Merry Xmas

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Ok, so technically this was supposed to be a blog about my travels, but even though, for the moment, the globe-trotting may have come to an end, I thought I would share some of my happenings in & around Canberra. Since moving here in May I've found some things refreshingly new, such as the lack of general madness of London and other big cities, and some depressingly similar, like the bureaucracy that I suppose comes with any developed country. But overall, I've come to enjoy living here quite a bit.

The more I get involved in day to day life here, the more I think this place seems to strike a good balance between having all pros of a decent 21st century city without the drawbacks of much bigger cities. It's clean, the 'city with a small town mentality' makes it more personal, friendly and peaceful, and, something incredibly valuable to me as a ex-Londoner, traffic is a rarity.

One of the best things I've found is that I only have to travel for a few minutes to get out into nature. Canberra's surrounded by forest (I can't quite get used to calling it bush) and mountains, which makes for some great cycle routes and even greater views from the top. A beach would be nice, the nearest one is a 2 hour drive, but it's also quite cool to be equidistant to ski resorts, and anyway I've always preferred beaches that take a bit of a drive to get to.

In terms of what I've been upto, well not a lot to be honest. I've been saving money for a while, and due to a combination of lack of mates and frankly just not really wanting to, I havn't been venturing out to the pubs or bars. Having seen the state of some of city-centres here and in NZ at chucking out time, I'm not really too bothered. Christmas is coming up however, so perhaps I'll see what's out there.

Work has the usual ups and downs of the public sector. Unlike some of my previous sales roles, the lack of enthusiasm here can be a little grating, and things move painfully slowly at times. More positively I did get promoted, which I can only assume would be a boost to my skilled migrant visa application, and the hospital has some life-affirming characters that make it more worthwhile.

When things are a bit rubbish I think it's natural to have thoughts about returning home; I miss my family, mates and doing the crossword in the pub, but looking back, I've had an incredibly fortunate run of events to get me here, so it would be a shame to cash in my chips now. Long term, I'm pretty much decided that I want to set up a base here, it just makes sense.

I'll try to update as I get out and about more, for the moment here's a few photos of my antics.

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Ciao

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So, almost a month after I arrived in Canberra and I've got a job, a place to live and even a much needed gym membership, but If I said it's been a smooth transition back into the routine of daily life I'd be lying. I knew it wasn't going to be easy to make the switch from the lifestyle and experiences I'd had in NZ, and particularly South America, but the challenge of getting my mindset back to something resembling what it had been in England all those months ago is by far the biggest I've experienced on this trip.

If I think about how I've travelled, it's clear that I quickly discovered that I wasn't really into the fast-paced, constantly-on-the-move lifestyle that a lot of travellers get involved in. As the trip went on I found myself favouring staying longer in a place, soaking up the atmosphere and trying as best I could to get into the local's way of life, instead of a couple of nights here, a few photos there and maybe a drunken evening, before stumbling back onto a bus to checkout the next sight.

Although my style of travel has it's negative points, and I've definitely paid the price for staying too long on at least one occasion, I've been told repeatedly on this trip not to have any regrets. Even though at times it's been scary, frustrating, boring, worrying and not least expensive, I can't say that I do.

Before I left home I always thought that travelling would probably broaden my horizons or whatever, and indeed it has. Looking back over the past 10 months as I sit here in a quiet café in Canberra, I think the places I've been to, things I've seen and most memorably, the people I've met have highlighted in the most powerful way what's important in life; not just to me but to society, at least as I've seen it. This may seem like a bit of a clichéd post-travel pondering, but after seeing and most importantly being a part of existences that I couldn't have imagined only last year, I think I've formed a new view of how to live. 

So what of the future, or just so what? Well I'm hoping that the slower-paced and hopefully more relaxed circumstances I've found here in this peaceful and friendly city will go some way to helping me settle for a bit. A lot of people seem to think that Canberra is a bit too slow compared to the likes of Melbourne, Sydney and certainly London, but for me it seems ideal to take stock, recover and perhaps establish a foundation for further travels.

This may be the last post for a while; there's still a lot of countries to experience, sights to see and people to meet, but for the moment I'm happy enough to have a bit of a break and a few cups of tea. Some of you reading this may know there's a chance I'll be returning soon for a bit, so fingers crossed I'll be able to share a few stories not suitable for this blog on my return :)

Here's some photos of some Canberra wanderings, and my home for hopefully the best part of the next year - even though it's Winter we're pretty lucky with the weather! 

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Ciao

ps To those of you I've been really bad at staying in contact with, I apologise - hopefully the above will go some way to explaining why I've been off the radar for a bit.

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So, a slightly more timely update for once:

Before I left Perth I took the ferry over to Rottnest Island a few miles off the coast and spent a day cycling about checking out the many little bays and, more interestingly, Quokkas which are like miniature kangaroos. It was a nice little island, small enough to get around pretty much all of it in a day, and as it shares the same sunny climate as the mainland, perfect for tourists. It was good fun being able to coast down the hills like a child with hardly anyone about to judge you, checking out the sights and dodging iguanas, while also getting some much-needed exercise.
 
In other news, after quite a few applications and registrations I've managed to land a job, amazingly one of the first ones I applied for, so I took off once again to Sydney and onto Canberra back in the east. I'm staying at a centrally located hostel in the city centre while I find somewhere more permanent to live.

