Up the East Coast

G'day Mate! (Pronounced G'dii Miite) So it's been a while since I've posted last but there is a good reason for that. I was always doing something else, and I could just never find the time or make the time to sit down at a computer for even an hour. Either I was on a tour, seeing the sights, on the beach, on the greyhound, or it may have been too beautiful outside to even consider locking myself indoors. 30 degree tropical beach or a computer? You see what I mean.

But now I made myself some time and I'll tell you what I've been up to. I've since left Sydney and bussed up all the way to Townsville and Magnetic Island, where I am now, about 40 hours away by bus. I'll start in Sydney where I left off last time. On our last day we went to the zoo which was very nice. We saw all the typical Australian animals, such as kangaroos (that could come right up to you!), wombats, koalas, and the platapus. The best thing about the zoo was the spectacular view of downtown Sydney across the harbour. It was great looking at the giraffes with a backdrop of the opera house.

We departed Sydney and left for Newcastle, which was a nice little city. We weren't there for long unfortunatly. But our hostel was amazing. It had a huge recreation room/lounge with leather couchs and chairs, and they even organized a free barbeque at a local bar for the backpackers. That was so much fun. Tons to eat, cheap drinks, live band, and met lots of people.

After that we hopped on the greyhound and ended up in Coffs Harbour. Very nice beaches. I spent most of my time in the water and on the sand, and I got burnt pretty bad in the spots I missed with the sunscreen. I can safely say that I will never miss those spots again. We met some cool people there and went out at night to a lawn bowling club for cheap drinks. Good times were had.

Later Stephanie and I went to Byron Bay, which had (surprise surprise) spectacular beaches. That was really more of a party town. It had great shops and cafes up and down the beachfront and even better bars. If there's something the Aussies did right it's their bars and beer. Even at 11am the outdoor patios are packed and people are drinking. The people here really know how to be lazy, get drunk, and have a good time no matter what they're doing. And I haven't met one Australian who wasn't funny. It must be in their genes. Even the greyhound drivers like to act as local tour guides and crack jokes into the mikerophone as we drive up the coast.

After a few days there we arived in Surfers Paradise. We had to go there just for the name itself, and I was also told by many people in and out of Australia to go there. It's a place where there are endless miles of beaches, countless numbers of surfers, vibrant nightlife and daylife, the people do not wear shoes and everyone has an attitude summed up with the words "no worries." It's a fun place to be but I dont think I could stay too long there. I might turn into a surfer hippie.

When we were done there we booked ourself on a 26 hour bus up to Townsville. We wanted to stop at a few places inbetween but there we no accomodations anywhere. None at all, not even at the lowest dirthole or the highest class hotels. So the made us sad, but now we are happy becasue we are at Magnetic Island, practically a tropical paradise. A short ferry from Townville, this island just by the Great Barrier Reef is a national park with amazing blue and green ocean and littered with beaches. We dont have the time here but they tell us if we follow some of the trails for 4 or 5 kilometres we could have an entire beach all to ourselves. The small island is practically a mountain with tropical trees and wildlife. Our hostel (or should I say resort) is on a 7 acre peace of paradise with a big outdoor pool with hammocks, small cabins that we sleep in, outdoor bar and resturaunt, tenting areas, and even a koala sanctuary. Today we did their tour, saw the local koalas, (Stephanie held one!) and we both saw both held a blue-tounged lizzard, a baby foot-long crocadile, and had a 6-foot python wrap itself around us. I have video. I look like I'm doing the robot becasue I was so nervous. (At least it's not pyrahnas Paulina!)

Thats pretty much our trip so far in a few short words. Tomorrow we bus to Cairns where he have four nights and we are super excited. This is where the fun is. Ie. Snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef, rainforest tours, and skydiving. What? Skydiving? We'll see.

The Land Down Under

I must say I enjoyed my time in California. It was a nice break from being busy and always having somewhere to go or something to do. It gave me a chance to relax and reorganize my back pack which desperatly needed to be done. About three days ago I left California on a five hour flight to Honolulu and then another ten hours to Sydney. Although I was only in Honolulu for an hour, and though I never left the airport, I can officially say that I was in Hawaii. The airport is set up so you have to walk outside between gates, so I had the chance to go outside and take a deep breath of the hot and humid air.

