Roz's Adventures

2009-11-14T18:27:00.005Z

Hello hello helllllooooo,

Thought it was about time to update the blog. A storm come through Cornwall yesterday. Myself and Simon headed down to the Lizard peninsula to see the sea. Waves never look as big in photos, but you should get the idea:

Then of course there was the Dublin marathon. Simon, my parents and lots of friends came out the cheer me on. Big thanks to them. And to my friend Sara for getting my involved in it in the first place. I ran it in 4hours11mins and couldn't walk for two days after. Photos of me actually running are on the way:

There was a wedding or two since I updated last, of which there are lots of photos on facebook but I love this one from Gihg and Anika's wedding:

.... And a nice art photo of Simon surfing, taking by our friend Peter:More photos to come sooner than later.

xxx Roz

2009-05-27T16:54:00.004+01:00

Hello hello, a quick update as I had this photo sent to me. It's of my house mate Marion and myself before we ran 5km in a race in Falmouth. We did it in 24 minutes. I'm planning to do another few races this summer for the Race For Life cancer research. https://www.raceforlife.org/

2009-02-03T11:38:00.004Z

Snow snow snow

Last night, after two hours of snow fall, Pengarth Rise:

Falmouth town (Kilegrew street) two hours of snow fall:

This morning, Swanpool lake frozen over again:

Swanpool beach covered in white:

Nose deep...

No sleighs, that's ok, boogie boards work just as well:

No school today, Pengarth Rise:

Winter wonderland, costal path:

xxx Roz

2009-01-13T00:30:00.004Z

Myself and Derry took advantage of the beautiful winter day on Saturday and went for a big long walk from my house to The Ferry Boat Inn at the Helford Passage, a very Tolken-esk walk if ever there was one.

The view of Swanpool lake and beach, my house nestled in the background:

One of the many big container ships that line Falmouth's horizon:Derry chasing squrrials:Helford Pasage:

My future home (dream home:): I had that Saturday night off (for once!!) and had a great night with Charlie, Henry and Sophie. (Charlie in pic.) Keep tuned to what Simon is up to in Madagascar (click on the dates for news): click here

Eh... that's all for now..

xxx Roz

2009-01-07T10:53:00.002Z

It's freezing! I didn't think Cornwall could get this cold. The lake (Swanpool) beside my house has completely frozen over. While Simon is in 36degrees in the shade...gguurrrr

xxx Roz

2008-12-29T12:46:00.006Z

Christmas

Dinner for 11 people in Falmouth, cooked by Simon with help from the house mates: Nutgrove:Night out in Cassidy's:

At Simon's Mums:xxx Roz

2008-11-22T13:34:00.003Z

Georgie's Day Out in St. Ives:

Staring:

Louise, Kevin, Simon, Roz, Derry, Geffery, Piglet &

Georgie

xxx

2008-10-17T11:39:00.007+01:00

Hello hello. Our mental summer here in Cornwall has finally come to an end so myself and Simon have managed to find time off work together for a little holiday. After very little planning we booked flights to Croatia and before we could say "Govorite li engleski?" our private jet had landed in Zadar. Following a recommendation from a friend of Simon's we headed straight for the Paklenica Naional Park. The park circles around a limestone karst mountain range with two steep gorges slashed into the landscape. We were so happy we weren't there mid-summer. We were sweating so much, I'd hate to think how much hotter the sun gets, and the off season meant we had the paths to ourselves. But best of all, that season meant the autumn colours were breathtaking against the lunar coloured mountains.

We hiked into one of the gorges and camped for the night (hanging our food to avoid bears!!!!). This meant we could get much deeper into the park than the day trippers. We didn't encounter any bears but did see this rather funky salamander.

The second day brought us along a valley and down into the second gorge. This was tough going as the route wasn't so much a path as a dry boulderous river bed. Tricky to negotiate with heavy ruck sacs!

We were so happy with the recommendation to go there. Stunning alpine and Mediterranean flora, deserted trails, and the spectacular deep winding gorges. Hiker's dream...

... but that said, we were ready for some relaxation of the non physical kind. We went back to the city of Zadar for some good food, even better ice cream and a little bit of culture. Simon has the photos of the beautiful narrow marble streets and the church towers and plazas, but he is currently driving to Wales with them heal hostage in his laptop... sorry.

One feature I particularly fell in love with was the sea organ. Pipes and whistles are built into steps descending into the sea. The water lapping against the steps pushes air through the pipes and out through small holes creating an amazing hypnotic and unique sound, 24 hours a day, every day. Even better when the wake of a ferry comes along. click to listen to a clip I found on youtube After the mountains and after the city, we headed for the islands. Dugi Otok to be precise. Meaning long island, 43km long and 4.6km wide (at it's widest!) And it was Adriatic bliss, deserted of tourists, secluded beaches, very few vehicles and amazing calamari.We rented an appartment with a beautiful view (I'm running out of discriptive superlatives) from our kitchen balcony. We loved it there and decided to spend the rest of the holiday exploring the island. We rented bikes, a boat and a scooter to do so.

Some more of the island...Well that's about it. We had to get a ferry, a bus, a plane, a taxi, a red double decked, the tube, and a train to get home. And straight back to work.

xxx Roz and Simon

2008-08-26T15:34:00.007+01:00

Hello all again. England has just come out the other side of it's big August bank holiday weekend and Cornwall was BUSY. The sun actually shone as forcasted so the masses descended upon us, including one wee Irish girl called Sara Hayden.

She came carrying gifts of coarse brown sodabread flour, oatmeal biscuits and the Dee memorial book. It's the first time I got to see it and I'm sure it's been said many times already but well done to the girls, Riona and Aisling (and all else involved) for all the hard stressful work they put into it. It's beautiful and a fantastic collection of memories.

On the Friday, I had to work but Sara went out for a meal with Simon and my housemates in Hunky Dory's and heckled me while I served them! The next day Sara, Derry and myself got the ferry.......to St. Mawes across the bay to have quintessential English cream teas in the The Tresanton

Sunday saw us a little more active with a couple of hours of snorkeling. I ended up getting quiet cold and so sat on a little secluded beach while Sara when back out for more!

Monday Simon dropped us early (maybe not so bright) to Newquay for a little explore before back on the plane home for Sara.

Sorry about lack of photos but we were having such a good time we never had time to take any.

more soon..... xxx Roz

2008-08-12T14:10:00.006+01:00

Sea Kayaking Cornwall ran two week long courses in the Isles of Scilly ending last week and I managed to get three days off work to join Simon. The Scillies are (as copied off SKC's blog) a unique archiplego of low lying isles which stand approximately 22 miles south west of mainland Britain. The islands are very tropical in their appearance and have a unique charm. They're stunningly beautiful...

The flora:

The fauna: Dinner:

Planning the next day's kayaking: Some kayaking:

Myself and Simon:

xxx roz

2008-07-31T15:12:00.003+01:00

On a quick visit to Ireland in the last few days, I met up with my niece Simone. Here she is doing some gardening:
The three generations of ladies:Hard earned drink:
Keeping up with her contacts:
Mummy and Daddy (aka Laura and Pat):
..And looking out over the Irish Sea:
xxx Roz

2008-06-14T16:17:00.006+01:00

I've finally made it back to my home in sunny Cornwall but had a good few stops along the way. First stop Slane, where I filled up on Mam's cooking!! Then reunited with Simon in the Fitzpatrick Castle Hotel in Killiney (best boyfriend ever!!!). Then to Dublin for a night in O'Neil's. It was great to see to many of the 'gang' out! (don't have any photos from Ireland???? but here are some old ones from O'Neil's to jog the memory:)

Then the ferry across to Wales:

Where I was reunited with Derry: .... and spent two days in north Wales in a camper van, enjoying the coast (not as warm as Copacabana): .... and the mountains, this is the three of us on top of Tryfan in Snowdonia:

Then two days in Shrewsbury to visit Oz and Louise and meet Simon's sister Georgie:Then we hopped on a train to Burton to visit Gill and Eric:and spent two sunny days building a pond:and then finally back home to Falmouth in Cornwall and a BBQ in the garden:Where I've spent the last two weeks kayaking, board surfing, snorkeling, scuba diving and generally anything else you can do in the sea! No photos cause no waterproof camera (yet). Oh and I got two jobs, one teaching French and Spanish teenagers English and one supervising a posh seafood restaurant!!!

xxx roz

2008-06-13T12:10:00.002+01:00

Some stats from the trip:

I was away for 204 days and in that time I slept in 98 beds. That's not including night buses which I'm guessing there was probably about 10 of. So that means on average I changed location every two days. That's a lot of moving around. Which might explain the 562 hours I spent on buses, that's 23 full days. It dwarfs the 7 hours on planes, 8.5 on boats and 15 on trains. I read only 18 books! or 30 if you include guide books. What else?? 12 countries, 14 border crossings.... are you asleep yet?

(Nicki, you spent 106 hours on buses, your longest one being 27 hours, and slept in 15 beds. Again night buses onto that and you moved on ever 1.5 days!!!)

Nerdy eh!

xxx Roz

2008-06-11T11:16:00.005+01:00

Well it's very late coming but here is the last update form my trip.
Rio De Janerio baby!!!

Christ the Redeemer:and his views:Our hotel, in the centre beside the ocean with the red writing on the top:View from the top of the hotel at night:Copacabana beach:Coconuts and cocktails:

Ipanema beach:Nicki gone green!!!
Samba on a public tram!!
Our last morning.. sniff :'(
Stay tuned for more... xxx Roz

2008-05-30T19:13:00.005+01:00

Iguazu Falls

Final Map!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But one more update of the trip to come...

2008-05-27T14:30:00.004+01:00

Hello again. Now I have a lot of catching up to do. So we left you at Rosario, a city that outshone our expectations. The city looks inland on maps but it was once a bigger port than Buenos Aires due to the massive Pirana river that flows past all the way to Paraguay and beyond.

Mendoza had a lovely warm climate especially after coming up from the south but Rosario was scorching! We found it so strange how the locals were wearing woolen jumpers and legwarmers when we were down to our bikinis!! Nicki and pal on a river beach with delta island in the background:

The city is also home to the very first Argentinian flag and a massive monument was build to house it:

View from the top:From there we headed north to Corrientes and if we thought Rosario was scorching then Corrientes was a furnace.

The same river was flowing past the town, even though we travelled over 1000km north. Not too much to say about the town only that we loved the small town tranquillo pace of life and the more tropical feel to the place. I got in a twist:

...and Nicki had an encounter with a ceiling fan:xxx R & N

2008-05-19T12:40:00.009+01:00

Bets on... did it fall on Nicki´s turn?

Now we are doing a whirlwind tour of Argentina, trying to fit in all the top spots but unfortunately the tops spots are all over 1000km appart. Luckily the buses here are incredable, spacious, reclining padded seats, breakfast lunch and dinner served, movies and even Bingo to keep us entertained.

Anyway, Mendoza , where at last the weather felt warmer and we got to chill out in parks and resurrected our summer clothes from the depths of the rucsacs:

Then our wine tour. We hopped on a local bus and got out into the countryside where the bus driver left us off at Mr. Hugo´s bike rentals. We got kitted out with perfect touring bikes, talked through a route to the best winaries with Mr. Hugo and pedaled of on our happy giddey way:

We visited different types of winaries, from museums, old, modern, family run and enjoyed each one for what they had to offer (wine!):

Out with the old....

