Viva Las Vegas

Well well, after our fun in Miami chilling on the beaches we flew into vegas. Arriving at midnight the view from the plane flying into Vegas was mental, I have never seen so many flashing lights. Our first stay was at a low key hotel just off the strip, but even this had a large casino. We crashed out for the night to energise ourselves for a full day of vegas in the morning.
After a small lie in we checked out and walked over to our next hotel.... the MGM Grand! The worlds biggest hotel, and it is pretty large, the Casino floor houses a Lion Habitat!! We checked in, got lost in the mayhem of flashing lights in the casino and found our way onto the strip, across the road at the tropicana hotel was a queue for a free pull on a one armed bandit. the potential prizes being a car, $15000 or free tickets to a Vegas show, so up i walked with my lucky digit at the ready. And he only went and bloody won it! The free tickets... but still, Dirk Arthurs Xtreme magic is not to be sniffed at. We claimed our prize amd continued our walk down the strip to Mandalay bay, where in the hotel gardens there is a shark Aquarium.... obviously. So we looked around the aquarium, saw some sharks, turtles, and many other fish, before walking on. We passed a giant faux sphinx and pyramid at Luxor and a hotel/medieval castle at excalibur before reaching New York New York hotel. NYNY is a giant replica of the manhattan skyline, with the chrysler building, empire state etc, oh yeah and it has a looping rollercoaster around it. you might be getting the impression that Vegas is mental, well..... It really is. So we Went inside and had a ride on the rollercoaster, which gives awesome views of the strip, if you can concentrate on the view. After this it was time to hop back to the MGM to get ready for our free show.
The show was pretty cool, Dirk Arthur is very camp, and while this normally wouldnt be much to comment about, it was amusing when he was surrounded by his scantily clad female helpers and attempting to seem like some sort of playboy. The magic was good, although he obviously hasnt heeded the lesson of sigfried and royd as it included huge tigers. After the show we were back on the strip to see Vegas by night, we gambled like the high rollers we are by feeding a massive $1 into the 5cent slot machines at a few hotels, and ended the night a dollar to the good. we were back in our swanky room at about 2am after a crazy day in the most ridiculous city on earth.
Change of scenery and atmosphere the next day as we hired a car for 2days and drove to the grand canyon via the hoover dam. The hoover dam is tall, but after the second largest dam in the world in south america is wasnt that impressive. Maddy was indifferent so we looked at it for 30mins then hit the dusty trail to the canyon. Indifference was definately not on the cards there, its MASSIVE!! Too big to comprehend really, we watched the sunset from the south rim at Mather point and then drove to our campsite. MGM one night, a reclined seat in a Dodge Calibre the next.
We were up at 4am the next day to watch the sun rise, it was a bit cloudy but still awesome. Next we parked the car up and caught a free shuttle bus to the start of the south Kaibob trail, where we walked for 2hours to the strangely named Ooo Aaa Point, we Oooed and Aaaed for a while and took soem amazing photies which i will upload soon. After our early start we were back in the car and heading back to Vegas at 2pm. Back urban madness we checked into our next hotel, Circus Circus, where trapeeze artits and other circus acts perform daily for free avobe the casino. Quick shower and we were back in the car for a very american experience, a drive in theatre! The movie we watched wasnt the best but for the experience it was worth it.
For our next and last day in Vegas we walked the rest of the Strip, to Paris where there is a 2/3rd size Eiffel Tower, and an Arc de Triomphe. To Flamengo, which has a rare bird habitat in its gardens, and to Treasure Island where there is a nightly mock battle on its two pirate ships out front. We bought a pass for the indoor theme park in Circus Circus, and found that we were 10years older than everyone in there, it seems everyone old enough to drink or gamble in Vegas is out drinking or gambling. Apart from me and maddy who go on childrens theme park rides.
So that pretty much brings you up to date, this morning we caught a bus to LA and it is there that I am, in a very nice hostel on hollywood boulevard. Plans for our 4 days in LA are beach for some surfing and star spotting and house oggling around hollywood. Hope you are all well.

Blog soon

Rich

Benvenido a Miami

Sup Y'all. I have arrived safe and sound in Miami, got into Miami international airpost at 1am and after an hour at passport control arrived at our hotel on south beach at 2:30am. Maddy was waiting for me at the hotel as she had landed 3hours earlier. The next morning we had a slight lie in, and missed breakfast :(. It was a pretty relaxing day, we went for a wander along ocean drive, had brunch, got caught in a thunderstorm (very common at this time of year) and shopped for some food for dinner. That eve we had a very healthy dinner of salad with a cuban loaf (that should keep mum happy), then went for an evening walk down the main shopping and eating strip and had the one thing americans do best, a nice thick milkshake.
Yesterday morning we woke at 7am, had our complimentary breakfast (muffins, danish pastys and croissants served with cream cheese). We then headed out to downtown Miami to see some parks and explore little havana. The day was put on hold slightly while we sought refuge from a thunderstorm, but we fit it all in. Little havana was very spanish, we only heard one english speaker whilst we were there. Back at the hotel we had another heathly meal of salad and wraps, went out for an ice cream, and back to the hotel for an early night.
Today its been a scorcher, so we monged on the beach, as Maddy frantically tried to reduce the colour difference between us. Swam in the sea a bit, and we are now about to go to out to a swanky ocean drive bar for a happy hour cocktail. The fruitier the better! Hope you are all well.