And now I'm in Sydney and it is truely a diverse and beautiful city. I have three days and four nights here and Stephanie and I are making the most of it. We did the Opera House, the Rocks, Darling Harbour, Royal Botanic Gardens, a ferry around the harbour, Kings Cross, and tomorrow we're going to the zoo. Unfortunatly its raining and it's a bad time to go to the beach, so we will miss it in Sydney but we figure that the whole east coast is beach so we'll have plenty of opertunity for that.

Everywhere I went on the above list has been amazing. The opera house is more impressive than the pictures show. the Royal Botanic gardens are huge and diverse. There's a little rainforest, a little wetlands, wildlife, some of this, that, and tons of green grassy feilds. And Kings Cross, according to the Lonely PLanet guidebook, is "a bizare cocktail of strip joints, prostitution, crime and drugs shaken and stirred. And a handfull of great restaurants, smart cafes, upmarket hotels and backpacker hostels." It's a remarkable place that I couldn't imagine by that description, but once I'm here I could see how it is true.

Our hostel is also very nice and close to the action. It's in the middle of the city centre and walking distance from everything. It is possible that I have done more walking yesterday than any other day in South America (the Inca Trail excluded).

Altogether it's a really good start to Australia. Our hostels are booked through new years, the Greyhound tickets are purchased and the flights are, well, pending. We still have some work to do. Anyway enjoy my newly updated pictures at http://uwo.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2092937&l=8b8ac&id=58000349. Check back soon when I upload Stephanie's pictures to this album.

It's so nice to use an english keyboard. All the characters are in the right place.

So I made it to California, against all odds. To pick up where I left off, I flew into Lima and arived at 3:00AM. LAB (Bolivian Air) promised me transportation and accomodation once I got to Lima, but they were no where to be found in that airport. No one behimd the counter and no office. So while dodging the scavanger cabbies and allged security guards who wanted to take me outside (scarry) I found a travel agency and made arangenments for a hotel 15 minutes away from the airport. The hotel was in the old colonial district, but all I saw there were McDonalds, Burger King, KFC, major malls, grocery stores, hotels and about five casinos within a two block radius. The next day after returning to the airport my flights to the United States were surprisingly booked, so I hopped on the plane in Lima and it wisked me off to Los Angeles. And of course it was storming in San Fransisco so my flight there was delayed by 3 hours, which meant I would miss the greyhound to see Stephanie. So we made arangements that I would stay at Stephanie's parent's house and wait for her here. Once in San Fransisco I took the BART subway through Oakland, transfered onto a bus that took me to a train that took me to Tracy, California. I met an old black biker grandmother who was very sweet and helped me out a lot along the way. And thats what I did, and thats where I am now. A full day of planes, trains, and automobiles. And subway, and monorail to add to that list.

Now thats thats out of the way I would like to finally talk about my last few days in South America. The last part of the trip was in Sucre, Bolivia, where I did two things: Silver mining and more mountain biking. The mines were cool. They looked very dangerous and we were thinking that tourists shouldn't be let in there becasue of all the large ventilation holes where if we slipped we could have plumeted down through the mountain we were in. Anyway were all carying crackers, coca leaves, and dynamite to give as gifts to the miners we saw along the way. But we did save one stick of dynamite to blow up ourselves! It was lit in a cave about 100 metres away, and then we all sat together in silence covering our ears waiting for the explosion. And then we heard it, and it was so powerful that it shook our bones. Then we had to run out of there before the wave of dust hit us. It was fun.

I went mountain biking again on my very last day. It was different this time as we rode down dirt roads on the side of the mountains and not skinny trails. It was safer becasue of this, but we went really fast! We got the bottom of the mountain, loaded the bikes on the trailor, and then drove to another mountain to do it again. We did this five times and it was a blast. See my pictures of the mining and biking at
http://uwo.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2091295&l=8e0b5&id=58000349

Anyway that's it for Bolivia and Peru. I had a great time, had some amazing experiences, and met some incredible people from all around the world. It is something that I am really glad I did and I know that I will charish my memories forever. And I have the pictures to prove it. Now I am in California and I leave for the land down under on Saturday. See you there!

