jungle, mountains, avanalnches, incas, rivers and the split...

Was going to write a big update cos I have a few hours to kill but since every computer in cuzco seems to be a bit rubbish and is freezing and the rest, my mood has changed so this may be short. I cant promise that as it may change mid writing so we´ll see how it goes eh?

Well last time I did this we were in Potosi in Bolivia, We went to the silver mines there which were a bit mental, the tours are hilarious in bolivia, if it was in Ireland it would be shit down for insurance etc, in Bolivia?nah!off we went into the mines, climbing down mine shafts,etc hearing the ole tnt blowing up at various points (of which freddy our intrepid guide reassureed us was grand), Petes height even came in handy setting some explosives that the miniture miners couldnt reach...all in a days work.

we went to La Paz from there and after the initial shock of the waft off the lama fetuses(fetii?) they sell everywhere we had a look about and it was grand..to be honest it was done with in a bout a day but we stayed a while because we were doing a lot of excursions etc there. We got some flights to Rurrenabaque, which is on the fringes of the amazon and all was planned to head to the jungle. We booked themn with T.A.M which is the military airline so we though we were the men, so, tam booked 30 seats for a 15 seater plane...i dunno about ye but i see a mathematical problem there that even he-man couldnt solve (not the cartoon character now folks..those who know know). so the airport folk are all ´oh your on the next one´´wherns the next one?´´later´...later is a bit of a misdameanor in Bolivia now so we were a little pissed off. couple of hours later and no place (well they only have 2 and the other was on the other flight to trinidad so....), low and behold it finally comes back and as quick as you can say ´manky airport food´who rolls up only eva morales the bolivian president, quickly cvharters our plane (remember -milatary equals governmant folks) so again were plane less and bored. They told us it was cancelld then so thats the way it swings. down to the office, money back, book with the other regular company and off in the morning, grand, bit of a balls buit bit of a story at the same time!

this is geting long...jeep-3 hours-bone crunching-dusty jungle towns-boat-3 hours-caimans-capybaras-crazy bird life-monkeys-reached camp. abridged version there.went looking for anacondas in ther morning then and duly found one, which is kind of cool i think...my opinion. then.eh...this is weeks ago now so......ah yes, went swimming in the river with the pink river dolphins (the craziest looking things ive ever seen) its very cool untill the dolphins kinda feck off and the caimans kind of feck on and think about dinner. again we were assured it was grand!really cool though.we were all abit worried aboiut that fish that swims up your you know where though so the swim wanst without its edgyness.anyways, campfires, fishing and the rest, i could go on but i already have and theres weeks to be explained yet.went back to rurenbaque the next day, in a crazy van with a crazier driver havin a few beers on the road as you do and having a blowout as you do and driving on.....as you do...in bolivia. stayed a night in the town and then got another boat up the river beni to the madidi national park which was kind of the same thing but a bit more jungly if thats qualifies as a word. the lads saw 3 ocelots, which are very rare for you nerdy folk, i saw the inside of a mosquito net and blurred vision when i temporarily contracted jungle fever. wansnt too pleasant.so the next evening we were to go back to rurrenabaque on the boat but as the river is floweth toward the destination we though hopping out would be great craic. it was untill youd get to shallow rapids and your arse would get a geological whacking, good fun though so we drifrted along for a but before hopping back on our canoe.well the fantrastic airline luck continuied as due to the rain the runbway literally washed away so no flights for us, then obviously the people who were meant to fly before us had to we were put back another day, then the classic bolivian strike action hit with an angry mob wandering the town closing shops (they werent that angry...we just like the title), so another day passes, so we finally got out of there a few days too late but after a good trip...not the worst place to be stuck i think you´ll agree.

did the death road the next day, fast, crazy and indeed lives up to its dangerous reputation.left la paz after what seemed liked weeks, went to copacabana to go to isla dels sol, whioch was a bit dissapointing really, sunny, as its name would suggest, but everyhoine walking along the same path on a pointless walk really to be honest. got some nice pictures i suppose and topped the tan so all good.

next morning went to puno to visit the floating islands and they really are surreal, an amazing place. Were a bit all action there for the last few weks you´ll see, as in every day doing somehting, hence the long post.

the night of the visit we got an overnight bus to cuzco. cuzco is a strange place, beautiful city steeped in history but also steeped in americans and incredibly annoying seller folk. ´massage sir, massage´´where you from?you want this food, that food the other food´......hello...i neither want your massage nor your food now leave me alone..i think i speak for us all with thay particular imaginary conversation there.

