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South America » Ecuador » North » Otavalo November 25th 2006

Not your typical thanksgiving I’m back in Otavalo, Ecuador putting some finishing touches on the website I’m making for kurypachamama. My original plan was to attend a potluck dinner at the South American explorers club but it got cancelled, probably due to the lack of kitchens in Quito hostels. I had to resort to plan B and stay in Otavalo for turkey day, which turned out to be a hell of a time. The family I’m staying with was throwing a graduation bash for their son who just graduated from college, so although I didn’t get to eat turkey I still had a big meal. The party started around 7:00 with a bunch of family and friends arriving periodically and joining us at the long table. The first plate at every meal in Ecuador is soup ... read more
Aprendiendo
damn bottle
salud

South America » Bolivia » La Paz Department » La Paz November 24th 2006

Hello and welcome to my penultimate blog for my travels, and will describe just how amazing Bolivia is. I think its probably my favourite country in South America, mainly as its so cheap. But also its full of culture- the Bolivian dress code is amazing and I will come back looking semi Bolivian, the people are incredible, the towns are nice, there is complete mixes of landscapes and finally, as Im a gambler, its always a risk eating anything as you may get the shits!!! So I left it last time when in Sucre. I only spent a few days here as there was not much to do. I did go and see some crappy dinosaur footprints that were in a vertical rock surface!!! And I did go and have some really tasty food from the ... read more
Branching out for a spot
Marching through the streets of Potosi
Middle of Bolivia and a table for 6 english people!

South America » Peru » Cusco » Cusco November 24th 2006

Well hello there! How are we all doing? Many of you well from the various messages and comments I get. Thanks all for them, always good to log in and see we're not forgotten! I don't think I've contributed to this blog thing since arrival in Cusco so here I am again. Please forgive, but a large part of this whole crazy idea was to get away for a wee bit. Its been great to not touch a computer for 10 days or what ever it is now. I'm much more of a hill person than a computer one, and boy have we seen some hills. Yep, we have. I hope the spreadsheet advice to work got through. Sorry Damien, in essence its quite simple. In practice I wish you luck! So where to start, photos ... read more
Man with Bike
Dont go over the camber
Another new valley

South America » Peru » Cusco » Machu Picchu November 24th 2006

Firstly let me enlighten you as to the title. Unfortunately we didn´t rub shoulders with the ´Moonlighting´star himself. While in Cuzco, when paying for the bill the waitress went all coy and then blushed as she told me I looked like Bruce Willis. Emma just about wet herself laughing. I had always thought I was more of a Brad Pitt, but I´ll accept B.Willis for now(!). Cuzco was an absolute breath of fresh air, by far the most pleasing place we´ve been to thus far on our trip. An absolute tourist town, but after being gawped at in many a backwater it comes as quite a relief. A very picturesque town made more so by the ´Traditional´ladies carrying llamas wrapped in colourful blankets, or children in colourful blankets, or both- who really don´t mind having their ... read more
Mother Earth temple
Art shot
Em contemplating Wayna Picchu

South America » Argentina » Buenos Aires November 24th 2006

_________________ 16th/17th November _________________ Flying to Argentina After delays due to a faulty airplane, and a scramble to let people expecting me know I´ll be late, finally the lift off. I take the view that the practice makes perfect...chill out lesson numero uno (made easier as I´m sleeping with my eyes wide open). You know how, when you are a kid, rivers on your drawings meander perfectly? Well, they do so in real life too. As seen from Boeing (flying into Brazil-Sao Paolo) point of view. How on earth , or air, do kids know this? Another mystery are the huge true crop circles (rather than fake ones, made by aliens), divided into different crop pie chunks. Earth from air...a start of me smiling away. Flying into Sao Paolo woke me up as I found the ... read more
Madness is a state of mind
Real La Boca?
With Maya in tourist Caminito - La Boca

South America » Ecuador » North » Quito November 24th 2006

Fri Nov 24 The Outward Bound instructors said we would like the farm we were staying at in Paluga (just outside of Pifo), but we had no idea that it would be such a wonderful place. Soon after we arrived, our host Matheus gave us a tour of his home where he was born and raised; the place that had once been a plantation, then a monastery, and now an organic farm and felt very much like paradise, if not eden, with its lush grounds and artisan crafted buildings which had an almost Bavarian feel to them. Though the stories he told of this place were captivating, it was his connection to the land that we gleaned through these stories that was truly touching. That night, after the tour and after a "duffel shuffle" (what we ... read more
A Couple of Dogs
Back Porch Sittin'
Siesta

South America » Bolivia » Potosí Department » Villazón November 24th 2006

Hallelujah! - At last the South America I thought that I would be seeing. Everywhere so far has been just a bit too easy and not what I was expecting at all. After my night bus to the border I arrived in La Quiaca at 7.30 am. The border crossing was relatively smooth and the journey from Villazon to Tupiza began. The bus was a local bus and was screaming Spanish music from the oldest, static full speakers that I have ever heard. ... read more
Hello Bolivia
Bienvidos Bolivia
Rita


It was so nice to step back into Argentina again. The journey from Pucon to Bariloche was one of the best bus journeys l´ve ever taken. Directly through all the mountains and lakes in the south part of Chile and Argentina, the lakes were emerald blue color, the mountains were glistering in the sun. Bariloche is a big city surrounded by lakes and snow dusted mountains part of the Patagonia Region. This was Argentinas little playground, with again, more advenuture activities you can think of and noted for some of the best mountain scenery in the world....and a hell of a lot of Chocolate shops. Bariloche has a massive Swiss influence which becomes apparent once you see all the chocolate shops on every cornor of town and top skiing facilities around Parque Nacional Nahuel Huapi. The ... read more
Lago Nahuel Huapi
Mountain views
Catherine Mountains

South America » Ecuador » West » Canoa November 24th 2006

The coast down here is pretty poor, everywhere you go there are whole areas being burnt in a spanish colonial technique, called slash and burn. Farmers clear the land by burning large pieces of land, which clears and gives some short term fertility fopr about a year. But after that the land is deemed pretty infertile, so farmers move onto the next piece of land...its all pretty heart breaking to see, as you know its not good for anyone in the long term. The absolutly fantastic people at Rio Muchacho see www.riomuchacho.com are trying to operate by example, an alternative to all this. Operating by example is not enough, so they are really trying to effect cultural change, by training up local people on the farm. But one of the best things they are doing is ... read more
mangrove swamp

South America » Guyana November 24th 2006

Guyana - To The Interior After what seemed like ages of trying to find a way into the interior of Guyana, we finally gave up planning and just found an aeroplane going vaguely in our direction and jumped on it. Just before we left we emailed our potential host, at a place called Caiman House, who confirmed she had space for us, and so off we went. We hit the local (interior flights) airport, called Ogle. After being weighed (you know you’re going on a small plane when each kg counts) we were sent to immigration. Immigration was staffed by five people whose job description seemed to be “sit around, watch bad local soaps on TV, look menacing and get tourists to write their name in the book after scrutinising their passports”. After duly writing our ... read more
Jane makes friends using fish
Happy Otter
View from the Boat




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