TravelStream™ news feed for member maireadandconor on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/maireadandconor en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Fri, 11 Aug 2006 17:23:41 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/maireadandconor/roundtheworld05/1155328440/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/maireadandconor/roundtheworld05/1155328440/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/maireadandconor/roundtheworld05/1155328440/tpod.html Fri, 11 Aug 2006 17:23:41 -0400 Join us on our magical mystery tour from Belfast to Brazil with just a few stops on the way!

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Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Well this is it. Our final destination. Our last travelpod instalment. What a better place to end though. Its a Friday afternoon in Rio. Its winter and still it´s 35 degrees! As we write this we are lying on Copacabana beach with a cold beer, reminising about our trip. We are truely sad that it has come to an end, but all good things must, as the saying goes. So here´s a brief summary of our last 8 days in Rio. We took our final bus journey (thank God) from Porto Seguro on Thursday. 20 hours but not that bad. Arrived in Rio and headed for the Copacabana end of town, where we intended to reside for the next week or so. We got our bearings and did nothing the rest of the day. The next night we headed for the beach suburb of Ipanema for a night on the tiles. Someone had pointed us in this direction claiming it was a bit of a hotspot. It wasn´t just a few average bars with little or no atmosphere. On Saturday we went to watch Flamengo play Goias in the world famous Maracana Stadium, Brazil´s shrine to football. It was a full house which meant over 100,000 fanatical supporters. It was everything you could imagine and more. The atmosphere was electric, with Samba drums, flares and fire crackers. It was probably the most intense sporting event we have ever been to. On Tuesday we took the metro into the city centre which was worth a look but not much more.Wednesday was dedicated to sightseeing. First it was up to see Christ The Redeemer which overlooks the city, then to Sugar Loaf Mountain. The Sugar Loaf is only half the size of The Corcovado, which is where the Christ stands, but gives equally spectacular views. We watched the sun set over Rio from the top of the Sugar Loaf and both agreed that Rio must be one of the most beautiful cities in the world. During the day we met two funny Greek guys, we got on great with them which resulted in an invite to their apartment for some Greek food that night. We ended up having brilliant craic and have promised to visit them in Athens in the future.The next morning we went on a tour of Rochinha Favela, the biggest shanty town in Latin America. We had debated over the ethics of visiting the poor people all week, but after some advice from locals and other travellers we decided to go, afterall it is part of life here in Brazil. Over 60% of the tour fee goes back into the Favela to help build schools. It proved to be a good decision. The experience was fantastic. The people were warm and friendly and the system in which they live is remarkable. It showed us that it´s not just beaches and football here in Brazil and we would recommend the trip to anyone who was interested. The rest of our time here was spent between the beaches, markets and our hostel.Well our plane takes off at 2pm tomorrow local time. As our grand finale tonight we are heading to Lapa, an area of town famed for its street parties and good nightlife. So that´s almost it from us. We just can´t believe how quickly this year has gone by. We have been to some amazing places, seen some fantiastic things, experienced extremely different cultures, met some great people, tried plenty of cuisines, sampled a fine selection of beers and generally found ourselves doing things we would never have imagined doing. It has undoubtably been the best year of both our lives.Well as the saying goes "nothing ever lasts forever.." and so its the end of our trip. Back to sunny old Belfast tomorrow. Thanks to everyone for reading our blog and thanks for all the nice comments and emails and we have received. We hope you enjoyed it, we certainly did. Stay tuned for the next one, until then.....
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/maireadandconor/roundtheworld05/1154619000/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/maireadandconor/roundtheworld05/1154619000/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/maireadandconor/roundtheworld05/1154619000/tpod.html Fri, 04 Aug 2006 12:46:53 -0400 Join us on our magical mystery tour from Belfast to Brazil with just a few stops on the way!

