OUR FINAL POSTING FROM RIO

well somehow this year has come to an end. jeeze just writing that has almost made me cry. we just can´t believe it. all the planning, saving & preparing for this dream year that began 2 years ago is about to become part of our personal history ...

potatoes !!

but there is room for one last posting. we have just spent another 2 weeks in rio de janeiro and what a wonderful 2 weeks it has been. we´ve had fun, laughter, adventure and a little drama !! i´ll begin with the little drama to get it over & done with !! last week we were in our beautiful apartment and i decided to put some baby potatoes on the boil. the plan was to boil them, let them go cold & use them to make potato salad to have with dinner that evening. so i put them on the hob and forgot about them. we headed off out to the beach for the day. about 3 plus hours later we were both lying side by side soaking up the sun when out of nowhere i jumped up and screamed at tom ´THE POTATOES´. tom looked at me through squinted eyes and said ´what the hell are you talking about´. frantically i was trying to get dressed and at the same time i was saying to tom ´i put on potatoes hours ago and didn´t turn them off´. before i could say another word tom was running off the beach shouting back at me ´F*** SAKE LYNN !!!! and other stuff !!!´ ... whe we arrived at the apartment block we dashed to the elevator and jumped out on our floor, floor 11. the first thing you could smell was smoke and we were petrified. tom opened the door to find the kitchen filled with smoke but thankfully no flames, WHEW, LUCKY ME !! the potatoes were so burnt that there was nothing inside the middle, all the water had completely boiled off, the pot had indents in it where the potatoes were buring through, tom had a look of ´will i kill her or hug her´ on his face and i just looked to the heavens and thanked that little angel who tapped me on the shoulder while i was asleep on the beach and whispered into my ear ´your potatoes are still on the boil´ !!!

maracana

so anyway lets talk about fun stuff, the maracana !! can you believe it but tom actually talked me into going back to the maracana with him. not to a match but to the museum. it was interesting i guess. i now know all the players who ever played for brazil, i know how many times brazil won the world cup & what year too. i know brazil are hosting the next world cup after south africa, i know when the maracana was built, how many people it took to build it, how much steel it took, the biggest capacity it ever held, the seating capacity of today .... i even know who cuts the grass !! ah you know i guess it was intersting enough especially for tom although he did come away a little disappointed. you see after the 3rd time brazil won the world cup they were allowed to keep it. tom thought it would be on display which was i guess is a good enough reason to go. like if the worlds most amazing handbag was on display somewhere i would want to go. but get this it was robbed, melted and sold so there is no world cup in brazil !! apart from that i think tom´s favourite part was comparing the players feet as they have all left their footprints in the cement. riviting stuff to say the least !!

the lake

then there was the day we went to the lake, that was a right laugh. it was an off day weather wise so we decided to go for a walk to a lake which lies behind ipanema beach. we got there and thought it would be a good idea to rent a bicycle made for 2 and it was. it was sort of like a bike where you sit side by side. the lake perimiter was almost 8km´s so off we went screaming and laughing all the way. tom´s favourite part was when he had to ring the bell to get people to move out of his way!! seriously though we´ve never had so many people look so strangely at us before, i think those bikes really are meant for children.

sleep

we spent all other days of week 3 just like week one and 2. we slept for a good 10 hours a night and the rest of the time we just lazed on the copacabana. at the beginning of week 4 i just said to tom you know that those 3 weeks we went to sleep every night and never once set an alarm clock, never once did we have to get up out of bed for any reason. and everynight i slept for 10 hours straight. it just shows how difficult travelling the world really is !! seriously though in every village, town, city or country we passed through over the last 12 months we had an agenda, a reason or a thing to do. we had alarms to set ... buses, trains, planes to catch, activities booked, people to meet or something to do. but here we´ve just had a chance to kick back unwind, reflect and sleep !! when in your life do you get to go to bed for 3 weeks in a row and never have to set the alarm clock for anything, i honestly can´t remember any time in the last 16 years of my life that i did that and tom agrees that the last time for him he was a teenager ... week 4 then arrived and for some reason we both found ourselves waking earlier, i have been waking at 8 as opposed to 10 and tom at about 7. we wondered why and we´ve come to the conclusion that we have become so rested that we now need less sleep and also that maybe just maybe the subconscious mind is getting us ready for work in 10 days time .....aaaaaaahhhhhhh work !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

copacabana

i just want to record some observations i´ve made while sunbathing on the copacabana for 4 weeks now. it is as you all know a beach filled with so many people of all shapes and sizes but predominantly beautiful bodied women ... well so all you men believe but seriously the funny thing is i have never seen so much fat & cellulite in one place in all my life !! the grass is not always greener on the other side boys !!

ilha grande

we did have some great times during this week 4, our final week in rio & our final week of the world trip. we went sailing for a day down off the coast of rio de janeiro. a little further south than where the city lies. we sailed out to ilha grande and all i can say is the beauty was so special. it really reminded us of the gulf of thailand, the calmest turquoise waters, beautiful blue skies, scorching sunshine and the lushest scenery on the islands. the food, the people, the entertainment was all superb.

