Rio De janeiro - The Final Destination

So arrived in Rio on the 14th December after a 6 hour flight to Sao Paolo and another 1 hour from SP to Rio, Brazil is HUMONGOUS! I slept solidly on the flight which was good. Arrived in Rio and waited about an hour for my bag before i realised that it wasnt going to come, had to fill in form and they said they would send it to the hostel when it arrives, i was worried to say the least! I then got a bus to Botofogo for 9 reals (£3) rather than the 50 real taxi. I was kind of glad that i lost my bag when i walked from the bus stop to the hostel (thanks to the help of my trusty lonely planet map of Rio), as it was a fair walk to get there and my bag is heavy right now.

Arrived in the hostel that Nim stayed in for 3 weeks when she was in Rio and loved it, I can see why, the people are lovely who work here and there is a big dog called Charlie who is about the size of me when he stands on his back legs, another awesome golden retriever. Turns out that i happened to pick the exact the same bed in the same dorm that Nim was in when she was here, so i started my trip i the same bed as her and finished the trip in the same bed as her!

Rio is very nice, very hot (36 degrees one day) but not as hot as Manaus as you get a nice breeze going on fron the sea.

The first day i chilled in the hostel and went and bought some food to cook for dinner in the kitchen (pasta, garlic, sauce, peppers etc) and met Eric, who Nim met last time she was here, hes a funny dude from Kenya. I feel safe with Eric because he said that noone messes with black guys in Rio, once he was on a late night bus and guys came on with guns and mugged every single person except Eric who was the only black man and they gave him a thumbs up! The next day i ventured out to copacabana and got the metro (tube) there, it was really quick and really cheap. Sat down and ordered some food in a cafe but when it arrived i realised id ordered a load of white bait (small fish) deep fried. They were okay but i could only eat half of them and it cost me lots of money. Then half way through my lunch there was a massive thunderstorm which kind of rained on my copacabana parade. I waited until the rain died down a bit then went to get a bus back as i was 25 cent short for the metro, waited at the wrong bus stop for half an hour then got on the right bus, then got back to the hostel and realised i did indeed have the right money for the metro in my bag - that day was not my day.

The next day i went to ipanema beach with a canadian girl called Maggie and we had a nice chill on the beach and it was hot so we ordered two coconuts to drink, mmm they were cold and good. Then we walked to copacabana and sat down just as it started to rain - this beach is not my beach! Ipanema is nicer anyway :)

That night i went out to Lapa with Eric and a couple of guys from the hostel and met some of Erics friends there, a Chilean girl called Bas who was very sweet and her french boyfriend and a slovakian girl. Lapa was awesome, Eric bought a bottle of rum and i had a couple of beers and we just drank in the huge street party, about 5 blocks worth of people partying in the streets and dancing to samba music, i still havent got the footsteps right, but Bas was really good at it, ive never seen someones feet move so fast! Eric then took me to the Lapa steps to meet another one of his friends. There were two police cars at the bottom of the steps and on the steps were about 400 people smoking weed - they call this place the steps of madness!

Lapa steps in the daytime

Got back about 4am, Eric and his friend walked me all the way home even though they live in the opposite direction which was very sweet of them.

The next day I chilled out, it was raining again so I didnt have much to do.

On Saturday the hostel had a BBQ to celebrate their 2nd Anniversary, it was amaze. Best food ive eaten in Brazil, there was sausage chicken and steak, rice and chips and salsa. They even gave us a free half bottle of red wine which was really nice. They had their famiy and friends over and the oldies were dancing fo ho in the courtyard, every time i went out they made me dance, it was fun!

On Tuesday i did the Big Dude tour with Maggie and a californian guy called Alex. We went to the beach and ate some Acai, then went to a national park and saw a waterfall, went to Lapa to see the steps and then went to see... Christ the Redeemer.

The view from the statue was amazing, you could see all of Rio and the statue itself wasnt bad either. Felt quite emotional what with it being the third  and final wonder of the trip. It was so crowded up there though and it was hard to move for tourists. We then got dropped off at sugar loaf mountain around 4pm and chilled on a little beach next to the mountain for a while, then had some dinner in a per kilo restaraunt (buffet where you pay for your food by the weight of what you eat). We then climbed up the first mountain to avoid paying for the cable car and it was hot and hard but ive done worse climbs on the trip. We got a cable car to the sugar loaf mountain and sat for about 2 hours watching the sun set. It was gorgeous, an even better view than the jesus statue and the sunset was so beautiful, my camera couldnt quite catch the vivid pink and reds that were in the sky but I took lots of pictures anyway.