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Trancoso, Brazil

5 days in one place was just too much for us so we decided to move on from Porto Seguro. We headed to a quiet town 26km down the coast from Porto Seguro called Trancoso. Trancoso is a tiny rustic village which sits on a grassy bluff overlooking some amazing beaches. In the centre of the town is the quadrado (central square) which is basically a grass field, with no roads and is lined with big trees and lit by paper lanterns at night. It is the strangest but one of the most beautiful places we have been so far!It was a perfect place to chill out before our last 10 days in Rio. We checked into a lovely Pousada and spend our days on the beach. When we got bored of the beach we just lay around in hammocks reading relaxing and drinking beer.On Mairead s birthday we decided to head out for some Brazilian food and a few drinks. We ended up in a restaurant which was owned by a Dutch guy and his Brazilian wife. They invited us to join them and their friends and we ended up having a great night. The wife kept bringing out plates of different Brazilian food and the Dutch guy ploughed us full of Brazilian cocktails. They even sang Happy Birthday to Mairead in Portuguese! The rest of the nights were very civilised...as we prepare ourselves for the big finale in Rio!!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/maireadandconor/roundtheworld05/1153148580/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/maireadandconor/roundtheworld05/1153148580/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/maireadandconor/roundtheworld05/1153148580/tpod.html Fri, 04 Aug 2006 12:45:44 -0400 Join us on our magical mystery tour from Belfast to Brazil with just a few stops on the way!

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Buenos Aires, Argentina

Well we had made it. The last few weeks of moving pretty fast had paid off. We were in Buenos Aires for the World Cup Final, except Argentina weren't! But we were sure we'd have a great day anyway.We arrived in the airport at 12 o'clock local time after what had been a time saving but tiring night in the air. We left Quito at 8 o'clock on Saturday evening and touched down in Guayaquil, Ecuadors largest city, 40 minutes later. After another 2 hours (11.30pm) we were in the air again heading for Santiago. We arrived there at 5am local time and squeezed a hour or so of sleep in before getting on another flight to Buenos Aires. It wasn't much fun and it wasn't cheap but compared to a bus it was well worth it.We searched around for a while but couldn't find a reasonably priced room, and after an hour or so we settled for a cheap but dirty room, vowing only to stay for one night.We headed out shortly after to watch the big game, and after zigzagging across the city in taxis we couldn't even find a bar that was open never mind one that was showing the match. We ended up watching it in a greasy cafe which had about as much atmosphere as the French dressing room. All that effort for nothing.Day 2After an extra long sleep we got cleaned up and were on the street by 4 o'clock...not bad. We spent the remaining hours of natural light having a look around the city and familiarising ourselves with our whereabouts. On our way home we noticed an old favourite of ours. Something that we had sorely missed since last leaving Argentina. It was the 'all you can eat buffet'!! Having just missed the check out time, we were forced to spend another night in our grim surroundings.Day 3We were up and away early today (well about 1.30pm), and walked to one of Buenos Aires prime tourist attractions, Cemeterio de la Recoleta. About an hour walk from where we are staying, the cemetery is the final resting place of generations of Argentina's elite. We spend the day wandering through the necropolis. Only families with enough social points made it in here, and probably the best known and most popular is the Peron family, that of Eva or Evita as she is more commonly known.After a hard day it was back to the buffet for a top up and then our slime pit of a hotel.Day 4We were up and out early on Thursday, well 12.30pm, but we were getting better and were almost making it to check out time. We were early enough to spot the professional dog walkers though! Everyday the dog lovers of Buenos Aires drop their favourite pooches off with a group of guys at the plaza in front of our hotel. The lads then take groups of 9 or 10 the spoiled K9s for a stroll around the city!! There can be anything up to 80 dogs dropped off per day. Crazy.That day we walked to the San Telmo area of town. This part of Buenos Aires has the richest concentration of Tango culture. From there we took a taxi to La Boca. La Boca is a working class area in Buenos Aires port. Built by Italian immigrants, mostly from Genoa. It is famed for being the home of Boca Juniors football club. The most interesting area is the Caminito. A few streets with houses made from corrugated iron. When the artists moved into the low rent area in the 70s they painted the houses vibrant colours. Some artists still display their art work on the streets which adds to the area. That night we thought we would try something different for dinner, but the thought didn't last too long and we were back in the buffet before we knew it.Day 5Day 5 was spent wandering aimlessly through the main shopping streets looking for some cheap souvenirs and window shopping. That night we had a quick buffet and headed over to San Telmo for a tango show which was excellent...and the tango show was good as well. After the show it was time for a bit of nightlife, which sort of took over day 6 !Day 6Day 6 was mostly a hangover day, but we did manage a bit more window shopping. Yes, we were still in the dump of a hostel. No more excuses we were just too lazy to leave. Our hangovers left us at about 8 which was the same time as we sat down for our buffet. After a good feed it was off to Palermo, a suburb about 5 or 6 miles from us, which is known for its good night life scene. At about 3 or 4 we headed for Pacha a pretty big nightclub where Justin Robertson was playing that night (a DJ we saw back home) On the way the taxi driver took us to the childhood house of the Dios de Argentina (God of Argentina) himself. Diego\s house was marked but it probably wasn't the best place to whip the camera out!Day 7A day in bed for a change. Our memories of Pacha were mixed but our hangovers were the same...very bad. Thankfully we found an English speaking channel on the TV which helped ease the pain.Day 8 Our last day in the brilliant city of Buenos Aires was short lived. We finally checked out of our dump of a hotel, said our goodbyes to the buffet and made for the bus station. Our memories of Buenos Aires are good and we will certainly be back.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/maireadandconor/roundtheworld05/1153493940/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/maireadandconor/roundtheworld05/1153493940/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/maireadandconor/roundtheworld05/1153493940/tpod.html Fri, 04 Aug 2006 12:44:58 -0400 Join us on our magical mystery tour from Belfast to Brazil with just a few stops on the way!

