BOXING DAY FUN WITH STACK ‘EM’

It’s boxing day here in Henley-in-Arden and we had a massive feast once again. Left over turkey from yesterday also came into play but the Gammon was the centre piece of our feast this evening.

In the morning we had a visit from B’s relative’s the Bentleys.. Awesome, time, the kids had a Nintendo DS so I was having a go, I want one now…

The girls went for a late afternoon stroll through the countryside while I stayed home and slept. The afternoon was very nice but freezing, it think it was about 1 degree outside. The sunset was quite nice too, with clear skies all round.

The Christmas weekend here in Henley has been the best time. I think everyone ate enough to get them through to next Christmas, with plenty more left. We didn’t really do much else but eat sleep and drink while being out here in the countryside, which was great. I was in my PJ's all day today, just to be in the spirit of Christmas.

We played Cluedo tonight before and after we ate dinner. We all found out how much of a gun Janice is at Cluedo winning all the games.

It will be sad to leave the country side tomorrow, but it was a successful and great Christmas.

So I thought I would sign out from the country with some classical Mozart with my own little twist..

Here it is enjoy…

Now, where’s the nearest Gym!!

 

Peace

Technorati Tags: Christmas,Boxing Day,Mozart,Stack Em,Jenga,Helen in Arden

MERRY CHRISTMAS FAMILY……SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE CHRISTMAS DANCE OFF!! – ENGLAND ENTRY!!

Hi Family,

I hope that everyone is safe and well for Christmas…

we are safely tucked away in the English country side, we are in a cottage in Henley-in-arden..the place is beautiful, very english I have to say..

But I do miss all of you… Bernadette’s clan is taking good care of me, Stephen has just prepared a turkey for tommorow and

we spent a fortune on groceries today so there is plenty to eat… hehehehehe

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!!

LOVE YOU ALL…

Below is our entry to the SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE CHRISTMAS DANCE OFF!!!!! hehheehe

ENJOY!!

 

The video was filmed at 730 am on the 24th of December (today) at Sainsbury’s Solihull, England during our Christmas shopping effort…

AWESOME!!!

Peace

Technorati Tags: England,So you think you can dance,Sainsbury,Christmas,Solihull

El Chalten, Argentina and another couple of Torres

Can someone please explain to me what El means in El Chalten? We seem to be in El country, everything around here seems to be El something or a rather. Wait B just told me it means 'The'.... :-)
Must really try and learn some Spanish :-)
Well after a day spent at the Perito Moreno Glacier our Patagonian Express tour continued onto to El Chalten and its magnificent mountains.
We took the evening bus from El Calafate, we rode Cootra again, okay bus line. The bus we where on today was real sweet, with new LCD screens and a DVD that played DVD's all the way through to the end. Travelling on South American busses, its as much about the scenery as it is about the DVD player. One 20 hour bus ride with a stuffed DVD player can really fck you up... hehehehe But really you need a good DVD player on the bus, I would even go as far as saying it's more important than leg room...
We pulled into El Chalten at about 10 pm, its about a 4 hour bus ride form one town to the next, it would probably be shorter if there wasn't a massive lake between the two towns. The lake is being fed by this massive glacier, I think called Glacier Viedma??? Will have to check that. So all roads must go around the lake.
The drive in is generally boring, the landscape is baron with horses and sheep running around the place like where in New Zealand or something a rather. We did make a random pit stop at some poor persons house by the looks of things where we were allowed to get out and stretch our legs. The movie playing on the bus wasn't paused so me and B both stayed on not wanting to miss a critical part of the movie. hehehehe
So, the drive is generally boring but then you take a left turn and suddenly in the far off background Mt. Fitz roy, Glacier Viedma, Cerro Torre and the rest of the amazing mountain range just come out of no where to totally blow your fricken mind away with its Magnificent Awe inspiring presence. Suddenly, the movie takes a back seat and the setting sun over the mountain ranges takes centre stage, everyone is awake and trigger happy with the camera's even though we are still a good hour and a half away from the town....
This of course includes me and B, over excited about seeing a mountain we have seen in so many postcards we take our fair share of photos also of the mountains from far away :-)
The hostel we stayed at was very nice, it's called Aleyen Aike, or something like that. The owner of the small hostel came to the bus stop to pick us up, EL Chalten is so small we could have walked but it was nice of him to come get us :-)
When we saw we where staying it was 10 bed dorm room with 6 Israelis, 1 irish, 1 german and now 2 aussies, us!!! like I said, Israelis are everywhere in south america. We were worried about not getting any sleep, but being exhausted and one night time cold and flu tablet sure helped us get through the night without any problems. I slept so well the snoring 60 year old German on the lower bunk didnt even bother me :-)
Day 2 - We slept in, today was a big day we had decided to do the big hike to the Laguna at the base of Mt. Fitz roy. 5 hours each way, with a steep final climb at the end before reaching the Mirador. Our expectations where similar to the Torres Del Paine hikes, tough, steep, river crossings and steep mountain climbs requiring goat like foot work to get to the top... But luckily for us, its not what we got.. Wooo Hooo... 80% of the walk was really easy (easy relative to the hikes we have just completed at Torres Del Paine), it was such a leisurely walk that at one stage I said, that the walk could be done in CROCS... hehehe. The steep mountain climb at the end was the toughest part of the hike as predicted. The walk only took us 3 hours instead of the estimated 5 hours.
When we reached the top of the Mirador the views where spectacular, El Chalten had given us a beautiful day to be on top. Clear blue skies, melting snow and glaciers, no wind and 360 degree panoramas of everything.... hehehe glorious day on the mountain... hehehe...
We stayed at the Mirador for about 4 hours, playing in the snow, climbing rocks and taking picture after picture after picture of the mountain, the lake the snow, the people and everything and anything else that was there.

I did a real cool 360 photo of B looking at Mt. Fitz roy that I have put into a small movie clip. Awesome footage.. he he he
The rest of the day we just took in the fresh mountain air, drank the clearest and yummiest water fresh of the glacier and worked on our sun tan.. Truly, a beautiful day at the mountain...
Day 3 - I had promised my self that I would wake up early in the morning and watch the sunrise... 4 am came and I kept sleeping. 4:30 came and I was like, last chance to run up the mountain and catch the sunrise. I was told that the sun hit the mountain at about 530 am, the walk up to the Mirador with B was about one hour and 20 minutes, so I knew I could do it in an hour or less. Got up to the Mirador at 5:20.... gunned it up the hill, it was huge!!! I was so buggered by the time I got up there I nearly fainted. It was cold but because I was running I was all sweaty and wet. Thinking I would be the only idiot at the Mirador to see the sunrise, I was sorely disappointed. There was one other couple at the Mirador and they had gotten there 10 minutes before me.... Germans!!!!
Nice couple, they saw that I was huffing and puffing and they offered me a drink of water from there drink bottle.. Thanks guys... I settled in and started taking photos. I wanted to get a time lapse of the sunrise over the mountain. It was a beautiful morning so I was in for a treat...
400 plus photos later we got our time lapse... Wooo Hoooo and it looks real cool...
The sunrise was well worth the run up to the mountain Mirador... It was a beautiful day......
he he he he.....

 

The rest of the day, we where stuffed from yesterday's walk so we did a small trail called Mirador dos Condorres and watched videos at the hostel waiting for our bus to take us back to El Calafate....

