KODAK PAGES 41-50

Where the Hell is Kodak Pages 41-50

KODAK PAGES 41-50

Cont…..41
I woke the next morning with a hangover. Not surprising at all, so I had a slow, sleepy day. James and Angie decide not to go to Cancun. They had intended to spend 4 days together up there before he left but change their minds and stay on in Tulum. Big mistake as tonight becomes another party farewell night. How long I can keep this up for I don’t know so this night I stuck to drinking 7up. The party and singing rocked again till the wee small hours. Hell this place goes through some alcohol and Kodak is getting lots of attention especially when he is standing on beer bottles half the night.
Having a night off from the alcohol was a good idea because the following day Duncan and I go to Akumal all day snorkelling. It was great. We watched turtles feeding, saw barracuda and parrot fish and an array of others. Even though I don’t have a divers certificate I still thoroughly enjoy snorkelling. The water is just so clear that you get to see everything anyway, however it would be a big advantage when it comes to the cenotes as they have underground tunnels that connect them. The Yucatan Peninsula has some wonderful things to offer and cenote diving is a big tourist earner. I have always loved the outdoors and sun and I could live here.
So its farewell night AGAIN!! This place is going to kill me, but you only live once, so I am back into it again. Heaven help me in the morning. Everyday there are bus loads of tourists that come from Cancun for a day trip to the Tulum Mayan Ruins and others that hire vehicles and just come for the day also. This does make Tulum uncrowded and the locals like it this way. The hotel is near full all the time and with the hostel over the road each night sees a different crowd of people ready to party.
A wicked hangover hits me the next morning and its not until 3pm that I head to the beach for some sun and snorkelling again. When I get back and spot James and Angie I know exacactly what’s on the agenda tonight. Talk about being a tiger for punishment, fun though! Somehow, lying there in the hammock on some of those mornings, with a hangover, I have managed to get more writing done. The bar staff come out every half hour and top my water glass up and all are very interested in the fact that the El Crucero Hotel is someday going to be in print for people to read about. And lesson 2 about the Mexicans and Mayans. They generally don’t like each other. Alot of Mexicans can understand them when they talk in their own language bit cant speak it themselves.
In between everything else that I am doing I have managed to get online and sort out an appointment in Mexico City with the New Zealand Embassy to get papers signed so I can get a new drivers license. Mine was stolen in Ecuador when my bag was done over. Getting this done will be good as my Mum has a friend coming to London so she can bring my new one with her when she comes over and by this time I will be in London myself.
Tonight is yet again ‘party night’. By now I am almost begging for James to leave. I have nick-named the hotel the ‘ Hotel California’. You can check in but you can never leave. After another drunken night I find that by 11am the next day that James and Angie have left. Thank god, all this alcohol is just about to poison me. (I’m not complaining really).

Cont…….42
Each morning when I have been getting up everyone has been asking what day I am moving on, but now they have stopped asking. I am enjoying it to much here and figure I might as well stay as long as I can.
Staying at the hotel is Arjoh from the Netherlands. He and I got talking one night and today have teamed up and are going on a day trip to Chichen Itza. You can catch a bus from the local station which does day trips. We stop off at a few towns on the way but it is only to pick up people for Chichen Itza. Its a few hours drive. When we arrive it is raining so Arjoh and I buy a plastic overcoat.
Chichen Itza is packed with people. Arjoh and I head off with a map. Its not long before our shoes are soaking. Then the rain clears off and it is stinking hot and humid. Chichen Itza is fascinating. This place was huge in its day. I was a little disappointed that we were not allowed to climb the pryimads any more. Unfortunately a women from California woman fell to her death in 2006. I managed to somehow get a photo of the biggest one with out a tourists in the frame. Belive me, not easy to do.
The Temple of Kukulkan, the Feathered Serpent God (also known as Quetzalcoatl to the Toltecs and Aztecs) is the largest and most important ceremonial structure at Chichen Itza. The pyramid was used for religious and ceremonial purposes. The ninety-foot tall pyramid was built during the 11th to 13th centuries directly upon the foundations of previous temples. The architecture of the pyramid encodes precise information regarding the Mayan calendar and is directionally oriented to mark the solstices and equinoxes. Each face of the four-sided structure has a stairway with ninety-one steps, which together with the shared step of the platform at the top, add up to 365, the number of days in a year. Something that has always intrigued me and the fact that the Mayan calendar ends 21st Dec. 2012.
Wow! Chichen Itza. How do I tell you about it all. I cant really. You have to go there for yourself to appreciate this place. Theres pyrimads, serpent heads, two cenotes they would through people in to sacrifice them to the gods, baths, and the most interesting for me was the long acoustic field or more commonly called the Ball Court. This is where you have two great walls either side, it is about 75mts long, and someone can stand at one end and someone stands at the other end and you don’t have to raise your voice or yell in order for them to hear you. It was however used for a ball game. The Maya also built sophisticated and highly decorated ceremonial architecture, palaces and observatories apparently without the use the wheel. They were highly skilled potters, weavers, sculptors and jewellers. They developed an extensive trade network through the jungles and along the eastern and western coasts of Yucatan and Central America. Through these trade networks they were able to obtain resources from distant areas such as obsidian from central Mexico and gold from Central America.
Northern Yucatan is arid, and the interior has no aboveground rivers. The only sources of water are the natural sinkholes called cenotes. Some of these are small, while others are large such as the two at Chichen Itza. Of the two Chichen cenotes, the larger, the “Cenote Sagrado” or Sacred Cenote, is the more famous. According to post-Conquest sources (both Maya and Spanish), the pre-Columbian Maya threw sacrificial objects and human beings into the cenote as a form of worship to Chaac, the Maya rain god. When archaeologists dredged the Cenote of Sacrifice, they found various types of offerings, including jade carvings, pottery, gold and silver artifacts and even human skeletons. The cenote was also considered by the Maya to be an entrance to the underworld and it is believed that the sacrificial victims were venerating Chac Mool by entering this underworld.
The Observatory at Chichén Itzá is called El Caracol (or snail in Spanish) because it has an interior staircase that spirals upward like a snail’s shell. The first structure was probably built during the transition period of the late 9th century and consisted of a large rectangular platform with a stairway on its west side. A round tower of about 48 feet high was built atop the platform, with a solid lower body, a central portion with two circular galleries and a spiral staircase and an observation chamber on the top. Later, a circular and then a rectangular platform were added. The round, concentrically-vaulted Caracol was built and rebuilt several times during its time of use in order to calibrate its astronomical observation capacity. The windows in the Caracol point in the cardinal and subcardinal directions and are believed to enable the tracking of the movement of Venus, the Pleiades, the sun and the moon and other celestial objects.
One main thing I noticed about the cenote here is that the water was very green. I wasn’t able to find out why. All the rest I have seen are so clear and considering they are all contented by underground streams I couldn’t work why this one was green.
(Some of the material from above has been taken from the following website. I suggest you have a read of this for more facts and figures.) I will let my photos do the talking for the rest of this page. I have found that sites like this that totally grab my imagination are very hard to write about. They are simply one of those things you have to see and experience for yourself. I am grateful that I have. Now I can tick Chichen Itza off my list! http://www.sacredsites.com/americas/mexico/chichen-itza-facts.html

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Cont…..43
The next day I go snorkelling at the ‘Dos Sojos’ cenote. This was an organised tour as it is the only way you can do this cenote. Other cenotes in the region you can just arrive and pay at the gate and stay all day if you wish. I don’t stay in the cenote for very long, about a ½ hour. The water is very cold and I don’t have much body fat to keep me warm. That doesn’t make the experience any less enjoyable though. I love it. On this trips there where around 15 people from all over the world. Im sure the water here is the clearest in the world. (must google that actually and find out).
When I get back to the hotel I find that Arjon has moved to the hostel, but Garth from London, is still here. He arrived a few days ago and we get on really well. With all the farewell parties over for James, tonight is a quiet one in the bar and I could have a conversation without having to yell.
Following day sees me spend hours at the beach and in the evening I make a call back to New Zealand. I get to talk to all the family. They were celebrating my parents 50th wedding anniversary. It was great to hear everyones voice. I hadn’t spoken to all of them in months.
With all the cenotes that are within a short distance of each other I have decided to snorkel as many of them that I can so when Duncan asks if I want to spend the afternoon at ‘Casa Cenote’ I don’t hesitate. Duncan, Garth, Elana, (French) and I head off after lunch for a 10 minute drive up the road. This cenote is above ground. All the others are down in a hole. What makes this one different again is apart from being above ground, it comes out in the sea. After snorkelling the cenote up around the corner and coming back we then walk over the road and onto the beach to snorkel over the holes where it comes out in the sea. Boy this is where you really notice just how cold the cenote water really is! You swim through it and get warm and cold patches and it looks like clear oil trying to mix with water. It bubbles up from holes from 1ft across to the biggest hole which was about 20ft across.
From here we also went right out to the reef and watch turtles feeding and spotting all manner of other fish. The coral along this reef is just as colourful as the fish to. Pink, purple, lime green, blue, red….the colours of the rainbow…. wow!
Two days later Garth and I spend over 2hours snorkelling along the reef again. Cant seem to get enough of it. Garth is leaving tomorrow but this place has captured him and he intends to return again oneday. I know that I will also be back. Two days later I am back snorkelling at yet another cenote with an organised tour.
The next night I get on the internet and book a hostel and tell everyone that in 2 days time I am leaving. In order to get my USA visa I had to book my flights into the country and out so I have to be in Mexico City to fly out in 5 days time so figure I best get on the road again. Tulum, Mexico – I shall be back!!

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Cont……44
After saying my goodbyes to everyone and holding back the tears, Budgie drives Kodak and I to the bus station for our overnight bus to Palenque.
When im hopping on the bus I notice all the Mexicans have a blanket with them. Ok Im thinking, what is this for. It doesn’t take long to find out that the driver loves to have the air-conditioning on FREEZING! Oh my god was it ever so cold. A Mexican lady got up and complained and I could make out she was telling him that her daughter was to cold but this made no difference whatsoever. I don’t have room to carry a blanket but will be putting more clothing on for my next overnight bus trip thats for sure. So another lesson learnt.
We pull into Palenque around 8am and I get to my hotel. I promptly go to bed as I have a migraine. I slept all day as I didn’t sleep much in the bus as I was so cold anyway and figure thats why I have a thumping head. I only have to go a few steps down the street to a resturant for dinner then go back to the hotel and sit outside with the owner trying to have a conversation is Spanish and watch the most wicked electrical storm. It was off in the distance and didn’t actually rain in Palenque itself.
Catching the bus to the Palenque Ruins is easy and they run about every half hour. The ruins here have to be my second favourite. They cover a huge area and they are still unearthing more of the ruins everyday. You can climb all over the pyramids here. Like Tikal and Chichen Itza, it is surrounded by jungle and jungle sounds from the wildlife. Again like the other sites it is jam packed with tourists from all over the world and of course many Mexican families visiting the sites for the first time.
I will let my photos do the talking again.

Cont……45
Kodak and I head to the bus station again after just the one night in Palenque. This time we are off to Oaxaca. This time I have more clothing on but am roasting when I get on the bus as it is only 5.30pm. We have a 16hr long trip before pulling into Oaxaca the next morning. I only want to visit the ruins of Mont Alban so we are booked on a bus tonight to Mexico City. I have arranged before hand to leave my backpack at a hostel for the day so head there to drop it off and have a shower and breakfast.
I walk down town and before long find a tour to go to Mont Alban. This ruin site is up high and has a 360 degree view of Oaxaca. Would have been a grand place to guard and pretty near impossible to overtake in a war. The pyrimads are not so high here and it’s a smaller site than the others I have seen but is just as interesting. I spent 3 hours here and read everything I could about it before catching my bus back to the city centre for a good look around. Oaxaca is of course a very old city with the usual fascinating old building and architechture. Most enjoyable place to visit with lovely friendly people.
I put on a heap of clothing in the heat and head to the bus station for the long overnight trip to Mexico City. I don’t sleep much and in the moonlight all I see is barren land and cactus trees. One place of interest we did go through was, I think, an oil refinery or something similar though that ddidnt make sense as it was inland and you would expect to see it near a port. Anyway I starting thinking that it must be the only one in Mexico (whatever this plant is), as from one end to the next when I first started seeing the huge pipes it took us over 20 minutes. What it really was I don’t know but it was massive with pipes to match.
The light of Mexico City comes into view but it is still an hour before we acutally get to the central bus station. This is not a surprise as I am now in the largest city on earth. Mexico City – 33million people. I catch a taxi to the hostel which takes another ½ hour. I am now at Hostel Cathedral in Colonia Centro. Right over the road from Zocolo. It’s a huge paved area with the Mexican flag flying which is huge, really huge. Turn right and I can go shopping for jewellery at 1001 jewellers shops. Go left and not 50meters away is an ancient city that has been unearthed. This hostel is in a great location.
From the top floor bar there is a great view over this area and I sat there for ages watching planes coming in to the international airport at a rate of one every 28 seconds. I dine in the restaurant downstairs and stepped outside to have a smoke. There is this young man standing next to me and when he moves away I look at him as if to say do I smell or something. He looked back and said ‘ I don’t want to be in the picture’ gesturing to a young Asian girl over the road who is taking a photo of the hostel. I promptly moved next to him and introduce myself. His name is Omar and he is here with friends from Monterrey (Mexico).
So started another night on the booze. Rogelio, Omar’s brother, invites me to spend time with him and his friends and several hours later we all end up at a night club. In the wee small hours of the morning I finally get to bed all be it very drunk and very happy. The following night is the same. I end up talking with Diego from Venezuela who is into the All Blacks. Totally took me by surprise that a Venezuelan would even know about rugby let alone the All Blacks. Small world aye?!
Who else is here – well Sean from Australia, who is trying not to laugh as he fallen down some stairs and has broken ribs, Melina and Rapheal from France, Mosses, Guy and Isaac from Israel and a lovely Mexican guy called Jesus, whom I hit it off with. Talking and drinking with this lot meant another 2am to bed.
Next day I organise the hostel taxi to take me to the New Zealand Embassy. This takes us through the city on a half hour trip but we find it without much trouble and I get my papers signed. This is a load off my mind. After the half hour trip back to the hostel the rest of the day is taken up with walking and shopping followed with a quiet night. I have decided to give the Teotichuancan Ruins on the outskirts of the city a miss. I will leave this for another visit and I have ticked off the ones I really wanted to see, besides I have a flight tomoorow to……
Cont…..46
Los Angeles, here we come! Kodak and I land by 11am and ring our hotel/hostel for pick-up. This place is nice, close to LAX and has a pool. Again people from all over the world are here. It doesn’t take me long to start taking with a guy named Ben. Originally from Philidelphea, he has been living in LA for 3 months. Seeing as this is my first time in LA I ask him to show me about. For this I agree to pay his way into the places we visit. At 4am we are in reception asking about the free drop off at the transit centre when a girl called Anna has overheard us and asks if she can join us. She is Russian, and just flown in from Auckland (New Zealand) and wants to get out and she is only there overnight before flying onto Canada in the morning where she attends university. No worries, the more the merrier. We are off to Santa Monica Pier.
When you buy a bus day pass in LA it is valid to ride the buses and underground trains as many times as you like and are valid till 2am in the morning. I find the public transport in LA easy once you work it out and the locals are very friendly and helpful anyway. However LA is spread out off a huge area and it doesn’t really matter where you stay, you will end up being close to one attraction but at least 1- 2 hours from other attractions you want to see. This just means you have to be up early and organised.
Anyway we spent several hours at Santa Monica Pier and had dinner and went back only leaving when they closed at 11pm. Next day was spent at Venice Beach. If you want to go shopping for all sorts of stuff then this is the place. Resturants, cafes, bars and stalls with all manner of clothing, beach gear, shoes, sunglasses etc…. On the 3rd day here we hit Hollywood.

KODAK PAGES 31-40

Where the Hell is Kodak.

Cont……..31

After a day or two more in Antigua I booked myself a shuttle to Panajachel. I have found Antigua to be a beautiful place to visit and wouldn’t mind seeing it again. I brought myself a pair of jeans while I was there to, aside from the top I brought earlier in the week. No cheaper place on earth to get them as Guatemala is one of the cheapest places to shop along with Bolivia.

The drive to Panajachel is interesting. We wind down into valleys and up the other side. There is a lot of cropping all the way. We go through several towns that don’t have a main street and they are dirt. How any tourist would find their way through, if they hired a car, I don’t really know. We seemed to wind and weave up and down and through and at times I wondered if we were going in a big circle. But, as always, we arrive at Panajachel, Lago Atitlan. A young English couple that had come in the same van as I were also staying at the same hostel. Finding it was easy and I did the usual, dumped my bags and went exploring. Lago Atitlan is beautiful also. I like Guatemala heaps. There are tuk tuks everywhere. Generally 3 people to a motorbike, with no helmets, and the faster they can go the better. Not for the pedestrian, of course, and you soon learn to watch it crossing the street! My wonder down to the lake became really interesting when I stopped at a stall that had some bright pink fruit. At the same time I am standing there an older English lady comes along and comments on the intense colour of them. The stall owner, a lovely lady who speaks excellent English, tells us the name (which I can’t remember) and we soon learn that they export the fruit to the Netherlands and they are used in cake decoration. She gave us a taste of them to. They look gorgeous but are totally tasteless. Yep, they are so bland that they don’t have a taste. The fact they are used in cake decoration makes sense. They would certainly make a fruit salad come alive.

Tonight I dine out again. Is so cheap and the hostel I am staying at doesn’t have cooking facilities but does provide breakfast. I’m sitting outside on the balcony at the restaurant when this boy of around 10years of age goes past with 3 goats. Obviously they have been grazing somewhere for the day and he’s heading home with them. I love the simplicity of life in South and Central America. I’m sure on day that I will end up living in a 3^rd world country. I do appreciate everything that I had but love that fact that these people are not hung up on having the latest gizmo electronic thingy and the simple life is appealing to me. Yes, I know I am now on my laptop and have a website but the point of all this is to let you know that having all that crap in your life is not necessary in order to have a happy life. Besides these people get to see other people from all over the world. That’s another great thing about travelling. I get to meet them to. I feel I have the best of both worlds and love to tell others about it. Get travelling people. I mean, what is the point of making all that money and spending it on a new plasma TV or car. To me those things don’t matter anymore and I wouldn’t swap the experiences I have enjoyed for anything in the world, let alone a new TV. I have not seen TV for over 5 months now at this stage of my travels and it doesn’t worry me one little bit.

While I had been wondering about I booked a day boat trip on the lake and as I am in a hurry to finally see Tikal I book myself on a bus for 2 days time. I’m dying to get there.  The evening is pleasant and there are quite a few hostellers to talk with. The couple that arrived with me are going back to Antigua and have agreed to return the hostel keys back there for me as I have forgotten to hand them in when I left early this morning. This is the first time I have forgotten to hand keys back. Thanks guys! The next morning is fine with it being hot and already a heat haze. I take a few photos before getting on the boat and heading off. As per usual it is not long before my batteries give up. Now this is really starting to piss me off as the night before I re-charged them. This has happened a few times so I figure for sure that the charger really doesn’t work and I do have the correct re-chargeable batteries. Damn thing!! Just have to get another one.

Cont……..32

The day on the lake is great. I met Ann from Montreal and we immediately hit it off. Her husband works in Guatemala and she is here to see him and have an extended holiday. We pull in at a little village and disembark for a stroll around and we are given time to shop for soverneirs. Great little place. We spend about an hour here before heading to the next little village where we are to have lunch. The water is crystal clear. Just beautiful and so inviting. These villages have really steep streets as Lago Atitlan is an extinct volcano that blasted itself to pieces centuries ago and the crater is now, of course, the lake. You could take a horse ride up to the top of the cliff above the village to take photos if you wished. Really neat place.

After 1 ½ hours here for lunch break we head on to the next village. In this village they make the pottery that is known throughout the pottery world. Ann is on the hunt for a few pieces for her family. I head off up one of the steep streets for a view down on the village. Guatemala is stunning. After a short hike up and a sit down I go back and catch up with Ann. I buy myself a few little bits. It is annoying at times not to be able to buy some really great pieces of stuff but I am not going to risk trying to send them home but I’m still happy I have been able to see them. After this village its back home.

Ahhh, what can I say. If you head to Central America don’t miss Guatemala. The fresh food, the people, the place and another day wondering about, trying to talk Spanish and generally have a great look at everything I could pack in I got to bed early as tomorrow I have to be up at 6am to catch a shuttle into Guatemala City and connect to a bus to Flores. Flores is where you generally stay if you are going to visit Tikal, although there are hotels close to Tikal they are a tad expensive.

Next morning its up and I’m off. The shuttle van picks me up at my hostel and we actually end up going back through Antigua and pick up some more people then onto the City. Now if you are going to connect in Guatemala City tell your shuttle driver where you are going onto. As is the case in most Central and South American countries there is more than one bus station. I must travel on odd days or something as I am the only tourist on this bus to. The bus trip is ok but long. 10 hours later we roll into Flores. I haven’t booked accommodation for here and its only 5 minutes and I have a room in a hotel/hostel.

As there is plenty of daylight left I head off for a coffee and walk after booking that all important trip to Tikal for tomorrow. Flores is a busy bustling town with super friendly people but I must confess that I was to find out my bed was not friendly. Rock hard unfortunately but the only one I have come across at this stage. I am picked up again by a bus that has about 25 seats in it right outside my hotel. The service they provide for tourists in Guatemala I have not come across in any other country. Brilliant, just brilliant. It may sound like I’m raving on a bit but they sincerely love having tourists in this country. Maybe I will come back here and teach English or plumbing or building or sewing or …….Yep got to come back! Love it.

