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cycling blonde - Claire Wilson

Welcome to my travelblog! After talking about going travelling for years, I am finally doing it. After being made redundant I've decided to shake my life up a bit and go and see the world. I'm off to South America, New Zealand, Australia and South East Asia. Initially for 6 months but we'll see how it goes...

I've never travelled on my own before, can't speak spanish and have never really lived within a budget, so this is going to be a learning curve for me! I love a challenge though.

Hope you enjoy reading it as much as I'm experiencing it!

Claire
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Joined on: June 6th 2008
Last Login: September 26th 2009

Blog Entries: 19
Photos: 463

TB Code: [blogger=75847]
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Blogs & Travel Journals

by cycling blonde, order by Date newest first.

By cycling blonde
October 17th 2008

I haven't done enough trekking. Time to climb a volcano! South America » Chile » Araucanía » Pucón

setting off at 5.30am!

It was time to chillout. I said goodbye to Paul and left Puerto Natales for my flight to Santiago, still not sure what I was going to do afterwards. I had 8 days until my flight to New Zealand. It was either Mendoza wine tour or Pucon, a small lazy village in the middle of Chile. I arrived into Santiago to the worst hostel. I booked myself a private room but I might aswell have been sleeping in the corridor for the peace I had. The good thing was I decided there and then i was getting out of there. I [View Full Entry]

By cycling blonde
October 15th 2008

Do you want ice with that? South America » Argentina » Santa Cruz » El Calafate

View from the bus as we drive to the glacier

I decided to have a 2 day excursion from Puerto Natales and after a 5 hour bus ride back over into Argentina, I arrived into the little town of El Calafate whose only attraction is the Perito Moreno Glacier. The glacier is 3 miles wide, 60m high and 170m deep and is one of only 3 glaciers in the area that isn't retreating. I stayed at America del Sur hostel which was basically like a hotel. It had underfloor heating, gorgeous rooms, and the most delicious all-you-can-eat bbq. What made the trip even better was bumping into Rebecka who was in [View Full Entry]

By cycling blonde
October 7th 2008

Wilson does the W Trek South America » Chile » Magallanes » Puerto Natales

The W trek map

The Torres del Paine Adventure! After spending quite a bit of time in Buenos Aires I decided to go down to Patagonia and see the Perito Moreno Glacier and do more trekking. You are probably wondering why I would do more trekking after the Inca Trail, but I fancied a challenge and I'd heard so many travellers tell me I just had to go, so why not. The trip down south was rather interesting. I got a flight down to Rio Gallegos, the second lowest airport in the southern hemisphere and still in Argentina. I got a flight with an ozzie [View Full Entry]

By cycling blonde
September 17th 2008

Don't cry for me... I'm in Argentina! South America » Argentina » Buenos Aires » Buenos Aires

Recoleta Cemetery

After travelling with the group for 5 weeks I initially felt a bit weird properly travelling on my own and I was now massively out of my comfort zone. Felt rather scared for a few hours but then gave myself a good talking to and was fine from then on. With all the bolivian riots going on I ended up buying a flight to Santiago via Buenos Aires and was only supposed to stay in the city 2 nights and move on. I really fell in love with the city and 14 nights later I was still there and just extended [View Full Entry]

By cycling blonde
September 16th 2008

Death Road!! South America » Bolivia » La Paz Department » La Paz

just a 3800m drop on the left

Apparently you should do something everyday which scares you, well today I cycled down Death Road which did just that. One of the big tourist attractions in La Paz is riding down The World's Most Dangerous Road' (TWMDR), otherwise known as Death Road. It's called that due the amount of people that go off the edge. The road is 60km long and goes from La Paz to Coroico and is one of the few roads that connects the Amazon rainforest with Bolivia. It starts at 11,000 feet, although we started at 4800 feet and would cycle down to 1000 feet. The [View Full Entry]

By cycling blonde
September 10th 2008

Do you want to buy some dynamite for 80p a stick? South America » Bolivia » Potosí Department » Potosi

Anyone want dynamite for 80p?

I’m laughing as I am writing this as this was such a hilarious day. Potosi is a pretty rubbish town to be honest and we were only there to visit a working silver mine. Before we got in the mine we were asked if we wanted to buy a stick of dynamite for 80p.. ´yeah sure why not’ and 2 mins later all 14 of us bought sticks of dynamite, with all the stuff you needed to detonate it! This is when we realised there is NO Health and Safety in Bolivia.. absolutely none. We all got kitted out looking like [View Full Entry]

By cycling blonde
September 5th 2008

To the moon and back.... South America » Bolivia » Potosí Department » Salar de Uyuni

long train ride ahead

Got a 7hr train from Oruro to Uyuni (salt flats). Oruro was a weird place as it’s rather big but doesn’t really serve anyone as there was no restaurant you would eat in unless you fancied a trip to hospital. We arrived there hoping to have a great lunch before the long train ride . We walked for 45 mins and went past loads of places that looked like they hadn’t cleared tables for weeks, so lunch was oreo cookies, pringles and coke. When I was buying all this a tramp asked me for money but I said no and the [View Full Entry]

Slightly better than the tubes in London

By cycling blonde
August 29th 2008

Maybe I should start taking it easy.... South America » Peru » Cusco » Cusco » Cusco

The longest cycle day

Cusco, Puno, La Paz Did the best days mountain biking I could have imagined in Cusco, but it was really hard work. It was a full 10 hour day with about 6 hours cycling in high altitude and it was also very hot.. about 30 degrees. We got picked up from the hotel and were dropped off in the middle of knowhere called Moray, and cycled along alot of dirt tracks and ancient mule routes for 2 hours with the most beautiful views. I naively thought that the trip was probably for beginners as it was fairly tame. How wrong I [View Full Entry]

I'm not tired I'm just admiring the view...

By cycling blonde
August 26th 2008

What goes up must come down! South America » Peru » Cusco » Lares Trek

mmm pancakes

Lares 3... the last day & Machu Picchu Got woken up by the porters asking us what tea we would like.. we didn't even need to leave the tent. Lovely. We also had pancakes for breakfast on our last day - what a service. Today was a really easy day as we were only hiking 4 hours and then we were back into the land of civilisation, which wierdly enough I didn't really fancy, which was surprising since the camping was a learning curve to say the least! I was sure a few more nights and i would have really got [View Full Entry]

By cycling blonde
August 25th 2008

Lares Trek Day 2 South America » Peru » Cusco » Lares Trek

The guide and our brilliant porters

I have never been so happy to wake up early as moving would mean I would be warm! We woke at 6am and got changed in 1 minute before a lovely breakfast back in the group tent where they served omelette and porridge. These guys were going to get tipped well as they were just amazing. Most of the camps are near a stream so all they have to do is boil and purify our water for our drinking and also washing everything. The weather here changes so quickly. We set off at 7am dressed in all our jumpers and after [View Full Entry]

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cycling blonde | Claire Wilson | Travel Blog

cycling blonde - Claire Wilson

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