http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Scowie/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Scowie en-us Fri, 05 Sep 2008 16:22:58 BST Fri, 05 Sep 2008 16:22:58 BST I suppose upon arriving in Bolivia the first thing you notice is the cold. I crossed the border with some friends all wrapped up in our sleeping bags and ready to take on the touristfriendly Salar de Uyuni. Its a huge flat region which used to be a salt water lake but has since dried up and left the salt behind.The first night in Uyuni the village from which we would be departing on a 3 day http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/Potosi-Department/Salar-de-Uyuni/blog-297676.html It's a long time passed since I was actually in Buenos Aires. My Argentinian friend Aco who I met way back at the start of my travels in Peru was kind enough to let me stay with him in his apartment. Aco has been studying and working in Buenos Aires since he finished his travels back in February. By the time I arrived in Argentina I realized that I didn't have enough time to see all of the http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Buenos-Aires/Buenos-Aires/blog-295049.html Warning. The following blog contains images of water cascading over edifices. A lot of images of that sort. Sorry but thats why you go to a national park which contains dozens of sets of falls. I bet its cooler in person so just try to imagine yourself at the mercy of natures most dangerous weapon sheer beauty. Haha I have to start blogs that cornily more often.I arrived in Argentina fro http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Misiones/Iguazu-National-Park/blog-281897.html Well my blog has really gone down the tubes but for those wondering what I've been up to I'll spout it all out here for ya.I traveled up through Columbia from the south all the way up to the Carribean coast. Such a cool culture up there on the coast. I felt like I was in Jamaica or something. Everything is so relaxed and hot hot hot The major highlights of Columbia were....well I pretty m http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Rio-de-Janeiro/Rio-de-Janeiro/Ipanema/blog-280828.html Wow Im supposed to be partaking in a game of cards at the moment but I feel I should tell you a tad bit about my time in Columbia. Its been great from start to finish. The thing that I noticed most is how nice and helpful the people are. My first day after crossing over from Ecuador I had some troubles finding a bank where I could withdraw money. So the cleaning lady from one of the banks ju http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Colombia/Bogota/blog-271375.html Hey its been forever since my last blog. Ill try and keep it more up to date but for starters heres some photos http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/Ba%F1os/blog-271358.html I dont have a whole lot to say about good old Canoa. Its just a village on the beach not much going on. I just wanted one last chance to do some surfing before heading inland so Jaakko and I stayed 5 days and hit the water as much as possible. I guess the most memorable part was the full day journey it took to get there when we estimated to be about 3 hours. We took a bus they told us di http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/Canoa/blog-252444.html What can you really say about Mointanita Its a muststop tourist trap along the coast of Ecuador. Generally people seem to get stuck here for a while because its an easy place to get into the routine of sleeping in surfing eating and partying. There were actually a few gringos around and I found myself having some midafternoon beers with a Canadian guy a Portugese guy a guy from so http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/Monta%F1ita/blog-249680.html Man Im a sucker for the beach. I guess when youve lived thousands of kilometers from the nearest ocean your whole life you have to soak it up while you can. Mancora has been good times. Its a little town on the coast in the north of Peru not far from the Ecuadorian border. I was lucky to find a room right on the beach or just to find a room period. The place was pretty full and there a http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Piura/M-ncora/blog-248063.html Hmmm I really should keep these blogs up to date but Im simply doing too much relaxing to get ANYTHING done. Seriously the beach can really drain a guy of his ambition. Anyways I spent the better part of a week in Huanchaco which was once a small fishing village. Now its a small village where people from the nearby city of Trujillo come to chill out. Its summer holidays here now so the http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/La-Libertad/Huanchaco/blog-244889.html Wow what an ordeal in Lima I lost my bank card within 20 minutes of being in South America. Yep right in the damn airport inside an ATM. I got the cash Peruvian Soles and the receipt but somehow overlooked retrieving my most valuable posession my bank card. The ATMs are a bit different here and you have to hit a button to eject the card. Id like to blame it on the fact that it was lik http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Lima/Lima/Miraflores/blog-242116.html Well its about time I did a bit of a blog I suppose My flight to Peru was via Toronto so I decided to stick around and visit my buddy Mr. Ty Backlun for a week. He and a friend of his picked me up in Toronto and took me back to Grimsby where Backs lives for a few welcome to Ontario beers. Tys girlfriend Laura had a delicious supper waiting for us but other than that it was nice to just chat http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Ontario/blog-241201.html Wow after all that money and such a short time later I'm coming home I can accept it a little easier returning to decent weather and with a few extra bucks unlike last year in November. That was way too depressing. Well we had a great time at the Moldenhauer's place and got to see a lot more of Coff's Harbour than we ever would have had we just been there at a hostel. Thanks so much to Devin an http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/California/Los-Angeles/blog-157497.html Hey I'm staying in Coff's Harbour with a fellow Weyburnite. I called up Devin Moldenhauer who's been living in Aus for like 6 years and he was kind enough to let me stay with him and his wife in their lovely home. Not only that but Sofia and I are hanging out again until we both go home......on May 10th That's right I'm leaving early so I can return home with enough money to hopefully have http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/Coffs-Harbour/blog-155280.html Farewell Red Racer. The station wagon got us all the way from Sydney to Melbourne and way up to Cairns. That's alot of km's and no car trouble. And the best we could do to show the car we love it was to sell it for 200 to a used car place. I already miss the ol' beast and wish I was sleeping in the back for free. Now Sofia and I are along the gold Coast at Surfer's Paradise and it's been nothing http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Gold-Coast/Surfers-Paradise/blog-149137.html All that work on the rigs paid off and I'm here in Australia Sofia met me at the airport in Sydney and she allready had a hostel for us to stay at so everything started out nice and simple. Now it's been a couple weeks and it hasn't felt much like a vacation so far. It's been a lot of trouble for Sofia and I to find a car and get it on the road legally. Hehe in the meantime I've been driving http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/blog-139422.html I know my timing could be better. I seem to end up leaving the country for warmer regions just as winter's worst has passed. But hey I worked a couple months on a drilling rig and I'm spending that hard earnt money in the good ol' land of Australia. I was working up in Alberta near Red Deer so it sure was costing me money to make money. Hotels food gasoline and all that junk was adding up http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Saskatchewan/blog-131162.html Wow I've been home a month already I just kinda gave up on the whole blog thing at the end of it all it was too hard to admit that it would be over. Right up until my plane took off from Bangkok I was in denial about coming home to a winter blunderland. I've heard that many people who travel for a long period of time suffer from a bit of depression upon being home again for a while. In my http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Saskatchewan/blog-110043.html Wow. I got ran over by a speeding motorbike and have stitches in my hand so I'm sorry this blog will be to catch up on pictures.Oh and don't worry....other than the hand I'm pretty much OK. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/East/Ko-Chang/blog-98986.html Holy crap my month of Muay Thai has come to a close. I gotta say I really wasn't ready to leave the camp but my tourist visa expires in a week anyways. The last week of training was definately the best. I stepped it up a notch and even started doing the long runs in the morning. The 10 km run takes me a bit over an hour and after the morning of training I slept about 5 hours until training in http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/North/Pai/blog-93984.html