CUSCO KIDS

New School: Local lads rock out to my ipod.
Old School: A baby babysitting.

LUXURY

I'm now in Cusco, Peru. I'm attending a Spanish school here for a week. While here I am staying with a host Peruvian family. Really amazing people and their home is great. After seven weeks of shared dorm rooms, overnight buses and pasta and sauces, I feel like a king in this home. I have my own large room with double bed, en suite and cable TV. I get three meals a day and the lovely maid (at least I think she's the maid) won7t even let me wash my own dishes. I might never leave.

VALLE DE LA LUNA

The Valle de la Luna (Valley of the Moon) is located in the Atacama Desert here in northern Chile. It is named so because it looks like the surface of the moon, with it’s salt lakes, unusual colors and strangely textured rocks. In fact the aridity and surface so much resemble the moon, this is where they tested the Mars Rover.Not content with the punishment dished out to us in Death Valley, Diarmeud and myself shook off another morning’s hangover and rented mountain bikes again. The map said it was sixteen kilometers to the valley. About half was paved and the wind was in our face all the way. So there was definitely an hour of cursing and regretting our decision to once again snub the comfortable tours going to the exact same place for only a few pesos more than the price of bike rental.But as soon as we entered the valley, with not a single person or manmade thing in our sight (except the dirt road), we were very glad of our choice and hard work. Half way through the valley we came across a car, which had got bogged down in the sand. A young Latino couple had mistakenly tried to park in the soft salty sand. So we parked up the bikes with the optimistic idea of helping them push it out. With sleeves rolled up and some rocks jammed under the wheels, we were all ready to truly embarrass ourselves with efforts of strength that we just didn’t have. But as fate or luck would have it, just before we got stuck in, a bus full of Bolivian tourists passed by.This big group of cool young people were in town to perform traditional dances for the tourists an with their fitness and high altitude conditioning they were more than capable of adding enough muscle to ours and successfully getting the car back onto the road. It was really good craic all working together and cheers went up at our success. Then they all got their cameras out and took group photos. A couple of the pretty girls even asked myself and Diarmuid (red-faced and sweaty) if they could take pictures with us. We couldn’t believe it and vowed to definitely go to Bolivia someday where our good looks will finally be recognized and we will have the fame we deserve.Following this we carried on along our rugged path and were in constant awes of the place. I have heard that sunsets are spectacular and full moon walks really eerie, but unfortunately time constraints didn’t allow either. But it was definitely a very special place that I’ll always remember.

Below: Diarmuid enjoying desert life (the frosty looking white on the sand is actually salt)

SAND BOARDING IN DEATH VALLEY

Yesterday my Irish friend Diarmuid and I decided to set of on an adventure. Snubbing the little tour agencies offering trips to Death Valley in the comfort of an air-conditioned four wheel drive van, we choose to take on the desert ourselves. We rented a couple of front suspension mountain bikes, a sand board and loaded up on water and off we went.It took us about two hours to cycle out to the aptly named Death Valley. And I have never ever been so thirsty. Even stopping every fifteen minutes for a few gulps of quickly warming water our throats were parched. It was so, so very dry. Like nothing I’ve felt before. When we finally arrived at our location, exhausted and saturated in sweat, we choose to put ourselves through even more abuse and hurl ourselves down a big sand dune on a sand board (AKA an old snowboard).
This was both of our first time trying this sport. And with my snowboard experience we, once again, snubbed the tour agencies offering lessons and a comfortable ride out to Death Valley.I’d seen sand boarding on TV before and always thought it to be stupid. It just looked like snowboarding, but with much more work and pain involved for a fraction of the fun and speed. My initial run proved my theory to be pretty spot on. Spitting sand out of mouth I questioned how the hell this could be fun to anyone. And then hiking all the way back up to the top of the dune (at 2500M altitude) I really questioned the sanity of any idiot foolish enough to do this regularly.But of course the backpacker in me was adamant to get my moneys worth from the board rental so we stuck at it for a few more runs. We both got a lot better after a few goes, but falling off on each and every run really did nothing for my personal well being. There were a couple of local lads there too who obviously go regularly. They shouted support (between bouts of laughing) and gave us some tips. But to be honest, even they didn’t look so great, there’s not much carving or jumping and all the runs are really short. So for the time being, I think I’ll stick to the snow.

The action shots.