El Chalten was a great place to hangout and see the beauty of Patagonia!!!
Peace

Technorati Tags: El Chalten,Pategonia,Argentina,Mt. Fitzroy,Torres

El Calafate, Argentina and THE PERITO MORENO GLACIER

Taking the bus out of Puerto Natales, Chile in to El Calafate, Argentina was pretty easy. Puerto Natales is a small town, easily walkable, but after Torres Del Paine walking was the last thing on our minds. The bus line we caught was called Cootra, 11,000 Chilean Pesos each one way. The conversion is about 400 pesos to the Aussie dollar and the bus ride was about 6 hours in total, this includes the border crossing.
This is our third border crossing between Argentina and Chile with more to come in the coming weeks. So our passports should be filled with stamps from the two neighbouring Andean nations.
The border crossing went well, we where greeted with a huge sign on the Chilean side  saying don't bring oranges and a slice of beef into Chile. What if I have an apple, can I bring that? he he he.
The bus ride went pretty smoothly with most of the roads being asphalt, but there where times when the road turned gravel and it got you thinking whether you were actually on a bus headed for Wolfe Creek, instead of El Calafate, but none the less we made it into El Calafate safely.
We had no accommodation booked but our friends Bernie and Mark had mentioned the hostel name of where they had stayed at when they where in El Calafate, so we where hoping to find the same hostel at the bus station. The povo accommodation system works the same way here as it does in Dubrovnik, you rock up at the bus terminal and someone's grand mother will be there to meet you with room options :-)
The hostel we were looking for was called Hostel Los Nina's. From the bus we spotted a man with a sign showing the hostel name and hooked us up.
We have been staying in private accommodations to accommodate Bernadette's bowl movements so it's a bit pricey, but hey, when you gotta go, you gotta go!!
Typically, though a bed in a dorm would cost 40 pesos (20 dollar ozzie) the conversion is about 2 pesos to 1 ozzie dollar.
We arrived late in the evening so, we only had time to get some food at the grocery store for dinner and organise our hire car for seeing El Calafate's No. 1 draw card, the Perito Merino Glacier. Talking to fellow travellers that had already been to El Calafate, we were told that the best thing to do is rent a car and go to the glacier early in to morning to miss the thousands of retire's on tour busses wanting a piece of the action. By doing so you would also skip on paying the entrance fee which is not included on the tour packages that you go on.
So that was our plan. The rental car came to 230 pesos from Nunatuk Car Hire and which was pretty good seeing as though tours where 110 pesos each. So we made a saving on renting the car and going in early in the morning....

The travellers where right, we left the hostel about 5ish and got there about 6ish, the place was empty with only three other hire cars in the parking lot. We were so tired from  not having gotten that much sleep that we napped in the car for about an hour. What Berna has come to call a 'mini nap' hehehehe...
Driven by the noises coming from my stomach, we got got up and started to head down to the viewing platforms...
When we arrived we saw two groups of travelling Israeli's having warm cups of coffee. When travelling though Brasil and Pategonia, Israli's are like Kangaroos in the outback, there everywhere :-) The travel in packs, groups of four or more.... It wasn't any different here....
We spent a good couple of hours walking around the glacier, it was good, in reality we where pretty BORED! There's nothing much to do at the glacier and there's only so many photo's you can take of the damn thing. Even Berna was over taking photo's of the bad boy!! There were also other complications at play that, I'll let Bernadette talk to you guys about :-)
We decided to leave and go back to the hostel early, the time was only 1030 am. Just about the same time the tour buses started to arrive, so it was a good time to get out!
Driving out of the park we decided to go exploring, we found some cool spots to take photo's of the glacier, so we did!!! hehehe Then out of nowhere, Berna snaps these awesome shots of a piece of a glacier falling into the the Lake!!!!! Awesome stuff... She didn't have the camera in continuous mode so she had to snap the photo's manually... Great shots though!!!...Go B!!
We continues exploring the park areas until we made it down to the northern side of the glacier where we saw a bout that took people out to the glacier.
This is when the day got really exciting, we had lunch first on the shores of the lake, the usual tuna, bread, fruit.
Then Berna went nuts with the camera when she found glacier ice washed up on the shores, the photos she took are AWESOME!!!!!
We took the boat cruise to the face of the glacier. It was great!! The north face of the glacier is about 2.8 km wide and 15 storeys high, with chucks constantly falling into the lake. This galcier is different from the other glaciers that we have seen on our trip as it is a stable glacier. At the centre of the glacier it advances 2 meters per day and the edges advances 40 cm per day... So it's AAAALLLLLLIIIIVVVVEEEEE!!!! hehehehe
A Beautiful glacier!!!
After taking awesome photo's we headed back into town. We returned the car, bought bus tickets for El Chalten, bough more food, packed our over night bags, ate last nights left over  spaghetti, and got on the bus for El Chalten!!!
Perito was great, but a little boring, would definitely recommend against taking a tour, renting a car is the best way to go!!!!
Oh and sunrise is sht on the glacier so not really worth getting up for the sunrise!!!

Peace
 

Technorati Tags: Perito Moreno Glacier,Argentina,El Calafate

TORRES DEL PAAAAAIIIIIIIINNNNNN!!!

My mental strength is elevating to new and higher thresholds, my eyes burning from the expired daily contacts that I was using, my shoulders feel like two guillotines have sliced right through the shoulder joint to separate my arms from my body,  my lower back muscles are strained to the elastic limits, my upper thigh muscles can no longer contract due to the large amount of lactic acid build up in them with my calf muscles soon to follow, both my ankles feel like the tendons and ligaments have been individually torn from the muscle fibres and bones, and my feet feel like each foot bone has been smashed into a million pieces by a sledge hammer.
And were only on the first hill! Welcome to Torres Del PAINe National Park, Chile.
Welcome to Torres Del Paine National Park, Chiles most fricken expensive and magnificent national parks!

The 'W' circuit
This is one of the most dramatic and spectacular national parks I have ever been too. Some may disagree but man, this place is truly amazing and a must on any travellers itinerary through South America. The mountains are so eye catching and spectacular that one can only stare in wonder.
We camped for 4 days and 3 nights and completed 2/3 of the W with the main highlights being the Mirador Las Torres and the French Valley. But all in all every painful step was a highlight. During the 4 day trek you are constantly surrounded by 360 degrees of pristine southern Patagonian landscapes that constantly change with the ever moving cloud formation. With the cloud formations and position of the sun dictating the colours of the land, Torres Del Paine is a place where you just don't want to blink your eyes in fear of missing something wonderful quickly appearing then fading away just as quick into the sky.
On the last day of our trek I got to witness something so simple yet so amazing that it completely blew my mind to see it. As we were rounding the Cerro Paine Grande I looked up at the heavens and saw that small soft white clouds where being formed from the snow that was still on the peak of the mountain. It was a crystal clear blue day and seeing this occur was AWESOME!!!
The W is 76 km's long and we did about 44 km's. Tough walks, but at the same time very rewarding.
The trekking was difficult to say the least, especially when me and B have never done a trekking expedition as large as this one before. We got to go camping for the first time in our whole trip. In America we slept in our rental car, that was about as close to camping as we got.
So let's break this trip down.....

