http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/trevskii/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from trevskii en-us Tue, 29 Dec 2009 02:53:27 +0000 Tue, 29 Dec 2009 02:53:27 +0000 Having survived a mammoth 22 hour coach journey from Pt. Iguazu to Cordoba I arrived at a nice little hostel near the centre of the city. The people there that owned it were very welcoming and best of all spoke good English which makes life a whole lot easier. In fact so welcoming that we2 were invited to join them in one of their BBQ's that night I think they call it Empanadas there The http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Mendoza/Mendoza/blog-309102.html I have just spent the last two days in Puerto Iguazu in Argentina to visit the famous Iguazu Falls.On the first day I took the trip to see them from the Argentinian side as well as take in a 'Deliverence' type trip down the river just to reaquaint myself with my friends the mosquitos and a speedboat trip that includes getting 'baptized' in other words getting soaked under a couple of the http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Misiones/Puerto-Iguaz-/blog-306104.html I arrived in Argentina on Wednesday after flying from Cuzco. That was bizzarre in itself I had to take a flight firstly to Lima where I had less than an hour to get off the plane go and pay my international departure tax queue to go through immigration and get on my next flight. I just managed to make it having had my bags searched twice. I then realised that my second flight to Buenos Aire http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Buenos-Aires/Buenos-Aires/blog-305160.html I arrived in Cusco last Wednesday and I immediately went and tries to sort out a 4 day trek to Choquequirao which are the other set of Inca ruins that they are still discovering. Everything looked to be on track we had managed to cobble together 4 people for the trek Great. Then the following evening just 10 hrs before leaving I was told that one of the group had altitude sickness and so a http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Cusco/Cusco/Cusco/blog-302787.html Well it's been a while since my last entry and since then I've left Arequipa and travelled up to Lima only 15 hrs. I spent a couple of days in Lima in a very nice suburb called Miarflores. It was nice to be at sea level and the nightlife was good had a good night out with a couple of English and Australian travellers. After Lima I travelled up to a small place called Olliantaytambo which http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Cusco/Machu-Picchu/blog-300602.html Having arrived in Arequipa a nice change to be only 2300m ASL it was straight off on a tour to the Colca Canyon now believed to be the deepest canyon in the world. We drove out across the mountains passing various sights on our way to a small town called Chivay which would be our base for the next couple of days.The hostel that I was staying in had some interesting residents I had a herd http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Arequipa/Colca-Canyon/blog-297041.html Having arrived in Puno yesterday i've had an eventful 24hrs. I went out for a few drinks last night with some people I had met. That was fine but when I stumbled back to my hotel I found that the place had been locked up and there was not a sole in sight.It was only the appearance of couple of inebriated locals that saved the day by starting to throw things at the windows this seemed to d http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Puno/Puno/blog-294942.html Having arrived in Copacobana via another of Bolivias lovely buses I found my hotel and it was literally on the shores of Lake Titicaca The view was superb.I arranged to go on a boat trip over to the Isle Del Sol the following day The island was believed to be the the birthplace of the sungod of the Incas.It was a lovely bu gruelling day as it involved trekking up and down mountain peaks http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/La-Paz-Department/Lake-Titicaca/blog-294449.html I have now worked my way up to La Paz by way of a rather rickety overnight train from Uyuni to Oruro and then a 4 hr bus journey into La Paz. The bus journey even had entertainment included in the form of some sort of mad Bolivian preacher who spent the entire journey trying to convert us all to some type of religion that could have been anything with my knowledge of Spanish.Once there I deci http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/La-Paz-Department/La-Paz/blog-292882.html I decided to take a 3 day jeep trip from San Pedro across Salar De Uyuni to Uyuni in Bolivia and what an amazing trip it turned out to be.We departed at 8am in a bus to take us through Chillean border control and then Bolivian border control. We ended up waiting for about 2 hrs on the Chillean side as the border guards seemed to have decided that everyone else in the queue would go in front of u http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/Potosi-Department/Salar-de-Uyuni/blog-291211.html Well I survived the bus journey to San Pedro. Now its time to survive the altitude. San Pedro is at 2440m ASL and initially it is a bit of a shock to the old system with headaches and breathlessness but that seemed to diasppear after a couple of hours.I booked a trip to see sthe El Tatia geysers and off to relax in some hot springs all with the lovely incentive of having to get up at 4amT http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Antofagasta-Region/San-Pedro-de-Atacama/blog-291192.html Ive now arrived in La Serena after a 7 hr bus journey along what can only be described as a never changing lanscape of mountains and cactuses on one side and the Pacific Ocean on the other.Ive managed to find myself staying in another Hostel where I am the only one there I seem to be developing a knack for it and it is also the coldest place on earth It feels warmer when you go outsid http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Coquimbo-Region/La-Serena/blog-288071.html Well I've arrived in the Port town of Valparaiso and it has already made a nice change from Santiago. I am staying in a Hostel on top of the harbour looking down. This makes for good views and good for my fitness as you seem to spend all of your time doing step aerobics to get anywhere The only other option is to take on of the funicular railways up and down the hill they are fun but the http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Valparaiso-Region/Valparaiso/blog-286452.html Another day down in Santiago and what of it so far Well its been not very warm and fairly quiet as is to be expected as I am here in the off season not one for skiing or snowboarding not with my accident recordHave done some sightseeing but to be honest there isn't a great deal to see. There are the obligitary museums and parks littered with the usual petty conmen trying to get yo http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Santiago-Region/Santiago/blog-285417.html Well leg two of my travels has got off to a good start.After what was meant to be a mere 12 hour flight from Frankfurt to Sao paulo turned into a 16 hour affair with an unscheduled stop for fuel at an airport that was in the middle of nowhere and a runway barely long enough to take the 747 we were on as we had been flying around Brazil waiting for the airport to open due to fog I finally arri http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Santiago-Region/Santiago/blog-284562.html Just been for a visit down to Durbar Square in Kathmandu. It has some lovely old buildings and temples but by the time you get there you are absolutely sick of being asked about whether you want to take a rickshaw ride take a taxi or want a guided tour Had a brief stroll down the famous 'Freak Street' which was the old Hippy hangout not much there now.The pollution as well starts getting to http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/Kathmandu/Thamel/blog-277830.html What a morningPompey FA Cup winners and me off on a flight around the mountains of the Himalayas I don't think it gets much better than this apart from having to get up at 5am.Well I wish I could say that I saw the cup final but I don't think my luck is in at the moment with the beautiful game we had one of the seemingly daily power cuts in Kathmandu that started just before kick off a http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/Himalayas/blog-277413.html Well here I am back in Kathmandu a bit earlier than expected but being the accident prone person I am I have managed to attain a sporting injury.As they say sport hurts and it did for me I was playing football with some of the kids at the orphanage when doing one of my immaculately choreographed Cruyeff turns I heard my right calf muscle make an odd crunching noise swiftly follow http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/Kathmandu/blog-277149.html Hi y'allSorry It's been all quiet on the Eastern Front but I 've been holed up in a remote village in the middle of the middle of nowhere for the last few days. Now I've managed to find an internet cafe in the nearest town 2hr local bus ride which is 200 people on and in a bus designed for about 50 people and 30 min walk that has machines powered by hamsters So that now I have picture http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/Chitwan/blog-274062.html Well I made it back to Kathmandu in one piece well minus the pieces that the 40 odd mosquitos have had out of me. The journey back across the mountains was again fun this time with the added bonus of a heavy downpour of rain when we reached the top and were just about descend over the other side. The rain may seem insignificant normally but when you are in the hands of a manic Nepali coa http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/Kathmandu/Thamel/blog-273766.html