BUT....cuzco is the bvase for plenty of things of a high enjoyability rating...name the 5 day trek we did to macciu picchu and the 3 days white water rafting we did on the apurimac river. the salkantay trail (noit the inca trail...book months in advance and pay 500 euro?no thanks, i´ll just book the night before and pay 160 dollars thanks). passed the peaks of umanay and salkantay on the first and second days with a massive avalance on salkantay being a bit of a crazy to see bonus.incredible. tough hike up to almost 5000 metres but all worth it. the 3rd and 4th days were pretty much downhill or flat but the scenery and the camps were fantastic. impromtu games of football with outrageously talented peruvian 5 year olds and incredible valleys etc (and warterfalls that mister shane brennan fell into!) made it an amazing trip. the 5th day we were at this place called macciu picchu, cunno if ye heard of it, kinda cool. up the 1000(completely made up number) steps at 4.30 in the morning was pretty tiring but its worth it to get there before the ´awesome´and ´it was discovered by an american honey´yanks arivre in force.(ive met some very cool americans in the last 3 months.....there is not anti american sentioment here....ye know who ye are!)

so we were wrecked after the walk and had a day off before embarking on the rafting on the apurimac. crazy fun, class 5 rapids and again, incredible setting for the camps etc, really well done and sound guides etc.

well the last poart of this saga is a a bit of a downer. the lads left for lima there a few hours ago so the threesome has been split. the last 3 months were some laugh and we did some amazing stuff and met some amazing folk too it must bve said, cheers lads!(thats the 2 of ye, not the other folk, although cheers to them aswell!). heres the anthem......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XB-4lxDwyYI&mode=related&search=

take it easy on New Zealand...if its hlaf the craic this was should be....eh..alright.

i want to put up loads of pics but as i said the ole comuters are basically crap for some reason, and they cant read the dvds of pictures from the jungle etc (except for the guy behind the counters computer, he checked them for me there , the smart fecker)so picture the jungle...oh....lush..green...snakes etc..you get the picture, through in a few of us acting the maggot aswell i suppose and your not missing much.heres some more though that are still on my camera.....





mister b doing what he does best and elias follwing the trend.

some funny kids on the floating islands. games appear to be beat each other up amongst others.

part one of the lads tribute.theres the coffee, thres the lads.cuzco.

part two of the lads tribute..theres the lads..there they are.

floating islands

heres my feet...they be in peru so they do

salkantay peak

our group at the highest point of the pass.the avalance was just behind us there

rrruff!

control at entry to hydroelectric.

a not very trekking style lunch at hydroelectric (gues what theres a hydroelectric statio0n there!)

some train tunnel on the way to agua calientes

sweaty and tired and me..feel free to coment on how crazy shane looks...we did...

sunrise at the top

and eh...again....sorry

sunrise at macchu picchu

up on wayna picchu, above macchu.

so the pictures worked and the post was long. im off on a ridicuously long truip back to buenos aires to meet kev, back to la paz first then down, seemingly the best way...i have my doubts but off i go. later folks.
ooops, heres another....

the lads at work on isla del sol

Later Argentina....Whats the Craic Bolivia?

Well, there has been a veritable smorgasbord of activity since the last interweb update. Argentina has been told to go away in favour of Bolivia but I shall be acquainting it again sooner than I thought (more on that later). We had a run in with some English middle distance atheletes (again....later) and we saw some surreal sights in the desert.....all good fun and making us grow up as men and not young boys getting there faces wiped by a hanky.

