Welcome to the soon to be legendary blog site, chronicling all the adventures myself, Pete, and Dan (a.k.a gee, amongst other things) get up to on our year long mission around central and south america! Well, maybe not all of them, sorry mum, there are some things best left unsaid, but we`ll do our best to keep you all up to date, and at the very least confirm that we havent been kidnapped yet! As i write this, there are 3months left until take off, one more dose of jabs to get, 59 working days left, countless farewell beers to have with you all, and a whole lot of money to save (donations welcome!!!). The excitement of it all is well and truly building, and the enormity of the trip is looming like a big looming thing (i did a-level english dont you know). So far all we have a one way ticket and a few nights in mexico city booked, a lonely planet guide to central america, tons of ideas and bags of enthusiasm! This may seem slightly crazy to some of you, down right reckless and suicidal to others, but to us its the only way to do it. We figure we`ll meet so many cool people on the backpacker trail, who have been places, seen things and got the stories to prove it, that they can be our guidebook! these strangers are going to determine the course of our journey, if places get recommended, we`ll go, if they tell us to avoid places, thats what we`ll do! who cares if we miss some of the supposed "must see" sites, the nomadic spirit that is behind this adventure will take us to plenty of amazing places, and besides, once you`ve seen one temple, you`ve pretty much seen them all!
Well, its been a while, so i thought i`d give a quick update of where we stand with just 27 days left. Everything is more or less sorted now, over the last few weeks we`ve both endured several jabs (currently a nice cocktail of hepatitis a+b, yellow fever, typhoid and tetanus are pulsing through us!), and spent loads of money of buying things like mosquito nets, sleeping bags, torches, a washing line (dont know what its for but might be handy...) etc - the amount of little things we need/want is amazing, sure we`ve forgotton loads as well! I handed my notice in at work 2 weeks ago which is when i actually really started getting excited about this trip, before it seemed like something someone else was doing, but now, pretty much on a daily basis, i have a 10minute moment where i giggle like a girl, just cant wait to get on the road!!! I also found a really great website recently, jammed full of volunteer opportunities. Most of these you have to pay for, but this site is full of free or dirt cheap ones, working in schools, animal sanctuaries, all sorts, so we are hoping to get involved with a couple of these whilst we`re away. The experiences will be amazing, and to be honest I think we`ll be grateful of having something to occupy us and provide a bit of routine for a month or so!
I`ve just started reading The Motorcycle Diaries by Ernesto "Che" Guevara, and found this paragraph which i think pretty much sums up our thinking right now -
"The first commandment for every good explorer is: An expedition has two points, the point of departure and the point of arrival. If your intention is to make the second theoretical point coincide with the actual point of arrival, dont think about the means - because the journey is a virtual space that finishes when it finishes, and there are as many means as there are different ways of "finishing". That is to say, the means are endless"
Adios for now
Pete
helo boys and girls only 10 days to go before we step out in to the unknown and have our crazey and enlightining adventures! (i can bloody weight) oh yeah something else to look forward to our party !! at midhurst rugby club dj bbq andcamping what more do ya want ? er maybe a bar ? fantastic hope to see you all there its gonna be about your last chance to see us !! x
Wow! hope everyone enjoyed themselves on saturday night, thanks to everyone who came, was a great turnout - didnt realise we were so popular! For those that couldnt make it, gutted, you missed a good un. It all kicked off about 7.30 Saturday, finished 10 Sunday night, now thats what i call a party! I`d love to write about what happened, but neither of us have a clue after about 10 (saturday)! We`re now just a pair of jobless, homeless, car-less, smelly gringos, with stinking hangovers! Ah well, start as you mean to go on eh...photos coming soon!
x
Well, we made it to mexico city, arrived last night, 10pm mexico time, found the hostel no problems, only thing is we have to share our dorm with 7 american girls, how will we cope??? Had a couple of beers last night, still ropey from the weekend, ouch. Hostel is right in the centre, near the cathedral, parliament buildings etc, so were just about to go explore the area, weather is fine at the mo, although there have been storms around the last few days.
Adios for now Amigos
Ola
Today is our final day in Mexico City, we were going to stay til wednesday but city life is getting a bit boring. Thats not to say that we dont like the place, its a really cool city, never seen anywhere with so much hustle and bustle, the place is constantly busy and full of life. You`d think this may lead to high levels of street crime, but the police presence is absolutely immense! every shop has a cop outside it, big hotels have about 15 armed officers!
First day here we avoided the main tourist haunts and wandered around for most of the day, taking in the sights, sounds and smog of the city. There are loads of little statues at random places on the sides of roads, and plenty of impressive architecture.
On friday we took a bus tour around the city, stopping off at the museum of anthropology! check us out getting our culture on! The museum was great but the best bit was outside. in a small square there was a pole about 100ft high, and on top of it were five guys with a bit of rope tied round their waists. Four of these guys then decided it would be a good idea to jump headfirst and spin around the pole, the rope gently got longer until they reached the ground. The other guy sat on top, spinning round playing a flute like instrument, getting very dizzy!
That night came the highlight of our stay here-Luche Libre aka Mexican Wrestling! We started off with a few beers at the hostel, then got a bus down to the arena. Outside seemed to be chaos, touts everywhere and a real crush trying to get in, but our guide somehow managed to get the 15 of us through and up to our seats. The arena was massive, we reckon about 10,000 people in a massive steep sided auditorium, and of course, being gringos, we were right at the back in the rafters. The atmosphere was rocking as we entered, everone chanting, blowing horns and whistles as two midgets took on two full grown men! In Luche Libre, there is always a goodie and a baddie, the midgets were of course the crowd favourites. The fight itself was a demonstration of agility and acrobatics, some of the moved were incredible, and made for a real spectacle! When the big guys eventually triumphed, they were met with boo`s, while the defeatewd midget heros got a huge roar! Next up was 6 hot wrestling chicks in a 3 on 3 fight, not quite as violent, but impressive in its own way...
Then came the big one, Mystico the local wrestling god was up, again in a 3 on 3 bout. The crowd by this time had all consumed plenty of cerveza`s so were baying for blood, they didnt even mind when a 17stone guy flew from the ring into the first 3 rows of seats! Amazingly the forces of evil won this one, although when we left a huge after fight was still brewing, but we had a bus to catch, bummer.
Yesterday was spent recovering, playing cards in the park and generally just chilling out. We experienced our first meal from a street vendor, 3 hot dogs for 10pesos, about 50p, and we lived to tell the tale!
Today as its our last day we are heading to the city zoo, gonna walk down there, we think its about 2-3miles, so that should kill most of the day, then up at 7 tomorrow for our first bus trip down to oaxaca, about 5hours south. As far as buses go we`ve signed up for the Bamba Bus, mexico city-cancun for about 100pounds, not a bad deal!
Thats it for now, stay tuned for the next update, assuming the bus is ok...
x
Well, after saying that we would head to the zoo, we met a guy at our hostel who was going to a Mexican League Football match between Pumas and Chivas de Guadalajara! We were running a bit late, so turned up about 20mins after kick off, then had to fight our way through the usual masses of mexican police. We werent even allowed to wear belts into the ground, we had to give them to a little old lady in exchange for a ticket, then hope our bellies did fought the power of gravity! When we finally got in, Pumas were 1-0 down, and the Chivas crowd were in full party mode. The match itself was pretty slow paced, hardly surprising in 30degree heat, and the standard of play was at best championship. It took until about 5mins from the end for the equaliser to come, and it was so far offside it was criminal! This set our side of the crowd off as well, and the atmosphere for the finale was immense. As we left the ground we saw that the police presence was on full display, they were everywhere, with riot gear, about 250 on horseback, tons of wagons, and literally hundreds on foot. Needless to say there wasnt a hint of trouble. We then had to try and find the lady with our belts, who of course was behind a bunch of riot cops, but we found her in the end, where we had to pay 10pesos, or 50p to get our belts back! The cheek of it! Then came the fun bit, getting on a 100yr old bus, with an insane driver. Weèd seen others go by with people literally hanging out of the doors, but ours wasnt quite as busy, most likely because the locals knew the driver! at one point he took a bend so fast he couldnt hold his lane and came within inches of another car, all the while with the engine screaming as he pushed it to the max! Before the game we were considering going on a rollercoaster weèd seen on the way, but after that there was no need!
Ola,
We`ve now done our first move of the trip, Mexico City to Oaxaca, the bus company said it`d be a 5hour trip, but it was nearer 10! Fortunataly we allowed ourselves a little luxury and got the bamba bus, a toyota hiace designed for backpackers, so no chickens, goats or screaming children. Oaxaca is totally different to Mexico City, much more the type of place we expected to be in, an average sized town, quite dirty streets, the buses and trucks kick out so much black smoke you cant see, and the streets are lined with a very random selection of shops - from typewritrers and tacos to car engines and puppies, you can buy anything here!
First day we got here we decided to be a bit energetic and hired some bikes for about a fiver each to go up to Monte Alban, the Zapotec ruins dated around 500-800AD. The site was about 7km out of town, but about 800m high, so the height, altitude and general unfitness meant it ook about 1 1/2 hours to get up there. The last km took about half hour, and it REALLY hurt! Once we got there it was really worth it though, the views down into the valley where oaxaca is situated were spectacular, and the ruins themselves were pretty awesome. Despite its age, most of the temples are still standing, and you can climb to the top of a lot of them. From there the view over the rest of the site reveals just how imposing the place must have been at its height. There are still some of the old carved stones around as well, depicting obese naked men with big lips, which begs the question, does Dan have Zapotec roots he doesnt know about??? Once we`d done there, the cycle back down the hill began. This was pretty hairy, what with the brakes not really working too well and lots of blind bends with buses and cliffs around them, but fortuantely it only took about 10minutes!
The evening consisted of a few drinks in the hostel courtyard, a litre of vodka is less than 3pounds here, so it seems rude not to! Being pretty exhausted after the bikes though it wasnt a late one, which was fortunate because the hostel is on the main road and rush hour starts at 6am so the mornings feel like the m25 has moved into the room. That said the hostel itself is pretty cool, nice relaxed atmosphere and dirt cheap.
Yesterday was a quite an easy day, as we were both a bit tired from the previous days exertions, once again a few games of cards in the Zocalo (town square)! After a quick wander around the cathedral we decided to taste the local beverage - Mezcal. Its made from the agave cactus, same as tequila but we`d heard it was nicer. That was a lie! We went into the little shop and tried a free teaspoon of the stuff - that was plenty! Imagine drinking straight from the BP pumps, and then swallowing a match (a bottle is on the way to midhurst rugby club - good luck man of the match!). After that there was only one thing for it, find a bar and drink enough beer to stop the taste, which turned out to be quite a few! When its 2 for 1 on quid beers though, who can complain! We ended up back at the hostel with another bottle of mexican vodka and the rest is history, well dan will go down in history anyway for sleeping completely naked in a 12 bed mixed dorm!
So here we are, slightly hungover, looking forward to hitting Puerto Escondido on the pacific coast tomorrow, bus leaves at 7.30am, its says 6hours, so god knows when we`ll be there!
Adios for now
Pete and Dan
x
Buenos Dias!
We`ve been spending the last 4 days on the sunny and extremely hot pacific Mexican Coast, in the town of Puerto Escondido. Its a real surfers paradise, the waves are good and living is cheap, if only we could surf...! The hostel we chose turned out to be pretty cool, 4 bungalows, pool, table tennis, pool table, big tv with the footie on in the mornings. We started off in an individual room, ensuite and with a little kitchen, but the place got a bit busy so we`ve moved into the living room on the sofas for half price, just over 2quid a night! Only problem with the place is that the english guy who runs it is completely and utterly insane, we reckon the only reason he moved to mexico is so he didnt get sectioned! Overall though its worked out at under 20pounds each, for 4 nights, including beer (as much as we liked!), so a psychotic guy from devon is just something we had to accept!
The bus ride down here was a real adventure, taking us right up into the mountains on unbelievably windy roads. This didnt seem to phase our driver as much as his passengers, as he flung the van around bends with 200ft drops to the side. We stopped at a little restaurant up in the hills for lunch on the way, the views over the valleys were awesome, and it was so nice to breathe fresh mountain air after 10days of smoggy cities.
The beaches themselves are beautiful, the first one we went to is a little cove surrounded by high cliffs, plenty of good waves for the surfers and a few little restauant/bars on the front. The main beach though is a huge, long sandy beach, then set back behind it is the main strip with shops, bars and restauants galore. It is really hot though, so we{`ve been hiding under umbrellas most of the time, but saying that the tan is starting to build!
We met up with a couple from Denmark who were at the last hostel with us, fortunately they both speak perfect english and pretty much perfect spanish too, so thats made things much easier in terms of getting by!
Unfortunately for me (pete), the first bout of stomach `upsets` have occured, so the last two days i havent eaten, great way to lose weight, but not much fun! This means we havent been able to make it out to any of the lagoons that are nearby, which sucks, but the next stop, Mazunte, has plenty anyway. I just really hope i`m ok by tomorrow morning before we jump back on the bus!
Hasta La Vista
x
Oh yeah, just a quick explanation as to why there are not many photos up yet. Mexican broadband sucks, it took nearlyu an hour to get the four pictures on here uploaded, and we have better things to be doing than hanging around internet cafes. Hopefully we`ll find somewhere decent soon, until then, use you imaginations!
olla amegos
hello all is well , we got to mazunte yesrerday morning in the blistering sun found a hostel on the beach, the room is ok two dubble beds and an en suite bathaoom . whitch sounds great but not when ya mate has the runs and the en suite part its more of a shower curtain separating a corner off the room!!! but the beach hear is so nice and there mus t only be 50 people on it tops! or with no tops should i say mmmm sweet . anyhoo the weather has turned its overcast and humid now. there is nothing else to say about mazunte apart from its a small beautifull village,
addios amegos x
After Mazunte it was back on the Bamba Bus, and down to the fabled Bamba Beach, a virgin beach a few hours down the coast. We didnt really know what to expect, but as it was raining when we got nearby, we decided to go straight to the Beach where we were actually staying, at Playa Cajones(?). It was a tiny little village and involved a half hour drive down a bumpy dirt track, through corn fields, with only the odd shack to break them up. Then, out of nowhere, was a water park, with flumes, fountains etc. It has to be the most random place for a water park anywherer in the world, about an hour from anywhere resembling civilisations. Outside was the obligatory military guard, and about 10minutes later we arrived at our hostel. It was a group of about 6cabins, with a little restaurant located directly on a gorgeous beach. To give an idea of just how close we are to the beach, if there was a big wave while we were sat in the restaurant, we got wet feet! We met 5 english people there, had a cool time with them, and we had the place to ourselves! Ate fish fresh from the ocean and that was our lives for 2 and a half days! Last night was a night bus to San Cristobal, which is where we have just arrived and checked into the hostel, with the guys we met on the beach plus a couple of their mates who`d not been able to get on the first bus. Its actually cold up here in the mountains which is a really pleasant change from all the humidity of the last few weeks, and the lack of mosquitos is heavenly!
Well, after so long on red hot beaches, San cristobal was a bit of a shock! We turned up off the night bus at around 6am, and it was absolutely freezing! We`ve risen up into the mountains so gone are the red hot nights, its still nice in the day but gets prety nippy once the sun goes down! We only had 2 days here and havent really done much to speak of, went out with the guys we met on the beach to a really cool bar last night, they had a live ska band on, and the barmen all wore wrestling masks, quie surreal after a few beers! he best bit was the bill at he end, about 9 of us were all drinking beers, as well as tequila slushy things they kept bringing over, and the bill came to about 60pounds for the lot! This country rocks!!! Anyway everyone bar 3 of he girls left for guatamala his morning, so we figured we`d head to one of the small villages nearby. This plan was quickly dashed though when we realised someone had stilen dans waterproof jacket from his bag! We asked he hostel owner where the police station as, but she wouldnt tell us, it appears over here she`d get the blame and have to pay up! Anyway, we eventually convinced her that we didnt want her money, but needed a police report for the insurance. she called a local official ho spoke no english who picked us up and took us to what appeared to be the local justice offices, not a police station, but good enough. A bit of cash was slipped in the right places and a report appeared, fingers crossed it works now! Anyay, we eventually made our as to Chalupa, a village 4miles or so out of town, its was very beautiful, rolling hills with corn fields outside each house. In the main square the remnants of a market were being cleared away, so we headed to the church. We had the usual kids trying to sell us bracelets etc, although they seem particularly good at what they do in Chalupa! They know every language and are extremely forceful ith big puppy dog eyes if you say no! We headed to the church, coulourful, but not overly impressive from outside. Inside however, the place was stunning, hundreds upon hudreds of candles burned, the alls were lined with mannequins of every saint imaginable, and the floor was covered in leaves. An old woman in the middle of the room sat on the floor praying while holding a younger womans hand to heal her. We`d heard reports of chickens being sacrificed as part of his healing, not something we saw directly, but there was a dead chicken in the church!
Other than that there isnt much to report from San Cristobal, its a gorgeous town, not as busy as the others we`ve been to, and unless Horse Riding or day trips to Lagoons appeal, there isnt an awful lot to do here. So its off to Palenque tomorrow, site of loads of Mayan ruins. After that our plans have been curtailed somewhat by Hurricane Dean, due to strike the Yucatan Peninsula imminently. Rather than carry on a risk all the mess that`ll cause, we`re planning to head to Guatamala in a few days to Tikal, so dont worry, we should be safe from the hurricane, fingers crossed!
Anyway, keep leaving messages on the site, its good to here from everyone!
Pete and Dan
x
San Cristobal to Palenque, another typical mexican 6hour journey that takes all day! This time it wasnt so bad though, we stopped off at 2 amazing waterfalls and also covered the ruins, the sole purpose for us coming to Palenque! The first waterfall was called Aqua Azul, and was a huge, wide torrent of water. It stretched for ever as well, coming right down the hill, it took us 20mins to walk up the side of it, ery impressive, but not sure it warranted a 2hour stop, but hats mexico for you! next was Misol Ha, which is a completely different, but just as impressive waterfall, this time just 2 thin falls from a huge height. Equally as impressive (for us anyway!) was the fact that it was where the film predator was filmed, trust me, arnie quotes were order of the day! By this time it was beginning to rain quite substantially (possibly the edge of hurricane Dean), and with dan having `lost` his and mine being packed away on top of the bus, we got soaked! This made the trip to Palenque ruins slightly less impressive than they perhaps should have been, but still, they were very impressive stones...
Unfortunately they didnt tell us we were doing any of that on the journey, so we had been planning to do it the day after, leaving us with nothing to do. Palenque really is a one horse town, it exists solely for serving tourists to the ruins, so the day was pretty boring. We shared a room with two girls we`d met in san cristobal, but they werent well, so we decided to hit the town on our own after a nice steak dinner. That wasn`t a great decision in hindsight...It all started off so well, a few beers with some Italians we met at dinner, then we moved onto what looked like a busy bar. It turned out to be somewhat of a crack den, oops! We were politely accosted by two very stange, excitable Mexicans, who insisted on joining us, along with their dealer! After a while another local, Manuel, rescued us and took us to a nice quiet bar, where we shared a few beers, our shout for saving us from a certain mugging. He then proceeded to take us to all the dodgiest places in existance and didnt spend a penny, cheeky bugger! We soon realised we were being taken for a ride, so got a bouncer to get rid of him for us, dan using all his spanish expertise, pointing and shouting NO BUENO!(NO GOOD!) All in all, an interesting education into Mexican nightlife!
