San Jose, and Home

It's late Tuesday night, I just traveled all afternoon/evening to get to San Jose, where tomorrow morning I will be catching a plane back Home! As much as I am ready to come home, this entire trip has been amazing, and Costa Rica is so easy going I could really stay here for months. I tossed up the last few photos from Peru and all the good ones from Costa Rica. I realized I really didn't take enough photos in Costa Rica, I guess it was because the past 9 days here have been mostly relaxing, with less of the adventurous photo opportunities. All in all I've had a wicked 2 months, they've flown by so fast though, it's hard to believe I did everything in that short amount of time. I hope life in London can keep up the pace... hardi har har, See everyone soon

Greg

Pura Vida

Well It's been a while since my last post, I guess it's because I can't be bothered to either find a computer, or charge my ipod because life moves too slow out here to feel the need to do ANYTHING besides sit in a hammock, lie on the beach, or stroll around the small towns eating fresh fruit. I've spent the past 3 days in a beach town called Montezuma, it's only one block of wooden bungalow style shops and restaurants, but has an amazing vibe to it. I spent last night at a beach party that had a fire show with fire spinners, people doing Cirque de Soleil style ropes hanging down and people doing acrobat stuff on them, and a electronic DJ with a light show. The beaches are nice, but there wasn't much sand, mostly giant rocks that you have to climb over, however they do have 3 waterfalls that were amazing. I spent Easter Sunday trekking to the waterfalls, diving off the rocks, using the rope swings and just hanging out in the jungle area. I had the place to myself for about 30 minutes, until a few other Canadians showed up and showed me a much bigger cliff edge to jump off of, which was definitely cool. After that I headed back to my hostel, grabbed my stuff, and bused to Santa Teresa, a surf town 30 minutes away. This beach is amazing, this place is pure paradise, I don't think I'll come home! I befriended a group of 4 people traveling and were now sharing a dorm room. There is some cool wildlife here, giant Iguanas, tons of wicked birds with crazy bird calls, and howler monkeys that throw mangoes at you from the trees. Tomorrow I plan to rent a surf board, then ATV around to neighbouring beaches in the afternoon. The next day I head to Alajeulo, where I fly home.....

Arenal

It´s hot here in Costa Rica. Really hot. I´m dripping sweat from walking from my hostel room outside, to the computer room. Anyways, now that thats out, theres not too much to say. My flights from Lima to Panama, then Panama to Costa Rica were painless, I slept through the entire flight for both, everything went off without a hitch. I caught a shuttle from the airport to Arenal/La Fortuna, a small touristy town thats built around this giant active volcano. It hasnt erupted since the 60´s but you can usually see smoke coming out the top at all hours, and SUPPOSEDLY you can sometimes catch red lava shooting out at night time, but I have yet to see anything. It´s mostly families and couples in this town, which made for a sort of strange zip lining tour. My group consisted of four families, all with kids under the age of 12, and me. I rented a moped and drove it from town to town on one of the few paved roads they have here, it was probably the most fun thing I´ve done yet in Costa Rica! Anyways, I made a few friends from the states, and tomorrow I´m taking a shuttle to the west coast to join them, and visit two surfing/beach towns, Montezuma, and Santa Teresa. Its the Holy Weekend here though, meaning theres a total alcohol ban starting midnight tonight, and lasting until Sunday... It could be a strange weekend staying in the surf town thats known for nightlife.

p.s. I´ll be arriving in Toronto this time next week, those 2 months went by in the blink of an eye

