Nads on Tour

A slight delay...

2006-10-27T16:52:00.000-07:00

Hi all. Yes, I have been at home for 2 weeks already, and no, I haven't got round to updating the final chapter of this epic tale. I have been very busy catching up with everybody and this week I nipped up to Bonny Scotland to see my brother, sister-in-law and achingly gorgeous niece who is now talking and will have her own chat show in no time. It's scary - she's not two until next week and she uses words like 'condensation' in the right context. She's adorable and I wouldn't climb into a softplay ball pit with 6 under-fives for anyone else. It's been a chaotic couple of weeks, but despite some major changes (sister's new fella, best friend's engagement and very tasty rock on 3rd finger, left hand) things seem to be pretty much as I left them. I've even managed to get my old job back at Deutsche so will be slipping right back into the old routine (dodging the rain, dodging the gym, dodging salads). I hope to get this thing wrapped up by next weekend so that I can focus my energies on my trip to New York in November. As my friend Lynne asked - "can you actually work for, say, 5 months without a break?!" The answer is yes, but not this close to Christmas! I feel magnetically drawn to the Big Apple as soon as they hoist that big tree at the Rockefeller Center. I have until December to apply for a balance transfer on 0% till 2008, so Bloomies here I come!

On the home stretch..

2006-10-05T12:31:00.000-07:00

Well that's all for today folks as my pictures of Iguazu Falls are not yet transferred to disk. I leave you in El Calafate for now, but there isn't much more to come as I have only one week left on this mammoth tour. Yes, in only 7 days I will be getting on a plane from Buenos Aires to London, back to the old life, but back to decent tea and Coronation Street and of course family and friends. I have just 6 days to trip the light fandango in Buenos Aires and to lead myself to near-bankruptcy through a final attempt to shop till my fingers are sliced off by the string handles of chic boutique carrier bags. I am currently in lovely Mendoza where I have been entertained by Canadian firemen and have meticulously planned my Buenos Aires shopping extravaganza by checking that all the shops I like have branches there. In the meantime I am off to collect my last lot of laundry of the trip and to spend a last hour in the garden of the lovely hostel I randomly picked. It's wonderful! Then I will be boarding the overnight bus to BA (First Class no less!) and will be hoping that unlike my last bus trip, they won't be playing Michael Bolton music videos from the mid-80s. Backpacker hell is finding out you've forgotten to charge your Nano and the driver has lined up Michael Bolton and Foreigner videos. Fingers crossed!

El Calafate and the Catamaran Cats

2006-10-05T12:00:00.000-07:00

After early morning bussing it across the snow-covered border, Claire and I arrived in El Calafate in Argentina where we were due to meet my friends from home, Jackie and Jane. El Calafate was such a nice surprise - sun shining on a little alpine ski village! Well that's what it looked like - lots of log built chalet-style buildings and enough gift shops to keep me busy 'till Christmas. There were great restaurants and a lovely bar/bookshop that we adopted as our rendezvous spot as Jackie and Jane were staying at a posh hotel while Claire and I were at the hostel. It was so nice that I commented that it was like a mini Val d'Isere without the snow. As if by magic, the next morning we woke up to snow. Perfecto!! We spent the first day there catching up and having such a fab time just relaxing and yabbering that my throat hurt from laughing. Unfortunately the weather meant that the Perito Moreno Glacier was a no-go as, although you could apparently still hear the ice breaking off, there was no visibility. We opted instead for a catamaran tour of the Glacier National Park which was fantastic. We picked the only full day of sunshine and it was beautiful. The boat glides through the icebergs and takes you to the foot of the Upsala Glacier and several others. It was a lovely boat and when you didn't want to brave the cold and wind outside you could relax inside. Also, when everyone gathered at the front of the boat to look at an iceberg us girls could have the rear deck all to ourselves to practice Thriller-style moonwalking.

Torres del Paine and Olde English

2006-10-05T11:02:00.000-07:00

We landed at Puerto Natales which was a huge improvement on Puerto Montt. We found a nice warm, cosy hostel which had all mod cons and, most importantly, cable TV so that we could watch 'When Harry Met Sally'. On our first night we all met up for dinner where Johan earned the nickname the Belgian Brute for (hopefully) unintended insults! (Photo is of Claire, Paul, Christian, Johan, Rouel, Liesbet and Anika). Being the oldest diner at the table I was in for many age jokes (those heartless 20-somethings!) Liesbet and Anika (apologies to her for getting the spelling wrong) were born in 1983 and told me so. I replied "That's nice. I'm very happy for you!"
It was all in good humour and we had a great evening listening to some very bad elevator music and eating very strange pizza. We loitered around the next day, in and out of internet cafes drinking hot chocolate and eating hot-from-the-oven muffins, as the weather was pretty horrendous. We didn't mind too much as that night we went back to the warmth of our hostel and a chicken and pasta carbonara cooked by me that apparently convinced Christian (the pouting Kraut) that British food isn't so bad after all (well, Italian-inspired British food). The boys and our Dutch and Belgian friends spent the day getting equipped for their 5-day treks through Torres del Paine National Park. How Claire and I laughed at them stocking up on dried goods and how, for their own safety and not 'cos we were very easily persuaded not to spend 5 days camping and trekking in the freezing cold, we repeated stories of recent trekker accidents that had been told to us by Cecelia, our hostel owner. People had been falling over on the ice and cutting themselves and I'm sure there had been broken bones too.. Anyway, the six of them set off the next morning and I know from Johan and Liesbet that they got snowed in on the second day and were forced to abandon the trek. The same day Claire and I did an excursion to the same park (http://www.torresdelpaine.com/ingles/index.asp), but due to heavy rain, mist, exceptionally low clouds etc, we could only see the bottom bits of the reputedly spectacular Torres themselves. We got a very distant glimpse of the Grey glacier and got up quite close to the icebergs that break off it into the lake. However, the rain forced our retreat into the minibus where we lunched on Olde English mint toffees that were made in Chile and had a picture of a kilt-clad Scotsman on the front.

Patagonian Channels and Penguin Porn

2006-10-01T15:20:00.000-07:00

It wasn't all bad in Chile. I have to say that the best thing I did in Chile was get on the Navimag ferry through the Patagonian Channels. In the winter the only way to get to Puerto Natales is to fly or take the ferry, as some of the roads are impassable. Although the weather didn't get any better it didn't matter as there were some great folk on the boat (Belgian, Dutch, Brit, German and French) and I was so grateful to have conversation that it could have been raining stray, rabid dogs and it wouldn't have mattered. I luckily had a 4 berth cabin all to myself as it was of course low season. It was warm and comfortable and you could either sit and watch the very informative documentaries about Patagonia, or sit and read a book, or sit and chat with fellow passengers. There was a lot of sitting but it was nice! The scenery was wonderful despite the rain, clouds, mist etc, but it made it even more spectacular when a ray of sunlight burst through. It's all very peaceful and isolated and you don't see any signs of life until Puerto Eden where we took on more passengers. At night and during the afternoon the staff would put on a movie, so we had some good Chilean movies that were very interesting, one in particular about the very violent political strife of the 1970's and how the gap between rich and poor grew wider, and then we had 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding'. We also saw 'The Widowmaker' which involves Liam Neeson and Harrison Ford doing bad Russian accents and nasty things happening in a submarine. A highlight was 'March of the Penguins' which is really very lovely despite the penguin porn jokes during the mating scenes. There was also a showing of 'Flightplan' with Jodie Foster which I had warned the other passengers is a terrible, TERRIBLE movie. It is basically 90 minutes of Jodie running around a plane saying "whersh my dotter". Watch it at your peril as it is 90 minutes you'll never get back. Even that lame duck couldn't ruin what was a fun 3 days teaching 'Cheat' to the Dutch and Belgians (but not giving away all the tricks).

I had only one evening of seasickness despite taking the appropriate pills at the designated time (as there is a stretch of water that is notoriously rough). One minute I was watching a Chilean military movie and the next I was tasting spaghetti bolognese for the second time that night. That same night sleep was hard to come by as the sailing was so rough that you were constantly woken by crashing kitchen equipment being flung from side to side. I got up at least 4 times to shut the door to the deck as the wind kept blowing it open. One very andrenaline-inducing impromptu barefoot skid in pyjamas down the corridor on wet floor put paid to that as I had visions of freak 'sliding out the door and into the sea' accidents and then no one being able to hear my cries.

Anyway, it was a fun time on the high seas but a relief to hit dry land, but as it was Chile in winter it wasn't dry.

Puerto Montt - Cup-a-Soup and scabby dogs

2006-10-01T14:26:00.000-07:00

There are no pictures of Peurto Montt. I couldn't bring myself to create a visual record of it. It is so deeply imprinted on my memory that I will never need a photo to recreate the 48 hour misery. I think it is safe to say that the two days I spent there were the worst of the trip. They may in fact rate in the top five worst times of my life (and there's a spinal injury and a panic attack on the Franz Josef Glacier in there, so that should give you an idea). Puerto Montt felt like a bad joke, like someone somewhere was going to jump out from behind a lamp post and tell me I was in some 'Truman Show' type experiment. I had bolted down there to try to sort out a booking problem with my ticket for the Navimag ferry through the Patagonian Channels. I got there on the Saturday afternoon to find the office closed. The weather was even crappier than Villarrica and because Puerto Montt is a dreary, scruffy town anyway, it looked even drearier and scruffier in the rain. When I got in the cab to my 'accommodation' the cab driver tried to get me to stay somewhere else as he said the flaking, rusting shack he was pointing to was "mejor" (better) than where I'd asked him to take me. Well I'm no fool and this is a common tactic by cab drivers to get a bit of commission so I told him 'no'. I was a fool.

When he dropped me off outside the guest house it looked ok, if a little run down. But then PM itself is very run down. I had stupidly paid the landlady before I saw the room and the general accommodation. Now, under normal circumstances I would have bolted and gone to another place, but as this turned out to be the woman's own house (two rooms of which she rents out) I felt obliged to stay for fear of offending her. I am too soft for my own good. The bathroom was unspeakable and I only showered once as I just couldn´t bear to tackle the torturous hot water supply and rivers of condensation running down the lino that was nailed to the walls. The walls of my room were leaning quite dramatically in varying directions and the drafts blew up between the wallpaper and the walls. To borrow a very old line from an 80's comedy, "it was so damp the walls were peeling off the wallpaper". As I dumped my stuff in the room so that I could escape by tramping the wet streets, the landlady came out and (cigarette with half an inch of ash dangling precariously from her mouth) offered to do me breakfasts for an extra $2. I politely declined.

I then wandered the streets of Puerto Montt being tempted into warm and cosy looking cafes, ordering 'homemade soup' only to be served with a hastily-mixed cup-a-soup which still had lumps of powder in it. I was so starved for activities that I waited for the one book shop to open as I had read in my guidebook that it had a "small selection" of English fiction. I bought the only two books worth reading as Mills and Boon seemed to be the order of the day. I read one of them in less than a day - Stella Rimington writes a cracking thriller (but my judgement may have been temporarily impaired). I walked and walked those damp, dirty streets looking for something interesting to do. I was astounded that there didn't even seem to be a cinema. Imagine my distress on Monday morning when I was at the ferry office sorting out my tickets and a Dutch couple told me how they'd been to the movies the night before. I nearly wept. Apparently the half-built, steel girder laden site I'd passed actually contained a working, bona fide movie theatre. I had again felt that I was the only gringa in town. It was a lonely couple of days and I was mere hours away from banging my head against the wall like an abandoned child in a Romanian orphanage.

Lonely that is apart from about 200 rabid dogs. Puerto Montt is also the stray dog capital of South America, and that's saying something. They ran around in packs like wolves and were literally tearing strips off each other. There's nothing like a canine gang rape to put you off your pizza. Some of them looked seriously mangey and it was quite surreal to watch them victimise each other. It was like watching a live action 'Animal Farm'. At night you can hear them fighting and growling and it's quite scary. Due to the rampant inbreeding you also get some really weird looking mutts. Think Rottweiler meets Chihuahua and you get the picture. Labrador body and dachsund legs, etc etc.
How delighted I was to get on the Navimag ferry and sail away from all the horror.

