TravelStream™ news feed for member monkey_moore on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/monkey_moore en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Tue, 15 Apr 2008 05:34:57 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/monkey_moore/5/1203072060/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/monkey_moore/5/1203072060/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/monkey_moore/5/1203072060/tpod.html Tue, 15 Apr 2008 05:34:57 -0400 Cape Town to Kenya

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Nairobi, Kenya

We only had a day in Kenya before flying home so we tried to fit in as much as possible. In the morning we visited an elephant sanctuary where orphaned elephants are looked after and eventually released into the wild if they've learnt the skills needed to survive. There is also a few rhinos here which was really good as we'd not seen any close up. They are really prehistoric looking and could pass for a dinosaur easily.

We then moved on to Giraffe Manor where as you may have guessed there are giraffes! Here we got to feed the giraffes with pellets, a few of us even got kisses from the giraffes!!!

Finally, it was off to the airport to spend our remaining money and fly home. As soe of you knopw I've actually been home fot over a week now... i'm just really bad at remembering to write this. You may have noticed there is a section missing. I'll get that written and sent asap. For now, here are some links to my photos (more to be uploaded):

DAYS
South Africa and Namibia. http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=105263&l=6a35d&id=562300227
Namibia and Botswana. http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=105469&l=b9da2&id=562300227
Botswana, Zambia and Zim. http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=105527&l=4272b&id=562300227
Zambia and Malawi. http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=105811&l=dda03&id=562300227
Tanzania Part 1. http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=106758&l=9ff9d&id=562300227
Kenya. http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=107070&l=d98fa&id=562300227

NIGHTS
Cape Town to Livingstone. http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=104479&l=3f9fa&id=562300227
Livingstone to Nairobi. http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=104491&l=b8f6a&id=562300227
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/monkey_moore/5/1203070680/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/monkey_moore/5/1203070680/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/monkey_moore/5/1203070680/tpod.html Thu, 27 Mar 2008 04:39:35 -0400 Cape Town to Kenya

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Lake Malawi, Malawi

This is also very short as am running out of internet time. We spent 4 nights in Malawi and all on the beach (next to the lake). In one place we went on a walk with some of the locals. The head guide was called Julius Ceaser and my personal guide was called Mr T. - This is not a joke!!!! There was also superman, spiderman and slightly bizarrely - Kevin Costner!!!!

Malawi is a beautiful country and will definately need to come back again at a later date to see more of it!

Hope all is well with everyone... Will be home in just over a week and will upload photos and send the link then x
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/monkey_moore/5/1203070740/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/monkey_moore/5/1203070740/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/monkey_moore/5/1203070740/tpod.html Thu, 27 Mar 2008 04:29:45 -0400 Cape Town to Kenya

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Livingstone, Zambia

We really only had one stop in Zambia and this was Livingstone from which we saw Victoria falls and did a few extreme activities including gorge swinging and microlighting. A few of us decided to make a day trip across to Zimbabwe where we all became millionaires! In Zim we did a lion encounter (walking with lions) and rode elephants. It was an excellent day but did mean we had to pay the ridiculously expensive visa to again to get back into Zambia!

Oh and we celebrated Paddy's day on a drive day which basically means we got very drunk on the truck and arrived into our campsite a little worse for wear to discover they had no electricity (power cut) which also meant they had no running water! Arghhhh....

I know this is short but am really behind so though i'd just give a quick update on what i've been up to in Zambia... Malawi to follow... x

Here is a link to a website of one of the people on my truck. There are a lot of photos so just skip through and have a look at a few... he had a really good camera and has some amazing shots! http://www.flickr.com/photos/16203966@N00/

]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/monkey_moore/5/1203070560/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/monkey_moore/5/1203070560/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/monkey_moore/5/1203070560/tpod.html Sat, 15 Mar 2008 11:17:24 -0400 Cape Town to Kenya

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Wherever I lay my hat..., Botswana

Another day, another country. Our first stop in Botswana was near a bushman tribe who took us on a walk to show us more about their way of life and how they survive in the wilderness. They have a language that includes clicky noises which was so interesting to listen to (we had a translator rather than trying to guess what they were saying!).

