TravelStream™ news feed for member grimsey on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/grimsey en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Wed, 03 Sep 2008 14:58:26 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/grimsey/south_america/1220464020/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/grimsey/south_america/1220464020/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/grimsey/south_america/1220464020/tpod.html Wed, 03 Sep 2008 14:58:26 -0400 Trip to South America 2008

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San Jose, Province of San Jose, Costa Rica

Hi everyone,
this is the final one for now from me, well for this trip anyway. I`ve managed to cover quite a bit of Costa Rica in the last 5 weeks or and it has been a fantastic experience. Almost at the end of my amazing trip, I have met some great people and seen some awesome sights that I will remember for the rest of my life.

I caught boat from Jaco to Montezuma across the Nicoya Peninsula, it lasted about an hour and we caught some great wild life on the way, we saw skools of dolphins jumping literally 3 feet in the air in front of us, whales swimming in the distance, leather back turtles, sharks and manter rays jumping out of the water. The captain of the boat was so excited he stopped a couple of times and stared on in amazement. In all his times doing the trip he has never seen so much altogether. Montezuma was a sleepy little town with great white sandy beaches to stroll along or just chill out. I found a great surfing spot along a rocky path across several beaches, it was a wee bit rugged with no where really to walk but the waves were powerful and long. As the day progressed lots more surfers appeared. I stayed in Montezuma and made my way on an arse breaking journey to Mal Pais, the trip only took about 45 minutes but because of the roads it was a bit bumpy to say the least. I think thats what makes it a bit more adventurous here, the roads are that bad in places it is impassable, it keeps the hoards of tourists away, so most of the time you arrive in these places its really quite and you have the beach to yourself. I Checked into a really laid back hostel and rented a board for a couple of days. Most of the people in the hostel were all surfers too so it was nice to join up with them every morning although most of them were far more advanced than myself.
From Mal Pais I took a bus to Paquera and then a ferry to Puna Arenas and then from there another bus to Baranca. At Baranca I met a group of Austrians heading to Tamarindo and they seemed to know what the craic was with the buses, so I sat and waited with them. And we waited and we waited, 2 hours passed and one turned up eventually. We all hopped on and lay on the floor, thankfully a seat became available after an hour or so and I grabbed it. 5 hours later and we arrived in Tamarindo, I was pretty whacked by that stage and I set about finding my hostel. I wandered for ages asking people and after a wild goose chase I found it. Hidden away on a dark cul de sac. I was a really cool place, much like living at home and I was the only one there which was a wee bit spooky. I stayed in Tamarindo 3 nights and I was deciding what next to do when I met a Canadian lad I met in Mal Pais and he told me he was staying in Playa Grande at a surf camp. That sounded perfect for me so I set about finding how to get there. I found Tamarindo to be ok, many people hate the place, yes its got all the boutique shops, high rise condos and pricey restaurants but in all I found it to be a relatively cool place to hang out and gather your bearings and plan your trip to the neighbouring beaches.

I caught the boat across the estuary from Tamarindo to Playa Grande and I was immediately in love with the place, open white sandy beach surrounded by lush green vegetation and the best thing about it, no buildings on the beach. Playa Grande has been declared a national park and thus prohibiting buildings within 75 metres of the high tide, which is great. I found Playa Grande surf camp www.playagrandesurfcamp.com pretty easy and met the owner Gerry who was a great guy. I checked into my room above the pool and surrounded by rain forest, it was excellent. The next couple of days Gerry took me out surfing with his friends and gave me some valuable surf tips with helped me alot. I hung out in Playa Grande for 8 days and in the end and I didn't want to leave the place. I found a perfect place to spend my last week of my trip and met some really great people. I will be going back!!

I´m now back in San Jose for a day or two to gather my stuff together and prepare for my trip back. I have mixed emotions about going back, I am really looking forward to seeing my family and friends but I know part of me will miss the traveling. I read a great article in a surf magazine recently and I think it sums up traveling perfectly, entitled,

"Itchy feet"

For many, traveling is a way of life. And like life, the layers of reason and motive create the trip. Some travel because it´s their job, some to relax, some to see and experience, some to escape their reality and some to find theirs. For whatever reason, there is a commitment to an unseen force that is as old as the human species itself. The force drives you to take the steps and find yourself thousands of miles away from home in unfamiliar land.
Being abroad is a time to decide who you are. There are rich rewards in the food, culture, beauty and friendships you make along your journey. That magic still exists today. You just have to fly the nest to find it.

On that note I will say goodbye for now, thanks again to everyone for the emails and support over the past 6 months, special thanks to Paula for keeping the family in Collon updated on my trip. Hope to see most of you soon.

Take care,

Mark


]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/grimsey/south_america/1218592680/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/grimsey/south_america/1218592680/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/grimsey/south_america/1218592680/tpod.html Tue, 12 Aug 2008 23:14:27 -0400 Trip to South America 2008

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Jaco, Province of Puntarenas, Costa Rica

Hi everyone,
Well I survived the boat trip from Columbia to Panama (just about), stayed in Panama city for a couple of days and caught a flight to Bocas del Toro on the coast of Panama and now I'm finally in Costa Rica, my last destination, well for this trip anyway, ha ha!!