... and in with the new:

Autumn coloured vines:

No grapes this time of year, but oranges instead:

It reminds me of factories that went on behing Bosco´s magic door:

Sampling:

Along the way, we met a British couple, Jenny and Ian, who are not only doing a cycling tour of Mendoza but of South America:

Nicki going professional:

Then the municiple tourist police started rounding up the merry cyclists so we wobbled our way back to Mr. Hugo´s, enjoying the fantastic coloured avenues on the way:

I´m a town behing with this blog. Now we are in Rosario just north of Buenos Aires and will be heading on to Corrientes. As always, photos to come!

xxx R & N

2008-05-15T19:00:00.005+01:00

Well things have slowed down considerably over the last week, after snow/trekking/pumas we have spent the last few days flying/drinking/eating chocolate and collecting freckles.

We took a bus from Puerto Natales to Puerto Arenas expecting a boring day and a half before our flight north over the Chilean Fjords... But! It was Dia del Mama and the local Navy marched around the town for a few hours, serenading the mothers and grannys and delighted to have a few Gringos to take part. Free Hot chocolate too, helped keep the mood bouyant and it wasnt long before we found ourselves mid air to Puerto Montt.

Not much to say about Puerto Montt except that dancing poodles in skirts is NOT a good idea....

Next Stop : Bariloche, Chocolate city.. Yum! We filled our noses with Ash (?) from the volcano, it covered the cars, the flowers, our feet

The best plan was to stay indoors, learn about the Italians that came over from Naples a few decades ago and started the chocolate tradition and of course try some for ourselves.. we really need to go for a jog!But No.... We went to the local Irish Bar... ... and ... Steak (hobbit) house.....
We have travelled so many miles since the last update and seen so much but it all seems so random to report on. We spent a lot of that time on buses and flights! Today we got to experience Mendoza´s Winaries, but photos of that still to come.

Thank´s to Nicki for writing this update. She is usefull for some things!!!

xxx R & N

Map with Nicki´s route in purple pins

2008-05-11T01:05:00.014+01:00

I know.. I know I haven´t updated this in a long time but when one is in Patagonia with no broadband, it´s not the easiest thing to do! Well myself and Nicki left Buenos Aires far behind us and flew south to El Calafate, a quiet little town with not much to do except organise a bus to the neighbouring national park of Los Glaciers. It´s winter in the southern hemisphere at the moment and as far south as we are it´s very cold, cold enough for a glacier to still advance at an astounding rate. Well we visited Glacier Perion Moreno and were awed by it´s beauty and size. It´s really hard to decide which photos to put up from the many we took. I hope these do it justice, if not, you´ll just have to go there yourself some day! After El Calafate, we crossed over into Chile, second time for me but first for Nicki. We stopped at another sleepy town called Puerta Natales. I say sleepy but walking around and seeing all the closed hostels and restaurants, it must be a hugely lively place in summer. We decided to go hiking for a few days in the renowned park of Torres Del Paines. Well we were there in the off season which meant very very few tourists and cheaper accommodation but it also meant that all but one refugio in the park was closed, the transport to the park was very limited and the weather was antartically cold. This meant we needed to go self sufficient. We spent one stressful evening renting a tent, cooking gear, random bits and bobs and trying to figure out and buy the food we´d need for four days in the wilderness in Patagonia. It was a great learning experience for both of us and when the day arrived we hitched up our heavy packs and hiked off with high spirits.

Day one:

What was to come:

The weather:

Our first night in the opened kitchen for campers:

Day two:

Promising skies:

The "Horns" in the background. I´m standing sideways to try and avoid being toppled by the wind!

Our water supply:

Misty glaciers:

Heart for our Justin and Simon:

Our kitchen night two:

Day three:

Filling up for the day... icy!

Clear skies at last, but still the ever present wind. The gusts would pick up sheets of water and slam them down on top of us, knocking us over if we were standing. I´ll never forget hearing Nicki shouting "look out, there is another one coming" at which point I´d run to the nearest tree or boulder, crouch and hang on for dear life!:

Beautiful!!

Us!

The last valley!

For Simon:

Kitchen night three: Day four:

Our trusty (wet) tent:

The refugios were closed but that didn´t mean we couldn´t sit in their porches:

Us again:

Winter peaks:

One last look back:

Guanaco:

Condor:

Fox:

Puma:

Our reward!!!!!

I could write so much more about our experiences but all that photo uploading took a long time and I´m going to bed. I´ll tell anyone whose interested when I get back.

xx R & N

2008-04-30T21:17:00.004+01:00

So then, We have spent the last few days walking and mooching around the streets of Buenos Aires. Then we have spent the last few nights experiencing Buenos Aires by night: The city is beautiful with a huge mix of architecture and great style about the place: We visited the most incredible cemitary too, with elaborate crypts. Mam, you would have loved it:It also had very life like statues!! xxx R & N

2008-04-28T18:14:00.005+01:00

Look who I found in a gun museum... My friend Nicki. She arrived safe and sound in Buenos Aires. Plenty more photos to come. Here´s Nicki´s blog too Nicki´s blog clicky

2008-04-22T20:23:00.006+01:00

I´ve been staying in Bariloche in Argentina, near the Chilian border, which is the beginning of Patagonia and it´s beautiful. I was staying in the penthouse of the tallest building which gave incredible views with incredible sun sets (still a hostel):

One of the days, I found someone to go biking with, so we picked a good rental place and off we went on a 65km Circuito Chico. The route was great and you would be forgiven for thinking you were in the Swiss Alps with all the wooden houses, fondu restaurants, chocolate shops and Saint Bernard dogs.

Here´s Ralf and me:

Unfortunitly at about 50km Ralf´s bike broke, randomly as we were cycling along:

So we spent about 8 km alternating between running, and one sitting on the broken bike while the held on and got pulled by the person on the good bike. Then we got to the main road and managed (eventually) to flag down a van to bring the broken bike and me back into town, while Ralf cycled the good bike back. It was a great adventure.

To finish it we went for steak. (I love Argentina!!) I easily managed to eat a juicy 17oz fillet. I´m going to have to go for more long rides if I continue at this rate!

xxx R

2008-04-21T14:47:00.006+01:00

So after waiting around, we got the go ahead to climb the volcano. The morning was beautiful and the forcast was good. We. got some transport to the foot and started hiking. You can see the clear skies and the ski lift that will be used in another few weeks:

You can also see how steep it is and the haze at the top is the smoke from the crater:

Here is the end of a chair lift that was destroyed in an eruption in 1971. That wasn´t the last eruption but it was a big one: But the time we reached the snow line the clouds had started to come in. Our guide said we could put on our crampons and pick up our iceaxes, but he wasn´t confident we would get far:

And he was right, the visibility changed drastically and we had to turn back:

But I enjoyed it anyway. It was a great experience hiking on ice and snow:

....and we all went for a drink afterwards which always makes things better:

Well now I´m in my 11th country, Argentina. And after getting some currency changed and a bed found for the night, the very next thing I did was find some of the famous Argentinian steak, yum yum yum:

xxx R

map again

2008-04-17T21:40:00.010+01:00

Well... It´s been two days and I still haven´t climbed it yet! I wake at 6 and go to the tour agency and they tell me the weather conditions aren´t good enough, so I go back to bed for a few hours and get back up and try and fill the day. It´s like being at base camp, waiting for the perfect weather to reach the big summit, only this base camp has central heating and duck down duvets and stone oven pizza restaurants! The first day it was raining heavily, so there wasn´t much to do that would be enjoyable getting wet... except kayaking (thanks for the suggestion Ramage x). So I got in contact with a guy, Dominique from France (where else) who kitted me out, gave me a big creaker (river kayak), and brought me down some rivers, the Rio Liucura (II-III) which flowed into the Rio Trancura (III-IV).Unfortunitly this is the only photo I have from the day, as my camera does not like water, in rain or river form. But it was great to get on a river after so long, and a great run too. Like Cormac would say "it´s like the Annamoe, only faster, with more volume, and big wave trains, with syphons...."

But today, it was too cloudy and windy for the volcano, but good enough to rent a bike and go mountain biking. I did a big circut of 48km, and got some photos of the rivers I was on the day before:I cycled up to the source of the Rio Liucura and saw beautiful bubbling springs and pools:I also cycled to a lake, average enough, but I think someone pulled the plug:Me and my bike (and a lot of ground due to taking it myself on 10second delay!)When I cycled back into town, the volcano looked clear again and ever bit as beckoning as before. I´m giving it two more days... maybe three, then I´m out of here:Oh, and one for Mickle, I quite like the local fire department sign:xxx r

2008-04-08T13:09:00.007+01:00

Map, click here.

Sorry I haven´t written in a while, it´s a combination of being away from a good internet connection and spending a good few days not doing much that would be of interest. Chile is growing on me, but I´ve had to curb my activities to stay in budget in this expensive country, so I´ve done a lot of chilen´ (get it!) out on beaches and in country lodges. When visiting a town I have to pick one museum to go see, rather than hitting them all. Eating (and drinking) from the supermarket, that sort of thing.

Gone are the colourful traditionally clad women and children, gone are the busy local markets. The towns in Chile are equal to, if not betting Irish towns for modernism = La Serena shopping mall:From La Serena, I headed inland into Pisco country(this is a sweet liquor made from grapes). I spent a few days in Vicuña and visited a Pisco distillary:I popped up to the Pisco Elqui valley, to see where my boyfriend Simon, spent a few months working and camping (pisco grape vineyards):Also new to my travels is the presence of fashion and modern art, especially in the town of Valparaiso, which is like one big Temple Bar:Valparaiso is also the biggest Navy port in Chile, and with a coastline of over 4300km, they need a big Navy:Then I spent a few days in Viña del Mar, a beach resort for Santiago, but luckily it was off season, so I had the beaches to myself. There were plenty of cute little coves to explore, but here is another example of developed Chile: (how high´s the tallest building in Dublin?)From there, I skipped passed Santiago and headed south and inland again to Talca, well to a country lodge in a townland called Lircay close to Talca. I had only planned to stay here one night to break up my journey south, but I fell in love with the place. A cosy family run guesthouse, with swimming pool, climbing wall, bunny rabbits, hammocks, acers of land to explore and so much more.Surrounded by vinewards (wine this time):There was also a cute little puppy about the place, who could type very well it seems:Around the communal dinner table I made plans with other travellers to go hiking one day. The national park we chose was like hiking in the Alpes:But also a bit like home, with the deciduous trees, which were just starting to turn colour (Autumn here!!!) making the hillside gorgeous:The next day I went horse riding with some great real cowboys. Again the countryside was beautiful, but the highlight (for me) was crossing rivers on horseback:Our cowboy guide invited us into his house afterwards for a drink, and he had an interesting collection on his wall:That more or less brings me up to date. I arrived last night in Pucon and have spent the morning getting geared up for a hike tomorrow, grampons, icepicks, the works. Check it out, I´ll be on the top of that soon, weather and Roz permitting... I´m so excited. Wish me luck!xxx R

2008-04-02T23:34:00.006+01:00

It´s been a while since I wrote last but after the Salt Lakes, I thought the things I was doing weren´t blog worthy. But I´ve a little collection of photos now to fill you all in on. After Bolivia, my group from the desert, who got on really well together, rented a car and had a really cool day driving ourselves around in the north of Chile and stopping whenever we wanted where ever we wanted to take photos. We even stopped to pick-up and give a lift to a couple and their three dogs, who were llama herders:One of our stops included the nicest hot springs I´d been to. They had a very expensive exclusive feel;The day after we all went (by bus) to the next town, Calama, and saw a copper mine. Copper pretty much runs the Chilian economy and production it HUGE. The open mine pit is huge, the machines and trucks are huge. I try and put the best photos up on my blog so sorry that this next one is fuzzy (it´s actually from the dust in the air!) but I wanted to try and show the hugeness. In the photo you´ll see two normal pickup trucks driving behind the ore extracting trucks. Can you see their size? After that, the salf flat group split up and went our seperate ways. I went south and got to the Pacific coast for the first time in a good few weeks of being inland. The beautiful beach of Bahia Inglesa:Further along the coast and now I´m in La Serena. I´m sharing a room with a really nice Canadian girl called Clare and today we went on a tour to Isla Damas and saw wonderful sea life including penguins, boobies, pelicans, cormorants, sea lions, and dolphins. Male sea lion having a good auld itch:xxx r

2008-03-21T12:54:00.012Z

I have done lots of random things since I wrote last. Spent a good few days in stunning La Paz:

Caught a local wrestling match between Michaelangelo, the teenage mutant nija turtle, and some skeleton guy. One of the more surreal things I´ve seen on this trip:

Celebrated St Patrick´s Day:

Saw some Dinosaurs and their fossilised footprints, nerdy but very cool:

Experienced the infamous Bolivian roads:

aw some ancient rock paintings:

Experienced a rural hand operated bridge:

Made friends with some shoeshine boys:

Saw Easter march past:

Went down a silver mine:

The previous photos are a fly by account of the last 10 days in Bolivia. The country has a lack of good fast internet places (along with a lack of paved roads). I am now typing in my 10th country, Chile!!! which has both great internet and roads, so I´m catching up on the blog. I spent the last three days in a 4x4 jeep driving across the most spectactular scenery I have ever seen and that I could ever imagine seeing. For that, Bolivia has passed out Guatamala for being my favourite country.

