I'm Back In Australia

Hello All

Well I've made it safely back into Perth after a tiring 26 hour flight from Buenos Aires, to Cape Town, to Kuala Lumpur, and then finallly Perth.

Its lovely to be home and seeing Erin again. I'm currently in the process of unpacking and washing all my clothes etc.

I hope you've enjoyed my blog, now that I'm home I wont be updating it any further.

The next time I use a blog will probably be on my next adventure overseas.

Cheers everyone for follwoing, hopefully I can see you all soon in person and have a beer and share a few tales.

All the best

Craig

Iguazu Falls

I've recently spent some time in Iguazu falls, I've just finished uploading the pictures so feel free to have a look.

Getting to the falls was a bit of a mission, it was a 20 hour bus jounrey from Buenos Aires. I left at 2pm on Friday and arrived at Iguazu Falls at 10am on Saturday...... Then I started running around the aprk looking at the magnificant falls from all sorts of different vantage points as you'll no doubt see from the photos.

The falls were awe inspiring and I got saturated as I ventured close to the falls on a few occastions. I spent about 6 hours in the park and thoroughly enjoyed it, well worth the 20 hours on the bus.

On Saturday evening I flew back to Buenos Aires and got in just after midnight. So all in all it was a whirlwind trip but definately worth it!!

Craig

Cotopaxi volcano

On Tuesday I visited cotopaxi volcano at 5600m. I got to 4800m which is a new record for me.

The volcano last erupted 128 years ago, historically the volcano has erupted every 100 years, so its 28 years overdue.....

After climbing to 4800 we descended to 3500m and then jumped on mountain bikes and rode down the mountain to 2000m.

The road down the volcano was quite slippery and the brakes werent the best so it lead to an interesting ride. I hit a patch of sand at speed and came off and hit a pole. So I'm now limping around with a deep bruise on my thigh and a strained groin muscle from the impact.

So my city tour today was a bit of a challenge as it involved a bit of walking or more hobbling.

Tomorrow I fly off to Buenos Aires to start the last part of my trip, and a visit to igwazu falls.

Not long before I fly home, only 4 days left.

Hasta luego
Craig

Photos from the Galapogos Cruise and the Diving are Available for viewing

Ladies and Gents

The long awaited photos from the Galapogos cruise and the diving are now available online, so feel free to feast your eyes on them. I have far too many to put online so its only a snap shot of the sights that were beheld. Alot of the photos from the Galapogos cruise are from a fellow traveller, Sheila from Vancouver Island in Canada. We swapped alot of photos, I traded my underwater photos for her close ups.

I hope you enjoy

I am now back in Quito, it was sad to leave Puerto Ayora and the Galapogos, it was such a chilled out way of life that I really became accustomed too.

I´ll have to start trying to ween myself off afternoon siestas, its gonna be tough...... And I might have to ween myself off of Caprihina´s too (a cocktail made from alcoholic sugar syrup, lime, vodka, and brown sugar) ummm they are tasty!

Tomorrow I am off to Cotopaxi, a large snow capped volcano to do some downhill mountain bike riding. I start riding at 5000m above sea level and finish around 3000m, should be a bit of fun!!

Then on Wednesday I´m off to visit the equator and do a touristy city tour of Quito, should be interesting.

Thats it for me, check out the photos.

Hasta Luego
Craig

Hammer heads, yeah baby!

I went diving again yesterday (sat 29/10, first dive was thurs 27/10) with scuba iguana, this time out to Gordons rock for 2 dives.

Wow the dives would have had to been some of the best I've ever done! There was soo much diversity of fish, sharks, turtles and sea lions it wad amazing

The currents were supposed to be quite strong, but on the day they werent too bad.

The first dive was fantastic with soo many tropical fish everywhere, I was completely surrounded. There were massive sting rays, large, green turtles everywhere, and we even found some painted crays.

One of the highlights of the first dive was a massive school of baracuda, maybe 500+ fish which cruised past. It was like a moving silver wall of baracuda, awesome! We also were lucky to see a school of about 16 spotted eagle rays swimming in formation, looked like they were flying. But the absolute highlight was seeing 2x hammer head sharks about 8m away swim past as we were doing our ascent. The sharks were about 3m long and moved soo gracefully from side to side, great to watch.

The second dive we stayed at gordons rock cause it was good on the first dive. The second dive was even better with a school of 12x hammer heads coming in close and circling us. We also had large black tip reef sharks come to check us out. Awesome, I could have watched them all day long if I had the air....

Sea lions were around on the second dive and it was great seeing them herd up fish. They were so agile and playful underwater. One came right up to my mask and then glided around me.

A manta ray made an appearance on the last dive but unfortunately I missed it....

I really recommend diving in the galapogos to anyone who's keen on diving, its amazing!

It's sad, but I only have one more day here in Puerto ayoro before I head back to the main land of Ecuador.

Anyways breakfast is calling, hasta luego.
Craig

Diving at bartolomea and cousins

Today I went out diving with Scuba Iguanas for 2 dives, first to bartolome in the morning, and the second to cousins in the early afternoon.

I got a bargain last minute price of $165 for the 2x dives, all gear, and food and drink on the dive.

The first dive to bartolomea started off a bit slow and shallow at 5m for a quick equipment and skills test, then we moved deeper to look for critters. It wasn't long before we saw green sea turtles and white tipped reef sharks, plus the plethora of standard tropics fish.