On Wednesday I met Jamie, Eric's friend from California and we went to the 'mall' for a wax, my first ever time. That was interesting! Then I went to the beach and sunbathed on Ipanema until 6pm when I came inside. For my last night in Rio I had a few drinks with Jamie and waited for Eric to finish work and then had a few drinks with him too and went to the park. Eric's brazilian friend was also there, they call him 'Jiganji' which means gigantic in Portuguese, hes a small man and he doesnt drink or smoke or anything, he was funny though.

For my last day in Rio I went to the favella near Botofogo called Santa Marta, its where Michael Jackson filmed part of his 'Dont care about us' video. It was cool, felt safe being there as it has been 'passified' by the police. Favellas are basically slums built into the side of the mountains and at the very top of the favella there were kids flying kites. We went to the platform where MJ shot his vid and they have a statue and a painting of him there.

Then I had steak for lunch which cost loads of money, I thought I ordered chicken but hey, i dont parle the lingo. I went to go to the botanical gardens but realised that i needed the rest of my money for the bus so decided not go in. Walked back to the bus stop and looked at all the street art on the wall, they love their grafiti here and it's really artistic.

Tonight I fly home :( Im sad because i have been to so many beautiful places and met some truly awesome people. I will miss being able to talk to anyone and everyone from different cultures and backgrounds and of all ages. Its amazing how you can make a friend in a matter of hours. I have definitely had my eyes open to how other people live, and the poverty that they have to experience and no longer take my life at home for granted. I knew I was lucky before but only now I have witnessed first hand how lucky I really am. I cant wait to see Rob and my family and friends, I have missed them. BRING ON CHRISTMAS DINNER!

I cant believe my journey has come to an end already. I have been to 11 countries in 7 weeks and have sucessfully seen 3 new wonders and 1 natural wonder of the world.

Mission complete.

Over and out.

Amazon jungle trip

The Amazon jungle - outside Manaus, Brazil

Friday 11th December -

Was picked up from the hostel and taken to the port with two american girls, an american guy and a brazilian couple. We met Gero who runs Amazon Gero tours and he was such a nice guy! He was talking about the 'council estates' in Manaus that the government have given for th poor, the flats were so much nicer than the ones at home and they had a big, clean, park. He also said how he has 2 girls, one who is 3 that him and his wife adopted and then in the same month they adopted her his wife fell pregnant with his youngest daughter, crazy.

We got on a boat and went to the meeting of the waters - where the rio negro and rio blanco meet and you can see the black river and the light brown river running side by side, one is 6 degrees cooler than the other. We then got to a little village and were driven for half an hour before getting on another small motor canoe to the lodge. The boat ride to the lodge was stunning. The lodge itself is really quite nice. We are in hammocks and there are a few spiders around but nothing like camiri, it is very very hot here but cool enough at night to sleep.

We met our guide, Lewis, who is 25 and grew up in the jungle 5 hours by boat from where we are staying. He really knows his shit. I asked him if he had ever seen a Jaguar, he said, 'many times, I shot one once'. I said, 'that was a bit mean' and he replied, 'let me tell you what happened; I was 12 years old and my father had a gun but would not let me go out hunting alone. So one night, at about 2am, I took his gun and the canoe and paddled for about 40 minutes down the river. Then I stopped and went into the jungle. It was dark so i could not see very well but i spotted a big bird and was watching it, trying to get my aim. Then I heard a twig snap behind me, but it was dry season so even a frog jumping can make a twig snap so i wasnt worried. Then I saw a large dark figure with two big eyes behind a tree, its head going side to side. I froze with fear and realised that it was a jaguar and it was stalking me like prey. I was so scared, I wanted to run back to the boat and run home but I knew that if I ran, it would kill me. Then as it came towards me, maybe 6ft away, I shot it in the heart. And then I fainted. When I came round, I saw the jaguar and the gun and I tried to get up but my legs werent working because I was in shock, eventually, after 10 minutes or so, I managed to get up and get to the canoe and I paddle, paddle, paddle home. My mother aways said I am so dark, but that night I was pale and my lips were white. My father was very mad. The next day my father and brother and me went and found the dead jaguar (and the gun that I had left behind) and I still have one of it's teeth. I was sick with fever and headache for a week because I was in such a state of shock'. Crazy man.

He took us out on the boat and we spotted pink and grey dolphins in the river, two sloths and looked at a giant tree. Also saw lots of birds. It was hard to get a photo though as nature being nature, it doesn't tend to hold still for photographs.

