South America 2007

Hello everyone. Since returning to Mexico I have been really lame at updating my blog and keeping in touch with you all. I hope everyone is well and I am going to make an effort to start my blog again. So a few pictures of what I've been up to, work, work, work! Although I love my job! started working as a photographer with dolphins and sealions and got to swim and help train them which was wicked...

Now working in the jungle on the ziplines which is even better! took a month to train which was hardcore, but now I love it, rapelling down waterfalls everyday and swinging through the trees....

Hope everyone is well, miss you all heaps.............

After a couple of mental nights out in Asuncion...

...we managed to obtain the park permit disclaimer that gave us permission to enter the national park Mbaracayu. Next thing to do was work out how to get there??!! So with a bit of team work and strategic planning...

We came up with an idea... time to hire a car and we made it into the best road trip ever! Unfortunately lost Chris and Louise who headed to Uruguay. Luckily Alex and Fin were still up for finding the Indians with me, as I don't have a driving licence. (oh and not forgetting your great company of course guys!)

Managed to set place on fire, nearly died, well done Alex and thanks for playing fireman sam Finn, you saved my life!

First encounter with my little indians!!! Although as I was driving managed to miss them this time though as still not to sure which one is the brake in this mean machine................................

Those of you who don't know yet, I'm back in England for a bit! Going to enjoy the lovely English summer and then return to my travels! Somehow I think earning english pounds is going to get me a tad bit further than my last job in mexico as a builder which paid £8 a day.

I became a bit of a lazy blogger and my blog needs updating somewhat as after Paraguay I went to Uruguay, Argentina and Mexico and although i'm no longer on the road I will finish the blog, better than staring at the wall when sat in all those crappy temp jobs.

Got a 2 hour bus back to encarnacion and were absolutely covered in orange dirt that was flying in through the windows of the road into the beaten up bus. I was sat next to a girl who taught me a novel way to eat an apple. First you bite off a chunk, chew it for a bit in your mouth and then spit out the skin into your hand and lob it out the window!

So after another 5 hour bus ride we arrived to Asuncion. After checking in to a hotel we headed out for dinner looking like we had been literally dragged here. Chris looked like a starving street kid with his ripped orange clothes and then somehow accidently managed to order himself a plate of tomatoes for dinner, whilst Fin ate a plate of tongues! Being a vegetarian means most days I have no choice but to eat cheese and bread, so my veggie lasagne was warmly welcomed.

After dinner we were invited to join a group of paraguayan guys for a beer. They were hilarious and spoke some English too, they were repeatedly chanting ´God save the Queen!´ They even gave us a lift home after spinning around the block a few times listening to The fugees and Jamiroquai and have invited us out tomorrow night. should be interesting!

Whilst in Iguacu I met an Israeli guy who spent some time in Paraguay and recommended to go to El parque nacional de San Rafael. No-body knew how to get there and the bus conductors in the main bus station said that there was no bus that went there. I was determined to see this park as the Israeli guy said their were wild Indians, so we still jumped on a bus in that direction and after about 3 hours got dropped off in the middle of no-where on a dirt track...

We found a roadside shop called el gordo and the owner was really hospitable (he even offered to sell his shop to us!) We explained where we were trying to reach, the kind old man made a few phone calls for us and got the environmental secretary to come and pick us up!

We waited 5 hours for our pick-up truck to arrive, playing cards and chilling out on the roadside. Again we had an audience, the word had obviously spread that we were in town, as more and more locals gathered around to watch the tourists play cards. When our lift arrived, we all piled on to the back of the truck, hanging of the edge we waved goodbye as we headed to the national park...

On arrival to the Park, we were welcomed by a Swiss couple who had lived there for 28 years. They asked us if we had bought supplies, namely food and camping gear. No was the answer to that one. They found us some tents and said that they could whip us up some food.

The only other tourists there were a gay German couple who were trying to find somewhere else to live as they believed Europe (especially ireland) was just about to hit an economic crises and so came to Paraguay?! What planet are they on?! And secondly an English guy who had lived in Paraguay for the last 3 years, and get this, hes the travel writer for Rough Guide, the author of the paraguay chapter!!!