Cont…….33

So I am finally off to Tikal. I have seen loads of pictures of Tikal and Chichen Itza and I have waited years to see it. From Flores it is an hour by bus. When you arrive there you can’t see anything of the pyramids because of the jungle but it is very far up the track before you see them. Wow. You can climb up them too. Kodak and I start off in Acropolis Central. There are 22 different areas to visit with names such as Complejo P, Templo V, Templo II, Placio do la Ventanas, Plaza Este... etc. It takes some considerable time to walk around this whole site and try to take it all in. Real fascinating to say the least. It is hard to describe and you have to imagine all the time just what it would have been like to live back in that day centuries ago.

Tikal became one of the most powerful kingdoms of the ancient Mayan world. Major monuments were built at Tikal and there is evidence that elite palaces were burned here also. Tikal has been dated back to the 4th century and was abandoned by the end of the 10th century. It is the best understood of any of the large lowland Maya cities, with the closest large modern settlements of Flores and Santa Elena, approximately 64 kilometres (40 mi) by road to the southwest. Tikal is approximately 303 kilometres (188 mi) north of Guatemala City and other Mayan sites include Uaxactun, Yaxha and Calakmul. Other sites related to this one are numerous and neighbouring Belize has several Mayan sites.

The city covers an area greater than 16 square kilometres (6.2 sq mi) and includes about 3000 structures. The area around Tikal has been declared as the Tikal National Park and the ruins lie among the tropical rainforests. For centuries this city was completely covered under jungle and one surprising thing to note is that Tikal had no water other than what was collected from rainwater and stored in ten reservoirs. The reliance on seasonal rainfall left Tikal vulnerable to prolonged drought, which is thought by some to have played a role in the Classic Maya Collapse. There are temples that tower over 70 metres (230 ft) high, large royal palaces in addition to a number of smaller pyramids, palaces, residences, administrative buildings, platforms and inscribed stone monuments. There is even a building which seemed to have been a jail, originally with wooden bars across the windows and doors. Kodak and I climb up Templo IV. We couldn’t go right to the top as there were workers doing restoration but ¾ of the way up allowed us views for miles.

We could see the top of the other taller pyramids poking up through the jungle canopy. I sat and watched and listened. You can hear the jungle creatures and birds. This is all I had imagined it to be and more. The noise of ancient children running about and playing started to drift up from down below. I had nearly dowsed off and had felt like I had drifted back in time. Amazing experience to put it mildly. I then spent about half an hour chatty to a lovely lady from Buenos Aires, Argentina. There are holiday makers from all walks of life and places. I have now been at the Tikal site for 4 ½ hours. It’s not hard to lose yourself here and the time flies by but I have to go otherwise if I miss my bus I will be stuck here for the night. Years ago people where allowed to sleep here on the pyramids until a tourist was attacked by a jaguar. I have so enjoyed see Tikal and it is yet another place that will forever be stuck in my mind.

I catch my bus back to Flores but just sit quietly with the sounds and site going through my mind. The feeling of how privileged I am to see all these place crosses me again as it has many times of my travels. Guatemala – invigorating, exhilarating, delightful, fascinating, intriguing, perfect just PERFECT!! If you wish to read more on Tikal go to Wikipedia.

Cont……34

Where the hell is Kodak going now? Belize. After a great night dining out and a good sleep Kodak and I are on the bus to Caye Caulker in Belize. It was yet another long bus trip and it was good to get to the border and hear English again. One thing that struck me as odd is the immigration man telling me that they didn’t get to many New Zealanders crossing this border into Belize. As kiwis love to travel I thought it a bit odd but maybe they take another route or go straight into Mexico. When I think about it I haven’t come across any more kiwis other than in Argentina.

From Belize City I catch a boat to Caye Caulker. The bus stop is opposite the boat terminal so that was real handy. Caye Caulker is beautiful with lovely white sand but wow is it ever so hot. Within 5 minutes of hitting there you are hit on by the local men. I just pushed them aside and head to my hostel to get rid of my bags, that seem extra heavy in the heat, and booking a snorkelling trip to the reef can wait. After a cool drink and a snack I hit the main street where all the tour operators are and book my day trip to the reef and start chatting with the locals. This is how I met Paul. He talked with an American accent as he used to live in the states. Paul and I still email each other to this day.

So I am off to the reef on a sail boat with about 20 other people. I love the Caribbean ocean. The water is so crystal clear. We anchor the boat and the guides start dropping bread into the water. We are in a spot they called ‘shark alley’. Next thing there are about 20 sharks fighting over the pieces of bread and then we are told to get in the water. Yeah right – do we look stupid? It turns out they are nurse sharks and don’t really have teeth and the name suits them. I held one. They lie back in your arms, belly up, and love it when people stroke them. God they fell funny like a sponge and they just love it. They have a sort of smile on their face the whole time. Another first for me, I have held a shark!

Alot of the reef was destroyed by a hurricane years ago but the area we are wasn’t hit so hard. Oh my god, the colours of the reef, the iridescent colours of the fish. They are like the man-made colours of felt tip pencils. So brilliant and shimmering from the sun’s rays. Lime green, blue, reds, orange – just every colour you could think up – purple, yellow. WOW and what made it great for me is that I am one of the small percentage of woman that is colour blind but it didn’t seem to make a difference here. (shopping for a certain colour jumper is a different story). There were schools of iridescent blue fish swimming everywhere and their bodies looked like miniature corrugated iron. They got so close that I and several others were able to run our fingers over them. What an experience. Marks out of 10 – ELEVEN!!!

After a great day on the reef I head for the shower, rest up and then head out for dinner. Not hard to find a place to eat as the main street, if you can call it that, is lined with spots to eat. The following day I catch up with Paul. He is living on the other part of the island. Why do I say other part? Well a few years back a hurricane went through and split the island. You used to be able to walk across at low tide but now the gap is considerable and you need to get a ride across. If you find yourself here and wish to get to the other side there is usually someone down at the split with a boat of some sort that will give you a ride over for a few dollars. The rest of the time everyone gets around on a bicycle or you can hire a golf buggy. I don’t really see the point of hiring a buggy as the island is so small and doesn’t take that long to walk from one end to the other. I spent the morning snorkelling again and the afternoon just relaxing.

I head out for dinner again and while I am sitting there enjoying my food I fell something on my foot. On looking down I see a bl….y crab. God did I get a fright. It was sitting right on top of my foot. How it got there before I even felt the little bugger. Needless to say I let out a scream and shook my foot like there was no tomorrow. I laughed afterwards but I absolutely hate creepy crawly things. After dinners excitement I went to the school. The kids were putting on a concert and the whole island turned out. There was a small fee to get in and they were certainly entertaining for a few hours. Great way for the island to get funds to keep going and a good way to end a carefree day.

Cont……35

The following morning is spent swimming and just lazing in the sun. The afternoon I headed to the other part of the island after getting a lift over the split. Paul and I head off for a look around. We go to where an area is being developed for a hotel. It has been cleared of trees but I must say it is a mess with stumps sticking up through the sand everywhere. Paul tells me it has been cleared for some time and he doesn’t know when they are actually going to start building. Boy they have some work to do in order to make the beach nice as they sure can’t leave all these broken off sharp stumps sticking up.

Anyway after a good wander around for a few hours I head back to the other side. On my way back down the street I have this big guy come up to me and ask if I want to go to a disco tonight. Ok I’m up for anything and I aint doing anything else tonight. After two more steps down the street I then get propositioned by another guy who suggests we could get stoned and sex it up all night. I think not! A few more steps and I get a pamphlet put in my hand. It is for ‘Commonwealth Day’. Oh talk about any excuse to have a piss up – (piss up= kiwi slang for let’s get drunk). This is not the first ‘lets get drunk tonight’ that I came across and on asking what all these different nights are for it turns out they are just for the hell of it. There was ‘Karaoke Night’, ‘Wet –T-shirt Night’, somebody’s birthday night where one and all are invited. There were other nights but I can’t think what they were but put your imagination to it and they have probably had that night to! At least it gives the tourists something to do.

So anyway I meet with Steve who has invited me to the disco. Its dark by now and I pay my $5 (locals don’t have to pay) and off we go. They scream along at a rate of knots in the boat with no lights. The disco is on the other part of the island (Paul’s side). Its only access is by boat and the whole bar and grounds are surrounded by a moat with crocodiles. Note to oneself – don’t get drunk, wander off and fall in the moat. Steve and I get drinks and head to the hammocks strung up under the trees. I don’t recall how long we were there but it was nice to relax and not have to think about doing anything. That’s got to be one of the best things about travelling – no commitments. Foot-loose and fancy free!!! Yes I have lots to be grateful for and I am. When you wish to head back to your hostel/hotel you just wander back to the jetty and they bring you back when you want. Good set up really. Don’t miss out on doing it if you find yourself on Caye Caulker.

After breakfast the next morning I head to the main jetty and buy tickets on to Ambergris Caye then get some laundry done. By now I have started referring to the main street as ‘running the gauntlet’. You can’t take two steps and one of the locals (mainly men) is in your face about whatever. This morning was no different. This guy comes out of nowhere and asks ‘Where have you been wifey’. He had this rather cheeky look about him so I decided to play along. The fact that several other tourists had heard him say this had something to do with it. ‘Where in god’s name have you been? You married me and 5 minutes later I saw you walking off with some blonde bimbo. What up with that? You didn’t even spend the wedding night with me’ By now of course there are a few more tourists pretending they aren’t listening and whispering amongst themselves and we are doing all we can not to burst out laughing. He then starts with a stutter ‘Well I I um well’ My reply- ‘Oh shut it! And what are you going to do about it. It better be good cos I am not happy right now’. He replies with ‘Ok meet me at 2pm and I will take you snorkelling out on the reef. Ok?’ ‘Ok I will meet you right here and don’t you dare be late’. As a parting shot and for the tourists I yell out when he was further down the street ‘That blonde best be gone by tonight or I will be kicking her pretty ass and yours’. Oh if I could only have taken a photo of some of the onlookers. The looks on their faces was priceless. I do love a good joke! The locals on this island have the most wicked sense of humour.

And if you are wondering – yes he did meet me at 2 and we also had an American lady and her son come with us. I am now a big fan of snorkelling on this reef. The reef is known as the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef and is the 2nd largest in the world. The 2nd largest coral reef is located in the Yucatan waters near Mexico. If you ever get the chance to go here by all means go. It’s beautiful and exhilarating. I will be back!

Cont…….36

Tonight I went to dinner with Paul and made the mistake of ordering pork. It wasn’t long after dinner that I had the most wicked stomach ache. I decided to crawl into bed early. The next morning I had a damned headache so took some panadol and climbed back into bed. No panic as I’m not catching the boat to San Pedro on Ambergris Caye until the afternoon thankfully. After a good sleep I get up around eleven and pack then head off for lunch.

Paul met me at the jetty around 1pm and we head to San Pedro. He has decided to come with me as he wants to catch up with friends on the island. He used to work there as a construction worker and is keen to try to get more work. Suits me as this means I have someone to show about the island. On getting there we book into Ruby’s hostel and hire a golf buggy and head south. We stop off at this inlet where some of the local boys will feed a crocodile a chicken if you pay them a few dollars. Why not aye, they are only trying to make a little money to help feed the family. Most kids on the islands do go to school but of course it is not enforced. You have to remember that Belize is 3rd world even though there $ is on par with the NZ$. This I think is because of their offshore banking. Yes, if you want to hide a little bit of money you can do it here.

We head further south and call in at a hotel complex. Paul catches up with one of his friends that works here and I get to see inside on the one units. (Huts as they call them) They are really nice. It turns out Paul had help building them and then did all the finishing off inside. He had done a great job with the tiling. I was impressed. There are 101 hotels to stay at on Ambergris Caye. Wow some of them are beautiful. They are more tourists on this island though, but that to be expected as it’s a bigger island and more populated. And more traffic. On Caye Caulker there where only about 3 vehicles. One was the trash truck and I can’t think what the other two were. Even the Police had a golf buggy or bicycle.

We met back north and catch up with more of Paul’s friends. Times are pretty tough and he is not having much luck when asking his mates if there are any jobs going. Anyway I got to have a good look around the island and take photos. There were quite a few homes for sale to. The temptation. We have dinner at one of the more reputable restaurants in San Pedro. The food was good and the service was excellent. No complaints and good prices to.

We went back to the hostel after dinner and sat out on the balcony talking for a few hours. I have to catch the boat to Corozal at 7pm. It leaves on the dot so if you miss it you have to wait for the afternoon boat. Not something I want to do as I don’t which to get into my next destination sometime in the night. It is so hot here and the hostel only has ceiling fans, no air-conditioning so I didn’t sleep to well, but I was wide awake at 5.30am. Paul wasn’t to be found so I showered and packed up the few bits I had pulled out of my backpack overnight. No sooner I had finished doing that Paul appeared with breakfast. Hot buns fresh out of the oven and a huge piping hot coffee. Yummmm! We hop on the golf buggy and head to the opposite side of the island. It’s not very wide and only takes a few minutes and we are on the jetty where my boat is waiting. Now it may sound like I haven’t done all that much with my time in Belize. We I have actually jammed in alot, made some more friends, snorkelled on 3 different days, seen 2 islands, got married and didn’t know it, gone to a disco, school concert and pretty much had to tell 50 locals my life story at their insistence.

Sadly I wave goodbye to Paul and head for Corozal on another beautiful day. There are about another 15 backpackers on the boat. So where is Kodak and my final destination for the day?

Cont…….37
Our final destination today is to be Tulum in Mexico. We travel along at good speed and past heaps of islands that are just palm trees and nothing else. Half way into the journey we meet a boat coming from the opposite direction. This is where the drivers swap and head back to the point from which they left. It’s beautiful out here and peaceful as we don’t see a lot of other boats at all. It takes 3 hours to get to Corozal and we are met by taxi drivers at the jetty who will take us right through to the bus station in Chetumal, Mexico.
After a quick bite to eat and toilet stop we head to the border. There are 3 others with me and one of these guys is going all the way to Tulum also and staying at the same hostel. The border crossing is easy and the taxi driver is a dab hand at helping us fill in our immigration forms. I am now in the province of Quintana Roo, Mexico. All goes smoothly and we don’t even have to take our bags out to have them searched. This is a busy border with trucks lined up as far as you can see so they generally let the cars straight through after looking under them with a mirror on a pole.
I sat over the road from the bus station for a few hours and talked, ate and had coffee until our bus was due to leave. At the border I had also changed money. Something I’m glad I did as there is no money ATM at the bus station and I have no idea how far the station is from a shopping centre or the middle of the city but it seems to be in an isolated area and on leaving I was still none the wiser as to where in the city we actual were.
Mexico already feels different to Belize but maybe that’s because I’m back having to try speak Spanish again and let’s face it I have just left party island! Around 4pm sees me getting into Tulum. There’s an hours difference and by now I’m feeling rather tired but as soon as I got to the hostel, Lobo Inn, I dump my bags and head to the beach for a swim. I have about a 20 minute walk from where I am staying. Tonight I have dinner in Tulum which is about 3 kms away. The hostel owner has told us how to get a collectivo up town and back. You just stand out on the road and wait for one to come along and they cost you about 1/5th the price of a taxi. Brilliant and easy and they run between Tulum and Playa de Carmen all day. Most of the locals use them to get them to work and back as a lot of the locals work in the hotels and other tourist industries here.
There are plenty of backpackers staying at the hostel so everyone had a good catch up with where everyone had been on their travels before I hit the sack around midnight. Next morning I head to the Tulum Ruins. I have been told you can go down to the beach while at the ruins so I put my bikini on under my clothes and head for there with the intention of staying all day on the beach after having a look at the ruins. I spent 2 hours having a good wander around and reading all the plaques about the ruins. Very interesting to say the least and one heavenly spot to build them. Those turquoise waters are so inviting and warm just as they were in Belize.
Just over the road and around the corner not 200metres from where I am staying is a shopping complex and restaurants so I dined there tonight before returning to the hostel and chatting with 2 American guys and 2 Irish girls. All in all a good day.

Cont……38
I woke up several times during the night from having some really weird dreams so had breakfast and went back to sleep. Slept until 2pm. wasn’t expecting that but I hadn’t slept very well at all. So I got up and went shopping. Brought gifts for my kids and Mum before heading into town to get a much needed haircut and colour. By the time I had finished with all that and got back to the hostel it was dinner time again so I tried a different restaurant around the corner. I have learnt already that the Mayan people are the ones that all seem to be 5ft nothing and the men are built like brick sh.t houses and they still speak their Mayan language. Some of these men would make wicked hookers in the front row of an All Black scrum!!
Next morning at breakfast I start having a conversation with a guy from Hawaii. He is heading to Belize for fishing. Others from the hostel are from Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Spain. Great mix of people. After talking all morning and filling people in on South America and the things not to miss, as that is where they are all headed, I head once more to the beach for the afternoon. I am determined to get as brown as possible before leaving here.
On my wander back from the beach I put my head in at this hotel bar (El Crucero) to get a bottle of water and get greeted with ‘hello good-looking, going to join us?’ Well that was Duncan from Canada and why not have a beer instead, so I sit down and start yet again explaining who I am and where I’m from and where I’m going. An American couple, Mark and Sharon own the hotel and Duncan is buying them out over a period of 5 years. There’s Kiwi from NZ who works at a diving business, Jamie and Budgie from England, James from USA, the live entertainment, Pete from Australia who is leaving in a few days after having lived there for a few years and Jesus the bartender who I immediately took a shine to. There is of course a multitude of other people from different parts of the world there.
What a night! Talking, James singing – and what an array of songs – everyone else singing, drinking and laughing, and a great fun time was had by all!! Duncan has a double room to himself (2double beds in the one room) and offers to let me stay in his room at no cost. I say I will think about the offer and thanks. Finally at 2am I call it a night and stagger back across the road in my own little happy drunk world. Oh I haven’t been drunk like this in a long time.
I throw back my sheet the next morning and holy sh.t. I catch a glimpse of my legs from the knees down. They are covered in red spots. Hundreds of red spots. Something has had a munch at me but it’s not itchy. I get up for breakfast and while there I ask the hostel owner what he thinks these spots might be. Wow, he went into a panic. They are from bed mites! This is the first time I have come across bed mites on anyone let alone myself. My bed is promptly pulled outside and sprayed down. With that I have made up my mind and head for the El Crucero to take Duncan up on his offer. Let’s face it who wouldn’t.

Cont……39
Now I am not a person that believes in coincidences but what I find out on my first night at the El Crucero makes the spiritual side of me take notice. Paul in Belize is an Aquarius like me, Duncan is Aquarius, Sharon is Aquarius and had lost a son many years ago. His name was Travis, my sons name is Travis. Yes all Aquarians automatically are attracted to each other and get on great, but I have known this for years. That however was not the last time the spirit in me was to take notice.
The weather has turned a little on me today so I decide to spend the day in a hammock and start writing a book about my travels. This is that book. After much thought well over a year later I decide an easier way to write about it all is to do a website. So I start putting pen to paper and got a lot done. It’s hot and sweaty and come dusk everyone heads for the mosquito repellent.
Tonight is party night again. James and Jesus entertain everyone with singing. Jesus used to be in a band and plays electric acoustic guitar and sings like Axel Rose. Oh does he sound so like him. I have no idea what time I get to bed but it’s late and I was drunk yet again. I have now found ‘party hotel’!
Next day weather is still bad with a bit of drizzle so I spend the day writing again. Tonight kicks off being the same with singing, talking, drinking and generally take the mickey out of each other. At 2 am James, Jesus and I head to a night club over the road behind the hostel that I was at. James wants to catch up with Janelle who periodically signs at the bar with him. Only thing is it’s not a night club, it’s a strip club. Hmmmm. Think I will sit with my back to the girls as I have no need to see that. After James caught up with her he heads back to the hotel and Jesus and I get a taxi into town and find another watering hole. Jesus is going to take me snorkelling at Grand Cenote tomorrow.
After getting to bed at 5pm and drunk again I didn’t rise until 11am. Jesus and I hitch a ride to Grand Cenote. This is the first time I have seen a cenote. Wow ! The water is so clear that looking at a diver that’s down 30ft you swear they are only 5ft down. I have never seen water so clear. And the water in them is cool. It doesn’t take long snorkelling and I have to get out as I’m getting cold. It’s wonderful though. Another first on my trip – I have snorkelled in a cenote in Mexico. With each new activity I do I cross it off my list and it leaves me thinking what next can I do that is going to top this? I don’t know, but I can’t wait to find out. Bring it on!!! I had set out in my mind places I wanted to go and activities I wanted to do. One thing I do know is I still don’t like iguanas, lizards, frogs and especially snakes and will not be doing anything that involves them.

