TravelStream™ news feed for member monkeymouse74 on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/monkeymouse74 en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Mon, 24 Mar 2008 17:15:15 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/monkeymouse74/sth_america_03/1055124600/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/monkeymouse74/sth_america_03/1055124600/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/monkeymouse74/sth_america_03/1055124600/tpod.html Mon, 24 Mar 2008 17:15:15 -0400 From Bogota to Easter Island, here's the story of my adventures across South America. On my own. Yikes!

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Galapagos Islands, Ecuador

Sorry its taken a while for me to update you all on where Im at, but Ive been having the time of my life in the Galapagos Islands where theres not much in the way of internet access!

I really dont know where to start, but I have to say that the Galapagos Islands is truly the most amazing place on earth! Its indescribably beautiful......

Let me start from the beginning.....

I flew out of Quito about 2 weeks ago onto the main island, where I met a cool Israeli girl, Osnat, and we sorted out a place to stay and managed to get a good last minute deal on a cool boat for an 8 day tour of the islands.

So we spent the next 8 days cruising around the islands, checking out the cool wildlife (marine iguanas, sealions, turtles, all sorts of cool birds) and getting so close to everything you felt like you could reach out and touch them! Even the birds just sit in the middle of the path and you have to watch carefully where you are going because its easy to step onto them if youre not looking where you are going. The sealions were just sooooo cute I wanted to snuggle up to them on the beach and lounge with them all day.

We spent loads of time snorkelling and I swam with turtles, penguins, sea lions and even sharks! I also did 2 dives which were amazing, especially being surrounded by around 8 1.5m Galapagos sharks. The sea lions were also incredibly playful and I spent hours frolicking with them in the water - they come right up to your mask and then shoot off, and also bite your fins.

Being on the boat was amazing, the crew were all really cool and chilled out and the food was also amazing. So all the weight I lost via the diarrhoea diet in Colombia has settled itself right back onto my butt, much to my dismay!

And then there is Valerio, our guide. What an amazing guy! He was a fantastic guide with so much passion for the wildlife and islands

But now Im sitting in an internet cafe in Puerto Ayora, being miserable and wishing I could be back on the boat. Ive had the time of my life here and I really cant put into words just how amazing this place is.

Anyway, all good things must come to an end, so tomorrow Im flying back to the mainland where Im heading down to Peru for the Inca Trail..... laters!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/monkeymouse74/india/1070606640/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/monkeymouse74/india/1070606640/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/monkeymouse74/india/1070606640/tpod.html Fri, 05 Dec 2003 02:22:39 -0500 Im now off to India, Sri Lanka and Nepal for 5 months.... wish me luck!

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Jaisalmer, India

We are now in Rajasthan, along with Jagdish, our funny driver that we have hired for 2 weeks to drive us around the state.

We started in Agra, home of the Taj Mahal. Now before I begin, I must tell you that seeing the Taj Mahal has been one of my life's dreams since a lady I was working with when I was nineteen told me about her visit to the Taj Mahal. It all started when I told her I was thinking of going travelling in Europe. 'Oh Amanda' she said, 'my fondest memory of travelling when I was young was when I found myself in India, in the sixties, smoking a big joint outside the Taj Mahal.' Visions of Karen in her paisley 60s flower power gear lounging in the grass outside the Taj Mahal sounded like heaven to me, so I decided that one day I would also see the Taj Mahal.
And so I did.

It was absolutely amazing. I really can't begin to describe how beautiful it was. We arrived at around 6am in the morning for the sunrise, and it was so amazing to see the beautiful monument in the morning haze, rising out of the smoky mist. We were lucky in that there werent many people there so we didnt have to contend with hoards of tourists armed with their cameras.

From Agra we went to Jaipur, a fairly uninteresting place, but we managed to meet a model (so he claimed, although he did talk about going to Milan rather convincingly) and a fashion designer, who, horrified to hear that we hadnt bothered to see any of the city's attractions, took us for a drive to see various palaces etc.

We then went to Pushkar, another holy place in India. The lake is very holy indeed and we soon arranged to have a blessing on the lake, which involved reciting lots of hindi, throwing flowers into the lake and receiving some red paste on our foreheads and a red piece of string around our wrist. While it may sound funny it was actually quite special, especially as it was done as the sun was setting over the lake. We blessed family and friends and also made secret prayers for husbands!!! (Sorry Gran, I forgot to ask for a 'rich' husband as you keep reminding me!)