My main hope for this dive was to see a manta ray and it wasn't long before a massive one came gliding by soo elegantly. The manta was about the size of a vw car, huge. The ray moved so slowly and gracefully through the water, it was a pleasure to watch.

After 60 minutes we ascended and jumped back on the boat for morning snacks. It took us about 45 minutes to motor over to cousins dive site, the water had started to get a bit choppier.

It wasnt long into the cousins dive that we see a group of green turtles feeding on the weedy bottom. Such beautiful animals! The bottom at cousins was like a pyramid, with defined steps going deeper into the water. There were turtles everywhere at this dive site....

We were also lucky to see a big school of spotted eagle rays cruise by. The school would have been about 20 strong. It was great seeing the rays swimming in unison, it looked like they were flying.

We saw the standard white tipped reef sharks and tons of the smaller regular tropical fish such as angel fish, parrot fish, trigger fish, etc

So all in all the two dives were great! The dive masters were good, with clear instructions in English. And the food on the boat was good.

Unfortunately I didn't see any hammer head sharks but there is still saturdays diving to come....

Hasta luego
Craig

Ps ill upload dive photos when I get back to quito in a few days time.

Adventures in Galapogos

I've just arrived back on shore in Puerto Ayora after spending 10 days cruising around the galapogos islands. The islands were amazing and I loved living on the boat and spending soo much time on and in the ocean.

The daily routine was pretty standard, awake and have breakfast at 7 am. Then do an island visit and hike around 8:30 for an hour or so. A snorkel either from the zodiacs or the beach followed at 10am. Lunch back on the boat was a 2 course affair at midday. An afternoon siesta normally ocurred from 1-2 then we were off again on another island hike and explore followed by another snorkel. Back on the boat around 5 for snacks and afternoon drinks. Dinner was 3 courses at 7p, and most nights ended quite early afterwards.

There was soo much life to see in the galapogos. Seemed that everywhere you looked there was something new to see.

I had many great experiences, swimming and playing with sea lions, watching green sea turtles graze on sea weed, trail a white tip reef shark as it patrols for food. There were also many terrestial experiences which I highly value, watching blue footed boobies, galapogos hawks, frigate birds, albatrosses, giant land tortoises, marine iguanas, land iguanas and many other animals.

I've got 5 days here in Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz before I fly back to the main land and Quito. I'm off scuba diving tomorrow and Saturday. Hopefully see some hammer head sharks and manta rays.

Well its time for my afternoon siesta, I hope your all doing great :).

Huesta luego amigos

Craig Carpenter

All Quito ed Out

Its now my 3rd day in Quito and I´m ready to move onto the next place. I have a meeting tonight to discuss the details of the Galapogos trip which I fly off to tomorrow morning early for the next 9 days.

I´ve just uploaded some photos from around the old quarter of Quito, its quite pretty with lots of spanish influences in the architecture. I found its very easy to get lost in Quito, the streets seem to wind all over the place!

I went into a dive shop today and made some enquiries about diving on the islands, sounds like it should be pretty straight forward to organise when I get there. I´m pleased to say that my cold is finally starting to clear up.

I share my room tonight with a fellow gap tour member, it´ll be nice to meet some new people. Hopefully they are nice and we all get on well.

Well I think its almost beer o clock.

Hasta Luego Amigos
Craig

Galapogos Weather

The 10 day weather forecast looks pretty good for the the Galapogos, fingers crossed it stays good.

Slight Change of Plan

Some of you guys might have heard that Im coming back to Australia a little sooner that I originally planned,  everything is fine so please dont worry.

Theres a few reasons why Im coming home early, firstly im keen to see Erin and all you guys, and I also need to start putting some cash away for the future.

So Ill be kicking around perth as of the 8th of November, about 3 weeks away.

Not feeling the best

After returning back from the salt desert I haven't been able to shake this damn headache.

While in Salar De Uyuni I think my eyes over exposed my brain and as a result got 2 migraines. After 4 quick panadol I was back on the road. But those panadol in quick succession made me a bit sick that night.

I also popped a couple of imodium, I didn't want anything shaking loose on the bumpy 12 hr bus ride back to la paz. Worst bus ride I've experienced without a doubt. Without having using imodium before I wasn't real sure how many to take, so I figured id er on the side of caution and had 3 of the lil tablets... I think that was probably too much. I've been back in la paz for almost 12 hrs and things are working again. Amazing lil drugs.

I'm back in la Paz with all its modern conviences like toilets and showers, aghh the creature comforts. I've just been down the witches market and got a few lil things, space in my pack is becoming a bit of an issue...

Tomorrow Im off on a tour of La Paz and then onto the airport for my flight to Lima and then quito, equador and my galapogos adventure. I've still got this blasted cold so probably won't be able to do any diving but it'll be great just to be in the water.

All the best
Craig

Relaxing Copacobana and lively La Paz

I spent 2 days in copa copacabana, sleepy lil lakeside town. The bus from puno to copacobana was only 3 hrs so pretty good. All except I was seated next to a chick with food poisoning, so she was throwing up most of the way... Let's just say it wasn't the nicest smelling bus trips I've taken...

Crossed the border from Peru into Bolivia around 1000. It was an interesting experience, the military officials seemed to like australians and immediately lightened up when finding out I was Australian.
After a few stamps I walked across the border and got my boliviano paper work authorised. Finally Bolivia here I am!

I arrived into copocabana late in the morning on Sunday 9/10. And settled into to my accomodation which looked out over lake titicaca, sweet!

