22/2/09
Arrived in NZ a couple of hours late from Santiago, poor Claire and Brett had been waiting as it was the middle of the night they couldn't check arrivals......It was good to see a friendly face after a few months!
Got to their place, Jay got a bit of shut eye, Clare & me stayed up & chatted & watched Desperate Housewives!!
Clare made bacon butties yum yum!!! Jay ate Baked Beans...he has missed them!!
In the afternoon we all went to watch a Reggae band at Bretts mates place...was really good, just chillin in the sun with friends & beers!
23/02/2009
Chilled at Brett and Claires for the day in Stillwater and had a BBQ with them in the evening.
24/02/2009
Picked up the van from Backpacker Transport & then went out for Mexican with Brett and Claire in the evening. Great to get the van & have our own transport!
Tuesday 7 April 2009
Santiago (Chile) 15/02/2009 to 20/02/2009
Arrived on our flight from Lima & got the shuttle to our hostel. Rubbish room so decided to leave the next day.
Wandered around at night & had a few beers & food.
The next morning we packed up & moved hostels to the Hotel Londres in Barrio Paris Londres which was really nice. We found a nice local bar on the cobbled street where we sat & chilled a lot!
We had a nice day out to Valparaiso by the sea, wandered around which was quite nice.
Went to Barrio Brazil one evening, did a few city walks & had a good look round the centre of the city.
Went to Cerro Santa Lucia & hiked up the staircase to look over the city.
I had anti altitude so had to get some diarrohea tablets from the nice chemist man which sorted me right out!
We were both really counting down the days by now to get some normality in New Zealand!
Met a nice guy at the airport on the same flight who was setting up a business in Columbia, very scary, funny stories!!!
Off to New Zealand!!! Left on Friday & arrive on Sunday morning early!
Wandered around at night & had a few beers & food.
The next morning we packed up & moved hostels to the Hotel Londres in Barrio Paris Londres which was really nice. We found a nice local bar on the cobbled street where we sat & chilled a lot!
We had a nice day out to Valparaiso by the sea, wandered around which was quite nice.
Went to Barrio Brazil one evening, did a few city walks & had a good look round the centre of the city.
Went to Cerro Santa Lucia & hiked up the staircase to look over the city.
I had anti altitude so had to get some diarrohea tablets from the nice chemist man which sorted me right out!
We were both really counting down the days by now to get some normality in New Zealand!
Met a nice guy at the airport on the same flight who was setting up a business in Columbia, very scary, funny stories!!!
Off to New Zealand!!! Left on Friday & arrive on Sunday morning early!
Lima 11/02/2009 to 15/02/2009
11/02/09
Arrived in Lima & stayed at the 'Flying Dog' Miraflores. Dumped our bags, looked out of the window out over the plaza to see the Swedish girls standing on a post shouting 'Oooopa, Oopa!) well funny!!!
12/02/09
Messed around changing flights to give us more time in N.Zealand. Managed to get a change done for 1/2 price, good blagging!
Wandered around Miraflores & explored.
Got a taxi to Barranco, wandered around there & found a nice place overlooking the sea where we had a few beers, J had Steins of lager & I had couple of Pina's! Very very expensive Ellie! Taxi back to Miraflores.
13/02/09
Went into the city with the girls for another JJ tour!
Went for a famous Pisco Sour @ Gran Hotel Bolivar, am! Then onto the football pub 'El Estadio Football Club' where all the chairs had names of famous football players on the back, Anja sat in the Freddie Ljunburg seat!!
Wandered around, then the girls shot off back & we went for Chinese Dim Sum in China town (Barrio Chino)!
Back to base
14/02/09 (Valentines Day)
Went for a walk to find the beach & went to a seafood restaurant & ordered Ceviche (the local speciality) by mistake, I thought it sounded like a soup dish because it said it came in a bowl, but it was raw mixed fish marinated in lime juice & chilli! It was actually ok but there was just too much of it & we were looking forward to a nice fish soup!!! Found out later that it's meant to be an afrodisiac!!!
We got back to the hostel & there was a note from the girls saying they would pick us up at 7:30pm to take us out for a thank you meal to thank us for lending them money, well nice! So we went for nice Greek Mezze style food & a few beers then went back to their Loki Hostel for more beers on Valentines day. Lucky JJ valentines with me & 2 Swedish girls! They bought heart shaped balloons,I had to go home early as bad tummy again but J stayed out & drank lots with the girls!
15/02/09
Left Lima & flew to Santiago - Chile
Arrived in Lima & stayed at the 'Flying Dog' Miraflores. Dumped our bags, looked out of the window out over the plaza to see the Swedish girls standing on a post shouting 'Oooopa, Oopa!) well funny!!!
12/02/09
Messed around changing flights to give us more time in N.Zealand. Managed to get a change done for 1/2 price, good blagging!
Wandered around Miraflores & explored.
Got a taxi to Barranco, wandered around there & found a nice place overlooking the sea where we had a few beers, J had Steins of lager & I had couple of Pina's! Very very expensive Ellie! Taxi back to Miraflores.
13/02/09
Went into the city with the girls for another JJ tour!
Went for a famous Pisco Sour @ Gran Hotel Bolivar, am! Then onto the football pub 'El Estadio Football Club' where all the chairs had names of famous football players on the back, Anja sat in the Freddie Ljunburg seat!!
Wandered around, then the girls shot off back & we went for Chinese Dim Sum in China town (Barrio Chino)!
Back to base
14/02/09 (Valentines Day)
Went for a walk to find the beach & went to a seafood restaurant & ordered Ceviche (the local speciality) by mistake, I thought it sounded like a soup dish because it said it came in a bowl, but it was raw mixed fish marinated in lime juice & chilli! It was actually ok but there was just too much of it & we were looking forward to a nice fish soup!!! Found out later that it's meant to be an afrodisiac!!!
We got back to the hostel & there was a note from the girls saying they would pick us up at 7:30pm to take us out for a thank you meal to thank us for lending them money, well nice! So we went for nice Greek Mezze style food & a few beers then went back to their Loki Hostel for more beers on Valentines day. Lucky JJ valentines with me & 2 Swedish girls! They bought heart shaped balloons,I had to go home early as bad tummy again but J stayed out & drank lots with the girls!
15/02/09
Left Lima & flew to Santiago - Chile
Nazca (Peru) 10/02/2009 to 11/02/2009
10/02/09
Arrived at Nazca early am & met our guide guy taking us on the trip. Got dumped in a hostal, showered, had brekkie then got picked up & taken to the airstrip to go on the a small plane (6 seater) to fly over the Nazca lines.
The plane journey was better than the lines! We thought the lines were done by a few drunken locals to entice more tourists to the area! It was quite good really but we found it a bit hard to believe.
Chinese lunch, couple of beers, dinner (Lomo Saltado & 1/2 chicken spit), bed!
Short stop but nothing more to see.
11/02/09 - left for Lima.
Arrived at Nazca early am & met our guide guy taking us on the trip. Got dumped in a hostal, showered, had brekkie then got picked up & taken to the airstrip to go on the a small plane (6 seater) to fly over the Nazca lines.
The plane journey was better than the lines! We thought the lines were done by a few drunken locals to entice more tourists to the area! It was quite good really but we found it a bit hard to believe.
Chinese lunch, couple of beers, dinner (Lomo Saltado & 1/2 chicken spit), bed!
Short stop but nothing more to see.
11/02/09 - left for Lima.
