Just to let you know that we are still liking La Paz. We are starting work this week in the Loki, have been socialable recently (aka drunk), and I have just uploaded new photos of Bolivia to:
http://picasaweb.google.com/milliemoo73 (or click the black and white photo).
Enjoy!
Lots of love,
Alice xxx
Sunday, 28 December 2008
Thursday, 25 December 2008
Merry Christmas!
Hello all!
Just a quickie to say Merry Christmas! Have spent a quiet few days sampling the local alcohol and having siestas... Loki should come with a health warning! Done an art gallery and the witches market, although the dried llama foetuses were not very appealing...
Starting work here sometime on the weekend in the Loki La Paz, then will be here for 2 weeks. Having a very strange Christmas but a great day - gotta go for our Christmas lunch soon - they expect it to last 4 hours... going to be a heavy one.
Hope that you have a wonderful day - will write again properly soon when there isn't a queue for the computers, also will put up our photos.
Lots of love from us all, and Merry Christmas
Alice xxx
Just a quickie to say Merry Christmas! Have spent a quiet few days sampling the local alcohol and having siestas... Loki should come with a health warning! Done an art gallery and the witches market, although the dried llama foetuses were not very appealing...
Starting work here sometime on the weekend in the Loki La Paz, then will be here for 2 weeks. Having a very strange Christmas but a great day - gotta go for our Christmas lunch soon - they expect it to last 4 hours... going to be a heavy one.
Hope that you have a wonderful day - will write again properly soon when there isn't a queue for the computers, also will put up our photos.
Lots of love from us all, and Merry Christmas
Alice xxx
Monday, 22 December 2008
La Paz, Bolivia... again
Hello all,
Hope that you´re enjoying the run up to Christmas! It is very difficult to remember about it here, however we haven´t forgotten - yet.
We managed to have a good night out in Rurrenabaque, despite it being hot and muggy. Met a couple of English guys who were good company (although their idea of compliments is very different to mine!) Also met 2 Australian guys who told us about being in a truck accident in Bolivia, which was horrid to hear. Don´t think anyone died luckily, although they were held hostage for a while by the military down there, sounded really bad!
We luckily managed to get the bus back to La Paz without any problems. The roads were open and dry - thankfully! As we did part of the World´s Most Dangerous Road at night time... quite scary when the bus was reversing round a corner on a road 3m wide with a 800m drop down the side without guard rails... should´ve done the journey drunk or taken sleeping tablets!
Checked back into Loki, saw the National Museum of Art, and ended up chilling out yesterday afternoon which was good as the bus journey had been 20 hours long. Met some fantastic Australians last night and had the weirdest time! Ended up having a seance to disperse bad spirits - basically a lot of rum and the altitude made for a giggling combination... eventually made it to bed though so all was good.
Hoping to work for Loki - starting sometime this week - for 2 weeks. Free accommodation, free breakfast and supper, and 40% off the final bill... far better than what we are paying at the moment! Also bought Christmas presents for a couple of our friends who are travelling alone and who won´t get anything on the day... saw some hideous dried out baby llamas (dead) in the witches market... horrible! We resisted buying them for anyone... Got each other a few bits and pieces too for a total of 3-4 quid, which isn´t bad. And signed up for the hostal Christmas dinner which I am very excited about.
Will write again soon,
Love from us all,
Alice xxx
Hope that you´re enjoying the run up to Christmas! It is very difficult to remember about it here, however we haven´t forgotten - yet.
We managed to have a good night out in Rurrenabaque, despite it being hot and muggy. Met a couple of English guys who were good company (although their idea of compliments is very different to mine!) Also met 2 Australian guys who told us about being in a truck accident in Bolivia, which was horrid to hear. Don´t think anyone died luckily, although they were held hostage for a while by the military down there, sounded really bad!
We luckily managed to get the bus back to La Paz without any problems. The roads were open and dry - thankfully! As we did part of the World´s Most Dangerous Road at night time... quite scary when the bus was reversing round a corner on a road 3m wide with a 800m drop down the side without guard rails... should´ve done the journey drunk or taken sleeping tablets!
Checked back into Loki, saw the National Museum of Art, and ended up chilling out yesterday afternoon which was good as the bus journey had been 20 hours long. Met some fantastic Australians last night and had the weirdest time! Ended up having a seance to disperse bad spirits - basically a lot of rum and the altitude made for a giggling combination... eventually made it to bed though so all was good.
Hoping to work for Loki - starting sometime this week - for 2 weeks. Free accommodation, free breakfast and supper, and 40% off the final bill... far better than what we are paying at the moment! Also bought Christmas presents for a couple of our friends who are travelling alone and who won´t get anything on the day... saw some hideous dried out baby llamas (dead) in the witches market... horrible! We resisted buying them for anyone... Got each other a few bits and pieces too for a total of 3-4 quid, which isn´t bad. And signed up for the hostal Christmas dinner which I am very excited about.
Will write again soon,
Love from us all,
Alice xxx
Friday, 19 December 2008
Rurrenbaque, BOLIVIAN AMAZON...
Hello all,
Thought would just write a quickie while waiting for the others on the internet.
Copacabana was lovely, although were a bit annoyed that the Isla de Sol turned out to be more expensive than we were told... oh well it´s apparently the Bolivian way! The walk from the north of the island to the south was very pretty.
Got to La Paz on Monday and decided to spend the night there, as needed to do a few errands (like shout at Barclays and close an account...) Anyways, had a lovely evening with new friends but it all went downhill after a few drinks... Think they must be very strong or the altitude affects the body, as cannot really remember getting home at 3am from the club...!
The bus journey was horrible the next day! We left 2 hours late, as the men had to load the roof with bags. There was a problem however, that the bus was too tall to drive under the wires that run between streets in the city, so the man had to climb back onto the roof and lift up the wires for the bus to pass underneath... photos to follow! The bus leaked so we got wet, we had 3 police checkpoints to go through (for cocaine?) so had our bags searched. Didn´t realise until afterwards that we had gone down the Most Dangerous Road in the World. While it was raining. The road is 3m wide (for both lanes), has no tarmac so is gravel and mud, and there are sheer cliff faces with drops of hundreds of metres. On average, 26 vehicles go over the edge a year... And we have to drive back along this again to La Paz, on Saturday night when it is dark... nice. Love the roads here!
Because of the extreme dropoffs of at least 600 meters (1,969 ft), single-lane width — most of the road no wider than 3.2 meters (10.5 ft) — and lack of guard rails, the road is extremely dangerous. Further still, rain and fog can make visibility precarious, the road surface muddy, and loosen rocks from the hillsides above´(Wikipedia - Yungas Road).
Luckily got to Rurrenbaque in time to catch the trip out to the jungle (pampas) the same day (Tuesday). We travelled in a bumpy jeep for 3 hours, then had a 3 hour boat ride to the ecolodge (lots of travelling for us!) The boat ride was amazing... saw alligators (2 nearly jumped into our boat), caimans, capabaris (or as we call them, water pigs), turtles, pink dolphins and so on. Stunning, and with thanks to our crazy guide, quite exciting...
Spent our time there walking in the pampas looking for anacondas and cobras. Survived encounters with both - luckily the anaconda was only 2.5m long - the 12 m ones live further in the jungle. Our guide, Tony, had his clothes bitten when he was wrestling by the cobra - the poison kills a man within 2 hours. He then told us how he was bitten by an alligator a few years ago. He´s quite interesting! Tried fishing for piranhas but they were hiding, so only managed to catch a white and a yellow one, plus lots of catfish. Some others went swimming in the river this morning (apparently with the dolphins, but they had buggered off). So we had a brilliant time in on the edge of the jungle in the Pampas. The lodge was lovely (luckily quite luxurious with running water, showers and loos), and we also had ´siesta time´ scheduled into our routine. Amazing! Especially after getting so sweaty walking through the pampas.
So we made it safely back (with all our limbs attached), to Rurrenabaque tonight. We are booked on the 11am bus to La Paz tomorrow morning, (we are praying it is running through the rain!) so hopefully we´ll get back to Loki La Paz on Sunday morning early. Fingers crossed.
Hope that everyone is ok in the UK and not too stressed with the run up to Christmas - surprisingly I am really enjoying ignoring it all!
Love Alice xxx
Thought would just write a quickie while waiting for the others on the internet.
Copacabana was lovely, although were a bit annoyed that the Isla de Sol turned out to be more expensive than we were told... oh well it´s apparently the Bolivian way! The walk from the north of the island to the south was very pretty.
Got to La Paz on Monday and decided to spend the night there, as needed to do a few errands (like shout at Barclays and close an account...) Anyways, had a lovely evening with new friends but it all went downhill after a few drinks... Think they must be very strong or the altitude affects the body, as cannot really remember getting home at 3am from the club...!
The bus journey was horrible the next day! We left 2 hours late, as the men had to load the roof with bags. There was a problem however, that the bus was too tall to drive under the wires that run between streets in the city, so the man had to climb back onto the roof and lift up the wires for the bus to pass underneath... photos to follow! The bus leaked so we got wet, we had 3 police checkpoints to go through (for cocaine?) so had our bags searched. Didn´t realise until afterwards that we had gone down the Most Dangerous Road in the World. While it was raining. The road is 3m wide (for both lanes), has no tarmac so is gravel and mud, and there are sheer cliff faces with drops of hundreds of metres. On average, 26 vehicles go over the edge a year... And we have to drive back along this again to La Paz, on Saturday night when it is dark... nice. Love the roads here!
Because of the extreme dropoffs of at least 600 meters (1,969 ft), single-lane width — most of the road no wider than 3.2 meters (10.5 ft) — and lack of guard rails, the road is extremely dangerous. Further still, rain and fog can make visibility precarious, the road surface muddy, and loosen rocks from the hillsides above´(Wikipedia - Yungas Road).
Luckily got to Rurrenbaque in time to catch the trip out to the jungle (pampas) the same day (Tuesday). We travelled in a bumpy jeep for 3 hours, then had a 3 hour boat ride to the ecolodge (lots of travelling for us!) The boat ride was amazing... saw alligators (2 nearly jumped into our boat), caimans, capabaris (or as we call them, water pigs), turtles, pink dolphins and so on. Stunning, and with thanks to our crazy guide, quite exciting...
Spent our time there walking in the pampas looking for anacondas and cobras. Survived encounters with both - luckily the anaconda was only 2.5m long - the 12 m ones live further in the jungle. Our guide, Tony, had his clothes bitten when he was wrestling by the cobra - the poison kills a man within 2 hours. He then told us how he was bitten by an alligator a few years ago. He´s quite interesting! Tried fishing for piranhas but they were hiding, so only managed to catch a white and a yellow one, plus lots of catfish. Some others went swimming in the river this morning (apparently with the dolphins, but they had buggered off). So we had a brilliant time in on the edge of the jungle in the Pampas. The lodge was lovely (luckily quite luxurious with running water, showers and loos), and we also had ´siesta time´ scheduled into our routine. Amazing! Especially after getting so sweaty walking through the pampas.
So we made it safely back (with all our limbs attached), to Rurrenabaque tonight. We are booked on the 11am bus to La Paz tomorrow morning, (we are praying it is running through the rain!) so hopefully we´ll get back to Loki La Paz on Sunday morning early. Fingers crossed.
Hope that everyone is ok in the UK and not too stressed with the run up to Christmas - surprisingly I am really enjoying ignoring it all!
Love Alice xxx
Saturday, 13 December 2008
Copacabana, BOLIVIA!!!
Hello everyone,
We spent a few more days waiting in Lima for Haz´s passport. Tried to be cultural - boarded a bus for the national art gallery but found out that it was closed... and opening next year. Ran out of money to enjoy the place properly, so decided that Copacabana was calling...
Luckily on Thursday Haz´s passport was finally ready (apparently the British embassy only work half weeks...) so we boarded a bus for Puno, on the border with Bolivia and Lake Titicaca. Unfortunately our bus broke down after the first 15 hours, and in our haste to change buses with another that had pulled up (there were limited seats), I left my sleeping bag on the broken bus. Oops. Anyway, another 5 hours later we made it to Puno. Found out that the original bus was probably going back to Lima rather than going to Puno, and if it did arrive it might take days... so headed to Copacabana. Really pleased to be able to make it in only 2 days of travelling, as Puno didn´t look as nice.
So we made it! Haz managed a little bit of bribery to get herself out of Peru, (she had no entry stamp or immigration card as the passport was new), and we successfully entered Bolivia, (hiding our dollars in our bras as they confiscate them for being ´fake´when they obviously aren´t!)
Copacabana is on the edge of Lake Titicaca. If we look through the construction, we can see the lake from our room. We decided to splash out and pay for an en suite room - well it was only 2.50 quid each night! Absolutely lovely, can watch the sunrise... We have spent today mooching around. Went to the local cathedral which was really pretty - quite plain until you saw a wall of gold at the end behind the alter with many many icons. Also went into the Chapel of the Candles - so pretty. Was like a vault painted black, with rows and rows of candles...
Enjoying lovely food here too - a 3 course meal with gorgeous food only costs just under 3 dollars. Think might put on a bit of weight...! Much more economical to go for the set meals... which is unfortunate as I have 3 courses for lunch and supper... delicious! Lots of wonderful quirky cafes here too - having to visit them all and taste the hot chocolates...
Tomorrow we are taking a boat to the Island of the Sun, which is where the Inca mythology of worshipping the sun originated. 8.30am until 6pm - only 3.5 dollars - our laundry is costing 6.5 dollars! To be fair it is pretty skanky...
Phone calls are extortionate here, so no telephoning until maybe La Paz.
Monday am - travel 3 hour to La Paz. In the evening we will take the 16 hour overnight bus to Rurrenbaque in the Amazon, for a 3 day pampas tour (looking at the animals...) We should be back in La Paz by the 22nd or 23rd December, and then are spending lots of time there until the 3rd January, staying in the Loki hostel there. So from Monday 15th Dec until about 22nd December we may be out of contact for a while. So please don´t panic if you don´t hear from us! If anything happens in the UK, tell Interpol to look near Rurrenbaque or in the jungle...
Hope that everything´s going well in the UK - I´ve managed to pretty much forget it´s Christmas soon here! Seen weird Santa things though... think they are Santa willy warmers. Don´t think the others agree...
Lots of love from us all,
Al xxxxxxxx
ps in case you hadn´t realised, I LOVE BOLIVIA!!!
We spent a few more days waiting in Lima for Haz´s passport. Tried to be cultural - boarded a bus for the national art gallery but found out that it was closed... and opening next year. Ran out of money to enjoy the place properly, so decided that Copacabana was calling...
Luckily on Thursday Haz´s passport was finally ready (apparently the British embassy only work half weeks...) so we boarded a bus for Puno, on the border with Bolivia and Lake Titicaca. Unfortunately our bus broke down after the first 15 hours, and in our haste to change buses with another that had pulled up (there were limited seats), I left my sleeping bag on the broken bus. Oops. Anyway, another 5 hours later we made it to Puno. Found out that the original bus was probably going back to Lima rather than going to Puno, and if it did arrive it might take days... so headed to Copacabana. Really pleased to be able to make it in only 2 days of travelling, as Puno didn´t look as nice.
So we made it! Haz managed a little bit of bribery to get herself out of Peru, (she had no entry stamp or immigration card as the passport was new), and we successfully entered Bolivia, (hiding our dollars in our bras as they confiscate them for being ´fake´when they obviously aren´t!)
Copacabana is on the edge of Lake Titicaca. If we look through the construction, we can see the lake from our room. We decided to splash out and pay for an en suite room - well it was only 2.50 quid each night! Absolutely lovely, can watch the sunrise... We have spent today mooching around. Went to the local cathedral which was really pretty - quite plain until you saw a wall of gold at the end behind the alter with many many icons. Also went into the Chapel of the Candles - so pretty. Was like a vault painted black, with rows and rows of candles...
Enjoying lovely food here too - a 3 course meal with gorgeous food only costs just under 3 dollars. Think might put on a bit of weight...! Much more economical to go for the set meals... which is unfortunate as I have 3 courses for lunch and supper... delicious! Lots of wonderful quirky cafes here too - having to visit them all and taste the hot chocolates...
Tomorrow we are taking a boat to the Island of the Sun, which is where the Inca mythology of worshipping the sun originated. 8.30am until 6pm - only 3.5 dollars - our laundry is costing 6.5 dollars! To be fair it is pretty skanky...
Phone calls are extortionate here, so no telephoning until maybe La Paz.
Monday am - travel 3 hour to La Paz. In the evening we will take the 16 hour overnight bus to Rurrenbaque in the Amazon, for a 3 day pampas tour (looking at the animals...) We should be back in La Paz by the 22nd or 23rd December, and then are spending lots of time there until the 3rd January, staying in the Loki hostel there. So from Monday 15th Dec until about 22nd December we may be out of contact for a while. So please don´t panic if you don´t hear from us! If anything happens in the UK, tell Interpol to look near Rurrenbaque or in the jungle...
Hope that everything´s going well in the UK - I´ve managed to pretty much forget it´s Christmas soon here! Seen weird Santa things though... think they are Santa willy warmers. Don´t think the others agree...
Lots of love from us all,
Al xxxxxxxx
ps in case you hadn´t realised, I LOVE BOLIVIA!!!