Rather chilly in Chile

2006-10-01T14:01:00.000-07:00

I don't want to do Chile an injustice, but don't go there in the Chilean winter. It's wet, very wet. It's cold, very cold. It's empty, very empty, 'desierto' in fact. I'm sure it's stunningly beautiful in the summer and maybe one day I'll go back there in a different season, but I was quite relieved that I had only allowed less than two weeks there as the relentless rain meant that most of the sights couldn't be seen. The clouds lay so low over the mountains that you can't see past half way up, if you're lucky. Anyway, whingeing aside, I started in Santiago which is a nice city but apart from some nice old architecture dotted about and some fab bars and restaurants there really isn´t much to do. Although I did get to watch a student demo at the University de Santiago where they were throwing bottles at the military police and they were aiming water cannons in retaliation. There's nothing like a good student demo...I fondly remember the days in Middlesbrough when I carried my placard aloft and shouted with all my heart and lungs "Thatcher! Thatcher! Thatcher!....Out!Out!Out!" Those were the days...
So one of the few things I'd recommend is Palacio Cousiño which is a gorgeous old mansion house which has been preserved in the style of the incredibly wealthy turn of the century family that built it. It really was a bit of time travel to walk around its fabulously opulent rooms. I was a bit unlucky with travel from Santiago as the backpackers' hop-on/off bus going south was full. However the regular overnight bus was very comfortable - rugs, pillows, DVDs, refreshments (they could teach National Express a thing or two..)
I headed down to Villarica in the Lake District where I was not only the only person staying at the hostel (even the owners were away in Europe), but the only person at the Travellers' Cafe. I had a nice bowl of chilli con carne and a chat to the owner while sitting by the open fire pointing out Finsbury Park to him on the London Underground map on the wall. I was quite literally the only gringa in town and that gets a bit lonely, so after waiting for the clouds to pass so that I could see the Villarica volcano (they never did), I jumped on the next bus out of town the next morning and headed south to Puerto Montt, where my woes began..

Adios Peru!

2006-10-01T13:48:00.000-07:00

Just a couple of pics from the last few days in Peru. I just love those alpacas - they are so cute, looking as they do like a llama that ran into a parked car. I thought the runway pictue was groovy, sunshine and mountains, what a view to leave from. I closed the Peruvian chapter of my travels with a very impulsive and quite reckless purchase of a big ring at H.Stern at Lima airport. The very cunning sales lady invited me to try on a few rings "just for fun". Just as I was trying on the more affordable but no less unplanned ring of the selection I was called to immigration over the tannoy and I started to panic saying "I've got to go, they are calling me!", at which point the slick sales siren said "so which one do you want to take?" and I said "this one!" Before I had time to take a breath it was rung up and my credit card was slipping out of my hand. Very foolish but I am sure that I deserve it as reward for not physically attacking the multitude of 'El Condor Pasa' playing pan pipers. I have also convinced myself that I earned it at Machu Picchu. There is no reasoning when it comes to jewellery....

Now where was I...?

2006-10-01T13:24:00.000-07:00

After Lake Titicaca I caught a bus to Arequipa which is a gorgeous old city with tons of character. It had some great restaurants and a beautiful convent which I was strangely drawn to (probably at risk of being struck by lightening on entering..) From Arequipa you can do an overnight excursion to Colca Canyon which is where the condors fly. The Canyon is deeper than the Grand Canyon but you can't really see how deep as you'd have to be a condor to get that view. However, it's impressive in a totally different way to the GC. It was freezing in the morning and roasting in the afternoon. The condors were very well behaved and came out to play for the tourists (bus loads of us), and it was pretty cool actually. It's a bit strange to see people swaying around trying to follow them flying for a photo opportunity. Each of my condor pictures invariably has either a partial or whole condor at the very edge of the photo - them's the breaks with live action and pocket cameras. It was El Condor Pasa indeed up at Colca Canyon, which brings me to the subject of pan pipes again. If you go to Peru you will be serenaded at least 385 times by either a live pan piper or recorded one playing 'El Condor Pasa'. You know the tune.."I'd rather be a hammer than a nail, yes I would..." as popularised by Simon and Garfunkel. Well after a week in Peru you'll feel like a nail being hammered by 'El Condor Pasa'. I won't miss it, not one bit.
After the Colca Canyon excursion I had a day doing the sights of Arequipa which included the aforementioned Santa Catalina convent, which used to be a closed citidel for a few hundred nuns. There are only a few left and the rest of the convent is open as a museum which is very interesting and quite beautiful. Arequipa is nestled in the valley below 3 volcanoes which are all very imposing and dramatic, rising as they do from what is essentially desert. Due to my bad luck so far with volcanoes I didn't want to hang around too long.

Bang up to date..

2006-10-01T12:54:00.000-07:00

Greetings blog enthusiasts. It's been a while, but technology has been letting me down lately with techno museum pieces instead of PCs with CD rom. Also I had another rendezvous with friends from home so I could hardly loiter in the internet cafes when there was chatting, drinking and general fun to be had. I am currently in Mendoza, Argentina, where some of the country's best wines are produced. It's a beautiful day and this internet cafe has CD rom!! Argentina is a fabulous country and I couldn't have picked a better nation in which to finish up the trip - they have exquisite wines, wonderful chocolate and gorgeous men (in order of importance).
I'm going to pick up where I left off, but in response to some constructive criticism from some of you (i.e. YOU Matthew!), I am going to recap on my itinerary as the delay in updates seems to be confusing people as to where I happen to have parked my tired ass at any one time:

April - China
May - Cambodia and Vietnam, Australia
June - Australia cont., Hawaii
July - LA, Calgary, Vancouver Island
August - Oregon/Washington State, Miami, Ecuador (inc Galapagos), Peru
September - Peru cont., Chile, Argentina
Oct ('till 12th) - Argentina
Fly home 12th Oct, arriving 13th

I hope that's clarified things a bit. Apologies for the erratic nature of the blog, but you wouldn't want me to keep it up at the expense of absorbing local cultures (beer), agricultural diversity (grub), and artisans wares (shopping). It wouldn't be much of a trip otherwise.

Lake Titicaca

2006-09-10T14:27:00.000-07:00

After Machu Picchu I had one full day on Cusco to do the touristy thing which included seeing the Inca stone of 12 angles (see picture of me with strange headgear and Inca tourist trap on legs). It was a nice relaxing day and in the evening I caught an overnight bus to Puno in the south, from where you can get a boat to the islands on Lake Titicaca. I really didn´t know what to expect as I hadn´t had a chance to read up, but the floating islands were a surprise! They are made out of reeds bundled together and compacted over time and feel very strange to walk on. We also took a little boat ride in a reed boat and wandered around the ´villages´ and the craft stalls. Lake Titcaca is huge and we then took a proper boat to Amantani where we stayed with a local family overnight. I shared a room with a lovely British couple (Sonia and Gary) and it was great to have company as it was very difficult to communicate with the family and it wasn´t how I'd imagined a homestay. We basically had a little room to ourselves which was kitted out much better than the family´s own quarters. Once settled in the whole boat group met up for a sunset hike to the top of the hill where you could get a fantastic view of the lake. It was a difficult hike, a mini Machu Picchu if you like, but I made it up there despite having to pay off a local boy to stop playing pan pipes in my ear all the way up. It was getting soooo annoying and I gave him some money thinking he would move on. Alas he kept blasting in my ears and finally I had to say "NO MAS, por favor!" I felt very cruel but I an DONE with pan pipes!!
In the evening the family cooked for us and then the eldest daughter took us to the village hall where we danced to a pan pipe group (what fun!!) The dances were very repetitive and you could tell the villagers were just going through the motions for us. Likewise half the visitors didn´t bother to turn up so it all felt a bit half-hearted. It was also still high altitude so the dancing is exhausting (being as you are dressed up in the many layers of local dress that they'd togged us in - see picture and note that I refused to take off my own clothes as it was brass monkeys outside!) The next day we got back on the boat and went to Taquile island which was quite interesting but very dry and dusty. Both islands make you wonder how they grow anything at all as there is so little vegetation to speak of. There was a very long boat ride back to Puno on which everyone fell asleep, then I had one night in Puno watching little boys pick pocket through the window of the pizzeria I dined at. I was catching a bus to Arequipa the next day so it was an early night for me.

I am hoping to get on a boat through Patagonia from Puerto Montt to Puerto Natales tomorrow so I may be out of touch for a few days. Watch this space for more thrilling updates!!

Hurrah!

2006-09-08T17:49:00.000-07:00

I am now within about 10 days of being up to date with the blasted blog. It has been a marathon session and I think I now deserve that happy hour indulgence at the Travellers' Cafe. I am seeing barely anything of Chile due to lack of time and tornado-like sweep down this skinny country. I have to get to the far south within the week to meet up with Jackie and Jane who are going to hook up with me in Argentina. We're going to call out to each other across the glaciers and hope that we find each other. I'll attempt to get back to this tomorrow so that I complete the task. But first I've got to catch a 5 hour bus to Puerto Montt to see a man about a boat....

Machu Picchu - les pieces de resistance

2006-09-08T17:31:00.000-07:00

Yes, I'm smiling, 'cos as you will no doubt guess it WAS all worth it - just! It was a beautiful scorching hot day up there once the clouds had lifted. The llama is looking at me to say "what do you think you are doing on MY steps?" as he stared at me and wouldn't pass until I shifted aside. It was very hard to believe that 3 days prior I was freezing, hiking through a blizzard and wishing I was in the back of the truck on an escape route. It's as amazing as it looks and I was quite content to sit and look at it in awe and wonder for hours on end while the crazy guys in my group all pushed themselves to another limit by climbing Waynapicchu - the peak in the background of the large photo. Bugger that! My legs were jelly by then and there was no more altitude-busting for me. Shortly after this picture was taken I caught the bus down and went for ice cream and internet exposure - don't you just love the wonders of the modern world!

Machu Picchu - el final, parte dos

2006-09-08T17:17:00.000-07:00

I have more pictures of Machu Picchu than I have pairs of shoes waiting for me at home. That's a lot of pictures. It's so hard to select a few but I think I saved the best 'till last...

Machu Picchu - el final

2006-09-08T17:04:00.000-07:00

We were rewarded for our hard work with a hot springs visit to Santa Theresa on our 3rd night of camping. It was bliss and the best thing we could have hoped for - all flaming torch-lit and very atmospheric out in the open against the mountainside with only stars to look at. We fought over who could see the Big Dipper and if it really was it, or was it Scorpio? We had a final group dinner at Aguas Calientes and then went to bed in a proper bed that night - very exciting. It was also my first exposure to the internet for 5 days so I was a bit like a kid on Sunny Delight. The anticipation of the crack of dawn visit to Machu Picchu was just too much..

Machu Picchu - encore une fois

2006-09-08T16:52:00.000-07:00

Rocky river crossings, dangling in a metal cage river crossings, downing the local juice made from corn - all in a day's work.

Machu Picchu - revisited

2006-09-08T16:38:00.000-07:00

For a blow by blow account of my 5 day alternative Inca Trail trek, please see update from 30 August. In reading it you will see why the horse in the picture is giving me 'eeeevils'! I would also like to add that although I was the first to call on the services of the emergency horse, I was certainly not the last. In the 3rd picture you can see the cloud/blizzard that was awaiting us as we made our way through the valley. Somewhere in the glacial moraine is my khaki 'Jack-in-a Pack' anorak. Middle photo above shows me smiling a mere 30 minutes before my head started to implode. Group photo shows the happy Peruvians, Slovakians, Argentinians, Australians, Belgian and me, token Brit, at the start of the trek with Peter our guide.