I jumped on a tour to Sun island in the afternoon. The island was great, touted as having the fountain of youth. I didn't try the water, but many tourists did. The island was a previously a pilgrimage site for incans chasing good health and youth.

After returning from the island around 1800 I was feeling a lil sleepy so had a doze. When I awoke I saw an awesome sunset over lake titicaca with a storm front coming in with lightning and thunder. Beautiful to watch from my bed.

Monday I jumped on another bus bound for La Paz. Luckily this time without any spewing neiggbours.

Yesterday late in the afternoon I arrived into La Paz and was pleasantly greeted by my guide Edwin at the bus stop.

I had a bit of an explore round the main tourist drag and found nice lil cafe called sol and Luna and had an awesome French inspired chicken dish with a few glasses of red. I still cant get over the cheap prices here, last nights meal cost me $12 for a restaurant quality meal, bargain!

Today I visited the san Pedro prison which I have been reading about in "marching powder". I only visited the outside, wasn't brave enough to go inside and do a tour. I'm pretty sure the tours were canned a few years ago.

Anyways I also visited the witches markets and talked with the shop owners. Found some interesting stuff, dried llyama foetuses for sale to be used in offerings. Don't worry lyn I picked you one up for the coffee table... :)

This afternoon I've been hanging out in a funky lil Mexican bar / restaurant.

Tonight I'm off to uyuni on a 10hr night bus to start my solar de uyuni tour for the next 3 days visiting the salt flats.

I hope everyone back home is doing well. My next entry won't be for a few days time.

Huesto luego
Craig
Ps ohh I'm a bit behind uploading photos as none of my recent accommodation has had computers.

Home stay on lake titicaca island

I've just returned from two days I'm lake titicaca.

I set off early on Friday morning with a group of about 15 tourists in a 15m ferry to get to the reed islands. The floating islands were literally build ontop of the buoyant root mass of the reeds. The root mass was then over layed with fresh reeds about 1m long in a criss cross pattern about 60cm in depth. The final result was a floating island which people could build reed huts and live upon.

I stayed with a local family on Amantani island. The family were soo warm and generous. They had such a tight family unit, there were 3 generations all living and working in the same house. The family were farmers who primarily grew potatoes. They produced approximately 150 kg of various spuds / year, which was enough to feed the family and trade some for other items such as oil, fish, and other vegetables.

There were 3 of use solo tourists allocated to the family. Luckily one of the tourists, Clare could speak great Spanish so she was our interpreter. The grandmother only spoke ketchawan and no Spanish so it was manly charades with her to communicate. There were 2x boys aged maybe 12 and 10 and a lil girl aged 4. The lil girl wore traditional dress the whole time and was soo adorable. The tradition on the island is that girls wear brightly coloured clothing while the men dress quite plainly.

That evening the island put on a fiesta for the tourists and we all got dressed in traditional clothing and danced around like idiots being lead by the older woman from the community.

I wore a plain grey poncho which was quite heavy and warm, while Clare got dressed in a bright skirt, colourful top and wore a veil / shawl that the men make for their wives with quite colourful and detailed embroidery.

The family cooked breakfast, lunch and dinner for us on an open fire in the kitchen / eating hut. The mother did all the cooking and was the last to eat. The food was primarily vegetarian with lots of different  potatos in both soup and main form. The food was jummy and very healthy.

The next day we left the island and our home stay famalies quite early at 8am. From the amantani we visited another island which was notorious for having the best male knitters in the world. This is primarily as the male is required to make the brides dress, so the better a guy was at sewing the better chicka he could attract.

The boat ride home was slow and we eventually pulled into dock at 1730. I had a relatively quiet night, dinner with a few people from the tour, then an early night.

I would really recommend the link lake titicaca home stay, it was a fantastic experience.

Craig out.

First Day in Puno

Well I´ve been potering around in Puno today, theres not a real lot to do here I´ve found. I wandered into the main square and had a bit of a poke around the shops. Nothing I hadnt already seen...

I am running out of clean clothes so everything went to the laundry today and i bought a new shirt, an "Inca Cola" t-shirt, it had to be done. Inca Cola is an iconic drink that was produced in Peru which the locals absolutely love. Coca Cola came in and couldnt compete with the local drink so they bought it out. The drink itself is a radioactive yellow with a taste similar to creaming soda, very sweet. The peruvians definately have a sweet tooth!!

Tomorrow (Friday 7/10) I´m off to visit the reed islands on Lake Titicaca and I will be staying overnight on one of the islands with a local family. So my spanish will be put to the test..... I´ve been running around also today getting a few supplies like water and snacks in preparation for the 2 day visit to the Lake Titicaca islands.

So I will return back to Puno on Saturday 8/10 and maybe check out the local museum, I missed it today due to a mid afternoon siesta....

Anyways I´m uploading a few more photos from the Amazon, and I will also upload photos from the Colca Canyon and the Condors we spyed.

Ohh by the way for those who I said I will send postcards too, well I´m finding the postal service a lil tricky over here so dont hold your breath for postcards....

Hasta Luego Amigos
Craig

Colca Canyon

Yesterday morning (4/10) we set off on a 2 day tour of the Colca Canyon. On the way from Arequipa we passed through a few reserves and saw vicuna, similar to the alpaca and llyama, but the vicuna is totally wild and hasn't been domesticated. We also stopped at the highest point in the roadtrip for some panaramic viewing at 4800 m

In the afternoon we visited a hot spring at Chivay and I went in for a dip, it was quite warm at 38 degrees celcius heated by the nearby volcanic mountains.

