The Kehoe World Tour 2007

New Zealand

2007-06-05T06:34:44Z

Well 21 days later and we've finally finished the New Zealand leg, apologies for the delay but I was just too busy in New Zealand to write this. New Zealand was an amazing place, yet we only had 3 weeks to do it in, in that time though I reckon we saw 3 quarters of what she had too offer. We did everything from climbing glaciers and volcanoes, to sailing down fijiords and even a sheep show. What follows is an attempt to fit everything in from memory using the Filofax and the guide book....

So after a crazy flight we landed in Auckland airport at 4am, minus the 3rd May. Also disappointed as the plane had absolutelty pants films and my tv didn't work for like an hour, all I can say is that my customer survey definately brought the average down. So anyway by the grace of god there was a book shop in the arrivals lounge with a guide book. So it was actually between the hours of 4am and 8am, waiting for a shuttle bus, that we actually planned the whole thing, ish. Which I think is pretty impressive. The plan we'd figured was hire a car and make it too Christchurch for the 23rd May for a flight on the 25th. Now one problem which didnt make itself apparent was the distances, the map in the Lonely Liar wasn't too accurate, something which we would learn the hard way. So the distances didn't look too bad, that was until the night before we got the car when we brought a REAL map. Also as I was the only one driving it meant Chris would have to navigate, this being the same guy who managed to get lost in Buenas Aires getting to my hostel from his (a 10min straight walk turned into 1 hour 50 minutes detour around Buenas Aires' slums). Thus a few last minute lessons were in order (actually he did a bang up job in the end of it).
So anway we spent a couple of days in Auckland, which I thought was a really nice city, there was only just over a million people there (only 4 million in the country). Checked out a few of the museums, the National one was pretty good. Watched the sunset from the sky tower, basically the biggest tower in the southern hemisphere, built primarily for tourism and to outdo the Aussies. Didn't do anything too eventfull as it took us two days to get over the flight, we'd worked out that we were 15 hours ahead of where we'd just left in South America, talk about a killer. We did arrive for the start of the NZ Comedy Festival, ended up seeing Dougle from Father Ted.
So, we picked up the car on the sunday (we ended up calling her Maggie as we had a history and a polotics graduate there), and decided to head south to the Waitamo caves. Now in regards to the car we weren't expecting anything decent, it only cost us $33NZ per day for the car, about 6 quid, not including petrol (but then it only just us just over $40NZ to fill her up). She wasn't too bad though, a crappy 1.3 Daiatsu Siern, yet it did have a CD player.

So we set off to these caves, stopping off in a place called Hamilton, whose sole claim to fame was a big garden.
The Waitamo Caves we actually pretty cool, we went to the ones where Attenbrough filmed part of the TV series called Planet Earth. It was pretty cool when we switched the tourches off the whole caves were lit up by the glow worms. Pretty amazing thing to see. So did that in the morning, however when we got back it was unfortunately too late to see the daily shaving of the Angora rabbits at the Angora rabbit place, dam.
So we headed to the Tonganiro National Park that night to hike the trail the following day. An 8 hour trek over one massive volcano, the one next to was classed as 'dormant'. That one was actually Mount Doom in Lord of the Rings. The whole trek was pretty amazing, except it stank or rotten eggs due to all the sulphur. You could see the steam coming out of fissures in the rocks. The sulphur lakes were another pretty impressive site.
Arfter that we then headed to lake Taupo, then onto Rotorua the next day. As we were in a bit of hurry we didnt stay long in Taupo, however again it was a pretty cool place. Checked out the massive lake which had a few small thermals running into it. In parts on the shore when you touched the water in the lake it was actually warm because of it. It was also here that we randomly ended up finding the worlds only inland thermal fresh water prawn farm, now thats one I can tick off the list finally. We ended up shooting golf balls overt the prawn pools or fields or whatever you call them, also had the nicest prawns of the trip.
So after that we headed to Rotorua where we managed to catch a sheep show, was actually pretty good (also where we picked up Dolly the mascot, went Zorbing (absolute quality) and had a go on a race car (got the fastest lap of the day and only spun off twice). It was after this that we decided to head across to Napier. Now here was where lonely liar became a massive pain in the ass. On the map in it, it has a main road going straight from Rotorua all the way to Napier, which was our next destination. Great we thought. However this 'main road' consisted of over 100km of dirt roads and gravel treks which snaked road mountains and through valleys, you dont want to know big some of the drops were, and the route it took had little if no ressemblance to the book.

You don't want to know how far down that was. So what should have been a 3 hour trip turned into a 6 hour mission. Yet we did see some pretty cool stuff and I managed to refine my powersliding skills, the back end just loved to come out. We ended up finding this stunning looking lake which no one really knows about.

I believe this is called Lake Waikaremoana. It was actually a pretty cool detour as we saw things that no one else gets to see, also managed to have some fun on a gravel track in a hire car.
So anyway we got to Napier after 6 hours driving, its a town on the Eastern Coast of the North Island. It was a pretty nice place as well. Nothing too exciting happened there, we did play a bit of crazy golf though, the Pacific Pro Am to be precisie.

