TravelStream™ news feed for member jamesmc on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/jamesmc en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Mon, 15 Sep 2008 16:53:05 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamesmc/my_big_log/1221504900/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamesmc/my_big_log/1221504900/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamesmc/my_big_log/1221504900/tpod.html Mon, 15 Sep 2008 16:53:05 -0400 Ballybrack to Buenos Aires and beyond!

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Santiago, Chile

Well, it´s taken me 8 months, but I´ve finally reached the end of my South American adventure, so for this blog I´d just like to look back at some of the highs and lows before hitting the next leg in New Zealand. I´ve just put a couple of photos from Santiago, just so I can actually prove I was here!I suppose I better say a few words about the place too. Well it´s a nice enough city, nothing major stands out with regards attractions or things to do but it´s a good place for a 2 or 3 day stop off. I also thought Argentinians were patriotic and proud of their flag...well the Chileans knock the socks off them! On practically every street corner there´s a least one, and the plazas are just a flag-fest! I think I´ve probably also seen the biggest flag in the world here! Having spent the last 3 days here though, I´m now ready to hit New Zealand, even it means waiting till 11pm tonight (Monday) for the flight and arriving at 3.30am on Wednesday morning! So looking back on the past 243 days of being in Latin America, for me these have been the bits I remember most:Highlights:Arriving in Mexico at the start of the trip.Getting completely hammered by 11.30am on tequila....in Tequila!!!Doing a skydive in Puerto Escondido (Mexico)The island of Caye Caulker off the coast of BelizeScuba diving in Utila (Honduras)Arriving in Brazil on St. Patrick's Day.Walking up to Christ the Redeemer in RioIn fact, everything in Rio!Getting absolutely soaked at Iguazu Falls.Having steak and wine in Argentina for the 1st time......and realising how cheap it was! Buenos Aires....both times!!Argentina as a whole.The 3 day trek across Bolivia in a 4x4Being in a nightclub in La Paz dressed as Spiderman, with Clark Kent beside me!Machu Pichu.Being pleasantly surprised by Colombia.The beautiful beaches of northern Colombia.Traveling with Eoin...Traveling without Eoin!Going back to BA and celebrating my birthday there.Heading across Argentina one last time on the way to Chile.Improving my Spanish a lot!And finally, all the fantastic people I´ve had the pleasure of meeting and traveling with along the wayLowlights:Being disappointed by Mexico CityHonduras mainland, as it was so dirty and unsafe.Forgetting my passport and missing a flight from Honduras to Panama.Panama city,Missing our flight from Panama City to Sao Paolo by three whole days!Breakfasts in BrazilSpending 43 hours on a bus in Argentina.The arguments Eoin and I would have at the end of each bus trip!Leaving Argentina...both times!The coldness of the bus trips in Bolivia Altitude sicknessThe Peru/Ecuador borderLack of a decent hostel in Bogota, ColombiaTraveling with Eoin,Traveling without Eoin!Saying goodbye to some of the amazing people I´ve met along the way.The odd case of homesickness....especially missing the food and good pint!South American beer....although cheap, gives rotten hangovers!Finally saying farewell to South America.And so after the 243 days here, which has involved 47 bus trips, 44 hostels, 13 hotels, 9 flights, 8 boats, 2 trains, a 4x4 jeep and 1 motorbike, I say goodbye to Latin America, and say thanks for all the amazing memories I have along the way. What you see above is only the tip of the iceberg and I couldn´t possibly mention everything else. I can´t even do some places justice with photographs! At the risk of this sounding like an Oscar speech, I would just like to say thanks to everyone who has made this part of the trip possible. That includes everyone I´ve met along the way and had the pleasure of traveling with and everyone who´s sent messages and email from home and from other parts of the world wishing me luck etc. Finally to my family, who for months on end have thought that I would probably get robbed, kidnapped or killed somewhere along the way here, well I´ve survived and live to tell the tale and hopefully many more tales from New Zealand and wherever else the wind takes me, Thanks for all your support and kind messages that have kept us going along the way. So for the last time, I am saying goodbye from South America and I´ll talk to you all soon, hopefully!, from New Zealand and the next leg of the Grand Adventure!All the bestJim
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamesmc/my_big_log/1220631600/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamesmc/my_big_log/1220631600/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamesmc/my_big_log/1220631600/tpod.html Sat, 13 Sep 2008 17:45:06 -0400 Ballybrack to Buenos Aires and beyond!

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Rosario, Cordoba and Mendoza, Argentina