We came back and had dinner and went out to hunt some cayman (basically alligators). There were spiders in the boat which freaked me out a bit but i got over it. We cruised around in the dark for a bit before he spotted one and him and the driver jumped out to grab it, they caught it but then dropped it and went racing after it, was hilarious. Should mention here that this was in the marshy area that was only ankle deep or so. We all took pictures of the cayman that was about 3-4ft for long. Felt bad for the little fella. Hope to see some more stuff tomorrow!!! t.b.c

12th December- Day 2 in the jungle:

Woke up at about 7am this morning and went down and had breakfast, lots of fresh fruit and I had my first cup of English tea since I've been travelling! Saw some little monkeys in one of the trees next to the lodge, they came down and got some bananas that the guides had let out for them, they were very cute. We set off for a jungle trek at 8am and walked round the back of the lodge along a path that leads through the forest. We didnt see too many animals but saw a couple of tarantulas and some birds. Our guide, Lewis, also talked about the plants and showed us the bark of a tree that looks like a black diamond on one side and burns and smells really nice like incense and helps keep the mosquitos away. Also tried some fresh brazil nuts that were yum and some other fruit that the monkeys eat that was really sweet.

We got back to the lodge after 3 hours of walking and ate some lunch and then I had a nap. It was so ridiculously hot. At 3pm we went piranha fishing, I caught 3 but they were too small to bring back for dinner. On the way back I was talking to Lewis about his life growing up in the jungle, its so interesting, he said he used to get picked up by a big boat at 3am in the mornings to go to school and it would take 4 hours to get there! They only spent 3 hours at school before they had to leave for home. He went to school from the age of 10-15 where he learnt how to read and write and he used to work with his Dad in the jungle collecting brazil nuts.

Had some dinner, which was cat fish, and played some shit head before heading to bed.

12th December - Day 3 in the jungle:

Got up mega early to watch the sunrise, went out in the canoe and it was so peaceful. Went back to the lodge then set off to meet a local family. They all lived in a big hut on stilts, three generations all together. We ate some fish that the mother of the household had fried for us and some potato stuff that was nice and they showed us around. Before we left the head of the house offered us some Caipirasca, a local rum drink, didnt want to be rude and say no so had a swig and chased it down with some weird creamy jungle fruit, it was gross, especially at 10am in the morning.

We went back to the lodge and ate the piranha we had caught the previous day for lunch. At 1pm I was taken back to Manaus, I was sad to leave the jungle :(

Off to Rio on the 13th, I cant wait to get to the sea, its been so frickin hot here, I sweat during the day and then sweat whilst I sleep its disgusting!

The Amazon

The Amazon - Peru and Columbia

So.. I left Cusco for Iquitos on the 2nd December. I had to change in Lima and spend 6 hours there waiting for my next flight. It was okay, I finished reading my book, went online and had a mac donalds. I then met a girl from Colorado outside and she had to wait 12 hours for her next flight so we went and got a beer together which was nice as we had a lot in common.

I arrived in Iquitos at about 7pm and got in a tuk tuk to the hostel, felt pretty dangerous but I got there okay. Camiri floating hostel was down a flight of rickety wooden steps to the river and along some planks. The setting was beautiful but the rooms were really shabby. There were spiders and cobwebs everywhere so it was a real challenge for me and so so hot. The shower was so basic and the water was from the amazon river, which meant showering in brown water. I went and sat in the bar and met a guy called HoarHay (?) from Lima who knew the guy who runs the place and his girlfriend. I also met 3 Swedish girls who were lovely. We hung out and had a few drinks that evening and the met the owner and his girlfriend. The owner was a psycho, drank far too much and took alot of cocain. He said he worked for a mafia boss in narcotics which made me feel really safe being there! He also said that one of the guys from the other hostel had cut off his water supply a few dys before, so he took a machete and hacked at his door.

The next day a local guide called Oscar took me to buy my boat tickets and took me to Belen market, which was nuts. They were selling toroise meat, alligator skulls, grubs, monkey and all sorts.

I then went back to the hostel and met the girls who had a been on a tour with Marcel, the owner, to the market and a butterfly farm. They got back at 6pm and Marcel was off his face and having a massive argument with his girlfriend so we hid in the dorm whilst the girls showered and then went out for dinner to avoid any trouble.

I left at 4am the next morning to get to the port, had to walk up the stairs in the dark and one of the steps was broken making it impossible for me to get up with my bag, luckily a guy was just coming in from partying as I was walking up and gave me a hand. I got in a tuk tuk that was at the top of the stairs and he took me to the port. Again I felt very unsafe as it was dark and I got to the port and there were only locals there and i had to walk down some steps. I checked with a respectable looking older man who confirmed that I had to get the boat from there.