Cuzco (Per), Aguas Calientes Machu Picchu, Wayna Picchu, Cuzco 04/02/2009 to 09/02/2009
04/02/09
Arrived really late in Cuzco with the Swedes & Israel's! Bus was rubbish, no leg room, dodgy locals, kept stopping randomly. Lucky there were 6 of us really! Had to stay awake for fear of being robbed! Me & J watched Gavin & Stacy on the ipod under our jumpers so the thieving gits couldn't see & nick our ipod!
Hostel room was sh** damp & gross, think I cried again!
05/02/09
Moved to a hostel next door with the Israel couple.
Nice room at the top of the building overlooking the city.
Did a few bits am, booked our train to Aquas Calientes (M.Picchu)
Went out on a bender at the Irish bar drinking Cuble Libre's, Indian & ended up in a night club, don't remember getting home! J wouldn't remove the backpack for fear of it getting nicked & we danced to Madonna (well I think we did!)!
06/02/09
Woke up remembering we got a taxi back up the hill, walked into town, I had a severe Nic hangover. Gutted we missed MacDonalds after the club and it was only next door!
Went to the Irish bar & has Shepherds Pie & J had a burger, brilliant! Swedes found us again & laughed at my poor state!
J met a strange looking S.African guy called 'The Candyman' who tried to sell him cocaine & he even had his own business card!
Introduced the Israel's to Bread & Butter pudding in the Irish bar!
07/02/09
Got a collectivo (mini bus) (all 6 of us) to Ollantaytambo to catch the train to Aguas Calientes the nearest town to Machu Picchu.
J & the girls got a corn on the cob, massive kernals!
Train journey was lovely through countryside, waterfalls etc.....
A.Calientes was vile, loads of touts everywhere, rubbish hostels!
Bought our bus ticket for the earliest bus 5:30am to M.Picchu.
Went for a lush meal just the 2 of us at Indio Feliz, French bloke owned it, proper bread & butter!
08/02/09
Got up at 4:30am to get in the queue to get the first bus up to M.P so we could get in early to get a ticket first to climb Wayna Picchu (the big mountain in the background on all postcards of MP!). They only let 200 people up in the morning & the same in the afternoon, it was really busy as the Inca trail was closed during February. We got our ticket & headed up the mountain 1hr each way all up steps no bigger than size 2 feet, nothing to hold onto with sheer drops to fall down! All done with altitude sickness & lack of fitness! Once at the top though the view was amazing, we were literally in the clouds! Some idiots climped up in flip flops, we couldn't look at them! Coming back down was fun! Smaller steps, virtually vertical drops & we had to go down on our bums some of the way. J did really well considering he's scared of heights! We breathed a huge sigh of relief when we got back down!
We walked around the site of Machu Picchu for a while & then met up with the Israel's for a cool off drink before getting the bus back down to A.Cal.
The four of us ( lost the girls in the morning!) went up to the hot baths to cool down & relax before catching the train & collectivo back to Cuzco.
Went to Sumaq restaurant around the corner for dinner & had our first Pisco Sour (properly made with egg whites yum yum!) stayed the night in the nice hostal before meeting the girls to give them more funds!
Cuzco was a lovely town but we got fed up with the touts & nearly bought a t-shirt saying 'No Gracius!"
09/02/09
Treated ourselves to lunch at the Irish Bar again (Paddy's), Irish Stew & stuffed chicken, get in!!!
Hung around waiting for our overnight bus to Nazca.
Arrived really late in Cuzco with the Swedes & Israel's! Bus was rubbish, no leg room, dodgy locals, kept stopping randomly. Lucky there were 6 of us really! Had to stay awake for fear of being robbed! Me & J watched Gavin & Stacy on the ipod under our jumpers so the thieving gits couldn't see & nick our ipod!
Hostel room was sh** damp & gross, think I cried again!
05/02/09
Moved to a hostel next door with the Israel couple.
Nice room at the top of the building overlooking the city.
Did a few bits am, booked our train to Aquas Calientes (M.Picchu)
Went out on a bender at the Irish bar drinking Cuble Libre's, Indian & ended up in a night club, don't remember getting home! J wouldn't remove the backpack for fear of it getting nicked & we danced to Madonna (well I think we did!)!
06/02/09
Woke up remembering we got a taxi back up the hill, walked into town, I had a severe Nic hangover. Gutted we missed MacDonalds after the club and it was only next door!
Went to the Irish bar & has Shepherds Pie & J had a burger, brilliant! Swedes found us again & laughed at my poor state!
J met a strange looking S.African guy called 'The Candyman' who tried to sell him cocaine & he even had his own business card!
Introduced the Israel's to Bread & Butter pudding in the Irish bar!
07/02/09
Got a collectivo (mini bus) (all 6 of us) to Ollantaytambo to catch the train to Aguas Calientes the nearest town to Machu Picchu.
J & the girls got a corn on the cob, massive kernals!
Train journey was lovely through countryside, waterfalls etc.....
A.Calientes was vile, loads of touts everywhere, rubbish hostels!
Bought our bus ticket for the earliest bus 5:30am to M.Picchu.
Went for a lush meal just the 2 of us at Indio Feliz, French bloke owned it, proper bread & butter!
08/02/09
Got up at 4:30am to get in the queue to get the first bus up to M.P so we could get in early to get a ticket first to climb Wayna Picchu (the big mountain in the background on all postcards of MP!). They only let 200 people up in the morning & the same in the afternoon, it was really busy as the Inca trail was closed during February. We got our ticket & headed up the mountain 1hr each way all up steps no bigger than size 2 feet, nothing to hold onto with sheer drops to fall down! All done with altitude sickness & lack of fitness! Once at the top though the view was amazing, we were literally in the clouds! Some idiots climped up in flip flops, we couldn't look at them! Coming back down was fun! Smaller steps, virtually vertical drops & we had to go down on our bums some of the way. J did really well considering he's scared of heights! We breathed a huge sigh of relief when we got back down!
We walked around the site of Machu Picchu for a while & then met up with the Israel's for a cool off drink before getting the bus back down to A.Cal.
The four of us ( lost the girls in the morning!) went up to the hot baths to cool down & relax before catching the train & collectivo back to Cuzco.
Went to Sumaq restaurant around the corner for dinner & had our first Pisco Sour (properly made with egg whites yum yum!) stayed the night in the nice hostal before meeting the girls to give them more funds!
Cuzco was a lovely town but we got fed up with the touts & nearly bought a t-shirt saying 'No Gracius!"
09/02/09
Treated ourselves to lunch at the Irish Bar again (Paddy's), Irish Stew & stuffed chicken, get in!!!
Hung around waiting for our overnight bus to Nazca.
Copacabana (Bol) 01/02/2009 to 04/02/2009
01/02/09
Got the little bus here & stayed at La Cupuli which was lovely & we had a view of Lake Titicaca!
Walked around the town & saw the dancin Mama's & Papa's at the festival. Later on all the blokes were drunk & continued to drink until the early hours & the next day too!
Ate at the hostel with kylie who was there too, nice restaurant.
Swedish girls had found us 'Parents!' they needed more money!
Met a nice Israel couple Ellie & Merri.
02/02/09
Walked along the shore of the lake, read books had a lazy day. Met up with Swedish gals!
03/02/09
Went with the Swedes to Isla Del Sol (boring island trip where the boat was so slow we could have walked faster! We walked on the island up to the ruins, missed out the long trail & walked back because it was boring. Whole island was a bit hippyish, full of Argentinians (J's name for anyone slightly hippy looking!)