We also decided to partake in a bhang lassi, a special drink available all over India which is like a yoghurt smoothie with hash in it. (Waccy baccy, for you older readers!). Well, at first it was quite funny. Me and Quinta went back to our room to play cards and dice games which was fine, until we couldnt actually see the cards or dice. Then Quinta passed out and I stayed up staring at the wall for some time. But it wasnt until the next morning that I felt the full effects. I couldnt get out of bed! The room was spinning and I had no balance at all! I ended up sleeping all day and that night, with only a quick trip down the road to purchase some munchies. An interesting experience......

So onto Bikaner, a desert town where there wasnt much to do but take a camel safari. We booked a 2 day safari and set off in the morning for the desert, with Raffi, our guide and the camel driver and the cook. It was nice and peaceful, with the exception of the constant flow of air coming from the mouths and arses of the camels. Boy could they fart. Even more than my sister, which really is saying something! We slept under the stars, after being entertained by our camel team who sang us hindi songs around the campfire, and me and Quinta reciprocated with some very bad versions of Hotel California and the NZ National Anthem.

We are now in Jaisalmer, which is a huge fort in the middle of the desert, and really stunning.

Hope youre all well, send me an email and let me know what is happening out there in the real world!!!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/monkeymouse74/india/1069389660/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/monkeymouse74/india/1069389660/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/monkeymouse74/india/1069389660/tpod.html Fri, 21 Nov 2003 01:00:39 -0500 Im now off to India, Sri Lanka and Nepal for 5 months.... wish me luck!

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Varanasi, India

Well, we lost the cricket.
We took a beating amongst thousands of screaming, out of control Indians. There were only a handful of kiwi supporters, inaudible only until NZ took a wicket when the stadium went almost silent as the Indians shook their heads in disbelief.
So we drowned our sorrows with a beer after the game with the team (just the one as we felt like groupies and made a swift exit!) then spent the next few days lounging by the pool and working on our tans. We even forked out for our own room for one night after the team had left! Sadly I didnt get to meet Chris Cairns. Someone must have tipped him off, as he didnt emerge from his hotel room the whole time we were there, apart from breakfast on the first day. Damn.
Anyway, now we have arrived in Varanasi. I managed to catch a particularly nasty chest infection on the train ride up (34 hours!) and by the time we got here was so dizzy and shaky that we made for the hotel immediately were I slept the whole day. (Am feeling much better now tho, thanks to antibiotics)
The next day was more eventful. After having a lovely pancake for lunch we caught a rickshaw into town and made ourselves at home on a roof terrace restaurant overlooking the Ganges. Despite a constant lookout we didnt spot any floating corpses, although the odds are apparently quite high. We watched the local kids play cricket on the ghats on the banks of the river, with each hit of the ball either going onto one of the many houses that line the river, or into the river itself. Each retrieval of the ball was met with grimaces from us, as the river is absolutely filthy. (Interesting fact: the safe limit for normal water is considered to be 500 'something or rathers' of faecal matter per litre. The Ganges contains 1.5 million! Thats a lot of poo.)
On the walk back to our hotel just after sunset we came across a ceremony being conducted at the waters edge. It involved lots of waving about of lit candles and smoking pots. At the end we were offered flowers to throw into the river. The Indians also washed their faces in the water. We didnt. A sneaky Indian man had the nerve to grab my arse in the crowded line back to the ghat, just after the final blessing. Cheeky monkey!
Today we got up at 5am and hired a boy with a wooden boat to row us up and down the Ganges to watch the people praying and bathing. It was absolutely magical. There were thousands of people lining the river, dunking and dousing themselves and offering flowers and candles. The feeling of peace and tranquility was overwhelming, its hard to describe.
We also went past on of the cremation ghats while they were preparing a body for cremation. They poured water from the river over the body, which was covered in a shroud and placed within a pile of wood at the waters edge. A few metres away a man shovelled away piles of ash. Other piles of wood were already on fire.
We both felt that its a really nice way to end your life as this place certainly has something special about it.
We are going to stay here for another couple of days before heading back to Delhi where we pick up our driver who is to drive us around Rajasthan for 2 weeks. Will keep you posted!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/monkeymouse74/india/1069562460/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/monkeymouse74/india/1069562460/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/monkeymouse74/india/1069562460/tpod.html Fri, 21 Nov 2003 00:20:19 -0500 Im now off to India, Sri Lanka and Nepal for 5 months.... wish me luck!

