Salta, Argentina

Oh dear I´ve missed you civilisation! While Bolivia was great and the Salar De Uyuni was out of this world, its good to be back in a country where proper personal hygiene is a given and the internet is fast, both of which were terribly lacking in Bolivia!

So, I got into Salta today at about 4pm after leaving at 4am Bolivian time last night (Argentina is - 4 hours, where as Bolivia is -5 hours behind GMT). We had to get a 2 hour bus from Tupiza to the border town of Villazon, which was ok. We crossed the border without any problems, although the officer left his office while we were at the window to go salute the flag as it was being raised!

From there, we walked about 2km to the bus station, or so we thought. A local pointed us in the wrong direction to the bus station. When we got there, we found out we were wrong, so just hopped in a taxi. We got a bus from La Quica (the border town on the Argentine side) to Jujuy (answers on a postcard to the usual address for the proper pronunciation!) which was about 5 hours and then onto Salta which was another 2 hours. All in all a very tiring day, but worth is as I´m back in the wonderful Argentina.

Yesterday was pretty much a recovery day where Billy and I, as well as Joke (Belgian) and Michelle (English) relaxed after 4 days in the Salar sleeping in the freezing cold and driving in a jeep all day. We just wandered around the town yesterday, went on slow internet and got a massage. It only cost 50Bs, which is €5 for 45 minutes! It was actually really good and I got to practice my Spanish with her too.

After that, Billy and I played table tennis, where I showed him how the game is really played (may not be true!) We then went for dinner and packed out bags for our early bus back to civilisation.

I don´t know how long I´ll stay here in Salta, but we´ll probably leave for Cordoba, Argentina on Friday, stay there for the weekend and then on to Mendoza, before we go to Santiago on Thursday probably. We just researched flights and they cost absolute peanuts. Salta - Cordoba, which is a 12 hour bus journey costing $40 Pesos, only costs $117 for a flight. I´ve been labelled a "Flash-Packer" before, instead of a true "roughing-it-on-a-22-hour-bus-with-chickens" backpacker!

Anyway, Argentine steak calls! We´re off to a all you can eat BBQ at the hostel.

I´m Back

It´s been a long 4 days and 3 nights travelling around Salar De Uyuni in a jeep, but man was it worth it. The photographs will prove it, but the scenery is absolutely spectacular.

So, last time I wrote, I was just about to leave. We left on Thursday at about 11.30am and first went to a train cemetry. Pretty weird, but still cool. After that, we headed towards the salt flats. Wow! They were absolutely incredible. Just the sheer scale of them is what makes them so amazing. Shortly after we left, we arrived in a village just on the edge of the salt flats. There they process the salt which they take from the salt flats. We were shown the steps involved in processing the salt. They dry it, grind it and bag it there. 50kgs = 40Bs or 4€! All that work for such little amounts of money. Before they process it, they have to pile it into mounds to let it dry before transporting it to the little town.

Anyway, from there, we drove across the salt flats that just seemed to go on and on. I think they´re 12,000 square kilometres in area and growing every year. Our first stop was the Hotel De Sal, which is a hotel made completely out of salt. After that, we stopped on a cactus island in the middle of the flats. It gave us great views, even if we had to share it with a group of 20 people on a Tucan Travel tour! When we finished, we had lunch and headed to our accomodation.

All 3 nights accomodation was basic, but sufficient. We were all expecting to get frozen to death, but it wasnt too bad. Multiple layers, a sleeping bag and about 4 blankets did the trick!

The second day we saw loads of lakes and beautiful mountains. Actually, thats basically what we saw for day 2, 3 and 4. The photos will tell the whole story, so I wont go into great detail here.

Yesterday was a pretty cool day actually. We left at 5am and got into the bitterly jeep and travelled for a while. We stopped for by some geysers, but it was so cold, so we only got out for about 1 minute. We drove past some others, but our hands and feet were so cold, we just enjoyed them for the comfort of our freezing jeep!

After the geysers, we stopped at a lake that had thermal springs. We just started to warm our hands and feet, but eventually decided to get on our swimming shorts and go totally in. It was bloody freezing getting in, but it was so worth it. We were later joined by some people from another tour. After that, it was back to admiring the mountains and lakes.

So fast forward to today. We left at 8am this morning from a little village called San Antonio De Lipez and arrived in Tupiza at aobut 3pm. We had a beer in the hotel with our driver and cook before we said our goodbyes. Neither of them had any English, but Joke, the Belgian girl has excellent spanish, so she made a good translator.

Billy and I are going to probably stay in Tupiza tomorrow and leave Tuesday for Argentina. Its a 2 hour bus journey to the border. From there we have to walk about 1km to Argentina and from there we´ll go to Salta.

Well, I have to go get food and scrape off 4 days of dirt and enjoy a long shower back at the hotel.

Uyuni, Bolivia

Greetings from Uyuni, Bolivia! Home to a military barracks and departure point for tours to the salt flats. This won´t be a very long post because a) I´m leaving in about an hour to go on my tour, b) my hands are freezing and c) this internet is dead slow.

I´m going on a tour for 3 nights/4 days all around Salar de Uyuni, the worlds largest salt flats. I´ll be arriving back in Tupiza on Sunday afternoon and from there I´m going to cross back into Argentina. I´ll be able to fill you in on all the details when I get circulation back into my fingers!

