I love backpackers!

Sometimes you get someplace and you meet really cool people - Backpackers that is! So here in Popayan I have met and gel with a good group of folks.

I stayed at the very cool Hostel Trail, run by Tony and Kim. A Scottish couple whom were traveling themselves until they got an unbeatable deal to own and operate their own hostel in Popayan. My first impression of them was "Geeze they are the youngest foreign Hostel owners I have ever met!!!!".

Hostel Trail is barely 3 months old so it has a lot to prove. But so far, it has all the right condition for travelers like me and you. It has a TV/DVD room, a book exchange, a reading area, communal kitchen, free coffee, a lovely dining area and Internet access.

But most of all, Tony and Kim are both friendly and helpful. Unfortunately, they were on their way home to Scotland for 3 months shortly after my visit, and they have got two of their cronies Stephen and Colin to run it whilst they are gone. I personally don´t know if I would trust leaving my hostel to a Walsh and a Scottish. HAH! ;)

Check out their Hostel website and the amazing Network they have created for backpackers traveling in South America!

Rainy day in Popayan...

Rain rain go away, come again another day!!!

The weather so far from Quito has been predictable. Sunny mornings followed by rainy afternoons.

This is the rainy season in this side of South America, but at least Popayan is not freezing like Quito after the rain!

Welcome to Colombia!

Welcome to Colombia! I made it, and the border crossing between Ecuador and Colombia (between Tulcan and Ipiales) is one of the easiest that I have encountered. There was no hassle at all and there were no bribes involved. :)

But I was nervous about the Colombian pesos as I have never ever seen one before. So I manage to convince my Ecuadorian custom officer to follow me out to flag down a road side money changer. I wanted him to verify the fact that those pesos I get are authentic!

This photo was taken by the Colombian border guard. Smile! :)

After the crossing I spent another 8 hours by taxi and bus, to get me up to the town of Popayan. But thank God I didn't take this old bus (known as "Colectivos") on the right.

Instead I caught one of these super fast taxi minivans, which sped through the Pan American highway along some spectacular landscape, where the cliff drops steeply down deep valleys, with a roaring river below. Oh also, if you are heading North like me, sit on the right side for the best view!

Otavalo´s famous market

Yey! I finally left Quito. I arrive in the town of Otavalo, about 2 hours north of Quito today to check out one of South America's most famous and biggest outdoor market.

It is certainly big alright! Stretching out from the main plaza (town square) out to adjacent roads all around town. The stores were full of handicrafts, artworks, clothing's and jewelry. But you know what? It wasn't as mind blowing as I thought it would be. I dunno whether it is coz I have seen that many outdoor markets or that I was sore from bouldering yesterday or... That I wasn't planning on buying "nada" (nothing) since I still have so much time to travel. However I enjoy people watching, and seeing locals from the villages in their traditional costume and jewelry, gave me countless Kodak moments.

In the evening I had plans to see the cock fight in a local ring, but the rain put an end to that idea. I was soaked, not from above, but from below. The problem was the road, it's puddles and the passing traffic. My pants are right now being dried at the fireplace.

Speaking of which, anyone who visits Otavalo should check out the hostel I stayed at. It is call Hotel Riviera Sucre and features big rooms, tv, comfy beds, fireplace and hammocks. Tomorrow I will be crossing the border into Colombia. I am looking forward to seeing this country as I have met countless travelers whom have raved about this country to me.

Where I have been! :)

This is a pretty cool site, you tick the box of all the countries you have visited and it will generate a map of the countries you have visited!

Quito Climbing

I finally baptise my zapatos de roca (climbing shoes) on Tuesday. After buying those beautiful babies (La Sportivas) from LA I have been wanting to use them.

So I found this bouldering place call MonoDedo (One Finger) near La Coruna Calle (road), about 20 minutes walk from home. Inside there were all these monkeys climbing everywhere.... I felt like a bloody pig compare to them. I SUCK and am sad to think that I have lost all my form (what form LOL) after 4 months of absence.

