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)