The tourn we´re going on is with a company that specalises in tours from Uyuni to Tupiza. We´re going with two girls we met in Potosi and who went on the silver mine tour with me - a Belgian and an English. We´re getting a private tour for 100 Euros which is excellent.

Anyway, my fingers are turning into ice, so I´m going to leave it at that.

Hell On Earth

Oh man, life is easy in comparison to the miners. The mine tour today was good and bad all at the same time. I would highly recommend it, but I would never do it again. Let me exlain!

We left at 8am this morning and went to the miner´s market to buy some things. We bought gifts for the miners: coca leaves, soft drinks and dynamite. Having met an Australian at breakfast who did the tour yesterday, who recommended getting gloves and a dust mask, I also bought these. And man were they useful.

After that, we got a rickety old bus up to the area where they process the extracted ore. We were shown the processes, but everywhere we went, workers came up with their hats out wanting coca leaves. They make cocaine out of it and all the workers use it. It helps when working long hours and keeps hunger away.

From there, we went to the mine. Before we went inside, we set off 3 of the dynamites and I prepared one of them. I just copied what the guide did, before we set them alight, and posed for photos, before we ran and put them down. Quite an impressive exlosion. I have photos and videos to prove all this too!

We then went into the mine. It started out cold, but it ended up being roasting. It was really difficult to walk around as I had to crouch most of the way. I had to slide down on my ass for a bit too and climb. All in all, very tiring and I was out of breath very easily. Our guide, Pedro, who was very good told us everything we needed to know. There was 8 in our group which was a good size. The group was a mixture of English, Dutch, Belgian, Australian, Canadian and 2 other Irish people.

The work that the miners do day after day for hours on end is back breaking work, putting it mildy. I will never be able to complain about a job ever again. How they do it is beyond me. Pushing massive 2 tonne trolleys or carriages is very tough work. We gave the miners the gifts for which they were very thankful. Billy wasn´t feeling too well, so he stayed at the hostel, having paid for tour, and at the time, he was a lucky man but I´m glad I did it. It was as close to hell on earth as I think I will come.

After that, we climbed and walked a little more and then came back out. I was never so happy to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I was sweating, thirsty, hungry and tired. After that, I just went for food and enquired about getting a bus or jeep to Uyuni tomorrow, but there´s rumours of road blocks. We´ll see.

So the plan is to go to Uyuni tomorrow and start a 2 night/3 day tour of Salar De Uyuni. Hopefully we´ll get there tomorrow, either by bus or jeep. The jeep will cost much more, but we have found 2/3 others to chip in to the jeep, which will cost bout $100 in total. The bus only costs $3.

I gotta go sort out getting out of here tomorrow, so I´m going to love you all and leave you.

Smell-O-Net

You´ve heard of smell-o-vision, but I wish there was smell-o-net to describe to you the smells I´ve come acoss in the last 24 hours.

So, we left Santa Cruz de la Sierra yesterday, Sunday at 4.30pm and arrived in Sucre at 8.30am this morning, and left there for Potosi at 9.00am. Last night, somewhere in the middle of the Andes, we stopped for a break. We went looking for the "Baños" (toilets), but couldnt find them. Fortunately, or rather unfortunately as we were to find out later, some local girls pointed us in the right direction. They directed us to the back of a really run down house. I cant describe what it looked like. I thought they were having a laugh at the white faced foreigners, but they were right. They led us to the worst smell of my live. There were 4 holes in the ground that were supposed to be toilets, that smelt so bad, it was worse than any kind of crap I´ve smelt before. Way worse that pig crap. And if you wanted to use then, you had to squat over a hole. I´m going to stop describing it, as I´m feeling sick at the thought of it. Instead of puking in the hole, we just took a leak in a nearby hedge and ran away.

The second smell I came across was on the 3 hour bus from Sucre to Potosi, where I am now. The Bolivian women smell really bad, and I mean really bad. Its disgusting. One was sitting behind us, and it was terrible. I had my head half out the window, (while my knees were up around my ears) trying to avoid the smell. Then at any little stop, be it a petrol station or a toll, we were harassed by smelly women coming on board selling us things I certainly didnt want. I was at the window, but Billy was on the aisle, and he got the brunt of fat, smelly Bolivian women pressing against him.

Actually, aside from smells, but on the selling front, the funniest guy got on our bus for 15 minutes today. He got on at the start in Sucre and a few minutes later, began to make a big sell of sweets, costing 10c. I´ve no idea what he was saying, but he was comparing them and showing them off, like someone on a shopping channel would sell something worth $500. It was hilarious. He didnt stop. He could easily have been a salesman from anywhere else in the world. He had it all: loads of energy, cheesy smile, the lot.

We´re now in Potosi, the highest city of its type in the world. It has a population f 120,000 and an elevation of about 4,200 metres - half way to Everest. We arrived here, totally relieved that we got off that bus and went to our hostel. The altitude didnt affect us on the bus, but once we tried putting our bags on our backs, we felt it. Nothing major, just a shortness of breath.