This is from Bluff Point looking out over Hawkes Bay.
After that we headed down to Wellington but stopped off in a place called Palmerston North as it was too far drive in one go. Now this place sucked ass. Apparently John Clease, i.e. Faulty Towers, took the piss out the place on a podcast last year while he did a tour of it. To be honest though he was pretty right when he claimed it was the suicide capital of NZ. However the locals didnt like it too much and decided to name a rubbish tip after him, seriously it even made the evening news while we were there.
So the next day we headed to Wellington to get the ferry across to the South Island. Wellington wasn't too bad a place, kind of like Auckland but with less people in it. Didn't do too much there, caught Spiderman 3 though.
So we caught the ferry over on sunday morning, ended up bumping into these Irish guys I'd meet in Buenas Aires, then again on the flight over to NZ and now again on the ferry.
The trip across the straits was alright, got to watch the F1 highlights. So basically the ferry stops in this tiny ass place called Picton, which we soon discovered was not all that tiny for the south. Apparently more people live in Auckland than in the whole of the South Island.
The plan was to head off and do one of the glaciers which meant driving along the West coast. We were going to stay in Nelson for a day but it made more sense to get out to a place called Westport. We did drive though Nelson and it did look quality, the problem was that we were just so pressed for time. So hooked up in Westport, not very memorable, got out as soon as possible the next day. We managed to stop off in a place called Greymouth for a few hours, again not a very memorable place, to sort out the glacier stuff. We decided to check out Fox Glacier just cause it was cheaper.
However going back to the stretch from Westport to Greymouth we did see some pretty cool stuff.

Also found these buggers near the car, kind of like kiwis but not.
So after Greymouth we headed down to Fox, and did the unusual thing of actually spending two nights in the place, everwhere else we'd only spent one. The next day we did the full day hike thing on it, was pretty cool actually but bloody cold at times even though it was sunny.

The following day we set off for Lake Wanaka, which I thought was pronounced Wanka. It was actually a pretty scenic drive through all the valleys and lakes. Heres another lake, no idea which one though.

It was that evening that we rocked up in Lake Wanaka, which is a really nice place, a month later and we'd have hit it for the ski season. It was here that Chris decided to do his skydive, but as it was too windy the first day we ended up spending two days there. Again this place has a lake next to it, a pretty nice one as well.

When we saw the video of his skydive it was pretty funny, he looked like he wet himself a couple of times on it.
Unfortunately as we spent too long in Wanaka we had to cut time short from Queenstown as we had a tour on the Milford Sound to do. Which meant we had 4 hours there, talk about a whistle stop tour. Heres the view of Queenstown from the Skyline Gondola.

Pretty amazing, and Im not just talking about myself, also round the back they had a luge track, not the ice one but with tarmac and sleds with wheels. Some guy gave us a family ticket as he'd run out of time, quality. That was so much fun, also discovered that Chris is not a natural driver. It was also here that we bumped into the same Irish guys again, I swear they must have been stalking us.
So after the whirlwind tour of Queesntown we headed to Ten Anau to do the Milford sound thingy. Basically you drive through these crazy valleys and see some quality sites, then end up at this Fijord where you sail about there for a bit then come back.

Pretty cool but after all the sailing stuff Ive done I actually found the bus trip more interesting. While back in Ten Anau we stayed two nights as on the 2nd night it was their anniversary and they were having a free BBQ, never turn down a free meal. It was also here that we had the Spagetti incident, where by I cooked some spag bol, only Chris wanted to do something so I left him incharge to do the pasta as he was making a big fuss. Only to come back 30 mins later to find the sauce burning with the kitchen smoking and Chris starring at a pan full of boilding water insisting that it was not yet boiling. Looking back it was actually quite funny.
After Ten Anau we decided to take the Southern Scenic route, its a highway which goes directly south till the coast and then follows this all the way round till you get up to Dunedin, through the Catlins. It was along here that we saw some pretty amazing sites.

Such as these guys we found on Shag Point, well we thought the name was funny. We also saw an albotrose and a load of pengiuns coming off the beach at night.
While this bits self explanatory.

We also managed to spend the night in an extremely lush place which we got for bugger all as it was low season. Made a pleasant change from crappy dorm rooms.

The last stage was a particular high light of the trip just because we got to chill out a bit and see stuff that nobody else gets to, basically the real New Zealand.
Unfortunatelty though all things come to an end and so we had to get back to Christchurch to drop Maggie off. It was while driving down that we read the contract and nearly shit ourselves, they wanted $50 to clean her. Now after 18 days of driving over dirt roads and mud tracks, involving numerous hand brake skids, she was absolutely filthy. She also had a good deal more scratches and chips, luckly the guy never noticed them, including the marks underneath where I'd managed to beach it on a curb. However we did find a car wash and vacuum thing, best $8 I ever spent. So we managed to drop her off, and as she was nice and clean we didnt get screwed over and the guy never noticed the extra chips we'd added.
So New Zealand... well we had a quality time, a bit rushed, but still an amazing time. We saw so much stuff and did so many things I've lost count. In the end it worked out that in 21 days we'd driven nearly 4000km and seen 28 sperate towns/cities. Crap thats a lot.

