Christmas in the sun

First of all...MERRY CHRISTMAS to you all and a HAPPY NEW YEAR fast approaching. We have has a very different festive period I feel. Upon leaving Ilha Grande (where we accidental-on-purpose forgot to pay for our room...) we arrived in sunny Rio and to our hostel located a stones throw from the Copacabana beach. On arrival we meet up with Josh, Dave and Guy again and decided to hit the town hard, and I mean very hard. We went to a place called The House and were astounded by the beauty of the woman and the strength of the drinks....needless to say it all ended well. Armed with heavy hangovers we quickly got our camera fixed (so no more black-smudge-ufo-things) and headed to chill on the beach which although quite crowded was great fun in the 30+ degree heat. Followed by a more relaxed evening at our excellent hostel.

Christmas eve started with a bang as me and Dave embarked on a 6km run of the beach to see the 'sights', although it was already 29 degrees at 9oc so was hot work but great fun! After a quick dip at the rival Ipanema beach, we wandered back down the Copa were I nearly got in deep trouble trying to take a photo I shouldn't....it was for u Dad! We followed this by getting a big game of volleyball going on the beach. Then to stay in Brazilian customs we had an amazing roast dinner (best we could manage esp with Steve and Guy throwing hot gravy around) and exchanged secret Santa presents on Xmas Eve and a few beers into the evening (and into the next morning as it happened) to get merry with fellow hostelers from around the world.

THE BIG DAY! and a scorching 34 degrees, so after a relaxed morning with a Brazilian breakfast we again frequented the Copacabana beach for more football, swimming, ogling, etc before an all-you-can eat Xmas BBQ and more beer to continue to merry theme. Obviously not a standard Christmas for us, but good fun all the same. To finish off Rio in style, Boxing day, we went on a self-guided city tour, some more football and volleyball on the beach then a cheeky game of vodka poker, some ufc fighting and a bar crawl in LaPa, Rio's party district.

All in all, we had an unforgettable Xmas period in a city which has quickly become on of my favourites in the world so far. The combination of weather, cityscapes, beaches, green scenic mountains, partying, woman (who are by far and away the best iv ever seen, you fall in love, on average, every 12 seconds) make it the premier destination for any trip to South America.

We are now in Puerto Iquazu in Argentina after a 25 hour bus ride, with Rod Stewart live on the TV, and sweating a lot due to suddenly finding out we are in a Malarial region with no tablets, so keep as much skin covered as possible! Then off to Buenos Aires for New Year....'tis a hard life!

Paradise

We survived! The horrific experience of doing four night bus journeys back to back is now just a grand story. We worked out that over 100 hours of a life we will never see again, 67 were spent being supported by four wheels, generally getting thrown around due to the desperate tarmac shortage that appears to be facing south American roads. As we were powering our way to and through the Brazilian border we changed our plans, and final destination became Paraty, a small colonial town a few hours south of Rio. Part of the ‘Green Coast’ it sits in a bay in which 65 small islands are dotted. The outlook from our beach front hostel was quite something. This however was unknown when we arrived shrouded by the night, and we all (still travelling in a five) simply found a bed and utilised it. When I woke in the morning, I was laying on a bottom bunk, my head was in line with the dorm door, which was open, and I could see the sea, maybe 20m in front of me. Paraty was used then as a chill out, relax, enjoy Brazil experience (for the most part, see day two story..!!). The first day we lounged around, had a swim, got a bit burnt and wandered round town. We also ventured out in the evening through the cobbled streets and enjoyed some cocktails and schemed about how to best explore the bay. We teamed up with an Aussie girl and agreed that the next day, when the other three in our party left, we would form a new posse, rent a canoe for the day and go hence forth.

Unfortunately it wasn’t that simple. Canoe man we had seen on our beach was nowhere to be seen. Armed with information that there was another guy on the next beach along we set off, took the wrong path, got lost in jungle wilderness and then became stranded on a rock from which we could see that target beach but not reach it!! Plan A was hatched, and Stuart swam to the beach hoping to persuade canoe man to give him a canoe (with no money, we didn’t want to get it wet) so that he could rescue us, we could hand over currency and be on our way. Plan A failed. On receiving the signal that Stu couldn’t get a canoe, we assumed money was the problem and I set about getting to the beach with the wallet under my hat, id keep my head up, pay, rescue aussie girl and wed be on our way. Plan B failed, due to the likelihood that my hat was not going to stay dry I had to swim to ‘shore’ and clamber over rocks and barnacles, bashing myself and also cutting open my feet on oysters, gradually skirting to the beach. On arrival I gathered from Stu that these injuries could be added to exhaustion from his swim and further abrasions! I also learnt money was not the problem, canoe man had simply decided to take his lunch break and bugger off. When he returned we arranged to get a canoe, and looked up to see aussie girl being rescued by a fisherman. So, I didn’t need to come to the beach, and now nor did Stu as we would have been saved had we stayed put. It then started to rain. Then a lad from Manchester arrived and told us it was a ten minute stroll round the road from the hostel. We were tired, bleeding and battered and gave up. The next day we got up early, got canoes and went for it, found little coves and hidden beaches and generally had a fantastic day. That easy.

From Paraty we took a small bus and then ferry trip to Ilha Grande, an island with no roads (for it has no cars), no banks and not many people. There is nothing here but beaches, restaurants and some souvenir shops. Its bloody marvellous. We are once again soaking up beach delights, dancing to late night samba-beats and also trekking into the Jungle. We saw monkeys and Lizards before dipping in freshwater pools in clearings and finding more hidden beaches with amazing Brazilian women. This seems as close to paradise as we are likely to get… but then there are still five months to go!!