It feels a bit strange wearing a suit again after 9 months, but I've been lucky enough to have a few days to have a wander around the area and get my bearings. So far Canberra seems like a nice balance of entertainment, culture and laid back people, which is good as it looks as though I could be here for a while.
I'm pretty glad I'm not in one of the more crazy cities as it may have been a little too like old times, but Sydney, Melbourne, loads of bushland and even some reasonable ski resorts are only few hours drive away, so there's space if I need to get out for a bit. Perhaps it's time to get the skis out again.

Here's some photos of Rottnest, a couple more of my last walk around the lake in Perth, and some of my new home. I'm not sure what to do with this blog as I'm technically not travelling anymore, and I doubt anyone wants to here about my 9 to 5. I could turn it into some sort of expat ranting but I think there's enough of that already. I'll have a think, meanwhile here's some photos.

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Cya

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So after another lengthy break between posts I've an update; I spent a couple of weeks in Melbourne on the job hunt after leaving the Brit-saturated madness of Sydney. It was, as a lot of people said, a bit less chaotic and had a more character, especially in the bohemian St.Kilda area where I stayed. There was also the best market I've seen in an English-speaking country in the North of the city. It was surprising to see people in cafes, shopping centres and busy streets pretty much all the time, there's definitely a spending culture out here which I imagine could be easy to get drawn into.

I decided to leave Melbourne about a week ago to visit some family friends in Perth in the West of Australia and continue the search for work; I'd heard the weather's better and what with the area prospering due to construction and mining booms, I decided it might be a more successful (and following a shooting on the doorstep of my previous hostel, relaxing) bet here. As you can see from the photos the weather is indeed very nice over here; despite the imminent onset of winter we're getting 25-30 degrees most days, and the setting of the city by massive Swan river makes for a nicer backdrop to some of the cities I've been to. I think the most unusual thing I've found is the familiar British culture, despite being one of the most remote cities in the world; almost half the residents of Perth are from the UK.

It's strange how despite travelling through a variety of different cities, rich, poor old and new, I seem to adapt better to the ones in South America.

Here's a few photos of Melbourne and sunny Perth:

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As for my plans; the prospect of returning to England looms; unless I can land something in the way of work fairly soon. Fingers crossed.

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After 3 months in NZ I touched down in Sydney a week ago in warm but variable weather. The city is pretty much how I imagined, big buildings, lots of traffic and plenty of busy looking people bustling about. Fortunately the suburbs of Collaroy and Glebe in the north and east where I've been staying offer a bit more peace, and of course the beaches are great for relaxing. 

My job search has begun, and although Sydney would probably be a good target I don't think I would enjoy working here. I've discovered on my travels that, for me, the slightly smaller cities tend to have a better balance of atmosphere and interesting people, so as I've heard so many good things I'm off to Melbourne tomorrow!

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Cheers

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Ello

For various reasons It's been well over a month since my last post, the earthquake made my trip take an unusual turn. Hopefully the following should explain what's been going on:

I left the madness of Queenstown about a week after the quake hit on the 22nd, and travelled back to the scene of the destruction in Christchurch. It might seem like an odd decision and looking back it was, but I wanted to help out and be with my friends, several of whom were working in the area before, and in some cases pretty much immediately after the quake.

As you can imagine the city was a state; buildings down all over the place, massive holes in the roads and firemen, police and military at most junctions. The photos show the scale of the destruction better than I can. It was sad to see the damage that had been done, especially to some of the older traditionally-styled buildings which were already being repaired from the boxing day quake, but thankfully some including the hostal had held up well.

The government had put a curfew in place to try and keep the place secure, so no-one was allowed in or out of a cordoned off area (which included our hostal) between 6:30pm and 6am. With not much to do apart from the occasional walk or shopping trip the atmosphere was sombre to say the least, but everyone was working hard to keep the city runnning as best they could, and despite the mass exodus (one resident had even left all her travelling gear having legged it straight to the airport) we did our best to maintain a positive atmosphere in the hostel.

As the water system for the city was not fully working we had to boil water for washing and drinking, which reminded me of South America, but amazingly power had been restored not long after, and the staff even managed to rig up a pump to a well for hot showers a couple of days after that. We mucked in by helping with the washing and sweeping the Liquification (a sort of dried sewer powder which had risen to the surface) that was all over the place, and despite several more aftershocks (imagine standing in a wooden shack and having a massive truck rumble past about 5 metres from you) kept ourselves entertained by baking, making stupid hats and singing.

You have to admire the Kiwi spirit, they're certainly doing a good job of getting things back on track, and the atmosphere rubbed off on us. It's definitely not something I would like to repeat, but memorable for the experience.

As my time in NZ was drawing to a close myself and Arita, a friend who I'd met at Foley Towers, decided to do a tour of the remaining areas of the South Island and take the ferry over to the north. Unfortunately as we had to make tracks to Auckland to meet a friend, and left a day let due to feeling rough, it was a slightly rushed tour, covering over a thousand kilometres in the course of a few days, but enjoyable none the less.

We made our way south in the trusty Ford Lazer, stopping off at Lake Tekapo in the middle, and circling back up the West Coast via Wanaka, Franz Josef, Greymouth and Nelson, where I started my travelling here over 2 months ago. We then caught the ferry over to Wellington at the southern tip of the North Island and on to Auckland via a night at Lake Taupo.