Monday, 8 December 2008
P.S...
Never try to smuggle a Starbucks coffee into the cinema in a friend´s handbag... hilarious for me, not so much for J! xxx
Lima, PERU (again, and it´s slightly nicer...)
Hello all,
Not sure how many of you are reading this but I know at least a couple of you are - and it´s a good record for me too of where we are! Sometimes I forget which country we´re in...
Well we are out of Paracas and back into civilisation. Ok, that´s a bit harsh, but it´s such a relief! We managed to get a bus by hailing it down on the Panamericana highway this morning and arrived in Lima at lunchtime. One uneventful journey, we were very happy!
Booked into the Loki in Lima (www.lokihostel.com) - as we are such good guests we received a free t-shirt. We also managed to buy some more underwear today, which was very exciting as it is hard to find decent knickers outside of the big cities! Also very pleased as it means we don´t have to do laundry for a few more days...
Lima is nicer on second inspection, especially as the hostel can recommend cheaper places to eat and so on. Had a lovely 2 course lunch today for $2, so can´t complain. Although apparently Bolivia is half the price of Peru, for which we are very grateful. The cloud is still hanging over Lima, but we were excited by the purchases of underwear, and, I hate to admit it, I really enjoyed a Starbucks coffee. I know, terrible! But not very easy here to find nice coffee (they tend to export it instead). Also treated ourselves to a $4 cinema ticket to watch Madagascar... surprisingly entertaining.
We found the most amazing Christmas trees here - gold and plastic. J took a special shining to them, but refused a photo with them. I kindly stepped in, - photos will follow at somepoint relatively soon. Very strange to see plastic holly, ivy, fir trees, nutcrackers... all when it´s about 20-30 degrees! I don´t think I´ll be photographed again next to a Christmas tree wearing shorts for a very long time... Interesting to see just how far commercialism and capitalism have spread...
Tried to get Hayley´s passport this afternoon, but it´s yet again another bank holiday here, so the slackers at the Embassy are off. We will go down first thing tomorrow morning to see if the passport is there, and hopefully if it is we can then get the 3pm bus to Puno. If not we´ll stay here for another day...
Have to sign off now as the internet cafe smells of wee.
Lots of love from us all,
Al xxx
Not sure how many of you are reading this but I know at least a couple of you are - and it´s a good record for me too of where we are! Sometimes I forget which country we´re in...
Well we are out of Paracas and back into civilisation. Ok, that´s a bit harsh, but it´s such a relief! We managed to get a bus by hailing it down on the Panamericana highway this morning and arrived in Lima at lunchtime. One uneventful journey, we were very happy!
Booked into the Loki in Lima (www.lokihostel.com) - as we are such good guests we received a free t-shirt. We also managed to buy some more underwear today, which was very exciting as it is hard to find decent knickers outside of the big cities! Also very pleased as it means we don´t have to do laundry for a few more days...
Lima is nicer on second inspection, especially as the hostel can recommend cheaper places to eat and so on. Had a lovely 2 course lunch today for $2, so can´t complain. Although apparently Bolivia is half the price of Peru, for which we are very grateful. The cloud is still hanging over Lima, but we were excited by the purchases of underwear, and, I hate to admit it, I really enjoyed a Starbucks coffee. I know, terrible! But not very easy here to find nice coffee (they tend to export it instead). Also treated ourselves to a $4 cinema ticket to watch Madagascar... surprisingly entertaining.
We found the most amazing Christmas trees here - gold and plastic. J took a special shining to them, but refused a photo with them. I kindly stepped in, - photos will follow at somepoint relatively soon. Very strange to see plastic holly, ivy, fir trees, nutcrackers... all when it´s about 20-30 degrees! I don´t think I´ll be photographed again next to a Christmas tree wearing shorts for a very long time... Interesting to see just how far commercialism and capitalism have spread...
Tried to get Hayley´s passport this afternoon, but it´s yet again another bank holiday here, so the slackers at the Embassy are off. We will go down first thing tomorrow morning to see if the passport is there, and hopefully if it is we can then get the 3pm bus to Puno. If not we´ll stay here for another day...
Have to sign off now as the internet cafe smells of wee.
Lots of love from us all,
Al xxx
Sunday, 7 December 2008
Paracas, PERU (after finding that Pisco was destroyed by an earthquake...)
Hello all,
Well after recuperating in Cusco, (found that drinking helps with the help of Canadian and Australian friends...) we decided to move along and visit Arequipa (about 11 hours south of Cusco). Arequipa is lovely and stunning - the main square has a cathedral made out of white volcanic rock: behind the cathedral is the Volcan Misti. Absolutely gorgeous. Beautiful room too (very big with our own bathroom), thanks to the recommendation of a friend. The 24 hour porn (free) was a bit too much to handle in the mornings though...
Saw a 500 year old frozen Incan woman, Juanita, who was sacrificed when she was a child. She is unusual as she still has all her internal organs. She was sacrificed on one of the local mountains to appease the gods who lived in the mountains, for good weather. Really interesting (her hands looked beautiful - very good nails), though it was a bit horrid thinking how she had walked to her death for days and days. They had fed her the local spirit, and then fed her cocoa leaves, so she was (pretty much) unconscious before they hit her on the head. Nice. See we do do cultural stuff too when we are away! A monastery that I wanted to look round was lovely from the outside but it was TEN DOLLARS to look round it, so didn´t do that one... Pity though.
The next day we went to Chivay, a town on the edge of the Colca Canyon (the 2nd deepest in the world - the deepest is next door to it). 3 hour bus journey there - very cheap, but we couldn´t buy our return tickets until we got to Chivay which was slightly concerning... We arrived there and were right to be concerned. There was a holiday there and out of 5 bus companies, and of all the buses, there was only 1 seat back to Arequipa that night. We had none of our bags with us, but more worrying, we had a ticket for the bus from Arequipa to Pisco that night at 8pm...
After stressing about being stranded in this remote town, we considered taxis (expensive but necessary), before we were grabbed by a local who had heard our predicament and had commandeered a tourist bus for us! We joined the tour group for the bus ride back and saved ourselves the equivalent of 3 nights accommodation... Made it to Arequipa and were very grateful.
The bus ride from Arequipa to Pisco was fine - we were dropped off along the Panamericana road at the Pisco turning, (taxi drivers materialise magically here). Unfortunately the Lonely Planet - lonely plonker - had neglected to mention in the new edition that Pisco suffered a 7.9 richter scale earthquake last year (1200 died - 200 in the church). Therefore, the town was destroyed and is very dangerous...
Went to the next town instead - Paracas, and have had a wonderful time. Apart from feeling slightly claustrophobic (it is very small), and a slight issue of change - they don´t have any so buying things is difficult - ie impossible sometimes, it is lovely. However we are more than ready to move on tomorrow.
We have been taken care of so well by the locals (men). We have been taken to the 2nd most beautiful beach in Peru, el Mina, in the Paracas national reserve. The reserve is a peninsular that is all desert. Yesterday we went with Pornstar Signore Peluca, Fred and Julie. Very good fun - Signore Peluca (the driver), buried our shoes in the sand. It wasn´t funny. The men then buried me in the sand. Apparently I make a fetching mermaid - photos to follow. However not very convinced about the size of my nipples - or the milk ducts! The boys had fun though... A very local thing is to drink beers on the beach, so needless to say we had fun! Although the water was freezing...
Today took a boat tour to see the Isla Ballestas (the poor man´s Galapagas Islands). Saw lots of penguins (I know, very weird), lots of different birds including boobie birds (hilarious), and some really cute sea lions. Really enjoyed it. Then managed to join a guy who works at our hotel and his friends for a trip to the beach again... was beautiful. The sun was so hot but we braved the water, and have got a teensy bit red... it´ll go down though on the bus tomorrow!
So just letting you know that we are all ok, and enjoying Peru. We are heading to Lima tomorrow morning (only 3 hours long), and will stay there tomorrow night, hopefully at the Lima Loki hostel. We will then head to Puno on lake Titikaka the following day, (it will take 19 hours by bus,), but then hopefully we will be able to take another bus to Copocabana on the Bolivian side of the lake the same day... if not we will stay in Puno, and then head to Copocabana the following day.
The last 2 days have been very lovely chilling out and sleeping. A nice break from our travelling, and a restorative period before our next bus ride! Hope that the weather in England isn´t too cold, and hope everyone is enjoying the lead up to christmas. Very strange to see plastic Snowmen here when it is 30 degrees... slightly weird product of commercialism!
Lots of love from us all xxxxxxx
Well after recuperating in Cusco, (found that drinking helps with the help of Canadian and Australian friends...) we decided to move along and visit Arequipa (about 11 hours south of Cusco). Arequipa is lovely and stunning - the main square has a cathedral made out of white volcanic rock: behind the cathedral is the Volcan Misti. Absolutely gorgeous. Beautiful room too (very big with our own bathroom), thanks to the recommendation of a friend. The 24 hour porn (free) was a bit too much to handle in the mornings though...
Saw a 500 year old frozen Incan woman, Juanita, who was sacrificed when she was a child. She is unusual as she still has all her internal organs. She was sacrificed on one of the local mountains to appease the gods who lived in the mountains, for good weather. Really interesting (her hands looked beautiful - very good nails), though it was a bit horrid thinking how she had walked to her death for days and days. They had fed her the local spirit, and then fed her cocoa leaves, so she was (pretty much) unconscious before they hit her on the head. Nice. See we do do cultural stuff too when we are away! A monastery that I wanted to look round was lovely from the outside but it was TEN DOLLARS to look round it, so didn´t do that one... Pity though.
The next day we went to Chivay, a town on the edge of the Colca Canyon (the 2nd deepest in the world - the deepest is next door to it). 3 hour bus journey there - very cheap, but we couldn´t buy our return tickets until we got to Chivay which was slightly concerning... We arrived there and were right to be concerned. There was a holiday there and out of 5 bus companies, and of all the buses, there was only 1 seat back to Arequipa that night. We had none of our bags with us, but more worrying, we had a ticket for the bus from Arequipa to Pisco that night at 8pm...
After stressing about being stranded in this remote town, we considered taxis (expensive but necessary), before we were grabbed by a local who had heard our predicament and had commandeered a tourist bus for us! We joined the tour group for the bus ride back and saved ourselves the equivalent of 3 nights accommodation... Made it to Arequipa and were very grateful.
The bus ride from Arequipa to Pisco was fine - we were dropped off along the Panamericana road at the Pisco turning, (taxi drivers materialise magically here). Unfortunately the Lonely Planet - lonely plonker - had neglected to mention in the new edition that Pisco suffered a 7.9 richter scale earthquake last year (1200 died - 200 in the church). Therefore, the town was destroyed and is very dangerous...
Went to the next town instead - Paracas, and have had a wonderful time. Apart from feeling slightly claustrophobic (it is very small), and a slight issue of change - they don´t have any so buying things is difficult - ie impossible sometimes, it is lovely. However we are more than ready to move on tomorrow.
We have been taken care of so well by the locals (men). We have been taken to the 2nd most beautiful beach in Peru, el Mina, in the Paracas national reserve. The reserve is a peninsular that is all desert. Yesterday we went with Pornstar Signore Peluca, Fred and Julie. Very good fun - Signore Peluca (the driver), buried our shoes in the sand. It wasn´t funny. The men then buried me in the sand. Apparently I make a fetching mermaid - photos to follow. However not very convinced about the size of my nipples - or the milk ducts! The boys had fun though... A very local thing is to drink beers on the beach, so needless to say we had fun! Although the water was freezing...
Today took a boat tour to see the Isla Ballestas (the poor man´s Galapagas Islands). Saw lots of penguins (I know, very weird), lots of different birds including boobie birds (hilarious), and some really cute sea lions. Really enjoyed it. Then managed to join a guy who works at our hotel and his friends for a trip to the beach again... was beautiful. The sun was so hot but we braved the water, and have got a teensy bit red... it´ll go down though on the bus tomorrow!
So just letting you know that we are all ok, and enjoying Peru. We are heading to Lima tomorrow morning (only 3 hours long), and will stay there tomorrow night, hopefully at the Lima Loki hostel. We will then head to Puno on lake Titikaka the following day, (it will take 19 hours by bus,), but then hopefully we will be able to take another bus to Copocabana on the Bolivian side of the lake the same day... if not we will stay in Puno, and then head to Copocabana the following day.
The last 2 days have been very lovely chilling out and sleeping. A nice break from our travelling, and a restorative period before our next bus ride! Hope that the weather in England isn´t too cold, and hope everyone is enjoying the lead up to christmas. Very strange to see plastic Snowmen here when it is 30 degrees... slightly weird product of commercialism!
Lots of love from us all xxxxxxx
Monday, 1 December 2008
WE SURVIVED THE INCA TRAIL!!!
Hello all,
Just wanted to write and let you know that we all safely finished the Inca Trail! Would´ve written yesterday, but had a slight problem that I could not get out of bed...
This is just a quick summary, as you´ll probably look more at the photographs instead (they are uploading now).
Ok, so after a terrible nights sleep due to some idiots in our dorm being very noisy and they kept on turning on the night, we left at 5.20am to face the Andes. A 2 hour journey to the start of the trail. Haz managed to get through the control alright at the start, and we saw the porters having their bags weighed due to the new regulations.
The new regulations are brilliant, and well worth the hassle of now having to book 3 months in advance. Only 400 people are allowed on the trail daily now (including porters, and our group had 10 porters, 1 guide and 1 chef, and 1 personal porter for 6 people. So really, it´s only about 150 tourists climbing the trail). This is brilliant for the tourists as it is much quieter, and also it means that the trail is well maintained, very clean (the porters have to carry all the rubbish down the mountains again, and government workers clean the toilets and carry the loo roll back down to the town again).
Additionally, the porters (or chaskis as they´re called here), are only allowed to carry a maximun of 20 - 25 kg, rather than the 80 kg they were carrying previously. That is more than I weigh! They could´ve piggy backed me...
The trail was absolutely stunning. The first day was easy, only walking about 12 km, and climbing very little. The porters were amazing. They carried everything. Whenever we reached our next resting spot, they had already set up camp, had cooked us a 3 or 4 course meal (on the top of the Andes, with only cold running water a walk away, and 1 gas stove!) William our chef was absolutely amazing, and managed to cook us a cake on the last night saying ´welcome to Machu Picchu´. I wanted to marry him for his cooking abilities! The porters were so strong, and were running up inclines where we were puffing and panting. So friendly, and they clapped when we made it into camp - slightly embarrassing as they had done far more work than us!
Gentle walk the first day, past an Incan ruin, with Freddie our guide being very entertaining. He was funny and so encouraging - definitely got the most out of our group. We had 6 people in total - all of us were girls. Helen was from Australia, Marie Francis from Canada, and Betty from Ireland. Crashed out after another 3 course supper at about 8pm - nothing to do in the evenings and hadn´t even brought books or journals with us as they were too heavy. J, Haz and I were carrying all our own stuff, no personal porters for us! I was carrying 10kg, and joked that I was a ´media chaski´- half a porter. If only... The trail was absolutely stunning, though slightly scary when the path is only about a foot wide, the stones are uneven and wobbly, and there is a sheer cliff face on one side... but we made it.
Day 2 was difficult. 5.30am start, with Abel bringing us a lovely cup of tea in the morning to our tents - very civilised! So respectful, they really looked after us girlies. Gentle incline in the morning, and we were shown how to eat cocoa leaves for stimulation. They are also the first ingredient of cocaine, so we had to take a neutralising substance. Also highly addictive. Made our mouths go numb which was quite interesting! Felt like we had just been to the dentist, but far more fun. It can make the body go numb, but Freddie was very keen that we spit them out when our mouths went numb. He did look after us! We then began our ascent of 1200 metres. It was very difficult. Spent about 3 hours doing it, and were exhausted when we reached the top. Carried onwards and upwards, and got to the Dead Women´s Pass in one piece - altitude 4200 metres. Made a little ceremony to Pachumama (mother earth), for the good weather we had and also the good weather we hoped to have. Donated to her some rocks and had a local spirit to drink. We toasted Pachumama with it. Left Marco, the personal porter who was always finding us when we were lost, to finish up the spirit. He had wanted to join in the ceremony too, but think we left him a little more drunk than when we met him! He was 50 + years old, and far quicker than us all. Highly embarrassing! A 90 minute descent down steps to our camp for the night. Again, exhausted so passed out until supper, then passed out again after supper! Freddie was very mean and told us ghost stories about people who have died around Dead Women´s Pass. It didn´t help that a trekker actually did die about a week ago, of a suspected heart attack. The poor porters had to carry the dead body down to the local town, as no emergency services around here! Anyway, after the ghost stories, Freddie told us to close our eyes, he dimmed the light (gas lamp), and put on the scariest mask I have seen. A Peruvian version of a gimp mask, but in wool. We all screamed. I was absolutely terrified, and even after I slapped him, he kept the mask on! Had nightmares that night...
