Wednesday, December 05, 2007

Travelzang Stats


Stats
Countries 22
Trains 19 1/2
Buses 98
Planes 30
Cable Cars 4
Motorbikes 10
Hotels 103

Lost
sunglasses x 4
washing line
credit card
IHA membershipcard
headtorch
washbag
small handbag
yoda
spiderman keyring

Thursday, November 29, 2007

Last Stop - Epagny France

We reached Geneva and drove to Epagny, the small village just over the French border, where El's dad lives still rather in shock. We had a lovely afternoon catching up, eating good cheese and planning everything we were going to do in the 10 days we had before getting back to Reading.

Best laid plans though, always go to waste and El woke up Monday morning with terrible tonsillitis, Francis (El's pa) had a tummy bug, and Kieran had a bit of everything. For days we holed ourselves up in the house feeling pathetic and doing nothing. El didn't even get out of bed for about 4 days! Our bodies just said: NO MORE! STOP! WE REALLY JUST CAN'T TAKE ANY MORE!!!!!!!!


Meeting els mum at Geneva airport



We did venture out of the house on Saturday with Celia (El's ma) and managed to get into Geneva for a nice coffee and a cake, but really the first week was a washout. The following Monday constituted the start of our return home by signing up with job agencies and trawling websites for jobs to apply for. Sigh. Back down to Earth, then.

We finally did what we've talked about for years, yesterday, and had a full on extended edition Lord of the Rings marathon. We started at 9am with a huge pot of coffee, and finished on schedule at 11pm, bleary-eyed, emotionally drained but satisfied. (A bit like a good sex session but without the mess.)

View from the patio




Our time here grows short and it's just 24 hours now before we get back to Reading. We have done so much in the past year that no one line can quantify or qualify it, so we decided to put together some statistics for you to ponder.

By the way, we will be in the Lyndhurst (Watlington Street) from 6pm on Friday 30 November and look forward to seeing you there.

Friday, November 23, 2007

The first homecoming (it's a crazy world out there)

Bleary-eyed, and wrapped in a champagne fuzz we made our way to the airport for our flight to Geneva where El's dad would be waiting for us. Actually our hangovers weren't nearly as bad as we expected, although, once checked in it was necessary to have a McBreakfast in order to keep up our bloodsugar.



Madrid airport was a sea of queues. Queues for the check in, queues for immigration, queues for security. And then we had to travel halfway across Spain to find the terminal, just in time to get on the flight. No time even for last minute souvenir shopping (we'd forgotten to do this in Madrid as we were to damn drunk all day). El crashed out immediately and Kieran read a book. V e r y s l o w l y.

After an hour or so, El perked up a bit and gazed into space for a bit. "That's funny" she thought, as a man 2 rows ahead got up to let someone else go to the loo, "That man looks a bit like my dad". When you go away for a year you learn to expect this - We've "seen" our friends in every country around the world - and so she dismissed the thought as silly. Although, he was tall, going bald, a bit grey, with glasses....NAH.

After feeling very funny for about 10 minutes she whispered to Kieran her thoughts. NAH, he said. They both had a good look from the back and decided he'd never buy a flight to Madrid and back just to see them on the plane, that was plain stupid, and expensive. And then the man leaned to one side and El saw that he was wearing a bum bag. Her heart started racing and it wasn't just the hangover. Surely no two people in Western Europe following Francis's description were still wearing bum bags???

As we spoke, the drinks trolley neared and so we thought we'd have a drink to calm our nerves. We were just an hour away from seeing Francis for real it was just our eyes playing tricks. The stewardess then leaned to El silently with a bottle of champagne. Being slightly hungover at this point, El just started at it blankly as if she wasn't quiet sure what it was. I mean, she knew what it was just not why she was passing it to El - after last night champagne was really the last thing she wanted.

Still, the stewardess persevered and passed El a small note while handing a bottle to Kieran.



It actually was him!!!!!!!!!

In fact, he'd been on an important climate conference in Valencia and had the flight booked by work months before, and when he'd looked closer at the ticket, he realized the flight was via Madrid on the same day we flew, and it was in fact, totally and utterly and completely randomly THE SAME FLIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Does realizing in advance stop it being random? I think not, and anyway he kept it a secret from us so that it would be a total surprise for us, but he could plan the whole champagne thing! Brilliant. I mean, we've had very few coincidences on our trip (apart from meeting someone at Rio airport called Eleanor and from Reading, that was quite spooky) and this just about tops them all.

We were speechless as we glugged our bubbly, and waited endless long minutes for the trolley dolleys to get out of the way, and so we could have a hug and a kiss and a surprise and silly, disbelieving laughter in the middle of the aisle at 30,000 feet, somewhere over the Pyrennees. It's a crazy world out there.

Nah. Can't be....


Er, hang on a minute....


Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's Daddy!!!!!!!

Madrid, Spain - the final destination!!!


We reached our final city, Madrid around midday. With only a slight hitch with our hotel, we were free to do as we pleased for the afternoon, before going on a Friday night party. The time difference with Brazil was just 3 hours and it worked in our favour allowing us to stay up late, as is the Spanish way, but feel like it's still only 9pm (our usual bedtime these days). As El has been on business to Madrid a few times she took Kieran on a whistle stop tour of the 3 major points of interest, the Plaza del Sol, which was a building site; the main enclosed square, which was pretty, and pretty touristy; and then to the Palace, which was, well, a Palace.

Once we'd got the formalities out of the way it was time to do what the Spanish do best: drink Rioja and eat tapas. We found a delicious little eatery that when we asked for coffee, scoffed and poured us a large glass of red wine instead. Aha, our kind of place. It had the most amazing seafood including this spectacularly yummy-looking octopus that had our name all over it. mmMMMmm. We successfully scoffed and glugged for a few hours until exhaustion overtook us and we headed home for a late siesta....zzzzZZZzzzzz....



By 7pm we were back on our feet, and back in the bar. We decided to explore a particular street recommended by the lady in the tourist office which had lots of bars! We also thought we should try and see a flamenco show as I have never managed this, and we've seen some brilliant dancing in South America and flamenco must be no exception.