In a word it was exhausting, and I'm still feeling the effects now, but on the positive side I saw some great scenery, and me and Arita got got plenty of time in the car to work on our duets. I decided that if the job search in Oz doesn't go well I could look at a possible future career in cabaret, but sadly I'm still having trouble with the words of Kenny Rogers part of 'Islands In The Stream' so it's not looking promising.

For those who were wondering about my job search, I've given up on the quest for a working visa here, 2 months and almost 500 NZD later and there's still no word. Perhaps I should have never even applied as supposedly the wages and amount of jobs are better in Oz, but I've no regrets as while I was waiting I've made some great friends and laughed more than any other time in my trip.

Here are some photos, first of the 'quake and then more happily of my trip around the South and North islands. I'm currently at Lake Taupo slightly south of Auckland, which we were both keen to escape as it was pretty touristy and expensive as expected. I'll be making a move back to the city at the weekend to catch a flight back to Christchurch for one last time, before saying goodbye to NZ bound for Australia on Monday. Cheers!

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Just a quick one about the earthquake; I'm fine - I left Christchurch yesterday to do some stuff for my visa down in Dunedin, so was on the return leg and a couple of hundred miles away when it hit this morning and felt nothing. Amazingly, not long after I left the city yesterday I was thinking about turning back and leaving it till the next day as it was a nice day, but luckily I thought better of it.

I'm going to spend at least a night down here in Queenstown with a couple of friends while things calm down. Supposedly it's party town but I imagine things could be a bit sombre. Anyway will do a proper update soon, been a crazy day so off for a couple of beers.

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Greetings

For a variety of reasons it's been a while since my last post, but I'm reporting in from (mostly) sunny Christchurch here on the South Island. The wait for my work visa continues, and without going into too much detail it's been an endless cycle of receiving, copying and sending paperwork, with the latest saga being a bit of a mission to try and get an X-ray from Dunedin to Auckland. Although I'm thousands of miles away from Blighty, I'm constantly amazed by the Kiwi's similar dedication to red tape and generally being a bit arsey when you're trying to jump through the official hoops. Ah well.

On a much lighter note, my spirits have been generally good thanks to some friendly and funny folk at the hostel; there's a interesting mix of mostly Germans and Israelis and only a few British, as the Brits tend to favour the bus tours, where you get taken around the two islands and dropped off in hostels, sometimes partying of an evening, before stumbling back onto the bus for the next stop. No doubt an interesting experience, but I think having travelled for a bit now I'd prefer to make my own way around.

Inbetween the paperwork I've managed to get out for a brief camping trip to Lake Tekapo a few hours drive from Christchurch with a couple of mates. We had a nice time of walking about and drinking by the lake in the evening, the peaceful sounds of nature being drowned out by my friend Eric's guitar and my soprano renderings of the Backstreet Boys, which are quite popular with my fellow hostellers, I think.

Music generally seems to figure in most of my days here, whether it be catching up on new tunes on my Ipod in the day, or going back into wedding DJ mode in the evenings with some 80s and 90s classics. There's nothing quite like the sounds of a bunch of Germans singing along to Cotton Eye Joe to brighten up an evening.

Anyway enough ramblings, here's some photos of my adventures in and around Christchurch; we've been having mixed weather recently, but were lucky enough to get some clear skies on our camping trip. There's also a few of the Moeraki Boulders where I stopped off on the way back to Christchurch, which made for a few interesting photos. With any luck my next post should contain visa news of some sort, but as always we shall see. 

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Cya

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Well, the rain's coming down hard outside, so I think it's time to do another update! I arrived in Dunedin, toward the bottom of the South Island a few days ago. I drove the 6 hours down from Christchurch in a car I bought off the housemate of friend I knew from London. It's funny how things happen; I wasn't planning on buying a motor, but as it seems like my visa may take a few more weeks and it was a good deal, I thought I might as well use the opportunity to tour the South Island.

The drive down was great as I thought it might be; some gorgeous scenery and I found a fantastic beach at Katiki where I stopped off for a sleep and a few photos. I arrived at a nice little hostel just outside the city which has a jacuzzi and great (non-bunk!) beds, so made a point of jumping in with a beer and some new friends. The jacuzzi that is.

I've been here a few days and have so far checked out the town, including a night at a different and more lively hostel, and I also met up with my mate Mikael who I met back in Nelson to have a walkabout the Otago peninsula; we took a tour around the Penguin and Albatross populated areas and got a few nice pics. Apparently the only species of Penguin more rare is the one I saw in the Galapagos, which might explain why I only saw 2.

Anyway, as one of our exports was apparently bureaucracy, I'm gonna be here for at least one more day getting a medical and x-ray done for my visa application. Fingers crossed that it goes through ok, as I've already shelled out toward 300NZD for it, and more importantly I'm actually starting to miss earning money. I never thought I'd say that.

