http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Marielle/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Marielle en-us Mon, 09 Nov 2009 01:47:58 +0000 Mon, 09 Nov 2009 01:47:58 +0000 Rio. What a way to finish I arrived a mere 52 hours after leaving Santa Cruz the less said about that the better and fell in love with the city as soon as I saw the view from Corcovado the hill with the statue of Christ. It was truly beautiful with deep emerald green wooded islands floating in the blue of the bay and the blazing blue sky definitely helped paint it in a positive light after http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/blog-131152.html Bolivia is officially the poorest country in South America and you don't have to look very hard to recognise that life here is pretty hard for many people. However many travellers that I had met had told me that Bolivia had been the great surprise of their trip they hadn't been expecting much but had loved the place. Forever Miss Contrary I have to say that I had good expectations but have liked http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/Santa-Cruz-Department/Santa-Cruz/blog-123117.html Now that I was starting the final leg of my adventures in South America I resolved to try and spend more time with locals rather than international travellers. This was mainly a desperate bid to get my Spanish back up to scratch but also because I wanted to get a better insight into the culture rather than just reading it in my book. Whatever the motive I certainly picked the right month for thi http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/Potosi-Department/Salar-de-Uyuni/blog-119441.html The transition from travelling with Fiona to being by myself was made much easier by the fact that I seemed to already know several people in Buenos Aires. There was Jackie P Alistair a friend from England and several other people I had met in different parts of South America so there was never any time to start feeling lonely.Alistair and I went off to Mendoza for a few days and the 13 hour bu http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Buenos-Aires/blog-115851.html Having missed the only weekly bus we had to give up on working our way South in Chile. Instead we headed for Argentina via Lake General Carrera the second biggest lake in South America which straddles the border between Chile and Argentina. The journey there was through beautiful countryside and we had all the more time to enjoy it as our minibus driver seemed to think he was driving a 4x4 took http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Magallanes/blog-110376.html Chile became much more interesting as soon as we left Santiago. Our first stop South was Valparaiso one of the most important ports on the whole Pacific coast and with a rich and interesting history. European and US business interests during the port's heyday in the 19th century had brought hundreds of international settlers to the area. The city sprawls higgledypiggedly over a series of small h http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Magallanes/blog-106499.html If you were cursing me after the last blog then no doubt you'll be very pleased to know that it seemed to jinx the weather completely and we even had two days of solid rain in Salvador I can feel the sympathy from here. In fact it seemed almost as if a higher force was deliberately trying to disprove everything I wrote about in the last blog. For a start there was a film on the bus although gi http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Bahia/Salvador/blog-103728.html HEALTH WARNING If you're feeling a bit glum about the onset of winter in England it might be best if you skip this blog I think the photos probably speak for themselves. These beaches are just stunning. Any of you who have been on holiday with me will know how much clear turquoise shallow water just does it for me so I've been in total heaven for the last week or so. We're on the northeast http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Bahia/blog-100888.html Travelling from Vilcabamba southwards meant that we crossed into Peru at the most eastern and more remote border post. Being off the beaten track had its advantages one of which being that I got to practise my Spanish an awful lot but it also meant that we had to be quite canny and organised as transport options were much more limited. We travelled for 3 days in a variety of cars collectivos t http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Loreto/Iquitos/blog-97433.html Fiona arrived at midnight on Monday and by 8.30 am was bundled onto the bus ready for a 7 hour trip to Quilotoa. No mean feat Im not sure she knew what had hit her especially when we transferred to the local bus filled to the brim with indigenous people and their chickens and all the sensory overload that that entails. Sandy roads and hairpin bends made the last 4 hours fairly hairraising but i http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/South/Vilcabamba/blog-94896.html I first had the idea of trying to reach the summit of Cotopaxi after hearing about a friend Rachel's adventures. Two years later having made my attempt I have to admit that she is a far more determined girl than I am Imagine climbing up a very steep icecovered slope in crampons in the dark. The closest thing I can liken it to is climbing back up a ski slope with skis on inching slowly up sid http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/North/Quito/blog-92348.html Last Friday was Ivan my 'house brother''s 22nd birthday. What better way to celebrate than by introducing some gringas to the Quiteno scene So it was that Linda Friedrike and I ended up on the town dancing the night away til 5am. I had thought that the nightlife here might be quite different and in some salsa bars Ive been to it definitely has been but this was a huge nightclub and apart http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/North/Quito/blog-90906.html Had a brilliant weekend as I joined a threeday trek in Cotopaxi National Park. A very international group it was too 3 Swiss 1 German 1 Belgian 1 French Could I speak any French Could I heck Sorry Mum it's all disappeared under a layer of bad Spanish 2 Canadians and little old me. I felt a bit intimidated when the rest of the group all turned up kitted out from head to toe in goretex and http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/North/Quito/blog-89390.html So no prizes for all the cleverclogs who guessed that classes would not in fact begin this week. I actually believed it when I should have known better. I arrived on Monday morning to the usual chaos of children wildly running around and trying to tag me whilst I tried to work out whether anything else was supposed to be happening....and so it continued for most of the week really. Some days ther http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/North/Quito/blog-88229.html Since I arrived I have been asking Guadelupe if we can cook some traditional Ecuadorean dishes together. Being very accommodating she chose Saturday morning as a good time to teach us how to make prawn ceviche a delicious cold soup with lime coriander tomatoes and onions. Unfortunately this coincided with my humungous hangover from a very funny and random Friday night out. Peeling prawns was a http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/North/Quito/blog-85867.html I SAW WHALES Lots of them and up close and personal too. Humpback whales are migrating to where and pass by these shores at this time of year. We went on a whalewatching trip at the coast last Friday and were lucky enough to find a large group of whales only about half an hour from the shore. There were 4 adults and 2 babies in the group and they stayed near the boat for about an hour just sp http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/West/Puerto-Lopez/blog-84232.html My second week has been just as full as the first in fact Im feeling as if I am constantly running around trying to be somewhere else at a given time. I have already found it easy to adapt to la hora ecuatoriana which seems to be a fluid rather than precise interpretation of the concept of time. Suits me though being late is suddenly perfectly acceptable brilliant Theres not really much o http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/North/Quito/blog-82242.html It certainly feels like I've been in Quito for longer than a week and I mean that in a good way. My homestay family have been very welcoming and I feel quite at home there. I say 'family' but really it's just one older lady Guadalupe and her 21 year old son who comes and goes. He was quite hard work at first but once he realised that I'd heard of Delgado and I won him over with the contents of http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/North/Quito/blog-81124.html