On arrival it was dark so Paul (The author of Rough Guide) asked us if we wanted to go down to the lake and try to find giant guinea pigs. We saw three, they must be the biggest rodents on earth, they were the size of a large pig! After I Sat ouside alone for a bit and relaxed in my hammock under the stars before getting into my tent. I slept like a log.

When we woke up we had the lushest breakfast and then headed into the forest for a trek, accompanied by a couple of the park guards, their rifles and a machete. Great day, trekking through the forest and the day ended by watching the sunset by the lake with fin.

San Rafael was a great experience, but unfortunately didnt see those wild indians I was looking for. Paul said that I would find them in a place called Mbaracayu, so time to hit the road again, first to Asuncion the capital to try and get a park permit to enter Mbaracayu...

Where is everybody? This is what real backpacking is all about...lovin it!

We crossed the border into Paraguay and hoped off the bus to get our passports stamped, turned around and the bus had gone without us, how rude! I stood up the whole way on the bus crushed next to some guy with a bad boy gun squashed up next to me. I gave up my seat to some other willing passenger, who do they think I am? The red Cross?

When we arrived at the bus station in Encarnacion I felt like an Alien that had just landed. Everyone was staring at us with friendly yet curious eyes. I went into a little shop to buy some water and the shop assistant asked me what I was doing in Paraguay, when I responded I was travelling around to check out the sites, he replied there´s nothing here to see, hmmm, interesting!

First day we headed to the jesuit ruins, we were the ONLY people there, strange bearing in mind this is one of the only attractions in Paraguay! Oh no, actually we werent there was one other person, it was Finn, someone I had met in Rio who said he was heading this direction!

I sat on the ruins and relaxed in the sun, lovely day. Nice to be away from every other traveller for a bit, especially after the mass tourism of Iguacu. The landscapes here are similar to England, really green and Paraguay so far has been so so chilled and the people I have spoken to so far are soooo laid back.

We headed to the second set of ruins in Jesus. On the way walking to the bus stop we saw a car for sale. Parguay is dirt cheap, but this car was 50P! I tried convincing the others to buy it, but they werent convinced. We arranged for the bus driver to come and pick us up at 5pm, have they not heard of bus timetables before? Oh well, we were the only passengers on the bus I guess...ºººº

Had a bit of a reunion in Rio and met up with the original group I was travelling with in Peru which was really nice, including Previn (Sorry didnt have a chance to catch up with you and say goodbye before I left Previn, hope your project goes well dude) Headed to Foz do Iguacu with Chris, Alex, Louise and Gill. We spent two nights on the Brazilian side of the falls in an amazing hostel that had a swimming pool and spent a couple of days walking around the falls, was lush. Even tried out our hitch-hiking skills as couldn´t be arsed to wait for the bus and managed to get a lift both times.

Foz do Iguacu was beautiful, 275 different waterfalls that crash 80M into the Rio Iguacu, incredible. The pictures speak for themselves...

Chris and I decided to parasend of a wall, which was the best buzz ever. The guys thought I was nuts when I started getting all hyper and spitting out a thousand words a second when I relized I was going down the mountain rather than across, brilliant adrenaline rush!

After 2 nights on the Brazilian side we crossed the border over to Argentina to take a closer look at the falls as the Brazilian side offers more of a grand overview. Whilst looking lost and waiting for a bus a deaf guy started helping Chris and I by typing questions into his mobile phone, how helpful is that?! Chris and I then met an argentinian couple to share a taxi with and again they gave me all their contact details for when I arrive in Buenos Aires, latinos are so unbelievably friendly!

The Argentinian side of the falls was equally as impressive and we took a couple of boat rides under the falls...

So I finally convinced the others to come into Paraguay with alot of persuasion techniques to get off the Gringo trail. Statistics show that roughly only 250 Brits a year go to Paraguay compared to about 160,000 that go to Brazil. There´s not even a British embasy there, well apparantly there´s nothing there, but we´re just about to find out, let the adventure begin...