Rich

The End of the Road

Good morning, or aftenoon to all you UK dwellers. Its 9:30am here on the last full day of our south american adventure, sniff sniff. Since my last blog we have travelled to Rio and spent most of the days lounging around on Ipanema beach. We had a tour of the touristy sites on monday, which included Christ the Redeemer (the big statue of JC on top of a mountain), Sugarloaf Mountain (a big lump of rock which looks like a sugarloaf) and the Lapa steps (some steps). Yesterday we went for a wander down copacabana beach, which is very similar to ipanema, just bigger and not as nice. On the whole a nice relaxing end to our 3 and a half month Jaunt. Today we have the champions league final to look forwards too in the afternoon, and maybe seeing a live brazillian footy match in the evening. Then at 9am tomorrow morning we head to the airport.

So. Since our trip has come to an end, time to summarise.

BEST MOMENTS (in no particular order)

1. Scuba diving, both the barrier reef and thailand. Awe inspiring, breathtaking passtime which i will definately continue doing.
2. Arriving on Ko Tao (thailand). After 14hours of flying, 2 days in bustling bangkok, an 8hour bus journey and a 4hour ferry. Arriving on the tropical paradise of Ko Tao, and relaxing in the bath warm sea was a pinch yourself moment.
3. BUNGEEEEEEE!!!! Once (or maybe twice) in a lifetime experience of sheer panic/exhilaration/fear/excitement all rolled into 20seconds of madness. Epic.
4. The Inca Trail, a combination of breathtaking views, rewarding hiking and most of all the camaradary and friendliness of our group made this 7days fly by.

WORST MOMENT

1. The only thing i can think of for this is either attempting to sleep in Singapore airport or the bus journey to the Uyuni salt flats. But im glad we did both, even though it was uncomfortable, it was an expericnece.

BEST COUNTRY

1. New Zealand! Without a shadow of a doubt, the reason there is no NZ specific best moment is because there are too many to list. Pretty much every day had WOW moment, from the wilderness of our 4day treck in the national parks. The jurassic feel of volcanic rotorua with its bubbling pools, the baron lunar landscape of tongariro national park and the jagged alpine mont cook region. World class surfing in Raglan, world class madness in Queenstown and all of this in a country populated with the friendliest people Ive met. Top stuff.

So..... I guess this is it. Its been a blast! Ive thouroughly enjoyed blogging and i hope you have perceviered through my sometimes rushed entries and enjoyed keeping track of our shinanigans.

But WAIT!! If you really cant get enough, or you simply have nothing better to do. Although this is the end for Me and Daves combined travelling, while he is jetting beck to sunny blighty, I am heading to even sunnier Florida, to meet a stange lady who goes by the name of Maddy. So i guess i will probably continue to post the odd blog over the next month. So perhaps speak to you then.

Rich.

Iguazu falls and Sao Paulo

Hello again. We have covered a lot af ground again since i last blogged, after arriving in Puerto iguazu on the 17th morning and checking into our hostel we chatted to some tourist information people and booked a boat tour thingummy of the falls for the next day. For the rest of the day we mostly chilled out, we watched Nadal vs federer in the final of the madrid masters and i went for a jog as the many long distance bus journeys have been making me crave some excersise.

the next morning we caught an early bus the the Iguazu falls national park, we walked up to the top of the garganta del diablo (devils throat), which when in full flow is them ost voluminous waterfall in the world. Even though it is dry season at the moment it was still an awesome sight, it is hard to hear anything over the din of crashing water. After a walk around the circuito superior, we joined our tour and were driven through the rainforest towards the river where our boat tour started. In the rainforest we we saw monkeys up in the canopy, and as we approached the waters edge there were an extraordinary number of butterflys, filling the air like confetti.
Our boat ride took us upstream towards the falls, where we had awesome views of the cliffs towering above us. Then, to our suprise, the boat drove into the waterfall! This was part of the tour, just a part i wish we had been warned about, we might have packed some spare clothes. Back on dry land we walked the Circuito inferior and then found some sun to dry off in.