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Varanasi, India

Well, we lost the cricket.
We took a beating amongst thousands of screaming, out of control Indians. There were only a handful of kiwi supporters, inaudible only until NZ took a wicket when the stadium went almost silent as the Indians shook their heads in disbelief.
So we drowned our sorrows with a beer after the game with the team (just the one as we felt like groupies and made a swift exit!) then spent the next few days lounging by the pool and working on our tans. We even forked out for our own room for one night after the team had left! Sadly I didnt get to meet Chris Cairns. Someone must have tipped him off, as he didnt emerge from his hotel room the whole time we were there, apart from breakfast on the first day. Damn.

Anyway, now we have arrived in Varanasi. I managed to catch a particularly nasty chest infection on the train ride up (34 hours!) and by the time we got here was so dizzy and shaky that we made for the hotel immediately were I slept the whole day. (Am feeling much better now tho, thanks to antibiotics)

The next day was more eventful. After having a lovely pancake for lunch we caught a rickshaw into town and made ourselves at home on a roof terrace restaurant overlooking the Ganges. Despite a constant lookout we didnt spot any floating corpses, although the odds are apparently quite high. We watched the local kids play cricket on the ghats on the banks of the river, with each hit of the ball either going onto one of the many houses that line the river, or into the river itself. Each retrieval of the ball was met with grimaces from us, as the river is absolutely filthy. (Interesting fact: the safe limit for normal water is considered to be 500 'something or rathers' of faecal matter per litre. The Ganges contains 1.5 million! Thats a lot of poo.)

On the walk back to our hotel just after sunset we came across a ceremony being conducted at the waters edge. It involved lots of waving about of lit candles and smoking pots. At the end we were offered flowers to throw into the river. The Indians also washed their faces in the water. We didnt. A sneaky Indian man had the nerve to grab my arse in the crowded line back to the ghat, just after the final blessing. Cheeky monkey!

Today we got up at 5am and hired a boy with a wooden boat to row us up and down the Ganges to watch the people praying and bathing. It was absolutely magical. There were thousands of people lining the river, dunking and dousing themselves and offering flowers and candles. The feeling of peace and tranquility was overwhelming, its hard to describe.

We also went past on of the cremation ghats while they were preparing a body for cremation. They poured water from the river over the body, which was covered in a shroud and placed within a pile of wood at the waters edge. A few metres away a man shovelled away piles of ash. Other piles of wood were already on fire.
We both felt that its a really nice way to end your life as this place certainly has something special about it.

We are going to stay here for another couple of days before heading back to Delhi where we pick up our driver who is to drive us around Rajasthan for 2 weeks. Will keep you posted!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/monkeymouse74/india/1068470760/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/monkeymouse74/india/1068470760/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/monkeymouse74/india/1068470760/tpod.html Thu, 20 Nov 2003 23:41:43 -0500 Im now off to India, Sri Lanka and Nepal for 5 months.... wish me luck!

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Aurangabad, India

Made it! Pretty much in one piece, despite the battering my poor stomach has taken and the many near miss rickshaw rides!

So I arrived in Delhi after about 24 hours of travelling, knackered. Got picked up at the airport and taken to our hotel and the next day took it relatively easy with a few strolls around the Main Bazaar and hung out on the roof terrace with some other travellers until I had to go out to the airport to pick up Quinta.

The following morning we decided to go on a shopping mission as Q wanted to purchase some salwar kameez, the outfits some of the local women wear (along with saris). Some other travellers we had met at the airport told us the name of a good bazaar and out of nowhere pounced a rickshaw driver, who declared he would take us there for only 30 rupees (about 40p). So in we jumped, eager to find lots of Delhi bargains!

'Please madam, could I suggest we take a small shortcut via a friends shop, no pressure to buy, you just look' said our charming rickshaw driver. Both Q and I exchanged glances as if we were well worn Delhi travellers who knew exactly where this scam was going, and agreed, feeling that it would not hurt to go along to just ONE shop before we hit the market.

Well, about 6 very upmarket and 'clearly out of our price range' shops later, we were both knackered, Q had parted far too much money on some salwar kameez and I had purchased a marble box, but had yet to step foot in the market, despite it already nearing 5pm! In saying that our 'tour guide' had been more than entertaining, happy to sing along at the top of his lungs while I recorded him (and then of course then the rickshaw driver just had to have his chance at fame!). Phew, Day One in Delhi over, and what a day!