Farewell to South America

Well its my final weekend in South America, and boy did the entire thing fly by. On my final day in Cusco I walked to the bus station to buy a ticket to Ica, Peru, 16 hours away. I decided to treat myself to "full Cama" meaning, first class, where you get leather seats, lots more room, and the seats fully recline (much like first class on an airplane). The best company is called Cruz Del Sur, they offer the most luxurious buses but also the most expensive, I decided I didnt need total bliss so I went with the cheaper option with a company called Flores. It was the same trip but instead of costing $50 Canadian it only cost $35. When the bus arrived I hopped on with a bus ticket for seat 53....I soon realized seat 53 didnt exist. The seats stopped at 52, and I was told to just sit down in an empty seat. However throughout the overnight trip I was awoken when a passenger came on the bus to find me in there seat, so I moved around about 3 times in the night. So good for you Flores, for selling imaginary seats then telling people that seat 48 is actually seat 53, and pretending to count to 53 stopping on any seat. It was actually okay in the end, just funny how they tried to explain that the seat numbers are actually different than whats posted on them. When I arrived in Ica, I took a quick bus ride to an oasis called Huacachina, a Lagoon in the middle of giant sand dunes as far as you can see. This place was the PERFECT place to end a trip, the hotels were affordable, with swimming pools, hammocks, amazing service and the type of atmosphere you expect at a 5 star getaway. I stayed 3 nights and did 2 dune buggy tours, one of which I rented a snowboard to do some sandboarding. The dune buggy tour is pretty wild, they drive towards sand peaks full speed and go over huge banks. It´s more of a roller coaster ride with cool views. I was reallllly careful not to get sand in my camera, because I was told its certain death to cameras. But one of the guys decided not to sandboard anymore so he asked if we wanted him to take photos. By the time I got my camera back he said the batteries had died, but in reality the camera was just broken. The lens is so full of sand the shutter doesnt work, so I´m going to try and find a repair shop in Lima. So now I´m in Lima, Peru, where I´ll fly to Costa Rica really late tomorrow night. Next time I write I´ll be in Central America!

Quick 5 random things I´ve experienced/seen in South America
1) Going into an empty restaurant in La Paz Bolivia, and asking the 10 year old bolivian girl for a menu in bad spanish. She replied saying she spoke english, in what sounded like an american accent. She ended up joining me for lunch and telling me the history of La Paz as well as how much she misses living in New York (she lived there for 6 years)....The most intelligent conversation I had about bolivia was with a 10 year old girl
2) Hearing about the dangers of many things, but feeling safe. In Brazil, I was told to take a bus from the airport, never a taxi because they´re dangerous. BUT I took a taxi anyways, which turned out to be safe, and awesome because the driver gave a free tour of Rio. Later hearing about a couple that took the bus, then 3 guys entered, held a gun to the driver telling him to drive, and robbed everyone on the bus.
3) Argentina has a strange lifestyle. They often work 9am-7pm, but get a Siesta break mid-day. This causes restaurants to be packed around 11pm, and bars to not open until 2am. Its not like this everywhere, but MANY dinner restaurants don´t get busy until around midnight, and a lot of bars/clubs dont open until 2 or 3
4) In Cusco, Peru, there are a lot of pan handlers who will talk to you, tell you they havent eaten lunch since yesterday, then try to sell their paintings, shine your shoes, or sell jewelry7knick knacks. One day I was just waiting to meet up with some friends and was getting hounded by everyone to buy stuff, then when I´d say no 5 times they´d sit down beside me and tell me there sad story. After about 10 minutes of this, one shoecleaner said he´d clean my shoes for 1 Sole (about 40 cents). I said okay fine, and he started to work. Noticing they were really dirty he started using his brush and this liquid to get them back to black, and after one shoe, he told me that the materials are actually going to cost 50 Soles (about $20) which is crazy since a room and meal cost 25 Soles. I got in a 5 minute confrontation with him, words were exchanged, and he basically left with 1 sole and gave me a death threat and told me he´d be waiting outside my hostel that night for me. I never saw him again.
5) Theres many more to pick, but I´ll finally leave it with last nights outing. Huacachina Peru is a very small place, totally set up for tourists. Theres one bar owner who kept coming out everytime we walked past and wanted to be our friend and have a party at his bar. Last night we went and we were the only people there (there was about 8 of us) but we stayed. He started teaching us how to make drinks, then eventually let us come back and use his stuff. By the end of the night we were just going behind his bar and making our own drinks, he didn´t care, he was too busy dancing because he is apparently the Salsa champion of Huacachina, claiming to be the real Michael Jackson.

