Final blog.

Saturday night i went to the BBQ at Brad and Emma's place, friends I met when travelling in Australia. It was great to catch up and have a few drinks, they introduced me to Pimms which I really liked.
The next day Dave and I headed back to Birmingham and from there i trained back to London. Met up with Karen as I walked from the tube to Paul and Julie's place (Karen and Clem's friends) That evening we went out for dinner at La Porchetta and had pizza.

Monday we took the tube to central London where we wandered down Regent street to do some shopping and visited Hamleys, a very large, and famous toy store. I still haven't gotten over the novelty of the street names, having grown up with them all when playing monopoly and now they have materialised into real streets and stations. I also very much enjoy taking the tube, its so simple and logical. We had lunch at All Bar One where we had tapas and Pimms cocktails. Next we went to Westfields London which was quite a large mall and had a section for all the fancy brands, such as Gucci, Tiffany's, Chanel etc, spent a few hours there. After we went to Piccadilly Circus for a Cinabon which is a well known American cinnamon scroll company that i discovered in Panama, they are amazing.

That evening we cooked dinner for Paul and Julie, we had spaghetti bolognese, with salad, and garlic bread then hot chocolate fudge cake and after dinner mints for dessert. Needless to say I was very full afterwards.

Tuesday we did some very touristy things, starting with a Thames river cruise down the golden mile. We had a great Irish guide giving us amusing commentary of the famous buildings. My favourite fact i learnt on the cruise was that Richard Harris (actor who played Dumbledore in the first 2 Harry Potters) had been living in one of the famous hotels on the edge of the Thames river. He died of cancer a few years ago, but when he fell ill he had to be taken out of the hotel via stretcher and the lobby was packed so they had to carry him through the restaurant, as they went through he yelled out "Don't eat the food here!!" He obviously had a great sense of humour though I'm not sure the chef would have appreciated it.
After the cruise we went on the London Eye, I had heard mixed reviews of this attraction but i quite enjoyed it, the views were awesome and it feels pretty high. From there we took the tube to Leicester Square where we had lunch then headed out to the O2 where there is a Body Works display. This was incredible, it's something I've wanted to see for a while. Basically it's real human bodies that have been treated then partially dissected to reveal different layers of muscles, nerves bones and joints. It was amazing and a bit creepy. The first room showed fetuses from 1 week through to 8weeks in test tubes to see how much they develop. Then fetuses from 1 month through to 9months, including an adult female body who died while she was pregnant so they have opened her stomach so you can see the baby. It's incredible. There was a man that was was down to the muscle layer but he carried his skin in one hand like a blanket. They had taken off the skin in one piece, you could clearly see the hands, feet and face.
We also learnt about different diseases such as cancer and strokes and they showed what affect they have on the body and compared them to healthy bodies. Also explained how bodies age, the affects of smoking, and also showed what artificial hip and knee replacement look like in the body. My favourite displays, was of a man on a horse and both bodies had been dissected and split into layers so you can see, muscles layers, bones and the brains of both man and horse. And in the final room was a massive giraffe stripped to its muscle layers, it was amazing.

That evening I arranged to meet up with Nic and Craig and another friend from Contiki, Marie. However when i got on the tube we were told the service will be delayed due to a person going under a train. It was a bit of a shock to hear that but apparently its quite a common occurrence in London, and usually its someone trying to kill themselves rather than accidentally falling. It was a strange feeling driving past the station where someone had just committed suicide. I wasn't able to get to my stop so I walked the rest of the way and when I got there it seemed Craig and Nic had had the same problem. We went out for dinner at a pub and then took the bus to Leicester Square to go see The Hangover at the movies. Movies here are so expensive, i think we paid 11pounds, i.e 22AUD each. And the theatres are nowhere near as nice as the ones back home. But the movie was hilarious.

On Wednesday, our final day in London, my final day of travelling, i decided i wanted to see one last theatre show. I had really wanted to see the Lion King but struggled to find anyone who wanted to join me. I was singing Lion King songs all morning annoying everyone who was with me. I went to the ticket office but they only had seats left with view obstructions so i had to abandon that idea. Nic, Craig and I decided to go see Chicago instead. The singing was good but visually it wasn't amazing. The one interesting thing, and one of the reasons we saw this show, was that Jerry Springer played the role of Billy Flynn. (played by Richard Gere in the movie) It was definitely a novelty to see him, but he wasn't a fantastic performer, his timing was off and he couldn't really dance. Overall it was entertaining but i prefer the movie.

After the show we went and had a final drink before I said goodbye to the boys.

The next morning we took our final tube ride to Heathrow, it took about an hour but we were over 3 hours early so had plenty of time to spend in the airport lounge. Fortunately the duty free store was giving out free samples of a large selection of alcohols. I tried Pimms, whiskey, mango vodka, a vodka cocktail and cachaca. After i was feeling a bit tipsy. We had lunch wandered the shops then headed to the boarding lounge. Our first plane was an Emirate A380, i was very excited about this plane. The best part was plenty of legroom, and overall the plane was very nice. The next plane felt like a major downgrade, especially in terms of legroom. By the end of the flight I had swollen feet, wasn't much fun. Did get to see quite a few good movies though.

So finally I had returned to Melbourne. Hai picked us up from the airport, Clem didn't have any house keys so I had to climb through a window. My bedroom was different and all my stuff was gone because other people had been staying in that room. Being home, even now after a few days, is not as sad as I had expected it to be. I have loved my travels but I was ready to come home. I appreciate being back in my own bed and not living out of a backpack. My biggest issue now is sorting out my future, a daunting task.

Thanks to everyone who read my blog, I know they get very long winded sometimes, and often focus too much on food. Sorry for the huge gap in blogs during my time in Europe, I was just having too much fun. However I have enjoyed writing these and I'm sure I'll appreciate being able to read back on them in a few years time. To everyone in Christchurch, I hope to get back and visit soon, however as you can imagine I'm a little low on funds so may take a while.

20 countries in 134 days. It's been incredible, fun, exciting, scary, fascinating, exhausting, eye opening and stunning. Tried to learn Spanish, Portuguese, Quechuan, Italian, French, German, Dutch and Greek with very limited success. Learnt about the cultures, ate churros, empanadas, traditional Peruvian and Ecuadorian food (don't remember the names) gelato, snails, Italian pizza and pasta, French crepes, Greek souvalakis, Austrian apple strudel, delicious dutch waffle biscuits, raw cacao beans, lemon ants from the amazon, coca leaves, plenty of chocolate, Cinabon, traditional English breakfast, pork ribs, and more ham and cheese breakfasts than i could ever possibly want. Drank schnapps, absinthe, rocket fuel, Acai berry drink, German beer, cachaca/caprianas, pisco sours, French wine, Grand Prix cocktail, South American coffee (not that good) Inca Cola, Coca tea, Pimms cocktail, and my favourite Kahlua. Explored jungles, canyons, cemeteries, malls, theme parks, castles, palaces, churches, climbed hills, mountains, and stairways. Met people from all over the world. Travelled by train, bus, car, bike, ferry, boat, tok tok, London underground, quad bike, and tram. My favourite memories include, horse riding in the Pantanal Wetlands, Carnival's Sambadromo in Rio, week of recovery in Ilha Grande, floating down a river in the Amazon, climbing out the window of a church steeple in Quito, Quad biking in Banos, Salt flats in Uyuni, our week in San Pedro especially the star gazing, exploring Paris, staying in a chateau in France, George's boat and the resort in Corfu, Greek dinner and dancing, the beauty of Switzerland and all the activities in Amsterdam.

So that's it. I hope you enjoyed it.

Birmingham

So I've spent the last week in Birmingham with my mate Dave. The first day Dave showed me around Birmingham centre, checked out a massive mall called Selfridges(it looks crazy, see- http://jameswoodward.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/selfridges_birmingham_01.jpg) and also checked out some art galleries. 

Day 2 we went to Stratford on Avon, birthplace of Shakespeare. That was pretty cool, saw his house and his grave and Dave and I went for a row on the Avon. Had traditional English fish and chips for lunch with vinegar. 

Day 3 We went to the Cadbury factory. It was awesome, we were given 2 chocolate bars and a bag of chocolate buttons before we even went into the first room. There was a vat of melted chocolate being stirred which looked amazing, we walked through the jungle to learn about the origins of the cocoa bean, learned about how the Cadbury factory began, wrote our name in chocolate, got more free samples, watched the chocolate being packaged in the factory, went on a silly ride that felt like the duff beer ride, and got a cup of marshmallows drowned in melted chocolate but the best thing was the entire factory smelt absolutely delicious! Felt incredibly sick afterward. Almost felt like i wouldn't be able to eat chocolate again, but I decided that would pass and I bought some chocolate at the super cheap chocolate store. 

That evening Dave and I went to a movie, Drag me to Hell, it was pretty scary and a bit gruesome. 

Day 4 we went to Warwick Castle, The best castle i have ever seen. It actually looks like a proper castle with turrets and whatnot. Unfortunately we got rained on while watching the Trebuchet (catapult thing),  and we also saw an archery demonstration. We were able to walk through the rooms of the castle and they had wax people in each room to give you an idea of how people used to live hundreds of years ago. The wax people were really creepy and I didn't like to look at them for too long because they look too real and i thought they might move. The gardens around the castles were beautiful and had peacocks all over the place. 