The following day involved absolutely nothing of note!
Next day it was up at 6am to get the bus into Guatamala, heading for Flores, which we-d heard was a good base to view the ruins at Tikal. This involved a minbus to somewhere close to the border, followed by a boat ride over into Guatamala, then another bus to Flores! Our first border crossing and it was by boat, how A-Team is that??? The boat was a tiny punt with an outboard strapped to it, which kept breaking down, not ideal in piranha and alligator infested waters, but we made it. The road on the other side was pretty interesting too, hour and a half on dirt tracks before we hit tarmac! anyway, we eventually made it to Flores, a gorgous little town situated on an island in the middle of a lake. The hostel is amazing too, awesome chilled out bar which does the best fresh fruit smoothies i-ve ever tasted, for a pund each! Another early start this morning (3am!) meant we got to the Mayan ruins of Tikal in time for sunrise. We were sat on top of the highest known Mayan temple, about 70m above the jungle, listening to the wildlife wake up. There were howler monkeys, spider monkeys, and about 300 odd species of bird. The sunrise itself was a bit of a letdown, a mix of clouds and mist saw to that, but the sounds of the jungle were really amazing. We then had a 4hour tour around the site, well before most tourists come in, so we had the place more or less to ourselves. On the way round we saw monkeys, racoon things, tarantulas, bats in a cave, toucans and giant leafcutter ants, not to mention the incredible temples (if you`ve seen the film Apocolypto you`ll have a good idea what its like). One of the temples had a wooden staircase built next to it so you could climb to the top, and a climb it was. It was more ladder than stairs, more or less verticle, 40m high, and ever so slightly scary!
Once we got back to the hostel we were seriously sweaty, the sun had burnt through the clouds and was toasting us alive! There was only one thing for it, a swim in the lake, followed by a beer, lush!
Tomorrow is another early start, off to Belize City, then straight to Caye Caulker, its time for some more beaches...
x
As you step off the boat onto the jetty at Caye Caulker, there is a plaque in the floor saying `Welcome to Caye Caulker - Slow Down`, and thats exactly what we did! Its a 45 minute boat ride over from Belize City (where we stopped for all of half an hour!), through the caribbean ocean, watching all the tiny islands go by wondering which one was ours. When we got there, it was worth the wait, clear blue ocean, sandy beaches, and plenty of bars on the front, what more could we ask for? The second we stepped off the boat a rasta guy, Gilbert, said he`d find us a cheap hostel, while quoting `you cant drink and drive, you can smoke and fly`, and not having a clue where to go, we followed him! We`d hooked us with an English guy, Phil on the Mexico - guatamal border, and also a couple of Dutch people, Teresa and Wouter, so we had a nice little group going on by this point. After Palenque, you may think we just follow around druggies, this is not true, they follow us! Anyway, we checked out a few places, they were nothing special, and it was getting hot, so we came to the decision that we were going to splash a bit of cash and get a nice room with air conditioning and cable tv for a few days. It was called China Town, and had a chinese restaurant on the ground floor which did the biggest portions i`ve ever seen! Once we were sorted, it was time for a walk down the front and a few drinks. The island is not that long, maybe a couple of miles max, and if you stand in the middle you can see the sea either side width ways. The beaches aren`t huge, and after the hurricane they still had a bit of debris, but that said it is still stunningly beautiful, with palm trees everywhere, just golf buggies on the sandy roads and scorching sunshine.
That first night we went on a moonlight crocodile hunt in the mangroves just off the island. I say just off, we spend half the time searching around the places we`d been swimming, or right near restaurants, which had us slightly worries. These fears were soon allayed, as we saw nothing, bar a couple of red dots which our captain told us were the eyes of the crocs. He also told us that crocs bark like dogs to attract in stray mutts, which was convienient as the only noises we`d heard out there were barking dogs!
After the let down of the tour, we decided to hit a karaoke bar, and after a few beers, our time came. All the Belizians before us had taken it quite seriously, with everything from Neil Diamond to 50 Cent, but being brits, we just got silly. First up was a bit of Queen, closely followed by The Beatles, neither of which got the standing ovation they clearly deserved! Eventually we stumbled back to the delights of a nice cold air conditioned room and passed out peacefully.
Next Day was a 6hour snorkelling trip, on a sail boat, to some of the marine reserves around the island. These were awesome, plenty of fish of all shapes sizes and colours, not to mention a large group of young girls on the boat! The highlight was the 2nd stop, in Shark and Ray alley, which as you can probably tell, has plenty of sharks and rays. Luckinly for us they were only nurse sharks, so we could swim safely, and the rays were huge, our guide was catching them in his arms so we could stroke them, amazing! On top of this we saw barrauda cruising about, snappers, groupers, and all sorts of colourful parrot fish. On the way back we were totally under sail power which made it so much more peaceful, and the crew opened up the rum punch, which evened out the peace, as it was pretty potent! This inevitably led to a few more beers once we got back, and the rest is history...
Yesterday, after our first lay in for about 5days, we headed down to the split in the island, it was caused when a hurricane literally washed away a section of the island, splitting it in two, but creating a great place to swim, chill out and watch the sunset. So there we were sat at the bar, when the Aussie couple we met way back in Mexico City, John and Erin, turned up! they`d done a completely different route to us, but purely by chance had ended up on a tiny island, in the middle of the carribean, in the same bar!
Unfortunately we`d already planned to leave this morning, but hopefully going to catch up in Antigua, Guatamala soon! As planned, we jumped on an old american school bus this morning, and after another short boat ride, we are in Placencia in Southern Belize. Its a little spit of land, with a beach and a few hostels,and for some reason we appear to be the only people around! Its like a ghost town, so tomorrow its a trip to Cockscomb Nature reserve, the only place in the world specifically for the protection of jaguars, then on to Guatamala again after that...
After a night of extreme rain we decided against the nature reserve on the advice of a local who served us breakfast, apparently with all the standing water the mosquitos are hellish! So instead we jumped on a chicken bus to Punta Gorda, where we caught a boat to Puerto Barrios in Guatamala, once againcrossing international borders by boat! The place is basically just a port, so after another short boat ride we hit Livingston, a small town on the carribean coast with a mix of latino and garifuna (carribean) cultures. On the surface this seems to create a diverse, colourful environment, but after chatting to a very interesting garifuna man, Paolo Martinez, we discovered that there is a huge divide between the cultures and a lot of tension. The gist of it is based on the fact that the latinos make all the money from tourism, they own all the shops, hotels, restauants etc, so while the garifuna have there little town transformed into a resort, they gainnothing from it. It then transpired that it wnt even deeper. Paolo had been in jail in the early 90`s for 3months protesting. The reasons for his protest were wholly justified in my opinion, which gives you some idea of how garifuna are viewed. In about 1993 there had been several instances of tourists being attacked, raped, and robbed in the jungle, so to protect their clients, the latino hotel owners created a Hotel Owners Association, and hired people to police the jungle for them. Unfortunately, they jumped to the conclusion that it must be black kids causing the problems, so thy got the truancy lists from the schools and started killing garifuna kids! This went on without anyone kicking up a fuss, i`m not really sure why, until our man paolo started walking the streets with a placade. This was enough for him to be subjected to 3months in a hot airless guatamalan prison. It sounded like hell, but he came through and now runs a charity for garifuna kids to make sure they get food before school. All in all a very interesting guy, maybe giving a slightly biased view of the situation, but a view all th same.
Anyway, we`d been recommended by a few people to stay in Casa De La Iguana, its runby an english guy, Rusty, and turned out to be a gem of a place. Parties every night, family style meals, including a sunday roast, and a really friendly, relaxed atmosphere, until the parties got going anyway! Then it got a bit wild, plenty of drinks, fun music and even a cross dressing party for one of the girls Birthdays! Met some really cool people too, made plenty of friends, a few of whom, we followed up to Poptun, decided on a random drunken spur of the moment! We`d never heard of the place, had no idea where it was but it sounded cool, so thats where we spent the last couple of days.
To say we stayed in Poptun is an exagerration, its a tiny village, but about 5km outside is Finca Ixobel, a beautiful resort set up by an american couple. Unfortunately the husband was killed in the Civil war, but the place is still going strong, Its a huge site, still a working farm, with a lake for swimming, huge aviary with macaws, great restaurant, bar, and enough day trips to make it possible to stay for weeks! With the edge of the hurricane approaching we only had chance to do one, a caving trip which involved a 2hour hike through jungle, 2hour caving, then the same huike back. It was tough but so worth it, the caves were incredible! It was high ciling all through, so no claustrophobia, and most of the time we wereswimming, or at least knee deep in water. The highlight was definately jumping off a waterfall in a cave, by candlelight, and touching the bottom! Awesome! After all that excerise i was lucky enough to convince one of the girls we were travelling with to give me an hour long massage, thanks caroline, you saved my life!!!
The rains started coming in yesterday, so rather than hang around we got on the bus to Guatamala City, then straight to Antigua, where we are hoping to catch up with some more friends from Livingston, and possibly learn some spanish at last...
Antigua was once capital of Guatamala, but being situated below 3 volcanoes it was never going to last forever! Its a beautiful city, cobbled streets, coulourful little buildings, and plenty of history in the way of churches and cathdrals around the city. It also happens to be election weekend to narrow it down to 2 presidential candiadates, which means plenty of propaganda and a two day alcohol ban so that people cant vote drunk! seems like a good idea, unless your a gringo who just wants a beer to watch the rugby with!
Havent really done a lot since getting here, met up with a Canadian girl we met in Livingston, Ashley, who works in as a hair stylist in town, she took us out on the town with her friends to a strange little club called casbah. It played a severely random mix of music, ranging from salsa to electronica, which made the necessity for beer all the more important in order to find any rhythm for the dancefloor! Next day we climbed one of the volcanoes, Pacaya. It was about 1 1/2 hours to the top, through jungle. The worrying thing was the guys following us with horses, offering "taxis" to the top - were they expecting us to fail??? Anyway, we made it and were blown away by what was waiting for us. The volcano is active, so after crossing old lava flows, we saw molten rock flowing down the side of the slope towwards us! As we got closer the intensity of the heat grew to the point of being unbearabale. Under foot were cracks in the old lava with molten rock visible - we bought walking sticks at the base and poked them in, within seconds they were alight! we then got even closer to the flow, maybe 7-8metres, where it was red hot! There was a strong smell of burning rubber by this point as peoples shoes started melting, a fate we avoided thankfully! After about half hour at the top, the cloud started coming in and we heard the rumble of thunder, or at least we hoped it was thunder! The guides were quick to get us back to the jungle before the storm came, walking through by torchlight as it was evening now, and even darker under the canopy.
A trip to the market was the only other notable activity, its huge, colourful and sells everything you could hope for, really fun just wandering around.
Now comes the big news, dont panic when you read it, but myself and dan have split up for the week! He has gone to Xela, while i have remained here in Antugua. Now dont panic (mums!), we havent fallen out or anything like that, and neither of us are on our own. Dan has gone to meet the aussie couple, John and Erin who we met in Mexico City, and again randomly in Caye Caulker, and i am staying with Ashley here. Its probably for the best anyway, because this is the week we want to learn spanish, so now we cant tempt each other with beer and ruin it all! And as they say, absence makes the heart grow fonder...
I went to book myself into Spanish school last night, but was told one of the presidential candidates is using it as his base. I was told to come back for the celebratory party after the elections, so fingers crossed, tonight could be a very interesting night with the future president of Guatamala!
x
This weekend just gone was guatemalan independence day, and the celebrations were incredible. I have never witnessed such a display of patriotism in England, partly due to the government more or less making it illegal to show any love for your country, but the Guatemalan people really are just that, Guatemalan, and proud! The day itself was on Saturday (15th), but the celebrations started on friday morning. After going to school for 5hours in the morning, then watching England get whooped in the rugby, I was in need of something to take my mind off things for a while. parque Central was just the place, It was packed full of people, all with flags, bandana´s, and facepaints displaying the blue and white striped flag, there were street vendors all down one side of the square selling everything from hot dogs to true Guatemalan cuisine and whistles galore. Next to one of the buildings was a torch, similar to the olympic flame, which was lit in the morning. All through the day groups of kids, generally with their schools, but later just groups of friends, were going up and lighting their own torches and then running the streets, whistling and singing songs as they went, the emergency services were all sounding their sirens and every car had a horn tooting. The noise was overwhelming at times, and the atmosphere of general happiness and pride was tangible. This all went on from about 9am until late into friday night/saturday morning.
On Saturday I was woken by the sound of a brass band marching down the street outside our hotel. I went up to the roof of the hotel and was met with a huge parade displaying the pride of each of the local school. There were several bands, all in full uniform, marching/dancing down the street, all in perfect time. Interspersed among the bands were the "kings and queens" of the schools, kids dressed as clowns, some playing games with parachutes, and some just out for the experience. The paths were jammed solid with people out to watch, the whole city had ground to a halt to watch, and again the number of flags and smiles made it hard not to feel like part of something special. Back in the main square there were still hundreds of people milling around, just taking in the atmosphere, while the vendors continued taking in their money as the party continued.
Ashley and myself had decided to make a trip to the beach to the small town of Montericco, so we hired a car for the day and set off about 4pm on Saturday. This was my first time driving abroad, and my first time on the wrong side of the road, but fortunately Guatemalan drivers are slightly more forgiving than Mexican ones, so things went ok. that was until we somehow ended up in the middle of a cycle race. All of a sudden we were being overtaken (and undertaken) by bikes doing 70kph+, as well as their entourage of pick up trucks! it was chaos and it went on for about 1/2hour, I really thought somebody would get hurt, but fortunately they turned the other way before i had chance to hit anybody! After getting lost once or twice (we didnt have a map, or a clue!) we made it to the river crossing. I´d been old we had to get on a car ferry, but what we were presented with was not whati´d describe as a ferry! It was basically a rickety looking wooden longboat, sitting very low to the water, with enough room for two cars on it! trust me, driving a brand new hire car over two planks of wood onto a slightly bigger plank of wood does nothing for your nerves, and neither did having to reverse off at the other end!
Eventually we got the the beach, just missing a Pacific sunset by minutes, and found our hotel. Being independence day the town was packed, so the only place we could find a room was about 1km outside, but still right on the beach. I fully expect it to be the only place i stay on the trip to have a swimming pool! The reason being that the sea is so rough its impossible to swim without being guaranteed certain death, so every hotel has a pool. that said it was still only about 14pounds for both of us for the night...this country is incredible!
We only had one night there, but it was a really nice little place, with a black sand beach and some really pretty little restaurants, not to mention pigs and dogs running around everywhere, something you have to get used to over here! Fortunately the trip back to Antigua wasn´t so full of cyclists, so my nerves weren´t quite so frayed on our return, which is fortunate because i need to be on top of my game at the moment trying to learn spanish! Its been 30hours of lessons so far, 5hours a day, and its really intense. I didnt even know how to conjugate a verb in english, let alone spanish, but my teacher, Julio has made sure i know now! The trouble is, for every verb, for example "to go", there are 5 different variants of the word, depending if you are referring to me, you, he/she/they(singular), we, or they(plural). So for every word, there are actually 5 words, as well as a whole new set of rules i´ve learnt today, but i wont go into that, mostly because i´m not sure how to! Rest assured, its tough!
holla comas estas
jus a quick note about xela , it is situated north off antuigua and left a bit , i think . the actuall place is actually quite dirty not like antuigua there is always drunks and tramps lying randomly in the street when i walk to school , and yes you heard rite i am attending school (it sucks) although i am always late 20 mins or so not to bad ,(the school is ten mins from the house) hopeing to learn a bit of spannish to help us on our way . the family i am staying with is very nice and very pacient with me when i talk to them in poor spanish but there you go .
with the school they do activites every day so i have been to a sauner one day it was so hot i nearly passed out !!! went and saw the first catholic church in centall america , er its old built in 1524 i think . haha oh jeah aunti deb i have got a bit of a tast for rum now , never mind . er not much else to say really apart from when pete gets here on friday we are going to my graduation dinner get a bit boozy then on sat we are walking from quetzaltentango to lake aticlan it takes about 3 days look it up on a mapo .
well till next time
dan xx
holla , so it were me graduation party on the 20th off september , and pete was coming in to town to meeet me and have a few beers ,( what a night mere that was ) didnt actually see pete till 7 the next morning on the way to the meeting point of the walk . so was at me graduation party and the drinks were flowing , had to stand up and do a speach in spanish , and actually made people laugh (i thought my speach was funny but they were prob jus laughting at me crap spanglish ) so yeah left the school to go to a coupple of salser bars thinking i may have an early one cos i had to be up at 6 the next morning to pack and meet the guids that were takeing us on our walk. well that plan went out the window didnt get home till 4 in the morning !! so coupple of hours sleepp then off to meet the people and on the way luckley i bumped in to pete !! started the walk in the glorious sun shine hung over well i prob was still drunk !! coupple of hours in then it raind , and rained , and raind , luckly i bought a new water proof jackett , one slight prob though it wasnt waterproof !!! first nite we stopped in this village hall , and the next was someones house / church , the last day we were over looking this lake to see the sunsrise fantastic . the walk was really good though through jungles , over volcanos and in to cloud forrests the views were absoultly stunning shame our batteries died on our cameras hahahaha , so now we are in el salverdor being bitten to death by mossies !!! sure pete will give a more detailed account of the last two weeks well thats all from me .
dan xx
Ok, first up apologies for not writing for ages, and secondly because this might be quite a long blog!
I´ll start where Dan left off, with our monster hike from Xela to lake Attitlan. It was pretty much either up or down for 3days straight, no flat bits to speak of, and all the while carrying our big, heavy bags! As dan said, it rained pretty much constantly for the first 2days, not that that dampened spirits! We managed to get some good banter going with and american and a canadian, if there was a hill, it wasnt steep enough, if it was raining, it wasnt hard enough, and if things were really tough, lets kick each other in the balls to make it really tough!! Although it was tough, whenever and wherever we stopped for breaks, it all became apparent why we were there. Most of the walk was across volcanic hills, so the scenery was stunning from start to finish, views over huge jungle valleys, cloud forests, corn fields, rivers, and perhaps most impressive were the little old men and women carrying bundles of fire wood bigger tan themselves through to jungle! First day our guide (we´re convinced he was the result of a military experiment, he was half mountain goat!) decided to start running along the narrow paths, so being us, we joined him, only for around 45mins, but at altitude with packs it was tough going, even downhill! That of course set us up perfectly for 2 more days of hiking, needless to say, there was no more running after that...
The final day began at 3am, a nice vigourous hour long stroll cleared away any tiredness, and we got to a nice little field overlooking the lake in perfect time to see the sun rise. It was a bit cloudy, so it was quite a steely blue sunrise, but impressive none the less. as the light grew brighter, the 7 volcanoes around revealed themselves, and in the distance Volcan Fuego (fire) started smoking gently. Beautiful.
it was then down to the lake for a well deserved swim to loosen the muscles before we headed to Santa Cruz, on tiny village with a hostel run by some guys we met up in Livingston. When we got there the owner of the place we stayed in Livingston, rusty, Was there too, as well as a couple Dan knew from Xela, so needless to say, despite being exhausted from the trek and the early morning, several beverages were shared...enough said!