Had a drink, got the boat back round to another spot, equally boring then got the boat back stopping on the way to look at the fake floating bamboo village! Boring!
Ate at the hotel again.
04/02/09
Caught the bus am to Cuzco.
Got the little bus here & stayed at La Cupuli which was lovely & we had a view of Lake Titicaca!
Walked around the town & saw the dancin Mama's & Papa's at the festival. Later on all the blokes were drunk & continued to drink until the early hours & the next day too!
Ate at the hostel with kylie who was there too, nice restaurant.
Swedish girls had found us 'Parents!' they needed more money!
Met a nice Israel couple Ellie & Merri.
02/02/09
Walked along the shore of the lake, read books had a lazy day. Met up with Swedish gals!
03/02/09
Went with the Swedes to Isla Del Sol (boring island trip where the boat was so slow we could have walked faster! We walked on the island up to the ruins, missed out the long trail & walked back because it was boring. Whole island was a bit hippyish, full of Argentinians (J's name for anyone slightly hippy looking!)
Had a drink, got the boat back round to another spot, equally boring then got the boat back stopping on the way to look at the fake floating bamboo village! Boring!
Ate at the hotel again.
04/02/09
Caught the bus am to Cuzco.
La Paz 29/01/2009 to 01/02/2009
29/1/09
Arrived at 6am & found the Brew Hostel easily but no beer that early!
Dumped our bags & then went for brekkie until check in.
Great hostal with a micro brewery attached with free beer every night! Met up randomly with Mike & the 2 sisters we met in Salta for a beer!
Went for a walk around the markets, bought some Converse's & a Reebok jumper for J.
Got back to the hostal & the Swedes were there waiting for us, they were staying at the sister hostal down the road, great to see them again.
Chilled in the hostal in the evening, drunk beer (happy J!) & ate their BBQ buffet.
30/1/09
Anja lost Felicia (dirty stop out!) so she came on JJ tours around La Paz! This is just J walking around with the guide book & we follow. Walked through a park with a good view of the city, the girlies went on the slide much to the local's amusement! Went for chinese set cheap lunch (lush) 3 courses approx 2 pounds pp!
Wandered back through the nice part, south of the city centre, stopped for coffee &
dodged the water bombs from the kids! Anja had apple cake!
Met up with the girls later to go for our 1st Indian since we left home, YES!
Kylie was in there waiting for us but had to leave as had food poisoning!
The four of us had a lush curry, I had Llama Tikka Masala!
31/1/09
Went to 100% Natural cafe for a normal sandwich! Managed to find J's 1st footie match in the Irish Bar but it was Man U Vs Everton! The most boring match he's ever seen, I planned the rest of S.America for us!
Just chilled in La Paz, no death road bike ride or prison tour where they sell you cocaine at the end for us!
indian food, chinese food...
JJ tours
no prison or dangerous road
Arrived at 6am & found the Brew Hostel easily but no beer that early!
Dumped our bags & then went for brekkie until check in.
Great hostal with a micro brewery attached with free beer every night! Met up randomly with Mike & the 2 sisters we met in Salta for a beer!
Went for a walk around the markets, bought some Converse's & a Reebok jumper for J.
Got back to the hostal & the Swedes were there waiting for us, they were staying at the sister hostal down the road, great to see them again.
Chilled in the hostal in the evening, drunk beer (happy J!) & ate their BBQ buffet.
30/1/09
Anja lost Felicia (dirty stop out!) so she came on JJ tours around La Paz! This is just J walking around with the guide book & we follow. Walked through a park with a good view of the city, the girlies went on the slide much to the local's amusement! Went for chinese set cheap lunch (lush) 3 courses approx 2 pounds pp!
Wandered back through the nice part, south of the city centre, stopped for coffee &
dodged the water bombs from the kids! Anja had apple cake!
Met up with the girls later to go for our 1st Indian since we left home, YES!
Kylie was in there waiting for us but had to leave as had food poisoning!
The four of us had a lush curry, I had Llama Tikka Masala!
31/1/09
Went to 100% Natural cafe for a normal sandwich! Managed to find J's 1st footie match in the Irish Bar but it was Man U Vs Everton! The most boring match he's ever seen, I planned the rest of S.America for us!
Just chilled in La Paz, no death road bike ride or prison tour where they sell you cocaine at the end for us!
indian food, chinese food...
JJ tours
no prison or dangerous road
Potosi (Bol) 26/01/2009 to 28/01/2009
26/1/09
After 7 hours & 2 punctures we arrived in Potosi @ 5pm.
Booked into La Conceptcion, massive room en-suite & cheap!
Went to a nice restaurant & I had Llama steak (well lush, tasted like steak) & J had a traditional dish & a bottle of Bolivian red wine!
27/1/09
Went on the mine tour (silver, lead & tin) with our English speaking guide who turned out to be a bit of an arsehole! He was an ex miner who knew everybody in the mines. Before we went in the mines we were kitted out with wellies, waterproof jackets, hard hats, torches etc... Then we went shopping for presents for the miners, coca leaves, fissy drinks, gloves, cigarettes & most important the DYNAMITE!!! Yes you can just buy it in the shop!
Met up with Kylie again, she was in the other group.
Off we went into the mines, dodging the trucks full of rubble as we went, he wasn't joking when he said it wasn't touristy, it was a working mine! The miners are hoping to find a vein of silver but they havn't found any for lots of years, they work as a consortium, don't get paid much & mostly pull out tin. Life expectancy is low but the mines still attract workers as there is bugger all else for them to do to earn money. Days are 12 hours in cramped, dirty, dusty, conditions. You need to really see it to believe it. We were in for 5 mins & struggled in the cramped, dark environment. Stopped at their God statue that they all pray to where they gift her with beers, coca leaves & cigarretes to keep them safe & find the silver. We were meant to set off dynamite in the mine but we didn't get deep enough so the workers blew some up outside for us all to watch (bit scary!).
Got cleaned up & went to the pub in the L.Planet for a beer & some sanity! Fleur from Holland came too.
28/1/09
Walked about, chilled, played cards in the cafe for a few hours until our bus at 8:45pm overnight to La Paz, Bolivia's capital!
LLama
mines
After 7 hours & 2 punctures we arrived in Potosi @ 5pm.
Booked into La Conceptcion, massive room en-suite & cheap!
Went to a nice restaurant & I had Llama steak (well lush, tasted like steak) & J had a traditional dish & a bottle of Bolivian red wine!
27/1/09
Went on the mine tour (silver, lead & tin) with our English speaking guide who turned out to be a bit of an arsehole! He was an ex miner who knew everybody in the mines. Before we went in the mines we were kitted out with wellies, waterproof jackets, hard hats, torches etc... Then we went shopping for presents for the miners, coca leaves, fissy drinks, gloves, cigarettes & most important the DYNAMITE!!! Yes you can just buy it in the shop!
Met up with Kylie again, she was in the other group.
Off we went into the mines, dodging the trucks full of rubble as we went, he wasn't joking when he said it wasn't touristy, it was a working mine! The miners are hoping to find a vein of silver but they havn't found any for lots of years, they work as a consortium, don't get paid much & mostly pull out tin. Life expectancy is low but the mines still attract workers as there is bugger all else for them to do to earn money. Days are 12 hours in cramped, dirty, dusty, conditions. You need to really see it to believe it. We were in for 5 mins & struggled in the cramped, dark environment. Stopped at their God statue that they all pray to where they gift her with beers, coca leaves & cigarretes to keep them safe & find the silver. We were meant to set off dynamite in the mine but we didn't get deep enough so the workers blew some up outside for us all to watch (bit scary!).