A record-breaking week

After some respite in La Paz on arrival, Me, Steve, Dave and Guy decided to book a round of golf to treat ourselves (as we live such hard lives at the moment). This wasn´t to be any round of golf however, set at over 10,000ft we undertook a hack around the World´s Highest Golf Course. With our guide, Pablo, giving us the politcal low-down on Bolivia on the way, we arrived, met our caddies (yes, even invested in some caddies), and were instantly awestruck by the views of this course set in the mountains (and how posh it was!) Unfortunatly due to a lack of practice our golf didnt match the surroundings or the caddies expectations, but this paled into insiginifcance with the weather and the course providing the perfect setting to spend our last day in La Paz. Guy showed us how to play with Dave, Me and Steve a fair few shots back but great fun was had by all, even with ´a bit´ of sunburn!

That evening we headed on a night bus to Uyuni on the World´s Bumpiest Round, therefore sleep was at a premium. Our reason for heading south was to undertake a two-day tour around the ´Salar de Uyuni´, the World´s Largest Salt Flats. Bleary eyed our saviour ´David the tour operator´ got us a good deal for the 5 of us on a tour and we headed to see some salt, or rather alot of salt. After quick stops at the Salt Hotel (made completely out of salt) and a small salt mining town we reached Fish Island for some lunch and a look at the incredable vistas. Now its worth mentioning I cannot do the views justice in words, to have a 360 degree view of white with backdrops of Andean Mountains is something that needs to be witnessed. After lunch we moved away from the hords of other 4x4 and undertook in the abligatory, crazy salt flat photos where perspective can be manipulated before reaching our hostel for a well earnt night in a bed! Just before the needed sleep, we poped out and witness probabily the World´s Greatest Sunset, keep an eye out for the photos! (note: unfortunalty still no photos due to Bolivian Internet, the World´s Slowest Internet, we promise we will put them all up in around a week when in Brazil)



Day 2 started early with an accent up a Volcano near our Hostel on the egde of the Salar, this took us a few hours and to a new record height for the trip so far of approx 5200ft. Not much oxygen up there! This again gave us some more breathtaking views of the Salt flats and surrounding mountains, before heading down via some 1250BC Mummies! After lunch we cruised along the salt for an hour or so (Me and Josh sunbathing on top of a 4x4 as you do...) and saw some Lithium mines, cold water Geysers, and the Train Graveyard of old abandoned British and French Trains before arriving back in Uyuni to grab a shower and give David our photos before undertaking World´s Longest Bus Journey....

I am currently writing this in Santa Cruz, Bolivia where we are 2 out of probabily 4 consectutive night buses down to reach the coast in Brazil (still not set an exact destination yet). We are tired and smelly but the dream of of the Brazil lives on........

Jungle Fever

We jumped on the rickety, non-bano equipped bus to the rainforest. The journey was hot and long, and filled with many heart-in-mouth, i'm about to go down this precipice and die, moments. However, the scenery was immence. I rarely fill more like a backpacker than when i'm hanging out the window of a hot crowded bus, getting slowly sunburnt with my jaw permanently dropped. All in all it was simply an experience then, and on entry to Rurrenabaque (at 5 in the morning) we went of in search of shelter. We were accosted on the way by Louis, a wheeling dealing Israeli who seemed like the man to put us on the pampas tour we were after. When we realised we had to leave that same day due to a national holiday fast approaching for the elections in Bolivia, we went all in. By 8.30 we were bouncing along dirt roads in a four by four with our guide 'Juan Carlos' who we were imformed spoke 'enough' english. We soon found out this was 'no' english, but actually his eternal smile and nod manouver had him sold to us from the start. After a few hours we reached a river, jumped in a wooden canoe type affair and sped into nowhere. On the way we saw flipping hundreds of alligators, birds of paradise, capabara, kingfishers, condors, eagles, turtles, monkeys (which we fed bananas) and... well, so much other stuff it just got silly.

The shear volume of alligators came back to haunt us however when Juan decided to beach the boat and hand gesture we should get out to push it off. When there is a language barrier, muddy water you can't see into and a significant amout of hungry looking alliators about you become more than apprehensive. Juan smiled and nodded. We all jumped out, and actually this became a regular theme when the river became shallow. I wouldn't say we ever enjoyed the experience however! It took a few hours to reach our lodgings - Wooden, stilted and basic to say the least, but equally f-ing cool! That evening we popped a little further down the river to the 'sun set bar' and sipped cold beers watching the sun go down over the Pampas. On the way back we saw some alligators by night and fire flies...

The next day we went on foot through the pampas anaconda hunting. Unfortunately we failed to find said snake, but did enjoy a few rounds of 'hit the alligator on the head', which came with some amusing results. After we returned to camp (using our engineering skills to ford the river and reach a well earned lunch without the guides) Juan did indeed find an anaconda, but we weren't in the vicinity. After a siesta in hammocks, we went swimming with pink dolphins, which Juan had us believe was totally safe despite alligators on the shore. Good fun though!

On the third day we went fishing! Pirana fishing... We caught sardines for bait, chopped them up, then reeled in the snappers. Stu was successful in both regards, and also managed to find some cat fish. I only made enemies with the sardines, but was pleased to catch anything on my first ever fishing trip. The piranas were cooked up (Juan was some sort of Guru and added significantly to the pile) and we ate them with lunch - very nice with a bit of lime! That left the return journey with even more hair raising out of boat moments. It also decided to rain and completely soak us, but we were so unclean and un bothered by this stage it just became funny. In the jeep our driver did a masterful effort with the wheels, and we sailed through the bog road when all around us jeeps were getting stuck (including that of the party boat - woop woop).

The bus back to La Paz was delayed, broke a wheel and was hampered by rain and the uphill journey. It was horrific, especially considering most of us were stuggling with stomach altercations and once again a lack of toilet, but we survived. Well worth it...