But Al / Steve / Anna / Nick and the rest, I am still gonna KICK your asses when I return! :b

One week in Quito

This is me studying Spanish with Floro. And as you can see I am so good at Spanish that she didn't need to write anything on the board. :b

My week in Quito has been awesome. The school has arranged for a home stay for me. So I have my own room, a big bed, bathroom and 2 meals a day. It has bought some sort of normality back to my life and I love it. Today I even went to Quito's big shopping mall call Centro Commercial Jardin (Park Central) and sat at Mr.Book (Border's Like bookstore) reading English materials. It felt great!

And as for cost? My one-to-one Spanish lessons is 4.50usd an hour and the home stay is 12usd per day. A bargain!

I shag Turtles...

I see Turtles too... Ooooooo La La!

The Galápagos Islands

I spent an incredible 6 days out in the Galapagos last week and I want to rave about it!

I spent most of it on board this sail boat name "Merak". It is a smallish, carrying 4 crews and 8 passengers. Wel actualy it is pretty tiny, as upon arrival at the dock the Merak was the smallest ship of the lot by far! The crew included one naturalist guide name Cesar, the captain Teto, first mate Lenin and the cook Jamie.

We had a good group of people on board which was nice as the boat was too small for any sort of difficulties. However we did not have an auspicious start as the American Pete (on the left of the photo) left his backpack on board the bus and we were all delayed from starting out on the cruise. He apparently saw the basking sea lions at the dock and got so excited with taking photos that he forgot all about his backpack - what a dumb arse! But we soon forgave him and forgot about the incident. :)

Cesar our guide is the best guide I have had so far in this trip. This old man who turns 70 next year, is one exceptional guide. Seriously! Cesar is a joker and can take as much himself as he dishes out. He tells us his favorite position is '69 LOL! This was after we saw this big male bull sea lion gave it to his lover (in the only style they can master - guess). Cesar must have a pretty long love life as he has 5 ex-wives along with 12 kids from past marriages. But he told us when the tax man came they told him he had 6 ex-wives so he is still looking for the last one! hahaha

Cesar is also strong for his age, always being the first on our inflatable, standing up to help with the navigation. As for his guiding style he would just walk off when he wants to, so if you do not want to hear his explanation you don't have to. He has been guiding for 30 years (including 2 as a cook!) so he can tell us anything and everything we wanted to know without a book. I love this old man and will rave about him to other travelers. So it is only a pity that Cesar plans to retire at the end of the year. Salud!

The Galapagos archipelago is actually a group consisting of 13 main Islands. And in our tour we only visited 5 Islands. They are:

Baltra - which everybody visits upon arrival as that is where the airport lives. We visited a beautiful beach near by on our first day, and saw ruins of a pier left by the American GIs station here during WWII.

Santa Cruz - the mainland hub which has the largest human population (20,000 and counting) and home of the famous Charles Darwin Research Station where massive land turtles can be observed.

Santa Fe - A small-ish Island full of cactus trees along with a whole host of lizards including the Land Iguana and Lava Lizard.

Espanola - My favorite Island for it's terrain and animals! It is full of bird species such as the wave Albatross, Hood Mockingbirds, Blue footed Boobies, Swallow-Tailed Gulls and Finches. There are also spectacular blow holes and loads and loads of Marine Iguanas (and we observe them swimming in the ocean!).

Floreana - Another beautiful Island with beautiful beaches where you can observe (and feel!) stingrays swimming at your feet on the beach, see pink flamingos in the lake and leave mail for someone to post at "Post Office Bay". The "Post Office Bay" is name after barrels of mail left by whalers back in the 18th century as a means for ships destined for the USA and Europe to deliver their mail home. Floreana had the best snorkeling around it's offshore Island called the "Devils Crown". It is actually a submerged volcanic cone full of coral and fishes.

On the left this is a Land Iguana, chewing on it's favorite food from the cactus tree. This big lizard was lazing around beforehand but move fast when Cesar cut and drop this cactus at it's feet. I am guessing it hasn't eaten in a while! The photo was taken at Santa Fae Island.

