Cuba Libre!!

Well, we're here....finally, finally, finally! And it was an adventure from start to finish...


So, we left our beautiful Colombian town sadly, but with great excitement, for here was to begin our great Cuban adventure! We took the 12 noon bus from Santa Marta and, as usual in Colombia, it was way overpriced! Especially since the seats were uncomfortable, you don't get fed, and the toilet worked for about half an hour, before giving up the ghost with a splurge of inorganic chemicals and organic mess, making the freezing cold journey even harder to bear because of the all-pervading smell emenating from behind us! That coupled with the fact the driver seemed intent on proving his capabilites as a world rally driver meant that between myself and Alan we got about 10 minutes sleep... So, we arrived at the Venezuelan border none too fresh and none to happy. We had heard all the traveller advice on money - Venezuela's currency system is stuck on a 1997 exchange rate in the banks, meaning that when you withdraw Bolivars directly from the machines, it charges you a rate of 1 Bolivar for 1 Dollar. This is clearly crazy, so you are forced to hit the black markets for your money exchanges, and it's been known to receive 4 Bolivars for 1 Dollar in these circles! We were happy, however, with our exchange of 2.5 for 1, which we got at a Casio de Cambio next to the exit area of Colombia...it meant that our chosen hotel room would cost us about 15 euro instead of 32. Anyway, we then walked across the border no-man's-land to Venezuela, where we got our entry stamp. As we commenced boarding the bus, we were told the guards were going to search every bag on the bus, and that it would take about 2 hours. Five minutes later, a fellow passenger took up a 'collection' of 5 Bolivars per person, to give the guard as a bribe so that they would let us pass unmolested. Standard practice, apparently! So, bribe paid, we got back on our stinky bus, and wove our way through the bleak Venezuelan countryside to Caracas, city of crap....seriously! I have never seen a so called socialist state so plastered with advertising, and so overrun with shanty towns. Unbelievable! Maybe Chavez is working hard in the rest of the country, but Caracas is going to the dogs. Anyway, we got to the bus station by 6am, thanks to our drivers rally experience, and had to wait for the sun to rise in order to head out to get a taxi out to Catia del Mar, the seaside town ten minutes from the airport. We happened to ask a lady in a shop how to get an official taxi, and she very nicely phoned one for us. He arrived and took us to his tinted windowed car, and wove out of the horrible city into an even more horrible 'seaside town' for an extorcionate price...such is the way of the Venezuelan people, we were soon to discover! Our hotel was dingy and horrible, with insects everywhere, and sticky floors. However, it had a tv in the room, and that's all we wanted to while away the evening before heading for the airport in the morning.


So, bright and early the next day, we headed to Caracas airport, and cling-wrapped our bags for safety at the entrance, before attempting to sign in. Nothing so simple! We had to buy our tourist visa for Cuba, which was fine, we knew we had to do it! But then there was the state tax to pay. Fine. OK, so we hadn't enough money for all of this new costings, so I said to the lovely (sarcasm doesn't come across so well in text!) 'lady' we had to go to the banklink, and I'd come back. So we traipsed across the airport to find a banklink, found one, took out the exact amount...meaning, of course, we were getting the 1997 exchange rate on the withdrawal. Then headed back to the stupid cow with cash in hand, to find an equally tourist-friendly man in her place who informed us that we had also to pay airport tax. Oh, sure why would you tell us our total costs all at one time? That would make life EASIER for us! So, with many a scowl and clenching of teeth, I headed BACK to the stupid banklink for more stupid overpriced money for their stupid taxes and charges. After all of this costly endevour, we had enough left for a wee something to eat out the other side, and nothing else. So, we headed through their stupid security (everything in Venezuela was stupid by this stage) airside, and discovered within a couple of hours that our flight was delayed...for 9 hours! Armed with enough cash for a paltry Burger King, we thus reconcoiled ourselves with the airport seats. As an aside, we also thought we might need further cash, but discovered there were no banklinks airside. Sure why would you need THOSE in an area filled with shops, restaurants and other establishments requiring money????

Anyway, I'm not gonna hash over everything yet again, but suffice to say the nine hours dragged by! Luckily, Cubana provided lunch and dinner for us all...at the cheapest restaurant in the airport, but food is food, and who am I to complain? At 10.00 pm, we were all herded upstairs...to an airplane, I presumed, but on reaching the top of the stairs discovered it was to climb onto buses. Our flight had been cancelled, and they were taking us to a hotel. So, on route to said hotel we met with two Turkish men...brothers Oskan and Asmail. Oskan has been living in London some 20 years, and has British citizenship, as well as perfect English. Despite Asmial's little English, he was engaging and friendly, and we had a good chat on our way to the hotel. It turned out to be a lovely hotel in Catia del Mar with a pool and everything...but then again, considering you couldn't leave the hotel environs at any stage, it would want to be! Plus, we only had the clothes we were wearing, so we couldn't exactly dive into the pool! Anyway, it was late, so we all parted ways for some sleep. Next day we arose hoping for news on the flight...nothing. We had breakfast, and watched television all day, before discovering at 4.30pm that they would be collecting everyone from the hotel at 5 bound for the airport. Nice of them to let us know! What would have happened if we hadn't chanced to call reception? Anyway! Headed out for the airport, found a GIGANTIC queue of people awaiting us, and some big frenzy about how half of the flight had been heading to a conference, so they got priority, and a second plane would carry the rest of us. At this stage I didn't even care! We eventually got through the queue in about an hour and a half, to be told that the airport might have to be paid again! Well, this was not happening! Alan had lost the sticker on his ticket so we couldn't prove that we had paid yesterday, and when I explained this to the Cubana man, he shrugged his shoulders. I was forced, then, I admit, to throw away my diplomacy and gritted smile long learned from past struggles with service providers, and curse a little! Sorry Mam....but basically, he then promised we wouldn't have to pay it again! As it turns out, though, nobody had to pay it again, because Cubana had to foot the bill....although this only resulted after all the passangers encamped at the airport tax desk and refused to pay! THEN we finally got through, for a further three hours waiting airside, where we got to know our Turkish friends a little better. When the plane finally arrived to much jubulation at 9.30, we leapt aboard! And it was the smallest plane imaginable...dry ice sufficed for air conditioning, and my knees were practically to my chin onboard. So, in this tiny junk box, freezing cold from the dry ice smoking up around me at all times, we shuddered our way across to Cuba, to land at 3.00 in the morning. When we got there, we decided to sleep in the airport until 7, then head into town together - the two of us, and the Turkish brothers.

On waking cramped and uncomfortable at 7.00, we discovered that my card wouldn't work in any of the machines...credit card, that is, because no debit cards work here anyway. We thought we should try some banks in the city, so Oskan and Asmail offered to pay for the taxi in and then we could pay them back when we got to a bank. So, we headed into the fabulous city of Havana, but I was a bit worried about the money, so didn't take things in as much as I could have. When we arrived, they spotted us breakfast, while we waited for the banks to open at 9. They then minded our bags as we headed off to various banks. Three establishments later, we were told that my credit card, though European, had done business with America, and was therefore useless in Cuba. Brilliant! We thought that maybe we'd be able to withdraw money using my passport and account details, so we stored our bags at Oskan and Asmail's lodgings, and headed out walking. A chance encounter with a creepy old gringo obviously living in Havana a long time sent us to Assistur, the only money-transfer option available between Cuba and other countries. Creepy? Because Alan says he got the distinct impression he was asking if we needed money badly enough to sell me to him for a while.....eeewww!

So, we went to Assistur, and discovered that our nearest transfer option was England, and then only from HSBC bank...they also took a humungous cut of the transfer, as payment. But it was our only hope! We went back to Oskan, and they loaned us enough money for lodgings, and we also bought a bag of bread and some water...feasted for days on that paltry bundle, let me tell you! Anyway, we moved to a Casa Particular in the city, then got on the internet and emailed home, and my cousin Anna in London, asking them to send the full cash that we would need for the whole holiday. This panicked everyone exceedingly...in fact, my mother thought that we'd been taken hostage and I was forced to write the email to get money! Such thoughts averted, they fell to helping us, but we had to wait until the banks opened on the morrow. We met the boys again that night, because they refused to let us wallow in our miserable situation, and kind souls that they are, they wanted us to come out with them! So, we went to Monseratte, a lovely bar next to Hemingway's favourite haunt, but better for the lack of brash tourists pointing cameras up your nostrils, where they shouted us a couple of beers, and we were entertained by a fabulous Cuban band who funked the room up something rotten! Fantastic! Next day, sick to our stomachs with both fear, trepidation and hunger, we went to Assistur to see had any money come through. Nothing! Turns out HSBC wouldn't let Anna send money with them as she is not a member of their bank, so she tried it through her bank, and they said the confirmation would take longer. So, we had another day of this to contend with! Despite everything, we spent our days pacing around Havana, gazing at it's fabulously faded grandeur, and drinking in it's liveliness and musical flavour for free!

Again that night, Oskan and Asmail would not let us wallow, and we went into Viajo, the lively pedestrianised zone above the port, and took in another free show...this time flamenco (though the band also played a weirdly wonderful version of 'Zombie' by the Cranberries!). Next morning, we awoke with the by now familiar trepidation. We awoke in better surroundings, though, because we had moved casa's to Dulce Maria's - a famous casa the same price as our last, but which included breakfast! So we dined heartily on food besides bread - the first to touch our lips in two days - and headed out to the internet to see what news awaited us. On switching on my phone, though, I discovered that my Mam had been in touch with Anna, discovered that the money transfer was NOT going to go through, and had taken it upon herself to drive to Dublin and plead with the British Embassy to help. I might add, at this stage, that the nearest Irish Embassy to Cuba is Mexico...some help to us! Not an hour later, I received another text, confirming that the money would hopefully be awaiting us in the British Embassy. We had to walk, having no money for taxis, and took the 5.5 km in the blistering midday heat out to Verdado, where the Embassies reign. It was a long walk, and I got a little crazed from the sun, but it was all forever worth it when we walked in the door and a lovely lady behind the counter said 'are you Sarah'? Oh what joy!!! She even mentioned that my mother had been very worried about me.....!!! So, we collected our money, joyously and with great relief, and took a taxi back to our Casa. I cannot TELL you how worrying those days were! We couldn't change our flights, so would have been stuck in Cuba with nothing. And if we hadn't met those fantastic brothers, we would have never even have been able to leave the airport! So, you sometimes have to think things happen for a reason...if the flight had not been cancelled, we would not have had the opportunity to make friends with people from the flight, and would have landed in Cuba friendless, moneyless, and alone!