Cont…….40
While sitting at breakfast this morning I notice humming birds that come to this certain tree. God they are so small. Blue in colour and only slightly bigger than the ones I saw in Nazca in Peru which were black and that I first thought were bumblebees. They are so cute and so quiet and quick. I could watch them for hours flitting from one flower to the next. Don’t we just have some marvellous little creatures out there in nature?
Today Duncan and I head into town. Earlier in the week I had purchased postcards so it was time to post them and Duncan needed to get laundry done. It’s stinking hot again and later in the day I was informed it was 44degrees Celsius. No wonder I’m going through water like it’s going out of fashion. (Apart from the fact that I have been drinking alcohol like there’s no tomorrow).
Afternoon, yep lets head to the beach again. 4 ½ glorious hours in the sun and swimming. There are vendors plying the beach with cold drinks and you can get a massage to. They have it all set up on tables under the trees. Think I will be staying here longer than I intended. If you wish you can even hire a snorkel, goggles and flippers and swim out to the reef. This is a great place to be. No need to get a boat to the reef here. I can see why this place is popular with tourists and the locals to.
On getting back to the hotel James tells us he is heading to South Africa and his girlfriend from Houston is in Cancun and heading down to Tulum tomorrow so we will be having a farewell party for him tomorrow night. Sounds good to me but I have to get through tonight first. Of course with him letting everyone know this, we have to have a warm-up night don’t we. So tonight is party night again. I have stopped thinking about what time I am getting to bed and still have no idea what day of the week it is. This is how I have pretty much taken the whole trip, only seeing what day of the week it is if I have a flight to catch. At this stage I know that I have to fly out of Mexico City in 2 ½ weeks time, or there abouts.
Now I have also known since staying at the hotel that there is a friendly, cheeky, male spirit amongst us. This morning this spirit brushed his hand across my lap while I was eating. I instinctively looked down and on not seeing anything knew what it was. I just sat there smiling to myself. It was not the first time I had felt a presence but this time he really let me know undoubtedly that he was there. 10 minutes later the girl sitting at the next table with her boyfriend pushes back a bit on her chair and says ‘Damn cat’. Her boyfriend looks under the table and says ‘No, it’s not the cat. I saw it go away a few minutes ago and no he isn’t under here’. (The hotel does have a cat). I sit there still grinning to myself and thinking you cheeky bugger. Likes the ladies aye.
After another good day in the sun and the tan coming along nicely I get back, shower, have dinner and wait for the party to get under way. I meet Angie, James’ girlfriend, there is Lars from Norway, Shawn and Amy from Canada, Duncan, Sharon, Mark, Jamie, Budgie, Judy and travellers from Italy, Spain, Germany and the Netherlands. Let’s get this party started!!!
Well as the song goes – Oh what a night…..that had to be one of the best parties I have been to. But what made it so special was the photo that Angie took of me. Everyone is happily snapping photos of everyone else and Angie got out her camera to take one of me. She lined it up, took the photo then had a look to see how it had come out as we all tend to do. ‘Holy shit, oh my god, look at this’. She is nearly in a panic. ‘Oh this is really scary’. I get up to have a look. Oh this is so cool. She has captured the spirit person on film. Meanwhile she is saying to me ‘doesn’t this scare you at all’ ‘Well no, I have been waiting for years to get a photo like this. Are you kidding, this is great’. In fact there are hundreds of people out there in the world who would love to get a photograph like mine. Its posted below – what do you think?? Remember that spirit people hardly ever come out as a picture of a person, more like a bright light which this one has. There was definitely nothing there when she was taking the photo like cigarette smoke. Everyone was gobsmacked! I love this photo.

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KODAK PAGES 1-10

WHERE THE HELL IS KODAK

Okay first up who the hell is Kodak. Hopefully I can get a photo loaded soon and you can see exactly who he is. When I decided back in 2007 that I wanted to travel the world and just before leaving New Zealand in January 2008 my granddaughter came out with her troll doll and gave him to me saying that Kodak wanted to travel the world with me. I had given him to her for Christmas in 2007 and she is the one who named him. Don’t ask me where the name came from but I actually think its unique and many of my friends ask me where he is and having to say that Kodak got left in NZ in March 2009 has not impressed them at all. He has stood on beer bottles and been to the Galapagos Islands and had his moment of glory up on the big screen one night on the ship. Everywhere I went for a year, he went.

We started off in Argentina in January 2008 arriving in Buenos Aires from a 12hr flight from Auckland. Why did I start here? Well for one I had to start somewhere and as I hate the cold and figured I would follow the summer up to the northern hemisphere. Buenos Aires to me was rather dirty and smelly and the pollution gave me a sore throat within 24hrs of getting there. I stayed for just over a week in the city that they call the Paris of the south. Yea right!! NOT. If you didn’t line up to get money from the ATM by 9am then you where generally out of luck for the day. The machines would run out of cash by 11am and the line by this time was way off around the corner. My travellers’ cheques came in handy.

I decided that getting out of BA was a good idea and a small place like La Cumbre was just what I needed. I had been in BA for over a week now so had seen what I had wanted to. The overnight bus to Cordoba was pure luxury. Wide leather seat, a hot dinner and all the alcohol you could drink. Movies included and then breakfast the next morning before we got into Cordoba. I had a 4hr wait for my connecting bus so put my head in my phase book and tried to get a handle on a few more Spanish words. Hasn’t worked to well as I can still only speak enough words to get by.

So this next leg of the trip is going okay, usual thing, everyone is looking at the only tourist on the coach until it stops in the middle of nowhere and these two things hop on board. Now I call them ‘things’ as I am not sure what to refer to them as. Transsexuals, persons who have a sex change, I don’t know. Both where over 6ft tall and both had had a boob job done. Now this was very obvious from the very skimpy tops they had on but then one of them spook. Hell that made everyone in the bus look even more. Oh yes, one is sitting right next to me and they reck of alcohol but when the one sitting by me spook well it had the deepest voice I have ever heard. Now my son has a deep voice but I’m sitting there thinking he had it all over me son with this voice, then I’m thinking what’s happened. I thought before they had boob operations and started the sex change procedure that the drugs softened their voices. Now maybe I got it wrong and you guessed it, the other one replied and his/her voice was deep also. One little girl sitting in front of me is hanging over the back of the seat just staring at these two in amazement and several others on the bus are trying not to laugh. But before too long they go to sleep. Now normally I would not look, stare or otherwise but curiosity is killing me so I’m sitting there trying to get a better look at this one’s boobs. Now I definitely come to the conclusion that its had a boob job done, so I then figure that they must be now off drugs which is why the voice is so deep and the other thing I notice is they still have dark facial hair coming through their make-up which you can imagine how thick that was. It turns out that in 20months of travelling this is one of the most memorable bus rides of my life.

There have been other laughable bus moments but this was number one and I can still remember it like it was yesterday. The whole time I was dying to take a photo but didn’t dare. I also had to laugh in December 2008 when I returned for Christmas to NZ. On telling everyone about this my granddaughter pipes up and asks ‘What did Kodak do?’. Lucky for him he was in the bag out of sight. I had all these crazy thoughts running through me head on what might had happened had he been sitting in my lap which I have done on occasion and found it to be great way to get conversations going. In the following weeks and months I will be adding to my page and tell of my travels from Argentina, round the world and back to South America and yes back around the world again. Keep reading………

Cont…..2

La Cumbre is a nice small town more or less bang smack in the middle of Argentina. After our memorable bus ride Kodak and I settle into a nice hostel that has a pool. On my arrival at this HI Hostel the owner tells me that I am the first New Zealander to ever stay here and he has owned the hostel 18yrs. Yep I’m famous in La Cumbre! and I got treated like the queen for the whole of my stay. After dropping off my backpack I promptly go for a walk to the local supermarket. I have tattoos on my arms, one of which is a silver fern and the words ALL BLACKS. For those of you who don’t know the All Blacks are the New Zealand National Rugby team and in 2011 the Rugby World Cup is to be held in New Zealand. This tattoo has proved to be useful at times like when I went to a restaurant in Buenos Aires. The waiter loved the All Blacks and the service was fantastic all night. At this hostel was a young gentleman from Rosario and he rattled off a heap off All Black names and from then on he stuck to me every chance he got to find out whatever he didn’t know about them. Everyone else just looked at us like we were crazy as we spent hours talking about rugby and rugby players.

I had intended to do sky-diving while I was here but for two days in a row I was told it was too windy. At the hostel is a gentleman from Germany who is going horse riding in the Sierras and another guy from Canada who wants to go to. This is also another reason I had headed to La Cumbre. We get picked up and head off for our horse ride. The vehicle is about 20yrs old and falling to pieces but gets us to our start point which is up one of the roughest dirt roads I have ever been on. I was brought up on a hill country farm in New Zealand but this road beat all of them. Our horses are saddled up for us and we get on and off we go. Well the guide has given me the laziest bitch horse you could ever find. I spent the whole 2hrs kicking the shit out of this nag and trying to get it to gallop was near impossible. Getting up into the Sierras was great and the view was something else. It’s all flat for as far as the eye could see.

Two days later I’m lying in bed in agony. Was it from the horse ride? NO, I have caught my first virus on my world wide trip. Great. Christian, the hostel owner, calls the doctor. It doesn’t cost me anything and I was given some damn good medication. I don’t know what it was but it worked. Meanwhile all this time Kodak doesn’t get to see the light of day. Another two days there and I decide to leave and head to Iguassu Falls. The rest of Argentina will have to wait for another year or two. As I’m leaving the hostel a young guy is arriving and tells me that in his hostel in Mendoza 15 people come down with the same virus I had. We assume it’s the same as the symptoms are the same. As I’m getting on the bus I’m hoping that the rest of those left in the hostel don’t come down with what I had. I haven’t to date caught anything like it again and don’t ever want to.

The bus back to Cordoba is uneventful unlike the trip there and this time I get to see more of the countryside as I don’t have other things to distract me. There are some beautiful lakes north of Cordoba and many Argentineans spend their holidays up this way including La Cumbre. In fact on walking around the town I was to see many million dollar homes. The very centre of the town doesn’t give any indication to what is just out of sight. It’s an amazing little town and I’m glad I went there. Did Kodak enjoy it? I think so – well he never moaned so I take that as a yes. Being way out here and travelling by bus gives you the chance to see just what is what.

Argentina is 3rd world. Many people don’t believe me but on asking why their vehicles are so old, why children are in very old worn clothes and why lots of people don’t have footwear I was filled in on how when the President of Argentina stole nearly all the money from the country way back in 2002, the world bank wouldn’t loan them any money as they already owed so much. In order to keep the country afloat the in-coming President froze everyone’s bank saving accounts and used this to keep the country going. In Buenos Aires there is a shortage of coins and the infrastructure of the city has all but collapsed. In all my time in BA I only saw 4 new cars. Don’t get me wrong, there are still people with money but they are heavily outnumbered by those who don’t. Argentina is worth visiting and like all the countries of South America the services in place to cater to tourist are great and work well.

I have no complaints bar one. I won’t ever fly their national airline again! Sad but true and I don’t see the point in not being truthful. Besides just because I didn’t like something doesn’t mean everyone else will feel the same. Get out there and experience it for yourself.

Cont……3

Kodak and I had a good trip from Cordoba to Iguassu Falls. The plains of Argentina in the very middle of the country just go on forever. Thousands of acres and sparsely grazed with cattle. Argentina steaks are something else though. How did they get so good at raising cattle? Don’t know, haven’t found the answer to that one yet but they do it well. Iguassu Falls is a hot humid town surrounded by bush with one of the biggest attractions in the world. Iguassu falls are huge and Kodak and I did them over two days because of the heat. The second day I went for some reason the butterflies were attracted to my suntan lotion. People from all over the world now have photos of my arms with butterflies on them. Of course I only managed to get 2 for myself.

At my hostel I met three neat ladies. One American and two Welsh girls. Well these two welsh girls where my amusement for my stay here. One evening they proceed to tell Amy and me about the two others staying in their dorm room. The male is sleeping above Charlie and the female is sleeping in the bunk below Jo. In the wee hours of the morning the male decides he wants sex and gets down and starts getting what he wants from his girl. After 20minutes or so it’s all over and everyone goes back to sleep. Then some time later he wakes and decides he must have it again. After finishing this time he climbs back into his own bed and everyone gets back to sleep. Of course we are all in fits of laughter with the way that they are telling this story. But what really got me was why they put up with it. Me, I would get my camera out and take a photo and threaten to put it on YouTube. What’s wrong with people? Get a room for two. Hostels do have them you know! Lucky for me no one has done this in my dorm room because if they do they are in for a shock. I personally think it’s disgusting to be doing it in a room where other people are sleeping. That’s not what I pay for, a sex show in the middle of the night. This is not the worse ‘sex in dorm story’ I have come across. This one is mild compared to one other I heard.

Back to Iguassu. In this little town is the only true Foreign Exchange that I have come across anywhere in the world. I’m one of these people that loves looking at money. This exchange has a huge counter that goes in a L shape. Underneath a thick glass top is currency from every country. They have both coins and notes. It was not hard to spend an hour here which is what Amy and I did, just looking. It’s fascinating to me. I now have for myself currency from about 19 countries. People are always asking to see it when I get talking about it. In 2008 when in Spain doing a volunteer week teaching English I was to met Jose. He is the man who organises the distribution to all points of the globe of the plastic like paper that many countries get their money printed on. Now you can imagine how I picked his brain when I found that out. Hey everyone has something that they like and interests them, mine happens to be money. Healthy interest – some would say no. Kodak liked Iguassu and spent one hot afternoon watching people swim in the pool and standing on beer bottles. He loved the fact that he had become a talking point and that people liked to take his photo.

After a week here I decide it’s time to jump the border and go to Brazil. Our first stop is directly over the border in Foz Iguassu and to get there you just catch a bus from Puerto Iguassu. (The town that services Iguassu Falls in actually called Puerto Iguassu) It’s only a 5minute bus ride and then another 5 once you get through immigration. Easy as. Brazil, yes I’m now in Brazil. Foz Iguassu is almost a city I think. It is a large place and when crossing the border I see signs that Malaria is about so take precautions. By now I am already taking me anti-malaria pills as there were signs at Iguassu Falls. It’s hot humid and at times really uncomfortable. I keep thinking that if I had invested in water bottling factories shares years ago today I would be making a killing. In all of South and Central America you can’t drink the water and it is so hot in some places that I end up drinking 6-8litres a day. Somebody’s getting rich out of this! Travelling makes you grow up. It gives you the time to appreciate what you have and time to think about the most stupid things sometimes. I wish everyone could travel the world and would so love to take my kids to every place I have been. No matter Kodak is getting to see it all.

Cont…4

Our next hostel which is an HI HOSTEL has a swimming pool which is great as the temperature is way up there. This is where I was to have my first encounter with a horny Brazilian trying to get into my pants. Didn’t take me long to catch the words ‘cama’ and ‘sexo’. Needless to say I ran a mile. Trying to convince the guy that I was married (which I’m not) wasn’t easy and the language barrier was making things even harder as the one-sided conversation went on but those two words coming out of his mouth left no doubt as to what he wanted but the thing that really got me was after all this he turns around and says in perfect English ‘well you’re not married in Brazil are you’. Bloody cheek!

Kodak and I headed to Itaipu Dam the next day. Yes there is a hydro-electric power station which borders Brazil and Paraguay. Until the 3 gorges were built it was the biggest in the world. We get to see a video first then hop on a bus and head about 1km up the road. The video has some astounding statistics like the fact that once the base to the dam had been done there were over 40.000 men working 24/7 for three months to get the rest of it finished. That’s a lot of people to keep organised all the time. But to come around the corner and actually see it takes your breath away. Holly cow, it’s so huge. The spillways are so massive and there are 3 of them. Oh what a sight to see. I brought some postcards that show the water coming down all the spillways and hitting the bottom then the water shooting up into the air to a height which has to be well over 70mtrs high. I still remember it like it was yesterday. I must say that to date it is the most impressive of modern day wonders that I have seen. If you get up this way don’t miss it out. Alot of people do as they don’t even know it’s there.

A special thanks to Jess from London whom I went with. She could talk Spanish fluently and obviously being on the border of Argentina the Brazilians here could understand Spanish so get to and from Itaipu was easy. I was so meet a really cool Canadian guy from Kelowna at this hostel just I had done in Buenos Aires. Darren invited me to stay with him in Kelowna if I was to pass through. That invitation was taken up months later. I spent one night outside watching 3 Brazilian guys getting these 2 Japanese girls drunk playing a drinking game. Of course the Japanese girls got toasted as they didn’t know the game and always stuffed up. But to their credit they were up early the next morning and looked good. One of the Brazilian guys went and brought a heap of steaks and a few of us where invited to his bbq. Now everyone goes on how the Argentinean steaks are the best in the world but I must say that the Brazilians can do just as well as them. Another day included doing the Brazilian side of Iguassu Falls. It’s not nearly as good from the Brazil side as you can’t go right down to the bottom, swim or go for a boat trip, but they do have the dam which makes up for it.

Cont…..5

While at the hostel in Foz Iguassu I also met a young Australian girl who was tripping about in Brazil and here next port of call was to be Florianopolis. As I was heading in the same direction we decided to travel together to here. Our bus ride overnight was uncomfortable and long. As with everywhere else in the world there is no smoking on buses but that, it would seem, did not apply to the bus driver. He would happily drive along smoking and in the meantime all the smoke was going through the air-conditioning and everyone of the passengers had to just put up with it. Then for no reason at all we would stop in the middle of nowhere for 10-15 minutes and then off we would go again. Of course everytime the bus stopped myself and several others would automatically wake up. I think in the end i got 3hrs sleep. Florianopolis couldn’t come soon enough.

After arriving at the main bus station it was a walk of about 50mtrs to the local bus station and with the help of a local who spoke some English we worked out what bus to get and how to get our tickets. That was when the realisation of the next problem came upon us. The buses in Brazil have a turn-style in them and they are narrow!! There is no way at all you can get through them with your backpack on so off they come and you throw them over then get yourself through. By this time the bus is moving and keeping your balance becomes your priority so as not to look like an idiot sitting on your butt in a crowded local Brazilian bus and do you think that any of the young fit men will give you a hand. NO WAY!! I’m sure they revel in the delight at watching foreigners look like dicks. I was ever so glad that we only had one bus change along the way. Meanwhile I’m thinking ‘shit I have Rio to go yet’!

Our destination spot called Barra de Lagoa is beautiful. Right on the sea with a lovely white sand beach and in a small town where most of the locals say hello as you walk past them. You can learn to surf here and there where loads of Auzzies in the hostel that where there for that specific reason. At night on the beach hostellers and locals would get together and light a bonfire and talk and laugh.

Up the hill behind where my hostel was is a hill with an old lighthouse so one morning I decide to go for a wander up there. On the way you get to meet some of the local cattle that are grazing this hill. Well they’re not courteous either. Oh no its get out of the way or I will chase you. Having been raised on a farm I knew the best thing to do was step out of their way and keep still. I had to laugh though at the number of people I saw being chased in the following days as around the hill was a very nice and popular swimming hole. Anyway I get myself to the top of the hill and have a great view of the beach, town and surrounding area. I just sat for awhile contemplating my luck and privilege at being able to visit this place and all the other spots I am to see on my travels. Kodak got to see this view to as I had him with me. I am also glad that no one else is up there while I carry on a conversation with a troll-doll. You could imagine how people would have interpreted that. A damn fool crazy foreigner comes to mind. So after a good ½ hr up here it’s time for breakfast so off we go. There is brush and grasses growing all over this hill so on my way down when this huge ugly motherf….r of a lizard shot out from under the brush and all but ran over my feet you can get a good idea of how I nearly sh.. myself then let off a string of bad language simply because of the immense fright I had. This lizard was a good 3ft long and reminded me of a komodo dragon. (I have only seen them on TV.) The old heart is doing fifty to the ton and the bottom of the hill looks a good place to be again. Think I’d rather be chased by a cow.

So anyway without having to worry about backpacks Kylie and I decide to head to another little settlement in the south of the island for a day trip. Next time I head to Florianopolis I will spend more time there but I had decided before leaving NZ that I wanted to be in Rio de Janiero for my birthday and that was only a few days away now. After checking out bus fares and flights we decide to fly onto Rio as it’s only a few dollars more. A Norwegian guy, Denny, Kylie and I then head into Lagoa to book a flight. All the little towns are just so nice on this island. Finding the travel office and getting all booked and paid for goes without any trouble and we are supposedly on a direct flight from here to Rio. I say supposedly because……….

Cont…..6

The next morning Kylie and I are up at 5am and head off to the airport. We have no problems here getting our boarding passes and getting on the plane. Our tickets say Florianopolis to Rio de Janiero. So you can imagine at the look on our faces when not 10minutes into the flight the captain comes on and says in English ‘we will be arriving in Sao Paulo in 1hour’. We just looked at each other and the words that came out of my mouth went something like ‘oh f… we got on the wrong plane and how the hell did that happen’. Ok what is going to be our plan of action when we get to Sao Paulo? Both of us decide we’ll deal with that when we get there. Then when we are only 10minutes out from Sao Paulo the captain comes on again and announces that connecting flights to Rio need to go to such and such gate. The relieved looks we gave each other.

Off the plane and start heading to our gate only to find this isn’t quite as easy as we thought it was going to be. Lucky for us a Brazilian gentleman could see the confusion on our faces and helps us out. He spoke great English and as it turned out he worked for an oil company in Sydney Australia for 4 years. When we got to the next gate where we had to actually board the plane they had shut the doors and weren’t going to let us on. What, why? Well they had decided, despite showing our boarding passes, that everyone was on the plane that was going to Rio. The gentleman that was helping us out was talking as fast as he could and in rather a loud voice and when the crowd of us grew to about 12 they finally decided that maybe they had better let us on. So to finally being in Rio.

Catching a bus from the airport is no trouble as they are right out the terminal. If you tell them where you are staying they will drop you off as close to your accommodation as they can. I get to my hotel and find myself all alone. There is no one else staying here. I then come across the most cramped toilets I have ever seen. The showers weren’t much better. I promptly decide I am only staying here for the one night and head off in search of an internet cafe and book into a hostel. On returning to the hotel after a meal I get a phone call from my mum. Happy Birthday. I’ll take it even though it’s not my birthday until tomorrow. My phone says I can only make emergency calls. Just one of the many annoyances I was to come across on my travels.

Next morning I get up and head off to my hostel. Newton’s Rooftop is nice and when getting booked in Newton notices my birth date in my passport. Everyone in the lounge proceeds to sing happy birthday to me. I also book a trip up to the Christ Redeemer Statue for the afternoon.

After dropping off my bag I then head to the beach of Copacabana. It’s wide and long with beautiful white sand. I notice though that it is really steep. It drops off quick and in the following days I was to learn that lots of people drown here each year. I see a few of the young girls in their g-string bikinis but then come across a sight that no-one should have to endure. It’s a lady of about 75yrs old and she has obviously lost a lot of weight as there are folds of wrinkles everywhere. The worst thing though is she is in a g-string bikini. God give me a towel to cover this woman up. Thankfully Kodak is not there to see this. I can still see this in my mind’s eye as if it was yesterday. Yuck,yuck, yuck. I’m still cringing. On a more positive note there are some fascinating and huge sandcastles to look at. People spend hours making these elaborate sandcastles of all sorts of things. They charge you a few Real (currency of Brazil) to take a photo of them.