Sea lions abound in every Island we visited.
From the moment we arrived at the dock in Baltra we found these lazy creatures on land. However in water they are a different story. Garret, Dave, Bos and I had the most exhilarating experience underwater at Espanol Island, because the teenagers came underwater to play with us! They would swim right up to us, blow bubble in our face and swim off, one swam so close to me I got to touch it´s rubbery skin! They were so playful that they disturbed a white tip shark whom was basking beneath the rocks!

The Galapagos visit was an incredible experience for me because these animals weren't afraid of human presence. I guess they have no fear for us because they were never hunted by human beings like elsewhere. So we could get very close to these wild creatures. And some of them like the finches and baby sea lions would hop up to investigate or to play with us.

Blow Holes at Espanol Island

The landscape was also very beautiful, from big cliffs with blow holes, dried out windswept terrain, humid and wet forest, perfect sandy beaches to rising volcanic cones all devoid of human habitation. 97% of the Galapagos is protected and this is the largest marine reserve in the world.

I only hope that with the increasing human presence (both locals and tourist) that the Galapagos can maintain it's uniqueness, and that one day my kids will be able to see this landscape and animals in the same way that I saw it.

I am back in Quito!

http://generator.click2map.com/maps/chiwi/South America Adventure

Just testing a new mapping tool to show people where I am currently. Tell me what you think of it or if there is a better alternative to this. What I really want is a mapping tool which shows people where I have been with some kind'a travel line.


Sweet!

24 hours madness in Vegas

I spent a mad 24 hours in Vegas when I was in LA. I started by catching a 6 hours Greyhound bus out at 8am. And realise immediately why people from the States do not use the Greyhound. The bus was full of bums and low income earners hoping to make it big in Vegas. One bum was so smelly that nobody sat next to him! Upon arriving in Vegas, I immediate set out for that famous boulevard.

First impression - I WAS BLOWN AWAY. Ok so people from the States wonder what the facination is. Well when you see and watch it on TV, hear about it on the news and then finally see it with your own eyes. It is just simply fantastic! I felt I was in La La land!!! Though the La La land would have been even better if I was loaded! ;)

Even the first sighting of Vegas was incredible. One moment it is all desert and dry plains, and then you start seeing big billboards on the side of the road (with one gun shop selling M-16´s wtf?), before the tall white buildings of Vegas rose out like a mirage in the distance. And everything in Vegas is HUGE. Then again, everything in the States are massive! From their billboards, food portions to big cars and 10 lanes wide boulevards.

Walking around the main strip neon signs, TV screen, and big billboards all jump out at you. I thought there were some hilarious contradiction though. Such as passing by wedding chapels (whom broadcast your wedding for free over the Internet) and seeing a big poster of Dalai Lama´s upcoming preaching. And of seeing nuns in their garb strolling by those big evil casinos.

I really enjoy watching the different people out here too. From fat mama´s to men in cowboy suit. But I saw a lot of families too, like this is some kind of healthy outing or something. :)

This fountain is pretty impressive too, found outside Paris Vagas. I went up the Eiffel Tower for a great view over the city.

Afterwards I caught a few free shows. The most impressive being Ballagio´s massive fountains. I was hugely impress by it´s size, and the height of the fountain. I just wish the show was longer! LOL

I caught the pirate show at Treasure Island next, that wasn´t as impressive though the audience were huge. I also caught the volcano show outside of the Mirage and the Roman show inside Caesar´s Palace, all pretty average but fun to watch neverless.

Vegas is all about gambling, shows and shopping. I didn´t have time to gamble, but I caught shows and shopped. They had some pretty cool shops too! Such as the M&M bar on the right. I LOOOOVE M&M´s and they had all kind´s of M&M. Such as M&M´s with peanut butter inside! It was yummy!!!! And at some casinos such as the Venetian they built a canal inside the mall, and had paddlers take passengers out on boat. The ceiling were pretty impressive, with the sky painted on.

So most of these casinos had a theme, from Paris Vegas´s French furnishing, Excalibur´s old England theme, Caesar´s Palace´s Roman theme to Luxor´s Egyptian theme.