Sadly, our two friends had gone to Trinidad that morning, and we now await their return for the May 1st celebrations in Havana, where we will repay their money and kindness, and take them out for dinner and drinks as a thank you!!

So, to update on life since then, we are LOVING Cuba! It is the most amazing wonderful fantastic country on earth, and we love every second! After Havana, we headed to Vinales, where the tobacco fields cluster amid wonderful limestone cliff faces, and the countryside is so lush and green that it takes your breath away! Staying all the while in Casas - family homes with spare rooms they make available to tourists - we eat hearty breakfast of eggs and fresh fruit in the mornings, and in Vinales, even took dinner made by the family. It certainly improves your Spanish, as nobody speaks English here! Our first day we cycled the countrside, and marvelled at the red earth, tall palm trees, and high cliffs...Alan took a solitary cycle later, and saw a massive snake basking on the road! Already afraid of snakes, this scared the hell out of him! Our second day we took the tourist hop-on-hop-off bus around the area, and met two Irish on holidays here (he from Clare, she from Cork), and had a good laugh spending the day with them! We also visited a smallholding, where we were shown a drying room....a heavily slanted straw hut containing countless tobacco leaves hanging from poles strung lengthways. The owner rolled a cigar for is in front of our very eyes...it was amazing! And he presented it to us free of charge, though we did leave a tip for his kindness! Next day we headed back to Havana, and from there on to our two days of luxury already counted for within our budget....Playas del Este! We headed to an all-inclusive holiday resort on the edge of the ocean, with a HUGE transluscent pool, and a palm-treed, white-sanded, aquamarine sea reached by means of a wooden footbridge over a sandy lagoon. So, we are lapping up the luxury here...eating what we please, and certainly DRINKING what we please, all for the low-low price of 50 euro per day (that's our accommodation, food, drink, EVERYTHING included). So we're happy!

Heading back to Havana tomorrow for the May 1st celebrations. The Plaza de la Revolucion reportadly fills with 1.2 million people, and Fidel addresses the crowd. I think it will be Raul this year, but sure either way, it's an experience I am unwilling to miss! And, yes, I am aware of my hypocrisy in coming from this luxurious havan into a march celebrating workers rights...but I really don't mind! Everything in Cuba is so gloriously distributed, that any money I spent here, in this wonderfully delapidated hotel (which, despite it's appearances, is as plastered with photos of Fidel and Che as anywhere else), will be evenly spread out. Not one shanty town have we seen since our arrival here, and everyone is happy and healthy, and the kids are at school every day. Communism seems to be succeeding far better here than Chavez's socialism in Venezuela, and he would do well to take serious note.....

Internet is very expensive here, so my next blog could be from home, but suffice to say I absolutely adore this country, it's people, and every second I spend in it. Don't worry, I will be back to it before long! It has a very strong pull....

Hasta la victoire siempre!!

Ode to the Departed

Yes, we haven`t moved an inch! Largely due to the arrival in our hostel of some extremely sound, and bloody good fun, lads from back home! We had met them in Lima - well, I can`t really boast that, because I wasn`t talking to them in Lima, but the other lads knew them well - and by pure chance they landed up in our hostel here. And I soon got to know them! Liam had his guitar, and knew amazingly varied and wonderful songs, and James and Cormac sang along with gusto....they brightened up our little trip something rotten!!

And, in a little "small world, isn`t it" twist, Cormac is the nephew of someone I work with back in Dublin! Crazy!

Anyway, we decided not to move on to Cartagena, as Bones was leaving on Tuesday, and Mac came back from there to celebrate (or mourn) Bones`s last weekend with us! So Saturday night, we sent him off in STYLE! With four litres of rum, and copious amounts of beer, we headed to An Garaiste, the best nightclub in town. Well...everyone else headed off, I had to be put to bed at that stage (about 2am) on account of drinking a tad too much, but when they returned from the club, I gamely hopped out of bed and joined the singalong until the wee hours - about 9 am the next day! AND I had my first public preformance - I played and sang along to Willie McBride on the guitar, and got a good reception! Maybe they were all drunk, but they lavished praise on me, so I`m suitable big headed now, even though I still play like Father Ted.....ha ha!

But it was a great sending off for del Bone, who has been the most amazing travelling companion these past months, and I miss him already! I know I`ll see him in a month back home, but it`s never the same, is it? Over here, I saw him for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and slept in the same room as him for 90% of the time, and we`ll never have that closeness again....so I miss that, but as Tedly has said, don`t be sad that it`s over, be glad that it happened! So we said a tearful (well, I cried anyway!) goodbye to him Tuesday morning. He`s back home now, and says he`s already overdosed on tea.......

And of course, Maca himself, who ALSO left on the day Bones left! I hadn`t thought about it, because I`ve said goodbye to Mac before - back in La Paz when he was on his way to meet his destiny in Buenos Aires - but now he`ll either be back in Ireland before us, or just after us, and either way, I also won`t see him for a month. I`m glad to know such a man, I really am, because he is one of the steadiest and genuinely nicest guys I`ve ever met. I`ve never known someone to have such regard for others in everything he does, and he has the best and biggest heart I`ve ever seen. So hopefully the friendship will continue as strong back in Ireland, because I feel like I`ve strengthened a friendship over here!

And then Wednesday.....what a day.....we said goodbye to Ed and Emer and Kee, who are gone on to Cartagena! It was great getting to know Emer and Kee, who I didn`t really know before, and I had great craic with them - especially Emer, who is a bloody lovely girl!! And as for Ed....what can I say? I never knew him before we came away, and now I don`t know how I went so long in my life without knowing this amazing guy! So I cried on his departure too, probably most of all, because he is just one of the best people I know, and I am so happy that we came along on this trip together! I would never have known his happy outlook on life, his coolness under pressure, his ability to smooth over tensions, and his sensitivity to everyone`s feelings. The man is a saint, but not in a cheesy overly-nice way, he just genuinely wants for people to be happy, and I can`t find fault with a second of our time over here together.

And on Thursday, we said goodbye to our newfound friends from back home, and since they are heading to Australia after South America, they`re not likely to hit Ireland again until 2009, so renewing the friendship could be tougher in this case, but we`re hopeful it`ll be done. Really, we`ve met such amazing people on this trip - we`ve been so lucky!

So, today, it was just myself and Alan, sweating and trying to organise accomodation for Caracas, the most dangerous city in South America! We`re hoping to just stay in a village ten minutes from the airport, rather than Caracas itself, but everytime we call it, we get hung up on by the impatient and rude receptionist....what a hijo de puta! So we might have to stay in the city. We`ve heard such stories of the place from fellow travellers! One girl from Cork was on a tour around the country - bear in mind, this meant they were ferried EVERYWHERE in a private buses, and all sleeping arrangements organised by guides - and from the 20 people on board, 8 were stabbed in Caracas. One woman, a 55 year old lady, was stabbed in her HAND as she tried to protect herself....

Another story? Irish guys there took the official black taxis to the airport, and they are four by fours so that if traffic stops up ahead, the drive onto the dirt roads beside it and bypass the stoppage, as it is popular to hold up taxis full of gringos....the cars have blacked-out windows, and you can`t roll down the window for fear of being seen.

Another? Carl Cox (idiot DJ) played a set in a Caracas nightclub in November, and a gunman opened fire on the crowd, killing 4 people. Security failed to evacuate, despite the bodies lying bleeding on the ground, and the gunman opened fire again five minutes later, killing a further 6.

Another? All hostels and hotels (even the Hilton and other branded ones) are enclosed in barred gates, and signs advise revellers to stay in after dark (6 o clock), and police impose a curfew after 10pm. Even eating in a restaurant 500 meters down the road, you are advised to take a taxi.

Another? Police in Venezuela get onto buses randomly to view the passangers. You are told to face forward, and keep your eyes straight ahead (take off sunglasses). Making eye contact will be seen as being "cheeky" and may result in some random police brutality.

And the last one! Coming across the border, the border guards board the bus and say "we will search this whole bus, and hold you up for 2 hours, or else you can all pay 10 Bolivars, and we will let you through without a search". Coupled with this little nugget is that 3 out of 4 people carry guns in Caracas. Not `have` guns....CARRY guns. Factor out old people and kids, and you are probably looking at the entire male population "packing"!

So, I look forward to Sunday, when we fly to Cuba. Much safer destination! Whatever Chavez is doing, it`s not reaching Caracas......

Roll on Cuba!!!

Still in Taganga....

Yes, we`re still here! And loving every minute of it...I guess we should be trying to squash as much fun into our last few weeks away as possible, but considering I`ll be back to work within two weeks of my return, I`m enjoying the relaxation of it all! Lying in hammocks reading my books, practising my guitar, swimming in the sea...it`s not a bad life, right now!

We`ve changed our flights for returning home, as Al`s cousin Stephen has led his team into the FA Cup Final on May 17th in Wembly, so we`re landing home and heading to London for the match. My official return date is now 18 May, and I`ll be back to work on the 9th of June. So I`ll be home for my birthday!! Woo hoo!! I just cannot WAIT to see everyone again!

But, between now and then, we have CUBA to look forward to! We`re so excited! We`re gonna do a few more Spanish lessons here, maybe, as we`ll really need our Spanish in Cuba...but we`ll see how it goes! A friend of Bones and Ed`s from back home - David Kee - arrived here last week with his girlfriend Emer, so we`ve been having a great time hanging out with them, and we all headed into Park Tayrona at the weekend - after the Cardiff game, and returned in time for the Liverpool game with Arsenal. Got our priorities sorted!