Day 5 Went to Alton Towers. England's main theme park. I have wanted to go to a theme park for so long so i was pretty excited. Dave was less excited. This resulted in me going on all the rides myself. I didn't mind too much but it made the queues pretty boring. The waits were massive, an average of 45mins per ride. Hence i only went on 6 rides. So i only chose the most extreme rides. I went on Oblivion twice, Air, Nemesis, Rita-Queen of speed and Spinball Whizzer. Oblivion was definitely the best, its a roller-coaster that has a vertical drop, it holds you at the top of the drop then you plummet into the ground, literally, there is a hole in the ground which you drop into and then you go through a tunnel and back up again. It was awesome. I managed to go on it twice by running to it at the end of the day just before it closed, i just made it in time and i didn't have to wait at all! I live for that speed and stomach dropping feeling. So that was a fantastic day and Dave managed to find things to entertain himself while i was o the rides. 

And today we've had a relaxing day and Dave made me a traditional English breakfast, eggs, bacon, sausages, cooked tomato, mushrooms, baked beans and toast. It was delicious. I did opt against the black pudding though, dried blood holds little appeal to me. This evening we are going to a BBQ and then tomorrow i go back to London and will be catching up with Karen and Clem. 

Hey remember me??

So I doubt anyone even checks this blog anymore because its been 3 weeks since my last post. It's gotten to the point where i can't possibly recall all the things I've done anymore so I'll attempt to write a summary. 

So currently I'm in Birmingham staying with my mate Dave. It's actually really nice to just relax, have a bedroom that I'm not sharing with 8 other strangers, cooking our own dinners, (made Thai green curry!) and saving a few pounds. London was fantastic, Except very expensive. The weather was typical, half of our time there was sunny the other overcast and rainy. I invested in an brolly. Loved all the theatre stuff, went to see Avenue Q, which was hilarious, Romeo and Juliet as well as As you like it in Shakespeare's globe theatre, which was fantastic. We stood right against the stage so we could actually reach out and touch the actors, (i resisted) and Orlando, the main character was quite dreamy.  I really enjoyed that day as I had spent the morning with a friend, Savio, at the Natural history museum and then the Tate modern. So it was a very cultural day. Also spent a day at the Tower of London, saw all of King Henry XIII's armour walked over the Millennium bridge several times, went into St Paul's Cathedral, saw The Gherkin (fancy building looks like a bullet, or perhaps a gherkin). Also went to the original Hard Rock Cafe on our final evening with my Contiki mates. Spent hours on the London underground, rode a double decker bus and one of there silly black taxi's with excess leg room. Saw a play called The Cherry Orchard, it was crap, but starred Ethan Hawke. Almost saw Jude Law playing Hamlet.. may still do that. Once all my Contiki friends had flown home was a bit more lonely so was glad to head to Birmingham with Dave.

As for my Contiki, it was fantastic, best tour i've ever done, met so many fantastic people, saw so many famous sites and had some incredible experiences. Lets see I:

Sung Karaoke in Florence

Rode a gondola in Venice

Saw a sex show in Amsterdam (sorry mum)

Climbed to the top of 3 different churches

Went to a cheese and clog shop in Holland

Drove a car on the right hand side of the road in Corfu

Rode on a 4 person biscuit behind a boat also in Corfu

Got a tan! (it's gone now)

Went to a Space Electronic Discotheque ( yes it's an odd word)

Walked the red light district in Amsterdam

Ate snails in Paris

Did a biking tour of Prague

Climbed the Eiffel Tower

Tried greek dancing and drank a lot of 3 for the price of 2 bottles of wine

Went to the Anne Frank museum

Went to a sex machine museum in Prague

Did plenty of shopping

Went on a pub crawl that ended in a 5 story club

Went to a schnapps museum where i tried Absinthe and Rocket fuel

Did wine tasting in the Beajoulais wine region

Went skinny dipping in Corfu (with about 35 other people)

Went to the top of Jungfrau Mountain (Switzerland is stunning)

Built a snowman

Went into an Ice Palace

Drank cocktails in the Grand Casino in Monaco

Ate a lot of gelato and pizza in Italy

Drank at beer hall in Munich

Saw a church decorated in bones

Visited Pompeii

Threw 2 coins into the Trevi Fountain to return to Rome and find true love. 

Favourite historical sites were... Notre Dame, Arc de Triumphe, Eiffel Tower, The Duomo, Trevi Fountain, Anne Frank's Annex, Vatican City, the Colloseum and Venice's canals.

Favourite country... Switzerland

Favourite city... Paris

And that's the best i can do at summarising my month! 

Catch up

Right this is going to be condensed to see how much i can fit in, although summarising is not my specialty...


Ok So our second day in Beajoulai we had a picnic lunch which was fun but a bit cold, then we spent the afternoon playing backyard cricket, had to teach the canadians how to play. That evening we had ribs for dinner and they were delicious and then spent the evening eating chocolate and playing cards, it was fairly relaxing day.


Day 5 Drove to Nice. We stopped in Avignon for lunch, the palace the other pope used to live. Apparently there used to be 2. We had McDonalds, a traditional french cuisine. arrived in Nice, did our washing, went to the bar, had dinner, drove to Monaco, the 2 smallest country in the world, Fun fact: only 7 people are accepted to become a citizen of Monaco each year. they have to be millionaire and preferrably famous. Also Monaco has a 0% crime rate. We went to the Grand Casino which is the super famous super classy casino, it cost 10 euros just to get in. the cars outside the casino were super impressive. I bought a cocktail for 15euros, equivalant of 30nz dollars which is ridiculous!! Headed back to Nice where we spent the evening playing pool, i was partnered with a guy named Savio from our tour and and we did quite well.

Day 6

Took the train into central Nice and had a relaxing day, walked up a hill to a chateau and had a good view over Nice, walked alongside the beach and saw many topless women, walked down a hill and a cannon fired and then massive sirens sounded and we thought a war was about to start. Ate lunch in a cute little side street, had gelato, walked through a few shops, sat on the beach, built small towers of rocks and then smashed them down again, did some more shopping then trained back to the campsite. Chelsea and I dyed each others hair, then we went to bed.

Day 7

Headed to Florence, stopped at a purfumery and learnt about different types of purfumes then I bought some. Headed to Pisa to see the leaning tower, took photos of us pushing it over and saw the cathedral too. Bought some lemon gelato. Arrived in Florence that day. That evening we went to karaoke, there was a crap DJ who wouldn't let us sing the songs we wanted to sing and kept taking over to sing songs himself. Bought a litre of kiwifruit daquiri which tasted pretty average and spent the rest of the eveing dancing. Rodney and I wanted to sing you outta know by alanis morisette and the DJ made us sing I kissed a girl, by Katie Perry and i am not a fan of that song. Nonetheless it was a fun night.

Day 8

Full day in Florence, started at Leonardo's Leather store and our guide was hilarious, taught us how to recognise fake leather. Then wandered around admiring statues, did a walking tour and saw Ponte Vecchio Bridge which was beautiful. Walked to the Duomo Basilica and did the 500approx step walk to the top of the dome. Amazing view of teracotta roofs and green hills that surround the city. Had lunch, wandered the markets, bought a ring then headed back to camp. Got dressed up, did our group photo overlooking florence, found a restaurant for dinner and then went to the Space electronic disco. It was a really nice club, spent the evening drinking and dancing, formed a massive circle of our tour group and each took turns at dancing in the middle.

So this is very summarised and i'm still over 10 days behind but its a start!

Apology

Hey guys just a quick note to say sorry for my lack of blogs, things have been soo busy that i haven't had time and not many of our campsites have internet. The ones that do tend to charge 5euros an hours so its fairly expensive. However I am keeping track of my activities in my diary so i will write a summarised blog as soon as i get some decent internet time. Rest assured i am having an incredible time, I've met some fantastic people and i am loving Europe, its so beautiful!!

Contiki begins...

So I'm on day 4 of my contiki and I already have a cold. But its been fantastic so far.

Day one we left at 8am from london and took the bus to the white cliffs of Dover where we boarded the ferry to France. It was a big driving day but that afternoon we arrived in Paris. That evening we were greeted by he contiki staff who gave us sparkling wine and escargo to try then we had a delicious dinner of lamb souvalakis. That evening we got a night tour of Paris to see the main tourist spots so we could decide what we wanted to do the next day. Paris is stunning, definately the most beautiful city i have ever seen the buildings are so old and so impressive.

So after the bus tour we got started drinking and had a good night getting to know everyone, played a few drinking games and had a wee boogie. headed to bed about 2am.

Our full day in paris began as all tours of Paris should-at the Eiffel tower. The tower is so impressive. We weren't the first to arrive and everywhere you looked directly under to structure were people in lines. We found the end of a line and waited around 30mins to get to the front. we took the stairs to the first and second floors and the esculator for the final section, the view was beautiful and we could spot heaps of other famous landmarks from there. We then took the metro to Notre Dame which is such an amazing church, its soo big and the details on the building are so intricate and beautiful.The church took 180years to be built which is ridiculous, thats means the people that started the building would never have seen it completed. From here we got crepes for lunch then did some shopping and i bought some new shoes. We still had 2 hours before we had to meet the rest of the group so we went to the Louvre and it was free because we are under 26 which was a bonus. We managed to see the Mona Lisa which was less than impressive, Venus de Milo which was quite cool and Napoleon's apartment which was soo extravagent. Thas all we had time to do in 2 hours because the louvre is so massive that its takes a long time to get from place to place. They say that if you spent 1 minute looking at each painting in the Lourve it would take you 9 months to finish.
From here we met up with our group, got changed in the coach and went out for dinner in a fancy area of Paris on a hill with a nice church and a gorgeous lookout, i don't remember the names of them right now. It was a 3 course meal with wine but i wasn't overly impressed with it. After dinner some people went to a caberet show but we wanted to see Arc de Triumph and the eiffel tower at night so we spent the evening wandering around the city. The Eiffel tower looks amazing when they light it up at night and it sparkles every 30mins or so. It was beautiful. I didn't want to leave Paris because i felt there was so much more to see.

