http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/WeeJill/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from WeeJill en-us Sat, 02 Jan 2010 18:32:52 +0000 Sat, 02 Jan 2010 18:32:52 +0000 The Inca trail was awful but also AMAZING I'm not an experienced hiker or even particularly fit and if you add in the altitude and a stupid cold caught the day before then i am surprised i even made it to the end without collapsing My group members were all really young fit people i.e. 19 or PE teachers and they stormed through day 1 and i almost managed to keep up with them. Our tour guid http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Cusco/Inca-Trail/blog-422693.html Due to a strike we had to leave Puno 1 day early which was a real shame as my mate Alex was due in town just as we were getting on a bus and we had hoped for a night out together in Puno.Cusco is the most touristy place we have been so far on this trip and that's because it's the main gateway for everyone going to Macchu Picchu. As a consequence our usual good standard of hotel went down slightly http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/blog-417187.html After a very long journey we got to Lap Paz and our rooms werent ready so we headed to a bar that serves traditional english breakfasts. i know ive only been away for 3 weeks but it was too tempting not to have one and a proper cup of teaWe had a quiet evening as everyone was shattered but not before a Curry. 3 of the boys decided to brave the Vindaloo and you get a free Tshirt if you manage t http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/La-Paz-Department/La-Paz/blog-415923.html We left our nice hotel in Uyuni and the group headed off in 3 separate 4WD jeeps. Our reg plate was STU and we had Stu in our car an therefore know as the Stu mobile. We headed straight for the Salt flats and they were amazing fun. We had a quick stop for some photos and then went to a Coral Island and explored and saw all the Cacti. We have 2 cooks who make our meals so we had a lovely lunch a http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/Potosi-Department/Salar-de-Uyuni/blog-414654.html Our stop in Potosi was a quick one as there is not much to do there except the excursion to see the working Silver mines. It was an awesome experience and I promise never to complain about my working conditions ever again The local people spend up to 36 hours in horrible conditions using just a hammer and chisel and some dynamite. The larger mines have drills but they do not work on a sunday a http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/Potosi-Department/Potosi/blog-414657.html Iguassu Falls was amazing and we were glad to be able to see it from both the Brazilian and Argentinian side. I was also very chuffed to get the Argentina stamp in my passport Unfortunately it is dry season right now and there wasnt as much water as normal but we were still impressed by the main waterfalls even though we couldnt do the boat trip. The sun even managed to put in an appearance and t http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/blog-412386.html Hello all from the lovely island of Ihla Grande. After a few hours on a private minivan and a short boat ride we reached our colourful little hotel on the small island. Its a pity about the weather as it has been slightly overcast but at least it wasnt rainingThe Island is very small with a few nice restaurants bars hotels and jungle walks boating activities. We didnt have a great deal of t http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Rio-de-Janeiro/Ilha-Grande/blog-412050.html Parity is a lovely little seaside Colonial town with lots of pretty churches buildings and cobbled streets. When we arrived it was still raining unfortunately but we did a tour of the town and went out for a beer listened to some live music and then had a superb fish dinner in a nice restaurant. It was great after the amount of red meat we have been eating at the BBQ style restaurants. the town http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Rio-de-Janeiro/Paraty/blog-412053.html Bonito is a small 1 street town which is geared up to the tourists but it is still pretty nice. As we are in the low season it was like a ghost town.We booked on a trip snorkelling which takes you 2.5km down a crystal clear river and has lots of colourful fish. After a short truck ride there was a 40 minute trek through the wilderness and we saw a Capuchin monkey playing around and some of the gu http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Mato-Grosso-do-Sul/Bonito/blog-412054.html Bolivia has been a bit of a surprise and Im really liking it so far. Sucre is a pretty whitewashed Colonial town with lots of tourist facilities. theres a great market for fresh food and traditional Alpaca Bolivian crafts and its very cheap Although its quite cold in the evening we have had lovely sunny days.Alex Mel and I have ben out shopping