Just get me out of here

So my tour of Peru and Bolivia has ended and emotional goodbyes were said. It has been a month since I've arived and I've met some really good people on the way. It was sad to leave, but at the same time I am excited for the next leg of my journy. All I really want after an exhausting month is to sit back and relax, and let the planes peacefully take me away.

But then of course this is Bolivia, and this is not the case. I am writing to you from the airport, which will be my home for at least the next eleven hours. Here's the story: I went to a travel agency to get them to confirm my flight yesterday. Turns out it was delayed out of Bolivia by 2 hours. That would have given me 1 hour to change flights in Lima. So I cinfirmed again this morning and it was delayed again by 4 hours. That means I would miss both my connecting flights to LA and then to San Fransisco. The advice the travel agent gave me: ''Go to the airport now and get MAD.'' Getting mad is the only way things get done in this part of the world. So I came here to the airport 13 hours early to bitch and complain to make sure I can make my connecting flights. It took 3 hours of hard core yelling using english and broken spanish. You have never seen me this mad before. I have never even seen me this mad before. I didn't know I had it in me. They suggested so many things, they wanted to send me all over the world, ie. Chilie, New York, etc just to make it eventually to San Fransisco. So then the manager of Bolivian Air came out and pretty much told me to fuck off and that I would have to pay for all my flights again after I get to Lima. I said NO YOU ARE GOING TO PAY FOR MY FLIGHTS AFTER I GET TO LIMA, IT IS YOUR FAULT! Then she stormed off and all these scenereos went racing through my mind of calling my travel agency in Canada, and getting my insurance involved. And just then, the guy I was originally speaking to finally gave me a new intinerary that would have me fly out of here at 12 tonight, get a voucher for a hotel and transportation for the night in Lima, and then fly to LA and then SF on the same flights but the next day. And then that was that. So things currently seem to be worked out but I am still stressed becasue I know things cannot possibly run smoothly in the near future. Well at least they have an internet cafe and a Burger King in the Airport to keep me occupied.

I origininally wanted to use this entry to write about my last few days in Bolivia and a general wrap up of South America, but that will have to wait a few days untill I get to California. I just can't think about anything else now.

Anyway I hope you are all doing well, I love hearing from you so keep the comments and emails coming! California here I come (I hope).

We´re in Bolivia?

Almost a week ago we crossed we said goodbye to Peru and entered Bolivia, in true Bolivian style I might add. First of all Bolivia is polically unstable. The socialist president wants to make constitutional reforms but the rich elite class are putting up a strong counter attack. As we approached the country rots and protests broke out and closed the border that we were supposed to cross. That cost us an extra 2 hour bus ride to another borer, and also cost us our visit to Copacabana. When we finnally did walk through the border through no mans land we waited 3 hours for a bus to pick us up to take us to La Paz. Once on the bus, one of the tires overheated so the driver sent someone out to pour cold water on it. And then the tire exploded with a thunderous pop. Just a regular Bolivian welcome.

Anyway La Paz is a beautiful and dangerous city. It is the highest capital city in the world at over 3000 metres above sea level. We walked around, enjoyed ourselves, and even found a burger king. We left the city 2 days later with a 12 hour bus and train ride and arived at the salt flats.

The salt flats is basically a dried lake, and all that is left is 100s of miled of flat white blinding salt. We drove through them in 4x4 jeeps and saw some incredible things like a hotel completely made from salt, dried coral islands, 12 metre cacti, and yes, lots and lots of salt. I now know know that the world can never run out of salt. It was also a great opertunity to take some great big\small pictures.

See these at http://uwo.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2088004&l=5b3c0&id=58000349

Theres so much more we did over the next 4 days traveling by jeep that I might as well copy my intinerary and post it, becasue there is no way I can tell you everything. Here´s a small list:
View abandoned 'train cemetary', see many lagoons with many falmingos, go to incredible rock formations in the middle of the desert and do some rock climbling, stay in 8 room doorms where we drink all night, swim in natural thermal hot springs at zero degrees celcius, walk through thermal geysers (while avoiding the bubbling vlocano mud), see a turquoise and bright red coloured lagoon, see another rock valley with more climbing, go up to an active volcano which is actually smoking, see Chilian mountians just a km or 2 away, and countless hours of driving off road (which could be anything from flat desert to rivers to huge stones that I thought only a hummer can handle).