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New Zealand remains copyright of the author Snow21, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Chile

2007-05-05T05:57:42Z

Again, the pictures on the link below

http://manchester.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2118533&l=4f5ed&id=61407689

The plan was not too spend too much time in Chile, I was only going there to take a flight to New Zealand. I intended to head across to Valprassio for the weekend and then too make it to Santigao for Monday. However a couple of things intervened. Firstly I brought the wrong bus ticket, I went to town just above it , Vina del Mar, I think. Basically Vina Del Mar and Valprassio are two towns on two bays which are right next too each other, Vina is the beach resort area while Valprassio is the port part. However Valprassio is well known and a fav tourist spot because of all the houses built on the hill.
So got on the bus from Mendoza in Argentina, which meant crossing the Andes, though most importantly, another ruddy boarder crossing. The drive through the Andes was pretty surreal as we passed snow capped mountains. You could see a lot of ski lifts which weren't in use, I was a month or two early for the season. All was going well until the border crossing, 3 1/2 hours later we finally got out. However while there got chatting to a couple of people which I ended up with for a good few days, one all the way to Santiago.
So we finally got into Vina del Mar at some good awfull hour, ended up in yet another crappy hostel. However it did have the most comfortable beds ever so it can be forgiven. Also had one of the best Caprinias of the trip, you could tell it was good as after two you had trouble walking in a straight line.
Only stayed there for a day and ended up in Valprassio on the saturday. Stayed in a pretty cool hostel and we ended up going out with them all. Which brings me back to the second factor which played against the time table, I got absolutely trollied. What made matters worse was that all the dorms had locks on. There was another English guy who got locked out, so being a fellow countrymen I tried to help him. After about 5 mins we gave up and I went back to the dorm, however all those other w@#$%%s in the room had passed out, along with everyone else in the hostel. Which wouldnt have been bad had I not left my key in the room and was only wearing shorts.
So me and the other English lad retired back to the living room and remembering those Ray Meers programmes which watched went in search of sustinance, i.e. booze and something warm to wear.
Now I think I need to go back a good few years now, see for something like 8 crappy years I had to learn Latin at school (I know its random but stay with me on thise one), and at every lesson I always wondered what the hell the point of learning it was. Now, god knows how many years later it has finally proved its worth. While looking through the fridge we found a bottle of Caprinia, now both of us knew bugger all Spanish, as on the front was written Libre. However using those crappy Latin skills I figured out what it meant and the next few hours just wizzed by.
My god though the mother of all hangovers kicked in and so didnt get out of that place till Monday. However I did get to check the place out on Monday morning though so not too bad.
We got in to Santiago with the two I'd meet, however one buggered off as she knew a family.
Now there isnt much to do in Santiago, so when its a bank holiday theres even less. We were there for 1st May which is pretty big down this end. Everything was shut, it was like a ghost town. We did manage to occupy ourselves there, theres a statue of Mary on a big hill, like a poor mans Christ the Redeemer in Rio. Was pretty cool. Also managed to check out this big park on a hill, again pretty cool. Apart from that though it was really just about killing time till the flight to Auckland on the 2nd.

Chile remains copyright of the author Snow21, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Argentina

2007-05-02T17:55:48Z

Again, all the pictures are on the link below

http://manchester.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2113907&l=4c4ae&id=61407689

http://manchester.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2117663&l=609c5&id=61407689

Well, my passport says I spent 14 days in Argentina but can´t seem to recall most of them. Got to Buenas Aires from Colonia and checked into the Millhouse, bad idea. The Millhouse is a quality place but ure gona see shit all of BA if you stay there. All you do is drink and party there, my mate Finn managed to go for 37 hours straight there. The earliest I got out of the hostel was 11.54 am, and that was pushing it.
Did manage to see a bit of the city though, its a really cool city. Managed to restock on all the stuff I´d managed to destroy or lose, crap its cheap there.
BA itself is an amazing place, its quite a European city, and thanks to currency crash in 2001 its absolutely dirt cheap. Could pretty much go to any restaurant, bar or shop and could quite easily get whatever.
Ended up spending 8 days there which really should have been enough had I been able to drag my ass out of bed before noon. However what I did see was quality. The port area was really nice, sort of like Salford Quays and the Albert Docks, only nicer. It was really good alking down there at night with all the high risers lit up. Also managed a bit of culture, yes dad culture, went to National Art Gallery, was pretty cool, though they had some strange stuff. Apparently a model of a KISS concert qualifys to be National Gallery along with the Monet and Van Goughs (I think I spelt that right). Also checked out the Falklands memorials and exhibts. One the end of the main shopping street theres a collection of pictures taken during the battle, however its a tad one sided. Seems to present them as a liberating force and completely omits the bit about them getting them losing the whole thing. However every map in Argentina has it down as theres, someones abviously needs to have a word with the boys down and printing place. However not to worry as it seemed like every English guy was willing to correct it on any map they saw.
So after 8 days decided I needed to see some of Argentina so headed off with a few people in my dorm to Rossario. Its a town or city, not too sure, which is North West of BA on the river. Also the claim to fame is that its where that Che guy was born, Castros mate. However the main reason people guy is due to what everyone says of the women, that they´re stunning, and yes.... I can confirm tha rumour as being true. I have never in my entire life been in a club with so many stunning looking people. Crap.
So anyway after the delights of Rossario we headed to Mendoz, the area where they make all the wine. On one day we hired some bies and cycled round this massive park, now until then I hadnt been on a bike in around about 10 years. Luckly you dont forget. So did that for an afternoon. Was quality. Then the next day we headed to the vinyards and did a cycle tour on a couple of high quality bikes, my back brake didnt work, neither did the gears and the chain kept slipping. However was still mazing, got to cycle all around the different wine places and try all the red wine. So now after a few tasting sessions I can now class myself as a wine expert and will no doubt actually know what Im doing when I order the stuff in a restaurant.
However all good things have to come to an end and so I headed off the following day to Chile where I am due to fly out of all the way to New Zealand.

