27th Decemeber 2006 - What we've done since the last post (if I can remember)

Chiloe was our penultimate destination in South America. Got a bus and a boat from Puerto Montt. On the boat we saw plenty of singles and one single penguin. Just the one. Found a nice enough hostel in Ancud and then it started to rain.

And rain.

And rain.

And rain.

Yup. In Chiloe all it does is rain.

The next day we decided to go on a penguin tour, but the sea was choppy so the guy wasn't even sure that we'd get the boat, all very confusing - even more so in Spanish.
But we did get to go out, and in the coolest outfits EVA!!! Beautiful fisherman trousers with wellies already attached AND lovely lifejackets. We looked awesome, as you can see. David helped push the boat out, whilst I took photos. The sea was very choppy so we got a rather rollercoaster-esque trip out and then we saw the penguins. Not a huge amount, but a fair few. They were mainly Magadellanic (not spelt right) with a couple of Humboldts. Chiloe is special as it's the only place that has both types.
After that, we headed for Castro, the capital of Chiloe. Again, found a nice hostel and it rained. More rain, and a little more.

We didn't do much there, walked by the fjord and took pictures of the palmitos - houses on sticks that the local government can't decide between calling them a national monument or unhealthy slums!

To end our South American adventure we headed back to Santiago. We even stayed in the same hostel for the full circle of events. We visited the Cerro San Cristobel again and tried to take a picture like the very first one on here, but it didn't look right. We just mosied about for the day before heading to the airport.

Now I love flying, but HATE HATE HATE checking in. There is ALWAYS a problem with our international check ins. This time they couldn't see a code on the tickets so they wanted us to pay airport tax, but we've already paid for that eventually she found it. And then we were sat on opposite sides of the plane. Cue tears (mine, not David's) and she said she changed them. But she hadn't. Anyway, to cut a loooooong story short, we got on the plane and got to sit next to each other, even next to a window.

Arrival in Auckland, New Zealand and guess what? It's RAINING!!!
Ah well, at least David's glad of it.

We got a bus straight up to where we are now (til 4:30 this afternoon) Paihia, Bay of Islands, New Zealand. It's bloody beautiful!
It's a gorgeous bay with small islands in the middle and beautiful, clear water.

We stayed in a house, owned by a hostel here. It's up on a hill, not with sea views but a gorgeous view over the bush.

Christmas Eve was beautifully sunny and we lounged around doing not very much all day, enjoying the sunshine.

Christmas Day was slightly more eventful as we got up at what we though was 9am, but the sun hadn't risen. We should've guessed something wasn't right, but it was Christmas and we were too excited about presents! Santa even paid us a visit, David's stocking had more presents than me, but that's ok with me. David got a set of games from me, and I got a beautiful bracelet from him.
The hostel was having a BBQ so we decided to head down there, buttttttttt we got into town and no one was around. We checked the time on the camera and it was 9am, not 12 like we thought. Oh, how silly we felt!

So we headed down to the beach and relaxed there for a while, before midday actually came around. BBQ was great, we had steaks, sausages and salads for Christmas lunch. And then, of course, we headed down to the beach and had great fun messing around in the sea!
The day finished with a lovely pasta dinner and a cool beer on the balcony in the evening sun. Such a wonderful way to spend Christmas!

Yesterday (boxing day) we took a walk to some falls nearby. It was a lovely trek, but longer than we realised (10km round trip) but we got to venture through some mangroves and saw an eel.

Today we are heading back down to Auckland, then it's a flight to Christchurch and a bus to Nelson to meet a long lost relative of David's who has been very generous and is letting us spend New Year with them near Malborough Sounds.

Shall upload photos when I'm on a computer that isn't two pounds an hour and as slow as a tortoise.

Merry Kiwi Christmas

To all, a merry christmas from the beautiful beaches of New Zealand!

A South American Round Up!

As we have under a week left in this dear old continent we decided to compile our lists of certain things.
David's are BLUE, mine are RED and agreements are PURPLE.