The Park was fantastic! We slept at Arrecifes Beach, where you can`t swim because of currents, but it is just beautiful! You pay the equivalant of 3.50 a night for your hammock, which is strung up under a woven roof in the area where the jungle meets the sea. So, unfortunately, this means a healthy supply of insects! We brought our mossie nets, but they`re very hard to string up over hammocks! I had a termite in mine who gave me an awful bite, but Alan got the worst when a mossie got stuck INSIDE his net with him, and chomped on his face, eyelid and ear!! Next morning we hiked across to La Piscina, where it`s safe to swim, and in doing so crossed some amazing beaches, replete with palm trees and turqoise water...this is definitely the Caribbean we dreamed of! And there were WAVES!! Much as I love Taganga, the beach is stoney, and because we`re in a bay, it`s like swimming in a lake, there are no waves. So, we spent the day swimming, jumping off of rocks, and getting frazzled in the sunshine! That night we got some bottles of rum, and enjoyed the solitude of the Park! Beautiful! And the stars at night - because there are no lights for miles - were just unbelievable!

We might head on to Cartagena after the weekend with the lads, or else on to Palimino - an area along the coast an Irish girl who lives in Taganga told us about. It depends on Bones, really! He`s leaving the soonest from here, so whatever he wants to do, we`ll follow!

Scuba Diving AGAIN!

Well, we went again, but I`ll blog about it in detail in my next entry...I just wanted to add a note about the so called "spiderfish". The reason I couldn`t find a photo of it is that it`s actually called an arrow crab, and I`ve found a picture below!

We also took a camera with us this time, so I have uploaded all our photos onto my bebo, and we have a few videos - which are also on bebo too! I`ve stuck the video of the spiderfish (as I will forever call him!!) up here too, to show how brilliant it was!!!

Scuba Sarah!

Just a quick blog to say that today I scuba dived for the first time! And it was WOW amazing! Myself and Alan signed up with Tayrona Diving here in Taganga yesterday, and this morning we presented ourselves nervously at 8.00am for the course! When we arrived we were sized for wet suits, flippers, goggles and other sundries, then we - along with the other divers, two Americans and a Dane - went into a wee room and watched the PADI video...which was extremely cheezy, but very informative. There is so much to know about the scuba equipment!! It`s all so technical, and you really have to pay strict attention to the breathing techniques and the equalisation stuff (basically holding your nose and blowing out your ears to equalise pressure, but you have to do it every meter of descent, so it`s important stuff!). Also, clearing your mask by holding it tight above your eyes and blowing through your nose may seem like an obvious one, but when you`re 18 meters down, it`s a different story! The light seems very far away above you, and a mouth full of sea water is always freaky....

Anyway, after all of this instruction, we set off on the boat for Park Tayrona`s calm waters...as it is a National Park, the coral and fish life is pretty well preserved and untouched by fishermen and tourists. We thought perhaps we`d be in our depth for the first dive of the day but no, we had to jump fully kitted out from the boat into deep-ish water! Eeeek! So, we had our weights put on over our wetsuit, and the backpack attached with our buoyancy device, as well as the tank of air on our backs. The breathing piece was already in our mouths, and you had to just hold your mask with one hand, and the weights with the other, and take a big leap of faith into the water! Very strange feeling, for the first time, when you`re breathing through the mask underwater! Myself and Alan were taken out by Chopper, one of the instructers, and the others went ahead with another guy - the two Americans were qualified diver, and the Danish girl, unfortunately for her, had trouble with her ears, and couldn`t actually dive at all today. Anyway, Chopper let out enough air to bring us just underwater, and then we practised techniques like what happens if your airpiece falls out, and how to clear the water from your goggles. We also went through all the hand signals that we needed to know for safe diving. Then we were off!

On the first dive, we went to a depth of 10 meters, and Chopper held on to both our hands, and guided us through the rocks and coral below. We saw amazing things, the best of which was when he guided us down to the bottom, and we knelt on the sand as he showed us a spider fish below the rock, then took it out and held it on his hand, then passed it onto my hand, then on to Alan`s.....bright yellow, with long spindly legs and a triangular face. Singularily the weirdest thing I`ve ever seen! It looked like it was from a different planet! I couldn`t find a picture of it, because I don`t think I have the right name! We also saw a huge yellow eel - called a Moray eel, which was pretty freaky looking! I wish I had a photo of the spider fish thing though, because it was definitely the weirdest thing I`ve ever seen!

We came up after a while, and got back on the boat, and had lunch in a lovely secluded cove in Tayrona, then back out for dive two! This time, Chopper was much more adventurous with us, and he only held my hand for the first ten minutes! Ha ha.... But he let us just follow him as we swam to depths of 18 meters - a lot of pressure is felt at this depth, believe me, so I have no idea how anyone goes deeper! It was freaky looking upwards and not really seeing the surface clearly, because it was so far above you! This time we got to see amazingly coloured fish, and they weren`t afraid of you, and almost brushed up against you sometimes. Really strange! We saw some amazing coral, too - and little plants that snapped shut when you came near, but if you were a bit away, you could see their little wavey tentacle-like leaves swaying in the current as though by a breeze. It really is a garden down there! We saw huge seaweed structures and coral that looked like trees! Chopper spotted some yellow tentacle things sticking out from under rocks - the looked like octopus legs - and got me to grab one, and it immediately started pulling away from me....it felt like a furry water balloon filled with guts!! Alan touched it, and thought it was pretty disgusting too! Yeuch!! Ha ha....

Then we went across some rocks, and Chopper pointed below us, and we saw huge tentacles/pincers/antannae sticking out from under the rock! Kinda freaked me a little! But as we got closer we saw the big and curious face of a lobster! And as we went over the rock, we discovered at least six more, and some of them were in extremely clear view, so we could see their full bodies. Absolutely amazing!! I know I keep saying that, but there`s no other way to describe it, there really isn`t..... I also saw a guy with a weird split in his tail, a photo of which is below - Alan didn`t get to see him, as I spotted him before he went behind a rock, but he was bloody brilliant!

So, I`ve attached a few photos to show SOME of the fish we saw today - because believe me, if you can dream a colour, we saw it swimming in the Caribbean today! It`s a pity we couldn`t take underwater shots, because it would be great to have visual aids when explaining it, but the memories I will take from today are vivid and colourful, and won`t fade in a hurry!!! That will have to be some consolation.......

Definitely one of the most amazing things I`ve ever done, and we`re thinking of doing another dive here, and definitely of doing another dive in Cuba!! How lucky am I? Believe me, I know it.

This trip just gets better and better!

Music and Cartagena

God, I am so thankfull for my music!! And my audio books on the MP3 player - without them I`d never get to sleep! So, in honour of my Sony MP3 player, I have created a new playlist - it`s quite long, to cover the overnight bus journeys and whatnot. I have christened it `Sing-Along-Aling`, and I can`t wait to get into my car with it and belt out the songs out loud! So, here it is....in order.

Just dropped in (to see what condition my condition was in) - Kenny Rogers
Here Comes Your Man - Pixies
Common People - Pulp
Take on Me - a-Ha
SOS - Abba
Jackson - Johnny Cash
Starman - David Bowie
Red Right Hand - Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
Goin` Out West - Tom Waits
Your Touch - The Black Keys
Love Burns - Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
Joga - Bjork
Southern Man - Neil Young
Where Did You Sleep Last Night - Nirvana
Gallows Pole - Led Zeppelin
Comfortably Numb - Pink Floyd
Let Down - Radiohead
(Song for my) Sugerspun Sister - The Stone Roses
NYC - Interpol
Space Oddity - David Bowie
Paranoid Android - Radiohead
We are Nowhere, and it`s now - Bright Eyes feat. Emmelou Harris
Lola - The Kinks
The Battle of Evermore - Led Zeppelin
Out of Time - Blur
The Weight - The Band
The Times They are a Changin`- Bob Dylan
Something - The Beatles
Sloop John B - The Beach Boys
Get Back - The Beatles
Born to Run - Bruce Springsteen
Dreaming of You - The Coral
Hotel Yorba - The White Stripes
Touch Me - The Doors
Black Betty - Ram Jam
Standing in the way of control - The Gossip
Someday - The Strokes
Trampled Under Foot - Led Zeppelin
Tightrope - The Stone Roses
Karma Police - Radiohead
I am the Resurrection - The Stone Roses
Offend in Every Way - The White Stripes
Fake Tales of San Fransisco - The Artic Monkeys
The Bucket - Kings of Leon
Whiskey in the Jar - Thin Lizzy
Take Me Out - Franz Ferdinand
Clint Eastwood - Gorillaz
On the Other Side - The Strokes
Love will tear us apart - Joy Division
Don`t Let Me Be Misunderstood - Nina Simone
Where the Wild Roses Grow - Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds feat. Kylie
Get Myself Arrested - Gomez
Psycho Killer - Talking Heads
Ain`t Got No/I Got Life - Nina Simone
Goddess on the Highway - Mercury Rev
Both Sides, Now - Joni Mitchell
Me and Bobby McGee - Janis Joplin
The Sound of Silence - Simon & Garfunkle
So Long, Marianne - Leanard Cohen
Hallelujah - Jeff Buckley

So, that`s my favourite songs to sing along to, all in the one playlist - 60 songs in all!! I`m very proud of it, and love listening to it, and wreck Alan`s head all the time by lying in bed singing along (badly!!). My guitar playing is coming along - Alan says I`m getting really good, but my chord changes are still really slow, a là Father Ted....i.e. "hang on I can get this one....FIELD!". But I love playing it, and love learning new songs, so hopefully that stands to me. Also, I have huge newfound respect for people who play guitar and sing along - it`s like rubbing your stomach and patting your head! Very tough!! So I`m sure I`m not quite a `pleasure` to listen to just yet...