24!

Phew, what a week. I´m writing this on Monday, the day after the 4 day trek to Machu Picchu, and the day after my birthday. I departed Cusco on the 7th of April in the morning, the first day of the trek was kicked off with a long bike ride down the side of a mountain, which included riding over landslides, waterfalls, and passing cars on this rickity bike going far too fast. We ended the first day with a bit of a trek to a small town. The next morning we had to climb up a mountain, the steps were made of stone of all different sizes and about 20 minutes into the 8 hr climb I was feeling it. Haha, it was definitely the hardest day of the trek, however it ended off with white water rafting down Urubamba, peruvian river during the sunset, which was amazing and really gave the group a bonding experience. There were two trekking groups of 8 people, mostly made up of mid twenty year olds from Countries all over the world. We had quite a few characters on the trek, that´s all I´ll say. Anyways the third day we started it off with 2hours of zip lining over the same River, Urubamba which again was amazing, and only a half day of trekking. During the trek we saw a house were they farm Quy, which is Guinea Pig, which was neat, but also horrible because they had big boiling pots RIGHT beside the cute guinea pigs running around freely... If only they knew what was coming. The same farm had baby kittens and puppys, as well as a goat that would follow you around. Anyways it was an early night since we had to be up at 3:30am to start the 4th and last day of the trek to Machu Picchu, the coolest Inka ruins in Peru. It was dark, so my headlamp came in handy, everyone lines up at this bridge at the base of the mountain and waits as the police check everyones passport and ticket. At 5:00am they open the gate to the bridge and its a free for all to climb up to Machu Picchu. Only 400 people gain entry to a higher mountain that overlooks Machu Picchu called WaynuPicchu, which has incredible views. To get a ticket to WaynuPicchu, you have to be one of the first 400 people to the entrance of Machu Picchu which opens at 6:00am, meaning you have an hour to climb the mountain. However, you can also take a bus at 5:30 that gets there for 5:50am. Haha so basically people start panicing and they come with running shoes and spandex to sprint up this mountain. There I was, excited it was my birthday, but now in completely broken down skateboarding shoes and a backpack with snacks, while some of my friends are also in flip flops and whatnot. Anyways we hiked up and actually did it pretty quick, I ended up being the 10th person to the entrance, probably because I followed this english guy James who came prepared to hike so I just tried to keep up. Once inside Machu Picchu our group hung out and I was sung Happy Birthday on the top of Machu Picchu, which was a pretty cool experience. Later we hiked up WaynuPicchu, completely worn out at this point, but was rewarded with a birthday beer at the top with some friends. It was pretty amazing sitting on this giant rock on the top of a mountain overlooking these historical ruins, while enjoying a beer with some new friends. Definitely can´t say my 24th birthday was boring. The rest of the day was spent walking around the ruins, grabbing some dinner, then coming back to Cusco. By the time we got back to the hostel for a birthday celebration it was midnight and we had almost been up for 24 hours. Everyone just crashed and went to bed. We postponed the celebration until tonight. I´ll try and upload some photos as soon as I can, thanks everyone for the birthday wishes, a small part of me still wishes I was in Canada celebrating with friends and family. Its now my last week in South America, I cant believe its winding down so fast.