May I introduce the Bolivian desert:

Salt Lake, dry: Salt lake, wet:Cactus island in the middle of a sea of white nothingness:Salt in front and salt behind:Salt house!!!Flamincos at the lunch stop:

My group and jeep:

The pink lake (with more flamincos). It gets really cold in the desert!

Another lake:

Salvidor Dali must have done the same trip as me?Gysers and bubbling earth:Hot springs at dawn:

Bolivian migration:

Bolivian - Chilian border!

xxx r Map updated ... with Chile

2008-03-15T23:10:00.007Z

After Machu Piccu, I followed the Gringo/Lonely Planet trail and went to Puno, from where you can get a boat to the floating islands in Lake Titicaca. The islands are totally made of reeds, floating on the roots of reeds pulled up from the lake bed. They were made origionally to avoid the waring clans on the main land. Now they are pretty much just a tourist attraction, but 2000 people still live on them.
I´ll be wearing some green fluffy hair bonbons that I got from the ladies on St. Patrick´s Day (tomorrow!) After Puno it was on to Bolivia, 9th country! I crossed the border into my first Bolivian town called Copacabana (not the famous beach in Rio, Brazil... not yet :-)) and I was greeted by a beautiful sight... a shop with giant bags of popcorn and bottles of spirits!!!!
The road to La Paz gave me a glimpse of what the scenary will be like in Bolivia, and I´m excited!
Outskirts of La Paz, (Bolivia has 3 million Llamas)

La Paz, 3660 metres, highest city in the world (Carrantuohill 1038m, Dublin 68m at highest point!)

xxx r Map.. with Bolivia!!!

2008-03-15T15:01:00.004Z

Georgie, Simon´s half sister, in her first Peruvian alpaca jumper:

2008-03-12T16:36:00.021Z

Inca Trail

The first thing I{d like to say is how proud I am of my parents for doing this 4 day hike recently. It is not easy and nearly beat a lot of people much younger than them.

There are many ways to get to see the ruins of Machu Piccu, but this hike is the only one you need a permit and a guide for, and there is a limit of 500 people per day, including all porters and guides. The route we took was the origional path the royal and nobal Inca would take form Cusco, their capital, to Machu Piccu, one of their religious centres.

Day 1: The easy one.

At Kilometer 82. I{m not sure why it{s called that but it{s the start of the "Classic Inca Trail". In our group we had 3 Argentinians, 4 Canadians, 6 Americans (one of which was Canadian!!!) 2 English, and me. Plus two guides, 11 porters and one cook.

The trail ahead... and it{s sunny!!!

Me, in front of some ruins we passed. Camp one:Soup!!
Day 2: The hard one.

A porter. The real heros of the trip. They carry very heavy loads of our tents, dining tent, a whole kitchen and it{s contents, a chair for everyone, knives/forks/spoons/tea spoons/ big bowls/little bowls/cups for tea/cups for juice... so much more. And their bundles look awquard and uncomfortable. AND they run past us so as to havbe the tents up and food ready when we arrive to camp. Heros!

The highest point of the Inca Trail, the saddle between two peaks. This was the first time we started to mix with other grops as the pace slowed down to a crall. The altitude really gets the lungs burning!

Me at the highest I{ve been under my own steam. I was wearing shorts and t-shirt on the climb up but once you get to the top and stop, it was freezing!
Day 3: The long one.
Morning one day three. It had been raining and cloudy when we got to camp the evening before, so the view was incredible when we woke up.

Juan Carlos, one of our guides. Again, like the porters, he was great. Full of information, ready to answer any question we threw at him, always looking out for everyone in the gruop. Possibly the best guide I{ve had on my trip so far!

On top of another high pass: View from top:
And then it rained... a lot!
Inca Tunnel: Inca door lock:
And after 3 days... there was a pub! The people who got to camp early waited for the group in the bar, because it was dry inside... of course!
Day 4: The Machu Piccu one.

Wet morning on day 4, but I had beautiful orchids to keep my spirits up!

We finally arrived to the Sun Gate, and our first glimpse on Machu Piccu... only we couldn{t really see it! Everyone was trying to be positive, but I think we were all feeling a bit disappointed as we walked down into the ruins proper.

The start of one tour of the ruins. I could tell you the history, but I{d be here all day... just go yourself! (in the dry season!)
Starting to clear up.
It cleared enough for our first good view of Huayna Piccu, the mountain you see in all the postcard images:
The amazing masonary work:

After our tour, the sun had come out and dried up all the rain, and at last we had beautiful views of the site, surrounding mountains and valleys. Five of us decided to climb Huayna Piccu. At the top, you can see how Machu Piccu has been cleared put of the jungle.

At the top again, looking down at the road you can just drive up... but of course the reward wouldn{t have been so great!
A wild strawberry at the top too!
Last look at Machu Piccu, as the clouds started to roll back in.
Finish the day with a soak in the hotsprings in the bottom of the valley, before getting the train back to Cusco!
xxx r

2008-03-06T19:48:00.004Z

Just a quick update from Cusco. I´m here for a week before I hike the "classic Inca Trail" on Saturday. It´s strange being in the one place for so long, but it´s a nice place to be!!

If not very wet!

But colourful:

Good fun:

Great views:

And handy for when you need a patch sown into your trousers: (just let the trousers die!)

Next stop Machu Piccu. xxx r

2008-03-02T20:19:00.006Z

I have made it to Cusco, capital city of the Incas, and you can really see it. When the Spanish came, they tore down the Inca temples in the town and so all that remains are the bases of walls. They then realised that the Inca walls withstood earthquakes completely while their colonial buildings crumbled, so they then built their new city using the foundations of the Inca buildings they had just torn down..... I know I´m rambling on, but.. well it´s cool ok! Here is one of the more famous stones to have survived... with twelve sides!I have also acquainted myself with Paddy O´Flaherty´s. Just like home: Today I took a bus out of Cusco to a small town called Pisac and enjoyed the colours and smells of the Sunday Market:

And an hour´s hiking behind the town also brought me to some Inca ruins, famous for their terracing:

Rainy season in the highlands means getting very wet and sometimes limited views. But it also means lower prices, fewer tourists, lush green countryside and so many different types of wild flowers:

That´s all for now, but you can be sure to expect more stone wall photos to come!

xxx r Click for updated map... Argentina is HUGE.. I better get a move on!

2008-02-28T22:00:00.010Z

I´m back from a beautiful, if not slightly wet, three day hike into Cañon del Colca. Myself, Lykke and Andres joined a group and guide, and had a great time getting away into rural Peru. Colca Cañon is the second deepest in the world at 3191m. It´s title as deepest was stolen recently by a neighbouring cañon which is 163m deeper. We started at a town called Cabanaconda and spent the first day hiking to the bottom, where we crossed the Rio Majes.

From there we climbed up a little bit to a small village where we spent the night in a local family´s farm. We all got really wet that day as unfortunately it´s the rainy season in the highlands, hence the dull cloudy look to some of the photos.

The farm where we slept:

There are about 8 villages in the cañon which can only be reached by hiking and mule. That´s over a 1500m high climb to go to the shops and the nearest road! Here´s Lykke and the farmers ONLY mode of transport, :

Colourful maize:

There were lots of guinne pigs running around, the day after I tried some! A bit boney, but a nice gamey flavour!

The next day we were really blessed by the weather which stayed dry all day (unusual at this time of year) and gave us beautiful views:

We hiked along the side of the cañon for a while, then headed back down and crossed the river once more. Then after lunch started the task of climbing back up to the top! Gruling but plenty of opportunity to stop and take a breath and admire the view, We also were lucky to see some Condors soaring above us (not in photo):

The group at the top, we reached it just as night was falling:

The last day was basically spent unwinding in a hot spring. The origional water is boiling, but they cool it down to a scalding 41 degrees C.

We went back to Cabanaconda where I managed to sneak in a few photos of the local women in their traditional dress:

The bus and road back to Arequipa went highter still and for a few minutes we were driving through snow. And only a few days ago I was in the desert!

xxx r

2008-02-23T21:33:00.006Z

I´ve left Lima behind, but I´m still in the desert! I visited a small town called Paracas from where I took a boat to some islands called Islas Ballestas. They are also sometimes known by backpackers as "The Poor Man´s Galapagos" Well I thought they were great. I´m sweating buckets but I´m looking at penguins! Right alongside the coast of Peru, the water is very cold because of a current from Antartica. Further away from the coast, it gets warm again, but this means the islands are home to lots of sea creatures from the Antartic.

The islands are home to thousands and thousands of sea birds:

Can you see the penguins, in amoung the pelicans, boobies, cormorants, gulls, ganets... I think you can see all in this photo:

Also some very smelly, very very noisy sea lions, with hundreds of one month old pups/cubs (?) :

The photos on the blog don´t do the animals justice, enlarge them if you can/want! Oh and here´s one of me on a cliff (to be mentioned again later):

Then I had to go to the town of Pisco to go to the bank. I had planned to avoid it, but needs must. The town was distroyed by an earthquake last August ´07. The quake was 7.9 and lasted for 3 and 1/2 minutes. Pisco was flattened and when I was there, I don´t think it had changed much. People were living in tents where their houses had been. There were big piles of rubble in the streets. The kind of thing you see on TV. I didn´t feel right taking any photos but here is/was a restaurant in Paracas, which was also effect, but not as much as Pisco.

Some of the cliff I was standing on above slid into the sea during the quake and caused a small tidal wave that flooded the costal towns. I don´t know if it made the news back home, but it was a big one!

Well, on from Pisco, I headed to Nasca where I am now. This morning I took a tiny winy plane to fly over the desert and view the "Nasca Lines" These were created by the pre Inca people (the Nascas) over 2500 years ago. They removed the top dark layer of sand to reveal the lighter sand and created enormous images of animals and very long straight lines. The strange thing is, you can´t make them out from the ground. If you are standing beside one of the images, you wouldn´t know. They can only be seen from the air. But the Nasca people were long long before the Write Brothers!!

(Simon, can you flip this one)

This is a humming bird, I need to crop the photo a bit but I think you can still make it out: (Simon, maybe you could crop it?)

I´ve lots more photos but you get the idea! I also visited a 1000 year old cemerty. Grave robbers stole from the graves and left the mummies exposed to the elements. So today all that is left are the bones and freakily the hair: (flip please)That´s all for now. I´ve met back up with my Danish friends Lykke and Andes and we are leaving the desert tonight, by luxary bus... Woohoo!

xx r

2008-02-16T22:51:00.006Z

Map updated, Im running out of pin colours!
Just a quicky from Lima:

Pretty framed sunset at Haunchaco:

I travelled along the Pan-American Highway for 11 hours and made it to Lima. SPECTACULAR scenary on the way:

And Lima has turned out to not be the big scary city I thought it to be. Its beautiful, modern, clean. So clean they wash the lamp posts and flower boxes!

