Well I haven´t written anything in a while, so I thought I should provide a short update on what´s going in on.
I came to Costa Rica for my brother´s wedding and decided to stay for an extra few weeks. I started the trip in Santa Teresa (where the wedding was held), which is a really cool, mellow surftown where we stayed for about 4 days. Really didn´t do anything while I was here. I went on a canopy toor (zip lines), tried to surf (poorly - without an instructor) and generally sat by the beach. It was awesome!
When the wedding was over and everyone, I went to Playa Del Coco which is where the best scuba diving is located. The town was really touristy, but the scuba diving was fun.
Have I mentioned how hot it was and how burned I got?
I´m currently in Monteverde which is where you go to see the animals and will be going tomorrow to see the most popular active volcano. I´ll try to keep this blog up to date, but no guarantees.
Peace.
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Lima
I hadn't heard great things about Lima, but I got bored in Ica and decided to leave a day early. Sandboarding really wasn't that great, and it certainly didn't help that the equipment was terrible. Turning was impossible due to the lack of an edge and proper heel support. As advertised the buggy ride leading up to the sandboarding was insane. I took a short video, but I'm not sure how it came out.
Prior to Ica, I went up in a plane to see the Nazca lines which are huge even from the plane. I took pictures, which I'll post on facebook. This ride was not for those who get motion sickness. The pilot was diving and circling the lines at high speeds such that I was dizzy and had a headache by the end.
Since arriving in Lima last night, I did a little shopping in some of the markets and gave surfing a try this afternoon. Man is that hard and cold. September is still considered the winter months in Peru so I wore a full wet suit. I can't quite stand up yet given the 1 hour lesson I received in extremely poor English. However, I plan on going back tomorrow before I leave for another try. Where else can I surf for 2 hours for under $20?
Prior to Ica, I went up in a plane to see the Nazca lines which are huge even from the plane. I took pictures, which I'll post on facebook. This ride was not for those who get motion sickness. The pilot was diving and circling the lines at high speeds such that I was dizzy and had a headache by the end.
Since arriving in Lima last night, I did a little shopping in some of the markets and gave surfing a try this afternoon. Man is that hard and cold. September is still considered the winter months in Peru so I wore a full wet suit. I can't quite stand up yet given the 1 hour lesson I received in extremely poor English. However, I plan on going back tomorrow before I leave for another try. Where else can I surf for 2 hours for under $20?
Monday, September 1, 2008
Cool your jets!
I´ve been pretty busy taking awesome 12 hour bus rides lately, so it has been difficult to provide frequent updates. Regardless, the salt plains where really cool. I stayed overnight in the ¨salt hotel¨, which is much like the ice hotel in Iceland, but not as good and made almost entirely of salt. During the trip, we visited various lagoons (green, black and red) and saw some pink flamingos.
Since the salt plains are near the town of Uyuni, I had to take a terrible 10 hour bus ride back to La Paz. Once there I went to a suit shop and had a custom suit and overcoat made which turned out great. After that, I pretty much just bummed around town. In the evening, I went drinking with some people I met in Uyuni and left for Arequipa the next morning (hence the 12 hour bus ride). Since arriving in Arequipa, I haven´t done a whole lot. I went rafting and did a little biking while visiting a really cool monastery.
Tonight I leave for Nazca to go see the famous ¨Nazca lines¨(I booked a flight to go over them)followed by a visit to Ica where I´ll be trying to sandboard (like snowboarding but on sand) and going for a dune buggy ride!
Well, that pretty much wraps up my trip....how depressing.
PO
Since the salt plains are near the town of Uyuni, I had to take a terrible 10 hour bus ride back to La Paz. Once there I went to a suit shop and had a custom suit and overcoat made which turned out great. After that, I pretty much just bummed around town. In the evening, I went drinking with some people I met in Uyuni and left for Arequipa the next morning (hence the 12 hour bus ride). Since arriving in Arequipa, I haven´t done a whole lot. I went rafting and did a little biking while visiting a really cool monastery.
Tonight I leave for Nazca to go see the famous ¨Nazca lines¨(I booked a flight to go over them)followed by a visit to Ica where I´ll be trying to sandboard (like snowboarding but on sand) and going for a dune buggy ride!
Well, that pretty much wraps up my trip....how depressing.
PO
Sunday, August 24, 2008
The Land of Opportunity
You can pretty much do whatever you want in some of these countries. In Bolivia, they are extremely lax on most rules. If you want to drink in the cab, no problem. Feel like offering the security guard at the airport a drink? He´ll accept.
I just returned from a trek into the Amazon jungle with some people I met in La Paz and these guys will try anything. I have pictures of amateur Cobra and aligator wrangling where the guide just sat back and let them do whatever they wanted. Crazy stuff.
Anyway, the trip to the jungle was really fun where we went fishing for Piranhas, fed monkeys and searched for snakes.
Upon my return to La Paz tomorrow, I´m heading straight for the salt plains which should be pretty cool. I´ll update the post if when I get back from that trip.