One of the highlights of my entire trip came yesterday. We went mountain biking down a mountain. It was very technical and on a very small, sandy and steep trail. Don't mess up or you'd fall off the cliff! It was a 100% adrenaline rush. It was a single thin trail, about 3 hours to complete, 4700 metres above sea level to 3700m at the bottom of the mountain. I have never done anything like it.

More pictures at http://uwo.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2088007&l=c0026&id=58000349

So thats my story over the past 5 days and that is also why I havent posted anything for so long. Today is a relaxed day in the city of Potosi. (Gelling here consisted of a 7 hour bus along the bumpiest road in Bolivia, along with getting out of the bus in the middle of the night to push it to jump start it, again in true Bolivian style.) In a cupple hours I go to a silver mine to blow up some dynamite. Seriously. Talk to you again in Sucre or La Paz.

Lake Titicaca

I dont have much time but I do want to quickly talk about Lake Titicaca. But first off I finally ate the national dish of Cui, i.e. guinee pig. With the head and all so we know it' s not a cat. Yum.

Anyway, the lake is beautiful. It kind of reminds me of Georgian Bay or Lake Huron. I went to a traditional island where the people survived the colonial era and still lives without any modern technology and still use theior native language. I stayed there with a local family, just me and my friend Stine. Very interesting and lots of fun. We were dressed up in their traditional atire for the fiesta in the evening and danced the traditional dance the pictures speak for itself.

Today we went to the floating islands. I was sceptical too that they were actually floating, but these towns of hundreds of people live on land built ontop of reeds, above about 20 metres of water. It was so neat, I felt like every step I took I would fall through. Every thing there was built from the reeds, including boats, huts, and even the food.

See the pictures at http://uwo.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2084724&l=8ccf0&id=58000349

Thats all for now, my next entry will come from Bolivia!

Welcome to the Jungle

If there is anything that my mother told me not to do, it's don't swim with pirahnas. But you can't always take your mother's advice. I swam in a small lake infested with pirahnas, aligators, aligator eating otters, anacondas, and parasite fish that swim up your 'you know what' when you go 'you know what'.

All in all the Amazon was an incredible experience. Four of us flew into a small town that was no more than a clearing of trees. When the plane doors opened the humidity instantly flodded the plane, I've never felt anything quite like it. Our guide said the temperature was about 25 degrees, but I swear it felt like at least 40.

We did some great things in the jungle. Hours of hikes looking at exotic plants, trees, vines and parasites (including a penis tree - see if you can spot it in my pictures). We went parrakeet and parrat watching, tarantula hunting, pirahna fishing (with raw beef as bait), monkey watching, and aligator hunting. See pictures of all this at http://uwo.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2083442&l=2e355&id=58000349
Our guide actually jumped out of our boat, grabbled a 2 foot aligator, and brought it into to boat for us see. Very neat. Our means of transportation was motorized canoe which was very cool, it was bigger than a dragon boat with a roof that came in very handy for when it was pouring rain. Thats another thing, the rain. I know it's a rain forest but I was still surprised by the amount of rain that can fall in such a short period of time.

One of the highlights was walking through a neighbouring farm. We had the opertunity to taste fresh fruits right off the tree. Fruits like papaya, oranges, avocato, bananas, lemons, sugar cane, and other weird fruits that I cannot remember the name of, some fuzzy and some slimey, but all sweet and delicious. We even dug up potatoes for that nights dinner. (Oh, by the way Peru prides itself for its 3000 varieties of potato)

The lodge was very nice. It was completely outdoors and had nice boarwalks as hallways. We had to sleep in mosquito nets not because of the mosquitos, but becasue of the bats. At night the sounds were incredible. Who can claim that they have been swinging in an outdoor hammock in the depths of the Amazon rainforest drinking a cold beer listening to the countless sounds of the jungle? Well I can. And it's nice. I wouldnt give that up for anything.