Hello to you all again,Well this is to be my last blog from Argentina, and my second last from South America as it´s now getting closer and closer to that flight to New Zealand.Having said goodbye to Buenos Aires and to some very good friends, I decided on making my way across to Chile from Buenos Aires by land, and stopping off at a few places along the way that I´d been to previously. Rosario & Mendoza I knew and liked, Cordoba was somewhere that didn´t really do anything for me the first time round but we were only really passing through so I wanted to give it another shot. Rosario:Well Rosario is famous for three things; 1: Being the place where the Argentine was risen for the first time and is celebrated with a massive monument.2: Being the birthplace of Ernesto "Che" Guevara in 1928. 3: For having the best looking girls in Argentina...allegedly!I remembered the city pretty well from the last time I was there, all of 5 months ago, so it didn´t take too long to get my bearings. I stayed in the very cool and trendy Che Pampas hostel which I think can claim to be the only hostel to have had the place done by an interior designer. It was a great place to chill after the excesses of BA and that´s exactly what I did there. Having paid a trip down to see the massive monument to the flag, which I still think is stunning, I wanted to go and see a new monument in honour of Che Guevara as this year would have been his 80th birthday. The statue itself was only installed last June and a Plaza was also named in memory of him. I´d seen the 1st house he lived in the last time and was really disappointed with it, and unfortunately, I was to be disappointed again. It just seems the local council got it all wrong. It´s located a good 40 minute walk from the city centre which isn´t great for actually getting people to see it. The "Plaza" they named in his honour is nothing more than a field that used to be the rail line into and out of the city and finally, the statue itself only bares a passing resemblance to him. So I was little let down to say the least! As for the final point of why Rosario is famous for...well you´ll just have to trust me on that!Cordoba:Having got the 7 hour bus trip up north west to Cordoba I thought I´d stay in a different hostel this time as the one we stayed in last time wasn´t the best. This one wasn´t much better, although I think maybe I might have been suffering from being a bit spoiled with my last two places. And, I´ve now decided that any hostel with the word "Backpackers" in the name, will be avoided. It  was just a bit too basic I suppose. Plus I had the delight of sharing with two American girls who kept saying "OH MY GOD.....you´ve got such an Irish accent!". A comment I didn´t reply to on the grounds that I might say something extremely offensive!!Sunday´s in Cordoba are a bit frustrating as everything closes, and I mean everything. At one stage in the afternoon I had an option of either McDonalds or a hot dog from a street seller as my only choices for dinner. This probably the only time I can say this, but I went for the healthier option of McDonalds! My boredom got the best of me and I did one of those open top bus tours of the city. In fairness, it wasn´t the worst one I´ve ever done. At one stage I misunderstood the guide though. She said we were going to stop at the Capuchino Church, I however, thought we were stopping for a cuppa! It was impressive though and especially as you can climb the narrow steps at the side of the alter and get a great view from way up high.  The tour was to be my only highlight of the weekend though as not much else was going on. A lot of people rave about the nightlife there, but again, maybe still having BA fresh in my mind, it didn´t really do much for me, as was the case with Cordoba...again unfortunately!Mendoza.Obviously I was quite happy to be getting the 12 hour bus to Mendoza so I left first thing on Monday morning and arrived at 8pm that night. Mendoza has a lot of good memories for me from the previous time as we met a lot of people there that we ended up traveling with later on, mainly Matt and Sarah but also Jared and Ryan from Texas, who are solely responsible for the word "AWESOME" now being a regular part of my vocabulary. I decided on a different hostel this time, and not that there was anything wrong with the last place, but just felt like a change. The hostel turned out to be one of the best I´ve stayed in. It was a great place to chill out and also to meet new people. It felt more like a house than a hostel and the staff were all amazing too. One of the best features it had was the wine tasting evening. As it was done in the hostel it meant it was a lot more relaxed and also it meant being able to have a lot more of it! I did learn some stuff too though...it wasn´t all just drinking! I had a bit of an added bonus in Mendoza in that I had a contact there from the last time I visited. Maria showed me around the city and also to some of the restaurants and bars that weren´t in the guidebooks. So I got a good taste of the local wines for which the area is famous for. We paid a trip up to Cerro Gloria, which was lookout point over the whole city and also a monument to Argentina´s liberty from Chile and Peru, they love their monuments here! In fairness it was an impressive site and the detail on the monument was incredible. Mendoza also has a lot of little plazas dotted around the city which are a bit more interesting and colourful than average. Plaza España has an fantastic mosaic fountain and monument in the centre and  Plaza Independencia is beautifully lit at night to show off the many fountains and mini waterfall that are within the area. So I definitely finished off Argentina on a good note before getting the 7 hour bus trip over to Chile. I enjoyed my time there greatly and as I cannot get back there again on this trip, I would like to hope I can return some time in the future. I´ve been very lucky to have met some great people there and have some fantastic memories that will remain with me long after I´ve stopped traveling. I´m in Santiago de Chile at the moment, and just having a few days here before going to NZ on the 15th and catching up with Eoin and starting all over again in a new continent with different cultures, sights and even a different language and I am looking forward to it greatly! I´ve one quick blog left for South America, it won´t be as long and as boring as this one though!Until then, all the best,Jim  
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamesmc/my_big_log/1218396960/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamesmc/my_big_log/1218396960/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamesmc/my_big_log/1218396960/tpod.html Thu, 28 Aug 2008 14:59:22 -0400 Ballybrack to Buenos Aires and beyond!

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Buenos Aires, Capital Federal District, Argentina

Hello to you all,It´s been a while since I´ve done one of these, which usually means I´ve been having a good time....and to be honest, I´ve been doing just that!I arrived in Buenos Aires on the 4th of August and had arranged to stay in my old pal Federico´s place again in La Plata for a few days. The biggest thing about staying here is that I know I´m gonna put on a good bit of weight. The reason being, that it has some of the best restaurants and bars in Buenos Aires. Namely La Cocina and La Bicicleteria. Both of which I took great pleasure in returning to. Another great point about La Plata is that it serves the nicest pint of Guinness (outside of Ireland that is!). I know it´s not very cultured and everything but I didn´t care! I´d had my fill of cheap gassy South American beers that give horrible hangovers. I wanted something with a bit of substance! I´d also forgotten how good Argentine wine was....the fantastic Malbecs went down a treat! It`s safe to say  I was well and truly full up for the four days there before heading into the big city.I love coming into Buenos Aires city, especially coming up along Avenida 9 de Julio and you can see the massive Obelisk on the horizon. It has a great buzz about it and see all the sights again was a very nice feeling. Even getting back into the lift going to the 6 floor of Hostel Estoril felt very familiar. Once inside the door I was met by the very familiar faces of Eoin and Isabella! It was good to catch up with him again, even if was only about 3 weeks since he left. It took all of about 10 minutes before we got back into the usual habits of having a beer and letting everyone in the hostel know we were there! It took another 10 minutes to find some Irish people, mainly Joanne and Barbara from Dundalk who wanted some drinking buddies for their 1st night in BA. Who were we to refuse!? So the theme for the weekend was set on that 1st night back.The next day we all decided to go to a district of the city known as La Boca, which is one of the more dangerous parts at night but a very cool and beautiful place during the day. It´s fairly poor area and a lot of the buildings are made of corrugated iron and wood but all are painted in bright colours. Along the main street, known as El Caminito (The little stroll), it was alive with tango shows, live signing, outdoor restaurants and lots of people shuffling in and out of the tourist shops. It´s a fantastic place, and one that I was glad to have seen this time round. I even got the pleasure of having a couple of photos taken with a very convincing Maradona look-a-like, who makes his trade from posing in the streets, all for a very small fee of course. A very enjoyable day all round. That night we all went to Manolo´s restaurant in the San Telmo district and tucked into our first steaks in BA, this time round! It wasn´t a disappointment! Over the course of the weekend we would do more sightseeing mainly taking in a tour of the Bombonera Stadium and myself Eoin and Isabella were invited to a family asado in Federico´s family home. As is the usual with an Argentine asado, it´s best not to eat for about 3 days beforehand. Plate after plate after plate of fine Argentine beef and pork were placed in front of us. Accompanied by the previously mentioned fantastic Malbec wine, and an after dinner shot of ice cold vodka. This is what I call hospitality at it´s best!! It took a while to get moving after wards as we waited for the food to digest, so the belts were loosened a few notches!We decided to start the celebrations for my birthday a day early and headed to an Irish bar that night, but it was terrible so we went for a bit more local entertainment and headed to a salsa bar. It was great of course, apart from feeling completely inadequate at my (lack of) dancing moves. Still it was a great night all round and got the first of my renditions of Happy Birthday at 12.01am!Nursing "slight" hangovers we decided the best thing to do for the night was head to La Cabrera, one of BA´s snazziest restaurants, that specialises in...you´ve guessed it, steak! Given the condition we were in during the day, we all scrubbed up well and enjoyed another feast meat, wine, champagne, a birthday desert and another version of happy birthday. Another excellent night came to a close, and I had a fantastic birthday surrounded by some great people. And so after saying farewell to Eoin and Isabella as they returned to Sao Paolo, I set about discovering some more of the city that I´d not seen before. Starting with Palermo, myself and Enrique did a long walking tour of the three districts that make up this area. In truth the place comes to life more at night time. Although it´s full of restaurants, bars and some very cool shops, it seems to lack the buzz and atmosphere that it has in darkness. Over the course of the next few days, there was an influx of Irish in the hostel and for some reason I became some what of point of reference for them all. As soon as new guest arrived, Roy, the barman would automatically introduce me and I´d take on the role of tour guide/information point! So I did a lot of the sights of the city on numerous occasions. As I am writing this, I have now visited the Recoleta grave yard 6 times....which is a little bit morbid to say the least! I also took in the amazing antiques market in San Telmo on a Sunday which was alive with people and stalls selling everything from vintage telephones to "I LOVE BA" t-shirts!Just when things were starting to settle down and the Irish started to move on, Barbara & Joanne returned from a trip to Iguazu Falls and were accompanied by Jim and Eamon, who´d been here for the weekend of my birthday. So needless to say it all started again with a long weekend to celebrate Joanne´s birthday. More cake, candles and nights out in Palermo were had. One of these nights ended with a member of the group (who shall remain un-named!) attempting to put an Irish flag on top of the the dome bedroom I´m sleeping in. Needless to say it resulted in half the flag getting there before the person fell and nearly broke the air con unit! Oh well, at least the thought was there!Having said farewell to Jim, Eamon, Barbara and Joanne, I´m now enjoying a few days of relaxation and trying to speak Spanish again! I should be here until the 1st of September at which point I will make way up to Rosario for a couple of days, before heading to Cordoba and Mendoza for a few more days and finally arriving in Santiago, Chile, which will be my last stop in South America. I´ll fly out to New Zealand on September 15th. It´s weird to think that I´ll be in a completely different continent after spending so much time in Latin America. New Zealand always seemed so far away, and I don´t just mean geographically, at the start of the trip and now it´s just over 2 weeks away. It´ll be hard to leave Argentina this time as I know I won´t be back on this trip and maybe for a good few years. But onwards and upwards they say, a new place, and new start and some new memories to be made.Until soon,All the bestJim    
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamesmc/my_big_log/1216580760/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamesmc/my_big_log/1216580760/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamesmc/my_big_log/1216580760/tpod.html Sat, 02 Aug 2008 19:59:17 -0400 Ballybrack to Buenos Aires and beyond!