My next stop isn't decided, I may head to Invercargill on the tip of the South coast as I've heard good things about Stewart Island, or energy allowing I may cycle the 'Rail Trail' with Mikael for a few days as it looks like a nice route. Here's a few photos of the trip down, Dunedin and the Otago Peninsula. **Updated 20/01 with photos of the Dunedin Art Gallery and Chinese Garden

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Ciao! (wrong language, but I miss saying it) 

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So I arrived in Christchurch about 4 days ago after a 5 hour bus journey, having met up with a Swedish bloke called Mikael back in Nelson who was also going to Christchurch to look for a car to continue his journey. We both got tickets and had a wander about in Kaikoura where the bus stopped off for lunch. The scenery here is pretty nice, as you can see from the photos the beaches are long with good surf, and most coastal roads are bordered by huge green hills and mountains. I've heard there are some equally spectacular views on the west coast (where the big mountains are) so perhaps I'll be able to get a bus or car journey in at some point.

Being a developed country, travelling here is generally a lot easier thanks to decent (if a little windy) roads and bus services, and it's nice not having to sleep with one eye open to look out for bag snatchers too. Having said that, I almost began to enjoy the element of danger and the atmosphere that comes with the journeying in South America, as I keep saying all the best stuff I've done seems to come at a price.

I think I'll be in Christchurch for a couple more days yet while I await the decision of my working Visa application; I've spoken to a few agencies and found some jobs similar to the work I was doing back in England, so I'm hoping that I should be able to pick up something with an IT company in one of the cities. Failing that, it's either picking fruit or I have a ticket booked for Australia leaving NZ on the 28th of January, so as always we shall see.

Here's a few photos of the journey down from Nelson and a walkabout the town. A lot of the buildings are still barricaded off since the two earthquakes they had here around Christmas; the bus driver was explaining that the most recent one on boxing day, although less on the Richter scale, caused more damage as it was short and sharp. A lot of the hostels here are also closed due to damage from the quake, which has made finding a place to stay difficult. It's a shame as there are some very nice buildings here reminiscent of Olde England, and the bus driver was certainly pretty saddened by the affect it's had on the city.

Similary reminiscent of England, it seems most of the nightlife here centres around a depressingly brit-style drinking culture of pubs, bars and being drunk and wandering the streets by half eleven. No doubt there's a few town centre fights outside the kebab shops too. I keep having to stop myself telling fellow travellers about the culture difference in SA, where you don't even get into the club until 2:30, but I feel like there's a risk of becoming a stuck record.

I'll keep you updated on any developments, Hei konā rā!

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Kia ora! So after 2 flights from Santiago to Auckland, then straight onto Nelson on the tip of the south island, my first visit to New Zealand has begun. After arriving at the airport I was picked up by a mate of someone I met back in Rio. I'd been told about the Phat Festival, and also of a spare ticket and ride, which I thought might make a nice way to spend NYE. 

The festival kicked off on the 30th, and although the first night was good, the jetlag, tiredness from travelling and maybe still some post Christmas recovery kicked in hard on the 31st, and what was supposed to be a power nap at around 10pm ended when I woke up in my tent to the sounds of the crowd counting down to midnight, and Andy C (one of the biggest d&b DJs in the world) starting his first tune. Ah well, I'd seen him a few times before back in London so wasn't too gutted, and the next night I was slightly more on the ball and got to hear some good music so not a complete loss. The crowd I went with were all great fun and hopefully not too pissed off with my lethargy. 

I'm currently at a fairly chilled hostel in Nelson looking into the possibility of work. I'd heard a few stories of people making decent money from fruit picking (apples are about to come into season and are where the money is apparently), but I've also heard more tales of being paid below minimum wage and having to be lucky with where you get to pick, so the prospect is becoming less promising. I'm hoping I can pick up some work in or around one of the cities; as much as I love being a bit further out and appreciating the weather and scenery, I think the best prospects may lie in the built up areas.

Speaking English to locals is nice, but I can't help but feeling guilty; in South America the best stuff always seemed to be found after putting in the work to (try to) speak to the locals, and although I'm loving the weather (27-28) and amazing sights here, I can't help but miss the edginess, atmosphere and most of all the people of the last 4 months. To be fair I've only been here a few days, so we'll see what NZ holds..

Here are some photos from the festival and a shot of Nelson:

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Kī tōnu taku waka topaki i te tuna - 5 New Zealand dollars to the person who can translate that!

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So, since my last post in Sao Paulo I went off to sunny Buenos Aires in Argentina to meet my friend Paul from back in the UK and my earlier travels in Galapagos. I got to the hostal first, and when Paul and his friend Katrin arrived we took straight off to one of the best steakhouses in town, me still with drink in hand!!

The hostel 'Avenue Milhouse' was the scene of a few drunken evenings and some crazy Christmas shenanigans, including a rebellious jaunt to a couple of clubs the other hostels weren't going to; sadly our plan backfired when the club turned out to be slightly more average than we thought. Cue another club in the early hours of Christmas day, then out into the harsh light of the morning sun in BA for a couple of hot dogs for breakfast. Still slightly worse for wear, we all got back to the hostal and we sang and danced to extra loud Christmas tunes on my laptop and speakers till I got told to leave, fantastic.

I left BA yesterday and arrived in Santiago, Chile, for a brief 2 day stopover here before I leave for NZ in a few hours. The city's well, a city, but I got chance to checkout some shopping and the Plaza de Armas this morning which were both pretty nice. Despite the reports of travellers, I have a feeling Santiago and indeed Chile may be a bit of an undiscovered gem, so no doubt I'll be back for more exploration one day. 

