TravelStream™ news feed for member alexandcarol on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/alexandcarol en-us Copyright ©2010 TravelPod.com Fri, 03 Oct 2008 18:25:09 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/alexandcarol/1/1222467600/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/alexandcarol/1/1222467600/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/alexandcarol/1/1222467600/tpod.html Fri, 03 Oct 2008 18:25:09 -0400 Alex and Carols round the world adventure

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London, England, United Kingdom

No rest for the wicked!!
5 days to find a house and move in before we start our PhDs.... true Carol and Alex style. We overcame jet lag and signed for a house on a Sunday - what is this world coming to on Gods sacred day.
Anyway if you wish to come visit us at our lovely new pad:

Flat 9
20 Earls Court Square
London
SW5 9DN
or you can contact us via mobile telephone:

Alex 07900218532
Carol 07900690519

We look forward to seeing you soon. Meanwhile, back to the real world.....best do some Science!!
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Rio de Janeiro, State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

We were all very excited as we took the final bus journey to the carnival city of Rio de Janeiro, as we entered the city we immediately caught site of the Sugar Loaf mountain and Christ The Redeemer. After settling into our final hotel of the holiday we took a stroll along copacobana beach which was of course very strenuous causing us to take a sit down with some beers and coconut juice.
The next day we did one of the most memorable things in Rio, a favela tour. We took a motorbike taxi to the very top of Rochina, up a really steep hill weaving through the lorries and buses. From the top we walked all the way down, through tiny alleyways with open sewers and illegal wiring that was just comical! We stopped off to visit an art gallery with paintings of the favelas and Christ the Redemer, and a tiny bakery where we bought delicious cakes! On our way down we were allowed to take photos, but were frequently told to put our cameras away when we passed a drug gang member...most of them with huge gold chains, and one of them had a huge fully automatic machine gun.......! They didnt cause us any trouble, and we carried on down the steep, narrow streets back out of the favela. That evening we saw a football match in the world famous Maracana stadium, it was an amazing atmosphere with constant chants and flares lighting up the crowd throughout the whole game (something that would never be seen at Old Trafford!). That evening we went out for some very comical drinks which resuted in Alex's sandels being stolen from the beach.
The next day, we took it easy on Copacobana beach (after some non-spending shopping at Rio Sol shopping mall). In the evening we went up to watch the sunset up at Christ the Redemer and admire the stunning view of mountains, the sugar loaf, sea and sky scrapers. We then had a night picnic on the beach before watching some films back at the hostel.
Ipanema beach was the destination for the next day, it was quite breezy so the waves were huge, and the current extremely strong. Me and felix went for a swim and kept having to run up the beach as we were dragged by the current. The following day we walked the entire way round the inland lagoon and had our final sit down on Copacobana before we said our final goodbyes (sob sob) and caught our night bus to Sao Paulo where we caught our last of 20 something flights....this time bound for home turf. It was so surreal landing back home, it felt like we'd never been away.

We'll never forget these last 7 months...many happy memories and amazing experiences stored in thousands of photos and shared with all the people we've met. Hopefully we'll do it again sometime - watch this space!!

To those of you we've befriended or alienated in foreign lands please do keep in touch and remember there's always a place for you to stay should you step on British soil (we have some damn good soil).
Lots of love Alex and Carol xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

THE END
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Illa Grande, Brazil

Illa Grande reminded us a lot of Thailand. The first evening there we tried to finish off the excess meat we had on another BBQ...finally accepting our defeat and feeding the leftovers to the local stray dogs (good old Bonesy). The following day most of the group including Alex went scuba diving. The first dive was a helicopter wreck dive, which was pretty crazy seeing the blade sticking out from the sand. The second dive had no wrecks but had a huge diversity of fish.
Meanwhile myself and Canada took a boat trip to the beautiful beach Lopez Mendes, a surfers beach with very few surfers in fact the beach as a whole was very quiet. Myself and Canada took it very easy, lazing in the sun and reading.
That night we finished off the left over meat from the previous BBQ!
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Paraty, State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Although the weather wasn't great we could still appreciate the amazing location of Paraty, a very quaint coastal town with tropical beaches and cobbled streets. We went out the first evening for a lovely thai dinner which is when we realised that prices were only going to get more expensive from now on. The next morning we took our own tour around the town, walking along the coast up to the old fort and then down to a very quiet beach where we sat watching Alex and Felix swim across to a small island whilst Lauren (Blackbird) wrote her name with shells in the sand...all i all very relaxing. That evening we had our own huge meat fest of a BBQ complete with mojitos, resulting in a wee bit of a boogie at the local nightclub. The following morning we caught the local bus to the port where we took a small boat across to the island of Illa Grande.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/alexandcarol/1/1221339180/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/alexandcarol/1/1221339180/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/alexandcarol/1/1221339180/tpod.html Fri, 03 Oct 2008 12:36:58 -0400 Alex and Carols round the world adventure