The boat from Cartagena to Panama was an interesting one to say the least. We waited in Cartagena from 12 noon till 6pm for the captain to sort himself out and finally get clearance from immigration, in between all that we had a visit from the port authorities to see how many people were on board, 6 beds, 7 people the guy asked, how does that work?? The captain started scratching his head, "oh I will be sleeping on deck" No you wont!! So we argued, well the captain argued and the guy eventually gave in and let us go on our way! While all that was happening, Gene was stocking the boat up with alcohol, enough for 5 days Gene said. So with 96 beers and 5 bottles of rum on board we set sail for Panama. It wasn't long before we hit the high waves of the Caribbean seas and that was it for me, I was literally hanging over the edge getting rid of what ever I had eaten that day! I was joined by most of the crew except Gene who kept on drinking. That was the key he said!!
The next day I didn't leave my bed for fear of getting even more sick. Everyone else seemed to get better and the food was going down well, and the warm beers! We came across dolphins and even that couldn't move me from my bed. The next day we arrived at the sandblas islands and it was all worth it. Beautiful deserted islands in the middle of the Caribbean sea. We anchored up and I would say I was one of the 1st off the boat on to dry land. We had the whole island virtually to ourselves so we set about getting wood for a fire and preparing our patch for our island party. We cooked on the boat that night and sailed back to the island, Sam, one of the lads had a fiddle, once that came out, the craic started and we had a great sing song into the wee ours. Later on we all just lay under the stars listening to the waves crashing next to us, it was heaven. The next morning we woke to an English breakfast cooked by Sam which was fantastic, we were joined later on by some of the local Kuna tribe who were selling various hand made crafts. Gene was straight over with a beer and some rum for the leader and he was very happy. Apparently they would get very annoyed if you have been eating their coconuts, we had 3 or 4 the day before, but the beer and rum helped us out.
We then sailed to a ship wreck about a half an hour away, we all grabbed the snorkel gear and swam around the wreck which was amazing. Then it was on to immigration island as they call it, to get our stamps for Panama, nothing here except the immigration office, a runway and one restaurant which unfortunately for us closed when we got there. We decided that night to sail overnight to Panama rather than wait the next day. To be honest I think we all couldn't wait to get off the boat. We arrived into Panama in the wettest conditions we had all seen for a while, pouring it down! We hopped off the boat to seek our hostel and find a restaurant for some wholesome food.
The boat trip was grand, the boat itself was a bit cramped, food was non existent and the captain turned out to be a bit of an arse. Had it not been for the people on board, it would have been terrible. Gene had me in fits of laughter the whole trip, he was crazy.

We stayed in Panama city for 2 days and I wasn't really that impressed with it. The thing that really struck me was how Americanised everything was, MacDonald's on every corner and all the main retail shops you would normally see in any American city. We caught a flight from Panama city to a group of islands on the coast called Bocas del Toro. We opted to stay in Bastementos for a couple of nights, really laid back atmosphere here, nice beaches and good treks if you feel up to it. We did feel a little intimidated by the locals here though as we seemed to be the only westerners on the island at the time. We moved to the main island called Colon the day after, it was much more livelier and it seemed to be where the parties where. And when the Irish arrived the party begun, ha ha !!
From Colon we hopped on a boat to the main land and then onto a bus to the Panama/Costa Rican border. I stopped off a little hippy village called Puerto Viejo and Gene and Gillian continued onto San Jose for their flight back to Ireland. I spent the next couple of days chilling out and trying to get back on the surf board. The waves here were quite big and strong so it was a wee bit hard to say the least. Eventually I mastered it and spent a couple of hours each day. I spent 4 nights there and then made my way to San Jose for a stop over before making my way down the pacific side of Costa Rica to little town called Jaco or Ha-co as the locals call it, which is where I am now. I say Jaco is a small town for now, in 5 years time this will be an altogether different place, there are plans for 8 x 25 floor condo suites all along the beach which will be a shame. I have spent the last couple of days surfing which has been great, I managed to find the right board and have been really enjoying it! Bit of a laugh, I was out in the water yesterday and I saw fins circling me, at first I thought dolphin, then shark, to say I was planking myself is an understatement!! I soon discovered that they were manter rays, "harmless" a kiwi guy later told me laughing his head off when I told him. So today I was out and I was hitting manter ray everytime I was paddling.

I'm leaving Jaco tomorrow for Man Antonio and Dominical, down the coast. I'm then going to make my way back up to the north Pacific coast of Mal Pais and onto Tamirindo. Then it will be back to San Jose via Monteverde for my flight back!! Its gone quick.
Thanks to everyone for all the emails and best wishes over the past nearly 6 months, hope to catch up with you all when I get back.

