Moving Around Mick

Madrid here we come

2007-06-20T21:38:00.000+01:00

Hola amigos

Yip the "moving around" is temporarily back up and running tomorrow
Courtesy of Michael O Leary flying Shannon to Madrid for only €47 return (only €4 fare but then when u add on Credit card fee, Baggage fee, taxes and other charges........)

Home for the few days is "aqui" heres hoping Moyas found another gem! Its damn central between La Puerta del Sol and La Plaza Mayor so should be fine. Basically going to look around this...............

Any tips for things to do in Madrid between tomorrow and Tuesday, do advise.............

Hasta luego

Bloggin time again

2007-06-01T22:43:00.000+01:00

Yip decided to have another go off this blogging stuff to announce long weekend trip to Madrid

Twill be nice to get to Spain & practice all the Spanish I learnt while travelling and writing most of this blog,

Anyone going to be in Madrid weekend of Jun21 do let me know!!

Back to the books for me now, as that's how the Bank Holiday weekend will be spent, studying for those damn IOP Exams!

trip summary part 1

2006-04-05T12:25:00.000+01:00

Yip I’m still alive and back to work – no laughing now please, has to be done by everyone anyway!

Just as a way of winding up the blog I’m adding a final few, first will be all details of travels over the 6 months (which I presume will be of no interest to anyone except myself!) and secondly I will ramble on about the highlights……..

So here goes where I went for the 6 months, firstly the summary of the travels (excluding bikes, taxis and other small journeys!):

Flights 16

Ferries 3

Car Hire Trips 7

Buses 36

Trains 4

“Spins”2

And for the real event.......

IRELAND

FLIGHT: Shannon/Dublin/Shannon/JFK New York

Flights Running Total 3

FLIGHT: New York/Seattle

FERRY: Seattle/ Victoria (Vancouver Island)

Flights Running Total 4

Ferries Running Total 1

CANADA

CAR HIRE: Vancouver Island/Vancouver BUS: Vancouver/SeattleFlights Running Total 4 Ferries Running Total 1 Car Hire Running Total 1 Bus Running Total 1 US TRAIN: Seattle/Portland CAR HIRE: Portland/San Francisco CAR HIRE: San Francisco/Las Vegas BUS: Las Vegas/San Diego TRAIN: San Diego/LA CAR HIRE: LA San Francisco FLIGHT: San Francisco/ GuatemalaFlights Running Total 5 Ferries Running Total 1 Car Hire Running Total 4 Bus Running Total 2 Train Running Total 2 GUATEMALA BUS: Guatemala/Antigua BUS: Antigua/Panachel (Lago Atitlan) FERRY: Panachel/ San Pedro FERRY: San Pedro/ Panachel BUS: Panachel/Antigua/Guatamala/Flores BUS: Flores/Tikal BUS: Tikal/Flores/Guatamala FLIGHT: Guatemala/Houston (US) Flights Running Total 6 Ferries Running Total 3 Car Hire Running Total 4 Bus Running Total 10 Train Running Total 2 US BUS: Houston/Fort Lauderdale CAR HIRE: Fort Lauderdale/Naples CAR HIRE: Naples/Miami FLIGHT: Miami/Kingston (Jamaica)Flights Running Total 7 Ferries Running Total 3 Car Hire Running Total 6 Bus Running Total 11 Train Running Total 2 JAMAICA "SPIN": Kingston/Ocho Rios BUS: Ocho Rios/Montego Bay FLIGHT: Monetgo Bay/Kingston/Havana (Cuba)Flights Running Total 9 Ferries Running Total 3 Car Hire Running Total 7 Bus Running Total 12 Train Running Total 2 Spin Running Total 1 CUBA BUS: Havana/Vinales SHARED TAXI: Vinales/Trinidad - counting as Bus SHARED TAXI: Trinidad/Santa Clara/Trinidad - counting as Bus SHARED TAXI: Trinidad/Havanva - counting as Bus FLIGHT: Havana/PanamaFlights Running Total 10 Ferries Running Total 3 Car Hire Running Total 6 Bus Running Total 17 Train Running Total 2 Spin Running Total 1 PANAMA CAR HIRE: Panama/David/Panama FLIGHT: Panama/Lima (Peru)Flights Running Total 11 Ferries Running Total 3 Car Hire Running Total 7 Bus Running Total 17 Train Running Total 2 Spin Running Total 1 PERUBUS: Lima/Chiclayo BUS: Chiclayo/Trujillo/Huanchaco BUS: Trujillo/Lima/Ica BUS: Ica/Nazca BUS: Nazca/Cusco BUS: Cusco TRAIN: Ollantaytambo/Agas Callientes BUS: Agas Callientes/Machu Picchu TRAIN: Agas Callientes/ Ollantaytambo BUS: Ollantaytambo /Cusco BUS: Cusco/Puno BUS: Puno/Copacabana (Bolivia) Flights Running Total 11 Ferries Running Total 3 Car Hire Running Total 7 Bus Running Total 29 Train Running Total 4 Spin Running Total 1 BOLIVIA BUS: Copacabana/ La Paz BUS: La Paz/Potosi BUS: Potosi/Uyuni BUS: Uyuni/San Pedro (Chile) Flights Running Total 11 Ferries Running Total 3 Car Hire Running Total 7 Bus Running Total 33 Train Running Total 4 Spin Running Total 1 CHILE BUS: San Pedro / Arica BUS: Arica/Tacna (Peru)Flights Running Total 11 Ferries Running Total 3 Car Hire Running Total 7 Bus Running Total 35 Train Running Total 4 Spin Running Total 1 PERU BUS: Tacna / Lima FLIGHT: Lima/CaracusFlights Running Total 12 Ferries Running Total 3 Car Hire Running Total 7 Bus Running Total 36 Train Running Total 4 Spin Running Total 1 VENEZUALA FLIGHT: Caracus/MiamiFlights Running Total 13 Ferries Running Total 3 Car Hire Running Total 7 Bus Running Total 36 Train Running Total 4 Spin Running Total 1 US FLIGHT: Miami/Indianapolis “SPIN”: Indianapolis/Chicago FLIGHT: Chicago/Boston/Shannon (HOME) Flights Running Total 16 Ferries Running Total 3 Car Hire Running Total 7 Bus Running Total 36 Train Running Total 4 Spin Running Total 2

Different things to do in Indy

2006-03-27T17:22:00.000+01:00

TODAY TOUCHDOWN IRELAND

Well what a ball I have been having here in Indianapolis, so if your planning on spending sometime here wanta know what to do, (yes not the touristy things). You should go to........

a Pacers NBA game
Went to see the Pacers play a game (basketball by the way for those not in the know- like me upto a few days ago. Cool experience being up in the gods and watching all. US sports are strange spectator sport with all the entertainment and background music to try and get the crowd cheering. Couldnt see this happening at a hurling game at home........Overall great experience and even had a feed of grub- chips, pizza, burger etc to top up the bell.

the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra
Yes I know people will be shocked at this one but I kid u not it was a great experience! Yes willo admit it wasnt the normal orchestra experience (ie dead composers etc!) but all the much from Sci Fi shows, so cool to hear all those Star Wars, Star Treck tunes, but top of the list and the one that nearly brought a tear to my eye was me oul' fav.....ET. As if the tunes werent bad, the light show that went along with ity was amazing

the Indy 500 track (nickname the brickyard, by the way!)
Yip the only famous thing I had heard of before my trip here had to be visited. Theres a great museum there with loads of old cars etc and info on background to the track and race. Also as a bonus (and for$3 extra) you can jump on a bus that will bring u the 2.5 miles around the track itself. Strangest thing was seeing how steep the banking is on the corners, as for the number of stands- makes it easier to believe they get 500,000 to the race every year!

see a "dueling piano" bar
Yes a new one on me, instead of usual bands playing crap music this is something different. Great idea for anyone with a bar looking for some different entertainment! Consists of 2 guys playing piano request and also their own versions of songs. Crowd participation is welcomed and indeed increased as the night went on and alcohol consumption increased. Also the piss pulling that people on birthday parties, hen nights etc got when hauled up on stage was great entertainment!

and finally "strength class with Chris". Yes another first for Mick as I trooped off to this "class" in the gym with my Indy Tour Guide Jen. Wasnt sure what I had agreed to but thought it might help me as I try and make a return to training! Little did I know how hard it would be - actually didnt realise how hard it would be till the aches in the muscles started in the hours and days after. All well again now do and have learnt loads of new stretches!

NOTE: This has been part written in Indy, Boston and only finished here in Dungarvan due to time constraints on computer!

Chilling in Indianapolis and catching up

2006-03-24T14:19:00.000Z

5 DAYS TO TOUCHDOWN IRELAND

Greetings from Indianapolis, Indiana US A

All well here so firstly a few things on the past (as promised in last blog!) then should be back on later telling all about Indy (get me and talking like a local!)....

Airline dramas

Did ye hear about the trouble we had flying from Peru to US? Well starting from the start.... we booked the flights with Aeropostal (aka Venezuelan Airlines) on the Internet about 6 weeks ago and it was a bargain price $286 (about half price of "normal"airlines - ie those u would have heard of!- and Expedia etc. I know it should have rang alarm bells, but we filled in Credit Card details etc and got the confirmation email so assumed all was rosy.

Up we rocked to check in. Ok was a little concerned as knew from Internet Banking that no money was taken from my Credit Card, but thought "maybe they do things different here and only take the money whe u check in"- yip living in a dream world aint I!). Bad news from the counter as she informed us that there was no booking......and explained that their Internet is only used for reservations and tickets must be paid for by contacting "an office" and paying for ticket within 72hrs! She was pretty helpful (and admitted that this happens alot of DIY Tourists!) and found us 2 seats (but it was an extra $50 odd each- still great value though!)