So...several thousand miles of travel later and I can safely say South America has been quite an experience, I'll never forget the friendly people, amazing scenery, awesome food and the general 'go with it' atmosphere that's taught me so much. Although it feels sad to be leaving for the other side of the world, I know that I'll be back, and hopefully sooner than I originally planned. So now I'm heading to the airport for a 13 hour flight to Auckland on the North island, and then onto Nelson on South island, where *fingers crossed* a ticket and a lift to a great festival for new years is waiting. We shall see...

Ciao 

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So I headed out of Rio a couple of weeks back bound for Sao Paulo, the biggest city in South America, and yes it's massive!! I was in search of drum & bass, and managed to find it in a small club not far from where I was staying in the bohemian Vila Madalena area. Funnily enough the DJ playing that night (Marky) was from Sao Paulo and I'd been chatting with him not 3 months ago back in London, random!!

Anyway he played a good set but another local DJ Andy completely tore the place apart, I had to leave early as I was meeting a friend the next day, but it's a night I'll never forget, and my craving was satisfied for a little longer! Sao Paulo is probably my favourite city so far, fantastic markets, the metro and good buses making it easy to get around added to a very positive experience. and I'm fairly certain Brazil is my favourite country - the food, people, climate and general atmosphere is fantastic, a perfect balance for me. I ended up spending about 2 and a half weeks in total there before heading to Buenos Aires where I'm going to be spending Christmas. 34 degree heat and people wearing santa hats is a little unnerving but as always I'm going with it. Some great people here including some mates from back in SP so hopefully we'll have a good laugh, there's even a Christmas lunch, but it's lamb not turkey, ah well. This will probably be my last post before xmas, so to all reading this: Feliz Navidad!!!

Here's a few photos of SP:

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Salut!!

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So

With my new credit cards, I finally managed to leave Lima about a week ago, bound for Cali in Colombia. I booked the flight at short notice as for various reasons I was desperate to leave the city. Unfortunately, I chose one of the worse places to relax, as Cali is the 'Salsa capital of South America'. The city itself is nice enough and certainly more developed and safer than Lima, but after 2 nights there I'd had enough, and decided to get a ticket to the place that was originally going to be the first stop on my travels, Rio De Janeiro in Brazil.

I've been here for a few days and I'm really appreciating the weather, a nice relaxed hostel and of course the beach; I'm currently situated between Copacabana and Ipanema, both are massive stretches of white sand, and both are covered with the standard red umbrellas when it's hot. The only problem I'm having is the language; although Portugese is supposed to be similar to Spanish I'm having trouble even with the basics, as to me it sounds pretty different. A lot of the locals supposedly do understand Spanish, but it feels a bit rude to assume they understand so I've been sticking to 'obligato' (thankyou).

Although we're almost in the summer, Rio has a pretty variable climate at the moment; you can have hot sun in the morning and clouds of rain later, but on the whole we're getting a regular cycle of 3/4 days of 30+ degree weather, followed by a few days of clouds. Even when it's overcast the weather is still in the top 20s, which can be pretty gruelling especially as this hostel is on a massive hill! All good for exercise though. Anyway here's a few photos of Copacabana and Ipanema beaches, and the Sugar Loaf mountain. 

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Ps in case you're wondering, the current drug gang warfare is located a lot further north in the Favelas (slums) so there's been no trouble here. You occasionally see an army helicopter fly over, but the government does a depressingly good job of keeping the tourists in the Southern resorts unharmed.

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So..

It's almost a month after my last post, and to be honest I don't have a great excuse for the lack of update. After returning from the Galapagos and Ecuador (via hospital thanks to a nasty stomach bug) I made my way back down to Lima once again with my friends, as they were en route to Cuzco and we all had things to do in the city.

We stopped off in a beach town called Mancora for a few days, staying at Loki, which is without doubt the craziest hostal I've stayed in so far. Although I say it's a hostal, it's more of a resort, as it's situated right on the beach, and with not much else to do in the town, it's basically a life of beach/pool in the day and partying at night with a crowd of around 100. As you can imagine it was a focal point for backpackers, so I was relieved to be able to speak English again, swap stories and make some new friends. I would definitely recommend Loki if you want to let off some steam, and great fun was had for a few days, but after 3 nights there I was starting to climb the walls.

I made my way back to Lima via Trujillo, and I've been here for a couple of weeks now, initially continuing my recovery and waiting for some replacement cashcards I unfortunately lost back in Guayaquil. Post recovery, I think my favourite thing to do so far has been shopping in the numerous local markets; you can seemingly get anything ranging from cows tongues to DVDs, and the prices are so cheap it's mind-boggling. I've also done the standard city things including cinemas, bowling, 'Parque de las Aguas' (a sort of water park with fountains) and many restaraunts. Cuisine here in the city seems to be based around a mix of Peruvian (rice, fish, potatoes), grilled chicken (they love their chicken and chips here), and 'Chifas', or Chinese restaraunts. Surprisingly, despite the local's fondness for spicy food, I've only seen one Indian eatery, although that could be because food here is generally a little lighter. My search continues to find a cheaper meal than the starter, main, dessert and drink I got for 5 soles (currently £1.11) just off the main square in Miraflores. 