The Colca canyon is quite a large agricultural area dating back to pre incan times. The soils are very fertile given the volcanic activity and many terraces can be seen along the hill sides.

This morning (5/10) we set off at 6 am to head out to condor point to look for condors. We were lucky enough to see 3-4 condors. Magnificant birds, reminded me a bit of wedge tailed eagles.

After the condors I jumped on a bus bound for Puno on the worlds highest lake, lake titicaca. The 7 hr bus ride wasn't too bad thanks to my book, "Marching Powder" about a westerners experience in the San Paulo jail in La Paz after being imprisoned for cocaine trafficing.

Anyways I'm sleepy, its been a long day

Hasta luego amigos.
Craig

Frozen Incan Mummy "Juanita"

I've spent today in Arequipa, it was a bit of a mission getting here but hopefully the Colca Canyon will be worth it that I start tomorrow.

I spent the night on a Cromotex bus for 9 hrs in a Karma reclining chair from cusco. I found out I can't sleep on planes or busses.

Anyways I arrived into Arequipa at 0530 to unfortunately not be greeted by the transfer I had organised... So after waiting 40 minutes i jumped in a taxi and made my own way to my accommodation. Not a real good start to the day, ohh well I was half expecting it given my lack of forward planning and trying to organise things over email a few days beforehand.

The morning was spent sleeping, but I finally awoke at 1400 and decided it was time to explore.

Id heard from another back packer in Buenos Aires of an interesting frozen mummy that was stored in Arequipa that was discovered in the last 10 years after a volcano had erupted and melted the snow surrounding the mummy.

It turns out the mummy was a 12 year old girl who was sacrificed to the mountain to appease the mountain gods and prevent a volcanic eruption some 500 years ago. The young girl "Juanita" had been raised from a young age to be sacrificed, seems this was a common practise at the time. So a procession started in Cusco and trekked almost 600 km and up to the top of Picchu Picchu mountain some 5500 m above sea level. Then she was smashed on the head and buried with a heap of offerings. Given the height she froze and majority of her body, skin, organs have been preserved.

Anyways long story short archeologists are discovering quite a few similar sacrifices throughout the andes from Columbia down to chille.

Tomorrow I start a 2 day tour of the Colca Canyon and hopefully spy a condor or two, and finally end up in Puno and Lake Titicaca.

Well that's me done for the day, adios muchachos

The guinea pig experience

When in Rome you do as the Romans, well I've done just that...

One of the traditional dishes in Peru is cuy, or guinea pig. Given I'm a man to try new things cuy was on the list of things to try.

And try cuy I did a few days ago. Let me tell you it wasn't the most appetising thing that has been put down in front of me. It looked like a large rat with big chompers. I took some photos which you can see what I mean.

After the photo opportunity the waiter grabbed the cuy and took it to cut it up into managable pieces.

When he returned he instructed that cuy is to be eaten with your hands. So that I did....

The cuy was chewy, sort of like pork crackling which hasn't fully crackled. The skin was tasty, and the meat was sweet. Unfortunately there wasnt a lot of meat on the lil guy. Reminded me a bit of rabbit, all bones.

The stomach of the cuy had been stuffed with some sort of green seasoning, maybe coca leaf? I didn't really like the green stuffing.

Along with the cuy was a stuffed chilli which was delicious (rocoto) and some fried potato.

The rocoto over here have been delicious, I'm half tempted to try and get some seeds..... ;)

Overall I would suggest people try cuy, but I don't think I would order it again, too much work for little meat. But if it was a life or death situation, lookout cuy!

Another day in Cusco

Well I've had a quiet day in Cusco today, tried to get some details finalized for the next 2 weeks travelling to Arequipa, Puno, Copacobana, and La Paz.

Unfortunately despite my efforts I didn't really make any progress in confirming booking details.

I also visited the inca museum today. Was quite interesting, but most of the descriptions were in Spanish.... Bugger. I found the deformed skulls quite interesting, the skulls were deformed at birth to pay homage to the gods. Sounds like something from x files to me.....

So tomorrow is my last day here in Cusco. I checkout of my hotel at 0930 and don't jump on the bus to Arequipa till 2000. So ill have a day kicking around Cusco, probably end up hopping from cafe to cafe.

I hope everyone back home is doing well.

Bus trip to Arequipa

I've just been down to the main bus station and purchased a cromotex first class bus ticket to Arequipa departing at 2000 on the 2/10. Few dramas, the taxi I initially jumped in didnt understand my poor Spanish when I was asking for the autobus terminal, so we ended up just driving along until eventually I jumped out and paid him 1 soles for his troubles. Luckily I got out right near my previous hotel so went in and asked for help. Turns out I should have been asking for the Terminal Terrestre, who would have thought...

Anyways the next taxi I jumped in understood where I needed to go and before long I arrived. The bus terminal was full of different stands of companies all screaming out destination names. I found the one I was recommend by shiry my gap tour leader, "Cromotex".

With my broken Spanish I managed to book a 1st class seat on a bus heading to Arequipa on the 2/10, departing at 8pm. The bus will drive through the night until I eventually get to arequipa around 6am on the 3/10.

From here im booked on a 2 day tour into the Colca Canyon which is famous for condors. Fingers crossed I see some :)

After the tour ill be back to Arequipa for a night, then onto another bus bound for Puno on Lake Titicaca.

That's the latest and greatest.

Adios muchachos.