Then my angel arrived! I met a girl from California who has lived in Mexico for two years and speaks fluent Spanish. She got on the same boat as me, which was tiny and filled with people from Haiti (why i dont know) and we spent 15 hours on the boat that was meant to take 8 hours to get to the borders of Peru, Brazil and Columbia. We arrived late and went to get our stamps out of Peru but were told we couldnt because it was 7pm and the immigration guy was out partying so we have to go back in the morning. There was also a nice Danish couple who are with us as well. Thank god i was not on my own as it definitely would not have been safe and i wouldve panicked as my spanish is basic. We got back on a water taxi to Brazil and then had to get a taxi to our hostel in Leticia, Columbia. The taxi was four guys on motorbikes with luminous yellow jackets with handles on. So we all put on our helmets and were driven to the hostel. The hostel is amazing compared to the one in Iquitos and the people are really nice who run it, there is also a lovely dog called Pedro. There is a lake, with a little boat, a swimming pool and loads of parrots and the driveway is lined with orchids and what look like mango trees. The hostel is called Mahatu Leticia Hostel.

We arrived late so popped out for dinner at a local street place and had a huge load of chicken on a stick and some rice and potato stuff, it did the job! Tomorrow we have to go back to Peru to get our exit stamps and then get our stamps in to Columbia and Brazil and book the boat. Lauren (Californian) and Geta and her Nicolai (Danish) are also getting on the same 4 day slow boat to Manaus as me so I have friends, yay!!

5th Dec - Day 2 at the tri border has been fun. We have been to Peru, Brazil and Columbia about 3 times each today. We took a moto taxi (man on motorbike) and a moto boat to Peru to get our exit stamps in our passports and then to Brazil to book our boats and get our entry stamps. We checked bought our boat tickets and then went back to Columbia where we are staying to get our hammocks, then back to Brazil to check out the boa. We met the 'Capitan' and he showed us round and put up our hammocks for us, he was a nice jolly man and showed us his control room, he has a proper pirate style ship steering wheel I love it! We got good hammock spots and apparently there will be 280 people on the 3 floor cargo boat tomorrow which is going to be insanely cramped. The Danish couple we met on the boat from Iquitos have got a cabin so maybe we can store some stuff in their room.

We left the port and as we walking back saw a sign for ACAI, Nim had told me about how cheap the acai berry juice is in Brazil and how it costs so much from the health stores in England so we stopped and asked to try some. It just an 80 year old man outside his house selling bananas and acai and he was really sweet. We sat and ate acai juice with sugar and cereal and it was yum, dont think it would taste too good on its own though. We had some lunch of soup, followed by chicken and rice and beans (standard cheap south american lunch) then we headed back to the hostel and I had a quick swim. Tonight we are going to just have some dinner and chill out and enjoy our last night in a bed for 3 days! eek, im excited! Have also just realised that our boat arrives on the Friday which means I have an extra 2 nights in Manaus that I hadnt planned for which is great. Am doing a jungle tour when I get to Manaus which will be so much fun. Will be out of contact for a while so who knows when I can post this online...

Amazon boat trip - Tabatinga - Manaus BRAZIL

We boarded the boat to Manaus at approx. 09:30. A taxi picked us up from the hostel, me Lauren and Nicolai and Getta. It was pouring with rain as only it can pour in the amazon rainforest. The taxi boot didnt shut properly so when we arrived at the port and our bags were searched for drugs etc. i discovered that my bag and most of it's contents was drenched! We got on the boat and found our hammocks in the same spot where we had hung them the day before. More and more people started to flock on the boat and by the end of it we were in the middle of three rows of about 100 hammocks, it was literally like a can of sardines. I must point out here that my hammock is the most pathetic piece of Mexican crap compared to all the other huge cotton hammocks, buy your hammock in Peru! Mine barely fit me in it and was made out of netting, not comfy, luckily i had my sleeping bag to pad it out a bit.

We 'set sail' at about 2:30pm and we went to go and find out when lunch was going to be served, turned out we'd missed it. The eating times were as follows: Breakfast; 6:20-7:20, Lunch; 10:40-12:10, Dinner; 16:40-18:00. Unreasonable if you ask me! Breakfast was a cup of sweet milky coffee and a bread roll with one thin slice of cheese in it, lunch and dinner consisted of noodles, rice, beans and a form of meat which we could see open in a bucket on the lower deck with no covering, before it was cooked for our dinner, gross. I was so fed up of rice noodles beans and mingy meat by the time we got to the 4th day. But t was all part of the experience.

We passed the time by playing shit head, me Lauren and the danish couple and then got chatting to a german couple, we were the only 'gringos' on the boat. We also played a few games of Bee Fe Puf Fe with the Capitan. He only spoke Portuguese but he was so sweet! I also read two books and slept alot in my shitty hammock. Though it was impossible to sleep most of the time. The brazilians love their mp3 players and play them as loud as they will go. One morning some big black guy was sat on the top deck playing a celine dion song on repeat. And they would blast the worst whiny portuguese songs out at us after breakfast over the speakers, that would then go crackily and turn into pure static, but they carried on playing the static for two hours regardless.