cristo renentor

another day we set off up to the cristo redentor. this as everyone in the world knows is the huge statue of christ that overlooks the city of rio de janeiro. to get there we had to take a bus, walk a bit and then finally board a small train. this train slowly made its way up the hill and from there we just had to climb a few dozen steps to the top. now seriously i don´t know if we´ve seen a view like this anywhere else in the world. it was just spectacular. views of the mighty maracana, the sugar loaf, the copacabana, ipanema, the lake, the centro, the ocean ....

a final word

so what else can we say, cathy is well adjusted to dundalk life and back to school and we are only 3 nights away from boarding our flight to dublin. it´s been an amazing year, the stuff of dreams really. our advice to anyone is don´t just think about it, do it .... also i want to wish my big & only brother conor a happy 34th birthday today, HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRO XXX

a big thank you to all the people who have followed the blog like some kind of new religion ! we have received so many messages on the blog, through email & through facebook which meant so much to us. as sad as we feel about the end of this year we are also extremely excited about seeing all our family and friends again ....

THE END X



Hi folks it´s Tom here, now before you all pull the power cord in some kind of ´end of blog depression´, click on the link below. I think it will make you smile........

http://www.tlc-usa.blogspot.com/

All our love, Tom, Lynn & Cathy x x x

BRAZIL or should i just say RIO !!!

RIO DE JANEIRO

the easy life in rio

so after leaving the iguazu falls we crossed the border into brazil and headed straight for rio de janeiro. before this we had spent some time sourcing an apartment for two weeks. finding one that filled our criteria wasn´t so easy ... nice, clean, comfy, fully equipped kitchen, cable tv, near the beach, good location ... we felt we owed it to ourselves !!! anyway there was so many options but the prices were just way above our budget and then we found apartment 1102 right in the middle of ave de copacabana. we emailed the owners jed & helena straight away and after exchanging a few emails we got the price down to 300 euro a week.

we were so happy when we arrived there. helena was waiting for us to show us around which took all of 5 seconds as it´s so small, but perfect. with not a word of english we just exchanged keys and a few smiles and waved her off. jed then called, he has english so he introduced himself as our point of contact. that was the first day of a fab 2 weeks and to try to distinguish one day from the other right now as i write is almost impossible !! the day basically starts when we wake up ... for tom this is usually 8am, for me closer to 10 am ... i´m the lazy one !! we then go for a walk down by the beach before returning for lunch, after lunch we go the beach and lie under the wondeful brazilian skies for the afternoon. these afternoons usually entail turning over from back to front to get an even tan, reading a few chapters of our latest book, sometimes eating ice cream and for tom now flying his kite. yes tom bought a superman kite and in recent days runs along the beach with it to everyones amusement !!! as cathy would say ´not weird´ !!!

the maracana

we did venture to the maracana one night. of course i had absolutely no interest in going to see a football match at this stadium but a beautiful new pair of sunglasses from tom was enough to twist my arm. i had read horror stories about that place. the one thing that was stuck in my mind was the article i read about your choice of seat, it said ´be sure to get a seat on the upper tier to avoid being hit & sprayed by flying bottles filled with urine or dead chickens´ !! wonderful i thought ... whoever said romance no longer exists !! anyway it was worth it just to see the smile on tom´s face, he was seriously amazed by the whole experience and i guess the icing on the cake for him was that it was a local derby between flamengo & fluminense.

pao de acucar/the sugar loaf

there was one day in the past 2 weeks that we managed to get off our lazy butts and do something interesting. that was the day we vistied the sugar loaf. this is rio´s iconic mountain which offers stunning views over the city. to reach the summit you take 2 cable cars which are not my preferred mode of transport but how and ever the views at the top were so worth it. it was something else. i think it can be easily said that of all the cities we visited over the last year this has to be right at the top of the list with cape town.

the next 2 weeks

so the next 2 weeks more than likely will be a carbon copy of the 2 weeks gone by !! we were initially going to go out to the island ilha grande but have now decided to stay in our little ´sanctuary´. we emailed jed and asked him what price he could give us the apartment for if we stayed an extra 2 weeks and he said he would reduce it to 200 euro a week because he thought we deserved it !! we´re not really sure why he thinks we deserve it seen as we never met him but hey who´s complaining !! so with the apartment secured and no reason we pick up those backpacks again we don´t intend to do much more than laze around the superb beach of copacabana and visit the cristo redentor. tom also wants to return to the maracana to the museum ... i can´t wait for that, surely that warrants a new handbag for me !!!

the final posting

so this time 2 weeks we will be boaring our flight from sao paulo to dublin, crazy but true. we will of course finish the blog on our last day with a final few words and a photo album rio. tom has just compiled the album brazil part one so thats available to view ...

cathy

a blog wouldn´t be a blog without cathys whereabouts being mentioned. she is over in the west of ireland, galway to be exact at irish college. she has just one more night and tomorrow she will be back home in dundalk with my mam & dad. next monday she returns to school, good luck with that cats, try to contain the day dreaming !!!