Cusco - gateway to physical trauma

2006-09-08T16:08:00.000-07:00

Now Cusco, (or any other way you want to spell it - there are many choices depending on which guide book you bought), is beautiful. It really is a star of a city and very historic, romantic, well equipped with the requisite groovy bars and restaurants, and all round tourist friendly (apart from the altitude). I was sucking furiously on coca caramellos most of the time. They are reputed to help with altitude sickness but taste like crap coming as they do from extract from the leaves of the cocaine plant. You can also try coca mate (coca tea) which is basically coca leaves steeped in hot water. It stinks. Anyway, altitude whingeing aside, from Cusco you can do pretty much anything. There are excursions galore and I did a one day coach tour of the Sacred Valley which takes you to Corao market, Pisac (market and Inca ruins) and Ollantaytambo which also has some great ruins. It was a beautiful day and of course (it being me), one of the highlights was buying freshly baked empanadas from a huge outdoor, hundreds of years old woodfired oven - bliss! Don't be fooled by the 'oh, how cute!' little girl and her sheep - her mum stitched me up for a few soles to take the picture. Likewise the local man with sticks - he poses at the top of the Pisac ruins and charges you to take a picture. Very shrewd, the Peruvians. You can't blame them really, and there are plenty of naff tourists willing to comply, including yours truly.

Peruvian Tales

2006-09-08T15:55:00.000-07:00

I arrived in Lima thankful to be at sea level again. The Flying Dog packpackers was a welcome respite from the thin air of Quito. It also had a wicked DVD collection so I treated myself to a night in and 'Lord of War' with Nicholas Cage. It's great - rent it now! The one day I had in Lima I spent in Miraflores. I jumped on a city bus tour of the area and as the commentary was in Spanish, prided myself on understanding about 25% of it. It was an interesting hour! Then I basically wandered around and got my bearings. I went to Huaca Pucllana which is a pre-Inca ruin and very interesting as it was apparently a queendom and ruled by women. However, they also sacrificed women to the gods, so they hadn't quite got the hang of world domination. This archeological site was also where I first encountered the Peruvian hairless dog (see pic). He's very soft and leathery and has this crazy little ginger mohican thing goin' on. Fascinating fact: all Peruvian museums have to have one!! In Miraflores there is also a little amphitheatre in the park where everyone goes to tango. It's lovely! It also made me regret my aborted tango lessons (I ditched them when I realised it would be a weekly 45-50 year old male divorcee fest), but was fun to watch.

Adios Ecuador..

2006-09-08T15:42:00.000-07:00

Well my Riobamba friends (Luis, Les, Napo, Rosario and Gabriel) came and found me as promised the next night and after shutting up shop at La Estacion, we went to the local salsa club, Salsoteca. It was great and Napo and Rosario showed the young folk how to do it properly! I did the only basic steps I could remember from salsa classes earlier in the year, but I got by! After they got me home safely we said our goodbyes. Adios mes amigos!

Spend, spend, spend..

2006-09-08T14:54:00.000-07:00

Greetings from chilly Chile where I'm racing against the clock to try to get this bloody blog up to date. I am at a loose end so to speak, as I appear to be the only gringo in town. Things may be a little quiet tonight, but I have been invited to happy hour at the cafe I had lunch at. I hope it wasn't only because I was his only customer. He was a very nice man and the cafe had an open wood fire and a map of the London Underground in it so I could point to where I come from. All very cosy and just what I need as I am also the only guest at the hostel I'm staying at. Note to self: don't venture south in the Chilean winter...

Anyway, quiet time means internet cafes and repetitive strain injury from typing. Let's wrap up Ecuador. After the glorious Galapagos (love a bit of aliteration, me), Jackie and I headed a little further north from Quito to Otavalo where the big indiginous market is. It's full of local crafts and basically it's an orgy of pan pipes, pointy hats that tie up under the chin, llama or alpaca (quite possibly fake) products and ethnic jewellery. Unusually for me I bypassed the jewellery as it wasn't quite what I was after, but I went bananas for the alpaca scarves. Guess what everybody's getting for Christmas!! Jackie and I basically bought enough to keep the little shopkeeper in local beer till 2009. We also attempted a bit of a hike around the hills but due to the very shoddy map (not my mapreading skills!!!), and a dambusters-style attack on my exposed legs by the indiginous black man-eating flies, we gave it up. I looked like I had a medieval style pox by the time they'd finished with me. It was back to Quito for us after a night of very strange dancing by some over-excited local kiddies at our hostel restaurant. Jackie left for London and I was very sorry to see her go as we'd had a ball and I'd loved having a pal from home to accompany me. However, all was not lost as my new friend Forrest from the Magic Bean hostel took me under his wing and bundled me into a car to see his new apartment that he'd just rented. It was pretty cool and in the penthouse style. We then celebrated at a posh local restaurant and his friend's bar. I wimped out of the all-night clubbing due to an early bus the next day.
Well, it appears that Seismic activity is the theme of this trip as when I got down to Riobamba there had been a volcanic explosion the night before from the Tungurahua volcano and it had deposited about 3 inches of ash all over Riobamba (see Aug 19th update for more details). To cut a long story short the Devil's Nose train was cancelled from Riobamba and I was too late the next day to catch it from Alausi. I caught a crazy, scary bus ride back to Riobamba from Alausi which involved driving into clouds so think you literally could not see out of the window. However, the driver must have been gifted with Superman style vision as he thundered through the clouds with no fear of the thin metal rail that separated us from the sheer mountain drop from the road. He also felt confident enough to overtake other vehicles on bends despite poor visibility and the fact we passed a hideous accident with the odd sheet-draped body. There were several piles of rockfall on the way and a similar event was happening in my pants as I tried not to be overwhelmed by the sheer recklessness of the driver and the fact that the bus was horribly overcrowded (Ecuador seems to apply the magnet v iron filing style of bus boarding). Also the man next to me smelt of salami. When the driver started to put his jacket on while steering the bus around the hairpin bends I was reminded of the John Candy scene in 'Trains, Planes and Automobiles' where he gets it caught and has to drive with his thighs or something like that. When I finally got back to Riobamba I was more than grateful of the company of my new friends that I had met the night before in the hostel restaurant. Luis, Les and I had put the world to rights over a couple of local beers.

Galapagos Gallery

2006-09-07T16:21:00.000-07:00

Galapagos Part Trois

2006-09-07T16:05:00.000-07:00

Jackie and I were very sorry to leave the boat after our 4 day trip and I think we would both be back there in a shot (if there weren´t about 1,000 other places on my list for the next big trip!) Apparently there´s going to be a BBC series starting in September about the Galapagos Islands so knock yourselves out!! You will of course have the islands without the experience of lovely Henry´s cocktails. Henry was our deck hand/cocktail impressario and basically all the girls (and the boys too!) were enraptured by him (see pic above). He was but one ingredient in a fabulous cocktail that was our Galapagos experience. I´m not going to wax lyrical any longer but will post a bunch of photos to try to sum it all up. I could go on, and on, and on.....

A motley crew

2006-09-07T15:51:00.000-07:00

We had a fabulous group on the Sulidae - Swiss, German, Brits, Yanks and of course the lovely Davide, Henry, Capitano William and the other crew. We had wet landings (remember to roll UP the trouser legs - DOH!), dry landings and some spectacular walks and exploring. There´s nothing like getting up at 5.30 to see pink flamingoes to get your circulation going. There was swimming and tumbling with the sealions, and for those that managed to stay in the water longer than 3 minutes there were sharks and turtles too. I failed yet again to overcome my snorkelling problem and succumbed to another panic attack despite flippers, lifejacket etc. I hawled myself back into the dinghy snivelling and shaking and am resolved to seeking professional help when I get home! Jackie was stellar in her first time mastery of the snorkel and mask, no small thanks to the guidance and strong arms of Capitano William. He took a bit of a shine to her and although Jackie will have you believe that it´s only because he has a "Jacqueline" tattoo on his arm from a failed relationship and wants to find Jacqueline #2, I think it has more to do with the vulnerability of the lifejacket and her sparkling personality.

In Darwin´s footsteps..with bigger feet

2006-09-07T15:30:00.000-07:00

Well another life´s ambition was fulfilled when Jackie and I arrived in the Galapagos Islands. They were everything I´d imagined and more, and we were lucky to have a fantastic boat, crew and fellow passengers. Our 105 year old boat - the Sulidae - or ´Black Pearl´ as we called it due to the skull and crossbones flying from the mast was a fabulous boat and when the wind was up so were the sails. The weather was amazing and each island we went to was different to the last. There´s so much to see and we merely scraped the surface. We landed in Baltra and made our way to Puerto Ayora where we spent our first afternoon at Tortuga Bay (another Pirates of the Caribbean reference!) There we spotted pelicans, land iguanas, blue footed boobies (see little fella above), a baby sealion thrashing about with a fish and some very strange almost microscopic jellyfish that I spotted on the pristine, floury sand. Our guide didn´t know what they were so I was convinced I'd made a new discovery, but seeing as you are not allowed to take even a seashell from the islands my discovery shall remain un-named. You daren´t blink in case some other creature flew/crawled/scurried past you.

South America - the final frontier

2006-09-06T10:38:00.000-07:00

Well it was a real treat to be meeting up with a friend in Ecuador, and Jackie and I has some serious yabbering to do when I arrived in Quito to find her. She´d had a few days up in the Ecuadorian jungle before I got there. Over a rather nice bottle of wine and some tapas we caught up on the summer´s news and then promptly got mugged walking back the couple of hundred yards to the hostel. Apparently Sunday nights are prime time for thieves as the police knock off at 10 instead of the usual midnight. It was all rather strange and surreal and so much so that we couldn´t agree on what the guy looked like while reporting it at the police station the next morning. Thankfully they didn´t go for a photofit as they would have been looking for Mr. Potato Head. We put the experience behind us though and after a day meandering around Quito´s centre we took off on a day trip to Mindo which is at the centre of the Cloud Forest. It was beautiful and our guide Luis was a star. He took us to some roadside foodstalls for some local delicacies which were delicious. We were a bit squashed in the front cab of his truck and had to keep switching places to get circulation back from the dead legs we incurred, but it was fun and hard work getting up the hills.

Miami Beach

2006-09-06T10:14:00.000-07:00

Well I only got to spend 36 hours in Miami, so I concentrated my visit on Miami Beach (and Ocean Drive) which is a gorgeous, wide, sandy beach that was too hot for me to sunbathe on as I probably would have melted. Miami is sunny but also very humid. After the air conditioned heaven of Casa Julian I found myself a bed in a sweaty 4 bed dorm which I shared with 2 Swiss girls who went out clubbing till 5.30am. I think they were just legal for drinking age and their energy in the heat of Miami made me feel about 75. I had also started to react quite badly to the malaria medication I´d started taking, so my initial thoughts of "wow, that Mexican dinner last night must have been spicier than I thought, it went straight through me" turned to "either I stop taking these pills and get back control of my digestive system and risk malaria" or, "I stock up on some incontinence products toot sweet". I decided the minimal risk of malaria was the better option.

The little I saw of Miami I liked, and there was some great shopping. The Art Deco architecture is fabulous, my favourite era, and I was a bit snap happy. It was also a good immersion tactic for my Spanish language skills which I have found are seriously lacking. I had forgotten almost everything except "muy bien" which doesn´t help much when Spanish is the first language of Miami. I managed to pull through and after about 3 margaritas it didn´t matter much anyway. I was at this stage so excited to be meeting up with Jackie the next day.

The earth moved..