We then headed to Maun which we would enter the Okavango Delta from the following day. We decided to have a bin bag party and some of the costumes were better than others! Pictures to follow eventually! We were taken into the delta on mokoros (wooden dugout boats) and enjoyed a leisurly ride through the reeds. We spent the afternoon playing around in the water and trying to pole (move the mokoros where we wanted to go) with varying degrees of success! We went on an early evening game walk in search of the locals and saw some Zebra, Antelope, Giraffes and a web spider! The following morning was another game walk in which we saw more Zebra and seemed to take an extended walk in a circle for no reason before returning to camp for the return journey.

Our last stop in Botwana was in Chobe National Park where an early morning game drive brought us within 10m of a load of Hippos chilling out in the water along with a variety of birds and a lot of impala. The evening was spent on a river cruise where we were told to bring our own drinks including alcohol. The cruise started off well with people just chilling and looking for wildlife, however as the cruise progressed and our cooler began to empty, the noise levels seemed to increase exponentially. The captain of the boat told eveyone we were too noisy - what did he expext though telling people to bring alcohol!!!! We were really lucky on the wildlife front, we saw a herd of elephants come down to the river for a drink including quite a few young! We also saw more hippos, a giraffe, impala, and some crocodile.

A border crossing early the next morning with a hangover was fairly painless... we had to board a 'ferry' to cross the river and enter Zambia where we had to pay US$140 for a visa because we are British when the standard visa is US$50 and the Irish get in for free!!!

Hopefully a further update from my time in Zambia and Zimbabwe will follow in a few days... x
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/monkey_moore/5/1203070440/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/monkey_moore/5/1203070440/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/monkey_moore/5/1203070440/tpod.html Thu, 06 Mar 2008 06:31:51 -0500 Cape Town to Kenya

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All over the place!!!, Namibia

I wrote this once and then my computer crashed (saved part way through) so have prob forgotten a lot of stuff!

Our first night in Namibia was spent at Fish River canyon where we watched the sunset over the canyon with a sundowner... very nice! The next morning we went to Sesriem Canyon which you can normally walk along the base of the canyon however as there has been a lot of rain recently we were able to swim!!!

We woke the next morning early to watch the sun rise over the dunes in the Namib desert before going on a bush walk in the morning. We arrived at our bush camp which was owned by the lady who did our bush walk with us. It was a stunning place to be. As we arrived we could see gemsbok running in the distance, the sun would be setting soon and the sky was turning a beautiful red/orange colour and there was no other humans for miles! The owners had put in a couple of long drop toilets and some small shelters over the top. However when we arrived one the shelters had been blown away by the wind completely and the other just mover a few meters. It was quite a comical sight to see a random toilet seat in the middle of nowhere! We had a concrete area in which we built a bonfire and cooked Kudu steaks for dinner before settling down for the night with marshmallows to be toasted over the fire. The number of stars visible in the sky was just unbelievable... it was such a great place to be that only a few people put up their tents but everyone ended up sleeping under the stars anyway. We did hear a couple of hyenas during the night but nothing too close to us!

Swakopmund was ourt next stop - adventure centre of Namibia. There was a lot on offer but I decided I would only do another skydive! Only 10000' this time but still fun!!!! Others in the group decided on sandboarding and quadbiking. I'm glad I decided against the quadbiking as one of the girls from our tour broke both her arms and is currently in hospital awaiting the ok to fly home!

Our last stop in Namibia was in Etosha Nature Reserve where we saw a Rhino with it's baby drinking from a watering hole.... It was so totally awesome!!!! Also saw a pack of lions lounging around along with a lot of zebra, giraffe, springboks and wilderbeast.