CATHYS BEST BITS

hey cathy, as you are settling back into life in dundalk after travelling for ten and a half months through tanzania, uganda, mozambique, swaziland, south africa, singapore, thailand, cambodia, vietnam, china/tibet, nepal, india, australia, new zealand, chile, peru, bolivia and argentina we thought we would pick out a few photos of you that we liked the most. thank you so much for being so amazing to travel with, may we have many more happy times travelling this world in the years to come, take good care over in the west of ireland, see you back home in four weeks time, love you loads tom & mommy xxx

check out the album above right, cathys best bits ! X

AMAZING ARGENTINA ONCE AGAIN WHERE CATHY TURNED 16 !

our return to argentina

so we left chile for argentina just after breakfast on sunday july 26th. we expected to arrive in salta at around 6pm with tom and dad finalising plans to go for what else but steak ! unfortunately the bus journey over the andes took alot longer than expected. our final journey in altitude thankfully !! no more journeys watching your crisp bags expand until near explosion or face creams burst all over your bag !! it was almost mid night before we sat down to dinner. cathy choose sensible for the hour it was and had a nice pasta dish, i unable to eat with tiredness choose nothing, tom determined ordered steak and dad made a mistake ... dad decided it was too late to have steak especially as we had told him how huge argentinian steaks are so instead he choose pizza. this choice was made simply because he thought it would be a small sensible pizza that he could digest easily before going to sleep ... oh how wrong could he be ... how we laughed when this family size pizza landed on the table. after about 2 slices he threw in the towel and asked for it to be boxed and us travellers enjoyed it for lunch the next day ...

we stayed 2 nights in salta. it really is a beautiful city. we had been there on our first visit to argentina a month back but were too tired after bariloche and mendoza to really appreciate it. this time we stayed in a much nicer part & really immersed ourselves in the whole ambience. cathy and myself even sampled the local hairdressers while the boys enjoyed pints of beer in the afternoon sunshine. we also decided to walk the 1070 steps up to the view point of the city again just so my dad got to walk off that pizza !! on our second night we went for dinner again and this time all indulged in steak. it is just simply the tastiest steak in this world .... so for us this was steak number one, for tom 2 nights 2 steaks !!

from salta to buenos aires

so the following day we were off to the bright lights of buenos aires. this was a long bus journey, 22 hours. luckily for us all it was extremely comfortable and we all managed to sleep well that night. of course the very next day cathy was turning 16 so to entertain ourselves on the bus we had a bag of presents for cathy. there was about 12 or so small gifts in the bag which we gave her every half an hour, the last of these was a piece of paper with the booking confirmation of the claridge boutique 5 star hotel in buenos aires where we were bringing her for 2 nights. one of these nights was for her birthday and of course the 2nd night was the last night of cathys world trip.

cathy turns 16

when we arrived to our hotel which was located downtown buenos aires we quickly dumped our bags and hit the shops. it only took us about 5 minutes to decide it was best to separate the boys from the girls ! so we browsed the galleries and shops of a very busy florida street for many hours before meeting up again & resting our feet in starbucks. we then agreed we should stick to the plan of boys together, girls together for the next couple of hours. while cathy & myself tried to squeeze in every shop possible we discovered the boys had gave up on the shopping and once again were to be found supping pints, this time in the hotel bar.

cathy & myself had a bedroom next door to gaga and tom. so we again went our seperate ways to get ready for the big night of celebrations for cathys birthday. when dad and tom were ready and they walked into our room they couldn´t believe their eyes. so bad was the mess of clothes and make up everywhere tom ran to phone to ring reception to say the room had been ransacked, not funny right !!!!! they couldn´t believe their eyes, it was hillarious ... i walked in then to peek at their room and seriously it looked like nobody had even checked into it !!!

so for dinner that night we all dressed up and with the addition of some funky ties and flowers we looked like we were out celebrating oh and of course the clowns hats for the two clowns ! we choose the area of puerto madero to eat. it is so like albert dock n liverpool, recycled docks facing the river where you can find first line shops and restaurants and the most modern buildings. the restaurant was just lovely and the staff were great fun too. after dinner much to the delight of cathy they brought her a cake with a candle and more importantly free champagne for us all. we ate and drank until we were fit to burst before retiring to our 5 star luxury for the night.

la cabrera

the next day following a big lie in we headed of to an area of buenos aires known as palermo. this is the young and hip part of the city. it is so vibrant and home to many fashion and decoration shops which they say set the trends of this city. but that was not the reason we set off for palermo, the reason was something much closer to a man´s heart, steak !! we were told more than once that there is a restaurant in palermo called ´la cabrera´ and it does the very best steak in the whole of argentina !! it took us 3 hours walking to get there which was fine as it was a nice relaxing day and we thought dinner about 5 would be perfect. but when we arrived we learned that la cabrera closed from 5 until 8.30 when it reopened until the early hours. in argentina people eat dinner much later than we do at home. you see they have a siesta during the day and then all the shops reopen until about 8 or 9pm at night so dinner for them is usually 10pm. anyway after a small discussion we thought we would wait. so when we finally sat down to order we had walked 3 hours and waited another 3 hours for this steak !! and oh my word was it amazing, to even try to describe to you the feast that was put down in front of us in this beautiful quirky little restaurant is not possible. it was just to die for ... what a way for cathy and dad to spend their last night eh !