Greg

Hasta Luego Bolivia, Hola Peru

I´ve been in Cusco Peru for a few days now, and its slowly becoming one of my top cities. I left La Paz on Friday, and went to Copacabana to visit the Isla del Sol, or Island of the Sun. Its a small island where the Incas believe the sun was born. On the way to Copacabana I hoped on a local bus from La Paz, and was the only gringo tourist on the bus. Halfway there the bus suddenly stopped and everyone got off, not knowing what to do I also just got off. Turns out theres a small lake you have to cross, the boat goes on this floating barge, and everyone else gets in a smaller boat that rides along side the boat with the bus. After a lot of obvious confusion I made it to the other side, and arrived in Copacabana with all my stuff. The Isla del Sol was a beautiful island, I got dropped off at the north end, and walked down to the South. You walk through little towns and past pigs, llamas, donkeys, cows, that are just freely walking down the same path you are. I met a lone Austrian on the 4hr trek down the island, and we started hiking together. Turns out his name is Gregor, pronounced in the most Austrian way possible, and his birthday is a day before mine (although he is turning 40). I left Copacabana, Bolivia, the next morning for Cusco, Peru. I hoped on a tourist bus that crosses the border and everything seemed fine until we got to the border. The driver was calm and cracking jokes during the trip to the border, but when we got there, he stopped at the immigration office and started yelling for us to hurry. I couldnt understand him in his hustled frantic state, but he was uttering something about police coming and how he HAD to leave. Anyways we all got off the bus, passed immigration, and walked into Peru where we saw him up the road waiting for us. The Peru-Bolivia border was friendly and quick, MUCH better than the Argentina-Bolivia border, where the was one guy working in a wooden shack blaring Guns and Roses, after waiting by myself since 5:30am....

Anyways Im looking for an agency to do a 3 day trek to Machu Picchu, hopefully one with mountain biking, white water rafting, and a bit of hiking. Hope its warming up for everyone in Canada, see you soon.

Greg

La Paz

I wont write much for this post, just saying that I added the rest of my Argentina photos, and started a few Bolivia photos. They had to be brief because it takes forever to upload, but I think I covered a little bit of everything. Im still in La Paz, Bolivia, just rode 58KM down the worlds most dangerous road on a mountain bike. It was an amazing experience, and luckily no one I went with got injured. There was a guy who broke his leg, and a girl who broke her collar bone, but I wasn´t with that group! Tomorrow I am golfing at the worlds highest golf course, hopefully the thinner air makes my shot go further, I could use any help. Cant believe the trips already half over, see you sooner than later.

Greg

Bolivia so far

Well this is the first time Ive had internet connection since Monday, It´s also the first time I´ve posted anything since leaving Argentina and arriving in Bolivia. I spent the last night in Argentina listening to a Pena, which is live Argentinian music. Bands play with a series of pan flutes, drums, and other native wind instruments. I enjoyed a fine cut of llama meat, with a glass of Fernet and coke, my new favourite liqour at the moment. The departure from Argentina was awesome, left beautiful Tilcara for greener pastures in Bolivia. The only problem was that the pastures were a desert and they didn´t necessarily greet me with open arms. I took a night train to the border, hopeing to arrive around 6am when the border opens, since I heard the line can take up to 3 hours if you don´t arrive early. The bus I got on arrived at 5, pitch black, and having to walk to the border only knowing that its about 20 blocks away, without a direction. No one else was white, or a traveller, or spoke english. I asked in my best spanish which direction to walk and finally found someone who just pointed down a road. I started following someone, hoping they too were going to the border, and I ended up walking into Bolivia without anyone so much as asking me a question or making eye contact. I realized I should turn around, and sat at the immigration desk for 2 hours by myself until other travellers arrived around 7. I guess it didn´t open until 7:30am so I had a long wait. Once across, I took a bus to Uyuni, to do a 3 day trek of the salt flats, which was amazing! A group of us, mostly 23 year olds from Ireland, England and Argentina hired a jeep and took off. The salt flats are these huge desert like lands made of entirely salt. There was a bit of water on top so it reflected really well, and was something I´ve never seen before. We rode on top of the jeep, did some minor rock climbing that was probably unsafe because none of us are rock climbers, but it was a small climb. We saw an active volcano, some geysers during the sunrise, and visited a train grave yard. The circut went around Southern Bolivia to the North East of Chile, we arrived back in Uyuni on day 3. The group said there good byes, and it was off to Potosi for me, an old mining town that boomed in the early nineties when they hit huge silver deposits. I did a tour of the mines, which was pretty eye opening too the lifestlyes of the town folk. Kids as young as 15 are working in the mines, the air has tons of toxins, asbestos, and accidents are common. We crawled through small holes, slid down narrow openings, and gave gifts of coca leaves to the miners. Because of the poor condition the average life span of a minor is dramatically shorter, many getting lung diseases after 10 years of work. We also bought dynamite, which you can by from the corner store, for the miners to use, it was pretty surreal holding sticks of dynamite in your hand that cost about $3 Canadian. Now I´m writing from Potosi, and taking a night bus to La Paz. The elevation here is around 4000 meters above sea level (13123 ft), making many things the highest in the world (Im hoping to play golf on the highest golf course in La Paz). A couple people have had bad altitude sickness, including headaches, light headedness, and shortness of breath. So far I´ve only noticed shortness of breath when doing minor things, like walking up stairs....or maybe it´s all the cheap junk food I´ve been eating. Anyways, I´ll post pictures when I get a chance, the internet is so slow it takes about 25 minutes to load one photo. Chow

