Rio !!!

Below is an older entry that I wrote while in Rio last week. I was well warned to leave it until this week to blog again as some of the guys travelling with us were surprising their families and arriving home early! Anyway here is goes...

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We are in Rio the last few days and it has been fantastic. The weather is very warm but it did rain one day last weekend.

So far we have done a tour of the Favela which one of the slums here in Rio. It was a real eye opener to see how they are run with no police. To get there we took a high speed motorbike taxi up through the slums, and did the tour walking down through it. There is no police and the only law is the drug dealers and their security team. In the slum we were in there is a population of 390,000 packed into a few square km. The tour was unreal, some buzz on the back of the motorbike with no helmet, going against traffic and dodging trucks by inches! The slums are amazing too, you pass the last police checkpoint getting in and its crazy how they control things with no official law! I guess they let the Gringos like us in as we pay our way and some money is contributed to local day care centres and the like. In most of the areas they wont let anyone take photos, in case you get someone carrying a gun or something, of which there was a few guys walking around. Today I brought a DVD of a police raid on the slum we were in and the gun fight that took place. Only two weeks ago there was a big raid on the same slum and 60 gang members took over a hotel and took 600 people hostage. The 60 took uniforms of staff and most walked out with only 8 being caught.

The following night we went to an all night street party down at Lapa. Its crazy but not far off Galway during race week. There was loads of stands to buy drink and food with thousands of people partying on the streets.

On Sunday it was a great day and we watched the Down and Cork in the All Ireland Final in an Irish pub down town Rio. There was about 12 of us (guys that were travelling on our tour) that went out for Robs birthday and most hadnt seen a GAA match before. It was a cracker of an All Ireland final and they guys loved every minute of it as it was very exciting. Im delighted the Aussies, Scots and English thought the game was so good. Then later that night we went to see Flamengo vs Fluminense at the Engenhão será Stadium Rio - biggest rivalry and derby in Brazil. Savage game that ended 3 - 3. The Brazilians really know how to do it and create a great atmosphere with drums and chanting.

Yesterday we were sunning ourselves and I was watching the Homeless World Cup down at the copacabana beach. I was talking to the Irish lads who seemed all from Dublin. Ye will be happy to hear that they won their first two games but lost against Mexico in their last... but I still think they go through. Its a bit of a crazy tournament but the sponsorship seems huge as all the teams were flown over and got free accommodation in hostels and stuff. The final is on Sunday but id be interested to see how Ireland do. I saw them play against Mexico and they were by far the most fiery and hard teams in it.

Today we took it easy and hit the beach again and did some shopping down town in markets. We also went to Christ The Redeemer statute towering over Rio which was fantastic. We got savage photos which ill put up soon.

On our second last day I had booked into one final excursion; hang-gliding in Rio over the city and Tijuca urban rain forest... Its was about a 10 minute flight as conditions were very calm but it was a brilliant experience. Gliding is the closest thing to what free flight must be like as I was able to stretch my arms out like a bird. The truth be told I was a little nervous as well as being excited but it was all well worth it.

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Im sitting at in my house now after returning home and going back to work this week. Its strange to think that I was in Rio last week doing all we did and to think that we have travelled across South America in the last couple of months. It seems like a world away at the minute but we have great memories and made fantastic friends. Im already looking forward to my next holiday, where ever it may be!

Foz - Iguazu - The Pantenal - Paraguay - Bonito - Parity

[Im a bit behind in emails and bloggs but this is the jest of an email I sent home while in Paraty last week...]

I started writing this while on the road again aboard Bernie, making a long, 2 day, 1650km trip from Bonito to Parity. The weather is in its high 20's in the last few days so the bus is sweltering at times and it was the same temperature in the Pantenal, which are the Brazillian marshlands and national park, where we just left. Before that it was in the late teens or early 20's in around Foz and Iguazu.

I think when I last blogged we were heading to the Iguazu falls and onto Brazil from here. The Iguazu falls themselves far surpassed any expectation I had as they would take your breath away with the sheer amount of water falling in the 227 waterfalls at the site. As I was saying on the phone, I think it was Roosevelt who exclaimed "poor Niagra" when he saw the waterfalls at Iguazu. We spent most of the day along board walks beside the falls and did a speed boat trip around the plunge pools the falls spelled into. We got right up to some waterfalls and between splashes and mist it was densely wet and we were soaked to the bone but it was fairly exhilarating. Alan, one of the guys on tour with us has a waterproof camera and took a few shots so ill get them up when I can at our next WiFi stop.

Next door to the falls was an excellent bird park that allowed the visitors into huge cages and walk around among the exotic birds. The cages, are for the most part as big as two story houses and up to twice the width, if not more, so it didnt seem like a cage as the birds could fly around in generous space. Since I was last blogging I have been bitten by a Tucan, Piranha and multiple mosquitoes and as you can guess it was the Tucan who was the culprit on this occasion. They are very curious birds that seem to take a liking to me, as not long after I entered the cage a couple had swooped near me and perched on ledges and a few more were on the ground hopping and making their way towards me. We had put out our fingers towards their beaks as they were perched and they took them in their beak with a soft bite so I had assumed that they were not very vicious. However I foolishly tried to lure a few towards Stephanie, (who was also wearing sandals), by wiggling my toes in front of her as a Toreador would wave a rag to lure a bull. My actions backfired as it only made them more curious. I let my guard down and let a Tucan come up to my feet, thinking that I couldnt be harmed but it went for my left big toe with a considerable bite, enough to draw some blood. I yelped at the pinch and made my way to the exit being chased by another Tucan who had swooped at me just before I left. Needless to say I dont want to see another Tucan regardless of the friendly and curious reputation they have. By the way, I have video evidence to back this up so ill try and get it on Picasa one of the days. (http://picasaweb.google.com/EmperorCommodus)

While doing the excursions near Iguazu we stayed out the country in a Hostel about 10 minutes from the town of Foz. It was a charming place with a manmade lake, camp site, TV and DVD room as well as Wifi, small bar and laundry. The evenings were spent just relaxing and getting some down time which was nice.