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Iguazu Falls, Argentina

After being greeted by the most amazing breakfast: sausages, eggs, pizza, quiche, croissants, gateaus, cakes, toasties, fruit, fresh juice etc there was no time to catch up on sleep. We went straight out to see the Brazilian side of the Iguasu falls. They were totally amazing, the views were spectacular especially as wherever you looked there was a beautiful rainbow. Some of the group got to admire the views via helicopter which I'm sure were breathtaking. We walked along part of the length of the river and then took a board walk across the river in front of one of the 275 falls....we got pretty soaked even though we were nowhere near the actually falling water, just caught by the mist and spray. We then took a lift up to the top of the fall where the river was deceptively calm. That evening we went to an all you can eat pizza place where they even served sweet pizzas with chocolate and apple & cinnamon.
The second day we drove across the border to the Argentian side of the falls. Before passing through immigration we saw a large sign that clearly stated the Falklands belonged to Argentina..hmmmm?! We spent the entire day wandering around all the paths that took you to different parts of the falls and gave increasingly impressive views....the best were when the water was roaring past metres away from us. Alex also took a speed boat trip that took you into the spray of 2 of the major falls and absolutely soaked you. That evening we decided to experience Brazilian 10 pin bowling which was very amsuing especially as the pins were held up by strings.
The third day we were taken across the border to paraguay (the third country that borders Iguasu falls). Here we wandered around the black markets, which was mostly either complete tat or electronics that were more expensive then back home. It was still good to see how different (a lot poorer) the country was even though it was a river crossing away from Brazil. We left Iguasu later on in the afternoon, commencing our 24hour bus journey to the coast...which was suprisingly not that bad.
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Bonito, State of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil

The first full day in Bonito we spent river snorkelling. After being kitted out with wetsuits and snorkels we walked through the jungle opening out to a crystal clear lagoon filled with massive fishies. We swam single file down the shallow stream and allowed the current to take us, amdiring all the fish. At one point we saw a caimen which was half in the water (with us) and half on the river bank....it wasn't as scary as we'd imagined but it would have been a different matter had we seen an anaconda - which do live there! We stopped off at a few lagoons where the water was deep enough for us to dive down, at the bottom the sand was bubbling up - which the boys loved sticking their arms into. The second half of the river was a lot deeper which also meant the fish were a lot bigger, I almost soiled myself when a huge fish cruised past millimeters from my face. It was raining for most of the time which gave a completely different feel to the experience than we've had on previous sea snorkelling trips. Back on dry land we had a huge lunch buffet and a brief siesta in some hammocks.
The second day in Bonito we spent in a private park. The park was basically a playground for big kids - just right for us. With a river flowing through it + zip wire into it, diving board, volleyball, table tennis, pool, giant chess and monkeys to feed we had plenty to keep us out of trouble..or in trouble. We spent most our time on the zip wire, jumping into the river. After a few trips down Alex decided to be quite adventurous; he hung from his knees and dived head first into the river and managed to catch his foot in the wheel that runs along the cord.....he ripped all the skin off one of his toes (peeling it like a grape) and pulled out the entire nail....it looked very nasty. Alex of course was just gutted he couldn't have another go. That night we squished ourselves like sardines into a minibus for a long journey to Iguasu. Probably the worst night journey ever, but we were greeted by the best breakfast we'd ever seen.
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Pantanal, State of Parana, Brazil

