http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/jockc/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from jockc en-us Wed, 11 Nov 2009 09:34:20 +0000 Wed, 11 Nov 2009 09:34:20 +0000 HiGoing to keep it short because I have lost all desire to write anything really Itrsquos the end of the road for the blog I think unless something drastic happens like I get kidnapped at the border or something in which case there will be lots of blogs. The lonely planet says this border crossing is the most dangerous in South America seems a little strange really I was expecting it to be so http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Lima/Lima/Miraflores/blog-256390.html Got into La Paz after a scheduled 12 hour bus ride turned into 40 hours. We got caught up in several road blocks mainly created by angry miners who insisted on chucking rocks at the bus windows. It was a bit eighties England almost felt like a scab. Luckily the driver was seemingly in the know about various backstreets so he was able to take some evasive action. Strikes in general seem part of B http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Cusco/Cusco/Cusco/blog-254054.html Decided to take a little walk over a mountain range the other day. Not sure if it qualifies as a mountain range but thatrsquos what it shall be called for time being until a brush up on my mountaineering terminology. The plan was to walk somewhere entirely different. However due to the lack of oxygen in the air and navigation skills we walked to a place called Chaqui.I and John pacemaker and o http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/La-Paz-Department/Copacabana/blog-251615.html I have been in Bolivia for a little while now and it dosent disappoint. I entered through the la QuincaVillazon border towns. I had spent 5 days in Argentina and it very nice it was too. It was a nice change from Brazil and in comparison a lot cheaper. This was lovely little bonus at this later stage of the trip.Im not entirely sure what I did in Salta Argentina. This is the problem with relying http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/Potosi-Department/Potosi/blog-247278.html I arrived in Iguau after a mammoth 2 day plane bus journey. My stay in Rio lasted all of one hour. After sleeping in Salvador airport until 4 in the morning i got a plane to Rio that arrived at 0630 it was straight to the bus station in Rio and then straight onto a bus to Iguau that lasted 20 hours. More importantly I was heading towards new frontiers which was really quite important due to the http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Salta/Salta/blog-243082.html Well since the last update I seem to have been more or less tagging along with a GAP.COM tour group. Bar the odd few days where I have disappeared. This been to regain my composurecredibility as an independent traveler something like that anyway.So since leaving the place where my last blog ended I have generally just been clinging to the coast and rarely moving anywhere where I cannot see wate http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Rio-de-Janeiro/Rio-de-Janeiro/Centro/blog-243055.html Having been back in South America a week or so i have already amassed enough useless currency to create an epic cash themed collageI got into Georgetown and decided to leave. I cant quite decide if it was because it looked a bit shady or because i want to see other places. Possibly a bit of both of combined with my relatively limited time on the continent. However on the way back to Georgetown air http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Maranh%E3o/S%E3o-Luis/blog-237338.html Not much to report on really. I dont think i have moved to much for the last 3 weeks or so. Plan to make up for that somewhere along the road. http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Saint-Lucia/Castries/blog-232406.html I stayed in San Francisco a day longer than planned. Actually I stayed in San Francisco airport a day longer than planned. I assumed what happened to me only happened on airport. It turns out that it doesnrsquot and I am glad that it doesnrsquot. I got to the airport in ample time even though my position at the back of the queue would suggest not. I donrsquot know if itrsquos a South Ameri http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Venezuela/Insular/Isla-Margarita/blog-226858.html I was quite sad to leave the old NZ really. It felt quite homely and I could I have quite happily spent a good while longer there really especially as the summer was really starting to kick in during my last two weeks or so. Twas a shame I was hoiking bags of cement onto a building site for all those days. Nevermind something had to give with an eye on prolonging my trip.For the last few days I s http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/California/San-Francisco/blog-224113.html Well the trip within a trip has been completed. It wasnrsquot a bad way to see New Zealand. The problem after seeing so much of a country is you realize that there are bits you have missed out on. This is probably more so the case after spending a relatively long time in the same country. Ah well I am still young. It can wait till 2011 when I shall come over to see Jonny own Dan.The last six day http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Bluff/blog-218594.html Managed to cycle from Hokitiki to Franz Josef Glacier in two days. This included an overnight stop off at a place called Harihari. This part of the trip was memorable for one reason this been that the bike did not give me any gyp. Whilst I am sure that this scenary is spectacular it has become the norm so it kind of loses its effect after a while sadly. As is to be expected of this part of the NZ http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Queenstown/blog-216512.html It started off quite well really cycling merrily along the Canterbury plains in the blazing sunshine. In the space of about 3 and a half hours i had cycled to Springfield 80km NE of Christchurch All this talk from people about not cycling Arthur's pass had been dismissed out of my mind. To be honest by the time i got to Springfield all these noncey thoughts had left my mind completely. Then it http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Hokitika/blog-214652.html Cycling between Blenheim and kaikoura was probably the best part of my trip so far I even had a magpie stalking me for a few hours. I think it was attracted to my lovely shiny silver helmet. It kept on dive bombing sporadically every so often and to tell you the truth this thing was freaking me out. I didnrsquot fancy becoming a living Hitchcock novel. After a while though it just turned into a http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Christchurch/blog-211634.html I spent 45 weeks highly enjoyable weeks in Wellington doing nothing in particular. It was good to be able to walk around the harbour aimlessly day after day listening to my MP3 player watching ferries rolling in and out of the Cook Strait. In Wellington i also had to get a few problems on the bike mended so nothing new there just cracked cassettes and worn down cogs due to vigorous use of the ge http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Blenheim/blog-204410.html Since leaving Auckland the weather has generally dipped and the terrain has got a bit better in the sense that itrsquos not up and down all day gives the old legs a bit of respite. However maybe I long for a few hills again. From my experience you cycle further without knowing it when you have something to concentrate instead of cycling aimlessly along a long flat straight road. God its such a http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Wellington/blog-196355.html First lesson learnt on this little trip would be don't cycle along roads listed as scenic. I presume the roads are very scenic when you are cruising along in a nicely insulated car at 100km however this does not ring true when you have sweat dripping in your eyes causing semi blindness whilst struggling to maintain a speed of 20kmhrThe second lesson learnt would be ......... don't whistle at big http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Coromandel/Thames/blog-191884.html It turns out that most of my blogs have been deleted by some travelblog server corruption or something like that. I am not alone though apparently another 45000 blogs have also been deleted. Nevermind anyway. Now only my 1st two blogs survive and then anything post travelblog apocolypto.A relatively good start to the cycle ride only curtailed by a few teething problems on the first day namely tw http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Auckland/Ponsonby/blog-189623.html I have just finished reading where is Peter Falconio Its a great read for someone setting off on his travels in areas that maybe somewhat isolated. Anyhow it came to the conclusion after 300 pages that he was dead or possibly riding a top Shergar in lush green meadows with Elvis in close pursuit. On a more serious note though the bike should be ready to go on the 1st august. Its a bit of a last http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Bay-of-Islands/Kerikeri/blog-186936.html Forgive the crap nature of this blog the brain is having real problems putting the jigsaw puzzle of the last few weeks together. It shouldnrsquot be too hard as it has followed a similar pattern as the previous couple of months. This does not include the 1st part which is still very fresh in my mind. This little bit is about Darcy. Darcy is weird. He is sometimes on the good side of weird but http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Bay-of-Islands/Kerikeri/blog-159245.html