2006-09-05T17:07:00.000-07:00

Well Becca and Gretchen are boating folk and we took Gretchen´s smaller boat for a bit of a spin (possibly not the correct nautical term) on the Columbia River. It was lovely and you get a great view of snow-capped Mt Hood. As Gretchen had been planning a boat trip for the following weekend, we also took her big boat out for a practice run, which was fun and dad got to sit at the helm for a while and feel like the seafaring captain he thinks he was in a previous life. When it got a bit windy I went inside and watched the Simpsons on the TV. Esperanza and her two daughters came too so there was plenty of good company. We motored up the river to a great restaurant and caught a bit of sun as it was still scorchio. It was ever so slightly an improvement on the rust-bucket we sailed in up the Yangtze. And there were no karaoke-ing Chinese!!!
While staying at Becca´s I experienced my first earthquake. It was 3.8 on the Richter scale and it woke me up as I´d only been in bed about half an hour. Mum and dad slept right through it, but I had the sensation of a violently rocking bed. When I woke up it had stopped and I convinced myself I´d dreamt it! The earth moved and I didn´t even know it...
After the most fabulous massage, manicure and pedicure (all in-house you know - Becca knows how to live!!!), it was time to leave and I had to do that twice as I missed my flight back to Vancouver. My little blonde head did not compute that Portland to Vancouver was an INTERNATIONAL flight, DOH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thankfully the lovely Denise was on hand to bring me back to Becca´s for a few hours kip till I got up again for a crack-of-dawn airport dash. My lovely little luxury break was over and it was back to the dizzy heights of 8 bed dorms and other peoples hair in the shower plughole.

The Ritz-Julian..hospitality at its best!

2006-09-05T16:33:00.000-07:00

Well my bones were still aching from the hike when I arrived back in Portland and met up with my mum and dad´s friends. Gretchen and Becca are dear friends of my mum´s whom she met in the swinging sixties when they all lived in California tripping on LSD and getting high on magic mushrooms. Actually I´m just supposing the drugs bit as no one will tell me the truth of my mum´s California experience. According to her it was fun and sunny, she met Liberace once and that´s all there is to know. Yeah RIGHT!!!!
I hadn´t seen Gretchen since I was about 9 years old but she recognised me instantly..as I was the only non-intoxicated, non-homeless, fairly clean looking person at the bus station! I was going to be staying at Becca´s house (who lives right next door to Gretchen) in order to meet up with my mum and dad who were arriving the next day for a 2 week holiday. I was of course cacking my pants that I had not lost the 24lbs in weight that I had planned to for the parental reunion, but both Becca and Gretchen put me immediately at ease with their incredible hospitality. Their houses are stunning and situated right on the banks of the Columbia River between Washington State and Oregon. As Becca welcomed me into her house she opened the door to what I thought was a cupboard and I was about to put my rucksack in there when I realised it was in fact a lift!! I like her style!!!! My room was beautiful and it was quite frankly the best accommodation I had had since the Ritz-Carlton in Singapore. Actually, it had better closet space! I had an ensuite and the biggest, dreamiest walk in wardrobe that I have ever fantasised about. That´s it - I´m converting that second bedroom in Finsbury Park to a walk in closet - final!
By the time mum and dad arrived the next day I had had a good catching up session with Becca and Gretchen and had met Becca´s daughter Denise, her husband David and gorgeous little boy Preston. Actually I must confess to having been "caught up" at the mall with lovely Denise (that girl knows how to shop!!) and her friend when mum and dad arrived. I had tracked down a bag I´d been looking for and there was no stopping me.

The Tillamook Trail

2006-09-05T16:08:00.000-07:00

Well after the out of body experience that was Vancouver Island I headed back to the mainland. There was shopping to be done as I had some shipping to accumulate due to the impending arrival of ma and pa and their spare luggage allowance. I spent a couple of days in lovely Vancouver city and met up with Liz from the Ucluelet hostel. We had a boozy night out then I caught the Greyhound to Portland, Oregon which is the coolest place. I spent one night there, did some serious shopping the next day and then headed out to the coast as it was literally roasting in Portland. When I got to Seaside it was chilly, damp and pretty grey and it didn´t improve for 3 days!! Seaside is a bit like Southend but the people are more strange! It was chav city and all that was missing was a ´kiss me quick´hat. However, just along the coast at Cannon Beach it´s a lot nicer and more refined, so it was there I headed on the 8 mile Tillamook trail hike along the Oregon coast through dense forest and high clifftop trails and some spectacular scenery.
It was a bit of a challenge and my walking shoes started to hurt almost immediately. I passed a little boy and his dad and the kid says to me "Don´t take the short cuts, they´re MUCH harder!" I wasn´t sure what he meant until I found myself almost clawing at the dirt to get up what looked like a short cut only moments later. It took me nearly six hours to get to Cannon Beach and it was only the thought of all the lovely gift shops that kept me going. It was a sight to see - a half-dead hiker stumbling blindly around the jewellery shops before it was time to catch the last bus back to Seaside. I can look back now and see it as a practice run for Machu Picchu - NOT!!!

More Canadian Karma..

2006-09-05T15:51:00.000-07:00

See - British Columbia has it all! Beaches, forest, mountains, flora and fauna and hammocks!! If my cunning plan to re-infiltrate Deutsche bank should fail, I am seeking employment as chief overseas tourism marketing officer for BC. The picture of me in the hammock is going in the brochure.

Ahh...Canada!

2006-09-05T15:10:00.000-07:00

Well some of you know that I have a soft spot for Vancouver Island. It was my third time there when I arrived in mid-July and this time I really got some quality time there. After dabbling with the idea of getting up to the north of the island I stopped in Courtenay after a beautiful train ride and decided that was far enough. I was so relaxed there that I finished a paperback in one day - it´s a very hard life on the road. The weather cheered up a bit as it had been pretty dismal in Victoria. I was going to hire a car to do Strathcona National Park but couldn´t get one at short notice so I just took my book to the park and sunbathed. Then I headed back down the island and crossed to the west side which is where I found the idyllic town of Ucluelet. I´d been to Tofino before but Ucluelet was even smaller and more friendly. It was heaven. Happiness and contentment seeped from every pore and I was compelled to write the following email to the girls which is being reproduced by kind permission of...me, as I´m too lazy to start from scratch:
"Hey girls! I'm on Vancouver Island at the moment - almost my favourite place in the whole wide world apart from London and NY and now Hawaii! The sun has been shining since about 6am - just gorgeous. I really love it here and it's the sort of place I could imagine myself escaping to if I ever wanted a complete change of lifestyle. It's starting to feel like home! Things are sooooo laid back - everyone is on happy pills and it really is the most chilled place ever. It's beautiful - all mountains, forest, rocky deserted beaches and good old Mother Nature doing her thing! The hostel I'm staying in is in Ucluelet - population about 1800 - everybody knows everybody else. Tonight is my 5th night at the hostel, the grounds of which stretch out to the harbour and it's all trees, water and mountain views. Yesterday morning I was sitting out there at about 7.30 seething from a row on the phone with Abbey about my bank a/c (old stresses and daily frustrations just bubbling under the surface after 3 months of total calm and relaxation) and about 150 feet away there was a black bear just strolling along sniffing about. Any stresses immediately melted away at the sight and I just sat there in my pj's with a damp bum from the morning dew and marvelling at it! A bit scary for the bear to see Nads' morning face but there you go! This morning I was up at the crack of dawn to catch the beach bus to Tofino and I checked out back to see if the bear was back. He wasn't but there were 3 deer checking out the foliage - so sweet and it just warms the cockles of your heart! I went kayaking the day before and there were 2 seals bobbing around us! I took a little ferry yesterday to a tiny little village called Bamfield and the ferry crosses the Pacific Rim National Park which stretches along the mid-west coast of the Island. We saw 3 whales on the way and one on the way back - saved a packet on whalewatching trips! I just can't explain how happy this place makes me feel. I think there is a lurking inner hippie in me who just wants to sit in the wilderness and knit, write poetry, wear long tie-dyed skirts and be barefoot and pregnant! Canadians in general are pretty friendly folk but the Islanders are something else - so chilled and contented - haven't met a grumpy one yet! A really cute hippy-ish beardie surfer dude got on the bus this morning with his surfboard. He's staying at my hostel apparently so I'm gonna seek him out tonight and ply him with cheap Canadian beer! Bought some great second hand books at a lady's yard sale in Bamfield yesterday - time to brush up on my classics I think. I'm revelling in the luxury of reading again after not having finished a book for ages. Today I am going to walk the length of Tofino's main street and all its gift shops (there are many!) and then I think I'm going to take a picnic on the beach and read some more".
I can´t say any better than that how happy I was to be there. Go there, soon, it´s good for ya´!
And if anyone is interested, the surfer dude had an early night ´cos he wanted to go surfing again the next day, foolish boy.

Calgary part Trois

2006-09-03T19:39:00.000-07:00

Well Calgary ended on a high note at the Blacksmiths Championship presentation dinner. We ate, we danced (to mainly country and western which was a new experience for me) and we clapped a lot for all the winners and runners up. The stetson photo is of the top ten finalists. I recovered sufficiently from being caught in the golfball-sized hailstorm on the way to not look too dishevelled, so I didn´t show Hazel and Jim up too much (although in my current limited wardrobe jeans count for "dressing up" and so does blowdrying my hair). I´m wearing Jim´s hat and posing with his judge´s presentation hammer - I think I´d make a good blacksmith although the make-up would run a bit and I´d have to leave off the hairspray with being so close to the fire. Picture of Jim - would you trust this man to judge a competition?? I´m so glad I made it to Calgary - sometimes you have to just fly by the seat of your pants and get on that horse etc, etc.

Calgary Part Deux

2006-09-03T19:26:00.000-07:00

Just a few snaps of the action at the Stampede. There was rodeo, chuckwagon racing, cow-rustling or whatever its correct name is (where a guy on a horse has to lasso a calf and tie it up by its legs in as short a time as possible. One guy did it in 9 seconds and he looked like the black cowboy from Blazing Saddles - he was smokin´!! There´s a snap of one of the Brit guys in the blacksmith competition. They had to make and fit a horseshoe in less than an hour - no mean feat and quite a hot and sweaty business. Blacksmiths are fit - you heard it here first girls!

Yeehaw! Stampeding at the Calgary Stampede!

2006-09-03T18:54:00.000-07:00

Right, due to ´watching my nails grow while waiting for photo downloads´slowness of this PC, I am going to break down updates into smaller chunks. Well, Calgary was for me an unexpected pleasure. Unexpected in that it wasn´t on the original itinerary, but very pleasant in that as a happy coincidence my old Scots lass pal Hazel was going to be at the Calgary Stampede with silver fox hubby Jim while I was in Canada. I hot-footed it up to Calgary to join in the fun. I knew it would be a whole new experience when I arrived at Calgary airport to the country and western strains of "All my Exes Live in Texas" played by a live band in the arrivals hall. Stetsons as far as the eye could see and the haunting theme of Dallas in my brain. Jim was a judge at this year´s World Blacksmith Championship so he kindly got me a pass to all the tents and events. Hazel and I shopped, margarita´d and yabbered up a storm as we hadn´t seen each other for about 18 months or more. I was doubly delighted that there were lots of baby animals in the agriculture/livestock tent. There were more piglets and chicks than you can throw a stick at. There was a big tent set up like the Ideal Home Exhibition where there were stalls with merchandise and strangely unconnected items like food processors and magic sponges. I loved it though and tried all the sickly sweet food stalls and gimmicky products. I even gave in to a tattoo.........(wait for 5 mins while parents digest last 7 words...) which was of a naked Johnny Depp (see photo). I jest, it was a Chinese peace symbol or similar new age hogwash which washed off after a day as I didn´t look after it. I also had my fortune told by a clairvoyant who looked like Neil from the Young Ones. Funnily enough he told me I would have a fling with a long-haired man while I was in Calgary. He actually ran his hands through his greying, frizzy hair while asking me if I was "one of those girls who likes men with long hair". I replied that only if he happened to be Jon Bon Jovi and then laughed like a hyena to cut the tension. Eeeeeeuuuurrrgh! Other pictures are me and Hazel on the ferris wheel and me with Bailey the Bison (or buffalo). I´ll never get a job on Animal Planet if I can´t tell my buffalo from my bison.

