I have had a busy few weeks since I was last in touch. I did a couple more days of volunteer work in Cusco. I absolutely fell in love with the kids and it was heartbreaking to hear about how tough their lives were. The little fella who greets me every morning with a hug is apparently physically abused at home.  At the weekends they get very little food. There aren´t many kind words at home so no wonder they are so well behaved at school. As they get older they seem to lose some of their spirit; life taking it out of them I suppose. I was so impressed with the teacher. He was so patient and loving towards the children. He also gave a lot of background information about the kids.
View from Loki hostel bar, Cusco.
I had a really funny experience in Cusco on a night out. I had my little wallet in my jeans pocket but it was peaking out slightly. However I had nothing in it except my cash for that night. We walked through an area that lots of people were milling around at 2.30am. Next thing I felt that I wallet was missing! (I felt it immediately). I went up to the guy who had taken it as he had made no attempt to flee the area and said 'Give me back my wallet'!. So he takes it out of his pocket, along with a pack of  Skittles sweets  and offers both of them to me! I really don't understand what that was all about but he did kindly give me the wallet back!!! Who ever heard of someone getting their pickpocketed wallet back!!! After that he stayed in the general area, standing only about 10m away from me for ages!
Steph and I in Colca Canyon, Peru

After this Steph and I took a trip to Colca Canyon, which is the World's Deepest Canyon, except that it isn't! (The deepest one is a couple of valley's over, but lets not get pedantic!) The whole trip was fantastic - both nights we stayed in places with no electricity, which was pretty enjoyable.
18th Century church in Colca Canyon.
The canyon was breathtaking but my favourite part of the trip was the night hike. We got up at 2.30am  to trek up the side of the canyon in order to be in time to go condor watching. (They only appear early in the morning). It was pretty magical to walk at night. I was a bit worried about it as there are significant drops from the narrow path but in the end it was amazing - the moon was so bright we didn`t need to use our torches! We had the most stunning view of the canyon and surrounding mountains. We did have a a glass of wine on my birthday to celebrate and Steph bought me a beautiful scarf. So I didn`t feel alone on a day that I always spend with my family.

I returned to Cusco to meet Linds and Keith, which was just fantastic. We hadn't seen each other for almost 6 months, when she left to go on her travels. We had a lovely few days just hanging out in the town, which is defintely the best place in Sth America for it! Great food, nightlife, places to stay. Because I didn't book the Inca Trail before I left home, there was 3 week lapse between booking and starting the walk. It was a great place for it; I had a lot of fun there, made some great friends and did lots of different things.
The Inca Trail Group

The Inca trail turned out to be justfantastic, definitely one of the highlights of my trip so far. It would have been just such a bummer to have waited around so long and not to have had a great time. The group was brilliant, so much fun.
Jenn and I

I shared a tent with a really lovely American girl called Jen. She is so much fun and a little bit nuts. She is a teacher in a private school and is working in Peru for 5 weeks. She was there in advance preparing a 3 week trip for her students who were to arrive shortly afterwards. Imagine that type of experience, as a 15 year old! The weather was mixed but fabulous when we were at Machu Picchu, which was just as amazing as I had hoped. Really magical.
The Classic Machu Picchu photo

I was also the fastest walker everyday! It was very strange, I don`t know why. The most difficult part of the walk was over Dead Woman`s Pass at 4300m. Everyone else did it in 3 hours and I did it in 1 hr 35 mins. I was the first person there in the morning other than the porters. (Hundreds do it every day). How bizarre! I was first everyday, other than when we were walking in areas that had drops. I think it was a strange convergence of different factors that might never be repeated in my lifetime!!!

After Cusco I moved onto Huaraz, in the Cordillera Blanca. It is the 2nd highest mountain range in the world (and it really is this time!) after a section of the Himalayas. Have you seen / read 'Touching the Void'' This is where it is set.
I can't remember what the name of this mountain was but it was spectacular!