Puerto Iguazu is actually where the three countries of Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil meet so we made the most of it and made a trip across the border to Paraguay for a days shopping. I think Paraguay would be classed as a third world country so cheap bargains were expected on electronics and the like as there is no tax on such items. I was tempted to buy an SLR camera but I backed out of it however many people travelling with us picked up some electronics, cameras and clothes. One guy in particular, Danny from Australia picked up a top of the range SLR (large camera with detachable lens) for about US $1000 which would have been a steal as it would be twice that price in any other country. The streets of Paraguay were fairly hectic with motorcycle taxis, cars and busses trying to fit in one lane of traffic and street venders and markets selling everything under the sun with shoppers trying to get bargains. It was manic.

We left Foz the next day and made the long trip to Bonito which took us a day. Bonito is a small city stopover in Brazil where there are loads of adventure activities for tourists. We camped on the grounds of the hostel which was one of the nicest hostels we have stayed at so far. As well as campsite it had a huge thatched gazebo with lots of hammocks and eating area. It had a pool that was cleaned every morning, lounge chairs, dining area and kitchen where you could buy cold beers and order food. Fortunately they had messed up our booking which meant that we would have to stay an extra day if we wanted to do some activities which suited us down to the ground as we had an extra day in the "bank", from previously turning a three day road trip into two very long days to give ourselves an extra day to play with.

On day one in Bonito most of us rented bikes and cycled 6km to a fantastic lagoon where we spent the day swimming and snorkeling with lots of fish as well as take on some other guys in a games of volleyball. The lagoon itself was fantastic with clear water and a couple of restaurants and places to rent buoyancy aids and snorkels. The next day a few of us went to another river on a snorkeling excursion which took us 2km down the Sucre where we swam with fish for a couple of hours. I rented an underwater camera and took loads of pictures. II think that night we went to do some training for our rappelling excursion later had a few down the town in Bonito. The following day was spent relaxing by the pool and taking it easy.

On our final day only 6 of us in the group went on an excursion to the Abismo cave near Bonito, to rappel 90 meters or so down into the cave and snorkel in the cave pool which was a further 70 meters in depth. This excursion was defiantly one of the highlights so far. On the rappel down I took my time to take it all in as the cave was 400 million years old and the rock formations and stalactites and stalagmites were amazing. When we got down they had a wooden platform to land on and dive off which made it felt you were in the Bat Cave. When we all got down into the cave safely, we put on our wetsuits and went into the water for about 30 minutes to snorkel. I think one of the guides said the cave was a natural spring so the water was crystal clear and you could see up to 40 meters or further underwater. It is regarded as one of the best dive sites in the world because of the visibility. Looking underwater down through the pool while snorkeling you had stalagmites towering stories high from beneath you and it felt you were navigating a city of pillars in a blue abyss which is something I’ll never forget. The only natural light in the cave came from a hole in the ceiling of the cave that we were repelling from so our photographs were not the best but we did try. A couple of the guys had better settings on their cameras and a steadier hand so when I get the chance ill get those pics up. Only about 17 people get into the cave every day as I guess it takes a while to get in and out. I looked through their roll book of people who dive into the cave and it seems that I was the third Irish person who had been there this year which made me feel a bit privileged. The vast majority of thrill seekers that signed the book were Brazilians, second was Aussies and most of the others were made up of people from the UK.

We got back to our hostel camp site around lunch time and went straight from there to our next stopover on the Brazilian Pantanel. The Pantinel is essentially a huge national park with hundreds of species of wildlife. It was dark when we arrived at a lodge on the Pantanel and we were brought from there on an open top truck to a ranch 20km away. Fireflies provided a bit of a light show as we moved further into the Pantanel and when we got to bridges we shone lights on the water to see hundreds of red eyes looking back at us. Those red eyes that reflected the light were actually a few of the 40 million alligators that live in The Pantenal. We got to our ranch and after dinner we were shown our dorm of hammocks where we slept for the night. I slept soundly as hammocks are really comfortable but im not sure how good it would be for a bad back.

For excursions at the Pantenal we were split into two groups and on day one we did a nature walk in the morning where we got within feet of alligators (who lived in a pond not 20 feet from the barn where we slept in hammocks at night). We also saw numerous species of parrots , herrings, stalks, and many more birds as well as a few monkeys and other mammals. That evening we went on a horse safari throughout the ranch and through some marshes where in the distance we spotted wild pigs. Id rate the horse riding in Argentina ahead of the Pantenal as we got to gallop but I guess due to safety in The Pantenal, the fastest we went was a trot.