DAY 1

Here we go, we rented a tent and a thicker sleeping bag for B from our hostel. Looking back on it now I wish I had rented a sleeping bag too. Instead of taking both our sleeping bags hoping it would be enough to keep me warm at night. We also bought these cool headlamps from a camping store in town, this for me was the highlight.. Headlamps, how cool!!! I couldn't wait to use them on the trip.
We went to the grocery store and bought supplies for the trip, ravioli, 2 minute noodles, tang, coffee, tuna and biscuits.
We paid for our bus tickets, entrance fee to the national park and we were off!! Here we come Torres Del Paine.
Half way to the National Park a brainwave hits me, 'Leover you idiot, you left your contacts and glasses back at the hostel' this brainwave was then followed by 'you idiot Stimpy' then it was followed by 'oh my god, I have no eyes for the next 4 days, I'm screwed'.
So, for the entire time I was in the park I had one pair of contacts that were daily disposables. To make life more interesting I had no contact holders and contact solution. I had to reuse my contacts and keep them in a small bowl with water during the night. This was the toughest task ever and by the 4th day my eyes were on fiyaaaaaa.....
The first trek was the toughest, the map showed the hike to be a 2 hour hike, it took us three and a half. The first 2 hours was all up hill with switchback turns every 200 to 300 metres. From the beginning of the walk the snow line looked a million miles away two hours later, you were practically walking in it!
When I looked back at where we had come from the thought came to my head, 'man that's high'
Poor B was struggling, hell we were all struggling to climb this huge mountain, there where times where I wanted to cry like a little baby and give up, but I just couldn't this was a test and I was going to pass it otherwise I was going to die on this mountain and I didn't want to do that.
We walked from Hosteria Las Torres to Campamento Chileno and set up camp there for the night. From the camp you could see the tops of the Torre Norte and Torre Central.
Setting up the tent was so much fun, I had never done it before so I looked like a complete dick. We arrived late at camp so everyone had already set there tents up and it was a battle just to find a spot for the tent.
Luckily for us, we had befriended a lovely couple of Aussie's from Brisbane who we now love. Bernadette and Mark.. Yup, that's right I was trekking with two Bernadette's!! What the??? The similarities between the two are ridiculous.... so here goes.
They both have the same name, they both have 7 kids in there family, 4 of the family members have the same names, Michael, John, Mary and Anne, they both had tooth issues at the same times, they are both short and catholic, they both talk about there bowls a lot, they both want to write a book, they both have the Bernadette Exaggeration Factor or what Michael Kennedy like's to call as (BEF) and they both walk at the same pace...like hung over snails.
Mark, Bernadette's husband is the typical Leyland Brother and could probably give Mac Gyver a run for his money in ingenuity. He was a great help in setting up the tent and overall keeping us alive in the bush!
We got to use our new headlamps!! Yaay!

Me and B in the tent at Campamento Chileno - Torres Del Paine

 

DAY 2

Today was the worst and the best of the days, here in the park. I woke up early to try and catch the sunrise over the Torres' but failed miserably. The hike to the mirador was 2 hours away, so all I could see was the sun hitting the tips of the Torres'.
Today, was a 14 hour day, 14 hours of hiking. 6 of the 14 hours was with a 25 kg back pack, up hills, down valleys over and through rivers. I think I know what the biggest loser contestants must go through when they have to put all the weight they have lost during the season back on and run around with it. It's fricken hard. To make it worst, I never had the weight to start with. All the step ups, lunges, leg presses and squats in the gym couldn't get you ready for this kind of exercise. My thighs are huge now and calf muscles are the size of bowling balls.
The first hike we did was to the Mirador  Las Torres, this was a 2 hour hike with the last 45 minutes a mad scramble to the top over large boulders at a 80 degree angle, we're talking hands and knees, crawling up this massive mountain to get to the view point.
Once there, the jaw drops in amazement and all the pain of the last 45 minutes quickly disappears. The Torres' are so amazing that it's worth every single painful step to see them.

                                                                  

Mirador Las Torres

 

From left to right Torre Sur, Torre Central, Torre Norte

 

We stayed at the Mirador a good couple of hours to take it all in and psyched our selves up for the walk back to camp. Believe it or not walking back was so much harder than walking up. Slipping and sliding our way down the mountain we manage to survive the walk down with B only falling down a few times without major injury. The walk down really hammers the knee's and ankles.
When we got back to camp, it was time to put the back pack an hike for 10 hours. The hike was so looooonnnngggggg, it felt like it went on forever and it did. We went from Campamento Chileno to Campamento Los Cuernos. The walk involved some major river crossings. Glaciers melting from high up in the mountains form fast moving rivers and there are no bridges so they all have to be crossed by either getting in and walking across or hopping on rocks and stones hoping they are  not loose.
We all made it across 4 major river crossings. Poor B, her feet were wet for the majority of the day, cause she walked right through all the river crossings. Also on some of the down hill parts, the poor girl walked down in her socks, with out any shoes, in fear of falling down, and on other parts of the trek she was on her bum sliding down the trail because she was terrified of slipping backwards and falling down and hurting herself.
But by the end of the day approximately 9 PM we had made it to our camp, enough time to cook up some risotto, have a yarn with Bernie and Mark then off to bed, sore as fck!!
The great thing about today was the awesome and ever changing views of the park. It was awesome to walk around the mountain, it's huuugggee and walking along Lago Nordenskjol. The colour of the lake is just out of this world.

DAY 3

The weather has started to turn, the wind is up and the clouds are gloomy. It looks like we were in for a rough day, and we we're, luckily for us our walk to the next camp was only 2 hours. You know your mind is messed up when you think that a two hour walk with a 25 kg back pack, up hills, on rocks, with basketball shoes is short!

By know my body is completely shattered!! Shoulders are completely messed up, you don't even feel like you have any on ya, legs are just like jello, the arches in my feet are so flat now that they bow outwards! The pain!!! But the show must go on and it did. We powered through the walk, and made it to the next camp site in good time, Campamento Italiano.
We set up our tents and then proceeded to attack the French Valley! The middle part of the 'W'. After talking to some people back at the hostel in Puerto Nateles, this was the section not to be missed and came highly recommended by anyone who had done the 'W'. When you walk through the French Valley on your left side is a massive glacier (Glacier Francis) and on your right side you have the sharp knife like mountain peaks of the Cuernos and in front of you in the heart of the valley 2 hours away are 21 granite mountain peaks some covered with snow while others are either poking through clouds or are covered by them.
When you reach the valley Mirador, you are completely surrounded by 360 degrees of Torres Del Paine Magic. Absolutely Amazing!!! I've never seen anything like the French Valley in Torres Del Paine. It's a photographers dream and landscapes that go beyond any mans imagination.
The hike up wan't too bad either, only major river crossing which B completed quiet confidently :-)
GO B!!!  

The French Valley was definitely worth the hike, we had a lot of fun! After taking all the sights in, it was back to camp for one last time. Dinner was great too, ravioli over a camp stove had never tasted so good. As I brushed my teeth in the icy cold river from the melting Glacier Francis the sun began to set behind the mountains. Torres Del Paine left us with even more images of brilliance with a perfect Patagonian sunset over the mountains.
The typical Patagonian sunsets look like this!!

DAY 4

Today was a slow hike out of the park to the Lake Pehoe campsite to catch the Ferry out of the park. We were all so buggered and short for time that we had decided to skip the Glacier Grey stem of the 'W'. Only giving us reason to come back and see it all over again :-)
The walk out was amazing with the mountains and the sun behind you leaving the park offered great views and high winds. The views were just outstanding being able to see the peaks of the mountains was great, seeing clouds form of them was even better. Up here, the water is so clean, you just drink it right of the streams. The start of the water cycle!
Torres Del Paine is a must do for anyone coming to South America!!!!

Peace

Technorati Tags: Torres Del Paine,Chile,Pategonia,South America

TIERRA DEL FUEGO - HOLD ON...

Yesterday we went to Tierra Del Fuego National Park. Such a beautiful place, we took a trail that was meant to take 3 hours to complete but took our time to take in all the ever changing scenery. The trail we took was the number 2 trail called Costera Trail, which to me translates to 'the coastal trail' and that's what it is... 4 hours of Beagle Channel scenery. Snow capped mountains in the background, ever green trees protecting us from the wind.
We took our time on the trail, we had a picnic in one of the many small bays along the trail.  Nothing like a good old fashioned tuna sandwich with potato chips and red gatorade, Awesome...
The trail took us about 5 hours to complete, it was a pretty easy trail, no big hills to climb up on and B didn't fall down once which was good. hehehe
Other highlights on the trip were finding thousands of muscles on the beach. We wanted to take like 20 of them and cook them, but being a national park we kind of just left the muscles on the beach where the belonged. But there were just thousands of muscles on the beach. It was like a seafood buffet waiting to happen.

