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South America » Peru » Cusco » Cusco April 28th 2006

A long bus ride later and we have reached Cusco, former capital of the Incan Empire and current capital of gringos in South America. We leave tomorrow at 5 am to go to Manu National Park, a pristine remnant of the Amazon. Since we will be absent from any internet access for the next 9 days, I figured I might as well update the last 24 hours, as uneventful as they may have been. After our internet, we went to the planetarium in Nazca, hoping for a 6 pm show that would enable us to see the whole planetarium show and still catch our bus. No luck, so we had lunch, Jill called and Sara attempted to call their respective parents, and we headed to the bus station to watch whatever the bus company employees deemed ... read more

South America » Argentina » Mendoza April 28th 2006

My first impressions of Mendoza were not great - noisy, dirty and lacking in any noteworthy architecture. Add to that the fact that my accommodation for the night was a crazed drunken backpackers from hell and I have to say I was not enjoying the city. Life and travel however has a habit of throwing the serendipitous your way when you most need it and my little ray of sunshine came via a fabulous Mendocino tapas restaurant named Tasca Plaza. Yes I had: olives in lemon and garlic a sort of bruschetta with grilled vegetables, calamari and bacon grilled pork in a country style sweet/sour sauce home made chocolate icecream with brandy soaked grapes and a liquer and 2 cokes All of this came with the most wonderful service and incredibly, cost me the grand total ... read more

South America » Chile » Santiago Region » Santiago April 28th 2006

Hello All, So I have arrived from Buenos Aires in Santiago, Chile. As soon as I exited the main doors the taxi drivers were all over me. So I thought I would do the smart thing and go to the tourist office like a good tourist that I am. I went there and she did not know anything about how to get to town and told me to take the taxi with the taxi guy stalking me and standing right next to me. I thought it was quite odd but hey...what can I do. So I took their service to town and they dropped me off at the hostel La Casa Roja. They mixed up my bed so I had to wait a couple of hours before it was clear that I actually will not be ... read more
Santiago
Santiago - Top of the Hill
Santiago

South America » Colombia » Santa Marta April 28th 2006

Zonalito is a recruitment event. Aiesec recruits new members by promoting their leadership and cultural exchange programme in universities. The students recruited go on an Induction weekend where they get to know what Aiesec is all about. As Cultural Ambassador on behalf of Romania, I joined the jolly group. I took part at all their activities and delivered my Romania Country Presentation previously designed in power point. A fun-packed weekend in a finca outside Santa Marta. Great fun!... read more
we got to a nice small private resort
playing some games
pay attention, class!!!

South America » Peru » Ucayali » Pucallpa April 28th 2006

I wanted to drive during the coolest part of the day, so I decided to get a collectivo (car ride, s.45) from Tingo Maria to Pucallpa, a six hour ride by car or 11 hr ride by bus. I woke up at 3:30am to catch my ride at 4am which was ready and waiting for me ON TIME!! And we were off into the darkness of the thin morning air. With no street lights on the dark mountain roads we swerved several times just missing a dog, and children going to school in the early morning. Soon the sun came up and I witnessed the most beautiful jungle landscape, with waterfalls, and colorful birds everywhere. Then the heat began to set in, and we came to a road-block, then another, and another...There are a lot of ... read more
Road to Pucallpa
Jungle Lodge
Living Room View

South America » Bolivia April 28th 2006

Hello to all. The last few weeks have been absolutely incredible! After the Inca Trail we moved down to Puno in Peru and have since been to La Paz in Bolivia, flown to the jungle and back, and then flown to Buenos Aires! Lake Titicaca is a HUGE lake at 3800m abs which sits between Peru and Bolivia and is home to the famous floating islands. Tribes back in the day were scared of rival tribes so just made themselves some islands out of reeds and still now just float on the lake! It´s really funny, they make EVERYTHING from reeds, they even just walk by, grab a reed and get a munch on! A few months before we got there, on one of the islands they´d had a little tiff so one day they just ... read more
More Reeds
Football Pitch
Bus Floating Away With Our Bags!

South America » Peru » Cusco » Cusco April 28th 2006

Well what can I say about Machu Picchu that hasn´t already been said about it once or twice before? Jord and I arrived into Cuzco/Cusco (I don´t know how to spell the town name, I´ve seen it spelt both ways so I honestly have no clue) from Nazca on a horrible bus. Thankfully the endless bus days left me so fatigued I slept well, despite the yells and screams about my snoring. Rumour has it that there was a coalition of forces near the rear mounting an operation to put a sock in my mouth. Poor Shane sitting beside me (straight from Melbourne Australia) ended up sleeping on the floor of the bus at one point. Thankfully he held no grudge and led Jord and I to a great hostel here in Cuzco where after waiting ... read more
In charge
Machu Picchu
Hot Shot Australian Guy


Listen, said Ricky. We were standing in the middle of the Valle de la Luna in the Atacama Desert, which is the most arid place on earth. It has a sublime beauty which looks like another planet. We stood there for several minutes in total silence. It was a total silence I´ve never experienced before. We couldn't hear a thing, not even the squeak of a mouse, because the valley is totally devoid of life. It was a profound experience. I had just met Ricky a few hours before, when I had arrived in the village of San Pedro de Atacama. San Pedro is a small indigenous village, an oasis that appears like a mirage out of the worlds driest desert. It is also a tourist trap that is firmly on the South American gringo trail. ... read more
Valle de la Luna
Llama
Pueblo de Machuca

South America » Brazil » Amazonas » Manaus April 28th 2006

Just a few photos from Forteleza where we spent a few days and the day trip out of Manaus to the meeting of the rivers before we boarded our boat.. ... the boat journey is in the next blog.. We only had a couple days in Fortaleza and thanked our lucky stars that there was sunshine to soak up on our one last day by the coast before heading inland to Manaus.. Fortaleza is in the state of Ceara in Brazil and is the furthest point north along the coastline that we set foot on. It is a pretty sleep town this time of year and there were not very many tourists out that we saw at all!.. when it is low season in brazil, it definetly is low season with most hostels appearing empty upon ... read more
canoe and remo
just off the amazonas
manaus meeting of the rivers

South America » Peru » Ica » Nazca » Nazca Lines April 28th 2006

The overnight bus journey from Cuzco to Nazca was the worst one yet as far as the deadly mixture of speed, curves and poor suspension goes. We hadn't been on the bus for 5 minutes when Maria said she was already feeling sick. Not even the motion sickness tablets helped this time, and what followed can only be described as a 16-odd hour long torture and a pretty sleepless night. By the time we got to Nazca she was looking rather green and since Mark wasn't feeling his best either, we turned down the shabby hotel we checked out first and settled for a really nice one just outside town; and as it was low season, we got a pretty good deal on it and had it pretty much to ourselves, so it was lovely and ... read more
Drying corn in the sun / Secando maiz al sol
Ben drying off after bi-annual bath / Ben secándose al sol tras baño bianual
Our Plane / Nuestra Avioneta




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