Feliz Navidad

Simon Lee, Dan told me that you required me to talk more about my thoughts and feelings in my blogs. I take my readers opinions very seriously and as such, I will attempt to do so in this blog, and those in the future.

Laurence Conway, in a recent viber call you informed me that my sentences could flow a little more and you felt 'let down' by my spelling, and in cases, grammar. Again, I value the opinions of my viewers as both very important and indeed crucial for the future success of Jim's Travels.

So, to continue from where I left off last time:

Cordoba, Argentina:
After enduring the worst hangover known to man, and spending a day on a wonderful glittery beach next to a stream, I readied myself for one final night out. Many things happened on this night but the highlights include practicisng our broken Spanish whilst chatting up girls...and repeating the sentence, "Por favour, esta es mon primera noche en Cordoba, Donde Es Mui Bien??" which roughly translated and using hand motions means, "Excuse me, it is our first night in Cordoba....Where is very good?" - Needless to say... the line worked terribly. Also, Jonny promised us that he would take us on a "giant tour" - which involved him taking us to the end of the road where he thought he had seen a giant women, but by the time we got there she had vanished. I don't think Jonnys Giant Tour will be making it into the lonely planet guide this year but regardless it was a very fun night.

Simon, How did this make me feel?? I felt upset. I was looking forward to the giant tour.

The next day, we headed to the Che Guevara museum - which was his old house from his childhood which had been converted into a museum. It was interesting, if a little lacking in information! On the way to the museum, I got talking to a 60 year old Argentinian woman called Marina, who gave us many recommendations for the rest of Argentina. She was lovely and we discussed Argentina, England, Politics, Sport, Art....and we really hit it off! When we both got off the bus at the same stop, I had a photo with her and kissed her goodbye. Just as I kissed her goodbye, her very confused husband coincidentally drove past and must have wondered what his wife was doing with 5 boys and kissing such an attractive young man! I explained it all to him for a while until his wife informed me he didn't speak English! (below, me and Marina!)

Simon, How did this make me feel?? Happy. And slightly confused that I am attracted to old women!

Mendoza, Argentina.
Mendoza is an area in the middle of Argentina famous for its vineyards. Eager to improve our knowledge on one of Argentina's most famous exports, we embarked on a wine tour of the local area. Mr Hugo provided us with a map of the area, a glass of wine, a bottle of water and bicycle to get around. The next 6 hours or so were truly magical! We visited a few vineyards, tried many red wines, white wines and sparkling wines, learned a little about the grapes of the region... and visited a special special place - a factory making the finest olive oil, spirits, chocolate and absinthe! We sampled all of the above, and rode around Mendoza for the rest of the day very merry! (below.... us at the winery)

The next day, we headed to a huge park in the middle of the city which contained a large football stadium (estadion Provincial) around a 40,000 seater which hosted some games when the world cup was last in Argentina. We ventured towards it in hope of perhaps doing a tour... but with no staff around, we took matters into our own hands, snuck around a fence.... and bang....we were in the stadium! Photos were taken, seat hopping took place and ideas were formulated on how to jump past the moat which surrounded the pitch to stop fans getting onto the pitch! Me and Dan lowered ourselves down, then jumped onto the pitch to run around jubilantly and pretend for a minute that we were Argentina Footballers. Getting down was easy... but getting back up was ny on impossible as its much easier to fall/jump downwards six feet, than leap upwards the same distance! Michael and David were waiting patiently, safely in the seats thinking of ways to get us back up when a security guard, with a big dog appeared out of nowhere to tell us we had 2 minutes to get off the pitch... or pay the consequences! We found a table near the dugout (convenient i know!) and climbed up on it, then leaped to safety with the assistance of Michael and Davids firm grips before swiftly departing the lovely stadium- safe in the knowledge that a real stadium tour was soon to commence a week later... in a better stadium, with an actual guide...and in a legal manner! (Below, me celebrating entrance to the stadium!)