After 2days lounging at teh lake, we headed back to Antigua in preperation for the next stage of the trip, moving on to el Salvador. Fortunately we arrived on a Wednesday, which is when Ignacio, one of the original members of the Buena vista Social Club plays in Rikis Bar. I´d seen him twice before while in Antigua, and it was no trouble to go again, the guy is incredible! He must be in his late 60´s at least, but he´s up there singing and playing the drums with so much energy, it really is a great show. On top of that, the great music attracts some incredible salsa dancers, really takes your breath away some of the moves they have!
So on Friday we booked onto a tour down to El Salvador. Its run by an english guy, Darren, who owns a hostel down there, so us and one of the guys from the trek, Jamo, and a couple of random french guys all got in the back of the minibus and headed down. All was going a bit too smoothly until we got to the border. The village just the other side into El Salvador had some kind of fiesta going on, so they had shut of the Pan American Highway! We ventured into the narrow back streets and started watching the parades of school bands from inside the van. Then an official looking woman told us to go, so we basically became a float in the parade for part of the route! We were right in the thick of it, the only gringos for miles around, with The Clash blaring from the speakers, waving at the locals! Great fun!
We eventually got to the hostel, close to the beach, swimming pool, plenty of beers and a really nice family feel - the place was staffed by Darren´s girlfriends family, complete with kids to keep us busy playing volleyball in the pool! After a beautiful surf n turf dinner a few beers and a game of risk it was off to bed, ready for a tour of the area on Saturday.
The tour started in a little village nearby where we visited a couple of art galleries including one with the most incredible garden you´ve ever seen! I even felt inspired, so it must do wonders for artists! then it was off to a high point where on a clear day its possible to see teh ocean, across into Guatamala and most of El Salvador. Of course the second we got there the clouds came in and it was a complete white out but, at least we can say we went! Apparently during the war the cliff was used to throw traitors from, so a nice public detterant to keep the locals in check!
We went for a quick trip to San Salvador, not much history to see, its the most American city we´ve visited by far, which was surprising as there is nothing touristy about El Salvador at all. A quick trip to the beach for a dip in the huge waves at sunset before dinner was just what the doctor ordered, because afterwards we headed for a night out in the city! We visited a couple of really cool places, plenty of good live music, plenty of booze and a bit of a boogie, and all of a sudden it was 3am! Highlight of my night was Dan talking to a local girl, joking with her that he was a natural blonde and she wasnt, he came out with, "Yo tengo natural, tu es fake" the comedy being that to make her understand the word fake, he put on the thickest yorkshire accent imaginable! perfect spanglish if ever i heard it!
Next day Dan and i headed to the city where we stayed for a couple of nights. I think we weer the only gringos in town basically, so we decided to take advantage and went to the cinema 3times in two days! Its not often movies are in English over these parts, so it seemed rude not to! by the way The Bourne Ultimatum as great, Rush hour 3 is ok, but Jackie Chan is getting a bit old, and Knocked Up wasnt very funny!
Next it was up to a place called Miramundo. Its near teh border with Honduras, so broke up our journey nicely, and its right up in the mountains, so again, incredible views all around. it was reminiscent of the Alps, pines forests, not a sounds apart from the birds and nice little wooden cabins to stay in. It was freezng cold at night too! there wasnt much to do there, nearest shop was 5km walk away, but it was nice being somewhere so quiet, and knowing, once again we were teh only gringos for miles around, the hotel was empty apart from us! Yesterday we hada few beers with the barman, Alfonso, all was going well until he cracked out his special home made moonshine...it was EVIL!!! The next thing we knew the security man was knocking on the door to wake us up at 6am for our bus, which preceeded a 7hour chicken bus ride to Copan , Honduras, which is where we are now. trust me, chicken buses are not fun at the best of times, but with a hangover they are horrible!
Anyway, there is probably plenty i missed out, but for now i need my bed to fully get over the moonshine experience
Adios for now amigos
Pete
x
Right, I´ve finally got round to uploading some photos, unfortunately this website only supports 40 at a time, so i´ve put them on Facebook. so follow the links below and you should be able to see them!
Mexico City
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=25087&l=977bb&id=512791116
Oaxaca
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=25088&l=cc922&id=512791116
Palenque
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=25089&l=1ebb6&id=512791116
Tikal - not much because my battery died though
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=25091&l=63e92&id=512791116
Caye Caulker and Placencia
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=25092&l=d6e95&id=512791116
Livingston
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=25093&l=c8ef1&id=512791116
Antigua
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=25094&l=1fa70&id=512791116
Independence day in Antigua and Montericco
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=25095&l=0e9e7&id=512791116
El Salvador
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=25097&l=f774c&id=512791116
Copan Ruinas
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=25098&l=11e57&id=512791116
Thats all for now, but hopefully it wont be so long before the next bunch come up! If you are a facebook member feel free to comment on them too! Enjoy!!!
We started in Copan Ruinas, a small town which basically serves as a base for travellers to visit the Mayan ruins about 1km out of town. Its a colonial style town, so cobbled streets, and colourful houses, some of which are actually built from stone taken from the ruins before they were protected. The ruins themselves are pretty impressive, we met a Canadian couple and split the cost of the guide, which was really money well spent! A lot of the statues are fibreglass replicas of the original, but some of them still have the original red paint that used to cover all the buildings. In its day, Copan was one of the major cities of the Mayan world, all the buildings were painted red, and the floor was white, no trees like there are today. If i remember rightly, about 75% of the city is still covered by jungle, waiting to be uncovered. As you walk around there are what look like hills everywhere, but hidden under the earth and plantlife are old buildings and other structures. Everytime the Mayans changed leader, they would rebuild temples, over the top of the previous leaders temple, so the city is actually about 7 layers deep, its just been built up and up. The highlight is the hyroglyphic temple, a massive temple, with inscriptions on every step, basically a huge book. Unfortunately, when archiologists rebuilt the steps, they didnt know what order they went in, so nobody knows what it says, but its still incredible that the inscriptions are still there, hundreds of years later.
After visiting the main site, we walked down to Sepultura, which is where people lived, another 2km out of the city. The place itself is nice, but the walk down there was...an experience! There we were strolling along, a load of construction workers on a break chilling in the shade, when all of a sudden, a couiple of these workers leapt into trees right in from of us, the coversation went something like this
"What are those guys up to?"
"Dunno"
Look down the road a bit further and a giant cow with big horns is charging right at us!!!
"Oh, maybe thats why, do you fancy jumping in a tree?"
"Yeah,. why not!"
Scrambling us a tree, trying not to catch yourself on the barb wire fence, wearing flip flops is not brilliant, but it was quite a sight seeing 60 odd guys trying to do the same thing, About 5minutes after a couple of guys on horseback came trotting by after the cow, no rush, or concern for the havoc it was causing! That kind of sums up this part of the world, you just have to roll with it!
Copan also showed us one of the more concerning aspects of life over here. Sat in a bar one night when a 7yr old boy came in, looking to change a handful of coins for notes, clearly a street kid, and eventually someone did it. He then went up to the bar and ordered himself a beer. The American who ran the bar didnt have aproblem serving him, and in fact found it hilarious to get this kid drunk., taking pictures and treating it like a big joke. We said that he maybe shouldnt serve him, but the barman, who from now on will be reffered to as twat, said "its ok he´s my son, i´ll raise him how i want". The guy was/is a complete arse, so we walked out, shocked, and to be honest a bit distubed by the whole experience, and wondering how, someone from a developed country can be so stupid and have such little regard for this kids life. We asked him, and he said he´d been drinking since he was 5, and nothing was being done about it. Really was a shocking night!
From there it was north to the Bay Islands in the Caribbean, more specifically Utila. Its renowned as the cheapest place in the world to learn to scuba dive, $240 to gfet PADI certified, but even so, it was a little out of our price range. Instead we went snorkelling, and it was amazing! We saw squid, rays, fish of every colour, lobster and most impressively, a turtle cruising around the shallows! Amazing! We spent 3nights there, ate like kings in the bbq restaurants on the island, then headed to Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras.
It wasnt a place we particularly wanted to visit, another big dirty city, but to get down to Nicaragua involves a stop there, Couldnt tell you what its like as a place, we arrivewd in the evening, had a burger king for dinner, then left early the next morning for the border. The bus we were on was heading further south than we wanted, so we got dropped off in what can only be described as the arse end of nowhere, right out in the sticks, a junction on the road with a couple of comidas, which are basically shacks serving food. Eventually an old american school bus turned up and the fun began! 3hours of dirt tracks full of potholes, through flash floods, with vultures all around! It was spectacular scenery though, Mountains on one side and fields the other, with swallows darting about all around. Eventually we got into Leon, the rains had caused to place to flood, nothing too sever, but nearly knee deep in places. The reason we came here was to do one of the tours they offer. You hike up an active volcano, nothing too strenuous, but then basically tobogan down the slope on a plastic tray! of course with the rain this has been put off, so hopefully tomorrow the weather will pick up and we can go do it, fingers crossed!
Instead, we did the only natural thing, and took advantage of the $2 a litre beers. This combined with the rugby yesterday meant that today is a hungover, receovery day, so on that note, i´m going back to bed!
Adios
Pete
Our time in Leon prettymuch carried on where i left off, plenty of boozing while it rained non stop outside! We met a really cool group, a mix of English, Irish and a few Americans, and just had a great time really! On Monday we got lucky with the weather and did the volvno boarding. It was ace, we jumped on the back of the open top pick up truck and headed out of town, for what should have been a 45minute journey. Unfortunately with the rains, the dirt roads had more or less been washed away, and when we came across a broken down chicken bus blocking the way, we had to take a detour which basically meant driving through gardens, and ducking every time we approached bushes/trees. Eventually we got to Cerro Negro, one of the worlds youngest and most active volcanoes, only 160yrs old. We started by hiking up, then dropped our boards and wandered into the crater. There are currently huge amounts of sulphur pouring out in clouds, turning the rocks a mix of yellows, reds and greens. It was like being on another planet, and quite concerning when you realise your in the crater of an active volcano on a nine year eruption cycle, which last went off in 1997...you do the maths! After a short practice run on the boards we were left looking over the edge of a 45degree slope of fine volcanic sand, wearing bright orange Guantanamo bay style jump suits and a pair of goggles for protection. The suits seemed to serve the sole purpose of attracting every bug in a 10mile radius, so even more incentive to throw yourself off the volcano, just to escape! The slope is about 400m long, and the record time is 22seconds, the slowest 12minutes! Once you push off, you quickly realise just how 22seconds was achieved, you pick up speed pretty quickly and it becomes a case of keep your balance and enjoy the ride! I had a couple of small falls, and Dan had one big one, but we both made it down safe and buzzing from the experience! If you want to see more, this is their website http://www.bigfootadventure.com/volcano_boarding.html
I forgot to mention in the Honduras blog that we went white water rafting before we hit Utila. Based out of a German run hostel (great sausages!) in the hills over La Ceiba, we met another english couple who were doing it with us, randomly from Farnham of all places, and shared a few beers before an earlyish start the next morning for the rafting. It was a class 3-4 rating river, in 10ft boats, so only the two of us and our guide, and likewise with Simon and Lou. Where they got the experienced English guide, we got the slightly insane local, Luis. He took it upon himself to surf the rapids nd do everything in his power to get us wet! At one point our raft was literally full to the brim with water. Fortunately for me, i managed to hang on, but for Dan it was a diferent story. He went in twice and both times managed to get himself under the boat, the second time actually having to get rescued by the other boat because he dissapeared away from us so quickly! There was also some cliff jumping and rapid swimming involved which was Incredible!
So anyway, back to Leon, After the boarding, we headed to the beach for a few days, didnt do much at all, a bit of boogie boarding, Dan attempted to surf, a few more drinks and an turtle walk where all we saw were crabs! So back ot Leon on Thursday in time for the rugby, the aussie hostel owner put on full english breakfast and meat pie, so it seemed rude not to! Friday night we planned an early one so went for a pizza and in bed by 11. Big mistake, we woke up on Saturday feeling so rough that we could bearly drink, the one day of the year when you need a good belly and local cuisine let us down! The game was obviously a travesty, made even worse by the group of 13 girls discussing who was the best looking player and how Englands socks are horrible, but South Africa have nice shirts!
On Sunday I took a walk around an art gallery and the torture museum, while Dan and Paul went to Leon Viejo, the old town which was destroyed by the volcano in 1525ish, Leon being ints reincarnation. They said it was basically some old walls, so i was glad the gallery was really interesting! The torure museum was the old prison where torture happened as recently as 1979, so it had a sombre feel to it, but the surreal manequins they have there made it quite an amusing experience in the end!
So now we are in Granada, another colonial town on the shores of Lake Nicaragua. If the weather holds we are going to go kayaking soon, if not, who knows...
So we never made it kayaking in Granada, unfortunately the price saw to that, so instead we took a boat tour around the same area - a collection of tiny islets in lake Nicaragua, formed when the huge volcano nearby erupted 1000yrs ago. Most of them are now inhabited, either by rich Nicaraguans, or more commonly, Americans. This is hardly surprising when you can buy an island, complete with a house for around $200k!!! When we told our guide that you wouldnt get a one bed flat in England for that he couldnt believe it! One of the islands was a fort used by the Spanish to fight off the Americans, but the highlight was Monkey Island. This tiny island is inhabited solely by a family of spider monkeys, so having been told of this, we took bananas with us and had the monkeys on the boat, climbing over us to take them! It was incredible, one of the more tame monkeys even let us stroke her, it was a million times better than any zoo! One of the males didnt want to leave though, and got a bit angry when we ran out of bananas, started screaming at us and took 10minutes before we finally got him off the boat.
Granada itself is a beautiful colonial town, similar to Leon to look at, although slightly cleaner, and slightly more built up. There are vividly coloured buildings all around, the most impressive being the main cathedral in the zocalo (main square) with its bright yellow walls standing tall over the town.
After Granada we headed to San Juan Del Sur, a surf beach that had been highly reccomended by a number of people on our way down through Nicaragua. Unfortunately, what with not being able to surf, or having an inclination to learn, we didnt really find much to amuse us there, so in summary - cute town, great sunsets, need to surf!
Next came Isla Omotepe, a large volcanic island (it has two volcanoes on it) rising out of the water towards the south of Lake Nicaragua. We didnt really know what to expect, all we{d heard is that its so relaxed "it feels like your stoned all the time your there"! We arrived at the ferry port early in the morning to catch the first boat over and sat watching the locals load bags of rice onto a rickety little fishing boat. When it got to departure time we realised that that rickety fishing boat was in fact the ferry, so we through our bags on near some timber and started chugging along at a speed that felt like we were going backwards! Eventually we made it to the island, and on the recommendation of a tourist information guy, headed along the dirt road to Santa Domingo, a tiny village on the little spit of land that joins the two halves of the island. We headed to the cheap little hotel in the village, right on the shore of the lake, and were pretty taken back by the beauty of the island. There was a menagerie of birds flying around us, from parrots to eagles, lizards of various sizes and colours, and in the distance we heard howler monkeys. After admiring the view for a bit we headed to the Eye of the Water, a natural spring which had been made into a gorgeous crystal clear swimming pool surrounded by jungle. It had a rope swing, hammocks, a little restaurant, and a terrapin swimming around in the water with us.
The next day we were due to get up at 4.30 to climb one of the volcanoes, but when we were woken by the sound of rain on the roof, we decided against it, instead we just went down to Finca Magdalena in the afternoon. Its a working farm set on the foot of the volcano overlooking the lake, with a little restaurant and beautiful gardens.
Next morning it was back on the little fishing boat and down to Tamarindo in Costa Rica. Its another surf town, but pretty expensive due to massive American investment going on it town. The beach is nice, although the government are on the verge of closing it due to huge amounts of E-Coli, so swimming is "risky" (apparently the US goverment considers 400particles of E-Coli per 100ml dangerous - here they have 3.1million particles...!) So we havent really done much here, just been chilling for a few days, waiting for Ashley and her friends to get here on a little holiday, and now planning our next move, not sure where yet, but looks like an early start in the morning...
We spent a few more nights in Tamarindo without really doing anything, then headed inland to Monteverde, which translates as Green Mountain. The road up there was incredible, it took 2 1/2 hours to do 35km, without a doubt the bumpiest road we´ve been on, but somehow the bus made it and we found a nice little hostel to stay at. Monteverdes main attraction is the Canopy tours, of which there are several. They basically involve a series of zip lines through the jungle canopy, and had been recommended as a highlight by so many people we had to do it! We opted for the Extremo tour, 14 lines, the longest is 750m long, across a valley in the mountains. It also involved a 30m rappel out of a tree and a huge tarzan swing! It was a cracking experience, some of the views were amazing, there was a bit of rain in the air so as we were on one of teh long zip lines, there was a rainbow across the valley, and the tarzan swing was immense fun. The guide just pushes you off the edge, must be a 7-8m drop before the arc of the swing sends you flying through the jungle through the trees!
There wanst much else in Monteverde, we visited a frog pond and saw some tree frogs, but we´d come to do, so we headed to La Fortuna at the foot of Volcano Arenal. The idea was to climb the volcano and visit the hot springs nearby, but the weather was so bad we didnt even see the volcano, let alone climb it, so we only got to do the springs. They are located at Tabacon, 15mins from town and have been turned into a 5* resort, so we had to forget the buidget for the day, but it was well worth it. There were loads of pools, joined by rivers, the hottest was 45 degrees centigrade, it was like a bath that never got cold, so relaxing that we stayed for 6hours and completely chilled. There was a swimming pool bar at the bottom which had a slide into it, so we enjoyed a day living the high life with a few beers and slides to finish. That night inevitably turned into a few beers and we ended up at Discotheque Volcano, bit of a dive, but we had fun!
Yesterday we decided that to stay in Costa Rica was going to Costa Fortune, so the plan was to get to San Jose, the capital, then to Bocas Del Toro, a caribbena island just over the border into Panama. This plan has taken a turn for the worse...both our day bags were stolen from the overhead shelf on the bus, right above our heads. They had cameras, passports, bank cards, the works, so for now, we have to stay in San Jose to sort it all out, rumour is it takes 5 working days for a passport, so looks like we´re stuck here for a bit. The most annoying thing is the pictures, i triwed uploading them in Monteverde but it didnt work, so between us we lost about 1000pictures, gutted to say the least. The strange thing is, on the bus the scenario of wehat i´d do if i saw someone walking off with my bag ran through my head clear as day, sixth sense i guess, then when the bus stopped they were both gone. It could be worse though, at least we are in the capital of the most western country in central america, so probably the best place we could be to sort things out. We knew something like this would happen eventually, so we just have to deal with it and remember that karma will sort it all out one day - our next hostel will be full of Swedish models with a fetish for fat english guys! Fingers crossed!
Just got back from the embassy, after the supreme court where we had to file a police report. We turned up at 12.30, they closed at 1pm, but stayed oopen just for us and promise to have our passports ready by monday morning, hows that for efficiency!!! Gues we´ll have to enjoy a weekend in the city, nightmare hey...!