More SA Tribulations

With the awe-inspiring Inca Trail behind us we headed for the Bolivia with Leonie (German/Italian girl) and a small town named Copacabana on the shore of Lake Titicaca. Unfortunately we had both now been struck by irregular bowel movements (along with a lot of other travellers we are finding). Steve: “Rear end problems have produced some funny moments however. To get across the Bolivian border we had to vacate our toilet equipped bus for a rickty minibus. After loading his bag onto said minibus Stu decided it may be prudent to utilize the loo one last time. Unfortunately with myself and Leonie on the minibus with Stus luggage and with Stus behind still hanging over the Bano in the first bus, the driver gunned it for La Paz. By all accounts Stu had an embarrassing moment flinging the door open to shout expletives at the driver whilst trying to control rectal outbursts. I had no idea what to do, thankfully Stu remembered the word for stop however...” Thankfully only my pride was damaged and we made it to the Lake, which was incredible.

At 3810m a.s.l. it is the world highest navigable lake is certainly an impressive sight. Once we had dropped our bags at a hostel, with a night bag packed we headed for a 17km coastal walk from Copa to Yamupata where we planned to catch a boat to the Isle del Sol (Island of the Sun). On route we saw some redonkulous scenery, floating islands and even partied and drank at a Bolivian street party for some Virgin, with the Bolivian woman desperate to dance with us, great craic! We made it, albeit very tired, to the boat and reached the Island for the night with 3 more ‘real life’ Germans for company. That night the Island of the ‘Sun’ experienced the biggest storm either of us have ever witness which kept us up but was impressive to say the least.
The next day we trekked from North to South on the Island with Seb the Bald German, with some ruin visiting and toilet frequenting en route (still not functioning well!) and caught the last ferry back to Copa for one more night before heading to La Paz the following day (world’s highest capital city) with Seb and an International Observer from Canada for the up-and-coming Bolivian elections, Go Evo!!!!

Once arrived at La Paz we met up with the 3 amigos (Welsh Dave, Josh and Guy, friends from Uni) and we proceeded drink the bar dry and fail miserably at the pub quiz. Steve still suffering with stomach issues at this point so didn’t think this was a good idea. Steve: “Missing beer!!” Also we found that our plans coincide up until Christmas in Rio so after a day of market frequenting today we head off north tomorrow to Rurrenabaque and a Pampas Tour to the Bolivian Amazon to swim with dolphins, hunt for anacondas, fish for piranhas, canoe down rivers and generally see tons of wildlife. Will let you know if we survive........

P.s. Apologies for lack of photos, good internet is hard to come by! As soon as we have it, you will see all the wonders we have encountered.

Pachamama Wawawooey

Cusco is a lovely city and ex-inca capital so it has quite a lot to see, but it surprisingly small considering. We spent a couple of days walking around, made some more multinational friendships and had a very nice meal with the majority of our hostel (following which Stu also went drinking with said crowd and acquired a quite sizeable headache), but we found that we soaked up a lot very quickly and had itchy feet when we figured we had a day to spare before the Inca Trail. Enter scooter hire for 30 bucks a day (with no requirement to see a driving licence!). We whizzed through the sacred valley to Pisac and frequented some of the many Inca ruins on the way back. We also climbed up to the statue of Jesus that overlooks the city (think Rio - most cities here have an effigy of the lad in the hills). As we approached the holy one some clouds rolled in and we were warned we may get wet. We did. Very wet. Just as we reached his toes the heavens opened. I can tell you, Jesus did not offer us much shelter, we have clearly been very bad boys. So we arrived back in Cusco soaked, but it was a great ride and a really novel way to see the valley, the little Peruvian villages and people and the crazy amount of livestock that just roams wild by the road (and frequently on it), we’re talking Llama, chicken, cow, bull, pig, dog, duck… on and on ad infinitum!

We took the day before the inca trail easy, took more hilarious 60p taxis - the smallest cars you have ever seen and a significant language barrier, ate more 1 pound 60 three course meals, and haggled in some more markets. We had a briefing about our trip and proceeded to get very excited…

Mitchel, our uber cool Peruvian guide picked us up at stupid o’clock in the morning and the four of us (fantastic number, us two and two girls) minibused it through the Sacred Valley to Ollentaytambo, where we saw our first large scale ruins. After some interesting speil, we were taken to the highest point in the valley (unbelievable scenery included at no extra cost), placed on a mountain bike and pushed down a hill. We spent the next 84km downhill mountain biking, getting soaked when we zoomed through fords, getting muddy head to toe when we followed Mitchel on his ‘shortcuts’ and generally getting breathless through the exhilaration and outlook. Lunch split the cycle at some really well preserved ruins, and we ate probably the best pack lunch known to man. That night we stayed in Santa Maria at an old Peruvian ladies house. With some time to spare, Michel asked us if we played football. When we responded in the affirmative, we walked down the local pitch and joined in a match with some kids from the town. What a great way to spend your evening. The little Peruvian lady also cooked us a three course meal, and stockpiled our stomachs with an obscene breakfast in the morning. We would have had a hot shower if between the two of us we had managed to locate the switch for the water heater before it was time to leave in the morning!!

Day two: A morning hike uphill through jungle, bananas groves etc on inca paths to a little lady who kept animals (monkey, Picuro, Llama…) and who let us use her hammocks - my word hammocks are comfy after a hard incline - up stone steps with shear drops to remarkable vistas before hitting more isolated villages. Lunch was… guess what… a three course meal, and then we headed downhill to the river, through so much changing landscape along a path that would eventually lead us to our nights rest stop (three course meal for dinner, what else). In the evening here we went to the local hot springs and soaked our muscles. To get to the springs we had to cross the river, so or course we did so via a rope pulled cradle, hanging perilously while we were slowly pulled across by Mitchels muscle power. We some how managed to stay here till well after dark, and on the return we took perhaps Mitchels best ‘shortcut’ through a bog in flip flops. Hilarious after we made it, but quite some walk when you are being guided by torchlight and you don’t know what you are treading on!!