I would say I'm probably reaching my limit in terms of the time I'd want to spend here; although there are nice parks, good clubs and reasonable beaches further up the coast, the weather's generally not brilliant (although improving as we get toward summer), and the hustle and bustle of the city can be a bit much. On a positive note I'm a bit more used to it now, and I've had a good chance to checkout life in the city properly instead of just the touristy areas. I think I'm even managing to get half decent prices for things now despite my lack of Spanish.

My current plan is to spend maybe one more week here with my friends Magnus and Rosalita who I met in Cusco, before I finally attempt to get to Colombia. Although it means retracing my steps back up north, I've heard so many good things it seems a shame to miss out on a whole country.

Apologies for lack of photos, will try to post up a few before I leave for the north.

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Once again I have to apologise for the lack of updates, internet coverage has been patchy recently, I will explain: the week before last I finally met up with my friend Paul in Guayaquil, Equador, after a long and slightly troublesome journey. I won't go into detail as I want to keep this blog positive, but lets just say the Tumbes border certainly deserves it's reputation as one of the more perilous crossings.

After 2 planes, 2 buses and 3 taxis totalling 24 hours of travel, I met Paul and 2 of his friends at a hostel in the city, and found out he was just about to leave to go back to the airport! They were due to get a flight to the Galapagos islands, and after the chaos of Lima I didn't much fancy the idea of waiting in another city for them to return. That, together with the prospect of beaches and amazing wildlife sold me on the idea of trying to get a last minute flight with them, so I headed back to the airport. Luckily, and most likely due to tourist cancellations because of the political chaos on the mainland, we managed to all get seats in business class for the same price, so I used the last of my energy to check in and get on the plane, and promptly passed out for the duration of the flight.
 
Once we reached the port, the 4 of us comprising of paul, his dutch friends Nic and Terence and myself met up with another 3 friends; a German girl called Elsa, Ian a South African and an american called Michael. Like me, they had all been travelling individually but had run into each other at various points on their trip. We all seemed to get on well together and being able to share tips and routes was great for all, not to mention the economies of scale provided by haggling as a group. After finding a hostel we decided a guided cruise would be the most economical and hopefully best way of seeing the southern islands, so we went haggling round the agencies. I'm not sure if it was because of the low season, economic climate or just pure luck, but we managed to land a 3 day cruise on one of the most luxurious 16-person cruise ships in the Galapagos. After much negotiation, we ended up paying roughly a third of full price, and that evening celebrated with a few cervezas.

On the cruise around the Southern islands we all enjoyed lots of snorkelling, guided walks on the islands and good quality food and cabins. The beauty of the Galapagos is hard to describe in words, I constantly talk about becoming decensitized to the amazing scenery on my travels, but here I was amazed again by beaches, endless miles of trees, mountains, volcanos and of course wildlife uncomparable to anything I've seen before.

After the cruise Elsa and Ian left for a different island, so the 3 lads and myself decided to spend some more time sightseeing on the island of Isabella, the largest in the Galapagos, and great for seeing iguanas, penguins and white-tipped sharks. Here's the photos:

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After we left Galapagos, Paul, Terence and me travelled back over the Equador/Peru border to a popular beach hostel in Mancora, northern Peru. With a capacity of 120, it's by far the biggest I've stayed at on my travels, and as far as reputations go, definitely on a par with the best of the party hostels. Not sure what the current plan is as to whether I go north or back down south, as it's been a bit tumultuos the past couple of weeks and I'm enjoying relaxing, but I will endeavour to keep this updated.

Hasta luego

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Muy siento for the lack of updates recently; I've been in Lima for a week en route to Equador. The original plan was to go straight to Guayaquil with only a brief stopover in Lima, but as the political situation north of the border was quite volatile when I was looking to fly, I thought it best to chill out in Lima for a week.

I'm not quite sure why I thought I could relax out here, as Lima has to be one of the craziest cities I've ever been to. If you imagine a smaller London with the (now standard) crazy drivers, grey skies, tourists and general hustle and bustle you'd be not far off, but there's an addictive atmosphere here that seemed to get me constantly doing stuff. Unfortunately I didn't keep my journal up to date, but some points to mention from this past week have been:

• Staying in 5 different places: a quiet, locally run hostel in the central Miraflores area (for some R&R after a mad flight), a friendly backpacker hostel called Kokopelli (an ancient traveller apparently), located just off Lima's equivalent of Piccadilly circus with a rooftop bar, a locally run hostel complete with cat and chainsmoking neighbour (not a good night's sleep), a gorgeous if slightly extravagant hotel, and a fantastic hostel on the coastal town of Barranco with sea views called the Backpackers Inn. The reason for the constant moves is that I'm trying to get different experiences, although I think having stayed at a few places now, the half-party, half chilled hostels of the likes of Kokopelli in Lima and my favourite Southern Comfort in Cusco would be my preference.
• Checking out Lima zoo; some interesting animals including lots of monkeys (of course). I can't help but feel sad when you see the size of some of the cages, but I suppose it's the only way for a lot of people to see animals in the flesh. A nice day out and good value for money, the place is huge!
• Finally getting to a sandy beach! - I always find a walk a la playa the the best way to chill out and get centred. Although it's overcast for most of the year in Lima, you get the occasional burst of sun and even a blue sky, I was quite lucky to get both when I was in Barranco. The photos of the beaches were taken here.
• Eating Cui (fried Guinea Pig) at a restaurant downtown - checkout the photo; they literally cut the thing down the middle and fry it. To be honest it wasn't amazing, kind of like cheap fried chicken, but worth a taste.
• Going to visit Favi's friend's dog, a Rottweiler called Arcos, which was supposedly recovering from an operation at a vet's house. I say supposedly because the thing showed no signs of sedation. They've got quite strong jaws, as I found out when it got slightly too protective and went for me. Only a scratch, but poco de miedo for a while. Suffice to say the beast stayed outside while I attempted to discuss the problems of canine inbreeding in Spanish with the doctor.
• Driving in central Lima; I had seen the traffic in Cusco and Lima, so had an idea what I was in for, but actually being in the madness is something else. Add a left-hand drive automatic car and driving on the other side of the road into the mix and it's an interesting recipe. Suffice to say there were several near misses and muchos tocaring of the horn from other drivers, but that's actually pretty standard for here. I think the pinnacle came when driving Favi, her workmate and her workmate's elderly mother to lunch in central Lima amongst the chaos with only a few near-death moments. You quickly learn that any space is up for grabs, pedestrians not only have no rights but are an annoying hindrance, and the horn is for indicating your presence, annoyance, happiness, or just boredom. The guy who owned the car rental place said if you can drive in Lima you can drive anywhere. I'd have to agree. Despite it all I was glad of the experience, if a little frazzled.