After a few guzzles and nibbles more, we found a cheap flamenco show, bought a bottle, and settled in for the night. The dancers came on, and with grim determination started their foot-stamping, hand-clapping moves. I say grim determination because that was the overwhelming impression we got from them: grim-faced, with comedic costumes, looking like the very last place they wanted to be on earth was dancing flamenco to a bunch of tourists. And the wine tasted like shit. We decided to cut our losses (which actually were quite large cos the wine cost a fortune) and headed back to the more local-infused bars nearer our hotels. After (yet) another glass and a small tortilla for good luck, we realised that we were utterly pished and at 2pm had respectably had our first big night out since we left Thailand (in May).

Only two more hours, love, and you can go home


Ah hangovers. It's no coincidence that the first Spanish word we learnt in South America was "Barracho" (means drunk). Never could remember the one for hangover but we had so much practice drinking in the previous 3 months that we crawled out of bed at lunchtime just in time to crawl into the cafe opposite (this one did serve coffee, thank God). Saturday, we decided, was going to be our last day of high culture and that we were going to visit 3, yes 3, art galleries in one day.

Our first, with a completely unpronounceable name (spelling? forget it, I've got a hangover remember) was a mixture of classic to modern - something for everyone - all displayed chronologically. Kieran really liked it because of the way you got a good understanding of the progression of art. He was also surprised to find that 15th and 16th century religious art was far better than wishy washy impressionists like Manet. El got bored as she prefers modern art - gimme lines and shapes any day.

A quick coffee and we went to the modern art gallery, Reine Sofia, which El has been to tons of times and although it's mostly crap has got one or two great pieces including Picasso's Geurnica, which she thought Kieran ought to see for his art education. Kieran liked the building. Nuff said.

A quick expresso later, hangovers practically gone, we headed for the famous Prado, possibly the biggest fine art gallery El has ever been into (she's only ever managed to get around the first floor). As we walked towards the entrance we wondered if there was an event going on. Then we realised it was a queue. For the entrance. To a bloody art gallery?????? With about 500 people in it. Well, much as we like art we're certainly not going to queue for more than 2 minutes to get in. Sod that, let's go out for a drink instead.

We found ourselves back in the Octopus, coffee-scoffing bar again, and, this being our last night away from home, we decided to splash out with champagne. Two bottles of it. Gulp. Well, it was a celebration, and by the time we got to the champagne it was about 11pm and we were already slightly smashed on red wine and octopus (hang on, has that got alcohol in it?). We celebrated how we are still talking to each other!! Engaged even! We talked about all the things that have made our trip what it was. We speculated on the near and distant future, and how we were really looking forward to going home tomorrow (home being El's dad's place in France).



We even celebrated with the slightly bemused barman who we insisted join us in a glass of bubbly, before booting us out the door cos they had already cleaned up the bar around us, everyone else had gone home and can we piss off quietly now. Piss off quietly we did and crawl back to our very last night in a hotel, made sure we set 5 alarms so we didn't miss our flight to Geneva the next morning. And tried to drink as much water as we could stomach to minimise the damage the next day.

Rio de Janeiro - the girl - and guy - from Ipanema

We left for Rio and just managed to glimpse Iguazu falls from our aeroplane window as we left it behind. The weather forecast had been rain and clouds so we were inordinately delighted when we arrived to beautiful 30 degree sunshine. After checking in to our slightly swanky hotel - well, it's near the end, we thought we'd treat ourselves - we donned bikinis and headed for the beach.

We were staying in Copacabana, which is the Slough of Rio. Some nice places, but quite a lot of dodgy characters and somewhat rough around the edges, and the middle. The beach was huge and stretched for miles in either direction. We found a nice spot to sit and then got up and left because we realised that it was strewn with rubbish and smelt of something rather unsavoury. So we headed to the most famous beach of all, Ipanema, to say "ah" as the girl walked by, and to try and work on our tans so we come back looking like we've just spent a year in exotic climates.


The famous Ipanema beach

Rio is famous for beautiful babes in g-string bikinis and it's true, they are very popular, although no-one actually got topless. Kieran argued that as Christ was looking down upon the city, they were being modest, although El thinks that g-strings really don't support that argument. Or much else for that matter. However, as there were just as many sexy fit guys in Rio-style speedos she didn't spend much time caring about girls in bikinis. (And it's true that speedos can be sexy, but only if you're a 6 ft, brazilian black dude, with a big packet. Ahem.)

In any case, Monday bought rain. Real, English-style pissy, wet rain. Ah well, we got one afternoon of sun lounging in. We headed for the tourist office, which we couldn't find; some museum, which was closed; the fine art gallery, also closed. Hang on...are all museums closed on a Monday or something? (Yes.) Well after walking around in the rain for half the day, getting soaked, we just went back home and watched TV. Some days it's just not worth bothering. Later that day, though, as we looked out of our 10th floor window, Jesus appeared to us in the sky and we knew it was all going to be all right.



Tuesday bought cloud but no rain and we thought we'd head for the modern art gallery as they are usually not too big! There were an incredible amount of tiny schoolkids (5 year olds?) on an outing (I'm sorry but taking 5 year olds on a school trip to a modern art gallery?????) and the odd mid-week viewer. It was mainly crap actually, although there were some very interesting pieces by Yoko Ono (of John Lennon's wife fame) who El has always though was a rather good artist, including an interactive wish tree where you write a wish on a piece of paper and tie it to the tree (good old Yoko - keep it simple), which we duly did. Kieran wished for Santa to give him a nice xmas present, and El wished for better weather the next day - sod world peace!

While we were leaping around inside another interactive exhibit of polytsyrene balls for adults, there was a bit of a commotion. A tiny lady in shades and a trilby was being ushered around by a very tall man, and a crowd of paparazzi. We asked an invigilator what was going on. "It's Yoko" he said. Eh? "Yoko Ono". Talk about being in the right place at the right time. There she was, the minute artist herself writing a wish for her own wish tree, being photographed and filmed by all manner of newsfolk (including ourselves, of course). Kieran was nonplussed, but El was really quite in awe. What an excitement!!!