I did another 4 day trek which was sort of hard-going doing it the week after the Inca Trail. I was quite happy when it was finished! Whilst the scenery was really beautiful, I just didn`t seem to gel with the group that well. It just seemed that they would contradict EVERYTHING I said.
One of the many beautiful wildflowers on the trek.
 However the best thing about the trek was seeing some of the peaks by moonlight and also doing my highest trekking yet -going through a mountain pass at 4750m.
Me at Punta Union Pass
 
Right now I am in Equador. It is so funny that I am running out of time! I am going to the Galapagos islands which will be extremely expensive. It is unlikely that I will get to go again so I should just bite the bullet. It will be the last thing I do before I start my journey home.

There have been big cultural changes since leaving Argentina. There is a very high proportion of indiginous people in Peru and Bolivia. The traditional dress of the women is quite distinctive (and common), just like you would see in a photo. Young and old wear long plaits down their backs. They wear full knee-length frilly skirts and brightly coloured woven shawls. Babies are carried in woven slings. Best of all though are the little top-hats that are perched on top of their heads. They look really odd - I laughed the first time I saw them! In the rain, you would often see them put their hats in plastic bags and then place the had and bag on their heads. Quite comical looking! The men are just dressed ordinarily, how dull!

One of the highlights of my time in South America so far has been a 4 day trip on Bolivia. Most of the trip is centred around a trip to the Salar, the world´s largest Salt plains. It was really out of this world. There is nothing that I say that would accurately describe it. At the moment the plains are covered in a few inches of water. There are clouds around where the horizon and as a result, the horizon completely disappears. It feels like you are floating. It is a completely bizarre sensation, especially when we were driving, very disorientating. Not only were the Salt Plains great, the rest of the trip was too. We traveled in areas that the mineral content is just sitting on the surface of the mountains. The colours were just amazing. The highest point of the trip was a visit to geisers, at 5000m, which is much higher than Mont Blanc in Europe. It was fine as long as I walked slowly. The others felt a bit unwell but I was fine!!

Salar: http://www.flickr.com/photos/37015497@N00/429579315/in/set-72157600015003694/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/37015497@N00/429584099/in/set-72157600015003694/

After that a few of us went to La Paz, where I mostly just chilled out. I think the most I did was go to the cinema, what a novelty! I have to say I really loved the city; there is sooo much going on all the time. So many people everywhere, a lot of noise, pollution and so on. It had the feel of an Asian city, complete with serious pollution. As expected, it is considerably poorer than Argentina and Chile. Everyone appears to be scratching out a living in the informal economy. There are people, often children, in Mini buses (public transport), constantly shouting, listing the places that they are travelling to, shoe shine boys always touting for business, even asking if I need my (canvas) shoes shined. Apparently there is a real stigma attached to their job, to the extent that they wear balaclavas! They look pretty sinister to be honest.

Next on my tight travel schedule (!) was a trip to Copacabana on the shores of Lake Titikaka, on the Bolivian side. Another of the highlights of South America. It was absolutely stunning but I´m not sure how well it comes out in the photos. We stayed in a very odd hostel. We got so cold at night but couldn´t find anyone. In the end we went on a blanket raid and borrowed some from an empty guest room. How naughty! The next morning we were treated to a beautiful sunrise, and we didn´t even have to get out of bed!

Sunrise: http://www.flickr.com/photos/37015497@N00/429960129/in/set-72157600015017186/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/37015497@N00/429960106/in/set-72157600015017186/

Hi all! Its a good while since I wrote and have lots to tell you about. I hope you have some time to read it all! I am still in Argentina. By the look of things I´ll be leaving in the coming days, heading up to Bolivia. I´ve been here just over 2 months, the longest I have been in a country I wasn`t living in. Hard to believe so much time has passed to be honest.

I have spent ages trying to insert photos onto this log but have failed on a couple of occasions. So if you want to see my shots, I´ll send the link to my photos. I know a poor workman blames his tools but this really isn`t a good website!