Day 3 - 5.30 am start. Climbed up another mountain to get to the mountain pass. Another descent down, and a stop at Incan ruins. Then another half hour walk to lunch. Again the chaskis had sorted everything out, and had put up our meal tent (they also slept in the tent after our supper), facing the view as we were on top of the mountain. Absolutely stunning - a meal with a view! Gentle walk after lunch to get to the third mountain pass. We had to go through an Incan tunnel, and that was fine. We took photos, and as I was walking through, I saw someone resting by the side. Thought it was a porter waiting out of the sun and taking a rest in the cool. Suddenly Freddie with his wretched mask peered round the corner. Again, I screamed. Terrified again. Luckily though he was kind and took off the mask so I could walk past him... We made it to the third mountain pass, and then began the 2000+ steps down. Very tiring. Was horrible on the knees - absolute agony. I was with Marie, who was very speedy, and we went straight down to camp, rather than seeing other ruins, as she was unwell and we both needed a wee. Didn´t fancy the bushes! Managed to have our first shower of the trip, and settled down for the night. Some of the tents were less than a foot away from a cliff edge, so we had to be careful where we stepped... said thank you to the porters as they were dashing away quickly after breakfast the following day. They were absolutely brilliant.
Day 4 - early start at 4 am, to queue up to enter Machu Picchu. A quick walk (only 4 miles) to the Sun Gate, to watch the sun rise. Unfortunately it was cloudy then so not very spectacular, but luckily the sun came out for Machu Picchu. Got to Machu Picchu about 7.30am, and were able to dump our bags etc before Freddie gave us our tour.
No words really describe the place. The setting is glorious, and Freddie had seen our journey as a pilgrimmage, if not to religion, then to mother nature. For example, the Incans believed that gold was the sweat of the sun, and silver is the tears of the moon. It was hard to disagree about the journey being a pilgrimmage. It sounds awful, but Machu Picchu was almost an anticlimax, as our journey had been so special. The journey and M P were so complimentary, that it could not have been more perfect. Whoever travels up by train really only gets half the experience. The trail was difficult and painful, yet we did it. Some runners do the trail in just under 4 hours. It took us 4 days. There is a huge difference between tourists and the locals.
We had a tour round M P and were then left to our own devices. The place is stunning - you will see from the photographs. We were absolutely shattered after all our walking (and ached), plus the sun was coming out, we had little water (or none), and the ´lazy tourists´(as Freddie called them) were arriving. So we headed down to Aguas Calientes town after a mooch about M P and chilled out there. Betty and I went to some beautiful outside thermal springs that were set in the valley with mountains around us. So pretty. And the hot water was absolutely perfect for our aching bodies! I had completely wrecked my knees after the car accident last year, so they were grateful for me soaking them...
Made it back to Cusco after a train journey and a bus journey. The bus journey was very scary - I am not a nervous passenger but the driver was crazy. Nearly took out a motorised rickshaw. Made it back in one piece and very very tired. But so satisfied that we completed the trail, very proud of ourselves.
As I said, I would´ve been emailing etc yesterday, but unfortunately I realised that I could not actually get out of bed! Haz and J were fine, albeit tired, but I was very dizzy and sicky if I became vertical. So stayed in bed all day. What a luxury!
Feeling much better today, and am just uploading photos onto Picasa. Will label them in a minute.
Hope all´s well with everyone,
Much love,
Al xxx
Just wanted to write and let you know that we all safely finished the Inca Trail! Would´ve written yesterday, but had a slight problem that I could not get out of bed...
This is just a quick summary, as you´ll probably look more at the photographs instead (they are uploading now).
Ok, so after a terrible nights sleep due to some idiots in our dorm being very noisy and they kept on turning on the night, we left at 5.20am to face the Andes. A 2 hour journey to the start of the trail. Haz managed to get through the control alright at the start, and we saw the porters having their bags weighed due to the new regulations.
The new regulations are brilliant, and well worth the hassle of now having to book 3 months in advance. Only 400 people are allowed on the trail daily now (including porters, and our group had 10 porters, 1 guide and 1 chef, and 1 personal porter for 6 people. So really, it´s only about 150 tourists climbing the trail). This is brilliant for the tourists as it is much quieter, and also it means that the trail is well maintained, very clean (the porters have to carry all the rubbish down the mountains again, and government workers clean the toilets and carry the loo roll back down to the town again).
Additionally, the porters (or chaskis as they´re called here), are only allowed to carry a maximun of 20 - 25 kg, rather than the 80 kg they were carrying previously. That is more than I weigh! They could´ve piggy backed me...
The trail was absolutely stunning. The first day was easy, only walking about 12 km, and climbing very little. The porters were amazing. They carried everything. Whenever we reached our next resting spot, they had already set up camp, had cooked us a 3 or 4 course meal (on the top of the Andes, with only cold running water a walk away, and 1 gas stove!) William our chef was absolutely amazing, and managed to cook us a cake on the last night saying ´welcome to Machu Picchu´. I wanted to marry him for his cooking abilities! The porters were so strong, and were running up inclines where we were puffing and panting. So friendly, and they clapped when we made it into camp - slightly embarrassing as they had done far more work than us!
Gentle walk the first day, past an Incan ruin, with Freddie our guide being very entertaining. He was funny and so encouraging - definitely got the most out of our group. We had 6 people in total - all of us were girls. Helen was from Australia, Marie Francis from Canada, and Betty from Ireland. Crashed out after another 3 course supper at about 8pm - nothing to do in the evenings and hadn´t even brought books or journals with us as they were too heavy. J, Haz and I were carrying all our own stuff, no personal porters for us! I was carrying 10kg, and joked that I was a ´media chaski´- half a porter. If only... The trail was absolutely stunning, though slightly scary when the path is only about a foot wide, the stones are uneven and wobbly, and there is a sheer cliff face on one side... but we made it.
Day 2 was difficult. 5.30am start, with Abel bringing us a lovely cup of tea in the morning to our tents - very civilised! So respectful, they really looked after us girlies. Gentle incline in the morning, and we were shown how to eat cocoa leaves for stimulation. They are also the first ingredient of cocaine, so we had to take a neutralising substance. Also highly addictive. Made our mouths go numb which was quite interesting! Felt like we had just been to the dentist, but far more fun. It can make the body go numb, but Freddie was very keen that we spit them out when our mouths went numb. He did look after us! We then began our ascent of 1200 metres. It was very difficult. Spent about 3 hours doing it, and were exhausted when we reached the top. Carried onwards and upwards, and got to the Dead Women´s Pass in one piece - altitude 4200 metres. Made a little ceremony to Pachumama (mother earth), for the good weather we had and also the good weather we hoped to have. Donated to her some rocks and had a local spirit to drink. We toasted Pachumama with it. Left Marco, the personal porter who was always finding us when we were lost, to finish up the spirit. He had wanted to join in the ceremony too, but think we left him a little more drunk than when we met him! He was 50 + years old, and far quicker than us all. Highly embarrassing! A 90 minute descent down steps to our camp for the night. Again, exhausted so passed out until supper, then passed out again after supper! Freddie was very mean and told us ghost stories about people who have died around Dead Women´s Pass. It didn´t help that a trekker actually did die about a week ago, of a suspected heart attack. The poor porters had to carry the dead body down to the local town, as no emergency services around here! Anyway, after the ghost stories, Freddie told us to close our eyes, he dimmed the light (gas lamp), and put on the scariest mask I have seen. A Peruvian version of a gimp mask, but in wool. We all screamed. I was absolutely terrified, and even after I slapped him, he kept the mask on! Had nightmares that night...
Day 3 - 5.30 am start. Climbed up another mountain to get to the mountain pass. Another descent down, and a stop at Incan ruins. Then another half hour walk to lunch. Again the chaskis had sorted everything out, and had put up our meal tent (they also slept in the tent after our supper), facing the view as we were on top of the mountain. Absolutely stunning - a meal with a view! Gentle walk after lunch to get to the third mountain pass. We had to go through an Incan tunnel, and that was fine. We took photos, and as I was walking through, I saw someone resting by the side. Thought it was a porter waiting out of the sun and taking a rest in the cool. Suddenly Freddie with his wretched mask peered round the corner. Again, I screamed. Terrified again. Luckily though he was kind and took off the mask so I could walk past him... We made it to the third mountain pass, and then began the 2000+ steps down. Very tiring. Was horrible on the knees - absolute agony. I was with Marie, who was very speedy, and we went straight down to camp, rather than seeing other ruins, as she was unwell and we both needed a wee. Didn´t fancy the bushes! Managed to have our first shower of the trip, and settled down for the night. Some of the tents were less than a foot away from a cliff edge, so we had to be careful where we stepped... said thank you to the porters as they were dashing away quickly after breakfast the following day. They were absolutely brilliant.
Day 4 - early start at 4 am, to queue up to enter Machu Picchu. A quick walk (only 4 miles) to the Sun Gate, to watch the sun rise. Unfortunately it was cloudy then so not very spectacular, but luckily the sun came out for Machu Picchu. Got to Machu Picchu about 7.30am, and were able to dump our bags etc before Freddie gave us our tour.
No words really describe the place. The setting is glorious, and Freddie had seen our journey as a pilgrimmage, if not to religion, then to mother nature. For example, the Incans believed that gold was the sweat of the sun, and silver is the tears of the moon. It was hard to disagree about the journey being a pilgrimmage. It sounds awful, but Machu Picchu was almost an anticlimax, as our journey had been so special. The journey and M P were so complimentary, that it could not have been more perfect. Whoever travels up by train really only gets half the experience. The trail was difficult and painful, yet we did it. Some runners do the trail in just under 4 hours. It took us 4 days. There is a huge difference between tourists and the locals.
We had a tour round M P and were then left to our own devices. The place is stunning - you will see from the photographs. We were absolutely shattered after all our walking (and ached), plus the sun was coming out, we had little water (or none), and the ´lazy tourists´(as Freddie called them) were arriving. So we headed down to Aguas Calientes town after a mooch about M P and chilled out there. Betty and I went to some beautiful outside thermal springs that were set in the valley with mountains around us. So pretty. And the hot water was absolutely perfect for our aching bodies! I had completely wrecked my knees after the car accident last year, so they were grateful for me soaking them...
Made it back to Cusco after a train journey and a bus journey. The bus journey was very scary - I am not a nervous passenger but the driver was crazy. Nearly took out a motorised rickshaw. Made it back in one piece and very very tired. But so satisfied that we completed the trail, very proud of ourselves.
As I said, I would´ve been emailing etc yesterday, but unfortunately I realised that I could not actually get out of bed! Haz and J were fine, albeit tired, but I was very dizzy and sicky if I became vertical. So stayed in bed all day. What a luxury!
Feeling much better today, and am just uploading photos onto Picasa. Will label them in a minute.
Hope all´s well with everyone,
Much love,
Al xxx
Monday, 24 November 2008
The journey from HELL... (complete with Tio, the Spanish devil...)
Hello all.
This is a combined effort by Hayley and Alice to try and convey to you the full horror of our last 48 hours.
We left Mancora in a relatively ok bus (no semi cama or cama buses for us though as they were sold out - semi cama buses have seats that recline a lot, the cama buses are pretty much beds). But we were on the economical coach, also proud of ourselves of saving a few pennies...
We were sat by the loos, (of course as we had booked our tickets late and needed to get to Cuzco quickly), and the journey was ok, only 17 hours of smelling wee. However, halfway through the journey, a distinctly fishy aroma pervaded the bus, keeping Haz and J from sleeping at all (Al slept through it, completely oblivious...) Anyway, by the time that we arrived in Lima we were pretty stinky, and found that Haz{s bag was quite wet (sorry no apostrophe{s on this Peruvian keyboard)... After investigation, it appeared that fish were loaded onto the bus at a particularly fishy smelling town (hence why opening the windows didn{t help), right on top of Haz{s rucksack. So now her rucksack smells of fish. Nice.
Lima is rightly called {purgatory{ in the book Inca Kola. It isn{t very nice, so we only stayed there for 3 hours before skiddaddling onto our second bus...
Journey number 2. The horror starts.
The loos hadn{t been drained from the journey before, and as usual, you guessed it, we were sat by the loos. Every time the bus changed direction or speed, the sloshing of the wee set off another strong aroma of urine. We can still taste it down our throats.
About 2-3 hours into the journey a very selfish man decided to poo. It wasn{t a normal poo, it was a disgustingly stinky poo (although it didn{t smell like diarrhoea, so he has no excuse. Obviously didn{t buy the imodium they were selling on board)... again this pervaded our noses to such an extent that J moved seats, gagging as she went. It was truly horrible. The cucumber body spray unfortunately wasn{t a match for the poo. After another 10 minutes we pulled into a rest stop, and were vastly overcharged to use the loos there. J can{t describe the loo there, she says it was {hideous{. Apparently grass was growing on it. I think bushes were preferable. However even this disgusting loo was preferable to the coach loo...
Night fell. And with it much vomit. We still cannot fathom just how the students at the front of the bus (Peruvians too), contained so much sick. The road was windy, but the driver was smooth and we{ve been on far worse journeys. They aimed their vomit generally in the direction of the loo, but it often ended up outside, near, guess who, Haz. Luckily Al was again sleeping through this horror. Haz and J were gagging at the stench, and trying to dodge the sick. Particularly difficult when vomiting girls were falling onto Hayley. It was absolutely disgusting. We either laughed or cried (or in Al{s case, slept), but the others managed to keep laughing. It was difficult.
The sun rose. And with it breakfast was served at the roadside cafe. Twice. Once at the cafe, once again near-ish the loo. At this point we were trying to hang out of the window. However, J had a slight problem as she had a Peruvian man in her way, a vomiting girl to her right, and she is scared of heights so the sights of the vertical cliffs probably weren{t going to settle her stomach... (the Andes were beautiful though!) No breakfast for Haz or J, though Al did manage a chocolate croissant and an apple, but only with fresh air. Otherwise it{s a horrid feeling of eating the food con sick-urine-poo. Not an appetising combination.
At this point Al needed a wee wee.
Unfortunately she has a small bladder and a fear of being dehydrated, which could lead to nasty infections. So against common sense, she put on her trainers, rolled up her trousers, and entered hell. There was sick all over the floor, loo, basin and walls. Combined with poo and wee. The stench was incredible. Anyway, imagine trying to hover over a loo that is covered with all this horribleness. Now imagine trying to do it while being shaken around, forward, side to side, and backwards. Any contact with the walls meant additional sick on the leg. Horrid. Wee and sick literally went everywhere. Ended up with sick on her underwear and trousers. Additionally, now she has sick in the treads of her trainers, on the sides of them, and on the laces.
We eventually made it to Cuzco. Never before has Al wanted to burn her clothes. Covered in grime and psychological trauma, we managed to check into the loki hostel.
http://www.lokihostel.com/cusco
Luckily this hostel is lovely as well, (also quite interesting, check out their website). Unfortunately it is at the top of a hill, so it{s strenuous walking up not being acclimatised. However we start our trek on Wednesday, so better get practising!
Will try to write again before we go, or else we will be out of contact from Wednesday early (5.20am - 10.20am UK time), until about 9.30pm Saturday night, (2.30am Sunday morning UK time). I hope we will survive the trek. Not a guaranteed though...
To end on a happier note, Cusco looks absolutely stunning, and Al might have to buy the alpaca gloves and hat tomorrow as retail therapy after that journey. Also she wants to try eating alpaca. Meant to be like steak, just less fatty. Can{t be any worse than eating guinea pig in Quito...
Loads of love from us all in Cusco, and remember, National Express buses aren{t that bad!
xxxxxxxxxxxx
This is a combined effort by Hayley and Alice to try and convey to you the full horror of our last 48 hours.
We left Mancora in a relatively ok bus (no semi cama or cama buses for us though as they were sold out - semi cama buses have seats that recline a lot, the cama buses are pretty much beds). But we were on the economical coach, also proud of ourselves of saving a few pennies...
We were sat by the loos, (of course as we had booked our tickets late and needed to get to Cuzco quickly), and the journey was ok, only 17 hours of smelling wee. However, halfway through the journey, a distinctly fishy aroma pervaded the bus, keeping Haz and J from sleeping at all (Al slept through it, completely oblivious...) Anyway, by the time that we arrived in Lima we were pretty stinky, and found that Haz{s bag was quite wet (sorry no apostrophe{s on this Peruvian keyboard)... After investigation, it appeared that fish were loaded onto the bus at a particularly fishy smelling town (hence why opening the windows didn{t help), right on top of Haz{s rucksack. So now her rucksack smells of fish. Nice.
Lima is rightly called {purgatory{ in the book Inca Kola. It isn{t very nice, so we only stayed there for 3 hours before skiddaddling onto our second bus...
Journey number 2. The horror starts.
The loos hadn{t been drained from the journey before, and as usual, you guessed it, we were sat by the loos. Every time the bus changed direction or speed, the sloshing of the wee set off another strong aroma of urine. We can still taste it down our throats.
About 2-3 hours into the journey a very selfish man decided to poo. It wasn{t a normal poo, it was a disgustingly stinky poo (although it didn{t smell like diarrhoea, so he has no excuse. Obviously didn{t buy the imodium they were selling on board)... again this pervaded our noses to such an extent that J moved seats, gagging as she went. It was truly horrible. The cucumber body spray unfortunately wasn{t a match for the poo. After another 10 minutes we pulled into a rest stop, and were vastly overcharged to use the loos there. J can{t describe the loo there, she says it was {hideous{. Apparently grass was growing on it. I think bushes were preferable. However even this disgusting loo was preferable to the coach loo...