We had an 8am start the next day to do some Piranna fishing in a nearby lake. It is coming into dry season on The Pantenal so a lot of the ponds, marshes and rivers are drying up which that leaves any waters fairly packed with alligators and piranha. We used bamboo rods and had to wade in to get our meat bate further out into water for the piranha. I wasn’t in the water a minute when I felt piranhas swim by my legs and a few seconds later I felt a sharp pain on my big right toe, to which I yelped and low and behold I had been bitten! I have a picture to prove it and our guides told me to stay out of the water until the bleeding had stopped. Meanwhile the rest of the group were fishing away and every cast with the meat bates had piranha frantically nipping but only the odd one would actually get hooked, depending on the strike. Stephanie managed to catch two while most others caught some at least one. It didn’t matter what I tried after that as I lost about 12 bates to the piranha without one getting hooked. It seemed like I was only there to feed the fish rather than catch them. My very last cast had caught a piranha but when I got the line in I was tangled in some weeds and the thrashing of the line attracted an alligator who went for it. It was good craic having an alligator at the end of the line but when I pulled hard on the rod the hook came back to me minus the piranha but at least the alligator got his lunch. At our own lunch the 20 piranha the group had caught were barbequed and I made sure hunter (piranha being the fish the bit me) became the hunted we ate them. Piranna is not bad as fish go, its like most white fish, perhaps a little gamier but certainly not the best to look at when whole on your plate.

That night we made for the lodge we had stopped at two days previous. We had a nature boat ride up the river and spotted loads more alligators as well as some capybara which are the world’s largest rodents at 30-40kg in weight. A couple of us jumped into the river for a quick swim but the idea of swimming in alligator infested waters meant we didn’t stay too long in the water and we made the excuse of the river being too shallow to swim before jumping promptly back on the boat.

The following morning was this morning so im back at the start of the blog. We are somewhere in South central Brazil near Campo Grande making for as near to Sao Paulo to shorten our journey to Parity tomorrow. We will free camp in the middle of nowhere tonight and be staying in a hostel in Parity tomorrow night.

Im finishing this blog in Parity at our hostel. Its on the beach front and is one of the best hostels we stayed in so far. Yesterday everyone surprised me for my birthday and we went on a booze cruise together around the islands on the bay. There was music, free food and Caprinhas (Brazilian cocktail) all day, along with a few of our own beers. We jumped off the boat in a few areas we stopped, near beaches and islands. Great fun.

Potosi - Uyrini - Salt Flats – Salta - Puerto Iguazu

As I said in the last blog, we have done a fair bit in the last few days it was only right to split it up in two blogs.

We left La Paz and travelled to a stopover city of Potosi, one of the highest cities in the world at 4070m. As little that there was to do in Puno, there is nothing to do in Potosi which is not really geared towards tourists or visitors at all. As soon as we landed we had an hour or two to spare and myself and Stephanie headed off to the market and tried to walk around some of the city. So far, apart from La Paz, and Uyuini, the Bolivians dont seem as welcoming or friendly as the Peruvians. The could be a harsh generalisation but the Potisi people down at the market would walk all over you, the people in takeaways dont seem interested in serving or making food for you, the receptionist guy was sharp when asked about WiFi, and some drunk wanker in the market was touching my head and tried to take my sunglasses off my head which was a situation that could have escalated if we didnt change direction.

Our first night in Potisi was very quiet and we just got chicken and chips to eat back at our hostel after which we watched a DVD. Even the simplest tasks of getting food ordered in Potisi was a struggle and ill look forward to seeing the back of Bolivia because of it. We are on our way back there from Uyurini now and have a few hours free time there so hopefully it will redeem itself. Ill let you know by the end of this email.

The excursion we did in Podisi proved that Bolivia is one of the craziest countries in the world - bar none. It consisted of a tour of a silver mine, buying dynamite, cigarettes, coca leaves and juice for the minors and blowing up some water melons and an actual sheep’s head! Bizarre, I know! I have to say I didnt enjoy the mine tour that much as im not the best in tight spaces. We were put in overalls with hard hats and lights and we were lead down 500 meters into a mine in the middle of a mountain. Often stooping, crouching and crawling through dusty carved caves was not an experience I enjoyed but it made me realise the harsh conditions the minors work in. The accident and death rate in the mines is astronomical as down the years the Spanish monarchy made the Bolivian native indians work in the mines, and when they all dies, later thousands of slaves from Africa were made work there to mine for silver and other precious minerals. Nowadays there is only a few hundred working in the mines but I couldnt do it. Some work up to 3km beneath the mountain where the temperature can get to 30-40 degrees. My breathing down the mine was a bit panicked but I controlled it and breathed a sigh of relief when I was finally out of the mine.

As well as giving some of the minors a few bits we had some extra dynamite to blow up for ourselves. You can actually buy dynamite on the street in stalls on Potisi which is mad. Before our tour, our Bolivian mine guide brought us down the market and we were on the lookout for stuff to blow up. We got the last water melon and papaya fruit (like a water melon) and the only other thing we could find was a sheeps head. Long story short we planted the dynamite in the different places, lit the fuses and ran for our lives. We were back a safe distance and watched the fruit and head blow to smithereens. Some buzz, and I guess just was your average day in Potisi.

Our main reason for stopping in Potisi was to get to Uyrini and the slat flats as it would be too long of a drive, on some of the worst roads in the world, all the way from La Paz. When I say road, its an exaggeration as we are travelling on more of a dirt track at the minute that links up the two afore mentioned town and city. I have to commend our driver Aran, (Azz) who is navigating these tracks exceptionally well without any fuss and seems to love it. Right now we are twisting and turning over mountains on single lane dirt roads that have us shaken to bits. I dont mind a bit as the scenery is like something out of a Western movie and we have plenty to keep us occupied from travel games, poker, and my new book: The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins. I said I would give it a chance although it is rantish and sometimes has complicated and scientific language so its a slow read. The last book, The Life of Pi, I would recommend to anyone as its based on a true story and is very harrowing and an incredible story of survival. I hope we survive out here and our bus doesnt break down as we are miles away from civilization!