More pictures of the Amazon, Cusco, and Puno at http://uwo.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2083612&l=e8541&id=58000349

Roughin' it on the Inca Trail

Last entry I left off in Cusco, the capital of the Inca empire (untill Spain burnt it to rubble). It´s a great city today, with a very nice main square and tourists everywhere. I like it here, theres lots of traditional American food like bacon and eggs breakfast and pizza and burgers which I´ve definatly taken advantage of. We then left for the sacred valley where there werelots of beautiful Inka ruins. Climbing them was hard enough, but that was nothing consaidering what was in store for me. See pictures of this at http://uwo.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2081842&l=87860&id=58000349

After my stay in Cusco we departed for the Inca Trail, the highlight of my trip. 3.5 days, 47 kilomotre hike through the Andes Mountains in elevation above 3500 metres. The first day was rather easy, we only went about 6 km in pretty flat trail. But the secod dayis the killer. We reached the height of 4200 metres above sea level called the Dead Woman´s Pass while hiking 12 km up steep steep steep stone stairs. There was literally no air up there. I was exhausted and I really mean that. I´m not kidding when I tell you that I took about 10 steps and was so out of breath that I had to stop and rest. And then when I finally am able to breath again another 10 steps puts me over the limit. It was the most physically and exhausting thing I have ever done, and that means a lot for those of you who knew me in my swimming days. I finished that day and collasped, and you can see proof of that in my pictures at http://uwo.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2081853&l=9ee86&id=58000349

The third day was called the Gringo killer. Gringos are what the locals here call white tourists. It was about 1.5 km down steep stone steps. Surprisingly it wasnt that bad compared to the previous day. Just really long, 16 km total. It was the most beautiful day going through the edge of the Amazon Jungle, saeeing lots of greenery and flowers which was really nice because all there was to look at the days before were cliffs and stone.

What really shocked me were the porters. These guys carried all our excess baggage, food, water, tents, propane, kitchen equiptment, everything! They raced passed us on the trail, and I have no idea how. Hen we got to our camp the tents were set up, washing bowls available, kitchen set up, and hot food and tea ready in the dining tent. Increadible! And the food was excelent too, some of the best I´ve had yet in Peru.

Today we reached our final destination on the trail, the famous Machu Pishu. This is a huge Inca city built on the cliff of a mountain. It was remarkable. The weather was perfect so we went exploring of this wonder. Truley a feast for the eyes. I´m going to stop talking about it now becasue I dont quite know how to describe a spectacle such as this. See picures at http://uwo.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2081865&l=8225a&id=58000349

Tomorrow I get no break as I fly out to the Amazon Jungle for three days, my second biggest highlight of this trip. Wish me luck and a malaria-free voyage!

Colca Canyon

Right now I´m in Ariquipa, Peru, the second largest city in the country. It´s nice, kinda like a really big small town. See these pictures at http://uwo.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2079118&l=27d9c&id=58000349 But what I really want to tell you about is the Colca Canyon. We drove 4 hours there and 5 hours back over two days, in altitude that reached almost 6000 metres above sea level. I´ve learned about the wonders of coca tea which helps with altitude sickness and tastes really good. It gives you a good jolt of energy too that lasts throughout the day. I found myself breathing very heavily up there and running out of breath very fast, but that is all normal and it only takes the body a few days to compensate.

Now on to the Colca Canyon. It is the deepest in the world where at it´s deepest is 5000 metres. I desperatly want to try to explain the beauty of the region but words cannot do it. I´m serious, I´ve already had discussions with my peers and we´ve decided that it´s unexplainable. Mountains, rivers, shrub, cactus, countless miles of incredible views that look like they are painted and cannot possibly be real. Beautiful, idealistic, utopian, whatever word you can think of will help describe it. When you close your eyes and think of Peru, this is what comes to mind. We even went to a condor lookout point on the canyon. The Peruvian condor is the biggest bird of flight in the world. It´s wingspan is 3 meters long. We were thrilled when they put on a show for us, flying so low above our heads. I´ve posted pictures of this all but I´m afraid my camera is just not good enough to capture the true beauty of this land. See them at http://uwo.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2079124&l=a7777&id=58000349 and http://uwo.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2079144&l=7f0bf&id=58000349 Also make sure you continuously check in with Marco´s photo´s that I told you about before. He´s a photo buff and his pictures are excelent.

