjoying the therapeutic benefits!!

Like a pig in......

Unfortunately the weather didnt improve much while we were in Cartagena so we decided not to go to Santa Marta (a couple of hours down the road) and were unable to go to Playa Blanca - diving was also not an option due to poor visibility and the sea being too rough for some boats - and headed to Bogota instead!
After a thoroughly enjoyable 27 1\2 hour bus journey (5 hours longer than we were told) we arrived in Colombia's capital, 2600m above sea level, and collapsed in our bed!
Bogota had quite a good vibe to it and although we were apprehensive about safety in the city, we didnt feel threatened at anytime and enjoyed the big bustling streets and elegant style of the city.

Catedral Primada - Bogotas largest church.

Capitolio Nacional (Christmas styley!)

It has an impressive gold museum with many pre-Hispanic artefacts which is touted to be the most important gold museum in the world. Some of the pieces are amazingly delicate and well crafted given that the goldsmiths were using very basic methods to develop their craft.
We also went out and hit the town in Bogota. We started in the hostel bar and met quite a good crowd of fellow backpackers before heading to the only nightclub in town open after 3am nicknamed 'The End' (because everyone goes there at the end of their night) situated on the 30th floor of a highrise building. The views were amazing and had the music not been so bad (mainly early 90's trance) and the drinks so expensive (same as being at home but after you've been spending $1-$1.50 a beer, thats expensive!) it would have been an amazing place to see the sunrise!
Behind the city and only a terrifying cable car journey away is the Cerro de Monserrate mountain crest on which sits a church (and a few restaurants) which overlook the city. On a clear day you are able to see for miles but due to its height, these days are few and far between because you are quite literally sitting in the clouds - amazing in its own right!

The church

The terrifying cable car ride

A view over Bogota

After Bogota we decided to go to Cali on the overnight bus with the intention of going on to Popayan (meant to have Colombia's best museums and be the countries most stylish town) and then cross the border to Ecuador. On arrival to Cali however we were informed that the road between Popayan and the border had been closed due to landslides and was unlikely to open again until after Christmas.....as long as there were no other slips.......bugger! We could either chance the roads and fall behind schedule or fly at vast expense to Quito - we let the fates decide and flipped a coin - flying to Quito it was!We had a couple of days in Cali before we left though and were staying a really nice hostel (Pelican Larrys) with a great owner and good group of people. Unfortunately Cali doesnt have all that much to offer apart from tours outside the city (all running on other days!!) so we amused ourselves by chilling out, having a great BBQ with one to many beers at the hostel and visiting Colombia's best zoo.

We both wish we had read up a little more on Colombia before we left and designated more time to this country. We met people who have been travelling here for months and it has plenty to offer. There is the jungle, lost cities, extreme sports, beaches, beautiful towns and great people, maybe something to think about on the next trip, for the time being its 4am Christmas Eve and we're off to the airport!

Feliz Navidad!

Mexico and Cuba

2010-12-13T10:47:00.000-08:00

30th November 2010 - 13th December 2010

MEXICO

OK.So after a LONG flight and some human rights violations in LAX we finally made it to our hotel in Mexico City!!
After arriving at the airport and managing to catch out our first scammer (the money changer tried to get away with short changing us!) we immediately fell into the second scam and hired a car (with driver) to take us to our hotel. Rather than getting the cheap taxi we had a massive SUV take us through Mexico City. It was ridiculous!