On day three we bused it to Santa Teresa to fill up tanks on another huge breakfast (complete with suger ‘Sin ant’) before hiking up another huge hill… HUGE hill, to one of Machu Picchu’s Sun Gates. (the one the traditional inca trail does not go to, and so was deserted the entire time we had lunch sitting in the sun with a panoramic view of the city itself). We then climbed back down to the river and along it to a hydroelectric power station from which we caught a train to Augus Calientes, right below Machu Picchu. An evening walk, a three course meal, some market haggling and an early night (up at four!!).

Due to silly rising times we got on one of the first buses up to Machu Picchu, which meant it was pretty empty for our fantastic two hour tour from Michel. What a place. I won’t try and describe it, it won’t do it justice. It’s better than you imagine. We climbed Waynu Picchu, the mountain next to the city to get redonkulus views and spent the rest of our time wandering and enjoying before making the trip back to Cusco. We were all shattered, but felt it was only right to share yet another three course meal (about two pound) and as we all made onward plans, the German/Italian/Fluent in Spanish girl from our tour decided she would be going our way, so we are now travelling together into Bolivia tonight to Lake Titicaca where we intend to do a DIY tour to the island of the sun. Oooo yeah. This trip is silly…

P.S. Disclaimer - Steve is not responsible for the no doubt copious miss-spellings of names in this post.

Hola, Buenos días and welcome to South America

Well, coming south is certainly a culture shock! What do you mean you don't speak a word of English, I thought everyone spoke some English?!? Of course we were aware this might happen so Steve is trying to perfect his Spanish, while I am rapidly perfecting my non-verbal, hand gestation based forms of communication. My 'hot' and 'bus' being a master piece to behold.

After a couple of chilled days in Lima, eating nice food, planning a master plan and generally relaxing we decided to spend a day exploring central Lima and took one of the local 'buses' (pictured) which certainly was an experience. At the equivalent of 25p a ticket, it didn't matter too much we didn't have a clue where we were going and got off slightly to early...

Central Lima, although has its nice parts, is unfortunately rife with poverty and pollution, so much so you could feel it in your lungs. we quickly realised that the part we were staying in (Miraflores) a much more affluent area (if any of Lima can be called affluent). That evening we were invited to join a poker game with a Canadian, a Frenchman, a Swiss and two Colombians (one named Diego who either permanently had a heavy cold or had a liking for narcotics...) which was good fun and helped us learn more about the South American culture and way of life and with our bus tickets booked for Cusco the next day we were ready to roll. After this however the rest of the time in Lima varied between me and Steve.

Something Steve had eaten that day led him to remain in bed for the next 36 hours with regular trips to the 'Bano'. 4 days later effects are still being felt.

Due to stupid Peruvian striking on the Highways our bus was cancelled that day and with Steve on Planet Umbongo, I decided to play football with the hostel, which was awesome. I also learnt a few things. 1) South Americans are potty about theirfootball, 2) They don't like losing, 3) "man-on" and "pass me the ball you stupid Argentinian plonker" are not globally recognised terms, 4) The F-word is most certainly global and 5) Colombian drug dealers have little to no co-ordination. Spent another evening drinking and playing poker with the football boys while Steve spontaneously combusted and crossed my fingers we could leave the next day...

With Steve showing some signs of life, we got ready to check out only to find this stupid strike was still in progress! lucky we found another bus company taking a slightly longer route that would avoid it so with a Mexican friend we had made (who could speak Spanish, yes!) we got on the 30 hour bus that ran on whats commonly know as 'Peruvian time', but was much more comfortable and had films showing so beat the 'Hound hands down!

We are now in Cusco which is at 11,000ft so the air is fairly thin... and have, fingers crossed, confirmed our Inca trip for Monday for 4 days (although this is not certain yet) so all is good, (Interjection from Steve: 'Apart from the biblical warfare that is still being conducted in my gastric system'). What will everyone else be doing on Monday? (sorry its just too easy...)

The End of the Roadtrip... and America

What do we spy upon entrance into the hostel in flagstaff? A grand canyon tour that costs $70! It occurred to us that we could get people there a lot cheaper. We had a look at the list. Unbelievably Hikmet Babayev was on it (the name of a friend of Matts from oxford). It then also occurred to us that this was not a common name. Within an hour, we had met and caught up, particularly talking about the size of the world and transferred Hik to the Stu and Steve Canyon Tour along with another girl called Abby. In the morning, with brimming car, we all sped north. The grand canyon is big. Very big. We walked down under the rim and then along the top (southern side) with jaws rubbing along the ground. It also has unimaginably beautiful sunsets. Go - ‘Nuff said. On the way back we also nipped out of the car in the middle of the arse end of the tip of isolation, middle of no-whereness, which was conveniently dark, to look at the stars. Properly saw the milky way and lots of other sparkly delights, which was an amazing way to finish the day. It’s worth mentioning that the organised tour fails to bring you this delight, nor sunset at the Grand Canyon, but it must also be admitted that Stu and Steve’s tour is prone to leaving an hour late when the leading pair don’t realise they have crossed a time zone and forget to put their watched forward…Ahem. The next day Hik joined us on the trip to Vegas. Since we were staying in separate paces we agreed to meet up and then completely failed to do so, which bemuses all concerned. We went on to have a fairly enjoyable stay however (see previous post).