Well, there's not much that can top that so we left going up the cable car until the next day. Good job too as our good karma (and perhaps El's wish) gave us another stunning day. We took the cable car up the sugar loaf mountain and faithfully re-enacted Jaws biting the cable car cable from Moonraker, albeit without the metal teeth, and took our quota of fantastic pictures.


Looking down onto Copacobana Beach, with Christ top right

Rio is a vast city very much in sections which are exaggerated by being divided by physical divisions, such as beaches, mountains, rivers, lagoons. We only ever saw the tiny centre but the views from Sugar Loaf are truly stunning. To be honest we were a bit surprised how small Christ the Redeemer actually was, but I'm sure if you were seeing it from his mountain he'd be a much bigger man (we thought re-enacting James Bond was way more important than Christ, frankly).


For those James Bond fans among us

And now, on our last day but one in South America, sick to the back teeth of art, culture, museums, everything, we headed back to the beach. Time to sit back, drink a caipirinha (my God they are strong), and reflect on a year of travel....

Friday, November 09, 2007

Iguazu Falls - butterflies, rainbows and a whole bucket of awe

We reached Puerto Iguazu, the entry town for the famous waterfalls, by our last super duper special luxury bus. Travel has never been so good! After settling into our room we wandered around the town and found out how to get to the falls and planned the next day.

The bus journey to the falls was a bit hairy as the driver couldn´t seem to engage the gears and so there was some thought we might be spending the day on a bus, but luckily he managed to grind them into place and we got there with plenty of time. We opted to do the park's full tour and headed straight to a 4x4 jeep for an 8km ride through the jungle. It is incredibly lush here, and incredibly hot and humid (about 35 degrees with 75% humidity). There are countless species of trees and many beautiful orchids growing in them.

We arrived downriver of the falls and got in our boat for the thrilling ride upriver to the falls for a river view, plus obligatory soaking. As we flew upriver the falls came into sight and once again, awe was the word of the day. The falls cover a good few kilometres where a hard rock ends and a massive amount of water just plummets into a lower valley. We rode right up to two parts of the falls and got drenched utterly and totally. Luckily the camera was in a plastic bag so no harm done but it did take about 2 hours to dry off. Still when it's that hot you really don't mind.



We then disembarked on a small island, again with wonderful overall views, and we were enchanted by the variety of butterflies everywhere, plus hundreds of swallows that live in the tiny areas of the cliffs not inundated with water, plus tons of huge hawks or some sort of birds of prey. We were expecting water but were amazed at the wildlife that just don't care a jot about the tourists!



The, after a quick lunch we took a walk along the top edge where rainbows permanently abound, then took a train to the main area, called the Devil´s Throat. You walk over the river at the top of the falls for over 1km before reaching this incredible part of the falls. Looking down at the sheer volume of water makes you quite giddy and the energy from the water, all the rainbows and the cracking views all around make you realise that Iguazu is rightly described as one of the true wonders of the world.

Buenos Aires Part 2

We spent the day shopping in Florida Street and drinking coffee and then in the last minute "you only have 10 minutes to get ready" type thing we decided to go to a tango experience, where you get an hour tango leason and then a dinner show afterwards.



I was most dismayed to discover that Eleanor is a much better dancer than me, and that I have two left feet. I can remember my Nan telling me that Grandad had the same affliction, so it must run in the family. It was a great night and the show was very sexy, with three dance pairs and lots of change of clothes. The whole thing made us want to continue to learn the Tango when we get back home.

Eleanor in her new top, doing the do


We got home late and then after El thrashed Kieran at a game of pool, we got chatting to the barmen in the hostel about the meaning of life and his philosophy of no change and so did not get into to bed until 4am, Argentina even has the power of to turn us old gits into party animals, as we having been getting into bed at 10pm at the latest most nights.

The next day was a bit of a washout so we decided to go back to the sushi bar and eat sushi all day...mmmm

Eleanor stuffing her face... just one more wafer thin salmon slice


We loved BA and think it is one of the coolest cities in the world and were very sad to leave it. The wine was cheap, the people frendly and stylish and the feel to the city, mainly down to the tango, is extremly sexy

Side note
I am reading a book about Charles Darwin's life "Annies Box", after the trip to the Galapagas. I thought it was apt and it's quite funny reading about a family life in the 1840s, water treatment and sea bathing in huts.

El Calafate - icebergs and hangovers

We decided to bite the bullet, get the credit card out and splash out on a trip to Patagonia. Not for penguins mind, but to go the the National Park of Glaciers to see a number of huge glaciers, some of which end in a lake.

El Calafate, the entry town is a one-stop tourist shop in a bare landscape that is reminiscent of the Yorkshire dales albeit slightly flatter! The town is full of tourist shops and restaurants and we couldn't help ourselves but to have a slap up meal and too many bottles of wine in anticipation of nature's wonders the following day.

Of course we ended up with cracking hangovers and being picked up at 7am felt like torture. Nevertheless, the tour we went on, consisting of a day-long boat trip around the lake, stopping for a short walk though some beautiful woodland to a glacial lake full of little icebergs, then 3 further stops at 3 glaciers all of which terminate at the the lake. Some are stable and one, the Moreno, is actually one of the few remaining advancing glaciers in the world and every day (by about 2 meters), icebergs break off from the end of the glacier and so the lake is full of amazing vibrant blue icebergs, partially eroded by the wind and water into incredible shapes and it is really an amazing sight to behold.



We were incredibly lucky (again) with the weather and we had beautiful skies, and although it was chilly, it wasn't half as freezing as we were expecting. Through all the awe and spectacles our hangovers soon slid away and we really felt like we'd made the right decision in taking an expensive flight for just a 24-hour trip.



We had seen the Mer de Glace on Mont Blanc, and 2 lovely glaciers in New Zealand, but really these ones are bloody massive. The ends of the glacier are these incredible vertical walls that loom above the boat and the width is kilometres long. They are vast and incredible and, once again, words can´t describe the majestic feeling that these towers of frozen water incite.

We were even lucky enough on one of the glaciers to see a part of the ice breaking away - not exactly an iceberg, more of a mini avalanche - and felt our day was complete.