Anyway to my afternoon visit to the statue. I get picked up at the hostel by a van with people from all over the world and off we go. The view is amazing and the statue is huge. I take all the photos of the view and then turn to the statue to keep clicking away. After my first photo the camera stuffs up. It won’t work. Ok so is there someone up there trying to tell me something like curb your bad language? This, of course, just sets me off swearing at the camera. And no, it’s not my batteries. I’m thinking am I being punished in some way. All I’m wanting to do is see the world and let everyone know about things I have learnt and make it easier for others in the long run. You know, I will learn all the hard lessons and everyone can benefit from that. Well I then decide that it could be a lot worse, I could be lost. But come on it is my birthday!! All in all it was great to go there and that is what I had set myself for my birthday and who needs photos of the statue anyway. Damned annoyances.

That night I set off with a young Canadian guy to a local restaurant he has found where the food is ok and so is the price. The owner speaks English which is an added bonus. The hostel is good and that night there where many conversations with Italians, Australians, Canadians and others. Why I had booked into a hotel I don’t know as I like hostels better. You meet so many people from other countries and they are a beehive of information. And some hostels can be so much fun. The next morning I am woken up by the noise of people talking down in the street. What the heck is going on? I get up and look out the window to see Mum, Dad and the kids with their chilly bins and deck chairs heading to the beach. The street is full of people heading to the beach! It’s like a stampede. They aren’t mucking about either. It’s like the sun is going down in 1hr so let’s go. I’ve never seen anything like it. The things people do aye. I just chuckle to myself.

After breakfast I decide that spending the day on the beach is just what the doctor ordered and so that’s exactly what I did. I love beaches and the sun. What a way to spend the day. The following day is Sugar Loaf Mountain. I set off to see if I can work out the public bus system and manage to get myself to Sugar Loaf. I get my tickets for the cable car and in no time I’m at the top of Sugar Loaf. WOW! The view from up here is amazing to. Even though it’s not as high up as the Christ Redeemer it gives you a different views altogether. Down in the harbour you can see oil rig things pumping away. (They look like the ones on land in Texas) I didn’t even know that they had those in the harbour there. Little things like this fascinate me. After spending close to an hour here just looking out at it all and watching ships and aeroplanes come and go I stop in at the cafe and have a coffee before returning and catching the bus back to Copacabana.

A stroll along the beach to Ipanema is my next mission. (God please hide the old g-string lady.) Ipanema is pretty much the same as Copacabana and where the 2 beaches meet is the best place to swim. It doesn’t drop off as steeply but you have to fight for a spot to swim. Every man and his dog is here. On my way back I see this huge stage being erected. When I ask what this is all about I find out there is a free concert on the beach the following night by one of Brazil’s up and coming pop stars. Ok so that gives me something for tomorrow night.

Cont…..7

The next day I spend shopping and watching the crazy traffic for awhile. Brazilians don’t move out of the way for emergency vehicles and most streets that are 3 lanes get turned into 4. The whole time I’m wandering around Copacabana there is this horrible smell. The pollution is thick to, but this other smell gets to you and I couldn’t help wondering what the hell is it? Well I was to find out the hard way again. As it happens they hang their chickens for a week, you know just to let them rot a bit in the heat, then they cook them up. How did I find out? Yep you guessed, I ordered chicken and the smell, OH MY GOD! When I pushed it away and told the waiter there was no way in hell I was going to eat that he ask – ‘do you not think 1 week was long enough to leave it hanging’? Jesus 1 hr is too long in the Rio heat. Vomit material I tell you! This is when I decide that Rio is famous for just being Rio.

On the way into the city from the airport there is just slum after slum. It’s not quite what I thought it was going to be and the chicken just didn’t help with these thoughts. Ok so the free concert has got to be good. Bit of fun I’m hoping. Two Canadian girls and I walk on down to the beach with a local lady that has joined us and is chatting away. Most Brazilians don’t give you the time of day if you can’t speak Portuguese but if they can speak English they love nothing more than to chat with you. This lady is the one to tell us that lots of people drown here. We get to the beach and there has to be a million people here. You couldn’t move and to get through the crowd you had to push. I’m sure I got touched in places I didn’t know I had. The pick-pockets had a field day and we just all ended up a sweating heap and exhausted. There are people kissing away like crazy and evidently this is a crazy. If you see someone you like you just go up and kiss them then move on. Weird! The Canadian girls dare me to do it to. Usually I would take up any dare without a second thought but not this time. The people that had gotten there early had the best spot next to the beach and when they got to hot they’d go for a swim. In the mean time we tried for ½ an hour to push through to the beach but got nowhere and we couldn’t hear the music from the noise of people talking so we called it a night and went home. It was worth the experience though.

After a few more days and tours I had seen what I wanted to so Kodak and I decided to move on. We can’t say that we were unhappy about leaving. Rio is Rio and just take it how you find it. Next time I visit Brazil I want to do the coast from Rio right up to Fortaleza. The morning of my flight I head down to the main highway which goes right along the beach and wait for the bus to pick me up that runs every ½ hr to the airport. Well it’s supposed to only this morning no bus came so after waiting for an hour I catch a taxi. The taxi driver goes like a bat out of hell. I shut my eyes several times and pray I get to the airport. When we get near to the airport he asks what terminal. Oh no there are two terminals and I have no idea which one I leave from. Just as I’m about to panic I look up and here is a big sign with all the airlines and terminals they leave from.

So I get there and find myself standing inside the terminal and do you think for the life of me I can work out where to go. After 15minutes of walking around and all the signs in Portuguese and none at all in English and no airline signs I finally spot in English ‘tourist information’. I get to the counter and ask the young girl where to go. Her reply ‘no speak English’, so I ask the guy that’s there. Same answer. That was it. I totally lost my cool and proceed to swear. You crazy f….s, what is the point of having tourist information in English and no bastard here who speaks it. Yep and I didn’t stop there either. By this time a gentleman who could speak English had heard all this and came over to help me. He himself had not been through Rio airport before and couldn’t find where to go. He was an absolute god-send. It’s just a matter of walking in corridors in the right direction and you will get there. It’s just finding the right corridor in the first place which as it happens wasn’t sign-posted in Portuguese either and this is why the gentleman couldn’t find his way. (I do hope this is changed by now.)

I go through the usual stuff, passport, weigh bag, boarding pass…. security. Wait a minute! I get pulled out at security like I have at every airport so far. This big butch woman then proceeds to do the pat down which I dispute was a pat down. No, it was more like a grop of my private parts. God I all but smashed her in the face. Now I’m not a violent person but like most people in some situations you vent your anger and say, ‘man I wanted to hit them’ well I really wanted to smack this bitch. She groped my breasts and crutch!! I decided she had to be some desperate lesbian who got off doing this as she knew it was going to be the only way she could get away with doing what she was doing. Man am I ever so happy to get on the plane. This time when the captain comes on and says we will be landing in Sao Paulo airport I am not surprised. When I booked my tickets the agent had told me that even though my ticket says direct flight all flights go through Sao Paulo. All flights!! I don’t like Brazil’s airports now and yes I got extra attention at the security check at SP. So where the hell is Kodak off to next…………..

Cont…….8

Lima, Peru. This is the first place I was to arrive in the dark. Being new at travelling overseas and not speaking much Spanish I don’t like the idea of arriving in the dark but after getting my bag there is this wonderful sign with my name on it. Yes I had booked a hostel that does airport pick up. Brilliant idea. The first thing the guy does when I get into his vehicle is lock all the doors. Ok. I look at him and he explains that at the lights young hoodlums will try to open the doors and either drag people out or get their bags. Doesn’t do much for your confidence. The ride goes without any trouble however and I’m glad to get in a good night’s sleep.

I only spend the 2 nights in Lima which is what I had intended to do anyway as reports from other hostellers hadn’t painted it as a place you really want to stay for long. After our stay here at a very nice hostel Kodak and I are on a bus heading to Nazca to see the Nazca lines. Oh my god! What is sitting next to me on the bus? Some French dick that obviously hasn’t had a shower for a week. Now I had been told that the French don’t know what a shower is for and this one was proving that correct. How much B.O. can a person have? Talk about inconsiderate. This is the only person I have come across that smelt high and I wouldn’t wish it upon my worst enemy. I had 2hrs sitting next to this before he hopped off. I’m not into sniffing petrol but at the point it seemed an ideal alternative. God give me strength. If the whole trip is going to be like this I am going to so stressed by the time I get to LA that home might be looking so inviting…. I tell you you soon start having to look on the bright side, like let’s face it this guy is never going to get a girlfriend unless she comes from a slum and smells worse than him.( Eighteen months later down the track I am now able to just shrug these things off and go about my merry way.)

From Lima to Nazca is desert. Dry as a bone and irrigation is used so the people can grow their veges. Nazca is a small town with friendly folk and no shortage of restaurants and little shops. I met a lovely English couple from Brighton and they agree to send me photos of the lines as my camera is still not working. A backpacker who has just been in Bolivia tells me it is best to buy a new one there as it is so cheap.

Next morning the English couple and I head to the airstrip for our fly over the nazca lines. When you get up here you realise that on your way into Nazca town you actually go through the middle of the Nazca plain. There are literally hundreds of lines. Most fascinating to see the animal shapes which are all done just by lining up rocks but how they got them so precise from the ground – or did they do it from the ground? It leaves you with more questions than answers like a lot of these ancient sites. It also cost us a bit of money. Not too bad but you can just go to the airport and make a deal with a pilot and get it for half the price. You don’t have to book with your hostel/hotel but they with insist that you need to. YOU DONT HAVE TO!

Next we went on to an ancient cemetery and pyramid site on the next plain south. Adam had somehow found out about this place which was still in the process of being excavated. This place ended up being more fascinating than the lines. Why? Well the wind blows here at over 40kmph constantly 24/7 and the wind is going north directly to the Anzac plain. In less than a minute we have to turn our backs to the wind and start spitting out dust. Its unpleasant, but what really gets to your head and doesn’t make sense is that the Nazca plain and this plain are only separated by a dried up river bed which has water after the snow melts in the spring but the sand doesn’t get to the Nazca plain. You can see the Nazca plain from where we were standing but the sand doesn’t get there. When I told the guide this didn’t make sense and then asked where the sand and dust goes he replied that not even the scientists and archaeologists and other people have been able to explain it. It is just one of those unexplained phenomena. I love this fascinating and challenging world we live in. Next our guide takes us to see an aquaduct. This one is huge and has 3 channels coming from up in the Andes to this huge ancient water tank for want of a better word. The channels that come down to it are the original built by the ancients thousands of years ago all the way from up in the Andes and they are all underground. The Peruvians have never had to repair them. Just another totally fascinating thing. All in all it was a great day but I still have these questions in my mind.

Anyway Kodak and I have seen what we wanted here and next stop is tobe Arequipa. The following night we head to the bus station to take the overnight bus to Arequipa. All around Nazca are huge sand mountains. You can catch a day tour to go sand boarding if you wish. The next problem I run into is at the bus station. The bus driver insists we all hop on the bus. Everyone refuses. Why? Well they haven’t loaded our bags on and we aint moving until they do. Man did he start getting angry but we all stood our ground and in the end they finally loaded them. They weren’t happy about it at all. I sit on the side of the bus that the bags are loaded if I can as you just never quite know what these people might do and whether your bag is going to get off loaded somewhere by mistake or on purpose. Every time the bus stopped nearly everyone who wasn’t getting off at that point would come to the windows just to make sure their bags weren’t getting taken off when they shouldn’t have been. Another annoyance.

So I reach Arequipa about 6am. The buses are comfortable enough and I got a reasonable amount of sleep and have climbed in altitude all night but feel ok. I get to my hostel by taxi and meet up with Amy again. We had planned this and it was great to see her again. She had come from northern Argentina with a story of her own about her bus ride. Her bus ran out of gas in the middle of nowhere not far over the border in Peru and had a 2hr wait before they got help. You have to expect anything in these countries but I thought running out of gas wouldn’t have been one of them. How wrong was I?

Cont…..9

Arequipa is at 2,380mtrs above sea level and is surrounded by 3 volcanoes. It wasn’t actually cold when I was there as it has a very dry climate. Bit of a surprise considering where you are. The city is full of very old and elaborate buildings and Amy and I headed for the town centre and one of the main museums and plaza for the afternoon. Very friendly people to. That night we spent time playing pool with other hostellers, something I hadn’t done in a long time. Next day we hop on the bus and head to Puno. We are jumping up in altitude again hoping to avoid getting to sick with altitude sickness. How some people can go from Lima at sea-level straight up to Cusco I don’t know. Most people that have done this don’t recommend it as they end up in bed for 2-3 days.

By the time we got to Puno 8hrs later I knew what they were talking about. I was feeling it big time! The thumping head was nearly unbearable as we are now on the shores of Lake Titicaca at 4000mtrs. It had been raining overnight and the dirt streets where just mud, it smelt, and everywhere you see men urinating in the street. Our taxi driver didn’t quite know where our hostel was but Amy had a map so we had a walk of about 150mtrs. It seemed like 20kms. We get to the hostel and I asked for my bed, hopped in, promptly drank my cup of coca tea that the owner rushed to me and slept through till the next morning.(This is the only day of altitude sickness I was to have until a year later).

I was still feeling a bit out of sorts the next morning and only the slightest headache as Amy I set off on a bus tour all the way to Cusco. The tour was good. Way up here in the Andes everything sort of surprises you. The altiplano, as it is called, is huge a plain of thousands of acres. Sheer rocks give way to vast plains, little lakes with blue ducks, and crops of corn, potatoes, maize, yams and fruit trees. But what I think surprised me the most was the rice paddies. Acre upon acre of rice fields. This just sort of seemed wrong in my mind. I thought it would have been to cold up here to grow rice and I certainly wasn’t expected the sight I saw. It surprised Amy to. And the other thing that you don’t expect to see is eucalyptus trees. It’s like being in Australia. There are thousands of these trees and pine trees of a variety that I haven’t seen before but very similar to those we see everywhere in NZ. Even rush-bushes and your normal white clover that most countries have. It’s so different to being on the coast but then I knew it was going to be. I think because we all get to see on TV things like Lake Titicaca and Cusco etc and not the rest of Peru that when you see it for real it’s a surprise as this normal stuff doesn’t get shown. It’s great to discover these things for yourself. (You know what I mean).

Cusco is a busy place of course with a mass of tourists visiting every year. I am feeling ok by the time we get here in the early evening and after dropping our bags off Amy and I go for a walk. We went the wrong way and had to come all the way back to our starting point and try again. Great fun. I say great fun as it is. You usually end up seeing things most people don’t simply because it will be in an area that tourists don’t go as its not marked on maps. Amy I and I spend 4 days in Cusco before splitting. She is booked to do the Inca trail and my ambition is to do the backpackers train to Machu Picchu.

In the days before this we went on a bus tour for a day which took us all the way up to Urubamba. Lunch was provided in the most wonderful setting with guinea pig and lama on the menu. I tried both as I figured I probably wouldn’t have the chance to again. Nice actually. Guinea pig = chicken, lama = mutton, that pretty much sums it up. The next surprising thing to come across was the Temple of the Sun. You stand up there and admire the view down the valley then put your head around the corner and nearly get it blown off. Pull your head back in and no wind. The wind whistles past at around 30kmph. Amazing and so totally unexpected. It blows past the Temple of the Sun rock, which is huge, day in day out. Yet another unexplained phenomenon. Then after leaving the valley we zigzag our way up this hill and come out on an enormous plateau. It has to close to 20,000 acres of more. There’s cattle, sheep, potatoes, carrots, beans, fruit trees and more. There are small lakes and villages with the most exquisite churches to see. Sadly we are told to take all the photos we can as it is not likely we will see it like this again as it is ear-marked for the new Cusco International Airport. That’s progress for you and of course not unique to Peru.

On another day in Cusco Amy and I go shopping. I brought several items for family back home and so to the Postal Office we went. On the way there this young girl of only about 8 yrs old starts following us. When Amy asks her what she wants she replies ‘nothing’. One hour later she is still following us. I tell Amy that I have no desire to become a parent ago and so she asks this girl ‘what do you want’. The reply is the same then low and behold not 1 minute later we have 2 girls following us. After another half hour again we ask what they want and it turns out they are after money. We had pretty much picked that’s what they were after but as we knew there were a million eyes on us we didn’t give them any. Even though you so want to give them some you know you will end up like the piped-piper as there’s a heap of eyes watching to see if you are going to give in. Just another reality of Peru and in Cusco they tend to be right in your face all the time trying to sell you their products. I must admit to buying a lot of leather goods as they are so neat.

So Amy and visit all the usual tourists things in Cusco then in the afternoon we head off so I can get my tickets for the train to Machu Picchu. Finding the ticket office isn’t easy either and then when we finally found it I had to wait for an hour to get it. But I have my ticket and let’s get to bed as I’m getting up and 5am. Machu Picchu here I come.

Cont…..10

Amy has gotten up an hour earlier than me to hit the Inca trail and I head for the train ride to Aguas Clientas which takes 3 hrs but the scenery on the ride is beautiful. With so much to look at and take in it doesn’t seem all that long. Just out of Cusco are switch-backs, something I haven’t encountered before. Ingenious way to get up a hill. From Aguas Clientas you then catch the bus to Machu Picchu. This itself takes a ½ hr of zigzagging your way up a massive hill. On arriving at the car park the first thing I spot is a Totara tree. These trees are native to New Zealand. It’s like I haven’t even left NZ. Everywhere I go there is something to pop up and remind me of home that I don’t have the chance to miss it, and going by the size of this tree it has to be around 70yrs old.

I get my ticket then walk up a little further then just before the gate where they rip of one half of your ticket is this little office. It’s not sign posted with anything special, just an office, but this is where you can get the stamp put in your passport. And that’s exactly what I did. The first thing I head for is the entrance to Hauana Picchu. This is the huge rock you can see in the background in post cards. The sign at the bottom says to give yourself 1-1 ½ hrs to climb it and the same amount of time to get down, and if you are scared of heights it is probably a good idea not to do it. I sign the book and head off. You need to put your passport number in the book so take it with you. Holy hell it is hard slog and especially as you are at altitude and this rock is practically straight up and down. All the people coming down give you great encouragement telling you it’s not much further. Yea right! It feels like forever. I managed to burn past a 21yr old English guy who just looked at me asking ‘how can you do that’. Determination was my answer. If you aren’t scared of heights and are reasonably fit then go for it. It took me 50 minutes to get to the top and oh how indescribable it is up there. One side of this huge rock, as I call it, drops straight down for 2,200mtrs. (I asked) I kept thinking and wondering how many men lost their lives to build this? One slip and you are history, and seeing as it is damp and foggy up here I can see it happening so many times. There are no safety rails around Hauana Picchu so you don’t tend to move about fast. I feel like I have been in the clouds.

After an English girl offered to take my photo up here with Machu Picchu in the background (she hasn’t sent it by email) I then wander around and then just sit in awe of this place but wishing that somehow magically I could see it as it was in their day. That must have been something and then my usual questions sneak into my mind as to why. Why would you put an ancient village way the hell up here and in the complete middle of nowhere? Stunning setting but that’s about it. So far from anywhere and way up in the Andes, it really is a place of wonder. Maybe that’s what inspired them to build here. I can imagine at the spirituality of these people and their thinking that they are now living with and amongst their gods. Who knows, perhaps one day I will return. Machu Picchu itself looks flat and is to a certain degree but does slope slightly uphill and walking around it can take it out of you. On two sides it drops off also, so again if you are scared of heights keep away from the edge, it’s still a long way to the bottom.

All in all I spent 5hrs here which is not hard to do then I caught the second to last bus back down the hill and spent an hour in Aguas Clientas to do some souvenir shopping before getting back on the train and heading back to Cusco. I sat with an English girl and opposite us was a couple from the USA. He was a native Peruvian and his wife was from the USA where they lived. I asked why he was here and it turned out he had never been to Machu Picchu and his two daughters where now 14 and 12 years of age and he had wanted for years for them to see his homeland and now the girls were at an age where they could appreciate and remember he had brought the family to see all of Peru. His girls that where sitting behind them were absolutely loving their trip. Most of the trip back was spent talking with this couple. Very enjoyable conversation and interesting to hear his story of growing up on the outskirts of Lima.

The following day I am on a bus again heading back to Puno. The first half of this journey is so bumpy and great fun trying to go to the toilet in the bus but then the road lets up and is smoother for the last half. In Puno I head back to the hostel Amy and I stayed in on our way to Cusco. The dirt has gone now as there has been no more rain which is good as it doesnt smell this time around.

KODAK Pages 21-30

Cont…..21

The next new day I go in search of Emerald jewellery for the females in my family. Doesn’t take long to find these shops as they are everywhere. Most of the shops actually have a factory out the back and if you are lucky enough they will let you out the back to watch them working.  Wow there are just emeralds everywhere. I spent a small fortune but found I just couldn’t resist. My favourite purchase was a rare Tourmaline with a matching bracelet. I was also given all the certificates for the rings I brought. Apart from being for insurance purposes it tells you from what mine the stone  came from and what day they where mined. It is so fascinating to me that they even take the time to do this.

The following year when in Bogota I went to the emerald trade centre and the mass amount of emeralds there is mind boggling so tracing the mine they came from has got to be a nightmare and I am left wondering whether they really are telling the truth. By this time also I have found the closest Juan Valdez coffee cafe. I ended up going here every morning and every afternoon. The guy in there would see me walk in the door and just make up a coffee for me. Now I don’t know what he was putting in it but man it was nice. I have decided Colombian coffee is the best in the world.