After Vegas, with ever low energy levels we once again hit the road and this time reached Death Valley! We only really had time to see the sunset, so we popped up Dantes View and were once again treated to a beautiful show, with breathtaking scenery and twisted orange clouds. To maximise time, funds, and to ensure we had a really refreshing night we decided to sleep in the car in the visitor centre car park. Was lovely, if a bit chilly in the morning!! Not to worry, we had leftover Walmart monster uber sandwich and a packet of Pringles for breakfast!! We headed south through the park, taking in salt flats at Americas lowest point (about 85m below sea level) and more long straight roads with 360 panoramas, interspersed with mountain passes. This journey would take us all the way to LA, where driving is, well, bloody hard. We managed to navigate our way to our hostel however, right on Hollywood boulevard, and then to the basketball game we had booked that evening (still wide awake of course…).

The game was a classic, close till the end with the whole crowd on their feet, literally. We also had the added bonuses of gaining free t-shirts for filling out 400 ballot for the all star team (don’t ask, it took a while but was worth it) and once again sneaking to seats at least 10 times as expensive as ours (once again literally!!). Unfortunately our team (the Clippers) did not prevail, it appears they are at the lower end of the good-bad spectrum, and walking around in clippers tops the next day the LA public made this fact even more apparent by laughing in our general direction.

We had a flight to catch so only had time to fit in the rest of Hollywood boulevard, Beverly Hills, Bel Air and the beach, which also included Stu getting chased by Darth Vader, and me getting jumped on by Spiderman. One of the more quiet days on the world tour!!

We hit the airport in the afternoon, jumped on a plane, got ourselves to Lima and went to sleep… finally. We are now right in the heart of a colourful, throbbing, city and planning the next couple of months. We’ve got air back in the lungs and energy in the legs. Lets do it again!!!!!

WANTED.....

LVPD and the FIB are currently looking for 2 white Caucasian ‘cowboys’ after an incident in the Luxor Casino, Las Vegas on Monday 10th November.

It is believed the pair used two ‘$30 chips for $20’ vouchers, then headed for the Craps table and proceeded to injure a croupier with dice, throw dice off the table, and by not rolling a 7 with 2 dice for over 20 throws win vast somes of for other players around the table and turn their own $60 in $350!

At the time of the incident it appeared they were growing outrageous facial hair in an attempt to conceal their identity. They were last seen speeding off towards Death Valley in a red Toyota Corolla listening to ‘Toes’ by the Zac Brown Band.

If you have any information on this pair please call 1-800-VEGAS-IS-EASY

Road trippin' out west....

With the tour gaining a fifth member (after Claude and 'Larry the Laptop') a crazy Swede, Mats, that we met in Seattle, we picked up our rental car and headed off towards Yosemite National Park on our 9 day road trip! On arrival we headed straight for the Grand Sequoia trees (the largest living things in both weight and size, both past and present) which were big... very, very big. On route we finally saw, and if wasnt for some Swedish rally driving would have hit, a medium sized black bear! The dam thing ran out in front of the car. A fairly awesome sight.

After resting at the 'Yosemite Bug' in a our tent/cabin/shack thing we headed for a full day at the park. I cant even begin to describe how good the scenery was, you would get bored of all the superlatives. Just go and see it (or look at our photos... though these also do absolutly no justice to the place however). In the evening we headed for a hostel in Santa Cruz at the start of the Route 1.







Now a day just driving may not sound like a good, fun day. However, we have driven some scenic drives both here and in the UK but nothing, literally nothing compares, to the views as the road hug the pacific coast for mile after mile. The day also included seeing some Californian redwoods (not as good as Sequioas in our opinion) and a sunset at a beach just north of Santa Barbara (Photo of the moment at time of writing. We then headed for San Fernando where we were to leave Mats the following morning and stayed at a very, very dodgy, 50 dollar a night (3 in a bed), proper American Motel and lived to tell the tale!

Today has just involved blasting the car to get into Flagstaff, AZ. We only had one run in with the Highway Police... Ready for the Grand Canyon tomorrow, followed by Vegas for 2 nights, Death Valley, then LA for a Clippers game before our flight out on the 13th.

Basically, the trip is just getting better and better, its really hard to put into words how good the West Coast is. We are exhaused but loving it! Anyway how is everyone enjoying work at the moment?

If Carlsberg made Cities....

They would probably be like San Francisco. It Features:

A city park 20% larger than Central Park (Which we walked the length of)
Two Iconic Bridges with some of the largest spans around (Which we cycled across)
Miles of pristine beaches (Which we wandered along and lunched by)
Rocky headlands and bays (Which we scrambled around to ruins of baths and tunnels through rock faces)
A large Hippie area (Which we took in and probably got passively high in)
Great Hostels (Which give you free evening meals and hold hilarious halloween parties)
A large red light district (Which also has many of said hostels in...)
An Italian Quarter (From which we rented said bikes)
A large Chinatown (In which we bought souvenirs)
A Japantown (Use your imagination)
A large area of piers and wharfs including 'Fisherman's Wharf' (From which we saw sealions, massive Pelicans and Alcatraz and went on 19th century cargo tall ships)
Many hills and backstreets (Unlike any other American City we have seen)
Many national park areas (In which we slogged up hills to get some of the best vistas to date before flying down at break neck speed)
Masonary Towers on hills (Which we climbed to)
A plethra of forts and battlements (Which we explored)
A large gay area (Which we did very little in)

And lots more besides that we didn't have time for!! This may be the best place we have been to date. Wow.

P.S. Photos finally been updated again, see right.
P.P.S 'Nice Penguin man. Hey, buddy, have you touched this penguin?'

A change of plans....

As you are no doubt aware Steve and myself are master planners and even better adminators however Seattle threw a spanner in the works....We arrived after a short 'Hound and after about 3 minutes completely fell in love with the place and the Green Tortoise Hostel. So much so that within an hour we had extended our stay, put another day on the front of San Fran due to rave reviews and cancelled a hostel in Portland, Oregon

Seattle first uber feature was the Pike Place Market which has to be one of the best markets...in the world. We strolled through in awe before buying ingredients to attempt a much overdue roast dinner that very nearly came off. The hostel itself overlooked the market and couldn't have been in a better place, it was even equipt with a 'private lounge'. The owner described its use as 'for weed smoking and chess playing...i don't know anyone from Seattle that doesn't smoke weed', it certainly was an interesting room!