Night fell. And with it much vomit. We still cannot fathom just how the students at the front of the bus (Peruvians too), contained so much sick. The road was windy, but the driver was smooth and we{ve been on far worse journeys. They aimed their vomit generally in the direction of the loo, but it often ended up outside, near, guess who, Haz. Luckily Al was again sleeping through this horror. Haz and J were gagging at the stench, and trying to dodge the sick. Particularly difficult when vomiting girls were falling onto Hayley. It was absolutely disgusting. We either laughed or cried (or in Al{s case, slept), but the others managed to keep laughing. It was difficult.
The sun rose. And with it breakfast was served at the roadside cafe. Twice. Once at the cafe, once again near-ish the loo. At this point we were trying to hang out of the window. However, J had a slight problem as she had a Peruvian man in her way, a vomiting girl to her right, and she is scared of heights so the sights of the vertical cliffs probably weren{t going to settle her stomach... (the Andes were beautiful though!) No breakfast for Haz or J, though Al did manage a chocolate croissant and an apple, but only with fresh air. Otherwise it{s a horrid feeling of eating the food con sick-urine-poo. Not an appetising combination.
At this point Al needed a wee wee.
Unfortunately she has a small bladder and a fear of being dehydrated, which could lead to nasty infections. So against common sense, she put on her trainers, rolled up her trousers, and entered hell. There was sick all over the floor, loo, basin and walls. Combined with poo and wee. The stench was incredible. Anyway, imagine trying to hover over a loo that is covered with all this horribleness. Now imagine trying to do it while being shaken around, forward, side to side, and backwards. Any contact with the walls meant additional sick on the leg. Horrid. Wee and sick literally went everywhere. Ended up with sick on her underwear and trousers. Additionally, now she has sick in the treads of her trainers, on the sides of them, and on the laces.
We eventually made it to Cuzco. Never before has Al wanted to burn her clothes. Covered in grime and psychological trauma, we managed to check into the loki hostel.
http://www.lokihostel.com/cusco
Luckily this hostel is lovely as well, (also quite interesting, check out their website). Unfortunately it is at the top of a hill, so it{s strenuous walking up not being acclimatised. However we start our trek on Wednesday, so better get practising!
Will try to write again before we go, or else we will be out of contact from Wednesday early (5.20am - 10.20am UK time), until about 9.30pm Saturday night, (2.30am Sunday morning UK time). I hope we will survive the trek. Not a guaranteed though...
To end on a happier note, Cusco looks absolutely stunning, and Al might have to buy the alpaca gloves and hat tomorrow as retail therapy after that journey. Also she wants to try eating alpaca. Meant to be like steak, just less fatty. Can{t be any worse than eating guinea pig in Quito...
Loads of love from us all in Cusco, and remember, National Express buses aren{t that bad!
xxxxxxxxxxxx
Sunday, 23 November 2008
Mancora, PERU and so on...
Hey there,
What a palaver these last few days have been! We managed to get our bus from Quito to Huaquillas in Equador ok, (despite the hangover). Huaquillas is a border town, and before you enter the town, you have your passport stamped with the exit stamp for Equador. You then need to walk about 5 miles (or taxi) to the Peruvian side for the entrance stamp into Peru.
Unfortunately Haz had her passport stolen just after exiting Equador, so we were literally in no-mans land minus one passport. A lovely Australian, Vince, helped us with the police reports in Equador as his Spanish was quite good. However, when we tried to enter Peru with the police reports from Equador, they would not accept them (the countries don´t get on), so Haz was technically an illegal immigrant in Peru... after a few hours of bureaucracy we managed to get on the bus to Mancora (a northern coastal town in Peru), but were a bit concerned that if we were stopped for a security check point by the police Haz might have to bribe her way out of a potentially sticky situation..!
Got to Mancora ok, and Haz managed to get another police report done for Peru, so that if she was stopped she´d at least have acceptable police documents. Mancora is absolutely lovely, a little town on the coast - it has one road, that pedestrians, dogs, rickshaws, coaches, trucks, cars and so on all fight to use. Stayed in the Loki hostel there and it was beautiful. http://www.lokihostel.com/
The hostel is still being built, but has a lovely 26 m pool (but we think we found someone´s skin floating in it, horrible,) and goes right off the main road down to the beach. So perfect bar - hostel - beach distances! Spent a great couple of days there swimming and chilling out (and buying a few pieces of jewellery from the stalls too...)
So just done a 17 hour journey by bus to Lima (which is rightly named ´Purgatory´in the ´Inca Kola´ book and in about an hour we are heading to Cusco on another 22 hour bus journey. Will then head straight to the consulate to try and get Haz´s passport sorted out for the Inca trail, as you can´t do it without one (for permit reasons). But the guy from the company we are trekking with seems to be really helpful, and will do all he can to sort it out.
Staying in the other Loki hostel in Cusco tomorrow night too, so will email again from there.
Love Alice xxx
What a palaver these last few days have been! We managed to get our bus from Quito to Huaquillas in Equador ok, (despite the hangover). Huaquillas is a border town, and before you enter the town, you have your passport stamped with the exit stamp for Equador. You then need to walk about 5 miles (or taxi) to the Peruvian side for the entrance stamp into Peru.
Unfortunately Haz had her passport stolen just after exiting Equador, so we were literally in no-mans land minus one passport. A lovely Australian, Vince, helped us with the police reports in Equador as his Spanish was quite good. However, when we tried to enter Peru with the police reports from Equador, they would not accept them (the countries don´t get on), so Haz was technically an illegal immigrant in Peru... after a few hours of bureaucracy we managed to get on the bus to Mancora (a northern coastal town in Peru), but were a bit concerned that if we were stopped for a security check point by the police Haz might have to bribe her way out of a potentially sticky situation..!
Got to Mancora ok, and Haz managed to get another police report done for Peru, so that if she was stopped she´d at least have acceptable police documents. Mancora is absolutely lovely, a little town on the coast - it has one road, that pedestrians, dogs, rickshaws, coaches, trucks, cars and so on all fight to use. Stayed in the Loki hostel there and it was beautiful. http://www.lokihostel.com/
The hostel is still being built, but has a lovely 26 m pool (but we think we found someone´s skin floating in it, horrible,) and goes right off the main road down to the beach. So perfect bar - hostel - beach distances! Spent a great couple of days there swimming and chilling out (and buying a few pieces of jewellery from the stalls too...)
So just done a 17 hour journey by bus to Lima (which is rightly named ´Purgatory´in the ´Inca Kola´ book and in about an hour we are heading to Cusco on another 22 hour bus journey. Will then head straight to the consulate to try and get Haz´s passport sorted out for the Inca trail, as you can´t do it without one (for permit reasons). But the guy from the company we are trekking with seems to be really helpful, and will do all he can to sort it out.
Staying in the other Loki hostel in Cusco tomorrow night too, so will email again from there.
Love Alice xxx
Wednesday, 19 November 2008
New photos
Just managed to find an internet cafe that actually lets me upload photos... not finished labelling them yet but will try to do so asap. Enjoy them!
Alice xxx
Alice xxx
Part 2...
Good morning...
Ow. Last night turned into more than just one drink... I ended up back at 5am but not sure when the other two came back... oh well!
Ok, so our Spanish lessons have gone really well. Certainly more confident about speaking and trying to talk in Spanish, rather than giving up the moment they speak English. Actually, what am I saying, of course I give up if they speak English..!
We are staying in a nice hostel in the Mirascal part of the city in Quito. It´s the new part, but actually brilliant to live in, as it is geared up for travellers with internet cafes (with cheap phone calls), convenience shops, a supermarket, and lots of Spanish schools. Went to the old town of Quito on Sunday, and it was nice, pretty... but didn´t do anything for me! Very Spanish, with gothic churches and so on. I´ve got used to the colourful cities in Mexico, where the buildings are painted vibrant colours, which brighten up even a dull day. Unfortunately when we looked round Quito Viejo, it was a grey day and started raining, so wasn´t nice for photos.
Which brings me onto the weather... we are sick of it! Luckily today I am writing this and the sun is shining, but the weather here is freezing! We arrived and it was 18 degrees celsius... it´s gone down to about 10 at night, but after coming from Panama city which was 30-35 degrees, it´s a bit of a shock to the system. Probably something to do with Quito being nearly 3000m above sea level... So I have been very sensible and invested in a coat (if Mum was well she would´ve made sure I didn´t leave home without one!) I got such a good coat for 22 dollars (sooooo warm), that the other 2 have got exactly the same coat in different colours... It will set us up for Peru.
So been mooching about the town really, trying to run errands, trying to sort stuff out, watching copious amounts of films (judging by last night that is far safer and cheaper!)
Visited the Guayasamin Museum and the Capella de Hombre de Guayasamin (his chapel). His paintings are absolutely stunning. It´s easy to find images on the internet if you want to have a gander: I think I have fallen in love with his work. His art is indigineous expressionism, and he paints social, cultural and political issues that affect the social underclass. Absolutely love his work (unfortunately he died at the turn of the 21st century), so have been gawking for a while there while the other 2 sorted their stuff out. I am a little obsessed, and luckily the art galleries let you take photos, just without flash, so have got quite a few pictures!
We are going to the equator today (if J gets out of bed), and then heading to Huayaquillas tonight on a 12 hour bus journey. I messed up with the tickets but I will let Hayley tell you about that! Luckily we´re going to where we want to on the Peru-Equador border tonight, but will just arrive a couple of hours later... we will then get another bus 4 hours to Mancora in Peru, and head to the beach for the day before making our ways to Lima... and then to Cusco for the dreaded Inca Trail... (I didn´t realise at the time that you can take a train up there... not pleased with H and J for making me walk it!)
Ciao for now,
Alice xxx
Ow. Last night turned into more than just one drink... I ended up back at 5am but not sure when the other two came back... oh well!
Ok, so our Spanish lessons have gone really well. Certainly more confident about speaking and trying to talk in Spanish, rather than giving up the moment they speak English. Actually, what am I saying, of course I give up if they speak English..!
We are staying in a nice hostel in the Mirascal part of the city in Quito. It´s the new part, but actually brilliant to live in, as it is geared up for travellers with internet cafes (with cheap phone calls), convenience shops, a supermarket, and lots of Spanish schools. Went to the old town of Quito on Sunday, and it was nice, pretty... but didn´t do anything for me! Very Spanish, with gothic churches and so on. I´ve got used to the colourful cities in Mexico, where the buildings are painted vibrant colours, which brighten up even a dull day. Unfortunately when we looked round Quito Viejo, it was a grey day and started raining, so wasn´t nice for photos.
Which brings me onto the weather... we are sick of it! Luckily today I am writing this and the sun is shining, but the weather here is freezing! We arrived and it was 18 degrees celsius... it´s gone down to about 10 at night, but after coming from Panama city which was 30-35 degrees, it´s a bit of a shock to the system. Probably something to do with Quito being nearly 3000m above sea level... So I have been very sensible and invested in a coat (if Mum was well she would´ve made sure I didn´t leave home without one!) I got such a good coat for 22 dollars (sooooo warm), that the other 2 have got exactly the same coat in different colours... It will set us up for Peru.
So been mooching about the town really, trying to run errands, trying to sort stuff out, watching copious amounts of films (judging by last night that is far safer and cheaper!)
Visited the Guayasamin Museum and the Capella de Hombre de Guayasamin (his chapel). His paintings are absolutely stunning. It´s easy to find images on the internet if you want to have a gander: I think I have fallen in love with his work. His art is indigineous expressionism, and he paints social, cultural and political issues that affect the social underclass. Absolutely love his work (unfortunately he died at the turn of the 21st century), so have been gawking for a while there while the other 2 sorted their stuff out. I am a little obsessed, and luckily the art galleries let you take photos, just without flash, so have got quite a few pictures!
We are going to the equator today (if J gets out of bed), and then heading to Huayaquillas tonight on a 12 hour bus journey. I messed up with the tickets but I will let Hayley tell you about that! Luckily we´re going to where we want to on the Peru-Equador border tonight, but will just arrive a couple of hours later... we will then get another bus 4 hours to Mancora in Peru, and head to the beach for the day before making our ways to Lima... and then to Cusco for the dreaded Inca Trail... (I didn´t realise at the time that you can take a train up there... not pleased with H and J for making me walk it!)
Ciao for now,
Alice xxx
Tuesday, 18 November 2008
Quito... after quite a few days
Again, sorry for the delay! We have been very virtuous and been attending Spanish school, which has meant that during our free time, we have been sightseeing and watching many many films at the hostel (sounds very sad, but absolutely loving being able to chill out without drinking... saying that, really fancy un vaso vino caliente (mulled wine/gluhwein for those of you Europeans).
The Spanish lessons have been absolutely fantastic and our teachers, Arturo and Nancy (husband and wife) are brilliant. We have learnt how to pronounce words (quite important here), and the basics of grammer. Such a good foundation to work from! So done 20 hours (very very tiring), but luckily it´s all good...
Sorry friend (Helgi) from Iceland has just turned up, so gotta go drink... will finish tomorrow!
Ciao,
Alice xxx
The Spanish lessons have been absolutely fantastic and our teachers, Arturo and Nancy (husband and wife) are brilliant. We have learnt how to pronounce words (quite important here), and the basics of grammer. Such a good foundation to work from! So done 20 hours (very very tiring), but luckily it´s all good...
Sorry friend (Helgi) from Iceland has just turned up, so gotta go drink... will finish tomorrow!
Ciao,
Alice xxx
Wednesday, 12 November 2008
Quito, EQUADOR
hello all,
Spent yesterday in Panama, and travelled quite a few hours to go and jump under a waterfall. Was really pretty, though quite cold... photos will be put up soonish!
Had a chilled out night at the hostel last night, before leaving at 2am to get our flight to San Jose, Costa Rica. Because of the time difference, the flight only took 10 minutes, pretty good! 4 hours later we had another flight from San Jose to Quito, Equador (luckily ears were absolutely fine with the flying).
Arrived in Equador - Quito airport absolutely fantastic - through immigration, customs and collected bags within about 10 minutes! LHR has something to learn methinks... After a slight problem finding our hostel (ie we didn´t find it), we ended up staying in the Hostel Backpackers´Inn, which is so homely and lovely. The Swiss lady who runs it takes good care of us, showing us what we should do and where we should go, and telling us ways to keep safe as well in the city.
We absolutely love Quito. The accommodation is $6 per night, and the food here is really cheap. We are staying in the new part of town, as that is where the Spanish schools are, but even so it´s got a great vibe about it. We are heading to the Old town sometime soon when we have sorted out our Spanish lessons, as it´s meant to be a highlight of Equador. We have just had a lovely meal in an eccentric bar, accompanied by the Equador equivalent of gluhwein... life´s so difficult here! And I also have a dangerous attraction to the local men... it´s going to be a challenging time here...
So need to head to bed now because am absolutely knackered after our flights, but will write again soon (as also have free internet at the hostel). Planning on staying here for 7 days, learning Spanish before heading south to Mancora on the coast of Peru.
Hope everything´s ok in the UK and the weather isn´t too bad. We´re very cold, having just come from over 30 degrees C in Panama to only 18 degrees here... but suppose the 3000m altitude doesn´t help! Going to go and warm up now,
Muchos love,
Al xxx
Spent yesterday in Panama, and travelled quite a few hours to go and jump under a waterfall. Was really pretty, though quite cold... photos will be put up soonish!
Had a chilled out night at the hostel last night, before leaving at 2am to get our flight to San Jose, Costa Rica. Because of the time difference, the flight only took 10 minutes, pretty good! 4 hours later we had another flight from San Jose to Quito, Equador (luckily ears were absolutely fine with the flying).
Arrived in Equador - Quito airport absolutely fantastic - through immigration, customs and collected bags within about 10 minutes! LHR has something to learn methinks... After a slight problem finding our hostel (ie we didn´t find it), we ended up staying in the Hostel Backpackers´Inn, which is so homely and lovely. The Swiss lady who runs it takes good care of us, showing us what we should do and where we should go, and telling us ways to keep safe as well in the city.
We absolutely love Quito. The accommodation is $6 per night, and the food here is really cheap. We are staying in the new part of town, as that is where the Spanish schools are, but even so it´s got a great vibe about it. We are heading to the Old town sometime soon when we have sorted out our Spanish lessons, as it´s meant to be a highlight of Equador. We have just had a lovely meal in an eccentric bar, accompanied by the Equador equivalent of gluhwein... life´s so difficult here! And I also have a dangerous attraction to the local men... it´s going to be a challenging time here...
So need to head to bed now because am absolutely knackered after our flights, but will write again soon (as also have free internet at the hostel). Planning on staying here for 7 days, learning Spanish before heading south to Mancora on the coast of Peru.
Hope everything´s ok in the UK and the weather isn´t too bad. We´re very cold, having just come from over 30 degrees C in Panama to only 18 degrees here... but suppose the 3000m altitude doesn´t help! Going to go and warm up now,
Muchos love,
Al xxx
Monday, 10 November 2008
Panama City, PANAMA
We made it! Spent a lovely afternoon watching Top Gun in our hostel in Bocas (such a classic, needed some Tom Cruise action...) before heading over to the mainland. Slight panic when the bus was full, but luckily there were a few no shows so we managed to get the overnight bus to Panama City. Haz and J were ok as they were sat at the front of the bus, but as I was near the back I felt dangerously sick going over the mountains... luckily no vomit for me!