Am now in Botswana... another update whenever possible!!!!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/monkey_moore/5/1203070380/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/monkey_moore/5/1203070380/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/monkey_moore/5/1203070380/tpod.html Fri, 29 Feb 2008 11:12:01 -0500 Cape Town to Kenya

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Cape Town, South Africa

You may not be aware but I've left the country again! This time i'm in Africa so may not be able to keep this very updated but will try wherever possible to at least write a few words! I decided to join a couple of girls I met in South America on a tour from Cape Town to Kenya.

I started in Cape Town with a tour of the townships. Townships were created as living areas for non-whites under the old political system of Apartheid. We were taken to see the living conditions in the townships and taste their local brew - a form of corn beer that I would not recommend to anyone!!! We also visited a local kindergarten where the mothers work at making weavings while their kids are cared for. The kids absolutely loved us being there and insisted on being picked up and swung around... it was exhausting!!!!! The afternoon was spent on Robbin Island - where Nelson Mandela and other political prisoners were held during Apartheid. We went on a tour of the island and the prison.

The following day was spent on a tour of Cape Peninsula. We passed a troop of baboons in the road on our way to see nesting penguins. A short cycle ride in the afternoon took us past ostriches and gemsbok (I think!). We made our way to cape point, the most southwesterly point in Africa.

Our last day in Cape Town was spent relaxing on the beach before meeting our group which would be together for at least 3 weeks. (After 3 weeks we will split into 2 groups - those heading to Jo'burg and those carrying on to Nairobi). We briefly met our new friends in the evening and some of us went to dinner to get to know each other a little bit. Unfortunately we made a bad choice of restaurant and after waiting over 90 mins for our food it arrived with a matchstick in one dish and a piece of plastic in the other! Hopefully not a sign of things to come....

Our first day on the road found us at a little campsite where we had a wine tasting. I actually found a wine that I like... so I bought 5 bottles!!! The following day took us to Orange river where we spent an afternoon playing in the river and the following morning paddling down the river... it was so relaxing. Off to the border of Namibia and crossed with no problems... next update will narrate my adventures in Namibia...

I doubt I will be able to upload any photos until I'm home so you'll have to be patient! I'll write again soon (hopefully!)
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/monkey_moore/the_americas_07/1192752000/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/monkey_moore/the_americas_07/1192752000/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/monkey_moore/the_americas_07/1192752000/tpod.html Mon, 31 Dec 2007 12:06:49 -0500 My adventure around The Americas

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Puno to Cusco, Peru

Our first stop in Peru was Puno which would be our base for visiting Lake Titikaka. We arrived in our hotel to find we had TVs in our rooms and some of the channels showed American programs with spanish subtitles... Heaven!!! My roommate and I spent the afternoon watching the TV just because we could!!! We went out for dinner that night and it was pouring with rain.. the roads looked more like rivers than roads!

The following morning we took the local transport that looked like tuktuks to the ferry port where we boarded our boat out to the islands of Lake Titikaka. We had lunch on one island and then went to a neighbouring island where we met our families!!! We were staying with them in their houses and eating their normal food. That night we were dressed up in the local outfits and taken to a disco! It was so much fun. We had bought gifts for our family including rice, pasta, fresh fruit and a couple of toothbrushes! None of the families spoke English so my Spanish skills were put to the test... others on the tour don´t speak spanish at all and have to survive using sign language!! Our families looked after us really well and took us back to the port the following morning so we could return to Puno. I decided I would try more of the local food and ate Alpaca for lunch. It was possibly one of the nicest meals I´ve had... tasted quite like lamb and came with caramalised baby bananas and mashed potato with a garlic sauce.... mmmm i´m salavating just thinking about it!

