Entering Europe...surprisingly nice!!

Leaving Honduras and the developing world in general is kind of surreal. I look forward to Europe, but ina totally different way.

The flight to Atlanta goes without a hitch. Having heard so many bad stories about immigration nazis I am more than a little surprised when the cheery middle aged white fella I see plays an April fools day prank on me, saying my new chip passport mustn’t be formatted properly. I almost fall for it!

From there on in I lurk around the airport for 3 hours, as my next flight is running late. The place is bloody huge. Six terminals, spotlessly clean and everybody who works there is black. It doesn’t feel so different from Honduras after all, at least the coloured workers. I want to spend a $1 coin from Ecuador, and get tripped up with the tax situation.. a 99c ice cream turns into $1.08. Doh! Going to spend my now more change, I realize I don’t have enough for anything. Out of nowhere the workers pull coins out of their own pockets to help me out! Bizzarree.. maybe the US of A is not such a bad place after all.

The flight across the atlantic goes quick enogh I guess. Into Paris though I way clearly not going to catch my connecting flight to Madrid. This means I have to que up with almost the entire plane for 2 hours to organize another. I explain to the kid who serves me I actually need to get to Dublin, and will now miss my Ryanair flighth. He is all too good about it and reroutes me straight to Dublin, no problems at all.

I have three hours to spend till I have to check in. Noticing the Air France 1st class lounge in the corner, I decide to bluff my way in, seeing as their delay caused my extended stay here. I walk up to the desk, passport in hand and look like I belong towards the five (no less) staff staring at me. This clearly has an effect cos they smile at me… and I walse on thru the door.

The first three mins I wait to get rumbled. Everybody else is wearing a suit, and I am in traveling clothes… Somewhat startlingly nobody challenges me. So I make good use of the internet and bar service. I don’t want to drink too much so… a glass of Bollinger ($100 a bottle in NZ), 2 beers, and 6 self poured bourbon and cokes later I am pretty content. Unfortunately the lounge only has snax for food (bloody palpers).. but I nod “merci”as I wander out the door… sweet!

It is lucky that I got on line though, cos I find a new email from Brad in Dublin, whom I am staying with. His work has called him away.. he is in Zurich till Thursday eve… and today is monday!! His flatmates are being sports though, and say I can still stay there. This works out pretty well, cos I get to sleep in his bed. And indeed I do sleep well.

Flatmates turn out to be sisters Deidre and Katie, who are both good sorts, and over the next few days I see the sights of Dublin… in the SUN!! Four days in a row, no less… And everybody grizzles about how wet it is here… Admittedly it is bloody freezing at night though.

The guiness factory is pretty cool. The old buildings and general layout is nice. Trinity College is massive, and totally enclosed. The whole city is very well set up for tourists, with excellent signage, etc. But most of all I am amused by the people in general. Compared to South America, there is just so much money floating around. No surprises there, but walking thru the large shopping malls and streets hearing kids grizzle at parents to buy them more (and more) is a bit startling. As is the clothing and general appearance of everyone. Loads of makeup and flash haircuts, and trendy clothes of course.

The other interesting thing I note is the number of eastern Europeans, recent immigrants since the EU opened up. I had read about this previously, but am still amazed that you can hear their various languages everywhere, and see specialized food shops even.

Other missions accomplished are receiving a box of my stuff from wanaka (just in time), and swapping my Ozzy driving licence for a local one.

Whn Brad gets back it is the night before Good Friday so we go out for a few drinks. And a few on Friday night too. His mate Tim is over from London too, just to add to the party. Prices are even more scarey than I expected. A four drinks round hits 28 Euros!!! That’s well over my daily budget for the last six months….

Luckily, we spend our one day together (Friday) actually doing something. That being hearding out to the sea at Howth. Again, the sun is shining, so its all very nice.

Flying to London on Saturday, I am amazed to see that Heathrow airport treats Dublin as a domestic flight. No immigration, customs or problems. Very nice. The tube to Jon and Fi’s is quick, and Jon and I enjoy a few beers that night with his local friends.

The next day is also perfectly sunny. The three of us go bike riding, and even play a little hacki sac.

Monday and Tues are in class, starting the training trip with Topdeck, then wed us drivers take off to Holland. More about TT in the next post…. Maybe…

final thoughts on Central America, and off to Europe

Central America has been a bit different to South America.

We really rushed thru, so this is just a few 1st impressions really.