Opted to get a flight from salvador to Rio as opposed to the 30 hour bus ride and it worked out cheaper, whats that all about?

Flight was at stupid o clock in the morning so had a kip on the airport floor. When I opened my eyes there were loads of people spectating the barefoot napping traveller sucking her thumb. One guy thought I was a tramp and offered me some money, ha ha! Thinking about it I should have taken it!, dam I missed that one! (I must sort my grimey traveller image out before I get to your wedding Gems!)

Rio has a population of just over 7 million and its huge! The locals are really welcoming to tourists and love to party. First day in Rio went to see Christ the Redemer (cristo redentor), amazing views from the mountain overlooking the city and sugar loaf (pao de acucar) in the background. Went with some other travellers from the hostel and we timed it just right for sunset.

I Decided to take a tour into Rochina Favela, South Americas largest slum/shanty town. About a third of Rios poulation live in the favelas and as it is the centre of crime and corruption not advisable to rock up there alone. The top guy who runs the Rochina favela is protected by the 10 golden guys who each own golden guns, but are all anonymous as is the main guy - who reaps in no less than 4 million dollars a month through drugs and arms and get this - is only 24 years old! I shit you not Rio is just about as corupt as it gets. As with Salvador hearing loads of travellers stories about being mugged and constantly being warned by locals to take care, thankfully the only thing i´m suffering with is a hangover!

One of my highlights in Rio has to be going to see the final of Flamengo and Madeira at the Maracana stadium. Probably the best night out i´ve ever had. We got a groupy together at the hostel, 22 of us in total and joined the crowds. The atmosphere was unreal, the fans were going absolutely mental and I mean MENTAL! The score was 4-1 to Flamengo which was who the majority were supporting, so luckily the Brazilians were loving it and going absolutely crazy, brilliant night.

So Rio de Janeiro! Massive city but a city with a difference - theres a beach and not just any beaches - Copacabana and Ipanema, nice one! Stayed in a hostel on copacabana beach and had a blast. My time in Rio is still a bit of a blur, but from what I can remember from the odd occasional flashback it was great! Became abit nocturnal, beach bum by day and party animal by night.

Last night in Rio went out in a club smack bang in the middle of a favela. Shit man, you don´t wanna be hanging round one of these places on your own, scarey stuff. The dance floor was full of proper gangsters all with their shirts off and the women were just as scarey covered in tatoos. Felt like I was in some kind of gangster movie - brilliant night though and again met some great people who looked after me (those of you who know me well know is necessary after a few beers - well ok after one actually!)

So goodbye Rio, good times had but need to get out of Brazil its too expensive. Next stop is Iguacu...

My stay in Salvador was great, totally fell in love with the place and found it really hard to move on. Salvador is Brazils third largest city and has a strong African influence. Cobbled streets, afro-carribbean culture, live bands and music playing in the streets, artists, musicians, dancers, reggae bars, this place for me was so surreal. Bob Marley, bring it on!

Salvador has a reputation for thefts and muggings, seems every other traveller I have spoken to has had some nasty experience of being mugged at knife point, got involved with some kind of corrupt police scam or pickpocketed, its not hard to see why, Salvador is full of dodgy little side streets and full of corruption due to the poverty. Thankfully I haven´t had any problems yet and I have personally found quite the opposite. The locals are really really friendly, curious and helpful and they keep throwing their phone numbers and email addresss at me left right and centre for if I encounter any problems. Definately makes a difference being able to speak the lingo, even getting the hang of a bit of portugese as its fairly similar to spanish.

After carnival everything was pretty chilled, moved out of Barra which is on the Beach into Pelourhino, the cultural centre and spent most days exploring the city, museums, churches, the famous lighthouse, going to the theartre and visted a couple of capoeira schools - the traditional brazilian cross between a martial art and dance. Also went to watch condomble - an ancient ritual of spirit possession and voodoo.

Had a great time and again have met loads of amazing people, mixture of locals and other travellers, also starting to bump into travellers that i´ve met previously in other cities. I really have fallen in love with Salvador and the nearby island of Itaparica, only 20 minutes away by boat - white sands and clear waters...paradise. Even went horse riding along the beach.