Just a quickie to say we have brand spanking new passports, just 4days after we lost them! We even managed to get a poppy for rememberance sunday from the embassy! Begs the question - why on earth is it so difficult to get anything done from england but so easy in a developing country on the other side of the world??? Answers on a postcard...
Now that we are legal again, its off to Panama on the 6am bus tomorrow morning, to a place called Bocas Del Toro, from everything we´ve heard its a chilled out party island, perfect!
We went to the football yesterday, Deportivo Saprissa 8the local team and national champions) beat Guerros Del Sur 2-1, for some reason the stadium was not even half full, but the atmosphere was still pretty cool. Strangely there were no away fans, but on the stand at one end of the artificial pitch, "the Purple Monster" otherweise known as the Saprissa fans were in full voice, with flags and drums galore! The standard of play wasnt great, although one or two players were pretty good. Everytime any player beat his man there was a cry of Ole from the fans, and likewise plenty of abuse for some very dubious decisions late on when the game almost boiled over into a fight! An opposion player decided not to wait for the ref to call a foul and just picked up the ball which inevitably led to a bit of handbags, and then some hefty challenges followed! The weird thing is that the guy who started it all didnt even get booked for picking up the ball midway through the game - honestly, english refs get a lot of stick but this guy was awful!!! After the game we went to a local bar because we couldnt find a taxi, so figured we´d sit it out and enjoy a cheap out of town beer. We ended up chatting to a very drunk Saprissa Ultra, one of the hardcore fans, all in spanish, who took a hefty liking to a pretty german girl we´d convinced to come with us. He ended up giving her a random cd, a tequila and even the shirt off his back! Shortly after this we made the decision to leave...
Really looking forward to getting out of Costa Rica, I´m sure its lovely in the summer, but with the rain its pretty dull, and double the price of most other palces in central america, so roll on Panama!
What a relief to get out of Costa Rica, and back to a place with 25p beers! From San Jose we took a but towards the Carribean coast, heading for Bocas Del Toro, a stunningly beautiful area of northern Panama, loads of islands with gorgeous white sand beaches and a reputation for throwing a good fiesta! The border crossing was almost a disaster, due to our brand new shiny passports having no entry stamp to show we entered Costa Rica legally. The guy was about to send us back on the next bus to San Jose, but fortunately he was open to the idea of taking $10 off our hands and just looking up our passport details on his computer! The border itself is a rickety old disused railway bridge, about half way over you enter Panama and instantly prices drop! It was then an hour in a pick up and another 45mins on a boat down the river lined with mangroves and into the ocean. On the way we stopped at what looked like a desert island to pick up a kid in school uniform, detention must be really bad in Panama!
We arrived on Isla Colon, the main island in the region last Tuesday, and Tuesdays on Colon means 80`s Power Hour! In the bar - convieniently and by total chance, in our hostel - they play a mix on 80`s music which changes every minute for an hour, whenever it changes, you drink a shot of beer. We somehow managed 10 beers each in an hour, and the rest of the night was set to be a goodun! I wish i could tell you more about what happened afterwards, but i think you can probably guess the gist of it anyway!
The rest of our 6days in Bocas continued in much the same vein, especially Friday,which was Bocas day. The whole town came out, there were street parades in the afternoon - groups of 70-100 guys on either drums or bugels, with marching girls up front, it was amazing, a real spectacle. They also set up a nightclub in the street for the weekend, terrible local music, but good to see how the locals party.
We did manage to make the beach one day, there wasnt really a beach ot speak of on Isla Colon, so it involved a boat trip but the beach, called Wizard, was was long white and sandy, big waves to play in, and totally deserted, bar the 9 of us who made the trip. We just chilled out, played a bit of footie, bit of frisbee, few human pyramids in the sea...life is tough! The real fun though was the boat ride home. These arent calm seas at this time of the year, and the swell had been picking up all afternoon, to the point where our captain could barely get to the beach safely. What followed was a good half hour of huge waves, climbing up one side to the point we were once almost vertical, then slamming down on the other side! Slightly scary, but immense fun!
After Bocas we headed to Panama City, 12 hour journey by bus, boat and taxi, with the intention of picking up our replacement bank cards, then finding a boat to Columbia. We also met up with a friend we met in Nicaragua, Paul, and another mate from Costa Rica followed us down the Day after, Pete. Needless to say, 4 English guys in a foreign city have enjoyed a few big nights out in our time here, we even found a rock bar, god its good to hear some real music again! The standard over here is either ragaton, a mix between r&b and reggae i guess, or accordian music...really, they love it over here!
We have also visited a few of the sites as well, not just a party, Casco Viejo, the old part of town was pretty nice, nothing spectacular, but good skyline views of the city. Yesterday was a trip to the Panama Canal at the Miraflores Locks, really impressive, the scale of the thing is unbelievable, huge ocean liners coming down the canal as far as you can see, into these giant locks, with only 11inches on each side as clearance. The drop in the locks was 8m, and although impressive to see in action, at the end of the day, it was just a canal, and not exciting in the slightlest, even the guy on the tannoy commentating didnt seem to believe himself when he said `here comes the exciting bit, you can see the water draining rapidly from the lock`!
So next stop Columbia, we had a boat sorted with a few others from our hostel, leaving this evening at 5pm, stopping at the San Blas islands on the way, and taking somewhere between 5-7days. Unfortunately, as with all good plans, this one has gone tits up. Our bank cards never turned up at the embassy this week, and although this is no problem for me (it was only my back up card i was waiting on), Dan wants to wait until next week to get his. This means another split unfortunately, as i really dont want to miss this boat just for a card i dont need, so i`m heading off tonight, while Dan sits it out in the City, fingers crossed they werent lost in the post on the way!
The Central American section of this trip is over (for me at least, Dan should be arriving from Panama in the morning), and what an adventure it was getting into Columbia! I caught the boat from Portobello last Saturday, expecting a gentle 5-6 day cruise across the Carribean...not quite what we got! The boat, El Joshua, was apparently built for a round the world trip in 1974, and it was sturdy enough, but something tells me it was designed for 1-2 people, not 9 like we had on there. Paul ended up sleeping on the floor, with a leaky window above him so every big wave invloved a shower for anyone inside, the toilet was broken so to go involved hanging off the back of the boat, while the huge ocean swells came so big you had to look up to see the top. The weather was totally against us all the way too, first night we ended up 6hours off course, and the winds and tides were constantly in our faces, making progress painfully slow, in 24 hours we covered 60miles! On top of all this nearly everyone was seasick, so staying below deck to cook was out of the question, meaning 6days of interupted sleep, very little food and plenty of nausea
Saying all that though, when we eventually reched the San Blas islands off the coast of Panama, they were gorgeous. They consist of a series of 365 islands, some inhabited by the Kuna people, some not, and none rise more than a couple of metres above sea level. The white sand beaches, lined with palm trees and clear blue ocean make for a really relaxing environment, and a perfect place to stay for a couple of nights to get some strength before the rest of our journey. The first island, Porvenir was the tourist hub i guess, it had an airstrip and a hotel, but still only took 30mins to walk around. The other island we visited was Chichimi (i think), and had 3 families living on it, so we just chilled out there, snorkelled loads, and ate fresh fish, octopus and lobster from the ocean.
There was only one moment of drama to speak of, one evening, an Irish guy we´d met at the hostel in Panama City, who had got another boat, came drifting by our boat clinging to a small float (i think it was a seat cushion!), caught by the strong current that swept past the island. He was struggling to stay afloat, so I had to call upon all my lifeguarding expertise and dive in and drag him out before he was swept away. Even after 2yrs as a lifeguard, this was the first time i had ever had to rescue anyone, but fortunately everyhting came back and we got him out of the water safe and sound.
When we left we had a pod of dolphins join us to see us on our way, and it was back on the high seas. It turns out, late November is a really bad time to sail around the Caribbean, weather wise, and especially in the type of boat we had. Twice on the way pipes burst, and the best the captain, Fredi, could do was a bodge. This meant we were given an option. Either we could push on to Cartagena and hope the engine made it, and the storm they were expecting didnt come in early, or stop near the Panama/Columbia border and get a bus the rest of the way. By this point everyone was feeling pretty rough, so we opted for the bus. Then the real adventure started...
For those that dont know, the region where Columbia and Panama meet is called the Darien Gap. It is basically a no mans land, thick jungle, no roads, and a handful of villages. This makes the place notorious when it comes to Columbia´s most famous export - cocaine. In fact, the Darien gap is recognised as one the worlds most dangerous regions, due to the Guerillas, Military and Para-military power struggle. While i was there i heard that 90% of the cocaine that reaches the USA is transported via the Darien, so as you can imagine, there are a lot of people who dont want to be found hiding in the jungle.
The village we stopped at was called Sapzurro, a gorgeous little fishing village, white sand, blue seas and palm trees, all against a jungle backdrop and blue skies. Its the first village over the border in Colombia, in fact you could walk over the hill into Panama in an hour or two. Our captain told us of a waterfall 10minutes into the jungle behind the village, so ater some breakfast, we headed out there. Like he said, 10minutes later we came across a gorgeous waterfall, with rock pools around, right in the jungle. After 6days on the boat without a shower, the offer of fresh water was too much to resist, so we all showered in the falls, and headed back to the village refreshed and feeling almost human again. Next stop was a short boat ride around to the next village, Capurgana, where we needed to check in with immigration and wait for the bus the next morning. The ride over was spectacular, the coast is lined with rocky outcrops of land, covered in jungle, totally uninhabitable and being battered by huge waves. Combined with the silhoetted layers of jungle covered hills fading into the background it really reinforced just how far we were from civilisation. We found he immigration, and got everything sorted, and after explaining that the 4day gap between checking out of Panama and into Columbia was spent on a boat and not drug running, they hand wrote our entry stamp. Apparently they have been waiting for months for a stamp, but the area is so remote that its never turned up. The question is, did it ever get sent, or was it intercepted by drug lords and used to fake immigration documents, who knows???
We found ourselves a nice hostel, and left Bettina, the Swiss girl who shared the boat with us to recover from a severe case of seasickness, and went for a wander round town. We´d hardly left the hostel when a horse and cart went past, the driver shouted in a friendly american accent "hey are you guys lost? jump on i´ll take you for a tour of the town". The four of us looked at each other and ran after the cart and on we jumped. The guy, Joey, was from Hawaii and had been in Capurgana for 3-4yrs, he had been a backpacker and attempted to find a guide there to cross the Darien by foot, but a few locals talked him out of it, he met a local girl and has now set up a hotel there. He took us on a tour of the town, it didnt take long, then out to see his place. On the way he told us about how the town used to be a major player in the drug trade, fairly obvious when he showed us the two mile airstrip running through this tiny little town. He pointed out a plane that landed a few years ago, loaded with cocaine and plastered with UNICEF logo´s, and told us a bit about the situation with the Guerrillas, military and para military in the region. Witht the amount of drugs in the area, the guerillas used to control everything, they had the money, the resources and the motive to make sure nothing happened without their say so. This obviously riled a lot of the rich people in North-West Colombia, who grouped together to form the paramilitary, a group of paid soldiers to try and fight back and gain control. Hiring a bunch of mercenary guns was maybe not the best idea, and it wasnt long before they got out of hand and started taking over where the supressed guerrillas had left off. The drugs were still flowing, the only difference being that now they were controlled by a force set up by the rich people of Colombia! The violence between the two groups became intense, and when the new president was elected a few years ago, he decided enough was enough, and boosted the governmental military presnce in the region. this was funded mainly by the US government, who obviously have a vested interest in stopping the drug trade, hence all their equipment still has US ARMY written on it. This seems to have helped things settle down, and rumour is most of the drugs gets through still (there is a maze of tracks through the jungle), but the violence has calmed. We saw soldiers marching around regularly, armed with rifles, machine guns and even grenade launchers, so you can understand why things are calmer these days! Joey also told us the story of his wife, Nery, and her 1st husband, who was killed by the Paramilitaries a few years ago. He was head of the electricity company, a powerful job in a town where they only had 6-7hours of power a day, and another guy decided he wanted his job. To get it, he hired a para military soldier to kill him, so one night they burst into his house, kidnapped him and took him down to a village a little way away, tied him to a tree and shot him twice in the head. Nery then had to go and collect the body, and to this day wont go anywhere near that village. The only slight justice to come out of the whole situation is that the soldier who was hired failed to ask permission from his chief, so to make an example of him, was killed himself. Thats the way things used to be.
While he was showing us around, Joey also mentioned trips he organised into the jungle, up to 5days, for only $15 a day, on horseback! this seemed too good an opportunity to pass up, but we had very limited cash on us as there was no cash machine in town. No problem, Joey would front us the money, and if we never paid him, he was happy to put it down to karma. So we booked onto the trip, and the next day, rather than leave town, we got up early and jumped onto horses, 3 out of 4 of us for the first time! It proved to be hilarious, as our local guide didnt grasp that we had no clue what we were doing, so constantly whipped our horses to get them going faster. I was run into a bush within minutes, and pauls screams had the whole town giggling! We were soon inthe jungle, going up and down steep muddy hills, and when we got a respite from trying not to fall off, admiring the lush greenery around us. Unfortunately the sound of six horses and us panicking was enough to scare off most of the wildlife, so we didnt see too much, but the area was still stunningly beautiful. At times it was impossible to see further than about 3ft into the bush, it was so thick. More steep hills followed, and combined with our horses desire to be 1/8 of an inch from each other backsides,caused us a bit of a problem. It led to the first fall of the day, when my horse after a struggle up a hill, decided to stop right at the top. This meant Pauls horse, who was insanely close, lost its balance with nowhere to go, and fell to the side, sending paul tumbling, and stamping him milimetres from his manhood as it righted itself!
After a great deal more tough riding, especially for us beginners, and another fall for Paul, this time while he was getting off his horse, we came to a break in the jungle. In front of us were pastures, with rivers winding through them, cows grazing, eagles soaring and a tiny farm in the middle of it all. this was our lunch stop, and you could tell the family were ecstatic to see us, big grins all round! The mother began preparing lunch and asked if we fancied chicken, a stupid question really, we´d just been on a boat for 6days eating pasta and rice! We had kind of guessed she´d be killing one of the chickens running aorund the farm, but the method was something else! She picked out two fat looking hens, got her young son to tie the feet up and holding the head, began whirling them round by the neck! After running around for a while with necks flapping they dropped dead, and the stew was prepared, meanwhile we stood mouths wide open, not sure what we´d just seen!
While she prepared food, we went off to a waterfall nearby, mine and Paul´s horses feeling the need to move 10 times slower than the rest, and prompting Paul to belt out a few verses of "Little Donkey" as we trudges across the fields! Eventually we got there and another eample of astunning waterfall was in view. We scrambled up the first fall, holding onto roots an found a series of pools as we went up the river, perfect after a morning of riding, and before the chicken feast awaiting us!
After lunch it was back the way we came, but the horses aren´t stupid and they didnt fancy he tough jungle again, so began wandering in every direction but the one we wanted. This brought the ineveitable whip back into play, and with it screams from Paul of "noooooooooooooooooooooooo, i dont wanna go this fast!!!!!!!!" in a desperate mackem accent as his horse galloped away! this had me in stitches, until my horse received an unexpected whip and off i went to, still laughing and trying hard not to fall off and die! We eventually got going, and after a ride back involving jumps and gallops, we made it back! the night called for a few drinks, so out came the bottle of vodka we were unable to touch on the boat, and we proceeded to get boozy!
Next morning the plan was to get up and head off on the boat, but that kinda fell apart when we realised our spanish had let us down and we´d miseheard how much the hotel was, leaving us without enough money to all get the boat. We made the decision that Paul would go to Turbo, 2hours away by boat, and a night in the only town with a cash machine, before coming back to rescue us! In the meantime, myself, Pete and Lisa headed to find Joey, the only guy in town we knew, to try and bum some accomodation. The guy was a true gent and a legend about it, he put us up in his hotel for free (a gorgeous place in the jungle), gave us coffee, soup, offered to give us some spending money if we fancied going out, showed us his farm, the works. It was one of those rare times when someone goes way beyond what would be considered helpful and genuinely took care of us for two days while we waited for Paul. Even after all this, he still said that if he never got back what he´d spent on us, he´d put it down to karma and move on, the guy good to a fault! While at the hotel, we saw a troop of monkeys swing past right outside, eagles, vultures, parrots, birds of every type in fact, bu the highlight was the hummingbird nest right outside the door. It had two tiny babies in it, and at night the mother would come and perch on top, it was incredible. Another magical aspect of the place was the night sky. The power went out at about 2am, and with the next town being hours away, there was no light pollution at all, you could barely see your hand in front of your face it was so dark, so the stars were out of this world. It looked like someone had flicked a paint brush on a black canvas, like nothing i´ve seen before, or am likely to again.
We walked to the next village, Aguacate, one day along the coastal path and although a struggle at times clambering over rocks and up muddy paths it was well worth it. The villge was tiny, we were there for 30mins before we saw anyone, so we took a dip in the sea, and once someone turned up, bought a nice cold beer and chilled out as the military strolled by on one of their many marches back and forth. They even started to recognise us they walked the same routes so often!
The walk had is sombre moments too, as you can imagine in such a region. We walked past a gorgous plot of land, with a nice house built on it right on the sea front. We asked Joey about it and he said it had been for sale for years but nobody wanted it because it was used by the paramilitaries as a killing field until recently and has "bad spirits". This was another reminder of where we were and why western tourists dont visit such an area of stunning natural beauty.
By this time Paul was back in town with a big wad of cash to pay off our debts (not the best place in the world to be owing people money!!!), and we were ready to go! We asked Joey how much we owed him, for 2nights board, lunch on the horse ride, a few beers, a all the random snacks he´d bring us in the day, and all he wanted was a case of beers, $15, or 7pounds! We left double that, but still felt we were shortchanging the guy, unfortunately we didnt have any more, so hopefully karma will sort the rest!
The trip to Cartagena from Capurgana started at 7.30am and finished at 9.30pm, involved a boat, a pick up truck and a bus, and the less said the better, it was hell!
On the plus side, Catagena seems nice, and young Daniel should be here tomorrow, back on the booze to finally celebrate his birthday, 6days late...