Simon, How did breaking the law make me feel?? Scared. I'm an honest man with honest values and if its a crime to love football so much that I want to jump onto a pitch then I'm guilty. *
Buenos Aires, Argentina.
What a week, what  place! Arrived in BA on the morning of the 19th December and headed to a local area called 'La Boca' where Boca Juniors football team are based, and we meandered the local markets and took in the sights of the colourful buildings and football mad culture. I successfully took my tally of foreign football shirts up to 10 with the acquisition of an Argentina, Tevez football shirt. (I had by this point already purchased my Martin Palermo, Boca Juniors top!) That night it took me 24 minutes to down my dirty pint.... and I didn't make it to the nightclub!

The next day we drew names out of the hat for Secret Santa gifts, played some pool, recovered then went out again, sober as could not stand the thought of alcohol, and performed some classic dance moves including the pencil jump! Successful night!

The rest of the week was generally spent preparing for Christmas (I bought 12 Christmas hats after running around the city for an hour asking people where i could buy a 'Sombrero Navidenyos') sight seeing, partying and  trying to find lookalikes. I found a Kevin Pieterson lookalikey who David denied, but I will claim until I am blue in the face that he looked exactly the same as him! We also all concurred that Michael looks very much like your average kurdish man! MICHAEL IS A KURD!! (Below, picture of typical Kurdish man. Please note similarities to Michael)

We made it to Recoleta, where we sunbathed next to a massive mechanical flower and also saw the grave of Eva Peron, Evita, in a famous cemetery. We experienced the Palermo and Santielmo Markets, where I purchased a mannequins head, for 50 pesos. Mannequins heads are fun for a few minutes, however almost impossible to travel with due to their weird shape and size! This aside, I do not regret my decision! We also completed our legal, excellent and highly recommended Boca Juniors Stadium tour. The stadium nicknamed 'la bombonera' was awesome, and our tour guide was a really fit woman! Highlights included running onto the pitch, getting undressed in the changing room showers for some photos, and having a kick around outside with our boca juniors football! Oh... and I accepted the challenge of wearing my full boca juniors tracksuit for the full day despite the 35 degree heat. It was boiling and everyone thought i was either mental or an extremely cold and passionate Boca Juniors Fan! (Below, me in my full body tracksuit.... HOT!)

Jonny left us on the 23rd. It was emotional. He was a great guy and will be sorely missed for the next week or so until we see him again, however he had to catch his flight from Chile to New Zealand on Christmas day. As a result, we had a mock Christmas a few days early where we went for another great steak meal and exchanged our secret Santa gifts:

• Michael got Dan a book about space and planets as well as a voucher for one hug! Dan loves space and planets!!
• Dan got Michael a Toy Story Towel, and some children's Toy Story underpants. Michael LOVES toy story. And underwear!
• Jonny got me a Boca Juniors Football. He must know me very well, I LOVE football!!
• I got David a bracelet, some Dulce De leche, some black pepper, medicine and a voucher for 1 favour, non sexual, to be redeemed at any time. David LOVES stuff!!
• Finally, David got Jonny some Cigarettes. Jonny LOVES cigarettes!

We said our farewells to Jonny, and spent the next day, Christmas eve, partying hard at Pacha nightclub until the sun came up... It was a great night and bought Christmas Day in in Style! (Below... Tearing up Xmas.... BA style with fake snow!)

We Also met a very happy Chinese Man called Shin.