Our next stop was Cusco from which we would hike the Inca trail. Wehad a couple of nights in Cusco before heading off to hike which was well spent in the highest Irish bar in the world with a great happy hour: 2 for1 between 7 and 8 (worked out at about 1.30 for 2 spirit and mixers). A few of the boys hit happy hour too hard on the first night and didn´t make it out past happy hour!!! I realise how much I talk about food but i love it so i´m going to continue: I had my first roast dinner since I left England in Cusco... mmmmm... roast lamb...... ok, drooling again!

We spent a day having a look around some of the sites in the Cusco area including Saqsayhuaman ruins (pronounced sexy woman), a llama farm, Pisac ruins, a local brewery where we tried corn beer (I do not recommend ever trying it) and Ollantaytambo ruins. We stayed at Doris´ house the night before we started the Inca trail which is quite literally a womans house that she´s kinda converted to a hotel. We spent a long time playing the frog game (basically you throw coin shaped pieces at a horizontal board with a frog in the middle and several holes in the board. You get points for getting the coins in the holes with the most points for getting it in the frogs mouth - it´s more addictive than it sounds!) before heading to bed for the last time before the Inca trail.

We had a big breakfast before heading off to the start of the Inca trail. There was a slight delay in our departure which we filled by throwing rocks at roof tiles at the side of the road! Our first day was the easiest day we would have, only a small increase in altitude and not too long a day found us at our first campsite where a local woman came to sell us drinks while we waited for our dinner to be cooked by our porters. It was then an early night for us as we had the hardest day next. We decided that the best way to keep warm on the trail was to have 3 people in the tent which was a good thing because the porters realised that they didn´t actually bring enough tents if we hadn´t done!!!

I decided that it was time to try chewing the coca leaves like the locals as our guide raved about how much it helped... it just made me feel sick! They do not have a good taste at all and I didn´t actually feel any benefit so after 30 mins I abandoned the coca leaves and relied on modern medicine (my inhalor that hadn´t actually been used in so long that it was 3 years out of date) to help me through the day! The morning was a constant uphill... we climbed 1100m to 4200m above sea level - i nearly died, so many steps!!! We then decended about 300m to our campsite which absolutely killed my quads and i had jelly legs for about an hour after reaching the campsite. Most people were feeling miserable by this point and the fact that it rained all night didn´t help!

The third day was the longest walk where we where alternating between climbing and decending all day... the end of the day was a large decend which I had no choice but to run down as I´d lost all eccentric muscle control in my quads!!! At our campsite there were hot showers and a bar... heaven!!! It was actually one of the best showers i´d had in a long time!!! We have a few drinks in the bar before retiring to bed as we had a 4am start the next day! I´ll take this opportunity to mention how good the food was on the trail. We had different food for every meal. Lunch and dinner was always at least 2 courses and we were given snacks as well.

We were not allowed to commence walking on the trail until 5.30am but we were the first group in line to start walking. The moment we were allowed through onto the trail we started jogging as wanted to stay the first group to reach the sungate and see Machu Picchu. The last few steps up to the sungate were an absolute killer... you had to use your hands as the steps where too tall and narrow to just walk! Unfortuanately when we reached the sungate Machu Picchu was covered in mist so we didn´t get the view we wanted until a few minutes later when the fog cleared for a minute or too offering us spectacular views over the valley to the ruins. As we decended into the valley the mist cleared completely allowing us postcard perfect photos once we reached Machu Picchu.

We went on a guided tour of Machu Picchu which was the final straw for my very tired legs which just wanted to sit and never stand back up! I did have motivation to move though... my mama was waiting for me in Agua Caliente, the village near to Machu Picchu!!! It was so good to see my mama and even better to see the mountains of Cadbury chocolate she had brough for me!!!! mmmm... Wispas! I spent the afternoon with mum and Jason, enjoying some lunch and looking around the local markets before heading back to Cusco on our trains. We ate street food for dinner which was kebabs of random meat which tasted so good (i´ve since discoved that cow´s hearts is a popular meat for street kebabs) before heading to Paddy´s to meet up with some of my group (without mum and Jason). The plan was to only stay for one drink before heading to bed however as with most things... the plan didn´t get followed. We left Paddys at 11pm and I was persuaded to stay out until midnight to welcome in Bretts birthday... this turned into 4am which meant the 3 of us completed the 24hr challenge following the Inca trail (basically we had been up for 24hrs!).

