Traveling light ...

Mexico...Cuba... Belize and CUT

2007-12-18T14:15:00.000-04:00

Having been home for over 2 months, the only thing that kept my travels alive was not finishing my blog. But it has to be done as for this chapter of my life to be closed. So after over 2 months in Malta and still ironically lost in this small country, here is my humble attempt to share with you the spell Latin America has cast on me. So with 'Woman of Latin America' from Putumayo I try to transfer myself back in that magic part of the world and write what was the last couple of months of my travels.

Mexico came after Guatemala. And in Mexico unlike the way I like to travel, I had a deadline to meet a very good Maltese friend of mine, Alvin, in Mexcio city. And that' s where we ll start. The plan was to make it to Cancun by bus in 3 weeks as to catch a plane to Cuba from there. Then cross Belize into the north of Guatemala and head back to Mexico city. But with him, Alvin seemed to have gotten a curse of bad weather and hurricanes which we were constantly trying to avoid, and we did a very good job doing exactly that.

Apart from a couple of unpleasant experiences in the massive and very efficient Metro in Mexico city which caters for a staggering 22 million peopple with standard fares of 6c, yes still maltese, where we were literally dragged in and out of the carraige by the flow of the eager Mexicans, the city itself despite it's size and amout of people proved to be a pleasant experience with lovely plazas, crazy markets, bettle taxis and numerous mayan ruins. Distretto Federal, DF as it is called by the locals, is where Mexico itself was founded when an eagle was seen capturing a snake and taken as a sign that a city had to be founded. Teotijacan are impressive Mayan temples feturing the world's 3 rd largest pyramid. Truly impressive.
Another visit we made was to the Basilica de Guadlupe, a sacred place for most Mexican who worship La virgin de Guadalupe. Literally.

Oaxaca was a mix of excellent food, mescal, textiles, more temples and a couple of heavy nights on mescal washed away with Corona. It was some quality time I spent with Alvin who was still getting into travel mode. Had we not been so hung over on a visit to a market, I got very close to eating the local delicacy, fried grasshoppers served in all shapes and sizes. So i thank the mescal the night berofe for a very probably unpleasant snack.

Wow it was a long 2 months and a long time has passed and I am already struggling to remember details. I think it' s time to back already!! hehehe

Puerto Escondido, Ziploite and Mazuntye were next. Lying on the pacific side of this massive and magnificent country, the latter 2 spots proved to be proper laid back beach villages, with amazig surf, sunsets and of course hammocks. Lovely seafood became the daily lunch before crashing in a hammock and read for the rest of the afternoon.

Next stop on the way to Cancun the was the magical San Cristobal de las Casas. Beautiful Zocalos surrounded by curches and Mayan indigenous people make this a very special place even though there is a touristy feel to this spot in the highland of Chiaps region.

Some sea and sand action was urgently required afer the chilly Chiapas. And that is exactly what we got. The tacky resort town of Cancun, with it' s marvelous beaches, scarred by the massive hotels lining the stretch of Cancun, wasn' t half as bad as every backpacker had advised.

And Cancun was where we headed to Cuba. The Cuba of Fidel and El Che. The communist Cuba.

After a long time on the road, in places like Colombia and Bolivia, not many places give you the thrill and excitement that you get on boarding the 30yr old Soviet plane of Cubana for the 1 hour flight from Mexico to Havana.

Maybe it's the charm of Havana or the communism, the cigars or the beautiful women, El che or maybe Fidel, the Chevvy or Plymouth. There is simple something in Cuba that is unique and magical maybe tragic or divine that you can only get a glimpse of by visiting this unique place in the Carribean.

Our visit started in Havana up towards Vinales, down to Trinidad and back in Havana, always staying at host families.

The cigar farm which we visited by horse in Vinales, La casa de la musica , the falls, beach and the beauty of Trinidad were the highlights of Trinidad. In havana you can close your eyes and transport yourself back to the fifties and imagine a buzzing city, shiny showing off it s beauty to the Amrican sailors, corrupt businessman and even worse politicians. All before El Che and Fidel fought all this away all for Cuba and the Cubans.

Including the fact that I left Havana with a vanished passport after Aiport checks and headed for Mexico as an illegal immigrant, Cuba was a true highlight of my visits so far. One of the few places that meets and exceeds the expectations you get by having such a reutation.

A bad hangover accompanied us to Isla mujeres back in Mexico. Another lovely chillout place. Playa de mujeres and Cozumel were the last places.

The final stages was Belize before passing through the gorgeous Guatemala, visitng the spectacular Tikal and majesic Palanque before a long bus back to DF.

And that is the end of my travels in Latin America. It passed like a dream, stuck like an addiction and was the best year of my life so far.

Hasta Luego !

Guatemala

2007-10-27T10:41:00.000-04:00

And Gutemala City it is, one of the most dangerous places on this part of the world. But all that of course is far away from the very touristic Antigua, the old part of the city where the most you have to worry about is ever present and very persistent street hawkers. Still recovering from my suspected dengue encounter, I just spent 3 days lazying around this charming place, enjoying the good coffee or reading my book in the Zocalo or doing the tourist sightseeing round the hundred and one chrurches and plasas present in Antigua. On a second visit we trekked up Volcan Pacaya, a bizarre experience given the fact that the last part of the trek was basically over blazing lava!!

Rio Dulce was again chillout time. Excellent weather and just a couple more guests at the hostal meant peace of mind. Swimming, reading and eating for a couple of days. This is where i got to know about a place called Semuc Champey. Staying at El Portal, overlooking the river, we had rain the first day so i decided to stay on the hammock and plan my visit, borrowing lonely planets and trying to make it on time to meet Alvin in Mexico.

Decision which paid off cause the next day was a cloudless day, perfect weather. We headed to the national park of Semuc Champey. An hour walk and we were on the mirador,overlooking pools of turquoise blue waters forming a limestone roof over the magnificent river passing underneath. The beauty of this special place takes a while to sink in . It didn t take that long though to walk down and dive in the clear turquoise water and absorb the energy that is said to exist in this place.

Lake Atitlan, an absolutely gorgeous lake surrounded by volcanos and small villages was my base for a couple of days where all we did was gaze at the beauty of the lake and seeing it change shapes and then fade out. San Pedro the village we stayed at can be easily described as an in your face hippie hot spot, and can be quite intense at times with European ppl trying too hard to fit in. The colourful native market of Chichicastenango was a pleasant Sunday trip from San Pedro, where Mayan natives try and sell hand made textiles, masks, wooden items, hamocks, hats and a hundred other similar items basically at any price you are willing to pay.

Tikal, the world famous Mayan ruins of Tikal was the reason for my second entry into Guatemala back from Mexico through Belize, along with a hundred and one scams on border controls from officers and money exchange ppl alike, was worth every hassle we had getting there.

Five in the morning and the jungle starts to wake up with the loud scary noises from Howler monkeys who make sure everyone around knows they are awake. This obviously wakes up neighbours amongst which are the colourful Tukans who fly around irritated trying to get far from the loud screams of the monkeys. All this surrounds the Mayan ruins of Tikal, scattered amongst pristine jungle, with all their magnificence unrevieled as the earth makes one more turn around the sun. This was sunrise over this special place called Tikal. We spent all day accompanied by a pleasant guide telling us the story of the Mayan rule over these temples.

A perfect ending to my journey through Guatemala, a truly unique country. And next... Mexico

Colombia a perfect farewell to my beloved South America

2007-10-04T22:34:00.000-04:00

A land of unparalleled natural beauty and riches. The land of Gabriel Garcia Marques, Juanes and Shakira. The Carribean and Pacific, Guerilla and Paramilitary, Coffee and Cocaine, Cumbia and Salsa. The land of Pablo Escobar and of course the cocaine capital of the world.

No wonder that with all this mixed with it`s history of drugs, corruption and violence, a unique mystery and charm is carried by Colombia and it`s people, begging to be discovered.