We arrived in Panama City at the Luna's Castle hostel at 4.30am and luckily found a sofa each to crash out on... slept so well we didn't move until 9.15am when others were awake around us... a little embarrassing!
Staying in the old part of Panama City, Casco Viejo (think that's the right spelling), which is beautifully dilapidated after Welsh Henry Morgan plundered the city in the 1600s. Declared a world heritage site by UNESCO, it's now being conserved, but is still much a work in progress, with the random wall up with no building behind it...!
Walked around for a bit and saw the skyline of the main Panama city with its skyscrapers (although to be fair we can see this from our hostel!) Also looked and watched the ships waiting in the Pacific ocean waiting to enter the canal. Visited the Miraflores lock this afternoon and watched a massive boat go through it. Was really cool to see, but basically it's just a lock, but because it's on the Panama Canal it's special. But glad we saw it.
Managed to also find a shopping mall (actually got lost in it,) but managed to pick up some more tops (the others are very grateful as mine are falling to bits and a tad indecent...), the essential toiletteries for girlies, and ended up watching the new James Bond film. So a really good day! Shame couldn't have been a tad more cultural, so tomorrow we're going to have to decide to either stay and look at the causeway on the Pacific Coast and see more sights and an art gallery, or go swimming in a waterfall..... whichever we do we'll be making use of the beautiful free pancakes for breakfast!
So not much else to report just now, but hope everyone's keeping safe and well. Think am being bitten by little beasties so am going to go and move somewhere else. Chat soon,
Muchos love,
al xxxxx
ps will be in Panama city tomorrow, then fly to Quito in Equador at 5am local time here on Wednesday. xxx
We arrived in Panama City at the Luna's Castle hostel at 4.30am and luckily found a sofa each to crash out on... slept so well we didn't move until 9.15am when others were awake around us... a little embarrassing!
Staying in the old part of Panama City, Casco Viejo (think that's the right spelling), which is beautifully dilapidated after Welsh Henry Morgan plundered the city in the 1600s. Declared a world heritage site by UNESCO, it's now being conserved, but is still much a work in progress, with the random wall up with no building behind it...!
Walked around for a bit and saw the skyline of the main Panama city with its skyscrapers (although to be fair we can see this from our hostel!) Also looked and watched the ships waiting in the Pacific ocean waiting to enter the canal. Visited the Miraflores lock this afternoon and watched a massive boat go through it. Was really cool to see, but basically it's just a lock, but because it's on the Panama Canal it's special. But glad we saw it.
Managed to also find a shopping mall (actually got lost in it,) but managed to pick up some more tops (the others are very grateful as mine are falling to bits and a tad indecent...), the essential toiletteries for girlies, and ended up watching the new James Bond film. So a really good day! Shame couldn't have been a tad more cultural, so tomorrow we're going to have to decide to either stay and look at the causeway on the Pacific Coast and see more sights and an art gallery, or go swimming in a waterfall..... whichever we do we'll be making use of the beautiful free pancakes for breakfast!
So not much else to report just now, but hope everyone's keeping safe and well. Think am being bitten by little beasties so am going to go and move somewhere else. Chat soon,
Muchos love,
al xxxxx
ps will be in Panama city tomorrow, then fly to Quito in Equador at 5am local time here on Wednesday. xxx
Sunday, 9 November 2008
Bocas del Toro... still
Hello all,
Apologies if this doesn´t make much sense, my hangover has made my brain a little fuddled! We are still in Bocas del Toro, and are catching the night bus to Panama City tonight, arriving at 5am Monday morning. We will be staying at Luna´s Castle hostel (owned by the same guys who run the Mondo Taitu hostel we´re staying at in Bocas. For all of you who like to look at where we´re staying, their website is http://www.lunascastlehostel.com/
Planning to see the Panama Canal tomorrow at Miraflores Lock, and then the following day go to Chorro El Macho (just over 2 hours away by bus from Panama city) which is a 60 m high waterfall in a rainforest, and you can swim in the pool underneath... how good does that sound?!
Went back to Wizard Beach yesterday where I fell asleep for 3 hours... in the shade luckily. It was sooooooo hot yesterday, had factor 50 on my legs and they were still burning so much I had to cover them with clothes! Put so much suncream on that it still hadn´t absorbed 3 hours later...
Started playing drinking games last night in the hostel with rude cards which was great fun, before heading to Aqualounge. Got pushed in the water... again... so spent most of my night in the sea. Not really quite sure how the evening ended, but suffice to say we all had a great time! For the first time since we´ve been here, it´s raining today and I´m not sweating!!!!! J and Haz are very relieved... So nice not to be in baking hot sun for a while. So will probably chill out at the hostel watching films and reading, lying in hammock until we go... life is so hard here!
Anyways, better go now to find some food, but hope everyone´s ok in the UK (if anyone speaks or emails Sarah my sister, please can you remind her that my birthday was 4 days ago and I haven´t heard from her in ages! Cheers...)
Muchos Panamanian love,
Al xxxxxxxx
Apologies if this doesn´t make much sense, my hangover has made my brain a little fuddled! We are still in Bocas del Toro, and are catching the night bus to Panama City tonight, arriving at 5am Monday morning. We will be staying at Luna´s Castle hostel (owned by the same guys who run the Mondo Taitu hostel we´re staying at in Bocas. For all of you who like to look at where we´re staying, their website is http://www.lunascastlehostel.com/
Planning to see the Panama Canal tomorrow at Miraflores Lock, and then the following day go to Chorro El Macho (just over 2 hours away by bus from Panama city) which is a 60 m high waterfall in a rainforest, and you can swim in the pool underneath... how good does that sound?!
Went back to Wizard Beach yesterday where I fell asleep for 3 hours... in the shade luckily. It was sooooooo hot yesterday, had factor 50 on my legs and they were still burning so much I had to cover them with clothes! Put so much suncream on that it still hadn´t absorbed 3 hours later...
Started playing drinking games last night in the hostel with rude cards which was great fun, before heading to Aqualounge. Got pushed in the water... again... so spent most of my night in the sea. Not really quite sure how the evening ended, but suffice to say we all had a great time! For the first time since we´ve been here, it´s raining today and I´m not sweating!!!!! J and Haz are very relieved... So nice not to be in baking hot sun for a while. So will probably chill out at the hostel watching films and reading, lying in hammock until we go... life is so hard here!
Anyways, better go now to find some food, but hope everyone´s ok in the UK (if anyone speaks or emails Sarah my sister, please can you remind her that my birthday was 4 days ago and I haven´t heard from her in ages! Cheers...)
Muchos Panamanian love,
Al xxxxxxxx
Saturday, 8 November 2008
Bocas del Toro, PANAMA
Hey all,
Again, apologies for the delay in the post: firstly I was slightly inebriated on my birthday, and then yesterday the internet was down on the whole island! (We take so much for granted in the UK)...
Ok so we managed to travel into Panama (only 45 minutes at the border rather than the nearly 3 hours entering Costa Rica), to find out that we had missed our ferry by about 10 minutes to the island Colon, where the town of Bocas del Toro is. As we did not want to stay in the mainland town of Changuinola (a tip), we got a water taxi out to the island. It was absolutely brilliant fun. Our driver (in a small boat) went hell for leather around the canal network, only stopping briefly for the tiny wooden fishing boats. Made it across the open sea and checked into the Mondo Taitu hostel in Bocas.
Met some lovely people in the hostel and ended up going for a few drinks. Bumped into 3 British guys we´d met in Guatemala in one of the bars, which was brilliant fun. Lots of drinking games and antics, and a good practise for my birthday the following day!
Haz and J were lovely on my birthday (although chucking me out of the room to sort out my presents was a bit of a surprise), and bought me a gorgeous bag, beautiful wooden butterfly earrings and a lovely card made in Nicaragua. Thoroughly spoilt. Had another hectic boat ride over big waves in the sea to a stunning beach, Wizard Beach, on Isla Bastimentos. So rough the boat couldn´t moor up so we just jumped into the waist high water and walked ourselves. The sand was so clean, the waters clear and with really good waves to play around in, and the sun was... strong. (The lobster look has now died down). We all really enjoyed our day, it was truly paradise. One of my favourite beaches ever.
When we tried to get back into the boat, we had a few issues (no steps or anything). Managed to jump in, but J was hilarious: she jumped up and was leaning over the side of the boat... and then slithered like a slug face first into the boat. So funny - provided entertainment for the boat driver and his helper friend!
Birthday night was wonderful fun, a delicious steak in a nearby restaurant (the best I have ever tasted), which was a well spent splurge. Then drinkies in our bar, before we moved to a hostel on another island, Carenero, which is half over the water. Beers were 50 cents, the rum and cokes were free... wonderful fun until I lost my watch, got pushed into the sea, and had a slight run in with a boat... but no serious injuries so all was good!
Recovery on Thursday, and went to Playa de Drago beach then onto Starfish Beach, where we hunted down beautiful starfish. Joined up with 2 Israeli guys there, who were also highly entertaining.
Friday we went to the Red Frog Beach on Isla Bastimentos, which was also great fun. Not quite as big as Wizard Beach, and the waves weren´t quite as good, so we´re heading back to Wizard Beach today.
Absolutely loving being here, the sun is so strong that the factor 50 suntan lotion has come out, but it is wonderful to be able to jump into crystal clear waters to cool off. The Caribbean here is quite wavy, which is a fantastic change. We´re going to head to a butterfly farm in a bit before the beach, as want to also get some pretty photos.
So heading to Panama City on Sunday night on an overnight bus, for 2 days in Panama City before we fly out to Quito, Equador at 5am on Wednesday morning. We´re also finalising dates for our other flights, so once we know those we can let people know who want to visit us.
Muchos love,
Al, Haz and J xxx
Again, apologies for the delay in the post: firstly I was slightly inebriated on my birthday, and then yesterday the internet was down on the whole island! (We take so much for granted in the UK)...
Ok so we managed to travel into Panama (only 45 minutes at the border rather than the nearly 3 hours entering Costa Rica), to find out that we had missed our ferry by about 10 minutes to the island Colon, where the town of Bocas del Toro is. As we did not want to stay in the mainland town of Changuinola (a tip), we got a water taxi out to the island. It was absolutely brilliant fun. Our driver (in a small boat) went hell for leather around the canal network, only stopping briefly for the tiny wooden fishing boats. Made it across the open sea and checked into the Mondo Taitu hostel in Bocas.
Met some lovely people in the hostel and ended up going for a few drinks. Bumped into 3 British guys we´d met in Guatemala in one of the bars, which was brilliant fun. Lots of drinking games and antics, and a good practise for my birthday the following day!
Haz and J were lovely on my birthday (although chucking me out of the room to sort out my presents was a bit of a surprise), and bought me a gorgeous bag, beautiful wooden butterfly earrings and a lovely card made in Nicaragua. Thoroughly spoilt. Had another hectic boat ride over big waves in the sea to a stunning beach, Wizard Beach, on Isla Bastimentos. So rough the boat couldn´t moor up so we just jumped into the waist high water and walked ourselves. The sand was so clean, the waters clear and with really good waves to play around in, and the sun was... strong. (The lobster look has now died down). We all really enjoyed our day, it was truly paradise. One of my favourite beaches ever.
When we tried to get back into the boat, we had a few issues (no steps or anything). Managed to jump in, but J was hilarious: she jumped up and was leaning over the side of the boat... and then slithered like a slug face first into the boat. So funny - provided entertainment for the boat driver and his helper friend!
Birthday night was wonderful fun, a delicious steak in a nearby restaurant (the best I have ever tasted), which was a well spent splurge. Then drinkies in our bar, before we moved to a hostel on another island, Carenero, which is half over the water. Beers were 50 cents, the rum and cokes were free... wonderful fun until I lost my watch, got pushed into the sea, and had a slight run in with a boat... but no serious injuries so all was good!
Recovery on Thursday, and went to Playa de Drago beach then onto Starfish Beach, where we hunted down beautiful starfish. Joined up with 2 Israeli guys there, who were also highly entertaining.
Friday we went to the Red Frog Beach on Isla Bastimentos, which was also great fun. Not quite as big as Wizard Beach, and the waves weren´t quite as good, so we´re heading back to Wizard Beach today.
Absolutely loving being here, the sun is so strong that the factor 50 suntan lotion has come out, but it is wonderful to be able to jump into crystal clear waters to cool off. The Caribbean here is quite wavy, which is a fantastic change. We´re going to head to a butterfly farm in a bit before the beach, as want to also get some pretty photos.
So heading to Panama City on Sunday night on an overnight bus, for 2 days in Panama City before we fly out to Quito, Equador at 5am on Wednesday morning. We´re also finalising dates for our other flights, so once we know those we can let people know who want to visit us.
Muchos love,
Al, Haz and J xxx
Monday, 3 November 2008
San Jose, COSTA RICA
Hello there,
Not sure when I last did the blog - I think it was in Managua, Nicaragua. I am pleased to say that we left there as soon as possible and managed to not go back!
We went to Granada as soon as we arrived back in Managua from the hot springs, and were very pleased that we did. Granada is lovely, (not as lovely as San Cristobal or Antigua, but lovely all the same). Brightly painted houses, pretty much all one story apart from near the centre, - even the dilapidation looks pretty in the sunlight. The city has a volcano on one side, which was usually hidden by clouds, but on our last day we could see the top of it. Quite stunning.
The town has a lovely vibe, very relaxed and chilled out. We went to Masaya on the first full day we had, as there was meant to be a good artisans market. Took us quite a while to find us as we initially started walking down the local market - I think a man handling piglets wasn't the best thing for Haz to see!) The local market was very crowded and busy, and we were in constant danger of being run over by people, pigs, dogs, ice cream vans, bicycles, motorbikes, wheelbarrows... so we asked for directions. The artisans market was fine, not exceptional but certainly good enough for a little retail therapy.
Went to the Laguna de Apoyo the following day - about an hour from Granada. It was beautiful. We were lucky with the weather, and the sun made the lake so blue. The lake is formed in an old volcano crater, so we had to walk back up the crater edge to try and find a taxi afterwards... that part wasn't so good! It was stunning to see the lake completely rimmed by volcano, and the water was pristine - lovely to swim in. We chilled out for a few hours, had some lunch and lay in a few hammocks before making our way back again to Granada.
Managed to find a salon which does pedicures for TWO POUNDS! So whiled away some more time in Granada treating myself (my feet were beginning to look like hooves...) After being in Granada for a few days we decided to move on.
Yesterday we took a bus to San Jose in Costa Rica - amazed we actually arrived here as going through the border took over 2 1/2 hours! Crazy. So boring. Normally it's half an hour at the most. Then when we were in Costa Rica, we were stopped by the police and our passports checked. We were really lucky we got an entrance stamp into Costa Rica, (a few other girls travelling had had difficulties as they couldn't produce an onward ticket out of the country, so effectively they were illegal immigrants and the police could make life very difficult for them. But again, we were lucky and very grateful to hear the sound of the stamp in our passports.
In San Jose at the moment as J needs to spend a day here looking for a camera charger. It's really westernised and more expensive. It's nice enough (I want to buy some more strappy tops, and got more likelyhood here that the clothes will actually fit me...) but we are moving onto Panama, to Changuinola tomorrow (Tuesday), to try and get a ferry to take us to Isla Colon, to the town of Bocas de Toro, where I will spend my birthday on Wednesday. I have told J I am not spending my birthday in Changuinola, as it seems much worse than La Ceiba, and that wasn't great! The only hotel/hostel in the book in Changuinola is described by the Lonely Planet as being a good setting for a horror film, with a good view from the windows - a cemetery. Nice.
So mooching around today in San Jose. Hope everyone's alright in the UK,
chat soon,
Lots of love, Al xxxxxxxxx
Not sure when I last did the blog - I think it was in Managua, Nicaragua. I am pleased to say that we left there as soon as possible and managed to not go back!
We went to Granada as soon as we arrived back in Managua from the hot springs, and were very pleased that we did. Granada is lovely, (not as lovely as San Cristobal or Antigua, but lovely all the same). Brightly painted houses, pretty much all one story apart from near the centre, - even the dilapidation looks pretty in the sunlight. The city has a volcano on one side, which was usually hidden by clouds, but on our last day we could see the top of it. Quite stunning.
The town has a lovely vibe, very relaxed and chilled out. We went to Masaya on the first full day we had, as there was meant to be a good artisans market. Took us quite a while to find us as we initially started walking down the local market - I think a man handling piglets wasn't the best thing for Haz to see!) The local market was very crowded and busy, and we were in constant danger of being run over by people, pigs, dogs, ice cream vans, bicycles, motorbikes, wheelbarrows... so we asked for directions. The artisans market was fine, not exceptional but certainly good enough for a little retail therapy.
Went to the Laguna de Apoyo the following day - about an hour from Granada. It was beautiful. We were lucky with the weather, and the sun made the lake so blue. The lake is formed in an old volcano crater, so we had to walk back up the crater edge to try and find a taxi afterwards... that part wasn't so good! It was stunning to see the lake completely rimmed by volcano, and the water was pristine - lovely to swim in. We chilled out for a few hours, had some lunch and lay in a few hammocks before making our way back again to Granada.