Got cleaned up & went to the pub in the L.Planet for a beer & some sanity! Fleur from Holland came too.
28/1/09
Walked about, chilled, played cards in the cafe for a few hours until our bus at 8:45pm overnight to La Paz, Bolivia's capital!
LLama
mines
Salt Flats trip 22/01/2009 to 25/01/2009
22/1/09 - 4 days, 3 nights away.
Met at the hotel 1st thing for the start of the tour & met our guides & fellow group members! There were 2 4WD jeeps with 2 guides, Mama the cook & 8 travellers.
We got unlucky & got the 2 young Swedish girls (Felicia 20 years & Anja 19 years!), much to J's dissapointment! Our guide was called Bernado (only had 1 eye! Good as he was driving!). Went to the market to get a lead for my i pod & some more coca leaves & some smelly cheese!
I pod lead did not fit & as the girls had had their's nicked we only had 2 Bolivian CD's to listen to for 4 days!
Drove along & saw some rock formations, stopped at a small place for lunch which turned out to be Bernado's Mum's house, she gave him some dodgy looking cheese for the trip. We asked for the toilet & they pointed outside & said 'Natural', that's where it all started .
Met the rest of the group after the first breakdown of their jeep & Bernado had to fix it, change the bearing in the wheel. Good start! After many more days of Bernado fixing the jeeps Anja nicknamed him Diablo's Bitch (Devils Bitch), Diablo being the other driver but J wouldn't let her say it to his face though.
Other group were 2 French guys, Father & adopted son (the son later became Chipmonkey), and 2 Austrian girls, one definaylt called Fabienne.
Drove most of the day & arrived at our 1 st night stop in the middle of nowhere. Played basketball with the kids, died due to lack of breath at altitude. The young girls then went on to beat the other girls in the group & won a bottle of coke!
No showers, no electricity just gas lamps, nice dinner cooked by Mama. Chipmonkey left the dinner table in a hump as everyone was talking English & he only spoke French! Very early night in our room with the girls after teaching them to play Black Jack.
23/1/09
Up at 5am for 12 hours driving (with 2 cd's) to the next night stop near Lagoon Colarado!
Saw an active volcano & Pink Flamingo's loads of them.
Stopped for a swim in the hot springs pool, which was like a paddling pool! Still made up for having no shower for a few days I guess!
Arrived & played cards with the girls & drank red wine. My head was still pounding later found out it was the altitude) & J's tummy/bottom was dodgy!
24/1/09
Cried in the morning as rubbish nights sleep & my head felt like it was going to explode. Bernado gave me some tablets for the altitude bless him & they worked, result!!!
Girls named our jeep the 'Coche de fiesta' (party bus) & the other jeep 'Coche de carma' (sleepy bus). Each time we pulled up next to them we whacked the music up & wound down the windows & sung 'Ooopa, ooopah! We later found out that their CD player was broken hee hee!
Arrived at the Salt Hotel, where the whole hotel was made of salt, even the chandeliers! Had hot showers (charge 1 bol!) all except Anja (no surprise there!) then sat & played cards, ate dinner (spag bol) & more red wine & cheeky Vodka's! Went to bed in the dorm with the girls again, made shadow puppets & told ghost stories! Oooooooooh spooky! Giggled lots!
25/1/09
Up at the crack of dawn so we could watch the sunrise over the Uyuni Salt Flats.
The whole place looked like snow & ice as far as the eye could see. Wicked sunrise.
Went for a walk on & around an island to look out before coming down to breakfast out of the back of the jeep, hot chocolate & cereal, yum!
Drove out onto he salt flats & took some silly pictures as there was no perspective.
Chipmonkey was christened after his funny photo where he looked like a cheeky chipmunk, he really didn't get it!
Went to the Salt museum, boring!
Stopped for our last lunch on the way to Uyuni & gave the guys a tip for such a great trip.
Arrived in Uyuni late afternoon on their election day, voting in the new constitution. All the roads were shut but the jeeps drove in anyway & then later got the jeeps conviscated, not to be released until the next day after a hefty fine! Silly guides!
They took me to the doctor to get a certificate to say I needed to get to a hospital for my altitude as this would then get the trucks released. I had a full exam at the docs & he wrote me a prescription for some more Puncaps which Bernado paid for on behalf of the company. This still didn't work & when we left the next day they were probably still there!
Uyuni was a sh** hole no need to go there again. The naughty girls nearly got thrown out of the hostel for bringing boys back & breaking the bed from jumping on it!
Said farewell (for the time being)to the girls & left on the bus the next morning glad to get out of Uyuni!
Met at the hotel 1st thing for the start of the tour & met our guides & fellow group members! There were 2 4WD jeeps with 2 guides, Mama the cook & 8 travellers.
We got unlucky & got the 2 young Swedish girls (Felicia 20 years & Anja 19 years!), much to J's dissapointment! Our guide was called Bernado (only had 1 eye! Good as he was driving!). Went to the market to get a lead for my i pod & some more coca leaves & some smelly cheese!
I pod lead did not fit & as the girls had had their's nicked we only had 2 Bolivian CD's to listen to for 4 days!
Drove along & saw some rock formations, stopped at a small place for lunch which turned out to be Bernado's Mum's house, she gave him some dodgy looking cheese for the trip. We asked for the toilet & they pointed outside & said 'Natural', that's where it all started .
Met the rest of the group after the first breakdown of their jeep & Bernado had to fix it, change the bearing in the wheel. Good start! After many more days of Bernado fixing the jeeps Anja nicknamed him Diablo's Bitch (Devils Bitch), Diablo being the other driver but J wouldn't let her say it to his face though.
Other group were 2 French guys, Father & adopted son (the son later became Chipmonkey), and 2 Austrian girls, one definaylt called Fabienne.
Drove most of the day & arrived at our 1 st night stop in the middle of nowhere. Played basketball with the kids, died due to lack of breath at altitude. The young girls then went on to beat the other girls in the group & won a bottle of coke!
No showers, no electricity just gas lamps, nice dinner cooked by Mama. Chipmonkey left the dinner table in a hump as everyone was talking English & he only spoke French! Very early night in our room with the girls after teaching them to play Black Jack.
23/1/09
Up at 5am for 12 hours driving (with 2 cd's) to the next night stop near Lagoon Colarado!
Saw an active volcano & Pink Flamingo's loads of them.
Stopped for a swim in the hot springs pool, which was like a paddling pool! Still made up for having no shower for a few days I guess!
Arrived & played cards with the girls & drank red wine. My head was still pounding later found out it was the altitude) & J's tummy/bottom was dodgy!
24/1/09
Cried in the morning as rubbish nights sleep & my head felt like it was going to explode. Bernado gave me some tablets for the altitude bless him & they worked, result!!!
Girls named our jeep the 'Coche de fiesta' (party bus) & the other jeep 'Coche de carma' (sleepy bus). Each time we pulled up next to them we whacked the music up & wound down the windows & sung 'Ooopa, ooopah! We later found out that their CD player was broken hee hee!
Arrived at the Salt Hotel, where the whole hotel was made of salt, even the chandeliers! Had hot showers (charge 1 bol!) all except Anja (no surprise there!) then sat & played cards, ate dinner (spag bol) & more red wine & cheeky Vodka's! Went to bed in the dorm with the girls again, made shadow puppets & told ghost stories! Oooooooooh spooky! Giggled lots!