At my hotel the Colombian people that are there on holiday are giving me smiles by this time. They are getting used to seeing me and since I am the only foreigner I am quite the novelty – not that I give a damn in the world. One lunch time Juan came and sat with me while I had lunch out on the terrace. Another Colombian guy turns up – he’s staying at the hotel- and starts talking with him. He then turns to me and speaks perfect English with an American accent. Turns out that Eric is Colombian and had married an American, moved there and lived in the US for 12 years before it fell apart, he divorced and moved back to Colombia. He meets his ex-wife and daughter in Cartagena every year to spend time with his daughter. Poor guy ended up several nights being an interpreter for us.

And the same day that Eric and I start talking to each other this young Colombian couple introduce themselves to me. Manuel speaks English but his girlfriend Fabiola doesn’t. They are in their late 20s and such fun. Things are going great and now I have some friends here I am thinking maybe I will stay longer than I first intended to. Juan’s sister, Zylekia, is by this time, spending every afternoon with me on the beach trying to drum Spanish into me. That girl had the patience of a saint. There is also Christian who sort of works in the bar that’s two steps out the door. He is in his 20s and speaks English to and he has taken a shine to me. Whenever I step out the hotel door he seems to magically appear and starts walking down the street with me.

One night Fabi, Manu, Christian and I go to the movies. Its only 2 minutes walk. The movie ‘Perro Come Perro’ (Dog eat Dog) is in Spanish of course, but I can tell you that didn’t matter. It was hilarious. Fabiola, Manuel and I were to hang out most nights. Another night was spent in the old city just strolling around and looking at the homes. Many have been brought by Americans who are doing them up. They look great. There is just as much entertainment going on in the evenings as there is during the day. All the restaurants and bars have their seating outside and as it is so hot you sit outside under a tree and listen to music and drink. Damn nice way to spend the evening. On yet another night we went to a nightclub that was right in one of the corners of the old city wall. You could look out from the top and over the water to Bocagrande where we were staying. This certain night we stayed out until 2pm.

Because of the heat in Cartagena I have to buy some new clothing. Down to the shops I go and into this really nice store which has great fashion clothing. Yet another hilarious hour trying to communicate with the store girl.  I am, by now, throwing in a lot of Spanish words but god I must sound totally confused as it aint hard to get them to burst out laughing so I figure that I am really not saying what I think I am. I brought some beaut clothes and man it is so cheap. One night I went walking by myself. I feel totally safe in Cartagena. No one at all has given me any trouble and the taxi drivers have not tried to rip me off at any time. I usually ask the locals what I can expect to pay when going from A-B and the have found this is a brilliant way to get the upper hand on taxi drivers if they are trying to rip you off. If you have had this, ‘should I go to Colombia of not’, well I can tell you GO. It is just as safe as anywhere else in the world.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cont……22

Over the next few days Christian and Zylekia spend all their time drumming more Spanish into me. Must admit that I found it an enjoyable way to learn more Spanish. One night in the bar I get approached by Angel (bar owner) and asked if I would like to invest money in a holiday home in Cartagena. This makes my ears prick up and next thing I’m in a conversation with 2 American guys about going in with them on a property in Cartagena not too far from where we are. Really nice they where and I still send emails to one of them though I decided to not take up the offer. Genny came to the bar one last time to say goodbye as she was returning to Bogota, Juan had disappeared to heavens knows where so Eric and I spend an evening talking. I get the low down on his life in the USA and how it is for him now back in Colombia.

I spent the next day getting orders from people wanting the Lonely Planet Spanish to English phrase book as they couldn’t find any in Cartagena. It seems that every man and his dog wants one and especially when I say there is a website called Amazon that you can order them from. Now in between all of this I am walking about 5kms everyday right down and around Bocagrande. I have found the best place to swim if I am not swimming at the hotel and I have meet friends of Juan and Zylekia. I have also found out that Angel is married and his wife is running their hostel up the coast. They don’t get to see each other very much and he has a young child. He’s a bit of a wheeler dealer because the bar doesn’t make much money for him.Another trip into Al Centro (old City) saw me buying more emerald jewellery and then the lady that served me, a friend of Juan’s, gave me an uncut emerald. I instantly decided that I would leave it as is and have it as a necklace .

One night I’m sitting on the terrace having my dinner and a fire breaks out in the dining room. They have small gas burners under the big stainless steel bowls and plates that keep the food warm, but the thing is that they cover them with small table cloth sheets so you can’t see the burners. One of the waiters decided to pull the burner out from the one that had caught on fire and next thing there is a line of fire where the gas had spilt on the floor as he had dropped it. The huge table cloth that was over the table itself had caught on fire by now and people didn’t quite know what to do. I calmly got up and went in, got the lids off several of the food trays and dropped them on top of the fire on the floor. The waiters seeing what I was doing then started doing it on the table to put the other flames out. They all had these panicked looks on their faces and couldn’t quite get how calm I was.

Well the last job I had done in NZ was security for the Army through a private company and to get my security certificate part of my training was to handle small fires along with a load of other stuff so it came in handy. The waiter had burnt himself on the hand so I promptly made him hold it under cold water. At first he thought I was crazy but decided I knew what I was doing and understood my insistence that he had to do it for 10 minutes. About 2hrs later the kitchen and dining staff come out with someone else I hadn’t seen before and he thank me on behalf of all the staff as he spoke a little English. We then sat for awhile and I went over what they should do if they have a small fire. All this time I’m thinking here is a job opportunity if I was to ever live in Colombia – basic fire training for establishments such as restaurants and hotels. Things are getting more interesting by the day. Dominican Republic Real Estate , Immobilien Dominikanische Republik Real estate and service related professionals emigrating from the Dominican Republic We offer you the best price. Compare for yourself – cheaper than with us you get no such top villas, apartments or land in the Dominican Republic. Immobilien und Service rund ums Auswandern in die Dominikanische Republik finden Sie bei uns zum besten Preis. Vergleichen Sie selbst – günstiger als bei uns bekommen Sie nirgends solche Top Villen, Apartments oder Grundstücke in der Dominikanischen Republik.

 

Cont…..23

Well there seems to be something to surprise me all the time and the next thing was when I went to a local internet cafe. I’m sitting there checking my email and this young Colombian guy hands me a note. On it says; I know you can speak and read English and I have to do this quiz in 5 minutes in English. Can you help me, it’s to get into the Navy. I looked at him and just smiled at the same time I’m thinking you can write English but can’t speak it as I had said ‘you want me to help you’ which I just got a blank look. Anyway I helped him and hoped the hell he didn’t have to prove he could speak English if he had to do an interview as they then would be wondering how he got all the questions right. While I was there I booked a flight on to my next destination and my hostel.

This day it also rained. My first bit of rain since leaving NZ. Quite refreshing but the heat didn’t let up, not that I minded. I had written out a heap of postcards so went on a hunt for a post office. Never found one but I was getting used to that after the rest of South America. Oh to be back in NZ where there is one of every corner – or so it seems! I then spent the rest of the day walking and in the sun and with a little Spanish thrown in by Christian. I must say I am super proud of myself now as I’m getting pretty good. Colombian Spanish is different in pronunciation to from all the other South American countries. It changes from country to country and makes it hard when you are just learning but I found the Colombian Spanish the easiest or maybe it was because I was getting thumped with it every day.

Fabi, Manu and I went somewhere nearly every night and this night it was to the local ‘Crepes and Waffles’ restaurant. Oh my god – heaven. Ate too much of course but oh it was so damned good. The one thing we didn’t end up doing was going on one of the chivas. Chivas are a like a truck come bus that is open and they pick you up and take you around to clubs while you get drunk and have this Caribbean drums come music in your ear all night. The music and beat is good though. You can hear them coming from a mile away.

My last night in Cartagena we all went into Al Centro again. I love going here and this night we walked the wall, had dinner, drank and talked. A spent about an hour walking down the beach afterwards. It’s all lit up and safe. There are tractors with miniature hay baler like machines which go down the beach every night just on dark and scoops up all the rubbish and then brush it all flat and smooth. The guy who does this has quite a few kilometres of beach to do every night. My day of moving on arrives and I pack and get ready to leave. Had to buy a new bag as the strap on my smaller one broke. I am not leaving until the afternoon so I have the morning to say goodbye to everyone and have my last walk down the beach. I have spent 10 days here and have loved every minute of it.

Cartagena is yet another city I have every intention of revisiting. All the taxi guys out the front say goodbye to me. They have got so used to seeing me come and go every day that I am sure they were also wondering when or if I was ever going to leave. My send off was quite something with about 10 people waving me off. At the airport you first have to go through security and they do a hand search as they don’t have the x-ray machines. Well I have 22.5kg in my backpack, (I find out at check in when it’s weighed) and the security guy tries to put his hand down the side of it. He is pushing like crazy and in the end finding this near impossible to do tells me to zip it up and go. He is just looking at me when I put it on my back and continue to check –in. When I am getting my boarding pass this is where I find out that you have to purchase a tourist visa to get into PANAMA. You can’t get one at the airport in Panama so if you arrive without one then you will be turned away. Thank god the lady at check in told me this as I had no clue whatsoever that you needed one. I had goggled whether NZers needed a visa to get in but it has said no. Don’t know why it didn’t say yes you need one before arriving. It only cost $10 US. Anyway that sorted the lady then tells the man behind her that he can put my bag on the belt. He went to lift it up by the top handle, just the way I had put it down. He just looked at me as to say ‘how the hell do you lift that with one hand and lift it on the scales’.  22.5 kgs is heavy! I just smiled. Things had gone great all day and so when the flight is delayed an hour I don’t worry too much as I will still arrive in Panama in the daylight with plenty of time to get to my hostel. I don’t like getting to a new country in the dark unless I have airport pick up organised.

 

Cont…..24

Flying into Panama I counted 78 ships sitting in the bay before I couldn’t see them anymore. I figured there had to be over 100. As I found out later there probably was as they have to sit there for up to a week until it is their turn to go through the Panama Canal and get this, they have to book their spot close to a year ahead. That’s got to take a bit of figuring out.

Anyway I get to the airport and turn the corner to find nearly 15 rows of people standing in line to get through immigration. Yep there has got to be 2000 people or more ahead of me. God I don’t know, there were just people everywhere. I had noticed lots of planes and more planes landing as I was getting off. It took me 2 hours to get through. This is the longest I have had to wait at any immigration. When I had finally picked up my bag and gotten outside it was dark. Found myself a taxi driver that speaks English and off we go. Getting to the hostel is a breeze but I then find out the hostel hasn’t received my booking or so this grumpy lady says and then she won’t even let me use the phone to ring other hostels to see if they have vacancies. The whole time we are yelling at each other because she won’t even let me in the door and she’s three flights up on a balcony. The other hostellers sitting two flights up are busy telling me she is like that and that I’m probably booked but once it gets to 8pm she can’t be bothered and has turned lots of people away. Man that just made me so angry. What the hell are people supposed to do at 10pm in a foreign country when they more or less lock you out?  My taxi driver says ‘come on I will take you around all the other hostels as I know them’, so off we go. The first one was no longer there and the taxi driver was so surprised, next one was full and the next but the fourth one was a YES. It was the HI hostel and the bloke running it was so great. The taxi driver after all this running around, which turned out to be an hour, only charged me $50. I was expecting it to be so much more. The hostel guy then points me in the right direction to get something to eat and I finally crawl into bed around midnight after sitting and talking with others for awhile.

The following day I get a map and start walking and looking. The area I’m in doesn’t seem all that busy. Kinda struck me as odd as I wasn’t really all that far from the centre of Panama City. I teamed up with Andreas from Norway and went to a pizza place for dinner this night and later this night I was sitting on the balcony and this American lady comes in and we start talking. Turns out that her and her husband own some timeshares and she was here to have a holiday at one of these resorts and she invited me to spend a week there to. She is having another friend from Seattle meet her there and after checking with the resort that I can also go I decide why not. A backpacker at a resort in Panama. I like the idea. She also gives me a card of a private tourist operator owner who will take me to all the spots in Panama City for a fixed day fee so I get on the phone and organise him for the following day.

So the following morning I’m up and ready and my driver Rafael is the coolest guy. Spoke good English and I’m already going back to English now as so many in Panama City can speak it. This is not good and I already know I’m going to lose what I have learnt. First place we head to is the Miraflores Locks. Yes the Panama Canal. This is something I have wanted to see for as long as I can remember, especially after seeing a documentary film on the making off the Canal which included lots of real footage. We timed it perfectly and watched an oil tanker come in and go right through. All the time that we are watching this guy on a speaker system is giving you a commentary on the stats. We, at one stage there, are looking at these gates as the water is coming up and he says the height from the water to the top of the gate that we can see at the moment is 3 stories high. I look at it and yep I would agree with that, then he tells us that the gates are actually 18 stories high. Holy sh.t. That’s high and amazing considering the machinery and technology they had back then to build the Canal. These days the stuff we have makes it so easy but back then….Makes you realise what an achievement it was to get it finished. (If going to Panama Rafaels contact details are; CEL;(705)6652-4293 email; raude56@yahoo.es )  Hopefully this hasnt changed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cont……25

So after seeing the Miraflores Locks we came back in near the old city but first went off to the right around past the port and then went along a causeway to a brand new mariner with a heap of very expensive boats that where mainly from the US. Wow was there a heap of money sitting on the water. The causeway is new and this road connects to a small island. I had been able to see this when I flew in. Then into the old original part of Panama City. Where we actually drove in was rather a rough and dangerous area. Even Rafael looked a little nervous, but once past here we were where a lot of American people have brought homes and renovated them. They look great. There’s bougainvilleas’ hanging down from big pots on the balconies. There are cafes and restaurants. It’s really nice here and this is where you can look over to Panama City.

There was a ton of cranes and new building going on. It would seem there is no shortage of money in Panama. After having lunch we then headed right through the city and out the other side to an ancient ruin city site. There is not much left of it today but the history is worth the visit. Pictures posted at the bottom of this piece will show you what I mean. All in all Rafael and I spent 6 hours visiting everything he could think of that he thought would interest me. He does ask first what you are interested in so you don’t end up going somewhere that you don’t really want to be. I even got to see ex President Noriegas house. Wow is that a mansion or what, and that’s only the little bit of it that I could see from the road. Today it is all locked up and not even being used. Damn waste that is, and has been since all that trouble with him went down. So that was a great day and a great way to see Panama City and Rafael was an excellent and interesting guide.

The following day I spend in the city and walking. I end up talking with Susan. She owners the cafe two steps from the hostel and is American. From there I end up going to a bar not too far away and meet some of her friends. And yep you guessed it, ended up being there for a long time. Two days later and having decided I have seen what I came to see, I get Rafael to take me to the bus station and catch a bus to Playa de Cameroon. Lari, (who has invited me), should be there to meet me and I’m really looking forward to a resort. I figure this is going to be fun.

The resort is off the main highway about 6 km but the bus driver took me all the way in. There were people with bags walking along the road heading there and the bus driver didn’t pick them up either. I must have smiled at him the right way because they don’t usually take you right in. Rafael had told me I would have to walk from the highway and I wasn’t looking forward to that in the heat. I wonder if he paid the driver to take me in. I was the only one that got off there to. At the gate the security man stops me and says wait till I ring ahead and make sure you are booked. I can understand this. I mean a foreigner with an accent he has probably never heard before, shorts and small top as it’s so hot and a backpack, when everyone else coming here has expensive luggage. I really wonder what he did think. This checking to see if I was expected took close to half an hour and I was starting to wonder if Lari had completely taken me for a ride.

Finally he says its fine and a porter is coming to pick you up. They ride around on golf cart vehicles. I walk into the reception and Lari is sitting there. Oh wow is this place nice, oh yea. How much am I having to pay for 6 swimming pools, all meals, bed, shower, golf course, spa, para-sailing, drinks all day, disco, entertainment at night and hunky young men that organise things like beach volleyball and other activities for you to join in and lifeguards, as we are right on the beach. $45 per day- Priceless!! Lari I can’t thank you enough.

Cont…..26

Rhonda, who is Lari’s friend from Seattle, finally arrives at 11.30 after being delayed at a road accident. I don’t know what time we all finished talking and go to bed but it was late. The next day is brilliant sunshine and the first port of call after breakfast is of course one of the huge swimming pools.

This place is glorious and I know I am going to love every minute of it. Swimming, sunbathing and watching the people. This is when we all notice this attractive lady flirting with one of the young guys that has set up a net for beach volleyball. He’s very good-looking and she had her eye on him from the moment she spotted him. Turns out she is from Peru. She had on an itsy bitsy teeny weeny bikini with everything just about falling out and she had this guy fetching her drinks all day and she didn’t move from her spot either. I don’t even recall her going to the toilet but then I was in the pool and in the sea, getting a drink, eyes shut sunbathing but I didn’t see her move all day. She was watching him when I went to lunch and watching when I came back. Of course this guy is only in his twenties and she had to be near forty but her looks at young girls told a story of lust and ‘get away from my man’ whenever they talked to him. This kept me amused all day.

Every night there is a show of some sort put on which is great. They involve the audience and it has everyone laughing. Even the little kids could get the gist of what was happening and were cracking up with laughter. One of the nights Rhonda and I decided to go to the disco. It was like ‘more women, come on guys’. All eyes fell on us when we walked in, but it was obvious that we were foreigners. Two guys were about to have a fight over who was buying my drinks. Now thats never happened before. So yelling my head off over the sound of the music, trying to speak Spanish and getting attention like Im the queen or something actually ended up being uncomfortable and with Rhonda having a sore knee which she was going to get surgery on, we didn’t stay to long.

I look back and have a laugh to myself about it. Even now I’m like I ended up in a resort in Panama while backpacking around the world. Yea I really did and how many people can say that. Not that I’m blowing my own trumpet but its that it all seems so unreal.

Next day its para-sailing. This is something else I have always wanted to do and you can do it here so no time like the present. After much talking and convincing Rhonda and Lari both decide to give it a try to. Loved it but it didn’t last long enough. Must do it again oneday. Both Lari and Rhonda say that they would do it again and are so happy I convinced them to give it a try. Later in the day Rhonda and I go walking down the beach. We’re standing there looking at these houses which are behind high walls and wondering what the people that own them do for a living as they are expensive nice homes. We end up looking at one which has completely gone to rack and ruin. This guy thats jogging down the beach, (crazy idea in this heat) stops and asks us if we want to have a look through it. Ok why not. Whose house did it used to be. None other than the ex-president Noriega. Now this is another first for me. I got to see his house in Panama City and now I get to see the inside of the huge beach retreat. Wow and I can tell you, in its day it was grand. It was huge, stylish, modern and had servants quarters. Swimming pool, roof-top party area with a glass dome so you could look down to the bottom floor, bath and walk-in-wardrobe in every room. Even though it had been vandalised you still could see how extravagant it was. Talk about being in the right place at the right time. Kodak and I end up in some of the most amazing places don’t we.

Cont…..27

My week finally comes to an end. Like all things new it ends to fast but next stop is to be David. After a week of being spoiled for choice of pool and drinks, food and everything else it will be head out of the clouds and back to earth. The resorts own transport picks me up and takes me out to the main road and drops me in the middle of nowhere. Yep I am now standing on a stretch of straight road about 8km long in a small bus shelter waiting for a bus to come along. Here is yet another learning curve. None of the buses say David on the front. 3 buses go past before I decide that I will just have to catch the next one and see where I end up. So that’s what I do. I step out and put my hand out for the next one to stop, which he does, and ask if he goes to David. No but I could understand enough Spanish to realise that I have to change buses in Santiago. Cool that will do, even though on the front of the bus the destination is not Santiago.

I get settled into my seat with everyone on board following my every move. Another case of the only foreigner on board. We hadn’t gone 2 kms and the bus is stopped by the Policia. They were obviously looking for someone and when they get to me they looked twice and then asked for my passport which I handed over. Lucky again as I had thought about putting it in my backpack. After having a quick look through it was handed back and he continued to ask several of the other passengers for ID.

The rest of the trip into Santiago went quick and we soon pull into Santiago bus station. My driver was great as he then points out the bus I need to get on and my driver, takes me over to him, says something to him I don’t understand and then indicates on his watch that I have 45minutes to get a drink and eat before my bus pulls out. Most things turn out ok and I’m sure you have worked out by now that I have a can-do attitude. I always think if you expect the worse it will happen and I don’t like negative thinking. Doesn’t serve any purpose as far as I’m concerned. So I have lunch and on the bus again. I’m not the only foreigner on this bus. There happens to be 2 American guys and I soon find out that they are staying at the same hostel in David that I have booked into. Oh yea, I’m noisy. I see foreigners I just can’t help but ask where they are from, where they have been and where they are going. If figure if you don’t ask you don’t find out and you won’t make friends by not talking.

When we get to David I thank the driver and all 3 of us then get a taxi to the hostel. In Santiago there are 2 bus stations. One in the north and one in the south of the city. Another lesson. Always tell your taxi driver where you are going next if you are heading to a bus station as you could end up in the station the south of the city and can’t work out why there are no buses to your destination. I learnt this in Riobamba, Ecuador. The hostel I am staying at is the Purple Hostel. Purple alright, and wow not so good if you don’t like purple. It actually is a nice hostel and like all of them on my travels full of people from all over the world.

I do my usual and dump my bag and head to the nearest supermarket. It is very humid here and with a recent but quick downpour that lasts about 10minutes, the steam that is coming off the road and footpath means that by the time I got to the supermarket I had sweated so much I was all clammy. Andrea, who owns the hostel, had told me that this can happen most afternoons so I buy myself a new umbrella while I was there. I have dinner and find an internet cafe, get done with everything and head back to the hostel. This night is like most others with everyone sitting around tables and talking.