Argentina remains copyright of the author Snow21, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Uruguay

2007-04-25T14:47:54Z

Most the pics for Uruguay are on facebook so just use the link below

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So headed to Uruguay from Ascuncion, Paraguay, but instead of going to Montevideo me and Finn got off in Salto which is right in the North. So the bus rocked up at 0600 there in the morning on the edge of town, where by the bus driver told us to walk in the wrong direction. Anyway finally rocked up in this town tired to buggery.
The only reason to check out Salto is for all the thermal springs which surrond the area. However we decided to spend the saturday in the town and sunday in the springs. From what I can remember the town was pretty quiet, but I think we were just too tired to notice where it was happening. So the next day ended up in the springs, was kind of cool. Ended up spending the day at the water park place. It was quite strange as the water was warm. While the next day we were due to head down to Fray Bentos to see the meat packing factory, yes there is a place called Fray Bentos and it was where the meat pies used to be made. However I was too lazy to get up at 0500 so Finn buggered off there and I went straight to Montevideo.
The first few days I spent in Red Hostel, pretty nice place. Had a wonder around, is actually a really cool place. However from Wednesday till I left for Colonia next week I stayed with a family that my parents knew. They were so kind I couldn´t do it justice here. Went to all the best places around the city and sampled all the local food, man its soooo good. Unlike back home they eat all the cow, and I mean ALL the cow. Crap turns out we´ve been wasting some of the best bits. Have discovered a liking for the salva glands, man they´re good, hopefully will be able to pick some up in the local butchers. When you go the restaurants we ordered a slection of all the different bits of meat then had an even bigger piece of meat for mains. It was the nicest beef I have ever tasted (and that also is including Argentina).
When the weekend came, Gus, their youngest son, took me down to Punta del Esta for the weekend as it was Easter weekend and Monty was going to be pretty quiet.
Punta del Esta is an absolute quality place, even though it was the off season it was still pretty busy. This is a really famous hotel there, wasn´t so much built as desgined by a really famous artist. On the saturday hit one of the local clubs, but did it local style. Had a bit of a snooze till midnight then went out. Apparently the cooler you are the later you turn up, so we hit the club like 2ish. A few other english people joined us, Matt, Mauranka, Paula and Marc. Went to a club called Soho which was a really good club. We haven´t got anything back home like the clubs out here. Everyone in there was stunning, so we fit in pretty well.
As an illustration on how much money there is in this place we were driving down the front when a red Ferrari F430 with Brazilian plates bombed it by us. Decided to try and catch them up, only they were´nt trying much, pulled by them only to find to girls who couldnt have been older than 30 behind the wheel. We guessed rich husband or dad. Headed back the following day but still had a good look round the place, is def. a place I´d like to go back too, however when its in season December-March.
Spent a couple more days looking around Monty before said goodbye to the family who´d been so nice and wouldnt take anything in return. Ended up in Colonia on Wednesday lunchtime and was due to catch the ferry across to BA on Thursday evening. Colonia was a pretty nice place, not much to do there though.
It was nice in the evening with the sunset, was quite strange at night time as across the estuary the sky was lit up from all the light pollution from Buenas Aires. It was almost like the sun was starting to rise. Would only give it a day, though some people were spending upto 4 days there, strange people. Hostel wasn´t too bad but there was a right cock in the room, won´t go into it but man he was a cock. So got the ferry into BA, another county, 5 countries down and only 2 more to go.

Uruguay remains copyright of the author Snow21, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Paraguay

2007-04-02T00:45:19Z

Ask any traveller about Paraguay and they will tell you two things. Firstly that theres nothing there and secondly that theres nothing there and thirdly that we´ll be shot. However ask if they´ve actually been there and 10 times out of 10 they haven´t. Theres enough here to keep you occupied for a good few weeks but thats if you know where to look for it.
The ironic thing was that I never intended to go to Paraguay. It was only because Chris persuaded me to go while over in Igauzu. Even then I only expected spending a few nights there before heading down to Uraguay. Instead I ended up staying nearly two weeks and found South Americas best kept secret.
So on Sunday the 18th of March 2007 the four of us crossed into the great unknown and I finally came to county where no Kehoe had been before. Instead of crossing at Ciudad del Este where the border at Iquazu is we crossed in at Encarnation in the South, via Pousadas in Argentina. The main attraction for this town/city is the Jesuit ruins at Jesûs and Trinidad, which are UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
The first thing we discovered when entering Encarnation is that Paraguay is dirt cheap, and I mean dirt cheap. The hotel we stayed in may have looked like a former prison but for $4 your having a laugh.
The next day we got the bus up to Jesus to check out the ruins, took about 2 hours and cost us $3. The ruins themselves are former Jesuit settlements, one in Jesûs and one in Trinidad. They were settled around the 1760´s but they all got kicked out of Paraguay not too long afterwards. The first thing which hits you though is that the Paraguayan Tourist Board must consist of 1 guy in a small office somewhere in the capital. Despite being a UNESCO site the Jesus location is completely underfunded. There was one sign and that was pretty much it. If UNESCO gave them some money I´m pretty sure the site never saw a penny. The ruins were different from anything that you get in the UK, they let you walk anywhere without a guide. It was here that we bumped into another Brit traveller we´d meet back in Rio a guy called Finn. Who originally only planned to spend a few days in Paraguay but joined us for the full 12 days instead.
Now I realised Paraguay was cheap but on the way to the bus to Trinidad we actually found a car for sale cheaper than the bus ticket. It was tough call but the possibilty but we ended up getting the bus. The Trinidad site seems to be where some of the money must have gone as parts of it have been restored.
The following day we ended up heading out to the San Rafel National Park, strictly speaking it isn´t one yet cause all the money the government had to buy the land all mysteriously disappeared. Getting there was an adventure in its own. We ended up waiting a the smallest town ever for 4 hours to get a lift from one of the rangers to the park.