Take care,

Mark

]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/grimsey/south_america/1216743660/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/grimsey/south_america/1216743660/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/grimsey/south_america/1216743660/tpod.html Tue, 22 Jul 2008 13:30:57 -0400 Trip to South America 2008

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Cartagena, Colombia

Hello all, I hope everyone is well?? I have had a pretty lazy couple of weeks in Columbia, spent the time having a wander around Cartagena and up the Caribbean coast to Taganga and the National park, Tayrona.
The flight to Cartagena was seamless, we arrived to a wave of heat as we disembarked the plane which is always nice, felt like I was on my holidays again. The familiar sounds of ghekos echoing in the distance made it all very exciting to be here. The humidity also hit us as we walked to the terminal before negotiating with the taxi driver for a ride into town. We had booked a hostel/hotel before hand in the old town so it was nice to know we had somewhere fairly decent to stay on the first night. The old town was bustling with Saturday night fever when we arrived, musicians playing salsa music in the nearby plaza, street vendors selling everything from jewelery to Cuban cigars and locals playing chess on street corners all combined into one great party atmosphere! We immediately threw our bags in and set about finding a local cafe for a much needed cold beer to quench the thirst, thirsty work this traveling you know.
The next day we just wandered around the labyrinth of narrow streets with beautiful colonial architecture, large buildings with wooden carved balconies, sixteenth century cathedrals and museums make this city a very photogenic place to visit. The wall large wall that surrounds the city also makes it very safe place to be. The moment you set foot outside however it is a different story. Walk towards the Getsemani area and its almost a different city which to be honest I liked it alot. The locals selling on the streets, cafes set up on street stalls, fresh juice stalls, vegetable markets and the smell of sausages and chicken been cooked all set your taste buds going wild. There is also a little air of danger about the place, on more than one occasion I witnessed the police bundle people into cars and street fights are quite common. Over all though I felt quite safe and if you apply the usual big city awareness you will be ok.
The next day we jumped on an organised tour to the local mud volcano, here you get the chance to jump into high density mud up to your eyeballs, get a massage, well a rub down and then after all that have the locals scrub the dry mud off you in the local blue(grey) lagoon. When I jumped in it felt very weird, I was floating in a large bath of mud with a load of other back packers firing mud at each other like kids but the real reason we were all here was we were "informed", it was good for your skin. Yes were all vein in some way or form. I got out mud dripping from everywhere and headed for the lagoon, I was greeted by a local lady who immediately set about scrubbing the mud off me, then she said off with the shorts, I duly obliged, I wasn't going to mess with her. She scrubbed the head off me, I felt like I was been washed by my mother again when I was 2 or something, very funny experience. After my scrub we had some fruit and then we all had lunch together on this rather grey beach with swarms of pelicans patrolling the shore looking for their lunch time feast. We hooked up with a girl from Liverpool called Bearnie or Beeeaannie as she said in her strong Liverpool/Irish accent, Bernie if your reading this I´m only pulling you leg!
We then caught a bus to Taganga a lovely little fishing village on the outskirts of Santa Marta town. We checked into our hostel which was right on the beach and had a bite to eat before going for a dip. On closer inspection the water seemed quite dirty and full of washed up debris, so I quickly got out and opted to sit on the beach and watch the sunset which was amazing. The next morning we took a couple of buses to Park Tayrona, beautiful national park on the Cari been coast with lots of white sandy beaches and good hikes if you feel the urge. We walked into the park which took about 45 mins and then a further 45 mins to Cabo beach which is where we would base ourselves for the next few days. I caught a nasty stomach bug along the way so the next few days for me were literally lying on the beach not been able to walk too far from the toilet in case of an emergency. Cabo beach was really nice, the facilities at the beach could have been a little better, 4 toilets for 150 people doesn't really work and hammocks placed beside the restaurant area didn't really work either. We managed to get some hammocks in the mirador (lookout) area which was really cool. The couple of days flew by in Park Tayrona and by the end of it I was starting feel a bit better.
I left Clodgah and Bernie in the park and headed back towards Cartagena for a couple of days to sort out my boat to Panama. I had emailed lots of companies before I went to Tayrona so I had an idea of what dates there was boats going. I'm booked on a boat tomorrow that will take 5 days to get there. We stop off at group of secluded islands called the Sandblas which are meant to be amazing. I´m looking forward to that. I have been hearing from lots of other travelers that Panama and Costa Rica are a wee bit on the expensive side so I may head to Nicaragua for a week or so if I get the time. I´ll see how it goes in the next couple of weeks.
Columbia for me has been a real surprise, I have really enjoyed it, I would certainly recommend people to come here, all the political instability and crime you read about in the news doesn't really help this country and I´m sure in years to come that will change for the better and tourists will flock here.
Thats it for now, I will update more when I get through Panama and into Costa Rica which will be my final stop, cant believe it has gone so quick. Until next time, take care,

Mark
PS thanks again for the messeges and sorry I havent replied to people sooner, I promise I will do eventually.