the final day

so we woke up the next morning and the mood in camp tlc+g was not good. it was the end of dad´s 2nd visit out to us and the end of cathys adventure around the world after 10 and a half months. for those who dont know when we decided to go travelling for the year cathy asked could she come home a month early to go to the gaeltacht. basically this is where you go to the west of ireland for a few weeks to a region where the irish language is still spoken as a first language and you spend a few weeks here improving your language and taking part in all things involving the irish culture except drinking of course !!!! this sounded like a good idea at the time, our thinking was it would get cathy back into some sort of frame of mind for school but as the time approached it became increasingly difficult to both think and talk about the departure date. the week previous their was tears falling and there was even talk of cathy changing/cancelling her flight but in the end she boarded the flight to dublin with gaga. we said our goodbye with brave faces and as soon as they walked through the gates i just exploded into tears. i just couldn´t believe the 31st of july was upon us. tom & myself went back to the hotel & when i walked into the room where cathy and myself had previously created a female bomb site i burst out crying again because everything just looked wrong ! all that day tom & myself just couldn´t get our heads around it. 24/7 for 10 & a half months the 3 of us had been like three peas in a pod and now there was this missing pea .........

back to the rough

so the next day we set off to another part of the city, san telmo. this is where the origins of the city lie. narrow and cobblestone little streets, colonial buildings with wrought iron railings, lots of arists. art galleries and antiquarians. we booked into this hostel in a very old building and tried to settle in for what was meant to be 3 nights. even though we were meeting chris, a friend of ours from germany who we had met in santiago we were very restless. we couldn´t settle. we were i guess just missing cathy being around. everything seemed so quiet. we even talked about coming home early !! tom decided there and then to book back into a hotel after our second night here as he was blaming the downgrade from extreme comfort to the very basic of hostel conditions in addition to cathys absence for our gloomy form. he found a great deal online ... don´t worry cats it was only a 4 star !!! so not only did we go there but as it was our last night in buenos aires we also went back to la cabrera ... it was again the most amazing dining experience you could ever imagine. i think everyone should go to buenos aires even just for one night to have dinner here. the steak in argentina is amazing anyway so how can this be even more amazing, its crazy but its true. i am so glad we dont live here or we would seriously weigh about 20 stone each!!! anyway we were indulging so much that we didn´t realise we were actually eating for about 3 hours. there was a table of 5 men sitting next to us and after their meal they came over and said to us ´did you guys seriously eat those 2 steaks´ we were like ´sure didn´t leave a bit´ ... they were shocked and said they had 3 between 5 and had to take some home as they couldn´t finish it !! as good as a night as it was it didn´t end without tears, as soon as we starting talking about what cathy might be doing at home the tears were falling again !! cathy we miss you ...........

la boca & caminito

i forgot to mention that before we left san telmo we walked with chris to la boca to visit la bombonera. la boca is the area where maradona grew up and la bombonera is the home to the world famous football team, boca juniors. this area is a really rough part of town. i wasn´t so sure about this trip at all especially as chris had been there before and was chased by some local with a gun !! why he wanted to return with us i´ll never know !! anyway tom was determined, football is football at the end of the day and tom wanted to see this stadium more than he wanted to see the great wall of china !! we did a stadium tour & museum tour and tom really enjoyed it. he was just fascintaed by every aspect of it while chris and i were more fascinated by the fact that the pitch sprinkler was a little robot !!

from la boca we then visited another truly rough part of the city, caminito. this area is where all the building are made of corrugated iron and sprayed in very bright happy colours. it is a tourist attraction but you cannot venture from the one tourist street in the area. you can however enjoy some tango dancing too.

buenos aires to iguazu

so a week later we left the city and we took a night bus to puerto iguazu. this was 18 hours up to the north of the country. we spent 2 nights here and of course took in the spectacular iguazu falls. it was breathtaking. i never imagined a sight like it. there is a very well designed series of walkways that bring you through wonderful nature and then all of a sudden you can hear the roar of the falls like thunder and then the falls are exposed and your jaw just drops. you just stand there not beleiving what your are looking at is real. the sheer force of the water falling is actaully frightening too !

so as our time in argentina drew to a close we had one final thing to do yesterday before crossing into brazil, we had to visit this very unusual river crossing. the river forms a T shape. where we went to was the top middle part of the T and we were in argentina. looking out on our right hand side of the T was paraguay and then to our left side was brazil. another beautiful moment as we looked upon three countries all at once.

this morning we took a bus across the border of argentina and brazil and are now in a town called foz de iguacu. we are trying to re adapt to these tropical temperatures after many months of braving the cold. from here we will travel to rio de janeiro where we plan to put our feet up for the next 4 weeks and mentally prepare for home ....