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Bogota, Colombia

Hello to you all from Bogota again!Well we got back here in mid July and having said goodbye to Matt and Sarah, myself and Eoin would be traveling for one more week before he headed back to Sao Paulo to the lovely Isabella and I...well my plans changed a bit!There wasn't much else for us to do in the city as we'd seen pretty much all we wanted to on our first stop here. We did manage to see the Police Museum, which was full of Colombian police artifacts, mainly belonging to the infamous drug trafficker Pablo Escobar and his Medellin Cartel. He had an impressive collection of top of the range camcorders, cameras and gadgets, which was part of the reason why he was once the 7th richest man in the world! There was also a fantastic collection of guns and ammunition on show, some of it belonged to the police and some of, more worryingly, used to belong to members of the public!Another big event that week was Colombian Independence day, which also coincided with a Peace March. This was on the back of some high profile FARQ detainees being released a few weeks previously. The march was intended to get all detainees released, and in order to show unity, everyone attending had to wear white. So there was some interesting scenes national pride on show, all of which passed off without incident. We managed to get a rare luxury in, a trip to the cinema. May not sound like much of a luxury to most of you, but it's something that is quite rarely done while traveling. So we managed to get the new Batman flick in, followed off with a pint or two in The Pub, the last few pints we'd be having together for a while!Having moved hostel just before Eoin left, I had thought I'd got myself a job there as they were looking for volunteers with both English and Spanish. However, having waited for days to see if I'd got it, the job was then given to a German guy with little English and no Spanish....oh well, them's the breaks! So having thought I was in a good position here, I was now in the exact opposite. Added to the that, the hostel wasn't very good and the people not too friendly. The lowest point came was one night when someone broke the stereo in the common area, just below my bedroom, and resulted in James Blunt being played on a loop for a few hours! Not good at all!!The next day I was saved from oblivion when Henry joined me in the hostel. I'd met Henry a few times along the way, mainly on the three day trek across Bolivia. So we met up with John, Conor and Mark, three lads I'd met in Medellin and went for a few drinks. Over the next few days myself and Henry did some sightseeing around the city including another trip on the cable car, and a long walk around the area we were staying in La Candelaria. A vintage car sale took place on Sunday so we had a stroll in and looked at some desirable American classics and dreamed about how a lottery win could easily be spent on some of these beauties!We'd also decided to move to a small hotel down the road because not only was the hostel poor on atmosphere, it had the worst bed I'd ever slept on...resulting in 4 nights of non sleep! So a little but of luxury, including hot water and a telly were very welcome! I had only one major thing to do and that was to organise my flights for my return to Buenos Aires, and having successfully done that, I then knew I had one more week left here before heading back. So I was a lot more content. I said goodbye to Henry the next day as he headed off to Medellin and further up North. I moved to yet another hostel, this time on another side of town called Chapinera. I moved here cos Conor, John and Mark all were staying here and recommended it highly, and they weren't lying. It's a great atmosphere, very relaxed and as it's owned by a Korean and a Colombian so there a good blend of food on offer too!It's Saturday afternoon now and I'm waiting this waiting for big BBQ to be ready in the hostel here. They're doing it Argentinian style so it's preparing me for Monday when I'm back there and having a few Guinness with Federico in La Plata as a warm up to my birthday in just over a week in the familiar surrounds of the Hostel Estoril's roof!So that's all for now, next update from BA and hopefully some good photos to go along with it. Oh and just one more thing...seeing as I left the last blog with a bit of gossip surrounding an engagement, I had a lot more emails and comments than usual...so for those of you that want to know, it was me. I was asked by a Colombian girl who wanted to marry me so she could get a visa for Europe! Despite her giving me the reason why she asked me straight away....I think it's fairly safe to say I declined!!Anyway, that's all the gossip for now. Hopefully I'll have more for you soon!All the bestJim  
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamesmc/my_big_log/1215460320/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamesmc/my_big_log/1215460320/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamesmc/my_big_log/1215460320/tpod.html Mon, 28 Jul 2008 18:12:16 -0400 Ballybrack to Buenos Aires and beyond!