My journey towards Colombia started from Quito in Equador, which is where the last blog ended dated end of August. No excuse this time for my slack. So back in Quito to meet some friends back from Galapagos. I arrived early morning, picked up a name of a hostel from the planet as usual and got on a cab with the most arrogant cab driver in the world who argued over leaving me at the crossroads near the address ofthe hostal in the dodgiest area of Quito. Threathing I wouldn`t pay, the dumbass reluctantly drove me to the deserted area in front of the hostal. A couple of hours into my sleep, I was rudely woken up by the morning manager trying to get another guest in the private room I paid for. Half asleep I agreed to settle it when I wake up and fell back to sleep. The new guest turned out to be a bloody faggot thief who got away with my favourite hat I got from Bolivia along with some clothes. Apart from this episode, the hostel in the morning looked as dodge as, inhabited mostly by faggots, making me an obvious target. Day after I was out of there, moved to another hostal and all was good again.

In Quito as well I met up with Julian again after a long time separated by more than the physical distance from Galapagos to the mainland. And it was great to catch up and plan in our own way some more travelling together hopefully all the way up to Cuba, on and off...hehehe

From Quito heading north after the crossing of yet another border was Pasto and Popayan, two towns I chose to break the long bus ride to Cali, the salsa capital of Colombia. Hostal Iguana, a party hostal situated in the Drag part of town was where I met Julian again, and party we did. In between a salsa festival, a couple of heavy nights and drinking at Iguana on nights off, I was glad to be on the road again after a week had gone by.

The coffee region surrounding Manizalez on the way to Medellin was an unexpected sweet surprise. The city itself is quite unremarkable, except the main square housing a magnificent cathedral, yet the surrounding Zona Caffeteria is defintely worth the stay.

Hacienda Guayabal, a coffee farm situated in a pictuesque valley in Chinchina made for a pleasant afternoon getting to know more about the world`s most famous drink. And what better way to end the day than sipping a freshly baked and ground coffee with the lovely land lady.

Medellin,where guerrila and paramilitary activity reached it`s heights, home to fake tits and the gorgeous girls who carry them around, home to the infamous Pablo Escobar and some of the world`s best cocaine, as I was told!! meant party again.

Next on the way was the Carribean coast of Colombia. Cartagena was the first town I landed, impressive not for the carribean but as an elegant port town with it`s colonial beaty, shady squares and colourful cobbled streets.

The sad part to this charming place is the innumerable prostitutes roaming around. On my last night, after waking up Julian who was ablivious to my arrival, I dragged him out for a couple of beers in the centre. The bar we ended up in was one of the many populated by young willing girls surrounded by pervert old men where the attraction is measured by dollars. Truly disgusting.

And finally for some sea and sand action on the carribean coast. Taganga, a fishing village situated next to Santa Martha became my base through Bezzina, a fellow Maltese who has been living here for almost 3 years. Great guy..Thanks angain Marco.His cabaña on top of the hill overlooking the beach, the hospitality of Andres and all at Octopus diving and the people of the village themselves made for a perfect chillout place where i stayed for a couple of days.

Diving here was just ok, big expectations for my first Carribean dives but at least got to dive with no wetsuit and wieghts.

Taganga is the gateway to the national park of Tyrona. A hidden paradise of warm Carribean waters, sun sand and palms made for a couple of nights sleeping in hammocks and doing nothing at all. A true highlight of Colombia. Excellent. Snorkelling in La Piscina was great. Lobsters, rays, colourful fish and lovely coral, all in warm clear water made for some beautiful snorkelling.

Off to do some more diving I headed to the islands of San Andres and Providencia. After about 46 luggage and body checks, and a hassle with my flight ticket which ended up in me having to buy a return flight, I was on the plane to San Andres.

Some good diving in San Andres, Providencia the small island, less inhabited meant 3 days in bed for me sweating my fever prob effects of dengue. However Providencia is your typical Carribean island, targeting tourists with cash, still some excellent beaches.

I must say I was gad to move on and get back to being a mochillero on my way to Guatemala.

South America was very good to me and in a way changed a part of me forever. Bolivia with it`s breathtaking landscapes and indigenous people, the fervour of Brasil, Tango, steak and wine in Buenos Aires, the Inca of Peru and how can I forget Galapagos. It was a unique travel through this special part of the world and through the lives of hundreds of people, all with their own story to tell.

¡ Hasta luego mi amor !

La Islas De Fuego

2007-08-23T21:25:00.000-04:00

It has been a while, too long actually, my excuse....Galapagos. I fell in love with the place, I fell in love with the people, I fell in love with the superb diving, with the Bongo and much more. I left the islands just in time to make it to Colombia without being deported from Ecuador!!

It is one of the few places while traveling, where I knew I was lucky to be in at the time I actually was there and not after leaving, which is normally the case when being on the road for a while.

Enough nostalgia. I think you get the point. Diving. Well I definitely have a favourite spot, Gordon Rocks ¿Why? An eroded crater with 3 rocks sticking out of the ocean. Forming the rest of the carter are 4 pinnacles reaching depths between 6 to 18m. A sandy bottom fills the middle of the crater to a maximum depth of 50m. Then picture this, 10 minutes into the dive, we have a good 15m visibility. I get everyone to hold on to rocks due to currents while i stay on the sandy bottom at a depth of over 35m..sshhhh. We spot a school of hammerheads which before we know it are surronding us. At the same time a dozen massive eagle rays glide by. From the other side a couple of manta rays glide over the eagles followed by a big school of cownose rays. Add to this a couple of turtles, a marbled ray and thousands of fish. Easily my best dive ever. Floreana and North Seymour are the next best sites.

On land the highlands the free spirited Galapagos turtles, massive males poor females hehehe, roam around freely and steal the spotlight. Isabella the largest island is a tranquil and perfect hideaway from the too many beers and more at the Bongo Bar. Blue footed boobies, yes birds named boobies how cool is that. Boobies that fly, blue boobies, boobies you can stare at..yes yes ..heheh Frigates, massive sea birds, pelicans, flamingoes all become a common sight on this amazing part of the world.

The bird with the blue feet is ..have a wild guess ..yes a Blue footed booby. The last couple of pictures are from the beach in Isabella. We were staying in the top suite in the last picture, amazing views of the beach and a spell that captures you straight away not to leave the terrace.

Raffa, Humberto, Elisa, La Maria...Carolina, La Paola, Gorgie, ... At the shop, Gustavo, Emilio..

So no wonder that after this being on the road again was harder than usual. Guayaquil seemed like a shit hole, Cuenca the colonial city of Ecuador made me long for the ocean. Puerto Lopez was a breath of fresh air. I got there in the middle of Whale season. So I shopped around for a trip to see the humpbacks, all promising to spot whales and not only, to see them breach, all showing pictures and quotes from satisfied gringoes as proof. Suspiciously I booked one and the day after I was on the way to spot the whales. We didn t see one whale, we spotted a group of over 20 graceful humpbacks, jumping out of the water like crazy, I mean seriosly it was a spectacle like I have never seen before. My little faithful Ixus again with the proof.

Last pic is fragatas going crazy as fish is being brought to land from the trawlers in Puerto Cayo, Puerto Cayo also being the place where I saw the graoup of whales compared to 3 humpbacks in Puerto Lopez, a useful tip for anyone heading this way.

I am now in Quito, a pleasant city meeting up with some friends,..but that and more is for another blog.

Galapagos Islands

2007-07-05T22:35:00.001-04:00

Diving face to face with sea lions. Gliding next to manta rays, eagle rays, golden cow rays, stingrays Swimming with bull, blacktip, whitetip, galapagos, silky and the star of the show the scalloped hammerhead shark. Turtles, puffers, scorpion fish, scools of barracudas and thouasands of tropical fish. And that is just the underwater side to the Galapagos. The side I love and the reason why I have been working here for over a month now.

I have been employed as an instructor at Galapagos Sub Aqua on a voluntary basis, meaning they cover my expenses for the hard work I have been doing over the past month. Diving...hehehe
Fernando the boss has been very kind in my behalf and I am grateful for that, he might be reading this u see !!!..hehehe But seriously I have been very lucky to dive almost everyday and it has been great.