 

 

 

We saw some cool looking trees that have been blown by the wind so much that they are like side ways. These trees are pretty common around here, there called 'flag trees'.
The day was an awesome one, the weather changed only three times in the space of us walking around, which made it even better.


Peace

Technorati Tags: Tierra Del Fuego,Beagle Channel,Argentina,Flag Trees

Ushuaia and the Weather

It's day 9 here for us in Ushuaia, and today looks like a beautiful day... The sun is out and there's no wind a complete turn around to that was on show for us yesterday. Yesterday was terrible. Cold, Windy, Rainy, Snowy, just miserable. The only cool thing about yesterday was that, it snowed up in the mountains and now the mountains surrounding Ushuaia are picture perfect. It's one of those things where all you need to do with the camera is point and shoot. No matter how bad the shot is, with the background the way it is, it all looks ridiculously out of this world...
The weather here is pretty unpredictable, it changes like every couple of hours, so I hope that this good weather will hold up for today, as we are planning to head over to the Tierra Del Fuego National Park and this really cool looking lake..
Our hard drives are going to get a pounding today.... With the amount of pictures that will be taken and saved. I've been carrying around a massive terra byte and it's almost full...
(Oh my god this guy just drank our orange juice out of the fridge here in the kitchen of our hostel.. bastard!!!)
Okay back to the weather. Out of the 9 days we have been here 4 of the days have been okay, I think today has to be the best because there's nothing but blue skies everywhere. It's pretty sad talking about the weather, I know, but what can you do, it's a hot topic down here at the end of the world.

 

YESTERDAY FROM OUR HOTEL ROOM

  
                                                       

TODAY, YAAAAY

Technorati Tags: Weather,Ushuaia,Tierra Del Fuego

Watching the Simpson's in Ushuaia

Hangin out in the hotel lobby with free wifi and the Simpson's are on tv. Let me be the first to say that  Apu just doesn't sound as funny in Spanish :-(

Peace...

Technorati Tags: The Simpsons,Apu,Ushuaia

BEAGLE CHANNEL BOAT TOUR

We have been in Ushuaia now for 6 days, stayed longer than what was planned. Then again what's new.... So what's to do in Ushuaia, well there's a lot. It ranges from tours of the Beagle channel, walking with Penguins, trekking in Tierra Del Fuego and of course hopping on an icebreaker headed for the the white continent at a last minute price of approximately 5000 USD.
So far we have cruised the Beagle channel, saw the famous light house at the end of the world known as Les Eclaireurs Lighthouse(it actually isn't the last light house, the real one is 300 miles away, and would take an expedition to get there) This light house is more for the tourist and is kind of  like Ushuaia's harbour bridge or opera house, you see it everywhere around town...

Other highlights on the Beagle channel tour are South American Sea Lions, and the mountains surrounding the channel, oh and these crazy trees called flag trees. There called flag trees cause the wind here is fiercely strong and have shaped the trees to looking like flags. Awesome...
But the best thing about the tour was doing it with my B, [I think I just heard the world go awwweee :-) ]
The boat we went on was called the Barracuda. We were a little concerned for the life of the business by the end of the trip, because on our tour there was only four people on this massive boat, when other similar tours had heaps more people. We hope that the business stays a float, no pun intended.
The mountains surrounding the Beagle channel are magnificent to say the least, they're just as mysterious as the Peruvian mountains we just came from. These snow capped mountains surround the the Beagle channel, Ushuaia is actually in the middle section of the Beagle with Isla Navarino, Chile on the other side.

The boat trip across the Beagle stopped of a couple of small islands with South American  Sea Lions. We have seen so many of these little critters, that we we're kind of over the whole sea lion thing. Show me the WHALES.... But still the puppy seals where so cute and we both fell in love with them :-)
Being there only four passengers we where given a tour of the bridge. It wasn't that exciting, no cool navigational toys, cause the boat was an old boat and it's only course these days is the Beagle channel tour.
On the way back to the port we had hot chocolates, it was  a nice way to end the trip.
Peace

Technorati Tags: Ushuaia,Argentina,Beagle Channel,Sea Lions,Les Eclaireurs Lighthouse

THE END OF THE WORLD AND BEYOND!

After a massive trip from Lima, Peru via hellish Santiago, Chile which lasted over 14 hours we have reached the end of the world and the starting point for the last leg of our trip, Ushuaia, Argentina.
So what will it take to go beyond the end of the world?
Wandering around Ushuaia this afternoon, half dead from the long journey we noticed these signs in several shop windows

 
Keywords to notice here are LAST & MINUTE. At first we said 'wow, 4900 USD for a trip to Antarctica, that's expensive' Then we walked inside to inquire more about this LAST MINUTE DEAL, and found out the following:
a) By LAST MINUTE they mean you must book the trip 10 days prior to departure here in Ushuaia.
b) You don't get your choice of room on the boat to Antarctica.
c) You don't get a special Jacket to wear on landings. Landings is when people on the trip go walkies in Antarctica.
d) You don't get special rubber boots to where on landings.
Other than the above mentioned items you get the same things as everyone else on the trip.
- all meals covered for the eleven days.
- the trip south takes two days down and two days back up so you have six days worth of exploring along with everyone else, which includes two landings per day.
- Special lectures about Antarctica
- DVD on Antarctica
and other Antarctic items. We we're a little disappointed though to find out that you didn't get a free penguin toy with the trip... Boooooo..
So now your asking yourself what's the difference between the LAST MINUTE BOOKING and the NORMAL BOOKING... Let me tell you....

7000 USD

The normal booking will cost a person 12000 USD!!! that's right 12000 USD... and the LAST MINUTE booking her in Ushuaia only cost around 5000 USD. Isn't that the biggest WHAT THE??
ANTARCTICA DOESN'T SOUND SO FAR AWAY NOW DOES IT.
START SAVING!!
Peace
PS: From where we are ANTARCTICA is only 1000 km away!!

Technorati Tags: Antarctica,Ushuaia,Argentina,Penquins,the end of the world

Last day in Cusco and back to Lima

Well after an amazing 14 or so days high up in the Andean Mountains it's back down to sea level for us.  Good old fashioned sea level stuff. Where the air is thick and heavily polluted, although the air in Cusco was pretty poor also, I still like the air down here. It's more breathable. hehehe
Cusco was great, on the last day we went shopping for Christmas presents for the family and made a quick dash up the mountain to Sagsaywaman ('sexy woman') to take some pictures.  I have to say if there was ever a country on earth where you can get some real cool Christmas presents Peru would be that country. Almost all family members have been accounted for and now the task of getting the presents  to them begins..
Saqsaywaman, is an INCA site on top of Cusco it's where they hold there festival of the Sun on June 24th each year. (Expect to see a synth of the place soon on our blogs). The amazing INCA people did great building this massive site using stones that weigh up to 130 tonnes, and what makes it even more amazing is that it is stone on stone.... Beautiful work from these clever builders. The site is huge, not as picturesque as Machu Picchu, none the less still amazing.
I can't get over the stones that they used up there. I mean these things are massive man. And to think that they had to haul these stones up the surrounding quarries makes it even more astonishing. The stones have been placed in each position carefully to tell a story. While eavesdropping in on a tour group, (yes, I'm cheap) the guide said that some of the stones in the walls of Sagsaywaman, form the images of the serpent, puma and condor all of the INCA spirit animals. Then I followed the group around to where the guide showed them where these animal depictions could be found. AWESOME stuff.
I only had a couple of hours at the site. So I was running around as if I was late for an exam. After taking 400 photos, it was back down the mountain and off to Lima....
The bus from Cusco to Lima is about 20 hours, sounds long, but really wasn't that long at all. We went first class with Cruz Del Sur, which means, wider seats and  thicker blankets. Cruz Del Sur is a real nice bus company, you get food and drinks. It's like being on a plane but not! There's a stewardess or what B likes to call them 'road hostesses'. The trip went pretty quick we went from Cusco to Nasca to Lima. The first three hours was terrible though with so many twist and curves on the road. Poor B was really sick and me too, it didn't look like we where gonna make it. But then the road straightened out and we quickly doped ourselves up on cold and flu med's and quickly passed out to sleep.
Staying at the flying dog hostel in Lima for the next three days while we plan the next leg of our trip.
Peace

Technorati Tags: Lima,Peru,Cusco,Cruz Del Sur,Nasca,Saqsaywaman,Inca,Flying Dog Hostel

WE CAME, WE SAW, WE MACHU PICCHUED!!