It was quite funny when we turned up as one of the other guests was an ex-scoucer who lived out in Paraguay. It also turned out he wrote most of the travel guides so he def. came in useful. Ended up spending a few days there just chilling out, was pretty cool.
After that we again hit the road for the capital, Ascuncion. It wasn´t a Rio or a BA but it was still pretty cool and had a few things there to do. One thing which stood out was how rich some were and how poor the others were.

The picture above is the presidents pad, yet right behind it are shant towns. Also behind it we got a bit of a shock, turns out Paraguay actually has a navy.

While in the city we ate like kings, 3 course meals in the poshest restaurants in the county (black tuie waiters and everything) for like 7 quid. Ive never eaten so well.
After a few days and a few late nights we lost 2 fellow travellers, Chris and Louise, while me, Claire and Finn decided to this quality park that I cant spell. To get there however we had to hire a 4x4 as most of it was off road.

All I can say is off-roading in Paraguay in a Jeep is the most fun you can have with your pants on. It was absolute quality. Half of the trip was on dirt roads, and I mean propper ones.

We were flying over bumps and bridges, power sliding road bends, absolutely amazing. So anyway we rocked up at another park, this one was miles better, apparently Bono and Madona gave them a shed load of cash.

To get around we had to have a guide and drive, which meant more off-roading. We did a couple of quality stages which had been cut out of the forest and were over grown. It was also then that had a minot prang, some 16 year old in a pick up tried to over take me while a was over taking some else on the dirt road. However big feck off hole meant had to jam on the brakes and he ended up in the back of us, so wasnt technically my fault.

As you can see was only a minor one, guy at the hire shop didnt care about it, though Im pretty sure we added a few other dents a scraps.
Again after a few days of walks, canoeing and a few other things we had to head back to catch the bus to Uraguay the next day. Which meant night time off roading, quality!! Also meant the highways were pretty dead, except you couldnt really get it past 130kmph as the steering wheel started to shake violently. Anyway, the Paraguayan road trip was absolutly amazing, driving in the middle of nowhere, at night, with shooting stars above you is a once in a life time experience which will stay with me.

Paraguay remains copyright of the author Snow21, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Iguazu Falls

2007-03-27T00:58:52Z

Right, will be brief as wasnt much there. We rocked up on the Brazilian side and did that in like 3 hours, not much there at all. Then swapped over to the Argentinian side for about 4 days, 2 days too much. However one of those was taken up by a hang over and the other one due to transport.
The real fun came afterwards, I was due to head South to Uraguay but instead went North to Paraguay. Absolute quality!!

Iguazu Falls remains copyright of the author Snow21, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Ille Grande

2007-03-18T16:12:36Z

I decided to pop down to Ille Grande with one of Claires friends, Louise, as I´d already seen Rio and fancied something different. Ille Grande is an island 3 hours south of Rio by bus, then an hour on a boat. The island itself basically has one main town with about 3 cars on it, the only way to the hundreds of beachs is by hiking ofr hours or by boat.
While on the boat we meet an Aussie girl from Perth called Amy who we ended up taggin along with us for the duration. When we got there everything was booked but manged to get a room in a house with a load of other travellers, was pretty nice actually.
Isn´t too much to do on the island at night, only restaurants, a handful of bars and no clubs. However it does have the greatest attraction of all, pudding trolleys. These things are AMAZING, they come out at night and have the greatest cakes known to man, god I ate loads of them.
Anway the next day we got a boat over to this beach called Lopez Mendes, supposed to be the greatest beach in the universe, or something like that anyway.
The beach itself streached for what looked like miles and the water was cyrstal clear. Was pretty amazing. Manged to spend a day there just lounging around. Talk about a hard life.
While the nest day we got one of the boat trips around the island to about 5 different beachs, all of which were pretty stunning. While on one the boat nearly left without me and I was left power swimming across the bay to get to it. The sunset we got off the boat was pretty amazing too.

While the next day we decied to take a wonder around one of the tracks, saw a cool few things such as some prison ruins. Then we bumped into a sign which said there was a waterfull ahead, an hour later over steap paths, (one was technically a cliff as there was a rope to use to climb up it), we finally made it. It was pretty amazing as you could go for a dip as the water wasnt too bad.

Best shower so far.
However, all good things have to come to an end and on the Monday we headed back to Rio and then onto Iquazzu.