Greg

Gaucho, Bang Bang

I'm lying here In a hammock over looking the Quebrada de Humahuaca. Which means mountains, cactus, and desert land. I'm in a small town called Tilcara, which has many Gauchos. Gauchos are the Argentinian cowboys, with big hats and pauncos. I trekked around the area, visited a cool gorge with a famous rock because it has seven colours of rock in it. I've spent the past few days with a couple from Chicago and a Brit who have taught me a lot of Spanish. I just hope I can retain I all! I came from Salta, which was a cool colonial town but didn't have to much to do or explore. A few cool things I've noticed about Argentina are that they love dogs, there's even professional dog walkers who have up to a dozen dogs on separate leashes holding onto them all for dear life. Argentina is the number 5 country for Ice Cream, and have cool and cheap options. Driving through the Country side you can see a lot of poor towns. Many of the children are playing soccer, but the field is run down and wild horses, donkeys, or cows are sharing the field with them. Anyways, the suns setting and it's getting cold, I'll write again from Bolivia. Long live the gaucho.

Bs Asp

Its been a while since I´ve been able to write anything since I've been busy exploring Buenos Aires, and there is only one working computer with a line up of people to use it! BA has been a really interesting city, the architecture is amazing, even in the slums, while each area has a unique feel to it. I visited a really cool cemetery in an artys part of town called Recoleta. It sounds creepy but the cemetery has extravagant tombs and burial plots. The really only creepy thing is the fact that there are hundreds of cats roaming around the plots (que the creepy music). Next door is a free art gallery that has a Picaso, Monet, but mostly Argentinian artists. A few of us spent the day relaxing in the nearby park, watching people slack line around a course of trees. I almost got pick pocketed on the subway during rush hour. You're packed in there like sardines and I was wearing gym shorts with loose pockets. Anyways right when I got on there were people scrambling and brushing by, I squeezed my body in to get a spot, when suddenly it happened. Next thing I know I can feel a hand in my pocket, so I squeeze down and make eye contact with the guy and he pulls away. He didn't get anything, besides a very awkward subway ride as we had a few stare offs. On a more positive note, I had the best steak and beef I've ever eaten, it was a buffet that was amazing. They had a sushi section where you pick what you want in your roll and a guy makes it right infront of you. I was told Argentina is known for their meats, and I definitely was not let down! Well It's off to a new city, hopefully I can upload photos there! I'm finally feeling 100% healthy again, and ready for Salta, Agentina.

Argentina!

Out with the old and in with the new! Meaning hello Argentina! Iguazu falls can be seen from both the Brazil side and Argentina side. The Brazil side gives you a great panoramic view of all the waterfalls, while the Argentina side gets you really close to the action. The hostel on the Argentina side was quite nice, a group of 10 of us were hanging out at the hostel, playing guitar, lying in hammocks, while one English guy named Scott offered to cook us all his famous meatballs on a budget. The next morning a few of us went to the falls, and ended it off doing a speed boat tour that drives you right underneath one of the waterfalls. It as absolutely incredible to experience. 3 of us jumped on a bus to Buenos Aires that night, which is a 19 hour bus ride. The bus had wide seats that recline to become almost flat. They have this amazing leg rest invention that's best described as a flutter board thing that attaches to the seat for your legs to rest on. They give you a pollow, blankets, a beef and potato dinner, your own bottle of wine (which I surprisingly enjoyed) and they play movies. It's the best bus ride I've ever been on by FAR! Makes greyhound look like torture... Anyways still discovering Buenos Aires, the vibe of the city is really cool!