25/1/09
Up at the crack of dawn so we could watch the sunrise over the Uyuni Salt Flats.
The whole place looked like snow & ice as far as the eye could see. Wicked sunrise.
Went for a walk on & around an island to look out before coming down to breakfast out of the back of the jeep, hot chocolate & cereal, yum!
Drove out onto he salt flats & took some silly pictures as there was no perspective.
Chipmonkey was christened after his funny photo where he looked like a cheeky chipmunk, he really didn't get it!
Went to the Salt museum, boring!
Stopped for our last lunch on the way to Uyuni & gave the guys a tip for such a great trip.
Arrived in Uyuni late afternoon on their election day, voting in the new constitution. All the roads were shut but the jeeps drove in anyway & then later got the jeeps conviscated, not to be released until the next day after a hefty fine! Silly guides!
They took me to the doctor to get a certificate to say I needed to get to a hospital for my altitude as this would then get the trucks released. I had a full exam at the docs & he wrote me a prescription for some more Puncaps which Bernado paid for on behalf of the company. This still didn't work & when we left the next day they were probably still there!
Uyuni was a sh** hole no need to go there again. The naughty girls nearly got thrown out of the hostel for bringing boys back & breaking the bed from jumping on it!
Said farewell (for the time being)to the girls & left on the bus the next morning glad to get out of Uyuni!
Tupiza (Bol) 19/01/2009 to 22/01/2009
19/01/2009
Crossed the border on foot into Villazon, Bolivia (home of the bowler hatted Mama's!), no hassle just along q (no border hassles as people had said, not even a bag search)
Couldn't get the train to Tupiza & so got on the dodgy local bus with Kylie in tow!
Well funny trip, it started to rain & the whole road seemed to turn into a river bed good job we trusted the driver. Kylie was sat next to the smelliest old man ever so she moved eventually to the back but we think it was because she was scared sitting at the front!
The bus kept stopping in random places at the side of the road in the desert for the Mama's to get off & walk in their bowler hats home, which must have been miles away as no houses were visible at all!
20/1/09 - 22/1/09
Stayed in boring Tupiza, Jay got his 2nd haircut of the trip, the barber didn't speak any English but J managed to get accross, a number 4 on the sides & the back, short on top & thinned out! All back to normal.
Booked up the 3 night, 4 day Salt Flats trip to Uyuni. Kylie booked on another trip cause they said it was a newer truck, ours was cheaper & as we later found out a newer truck too!!
Loads of funny restaurants all the same selling Italian food.
Found the only outside table in Tupiza to have a nice cold outside beer, plus Kylie knew we'd always be there if she lost us!
There were no cash points so we experienced changing money in a Bolivian bank for the 1st & hopefully last time. Queued up in one line, which was wrong, then did another one only to be sent to the office like naughty children, then the manager walked out & got her lackie in to serve us. Eventually we joined the original queue with our bit of paper to get the cash. J decided to make things harder for them & asked for all small notes, much to the woman's disgust! All in all this experience took over 1 hour, not bad really. Fortunatly the bank was near to the outside beer table so we headed straight there burnt out from the mission!
Found some crappy Bolivian red wine & took that into a few restaurants with us.
Crossed the border on foot into Villazon, Bolivia (home of the bowler hatted Mama's!), no hassle just along q (no border hassles as people had said, not even a bag search)
Couldn't get the train to Tupiza & so got on the dodgy local bus with Kylie in tow!
Well funny trip, it started to rain & the whole road seemed to turn into a river bed good job we trusted the driver. Kylie was sat next to the smelliest old man ever so she moved eventually to the back but we think it was because she was scared sitting at the front!
The bus kept stopping in random places at the side of the road in the desert for the Mama's to get off & walk in their bowler hats home, which must have been miles away as no houses were visible at all!
20/1/09 - 22/1/09
Stayed in boring Tupiza, Jay got his 2nd haircut of the trip, the barber didn't speak any English but J managed to get accross, a number 4 on the sides & the back, short on top & thinned out! All back to normal.
Booked up the 3 night, 4 day Salt Flats trip to Uyuni. Kylie booked on another trip cause they said it was a newer truck, ours was cheaper & as we later found out a newer truck too!!
Loads of funny restaurants all the same selling Italian food.
Found the only outside table in Tupiza to have a nice cold outside beer, plus Kylie knew we'd always be there if she lost us!
There were no cash points so we experienced changing money in a Bolivian bank for the 1st & hopefully last time. Queued up in one line, which was wrong, then did another one only to be sent to the office like naughty children, then the manager walked out & got her lackie in to serve us. Eventually we joined the original queue with our bit of paper to get the cash. J decided to make things harder for them & asked for all small notes, much to the woman's disgust! All in all this experience took over 1 hour, not bad really. Fortunatly the bank was near to the outside beer table so we headed straight there burnt out from the mission!
Found some crappy Bolivian red wine & took that into a few restaurants with us.
La Quiaca 18/01/2009
Got the bus up here from Salta for 1 night before we crossed the border to Bolivia.
Stayed in a nice place called Hosteria Munby, shame it was raining & freezing though, so jumpers & jogging bottoms it was!
Had dinner in a local restaurant where it seemed like we were the only Westerners there as they were all staring at us!
Another early night as nothing to do!
Stayed in a nice place called Hosteria Munby, shame it was raining & freezing though, so jumpers & jogging bottoms it was!
Had dinner in a local restaurant where it seemed like we were the only Westerners there as they were all staring at us!
Another early night as nothing to do!
Salta 13/01/2009 to 18/01/2009
got another over night bus into Salta. we stayed at los cardones hostel which was good, not too far to walk into town and there was also a load of bars in Balcarce.
we met up with kylie one night and went to a restaurant (La Pena del Chaqueno) where they have the live dancing and you get to have a go... I won a bottle of wine nic was gutted, it was hilarious, lush food and loads of wine again.
The 3 of us hired a car hired a car for a couple of days and drove down to cafayate, another wine region, bit of a theme building here, done a couple of tastings and stayed over at this newly done out guest house, went out and had some basic stuff, empanades Milanesa and rouge, at a little food place, the old fella was nice and we got a picture with mama who cooked everything, was good fun.. poor kylie had the fright of her life, we had left the windows open in both our rooms and gone to sleep, Kylie woke up to find someone coming in thru the window and screamed her head off.. we think we might have heard someone running but thought it was kids... it gave us all a kick up the back side to be more careful again..
we drove back to salta via Cachi which is just boring and full of flies, we had to drive down a dirt track all day,lucky we had loaded up with emanades for the journey.. it was un real surprised they let you take hire cars on that road... the bumper fell off at some point.. and some strange bloke tried to touch our australian friend, wierdos... the end of the journey was lovely through lush scenery, purple mountans and stuff
Forgot to say when we hired the car and kylie got out her credit card we found that she had the exact same 'Sherriff' suname, hilarious was like fate..
we went to a locals place for a steak for our last night.
then got a day the next day up to la quiaca
cafeyate
won bottle of wine in the dancing
travelled about with kylie sherriff
we met up with kylie one night and went to a restaurant (La Pena del Chaqueno) where they have the live dancing and you get to have a go... I won a bottle of wine nic was gutted, it was hilarious, lush food and loads of wine again.