The next day we were again up early to head to the brazillian side of the falls, this was on another booked tour, and included was a trip to the Itapu damn. The second biggest in the world, and a random shopping trip to paraguay. The damn was big, paraguay was naff. But the brazillian side of the falls were spectacular. As the brazillian side is higher than the argentinian side it provides amazing panoramic views of the falls, all 295 individual waterfalls which make up the iguazu falls. That evening we caught a night bus to Sao Paulo, and i gave my picture taking finger some much needed rest.

We arrived in Sao Paulo at 11am yesterday morning, its fairly standard big city really. the hostel is nice, there is a dog called gringo. Tomorrow morning we catch the bus to Rio, our last bus journey! blog soon

Rich

Busbusbusbusbusbusbus

Just a quick update for you as we have not done much but travel. From the salt flats we took the overnight train to the argentinian border, which was very comfortable and i got a good nights sleep. We arrived at the border town at 7am and after a very long queue be stepped foot in Argentina at about 11am, headed straight for the bus station and caught the 8hr bus to Salta. We met up with an irishman with a silly beard in salta bus station and found a hostel, then got an all you can eat buffet for dinner, with desserts. For a fiver. Amazing. The next day me n dave wandered about Salta, its very nice, we booked a bus to Resistencia for the next night and monged at the hostel for a bit. The next day we watched the tennis on telly, then at 5pm caught the 12hr bus to Resistencia. That brings us to today, we arrived at 5am, got a taxi to the centre, couldnt find any hostels, decided to mong about and catch the bus to Puerto Iguazu this evening. So after a day of lying in the sun on our bags like the tramps we are, we´re back in the bus station awaiting another overnight bus. We arrive at the Falls tomorrow moring at 8am and have a hostel booked for 3nights, so some time to relax, shower, do some hikes and see some water! Blog soon.

Rich

Salar de Uyuni

Soooooo, as our bus pulled into La Paz in the afternoon of the 11th we decided that this was not a place we wanted to linger. Its like one massive slum, houses made out of mud bricks, raw sewage in the streets..... no thanks. So after 2 hours in the bus station having a bite to eat we were on the night bus to Uyuni (still having trouble pronouncing that). A 12 hour overnight journey on a comfy tourist bus with mega reclining seats, fantastic! Or so we thought, for some reason a spanish dubbed kung foo movie was being played on the bus' Tv and at an excruciating volume. Then after an hour of relative comfort (if you discount the battering our eardrums were taking) the road became a dirt track. The next 11hours can be best described as trying to sleep whilst enduring a continuous earthquake and a spanish jackie chan practiced kung foo infront of you. When the bus journey from hell finally ended, and all the travellers had collected their belongings which had been strewn about the bus, we booked a one day tour of the salt flats.

This was very pleasant. The salts flats are, in a word, HUGE!! We took a 1hr drive to a lump of rock sitting in the middle of endless salt, strangely called fish island. The climb to the top was short but it opened up a mind blowing view of the flats, as far as the eye could see in all directions was white, pure bright white. A good job i bought some 1pound sunglasses before departure. After taking some silly photos we headed back to Uyuni and bought a ticket for the night train to the argentinian border. Which is what we will be boarding in...... an hour and a half. Hopefully no kung foo this time! Blog soon

Rich

Lago Titicaca

Hi all, we have spent the last two days exploring lake titcaca on a boat trip. We went to puno (a town on the shores of the lake) from cuzco with hannah, a friend from the inca trail who handily speaks spanish. On our first day we pootled to the floating islands, made from the roots of the lakes reeds. We were told that the people of the islands live here permanantly on about 10sqm of floating reeds. Hovever on the bus to puno, a peruvian told us that the "island people" actually commute from puno to the floating islands before the tourists arrive. After being told this it did seem apparant that it was all a sham. Hannah asked one of the children which house she lived in and the child looked confused and pointed to the mainland. Children never lie.
From the island of lies we went to Isla Amantani where we were split into twos and given to a family. Me n Dave were sent off with our mama, and hannah had to share with a scary italian who was addicted to cocoa leaves! It was an intersting experience staying with the family, as spanish is their second language, and my broken spanish is pretty terrible. After a very awkward lunch, of egg, cucumber and some sort of corn; we met back up with the tour group. Here we walked up to a football pitch where us tourists played some of the locals at 5-a-side, we lost 3-0. It was good fun nonetheless although playing football at 4000m above sea level if fairly tiring. From here we walked to the highest point of the island at 4200m and watched the sun set. Then back to mama peru's house for dinner, which was pasta rice and nuts. mmmmm. The next morning we had breakfast of a pancake and tea and waved mama goodbye. Back on our boat at 7am and off to Isla Taquile, here we simply walked around and admired the stunning views of the lake.
We arrived back into puno at 4pm that afternoon and hannah caught the next bus back to cuzco, while me n dave booked into a hostel and arranged transport to La Paz, Bolivia the next day.

Rich