People here are not as honest. The taxi drivers, bus conductors, money changers etc all seem a lot more into the concept of rippng gringos off. Especialy the taxi drivers. I have almost given up catching them, sick of being told to pay several dollars to go just up the road.

Peple here look different too. A lot more of a moix, and lots of West Indians with very dark skin. A lot of them are big, which makes for a change where in South America I was constantly the tallest person.

it is similarly dirty and warmer for sure.

Going to Europe will be quite a shock to the system.... I hope!!

I am hoping that time in Europe will make the filth, heat, poverty etc which is all part of life over here, seem interesting again. As with previous trips to developing nations, I find it all becomes very normal way too quickly.

God willing I wont spend the same money in a month of Europe that i have in the last six in South and Central America. Will keep this site posted....

Great diving, sad to say goodbye

After saying goodbye to Sara I bus thru to Trujillio. This takes all day and is damn boring. Especialy after La Ceiba, when i get on a chicken bus.. which takes 3 hours to travel 120km. Not good.

My main aim in Trujilio is to catch a ferry out to the island of Guaranja. If it even goes.. nobody seems sure if it does or not... By the time i arrive its 9.30pm and hosing with rain. I am exhausted after getting up at 3.30 this morning, and crash hard in the first place i see.

Next morning... its still raining. Hard. Real hard. I have a TV in my room for a change so i watch some Hollywood nonsense till it settles. The town itself is much smaller than i expected. After a look around, and a walk on the supposedly perfect beach.. which seems pretty average.. I decide to walk out to the Casa Kiwi, a backpackers lodge. I figure the owner is from home and might offer some insights to living here.

As it turns out she is away for the day, but a couple around my age from Queenstown are doing some work there for free board. We spend most of the day chatting, which is nice.

By evening I decide I am actualy more interested in returning to Utila for more diving, than going to Guaranja. This is pushed on by the revelatin that the next ferry isnt for 3 more days.

So the next day I am away (in the rain again) by a direct bus this time, and onto the ferry for Utila in the late arvo.

Returning to Paradise Divers feels ike coming home. Sandra and Tullio (DMs), Jason from Canada, Dave from Wales all greet me enthusisticly which is very warming.

Jason has been thinking about doing the rescue diver course, so I agree to do it with him. At $199US, and $60US for the first aid course, it wont get any cheaper anywhere else, and I still think of going thru Dive Master at some stage.

The course is run by Tullio. I like the guys cos hes laid back and fun etc, but i do question his teaching ability a bit. His explanations are a bit flakey sometimes, and most questions I have get answered with "dont worry about it" ... But as it turns out it is pretty straight forward and I do get some benefit, thinking about what to do in a bad situation.

After seven nights on the island the day finaly comes to leave. I genuinely dont want to go. I have felt more at home here, than anywhere else we went on the trip. Staying around and doing the DM exam is pretty tempting. But I have flights paid for and people to meet in Europe before returning to South America. So with almost a small tear in my eye I get on the 2pm ferry, then catch the boring bus back to San Pedro Sula.

On Sunday the 1st of April, I write this blog, then go to the airport, a bit bemused that I am returnign to the "civilized world" again... I really hoipe it wont be too bloody cold ! (and expensive!!).. fingers crossed..

Honduras, from bad to great

11-22 March 207

Somewhere along the way into Honduras I get sick. It’s a long day, changing busses several times in high heat. By the time we get to San Pedro Sula its 9pm, and I collapse straight into bed. At the time I assume it is just tiredness.

The next moring we are on another bus for 3 hours to Copan, and its then I realize something is wrong. I have no energy and am stiff all over. Sara has escaped it as ñeaves me to it. For the next thre days I eat no more than a couple of pieces of bread each day. Not good.

I am particularly put out cos we are leaving soon! And I almost never get sick, so when I do I don’t seem to handle it well.

We do manage to see the ruins at least. Maybe its my condidtion, but they do not impress me much. They are small and the ¨amazing¨ detail of the carvings seems to be missed by me. In fact most of the better pieces are replicas!! We are shocked at having to pay $15 US each to get in!! And the guide stings us another $7 each, even after teaming up with some travelers… ouch!

So we bus back to SPS then onto La Ceiba. Having to cab the transfers between bus stops is highly frustrating.. they charge ridiculous gringo prices and get surly at the concept of bargaining. We get on the ferry to Utilla just on time…

Utila has the reputation of being the cheapest place in the world to get dive certifications. And the water is warm and clear. It’s a tall order, but it does indeed come true. We speak to a few dive shops and end up going with the skankiest, cheapest and most laid back one, Paradise Divers.