The 3 of us hired a car hired a car for a couple of days and drove down to cafayate, another wine region, bit of a theme building here, done a couple of tastings and stayed over at this newly done out guest house, went out and had some basic stuff, empanades Milanesa and rouge, at a little food place, the old fella was nice and we got a picture with mama who cooked everything, was good fun.. poor kylie had the fright of her life, we had left the windows open in both our rooms and gone to sleep, Kylie woke up to find someone coming in thru the window and screamed her head off.. we think we might have heard someone running but thought it was kids... it gave us all a kick up the back side to be more careful again..
we drove back to salta via Cachi which is just boring and full of flies, we had to drive down a dirt track all day,lucky we had loaded up with emanades for the journey.. it was un real surprised they let you take hire cars on that road... the bumper fell off at some point.. and some strange bloke tried to touch our australian friend, wierdos... the end of the journey was lovely through lush scenery, purple mountans and stuff
Forgot to say when we hired the car and kylie got out her credit card we found that she had the exact same 'Sherriff' suname, hilarious was like fate..
we went to a locals place for a steak for our last night.
then got a day the next day up to la quiaca
cafeyate
won bottle of wine in the dancing
travelled about with kylie sherriff
Mendoza 08/01/2009 to 12/01/2009
We got the over night bus which was a good one, got some sleep etc. Played a bit of bus bingo as well, lucky I can do numbers, Nic was struggling a bit..
Mendoza is right in the middle of Argy's wine region, the Malbecs were lush and you didn't need to pay much for them if you were drinking in, unfortunately it was quite expensive going out.
We stayed at the Winca apartments which were a little bit old, in fact very old and and a bit shabby but who cares, we had a TV for a little while and also our own kitchen, it in a pretty good place to get in and out of the city. Had a chance to do a bit of cooking with good stuff from the super market, there was a Carre four just round the corner. We got planty of wines in for the evenings as well, all good... had the old favourite recipe spag bol one nightwith a nice bottle of Norten Roble..
Overall Mendoza was a nice place to go,plenty of things to have a look at and a massive park to wander if its not too hot. There was an Irish bar, can't remember the name but thought we'd try and watch a bit of football but no joy, the damn place was never open, or never was when we went past.
Ave Villanueva had loads of bar and stuff, we never made it down there in the evenings, a bit of a hike from Winca but it was alright during the day, randomly we had lunch at an Arabic place, don't know why.
went on a brilliant wine tour for a day, we visited 3 winery's for tastings and then were taken to a traditional restaurant that you would never have found and would have hjad to drive to any way, they layed on the most amazing Picada banquet you could call it, when we sat at the table it was completely covered in little bowls of stuff, the wine just kept coming in jugs, don't know what variety or strength but it worked. They waiter came over at some point and said with a smile that after this lot there were 3 hot dishes to come, my god, I'd already been stuffing a bit so I hadn't missed out on anything, so out comes a couple of individual bowls of pasta stuff each and the some more meat and more wine... I popped out for a fag after that, found one our group out there asleep already. when I went back in the waiter was coming round with desert... god. our guide aparently does this whole thing 3 times a week, greedy bugger.. all in all we actually ate for 3 hours, lush...
we booked in for some spanish lesssons, we'd been struggling a little without it. we only had time for 4 hours 1 morning but we had a 1 on 1 with this brilliant guy who just taught us what we needed just to get by so we could book stuff over the phone if we dared try
we went on a trip up to Aconcagua, well not actually up to the top cos you have to climb it and it takes more than a day, but as far as we could by bus.. sat next to the strange couple who didn't speak all day, just sat there listening to there ipods and then ate there back packer tuna pasta in the lunch place, we kinda thouight that we should start and do stuff like that really but, hey ho
We met Kylie on this trip who we planned to meet up with again in Salta..
met a lady one day who told us the story of how she had not long returned after her husband had been trying to kill, she'd gone cos there was an assassin type after her, I couldn't help looking round after that, met her son and stuff... also she had a go at the waiter for us, we would sometimes wait ages for service so she asked him why, basically he said f*ck em their tourists, that explained alot... watch out for that all over argy and don't tip the f*ckers
cooked some nice stuff
wine tour
spanish lessons
Mendoza is right in the middle of Argy's wine region, the Malbecs were lush and you didn't need to pay much for them if you were drinking in, unfortunately it was quite expensive going out.
We stayed at the Winca apartments which were a little bit old, in fact very old and and a bit shabby but who cares, we had a TV for a little while and also our own kitchen, it in a pretty good place to get in and out of the city. Had a chance to do a bit of cooking with good stuff from the super market, there was a Carre four just round the corner. We got planty of wines in for the evenings as well, all good... had the old favourite recipe spag bol one nightwith a nice bottle of Norten Roble..
Overall Mendoza was a nice place to go,plenty of things to have a look at and a massive park to wander if its not too hot. There was an Irish bar, can't remember the name but thought we'd try and watch a bit of football but no joy, the damn place was never open, or never was when we went past.
Ave Villanueva had loads of bar and stuff, we never made it down there in the evenings, a bit of a hike from Winca but it was alright during the day, randomly we had lunch at an Arabic place, don't know why.
went on a brilliant wine tour for a day, we visited 3 winery's for tastings and then were taken to a traditional restaurant that you would never have found and would have hjad to drive to any way, they layed on the most amazing Picada banquet you could call it, when we sat at the table it was completely covered in little bowls of stuff, the wine just kept coming in jugs, don't know what variety or strength but it worked. They waiter came over at some point and said with a smile that after this lot there were 3 hot dishes to come, my god, I'd already been stuffing a bit so I hadn't missed out on anything, so out comes a couple of individual bowls of pasta stuff each and the some more meat and more wine... I popped out for a fag after that, found one our group out there asleep already. when I went back in the waiter was coming round with desert... god. our guide aparently does this whole thing 3 times a week, greedy bugger.. all in all we actually ate for 3 hours, lush...
we booked in for some spanish lesssons, we'd been struggling a little without it. we only had time for 4 hours 1 morning but we had a 1 on 1 with this brilliant guy who just taught us what we needed just to get by so we could book stuff over the phone if we dared try
we went on a trip up to Aconcagua, well not actually up to the top cos you have to climb it and it takes more than a day, but as far as we could by bus.. sat next to the strange couple who didn't speak all day, just sat there listening to there ipods and then ate there back packer tuna pasta in the lunch place, we kinda thouight that we should start and do stuff like that really but, hey ho
We met Kylie on this trip who we planned to meet up with again in Salta..
met a lady one day who told us the story of how she had not long returned after her husband had been trying to kill, she'd gone cos there was an assassin type after her, I couldn't help looking round after that, met her son and stuff... also she had a go at the waiter for us, we would sometimes wait ages for service so she asked him why, basically he said f*ck em their tourists, that explained alot... watch out for that all over argy and don't tip the f*ckers
cooked some nice stuff
wine tour
spanish lessons
Curitiba - 26/12/2008 over night then flight to Buenos Aires - to fin
stayed night at nice hotel then made tracks to the airport for our flight to BA
Curitiba via Paranagua on train, Boat to Iiha Do Mel 21/12/2008 26/12/2008 to fin
Took the picturesc train from Curitiba to Para, was lovely thru the hills but the last bit wery painful, nearly missed the last boat over to Ilha Do Mel due to stopping for a beer, I don't know beer...