Anyway we travelled to Uyuini which is a small town near the famous salt flats. We stayed in a basic but really nice hostel run by an American guy and is Bolivian wife. The food was all Italian and excellent compared to anywhere we had eaten in the last few weeks. We continued onto the Salt Flats the following morning and got some cool pictures. Because the ground is so flat for miles you can alter the perspective of pictures and we got some really good shots. Ill post a link up whenever I have them up on Picassa. The Salt Flats would probably be one of the highlights so far. The pictures will explain why!

After one last night in Uyuini we had an early start to make our way to Salta. It was a two day journey on terrible roads and we stayed in a hostel in Tupiza on route instead of a planned free camp.

Salta is a beautiful and fantastic city and im sorry we didnt get another day or two in it. Argentina is such a breath of fresh air from Bolivia. Its fairly westernised and the infrastructure, buildings and roads are fantastic. One of the best parts of our stay in Salta was on both nights we went out for steak dinners. I have never tasted steak like the steak in Argentina; its simply unreal. You hardly need to saw your knife into the meat for it to cut like a knife through butter; its that tender. The steaks themselves are incredibly big and the portions you get are 600-700g in one serving. Some people on our tour finished it all themselves but myself and Stephanie just split ours which still worked out still bigger than any steak you get at home. Steak is everywhere in Argentina and they really pride themselves like its an industry. Any bit of beef you would get in Peri and Bolivia would hop off the ground it was so tough but the beef in Argentina is spectacular.

We went horse riding on a ranch while staying in Salta. It was excellent being in a saddle on a horse most of the day and we each got to gallop a bit which was cool. I was wearing my cowboy hat that I picked up for Matchu Pitchu so I looked the part, but it was great craic. It made me want to own and ride a horse of my own some day if only I had the few acres!

Our stay in Salta was fairly action packed as on our second day we went white water rafting and zip lining in an adventure resort not far from Salta. Every excursion we do seems to beat the last but this day has topped the lot so far. For the rafting, we split into teams of 8 and paddled rubber dingies down rapids which was brilliant craic. The rafting took just over 2 hours down river over countless rapids which was a savage experience. Often on route down river over rapids the water would drench everyone and practically fill the dingy at times. We purchased a CD with pictures so ill be posting the links soon.

Not everyone in our group did the zip lining which was not really for the faint hearted or those with problems with heights. We did nine zip lines altogether, the first one was 700m long over a canyon which must have been 600m high. We were harnessed up to the zip lines so it was all very safe and out last zip line took us all the way back to camp and within 10 yards of the bar, which was very cool. All in all it was a fantastic action packed day.

Im finishing this email in Puerto Iguazu after two more long days on the road from Salta. We camped in the back garden of a service station the night before last. One thing that is noticeable about the Argentineans is that they are very obliging and helpful so far. I guess they are just a step ahead of Bolivia and maybe more used to tourists passing through. Yesterday our expedition vehicle, “Bernie” broke down on the way here where we had stopped at at some old ruins of a Jesuit settlement. We ended up pushing the 20 tonne truck to get it started and at the minute its out of action again and parked up at this campsite. I think a mechanic is calling out to us to have a look but I don’t think its awful serious.

Tomorrow we are heading for the Iguazu falls which is the largest waterfalls in the world. Four times as much water passes through it every minute than Niagra Falls so its supposed to be spectacular. Ill let you know how we get on in the next blog and I should have some new photos up.

Puno - Lake Titicaca - La Paz - Death Road

We are in Bolivia for the past few days and its hard to get proper WiFi or computers to send emails and blog as its a borderline third world country. The decision was taken by Tucan to travel through Bolivia as originally planned as the rioting has stopped and things are back to normal.

As I mentioned in the last email we were in Puno. There isnt a whole lot to do in Puno, our last Peruvian stopover before Bolivia, and the same can be said for the likes of small Bolivian towns like Potosi and Uyuni. Puno is basically a stopover before heading to other places across South America and only has one main street of note that links up two squares or plazas, which is a common theme in Peruvian towns. That street has a few pubs and small night clubs and lots of restaurants of which only a select few are safe bets for decent food.

Our main reason for going to Puno was to go on an overnight home stay excursion to Lake Titicaca. The lake itself is huge and when you’re on it and it’s similar to the Mediterranean in the vastness of the water and the dotted islands. The lake itself is 58000 square KM and has a percentage of salt and sulphur which sets it aside from normal freshwater lakes. You can feel the altitude too as its higher in altitude than Puno at 3811m.

Our first stop on the lake was on manmade floating reed islands of the Uros. The indigenous people on the islands, (population 500 approx) made the islands from dry reeds stuck into dried blocks of shoreline earth and the whole thing is anchored simply by long branches and polls. All the islands are floating and the ground is dry but soft underneath your feet; a funny sensation. On the island we stopped on, there were 12 houses or huts made from dry reeds. The huts were tiny one room structures that housed the whole family. We went on a short boat trip around the islands on, you guessed it, a reed boat. It was cool to see how they lived but you get the impression that its not a culture that will last as its become heavily dependent on tourism and a lot of the younger people are leaving the island way of life for a life in the main land.

We then went to the island of Amantani where we were greeted by our "mamas" who we would be staying with that night. Regretfully I have to admit that the overnight stay was not the most enjoyable experience although it wasnt exactly awful either. What made things very awkward was the language barrier and the heart sinking conditions and way of life of the people. Whereas the families seem very happy, its obvious that they have nothing and face hardships of not having proper irrigation for farming, running water or electricity. The food we got was grand considering what the family were cooking with; a man made clay type of open fire range or oven with pots resting on open holes in the clay oven. The only room we saw in the house was a cooking area in the corner flowing into a small eating area with a table and two chairs. I have seen some houses at home with no floors but this was worse. The only seating area was a log with a blanket on it. The food was fine and consisted of a soup or stew with vegetables and potatoes, and fried cheese and tomato for the main dinner. Later that evening we had the same thing with rice. To be honest I had lost my appetite; not out of any sort of dislike of the food but more out of the change of scenery and bad form after seeing how they lived. Where we were staying was at least a 25 minute walk to the lake and you knew that they were up at 4:30am to go down to the lake, bring up water and boil it for our breakfast and meals.