Mum and Dad were with me for 2 weeks, which was lovely. We were in Bariloche, which has a very Swiss appearance and Mendoza, the wine capital of Argentina. The highpoint of our Bariloche stay was teh Cruce de los Lagos, basically day trip with 3 boats and 3 buses over the border to Chile. The scenery was so beautiful and each lake was a different colour. Mendoza was also a great place to spend some time, particularly in the gorgeous hostel we were in. Mum & Dad were a bit of a hit at the hostel - 'your parents are really cool to still stay in a hostel and travel so much' etc etc.

I saw one of the most amazing things I have ever seen last week near Mendoza. I was doing a day hike with a guide and 2 others. We reached the summit of the mountain we were climbing (3400m, with thinning air) and found a very skinny horse on the top . Next thing, 4 condors started circling really close overhead. They were checking out the horse as they only eat dead meat. They have a wingspan of 2 - 4m and are truly impressive. The ones I saw were young and only were about 2m (only 2m!!! enormous!). They are beautiful in flight as they don´t flap their wings at all, they just glide. It was an extremely moving and soothing to see nature in such a way.

I met have a couple of really nice travel companions here which is great. I met an American girl Chris and spent a couple of weeks with her, on and off. She left the other day, which was a shame as we got on so well. I did the 2 day tour with a Belgian girl, Kris. I am now travelling with a lovely English girl Steph and will travel into Bolivia with her. We are in Humahuaca at the moment and are going to Iruya tomorrow, which is a World Heritage Site. Everyone describes it as one of the most spectacular places they have seen. I have purposely not seen any photos so it will all be a surprise.

That´s all for the moment. Next report will be from Bolivia!

Now I´m starting to get irritated with technology!! I thought I had it all worked out. So basically I can´t work out how to turn this photo to the correct orientation. I have also inadvertently split the blog in 2. Please go to the previous page as one of my favourite photos is there.

Enough whinging. At least I have photos! Since I last updated my blog, I have been to Torres del Paine National Park in Chilean Patagonia. It is a small mountain range that is separate to the Andes and is extremely dramatic. Within that are the actual Torres (towers) which are in the photo above. Before I left home, a few people said to me that it was a place they would love to visit. And I can tell you that it is absolutely stunning and one of the most dramatic places I´ve ever seen. A lot of people do a 4 - 5 day trek through the park but to be honest, I wouldn´t be interested in doing that by myself. In fact I did the cushiest version I could! Normally its an 8 hour walk, 4 hours up up up and then 4 hours down. I went by horseback as far as I could then climbed the rest. Well let me tell you about my very unsuccessful horseriding trip! Basically I´m scared of heights and we were walking along a narrow path for about half an hour, with a massive drop off to the side. I wouldn´t have been mad about it even if I was walking but was petrified on the horse! I was with a group of Chileans who were great. My buddie for the trip was Pedro, who minded me and distracted me. He was about 65 but was a great horseman. At the very end, there was no avoiding looking at the long drop downwards. I went nuts!!! I had to get off the horse and walk, but only for a few minutes. After we visited the tours, I ended up walking back instead of getting back on the horse because I was too nervous. It was nice to have company for the day though. I spent a couple of days in the National Park, staying at a refugio, which is basically a hostel.

After Torres del Paine, I returned to Calafate via Puerto Natales. I had a bit of a worrying time before getting to the Argentinian border. When I entered Chile, a very bored looking official had stamped me down as entering the country and had then stamped me as exiting the country at the same time. She had taken the all-important piece of paper that I needed to get out of the country. Of course I didn´t realise any of this until I was in Chile. When I was returning to Argentina, the very happy-go-lucky bus driver told me it would be FINE! I wasn´t convinced but it was in the end. I thought that I looked so worried that they´d be convinced I was trying to smuggle something into the country!