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Cartagena, Colombia

Hi all,Seeing as we´d got used to the sun and heat of the north coast of Colombia, we decided to keep it going by heading onto Cartagena, which many people had raved about and even the Lonely Planet gave it a great review! So we were very happy to find that it lived up to the hype. I would put Cartagena as one of my favourite places that I´ve visited so far on the trip. This is mainly due to mix of old and new that it has going for it. The new side of town is full of very modern and luxurious apartments just waiting for investors to come in and swipe them up. It also has more than enough designer stores for any Sex and the City fan to wave their overly priced handbag at! New town even boats a very nice beach too. Old town, which was my favourite, was a lot more pleasing on the eye. Everywhere you looked there was buildings of different shapes, sizes and all brightly painted. Almost all of them had balconies attached that were big enough to count as an extra room, each one tastefully painted and decorated to blend into the surroundings. As you can see, I was a big fan of the place! Apart from all of the above, Cartagena also boasted a fantastic temperature, both at day and night, which made it perfect for enjoying the best of the food and drink on offer in the many plazas and outdoor bars available. So, that´s what we did! Our first night there, unfortunately we did it a little to the excess. So much so that we arrived back in the hotel at around 4.30am (or maybe even closer to 5am...Matt!) at which point I took out the guitar, Matt plugged the i-pod into the speakers and we had a little party in the room. It didn´t last long however, as one of the other guests in the hotel came banging on the window of the room, kindly reminding us of the time and also informing us that we were crazy! Well, his language might have been a little more colourful but, to be honest I blame Matt and Sarah, every time we have a big night out with them we end up in trouble with the other guests. They´re a bad influence!So with a "little"bit of a hangover the next morning, we booked into the hostel we wanted to stay in originally and got settled there. We decided to pay a trip over to the new side of town, and do what all people do when hungover....get a McDonalds! Having stuffed up on junk food, we took a stroll around the streets and although we all wanted to purchase some of the clothes from the designer stores, unfortunately they were just a little bit outside the budget of a backpacker!! We were much happier on the old side of town taking in all the sights, especially watching the sunset from the amazing Cafe del Mar which is situated high on the city walls that surround the city. Another highlight of the Cartagena night life, and I place I would highly recommend to anyone that might be going there soon, is the fantastic Havana bar. Not surprisingly, it´s got a Cuban theme, and despite it´s some what decrepit exterior, the interior was kicking with atmosphere. Live salsa bands, beautiful wooden fixtures, a huge oval shaped bar in the middle and lots of like minded people, just having a great time. I even managed to get a few free salsa lessons from one of the locals...think I still need a few more to be honest. Unlike Shakira and most Colombians, my Irish hips do lie!!Our last couple of days here also had another highlight, going to a local volcano which was filled with mud which we had to bathe in and also got offered a massage while covered in it....it would´ve been rude to say no. Apparently it´s great for the skin, but I wouldn´t know anything about that sort of stuff!!! After the mud bath, we all had to walk into the sea, looking like we were all going into to get spiritually cleansed, and get the mud washed off by a local lady. It came as a bit of a surprise when she asked us to take our board shorts off and sit there naked......I definitely thought I was in the wrong kind of bath, but all turned out to be above board! Suitably relaxed and feeling 10 years younger we made our way off to have some more fresh fish and rice on one of the local beaches, a pretty good day all round!Myself and Eoin decided to head onto Medellin, a little further south a couple of days before Matt and Sarah, as they were going to enjoy a romantic few days in Playa Blanca. So as little splurge we all enjoyed a fabulous dinner in the Hard Rock Cafe for our last night in Cartagena together. So Eoin and I headed off the Medellin two days later and again, we´d heard a lot of good things about this place, unfortunately, this time, we were a little let down. Maybe it was coming from the coastal towns and back into a big city again that put us off, but it just didn´t do anything for us. We stayed in an Irish hostel that promised much on the website and flyers but delivered little, apart from a fantastic TV room and DVD library and an excellent kitchen. There was obviously a lot of Irish there, and to be honest, maybe a few too many, as it just felt like I was at home again!! The highlights here though were, getting to select the tunes in the hostel bar for a night, and giving Fatboy Slim a run for his money ...not! And going to a football game for an ex Colombian international, Victor Hugo Aristizabal...otherwise known as "Aristi". And no....we didn´t know who he was either. All we heard was that there would be some ex Colombian internationals on show and a maybe even the great Maradona! Alas, the great man didn´t turn up, but we did get to see Colombian superstars Carlos Valderamma (the guy with the mad head of dyed blond curly hair), Rene Higuita , who is famous for the "scorpion kick" save in a match against England in the 90´s and Juan Pablo Angel, once of Aston Villa fame. I know this means nothing to some of you but we were all excited anyway. And we weren´t let down on the entertainment side of things as Higuita pulled off the scorpion kick again, much to everyone´s delight! The game itself wasn´t by any means a classic, but the entertainment provided during the hour long game, along with the music, dancing, fireworks and, as is standard in South America, the atmosphere of the crowd, were amazing and left us all going home in a good mood.Unfortunately that was about it for Medellin so we set off back for Bogota two days later where we would say goodbye to Matt and Sarah before they headed up to Miami and a few other stops in North America, so unfortunately for them it was a bit of quiet end to the South American leg of the trip. Having said an emotional goodbye to the two of them, and having traveled with them more than anyone else on the trip, I personally have had some great memories with them along the way. As they´re at home in the UK now, I can honestly say we missed them for at least a good hour or so after they left!! Good luck lads, hope to see you in Ireland for a good knees up when we get home!So I stayed in Bogota with Eoin, for a few days at least until he flew back to Sao Paolo and in the next blog I´ll update the few of you that are actually still reading this about a definite first on the trip...a marriage proposal! Until then,All the best,Seamus O´Toole !!      
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamesmc/my_big_log/1214589240/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamesmc/my_big_log/1214589240/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamesmc/my_big_log/1214589240/tpod.html Thu, 24 Jul 2008 15:48:08 -0400 Ballybrack to Buenos Aires and beyond!