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Iguazu Falls, Argentina

The Iguazu Falls are said to be the star tourist attraction of the whole of South America. Well they better be worth the 20 hour sleepless bus journey from Buenos Aires to get here! The 275 different waterfalls which fall 80m into the Rio Iguacu are on the border of Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil but Paraguay has no access to them. To see the Falls properly you must visit both sides, Brazil gives the grand overview and Argentina the closer look. We were in Puerto Iguazu on the Argentine side but planned to head to the Brazilian side in the next few days. We were pretty wrecked after the bus journey so decided to leave the Falls until the next day. Up early the next day and off we set armed with a packed lunch. Unfortunately we had picked the driest year since 1972 to visit the Falls so there wasn't much water and they didn't really look like they did in the postcards, but they were pretty impressive all the same. Leaving the park we bumped into 2 people who were probably even drier than the Falls themselves. A Scot and a Geordie who were in our group on Frazer Island in Australia...it really is a small world.The next day we headed to the Brazilian side of the Falls, to a small town called Foz. We had intended to see the falls that day and get on a bus to Sao Paulo that night. By the time we found a bank it was too late to go to the Falls so we found a hostel and stayed in Foz for the night. That night we read that the gangland trouble in Sao Paulo had escalated and tourists were being advised not to go there as they were hijacking buses and burning them. Although this didn't seem so abnormal to us we decided to give it a miss and head straight on to Rio de Janiero instead.But not before seeing the Falls one more time but from a different angle. The views of the Falls on the Brazilian side were much more spectacular because of the overall view this side had of the Falls. Despite the lack of water we were well impressed!First impressions of Brazil...extremely overpriced for accommodation, food and especially buses, considering we had just forked out 40 pounds each for the 24 hour bus journey to Rio...the most expensive bus so far on our whole trip!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/maireadandconor/roundtheworld05/1154099820/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/maireadandconor/roundtheworld05/1154099820/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/maireadandconor/roundtheworld05/1154099820/tpod.html Fri, 04 Aug 2006 11:45:00 -0400 Join us on our magical mystery tour from Belfast to Brazil with just a few stops on the way!