Its so cheap Sara ends up doing her Advanced Course for all of $210US, including 2 free fun dives and free accom. I am happy with 10 fun dives for $150!!

The accom is basic, which is fine, but the location between two loud discos could be better! The best two dives are a night dive where we see an enormous King Crab, and a wreck dive which is surrounded by massive fish. The instructor takes photos with his very flash 10mpx camera (I didn’t know such high definition existed yet!), which are too big to post here, but look fantastic.

The island itself is basically one small town. Only 2 roads and quite crowded. Not quite what we expected, but pretty cool.

On the last two days we decide to check out the next island over. Roatan. The big interest here is the current real estate frenzy. We fly there (as a treat!) and hire a car at $45US a day. This is a budget blower, but allows us to have a good look around.

The East end is much less developed, and super laid back. We stay at a private cottage on the beach. Costing $50, its steep but is very nice. We organize this thru the Windsong restaurant, where the local gringos have a great yarn to us about living on the island, then one goes and pays for our dinner!!!

The West end is very expensive, and while very commercial, no where near as ¨civilized¨as we expected. It still has sand roads etc. We eat a flash lobster dinner on the beach which is nice, fully aware that we wont see each other for ages very soon.

Back at SPS for a night it pours with rain. It’s a 3.30am start to get Sara on her flight. Its an emotional farewell, and we both hope that the next 6 months will deliver to each of us what we are looking for.

178 days on the road together. Its been a great trip….

Nicaragua, highs and lows..

8-10 March 2007

Crossing into Nicaragua we get hit by our first true scam on the entire tyip. Its not a good way to enter a country…

Having been told there is no bank there to change money, I use a street trader. I am dead tired after the long bus ride yesterday and not thinking straight. The exchange rate is 18 Cordobas to 1USD. I change $40 and just cant seem to do the arithmetic in my head. Getting frustrated I cant find my calculator, and believe the money changers one. Something feels wrong but we trade $40. About a minute later I finaly click. He has used a rigged calculator and short changed us by almost $25…..

I am furious. More at myself than him. We try to find him but he has disappeared. His friends say that hes not their friend when we ask them. After 10 mins we give up. This leaves me fuming for days
On a positive side the process of immigration is quite straight forward, which is an improvement on the minimum of two hours stated in our guide book.

The book also says positive things about the Pacific side beach town of San Huan del Sur, which is not too far away.

Unfortunately the book is wrong again.

The place is far from awesome, but is amazingly expensive. The dorms cost &US a head, and we finaly get a double for $15. The most we have ever paid till this point os $13, and even that was an exception…. Normaly we are under $10. This is concerning cos Nicaragua is supposedly the cheapest country in all of Latin America, ie Central and South America…

Amusement comes from the huge plethora of real estate shops. All in English and quoting incredible costs. Condos nowhere near the (dirty) beach come in at $250,000 USD… and the average wage for most people living here is $3 per day!!! Total ridiculous.

The other amusement comes from a mad Canadian who owns a seafood restaurant, Captain Barneys. He states that his beer battered fish and chops are the best in the world. He will make them for us, and we only have to pay half price. Or they will be free if we don’t like them. Then he throws in a milkshake for free. And of course tells his life story. Admitedly the fish is very nice, we finaly prise ourselves away later in the afternoon… hes as mad as a snake…

Climbing the high hill gives a great view over town and the coast line. We see an amazing sunset (the first in the entire trip) and are met by an El Salvedorian, who is drunk as a skunk and mad as a hatter. In a small world curiosity.. he is the business partner of the restauranteer!!

We had planned to stay here for 2 nights, but on the strength of this arvo, amusing as it has been, we decide to boost tomorrow morning.

The day of travel is not so long, but is soured by the second scam attempt in 2 days, this time in the dirty great capital of Managua. We have to taxi from one bus terminal to the other. A taxi driver agrees to 15 cordobas, then moments later his friend jumps in the front seat. As we pass a gas station he says I need gas money. I give him the agreed 15 cords while his friend gives him150. He then tells us that 15 was the agreed price just to get into the car, and travel was additional. I am still fuming about the border scam and tell him to get fucked. This turns into a screaming match, while Sara tries to be the voice of reason. The two of them threaten to drive off with our bags as soon as we get out. They then say lets go to the police station. We says that’s a good idea, noting that we are driving past a gaggle of cops and not stopping. In the end after five full minutes of this he gets out pulls our bags from the trunk and throws them on the ground. All but one that is, speeding off with it.