Holla people
so pete has gone to columbia with a few buddies we keep on bumping in to on our travels , i am still in panama chillin till my cards arrive, (fingers crossed they turn up this week ) but i think i am going to give it untill thursday then crack on , i will proberbly fly to columbia , talking to a coupple off poeple the see gets quite choppy sort off december / january time and fewer and fewer boats do the jurney .
i went to the canal the other day to see some ships go throught the locks , it was pretty good the size of the whole opperation and that , and you will never guess the name off the ship that was going through the lock was ???? it was only called DANNY BOY how cool is that !! then yesturday me and a buddie we went to the old city was really nice pretty buildings and that and some ruins , there is a sort off pier walk way there that you can walk down its nice you can see the citty on one side and on the other you can see panama bridge .
so this last week i have been walking the town going to the embassie and the postoffice whitch takes the best part of 2 hours to do , the post office is the other side off town and i was pretty much the only gringo walking down there , so i was walking at a pace you know that semmi walk jogg thing , looking like a total dork ! hahah made me giggle . i have also been off the beer for over a week so , strange i know but true !!
so thats about that pete should be nearly at colimbia by now , but i did hear from another traveler who had done the same root the other way round that his boat was weighting around the sand blas island for a bit cos of the weather .
so cool i feal good that i have wrote something and yeah till next time
ps. when my bag got stolen it had my address book in it , so could people email me with phone nubers , addresses and emails ? dan1gee@hotmail.co.uk spred the word , keep it real !!
xx
This could take a while, internet access has been a bit scarce recently, hence no updates for a while, but fear not, we´re still alive! I´ll start where i left off, Cartagena, commonly recognised as one of the most beautiful examples of a Spanish colonial city in South America, it proved to be just that. The town is split into the old and new parts, and its the old part which we spent most of our time in. It was surrounded by a giant wall in the 1500´s to protect the city from pirates and the English (sorry cartagena) which still encircles the old town. It is possible to walk along the top where there are still cannons and watchtowers looking over the caribbean. Inside the walls is a gem of a place. Narrow streets with tall buildings and Spanish stunning architecture, painted bight reds, yellows, blues and greens, little balconies with flowers spilling over them and sprinkled with a number of churches, catherdrals and museums. We only visited one church properly, San Pedro Claver, the first man to be canonised in the new world, Pedro Claver was a Spanish monk who moved to Cartagena to work amongst the slaves. He spent his life living and working with the slaves brought from Africa, and was known as the "slave of the slaves", right up until he died. The church was gorgeous, a big courtyard in the middle and some stunning stained glass. I also got to sit in the same chair that the Pope used on his visit to Cartagena, quite a bizaare experience, but how many peoploe have done that!?!?
Outside of the old town, we visited the fort built to protect the city and was never taken in battle. It is situated on a hill, apparently it started off as a little watchtower type building, but was extended until it took over the whole hill. It has multiple levels, a great view over the surrounding area, and most impressive, a maze of tunnels underneath it, designed for escape and for moving around the fort under cover. They are designed in such away, that if stood at one end, you can hear the slightest noise made at the other, so if the enemy did ever make it in, their footseteps would give them away instantly.
We also headed to El Papa, a monastry overlooking the city, again with a beautiful courtyard in the middle, but apart from that, not much else to interest the casual visitor. The highlight was the guy outside who had a sloth which he was charging $1 to hold, had to be done and some great pictures coming soon!
From Cartagena we also visited the mud volcano located an hour or so from town, yet another incredible few hours. The bus dropped us off by the side of the volcano, only about 20m high, with a rickety wooden staircase up one side. we clambered to the top, and in the crater is this thick grey brown mud with people being massaged in it. We slid in to the cold mud, layed back and floated, beofre the guy doing the massages one by one slid us across the top of the mud to take our place in the queue .It was so relaxing just floating there, then getting massaged, i was nearly asleep! Once he was done we all tried to stand up, but couldnt find the floor, apparently its 70m down of just mud, so thick that you can float right on top of it. Next it was off to the lake to get rinsed off by the locals, the water is so muddy from everyone bathing in it, that everyone gets naked and the local washer women clean your clothes for you! Slightly surreal, but a great highly recommended day!
Dan eventually turned up after a lot of tme and effort (and money) spent on sorting a flight, but i´ll let him tell that story. Unfortunately for him, we were booked to leave on a 6day hike to Ciudad Perdida (The Lost City) out of Santa Marta, so he didnt get much time to see Cartagena. So off we headed to Santa Marta, further east along the caribbean coast, then the next morning off to start tçwhat is fair to say the toughest journey we have ever made, little did we know it at the start...
The first day we were picked up by our guide Alfredo from the hotle and driven 1 1/2hrs out of town, then it was into the 4x4 to begin the ascent to the starting point. This was a further 2hours up one of the muddiest roads i´d seen, with drops on one side, bouncing and sliding our way to the top. Once there it was a quick lunch of sandwiches and we were off. It started off nicely, not too intense, a nice river flowing alongside, but quickly turned tough. After the first river crossing, it was up a steep hill, thick with mud, all illusions of keeping clean were shattered and the sweat was pouring, After a flat(ish) section at the top, the rains came in, jusat in time for us to hit the downhill section of mud. At times it was almost knee deep, and steep downhills too, making it tough going, especially when combined with the torrential rain we were enduring. Along the way we passed a few huts inhabited by the indigenous Kogi people, descendants of the tayronas, who built the city we were attempting to reach. They live a truly rustic lifestyle, in small huts, farming chickens, pigs, cows and trading in town for other things they need. They all wear identical beige clothing and grow their hair long, making it difficult to differentiate male and female at times. Eventually after several tumbles and slips we made it to what turned out to be our guides house, a tin roof house with hammocks set up for us to dump our bags pass out in. While we were there a group on their way back from the city turned up, and on it happened to be a few guys we´d met in Panama, then again on the boat to Colombia. They looked exhausted, but said it was worth it, so after a cold shower and a huge dinner, we were off to bed.
Next morning we were woken by the chickens running around us, and before breakfast were asked if we wanted to visit a cocaine factory. We were in Colombia after all, so felt it would be too good an experience to miss out on, so paid the $10 and headed into the jungle. After about 15mins walking up a river, we came to a tarpaulin sheet suspended over a couple of benches and all the chemicals needed to turn coca leaves into the paste, which is then shipped to the cities where it becomes cocaine. Our guide told us this was just a setup for tourists and the actual factories are much bigger. He then got to work showing us how it is done. I couldnt tell you exactly what was happening, but it involved various acids, gasoline, some kind of potassium compound, and whole lot of fizzing and bubbling, and eventually some filtration! It certainly didnt look like the sort of ingredients you´d like to introduce into your body! The thing that amazed me, was that these guys are the start of a multi billion pound industry, yet they are sat in dingy little shacks in the jungle, earning an absolute pittance for working long hours, inhaling all sorts of fumes, and risking the wrath of the authorities, while in every major city in the world, guys are getting insanely rich, mainly because of what these guys do. It made me realise that there are more people on the wrong end of the drugs trade than ever get reported.
We set off on the second day, much the same as the first, although it wasnt quite as intense, it was still prety tough going at times. After about 4hours of walking we arrived at our camp, an open sided wooden huy, again with hammocks, but this time, with about 25 of the Colombian armies finest staying with us. We went for a swim in the river and a few of the soldiers joined us, propping their rifles on a tree next to our muddy boots. At first it was a tad concerning - were they watching us, or watching out for us? - but soon enough thy were in the water with us, jumping off rocks and chatting with us in our broken spanish. Later that night after another huge meal, a few of them came over and joined us for a came of Uno (a card game), complete with rifles between their legs! In colombia they still have national service, so most of these guys were only 18-19, and were so pleased to have us there, it was incredible. Later, they asked us if we´d like to buy any drugs from them, kind of ironic seeing as they were there to try and stop the drugs trade, but i guess that money talks in that part of the world and there really is no way Colombia will ever stop producing illegal drugs, despite what George W Bush is fighting for. The next morning they let us pose with their guns before we left, and wished us luck on our journey.
The third day of trekking was pretty tough for me, as somewhere along the line i´d picked up a stomach bug and was not enjoying being away from a toilet! It made a tough walk even tougher, i was feeling weak and on a few occasions quite faint. The start of the walk was near enough a rock climbing exercise, narrow ridges on the side of rock faces made up the path, before it settlled into a jungle path. The day involved 8 river crossings, mostly with water over our knees, but amazingly there was only one fall in the water, and it wasnt either of us! We stopped to swim a few times, and then out of nowhere our guide pointed into the tree line where there were a few steps leading up the mountain. This he told us was the entrance to the city. He then told us there were 1253 steps, not what we needed to hear after 3days of tough trekking and they proved to be an absolute killer. If you want to recreate it, go to the gym, work out as hard as you can, focusing mainly on your legs, put a 10kg bag on your back, then get on the step machine, on its hardest setting and see how you go! Oh, and turn off the air-con in the gym too! After what seemed like a lifetime we made it to the top, exhausted but feeling good having made it. We found the lost city! We were presented with a series of round stone terraces leading up the mountain (with more bloody steps!). These used to have wooden huts on them, but now they are simply round terraces with grass in the middle. As we continued up the mountain, we reached a huge terrace, with one of the most spectacular views i´ve seen. Looking out into the valley below, the jungle thick on the sides of the mountains, clouds forming near the tops, while behind us a waterfall cascaded down from above us. After sitting and recovering for about an hour we headed to Our house for the night, a 3 storey structure, with not hammocks, but actual matresses! It got dark quite early, and everyone was asleep before dinner, we were shattered!
Day 4 was an exploration day. It was great to walk around without big heavy bags, and i got up early to try and catch sunrise. Alone apart from the little dog that had followed us all the way, i went and sat on the big terrace, and it was beautiful. Silent apart from nature waking up and the waterfall, the only thing that ruined it was the mosquitoes, which became a bit of a theme of the day. They were viscious, there were billions of them and we were the only people in the city - the only victims! Later our guide took us round the city properly, despite our aching limbs. It was a nice walk, but if i´m honest, one you´ve seen one stone terrace, you´ve kinda seen them all. That said, there are a couple of huts where the Kogi people still live up there, so we got some idea what it would have looked like. They even had fish up there in a little pond! Apparently the city used to cover the valley, and acted as the capital for some 150 villages in the area, playing the role of governmental and market centre. This made it by far and away the biggest most important town in the Tayrona world, and it isnt really known exactly why the city was lost to the jungle, whether it was disease, war, or some other factor that wiped out the inhabitants, The city was only discovered in the early 1970´s, by a father and son who were treasure hunters (think indiana jones!). They began taking the gold and other artifacts from th city and selling htem in town, until about 5yrs after the discovery, the son and 6other people were killed by the kogis, who understandably didnt appreciate they´re ancestors graves being robbed, After this the city became government run, and is now a national park, with full time archiologists working there. After a swim in the river, including a waterfall shower (the best type by the way), we headed back to camp and chilled out in anticipation of the next two days hiking. Day 5 combines the 2nd and 3rd days to form one monster of a walk, so we wanted to be at our best, or somewhere close anyway!
So off we went, back down the giant staircase, instantly destroying what quads we had left, then pushing all the way through the path we´d previously taken. It didnt seem quite as tough this way, but considering it was about 8hours trekking, it was still one adding up to be the toughest 6days of my life! There was a section of hill which very nearly destroyed me though, it was pushing all of us to the limit, but we survived it, somehow! As we headed through the army camp, the military had moved on, we spotted them later along the path, it seems they are employed to guard the whole path as best they can, another example of colombia trying to improve its image.
We got back to Alfredo´s house where the cow had given birth a few hours before, so we had a calf wandering around with us all evening, complete with the biggest soppiest eyes imaginable! Not that anyone was that bothered, exhaustion kicked in again, and we were soon back in the hammocks.
Day 6 was a relatively late start, we only had 4hours or so to go, so didnt rush too much. Unfortunately, the mud we´d dealt with on day one hadnt improved at all, but this time we were going up it, and were coming off the back of 5days walking, so it was HARD!!! Once we made the top of the hill though, the pace and spirits picked up as we approached civilisation. By the end, myself and Paul were almost running down to get to the river for a swim, and god did it feel good when we made it! Without doubt the toughest challenge i´ve undertaken, but such a sense of achievement at the end made it all worth it. The city itself was a slight let down, but the walk was immense and i´d recommend it to anyone with a sense of adventure and some level of fitness! On the way down we saw a guy starting off the walk carrying a guitar, we all just looked at each other - was he for real, i mean come on, a 6day hike into the jungle and he wants to take a bloody guitar, what an absolute muppet!!!
The adventure wasnt quite over, we still had the 4x4 ride to the bottom, and it had been raining so the mud was intense so it took forever. There was another car on its way down too, which really struggled, so we spent half our time waiting to see if they made it though the really tough bits. Needless to say, despite the exhaustion, it was a Saturday night when we got back, so we were out on the town til 4am, what a night, what a week, what an adventure!!!
hi chaps and the like , hasnt been an entry for a while , oops , er jus some photos to wet ya appitite !
dgx
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little explination , bit of beach photos , some of the angel falls , and some i didnt put on from the start of our trip , enjoy ..... oh yeah new camarra check me out !!!!
Panama Canal
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My Caribbean Cruise
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The Darien Gap
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Cartagena
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More to come soon, but you have no idea how long it takes to upload things here!!!
hello so its been a wile since petes last entry , whitch was in columbia . so after columbia we went to venerzuela for christmass in a place called merida , were the longest cable car in the wold is , it goes up to 5ooo meters cant rember how long it is though but took about an hour to get to thye top , and would you belive it there was snow on the ground at the top woop woop so we had a sort off white christmass ! there were 4 off us for christmass in thiss one hostel whitch was nice so we went to town on christmass dinner coulnt get a turkey , so got a chicken , but all the rest was there all the trimmings and that it was really nice though .
after merida we parted company with paul one of the guys we were traveling with as he went to aus and we started our jurney to margarita island were we were meeting petes parents for christmass , but that jurney was v long in volving in two busses that Was about nearly 20 hours in total and a boat that was 5 hours , spread over two days . but finally we got there me pete and lisa who had been with us from panama . so when we got to the island we had booked in to a really nice hostel it was like a spannish villa ran by a family who were really kind .so when petes parents came out it was new years eve and we thought we would go out for something to eat then have a few drinks with the people in our hostell , but when petes parents arrived to our hostell thge owners had put a full spread on for everyone in the ostell so we atayed there for new years it was so good there were people from all over the place having an ace time ! off course had to crack the spanglish out seems to get better when i am drunk mmmmmm.....
so john and eirwen had booked a trip to angell falls for us all whitch was fantastic , so we got the plane from the islan to (er cant rember when i do i will fill it in ) from there we went on a dug out boat along a river to the first waterfall were we walked behind it was good but cold , then 30 min walk to another waterfall were we got the baot again up stream up rappids to another drop off point were we had to walk for a bit because the rappids were to rough for us to be in the boat , so then back in the boat for another two hours up stream and it was getting dark by then , so hats off to the driver for navagating his way up rappids to our first camp . after putting some dry clothes on we had some tea then to bed in hammacs .in the morning back on the boat then we saw jus what the driver went up in the pith black the nit before , wow . so another coupple off hours in the boat up to the next camp , because it was dry season although it raind alot , the river was quite low so the driver had some mad skills to get us up the river even through some spotts that i didnt even think the boaut would fit through ! we got to the next camp for some lunch then a hour walk to the falls , as we got closer to the falls there were some viewing places , so we wipped the camara out and started snapping ! (jus bought a new cammara ) we got to the base off the falls that was it shirt off straight in , well say straight in , it was freezing ! it was a bit cloudy when we got there so coulnt see the top but jus as we were about to leave the clouds parted and we got to se the whole waterfall ! so then bacçk to the camp then in the boat again to the first camp , sounds easy but on the way back the boat grounded in th middle off some rappids , then it was all hands on deck well off deck reall out the bout in to the river and push the boat off the rocks , was quite exciting but i didnt have any shoes on so it slightly hurt my feet on the river bed , nevermind , when we got bak to the camp tea then bed and the next day another coupple off hours in the boat then plane back to the island .
so petes mum and dad left on the 14th so it was jus me and pete again , so we decided to go to peru and see iff we coulf get on thge inca trail , so it was the boat to the main land then a mad taxi man to the airport in caracs were we slept on the airport floor , them sorted out some tickets to lima peru , were we stayed there for about 4 days had one nite out started about 7 in the evening ended about 8 the next morning , limas nice well miraflores is were we stayed lima center is dangerous for gringos but were we were was nice so we did the tourist bit went to see some churches and that all very nice . so then it was another run to the airpot to see about a tickett to cuzco sorted it no problem , got to cuzco and the altitude knocked me for six spent the first day in bed out off breath , it was so bizzar , and then yesturday we found an english bar that does a full english propper fat boy style and then the liverpool was on so we sat there and watched it and that was that , so back to the same bar tody for another fat boy and there is another football match on .
so i have had a bit off feedback that people cant view the pics we have put on , i will get the teck team on it !
i am sure pete will give a better account of whats gone on when he gets round to it
addios x
!!!! think i have fixed the photo prob jus dubble click on the link !!!!!
so after being in cusco for a few days getting used to the altitude , we decided to book on to the inca trail , unfortunatly the inca trail was fully booked so we did another treck that also took you to the ruins on top off machupicchu. so the treck we book tarted on a wednesday morning at 7 , so we went down to the english bar on the tuesday nite for the pub quiz and a quiert one ..... 5 oclock in the morning turns up so thought we better get some sleep !!
so the dudes piced us up in a bus the wed moning and put us on a buss whitch took us for about 2 hours or so out off cusco and dropped us off in the middle off knowere in the pouring rain with a coupple off irish boys that were on our treck and off loaded some mountainbikes whitch we were going to use that day , and off we went , the first day was pretty much down hill all the way in the rain with breaks that didnt really work that well , it was fun , then after about 4 hours os so we got to the first place w were staying and met up with 4 girls from uruguay that wer also on our treck so therew were eight off us plus one guide , that nite we had some tea then were in bed by ten .
the next morning we started to walk about 6:30, 7 ish along some roads then we went in to the mountain on single traks , it was fantastic little bit off up a little bit off down , and the views were amazing ! we stopped at a little house for lunch , then carried on to some hot springs in the middle off knowere , the eprings were new , well the complex around them was and there was talk off actually building a hotell there ! so a coupple off hours in the springs then another hours walk to the town were we woud be staying , so same routine cold showere then off to tea , then our guide said that there was a disco on in the town so it was rude not to really , wasnt a late one only till 12 .....
the next morning we were up again at about 7 ish to get an early start for anothere 3 hours walking then we stopped on a train track for some lunch , then followed the track all the way to aguas caliante , whitch is at the bottom off machupicchu.
we had the choice off walking up to the steps to the ruins or getting the buss , so off course we wallked up to the top , whitch ment a 4:30 start to get to the top for 6 to meet our guide for the day , the actuall ruins were absoultly fantstic although the weather was not with us in the mornig cloudie and raining it maid the ruins look really eirie with constant mist comining in got some great snapps , but by the afternoon the weather cleared up and we got the full picture of the site . next to machupicchu is another mountain called wayanapicchu which i climed up rite to the top to get a birds eye view off machupicchu .
i will try to put some more pics on mow hopefully this will work !
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Right, its been bloody ages since i´ve written, so time to extract finger from arse and get it written!
When I last wrote we had just finished the trek to Ciudad Perdida and got exceedinly drunk to celebrate. From there we stayed in Santa Marta, Colombia for a few more days, relaxing and recovering from the previous weeks exertions. The only thing of note was a trip to Taganga, a little fishing village about 15mins away. Lovely little place, we just laid on the beach, had some lunch, laid on the beach some more and soaked up the sun, i really dont know how we cope sometimes!