Ille Grande remains copyright of the author Snow21, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Rio

2007-03-18T15:56:34Z

So after leaving Santos and saying addios to the old man I headed up to Rio with 4 of the cadets. Unfortunately it didnt look like we were off to a good start when one of them booked the wrong day in the hostel, however all turned out well and crashed in another place. Ended up checking out the hang gliding first, with Simon being the only willing cadet (Id already done it). It looked quality though and he properly enjoyed it. Then ended up checking out Sugar Loaf, which was amazing. It was better than the Jesus statue by far.
By then however we decided we´d done far too much and headed to some bar for a bit of dead cow. Ended up making our way back to the hostel for a bit more drinking, meet a few odd characters, including the 31 year old account who was a cradle snatcher. It was quality though, crashed an Irish bar and then some other bar.
Dont think we did much on the Sunday, karma meant as we´d done shed loads yesterday we could just chill for the day. Did intend to go out that night but we all ended up falling asleep.
The next day was the cadets final day, so of course we had to head to a bar. However that was after we popped up to the Jesus statue, which just happened to have a bar there as well. So after that we decided to check out Hard Rock Cafe, as all tourists have too, only it was ages away. Was quality when we got there though.
So anyway they buggered off on th Monday after a quality weekend where I don´t think I ve laughed so hard in ages.
It was Monday when Chris and Claire arrived too, cant remember too much of what we did then. However the high light has to have been the football match we went to see in the Mara something stadium, Flamingo v. some other local time and a final of something. Crap that was amazing, flares and fireworks going off, flags being waved, everytime they scored we got covered in beer. The atmosphere was amazing. It was an amazing experience, we were right behind the goals with all the die hard fans, we were pretty safe though as we´d got a group of 22 from the hostel. The tube on the way back was also quality as it was just full of Flamingo fans chanting and jumping, wouldnt have got that on the London Underground. After that bascially just chilled in Rio for a while till we headed off to an island called Ille Grande with a friend of Claires.

Rio remains copyright of the author Snow21, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Santos

2007-03-12T21:17:10Z

After sluming it for the last X amount of weeks the offer of a bit of free board and English food with the old man was something which was quickly snatched up. Staying onboard RFA Gold Rover, it far surpased any hooker hotel or grotty hostel. No being woken up at 6am by people packing, no filthy showers...e.t.c

So had to fly at something silly at like 7am and so check-in was 5am, I decided to kip in the airport... not a good idea. Manged to get about 4 minutes sleep. Was so tired couldnt even be bothered with the check-in girls blantent flirting, now thats tired. Eventually got on the plane and headed off to Sao Paulo, where I got picked up, how flash is that, and wisked off to the ship. Manged to eat more in the few days on the ship than in the previous 7 weeks, English breakfast, and my favourite, Steak and Kidney pie!! Even got to watch a bit of English TV, quality!
Santos itself is basically the weekend retreat for those with cash from Sao Paulo, so its pretty dead from Monday to Thursday. The beach is pretty nice though, water aint too clean though. Even ended up doing a bit of culture while there, checked out some building high up in the centre of the city. You got to it by a sort of tram thing, was kinda cool, saw the whole city from up there.

Also sampled a bit of night life which Santos has to offer with a few of the Cadets, was quality. However for the last two days I was forced to check into a 5 star hotel, talk about slumming it. Check out those views from the pool.

Anyway though, ended up heading to Rio on the Friday with the four cadets as they had a 3 dayer off....

Santos remains copyright of the author Snow21, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Fortaleza

2007-02-23T16:40:08Z

So rolled up into Fortaleza after a monster session on the bus of 24 hours and what were we greated by? Rain, absolute bucket loads of it, and it didnt stop for 3 days due to a major depression over the whole of the North East. It felt just like being at home.
We were in Fortaleza for Carnival so ended up checking it out. It was only a small one but my God was it odd. It was a small procession down a street with stands on either side, while at the end there was a band playing ska. Though I was impressed by the local police who went the full 9 yards to protect the audience by bringing in outside help.
Our caped crusaders kept an eagle eye over the nights events. However they soon disappeared, and then out came the ruddy pick pocketers. One tried to get me but all he got was a tourist map, at least he´l be able to find his way home. While ended up stopping one taking a drunk guys wallet.
However apart from that it was pretty cool, everyone was running around with this spray foam and we all got covered.
While we were dancing the local town tranny thought we might want to look at his thong, and then his dangly bits underneath. A tad strange, was funny when the local guys all descended upon him though, think he learned his lesson.
The next few days were just chilling as there wasnt too much to do, everything was closed for Carnival and it chucked it down all the time. Ended up planning the next move, Chris and Claire buggered off to Salvador and Im flying to Sao Paulo and onto Santos to crash with dad for a few days. Meeting them in Rio, how international is that! So got a few days here by my tod, however meet some other travellers so had a pretty good time.
It finally stopped raining for 2 days straight which was the cue to crash the beach.
Stayed at a hostel which was right on the beach so it was absolute quality, you could just walk straight out onto the beach. While the next day ended up walking a bit to check out what was down the other end.

So thats the North East of Brazil done and got flight in little over 12 hours to Sao Paulo, from there its Rio and then Iguazzu Falls.

Fortaleza remains copyright of the author Snow21, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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The Amazon boat trip to Manaus

2007-02-18T22:01:48Z

So finally got the boat sorted and arrived first thing saturday morning for a 4 day boat trip to Manaus, slap bang in the middle of the Amazon. The vessel wasnt too bad, 3 decks, the bottom 2 full of hammocks and the top one had a few cabins and a bar.
Soon discovered that could have got a quicker boat as it stopped off at every single town down the river all the way to Manaus, be it 4 in the afternoon or 4 in the morning. Wasnt too bad during the day as got to check out some strange local towns that hardly any tourists see.
On the stop above manged to see a load of dolphins, even the pink dolphin which you only find in the Amazon. It was genuinly pink which was a strange thing to see.
Unfortnately there wasnt much to do onboard. Meet a few other travellers so ended up hanging with them. The average day on the boat goes something like wake up, play cards, bar, cards, lunch, bar, cards, bar, play the guitar, bar, bit more guitar, bar and then bed. Though if you sleep near the bar it streamlines the whole process, (theres the degree kicking in).