So all to do now was pay the $698 between us, so handed over the Visa card (my kind sponsor of these few months of "fun"!) and she came back (trouble part 2) saying that my Credit Card wouldnt work due to chip error. Assuming it was something to do with the new "Chip and Pin" Card I went back behind the scenes to try it again and put in my PIN etc. But (trouble 3) it wasnt even scanning the card.... So Moya to the rescue and she went up to the office and tried her card, but (trouble 4) hers would work earlier

So we came to the conclusion that their VISA machine wasnt the healthiest - God forbid they'd admit that though!. So still looking for $698 we tried plan B (ie taking cash directly out from ATM). But (trouble 5) they most that u can take out in a transaction is $300, so I put back in the card asap to try for another $300 and bingo got it. But by the time I tried for more the banks had caught up with me and $600 was all I was getting (for that day at least!). Moya came to the rescue with the last $100 as her Bank card worked here.

So we handed over that cash and raced through and barely made the boarding gate in time......

Dodgy Immigration stunts

Must admit now that I am well clear of Peru that I pulled a sneaky stunt when leaving Peru. When I got my new Passport I was informed that I "should" go to the local Immigration office to update my details. Apparently it can set off alarm bells here if you enter on one document and try and leave on the other.

As above this work "should" wasnt strong enough for me to skip my last afternoon at the beach, ie 2 to 3 hours queuing versus chilling out on a beach (with sand too hot to walk on barefoot) there was only going to be one winner. So came up with a plan, that seeing as my Temp Passport was valid until 21 Mar (ie the day I'd fly out!) that Id use this one last time for leaving Peru and swap over to my "New Real" Passport for transitting through Venezuela and entering US

Yes it all worked perfect, had a great afternoon on the beach (although did need a few swims to cool down every so often and Moya nearly had our bags stolen- only for she was so alert to the local "scams", God Bless her cotton socks!)

The little things that you notice being back in "normal costs" world
We are starting to notice a few things since arriving here in the US, the main ones are:
A) u can flush toilet paper down the toilet here
B) there isn't a lady sitting outside every toilet looking for money off u
C) u can eat salads with out much danger
D) u have to actually flag down taxis ie they dont just beep assuming u need a spin
E) u can get Newpapers in English
F) shop keepers, taxi drivers etc dont cringe when u dont have the exact change
G) no stalls selling food on the side of the streets (or out their house windows as per Cuba!)
H) no "collectivos" etc - bus that stop, pick u up and drop u off where u like (ie no fixed stops!)
I) and finally EVERYTHING COSTS A FORTUNE -and the US is cheaper than home ahhhhh

Loads more ot follow, these are just what stand out after a few days!!!

PS Got more photos developed so hope to get them up over the next few days!

back in the US of A

2006-03-22T01:46:00.000Z

8 DAYS TO TOUCHDOWN IRELAND

Yip those days are counting down alright and now am a country closer.......... Got into Miami safe and sound tonight- only an hour late (God bless Aeropostal aka Venezuelan Airlines!). More about them tomorrow!

Checked into our Luxury Hotel and what a room we have, beds that are so comfy is will be a tough call tomorrow - get up early for the last days sun for months or snooze, hmmmmm.

Have a few sceals for ye tomorrow airline dramas, dodgy Immigration stunts and the little things that you notice being back in "normal costs" world

Till then, too-dal-ooo

have Passport, will travel!!

2006-03-20T22:15:00.000Z

9 DAYS TO TOUCHDOWN IRELAND

Yes contrary to my visions of spending the rest of my life here in Peru, the bad news is that the Irish Consulate have come up trumps and I collected my Passport this morning (only another $98 wasted!)

All jokes aside, was beginning to have my doubt as they had promised to email as soon as it arrived and I knew it had been Issued in Dublin on 9th Mar! He said today that he forgot to email me and it arrived on Paddys Day (ya I know how Irish is that!). Oh well all is well now, well assuming there ar no issues with either Peru or US Immigration which im not expecting(touching wood asap!)

No other real news, rest of today was spent chilling on the beach soaking up the sun and going in for a dip to cool down. Bumped into Ben again (and said or our final goodbyes again!). Bit sad lieing on the beach when we realised:

- who knows when we wilol be sunning ourselves on a beach again

- that its colder at home than in Iceland (as per phonecall home!)

Over and out for the last time from the Mighty Peru, 10 am flight to Miami (well via Caracas). Then its luxury time again as Moya is treating us to another Hilton night (courtesy of her AmEx IDB points!)

Hilton here we come...................

time to be returning to my fav Peru

2006-03-18T13:20:00.000Z

11 DAYS TO TOUCHDOWN IRELAND

Well the batteries are recharged after our 3 nights here in Arica and its time to start travelling again.

As our time down South is almost up, its time to be heading back to Lima. Oh yes I mentioned time to start travelling again, but forgot to mention it will be serious travelling. I'm talking 15min taxi, then 1.5hr minibus across the border to Tacna and finally 18.5 (yes eighteen and a half hours) north to Lima - Moya is soooo excited about her longest bus journey ever!

Arica was exactly what the Doctor ordered (and no mum dont worry I aint sick!). Nice slow pace of life, stroll to the beach etc, nobody bothering you and able to cook every meal while here.

Speaking of cooking, its handy this place had a kitchen as Chile is a bit of a shock to the system as regards dosh! Other things in Chile:

* prices are miles higher than Peru and Bolivia(approx 4 times Bolivia and twice Peru)

* have normal cars on the roads here, not just taxis and collectivos

* taxis dont beep every time they see someone walking

* have supermarkets here, yes refrigerarted meat etc

* even have a damn Maccy Ds here

* clothes are a lot different, no Indiginous People seen at all

* still have Inca Cola, yipeeeeeeee

Thats about it till we get to Lima, hope the Paddys Day celebrations went well (coz ours never started this year, as predicted!).

All we have to do in Lima is last minute shopping, confirm our flight and see if my Passport arrrived yet! Minor details that well help me getting home and back to work! Again ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

photo time again

2006-03-17T18:40:00.000Z

Good news, more photos have been robbed from fellow travellers, all ya gotta do is click on the link on the right!!!

For those too lazy, heres a few.....

Potosi, Bolivia - Mine Tour

San Pedro, Chile - cycling to Valle de la Luna

Uyuni Salt Lake Tour, Boliva - at Lago Verde

Salt Lake tour again, no room in the Jeep for me........

Happy Saint Patricks Day

2006-03-17T15:04:00.000Z

Picture says it all, hope ye´re celebrating for us as there are hardly any Gringos in this town (Arica, Chile) not a mind an Irish Community.

Going to be the quietest St Paddys Day ever we reckon, strange really after the best one ever last year in Portland, Oregon!!

Comments please on where the celebration were........

normal day in the life of a Backpacker

2006-03-16T01:58:00.000Z

Well as not a lot going on today, thought I´d reveal all as to what a normal day in the life of a backpacker involves, so here goes.................

7:30am

Arrived into Arica bus station and straight into the restaurant for breakie, its dangerous to pick accommodation on an empty stomach (Tip 1)

8:15am

Got taxi to Hostel where Ben was and haggled over the price, got em down from P14000 to P10000 /room/night (Tip 2 never accept the 1st price quoted). Then relaxed in hostel

Mid day

Time to venture outside, so we got looking for a supermarket. Ben had a rough idea of where it was, then it was time to ask a nearby cop (Tip 3 local cops are always willing to help in directions, once u try speaking some bit of Spanish)

Mid day +15mins

Shopping time, great to be in a Supermarket for the first time in about 4 weeks - hard to find in these parts. Made up for it though and bought enough for 2 breakies, 2 lunches and a dinner. (Tip 4 Check out if veggies etc have to be weighed, saves embarrassment at checkout)

1:00pm

Back to the hostel and made lunch. Really felt like home, buttering the bread for the ham and cheese sandwiches.

1:30pm

Time for a snooze, had been on a bus all night so had a little lie down

3:30pm

Wakey, wakey time to see whos around, all quite so watched 2nd half of Liverpool v Fulham (live on Fox Sports and great 5-1 win for The Pool)

5:30pm

Time to bepreppingg for the dinner (seeing as we bought all the stuff). Bit strange cooking (as only 2nd dinner we have cooked in 3 months!) but all ended well and had a mighty feed -rice, beef and veg (carrots, green peas, mushrooms, peppers, onions, garlic) flavoured with Thai Sweet Chilly sauce that Ben had in his bag!

7:30

Tidying up time, including washup and drying (Tip 5 Move to Chile as things dry much faster ie no need for a towel!)

8:30pm

Finished the last of the bottle of Chilean White wine (well best to support the locals eh...)

10:30pm

Retired to the room for the night (via here to write this!!)

Note Also dispersed through out the day were trips to toilet and internet, both of which are free here but elsewhere you always have to pay for

That's about it, definitely not the same as being at home eh, gnite.................

More biking and sad goodbyes

2006-03-14T19:39:00.000Z

back again, this time to ramble about Chile.......

Back on the bike

We went biking around San Pedro yesterday. Again showed how hard it is to to DIY tourist in these. Hired out a few bikes for the afternoon with the plan being to see some of the sights around the town and visit Valle de la Luna for sunset!

With a few maps we hit the road and were going fine up until the time we cycled off the map so to speak. We knew we were on the right road but as there were no signposts or people to ask we gave up on the place. Cool little trip though as involved cycling through/across the same river about 8 time (not deep don't worry).

Back into town and headed for the Valle de la Luna, differing distances there depending or who u asked or what u read (ie 12k, 15k, 16k or 19km!). Also the forgot to tell us a few other minor details...... (A) that 3/4s of the road was gravelly offroad stuff and (B) mostly uphill and I mean UP. After a few breaks along the way (and action photographs!) we got to the entrance. Every one was pissed off with the entrance as it was at the bottom of a big dip and just as we had built up enough speed to get up the other half we saw the barriers. I mean like do they ever think of the poor cylclists when the plan the positioning of these entrances, why not at the top of a damn hill....

Time to split up at the entrance as people wanted to see different things, options were (A) salt caves (B) just sit at view point and wait for sunset (C) see the rest of the park. Ben and myself opted for (C) and went off to see the much talked about Amphitheatre and Tres Marias. To be honest they were crap, not even worth mentioning more and the killer was it was more kms up and down hills on crappy roads.

We all met up at the sunset viewing areas, everyone was shocked with the amount of people there (I´m talking 8 - 10minibusess) as this aint the fanciest of towns. So where all these "grey movement" or snowflakess" came out of was anybodies guess!. Sunset wasn't the best either just to really cheer us up, oh and the thought of cycling back into town wasn't helping!