Yesterday we spent the majority of the day driving, making small stops along the way including to see a famous chateau (again i don't remember the name, i'm not good with french words) and then we arrived at our Chateau owned by the Contiki company. We are staying in the Beaujolai wine region and its awesome to be able to stay in a chateau and it has a swimming pool! After we settled in we went on a wine tasting tour, where we were taught how to appreciate and understand good wine. It was really interesting although i still don't exactly enjoy wine.
Last night was the first big party night and the theme was tight and bright.Underneath the Chateau is a basement that they have nicknamed the cave and its an underground bar. It was a great night, we got to know everyone a bit better, most people had quite a few drinks and we did alot of dancing.

Today was just a chillout day. They packed us picnic lunches in a basket and we could walk up a hill to get a nice view of the region and have our picnic. It would have been more enjoyable if it wasn't such a cold day but the lunch was really good, french bread sticks with ham, brie and tomato, then fruit and a Mars bar. And this afternoon we've just been playing cards at the chateau and catching up on some sleep.

Final South America post and London

So its been a week since my last blog, things have been pretty busy! I'm borrowing Craig's laptop which is a nice change from paying for the internet.
So the last night in San Pedro we went star gazing, it was really incredible, we went out to the desert and the sky was soo clear and the astromomer who was our guide was really funny and he taught us so much about the stars. Then we took turns at looking through telescopes to see galaxies, particularly bright stars and Saturn. Saturn looked unreal because you could see the rings around it.
The next day we took a 24 hour bus to Santiago, it was a slow day trying to find ways o pass the time. the bus was quite a nice one but we were all feeling very sore and stiff from the sand boarding adventure the day before. Unfortunately when we got off the bus for a food stop a passenger stole Nats backpack, Anthea's money belt and another passengers laptop. They don't know which passenger stole it so it all needed to be claimed by insurance.
We arrived in Santiago at 8am the next day, and we spent the day at the police station and the NZ embassy trying to arrange for Anthea to get a new passport. And i got my legs waxed. That evening we had a BBQ at the hostel.

The next day we went for a wander in the Bella Vista area which was really nice. We went to markets, out for lunch and then to a famous poet, Pablo Neruda. It was a very quirky and interesting house and our guide was really knowledgable on Pablos life. He was a real romantic and built the house for his mistress. The house was built like a boat and there is another part built like a lighthouse. Then we had coffees at the cafe next door.

That evening we went on a mission to find a McDonalds, the first time i had eaten McDonalds since i came to South America (other than sundaes) It was pretty average in the end. The we went out drinking. We didn't head out til 1am and the bars were still quiet. The first bar we went to was called bedrock and was themed in the style of the flintstones, it looked cool but the drinks were horrible. although they were very strong. We then headed to a club and stayed there til about 5am. It was a really good night

The next day was my final day in South America but we didn't get up til 12 cos of our big night. Anthea, Chris and I went into central Santiago and walked up this beautiful hill that had rock walls, stone stairways, statues, fountains, and a castle at the top. There was a really nice view of the city up there too. Santiago is soo smoggy that you can hardly see the mountains that surround it. We then slowly made our way to the plaza stopping at shops, markets and food places along the way. we tried some mini empanades which were delicious, bought some fancy chocolates and i got a new jersey too. By the time we reached the plaza it was dark. but it still looked really nice and then we caught the subway home. It was a really good day.

The next morning i was still getting ready when my bus transfer arrived, it was 20mins early so I had to rush around getting my stuff together and saying goodbye.
My flight was pretty nice, i got a personal tv screen which was a first for me so i got to watch whatever movie liked. The first flight was only 3 hours to Sao Paulo and then i had to wait in the transfer lounge for 6 hours before my next flight. i wandered the shops, read my book, wandered the shops again, tried all the testers in duty free, read my book, listened to my mp3, read my book and eventually it was time to board. This flight was 11 hours and again i had my own screen so i passed the time alright, The inflight food was pretty average but thats to be expected.

I arrived in london and found a significant lack of customs staff. all i found was an empty room with a phone on the wall which you had to pick up if you had anything to declare. Then i had my first experience on the London underground. It was surprisingly simple. I caught the piccadilly line to russell square. I loved that everyone was speaking english again and that i recognised the names of so many station names.
That evening i bought dinner at the supermarket in order to try and spend very little money.

Yesterday Nic and Craig arived in the morning and we grabbed a free map and explored the city. We saw so many famous landmarks. such as Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, Trafalgar Square, Big Ben, the London Eye, the Globe Theatre, Millenium Bridge and St Pauls Cathedral. We also went to see a matinee show of Wicked for only 20pounds which was pretty cool.

Today i went down to the shops at 9.30 and only one shop was open, French connection. I thought i'd takea look around while i waited for other shops to open but i ended up buying a pair of jeans, they were a little pricy but i really did need another pair of jeans since the weather here is a bit colder than i expected. So its completely justified. Then i bought a pair of converse shoes cos i'm sick of wearing sneakers. And that brings me up to date.

San Pedro de Atacama

So yesterday we spent the day running aound booking buses, trying to book star gazing but it was all full, so we went back to the bus company changed our bus to the next day, then booked the star gazing for the following night, then comparing prices for sandboarding, booked that at the place with the most attractive salesperson and then extended our accomodation for another night, grabbed some lunch and then got ready for horseriding. It was very busy.
So 3pm we headed out to horseriding and I got a big beatiful black horse named Negro. We headed towards the Quitor ruins at a very slow pace and soit was a bit boring to begin with. However after we left the ruins we were allowed to trot and canter which was great fun although a little hard on the butt. I couldn´t get into the right rythym for a proper canter but Katrina managed it. The scenery around us was beautiful and by the time we heaed back it had cooled down so it was great fun.

Last night we headed out for a birthday dinner for Anthea, it was all a bit rushed but Chris got Nat and Claire blowing up balloons at the restaurant then Chris and I half jogged half powerwalked to the bakery to collect the cake. Dinner was great and the cake was soo massive, so we ended up giving pieces away to the staff and other patrons at the restaurant.

Today we had to be up early to go sandboading, we loaded up the gear and then went in a van to Death Valley. There were no chairlifts unfortunately so we got quite a workout going up and down the sand dunes. Sandboarding is very similar to snowboarding although a little slower. So i had a small advantage already knowing how to snowboard. We had a few practises going on our heels and toes then we took to the bigger slopes. I was getting pretty good at going mountain side but i would fall over if i attempted to turn. They had built a small jump and Anthea was the first to attempt it but she wiped out. Claire and I took turns at attempting the jump after that and it was generally unsuccessful, i managed to land one jump but fell over immediately after. I had about 4 attempts but then i was exhausted from all the hill climbing in the extreme heat. It was hilarious to try though and we didn´t manage to hurt ourselves because the sand is so soft. We had sand everywhere after though including in our mouths from the occasional face plant. If you want to see photos i´ve uploaded them to facebook.

We headed back and our first agenda was showering. We then managed to find delicious empanadas fom the corner store freshly baked. After Claire and i went down to the sandboarding shop to upload the photographers photos, he took some fantastic action shots so we were stoked to get copies for free. On our way to the store two quite attractive guys from a restuarant tried to get us to eat there. we thanked them but declined. On our way back to the hostel they tried again this time trying to block our paths and lead us into the restuarant, they had their arms wide open so we offered them hugs then we said we had already eaten but we would come back later.

Claire and I have had a really cool afternoon together, we went to the plaza to play cards, then walked down to the bakery to get amazing lemon pies and cream buns, on our way we had to walk past the restaurant guys and so of course they tried again but we said we had a task to do but we will come in on our way back. So on the way back we had to honour our promise and we finally agreed to try their restaurant. We couldn´t bare to disappoint them. So we just ordered drinks and played more cards. Every 10 mins one of the two guys would come over to see how we were doing and chat with us. It was a great afternoon :p There was also a gorgeous dog poking his head through the door and one of the waiters let him in so we could pat him. The population of dogs in San Pedro is massive, they are everywhere. The other day we went for a walk and we seemed to collect dogs as we walked, by the time we got back to the hostel we had a following of 6.

So tonight is our last night with Claire before she heads off to Cusco to do some volunteering so I better go to have our final dinner as a group!

Salt flats continued...

Day 2 of the salt flats was just a massive driving day. which was exhausting on the bumpy roads. We drove through different coloured deserts and stopped at 3 different lagoons to see Flamingos which was pretty cool. That night at the hostel we played card games and scattegories then we set off Antheas fireworks. It was another beautiful clear night but much colder.

We had to be up at 5.30 again to get to the geysers. it seems they are at their best before the sun rises because they are stemay, once it heats up you can´t see the steam anymore. They were very impressive, the first one we visited was just a 20cm diametre hole with steam shooting out of it and we were able to leap through it which was good fun. Although the steam made your clothes feel damp which made us feel even colder. Then we went over to the main geysers which from a distance just look like a massive cloud of steam but you can walk all through the bubbling mud pits and at some points the path gets very thin between to boiling pits, and apparently some people have fallen in before because they weren´t paying attention. While we were wandering around the geysers the sun came up from behind the mountains.

From here we went to the thermal pools, they were on the edge of a hot water lagoon, it was dam hard getting changed and geting in the water cos it was soo cold outside but it was great once we were in. After the geysers we had a massive pancake breakfast and we also had this odd mix of cereal, yogurt fruit and bon bons (they´re chocolates) which i was told was very nice but i just ate pancakes cos i love them.

From here we had to hurry to the border cos we were running late for our transfer to Chile. The transfer took us to San Pedro and it was so nice to drop in altitude because the geysers were at 4800m and that is exhausting. At the immigration office i was a bit worried because a hostel i had stayed at in La Paz had emailed me telling me i hadn´t paid my bill and they´re going to report me to immigration, the police and blacklist me at other SA hostels. But i had paid my bill and i emailed them to tell them that and they never replied. So at immigration the man spent like 2 minutes looking from my passport to a list of names on the wall but eventually he stamped my passport and let me through. Then we had to get our entire bags searched. But we all got through without a problem and arrived in San Pedro de Atacama.