So anyway finally arrived in Manaus 4 days later, our wallets that bit lighter and our heads hurting that little bit more than usual. Ended up staying in a classy joint which also hired by the hour, for those times when you meet that special lady. However didnt spend as long in Manaus as had planned, which was a pity as it seemed quite a nice place. Decided to move on to Fortaleza, via a flight to Belem and then a 24 hour bus trip, fun!

The Amazon boat trip to Manaus remains copyright of the author Snow21, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Santa Rosa, Leticia and Tabatinga

2007-02-15T03:04:56Z

After an 8 hour speed boat trip down the Amazon, the thing broke down twice. The last time it did we were drifting for a good 20 minutes. Finally got to the boarder region for Peru, Columbia and Brazil. The Peru bit, Santa Rosa, is little more that a Police hut and a few houses on stilts. So we decided to stay in Leticia, Columbia, just for the hell of it. Feck, Ive never seen so many military before, absolutely everywhere due to drugs, our friendly left wing rebels the Farcs and an equally nice bunch of seperatist rebels. Leticia itself is the nicer of the 3 places by far, though Tabatinga aint too bad.
Wouldnt even have mentioned it had it not been for the Biggest Muppet competition between Claire and Chris. Ended up having to nip over to Brazil to go the hospital there (a military one which was free and by far better than any NHS one Ive seen on my extensive visits of them back home) to check on Claires finger which shed banged before she came out. It was here that Claire took the early lead by having a mini tantrum with tears and everything when told she was gona need a blood test. Now I found this piss funny and was wetting myself, while as for the military doctor who most usually dealt with gunshoot wounds, he too found this funny. In the end had to go in with her. However Chris, unwilling to fall behind quickly caught up when it turned out was a tad bit of a hypocondriac. Manged to convince himself he had malaria while stood out in the corridor. A worthy attempt but Claire was still in the lead. Yet.... wasnt until the next day that Chris came from out of no where to take the lead. The easiest way between the two places is by a little moto-caneo. On the way back to Columbia the next day Chris was getting out, one foot on the jetty and one foot on the caneo, only the caneo wasnt tied to anything. Sure enough he went straight in, soaking his passport for the second time and gave the taxi drivers something to laugh at. Absolute quality!!
Anyway from there we got the boat which was 4 days long down to Manaus, but thats a different story.

Santa Rosa, Leticia and Tabatinga remains copyright of the author Snow21, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Iquitos

2007-02-07T19:26:13Z

Had a quality birthday down in Cusco, me and Previn ended up having Guinea Pig, it was by the far the funniest thing I have EVER eaten. The thing comes out whole and its just sat there staring at you before the waiter breaks it up. Claire, the vegetarian, wasn´t best pleased when we started playing with the things head and made her dead hamster come back from the dead to talk to her. She actually had to leave but me and Previn were in tears. Anway, after that went out after the hostel forced me to down Sambuca and beer, nice... Lets just say I had a good night.
Arrived in Iquitos the next day, holy crap this place is wierd. When we were flying in it was dark but the sky kept lighting up with the thunder and lightening, it was amazing to see. Iquitos itself is a strange place, a city in the Amazon which is completely landlocked. The only way here is by plane or boat. For the first night me and Chris satyed in this right pile of poo hostel called the River Fox, woke up to find a mysterious puddle in the middle of the room the next day, Dark Water or what! Luckly manged to check into this sweet place which is nice and quiet.
Anway Chris and Claire buggered off to do a Jungle Trek, would have joined them except I discovered I hate camping, creppy crawlys and things which go bump in the dark. Also wanted to save some $ for diving. So me and Previn had a couple of days before he buggered off to Trujilio on the coast.
We heard about this butterfly farm and so decided to check it out. Weren´t too impressed by the butterflys however, there kinda boring. However it did get better, I ended up getting the unwanted affections of a female monkey.

The German guide found it quite funny, "she likes you yar". Actually was quite funny and thought nothing of it. Anyway got shown this Jaguar then these Guinea Pig looking things which we were told was used as live food for the Jaguar. Pity we missed feeding time. However by this time the monkey had decided it was madly in love with me and wouldn´t actually let go of me. These two keepers had to pri her off me, then when we were walking out it started to run after me. What can I say, its the Lynx effect.
Got a picture of the boatride back, this is the Rio Amazonas which flows all the way down the Amazon till it reached the sea at Belem in Brazil.

The next day I ended up meeting some Isreali girl from our hostel called Anat who was also waiting for her mates. Decided to check out this beach we´d heard about. Wow, thats all I can say. Its a massive lagoon in the Amazon with an artifical beach. All I can say was that it was amuch needed swim. Though kept thinking about all the snakes and stuff while I was swimming.
Well we´re making a move tomorrow down river to the tri-border area of Leticia (Columbia), Santa Roas (Peru) and Tabatinga (Brazil), before catching the boat down to Manaus for Carnival!!
Addios