Bit of an experienc cycling back, great full moon helped the dark cycle and to all of our surprises it wasn't all that bad, def know now that the way out it worse- not that will ever be doing it again mind you!

All in all a very energetic day was put down (oh there was a mini competition to see who had gone the longest stretch with less exercise- some of the answers were double figure months.....). It was a nice place to see, they say it looks as close to the moon surface as anywhere on earth (related to all the salf comming up through the rocks etc) so that was interesting. Tip for anyone heading this way- go with a bus tour.......

Goodbyes......... a sad day in the Moya and Mick travels

Yip a sad day in our travels as we said goodbyes to the English girls that have been following us around for the past month (started in Hunchaco, then Huachachino until today!). Only messing Naomi and Suzie, it was mighty fun, enjoy the rest of Chile, hope ye have fun and don't forget to keep practicing those "Irishisms".

Dont worry our paths will cross again, sometime.......

Where to now

Back onto our favorite overnight buses at 20:45 tonight and arriving in Arica at 7:15am tomorrow. The plan is a bit of R&R by the beach for a few days. This life aint all about traveling you know, have to chill out a bit every so often. Afterall Im back to work in less than 3 weeks, oh no that cant be right

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

3 day Bolivia Tour-Uyuni Salt Lakes

2006-03-13T15:04:00.000Z

As per yesterday (well it was yesterday when I started this, took a bit longer to finish!) was telling ye all that we have just completed another "mighty tour"

DAY 1 FRIDAY

Things kicked off Friday morning about 11am from our HI Hostel in Uyuni. We were ment to be picked up at 10:30 and were getting a little worried about the $65 we had paid when up roared an old, blue Toyota Landcruiser......I know, I know, were on South American time and nothing goes on time but you still get a little doubtful!

Out popped Edgar (our driver/guide/cook), we loaded the bags on top and the 6 of us (6 being the usual 5 - Aussie, Eng x2, Irish x2 - and the new addition Marjet from Holland!) bailed in full of excitement.

Our first stop was at in a small town at the edge of the salt flats, only 90 families living here, all the usual tourist goodies, only this time all made of salt - dices, ashtrays, ornaments all the good stuff! The girls went into the loca free museum, but found out that free here means free in- as it cost B5 to get out. Some geezers for squeezing money out of you here, youd have to be up damn early in the morning to catch them out!

Then we drove onto the salt flats (ie Salar of Uyuni), which was at more than 3.600 meters above the sea level and with more than 12.000 km2 of surface, it is the biggest mirror of salt in the world (yip and one of those stupid claims for ye to remember!). Quite a bizarre place really, impossible to put into words but will try..... we felt as if we were driving on a giant ice rink. As per above the size is unbelievable and its one of the few places in the world where u cant tell when the horizon. One of those place so flat etc that the sky and horizon just merge!

To give u an idea of the size of it after a stop off for a cup of tea (!) at a Salt Hotel, (all made out of ...salt, bla, bla, bla) after that we drove for about 2 hours to our next destination he was cruising between 50 and 70 kph and we didn't get anywhere close to the end (go on do the maths to see how far we went!).

Also around this time I was wondering how he knew which direction to go. No need for GPS here I tell you, just a case of lining up a 2 mountains and dividing the windscreen into 1/4s and picking your spot!

Most tour companies turned around at this point, and head back in the same direction, but our chief organisers (Moya and Naomi) found one of two companies (out of about 50) that were doing the tour through the Isla Pescadores. The reason being its rainy season and there is alot of water on top of the 20m deep salt flats. Most companies think its dangerous, ya right, not with our crazy Edgar at the wheel!

After the Salt Hotel the water did get deeper, but with that the amazing sights just got more amazing (if thats possible!). Now were were seeing twice as many great views (ie everything reflecting off the water as we drove through).

Next stop was an island called Incahursi where we had lunch after a nice climb up to the highest point on the island (oh this place is also famous for its giant cactuses). Good oul Edgar had a fine feed ready for us on the return -lovely steak, quinoa and veggies. Oh did I mention all meals were included in the deal aswell!

The final trip through the lake was through water again, while we were being like kids in the back pointing out all the great sights we finally noticed that the waters got quite deep (half way up the wheel). But we made it back to dry land after only breaking down once, oh the breakdown was linked to some smoky and radio issues (not mentioning how they happened..!) Just after darkness fell we arrived at the "hostel" (well, there was no sign up, no electricity and we were the only people staying there!). But a generator for 3 hours was enough to get dinner and tidied up!

DAY 2 SATURDAY

So day 2, and we were up bright and early at 7am, most of the time being reminded that it was Suzies birthday! The first few hours were through mad mountainy roads, although "road" is a bit generous. Hard to believe that these jeeps are able to traverse these roads.

So had a lot of stops wont bore ye with the details, so briefly.... first off a active volcano, amazing lava rock formations, then to a number of lakes, all with Flamingos another stop was to show us a few of the local favorite medicinal plants, and a famous Arbol Piedre - a huge rock formation in the shape of a tree! Also other strange rock formations there that u needed a bit of imagination to see that they looked familiar!

Final lake of the day Lago Colorado was the most impressive and it was here we put our heads down for the night. The hostel was a lot worse than the previous night- no showers, awful smelling toilets (yes and guess whos room was beside the toilets) and beds that have could not be more hard!

Regardless we tucked into dinner (a variation of Spag Bol, God Bless Edgar!) then the birthday celebration started - consisting of a few games of cards, rum and coke and 2 birthday cakes in honor of Suzies birthday! Electricity was turned off at 10.30 but that made things all the funnier, playing cards games by candlelight and listening to tunes on the MPS (and those great speakers I got in the US)

DAY 3 SUNDAY

Up at an ungodly hour this morning (5am) which was half an hour late due to over exersions the night before. We finally managed to get on the road, journey took us to some geysers - guess who was the only one with the energy to walk around the stream- ME!!

Next stop was the best at the aquas calientes - hot springs, threw on the togs and into the water at about 7:30am! For the record this has to be one of the best hangover cures ever experienced!

Once out of the water and dried off, Edgar had the breakfast of egg sandwiches and a cups of tea

Final stop of the trip was the amazing Laguna Verde. Got there a little early as still misty, but it was great seeing the mist clear and both the Lagoon and volcano behind it appear.

Final drop off and goodbyes to Edgar was done at the Bolivian border, as he was such a legend we left him "a few bob" and the balance of our Rum (ie bottle and a half!). After an hour or so our last journey of the tour (this time a bus) left the border and brought us into Chile took ages to get through the border crossing (bad timing as few buses just arrived before us!). Regardless we got through and here I am in chile...........

quick update, more tomorrow

2006-03-13T00:47:00.000Z

Ahh back in the world of roads, electricity and computers..........

Just survived a cool 3 day trip from Bolivia into Chile (arrived here this morning). Check out the map In a town called San Pedro de Atacama in Northern Chile (not on map but about an hour from Calama. Couple of days here then its beachtime in Iquique (ie need bit of a holiday!)

Tune in tomorrow for details of our tour, time for zzzzzzzzzs now.....

buying bombs from a shop.....

2006-03-08T21:34:00.000Z

Hmmmmm, bet that got your attention eh!

Update

Spent our last day in La Paz walking around some of the sights. Our final supper was held in "our local" an English Pub called Olivers Travels - beautiful Chicken Milanase with rice (although not quite as nice as the steak a few days previous! Oh ya ended up here as another favorite (Cafe Lun and Sol wasn't open!). Back to the hotel, collected our bags and headed for the bus station. Bit of bad luck on the way there for Ben as he got sprayed by a passing car, aint sure what it was. All we know was it wasn't just water and it was smelly and sticky- not nice, but something you have to accept walking around the streets here.

Then it was onto a bus for another overnight bus trip. Only a journey of 11 ish hours and we were very surprised by the standard of the bus. Heard a few bad stories about some of the bangers you can end up on here in Bolivia but this was fine. Granted no toilet, food service and only one TV screen but the space between the seats was amazing and my did they lean back far!

Where now

Greetings from the highest city in the world and 4050m! (yip I´m even getting fed up of all these "highest" claims myself). But we arrived here in Potosi (are ye all checking the map from a few blogs back?) about 6am Tuesday and got a taxi to the Hostal (Koalas Den).

Strange old town famous for its mines, dating backaroundn 500 years. Apparently this was the biggest city in the Americas around the time the Spanish were here, also it claimed to be the second biggest city in the world bigger than London, Paris etc. Another thing they are proud of is that back whenever, they had so much silver that they could have built a bridge from here to Madrid

Mines Tour

We signed up for our Mine Tour ($10) and were collected from Hostel at 1pm. Did this despite warnings of how hard conditions are down there etc. Our first stop was the "supply room" where we were each assigned rubber boots, a hard hat, and rain gear and a head lamp (old style with monster battery pack strapped around ourwaiste!)

Then we headed to the "miner's market." These are basically small stores selling pick axe handles, gloves, hard hats, dynamite, detonators, and ammonium nitrate. Yep, Dynamite, Detonators, and Ammonium Nitrate. All for sale to the general public. The idea is that we buy some of these and give them to the miners as presents. And yes I can confirm I bought the complete Bomb set for B17 (ie E1.70). Scary to think of all this stuff around the town, I mean kids are sent down to buy it for dad, before he goes to work....

Then, back in the van and off to the mines. First we went to the "separation factory" where the ore is separatedd out into various metals. Must say that safety is not a prime concern here and this place would have been shut down in any First World country, there were pulleys spinning everywhere and no sign of guards, as for the exposed electric cables, noise, fumes etc oh, oh....

Finally into the mine itself, this consisted of walking, crawling on all fours, up and down ladders. Basically the exact same way that the miners go in everyday (ie it was a working mine). Damn tough going, when you take into account all the dust, the cramped conditions, the altitude etc. Put it like this my nose/lungs still aint recovered and we were only in there for about 2 hours. The "bit" of dust we experienced was only about 10% (according to the guide) The miners often work at least 10 times that thick!
One very interesting thing to note is that most of the workers die within 10 years of entering the mines. Not only do they die from the extreme conditions of heat and cave-ins, but they die en masse due to silicosis pneumonia from the small heavy metal particles in the air that they breathe constantly.