PASSING THROUGH THE DESERT

On the twenty-five hour bus journey north from Santiago, Chile to the Atacama desert we passed through miles and miles and miles of nothingness (see above). Once again a reminder of the scale of this huge continent and a reminder of how far I am from the Emerald Isle.

Occasionally there was a power line to accompany the road, but usually just nothingness.

DRIEST PLACE ON EARTH

I arrived in the Atacama Desert late last night. It's here in northern Chile on the border with Bolivia. Pulling into a tiny mudbrick town following a twenty-five hour bus journey the skies opened up and poured. The 'streets' turned into little mud slides and today lots of roads out of town have been reported closed. I am currently traveling with a lad from Cork and I blame him one hundred percent for bringing this terrible Irish weather with him.

PERITO MORENO GLACIER

I spent a day hiking on the world famous and amazing Perito Moreno Glacier in southern Patagonia. It was a great day and a really special place.




The old school crampons we had to wear.The glacier.The view.Me posing fearlessly over a (tiny) crevice Our team passing one of the many many trecherous areas. At anytime anyone of us or all of us could have slipped to a horrible death. But we didn't.Trying to look cool.

PATAGONIA - HIKING

I spent about a week at the bottom of Argentina in Patagonia. I went there with a Japanese friend for hiking and to see glaciers. It was one of the things I was most excited about when planning this trip. Unfortunately the weather was pretty horrible when we where there. It is summer over here, but regardless, when the weather is bad in Patagonia it is really bad. Strong winds, heavy rains, and worse yet, no views of the spectacular mountains that we came to see.
So I was a bit unlucky and disappointed with the lack of scenery. We still went on some very long hikes, they just were not as amazing as I had hoped. And with time being limited we couldn't just wait around for a break in the weather.There were some nice moments when the sun came out and we could take the waterproofs off, and of course it was great to be outdoors getting some exercise after all the steak-eating and partying in Buenos Aires.

RUTA 40

Ruta 40 (Route 40) is Argentina’s version of the America’s Route 66. Five thousand kilometers long, it runs from north to south along the Andes and for the most part is unpaved. People usually travel this road by four-by-four, if at all, but lacking the finances to hire one myself I booked a ticket on the one bus that travels this road. The surprisingly comfortable Chaltentravel bus shuttled myself and a group of other keen backpackers down through Patagonia to the tip of the continent. It took two full days of driving along the bumpy road and we stopped along the way at a ‘hotel’ in the middle of nowhere for some sleep and a shower. Although for the most part the scenery was very dull and drab with very little change on the flat, arid landcape, there were occasional beautiful places, especially when we came near the national parks in the south. Despite the tedium of ten or eleven hours a day on the bus, it was really nice to actually read a whole book (for the first time I can remember) and get a grasp of the grand scale of the country I am in.

Occasionally there were views like this.But mostly it just looked like this.Typical Route 40 traffic (when there was any).On of the very few small towns along the way. We stopped to fill up from the single petrol pump available.The sturdy and surprisinly comfortable bus that delivered me safely to Patagonia after two days.

SAN CARLOS DE BARILOCHE

Went hiking in Bariloche, a town in Argentina's Lake District at the base of the Andes. A really spectacular place with amazing views of mountains and lakes all around. Some of the mountains and lakes.My new pose 'Where's the birdie?'

LAKE DISTRICT

Spent today hiking outside Bariloche. Stunning place and brilliant weather. Will put more snaps up later.

VIEWS FROM THE BUS

Just spent twenty-two hours traveling through the Pampas to get to Bariloche in the Lake District. Another two days travel and I'll be in the heart of Patagonia. This country really is huge. Driving through the Pampas was actually pretty boring as the land was very flat, arid and featureless. In fact it was so much so that I didn't take a single photo (sorry), but coming into the Lake District it became much prettier as you can see in the above snaps.

LA BOCA

La Boca is a neighborhood in Buenos Aires, home of Boca Juniors football team, colourful houses and a bad reputation for being a bit dangerous. I have a friend here doing some volunteer work with a community group in La Boca and he very kindly showed us around yesterday, introduced us to some locals and told us about the area. The football stadium and coloured houses (originally done using left over ship paint from the docks) were impressive, but once away from the tourist street it was quite slummy and I wouldn't want to be there late at night.

DRESSED TO KILL AT TANGO

Stupid Face
Sexy Face

This lovely Tango dancer posed with my friends and I at a tango show in La Boca. I was reluctant at first due to my casual attire and the poor girl actually slipped off me once because of my sweaty arms. But in my defense it was about 38 degrees and really humid.