lots of good pic´s being prepared by tom, check out the link above, argentina part 2 X

a last visit to chile

san pedro de atacama

so after crossing from bolivia back into chile we made the short journey to san pedro de atacama for the weekend. we absolutely loved this place when we visited previously so decided on our way back to argentina we would return here with gaga.

it was only a short visit, 2 days and 2 nights. we had planned 3 but with the cancellation of our salt flat tour we arrived one day behind. we still managed to see the best of this stunning desert town & the surrounding areas.

the first day was all about relaxation in the sun. after bolivia we needed that badly and some good food so when evening came we treated ourselves to a nice feed. an early night was had by all and the next morning we set off on our bikes to the valley of death to give my dad a go at sandboarding. once again tom stole the show and pulled off some great moves on the board. the rest of us tried !!! we did however get another glimpse at this amazing desert and climb the dunes to see the incredible views it has to offer ....

from here we took a bus the following day up over the andes and into argentina ....

chile part 3 photo album is now ready to view ....

ON TOUR IN BOLIVIA

from peru to bolivia

so from puno in peru we took a bus to the border of bolivia where we got off the bus and walked through the archway into our next country. it was then only a short distance to the little town of copacabana in bolivia where we enjoyed a bit of lunch before continuing onto la paz. this part of the journey was incredible. lake titicaca sits like a jewel amongst the bolivian countryside. it is the highest lake in the world and easily the most beautiful especially from the bolivian side. the lake actually has an unmarked border through the center, half of it belongs to peru, the other half to bolivia.

as our bus brought us on our way to la paz we actually had to get of the bus and take a boat across the lake as they have not yet built a bridge to join the roads. the bus was then driven onto what looked like a giant raft with a tiny motor and sailed across to pick us up on the other side much to my dads amusement.

la paz

so upon our arrival in la paz we went straight to our previously booked hostel. the guy wouldn´t let us cross the door step, he was just saying there was a problem & shoved the deposit back into tom´s hand. so off we went in search of a new hostel which on a saturday night during peak season in la paz is not the easiest thing to find. we did find one in the end, double our basic backpacker price but it was worth it for the comfort ....

the death road

the following day we got ourselves booked on the ´death road cycle´ much to the delight of my dad & tom ! men eh !! basically just outside la paz there is a road built into the side of the mountain which was once considered the main road into la paz. due to the amount of people who lost their lives driving on this road, approx 100 per year, it beacame known as the death road. they have now built an alternative for vehicles but the road has become a huge tourist attraction where they tempt you to cycle the 64km stretch listed as the most dangerous road in the world. literally 64km of cliff edge scary cycling, any lapse of concentration could easily see you over the edge. thirteen tourists to date have gone over the edge & none have been taken up alive !! i was hoping cathy wouldn´t want to do it so i could have an easy excuse to get out of it but it wasn´t the case, the little dare devil was determined ! we all went off & honestly had an amazing day, despite the sheer vastness of the cliff drops the scenery was some of the most stunning scenery you would ever see on a day out cycling and thankfully despite cathy being knocked off her bike by some careless idiot we all survived.

that night we all returned to the loki hostel for a few beers. we were all yawning with tiredness after our long day. dad & cathy retired to bed & tom and myself planned to do the same but a chance encounter with a couple from london saw us downtown la paz on the dance floor in club2 until the wee hours of the morning !! the following day tom suffered like i have never seen him suffer before ... nothing to do with the litre bottles of la paz brew he was drinking all night !!! the poor fella was doing the chin run all day, you know that moment where you run to the toilet thinking your going to puke before you get there, endless hours of amusement for us all watching his torture !! while he didn´t puke in the end he did develop a serious case of the ´runaway bum´ which lasted for a staggering 7 days & caused tom to develop a serious hatred for this the 19th country of our travels .....

la paz to uyuni

that night to add to tom´s pain we had to take an overnight bus in order to add to our bolivian adventure ... the next on our ´to do list´ was the salt flats in uyuni. a 12 hour bus journey from the city across the mountains seemed liked nothing out of the ordinary with all the bus journeys we have endured to date. the bus was an hour late departing but once we all got on board and wrapped up everything was fine. that all change though 2 hours into our journey as the bus driver slammed on the brakes to avoid a serious accident that occured right in front of us. the bus much to our horror skidded out of control into the embankment & then ground to a sudden halt titlted to one side. everyone on the bus went pale faced, silent & completely still. no one would dare move for fear the bus was going to topple. one by one they got us off, the whole place was chaotic. there was tourists all sitting in the freezing cold on the side of the road wrapped in blankets trying to keep warm, our bus was looking seriously unbalanced in the ditch, a mini bus ahead was overturned, a truck was completely smashed into the embankment, there was lights & sirens everywhere and then before you know it the local bolivian news crew are on the scene. they run straight over to tom with the microphone to interview him and then they turned to me, we were so embarrassed but hey at least we made it onto bolivian tv !!!

eventually a replacement bus arrived & we were nervously back on the road, i say nervously because the bus driver decided to drive twice as fast to make up for lost time & more than once did it feel like the bus was going to leave the road again especially as we were off roading across the top of the mountain. but fair play to the driver as he broke all records and still got us to uyuni on time the next morning !!