Day Two turned out to also be highly entertaining. We ventured into a travel agent/post office to post a parcel back to Australia, and met Shafi, a very funny Robert de Niro lookalike (or so he thought) who proceeded to show us pictures and letters from the seemingly thousands of travellers (mainly good looking young women!) who had used his services. After a few hours in his office (no really Shafi, we MUST go!) and a promise to come back later that afternoon to confirm our booking for a car and driver for Rajasthan we finally managed to settle down in front of a telly to watch the India v NZ cricket one dayer. After watching this for a few hours we went back to the travel agent, confirmed our driver and accepted an invitation for dinner at Shafi's house (with his brother in law) and to stay the night (no hanky panky, for those of you with dirty minds)

So we arrive at Shafi's house, in the 'nice' part of Delhi (which makes the worst parts of a council estate seem posh!) to settle down and watch the remainder of the cricket (which we won and celebrated by waving our NZ flag enthusiastically around the room, as beer wasnt available!) We then sat on the floor to a lovely dinner which the men ate by mushing up their rice and vege curry in a bowl with their fingers and stuffing into their faces (how much fun?!). Me and Q could only look on with envy as we used the forks they had given us.....

So the next day we had not much planned apart from hanging around until our train to Pushkar, home of the camel fair. So around half an hour before our train was due to leave Q asked me if we were definitely leaving from New Delhi station. Definitely, I replied. Unfortunately our ticket said otherwise. The train was leaving from another station, 7kms away from the station we had now found ourselves in, with only 15 mins to spare! So Plan A (catching the train that I had spent many hours on the internet in booking) was discarded and Plan B was set into action. 'There may be seats on the 10.50pm train from Old Delhi station' said the man at the station. So we roared off in the rickshaw, hoping we could bag ourselves a last minute ticket.

'Not possible' said the man behind the ticket office, 'but you can try the conductor on Platform 5'. So off to Platform 5 we trundled. We decided to wait till a conductor came along, so sat ourselves down on a bench.

'Indians have no sense of personal space' was something that had been said to me by many other travellers to India, and was also something I tried to remember as the man next to me inched his way closer, to the point that he was almost sitting on my lap, despite me constantly shuffling away. It wasnt until we saw his hand slide down to his lap and start rhythmically moving that we realised all was not well and I had been sitting (almost) underneath a perve! Half shrieking, half giggling we quickly moved away..... yeuch, only 3 days in India and Id come across my first freak! It took me months in Europe......

Anyway, to cut a long story short (and yes, I DO realise this post is already ridiculously long!) we didnt get on the train, so dejectedly went back to the hotel, around 4 hours after we had set out. The following day we managed, with the help of Shafi, to get a train down to Aurangabad, canning our plans of getting to the camel fair as all trains were booked. On the way managed to meet a Tibetan monk, a very friendly Indian man who seemed to know every detail about every NZ cricket player past and present who also gave helpful advice on Quinta's 'loose bowel motion', among others. The train ride was bearable, although the additional 2 hour ride after the overnighter resulted us in having to barge our way All Black forward style to actually get off past the strangely strong tiny Indian women. We are now eagerly awaiting the next leg to our journey, Hyderabad, the city where we shall watch NZ play India in their final one dayer. That is, if Quintas friend in the team who is getting us tickets emails us to confirm he can get them. I hope so as this 1600km detour to the south would be completely wasted without them!

Anyway, watch out for us on the telly on the 15th of November. We will be the wide eyed white girls surrounded by thousands of crazy, shouting Indians!

And no Indian tale would be complete without at least one poo story. I will keep it short and sweet. I have the runs. Real bad. In fact I doubt my tummy will never be the same again. At the rate Im going I will lose the 6kgs put on in South America by the end of next week.

So thats it from me! Miss you all still, email me with your news....
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/monkeymouse74/india/1068789780/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/monkeymouse74/india/1068789780/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/monkeymouse74/india/1068789780/tpod.html Fri, 14 Nov 2003 01:24:11 -0500 Im now off to India, Sri Lanka and Nepal for 5 months.... wish me luck!

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Hyderabad, India

Well I didnt think that I would be typing up another travelogue entry quite so soon.
But then I didnt think that we would end up staying in a suite at a 5 star hotel with the NZ Cricket team either!!!!!

As you can gather, we are in Hyderabad now to watch the kiwis play India in a one day match. The train ride down was fairly eventful, as we shared a carriage with a group of the loudest snorers we have ever heard, and were also woken up by a man shouting repeatedly at some poor Indian bloke who was then giving a vicious beating in the aisle only a couple of rows down. It was awful and we didnt know what the hell was going on. The police came to check it out, but after a few cursory questions and lots of head wobbling they meandered off and peace was restored.