Other things noticed were

- no lights/ventilation

- the large wagons on railroad tracks all hauled by hand up to the entrance where it is removed

- going up and down most of the ladders took some skill (esp avoiding falling rocks!)

- a guy preping for explosives is chisseling by hand for a few hours then stick in the dynamite

- hearing the explosions fromf araway shaft and then feeling the air pressure "thump"

After watching the miners for quite some time, it was time to leave. Only problem is that we had to go back the same way we got in. It took almost an hour to get out, and by the time I reached the fresh air and light, man was i glad to get out. Another point noticed then was my green teeth and gums- in an effort to make things easy on myself I had been chewing plenty of the famous Coca Leaves. Its actually all the miners eat during the day as food doesnt go down well in the conditions they work in

Before we left for home, the guide made up a little bomb for us, yes into a water bottle he stuffed some dynamite and ammonium nitrate. Then popped on the detonator and lit the fuse. Nice and calmly he showed it off to us - as we scattered back for cover. Finally he ran about 100m ahead of us, dropped it and ran for shelter himself. Cameras at the ready we waited for the bang and it did not disappointt, pretty impressive bang and puff of smoke and the "backpackers" had got their thrill for the day!

Where to next

Bus time again tomorrow as heading off to Uyuni, our reason for heading to Southern Bolivia, from here we are going to do a three day tour of the famous Salt Lakes and finish the tour of the Chile border.

Not sure about computer access over the next few days so byeeeeeeeeeeee

Probably the greatest Day Trip ever....

2006-03-06T14:39:00.000Z

what a way to spend a Sunday.........

FACTS

First the facts then the real story. Cycle from La Cumbre (4670m above sea level) to Yolosa (1120m). Yes that's a drop of 3, 550m (yes 3.5km) in 5 hours over a distance of 63km..........

THE REAL STORY

The bike tour through one of the worlds most dangerous roads started at 6.30 am at the company office. We meet up for breakfast and a few alarms bells started going off....Firstly the breakie was crap (ie stale bread and unusable Coca Tea) and secondly there was no sign of the "other 4" that were ment to be booked on the tour. There we were thinking "ok if they lie to us about these things, what are the chances the bikes are any good"!

As we left La Paz for La Cumbre another alarm bell went off as at the check point (yes they check every vehicle for roadworthiness before being allowed on the road). We were stuck here for over half an hour while the cops checked out paperwork etc. Left us wondering, hmmmmm "thought these guys went up here every day of the week". Again we promised to check the bike a few times...

We got to the top and dressed up, it was damn cold so im talking (from top down, helmet,wooly hat, alpaca scarf, t'shirt, jumper, rain jacket, 2 pairs of gloves and 2 pairs of trousers, socks and runners (apols but not revealing my underwear!!). Had a few mins familiarizing ourselves with the bikes- real Trek 4300 mountain bikes, front suspension and advanced "disc brakes". They passed our very knowledgeable inspection (ahem!) with the only complaint being the damn saddle was wet!

The first part of the ride is on a paved road and as I said rather cold. It was great zooming down the road, had to strike a balance between keeping eyes on the road and enjoying the wonderful scenery all around - planned on erring on the "eyes on the road" side to aid surviving the trip!

Such easy cycling, basically free wheeling down, passing buses, lorries etc- were even a few corners where we followed the guide on the wrong side of the road even though couldn't see a thing- pretty sure he knew what he was doing! Of the 21 kms on this stretch there was only 6km up hill at the end, didn't think it was too bad but seeing the guide walk a bit of it made me feel life a future Tour De France Champ!

Had a break here (bananas, choc and water) then it was back on the road for a bit, tourning a sharp right we were suddenly on a gravel road (yes very bumpy). We zoomed past another group -slow coaches and 5mins later the guide stop us for our final Pep talk. Also he tightened our brakes, something we were grateful for! We were about to start the real "Death Road", local rules here dictate that u travel on LHS of road (unlike the rest of the country) and take your time as there are steep drops either sides, river and waterfalls to go through and rock slides to avoid! Whata buzz it was going down here, every part of our bodies were shaking/bouncing and we zoomed down.

After about 5 hours we reach our destination in the small village of Yolosa at 1800, in a sub tropical environment. By the way at the end we were down to shorts and t'shirt, such was theincreases in temp as the altitude dropped) every stop seemed to involve the removal of an item of clothing!

Then we got a spin in the bus up to the beautiful town of Coroico for approximately 1 ½ hours. Once in Coroico, we were brought to a fab German owned Hotel for a buffet lunch and had time to swim, walk around, or simply relax. By the way with true German efficiency their showers were the best I have experienced in months. The were really hot (ie like home) unlike the "hot" (ie cold taken out of it) than I am now accustomed to in these parts. By the way the highlight of the hotel was receiving the "I survived biking The Death Road" t'shirt!

Nothing else to do, but jump onto the bus and head for La Paz, yes it was back up the famous road, this time not driving/biking it was 100% sightseeing and we truly appreciated what a cool experience we have had.

Other things

Heres who we went with, so check out their website for the official story http://www.chacaltayatours.com/home0.html

The road itself is called Death Road, also called The Most Dangerous Raod in the World (even goggling it shows up a BBC News Reprt of an old crash). The Government have finally completed a new safer road but traffic still continues to use the old road. Apparently 100s have been killed from vehicles "slipping" off the side and plunging 100s of meters into valleys below. Also on the way down we passed memorials to some backpackers that have died while biking (guide said at least 4 have died)

TOUR INCLUDES for $35
By the way it all the following we included....
breakfast
bus to start
guide biking with ussupportrt bus behind us
all gear hire (bike, gloves, helmet and full rain gear)
hotel stop at end (swimming pool, showers etc)
buffet lunch
return bus trip up the famous Death Road
CV with photos and video clips taken by guide

Anyone else do anything like this yesterday..........photos to come soon!

Blog site update

2006-03-04T22:00:00.000Z

Greetings all

Just to give ye a few updates on the site......

Firstly the comments section will be back up and running so feel free to add a few comments or questions!

Secondly there has been a bit of "Big Brother Stuff" watching the site over the past week, heres a list of where people have been checking out details from. I know these things are not fully accurate but it makes for interesting reading, the scary things is that I´m not sure I know everyone........... Well heres the list

1 Bolivia La Paz
2 GermanyFrankfurt Am Main, Hessen
3 IrelandCork
4 BoliviaLa Paz
5 United States
6 United States Mount Laurel, New Jersey
7 Bolivia La Paz
8 United States Humble, Texas
9 United States Toledo, Ohio
10 Germany Frankfurt Am Main, Hessen
11 Germany Frankfurt Am Main, Hessen
12 Germany Frankfurt Am Main, Hessen
13 United States
14 Bolivia La Paz
15 Germany Frankfurt Am Main, Hessen
16 United States Indianapolis, Indiana
17 United Kingdom Stevenage, Norfolk
18 United States Indianapolis, Indiana
19 Ireland Dublin
20 Ireland Dublin
21 Germany Rodenbach, Hessen
22 United Kingdom Wortley, Barnsley
23 Germany Frankfurt Am Main, Hessen
24 United States Indianapolis, Indiana
25 Ireland Caherlag, Cork
26 United States Indianapolis, Indiana
27 Germany Frankfurt Am Main, Hessen
28 Peru
29 United States New York
30 Peru

So with comments section it would be great if everyone left a comment saying where they are and give initials................. If u prefer to keep ID a secret no worries, feel free to keep reading!

over and out

2006-03-03T23:11:00.000Z

Good news folks, Im back online a lot sooner than I was expecting,

Apology 1

Firstly apols for the sudden finishing of the last blog this morning but Ben ran in saying that the bus to La Paz was leaving in 5 mins, so just cut it short and published and ran and just caught the bus (more on that journey later)

Apology 2

Secondly another apology, this time for the lack of mails over the past few day (well none to be honest!). The reason was simple, money......... yip the last town we stayed in (Copacabana) was a rip of as regards internet. Basically an hour internet was the same as a night accommodation! So hope ye understand - a shocking 14 Bolivianos an hour. Now in La Paz its only B3 so there's no stopping me!!!

Bolivia
So here we are in Bolivia, see the map..........

Spent the 1st 2 nights in Copacabana- beside Lake Titicaca. Then today we got the bus to La Paz (yes you guessed it the highest Capital city in the world , the city is 4km (2miles) above sea level!). No def plans for the rest of the country, but as running out of time will probably just fit in a trip around the south, namely Oruro , Potosi and finally Uyini for a trip around the Salt Lakes- cant wait myself to see what we really end up doing compares to this!

Bolivia costs This place certainly does seem that bit cheaper than Peru, from looking at stuff in shops etc thins are are about half the prices of Peru (everything except Internet that is!!) As regards everyday living here goes from say yesterday) divide by 8.6 for $US and by 10 for Euros

Accommodation - B15 (ie Bolivianos) per person/night

Breakie - B 15 (OJ, tea, bread and fruit salad and yoghurt)

Lunch - B16 (burger, chips and coke!)

Dinner - B16 (Special of Garlic Bread, Veg soup, Trout with Veg and mash, pancake for dessert)

Others.... Beer 620ml B12........... Water 2.5 l B4.............. Bananas 5 for B1

Not bad eh, but this is only an example of yesterday, other places will be different (dearer, cheaper who knows!) That's about all for today, gotta catch up with the rest of the crew and settle in for the night

Byeeeeeeeeeeee

same lake different country....

2006-03-03T16:10:00.000Z

Yip the time came Weds to say our goodbyes to Peru and venture into Bolivia. So off The Famous Five (Ben, Naomi, Suzie and us 2) went. Rather than the normal tourist bus that goes at 6am we had a chat with a taxi driver and cut a deal with him to drop us to the border ( for about about the same price as the bus would have been plus but more comfort and only half the time!)