That evening we disposed of another Tucan tour group in a game of soccer on their local school yard pitch, before beating the locals in our second game. Steely determination won it for us but playing at 4200m or so (as it was a bit of a climb to where we were staying) we were constantly catching our breath where as the locals were comfortable. You can see why Peru has such a great home record in soccer when you try and actually run around in altitude. That night, after candle lit dinner (out of necessity as our solar powered electricity went after 20 minutes) we dressed up in their local traditional attire and went to the local community center where a traditional band played and we danced with the locals and our "Mamas". The "Mama" myself and Stephanie stayed with was only 23 years old but she lived with her parents and her sister. It seemed that she was the only one that was educated and she was able to understand our basic Spanish and a couple of words of English. However bad the language barrier was, we were getting messages across with hand signals similar to a game of charades. The main language of the islands is Quechua which is more of an ancient Inca language but thankfully most can understand Spanish too.

In your heart you know those people are happy but it wasn a bitter sweet experience. I wish I knew how bad things were and instead of the few bits we brought to them we may have brought candles and more practical things for them. However they did seem grateful for the few kilos of rice and pasta we brought although we did feel silly giving coloring books and things for kids when there were none with our family but I think our Mama had nieces and nephews that she would give them to.

We left the island the following morning and went to one last island of Taquile. It was remarked that the island was quite like any Greek island with paved paths and clear blue waters all around. We ate lunch as our tour guide told us of the strange courting traditions which, without pulling any punches could be better described as rape or forced relationships in the western world. Strangely when a guy wants to choose a girl at a party and she says no, she is dragged up on the dance floor anyway and the relationship would be consummated that night whether she likes it or not. Often when it would get to that stage, the woman would submit and ironically actually be happy that someone would want to fight for her. That morning, the father of the male in the "relationship" (for use of a better term) would go to the other family to say that their daughter is now with his son. After that the new couple must live together for 3 years after which marriage, without the possibility of separation or divorce happens and they all live happily ever after. Strange and shocking culture but its been that way for them since the beginning of time and we are told that its the way relationships are expected to start. A quick note, there are no bachelors or bachelorettes on the island that would not have married by their middle age. Our tour guide told us the story and said he told the islander males, to their disbelief that if they tried that on the mainland they would get a hiding.

We left that island and headed back to normality in Puno before setting off the following morning for Bolivia and La Paz.

After a reasonably long journey from Puno to La Paz through a customs border crossing at Desaguardero, getting Bolivian money and visas, we finally got to La Paz which is up there with Cusco as our favorite stopovers so far. We are mostly staying in hostels and hotels here in Bolivia as they are so cheap. We were still at big altitudes of 3636m but you forgot that in La Paz.

Ironically La Paz does not seem like a city on a third world country as the facilities are good and there are a few good places to eat and drink. Bolivia is ridiculously cheap compared to Peru which itself is not all that expensive. Sometimes out here you can get caught in a tourist trap, eating and shopping in tourist spots with close to western prices but so far in Bolivia everything is cheap. Its one Euro to nine Bolivian dollars and if you wanted you could buy a hotdog and chips on the street for 4.50 Bolivianos which is dirt cheap.

Myself and Stephanie did a fair bit of walking in the city and the amount of markets was overwhelming. It must be the fact that the cost of renting is expensive but there are thousands of market stalls selling everything from hardware to clothes. There is nothing you couldn’t buy from a market in La Paz for a quarter of the price you would pay at home. Stephanie brought a lot of scarves and crazy pants in an area of the city called "The Witches Market" which as the name suggests contains a few stalls and shops dedicated to sort of mystic paraphernalia as well as dried Lama and Alpaca fetises which are used to ward off evil spirits. We didn’t take any pictures as we were told we could be met with hostility or asked for money from the witches or stall owners. But its clear that in South America there is a culture of polytheism where people can be Catholic, believe in Inca Gods and believe is this sort of occult and mysticisms all at once.

The nightlife in La Paz is very good so as well as eating out the nights we were there, we had a few sessions, one of which was a fancy dress and going away party for a guy called Quentin Fry who was only joining us for half the tour before heading back to Oz.

Our third day in La Paz was spent doing an optional excursion cycling down "Death Road", or the world’s most dangerous road in La Cumbre. It’s an excursion that was quite dangerous so not everyone in our group, including Stephanie and a few other girls, did the excursion. Essentially we cycled or free wheeled and braked down 73km of paths and dirt roads. The decent was 1300m and some of the cliff edges we cycled on would take your breath away they were so steep so we were well warned to "keep our eyes on the prize" and concentrate on the road in front of us. It was very enjoyable and I would rank it up there with Matchu Pitchu as one of the highlights so far. On route down the mountain you cycle under little waterfalls, past villages and through jungle type terrain. Thankfully we all got through it ok but its worth noting that 18 cyclists have died on the since 1998 and many more were killed in vehicles.

Ill leave the blog there for now as in the last couple of days we have done a lot so its too much to fit here.

We are on our way back to Potisi now from Uyuni and the salt flats.

We have a few long days on the road coming up to get to Argentina.