I'm currently sat in the same Starbucks at Lima airport I was in when I first flew into Peru, again waiting for a flight. I was supposed to fly direct to Guayaquil to finally meet my friend Paul, but the flight company seem to have a recurring problem confirming my details, so I got to the airport to find no reservation and no more seats available. Whoops. I didn't fancy paying $800 for a flight tomorrow and having to stay overnight, so now I'll fly to Tumbes and get a bus across the border, and with any luck finally get to Guayaquil at some point tomorrow. Sigh, still, at least the madness of the election is over, and after just over a month in Peru I'm finally venturing north of the border! Will hopefully have updates in a few days, meanwhile here are some photos from the week.  

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Ciao!

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In keeping with the current theme of recovering from my jungle trip (the mosquito bites are slowly healing), we headed out to Salineras de Maras just outside Cusco for a walkabout around the Inca saltmines. Once again there were pretty cool views to be had and a chilled atmosphere, which was much appreciated after the craziest bus trip of my travels so far; we had all piled into a minibus to take off around the swiftly-becoming-standard precarious mountain route. The driver may well have drunk too much coca tea or was just insane, as he blindly overtook lorries at speed on the outside of bends with 200ft drops. My friend Magnus was already suffering from the effects of a late night, so was forced to crack open a beer or two after we got there, I think I may have to start taking some on these trips. Anyway, the rest of the day was thankfully more relaxed, as we headed over to a market at Urumbaba for a walkabout and a sit down in the square. It was all very peaceful, until one of the many stages that keep appearing in towns all over Peru started playing music which was amplified by the acoustics of the square. As I've mentioned in a previous post, Peru is currently gearing up for regional and municipal elections, so there's endless posters of beaming politicians all over the place, and constant parades of cars blaring out music and honking their horns. It seems most people will be glad once it's all over this Sunday, as from what I can gather the whole thing seems to be a mini Novella (soap opera), standard politics I guess. Anyway enough ranting; to round the day off we went to another market in Cusco to checkout the goods, I picked up a hooky copy of The Indestructibles on DVD which is watchable quality, and a CD of music I heard at the Shintuya Anniversary festival which seems to have grown on me. Interestingly, I don't think I've seen a single (non-travel) book, DVD or CD anywhere in Peru that isn't pirated, but at 3 Soles (less than a pound) for a film I can't complain. Some photos to checkout here, will update again after my friend Rosalea's 30th tomorrow, so you can hopefully see what Cusco has to offer in the way of birthday festivities.

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Ola!

So, one week, 24 hours of bus rides, 10 hours of boat rides and a lot of mosquito bites later, I've returned from my trip visiting family in Shintuya in the Manu jungle. So much has happened in the past week that I'm going to have to refer to my trusty journal for the details so bare with me:

21/09

We left Cusco in the evening last night on an overnight bus ride into the jungle. Making our way through what was, for the most part, a journey on bumpy dust and stone single track roads, the views were limited due to the dark, but I could make out the occasional precarious drop over the side into a river or just darkness. The trip wasn't so bad, I think I'm slowly getting better at sleeping on long journeys, and there were frequent stops to stretch our legs, get food, pick up passengers or just for the driver to have a chat with oncoming motorists about the journey. Even so, I was glad to reach Salvacion, the first big town in the jungle itself at around 7am the next morning. After a quick breakfast at a cafe, we jumped into the back of a truck with a few fellow passengers including two chickens and a cockerel and headed for Shintuya. Poking my head above the top of the truck, Arnaldo pointed out several species of birds including parakeets, parrots and ravens flying about amongst the massive trees. About 3 hours later we finally arrived at our final destination, to be greeted by the Corisepa (aka my extended) family who were all very friendly and welcoming. The rest of the day is a bit hazy, dad had told me about the humidity but in the middle of the day it's something else! After a brief walkabout and more meeting the locals (including a friendly pet monkey called Pooka) I managed to sit, or rather sleep, through the local football and volleyball matches being played in the grounds of the school. Despite being frazzled by the journey, the things that struck me were the amazing visuals: the sight of the Amazon (specifically Madre Con Dios) river on the doorstep of the village, the wildlife and the accompanying soundtrack; the jungle is never quiet, if its not cicadas making a racket it's the birds, frogs or, at night, the sound of music and television coming from the casas. I'm not sure if it's a good thing, but it seems that the modern world hasn't left the town untouched. What was once I imagine people gathered round fires sharing jokes and stories has turned into people mainly sat in their homes relying on more modern forms of entertainment but that's life I guess. As you can imagine I slept pretty well that night, despite the noise.