We`re just back from Cartagena, where we spent three nights. Myself and Alan didn`t go on the Lost City trek with the other lads, and decided instead to head off to the most romantic city on the Caribbean, or so it`s called - `The Paris of the North`, I think is the phrase most often used. And it was GORGEOUS!! Imagine a smaller version of Barcelona - the old city - with a Caribbean backdrop! It was beautiful! And we ate in gorgeous restaurants, and strolled through the cobbled streets gazing at wonderful flowers draping from wooden balconies overhead, or strolled through ancient churches and old city wall ruins. We even visited a dungeon in the outer city walls, at the water - brilliant! All the buildings were painted wonderfully bright colours - reds, blues and yellows - so every photo looks fantastic! We didn`t do much there but wander about, but we had a lovely time, and it was very nice to be away with just Alan, so I`m really looking forward to Cuba now, when we`ll have more time to ourselves. Not that I don`t love and adore the other guys, you understand, but sometimes a couple DOES need time to themselves!! Ha ha....

So, we`re back in Taganga now, in the Hotel Delphin, and we`ve just booked ourselves into a day`s scuba diving tomorrow, where we`ll head out to Park Tayrona, and hopefully get to see some coral reefs! Very nervous about it - but also extremely excited! The lads come back tomorrow evening, so we`ll see them then, after our days adventure.....fingers crossed it all goes well, now!!!

Ah, the Caribbean...

Well, we`re finally here....the Caribbean! We couldn`t make it to Cartagena, as it is the beginning of Semana Santa (Holy Week) over here, so everyone´s on holiers. So, instead, we headed to Santa Marta, across the bay. We took a 10.00pm bus from Medallin, which was comfortable enough - mainly due to my finally having learned the lesson to take my sleeping bag onboard! At about 10.00am we changed buses to a very much more bedraggled version of our bus, stuffy and hot and very very dirty! My seat was broken, so I spent the entire journey on the knees of the woman behind me.......

Anyway, as the bus wound away from Baranquilla - where we had swapped vehicles - the Caribbean came into sight for the first time in the sunlight! Impossibly blue, and very inviting looking, it was everything I hoped for! We arrived in blistering sunshine to Santa Marta - so far so good! - and found a hostel quickly enough...Hotel Mirimar, near the shore. A converted old building, it was pretty horrible and dirty, but clean enough and cheap enough to tempt us! At 10000 pesos (about 3.50 euro), it fit the bill, despite a cockroach running straight over my foot as I used the loo.....

Rather than stay in the sweltering heat in a town, we took a taxi out to the nearby Taganga village, where the beaches were supposed to be better, and took a long swim in the cool blue/green waters. How good it felt after such a long journey! The bay around Taganga was gorgeous, and keeps a nice breeze flowing through the area. We ate in the hostel that night, as the trip the night before had tired us out. Next day we upped sticks to Tagana, the lads to Casa Blanca at one end of the bay, and myself and Alan to the cheaper Hotel Delphin at the other end....cheaper because if we want to have a shower, brush our teet, or even flush a toilet, we have to go downstairs and ask at the desk for the water to be turned on in our room........

As soon as we were settled in our respective residences, we went to a scuba school and rented snorkelling gear for the rest of the day - 15000 for flippers, mask and snorkle (about 5.25 euro - the same price as our room per night). We then walked down to the shore, where any of the fishermen will take you around the headland to the Playa Grande over the other side, which is supposed to be better for snorkelling. We nabbed a boat for 5000 pesos return (about 1.90 euro), and headed off to our destination. Around the headland it`s slightly wider, and the bay stretches along fishing areas as well as swimming beaches. We snorkelled for a few hours, but boats passed very close and scared of a few of the bigger fish - in fact, I surfaced at one stage to see Alan ahead of me snorkelling away in the water, as a boat drew nearer his head. I started shouting at him but, of course, he couldn`t hear me. The boat-driver did, however, and spotted Alan, and cut his engines. The boat drifted towards him, though, and Alan surfaced just in time to push himself away from the prow of the boat and avoid getting clunked!! After all that watching fish, we decided to chow down on a beautiful fish dinner in a beach-side restaurant - which was absolutely delicious! The nicest fish - and so fresh - that I have tasted in a long time. The fishermen all traipse along the shores carrying fish and selling them to restaurants, so the meals are extremely cheap, and extremely fresh! Lovely! As it was Paddy`s Day, we took a couple of drinks down to the beach to watch the waves and listen to the sounds of relaxation - though I wasn`t drinking. First Paddy`s Day for a long time that I didn`t drink, but believe me when I say that snorkelling in the Caribbean all day more than makes up for it......

Today we got up early and had breakfast in the sunshine, then hired the snorkles again and headed off around the headland to the left of Taganga, and it was immensely better! We were far from boats and people, and the waters were filled with canyons of rock and gardens of sea urchins and seaweeds....colours I had never seen before in plants, and urchins the size of footballs calmly waving in the current! And the fish were unbelievable - from yellow and black striped ones, to pink with black eyes, to bright blue, to green with silver heads, to neon yellow, to pure black.....every colour you could think of swam by us as we gazed enraptured at the underwater world we are so often exempt from. Wow! We spent literally hours in the water, and are only taking a break now in the hottest part of the day before heading back in later. It is seriously addictive stuff!

The rest of the lads are doing the Lost City trek tomorrow, but myself and Alan are going to head to Cartagena instead, and up to Playa Blanca on the islands. We have booked our tickets to Cuba - flying from Caracas to Havana, 20 April to 9 May - so we`re both very excited, and a little strapped for cash!! We`ve decided that we might do the PADI course in scuba diving, as there is an island off Cuba with some of the best drop-offs in the Caribbean, beauitful coral reefs, and about 60 shipwrecks off the coast, so we`d love to scuba dive through all of that! Taganga is one of the cheapest places in the world to do the PADI course, and Ed has been talking of doing it the entire time we`ve been travelling - myself and Alan are going to do a `fun dive` before committing to the course, to make sure we like it, but judging by how much fun we have had with the snorkles, it`s definitely on the cards!

After that, the plan is to hit Parque Tayrona, which has beautiful white-sand beaches, and we can rent hammocks in little beach-side huts along the coast. After that, the west coast of Venezuela before flying over to gorgeous Cuba! Money bedamned.......I`ll be coming home up to my neck in debt, but every second of work back home will be worth it, because this is the trip of a lifetime!!

Shadowlands

Ah, travel update. Well, I left you last in Lima, where we were passing the hot, lazy days in the cinema in Miraflores, or whiling away our time eating cheap delicious food (though, also eating a lot of fast food, as our hostel was barricaded on all sides by McDonalds, Pizza Hut, Burger King and KFC). We finished our cinema madness with the incredibly moronic, yet strangely entertaining, Rambo 4...if only the real Burmese junta were as easy to oust, eh? Myself, Alan and Welly also took a stroll to the beach, and spent a frustrating hour climbing down a shingle slope to pounding Pacific waves, which threw me on my ass more times than I care to mention and, on one memorable washing-machine experience, almost tore my bikini off....exposing some unwilling surfers to probable blindness!! But, it was refreshing to swim again, and as it was only my second dip in the Pacific, I savoured the swim/battle with the waves. The situation in Ecuador was fast deteriorating, so bus travel was definitely out. We searched and searched for cheap flights to Bogota, but all the airlines were coming in at about the same (high) price, so we settled on all-inclusive flights with LAN for 300 dollars...pricey, but our only option at that stage. I had some fond memories (mainly of Dunkin Dohnuts) of the airport in Lima, and spent the check-in stages wandering around the Duty Free shop, finally finding a solitary bar of Cadbury`s, and thinking myself blessed! We also found a multi-country adaptor, which is something we`ve been searching for all trip, but as we went to pay for it, with the dollars Alan had just purchased from the bank downstairs in the airport, we discovered that one of our $20 bills was a fake!! Damn it! It was too late to go back from airside, and then come through security again, so we had to pass the situation off to experience, and I whipped out old flexible friend to salvage things. The flight was very comfortable, and we were given free drinks and a little snack on the way. Myself and Alan made a deal that I would be at the window for this flight over the Andes, and then he could have the window for flying to Cuba. Unfortunately, I came off rather rawly on that plan, as the weather was low and cloudy for the entire flight, so I saw narry a mountain!!

Bogota airport, when we landed, was TINY! Mostly prefabricated, and fairly lacking in anything in the way of facilities, it was a bit of a shock after the modern hub of Lima. Immigration was fine - despite my worry! I swear, I cannot step near one of those immigration men without somehow feeling criminal, and I begin to sweat and turn red at the thoughts that I must look suspicious to them, and the more I try to look LESS suspicious, the more I feel like I look suspicious. Vicious circle! I also always worry that somehow, between my getting on the plane and walking through, someone has managed to stow four kilos of coke in my bag. It`s a constant worry! Anyway, in the event, the guys were quite friendly. They spoke only Spanish, which didn`t really settle my nerves, because I worried that any hesitation in answering their questions would lead to my being brought into the eponomous "back" for questioning! One question he asked me, "De dondè pais?", was said so softly that I was forced to say "Què?"....he leaned forward and repeated his question.....I said "Irlanda", and his head shot up quickly..."Norte o Sud?", he snapped...."Sud!", I replied. He smiled, relaxed, and said "Bienvinidos a Colombia".....phew!! Damn those `Colombian Three`....they`ve shot my nerves to shit!