Foz do Iguacu(Bra) to Puerto Iguazu (arg) - 16/12/2008 - 18/12/2008 to fin
crap nights sleep and horrible journey... arrived at Hostel at 3pm after bus, we had to go to brazil side then get a local bus over the border to get to the argentinian side, the falls are much better from this side. we had a shower and out for a couple of beers then back to the hostel they had a bar and a pool so all good.
17/12/2008
went on the bus to the falls and had a wander round, went for a dip under the fall, lovely, was a real hot sweaty day
18/12/2008
crossed back to the Brazil side to get the bus.. more to add
17/12/2008
went on the bus to the falls and had a wander round, went for a dip under the fall, lovely, was a real hot sweaty day
18/12/2008
crossed back to the Brazil side to get the bus.. more to add
Pantanals - 12/12/2008 to 15/12/2008
12/12/2008
left the hotel in Campo Grande at 0930 in a taxi up to our digs in the Pantanals, it was a nice and confortable big lodge on the river... arrived 1400
met jonathon and Adriana, we had a great few days with them, me and Jon just took the piss constantly... you live in the dust I live in a penthouse
wierd American woman playing guitar, singing and dancing around bare foot, turned out she'd been there for weeks...
went Paranha fishing in the afernoon on our boat with our guide for the few days, Gabriel, the star guide... the chefs cooked up our Paranha and we had them for dinner, bloody good food up there...
for some reason there were millions of flies about on our first night, not too nice
turned out that Gab hadn't been a tour gudie for very long he used to tajke military out into the bush, they'd have to survive without having taken food and water, told us a few stories about pananhas where a guy had his finger bitten off by the paranha and he had killed the fish, cut it open pulled the finger, put it in ice and got a helicopter to hospital for the guy and the finger... then there was a story about the ozzy's out in the bush on a survival thing with him, as they were wadin up through flooded plains the guy at the back about called out to his mate, Gab was about 30 metres from him, they guy called out and had been grabbed by an anoconda, all his mates leggedit, Gab ran back and hacked the beast with the macheti he always carries and saved the guy who got away with a few nasty scratches... Gab face was emotionless as he told his stories, hilarious, ma and Jon were in stitches
loads of camons, hundred up both sides of the river as far as you could see
13/12/2008
went trekking up at the farm, then had lunch up there and played Yatzee with the girls up there, the farmer was gabs uncle or something... went horse riding up there at 3pm, gab caught a Boa and crried it back, asked me to hold it while he got on his horse, no chance... we did all hold it later on for some pics then we put it in a tree..
the dutch guy 'tonto' kept trotting off on his horse, thought gab was gonna attack at one point... they had had jaguars thru 2 days before, unlucky us never saw any
14/12/2008
went boating down the river, got soaked in the rain again, was some Jaguar tracks where they'd had a drink, but that was it... the usual birds and camons etc
in the afternoon we went tubing in the river, well nic didn't too scared... tubing wasn't what i expected on the back of a speed boat, they took us up just opposite where we went Paranhe fishinf, got us to swim onto the rings then we floated down river on the current past the Camons, with Paranhas and possibly Anaconda in the water, we were told to keep our feet up cos thats what the Anacondas like to grab at, think the guides were winding us up but who knows... when we got taken up I went in the first boat with Gab, he had to dump me and the stuff on a beach and head back.. there were Camons around obviously so I asked him for a oar, he ignored me, as he went i said what about the Camons he turned round chuckling saying don't worry they will come and play... the git... nothing came up where i was shilling bricks for the 15 mins I was waiting
We went on a night safari when it got dark, after dinner, the wild life out there on the river is un real... all the animal eyes light up, un real amount of wild life
15/12/2008
we were leaving today, me and Jon done some Paranha fishing and got gab to take them off the hook, we like our fingers...
had an early lunch, got dropped off for a bus back to Campo Grande where we got an over nighter to Puerto Iguazzu
Jay
left the hotel in Campo Grande at 0930 in a taxi up to our digs in the Pantanals, it was a nice and confortable big lodge on the river... arrived 1400
met jonathon and Adriana, we had a great few days with them, me and Jon just took the piss constantly... you live in the dust I live in a penthouse
wierd American woman playing guitar, singing and dancing around bare foot, turned out she'd been there for weeks...
went Paranha fishing in the afernoon on our boat with our guide for the few days, Gabriel, the star guide... the chefs cooked up our Paranha and we had them for dinner, bloody good food up there...
for some reason there were millions of flies about on our first night, not too nice
turned out that Gab hadn't been a tour gudie for very long he used to tajke military out into the bush, they'd have to survive without having taken food and water, told us a few stories about pananhas where a guy had his finger bitten off by the paranha and he had killed the fish, cut it open pulled the finger, put it in ice and got a helicopter to hospital for the guy and the finger... then there was a story about the ozzy's out in the bush on a survival thing with him, as they were wadin up through flooded plains the guy at the back about called out to his mate, Gab was about 30 metres from him, they guy called out and had been grabbed by an anoconda, all his mates leggedit, Gab ran back and hacked the beast with the macheti he always carries and saved the guy who got away with a few nasty scratches... Gab face was emotionless as he told his stories, hilarious, ma and Jon were in stitches
loads of camons, hundred up both sides of the river as far as you could see
13/12/2008
went trekking up at the farm, then had lunch up there and played Yatzee with the girls up there, the farmer was gabs uncle or something... went horse riding up there at 3pm, gab caught a Boa and crried it back, asked me to hold it while he got on his horse, no chance... we did all hold it later on for some pics then we put it in a tree..
the dutch guy 'tonto' kept trotting off on his horse, thought gab was gonna attack at one point... they had had jaguars thru 2 days before, unlucky us never saw any
14/12/2008
went boating down the river, got soaked in the rain again, was some Jaguar tracks where they'd had a drink, but that was it... the usual birds and camons etc
in the afternoon we went tubing in the river, well nic didn't too scared... tubing wasn't what i expected on the back of a speed boat, they took us up just opposite where we went Paranhe fishinf, got us to swim onto the rings then we floated down river on the current past the Camons, with Paranhas and possibly Anaconda in the water, we were told to keep our feet up cos thats what the Anacondas like to grab at, think the guides were winding us up but who knows... when we got taken up I went in the first boat with Gab, he had to dump me and the stuff on a beach and head back.. there were Camons around obviously so I asked him for a oar, he ignored me, as he went i said what about the Camons he turned round chuckling saying don't worry they will come and play... the git... nothing came up where i was shilling bricks for the 15 mins I was waiting
We went on a night safari when it got dark, after dinner, the wild life out there on the river is un real... all the animal eyes light up, un real amount of wild life
15/12/2008
we were leaving today, me and Jon done some Paranha fishing and got gab to take them off the hook, we like our fingers...
had an early lunch, got dropped off for a bus back to Campo Grande where we got an over nighter to Puerto Iguazzu
Jay
Campo Grande - 11/12/2008
arrive at 9am, booked Pantanal trip..went for bar b q Rodizio, rodizio is eat as much as you like... all good, the place we went to the guy just kept bringing meat up until you told him to stop.
more rain...we had a wander round the town but there wasn't much to see, went round the market, I'm sure nic bought something.. went to Burger Guru place and got an early night.
We booked the trip up to the Pantanals and we got a night in a local hotel throw in, it wasn't too bad in the end
more rain...we had a wander round the town but there wasn't much to see, went round the market, I'm sure nic bought something.. went to Burger Guru place and got an early night.
We booked the trip up to the Pantanals and we got a night in a local hotel throw in, it wasn't too bad in the end
Sao Paulo then travel to Campo Grande - 10/12/2008
Wandered around Paulista, went for a self serve lunch, got a taxi to Barra Funda.