uyuni & the salt flats

so our salt flats tour was to begin at 10:30, just 3 hours after we arrived. we had time for breakfast .... but not tom, he spent this time on the toilet and most other meal times over the next few days. when 10:30 ticked by on the clock we were left standing on the street waiting, time passed by, 11:30, 12:30, 13:30 and still no tour. there was a power cut in the town & we were told because of this they could not get fuel. come on who are they kidding ... they are so far behind the times in bolivia especially uyuin they couldn´t even have electric pumps ! as well as this the other girls who were due to join us on our tour had not yet paid and with the power cut all two bank machines in town were out of service. they eventaully cancelled our 3 day tour until the next day. we were pretty damn p***** off with company who wouldn´t refund our money or be of any real assistance but i guess this is when you have to stand back and realise that things don´t run smoothly for these people on a daily basis & i guess the simple things in life to us like electricity cannot be taken for granted although i still don´t believe them that they couldn´t get fuel !! so we ended up booking ourselves a room for the night. indoors was the best place to be as a sandstorm passed over the town. in hindsight it was probably a good thing we stayed there as it gave tom some extra time to try to recover & cathy who by then had in her very own words got ´the shits´ !

salar de uyuni

so the next morning we set off the see this world famous salt flats. it´s the floor of an ancient lake over 4000m high which everyone said was truly amazing. we arrived there within an hour of leaved the town of uyuni in our 4x4. it was just incredible. all you could see for miles and miles was the white floor of this dried up lake. we all got out and started taking photos which are so fuuny. due to the mass of pure white everywhere and some clever camera work you can seemingly remove the perspective and develop some very funny pictures. one particular picture looks like dad is driving cathy & myself in tom´s shoe ! another looks like i am climbing on tom´s face ! then there is one where tom´s ipod looks bigger then him ! it was just brilliant ..... the scenery was brilliant, being there with tom, dad & cathy was brilliant, the 2 girls who joined us on our tour was brilliant but the guide was the biggest assh*** i have ever met in my life. he just kept being an assh*** from the moment we set out so much so that dad learned a phrase in spanish that said ´can you stop being a b****x for one day in your life´ !!! oh my word he was seriously annoying. the thing was we were stuck with him for 3 blinking days !!

anyway as we drove across the salt flats it was as i said just incredible. we then stopped at this island called fish island. it was just class. obviously it no longer is surrounded by water as the lake is dried up but it sat on the salt flats with loads of coral and cactus plants. that evening we also visited caves before retiring for the night into a salt hotel. a hotel made completely out of salt. we have since read that this building is completely illegal which makes sense i guess but it was still pretty cool to stay there. calling it a hotel is probably doing it a fierce amount of justice. it was just basic rooms that actually resembled a prison except the walls were a brighter shade due to the salt bricks. we were fortuntate enough to see an amazing sunset from our window too that night as temperature dropped to minus 7 dgrees.

the following day we continued our tour south . this day entailed an awful lot of driving which took from the day especially as we had now fully developed tension between all of us and our guide/driver, a full on hate hate relationship. he refused to speak to us in any way that we could understand. we were getting virtually no information about the surroundings. we did stop at many colourful laguna´s though which were self explanatory, one in particular which had so many flamigo´s. that was so unbelievable it made our day. that night was spent at the biggest hovel ever. in fact it just looked like an old run down building with on going roof repairs. with no heating, electricity or running water we thought we were in for a night of hell. luckily the banter between the tourists was enough to lift the spirits of everyone & a few bottles of wine that we someone managed to secure out in this very barren land !

the following morning we had to rise a 4am. this was to make it in time to see the geysers before sunrise. what a sight, the pressure of the steam coming out of the ground at full force. the only thing was it was so bitterly cold it was difficult to hang about outside. from there we went to hot springs but not one of us dared to get in. we have had the hot spring experience many times before on this trip & just felt this time it was not worth it. the water was warm but the temperature outside was so cold that the thought of getting out after the warm water was just too painful. add that to the fact that we had to bus it back to chile before having a shower or accessing clean clothes !! and if we didn´t do the hot srping our tour with captain assh*** would end quicker so we choose a quick end.

we parted ways at the border between bolivia and chile full of excitement as we were returning to san pedro de atacama and bringing my dad to this desert town, easily one of our favourite places in the world.

all the pictures as always are on the link above .......