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Lima, Peru

Hello all, its been a fairly busy couple of weeks since my last entry, the highlight was trekking 5 days to Machu Pichu, other than that, I´ve hopped on a bus to Lima, where I am now, I´ve also been doing a wee bit of exploring Cuzco, I mean a wee bit...
After a couple of days chilling out at our hostel and mentally preparing for the trek, the time had finally come to say goodbye to Jen and Rita as they set off for their trek. I was on mine the day after with JP. I was quite excited and a wee bit nervous the day before, not sure what the craic was there, well I know what it was, it was drink finally coming out of my system from the previous nights partying. Our tour company picked us up at 4.30am the morning of our trek and we managed to get a few hours kip on the way to our starting point, the little town of Mollepata. We caught up with the rest of the group who were all very nice. After a large breaky and a brief from Will our guide, we began on our journey that would take us 5 days, 4 nights and a total of 61kms. We had heard that the 1st night was going to be cold and it was freezing, 3 or 4 layers was required that night and I was out like a light, in fact I woke up the next morning to be told I was snoring my head off, good nights sleep! The 2nd day was the hardest for me, we climbed 4680 to Salkantay pass, one of the highlights of our walk, amazing views over the pass greeted everyone when the finally made it to the top. We all felt an enormous achievement having climbed such a steep incline at that altitude. Most of us just collapsed at the top completely exhausted by it. Will informed us we still had another 5 hours walking which as you can imagine was greeted with moans of disapproval.
From there on we began our descent to Huayracmachey and Andenes Challway for our 2nd nights rest which was a lot warmer. Day 3 we moved to the little village of La Playa, lovely little place nestled in the middle of large mountains with farm animals roaming the streets and Andean ladies working their stalls. We rested here for a couple of hours before heading to some outdoor thermal pools for a couple of hours. It was so so nice to relax in the warm pools and give our feet a break from the rigors of walking the past couple of days. Day 4 was another tough one for me, Will failed to mention the mountain we had to climb that day, it was a 5 hour walk before lunch and we were to catch a train to Aguas Calientes that afternoon. The trek up the mountain was a grueling one, each corner I would see in the distance I hoped it would be the top, once I got there I was greeted with another steep incline, I pushed on! Finally we arrived in Aguas Calientes and enjoyed a much deserved lunch and hung out for an hour or two before the train arrived.
The next morning at 5.30 we caught the bus up the Machu Pichu from the town centre. We had originally planned to walked to Machu Pichu but we were all so tired we decided against it. When we arrived at the site, I must admit not to be overwhelmed by the place, but as the time passed and we walked around it I was really absorbed by it all. It truly is a remarkable place, incredibly beautiful with an unsurpassed location. Winay (small) Pichu towers over its larger sister Machu Pichu with the distant glacial summits that are dwarfed only by the huge blue sky. I sat there in amazement, gazing at the site for a couple of hours just taking it all in before the hoards of other tourists arrived by train from Cuzco. It is hard to believe that the Inca´s built this fortress in the early 1500's, the sheer scale of it has to be seen to be believed. I thought the last couple of days were tough but it was all so so worth it to finally reach our destination. We trekked with a company called www.lamapth.com and I couldn't recommend them more, they were excellent, the food was amazing, guide was funny and encouraging and the rest of the staff always had big smiles on.
We headed back to Cuzco on the train and for the next couple of days I just chilled out. We caught a bus to Lima which is where I am now. Jen and Rita are off back to Brazil and JP is off to LA in a couple of weeks. I´m now with a friend of Aridas, Clodagh and were going to travel to Columbia together for a couple of weeks. We fly to Cartegena on the Caribeen coast this evening. I´m looking forward to some beach time again!! I will upload some photos in the next couple of days. Thanks again for all the messages and mails, keep them coming. Until next time, take care.

Mark

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]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/grimsey/south_america/1213806660/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/grimsey/south_america/1213806660/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/grimsey/south_america/1213806660/tpod.html Wed, 18 Jun 2008 14:04:05 -0400 Trip to South America 2008

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Cusco, Peru

In La Paz we heard that you could mountain bike down the worlds most dangerous road, dropping from an altitude of 4700 metres and we thought we had to try it. So, insurance documents checked we headed off on our excursion to the peak of our cycle ride. It started to cloud over as we arrived at the top and the snow began to fall, our guide had advised us not to exert ourselves too much for fear of running out of breath. Quick safety check and a swig of local whiskey and we were off.. The first stage of our 70kms ride was on tarmac road and it was brilliant, I touched the bakes on occasion just to make sure they were working, other than that it was sheer speed, 30-40kms an hour, my adrenalin was pumping. After a couple of more kms on the tarmac we entered death road!! Mainly off road with pot holes, water falls, large rocks, cars and dumpsters thrown in for good measure, it was one hell of a ride. Every bit of of it was amazing for me, the 600 metre drops along side the track made it even more exciting, not to mention the views that were truly spectacular. There was heavy mist for most of out drop, that for me made it even more exciting!
We left La Paz after 3 days and headed to Copacabana on the shores of Lake Titicaca, the highest lake in the world, it borders Peru and Bolivia. Copacabana was an excellent stop off point on our way to the border, small little town with excellent views over the lake. We took a small boat ride to neighboring Isla del Sol before making our way back for the evening. We crossed the border into Peru into the little town of Punu. Crossing the border you were greeted with fields and fields of freshly cut barley, stacks of hand cut barley stood perfectly for miles in fields dotted with stone walls. In the distance you could see the local farmers going about their daily chores with magnificent views of lake Titicaca. In Puno we visited the floating islands of Uros, we were greeted on one particular island by the local chief and his family before been ushered to a short presentation on island life and history. It was great to see how the islanders live here, getting much of their income from tourists and also by selling locally made handcrafts. The island we visited had 6 families living on there and they all seemed really happy, kids with beaming smiles with not a care in the world. We said goodbye to the villagers and they sang us songs in their native tongue and in Spanish, for me it was quite a moment!
After night in Puno we got on our way to Arequipa, a city down south of Peru and the usual trek for travelers in Peru. We arrived to our hostel and inquired about tours of the Colca Canyon. We were surprised to hear (well more shocked) that we would have to catch a bus at 1am if we were to make a day trip. So up we got after a 3 hour sleep and made our way to the Canyons. We reached a small village outside at 5am and had breaky before joining a group to our destination. One of the main reasons people visit the canyons is to see the flight of condors and also the sheer beauty of the place has to be seen to be believed. We were told by our guide that we may see up to 10 condors if we were lucky. They delighted us when we arrived, condors soaring above the giant colca caynon, the 3 metre bird of prey making aero sounds as they swooped through the air, only making slight movements to avoid one another. We stopped at various miradors on the way down getting a chance to take some photos before making our way back to Arequipa.
After a quick bite to eat we hopped on an over night bus to Cuzco where I am now. I feel rather relieved to be here, the past couple of weeks have been planned with Cuzco in mind and now that were finally here, it gives us the chance to kick back and chillout before our Inca treks.. I had a little wander around the city this morning and its a lovely place, don't think i will mind spending some time here. After the Inca trek I plan to go to Lima before making my way across into Columbia. Thats all for now, thanks to everyone who has sent mails etc, I really do appreciate hearing from you all.