View from hostel roof:

Hostel (not hotel... but hostel!):

Cathedral and main square:

Park:

Costal view:

And I hear Cusco is better... woohoo xxx R

2008-02-15T19:41:00.010Z

Right, so what have I been up to? Well I´m slowly making my way down south to Lima. I´m a bit off the beaten "Gringo" Lonely Planet trail so I have been on my own for about a week now, but it is great to see authentically Peruvian towns, markets, hotels! Inbetween towns, the bus just drives through desert, incredible, endless desert:

Then the Peruvians come along with irrigated water all the way from the Andes and turn it into green land and lots of rice. Seemingly the Incas and the Pre-Incas were using illaborate irrigation too:

The first town after Piura I visited was Chiclayo. I got a nice room with a view. In Peru, you don´t have to pay a tax on your building if it isn´t finished, but this leaves so many towns looking unsightly :

Chiclayo had a great market where you could buy anything, from monkeys to razors to wedding dresses to this strange dried fish (I think!) :

Outside of the town, there are Pre Inca ruins. These guys built huge pyrimids out of abobe bricks, i.e. mud. The whole coast of Peru is effected by the weather system called "el nino" which is caused by the warming and cooling of the surface of the Pacific Ocean. Every 2 to 7 years, it brings really heavy rains which cause flooding. Historians think it´s the el nino which caused the downfall of the Pre Incas. Unfortunitly the adobe mud bricks the Pre Incas used don´t withstand weathering very well and eroded quickly. But interesting to see all the same.

The pyrimids did hold some graves with incredible wealth of gold and pottery:

After Chiclayo, I headed to the coast and to tiny Pacasmayo. Here I felt very white and very blonde, but again after all the touristy places I´d been, I guess it was nice to experience. The town had a hill with a massive statue of Jesus (preparation for Rio!) :

The hill also gave me a great view of the desert meeting the sea:

Dispite it´s small size, the town had a strangly big sculpture park:

Pacasmayo is a fishing town and has the longest pier in Peru. It´s busy with fishermen loading and unloading their tiny boats and cleaning their catch (of octopus) :

Shark Attack??

Then I moved on to Trujillo. More tourists here but from South America and not of the European backpacker type. This ment that all tours were in Spanish and the hotels (no hostels) are a little above my usual standard:

When I was in Ecuador, I saw a dog, that I thought was in a very bad way, with an infection or skin problem. But now I realise that it was a special, very popular and prised breed of dog called a Peruvian Hairless dog. Ugly or unique, make up your own minds:

Trujillo brough me to more Pre Inca ruins, this time a whole city called "Chan Chan". This city once held 60,ooo people and covered 28kmsq. Now there isn´t much left but even so, one gets a really good feeling of the scale of the construction:

Restored courtyard:

Adobe releaf:

What´s left:

Excavation on going. The walls and large pyrimids were covered with sand up until the 60´s. You can see them shovelling it here:

After Trujillo it´s on to Huanchaco on the coast where fishermen still use the traditional reed canoes. I was only here briefly on a day trip from Trujillo but I think I´ll go back tomorrow for another wee look:

That brings me up-to-date. You´ll notice I´m sporting my Panama hat these days. No amount of suncream was protecting my Irish nose!

xxx R

2008-02-09T23:33:00.000Z

8th country!!!! So I´ve arrived safe and sound in Peru. I took a bus (supposedly 7 hours, but more like 10) from Loja in Ecuador to Piura in Peru. I haven´t done anything too exciting in the last few days so no beautiful photos to post. But I thought I might document one of my long bus journies, and what better than a border crossing. The photos reflect the journey, so if you find them boring, then perhaps travelling in S. A. doesn´t suit you! Please bear in mind that most of the photos were taken on/from a moving bus. So in cronological order...

Above the clouds, leaving the highlands in Ecuador:

Scenery, to compare with for later:

My reflection, well I did have to look at it for 10 hours!! (honey, can you flip it around for me xxx):

Police check point (not border) See my passport?:

The very first rice paddy fields I saw.. EVER:

Exit Ecuador:

Enter Peru:

Passport exit and entry stamps:

Road side restaurant, ( note I did not eat there nor will I ever eat the meat!)

Craig, my border crossing buddy, and little curious girl:

Road side dwellings: Bad dubbed movie entertainment, a free flight to Peru to anyone who can name the actor (easy) and movie! :

Mud road... bump bump bump:

Peruvian dessert, and it´s really hot,´it won´t be long till I´ll be heading back up into my beautiful green highlands, me thinks:

Another police check point (and more desert): This region is famous for it´s limes. We also passed kilometers of mango plantations:

Unfortunitly, Peru isn´t the cleanest of countries. I had heard it from fellow travellers, but it´s horrible to see for yourself. The whole desert seems to be covered in rubbish. And it doesn´t always smell too nice either:

Another bus driver catching a rest in the shade of the luggage hold: So here I am now in Piura and I´m going to revert to the guide book for it´s elegant description.. " After several hours of crossing the vast emptiness of the Sechura Desert, Piura materializes like a mirage on the horizon, enveloped in quivering waves of heat. It´s hard to ignore the sence of physical isolation forced on you by this unforgiving environment." (I wish I conuld write like that)

xxx Roz

Map updated... with Peru !!

2008-02-03T22:54:00.000Z

Well I´m relaxing away in Montanita for Carnival. Surfing in the morning, chilling out in the hammock during the mid day heat, meeting up with friends in the evening. The population exploded for the weekend, with thousands of visitors from all around South America. The party overflows onto the streets and beach and the town has a great atmosphere.

Last Thursday:

Sunday:

Watching sunset from hostel balcony:

Surfing and fishing, (again at sunset): Another one for the boys: Anders and Lykke getting into the Carnival Spirit: Party in the street:Capoeira, I have a video too, if anyone has any ideas how I upload it???:

Sitting around campfire on the beach:

map updated

xxx r

2008-02-01T15:39:00.001Z

I met three separate solo female travellers on the train ride and we spent a few days together around Cuenca, doing are own things during the day, then meeting up for dinner at night, perfect!. From left- Sofia from Portugal, Lizzie from New Zealand, me and Nina from Denmark.I{m now on the pacific coast in Montanita. The town is a big surf spot and attracts a lot of surfers and new-age-hippy-types:I{m going to be here for a few days, learning to surf and partying for Carnival. More better photos to come... xx r

2008-01-28T22:19:00.000Z

Some market photos from Riobamba:

Buying and selling Guinne Pigs:

Cooked pigs:

Chicks:

Puppies:

I also have photos of kittens, sheep, fish, chickens... all alive, all for sale but I{d just bore you and my brother already said I{m putting up a lot of animal photos.

The hostel trying to keep on top of the ash problem:

Im glad I didn´t have to spend too long in Rio, early the next morning, I got a train south. You use to be able to sit on open top carrages but there was recently an accident with a tourist and you´re not allowed anymore. But it was still a great trip, stopping randomly to let local people on and off between their farms:

And a it wouldn´t have been complete without a de-railment!! Nothing serious, they say it happens all the time. They reversed, pulled the de-railed wheels back onto the track and then went about fixing the track that cause the problem:

At the end of the line, I caught a bus to the pretty city of Cuenca. Yesterday, I spent a rainy day in and out of museums and shops. I visited a Panama Hat shop and got a little tour. Their made in Ecuador but called Panama hats becuase they are allexported to Europe and the Us from the Panama Canal:

Also visited an orchid garden:

Today I hopped on a bus and saw my first Inca ruins. They are called Ingapirca and are two hours north of Cuenca. They are not very impressive, but I liked the fact I seemed to be the only person there.

Maybe the rain kept people away. I had to use the 10 second delay to get a pic of me:

Arty shot:

xxx R

2008-01-26T20:52:00.000Z

So I spent a couple of days in Banios, beside a very active and angry volcano. I wasn´t spitting lava but lots of ash. Luckily the wind was blowing out of town, leaving us with just impressive views, I took this photo from the main street in the twon, with no zoom. Crazy stuff!: The town itself was a little too touristy but nice to walk around at night as a result:

The main reason I went there was for a mountain bike ride I had hear a lot about. It´s pretty much 61km of down hill, from the Andes to the Amazon Jungle. It was great to stop along the way anytime I wanted to and not be confined to a bus. I passed lots of waterfalls and great white water rivers:

Mark, I asked the cockril and he said that it was bolsa wood, but the owner was gone to lunch so I couldn´t get you any, sorry. Next time!: I also passed two bridges where you could sort-of bungee-swing between (without the bungee).

Going....

...going...

...gone...

I had the company of this butterfly, riding on my hand for about 2km: The road eventually opened out onto a fantastic view of the Amazon in the distance:

However there was definitately more uphill than the guide book suggested and I was exhausted by the end. But I just stuck the bike on the roof of a bus and headed back to Banios. It took 7 hours by bike and only 1 h, 20mins back by bus!

I´ve moved on and am now in a town called Riobamba. Unfortunately, all the ash from the volcano has been blown hear. The streets, the cars, my eyes, mouth, clothes.. everything is covered in a fine layer of black ash. I´m glad I´m not staying here for long. I´m getting a train out in the morning. I have some great market photos, but they´ll have to wait as Ive a dinner date (with a girl!)I have to keep now.

xxx R

2008-01-24T16:31:00.000Z

The guide book said:
Bumping along the spectular dirt roads of the Quilotoa Loop and hiking between the area´s Andean villages is one of Ecuadors most exhilarating adventures. Transportation is tricky but the rewards are abundant: highland markets, the breathtaking crater lake of Laguna Quilotoa, splendid hikes and traditional highland villages.

I say that Guatamala got a big Ronan O Gara boot and is kicked off my top spot by Ecuador. This country is beautiful, the people are beautiful, the food is... ok. I spent the last few days high up in the Andes. I met an Australian couple, Carol and Anthony, on the bus there and we spent the time together. We stayed in a cozy place called Mama Hilda´s:
This is my cozy room and my cozy bed. Its not just any bed... That bed is the 40th bed I slept in since I started my trip!!

Breakfast at Mama Hilda´s:

The view from my room:

Carol and Anthony relaxing after a days hike:

The village, Chugchilan, that we we staying in is tiny. Its very rural but has a wonderful feel of community about it.
The shop. knitting Al Paca gloves:

The girls going to school, each bringing a stick for the fire:

The street stall, spuds and... something??? :

The first day, We rented horses and went up even higher into the clouds (spot the Al Paca saddle):

The second day we got a bus to the next village and hiked back across country. The bus left at 5 in the morning and was heading to market. The whole length of the bus aisle was stacked shoulder high with produce, mainly sacks of pototoes, but there was a puppy in the box beside me!. We got off before the market and so had to climb over everything in the meter high space that was left. Adventure!

The hike was a great experience, a really good chance to meet local people and walk through the farm lands. We didn´t have a guide, just asked the farmers along the way, only they didn´t speak Spanish but the local Quichua! I would loved to have taking lots of photos of the locals, especially the women in their traditional dress, but they don´t like photos, and those that do demand money!
The Laguna Quilotoa:

Along the way:

More locals:

That night we had a treat back at Mama Hilda´s. Some little girls came and danced for us. They had us join in at one point . We got so out of breath trying to keep up with them. The sploggie spots in the photos are dropplets of cloud: Unfortunitly, I had an accidident. It´s a bit disasterous actually. My spork broke! It feed me so well up till now. I´m sad to see it go: I´ve moved on again and am now in Banios. I plan to go mountain biking tommorow and maybe checkout a volcano if its not erupting too much. Report I got from internet on it...