Cusco – Matchu Pitchu – Cusco – Puno

Buenos Dias Chichos!

As you can guess we are back on “Beirnie” our Tucan Expedition vehicle on the way to Puno from Cusco. We were a total of 6 nights in Cusco and 4 days on Matchu Pitchu, but they are the kind of places that you would never get bored of.

Cusco is the biggest tourist stopover in all of the Americas. More tourists pass through the city on the way to different places in Peru like Matchu Pitchu than any other city. While it may be a little commercialised its also very cultural with street art performances, theatre and an excellent night life. Its full of bars, restaurants and markets and hosts the highest Irish pub in the world, Paddys bar at 3400 meters or 11156 feet above sea level. As you can imagine we had a few there.

As soon as we got into Cusco on our first night we went on the rip and had a great night. Beers were working out at a 1-2 Euro for a 650ml bottle but there was better value with cocktails and shots and mixers. Every nightclub gave free drink tickets so we made the most of that and hopped around to different places for the offer of free drinks which was normally a rum and coke. The heads were not the best on our second day and I needed a midday nap to sleep it off!

Our next couple of days in Cusco were spent buying a few bits for the Inca Trail and it dawned on us that we didn’t need to bring anything over with us as all you need for Matchu Pitchu can be picked up in Cusco for very reasonable prices. The markets are brilliant and a few of the guys got Alpaca blankets and scarves (Alpacas are similar to a Lama but their wool is much finer and they are more pleasant looking animals with large necks like Lamas but they have smaller ears).

We had a very early start for the first day of our tour and were on the road at 6:30am to get to Chilca or “KM 82” as its known. That point from which we started was 45km from the Matchu Pitchu Inca city, a distance we covered in under 4 days.

Day one, although long was not very hard as we were mostly walking on gentle slopes and hills with the odd few steps and climbs. It seemed long enough from our early rise and we finished up around 4-5pm. Our lunch break was at 1:30 most days and we had soup and pastas and rice dishes. I was surprised at the quality of the food which was impressive considering it was being carried around. For each member of the tour which was 14, there was a porter as well as our two tour guides so we had a big group. The porters (Sherpa’s) carried all the camping gear, food, cooking hobs, gas and our small cargo bags. We were allowed to carry a backpack ourselves that would mainly have your snacks and water for the day in between meals and perhaps a fleece or jacket. Each of us were also given a small bag that would be carried by the porters, the weight of which couldn’t be heavier than 5KG and each porter carried a maximum of 25KG. There are new rules and restrictions on what the porters can carry as well as rules for the campsites. In the past the porters would have been expected to carry up to 60KG, sometimes more which meant bad things for their health. With the new rules, there is more porters and more work for Peruvians so you get the impression that they were happy to carry things for the group and are delighted to have a job. We camped on a private campsite at the end of day one. After a couple of beers and dinner we were all going to sleep at 8pm as we had a very early start on day two.

Day two of the Inca Trail is defiantly physically one of the hardest things I have done. Its not that the climb was significantly hard, but the altitude and thinning air is what makes it very difficult. On day two we hiked from altitudes from 2980m to 4250m over the distance of 5km. It was an unrelenting torrent of steps and climbs that was energy sapping. Even with 30 steps left at the top of “Abra Warmiwanuska” I stopped three or four time gasping for air like I had just done three sprinting laps. On the trail you can kind of find a rhythm with your hiking pole, your step and your breathing but if you lose your momentum its hard find it again. At times all I was concentrating on was my heart beating out of my chest, my lungs gasping and the steps on the trail. Myself and Stephanie and another guy, Quentin were the first to finish (of 14 in our group) on Day 2 and we got to our campsite just after 12 in the afternoon. The latest arrivals were at 2:30pm which was the average tourist time and both our Inca tour guide and our Tucan guides said we were one of the fastest groups ever. Day two is very tough and that final climb is exceptionally hard. We sat for a while at the top and observed people as they collapsed over the last few steps of the mountain or into waiting arms and high fives of members of their tour groups. Some even broke down and cried and were emotional at their achievement, it was that physically demanding. The following 45 minutes or so was all downhill to the campsite which stood at the foot of another mountain, Abra Runkuraqay. After a cold shower and relaxing afternoon with lunch and dinner and evening we are all in bed early again.

Day three of the Inca Trail was our longest day. We started about 6:30am I think and didn’t finish the day until 4-5pm. Every day of our hike our tour guide, gave explanations of the various Inca ruin sites as well as a sort of nature walk. He would often stop telling us about the flowers, vegetation, birds and animals as well as giving us the history of the Incas and their culture and religions. The hike itself was tough as it was so long but it was both up and down hill as we got further over mountains and closer to Matchu Pitchu. The vegetation was noticeably different as it was less bush and burnt grass as the vegetation got heavier it was looking more like jungle. At the end of day three we camped at Winay Wayna, which is the main campsite before the final hike to Matchu Pitchu. At the fnal campsite we were able to have a hot shower and there was a bar and restaurant there too, beside the campsite. We were too wrecked to bother having many and we had a 4:30am start on day four so that was a big deterrent.

Day four of Matchu starts very early and we passed through our final checkpoint on the way to the “Sun Gate” at 5am. All along the Inca Trail there are various checkpoints that our tour guide made sure everyone passed through. We had two guides at the front and the back of the group so nobody was left behind. We arrived at the Sun Gate which is about 3km from the campsite and to our disappointment it was cloudy. The idea of the Sun Gate is to see the sunlight break over the top of the mountains and shine on Matchu Pitchu. That only happens on average 17 times a year so you would be very luck to see it. It didn’t matter that we missed that much as at the Inca city of Matchu Pitchu we got great pictures when the cloud lifted in the morning.