San Pedro has been really nice, we haven´t done alot yet, just wandered around the town, soaked up the sun and had a few meals out. It been great to feel warm again, to be at a lower altitude (around 2500m) and to sleep in. And i finally got a hot shower after over a week of cold showers in Bolivia. The girls warned me that the guys in Chile are the hottest in all of South America and they are not wrong. We went out for drinks last night and our waiter was gorgeous.
We then went to another bar and we found the drinking rules in San Pedro are quite weird. You have to remain seated when drinking and there always has to be food on the table so on every table you can see a dish of pasta that no one will ever eat. The bars can be fined if they don´t follow these rules. So 2 hippies claiming they were following the seated rule invited themselves over to our table and just wouldn´t stop talking, one of them told me i had beatiful hair and another told Katrina she was the most beautiful girl in all of New Zealand. We couldn´t get them to go away so eventually we left. Which was a shame cos the hot waiter had just arrived at this bar too :p

Today we´re going horseriding and then tonight we´re going star gazing with telescopes in the middle of the desert, so it should be a good day.

Sucre, Uyuni and the Salt flats

So Sucre ended up just being a place to relax and not do too much. We found a cafe called Joyride that was recommended in the lonely planet and ended up eating there for breakfast, lunch, dinner, lunch, and then dinner. It may seem strange to continuously eat at the same place and not try something new but we´ve learnt that when you find a good thing stick with it. Especially in Bolivia where its very easy to get very bad food. On our second day in Sucre we went on the Dino truck to Cretaceous park. Its the thing to do in Sucre. We had fairly low expectations of this place because we had overheard some ther travellers saying it was pretty average but we loved it. Just cos its was a bit silly and gave us an opportunity to take funny photos with giant dinosaur replicas. But the main attraction of this park is a limestone wall with over 500 preserved dinosaur foot prints. And from those footprints they can determine what family the dinosaurs came from, their size and weight as well as some behaviour. The wall has been declared a UNESCO world heritage site and they are donating the money to protect the wall. As its made of limestone it can crumble very easily and only 2 months ago they lost a large section of the wall due to a landslide. So they are hoping to get the entire wall covered in Latex. Archaeologists have studied the wall structure and predict that if they don´t do this a large part of the wall will collapse in 6months. It was very cool to see but we definately had more fun playing amonst the giant dinosaurs. All of which were life size. I will see if i can upload some of Katrinas photos.
We left Sucre at 7am the next day and spent the next 11 hours on a bus to Uyuni. We stopped in Potosi which is the world´s highest city at 4060 metres. And then 1 hour out of Potosi we stopped in the middle of a desert, for what seemed to be a food and toilet stop. However there was only what once looked like it might have been a toilet. By far the most disgusting toilet i have ever seen. I wont go so far as to describe it. So for those needing to go it meant finding something to hide behind, but we were in the middle of the desert so there was nothing. Nat found a small hut and lying on its roof was what we think was a dead bat. In the end i decided i didn´t need to go too badly and got back on the bus.
We arrived in Uyuni around 6pm and were instantly hounded by people wanting us to stay in their hostel or use their company for the Salt flat tour. We ended up agreeing to one womans offer and then she ouldn´t stop talking about her tour. She was definately persistant, and a massive liar. For starters she told us she was taking us to a hostel in the Lonely Planet and then took us somewhere completely different. She told us no one has english speaking guides for the tour, and other lies to make us choose her tour. it was very hard to get her to understand we wanted to look at other companies. We compared about 3 diff companies and found one we liked with an english speaking guide. then we went back to our hotel where the same woman pestered us again and still insisted that there are no good english speaking guides in Uyuni even after we told her we found one. Everytime we said no she just lowered her price, eventually we got the message across. That evening we had pizza at Minuteman and it was fantastic!!
The next day we got to the tour company at 9am, due to people wandering off and the tour guide being unorganised it was close to midday before we actually left. We had 3 people in the back row, 4 in the middle and the driver and guide up front, and around us were our day packs, water bottles and Chris´ guitar. It was a tight fit. We started to wonder if we had chosen the right company. However we got started and first stop was the train cemetery where we were allowed to climb all over the rusting trains to take photos. Good thing we had all had our tetanus shots. Then we headed back into Uyuni cos the driver needed to make another stop.
Finally we were actually heading into the salt flats and they were beautiful. When you look into the distance the mountains are reflected onto the salt flat which makes it unclear where the horizon is. Plus the ground is incredibly white and quite blinding and there are hexagon patterns all over it which looks very cool. Driving over it was very smooth because its soo flat.
Our first stop was at a salt hotel, the whole thing is made of bricks of salt and inside were lots of salt statues.
We stopped at Fish island and climbed to the top to get a panoramic view of the salt flats. The island is covered in cacti. Apparently it takes a cactus 100 years to grow 1 metre and some of the cactus on this island were over a 10 metres high. we climbed down and had lunch on a salt table. After lunch we attempted to take clever photos on the flats. Because the area is so flat and white it destroys perspective so if you are clever enough you can take photos where a person looks as tall as a Pringles tube by standing quite far behind it. We weren´t clever enough. We did ok but because the sun was getting low the shadows on the ground gave away the trick. We spent about an hour taking photos and then we got back in the truck and headed to our hostel. Whenever we were in the truck we were singing. We attached our ipods to the stereo so we sang along to every song. Even our guide and driver would join in occasionally.
As a bonus we stayed in a salt hotel which wasn´t part of the itinerary but we had requested to go back to the salt flats in the morning to see the sun rise so our guide managed to get us into this hotel as it was closer to the Salt flats. Just like the one we had seen earlier in the day the whole thing was made of salt. That night we played cards and drank some red wine and then had dinner. I was surprised at how mild the evening was as we had been told that the current overnight temperature was -18C but i would assume it didn´t get below zero that night. When i went out to clean my teeth i was amazed by the stars, there were millions of them, its was soo clear.
The next morning we had to be up and out of there by 5.30 to see the sunrise so we were very frustrated when at 6am we still hadn´t left. Our guide was fairly unorganised but fortunately we were out on the flats before the sun rose. It was really beautiful. I was running around in a circle trying to keep warm while we waited. Which is hard work at an altiude of 3500m. The mountain behind us lit up before we actually saw the sun rise. It was amazing and just for fun i did the sun salutation in front of the sun (yoga postion).

We then got in truck and the roads got considerably bumpier. We were no longer on the salt flats just in a desert so the roads were very rocky. After about 30mins of drving the truck broke down. Which is apparently inevitable on any salt flat tour. gortunately our driver got it working again after a few minutes. Although once we were almost in the town of San Juan it started bunny hopping again and we only just managed to get there. We had a 20min break while they treid fixing the car and we realised we had to many Bolivianos and we were going to cross the border to Chile the next day. this was the last shop we were going to see so we bought far too much chocolate and Anthe and Chris bought fireworks. We went into a courtyard of someones house where there was a toilet we were allowed to use. And in the courtyard was a little boy who wanted to play football with us. So Claire Katrina and I were playing and we started to notice a pattern, if i kicked the ball past him he would yell out Goal!!! but if Claire or katrina did it he would say No goal!! So we kept testing the theory, and when i purposely kicked the ball in the complete wrong direction and he still yelled out Goal!! we decided he might favour me. He didn´t speak much english but he would point to me and say something about how only i was allowed to score the goals. Patty and Nat joined in too but they also weren´t allowed to score goals. I was finding the whole thing hilarious but we decided that we´d get someone else to kick a goal and then we´d all yell out Goal!! at the same time to see if we could overrule his call. He did not like appreciate being underminded and refused to play after that.

Right i´m going out for some drinks so i´ll finish this later.

A true travel experience....