On the second night i could not sleep at all, someone had moved their hammock which pushed mine so that i was pretty much sleeping on top of lauren. I tried the floor but it was really uncomfy so I went to the front of the boat in my sleeping bag and slept on the bench there. It wasnt comfy but at least it was dark (they left the lights on all night in the hammock deck) and I saw three shooting stars.

Another thing that really annoyed me about the hammock situation was the fact that i was next to a couple from Haiti (there were loads of Haitian immigrants on the boat) and they kept staring at me everytime i got in or out of my hammock or packed up some stuff, like they had never seen a white person before, and when i looked at them staring at me, they didnt even bother to look away! how rude. On reflection they were probably just baffled and amused by my crappy hammock. Though the woman did remind me that id forgotten a pair of leggings that id hung up to dry just as i was packing up my bag so i shall forgive her for her weird stariness.

On the last night we had a few beers (we took a crate on board with us but shared them with people) with a gay couple from Manaus who run a show called 'fantasy boys' (not child porn) basically a gay/transvestite show, one was the producer and the other did hair and make up and they were very very sweet. I was lucky that I had Lauren with me to translate as most of my conversations with the Portuguese speaking Brazilians was basically a game of charades. I learnt how to say snake, monkey and spider all by making actions.


All in all the trip was challenging but generally enjoyable. Despite the horrific state of the toilets that also housed the showers. The sunsets and sunrises and the secenery in general was stunning though.

One night in Manaus then I set off for a jungle tour. No wifi again for the next 3 days.

Peace and Love x

Cusco, the Sacred Valley and Macchu Picchu!!!

30th Nov/1st Dec
I arrived in Cusco after long bus journey and checked in at Loki hostel. The same chain of hostels as the hostel in La Paz. It was nice enough and packed with travellers, including alot of Irish. It was open mic night when I arrived and a girl from Texas sung a song which was amazing and made the whole bar fall silent, which is impressive! The Irish lads also got up and sung an Irish jig which was so sterotypical and funny.

The next day I went for a wander round cusco square which is stunning, lots of old cathedrals and a jesus statue on top of the hill over looks the town. I had a pizza and broswed the shops before heading back to the hostel and sorting out some laundry.

The following day i did the sacred valley tour which was good, chatted to an aussie couple and saw some ruins in the mountains. They dropped me off at Ollantaytambo, a little market town where I caught a steam train to Agus Caliente. I arrived late and went straight to bed.

I woke up at 4am and walked to the bus station with some aussie girls and an american couple and caught the bus to Macchu Picchu. We were in the first group to go into the site and trekked up a hill to the wonder. It was wonderous, I had tears in my eyes as I turned the corner and the mountain and ruins came into view. It was stunning. I then did a two hour tour where I learnt about the ruins and the Incas and then at 10am I climbed the mountain behind the ruins known as Huaynu Picchu. It was so tough. I di it with an old Aussie guy whose wife stayed at the bottom and looked after our bags. he took a kite with him to fly at the top that his friends had taken there 25 years earlier. It was such a tough climb but the view from the top was astounding. We had to crawl through a small tunnel in the mountain to get to the steps to the very peak and it was so cool. I then realised Id forgotten my water and was insanely thirsty so I legged it back down the mountain to get my bag. I was so so exhauasted that night. I got the train back to cusco and arrived about 8pm at Loki hostel and had a shower and got some dinner. Then I met the girl from Scotland, Fiona, who I met in La Paz and we had a couple of drinks before I went to bed. The next day I departed for Iquitos.

Lake Titicaca!

I was picked up from my hostel at 8am 25th November and taken to the port to board a boat with other tourists, the majority of which were Australian and a few French and a couple from London. Quite a few older travellers too. We set off on Lake Titicaca to Uros Island, an artificial floating island made out of mud and reeds which they built in the year 1450 to get away from something that i cant remember what now. We stopped there and were given a demonstration about how they built the island and introduced to some women who supposedly lived there.

We then left for Amantani Island and arrived about 3 hours later. We got off the boat and were assigned to our Mamas - I was staying with Rina, a lovely little smiley Peruvian woman and two other australian girls stayed also. Whilst we were waiting I caught the eye of a little baby on the back of one of the mamas, she was so cute with her little Peruvian hat on and would not stop chuckling at me, don't know what was so funny!