I got myself upgraded from the 5 bed dorm at Los Amigos, my home for the first week, to the very shabby Hotel Gloria, where fresh water or better brackish water is occasional, unlike the screams from the charming family of 6 living in the next door room. But who cares. I pay $4 a day. The beach below is Tortuga Bay, a half an hour walk away from the main port, one of the few excursions on land i did so far but as you can see magical.

The main diving sites we go to are Gordon Rocks known for hammerheads, Mosquera, North Seymour and Daphnie, islands on the North side of Santa Cruz where we have seen bull sharks and manta rays, Floreana and Santa Fe on the southern side of Santa Cruz are a jumble or colours especially Devil`s Crown in Floreana. This is where I have been spending most of my time the past few weeks. And not to forget Bongo, the most famous bar, of 2, on Charles Darwin avenue, where we head to unwind after a hard day`s work.

Diving here is like nothing I dived before. First of all it is frickin freezing right now, water is a chilling 18 degrees with thermoclines down to 15. December and January are meant to be warmer waters, but in return for the cold, more life can be found right now including various types of whales and the biggest fish of all, the Whale Shark, which I promised myself to see before leaving the islands. Sea lions, turtles, sting rays and reef sharks became ordinary here and only hammerheads, eagle rays or mantas get me all excited again.

Here`s some of my favourite pics my little Ixus took in the last couple of weeks.

Diving the Galapagos

2007-06-12T17:28:00.000-04:00

40 minutes into the dive and time for our scheduled safety stop of 3minutes at 5 metres. A couple of minutes go by and a school of thousands of jacks reduces the already poor visibility to not more than a couple of metres. A couple of seals who had followed us all along the dive chase the jacks around forming bubbles around them where the jacks tried to escape. A couple of turtles swim underneath us so I guide the remaining 3 divers, an American and 2 Ozzies close by. While going back to about 50 feet a couple of hammerheads appear out of the blue so close yet still invisible to the other divers. The hammers keep coming back a couple times more until they have danced in front of all of us as if to make sure we all know they are there. So with the 2 Ozzies already below 50 bar I signal to everyone to go back to the safe 5m and continue our safety stop. As soon as we hit 30 feet a shadow glides underneath us seeming like a Manta so all excited I signal and bolt again dow to reach the ray. It turned out to be a massive spotted Eagle ray who was gliding below us followed by another dozen rays to form a carpet underneath us, surrounding us were still the hammers and the turtles in the distance and the jacks on top of us. Guessing that the Ozzies will soon run out of air I finally and reluctantly looking at my 1000psi remaining give thumbs up and finally surface after the best safety stop I ever had by far.

That was what today`s dive was like at Gordon Rocks, Galapagos no pictures yet so you will have to use your imagination.

Diving in the Galapagos is very unreliable and depends heavily on currents and on your luck . Diving is quite cold and visibility of 15 m is considered great. Having siad that on an average dive your are bound to see turtles, reef sharks, sea lions and heaps of fish. If you are lucky you get to see hammerheads, manta rays, eagle rays, and if you are really really luck the whale shark will show up. unless you have a spare $ 3000 and sail to Darwin and Wolf, a couple of island 18 hrs sail from the main islands and whale sharks are almost guaranteed.

After a week of diving everyday I got used to the cold water with frequent thermoclines down to 15 degrees and the strong currents and got to see schools of more than 50 hammerheads, galapagos sharks, eagle rays and all the other stuff.

I will blog again with pictures later on and tell you how working on the Galapagos is going !!! hehehe

Peru, the Cordillera Blanca and Vallunaraju

2007-05-29T16:49:00.000-04:00

I ran out of words to describe the beauty sorrounding me. I have been traveling for almost 5 months in South America and every place keeps adding to the magic that surrounds this unique part of the world. And the Cordillera Blanca is no less.

9°32′S, 77°32′W , hugging the Cordillera Blanca at 3052m lies the town of Huaraz. A heaven for outdoor activities where you can mountain climb, trek, rock climb. The only problem is that there isn`t much air available so everything seems 10 times harder, yet still worth it.

In Huaraz my first visit was laguna 69. It takes 6 hrs from Huaraz, 3 of which are an uphill trek, but once you get to the laguna, you forget your sore feet. The magic surrounding this place is truly amazing, breathtaking not just due to the beauty but also the trek and thin air.

With the intention of doing the Santa Cruz trek with Kim, I decided that my next activity will be a mountain climb. So I went to Andean Kingdon, where Andreas told me he had a group with 2 mexican chicks climbing mount Vallunaraju today. So we organised eveything and before i knew it I was off.

Base camp prooved to be a hard 2 hrs almost 90 degree rock climb. Getting ther I left my backpack and headed to look for Michel, our guide, and the 2 mexican chicks. A couple of glaciers later, the sun has set and ther is no sign of the base camp or my team. I imagine what it would be like to sleep at 4000m, no sleeping bag or camp and start to panic. My whistling skills save my ass and not long after I find Michel in front of me. I hugged him like a baby...hehehe After dinner, a couple of cigarrettes to chill out, I manage to appreciate the starry night and sleep not for long since at 1 in the morning we had to start walking to the summit at a staggering 5686m. Half way, Ana, one of the girls gives up. Michel suggests we all head slowly down but I couldn`t just go back. No way. So I take all responsabilities and head to the summit ...alone. A couple of hours later I had made it. After a couple of minutes to regain my breath, seriously no air at all I am not kidding, I realised I had made it ... Malta 1 - Mexico 0 hehehe..for better pics of Vallunaraju check out http://www.summitpost.org/mountain/rock/150639/vallunaraju.html

Back in Huaraz, a day to chill and catch up with Kim, and a day later we were off ice-climbing the glacier Pastourouri. Hard work, much harder than it looks but good fun. Now keen on starting rock climbing, at sea level though.

And once again I say my goodbyes and head North. Trujillo and it`s beach Huanchaco, famous for the reed fishing boats which are said to have been the first surfer dudes to catch waves with their catch back to shore. And below is one of my favourite pics so far...

Next was Cajamarca in the Northern highlands which is a charming town resembling Cusco but smaller and Israeli free..hehehe ( those travelling will understand)

And here I am writing this in Cajamarca after a pleasant bath at the Inca baths where Atahualpa himself is said to have been camped before his fateful encounter with Pizarro.

Next spot is Mancara, a surfing beach where I`ll work on my poor surfing skills and chill after all this stress called travelling...hehehe

Machu Picchu

2007-05-24T11:09:00.000-04:00

Peru, the land of Pisco, the Cordillera Blanca, Amazon but mostly the Inca and the city of the great Inca empire, Machu Picchu.

First stop for me after Lake Titikaka was Cusco, a 12 hours bus ride away. Cusco turned out to be a revelation for me. I didn`t expect anything of it. And that I figured is the best approach to a new place. Yet here it was with cobble-stoned colonial streets, it`s gorgeous Plaza del Armas, museums and churches. Even more fun are the countless travel agancies, bars, restaurants and clubs in this fairlysmall town. Hence walking down the streets of Cusco you are guaranteed to be stalked by a multitude of vendors.

This one time I had just wokeup and as usual we headed to get some breakfast with Liv and Jess, an Australian couple I met on the bus. We were harassed by various guys but this one guy cracked me up. We had just woke up. Not looking good after a night out. It`s like 9 in the morning, Cusco is crowded with people. So this one guy goes up to me and offers breakfast. A couple of seconds later, after having declined his offer he goes on ...sniff sniff...hehehe. Seriously I do look dodgy and am approachd often, but at 9 in the morning after his first offer was eggs and bacon...come on.. i think he deserved a medal for that...hehehe.

First night turned out to be an unplanned really late , really wild night. Couple of days recovering and discovering Cusco and the sacret valley. We visited several Inca ruins with Sacsayhuaman stealing the spotlight. Just 2 km away from Cusco, the 20% left of the ruin isquite amazing with stones weighing over 300tons and it`s zig zag structure it is quite magnificent. A bonus was a baby condor we saw on our second visit.Then came the day for our Machu Picchu adventure.