So last night we had to catch our night bus to Sucre....
We learnt some valuable lessons such as the worst seat with a good company is better than the best seat with a bad company. That morning we had tried to find a bus and the company we knew was decent didn´t have a semi cama or cama bus heading to Sucre (they are the different levels of luxury, usually each level gives more recline plus a on board toilet), and a normal bus means no recline which is a hard bus to sleep on. So we wandered around and found another company heading to Sucre that offered a semi cama bus, we decided that was a better option....
So we rocked on up last night at 8pm and checked in our luggage and watched as they dragged and dumped our bags into a very old looking bus. We tried to remain positive until we had at least seen the inside. We sat around for 30mins waiting to board while local men in another bus shamelessly stuck their head out the window of their bus to get a good look at us. We got on the bus and found the layout was nothing like we had been promised, the TV was non-existant, although in their defence you could see the gap in the ceiling where a TV would have once hung. We tried out our seats and i panicked when i couldn´t get my seat to recline but it was just a bit jammed so with a bit of jiggling i manged to push it back. This introduced me to the first delightful surprise of a large lump digging into my lower back which i think could have been a broken spring. After checking with the other girls it seems this was a common feature of all the seats. Still we grinned and beared it and soon we were on the road.
After less than 20mins of driving we found ourselves stopping at a restaurant and a man announced there would be a 20min food stop. We found this a bit odd but we never neglect a toilet stop as there is no guarantee there will be another one. So after 20 minutes we were on our way again and i attempted to get some sleep. Bus sleeping has never been my forte and this bus was no exception so i spent the first hour willing myself to sleep. At this point i felt the first drip land on my pants. I tried to rearrange my position to avoid the dripping coming from the roof and laid out a plastic bag to protect my seat, however this was horribly uncomfortable and i was still getting wet. I could see the man in front of me was suffering from the same issue and he was attempting to work out where the water was coming from. After 10mins the dripping seemed to stop but the damage was done, my seat had developed a puddle and i was edging closer and closer to Katrina´s seat in my attempt to stay dry. After another 10mins suddenly i had a small waterfall directly over my head and from the sound of things the man behind me was also getting wet. The man behind decided to go see the driver about this and ended up sitting up with the driver as there were no spare seats. This was beyond what i could deal with and Claire pointed out that there is a small seat in the middle of the back row next to where she was sitting. I climbed over Katrina and tried out the new seat. It was dry but it had no backing, just a sloping hard and dripping wet wall. there were puddles on the ground so my socks were damp as were my pants and my hair. I used my neck pillow as padding for my back and to seperate me from the wet wall and attempted to get comfortable. It wasn´t too bad but it was impossible to sleep there because the angle of the seat caused me to slowly slide off if i leaned back. So i got out my MP3 player and a bag of chocolate almonds and attempted to kill time. Only 6hours til we were due to arrive in Sucre.
Claire being the lovely person she is offered to take a turn at sitting in the middle seat so after an hour or so we swapped places. We had a new issue then, we both badly needed to go to the toilet but we were in the middle of nowhere and had no idea if we were due to make a stop. After a while we got brave enough to go up to the drivers compartment and put together a sentence is spanish requesting a toilet stop. To which he cheerfully replied Si si si si! So reassured we went back to our seats and waited. and waited.. everytime we passed a petrol station or slowed to a stop we thought we were there then we would be disappointed as the bus started accelerating again. Finally after 15mins we stopped and the lights came on so we were able to go to the bathroom.
We headed off again and now having a proper seat i thought i had a chance at getting to sleep. However there were still 2 issues. 1. The road was incredibly windy and bumpy, the main road was cobblestone and very rocky stones at that, this caused us to feel constant jolts and the driver was forever braking, almost coming to a complete stop then making massively sharp turns or going over large potholes which caused us to be thrown all over the place. 2. The man who was sitting with the driver had decided to come back to his chair with a blanket to cover the wet seat. As i was´now sitting in Claire´s seat this man was sitting next to me and he was a big man. And he was a bastard, being big was no excuse to spread out over his seat and half of mine. he had spread his legs far apart so he was leaning right against me and the had his elbow right out pushing against my side. This left me no choice but to start agressively wriggling and elbowing him to gain some space. But he pretended not to notice so i was squashed right against the armrest. He made me furious plus i just felt so uncomfortable having a stranger leaning right against me. Miraculously i did manage to get about 2 hours sleep cos i woke up and claire informed me it was 5am. I gave her back her seat so she could get some sleep too and tried to fill in time listening to my MP3. She had similar issues with the large man but she managed elbow him hard enough for him to move an inch or 2.
Eventually it became light and i could see a town coming up in the distance. By 8am we had arrived in Sucre and i felt like absolute crap. So we have decided to fork out extra money to find the best bus company possible for our next big ride to Uyuni. Sucre is not to stunning town that Lonely planet described it as and our hostel was not the japanese style modern accomodation it promised.

We dumped our bags at our hostel we went out to find breakfast, i had fruit muesli and yogurt plus a cappuccino and by the time i had finished that i was feeling much better. We wanted to make the most of our time here so we went to arrange a horse riding trip for tomorrow but there are 5 of us and only 3 horses available. We considered quad biking but it was beyond our budget so we will just visit the dinosuar park tomorrow and then leave the next morning. Its hard to remain positive on days like these but we managed to have a few laughs about how ridiculous it all is and it has been nice to just sit around do very little, arrange for our washing to be done and have a nap.

coping alone...

So Saturday was the first day we had to fend for ourselves in a month and it was less than successful. We spent nearly the whole day trying to decide what our next destination would be. It became very complicated with everyones needs taken into account. We almost got on a bus to Cochabamba last night but in the end decided it was a risk because we would arrive at 2am with nowhere to stay. So we found a hostel in La paz for the night and it was amazing. We have been staying in hotels for so long we´d forgotten what an awesome environment hostels are. This was a particularly good hostel, with a bar upstairs and a movie room. It felt more like we were in an irish pub than in Bolivia and everyone spoke english! We had a drink with Diana before she had to catch a bus and then watched Chicago in the movie room. And it was in english! (i really like english)
Unfortunately sharing a bedroom with 9 other people has its drawbacks which for me was not alot of sleep.

The next day we left Anthea behind in La Paz and we bussed to Cochabamba. When we arrived we discovered there are no buses to the ToroToro National Park on Mondays which was the purpose of our visit to Cochabamba. But we tried to make the most of our time here so we went out to the best italian resturant in the city (according to lonely planet) and it was really quite fancy, yet it only cost us around $10nz for a main. I had chicken, mushroom and red capsicum fetticcine. I love how cheap Bolivia is.

Today we booked our bus to Sucre for 8pm tonight and have spent the day killing time in the city. We went out for breakfast, then wandered around the shops, found a bakery and had my first piece of fresh bread since i reached Bolivia, then had a coffee, then went up to the christ statue on a hill overlooking Cochabamba. Turns out its the worlds biggest christ statue, we assumed that title belonged to Christ the Reedeemer in Rio. But this one is definately bigger.

And now were just wasting time til dinner and then we´ll do our overnight bus to Sucre.

Cusco, Puno, Amantani Island, Cpacabana and La Paz

The title of this blog is a bit ambitious cos thats a lot of places to write about

Right our last day in Cusco was fairly uneventful, we were exhausted after the inca trail so just wandered around aimlessly, its a nice city to walk around though and perfect weather. And we ate at jacks cafe for lunch which is run by an aussie guy so that was cool. That night we went out to a couple of clubs, Mama Africa and Mythology but didn`t stay out late.

Next day we left early to get to Puno. It was an uneventful ride there. We didn`t do alot that day either, just had lunch and spent some time catching up on the internet.

Next morning we went to Amantani Island on Lake Titikaka to stay with host families. We took tok toks to the wharf which was great fun and then we bought supplies for our families, such as milk powder, rice sugar pasta and jam, as well as books and pencils for the kids. The lake was so massive it felt like we were on the ocean. On our way there we stopped for a visit to the floating reed island. Its an amazing place, the people there are continuously laying down more reeds so their island doesn`t sink. Everything on that island is made from reeds including the island itself. the houses, the boats, the seats, the lookout tower , all reeds. They even eat the reeds and we got to try some; it tasted a bit like apple but a weaker flavour. A woman showed anthea and i around her house, or should i say in her house as it was only one room. then she showed us her handicrafts which she tried to sell to us, they were woven pillowcases and blankets but we couldn`t really afford them but she made us feel guilty cos they rely on the tourists buying their things so i bought a bracelet from her.
We then went on a boat ride (a reed boat of course). It was such an elaborate boat, it had two lions heads at the front and even an upper level. two men from the island would row from the front and we moved very slowly but it was relaxing.
We then got back into our regular boat and continued to Amantani island. When we arrived we were greeted by our host family. Our pPapa came to collect Claire and I and we had a uphill walk to our house. Usually it would have been easy but the altitude makes everything harder. We arrived at our house and were introduced to our Mama and Clarice who we spent most of our time with. After putting our bags down in our bedroom we went down to the kitchen to see if we could help with lunch. Clarice took us out the back of the house where they had a vege patch and we picked beans and then took them inside. She then showed us how to shell the beans and peel them, she did it so easily but claire and i struggled, often losing half the bean from over peeling. Half way through this task she told us lunch was ready so it seemed she had just given us a mundane task to make us feel better and our beans weren`t required for lunch at all. We consoled ourselves by deciding they would be used at dinner.
The kitchen was also the dining room and it was a small brick room with a table and a few chairs. At one end there was a wood fire where they did all the cooking and the room smelt strongly of smoke. It was amazing seeing them cook so well with this oven, it looked so old fashioned. We had soup as a first course and then veges, fried cheese and rice for our main. Clarice could speak Spanish and Quechuan so our conversation was limited but we did manage to talk a bit. After lunch we helped with the dishes and then we headed to the football field to meet the rest of our group. Some of the tourists played football but we know our limitations which definately include no running at altitude. So we climbed a mountain instead. We took it very slow stopping often but it didn`t take us too long. At the top we walked around the old temple 3 times and then made a wish which is a local tradition. Then we sat and watched the sun go down while our tour guide told us the story of pachamama and pachatata which were old folklores of this island and the names of the 2 mountains. Once the sun had got down it was freezing so we made our way dow the mountain quite quickly and went to the local store for hot chocolates. Then we went back home for dinner. We helped peel potatoes but because i`m so used to a potato peeler i ended up cutting off half the potato in my attempts to peel it with a knife, whereas Mama could remove the entire skin of a potato in one go. Dinner consisted of more soup and chopped veges with rice, but we were pleased to see our beans had made it into our dinner.
After dinner we talked to Kelly who was our little sister and we gave her the coloured pencils and book and we drew pictures with her for a while. Again she didn`t speak english but she was easier to communicate to. Then we went upstairs and waited for Clarice to bring us our outfits for that evenings party. We were pretty sure that what she had told us to do but as time went on and she didn`t show up we started to wonder if we had misunderstood, so we kept going downstairs to peak in the window and try and work out what to do, we felt ridiculous but we didn`t want to go into her room because we hadn`t been invited. Finally she came up with our outfits and they were so cool! We had white shirts with colourful embrodery on the sleeves and then four layers of heavy brightly coloured skirts with a fat rainbow belt. and then a black shawl with more colourful patterns on it. We looked fantastic, we attempted to plait our hair as the woman all have two long plaits.
We headed over to the school hall for the party. All the tourists were dressed up similar to us and the guys wore ponchos. There was a live band at the front of the room and we were taught the traditional dance which mainly consisted of holding hands with our partner and pulling our arms back and forth. Occasionally we would all join hands in a circle and dance around the whole hall. It was good fun but after 2 hours we headed back to our homes. There is no electricity on the island but most houses have solar panels so we had a light in our bedroom. We cleaned our teeth out in the garden and it was quite beautiful standing out there with the moon lighting up the mountainside and the garden.
The next morning we got up and headed down to the kitchen where Clarice was making us pancakes. After breakfast we thanked Papa and then headed down to the wharf with Clarice to meet our group and head back to Puno. We attempted to thank her in Quenchuan which is ¨yasparagasunky¨which i had to practise alot to get right. It was a sunny and calm day so we sat on the back of the boat for our 3 hour trip and sung every song we could think of from the 90`s. I think our tour guide thinks were crazy.
We got back to Puno and that afternoon i went to the police station with Diana to get a police report for my camera. Then we went our for dinner at a restaurant called colours. Then food there was a amazing. I had a mango and chicken indian curry with pink rice and blackberry sauce. It tasted soo good and quite different to any curry i`ve tried before. Then i had a banana split for dessert.
The next morning we left Peru and bussed to Bolivia, officially the bus stopped in Peru and we walked over the border so i think its fair to say i walked to Bolivia. Once we had done the official stuff we got back in the bus for a 10min ride to Copacabana. We wandered the streets as there were plenty of people selling jewellery and other crafts, we saw the main square and then went for lunch at a fairly average cafe. Then Claire, Katrina, Anthea and i hired kayaks and went for a paddle in Lake Titkaka. We just couldn`t get over how much this lake looks like the ocean, its so massive, only differences are the water isn`t salty and we`re 3500m above sea level. But the seagulls don`t seem to notice the difference.
After working out our arms we did a leg workout by climbing a hill to a lookout of the lake. Yet another struggle but were getting pretty used to spending our days walking up hills by now. This walkway had stations of the cross which people carry a cross up to the top on good friday. At the top of the hill there are small wood ovens where the people burn minature things such as small wads of fake money or mini houses or cars because they believe whatever they burn they will receive that year (but in regular size) The view from the top was gorgeous, the water was very calm and the sun shone off it. It was such a warm day and the sky in front of us was soo blue that we were surprised to hear thunder behind us. Massive clouds were making their way over so we headed back down to the hotel.
That evening we went out for dinner and we discovered that Bolivia really is as cheap as they say. I had a meal of mushroom soup with bread and butter, buffet salad bar, pumpkin stew with rice and chocolate cake for approx 5AUD. It was fantastic!!
Today we had the morning to sleep in and then wander Copacobana. So we went to a coffee shop where i had a delicious coffee with icecream in it and nachos, then we wandered the markets and checked out the cathedral. At 1pm we caught a bus, and then a small boat then the same bus again (it was ferried across) to La Paz. Since we got here we`ve been out for dinner and come to the internet cafe. We found a movie theatre and were excited by the prospect of seeing a normal movie but unfortunately in Bolivia they dub them all in spanish rather than adding spanish subtitles so we had to skip that idea.
And that covers all the places in my title :)