First time I discovered the island was with a group of Brazilians from sao paulo and a brilliant guy from Uraguay called Mauizcio, who I got on really well with and who speaks like Borat (Hi Mauizico - I´ll be in motevideo after Paraguay - so see you soon and don´t forget the skydive!!!)

Also had quite an emotional couple of weeks, since arrival in Latin America haven´t really seen much poverty as I expected. Salvador however was full of beggers, mainly malnutritioned children. One night Mauizico and I met this kid on the street who was 13 years old but looked about 7, where he basically doesnt eat and his body hasn´t grown properly, it´s so sad.

Next stop is Rio de Janeiro.......

So made it to Salvador with no accomodation booked at 4.30 in the morning, hmmm. But it was fine, found a hostel, a litte pricey but to be expected for last night of carnival and was happy not to have to sleep in the airport as had already missed 2 nights of sleep.

Met some grand Irish girls, (hi girlies - hope you made it to recife ok!) and some other randoms to enjoy carnival with. I was a bit aprehensive about personal saftey and muggers during carnival - but felt mega safe - the only problem really was the letchy men who try and grind up against you every opportunity and its hard to peel them off. Unfortunately have no pics of carnival as didnt want to risk getting mugged for my camera. Crime rate for carnival 2007 doubled from last year and there were even 2 shootings on the last night of carnival, the brazilians are mental.

The Tshirts required to enter the Blocos were really expensive so didnt buy one, thankfully, as still managed to get under the ropes, soon as the security saw us they would throw us out and we would creep back in again after 5 mins or so. The bloco we followed was Fat Boy Slim, how funny - the only foreign bloco in Salavdor and it was ramed.

Glad I managed to make carnival, was cool night, streets were jam packed with people partying to the max, the atmosphere was electric. Had some bizare moments on the beach. When nature calls, nature calls and where the girls pee - so do the tranvestites, need I say more? gross!

The women here also fight like men and the police treat them like men - sacrey stuff, you dont want to be waking up in a brazilian cell, although thats where I thought I was when I woke up this morning in my hostel. It was empty - I actually had a 10 bed dorm to myself - does everyone know something that I dont???

OK so the crying episode is over and the bites are gone...

Wow wow wow, the trip across the amazon was amazing, views were great and 5 days on deck in my hammock were rather chilled.

Just to perfect the journey, met some wicked people, and got a chance to get to know some ultra friendly brazilians. Also met some other gringos and had a blast. (Hi Nathan! - wicked time, thanks for teaching me to play Travis on the guitar and the hilarious entertainment you provided whilst making out with the columbian man eater!)

Also met some other great people to party with and to help me find my way back in the dark to my hammock - almost impossible when everyone is asleep and even more difficult to not fall out when pissed! The guys in the boat shop were also great fun and I worked out how to order beer and not pay for it - basically order the beer, chat for 10 mins and then walk away - simple yet effective!

On arrival to Manaus, an Irish lass that I met on the boat got sick really suddenly, had high fever and basically couldnt move. After one night of watching her suffer and die in my room I decided it was hospital time as suspicions of malaria were high. Managed to meet a brazilian woman called Gloria, possibly the kindest women i´ve ever met, she drove us to the hopital which was 45 mins away and was really helpful, definately altruism at it´s best. She even gave me her address in Rio de janeiro as thats where she was heading for carnival and said were more than welcome to crash there if we head that direction...and guess what? Its right on copacabana beach...nice one! Back to the irish girl, she was fine after a couple of days.

After a brief stay in Manuas, decided to try and make carnival somewhere on the coast. First stop was Belem, Brazilian side of the amazon basin. I stayed in this amazing hotel (well amazing compared to where I have been staying), it had hot water, decent breakfast, clean sheets, its own TV and more to the point a beautiful sparkling clean toilet. So the moral of the storey is if any other fellow travellers are reading this that have diarrhoea - hotel Belem is the way forward. This is the first toilet seat I have been able to actually sit on in South America.