Being abaondoned by the Australian couple at the last minute, and having abandoned the Inca trail due to it`s popularity and price( around $400 ), I headed alone to Agua Calientes. The cheapest way to get to MP turned out to be a 2 day trek through the sacret valley, the small villages of Santa Maria and Santa Teresa. On the first day I visited the Inca ruins of Pisac, stopped in Urubamba and then the ruins of Ollantaytambo from where I got a night bus to Santa Maria where I ended sleeping on the corridor due to overbooking..not very good. But finally I got to Santa Teresa , had breakfast and headed to the natural springs in the village. And what a relief. Looking more like a spa, yet all natural hot water, alone for a good 2 hours and having payed 50c for the entrance, this was the best way to unwind from my ordeal so far. Unfortunately I had to leave the springs to get a last 1hr combi to Hydroelectrica from where I then trekked 3 hrs tofinally get to Aqua Calientes, the gateway to MP.

The Inca empire started round about the 12th century but only towards the 15th century did the 9th Inca Pachacutec give the empire it`s first bloody taste of conquest. The height of this mighty empire only lasted round 100 years ended by the the civil war between the 2 sons ofthe 12th Inca and accelerated by the Spanish conquest who found this war handy in conquering the Incas.

An early night to get in a good rest to enjoy the next day at MP. By 6am I was at Machu Picchu. Honestly I was a bit let down by all the hype that surrounds the Inca civilisation and the ruins we can visited so far, keeping in mind that at the same time Michaelangelo had finished painting the ceiling of the Sistine chapel, nontheless all these thought faded away at the sight of the lost city of the Inca, Machu Picchu. Situated atop of a summit guarded by the cumbre of Huayna Picchu, the mystery surrounding this magical place is truly captivating.

At Machu Picchu I met Kim, a sweet Swiss/ Dutch 26 yr old girl with whom I spent the whole day going round the ruins. We also trekked Huayan Picchu rewarded by magnificent views from the summit. Another eary night because the next day for me meant 8 hours of trekking back to km 82 on the rail tracks to get a bus back to Cusco. It`s not the 30km walk but the fact that it was on the tracks making it 10 times harder.

I got to km 82, the beginning of the Inca trail at noon, thus walking 6 hrs yet on the way i crossed the Inca trail a couple of times and rewarded by some lovely sights.Needless to say when i got back to Cusco i was exhausted and slept a good 13hrs at the charming Hostal Torcasa. But once again I had survived, so it`s all good.

From Cusco I headed to Lima where I only slept a night in Miraflores at a lovely place called Casa del Machilleros. Lima is another big city and I felt lost and confused after having been in Bolivia and Cusco before. So I headed straight to Huaraz, the gateway to the Cordillera Blanca.

Asta Luego mi Amor ...

2007-05-19T13:43:00.000-04:00

Just 3 1/2 hrs away from La Paz lies the small enchanting town of Copacabana. The trip even though short is quite spectacular on itself. Beautiful snow capped mountains, roads at the cliffedge and the first sights of Lake Titikaka.

The cathedral dominates this town which is in turn built around this cathedral. When i got to Copa it happened to be the start of a festival celbrating some a catholic feast in a very folkloric way. In the first day I was all excited snapping away, but they went on for 3 whole days and 3 whole night with activities, mainly dancing down the main street and round the square in bright fancy costumes and getting drunk in the process. So You would start the day seeing everyone composed and all dressed up but by the end of the day people would be crawling back to their bed, quite funny given the nature of the Bolivains ..also it is the most flesh I saw in Bolivia and there were also a couple of good looking Bolivian girls I must admit!!

On one day before I headed to Lake Titikaka I walked up the Calvario, a good 300 metres higher than the town of Copacabana, and believe me it is much more hard work at 3800m above sea level. Amazing scenery once at the top, also rewarded by a nice glass of bolivian red wine which a couple i had met were nice enough to offer.

A couple more pictures of Isla del Sol. This is how I started the story of my visit in Bolivia and this is where it ends. ¡Ohala que puedes despfutar, suerte y asta luego!

La Pa La Pa La Pa La Pazzzzz....

2007-05-19T00:06:00.000-04:00

That is what you hear trying to catch a bus to La Paz from say Copa Copa Copacabana. I do have to explain. Here in this part of the world you can buy everything on the street. From the most obvious things to the unthinkable from dried llama fetuses, ingredients for witches potions to medicine claiming to solve your bladder problems.

And those selling make it a point to shake off their competition by constantly and as loud as possible shouting out what they are selling, at times explaining what their product does even if it helps urinataion problems. And with this keep in mind that La paz is a market place, with markets everywhere and all the time.

Getting around this city built in a valley at 3600m is done using small and at times not so small vans called combis. Besides the driver each single bloody combi has a guy who`s solo job is to shout out the location and price of his destination . And they sing out names of their destinations adding to the chaos of vendors.

So in all I spent a bit over a week in La Paz. A market city, whose setting, shoeshine boys, thin polluted air and people themselves makes this city truly unique.

I happened to be here for the 1st of May celebrations where in plaza Murillo a couple of blocks away from my hostel, the Evo Morales, the Bolivian socialist president, gave his speach amongst the parades by the faithful followers dressed in thier traditional costumes, a perfect opportunity to people watch and photograph.

An hour south from the city is Valle Della Luna, a valley with weird rock formations and splendid views, whick makes a perfect escape from the bustling city life.

Also worth talking about was the El Alto market. If you think you saw it all head over for the market held on Thurdays and Sundays where people from all over the city to seel or buy all sorts of things from food and clothes to spare parts and live stock amongst fortune tellers ......and The view from El Alto alone is worth the trip. Illamani with it`s 3 snow capped peaks steals the spotlight.

And for those up for a wild night head off to Vivienne`s, a dodgy illegal bar whom I got to know of way after I had already left La Paz so u can let me know how it goes ...if you make it out !!!

No Comment ...

2007-05-18T23:24:00.000-04:00

That`s what I tried to do on the previous blog. The pictures do speak for themselves. But i do have to say soemthing bout the Salar. Absolutely mind blowing scenery so diverse and unique it was one of the best experiences on this trip so far. As those of you who are following my trip, who by the way could spend some energy and email back every once in a blue moon, I had ended my jungle trip with Stefan and our guide who I later remembered his name was Sandro. So after that Stefan and myself headed to La Paz, the unofficial capital of Bolivia, and crashed at Berit`s , Stefan`s girlfriend, apartement for a couple of days before heading out to Uynuni.

We finally did get to Uynui by a nightmare bus ride. In brief the first day was a taste of the biggest Salar in the world, visiting a couple of salt hotels, Isla del Pescatores spotted with massive cactus leaving time for us to be creative in our pictures thanks to the 2D effect you get on the salt flats. Then in the following 3 days as you can see in the pics the scenery varies from the dazzling white of the flats to multicououred lagoons to desert while enountering massive rock formations inexplicable cropping out of nowhere passing gysers and my favourite... natural thermal springs. And not just any thermal springs. Thermal springs at 4600m above sea level with outside temperature of -8 celcius...and we jumped in at 7 in the morning , sun still rising!! The rest You can see from the pics or else go and see for yourselves, I will promsie you won`t regret it...

Y esto amigos es el Salar De Uyuni

2007-05-16T22:17:00.000-04:00

2007-05-16T21:58:00.000-04:00

Madidi National Park

2007-05-16T12:16:00.000-04:00

Madidi National Park with it`s neighbour Manu Biosphere reserve in Peru is one of the world´s biggest protected areas in the world.

The Andean region of the Park is split up by a multitude of rivers that are born in the crests of the mountain range and flow through the area in a general west to east direction. The Madidi and Tuichi rivers, affluent from the Beni, are the most abundant and the main reference points when talking about the park. There are two indigenous communities that live among the park's surroundings: the "Tacana", originating from the north and living mostly in the mountain forest regions of Ixiamas and Tumupasa and at the foothills of the Tutumo mountainous region, and the "Quechua" people, widely spread throughout the Amazon Basin and that live along the shores of the Tuichi river and close to Apolo. Some "Araona" communities, originating from the Pando and Beni region like the Tacana, live in the lowland rainforests, in the heart of the Park, along the borders of Madidi, and total approximately 1700 inhabitants.