Friday, November 02, 2007

Mendoza - Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec and Coffee

We could get used to this
Right from the moment we got on the bus we knew it was going to be a good trip to Mendoza. There were extra wide seats that reclined totally with a little bit that folds up to rest your legs so it´s pretty much like a bed. First you get a choccy biccie, then a bottle of wine (a small one), then some dinner, then another bottle of wine (well, you HAVE to ask don't you), THEN a glass of champagne (OK sparkling wine but after 2 bottles of red who cares), and then a movie with really good headphones...and yawn yawn, let's doze off..zzzzzz...then woken up for a light breakfast, a tea and then we're there! You don´t know the MEANING of bus until you've been to Argentina!!

Lovely picture


Mendoza is a lovely green, leafy city. Every single street is an avenue of trees giving the whole place a lush feeling. Apparently much of it was flattened in an earthquake so it was rebuilt in an orderly grid system, complete with wide streets and lots of plazas and parks in case of future quakes.

We missed the ski season by about a month (Mendoza is at the foothills of the Andes that cross into Chile) and so on our very first afternoon we hopped on a bus and were visiting wineries before you could say Cabernet sauvignon! A few glasses of vino, plus some delicious olive oil and sun-dried tomatoes later, we decided that Mendoza is a pretty cool place.

Sadly, our hostel was bloody noisy that night, so after a few hours shut-eye we were on a day trip into the mountains. We had expected a bit more walking about but it was essentially a drive and park and take a picture and drive some more kinda trip so we did snooze just a little as we increased our altitude and saw a pretty lake, a crazy yellow hot spring, and ended up drinking a hot chocolate at the last stop before Chile where it was just lightly snowing. As we were in shorts and light jumpers we didn't hang about but took our obligatory pics and were quite glad to be back in the city and the lovely warm temperatures back there.


Minerals in the hot water making a beautiful river edge

Last 2 days we've chilled out. There is an enormous park with a lake and a delicious-smelling rose garden, and we've acquainted ourselves with a number of Mendoza's coffee establishments, and the odd ice-cream parlour.


Despite travelling for nearly a year we still come up smelling of roses

It´s been a lovely few days and we are positively looking forward to our bus trip back to Buenos Aires tonight, and then on to El Calafate after that.

Monday, October 29, 2007

Buenos Aires - Argentina Tango and Sushi (not steak)


We love this town sexy dancing, great food, fantastic wine and cowboys, what more could the tired traveller want to pass a few days.

First day we went to the city cemetery and marveled at the massive crypts that the very wealthy citizens of the city built for themselves and their family, some of them are mini churches.

The area around had a lot of street performers


We did a gaucho trip yesterday to a ranch an hour outside the city, we had a ride on some horses and then a horse drawn cart that El got to drive, as she chatted up the old man driver (I thought that I was the one who chatted up the old folk) and walked around a strange museum that housed rooms kept in the style of the 1900s.

We then had a massive meat, meat and some more meat meal, that included a blood sausage that was quite strange and a tango dance at the end. Free wine was included so El and I got up at the end of the dinner and tried to show these bunch of South American show offs how dancing really is suppose to be done. (I think that we may need some lessons). We got a demonstration of the gauchos skills after lunch, this included the guys galloping towards a small hanging ring which then speared with a pencil, kind of jousting on a small scale. If they get a ring the old pervs gives it to a lady in exchange for a kiss, Of course El got two rings as they all wanted a go on her lol.

That night we went to the up-and-coming dockside bar area of the city and munched into an all-you-can-eat sushi meal for 7 quid each and only just managed to waddle home.

The city has been a bit quiet at the weekend as the national elections were on and the sale of alcohol was banned, by the way the new president is a Cristina Kirchner, wife of Argentina's outgoing president, Argentina's first elected female president. On the news an old guy said "outside the house we all act macho but inside the house the females rules anyway" which made me laugh.

We have also booked a full couple of weeks in Argentina, we are off to the wine region (rude not too) in a city called Mendoza that strangely is not that far from our starting pointing in South America... Santiago in Chile, which is just over the mountains and the border of course.

We are booked on a luxury bus tonight that serves champagne so that should be nice and plan to visit a winery, the mountains and maybe an adventure activity.

P.S Only three weeks to go...OMG

P.P.S also as a side note, we both did some Interneting a few days ago and looked at jobs and El had has some job interest from her old company and I just got invited to an interview in Maidenhead, which made us feel so much better about coming home.

Saturday, October 27, 2007

Quito x 2 - Middle Earth

So after our epic Galapagos trip we had 4 days left in Ecuador. We decided that it wasn't really enough time to go anywhere so we just hung out in Quito. This time we chose a hotel bang in the middle of the new part of town, "Gringoland" as christened by the locals!

We had a lovely nothing day just bumming around, sleeping and watching TV (AXN has been our saviour!) and then decided, once rested, to get to the equator. Ecuador is one of many countries that cross the equator but Ecuador is the only one with high mountains. Because of this the French and English took an interest in astronomy in the area and established the "Mitad del Mundo" - the middle of the world in the 1800s. A big monument with a museum inside was built, plus a planetarium and of course it is surrounded by the obligatory purchasing opportunities.

Sadly we'd been backing up our photos onto our palm and forgot to put the memory card back in the camera so we don't have any pictures. It wasn't that exciting to be honest. Then we bumped into one of our Galapagos buddies and her friend and we headed to the REAL equator, because, of course, in the age of GPS it was established the the original equator was about 250m off! So we went to the unofficial, but real equator museum which was great fun as they do lots of faux experiments to show you're on the equator.

For example, because of the Coriolis effect (google it) it is easier to balance an egg on a nail. Ths is probably the most random thing anyone has ever researched and we all got a certificate for managing to balance an egg on a nail!!! Also the whole water flows anti-clockwise or clockwise depending in which hemisphere you are in, and goes straight down on the equator. This is also bollocks though and the guide admitted it was all in the way you take out the plug (although he was insistent that totally still water would do this). HHmmmnn. Anyway, it was all in good fun, and we rounded off the trip by admiring a shrunken head from an Ecuadorean tribe and having a go at blowing darts through a blow stick.