Cusco and Hiking Up Machu Picchu

Hola Muchachos

Im currently in Cusco after spending the last 4 days hiking the Inca Trail. Wow the experience was amazing, the landscape was breath taking with the extreme terrain of deep gullies and soaring mountain peaks!!

Before starting the hike we visited an archelogical site Sechuanwoman. Such an interesting place and the guide was excellent, it was soo interesting finding out about the history of the Incas and the rise and eventual demise at the hands of the Spanish. I caught sight of my first alpaca, which you can see photos of.

Day one of the hike started on Sunday with me leaving the hostel at 4am, that in itself was a challenge. I was only allowed 3kg of gear for the porters to carry of my own stuff (clothes, toiletries), with an additional 3kgs of sleeping mats and sleeping bag. The porters were amazing as they carried 30kg each and were covering the same rough terrain that us tourists were but running along the track.... Unfortuntately one of the guys on the trip that was meant to go on the Inca Trail was diagnosed with high blood pressure and had to pull out so that only left 9 of us on the trek.

So day one we started at kilometer 82 mark and had to go through a checkpoint to confirm we had tickets and got a stamp in our passports. Then we started our trek upwards.... The first day treking was through dry scrubland and small towns. The scenery was fantastic, not really what I was expecting at all. As I was walking I spoke with the guides and worked on my spanish while also helping them with their english. We saw lots of donkeys, and youll see a few photos especially for Erin :)

The first days hiking wasnt too bad there were a few steep sections but overall it wasnt too bad. We started the hike at 2800m and ended up camping at approximately 3200m. I was popping diamox (altitude sickness tablets). Unfortunately one of our fellow hikers decided to turn back and went back with one of the guides. The campsite for the first night was all setup by the porters when we arrived into camp around 2pm. So we settled into our tents, luckily I had one to myself as Tom pulled out with high blood pressure. The food that the cook prepared daily was amazing!! We had a 3 course meal for lunch and dinner everyday. Sleeping that night was a bit tricky, I kept on tossing and turning all night so didnt get the best nights sleep.

Day two started great, the porters awoke everyone from their tent with an offering of hot coca leaf tea. I must admit Im slightly addicted to the tea after drinking it 3-4 times a day for the past 4 days. The coca leaf has many health benefits, its rich in vitamin a, b, calcium, and antioxidants. However it gets a bit of bad press given that its also used in the production of cocaine. Day two was touted as the hardest day of the trek as we ascended 1000m to the heavenly heights of 4200m. As you can imagine the day was full of steps, and it got tougher with every step heigher as the oxygen levels dropped a little. We all eventually got to the top of Dead Womans Pass around 13:00, after hiking almost vertical for 6 hours. You will see a photo of me at the top looking rather buggered. After passing over Dead Womans Pass we started downwards towards our second campsite located at 3800m. As was the case the day before the porters had run ahead and set up everything for us, luxury!! We made good time on the descent and arrived into camp around 15:00. As dinner wasnt scheduled until 1900 we passed the time playing all manner of card games, while outside the dinning tent it rained. We were very lucky with the rain, it seemed to rain just after we arrived into camp and could take shelter in the tents. We had a newly married couple on our tour and the cook whipped up a celebration cake for them which can be seen in the photos. Its amazing what that cook could whip up in the camp kitchen!! I had alot of trouble sleeping on the 2nd night, the altitude made it very cold and the lack of oxygen was problematic for a good nights sleep.

Day Three was spent in undulating terrain, working our way to our last campsite located 6km away from Machu Picchu. We stopped off at a few inca ruins along the way which were interesting. The Incans were such an advanced race for the time! Youll see lots of pictures of ruins and stone work. The third campsite was packed full of trekkers from all manner of companies. The drop toilets were a lil scary, but you gotta do what you gotta do.

Day Four started out at 4am, urghhhh, but we all got packed up and then proceeded to the last checkpoint. There was a massive line to go through the last checkpoint, so we ended up waiting in line for 30 minutes. Ater passing through the checkpoint we started off at a great pace, everyone was keen to get to Machu Picchu ASAP. The track was full of trekkers, almost a continuous line of tourists. We arrived at the Sun Gate at 0645 and found Machu Picchu clouded out. Bugger!! The cloud failed to lift so we proceed down to the site. Machu Picchu was amazing, the site was huge!! So much to see and explore. The cloud eventually lifted and I got some great photos of the site as youll see :) It was such a relief to get to the site and complete the trek.

Unfortunately I have to go to dinner but will endeavour to finish this tale soon.

Adios Amigos

Amazon Adventures

Some of you may have noticed that I havent put up any blogs for the past 2 days, well its been bacause I have been in the amazon jungle. And despite what you may have heard wifi access in the jungle is pretty limited....

Anyways the amazon experience was amazing and I definately recommend it to anyone, it was soo interesting!!! We went to a spot in the amazon near Puerto Maldonado, well it was about a 30 minute drive out of Puerto Maldonado and then a 45 minute boat ride down the amazon river. I was definately the kind of stuff you'd expect to see on an Indianna Jones movie. As you'll see from the photos the river is quite brown and from what I was told a bit polluted with Mercury. The Mercury has been gradually introduced into the river from gold mining practises carried out by locals trying to earn some quick cash. The government is trying to stop it but the gold mining industry is soo lucritive theres no chance of stopping it.