Favourite HOSTELS

1. El Yoyo - Valparaiso, Chile
Hotel Esmarelda - Coroico, Bolivia

2. Hostel del Isla - Isla del Sol, Bolivia
El Yoyo - Valparaiso, Chile

3. Samay Wasi - Cusco, Peru
Carlos Grandes - Buenos Aires, Argentina

4. Carlos Grandes - Buenos Aires, Argentina
Hostel del Isla - Isla del Sol, Bolivia

5. I Keu Ken - El Calafate, Argentina
Samay Wasi - Cusco, Peru

Favouite PLACES TO EAT

1. Minuteman Pizza - Uyuni, Bolivia
Jack's - Cusco, Peru

2. Colonial Cafe - La Serena, Chile
Paddy Flaherty's - Cusco, Peru

3. Jack's - Cusco, Peru
Ciccolina's - Cusco, Peru

4. Little lady selling food by the roadside - Trujillo, Peru
La Veronda (or something) - Arequipa, Peru

5. Yellow Rose of Texas - Iquitos, Peru
Cafe Export - San Pedro de Atacama, Chile

Favourite THINGS TO DO

1. Inca Trek

2. Amazon Boat

3. Iguazu Falls

4. Whale watching

5. White water rafting

6. Potosi silver mines tour
Sandboarding on the dune at sunset

Best BUS JOURNEYS

1. Buenos Aires - Iguazu: Champagne anyone? Oh yes please!

2. Cusco - Arequipa: Our first taste of real bus luxury, the things National Express could learn.

3. Ica - Lima: Steven Segal on repeat!
Trujillo - Tarapoto: 20 hrs on a shiteous bus, but driving through moonlight mountains and awaking to views of the jungle!

Worst BUS JOURNEYS

1. Copacabana - Cusco: started off great in a luxury bus, get to Puno and becomes a "local" bus full of people with ladies sat in the aisle, took 3 hrs longer than it should've and Ellie threw up at the end of it. Easily the worst!

2. Lima - Arequipa: Getting off the flight to Iquitos, asked the driver to take us to the bus terminal and the only bus was leaving that second so 18 hrs on a shitty bus, no toilet and this time Ellie threw up whilst actually on the bus.

3. Trujillo - Tarapoto: 20 hrs, no toilet. ´Nuff said.
Santiago - La Serena: First overnighter, left at midnight got in at 7am, not fun. Also, had to spend the next 9 hours wandering around La Serena til we could check in. Ugh.

Favourite MODES OF TRANSPORT

1. Amazon Boat
Aeroplane

2. American car
Mototaxi

3. Luxury buses
Amazon Boat

Most Memorable...

1. Watcing the fires burn high above us in the canyon on the 2nd day of white water rafting near Cusco
Flying from Iquitos to Lima with the sunsetting and casting a golden light over the rivers that bent through the massive jungle, really giving an idea of the size of the place.

2. Getting a haircut in La Paz and watching the barber sterilising implements such as cut throat razor with a bunsen burner (lik wot u use in skool).
Fires burning with a orange glow in the canyon after rafting in Cusco.

3. Meeting a llama at Machu Picchu after completing the Inca Trail - pure Peru!
Flying a plane over the Nazca lines, never done it before but amazing! Seeing the lines was pretty impressive too.

It's crazy to think of all the amazing things we've done, and this is just one continent, two more to go and plenty more adventures to pursue and crazy stunts to pull!

14th December 2006 - Ice ice, baby baby!

´Tis a little chilly now... could it be because we are back in Chile?! Oh yes, it is.

(terrible, I'm sorry)


We had a lovely two days in El Calafate (Argentina) at a nice hostel called I Keu Ken. It has a beautitful view over the turquoise Lake Argentina. The only reason you visit Calafate is to visit the Glaciers, as our tour guide told us they have nothing else, just tourism.

So went visited the Perito Moreno Glacier. It was beautiful! On the drive up, the guide announced that she was going to put some "soft music" so could "appreciate the nature". Heh. The view as you came round the corner was something spectacular, the glacier is MASSIVE, so big. It's one of those things it's hard to really grasp the size of as you have nothing for comparison. All I know is, it's big! Someone said it's the same size as Buenos Aires city!

We splashed out again (hehehehe) and went on a boat trip to go closer to the glacier, definitly worth it. You can start to see the size of it the closer you get. Strange thing is, the more you look at it, the more it looked like it was made out of polystyrene. When we went to the balconys to view the glacier you could see the boat, it looked so small!

That was lovely. Except for being the coldest and wettest I've been in aaaaaaaaaaaaages. I'm not used to this southern, cold weather. Then agan, it was like being home for winter.

Then we got a bus to Puerto Natales, and onwards to Punta Arenas. Fly from Punta Arenas to Puerto Montt, where are now.

We're gonna head to the island of Chiloe today and spend our final few days there before flying out of Santiago on the 21st.

Still unsure about Fiji, the situation seems to be deteriotating. Stupid coup!

Also, for our map just click the title! Same goes for every other post, title is a link to the map.

7thDecember 2006 - Wales, whales, wails!