take care,

Mark
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Cusco, Peru

Hello everyone, once again sorry for the shortage of entries to my blog the past couple of weeks, I have literally been on the road since my last entry and covering quite a bit of ground to where I am at the moment.
We left Puerto Montt to Santiago after a long wait around the bus station, by the time it came to get on the bus we were all ready for a good old kip and that we had. We arrived into Santiago early morning and immediately set out to find our hostel that was recommended to me. We all noticed the difference in temperature and that brought a huge smile all round and a wee spring to our step, well, after we all woke up anyway. Our hostel was in the Bella vista area of the city, lovely bohemian area, close to all the universities and campus´s and the streets were lined with various funky coffee shops and bars. After check in I set out wandering around the local area familiarizing myself with the various streets and where to get to the city center etc.. The hostel was pretty cool, staff were friendly and we met up with a couple of Irish girls we had got talking to in Patagonia. We spent the next couple of days chilling out and walking round the city, we went to the city center park with lookouts over the city, it was then we discovered that the whole city was covered in a blanket of smog, you could barely work out the surrounding snow capped mountains. We took a day trip to Valparaiso, quite a small little town 2 hours from Santiago. I think we were having one of those days when we visited Valparaiso, we went up one of the many asuncions (lifts) that are dotted around the city. After that we were wondering what else to do and hopped into a cab to take us to the far side of town, of course he took us on a wild goose chase up one of the steep inclines around the city, I think he just took it into his head to be our tour guide for 20 minutes or so. Meanwhile Jen and Rita were in fits laughing in the back of the car while I was trying to tell him where to go.. So we ended the trip back where we started and a couple of pesos lighter. We decided to cut our loses and head back to Santiago! In all I wasn't too impressed with Santiago, just another city on route to the north, good stop over or 1st city entering into South America, but thats it for me.
I had my 1st real experience with my rucksack just as I was leaving Santiago. I swear its getting heavier by the day, anyway, I was bending down in a shop to get some nibbles for my journey when I forgot I had my bag on my back! As I was bending down the bag toppled over my head and I came crashing to the ground. I was lying there like a lady bird with my legs dangling in the air unable to get up. Luckily the shop lady came over to help me (all the time she was busting her sides laughing) Red faced I got myself together and proceeded to my bus stop.