Anyways we eventually got to out eco retreat which was a series of beautiful raised timber buildings all connected via raised walkways. While at the retreat I saw lots of birds (Maccaws, parrots, jungle hens, shags etc), I also saw Howler Monkeys, Camon, Pirhanas, Capiburrow. We did lots of hikes and boat trips to look at the plants and animals. We even visited the local shaman and went on a walk of his garden and got an overview of all the plants that are used in natural medicines. At the end of the walk we were able to try some of the native medicines. I jumped at the chance and slugged down a cure for arthritis, and the jungle version of red bull. I skipped on the chance to try the natural version of viagra.......

Today we left the jungle and flew to Cusco where we will spend the next day and a half acclimitising to the altitude before a small group of us set off to do a 4 day hike up to Macchu Picchu. Cusco is situated at 3600m above sea level and I have already started to feel the effects of altitude sickness. So I quickly popped some meds to help and drank lots of water. Things seem to have gotten better, which is reassuring. On the 4 day hike the highest we get up to is 4300m at dead womans pass, once past this its downhill to Macchu Picchu.

Ive been really impressed with Cusco, its such a beautiful city and the food here is also amazing. We've just got back from dinner where I sampled Alpaca, very tasty I might add, similar to venison.

Well I hope your all doing well, Im having a great time and am fit and well. Still got a bit of a cold which wont go away, even after the shaman's medicines.....

Hasta Luego Muchachos

Lima food experience

Had some awesome food yesterday in Lima. I had an awesome mild chicken curry with rice and potato, awesome!

Pisco sours was good too!

Now I'm off to the amazon

A day in Lima

Today I've had a day exploring miraflores and eating my way around with vanesa and her friend jimmy.

I had a nice sleep in this morning but missed breakfast so went out hunting some empanadas to fill the gap. Eventually found a spot called muranos which I have since found it is famous for churros, more on that later. So after munching down a la carne empanada for $10 soles ($4 aud) I wandered around the city. There were lots of police, almost one on every corner, so the place felt very safe.

I then made my way down to the coast to find a great lookin surf beach. Unfortunately I didn't have much time here as I was due to meet vanessa in her hotel lobby.

We all set off (vanessa, jimmy, and i) to get some traditional Peruvian food but unfortunately the place was closed on Monday. Ohh well maybe another time. So instead we went to a great Japanese restaurant for lunch.

I tried my first ever pisco sours, which is a cocktail containing pisco (similar to tequila), lemon, egg whites, bitters. The drink was very tasty, but quite potent. As a lot of u are aware I'm a sucker for tequila so I made sure I only had one of these.

At lunch we had a heap if sushi, one even included the very Peruvian dish of cerviche (raw fish, with lemon, lime, and chilli). The cerviche was very tasty.

After lunch vanesa thought it would be good to grab some churros. So we jumped on a local bus, and 9 blocks later and $0.50 soles (20 cents aud) we jumped off. Vanesa took us to muranos (place where I had breakfast, what are the chances) and we ploughed through a chorro each. Chorros are long donuty things covered in sugar, some with fillings (chocolate, custard, or caramel). The things were delicious and all for the low price of $3.30 soles ($1.20 aud)

After eating we pretty much went seperate ways. I sussed out where my accommodation for my tour tomorrow starts.

I'm stuffed, and think ill have a quiet night tonight. My cold is still hanging around, and I now have a raspy cough. I've popped some antibiotics and some codral so fingers crossed it'll be better tomorrow.

Lima has been nice to visit, hopefully I get some time tomorrow to check out the Peruvian pyramid that the modern city has built around....

Huesto luego hombres
Craig

Touched down in Lima

I've just settled into my hostel in Lima, in miraflores. The hostel is soo quiet compared to the party atmosphere of the milhouse in ba.

Tomorrow ill set out and explore miraflores, seems like a nice area. I'm also catching up with a friend tomorrow for lunch who is a Lima local. So we are off to sample some traditional Peruvian food :) can't wait

Last Day in Buenos Aires

Today is my last day in BA, I'll be boarding a flight in a few hours bound for Lima, Peru.

I've heard alot of bad reports from other tourists about Lima. I'm only there for 1.5 days so hopefully its alright.

I had a relatively quiet night last night, and hit the sack around 0200 this morning. I saw a bit of samba dancing last night, quite a sexy dance.

I think the next time i come back to Buenos Aires I'll make more of an effort to get out of the city, Im keen to check out Igwassi falls, so might spend a few days up there.

Its great to see comments coming in on the blog, nice to know that people are following my adventures in South America.

Hopefully I can find a place to watch the AFL grandfinal in a few weeks, I think I'll be in Cuzsco, so fingers crossed there will be enough aussies there to create a demand.

I've been hearing soo many good things about Columbia, so I think I'll head up there after Ive finished in the Galapogos in mid November. Hopefully the weather is still alright.

Life has been pretty cheap here in BA, I've been spending on average $250 pesos / day, so about $60 AUD / day. Apparently Peru and Bolivia are cheaper so I might splurge out and get a private room. Be nice to have an un interrupted nights sleep.

I hope everyone is doing well

Huesto Luego mi Amigos

Walking tour through palmero

Yesterday I was feeling energetic after a good nights sleep and headed out with a hostel run tour to check out the palmero area of Buenos Aires.

The tour took us into the open park lands area to the east of the city. The area was beutiful with many formal gardens, botanical gardens, and the ba zoo.

We also visited a food market which was very interesting. However I got stung with the entry fee of $30 pesos which I paid to a lady on the gate, to only find the official ticket booth inside. So has to pay an additonal $30 at the correct area. Ohh well I believe she was collecting for charity and it only equated to $8 aud.