Managed to find a salon which does pedicures for TWO POUNDS! So whiled away some more time in Granada treating myself (my feet were beginning to look like hooves...) After being in Granada for a few days we decided to move on.
Yesterday we took a bus to San Jose in Costa Rica - amazed we actually arrived here as going through the border took over 2 1/2 hours! Crazy. So boring. Normally it's half an hour at the most. Then when we were in Costa Rica, we were stopped by the police and our passports checked. We were really lucky we got an entrance stamp into Costa Rica, (a few other girls travelling had had difficulties as they couldn't produce an onward ticket out of the country, so effectively they were illegal immigrants and the police could make life very difficult for them. But again, we were lucky and very grateful to hear the sound of the stamp in our passports.
In San Jose at the moment as J needs to spend a day here looking for a camera charger. It's really westernised and more expensive. It's nice enough (I want to buy some more strappy tops, and got more likelyhood here that the clothes will actually fit me...) but we are moving onto Panama, to Changuinola tomorrow (Tuesday), to try and get a ferry to take us to Isla Colon, to the town of Bocas de Toro, where I will spend my birthday on Wednesday. I have told J I am not spending my birthday in Changuinola, as it seems much worse than La Ceiba, and that wasn't great! The only hotel/hostel in the book in Changuinola is described by the Lonely Planet as being a good setting for a horror film, with a good view from the windows - a cemetery. Nice.
So mooching around today in San Jose. Hope everyone's alright in the UK,
chat soon,
Lots of love, Al xxxxxxxxx
Thursday, 30 October 2008
Granada, Nicaragua
Finished yesterday´s post by looking forward to today and the hot springs. Well, things didn´´t exactly go the way we wanted!
The day didn´t start off great when our hotel tried to screw us over with money. Luckily we found a lovely restaurant for breakfast which set us up well for the day. We took a local bus to Tipitapa, to see the agua termales (hot springs), only to arrive and find the place was horrid! The main pool was empty, the whole area looked run down and there was loads of rubbish around. There was one full swimming pool, which was so hot you could cook eggs in it. The sauna looked scary, and the loos can´t even be called as such... I leave it to your imagination.
So ran away again to collect our stuff from Managua, and decided to have lunch in the same restaurant. Our taxi driver was so incompetent (he couldn´t read a map), we went round in circles for half an hour. It was at this time we had to laugh, although he wasn´t laughing...
Eventually ran away to Granada, which already seems so much nicer. The hostel, http://www.nicaraguahostel.com/ is lovely, loads of hammocks to relax in, free internet, comfy beds... not too expensive... we are so glad to be here instead! We hope that our luck with Nicaragua will change, as it is our least favourite country so far. It must get better.... so being eternally optimistic, we are sure that tomorrow will be much better.
Hope that all is ok in the UK and Europe,
Much love,
Al xxxxxxxxx
The day didn´t start off great when our hotel tried to screw us over with money. Luckily we found a lovely restaurant for breakfast which set us up well for the day. We took a local bus to Tipitapa, to see the agua termales (hot springs), only to arrive and find the place was horrid! The main pool was empty, the whole area looked run down and there was loads of rubbish around. There was one full swimming pool, which was so hot you could cook eggs in it. The sauna looked scary, and the loos can´t even be called as such... I leave it to your imagination.
So ran away again to collect our stuff from Managua, and decided to have lunch in the same restaurant. Our taxi driver was so incompetent (he couldn´t read a map), we went round in circles for half an hour. It was at this time we had to laugh, although he wasn´t laughing...
Eventually ran away to Granada, which already seems so much nicer. The hostel, http://www.nicaraguahostel.com/ is lovely, loads of hammocks to relax in, free internet, comfy beds... not too expensive... we are so glad to be here instead! We hope that our luck with Nicaragua will change, as it is our least favourite country so far. It must get better.... so being eternally optimistic, we are sure that tomorrow will be much better.
Hope that all is ok in the UK and Europe,
Much love,
Al xxxxxxxxx
Wednesday, 29 October 2008
Managua, NICARAGUA
Finally left Utila (nearly cried) after a very booze filled Friday night. Caught the ferry to the mainland on Monday morning, which was very lucky as the ferries afterwards were cancelled due to a tropical storm. It absolutely poured down for about 15 hours. Not pretty! La Ceiba is not a pretty town, and there is not much to do. It's just a convenient jumping off point to the islands. Had to hang around La Ceiba for a day as J was waiting for a parcel (which never arrived anyway), so we ran away.
Unfortunately our next stop, Tegucigalpa (capital of Honduras for those of you who didn't know), was no better. The drive was slightly terrifying: the roads are fine, but the drivers are maniacs, overtaking on blind corners and the tops of hills (although it will be worse in Bolivia). Went past the first accident: about 4-5 cars, 1 pick up truck, 1 massive lorry and 1 coach - which looked like the top of it had been cut off. They were all completely mashed up. Just got over that one when we passed another accident of about 1 pick up truck and 3 cars: saw at least 7 body bags in the back of another pick up truck. The person who manufactures them obviously does a good business... Was pretty morbid and horrid.
We arrived after dark - true, not the best time to arrive - and stayed in a hotel that would have been brilliant for setting a horror movie in: long unlit corridors, many dark wooden doors, and a slightly brothel feel to it. (Quite funny when I asked directions from 2 very dressed up women earlier that day, only to realise half way through the conversation that they were hookers...) We managed to survive, and jumped on a bus to Managua today sure that it would be nicer.
It's not. Nicaragua seems gorgeous, but the capital does not seem to have any redeeming features. At all. Tried to do a bit of sight seeing but that failed. The most exciting part was hitching a ride in the back of a truck to our hotel. We had a horrid supper (I do not know how food can start off so nice as ingredients and be turned into disgustingness!) Suppose the most fruitful part of the day was going to the hospital where I got my ears looked at again. A lovely, handsome man (head of finance) translated for me, to tell me that my ears were completely buggered. Luckily the ear drums are intact, but no diving for me at all for at least a month, and no flying anywhere in the short term. Given many more drugs, and instructions not to get cold, change altitude, not to use air con or open a cold fridge (not all of them are here), not to drive with the windows down... Not sure how many of these things I will actually be able to adhere to! But a second opinion was worth it, - certainly for the translation alone.
So we are in our hotel at the moment (nothing else to do), enjoying a rarity: TV! Chilling out watching films and bad American programs/films, which is surprisingly enjoyable. Heading to Tipitapa tomorrow for some hot springs (Haz and J need a hot shower very soon), and then hopefully we can head to Granada the same night. Granada must be nicer than this!
Better go and shower (in a cold shower, not sure what the doctor would say...) Hope everyone's ok,
Muchos love,
Al xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Unfortunately our next stop, Tegucigalpa (capital of Honduras for those of you who didn't know), was no better. The drive was slightly terrifying: the roads are fine, but the drivers are maniacs, overtaking on blind corners and the tops of hills (although it will be worse in Bolivia). Went past the first accident: about 4-5 cars, 1 pick up truck, 1 massive lorry and 1 coach - which looked like the top of it had been cut off. They were all completely mashed up. Just got over that one when we passed another accident of about 1 pick up truck and 3 cars: saw at least 7 body bags in the back of another pick up truck. The person who manufactures them obviously does a good business... Was pretty morbid and horrid.
We arrived after dark - true, not the best time to arrive - and stayed in a hotel that would have been brilliant for setting a horror movie in: long unlit corridors, many dark wooden doors, and a slightly brothel feel to it. (Quite funny when I asked directions from 2 very dressed up women earlier that day, only to realise half way through the conversation that they were hookers...) We managed to survive, and jumped on a bus to Managua today sure that it would be nicer.
It's not. Nicaragua seems gorgeous, but the capital does not seem to have any redeeming features. At all. Tried to do a bit of sight seeing but that failed. The most exciting part was hitching a ride in the back of a truck to our hotel. We had a horrid supper (I do not know how food can start off so nice as ingredients and be turned into disgustingness!) Suppose the most fruitful part of the day was going to the hospital where I got my ears looked at again. A lovely, handsome man (head of finance) translated for me, to tell me that my ears were completely buggered. Luckily the ear drums are intact, but no diving for me at all for at least a month, and no flying anywhere in the short term. Given many more drugs, and instructions not to get cold, change altitude, not to use air con or open a cold fridge (not all of them are here), not to drive with the windows down... Not sure how many of these things I will actually be able to adhere to! But a second opinion was worth it, - certainly for the translation alone.
So we are in our hotel at the moment (nothing else to do), enjoying a rarity: TV! Chilling out watching films and bad American programs/films, which is surprisingly enjoyable. Heading to Tipitapa tomorrow for some hot springs (Haz and J need a hot shower very soon), and then hopefully we can head to Granada the same night. Granada must be nicer than this!
Better go and shower (in a cold shower, not sure what the doctor would say...) Hope everyone's ok,
Muchos love,
Al xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Friday, 24 October 2008
More photos of Utila, Honduras
Hello everyone,
It's Alice here again today. Couldn't write the blog yesterday as was so gutted about diving. Had the worst day of the trip, but ended up having the best night. We went out with our friends for a gorgeous supper at Dave's restaurant (very imaginative names here), and then ended up on a bar that was on a jetty over the Caribbean, called Coco Loco. The music was good, the atmosphere brilliant, and just the right amount of people. Stephane and I ended up dancing a lot on the chair and floor while fireworks were exploding overhead from a catamaran moored up near the bar... Absolutely beautiful.
J and Haz got up with me early this morning - they are so kind, - and had a mission to see the doctor, but I got bad news. He looked in my left ear and said I had an infection and couldn't dive for 2-3 days, which was ok. He then looked in my right ear (the bleeding one), and said I couldn't dive for a month as the infection was chronic and apparently very serious. I nearly cried (so proud I didn't break down into body shaking sobs). So am on 2000 mg amoxicillin and another prescription anti inflammatory daily, and will try to do the last 2 dives I need to complete before I'm certified as an Open Water PADI diver somewhere else. I can scuba dive to 12m at the moment (rather than J and Haz's 18m), and I have to go with a professional, but once I do those final 2 dives (with only a couple of skills), I will be certified Open Water as well. At the moment I'm a PADI Scuba Diver. Very gutted, especially as I wanted to do the advanced course. Have to see a doctor on Wednesday next week and probably another one after that to make sure that it's settling.
So not going to start taking the antibiotics til tomorrow (feel fine, luckily no pain at all, just feel kinda faint a lot, like I'm continually drunk... quite fun...) cause we're planning a big one tonight. Haz and J are siesta-ing at the moment, - had better join them. Need to keep the energy levels up!
Planning on moving south on Monday, think the floods are subsiding a little now.
Much love,
Alxxxx
It's Alice here again today. Couldn't write the blog yesterday as was so gutted about diving. Had the worst day of the trip, but ended up having the best night. We went out with our friends for a gorgeous supper at Dave's restaurant (very imaginative names here), and then ended up on a bar that was on a jetty over the Caribbean, called Coco Loco. The music was good, the atmosphere brilliant, and just the right amount of people. Stephane and I ended up dancing a lot on the chair and floor while fireworks were exploding overhead from a catamaran moored up near the bar... Absolutely beautiful.
J and Haz got up with me early this morning - they are so kind, - and had a mission to see the doctor, but I got bad news. He looked in my left ear and said I had an infection and couldn't dive for 2-3 days, which was ok. He then looked in my right ear (the bleeding one), and said I couldn't dive for a month as the infection was chronic and apparently very serious. I nearly cried (so proud I didn't break down into body shaking sobs). So am on 2000 mg amoxicillin and another prescription anti inflammatory daily, and will try to do the last 2 dives I need to complete before I'm certified as an Open Water PADI diver somewhere else. I can scuba dive to 12m at the moment (rather than J and Haz's 18m), and I have to go with a professional, but once I do those final 2 dives (with only a couple of skills), I will be certified Open Water as well. At the moment I'm a PADI Scuba Diver. Very gutted, especially as I wanted to do the advanced course. Have to see a doctor on Wednesday next week and probably another one after that to make sure that it's settling.
So not going to start taking the antibiotics til tomorrow (feel fine, luckily no pain at all, just feel kinda faint a lot, like I'm continually drunk... quite fun...) cause we're planning a big one tonight. Haz and J are siesta-ing at the moment, - had better join them. Need to keep the energy levels up!
Planning on moving south on Monday, think the floods are subsiding a little now.
Much love,
Alxxxx
Thursday, 23 October 2008
Today was our final day of our open water diving course, but things didnt go exactly according to plan. Firstly we went out and got alittle drunky last night and J and i didnt get in untill 3am. so we werent feeling the healthiest this morning when alice (who actually was much more sensible and went to bed alittle earlier) announced she had blood coming out of her ear! Not ideal when your diving down to 18metres that day. She felt fine tho, so we headed off for our final dives thinking it was nothing serious. Just before we were about to head out on the boat, alice mentioned to our instructor about her manking ear (which is no longer bleeding) and he said she wasnt allowed to dive today. Was really rubbish as she had to just wait on the boat whilst we did our 2 final dives at 18 metres. She was alittle sad, but was cheered up by taking pics of us looking stupid under water. she also managed to snorkel and take some pics of some fishes.
J and I are now certified open water divers, but it wasnt the same without alice down there with us. We did have someone following us round, both before during and after our dives, with a videocamera, so we will have video evidence of our new skills. Alice also managed to leave her mark on the video by uploading all her photos of today to be used as the credits which is really cool! So we are heading for the doctors tomorrow, to get the verdict on the ear. we are going to stay here untill alice gets the ok to get back in the water, as she just needs to do 2 more dives to be certified. Utila is pretty cool place so happy to hang around here for a while. in fact we may never leave at this rate. we are rapidly becoming addicted exploring the underwater world, and are contemplating using all our money to become diving instructors.
anyway, hopefully tomorrow we will have a better idea of our future plans, but it looks as tho we will be here at least untill early next week. by then the floods on the mainland (which have been declared a national disaster) will hopefully have cleared so our journey across land may be alittle easier. We will keep you posted.
muchos love H x
J and I are now certified open water divers, but it wasnt the same without alice down there with us. We did have someone following us round, both before during and after our dives, with a videocamera, so we will have video evidence of our new skills. Alice also managed to leave her mark on the video by uploading all her photos of today to be used as the credits which is really cool! So we are heading for the doctors tomorrow, to get the verdict on the ear. we are going to stay here untill alice gets the ok to get back in the water, as she just needs to do 2 more dives to be certified. Utila is pretty cool place so happy to hang around here for a while. in fact we may never leave at this rate. we are rapidly becoming addicted exploring the underwater world, and are contemplating using all our money to become diving instructors.
anyway, hopefully tomorrow we will have a better idea of our future plans, but it looks as tho we will be here at least untill early next week. by then the floods on the mainland (which have been declared a national disaster) will hopefully have cleared so our journey across land may be alittle easier. We will keep you posted.
muchos love H x
Wednesday, 22 October 2008
Photos
Oh also a few more pictures have gone up - not many as only from one camera - will do the others soon.
Al xxxxxx
Al xxxxxx
Diving!
Well we all lived through our first dive in the sea. It was touch and go for a while - even my instructor buddy said afterwards he didn't think I'd make it down! So proud... think am conquering my fear of things in the sea coming and ripping my limbs off slowly, inch by inch, flesh hanging between their teeth....
It was absolutely beautiful down there. Another whole new world, it's really difficult to describe. Photos and videos just don't come close. Absolutely terrifying, but beautiful too. J had a few problems with forgetting to breathe properly - she nearly drowned haha - and Haz managed to do everything spot on nearly every time. I had a few issues with my weighting, so ended up floating away sometimes and had to be pulled back down again - very dangerous with lung overexpansion etc. Then I ended up on my arse - only I could end up on my bum in the sea! Few issues with taking weight belt off at the surface of the water - unfortunately I put it in the wrong place, so it was under me, I was floating on the surface but being pulled down, and my snorkel wasn't working as it was filled with water. Only thrashed around a little bit...
But we made it, and I think we all enjoyed it. Went to a salsa class last night with instructors from the dive school and our dive class - Haz has a magic twinkle in her eye which meant that she was continually pulled up to dance with various men - literally, Stephane carried her off her chair and dragged her onto the dancefloor. Haz did put up a good fight, but she wasn't strong enough. And J and I didn't help her as we found it far too funny. So after sweating a lot, we realised that we could kind of dance enough to have fun. Really good night, although we're aching today! And need more coffee...
Anyway gotta sunbathe to catch a few unusual rays of sun in Honduras's rainy season. Starting diving again in 50 minutes... going fish spotting today and then more skills. Should be kind of cool, but not impressed that I've learnt the hand signal for 'barracuda'... There is no way I want to see one!
Lots of love, missing you all loads,
Al xxxxxx
It was absolutely beautiful down there. Another whole new world, it's really difficult to describe. Photos and videos just don't come close. Absolutely terrifying, but beautiful too. J had a few problems with forgetting to breathe properly - she nearly drowned haha - and Haz managed to do everything spot on nearly every time. I had a few issues with my weighting, so ended up floating away sometimes and had to be pulled back down again - very dangerous with lung overexpansion etc. Then I ended up on my arse - only I could end up on my bum in the sea! Few issues with taking weight belt off at the surface of the water - unfortunately I put it in the wrong place, so it was under me, I was floating on the surface but being pulled down, and my snorkel wasn't working as it was filled with water. Only thrashed around a little bit...