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Santa Marta, Colombia

Well as the title suggests, the few days we spent in the Caribbean coastal town of Taganga were a mix of relaxation, bathing, good food and just a little bit of pain thrown in too! We were also joined on this trip by Martina, an Austrian girl we met in San Gil.One thing that´s quite hard to understand here in Colombia, is that the buses are always cold....no matter how hot it may be outside! The always have the cold air con on, which results in little sleep and crankiness! The only saving grace of this trip was that when we got off at Santa Marta, before getting a taxi to Taganga, it was very very hot outside, which was still a novelty for us in Colombia. So the shorts, t-shirts and bikinis (in Sarah and Martina´s cases obviously), got dusted off from the backpacks and we set off in search for a famous baguette restaurant we´d heard a lot about from other travelers. Luckily for us it was only 2 minutes walk from the hostel and they were a godsend! Hot baguettes with every kind of filling imaginable all accompanied by a very cold and tasty fruit juice, all made fresh in front of our very eyes! It was definitely what we needed and in fact we became quite addicted to them.Taganga itself is only a small little coastal town, which relies mainly on fishing, diving and boat trips to the surrounding beaches as it´s main source of incomes. So we had to get used to everyone vying for our attention to take them up on their offers of restaurants, juice bars, boat trips etc....at first it was a bit annoying but we got used to ignoring them! Being back on a beach was a nice feeling as it was something that, for myself and Eoin anyway, had not experienced since back in March when we were in Rio. Poor us, I know!!!! The first few days were spent relaxing on the beach, and a mini boat trip to the nearby Playa Grande for some serious sun bathing. We also had some amazing fish lunches, which were straight off the boat and very very tasty! Even though I´d packed on the sun cream, I still got burned, in fact my whole chest got a good roasting! The Tagangan night life was mixed, with only really one bar/nightclub to go to. The first night there was a washout. I always know when it´s time to go home when the bar staff out number the customers! Second time round was a different experience and it was full of both locals and travelers doing their best attempts at salsa dancing....some better than others I add! We had decided on a 3 day trip to the relatively close, Tayrona National Park, a little bit further up the coast. We´d heard a good bit about it, and about how the beaches were some of the best Colombia had to offer. So the 5 of us set off and were joined by a Brazilian guy called Fabio. We had to walk for a good hour in the midday sun from the park entrance up to what would be our accommodation for the next two nights so we were all quite tired and hot, so where better to stay than in hammocks beside a beach. A great idea at the time, but that would soon come back to haunt us....me in particular! The owner of the resort was a raging drunk and had consumed the entire contents of the bar and restaurant himself, and verbally abused the staff so much that they went home and left us with no food! We did manage to get some fish and rice from one of the other workers there, but he was a cranky and rude old sod so we didn´t take him up on the offer any more! The beaches themselves were fantastic and relatively free of people too. There was three major beaches in the park so we went to the first two on the first day and relaxed on the sand and swam in the Caribbean Ocean a little more (it´s a tough life!!) That night was when things turned a little for the worst for me. We knew there was a lot of mosquitoes and as we were sleeping on hammocks we all covered up well. I thought I´d gotten the better of them by wearing long trousers, socks, and a long sleeve t-shirt, despite the 20 odd degree heat of the night. What followed was a completely sleepless night, of slapping the mosquitoes off the only parts of my body that could be bitten...my hands and face! At 5am I decided I´d had enough and despite not being able to open my left eye completely I went to watch the sunrise. I knew something wasn´t quite right as, apart from not being able to open my eye fully, my lips were numb. I was followed onto the beach shortly after wards by Matt and I knew my his reaction when he saw my eye that maybe something was wrong! He quickly christened me Hitch, after the Will Smith film! Having given a good laugh to everyone when I returned to the hut, we decided to head off to the last beach in the park. I wish I could´ve enjoyed it more but was feeling tired and bruised after the previous nights attacks! I slept for most of the day on the beach and caught up on lost sleep. That evening we got food and played cards in the neighbouring campsite restaurant, and I put on even more clothes in a bid to fight off the mosquitoes again, this time adding a hat and another t-shirt covering my face and a blanket. I did manage to get through the night unscathed so I felt like I´d won the battle...despite the obvious marks proving that I hadn´t!We returned to Taganga on the third day and I, for one, was delighted to back in a proper bed for the night. We stayed a couple of more nights there, topped up on more baguettes before making the trip to Cartagena, which we´d all heard an awful of good things about and was looking forward to incredibly!So until the next update,All the best.Jim 
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamesmc/my_big_log/1214248920/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamesmc/my_big_log/1214248920/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamesmc/my_big_log/1214248920/tpod.html Fri, 18 Jul 2008 14:19:05 -0400 Ballybrack to Buenos Aires and beyond!