After having a rather exciting day we couldn't help but go to an all-you-can-eat-and-all-you-can-drink tapas bar and drunk far too much wine and ate far too much food and suffered the consequences the following day. Still, we managed to get into the old part of town and went to an Andy Warhol exhibition, and to the city museum which was full of fantastic dioramas and scenes from 1700s Quito onwards and was a really great place.

Although we really didn't see much of Ecuador apart from the Galapagos we feel good and recharged and really looking forward to Argentina and Brazil, our next stops. It is all coming to an end much too soon and in just a month we'll be back home. UGH, let's not think about that now!

Monday, October 22, 2007

Galapagos: north islands

Day five - Thursday
It felt a bit strange to lose over half of our new playmates but at least we kept the Germans, Swiss and Dutch who never failed to keep our sides splitting!! (Andrea and Markus just try to STOP us from visiting!)

So our tour continued with our new guide, Andreas, to the northern islands of the tour. In between many of the islands we sailed overnight in quite rocky seas and so we had many early nights in an attempt to stave off sea sickness. In fact I don't think we've ever gone to bed so early!!! Mind you we had very early starts every day so needed the extra sleep!

Rabida - We had a landing on a red sand beach, close to a lagoon housing some pretty pink flamingos, and then just a short walk away was a pristine white sand beach with tons of sting rays just at the waters edge. We had to wear sandles to walk along the water's edge to protect our feet from them. Also a lot of turtles peeking their heads out of the water to breathe.

Where is my mummy


Day six - Friday
Santiago - Although we didn't actually visit this island we saw how it is the most recently expanded island as it is believed there was an eruption around 1835 just after Darwin visited as the maps that were drawn during his stay clearly show 3 islands that have been swallowed up by new lava flow.

Bartolome - Is an amazing island and one of the newest. The land is virtually barren as the lava flows are relatively recent and only hardcore plants are starting the process of breaking down the rocks into soil for other plants to utilise. There is a variety of tuff cones (mini volcanic outlets) including the highest one that gives a wonderful view of the neighbouring Santiago island and a pinnacle rock which purports to be the most photographed place in the Galapagos. It also boasts a lovely dune and nice beaches with great snorkelling and where we almost caught a glimpse of a manta ray but it was scared off by a boat (grrr). Turtles and other smaller fishes were very abundant and the lovely sunset just topped off a great day.

Day seven - Saturday
Genovesa - Genovesa is just north of the equator and consists of a bizarre crater formation - the shape of a crescent moon. It is also known as the island of the birds and is the only place in the Galapagos to see red-footed boobies. Different from other boobies by being tree-dwellers, the reds aren´t quite as cute as the blues without a funny dance to entertain you. Nevertheless the snorkelling was quite cool with golden rays, eagle rays and white tip sharks being the main attractions, not to mention seeing manta rays leaping out of the water...but sadly at a distance and not close enough to actually see whilst snorkelling.

Just Chilling


Day eight - Sunday
North Seymour - Back to the landscape of the first few islands, North Seymour has this beautiful ground-covering succulent bush that has the most vivid and fiery shades of red-orange. The intense trees with their bare silvery trunks, and the prickly pear cactus made a stunning contrast and really the wildlife is a almost a distraction! Sadly we didn´t see an awful lot, only 2 land iguanas with bright orange yellow heads from a distance, but a multitude of nesting frigate birds which have black bodies and the males have a bright red chin that they inflate to attract the females - quite crazy to watch. Oh and a few more blue-footed boobies!

Look at my feet they are good...no!


Then we were dropped off at the airport and our group of Dutch, Germans, Americans, French Canadians, Kiwi, Spanish & Swiss disbanded and all went our separate ways. We had a brilliant trip and saw so many different species of birds, reptiles and fish that we've seen nature in a whole different light. We've met some lovely people and were fed pretty good grub 3 times a day. But 8 days was long enough on a boat and we were kinda glad to be back on dry land!

Galapagos: South islands

Day one - Sunday We joined our group at the airport and got a bus to the port. Our group contained a nice mix of nationalities: a family of Americans plus a Dutch, German and English couple, and a Swiss contingent.

Our boat, the Guantanamara, was fantastic and we were jammy enough to get a double bed even though we had only booked the tour four days before the start. The crew were really friendly and all-in-all we were glad we'd spent the extra $300 each and got the nicer boat.

Some of the islands were quite beautiful


We started the first day traveling down Santa Cruz to the middle of the island and had a tour around a small island learning about seal lions and their mating and eating habits. The baby seals were amazingly cute and you had to really try to keep your distance and not touch them as if you do the mother may smell something wrong and not feed the baby. The dominant males would never shut up patrolling their harem of sexy females, while all the unlucky males were in another part of the island in the bachelor's pad, awaiting their turn at mating heaven.

The harsh side of nature


Next was Santa Fe island, we had a daily routine of a land tour and a snorkel tour every morning and afternoon and this first snorkel was one of the highlights as we saw plenty of big turtles and even saw a young seal "play" with a white tip shark by grabbing his tail and then chasing it off... sharks have never seemed so vulnerable before and I almost felt sorry for it...almost.

Day Two - Monday
Espanola - land iguanas were interesting on this island as the only source of water was the cactus trees which they had to wait until a fruit or leaf falls down in the wind as they can not reach it for themselves, the males guard a patch of trees to capture the females as they come to feed. Also we saw blue-footed boobies (the famous birds of the Galapagos), they are very pretty bird and of course very tame being on the islands. They have a very amusing love dance that entails them showing off their lovely blue feet, the whole group kept on doing the dance to each other long after we saw them.

MMM cactus


Day Three Tuesday
Santa Maria - one of the worst night's sailing and everyone got very seasick, the English couple Clair and Chris who are hoping to settle in New Zealand did not come out of their room nearly all day. One of the best snorkeling on this island: very strong currents but good sunlight and great visibility made it one of the best on the trip. We saw a school of 22 golden rays, plus a couple of eagle rays next to them which was very nice to see for both of us. Eleanor got a bit worried when I could not be found anywhere as I was too busy chasing a seal to get his picture to notice that the group had gone back to the boat..whoops. She didn't let them leave without him though.