We checked into what was quite a flash hotel by our standards (it had bedside tables even!) and spent our first day mooching around. At one point I left the room to go and get some munchies only to run into an elephant walking down the street past the hotel! It was all painted up and had a grand throne-like saddle on it. Quite surreal!

Then Q phoned Kyle Mills, one of the players who her friend Dion Nash (an ex player) had put her in contact with for the tickets. He was really nice and we arranged to meet at their hotel for a drink. He explained that they cant leave the hotel as they get mobbed whereever they go, Beatles style. He showed us a video of them standing near their hotel balcony, and there were hundreds of screaming Indians outside, going crazy at the slightest movement inside their room. When Kyle took his shirt off and went to the window it was chaos! The crowd (both men and women!) went nuts! The team and their activities in the city have been making front page news most days. Crazy.
So anyway, we had to meet him at their hotel, which turned out to be a veeeery swanky 5 star place on the other side of town.

He turned out to be a lovely bloke, and we ended up staying there all afternoon and having a few beers in the bar. We ran into a few of the other players (I have spotted Chris Cairns several times, although have yet to meet him!) and the coach and manager who both were really nice guys and really interested in hearing what we were up to. We mentioned the fact that we were staying in a pretty grubby hotel on the other side of town, and then the manager said to us 'Ive got a whole bloody suite to myself upstairs, why dont you come and stay with me in that?'. So off we trotted to his suite to check it out, and decide whether or not it was to our liking. Quite frankly if we had had to sleep in the bathtub we still would have gone for it! As it happened, he ordered a spare bed to be sent up and Q slept on the couch.

So there you have it. We are staying in a luxury suite, care of the NZ Cricket team, have been given tickets to the game, and will most likely be catching up with the team after the game to watch the rugby semi final (NZ v Australia) and having a few beers (or maybe more than a few if they win!). I practically had breakfast with Chris Cairns this morning. Well, he was at the next table! And this afternoon we are going to catch up with the guys by the pool. Ah, life is grand......

PS Dont forget to look out for us on the telly!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/monkeymouse74/sth_america_03/1059601440/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/monkeymouse74/sth_america_03/1059601440/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/monkeymouse74/sth_america_03/1059601440/tpod.html Wed, 29 Oct 2003 19:59:23 -0500 From Bogota to Easter Island, here's the story of my adventures across South America. On my own. Yikes!

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Villa Tunari, Bolivia

So after surviving mountain biking down the Worlds Most Dangerous Road (100 people die every year on this one stretch of road, mainly due to buses and trucks falling off the edge of the very narrow, windy roads, most of which are bordered by 1000m sheer drops, see attached pic for an example!) we made our way to Inti Warri Yassi, an animal refuge in the Bolivian jungle. This was one of the parts of my trip that I was looking forward to most. And sheesh, I wasnt disappointed.......

We turned up to this small village and were given a tour of the entire park before they allocated a job for us. Along with many kinds of monkeys, they also looked after birds, weasels, tejons, pumas, jaguars, ocelots among others. I had already met and fallen in love with a titi monkey in the quarantine area and had my fingers crossed to get that job, and luckily they did! I had finally got myself a monkey! Hoorah!

So now I was the chief caretaker of Shula, the titi monkey and was also there to help out the other quarantine guy, Iain with the other 14 monkeys in the quarantine area, the area of the park that all monkeys had to spend at least a month in before being released into the general monkey park with the other monkeys.

My day consisted of letting the monkeys out of their sleeping cages, feeding them, giving them some good old fashioned monkey lovin´ and of course being shat and pissed on at least 5 times a day (although my record was 15 times in one day - niiiiice). As the monkeys in our care werent allowed to roam around as much as the other ones we had to make sure that we spent lots of time with them keeping them occupied, which basically meant cuddling them, feeding them bananas, letting them hang off ourselves and occasionally bite the shit out of various parts of our bodies (I am covered in monkey bites!)

One of the spider monkeys there, Ava, had had a miscarriage and was very ill, so I had to spend hours with her lying in the shade, with her cuddled up on my lap as you would with a sick child. It was heartbreaking as not only was she ill, but she was depressed from losing her baby, so she wouldnt do anything other than mope and constantly cling onto me for cuddles. She later died and it was so sad.