But we made it, and I think we all enjoyed it. Went to a salsa class last night with instructors from the dive school and our dive class - Haz has a magic twinkle in her eye which meant that she was continually pulled up to dance with various men - literally, Stephane carried her off her chair and dragged her onto the dancefloor. Haz did put up a good fight, but she wasn't strong enough. And J and I didn't help her as we found it far too funny. So after sweating a lot, we realised that we could kind of dance enough to have fun. Really good night, although we're aching today! And need more coffee...
Anyway gotta sunbathe to catch a few unusual rays of sun in Honduras's rainy season. Starting diving again in 50 minutes... going fish spotting today and then more skills. Should be kind of cool, but not impressed that I've learnt the hand signal for 'barracuda'... There is no way I want to see one!
Lots of love, missing you all loads,
Al xxxxxx
Monday, 20 October 2008
Today we dived!!!
well when i say dived, we actually just knelt on the floor of a swimming pool, but we breathed underwater for a whole 45mins! was so cool. Alice had alittle trouble kneeling on the bottom and was either sat on her bum with her legs in the air, or floating to the top! Our instructor, whos name is Dick, had to weigh her down more to keep her still. This seemed to work, and we went through a number of skills, including clearing and emptying masks, sharing air supplies and having our air tanks turned OFF! On wed we are going to go down to 12metres in the sea! so lots of fish spotting, which will be entertaining as alice is frightened of fish!
hopefully by friday we will be certified open water divers, license and everything!
Tomorrow night we are going salsa dancing with the instructors........ hopefully our turn to laugh at them.
anyway, we have diving stuff to learn, missing you all muchly, Hayley and Jxxxx
well when i say dived, we actually just knelt on the floor of a swimming pool, but we breathed underwater for a whole 45mins! was so cool. Alice had alittle trouble kneeling on the bottom and was either sat on her bum with her legs in the air, or floating to the top! Our instructor, whos name is Dick, had to weigh her down more to keep her still. This seemed to work, and we went through a number of skills, including clearing and emptying masks, sharing air supplies and having our air tanks turned OFF! On wed we are going to go down to 12metres in the sea! so lots of fish spotting, which will be entertaining as alice is frightened of fish!
hopefully by friday we will be certified open water divers, license and everything!
Tomorrow night we are going salsa dancing with the instructors........ hopefully our turn to laugh at them.
anyway, we have diving stuff to learn, missing you all muchly, Hayley and Jxxxx
Sunday, 19 October 2008
Utila, Bay Islands, HONDURAS
Hi all,
Hello from Honduras! We loved spending the time in Antigua in Guatemala (not the island Antiga, but Antigua the landlocked city). There was a small earthquake that we felt in Antigua on Thursday at lunchtime: Haz had banged her head on a window (I know, pretty silly but luckily not much concussion), and thought it was her head playing tricks on her: however it turned out to be an earthquake - pretty cool! We then decided to climb an active volcano to say hello to the lava at the Pacaya volcano (probably not the best idea straight after an earthquake...)
It was one of the most difficult things I have done. I don´t think that Haz and J had such a difficult time because they abandoned me and lept up the volcano! We first of all started at a place called San Francisco at 1,800 m - to reach the top we needed to walk 4 km and up another 500m. We walked the first half in a forest environment, slippery after the rain (actually it was still raining), which was hard going but ok. We then reached the ash which was exactly like walking uphill on very coarse sand. Half way up I wanted to stop and cry it was so difficult! We were walking on old lava - Haz misjudged and fell through - her foot stopped a couple of inches away from molten lava - no health and safety here! Luckily she wasn´t scorched alive. Really disconcerting walking on top of old lava with molten lava showing through the gaps. The lava was really sharp in places, and melted the soles of shoes if we weren´t careful. I think most of us ended up with bruised bottoms and small cuts and grazes after falling over.
Eventually after 90 mins made it to the top. Nearly got blown off the top as the wind was so strong! But it was absolutely beautiful. We could see lava coming out from a hole and running in 2 streams all the way down the side of the volcano. One guy was toasting a marshmallow at the top - another one had lit a joint from the lava! Only in Guatemala... When we were walking back again (in the dark), we could see the orange lava flowing down the side as well, absolutely stunning.
Will put the photos on the internet when it´s possible to.
Spent a horrible day on Friday travelling for over 17 hours - one very uncomfortable bus, another 2 lovely buses, to arrive in La Ceiba in Honduras. Stayed overnight there, and in the morning yesterday we took an hour ferry to the Bay Island of Utila. The ferry was so bouncy, not felt anything like that before. Quite an adventure!
We are staying at the Mango Inn in Utila, where the accommodation is free as we are going our diving PADI Open Water qualification with the Utila Dive Centre. Has a swimming pool and everything! Absolutely lovely, really spoilt here. We spent a lot of time with one of the instructors, Johan yesterday, and went round to his house to chill out and watch films with him last night. Wonderful to relax after all the travelling. Also bought some more flip flops - have managed to break 3 pairs in 3 weeks!
Had breakfast out today - massive portions - when we bumped into 3 guys that we met in Flores. Stephane had been great looking after me when I was ill, buying me drugs, and his 2 friends - one dutch and one Irish - were travelling with him. They changed their plans due to bad weather in Belize and Guatemala, and it was such a surprise to see them in the cafe, but a welcome one. So think tonight may have a few drinks (think Stephane wants to work his magic with Haz) as not diving deep tomorrow.
Anyway need to go and read my PADI book - got homework already! Hope everyone´s ok, chat again soon.
Much love,
Al, Haz and J xxx
Hello from Honduras! We loved spending the time in Antigua in Guatemala (not the island Antiga, but Antigua the landlocked city). There was a small earthquake that we felt in Antigua on Thursday at lunchtime: Haz had banged her head on a window (I know, pretty silly but luckily not much concussion), and thought it was her head playing tricks on her: however it turned out to be an earthquake - pretty cool! We then decided to climb an active volcano to say hello to the lava at the Pacaya volcano (probably not the best idea straight after an earthquake...)
It was one of the most difficult things I have done. I don´t think that Haz and J had such a difficult time because they abandoned me and lept up the volcano! We first of all started at a place called San Francisco at 1,800 m - to reach the top we needed to walk 4 km and up another 500m. We walked the first half in a forest environment, slippery after the rain (actually it was still raining), which was hard going but ok. We then reached the ash which was exactly like walking uphill on very coarse sand. Half way up I wanted to stop and cry it was so difficult! We were walking on old lava - Haz misjudged and fell through - her foot stopped a couple of inches away from molten lava - no health and safety here! Luckily she wasn´t scorched alive. Really disconcerting walking on top of old lava with molten lava showing through the gaps. The lava was really sharp in places, and melted the soles of shoes if we weren´t careful. I think most of us ended up with bruised bottoms and small cuts and grazes after falling over.
Eventually after 90 mins made it to the top. Nearly got blown off the top as the wind was so strong! But it was absolutely beautiful. We could see lava coming out from a hole and running in 2 streams all the way down the side of the volcano. One guy was toasting a marshmallow at the top - another one had lit a joint from the lava! Only in Guatemala... When we were walking back again (in the dark), we could see the orange lava flowing down the side as well, absolutely stunning.
Will put the photos on the internet when it´s possible to.
Spent a horrible day on Friday travelling for over 17 hours - one very uncomfortable bus, another 2 lovely buses, to arrive in La Ceiba in Honduras. Stayed overnight there, and in the morning yesterday we took an hour ferry to the Bay Island of Utila. The ferry was so bouncy, not felt anything like that before. Quite an adventure!
We are staying at the Mango Inn in Utila, where the accommodation is free as we are going our diving PADI Open Water qualification with the Utila Dive Centre. Has a swimming pool and everything! Absolutely lovely, really spoilt here. We spent a lot of time with one of the instructors, Johan yesterday, and went round to his house to chill out and watch films with him last night. Wonderful to relax after all the travelling. Also bought some more flip flops - have managed to break 3 pairs in 3 weeks!
Had breakfast out today - massive portions - when we bumped into 3 guys that we met in Flores. Stephane had been great looking after me when I was ill, buying me drugs, and his 2 friends - one dutch and one Irish - were travelling with him. They changed their plans due to bad weather in Belize and Guatemala, and it was such a surprise to see them in the cafe, but a welcome one. So think tonight may have a few drinks (think Stephane wants to work his magic with Haz) as not diving deep tomorrow.
Anyway need to go and read my PADI book - got homework already! Hope everyone´s ok, chat again soon.
Much love,
Al, Haz and J xxx
Thursday, 16 October 2008
Photos!
Just a quickie to let you know that you can see the photos I've just uploaded onto the internet of Mexico and a bit of Guatemala at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/milliemoo73
You can also access this website by clicking on the black and white photo of me in the Sahara on the left hand side of the blog. Hope you enjoy the photos! (I think J and Haz might lynch me for some of them...!)
Love Alice xxx
http://picasaweb.google.com/milliemoo73
You can also access this website by clicking on the black and white photo of me in the Sahara on the left hand side of the blog. Hope you enjoy the photos! (I think J and Haz might lynch me for some of them...!)
Love Alice xxx
Tuesday, 14 October 2008
Antigua, Guatemala
Dear all,
Thanks for all your messages, it's lovely to hear from you. Just a quickie to say that we left Flores last night and travelled on an overnight bus to Antigua. Antigua is very picturesque, surrounded by volcanoes and has really pretty buildings, painted gorgeous colours.
I've had a temperature the last few days so not been feeling very perky, apparently it's a 'superior airway infection' - I think that means basically a sore throat, but with a lot of paracetamol it feels much better (but Haz and J think I've gone slightly crazy)... so nothing serious to worry about, but basically not done anything the last 2 days because I've been asleep!
Tomorrow we're going to see a gorgeous lake, and then the following day we're going to climb a volcano. Pretty cool!
Chat again soon,
Muchos love, Al, Haz and J xxx
Thanks for all your messages, it's lovely to hear from you. Just a quickie to say that we left Flores last night and travelled on an overnight bus to Antigua. Antigua is very picturesque, surrounded by volcanoes and has really pretty buildings, painted gorgeous colours.
I've had a temperature the last few days so not been feeling very perky, apparently it's a 'superior airway infection' - I think that means basically a sore throat, but with a lot of paracetamol it feels much better (but Haz and J think I've gone slightly crazy)... so nothing serious to worry about, but basically not done anything the last 2 days because I've been asleep!
Tomorrow we're going to see a gorgeous lake, and then the following day we're going to climb a volcano. Pretty cool!
Chat again soon,
Muchos love, Al, Haz and J xxx
Sunday, 12 October 2008
Still at Flores...
Hi all,
The hostel where we are staying is fantastic. We watched a really strange documentary about a homosexual farmer in the American Midwest last night (yes it was pretty weird...!) before heading for an early night.
We got up at 2.30am to get a bus for 1 1/4 hours to Tikal, which is another Mayan ruin. We walked up a temple and were so high that we were higher than the trees in the surrounding rainforest. We listened to the forest wake up with the howler monkeys roaring away, and then watched the sun rise over the forest. It was absolutely stunning. I will put some photographs up when I am able!
We trekked around the ruins at Tikal, (we heard an ant screaming!) with a very strange ´monkey guide`, Àble Canable`, who summoned us with his monkey roar. Even though the trek lasted a few hours and was quite exhausting (plus I fell over and managed to land in poo, especially to entertain the others... J laughed hysterically - I will get my revenge!) it was still very good fun, and interesting to have a guide for a change around the ruins.
Didn´t realise that today is the celebration of Christopher Columbus landing in America - or if you´re Mayan, then it´s a celebration day of being Mayan. At about 9am this morning when we were finishing our trek, literally hundreds of Mayans came flooding up the ruins for a day of partying and celebrations. Don´t think they´re going to sacrifice victims this time though. They are such beautiful people (so short too!) and the kids are stunning. Apparently though there has been some bad press in the past about Western women coming to Guatemala and ádopting´ local children, though luckily this is getting better.
Have just been pottering about this afternoon, but it has been very humid and now the heavens have opened! Trust us to travel to Guatemala in the rainy season... When we were walking about town, it was so unbearably hot, J started discussing rain dances. When we realised that we didn´t know how to do them, she then decided it was a good idea to sacrifice either Haz or myself. As we had come down off the ruins she decided that the bridge would have to do. Luckily have avoided that so far!
Anyway need to go and clean myself, hope all´s well in Europe,
Love Al, Haz and J xxxxx
The hostel where we are staying is fantastic. We watched a really strange documentary about a homosexual farmer in the American Midwest last night (yes it was pretty weird...!) before heading for an early night.
We got up at 2.30am to get a bus for 1 1/4 hours to Tikal, which is another Mayan ruin. We walked up a temple and were so high that we were higher than the trees in the surrounding rainforest. We listened to the forest wake up with the howler monkeys roaring away, and then watched the sun rise over the forest. It was absolutely stunning. I will put some photographs up when I am able!
We trekked around the ruins at Tikal, (we heard an ant screaming!) with a very strange ´monkey guide`, Àble Canable`, who summoned us with his monkey roar. Even though the trek lasted a few hours and was quite exhausting (plus I fell over and managed to land in poo, especially to entertain the others... J laughed hysterically - I will get my revenge!) it was still very good fun, and interesting to have a guide for a change around the ruins.
Didn´t realise that today is the celebration of Christopher Columbus landing in America - or if you´re Mayan, then it´s a celebration day of being Mayan. At about 9am this morning when we were finishing our trek, literally hundreds of Mayans came flooding up the ruins for a day of partying and celebrations. Don´t think they´re going to sacrifice victims this time though. They are such beautiful people (so short too!) and the kids are stunning. Apparently though there has been some bad press in the past about Western women coming to Guatemala and ádopting´ local children, though luckily this is getting better.
Have just been pottering about this afternoon, but it has been very humid and now the heavens have opened! Trust us to travel to Guatemala in the rainy season... When we were walking about town, it was so unbearably hot, J started discussing rain dances. When we realised that we didn´t know how to do them, she then decided it was a good idea to sacrifice either Haz or myself. As we had come down off the ruins she decided that the bridge would have to do. Luckily have avoided that so far!
Anyway need to go and clean myself, hope all´s well in Europe,
Love Al, Haz and J xxxxx
Saturday, 11 October 2008
Flores, GUATEMALA (via Belize)
Dear all,
What a hectic few days! We loved Tulum by the Caribbean sea, however we didn´t like the thunderstorms or the mosquitos. But that didn´t stop us from sunbathing.... very British of course. Still managed to get burnt on our backs (J has some very interesting bow patterns) in the 20 minutes the sun shone... However the rustic accomodation we were staying in (grass huts) made us chuckle when we saw couples paying extortionate amounts for plus hotels on the beach front, when it was raining all the time!
Anyway, on Friday morning we left for Chetumal, a big city by the Belizean border, then crossed over the border (Hayley nearly got us arrested by saying we were smuggling mangoes in, however we also nearly didn´t get in when we said we were only passing through... they wanted us to stay for longer!) into Belize. Then Belize city to San Ignaciao...
We literally travelled on the bus all day until we could go no further. San Ignaciao was the last town in Belize where we could stay the night before the border crossing, which is dangerous in the dark, as no buses go through, you have to walk instead.
Belize is beautiful. We were all shocked at how lovely the people were, how friendly and helpful, and how different they were from Mexico. Some of the population are Creoles (descendents of British and Spanish invaders and the original population), some are Caribbean (and very dark skinned) and some are Mayan (look like Mexicans/Tibetans). It is an incredible hotch potch of cultures and indigeneous people, and utterly wonderful.
We stayed in a lovely little hotel called Elvira´s in San Ignaciao - well it was lovely until Haz and J started screaming when cockroaches appeared. I came out of the bathroom for the biggest cockroach I have ever seen to run over my foot. We decided to drink instead. Found a lovely Chinese restaurant (cheap and brilliant after endless cheese sandwiches in Mexico for Haz and J, ham and cheese sandwiches for me). The locals kept us entertained with conversation, in a really strange English dialect. Part Caribbean, part English, and part incomprehensible. But so lovely, and it was great to relax after our hectic journey!
This morning we travelled over the border to Flores in Guatemala. Flores is an island in a lake in northern Guatemala. It is absolutely stunning, and the sun is shining. The buildings are painted beautiful colours, and the people are so beautiful and friendly (the bus driver drove the bus up tiny cobbled roads to take us to the hostel). Although we were using a ´chicken bus´ - I think Haz and J were a bit bemused when many people clambered into the minivan. The potholes weren´t very soothing either...
But we arrived safe and sound at a wonderful hostel, Hostel Los Amigos, http://www.amigoshostel.com/contact.htm
and have spent the afternoon wandering around the island. It is incredibly cheap here, and they do fantastic Italian food... I know we should be eating the local cuisine, but after mainly tedious food in Mexico, this is a welcome relief!
I think we are going to walk up a Mayan ruin tomorrow morning to watch the sunrise over the jungle, and to hear the jungle wake up, then on Monday evening / Tuesday morning, we are heading to Antigua to walk the volcano.