The flora and vegetation of the region is, for the most part, closely related with its varying altitudes and rugged geography. Some that are mentioned, among others, are the following types of habitats: permanent snow, Puna, cloudy forests, dry tropical forests, tropical Amazon rainforests, and savannahs or grasslands. It is estimated that 11% of all the birds in the world, a total of 1000 species, come together in these spots. Also common in this zone is a sizeable amount of mammals, rare or difficult to see in other mountainous or Amazon areas, such as the jaguar (Felis pardalis), Spectacled bear (Tremarctos ornatus), the tapir or danta (Tapirus terrestris), or other species of primates.

And with that little background on this part of the Amazon begins our adventure in the Amazon. We wake up bright and early ready to head for our adventure. And after an unsteady start we find ourselves heading on the Beni river up to Park Madidi. Not literally because the plan was to spend the first day and night at a local community, San Miguel Del Bala, situated just outside the park, only an hour upriver by a small boat. Stefan did all his farewells, given he had been doing 3 weeks of field work for his studies at this community, while i head for a couple of hours trek to a canyon nearby the community. Beautiful walk with a surreal ending when we got to the canyon, which seemed to be taken off a postcard.

We rush back, cause that day was football night, where men, women and children all pack the full size ground for a game of soccer. And what a spectacle when we got there. We were called in on the field even though there was no such thing as lack of players. In between trying to avoid running over kids, searching for my team mates and running after the ball i have to say this was the most entertaing football match i ever played.

So after an overload of excersise we had dinner at one of the families of the 40 living in this eco community and headed for a goodnight sleep, not before an encounter with a massive tarantula at the porch of our guide`s house while discussing the next 3 days.

Our guide, who yes did have a name but which i forgot, did seem dazed and confused that night and it didn`t get much better next morning. After assisting to the beginning of a schoolday at San Miguel, we headed to our destination. Apolo on the Tuichi river, a good 3 hours upriver. Upon arriving we couldn`t help but stare at the beauty of the place we happened to encounter. A Sand bank backed by primary rainforest underneath the rugged mountains. Superb.

Not so superb was our first experience of our trip. We had lunch, or more likely tried to on a camp used by Simon I takled to earlier about. Given it was a used campsite it was infested by mosquitoes and worse ants. So we gobbled lunch and headed into the Amazon, our priority wsa to find a campsite by now cause was getting late into the afternoon. We did so after a hard couple hours trek into the forest where our guide made the way and we followed carrying a good 20kg of stuff in our backpacks. We finally made it to this gorgeous spot where we set up our hammocks. Dinner consisted of rice and tuna with fried potatoes as side, served in palm leaves. Yummieee....

After dinner we participated in the Coca ceremony led by our guide where we obviously followed. He started by offering Pachamama, mother earth some coca and then followed by chewing some coca leaves. After we were all chewing away he got some local cigarettes and rolled them in banana leaves and we all smoked away. I don t know if it was the effect of the coca and tobacco or the day`s events but I had this sense of euphoria while lying on my hammock before I got to sleep.

You can feel nature all around you in this part of the world. We were surrounded by all sorts of sounds from birds, monkeys and other animals. All of a sudden we hear a strange sound. We obviously ask what it was and he replies calmy that it was a jaguar...hehehe He tells us that is also not more that half a kilometer away but continues to reassure us that underneath our mosquito nets we were safe due to the fact that she only attacks when she has the neck in clear vision!!! So armed with our mosquito nets we went to sleep.

Next morning as a proof to his predictions we were shown the jaguar`s trail which turned out to have come much closer to our camp than bloody 500m, accompanied also by a puma...hehehe I am writing this story so it was all good.

Third day was similar with trekking in the junle, this time crossing a couple of rivers with very muddy banks and very poisonous stingrays we had to check for armed with our sticks..hehehe Trekking in unwalked primary forest is not as easy as it sounds. While paving the way from branches, climbing steep hills clinging only to small trees and always looking out for insects or thorns on trees, we got the feel that we were making little way into this vast area, yet we still got to see so much.

Again we set camp close to a river, had our coca ceremony and this time headed for a night trek to try and spot some tapirs whose prints were all over the mud. I was pretty sick so i headed to my hammock to sllep early. Stefan did some across a wild cat but no tapirs.

Last day after a night of close encounter with mosquitoes, we headed off fishing . A good catch, enough for lunch for all of us and our boat captain. We stuffed the catfish in bamboo sticks sealed off with banana leaves, put straight on the fire and waited for merely ten minutes. Delicious lunch, a perfect ending to our 4 day trip in the Amazon.

Bolivia

2007-05-09T16:35:00.000-04:00

At a breathtaking 4000m above sea level surrounded by Lake Titikaka lies Isla Del Sol, where according to Inca beliefs the sun and the moon were created. A sacret place for Tiwanaka and Inca beliefs, of which ruins can still be found scattered aloing the island. Words can do little justice to the beauty and serenity one experiences here on the island.

And yet here I am, ending my stay in Bolivia, sad because Bolivia has been good to me, still having to move on consoled by the fact that Peru is next on my way.

Bolivia a land of unparalleled natural beauty, breathtaking, literally due to the thin air you better get used to quickly. The land of coca, still legal and obviously cocaine, the land of uniforms & costumes yet manifestations and rebellions, a land so rich in minerals and resources yet full of corruption and poverty. This is Bolivia.

Thankfully it is not a tourist hotspot like it`s neighbour Peru and what a relief it was to experience after Brasil, to experience the Latin American energy which surrounds you in this amazing country.

My visit to Bolivia started with a long, muddy and rough 32hr bus ride from Guayaramerin to Rurrenebaque. Me being the only gringo (foreigner) on the bus, outnumbered also by chicken and monkeys travelling on the same bus, soon became known as the Italiano and centre of attraction in a long conversation initally about differences in our countries changing quickly on how to smuggle their gold and oro blanco into Italy. The craters and mud on the roads, unasphalted needless to say, meant that we got stuck a dozen of times saved most of the times by us getting our bare feet in the mud and pushing, which was amusing at first but quickly got boring by the third or fourth time pushing. A couple of times we had to rely on the benevolence of trucks passing by to pull us out.

This one time it was around 10pm , pitch dark and for the 50th time we got bloody stuck in a crater full of mud. So after hassling to open the door we struggled to get out. Pusing revealed to be useless. After half an hour of useless attempts the driver decide we were going to sleep the night. I was furious. There was no way i could sleep in the muddy and stinking bus at a 45 degree angle in a swamp full of bloody mosquitos. Luckily after half an hour of smoking outside, which helped in keeping mosquitos away, a group of trucks came to our rescue, by chance of course.
It took 2 trucks to pull us out and we were off again.

What a relief it was to get into a hot shower in Rurre. I spent my first day recovering from my ordeal of getting here and lazing around this lovelt riverside village. This is when i came upon a sign advertising tours to experience Ayahuasca, a natural potion made from roots found only in the Peruvian Amazon which gives you a natural trip and is said to be a lifechanging experience. Quite irresponsable to find it so easily accesible, advertised like it was the next Jungle tour when it`s supposed to be a deeply spiritual thing.

I pointed that out when I saw this English guy, Simon taking a picture of it. I found myself chatting to Simon who told me all about his alternative jungle trip in Madidi park. So I went out to check it out at San Miguel Del Balla, a local community in the region which has been doing Eco tourism for a couple of years. This is where i met Stefan, a great exrasta swiss guy living in Oslo, who happened to be doing some feild work on the community. By chance we both had booked the same pampas tour and decided to do the jungle tour straight after that.

Next day, Stefan myself and 7 other gringos headed to the Pampas trip with Anaconda. A 3 day trip in the Bolivian grasslands, promising to see alligators, monkeys, birds, pink dolphings and much more wildlife.