Unenthusiastic Blog

Right i need to play catchup cos i have a gap of about 4 days where i wrote nothing.

OK umm I was in Nazca and we went to see the ruins at sunset, unfortunately we were told the wrong time for sunset and it was already gone by the time we reached there. However the sky was still beautiful and so were the ruins.
We walked back into town in the dark which was tricky cos the cars don`t see us and there are no footpaths but we`re still alive so it was all good. We went to a planetarium type thing where we learnt about the nazcar lines and how they correlate with the stars and the summer and winter solstice, it was interesting to begin with but then it just became unbearably hot. After we went out for dinner and then at 10pm we caught a night bus to Ariquipa.
Arrived in Ariquipa around 8am and wandered the town then went out for lunch. During lunch someone stole Claires bag. She had put it on the ground next to her chair so we assume someone would have picked it up as they walked past. Claire Diana and I spent the afternoon at the police station getting a police report for her insurance.
Next day we went to Colca Canyon, the worlds largest canyon. left around 6am, and made many stops along the way and saw about 4 volcanos. We stopped to buy some Ariquipa chocolate and drink Coca tea on our way because the tea helps with altitude sickness and the chocolate is delicious. We also stopped to see llamas and alpacas along the way cos they are so gorgeous with their fluffy coats and big brown eyes. At the highest point of the trip we reached 5000m, we got out of the van and immediately felt breathless. A tradition of the local people is to add a stone to a stack at this peak of the mountain to ensure a safe journey over the pass. We added a stone to a pile and wandered around, got our breath back and wandered back to the van. We then made our descent into the town of Chivay where would spend the night.
First stop was lunch where all i could stomach was a sandwich, the altitude had removed my appetite and given me a headache, fortunately it didn`t last long. We went for a walk with our guide around the town and he showed us some beatiful inca ruins hidden just over the hills from this town, it looked like a tiered circular theatre but it was actually a place where they people would plant crops and the tiered system and stone walls created a drainage system for their crops. Also saw some cute donkeys on the walk back.
That evening a few of us went to the hot springs which were so nice. It was a freezing evening so it was horrible getting changed and taking the mandatory shower before getting in but once we were in it was perfect. There was a nice view of mountains surrounding us and we could move from one end of the pool to the other to find the perfect temperature. After the pools we went out to a restaurant that has traditional peruvian music and dancing. It was really amazing, the music was very impressive, especially the flutes and the dancers wore beautiful costumes. The final dance of the evening was called the Malaria dance and it was very bizarre. The man wears a white balaclava mask and they begin dancing normally, then he bites into an orange, collapses onto the floor and starts convulsing. This goes on for about 2 mins while the woman casually dances around him and occasionally whips him with a piece of rope. eventually the man gets back up again and regains his composure and continues to dance. Then the roles are reversed and the woman has to collapse, convulse and be whipped. Then the man picked Claire out of the audience to dance with him. So Claire had to bite the orange, collapse, convulse, be whipped and then he picked her up threw her over his shoulder and span her around. Needless to say Claire loved it. I found it hilarious and took photos.
The next morning we were up early and continued our trip into Colca Canyon, the scenery out the window was incredible, the fields were so green and bright, the mountains were massive and the sky was very blue. we reached the lookout point which is one of the deepest points of the canyon, it is apparently twice the depth of the Grand Canyon. As we sat on the edge admiring the view and Condor flew right past us. These are massive birds with a usual wingspan of 2 metres. We saw a few of them fly past. Then we headed back to Ariquipa as it was a 6 hour journey.
The next morning we had to be up at 5am for our flight to Cusco. This would have to be one of the more miserable days of my trip. We got to the airport, boarded the plane without any hassle. The flight was enjoyable, we took photos, saw views of the mountains and the whole journey only tok 45mins. But it wasn`t a direct flight to Cusco, we had to fly to Puno firs then Cusco. We arrived in Cusco and then sat in the plane waiting to take off. And we waited... and we waited... 2 hours later we were still sitting in the plane. We had all had cockpit tours and had spread out and we hungry and bored. finally after another 30mins we learned that the weather in Cusco was too cluody and the flight was cancelled. So we flew back to Ariquipa. Then we had options, bus to cusco which would be an overnight bus, take about 10hours and we would have to pay for it ourselves. Stay in Ariquipa, take the same flight the next day, risk not being able to get to Cusco and then have to take an overnight bus the next day and then go stright onto the Inca Trail. plus we had to pay for our own accomodation cos neither the tour company or the airline would cover our expenses for the cancelled flight cos it was weather related therefore not their fault. So we decided to risk staying in Ariquipa and taking the early morning flight. So we found ourselves a cheap hostel for the night and then went our seperate ways to wander around and get things done. I walked to the main square and went to take a photo just to realise my camera was gone. I don`t know what happened to it, i had it on the plane, i double checked the seat and under the seat before leaving the plane and then 5 hours later it wasn`t in my bag anymore. It was very gutting. Especially with the Inca trail in 2 days time. I still don`t have a camera but hopefully my insurance will cover it. So i miserably wandered around til 6pm when our group was meeting. We went out for dinner that was the best part of a crap day. The restaurant was located on the edge of the sqaure and we sat on the balcony overlooking the square with the mountains behind and the moon shining bright. It was freezing on the balcony but the waiters brought us all ponchos which was fantastic and very warm. Our only issue was taking our hands out of the ponchos to eat.

The next morning we were up at 4.30 for attempt 2 at flying to Cusco. This time it was a success thank god. The problem was Cusco is a beautiul town with so much history and many inca ruins but we had one day and had to get ourselves organised for the Inca Trail the next morning. We were all feeling exhausted but we rushed around getting more warm clothes at the markets, buying snacks and supplies and then having a quick lunch before joining a city tour. The first part of the city tour took us to an inca temple that spaniards had built a church over. It has a long and complicated name beginning with O. Then we stepped outside and it was absolutely bucketing down with hail. we had just bought ponchos, meant for the trail but we threw them on and ran through the weather to the bus. the hail stones stung so much, one hit me on the nose and it really hurt. By the time we got onto the bus, about 200m away my jeans were soaked and so were my shoes. We then went to the main Cathedral and we were really lucky cos our tour guide was of Quechuan desendence so rather than giving us a typical tour telling us about the spanish cathedral she told us about the Inca influence and how they were mocking the spanish with the artwork and pillar designs. It was really quite entertaining and this woman was so passionate. She said she was lucky that we speak english because the admin people of this cathedral do not want her telling people about the inca influences but they can`t understand english so she can say what she likes. Although the tour had been very fascinating so far Claire patty and I decided to quit because we were cold and wet and the next parts of the tour were outdoors.
We headed back to the hotel and continued organising and packing for the next day, We also found Anthea who had slowly gotten sicker over the last few weeks and it had peaked that day and she was in agony, she had a headache and cramps and was in bed feeling absolutely miserable. We decided to get a doctor in and he gave her some Antibiotics but she was told she couldn`t do the Inca Trail. It was a shame because Cusco and the Inca Trail were the parts of the tour Anthea had looked forward to most but she said she didn`t mind, all she cared about was getting better. So that night we went out for dinner and then went to bed early as we had a 5.30 start the next morning.