After 20 GB of photos and three uploads ontp our laptops, it´s safe to say

WE CAME, WE SAW, WE MACHU PICCHUED!!!! (berns words not mine)

It was awesome, probably one of the most photogenic places we have ever visited on our trip.

So buggered right now though, gonna go to bed and stay tuned for more to come!!!

CARLOS

The Eve Before Machu Picchu

Well we´ve made it this far there´s no turning back now. We are in Aguas Caleintes or as what i like to call "we´re only here cause of you white folk!, thankyou and come again" The town is primarily built on the foundations of TOURISM. Main industry, tours to Machu Pichu, secondary industry restaurants and more restaurants.
I have never seen so many pizza places in my life. So mannny...

Aguas Calientes, is a the final stop before making the final accent to Machu Picchu. We caught the train here from Cusco, 4 hours, it takes and two of those hours is just to get out of fricken Cusco. Still the train ride really comes to life as you head into the high Andean Mountains. With shear cliffs and towering mountain tops on either side of the train and running parraell with the Rio Urubamba the train ride is nothing less than SPECTACULAR, which is good cause it´s fricken expensive.....

So we didn´t do the Inca Trail. What can you do, it`s commercial as hell. At KM 88 is where in INCA TRAIL starts. These poor porters all colour coded carrying massive packs for the tourist. SO many groups heading out on the trail. I would want to do an alternative INCA trail. The trail looks nuts, you can see these massive steep mountins and think, 'are they gonna climb that' It's definately a 'glad it's you and not me moment' when you see them accent the massive peaks.

When we arrived today we had to sort out our tickets to get back to CUSCO for the 13th of November. I really need to learn Spanish, shit would be so much easier if I knew it. It was such a hassle just to get the tickets, every tour company in Cusco will tell you that there are no train tickets available. Or that it takes 48 hours before you can get a train ticket.. All BS, we bought our tickets from the website last night and picked up the tickets this morning....
Also they will tell you that the a tour group is the best way to see Machu Picchu, again more BS, the place is so set up for tourist that there is enough information and free maps for you go and do it your self.

Tour groups are such a pain in the ass.... avoid them if you can, you`re always rushed and pushed and hearded around like Andean Lama`s that you forget to enjoy the bloody experience... Yeah, it´s a little harder trying to figure out what to do and where but hey that`s half the fun.... the other half is when you figure it out... You`re like HELL YEAH BITTCHEEESS..

So now all has been sorted. The final checklist complete and all without having to book a tour out of Cusco...

Entrance tickets to Machu Picchu - Check
Return Bus tickets to Machu Picchu - Check
Return train ticket to Cusco - Check
Food to Machu Picchu - Check
ID`s - Check
Free Map of Machu Picchu - Check
Cameras - Check
Memory Cards - Check
Laptop for midday upload of pictures - Check

It´s all there, all done ready to go, bus leaves at 5:30 in the morning to Machu Picchu, it´s the earliest bus to leave Aguas for Machu Pichu, we`re taking this one so that we can see the sunrise over this puppy.

Only one thing left to do.......

PRAY FOR A CLEAR DAY!! AND A CLEAR SUNRISE.....

If it happens it happens if not then who the hell cares where at MACHU PICCHU!!!!!!

woo hooo

Let´s DO THIS BITTCHHESSS.....

CARLOS

Buzzing in Cusco

I was in the hotel reception working on the laptop tonight and decided to be cool and order a slice of cake and some tea. Coca tea! Now I can't sleep. I'm buzzing around the room like flies in the summer time.... what the?.. my heart rate is as if I just ran the 100 metre dash.. what the?..
Just want to sleep, suppose to get up at 5 (It's 12:48 AM right now) to go to the train station to pick up tickets to Machu Pichu... But right now my eyes are glued open not shut and I want them to be shut...
No more coca tea before bed....Seriously....I have to drink powerade just to stay hydrated..
Breathing is heaps hard around Cusco too.. today we had to change room and nearly passed out packing our backpak.. Walking around town is tough too.. walking down the hill is great but walking up is ridiculous, I feel like im 80...
Berna's out cold, sleeping like a baby..
Gonna try and sleep now..

Technorati Tags: Cusco,Coca Tea

A NEW ERA IN HOW WE SHARE OUR PHOTOGRAPHIC LIVES IS HERE... IT JUST TAKES FRICKEN AGES!!!

In an attempt to pass time here in Cusco. I checked out Microsoft Live Labs New Photosynth program.....
Anyway's, Photosynth is a totally cool program. I don't know if you will have to install the program before you can view it, but shouldn't be a hassle to do so.
I was introduced to Photosynth a while back and was really impressed by it. Now that they have it up and running, it's a great tool and a new direction in sharing your photographic life with others out there, however if you have a shtty computer and even worse Internet connection synthing takes ages...
This kind of program is cool for people like me and B who take a billion photos.....
You can download the Photosynth program almost anywhere on the net, I've attached the link below for your convenience.
Microsoft Live Labs Photosynth
This is awesome....

Technorati Tags: Microssoft,Live Labs,Photosynth,Pisaq,Peru

AREQUIPA, PERU

We have spent a relaxing weekend in Arequipa the second largest city in Peru. We had planned an action pack couple of days touring the worlds second deepest canyon Colca Canyon  (the deepest one is next to Colca and is about 16 hours away from Arequipa. The deepest canyon in the world is called Cotahuasi Canyon and is only deeper by a mere 163 meters..) After seeing Bryce, Zion, Slot and Grand Canyons in the States we we're pretty much canyoned out, but the Condors would have been awesome though. We saw a condor soaring about 20 metres from us at Zion Canyon and it was huuuuuugggeeee.. Awesome birds...
Anyhoo, so we decided to stay in Arequipa for the weekend and relax. Arequipa is a strange and surreal place. I say it is surreal because it is surrounded by three  massive mountains. A volcano called El Misti, Pichu Pichu to the right and Chachani to the left.
The mountains are magnificent to look at man! In the afternoon the colours of the sunset really transform the mountains. During the day the mountains look flat and lifeless, but when the sunset starts the mountains come to life, really catching your eye and demanding your full attention.. This was one of the highlights of staying at Arequipa, just to see the sunset and mountains come to life... Man that was priceless....
We couch surfed with Maja, a Swedish girl living and working in Arequipa... Go figure that there would be Swedish people in PERU let alone Arequipa :-) She was awesome though! Helped us out, made great fruit shakes and cool to hang with and chill.
Her apartment had a great view of El Misti and it was awesome to sit in the living room watch the sunset and see El Misti come to life.
We also went to the Cemetery, on the 1st of November, to celebrate the dead. It is custom in Peru that after Halloween everyone go to the cemetery and celebrate the people that have passed away. Simply put it was a party at the cemetery. Great to see a different way of remembering loved ones that have passed away. People where drinking at there loved ones graves, singing and dancing. I think this is a great tradition. Maja's friend Lucho took us to the cemetery, if it wasn't for couch surfing man, we would never had gotten to experience that. Couch surfing rules man!!
Pisco sours? YES please!!! we had a couple of these little puppies at a place called Istanbul. Cute little cafe/bar/restaurant. Arequipa is named the white city for the stones used in the buildings are you guessed it white.
Peru is very touristy, I would love to see how much of there economy is backed by tourism. There's tourist everywhere. The sound of English, French, Italian, German and other languages are frequently heard when strolling down the cobbled stoned streets
Need a beanie? Well Peru is the place to get them. I promised at the start of our trip that the only souvenir I would purchase are the totally awesome bennies the Peruvians wear. There like the coolest things ever.....I can see me and B goin nuts in Cusco buying enough arts and crafts to start our own stall at Glebe Markets.
Off to Cusco and the INCA civilisations that surround the PUMA city..