Tomorrow we´re off to do the silver mine, the main reason so many people come here. It starts at 8am and we´ll be back at about 3pm. We´re then either going to get a 7pm bus to Uyuni which takes 7 hours or wait until Tuesday morning and go then. We´ll see how the tour goes. I´ll let you know what the silver mine tour is like, but I´ve heard its meant to be really cool.

Well, thats all. Back to the hostel for some rest before my silver mining tomorrow.

Adios Santa Cruz

We came to Santa Cruz for a few reasons. The main one was that the train from Brazil to Bolivia end here. But the other reason was that its meant to be a good city with things to do. Well, the 2nd point was way wide of the mark. There´s nothing to do here. We saw all Santa Cruz De La Sierra had to offer in about 21 minutes. Everything else of note was shut.

So, we spent most of yesterday wandering around aimlessly, getting frustrated that there was nothing to do here, and that everything was shut. We did manage to do something useful yesterday - buy a ticket out of here! We´re leaving for Sucre in about 2 hours. Its about a 15 hour busy journey.

For the second night in a row, Oren, Billy & I fell asleep at about 8pm, before we were going to get up and sample the Santa Cruz night life. But yet again, we slept until 12.30am, and just turned over and went back to sleep. Weird thing is, I´ve been getting far less sleep since I got here - about 6 hours a night and have been fine. I think, when I´m given the chance to sleep, I do.

Other than that, I´ve no news. Just going to get some food for the bus journey now, so I´m going to leave it at this. I should be on again in either Sucre or Potosi. Both cities are 2,800m and 3,800m above sea level, so it should be interesting how we cope. We´ll probably just get the bus straight to Potosi if we´re feeling ok as there´s not much to do there. But if the altitude gets to us, we may have to spend a day getting used to it.

Santa Cruz, Bolivia

Another day, another country. I´m in Bolivia now, having left Brazil yesterday. I met billy yesterday, no problem and we got the "Death Train" from a little town of shacks on the Bolivian side of Corumba (I´ve forgotten the name of the town) which took 16 hours. Lonely Planet say call it the death train and that it takes at least 21 hours, but I thought it was fine and it only took the relatively short time of 16 hours!

Billy left Cork 11am Wednesday Irish time, and only got here today at 9am Bolivian time (1pm Irish time) making it a grand total of about 48 hours travelling. In Corumba, we had to get a Brazilian exit stamp, which I got no problem, but when Billy showed him only having arrived about 4 hours before, they looked a little funny at him, asked another guy, came back, stamped his passport and laughed again!

We arrived safely in Santa Cruz and just went to the hostel Res Boliviar, which costs 50Bolivianos or 5 Euros. Cheap you might think, but actually expensive in Bolivian terms. Don't think we'll be here for long anyway.

Billy & I travelled with Oren, and guy I met in the Pantanal. Very nice guy from Israel, but he's been here for 8 months so his Spanish is excellent, so we've just stayed close to him and we're flying. But I still want to learn Spanish. WHEN I come back to South America, my Spanish will be much better. I've already decided to come again.

I reckon we'll stay here until Sunday, and get a bus to Sucre Sunday evening. The rough itinerary after that is Potosi & Uyuni in Bolivia, Salta, Cordoba & Mendoza in Argentina and Santiago and Valpareso in Chile. There'll be a good few overnight buses and a train or two, but we should make it. It's a lot of travelling, but it shouldn't be too bad.

Well, I'm going to update my accomodation list and my where what and when list too.

Adios (as the locals say) See, my Spanish is getting better

Photos

So I´ve eventually got around to posting a few photos of my travels, just to prove I´m actually travelling, and not making all of this up! You can click on any one of the photos in the photo gallery on the right hand side and it will bring you to my photo gallery on Flickr, or if you´re too lazy to move the cursor over there, you can click here.

I´ll try and upload as many as I can as I go, but most likely I will upload the vast majority when I get home.

I have to go back to the hostel now and pack my bags for Bolivia before I collect Billy and tell him we´re going to Bolivia straight away. I should be back online again in Santa Cruz tomorrow or the day after.

Hello World

So, I´m back in the real world. I just arrived in Corumba, just close to the Bolivian border. The 4 days in the Pantanal was absolutely amazing. I would highly recommend it.

After writing the last post, I ran out the door and got my bags and got on a bus for 4 hours and headed west towards the Pantanal, which are wetlands in the west of Brazil. From there, we spent about 4 hours on the back of a truck going over fairly bumpy roads to our camp. That night, we just had dinner, had a few drinks and settled into our hammocks.

The hammocks were actually surprisingly comfortable and I had a good nights sleep everynight, unlike some of the others in my group. Thankfully my group was amazing. Everyone was really nice and we all got on great together. There were other groups that seemed crap, so I´m delighted that I got such a great group.

There was Umre from South America, John from Holland, Oren from Israel, Lucas from the Czech Republic and Hugo and Fanny, a really nice couple from France. We all slept in the same tent (pictures to follow) and it was so much fun. It was great having such a wonderful mix of people, with the token Paddy thrown in for good measure. Our guide, Mario was excellent and could spot a fly moving from 2Km away. He saw animals ages before any of us actually realised they were there. God Bless his eyesight.