Our time in BA was spent at Millhouse Hostel, which apart from some of the most unfriendly and unenthusiastic staff known to man, was awesome. We met some real characters, including one man in particular, Angel! Angel, or Kevin to give his christened name was a 29 year old American who was looking for a flat in BA but spent his days and nights in Millhouse sitting on a couch near the back of the lobby telling stories of his miss-spent youth. One night when David was very drunk, he kindly offered to put David into a choke so that he turned unconscious as this would put David out of his misery. He assured us that he had done it a hundred times and it was very safe... indeed he had endured the fate himself a number of times and woken up in the trunks of cars! After a few minutes of persuasion we let him down gently and politely asked him not to choke anyone tonight... nor in any nights in the future! Choking aside, Angel was a millhouse hero who endeared himself to us with his cheeky grin and infectious smile... legend! (Angel, Shown Below)

Dan Also gave 100 pesos to a tramp on Christmas day... whilst the tramp was asleep. Giving charity anonymously is one of the nicest and most generous things man can do. Simon, How did this make me feel?? Proud. Very Proud of my kind friend Daniel!

Flying:
Spent the days of 27th and 28th December on Flights to Auckland, New Zealand. There were many highlights of the epic journey.... including:

• everyone having to wake up very early, very drunk and hungover to catch the flight.
• One member of the group throwing up both on the plane and at the airport!
• Watching about 5 films, 2 Documentaries and reading 1 book.
• An increase in the standard of aeroplane food and free headphones.
• Stopping over in Sydney and rubbing the ozzies faces in it that we were killing them in the ashes.
• Arriving in an English speaking country 2 days later, get in!!!

Auckland, New Zealand:
After a fantastic and well deserved nights sleep, we set about organising our next month's travel (we are no further forward) and seeing some of Auckland's sights. Today we scaled the city's sky tower to see a great view over the city and looked down through the glass floor at a height of around 192m. The glass was only 4cm thick...Scary!

We walked to the harbour, ate some sushi, wondered about the city and also we are now with Michael's American friend, Amanda, who will be travelling with us for the next month. In Jonnys boots, she has large boots to fill, but after day one I am confident she can affect the group dynamic in a positive way as she also likes to mock Michael and his Kurdish beard!

Many more things to do in New Zealand, and so little time.

I hope you all had a good Christmas and enjoy the new year.

Simon.... what are my thoughts and feelings about the pending new year.......joy, excitement and anticipation.

Prediction.... 2011 is going to be absolutely HUGE!!

xxx

*Don't Commit Crimes.

2 weeks. 3 countries. Several Hangovers.

Forgot to say last time.... we also did some volunteer work in Cusco, Peru.... we helped build a straw thatched roof for a building inside a local school/community centre. Now, I Don't mean to blow my own trumpet, but I think these kids will be some of the driest kids in Peru.... It was an absolutely wonderful construction!

Arequipa Continued:
Given that we had little idea of what Arequipa had to offer, we soon discovered that it was a really cool city with lots to do.... Many of which we didn't do because of time and money! But During some of our most proactive hours, we were challenged to a game of football against the hostels Peruvian staff. They dismantled team England quite easily (I blame the altitude) however we did show some flashes of brilliance and on another day, with Adam yuchatel as manager, I firmly believe we could have won! This game lead to a lifelong (2 day) firm friendship being built with the hostel staff, and its fair to say that we established ourselves as hostel legends too over the coming days. After the football game, we headed to a local museum where we shown the remains of a girl who's body has been frozen, preserved almost perfectly, for the last 500 years! Her name was Juanita, and at aged just 13 she was sacrificed to the Inca gods on top of a volcano! Pretty weird right.... see below!

With our brains having experienced a bit of knowledge and culture, we decided we best have a big night out so that the world regained some equilibrium. Yes, you guessed it, pre drinks began with the customary game of ring of fire.... .this time the drink in the middle contained avocado and tomato, and it was again Dan who had to consume this alcoholic gazpacho! We also had an epic game of giant jenga which left the Arequipans amazed with our guile, dexterity, and hand eye coordination.... it is estimated that the game lasted around half an hour and the tower reached a height which exceeded the length of any known tape measure. We headed out to a club called dejavu, and what happened later that night is not publishable on a family friendly blog such as this. But it was hilarious.