Our first day was pretty slow moving given that we were so tired but we strolled around downtown and the area immediately within our hotel, had a couple of beers and something called a 'Cubana' (essentially a Corona poured on top of a concoction of chilli sauce and lime juice - interesting!).
Our second and last day in Mexico was far more interesting. We were picked up from our hotel by Javier our guide for teh day who thnakfully spoke great English. He took us first to a Church where the 'Virgin Mary' apparently appeared to an Indian native 500 years ago. To prove he had seen the Madonna she told him to pick some roses from the top of the mountain (roses at that time were not grown in Mexico) and carry them within his cloak. When he showed the roses to the priest in the local town they left behind an image of Mary which still hangs within the specially built church today (although a new one as the original one is starting to sink!) - apparently there are no signs of brush strokes and the paint/ink/colouring hasnt faded and actually floats above the material of the cloak! OR......that could just be bollocks!!
We stopped at a stone carving factory and although we didnt buy anything I did manage to have 2 Tequillas....at 11am!!
We then visited the Temples of Guadalupe - the sun and the moon temples. They were pretty cool and we could climb to the top and see excellent views. The only downside was the amount of touts there trying to sell their tat - it became quite exhausting with the constant 'No gracias' in the heat!

Alana at the top of the Moon temple (the Sun temple is in the background)

Looking towards the Sun Temple

CUBA

Cuba was amazing. With its bohemian mix of race and culture it has come together in a country of people who rather than dwell on their ethnicity, identify and unite under being 'Cuban'!
Havana is a crumbling ruin of what must have been quite a spleandour in its hayday. Peeling paint comes off the walls in staircases with marble steps and ageing nicotine stains grand chandalier crowned ceilings, but nonetheless there is definately a certain 'feel' to the city which catches you in its awe.
We spent quite a while in Havan al up and enjoyed all of our time here, infact we could probably have spent all of our ten days nin this one spot and still found things to do. As it was we contented ourselves with looking at the arcitecture, walking along the maricon, divuldging in Mojito and ofcourse visiting a Cuban cigar factory!
The factory tour, although smacking a little of a human zoo, was very interesting. We saw the tobacco leaves as they come in and are sorted, the training room where new recruits are taught to roll the cigars - it takes 9 months before they aready, and the professional rollers. The factory can churn out 25000 cigars per day, different brands and shapes taking different amounts of time and skill to make.

We love it when a plan comes together!

Vinales was our next stop in Cuba. A rural part of the country where large limestone formations jut out of the landscape. It was colder here but beautiful with the limestone and tobacco fields rolling into one.
We visited the ntional park on horse back and trekked around it for 5 hours, a great way to see all that Vinales had to offer albeit a bit of a sore arse the next day......or two!!
The highlight for Alana on this ride however, was not the beautiful landscape, the culture, the views or even the ride itself......no it was the fact that while everyone else on the ride had a horse to ride, I was given a mule! I consoled myself with the fact that Jesus rode a donkey....

My beautiful steed for the day

After the horse trek we went by foot, hiking to a cave formed in the limestone which had two freshwater pools you could swim in. We expected these to be at the mouth of the cave but in fact the were about 100m+ inside the cave and it was pitch black. I was the only one who braved the cool water and although it looked very much like a lair from Alien (glistenning limetsone stalactites and stalacmites) I managed to come out unscathed!

I think the highlight of Cuba for us was Trinidad. A beautiful old colonial town 10kms from the beach with cobbled roads (the novelty of which soon wore off!!),beautiful buildings and amazing sunsets made this somewhere we would definitely like to visit again.

There was plenty to see and do by just walking the streets in this town, in fact the town was really its own museum, so pottering along looking at all the town had to offer whilst drinking the odd cerveza or mojito was a conclusive way to see the city.

We also visited the beach, it being so close and all we thought it rude not too, while Alana sunned herself I went for an unfortunately disappointing dive. Although I had heard that diving in Cuba is amazing, it appears not off Playa Ancon where a lot of the coral was dead and consequently few fish inhabited the area.....certainly no sharks like I had hoped to see.

At all the places we visited we stayed at Casa Particulars which is essentially just a room (with ensuite) in someones house. We ate in a few and had some amazing meals of chicken and more often than not lobster! It was definitely a great way to meet some 'real' Cuban people and we generally had alot of fun!

After a long hard week of sun, cigars, mojitos and lobster it is now time for us to head to Colombia, apprehension and excitment are toying with us as we wait here in Panama airport looking out at a rather wet and miserable day.....only another 1 1/2 hours to wait......now if I can only convince Alana to buy me something to eat.......