La La Land - LA Baby!!!

2006-09-03T17:54:00.000-07:00

Now that I have triumphed in downloading the dolphin picture (it only took half an hour and I could have been upstairs in my hotel room watching Conan O´Brien on the Emmy awards on cable TV, a luxury I can assure you), I can continue with the tour. After heavenly Hawaii I landed in loopy, loony, lovely LA. The main reason for visiting was to catch up with my lovely old friend Cece and her partner in crime Katie who I hadn´t seen in 5 years since we all said goodbye to New York. Thankfully they hadn´t changed a bit and were as the same crazy chicks I´ve missed all this time. I hit LA for 4th July and it turned into a bit of a reunion as Gina and Michelle flew in from NY to complete the gang. The first night was spent out cruising the gay bars of West Hollywood (wow, they know how to make a girl realise the hour getting ready was worth it) and chewing the fat of 5 years. Cece and Katie are immensely talented and funny girls and Hollywood will soon wake up to their gargantuan comedic skills. I laughed till I nearly turned the water green in the stunning pool of Mitch and Sarah (lovely new folk to add to the throng, as well as Erica). On the 3rd July a bunch of us drove down to Venice Beach to hang out with the beautiful and not so beautiful people. Me Katie and K´s fab fiance Rich stopped en route at the obligatory diner for a late breakfast. I LOVE American diners - the menu as long as your arm, the choice of pancakes or waffles done a thousand different ways, the 25 different Eggs Benedict varieties. With a full tummy we headed off to the beach. It was scorchio that day and only margaritas would suffice to cool me down. I got back from an ice cream errand to find that a seagull had emptied its bowels onto my beach bag, but where I come from that´s good luck, so even that couldn´t spoil my joy at being in the company of old friends and new ones too. In the evening we went out for a fab meal and Cece´s "new friend" (big nudge, big wink)Greg came along too. I have given my approval to any blossoming of the relationship.
The ride to Venice Beach in a 25 year old Mercedes was a sketch in itself, with Gina and I pedalling as fast as we can a la Flintstones to get up a hill while a 30 year old Cadillac passed us by. Gina´s borrowed car was an antique and the leather interior smelt like a sauna in the heat. You want A/C? Open the windows baby! The 4th July was spent at the beeyoootiful home of Mitch and Sarah. Noodle fights in the pool, cocktails floating by on the floating cocktail holder, delish barbeque - what more could a girl ask for? Needless to say I had an absolutely fabulous time with the girls and miss them all. Hopefully I can get them all over to London to repeat the experience, albeit with more expensive margaritas.
Photo 7: Erica, Michelle and Katie
Photo 6: Me, Gina and Sarah
Photo 5: Michelle, Rich and Katie
Photo 4: Katie, Rich, Mitch and Sarah
Photo 3: Me, "Keke Plaisantes" and Greg
Photo 1: Me getting ripped off by fortune telling machine at Venice Beach.
Photo 2: Gina with marvellous floating cocktail holder

I´ve pulled! (One last word on Hawaii...)

2006-08-31T19:41:00.000-07:00

Well this is the final word on Hawaii. I achieved one of my life´s ambitions which was to swim with dolphins. Not in the open water you understand, but in a nice dolphin training pool where I couldn´t be swept out to sea or anything, and where my phobias of deep water and the scary things that live in it were kept under strict control. The dolphins were fabulous, especially the baby one that kept zipping around us as it was so excited to have humans in the pool! I loved the experience and I´m sure that dolphins would push you around on a boogie board if they met you in the wild, it´s in their nature! Dolphins ROCK!!!!!

Back to Hawaii..

2006-08-31T19:13:00.000-07:00

Just a small selection of my favourite Hawaii shots. The top left shows the lava from Mauna Loa (I think!) on Big Island flowing into the ocean to huge explosions. We sat at sunset to watch it after a lava hike to get there and a return lava hike in the dark! The no parking sign shows where the more recent flows have cut off pre-existing roads. It´s all very dramatic and made for a fabulous day´s hike. As we hiked back in the dark you could see red lava flows slowly oozing over the hill - cooooool! The other two pics show how lush, green and gorgeous Ohau is. Hawaii is pretty close to paradise in my humble opinion. I want to go back there...soon...today. It was and still is one of the very high points of this trip, as were the margaritas at Duke´s Canoe Club on my last night. Locally caught fish for dinner and a top quality cocktail while staring out at the ocean - it doesn´t get much better than that.

A horse, a horse, my shoe collection for a horse...

2006-08-30T18:13:00.000-07:00

Hola amigos! This will be a text only update as I have just noticed that the hard drive on this PC does not have a CD-rom! I had no idea I had wandered into prehistoric internet territory. I will upload photos tomorrow if I get the chance. Well, since the last update I have conquered Machu Picchu. It was without doubt the hardest physical challenge I have ever endured - my body just doesn't 'do' altitude! I should have known when I arrived in Cusco that my near-collapse at carrying my rucksack up two flights of stairs to the hostel did not bode well for hiking at high altitude. Cusco is gorgeous and there's loads to do such as visiting the Sacred Valley with lots of Inca ruins and colourful markets. I foolishly signed up for a 5 day trek to Machu Picchu which was the 'alternative' trek seeing as the real deal, the Inca Trail is fully booked up to 6 months in advance. However, I have since found out that my trek was harder than the real one - what a fool I was!

The first night was spent camping at 4200m in the foothills of some pretty spectacular snow-capped mountains. I got hit with a bout of altitude sickness and I can only describe it as like having screwdrivers rammed through your temples while your stomach churns with nausea - nice! It was so painful that I could only point to my head and mime extreme pain to our trek guide as I just couldn't speak. Thankfully the lovely Belgian chap I shared a tent with had some special pills and kindly offered me one. I woke up much recovered the next morning but unprepared for the onslaught that was our climb for the 2nd day. We were aiming for 4620m and it was uphill all the way. My Quito breathlessness had nothing on the overwhelming weakness I felt at trying to get up a mountain to cross the pass. Luckily that day our guide had enlisted the services of an emergency horse. When I had refused it's services for the 6th time (I was desperate not to appear desperate) the horseboy pleaded with me to get on it. It was that or try to finish the climb on my hands and knees.

So, I get on the horse and it's scarier being on it than wheezing up there on foot. The path is rocky, steep and there is a sheer drop at any point. The poor, wretched horse has to stop every 10 yards and I can feel its heart throbbing through the saddle. How I pitied it! Hanging on to the saddle for dear life I promised that in my will I would make provisions for a horse sanctuary for Peruvian horses scarred for life from carrying heavy English girls. When I got off the horse it gave me such a look of utter contempt that I was deeply shamed and committed to refusing any purchase of chocolate from the many snack shacks set up along the route by the locals. It gets worse. Once we hit the highest point we hiked into a blizzard. My waterproof jacket was then discovered to have been lost in getting on the horse. An hour later I was wet through (despite the temporary loan of a plastic poncho), shivering with intense cold and thoroughly miserable. The only way I got through the rest of the day was trying to remember all the lyrics to "The Boxer" from S & G´s Bridge Over Troubled Water. I was already planning my drop-out as I knew the truck was meeting us the next afternoon. However, after some warm, dry clothes and a good night's sleep we woke to a fabulously sunny day and downhill walking all the way. I stuck at it and despite the mudslide descent and rocky river crossings I made it to the final stop- the train up to Aguas Calientes where you get the bus for Machu Picchu. We bussed it up there at 5.30am the next morning and it was spectacular. It was a scorching hot day and absolutely beautiful. Yes, there was a sense of achievement, but there were also aching bones, calf muscles tighter than the skin on Joan Rivers and the ever-present breathlessness. It was worth it..I think!

Terry the Giant Tortoise

2006-08-19T15:17:00.000-07:00

Before I make a mad dash to the airport I thought I´d stick on a quick photo of me and Jackie on Isla Santa Cruz in the Galapagos Islands. I don´t know if the tortoise is called Terry, but he looks like a Terry to me. I wouldn´t like to guess at the lettuce bills in this household and he´d need a fridge-freezer sized cardboard box for hibernation. You never saw one like this on Blue Peter. Now as well as being behind schedule, the blog is also out of order. Hey ho!

Did I mention I´d been to Hawaii?

2006-08-19T14:35:00.000-07:00

Hello peeps. Sorry for the delay in updating the blog. Circumstances have been conspiring against me, namely: painfully slow ´high speed´internet access; crappy keyboards; busy schedules; friends from home arriving and giving me very good reason not to hole up in an internet cafe; earthquakes, erupting volcanoes and all manner of incidents. Life is never less than interesting on the road and Ecuador is no exception. I´ve just spent 2 days wearing a surgical mask to avoid breathing in volcanic ash from the Tungurahua volcano which has been erupting with violence this week. I arrived in Riobamba to 3 inches of the stuff which had descended the night before. It was a very surreal experience to arrive in what seemed like a Lebanon street scene without the rubble. I arrived back in Quito earlier today and am killing time while waiting to head for the airport for my flight to Lima, Peru. It´s been a rollercoaster 2 weeks here, to say the least. Ecuador is beautiful, really quite gob-smackingly stunning in places. The whiplash tour has taken in LA, Calgary, Vancouver Island, Oregon/Washington state, Miami and the Galapagos since my last update. I don´t have time right now to update properly as I need to call home to let the folks know I´m still alive and continuing the global margarita review. I´ve attached a picture that I love, love, love taken on top of Mauna Kea (I think) on Big Island, Hawaii (well it´s the volcano that isn´t currently emptying lava into the sea). The dark mound is the top of Mauna Loa (I think!) Basically it´s to demonstrate that we were at high altitude above the clouds. Handy hint #1: do not try to run at high altitude. I nearly passed out legging it to the van for the descent. Altitude is not my best friend as Quito is the second highest city in South America and boy, don´tcha know it. I need an oxygen mask just to get to the top bunk in the hostel. I fear for my health for Machu Picchu....

I am now on my lonesome again since the lovely Jackie flew back to smoggy old London on Wednesday from smoggier Quito. Heaven help you if you get engulfed in the exhaust from a city bus - you´ll resemble Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins. We had a ball and I really appreciated the company of someone who doesn´t need a potted life history from me and any info on where I´ve been. In 10 days we covered the Galapagos Islands (they BLEW MY MIND!), Mindo (the Cloud Forest) and Otavalo (the market town where you can buy tons of indiginous arts and crafts and supposed, but mucho suspect, llama goods). I will elaborate on our exploits at a later date. I think I may have to cut back on the photo downloads as I´ll never get this thing back on track. I will try to be more disciplined from now on, although discipline was the first thing I left behind on 6 April - whoopee!

Adios Australia - Aloha Hawaii!!

2006-07-27T17:37:00.000-07:00

Alooooohhhaaaaaaa! It's official - I love Hawaii! I hadn't expected to but it exceeded all expectations. I spent about a week on Oahu in total with 3 days on Big Island, (confusingly called Hawaii), in the middle. Oahu is wonderful. You've got the hustle and bustle of a city in Honolulu (grrreat shopping), but with the most beautiful beach - Waikiki. There is also a bunch of small museums and a palace, (where the Hawaiian royal family lived before the dastardly Americans ousted them), if you want some culture. There is of course Pearl Harbour where you can go to the memorial (pictured) which is very eerie but a very emotional experience.
It was built over the top of the sunken USS Arizona. It's an underwater graveyard and it's really quite strange to see the ship so close to the surface of the water. http://www.pearl-harbor.com/index.html if you want some education!
It's a sobering experience and I felt quite ignorant of the history behind the attack, so spent ages reading up in the exhibits. I was a bit overwhelmed by the tragedy of it and skipped the USS Missouri bit as, to be honest, there's enough horror in my daily bbc.co.uk/news updates for me wallow too much in war history.
Waikiki beach does get packed, but all you need to do is jump on the bus and for $2 you can circle the whole island and find one of several gorgeous bays where there will be fewer people. The North Shore is where the best surfing happens but I was there during surf off-season. There are still people surfing but there are none of the spectacular waves you see on Hawaii Five-0. I made it all the way round the island and got off at North Shore where I had lunch at a cute little bakery that had a framed signed picture of Owen Wilson on the wall (he'd been there for muffins!) It was worth the trek just to see that and sit where Owen may have parked his cute butt! There was also a really unique and quirky little free surf museum with prototype surfboards from the early part of the 20th century.