Once inside the exhibition hall I soon found many stalls setup with cured meats and cheeses who were all providing free tastings, ummm the cured meats and sausages were delicious. The argentinean beef is great! I also found lots of wine stands so sampled some of the local drops, sangovaise, malbec, and a few others. All tasted good, but nothing as good as the good ole barossa shiraz or a Margaret rover cabernet sauvignon.

I also stumbled across a thick caramel sauce stuff, can't quite remember the name of it but boy it was good! I took a photo of a pyramid of the stuff.

After returning from the day out I caught up with a few other fellow travellers and had a few pints at the hostel bar which lasted a few hours. The search was then on for an argentinean steak house. After stumbling round for 15 minutes we found one. Boy the quality of the steak was fantastic! I got a lomo steak (particular cut) with garlic sauce. It was awesome! And all for the low price of $69 pesos ($17 aud)

Eventually got home at 0130 this morning for an early night. Unfortunately a club about 3 doors down fired up at 0200 and the music was pumped up loud! Even with ear plugs I struggled to sleep. Ohh well its all part of the experience :)

Today I'm gonna lay low in the hostel and get my stuff prepped and ready for my flight to Lima tomorrow. I can't wait to get out of the city and see the amazon and the andes.

My next blog will most likely be from Lima, Peru. Once I hit the jungle I expect there won't be any internet so ill be offline for 3 days while I fish for pirahnas and swim with the pink dolphins.

Huesta luego mi amigos

Photo Slideshow

I sussed out how to do the photo slide show which will hopefully make looking at my photos a lil easier while you read up on my adventures.

Its amazing what you can do with a lil HTML code.

Palmero Tour

I went out on a walking tour of palmero today. A lot of the area was botanical gardens and open space. The area was quite interesting with a lot of the statues etc being donated by countries such as France.

We also visited a food market, I ended up paying for entry twice as there were some old ladies taking money at the front gate which I assumed was for entry. So I paid $30 and walked in, only to find the offical ticket booth which I needed to pay another $30.... Ohh well what's $8 aud.

We then went through the Bohemian area of Buenos Aires which was pretty cool. Lots of funky fashion shops and patisseries.

It's almost getting to the end of my time here in buenos Aires. I'm keen to get out of the city and into the andes. I've been given the tip to start popping the altitude tablets 2 days before hitting altitude. I really hope I can shake this cold before the 4 day hiking trip.

I think ill have a quiet night tonight. I was keen to go to a tango night but that can wait till I'm back in Buenos Aires in December.

Hasta luego mi amigos

Sight Seeing

Well i've finally gotten out and had a bit of a look around town. This place is crazy busy, 14 million people....

I wandered down to the Obelisk today which is right in the centre of town on the main street. You can see in my photos that there was an activist event going on with the locals picketing for better rights and police security in some of the poorer suburbs. As you can imagine I didnt really stick around too long in the area as there were federal police and riot police everywhere...

I then moved onto the cemetry, not a real cheery place but very interesting!! As you'll see from the photos the musoleums and crypts were beautiful. Some of the sculptures were very detailed and ornate. I spent about 2 hours wandering around as the place was huge!!

I then wandered over to the plaza de mayo and the cabildo (big pink building). Here again there was riot police protecting the building, I guess if the activists headed over.

While wandering around I found a nice little cafe and tasted some of the local empanada's. They were this lil pasty looking thing, which came in 2 varieties, meat (il carne) or vegetarian (il vegetarian). The meat one was delicious and very cheap, 2x empanadas and a bottle of coke cost $20 pesos ($4 AUD).

After wandering around for most of the day my feet and boots were still friends which is great considering next week they will get hammered when hiking up Machu Picchu.

I was planning on having a quiet night last night, but that didnt happen. I ended up at the other Milhouse backpackers for the hostel party and then moved onto a club at 2am. We stayed at the club will 7am. Another big night..... What makes it bad is i had to change rooms today as I extended my booking and they had pre booked my existing bed. Anyways it meant that I needed to have my bags packed and the bed stripped down and down at the reception by 11am. I did it but my eyes were hanging out of my head....

The new room isnt as nice and is noisier as its right above the road. Ohh well its only for 3x nights.

Ive managed to contract a fluey cold thing. So thats drained any remaining energy I might have had and Im seriously contemplating going back to bed after waking up at 1700. So I chucked down an antibiotic and gonna dose up on the water.

Well I'm going back to bed, I hope you enjoy the photos. See the link on the Photos page. If anyone knows how to get the slideshow tool working to display my picasa web photos I'd appreciate some hints cause at the moment its not showing my picasa album?

Hasta Luego Signors and Signoras

Still kicking, just....

Well ive had a feed and feeling a lil better but I think party fatigue is kicking in. I definately need to have a quiet night tonight....

Buenos Aires is a party town

Well its 1700 here and I've just gotten out of bed and cleaned myself up for another day. I was planning on having a quiet night but again it didn't happen and I ended up partying till 0700 this morning....

I've really gotta get out and see some of ba, other than the night life... Maybe tomorrow :)

I met up with a guy from Melbourne yesterday who has been here in south America since April. He has visited a lot of the places I want to go so it was great talking with him and getting the low down on where to stay and what to do.

I finally had a proper argentinean steak last night. It was huge and tasted great! I only got through half of it.

I think another palmy is needed to help my hangover recovery. ;)

Sorry I haven't uploaded any photos yet, I haven't taken any.