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Bogota, Colombia

We heard lots of stuff about Colombia before getting here...some good and a lot of bad, so we took the chance and headed on in anyway. Since we've been here a lot has happened, especially in the first 10 days or so, which I should just about cover in this blog.I suppose I'll start with our first few days in Bogota which were great, and the nightlife was amazing so we began to settle in fairly quickly. A major factor in this was meeting up with Marc, a Dublin lad that we met in Sao Paolo back in March, so we knew that things weren't going to slow down at all., especially with Euro 2008 in full flow too! On the first night with him, Eoin got his brand new watch taken from him by a girl and I got mugged at 7am the next morning while leaving the nightclub, resulting in a loss my camera and a few quid....it was all happening!The following day we were joined by our two favourite traveling buddies, Matt and Sarah, who, as much as they try, they just can't get rid of us!! And with both Eoin and myself licking our wounds from the night before, there was only one thing for it....a proper Sunday session in the the pub while watching Spain v Italy in the Quarter Finals. Funnily enough, the place is actually called "The Pub", and yes you've guessed it, it's another Irish one! A long afternoon/evening followed but us all going for Spain, it was a happy one!We did get to do the cultural side of things too so it wasn't all just drinking. The 5 of us took a cable car the next day to high above the city to get a birds eye view of it, and saw just how big Bogota really is. It has a population of about 8 million but looks like it could be a lot more from up so high. We then went on whistle stop walking tour of the city and got most of the main highlights in, which were the National Congress Building, the Justice Palace and the very pleasant Plaza Bolivar. We stayed in the more relaxed part of the city known as La Candelaria which is where most of the universities, churches and generally all the old style buildings are. It was also a great area for restaurants, bars and close to all the major shops. The other side of town, known as La Zona Rosa (The Pink Zone), which despite it's rather feminine name, is the nightlife part of the city. It has just about every type of bar imaginable, and all at very nice price tags too!So having spent the few days here, and Marc had come to end of his trip so with one last hurrah we said goodbye to him and Matt, Sarah, Eoin and myself headed off to the little town of San Gil which was 8 hours north of the capital. San Gil is fairly new to the traveling scene and has become popular mainly due to it's adventure sports scene. It also rains a lot there so it felt quite a bit like home. We decided on doing the white water rafting and were told that it would go as high as grade 5 (grade 1 one being the lowest and easiest, and grade 6 being the highest). Matt and Sarah had some experience in it from being in Oz but myself and Eoin were new to it. After we got put through the safety techniques it became apparent that it wasn't going to be plain sailing for the afternoon! We started off fine and we all fell out of the raft fairly early on, but we thought it was good for us to get that out of the way and get on with things. Unfortunately what followed was 10 times worse. We got caught in a bad part of the river and both myself and Sarah fell out completely. Eoin was falling out and got his leg caught in a piece of rope in the raft, so the top half of his body was completely submerged underwater while still going through the rapids while his leg was still in the raft and being ripped by the rope. Myself and Sarah weren't doing much better while being swept away in the strong current and being caught underwater for long periods of time. At some stage along the way I hit my back and head against rocks whilst trying to get some air and stop swallowing the water. Although we were probably only adrift for about a minute, it felt an awful lot longer when we were in there. I can say now that it definitely the most terrifying experience of my life so far and at times I did feel like I could definitely drown. The sight of the rescue canoe in front of me and seeing Sarah attached to the back of it was a very, very welcome one indeed! Matt was the only one who didn't fall in along with Willy our guide, so he had the task of pulling Eoin back in and trying to get to us guys too. When we got back in, we were all in shock at the whole experience but we had to continue for a few more metres where we would stop for lunch, which by the way, was the last thing we felt like doing at that time. None of us really wanted to continue, but we had to to as there no other way back to end of the river. After getting up most of the water I swallowed and having got some energy back in the legs we set off again for the last part. We were told that the last part could reach as high as a grade 6 so it wasn't exactly what I wanted to hear. Matt and Eoin were moved into the other raft and Sarah and I were still in the same one, but joined by two other guys to take the lads' places. The first couple of rapids were fine and good to get confidence back, however the last part was my doing, and two of us came out again. Joel, an Aussie guy who was in front of me in the raft, managed to get himself back in at the last minute but I was caught up in the current again an drifting away. Being honest, my only thoughts were, "not again" as I was whisked away. This time I managed to keep the head and back ok, and just scraped and bruised my knees off an underwater rock. When I was rescued this time, the raft had gone on too far ahead so I had to walk back along the river bank to catch up. I had no energy at all in my body by this stage so it took me some while to get back. After getting back in the raft for the final time and heading to the end of the river I was personally delighted it was over. I'm sure you'll have some idea from the photos and video what it was like. If you look carefully enough at the video, you'll see me come out of the raft at the last part. Back on dry land and still a little bit in shock, we were soon able to laugh at the experience whilst looking at the photos of the day. We had one final mini day trip to the nearby town of Barichara, which was a very very small colonial old town, where we again got to watch Spain's progress in the Euro's. From San Gil, we headed up north again to the coastal town of Taganga for some sun and relaxation, which was much needed and very welcome!All the best,Jim
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamesmc/my_big_log/1212689760/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamesmc/my_big_log/1212689760/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamesmc/my_big_log/1212689760/tpod.html Sun, 06 Jul 2008 16:54:38 -0400 Ballybrack to Buenos Aires and beyond!