On 1 January, ash emissions were continuous and incandescent blocks rolled down the flanks. Roaring noises and "cannon shots" were heard, and the ground and windows vibrated in areas to the NNE and NNW. On 3 January, the seismic network recorded a high number of explosions. Some explosions caused acoustic waves similar to "cannon shots" that vibrated windows in areas to the W and NW. These explosions ejected incandescent blocks from the summit crater that rolled 500 m down the flanks. On 4 January, "cannon shots" were again noted as far as 13 km away; this caused large windows to vibrate in areas to the W and glass to break in Puñapí. Explosions vibrated the ground in one town and generated ash plumes that rose to an altitude less that 6 km (19,700 ft) a.s.l. During 5-8 January, roaring noises and "cannon shots" continued; windows and floors vibrated as far as the Tungurahua Observatory (OVT) in Guadalupe, about
13 km NW, on 6 January. According to news articles, nearly 1,000 people were evacuated on 6 January to spend the night in evacuation shelters. They were allowed to return to their villages in the daytime to tend to homes, crops, and animals.

Simon got to upload some photos of his trip too (low res. will be faster to load). Simon s photos link

My map updated xxx r

2008-01-20T16:44:00.000Z

I don´t think I could possibly do the Amazonian Rain forest any justice with my words. It was another world. Very hot and very wet. No electricity. Washing in the rivers. Once there, all travel was done by boat on the complex network of rivers. We visited local communities, went on night hikes, fished, cooked.... and sweated lots. I took so many photos but it´s hard to take good ones in the dark forest floors, and I didn´t want to take the camera out when it was raining. But here are a few:

Our jungle retreat:

Our local boat driver, Jose:

Our guide, Hiaro:

Me on the equator:

Our group at a big tree, from left- Caroline & Nadia (from Switzerland), me, and Lykee and Anes ( from Denmark):

Lykee and Anes negotiating the swamp:

More Jungle:

The Shamen:Sunset.... Sunrise.... Fungi: Creepy crawlies:

Tarantula:

Anaconda:

Leaf frog:

Piranha fishing: Baby Wooly Monkey (that was confiscated from people in the city, and which the reserve was nursing):
Stories at night: I have no photos of the animals and birds that live in the canopy. But I might be getting a copy of Lykee´s and Anes´s tonight, so maybe more to come.

Oh, and if you only had a Spanish spell check to work with, you´d have spelling mistakes too!

xx r

2008-01-14T22:31:00.000Z

I´m back again. The internet here is so cheep, and I´ll be away from it tonight for about a week... and I have 6 hours to kill before my bus into the jungle. So I only have one day to fill you in on, but what a day. I took a TeleferiQo (cable car) up 2.5km to get a view of Quito city. On the way up I met another solo traveler called Darren, from Minnesota (I think, sorry Darren!). Unfortunately the weather was really bad and we couldn´t see a thing:The TeleferiQo brings you to 4100m and from there you can climb up to the summit of Volcan Rucu Picincha. As the weather was pretty bad, we didn´t know if we should do it but we spotted three other hikers who knew the hike who told us it would be ok to try, but gave us hints about turning back if needed. So off we went. After an hour, I was already higher than the Volcanoe in Guatamala. What I loved and found surprising was the diversity of flora and fauna that was so high. Birds and butterflies and rabbits.
Unfortunately the weather got worse, from low visability cloud cover to heavy very low visibility rain: And then I started to feel the effects of the altitude. I got dizzy and later nauseous. Darren climbed on a little bit and encouraged me that we were close to the summit. I followed really slowly and finally made it to 4680m. Woohoo. At that point we were really glad to turn back and try and get out of the rain.

As soon as we headed back down, I started to feel better, the clouds cleared and we got our view of Quito
See the difference from the first photo: Thanks to Darren for his company and encouragement at the top. (photo in cable car on way back down): xxx r

2008-01-13T22:47:00.000Z

Two big things happened in the last few days. One; I flew to South America!!

I arrived safe and sound in Quito in Equador on Friday. My bag made it on and off the plane too: And Two, Simon is back from Madagascar so we´ve talked lots and lots.... and lots. I´ll put up a link to all his amazing photos of his trip, when he gets the chance to upload them. Right honey?!

The first evening in Quito, I went exploring and came accross Finn Mc Cools!. It was funny to see, and very strange to hear the Irish accents of the people who work there. I had a plate of chips, propper chunky chips, with propper vinagar. mmmmm The toilets in Central and South America aren´t the best plumbed and you can´t put any paper down them. There are always signs in the toilets reminding tourists of this but the best was the one in Finn´s:

Im staying in a fun., lively youth hostel called Centro del Mundo (centre of the world). (Quito is pretty much on the equator) I guess to get everyone mingling, on weekends, they supply 12 litres of rum and coke... free:

On Saturday, I crawled out of bed and went into the old historical part of town. I got a great, but scary view of the city from the Basilica´s bell tower. It was really interesting climbing through and up onto the roof:

And here is one for Mam, the basilica had a really interesting cript underneath. Hundreds and hundres of these chambers that coffins a slid into:Today, I went on a train adventure! I was supposed to get an oldfashioned open top train, but it had broken down, and from the look of the grass growing around it, it wasn´t getting fixed anytime soon:

In the same station, there was a train that looked like ´MTV Pimp My Ride´ had gotten to it:

I had to settle for something inbetween. Here´s a photo of me in my new Al Paca jumper, on the train:

The train was full of Quitoians, going on a Sunday family trip, and it brought us to a forest park. I went off and had a nice walk, but got very wet.

I ended up sitting under cover, chatting to three very nice locals, in my broken Spanish.

Not much else to report. I´m planning a trip into the Amazon Jungle... THE AMOZON... which I´m looking forward to. So will probably be away from the internet for a while... then again you never know.. xx r

Map updated

2008-01-11T01:27:00.000Z

Jeans anyone?

I spent a wonderfull few days up in the cloud forests in Costa Rica. In an area called MonteVerde. They are not quite rain forests but as the name suggests are still pretty damp places. You could explore the canopies across suspension bridges.

You could also Zip-Line through them at high speed. I´m waiting on a fellow traveller to e-mail me a photo of me in action, but often the promises of e-mails don´t come through.

Each of the countries I´ve been in have had their own unique pull and resounding feature and Costa Rica for me, has been it´s fauna. So much wildlife. On a walk at night, I got to see these little critters. Sorry the photos are a little blurry, but I´m not so good at night shots:

This is either a Blue Jeans Frog or a Poisonous Dart Frog. I don´t know which because we couldn´t see if it was wearing jeans. But it is tiny, about 2cm small:

I don´t know what this one is, at all:

Also in the cloud forests, there are lots of vines, like you´d see Tarzen swinging from. The Fig Strangling Vine grows up and down and up and down the length of a tree, wrapping itself around the trunk till it strangles the origional tree, which dies and decomposes, leaving just the ring of vines. Also making it a fun natural ladder to climb:

After MonteVerde, I moved on to a big town called Alajuala, out side the capital San Jose. Today i wnet to see yet another volcanoe. The crator was filled with rain water and sulfur gasses. Unfortunitly, for safety reasons, we weren´t allowed get too closs. If it was Guatamala I could have probably swam in the highly acidic water?!. It was a beautiful sight, but smelt very strungly of rotten eggs (sulfer).

One of the crator:

And one of me (taken by me):

That brings me to the end of my Central American trip. It has just been fantastic. I loved each country. None of them need to be avoided. The people, both travelers and locals have been so open and welcoming. I´m flying to Equador tommorow. Woohoo, roll on South America.....

2008-01-06T15:31:00.001Z

Bananas anyone?Ok, so what have I been up to. Well I celebrated New Year´s in Granada with a big bunch of people from the hostel. We all had dinner in the hostel and then went out into the central park and main street. It was funny thinking that you guys had already counted it in hours before me. I also met up with Natalie, the photo is dark but I didn´t really take any other photos that night, well none to put up here!On New Year´s Day, Brenda and myself walked down to the lake front. Granada is on Laco Nicaragua which is the largest lake in Central America. It´s also the only body of fresh water in the world that has sharks, which migrate up a river from the Caribbean. Well that day, we saw hundreds of Nica families enjoying a day out. It was the first time on the trip that I saw families really enjoying themselves.There was also lots of really good street food, I don´t know what these are called, but they are some type of mazie tortilla filled with a salty cheese and they are really good:The next day I went up to a crator lake called Laguna de Apoyo, near Granada. It was beautiful up there and a great place to relax and read a book. It is famous for it´s crystal clear waters, however when I was there it was really windy and the water was cloudy. But still good fun to swim in ( thanks Ramage for the suggestion):After that, I headed down to the pacific coast to San Juan del Sur. This is a big surfer hangout and there was a real feel of Newquay in Cornwall.But then comes another highlight of the trip. I didn´t know about it when I decided to go to San Juan, but there was an annual sea turtle landing going on for a few nights. So a lady came to the hostel and gave us a presentation and slideshow, telling us all about the turtles in Nicaragua and about the Olive Ridley turtles which we would see. She told us how to make as little impact as possible and how to observe them but let them do their thing in peace. We were only allowed use red lights and never take a photo with a flash around the head (eyes) of the turtles. So off we went on the back of a flat bed truck, for an hour along a durt road to the protected beach of La Flor. Armed rangers patrol the area stopping egg poachers stealing the turtles eggs, which would earn them a very high price on the market. We first got the chance to release some babies into the sea. The rangers collect any turtles that hatch during the day and let them go at night. They would just be eaten by birds if they tried to make it to the water in the daytime. The best quote of the evening was " lets go liberate the babies!"Then we saw hundreds of turtles land on the beach and slowly make their way up the sand to dig a hole and lay their eggs. Each one lays about 100 eggs, but only 1 egg in 1000 makes it to adulthood. As we were watching, a big group of loud people came onto the beach with really bright white lights and started touching turtles and digging at their holes to get a better look at the eggs. They were doing everything we were told not to do. We were then told by one ranger to let them do what they wanted because it was the Minister for the Environment on a publicity tour, making a film to go out on the news. Ironic eh? Anyway, it was really a magical experience. We were told the next day that 4,300 turtles arrived that night to lay their eggs.I was going to spend the next dat exploring the beaches and coastline, but it was really stormy weather and I didn´t fancy being sand blasted, so I decided to move on. Well it turned out to be the first and only stressful day of my trip so far. I took two buses to the border and then spent nearly 3 hours crossing into Costa Rica. You had to queue for a ticket, then queue for it to be stamped, then queue for a gate to another ticket line and on and on and on.... there were so many imigrants trying to get into Costa Rica, thousands of people waiting in line and little old me in the middle. Well I got through and then took a bus to my next stop, only it turned out the bus wasn´t going that far, so I got another bus to somewhere else to try and get a connection to where I wanted to go, only the buses in my guide book didn´t exist. So I chose another place, but didn´t get there either. I finally got to a kinda nice place called Tilaran.By this time it was really blowing a storm, which added to my dispearing mood. Nothing really bad happened, I guess I had it so easy till now that it seemed stressful. I knew it was going to be a bad day when I got on the first bus and realised I left my shorts in the hostel, thats 20% of my clothes gone! Oh well, I guess I´ll have to go shopping!!!

