Galapagos

The Galapagos Islands. (edit: backed up photos link below)

Well what can I say, definitely one of the highlights of the trip so date. I think this place makes you think differently about the world.

these extraordinary island feels like you've stumbled upon another planet. Its literally full to the brim with plants and animals, some endemic to the islands, and found nowhere else on earth. Amazing stuff. (yes photos will follow.)

Things like Blue-footed boobies (birds), sea lions, gecko's and prehistoric land iguana's, and they all act so friendly and relaxed, as if humans are nothing more than photo crazy onlookers.

getting on these islands was prity sore on the pocket mind you. But we didn't go for the 'cruise package' option, and decided to do it our own costumed way. Which i think worked out great, and not near as expensive as some people paid. (1400 pounds? Ouch!) we paid a fraction of that! So it was good choice for us budgeting folk.

we landed on the main island; Isla Santa Cruz. And went to see the Bahia Turtuga (Turtle Bay). Here we seen loads of iguana's, pelicans and flamingo's living freely on this dramatic but people free beach. Then went to see the Charles Darwin research centre, where the current studies are the Galapagos Turtle's their behavior and development. Interesting.

we moved onto the next Galapagos island called Isla Isabella. went on a tour with a few other travelers. First up was a visit to the still currently active volcano of Sierra Negre, we traveled here by horse back, which was a good laugh. We walked through some lava tunnels that were about 15 feet high. These are underground tunnels that lava once flowed through when the volcano erupted. Was cool to see the markings the lava made on its way downhill from years back. very interesting indeed.

lastly we landed on the last of the human inhabited islands called San Cristobal. giant turtles everywhere! went snorkeling after and swam with young seal lions, there very playful.

over all we squeezed in as much as possible in the 6 nights we planned for. And it worked out really well, as we basically done most of what the cruise would have seen with the exception of some smaller non-human inhabited islands.

so from here we're going down further south, and crossing the boarder to Peru, to meet up with people we met in Rio. I smell an Inca trail...

travel cd005 backup -- Galapagos

Catching up in Ecuador

Well i guess i haven't been so good in keeping you folk at home updated on on my where abouts and ongoings for the last wee while, but it can be difficult at times to get time & space to yourself when moving around and hitting the road so much. Have been out of action for last few days as I've been bit sick. Prob got some dodgy food/drink along the way somewhere, but sure thats to be expected at stages on the trip. Anyway the last month or so was prity jam packed, so here's a brief catch up...

After recovering from rio madness we went up to northern Brazil up to Salvador, nice city, but can be quite dangerous in places. Chilled out on a few nice beaches, as we needed a timeout after Carnaval. We then hit an island off the Brazilian coast called Ilha Grange. This was amazing! Very tropical like, lots of cool smaller islands and not many people about. Didnt get the chance to stay there too long unfortunately :-(

we headed down to South America's largest city; Sao Paulo for a very short stop off to catch a flight to the west coast; Ecuador. From my very brief look Sao Paulo was just enormous. Has something like over 15million people in the city. Crime there is a serious issue. Car-jackings and red light robberies are supposedly common, and i heard its even illegal just to slow down at red lights late at night; therefor no traffic, then drivers keep going. Crazy roads in this country too.

Well onto Ecuador after our flight from Brazil..
first impressions, an interesting place indeed, Quito the capital was a v.cool city but quite cold. Its something like over 3k+ meters above sea level, so i felt a little breathless at times with the altitude, and the lack of oxygen in the air.

we went down to Latacunga, just south of Quito, to a v.very remote village called Chugchillen. It had absolutely beautiful landscapes. Stayed in a wood cabin 4500 meters above sea level, basically in the midst of fantastic mountains, rivers and generally stunning scenery. As cool as it was, i still don't think it was as nice as Tores Del Paine national park in Argentina/Chile. That still blows me away. You fall in love with the picturesque views. Just amazing. I'm trying to imagine training in these surroundings back home, instead of running around the concrete city.

Next up in Ecuador was Banos further south. A very tourist orientated place, but great night life. And a good buzz around the place, with lots to do. Banos is positioned at the base of the (currently active) volcano; Tungurahua. It had a major eruption in 2006, and only a few months ago the town was on red alert for another, so we're a little apprehensive going there, but all was well. Though smoke is still coming out of its Crater. Met up with some sound English lads, and went whitewater rafting, canyoning down the sides of waterfalls and jumping into plunge pools from roughly 10 meters high, all great laugh! Really enjoyed Banos. Would definitely go back.

Oky, over and out for now. Next stop Galapagos Islands - an animal and nature heaven. This, I cant wait for!

Rockin and Rollin in Rio "Carnaval"

Well well, Brazil has its worldwide fame for the annual "Carnaval" during lent season, and it sure has good reason to claim this...

Im still recovering from the utter mayhem and madness that goes with the Brazilian Carnaval. Rio De Janeiro was our destination, a crazy but excellent experience at this Samba fest.