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Cusco, Peru

Hello again to you all. We arrived in Cusco for one main reason, to go to Machu Pichu, and ended up really enjoying the city which used to be the ancient Incan Capital as they saw it as the centre of the world, We would be based here for a few days and wedged in the middle was a three day trek and trip to the famous site.  Obviously it has a huge historical and cultural background and some of the sights there were very impressive. The main plaza, Plaza de Armas, was definitely the most impressive one I´ve seen so far. Always full of people, colour, and good atmosphere, plus lots and lots of tour agencies all vying for our dollars! Strangely it also has a massive massage trade, not too sure if it´s the above board massages or not, but I´ve certainly never been asked if I wanted one so much in my life! It's also home to the "Highest Irish Owned Bar in the World"..a big title to have so of course we had to pay it a visit just to make sure. And, quite rightly, Paddy Flaherty's bar in Cusco does indeed hold the title. In fact we had to go back a few more times....just to make sure we weren't reading the sign wrong of course!We traveled to Cusco with Carly and Tristan from La Paz and also met up with our two favourite Aussie girls, Christy and Jodie again, so despite being surrounded by all the influence from down under we all headed off on the three day trek which would lead us to Machu Pichu on the third day for an early morning trek along the Inca Trail......or so we thought...more on that later!The first day was taken up with a bike trek from just outside Cusco to the town of Ollantaytambo, and having done the Death Road trip in La Paz, we figured it´d be a piece of cake........but we were very very wrong! It was definitely the most intense physical day so far. Not only were the bikes in pretty bad condition, but it was during the midday sun, a lot of it was uphill and we were all very unfit! The bikes were in such bad condition that Eoin got two flat tyres in the same wheel, my front wheel broke and was within a minute of falling off while going down a hill at speed, Carly´s saddle came off and Eoin front brake then broke. At different times during the day we all felt the pain of it, and cramp got the best of me on a few occasions in both legs at the same time. So needless to say we were delighted we did it, and stopped off at some amazing sites along the way, including the town of Moray, another ancient Incan site, which had a very unusually shaped agricultural field. You can get a better look of it in the photos but each layer is 5 degrees cooler than then the previous one. In the very centre is a sacred circle than Incan and indigenous people pray in. The idea is to pray in each direction of North, South, East and West of the circle, but it can strictly only be done if the person believes in the Incan faith and prayer, otherwise it will bring bad luck. Another interesting site along the way was the Salt Mines which, as the name suggests, is miles and miles of salt, at various stages of being processed. The people working here seemed to be working incredibly long hours, carrying huge loads and trekking up miles and miles of hill side for the most basic of pay, which was unfortunately a common theme in Cusco and Peru.Having arrived in Ollantaytambo, tired and aching, we had to catch a train to the small town of Aguas Calientes, which means Hot Waters. This town is the stopover for everyone going to Machu Pichu, so it was a real tourist hot spot full of souvenir shops, bars, restaurants and hotels. It wasn´t a particularly pretty town, but all we wanted a decent place to stay, food and a warm shower, which is what we got. We had assumed that the following day we would be doing a 7 hour walking trek through the mountains of the area before a 5.30am start the following day to go to Machu Pichu as we´d agreed with the tour company in Cusco. What happened however was that we got up at 9am for the 9.30 start...which later turned into 10am, 10.30 and then 11am. So after a quick call to the tour company it was decided that we would go to Machu Pichu ourselves and meet a tour guide there. Getting there so late meant that we didn´t get to walk the Inca Trail or climb Huayna Picchu, which is the mountain seen in all the photos. Despite this disappointment, it was still awesome. Having been on the road for nearly 5 months at that stage, it was becoming increasingly harder to get motivated by some of the sights, which after a while began to blend into one. This however, was completely different and it renewed our enthusiasm for it all over again. The site itself is huge, and not only is it a UNESCO World Heritage Site, but it was recently named as one of the new 7 wonders of the world. I won´t go into too much detail on the history, but it was built around 1460 and abandoned about 100 years later. Amazingly it was one of the few Inca sites not destroyed by the Spanish when they arrived as they never even found it! Over the centuries, the site became overgrown and unsighted until it was re-discovered in 1911 Hiram Bingham, a US explorer and Senator. All of the overgrown green land was painstakingly cut back and as much of the original area was restored or recreated to give us what we have today. We did eventually get a guided tour and were shown and told some amazing facts about the site. So it turned out to be a very enjoyable and interesting day in the end, despite the initial let down. On the way home from the site and after a 2 hour walk back down, we decided to hit the other attraction the town is famous for, it´s hot springs, which we thought would be a great way to relax after the two days of walking and cycling. So myself, Christy, Jodie and Carly headed up to it. I can´t really describe what a let down it was. I can however tell you that it was one of the most disgusting and smelly things I´ve ever seen. Maybe we had the wrong image and thought it was going to be a natural hot spring in the outdoors surrounded by beautiful scenery. What we got however was 4 small outdoor swimming pools of brown water. Some people were just there to wash themselves and the were certainly making sure they got the dirt out of everywhere! The fact that alcohol was served to people in it, should have been a deterrent and a clue to what the contents of the pool were going to be!! Christy decided not to get in after seeing it, so myself Jodie and Carly braved it. The smell of piss when we got in was nauseating and resulted in Carly lasting all of 2 seconds, I probably survived 2 seconds more and Jodie was very brave and stayed a good half a minute or so. After all that the showers weren´t even working after wards to try and get rid of the stink. However, there was a really cool and chilled out bar upstairs so we had a few beers and laughed about what we´d just witnessed!The last day there was a bit of non event due to the mess up so we got the train back to Cusco and spent a couple more days there. Despite a late night dash to the hospital with Tristan who got a really bad throat infection, I really enjoyed my time there. The accommodation for the first nights wasn´t much at all so when we got back from the trek we decided on moving into a fantastic little hostel which was set up by a Dutch woman who had adopted 23 Peruvian children. She then set up the hostels as a way of providing income for them, and as a result a lot of the money paid by the lodgers goes straight back into providing an education, warm showers and meals for local children. It was definitely a different idea and it was good knowing the money was going to a good cause. They also had a cafe and bakery in building and for a small fee, we got cake and drinks delivered to the room.... a little bit of luxury was needed after all the previous few days physical output! From Cusco we would fly to Lima, the Peruvian capital for a quick 2 day stop off, before crossing into Quito in Ecuador. This crossing just so happened to be the worst and most dangerous border crossing so far. It resulted in us getting done out of the equivalent of 80 euros by three locals who promised to bring us "safely" across. We arrived in the town of Tumbes in Ecuador on a scorching hot Sunday, which was a dirty little town offering nothing in the way of food so we resorted to buying 17 mandarins, 6 bananas, 4 apples and 2 litres of water ahead of the 12 hour bus trip! We didn´t do an awful lot in either of these cities so I´ve only the bare minimum of photos from Quito. The highlight of which was quick tour of the city by the friendliest taxi driver in the world, Jorge, and a trip to the top of a hill called El Panecillo where a massive steel construction of the Virgin Mary is situated the Loney Planet invites you to "The Holiest View in Quito: Climb up inside the Virgen de Quito at Panecillo", so it wasn´t something myself or Eoin was going to miss out on! After three days in Quito we flew in Colombia. We decided on flying as we´d been advised that land crossing into the country weren´t safe, especially for Irish people, due to a fairly recent event involving 3 Irish men training the Farq guerrillas, so we weren´t prepared to take a risk on that one! As it turns out, we had no problems and despite only a few questions about our nationality, it went very straightforward and our fears of the rubber glove treatment lives on!We´ve now been in Colombia for over two weeks, and it´s been very very eventful to say the least! So I´ll keep all that for the next blog.Until then, all the best,Jim
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamesmc/my_big_log/1212186300/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamesmc/my_big_log/1212186300/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamesmc/my_big_log/1212186300/tpod.html Thu, 19 Jun 2008 19:41:46 -0400 Ballybrack to Buenos Aires and beyond!

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La Paz, Bolivia

Hello again, I´m catching up on the all the blogs I´ve not been able to update for a while so, it´ll kill a few more minutes in work for you all!Well we thought we´d left the cold behind, but had to bear it for another 12 hours on the bus into La Paz from Uyuni and it was, at times, unbearable. I think the bus had a fever as, one side of it was like a freezer and the other like a volcano! So there was a lot of disgruntled passengers! It was an overnight trip so we arrived in La Paz at around 7am. We did have some good luck when we got to the hostel though as it was Irish owned, called The Wild Rover and sold Guinness and Tayto´s (Irish crisps) so there was little home comfort there. Traveling to La Paz we met up with Tristan, (who we´d met briefly a few times in various spots in Argentina) and Carly, both from Tasmania, or Tazzie, as they prefer to call it! And also with Rachel and Emmanuel, from Canada, so at least there was a decent sized group of us to be able to laugh at bus trip!We´d come to La Paz to take it easy, unfortunately this wasn´t to be the case as we signed up to do "Death Road", a mountain bike trip down one of the most dangerous roads in the world. The road itself used to be used as the main road through the mountains and as a result of the narrow, gravel filled track, it resulted in a lot of deaths over the years. Now a days though, it´s not as scary and is used mainly for bike trips and tour companies. We´d heard some horror stories of people falling off the cliff while cycling down it and were preparing for the worst. I wish I could say it was death defying and terrifying but to be honest it was quite tame, and ended up being a very good bike ride through some fantastic scenery. Although we got filthy dirty and rained on for most of it, it was amazing...apart from one really annoying Israeli guy in the group who got on everyone´s nerves so much he nearly became another statistic on the Death Road list!!!La Paz city itself is very very big, and all the roads are on massively steep hills, which are tough climb up especially as cos of the altitude, 3,640 metres above sea level, were quite tough on the legs and the heart! It did however have hundreds of markets spreading for miles, where absolutely anything can be bought, from electrical goods to lollipops! Like the rest of Bolivia, La Paz is quite a good bit cheaper than back home and at times we all felt guilty spending so much there, mainly cos the people are so hard working there and have very little to show for it. A lot of the indigenous people could be seen powering up up through the steep hills with huge loads all day long when we struggled with carrying a shopping bag up! Although parts of the city were very beautiful, especially around the main plaza where the Presidential Palace is located, other parts were over filled with cars, smog and people trying to sell anything they could on the side of the road. Back in the land of the The Wild Rover hostel however, there was the important matter of the Heroes and Villans theme night. So obviously as the name entails, everyone had to dress up as either a hero or a villan. Eoin chose Clark Kent, I went as Spiderman, Tristan decided on Guile from the Streetfighter video game, and Carly went as, well, herself, based on a t-shirt she bought with her initials on it,CH,and then as you can see from the photos, added lots of tinsel and colour. Eoin came up with another name for the CH on the t-shirt, unfortunately I can´t print it here, so I´ll let you use your imaginations! The night went great and we were definitely the best dressed room in the hostel. The funniest part of it all was when we went to an all night night-club and left at 11am the next morning. The locals on the street who were going about their business we suddenly met with Superman, Spiderman and a bright red and yellow Carly coming out of a bar. The taxi man didn´t know what was going on when he picked us up! On the way back to the hostel a bus had a mild crash into the side of the taxi, so yet again we got some very strange looks when everyone could see who was in the taxi, and not one of us could prevent the crash!!! We eventually got to bed at about 12pm the next day and I was delighted to be able to sleep in a Spiderman costume, something I´ve not done since I was 6 years old...it´s the little things really!So we ended our time in La Paz on a good note and headed for Cusco in Peru and planned to see Machu Pichu and the Inca sights, which will all be in the next one.All the bestJim 
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamesmc/my_big_log/1211586000/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamesmc/my_big_log/1211586000/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jamesmc/my_big_log/1211586000/tpod.html Tue, 17 Jun 2008 22:29:58 -0400 Ballybrack to Buenos Aires and beyond!