The next day, I recuperated in the hammock for most of the day in the summer sun, then we grabbed a nice dinner, and once back at the hostel, were presented with a "the point" (name of the hostel) tshirt each for free for being such great guests. Chuffed with this, we headed to bed and began to mentally prepare ourselves for firstly, crossing the border again the next day, back to Bolivia, and secondly, for one more crazy night out at the Wild Rover Hostel!

La Paz, Bolivia, Again, Just for One day!
The man who had promised us the world in booking our coach to the border and then to LaPaz from Peru had, as expected by most, not delivered and we rushed to the coach station after the lift that he had said would be picking us up from our hostel, had not turned up. We made our coach, and upon changing coaches then realised that the coach he had said he had booked for us from Puno to the border... did not exist! We complained to one of the bus companies and they said a man called Fernando would be along to meet with us in 10 minutes. He turned up, sorted out our transport to the border, then gave us 50soles to get another bus once we had crossed the border in order to get to LaPaz. Whilst we were again suspicious of the strangers generosity and help, we obliged as we had no other way of getting to our destination, and a few shady minibuses and several hours later, we were back at our spiritual home, Wild Rover Hostel.... for one more crazy night!

Now..... doing a shot of jagermeister on a dicky tummy is no easy feet. Now..... Please spare a thought for the poor individual who was born 6 weeks premature and as a result has a gag reflex to shots when on a dicky tummy... myself! It was agreed (forced upon me) that should I not be able to do said shot, I would be stripped to my boxers in the middle of the bar. Despite the fact that head barman, Jack, assured me that Jagermesiter was voted the easiest shot to do in a recent poll by fellow gag reflexers, 2 Minutes later I was in my boxers having only been able to complete the shot in 2 attempts! I have terrible terrible friends. They also hid my clothes! This obstacle aside, the night turned out to be a bit of a let down after our high expectations, highlight was probably coming back to the room to discover my Norwegian roommate had purchased 2 giant paintings which were sitting on top of my suitcase.... one of several giant cows and one of the more elegant Lamas. Norwegians are weird.

Potosi
Arrived in Potosi, the city in Bolivia famous for its mines, and chilled out during the day, headed to the miners market... which was nothing short of rubbish, and booked our mine tour for the next day with a company called the real deal.

We woke up early the next day, and soon discovered that they really were offering the real deal when we were dressed in our full mining gear, head torch included, and were readying ourselves to go down a tiny shaft into an underground world full of miners, dynamite and a little underground devil called Tio. First we headed to the refinarys where they seperate the minerals from the rock in order to sell on, then we began our tour of the mines. It was dark, enclosed, dusty, boiling hot and we were also at the second highest city in the world.... so the altitude ensure it was also hard to breathe! The tour was amazing as we got to see the miners working conditions, rush out the way of wagons carrying 2 tonnes of rocks at a time, climb up and down a ladder with no rungs... whilst not being able to breathe.... see the miners devil, tio, in his full glory, and at the end.... after surfacing alive from the mine without any damage.... hold some live dynamite in our hands (and mouths) then giving it to the tourguide to run really quickly with to a spot 100m away, then run back, and watch the dynamite explode! After this, I discovered 2 things... 1) Being a miner would be a near impossible job.... very very very hard work. and 2) Blowing up stuff is awessommmee! (The miners were mining silver, zinc, tin and other things but most of the silver has run out so Bolivia is pretty much done for economically unless they can sort their lithium reserves out in Uyuni, I tell you!)

After a hard mornings work, we headed to the natural hot springs half an hour away. A relatively hot lake, made less relaxing by the fact it was really deep so you could not stand or sit anywhere in it!