Outside we procured a van very similar to the A-Team, to my travelling companions delight, and proceeded into the city to find our hostel, Chopi-Norte, and settle into the city. The omens were not good - low cloud hung across the grey skyline, and a decided chill hit us as we exited the airport. The taxi driver could not find the exact address of the hostel, so we hopped out of our taxi on the street where it was supposed to be situated, confident that it must be close by. As an intersection was listed, we took off in four seperate directions on the streets attempting to find the elusive place, but to no avail. To top it all off, it began to rain, so we took shelter beneath a building. A student passed by, and I showed him the address. He couldn`t help, but a nearby lollipop lady heard our query, and came over to try give aide. And the funny thing is, they both looked so startled to find tourists in their city that they couldn`t stop staring at us! She asked me where we were from, and when I said Ireland, there was such a look of wonder in her face, you´d swear she`d never met an Irish person before. Come to think of it, she probably hadn`t! For those of you who are unaware, due to the activies of the Colombian Three, Irish people were banned from entering Colombia until January of last year, and since then we haven`t exactly been flooding in droves to the country ever since, perhaps the lollipop lady´s shock was not so shocking. Anyway, she had never heard of our hostel either, but ran off into the rain - which was now falling in earnest! A few minutes later, she came running back and beckoned me to follow her, so we all picked up our bags and jogged after her to a little restaurant close-by. The men in the restaurant were apparently expecting us, because they took the address from my hands as soon as I got through the door. They bade us sit down, and put our bags in the corner, as they discussed the address amongst themselves for a while, before dashing out again into the heavy rain. We sat open-mouthed as the man from the restaurant next door came in to add his sixpence to the proceedings, and they all ran about in the rain trying to find our hostel for us. Eventually, the owner let me use his internet, and we found a better address. He looked thrilled on seeing it, and asking me to go with him, we ran out into the rain and across the road, where we found a pathetic A-4 sheet of paper hidden in a dark corner proclaiming the Chopi-Norte hostel - and he looked as thrilled as I was to find it! We arrived back in the restaurant like conquering heroes, his waiters and the man from next door shaking our hands and laughing delightedly at our success. We felt it was only fair to have a drink in their restuarant, as they had been so helpful, and as we sat sipping, the waiter dropped over two big complimentary bowls of a local piping-hot dish - baby potatoes smothered in butter and salt, and fried pig intestine. Hmmm....we ate quite a few (Alan mainly - after watching him eat raw reindeer in Barcelona, I knew that pig intestine would be no bother to him), but only out of courtesy - I can`t say that I´ll be chasing down that particular culinary experience with too much urgency!! So, leaving our new friends we headed across the street to our hostel, full of the joys of Colombia, and happy with our welcome to this most dangerous of cities! And then the bubble deflated slightly....

Our ´hostel´, which had looked so clean and modern on hostelworld.com, was - to use a lovely term from back home - a kip! The three bed dorm advertised for the lads was a double bed with a single bed above it in a bunkbed. The double bed was tiny, and the top bunk was dangerously close to the exposed lightbulb hanging low overhead. The double room that myself and Alan were to sleep in was bare and cold, with a low dirty bed close to the floor - within nibbling distance of rats, as I liked to look at it! Not what we were expecting! There was no facilities, bars on all the doors, and the toilet was horrible, so we went straight to the internet cafe downstairs and booked something else in Bogota for the next night, and left that hole the very next day! Our next hostel was down in the Candeleria section of Bogota - the south of the city, and supposedly the more dangerous part. However, The Bogota B&B was absolutely gorgeous - perhaps even more so due to the horror we just left! - with hammocks hanging indoors, a lovely kitchen, clean spacious rooms, sparkling bathroom and friendly and fun staff. Perfect! We settled in completely, and I had a novel experience! As the hostel was full, I spent my first time of the trip on the top bunk.....usually Alan takes the top, as I am not the most graceful of people, and it has also been pointed out that I am quite clumsy, so rather than suffer my grunts and squeaks as I attempt to haul myself upwards at night, he has taken every top bunk so far. However, due to an Iron Maiden gig in the city, the place was full of people, and I was in one section of the 10-bed dorm, sleeping over a porty Venezuelan man, and Alan on the opposite wall. The portly gentlemen had two friends also sleeping in the dorm, one of whom was on a top bunk end-to-end with mine. That first night was somewhat hellish for me! I have been used to the lads snoring on the trip - I have beaten Bones with an empty water bottle in Buenos Aires, thrown packets of Oreos at Ed in La Paz, and now chucked towels at Welly`s head in Bogota - but I had never had to sleep simultaneously above a strange snorer, and feet-to-feet with another. So, I employed my time-honoured technique of sneak attacks.....first, I held either side of my bunk, and shook myself violently from side to side in quick succession. This woke up the guy below, stopping his snoring momentarily. I knew I had a small window in which to work - snorers return to sleep very quickly! The guy at my feet on the other upper-tier was also nasally challenged, so I leaned forward and grabbed the end of his bed, then gave it two quick, but strong, jerks. He snorted awake, but not before I had returned my head innocently to the pillow, giving a very convincing impression of sleep....I could hear him muttering and looking about him for the disturbance for a while. And in this small break of confusion and startled snorers...and blessed silence...I went to sleep. This was quite a regular occurance, and I`m sure by the third night they knew it was me, but what could they say about it?

Anyway, we stayed in Bogota for a few days, as we were waiting for Mac to arrive up from Buenos Aires. Unfortunately, as he had changed flights recently, and then had to change them back again, he had to stick with a very awkward plan of Buenos Aires to New York, and New York to Bogota....God bless the intellect of airline companies! Anyway, he arrived with us on his birthday, and while Bones and Ed went to the airport to meet him, myself, Alan and Welly cooked up a birthday barbeque and popped some nice wine - and when Ed came back, he broke into a bottle he`d been carrying since Mendoza. Special occassion, and all that! It`s lovely to have Mac back with us - he`s a great travelling companion, interested in everything about him, and always able to meet new people with a smile. So, once we were all sufficiently lazed up in this hostel, we moved on to Medallin. It is called `The City of Eternal Spring`, and we were very much hoping that this would be the case, as Bogota was one long dreary rainy visit. Coupled with the fact that you can`t really go out after dark in Bogota, and the fact that you have to carry a photocopy of your passport and a leaflet with your residence listed for police checkpoints, we were looking forward to a city with less restrictions on our travel. The other strange thing about Bogota was the lack of other tourists! We were in the main sections of the town, strolling about, and could see neither hide nor hair of anyone remotely foreign looking. If there were any other gringos in town, then they were winning a monster game of hide-and-seek!!

We took an overnight bus from Bogota, and it was bloody freezing, and the driver drove like a frickin lunatic, so every corner he hit I was practically thrown off the seat. Needless to say, I didn`t sleep much! We met a student on board who invited us to a college party in Medallin, where there would be many international students - but no Irish. Anyway, we arrived in Medallin and headed out to Casa del Sol, a hostel recommended to us by our previous hosts, which turned out to be fabulous. Samuel, his pregnant girlfriend Paula, and their friend Diana welcomed us like friends, and we relaxed into their lovely clean hostel at once. Medellin has equally turned out to be a beautiful and open-armed town. Obviously the wealth has all come from non-savoury means - this is, after all, Pablo Escobar`s town - but you cannot help but be impressed by the winding streets, teracotta tiling, and surrounding hills. It really is a beautiful town! The metro is, as usual in every city we`ve come across with a metro, indispensible! For about 45 cents you can go anywhere in the city! And the ticket even includes a long cable car ride up into the hills, which we took last Sunday in the blistering sunshine. The suburban area it lets down in - after all, it is not a tourist attraction, but merely a convenient means by which to traverse a very steep incline to a section of the city - was teeming with people, kids playing in the parks, music coming from every home, families strolling in the streets...a real party atmosphere. It was lovely! And, yet again, we seem to be the only tourists in the place! Strange feeling....

We have ended up spending a week here, despite our intentions to only stay a few days. This happens a lot when you are travelling - you find a homely hostel, and get used to the area, and you settle in. It`s no bad thing, but we need to head for the coast soon, as everyone is on something of a time limit. Myself and Alan are trying to buy tickets for Cuba at the minute, but the Cubana website isn`t working. We`re gonna fly from Caracas, so that means we head to the coast and then overland into Venezuela by mid-April. Alan`s cousin, Stephen, who plays for Cardiff City is in the semi-final of the FA Cup in April, and we`re raging we`re not gonna be there for it! We think, if they get into the final, we might fly home early to try see the game, as it is only a week and a half before we are due home anyway. After all, it`s not every day something like this happens!!

While we have been in Colombia, the government stormed into Ecuador and bombed a FARC training camp, killing a leading official. The Ecuadorians were obviously not impressed, and sent troops to the border and ambassadors were pulled home. In the raid, Colombia discovered evidence that Chavez had funded the FARC`s, and threw the gauntlet down at Venezuela, who responded similarily to Ecuador. So, both borders were lined with troops, and some action seemed iminent. However, it was all resolved in a handshake, so we should be safe to continue with our travels!! Fingers crossed, eh??

So, that`s things pretty much up to date. Cartagena is our next port of call, by overnight bus tonight, so here`s hoping for sunshine, sand, and blue, blue ocean.......

Thoughts from the dark country...

I´ll update things soon enough on the travel end of things - I´m writing this from Medallin in central Colombia - but for the moment, I´m gonna have a little brainstorm.

I´ve been feeling sorry for myself these past couple of days - feeling very homesick, missing the kids, wanting time to myself (very hard being in a dorm so constantly), worrying about people - but it has all been thrown into perspective by recent events. A friend´s sister´s boyfriend just died while on holidays in Buenos Aires - in fact, we met both of them merely two months ago in La Paz - and he was just so young, and it´s made me think about things a little harder. Since we left Ireland in October my cousin has died from lung cancer, my Mam has gone through more chemotherapy for her own cancer, an old school friend died from kidney failure, a seemingly solid relationship has collapsed around us all, a friend has had a baby, another friend has also had a baby, yet another friend is fulfilling his dream of returning to Africa, and so many other things of varying degrees of importance. It feels like life has not only carried on without us, but has accelerated to an alarming rate. To have a son, boyfriend, friend not return from a holiday you blithly waved them off on? To have a baby appear in your life with little notice? To see someone your own age waste away from illness? To know your cousin is dying in hospital, but be 3000 miles away? To worry constantly about your family? To have someone you trust break your heart? All these things are playing on my mind today, and all these things are forcing me to accept that changes need to be made in my life.