Goodbye, farewell, auf wiedersehen, adieu..

2006-07-27T17:19:00.000-07:00

The day after the bridgeclimb the heavens opened and Sydney got lost in a deluge. It was cold and grey and I like to think it was a reaction to my leaving. On my last night in Sydney Mandy and John took me for a lovely meal down by the bridge. The next day I met Mandy for a quick drink after work before heading for the airport. Next time I see Mandy she will be a mum as she's preggers with a little girl whose provisional name is Rexina (the name won't be staying!) To bid farewell to Sydney I had a little cocktail and my travel mascot Donkey had one too. The intention for Donkey has been to photograph him around the world in 'Amelie gnome' fashion, but most of the time I forget he's in the bag under all the electronic cables and paraphernalia. He may get out a bit more from now on..

Vertigo!

2006-07-27T16:48:00.000-07:00

On the Tuesday morning I said more tearful goodbyes to Malcolm and Wendy and packed up my gear to go and stay with my old pal Mandy and her hubbie John. Mandy and I met as students one summer while pulling pints at the Red Lion in Lombard Court in ye olde City of London. We then shared a flat years later and the ensuing stories have kept us up late many a night. I was reminded by Mandy that it was in fact me that introduced her and John, albeit in a "my mate fancies you" level of sophistication. Also I was reminded that I had in fact gone over to the wrong guy that evening in the Slug and Lettuce in Islington and therefore demonstrated what shall henceforth be known as a happy mistake! If only my own mistakes had been quite so happy...but we won't go there as this internet access is costing me $4 a hour......

Luckily for me I spent the last sunny day in Sydney climbing the Harbour Bridge. It was so bright up there that my eyes are all bloodshot trying not to squint into the camera (it's not due to alcohol or excessively late nights). It was fantastic and not nearly as difficult as I thought (Graham having ensured me that his 60-something mother had done it recently). As it happens you go spend the first hour getting kitted out in a fabulous jumpsuit that makes you look like you work for NASA and you get lots of straps and things to attach to yourself so that you don't lose sunglasses, hats, hair etc. You are then clipped to metal cables that course all over the bridge and you basically just walk along while attached to the bridge. It just so happened that this particular day the press were hounding Nicole Kidman as she was getting married in Sydney that week and there were helicopters all over the place. It made it easy for the guide to point out where her mansion was! The climb was fabulous and the views were amazing - you could see for miles. In the afternoon I did a tour of the Opera House which was very illuminating and we got to sit in briefly at a rehearsal for a Wizard of Oz concert - lovely!

Winter picnic!

2006-07-27T16:21:00.000-07:00

On the Sunday we packed a picnic and took the ferry down to Circular Quay and then another one to Manly Beach. A short walk took us to Shelly Beach and then some loitering with intent 'till someone gave up their picnic table! It was a gorgeous day and I couldn't believe the weather considering it was winter. Malcolm bought some fresh shrimp and we ate them in the evening. It wasn't exactly cheese on toast on a wet and grey winter's Sunday in Finsbury Park but it was all right! On the Monday I wandered into town to send yet another massive parcel home with goodies that I will forget I've bought by the time I get home. I also sent a parcel to my new godson and his older brother. Little Lucas arrived on 31 May (see pic) and apparently is already showing signs of godmotherly influence in that he thrashes around to music - bless him. It's only taken me till the age of 36 to be considered responsible enough to take on the job!
In the evening I met up for dinner with Graham and Sau, friends from home that have been in Sydney for a year or so. They have a fab apartment overlooking the harbour and bridge - a great spot. Yet more folk from home with a love affair with Sydney - my mind was ticking over constantly the whole time I was there...it would be so easy....

Friendly faces in far off places

2006-07-23T22:04:00.000-07:00

After the winter grey of Melbourne came the winter sun of Sydney and boy, did it feel good! I was met at Sydney airport by Malcom and Wendy and it was the first time I'd had an airport welcome since I left home - much appreciated! Malcolm is my dad's cousin and seeing as he left for Aus about 30 years ago he hadn't seen me since I was about 7. I think I may have changed a bit since then. As Malcolm recalled - "I think you were beating up Lloyd when I last saw you"! I hasten to add that I was not in the habit of beating up my younger brother (despite what he and the rest of the family and everyone who knows me will tell you...) Needless to say we had some catching up to do and the years fell away as Wendy and I did some girlie bonding via retail therapy down at the market on the Rocks. All the pent up shopping was released in one frenzied hour. I got loads of good stuff and we had a fantastic al fresco lunch and a petit peu du vin. We went back to their gorgeous house where the lorikeet lovebirds hang out on the bird table. In the evening I put on my best togs (well jeans and a top that didn't have stains on it) and I was taken out for a lovely meal to Banjo Patterson's Cottage on the Parramatta river. It was divine! I hadn't eaten so well in ages and there wasn't a chip in sight. http://www.dining-downunder.com/index.php?id=8 I felt like it was my birthday!

A little bit of cultcha..

2006-07-23T21:35:00.000-07:00

On my last day with Jane we did what girls do - we went shopping. Despite the charms of St. Kilda (and the scary Luna Park gates) and all the other areas we traipsed around - I couldn't find anything to spend money on! I think I may need professional help when I get home. Melbourne prompted my only mini bout of homesickness so far. Jane had booked us tickets to a fantastic Brazilian dance show and strolling along the riverside afterwards I was reminded of lovely London and many similar evenings strolling along South Bank after a little bit of cultcha. The moment passed and my little Melbourne excursion was over. The next day there were rivers of tears at Geelong airport when we had to say our goodbyes. Anne came too and it was a very emotional parting as it will be a while till us girlies get together again.

Some good 'ole home cookin' and Carroll home comforts

2006-07-23T20:58:00.000-07:00

How warm and cosy we all look chez Carroll! I rendezvous-ed with Jane back in Geelong as we had different flights back. How great to be in a proper home for a change and to sit down to eat at the table. Small comforts - big appreciation! Jane's mum and dad Anne and Ron cooked a fantastic roast chicken dinner which was perfect for the cold, wintery weather that was waiting for me in Geelong. Roasties never tasted so good! I had a mini tour of Geelong - where Jane lives is quite groovy and there were plenty of 'things' shops to keep me occupied. I got a desperately needed hair cut as I was being mistaken on the street for the lead singer of Twisted Sister. My sunkissed locks were tended to then Jane drove us out to Torquay on the coast for a wander round some more 'things' shops and a lovely cosy cafe lunch - it was a soup day! We popped into the hospital to see Jane's brother John who had had his gall bladder out and had a look at the stones that were also removed - they'd make a lovely necklace. In the evening we went to see 'The Break-Up' which was better than we thought but it's immaterial really as it has Vince Vaughan in it and I would pay to watch that man pick his nose, breathe, anything really. Prior to the movie Jane and I had a flat tyre incident. It was a lesson in how to be a girl:
1. we drove for ages hearing a really bad thumping noise but put it down to bad road surface
2. when we got out of the car and noticed the flat tyre we weren't sure how to find the spare
3. once we found the spare we realised we wouldn't be able to do it ourselves - neither of us having any experience
4. it is imperative to have roadside assistance cover ...or a mum who does have cover, who can pretend that she was driving
To add to my huge long list of things to learn to do when I get home - learn how to change a tyre.

Sugar rush!

2006-07-23T20:52:00.000-07:00

See this - it's a field of sugar cane at high speed! Now the photographic purists amongst you will be saying 'rubbish!', but I like this for some reason. From Cape Trib down to Port Douglas there are just miles and miles of this stuff and it's lovely to look at - white whispy flowers sticking out of the top which in this pic looks like smoke. Rule #1: don't take pictures from moving vehicles. However, I like its abstract qualities and it is by no means the worst picture I have taken so far! So...back to Port Douglas and on to Melbourne and Geelong.

A nice bit of greenery at Cape Tribulation

2006-07-23T20:39:00.000-07:00

It's lush, it's wet, it's green, it's full of things that can kill you - it's the Daintree Rainforest! See also Cape Tribulation pics - very quiet, very beautiful and unfortunately very grey the day we went there. But you can't beat a beach with no one else on it apart from the odd shell-picker like me. Maybe it's my age, maybe it's just that I'm mellowing, but I've discovered a deep interest in rock pools! Can't get enough of 'em and can now spend hours poking around and pulling things off rocks and sticking them back on again. As soon as I get home I'm heading down to Margate or anywhere else there are rocks with pools. I have a lovely little collection of shells from various international beaches which I will add to the last collection from 5 years ago which is sitting in a bag in a drawer somewhere. I feel a collage coming on....where's my Uhu?

Al fresco dining, turtle teasing and more crocs

2006-07-23T14:33:00.000-07:00

Well you just can't escape crocs in Aus! We went on a little river trip in the Daintree Rainforest where the embankments were crawling with them just laying there trying to find a sunny spot. It's gorgeous and we had a fab barbeque at the camp on a private property that our tour company had access to. I'm really bad at remembering names on this trip but the nameless guide pictured here was fantastic and very knowledgable and the girl in the canoe with me is, err ...Jane. I've met so many people on this trip that I have a great deal of difficulty recalling a new someone's name - after introducing themselves I have a blank look on my face about 3 seconds later as the information flies out of the opposite ear it came into. There's a nice little picture of Jane frequenting the dunny which I'm sure she'll love. I am embarrassed to admit that the canoe excursion lasted all of 10 minutes! The turtles are so cute - they pop their heads out of the water 'cos they think you've got some grub for them. They have been known to nibble on folk's toes if you wait around long enough. We also saw a baby Cassowary bird (think that's how you spell it) run across the rainforest in front of us. They are very rare and you have to be on lookout for them. We were also introduced to a plant that can kill you if you brush up against it (at least I think that's what he said)... Put it this way, you'd never send the kiddies out into the garden to play in the Daintree.

Crazy Queenslanders and Cane Toad Racing

2006-07-23T14:18:00.000-07:00

Queenslanders are known in Aus as being a little bit cuckoo, not quite like other Aussies. Jane and I witnessed a demonstration of said craziness while watching cane toad racing in Port Douglas. Cane toads are an environmental menace that is spreading throughout Aus and they are poisonous to predators. So, naturally, you collect a few, put them in a bucket and race them at your local pub! The lunatic that organises it puts little coloured hairbands round the toads' bellies to signify racing colours and then all competitors get a party blower with which to push their toads off the table. if you look very closely at this photo you will see a rather bemused/terrified little toad. It was a bizarre way to spend an hour and a call to the RSPCA was made - anonymously.

How to see the The Great Barrier Reef without actually getting wet..

2006-07-14T13:47:00.000-07:00

Despite the crappy weather Jane and I braved a bumpy ride out to the Agincourt reef (where 2 American divers were famously left on the reef a few years ago). It's a great place as it has a submerged observation deck and a semi-submersible thingy that takes you on a ride around the reef without having to show off your pasty white legs in a swimsuit. You can watch fish being fed in a frenzy of bubbles, colour and fins flashing before your eyes. Being that strange creature that can't bear her face in the water (it ruins the hair but more importantly I can't breathe through a snorkel or anything else), all of this was heaven to me. It was pretty grey and murky without much sunlight getting through, but it was spectacular nonetheless. It's like a little floating village and you get a great buffet meal and hot drinks and complimentary sick bags for the trip back. Lots of people were using them as it was a fairly stomach-churning ride despite the 'Wavepiercer' boat name.