The journey through the Pantanal (half the size of France) was very hot and sticky especially as we were all squished into a mini bus with broken air-con. Luckily there was plenty to see out the window, mainly hundreds of caimen. That night we sat outside by a bonfire (not for heat, to keep the mossies away) and enjoyed the starlit sky before going to bed in our hammocks. In the morning we woke early to go for a jungle trek with out guide who bared an extremely close resemblance to Jackie Chan!!! We walked across the grassland and forest spotting more caimen, howler monkeys, stalks and many other bird life. We spent the afternoon relaxing in the shade back at the ranch, we saw loads of toucans and macaus flying by. Alex and Gavin also saved a young male horsies life as they found him caught on a fence (he was trying to jump over into the girly paddock). In mid afternoon to evening we went for a truck safari....we saw loads of gorgeous Capybaras (the worlds biggest rodents) grazing in the wetlands. We stopped off on one of the small wooden bridges and spent a few hours fishing for Paranhas for dinner. I caught 3 within a short space of time meanwhile Alex had no luck at all (he he he he), although he did hook a caimen. Eventually I gave Alex my lucky rode and he caught 2 Piranhas for din dins. On the truck ride back our guide spotted a baby caimen which we were able to stroke. After another nights kip in our hammocks we woke in the morning for a horse ride. Our horses were extremely stubborn as they clearly knew the route and also obided by a strict pecking order. We rode over grassland, through deep wetlands and forest. We were allowed to gallop which although fun was a tad dangerous as all the horses copied one another. After stopping for a bit my horse decided to sit down (with me still on his back) and then role over. I manged to jump off just in time but still had my leg caught in the stirrup as the horse stood back up. I survived with just a bit of a hobble for the next few days. After lunch we headed out of the Pantanal towards Bonito.
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Santa Cruz, Bolivia

Santa Cruz was only meant to be a night stop over, from where we would catch our night train into Brazil. However due to the current violent protests in Bolivia there were train blockades meaning we had to stay an extra night and then at our own expense catch a flight to the Bolivia/Brazil border. We didn't really do much in Santa Cruz as there was very little to see. We walked through the local markets and then resigned to the pub.
After landing at the border we had yet more problems as the immigration office was also blockaded. As we needed an exit stamp from the country we acquired one illegally at a price...by now though we would have paid anything to get out of Bolivia.
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Sucre, Bolivia

We arrived late and had a really good meal where we planned our next few days activities followed by a dance and drinkies. The next day we took ourselves on a tour of the city, walking round the plaza through a park containing a mini Eifel tower which we climbed up and then later in the afternoon we went up to a viewpoint to watch sunset over the city. The following day we were kitted out with mountain and helmets and cycled through the city (which was quite unpleasant due to the pollution and altitude) to the dinosaur footprint park. Here we saw hundreds of sauropaud (the massive veggie ones) and carnivore footprints on a cliff face that was forced vertical by tectonic movements - used to be the shore of a lake. Back on our bikes we cycled off road mostly down hill to a ranch where we had lunch. We then walked to the 7 water falls for a swim and here Germany (Felix) and England (Alex) jumped off the waterfall but Canada was too chicken. From the ranch we had a bloody hard cycle back....mostly walking our bikes up the steep gravel mountain paths, arriving back in Sucre after sunset. That night was the last supper for the group as 4 members would be leaving for home and the rest of us carrying on through Bolivia.
In the morning we eventually (horrible delays) caught our flight to Santa Cruz.
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Potosi, Bolivia

Potosi is the worlds highest city, and even though we'd been at high altitudes for a few weeks now we still found the air very thin and walking up stairs strenuous. We were all very relieved to arrive and enjoy a hot shower after 4 unhygienic days in the desert. The following day we went on a guided tour of Potosi's famous silver mines. Over 15,000 miners still work in the back breaking conditions. The air the miners breath means their working life can be as short as 10-15years, slightly longer if they work higher up. Considering that many miners start work at age 11-12 they could be dead by the age of 21.....and thats assuming they survive the 3 accidental fatalities a month.
We were kitted out with overalls and hard hats then taking to one of the local shops where we could buy gifts for the miners. Here we tried some 96% alcohol which the miners drink and chewed on some coca leaves and sweet catalyst which they store in their cheek throughout their 12hr food deprived shift. We also bought some dynamite and ammonium nitrate to give as gifts as many of them can't afford it themselves. We also bought some extra dynamite for our own personal use later on in the day.
Once in the mines we opted for the adventure tour (something you'd never be allowed to do in a western country). The tour involved a lot of crawling through claustrophobic tunnels, sliding down rock faces and balancing on beams across big gaping caves...we had to go quite slowly as the tunnels can be very unsafe and collapses do happen. We stopped a few times to talk to some of the miners. In one chamber one of the miners even gave us a dynamite demonstration..... we watched him prepare the dynamite and ammonium nitrate and pack it into the rock before running very quickly when the fuse was lit, we could actually feel the whole mine shake when the explosion went off. Going down in the working mines was a once in a lifetime experience and we really enjoyed it. Back in daylight our tour guides let us set off our extra stick of dynamite which really topped off the experience. After lunch we caught taxis to Sucre (the true capital of Bolivia), the drive was just as fearful as the previous days bus journey.
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