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Porto Seguro, Brazil

Not content with a 24 hour bus journey to Rio we decided to get on another bus for 21 hours and head up the North East coast. We hadn't planned on spending any time in Rio this time round because we would be spending the last week of our trip there in August. We had 2 hours to kill in Rio bus station, just enough time for some food and beers before the second leg of our marathon bus journey. We got on a bus at 6pm on Friday and got off at 3pm on Sunday! 45 hours later we arrived in Porto Seguro, a well developed tourist town on the Atlantic coast. We decided to stay here for 5 days or so just to relax on the beaches and do nothing... so that is what we did nothing!Typical day-up -breakfast-beach-a few beers and a lot of laughs at the all day beach side club-dance resort watching cheesy dancers strut their stuff on stage to even cheesier music while crowds of Brazilians stood in front of them copying their ever move! It was comical!-shower-dinner -cocktails -bedOh its a hard life!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/maireadandconor/roundtheworld05/1152389640/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/maireadandconor/roundtheworld05/1152389640/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/maireadandconor/roundtheworld05/1152389640/tpod.html Sat, 29 Jul 2006 17:02:45 -0400 Join us on our magical mystery tour from Belfast to Brazil with just a few stops on the way!

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Quito, Ecuador

Quito was to be our last port of call on this side of South America so we were hoping to fly out on a high note after what had been a fantastic 2 months or so. We arrived pretty early so we didn´t feel under too much pressure apart from the fact that the Italy- Germany World Cup semi final had just kicked off. We decided to stay in the Mariscal area of town as opposed to the old town as most of the bars and restaurants are located in the Mariscal. We picked a hostel right in the middle of things which was great during the day but as darkness fell Daddy Yankee´s Gasolina began to flow. By 10pm the room was reverberating to the sounds of the Daddy only momentarily interrupted by the female equivalent of Chew-bacca herself.... Shakira! The next day we invested 50 cent in some cotton wool to stuff into our ears. This and a few litres of cheap wine did the trick. We probably would have joined the fun and games ourselves except for 2 reasons. The first and probably most important, the music was chronic and secondly we were completely broke! The reason we had no dinero was because of the price of flights in South America. Buenos Aires was to be our next stop but we just couldn´t face the 9 day bus trip and instead we chose to spend our last few bob on a flight. After spending a morning touring the town in search of a good deal with local tour operators, the best we could find was a 3 stop flight for a mere $750 per person. After 5 minutes on the internet we could already beat that. 2 hours later we were pretty certain we had found the best deal. $540 each, still a complete rip off but better than the quotes the operators had given us. After another night on the cotton wool we decided to take a trip across town to the UNESCO World Heritage Old Town. Quito´s old town is beautiful and definitely one of the nicest we have visited so far in South America. We spent the day doing the usual tourist things; visiting churches, museums and monasteries with plenty of photos in between. The highlight of the day was Ecuador´s most ornate Church La Compania de Jesus. Seven tonnes of gold were used in the construction of the interior.On our last day in Quito we caught a bus to the middle of the earth, or the equator as it is otherwise known. We had a good laugh jumping from one hemisphere to the other, flushing toilets on each side and trying out some crazy experiments. In one experiment we had to try to balance an egg on a nail. If we could do it we would be rewarded with a much sought after certificate! A few yanks tried and failed, Conor tried in vain for over 5 minutes before bursting a blood vessel on the side of his head in frustration. Then from the crowd up stepped Mairead and in record breaking time, 1 second later the egg was balanced!That night we met up with 2 lads from Wicklow that we had met in Machu Picchu a few weeks before. We had arranged to be there at the same time for a night out. We embraced Daddy Yankie with open arms and hit a few local night clubs. We had a great night and it was a good way to wrap up what had been a great few days in Quito. Onwards to Buenos Aires.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/maireadandconor/roundtheworld05/1151868120/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/maireadandconor/roundtheworld05/1151868120/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/maireadandconor/roundtheworld05/1151868120/tpod.html Thu, 27 Jul 2006 19:42:49 -0400 Join us on our magical mystery tour from Belfast to Brazil with just a few stops on the way!