Next morning I got to La Fortuna and the very first thing I saw when I entered the town was a row of kayaks... with my wavesport EZG, so all was good again. A good omen! I settled in, had a nice skype chat with my friend Sara and went off to see some wildlife. I wasn´t dissapointed. I saw lots, more than the last two months put together. Must of it was up in the canopy and my little camera didn´t capture it very well. Along with howler and white faced monkeys, I saw a Sloth:Lots of Tucans:And this little dude called a White Nose Coate:
That evening I went to some hot springs. The area is very volcanically active and many of the rivers and streams are as hot as your bath.Well that brings me up to date. Highs and Lows in the last few days. Thanks to Mickle and Sara for their messages and thanks to all who tried to contact me. I don´t have a mobile so best way to reach me is through email.

roz.leahy @ gmail.com (no spaces)

I might go have a closer look at that EZG.. xxx R

2008-01-05T00:05:00.000Z

I have been unsure whether to post anything up on by blog about the news I received from a friend a few days ago but I feel I´m far from home and my blog is a nice connection with my friends and family. Dee, a friend and fantastic member of UCD Canoe Club died on a paddling trip in Co. Kerry over the New Year period. I know all involved in the trip did their best, and I´d paddling with them in a heart beat. I hear you guys gave her a good send off too. I wish I could have been home to share my condolences. I can´t believe my last weekend in Ireland, my last party with my friends, just before I flew to Central America, I was at Dee´s 21st. If I could be so bold as to quote the UCD captain, Mark,

"Dee's untimely death came as a great shock to all of us. UCD Canoe Club meant an awful lot to Dee, and Dee meant an awful lot to the club. To seperate Dee and what I consider to be the core ethos of the club is impossible. This club is about having fun. It's about having fun through paddling, partying and forging friendships. Dee was an enthusiastic and talented paddler, and a great person to go boating with. She was always up for a night out and never far from the fun. She has left an indellible mark on the club. Our sympathies are with Dee's Family."

Easkey:

Uganda:

2007-12-31T03:11:00.000Z

Hello all, hope everyone had a good Christmas. I hope this internet is fast enought to upload photos but I´m going to keep typing anyway. So Christmas Day started with myself and Jess going to a church surface. We thought it´d be nice to experience the local celebration, and it was really nice, a sence of community, with kids singing and readings from the gospel in the Carribean acent. Then we got some kayaks, and paddled out to the coral reef, moored up and went snorkling, then paddled over to a palm tree lined beach and lay there for a while. All that built up an appitite, so we had our Christmas dinner from a BBQ. I don´t have many photos from Utila because I spend most of my time underwater, in a classroom, or sleeping. But here (hopefully) are a few...

Well it certainlly felt Christmasy......and you can forget Santa, even if he is in shorts, in a hamock, between coconut trees:

Me, on the boat, just about to dive:

Jen, my dive buddy for Open Water, (sorry the photo is so bright, it was just too sunny :-)

Fabian, my dive buddy for Advanced:

Sunset, coming home on the boat after a day´s diving:

A hibiscus flower (I think). I love my camera!!!:

Dinner:

Polly, the dive school parrot, trying to eat my camera:

I really enjoyed the diving, so much, that I stayed longer than intended and got my Advanced Open Water PADI qualification. I hope to use it again before the trip has ended. On my PADI card I´ll be wearing a Santa hat as I got my first qualification on Christmas Eve.

After all that, I got a notion to spend New Year´s Eve in a more populated location and chose Granada in Nicuragua. So on the 28th, I packed my bags, hopped on the boat, then bus and met a fellow traveller heading the same way. Brenda, from Canada, kept me company on the very long journey, and it was great to have her in the not so nice capital of Honduras, Tegucigalpa. The trip wasn´t made any shorter by one of the bus tires blowing up!

But here I am, in beautiful Granada, siting in an internet cafe with a good connection, on New Year´s Eve. My self and Brenda bought a small bottle of Baileys at the border and will share it later before seeing how Granada will ring in the new year???? I have no plans where to go after this but I think I´ll spend a little time in Granada and the surrounding area.

Oh, and I met Natalie today, in a market in a town called Masaya. She was the girl I spent my very first few days with in Mexico city. We just literally bumped into her.. Great! That market:

Well, til next time, Happy New Year to all.

Map updated

2007-12-24T01:58:00.000Z

Well hello again. FORTH COUNTRY!!!! woohooo. And I´m using my border crossing skills to help others now! If they don´t give you a receipt, don´t give them money, the officals just but it straight into their pockets. I learnt that in Mexico, but saw a bunch of people fall for it here. So I crossed over into Honduras on the 19th and stayed in a town just beside the border called Copan. It was a pretty cobbled town and a good jumping off point for the country. The country immediately had a more Carribian feel to it, with relaxed, slow moving people.... and lots more mosquitos! I thought I´d left it all behind in Mexico but I stopped off at the Copan Mayan Ruins , the furthest southerly Mayan ruins, which are famous for their carvings, and very detailed they are two.

Photo

photo

Then I spent a long day travelling across the country, past acres of banana and pinapple plantations, to the coast to a town called Le Ceiba, from where I got a ferry to Utila, where I am now! I´m settled down here for Christmas, don´t know what I´ll eat yet, but I met a American girl called Jess who will keep me company.

photo

It´s a great place. And the best bit, is the reason I came... the diving! I´m learning to dive and loving it!!! Fantastic tropical waters, coral, fish, pirates wrecks, turtles.... the list goes on.

photo

photo

I had a little early Christmas present yeaterday as I got to talk to my Simon for the first time since my trip began. Unfortunately, I´m just realising as I´m writting this that the internet is too slow to upload the photos. I guess that´s what you get on an island miles in the middle of the Caribbian. Well they´re beautiful, and I´ll get them up at some point, but I´m goin to be here for a while yet, so don´t hold your breath! (like in diving!)

Happy Christmas to everyone, send me an e-mail, tell me some news, thanks for all who have. Will miss everyone over the next few days. xxxx r

2007-12-17T21:10:00.000Z

Here is a photo of my host family that I lived with for 10 days in Xela. From the left, Pilar (plus 5 month old bump), Jose and Diego (age 2). They were so patient with my limited Spanish, Pilar cooked the best Guatamalian food and Diego is a dote.Now, I am tired!. Ive just finished a three day hike from Xela to Laco de Atitlan. I went with the group Quetzeltrekkers again. They sure know how to organise a good trip. The three days brought us through varied landscapes and lots of agricultural land. The guides were great at filling us in on random pieces of infornation. I loved all the plants, lots of which were wild herbs and flowers I recognised from The Eden Project in Cornwall. Walking through an area with Alaska Grass. It grows at the same altitude all the way from Alaska to Tiera Del Fuego in Argentia:

No one complained about the weight of their backpacs after this man jogged past:

A village with corn (maize) fields...There was amazing plants but very little fauna. During the civil war, only a few years ago, the government were killing the indigenous populaton, which had to hide in the mountains. The government then burnt all their corn fields, so they had to move deeper into the highlands and relied on eating any and all the animals they could catch. As a result, Guatamalan´s fauna has been drastically depleted. But I did see the caterpillar...We slept in some very strange places. The first night was in a dis-used building complex in Santa Catorina. The town is very rural, with only one white person living there. The building felt like something you see in films like Terminator, or Man of War, when society has crumbled and people are hiding out in abandoned places. We had a really unique experience in this town. We went to a Temescal (not sure of the spelling) but it´s a very small hut that fits 4 people sitting down and is basically a type of sauna. The locals use it to wash in and sometimes prepare bodies for burial. Inside it, there´s a fire with hot stones on top. Its really smokey andvery hot. You wash yourself by mixing water from a boiling hot bucket and a freezing cold bucket and throwing it over your head and body. Kinda hard to explain what it was like and I´ve no photos either. The photo is taken as the guides are waking us up at the crack of dawn... Yawn... The second night was in Santa Clara in Don Pedro´s house. I well off man by Guatamalan standards. We had a great night around the fire, drinking, singing and telling stories. In the photo you can see one of the guides, Mark and a boy called Henry. Henry lives in the home that Quetzaltrekkers supports. He ran away from his parents/grandparents for reasons no child should have to, and he lived on the street until the home was opened up. This was his 25th time on the trek. He was great entertainment.

On the third day we got up rediculously early again and climed another hill and watched the sun rise over the lake. Another beautiful sight.

Here´s one for Dad. This is a pic of Christan, from Dunquin, Co. Kerry.

The homeward stretch. We headed for the town below..

Nothing like a game of frizby in the lake to cool down after the hike...A bus picked up the group and drove them back to Xela, but a few of us stayed on in San Pedro. They are really great people and I had a fantastic time with them. From left to right.. Me, Amir (Israel), Sonja (Germany), Ido (Israel), Michael (Sydney), Magali (France) and Gil (Israel).I´m back in Antigua for tonight and am heading to my forth country tomorrow.

2007-12-15T00:34:00.000Z

Hi all, well I´ve reached the end of my stay in Xela. I wish I had more time to learn some Spanish and I really wish I had mor time to spend teaching the children, but at the same time I´m excited about moving on and seeing more. I took the camera to school today, so here´s a few photos...

My Spanish teacher Lily and me...

The school yard...

My fellow teacher Monica (from Norway) teaching the class Santa Claus is coming to town...

The 5th graders....

The 2nd graders...

The girls at break time...

Also my bedroom...

And the street stalls I pass on the way to school...

I´m going to hopefully take some photos of my Guatamalian family at dinner tonight. I´m leaving tomorrow early on another hike. I´ve hooked back up with Quetzaltrekkers and am going to hike to Laco de Atitlan (where I was a few weeks ago) over the next three days!!!

2007-12-10T18:52:00.000Z

hello all. I haven´t written in a few days, I've been pretty busy with Spanish in the mornings, homework, teaching in the afternoons and preparing those classes. It's been a real eye opener being here and living within a community rather then in a hostel. It can be hard to take sometims as you come face to face with more poverty and harsh reality then you would as just a tourist. I've learnt about the coffee exploitation, the mistreatment of the indigenous population, how 40,000 Guatamalian men have dissappeared and the government won't investigate, the corruption in the police... it just goes on and on. It is such a beautiful country, but hard on the people living in it!

Anyway, Last Friday, all the international students/teachers cooked a lunch. Everyone was asked to cook something from their home country, so I therefore cooked some spuds! (with cream and garlic) The meal was fantastic and great fun to cook. (there´s a kitchen at the school)No photos of the children or my host family yet as I thought I´d get to know them a bit more before whipping out the camera. But I did take a pic of the street dogs and a random moth...And one of the classrooms on the roof of the school (space is a problem)...The view from the roof... The road to the school... As you can see, Xela is a pretty dusty, place!Well, this weekend was the highlight of the trip so far. I have the weekends free from school so I looked up an organisation called Quetzaltrekers and went on a hike! Quetzaltrekers are a non profit group, who run a school and a home for street children. The guides volunteer for three months and all the equipment is donated. So the money I pay covers my bus and food, all the rest goes to the children. Their website can probably explain it better: http://www.quetzaltrekkers.com/guathome.html
Anyway, on Saturday morning at 4.45am we met and got a pick up truck, then a very busy chicken bus to the foot of the volcanoe Tajumulco. We started climing at 9.00am and at 3000 metres. After two minutes I was really out of breath and started to wonder if I'd be able for the hike. Carrying a rucsac full of group food, camping gear and my own gear didn't help.Hungry cow on way upWell, I made it to 4000 metres where we set up camp for the night. We climbed to a small peak to watch the sun set. What a view! That night was COLD. I just about managed to sleep in my thermal long johns, trousers, thermal vest, tshirt, three fleeces, hat, and two sleeping bags, in a tent with the bodyheat of 6 people! It gets cold at 3000 m at night! Cold.

So the guides woke us at 4.00am, and we climbed the last 220 metres to the top. And I saw the sun rise from the highest point in Central America (4220m). It rose from behind a chain of volcanoes, while one of them was erupting. It was the most amazing thing I have seen in my 26 years. The photos will never capture the experience, but here's some anyway..