The border crossing

This was always gogin to be a concern for me as when my Passport was stolen so was my "Tourist Card" (document Immigration use to control you entering and leaving the country!). When we arrived at the border things looked great as no guards so I walked through tyo Bolivia while the others got their Peru "Exit Stamps" on their Cards and Passports.

Feeling like "The Peru One" I walked into The Bolivia Office to get my 30 day Visa and things went Pearshaped. The geeser there refused to let me in coz I had no Exit Stamp from Peru. So off I trouped back into Peru and "had a chat with the Offical in the Immigration Office. As predicted he gave the offical line that I need the Touist CArd, even upon me explaining the situation and showing him the Police Report.

As had been explained to me by the Irish Consulate the decision is up to the Offical, basically I had to pay him S25 ($8) to write a new Card (have heard stories of people hasving to bribe with up to $200, so reckon got off lightly!

BAck i went into Bolivia and got my entry for there (Bolivian Offical wanted to know how much I had to pay- obviously knows the scene!)

From the border it was an 8k taxit to our Chill out town called Copacobana- (yip ye all know the song!). BAsically relaxed here for 2 days, Im talking long lie ins and no strenuous actions

Gotta fly as off to Capital City now, bus waiting..........

Happy campers in Lake Titicaca

2006-03-01T01:19:00.000Z

Well aint we happy campers......... and the reason why is that as per my sign off the last time the our tour of "the Lake" went very well. (ie we actually got what we were expecting). Before I ramble on for those with time check out http://www.titicaca.com/flash/ingles/ps2-in.htm (esp if u have sound, some great local music) Now back to our tour...........

DAY 1 (Monday)

Collected from our Inn in Puno about 7:45 and dropped to the port for our ferry. Ok so we spinned around the town a few times to pick up other folks but we ignored that! Onto the ferry with about 20 others and had a few words from our Guide (who spoke English, again another plus!)

First to be seen was the the Famous Uros Floating Islands. These were very strange and consisted of groups of Islands in the Puno Bay, normal enough you would think with houses etc until you jump off the boat and land on "reeds". Yes after some great words of wisdom from our guide we learned that these are actually floating islands built completely from reeds (continuously being "topped" up every week with fresh reeds). It was really interesting to see how the Islanders live, their island is made purely of floating reeds, and their housing of dried reeds. They survive by eating fish, birds and by eating the reeds on the Island. Supposidly the reeds taste like banana`s, don't really know if I agree with this, as I thought they were quite bland!!!

They feel perfectly solid under foot, but the bottom line is that they are floating (well are currently anchored in place) and can be moved with the help of a few big motor boats. Guess handy if they want a change of scenery!

Next we had another 3 hours back on the Lake, this time out of Puno Bay and heading for Isla Amanti, where we stayed overnight with a local family. We arrived around 2ish to be greeted by "local" with handshakes et. We were all divided up to stay in different houses and tucked into a home cooked lunch) of fab local veg soup, followed by rice, potatoes and a fried egg (strange eh!).

We all met up at 4 for a walk up to the local "hill" and the highlight had to having a beer at the top, not just any beer but the highest beer I ever drunk, yes there we were sipping away at 4050m! Sunset was a bit of a letdown, but had fun trying to find our way down. Being the last of the group to leave Ben and myself took a chance and followed a few "locals" down through fields etc in the home that they were heading to our village.

We were in luck and arrived home in time for Francisca (our Mama) to serve dinner. Soup again this time followed by rice and some sort of vegy stew. Did the spot and washed this down with the local "Manu Tea " (?) which tastes a little like mint and helps with Altitude sickness.

The night was ended when the family took us out to the towns fiesta for the evening where we dressed up in the traditional clothing and taught us traditional dancing. This was a bit of fun with the highlight being the fact that the family dressed us up in local clothes. The mens consisted of poncho and special beanie they had knitted for us, while the women's was a multi layer skirt, a traditional top and a special headdress. Confession time now, as I went for the female version (well wanted value for money and as you see the women get more clothes!

We bailed out of the party about 9:30 and headed back to the house. At this point must point out that the village has no electricity, so it was torches on. Sad story is that the place is all wired for electricity etc but they had to turn it off as its not economical to run the generator as too few people can afford to pay even the basic bill....... Had a nice few minutes star spotting (oh to have had Suzies "Star Book" before going into the bedroom and blowing out the candle (so romantic eh)

DAY 2 Tuesday
We all awoke about 5ish this morning, for a change it wasn't those damn dogs or cocks but some alarmclock in the empty room and yes empty room does mean that no one could turn it off so it roared every 15 mins for 2 hours till we had to get up for breakie. Breakie was a surprise as we were only expecting the old reliable Bread, butter and jam. Out Ricardo (the Daddy) popped with omelets (filled with the works inlc tomatoes, onions and chips!.

We were escorted back to the port by Sofia (last duty of the family), there it was interesting to see Moya rooting through the bin .........

Once every arrived we jumped on board bound for our 3rd island (Isla Taquile), on arrival at the port we hiked for about 45mins to reach the top of the island where we chilled out in the town square. Then it was "learning time" with the guide, most interesting is the very bizarre local "hat customs". On this island single men wear hats that are half white and when married they change these to full colour, other interesting things were their "dating ways" etc

Had a great dinner (which at 11:55 had to one of the earliest dinners I ever had, but at least it meant we had a "Full run at the day" as Pat Shortt would say..........) Damn fine feed again at the this local cooperative restaurant consisting of soup, fried trout with rice and chips and a cup of tea to wash it down!

After that it was back to Puno and start planning about how to get our of here, what about Bolivia tomorrow, era sure why not................. That's enough rambling, must be one of my longest so fit for the scratcher now.....

Totally not related but not to be missed................
was just listening to an Irish radio station and heard this classic song, It's an .mp3 download of The Jumbo Breakfast Roll a song that Pat Shortt sang on The Late Late Show recently. All you gotta do is click on http://spailpin.blogspot.com/2006/01/jumbo-breakfast-roll.html and you will find it!

for those too lazy to click on photo link

2006-02-27T01:47:00.000Z

right will show a few to tease ye into going in and checking out the photos link on the RHS

NUMBER ONE

Left to Right:Ben, Moya, ME, Naomi, Suzie (missing is photgrapher Louisa!)

NUMBER TWO

Prety impressive eh. Honest you could sit and look at it all day

NUMBER THREE

Left to Right: Georgie the Pilot, Naomi, Moya, Louisa, ME, Suzie

Touchdown Lake Titicaca ........

2006-02-27T00:43:00.000Z

Well we finally made it out of Cusco

Jumped on a bus at 9am this morning and landed here in Puno on the shore of Lago Titicaca (which is apparently the world's highest lake navigable to large vessels, and the second largest lake of South America (after Maracaibo) - for all the Pub Quiz students!)

Bus trip was a bit of a struggle to be honest. We said wed go rock bottom and see how we survived. So ended up paying S15 for the 6 hour "direct" journey. We knew booking it that the company weren't the most professional, but that's half the fun, somethings to point out:

- the "direct" service stopped 3 times before we left Cusco alone. Lost count of total

- toilet door was locked
- the 6 hour journey ended up taking about 7.5!
- loads of people standing in the isle
- video (Around World in 80 Days)kept stopn every few mins(when we hit a bump!)

But bottom line is we got here safe and with our bags, what more do you want! Nice to have done a daytime journey as the scenery was amazing (thru massive valleys etc) and seeing all the streetside action when we pass through "middle of nowhere towns" never ceases to amaze me.

As per the start of the blog the main reason were here is "the Lake". Away off on a 2 day tour tomorrow ( 11Euros for 2 days including tour, bed, food and a guide - beat that) Highlights should include:

- visit some floating islands, made completely out of reeds

- then onto Isla Armanti, where we stay with a local family

- they dress us up in the traditional dress and we all go out dancing

- finally another boat Isla Tranquile on Tues

That's the plan, but as we have experienced so often here, what u think ur getting at what u actually get are often miles apart, stay tuned to see what happens..........

jetset life of a backpacker in Peru

2006-02-25T14:56:00.000Z

Stepped out of "backpacker world" yesterday - for one day only.........

As most of ye know I had a run in with someone who took a fancy to my bag last week (cant blog about it coz the 3 times I tried the computer crashed................)

One of the most important things taken was my Passport, so yesterday it was another early start - speaking of which this week has been crazy as have been up b4 6:30 three times, some holiday this is eh. I flew from Cusco to the capital Lima (7:30am flight) to visit the Irish Consulate and see what they could do for me. Some of the options we thought I had was:

- never leave this place and live here forever..........

- get a temp Passport that would allow me only to fly back to Ireland direct

- have to go to Argentina (actual nearest "full" Irish Embassy), which would cost a fortune

All went well and none of the above will now happen! I have got a Temp Passport which will cover me for the next few weeks going into Bolivia, Chile, Argentina and back to Peru. Also the wheels are in motion to get a new Full Passport over from Dublin with my form whistling across the Atlantic as of last night. This should be back to the Consulate in Lima before I fly home via the states. The pains of the OTT US Immigration policy means that unless I have a "machine readable passport" I aint getting into their country! Hence the extra effort/cost of getting a Full Passport!

They were quiet helpful in the Consulate, (basically part of the guys house). Not the easiest of places to find though, as took the taxi driver hour and a 1/4 to find it- didn't bother me though as no meters here - just a fixed price so I got good value for my S15 (ie E4!).

Once I was there it was a case of filling out forms and handing over copies of drivers license, police reports etc. Took a trip down the road for Passport Photos and realised afterwards that for the next 10 years I will be looking at this photo which was taken:

- by a dodgy photographer, in Lima, Peru

- while sitting in his studio with the sweat dripping off me (no damn air con!)

- after I had jetted up from Cusco on a 7:30am flight

- survived 3 "fun" Peru taxi rides

- had 2 hours sleep after a Rum and Coke night

All done with the Consulate it was time to head back to the Airport for my 2:10pm flight back to Cusco (give you an idea of roads here, it takes 23 hours in a bus -yes each way, while only 1 hour flight)

The final detail to sort out was with Peru Immigration, apparently they can get confused when you enter on one document and try and leave on another. So to try and make it easy on them I went along to their office in Cusco to get a new "Tourist Card", but the lazy geeser said it was too late on a Friday afternoon so to come back Monday (would only take 3 mins to get a stamp/card sorted). I pointed out that we are moving on over the weekend. So he said that I "should be alright" at the border, here's hoping.............