Anyway, we just spent Sunday travelling there and on Monday we went on 2 treks, on before "lunch" and the other after. I use the term lunch loosely, because it was at 11am. For any of those that know me, that is EARLY! We got up at 6am every morning, and were on our merry way at 7am. We spent 3 hours out, then came back for lunch and a sleep, before we headed out again at about 3pm for another 3 hours to do the afternoon activity.

We didnt go out around midday because it was just too hot. It has been about 35C everyday. Monday was just 2 treks where we saw loads of animals, which was cool. In the afternoon we went swimming with crocodiles, which got a little hairy. When I post the photo you´ll see.

Tuesday we went pirhana fishing in the morning and horse riding in the afternoon. Yesterday was so much fun. Thankfully, we didnt get eaten by the pirhanas, even though they were biting away at red meat at the end of our rods less than 2 metres away! I caught 2 pirhanas, but Oren didnt! Everyone else did, except poor Oren.

The horse riding in the afternoon was amazing. I had only ever sat on a horse before, so it was totally new to me. But the horses were every good, so I didnt have to do very much. My ass did hurt quite a bit, and even now, its a little sore. But totally worth it.

This morning, for our last activity we went back pirhana fishing because we all loved it so much. I caught 3 today, so I am well pleased. Thankfully, Oren, who spent 3 hours fishing yesterday, caught his first fish.

(On a totally different topic, there is a really annoying Israeli couple blasting out some stupid videos on the computer next to me! Man, this is annoying)

So, after leaving the camp today at 11.30am, and arriving at the bus stop on the main road 3 hours later (1 hour less than on the way there), I caught a bus to Corumba with Oren. It only cost 16.20Reais, or about 5Euros.

I just got here a few hours ago, showered, ate and did my laundry. Nothing exciting really. There´s not very much to this city, so I reckon I´m out of here tomorrow. Billy is arriving at 12.45pm tomorrow, so I´ll go meet him there. Hopefully he wont mind us going straight to Bolivia because there really isnt much to see here.

I had heard the train to Santa Cruz, Bolivia is crap and long, which one train is, but here are more expensive ones that only take 12 hours and cost US$27 or about 20Euros. It is meant to be very nice with DVD players and air conditioning. Beat that Iarnroid Eireann! 55Euros for 2.5 hours on the train from Cork to Dublin.

I´ve just uploaded a few photos to my gallery, one from each place I´ve been to so far to give you an idea. I´ve also added 2 new pages, one with a list of all the places I´ve stayed at here and what I´ve done everyday here.

Well its 11.25pm here and I should go to sleep.

My Accomodation

I've decided to keep track of all the places I've stayed in to remind me of where I was, and what they were like. The dates are of the nights I´ve stayed there. Hopefully it will be of some use to any travellers out there.

Buenos Aires, Argentina - Milhouse Hostel

Type:
4 bed dorm

Cost:
$24/night (pesos) = €6.50

Dates:
Monday 9th May - Friday 13th May

Comments:
Fun, clean, met loads of people, excellent location


Foz De Iguacu, Brazil - Hostel International Paudimar Campestre

Type:
6 bed dorm

Cost:
$19/night (Reais) = €6

Dates:
Saturday 14th May

Comments:
Very relaxed in the countryside, pretty quiet, met some nice people, completely opposite to Milhouse


Pantanal, Brazil - Ecological Expeditions

Type:
15 hammock tent

Cost:
$300 for 3 nights = €96

Dates:
Sunday 15th May - Tuesday 17th May

Comments:
Excellent. Saw loads of animals. Hammocks were surprisingly comfortable and there were nice toilets and showers......for the middle of nowhere!


Corumba, Brazil - Hostel International Corumba

Type:
2 bed room

Cost:
$20/night (Reais) = €6

Dates:
Wednesday 18th May

Comments:
Nice, quiet, new, clean.


Santa Cruz De La Sierra, Bolivia - Res Boliviar

Type:
5 bed room

Cost:
50Bs/night (Bolivianos) = €5

Dates:
Friday 20th May & Saturday 21st May

Comments:
Clean, wide beds, nice courtyard with hammocks, expensive by Bolivian standards

Potosi, Bolivia - Koala Den

Type:
2 bed room

Cost:
60Bs/night (€6)

Dates:
Tuesday 24th May & Wednesday 25th May

Comments:
Comfortable, room was a bit dull, very warm which is a must, friendly owner who speaks English, part of the Koala Tours, which go to the silver mine

Tupiza, Bolivia - Hotel Mitru

Type:
2 bed room

Cost:
45Bs/night (€4.50)

Dates:
Sunday 29th May & Monday 3oth May

Comments:
Luxury in comparison to the accomodation on the salt flats for the previous 3 nights. Good showers, nice beds, swimming pool. Bit of a dodgy smell in the bathroom though!

Salta, Argentina - Terra Oculta

Type:
4 bed dorm

Cost:
$14/night (€3.50)

Dates:
Tuesday 31st May & Wednesday 1st June

Comments:
Nice, very central, fairly quiet though. Only one bathroom for 12 guests, which was a bit annoying.