So, here`s the first thing. I am going to try to be a better person. And I don`t mean in the miniscule sense of the world - I give to charity, I fundraise, I am nice to kids, etc. etc. - but in the broader sense. As Alan always tells me, sometimes I´m nicer to people I don´t know - I care more about children in Africa or Thailand than I do about my friends or the people I know. So, for once, I´ll admit that Alan is right - but don`t tell him that. I´m gonna try to accentuate the positive in my personality, and subdue the negative. To this end, I´m making a bit of a list of things that I know I do wrong, and I´m sure I´ll get agreement on each and every one.... For example: I judge people too quickly, and build dislike for someone quicker than I build like; I am very unforgiving of weaknesses and faults - I will decide somebody is not a good person based on single actions; I over-analyze everything about a situation; I have a very quick temper.

There are certain things that I won`t be able to change so drastically, so I won`t pretend that I can. I have a low opinion of liars, and I always will - somebody who is two-faced and hypocritical has never been worthy of my respect, and never will be. But I´m definitly gonna work on the rest of it!

These past few months have galvanized in me a sense that I should be back in college, should be studying, should be a teacher, and should help change the world, if I can at all. But they´ve also taught me that I had tolerance even more than I had expected, and it´s time to put that tolerance to good use. So, in light of the terrible tragedies that have effected so many people close to me these past few months, I hereby make a vow to change for the better, and try lead a better life.

A little more sugar!

Well, it's been a while since my last blog...and what has happened since then?

To cap up on it all, I trekked, rafted, lazed and travelled! More specific? Ok!

We hung out in The Point, wandering around the lovely cobbled streets of Cusco, finding ever-cheaper coffee shops to eat huge chunks of chocolate cake in - a worthy quest! We decided to sign up to the Inca trek then - possibly frightened by the sight of our expanding waistlines. The Inca Trail - the main tourist one finishing at the Sun Gate in Machu Pichu - is closed for February, but as the entire country of Peru is dotted with Inca trails meandering all over their fabulous mountains, we signed up for another trek advertised in the hostel...a four day ending in Aguas Calientes, the town below Machu Pichu.

So, all seven of us (our fab Scots included) got our bags ready, packing small backpacks, (as we had to carry them every day on the hike), to cover our few days away from the hostel. We met the guide at 7 and took a local bus to our initial destination - the first day was to be downhill mountain biking, so we had to head to a high point. The bus journey was one of the most terrifying ever - the roads were winding upwards along a mountain, and the drops were inches from the wheels at every turn. The worst part was that there had been landslides in the days preceding, and at one point three quarters of the road was covered in rocks and muck, and the bus had to drive over it, making it tilt towards the drop at the edge of the road. I swear, the bus was INCHES from the edge, and I got thrown against Alan at the window and found myself staring straight downwards at the valley below, with nothing to hold me to the road. Bloody terrifying! Alan thought it was brilliant, but I spent most of the time saying silent prayers in my head that we'd be OK.....

The bus let us off at the top of the mountain, and we took our bikes off the top. Bikes! They didn't deserve to be called 'bikes'! The best of them had crappy brakes, and no gears to speak of. Mine had front brakes, but no gear changes....Bones's, as we were to discover, probably had no brakes at all... Anyway, we set off, all seven of us feeling like pros after our death-road experience - but with an addition to the group, Nada, an Iraqi-Canadian girl who didn't enjoy the cycling, so we had to keep stopping to let her catch up. Our guide was very blase about the whole thing, and stayed with her, while we raced on ahead on rocky roads with cliff drops beside us. Unfortunately, towards the end, Bones came off his bike pretty hard, shredding his jeans and leg, grazing his elbow pretty bad, but the worst was his shoulder, which he pulled a lot of skin off of, but also bruised pretty hard. So, we took it slow for the last while to get Bones to the village. Myself and Gail took a stroll around to find a chemists to patch him up, but found a medical centre instead. The nurse there said to bring him down, so I got Bones and brought him back. The woman cleaned all his wounds with iodine and oxigenated water, using steralized equipment and not touching him with her own hands, and bandaged it up with sterile gauze. We wondered how much this would cost, and on asking discovered it was 3 soles (about 70 cent)! Bones gave her 10 - for a drink for herself too! What a health service...

Next day was the beginning of the hiking. The village we were staying in was a little further away from where the original village had stood until 1995, when a landslide and avalanche from a mountain at the other end of the valley had swept along the river and engulfed the houses, killing about 1000 people. As we hiked from the village we passed destroyed houses and banks, shops and streets, and found parts of the road still hadn't been dug up from under the debris - in fact, at one point of the road, we had to walk while looking upwards, to ensure falling rocks didn't hit us. The first day was pretty tough. We had to hike uphill for basically 4 hours - it was an eight hour hike in total, but the uphill was KILLER! In the full heat of the day, and absolutely feeling every step in our out-of-practice muscles, it was a relief to get the to the top! Halfway up, though, we stopped for a rest at a women's home, where they had a pet monkey. I had great fun playing with him - the photos are on bebo. He was hilarious! When we got around the side of the mountain, looking down on the Urumbamba river below us (which we were following to Machu Pichu), we discovered that the Inca trail we were on crossed along the side of a pretty sheer drop for about 20 minutes of walking, and the path was barely a meter wide. With steps up and down, and straight bits across, it was pretty hairy! I was fine with it, as I'm not too bothered by heights in this situation, where I am the one in control of my life - in the bus it's having the bus driver in charge that makes me so nervous! Alan, on the other hand, discovered a latent fear of heights! Who knew.....! His legs were literally vibrating at every step, and I felt very sorry for him walking behind him - but he soldiered on, and completed the whole thing, so I was very proud of him (at the risk of sounding patronising!).

We had to cross the Urumbamba quite high up, and a fabulous little contraption set up across the river at intervals awaited our adventure-seeking party! Cables were strung across the raging waters (and as it was rainy season, they really did rage!), and a small tray was attached to the cable. A platform was set up on opposing sides of the river, and it was up the the person in the tray to pull themselves across to the other side using the rope and pulley system. This particular tray held two people, crossed the river at a height of about 30 meters, and spanned about 400 meters to the other side. The tray was big enough for two people sitting with their knees up to their chins, squashed together, and Gail and Alan bravely went first! They were pushed across, stopped halfway, and we had to watch as they painfully and slowly dragged themselves over. Myself and Alan went next, and it was bloody terrifying...besides the huge drop, tottering across in a rusty tray barely big enough for us to crouch in, gazing at the frayed ropes above, and listening to the creaking of the joints was really giving us the heebies! Alan and Gail helped pull us in on the other side, though, so it was slightly less tiring than their ordeal! What a bloody adventure!

After we crested the hill, we hiked back down towards the river, and ended the day at hot springs past a bamboo swamp, where we swam in the volcanic heat for a good two hours, loving the views of the massive mountains around us, and the soothing warmth on our aching muscles! We had a choice to walk another hour (it had begun to rain!) uphill to our next stop, or take a collectivo (mini-van thing, like a taxi). So we took the collectivo! And this quickly became the NEW worst road journey of my life! Squashed into the van with the others, with the rain lashing down, and all the windows fogged up - even the drivers windscreen - he proceeded to drive at breakneck speed up the hill, with the road collapsing under him at the edge, and rock falling under us. Jesus Christ! Myself and Gail were seriously terrified!! But we made it up there eventually....after what seemed a very bloody long journey, but was really only about 15 minutes.

This next hostel was a bit grubbier than our last, probably not helped by the rain, and the fact that we couldn't dry our clothes from that day! But we're fine with a little hardship...makes you feel that this is a real experience (if you don't suffer, you don't know the sunshine, and all that!). So, next day, we set off early and hiked back down to the river and took a shorter and less high tray across some cables again, and began the easier days trekking. This time the sun shone, and the road was not as tough or up-and-down as the previous days, so it was an easier slog. We reached the valley behind Machu Pichu by lunchtime, and ate lunch with the faintest glimpse of the ruins visible in the distance. That afternoon was pretty monotonous, as we just followed the train tracks around the mountain to Aguas Calientes - literally followed them, we had to hop from sleeper to sleeper for four hours of straight walking (the initial 'Stand By Me' jokes and laughter soon wore thin....). Bones, who had preformed admirably in the previous two days considering the pain of his new bike injuries, and his old ankle break, took the train to Aguas Calientes. His only concession in two days of flat-out strenuous hikes! What a guy....

Our arrival in Aguas Calientes was greeted with the news that we could have hot showers - what luxury - so we all headed to the hostel rooms and relaxed a lot for the night! Next morning we were due to either get up and hike up the hill to Machu Pichu to catch the sunrise, or else take the bus. The two Alan's, in a fit of competativeness methinks, decided to get up at 4.30 to leave at 5 for the hike - along with Nada, which was very strange as she had displayed no interest (and in fact an aversion) to hiking in general! But, fair play to her, she did it! The rest of us got up at 5.00 and took the bus....

When we arrived, we ate our breakfast snack while watching the mist climb higher and higher, until the sky was obscured completely. So, unfortunately, we did not get to see the sun rise above Machu Pichu, but what we did see was an amazing group of ruins and pathways partially obscured by mist, which gave a mystical feel to things that caused us to whisper as we wandered about. Our guide (Rojan, by the way) gave us the tour of the ruins, explaining each of the temples, and also informing us that he still believes in the Inca Gods. His belief came through quite strongly, actually, and the ancient mysticism of Machu Pichu was definitely more impressed upon me on this trip moreso than the last (probably because by the time I reached Machu Pichu last time I was sick from constant hiking at very high altitude, and also bloody wrecked from 6 days of hardcore trekking).