Anyway, hope that all is well in the UK,
Loads of love from us all,
Al, Haz and J xxxxxx
What a hectic few days! We loved Tulum by the Caribbean sea, however we didn´t like the thunderstorms or the mosquitos. But that didn´t stop us from sunbathing.... very British of course. Still managed to get burnt on our backs (J has some very interesting bow patterns) in the 20 minutes the sun shone... However the rustic accomodation we were staying in (grass huts) made us chuckle when we saw couples paying extortionate amounts for plus hotels on the beach front, when it was raining all the time!
Anyway, on Friday morning we left for Chetumal, a big city by the Belizean border, then crossed over the border (Hayley nearly got us arrested by saying we were smuggling mangoes in, however we also nearly didn´t get in when we said we were only passing through... they wanted us to stay for longer!) into Belize. Then Belize city to San Ignaciao...
We literally travelled on the bus all day until we could go no further. San Ignaciao was the last town in Belize where we could stay the night before the border crossing, which is dangerous in the dark, as no buses go through, you have to walk instead.
Belize is beautiful. We were all shocked at how lovely the people were, how friendly and helpful, and how different they were from Mexico. Some of the population are Creoles (descendents of British and Spanish invaders and the original population), some are Caribbean (and very dark skinned) and some are Mayan (look like Mexicans/Tibetans). It is an incredible hotch potch of cultures and indigeneous people, and utterly wonderful.
We stayed in a lovely little hotel called Elvira´s in San Ignaciao - well it was lovely until Haz and J started screaming when cockroaches appeared. I came out of the bathroom for the biggest cockroach I have ever seen to run over my foot. We decided to drink instead. Found a lovely Chinese restaurant (cheap and brilliant after endless cheese sandwiches in Mexico for Haz and J, ham and cheese sandwiches for me). The locals kept us entertained with conversation, in a really strange English dialect. Part Caribbean, part English, and part incomprehensible. But so lovely, and it was great to relax after our hectic journey!
This morning we travelled over the border to Flores in Guatemala. Flores is an island in a lake in northern Guatemala. It is absolutely stunning, and the sun is shining. The buildings are painted beautiful colours, and the people are so beautiful and friendly (the bus driver drove the bus up tiny cobbled roads to take us to the hostel). Although we were using a ´chicken bus´ - I think Haz and J were a bit bemused when many people clambered into the minivan. The potholes weren´t very soothing either...
But we arrived safe and sound at a wonderful hostel, Hostel Los Amigos, http://www.amigoshostel.com/contact.htm
and have spent the afternoon wandering around the island. It is incredibly cheap here, and they do fantastic Italian food... I know we should be eating the local cuisine, but after mainly tedious food in Mexico, this is a welcome relief!
I think we are going to walk up a Mayan ruin tomorrow morning to watch the sunrise over the jungle, and to hear the jungle wake up, then on Monday evening / Tuesday morning, we are heading to Antigua to walk the volcano.
Anyway, hope that all is well in the UK,
Loads of love from us all,
Al, Haz and J xxxxxx
Thursday, 9 October 2008
San Cristobal de Las Cases to Tulum
Hi Everyone,
Sorry that it´s been a while since my last post... things have been very hectic here! We spent a few days in the sun in Puerto Escondido. On our last day we took a boat out with a lovely guy called Roberto, and saw dolphins. We swam with a sea turtle that we named ´Simon´, and went fishing. I managed to catch a yellow fin tuna (massive!) - about 2 1/2 foot long - and ate him for my lunch on the beach. He tasted absolutely delicious.
We took an overnight bus to San Cristobal de Las Cases, where we met up with someone that J had got on very well with, called Helgi (from Iceland) with his two lady friends. San Cristobal is surrounded by mountains, and because the roads are on a grid system, every direction we turned, we could see the mountains. It was absolutely beautiful, plus the houses were painted lovely bright colours. The town has a collection of indigeneous people (due to social, cultural and political upheaval) and the ladies in particular were beautiful. The children were very cute, selling us friendship bracelets. The females wore strange skirts which we think were probably made from buffalo skin at a guess. I don´t know who looked at each other more! They were so friendly, although we always have to ask before taking photos, as some believe that if you take their photograph, you take their spirit.
We really enjoyed our time there, bought a few bits and bobs (mainly light stuff that we can wear, apart from J´s rug...) but the weather was very cold so we left the following day. We took a 5 hr coach to Palenque, where we saw beautiful Maya ruins in a rainforest and waterfalls, (with Helgi et. al), then spent the afternoon and evening sweating huge amounts in the humidity. The town was nice enough, but the people were very kind and welcoming.
We then took an 8 hr overnight bus to Merida, another city, before changing buses and going onto Chichen Itza (another 2 hours) which is the site of the most impressive Maya ruins in Mexico. The Mayas were around from 250 - 900 AD, and the site is very beautiful. The buildings were originally bright primary colours, but this has of course gone. Visitors could climb up the biggest pyramid until George Bush fell off it a year or two ago. I say no more. Despite this, we enjoyed walking around, making fun of American tourists (one asked J whether the cash point gave Mexican pesos or American dollars) and sweltering in the sun. Again, too hot, so we moved on, saying goodbye to Helgi, who is going to Cuba but meeting us in Peru.
Another 2 hour bus ride later (the same day), we arrived at Tulum, which is where we are now, on the east coast of Mexico. The Caribbean is crystal clear and turquoise, the beaches are white, and the hostel is... empty. Very unusual! But I suppose it is still the rainy season here. We were going to stay here until Sunday, but we all have itchy feet now, and as the weather is bad (didn´t stop us swimming though!) we are moving on tomorrow.
Tomorrow we are going to Chetumal (4-5 hours away) to pick up a bus that will take us through Belize into Guatamala. We´re all very excited about this, however we will definitely need a rest when we get to Antigua! We are heading for Flores in Guatamala, but it might take a day or two to get there. Flores is a small island in a lake and meant to be very pretty. Following that, we will be basing ourselves in Antigua, for us to do day trips to see the Pacaya volcano - an active volcano. Occasionally it erupts again, fingers crossed we are lucky! We can walk up to the lava there and toast marshmallows on it (although the sulphur makes it quite nasty to eat!) and we have been warned to wear good shoes, as the soles often melt....Very excited!
So going to sign off - J is checking Facebook, Haz is writing her journal -
Lots of love from us all,
Alice xxx
Sorry that it´s been a while since my last post... things have been very hectic here! We spent a few days in the sun in Puerto Escondido. On our last day we took a boat out with a lovely guy called Roberto, and saw dolphins. We swam with a sea turtle that we named ´Simon´, and went fishing. I managed to catch a yellow fin tuna (massive!) - about 2 1/2 foot long - and ate him for my lunch on the beach. He tasted absolutely delicious.
We took an overnight bus to San Cristobal de Las Cases, where we met up with someone that J had got on very well with, called Helgi (from Iceland) with his two lady friends. San Cristobal is surrounded by mountains, and because the roads are on a grid system, every direction we turned, we could see the mountains. It was absolutely beautiful, plus the houses were painted lovely bright colours. The town has a collection of indigeneous people (due to social, cultural and political upheaval) and the ladies in particular were beautiful. The children were very cute, selling us friendship bracelets. The females wore strange skirts which we think were probably made from buffalo skin at a guess. I don´t know who looked at each other more! They were so friendly, although we always have to ask before taking photos, as some believe that if you take their photograph, you take their spirit.
We really enjoyed our time there, bought a few bits and bobs (mainly light stuff that we can wear, apart from J´s rug...) but the weather was very cold so we left the following day. We took a 5 hr coach to Palenque, where we saw beautiful Maya ruins in a rainforest and waterfalls, (with Helgi et. al), then spent the afternoon and evening sweating huge amounts in the humidity. The town was nice enough, but the people were very kind and welcoming.
We then took an 8 hr overnight bus to Merida, another city, before changing buses and going onto Chichen Itza (another 2 hours) which is the site of the most impressive Maya ruins in Mexico. The Mayas were around from 250 - 900 AD, and the site is very beautiful. The buildings were originally bright primary colours, but this has of course gone. Visitors could climb up the biggest pyramid until George Bush fell off it a year or two ago. I say no more. Despite this, we enjoyed walking around, making fun of American tourists (one asked J whether the cash point gave Mexican pesos or American dollars) and sweltering in the sun. Again, too hot, so we moved on, saying goodbye to Helgi, who is going to Cuba but meeting us in Peru.
Another 2 hour bus ride later (the same day), we arrived at Tulum, which is where we are now, on the east coast of Mexico. The Caribbean is crystal clear and turquoise, the beaches are white, and the hostel is... empty. Very unusual! But I suppose it is still the rainy season here. We were going to stay here until Sunday, but we all have itchy feet now, and as the weather is bad (didn´t stop us swimming though!) we are moving on tomorrow.
Tomorrow we are going to Chetumal (4-5 hours away) to pick up a bus that will take us through Belize into Guatamala. We´re all very excited about this, however we will definitely need a rest when we get to Antigua! We are heading for Flores in Guatamala, but it might take a day or two to get there. Flores is a small island in a lake and meant to be very pretty. Following that, we will be basing ourselves in Antigua, for us to do day trips to see the Pacaya volcano - an active volcano. Occasionally it erupts again, fingers crossed we are lucky! We can walk up to the lava there and toast marshmallows on it (although the sulphur makes it quite nasty to eat!) and we have been warned to wear good shoes, as the soles often melt....Very excited!
So going to sign off - J is checking Facebook, Haz is writing her journal -
Lots of love from us all,
Alice xxx
Saturday, 4 October 2008
Puerto Escondido
Dear all,
Just to let you know that after our mammoth 14 hour bus journey (the comfiest bus I have ever been on with reclining seats!) we arrived and were accosted by a crazy English man called Steve. We ended up at the Tower Bridge hostel and have met some lovely people in Puerto Escondido.
It is a 15 minute walk to the beach where the water is beautiful and the waves are exciting enough to swim in, but not too dangerously so. On another part of the beach further by town the waves are as tall as houses (no swimming there!) but watching the surfing is cool. We have been chilling by the water and watching the sun set over the waves. It is so pretty here.
We are heading to San Cristabel de Cases tomorrow night on an overnight bus (another 14 hours) to save time and money on accommodation. At the moment Haz and J are being taught Hip jewellery making by another crazy dude called Crash (because he travels around and crashes on peoples sofas) so are happily entertained!
Still recovering after the tequila night but the sun, sea and sand is certainly helping!
Chat soon,
Love Al, Haz and J xxxx
Just to let you know that after our mammoth 14 hour bus journey (the comfiest bus I have ever been on with reclining seats!) we arrived and were accosted by a crazy English man called Steve. We ended up at the Tower Bridge hostel and have met some lovely people in Puerto Escondido.
It is a 15 minute walk to the beach where the water is beautiful and the waves are exciting enough to swim in, but not too dangerously so. On another part of the beach further by town the waves are as tall as houses (no swimming there!) but watching the surfing is cool. We have been chilling by the water and watching the sun set over the waves. It is so pretty here.
We are heading to San Cristabel de Cases tomorrow night on an overnight bus (another 14 hours) to save time and money on accommodation. At the moment Haz and J are being taught Hip jewellery making by another crazy dude called Crash (because he travels around and crashes on peoples sofas) so are happily entertained!
Still recovering after the tequila night but the sun, sea and sand is certainly helping!
Chat soon,
Love Al, Haz and J xxxx
Thursday, 2 October 2008
Puebla
Mexico City was incredible. There are no words to explain just how big it was, so I´m not even going to try! We braved the metro and saw Frida Kahlo´s Blue house and Trotsky´s house too (complete with bullet holes over the headboard). On Tuesday night we decided to drink tequila: I´m not going to say any more about that because I´m feeling sick again! Suffice to say, yesterday was a write-off for me (unfortunately), but Haz and J managed to see the pyramids and their pictures look amazing.
We managed to get to Puebla (after a slight delay after one of us -not mentioning any names - managed to leave her passport at the hostel so we had to return to get it) which is 2 hours away from Mexico City. Puebla has a huge Spanish influence and is called the ´City of Angels´due to its 70 churches. We arrived at 10pm and came to the hostel which turned out to be wonderful. Very Moroccan with its tiles and courtyard, and very peaceful. just what we needed after frantic Mexico City! We´ve met 2 guys here who are great fun, and we´re going to go and watch one of them eat grasshoppers this morning.... a speciality of here apparently!
Tonight: a 14 hour bus ride to Puerto Escondido - a gorgeous place on the Pacific Coast.
Gotta go and eat grasshoppers, chat soon!
Love Al (and Haz and J) xxx
We managed to get to Puebla (after a slight delay after one of us -not mentioning any names - managed to leave her passport at the hostel so we had to return to get it) which is 2 hours away from Mexico City. Puebla has a huge Spanish influence and is called the ´City of Angels´due to its 70 churches. We arrived at 10pm and came to the hostel which turned out to be wonderful. Very Moroccan with its tiles and courtyard, and very peaceful. just what we needed after frantic Mexico City! We´ve met 2 guys here who are great fun, and we´re going to go and watch one of them eat grasshoppers this morning.... a speciality of here apparently!
Tonight: a 14 hour bus ride to Puerto Escondido - a gorgeous place on the Pacific Coast.
Gotta go and eat grasshoppers, chat soon!
Love Al (and Haz and J) xxx
Monday, 29 September 2008
Mexico City - WE'VE ARRIVED!!!
Haz and I are writing this at 11.30pm local time - or 5.30am UK time so apologies if it doesn't make sense! We finally arrived after a 11 hour flight - (did manage to watch 5 films though, pretty good going)... but the 2 hours of immigration control were slightly difficult, especially as Haz needed a seat half way through due to dehydration! It's ok though - she's fine - just went a bit green for a while.
So...... Mexico City - has a population of 18m people - whereas Australia has a total of 19m - so puts it into comparison really. The hostel is very friendly which is great, especially as our Spanish is non existent. We were very excited to realise that we got free breakfast AND SUPPER and FREE TOWELS at the hostel (although unfortunately they have very poor absorption properties...)
We ventured out to eat our first Mexican supper. Enchiladas, Quesadillas, Tortillas, Tacos... all with cream and cheese - we are in heaven here! Slightly challenging again with the language when they ask us questions, but we've made friends with a lovely girl called Birgit from Austria who has better understanding of the language than we do.
So not really seen much yet, we'll head out to explore tomorrow, hopefully see Frida Kahlo museum and Trotsky museum too (oh and become completely fluent in Spanish too!) before planning the next few weeks.
Just wanted to let you know that we're all still safe and sound, and will let you know how things are here when we discover them ourselves!
Muchos love (see our Spanish is improving...)
Ciao
Al, Haz and J xxxxx
So...... Mexico City - has a population of 18m people - whereas Australia has a total of 19m - so puts it into comparison really. The hostel is very friendly which is great, especially as our Spanish is non existent. We were very excited to realise that we got free breakfast AND SUPPER and FREE TOWELS at the hostel (although unfortunately they have very poor absorption properties...)
We ventured out to eat our first Mexican supper. Enchiladas, Quesadillas, Tortillas, Tacos... all with cream and cheese - we are in heaven here! Slightly challenging again with the language when they ask us questions, but we've made friends with a lovely girl called Birgit from Austria who has better understanding of the language than we do.
So not really seen much yet, we'll head out to explore tomorrow, hopefully see Frida Kahlo museum and Trotsky museum too (oh and become completely fluent in Spanish too!) before planning the next few weeks.
Just wanted to let you know that we're all still safe and sound, and will let you know how things are here when we discover them ourselves!
Muchos love (see our Spanish is improving...)
Ciao
Al, Haz and J xxxxx
Tuesday, 23 September 2008
1 Week to Go................ahhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!
We just wanted to say a massive thankyou to everyone that came to see us off on the 20th. We hope you all had a great time, we are going to miss you all so much. Anyway we hope to keep everyone entertained with these blogs, and various email and facebook messages, and dont forget to check out the photo page!!
Much love
H x
Much love
H x
Friday, 8 August 2008
51 days 19 hours 32 minutes 34 seconds...
Hello my loverlies,
Entry one. Just to give you a little taster of what will follow for the next year. Photos are downloaded to http://picasaweb.google.com/milliemoo73 - (if you would like copies please just let me know and I can email them to you).
So 51 days to go... We have all been stabbed (luckily only with a needle), but still need to get malarial tablets. I'm banned from using Larium, which is quite upsetting as I got used to the weird and wonderful dreams! So excited about next year. We're flying into Mexico city and then moving our way south....
Sorry can't actually write anymore as start day dreaming... will try to persevere later.
Ciao for now
A x
Entry one. Just to give you a little taster of what will follow for the next year. Photos are downloaded to http://picasaweb.google.com/milliemoo73 - (if you would like copies please just let me know and I can email them to you).
So 51 days to go... We have all been stabbed (luckily only with a needle), but still need to get malarial tablets. I'm banned from using Larium, which is quite upsetting as I got used to the weird and wonderful dreams! So excited about next year. We're flying into Mexico city and then moving our way south....
Sorry can't actually write anymore as start day dreaming... will try to persevere later.
Ciao for now
A x
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