the wonders of peru

from chile to peru

from arica in chile we took a taxi across the border to the town of tacna. we wanted to catch a bus at 8 am to puno. having just arrived in arica on an overnight bus and with very little time on our hands we thought making the bus would not be possible. but there was no need to worry, paying the taxi driver a few extra dollars will get you anywhere you want whenever you want !! we managed to cross through immigration in chile to get our exit stamp, then entered through immigration in peru and got our entry stamp & got to tacna with 10 mins to spare. it was a huge shock to the system. all of a sudden we were catapulted back into the 3rd world. the first thing that hits you is how unbelievably poor everyone is again & then you step onto the bus & it´s back to overcrowded smelly buses although nowhere near as bad as africa ... at least here all the parents keep hold of their children and you mangage to keep your seat for the journey !! it was a pretty cool bus journey though, we had no idea what to expect or what route the bus would take but we spent 7 of the 11 hours driving through the peruvian desert which was so scenic in places. the last 4 hours of the bus really dragged and with all the rushing at the border we didn´t have a chance to change any money which meant we couldn´t buy anything to eat, not even a piece of bread ! so desperate did it get that at one point i looked around and tom & cathy we´re eating mayonaise ... yes mayonaise with mayonaise, it was the only thing that resembled food in our bags and 24 hours after we had last eaten they tried to eat mayonaise !!! yuck yuck yuck !!!

puno

puno lies at 3800 meters above sea level. living at sea level back home its just difficult to adapt. you do adapt but never fully, it always catches you unawares and you find yourself walking down the street gasping for air. i have to admit it´s been nowhere near as bad as tibet but it still affects us all the same. anyway we just put the feet up & totally chilled out in puno. we really took it easy & just enjoyed strolling the streets & going out for dinner without feeling guilty ! it´s so cheap here it´s great, cheap as in about 2 euro for a meal .... bliss.

cusco & bruce peru

from puno we took a bus to cusco. i´m sure you must think we are sick of buses, well yes your right we are !!! ha ha no honestly they can get a little tiring but most of the time the scenery is so stunning you don´t even notice the journey as was the case from puno to cusco. we took a touirst bus which was mega comfy and again had spectacular views of the countryside, just endless rolling hills & outstanding beauty.

we arrived in cusco & found ourselves a hostel for the week & a good irish pub, the highest irish owned pub in the world ¨paddys¨. it wasn´t drink we were looking for but a good old irish meal & that we found in this pub. it was yum .... after which i cut tom & cathys hair ! cathy has always trusted me with the scissors and now tom does too !!!

the reason we were staying in cusco for a week was because we had volunteered to work with a charity for the week in cusco. the charity is called bruce org. the organisation exists to provide education to the quarter of latin american children who are not in school. their mission is to help as many of the poorest children in the third world as they can to receive as good an education as their circumstances permit. bruce org does all it can do all to befriend them, motivate them to want to get educated, to help with their nutritional, medical, psychological, clothing and family well-being: and finally to get them into as good an educational institution as they can find for them. In the places of work many of the poorest children have only a single parent at home, an abandoned mother. the mission includes working to improve the prospects and quality of life of abandoned mothers.

so we all got involved for a week. initially we thought cathy would not be allowed as they don´t accept volunteers under 18 years of age but we managed to get them to bend the rules. on the monday morning we set off to our respective schools. tom & myself went to tica tica while cathy went to huancara. in tica tica we had just 15 students and one classroom although all 15 children never turned up. the parents of the children rarely care for their welfare so turning up to school almost always depends on the child. the age of the children in the class ranges from 4 to 16 and with just one teacher trying to teach all different levels things can be a little chaotic especially as all the children want to do is put their hair clips in your hair or climb all over you. although i must admit the older children weren´t much more advanced then the younger ones, some were even struggling to say the days of the week without help. in the short week we had there we became pretty fond of these young children, it´s just so hard not to. most of them don´t have a father figure in their life and they craved so much affection from tom it was so sad. every child has their own background, each equally tough. one little girl beatriz works for 3 hours before making the hour long journey to school, school starts at 9, she is only 8 years old. another young chap called dante was so malnourished he looked at most 10 years of age, when we learned he was 15 we just couldn´t believe it. then there was another young lad called guida. tom renamed his volunteering experience the ´guida experience´ after guida threw several rocks at his head & then preceeded to throw all his copy books into the open sewer that runs by the school class. this poor young lad is one of only a few to have his father in his life but suffers serious abuse at the hands of his alcoholic father. not the most realxing week of our travels but something we felt we wanted to do all the same because of our fortunate position in this world.


the charity also does alot of fundraising during the week. we got involved with the table quiz one night which takes place in a local pub. cathy was nominated to stand on the bar & read out the questions. i still can´t believe she done it, a reflection on how much she has come out of herself in the past year. one other day we gathered at the plaza de armas which is the main square in cusco to welcome into town 3 young english lads who had just spent 5 months horse riding from equador to cusco in peru raising 15000 pound for bruce org. the night that followed their arrival was superb with us all ending up on the dance floor in mama africas nightclub until the early hours !!

gaga comes to peru

this week also saw the arrival of my dad more commonly known as ´gaga´ to peru. having left dublin on the tuesday gaga finally touched down in cusco on thursday after spending one night in miami & another in lima. we were all delighted to see him & once again take him on board our travels. of course we took him straight to paddys for a good feed & a few pints to help him adapt to the altitude !! cusco stands at 3360 meters which resulted in gaga having a few dizzy spells & the usual breathing restrictions. the few days after gaga´s arrival we hung out in cusco & the surrounding area. we climbed up the hill to the cristo blanco which is a huge statue of christ that overlooks the city & also indulged in a little more horse riding. tom & myself had managed to squeeze in a trek earlier in the week and a couple of days after gaga arrived we convinced him it was worth doing even though he said it was at least 50 years since he was on a horse !! we promised no galoping & stuck to our word although gaga´s horse did seem to have a mind of it´s own & kept trying to break free !! all in all it was a great day.