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Uyuni, Bolivia

I'm not too sure where to start with this blog, so I'll do my best to describe what we did over these three days which began in Chile and ended in the town of Uyuni in Bolivia. As I've said earlier they were the three toughest days traveling yet so here goes!Day one: We started at 7.30am where we were picked up outside the hostel and it was also where we met what would turn out to be our other two traveling partners for the next few days, Henry and Adele. Henry introduced himself as being from the capital of Ireland...Liverpool, so it was fair to say we all clicked straight away and were happy that the 6 of us would be in the one jeep. Having crossed the border into Bolivia we got started and were assigned our driver, Edgar who was accompanied by his 10 year old son Jorge. Off we set and the first stop was the Laguna Blanca (White Lagoon) followed by the Laguna Verde (Green Lagoon)...do you see a pattern forming?? The highlight of the day was a dip in a the hot springs in Polque, which was a tonic for the freezing conditions. The hardest bit was getting out to dry off! The last part of the day was finished off with...you've guessed it...another lagoon, this time it was Laguna Colorada's turn (Coloured Lagoon). By this time we were all finding the altitude quite tough and walking even a few steps meant stopping to catch breath. It knocked me for six completely and did eventually get sick from it. So after a tough 1st day we were looking forward to a warm shower and bed. It wasn't to be however, and we ended up staying in Hostal Hualla Jara, which was so cold the water froze in the sinks and toilets. Even after renting sleeping bags I ended up wearing 2 pairs of socks, 2 pairs of trousers, 3 t-shirts, a thermal vest, a hoodie, a hat and gloves in bed!! Toilet breaks were very few and far between! We did end up having a good night there though as the guitar came out and we all sat around the fire into the early hours....well up until the point where the electricity got turned off at 9.30pm anyway!Day two:It's fairly safe to say that none of us got much sleep the previous night so we were all quite tired, cranky and cold and the idea of more sightseeing didn't really get us going. And when we saw that the orange juice for breakfast was in fact frozen inside the bottle, it didn't look like being a good start! The first stop was at the Arboles de Piedra (The stone trees), which was in essence a collection of massive strangely rocks that had been formed over years of wind erosion. After this we passed through a collection of yet more of those famous lagoons and headed for the Ollague Volcano, which is still active. We didn't know that we would only be getting 45km away from it though. As we were all feeling the tiredness kicking in big time, we were all keeping ourselves going though and Henry had plenty of hilarious stories from his days working as a chef on ships throughout the world to keep us entertained! There was one hairy moment when we arrived at a point in the road where we couldn't go any further so our driver decided to use the 4x4 to all it's capacity and drive down a near 90 degree hill that looked like it was a flat drop. His poor son Jorge was terrified in the back, and although we can laugh at it now, we were all a little anxious too. However we made it and all the other jeeps took out lead too. The 2nd night had a bit more comfort to it as we stayed in a hostel in Villa Martin made entirely of salt, and I mean everything...the walls, the supports, tables, chairs, even the bases of the beds. It also had hot showers and hot meals so it lifted the moods greatly.Day 3:This was definitely the best day of the trip! Not only were we in good form after the showers and food but we were heading to the Salt Flat we'd heard so much about along the travels so far. The particular one we went to was 12,000 square kms of flat land made entirely of salt, so as you can see from the photos, it's white as far as the eye can see. It also gives a really weird sense of perspective when you lie down on it as can also been seen in the photos. Right in the middle of the 12,000 sq kms is Fisherman's Island which was really really random , not only because it's the only piece of land there but because it's filled entirely with cacti! Literally hundreds and hundreds of cacti with a Bolivian flag on top of a few rocks at the top of the island. It was a welcome break from the lagoons and it had us all in great spirits. After taking a lot of amusing and crazy photos on the salt flats we headed for a Salt Museum at the Playa Blanca hotel, where there was some exhibitions of statues and clocks made of salt. The whole building was again made entirely of salt.  The very last stop on the trip was to the Train Cemetery where some of Bolivia's oldest trains were laid to rest..or rust as the case may be! There was about 10 or 15 old fashioned steam trains just sitting there so they were asking to be climbed on and explored so that's what we did!Finally we arrived in the town of Uyuni at about 3pm and we got sorted in another cold hotel. It was only to be for one night however as myself and Eoin headed off to La Paz the next day while Matt, Sarah, Henry and Adele all went up to Potosi in the north of the country. We thought we would be saying goodbye to the cold here however we weren't to know what the next bus was going to be like!Although these three days were tough, and we were all cold, miserable, tired and sick, we also had some great laughs and fantastic memories as some of the photos will tell. Looking back now from the benefit of a warm hostel I can't believe I did some of the things and felt the way I felt. Would I do it again though....not a chance in hell!!All the bestJim Ps: A big thank you to Matt for putting in so much effort with some of the Salt Flat photos..cheers mate!
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