I stupidly took my backpack with me as I decided to change hostels. My bed in the previous hostel was awful, a top bunk without a ladder that felt like it was going to collapse at any second and I couldnt sit up without banging my head on the ceiling, the mattress was hideous, worst night's sleep so far. So I had to take my backpack with me to take to the next hostel the following day. I had to carry it up the steep slope for nearly 1km to Rina's house and i literally thought I would collapse right there and then! I also had my day bag, my handbag and 3kilos of rice and some oil for the family, which one of the aussie girls helped me with after a while, thank god! We arrived at Rina's house, a nice little house with a little plot of land for growing veggies on. It was all built out of a red ceramic brick type material and there was no electricity and the toilet was outside in the garden but I felt very at home. She has an 8 year old girl who was quiet but curious of us tourists. Rina made us lunch of Quinoa soup and trout with rice and veg, it was delicious!!! We then met back up with the group and trekked up a huge hill to Pacha Mama - a sacred monument, which was really just a big stone square wall with nothing inside of it. But we watched the sunset which was stunning and the views of the lake and snow capped mountains in the distance were amazing. We then walked back down to meet our mamas and go back for dinner, but Rina wasnt there, so we set off to find her house before it got dark. We met her all in a fluster hurrying back up the hill to meet us, she was so funny, I think she was a bit forgetful and kept chuckling all the time. We had a nice dinner of semolina soup and rice and veg and left to go to the village hall for a little Fiesta. We got dressed up in the local dress and danced to the local music which was two bands taking it in turns to play songs using a drum, a yukele, a guitar and proper peruvian pan pipes and we danced like crazy people! All holding hands an in circles, then we danced outside around a fire like a tribe, it was hilarious. We were so exhausted after that that we went straight back to Rina's and to bed by 9:30pm. I had a lovely big room all to myself with two beds in it, a single and a double, I chose the double. The stars were absolutely awe inspiring on the island, I guess because it is such high altitude and there is no light pollution or electricity, I could see so so so many stars.

I awoke early at 4:30am when the sun started rising and snoozed until about 6. Got up and had breakfast of a pancake, jam and bread and tea. We then walked down to the port, alot easier than walking up with my bag! And said goodbye to our mamas :( We spent the day going to Taquile island and walked up more steep steps (i left my bag on the baot this time) and got a demonstration of how they do their weaving there, interesting (not really). Then had lunch, I chose omelette rice and veg over more trout rice and veg and then we headed back to Puno.

I checked into Inka's Rest hostel with a one of the many aussie 'chicks' who were on the boat and it is so much nicer, we get free herbal tea, and a top bunk with a ladder!!! Me and the girl from Aus went out for dinner locally and had soup, beef and rice and veg and tea all for 2 pesos (50p). It was good.

Tomorrow I leave for Cusco!

Bolivia

I arrived at Hostel Pangea at 1am on the 22nd November after a perfectly reasonable flight. The man on the desk was not particularly friendly. I asked for a girls only dorm when i booked but was not put in a girls only dorm. My dorm is on the second floor up a huge spiral staircase - NOT GOOD when you have just flown in and are trying to adjust to the altitude. I feel totally out of breath everytime I walk up there and the showers are cold. I have pins and needles in my face and fingers i guess from the lack of oxygen even though Ive been taking my diamox pills, I have had a dodgy tummy though so maybe theyre not processing. I haven't made any friends here, everyone seems to be in their own little groups already. There is a big bar in the hostel which was pumping when I arrived last night. I am going to try and move hostels when I can eventually get the internet to work. I am truly miserable and miss central america like crazy. To top it off they are playing 'Here Without You' in the bar as Im typing which is making me want to cry :( I hope this bit of the trip gets better soon! Its a huge city la paz, I cant wait to get out and get to a small town where everyone is more friendly.

Last night things improved slightly. I got chatting to some people in my dorm, had a sleep and then went to the bar for dinner at 7:30pm, though my appetite is tiny at the moment. Got chatting to a guy from Manchester, he was cool, his dad is a professor in Theology so we had some interesting conversations. Then I got chatting to a girl from Brighton called Lauren who has done the Amazon boat trip that I plan to do but in the opposite direction. She gave me loads of tips on what to do and what to take on the boat with me which was really helpful. I crashed out at about 11pm. This morning I got up early at 7:30am and managed to get a hot shower - woooop! Im feeling a bit better now though my fingers are still tingly and my stomach is not 100%. I think if I felt physically A OK i would be enjoying La Paz slightly more. Apparently there is a computer room here, which the staff failed to tell me about when I was asking about the wifi. The service is appauling here and I defintely wont be writing a good review, but I guess it is a good hostel for meeting people. Im leaving tomorrow at 7am when a bus will pick me up to take me to Puno where I will spend the night before heading to Lake Titicaca. I cant wait! I hope the altitude isnt so bad there but I have a feeling it will be. Waiting to do some laundry across the road. The women on the desk said they open at 10am, so I came down at 10 and now they are saying it opens at 10:30am, silly women. Oh, I also ventured out yesterday to get some money out the bank, and I actually saw older women walking around in the traditional dress, not as a tourist gimmick, as actual serious dress lol, they looked cute in their brightly coloured ponchos and bowler hats, what is with the bowler hats?! crazy. I then had to walk back up the steep slope to the hostel, everything is a double mission in La Paz.