Port Douglas and an old pal

2006-07-14T13:30:00.000-07:00

After a 4 hour visit to lovely Cairns (one of the most stunning flight landings EVER!), two 11 hour bus rides to Airlee Beach and back and a $150 minicab dash, I finally reached Port Douglas and my lovely pal Jane. What's been so great about this trip is catching up with friends along the way - Nick, Steph and baby Isabel in HK, Jane in Aus and others to come. Like a good girl Jane had dinner and a bottle of wine waiting for me at our cute little holiday apartment 10 minutes from the gorgeous beach - see pic. Unfortunately she couldn't fix the weather which was pretty lousy the whole time. If it wasn't raining it was threatening to, but at least it stayed warm. Thankfully we had some nattering to do and a fab ice cream parlour where we attempted to work our way through all 20 flavours. Port Douglas is great and we got to see some of the World Cup at one of the old hotel pubs. Apparently Bill Clinton has bought some land at one of the luxury resorts, but don't let that put you off. It's rapidly becoming millionaires' playground but we didn't feel too poor. It's also a great base for the Daintree Rainforest excursions and Cape Tribulation.

I think I really suit yellow..

2006-07-14T12:54:00.000-07:00

Some more snaps of the sailing, our skipper, me doing a bit of 'grinding' and some drunken shenanigans at the bar when we'd all found our land legs again. I like to hang out with the kids every now and again to find out what's hot on the street. A little epsiode on the boat reminded me of my advanced years in comparison with the average backpacker:

Skipper (Ash): "The Condor is a famous racing yacht and was built in 1985."
Cute young Canadian co-passenger: "Shit, this boat is older than I am!"

Cue my jaw hitting the floor and bells ringing in my head that I was old enough to be his mother - boy, it makes ya feel good!

The Wet Whitsundays - souwesters and sour pusses.

2006-07-13T18:33:00.000-07:00

Despite a sunny day in Airlee Beach the day before I got on board the ex-racing yacht Condor, the dark clouds rolled in as soon as we left harbour. The first night we spent out on board drinking our wine boxes from the huge eskies and eating nachos and chewing the fat about our various travel experiences. The following morning we awoke to torrential rain and the greyest skies Aus had to offer - bummer! What was even worse was that the 4 Canadian girls that shunned the rest of the boat for the whole two days woke up to beds that were soaked from a leaking porthole. We didn't hear the end of it for the 2 days and I've never known such a bunch of whiny, whingeing brats. A typical moan was "I hate my life so much right now I can NOT be in your photo"! In spite of them the rest of the boat had a whale of a time, pun intended and if you don't laugh you'll cry at missing the beauty of Whitehaven Beach. We were told "if we make it there, you'll all throw up when we get there and the beach will be invisible in the rain and mist" - good sailing then! I was seriously worried about my sea legs but thoroughly enjoyed the trip - beaches or no beaches. We managed about an hour on one when the sun briefly came out, then got herded back in the dinghy back to the boat when the wind and rain whipped up again. Thanks to the great company of Claudia, Stephanie and Onya (I know that's not how to spell it but it's how I remember how to say it - those tricky Irish names!), Alan and co, and a very spirited game of Charades (who the hell thought up 'Desperado' anyway?) we managed to survive the weather and get some dramatic sailing in too. I'm sure the Whitsundays are gorgeous in full daylight!

Uluru and the Olgas - they rock!

2006-07-13T18:28:00.000-07:00

Some pictures of the big red rocks in the middle of the big red desert.

Uluru - a camel called Jack and the quickest way to burn $300

2006-07-13T17:55:00.000-07:00

Despite the rising sun this was definitely the coldest I have been on this trip. Due to the Harley Davidson sunrise ride being cancelled due to the unbearable wind chill factor, the only way to see sunrise over Uluru that didn't involve getting in a coach was to get on a camel. A 5.30 pick-up didn't scare me! Seven of us arrived at the camel ranch and I got to have Jack all to myself - lucky for the camel as you can see in his smile. It was sooooooo cold and I had no gloves so spent the whole hour or so trying to hold on to the saddle through the sleeves of my fleece. It was gorgeous though and worth every frozen minute. We also got to see the holes in the red earth that tarantulas make to get to their nests and several other animal tracks. At the end you get to help feed the two baby camels on the ranch - they're nutters! Then you get to warm up with hot chocolate and freshly baked beer bread which was delish.

Unless you are staying outside the Ayers Rock Resort, be prepared to be shafted in a big way! The resort consists of a few hotels of various levels of luxury and one place that has dorm beds - the Outback Pioneer. It was very nice and double the going rate anywhere else in Australia - I understand and appreciate that everything has to be shipped in to the middle of nowhere, but I don't understand A$12.50 for a cup of tea and miniscule slice of cake! I wouldn't mind so much but I was already sharing my 4 bed dorm with members of a christian prayer meet who were at Ayers Rock to wave rainbow coloured flags at sunset. Uluru is beautiful and strange and awe-inspiring and worth the visit but I'd steer clear of the resort as it feels a bit sterile and cold, albeit in the most tasteful way!

Skippy the bush kangaroo baby!

2006-07-13T17:36:00.000-07:00

Awwwwwwwwwwww! Ain't they cute! To achieve a little bit of karma from having munched on kangaroo steaks in Kakadu, I visited the sanctuary for baby kangaroos in Alice Springs (seeing as there wasn't much else to do!) An ex-park ranger guy has set up an orphanage for baby kangaroos that are discovered in the pouches of their dead mothers (due to road kill or being hunted). He nurses them till they are about a year old then releases them into the wild. I had a little cuddle and then put double the donation in the pot to attone for my campfire barbeque sins. They are gorgeous babies and they really love the warmth of a cuddle from inside their little pouch-shaped bags as it's like a mother's body warmth. I was in Alice Springs to catch up with Chris and Ben who had gone there a day before. We had a great night in the hostel bar eating the best Thai Green curry A$6 can buy!

Can someone help me with this..anyone..?

2006-07-12T16:08:00.000-07:00

Yes, I'm as uncomfortable as I look and yet again gave into peer pressure to do something I really didn't want to do. This was at the start of my Kakadu overnight adventure from Darwin and after some tea and toast you get to hold this little darlin'. Then it was on to another boat for some more croc-jumping and pants wetting, although the boat was bigger this time with an intensely irritating commentary from the captain who stated at least a dozen times or more that the croc is the most efficient killing machine in the world. I get it! Kakadu National Park has many of Litchfield's natural attractions, but it's bigger and more dramatic and you just feel lost in it the minute you get out of the van. I loved it in spite of its dangers, inspite of the midnight nature walk into the depths of darkness in search of crocs and poisonous spiders (Aussie tour guides just LOVE to entertain and terrify you with horror stories of crocs snatching tourists from their camp beds). I was suitably petrified and kept mumbling "can we go back now" under my breath.
In Kakadu you get to see ancient aboriginal cave paintings, loads more waterholes for swimming and picnicing, learn about bushtucker and to camp out under what was for me the most starry night I'd ever seen. We left the top layer off our tents so that we could see the stars and freeze our arses off at the same time! Our campfire dinner was great - buffalo sausages and kangaroo steak (sorry Skippy). It was my first time eating kangaroo and I am sorry to say I really enjoyed it. I got to try out a didgeridoo which I was abysmal at and ended up with a face full of slobber (mine I hope). I met the lovely Chris and Ben on the Kakadu trip and spent a fun night in Darwin avoiding the 20-something drunken backpackers enjoying their wet t-shirt competitions and 'Coyote Ugly' style shenanigans. Despite the noisy party town atmosphere, Darwin was a highlight and I didn't feel ready to leave. However I had heard there were baby kangaroos to hold in Alice Springs.....

Would you like to see my python?

2006-07-12T15:22:00.000-07:00

Now I can't remember the name of the snake as I have tried to erase it from my memory, but the guide is Ginda and the lady with her eyes shut was in our tour group. Ginda was our guide for the day's excursion of Litchfield National Park which is beautiful and amazing and infinitely interesting if you're into nature and the great outdoors. We'd only been on the road for about 15 minutes when Ginda said "do you want to see my python?" I joked that I didn't mind the brief diversion from the schedule as long as he didn't feed baby rabbits to his snake (as I'd seen on documentaries). Ginda said that he'd given him one 'just the other day' which I assumed was a wind up, but lo and behold when we arrived at Ginda's place and peered into the huge fish tank that was home to the python, there in the corner was a little baby rabbit cacking its pants at the thought of a gruesome demise python-style. I was very distressed and had to be physically restrained from freeing the bunny. I don't like snakes.
Once recovered from the bunny-in-peril episode I was able to enjoy the fantastic day that was Litchfield. We drove from stunning little waterhole to termite mounds to wetland bird observation hut, to picnic lunch waterfall spot etc, etc (see snaps). In late afternnoon we all piled into a little tin boat in which to taunt crocodiles with hunks of bloody meat on a stick. There are lots of crocs in the Adelaide River and they are mostly partial to a hunk of meat on a stick. They are very accommodating to tourists and will jump almost as much as they do. I was mildly alarmed to be so close to an ugly croc, particularly as Ginda mentioned that a 6-footer could turn our little tin boat over with one swipe of its tail - how reassuring. We finished the day watching the sun do down while quaffing champagne and fresh jumbo shrimp. This backpacking lark is a breeze!

Darwin - deckchairs, sunsets and oysters..

2006-07-12T14:58:00.000-07:00

Darwin - city of contrasts, gateway to nature at it's most unforgiving and awe-inspiring, and magnet for Australia's own holidaymakers with a month's wages to spend on Fosters. I liked it! I had 5 days in Darwin and learnt from my Perth experience that it pays to cover as much ground as possible, so I booked 3 excursions within half an hour of arriving. The weather in Darwin was perfect - it was the start of 'the Dry' which means temperatures in the high 70's/low 80's and no rain!! I spent the first night at Deckchair Cinema down by the harbour. I've never watched a movie under the stars and it was soooooo mellow and relaxing although the movie was quite sad - 'Totsi'. You sit there with a cold beer and just marvel at the concept. The locals had it made with their little cushions from home and their blankets in case of a chill. The next night I spent on a sunset dinner cruise - see picture. Thankfully I met Justine, the only other single girl on the boat, despite the promotional flier carrying a picture of youth and beauty - a bunch of singles enjoying the sunset. It was us and about 3 families on board, but we had a great time anyway and the food was fantastic - all fresh fish and steak etc. The only blip was my attempt at eating one of the legendary fresh local oysters. I've tried oysters before and thought that they tasted of salty snot...from a shell, but let myself be persuaded it was a not-to-be-missed culinary treat. I made the mistake of chewing it and then had to resort to discrete napkin disposal of said oyster as my gagging motions made it impossible to swallow. Yuk.

2006-07-12T14:02:00.000-07:00

Well greetings from grey and drizzly Victoria, British Columbia. It's only rain that gets me back into the semi-darkness of an internet cafe and the chore of updating the blog. Now where was I. Singapore onwards. After Hanoi I spent one day in Bangkok sheltering from torrential rain. It was so heavy that in the airport-to-downtown bus the water was cascading through the air conditioning vents and everyone got soaked. I chilled out all day and bought some second hand books on Kaosan Road. In the morning I flew to Singapore and the luxury of the Ritz-Carlton for 2 nights. It was lovely once I'd worked out how to turn on the lights and operate the blinds in the bathroon so that Singapore didn't get a nightly floor show of my naked ablutions. It was great to have a touch of luxury for a change and the staff kind of fall all over you (well they did until I asked to use my gift voucher that my Deutsche pals gave me as a leaving present), at which point the guy on the desk went all po-faced. In retaliation I took as much free fruit as my bag would conceal and departed having not used any of the facilities such as the pool, lounge etc that you pay for. I spent one evening in the company of a friend of a friend, Chris, who kindly took me along to join his friends at the New Asia Bar (if I recall), which has a fabulous view of Singapore and the best lychee martinis. I was home before midnight due to over exertion on the dancefloor and one too many martinis. Despite the hideous humidity I walked the 10 minutes to my hotel and spent the rest of the night peeling off my jeans.