We did manage to see lots of wildlife, various types of monkeys, alligators, birds and swim an arm´s reach away from wild dolphins. We were lucky with our group and ended up having a very pleasant 3 days in the beautiful Pampas.

What a relief it was to get into a hot shower in Rurre...once again. Stefan and myself though had no time to relax because we had to do all the shopping and packing for our 4 day Amazon adventure...but that once again is a story for another time to tell.

Get me out of here ...

2007-05-01T18:51:00.000-04:00

So we get to Manaus which was the final destination in Brasil and supposed to be the highlight of our trip in the North of Brasil with the jungle trip into the Amazon. To cut a long story short and also to go and get some dinner cause i m getting quite hungry as a matter of fact, Manaus ended up being my biggest let down in the whole trip so far.

We got there on the eve of Good Friday so we had to wait until Saturday to look for trips. By Sunday we were being stalked around by wannabe guides to buy their amazing tours. Same night we decided to chill and have a beer in front of Manaus theater. And that is where we met this guy who also claimed to be a guide. He seemed quite nice, took us to his office and after some bargaining we got us a deal for the next morning. Julian took fancy in this gifted Brasilian chick who happened to be in the bar and basically she decided to tag along.

Things started going really wrong when first the bastard didn´t show up. We managed to not lose the deposit we had paid by calling the agency who quickly arranged for us another tour.

The tour turned out to be a joke. Disorganised, all staged up, treks which seemed like a walk in the park with idiots for guides, who had no respect for nature unecessarily harvesting our way through the park and scarring trees just to demonstarte the tree´s use. To make things worse, the chick who tagged along turned out to be a loud bitch, but i mean if you look up loud bitch in the dictionary you´ll find her bloody face. So me and poor Julian were in a situation where we were trying to shut the loud bitch up, can t say loud enough times, in our different ways, with the english guy who was with us nagging on the other hand to us about her. Not a very pleasant situation. The highlight of the trip was pirhania fishing where we all managed to catch a couple and eat them for dinner, except the loud bitch who kept bloody yelling for nothing every bloody second.

Boy was it a relief to get back from the trip, get rid of the loud bitch and plan to enter Bolivia. For a couple of days it felt like after a heavy night, you know when you wake up next morning with a background noise in your head.

But leaving Manaus turned out to be a much more difficult task than anticipated. No flights go to Bolivia from Manaus unless you are prepared to fly for 12 hrs, a distance meant to take a couple of hours and abviously pay for it. Anyway I finally made it out of Manaus via a flight to Porto Velho, from which i got a bus to Guyamerim. And Boliva was now closer than ever.

A taste of Paradise

2007-05-01T18:09:00.000-04:00

Once in Santarem we headed straight to Alter do Chao, which is this small paradise in the middle of the Amazon. A well deserved break after our ordeal getting here.

A peninsula of sand divides the river to form a lake on the right hand side. the peninsula itself is maybe a 15 minute swim from the village but we always got the canoes, which get u there in a couple of minutes, dry. We did swim though, once on the peninsula, which is spotted with palm huts where we had a couple of beers and enjoyed sunset on the Amazon river and then the moon rise on the lake. Breathtaking.... seriously!!

Apart from the striking beauty of the penisula, Alter do Chao itself is a very pleasant village to chill out. The only annoyance is the hippies with beggar traits, who try and sell you their artesan everywhere and all the bloody time. But kebabs sold on the street made up for that on my part. We also stayed at a family run hostel named Hostel Oriental, which family turned out to be the excellent hosts, even inviting us to a family bithday party. Birthday party interrupted by rain and later and amazing thunder storm so close the electricity went out like 50 times.

On the last day here we had a game of beach soccer on the peninsula, Julian and I versus German dude and Vince, Maltese side obviously winning. I could have stayed here for weeks but unfortunately, travelling means making decisions and moving on all the bloody time. So off we went to another 3 day boat ride... yippieeee

I do have to admit that the boat ride from Santarem to Manaus was a million times better than the previous one. We managed to sleep much better, boat was much smaller and we had the top deck this time. Plus it cost us a third of the price. I was also introduced to a spiced up version of what we call draughts, Dama. The guy teaching me did insist he was the champion after every single game I lost and when finally i got to the point of beating him, well let`s just say he didn`t take it very well and we never found the game the next morning...hehehe Music was the same loud cheesy shit, but we did see dolphins, pink ones too which some brasilians claim to seduce thier lovely young women into the river and then make love to them !! Can´t blaim the poor dolphins, trust me...

Into the Heart of the Amazon

2007-04-30T20:23:00.000-04:00

My next stop were the 2 biggest cities on the North coast of Brasil namely Sao Lois and Belem. Projeto Revevir is a project aimed at restoring the colonial centre of the city. Beautiful facades, dominated by azulejos ( potugese painted tiles used to deal with the damp heat) and also pastel colours dominate the centre. As you can see not all facades are revived but still add to the charm of this architectural jem.

Belem is the gateway to the Amazon hence my next destination after Sao Lois. The market held in the city centre next to the port is a colourful attraction where you can shop for all sorts of fish, friut and artesan, eat from the hundred and one stands all under one roof, or just enjoy people watching. My lunch for the 2 days in Belem was the Dourada, a local catfish fresh from the amazon, yumiieeeee. It is also the best place to shop for açai, a local palm fruit only found in the Amazon, which makes the most tasty and healthy juice, see picture of man in white shirt selling açai.
.

And then the day finally came for us to get on our cruise ship to head into the Amazon in style... or maybe not.

We were advised to go early, early meaning at 6am, to put up our hammocks to get a good spot which would be our bed for the next 3 nights. So that´s what we did. Me not being a morning person didn´t help in the shock you get when you get on this old bare rusty boat, on the lower deck. I felt like we were going to be treated as cargo... and i wasn´t completely mistaken. We headed back to our dodgy hostel to get some more sleep and headed back to the boat round 5 pm where we met up with Ju again and boy was it cosy. There were more than a hundred hammocks lined one next to each other. So let´s just say we didn´t have any problems meeting our neighbours.

But so far so good. The fact that we were heading into the Amazon was enough to keep our spirits high. But not for long. At first we were fascinated by the immensity of the Amazon river and fascinated by the way dwellings line the river. People were paddling in minute canoes begging for stuff from the people on the boat and every so eften one brave enough would attempt to hook onto the boat, obviously still moving, to get on board and sell fruits from the Amazon or cheeses and then head back to their community.

Things started going wrong though. We immediately spotted a couple of families with over half a dozen kids which we thought was cute and all. As it turned out these families were brasilian gypsies on thier way to look for gold, literally. One closer to us was a family with 7 kids I think, the kids peed where they ate and soon the smell became unbearable. The father was more keen on his bloody birds which he had than any of his children. To make things worse the music on the top deck, which would have been the perfect place to chill otherwise, was extremely loud tacky brasilian music with a break into cheesy 80´s music every once in a while. But we did make it through our ordeal to get to Santarem. And it was all good cause the next spot was Alter do Chao which made it all worthwhile.

Parque dos Lençois Maranhenses

2007-04-30T18:59:00.000-04:00

So here I am in Bolivia and still writing my blog on the Northwest coast of Brasil. Not very good and to be quite honest not really in the mood but the fact is that I am loving Bolivia and got lazy anyway here it goes...hopefully we´ll get to Bolivia sometime today ...hehehe..

So the next morning we woke up to start out way to the remote Parque dos Lençois Maranhenses. The first part of the journey consisted of a 3hr 4x4 ride along pristine sandy beaches, over sand dunes and across rivers on stick propelled barges to get us to Camocim.

Quite an adventure. Parnaiba was the next stop where we got us a 6hr seventies bus ride which got us to Tutoia, where we slept the night. Next morning we headed for an 6hr extremely rough truck ride with a much appreciated stop in Rio Novo to get to Barreirinhas.

The ride was an insight into the way Brasilians live and travel. I felt like i was peeping through a window on these people´s lives as we passed the dust roads through the tiny villages and communities. The poverty in which these people live is striking. Houses are mostly made of wood reinforced mud blocks, covered with palm leaves as a protection from the weather. Most families sleep on hamocks in very bare rooms. The streets are infested with all sorts of animals ranging from cows, goats and pigs to donkeys and ducks. Children still entertain themselves by playing on the streets and rivers with homemade toys, and everyone seems to be amused by passing cars especially when they spot us strangers.