We used the next day for a relaxed city wonder including a coffee at the first ever Starbucks, sculpture park viewing, panoramic views from Columbia Sky View and another market walk it was that good! The hostel had put on a free meal (chili) and a free jazz night and bar crawl that got very messy with loads of new friends from around the world made including the loudest Aussie ever, a Swiss, an Irish, few Americans and a swede. Twas great craic! The Swede mentioned is about to become a third member of the Tour as he is joining us for part of our road trip upon leaving San Fran. It's all turned a bit 'Mamma Mia' Mum?! It only dawned on us in the morning when we saw the Swiss girl again and asked what she was up to, to which she replied 'going on your tour'..... that, um, in a drunken state we had arranged leading a walking tour the next day! After the shock, it all went OK even though we never did find Jimi Hendix grave....

The afternoon consisted of a hostel run tour, thank god, in 'Fremont', a cool, bohemian neighbourhood and some cheap drinks before an English girl trying to make it in the Folk industry played us some tunes on her banjo in the 'Private Lounge', giving it a third use. All that was ahead was a Greyhound to San Fransisco the next morning, the last one of our trip :( , however after 7500 miles, a change of transportation mode is definitely due.

Oofnab.

Video Frenzy

This is NOT the afformentioned next video in the series. This is a by-product of Steve being distracted for half an hour... (and the fact that he thinks this is a genius comic moment).



P.S. Hound reminder... 'Is thhis theat thaken'

Pucking great time in Vancouver

We are getting a little carried away with our night greyhounds. We nipped up to Vancouver in about 26 hours, and promptly felt pants. And hungry. As we wandered toward our hostel we passed McDonald's and subway, but we've been getting annoyed at eating fast food all the time so we tried to hold out for some decent food. I had particular gastric magnetism toward Mcdo and Stu was equally drawn to subway. Little did we know just how much fast food we would end up consuming in Canada.

On arrival at the hostel we were upgraded to a private room with a TV, so we quickly found TSN (No ESPN available) and soaked up some Canadian football, which, for the record, is a disaster zone compared to American football (in particular the unmatchable supremacy of the almighty Denver Bronchos). We then went to bed. Thanks 'Hound.
Fresh the next day we stomped through rainy Vancouver to take a look what was on offer, and very nice it was too. Lots of vancouverism for Matt, but the real town planning genius was found in Granville Market, a converted former industrial area now sporting a multitude of cute shops full of almost everything imaginable.
The hostel were putting on a free club night and we had some beers left from Yellowstone, so this became a no-brainer. More sport and beer was followed by drinks in bars with Swedish, Aussies and Irish before some typical English dancing. Fun was had by all.
Another day in Vancouver saw the return of the sun so we eagerly sped to Capilano Suspension bridge, the world's highest, longest, cable suspension bridge. It was surrounded by some funky temperate rain forest in a gorge and some typical touristy shops, with the particular advantage of free fudge samples which we may or may not have taken advantage of. A walk back through Stanley park and along English bay confirmed suspicions that Vancouver would be a very nice place to live.
In the eve I met up with the Swedish and Aussie Girls again and supped some Cider in an Irish bar. Stu stayed in and watched UFC 104 on TSN - The party channel. Booooo to Stu, but then I really only left the hostel due one Swedish girl in particular. Initially it is safe to say I was quite disappointed to see that my 'date' actually came with two extra girls attached, but we had a spanking eve and thankfully those two conspicusly left after a few hours...
The next day was all about the Ice Hockey match we had booked. Vancouver Giants vs Kelowna Rockets. Giants won 5-4 in a close fought battle, great stuff! It was a local team and there was a great feeling of community at the stadium. A great couple in the seats next to us (row four behind the penalty box, no need to move this time) sorted out rule confusion as pucks and people moved about at the speed of light, getting boshed against the glass very hard. We nearly got a puck when one came speeding over the glass, but unfortunately it was a little too high and instead struck a lady on the head leading to copious amounts of blood and a stretcher... so close... Being behind the penalty box was also genius as the high level of fighting invariably meant a member of the opposition was sat inside. "Gogal, you suck". The little kids in front had more balls than us in this department, it was hilarious.
A budget related food comment. On the first night we went out looking for some food. It was quite expensive. We then found 'FreshSlice'. This pizza outlet had an offer for 8 slices of pizza for 10 bucks. We ate fresh slice pizza for dinner and lunch for all FOUR days. We are not kidding. We are sick of Pizza. But then it was soooo fresh..... and sooo healthy. Low in fat and all natural (see box, left). We love and hate fresh slice pizza in equal measure (in particular the pesto special!).

P.S. Reminder from Boston... "Can anybody spare any Change, Change, Change?..."

Walking on the world's biggest volcano

Still on a high from Denver we headed for Idaho Falls on the 'Hound to pick up our next rental car, with an 8 hour jaunt around Salt Lake City splitting up the journey. Picking up the rental we found we had again got another Nissan Versa (special video coming to show it in its full glory...) and then set off for West Yellowstone via Grand Teton National Park. Pictured left, the park was awesome to drive through (as we didn't have much time before we had to get to our lodge for check-in) with rugged mountains hugging its western perimeter and long rolling glacial plains to the east it was certainly worth the visit! We however couldn't drive straight through due to snow so had to take a 'slight' detour. Once this was overcome, we arrived at our log cabin next to Yellowstone National Park which was incredible. For the normal price we pay for 8 bed dorm in hostels we got a huge log cabin to ourselves with a double bed each, cable TV, washing machine, you name it, it had it and was warm and homely compared to the sterile dorm rooms that have often frequented! Delighted with our find we went and brought some beers and started to plan the next few days.