From Belem I got a shitty 25 hour bus journey to Fortaleza. Thought that they celebrated carnival there, but it was not as expected. Did find one street party though and had a brill time and got covered in foam. Surprise, surprise I was a tad smashed and got a bit carried away with my foam and was actually aiming for peoples eyes! What a bitch!

Met some lovely Argentinians who fortunately helped me get home because without them I wouldnt have had a clue and was looking like a bit of a spacky tourist pulling my map out in the middle of the crowd! (Thanks guys - I know you will be reading my blog as Alex passed the message on that you were trying to get in contact with me, cant believe you found his blog on the net!!! - We will def have to meet up in Argentina when I get there!)

So Fortaleza was not my cup of tea, although there was a beach it was pissing down with rain (and looked a bit like Bognor Regis) so got out quick smart and headed to Salvador, to experience the real carnaval....

Came out of the jungle pretty exhausted and in desperate need of a real shower! From Iquitos got a 12 hour speed boat up the Amazon to Colombia leticia for a couple of days (Although didnt manage to see Shakira)

My mosquito bites are unreal, never seen anything like this - im mortified. Had to go to a military hospital base and the doctor told me that my body is infected from the bites - not having much luck at the mo. The doctor also thought I had gangreen, so had a blood test and another x-ray. Cryed the whole time, which looking back is quite funny - this military camp is used to gun-shot wounds and theres me having a a major crying session with some army cadet because I have to have a blood test and I dont like needles! They were all really nice tho and I didnt have to pay anything - might try that whole crying thing more often - bonus!

The test results were OK thankfully and the panic and brief episode of depression and self-pity is now over. Now gonna head up the amazon towards manaus, takes about 5 days by boat. Just off to the market to buy a hammock to sleep in...

Jungle was great!!! Stayed with a river family a couple of nights and the kids were adorable, man they know how to fight, they move their hands so bloody quick! The 5 year old tried to beat me up when he first saw me - guess hes more used to jaguars than humans!

Got a boat from Iquitos that dropped us off in the middle of nowhere - had to literally get off the boat into the amazon river and walk in the pitch dark, with water up to my waist, while my guide was making strange monkey noises trying to get the attention of the river family to fetch a canoe!

It was a truely amazing experience. After staying with the family a couple of nights we headed further up the river in our canoe and found a good spot to camp. This was when the real adventure began. As pretty much everything in the amazon is nocturnal, and when night comes so does every creepy crawly you can imagine start surfacing from the ground - if I once had a fear of snakes and spiders - I dont now!

Camping outside on nothing but a bed of leaves it not the wisest move in the world. Basically got eaten alive by mosquitos and my whole body is covered in bites. One night even had a jaguar circling my bed, although luckily had a machete near by, which became my new best friend.

The scariest moment was the first time out on the canoe at night in search of alligators. I was ducking and diving under the trees as the guide was navigating the canoe through the dark when I felt something really heavy fall on me from one of the trees. I reached for my torch as it was pitch black (bad move!) I didnt know transulas were THAT big!!! I freaked out as it was slowly crawling up my chest towards my face, I jumped up in the canoe and it nearly capsized - dont think the amazon has ever heard such a scream! Shoutiung i'm a celebrity get me out of here doesn't quite work in this neck of the woods. My guide - who I nick-named Mogley was great though and thew it off into the river, phew!!!

Was sad to come back to the city although learned loads of useful jungle survival techniques as Mogley knew absolutely everything you could want to know about the jungle. Leaned how to navigate the canoe at night by following the shadows of the trees, how to get fresh water from under the ground and even how to signal if you are lost by banging a tree with the machete 3 times - it actually works! The jungle kids are taught this from a young age for if they get lost, if someone is out there they respond with 2 tree strikes and come to find you! How cool is that!

Saw loads of wild animals - monkeys, pink dolphins, tucans, condors, parots, snakes, spiders, toads, alligators. Also tried loads of strange fruits and learned about the different botanical medicines. On the last night even found the courage (and a mixture of necesity as I stank!) to take the canoe out into the amazon in the dark and shower myself with a bit of balancing and a bowl (decided to leave the tourch at camp this time though!)