I have a rare explosion of extreme anger around now. Not pretty at all.

Then as we walk 200m back to the bus station, the cabs drives past us and throws the bag on the ground. It has been opened of course, and there is nothing of value in it. I am amazed that they gave it back though, and this eases my temper a little at least….

The drive to Leon takes 1 hour and I have mellowed by then. We get thru to the Big Foot Hostel no problems, and check in to their newest room, finished about 5 mins ago!

The operator here is Darren, an ex Oz Experience driver, who a mutual friend of ours told me about. We came here wanting to gain some insight into running a hostel in this part of the world, and Daz is more than forthcoming. He has a pretty sweet setup, and his Volcano Boarding trip is fun too. Basicaly we walk up a small volcano, run down into the center, climb back up, and slide down the side on homemade sleds. The speed of the sleds is pretty quick if you don’t brake. I highly appreciate the goggles and overalls, and am amazed that these are a very new addition!

Daz also takes us down to the beach to check out a surf comp. The beach is nicer than San Juan at least, and the water is amazingly warmer. Leon itself though doesn’t do much for us, and tempting as it is to stay there and hang with him, we decide to move on again. Sara has read about the Copan ruins in Honduras, and we are now going to try and sqeeze them into our busy schedule..

Zipping over Panama & Costa Rica

6-7 March 2007

The Panama Canal has been something I really wanted to see on this trip. Preferably sailing thru it. But by the time we arrive in Colon we are running short on time, and getting line handler positions at short notice requires quite a lot of luck. We ask around, and are told later in the week is fine, but not tomorrow. We are a bit over sailing just now anyway.

So we cab out to the Gatum locks. It is a scerene experience. The filling and draining of each lock is much quiter than I expected. As is the sight of HUGE freighters getting pulled thru by mechanical mules.

Panama uses the US dollar as official currency. That’s all fine, but paying $5 to see the locks is a bit rude!

We stay for a couple of hours then catch a late arvo bus over to Panama city. We stay in the old town which is like a giant construction site, with money coming from somewhere to return it to its former glory. What has been finished is nice indeed, but on nowhere near the same scale as Cartagena. In the middle of it all we find a Portugese restaurant. Its looks flasher than any we have visted in the entire trip, but we decide to go for it anyway. Excellent food, and a good bottle of wine later we are happy, but $65US poorer…

We are so short of time now we have to plan ahead. From here we want to see Leon, and an ex Oz Experience driver´s hostel, and the Bay Islands for some diving. This means bypassing the rest of Panama and all of Costa Rica. A shame, but they can be done on another trip…

So we spend a day organizing… I do manage to find a cheap flight to Madrid, but flights to anywhere in Central America are just extortionate. $350US one way!! This means we have to catch a bloody night bus.. never good.

At least the bus is pretty comfortable I guess. I don’t really sleep and feel like a zombie as we cross into Costa Rica at 5am. It is amusing that the border guards on the CR side don’t wear any form of uniform. 1^st place in the world I have seen this. And CR is supposed to be the most advance country in the region…

After 17 hours on the bus we get to the capital of San Jose. Its supposed to be pretty uninteresting, so we literally jump on another bus within 5 mins. And another 4 hours of travel. In the small town of Liberia its amusing to see quite a few other gringos, and loads of trendy surf shops…

Two beers over dinner almost sends me to sleep immediately, so after 21 hours of almost continuous bus travel we sleep well…

Sailing to Panama

26 feb - 4 March 2007

As we sail towards Panama, things start well enough. On day one the five of us talk away the arvo, getting to know each other a bit better. Mark, from Whales looks like he is mid 20´s. His subject matter is normally crap like meeting the Sweedish volleyball team out here etc, which makes him sound even younger. Somewhat incredulously he is 40. Brian and Jamie are an odd couple it seems. They both escaped reality in their early 30´s and have lived on boats ever since. By the end of 6 days, we realize thy are pretty over it.

And that’s exactly how they sail, like it’s a chore…. Using auto pilot is fine I supposed, and bitching about the unexpected head wind is normal too I guess. But neither seems to be having much fun.