Due to both rainy weather and Yellowstone being 'out of season' some of the roads were closed so taking this into account we headed straight for 'Old Faithful', the most famous Geyser in a Geyser-filled National Park which 'goes off' every 90 mins, 365 days a year. Although slightly disappointed by its size, it was indeed an impressive spectacle. Equally as impressive but more humorous was our 15min wait at a pedestrian crossing for a heard of Bison to cross! at least they did it at a safe point..With the weather clearing up we drove to a 3mile trail to finish the day with a nice walk in which we saw some off the road geysers, more Bison and some big Bull Elk but unfortunately no Bear or Moose. We tried our best to find some but they remained elusive, probably for the best! We then retired for the evening for more beer and Monday Night Football to watch our team (Denver Broncos) go 6-0 for the season with a win against San Diego! We love the QB Kyle Orton so much we are now try to imitate his dirty tash!

Our last day involved another long walk around a different, more woodland part of Yellowstone and a stroll around West Yellowstone, a Wild West-style town, before driving back to Idaho Falls and going to Tom's Gyros and Burgers for a proper American Burger, was awesome! Now a 28 hour 'Hound awaits to Vancouver, BC so we can start our desent of the West Coast...

Stu and Steve's Rocky Mountain Adventure

The second installment in the acclaimed series. Comments welcomed!

Rocky Mountain High

The 'hound to Denver was the longest yet. 26 hours of interstate cruising. Nice. On arrival our heads were filled with plans of a quiet afternoon, followed by a bike rental and cycle to the mountains before we had to whizz off again to Idaho Falls. To be honest, we only ever saw Denver as a quick rest stop to take in some views and break up the long journey east to west. We didn't think we had time for anything more here. That was until we wandered past a car hire office on the way to our hostel and worked out that a days CAR rental wasn't all that much more than a bike...

After some brief research we decided a walk to Enterprise rent-a-car for a quick Q and A could do us no harm. This is where things once again get silly. On the way we stopped at a corner shop where Stu bought a scratchcard... and proceeded to win ten dollars! We then randomly passed a fundraiser for the Denver Broncos NFL team, complete with cheerleaders, ex players and Superbowl trophies!! We picked up some free souvenirs for ourselves, and we also managed to get something for our respective dads (which may or may not involve two of the fittest cheerleaders - by this afternoon there will be a package in the post boys!!). Part of the stuff we picked up was a booklet of discount vouchers, one of which was $10 off at the Broncos team store at the stadium. This was in walking distance. An hour later we were both kitted out with Denver Broncos woolly hats, which turned out to be very useful indeed. We should also mention that around this juncture the fundraiser must have finished. The cheerleaders I spoke off drove past us beeping horns and waving. We had clearly made an impression! That evening we went to a 'Wine library' Jazz bar and ate sumptuous pizza listening to smooth live jazz. (We also got free Sodas because we had to wait at least 5 minutes listening to the jazz before we got served!) This would normally be a highlight but to top it all off we found out...

we could indeed afford a rental car for a day. So much for a cycle ride. How about we drive into the Rocky Mountains National Park and climb to 11,500ft?! No acclimatization, only the aforementioned woolly hats in addition to our standard kit, and the advice of a friendly park ranger later we nearly summited flat-top mountain. We would have made it to the summit itself if we hadn't got stuck in snow drifts that we fell into our waists in and lost the trail due to the snow fall. We were disappointed, but then a couple came down to us wearing literally all the gear including snow shoes and walking poles saying that they couldn't make it to the top themselves. We prob did well to make it as high as that, they were certainly shocked we were still alive. We motored back into Denver along what must be one of the greatest driving roads in the world, curling its way through the mountains. The only slight problems we faced involved Stu deciding he still wanted to drive on the left hand side at a major intersection, and me nearly creaming a cyclist off the road whilst trying to figure out how the cruise control worked (which we didn't use). America is indeed built for the car and we loved it, I even used a drive through ATM... genius. I can't sum up how awesome the day was, or indeed the majesty of the mountains. A video will follow shortly which we hope will give you some idea, but Denver has been nigh on epic.

Beans, Loops, Deep Dishs, Buckets, Marathons, Sororities, Parades, Lakes, Zoos, and Baseball

After surviving another night 'Hound we arrived fairly fatigued but we soon cheered up with an excellent hostel both in feel and location and the prospect of a free pasta meal for all the Chicago Marathon runners, which we quickly became. This gave us the energy to meet up with some friends we had met in Boston and DC for a few 'buckets of beer' at the local watering hole...This led inevitably to a nice lie in before exploring Chicago Zoo (great free zoo that included a Polar Bear and some penguin friends for Claude), Lake Michigan (free walk around the 3 largest of the Great Lakes, no naked dip this time, sorry ladies...), the John Hancock Tower the 2nd highest point in town (also free if you quickly take photos and don't buy a drink) and finally the world of Deep Pan Pizza. Now most of you will have had some sort of 'Chicago Town Deep Dish Pizza', trust us this is not the same! After waiting a while for a table we were sooo hungry we ordered a 12'' (enough for 3-4 people according to the menu, but we didn't believe), it was however so ridonkulously filling Steve only manage half of his half (also known as a quarter) and I faired little better. It is more like a Pie than a Pizza but delicious all the same, even when taken home and had cold for lunch the next day!
Our last day involved a gentle stroll round the finanicial district, a trip around 'The Loop', the 'Bean', a watch of the Columbus day parade which was little better than the Bognor Illumination Carnival. We then headed to Slugger's Bar and Grill where for $1 you can go in the Baseball batting cages and face anything up to 80 MPH pitches with no protective equipment, great fun! On the way back we were 'dragged' into a sorority (female fraternity) party which was so rubbish we had to stay till the small hours, drink lots of beer and get to know the girls...