Cordoba, Argentina - Cordoba Hostel

Type:
2 bed

Cost:
$20/night (€6)

Dates:
Thursday 2nd June - Saturday 4th June

Comments:
Fairly quiet, smallish


Mendoza, Argentina - Hostel Independencia

Type:
8 bed dorm

Cost:
$20/night (€6)

Dates:
Sunday 5th June - Tuesday 7th June

Comments:
Fairly quiet, very nice hostel. Had the room to ourselves


Buenos Aires, Argentina - Tango City Hostel

Type:
9 bed

Cost:
$24/night (€7)

Dates:
Wednesday 8th June - Thursday 9th June

Comments:
Busy, very central, friendly.


Santiago, Chile - La Casa Roja

Type:
8 bed dorm

Cost:
$5,400/night (€6.50)

Dates:
Firday 10th June - Saturday 11th June

Comments:
Very nice old house, central, very friendly, very lively.

Where, When & What

Wednesday May 4th:

• Cork - Orlando (via London & Washington DC)
• Left Cork: 7.36am
• Arrived Cocoa Beach: 9.00pm

Thursday May 5th:

• Slept
• Went to Cocoa Beach & the library
• Got absolutely soaked by 2 massive thunderstorms
• Went to Texas Roadhouse for a 16oz steak
• Won $1 from Ray for finishing it
• Went out for a few drinks with Ray´s friends

Friday May 6th:

• Went to Kennedy Space Center
• Went for dinner to an Italian restaurant that closed at 10pm, just as real Italians leave to go out!
• Played pool and had my passport questioned as a form of ID
• Got mistaken for Germans outside the pub on the way home

Saturday 7th May:

• Went to the beach for about 11am
• Lindsay (Ray´s girlfriend) came down
• Had a massive barbeque at the apartment, and fell asleep watching Motorcycle Diaries, seeminly necessary viewing before going to South America

Sunday 8th May:

• Went to the beach again
• Drove to Orlando to catch my flight to Miami at 8pm
• Left Miami at 11.15pm on a flight to Buenos Aires

Monday 9th May:

• Arrived in Buenos Aires at 8.45am
• Went to Milhouse Hostel
• Walked around Buenos Aires with a northern Irish girl, Melanie in the afternoon
• Bumped into Kate & Sarah, two American girls I was to hang out with in Buenos Aires a lot
• Was approached by a Dutch guy asking if we could look up the Dutch Embassy in Buenos Aires, because he had all his stuff stolen
• Went to a party in the hostel and got to bed for about 4am
• Taught some people the card game "Lives"

Tuesday 10th May:

Wednesday 11th May:

Thursday 12th May:

Friday 13th May:

Saturday 14th May:

Sunday 15th May:

Monday 16th May:

Tuesday 17th May:

Wednesday 18th May:

Thursday 19th May:

• Woke up and had stale bread and coffee with no milk for breakfast
• Got "rations" for the train
• Met Billy at the airport
• Bought the train ticket from a guy at the hostel
• Squashed into a jeep to get our Brazilian exit stamp and to the border
• Went to the Bolivian immigration
• Taxi to the train for 50c
• Left for Santa Cruz at 5.30pm Bolivian Time aboard the "Death Train"
• Watched a bit of I, Robot and Black Hawk Down in Spanish, while they were in English in the next carriage
• Slept most of the night

Friday 20th May:

• Arrived in Santa Cruz at 9.30am
• Got a taxi to the Res Boliviar hostel costing 30c
• Left Res Boliviar because it was too expensive
• Went back there because we were too lazy to look elsewhere
• Caught up on sleep
• Had dinner in Cafe Irlandaise

Saturday 21st May:

• Saw the sights of Santa Cruz in no time at all
• Went on the intenet
• Ate at La Bodega de Cuba
• Slept

Sunday 22nd May:

• Wandered around a busy market area
• Got lunch in La Bodega de Cuba (again!)
• Left for bus to Sucre at 4.30pm

Monday 23rd May:

• Arrived in Sucre at 8.30am
• Left for Potosi on the worl´s smallest and smelliest bus for 3 hours
• Checked into our hostel and booked the silver mine tour
• Passed out asleep at 7pm

Tuesday 24th May:

• Left on the silver mine tour at 8am
• Got back at 4pm
• Had dinner with my tour group
• Went to the bus station to find there was going to be roadblocks on Wednesday

Wednesday 25th May:

• Booked a bus to Uyuni for 10am costing 3Euros
• Found out that the roadblocks were pretty pathetic as the bus driver just drove the other way out of Potosi!
• Arrived in Uyuni without any problems at 4pm
• Checked into Toñito Hostel
• Booked out Salary De Uyuni tour
• Feasted on really good pizza before we fell asleep

Thursday 26th May:

• Left on a 4 day/3 night tour of Salar De Uyuni
• Visited a small village that processes salt
• Drove across the salt flats
• Climbed a cactus island in the middle of the flats for teriffic views
• Arrived at our first nights accomodation at 5.30pm
• Had dinner and went to bed for about 9pm!

Friday 27th May:

• Left the little village at 8:00am
• Saw "La Quatro Lagunas" and "La Laguna Colorado"
• Saw about 15 flamengos, instead of the usual 21,000 in the high season!