Once in Barreirinhas I headed for a riverside hostel where i got what i seriously call a room with a view...

The park itself stretches 40km inland from the atlanticwhere salt water once washed all vegetation leaving a surreal landscape of sand dunes surrounded by lakes. We went to a day trip to the park itself visiting several lagoas, Lagoa Azul being a clear water lake where we swam. Pictures and my description don´t do the park any justification. It was amazing and definitely worth the long yet interesting trip from Jericoacoara.

Up North, Further North and then Turning West

2007-03-24T18:34:00.000-04:00

It has been a long time since i wrote and we did travel a fair bit since then so here comes a long one. You can always look at the photos and e-mail me pretending you read the whole thing... It´s all good !!

So we got to Recife after a flight from Salvador which turned out to be the same price but obviously 20 times faster. Recife is a quite unremarkable city, but Olinda, literally meaning beautiful, makes up for that and makes a visit worthwhile. Olinda being the old part of Recife is what Pelourinhio is to Salvador. Cobbled sleepy streets lined with bright coloured houses where you can find a church in almost every corner of the town. For lunch we found this grocery store, got to know the owner and spent a couple of hours sipping ice cold beer and having some typical snacks, priceless.

Next stop was Praia de Pipa. The journey there consisted of the longest taxi ride I will probably ever make in my life. 5 hours of it spiced up by a half an hour road block, where all the luggage was inspected up to our dirty underwear, ending in glamour by myself being strip searched. Later the taxi driver, el Baiano a very nice guy in his fourties, explained that since this German girl, who I had met in Recife and whom we shall call Joyce, was seated in front of the cab and me at the back, freshly shaved head looking dodgy ( I am always the one being offered maria or farina regularly...hehehe what to do!! ) as usual made it easier for us to highjack the cab to transport drugs... whatever...

But all our worries were over as soon as we got close to Pipa seeing the dunes welcoming us and beaches lining the cliffs. Pipa is a hippie beach town with cliffs bordering beaches stroked by dolphin filled waters.

Praia de Pipa itself is not a lovely beach itself, well depends how u look at it..hehehe, but Praia do Amor, Praia de Golfinhos and my favourite Praia do Madeiro are amazing. We tried surfing in Praia do Amor but it was too much hard work for us, our excuse being big uneven waves and a couple of caipirinhas too many the previous night. In Praia de Golfinhos we managed to swim with dolphins not more than an arm´s reach away. Praia do Madeiro you can do both things while chilling on a sunbed and sip a cold beer.

We had the best Acai at our hostel and amazing tapiocas( flower based pancake shaped brasilian food ) at Tapiocaria de Ana. Every night there is something going on in Pipa and Ana made sure to inform us every single day for the 10 nights we spent there.
So Pipa was also a lot of partying not missing the drama, especially being such a small place.

Natal less than two hours north of Pipa was just a day stop for us to get the overnight bus to Canoa Quebrada. Luckily both Julian and myself both had a good night sleep but unfortunatly woke up 2 hours too late only to find ourselves in a rainy city other than the tranquil fishing village we had planned.

Deciding not to backtrack we stayed in Fortaleza entertaining us were a couple of movie channels at our pousada. Here we also met Ligia and Simone two charming Brasilian girls who took care of us in Fortaleza.

I told you it´s a long one....

Jericoacoara is a tiny remote fishing village, heavily infuenced by tourism, yet still we could feel the laid back vibe. Before sunset everyone heads down to the main beach shouldered by a massive dune to play football or volleyball, practice Capoeira or simply to watch sunset from the dune or sipping Caipirinhas on a hammock.

First night I ended up partying till early in the morning, Hally Berry being the cause of the drama this time...
The following couple of days we spent with Ligia and Simone, We discovered a small restaurant serving the best food I ate in Brasilso far. We soon became friends with the chef, Walter an Italian guy in his fourties, and his Brasilian influenced family. Last night in Jeri we headed once again to Walter´s ( which i strongly recommend...the name of the restaurant is Jeri something or qeeju e vino and is one steet parallel to the main road ). He promised me that he will cook lobster for him and myself given Juilan doesn´t eat anything which comes out of the ocean. And he was a man of his word. An amazing dinner, perfect ending to out stay in this fishing village, but not quite.

After a couple of bottles of wine Walter got us champagne and then grappa with out coffees, a whole bottle of it. To make matters worse we also accepted his offer of caipirinhas and before we knew it it was half five in the morning and there was no way we were going to make the 8 am 4x4 truck we had booked. We did make it the next day after a whole day recovering but that story is for another time to tell...

Salvador De Bahia

2007-03-06T19:20:00.000-04:00

Election time in Malta, Spinola to Sliema, Floriana and Birkirkara turns into one big street party and everything stops functioning for a couple of days of crazy celebrations and drinking. Now imagine all this on a much larger scale, all the streets in Salvador adapt to a week of crazy partying by catering for the 3 main circuits, viewing posts camarotes, or to host street vendors where one can buy everything from caipirinhias, beer (Skol gelada), kebabs, carnaval costumes and the list goes on. Shops shield windows as if expecting a hurricane. Then the action begins. 2 massive trucks surrounded by people holding a rope to provide "safety" for people wearing the abadas. The first truck leads the way with pumping music coming from the second truck where you have the live performnce either in typical brasilian music or live djs. This is called a bloco. Carnaval in Salvador de Bahia has 3 circuits holding more than 30 blocos on the main 5 days of partying "ending" Ash Wednesday. All this is great. The only detail I am missing is the Julian and I, after a 2 hrs flight from Rio and a good 3 hrs to get to the city from the airport got to Salvador in the middle of the party, great u might say, only that we had nowhere to sleep and were carrying at least 15kg of luggage each. After a good couple of hours looking for a place to stay the situation wasn´t getting any better until we were saved by a mexican guy who got us a hostel, Pousada Cancun, excellent location and decent price for carnaval.

Everything got better, much better actually in the 2 days we spent over there, one caipirihia too many, and lots of partying ending all this with a bloco from Fat Boy Slim which was fantastic, and I, after getting lost from Julian being we were popcorn on the streets, even got to enter and stay in the ropes for most of the 5 hrs.

Deciding to chill out after Carnaval, we headed to Morro de Sao Paolo for some tranquility, but after 2 bus rides, a ferry ride and a very rainy and dodgy boat ride we get to Morro only to find that half the people in Salvador had the same bright idea. We found out a day too late that the 5 days after Carnaval are called the resaca and Morro holding 4000 locals and some 5500 beds left us only the option of 2 hamocs on the whole island.

Great location on the main praça, excellent for people watching and 2 minutes walking distance from the first beach. Morro is a tropical paradise where wheelbarrows serve as taxis, donkeys can be found on the beach and caipirinhias taste better here. Beach number4 , a palm studded endeless beach with white sand was my favourite.

Back in Salvador we spent a couple of days in Pelourinhio, the old part of the city full of churches and museums and cobbled streets on which art, capoeira and of course beats are the never missing. Last night in Pelourinhio, being a Tuesday was a party once again with live performances in various plaças. One caipirinhia too many and it turned out to be a perfect farewell for Carnaval !!

Carnaval de Rio

2007-02-25T23:12:00.000-04:00

Beautiful beaches, Samba, Caipirinhas and of course Carnaval. This is La Cidade Maravilhosa, Rio De Janeiro. "Sand, Sky and the beautiful bodies that parade in between the two" That´s how Lonely planet describes Rio. Well actually it didn´t quite feel like that on my first day and night cause the weather reminded me of England, Copacabana looked more like Ghadira on a Sunday in August and I´m not even going to comment on the bodies. Our apartment was in Copacabana a stone´s throw away from the beach so i decided to have a rest and hopefully wake up to a better start. But that never happened cause after a half an hour walk I got to Ipanema to go to a Hippie fair only to get to Praça General Osorio and greeting me was the rain. Vendors and people spread for shelter and I had to walk back home in the rain.

