Mike Bye
kablaa
Until I come home
My name's Mike. I'm a fairly normal guy or so I'd like you to think...
This should link to my route - Map
Check out my Flickr site for more photos. This should link to my site --> Flickr
Travel Blog Posts
April 12th 2007
5 April, Thursday... Well I was in Lima airport with a mere 13 hours to kill before my next flight. Not wanting to leave the airport to avoid paying another $35 departure tax I opted to remain in transit. Not much else to do but sleep. Then I woke up and had very little to do. Some free samples of chocolates and a bit of aftershave to freshen up I went for another lie down. Airports are no fun... until the Boca Juniors team walks past on their way to catch a plane to Buenos Aires. They all looked pretty happy considering they just lost 3-0 to Cienciano. Didn't recognise anyone though, Riquelme wasn't there. Still, very exciting. So I caught my flight to Caracas and decided not to go to the city for the ... read more
April 4th 2007
25 March, Sunday... Oh my. I am so hungover today. Why did I drink all that rum? Why? I spent most of the day sleeping then decided to head out to the old town (Quito viejo) to see some of the churches and take some photos. The old town is pretty but there's not much to do there other than just wander. Feeling slightly better I braved the drink once more and had a couple of beers and even ended up dancing a bit, until 2. 26 March, Monday... Mmmmm things might start to get complicated. Thom's talking seriously about not going to Venezuela and rerouting to see New York. I can see his point, it would work out very cheap to go to New York now rather than as a separate trip from England, ... read more
March 24th 2007
13 March, Tuesday... So we're in Quito now. Time to try to find a bargain on a trip to the Galapagos Islands. I know it's going to be expensive but I'm hoping $1000 should be ok. After spending the whole morning going into various travel agencies and being offered much the same things it seems $1500 might be the going rate. Then things went a bit weird in the last travel agency. The girls working there didn't want to talk to their boss so gave the phone to me and then I could see why. He was an absolute nutbag who shouted down the phone at me telling me we were both islanders and had something in common (he was from the Galapagos). Then I got rid of him and the two girls who worked ... read more
March 12th 2007
3 March, Saturday... Day one of the Inka trail and having learnt our lesson from Arequipa we hadn't drunk heavily the night before and could actually make a 6am start. Then we drove about an hour and stopped for a breakfast of scrambled eggs then drove for some more time and stopped for last minute shopping for poles and water carrying slings and a torch for me. Then more driving to the first checkpoint and entry point to the national park where the last opportunity to buy straps came and went ("why do I need straps?"). Queueing and yes we're in well all but one of our group whose ticket had been left somewhere else. I quickly regretted my decision to carry my whole pack but no choice now but to persevere. We walked for ... read more
March 2nd 2007
23 February, Friday... What a lovely morning. And this hostel has a nice garden to sit out in with hammocks and all sorts (and chairs I mean by that). But the weather turned bad at around twelve so we decided to do something other than laze about in the garden. On to the town centre where we could investigate all manner of things like trips to the Colca Canyon and see the big cathedral on the main square and go to a monastery or so it was called but was only for nuns, a nunnery if you will. The Santa Catalina Monastery is made of some white volcanic rock called sillar, which I didn't find too interesting but I just read about it when I checked the name, and resembles a small town with streets ... read more
Carnavales in Oruro and goodbye to Bolivia
Published: February 22nd 2007South America » Bolivia » Oruro Department » Oruro
February 22nd 2007
15 February, Thursday... Well, back in La Paz now. What to do? Lie in and then drink Bock, the Bolivian equivalent of special brew at 7% and quite moreish. Then some kind of carnaval/valentines party started at the hostel. Some kind of strawberry drink for free, spray foam being directed at my eyes and streamers. It was all very messy. 16 February, Friday... Woke up, watched some movies, then watched another. Then at 9pm got on a bus to Oruro - supposedly the best spot for caranavales in Bolivia. We even got to ride up front with the driver which really wasn't very comfortable. 17 February, Saturday... Arrived in Oruro at 1 or 2 in the morning, v cold. Tried sleeping on the floor of a school classroom but was freezing cold without sleeping bag ... read more
February 8th 2007
4 February, Sunday... Uyuni, tried to find Rugby. Failed. Went to internet instead. 5 February, Monday... Tour 6 February, Tuesday... tour 7 February, Wednesday... tour--la paz 8 February, Thursday... la paz 9 February, Friday... tiahuanacu 10 February, Saturday... bus to rurre with alf 11 February, Sunday... pampas 12 February, Monday... pampas 13 February, Tuesday... pampas 14 February, Wednesday... flight to la paz 15 February, Thursday... yeasmin's birthday, hostal party ... 16 February, Friday... movies, bus to oruro 17 February, Saturday... oruro, cold, ill, tired 18 February, Sunday... oruro--la paz, food 19 February, Monday... breaky, bus to copacabana, early night, ill 20 February, Tuesday... ill, early start to isla del sol, early night ... read more
Sucre and Potosi and Tupiza
Published: February 27th 2008South America » Bolivia » Chuquisaca Department » Sucre
February 3rd 2007
29 January, Monday... Arrived in Sucre bright and early and was surprised to find some friends from La Paz already awake and taking breakfast in the courtyard of the hostel after a rather heavy night out before. That is after finding the place, one block from the bus station turned out to be five minutes in taxi. As they'd already been there a day I trusted their advice and jumped on the Dino Truck in the afternoon. It turned out not to be so great, basically it involves a trip to see some dinosaur footprints from across a valley and lots of life-size plastic dinosaurs in a theme park after getting there in a pick up truck. It was amusing but seriously I wouldn't recommend it. After waiting hours for food in a restaurant all that ... read more
January 28th 2007
21 January, Sunday... Antoher day, another country. In the latest of my belated updates Bolivia should get a mention. We arrived in La Paz airport at a decent hour and headed towards a hostel which had promised us free beer and had the interesting name 'Adventure Brew Hostel'. Phew, they had space and the free beer was not a lie but was limited to one per day. Not wanting to get too blotto at 10am we searched out a pub showing Arsenal vs Man U on the tellybox and promptly bought a beer in an English pub. Good start to the latest country. Beer at that hour proved to be a mistake and just served to make me super tired so I went for a siesta at about 12. By the time I woke up I ... read more
January 21st 2007
Well this one looks like it might be another long upate and I can't remember that well so far back so some stuff might be missing or glossed over. It was over a month ago and I really should have kept this thing more up to date or at least written a diary to copy this stuff out of. Oh well, here goes... 9 January, Tuesday... Arrived in Rio de Janeiro and promptly got ripped off by the taxi from the bus station, not by much but it was a bit annoying, anyway on to the hostel and we were greeted by a lovely room with 24 beds in total in triple decker bunks - sleep might not be so easy here. So the hostel was right near Copacabana beach so we went for a walk ... read more
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