Iguazu

I have made it to Iguazu! I quickly made friends with Chiago, a brazilian who studied in Austalia and speaks pretty good English. He took me out for dinner at an all-you-can-eat Pizza place. There were Wings, French Fries, Pizza, Spaghetti, and Ice Cream all for about $8 Canadian. The pizza was wild too, they served White cholcolate, Chocolate with strawberries, Bamboo fruit with pineapple and cheese, as well as the normals like pepperoni and pineapple. Anyways I´m heading to the waterfalls tomorrow morning, I´ll write again when I get a chance. In the meantime I´ve posted a few pictures, not too many because it takes a while and theres only one computer, and a poker addicted German is chomping at the bit to get back to poker stars. Hope you enjoy what I´ve posted so far.

Good Bye Rio. Hello Iguazu

The past few days in Rio have been wild, filled with dancing, drinking, and singing until the sun rises. In Rio it seems to be ´the norm´ to stay out until 6am. Monday night I had tickets to the Sambadrome, a huge stadium that hosts the annual parade. Samda schools have been practicing every weekend since September to compete for the best floats, costumes, and dance/show. The show starts at 10pm and goes until 6am, which means thousands among thousands of people are in the stands singing, dancing and cheering for there favourite schools. You´ll have to see the pictures to understand how much effort is put into this parade. It attracts celebrities from around the world, such as Madonna and Bono, but this year the only celebrity sighting was Pamela Anderson at the Beach. I was out until 8am, which was the norm for the night, meaning I woke up mid afternoon, and just went to Copacabana beach to relax and people watch. Fun fact about Carnival: 80% of there annual alcohol sales are from this weekend. Meaning everyone is out having a good time, but unfortunately crime does occur. A friend from my hostel had his cell phone pick-pocketed, and then the next night was robbed by a 12 year old with a hunting knife. Today it was time to leave Rio and head to Iguazu Falls. Iguazu is on the border of Brazil and Argentina, and hosts a park with over 250 waterfalls that supposedly puts Niagra Falls to shame. However the bus broke down after an hour and now I´m stuck writing this from the side of the road waiting for the new bus to pick us all up. Luckily we are surrounded by lush forest and mountains, it could be worse!

Rio!!!

BRAZIL!! It's alive with the Carnival spirit! Well it's day 3 now, and a lot has happened. I left Canada on Friday feeling really under the weather, the plane rides weren't pleasant as I would go through packages of kleenex and try to sleep, then to top it off my luggage didn't get transferred to my plane during my lay over in Houston. So I was without a change of clothes or toiletries for a few days. However I'm feeling much better, my bags arrived to my hostel, and suddenly the sun seems to be shining brighter! So far: I've seen Christ the Redeemer, the beaches, Monkeys, and some of the most ridiculous costumes you can imagine. It's a big celebration during Carnival, with locals and tourists dressing up in a giant Halloween-esqe celebration. There's fat supermans, men in drag, the entire star wars cast, and so much more. Anyways this is my first post from Rio, It's a cool city with a big contrast between rich and poor, yet everyone seems friendly enough and speaks a bit of English. Ill post pictures and write again soon.

It's Almost That Time Again

It's February 21st, and I'm starting to get anxious about leaving Canada to explore another part of the World. This time I'll be taking my backpack to South America, to visit Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, and Peru. I'm even stopping off for a week in Costa Rica on the way home for another mini vacation. I leave March 4th, and return April 27th, making this a 7-week trip. I have a lot more planning to do, and unlike last year, I'm going with a VERY loose itinerary, allowing for a bit more freedom. I'll try and keep this blog going as often as a I can while traveling, the countdown begins!