Niagara River (and a small waterfall)

In search of a natural wonder of the world, we left Toronto to stay for one night at Niagara Falls at officially 'the best hostel in North America' and it did not disapoint! On arrival we were bombared, interogated, u name it, by the owner Patrick as to why we were only staying one night at one of the world's greatest rivers 'you wouldnt go the Amazon for a night, would you!?' one of his better comments. He would however be proved to be right. On the first eveing we did the 'Maid of the Mist' tour out to the Falls which was incredible, to see the power of the Falls up close and personal is a must (the shirts off decision is optional however) we then met two guys from LA in the hostel, one of which is an up-and-coming musician 'Venice Maki' who played us some of his music and is awesome, coming to London in a few month so keep an ear out. After sneaking up the Hilton for a birds-eye view of the Falls (for freeeee) we met up and had some beers with them into the early hours in Niagara town which has unfortunalty been Americanised with some of the tackiest shops and arcades that even Blackpool would be proud of!

The next morning meant another monumental speach from Patrick about what to do and we followed his directions precisely and saw/did in 8 hours:

A 55km round mountain bike trip along the river up to where it mets Lake Ontario,
Bouldering up and down the shear gauge to see the river up close, including the only class 6 rapids in the world and an emormous whirlpool,
Wine tasting in a Niagara vineyard to pretend we were cultured (interjection from Steve: The best wine I have ever or am likely ever to taste)

It was FANTASTIC! The local advice was amazing and we got so much more out of the Falls area than just a waterfall photo.

Completely whacked, we headed for Chicargo on yet another Night Hound, and back to the US of A.....

Other (probably less amusing) stuff from Toronto

We have come to the conclusion that all Greyhound drivers in the US are uber cool. They are easy going and funny and gun it around all over the place getting you where you need to be. Some of our favourite quotes to date include;

'Please accompany small children to the restroom. If a small person falls down the toilet they are staying there till Tampa (a good 8 hours away)' and 'if you need anything... just come and see me... but don't creep up on me, its night, its dark, you may get hit in your face'. They all rock cool uniforms and have a laugh. Canadian bus drivers are not in the same league.They remind us of... bus drivers. The lad that took us to Toronto was clearly looking for a job with Greyhound USA though. We were meant to get into Toronto at about 6.55 in the morn, a good chance to sleep we thought. Drives had other ideas and sped through the night like a rocket ship and proudly presented Toronto bus terminal at 5 in the morning, a full 9 hours before we could check into our hostel having had no sleep being thrust from one side of the coach to the other around every corner. Fantastic to get in early when the sun is up and you can make the most of your destination, not when you have to sleep rough in Toronto Station as a result!! The hostel we stayed in is great if a) you are looking for a job (as the whole of Ireland seemed to be doing in Toronto) or b) You want to stay the better part of a year and actually call it home. For peeps like us, popping in for a few nights the social side of the hostel was in effect non existent. Travellers be warned. We did meet a nice girl to play cards with but no beers or stories were shared which is our favourite part of any stay. Toronto itself was much better, the CN tower being a highlight (apart, perhaps, from the part where we laid face down on a glass floor at over 300 meters in the air and predominately felt fear! Lake Ontario, as you have seen also provided amusement. Its worth noting just how freaking massive it is (it just looks like the sea) and how awesome it is to swim in its fresh (very fresh!) water. We also liked the general vibe of the city, (Steve's favourite skyscrapers to date.) Well worth a visit.

P.S. 'You can't ask both people in Go Fish!'

Stu and Steve's Lake Ontario Adventure

Please Click Play!! We feel this is better than trying to blog our lake Ontario experience in words. (There should be a video above, we are not sure if this is working in Internet Explorer, but we think its fine in Firefox, please let us know if you are having trouble viewing it!)

Murderous Molston and Beautiful Bixi

Stu and Steve arrived in Montreal after a less than enjoyable jaunt on ye olde Greyhound. The trip was overnight and included no sleep and a cold bleary eyed trip into the Canadian Border crossing. A simple plan was construed which involved aimless wander until 2 in the afternoon when they were able to check into the hostel (after arriving at 7!!), some sleep and then a large night out in Montreal. Unfortunately conditions conspired against our hero's in multiple forms. Firstly, they underestimated how little refreshment had been gained from the nap, secondly they also underestimated the destructive power of 10% beer on a body in this condition, and thirdly, they had not counted on randomly bumping into the Australians they had met in Nashville (the last time the pairing went particularly large and therefore established a reputation with said Australians). What resulted was from Steve's perspective a complete blur. How he had the capacity to reach the road the hostel was on in the morning, after simply walking randomly knowing only the name of this road, then managed to get himself through a key code door, and the dorm door for which only one key existed, on Stuart, who by all accounts was still in the 'Gentleman's club' they had frequented, is a mystery. The next day was a write off. There is no way to describe the immense pain movement inflicted on Steve's body. Stu did manage to make it out for a wander, but this came back to haunt him in 'double pizza', literally the closest place that sold food to the hostel when they stumbled out in the late afternoon to try to keep bodies functioning. After epic amounts of sleep the pair then had a fantastic day on the BIXI bikes around Montreal, conquering the large hill behind Ma Gill, taking in the uni itself, the port, the old town (where lovely Parisian style coffee houses provided a rest stop) and the Olympic stadium. Our pair was very impressed with BIXI, which may be coming to London, keep ears to the ground. Basically, for five dollars they hired bikes all day, by keeping journeys to less than 30 mins (which is free) and whizzing between 'stations' where you can pick up or drop off bikes (you don't have to return to the station you got a bike from, you can return it anywhere... Genius!)

The next adventure is another overnight Greyhound to Toronto. The boys are less keen about this prospect now, but are going for it!!