Im feeling alot better now which is good. Yesterday I met a girl called Fiona from Scotland and we went and checked out the witches market. It was really cool, lots of souvenirs and things and they sell good luck charms, one of which is lama foetuses which you are supposed to hang above your door to bring you luck, gross, dont think id get a foetus through customs.

We went back to the hostel and had some dinner together and drank wine, it was fun :) She will be in Cusco around the time i will be so we will try and meet up if we can.

The next day I got a bus to Copacabana which is a beautiful, right next to Lake Titicaca. I stopped over in a hotel for an hour or so, fell asleep on my side on the sun terrace stupidly, now have a sunburnt half of my body. I then got on a bus to Puno in Peru and had to stop at the border to get stamped in and out. Puno is okay, its also right next to the Lake. Its quite big and I walked to the square where I got a pizza and picked up some rice and oil for the family I will be staying with on Amantani Island in Lake Titicaca, its going to be weird experience but i think ill enjoy it. My hostel here is quiet and seems to be popular with older travellers. Have met a German couple who are also doing the homestay so we will be leaving early tomorrow. Shall let you know how it goes!!

Costa Rica baby!

We arrived in Liberia, Costa Rica, expecting to be able to get a one hour bus or taxi to La Fortuna, turned out it was 1 hour to Fortuna, and 3 hours to La Fortua - doh! So we got a taxi to a hostel recommended in the lonely planet book. Our taxi also picked up a 'ninos' a ten year old boy who practised his English with us, he was really good and told us he went to an International Christian School, his name was Samuel. Luckily the hostel had a bedroom free and it was really cute, two single beds with mosquito nets. The hostel was weirdly decorated, nice scenic pictures with vinyl cds stuck up next to them. We went to the shop and bought a couple of 'cervezas' to drink in the gardenand some micro bananas which we found hilarious! and had some 'cosodas' on the way back in a cafe. It was so yum, I had cosodas con carne - beef in tomato sauce with rice, black beans, salad and pasta salad. It was so good I ate it all! We hung out in the hostel for a bit and then went to bed, it was really quiet. The next morning we packed up our stuff and then managed to lock ourselves out the room, the manager Denise didnt have a key for that one room so had to break in - oops, so we went and had a bagel and pineapple juice in the cafe next door.

We got on the bus to la fortuna at 9am, at 10am we stopped at a cafe to change buses and there were loads of huge parrots everywhere. They were so so pretty and totally after our food! I had a lush 'cafe con leche' and a sticky toffee cake, mmm.

La Fortuna was very cool indeed! We stayed in La Fortuna backpackers resort and it was like a hotel, we were the only people in the dorm on the first night and on the second night we were joined by two girls from the French part of Canada. We chilled out on the first night and the next day we went on a horse back ride to La Fortunas waterfall. It was so funny because Fi had never ridden a horse before and the horses kept trotting off, hers was particularly naughty and i think she managed a bit of a gallop! Yet again, our guide was called Carlos. He was a bit of a letch and I told him I got get off and on the horse myself, I didnt need his help or his hands on my bottom lol. My horse was called Tito and he was lovely. I did a bit of a sitting trot and managed a little canter but Tito would only go when Tito wanted to go.

We got off the horses and had a short trek to the waterfall and me and a girl called Shelby from America went for a swim at the actualy waterfall. It was amazing, hard to swim towards the waterfall as their was a strong currrent from where the water was cascading down from so high up.

We rode back and I had a quick Cobb salad (which was immense) and then set off for the volcanoe hike. Fi didnt come as she decided she was too knackered after the horses and waterall trek. When we got to the volcanoe it was chucking it down with rain and i could only see about two thirds of the volcanoe as the top was covered in cloud. They told us the last eruption was last year so it was unlikely that there would be another one soon. We strolled through the jungle surrounding the volcanoe as the sun set and saw some monkeys and plants and stuff. It was nice. Then I met Fi at the Baldi Hot Springs, basically a five start hotel and spa that has a series of different pools with little waterfalls in the them that are heated from when the volcanoe first went off and the lava heated up the river. One of them was so hot (45 degrees c) that i couldnt even put my feet in it. We had a huge buffet dinner which was yummy and then chilled out in the different pools. It was just what I needed after all the actvities that day.

We went back to the hostel and had a drink at a restaraunt over the road which had just opened that night, it was awesome, had a chicken bus and a camper van in there which formed part of the seating area and was packed with locals. We headed back to the hostel and met an Irish girl and a girl from Hull who had met whilst travelling south america. I asked for tips and they said La Paz is very dodgy and to be careful. I have booked myself into a hostel they recommended and the hostel is sending a taxi driver to pick me up when i fly in at 00:35- he will be holding a sign with my name on it!!! So i feel much better about flying in late there now.