The following day I had a massage to help soothe my aching muscle and met mum and Jason for lunch. We all went to Fallen Angel, a gay bar/restaurant, for dinner to celebrate Bretts birthday. They have made us balloon hats like halos.... they didn´t stay looking like that for long! I managed to make a dog and a giraffe out of the balloons near me... there were some other creations which I won´t mention here but the photos will show when I manage to get them uploaded!

I spent my last day with my mama seeing some more of the local attractions before heading out for a final meal before saying goodbye to my mama until I get home in December.

That´s all for my time in Cusco... another installment coming soon (hopefully I will actually catch up with myself before I get home!!!!)
PHOTOS: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=72286&l=a5de2& id=562300227
MACHU PICCHU: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=75150&l=83892&id=562300227
THE INCA TRAIL: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=75147&l=400c7&id=562300227
CUSCO: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=75153&l=fee55&id=562300227
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/monkey_moore/the_americas_07/1193529600/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/monkey_moore/the_americas_07/1193529600/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/monkey_moore/the_americas_07/1193529600/tpod.html Mon, 31 Dec 2007 12:03:25 -0500 My adventure around The Americas

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Arequipa to Lima, Peru

Another day aboard Moose took us to Arequipa, a quaint little town
south of Cusco. We decided to mix things up a little and go to a
Kareoke bar! I couldn´t pick a song so told my tour leader to pick me a
song. I sang Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up... Badly I might
add!!!! We actually managed to maintain control of the mike for most of
the night. Best performance award goes to Brad with his numerous boy
band solos and also singing a song in Spanish when he doesn´t actually
speak spanish!!! A few of us ended the night in Dejavu a club
where we were the only gringos in sight!

The following day most
of our group when on a trip to the colca canyon... I however had a more
important appointment with the rugby world cup final! I managed to
drink the entire bottle of cherry brandy that mum had brought me from
England while watching England lose!!! We spent the rest of
the day drowning our sorrows in the pub before heading back to our
campsite. We had beautiful weather in Arequipa and those who didn´t go
to colca canyon spent the day in the campgrounds enjoying the sun.

Our
next stop was Puerto Inca where we camped on the beach. Some of us went
in the sea but it was so cold only a few managed to stay in for more
than a minute or two! We had some chickens on a spit for dinner
followed by some rather potent punch before heading into the ´disco´.
We went via the playground where fun was had on the swings, see-saw and
monkey bars. The disco actually consisted of a man with a computer with
about 10 songs in English and a lot of very bad peruvian music. We
managed to connect one of our Ipods to the computer but the music was
still questionable!!!

We then travelled to Nazca, home of the
Nazca lines via Chaun Chai where they have excavated several graves to
show well preserved mummys - very wierd! In Nazca we took a flight over
the Nazca lines, a series of geoglyphs located in the Nazca Desert
created by the Nazca culture bteween 200BC and 700AD. They are truly
spectacular when viewed from the air and it´s almost impossible to
imagine how the Nazca people managed to create the images when they
would not have seen the images from anything other than the ground.

Our
final stop before Lima was in Huacachina where we went sandboarding in
the sand dunes. There were 2 methods for getting down the hill:
standing like you´re snowboarding oe face first lying on your board.
The first takes some skill (harder than snowboarding) and the second
gives you such an adrenaline rush as you reach really high speeds! On
one of the runs I was standing and making my way down the hill when
another girl came speeding down the hill face first. We missed each
other by cms!! We camped out in the sand dunes that night under the
stars... we were given as much Pisco Sours as we could drink and
subsequently there were a lot of drunk people around!!! I should
mention that I managed to break my camera while sandboarding as
I managed to fill it full of sand... d`oh!!!