That's about all on yesterday, heading around Cusco to see the last of the sites around here and also sort busses out of here, where will we end up tomorrow, who knows.........................

Links update

2006-02-24T22:39:00.000Z

Greetings all

Just to let ye know that there are new photos up as robbed from both Suzie and Naomi!

Also 2 new links that maybe of interest
- details of what some people think are the current "Seven Wonders of the World"
- link to the UNESCO World Heritage Site. Handy to check out what world famous sites are near you!

Clink on the links on the RHS of the page

Enjoy and send comments by email........

Sacred Valley of the Incas - tour Day 1

2006-02-23T19:35:00.000Z

So another one of the "been there, done that" ticked off the list! Here we go with the trip

Day 1 Sacred Valley of the Incas (Transport Bus and Train)

Off we trouped from the hostel to meet our bus. Plenty of time to spare we jumped on and got sorted by Maria our Travel Agent! Bus took off a few mins later and we were on the road, or so we thought...... Bus actually stopped 30 secs later across the other side of the Plaza de Armas and picked up a few more. Breaking our hearts the bus continued to do 4 loops of the Plaza over the space of 45 mins

Finally we hit the road, up and over the hills of Cuzco and out into the country. This was a fully guided tour, both in Spanish and English, very informative guide talking and pointing out things along the way, after a while we were able to switch off his talking in Spanish until he utterered those words "Again now my friends allow me your attention......." which ment he was about to translate what he had just said into English!!

Overall it is a fab valley for scenery, real tourist trail though as you can see convoys of busses all along the route! We were a little unlucky with the weather though as there was plenty of showers of rain and it was rather overcast. Yes we have arrived in a place similar to home weatherwise!

First stop was one of those crazy tourist market places where u know ur going to be fleeced if you buy anything. Every 2 or 3 stalls were selling the same things (Alpaca gloves/hats/scarves etc or Inca ornaments/gadgets) and my were they pushy "sir u like gloves...." etc!. Did the courteous thing and looked and a few items, tried a bit of haggling and got out of buying things by pretending not to be happy with the price. (Must confess was handy to practice the Spanish!!!)

Next up was our first Inca Ruins just outside the town of Pisac. On with the jackets and a 40min hike (up steps!) later we saw the ruins, these seemed to be based on a Religious Center , with a number of temples to sun etc. Notable was the knowledge of Astronomy as some of the buildings lined up with star constellations (eg Orion and Southern Star) center. Also was the reliance of Solstice/Equinox dates, the Incas planned their farming year around these, with sun shining on certain areas only on 1 day of the year!

After a lunch stop and another bit in the bus were arrived at Ollantaytambo, parked up the bus and got swarmed by the locals again, selling the usual array of water, Inca Kola, ponchos for 2 or 3 times the price in a shop!

More ruins here, somewhat more impressive than Pisac. The hike here started up through terraces that seem to be in almost all Inca ruins (were used for growing crops etc). Indeed many of these terraces (in less famous ruins) continue to be used by present day farmers! Great views from the top again and the guide showed us around the different building with the highlight being the Sun Temple including the major wall that according to most historians is part of the High Altar. It consists of six enormous stone blocks with an average weight is about 90 tons and have as vertical joints some other smaller stones. Even more impressive was when the guide pointed out the quarry across the river, we were even able to make out part of the ramp setup they had used to move these huge stones quite some distance.

Back down on ground level we were brought through the "Ceremonial Fountain" area. Amazingly the water was still flowing through a number of these, amazing that is when u think of all the places around the world that still do not have running water!

The tour ended here, so we had a few hours to kill before getting the train to Aguas Calientes, some of us trouped back into the ruins and rambled around a few of the quieter areas. Real relaxing there just sitting down doing nothing.

Back to the town for a bit of grub and onto the 8pm train, not the worst train i was ever on mind you. We were met at the station by our guide and brought to our little hostel (up a serious hill!). Then it was early to bed before Day 2 kicked off.............

Giving up on Peru computers

2006-02-21T23:10:00.000Z

yes there aint been much blogging in the last week has there, well the reason for that is bad luck and shite computers!

Have tried at least 3 different days to tell all but just as I'm ready "to publish" (getting into the lingo aint I). So reckon its bad luck the things I was going to tell all about. So the following will not now be elaborated on until I get to a very good computer:
- the bad people
- midnight sand dune hike
- sandboarding down dunes
- Nazca Lines

Now that's done gotta go jump on a train. Have been on a tour of the Sacred Valley of the Incas today and getting a train now up further to place called Aguas Calientes (too little time to check the spelling!).

Then its up and 5 in the morning to see Machu Picchu. Although there is some doubt over how we get up in the morning as there is a Transport Strike planned. Worst case is we walk the 2 hours up! Strange as it seems we are all hoping for this strike as it means only people that are in Aguas Calientes tonight can get up to MP tomorrow (ie none of the 1000s of day trippers from Cuzco) , so should cut down on numbers there..............

Stay tuned to see how it goes, also might tell a bit about:
- first dose of sickness
- effects of altitude

Catch up time from last week

2006-02-18T21:57:00.000Z

trying again today. Had at least 30 mins of a blog typed yesterday but the damn computer died before I got the chance to publish/save. Then was rushing for a bus so could start again. The joys of dodgy electricity etc.........

So here goes, lots to blog about seeing as it been a few days since my last "confessions"! Will go along the lines of

- where we have been

- where we are now

Then will follow up tomorrow with news of some of the more exciting things of the past week

- the bad people

- midnight sand dune hike

- sandboarding down dunes

- Nazca Lines

Where we have been

As per the last blog we were in a cool place called Huanchaco....... really enjoyed it there. Really relaxed life consisting of going to the beach (2 mins walk) and eating!

Oh visited cool ruins called Chan Chan which is a UNESCO World site (The Chimu Kingdom, with Chan Chan as its capital, reached its apogee in the 15th century, not long before falling to the Incas. The planning of this huge city, the largest in pre-Columbian America, reflects a strict political and social strategy, marked by the city's division into nine 'citadels' or 'palaces' forming autonomous units). Wont bore ye with more details, but it was very impressive and scarily hot with no shelter/shade!!!

After Huanchaco it was back on the bus heading South! No real destination, but the aim was to get to Lima and see where the next bus was going!. So another overnight journey was had. Again with Cruz del Sur, but this time we dropped a level of comfort in an effort to save a few pennies. Still, no complaints (ie still miles better than Bus Eireann, Greyhound etc!)

In Lima we changed to another bus station and headed for Ica. Not being a town of much interest we headed to the "backpacker Hangout" a little village called Huacachinca. This place is famous as being an "Oasis" almost fully inclosed by Sand Dunes. The place is built around a cool lagoon and looks quite strange and out of place

Still it works and we found a cool Hostel with very friendly folk and a swimming pool for only S10/night! Highlight of the few days here was hitting the sand dunes (see details tomorrow)

Again it was time to move on and headed for Nazca, famous for the strange Nazca lines (again more details tomorrow) briefly; took a flight to see them properly and got on the next bus outa there- not a lot else going for that town to put it nicely!

Which brings me to our latest bus journey last night, Nazca to Cuzco (8pm to 1030am S85 with Cial, incl dinner and breakie!) this leads us nicely to.........

Where I am now

Just after touching down in Cuzco and getting ready for what was to be the highlight of my trip ie Matchu Picchu. This was the only place on the whole trip that I was def going to see- everything else was to be a bonus! So hope wont be let down

Cuzco is a serious high city (3500m), to put it into perspective Ireland tallest mountain is Carrantuohill which is 1050m high. Not sure how will react to altitude, the recommendations are on arrival not to do much and to do what u have to do slowly (something Ive got used to over the past few months!) All ok so far, but you never know!

well thats it, promise a lot more tomorrow........

PS Great win for Liverpool today, hope ye Utd boys are quiet now, ha, ha

Peru updates

2006-02-13T01:23:00.000Z

As per last promise here goes updates on Peru

Haircut Peru style
Yes the time finally came for the hair to be trimmed. Worked that out as noticed that I was needing shampoo and also had to use a towel to dry my hair (rather than just shake it after a shower!). Bit the bullet and went into a place in Chicalyo during the week. Unfortunately the old geezer there hadn't a word of English and I haven't got to the "haircutting" chapter of my Spanish lessons! Regardless all went well, got a bit chopped off (relax mum its not as short as normal DIY ones!). Some interesting oddities though were
- lack of electric equip. He seemed to have a mech type blade that trimmed the hair
- cut throat blade for the back and around the ears (and shakey arm, so little nervous!)

All done and dusted, he splashed on the gel and I handed him 5 "soles" ie $1.50 ($0.50 of which was a tip). Anyone pay that price for a hair cut recently???????????'

Another run/rum and coke night during the week
Yip have had another one of those nights. Great fun again, with the lineup around the table including an Aussie, American, Norwegian, German, English (x2) and of course Irish (x2 - us!)

Great fun and involved a few card "drinking games" and plenty of "tunes", had our speakers on the tables and was switching between 4 different MP3 players. Needless to say the expected effect was achieved by all (ie baloooooooooooooobas). Up next morning and the feedback was that heads weren't as bad as expected, although the usual "never f$%&n again" was mentioned by a few. All of us still here did console ourselves coz at least we weren't like the 2 English who had to spend 9 hours on a bus to Lima.......

The town were in now Huanchaco
Really am getting to like this place were in. Have spent 4 nights here now and being honest if had more time, could easily pass a few weeks here! The hostel is really cool (see below) and the beach is only 2 mins walk, although must confess that there are a lot of rocks once u go out a few feet and the water isn't roasting- damn warmer than home mind you, but it aint no Florida water!

Were glad with that water temp though, because it gets really hot here (Im talking burning your feet on the sand as u walk to the water..........)