My next trip was called Overland Patagonia, travelling along the famous Ruta 40. Patagonia is so vast but I wasn´t really getting a feel for it as I had flown most long journeys. The tour allowed me to get to extremely isolated places that would have been very difficult to get to as a solo traveller. The journey from El Calafate to Bariloche was 1800km, with 3 of the 4 days on a gravel road. They are paving the road at the moment so it will be a very different journey in about 2 years time. However I was glad to do it this way - a very authentic experience! And I began to get a concept of the distances! The landscape was mostly Pampas, a very dry lanscape covered in scrub. There were plenty of views of the Andes in the distance so it wasn´t monotonous. There were 7 of us on the trip, an Aussie couple in their 50´s, an English guy, an older Austrian guy, 2 other American girls and me. They were a great bunch to spend a few days with. We stayed 2 nights on Estancias (ranches), literally in the middle of nowhere. As I´ve said before, the wind here has to be experienced to be believed and its pretty cold at night, even though it is the Summer. However I really enjoyed being there. We went to Perito Moreno National park, which is so isolated, it only gets 1000 visitors a year. The lake there was the most incredible aqua colour. Completely unforgettable! The other highlight was a visit to Cueva de los Manos, which are really amazing pre-historic drawings of hands. Those of you who have read Bruce Chatwin´s In Patagonia, will probably have seen the photos. (Thanks Simon!). They were done over a 5000 year period. The cave is located in a really beautiful canyon.

Although the trip was very enjoyable, I was delighted to reach Bariloche last Saturday night. Back to civilisation! Mum and Dad arrived here last Monday and we have been having a lovely time since. The weather at the moment here is awful, just like Ireland! We went to a National Park but couldn´t really appreciate the dramatic scenery as it was raining and the mist was partially covering the mountains. On the return journey, we had a little drama. Basically the bus appeared to skid and we came to a halt at the edge of a high narrow road.

Hello all, greetings from Bariloche, North Patagonia, Argentina. As you can see I´ve finally gotten this photo lark sorted out. What a relief! I also have a photo website that you can take a look at with most of my pictures uploaded. You can overdose on all of my snaps since I arrived in South America!

So much to tell about the last 2 weeks! I left Buenos Aires and have been in Patagonia since. My first stop was Ushuaia, the southern-most city in the world. I really loved it there, for no reason in particular. There´s such a lovely feel to the place. It is heavily marketed as Él Fin del Mundo´- the End of the World. They get you to spend money like the world is ending tomorrow - its quite expensive by Argentinian standards. It is a fascinating place - it has the feel of a frontier town but with some tourists and travellers thrown in. The plane landing was really spectacular. I was especially lucky as there was a very heavy cloud cover until about 5 mins before we landed. Patagonia is famous for its heavy unrelenting wind (more on that later). When I stepped out of the airport I expected to be blown away by the wind but there was a lovely light breeze and a beautiful warm sun. There´s a great view of the city from the airport, with sparkling blue sea and the fabulous backdrop of the mountains It should have been only 10C, but it was instead about 20C- Global warming at it´s best I´m afraid.

After Ushuaia I flew to El Calafate; no 20 hour bus journeys for me!! The sole industry in the town is tourism and feels quite manufactured as a result. The main draw is the Perito Moreno Glacier, which is truly spectacular. ThIt is a very fast moving glacier. The face of the ice falling into a lake is 5km wide and about 100ft high. Apparently when I was there it was a very active day, i.e. there was a lot of chunks falling off. It was so exciting to watch nature move so fast. I was completely blown away by the experience.

I am just back from The Fitzroys in the Glacier National Park. They are a apparently one of the most spectacular mountain ranges in the Andes. I did a 2 day guided trek there. (Everything is called a trek here. A girl in a tourist office said with no irony whatsoever that there was a 15 minute trek as part of a particular day trip. Completely different uses of the word obviously!!). Anyway it was pretty amazing stuff. When we arrived, the weather was pretty awful with very poor visibility. And I finally got to experience the famous Patagonian wind, which was on my To Do List! I have never know anything like it. It has knocked me over a couple of times with its force. We walked to the edge of a ridge and it was literally impossible to stand up. It was actually a lot of fun but I had all sorts of grit and stones blown into my face. We were very lucky on the first day as the clouds lifted unexpectedly so that we could see all of the Fitzroy mountain range, which was just awe-inspiring. I couldn´t tear myself away from them. The next day was action packed – we crossed a river strapped into a harness, did a lot of scrambling up and down mountains, ice hiking and ice climbing. To those of you that don´t know, I am quite scared of heights and always have been. If only you could have seen me as this really pushed me! It was a lot of fun but I was definitely at the edge of my comfort zone for a lot of the day.

