what a time! wow, you guys really did just about everything there is to do there! i don't mean to sound patronizing or anything, but i'm very proud you guys really went all out and got neck deep into everything (even having the good sense of humor to let yourselves be the butt of jokes from street performers....happened to me too!), unlike so many other backpacking foreigners. i'd really love to hear what the two main protagonists have to say about their time south of san pedro and i hope you put in a few words of your own about your time in santiago for your next blog. happy trails you guys and keep burning the candle at both ends! cheers!
Hi Kate/Mark.
Enjoy your blogs greatly. Move over Bill Bryson!
Happy new year and keep travelling. Cold and damp here as usual.
Iwork with your dad up north!
Envy Envy Envy!! Hi Kate and Mark- Your blogs are such a good read that I want to give up my job and life as I know it and head after you! It's been a great winter read so keep it up. Have a great Christmas in transit and New Year in Whittianga- NZ and Oz will be different but no doubt you'll find lots to entertain there too and we can expect odes of a different hue!
Great poem We just happened across your blog whilst we're supposed to be working a night-shift.........very enjoyable......feel like we know you intimately Mark. Hope the poos are a bit more solid now. Hope you both have a great Christmas and New Year. It's bloody freezing here!!! All the best xxx
hi kate and mark , have really enjoyed reading all the blogs over the last few months, keep up the good work in 2008, best wishes for a really happy christmas and new year to you both. take care
no frontiers ! salar de uyuni amazing just like the rest of your adventures in south america.I've really enjoyed reading all the blogs they all have been so amazing,witty and interesting and amazing photos. look forward to reading more of the blogs.Best wishes to you both for the christmas and new year.
Lunchtime Dear God Mark after 3weeks without the internet and starved of Mark/Kate eloquence I open up today and read your poem. Out of which southside school were you weaned. Anyway great to be back reading your lblog or is it 'log'! yes Gregory's disastrous RyanAir like flight was well documented in Lahernahone.have to back to class Talk later
What next! Thought you and Kate were going to move into a less risky phase of the trip, but from the latest blog I see that you survived death by bike, death by boa, death by monkey spit, death from jealous husband of wrestling Cholita, playing with dynamite, rock falls, getting stuck underground, 96% alcohol, asphixiation, asbestos and cyanide. No wonder Dublin seems a bit slow....
Awe inspiring stuff as usual Mark and something I look forward to each week when I can get the internet. Keep up the good work! You both have certainly reached great heights.
I see a pattern emerging 1. Go to [insert S American country here]
2. Find big mountain
3. Sleep on mountain in arctic conditions
4. Wake up at 2am following uneasy night of panting/hallucination
5. Walk until fingers go numb
6. Hurl
7. Turn back, having earned the rolling-eyed contempt of your guides
8. Get on bus, go to next country
9. Repeat
fantastic as usual, quality inspiring writing M+K, i'm insanely jealous. today i went for a jog to work off a slight hangover, tomorrow i'm teaching kids kayaking, then off to Skye for 5* sea kayak training. hope all's well. when you back from your epic adventure?
Back on track Unfortunaately our internet was down last week and it is only now I read Mark's account. I read Machu Pichu first so pure enjoyment of things that we are used to even here in Ireland is not as fascinating as the scaly heights of Peru. Sorry Mark! Still I was delighted to see that you brought along a shirt. First time this trip in a photo with one. And Kate the more you travel, the more you look like your Mum. Anyway keep enjoying yourselves...
Mind blowing stuff Many people associate mind blowing with a weed from parts of South America but here in a homely school in Cavan our minds are blown away as we read and see the wonders of another world. The boys here are just too young to realise the distance and to appreciate the history of the footsteps that you take each day. Those trails toward Machu Pichu treaded on by thousands of Incas a thousand years ago to reach their city in the sky. Mind these photos. They in turn will be a window on a lost but not forgotten world. I look forward to next installment.
Woah, seemed to have missed this blog for a week somehow! Loving the use of Russel Brice to try and excuse your wussing out! And when Paddy saw that elephant at Larcomar he asked: "Is there some fella inside that?"
Kate, I don't know if it's the malaria tablets, the altitude-induced hypoxia, the Lucky 7's or that sip of Pisco Sour that you swallowed before tipping it, but your sense of humour is increasing with each blog...very entertaining! Keep it up!
Awesome endurance Well fair dues to you both for mixing endurance with enjoyment. Iloved your comments re the iodine make up. Sure you could never be ever accused of nicking money again with those red fingers. And don't worry Mark we'll make sure that comment about missing the m-in-l won't be forgotten. Will you be fit at all to do your next blog?
Rituals Mark if you thought his ritual was unusual then next time you are in Ballyconnnell make sure you enjoy a night in Ballyhugh and witness the Broom Dance! The chair though is interesting. Still enjoying your travelling commentary and to think that Michael Palin has a new book out aand you dont even charge! Autumn is slowly changing to winter here in the northern Northern Hemisphere.
Dictionary Work You have me glued again viewing a part of the world that is so fascinating that it makes you use words that I have to resort to the dictionary in order to understand them. Wonderful! The Creative Writing staff of Loreto and the Royal wwould be proud of you. Fabulous writing. So Mark where is that elusive guide? Buried in the forest!
Nice Legs Jayzus that's a spider and a half. Rather yizzer than me.
Kate exhibiting questionable taste with the less than strapping Patricio - maybe Mark could fulfill her fantasies by tucking his jeans into his wellies, growing a paunch and putting on a Status Quo wig?
Books that have inspired me...
Eight Feet in the Andes- Dervla Murphy
The Gringo Trail- Mark Mann
Between Extremes- Brian Keenan & John McCarthy
Into Thin Air- Jon Krakauer
The Death Zone- Matt Dickenson
A Death in Brazil- Peter Robb
Himalaya- Michael Palin
Seven Summits- Rick Ridgeway
Savages- Joe Kane
The Trail to Titicaca- Rupert Atlee
Marching Powder- Rusty Young... full info
james st. james
non-member comment
what a time!
wow, you guys really did just about everything there is to do there! i don't mean to sound patronizing or anything, but i'm very proud you guys really went all out and got neck deep into everything (even having the good sense of humor to let yourselves be the butt of jokes from street performers....happened to me too!), unlike so many other backpacking foreigners. i'd really love to hear what the two main protagonists have to say about their time south of san pedro and i hope you put in a few words of your own about your time in santiago for your next blog. happy trails you guys and keep burning the candle at both ends! cheers!