Got our first over night bus 14 hours, Leito/Bed
Jay
Got our first over night bus 14 hours, Leito/Bed
Jay
Sao Paulo - 09/12/2008
went into the city for a wander around the city, found china town so duly had lunch there, self serve of course.
Libiera Metro
went for a walk around Paulista and found the Rodeo Drive type area, they have loads of designer shops with valet parking, very funny - Ocre
Jay
Libiera Metro
went for a walk around Paulista and found the Rodeo Drive type area, they have loads of designer shops with valet parking, very funny - Ocre
Jay
Travelled to Sao Paulo - 08/12/2008
Got on a 6 hour bus to Sao Paulo, got the letor up to the Hostel.. had our first room without a private bathroom, but was OK and i wasn't scared.. stayed in jardin Paulista which is a relly nice little area
On the way in you drive past a couple of the Favellas, you can see how crappy they are from the motorway... some people we met went for a tour of them we really didn't get the point of that
Jay
On the way in you drive past a couple of the Favellas, you can see how crappy they are from the motorway... some people we met went for a tour of them we really didn't get the point of that
Jay
Paraty - 07/12/2008
Walked roun to the shitty beach, as named by Kohn at the hostel, he was right it was good and shitty...
had a healthy Chicken and Veg dinner, makes a change
Jay
had a healthy Chicken and Veg dinner, makes a change
Jay
Paraty - 06/12/2008
went out on a boat trip around the local island and stuff was great, saw Turtle bobbing around at one of the beaches.. had a nice fish lunch on the boat made by the mama downstairs, saw the Austrlian guys from the hostel and had a few beers with them on board
Went out with all the guys at the hostel and got pissed at the Copa Fruits trolley in the square, the lady could mix up virtually every spirip although rum and vodka, after trying loads I ended up with one that was laced with vodka and tasted like chocolate milk shake, yum yum, Nic stuck with the Copa cobana type thing, good thing about the cocktails was that the women always made more than the cup could take so you got extra in a top up cup... we got savoury crepes
Jay
Went out with all the guys at the hostel and got pissed at the Copa Fruits trolley in the square, the lady could mix up virtually every spirip although rum and vodka, after trying loads I ended up with one that was laced with vodka and tasted like chocolate milk shake, yum yum, Nic stuck with the Copa cobana type thing, good thing about the cocktails was that the women always made more than the cup could take so you got extra in a top up cup... we got savoury crepes
Jay
Paraty - 05/12/2008
walked around a bit, Got the bus to some nearby beaches, the bus journey was at full speed down winding roads, not good.. went to Trindade, Ocafe, tripache
Jay
Jay
Travelled to Paraty - 04/12/2008
got the local bus to the main bus staions, tried to board at the back but yopu can't do that so we had to load our sacs on the back of the bus walk round to the front pay the conductor so that we coul both walk through the tunstile, anal gits, whole bus full of people tutting but for a change, not at us at the anal conductor, we done it one at a time so the other could guard the sacs, trust no bastard.
Got the bus to Paraty, first bit of proper travelling I suppose, was only 4 hours tho, the struggle for us is buying the tickets without any Portuguese, it is quite funny but I really don'y have the patince cos I recon most of them speak enough english but just don't for the crack..
We stayed at a place called the Historic Centre Hostel run by a guy called John, he was dry as hell and crcked us up, refused to speak Portuguese but reconned that he could understand it when they were talking about him.
Met a few guys around the hostel, irish and Australians...
Jay
Got the bus to Paraty, first bit of proper travelling I suppose, was only 4 hours tho, the struggle for us is buying the tickets without any Portuguese, it is quite funny but I really don'y have the patince cos I recon most of them speak enough english but just don't for the crack..
We stayed at a place called the Historic Centre Hostel run by a guy called John, he was dry as hell and crcked us up, refused to speak Portuguese but reconned that he could understand it when they were talking about him.
Met a few guys around the hostel, irish and Australians...
Jay
Rio - 03/12/2008
Rainy and Cloudy... boo hoo
Went to the Maracana and went for the tour, was brilliant, there was a guy in the Brazil strip on the edge of the pitch when we got there juggling with a football, then a marble then a small ball bearing, he done the shirt off thing, we got a good video of that... we had to get back onto the metro and soaked, we had left our rain macs safely packed in our sacs at the hostel , pair of rubbish travellers that we are...
We got the metro down to Copacabana beach for a look, wasn't that impressed, probably not helped by the crap weather, went to a place called quick gelato for some bar b q chicken, at last a good place in the lonely planet recommenened...
Went back to Botafogo and went for a few cocktails... drunk again
Went to the Maracana and went for the tour, was brilliant, there was a guy in the Brazil strip on the edge of the pitch when we got there juggling with a football, then a marble then a small ball bearing, he done the shirt off thing, we got a good video of that... we had to get back onto the metro and soaked, we had left our rain macs safely packed in our sacs at the hostel , pair of rubbish travellers that we are...
We got the metro down to Copacabana beach for a look, wasn't that impressed, probably not helped by the crap weather, went to a place called quick gelato for some bar b q chicken, at last a good place in the lonely planet recommenened...
Went back to Botafogo and went for a few cocktails... drunk again
Rio - 02/12/2008
went up to see the Christo Redentor Monument up on the Hill, it was alot bigger than it looks from the ground and had some great views again.
We got the little train up from the city to Santa Theresa which was very cute. Santa theresa is a little district up in the hills with a couipl of back packer places, I tried out my Portuguese and asked for a couple of beers, I was given to Expressso coffees, neither of us have got a clue how that happend so when we'd had those I decided to go back t o the conventional pointing which got the job done. We walked back down from there to 'Gloria' and jumped on the metro back to Botofogo.
In the evening we found a little area called the Cobbled Market, we ordered Hifi's at a bar not knowing what they were, turned out to be massive measures of vodka with fresh squeezed orange, Bird loved it...
Jay
Monday 6 April 2009
Rio - 01/12/2008
Started looking about Rio, we walked up to Sugar Loaf and got the cable car up to the top, first you go up to 'Morro da Urca' and then up to the highest bit 'Pao de Acucar'. We had a great view over some of the city and took a few pics from up there.
went for a bit of lunch near the hostel and got our first bit of meat with rice and beans, little did we know that we'd be eating rice and beans would be served with almost everytrhing in Brazil
Introdued ourselves to the ways of the self serve restaurants, you pile it on weigh it and pay.. for sopme reason nics always weighs in more... bad bird!!
Jay
went for a bit of lunch near the hostel and got our first bit of meat with rice and beans, little did we know that we'd be eating rice and beans would be served with almost everytrhing in Brazil
Introdued ourselves to the ways of the self serve restaurants, you pile it on weigh it and pay.. for sopme reason nics always weighs in more... bad bird!!
Jay
South America - 30/11/2008
We arrived in Rio at about 22:00, was pretty ok after the 12 hour flight, the time difference was only 2 hours so we were ok, Bird had slept for most of the journey, except when the food came out of course and the drinks, I got stuck into the red wine as normal...
we got a taxi to our Hostel 'Alpha Hostel' in Botafogo, it wasn't all that nice with our room like a prison cell! Area was OK but a bit quiet.
Jay
we got a taxi to our Hostel 'Alpha Hostel' in Botafogo, it wasn't all that nice with our room like a prison cell! Area was OK but a bit quiet.
Jay
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