In general it appears they desperately needed the money, which is why we are here, but they really didn’t appreciate crowding their boat. The water supply becomes a constant nagg, and we virtually run out of food before the trip is over…

We do stop in a couple of nice little anchorages and enjoy the warm water. Unfortunately the snorkeling over ¨reefs¨ turns out to be reefs of sand and weed, not too interesting. A couple of nice BBQs off the back of the boat are nice too.

One positive thing we gain is an appreciation of whether we could live like this. I ask Brian loads of technical questions about buying a boat, maintaining it, and what to do to pass the time. In the end we conclude that we are too young and active to sail around the world just now. There is a lot of nothing time, and most of the other boaties are retired, and conversation just isn’t us.

On the 2^nd to last night we stop at the tiny town of Portabello, in Panama. By sheer chance their carnival is on, and its heaving. It turns out that Brian and Jamie are shocking racists and grizzle that there are too many blacks… the warning from other boaties anchored there about a psychotic Frenchman who tried to firebomb three boats last night is concerning, and gives Brian the perfect excuse to insist we return to the boat within the hour. This pisses us off quite badly cos the fest is in full swing with huge black people dressed as dragons and dancing wildly to some bloody awful music.

And getting into Colon, Panama, we get to see how busy the port really is. Very. Huge tankes everywhere. Quite cool.

Checking into Panama immigration the next morning we have to trot to several different offices. Its no real drama, but Brian again insists its all the fault of the blacks. Unbelievable. We aren’t that sad to say good bye to them….. oh well…

final thoughts on Colombia

So as we leave Colombia, by sailboat, I reflect. Colombia is pretty sweet. Very different from how the media portrays it like a warzone, but also not as incredibly friendly as travelers are currently trying to promote.

Its surprising how easy it is to get used to a huge military and security presence. Opening bags to be inspected every time you enter a shop or train becomes normal too.

The people are a lot more motivated and generally intelligent than in other countries we have visited recently. This does make a nice change!

Travel domestically is expensive. Busses are pretty comfy though.

Cartagena... just beautiful

from Wed 21 Feb 2007

After a long 13 hour bus ride to Cartagena we arrive around 9pm, and taxi thru to the closest cheap (ie rough) part of town to the centre. The people are the first thig we notice. Its like being in Africa. Or Jamacia at least, loads of very dark skin. We have been looking forward to the Carribean for a long time so this is very encouraging.

A few drinks in the Havana Bar close to our chosen budget hotel are well deserved. The old boy who gyrates periodicaly to the load Cuban rythems is quite a sight too.

Next day we arise to some lovely heat. At last!! Our plan is to cruise for a couple of days then start the organisation drama of moving over to Panama, by sail boat or plane.We dont want a repeat of Medellin where we spent ages faffing about with such practicalities.

But in a lucky move wealmost stumble on to the local yatch club within 10 mins of leaving the house. And sure enough there is a sign for crew wanted. 5 mins later we find the captain and his wife, Brian and Jamie of ¨Cats Paws¨. They have been living out of boats for over 26 years (cool) and are quick to admit they dont normaly take passengers, unlike others who regularly make the crossing for financial gain (normaly smuggling drugs underneath the backpackers on board).

They seem cool, and their 40 ft boat is very nice indeed. THey are looking for 3 or 4 to pay the trip (which they are doing anyway..) and charge the standard $250US, expecting to take 5 or 6 days. As it happens our third crew member also shows up in the form of Welshman Mark. And just like that, its all on. We agree to meet tomorrow to buy provisions and set off on Monday. We are stoked that the organisation was so easy, and hope that dynamics between us all go well...

The next three days we cruise around Cartagena, enjoying the sun and beautiful architecture. Just like the guide books say, its like a time warp back to the 1600´s with all the Spanish building still very well intact.

A bit of beach time is had, over on the rich end of town. It feels like Surfers Paradise, with loads of high rise apartment blocks and hotels, all looking very new and polished.

The touristy nature of the centre or old town takes a bit of getting used to. We havent seen this type of thing since Cusco in Peru. Loads of touts hassling us, and restaurants that charge the bloody earth. We decide to sit in the main tourist restaurant square and treat ourselves to a couple of overpriced drinks to ge the ambience. One corona cost 6,000p... to put it in perspective a set menu lunch will cost around 4,000p ..and thats two courses and a drink...

We talk quite a bit about how we perceive our Co captains to behave with guests for the first time, and eventualy decide just to hope for the best.

Central America here we come!!