We sailed in the day for once to Santa Cruz and this was our chance to see dolphins but they did not make an appearance. The group hit the shops and bars and I had a very nice Long island ice tea cocktail in the Rock bar, purely for medical reasons you understand... I was trying to stop the land sickness that we were all feeling, very strange to be in a bar at the start of the evening and feel it swaying away merrily.

Day Four - Wednesday
We were back at Santa Cruz island and we did the day on the island in the Charles Darwin research centre, where they are tyring to bring the tortoises back from the brink of extinction with the main attraction being Lonesome George a giant tortoise, the last of his kind from an island, Pinta, in the north of the group.

They had been keeping him in an area with some females from a nearby island, that would be the closest genetically to him, in the hope that he will breed with them and at least get a half bred, but George is not playing ball or is, they suspect, gay, so the total of giant species will go down from 14 to 13 when he dies. But as he is "only" around 120 years old he may have 80 year left to get the horn back in his life... Go George go!

The afternoon was spent in the highlands of the island where we saw giant tortoises in the wild and a lava tunnel then was quite massive. We also lost some of our group and picked up some more for the north part of the trip.

Sacha Joseph Hayes Mathews

Just a quick update to say that the new baby boy is called Sacha Joseph Hayes Mathews. We think he is so lovely we just want to EAT him!!!!!

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Congratulations the Hayes Matthews!!!!



We are delighted to announce the arrival of El's sister's new baby boy. He was born last Friday 12th October, 10.30am and weighed a whopping 9lb9oz! After natural birthing attempts (again) he was born by C-section. As of yet he has no name, but they are working on it so will keep you posted in a few days...or few weeks...when they decide...

Dive Galapagos - hang on, is that a SHARK?????

We arrived in Santa Cruz island in the Galapagos a few days before our cruise to do a bit of diving and soak up the atmosphere. Amid the half drizzle, half sunshine, we did 2 dives at Gordon's rock, apparently one of the best dive sites.

The conditions when we got in were pretty harsh. Apart from the fact the water was 19 degrees - bloody freezing for diving - and we had full 7mm wetsuits with hoods and gloves and everything, there was a very strong current and swell and it made the dive quite a struggle. Nevertheless, the hammerhead sharks, turtles and numerous other fishies meant that we were keen to get onto our second dive. In that we saw more sharks and turtles and, what surprised us was a real treat, were the sea lions who came over to have a quick look.

Tired but happy, we felt a bit seasick on the way back and decided to spend our second day exploring the nearby beaches and wildlife they had to offer - iguanas, sea turtles, birds a plenty. The islands are almost barren, although on closer inspection have low level bushes and trees interspersed with volcanic rocks of varying colours. We are looking forward to our 8-day boat trip as we'll be snorkelling and seeing all kinds of life endemic to the Galapagos.

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Quito - Ecuador - All you can eat all you can drink.. are you sure!!!

We have had a strange time in Quito as we have been running around (with difficulty as we are back at altitude) trying to sort out a Galapagos trip (my brother-in-law Matthew talked me into it, thanks mate) and trying to get enough money out of the bank which took two days, but we have just this morning sorted it all out, yippee.

We are booked on the 2-hour flight tomorrow where we hope to sort out a few dives, we hope to dive with hammerhead sharks which would be amazing, before meeting the rest of the group in the airport on Sunday. The boat is called the Guantanamera (anyone know the song) and is a tourist class (hot shower) that will take us around the south and north islands for 8 days, we also have a level 2 naturalist guide who is supposed to give us the low down on the crazy life on the islands, including among other things the red boobies, fantastic I can't wait to see them.

One eye reporter says he saw these red boobies on the island - survival of the fittest maybe!


The islands are famed for their vast number of endemic species and the studies by Charles Darwin during the voyage of the Beagle that contributed to the inception of Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection. The group consists of 13 main islands, 6 smaller islands, and 107 rocks and islets. The islands are located at the Galapagos hotspot, a place where the earth's crust is being melted from below by a mantle plume, creating volcanoes. The oldest island is thought to have formed between 5 and 10 million years ago. The youngest islands, Isabela and Fernandina, are still being formed, with the most recent volcanic eruption in 2007. Extract from wikipedia!

To celebrate we went out to the gringo land part of the city and a sign caught my eye for a fondue restaurant, "all you can eat and all you can drink"... oh yes that sounds good. I think the waiter got a bit annoyed having to come back to our table time and time again to fill up our glasses, so then he poured more and more wine into our glasses each time... El was feeling a bit delicate today.

We will be out of contact for nearly ten days, but we will check our email when we can as Sophie should be having her baby any time now and El can't wait to be an auntie for the second time.

Lima - the foggiest city in the world

Then we flew into Lima I could not believe my eyes - there was low level cloud for as far as you could see and the city was completely covered. I had heard that it was a bit cold and damp in the city even thought the city is at sea level and only one country below the equator but this was ridiculous.

We tried to do a bit of retail therapy but the ethnic tat was the same as in Bolivia but four times as expensive so we decided to go to the modern shopping centre by the sea and spent a few hours window browsing. We ended up in the Cinema later on and watched The Fountain which I loved but El found a bit depressing, so to cheer her up I took her to an expensive sea food restaurant and had the national dish raw marinated seafood in lemon it was fantastic and the vino was not half bad either.

Trust me


We were going to do a paragliding pilot course but to be honest couldn't be bothered and a touch of homesickness, maybe it was the damp weather that did it, that had us in its grips so we just hung around and soaked up the atmosphere. El had a haircut and the girl tried to turn her into a Dynasty extra, which I found hilarious.



We are looking forward to Ecuador and maybe the Galapagas islands if the credit card can stretch that far. Fingers crossed.

Thursday, October 04, 2007

Machu Picchu - pretty spectacular and spectacularly pretty!