The Brazilians here in Rio seem to adore three things during this period, and nothing else really comes into play; 1. Samba, 2. Alcohol, and 3. Women (not in that order of course.)

This place just insanely erupts to party for 7 days and 7 nights, and we got a good taster of the real thing. As you can see from photos of we got in the sambadrome (a massive open air stadium purpose-built for the parades area in Rio where samba schools parade in competitions each year during the Carnival. There were 10s of thousands of Brazilians and foreign tourists. I couldn't recommend more to everyone to at least try and experience one Brazilian Carnival in their lifetime. One of the craziest weeks of my life!

Some photos below of the Sambadrown event, in downtown Rio De Janeiro.

"Es Mucho Frio" playback.

Just managed to get to a web cafe here in Brazil able to upload this short few video clips. Was trying to get it up in the previous post for "Es Mucho Frio", but wasnt possible then, so here it is now. Better late than never I guess. First is from our 20km trek to the summit of Mount Fitz Roy, down in Patagonia Argentina, after our mountainous uphill struggle. The view at the peak was fantastic and as you can prob tell from this short clip, its was soooooo cold up there. Its difficult to hear what im saying as the wind was vicious when we reached the view point. But basicly its something like- "welcome to the view point of Mount Fitz Roy, Patagonia, Argentina" :

This second clip below was when we were trekking up French Valley on way up Torres del Paine. Its the free run water that comes off melting glaciers. We drank gallons of this water on the trek, very refreshing and clear - fantastic!

Shedding the winter skin

Well after moving away from the snowy Andes mountains, we moved on up to Buenos Aires again to made our way to Brazil. Since its back to the piping hot weather, i have finally got rid of the beardy boy look, and shaved it all off. It was fine in the cold winter weather down south Argentina/Chile, but not in this sticky heat.

A before and after look, no snearing comments now!!!

Beardyboy & Cleanboy:
. .

We've hooked up with so many people along the trip, there are so many Brazilians and Israelis traveling throughout Argentina and Chile.

We were riding the Uruguayan coast for a bit, trough Colonia and Punto Del Este then breaking over the boarder to Florianopilis, Brazil (a 16hour bus ride, nasty!!) where we are now, and then over land to Rio. Punto Del Este is a beach/coastal city. Its supposed to be prity much dead in the off peak season, but its so fucking alive now! If your not into eating, drinking and worshiping the sun, then this aint a place to come, but I'm happy with all 3. ... and once again - the women. un-fucking-believable. Not an ounce of exaggeration here, but its hard to find any Latin ladies that aren't good looking.

Right leaving you on that note, its time to go back to work; chilling on the beach in Florianopilis, on the southern east coast of Bazil, admiring the very pleasant scenery.

Trekking Andes + 92km = sore feet!

Well just back from trekking another part of the Andes, this time it was a 4 days camping trek at Tores Del Paine. Was tight going at times, but eventually finished it. Cant believe we covered that amount in that timeframe. But it was very rewarding when completed. I think I'll be staying off the trekking for a while, feet still in agony. eek! (Sorry no photos yet!)

We've crossed the boarder to Chile now, and sampling the beer & beef. I'm far from disappointed, but have to say its not a scratch on what we had in Argentina. We've only went to a few places, but none of them were really top notch. The few beef houses went to in B'Aires, were all fantastic!

The Chilean natives come across a bit distant to "outsiders", and not very friendly. It feels at times, they couldnt care less if you needed help with anything, and are quite reluctant to give advice, its more or less a "next person please!" ... just one other reason why I like Argentina more, the people there are great, reminds me of the Irish hospitality back home.

Anyway we're heading to Ushuaia in Patagonia next to catch a flight back up to Buenos Aires, before heading up to Rio. We may cross into Uruguay to sample the beaches on the way up the coast, but we'll see as we're cutting it fine time-wise, as Carnaval is closing in on us.

OK, over and out for now.
Thanks for the emails and texts!

Es Mucho Frio

i.e., its v.very cold!

Just another quick one here, back from trekking areas of the Andies along the Argentina/Chile boarder, now that was an experience and a half!
Just fantastic, we left El Calafate after viewing allot of glaciers, including Puerto Moreno Glacier - an amazing experience i must say. We went to a wee remote village called El Chalten, further south. I'll not be able to get across the scenic views in writing, here are just a very few i got up with such slow connections here in s.argentina, so i'll let the photos tell some of the story. Better ones to follow soon. (see below)

We done a 20km trek yesterday up to Mount Fitz Roy. Its in the Patagonia region, so i'm so utterly bollixed at the mo. Was quite a tough challenge for both Barry and myself, but the view at the peak was out of this world. Was mainly a mountainous uphill struggle, which made it even harder. Not sure of the temperatures at the top, but believe me it was "Es Mucho Frio" -
Very coooold!!!



Right, me outa here, time to recuperate. Yawnnnn!

Oh, as you can see in the middle photo, that collapsed right in front of our eyes. Amazing!