I left Jen & Rita the next day and took a bus to San Pedro de Atacama, my longest journey to date, 24 hours, would take me into the heart of the Atacama desert and I was really looking forward to it. I met a Kiwi guy on board, called himself cracker and as the name suggests, he was a bit of a nut case. Earlier on in the journey he was arguing with the bus driver as to why he had to move seats and why he couldn't take his shoes off, I was keeping my head down at that stage! As we arrived into San Pedro cracker started chatting to me and decided to come along to the same hostel. My first impressions of San Pedro was great, right in the middle of no where this little town just appeared and it was to be a great experience if a little expensive. We hired some mountain bikes the next day and explored nearby devils gorge, after an hour or so on the bikes, I was doing the usual Mr Wayne stance, why doesn't someone come up with a more comfortable design for a mountain bike seat?? Not asking for couch style but something that could stop you for aching for days after.. The next day we took a trip to Salar de Tara, some 4300 metres above sea level. I experienced my first taste of altitude sickness here. I think it was partially to do with all the walking we did that day and partially I wasn't really prepared for it. I knew we were going high but never thought much of it I guess. Altitude sickness can be very weird, I had a massive headache, coupled with shivers and then to top it off mild vomiting. I spent most of the afternoon that day in the jeep, crawling out to take the odd photo and not really appreciating the amazing scenery around me. I was planning to go across the border to Bolivia the next day but I canceled it the moment I got back to San Pedro. The next day Rita and Jen arrived from Santiago and I was needing a break from my new friend, so it was great to see them. We booked on a sand boarding excursion that afternoon and had a great laugh, I had tried snow boarding before so it wasn't that dissimilar and I got the hang of it fairly easy, well fairly easy with a few falls in between that is. As for Rita and Jen well it was a laugh a minute, lots of front tumbles and mouth fulls of sand were all part of the process. We spent a couple of hours there and had great fun, the only down side being we had to trek back up the hill after very run. The next day we got up early (3am) for our geyser tour. The trip would take us 2 hours into the mountains to watch sunrise and see the geysers exploding as the ground was warming up with the heat of the sun. It was a spectacular sight. It was -11 and at one stage I had to keep jumping up and down like an eijit just to stop myself from freezing. As the geysers heated up so did the thermal pools and we had to try it out. So at -11 myself and Jen duly obliged, it was heaven, all the cold before hand was worth every bit, the water was really hot and we just floated there looking out at the freezing ground. The best was to come when we got out, trying to dry yourself in freezing conditions isn't the best way, the amount of um´s and ah´s coming from me was enough for anyone to think I´m a bit mad!
The next day was another early start as we gathered ourselves together for the next stage of our trip. We booked a 3 day 4x4 trek across the border into Bolivia and I was really excited about it. We crossed into Bolivia with no hassle and transfered to our homes for the next couple of days, the Toyota land cruiser was our base for the excursion. We hooked up with a German couple and drove deep into the desert. I was loving it, at one stage I felt we were taking part in the Paris to Dakar rally, each driver trying to keep ahead of the other, all racing towards the next sand dune. In all there was a convoy of 6 jeeps all throwing up dust from the speed of their rally drivers.. The first day we stopped at Laguna Verde and Laguna Colorado, beautiful salt lakes in the middle of the desert, then it was onto another thermal pool before a hearty lunch and the afternoon more rally driving with a few large rocks thrown in for good measure. Our 1st nights accommodation was one to be remembered, 1 for the altitude and the other for the cold. It was unbearably cold that night, the whole group was in bed at 7.30, simply because it was the only way to keep warm. After a fairly sleepness night we all felt groggy as we sped off on our second day that would take us across more rough terrain with amazing sights of flamingos swimming and packs of roaming lamas been chased by our convoy of jeeps. The second nights accommodation was grand compared to our first and we all had a good old kip before another early start that would take us to Salar de Uyuni, the largest salt flats in the world, covering 12,000 metres, white salt for as far as the eye could see, amazing. We ended our tour in the little Bolivian town of Uyuni, a lovely little spot just across the border. It was here that I felt for the first time that I was actually traveling in South America, local Andean women wearing multi colored ponchos and top hats with a heady mix of smells and sounds that can only be associated with this area, it was great. The old ladies selling on their stalls seemed really happy and content to have us westerners wandering around and looking out of place in their country.
From Uyuni we caught an overnight bus to La Paz, the capital of Bolivia. The bus journey was one of my worse to date, 12 hours of ass breaking hell is how I would describe it. It was then that I also discovered that I could sleep with my head between my legs, as a result I now have the strongest neck in South America, ha ha.. We checked into our hostel and set about discovering La Paz.. La Paz is a city built on the side of a large mountain range some 4000 + metres in altitude above sea level, making it the highest city in the world.. It was another city for me that defines South America, a mix of local 9-5 office workers with a splash of Andean culture that produces a plethora of sights, sounds and flavors!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/grimsey/south_america/1213485060/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/grimsey/south_america/1213485060/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/grimsey/south_america/1213485060/tpod.html Sat, 14 Jun 2008 19:17:45 -0400 Trip to South America 2008

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Copacabana, Bolivia

Hi everyone,
just a very quick one and sorry Í have been a wee bit slack with my blog the past couple of weeks. I´m now on the shores of lake Titicaca, Bolivia in a little town called Copacabana. Heading across the border to Peru to a place called Penu and then up to Cusco for the 23rd where I´m doing the Inca trek. I will update more in Cusco. The past couple of weeks have been pretty awesome, action packed to say the least. There will be a long blog in 4 or 5 days.

Mark


]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/grimsey/south_america/1211989080/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/grimsey/south_america/1211989080/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/grimsey/south_america/1211989080/tpod.html Wed, 28 May 2008 13:32:05 -0400 Trip to South America 2008

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Puerto Montt, Lake District, Chile