The rock....Patagonia bound apparently
Added Wahurford tinker for continuity......

Last time we was in Iguazu wannit...that was almost a month ago so the details can be quite hazy so give me a minute to collect my thoughts and do this thing........here goes.

Went to Cordoba from iguazu, Cordoba has 7 Universities so mucho banter was expected but everyone was on winter break for 3 weeks so they were all gone on our arrival...booo to that. Still though much dancing and revelry was enjoyed and we visited Che Guevaras childhood home in Alta Gracia, which was a very nice place in its own right withought the input of the bearded revolutionary.

We left Cordoba after just 3 days and made our way to Salta, closer to the Bolivian border, whic was in fact closed at the time...hmmm.

Salta had great empanadas and bikes fit enough to carry our buff bodies for two days. We cycled to San Fernando and hiked in the hills for the day,even punctures cuoldnt stop our juggernaut of outdoornes, really good, and a return to the outdoor stuff after our city hopping of the past 2 weeks.

We hung about salta for maybe a few days too long but its a real nice place and the weather was good, met some folk from buenos aires (namely dangerous dave…careful folks) and had a laugh. Actually went for the best meal yet, a friend from b.A brought us to this out of town local place she had been before and, gauchos playing there guitars impromtu between courses, fantatic stuff, we felt a bit out of place but its good to get off the gringo trail every now and again.

The boy would sleep anywhere...afer a cycle in Salta

Up in the hills acting the maggot...Shaney B, a true revolutionary
We returned to cordoba then to celebrate my birthday. A few friends made their way over from Mendoza so we said we World go and meet them as we had spent the last few weeks with them and fun was bound to be had.....it was and thats the end of it. We met simon flynns doppelgnger from belgium who astounded myself and pete with his likeness and crazy antics...some craic.

3 days of chilling out were needed in Cordoba, longer for me as I stayed to collect the atm cards at last, so I caught up to the lads in San Salvador de Jujuy. Only spent the afternoon there before jumping on a bus to la Quaica, the last Argentinan town before the border. The bus was incredible, the landscape was lunar, although I havnt been to the moon yet id say it looks like what we saw. Sun going down etc, really great and the best bus trip yet.

We stayed in La Quaica before walking to the border the next day, its immediately apparent that your leaving Argentina with its fancy everything to Bolivia with its basics. Its a different place altogether (obviously you say) but you really do notice.

The train from Villazon (the Bolivian end of la Quaica) to Tupiza was again fairly mindblowing, valleys, gorges etc, would reming you of the grand canyon but alas, like the moon, I havnt been there so my contrast has no depth to it at all.

Well, the silver Fox would have ben proud of us, nolongger were we in Tupiza that we were up and riding, horse that is, the silver fox wouldn have been proud otherwise. because of our lack of experience in the equine world we immediately chose the 2 day longfest trek, naturally, we dont do things in half here people. I chose to name my Horse ´Steve Cram´after the docile silver medal winning olympian, hoping his temperment wouldbe similar. little did i know that he had no idea of who steve cram was and decided to be the complete opposite, i.e a crazy volatile galloper of a beast. Peters ´Seb coe´wasnt much different but shanes ´sonia´could be seen lagging behind, urinating, similar to our most famous athelete.

We arrived at a tiny village after 8 hours in the saddle, our bottoms like supermodels and our gaits like John Wayne, to have a cool night being caterd for by a Bolivian woman in her house, very surreal altogether.

The ride home was immense, along a dried up riverbed, and we got a hold of the galloping toward the end so all was well.

Not stopping there we signed up for the 4 day jeep trek to the Salar de Uyuni for the next day and the other various surreal wonders of the desert. Everybody does it but in fairness, It was some spectacle, the whole thing. The Lagunas, the vastness of the desert and the surreal standing stones and salt flats. Amazing is the only word. Our group were nice and our guide was cool so all in all it couldnt have been better.