Saturday 28th May:

• Left our accomodation at 5am in the bitter cold! It must have been below freezing
• Saw a 100m high geyser
• Spent about an hour in a natural spa
• Had breakfast by this lake afterwards
• Drove a lot, stopping by lakes and mountains
• Saw a cool standing rock (pictures will explain all)

Sunday 29th May:

• Left San Antonio De Lipez at 8am and travelled all day until we arrived in Tupiza at 3.30pm
• Enjoyed a long over due shower having gone 4 days without one in the Salar De Uyuni (if a natural spa doesn´t count as a wash!)

Monday 30th May:

• Slept in late
• Walked around Tupiza for all of 20 minutes
• Tried buying gold! (I wanted to exchange Euros, and I thought "Oro" was Spanish for Euros)
• Had a 45 minute massage for €5
• Had a nice, but watery lasagne in a restaurant near the hotel

Tuesday 31st May:

• Travelled all day from Tupiza, Bolivia and arrived in Salta at 4pm
• Wandered around the town for a few hours
• Went to a BBQ at the hostel

Wednesday 1st June:

• Had an amazing breakfast while sitting on the main plaza
• Wandered around the city for a while
• Went on a cable car to the top of the a mountain overlooking Salta

Thursday 2nd June:

• Had the amazing breakfast while sitting on the main plaza
• Decided to leave Salta for Cordoba on a whim
• Arrived in at our hostel in Cordoba at 8.30pm

Friday 3rd June:

• Only left the hostel at 12pm
• Got an equally amazing breakfast while sitting in a cafe on the main plaza (not actually on the plaza)

Out Of Action

I´m in Campo Grande, Brazil now and am about to leave for the Pantanal in 30 minutes. A 7 hour journey awaits me, before I go on a 3 day trek around the Pantanal. I´ll be going pirhana fishing, horse riding and hiking. It should be great.

But unfortunately, I will be cut off from civilisation until Wednesday evening. I wont have anything until then, including electricity.

Mission Summary

Title:

Operation "Keep Ciaran Awake All Night So He Doesn´t Miss His Flight"

Status:

Mission Accomplished

Team Members:

Tor, Sarah, Kate, Ben, Matteo, Omar

Additional Members:

Sarah, Anne, Annette & Other Random Operatives

Mission Description:

• To make sure I didn´t miss my flight at 8am this morning from Buenos Aires to Iguacu Falls
• Involved everyone on Alpha Team & Beta Team had to stay awake until the end to complete the mission
• Eating, drinking and socialising were just a few of the many hurdles that had to be overcome to complete this challenging task

Mission Outcome:

It is with great pleasure that I can announce that the mission was a success. I didn´t get any sleep last night and made my flight. At approximately 5:29am on Sunday May 14th 2005, the primary person was safely dispatched into a taxi, and was last seen speeding away in the direction of the airport. The crazyness of the driver wasn´t factored into the mission plan however. The driver turned on the taxi lights, put the radio on full blast and weaved the car from side to side while doing about 100km in the lashing rain were all done in order to prevent the subject from nodding off, even when the mission was over.

But at 7:35am, I fell asleep on the couch by Gate 2 in Ezeiza Airport, Buenos Aires awaiting flight PZ713 and was awoken by an air hostess!

However, there were a few notable person´s who went AWOL, namely Kate, Matteo, Ben & Omar. But they have an excuse. We were in some random part of Buenos Aires at a drag queen show, when we decided to leave that and go elsewhere, to a place some of us never found. At the end of it all, Alpha & Beta Team got separated. Alpha Team, comprising Tor, Sarah & Ciaran were model soldiers and should be awarded multiple military medals!

Idiot´s Mission Summary:

I didn´t go to sleep last night at all, but passed out on the couch in the airport waiting to board. I did however, get a good sleep on the plane. You kinda had to be out last night to get the importance of the mission and how the Alpha & Beta Teams were set up.

If you find this sad and a stupid story, then you~re just jealous that you´re not travelling around South America!

My other excuse is that I´m delerious with no sleep, so even though I find this funny, it´s probably nowhere near funny. Feel free to leave comments to that affect!

I'll Have To Come Back

I have about 2 or 3 hours left in Buenos Aires, and I think I'm already going to book my flights back. It is such a great city. I would totally recommend anyone to come here. I have had so much fun.

Since I've last posted, I've done quite a lot. I dont think I can remember exactly what I've done, but hopefully I can remember the good bits.

Wednesday night I went out to a nightclub/bar/restaurant called Museum. I stayed out until about 3/4am but don't know how I did it considering I had about 1 hour sleep from the night before. It was really cool, but there was a load of business people there.

I woke up at about 3pm Thursday and just bummed around the hostel for a while, before walking around by the port area. It was such a beautiful place to walk around. I walked around the "Edicio Liberatador", which I think is the Army HQ. I took a photo of a tank and a statue, but was then whistled at by an Argentine soldier saying that I couldnt take any photos.

After that, I went out and had an all you can eat buffet for $24 pesos or about 6 Euros. Absolute peanuts, but incredible food. We, as in Ben a Kiwi, Tor an Auzzie, Matteo, Sarah and Kate from California and Omar from Mexico, then went on an mini Irish pub crawl in Buenos Aires.