After an excruciating 4.30am wake up call, we headed up the path to Machu Picchu. If you do the hardcore Inca trail you come over Macchu Picchu mountain and see the site at dawn spread out below you. As we took the other option we did the gruelling path up about 400 metres from Aguas Calientes. A path of steps, many of which have been used as toilets at some stage or other (at least once that very morning) which lead right up to the site. Mere mortals take the bus but not us, no, we did the hardcore route in order to see the sun rise over the Gate of the Sun where the Inca-trailers would arrive.

Frankly I got to the top of the path with burning lungs and aching legs and couldn't really care when Kieran called out for me to look at the sunrise over the mountain! We couldn't see Machu Picchu then anyway, we were just in the car park!



Once our friends had caught up though we entered the site and after getting a Machu Picchu stamp in our passports (!) and climbing yet more bloody steps we were faced with a wondrous sight.



The Incas built Machu Picchu around the 1400s and occupied it until the 1530s when the Spanish arrived and they abandoned it and took to the hills (lucky they did or the Spanish would have razed it to the ground) never to be seen again. It was "rediscovered" by an American archaeologist in 1911 and so began the love affair that we all have with this incredible place. Incredible because it is huge and built on the top of a bloody mountain (for God's sake!). But also because although much of it has been (not so faithfully) reconstructed, in fact there are large areas of original buildings and it is a warren of temples, agricultural and domestic dwellings, main plazas and tons and tons of terraces for agriculture (which they had to transport the earth for the crops ...crazy incas).

We had a rather unconvincing guided tour and then most of the group decided to climb the even higher mountain that towers over MP to get the ultimate view of the site. We were broken after the climb up there in the first place and so opted to go round the site a second time and listen in on many more guided tours and learned a lot more than the first time (we also learned that every guide tells a different story and not to be convinced by any of them!).



After a good 8 hours (and still only 2pm) we called it a day and went back to Aguas Calientes. We bade goodbye to our tourmates as they were all going back to Cusco but we opted to stay another day and make the most of the site. I mean if it takes you 3 days to get there you need to spend at least 2 days enjoying it, right? We checked into a lovely (expensive) hotel and got a thoroughly good night's sleep, at least 3 hot showers each, before getting up at a much more civilised time of 8am and getting an even more civilised bus back up to MP (what were we THINKING walking up the steps???).

We headed straight to Waynupicchu, the mountain overlooking MP and trudged up the very steep but satisfying path to the peak and revelled in the view. Actually it was a bit hazy so photos weren't brilliant, but you got an incredible view of the surrounding mountains and the sense of achievement about getting up the damn thing was well worth it.



Then we climbed up the much smaller Huchapicchu which also overlooks MP but from a much smaller distance and height (there was a mission impossible bit on the climb that was fantastic...K), where the photos were stunning and the whole site was laid out in magnificent detail for our eyes only.

We had planned to head up a little of the famous Inca trail to the sol gate but instead were content just to sit in strategic locations around the place, nibbling on snacks and just soaking up the atmosphere, before heading back into town for our train home.

Machu Picchu is such a famous site that we felt cautious about it not living up to expectations. And it is completely different from what you expect but it is not disappointing for it and made the 3-day trek well worth the effort.

Getting to Machu Picchu the alternative way

Our 3-day trek started with an early bus journey for about 4 hours over a massively high mountain pass. The scenery was wonderful and strange and the height was dizzying. Also strange was the burning mountains we encountered along the way. We've heard mixed reasons between slash and burn land clearance and also pagan offering to get the rains started (the rainy season is about to commence here in Peru).

We scaled the pass and came a little way down the other side before disembarking and saddling up - the first day of our trek involved mountain biking downhill to our first night's accommodation. It seemed like a non-tiring way of getting somewhere with minimal effort. Of course the first bike El picked happened to have a wet seat: wet with a suspicious-smelling substance and was rather disgusted to acquire said smell. After a dousing with water and a new bike later, we were set to go.

Of course the road was unpaved and so required sitting on the brakes practically the whole way down. Well, in fact only if you were El and had a nasty bike accident aged 13 going round a corner too fast on a gravel road, so she ended up bringing up the rear of the group while everyone else belted down the road at great speed! It was great fun to watch the road go by, and scenery in glimpses, not least the suicidal butterflies that kept getting themselves tangled in the wheels of the bikes!


I want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride my bike...tra la laa

Still, day one completed, we were all tired but happy (and incredibly dusty) and very ready for the large beer at the bar!

Day two saw a much more hardcore trek along one of the many Inca trails that lead to Machu Picchu. Not as famous as there were no Inca sites on the way, the trail took a wonderful path along the edge of a sheer mountain side and much of the original trail with supporting walls and paving was a wonderful walk, if bloody knackering.


Our path goes half way up the mountain on the right...gulp


The trail followed a hugely fast and charging river upstream, complete with huge boulders and we were only slightly unnerved by having to cross it in a makeshift cage-cum-ropes-and-pulley bridge 2 at a time. Gulp. On the other side though, waiting for us, was a wonderful hot spring resort with amazing hot water pools that certainly soothed away our aches and pains and was a definite high point upon which to end the day.



Unfortunately for El, she picked up something undesirable that day and spent most of the rest of the night in a close relationship with the toilet for various reasons and woke up feeling pretty miserable. Mind you there was a rooster howling from about 2am and sitting on our roof so Kieran didn't get much sleep either.



The third day involved a walk further upstream to a refreshing waterfall and on to a hydro-electric power station for lunch. El sat in the restaurant in the town from the previous night awaiting a bus to the hydro plant as walking was out of the question for her (feeling better by this point but feverish and weak). Kieran said the walk was very hot and a bit boring (no Inca trails today) so she didn´t miss much. The afternoon walk was along some railway tracks up to Aguas Calientes, the town just underneath Machu Picchu which was incredibly close by now. El, and a few others who had also been struck by the bug, caught the train leaving Kieran and team Reading (yes two of the girls were from our very own town - go Kate and Gemma!) to struggle up the railway tracks which are surprisingly hard to walk along.

Finally we all made it to Aguas Calientes and pretty much went straight to bed. They are waking us up at 4.30am tomorrow morning! Let's hope we get good sleep as the mozzie bites are killing us (scratch, scratch, scratch).