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Amazon, Ecuador

The day had come that Conor (David Attenborough) had waited for all his life...going into the Amazon. We met up with our group in the tour office, got our raincoats and wellys and jumped in the 4x4. Within 10 minutes we were both having flashbacks to our trip on the salt flats in Bolivia. The group seemed just as bad only this time (thank God) there was a language barrier. There were 2 couples- one from Spain and the other a very old man and very young girl from Columbia (who we later found out were father and daughter although they acted like they were a couple!!) It just wasn´t right. After 4 hours in the van watching the 2 `couples` mall each other we finally arrived at the set down point. We got dressed for the jungle, got our food and supplies from the jeep and followed our guide Juan into the jungle. 5 km later we arrived at a river, Juan shouted in Quechuan (an Amazonian tribal language) to some boys and they brought over 2 wooden canoes. We jumped in and headed to the other side of the river, to be greeted by the village elder on our arrival. While Juan and some village women made our banana sarnies we went fishing for sucker fish. Lunch over we amused ourselves with the family parrot who repeatedly called all the children in for dinner! We managed to trail ourselves away from the parrot and headed into the jungle for a 3 hour trek. The trek focused on the jungle ecosystem and albeit there were not many animals we found out lots of interesting facts about the trees and plants. Back to the village and into the 200 year old canoes, well the tree from which they are made must be at least 200 years old and the canoes are made from one solid piece of this ancient wood. Naturally being 200 years old these things leaked.. bad, so each boat had its own 7 year old sweeper who scooped out the litres of water. The girl on our boat was pretty good but as for the other canoe...they capsized on the first rapid....of which there were many more! 1 hour later we arrived at our lodgings for the night..a bamboo bed with a piece of sponge and a mossie net,it was much more than we expected so we were well pleased...That is except for our sleeping companions- at least 100 cockroaches and other creepy crawlies! After a hearty dinner of rice and banana we headed into the jungle for a `night walk.` Armed with our torches, we followed Juan into the darkness. A few alligators and tarantulas later we arrived back to base and hit the hay....all 158 of us God´s creatures!The next morning after a few aracnophobic dreams we headed into the jungle to meet an Amazonian tribe. The Columbian guy in the group wanted to be first as per usual, he lead the way, sometimes in front of the guide. In fact sometimes he knew more about the jungle than the guide which led us to believe there was more to this guy than meets the eye. After being introduced to the tribe a young boy took us away deeper into the jungle to try some blow arrow shooting. Conor went first and wasn`t too good, then came Mr Colombia... he took the blower in one hand and in 2 seconds flat he pinned the bird (wooden of course) straight through the eyes. At this point we knew he was either in FARC or should be.Back to the village for lunch and then it was into the jeep for the 4 hour drive back to Banos. Arrived back in Banos to some bad news... France put Brazil out of the World Cup so all of our hopes of a carnival style celebration in Rio were crushed!The next day as if trekking in the Amazon the previous 2 days wasn`t enough, we decided to climb an active volcano. Tungurahua 5016m began erupting in October 1999. The surrounding areas were evacuated but by January 2000 there was no eruption so people began to force their way through military blockades and returned to their homes. In September 2002 Banos was demoted to yellow alert. All this aside we wanted to climb it, only to be told 15 minutes before the climb that it was impossible due to bad weather and increased volcanic activity. So instead we climbed to Bellavista from which we could hear the explosions and feel the rumbles of the volcano.Little did we know that she was going to blow her top 3 days later. We watched on the news that Banos was evacuated a few days after we left. Lucky escape eh?
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/maireadandconor/roundtheworld05/1151521740/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/maireadandconor/roundtheworld05/1151521740/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/maireadandconor/roundtheworld05/1151521740/tpod.html Thu, 27 Jul 2006 19:40:36 -0400 Join us on our magical mystery tour from Belfast to Brazil with just a few stops on the way!