The first place we went was called the Kilkenny. Seemingly a few Guiness signs and some Book Of Kells painted on the walls signifies an Irish pub. I decided I'd see how badly the Guinness travelled, but they didnt have any! I mean, come on, an Irish pub with no Guinness! We went to John John's and some other random Irish pub. In all 3, I didnt meet, nor see any Irish looking person. Quite a disappointment. Quite different to on Monday, when I was stopped at the traffic lights by an Irish man, asking where I was from. I was just talking with another Irish girl that I met at the hostel and was waiting to cross the road, when this guy turned around asking where we were from.

So, its 4.20am and my taxi to the airport is coming in 40 minutes. I have a return bus ticket, but I think it might be too much hassle getting that, considering a taxi taking 40 minutes only costs 10Euros.

Next stop is Iguazu Falls in Brazil. They're 4 times wider than Niagra and everyone I've spoken with says they're amazing. From there, I'm off to Campo Grande in Brazil on Sunday, and from there I'm going to the Pantanal in Brazil.

All in all, its quite a busy few days, so I should go and get ready.

What A Place

I'm actually pretty happy with myself, as I'm managing to update this every second day. So, what have I been doing for the past few days you might be thinking? Well, yesterday, I went on a walking tour around "La Boca", the area of the Buenos Aires which was where the city grew from. Boca Juniors soccer team are in the area funnily enough, so we went to see the stadium, but couldnt get in. There was a protest by some fans because they couldnt get tickets to the big match against River Plate, so they stood outside, and the police shut the stadium. We were due to go into it, but no amount of pleading with the security would work. I can always go back, but I doubt I'll have the time at all.

There were about 12 of us on the walking tour and we went for lunch in a really nice restaurant. I had my first Argentine steak, and man was it good. Even though it was a little overcooked, it was still really tender. But before I got my steak, I was brought up to do a tango with a dancer. Everyone in the restaurant was hauled up, and was pretty much mandatory before you got lunch. I hadn't a clue, but I went to a free class in the hostel last night which was pretty cool. Now I have a few new moves for the Irish dance floor! Its actually pretty good fun, and I'm off to a tango show tonight I think.

I went out with a few English last last night that are in my room and some Danish girls to some part of Buenos Aires. I haven't a clue where it is, but I only got home at about 11am this morning. We went to an Irish pub earlier last night, and the Guiness was the most expensive drink! Crazy.

It seems to be the done thing here to not go asleep at all. I'm actually not too tired now, even though I have only had an hour sleep. Met some really nice locals last night with pretty good English, so I haven't had to speak any Spanish yet. I think I'm going to get 2 hours or so of private lessons just to get a foundation.

So the big thing is that the People's Republic Of Cork t-shirt is a rip off!I bought a t-shirt yesterday in La Boca which is blue, had the same start and reads: "La Republica Polular De La Boca" A complete rip off - change the colour and the language, and hey presto you have something worth loads! I had my own t-shirt on yesterday when I bought it, and in my best Spanish I explained my t-shirt. He also knew Roy Keane. After that he led me into the Maradonna room which was full of stuff devoted to God. I particularly loved how they're still rubbing in the win over England.

Still no joy with photos, but I'll try to get that sorted soon.

Buenos Aires, Argentina

So, this is where the real fun starts. I've been bumming around in Florida for a while, but now its starting to get interesting. I just arrived in Buenos Aires about 2 hours ago and have checked into the hostel. Things already seem pretty well. There are loads of friendly people, but more importantly, most of them speak English. That was one of my biggest fears, being totally screwed by not having any Spanish. Even the hostel staff, bus drivers and people at the airport have enough to get me by.

So I left the cosy confines of Florida and the USA last night, but not before they gave me one hell of a search. They took my entire carry on baggage apart for at least 5 minutes. He practially turned every page of my guide book in case I had any drugs or anything.

Buenos Aires so far is pretty cool. Not very appealing on the bus in through the suburbs, but the city centre has some very nice buildings. There are quite a few run down buildings alongside very nice ones, but I suppose thats down to the economy being pretty much total crap.

No other major news. I still havent found a place to upload some photos, but I'll try and get that done soon. I have some from NASA and just around Florida. I gotta go get some lunch as I'm starving. Not sure how that will work out in Buenos Aires. Could be interesting, but hopefully nothing too bad.

We Have Liftoff!

I went to the Kennedy Space Center yesterday, which was way cool. I spent the entire day there and could probably have spent quite a bit more there. The entry fee was pretty expensive - $55, which included the standard admission and an add-on "NASA Up Close", which got me really close to the the Discovery Space Shuttle. It was totally worth it, but it was just a little too expensive. I got to within about a kilometre of the shuttle and went to all the buildings. Very worth it if you have even a passing interest in space.

I went to the Cape Canaveral Seashore and went body boarding. I hadn't gone in years, so it was great fun going, even if it was pretty cold. Not something I was expecting in Florida, but I actually got used to it. The waves were massive as it was really windy. Ended up in the water for over an hour. I could see the Discovery Launch Pad from the beach, so that was pretty cool.