Getting to Cusco - the navel of the world (no fluff in sight)

We decided to spend a whole day getting to Cusco on the tourist bus, complete with complimentary tea and coffee, toilets, and 5 Inca sites along the way.

The scenery around Lake Titicaca is very pretty and although it all seems quite flat you are at a hefty altitude. Getting to Cusco involved a scenic drive along mountains and passes that slowly got greener and lusher as we neared the ancient Inca city, known as the navel of the world.

The sites en route were interesting in a slightly lame kinda way, the first being driven past an Inca site - little more than stone walls - and going instead to a small museum that housed a small but good collection of sculptures and carvings. Of course the guide told us about a few of them but never the ones that looked most interesting. It was interesting to learn that the Incas liked to behead their enemies and parade their heads around...nice.

A nice lunch was followed by the best site of all - an amazing temple complex very much intact with one central wall still standing nearly 13 metres tall. The temples was surrounded by a large area of royal enclosures and agricultural dwellings, some of which had been reconstructed and roofed in a traditional style so you could get a good idea of how it might have looked. A lovely introduction to the most famous Inca site yet to be visited.



The trip concluded with a church, called the Cistine chapel of South America which did indeed have some impressive paintwork but nothing anywhere close to Michelangelo's standard. Nevertheless, the ornate gold-encrusted altars gave a good impression of how the Spanish successfully plundered Peru's wealth.

Cusco is a very pretty city, nestled in amongst valleys at still quite an altitude. It is very reminiscent of the old part of Madrid - tiny winding cobbled streets with little cubby hole shops, cafes opening into pretty courtyards with more plazas and Churches than you can count. The touristy bits all come along with that - and prices to match - but nevertheless it retains a lovely charm not managed by many modern cities.


Not content with straight lines, Incas loved building walls with complicated stonework such as this crazy wall.

Of course, Cusco is the gateway to Machu Picchu and as we were too lazy to organise a place on the famous Inca trail (you have to book about 4 months in advance as it is limited to only 500 people at any one time), so we were going to just do the lazy train option but under advice from various friends and fellow-travellers we decided to do an alternative tour which we managed to arrange for the very next day.

Friday, September 28, 2007

Puno - Peru everyone hates it but us

Puno, I grant you, is not the most pretty city we have seen but we had a lot of fun there. First of all we stayed in a hotel that was only half built, always fun, then we had a two quid, 4-course lunch that was really really fantastic, then Kieran finally managed to get through to his sister on the phone to congratulate her on her new baby, even if she could hardly hear me. The baby's new name is Flo (change of heart) which I think is a fantastic name. Both Mother and baby are doing well and back home from hospital, even if the bottom half of the house is a building site at the mo. Donna Says that Flo is a dream and Jacob is acting like a proud big brother.

We then went on a floating island reed tour, which is suppose to be crap but we really enjoyed it. We met some lovely people and had a bit of a laugh. The people live on these massive reed islands, with even their diet and houses made out of the reeds, we tried to eat the reeds and it gave us indigestion.


MMM rabbit food



When the tribe has a bit of an argument they cut the island in half and away they go!!! I think it is a fantastic way to solve an argument, I hate you mum ... I´m going to live on the other side of the lake!!

We went to the main island and to our delight we saw three women in a reed phone box powered by a solar panel, they were probably phoning for a curry take away... fantastic!

Phone home


We came back to the town and they were having a bit of a fiesta with a massive brass band and a lot of ladies in sparkly petticoats, very sexy if it was not for the silly hats!! We met up and went out with a few of the people from the trip, Sinead , Carl and Harvey. While we were meeting up a Spanish women wanting help with her English came up with a old tape recorder, I think she was only learning English to snare a foreigner as she grilled the Irish guy Carl about his availability, I was not sure how his girlfriend would react until she proved her ownership by kicking him... yep he´s mine!!

The national dish in Peru is Guinea pig mmm can´t wait. I had a hamster when I was young that used to hiss at me like a cat and was one evil bastard so it will soon be payback time.

Copacabana Bolivia - Scummy traveller hang out

Copacabana seemed nice enough after we travelled back from the jungle on a slightly less scary plane ride, though the co-pilot did have leather fingerless aka Micheal Jackson gloves on, which concerned me a little bit.

We took a local rapido van from La Paz and the three hours was uneventful until we all had to get out next to Lake Titicaca (Te Te Ka Ka) and take a separate 5 minutes ferry to the van, very strange.

Copacabana had its Sunday market on when we arrived so it was very busy and colourful. We booked into our first lonely planet splurge hotel on top of the hill overlooking the town. It was a very nice hotel but the room stank of fags, so we moved into town the next day into a totally over the top room. It looked almost like a Bolivian museum, but the main "draw" ha ha was the fireplace, we missed our South Street fireplace so much that we had to have a fire.

The fire was lovely if a bit smokey




The next day was dead and we noticed a load of skanky travellers who had not found their way home. Get a job, wasters, and most important of all, wash your bloody skanky hair.

We went to the Isla de Sol - the biggest island in the lake - which is massive by the way, reminded me of a holiday with my family and the Breeze's to a lake in the south of France that was so big it looked like the sea.

The Island is the Incas birth place of the sun. To be honest the Bolivians did not take advantage of their historic resource: there were no signs to tell you what you were looking at and even the sacrificial stone that we were quite looking forward to seeing had a silly man in a nightcap hat on selling stuff on top of it. Plus the boats to the island are some of the slowest boats in history.

Ho hum, the three hour walk, made a bit harder by the altitude 3800 metres, from the north of the island to the south was one of the nicest walks we have done. On the first beach we looked up and the Sun had a massive circular rainbow all the way around it, it was amazing and we had never seen anything like it! Definitely an omen from the sun's birthplace. Unfortunately the omen was that we should put some sun block on as we both got a bit burned, kinda appropriate really.

Solar Rainbow


The next day we took a bus to Puno, the town on the Peru side of the lake. This was the first time we had to walk across the no mans land on foot. El kept complaining that Peru looked like Bolivia, oh well you can´t please everyone.