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Cuenca, Ecuador

Brazil had just won their second round match against Ghana, so our hopes of going to Rio to watch the final were still alive. Although it was only 10 days before the final we still had all of Ecuador to see, well part of it. So even though we had been having a great time in Mancora, we had to hit the road for Cuenca, Ecuadors third largest city. The plan was to go north to the city of Tumbes and from there catch a bus to Cuenca, the bus would take us over the troublesome Peru/Ecuador border, notorious for scams and rip-offs, and straight through to Cuenca. Our journey didn't get off to the best of starts when the lady that owner our hostel told us that the border was closed due to protests in Ecuador and had been for several days. "Probably just a spoof to get an extra night out of us," we laughed to each other as we walked away. So off we went to Tumbes in a packed minibus. When we jumped out in Tumbes two hours later we were quickly swarmed by several shifty characters offering to take us over the border in their taxis'. Thankfully this was a scam we had already been made aware of. The taxis don't cross the border directly but instead drive into a compound which they are allowed out of only when the tariff is paid, usually between $70 - 100 US Dollars. We put our head down and made a B-line for our bus company. It was only a twenty minute walk but the taxi drivers knew what we were up to and had actually drove up there themselves to give it another go before we pushed our way into the bus station. It turned out that they knew a little more than us.....the border was actually closed! The hotel lady had been telling the truth and wasn't after our hard earned Soles(Peruvian currency).The direct bus wasn't on but we were told we could still cross the border by foot. So we hopped back on another minibus to the border town. We got off at immigration to collect our exit stamps before jumping onto a motorbike/taxi and riding on into Ecuador. Huaquillas, the town, sits in Ecuador but we hadn't actually passed through immigration to get into Ecuador. The town seemed to be in no-mans land and we were a bit worried we hadn't slipped on through illegally. But there was nothing to worry about, the town actually is in no-mans land. The border check point was actually another 5kms beyond the town, so it was in to another taxi. After collecting our entry stamps we jumped on to a bus going to a town we had never heard of. The bus driver assured us we wouldn't be going to Cuenca but that we would be safe with him...."Come come amigos!!" Bus driver"Where are you going?" Us (in Spanish of course)"I go to protest, no Cuenca, no today amigos, no problemo, vamos!!""Okay"So we got on and after about an hour or so we realised he was going to the protest!! We stopped at a 10foot pile of rubble blocking the road. After scaling it we jumped into the back of a pick-up truck. After a half an hour our driver (a Cletus from the Simpsons wannabe,type character) told us, "geta outa dis here truck!" in Spanish of course. We paid him 25p for bringing us to the next pile of rubble. There was a brief flash back of marching season in Belfast as we climbed over the next pile and walked a kilometer through the protest. But it wasn't quite Garvaghy Road. There were bbq's and people selling ice-cream at this one. Much more hospitable all round really. Anyway it was back onto another bus once we made our way through it. We were told to get off at a random roundabout after about an hour where we were told we find a bus to Cuenca, which we did and there was. It was four hours to Cuenca and when we arrived there we were just so tired we got a taxi to a hostel, had some food and went to bed, in that order. 2 minibuses, 1 motorbike, 2 taxis, 3 buses and a pick-up truck, it was a long day alright, we just hope Cuenca is worth it.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/maireadandconor/roundtheworld05/1149692700/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/maireadandconor/roundtheworld05/1149692700/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/maireadandconor/roundtheworld05/1149692700/tpod.html Thu, 27 Jul 2006 19:38:16 -0400 Join us on our magical mystery tour from Belfast to Brazil with just a few stops on the way!