Matchu Pitchu is unreal and no pictures or words could do it justice. It was a relief to make it and we took loads of pictures which im uploading now.

You can see the pictures here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/EmperorCommodus/IncaTrail

I think the 6th last picture you can also download a video we took of the summit of Matchu Pitchu and the Inca city; it should take 5 mins or so to download.

We arrived back in Cusco that night at 9:30 and went for a few pints, to the surprise of our tour guides who said they never heard of anyone heading out after suck a trek. We didn’t wait out too long but along with a massage the following day it was a welcome relaxation after 4 days roughing it.

Just before we left for Matchu Pitchu we put in orders for our official Tucan South American tour T-Shirts which we received today. They have a map of South America and our expedition on the back with our names around in a circle around the coast of the map. The right arm has a flag patch for the different countries we are visiting, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil. However we don’t yet have patches for Chilie, which wasn’t part of the original tour Itinerary. I haven’t had the chance to read the news properly yet but Bolivia is a no go area at the minute. I think the government increased charges on water on the farmers and they cant afford it so there was riots some of the places we were to visit. Their president fled the country and we hear that food hasn’t been getting to some towns so its all a bit crazy. A big yellow tour bus full of Gringos (white tourists like ourselves) with perceived money may just be a target so we are avoiding most of Bolivia and are crossing into Chile to avoid trouble. Its working out Ok as we are not missing much and we get to see another country and can access the famous Salt flats from the Chilean side. I was talking to a Dutch guy a few nights ago in Puno and he was just back from Boliva where they had a torrid time. There were road blocks everywhere and I think they were even followed a few times in their jeep.

Im finishing this email in Puno, and we are just back from an overnight excursion to Lake Titicaca which at 3,855 metres above sea level and is the highest navigable lake in the world. We island hopped and stayed with a local family out on the lake which is another blog! Ill tell you all about it in a few days.

Arequipa - Chivay - Cusco

Im writing this from the tour bus on the way from Arequipa to Cusco which is a 10-12 hour journey. To be honest time flys on the expedition vehicle as we have the radio hooked up to the iPod for tunes and travel scrabble and conversation and cards makes the journeys much shorter. The book; The Life of Pi is also keeping me entertained. Im half way through and its a real escape. Stephanie is reading a Meave Benchy book and is flying ahead of me and has over a hundred page lead which is increasing by the hour!

The last few mornings we had a few very early starts. On Wednesday morning we were on the road at 7am on the way further South to Chivay which is even higher that Arequipa at an altitude of 3635m. On our way there we hit altitudes of 4900m, where we got off the little tour bus to take some pictures of the mountain ranges around us. I purchased a woolly hat with those ear flaps and a scarf made from Lama wool off the locals for something very small as it was nippy to say the least. Its strange thing; altitude. Its warm when the sun is on your face, but step into a shadow and its freezing. As well as that, at that altitude we were feeling a little queasy and after walking a few yards you are out of breath very quickly. You begin to understand and learn a lot about the altitude at that height. I found your breath doesn’t fog even though its quite cold. Also if you breathe very deeply in, you only breathe out very little, as if you took only a short breath in, which is strange but I guess thats because the air is thin. Any climbing of steps or short walk leaves you short of breath. In fact, even your breathing is relaxed and shallow, you can get out of breath just sitting down and need to breath deep a few times to catch your breath again. Needless to say the bus was fairly quiet around this altitude as you do get sleepy. We were in and out of our books, a chapter or two and a sleep for 20 minutes or so and so on was the schedule.

Our base was a nice hotel just off the town square in Chivay. Myself and Stephanie had a luxurious double room with and we were the only ones with a Jacuzzi in our room, but unfortunately we hadn’t time to put it to use. It was a big change from all the camping we were doing and it was nice to get a semi-hot shower for a change. I hadn’t really had a hot shower since Lima.

We ate in an all-you-can-eat buffet in Chivay and had time to check out the shops and markets for an hour. From there, as part of the excursion we left Chivay and went up the mountains that evening to a spa with hot thermal springs! I think it was one of the highlights so far. There are about two active volcanic mountains around Arequipa. Its also an earthquake region and there is lots of stories and history about all the earthquakes that hit and the rebuilding that took place.

The hot thermal springs were fantastic. There was three pools open with hot water flowing from the volcanic mountains. Essentially water springs from deep underground and passes up through the hot molten rocks. At its surface temperature it is 80-100’C but by the time it got to us it was a nice 35-40’C which is the temperature of a hot bath at home. Massages were available at poolside but I didn’t bother, however we all had drinks and beers drawn to us at poolside, and charged to our lockers. Later on, there was a power cut which is not uncommon in South America. We stayed another while while the stars began to appear and dried ourselves and got dressed to candlelight and headed the short distance back to Chivay. On the point of stars appearing, in Peru they don’t use daylight saving time changes to its getting dark around 6pm.

There was a blackout in most of the town to so most of the restaurants had to either close or serve by candlelight. We ate in a place that had electricity and our hotel had electricity so we were not really effected. I noticed an Irish pub in the middle of Chivay which I was astonished to see in a pokey town in the middle of nowhere. It happened to close due to the power outage just before we were ready to hit it for one so I didn’t get to see inside it. Im not sure how authentic it was anyway, considering the name of it was “McElroys” and there was a picture of a Tucan or Flamingo on the door.