My Shula was the best monkey in the whole park and everybody loved her. She was only tiny and the other cappuchin monkeys would pick on her so I carried her everywhere on my neck. We also had another baby cappuchin monkey, Ramon, who was very clingy and would sit clinging onto my forearm for hours. He was also a vicious little beast when it came to bed time and would climb up onto my neck and dig his little paws in and bite the back of my neck so I couldnt pull him off me. One day he got me so bad I actually cried!

Along with all the cool monkeys in the park we were able to walk the pumas in the jungle. I spent one day with Roy, an 8 month old puma, who was just amazing. He wasnt tame so I had to keep my distance and only had one scrape when he lunged at my leg and bit my calf, only gently but enough to give me the shits! When he decided that he wanted to have a laydown on the trail instead of walking I was made to act as live bait to get him moving, which basically involved me walking ahead of him and Renata (the handler), making lots of noise then stopping to look back at them as if I was being hunted, which resulted in him stalking me through the bushes and occasionally making a run for me! Luckily Renata had a good hold of his leash so he couldnt reach me, but I have to say it was rather unnerving to be bait for a puma which could have eaten me if he had wanted to!

Not only were the animals cool, but we met some amazing people too. I shared a room with an Israeli guy, Yuval, who was brilliant and we ended up having lots of drunken nights out with him and his mates, and our room ended up being the party room. Me and a few of the other kiwis staying there also put on a pub quiz night to raise money for some new monkey cages which also resulted in a drunken party. As Im sure you can imagine, getting up at 7am to deal with monkey shit every morning after partying till 4am isnt easy, but of course it had to be done and it was all good fun.

It was so hard to leave and the last 2 weeks have definitely been one of the highlights of my trip so far. I miss my monkeys already and hope to go back one day to see how they are all doing. Ive attached some pics for you to look at!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/monkeymouse74/sth_america_03/1065692640/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/monkeymouse74/sth_america_03/1065692640/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/monkeymouse74/sth_america_03/1065692640/tpod.html Thu, 09 Oct 2003 06:12:38 -0400 From Bogota to Easter Island, here's the story of my adventures across South America. On my own. Yikes!

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Easter Island, Chile

The final leg of my South American adventure was Easter Island. And what a way to finish it off....

This island is truly magical and everything I imagined it to be. The moai (the big statues) are just incredible, and the island itself is absolutely gorgeous.

I met up with a couple of funny Belgian hard rock fans and an enthusiastic Japanese guy at the hostel I stayed at and the 3 of us rented a jeep to tour round the island.
Day One was unfortunately the day that the wind decided to get up to near hurricane strength, so we decided to just walk around the island and check out the local sites. Belgian Rocker number one decided that it would be hilarious if he got up onto one of the platforms where a moai used to stand and have his picture taken. He was soon spotted by the local ranger, who resembled a female version of Jonah Lomu and its fair to say she was not impressed.
She came marching down the hill shouting and waving her arms at him, and my not too bright travelmate mistook her shouts to get off the platform for shouts of 'move over, I want to take a photo', to which he responded with 'Wait your turn!'. This of course enraged Miss Lomu even more, who very nearly punched Hugo when she finally reached us. Of course him trying to explain the misunderstanding rather than simply apologising enfuriated her EVEN more, to the point that she threatened to have us thrown off the island (quite how Im not sure, given that Easter Island is the most remote inhabited piece of land in the world and is only serviced by 2 flights a week!). So Day One nearly ended in disaster with us being banished from the moais!

Luckily Day Two turned out slightly better and we managed to hire a jeep and tour around the island. Moai are scattered all over the island and while most of them have been toppled over during past tribal wars, many of them have been restored and look absolutely magnificent.
Best of all was the quarry, where 200 moai are scattered all over the place, some half buried and others only half carved and still embedded in the rock. Funniest of all was Taro, our Japanese friend shouting 'Sayonara!' at the top of his lungs every time we left a moai behind!

I also visited a traditional Easter Island show at a restaurant where the dances resembled a mixture of Hawaiian hula dancing and the maori haka. Needless to say the men were not wearing very much at all, and I was very glad to have bagged a front show seat. Once again Taro stole the show when he was pulled up on stage, dressed in a grass skirt and encouraged to wiggle his hips with the women. Ive yet to see a happier Japanese guy ....!

So that finished off my 6 month trip of South America. My fears that 6 months would be too long were completely wrong, and I wish I had taken longer! Top of the list was definitely Colombia, and I cant wait to go back (however will this time be staying away from the Sierra Nevada and potential kidnapping!). Second best country was definitely Bolivia, which was completely stunning and obviously gave me the opportunity to work with the monkeys (oh, how I miss my monkeys still!) and definitely the most beautiful place in the world was the Galapagos Islands.