Hasta luego mi amigos

Hangover recovery

Well I've just been out and had a schnitzel parmy and it seems to have done wonders for my well being :) I'm having a lazy day hanging out in the hostel with a big bottle of water :)

I'm getting a bit more confident with my Spanish, I ordered lunch in Spanish without the use of the phrase book and the waiter understood :)

It's not all smooth sailing yet, I asked the doorman directions to find the bank and he rattled off Spanish directions, none of which I understood... But I got the general gist from his hand gestures..... I eventually found the bank :)

Hung over in Buenos Aires

Well its my first afternoon waking up in BA and I have a handover. I wasnt planning on having a big night but i just sorta happened. I had my first Argentinean steak last night, i got a chimi churi steak for $50 pesos ($10 aud). it was abit chewy but tasty. then somehow i ended up in a club till 0500 this morning, and i was one of the first to leave....

this keyboard is doing my head in, i think it may have had one too many drinks tipped over it and I have to type letters 2,3 times before they register.

I already miss Erin, not sure how I will go for 3 months.

Im not sure if its the hangover, but I have an unsettled stomach.. Life is good :)

I need some food and water, I gotta appease the stomach.

Hasta Luego

Cape town at 0730, lost track of the date....

Well Ive made it to cape town after a long 11 hr flight from Kuala Lumpur. I'm starting to feel a bit fatigued and keen for a nice hot shower and soft bed. Me and sleeping on planes don't go together well.

I had a tasty breakfast on the flight, nasi lemak, basically curried shrimp and anchovies with rice and a half boiled egg :) right down my alley :)

It's a shame I couldn't organise to have a stop off in cape town, the place looked beautiful when I flew in with the sun rising and a fog starting to lift off the top of cable mountain.

So I've got a 1.5hr stop off and then back on the same plane for another 9 hrs..... Arghh it certainly is a long flight.

Next post will be from Buenos Aires :)

Commenting authors

Cheers guys for adding comments, its nice to see people are reading along.

If your leaving comments as anonymous can you please put your name at the bottom of your comment so I know who the comments are from :) I'm a good guesser, but my powers of deduction only go soo far ;)

6hrs airtime down, 18hrs to go

Arrived in Kuala Lumpur safe

Well I've just touched down in Kuala Lumpur after a 6 hr flight from Perth. The weather is noticeably more humid at a balmy 25 degrees.

Things got a bit hectic this morning trying to squeeze in last minute jobs and packing, all done in relaxed manner up until 30 minutes before we were due to leave.... Then I started getting a lil stressed after not having my bag packed and finishing the last part of my lunch.

I'm pleased to say I managed to buy a copy of "marching powder" this morning which I've been told is a good read from a few people. Apparently its the unfortunate tale of a fellow traveller in south America who ends up in jail for drug charges and his misadventures getting out. Could be useful information..... ;)

So as you can tell I've managed to find some free WiFi care of the kl international airport :)

I met a lovely Malaysian lady by the name of Alice on the flight over. She gave me lots of good info on what to do in kl. Always handy to get some inside information.

I've managed to get my seat changed to an emergency exit row for the flight to capetown and Buenos Aires, bonus leg room, gotta love that :)

Anyways I'm gonna sign off and see if I can find some Malaysian curry to tie me over.

Hasta luego

One more sleep

Not long now, only one more sleep to go before I get on a flight to Kuala Lumpur for 6 hrs, then a 9 hr flight to Cape Town, and then finally another 9 ish hrs to Buenos Aires.

Blog Commenting

Just a quick update, I've changed the commenting security on the site to allow anyone to comment. So feel free to add your two cents to my travel diary comments.

Permethrin Treatments

In preparation for heading into the Amazon with all the malaria laden mosquitoes I've just finished treating my cotton sleeping bag liner with Permethrin. After going through all the safety precautions and donning the rubber gloves I measured out the 20ml of Permethrin and added it to the 1.75L of water in the bucket. After pulling out the sleeping bag liner I found I had enough solution for my hiking socks. Bug free sleeping, and bug free boots, bonus!

I must admit in hindsight my working attire probably wasn't OH&S certified, me in my shorts and t-shirt without shoes on the back porch.....

While waiting for the liner and socks to dry I thought I might read up on wikipedia about Permethrin. Seems that it's a nasty synthetic chemical that's toxic to insects, spiders, fish, amphibians and cats. Hopefully none of the neighbourhood cats jump the fence tonight and start licking up the milky liquid underneath the clothes line, terrible outcome.....

A note for people looking to use Permethrin, the stuff reeks and if you get it on your skin it causes irritation and itchiness! I definitely recommend putting on shoes, long pants, and a long sleeved shirt (cover up as much as possible). Once finished I recommend leaving your treated garments outside to air for at least 2 days after treatment and let the sun  burn off some of the excess chemical.

All in all its better than getting malaria, bed bugs, and any other funky bug borne diseases.

All Inoculationed Out

Well yesterday was my last visit to the Travel Doctor to get blood tests to ensure all of my inoculations were successful. Fingers crossed I get my results back before I head off. While at the travel doctor I also got a few last minute medications (water treatment tablets, and permethrin) to supplement my vast array of tablets (mostly to treat diarrhoea).


Packing starts on the weekend, and I expect some last minute dashes to the shops to get missing items.

Travel Blog Created

Well I've finally got around to creating a blog in preparation for my travels.

I've uploaded my travel itinerary as far as I know it, there's at least half of the trip which is up in the air at this stage.

I've also created a Travel Map using google maps with all the main destinations I plan to visit for an overview.

Hopefully there is lots of internet access in South America so I can maintain this blog regularly as I travel around.