By the way, landing a plane on grass in the jungle is not for the feint of heart.
PO
I just returned from a trek into the Amazon jungle with some people I met in La Paz and these guys will try anything. I have pictures of amateur Cobra and aligator wrangling where the guide just sat back and let them do whatever they wanted. Crazy stuff.
Anyway, the trip to the jungle was really fun where we went fishing for Piranhas, fed monkeys and searched for snakes.
Upon my return to La Paz tomorrow, I´m heading straight for the salt plains which should be pretty cool. I´ll update the post if when I get back from that trip.
By the way, landing a plane on grass in the jungle is not for the feint of heart.
PO
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Bolivia?
Ok. I must admit, I´m drunk.
Beginning from the last post, I went to Puno and visited the islands of lake Titicaca on my own. It was great fun and really interesting learning about the culture of the people who live on each island. Probably the coolest part was visiting the islands created from reefs. That was amazing.
Aside from that there are a few things I was meaning to discuss:
1) Liquids tend to expand at high altitudes. This means my pens, shampoo and toothpaste exploded on arrival.
2) After 5pm you can negotiate with hotels in Peru. I go a $45 hotel for $25. I felt quite pleased with myself.
3) Being American never pays when traveling. Getting into Bolivia, Americans had to pay $135 to enter. Needless to say, the Canadian passport came out as I paid about 12 cents to enter. The guy at the border told me there was a ¨political feud¨ between Bolivia and the USA (who knew?).
After Puno, I successfully made my way to Bolivia and am having a great time in La Paz. It feels a little weird drinking with people I just met, but this seems to happen most places I travel solo.
The current plan is to visit the Amazon Jungle followed by a trip to the salt flats. Nothing is planned yet, but I should have things figured out tomorrow.
If I haven´t mentioned this before, traveling is awesome, and I wish I could stay longer, but alas, I must return in September.
By the way, I´m having a hard time posting pictures to facebook, hence the 6 pictures currently there.
PO
Beginning from the last post, I went to Puno and visited the islands of lake Titicaca on my own. It was great fun and really interesting learning about the culture of the people who live on each island. Probably the coolest part was visiting the islands created from reefs. That was amazing.
Aside from that there are a few things I was meaning to discuss:
1) Liquids tend to expand at high altitudes. This means my pens, shampoo and toothpaste exploded on arrival.
2) After 5pm you can negotiate with hotels in Peru. I go a $45 hotel for $25. I felt quite pleased with myself.
3) Being American never pays when traveling. Getting into Bolivia, Americans had to pay $135 to enter. Needless to say, the Canadian passport came out as I paid about 12 cents to enter. The guy at the border told me there was a ¨political feud¨ between Bolivia and the USA (who knew?).
After Puno, I successfully made my way to Bolivia and am having a great time in La Paz. It feels a little weird drinking with people I just met, but this seems to happen most places I travel solo.
The current plan is to visit the Amazon Jungle followed by a trip to the salt flats. Nothing is planned yet, but I should have things figured out tomorrow.
If I haven´t mentioned this before, traveling is awesome, and I wish I could stay longer, but alas, I must return in September.
By the way, I´m having a hard time posting pictures to facebook, hence the 6 pictures currently there.
PO
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Cusco to Machu Picchu
Ok, so I suck at updating this thing. I landed in Lima late Friday night and took a flight out in the morning to get to Cusco. Cusco is the starting point for most treks and visits to Machu Picchu. When I arrived, I had a terrible head ache due to the altitude and met up with Seb later in the day. It took nearly three days for me to get over the altitude which was just enough time to visit some of the minor sights around the city. We visited some bars, but they weren´t great and since I felt like crap, we didn´t stay out too late (i.e. no drunken escapades).
On Tuesday of last week, Seb and I went on a 5 day tour of Salkantay Trail which involves a 65 kms hike cumulating in a visit to Machu Picchu. This hike almost killed me. Not only was it really really long, but it went up to 4,600 m. If anyone has been hiking before they would know that this is really high. Regardless, at the end of the day, I survived to visit Machu Picchu which was really cool and well worth the effort.
On a side note, the people of Peru are really nice, but unlike Southeast Asia, very few people speak english. Instead, they assume that you speak Spanish. This will pose a problem once Seb leaves tomorrow.
If everything works out as planned, I should be going to Puno tomorrow to visit Lake Titicaca followed by a visit to Bolivia.
PO
On Tuesday of last week, Seb and I went on a 5 day tour of Salkantay Trail which involves a 65 kms hike cumulating in a visit to Machu Picchu. This hike almost killed me. Not only was it really really long, but it went up to 4,600 m. If anyone has been hiking before they would know that this is really high. Regardless, at the end of the day, I survived to visit Machu Picchu which was really cool and well worth the effort.
On a side note, the people of Peru are really nice, but unlike Southeast Asia, very few people speak english. Instead, they assume that you speak Spanish. This will pose a problem once Seb leaves tomorrow.
If everything works out as planned, I should be going to Puno tomorrow to visit Lake Titicaca followed by a visit to Bolivia.
PO
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