jackbloggs

Sailing Home We left the great landmass of South America the way we entered it, by sailboat. It had been over three months since we hitched a lift on Hughes (Eugg) and Caroline's boat to Ushuaia and started this overland odyssey. It seemed right that it was another french Capitan whose job it was to sail us and a dozen or so other backpackers on El Gitano del Mar to Panama. His name was Jepe and he is a pirate. Both his ears sported a large gold hooped earring and his arms were covered in tattoos including at least one stereotypical anchor tatt. Dark tanned skin and fishermans pants completed the look, but far from being a cliche he exuded cool. The sort of cool I'd try to make small talk with about the weather (surely ... read more

The plane touched down on Isla Baltra and we were offloaded onto the hot tarmac. A warm sea breeze hit us as we crossed to the newly renovated airport, and I nearly lost my latest hat acquired on this trip. It is made exclusively from coconut husk and wood glue and is unique enough to cut a dash (in my humble opinion) without looking like a wannabe Texas cowboy. The airport boasted at great length about its green stamp of approval for renewable energy technology, with wind turbines, manual conveyor belts and careful alignment with the prevailing winds to negate the need for air conditioning. It was nice and cool, but the wind turbines were stationary despite the strong breeze and the lack of baggage carousel caused a scramble for the bags as everyone wanted to ... read more

Back in Bolivia. I was last here on the cusp of 20, almost 7 years ago. It marked the start of my twenties and a decade defined by travel. Peru and Bolivia in the summer of 2007 was my first big trip away from home. It was chiefly meant to be volunteering in orphanages and adolescent prisons in Peru with a few others from university, but I was forever restless. I became disenchanted about the good we were actually doing and spent every free minute pouring over maps and guidebooks working out where we could explore in our time off. With two friends, I visited Lake Titikaka, the death road, the salt flats, the pampas and had some fun times in La Paz. It was however, during the final week of my trip travelling back to ... read more

Our transit across the Beagle to Argentina had been arranged for 2pm. It was going to involve a 50km drive East along the road until reaching the other town called Puerto Navarino. From there it would be a small speedboat across the 20 minute stretch direct to Ushuaia. Unfortunately, the backwaters of the world things rarely go to plan or schedule. The hostal owner pulled up at the arranged pick up point and explained the boat had been cancelled due to strong winds. It was blowing a gale sure enough, so we headed to the information shack again. Carina found out that they were not rescheduling the boat, they had stopped now for the season and the next scheduled departure to Ushuaia would be in October. We have to be back to work in August. Flying ... read more

On our lift back to Queenstown after our last Great Walk, we went through Glenorchy, a small town (probably large by kiwi standards) in spectacular surroundings. The driver owned the shuttle service, but was most busy with Lord of the Ring and Hobbit fans wanting to see where the Olliphants paraded through and the mountains of Isengaard. It was interesting hearing about the film production and how he helped in a set where the footage was beamed through to Peter Jackson so he could direct several scenes simultaneously. In QT Becks and I had a celebratory feast and then hit the town. It always astonishes me how much fun we can have as a sole duo and we did a classic backpacker pubcrawl. Highlights were sipping cocktails in an ice bar out of ice glasses on ... read more