Ray and I then tried looking for alligators and manatees, but failed miserably. First it was the rain and crap weather. Now all the wildlife disappeared on me. Last night, we just went out for a few pints and a few games of pool. We actually played 8 games in about 20 minutes flat. Crazy stuff. I actually got some grief getting a drink as for some stupid reason, I need a second form of ID when using a passport. I mean come on. I even showed her my 2 US visas, but she still insisted on something else. Its happened me before, that my passport is questioned as a form of ID. Only in America! Ray and I got mistaken for Germans last night outside one of the pubs. Quite bizzare. We fed him a dose of German soundings words, and he fell for hit hook, line and sinker. We were also clocked at 11mph running past one of the speed check thingys, that say "You current speed is..." Oh the craic in Cocoa Beach! Party capital of the world.

I'm just back from the beach today. Went to the local beach today. The weather was much nicer today, about 20C but the waves were much less. Only got about 1 decent wave, which was disappointing.

Going to have a barbeque in a while and just relax tonight. Even if I wanted to go out on a mad night out, it would only be with a few local 50 year olds. There's pretty much no young people here at night.

Probably just going to go to the beach tomorrow, before I head back to Orlando tomorrow night for my 8pm flight to Miami, and onto Buenos Aires. It still hasn't hit me that I'm going to South America tomorrow.

I'm pretty unprepared for going, especially my Spanish. So I guess the title of the blog is pretty apt! I don't know if I'll get a chance to go online tomorrow, so I might be in Argentina next time I blog.

Cocoa Beach, Florida

Dear God, it's raining! I mentioned yesterday that there were "scattered thunderstorms" forecast, but this takes the biscuit. It is absolutely lashing here with thunder and lightning. I've never seen it rain so hard in my life.

I'm in the cosy confines of the local library, just checking out a few things for South America. I thought I would get a chance to post yesterday, but Dulles Airport is a hell hole! I hate that airport! I had 2 hours from when my plane arrived and my next one was due out. I thought it would be handy and I'd just wander around. But first I had to get through immigration, which was a nightmare. I wish I had travelled through Dublin or Shannon and done it there, because there was at least 200 people ahead of me, with only about 4 immigration officers. And not surprisingly, there were 5 officers for Non-US citizens, who were all free! But all us potential terrorists, were lumped together and made wait before we were photographed, and fingerprinted.

The flight over to Washington DC was fine, nothing good or bad. Well, except for the rather dodgy seat colours. The plane was less than half full, so I slept on 3 seats in the middle, which was practically first class. Didn't really sleep that well though. Never do on flights.

Then I wandered the airport looking for an American Airlines ticket desk so I could pick up tickets for flights in South America, but I couldnt. Its a massive airport. Not massive in size, but just spread out so much and all over the shop. I gave up on that and then went to get my seat number from the check in desk, but I only got that about 5 minutes before departure. It was a bit frantic with everyone asking for their seat. I got upgraded to Economy Plus though.

When I eventually arrived in Orlando, it was plain sailing. Bought my tickets, picked up my bag and met Ray (the friend I'm visiting here). Forty-five minutes later, I was in Cocoa Beach. Nice spot, but very typically American. One main strip with everything just off that.

Got Domino's Pizza last night too - $5 for a large pizza. That'd cost about 14Euro (no damm Euro sign on the keyboards) back home. I'm already beginning to like this place.

Well, I'm about to get kicked off the computer by a 70 year old librarian, so I dont want her to get violent on me. I think its getting brighter outside anyway.

Layover In London

So, I've done the first 500km of flying, with only about another 30,000 to go! It's all plain sailing from here.

No major news really. Got about 2 hours sleep last night, but am surprisingly awake. I got to bed for about 4am and was up again for 6am. I got the obligatory photograph leaving the house, so I'll post that when I can. My mum also wanted to weigh me because she thinks I'll fade away to nothing in South America. Its possible as I'm a somewhat picky eater, but she forgot that I'll be in the US for 3 weeks, so the American "cuisine" will fix any loss!

I've a strange feeling about this trip, if the Cork - London flight was anything to go by. Even though I'm travelling thousands of kilometres, I've already bumped into someone who knows my cousins. Some Irish guy was going back home to San Francisco this morning, and it turns out, he knows both my cousins who have been living in San Fran for the past 7/8 years. So, I'm already predicting I'm going to meet someone else who I know, or who knows someone I know, even though I'll be in the most remote areas of South America.

I have about an hour and a half to burn until I board, so its not too bad. I have about a 2 hour layover in Washington DC, so I should be on again then.

In case you're not jealous, here is tomorrows weather for Cocoa Beach, Florida where I'll be laying out on the beach in about 24 hours! Don't like the idea of thunder storms, but hey, who's complaining!

The Time Has Arrived

So after months of painstaking planning (ignore the title of the blog), the time has arrived. I'm off on my hols for the next 2 months. I can't believe its here already. Seems like yesterday, I was sitting in front of a computer in Dublin working 9-5, but this time tomorrow, I'll be in Florida, soaking up the rays, before I go onto South America.

It's a tough life, but someone's got to do it. Hopefully I'll be able to keep this updated regularly when I'm travelling, so keep checking back.

I've put a map of the world on my blog, which shows my itinerary. Its only very loose, and is probably subject to massive changes, but you get the idea.

I'm going to be posting some photos here, but I will be uploading all my photos to Flickr

Slán Eire. Beidh mé ar ais!