Another good thing about the place is how cheap it is IÂ´m talking:
- hostel bed 15 soles ($5)
- breakie 4.50 soles ($1.50) including juice, scrambled egg, toast and tea
- lunch 2.50 soles ($0.70) roast chicken sandwich
- dinner 10 soles ($3) steak, chips and salad (special treat today!)
- beer 3 soles ($1) for alitere
- internet 1 sole ($0.30) for an hour

The hostel (CasaSuisa)
Cool little place and good enough value (as per above). Have a nice spacioustriplee room, and beds are verycomfortablee. Also has hot showers,whichcisn'tt something we always get on this trip! Best part though is the rooftop terrace where everything happens, relaxing, reading, the old reliableconversationss (ie along the lines of "where youÂ´re from/ where did u come here from/where to next/how long mortravelingng have u") and the drinking games etc. But the best way to pass time is waterballooning the passers by........

Greatraditionmn here of throwing water, guess its understandable in this weather! Needles to say everyone has returned to there youth and the balloons as flying from the roof all day long. Top of the list are the busses - great skill needed to get them in the windows, everything is fair game it seems as the guhowwo works here lobbed one at a passing cop yesterday!

Thats enough rambling for one day, not a bad life here eh..............

beachtime Peru

2006-02-11T23:09:00.000Z

just a quick note today as rushing around!

Touched down after another bus trip, this time going back down south. Settled in a cool hostel in a small beachside village called Huanchaco, (the nearest big city is Trujillo for all u map spotters)

Loads to update next time i get online including
- haircut Peru style
- another run/rum and coke night during the week
- Chiga ruins
- beachtime
- waterbalooning the locals
- trying out the oldest sufrfing tradition in the world

But will finish by telling ye the luck of landing in this village at this time! Apparently this is Carnival weekend, including a massive once a year party. Tickets are bought and a real "united nation's delegation" is heading out from the Hostel. We don't really know what to expect, but the locals are all excited and talks of up to 3000 people attending

Who know what it will be like...........

The traveling around Peru begins

2006-02-07T23:56:00.000Z

well we have survived our first tip outside of the capital city

And never ones to do things by halves, by trip I mean TRIP. Yip an 11hr overnight bus trip up the north coast to city called Chiclayo - apparently the fastest growing city in Peru (one for the table quizzes at home me thinks!) By the way check out 1 Feb blog for map if interested!

Well incase any of ye were feeling sorry for us I must confess it was the most comfortable bus I was ever on in the world (www.cruzdelsur.com.pe) Were talking
- seats with plenty of legroom
- seats that recline further than the dentists, not exactly beds but damn close
- "trolley dolly" service
- full dinner
- music, movie (The machinist)

Had a good sleep on board, so ready for sightseeing as soon as we got here. Well checked into a hotel first, then with sunscreen on off we went. First on the list was the famous Royal Tombs of Sipan, wont bore ye with History but they are about 1700 yrs old and from Moche culture (change to hear about something other than the Incas!)

Strange story about their discovery (which was only back in 1987) was that they were only discovered by "officials" after grave robbers were reported in the area. Apparently it was big worldwide news back then, dont remember it myself but im only a "little un"!! These boyos were about to clean out the place- selling them for millions on "black market".

After the cops stopped this, killing one boyo in the process, the archaeologists got in and years later they have uncovered about 11 burial tombs with lots more to be done. The array of materials they found is incredible (as we saw in the afternoon when we went to the The Royal Tombs of Sipan Museum about 50 kms away and only opened in 2002)

Over all the site still looks like a quarry/sand dune! Our tour was very interesting and concentrated mostly on the tombs, but we also went on top of one of the other Pyramids for a view of the area. Not the easiest of climbs in sandal's and roasting heat I tell you. We learned loads about all these burials, the valuables that went in, the people that were sacrificed to "go" and assist the dead person on their journey- interesting aside was the "guards" legs were cut off, to ensure he would not run away - the fact he was dead and buried under rock and stone should have been enough i would have thought............

well thats enough of history, time to be filling the belly

Believe it or not we have photos

2006-02-02T22:59:00.000Z

I know ye have all been waiting to see some photos, well the news is that the good computers here in the Hilton are allowing me put up some photos

Exhibit A (2 day Volcano Hike in Guatemala in Dec and yes that is a big bag on my back, with a tent and 2 days of food and water!) Next stop Everest.........

All the rest are available by clicking on the "photos" link on the right of the website

By the way........must point out that these are just a few from certain films that I happen to a have copy of the CDs. All the rest are gone home/on the way home. Not sure if I can get anymore up, but it a start........

blog technical update!

2006-02-02T01:01:00.000Z

to all concerned

just to let ye know that i have updated the links section (to the right of the page as your reading this!), as makes it easier for me to check on things!

Feel free to check em out, dont worry no one will be tracking ya!

Peru, another country to the list but in style

2006-02-01T20:52:00.000Z

just had to point out that we touched down today in Lima, Peru and got a taxi to the Hotel

And by hotel, I mean HOTEL as in The Hilton Hotel, Lima. Yes folks we have hit the big time, thanks to all the "points" my sister collected while traveling with her job we have 2 free night of Luxury

picture the scene, 2 nights ago we paid $6.60 each per night, now were in $150/ night hotel with all the luxury's, pool, gym, exercise classes, internet, breakfast and its all free. Oh and guess what, there a beach only 5 blocks away with serious waves. As a famous Aussie says "I´M EXCITED" - can anyone name him, special prize???????

Peru, well here it is:

stay tuned over the next few weeks to see where we end up...

Well time to go and see, how the people with money survive, hope we dont stick out too much......

travelling Panama without planning it!

2006-01-31T02:07:00.000Z

well aint this place turned out to be a surprise........

landed at the Hostel in Panama City and settled as per previous blog on food value here!
Anyway we met up with 2 German girls looking to find someone interested in sharing the rental on a car for a few days. Suited us perfect as with no guidebook or plans of what to do we were well up for being lead around the place!

First on the list was the Panama Canal, damn impressive sight, the sheer size is incredible, then u thing of the sizes and numbers of ship's that past thru it. serious money spinner for the country aswell- average "toll charge" to get thru is $30,000 - nearly as bad as all those new toll roads/bridges in Ireland! Well guess it does save the vessel about 2 weeeks going around the Sth Amer continent!

Off up North we headed to a city called David, not a lot going on here, but a cool Hostel - Purple House Hostel and yes everything here is purple! Cruised around here today, seeing some of the mountain sites etc with the highlight being the Hot Springs in Caldera - scorchio I tell ya! But damn relaxing, then when getting too hot we were able to jump into the nearby river, def got one of those " ah its a great life" feelings today!

Tomorrow it back to Panama city, with a few stops along the way (ie beaches!)
Over and out, off to Lima, Peru the Wednesday, yipeeeeeeeeee

2 blogs in one day...........

2006-01-29T02:17:00.000Z

greetings from somewhere in the middle of Panama city............

no idea where we are coz it was dark when we got here, but its working out well so far. Have landed in a hostel - private room incl breakie and free Internet for just $17 between us!

Loving this coutry so far, as just went up the road for dinner, consisting of a 10 Oz New York Steak, with chips and salad for just $6 - who ever said Backpacking is about roughing it!

Well will finish up with a "you know youve left Cuba when....." section

1).........their are lots of different colored lights on streets
2).........u can buy a Newspaper from outside the country and watch foreign TV
3).........theres loads of Mac Donalds and other great US Institutions around
4).........shops are allowed to have signs outside saying what they actually sell
5).........people dont come up to u flogging damn cigars
6).........roadside billboards dont just talk about Che, Fidel, Bush and the Revolution
7).........people dont come up to u selling dinners or rooms in their house
8).........people dont come up to u looking for the clothes off ur back
9).........cars arent from the 50s
and finally 10).......u can flush the toilet paper down the toilet

all the above may seem "normal", not in Cuba though!!!!!

and today Cuba ends.........

2006-01-28T15:49:00.000Z

well finally get back to a computer to get in contact with the outside world

Will skim thru things not to bore ye but on the list in this is:
- horseriding trip
- nights out incl

Horse Riding in the Hills outside Trinidad
Got back on a horse last week (first time since the Guatamalan torture in Dec). We hooked up with our Cuban trasvelling family (cool, dead sound family - Stu, Andrea and Ciara) and the 5 of us headed off "up the hills". All in all it was about 1.5 hrs up, half our treck, swim and then the reverse!

Horses were healthier than the last time, but the track was lethal at the start- would be slow to walk on it myself, nota mind on the back of a horse- but with our high levels of riding skills we survived (please translate as hung on as tight as we could!)

Twas a nice trip, saw parts of the National Park and the waterfalls were well worth seeing- and the swim even more rewarding!

Nights out Cuban style
We finally coped onto the "local way" of doing it. We had a ready made party crowd in Trinidad, alog with the crazy Aussies, there was Jim and Sam who were also up for a few good nights out.

Well to the Cuban way is to buy the Rum by the bottle, get a few cokes and some ice and guzzle away!!! As if that was not bad enough there seemed to be an unwritten rule saying:

"if the person aint watching their glass, then top it up, they wont notice"

Needless to say the above resulted in some sickish heads the following mornings, but the photos were fab.

All the bars here have entertainment (payed for by the goverment no less) so loads of dancing and changing tables, nightly crawl was, new bar, new bottle of rum and new band- although one of the scary bands had a habbit of following us around!

Obviously not every night was a serious session, the coolest was the Disco in a cave. It was mad, a real cave and they had every thing in there, bar, lights dance floor etc. Only thing missing was an emergency exit, but it wasnt neeed!

Gotta go now as hopping on a plane to Panama in a few hours

Before that though, must say a big GRACIAS to the Trindad crew Andrea, Ciara, Sam, Jim and Stu ye really made me enjoy a country that i didnt really like! Hope our paths cross agin somewhere. Oh does this ring any bells

troubles of a backpacker in Cuba.........

2006-01-20T16:54:00.000Z

and finally after days of searching I find a computer that works.............

Have been encountering a few troubles here:
- electricity
- buses
- money
-weather

Power troubles in the country
To all that think the electrical Supply problem is bad at home, well folks be grateful........... over here in some places ur almost guaranteed it going off a few times in the evening. Simply dont have the capacity and then about 7ish as it gets dark everyone turns on light and starts cooking etc and BANG the flickering starts, and she disappears altogether. One benefit of the total darkness is great views of the stars. But not great if ur trying to find ur way home and not too sure..............