Waiting for sunrise on the top.. coldSunrise..Close up of the eruption..The volcanoe's shadow..Waterfall of clouds (I learnt it was a katabatic movement of air)..Well, back to base camp, I love that I had a base camp, for breakfast, then the decent on very high spirits.
The walk home from the bus...I can't leave it there without mentioning one particular member of our group. Murray, from England, is cycling between the highest points in North, Central, and South America, and climbing each when he reaches them. He is doing it to raise money for cancer charities as he lost family members and friends to the disease. The night before the hike, the guides (over a few beers no doubt) convinced him he would be able to bring his bike to the top. Well he did. I want you all to know, it was not an easy hike, and to manage to carry a bike up took a lot. Big up to Murray!!! Check out his progress at http://www.peaktopeak.co.uk/ and donate if you can.

At the top at sunrise...

On way back down... Well, I detter go do my homework. Photos of my host family and school to come.
xxx Roz

P.s. why aren't my links working???

2007-12-05T23:16:00.000Z

A friendly cat!

So I stayed a night in San Pedro on Laco de Atitlan. A really big eruption happened about 80,000 years ago and blasted enought earth away to form a hollow which is now filled with water 300m deep and 128km sq! That´s a big blast! Well it created something beautiful. The local girls with banana leaves:In San Pedro, everywhere you look, or more like peek in through fences, the coffee process is going on. I found if I stared long enough, someone would come over and show me the beans and explain what they were doing, even though I don´t understand their Spanish!

I moved on from there already. I´ve been travelling by Chicken Buses. And sometimes there really are chickens on board. They are old USA school buses and are decorated extravigantly.

Unfortunitly, the roads in Guatamala aren´t so nice. Every road seems to be under construction and it looks like there isn´t much planning involved. They dig into a cliff, create a mess, the road gets covered by a land slide and the bus waits up to 2 hours till the road is cleared enough for traffic to pass, only to happen all over again a few miles on.

But no mater where you get held up, miles from a town, there are always wemon and small children selling anything and everything you can imagine, from fried chicken to clotheslines.

Now I´m in a place called Quetzaltenango. Everyone in Guatmala calles it Xela, pronunced Shella, which is a lot easier. I´ve enrolled in a Spanish school and am staying with a host mother. I have 4 hours of Spanish in the mornings, followed by two hours where I teach little Guatamalian children English. There are other organised social events. I´m going to stay a week, then maybe more? Three meals, my own room, hot shower (I haven´t had many of those so far) one on one Spanish tuition and the rest, all for 10 pounds a day! It´ll be scary at first, but hopefully worthwhile. Here´s the website for the school: http://www.languageselnahual.com/

More to come. xx R

2007-12-05T16:41:00.000Z

Congratulations to Kevin and Louise on the birth of Georgie Rose ( 7lb 5oz) on December 3rd. Wow, Simon has a wee sister to come home to!

2007-12-02T18:31:00.000Z

My brother, Pat, made a map of my travels so far, which was very nice of him. Click to see map. I´m in Antigua, in a fantastic hostel. Last night we had an all you can eat BBQ followed by lots of silly party games, like musical chairs. There are also some Dutch kayakers here that I met at the Big Boat Bananza in Wicklow two years ago! Small world eh! Antigua itself is a Colonial town surrounded by volcanoes. There is a picture postcard photo opportunity around every corner. It´s full of tourists and people taking Spanish classes, but it´s nice to be in a town that feels safe to walk around. It also experiences earthquakes, which have destroyed the town a few times in the past, leaving lots of ruined buildings. Walking around today, I stumbled into a parade. I don´t know what it was for, but it had a Christmas theme and lots of cartoon characters. Then, the best bit. I climbed an active volcanoe! Pacaya spews moltan lava from it´s crator every now and again, but most of the time, is just ozes lava from cracks on it´s sides. The views on the climb up of the surrounding volcanoes were stunning, heres one called Agua:

And being Central America with no such thing as public liability, you can get as close as you want to the 2000 degree lava! It was really brittle underfoot and if you fell, the cool lava was razor sharp!

I went up in the evening and caught the sunset. Then Pacaya looked amazing as the darkness highlighted all the activity. Beautiful. And it was hot, really hot. You cloud feel your skin turn pink if you got too close. I came home with a really fine layer of ash covering me.

Then of course we had to climb back down in the dark which was an interesting experience! Well, I slept well that night. So now I´m off to Lago De Atitlan in a few hours for some more natural beautiful.

Have you been keeping an eye on Simon´s progress?? http://kayakmadagascar.blogspot.com/ xxx R

2007-12-01T01:00:00.000Z

Guatamala is incredibly beautiful. I travelled south from Flores to a city called Coban. At one point we had to drive onto a ferry to cross a river. Washing clothes on the same river:

There I met a Swiss girl, Cindy, and a French Canadian guy, Alex, and we got a mini bus to a place called Lanquin. Then the road ran out so we got a 4 wheel drive pick up, which we had to stand in the back, to a place called Semuc Champey.

The scenery we saw was stunning. Huge mountains up into the clouds, tiny rural villages, coffee and cardamin plantations. Its funny how you always imagine a plant growing differently. I didnt think coffee grew so high up and on such steep slopes, on such poor rocky soil.

Coffee plantation taken from a very shakey bus:

So after all that travelling, we stayed in a place which only had electricity from 6.00pm to 10.00pm. The next day myself and Alex and two others got a guide to bring us through a cave system. It was a very strange experience swimming... yes swimming.. for two hours holding a candle... yes candle... through the pitch dark. No photos Im afraid. It was hard enough to keep the candle dry. I did google and found a photo on someone elses blog:

After that, I went to see a really interesting and unique feature of nature. A raging river flows underground, under a natural limestone bridge. On the top of the bridge there are beautiful pools of water, all different shades of blue and green. Maybe the diagram will help explain:

River entering underground where Im standing:

Pools on the top:

Now, Im back in Coban city for the night. But not before we had to wait on the road for an hour while a buldozer tried to help a truck get unstuck.

The last 24 hours were the most rural and off the beaten tourist trail Ive been on and it was fantastic. The photos only touch the surface of what it was like.

Me, Cindy, German guy and Alex in Coban, back to civilisation:

Any news from Ireland... England?? xxx roz

2007-11-29T01:51:00.000Z

So I spent a night on Caye Cauker and had the lobster. Its really good there and really cheep. I think my chef might like them a bit too much.I went to bed well fed, then up the next morning to travel across Belise to a lovely town called San Ignacio. I spent two nights and a day there and it rained the whole time. Really heavy rain.

The first evening I saw a lone backpacker wandering around the town looking at her Lonely Planet Guide Book a little confused. I asked her if she was looking for somewhere to stay as my place had space. Anyway her name is Dolores from Ireland and we ending up spending a really fun few days together. We went on a tour through Mennonite country, accross a huge orchard ranch to get to a river called Barton Creek, where we paddled our own canoes up stream to a cave 8 miles deep. We paddled into it for about an hour to as far as we could go and saw breath taking limestone cave formations. Myself and Dolores got a little edgey when our canoe started leaking and we thought our tourch might stop working. But after a quick bale, all was good.

It was still raining at that point, so if I was going to get wet, I thought I would go for the whole plunge.

Then today I crossed my second border into Guatamata, where it stilled rained. All this rain really didnt help the unpaved road which we had to travel along from the border.

We arrived in Flores and got a fantasticly tiny Tuc Tuc, with another traveller we met at the border. We manager to cram three people, three day bags and three large rucsacs into it and get to our hoster in beautiful Flores.

Me, Dolores and Rob in Tuc Tuc

TucTucs

So that brings me upto date. Im heading off south tomorrow. not sure how far yet. Ill keep you all posted. Ill leave you with the two parrots who sleep in my hostel.

love Roz

2007-11-25T22:47:00.000Z

Well, I've crossed my first border and am in beautiful Belize. If I could use one word to sum up Mexico it would be diversity. If I could use one word to sum up Belise so far it's 'people'. They are fantastic. Everywhere you go, they are open and friendly. They all say hi and ask about your story, and not like in the Mexican way where you feel they're either trying to sell you something or are trying to chat up a tourist. Here they really love to talk! I arrived into Corozal and spent the night in a family run guesthouse. You'd get the impression that you were the only guest from the amount of time and help the owner gives you. I wandered around a market here where you can buy fruit and Guinness!

Then I headed down to Orange Walk and had my first beans&rice meal (but certainly not my last). It was interesting to be in a place with so few tourists. There are a group of people called the Mennonites who are a christian group. The moved into Belise on condition that they could follow their own rules, not vote or pay taxes and supply Belise with crops. They are 3% of the population and supply 60% of all the food eaten. They dress very conservatively. They only marry within their communities, use basic farming equipment and don't use electricity.

From Orange Walk I took a trip along the very meandering New River to the ruins of Lamanai. The ruins had a fantastic 360 degree view of the jungle canopy.

We saw some crocs too, and my first Tucan.

I met some Americans there who were in Belise on a house building program. I got a lift in a CAR, not a bus!!! to Belise City, where they dropped my off at the door of a guest house. I've was very grateful as any Central American City isn't a place you wanna be walking around after dark (or at all). Here, I sat with an old Belisan man who proceed to tell me all about his long and varied life and that of the lives of his 27 children.

From there I took a water taxi to an island called Caye Caulker. That's where I'm at now. It's a beautiful Carribean island with a full coast line of coral reef. I went snorkling today and saw hundreds of Manta rays, some Conger eels, baracudas, and many beautiful other fish.

This photo was taken at a place called 'The Split' The last hurrican that blew here split the island in two. I'm staning on one part and you can see the trees on the other.

I'm heading towards the Guatamalian border tommorrow. I'd love to stay longer in Belise but it's too expensive for my tiny budget. More to come.

2007-11-21T23:22:00.000Z

Well today I swam in the Carribean Sea, and only a few days ago it was the Pacific Ocean... not a bad life eh! I´m in a small place called Tulum south of Cancun. I saw some more Mayan ruins. These are really small and not that interesting, except for their amazing setting right on top of some cliffs on the Carribean. (you can see rain clouds comming in)

I spent the day on the beach and went to the ruins in the afternoon. I´ve been with a girl from Switzerland for the last day or so. We are sharing a beautiful Cabana right on the beach. It has blown my daily budget but you have to have some comforts now and again.

It was scorching during the day but we´re in the town now because it started to rain. One of those wet to the bone rains, which is hard to escape from went you live in a house with palm tree roof on the beach. Black thunder sky!

I´m off to Belise tomorrow. I´m nervous about leaving Mexico behind and heading into the less travelled Central America. And just a random photo of the last hostel in Merida, taken against a mirror wall!

2007-11-19T20:58:00.002Z

oh.. P.S. toe is much better, thanks for all the e/mails wishing it better xxx r

2007-11-16T23:15:00.000Z

Hello again. After the Mayan villages, I visited a canyon about an hour south of San Cristobal. It is constantly surprising me of the different climates in Mexico. In the canyon, it was very dry and hot. In San Cristobal, it is freezing and very cloudy, as we are so high up, I guess we are in the clouds! The pacific coast I was on a few days ago had scorching weather all day and night, with no breeze, ever! I've just left the jungle where it was incredably humid and sweaty sticky. Well, I'm certainly getting through what few clothes I brought with me. Anyway, back to the canyon.... I saw lots and lots of wild life and the guide was good at telling us all about it. We saw pelicans, vultures, engrets and best of all, crocodiles!!!! Fantastic. I spent that day with an Isralie girl and an guy called Geof from Zimbabway. Myself and Geof then headed off the next day into the jungle of Palenque, visiting some beautiful waterfalls on the way. Palanque is home to some fantastic Mayan ruins. I had only seen Aztec pyrimids up until now. I have to keep reminding my self when I see the huge structures, that these were build without any metal tools, pack animals or the invention of the wheel. Just a lot of slaves! I think what made them so special was their jungle setting. You walk around the ruins and hear howler monkeys in the trees. I didn't see any but their howl is the most blood curdling, horror movie sound I've ever heard from nature!