Tomorrow we wake up at 4:30 AM to fly to Cuzco, something I am looking forward to very much. (Not the early flight, but the city) It´s supposed to be Peru´s playground where everyhting and anything can be done.

So all together I´m still healthy, making good friends and having a grat time. Although I must admit I´m getting a little sick of the Peruvian food and have had massive cravings lately for a big mac. So thats it for this entry, see you in Cuzco.

Nazca Lines

See my updated photos at:
http://uwo.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2077784&l=a7daf&id=58000349
http://uwo.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2078428&l=6aafb&id=58000349
http://uwo.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2078466&l=cd1c2&id=58000349
http://uwo.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2078476&l=562d1&id=58000349

Out of the 11 people in our tour, 8 of them have been violently sick. But not me. They call me the tough Canadian becasue I have a stomach of steel and go outside at night with only a tshirt (It´s like 15-20 degrees at night!) Anyway that leaves only 3 of us left who can do the flight over the nazca lines. It was great. First of all I was taller than the plane itself. It had 6 seats, one for the pilot. When we were up in the air it was a really bumpy ride. And not only that, but the pilot took the plane onto its edges for every design so we could get a good view of every design.

The designs were incredible. I posted the pictures but it might me hard to see without zooming in. There was a monkey, whale, astronaut, hummingbird, triangles, hands, tree, and many more. The lines themselves stretched for miles in perfect form, like they were present day roads. There is much debate on how the lines were made, and more importantly, why, becasue they cannot be seen from the ground. There is even the theory that they were made by aliens.

I made it through the flight feeling on top of the world, like I caould do it again. But my Australian friends felt a little queezy. So that just leaves me and the tour leader who havent been sick yet...

Pictures

See my pictures on facebook or check out Marco's pictures at http://flickr.com/photos/alex_delarge

Pissed in Pisco

Although I never did get drunk in Pisco, or even have one drink, I thought this was a good title. Let me explain. Yesterday was a chillaxed day. We left Lima via public bus and arived in the town of Pisco, which is actully named after the drink I told you about before. We walked around, ate pinaple, and didn´t really do all that much. Our energy had to be saved for today. But before I talk about that, let me say something about Peru politics.

There's an election coming up in early 2007 (I think). There are campaigns everywhere, and they're in your face. People are excited about it. Advertisments take up every (literally every) billboard, lamp post, or any public space. Or non-public. Candidate ads are hand painted on every available house, wall, cliff, grass hill, mountain, shanty-town, road, car, etc etc etc. No one here is apathetic. I guess that they realize how lucky they are here to be living in a democracy and they dont take advantage of it. We can learn something from them.

Anyway on to my day today. Today I did many things:
1. We woke up at 6 to take a speed boat out to these islands, to what they call here the ¨poor man´s Galapagos¨, and for good reason. I must have seen 20 species of exotic birds, including penguins, in numbers that much reach the hundreds of thousands. There were so many that the islands were covered and the sky could not be seen because it was too full of birds. There were also an incredible number of sea lions and they put on a nice show for us too.

2. We took a private bus to Nazca, but on the way stopped off at a desert oasis. Now this desert is a desert like we see in the holywood movies. There is nothing. Flat land, sand, maybe rock, nothing. Like Saskatchewan covered in sand. At the oasis there are massive dunes that go on for many miles. So we went dune buggying and sand boarding! It was great fun. The buggys were incredible, but i´ve never even been snow boarding before let alone sand, so i pretty much went down the massive hills on my stomach. Some people tore their pants, some got motion sickness and puked from the buggys, but rest assured I came out just fine, which is a good thing becasue I need my stamina for tomorrow...

3. The scenery on the way to Nazca was spectacular. There was flat desert, that went on for 2 hours of driving, without any living species in sight. And suddently there were mountains, also without any living thing in sight. The part that impressed me was that I could literally stand on the border of geographical regions. There was flat desert, and then there were mountains. Simple as that.