Locals are obviously used to it, its only gone a min or so and next thing u see all these battery powered light up and running. It can be lethal on the roads though as none of the cyclists (and there are lots) have lights nor go the horse/oxen and carts (but at least u can hear them coming!)

The scary thing is though, that is National Year of Energy Conservation here and the are talking of cutting off the Gas, which most people cook with so power sit will be worse!!!

As a final note, these damn power cuts aint nice as uv spent 20 mins typing and just b4 u get a chance to press "send" ya loose power.........

rip of of Bus transport
While the local transport is good value they really screw the tourists getting around the country. Granted they are fine Air Con buses, but they know to charge (eg 3 hour journey cost price of a nights accommodation!).

We are getting smart, for yesterdays trip managed to sort a taxi for only $3 more than the bus would have cost. Though we´d done well getting the taxi -more space, took only 6 hours compared to the bus 11 hours inlc transfer. Then surprise, surprisee as he collected us in the morningthee told us that there were another 3 to be squeezed in besides us. (even though we were half expecting something like that to happen..........)

Money
Fidel and his boys are making some money from us changing money. With the worsening in US/Cubann relations they now change a 12% commission on those takingmoneyy out of Credit Cards. Anyone on the way here, bring plenty of cash and in EUROs. We have just taken out a few hundred this morning and between myself and Moya have paid the equivalent of nearly more that 6 people monthlyy salary!!!!

thats about it for the rambling, gotta get to the beach while the sun is out

around and about in Havana

2006-01-15T21:52:00.000Z

well guess better start telling all about this place

As i said the last time it like stepping back about 40 years. All the builings look ancient and painting buildings doesnt seem to be the done thing - well not in last 20 years anyway I´d guess

Buts it not just the buildings, the car are ancient aswell, they must be fab mechanics to keep them on the road, Im talking everything from those giant classic old American cars from the 60 movies to Ladas - old models by the way! But its gets people from A to B

Speaking of which they have the biggest busses I´ve ever seen, they take approx 300 people and are so big that they are really a lorry pulling a trailer. Pretty sure no ¨Safety Council¨would allow them in any other country!

People spend a lot of time out on the streets, setting up shop etc and selling everything and anything out their doors, the shops themselves are stange- loads of display space but very little on show! Would be guessing that in better economic times these stores would be full

The streets are dangerous too, but in a good way........... dangerous in that u could get hit with either a baseball or football, every corner u turn theirs another game!

Well thats a little insight into the Capital city, time to move on now. Heading for the beachs for a few days to recharge the batteries after all the walking around sightseeing!

alive and well in Downtown Havana, Cuba

2006-01-13T20:52:00.000Z

Yip made it to Cuba last night and so far am loving the place, real cool feel to it and not a sign of any "normal" commercial shop frontage etc (well normal as we know it) And sowy Muscles def no Maccy Ds in sight!

Twas sad leaving the luxury we had in Ocho Rios in Jamaica (pool, beach and all mod cons etc) but then were far away hills to check out

The flight over was without drama with the highlight being the complimentary Champers! (god bless Air Jamaica mon).

Decisions had to be made on arrival re accommodation etc (as u may know Cuba being Communist is strict on details of keeping tabs on u!) Anyway we decided to bluff them and pretended to be staying at some hotel (picked from Guide Book), it worked anyway to a point as we got thru Immigration etc, but trouble brewed the other side as there seemed to be little hotels on offer (oh did I mention it was 11:30 at night!) and the cheapest they would offer us was double for $80 - way over our budget

Took and chance and I babbled away to a few different people in Spanish and eventually one guy came up trumps and after some detailed discussion (!) we agreed on a room in someones house for $25 (for room). Renting rooms in houses is normal practice here by the way

No probs with the taxi straight to the door and we made our introductions with the family and found out what a cool house we landed, picture real old style colonial house (im talking 15-18ft high doors and ceilings another 5ft above that, open windows half way up the walls and mini court yard on the way to the banos (oh and the shower has "kinda warm" weather which is a bonus on our budget.

Think thats enough for one blog, ! Just to mention that spent the day rambling around the streets which felt perfectly safe, regardless of what guide book say. Tune in tomorrow for descriptions of what to be seen - actually would think u have stepped back in time about 40yrs!!

Over and out

bumped into Parents today and flights booked....

2006-01-10T22:24:00.000Z

greetings all

had a cool day as met our parents as their cruise ship called into our town -small world eh, or are we just very good organisers (no smart comments Ms O S!).

Saw a few of the local sights and saw/touched loads of animals snakes, lizards, dolphins to name but a few.

Also shocked the parents with some taxi rides, crazy drivers here. Just drive where they like, most of the some of the "nervous passengers" just kept their eyes closed, although all the horn beeping surely told them things were not rosy...........

Other big news is booked flights out of here, the plan is:
- thurs to Cuba
- 2 weeks later to Panama
- 4 days later to Peru

Thats that sorted, so only thing to decide on is dates as they as still changeable at no extra cost

Over and out, gotta get back to the villa for a swim (3rd of the day no less)

where we are now......

2006-01-09T17:30:00.000Z

well aint we landed on our feet, running out of time now so will just describe where we are and hope to get back again maybe tomorrow!

after landing in the Capital Kingston we got picked up and dropped to our Hostel. Cool little place with only one other person staying there so had the full run of the place. Will decribe Kingston tomorrow, but stayed 2 nights and moved onto Ocho Rios on the North Coast (about 2 and half hours drive)

Ended up here as the guys that owned our first place also own this and we said we check it out, even better when we found out they we going for the day yesterday so dropped us there (not even the need for a bus!)

Anyways its a cool house, briefly it was their kinda summer house and now decided to change it into a kind of hostel- but as they have just started hardly anybody knows about it. So we have the whole place to ourselves, ensuite rooms, full kitchen, cable tv, housekeeper to clean up and gardener/"show u about the place" person and all just a few mins walk to the beach. Oh and heres the pool by the way......

The buildings in the background are one of those All Inclusive resorts so have sneaked in there already so check it out!

Being honest as I am (and know all ye at home will love this) the only downside is the weather! There a northerly front down from the states bringing windy and cloudy weather but thats due to go today! No need to feel too sorry for us though as its still shorts and t shirts and daily swims.......

over and out

the last of America

2006-01-09T16:46:00.000Z

now to back track for a while

The last few days were spent in Naples (west coast of Florida).

Had a lovely hotel just a few mins from the beach (in the car by the way, coz the receptionist said " its 3/4 of a mile which is too far to walk") By the way the way this comment sums up the US attitude to cars, they do/go everywhere in them, Im talking drive-in ATMs etc!!) . No offence intended to any Americans by the way, but ye do all admit the car culture

Then for our last night we went to Miami and had another trip highlight here........... Stop off at another part of the Everglades National Park and got up close and personal with a few more alligators- close as in a about 3 feet away and no fence in between. Man they are lazy creatures, what a life!

The best was still to come as we hopped on board one of those "air boats". You know those boast with a bit propeller at the back (ya do, there always on TV -and there is even one on the Blackwater now!). Anyway that was great speeding around the swamps, cutting through water/long grass/reeds etc. Bit dangerous for those wearing hats and the noise out of it was worse that "the fast boat" down the Mekong River- luckily they provided cotton wool which helped a bit!

Saw loads of animals etc but with the noise was sure of their names, all part of the fun eh

all is well in Jamaica

2006-01-09T16:20:00.000Z

greetings folks

just to let u all know all is well in Jamaica and as havent been able to find Internet in a week will split this blog up into a few - then ye can read what ye want depending on time (and level of interest!!)

For the very lazy will do a top 4 of Jamaica so far (in no particular order by the way!).............
- visiting the Bob Marley museum in Kingston (actually his old home!)
- getting through immigration/customs at the airport (took longer than the flight from Miami)
- getting "the currency shock" in Burger King (value meal cost like $350, but then found out that its 63 JA$ to US$, so not that bad)
- finding our villa at the beach (US $20/night, complete with gardener, house keeper and our own pool and beach only 1 min away)

well thats it, more to follow if ye want!

time to "move on"

2006-01-03T03:33:00.000Z

yip back online checking traveling plans, so can reveal all that the next stage of the "moving around" will be this week------

Thurs heading for Miami, then Friday its time to leave America again (4th time in less than 12 months!) and heading for "Jamaica man" (apols but those 2 words always seem to go together!)

So thats it all revealed, any advice on the place would be appreciated............

Everyone enjoying being back at work, ha, ha : )

The year begins.......

2006-01-02T23:16:00.000Z

well folks the year has begun as last year finished. Still in Florida (but have moved from Fort Lauderdale to Naples!) and still doing pretty much the same, that being getting up in the morning and figuring out what time to eat and swim for the day!

Wont bore ye with Christmas/ New Years celebration details except to say that it was pretty different to what we get upto in Fungarvan!!

Actually did some touristy things yesterday, went to see the world famous Everglades National Park. Cool to see it and did a boat tour and also went to a talk by a Park Ranger on the history of the park and how its changing - believe it or not was quiet interesting. But the highlight of the day was stopping of on the way back to Naples at a tourist "board walk" area, there we say loads of alligators (from a foot long to about 8 feet). Bit of a concern when we saw that there was only a standard wire fence keeping them "on their side" but then realized they are lazy whores so there was no need to worry!

Today then we played a round of golf. Some geezer we met in the pub while ringing in the new year invited us out for a round. Real sound guys (father and son) and they really treated us (clubs, Golf buggy, food etc). Looking forward to repaying the favour if they get to Ireland later in the year!

thats about it, gotta get some food into me, will tell all about future plans the next time............

New Years resolution 2006...........

2005-12-29T17:46:00.000Z

here goes my online life....... have taken the plunge into blog-world so no more group emails! The plan is to keep this updated with where i am and whats going on!

Hope ye read and enjoy, photos to follow in due course

Oh and for the record now in downtown Naples, Florida and still enjoying the sunny Christmas weather

More to come in the future, byeeeeeeeeeeee

Mick