On the following day it decides to rain most of the time so I put my head in my Lonely Planet South America on a Shoestring book. This book is so thick and I have had enough of carting it about so I set to and make a heap of notes and leave my book at the hostel for other people to use on their way through. I look at how long I have before I have to fly out of Mexico City and after talking with other travellers think I will not go out to the coast in Panama but go onto Costa Rica and then onto Guatemala. On a nice Sunday morning I go down to the local bus stop and go for a day trip to Boquete. It takes around an hour on a chicken bus. And yes there where chickens on this bus. Not to mention the dogs to and again I’m the only foreigner. Boquete is nice and there are lots of Americans who have settled here for their retirement. There are new homes everywhere, a volcano not far away and hot springs. There are hostels and hotels and tours for allsorts including white-water rafting. Very nice place and I of course brought several soverneirs for family members.

Next morning I get up and Rich, an American guy from Rapid River, Michigan, has moved on. We had fun one night there winding two Israelis’ up to the point where they confused themselves. Mean, but funny. Hey if you really don’t understand world politics then don’t talk about it. Better to look the fool than open your mouth and remove all doubt, which they did so we just jumped all over that.

Cont……28

The following day is fine when we start out but it didn’t stay that way. Kodak and I are off to San Jose in Costa Rica. Now for some reason I had always thought that pineapples came from a huge palm tree. While at the Purple Hostel I found out this is not so. No, they grow from a plant that looks like a very miniature palm and in the middle it has the fruit. There are plantations all through Panama and especially near the border with Costa Rica and in CR itself. At the end of the season they are pulled out and new seedlings are planted each year. They only grow to around 2 feet high. Learn something every day.

So we are happily going along and there are lots of backpackers and I end up talking with another American guy who happens to be staying in the same hostel I am in San Jose. This is great as it cuts down the cost of taxi to the hostel once we get into San Jose but what works out even better for me is that he has been in Panama as his 3 month visa time was up so he had jumped the border for 10 days which now means he can go back for another 3 months.

Backpackers and tourists wanting to spend more time in one particular country do this all the time. So why was it a blessing for me? Well at the Panama/Costa Rica border I would have been walking around aimlessly for ages trying to find out where to go to get back on our bus to continue. You have to get out and grab your bags, go into this room and get it all searched and stamped out by immigration and then walk about ¼ mile to get to the Costa Rica immigration. Thing is that they don’t tell you where to actually go or even point it out for you. (Not that you can see it from where you are). For anyone going through here follow the unpaved road.

Yes, you get to here and the road is full of pot holes and rough as guts and it has to be a good ¼ mile walk. The reason for the unpaved road is neither country wants to spend the money paving or tar sealing it and they can’t decide on half way. Seems silly to us but that’s how it is. Costa Rica immigration was slow and the hand security checking of our bags just took forever and over an hour later we are finally on the bus and moving again. The air-conditioning on the bus is set to a comfortable level. We wound up and down hills for hours and through jungle with a stop somewhere in the middle of nowhere for lunch. You didn’t get to see very much because of the high trees and way up in the hills it was all misty. It’s humid though, very humid.

Rain set in about an hour before getting into San Jose but in the city itself was dry. We got in around 4pm. It’s a long trip from David to San Jose and I had a splitting headache when we finally got there. No worries, we get a taxi and get to the hostel. This time I just lay down and went to sleep for an hour. The hostel is well equipped with an onsite restaurant and swimming pool. Great as I don’t feel like shopping. A quick walk around the neighbourhood reveals some interesting shops and restaurants, supermarket and all important ATM. There is the usual mix of people from all over the world at the hostel. I have decided that I will eat in the restaurant each night instead of buying and breakfast is provided by the hostel and I figure I will be somewhere in the city each day so will get lunch there.

The following day I am on a mission to post a parcel home to NZ but first I head off in a taxi into the city to find out just where the Postal Office is. I don’t want to be wandering all around with carting heaps of stuff and not knowing where to go. This turned out not to be a very happy experience at all. I was promptly yelled at to ‘go home Americano’ I made the stupid mistake of yelling back that I was not American and no I’m not going. Stupid, real stupid!! I then had 3 young men following me down the street so I went into a souvenir shop to try get rid of them. They stayed outside for 10 minutes before moving on.

San Jose as it turned out was the only place in my travels where I have felt uncomfortable. Don’t let it put you off as so many tourists go there and have the time of their lives. I think I just struck it on a bad day and it was at the time there was a lot of hate towards George Bush and the Iraq situation (Not saying that was their reason for being uninviting) but maybe that was a contributing factor. Still feeling a little nervous I left the shop and caught a taxi back to the hostel and decided to leave the posting till the next day. I got on the internet and made ticket reservations to fly to Guatemala City in 2 days time.

I book my flight with my favourite airline TACA. Great airline if you are travelling in South and Central America. The incident in the city earlier had unnerved me. Next time maybe I will travel here with someone else. I haven’t totally been put off and do want to return one day.

Cont…..29

So back into the city the next day and to the Post Office. Luck again is on my side as it only took half a minute to find out that no one behind the counter spoke English. There is a German couple in there and they are posting a parcel home and both of them where fluent in Spanish so they helped me out. The guy behind the counter didnt know what or where New Zealand was. That done I then head out to have a proper look in the shops. No troubles this time from anyone. The shopping in San Jose is on a par with most places in the world when it comes to fashion in all aspects. I find myself sitting in a plaza with cows. Cows made of corrugated iron and painted all the colours of the rainbow. I love looking at all the different outside art (as I call it) in all the different places in the world. I’m not so keen on Costa Rican coffee though.

After getting back to my area of San Jose I venture a little further afield than the day before and stick my nose into whatever I can see. Pleasant way to spend an afternoon. There are signs and brands from all over the world from tractors and chainsaws to bags and clothing.

Tonight at the restaurant I have company. No, not the human kind, the vermin kind. I’m sitting in the restaurant and just tucking into chicken pasta which is going down real well and in the door walks this huge rat. It just follows the wall along sniffing at the floor. The cook is busy doing whatever in the kitchen and making alot of noise but the rat doesn’t even flinch. The cook then asks me how my meal is going to which I reply fine thanks. Then I decide to point the rat out to her. Holy shit, she was on the serving counter before you could blink and away she went shrieking in Spanish at fifty mile an hour. I couldn’t help myself and burst into laughter. It was hilarious. I have never seen anyone move so damn fast. Meanwhile the rat is still going along the wall. This rat had to be deaf. I’m in fits of laughter and can’t stop, the cook is still screaming and the rat is still acting like there is no noise whatsoever. This lasts for a good minute and I’m thinking that the cook is soon going to lose her lungs and calm down. How wrong was I. Just as I think I had better get up and steer the rat back towards the door it turns around and walks back to the door and with a last look around walks out just the way it had walked in. The cook’s drama has ended. My on the other hand, had found it amusing and beats sitting through the whole meal by yourself don’t it? The poor cook is so shaken up that she gets a chair and takes it to the kitchen to sit down. She puts it so she can see the doorway. God I hope it doesn’t come back in as next time she will have a full blown heart attack.

That over I head to the nearest hammock and swing away the night listening to music that someone had put on. San Jose airport is small. A lot smaller than I thought it would be. This is my twelfth time I have been patted down at an airport because I have set off the alarm while going through security. I am sure the things are rigged to go off for anyone travelling alone!! It’s a beautiful day for flying and after a big circle around and over San Jose,

Kodak and I are on our way to Guatemala. I wonder what this country has in store for me. After landing in Guatemala City and collecting my bags I head outside to catch a minivan to Antigua. There is no need to book any transport as they have a schedule of all flights coming in so they are always there waiting as not too many tourists stay in Guatemala City. From all accounts it’s rather dangerous and not much to do or see. Antigua on the other hand is a bustling tourist town as so set up for tourists. It is full of history and the locals are very friendly and helpful. It only takes 45minutes to get here. The first thing you notice is the modern splattered in with old. Motorbikes, scooters, modern up-to-date cars, billboards, chicken buses, very old cobbled streets, horse-drawn carts and historic buildings and cathedrals, markets, modern clothing shops, freshly painted colourful homes…….. I like Guatemala. Kodak had a moment of jealousy on the way to Antigua. When he can he loves to sit on the dashboard in the vehicles. On this trip his spot was taken. Grrrrr!

Cont…..30

My first full day in Antigua was eventful. I first went walking and found a huge market near the bus station. There is everything you can imagine to buy here and I ended up buying a very nice top. After spending an hour or so here I headed for the main plaza in the centre of the town. It wasn’t long before I was approached by a local man who promptly sat down beside me and started talking in English. I can’t remember his name (and for some reason didn’t write it down in my diary) but it turned out he worked in Guatemala City for the TV station so his English was pretty good. He asked if he could spend the day with me and practise his English which I agreed to so long as he showed me around the town to all the things he thought I should see and to fill me in on the history of each site. For this I will also buy lunch.

Antigua is so full of history and it didn’t take long to get over 100 photos. It’s a great friendly town full of agents to book tours to wherever you want to go. Anyway after most of the day walking all the streets of Antigua and going up the hill which looks down on the town we arrive back at the plaza and sit ourselves down. I’m just thinking on what I will do next when my new friend turns to me and says ‘You speak bad English’. Bloody cheek! Well it just came out of my mouth – ‘I’ve been speaking English all my life so where the hell do you get to say I speak bad English’? His reply ‘Well it’s your accent. I don’t understand some of the words you say’. Oops, I sort of stopped in my tracks. Then having a bit of a think about it, it dawned on me that he had said ‘What’ a heap of times while we were walking around. Never dawned on me he may not be able to understand because of my accent. He also tells me that it is the first time he has spoken with someone from New Zealand. So my thinking that he probably doesn’t even know where NZ is I asked. To my surprise he did know where NZ was but he did think you could take the ferry from Australia to get there. Not too bad for someone from Guatemala, considering that loads of people think NZ is in Europe.

So the next day I’m up early, breakfast and down to one of the tourist agents, in a van on my way to Pacaya. What’s Pacaya. It’s an active volcano that I am going to go up and some of the America guys on the trip with me have somehow found some marshmallows to toast while we are up there. Where they found them I have no idea. Our drive toPacaya takes about ¾ of an hour. We more or less do a big circle from Antigua to get there. At the bottom there are ton of tour groups. We set off and the whole time we are being followed by some boys, a few men and their horses. Why the horses. Well you guessed. It’s a damned steep hill and quite a distance. I am fit to cycling and walking but up a huge hill like this one it didn’t take me long to run out of puff. The boys keep asking ‘ Horse lady, you want horse.’ So I ask how much. Whoa what! Oh they know that you want to hop on one but when you here the price which amounted to $us35, you have a second think about it. I decide no I will keep going for a bit more and then start the bargaining game. Now I am not really begrudging them the price as I know they are just trying to make a living but at the same time I know they are just seeing if I will pay that as bargaining is all part of buying anything in Guatemala. In some countries it can almost be an insult if you don’t bargain and as the boy was telling me the price I caught my guides head out the corner of my eye and he was nodding his head for ‘no’. In other words, don’t pay that. After a bit more time and people going pass us that had obviously started out from the bottom on a horse I turn to a boy right behind me with a horse and ask what the price is going to be now. He looks at me and drops the price to $30. Hmmm, no how about $20. He takes I bit of time and has a think about it. ‘Ok lady $20’.

Much easier on a horse and I now feel that I am not holding everyone up. I definatly need to do more hill walking. I would have thought that all the walking in the streets in La Paz would have left me a bit fitter that this but obviously not. We come to this clearing and there is the volcano in front of us. It’s not huge and just looks like an upside down cone. You can see from this distance some of the red hot lava below the outside black hardened lava. First we have to go down then climb back up, but too far. (I am not on a horse anymore) It’s very safe to walk on the hardened lava but I wouldn’t recommend falling over. In the cracks that you step over the red lava is slowly moving past. The guys with the marshmallows pull them out and they had grabbed a branch from a tree on the way up through the bush so one of them has a try at toasting one. The stick quickly catches fire and the marshmallow is melted in 2 seconds flat. Another try, but keeping the stick a little further away from the lava, sees him having success. Tick that off the list. I have had a toasted marshmallow up a volcano in Guatemala. You have to keep moving up here as to stand in one place you soon realise the soles on your shoes are getting soft as they are starting to melt. I didn’t get many photos from my volcano trip as again my batteries went flat in my camera. I aint having much luck and think that my battery charger is not working properly, but the photos I did get are really all I need. Being there was the main point of it all. Anyway it’s another day tomorrow. We get back to the bottom and have a much needed coke before getting back in the van and back into Antigua. Nice half day out.

TAHITI

TAHITI

Flying into Papeete Tahiti from New Zealand was like hitting a brick wall. Oh the heat. The airport is all open but that still didn’t seem to help. Tahiti wasn’t exactly what I thought it would be with small pebbles not sand and the humidity was so bad that after washing my clothes in the morning and hanging them out I came back at the end of the day to find them wetter than when I left. Some people reckon that Tahiti is not so expensive. I think they must come from Europe where the exchange rate works in their favour. It is picturesque and the few photos I took are great but overall I was disappointed. I only used Tahiti as a connection for getting to Easter Island so shouldn’t complain too much. Most travel here as couples and it’s a major honeymoon destination. The islands around the main island are reported to be nicer. Places like Moorea and Bora Bora. The main island of Tahiti is rather mountainess and covered in a lush tropical forest. It has a tendency to have tropical downpours late in the afternoon. While I was there it actually poured down for a whole day. On the whole though it does have a pretty good bus system for getting around or if money is no problem hire a car. There are ferries for getting to all the islands as seeing as tourism is a major earner for this country it is well set up to cater for them. It has excellent diving, snorkelling and fishing, not forgetting the swimming.

Ingrids Travel Tips for Tahiti

1) Take water with you everywhere as you are going to need it. Sweating and feeling sticky goes with the territory.

2) Get out to the other smaller islands, the pebbles are reported to be smaller and therefore are like sand.

3) If you have access to a dryer use it. Hanging your clothes out to dry to pretty much a waste of time.

4) You have probably paid alot of money to get here so get out and enjoy it.

Here are some links to other websites. These are about fishing in beautiful Alaska!

www.mgfalaska.com

www.millertimesportfishing.com

www.fishingflyinalaska.com

KODAK PAGES 11-20

WHERE THE HELL IS KODAK

Cont…..11

The day for my trip to the reed islands is perfect. Clear skies with the sun out. My tour van picks me up and off we go. I am with a tour of about 14 people from all walks of life around the globe and so to the floating islands of Uros. I’m only doing a day trip (about 5hrs) but you can stay overnight with one of the families. It’s really weird to walk on these islands made of reeds. To me it seemed like a lot of hard work to live on them. They have to get everything fresh each day, no refrigerators here, or dry the fish and other meats out in order for them to last and then there are the problem of getting rid of their excrement. This is done everyday also with boats coming in and taking it away for them.

Lake Titicaca is very clean and you could see the bottom of it for a long way out until it got to deep. Some countries could take a leaf out of Peru’s book in this regard. And the other thing is they are so tolerant. Families live right on top of each other so to speak and if there is a dispute then they all have to sit, discuss and resolve before they can go. Well when you see how they live you understand this rule. I had however at the end of the day decided that if it weren’t for the tourists that go see these islands they would have ceased living on them years ago. To me it didn’t really seem practical at all but it was totally different and very interesting. All in all it was an enjoyable day and I can now tick of the Floating Islands of Uros on Lake Titicaca, Peru. As I’m writing this up my mind is drifting back to there. Wow it seems so amazing that I have been to this place and so many others.

Next on the list for Kodak and I is Copacabana, still on the shores of Lake Titicaca but further around and in Bolivia. I must say that the whole of Peru is so well set up for tourists and apart from the little bag thing in Nazca there was to be no other concerns when taking any other buses within Peru. The same can be said of Puno. The bags are tagged and put on the bus as soon as they have tagged them. The bus station was a buzz with buses and people and friendly helpful Peruvians. Most of the people on my bus are backpackers with a few locals and Bolivians.

But for this trip which is to be around 8hrs there is no toilet. After 3hrs one of the guys, (Canadian I think) asks the driver to pull over as he needs a toilet stop. The bus driver ended up being out the door first as he was busting to and then the whole bus just emptied out. Everyone went to the toilet. Ladies just got out, down trousers, up skirts and did their business. Can’t be shy in these circumstances! The men did wait with backs turned for us all to finish though. Back on our merry way and the next toilet stop goes the same way and then we reach the border. There are toilets here that everyone makes full use of.

To get over the border you have to first go to the Policia (police) and have a stamp put in your passport and then go to immigration and get the exit stamp out of Peru and a ¼ km walk over a small rise to Bolivian immigration. Get stamped into Bolivia and join your bus again. Easy. Accept if you don’t listen like one guy didn’t and neglected to get the Policia stamp out of Peru so he got left on the road in no man’s land. Bolivia wouldn’t let him in as he hadn’t been stamped out by Peruvian Police and Peru wouldn’t let him back in because he had the exit stamp from immigration and as far as they were concerned they weren’t going to stamp him in to get the Policia stamp out. What a goddamn awful situation to find yourself in, but at the end of the day his fault for not listening and how he mucked it up I will never know as everyone followed the bus driver to the Policia building first, then to the immigration office second. What he was doing while we were doing that god only knows.  After waiting for a ½ hr to see if they would let him through one of the guys he was travelling with just told the bus driver to go. We left him standing with immigration officers in the middle of the road at the Bolivian border.

Another lesson learnt, listen and keep your wits about you. Kodak and I finally arrive in Copacabana around 8pm. It was a long day and after a very nice meal we hit the sack for some much needed sleep.

Cont…..12

I seem to have struck it just right weather wise as the next morning is brilliant again. My thought of following the summer weather from the southern hemisphere to the northern hemisphere is paying off. Today we are off to the Island of the Sun on a day trip. Down to the little jetty, buy your ticket, hop on and off you go. It’s a nice cruise to the island and takes us around an hour. They isn’t really much to see here but this island has been inhabited since the beginning of Bolivian and Peruvian history. Again they have a home-stay programme running and fill you in on all the myths and history of the island and teach you a traditional dance. A Canadian girl I sat next to on the bus did the overnight stay and enjoyed it.

On getting back into Copacabana I then strolled up a hill behind the town to take in the magnicent view. All tourists that hit the town tend to take the walk up here. There is the local plaza and churches and small souvenir shops to see and all in all an enjoyable little town. The restaurants are good to. Lovely people, I like this place.

Next morning sees us on the bus again and off to La Paz. It’s a great trip to take. Like every other place there is so much to see. The scenery is out of this world. The lake, the dry desert-like fields with green crops that are irrigated. The climate is surprisingly dry up here yet you are so high up. I always thought the opposite would apply. Wrong again. We get to Kasani and have to disembark and buy a ticket for a ferry across the lake to Tiquina. The bus goes on a separate barge. On the Tiquina side we have time to have a quick look around, get something to eat and go to the toilet. It’s always a good idea to carry toilet paper with you but most places you will find a lady at the toilets who asks for a few coins in exchange for toilet paper. I don’t mind this, as for some of them it is their only source of income.

Back on the bus and into La Paz. Wow, you come around the corner at the top after going through what I would call the outer residential area and there below you is La Paz. You wind down the hill and into the centre of it all. People, cars, vans and buses. It’s another metropolis. Australia is on my mind again when I see how many eucalyptus trees there are. South America just loves these trees. Getting to the hostel is a breeze as the taxi driver knows exactly where it is. Turns out I am in the most popular hostel in La Paz, the Loki. This hostel will turn out to be the best one I have stayed in to date. 177 beds and the whole time I was there it was full.  The girl I sat next to in the bus from Puno to Copacabana (Nicole) and another English girl I met in Arequipa (Katie) are both staying here. The night of course we just had to spend in the hostel bar catching up and swapping stories. Great way to spend the evening/night.

The following day I head to the famous Witches Market. Anything you can dream up I’m sure you can buy here and it’s so cheap. I reckon they must fly it in by the plane load. You can even buy dried lama foetuses, not that you would have a use for them, but the Bolivians bury them under their houses as they are supposed to bring luck. Hmmmmm. And finally I get to buy a new camera. That was rather a laugh as the shop attendant didn’t speak English and my Spanish is still hit or miss. Usually miss but I’m getting exceptionally well at charades. We get the camera onto English so I’m ok and the book has over 10 languages, including English, as I brought a Sony Cybershot. Cost; $US 40. Priceless. Memory card included. I’m happy. Walking around La Paz, as you can imagine, is hard work as it’s at 4000mtrs above sea level. Now everyone says it’s the highest capital city in the world but actually Sucre is the capital of Bolivia. However it is the highest city in the world. At the hostel is a girl from London who has been living and working there for a year and after seeing a notice she has posted a decided to take some Spanish lessons with her. I also book to do a mountain bike trip on the World’s Most Dangerous Road.

Next day starts with getting up at 5.30am and heading down the hill for breakfast at our meeting point in a restaurant to do the mountain bike ride. There are 6 of us from the Loki and others. With breakfast done we get on the bus and go. We climb even higher to our start point at one of the mountains that you can see from the La Paz streets.  Sh.t it’s cold up here. There’s snow on the ground and by the time we get to the first stop point to let everyone catch up the ends of all my fingers are numb. I then have one hell of a time trying to hold onto the handle bars for the next hour or so. The first part luckily is on sealed road so I manage to keep going. Once we hit the metal part of the road my fingers have thawed and I’m really in my element now. Everyone is looking at the drop-off which is 300mtrs down the bottom and into the river. If you lose it here and for the next 30kms or so you aint coming back. People have been killed doing this ride but that doesn’t faze me and when it’s time to start this part of it none of the guys are willing to go first in behind the guide. That gave me the opportunity to get right behind him and that suited me. When we got to the first stop, to again let everyone catch up, the guide turns around and says to me ‘you’re right up my butt and pushing me hard, you must have done this before.’ When I explain  that yes I have heaps and that my son, his mate from school and I used to scream down this certain hill at 80kmph he then understands that I am not going to let up and intend to be right behind him all the way to the bottom.