The next day we got a shuttle bus to Tamarindo which took about 5 hours but the bus was decent enough. Tamarindo is on the pacific coast and we stayed at Tamarindo Backpackers Hostel - the dorms were clean again and it had a tiny pool. When we arrived i was skyping Rob outside our room and the girl on reception came over and pointed out a howler monkey in the tree carrying a baby which was so cute! We went for a wander on the beach and to the souvenir shops and i booked a surfing lesson. We then had dinner at Wok n Roll which was yum, I had sushi.

The next day we got up earlyish and went for a swim and a sunbathe on the beach. We bought Cup Noodles for lunch to save money as it's so expensive in Costa Rica. Then I headed off to my surf lesson - wasnt really Fi's thing again so I did it on my own. Thought that there may be a few others doing it but turned out i had a private lesson with Eric and his girlfriend's dog Paco. Paco was the coolest dog I have ever met, he was a big golden retriever with a dreadlock behing his ear and a star tattoo under his ear - no kidding!

I put on a rash guard top and one of the guys in the shop lent me his board shorts to protect my legs from getting board rash and I was set to go, looked like a proper surfer dude! Me Eric and Paco head off to the beach and Eric taught me the techniques of where to lie and where to put my feet and how to 'pop up' on the board and then we went into the sea. Walking out to sea a wave came and smacked the surf board into my face, Eric had warned me about this and told me how to avoid it but I learned the hard way! Eric held the board with me on it until a decent wave came then he told me to paddle and when he shouted 'pop up' i jumped up onto the board and put my feet wide and did the proper surf arms!!! I totally wiped out the first three times, but then I got it and got it pretty good. I only wiped out once after that and mustve caught at least 10-20 waves. A couple of times I rode it all the way to the beach. It was a beautiful evening. We did a sunset surf for two hours and it was raining but there was a stunning rainbow and the sun peaked through the clouds. Eric then had a couple of goes on the board and then we got Paco on, he needed my help to hold the board whilst he heaved Paco onto it, and the dog rode the surf all the way to the beach! He loved it, he had a couple of goes. I think he thinks he is a human.

I headed back to the hostel when it got dark and got showered and we went for dinner at a restaraunt just down the road. We felt bad for them because they had just opened but were out the way from the centre of town so didnt get hardly any customers. They were all super nice in there - it was run by and italian and his partner who is from Honduras, she said he asked her out four times before she agreed to have dinner with him and once he had cooked for him she was hooked lol, she was funny. We had immense red snapper pasta and they gave us brioche on the house to start. A group of 11 Americans with children came in and the staff looked excited but the kids only wanted pizza chips and burgers and not the steak or pasta on the menu so they left. I really dislike Americans sometimes. We then went into town and went to a bar called Bar One, it was a rooftop bar and they played cool music like Sublime and had surfing videos on behind the bar. We had some cocktails and played three games of pool. It was a fun last night in Tamarindo. Then we went to bed and met two girls from Bristol who had just moved in as well as two brothers from USA but they were so drunk i thought they were Dutch - seriously. Settled down for my last night in the bottom bunk with a girl from Bristol in the bottom bunk of the beds next to mine - at my feet. Woke up at god knows what time and i was so hot i reached down to find the aircon remote and felt something furry - i stroked it, then realised it was a leg! One of the american boys had gotten into my bed and had his legs hanging out my bed and his head at the end of the Bristol girls bed. I freaked, I shook him awake and said 'Dude, youre kinda in my bed, I dont know how, but you are'. He apologised and got back into his own bed, it freaked me out though, that's dorms for you! Getting girls only dorms whenever possible lol. Funny now i look back at it.

We got a shuttle to San Jose in the morning, on the way out just past our hostel there was something bad ass going down, three men and a woman in the road, one man had a rock in his hand and the other man had a huge knife. The man with the knife pushed the other man against the wall, i think he was ok because he walked off but it was scary! And more people were approaching the fight as we passed it, and that was at 8 in the morning, not good. Didnt think it was dodgy there, obviously involved drugs or money.

We arrived in San Jose at Hostel Pangea and it is massive! Got a pool but its very wet at the moment. We got a double room because Fi is leaving at 4am to catch her flight and we have the Royal Suite, its immense for a hostel and only $40.

Going to be so sad to leave central america, its been ALOT of fun. Im sure south america will be good too though.... Catching a flight to La Paz, Bolivia at 3:45pm tomorrow. Right now, I dont want to go home to my humdrum predictable life :( but i get to see my friends and family and of course, Rob, which make for a very special Christmas, I can't wait to see him when he gets me at the airport :)

BTW, they have the coca cola advert out here in central america too. Doesnt feel like christmas is coming at all for me, the holidays are already here!

Hasta Luego Amigos (see you later friends!) xxx