That night I stayed in a Cabana in the middle of the jungle, in a compound called El Panchan outside Palenque, where the monkeys and bugs sang (and bit) me to sleep. The next day I went off by myself on a bit of an adventure through more jungle to see some hidden Mayan ruins. These took 3 hours to drive to, followed by a one hour boat journey on the Rio Usumacinta , which creates part of the Mexican/Guatamalian border.

The Yaxchilan ruins have not been restored and are visited by very few tourists. They have a little scary atmosphere as you really don't want to wander to far or else get lost in the jungle for days. You can clamber over and into these structures much more so than the other sites. Unfortunitly, there were no lights in the long dark passages ways, and the warning of snakes stopped me exploring too much. I did spot some bats near one of the entrances though.

And I watched a highway of leaf cutter ants for ages.

I also got a sight of the howler monkeys, who looked a lot smaller than I imagined them to be. They were very high up and the photos are blury.

Then on the way back I stopped off at one more set of Mayan ruins called Bonampak. These, in themselves, aren't too amazing compared to all I'd seen previously, but what puts them on the map is their increadibly well preserved murals covering three whole rooms, floor to celing. They are about 2700 years old! The photos is dark because you're not allowed use flash but I think it's worth putting up to get an idea of how well preserved they are. Well, I think that's enought ruins for a while!

After all that jungle, I sat on a bus for 12 hours during the night and made it to a city called Merida. The bus passed through the Tabasco region, which had the flooding. I didn't see anything as it was pitch black, but judging from the bumps on the road, there is a lot of mud and debris that needs clearing. I'm pretty tired today, so I've just wandered around the town. I've treated myself to a really big meal and am going to have a sesta now before the free salsa lessons tonight. I'm off to the Carribian coast tomorrow for some more relaxation.

2007-11-14T22:44:00.000Z

Well, Ive been travelling a bit since I wrote last, and I've been in places with no internet till now. I spent another day in Oaxaca visiting some Aztec ruins, called Mount Alban. They weren't as big as the ones outside Mexico City, but there was much more detail in the structures and carvings. It was also on the top of a central mountain so I got beautiful 360 degree view of the area. Then I headed of to the the pacific coast to a tiny place called Zipolite. It´s simply beautiful. I went on a snorkling trip along a coral reef. We saw turtles, dolphins and a manta ray!, and lots of beautiful tropical fish. It´s also really really hot here. Really Hot!

The first turtle I saw, he's not suposed to be upside down!

Sunrise

My accommodation, cabanas

Unfortunately, I learnt (the hard way) not to walk barefoot on Mexican beaches!

Then I took a night bus (12 hours) up to San Cristobal de las Casas. This is a town back up in the mountains, with a vast network of Mayan villages. There are around 1.25 million indigenous Mayans living in these valleys and today I took a tour up into two of the smaller villages. I'm glad I went with a guide as he was able and aloud to enter far more places than I would have been able to do alone. In the first village it was forbidden to take photos as the people really believe it takes away their souls. We visited a church where smalls groups of people were offering up their prayers, along with some chickens who met their maker right there in the church! It was really atmospherically lite with hundreds of candles. The second village saw the potential for some profit to be made out of tourists and so some families opened up their homes to be visited.

Now I'm washing my clothes, and planning the next few days. love r

2007-11-11T23:37:00.000Z

Hola,

I´m in Oaxaca, a lively large town with a large student population. I came here yesterday from a 5 hour beautiful bus journey accross the mountains. I was going to stay an extra day in Puebla to see some ruins but I was told that a roof which was covering some murals fell, and the bus driver didn´t think it was worth it, so I´m here a day earlier.

The hostel has little quirks like a coy pond, roof fountains and spinning coloured lights on most of the walls!

I visited a local Sunday Market, which was excellent. I wish I could put up more photos of it, but I´d be here all night if I did. It´s the type of market that you can buy your meat alive, dead or cooked. It was full of indigenous wemon dressed in brightly coloured clothes. I had a fun time buying a Mexican blanket, haggling with no Spanish with a man who had no English.

I then went to a museum housing lots of Aztec treasures, including an amazing scull covered in turquoise. The photo of it isn´t the best because it´s behind glass, and well, I wasn´t really supposed to be taking the photo in the first place! The muesum also had a beautiful garden full of Mexican plants.

Following the botanical them, I then hopped on a (bone rattler) bus to see a really really big tree! It´s a 636,107 ton cypress about 3000 years old. Cool eh!

That´s all for now.

2007-11-10T00:35:00.000Z

Hello again. Well I´ve moved on from Mexico City but I´m left with a wonderful impression. I´m not sure what I expected before I went there, but I was plesantly surprised. The Mexicans are incredibly friendly and helpful. The city centre is beautiful and very cosmopolitan. Every where you go, you´re surounded by music. There are much fewer tourists than I expected and it´s colder!!! But the traffic is as crazy as imagined. Crossing the street is a skilled art! I was also very surprised by one protest I walked into as I exited a muesum. Yesterday, I went to a idealic Spanish colonial town 3 hours south of Mexico City for the day. Taxco is tucked away into a hillside, with a maze of steep streets and markets. Today, I´m in Puebla, south east of Mexico City. It´s a city that really feels like Barcelona transplanted, full of colourful tiled buildings.

Today I also said goodbye to my first travelling buddy, Natalie. We met the first evening in the hostel and have kept eachother company for 4 days. Hopefully I´ll meet back up with her in Costa Rica. This is her surrounded by pots!Tomorrow I´m going to have a look at some more pyrimids, maybe with a Belgin couple who are staying in the same hostel. After that... follow the ´Gringo trail´south I guess. I might have to skip some sights due to the flooding in Tobasco. Every city, town and village I´ve been in and passed through are collecting emergency supplies,. Mexico City had a massive tent set up in the main square with food, water, medication, blankets and clothes. It was a bit shocking to see the 100 or so armed police and soldiers guarding it. I guess there are plenty of people in that city that would like to see that aid sent to them!! Anyway. More to come. Thanks for the comments, keep them comming. Sorry about the spelling. I´ll blame the clingfilm wrapped around the keyboard making it very difficult to see the keys.
Oh and check out my Simon´s progress in Madagascar here : Mad Exped

2007-11-07T13:20:00.000Z

Hi all,
well I´ve landed in Mexico City safe and sound. I´m going to keep this brief because it´s taking me some time to decifer the Spanish on the computer. I joined up with a girl from London and yesterday we went and had a look at some pyramids. Today we are going to walk around the old centre and have a look at some museums. Here are some photos of the teotihuacan pyramids. For more info on the pyramids, the click: teotihuacan

2007-08-23T20:25:00.000+01:00

Hi all,

I got a few more photos from the party we attended at Polzeath. Below is one where Simon set his camera on a 20 second shutter and shot me writing my name backwards with a party sparkler. Pretty cool eh?!

I helped out Sea Kayaking Cornwall one day recently on the water and led a group to our local caves and ship wreck around Maenporth Beach.

Yesterday I paddled around St. Michael's Mount (an icklier version of Mont Saint Michel, in France). It was a very ... very windy day, but a great chance to get out on the water.

... and a beautiful secluded cove for lunch!

For the last three weeks, I've had the company of two little girls, Abby and Beth. They've helped me build hundreds of sand-castles, eat many icecreams, and go on many kayaking adventures on the sand! Today was the last day of their holidays. Tomorrow the beach will seem empty without them.

... Abby kayaking with her Dad, Chris on Maenporth.

2007-08-13T14:35:00.001+01:00

Hello all,
Last week, the sun decided to shine in Cornwall, and brought along with it lots and lots of eager tourists wanting to paddle around on some lumps of plastic in the sea. It's been a really busy week. Before that, lots was happening with Simon and Jeff bringing a group from the Navy around the Cornish Coast on a wee (epic) adventure. I joined them when I could, and managed to get my canoe/kayak safety course done with them. Below are some photos from the last night of their trip, taken at the beautiful Blue Bar over-looking the beach where we camped, at Porthtowan.

An inquisitive seal at my boat at Newquay (which scared the be-jaysus out of me, I hope I don't meet a Basking shark):

You'll be able to see lots more beautiful photos from the Navy expedition on Sea Kayaking Cornwall's photo gallery. (check out their blog too)

My brother, James, also visited me, making him my first guest!!! He stopped by for a few days on his zig-zagged journey home to Ireland from Madrid. I got him out in a kayak for his first time (pity it wasn't on a river, I know!) which was great for me to see. He seem to really enjoy it too. James, myself and Simon stayed for a night up in Polzeath, (the Dalkey of Cornwall) in an amazing house. We played tennis on the courts and croquet on the lawns!!!

The gang:

My Brother, James, surfing:

.... almost:

Roz's Red Romany:

Simon's mum, Gill, and step dad, Eric, also paid us a visit recently and took this lovely photo outside their guesthouse.

More to come soon. x R

2007-08-01T20:06:00.000+01:00

The weather has finally brightened up and we are all drying out a bit now. I've had a few really busy days on the beach this week. It seems the beach culture has done away with the roll up straw mat and has opted for 'who's got the latest sun shade'. But you still see some very red lobsters at the end of a day. Below is Maenporth Beach, followed by Gilly Beach.

I promise some photos of my sit-on-tops soon, once I get hold of Simon's camera that is. I'm too nervous to bring mine near the water.

My brother James is coming to visit this Friday. He'll be my first guest since I moved over to Cornwall. I know the rest of you are going to surprise me any day!! He hasn't been kayaking before so I hope to get him out on the water as much as possible. I think he might be planning museums though?!

I've been painting away, all with a sea-y theme. To see them, you'll have to wait til my on-line shopping gallery is up and running.

I also realised I've no pics up of Simon or Derry. Did you ever hear people say how owners can really look like their dogs and dogs can act like their owners? Well...

2007-07-15T11:09:00.000+01:00

Well the weather here in Cornwall has been far from it's analogy to the French Riviera. So to keep myself busy on the rainy days, my ingenious Simon suggested I pick up a paint brush. Not really having done so since I left school, I had no idea what to paint, what style to try, what I could actually manage, but I gave it a go.

For Simon:

For Me:

For Mark:

It's a start I guess. Dad: I know they're very different from yours but I hope you like them! Maybe we could do a swap?

2007-07-12T13:30:00.000+01:00

Just a quickie: On myself and Derry's walk this morning, I snapped this pic of Swanpool Beach, our local. You can see the typical horizon line with a navy ship perched.

2007-07-10T20:43:00.000+01:00

Hello all and welcome to my blog. This is my first undertaking of anything like this, so bear with me 'til I get used to it all. Well I've settled in down here in Cornwall, if only the weather would settle too!! A lot has happened since I left Dublin, too much to catch up on so I'll start with some recent photos taken on a Sea Kayaking Cornwall course.

This is St Anthony's Light House near Falmouth. It's also more commonly known to children of the 80's as Fraggle Rock Light House. This is the area where the fraggle writer, Jim Henson lived and was inspired by. Well, so the local story goes! I'm paddling in between the lighthouse (where Travelling Matt and Sprocket had their adventures) and Fraggle rock (where Red, Gobo, Mokey and the Doozers lived). Can you sing along?

Further along the coast, we came across a pretty amazing cave. It had such a narrow entrance, I was surprised when the three guys and their 17 foot kayaks disappeared inside it. I'm in the red buoyancy at the back of the picture, where the cave takes a right angled turn into darkness. We must go back with head torches soon.

I was also at Simon's Dad's 60th birthday party. A great party up in Pig Trough in Shrewsbury. This photo was taken from the boat Louise bought Oz as his present.

I think I'll leave it at that for now, although I do have so many more photos to share. Well, let me know what you think. x R