So now we find ourselves in Toposi, after the flats yesterday we jumped on a bus here, 4.5 hours later than expected (that would be 4.30 in the morning) we arived, no hostel and ended up sleeping on the floor of the reception of some dodgy hotel. Not what you want to do after 4 dys in a jeep but sure its part of it....supposedly.....gimme a jacuzzi and a thai massage anyday...

The boyos and our wagon....it was meant to be...

Steve Cram, Human, Olympian, Friend of Seb Coe, Docile.

Steve Cram, Horse, Smelly, Tried to bite Seb Coe repeatedly, Volatile.....
Laguna Verde...

Sunset at Laguna Colorada...fantastic

Early morning at Salar De Uyuni
Sunrise at the same surreal spot...

When the boy brennan finally gets round to making an album....cover!

Rumours of a cork senior hurler arriving and me heading to patagonia with him are circulating as we speak, we´re hoping for the rock but we might have to make do with Kevin Hartnett............I´m holding out for the rock though.......

Later homebirds!

a few pics for yis`

a view from below the falls on the Argentinian side.

right, heres a few pictures, I have ridiculous amounts of them and these mightnt be to everyones tastes but I like them. There the wrong way around in terms of time aswell, as in, we were in iguazu last and Buenos Aires before so....Ah you can figure it out anyways!

the view from the hostel in B.A

Random nice picture from San Telmo Sunday Market in B.A

Hanging out in San Telmo, Just hought it was a cool picture!

Some of the Fruit Martkets, again in San Telmo...see a pattern here?

Amazing Tango Band, watched them for a good 40 minutes.

The intrepid cyclists in Colonia, Funny day.

Well finally....

after much presure from outside parties it has been decided to update this ´ere page. These computers are ridiculously slow so pictures might be an option but I´ll try. So the last time was back in Florionopolis. That is a looong time ago so this is gonna be pieced together. So Torres was suggested to break up the long journey from florionopolis to the next coastal stop worth mentioning....if anyone ever advises you of this....do not heed it...oh Torres i shall not forget you.

We arrived in to find that everything closes during the winter, so after much confusion we found a hotel, something reminiscent of the hotel in the shining, strange stuffed dolls about the place and a googly eyed old lady at the counter. Fair enough, only people in the hotel, a bit odd. Came down for breakfast to find a cop hanging about the reception, a little strange we thought. Stranger was that when we went for breakfast he appeared again. We went to get our bags to get to the bus station and surprise surprise he folowed us along untill a car pulled up and our bags were searched etc. must have though were part of a large black pudding smuggling job or something. Weird place. They dont like the gringos in Torre it seems. All experience I though, good with the bad and all that!

We made it to Porto Alegre which was to be our last stop in Brazil, for a while anyways. Good place, checked out the Goya exhibition there and some more. Plenty cultural attractions there, and surebeing from a past cultural capital of Europe we were in like Flynn. We´re well cultured biy!nice place though, enjoyed 3 days there.

We took an overnighter to Montivideo and our first border crossing,change was good and needed I think. Montivideo is a pretty city but we couldnt help thinking its Europe transported to here. I know the Spanish and all that etc but it really does just seem like a dirtier version of a european city. We checked out the markets there and picked up some cool pieces, joaqim torres garcia museum and generally ate steak for a few days. the city was well and truly walked so 4 days after arriving the short trip to colonia del sacramento was made. we cycled colonia in a day and its a cool place but you can see it all in an afternoon, which we did.

next...well next came the big one.

We got the ferry to Buenos Aires that day and things have been amazing since then. Cannot say enough about this city. All of it, the architecture, the culture the people, what a place. I think i could get on a rant here but i dunno. Prepare for many of `em on my return anyway. we met some very cool people there and just thats it...the rants will come another time (believe me Kenny, they havnt slowed in any way...)

Two weeks were spent there...two weeks!...does that to you. Personally more will be aswell. Theres no point rushing a place i think , anyone could run to all the major spots and see them for a day and run off elsewhere, but if someplace grabs you, why not enjoy it.