For dinner we ate fried grubs, fried ants, tree bark and the fish that we caught. yum yum!

Amazing experience, cant wait to go back in, just have to wait for my bitten skin to calm down

So i´ve decided to go back into the Amazon via northern Paraguay or Bolivia in a couple of months time.

The last night in Cuzco was one of the guys birthdays so went to a restaurant and he treated himself to the local speciality of Guinea Pig, made me want to vomit seeing it stretched out on his plate with all its teeth still in tact.

Also managed to make it to the hospital in Cuzco to have ET examined - a complete waste of time! The Peruvian health system is not quite the same as UK! Hospital was filthy and the only other patient wating was a lady with one eye.

A lady in a dirty uniform took one look and a squeeze of my finger and told me the nail would fall off and it would be fine.

I´m now in Iquitos, the amazon basin. This jungle city is amazing, although crossing the road is a death trap and its scorching hot, the local people here are really friendly and helpful. Staying in a cool little hut and one of the staff even speak English.

Today is the second day here and I love it already. When I arrived by plane (as there are no road links to Iquitos) the tuk tuk driver greated me with ´welcome to the jungle!´ The tiny ´airport´ is outside and there are no walls or ceiling, the strangest airport i´ve ever seen, basically a few bits of bamboo and a luggage conveyabelt outside, of which more dogs and wild animals came off of than bagage!

I went to the pharmacy last night to get some malaria pills and decided to show the guy my finger as he was really friendly, he basically told me what I didn´t want to hear - that its infected. I´m now taking 10 pills a day; anti- malaria for the jungle, anti-inflamatory pills for the spider bite and anti-biotics for the finger!

Went out with Previn last night (the guy I met at Airport) for a farwell drink as he is not coming into the jungle with me and will be gone by the time I come out. We got blasted with a waterballoon on our way to a club and decided to go back to the hostel as things started looking abit gangsterish in the streets at night.

Today I explored the jungle town of Iquitos to find a guide to take me into the depths of the Amazon and decided to go with a guy called Neilton 260k in to the Amazon along the river narapa. Hope i´ve made the right choice as he doesn´t speak English and the last tourist review for the trek was in 2002!

Also met a couple of street kids to accompany me around town, the little one is really sweet and has managed to find me both days so far and just holds my hand all day.

Now feeling a mixture of nerves and excitment about venturing into the jungle as leave tonight at 5pm but need to prepare myself for the massive trip across the amazon from Peru to Brazil.

Wow! The Inca Trail was amazing and so was the Guide aptly named Angel. However, do not underestimate how difficult the trail is, I had some serious breathing problems because of the altitude. It took me 4 days of hardcore hiking to Machu Picchu to an altitude of 4200M at the highest point. My guide was great though and gave me some strange red liquid to cope with my altitude sickness and some coco leaves to chew along the way. He also had to drag me up a bit of the way as I physically couldnt make it.

The first night in the mountain range I had an early night as had to get up at 4am. Before bed though played with some of the local kids, unfortunately they don´t speak spanish but quechua, although had fun playing with their only toy - a balloon. First night was freezing and really uncomfortable as the tent was pitched on a slope and I ended up continuously slinding down the tent and eventually accepted that I would have to sleep all night crouched by the door in the feotus position.

The views were amazing though and I loved waking up in my tent to the beautiful mountain top views. Weather was not that great though, rained alot and Cuzco in general is freezing cold.

The second night I had a massive snake crawling under my sleeping bag. The guy I shared the tent with was a gentleman though and got out of the tent in the freezing cold to shake out my sleeping bag.

So far loving this trip and seeing Machu Picchu was definately worth the trek, even if it did mean 5 days without a shower! Met a great girl from New Zealand and we decided to take some ´natural´ photos on Machu Picchu (meaning old mountain in quechua) in where we thought was a discreet place. One of the security guards managed to see us and called the police, so even though it took 4 days to get there we had to vacate quick smart before they got to us!

The jungle vegetation along the Inca Trail and the spider bite on my leg has also given me a taster of what is to come - the Amazon!