4. Again we stopped, this time at a local piscu distilery-vinyard. We bassically were shown how the drink was made, the work, energy and tradition that goes into it, and it was all cool. But the best part was the tasting. Mmm the tasting. We sampled all kinds. For those who don´t know piscu I think tasts most like tequilla but sweeter.

5. Saw my first Nazca Lines. I saw a tree and hands. The lines are an ancient mystery. They are designs marked in the earth thousands of years ago with unknown technology. There are many theories for this, including aliens becasue some of the designs resemble them. Tomorrow I will take a plane up to view these lines becasue it is the best and only way to see them. This is where my stamina comes in. I´m told the pilot turns the plane 90 degrees onto its side so we can get a good view. And he does this many times. I´ll let you know later how I turn out after that.

So that was my big day. And now I´m tired and going to bed. Good night.

You can now live vicariously through me

It's day three and I've met up with my tour group. They seem like amazing people, full of energy, enthousiasm and life in general. Most of them are like me. They are done with school and taking this year off to travel, so I fit in very nicely. Yesterday we saw Lima, a city of 9 million people, which is incredible. Our day tour took us through the old colonial districts and the new and lively downtown districts, which looks comparible to Toronto, or even parts of New York. I saw the government buildings, museums, and some very old churches and monestaries which was a treat for the eyes. In the basement of one there was a catacomb where the townspeople were barried many many centuries ago. There were something like 30 thousand people burried there and only the bones remain. And they're all sorted for our viewing pleasure I might add. Bones and skulls everywhere. I mean everywhere, neatly sorted so we can pretty much see all 30 thousand of them. It was a little freaky that that was even there.

Then yesterday we went to the beach in Miraflores, Lima. It was an overlook about 60 or 70 metres above of the Pacific Ocean. And then the sun came out for the first time since I've been here. It was beautiful.

Last night we all went out on the town. I ate their famous traditional dish of raw fish chunks slightly seared in lemon juice. It was delicious. And I was also exposed to the famous pisco sour. Its a local drink with Peruvian made pisco, lemon juice, and raw egg whites (sorry mom). Its just incredible. And very strong. I'm told that I will have my fair share of those while I'm here. They came free with a lot of meals. We even went to a Cuban club later with a live salsa band.

Today we leave Lima and head off to see Peru. I'll write again soon!

Lima!

Hey everyone I'm in Lima! It was a hectic flight. My stopover flight to New York was an hour late, so I had to run from terminal 9 to terminal 4 at JFK, and it's like a maze there, and realy far! But I made my flight to Lima (barely) and that was an 8 hour night flight, and needless to say I only got about 2 hours of sleep. So here comes the good part. I clear customs, claim my bag, and exit through the last security checkpoint when I get swarmed by cab drivers. I literally mean it, swarmed like raw meat. So I chose one, at it made him the happiest cabbie in the world becasue he beat out all the rest. We became great friends for the 45 minute drive to the hotel.

I'm here a day early before the tour, and I already made a friend. So we went out into the city to look around. We're in an upper class suburb, and there's lots of markets and shops around. Very nice. Later I'm going on a tour of the city, where I should see the colonial city, including a pyramid, monestaries and catacombs. They promise a delicious traditional dinner and I might even see a show tonight of a typical Peruvian dance.

Yup, sounds pretty good for the first day.

No Turning Back Now

So this is it. My flights are booked and I leave in one week. For those of you who don't know and want to know, I've finished my degree at Western I am taking this year off to travel. I have saved up for a while and am very excited to go. As it stands, I will be gone for almost 5 months, reach 4 continents, explore 6 countries (at least), and take 17 flights, probably with more on the way. Destinations: Peru, Bolivia, Australia, New Zealand, Israel and California. And who knows, maybe even more. I am writing this blog for anyone who wants to follow me and my experiences as I travel this journey. I will write as often as I can and try to post pictures along the way. In return I ask you to post your comments or write emails because I want to hear from you!
On November 8th I begin my trip by flying to Lima, Peru. I’ll be on my own for about a day and a half before I meet up with my tour group, so I’ll take that opportunity to see the city. I better brush up on my Spanish. Anyway I will let you know how it is when I get there. See you all next year!