Hello hello again, I've had a busy last couple of weeks and only now really getting a chance to update the blog. I've been trekking quite a lot, walking on glaciers and drinking whiskey and been on a 4 day boat trip up the coast of Chile.
I left Commodoro after a 12 hour stopover which was great because I got a chance to get some much needed kip in after a pretty shocking bus journey from Bariloche the night before. I arrived in Rio Gallegos and immediately sought out the bus company that would take me to Ushuaia, the very Southern tip of Argentina. I found one pretty quickly and was on the bus within 2 hours of booking it which was great. I met a couple of Irish girls from Longford on there and we got chatting and the craic started. They had just arrived in Rio Gallegos too and like me were pretty glad to be getting a bus out of there pretty quick smart. It was the 1st time I had to cross into Chile on my way to Ushauia, we would have to enter into Chile and out and back into Argentina again which meant in and out of border check points a couple of times. We had been warned not to take any fruit into Chile so we stuffed our faces with whatever fruit we had before reaching the Chilean border. We arrived into Ushuaia 12 hours later after quite an ass numbing journey. The roads were like sheets of glass at one stage, I was convinced we were going to hit a couple of incoming buses a couple of times. We decided to get a hostel together which I had been recommended and threw our bags in before seeking out a good steak house. It was the 1st time we came across heated floors in a hostel and boy did we need it. It read -4 in our taxi on the way to the hostel. We planned to have an early night that night but we came across a group of people playing a card game at the hostel and joined in. A few games later I was walking around on my knees as a forfeit for loosing the game, doh! it then proceeded to a drinking game and the rest as they say is...
The next morning we were not feeling the best but we still managed to take a bus to the national park. Tierra del Fuego is one of the best parks in Patagonia, with beautiful lakes surrounded by fresh snow capped mountains and the skies were blue, perfect weather for a trek. We did a 6 hour hike to the local hostel within the park and had a very welcome hot chocolate at the end. The next day we woke up to 6 inches of snow covering all of Ushuaia, it was really beautiful. We jumped into a taxi who's driver was testing the latest in wheel chain technology by going as fast as he could up a mountain in icy conditions at 70mph, luckily no sick bags were required! We walked to San Martin Glacier on the foothills of the mountains surrounding Ushuaia and the views were amazing. Ushuaia is officially at the end of the world and we got our obligatory stamps on our passports to prove we were there and the photos like geeks of course!
We then headed back on our route to Rio Gallegos to catch a bus to El Calafate which would get us in at 1am. Thankfully the hostel we were staying at had arranged to pick us up on arrival which was cool. El Calafate is a small town born largely out of tourism in the local area. The main attraction here is Puerto Moreno Glacier, the largest moving glacier in South America. Some stats, the glacier is 30kms long. 6kms wide, it protrudes 60 meters out of the water and underwater it is a further 120 meters below. At the top of the glacier it snows almost every day of the year. The sheer scale of it simply blows you away. Our 1st day there we hired a car to enter the national park and we wandered around all the balconies taking pictures. Our first sight of the glacier was on the way into the park and we were all silent for about 10 minutes, which is kinda hard for 3 Irish people... The next day we joined a mini trekking tour which consisted of a boat trip around the glacier, hopped off onto a island near by for a safety lesson before putting on crampons and actually walking on top of the glacier. It was fantastic, we all walked like John Wayne for about 2 hours up and down the glacier before reaching our final point of call, the whiskey bar! We drank scotch whiskey on the rocks (rocks from the glacier) overlooking the lakes, it was the best whiskey bar I've ever been to. The next day we headed to El Chalten, a small town nestled in the middle of the National park, Los Glaciers. It was a small town with lots of construction going on. You can see the effect that tourism is having on this small town, which sometimes isn't always positive in my view. I hope they don't let the big name hotel chains spoil this quiet town in years to come. We trekked 6 hours to Lagos Torres in the national park. 70% of the trek was in the snow which was great, we were rewarded with some amazing views of Fitz Roy mountain ranges at the end before making our way back.
From El Chalten we headed back to El Calafate for a night before moving onto Puerto Natales in Chile for a couple of days. We came across the Chilien border with ease and found our hostel pretty quickly. It was cool, very homely and warm and the owner bill provided us with some invaluable information on Torres Del Pienne National park, which is the mother of all parks in Patagonia. A very popular trek here is the W trek, 3 days 4 nights camping, pretty hard core! Thats all very well in the middle of summer but when you arrive mid winter its a different ball game. We decided to rent a 4x4 jeep from Bill and go to the park early morning the next day. A Canadian girl came along with us the next morning for the ride. It was a 5am start if we wanted to get to the park before 8.30, that was when the park officials started, and we would avoid paying in if we got there on time. We made it just in the nick of time, of course I was the nominated driver so I had to use all my skills to floor the pedals when we came to the entrance of the park, we shot through all laughing like school kids who had just out smarted the head master! We parked up at a local hostel. well it was more like a 3 star hotel, I'm not sure how they received plans for the Hostel, but it was huge and swiss, a bit of an eyesore really. we trekked 7 hours to the Torres which was pretty tough going, lots of snow, really slippy ice in parts and the trails were only a foot wide to huge drops into canyons at one stage, adrenalin was kicking in. The last part of the climb was about 1km and very steep and it was all worth it the top, amazing views over Torres Del Pienne and the Torres staring down at a perfect lake. The wind chill was numbing our fingers and toes on top, we had lunch quickly and returned down. One of the girls caught a glimpse of a mouse on top and she leaped a foot high in the air before sliding on the snow to a safe area. We were all in uncontrollable fits of laughter at that stage. That night we treated ourselves to a big steak and a well deserved beer.
After 3 days in Puerto Natales we decided to jump on a 4 day boat trip to Puerto Montt which is where I am now. The other option was to get a couple of bus trips to Santiago but we decided it would be a better option on the boat. The Navimag is quite famous for travelers in this part of the country, it also serves as a transporter for livestock between Natales and P Montt. There was about 40 of us on the boat and by the 2nd day we all knew each others names and we were like one big family. I just chilled out, ate lots and had a few wee glasses of vino. We met Irish, English, American, German, Swiss on there and had a great laugh with them all. It was a great way to relax and just dump your rucksack down for a couple of days.
From here I'm heading north to Santiago for a couple of days before going further north to San Pedro de Atacama and then into Bolivia.
Thank you all for your best wishes along the way so far, its nice to hear from you all.
Paula, thanks for printing off all the blogs for the gang in Collon.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/grimsey/south_america/1211576760/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/grimsey/south_america/1211576760/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/grimsey/south_america/1211576760/tpod.html Fri, 23 May 2008 17:10:52 -0400 Trip to South America 2008

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Puerto Natales, Patagonia, Chile

Hi everyone, just a quick one, Crossed into a snow covered Chile a couple of days ago and I´ve been doing a wee bit of trekking. I´m catching a boat for 4 days to Peurto Mont (Chile) this evening and will update more when I get there!