On our way to
Lima we stopped in Paracas and visied the Ballestas Islands which are
home to Peruvian Boobies, penguins, seals and many other species. I´m
sure i´d have enjoyed it more if I wasn´t still drunk from the night
before!!!! Our first night in Lima we headed to Mira Flores for dinner
and ended up in a Hooters bar for the night!

The following
morning was spent lazing around in bed and eating McDonalds!!! I bought
myself a new camera in Lima to last me the rest of my trip as i´m not
able to get my camera fixed while in South America as they don´t have
casios here! Will have to sort it when i get back to England.

Another
night out as we were saying goodbye to some people... we went to a Thai
restaurant that had an all night happy hour on cocktails?!?! I have to
admit I took advantage of this and may have ended up a little
tipsy!!! At one point in the night Andy (Irish - there is a point
to this comment I promise) was standing outside and a leprauchaun
appeared out of seemingly nowhere and then disappeared the next time we
looked. I swear if other people hadn´t seen it I would have thought I
was hallucinating!!! As it was there was an Irish pub next door and
they had a small man dressed up... My night ended in a strip club... I
have no recollection of being told that was where we were going and
didn´t realise until I was inside! Travelling is all about
experiences!!! There was a fairly large group of us and I´d lost
my contacts so it was really just like being in any club for me...


Will update you on the final section of my travels in Peru soon. x

PHOTOS: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=75157&l=958e9&id=562300227
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/monkey_moore/the_americas_07/1195347600/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/monkey_moore/the_americas_07/1195347600/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/monkey_moore/the_americas_07/1195347600/tpod.html Mon, 31 Dec 2007 12:02:14 -0500 My adventure around The Americas

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Cuenca to Quito, Ecuador

With yet another travel day under our belt we arrived in Cuenca just in
time for happy hour, mmmm... cocktails!!!! We soon discovered however
that Cuenca doesn´t really have a nightlife: when the bar we were
sitting in closed and we tried to find a club we were told that there
wasn´t one and there was only one other bar that would be open...
we though we´d give it a go.... empty!!!! Oh well... as least I´d
be able to catch up on my sleep. Only one problem with that... I still
had my cough so I had yet another night without much sleep! grrrr....

In
the morning we visited a Panama hat factory. The Panama hat actually
originated in Ecuador not Panama. It was the Americans who got confused
when they saw the Ecuadorian workers building the Panama canal and
assumed that the hats were local! We then wandered around town for a
bit but there really isn´t that much to see in Cuenca. It has a
beautiful town square but then again most Latin American towns do!

Our
next stop was Baños which is the Equadorian equivalent of Queenstown in
New Zealand. Here we went canyoning, white water rafting and did a
bridge swing! Canyoning was an interesting experience as it started to
rain just as we started and continued to rain throughout. This meant
the water level was contantly rising and in some parts we had to try to
make our way along the bank as it was too dangerous in the water! So
much fun!!! The white water rafting was the best I´ve ever done... we
were in class 4 and 5 rapids and even had to leave the river and carry
the boats at times as there were class 6 rapids which you´re not
allowed on!!! Only Brad fell out while rafting and i´ve got a
mental picture of his face as he fell that I hope will last forever as
it was so funny!!! It was pure terror that showed and he tried
desperately to hang on with his foot but we weren´t able to help him as
needed to continue paddling... that and we were laughing too hard!!!!
(he was in no danger so we´re not really evil!) He also managed to get
swept away down river when he jumped into the water further downstream
and had to get rescued by the kayaker... Me thinks that rafting is not
for him!!! The bridge swing was also awesome... essentially some locals
attach ropes to a bridge and attach them to your harness... you then
launch yourself off the bridge and swing underneath.