for the perfect Alpaca jumpers and we wer http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/blog-412349.html hello all and sorry for the delay in my blog it's been a hectic few days travelling and the internet facilities aren't as good as Asia was years ago.I love Rio it's amazing it has the beach city mountains and sushi I was pretty nervous about arriving in Rio on my own but was very lucky to meet a lovely girl on the plane who was travelling on business and gave me a lift to my hostel in her http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Rio-de-Janeiro/Rio-de-Janeiro/Copacabana/blog-410158.html I'm back at my old job living in my old flat with all of my old mates was the last 12 months just a brilliant dream or did i really travel to amazing places like Vietnam The only thing that makes me realise it's all real and is keeping me sane are my beautiful pictures and clinging to travel buddies on facebook. So i thought i would upload all of my favourites to round off the blog. It' http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/Scotland/Glasgow/blog-165269.html HollywoodnbspNorth America raquonbspUnited States raquonbspCalifornia raquonbspLos Angeles raquonbspHollywood By WeeJillMay 16th 2007JMcJust a quick stopover in LA for 3 nights. Went to Universal studios and met Spongebob Squarepants checked out the Stars on the Hollywood walk of fame and had a crazy night out on the Sunset strip then flew home. Too depressed to blog any more... http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/California/Los-Angeles/Hollywood/blog-159527.html Even though I arrived in dry season it rained far too much for any sunbathing or good snorkelling on Rarotonga. Thankfully I met a cool new friend Jo from Grimsby and and we kept each other entertained by husking coconuts and watching DVDs. We stayed at 2 different hostels and unfortunately somewhere inbetween my MP3 player was stolen argh Luckily i do have a very nice new underwater camera http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Cook-Islands/Rarotonga/blog-156958.html Because of the Air New Zealand flight changes I had a lot less time in Fiji than I originally planned. This meant that i couldn't really do island hopping so i spent the 4 nights chilling out on Beachcomber Island. Before I even booked my trip I had planned to come to Beachcomber because I had seen it on a TV programme or read about it on a website and thought it sounded like Paradise. I was very http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Fiji/Mamanuca-Islands/blog-155589.html After Taupo it was time to move to Rotorua and we stayed in the best hostel yet Treks is brand new and no bunk beds Rotorua is often called Rotten Rua due to the smell of sulphur rotten eggs from all of the geysers surrounding and in the town. It is also the cultural capital of the island and we took in some traditional Maori concerts with dancing and great food which is cooked underground http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/blog-151354.html I have just had the most amazing experience skydiving from 15000ft over New Zealand's largest Lake Taupo. It was the most exhilarating feeling and afterwards i just wanted to go straight back up and do it again I had though i would be nervous before but i was so excited and it's only when the plane door opened that i got nervous and started to swear Emily Sarah Danny and I went up in the http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/blog-150500.html New Zealand may be cold but it definitely rocks It's pretty different to Australia too. I joined the Kiwi Experience bus which has been a great laugh and have met so many new friends. Highlights so far... Fancy dress party in Lake Mahinapua Sarah Jane and I dressed as Teenage Mutant Ninja turtles and our outfits weren't too bad considering we hardly had any time at all to prepare and all th http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/blog-148001.html Only 2 days left in Oz nbspAustralasia raquonbspAustralia raquonbspNorthern Territory raquonbspAlice Springs By WeeJillMarch 31st 2007JMcI've had a wicked couple of weeks in Alice Springs. Housekeeping and kitchen work isn't exactly fun but i've made such good friends here at Annie's Place. There's been a couple of great nights out too with the girls and Gaz my tour leader from http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Northern-Territory/Alice-Springs/blog-143565.html Hey Hey I'm back in Northern Territory now after a 7 day tour from Adelaide to Alice. I had flown to Adelaide from Tasmania with the worst hangover imaginable and didn't have much time to explore unfortunately. What i did see of Adelaide i really liked though and was quite surprised. The central market was my favourite place fresh fruit veg cheese meats and bread and a fantastic buzz about t http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Northern-Territory/Alice-Springs/blog-138693.html