Next stop he simply calls me Bloody Crazy. The rest of the guys in the group just can’t get over the fact that I’m pushing so hard and one says to me that’s he’s jealous of the fact that I’m better than him. It wasn’t a matter of me being better than him just a matter that I have done mountain biking lots and know my limits. Give me a good stiff wind on top of a hill and I simply get pushed over by it. (Yes this happened once and left everyone around me in fits of laughter, but it was funny) I’m a very petite person. Practise and technique make all the difference. Anyway I put so much into going done at break neck speed that when it came to small hills I didn’t have the power in my legs to get up them. The end was a welcome sight as by now we have discarded as much clothing as we could and the rest is wet with sweat. We get a shower and change into our spare clothes, have a meal and watch a video of the ride then on the bus and back to La Paz. Our guide, an Irish guy keeps us amused with stories from other  rides and the best one he had up his sleeve was a girl who did the ride and when at the bottom asked ‘are we at the place where we left this morning’. Oh my god, 45kms downhill all day, never laughed so much in all my life!! We got back to La Paz at 8.30pm. Slept like a log.

Cont….13

Now I don’t know why but Bolivia has really captured me. Maybe because I’m a giant in this country. Well 5ft6 is giant as they are all 5ft nothing. No, on a more serious note they are a friendly and happy people. They aren’t in your face when you go shopping unlike Cusco in Peru and they help you out best they can. There’s just something about Bolivia. I made a comment to Kodak that I would return again and the following year I did just that.

Love it here, even though when walking down the street you get a fright from Policia with machine guns at the ATMs and the shoe-shine boys with balaclavas on. Kodak and I make a night trip to Uyuni on the bus. God the road was like corrugated iron all the way. Didn’t get much sleep. In the moonlight I could see desolate landscape like I imagine the moon to be. We went through several villages that where just slums really. All the buildings were made from pieces of old boards and rusted sheets of iron. For such an amazing and interesting destination it still is one of the poorest countries in the world but at the same time draws you in with what it has to offer. I wouldn’t actually mind living here.

As soon as we get to Uyuni the bus is surrounded by tour operators. I took a few pamphlets and headed off to get breakfast and decide which company I will go with to see the Salt Plain. You have the choice of doing a day trip or 2 days and some even do 3 days and will drop you off at the border of Argentina in the south. After I had talked with others in the Loki hostel I had decided before getting here that I would do just the day trip. Most had said the 3 days was too much and you spent alot of your time in the vehicle just belting along all day with a few stops here and there that are interesting but its a long trip.

I end up in a vehicle with a French and Danish girl and off we go. First stop is a train grave yard, then to a small village on the plain then out onto the salt plain itself. Wow it is so blinding. 12,000km square of salt at what seems the top of the world. Don’t make the mistake of lowering your sunglasses to see how bright it is. It’s bright!! It wasn’t till a few days later that I really take notice of how many blind people there are in Bolivia, and there are lots. I got some great photos from the plain and Kodak ended up going head first into it and came up looking like he had been playing in snow. We made a visit to the salt hotel before driving for an hour in a straight line to this huge rock which pokes out of the salt and has cactus growing on it. This is where we had lunch. There were tourists all over the place and even tour buses. Mirages everywhere you look and it also deceives your eyes at close range. Someone would walk away from you about 10steps and they looked like they were a ¼ km away. It came out in the photos like this to.

I just ended up with being fascinated at something every day. Doing the day trip was enough for me. It was hot, bright but so worth it. The next day in the town was a fiesta in honour of some god that I didn’t quite get to the bottom of but all the school children were dressed up and there were celebrations in the street. Their clothes and costumes had all the colours of the rainbow and there was traditional Bolivian music from adults accompanying them as they went through the streets. It was great fun to catch this and my camera is working great to. After watching this for some time I go sit in the main plaza and have a look in my Lonely Planet book trying to decide where I will go when I get to Ecuador. That night Kodak and I bump our way back to La Paz. I have decided to stay another week and take Spanish lessons at a school. My teacher has no idea what is about to hit her. I’m already feeling sorry for her.

Cont….14

My first Spanish lesson goes ok and I’m getting ahead of myself thinking I might get the hang of this. I was to end up doing 4hrs each morning for a week. One afternoon while walking in one of the streets up behind my hostel I bump into Mike. Mike is Canadian and we hit it off immediately when we met in Argentina. He’s around 6ft4 and the easiest guy to talk to but will he send you an email – hell no – and that’s why I had no idea he was in La Paz. The first thing he asks me is to help him. Why, what has happened. Well turns out he met this girl in Chile and she decided to follow him to Bolivia and he didn’t like her to the point where he wanted to see her again. But she invited herself along anyway and he wanted my company the next night at dinner as he wasn’t too sure what he was going to talk about with her.

Mike also had lost his backpack. No I should rephrase that, he had it stolen by making the biggest mistake in the book. He was the only one in the taxi and had paid the driver before getting out and while Mike was walking to the boot of the car to get his pack the driver took off. That has to be the oldest and most heard of trick in the book that taxi drivers use. Put the bag in the backseat with you, get it out and yourself then walk to the driver’s window and pay him, then shut the door you got out of. I have done this many a time now. The dinner goes off ok and this girl seems nice but the first 2 seconds told me she was not Mike’s type. The rest of this story I think is better left unsaid.

I was to have my own encounter with a pint sized Israeli that decided he would like to get into my pants. What is it with guys when they are away from home and especially the younger ones? I mean I’m old enough to be their mother!! The day of our departure to Quito in Ecuador comes around and Kodak and I have a wakeup call at 5am.

Thankful I don’t have many early morning flights on my trip. On getting into the plane the head steward puts out his hand to shake mine and comments ‘what amazing coloured eyes you have, so blue’. We end up talking like we have known each other for years and in the end I have to sit down as everyone is in their seats and waiting on me, bit embarrassing. It wasn’t till later when I got off the plane I realised I didn’t get his email. The flight is good though as it follows Lake Titicaca more or less right up the middle. I have a 2 ½ hr stopover in Lima and this is where I find the one and only place to smoke in all of South America. Yes it’s at gate 23. There’s a cafe there and you have to buy a coffee or tea and you can sit and smoke for as long as you like and go on wifi to pass the time.

Arriving in Quito and getting to the hostel goes without a hitch. Oh but it is colder here and it is at altitude also, only 1000mtrs lower than La Paz. Quito was to turn out to quite fun. I was to stay at a very popular hostel and meet and make friends with people from the US, Canada, England and Belgium. Some people think that I’m a live wire and leave them for dead with the energy I have but this Canadian Sean out did everyone. He was living in Sydney, Australia and had also live in Gisborne, New Zealand. He was into climbing, surfing – well you name it he had tried it.

One day there he decided he was going to climb the high peak up behind the Teleforica. Stupidly Pat and I said that we would also give it a try. The ride to the top of the teleforica takes a half hour and takes you up 1km. When you get to the top you are at 4000mtrs above sea level and it is so cold up here. Pat and I were wrapped up well but after walking only a short distance give up and head back to the cafe and toilets. Sean and the others didn’t last much longer realising the going was tough and there was no way they would reach the top before dark and get back for the last trip down in the cable car. Didn’t matter and the photos from up there turned out great. You get the most wondrous view over Quito and because we had all been to lots of places within Quito we are able to point them out.

I also decide to take another week of Spanish. Oh my poor Spanish teacher!! I think he found the going harder than me. One afternoon I head off with a group of people to go ice-skating. At first no-one even believed me when I said that you could go ice-skating in Quito but you can. It took us awhile to find the place but it was the best fun and what a laugh. I have never done it before and in the 2 ½ hrs I spent on the ice I only ended up on my butt 3 times. The arrival of 3 kiwi girls at the hostel allows me to have some company on a visit across to the coast and a place called Puerto Lopez. I had been thinking of going this way and when these 3 turned up and said they were going there I asked if I could join them. Their answer – yes. Great so a few days later we head to the bus station for a night bus. Great thing about Ecuador, you don’t need to book a bus as they are heading to all sorts of destinations nearly every 20minutes. Apart from that there are several companies to choose from.

Wow the road to Puerto Lopez is something else, well the first part of it anyway. Huge hills that the bus winds up for ages. The jungle areas that we go through is where all the banana passionfruit comes from that I had been buying in the street and introducing to hostellers whom had never heard of it let alone seen it. There are lots of Ecuadorians with their children on this bus and when we get only 10minutes into the movie I am wondering why they are showing it. If you have seen Mel Gibson’s ‘Apocalypse’ then you know what I mean, if you haven’t seen it well I can tell you it is rather violent. God even I couldn’t look at some parts of it and I know for sure that there is no way I would let my granddaughter watch it. I’m sure those poor kids must have had nightmares for a week but none of them seem to cry, scream or even flinch when this movie was on. Getting to Puerto Lopez was an all night affair with some of the roads quite rough, especially the last bit leading into our final destination. It was heavenly to finally get there.

Cont……15

Our first day in Puerto Lopez we were introduced to an Italian who had lived in this small town for so long he had nearly forgotten how to speak his native language. He became our tour guide for the day. First off was to a lovely secluded beach. We spent just hours swimming and sun-bathing. Then we were taken to a thermal pool. God it smelt, reminded me off Rotorua in NZ, and it was only luke warm but we got to meet locals and we a place I’m sure not to many people have been.

Then we headed in the opposite direction and bumped our way along to another beach. I must say the beaches out here are stunning and the water is crystal clear and warm. Never have to ask someone if they are hopping in. A lookout point we went to was amazing. It is owned by a German gentleman and he had also been there for many years. His eldest son attended highschool in Guayaquil but came home every weekend. He was a very interesting man to talk with. The sun is piercing hot all day and there was a ton of suntan lotion used. When we got back to our little town later in the afternoon we were in time to see all the fisherman come in and the off-loading of the days catch. There are pelicans for miles (as you can see from my pic). Boats are rowed out to the bigger ones then rowed to shore. No wharf here to make their jobs easier. That evening our guide for the day invites us all to his home for dinner.

There are some stunning and very modern homes in Puerto Lopez. Yet another place I decide I wouldnt mind living! After a pleasant meal and conversation we are taken back to our hostel. I like this place with its Great Dane dog, lizards and these over-sized looking rat things! The cockroaches I could have done without especially when they crawled into my bag. Hope they get smouldered!!

The following day we head down to the beach to meet up with a guy we organised the night before to take us to an island for a look around then snorkelling. A guy we meet the night before on our wanders is coming with us. Marc was his name and he turned out to be quite the photographer, and his was his birthday to boot. I wasn’t feeling the best all day so didnt do the snorkelling bit but still had a great time. On getting back to shore we invite Marc to dinner and head back to shower and change. When I walked into my room, which I had to unlock first, I notice my bag unlocked. I quick look at my wallet, little bit on cash, passport, yellow fever certificate and a few other pieces puts my mind at rest that nothing is missing and it all looks the same. Clothes haven’t been moved, thrown out and put back in, but I swear I locked it.You know one of those nagging thoughts that stays with you because you just know you locked it!!

Anyway off to dinner we go and Marc I know, very much appreciated company on his birthday. I am still friends with Marc and keep track on Facebook and have even stayed at his place in Williamstown. I told him I would love to visit one day and over a year later I did. HI MARC. The following day the other three girls decide they are going to head further south so Marc and I head to Manta. We bump our way back to Manta. God it seems to take hours and its so hot. Marc is going to stay the night but when I tell him I’m heading to the airport to see if can get a flight to Quito he decides to come along. When I just rock up to the TAME counter and ask if its possible to get on the next flight to Quito and buy my ticket there and then Marks like ‘what the hell, I might as well come to’. He was amazed that I could and did just rock up and buy a ticket. We turn around to see this lonely red and black backpack being pulled along by a small tractor on one of those baggage carts all by itself. Not 2 minutes later we are getting on the plane and heading to Quito. If memory serves me right its only just over an hour and a half to Quito.

Anyway there was no way I was going to spend another 8-10 hours on the bus from Manta to Quito and this way I can still catch a bus and be in Riobamba well before dark. Brillant! So I get to the bus station in Quito and buy a ticket and then I’m off to Riobamba. Yes, just like that. I love the fact you can do that everywhere in South America and Quito is so easy. There’s just buses to everywhere all the time and a load of bus companys to choose from. No worries and inexpensive and also just as comfy as anywhere else and the roads are better than in Peru. The countryside along the way to Riobamba is flat of rolling and cultivated with many crops. I didnt get to see many tractors but I dear say they where there somewhere. I arrive in Riobamba and find myself next to a market. Couldn’t help but take a photo of all these poor hens stuffed in a box. The noise was more like a scream, well it wasnt a cluck thats for sure.

Cont…..16

After arriving in Riobamba and finding out that the train trip I wanted to do is only on a Thursday (its Tuesday) and that I would be needing to get up at 5.30am and travelling to Alausi and then catching my train and then having to travel all the way back to Alausi and then getting on a bus and back to Riobamba all in one day I decide to give it a miss and spend the one night in Riobamba.

So the following morning I get up and head out. This town is like most others with markets and shops to buy just about anything you can think of. The streets seem to be narrow but it is a smaller city if you like and in the centre of the country. I decided for lunch to follow the locals. By this time I had learnt that the best places to eat of course is where the locals go. Good food, good prices.  After lunch Kodak and I head to the bus station.

Next lesson – always tell the taxi driver where you are going to. Saves a lot of time and in this case in Riobamba lots because there are two bus stations. One at the south end of town and one at the north end of town. The rest is self explanatory. So from the north station we head off to Banoś. It only takes about 2 hrs and it goes very fast. It was rather hot when I got into Banoś.

After booking into my hostel off I go for the usual look around and head back to the hostel. For some reason that I can’t explain I decide I need to look at my travel cards. I have 4 and also my debit card from the UK and another NZ card and 1 credit card. I only have this many because of being away from home for so long. On pulling half my clothes out of the backpack I discover my money belt is gone. Panic set in and I just went blank. After sitting for a half hour trying to get my head around it I know that it had to be in Puerto Lopez that it was stolen. At this point I have a bit of a cry. The frustration got to me and it has been the only time in 2 years of travelling that I have cried. After pulling myself together I getting phone numbers and travellers cheque numbers etc….I head down to an internet cafe to make phone calls and try to put a stop to things.

This was really frustrating because of the time difference. To my surprise my traveller cheques $US4000 had been cashed in Puerto Lopez the day I had gone to the island snorkelling. Yes the day I came back and swore I had locked my bag. Well they where good – REALLY GOOD because they had to go right down into the bottom of a second pocket that you don’t know is there unless you take half my stuff out. To this day I still don’t know how they did it. They obviously knew the person that worked at the bank to in order to cash them and get this 2 hours later they got another $500 off the same cheques. American Express figured the bank teller themselves then went back and did this for themselves somehow. Needless to say they were just as amazed as I was.

They had also tried to use my NZ card but when the pin number was wrong a second time it was overridden by my bank and stopped immediately. They didn’t bother to try my UK one. All in all the first night I spent 4 hours on the phone and the following night another 4. My stay in Banoś was not what I wanting it to be. The 3 other kiwi girls turned up and after telling them they were just as surprised. They had all their stuff all over the room and nothing had got from their packs at all. After a long night on the phone it is decided I will head back to Quito and hire one of the Spanish teachers there and head back to Puerto Lopez with them as my interpreter to get a police report. More money. I get back to the Secret Garden Hostel and get an interpreter and 2 days later we are flying into Manta. Then it’s on the bus again to bump my way back to Puerto Lopez. We are told it is a direct bus but then find ourselves inland and having to change buses.

It just seemed to go on forever and we don’t get into PL until 2pm. Then the fun starts. First I have to go to the Policia and make a report. He then goes to the Political Policia and tells them what has happened, and then it’s to the Camasaria to ask their permission to do the report and ask if they will sign it. When he has permission we then go back to his office and he hand writes what I tell has been stolen. Next I have to pay him for this and then it is back to the Camasaria and they have a look at his report and I then pay them so they will sign it after he has had it typed up on official Policia Report paper. You get the drift.

All this time I’m thinking if this was NZ I would be done for bribing the Police. You don’t dare suggest payment to the Police in my country yet here I am paying the Police in Ecuador. I can say honestly that the whole thing made me nervous. Anyway after walking between offices and 3 different lots of Police, Jackie then tells me the report will be sent in a few days to her so she can deliver it to me at the hostel. I’m now thinking that I might not even get it and another lot of money has just gone. By the time we finish and get back to the bus station the last bus to Manta has left. What now! This man at the bus station knows another who has a good car and will drive to the airport. Out comes my wallet again and for another $US60 off we go. This poor guy is driving like a bat out hell so we can make it in time and he keeps saying ‘this is Ecuador, nothing is on time’. Well up to this point every bus and plane I have taken has always been on time. And you guessed it.

We get to Manta airport and our plane had left on time 10 minutes ago. So out comes the credit card (they didn’t get this one) and another lot of money gone. SHIT what the hell else is going to go wrong. We catch the next flight and finally 9.45pm that night we get back to Quito. I’m starving by this time and to tired so  go straight to bed, not that I got to sleep in a hurry. God let tomorrow be a good day!!!

Photo compliments of Marc Freeman

Cont…..17

Well the following day turns out to be OK. I went up to a statue of the Virgin Mary on a hill overlooking the older part of the city.  Then to soccer match with a group from the hostel. I’m back at the Secret Garden Hostel. A real find this one. Anyway this soccer match is a real eye opener. We had a guy from Scotland with us. My god did he get into it in a big way and none of us could actually understand a thing he was saying. We spent more time laughing at him than looking at the game. After the game had finished we make our way outside and then watch the happenings that are going on.

Supporters are trying to start a riot and low and behold the Policia are just backing off big time. We nearly find ourselves in the thick of it so move away and then watch all the bottles start to get thrown at the Policia. Must say that I got nervous there for awhile. This goes on for 20 minutes before we move on and leave them to it. We catch a bus back to the nearest drop off point to our hostel and then sit to talk about the whole afternoon. Ever noticed that everyone everywhere always goes home and talks about the day especially when it has had the heart pumping. We just can’t help ourselves can we.

So to what am I going to do next? Kodak and I think it must be time to see the Galapagos Islands. This is something I have always wanted to do and I need time to get my mind off the last few days and have some fun and meet new people. So the following day I head down to the corner and catch the tram downtown. It’s really good having it so close by and all I have to do is walk over a block and turn left and I am at the agency that I had googled that has last minute spots for these trips.

At the same time I get some passport photos down as my spare ones had been stolen along with me drivers license, international drivers license, a letter from Canadian immigration and other bits and pieces. I get all booked and paid and have to go back the following day to pick all the tickets up. So now I have the next thing to look forward to and I must say it was good. My enthusiasm for all things Ecuadorian is starting to grow again. I went window shopping for 2 hours and brought some souvenirs before catching a taxi back. By this time I am so far away from where you catch the tram I can’t be bothered walking all the way back. My taxi driver speaks a little more English than most and between my Spanglish and his English, Jose and I have a pretty good conversation. He was a really nice guy.

Next morning I head downtown again to get all my tickets. Yes I am off to the Galapagos Islands. On walking back up the street I want to have another look at something I had seen the day before and I have to cross the street at the lights. As I am doing this a taxi starts tooting madly at me. I’m just about to let rip as in Quito it is a past time off all drivers to relentless toot all day like it is having some effect on getting the traffic to move again. Noise pollution, anyway I look around and who is grinning at me but Jose. What are the chances? There has to be close to a million taxis in Quito. No kidding. Not many people can afford their own cars so public transport and taxis are just everywhere, so I reckon it has to be around a million to one chance of seeing the same one again.

This same night I get an email from my daughter saying the parcel I posted in Peru has gotten there and everyone is stoked with their presents. Anyway to get some sleep as I have to be at the airport for a 7.30am departure. Our flight takes us to Guayaquil first to pick up others that are on the trip and then onto the Galapagos. Flying in you can see how clear the water is. It looks so inviting already. I am on the ship ‘Santa Cruz’. The young girl sharing my cabin is from Guayaquil and works for Metropolana Tours who does the bookings in Guayaquil. This is her 3rd time as she gets a trip once a year if she wishes to take it. For lunch we have buffet.

Following that we are put into groups and the afternoon we get to go ashore and practice our snorkelling. I haven’t down this in years but it took no time to get the hang of it again. The water is so clear and warm. I could have stayed there all night. That night at dinner I am sitting at a table with a guy from Germany. He is sponsored from companies in Germany and has a t-shirt on with ‘Mike the Bike’. He is cycling around the world. (In January 2009 I was in Tokomaru Bay, NZ and meet another guy from Netherlands who had met him on his travels. Small world.) Getting to sleep is no trouble and I have now found  the smallest showers in the world. The next morning when we wake up we find ourselves at a different island. Cont…..18

A new day dawns. I have already seen sea lions, birds including flamingos and fish of all sorts and taken a photo of a seahorse. Breakfast is buffet and the selection is great. We head ashore to a new island. This island we get to see iguanas by the hundreds. The big male albatross sitting on the nest while his partner is out to sea. We walk on hardened lava that has formed amazing patterns and see the blue-footed boobies. Their feet seem oversized for their body.

But the best part of the day is snorkelling. The fish and manta rays by the dozen, but best of all was just floating in the sea with a turtle no more than 4 inches from my face. We floated just looking at each other for 10minutes before he decides to move on. The fur seals go whizzing past your face at 50kmph or more and give you such a fright and they do it continuously. I don’t know how many times I got a fright but it was loads and to just watch them is so invigorating. If only we could swim like that. They twist and turn and invite you to try it and there is no way you can keep up with them.