EL MISTI TOWERING ABOVE AREQUIPA -  looks fake ay... like some Hollywood set..

Technorati Tags: Cusco,Arequipa,El Misti,Pichu Pichu,Chachani,Peru

Nasca, Peru

After the flight yesterday, we still had half a day to kill in Nasca. We booked a tour yesterday, with the man who took us to the airport for our Nasca Lines flight, to see a cemetery. I read about the cemetery in the LPB when we were in Lima, so expectations where high..
After having breakfast (when the say breakfast included they really mean we will give you 4 pieces of white round bread and a little bit of strawberry jam) we went upstairs to pack our bags for storage  down stairs while we would go on our tour.
With the bags packed and loaded onto our shoulders and B drops a bombshell from left and right field...
"I can't find my wallet!"
Coming from a girl who manages somehow not to lose a thing. I immediately became nervous, and started to back track through last nights activities. I had nothing... We looked everywhere (pretty much looked through hand bag, where the wallet resides and nothing)
The wallet is bright red and huuuuggeeee, hard to imagine anyone could lose such an item. But somehow we did... 10:30 am and the phone rings, it was the tour guide ready to take us to the cemetery and the hotel waiting for us to check out of the room. Crap.. No wallet = No money = No Tour...
After a short argument with B about how our lives where just about over, because the wallet had all of our financial assets in it, I was sent downstairs to explain to the tour guide that we had no money and could not go on the tour. I felt bad, seeing the man's face he was also sad, but not because we had lost our wallet but because we where bailing out on his tour... Bstard.. He repeatedly kept saying, 'Do you have a card to put in slot' I kept saying 'We have lost wallet, with card to put in slot'
Really in my head I was saying 'Holy Shte where in the middle of the dessert and we've lost all our money. CRAP'...
All had seemed to be lost and our trip over when suddenly, I looked over the tour guides shoulder through the window and saw Bernadette walking down the stairs holding in her right hand her bright red wallet...
I was like 'thank you lord'
I got the attention of the tour guide and said 'Okay, let's go to the cemetery, we've found the wallet' the smile on the man's face was a wide as the socio-economic gap in Venezuela.
Trust B to find it.. The girl doesn't loose a thing, while I manage to lose every single thing that I get possession of.
Close call, though.. If we had lost that wallet.... GOOOOOONNNNEEEEE....
So back to the cemetery, the cemetery we went to was called
CEMETERY OF CHAUCHILLA about 27 km south of Nasca. The cemetery pre dates the Inca and the Nasca people. It is about 1000 years old and is dusty. The people buried in the tombs within the cemetery are the ICA people, all no higher than 150 cm.. I would have been a giant walking amongst them. hehehehe.. N the cemetery there were excavated tombs which showed mummies of children, priests, parrots, and other well of people in that society. All mummies are facing east to give worship to the sun god.. There are about 15 tombs excavated for public viewing, with mummies open to the atmosphere. The mummies where very well preserved, the guide explained how the sand in the desert contained special minerals which help keep the mummies in good condition. The climate of the area being dry and arid also help contribute to the preservation of the mummies over the years..
The mummies are all in the fetal position as the ICA people believed in reincarnation, and so the fetal position represented a rebirth. I don't know but I agree with Bernadette when she said 'it looks uncomfortable' Indeed it did look uncomfortable... Each tomb had only one body in it and parents and children where not allowed to be buried together. If you where an ICA baby and died, I wouldn't want to be in your shoes as the ICA people would slice the infants head and offer and use it as a sacrifice to the gods and bury the head separate from the body. In replacement of the baby's head a ball of cotton would be placed on top of the babies body....
The cemetery was okay, I thought it would be a lot more freakier than what was there... But what can you do.. After about the 5th tomb, we where kind of over it and wanted to get out of the searing heat more than anything. But 10 more tombs to go.....
After finishing up with the mummies B bought a couple of trinkets from a man selling trinkets..
hahahaha - trinkets..
Our tour guide took us back to the city at light speed. They drive fast here in Peru and line markings on the street don't really seem to account for much to all drivers. Meanwhile Bernadette is sitting in the front seat, white as a ghost, probably thinking in her head, 'why am i doing this?'
Back in the city for a quick bite to eat at a local restaurant across the road from the Cruz del Sur bus station and it was off to Arequipa......
Peace...

Technorati Tags: CEMETERY OF CHAUCHILLA,Nasca,Peru

Arriving in Lima

Well after our stay in Caracas, we we're about to throw it all in and book an early flight home... But instead we booked a flight with LAN to Lima, Peru. Great choice!! The booking process was quite interesting. As we had to do it through a travel agency.. Put it this way, I'm glad we are actually in Peru... and not the Philippines. (man i really need to learn Spanish, you feel like such a spaz not being able to talk..)
Arriving into Lima was such a surprise. The airport was ultra modern on new. We both were like 'are we in the right place'. We couldn't help but notice all the banners hanging through out the airport which said APEC. APEC is being held in Lima this year and we reckon APEC is one of the reasons as to the upgrade of the airport. None the less the airport was sweet, customs was a breeze and out of there in no time at all.
I had organised our accommodation back in Caracas through the Internet and booked a couple of nights a the Flying Dog Hostel, Lima. I also organised a pick at the airport from the hostel, because it was late at night.
We walk into the arrivals area and was greeted with banners all bearing names of arriving tourist. It was promising to see so many names, unfortunately our name was not shown. Crap. We had arrived at 11:20 pm and was out into the arrivals area by midnight. We wait for our pick up service till 12:30 and when they didn't show up we decide to take a taxi to the Hostel our selves.We find a taxi and head into the city of Miraflores where the hostel was located.
The taxi ride again was life altering....It turns out that the driving we experienced Caracas is typical for Lima also. The taxi driver was driving at 'light speed and with complete disregard for human and animal life..' Nuts... Taking corners like he was on a rally time trial and red lights - what's that????
Lucky to step out of the taxi with our lives we proceed up the stairs of the hostel, only to find out that I had booked our accommodation for freaking

NOVEMBER 24 instead of OCTOBER 24

this explained why there was no airport pick up... There was never a booking.... Leover you dip stick!!!!
So it was 2 am and we had nowhere to sleep.. Lucky for us the receptionist was a nice guy and hooked us up with dorm rooms at the hostel across the road (also a Flying Dog Hostel) and then for the following night we were to get a double room.
So after the crappy error that I had made, we finally made it to Lima and got some sleep....
Peace

Technorati Tags: Flying Dog Hostel,Lima,Peru,LAN

THE CARACAS CRONICLES - VENEZUELA

Well, Well, Well, Well. After 165 days of travel we have finally found a place, a city, an area on planet earth that is in need of desperate attention... CARACAS.... This city seriously hole... There are no possible reasons for anyone to come here that has no business of coming here.....
If you're a tourist, who is white, cannot speak very good Spanish, a kind hearted individual by nature, one that looks at the better half of our fellow man, then it would be best for you to stay the fck out of CARACAS....
Come to Venezuela, Yes! most definitely, Venezuela, is one of the great wonders of this earth show casing some amazing sights such as:

• the surreal terrain in and moon like landscape of the Roraima Tepuy.
• the blockbuster waterfalls and the wide open spaces of the Gran Sabana
• the breath taking Angel Falls
• the wild west and Venezuelan outback of Los Llanos
• Merida, the extreme sports capital of South America where the worlds largest, longest and highest cable car resides. (currently out of service, and will be until 2011, they are awaiting for a part from France)
• and beaches, beaches, beaches... From the island paradise of Los Roques, Morrocoy and Isla De Margarita..