From
Baños we headed into the Amazonian rainforest. On the road into the
jugle the suspension went on Moose and the truck was swaying so hard
that we all thought we were going to tipo over! On top of this our
driver managed to misjudge driving onto a bridge and we hit the side of
the bridge removing a side panel from Moose! Luckily for us... Moose
managed to survive to the town where we were boarding a boat to head
into the rainforest!

We arrived to the lodge we would be staying
at for 3 nights to discover that we had no electricity in our rooms and
freezing cold showers! Luckily the main common area had lighting so we
only went to our rooms to sleep. Our first day took us on a walk
through the rainforest to see the local flora and fauna. In order to
get back to out boat we had to wade down river. Some people struggled
on the slippery rocks and hit the deck on a few occasions. In some
places the river was so deep it came up to my armpits. Luckily there
wasn't a strong current and the temperature wasn't that cold (in fact
it was warmer than our showers!). We also visited a museum which had
examples on animal traps used by the natives and we got a chance to use
a blow pipe (aiming at a polystyrene parrot with a prize for hitting
the head). There were a few dodgy shots and a few people actually hit
the parrot and Steve hit it right in the centre of it's head. I was
about 3mm away from his head and I put that down to the fact that I
didn't really want to hit the parrot even though it wasn't real!!! From
here we went to Amazoonica, an animal rescue centre that has various
animals but mainly monkeys. A lot of the animals are allowed to roam
freely unless there's a reason to be caged so we had monkeys running
all around us. A few of them had a fetish about shoes and were trying
to steal peoples flip flops! One of the monkeys was caged because he
was too violent. He escaped once and killed 10 monkeys in 2 days! He
also needed an additional fence made of
chicken wire around his cage
as he had previously ripped the arms of the free roaming monkeys that
had stuck there hands through the bars! In the evening when we returned
to our lodge we were visited by a local shamen who cleansed a few
peoples auras by spitting pisco at them!!! Well it was a bit more
intricate than that but still...

Our second day in the rainforest took us to a local school where the
boys
joined in a football game with the kids and the girls chatted with the
teachers until it was time for the lessons to resume when we were
treated to a song from the kids. We were also given a demonstration on
how they make the local licor - it did not taste good!!! We then made
rafts from balsa wood to float back downstream to our lodge. There were
2 rafts so we decided to race and have wars between the rafts.
Unfortunately a member of my own raft turned against me and pushed me
in... After that it was war onboard our raft! We won the race back to
the lodge but mainly because the other raft fell apart - no dirty
tricks on our part I promise! Our afternoon was spent watching a
pottery and carving demonstration at a local town before being
entertained by a local family in the evening with music and dance.

We
had to leave the jungle the next day and take a 2 hour boat ride to the
town where hopefully Moose was fixed and awaiting our arrival! No such
luck... Moose had been fixed but was still around 30 mins away from us.
No problemo though as we had monkeys to keep us entertained!!! One of
the monkeys stole Jo-s drink and smashed the bottle and proceeded to
try to drink from it... another stole Hannah-s lighter and nearly set
himself on fire! Martin was encouraging them to be naughty by feeding
them animal crackers and a local man was trying to keep them out of his
house with a slingshot!

Moose finally arrived and we started to
drive along some of the most dodgy roads in Ecuador!!! We initially
decided the only way to survive the experience was to sleep... this
later turned into having a few vodkas when we could sleep no longer! We
arrived into Otavalo late and so managed to upgrade to a hostel - this
meant I would not have to camp again and I even managed to end up in a
room on my own (hasn-t happened in a long time) w-hoo!!!! We tried to
continue in our party mood but the town of Otavalo quite literally
closes down at night... we barely even managed to get food as the
restaurant we chose told us about 10 mins after ordering that they
didn-t have enough for everyone. We managed to find a place with enough
food but they had no drinks and the moment we left they closed!!!