Next stop was Venezuela, the plan being to head to Merida for christmas, but it was a mammoth journey so we opted for a night or two in Maracaibo first, Venezuela´s second city. Before that though involved a notoriously dodgy border crossing at Maracay, which of course lived up to its reputation. Due to bad luck (or bad planning...!) we arrived there at night and joined the queue on the Colombian side. Apart from a few raised eyebrows at my hand written entry stamp this side was fine, it was the Venezulan side where the fun started. Everything was going far to smoothly, we got our stamps into the country, got back on the bus and sat waiting for a bit. Then a gorilla in an iummigration officers uniform got on and told just the men to get off, and bring our bags. One by one we were then searched in a private room (with no cameras) by this man mountain, fully expecting at very least a bribe to pass hands, hopefully nothing else! Pleading dumb with regard to our spanish seemed to be a good tactic and we both got through ine, bit shaken but fine. One Japanese guy got taken off to another room well away from everyone and was asked for 1/2 hour to sign his travellers checks for the guard. Good on him, he refused, and we all made it in the end, a real experience, but not something i´d recommend! When we finally got to Maracaibo, it took an hour driving in a taxi before we found a hostel, everything was either booked up or outrageously expensive, and when we did find somewhere it was freezing due to the air con pumped through the building relentlessly. Anyway, when it came down to it, we both wish we hadnt bothered, Maracaibo is a horrible city to visit. Famed for its market, which spreads for miles over every street, and stinks of rotten food, ther really is very little in the way of things to do. There is a nice park in the middle of town, but apart from that and the streets lined with prostitutes of all shape and sizes, i cant think of any reason to go there!!!
We jumped on a bus down to Merida, known as the adventure sports capital of South America, situated a bit further south at the base of the Andes mountain range. We found a really nice hostel near the centre of town and settled in or Christmas. First day we met up with Lisa and Paul again who´d stayed in Colombia for an extra couple of days, and that was our festive family. Merida is a nice town, being in the mountains it was nice and fresh, although the place was packed with christmas shoppers. It also has the worlds longest cablecar, split into 4 sections going up into the mountains. We went up and it got steadily colder as we ascended, to the point that at the top there was snow! White Christmas!!!! The view back down ovcer the town was really impressive, the city jus stops on a huge cliff edge which drops off into a deep canyon, very cool.
For xmas we decided to each out in some cash and sort out a proper dinner. Unfortunately the only turkeys available were the size of ostriches, so we went for a big chicken instead and everything went really well. Lucky for us Lisa knew how to do a roast, So with a bit of help from us, including me having to remove the chickens inards (it came whole, bar the head and feet!), we put together a feast and got steadily drunk all day. We´s also done secret santa, of course me and Dan got each other, and we even got each otrher the same thing, a mini table football game! What are the odds! Anyway, it was a really good day, although had an odd feel to it without family there. Normally when your at home, xmas goes in a certain way, and thats what we all love about it, but without being at home with the people that matter it was an odd one, and for me especially made me realise how good i have it at home, something i hadnt really appreciated before, I´d just taken things for granted. I´ll be honest here too, i seriously considered calling it a day and heading home at this point. I even looked at flights. I just got a bit melancholy with the whole thing, and wasnt sure how much more i´d gain from staying out. Yeah i´d see some amazing things, but at teh time i felt i´d seen so many things, that a few more wouldnt have the effect they probably should. Its nopt to say i didnt want to go to all the places we´d planned, just maybe on a different trip, when iwas fresh for it. The other thing that i´d thought about a lot was, with all the poverty we´d seen, here is me on a big holiday when so many people are struggling to even get food day to day. It felt wrong, I actually felt a it guity about being there at times. This might sound a bit hard to understand from home, and i dnt know if it was xmas that sparked it or what, but that was where i was and it took a lot of thinking time to get my head straight and begin to appreciate things for what they are again. I know for a fact too, that I was a pain in the arse during this time, so apologies to everyone who had to put up with it, especially Dan!!!
From Merida we headed to Isla Margarita in the Caribbean where we were due to meet my parents for New Years. Took a real effort to get there 2 1/2 days in the end, but we got there in the end, with Lisa still in tow, whereas Paul went to start a new life in Australia as a doctor. The ferry arrived very late at night, so rather than try and find the hostel we´d arranged to stay at we just got to the nearest place and slept. Next day we headed across to Pampatar and after a lot of driving again, found our new home for the next 2weeks. It was another family run hostel, and turned to be an absolute gem. Romulo, the owner was brilliant, Maria was an excellent cook and William was always ready to help out, we really felt part of the family. Mum and Dad arrived on Dec 30th, Mum´s birthday so we headed over to their posh, swanky hotel to say hello before the staff booted us out for being common backpackers. Anyway, so new yrs eve we met up, planned a meal followed by a bar, but instead all that was changed. At our hostel Maria had cooked a feast and they had got loads of drinks in, everyone was invited, all free and it turned out to be a great random new years eve celebrated with Brazilians, Swedes, Poles, and Venezuelans. Romulo even had a spare room for Mum and Dad, and gave them a lift back the next day, so friendly it was unbelievable!
The next few days involved a lot of beach time, and catching up, was really great to see the old buggers again, nice change of pace for us as well. If their hotle rep had seen them though he wouldnt have been happy, breaking all his stupid rules, like dont swim in the sea, and dont take taxis...seriously. In Venezuela a lot of taxis are the big old American muscle cars, and admittedly they are pretty ropey and about 99% would fail an MOT, but some of them were just so COOL! Big bench seats, stunning to look at, no way were we no getting in them! You may wonder how people can afford to run these monsters in a country like Venezuela, well it simple, fuel is basically free. Prices were about 50 Bolivares per Gallon - The exchange rate was approximately 9000 Bolivares to the pound, you do the maths!
From Margarita we headed inland for a few days to see the Angel Falls (Salto Angel in Spanish), the worlds tallest waterfall. Venezuela is blessed with the worlds biggest national park, Canaima, with contains the Tepuis, huge lumps of hard rock which have become exposed after centuries of erosion. They rise up out of the plains, sheer cliffs all around, with completely isolated ecosystems on the top. The tour we did involved a flight over the area, stunning views and a quick pass of the falls, then 3days heading ito the jungle to get up close and personal with things. First up was a huge waterfall, i forget the name, but it was more in the style of a rushing torrent flowing over the edge of a cliff. We took a little canoe and got to walk behind them, you could feel the power in the place, one false move and that was that. Then it was a a short walk to some more falls, not quite as impressive, but the view over the plains was where part of Jurassic Park was filmed, so that was pretty cool. We then jumped in the dugout canoe again and headed upriver. Unfortunately we were runnign a bit late because one of the planes had been delayed so we were waiting for people. This meant the last part of the journey was in the darkness, all well and good until we hit the rapids and could just about see the rocks as our captain expertly navigated us through. Maybe not the safest, but thats South America for you!
Sleeping was in hammocks, then an early start, back in the boat and this time dodging through rocks the size of houses, bouncing off them as we went. A short jungle walk and we were there, Angel Falls. When we first arrived we culd only see about 3/4 of the way 979m drop, the top was covered by cloud, but by the time we were ready to leave, the clouds parted and there in front of us was the money shot, just like the postcards! The water was turning to mist by the time it got about half way down, such was the drop from the top of the tepuis, but that didnt take anything away from the view, breathtaking.
Another hammock night followed, thn back down the river and towards the island. On the way we had slight mishap, the captain misjudged a bend and grounded us in the middle of the fastflowing river.Time for all the guys to get out and oush, hoping the boat didnt sweep over us as it got free. Fortunately it didnt.
A lot more beach time, the odd random night out and it was time for my folks to head back to rainy England. Sorry to see them go, but our adventure was still going on. When we came out we planned to go clockwise round the continent, but after hearing now was a good time to do the Inca Trail (low season), we headed to Caracas and got a flight to Lima, Peru to get it done before we ran out of money! This may sound a simple case of buying a ticket, getting to the airport, getting on the plane right? Well not in Caracas! We bought a ticket onine, but for some reason the payment didnt go through, no probs, we were spending the night at the airport anyway, so early start and we´d be front of the queue to get the 4pm flight tickets. The desk didnt oen til about 12, but we were 3rd in line, so figured no problems. After 3hours of waiting while some evil witch sold tickets to everyone and their dogs while telling us stand next to her and watch, we got our tickets. You come to accept bad treatment in some places for being a gringo,but this took the biscuit, and on top of that, the plane was only half full anyway!!!
So Lima, Peru´s capital with everything you´d expect a capital to have, all the comforts and the churches, museums and importantly bars. After a night in a nice, slightly expensive place following 2nights without a bed, we headed to the cheaper end of town and found a cool hostel. We ended up going out with the 2guys thatworked there, partly because the club was right next door, and a swear they had speakers in our room. They didnt speak English, so it was a good time to get some practice in with the Spanish.
We also did a city tour,visited the cathedral and a couple of churches, sat in the popes chair (2nd time for me), all very nice, but churches realy are just churches now. Eventually we sorted a flight down to Cuzco, $50 for a 24hour bus ride, or $100 for a 1hour flight...hmmm, tough one!
Anyway, we got to Cuzco, 3500m above sea level, so as soon as we landed we were hit by the altitude, short of breath, headaches, first couple of days were pretty tough, until we found an English bar with Tetleys, fry ups and bangers and mash, its like heaven!!! So after a few days here in Cuzco getting over the altitude and dicovering the local bars, we booked onto a trip to visit Machu Pichu, not the actual Inca Trail, because that would have entailed hanging around for a week, whereas the alternative one we did left the next day. As Dan mentioned earlier, the first day was on bikes, 90% downhill, with ever so slighty dodgy brakes, and gears that didnt change properly.Great fun, it rained at first so we got soaked through, which lead to wet boots for the next 2days, but no real problems.
The other reason we chose this tour was that instead of camping, we stayed in hostels, its freezing here at night, so that was a real bonus. On the tour with us were two Irish guys and four Uruguayan girls, as well as our guide, Saulo.
Day 2 was an early start, after breakfast we began walking around 7.30, nothng too intense, but once the sun came up it got pretty hot so we had a good sweat on. We joined th actual Inca trail for a bit along the way, so we did some of it at least! Along the way was a cool waterfall, a huge stream jetting out of a hole in a cliff. Along the way there was a river crossing, a rope suspended over the water with little basket which you satin and pulled youself across. More walking and we ended up in Santa Teresa, a small village in the middle of nowhere, which had a "nightclub". After dinner an a few beers we headed over for a few more, very bizaare i a tiny room with music pumping, not too late, but a good night nonetheless.
Another early start on day 3, this time followed by a good few hours walking, another basket river crossing and we ended up in Agua Calientes, the town at the bottom of Machu Pichu. Quite an early night due to a 4.30 start the next morning which involved an hour long walk up the steps to the top of Machu Pichu, which is actually the name of the mountain, not the ruins.We met our guide and began the tour in the rain, as Dan mentioed, this gave the place a really eerie feel and added to the whole mystery of the site. You walk in from the side of the city through the old buildings. In front i Waynu Pichu, the mountain overlooking the city which used to be used to be used as a lookout point. After a 2hour, really informative tour, we headed up to the top of Waynu Pichu, which i where the postcard shot of the city is taken. By now the rain had gone and the site was basking in the sun. At the top i just sat for about an hour looking down at the city and the general area - the surrouding mountains and valleys make for a stunning backdrop.
In all i spent about 10hours at thesite, icluding a short walk to see the Inca Bridge, a brick bridge built from the floor up along a giant cliff face. At the top of the site they have llamas too, adding to the whole Peruvian Experience. We spent another night in Agua Calientes before getting the train and bus back home on Sunday to Cuzco. In summary, the trek and in particular the ruins were an absolutely fantastic experience, one that everyone should experience given the chance. Machu Pichu really is one of the most magical places I have ever been, certainly a highlight of this trip.
Back in Cuzco now, we´re just chilling out for the week, spending lots of time in the English bar, and we also found an Irish pub too, with pint glasses, English Ales and the most amazing lasange ever. Thursday night we are going to the football to see the local team Cienciano v Montevideo Wanderers of Uruguay in a qualifier for the Copa Libatadores, th South American champions league, Come on Cienciano!!! After that its off south towards Bolivia, sometime at the end of the week....
Apologies for the length of this monster, I propmise to try and stayon top of things next time!!!
Anyone who has ever been to Cuzco will understand just how we managed to get stuck there for nearly two weeks! To say we wasted our time would be a bit harsh, but equally, the cultural value of our time was maybe not at its highest. As i may have mentioned before, we found an English bar with tetleys tea bags, full fry ups, pub quizzes, the lot, which with a bit of filling in the blanks will tell you what we´ve been up to!
We did take a morning to visit Sacsayhuamán, the ruins at the top of the hill overlooking the city. They join together with the shape of the original city to make the shape of a puma, Sacsayhuamán making up the head witht he city forming the body. It takes a bit of imagination but does actually look a bit like a puma head, and the stone work up there is second to none. The Inca´s used severl different types of stone work dependent on the class of building, this place being a temple, it is of the highest order. One stone has 12 corners, all fitting perfectly. Also built into the seemingly random stone shapes are images of snakes, pumas and condors, the 3 animals that represent the 3 worlds we live in - Puma being this world, Condors with the Gods above and Snakes as the underworld. There are other examples of this on other walls in the city, although the Spanish destroyed a lot of this and replaced it with their own - the locals call the difference Inca Walls and Incapa-walls. We had the pleasure of being told this by the guide who featured in the recent Spanish speaking version of The Motorcycle Diaries, which by the way is an amazing film, well worth a watch if you can handle subtitles! The only other really Cuzco/Peruvian thing we did was go to the football. Cienciano v Montevideo Wanderers (really!) in the first leg quialifier for the Copa Libertadores - the South American Champions League. Nick, the owner of the English bar sorted out a load of tickets for his regulars, including us, and promptly shut his bar for the day. We met at 4 in the Irish Bar instead, hada few beers, then went to buy some rum for during the game. As per usual, bottles are banned, but in a slight change, this doesnt mean you cant drink. All it means is that booze must be tranfserred into plastic bags, so off we went in a fleet of taxis to the ground, clutching carrier bags full of rum and coke! The game itself was brilliant, the atmosphere was great and we all got really into it, right down to questioning the integrity referee´s "personal habits"! Eventually the game finished 1-0 to the home team so we decided to lead the party, singing all the way home (about 45min walk) in a slightly tipsy state! Back to the other irish bar in town, then a few clubs later and its 5am, something that seems to happen in Cuzco a lot...!
Saturday involved watching the rugby, I seem to remember England winning at half time, then failing to show up in the second half. Fortunately the U-12 blind girls team did show, narrowly losing a slightly better Wales team at the death. The rest of the 18 hours in the pub are somewhat of a blur - I blame the altitude!
Superbowl Sunday was next up, something I´d normally take pride in abusing Americans about, what with their girly pads and stopping more than the average M25 driver in rush hour, but on this occasion we decided to give it a chance and see what the fuss was about. That turned out to be a very good decision, supposedly the best superbowl ever, underdogs beating the unbeaten "dynasty" team of the year, or so we were told! great turn out too, plenty of banter, and i came within 3mins of winning the final score pool $230ish, gutted! And i must say, the game wasnt as boring as i´d been expecting, some great bits of play, although give me real footie any day!
Anyway, we eventually escaped yesterday, but not before Nick let us cook pancakes in the pub kitchen for Shrove Tuesday, and headed to Arequipa, further south and on the way to Bolivia. Some time this week we plan to visit the worlds deepest canyon, Colca, twice as deep as the grand canyon and hopefully see condors close up. Of course we might find a new bar and stick here for the next month...x
Inca Trail
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Cuzco
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If you´ve read the blog you´ll understand why Cuzco is a bit light on photographic evidence...
When i last wrote we had just arrived in Arequipa, the second city of Peru, but i didnt really express how beautiful the journey there was. It was a night bus, but if you´ve ever done one, sleeping is a very stop start process, so I got to watch the sun rise and was treated to a view and a half! Snow capped mountains rising out of vast planes, winding roads and clear blue skies dotted with fluffy white clouds. Add to this the oranges of the sun rise and it was a really cool way to wake up! We got to Arequipa quite early and headed into town for some breakfast. Walking through the main square we were met by another amazing sight. The customary cathedral was flanked by Volcano Misti on its right, a giant snow capped monster,and to the left more giant mountains - really spectacular. After breakfast and a chilled out day of wandering the streets and buying cheap copied cd´s we got ourselves organised and booked a tour to Colca Canyon. The next day we wandered again and bought all sorts of Peruvian handicrafts and visited the Andean History museum where they have tons of Inca artifacts. You may thing that would involve a load of rotton old jugs and stuff, but actually the quality was incredible. The exhibits were discovered a few years ago when on eof the volcanoes was erupting and melted away the snow on a nearby mountain. This uncovered a series of mummies which had been human sacrifices by the Inca´s to the gods, and had been preserved immensely well by the frezzing conditions. The story goes that these sacrifices - all children - were offered to the Gods to try and please them and provide good luck for the community, i.e good crops, no earthquakes etc. When soemthing went wrong, a volcano erupting for example, they would offer more sacrifices to try and fix whatever they´d done wrong. The "victims" walked all the way from Cuzco to the mountains, where it was thought the Gods resided where they were dosed with lots of alcohol to relax them before a blow to the head sorted out the actual killing part, then buried along with expensive artifacts as offerings to the Gods. This may sound evil, but the sacrifices are thought to have been very willing - who wouldnt want to be part of it if you were brought up to believe that by dying in this way you could live with the gods for eternity??? A lot of families arranged for they´re children to be sacrifices pretty much from birth, so the children were brought up believing this was their destiny. The freezing conditions at the top of the mountain has preserved the bodies perfectly (well almost), complete with hair and skin, still in the position they died in, clothes perfectly preserved (in fact better than some of the stuff you can buy new in the market!), its hard to argue that they were wrong, they certainly look good for 500yr old bodies!
Next day we headed off to Colca Canyon, a few hours outside Arequipa for the tour we´d booked - two days, one night walking down the canyon and then back up. The journey out there was another example of just how stunning Peru really is, all along the valley the walls were terraced by pre-Inca civilisations, leaving giant stone walled steps to provide flat farm land on the hills and strengthen aainst landslides. These terraces are still used by farmers today and combined with teh little villages of stone houses, give the place and almost Tolkein like feel. We eventually arrived in Cabanaconde, the village we were starting our trek from to be greeted by Carnival! The band were playing in the top of town so we couldnt see them, but could here what sounded like a party. We went and found our guide, had some lunch and as we were walking out of town, caught our first glimse of the actual Carnival. A small group of people all in traditional cermonial outfits - covered in shiny sequins, mainly white but with lots of other colours too - dancing round the square to a band of tubas, trumpets and drums. Really beautiful, although we felt bad for dragging our guide away from town at this special time of year. So off we headed, toward the edge of the canyon, spectacular views down the length of the valley got us on our way nicely, carrying on nicely down towards the bottom where we were spending the first night.
It wasnt long before we caught sight of our first Andean Condor, rising up on the afternoon thermals just above us, spectacularly big bird, up to 3m wingspan and so heavy that they cant take off on they´re own, they have to jump off somethin high, hence why they live in the canyon walls. We managed to do the downhill part of the walk in record time according to our guide - he was so happy when we got to the bottom he hugged us and said it was the first time he´d enjoyed a tour properly! It may have had something to do with us slipping down the path the majority of the way, felt like we were on ski´s at times! The place we stayed was gorgeous, little house near the canyon floor with loads of clourful flowers and a great sunset view. After an alpaca steak we got an early night in the knowledge the next day was about 7-8hours walking, mainly uphill. During the night Dan was woken up by a scurrying noise on the wall near his bed, after turning on his torch he realised it was just 3 scorpions...nice one!