As the sun rose, so did the level of tourists, and by 8.00 am, we were hard pushed to get a photo minus a bunch of Japanese tourists carrying every conceivable digital recording device. A few of us decided to give Wynu Pichu a go - a tough vertical climb along Inca steps with huge drops next to them ending at a summit overlooking the main ruins. Last time I was at Machu Pichu with Concern, we climbed to the Sun Gate, over the other peak beside Machu Pichu, so I was delighted to have a shot at something a little different this time! The climb was extremely vertical - so much so that there were sometimes ropes hammered into the cliff face on your right side to help drag yourself up to the steps. Alan, considering his new-found heights aversion, did amazingly, and we all felt a little fitter when we finally reached the top - taking the usually 1-hour climb in only 40 minutes (but by God, was I sweating!). It was actually great fun, and the view from the top well worth any exersion! Welly hit the Sun Gate with Nada, as she is afraid of heights so didn't want to do Wynu (and I mean seriously afraid - wheras Alan took the Inca steps with shaky legs and didn't enjoy it, she had to sit down and slowly move herself across them on her bum), and as he will be returning here in April with Jane, when she arrives, and wanted to climb it with her.

We returned to Aguas Calientes for our first meal outside of the group-trek (i.e., the first one we had to pay for, and therefore the first we could choose our food), and we ate all round us!! We had a few hours until our train, so we whiled away some time strolling through the markets, and fooling around on the internet. The train was a special tourist train, as tourists cannot travel on the local trains - to keep the trains from being over-packed in high season and stopping regulars from fitting on, and also to maintain a low price for locals. It was nice, and we travelled further along the river Urumbamba to the Sacred Valley, finishing in Ollantaytambo. We took a bus from there back to our hostel (a tire blew out on the way, and the bus swerved dramatically), arriving safe and sound back in Cusco pretty late at night.

We had a day of rest before we were due to head off on a two-day white water rafting tour, and on the morning of the trip Bones unfortunately discovered that the days since his bike accident had not healed his shoulder, and it had actually seized up rather painfully. The rest of us set off for the river at about 9, discovering as we did so that the river we would be rafting on was the very one we had hiked alongside to Machu Pichu...a scary thought, as that river had flowed powerfully and dangerously next to us on a continuous basis! However, further discussion revealed that day one was to be grade 2-3 rapids. As we had rafted grade 3 in Bariloche, we were a little underwhelmed by the news! But rafting is always fun, no matter what! Ed and Alan took the front this time, as Alan the Scot and Welly had taken the front in Bariloche - myself and Gail had jumped to take the next days positions! The first day was relatively easy - nothing we couldn't handle, despite having a trainee instructor onboard with our guy who kept sending us wrong instructions! The other team, consisting of four people over 60 and a couple of first-timers, capsized on one of the rapids, and while we laughed at them (how mature!), panic ensued...we had not been given proper instructions on what to do in this situation, so while we knew the proper course of action, they did not. We went in to pull a few out of the water, and help the rescue team, and looked on it as a bit of an adventure to liven up the otherwise ho-hum rapids...although having my lip split open from a panicked and large elderly Japanese man was a tad annoying! We got them all out, but there was considerable panic amongst the othe group, with one girl giving a very convincing preformance of someone who has just cheated death, and isn't happy about it!

We had lunch back at the group centre, and ate a hearty lunch with the other group. They departed for the evening, and we spent the afternoon walking into town - where, for one of the few times on the trip, we were genuinely the only gringos in town - and buying cards, playing cards, and then building a fire outside our tent. We were left mainly to our own devices until dinner, and then we retired to our tents for the night. Next morning we were greated to the greatest breakfast I have ever had! A giant steaming pot of porridge and quinea, fresh bread, delicious pancakes and eggs scrambled with onions and spices - not to mention the jams, honey and dulce de leche mixed in! So we ate very heartily, and headed off for our most exciting day - the grade 3-4 and possibly 5 rapids! Myself and Gail were a bit nervous up front, but we steeled ourselves to the challenge of leading the rowing and setting the pace. We set off higher up the mountain this time, and hit some 3's first of all - exciting ones, much better than the day before. But the real thrill of the day was definitely held in those grade 4 (some nearly 5!) doozies! You literally crest the pounding water and drop vertically into holes - where all myself and Gail could see around us was water - then climb another vertical drop so you are looking straight up at the sky, before crashing down again, with waves of water assailing you at every turn. We were soaked and thrilled - screaming in each rapid, and laughing hysterically when we successfully got out the other side! The other team, a new group this time, were also unlucky - they capsized and our rescue mission was called into force again. But the entire day was absolutely amazing, and one of the best yet! I absolutely adore the rafting, and hitting the giant rapids gave such a burst of adrenalin and hilarity that I would happily strap myself in there again!

When we returned to Cusco, to our boy-back-home Bones, we discovered that the tourist agency wouldn't return his money. Having a good track record with getting refunds, I offered my services, and together myself and Bones bypassed the contracted 'no refund' clause, and managed to get half his money back. The best we could do in the circumstances! Our combined diplomacy, charm, and threats to camp out at the tourist desk and tell everyone in the hostel that the company were scam artists, seemed to have done the trick.......

We did absolutely nothing else in Cusco but laze around! And we also said goodbye to our fabulous Scottish friends, Gail and Allan, who were heading back over to Rio for some sun and sand before heading home to Scotland. We've organised visits, though - we're hitting Durness, where they live, for the Highland Games in July, and they're hopefully coming over to Electric Picnic in September, so hopefully we keep in good contact with them. It's weird being without them - they were around for three of our four months travelling! So, we're now back to five people, though hopefully Mac is meeting us in Bogota, and then at least we'll have even numbers for dinners!

We left for Lima on the overnight bus - supposed to be 19 hours, but in reality quite a bit more! We had splashed out for the fully cama seats, which should fold back into beds, but were tricked a little because the seats - though comfortable - didn't go back fully. It was an OK bus journey, but I think I got ten minutes sleep in total! The roads leading out of Cusco were strewn with rocks and fallen branches, making the usual precarious journey up winding roads with cliff drops abounding, even more nerve-racking! We have seen on the news that the rocks and branches are not from landslides, as we thought, but are being placed there by protesters to stop anyone entering or leaving Cusco - I'm not sure yet what the protest is for. The journey went straight across the Andes, so the scenery was beautiful, but because of the extremely high altitudes we were hitting, we were all a little sick and couldn't sleep very well.

We arrived in Lima to sunshine and a lovely hostel in the posh part of Miraflores, where I made the happy discovery that the shopping plaza at the end of our street, overlooking the Pacific, is the very one I had lunch in on my last day in Peru with Concern! It also has a very nice cinema! Oh, what withdrawals I have had!!! Going from the cinema once a week at home to once a MONTH here is shocking to the system..... So, we went to see 'No Country for Old Men' the first night, and 'There Will be Blood' the second. 'No Country' was by far the better movie, with subtle and powerful preformances from all involved, not to mention excellent sound and directing, with no music used in any scene - making those gunshots just that little more frightening! It was a simple and forcefully told story, and we all left the cinema agreeing that it was one of the best movies we'd ever seen. 'There Will be Blood', on the other hand, failed as so many of those sweeping epics do! An OK story, it fell back on Daniel Day Lewis' amazing acting one too many times - he carried the movie with his consistantly tough and skillfull acting. Worth watching for his preformance, but for little else - he raises it from dull and monotonous to stimulating and frightening.

And the Oscar results tonight confirmed things for me, with 'No Country' sweeping the best sections, and Danny Day getting a well deserved statue to add to the collection! It feels so weird not watching it - it's the first time that I have not only not seen practically every movie in every catagory, but that I am not sitting on my couch avidly awaiting the results!

And, between Barnsley beating Liverpool in the FA Cup and Liverpool beating Milan in the Champions League, it's been an interesting while for footie, and I've thankfully caught most of Liverpools matches. With Tottenham beating Chelsea in the Carling Cup final today, it's been nice to keep up with what footie we can - after all, watching Chelsea lose a match is always something to make you smile!

So, that brings us up to date! We're trying to find flights to Bogota at the moment - travelling through Ecuador by bus might be too tricky, as recent extreme floods and volcanic activity has forced the president to declare a state of emergency in the country. So, that's a cost I wasn't expecting, but I'll have to find some way to budget it in. Cuba is still the number one destination, despite being both expensive to visit, and expensive to fly to - it's a pity that Castro has officially stepped down, as seeing the country under his rule was one of my main reasons for hitting it. But I'm sure, as his brother has de facto been in charge these past ten years or so, the country should still tick over nicely!

Here's looking forward to Bogota, then! Another month, another country, as my refrain goes...

A wee rant...just to balance the SUGAR!

Well, I've spent my time going on and on about everything I love about South America, so here's a quick list of things I DON'T like about travelling in this fine continent.....just because I'm in the mood to rant!

1. Cocaine: Jesus, it's unavoidable here! Everyone is doing it, selling it, wrecking my head on it! Every hostel you go to is full of rich westerners off their heads on class A's, and worst of all, acting like it's totally acceptable to shove stuff up their noses in front of you! Nobody thinks of the cost to countries with the level of poverty we have gone through, making a business from drugs, and what that might do to them eventually - no, no...these middle-class kids just want a good time! And you have to love their excuses for doing so much of it over here - that it's so much purer! Cocaine!! Which, even at it's purest, contains such savoury additions as sulfuric acid, kerosene, diethyl ether, and sodium hydroxide. Wow! Straight from nature, eh? Never mind that it's a highly addictive corrosive drug that, with increased usage, requires higher dosage, can dissolve your septum, weaken your organs, and create addiction. And never mind the destruction of families it can cause! No, of course not - it's just a recreational drug! But, for me, the most annoying part is that people who do coke spend the entire night bouncing off the walls, talking shit, wrecking other people's heads, and generally acting arrogantly. Then, once it gets to about ten o' clock the next day, they retire to their beds for 24-48 hours, waking occasionally to complain of how sick they feel. Oh yes, what a drug!!