(Storm over Puerto Piramides the other night)

Currently in Puerto Madryn, Argentina.

My shoulders are brown, quite amazingly so. It's nice to be a colour other than pasty white for once. David hasn't quite had the same luck, he's either white or pink.

So we got back to Buenos Aires and found an awesome little hostel in the San Telmo areas called Carlos Grandes. Our room was right at the top of this old building and had a lovely view over the city. We had a lovely few days just hanging out around the city, found a great little arthouse cinema which was showing "Little Miss Sunshine" (thorougly enjoyed by all) and "Hard Candy" (little messed up, but interesting). We saw the Casa Rosada, made famous by Eva but can't remember it from the film! I really love the city, when we first visited I wasn't a fan of the city, but love it now. So much to do and to see. And it's full of leafy green trees. I love BsAs.

And BsAs has the most classy Burger King we've ever been to (not that we make it a regular occurance...) Paintings of Henry VIII on the wall, leafed ceilings whilst eating your Big King, yes please!

After two lovely days in the city, Rowan flew to Brazil and we got a night bus to Puerto Madryn.

Puerto Madryn (and the nearby city of Trelew) have Welsh connections, I keep on seeing Welsh flags, whic is a nice reminded of a place near-ish home. We got a bus tohere, Puerto Piramides and are now staying in a lovely little hostel, right near the beach. Beautiful weather, nice little, well not even a town!

Today we went out on a boat to do some whale watching, and my word - it was bloody brilliant! We saw so many whales, and two came right up to the boat, it as surreal. Amazing experience! Such elegant and playful creatures, and apparently we were lucky to see them so close. People had gone earlier today and only seen something from a long way off.

So tomorrow we'll be hanging out at the beach, just doing not much and then it's further south to El Calafate via Rio Gallegos.

If only Fiji would sort out it's coup problem...

New baby

Sadly, I have nothing to do with it.

David bought himself a lovely blue guitar in Corrientes for around 25 quid. He's very happy and already has plans to write a new album (despite not having a debut yet...).

Artist's impression:

3rd December - Where's Christmas?

Currently in Corrientes, Argentina. We were going to visit some marshlands with the lovely Rowan but the buses didn't match up properly and such so we're just heading back to Buenos Aires.

So, where is Christmas? The weather is over 30 degrees and we are sweating like pigs, but it's De-fricking-cember!! There's a few shops with Christmas decorations, but I've yet to see an actual Santa. It's a strange state to be in when you are so used to life being a certain way.
And there's the small threat of a political coup in Fiji when we are supposed to fly there in three weeks, little worried as the FCO is advising against "all but essential" travel there. I really hope it fixes itself, or maybe we'll have to find another tropical beach to spend Christmas lazing on.

What've we been up to? Well, watching lots of water. LOTS. We spent two days at the Argentinian side of the falls, and only one on the Brazilian (yup, I've got the stamps in the passport for a three hour visit!) and three lucky households will receive Brazillian postcards - how I spoil you!

The falls are absolutely spectacular, the setting is beautiful. I've been to Niagara and these aren't as big but the number of falls and jungle setting just make them that much better. There are many different falls, from the Devil's throat which is the largest (and wettest!) fall to the small Saltos dotted all around.

We splashed out (sorry) and went on a boat trip right into the falls and down some funky rapids and then there was some random truck ride through the jungle. The boat was great, we got soaked, absolutely.

After visiting the Argentinian side, we decided to visit the Brazillian, what with it being so close. So we hopped in a taxi and visisted them, took pictures, ooohed and aaaahed then popped back in the taxi to Argentina.

It was as simple as that, but almost wasn't. Whilst reading a leaflet on the Brazillian side it said something about minors under the age of 21 could not enter the country without parental consent. Bollocks. As you should know, I am but 20. Also, Rowan (pachamama crew) had only had her yellow fever five days before and you can't legally enter Brazil, after visiting Bolivia, for ten days after the jab. Eeeek.

Luckily the immigration officers were overly cheerful and nice and lax and let us both in without any hassle. And it turns out they wouldn't've actually stopped me from entering, it was just an amusing thought as I've managed for three months now without help (well, except a little financial!) from the parents.

Now, back to Buenos Aires to do a little shopping (havaiana flip flops allll the way) and then down to Puerto Madryn for Whale watching. The map has been updated with the planned route here: http://www.getjealous.com/getjealous.php?action=map&go=eleanoroundtheworld
The map will also be accessible on this and on each forthcoming post by clicking the title, just so it's easy to stalk me around the world.