Next moning we headed off relatively early towards the Oasis at the bottom of the canyon. This involved walking along more or less flat for a few hours, through little villages which were completely deserted as everyone was in town for carnival, bar the odd cowboy looking guy or donkey. About half way there we realised how lucky we´d been with our group, it was just the two of us and our guide, Nilton, but we passed a group of about 15, and worse still they were nearly all french!!! Dodged a bullet there!!!
By around lunchtime we arrived at the Oasis a few natural pools surrounded by trees in amongst the mainly cactus lined canyon. We had a few hours here for lunch and to assess the damage done to our feet - some pretty bad blisters promised to make the next few hours uphill very fun. After a bit of taping up it was time to set off, despite the pain we turned down the mules on offer and went for it. By this time the sun was well and truly beating down and shade was very much in short supply. I cant tell you why, but for some reason i felt really strong and ended up flying up really quickly. Not to say it was easy, i guess the time at altitude kicked in a bit and i really enjoyed the walk. The views on the way were incredible, standing next to cacti you could see right down the canyon, then the snow capped peaks watching from above. I did hit a bit of traffic on the way up when a mule almost lost his load over the edge, but fortunately his handlers sorted things and we carried on. Near the top was a woman selling chocolate and water - i thought i´d died and gone to heaven, such a welcome sight!!!
Once we got to the top we headed back to town where our guide had promised to show us a proper carnival experience. This wasnt hard as the whole town square was buzzing with music dancing and drinking. The band only had two sons unfortunately, and the dancing was pretty simple, but the colour and passion on display was a real sight. There were maybe 20 or so other gringos in town, so it really felt we were part of something special. After dinner and a nap we headed back into the square to see what was going on and were promptly dragged into a group of dancers, basically for a big round of the hokey cokey, and i swear one of the songs was "tie your kangaroo down mate", but anyway we hada great time and soon forgot about the blisters that had almost stopped us walking earlier in the night.
Next morning we were woken by the band at 7am, and headed off to Condor Cross on the way back to Arequipa. Condor Cross is basically a viewpoint where people gather to watch the condors rise out of the canyon as they hunt baby alpaca early in the morning. We didnt have to wait for long before these giant birds were flying about 15ft above us, really amazing! Unfortunately we got the later bus to the site, so had to wait for 3 hours for the next bus to civilisation, meaning we had plenty of time to blow the last of our money on local artisan stuff! Eventually we got back to Arequipa where we chilled out for a few days, partly because i go really ill for a day, then headed for Puno on the shores of Lake Titicaca - the highest navigable lake in the world.
Puno itself is a pretty crappy city, nothing to speak of in the city, just a good base to visit some of the Islands on the lake. We soon got ourselves into a hostel and booked onto a tour for the next day. What we didnt realise was that it was still carnival, and so once again we got to witness a giant colourful street procession in a random town! Pictures will explain more than i can write here, so have a look when i get round to posting them.
Next morning it was off to visit the Uros, the floating islands made of reeds in the lake. they were extremyl weird, very soft underfoot but also very stable considering they were just tied down by ropes. verything was made of reeds, houses, boats, we even got to eat some (bit like celery)! After buying yet more rubbish we headed off across the lake to the island of Amantani where we were spending the night with a family. The journey took a while as our boat seemed to be anchored to soemthing it was so slow. Apart from the views the only thing of note that happened was the 2 Czech guys on the tour cracking out the rum at 9am and our very "enthusiastic" guide explaing with all her might the history of the lake and its people. Unfortunately this came across to me as an almost religios conversion attempt so i switched off, sorry cant tell you much, except apparently if you look at the shape of the lake upside down it forms a fish a puma and a man shape...imagination required!
We got to the island and were greeted by a large group of local women waiting for us to be divided up so they could take back they´re new "children" for the night. We got a nice middle aged woman who´s name i couldnt remember from the start, let alone now, and were led up the hill to her little house. We were introduced to the 4children and her husband and led to our room which had the worlds smallest door! It came up to barely nipple height, and the ceiling in the room wasnt much higher either - that should give you an idea of the average height of the locals! Dinner was servde in the kitchen, a smoky little room with a fire in the corner for cooking. It was a simple vegetarian soup followed by a cheese, potato, rice combo. Apparently despite keeping sheep, they only use them for manure, not for meat, so it was a vegtarian night for us. Later they put on a party for us in the town hall, traditional dancing and music played by some of the kids in town. They gave us ponchos and hats to wear down there so everyone looked great and it was fun, if a little staged and touristy. Next morning after breakfast it was off to another island Taquille, where we wandered round the whole island, great views of the lake from the top and some really nice little houses along the route. After lunch of trout it was back to the mainland and the end of our lake adventures.
Next stop was La Paz, Bolivia, via a brief stop in Copacabana for lunch, and putting ourselves well and truly back on the gringo trail. We are staying in a proper hostel, complete with plenty of americans, aussies and irish, and they offer a free beer for everynight you stay, from they´re own micro brewery on site...yep, we´re back on the trail! We took a wander around town to look at the witchcraft market, a very strange place selling llama foetuses and all sorts of potions and lucky charms. One shop even had a human skull in it, didnt stop to ask why...
We booked ourselves on to do the "worlds most dangerous road" as soon as possible. Its a day of downhill cycling just outside La Paz, descending over 3000m in about 64km of road. The road to start was tarmac but soon we turned off that and got to the gravel section, sheer cliffs to the side and us hammering down it at up to 30kph! Luckily we´d picked a great company who gave us real downhill bikes with full suspension, hydraulic brakes and full face helmets. I only saw one guy fall, luckily nowhere near the edge, but he was being a bit cocky anyway, and it wasnt too serious, so never mind eh! The adrenaline rush was great and Was a really great day. On the way back we stopped off at a little village where there was a swimming pool and big buffet lunch waiting for us, spot on day! Afterwards we may have got a bit tipsy...
Next morning we´d forgotton that we´d booked a tour to visit a few other sights around town. i was woken by the hostel owner saying there was a guy waiting for me outside, whoops! Dan didnt even stir from bed so i headed off, slightly late, hungover and unprepared to what turned out to be the worlds highest ski resort! 5,300m above sea level, it wasnt the season so i couldnt ski unfortunately, but i did get snowed on which was pretty amazing, considering the day before i´d been in near tropical conditions! The oxygen was so thin up there i could barely breathe, and even teh short walk to the top was out of the question, plus i had no idea where we were going so hadnt taken any warm clothes...1-0 to paying attention! After that we headed to the other side of La Paz to a place called Valle de la Luna (valley of the moon). Its a really bizaare place, just a load of sandstone formations rising out of the ground. Apparently every time it rains they change shape as bits are eroded away, leaving spires and caves everywhere. My guide said it was named after Neil Armstrong landed on the moon, and it really doesnt look very earthly.
Today we have been chilling out having booked a bus ticket to Potosi tonight. We visited the Coca museum this morning, really interesting insight into the importance of the coca leaf in Andean culture and how the western world have corrupte dit and created cocaine. The plant used to be a really important religious, ceremonial item, and has loads of health benefits when living at altitude. Of course, westerners come along and all that changes, the Spanish thought it was satanic and banned it until they realised people work better if they can chew the leaves, upon which time they decided to cash in on it and commercialise it. Then we discover cocaine and the leaf that has been used for centuries around here is back to being satanic and banned in most of the world.
Next stop is Potosi, a famous silver mining town which once matched New York or Paris in size. You can still visit the mines, and it is expected to buy 96% booze and dynamite for the miners...these are also available for the sole purpose of going into the desert and blowing things up...could be a fun few days!!!
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The last few weeks have been pretty hectic, hence no update, but in brief, we have visited lake titicaca, been mining in potosi (we bought and blew up dynamite), visited the salt flats of southern bolivia, stayed in the dryest area in the world, been to the beach and picked up a guy from luxumborg...full update to follow...
Potosi wasnt a place originally on our route, but when we heard of people buying dynamite in the shops there, all that changed! Its a big mining town in the middle of Bolivia, very dusty and to be honest, not all that pretty. It exists purely because of the huge mountain full of various metals which sits nearby, initially mining silver, they now work for tin, copper and various other bits they can find down there. In the mountain 15,000 miners are working, and worryingly, 2000 minors under 16yrs old, some as young as 10. This is even worse when the life expectancy becomes apparent - you basically have about 20yrs from when you start down there until meeting your maker following various lung diseases. In the town are some 42 processing plants to turn the ore into basic metal, so you can see, the whole town is mining. Some of the ex-miners organize tours down the mines for tourists such as ourselves, and it seemed an opportunity not to be missed. To say it was enjoyable would be wrong, but it was definately an eye opener and gave us both so much respect for the guys working down there - life is tough! Saying that, it is relatively lucrative, they earn on average more than most Bolivians per month, and by Bolivian standards, they´re families are well off, financially at least. If they get lucky they can earn 7yrs worth of money in a week with a rich vein of metal, others work just as hard but for a pittance - it really is a lottery down underground. The tour began with us all jumping in a minibus and heading towards the mountain. We were given jackets, trousers, wellies, helmets and torches. Then fully kitted up it was off to the shop to buy gifts for the miners - soft drinks, booze and dynamite. A "bomb" consisting of dynamite, fertiliser and a 3minute fuse cost a grand total of $2, so we treated ourselves to a couple of extras for later, and after trying the local tipple - 96% meths basically - it was back in the bus and off to the mines. They were everything you´d expect, nothing touristy about the situation, just a dark hole supported by timber and a set of tracks on the floor for the carts which were pushed and pulled by hand fully loaded with rock. As we entered it was immediately obvious that these guys have it tough, the condidtions detiriorated rapidly, pitch black, dusty, low ceiling meaning we all had to walk with hunchbacks, if we could stand at all, plenty of the tunnels were taken on hands and knees, sometimes commando style (not without underwear - on our bellies!). We stopped at a little museum on the way, with all the old equipment and a few explanations in spanish. The most amazing thing was the arsenic and aspestos formations on the ceiling, not something you see everyday, and by no means unique. Back into the shaft and we stumbled upon a group of miners, they´d been down there all day and it being a friday, were slightly (read completely) drunk! They were passing round a bottle of the booze i mentioed earlier, mixed not generously with fizzy sugary stuff, very warm due to the conditions and pretty potent. One of the guys used to work alongside our guide and was giving him plenty of banter for not being down there and working properly. Turns out he´d had an accident a few years earlier and hadn´t returned except as a guide. It was half in jest, half serious - in a mining town it seems you are either a miner or not, guiding isnt a respected alternative.
We soon headed down another level, crawling through tight tunnels (one guy turned back, dont blame him at all) into ever dustier conditions. You could taste it in the air and feel it on your lungs even after the short time we´d been down, and the masks we bought did very little. Past some pretty severe looking drops we shimmied down another level, all the while the conditions getting worse, before the tunnel opened up a bit. This purely served the purpose of allowing us to stand, the dust was still stiffling. After a short walk we passed the "shovellers" - by all accounts the guys with the best job in the mines. They get hods of rock dumped next to them, then fillbig baskets to be hoisted up to the open air b a mechanical whinch. This was done by hand until a few years ago, but they installed the machine to take the brunt of the work. Not that these guys have it easy. 35m underground, in dusty hot conditions, they spend 12hr shifts shovelling rock - we tried it - ouch! Due to odd numbers in our group, i shovelled two baskets worth of rock and it nearly killed me, these guys are doing 400+ each day, and this is the easy job apparently!
From here, our guide told us how to get out and left us to it, climbing through tight gaps in a line, we headed back to the top, a really strange experience, it brought home just how dodgy it is down there. Back at the top we met Andy, the guy who came up early. He told us while we´d been down he´d seen a guy being carried out by two othre miners, looking in a really bad way. Fingers crossed he wasnt the mines latest victim, but i guess we´ll never know.
Next our guide collected our bombs for us, and quickly set about turning the raw material into highly explosive packages. Once done, he lit the fuses (3mins remember) and passed them round for a set of photos! After what felt like the longest minute of my life, he and his mate ran up the hill with 5 lethal bags of death scattering them around before diving behind a mound and waiting. Meanwhile, us group of gringos stood waiting at the bottom, cameras pointed, buttocks clenched and eyes wide open. Eventually the bangs came one by one, not earth shaking, but enough to do some damage, 1,2,3,4.......isnt there another one...BANG... Oh there it is!!! Awesome fun, and only $2 a bomb, bargain!!!
Once done blowing stuff up, not much kept us in Potosi, so a bus down to Uyuni was quickly organised. Uyuni is another dusty no-mark town in the south of Bolivia. It was once a major hub in the railway system, but now seems to operate solely on tourism based around the Salr de Uyuni, the salt desert. Its the biggest, highest salt flats, covering over 4000sq miles. The tour we arranged took us from Uyuni to San Pedro de Atacama in Chile, and lasted 3days. We left just before midday on the first day, ourselves a Chilean guy called Rodrigo we met in Potosi, and an aussie, a spaniard and frenchman, piled into the back on a Toyota Landcruiser (what else!), with our driver and his wife the cook in front. First stop was the train graveyard, loads of old rusty steam trains abandoned and left in the desert to perish. Apparently one of the trains in Uyuni was robbed by Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, although i dont think we saw it.
After this we were out into the salt flats, an absolutely magical, unbelievable other worldly place. completely flat, white ground stretched away from our truck in every direction. In the distance the mountains appeared to be floating, the heat haze and the effect of water on the ground meant you couldnt see the bottom, they just tapered off into nothing, above the horizon. Plenty of pictures will follow sometime soon, but they hardly do the place justice, what with the bright blue sky against pure white, combined with the reflections coming off the surface due to the standing water (its rainy season), it was utterly stunning. We stopped at a little village where we saw how the salt was processed and bagged for sale within Bolivia (none is exported) - 200kg costs $1, and the whole village works towards the salt industry, there is nothing else apart from a couple of tiny shops for tourists. Next stop was the salt hotel, a stopping place for all the tour groups for lunch, next to a hotel made entirely of salt, the beds , tables, chairs, walls - everything is salt. We didnt stop too long, enough for a llama steak and a heap of pictures then it was off again, this time to find our beds for the night.
I should probably explain a bit about exactly why there is such a place in existance - basically 40,000yrs ago there was a giant salt water lake on the site, this dried up, left the salt and formed the salt flats, simple really!
We got to our small place for the night and took a little wander round town, played a little football with the boy of the house then dinner and bed, early start the next morning dictated this! And so it was, off straight after breakfast towards some of the other amazing sights in the area. Lakes of various colours (green, blue, red) full of flamingos, random rock formations (one looks like a tree made of stone) in the middle of the desert and just stunning views all the way. For me the most impressive has to be Lago Colorado, a massive lake which is literally bright red, due to the algae living in it. And when i say red i mean red, its really bizaare, and beautiful, pics to follow, its unbelievable.
Anyway, from there we headed onto the border with Chile, and San Pedro De Atacama. The difference between Chile and Bolivia was instantly apparent, from dirt tracks to smooth, paved roads, the financial gulf between the two neighbours is huge. This of course means the prices jumped massively too. From paying $3 a night for a room, we were staying in the cheapest place in town and paying $12! On top of that the first bus was on Sunday, with us arriving on Tuesday, no escape seemed possible! We booked on to visit the Valle De La Luna, before heading to the bus station and sorting out a trip to the beach for a few days, what with it only being 5-6hours away.
Valle De La Luna only made up the end of our tour, before that it was off to a salt canyon, literally, giant salt formations which created a canyon, we were walking through it for about 2hours, and everything we saw was salt. In some places you could hear Thermal erosion occuring. This is where the sun heats up the salt and due to it all being one massive formation, you can hear the cracks as it expands, quite a scary sound really! Valle De La Luna (Valley of the Moon) in exactly what it sounds like - a lunar landscape, more white ground and strange rock formations - we sat above it and watched an incredible sunset change the colours of the landscape before heading back to town.
Next it was off to the beach, Antofagasta to be precise, not the prettiest town, but relatively close, and with exactly what we wanted, sun, sea and sand. Someone told us there had never been any rain recorded there (the driest place in the world is just up the coast), and it certainly felt that way, the weather was glorious! A few days on the beach and a Chilean wine tasting night in our hostel then it was back to San Pedro for the long bus ride into Argentina and out of high prices.
Salta was the place we headed, the biggest city in northern Argentina, and home of white water rafting and bungee jumping. We arrived around 11pm on a sunday, but whereas in england that would mean everything was shut,we headed out for a huge steak and a few beers before bed. I should probably mention that we´ve picked up a new guy too, Tono, he´s aAustrian, but lives in Luxumburg, we met in Potosi, and he came to the beach with us.
Next day we tried to book up the rafting but they couldnt do it until two days later, which was a bit longer than i wanted to hang around, so i booked myself a ticket to get to Iguazu, while Dan and Tono decided to stay and do the rafting and bungee trip. This meant a rather messy all day drinking session with a couple of English girls we met in Potosi too, starting with an 80p bottle of wine at 1pm and carrying on til late in a similar vein! Waking up in the early afternoon yesterday, i had a little bit of time to pack and feel rough as a dog beofre my 22hr bus ride to Puerto Iguazu, home of the mighty Iguazu falls, which i am due to visit tomorrow from the Brazilian side, then Friday from the Argentinaian side. The bus ride here was evil, not the bus, that was lovely, just the combination of a hangover and nowhere to crawl up and die! Anyway, i´m here now, will probably catch up with Dan before i leave here, they werent much behind me, then onto Buenos Aires hopefully in time to cxatch the football at the weekend.
I know some of you know but for those that dont, our trip is being cut short a little...well 4months actually, money hasnt lasted as hoped, mainly because we havent skipped anything and have enjoyed our time rather than worrying about cash constantly. As such We will be back with you around 26th March, Dan is flying back from Buenos Aires, and I got a cheap deal from Sao Paulo, hence why I am picking up the pace slightly, got an extra 40 odd hours of bus time to look forward to! We are both really looking forward to getting back and catching up with you all, it´d be great to stay out here longer, but thats life, and there is always another trip...x
These blogs are like buses, none for ages then two at once! Just back from seeing the amazing Iguazu Falls from the Brazilian side, so thought i´d write a quick note before it gets blown away tomorrow by the supposedly superior Argentinian side.
The falls straddle the border of Brazil and Argentina, if you hadnt already guessed, so this morning i popped over the border to Brazil for a few hours to check it out...WOW! The scale of the place is just mind blowing, 2.7km wide or around 4 times wider than Niagara falls to give you some idea. Legend says that a God planned to marry a beautiful local girl, who instead fled with her mortal lover, and in a fit of rage, the god slashed the river into waterfalls and condemned them to fall for eternity. A more scientific version is that during great volcanic activity, two giant steps were produced, causing the main falls.
They are made up on 275 individual falls averaging around 64m but some as much as 82m high.