By the time you have turned around they are already behind you again and I swear they are having a good laugh. I went over right by the rock face as the fish tendered to be over there and when you drifted to close to the rocks all you had to do was pushed yourself off. The surf was amazing gentle and the water so warm. I don’t know how long we were there but it wasn’t long enough. Never is when it is something you are having so much fun doing. I have more photos again and even some of penguins. After we were all back on board our inflatable outboard boat we go into a cave. We have the choice of whether we get in the water of not. 25 metres or so below us the bottom of the cave is covered in manta rays. Now it’s not the manta rays that stop you getting in the water, it’s the temperature. It is remarkably colder in this cave. Not 40 metres back out it is so warm. Three guys from my boat hop in and have a dive down and play around which we can all see as the water is crystal clear but they don’t last more than 10minutes because of the cold.

There were also the fur seals darting around everywhere. I could have watched this for hours. Back on board is time to relax and mingle with the others. There are people of all ages from all over the world. Lunch is served to us and so is dinner. Yep, you don’t have to lift a finger. The waiters remember your name from the first time they meet you so every time you walked into the dining room they would greet you by your name. I was most impressed and the food was excellent. Note to oneself – take another cruise because if it is anything like this I won’t have any complaints.

There is a jacuzzi on the top deck, bar and you can do karaoke. The captain sang for us one night and wow he could sing. In the main lounge a screen is pulled down and the guides put on view all the photos of us. We didn’t know they were taking photos of us taking photos of everything we were seeing. Who ended up on the big screen? KODAK. By this time of course everyone knew who Kodak was. Gives you a different take on things also to see it up on a huge screen. The drama of last week is well to the back of mind and I can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings. If you ever have the chance to go to the Galapagos Islands then go. I can see why my cabin mate is taking her 3^rd trip. Cont……19

The next day sees us all go ashore on a different island and then the afternoon is spent snorkelling. It’s fantastic. The thought of this all having to come to an end is not something I want to think about. There are the usual things we see today along with penguins and those super quick sea lions. One of the guys in our group kept getting bombarded by a bird when he was snorkelling to the point where this bird actually pulled out some his hair. Most of us couldn’t help but laugh every time this bird came in for another dive at him. He then ended up spending a lot of snorkelling time diving under when this bird lined him up. This bird had something against him!

Our last day is spent getting to the island of Santa Cruz and going to the Charles Darwin Research Centre. WOW! The giant turtles of the Galapagos are giant all right. My guide told me it takes 8 men to lift one. NO – I think it has to take 12 men. They are massive. I put my hand down by the foot of one of them so people could take a photo and try to get an idea of just how huge they are. They can live to over a hundred years of age. One that was there is believed to be 108yrs. I thought they moved at a reasonable speed to considering their size.

It’s pretty hard to put into words just what it is like to be here and to describe what I have seen and experienced. It really is a place you have to visit for yourself to appreciate the place, the people and the wildlife and creatures of this amazing place. Needless to say if I have the chance to come again for another 4-5 days I will do so. Sadly the day is coming to an end and it’s off to the airport and my flight back to Quito. Amongst the Galapagos Islands are only two airports. One used to be an American Military Air Base. We flew into one and are flying out of the other. We first fly back to Guayaquil to drop off the ones that started their journey here. This time Guayaquil has dried out somewhat as when I fly down at the start of my Galapagos adventure it was flooded, as was pretty much all the south of Ecuador. Quito is wet and cold, nothing like the Galapagos which was so warm.

The following day is my Mum’s birthday and I give her a call. It’s good to hear a voice I know from home and to catch up on all the gossip, not that I have really missed that. The Policia report had been delivered to Jackie while I was gone so I have made the decision to move on again. I have booked a flight and have to get up at 5am so I borrow a phone off Lucy (from Ireland) and head to bed. I have met some great people at this hostel and will endeavour to meet them somewhere in the world again. We all had the company of a Bolivian doctor from La Paz one night. He and his wife where in Quito for a South American doctor’s conference but they didn’t like staying at the posh hotels they provide for free, instead they liked to stay at hostels to meet people from all over the world. Like me. I find them so much more fun and sociable than hotels, unless of course, you have had enough and want a change to keep your sanity. Hello to Kylie, an Australian, living in Dublin. I meet her at this hostel and have visited her in Ireland. This hostel is The Secret Garden. So Where the Hell is Kodak going next?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cont……20
Cartagena, Colombia.

But first to get there we have a 4 hr stopover in Panama. Now you are probably thinking why not fly direct from Quito and maybe have a stopover in Bogota. Cost. To do it that way was actually nearly twice the price. In this part of the world it pays to check out several search engines and the airlines directly. Anyway I’m thinking what the heck am I going to do in Panama airport for 4 hours? Oh brother, leave me here. This, so far, is my favourite airport for layout and DUTY FREE SHOPPING! It has got to be close to ½ km long and duty free shopping on both sides. Heaven. I loved it and oh did the time pass by so fast.

The onward flight to Cartagena goes without any delays and Kodak and I are soon taking our first footsteps on Colombian soil. This is despite all the protests from friends about how dangerous Colombia is. (Its bullsh..!) Walking out of the airport and into a hail of taxi drivers and having not much Spanish is never fun but I find a taxi driver that speaks English. Then all hell broke loose. The other taxi drivers didn’t like it as I had walked past some of their cars to go with this driver and next thing there is a bit of pushing and shoving going on. The Policia had to get these other guys off my driver. Another incident that made the heart go bump, bump! No problem. Now that may sound a bit scary, but no more than anything else. The Policia are armed and it was the driver who was getting it. The competition is fierce.

I had booked myself into a hotel as I knew that the area of Getasami where the hostels are is rough to say the least. I stayed down in Bocagrande. I loved it down here. Right on the beach and 2 pools at the hotel. If I don’t want to eat hotel food two buildings away is McDonalds. I didn’t end up eating there as breakfast, lunch and dinner are provided by the hotel and the selection was fantastic. And to top off they serve you.

So I do my usual thing and dump my bags and head off to have a look about. First stop was the bar downstairs and immediately start a conversation with the bar owner. He just so happens to sell emerald jewellery and twice a week goes to the cruise liners that call at the port to sell them there. Nice bloke and as it turned out most nights were spent in the bar talking with him and two of his friends. One of these guys, Juan, I hit it off with and his sister who didn’t have a job was to spend endless hours with me talking Spanish.

Now a word of warning. Be prepared to nearly get man-handled by woman wanting to give you a massage and put beads in your hair. Every time I stepped onto the street they were there suggesting I would like both. Became rather annoying actually. There are the taxi drivers that just sit outside all day waiting till someone wants to go somewhere. There’s usually 4-5 of them and once a day they end up having an argument about something. There is the guy that sits there trying to sell sunglasses all day, woman who come along with fruit bowls on their heads and Henry. He sells tickets for the day trip on a boat to Rosario Island. Then there are the horse drawn carts that do a circuit forever trying to get you to go for a ride. I refuse simply because their horses are so skinny and obviously not looked after. The poor things are so thin, hot and thirsty and look like they are going to drop dead on you.

My second day there I did a city tour and meet Genny from Bogota. We had a lot of fun as she didn’t speak much English but taking photos and gesturing and pulling faces about things is a universal language. My second full day there sees me heading to Rosario Island. On the way we see one massive cruise liner in the port. I am going on a cruise on one of them one day for sure. We first call in at a small island and go to an aquarium and swim then onto Rosaria Island for lunch. This is nice. The water is so clear and warm. You can do a banana boat ride or spend a little money buying the usual stuff from the vendors working the beach. Most enjoyable day of swimming, white sand beach, palm trees and sun. It finished all too soon. On the way back to port there is a Colombian couple that strike up a conversation with me. Lovely people and this was the way I was to find most Colombians especially if they spoke only a little English.

This same night Genny comes to the bar again and I learn a little more about her. She works with a company that imports wine and alcohol to Colombia. We are on facebook and she often sends me a message in Spanish of things. Next day I head to Club Nautica and see if I can put my name down to catch a boat to Panama City. To get the address of this place I went to a hostel in Getasami called Casa Viena. I walked in and immediately spotted this guy that I had meet and talked with in the Loki hostel, La Paz, Bolivia. The street this hostel was on had not been a lie and this guy had been beaten up and his wallet stolen at the start of the alley that leads to this hostel. I was looked at real hard to when walking down here but I can remember things I was told when doing my security guard training and I’m sure it has served me well on occasions.

After visiting Club Nautica I walk for about 2kms along the shore until getting a taxi back to the hotel. I have no problems with trusting the taxi drivers in Cartagena.

VENEZUELA

VENEZUELA

Travelling here is something you do at considerable risk and is the reason why I have not been. When in Argentina last year I met two great Welsh girls who should have been met there by two friends from Wales. They were not there with them as they had stopped off in Venezuela with the intention of spending 2 weeks on holiday exploring that country. They were questioned at the airport in Caracas for an hour and then taken to the coast, told ‘this is your driver, this is your car, this is where you can go and when, and if you don’t agree then you can leave the country’. The girls decided to leave the country and because they were so shock-up they flew back to Wales.

On getting  to Quito about 2 months later I was to met 3 Australian guys who had been in Venezuela and said ‘do not go there’!!  The police and military had held up their buses and come on board demanding money for all passengers. In their case $100 each time. Buy the third hold up in one day a young Japanese man had only $80 left so they hit him in the face with the butt of a pistol. (These incidences occurred last year and it may be different now )

This is a shame that travellers are not really to welcome here as there are many places I wanted to visit. Angel Falls for a start. Island of Margarita, highest cable car in the world near Merida………

On having said all that, there are people that have been recently who have found it safe enough and enjoyed themselves, so it is down to the individual.

(Please remember that all opinions expressed in these pages are mine and only mine.)

GUYANE (French Guiana )

GUYANA

SURINAME

The above three countries I have not visited.  I think they get missed a bit by the average traveller being so far over on the other side and they aren’t countries talked about around the dinner table.

PERU

PERU

Hot on the coast and cooler in the Andes. There is, like all countries in South America, lots to see. Lima itself was not so appealing to me and from all accounts a little dangerous. When picked up from the airport, the first thing my hostel driver did was lock the doors. When I gave a startled look it was explained  to me a that at the traffic lights young men in groups with open the doors and try to either remove your bags or remove you from the vehicle and beat you up in order to obtain money, cameras, more or less everything you have with you. I only stayed in the city for a day and headed to Nazca.  All the coast of Peru is desert but from the ancient aquaducts there is a fresh water supply from the Andes. Some of these water channels, which are mainly underground, are up to 1000km long. I went to where 3 of these channels came out in a huge well.  Apart from the Nazca Lines which you view from the air, there are also pyramids and old burial grounds which are being excavated on the plains next to the Nazca plain. The wind here travels at 40km per hr all day, everyday. The puzzling thing is that the sand does not reach the Nazca Plain which is only separated by a dried up river ( until the rains and snow melts in the Andes ). The distance between the two plains is approx. ½ km. My guide, and no one else to date, has been able to explain this.

Arequipa. This city, half way between Nazca and Lake Titicaca, is surrounded by 3 volcano’s. The main one being a volcano called El Misti. This city nearly has a million inhabitants and is right in the Andes. Surprisingly it has a dry climate. I stayed here for 2 days so as to acclimatise to the altitude. It has some interesting history along with very old buildings and museums. Most of the travellers I met here where doing the same as me. If you don’t want to go from sea level to 4000m above sea level then stop off here for a night or two. The altitude here is 2,380m

Puno was the next jump up in altitude to 4000m above sea level. It is right on the edge of Lake Titicaca. From here you can do the floating reed islands. My feeling is that if it weren’t for the tourists visiting then they would no longer be living on the reed islands. Puno is very smelly if it rains, which it had to do when I first got there, and to make it worse I had altitude sickness. My friend Amy was fine. Coca tea – does it work- I don’t know. I have tried it a few times now and personally don’t think it does anything for me.

Cusco is where , obviously, everyone heads for to see Machu Picchu or to do the Inca Trail. I took the backpackers train and did the day trip. It’s a long day but so worth the effort. Kiwi’s note the Totara tree where the buses drop you off. Machu Picchu left me with more questions than answers. It is an amazing place. If you are fit you can climb Huayna Picchu. On average it will take an hour. Its hard slog though! Cusco has lots to see and do. Amy and I did a bus tour of the surrounding villages and went to the temple of the sun in the sacred valley of Urubamba. This too is a mysterious place. You can stand in front of the sun temple and look down on this whole ancient site but when you put your head around the corner it nearly gets blown off. The wind whistles past here at 40kmph ( or there abouts ). It is like this day in and day out. How? Why? Who knows, just another of those unanswered questions that fascinates me.

I finally got sick of rice in Peru. It’s served up with everything. Peru grows acres of rice and also potatoes but for some reason you don’t get potatoes with your meals. They grow over 2000 varieties of potatoes. (they export nearly all their potatoes)  Between Puno and Cusco there are huge flat plains ( the altiplano ) where alot of crops are grown.  Not far from Cusco is also a huge plateau where the new airport is going to be. My first thought was how sad as it is such a beautiful place. But that’s progress for you.  They hadn’t started moving in the machinery when I was there, but I dare say they have started by now. The other thing which tests your patience here is the people right in your face trying to sell you things. I haven’t found any other place in my travels where the local people do this. Keep walking and say no. You have to because you can’t buy from everyone.

Ingrids Travel Tips for Peru

1) You don’t have to do a tour for the Nazca plains. Go to the airport and just go ask one of the pilots that will be standing by his plane. If you go in a group of up to 5 this is better. It is about a third of the price this way. Hostel and hotel owners will insist that you can’t do this, YOU CAN!

2) In Peru they tend to load your bags onto the bus once everyone is on. In Nazca no-one got on the bus much to the driver’s annoyance. Stand your ground and make sure the bags are loaded before you hop on. Peru was the only country that I didn’t feel at ease about my luggage.

3) Sit on the side of the bus that bags are loaded. This way you can watch at every stop to make sure no-one is taking off with your bag. It does happen every now and then, but luckily it’s not very common.

4) For going to the floating reed islands in Puno by your tickets from your hostel, it’s cheaper. ( Yes the opposite from Nazca )

5) Wear good footwear for Machu Picchu.

6) Don’t forget your tourist stamp from Machu Picchu in your passport. Got mine!

7) If you’re fit , Huayna Picchu is absolutely worth the hard slog.

If you want to post a parcel home from Cusco take a photocopy of your passport with you. They provide boxes and tape.

9) Try guinea pig and lama. Let’s face it, you probably won’t have the chance to again so go for it. It’s not bad actually!

10) Don’t be out late in the wrong area of Lima. Sadly violence towards tourist here is on the rise. They will take your top brand Nike shoes if the opportunity is there for them. Young youths on the streets at night are only a problem in Lima. Elsewhere in Peru you see signs ‘protect the tourist’ and plenty of police keeping watch.

11) The bus system in Peru is good, just the roads are hard work, but don’t hesitate to take them. It’s not as scary as it seems really.

12) Sad but true is also the fact that you will see men urinating in the street. If your urgently need to go the toilet just ask in a shop or restaurant. Sometimes it may require you to buy a cup of tea or coffee.

13) As in most South American countries have some toilet paper on you all the time. At public places like bus stops you have to pay to use the toilet. I don’t mind this as they are only trying to make a living.

14) Take the backpackers train to Machu Picchu. I found it interesting with amazing scenery and of course there are those switchbacks. This train ride also gives you lots of photo opportunities and a chance to meet people from all over the world.

15) Enjoy Peru and take your time, there’s a load to see.

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ECUADOR

ECUADOR, including the Galapagos Islands.

This country is so easy to get around with buses from the main bus station in Quito going to every destination in the country nearly every ½ hour. The coast of Ecuador from Manta to Guayaquil has beautiful warm clear waters and small off shore islands to go snorkelling for a day.  From Quito you can do the equator or go to places like Banos and of course many more. Mountains are close and rivers for rafting. Ecuador seems to have it all. Amongst all the fruit you can buy I found Banana Passionfruit. I had heaps of people at the hostel eating them as they had never come across them before. In New Zealand the banana passionfruit vine is now considered a noxious weed. In Ecuador they are taking over and grow just everywhere.

Best hostel in Quito is ‘Secret Garden. Breakfast is about $5 but its as much as you can eat and they also do a tradional Ecuadorian meal every night which is about the same price. They also have live music one night a week.  You will find yourself with endless places to go and endless activities to enjoy. This is another country so set up for tourists and its not hard to find out anything you want to know.

Second to none of course are the Galapagos Islands. If your budget allows, don’t miss them! It is an amazing experience to snorkel with turtles and fur seals. The waters are warm and clear and surprisingly calm. I could snorkel not more than 1metre from the rocks and when I got close, would just push myself back out a little. There are blue–footed boobies and the albatross (males ) sitting on the nests. You can get very close to take photos. Then there are the many hundreds of iguanas. Ugly things I think, and not as big as I thought they were. Flamingos.……. The ship I went on was great, as was the service, and each morning you woke to find yourself at a different island. The Charles Darwin Research Centre is where you get to see the enormous turtles. It takes 8 men to lift one. Personally I think they lied, and that it must take as many as 10 of even 12. You are allowed to get right next to them but no touching. I still think today WOW and I would love to take everyone there to see the Galapagos. Ecuador is another country I will revisit. Mind you I think the whole of South America is great and that I will go back to all the countries there many more times.

Ingrids Travel Tips for Ecuador

1) Watch your belongings in this country. If you put it down they think it belongs to them and ‘bang’ it’s gone.

2) If robbed, get on the phone quick. My room was broken into ( I wasn’t to realise this until sometime later as it was done in such a way that I didn’t immediately know ) and by the time I got on the phone they had cashed  us$4000.00 And no, they didn’t get my passport. I little obvious that they knew the person that worked in the bank.

3) The hostel I stayed in at Quito did spanish lessons. The tutors came to the hostel. If your hostel runs this service take advantage of it. This proved helpful for me as I hired one of the tutors to be my interpreter for getting the police report after being robbed.

4) The people like it if you attempt to speak in spanish. I still have to do a bit of pointing and other hand gestures to get understood, but hey it makes for a bit of fun and laughter.

5) Before going to Ecuador make sure your budget allows for the Galapagos Islands. It would be a shame to go all that way and to miss them. It is an unforgettable place.

6) Don’t forget a visit somewhere along the coast. The beaches are beautiful and the water so clear.

7) Do the Teleforica when in Quito. Amazing views over the city.

Remember you are at altitude and its hard work just walking so take your time.

9) Make a point of going on a bus to a small town within an hour or so of Quito each day. Buses are going to somewhere all the time and this is an easy way to do the equator.

10) Visit the Otavalo markets. This is something to remember for life.

11) Just like in Bolivia – if travelling alone put your bag in the backseat with you. If the taxi driver tries to say no it will be because he wants to fill the vehicle up with others and there is no way of knowing where you will get taken before being dropped off, or the cost.

12) Remember  that Quito is at altitude so dont try to do to much the first day or so.

From 2010 a new International Airport for Ecuador is going to open. This will be about a ½ hr drive away from the outskirts of Quito, towards Cotacachi. Im not certain which month this opens.

COLOMBIA

COLOMBIA

This is also another country I love to visit and have been to twice. People think that it is rather dangerous to go there and especially if you are female and travelling alone. It’s no more dangerous than any other South American country.  My first visit was to Cartagena on the Caribbean coast in the north and my intention was to stay for 3-4 days and I ended up staying for 9. I was right on the beach in the area called Bocagrande. It was here that I met a lovely young Colombian couple on holiday themselves from Bogota. I went to visit them again this year in Bogota. Next month I am going back to attend their wedding.  The Old City of Cartagena is surrounded by a wall which you can walk. In one corner before a bridge there is a very neat night club, and it’s very popular to. Many Americans have brought homes within the old city and have done a great job of restoring them. They are painted all the colours of the rainbow and it is a nice place to walk around to see them all. There are also lots of cafes to sit and have the best coffee in the world. After all my travelling I think theirs is the best coffee.  Of course Colombia is the place to buy emeralds (unless you go to Indonesia or India where they are so cheap). Buying emeralds here means you will get a certificate of authenticity and from what mine they came and when. I brought several rings for family members and myself and then a very rare Tourmaline ring.  Throughout Colombia there is no problem finding ATM’s or internet cafes. Bogota is worth a visit but probably even more so if you have someone to show you around. There is Moserrat high up on a hill which is reached by cable car. This gives you a fantastic view over the city. There is a good bus system in Bogota, you just have to work out where you want to go and what bus to take. My friends took me outside of the city. We went past a big lake and then to some very high waterfalls. Sadly all the sewage from Bogota goes into this lake then over the falls.  We then wound down into a very green valley and had a traditional Colombian meal for lunch. It was so tasty.

Ingrids Travel Tips for Colombia

1) When in Bogota go to the gold museum. It shows the history of gold and its uses in Colombia.

2) You can walk to the cable car to go to Monserrat from the centre of town if you like walking.  Alot of taxi drivers understand a little english. I have found them to be honest and friendly.

3) If you fly into Bogota don’t change your money at the money exchange there.  They absolutely rip you off. When you come out from picking up your bags you have to walk right past them. Keep going,  go left once outside and go to the departures check- in area. Go up the stairs and go left. There you will find an ATM.

4) Go to the Emerald trading house. Here you can view raw emeralds of all colours and sizes. I could spend hours looking at them.

5) Not far out of Bogota you can go to places where you can pick your own strawberries. Your hostel or hotel might be able to help you on how to get there. I was taken by my friends in their car.

6) Colombia is very cheap because of the exchange rate so get out your money and spend. It will go a long way. They have good fashionable clothing and leather goods.

7) I have not yet visited all the other main cities but intend to. Friends have been to Medellin and from all accounts it is a nice safe place to go.

Walk the city wall of Old Cartagena.

9) Do a day trip to Rosario Island when in Catragena.

10) Cartagena has a big port and lots of cruise ships calling in. You can catch a small sailing boat from Cartagena to Panama. If you go to Club Nautica in Manga they will put your name on a list.

Dominican Republic Real Estate , Immobilien Dominikanische Republik

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