23/09

Arnaldo, his uncle Julio, Julio's wife Delia, grandfather David and myself left the village in the morning to go on a fishing trip. I'm not exactly an experienced fisherman, but I thought it sounded a great opportunity to checkout life and I wasn't wrong. We headed upriver in a small wooden boat with an outboard motor, once again technology has taken over from traditional oar powered boats, but I was thankful as it was still a good 3 hours in the unrelenting heat. I think this is where I must have picked up my tan (and a bit of sunburn). We arrived at a beach that, to me at least, looked like the many others we passed on the way, but Julio obviously recognised the opportunity for some good fishing, and after a 20 minute trek over stones he found an small inlet river and we got the gear ready for fishing. I was slightly confused as Arnaldo waded out into the river, I thought they were going to use him as bait, but it turned out he was stretching the net out across the width of the water to catch the fish. A key ingredient in fishing out here is the use of a local poisonous root which is bashed up with rocks and dropped into the water upstream. It seemed to do the job as we caught about 20 fish of various sizes, and most impressively, a White Caiman, a sort of small relative of the crocodile. It's not really that vicious unlike its cousin the Black Caiman, and having seen a stuffed one back at Casa de Carolina I'm quite glad we didn't run into one. I was tasked with carrying the beast (still alive) by the throat across the river back to David, who promptly killed it by bashing it with a machete. After a few more hours and several more fish I was starting to get pretty fed up with the mosquitos, so decided to make my way back to where we landed the boat and where Delia had started the fire for tea. In retrospect this may not have been the best idea, as it got dark quite quickly and although it was a straightforward journey to the river, coming back on my own in the increasing dark with strange noises and lights (fireflies) dotting about all around me was a little unnerving. Luckily I made it to the fire with about 10 minutes before the light faded completely, and we waited for the rest to come back. After dinner of what will probably be the freshest fish soup I'll ever eat, we all set off again for another alcove. I decided against joining in the hunting trip into the jungle, as I was completely knackered and promptly passed out in the boat. Apparently Julio and David had been tracking a tapir through the jungle but it got away. The night was a bit tough, as the humidity, mosquitos and generally uniqueness of attempting to sleep in the bottom of a small wooden boat proved difficult, but as always a great experience. I was glad to return to Shintuya at some point the next morning.

24/09

In preperation for Shintuya's upcoming 54th anniversary, pretty much the whole of the village took to the water for a massive fishing trip, I say trip it was more like Operation Pescado. After landing on a beach about an hour downriver, what must have been a hundred of the villagers prepared the poison root for dumping in the river with nets again. I joined in bashing the root with rocks on the shore, and then took to the boats as we all got involved with catching as many fish as possible. To see men, women and children armed with machetes chasing, spearing and bashing the hell out of fish and then chucking them in boats was quite a sight. Between the lot of us we got a fair catch, ranging from small sardine types to a couple of massive black catfish. I even managed to get involved and whack a few myself, although I think a few more trips are needed before I start diving off the boat with a spear. Unlike the mosquitos, thankfully the more dangerous fish left me alone.

26/09

The festival celebrations kicked off in earnest today with a big football and volleyball tournament at which the local teams competed, accompanied by the endless sound of local music played on speakers at the side of the pitch. Even though the humidity and slight stomach illness was taking it's toll on me, I attempted a somewhat short-lived go at volleyball, before deciding it was probably best to leave it to the locals. Spent the rest of the day wandering, sitting about and reading, as the heat really does take away a lot of options. Everyone was in good spirits as the evening entertainment kicked off with a local band led by Peruvian singing sensation 'Anoshka'. Kind of hard to describe the music, a strong brazilian upbeat sound with electronic drums and cheesy synth. I did manage to get into it after a few Pilsens, seemed rude not to at a litre for 10 soles (2 pounds) and ended up dancing with the locals, the majority of whom seemed to be related to me somehow. Excellent evening with everyone in good spirits, ending in a massive lightning storm of which I doubt I'll see the likes of again. The rain comes down very, very hard here, but despite that I still managed to sleep pretty well.

27/09

The day was spent in similar fashion to yesterday, the heat and mosquito attacks once again having an effect, but the evening was one I'll remember for a long time. After yet more Pilsens I was dancing away with new amigos, but this time not content with being off stage, I joined the band for a rousing and slightly drunken rendition of Hotel California by the Eagles. I'm not sure what the locals made of me, but there was much talk the next morning of my antics. Hopefully they'll remember my visit for a while.

Apologies for the quality of the photos here, I impressively managed to leave the battery for my main camera back in Cusco, so all of these were taken with my trusty old Nokia. I'm not sure pictures could do the experience justice, but here they are anyway. I'm sure you'll all be pleased to know my singing debut wasn't captured on film.

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