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Cusco and the Inca Trail

2007-01-31T22:06:26Z

Well... after an interesting 17 hour bus journey from Ica we finally made it in Cusco 2 hours late. We were then greated by a taxi with no electrics, the only way to start it was point it down a hill and hope the engine kicks in. The actual city itself is something like 3000 meters up, it takes a few days to get used to it. The first day I was panting from just walking the stairs.´The city hasnt too much to offer, its mostly used as a transit point for the numerous trails and stuff.
We´re staying at the Point which is actually better than the one in Lima, its only like 10 soles (1.50) for a litre and a half of beer, quality!!
Anway, on the third day we started the 4 day Inca trek up to Macchu Pichu, bascially this big ass Inca ruin which they built about 3,500 up on the edge of a cliff. I wished they´d built it on a beach or somewhere flat.
The first day wasn´t too bad, nice weather, gradual ascent. The campsite wasn´t too bad, basically a garden in one of the villages on the trail. However the toilet... I ain´t gona go there, all I can say is thank god for Imodium. Just before we all went to bed the guide decided to warn us about bears, pumas and big feck off spiders, sweet dreams.
I woke up the next morning remembering that I hate camping. I really dont see the fun in it. Why people enjoy sleeping in tents I´l never know.
The second day was the worst though, a straight 5 hour ascent to 4,125 metres, abuot 12,000 feet, i.e. the height sky divers jump from. I got some wicked views there though, you could see right down the valley when the clouds shifted. By the time we reached the top however it started to get a little damp which made the 2 hour descent a little tricky as the rocks got slippy. Ended up at the second campsite at about 1pm, only there was absolutly nothing to do there, and I mean nothing. Again rediscovered that camping sucks.
The third day wasn´t too bad, except for the heavy rain which never stopped, I wish I´d brought a better poncho. It was all down hill which made it pretty good, pity you couldnt see much due to the rain. Also Chris discovered the meaning of ´false economy´when his 7 quid ruck sack failed making all his clothes soaking wet, passport sodden and his ticket in pieces. It was hard not to laugh. When we reached the campsite we again had 5 hours to kill only there was beer and cards, i.e. poker with match sticks and crachers.
The fourth and finally day was by far the best. After 2 hours we reached Macchu Pichu, pity about the clouds but they gradually cleared.
The group we were in was 7 strong, not including the guide, there was the four of us, a German called Roland and Kiwi called George.
The guide took us round the ruins, was quite strange that no one actually knows what it really is, its all theories from Aliens to a Royal Retreat. Me and Previn discovered some holes which we felt had to be used from something.
We think we came pretty close here.
I managed to get some pretty good shoots of the ruins, heres just one but I´m going to add the rest on facebook.
After a couple of hours however Claire decided she wanted to do a nuddy shot with the ruins. Decided best to leave them to it, turned up 10 minutes later to find 2 very concerned secruity guards, one girl trying to dress herself and the other one promptly saying, ´crap they´ve called the cops´. Was one of the funniest things I´ve ever seen, we promptly had to make a quick dash off the ruins and hide our camera and memory cards. Absolute quality!!
We´re due to fly off to Iquitos in the Amazon tomorrow, but got a big night out tonight for my birthday bash. Anyway, addios all.

Cusco and the Inca Trail remains copyright of the author Snow21, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Ica

2007-01-25T21:28:07Z

After the joys of Guano and the slum called Pisca we headed to Ica, but more specifically an Oasis to the South. Wow!! The hostel had a pool so pretty much lived there.
The whole place was surronded by dunes to height of Canary Wharf. Ended up taking a buggie ride on this V8 monster up the dunes to watch the sunset and go sand boarding. Basically a plank of wood which you lay on and bomb it down the dunes.
The picture below is of the oasis we were staying at

Also made a new friend

We all decided to go out and managed to spent more in one bar than most people earn in a year.

Anyway, I´m keeping it brief, I´m having a quality time.

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Pisca

2007-01-26T16:27:13Z

After a few days in Lima we decided to move on and so headed South to this place on the coast, thinking it´d be some stunning beach resort. Instead it turned out to be one giant slum with a park in the centre.
The hostal was funny ´Gran Hostel Belen´, actually came with its own bed pan, which my Chris though was for stewing.
The one good thing was the Guano islands, but my God did they stink. They´re these islands a couple of miles off the coats which are a wildlife haven and are periodically mined for guano, i.e. bird shit.

After that we were treated a drive though the desert in a mini-bus courtesy of its own bullet holes. Went to the coast, my god it was beautiful, all you could see was sand and blue ocean, the below picture should show it.

Ended up swimming in the Pacific, got stung my urchens, Claire ended up taking a knife to them, which was fun. Got them checked out Mum and they´re fine now.

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Lima

2007-01-26T16:27:42Z

Well, finally made it, after 2 days of travelling, 3 in-flight movies and 2 hours playing blackjack on the plane. The taxi ride was interresting, I swear they could give schumi a run for his money. My God the place is so cheap though, like 2 pounds for a meal and beer. Limas not a bad city but we aint gona remain here much longer, probably heading south tomorrow.
We arrived in time for a big festival, celebrating the founding of the city, I think. Which meant Lima centre was rammed, Police everywhere with AK´s and amoured cars with 50 cals on, they wouldnt let us have a go though. Ending up watching the changing of the guard at the Presidential Palace which resembled somthing out of a Monty Python sketch. Tourist info told us to go watch this horse parade only there wasn´t any horses in it, don´t think anyone noticed though.
The hostels pretty good, now manged to get a group of 4 of us, all the way till the Amazon. Heading down to Pisco tomorrow, i.e. made famous for the Guano fields in the 19th century, (finally something from my degree has paid off), then off to the Nasca lines and to the Inca trail for 4 days, ending up on Macho Picho.
Haven´t quite figured out this blogging stuff so ure gona have to bear with me on it.

Lima remains copyright of the author Snow21, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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