Medellin.. funny times in the big city

18 Feb 2007

After a long and boring bus ride to get to Medellin we are frustrated straight away with an idiot taxi driver who doesnt know his way, and drives around in circles. Luckily things get better, though there are a few highs and lows over the next couple of days.

Our hostel of choice for a change si a real hostel, instead of the usual dodgy local hotel. We decide to go for this beacuase it is called the Black Sheep, has the exact same logo as the 2 hostels of the same name in NZ, and is run by a kiwi. I assume it will be somebody from Queenstown, possibly the previous owner of the Black Sheep hostel there who sold a couple of years ago.

But wouldnt you know it, Kelvin the owner just liked the name Black Sheep, did an internet seacrh and stole their logo! Classic! He jokes that if they want to sue him they´d better be patient!

His story is quite interesteing to us, who are still keeping an eye out for a new home in paradise (wherever that might be).. He was travelling thru, walked past an open home ona saturday morning and just like that was in business. Admittedly the house couldnt be much more suited to becoming a hostel. Its perfect.. big, loads of rooms and bathrooms etc. Admittedly it is not the cleanest place we have stayed. A few more little touches would make it so much better...

Medellin itself has around 2 million people. We are staying in quite obviously the wealty part of town. The streets are wide with trees planted, the houses are huge, and it is very clean.

Catching the flash metro train later in the day we realise that the same ticket can take us up into the hills, on the newly installed gondola. Its quite cool using a skifield gondola for public transport, and certainly cheaper than all the tourist orientated gondolas seen around the world. Once we ascend steeply we start to realise why it is not billed as a tourist attraction in its own right.

We are lookiing down on South Central L.A, or some other rough arsed latino area as fabled by Hollywood. It seems so out of character to be in a brand new gondola looking down on it all. At the top we realise that most travellers just stay in and head back down to afluency. But we want to get to where we think we will get a better vantage point over the center.

As we walk around the steep hillside we get a lot of strange looks from the locals. Many are quite aggressive. For literally the first time in over five months I feel slightly at risk, as we are sized up by a large group of loitering 20 something blokes. There are loads of people, mostly teeneagers just loitering, looking like they are waiting for an excuse to start a fight. It is a far far cry from the other side of town where we are living.

Nothing untoward happens to us, and I spend a lot of time later considering why I felt a bit edgy. Without a doubt we have walked thru poorer neighbourhoods in parts of Bolivia and Peru. But there the locals looked at us wearily, not aggresssively. They were considerably smaller than me, and i just couldnt be threated by their traditional costume. I cant help but wonder if my concern today was thru that Holywood familiarity of the faces and costume we saw, and the association of violence that such movies portray. Hmmm...

Back in town we visit the local museum to see more Botero fat people art. Out fron there are fatty bronze statues everywhere. they obviously love him here! We eventualy have to leave the museum in a hurry after get caught taking a photo of an incredible painting that looks exactly like a photograph. The security girl gets really upset and storms off to ¨tell the curator¨ .... doh!

But too much of our time in Medellin is spent trying to organise our onwards travel from Colombia up to Central America. The guide book has set us up with the idea of visiting San Andreas Island, then moving on to Central from there. We spend ages on the net and visiting travel agents. It appears that flying on to Central is no longer the best option, cos West Carribean Airlines shut recently... after crashing 2 of their planes and killling everybody. But the option of a cheap package holiday starts sounding appealing. One of the bonuses is that we can fly from Medellin to the island, then return to Cartagena, avoiding a 13 hour bus ride between the two. The package holidays include everything including unlimited alcahol and cigarrettes. We dont smoke, and are drinking little these days, but its amusing all the same.

In the end it all falls thru at hte final hour. The agent has us booked for the next morning, and we return to the hostel to collect travellers cheques to pay. We have to rush cos the agency is about to close. In a fluster we enter, only to find the dozy cow hadnt properly booked us, and the next departure is in 4 days..... too late for us.

The next day we do the 13 hour bus ride. The scenery is beautiful.. very like NZ rural, but it is long and boring. And we cant help butthink ¨shouldnt we be on a beach sipping (free) cocktails right now...¨

Solento, cold and like NZ.. lovely

15 Feb 2007


I wrote a huge blog yesterday about our trip up to chilly solento. Then the computer crashed, AND I LOST IT ALL. NOT STOKED, CANT BE ARSED REWITING IT NOW, SO ONTO NEXT ONE ...