So Im in NZ now, and off to Australia next week for a couple of weeks before heading to India, Nepal and Sri Lanka for 5 months, where Im sure there is lots more mischief to be found!

Miss you all, make sure you stay in touch and watch this space for more crazy tales!

Axx
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/monkeymouse74/sth_america_03/1064254980/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/monkeymouse74/sth_america_03/1064254980/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/monkeymouse74/sth_america_03/1064254980/tpod.html Mon, 22 Sep 2003 17:48:36 -0400 From Bogota to Easter Island, here's the story of my adventures across South America. On my own. Yikes!

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Rio de Janiero, Brazil

Well, Brazil continues to be one of my favourite countries in South America, as Ive visited so many beautiful places in the last couple of weeks.

I did a 3 day trek in the jungle in Lençois to see Brazils highest waterfall. At 380m high it was pretty impressive (see pics!) The walk through the jungle was absolutely stunning and we slept in caves and shat in the woods! Brilliant! And were constantly entertained by our cool guide Chema, a local guy with a japanese symbol tattooed onto his forehead. Chema was constantly stoned, but still managed to clamber over the huge stones and up the muddy trails in his flip flops far easier than I could manage with my old biddy´s knees and constant oohing and aahing as I hauled my fat arse up and over the rocks.

After Lençois I travelled for 45 hours (ouch) down to Parati, a lovely little colonial town south of Rio. I chilled out for a couple of days and meandered round the town before heading back up the coast and out to an amazing island, Ilha Grande.

Actually checking the ferry time instead of just thinking about it would have been the sensible thing to do, but of course I didnt, so just as the bus pulled into the ferry terminal the ferry was making its way across to Ilha Grande, and I was stuck in Angra (not the nicest of places, especially as it was raining). Fortunately I ran into some Israelis who were negotiating for someone to take us over to the island on his private boat, so we were on our way in a matter of minutes.

Arriving onto the island I was greeted by an Australian couple who were having a few beers on their balcony overlooking the dock, so I arranged to come back and join them after I had sorted out a hotel. It turns out they were from Brisbane, so I mentioned that I had a very good friend from Brisbane. And wouldnt you believe it, but they went to school with my friend Donna!

So I spent the next few days hanging out with my 2 new friends and we sunbathed and visited Praia Lopez Mendes together, supposedly one of the worlds Top 100 beaches, which was very nice indeed, and gave me a chance to once again don my teeny weeny bikini and work on the tan (which is coming along very nicely!)

After a week on Ilha Grande I returned to Rio and caught up with my 2 Aussie friends. Watched the sun set over Rio from Sugarloaf mountain (stunning!) and spent a few hours checking out the locals on Copacabana beach (all the while humming Barry Manilow´s Copacabana!). We then decided that we needed to eat, and I was eager to check out a Brazilian churrascaria, so off we went.

Oh my god. I have never eaten so much meat in all my life.
A churruscaria is a restaurant where they have a buffet of salads, veges and potatoes and the like, and about 10 waiters who pass by your table with different cuts of meat on skewers. They stop by your table and offer you meat and you have it sliced right off the skewer onto your plate. Any sane person would realise that its not wise to accept every bit of meat offered to you. However what with me being a greedy pig, I just couldnt say no!
It wasnt long before the meat sweats set in. Brigham took it one step further and got the meat cramps and had to pace the restaurant whilst fighting the urge to puke. And then we rolled out the door and back to the hostel where we all had to lie down in order not to be sick. I swear Im not going to eat meat for a week!

Yesterday we went to a football match at the Maracaná, the famous football stadium in Rio. Unfortunately the visiting team was not particularly good so the attendance was pretty low, so the stadium appeared to be empty. The game was ok, and Flamengo drew 1-1, much to the digust of the rowdy fans, who shouted ´Puuuuunta´(whore!) at every missed opportunity.

Later that night we went to a favela club. The favelas are the dodgy shacks where the poorest people in Rio live. This club was featured in the movie, City of God which came out a few months ago. We were taken to this club in minivans and escorted to a private section where we had bodyguards to keep us safe! The vibe was amazing, and the locals were going crazy! I tell you, Brazilians can move! They grind and shake their asses and apparently there have been a few cases of girls getting pregnant just from dancing..... well of course I had to get me a piece of the action and helped along by a few ridiculously strong caiparinhas decided that I was going to shake my ass with the rest of them in the club downstairs. Well, from what I can remember a good time was had by all, and the hangover is still going strong, despite it being nearly 4pm! Dearie me....