Otavalo
is famous for its market and I soon discovered why by spending far too
much money and ending up with so much stuff that I bought a bag to
carry it all... D-oh! Just a quiet night at a cheap chinese place was
just what was needed.

After nearly 10 weeks we boarded Moose for
the last travel day. On our way to Quito we stopped at the Equator at a
place the Ecuadorians call Mitad del Mundo, middle of the earth. Here
we visited a museum where we did a few experiments... pouring water
down the plughole (it really does go straight down on the equator) and
balancing an egg on a nail - very easy on the equator but very hard
anywhere else! We had done a complete truck clean before visiting the
museum and found a lot of unused alcohol - we decided that the best way
to celebrate the end of our trip would be to drink as much of it as
possible in the hour journey we had to our hotel! Celebrations
continued and we went to a Mongolian restaurant called Mongos for
dinner where they had an all you can eat and drink option for $10
(GBP5)!!!! We all took advantage of this and when we left the
restaurant had difficulty walking in a straight line!



As you can imagine, the following day produced a lot of delicate
people... The solution: McDonalds! Unfortunatly this involved a bit of
a trek but probably did us all the world of good. I decided that
retreating back to bed would be a good idea as I didn't sleep much the
previous night! We went for our last dinner as a complete group to a
mexican restaurant (Red Hot Chili Peppers) and a few of us went to a
cocktail bar after as a final farewell.



I was the first to leave the following day and it was hard to say
goodbye to the rest of the group as we had all become really good
friends. My flight to San Jose was delayed by an hour and a half
leaving me bored at the airport where there's not much to do!



You may struggle to believe this but I am now up to date with this! I
flew to Costa Rica on 17th Nov and you'll hopefully have an update on
my travels here in about a week!

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]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/monkey_moore/the_americas_07/1198449360/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/monkey_moore/the_americas_07/1198449360/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/monkey_moore/the_americas_07/1198449360/tpod.html Mon, 31 Dec 2007 11:59:25 -0500 My adventure around The Americas

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entry & travel map

Washington DC and New York City, United States

Onto the final stages of my journey now with just 2 cities left to visit. First stop DC!

I met up with Jon who I met in Central America back in July and went on a 'walking tour' of the main sites. We saw the White House, Washington Monument, Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials, went to the Natural History and Air and Space Museums and sat by the ice skating rink for lunch to watch people fall over while we ate!!! I'd been to DC before many years ago but the only things that seemed familiar where the ice skating and air and space museum! He then took me out to a college bar in the evening to get a taste of college life in DC. There were a few drinks to be had but I still managed to make the last train back to my hostel at midnight without any problems.

The next day I went to see Capitol building and the botanical gardens. While in the gardens there was an annoucement for a Thai cooking demonstration with the chance to sample the foods... I heard free lunch!!! I've not really eaten much Thai food in the past and was pleasently surprised that I actually liked all of the dishes so took copies of the recipes... watch out people, you may be subjected to my experimental cooking!!! I decided that I would actually go and ice skate and discovered just how painful it is to have boots that don't fit properly! I actually managed to skate for about an hour without falling over once... there were a few close calls when I started trying to do spins and skate backwards.

Off to New York and the final stop of my tour. I arrived to discover it was sleeting which was fun... NOT!!!!

As for New York I did the usual touristy things... took a ferry out to see the Statue of Liberty, went up the Empire State Building, took a bus tour at night to see the city all lit up for christmas, went to a broadway show, went up to the top of the Rockefeller Centre (must better than empire state), saw the Knicks (basketball - I met up with a friend I'd made back in June in California for the game and also went to dinner with his family before the game.! and the Giants (american football) play, wandered around Central Park, oh and of course the obligatory shopping including an extra bag to bring everything home in!

Well that's it for my American adventures but who knows, I may just set off on another adventure soon! Watch this space...

PICTURES: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=78439&l=0c999&id=562300227
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