hey all!! well its my last day and I am leaving the hostel for the airport in two hours!! quite tired!! on friday we went out for the last supper (official) to a lovely grill place. Tamara and I shared a huge bowl of meat cooked to perfection. We had quite a few laughs there and then went on to a street in our guidebooks which was full of clubs and pubs. We started in a Lousiana styled pub with kareoke and ended up in a grotty club, unknowingly it was a dive and we could have done better if we [View Full Entry]

---

---

hey all!! have finally arrived in Santiago- capital of Chile. Not much to recount of the way down!! We spent three days and nights in San Pedro de Atacama and didnt get up to much at all!! Was enjoying having nothing to do for awhile and caught up in my journal. We went out two of the nights and spent a lot of time cooking!! On the last day there we went to the Moon Valley for a visit which apparently looks like the lunar landscape - cant argue- and watched the sun set. Our next stop was in Bahia Inglesia- [View Full Entry]

---

---

Hey all!!! We had lots of fun in Salta- despite the camping!! Our campsite was pretty poor, squat toilets and a family living in the shower blocks!!! There ground was full of rocks too, not the most comfortable nights sleep!! We were pretty impressed with Argentina however, the change was evident as soon as we went over the border- better infrastructrure (tarmac roads) better houses, billboards everywhere- very modern!! We stopped at a Shell station which had shiny tiled floors, fridges and ferrero rocher- pure luxury!! On our first full day there most of us went white water rafting. We [View Full Entry]

---

---

Hey all!! Quite a bit to catch up on!! Arrived in La Paz last week and had a full day to ourselves to go around the markets. We had breakfast in Olivers Travels, a British themed pub which served pints of tea!! I had tetleys, it tasted so good i may have to switch to drinking tea from pint glasses at home to make up for what i missed!! Went to see the famous witches market, which was very interesting!! THere were more shops spilling out onto the street as much as actual stalls ans sold a lot of souvineers as [View Full Entry]

---

---

Hey all, took a few days off there in Cusco and didn"t do much at all!! We went out wednesday on a bit of a pub crawl covering the Irish and English themed bars which was good!! Met some other Irish girls from Newry in Paddy Flaherty"s and their Australian tour leader- ended up going to two clubs with them- Mythology and Mama Africas. It was really good craic it was after three when we got back to the hotel. The next day was another lopunge around the cafes day and went out that night for Annes 28th. We went to [View Full Entry]

---

---

Hey all!! Just arrived back yesterday from the Inca Trail and Machu Picchu!! It was an absolutely amazing adventure. Friday we took a trip to the Sacred Valley, stopping at lots of old Inca ruins on the way, abley guided by one Julio Cesar!! He was our guide for the Inca Trail too. We started off at Sacsaywaman above Cuzco, which was cool. Cuzco was built shaped like a Puma (one of the old Incan animals for strength, representing the land) and the ruins are at the head of the puma. They were the old Incan fortress and it was here [View Full Entry]

---

---

Hey all, had quite a wee adventure leaving Arequipa!! we had to get up painfully early at half3 to leave at 4 for the colca canyon, which is famous for its condors. These birds are up to 1m long and wingspan of 3m, so we were quite interested in seeing them. Unfortunately for us is is mating season and they would mostly be nesting, hance the early start to have any chance of spotting one!! I couldn´t sleep on the bus it all, it was baltic!! we stopped after two hours at 4800m, and there was frost on the windows and [View Full Entry]

---

---

Hey all, Arrived in Arequipa yesterday at 5, wasn´t a bad journey even managed to get a lie in by leaving at 9!! After leaving Lima (at 6 instead of 5 which was still painful but more acceptable), we headed down the coast towards Paracas, sleeping all the way!! We had a speedboat tour of the Ballestas Islands all lined up, which are renowned for their bords and wildlife. We saw the Candleabra etched in a cliff, a preview of the Nazca lines, before heading across the water to the bigger islands. It stank!! There were hundreds upon hundreds of birds [View Full Entry]

---

---

not a lot of craic to catch up on weve been incredibly lazy these last few days, had a free day in Lima yesterday and saw the museum of the spanish inquisition and the franciscan catacombs. taking it easy still as have very busy week ahead of us. Denise, Lizzie and Lise have all come down with a bug so the group is a bit depleted at the min!! hopefully they will get better soon- we will be camping in a few days!! today we are going to the markets in miraflores and meeting a new member of our group at [View Full Entry]

---

---

hey all!! spent the last three nights camping at Punta Sal beach in Peru, it was a long journey from Cuenca, and stopping three times for immigration and customs!! Were happy to make it there! It was a beautiful setting, and we camped on the beach right next to the hostel which was handy for toilets!! The first night was good craic, the hostel cooked us dinner which was absolutely delicious, and then we retired to beside the bonfire for the rest of the night. The next day we went into mancora, the nearest town, to hire surfboards. Matt and I [View Full Entry]

---

---