Next day I woke up early to go meet Julian at the airport but that never happened between his flight being delayed for 3 hrs and airport information not knowing of Emirates. So i head back to Copacabana only to find him just arriving at the apartment. Weather also got better and we spent the rest of the day on the beach catching up and sipping caipirinhas. And Rio was looking much better than yesterday.

Next couple of days we spent bumming around Copacabana and Ipanema Beach. Illha Grande is a tropical island a couple of hours south of Rio. After a way too early start we get to the island and venture off for a two hour hike crossing the island to get to Pria Lopez Mendez, white sand and clear water, definitely worth the trip.

So it was all good, Rio was feeling great, but that didn´t last too long. We got too comfortable i guess and one night we headed to Copacabana in the evening to chill. Some beer, a deck of cards my cigarettes and some loose change were all our possesions. People were fishing nearby and Copacabana was lit all the way. Suddenly three guys who faked jogging, stopped next to us. It took a couple of seconds to sink in but we were being mugged. Well it was kind of funny cause they only got the 2 Reals, left the beer and smokes and also apologised before leaving. I must say for a couple of days I was being paranoid. But it soon got better and really it had to happen sooner or later.

Cristo Redentor lies atop the Corcovado overlooking the city. Once up there you get all of the city underneath you stretching from the massive Maracana to the neighbourhoods of Santa Teresa and Lapa going on to the Sugar Loaf, Copacabana and Leblon. Amazing view and yes I did take the tacky picture of me being dwarfed under the statue.

Pau de Açucar was amazing. You get a closer look at the the city itself outlined by the infamous favelas. We also got to see sunset over Rio and i guess the pictures i attached will do a better job than me describing it. The second picture of the three is Copacabana by night, the last one is my favourite.

Set on a hill overlooking the city,the neighbourhood of Santa Teresa with it´s cobbled streets has a charm of days long past. The Cristo Redentor overlooks eternally as witnessed by this picture in the neighbourhood.

Same song repeated over and over again with the crowd singing along getting more drunk every time the song starts again with the constant spray of water over the crowd is what makes a Bloco. And the bloco de Barba in Botafogo was no exception. This is the first taste of Carnaval we got in Brasil. After that half drunk and completely wet we headed to the Maracana to watch Fluminense vs Vasco. We got there and there was a strange feeling of tranquility. We were a couple of hours early, at least we thought, only to find that the match had started early and was just into the second half. Vasco the home team was loosing 1-3 but they managed to draw at 4-4 in a show of average football, but we were in the biggest stadium on earth and got to see 4 goals ... so it was all good.

Sunday came and that meant the Sambodromo. An amazing show of colours, samba and of course the girls. Well the cariocas claim it to be the biggest show on earth and it lived up to it´s reputation.

Malbec and Aconcagua

2007-02-25T17:58:00.000-04:00

14hr bus ride from BA and you find yourself in Mendoza. Beautiful plazas, the Andes and good wine , lots of it. Everything seems to work slower over here . A holiday destination for Argentinians and to prove it I find most of the residents at hostel Damajuana to be Argentinian. I sit by the pool and 2 hours later I find myself badly sunburnt playing poker with some Argentinians and alomost drunk. Second day we headed to the bodegas with the Bike and Wine option which turned out to be a lot of cycling and much less wine than we had expected, so at the end of the day we decided buy a bottle of Tempus Alba Malbec and enjoy the lovely view from the terrace of the vineyard. After moving to Hostel Lao, which I strongly recommend, I met up with a German and two American guys, and we decide to rent a car and head to the Andes. So we leave at 7am next morning 2 hrs later than planned and after a couple of wrong exits we start heading in the right direction. We first drive by Uspallata, a lovely valley surrounded by polychrome mountains, 105km west of Mendoza, at altitude of 1751m which served for filming 7 years in Tibet. Further into the Andes at 2720m we got to Puente Del Inca, a natural stonebridge spanning the Rio Mendoza. Underneath it lie ruins of an old spa stained yellow by warm sulphurous thermal springs.
We finally reach Aconcagua which at 6960m above sea level is the highest mountain in Americas. The contrast between Aconcagua and the rocky mountains and valley surrounding us is simply amazing.
On the way back, due to the amount of driving and lack of sleep the previous night, I miss one of the many Immigration stops for the Chilean border. ooooopsss.... So I reverse and a pearshaped officer asks for license and registration, gets us all out and asks for passports. Seeing nothing wrong he starts threating to take my licence and to fine us for overspeeding. Figuring out the scam I reply "non intiendo" to most of what he said, at the end he lets us go with just a warning.
That same day I bus it back to my lovely Buenos Aires, where i head to Janaina´s place, Julian´s friend and a great girl, where i stayed all throughout my stay in BA. Mucha gracias chica.
My last bife de choriso at Des Nivel in San Telmo, a must for whoever is in BA, a night out at Opera house and in the morning Rio Baby, where I will meet Julian, so i´m not alone any more ma ok.

Buenos Aires

2007-02-02T16:23:00.000-04:00

Where else can u get cigarettes for 3.5 pesos, cabs for 10 pesos, internet at 1peso/hour and get a 700g juicy T-bone steak with wine and sides for 30 pesos, including tips (Lm1 = 9 pesos) ...

And all this surrounded by buildings that could have easily fit in Paris or Rome, countless momuments, unique neighbourhoods and the occasional tango show on the street.

This might not be as simple as it sounds because u have to watch out for drivers especially bus drivers who drive oblivious to other cars and especially pedestrians. While doing this u have to be careful not to step on dog shit or hit a street vendor who will try and sell u anything from leather jackets to sweets, napkins or pens.

I have been round the city but one of my favourite spots is La Boca. Situated along a harbour, mainly settled by Italians this poor nighbourhood hosts the famous Caminito.
The colours around you switch you in a good mood as soon as u get there and if that doesn t work the live tango shows or the love for Boca Juniors and Maradona will.

Recoleta is famous for it´s cemetry where Evita rests in peace, or tries to poor soul, cause it´s one of the most photographed places you can imagine. All the cemetery is one work of art with some incredible sculpture.

One night we went to see a Tango show. Best Tango show i ever been to ...hehehit was also my first but seriously it was the best. The show was at Tortoni cafe, oldest cafe in Buenos Aires.

Well I can go on for ever but I´ll send some pics instead to try and give you a taste of Buenos Aires. And the meat you eat here. That picture is not at a butchers but a Parrilla named Des Nivel situated in San Telmo, and I am already best buddies with the waiters over there ..hehehe

I love Buenos Aires.

The Plan

2007-02-02T14:46:00.000-04:00

So this is it. South America. 6 moths of it. The plan is to cover as much as possible of it. Landing in Brasil, down to Argentina, back up to Brasil all the way up along the coast, cross into Bolivia through Amazonia, Peru, Equador (my treat... The Galapagos) up to Columbia, Venezuela, Cuba and finally fly back from Mexico.

So for me it all started in Sao Paolo Brasil where I landed at around 11pm on Sunday the 21st Jan 2007. After more than an hour waiting for my backpack, I found out that British Airways had lost all my belongings for the next 6 months. It´s almost 1 am by now and I am stuck at the airport, so i find a cosy spot at the airport and make it my bed.

I wake up round 6 and make my way to the city to buy me some essential stuff like clothes..hehehe and make an excuse of it to see the city. Massive place but business oriented so i decide to head for Foz De Iguazu that same day. 4pm comes and i am on the bus to Iguazu on an 18 hr bus ride,at least i have a decent bed...hehehe

I arrive in Foz on Tuesday morning in serious need of a shower, so i head to Paulimar hostel which turns out to have a swimming pool and yes finally showers.. In the afternoon i headed for the falls. Amazing place, really is i mean i spent 2 days looking at water fall down and would go again any day. And if u thought it couldn´t get better just go on the Argentinian side. From Brasil u get a pamoramic view but in Argentina you are in the falls.

And now it´s Buenos Aires baby...