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La Paz, Bolivia

We arrived in La Paz at 6am on Sunday morning after a long and windy night bus. We didn´t get much sleep on the bus so we caught up on a bit before having a look around. Just by chance there was a festival in the town centre. There was an array of bands and local dance groups of all ages competing in traditional Andean dance in full costume. We hung around for most of the day soaking up the atmosphere before heading out for dinner and a beer. We ended up meeting some Welsh and Americans and a few beers soon turned into a pub crawl that went well into the wee hours. La Paz has a well earned reputation as one of the world´s most dangerous cities so even through our beer goggles we still had to be pretty alert. We were told not to use taxis unless they had a radio as non-radio taxis are involved in the mugging of tourists. Some of the other dangers we were alerted to were the false police, false tourists, fake ids and the age old bag slashers. But with some common sense and a bit of luck you have a good chance nothing will happen to you.The next day was spent mostly in bed nursing our hangovers. La Paz is at an altitude of 3700m and at this kind of altitude hangovers can be nothing short of vicious. Needless to say we were feeling the effects well into the next evening.The following day was to be a productive one. We got up pretty early (about 10am) and began a walking tour of the city which lasted about 4/5 hours and included the markets, both black and non-black, a witches market (which sold anything from potions and broths to llama fetuses), a few museums and of course San Pedro Prison. This unique penitentiary is home to 1000 prisoners who must engage in various activities to get the money to survive. The most successful have cells with all the conveniences of a 5 star hotel. Those without money live in retched conditions. In the past English speaking prisoners have made money by giving tourists prison tours -like a zoo but with people. Later that day we booked a down hill mountain bike trip for the following day on the world´s most dangerous road. This is one of La Paz´s main tourist attractions and although a lot of people decide not to try it a good number still give it a go. There a quite a few companies that provide bikes and guides. We decided to go with Gravity due tot the fact that they have never had any deaths, something most or all of the others couldn´t claim. On average 7 tourists a year go over the edge so we thought we would put safety ahead of our budget for once and paid the extra few dollars for Gravity.The next morning we got up pretty early. The alarms were set for 7am but the nerves had us up before that. The world´s most dangerous road is known as such because of the amount of deaths that have occurred on it. The road itself is only a few metres wide at some points, just enough room for a truck to get around it, which is what the road is used for. It is the main trading route between Boliva and Brazil so there are hundreds of trucks using it 24/7. Under tired conditions the drivers sometimes forget about the 1km straight drop off the side and the waterfalls which fall directly onto the road and plough around a corner head on into another truck and both fall off the side. The drivers often load up their trucks with locals needing a lift making the number of casualties even greater.We met up at a cafe as planned before driving to the beginning point of our cycle. We had a few minutes to familiarise ourselves with our bikes and then were off.The first 20km of the 64km ride was on asphalt but everybody found it difficult on the uphill bits, but considering we were riding through the clouds at 4,800m it was to be expected. Then we were off road. The bikes were harder to control and most people were making the most of their brakes. The group were fairly safe and blew whistles when a truck was coming towards us. This meant we had to get off and pull over as the road wasn´t big enough for the both of us. There were also plenty of stopping points where we got a chance to look over the edge at the wreckages. The ride went great and as we got lower the temperature rose and we peeled off our layers. 6 hours later we had reached the end. At an altitude of only 1000m the weather was beautiful. As we pulled up there was a cold beer waiting on us...and it tasted good. After a warm shower we jumped back on our bus and drove back up the road we had spent all day coming down which was equally, if not more scary! We were back in La Paz by 9pm and wore our death road t shirts with pride as we nursed our sore bums on a nice wooden bar stool.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/maireadandconor/roundtheworld05/1154287020/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/maireadandconor/roundtheworld05/1154287020/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/maireadandconor/roundtheworld05/1154287020/tpod.html Thu, 27 Jul 2006 19:35:51 -0400 Join us on our magical mystery tour from Belfast to Brazil with just a few stops on the way!

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Banos, Ecuador

The idyllic town of Banos surrounded by mountains and volcanoes is a popular gateway into the Amazon. We arrived late in the afternoon and went out to book a trip into the jungle. Originally we had hoped to do a 3 night 4 day trip but none of the agencies were willing to take just 2 people so we had to settle for a 2 day and 1 night trip with a group of 4 others leaving the next morning.
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