Some outrageous stories...hmmmm I´m thinking of one in particular,in which a certain Mr. Brenna and Garland would prefer not share. Just lets say the lads will from now on have nothing on me....!

We´re in Iguazu at the moment, just came up from B.A 3 days ago with some folk we met there and met some friends from a few weeks back here too. All good but were off in about 3 hours. Heading to Cordoba. Iguazu, the falls, whilst being obviously a tourist heavy place, are simply incredible. You cant help but feel great there, amazing. We did the ridiculous boat trip under them (what a laugh) but the falls themselves are the thing. Went to brazil yesterday aswell to view them from that side. Great view.... too many brazilians. Nutshell. I´ll try and throw up a few pictures there but I dunno will they work. Ciao.

just tried the pics ands these computers are confimred as shite. Will try Somewhere else.later.

Sanbdboarding...

Sandboarding idiots. We were the paddy slaters of the sand...

Peles love children....

Pica Da Papagaoi
Freshwater pool at sunrise on Ilha Grande

Kids in Racinho Favela

Racinho Favela and Rio

Roof of Sao Sebastao Cathedral

Sunset in Rio

I like brazil a lot, id even say I dont want to leave. Its bloody great and thats a fact.

We hit Rio last Wednesdat week now and pretty much slept it up the first day due to our jet lagged pasty bodies. We strolled the Copacabana that evening which was petty nice but a littlew rough really, and by the reports from other people, a lot rougher than we encountered.
We spent day two just realxing on the beach at Ipanema, played some footie, swam (the wavesd are weird, just one that breaks right on the shore, about a 3 foot wave breaking in about 3 inches of water...). Managed to get to some fotball that night at the Maracana, Botofogo and Vasco da Gama, Romario was playing but he should be made into sausages at this stage, he was rubbish. Bota walked it 4-0 with our man Leandro (gurantee he´ll be in Europe soon) scoring a ridiculous volley from about 35 yards. The dodgy brazilian goalkeepers lived up to their rep as....eh...being dodgy.BOTA TILL DIE!

Went to the ´Christo redeemer´ statue the next day and took the funicular ride up to the sugarloaf mountain which was actually more imporessive than the view from the statue.

We went on a bit of a walking tour of our own the next day, saw a pretty crazy cathedral(Sao Sebastiao) and went on the tram upto Santa Therasa, the kind of arty bohemian area which was....arty and bohemian and like...well....so are we loike. It was really nice up there, small shops and galleries, mucho impressive.

We took a favela tour the next day, our last in Rio. We didnt really know whether to go on it or not as it seemed a bit immorral to go just to ´look at the poor people´ ,everyone we had met that had been on were arses aswell but we said we´d do it. Back of a motorbike up to the top of it, plenty shot guns being wielded about the place....as you do...so it was an experience anyways, all very controlled but there is no other way of seeing these places really unless you want to get murdered!Not particulary thanks very much.

Headed off to Ilha Grande last Monday week and it really is a paradise island, no cars, one small village and thats about it. Got a sweet room in the hostel with some hammocks overlooking the bay and basically chilled out for a few days, walked for about two hours to Lopes Mendes beach which was beautiful, rented some body boards and messed about, caught a boat back to the village then....noice.

Went on a major trek on our last day there, climbed to Pica da Papagaoi (The Parrots Peak), long, hot day but well worth it. Saw some hummingbirds, crazy looking spiders and generally discovered our fitness level is about the same as Romarios.

At the moment were in Florionopalis, or Barra Da Lagoa to be exact. Came down here with 3 Canadian guys we met at lha grande and rented an apartment for 20real a night (about 7 euro). Celebrated one od their birthdays on Saturday night, luckily wandered into this bar in the town that had some big indie thing on so saw some god bands and generally mucked about on which we´ll forget the details. Went to the crazy dunes here today and went sandboarding so wrecked and have sand in every oriface imaginable, Shanes convinced his cheeks are now pointing the wrong way...not his face cheeks. Ciao! (off to Uruguay soon!)