I arrived today in Puerto Natales, in Chile. Its an interesting sort of place; you can nearly see the tumbleweed rolling through the town. There are a lot of hostels but I haven´t seen that many people. (Maybe they are all indoors, working on their Blogs…!) I took a picture of myself today so that you could see the effect of the wind! This is the starting point for Torres del Paine. I plan on doing very little tomorrow but will hopefully go into the National Park tomorrow. I hope to spend 3 days there. The weather can be extremely changeable so it is completely a matter of luck as to whether it is clear enough to see the towers or not.

Anyway folks, please feel free to email me with your news!

Helloo all! I finally get round to filling in my blog and contacting you! I’ve been busy with Spanish school and homework!! It’s a long time since I’ve had to do that. Thanks for the mails and if you’ve not been in touch, please mail me back!! I haven’t figured out how to put photos up yet. Will send them as soon as I do!!

I'm not sure where to start so I suppose my surroundings are as good a place as any. The Portal del Sur is a great hostel, not too big and pretty friendly. I’ve met loads of people here from all around the world, so I'm only alone here when I choose to be. The best thing about the place is the lovely rooftop terrace. There's always a lovely breeze up there. The city is hot and humid but I have never been uncomfortable in it. A group of us from the hostel had a really fun night out last Friday. We went to a club with an outdoor dancefloor. We got to see the sun rise. We left at 6, had breakfast at a cafe and went to bed at 8am. The nightlife doesn't get started until about 2am, so when you lot are heading home from the clubs, they are literally only opening in BA.

Buenos Aires is a beautiful city, slightly crumbling in a dignified way. As I read in the guidebooks, it has a completely European feel to it. South America Lite so to speak. All of the cars are European - I haven't seen 1 Japanese car since I arrived. The food is also pretty familiar so that is a comfort.
This is the best place in the world for carnivores – amazing steaks! Don’t think you’d like it Tom – they never ask how you would like it cooked and it always comes medium-well. I spent yesterday day at an enormous flea market close to the hostel. It was pretty interesting - lots of tat mixed in with beautiful antiques. It appeared that even if the sellers didn't sell anything, they were enjoying themselves because it allowed them to catch up with their buddies. The amount of greeting and kissing that took place, I'm surprised they had time to sell anything! I dropped into Mass nearby for a bit. They seemed very tolerant, as tourists were coming and going all the time. At the end when everyone was filing out, there was a bit of a backlog. When I got nearer the entrance, I saw the reason for this was because the priest was personally blessing and kissing everyone that left mass. They are very tactile – the other day I got a manicure (v.v. cheap!!) and the manicurist gave me a kiss when she was finished. Needless to say I didn’t see that coming.

Spanish school is going well. I even initiated a couple of conversations in a shop today and feel more confident about getting about by myself. The other students are friendly and its a bit of fun. I think I made a good choice -
the school is very professional and the teachers are enthusiastic and well prepared.

Today I was at the Cemetery in Recoleta. Its very famous – its packed full of mausoleums, including Eva Peron’s. Only the rich and famous get in there after they die. Amazing place… Apparently the founder of the Argentinian Navy was Irish so that was interesting to see. It was not the only grave with an Irish name on it.

I’m here for another week and then fly down to Uschuaia, the southern-most city in the world. Its supposed to be very attractive. Not sure what I’ll do there yet. Its all part of my spontaneous South American trip. Plan nothing!! My next mail update will be from there...

I'm setting this up today but have nothing in particular to write about! I'm still working and have loads to sort out before I set off in just over 5 weeks. At the moment the trip doesn't seem real. To be honest it feels like a normal November! I probably won't excited until I board the plane for Buenos Aires.

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