So today is my last day in Rio. Im off to Santiago tomorrow for a day then Im off to Easter Island for 4 days, before heading onto NZ.

Cant wait to get to Easter Island and of course see everyone at home in NZ. Take care all! See you soon!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/monkeymouse74/sth_america_03/1062781800/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/monkeymouse74/sth_america_03/1062781800/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/monkeymouse74/sth_america_03/1062781800/tpod.html Fri, 05 Sep 2003 13:36:26 -0400 From Bogota to Easter Island, here's the story of my adventures across South America. On my own. Yikes!

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Lencois, Brazil

My oh my, where do I start??!!
Well, Im in Brazil right now, and as its been a while since I last updated this travelogue Ive been up to all sorts of mischief!

From Argentina we travelled up to the Iguacu Falls, which were absolutely incredible. So much water and absolutely stunning scenery. We spent a whole day checking them out from the Argentinian side (including taking a boat trip that practically took us right under one of the falls, resulting in us getting completely soaked!) and then made our way north, up through the border to Rio de Janeiro.

What can I say about Rio? Its amazing! I was literally on the edge of my seat (not easy after a 22 hour bus ride, let me tell you) as we made our way into Rio as I couldnt wait to see the big Christ the Redeemer statue on top of Corcavado, which is probably the strongest image I had of anything South American before I actually got there. (Other than Miss Venezuela ALWAYS being the best looking girl with the best costume in the Miss Universe competitions from when I was little!). Anyway, it didnt disappoint me and was just as spectacular when we made our way up the mountain to the base of the statue to overlook the rest of Rio. We also spent the day at Ipanema beach (humming The Girl from Ipanema in my head ALL DAY, which was quite annoying) and checked out all the big bootied girls in their thongs. Which was great because they really do love big arses over here! even the mannequins have these huuuge booties! So as you can imagine Im fitting in rather well, and have even purchased 2 new teensy weensy bikinis so I fit in with the rest of the crowd. Clearly these bikinis will never see the light of day outside of Brazil, but for now theyre great!

We also went out partying in the Lapa district on our first night there, but after consuming only 2 caiparinhas (each made with about 1/4 of a bottle of cachaça!) and feeling the effects of our 22 hour bus trip, had an early night (but dont worry, those of you that are thinking that this doesnt sound like me, Im going back there at then end of Sept and will get my fair share of partying in!!) Unfortunately it rained after a couple of days, so I jumped on a 25 hour bus up to Salvador....

Salvador is quite different to Rio in that the population is mainly of African descent, so there is an amazing vibe up there, with partying in the streets and a much more laid back feeling. There are also people doing capoueira (the Brazilian fighting dance) everywhere which is amazing, not only because its an amazingly graceful thing to watch, but the guys doing it are absolutely beautiful!!!! We also went to a Candomble ceremony, which is the religion many people follow up there. It involved a lot of women dressed in huge hooped white dresses dancing around in a circle in a small room to a constant drumming, and after a while many of them fell into a trance, which was quite disconcerting especially as one of them fell over right at my feet, shaking and screaming and generally looking quite scary. Oh, and this was the day after a crazy women had bitten me in the street after a night out, so my nerves werent exactly ok (I found myself being lunged at by a crazy lady in the street, after I had applauded her for mooning some girls. She took offence and came at me screaming and thrashing her arms at me and then bit my arm, really, really hard. Its a week later and its still bruised and scabby!).

After Salvador me and a couple of Israeli friends got a ferry out to Morro de Sao Paulo, a beautiful island off the coast. The weather was appalling on the day we left and pretty much everyone on the ferry puked, except for me who managed to somehow sleep through the whole thing! After one day of rain the weather came right and we spent 3 days sunbathing on the gorgeous beaches and swimming in the sea. Caiparinhas were consumed with great regularity and we spent many an hour checking out the foxy capoueira boys practicing on the beach....

And now Im in Lencois, further inland where there is amazing hiking and lots of beautiful waterfalls. I will probably head off in the next day or so on a 3 day trek where you camp in caves each night and get to slide down giant natural waterslides, cool!

Less than one month to go in South America now, and Im really looking forward to getting to NZ and Australia. Missing you all, email me with your news!!!
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