And so this blog continues with my Inca trail blog...

the blog wasn`t as unenthusiatic as i had thought it would be.

Machu Picchu

Not sure how to describe Machu Picchu, incredible springs to mind. the terrible thing was we were all exhausted, anthea had come to meet us there but she had no energy either cos she was getting over an illness. It was incredibly hot there that day so we did everything we could to find shade. Anthea and were sharing an umbrella, i was walking around barefeet because my boots were too hot. We had a 2 hour tour with our guide where he showed us different temples, water fountains, and learnt about how machu picchu was discovered then we had 4 hours to wander and explore. I didn`t realise how big the ruins were and we were literally dragging ourselves around it looking for shade and places to sit. Anthea acted as our tour guide as she knows all about the incas and has a book on Cusco.
We went to the restaurant for lunch where we had the most overpriced food ever and spent all the cash we had. Then we found a nice shady spot in the ruins to have a nap. It felt a bit strange napping in Machu Picchu but we just couldn`t bring ourselves to do much else. We stayed there for about 20mins before we decided we had to get up, muster all the energy we could and go see the ruins because when would we be back here??
We moved at a very slow pace, but we managed to get around most of it. Katrina was the only one who walked up Waynapicchu mountain, that overlooks Machu Picchu, i would have liked to but i was struggling to walk 10steps without getting out of breath.
I loved that you could walk into a room and there would be a Llama happily grazing away, and then it might look at you and then wander off up some stairs. So bizarre but very cool. I also loved the mountains surounding MP too, they were soo massive and just incredible. I feel like i need to expand my vocab for situations like this cos i`m struggling to find the right words. Eventually we headed to the bus, mainly because we were all dying of thirst and couldn`t afford to pay 13soles for a bottle of water which would usually cost 2. We got to the town of Agua Calientes, which translates to hot water in english where we got water and then headed to the train station. The train back to Cusco took 3 hours, we sat in super upright seats with no leg room and it was very stuffy so I couldn`t get to sleep. I ended up talking to Nat the whole way back and i don`t recall what we talked up but i was constantly in hysterics, she`s a funny girl but i think it was also due to my lack of sleep making me delirious. Either way it was fun.

We got back to Cusco at 9, went to our usual restaurant for tea and once we had eaten we were so exhausted. When you are at altitude you get tired after eating cos all the blood goes to your stomach apparently. So we just went straight home to bed and we were super excited about the fact that we were able to sleep in for the first time in over 2 weeks.

hmmm this could be tricky...

It seems i haven`t written a blog for over a week which could make this the longest blog in history going by my usual standards but i don`t think i have the energy for that.

Rather than go in chronological order i`ll write about the inca trail while it is still fresh in my mind then i`ll explain the rest, perhaps in a different blog...



So the morning of the trail we were up at 5.30am to get our stuff together and try and stomach some breakfast. Anthea came down to see us off because sadly she was too sick to do the walk. We bussed to a small town in the sacred valley where we got overpriced snacks and supplies and then headed to Km 82, the start of the Inca Trail. We took group photos in front of the Inca Trail sign, snack packs were passed out and then we started to walk. It felt a bit daunting at first starting something so big but we were eased into it with a fairly flat walking track. After about 2 hours of walking through a beautiful valley, surrounded by mountains the track started to head uphill. I took it very slowly because i didn`t want to waste any energy, save myself for tomorrows climb. But even going slow i found i would get out of breath very quickly due to the altitude. in the last 30mins before we reached our lunch stop o found my biggest issue was starvation, we hadn`t eaten breakfast since 6am and it was about 2.30 so i was struggling to muster the energy to keep walking, Nat was having the same issue so we were relieved to get to camp. THe two things that surprised me after our first part of the walk was seeing power pylons going through the vally and passing through the local people`s houses, i guess i had assumed it would be more isolated. Arriving at camp we realised how amazing our porters were. We already admired them as they carry up to 26kgs on their back including our bags and they literally run past you as you walk along the track. All you hear is PORTER!! and you stand mountain side to let them pass. But when we arrived we were each passed a drink and were given a bowl of hot water and soap to wash our hands. We had a dining tent with a long table, complete with cloth, folded napkins, cutlery, seating etc, it looked incredible. Then we were served a first course of soup, followed by a main, and a dessert. then we get a 20min siesta, as all that food makes you drowsy while the porters efficiently pack up everything and then run off to the next campsite. Our group of 11people had 19porters and they make the Inca Trail so much easier. So after lunch we carried on and we reached our first Inca ruin. Salso, our guide told us al about this ruin called Llaqtapata but we didn`t go down to explore it because it was quite far down the valley, we just looked down on it from a cliff. The next ruin we did explore, its Quechuan name is Runkuraqay but it means egg shaped hut in english. Then we carried on to camp each walking at our own pace, i was usually around the middle of the group, Katrina was always at the front, even the guides were behind her. When I reached camp that evening i found out that Katrina hadn`t arrived yet and they had sent a guide and porter to run after her. About 10min later the 3 of them came in, and it seems that katrina had gone straight past the camp and carried on walking for over 30 mins before the guide managed to catch up to her.



The Camping ground was beatiful, we had an amazing view of the valley, out in front we snow capped mountains that would come in and out of the clouds. we had great weather that day with only 10mins of light rain and otherwise the views were always clear. we had talked to some people who had done the track 2 days before and they had been heavily rained upon the whole time and our weather report had predicted 3 days of rain so we were very lucky. The porters had already set up all of our tents and the dining tents and were working on dinner. We could just collect our bag, claim a tent, clean up and relax. then we were informed ¨high tea¨would be served in 20mins. We assumed this was a joke but sure enough when we arrived in the dinning table there was large plates of popcorn, biscuits, crackers, butter, jam, tea, coffee and hot chocolate. We couldn`t believe how sweet we had it, because we assumed we would be roughing it more. we had about 30mins between high tea and dinner where we sat outside and looked at the stars, the sky was incredibly clear so you could see soo many more stars than usual. Dinner was yet another 3 course meal, soup main and dessert and it was a struggle to fit it all in after snacking so much at high tea. but we managed and our cook was amazing so all the food was deliciouc. We then were told about day 2, famous for being the hardest day of the inca trail, Salso told us what to expect, though i`m not sure `it will be a walk in the park´ was really preparing us for what we were about to encounter. We were told to be up at 5.30 so after dinner we headed to bed. I had a terrible nights sleep that night needing to get up 4 times to go to the toilet, which is a horrible experience when camping. you put it off for as long as possible then throw on clothes, clamber out of the tent into the freezing cold, ignore the beautiful starry night as you trudge down to the toilet with your torch and toilet paper and then at this camping site the toilets are cubicles with a hole in the ground. It`s great fun i can assure you.



At 5.30 we get woken by the porters with a cup of tea. then we have 30mins to pack up our stuff and get to breakfast. We had a massive breakfast, starting with fruit salad and yogurt, then porride, then toast then a crepe filled with papaya and then a whole stewed apple. Once again i have to say our cook was incredible. We also had any hot drink we wanted and so we were feeling soo full not ready to climb the infamous Dead Woman`s Pass. Fortunately we had some time to digest because this morning we were introduced to our porters. They had been too busy the day before for us to be formally introduced. they all lined up in front of us and it was quite funny cos they are all quite shy, so Salso would ask them their name, age, marital status and how many children they had and then relay it back to us in english. It was quite an amusing process as after each person we would all clap and cheer. Then we had to introduce ourselves and Salso would translate into spanish. Once we had all been introduced we lined up to shake each persons hand and give then a kiss on the cheek, but many of the porters were too shy and they would back away if we tried to kiss them.



It was then time too begin the hike up to the first pass. We were told it would take 4hours. I was moving at an incredibly slow pace up the steps the preserve energy. If at all possble i would walk around steps choosing to walk up a slope rather than raise my legs, i would often walk in zig zag patterns to avoid the steep hills but i kept a consistant pace so i didn`t need to stop often. It may sound lazy or strange but i can assure you that if i just walked up at a regular pace i would have had to stop every 10steps to catch my breath. Keeping in mind we were between 3000 and 4200m above sea level. the altitude is a real issue. In the morning i had a headache from it but it went away in the afternoon and was replaced by nausea and loss of appitite. In saying this when i reach Dead Womans pass I was so surprised at how much easier it was than i had expected. It was definately hard but not as hard as people had made it out to be. I had competed it in 3.5hours rather than 4 so I was feeling pretty good. At the top we waited for the whole group o arrive, again i was around the middle of the group, Claire Katrina and patricia we already at the top when i got there. It was cold at the top so salso gave us each a shot of celebratory rum which was nasty but kept us feeling warm and then we took group photos. The next part was hard on the knees as it was about 2 hours of downhill steps. I felt kinda ill by the time we reached our lunch campsite so didn`t eat much and then tried to have a quick seista before heading off again. We thought the hardest part was over as would never go as high as 4200m again but the second pass was a real struggle because we were already exhaused, nat patty and I felt sick, Will was really struggling with his breathing from the altitude, so we were all going incredibly slow, taking each step as it came, and stopping often. We we reached the second pass alot of us were looking pretty broken. Although i mainly mention the struggle, i did still enjoy the second day, the weather was perfect again, not too sunny but not rainy, clear, stunning views, everytime we went over a pass the views would change and as we changed altitudes the vegetation would change. We followed alongside a beautiful clear river, walked up trees, through fields, past llamas, waterfalls, inca ruins, we saw orchids and other brightly coloured flowers, as well as hummingbirds, and we were always surrounded by incredible mountains.