Take care

Mark
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/grimsey/south_america/1210537500/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/grimsey/south_america/1210537500/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/grimsey/south_america/1210537500/tpod.html Tue, 13 May 2008 16:00:04 -0400 Trip to South America 2008

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Comodoro Rivadavia, Patagonia, Argentina

Hello hello again, the period seems to be getting longer and longer between each blogs, which can only mean one thing of course! Hope all is well? I´ve been busy gathering pace on the road recently, enjoying the red wines in Mendoza and climbing and trekking in Bariloche..

I arrived in Mendoza after a long journey from BA, went straight to the hostel Arida had recommended and the bloody thing was closed. I thought, here we go again, arriving in a town where no one else is here and I'm the only person in the hostel!! I opened my travel guide and found another one quite quickly and hailed a cab. I had arranged to meet Ian in Mendoza, a Canadian lad who I met in Uruguay. Ian was arriving the next day, so I let him know what the craic was with the hostels. My 1st impressions of Mendoza were great, as I was arriving into town I could see the snow capped mountain of Aconcagua, the tallest mountain in the southern and Western hemisphere, standing almost 7000 metres above Mendoza, it was a sight to behold. I spent the day doing the usual wandering around the city and had a relatively early night that night. Ian arrived the next day and I had booked us on a bikes and wines tour of the local vineyards. Bikes and wines is not the greatest of combinations especially when you have had a few. Mendoza is the capital of wines in Argentina, almost all the wines exported and sold in Argentina come from here and they are some of the best in the world. Would be a shame not to try them. We headed off on our tour and after been given a quick safety demo we were off on our bikes to the nearest vineyard. We hooked up with another couple of people, John from the UK and two other girls from the states who I cant remember their names. The 1st place we went to was full of other back packers waiting with empty glasses for refills, downing the wine with their eyes before the lady had even poured it, greedy gits.. We headed off to a small liquor factory to sample chocolates and some home made liquor which was great, awesome start to the day, great kick to get us going. All of the vineyards were within a 12km radius, so it was pretty easy to find them. The next place we came across looked really posh, too posh for us we thought. Anyway we went in and were greeted by enormous stainless steel casks and the smell of red wine really got our wine buds going. We ordered the wines to try which was hilarious. One of the American girls ordered a "Cabbi Savi", we all pissed ourselves laughing and said what the hell was a Cabbi Savi?? Its a Cabernet Sauvignon Man, she replied, we were all still laughing at her and waiting for her to order a Merli next.. So we tried the Cabbi Savi and the Merli and the Malbec (real name) which was awesome. We sat overlooking the vineyards in the blazing sun and blue Sky's. We tried another couple of vineyards afterwards and towards the end we were ordering bottles rather than glasses. The bike ride back was a wee bit hairy to say the least. We had a great day, great laugh and the fun continued back at our hostel and into the early hours of the next morning. Luckily the next day was a bank holiday, so we took the "day off" from traveling stuff and just sat outside a restaurant laughing about the previous days activities. The red wine appeared again and that was it for another day. I loved Mendoza, ha ha! Myself and Ian went horse riding the day after, after a slow start the horses got going and they galloped like no tomorrow, I still have the bare patches on my legs where the hair has worn off with the pace of the horse. My ass was killing from the bikes as it was, it was now nicely sore again! We headed on a day trip to Aconcagua the next day and kicked around in the snow for a few hours. To see the mountain up close and personal was amazing. Thousands of people climb it every year and on average 15 people die attempting it. My time in Mendoza was coming to an end and I was a wee bit sad to leave, I met some great people there and overall the week was fantastic if a little over indulgent on the red wine!
I left Mendoza for Bariloche and arrived early morning. The weather is getting colder the further south I travel which is what I was preparing for. The drive into Bariloche was stunning, lakes for as far as the eye could see surrounded by snow capped mountains. Bariloche itself is surrounded by the Nahuel Huapi lake and there can be a swift cold breeze that will catch you out. I went on a day trip to Nahuel Haupi park, considered to be one of the best in Argentina and it didn't disappoint. Stunning views over the lakes, surrounding mountains and Cerro Tronador, which literally means roaring mountain in Spanish. We visited the black glacier which sits below Cerro Trandor and every couple of minutes Tronador would roar, we all looked on hoping some snow would break away into the glacier. The guide only spoke in Spanish which helped me a little to understand more. Bariloche is a big town, full of ski and snow board shops, you would be forgiven to think you were in Switzerland. Some of the best skiing in Argentina is there, and every year all the elite come down to Bariloche to show off their skills. I took a day trek to Cerro Cathedral, the most famous of all the ski resorts and the views on top were incredible. I thought I would attempt a small hike before going further south to prepare myself. It was actually quite hard, think I need to get my trainers out again.
I booked a bus to Rio Gallegos for Friday but unfortunately it was canceled due to a local volcano dumping ash on the roads which made it impassable with visibility down to zero. When the ash blew into Baricloche we all thought it was snow at first and then we realized it wasn't going away, silly eijits.. I stayed in a great hostel in Bariloche, the staff were very friendly and helpful and met some people who are doing the same trip as me, so hopefully meet up with them on the way the way round. I´m now in Comodoro, on a stop over before catching a bus to Rio Gallegos and then on to Ushuaia which I´m really looking forward to. I´ll update more then.

take care,

Mark

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