The tour started off with my guide (who wasnt far off the size of 4 normal people) picked me up, then the only other people on the tour, a couple of Italian ladies. Then it was off to the border to get our exit stamps and entry into Brazil, and within about 10mins we were in the National Park. After a short bus ride we began the 2hour or so walk around the falls. The path basically runs opposite the length of the falls, affording spectacular views every few minutes as a new set of falls is revealed, or a rainbow, or some of the racoon like animals that live in the area. After two hours you might expect this to get boring, but each view was so different and so much more beautiful than the previous that there wasnt a chance of it getting boring! first major view was of the two big steps each lined with loads of small and some bigger falls. The spray caused by the water meant whereever was, there was always a rainbow nearby, and circling above were flocks of giant birds scanning the area for food.
As i continued the path, doing my best to avoid the giant group of about 400people constantly on my tail, more of the smaller falls appeared, until we approached "the throat of the devil". This is the most famous part of the falls, a U-shaped area of thundering water crashing down into the centre. This is what the falls are really about, there is a walkway extending out to a point where there is water falling on 3 sides of you, and the spray soaked me through instantly! The power of the place was immense, we´ve seen plenty of falls and some amazing things on this trip, but this is way up near the top in terms of the sheer jaw dropping awe it produces. I then headed up the elevator to get a different aspect on things, and it does put things in perspective slightly when you can see over the top of the falls, just how big they are, i know i´m babbling, but its just massive!!! Huge!!! Giant!!!
This was the end of or tour, but on the way back we stopped off at a Bird Park, I wasnt really sure i fancied it, but the other on the tour did so in we went and as usual, i´m glad i went! After the bit i expected - parrots in cages - we began a kind of nature trail. Spread along this trail are several giant aviaries, containing every bird under the sun (except penguins). We saw toucans so close you could touch them, ibis, flamingoes, giant land birds, parrots of every breed, harpy eagles (strongest eagle in the world, and really rare), as well as rheas, a kind of ostrich. The highlight for me was between the toucans, which were absolutely amazingly gorgeous, exactly as you´d imagine, and the macaw aviary. This was pretty intense actually, a relatively small cage which you could walk inside, alongside about 60 giant macaws, screaming their beaks off and flying low and so close we had to duck! Seeing these giant birds swooping straight at me was incredible, i´ve seen plenty of parrots, but these guys were really close up, and so majestic i cant describe. Once we left there were some of the slightly more tame birds outside, where a park guide let us hold them, and stroke them while they tried to eat my bracelets...should have seen that coming really! But yet again this trip has thrown up a unique day, and i really cant wait to see what the falls offer from the other side. Bring it on!!!
x
Apologies once again for the delay, but as you can imagine, these are the last few weeks of our travels and we have been slightly living it up!
So first up, the Argentine side of Iguazu. To describe it i would need to go back over my entry about the brazilian side and tone it all down a bit, because i cant think of any superlatives to beat those i already used! The Argentine side, as we have been told on countless occasions, is immensely better. The guy in the tour company described it like this - The Brazilian side is like watching the movie, the Argie side is like being in the movie! And he was spot on, whereas before i had seen everything from a distance, this time we were right in the thick of it, literally above the edge of the falls, even directly under them at times. I went with an American guy we met in Salta, and first up we headed to the Devils throat, the huge section which provides the most famous view of what Iguazu is all about. The day before had been watching from the bottom of this place, now we were stood over the edge, with walls of water crashing down underneath us. It was hard to take in the scale of it, during the rainy season the water flow can reach 12750 cubic metres per second - its a monster! Without pictures this description wont tell anywhere near the full story of what the day was like, it involved following a route (unfortunately full of ancient american tourists and the standard Japanese camera crew/tour group!) which led us around the various falls, right up close to most of them, either at the top or the bottom, with some of the most amazing views i have ever seen. There is an island in the middle of all the falls, with a little boat which takes you across. From here there is a short walk up to a viewpoint right in the thick of one of the most powerful sections of the falls, the spray makes it hard to see, but after a day in the sun its a welcome reprieve from the burning heat! There is even a small roped off swimming area on the island - looking up at the falls above us and feeling the current was incredible! Next up was another boat, this one a bit more adventurous - It had two 750hp engines on the back and powered its way right under some of the falls, and deep into the spray of the one we had seen from the island. We literally couldnt open our eyes, the spray was so thick, it was like being underwater, and provided a different aaspect to the day - instead of just seeing i was now feeling the power of the falls! The boat then sped along the river, stopping to do some doughnuts on the way, before we jumped into a truck for a ´jungle tour´. This was basically a drive through thte jungle, stopping to have different types of bamboo pointed out...fun stuff I can tell you!
When i got back Dan and the other guys from Salta had turned up, which ineveitably led to a few beers by the pool, then a giant all you can eat BBQ dinner, then next day i hopped on a bus to Buenos Aires, planning a few days before heading to Brazil for a few days in Rio De Janeiro, then a bit of time in Sao Paulo. That was the plan anyway...
Arriving in BA, i headed to a hostel recommended by a few people we had met along the way, then after dumping my bags and having a shower (18hr bus rides tend to leave you a bit smelly) i headed down to the Boca Juniors stadium to try and find ticket for that afternoons football. On the way i bumped into a Brazilian couple who happened to know BA like the back of their hands, and were going my way too, so i tagged along with them and got totally confused by the spanish, english , portugese conversations we tried to have! After waiting for about 1/2 hour we eventually got to the front of the queue, my original plan to get cheap standing tickets was destroyed by the mile long queue of about 3-4000 Boca fans, so i opted for the shorter more expensive version, a whole 10 pounds for a big local derby in one of footballs meccas! La Boca is an area of the city near the docks, known as being one of the poorer regions, but on a matchday it really comes alive, the people there live for football, and Maradona is their God, literally! The houses and shops are painted bright colours to bring a bit of colour to the lives of the people, and even at 10am, the streets were buzzing with music, dancing, street vendors and people drinking in bars. I walked around like a kid at Christmas, eyes wide open and a big stupid grin on my face. I quickly bought myself a Boca shirt to blend in with the crowd a bit and just wandered. the game wasnt until 5pm, so i headed back and got a nap before the game, then back on the bus to the stadium.
i arrived about 1 1/2 hours before kick off, and already the stadium was filling and the songs were well under way. I was sat up in the 3rd tier of the stand behind the goal, so took my seat a full hour before the game started and took in some more atmosphere. There were flags everywhere, literally there was no advertising because everthing was covered in flags, and the music never stopped, not just singing, there was a full band playing throughout the game as well! eventually kick off came, and the place really began buzzing. Early on the home team went behind to an own goal, then just on half time had a man sent off to really make things bad. it also meant we ahd a proper second half to look forward to, and despite having 10 men, Boca really went for it. It took until the last ten minutes, but eventually Riquelme, who had run the show, scored a cracker and sent the crowd wild. On the terraces opposite me, i saw the crowd rush up to the fence in front of them, and began fearing the worst, it looked really dangerous, but i guess thats just the way things work over here. Game over 1-1 and it was back on the bus, still with people singing away and competeing with other buses to be loudest, leaving me with a real taste of a big occasion. football is so different here its unbelievable, and I love it!
Anyway, must go for now, i will continue asap, but right now have a bus to catch
Adios
Pete
From where I left off last, I had another 9 days in Buenos Aires. These were mainly filled with parties and hangovers if i`m honest, the place is by far the most "party" city in South America that we visited (I hear Rio is pretty special), plus with the end of the trip looming it seemed rude not to! Amongst all this though, we found time to do a fair few activities. The day after the football Dan and Tono still hadnt turned up, so I went for a walk around the parks in the Palermo district, nothing too amazing, but killed a day nicely. Once the boys turned up we quickly got to planning the rest of the week, and what a plan we came up with!
Thursday - Skydiving! For the very reasonable sum of £100 they let you jump out of an aeroplane from 2miles up while some other guy falls next to you, recording video evidence of absolute terror, which, hopefully should turn to joy by the end (as opposed to the lump of strawberry jam a few people feared!). This seemed like a really good idea, so we signed up and headed off early to the airfield. We`d recruited Tono`s cousin and friend, as well as two other random travelling girls who fancied joining us. In the car on the way, we realised that we were jumping on the 13th of the month, and worse than that, there were 13 people jumping! This converted the mild apprehension one of the girls was feeling into mortal fear - she was a tad supersticious!
Once at the airfield there was a fair bit of hanging around, owing to the fact that only two people could jump at a time due the size of the plane. We did have a frisbie to start with but Dan quickly threw that on the roof of the huge hanger, no idea how! Anyway, tono and Max went up first, Tono because there was no other way to calm him down, and Max because he was terrified and just wanted to get it done! To reach the right altitude (3000m, more or less) took about 20 minutes, we all completely lost view of the plane, and all of a sudden 4parachutes are up in the sky! When they hit the ground, the smiles were ear to ear, and we were next, so seeing them like that definately calmed my nerves, and Dan having done it before knew what to expect anyway.
The day was really hot, so i had my shirt of in the sun, when the instructor called us over the get harnessed up. He did this in Spanish, so i just wandered over, next thing i know, before i`ve had chance to put a t-shirt back on, i`m wearing a harness, losing hairs with every tighten! Our training before the jump consisted of this - "when we jump put your head here, your legs here, and when i tap you move your arms here". Reassuring stuff eh?
So up in the plane we went, the two of us, our two instructors and two camera men, all crammed into this tiny plane, very cosy! As we headed higher and higher I had a surprising sense of calm. this was quickly ended when the guy opened the door of the plane, which i was sat next to! This brought home what I was about to do, and of course the cameraman did his job and caught it all on film, i think the look was a mix of terror and bewilderment at what was happening! Next step was the hardest, climbing outside the plane, and sitting on a little ledge until we jumped. The cameraman at this point was clinging to the edge of the plane to film the moment, which just looks silly - people arent meant to be on the outside of planes! Then we went. All fear was gone (honest), and a real adrenaline rush unlike anything else rushed threw my body. We fell for around 40-45 seconds apparently, although it flew by (apologies for the pun!), felt like nothing. then the parachute opens and suddenly I was yanked up and there we are, dangling in midair, by a piece of silk! I remember talking to the guy, but couldnt tell you what about, my heart was racing, and I was on a total natural high, it was incredible. Until the guy started loosening straps "to make it more comfortable". Initially it had the opposite effect, as i dropped about 6inches, 1mile above the Earth, but once I regained my composure it was fine. He then decided to train me for the landing - "Lift your legs up a bit", as we spiralled down towards the ground. The landing came and it was quite smooth actually, although i cant say the same for Dan! Lift your legs up normally means just that, but Dan took it to mean keep them straight, so as he hit the ground, fell forwards, face first, with a guy on his bag and was dragged a short distance over the grass - smooth as ever!
The rest of the day was spent waiting for each pair to take their turn, and watching the videos of those who`d been. I`m pleased to report that everyone made it safely, and back to town we headed for a few survivors drinks!
Friday - Tenis De Aces, aka, a masters tennis tournament in Buenos Aires featuring Pat Cash, Mats Wilander, Bjorn Borg and Gullermo Vilas. Great afternoon of tennis action, especially Cash v wilander, who put on a bit of a show and had some fun, the other two guys were maybe getting on a bit so it was a bit sedate, but still great tennis! Cash won the first match v Wilander, then Vilas beat Borg, the finals were on saturday, but i couldnt find who won them. It was just amazing to see such legends close up, i never thought i`d see the great Bjorn Borg play, he was ever so slightly before my time, but now i can say i`ve done it!
Saturday - Bob Dylan live in concert at Velez Sarsfield football stadium! If it wasnt enough seeing sprting legends on Friday, we figured we might as well see a musical one on Saturday. £12 a ticket and we were there, albeit slightly late (how many gigs have you ever been to where the headline act starts bang on time at the start of the gig?), standing on the footie pitch, watching one of the greats. He may be slightly old and did play a lot of newer stuff as opposed to what he`s famous for, but it was still pretty impressive. The gig was very chilled out, which was probably for the best, considering what happened to Dan that night. He`d been to watch the rugby with a few guys (myself not included) and headed for a few afternoon beers. Somewhere along the line he got given more than just a beer, there was definately something a lot stronger involved, although i couldnt tell you what unfortunately. By the time we got to the gig, he was literally bouncing off teh walls, skipping down the road, singing, dancing, the lot, like a kid at Christmas, but slightly bigger and drunker! Once in the stadium, despite a slow song being on, he was still dancing away, which seemed a bit odd, and told me he thought his drink had been spiked. I stayed calm and let him have his buzz, while watching for any potential trouble, until he calmed down. Calmed down very, very quickly, then came close to collapsing actually, first his head started lolling about, then his knees half collapsed before i hauled him back to his feet. This happened a couple of times over thenext few minustes, so we went to get some air at the back of the stadium and sit down for a bit. This was where it got a bit weird, i went off to get a drink, came back with a coke (all they had, can you beleive that, not even water!). I gave it to Dan, who looked at me like a stranger, then realised who i was, and we had a bizzare conversation, one that we had several times actually!
D "Where are we?"
P "In teh football Stadium mate, at the Dylan gig"
D "No...no I dont beleive you, we`re not in a stadium...no...no"
P "yeah look, there are the floodlights, the stands, its a football staium"
D "hmmm, oh yeah..........(quiet for 2minutes)
P "are you going to drink that, I think you should?"
D "drink what?"
P "the coke in your hand"
D (genuine look of shock as he looks at his hand and see`s a cup there) "oh yeah, did you buy this?"
P "yeah nobody else is here"
D "yeah there was someone else here"
P "er no mate, just me, honest"
D (takes a sip) "its coke, did you buy this?
etc etc, I think you can see the kind of cycle we ended up in, very bizaare, compete and instant memory loss, and by this point I was getting a touch worried. After he`d drunk the coke we headed to the toilets so Dan could throw up and try and clear whatever was in him, out. While he was doing that I found the medical team, who really freaked him out with their bright jackets and strange accents, but everything checked out ok, so we headed back to the gig and sat down at the back. I enjoyed the rest of the gig, if slightly distractedly, while Dan carried on his comedown. When we actually left paranoia kicked in pretty big time, then it took ages to find a taxi, which really didnt help the situation, but eventually we made it back and once asleep he was fine, although remembered very little the next day and had a banging headache! Normally the sign of a good night, but not in this case!
Saturday - River Plate v Racing Club, one of the biggest football matches in Argentina. The River Plate stadium is much bigger than the Boca ground 65,700 people compared to 48,000 at Boca, and the atmosphere reflected it massively. The position of the away fans brought a lot to the atmosphere too. In the Boca stadium, they are placed above the main terrace section, so not all the fans can see each other. In the River stadium, they are opposite the hardcore of Rivers fans, so when one group starts singing, the other kicks off too! This happened at several times during the game, for one of two reasons, either play was great and exciting, or inanely boring! the game finished 0-0, despite looking lieka River win was on the cards, they were hampered by Ariel Ortega (captain and star player) getting injured in the first half. The game was still exciting, and it was a good call on our behalf to stand witht he hardcore guys this time, Not dangerous at all and much more fun!
Monday - St Patricks Day! not much more to say really, excpet 2 girls we knew from the bar we basically lived in back in Cuzco turned up in our hostel, so we relived the Cuzco life and got trashed!
After all that stuff there wasn`t much time for actually seeing the city, a visit to the Cemetary was more or less all we had time for. It may sound q strange place to go, but its an amazing place, the final resting place for Argentina`s greats. They arent just a bunch of grave stones either, each "grave" has a little family crypt, so its more like walking down a street of tiny houses.Without doubt the most famous grave there is that of Eva Peron or "Evita". For those that didnt see the movie, she was the wife of the president and First Lady of Argentina from 1946-52. The basic version of the story is that she became the most popular person in Argentina`s history and led them brilliantly, but its worth checking up on the full story on wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Eva_Duarte_de_Per%C3%B3n) - she was quite a woman!
From Buenos Aires we headed by ferry to Montevideo, Uruguay where we spent a night before heading to the beach near Punte Del Este, the popular beach resort frequented by Argentinians and Brazilians, I presume the rich ones because it was bloody expensive there!!! Not really much to report from the beach, it was nice, the sea was freezing and we topped up our tans nicely. It was a nice chilled out break after the hectic lifeof BA! We left on Friday as we were running low on time and I had about 1000 miles to cover, as teh crow flies, so probably nearer 1500! Dan had his flight from BA, which was only a short ferry back across from Montevideo so I left him there before he headed back on Sunday. My journey turned out to be a real mission. i left the hostel near the beach on Friday around 10.30-11am and arrived on Sunday at 7.30 in Sao Paulo. I make that roughly 43hours of travelling, including 2nights on buses! I felt so bad for whoever sat next to me, because I was stinking by the end, it must have been horrible! The next two days before my flight consisted mostly of sleep, and heading out in the evening, I had very little desire to see Sao Pulo, I`m sure it had plenty to offer, but I was done comlpetely with museums, churches and the like, so opted to just chill for my final hours. I had a couple of good nights out with the people from my hostel, first night was a club with a live band playing bongos, second was a rock/dance hybrid club with lights that flashed in time with the music, it looked like something from MTV, it was awesome. The strangest bit was not understanding a word of what was being said to me again, what with Brazilians being Portugese speakers - I guess I went full circle on that aspect!
Heading home was straighforward enough, despite rush hour traffic doing its best to make me late, and the free upgrade I got made it really nice! Champagne reception and a steak dinner on the plane, but unfortunately the turbulance made sleeping an impossibility. Touhing down at heathrow was really surprisignly emotional, I think it was seeing londons landmarks that really brought it home that I was back, before then I was just on the next leg of the journey.
I guess this kinda needs a summary to wrap up the way I think the trip went and how it changed me, but I really dont think i can fully express that at the mo, so I`ll leave it for now, check back in a few weeks and I`ll try and come up with something, and of course put up the links for the photos when i get that sorted! For now I will say I`m not sad to be back, and it is really great to see the few people I`ve seen so far, and cant wait to see the rest of you. The trip has been a great experience, its had ups and downs, but the former have defiantely dominated, but here is soooo much we didnt touch, I cant wait to go back one day and see some more! Anyone fancy it???
I also want to say thanks for taking an interest in this blog, I would have written it anyway, but its been great to get feedback and hear that people have enjoyed it - Thanks!
This was something I wrote when on the salt flats tour in Bolivia, while looking at a bright red lake full of flamingos. I think it kind of sums up something about me, and might explain a bit about why we chose to quit everything and disappear for so long.
My name is Pete, I am a travel addict
So I`ve travelled a fair bit now, met loads of people, seen loads of things, done loads of things,
I find myself wondering why?Obvious answer surely - meet people, see things, do things, but there must be more to it surely?
I`ve been searching for moments of happiness, amazing views or thrills do this, as do cool people,
Its never quite enough though, its like painkillers - an acute answer to a chronic question
I`m always longing gor that next hit - You see one thing and immediately look to where the next is coming from,
This leads me to conclude travel is a drug. Its addictive, takes you away from family and friends and feels great at the time!
But what are we really looking for? The really good times occur when we meet great great people who make us feel at ease,
So why not stay at home where we already have that? Why choose 5 minute friends over friends for life?
Its the addiction. If I worked for a year then got drunk for the next 12 months I`d be an alcoholic, whats the difference?
I`m here to "expand my mind and see the world in a new way". How is that different to a drug user?
In the end I only hope I am on the same road as an addict who finds redemtion. One day I may be able to say "no" and appreciate what I already have.
Until that day, I have to continue running around the world, meeting people, seeing things, doing things - Searching.
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