Arse bandits Dude,good to see you checkin outmy neck of the woods. Could chill out in the mojave for ages, a truely special place. By the way you're a welk
let us fucus on climbing nice cuts and bruises dude. ah, it takes me back to the ver small yet deadly routes we used to frequent in our childhood.
nice pics of the big park too. It makes me feel like..i'm really there. wow! totally ace news dude. just, well, fantastic. i'm speechless. there's nothing more i can say, except well done.
mmmmmmmffffffffffFF
Nicely done... Love the sunrise shots, black and white, and of course the one of my wonderdog!!
Great climbing with you Marc. You're welcome on any of our trips to
J-tree! Loved the guitar sessions at the campfire!
Truely a good time all around. Climb on!!
hey from sunny cal hey buddy. good to see you're still reading. try and put yourself in the mind set of when you had just a week left. thats me now. very hard to imagine going home (if it is home anymore) after 13 months. see uou for the pint soon
Hey Marc! Still great reading your blogs! Ones of America bring back memories for me too. If you can find it, get yourself a copy of The Gang of San Francisco - just finished reading it myself, a factual book, but written by the same author as Gangs of New York - incredibly interesting and puts the city in a whole different light. Have fun through what is personally my favourite part of America - California and Arizona (well, we are physical geographers after all!). Simon
from barcelona hi marc!
i've been looking your blog for the first time and i'm really impressed. i liked a lot reading all about our several days together in bolivia and i also dowloaded some of the photos you did in uyuni and in the mine in potosí (you did the same with the bbc...)
now i'm already back to barcelona and i have to start looking for a job... even if i don't feel like working...
anyway, keep on travelling!
i hope to see you soon!
qué tal tu castellano?
hasta la vista baby! ;-)
joan
18 days,18hrs,40mins,and 25secs Thats how long until you touch down at heathrow!
wer'e off to do a bit of wind surfing in Fuerteventura.See you at the airport. Take care, and lots of love.
plains, trains, and automobiles. Hola Marco. This is Miguel, the chilean guy who commented on your early chile travels. I've just been catching up on your adventures. I did a similar trip, in reverse, from Salta to Bolivia. I couldn't take the train b/c of the problems and strikes in bolivia :(.
I just wanted to comment about the train you took from chile to bolivia. Chilean train service is actually the best and most modern on the continent. However, the train you took was part of the peace treaty between Chile and Bolivia. Part of the bargain in Chile gaining the former bolivian province of Litoral (Antofagasta) was that they would build and run a passenger train service to Bolivia. That train you took was part of the deal. The train is not for profit, so there is no insentive to maintain it or hold it to the standards of the rest of the chilean trains (which only run from santiago to puerto montt). Plus, I would bet there is an attitude of "well, it's only used by poor bolivian indians" attitude by the chilean authorities, which also does not motivate them to improve service. I hope i'm able to take that train before they "civilize" it or decommission it forever.
Happy trails!
Marco.
yep got here and what a lovely city it is too. thanks for the comment. managed to get stung with some fake money from a taxi driver as soon as i arrived but hey.
Girth, the international standard of hero Good to see that wherever you are in the world a rotund gentleman in a chefs outfit can still be assured of hero statues, ahmen.
Amazing MP Simon forwarded your blog to me. We visited MP in 2004, doing the shorter of the Inca Trails and getting that fantasic view from the Sun Gate. Yes, I agree that it's all a little touristy but it's a place everyone just has to see. We loved Cusco by the way, but didn't like the way the local women appeared on every street corner with a llama ready to charge for a photo!
Enjoy the rest of your travels.
Health and safety stops at Dover Just realised that health and safety 'god' in the mine looks just like our health and safety officer at work. Bet he doesn't have to do as many risk assessments though
Yes I'm still watching you ! Hi there Marc,
I know it's a long time since you've heard from your Auntie Judy, but I'm sure you can appreciate how annoying it can be for me, seeing someone else having so much fun !!!!! Glad you are surviving in South America, and hope you are managing to pick up some Spanish. See you soon.
Judy
Looove, sweet looove very nice and romantic ending to your story. i did a similar trip from uyuni to san pedro 3yrs ago. our bolivian vehicle broke down and had two flats (one wheel flew off at 100km/hr) before noon, but we survived. did you take a naked picture on the salt flats (everyone does)? by the way, salt flat in spanish is "salar". "coco" in spanish is coconut. "coca" is what they chew in the altiplano. i bought a box of mate de coca at the lima international airport duty free shop. be careful not to cross borders with actual coca leaves (esp into chile and argentina) b/c that may get you into trouble. we have a little saying in chile when something is extremely rare or odd, "mas raro que pirata boliviano" (stranger/rarer than a bolivian pirate.....they're landlocked, you see?) enjoy your time. be sure to try salteñas, bolivian version of empanadas.
Hi Marc!
This is a message from the to swedes you met on the delayed plane to Santiago... Remember?!
We have read your journal and seen the pictures. It seems as if you are having a great time. We are too, but in Peru... Today we came to Arequipa, after a few lazy days i Huacachina (a very cool oasis in the Peruvian desert). The day after tomorrow we are going to Colca Canyon and to see the great Condors!
We don´t know about Bolivia jet but well find out when we come to Puno in a few days time!
Take care and safe travels! /Nina And Anneli
only 58 days,20hrs,40mins,3secs Thats how long you have left of your travels until touch down at Heathrow.Not that Im looking forward to seeing you! Continue to have fun.Good to see more photos. Take care
Go North, young man..... this is the chilean "chap" you referenced in your blog (what an honor!). i hope my comments don't annoy you, as that's not my intent. i've never been skiing in chile and i'm jelous. i think santiago is a wonderful city and it always annoys me when backpackers (i'm one too) shortchange the city and write it off as an ugly polluted mess best left avoided. santiago isn't one of those cities like rio or buenos aires that jumps out at you, but it has it's own lowkey charm. chileans themselves are rather lowkey and reserved by latinamerican standards, and calling attention to yourself is generally looked down upon (chileans have been referred to as the "english" of south america for this, which i don't agree with....).
there are actually 14 starbucks in santiago, most of them in the eastern part of the city (wealthier area). the reason you're probably seeing so many flags is because september 18 was chile's independence day, so the country just finished celebrating it's 196th anniversary and so the flags are still up. chileans don't display the flag like americans do (i know you're not american). during the "fiestas patrias" (national holidays) it is common to drink chicha, so you may want to take advantage of this and ask at your next restaurant if they have any available. it's made from fermented grapes and is yummy (and alcoholic). don't mistake this for the chicha drunk in peru and bolivia, which is a type of corn beer. if you get a chance to be near la serena (region IV), go to the elqui valley, where chileans make their pisco (a type of grape brandy, between 35 and 50 proof). otherwise, be sure to drink some pisco sours and piscolas (pisco and coke, which i like with twist of lemon). have fun in san pedro. don't forget to look up at all the beautiful stars.
saludos. miguel
Hailing from the sunny village of Coventry, England, 23 year old Marc & Claire hatched a cunning plan in the summer of 2004. Twas plan so cunning in fact you could literally brush your teeth with it: To conquer the world via the medium of travel! It then took about a year to actually do anything about organising it (boo to the "o" word), but now Leeds uni maths graduate Marc, and Swansea uni geography graduate Claire, ask you to come hither to their blog of comedy events through India, Asia and finally New Zealand. We salute your coming to visit our photos and anecdotes. In addition this blog ... full info
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Yup, I agree, a totally useless blog. but at least you know that at least one person is still listening!