I didn't really do much in Singapore due to the sweatiness of the climate and the fact I'd been before. To be honest I was gagging to get to Australia and some cooler weather. So off I went to Perth, where the day after I arrived there was a thunderstorm so severe it shook the hostel to its foundations. Perth is nice...but there's not much to be said about it. It's the gateway to Western Australia's attractions but doesn't seem to have a lot going on. I was a bit foolish in my scheduling for Aus as the 5 days I'd allotted for WA were pitifully few for the ground there is to cover. I think that WA is about the size of Canada but I could be exagerating there. If you read Bill Bryson's 'Down Under' you'll get an idea of scale in Australia and the dangers of underestimating distance. Perhaps like me you will also kick yourself for all the things you missed that he mentions, so maybe it's an idea to read it before you go, and not on the plane flying out of Sydney...like me.

Luckily I had Liz's fella Martin's aunt and uncle Chris and Jude to look up in Fremantle which was great. See attached snap of me in the stocks in Fremantle jail - and they'd only just met me! We had a lovely day and the sun shone and Freo was fab. It was a great town and we saw the Swedish ship Gotheborg which was shortly to leave Fremantle (http://www.soic.se/engelska/inenglish) After getting a butcher's at some of the crew loading provisions I was tempted to stow away. There were some really cute guys on that ship, and some good grub going on board. Apparently there's a rigorous application procedure to get on the ship so I had to let the dream go. After Fremantle I spent a day on a bus on a Margaret River excursion. You would think with that name it would stop at Margaret River, but instead we hurtled through it and watched the lovely gift shops fly by in a blur. We had all of 20 minutes to sample 8 wines at the Xanadu winery and then had to jump back on the bus for what turned out to be a Wacky Races kind of day tour. Huge distances mean you're pretty much tied to the bus with elastic and you just momentarily bounce off it to see the sights and then rebound to your seat for the next few hundred miles. Thus in 5 days I had covered the Australian equivalent of London to Brighton...well you get my drift.

A brief history of Cambodia and Vietnam

2006-06-25T19:34:00.000-07:00

It's been a long time coming but here's another installment of the pit-stop tour (in response to the cacophony of pleading voices..well the two of you that asked for it). I had a bit of a blonde few weeks while I struggled to reset passwords and logons - all lost on a random scrap of paper carelessly thrown away in Perth. Lots of new places visited since then, new faces to add to the filofax and new freckles and bizarre tan lines breaking out on my pearly white skin. In and out of seasons I have flitted (flit?) and new languages I have flirted with (anyone speak 'Stralien?) I've spent internet hours in many different currencies - this blogging is draining the global shopping fund.
Anyway, to do Cambodia and Vietnam no justice at all I will briefly summarise the 3 weeks I spent amongst these gorgeous countries: heat; dust; ice cream; margaritas; Angkor Wat; 39 degrees C; cyclos; "motorbike, miss?"; Killing Fields; street urchins; Pnomh Penh madness; buddhas; rice fields; heat; noodles; margaritas; tailor's shops; Vietnamese cookery school; margaritas; cave tour (the 3rd of the trip so far - no more stalagmites that look like penises, pleeeease); B52 museum; war memorabilia; Halong Bay boats and crazy Hanoi streets. I'd recommend both countries although Vietnam is rapidly turning into a tourist Mecca - not quite the 'off the beaten track' destination I'd imagined. I was hoping for buses that break down and minor backpacking disasters but alas, everything ran like clockwork and there were sadly no corrupt border guards whose palms I had to cross with greasy dollars. Cambodia is seriously poor and there are street urchins everywhere with pleading faces - very hard to resist but if you give them anything they'll only go and spend it on food..
Seriously, everyone tells you not to give them money as they are all on the street working for some evil gangmaster, but it's bloody hard not to when it's peanuts to you and megabucks to them. I was very well educated on Cambodia's problems by a frighteningly brainy Canadian nuclear weapons and civil rights expert that I bumped into in Pnomh Penh (apologies for any wrong spelling). He was like Brains out of Thunderbird (? or whichever prog it was) but with a straw stetson and about 7 feet tall. He had the kind of intellect that made me feel like my struggle to follow the plot of Syriana was totally insignificant, and that I really should be concerning myself with bigger issues than bikini line maintenance and whether cocktail waiters should be fired for using lemon instead of lime in a margarita. I felt really stoopid and very, very naturally blonde. He explained the issues with the corrupt Cambodian government and international aid problems while we watched a body be dragged from the river in the moonlight - it was quite a revelation.
Cookery school In Hoi An, Vietnam was a blast and I can now do a mean rice pancake spring roll confection. I bought a few Vietnamese cooking utensils that suggest some ancient torture method so I wrapped them in my spanking new tailored clothes made in a Hoi An sweatshop and sent them home so that I don't get held at customs. Vietnam is very cheap and you can have anything made to order - literally anything - new work suit, wedding dress, Reebok trainers, gimp suit. Take a Vogue page in there and they will copy the couture togs to perfection. A Next catalogue will do just as well and they will have a replica run up for you in the blink of an eye - they are VERY good (just don't think about the possibility that a 6 year old girl made it while being beaten and starved so that her little fingers sewed faster). There are cobblers there too who will copy any footwear - complete with counterfeit Nike logo and everything. I have some lovely pumps but the knee high black leather boots are a bit of a disappointment - they look like they're missing a bullwhip. They may make nice postmodern flowerpots or umbrella stands. Anyway, loved both countries despite the often searing heat - there are only a few pictures of me not standing under trees. Enjoy a few snaps (one or two more from China too). I particularly like the one with the old biddy punting me down the river - she really earnt her 30p. Forgot to mention previously Loui and Leila who I had the good fortune to meet on the China tour - they kindly let me tag along on their Guilin/Yangshuo jaunt and thus they had the pleasure of my company for a few more days - they were very grateful. I will chuck in pics of new friends if they make me look better in any shot (still looking for one). Angkor Wat was magnificent, spookily like an Indiana Jones movie set with massive tree roots oozing out of every crack - probably the hottest day of my life as the pink face will demonstrate. The picture with the oil drums is a Cambodian gas/petrol station - shockingly lacking Sunday paper and pint of milk. The Cambodian kids were hanging out at the Killing Fields - sadly one of the most popular tourist destinations, which of course Melayne (English teacher in Shanghai and Pnomh Penh drinking buddy) and I had to visit. After the pic was taken (at their request) they stung me for a dollar each - enterprising little buggers. Riverside view is Hoi An - gorgeous place, one of the best spots in Vietnam for winding down and sipping margaritas by the river - as opposed to sipping margaritas by the roadside/on a balcony/in a hotel bar/on the beach. There's a cookery school shot, motorbike mania in Hanoi and a couple of Halong Bay pics. The floating Pringles, beer and Oreo cookie stores were genius!!

2006-05-23T06:49:00.000-07:00

Now that I've got the hang of this bloggering I can do a little summary of the trip so far. I started in Beijing on 7 April with a couple of days on my own before the Adventure Travel Group tour started. Beijing is still a little wary of foreign visitors hence the constant staring and pointing by the natives, although I hope that was due to my blonde hair and blue eyes and no other features in particular. Communication was a bit of a problem and other than mastering "yingwen caidan" which I hope means 'menu in English' I struggled to make myself understood, which meant surviving on Ritz crackers and apple juice for almost three days. Once the group tour started I could rest easy in the knowledge that I would be looked after nutritionally and would have some company. The group was a "friendly mob" - age range from 29 to 60-something so it was a good mix of different types of people and we all got on like a house on fire, or like Beijing duck with plum sauce. As our Chinese group leader explained, "if it has legs and is not a table - we eat it, if it has wings and is not a plane - we eat it", no kidding!
To summarise, China was a huge culture shock but endlessly fascinating and LOUD to the point of distraction, but I would go back again once my eardrums recover and I haven't eaten rice for about 3 years.
Highlights: Terracotta Warriors; Three Gorges and Lesser Gorges; Xi'an city - Muslim quarter night market; Shanghai - a mutha of a city and sinking at a rate of a centimetre each year - who'd have thunk it!!
I'm trying to upload a pic of me in Tiananmen Square with my buddy Mao, but it ain't happening. 'Superfast Internet' my a*se, I want my $3 back!

2006-05-20T04:25:00.000-07:00

Enjoying a fake Magnum at the Three Gorges Dam with 'Don't eat the Chicken' Dave from the group tour. It's real purdy ain't it? It's big but it ain't clever (well it's very clever actually) but oooh, contoversial! In my top ten of world Dams, the Hoover Dam still wins. Of course I don't have a top ten 'cos that would be really square, but if I were to have a hypothetical one then the Hoover would win the beauty contest! The khaki pants are now on laundry life support due to a freak aromatherapy oil incident (nothing sordid I assure you). I will learn how to download more pictures without having to accompany all of them..I promise.

The Three Gorgeous Gorges and the Damned Dam

2006-05-20T04:11:00.000-07:00

Well having me in this one would just spoil it. This was our almost constant scenery for 3 days and it was lovely and very calming (apart from the Chinese tour guide with the loudspeaker about 3 inches from my eardrum talking to her group standing 3 inches from her). On the third day I was thinking 'you've seen one gorge, you've seen 'em all', but that'd be an gross injustice to the Three Gorges, which won't look like this for very long folks, so get your cruises booked up before 2009 when it will all be flooded so that Shanghai can have even more neon lights!

2006-05-20T04:02:00.000-07:00

Not a good picture but I just wanted to convey the authenticity of a real Chinese adventure down the Yangtze River - pot noodle on an ageing vessel while turning a 'pork in fried rice' colour. It was marginally better than the "Strange Tasting Chicken" from the ship's menu - I kid you not. Strange tasting chicken means uncooked chicken, but I decided that there's being adventurous with local food... and there's 3 days in the cabin toilet with salmonella. But it was all worth it to be able to sing "It's a Long Way to Tipperary" to 200 Chinese passengers in karaoke hour and to have a gander at the following scenery..

2006-05-20T03:57:00.000-07:00

On the Great Wall of China. One false move and a thousand years of history is undone..it's a good job I went up there in sensible shoes (and no, I did not 'Photoshop' them in there, I am really wearing them).

2006-05-20T03:36:00.000-07:00

I lost my blogging virginity!!

2006-05-20T03:10:00.000-07:00

Hello friends, family and folk in general. It's the 6th week of my Beijing to Buenos Aires expedition and it's taken me this long to get my technological act together and set up one of these blog thingies. It's also taken me this long to drum up the courage to trust a foreign photo lab with my precious memory disk babies and put them on CD for me to screw up at a later date! Singaporean photo labs just have a bit more beef than a dusty open shop front with a painted-on sign in a Cambodian one-horse town..

So here are some snaps so far. I have had to be a bit ruthless with them as there were one too many bad hair days, bad shorts days, bad sunburn days and bad no make-up days in there for my liking. When you find yourself looking quizzically at a pair of eyelash curlers thinking "toothpullers.. surgical instrument.. musical instrument...what the hell are these things for?" then you know you've successfully passed into backpacker 'don't give a sh*t what I look like as long as I'm wearing relatively clean underwear' territory. However, when wearing open-toed footwear for 6 weeks means you could probably dig a Viet Cong style tunnel with your unattended toenails it's definitely time for a pedicure...which is exactly what I did today in Singapore. It was bliss and I even got to read a trashy celebrity mag at the same time. It's amazing, I hadn't missed Paris Hilton at all!!!!