Obviously if you wanted to catch a decent show you had to pay for it. So I fork up nearly 150USD for the latest Cirque du Soleil show. It was call "Love" and is based on the Beatles. The show was at the Mirage, and I booked it prior to arriving here thanks to Andreanne in Melbourne. She worked for Cirque du Soleil and manage to get me a pretty decent seat inside.

Technically this is the most advance show I have seen. Every seat in the purpose built theater had 4 speakers built in. The lighting and sound effects was also impressive! And the show, it was fantastic! I enjoy hearing all the Beatles song, and watching the actors dance to the songs. They used 3 VW Beatles in the show, and one actually comes apart during the show. But in terms of the actors skill I was more impress with the other Cirque du Soleil show I saw - Varekei.

So in the end, I caught the 1.30am bus (which was delayed till 3am thanks Greyhound!) back to LA. It has been one tiring but fantastic 24 hours for me. :)

Every dog has it´s day...

I finally get to watch an All Blacks game, at the only pub in town showing it. To me we were definitely the better team on the day. We dominated at line out, scrum, possession and our backs were on fire. But the fluky French side came back and wins by 2 points.

20-18 enuf said! <cries>

I´ll be back!

I love LA, there was so much to see and do in my time there that I did not get to see everything.

I spent the first day visiting Universal Studio Hollywood, one of the biggest movie studios in the States. Universal Studio Hollywood is one part fun ride and the other part a proper production studio. With on going series productions such as "Desperate Housewife" and "Jericho", and recent famous films such as "Shrek 3" and "The Kingdom". It was interesting to look through the production studios and the fake city setups. I was pretty impress with the setup for "War of the World´s" though as they cut up a real Boeing 747 and scattered the pieces throughout the stage. I also love the movie rides and movies such as Jurassic Park, Shrek 4D and the Mummy. The best bit about this was I waited for no rides as it wasn´t pack on a Monday!

Another day was spent walking through Hollywood Boulevard. It was fun looking out for my favorite actors but I thought there were way too many, and they even included cartoons such as the Simpsons and Donald Duck in the Hollywood star walk! It was cool to see the legendary Grauman´s Chinese Man theater, and to see the writing by famous actors outside. In this photo you can see the writing by the current governor (some call him the governator!) of California. :) I still think it is hilarious but appropriate to have an A class (well I think he is A class) actor ending up being the governor of that very State. I hope he goes all the way to become to Prez one day (when they decide to change the rule about American-born to become President).

This last star has got to be mine. LOL!

But I went ga ga over the actors found. Including Bruce Lee, Wyona Ryder, Marilyn Monroe, Arnie, Jonny Cash... Though as mention before, it was weird to see cartoon characters being featured here. Perhaps I am missing something but according to my guide it cost 15,000 USD to place the tile and to maintain it. Are the fan base of the Donald Duck club big enough to have fund raise for this?

The only disappointment I had here was that I couldn´t find the star of Scarlett Johansson. :)

I love California!

This is where I have been for the past 11 days. I spent it with my mate Derek and his girlfriend Cynthia in LA. I went there as it has been a long 4 years since we last partied together, and it was also his 40th birthday so we wanted to celebrate it in style. Don´t he look good for an old man? :)

Derek and Cynthia lives in Brentwood, a suburb in Santa Monica in West LA. LA by the way is one massive city, home to 13 million (encompassing Long Beach and Santa Ana). It is also a massive car-friendly and people-unfriendly city, as getting anywhere requires wheels.

Anyway, Derek and Cynthia´s neighbourhood can be considered as the Parnel/Remurea of Auckland. Big mansions, beautiful apartments, palm tree lined boulevards and lots of nice cars on the streets. Seeing SUV´s, Porsche, Mercs and BMWs driving past are like seeing Fords and Nissans back home.

They also own a cute little Beagle name Holly. She is only 6 months old. She spots these big fluffy ears (which I would very much like to pin back) and a beautiful fur coat. I love watching her run around the apartments as the marble floor makes her slip and slide everywhere.

This photo I took of her will probably be her last time sitting in the back seat! Coz she threw up both on Cynthia and me afterwards. They blame it on her eating prior to coming out and of sitting out back. Poor little Holly!