http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/orlacopter/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from orlacopter en-us Wed, 30 Dec 2009 03:52:54 +0000 Wed, 30 Dec 2009 03:52:54 +0000 hey allwell its my last day and I am leaving the hostel for the airport in two hours quite tiredon 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 kare http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Santiago-Region/Santiago/blog-347782.html hey allhave finally arrived in Santiago capital of Chile. Not much to recount of the way downWe 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 apparent http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Santiago-Region/Santiago/blog-346980.html Hey allWe 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 eve http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Antofagasta-Region/San-Pedro-de-Atacama/blog-345328.html Hey allQuite 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 interesti http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Salta/Salta/blog-344514.html Hey all took a few days off there in Cusco and didnt 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 Flahertys 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 t http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Puno/Lake-Titicaca-/blog-340999.html Hey allJust 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 ani http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Cusco/Cusco/Cusco/blog-339687.html Hey allhad 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 http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Cusco/Cusco/blog-337801.html Hey all Arrived in Arequipa yesterday at 5 wasnt a bad journey even managed to get a lie in by leaving at 9After 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 etche http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Arequipa/Arequipa/blog-336592.html 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 http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Lima/Lima/Lima/blog-334247.html hey allspent 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 th http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Trujillo/blog-333025.html Hey all have a bit to catch up with. I started Friday with a relaxing morning lie in journal writing and massage in the hotel which wasnt as relaxing as I had hoped for I got my back massage and a few knots worked but also got a bum massage which was just weird So I told them to get back to my shouldersIn the afternoon matt and I want climbing with Paulo from yesterday and his mate Osc http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/South/Cuenca/blog-331192.html banos is an amazing town there are so many adventure sports guides and we are with possibly the craziest Jose and his two dogs yesterday first thing we went for a bridge swing which involved a full body harness three ropes diving off a bridge to swing back and forth below it it was brilliant and incredibly scary freefalling waiting for the rope to kick in only five of us did it and http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/Centre/Banos/blog-330409.html hey alldont have a lot of time to recount my adventures so here is a brief overview....travelled to Misahualli in jungle sunday hiked through jungle monday but it wasnt near as humid as in peru our guide made us eat lots of different plants and inspect every spider on way past. we stayed in jungle lodge with lots of hammocks went to visit Indian family who showed us how they hunt for food http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/Centre/Banos/blog-330082.html Hey allMissing Ayacucho alreadyMade it to Quito no problem even managed a couple of actual conversations with the taxi drivers Quito is in a beautiful setting lots of trees dramatic mountains and deep gorges all filled with trees was a beautiful sight descending in the plane Met Pedro our guide and Wessel our driver and everyone else. Theres another Irish girl Mary from Mayo two au http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/North/Quito/blog-328377.html so we made it back to the village and stopped to mop up sweat and down bottles of water then it was back to the boats to go back upriver we found a beach to stop and have lunch on more peanut butter yum and then we went swimming it felt so goodback in th boats again and we stopped further upriver to visit a real peruvian jungle tribe friends of Panchos. We hiked through large forests http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Ayacucho/blog-327238.html Hey allthe internet kept crashing yesterday so lost most of what I was retyping over and over so I'm going to leave it and fill in the details when I get back basically after the Ishaninca tribe we returned to Sibia and had dinner went to a discotheque watched a huge lightning storm sunday visited a waterfall and returned back to Ayacucho it was such a relief to return to civilisation http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Ayacucho/blog-327713.html Hey allyes i made it back from the jungle intact it was a lng trip we left 630am friday and didnt reach our hostel til 6pm well after stopping for breakfast lunch and a flat tyre the scenery was beautiful on the way down the roads were very narrow winding and for the most part unpaved when we finally got out of the minibus the humidity almost bowled me over reminded me of florida http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Ayacucho/blog-326897.html hey all we all survived the llama trek it was brilliant we left Ayacucho at 830 sat morn in a bus packed with food and gear by Pancho luxury catered camping we drove for about 2hours to a small village about 12000ft in the andes where we met out llamas they were such funny creatures proud and graceful with necks held high and huge black eyes. they were all decked out in colourful headpi http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Ayacucho/blog-324405.html Hey all Llama trek is definalely on this weekend we are leaving tomorrow moring at 8 which isnt too bad camp overnight and soak up the hot springs on sundaylast night we went out to dinner for Kyndal Liese and Carols second last night in Ayacucho Carol brok out the pisco and we all had shots. awfully good stuff then after we went to Erick panchos son sorry the computer wont let me do b http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Ayacucho/blog-322885.html hey allnot much to report this week everyone arrived back on monday evening with amazing stories I cant wait to go i spent most of my time reading learning spanish shopping and getting followed around by strange peruvian men well one strange man and i did shake him off before i got back to the house. so been busy working at placements a lot less busy this week thank god placements s http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/blog-322115.html