the inca trail

next up was the inca trail. the night before we were due to do this trail we had a pre inca trail meeting. excited & nervous we listened to what lay ahead of us for the following 4 days. after the meeting we thought it was best to squeeze in one more meal in paddys as what we ate for the forthcoming days lay in the hands of someone else. for me this turned out to be a really bad decision, i choose this chicken curry with peanuts which sounded, looked & tasted amazing. but for some reason that little chicken decided it didn´t like me. i woke to some really loud tummy rumbles at 2 in the morning, ran to the toilet & thankfully made it in time & spent the next 4 hours there. every so often betwen tom´s words of sympathy i could hear him bursting out laughing, i think he was just so glad for once it was him & not me !! at 6.30 we got on the bus to the start of the inca trail, a 2 hour journey with a stop for breakfast along the way. needless to say i didn´t have breakfast & was just so glad of the stop to use the toilet .....

so when we reached km 82 we set off on the inca trail after a few group photos. also in our group was 3 girls from sao paulo & our guide george. running on ahead of us were the 6 porters assigned to us for the trail also known as sherpas. this first day was to be pretty easy. for everyone else except me it was. as we walked the trail i just felt worse & worse. as vomiting took over i thought this was the end of the trail for me but thankfully by evening all the symptoms passed and i seemed to bounce back to normal. that evening we camped at huayllabamba. it was here we saw the most amazing sky in the southern hemisphere.

the next morning we were up at 5am to begin the toughest part of the trail. the porters woke us with tent service ! coca tea before breakfast. the coca plant when mixed with other substances gives you cocaine but here they just put the coca leaves in boiling water to help with the altitude sickness. after a 5 hours walking we reached the first pass, named warmiwañiusca or dead woman's pass, at 4,215 meters high it is the highest point in the inca trail. along the way we stopped many times to take in the views and take a few snaps. you would think that the hardest part was over when we reached the top but the down hill was equally as challenging. with rugged paths & steep steps all the way, geting to the camp on the second evening was such a relief !! here at pacaymayo we were well fed again by the cook on the trail before retiring for the night into our tents.

day 3 looked like it was going to rain. as we came out of the tents in the morning we were literally in the clouds. we couldn´t see a thing but thankfully as the day progressed the clouds lifted and the scenery once again was amazing. this was without a doubt the longest day. we stopped to do a cermony on the mountain where each person had to do blessings. darkness was starting to fall as we reached the camp on this our third and final night. for the first time in 3 days we were able to shower & trust me after hiking over 20 miles during the previous 3 days we all needed a shower badly. it was here we all had a chance to thank the porters for all their effort. i have to say it´s the one thing i really didn´t like about the inca trail. seeing these young lads carrying so much equipment & knowing how little they get paid for their work. we carried our own personal stuff even though you could get the porters to carry it but they still had to carry all the tent equipment cooking equipment, food etc ! one guy even had a bottle of gas on his back, it´s crazy !! there was one little porter in our group who we all took a serious liking to, we called him charlie ... on the last night dad & tom kept buying the little lad beer. i´m pretty sure he wasn´t allowed to be drinking as he turned his back and downed every bottle in one go resulting with him stumbling all over the place for the night ......

so our final morning we were called at 3 am, had breakfast & set off on our way in time for sunrise at Machu Picchu. after a one hour walk through the forest towards the inti punku or the gate of the sun, also known as the entrance gate to Machu Picchu you have the most impressive panoramic view of the citadel. it was so amazing. we then walked on down to the site itself where we had a very informative guided tour ......... the setting of Machu Picchu is one of the most beautiful ever seen. we spent about 4 hours here trying to take it all in ........ truly amazing stuff.

with tired legs and some time on our hands we made our way to some hot springs near by where we sooted the aches and pains before taking a train back to cusco that night. it was so hard to believe the inca trail was complete having booked it last january !

return to puno

the next morning we didn´t even manage a sleep in. we were up & out and off back to puno. the 7 hour bus jouney was just perfect, feet up all the way ! we spent just 2 nights in puno when we returned. in this time we took a boat trip out to peru´s famous floating islands. they are built using the buoyant totora reeds that grow abundantly in the shallows of lake titicaca. the uro tribe who live on these islands have their lives interwoven with these reeds which are partially edible and are also used to make their homes and boats and crafts. the islands are constructed from many layers of the totora, which are constantly replenished from the top as they rot from the bottom so the ground is always soft & springy. it´s incredible, every day we see & learn something new.

from peru to bolivia

so that brought our time in peru to an end. from puno we took a bus to bolivia, just 3 hours drive by lake titicaca saw us enter our next country, bolivia. more updates from bolivia soon ..... tom´s photo album is also ready to view .... this time there will be 2 photo album links above for peru ! X