2. Aussies: I know it's a generalisation, but the majority of Aussies I meet are rich kids off travelling on Daddy's money, and care little about the culture they're here to see, and spend their time holed up in hostel bars drinking through beer-bongs and doing a lot of coke. Oh, they're great fun to be around (note my sarcasm)...so much interesting conversation from those spoilt brats! Example of a comment left on the wall of this hostel from a lovely Aussie? "I ate a whole pineapple, skin and all, for 30 soles and a line of coke"....30 soles is about 7 euro. What a guy! Another comment? "Total meatmarket. Locals are sluts. Enjoy". And, yes, I am in Cusco - the capital of the Incan area, surrounded by historical buildings and wonderful scenery. They really get the scope of cultural feel, don't they! And if I have to listen to one more group of Aussies using the table outside of my room for coke snorting and shit-talking while I'm lying in bed, there's gonna be a massacre!!

3. English People: Is it a cultural thing? I don't know! I've met some lovely English people, but so far, the majority seem to be along the same lines as the Aussies - coke snorting, all drinking, idiots! Example of a couple in the room next to us in La Paz - both from London - the guy told one of our group that his girlfriend was pregnant, but not to tell her, because she didn't know yet...ridiculously paranoid, and brains melted from coke. At night I could hear the most fantastic fights, punctuated by snorting, and one night he spent in the bar, while she passed out on the bathroom floor, and when he came back up she screamed about how she had been there for 6 hours....it was about 40 minutes since he left the room. Both so paranoid, coked up, and noisy! I had the runny tummy in La Paz, and one morning they were being particularily noisy having come in from a club at about 8 in the morning, and proceeded to have a party in their room. I was very sick, very tired, and very cross. Alan went down to the bar to read, but I wanted to sleep. So, when I heard their door open, I slammed open my door to be confronted by Alex - a moronic English dreadlocked fool, also coked up - and told him to "turn the fu*$ing music off", to which he replied (slightly frightened looking) that he would ask them to turn it down. I must have looked a sight in my angry state, and my reply was probably no less scary - "WELL FUCKING ASK HIM THEN....NOW!!!", and stood there waiting for him to scarper inside. I slammed my door, then lay back on the bed. Within one minute, the music was off, and they had all left the hostel for a pub. I didn't have trouble with music from them again. So, my general feeling has been one of disappointment at our friends-from-across-the-sea...though, like I say, there have been exceptions, I don't want to tar everyone with the same brush!

4. Sleep Deprevation: I'm not a big goer-outer, so I have resigned myself to having parties go on around me while I head for sleep - I have an eye-mask and headphones to help! But sometimes the fact that you are in busy dorm, with loud parties all around, sometimes does get a little wearying. Fighting for sleep every night, battling against the noise and your own anger, does take it's toll!!

5. Chocolate: I found an imported Twirl the other day, after four months, and the Cadbury's tasted like the most amazing thing I've ever touched with my lips. Enough said.

6. Homesickness: It is a sickness, simple as that! I miss the kids more than anything, and think about them all the time. I'm having the time of my life, but sometimes the distance between me and my family hits me like a punch in the stomach and physically hurts.

7. Personal Space: Those who know me, know that I spend quite a lot of my time alone - either reading or watching my DVD's. It's hard not to have your own time, or the ability to just leave everyone - much as you love them all - and retreat into your personal time.

8. My Car: The freedom to pick and choose when you stay, or when you go.

9. Singing: Just singing along to my MP3 player in the car! I love it, what can I say?!?!?

10. Ireland: You're never so patriotic as when you're away! Meeting other Irish people - and there are a lot of them travelling! - helps, but nothing compares to the green green grass of home!!

OK, so that's my rant over with! Other than that, South America is the most amazing place I've ever travelled, and I'm loving every minute!

But it's good to rant....let's out those bad vibes, eh??!! And I'm sure everyone was sick of how brilliant a time I was having, and glad that there are some things I don't like...ha ha!

Carnaval, Puno, floating islands, and now Cusco.....

Well, it´s been a hectic few days, I have to say! We left Copacabana to cross into Peru, and drove the full way around the lake. The border crossing was ridiculously easy - having an Irish passport is a ticket to smiles and welcomes, I´m telling you! Me and Alan met a lovely little chap, named Edbar, of about ten years old at the border, and he asked us for some Irish coins when we were passing. We didn´t have any, but I gave him all my Bolivian coins, and he sat chatting with us while we waited for the rest of our friends - turns out he learned English from passing tourists...and his English was fantastic! He told us all about the area, and showed us his shoe-shine box - but he seemed more interested in talking than hustling for money, as with some shoe-shiners. Also, at the end of the day, even though these kids are earning money for families, they are just kids, at the bottom line, and what kid doesn´t enjoy attention?? So, we chatted to him, and gave him some more money as we were leaving - the equivalent of about three euro, but his face lit up like it was Christmas. A great intro to Peru!

When we arrived in Puno, we were hustled to bits by our bus driver, who kept trying to get us to sign up to his boat tour to the islands, or buy tickets for the trip to Cusco off of him. He wouldn´t take no for an answer, and we ended up having to agree to meet him in our hotel the next night just to get him to leave us alone! Our hotel was fantastic - which it would want to be at $20 a night! But there was nothing else free in Puno, so we had to take it. We had two nights booked there, and we spent an awful lot of that time lolling in the bath and watching our cable television! We are very lazy at heart.....

The town itself was pretty nice, though, and our hotel overlooked the main square. The nights were punctuated with the beautiful sounds of the central cathederal´s bells ringing out the celebrations for Carnaval, the night sky dotted with fireworks, and our ears assailed with the sounds of marching and singing through the streets. However, nothing compared to the Sunday, when we moved to our new hotel - owned by our hustling friend, and with the special price of $10 per night - and we discovered that the town´s inhabitants took Carnaval very seriously, and the streets were filled with parades of colourfully dressed groups, who took turns marching to the main square, and preforming in front of the cathederal for the gathered crowds. We stood for hours in the sunshine, watching drum shows, and wonderful dances involving farming tools and women and men doing elaborate exchanges, which must surely mean something - but which we were woefully ignorant of! Kids in full traditional costume, women and men in multicoloured masks and clothes, flags waving, drums banging, pan-pipes tooting - it was everything I though Carnaval would be! And all that night, as the groups obviously began drinking, the street party continued! Our hotel was in the centre of it all, and by leaning out the window you could drink in the music and dancing without fear of attack - a favourite passtime of the Carnaval goers is the throwing of water balloons at gringos, and some cans of spray-foam were making appearances also! All in good fun, of course....

We set off Monday morning on the early boat (7.00!) to the islands, and our first stop was the floating islands, made of reeds. There are 37 in all, and each house about five families. We stopped at the first, and it was unbelievable! The reeds were visible metres down into the water, stacked on top of each other, and on top of turf, to keep the island stable, and the ground was springy beneath your feet as you strolled around. The families were most welcoming - as we sat listening to the description of our guide on how the islands were constructed, the women rushed forward with blankets to protect us from the rain! They welcomed us into our homes, speaking Ururu (I think that´s what it´s called!) - an ancient language from the ´people of the sun´. The kids freely wandered among us, asking us for chocolate, and happily played amongst the tourists! The houses, the ground, the roofs, their furniture - all made from the thick reeds that grow so abundantly on the lake. To top off our visit to the islands, we were taken in a reed boat to the next floating island - crowded together on the base, with the lake around us, and a cheeky girl of about six from the previous island who wandered amongst us, touching clothes and hair and hats with wonderment! She, as with all the women, were dressed in the many-layered dresses of various colours typical to the area. We bought some crafts from the locals - the least we could do! - and hopped back on our motor-boat. As we pulled away from this mass of floating islands, I notice a solar panel on the reed roof of one of the houses....and a t.v. inside! Ha ha......

Next stop was the larger island of Amantaní, where the islanders speak Quechuan. Here, we were treated to a smaller Carnaval, as the islanders marched across their small sun-drenched patch of land banging drums, playing pipes, and singing heartily! We walked across the hills from our harbour to the main village, where the islanders were all gathered. All in traditional wear, we were told that the coloured skirts on women meant that they were single, and black skirts signify marriage (in mourning for their freedom? ha ha!), unless they are young children - then it is the school uniform! The men, on the other hand, wear large woollen hats. Fully red hats signify marriage, and half red, half white signify single. Amazing!

The people of the island all weave, knit and sew - even the men. We entered their craft area, and I watched as women from the island and delivered their wares, and were all marked into a book. Each item you buy has the name of the maker on it, and I bought a scarf. 10% of the profit goes to the island at large, and the rest to the maker, so it was a great feeling knowing that some of the women who gathered around were benifiting directly! We ate lunch in one of the many communally owned restaurants, where for 12 soles - about 3 euro - we had vegetable soup (with vegetables all grown on the island) followed by grilled trout (caught in the lake) with rice and chips (all grown there). We walked back across the island in the sun, surrounded by the beautiful blue lake, and down the Incan steps to the harbour. There, we met the bands on their return journey, having traversed the majority of the island singing and playing their instruments. While we panted in the high altitude, they stolled upwards with ease - though their abilities were somewhat explained when one of the men zealously wished me a happy Carnaval and introduced himself, smelling strongly of alcohol.....ha ha! They would like St. Patrick´s day, I think.....

So, this morning we caught the early bus to Cusco. The journey should have taken about 7 hours, but the driver was a lunatic, so we got here in six. On the way, he narrowly avoided the legs of a motorcycle driver who came off his bike ahead of us...we were all thrown to one side as he swerved the bus! Scary stuff....

Cusco is as beautiful as I remember it! We´re staying in The Point hostel, which is owned by Davey - our fabulous Tipp man who owned The Wild Rover in La Paz (he´s getting here Sunday), so I´m currently sitting with a cold, bubbly, Brahma, and am about to settle in for a hectic evening of doing sweet fuck all!

And best of all today? I got an imported Twirl - REAL cadbury´s chocolate! And then when I got to the hostel? A bacon and egg toastie....

Life is good..........

Machu Pichu, here I come!