With all that in mind Venezuela 'should' be an amazing place to visit...
It's a shame that the largest city is the country is a poor representation of what it has to offer.. (and that's being nice)
So, when you are at the travel agent and they say 'would you like to stay one or two nights in Caracas', tell them NO!!! Keep me the fck out!!!
Pay the extra money to land in a different town... Hell pay any money to avoid having to set foot in this city....
Are there good people in Caracas... I would say Yes, there are good people in Caracas, hell, we met some. Bernadette's face book is covered with Caraqueños and Caraqueñas... We even met Jesus...
Are there bad people in Caracas... I would also say YES... THEY ARE CALLED THE
POLICE, TAXI DRIVERS AND CREDIT CARD CLONING HUSTLERS THAT TRAP
YOU IN THE ATM VESTIBULE, DEMANDING YOU SWIPE YOUR CARD TO GET OUT....
WHEN YOU KNOW THE DOOR IS UNLOCKED...AND MANY OTHERS
One could then say there are bad people everywhere... and I would agree with that, but in Caracas, more so than not.....
Shit, Caracas makes the Phils, look like it's the Garden of Eden... People say 'don't go to Columbia' because it is dangerous.... the people who say that obviously have no idea of what the hell is next door, in Caracas...
From the infrastructure that is obviously needing heavy maintenance, to the un built metro lines that are shown on the Metro Lines map found in the Metro, (when in the Metro, don't bother looking for the yellow line that is shown on the MAPS because it does not exist) to the decrepit vehicles that are still on the streets labelled TAXI and BUS...Caracas, needs work, a lot of work....
But to be fair, there are people here that are trying to make a living, trying to build a life of what is here....there the ones, my heart bleeds for, there in a predicament which to me is terrible...
the poverty is what you would come to expect in developing nations...everywhere...
when you stand on the street and observe people go about there every day lives, there is no joy, no happiness, there's struggle and abandonment... this is the feeling I got when we where walking around the city, people watching... The kids are the one's to offer you a kind smile and welcoming feeling.. everyone else you get the vibe that there getting ready to set you up for a jacking!!!
There is no trust, here and it is clear...as there is no certainty, no stability, no leadership... from ANYONE!!!! It is a clear every man for themselves situation in Caracas...
Does Caracas just suffer from big city problems, such as over population, corruption, poor infrastructure?? or is it just FUBAR??
Have other major cities we have travelled to given us such bad vibes, that we could not wait to get the farrr out of there?? No, in the other major cities we have been too such as NYC, London, Munich, Berlin, Cebu, Bangkok and San Francisco, we never felt so uneasy that we wanted to get the farr out of that city ASAP...
Caracas is the first Major city in S. America that we have been too... I wonder if all other major cities in S. America are like Caracas... I know Rio De Janeiro is nothing like Caracas... Will have to wait and see.....
The wealth in the city is distributed among the top 8% of its population... it's hardly fair... but here nothing is fair...
The people that live here, I don't know if they have hope... I mean they must have hope... Everyone has hope....
Hope that one of these days shit will change! To help those that are in need and not continually feed the already bulging pockets of the rich and wealthy....
Hope that one day government will actually do something for the people!!!
Hope that one can walk the streets and feel at ease and not have to worry about police harrasement...
There must be hope...... if not then, Caracas, is fcked.......knock it down and start again.... hell half of it is already down and the other half is on it's way.....
But what can one hope for when everyone and everything around you is just fcked up!!
Is it just fcked up in my eyes, and in reality everything is okay in there eyes??
Is the perception of fcked up different between people of different cultural backgrounds and upbringings? Or is fcked up, just fcked up where ever you are??? I mean I would think that fcked up is fcked up where ever you are... but, I don't think it is.... I think its situationally dependent.....
I mean the government here is corrupt as hell... It's so corrupt that they have an established and accepted black market for exchanging US money for Bolivarians... It's ridiculous, while the world trades there currency, at 2.1, (actually I don't know how much of the world trades Bolivarians, I know you can't get it in Germany) or there about's, here you can exchange US dollars for 3.5 and above on the black market.. If you find the right person you can get it exchanged for 4.0 to 4.8. When I say the right person I am talking about ANYONE on the street.
The black market currency exchange is so established you can go to the following website's for updates on how much the US dollar is being asked and sold for:
http://venezuelafx.blogspot.com/
http://www.notidolar.com/
I still am trying to figure out how this would benefit the people living here... I have no idea.. Someone, please Pauline Hanson me and 'pleeeaaassseee exxxpllaaiin'
From the corrupt government to the police....
Who the hell does one turn too when shit happens... I'll tell you who not to turn to the fricken police..... there the ones fcken you up, to start of with... When we were walking around Caracas we did our best to avoid police, we even took dodgy streets and lanes just so we wouldn't be seen by police...
Am I making this up.... um, NO.... of the Caraqueños and Caraqueñas that we met, they where the ones to quickly lay down the ground rules for the city... Usually, when I hear people lay down the ground rules for a city I FOB them of and not bother....but when every Caraqueños and Caraqueñas you meet tells you the same thing over and over again... you start to listen and pay attention...
Is the goal to scare the shit out of tourist, so that they tell other tourist not to come to Caracas and so no tourist will come to the city???? Because if that is the goal then it is well achieved.... Hell, just put up a big sign at the airport saying...
IF YOUR A TOURIST WE WILL IN SOME WAY JACK YOU!!
The ground rules layed down by every Caracanian we met and had the pleasure of having a beer with and eating an over priced yet AWESOME HAMBURGER with are as follows....

• CARRY PASSPORTS WITH YOU AT ALL TIMES
• DO NOT LET THEM TAKE YOUR PASSPORTS
• AVOID ALL CONTACT WITH POLICE
• DO NOT GO OUT AT NIGHT WITH OUT SOMEONE KNOWING THE CITY WELL
• DO NOT AGREE WITH WHAT THE TAXI DRIVER SAYS ABOUT PRICE
• WHEN YOUR AT THE ATM, YOU ONLY INSERT YOUR CARD ONCE INTO A SLOT AND NOWHERE ELSE

So, with all that in mind stay the faarrr out of Caracas...
Caracas, is not a tourist city, it's a city that's barely hanging on.... I mean that commercial building that burned for 6 or 7 days, that is shown in all the 9/11 documentaries... YUP, still in operation, without ever being refurbished or demolished and rebuilt...
The building burned for 6 to 7 days people, FIX IT........
You would think that in a country where petrol is cheaper than water.... (seriously fill up a bus... 4 bucks if that..... fill up a 747, 8 bucks) you would think, one would think that it's people would somehow be benefiting from this resource....but alas there not..... The rich get richer and the poor turn to crime....and who can blame them.... we all have to find a way to survive...
In Caracas, I don't think there is right and wrong... I think there is only 'how do I survive today!'.......
What would I know about the issues in Caracas, I'm just a tourist in a place where tourist are not welcomed!!!
If, and I say if you do happen to visit Caracas, I would suggest you do the following:

• LEARN AND KNOW HOW TO SPEAK AND UNDERSTAND SPANISH
• HAVE FRIENDS IN CARACAS
• JOIN A SOCIAL NETWORKING GROUP LIKE COUCH SURFING AND JOIN THE CARACAS GROUP TO GET LOCAL KNOWLEDGE
• DID I MENTION, LEARN AND KNOW HOW TO SPEAK AND UNDERSTAND SPANISH
• BEWARE CARD CLONING SCAMS
• AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST AVOID ANY CONTACT WITH POLICE

Venezuela, is a beautiful country and the perfect 4 week itinerary would be as follows:
From wherever you are fly into Barcelona (Not Caracas): Take the bus from Barcelona to Santa Elena De Uairen and get on a 3 day tour of the Gran Sabana.. The Posada Michelle is a great place to stay and organise tours from.. If you are a trekking nut, I would definitely climb Mount Roraima... This 6 day trek is a once in a life time trek and if in the area should not be missed... It's also hard and tough.. so it is a great adventure.
From Santa Elena De Uairen catch the night bus to Ciudad Bolivar and get on a 3 day tour of Angel Falls. The Posada Don Carlos is the perfect place for this as you can organise the tour from them. The service is very good and the place is great.
From Angel Falls Catch the bus to Merida and spend some time in the town taking in the atmosphere. Here you can do what ever the heck you want regarding extreme sports. Paragliding, Canyoning, Sky Diving, White Water Rafting... all in Merida... it's a student town so its hip and happening, laid back and chilled...
From Merida organise to go on a 3 day tour of Los Llanos.... 2 nights is enough... You will get to see and do everything in two nights and three days...
This is the 'outback' and 'wild wild west' equivalent, and it doesn't disappoint.
After this you will have had enough and it will be time to sit back, relax and let the malaria kick in... Hit the islands for one week.... to feel like your on holidays again....
Los Roques would be more favourable than the sometime over crowded Isla De Margarita..... Any, which way you go the Islands are spectacular......
Catch the bus from Merida to Maracaibo. Fly out of Maracaibo to Los Roques....
From Los Roques fly into Caracas, with a connecting flight out of the country the same day to wherever you are from.... to minimise time in Caracas........
PEACE...

Technorati Tags: Caracas,black market,Venezuela,corruption,Police,tourism,Bolivar,passports,9/11,couchsurfing,Angel Falls,Roraima,Los Roques,Los Llanos

Los Llanos back to Caracas

After 2 nights and 3 days in the Venezuelan outback of Los Llanos, we had enough, and decided to throw the towel in and ask for some of our money back...

The tour had not been quiet as successfully as what we had planned. We should have known this right from the beginning, when just getting to the place was a pain in the a$$. It was hell, but we got through that so we thought that the rest of the expedition would be okay... WRONG...

So, finally we decided to leave...again, we thought this would be an easy process but alas..it wasn't... (man, I need to learn Spanish).  We had to find an ATM in Mancatel that would take our cards, unfortunately there where only two banks and both of them didn't take international cards. So we where stuffed. Then we visited a shop that allowed large eftpos transactions but with a 12% BS fee.

We had no choice but to do this. Dodgy as man. There was a point in the transaction process where the lady had swiped B's card and then started to walk off with it. We both screamed out loud protesting to her removing the card from our sight. B by now was really nervous about us getting scammed, I was too a little but we had no money to pay for the tour that we just went on so we had no choice.

Finally, the transaction went through and we got money - paid off the lady from the tour and we were off to the bus stop.

We followed a nice lady from our hotel to the bus station. We were going to catch a taxi but she said the station was really close and there was no need for a taxi. She was right... it was about 300 metres away.

The bus we caught was called a Los Llanos Express, looked like a nice bus. I had seen them driving around the countryside..It was a 12 hour bus ride to Caracas from Mancatel, 6pm to 6am...

The bus ride was rough, the roads are bad and the driving is hectic...To make it that much more exciting for us, the bus was freezing, seriously, were talking like 2 degrees C. With the television not working we where provided with the alternative form of entertainment, concert style salsa music.

To easy the misery of the bus ride nothing like a couple of night time cold and flu tablets... My dealer seems to have an endless supply of these tablets. Take two in Mancatel wake up and your in Caracas...

Peace

Technorati Tags: Los Llanos,Caracas

WHERE TO NEXT IN VENEZUELA?

After being eaten alive in Canaima by Puri Puri's ad mozzies, we decided to stay an extra night in Ciudad Bolivar. We stayed in the same place, the Posada Don Carlos, but this time we opted for the cheaper accommodation option and stay in the hammocks. It was cool sleeping in hammocks, B opted to sleep on a mattress on the floor.

Ciudad Bolivar is a pretty boring place, nothing much to see and do.. You could go people watching but it was more like the opposite, they where watching you. Probably thinking ''how much money can I get out of that gringo' I'm talking about the police here. The town itself is very pretty with lots of colourful buildings, pink, blue, yellow, green and white to name a few of the colours used to paint buildings.

B took about 300 photos just on the buildings. Other than that there really isn't much else to see and do in the town except to sit in the hammock and watch time go by.... And in South America for some reason time goes by really, really, really slow... So you would just hate to be in prison....2 years would probably be like an eternity...

Not knowing where to go and what to do for the rest of our time in Venezuela we had decided to narrow our options down to three.

a) GO to Roraima and climb this puppy

b) GO to Los Llanos and hang out with wildlife

c) GO to Los Roques and sit on the beach and chill

We chose to go with option (b) Los Llanos.....Sounded fun, 4 day tour in Los Llanos, the promise of seeing; anaconda's, fresh water dolphins, caimans, capybaras, birds, iguanas, more birds, piranhas and did I mention the birds.. over 380 species of birds..... Pity we had no binoculars to see the damn birds... or a telephoto lens for our SLR to take photos with. But what can you do...

So where off to Los Llanos!!!! Be there or Be square...

Peace

Technorati Tags: Los Llanos,Venezuela,Canaima

WILD ALASKA

Say hello to our friends from Alaska.... AWESOME.....these guys where hanging out at the Alaskan Wildlife Refuge Centre just outside of Whittier.

I did some work in photo shop to get these cool effects. Still learning photo shop so the effects are real basic, but I think they look cool. I love it... The bears look great too. The one above is my favourate because he just looks confused. Like he's thinking, 'what the.....' hehehehe

We took so many pictures of these guys on the day....

We took this picture when we were at the side of the road for a pee break... Next thing you know there's a fricken BEAR fishing for salmon.... AWESOME..

Technorati Tags: brown bear,alaska,wildlife,refuge,trail lake

ALASKA

The Dalton Highway otherwise known as 'Haul Road' we took the road all the way up to Deadhorse and then onto Prudoe Bay on a massive road trip from Fairbanks.. Wicked scenery and wildlife along the way. The road takes no prisoners, it was built to serve the Alaskan Pipeline, so no rental cars should be taken on the road..

               
You gotta love this picture, spotted by B while we were on route into town.... hahahaha cracks me up... the dog's huge....

Technorati Tags: fairbanks,alaska,dalton highway

THE LAST FRONTIER - ALASKA - NOBODY WALKS IN AMERICA.... SERIOUSLY NOBODY

If you don't have a car in the beautiful Alaskan city of Anchorage and you go walking to find a car rental place, there's a good chance you'll end up here the bar, getting asked for ID, before you can ever find the car rental place, because it is fricken 300 miles away, and it only just hit you in the face, that Alaska is one big fcuk off place... :-)

There is no walking, in the US, seriously nobody walks, when we asked for directions to the car rental place the lady responded, "you're walking there???" hahahha gold.... we said "yes, yes we are". hahahaha....
                         

The bar has free wireless and a bottomless pit of coffee refills, below and to the left is my fifth cup... my hands are shaking so bad it's not even funny.......
                           

Screw the car, where just gonna get drunk... hahaha

                                    

One of the best beers ever the Alaskan Amber... Smoooth....

Technorati Tags: america,alaska,walking,drinking