After the second pass we just had a 2 hour decent to our camp site but it was already 4.30. I was feeling better so i kept a good pace downhill and Katrina and I were the first to reach the Inca ruin just before the camp site. It was around quater to 6 so we didn`t have much light left so Salso told the 2 of us about the ruins and then let us go explore them while he waited for the others to come down. Sayaqmarka translates in english as the Inaccessible town because there is only one steep uphill staircase to get up there and otherwise its surrounded by steep cliffs and mountains. We wandered around the ruins, looking through each of the rooms, but as we could see we only had about 10 more minutes of light we cut out exploring short so we could get down the steep staircase with some light.

But camp was still 20mins away so we walked the last part in the dark with our torches, we had left camp that morning at 7 and had arrive at camp that night at 6.30. Our lovely porters all came out to find us on the track and escort us to our campsite. then we quickly cleaned and had dinner. During dinner i was just desperate to go to bed and as soon as it was over i went straight to my tent and was out within a few seconds.

Next morning we were up at 6.30 which was the latest we`ve been up for about a week. Although i was a bit sore i managed this day quite well. As we had already completed 2 passes there was only one pass to go which we had done after an hour of walking and then the track flattened out and it was a very simple walk. Day 3 was the first day where our views were obscurred by clouds so we couldn`t see the valley which was a shame. But we only had to do 4 hours walking for the day. the last 1.5 hours was all downhill and quite steep which was very hard on the joints, some of our group got very sore knees and we all arrived at camp at different times. Claire and I arrived around lunch time and this campsite had a bar restaurant and hot showers and we were very excited about the showers.
The weather had cleared up during the last part of the walk so it was now a beautiful day so we went down had a shower and then just lazed and napped in the sunshine for the afternoon.
around 4pm Salso took us to see another ruin just 5min walk from our campsite called Wiñawayna which means forever young. This was the most beatiful site we had seen so far and we sat in one of the religious rooms learning about the Incas. There were only ever 13 Incas as this word means king and everyone else in the Incan empire were Quechuan or Andean people.

That evening we had another high tea and dinner and this time we were more animated as we had had an afternoon to recover and relax. Yet again we had a massive meal, soup,main and dessert and then after dessert Salso had organised to say thankyou and goodbye to our porters. He had warned us at the start of the tour that we would be expected to sing a song to them and they will sing a song to us. So they started out with their Quechuan song called Sacsawayman, which is the name of an Inca Ruin. Then our group sang Sand by me back to them as we felt that it was appropriate with words such as ¨when the night has come, and the land is dark and the moon is the only light we see, no i wont be afraid, no i wont be afraid, just as long as you stand, stand by me¨....because they had come and collected us in the dark when we finished the trail the night before. And then we changed the chorus to ¨...so porters porters stand by me¨ It was great fun then we presented them with their tip and we said a few words about how incredible we thought they were.

After dinner I went back to bed as i wasn`t feeling too great and we had to be up by 4am for the final part of our walk.

At 4am i was awake and i didn`t even feel tired, i think i had adrenalin going through me because i got ready quick and then as soon as we had had breakfast i was so keen to leave. I had been waiting to see Machu Picchu since i was about 15 when i found out about it on a program called ¨50 places to see before you die¨I kept looking up to the sky and i could see some stars so I knew the weather would be clear. The first part of our walk e did in darkness with our flashlights which was kinda tricky especially with walking poles. Unfortunately you can`t go past a check point to the main walkway til 5.30 when it opens so all the hikers were lined up there ready to go. when we were let through around 6am it was light so we could see the track. Claire and I headed off at a good pace, i didn`t want to go to fast and end up hurting myself just before i reached Machu Picchu. Salso walked with us for part of the way and there were still plenty of beautiful views of the valley along the way. As we neared the end it started getting very steep but i could see that a heavy fog was coming over and i had a feeling that when we reached the sun gate, the first viewpoint of Machu Picchu that we could be disappointed. The last part was quite hard and i had to stop many times but finally we reached the top, the final peak of the Inca trail and the view point i have always wanted to see....and it was white, you could see nothing. So we sat down, and cried. Not really. But i was so disappointed, i couldn`t believe that we had walked so far and had such good weather for it all to turn to crap when it mattered the most.

But we had to sit up there for over 30mins while we waited for some of the injured and sick of our group to reach the top and in that time we stared into the blankness and we could see something, it was just a patch that was darker than anywhere else, and then we could make out a cliffface, and then a bus road lower down on the mountain, within 5 mins we could just make out parts of machu picchu and we were so excited. After 10mins you could see everything so clearly with just a view small clouds obscurring areas of the ruins. It was incredible. I had no idea how big the ruins were, and Waynapicchu mountain in the background was stunning and the mountains surrounding Machu Picchu were spectacular too. Once our whole group had reached the Sun gate we made our way down to the ruins and found the typical spot where they take the postcards and photos of Machu Picchu. I could have sat on the ledge and stared at it for hours, but we took some photos and then headed down to meet Anthea, who had taken the train to machu picchu.

Right i´m outta time so i´ll leave the exploration of the ruins for another time.

Lima and beyond

So as i mentioned in my last blog we had hoped to go out and see traditional music and dance but we got something quite different. Fisrt we found a stage where a guy was singing but most of the songs were well known english songs but he was singing them in spanaish. So we carried on through the marketplace and came across a small circular grandstand which was packed with people. We could hear some kind of performance going on so Jill and i tried to get a closer look. We founda gap in the crowd and could see a man with a microphone, and he saw us too. As i may have mentioned before being white gets us plenty of attention in South America and so this man wanted to talk to us. He seemed to be doing a comedy act and he asked us a few questions in spanish like wher are we from etc and then he would crack spanish jokes to the crowd and they would crack up laughing. So he wanted us to come into the circle so Jill and I went in together. It ws intimidating being surrounded by so many people and being asked things in spanish but together we guessed our way through. Then he told us to take a seat in the audience so we assumed our part of the show was over. Next thing he÷s asking us to come back over and Jill pushes me out into the middle cos she doesn`t want to do it. The next part i managed to complete purely from watching what he was doing and copying. I had to turn my back to the other volunteer then look over my shoulder, wave to him, blow him a kiss, slowly walk over to him, then we had to hug and then dance together. All through this the comedian was making so many jokes but i felt lucky that i couldn`t understand what he was saying it would have been worse if i had. So then i had to dance with the comedian and he gave me his belt and i had to whip him on the butt. It was all completely ridiculous and i was just wondering how long it would go on for. I would occasionally look to jill as if to say what the hell am i doing and she looked just as liost but we had no idea how to get out of it. Finally he told me to sit on a box then he handed me a strawberry wafer bar and said i can eat it and then started handing them out to the crowd. So i was sitting in the middle of the stage on a box, eating my candy bar and jill points to a gap in the crowd and we just went for it, i mimed to the go we have to go and he didn`t seem to mind. A few of our group had seen the show but apparently once we became part of the show the crowd size doubled so the others couldn`t see much. And then once we left half the crowd dispersed again.
After that we just wandered around the market and then got some icecream.

My last day in Lima was so uneventful that its not worth mentioning, just did general chores, internet, supermarket, checked out sat around, and then left at 4.30 for Pisco.

We didn`t really see any of Pisco because we arrived at 10pm and then left the next morning 7am for Paracas where we were going on a boat ride. The boat ride took us around the Ballesta Island, nicknamed the mini Galapagos. On the way we passed a massive image of what they think is a candalabra carved into the cliff side. It was 77m long and 54m wide, it was apparently 2 metres deep when it was first discovered but now is only 10cm deep. There are many theories on how it got there but no one really knows for sure. Then we saw the island and it was covered with so many birds and sea lions. There were pelicans, penguins, different types of gulls, boobies (which are birds!) as well as red crabs. We couldn`t believe how many birds were covering this island and flying overhead, it was madness. The main beach for sea lions was incredible. Hundreds of male, female and young sea lions were barking at different tones so loudly which sounded awful and there was a pungent fishy smell in the air that i wasn`t too fond of. The entire boat trip took 1.5hours then we were back on the bus again heading to Nasca, home of the lines. We arrived at about 4pm yesterday and our hotel was beautiful, there was a large pool out the back surrounded by a garden with cactus and mango trees and even a live tortoise.
We went for a wander around the town to find a laundromat because our clothing situation a getting a bit deperate and a few of us have resorted to using togs as underwear because we have none left (too much information?).

I headed back to the hotel after that because i was keen to get in the pool. I was the only one who got in and i couldn`t stay in for too long because it was shady and the water was a bit cold. We then had dinner which was delicious for 18soles (10NZ) we got a bottle of water, a pisco sour an entree, which for me was an avocado stuffed with veges, a main, spaghetti bolognase and fruit salad for dessert. So we were very happy with that.

Today we got up early because we were taking a scenic flight of the Nazca lines. Originally i wasn`t going to do the lines because i thought it would be expensive but i decdied i could go to nazca and not do it. We were in a small 6seat place and the trip was very impressive. The pilot would always fly past each image twice so that both sides of the plane could get a good view. The lines were very cool to see but i think i enjoyed to surrounding scenery even more. We saw the whale, astonaut, monkey, dog, condor, spider, hummingbird, flamingo, parrot, tree and hands plus a few others i don`t remember.

Then we headed back to the hotel where we went for a swim and attempted to do synchonised swimming, it was a poor attempt but alot of fun. We now have the afternoon free and then this evening Claire and I are going out to some ruins to watch the sunset over the desert and then a bunch of us are going to the observatory.