The following morning we had a wakeup call at 5am and had a basic breakfast at 5:30am and left at 6am to go to Colca Caynon. As I mentioned its twice as deep as the grand Canyon and is fairly breathtaking and daunting when you look down to the bottom. The whole point of getting up so early was to see the sun rise over the mountains and canyon and catch a glimpse of Condors circling. A thermal river flows at the bottom of the canyon and as the air warms up as the sun rises, the condors leave their nest, spread their winds and simply circle looking for prey. As the hot air rises, they simply rise with it without a single flap of their wings. The Condors are fairly spectacular, with a wing span of ????. There were numerous tours at the site we were at but there is designated lookout platforms joined up by paths so everyone had great views. We took some pictures that were Ok but some people travelling with us had more powerful zooms on their camera so ill borrow their photos as they do the birds more justice.

On our trip to and from the Caynon and Chivay our tour guide was giving us all the information about the area and the history of the little towns. The way I understand it is that the towns are fairly tribal and it seems that different areas and settlements are designated to the separate tribes.

When we got back to Arequipa we had a couple of hours free time so we got a bit to eat on one of the balconies overlooking the square. Its a very picturesque square as is most squares in towns in Peru, of which every town seems to have one. We all went to the museum of Arequipa to see “Quanita” who was fondly spoken about by the tour guides a lot over the last few days. The museum is dedicated to the Incas and their rituals of human sacrifice! We watched a 20 minutes movie about expeditions to the top of the mountains in 1995, when the last volcano erupted and subsequently melted the ice caps off the other mountains which in turn allowed a window for the expeditions and excavations on known Inca graves where they sacrificed humans to the gods.

Quanita was the most preserved and most famous of all the mummified remains found on the mountain. She was thought to be a noble, perhaps even a princess who was lead up the mountain by the leaders of the Inca tribes to be sacrificed. It seems that her body was frozen almost immediately and her remains have been very well preserved. She was buried with more riches and treasure and the best garments compared to the others so its thought it was a very important find. In the museum you can find items that she and others were buried with but they also have her body on display, in a specially made frozen glass case to keep her preserved at a cool -20’C. Its a bit spooky looking at her and you can tell she was only 12 or 13 years old at the time of her death, which came from poison and a fatal blow to the head. This would have happened as late as 1450-1500 AD.

So that all I have your you at the minute. Its 10:30 in the morning and I guess we are nearly half way to Cusco. Its supposed to be very much a touristy city, with lots of facilities. Thankfully we are staying in a hotel for the duration of our stay in Cusco. We arrive this evening and are staying for 2-3 nights before we go on our 4 day hike of Matchu Pitchu doing the Inca Trail. I should be able to Skype home from the hotel in the next few days but after that we wont be in contact for a few days. Cusco is said to be a party town so we can let the hair down a few nights without worrying about early mornings. It also boasts the highest Irish pub in the world at 3400m so the Tucan tour guides and others on the bus consider it a must.

I cant stop thinking about the Gaa at home. Its a world away being in Peru and thinking about football. Im explaining the game some of the lads on the bus and anyone else that will listen! They are intrigued and on the 19^th of September we will be watching the All Ireland Final in Rio, and as it happens to be one of the lads birthday (Rob from Middlesboro who is familiar with the games after living with some hurler from Limerick at college) so we will toast his birthday and whoever lifts Sam, and dream about Mayo doing it some day!

Nazca - Purta Inca - Arequipa

I forgot to mention that in Lima we did a tour of a few Churches and Cathedrals. The Basilica Cathedral of Lima was very impressive and myself and Stephanie got a guided tour of all the chapels in the cathedral. The pictures I put on Picassa are of another church in Lima, but you get the idea of all the chapels dedicated to Jesus and the Virgin Mary. The Peruvians are very spiritual and devout catholic. 92% of the populations are catholic. .

We had a few longer bus journeys further south in Peru. Its all desert and mountain terrain. Its a totally barren landscape and one of the direst places in the world.

We left Nazca yesterday and on our way to Puerto Inca we stopped off at Chauchilla Cemetery. Chauchilla is basically an ancient cemetery with open graves which have been raided over the years but the mummified skeletons are still there. It was spooky enough but the remains were thousands of years old. Rain has never actually been recorded in the region where the graves are which is amazing.

From there we went to a small seaside settlement called Puerto Inca (ancient Inca Port as you can guess). It was just a few guest rooms and very basic facilities but the view of the bay was fantastic. There are lots of ruins of the ancient settlements to see but not much else to do. It seems that the small resort is run by a couple of families and we ended up playing a game of soccer against the locals! They were fairly handy but we got a few goals too. They had their pitch in the middle of their settlement and were delighted to get the game. They were so eager that some young buck ran straight up to the bus as we pulled in, to ask would we play. So we pitched the tents there, and played against the locals. Then we set up the fire for a BBQ almost on the shore. One of the tour guides made a punch and we had a few around the fire playing various drinking games and having the craic.

We had a very early start again this morning and were on the road at 7am. We did a very long drive and stopped every few hours for breakfast and lunch. At the minute we have set up camp beside a hotel in Arequipa which I think is the third biggest city in Peru, population of about 800k. Tomorrow we are going on an overnight excursion to Colca Canyon, which is twice as deep as the Grand Canyon. We are staying in a hotel tomorrow night and bathing in Thermal Springs. We will just have a day pack with us so I wont have the laptop with me. I think we get back to camp in the afternoon on Friday so I might Skype home on Friday night, ill let you know by text.

Where we are now in Arequipa is actually 2400 metres above sea level. I can feel the altitude and have a bit of sinus tension and a slight headache. We will be in high altitudes for the next week, acclimatising for the ascent of Matchu Pitchu.

Im off to bed now to sleep it off