Uyuni, The Salt Flats
We indulged in an American breakfast and booked our salt flats tour for the same day. We were driven to various stop off points to take the standard photos. If like me, you don't know much about the salt flats.... in short its a large body of salty land, completely flat for miles and miles, left there by an evaporated salt lake many many many years ago. We took hundreds of photos, using our props of baby dolls, finger puppets, hats, dice, Bolivian women statues and a stolen polystyrene cart combined with the theory of perspective to take some interesting snaps! Full results of our unique pictures can be seen on Facebook.... but below is a personal favourite!

Michael also managed to trip and fall and graze his back when attempting to kick his baby in the air! Child abuse never pays.

Salta, Argentina

After a torrid Bolivian/Argentinian coach journey lasting 22 hours and involving Davids hand luggage being stolen, An extremely ugly and annoying Bolivian women shouting at the coach driver, and a serious lack of Argentina pesos, we arrived in Salta, Argentina! We were delighted to be in civilized society again, and to be rid of the ugly Bolivian women! We checked into our hostel and after a day of Yaniv, the Israeli card game we are now addicted to, we had a steak BBQ prepared for us by the in house chef. Now comprised of 50% cow, and having loved our first Argentinian steak, it had been a tough day and we headed to bed!

The next day, I was determined to get a haircut. This was indeed a great risk given that my last attempt at speaking Spanish had involved me asking for a ham and cheese sandwich, and receiving a fried egg sandwich combined with a glass of coffee. However, I was determined to cut my hair for Argentina is in the height of its summer and all this hair was making me mighty hot! I stumbled across a unisex hair salon, in town, who´s `pictures on the wall did not inspire me, but I took the gamble none the less. A lovely woman called Sally, began with precision, to give me the haircut i had asked for. Short on the sides, and just trimmed on top. It was going perfectly.... superbly.... brilliantly.... I thought she had understood my request once she had shaved the sides and trimmed the top to perfection.... and then, when I wasn't expecting her to continue.... she carried on... chomping away at the top until it was very short, almost a crew cut. I paid Sally for her time, not the terrible job she had done, and got lost on the way back to the hostel. When I eventually arrived back, Michael decided that my new name was G.I.Jim, and asked me how my time in the army was. It was bad haircut as shown below. 

That night, we went out in search of the beautiful Argentinian women we had seen that day seen perusing the streets of Salta. We found some, who recommended we go to a certain club, and drink a drink called fernet. Fernet is a horrible drink! Do not under any circumstances ever drink Fernet!! It tastes like petrol and shoe polish combined, thinned, and disguised as a normal drink. It was the devil! The above picture demonstrates both our disgust at the drink, as well as my new haircut. Fetching. The night ended at around 6am, and for legal reasons, I cannot say which 2 out of the group we were with ended up kissing girls who may or may have been 15 years old!

Salta was a lovely city, and we found a great Steak restaurant called Jacks where we consumed larger than life steaks, and I predict that we now consist of 75% cow. Also the beer of Argentina, Quilmes, is a taste sensation. We decided that Argentina has everything you need for a man.... great beer, great food, great football and great girls!

Cordoba

Coached our way 12 hours down Argentina to Cordoba, again a lovely city. I purchased my umpteenth football shirt, a Boca Juniors Home kit with Palermo on the back. Delighted when the market guy had no change so let me off of 5 pesos. So far we have eaten steak, sunbathed, and been out on a night out which I do not wish to talk about in the foreseeable future!

In Cordoba, we plan to go to the Che Guevara museum and today, to a natural pool thingy to catch some rays and relax. Then were off to the vineyards of Mendoza tomorrow night.... before making our way to Buenes Ares in time for the lead up to Christmas.

Happy days.

Friends, I have obviously under exaggerated these stories, its absolutely mental out here! My haircut is really short, I look like a thug.... innit!!

Mum and family, I have obviously exaggerated these stories greatly for the benefit of my friends. My hair has already grown back, and I do not drink alcohol. If anything, I actively discourage my friends from doing so! 

Until next time, when I imagine I will be in New Zealand in a couple of weeks..... Byyeee Stay Safe and Merry Christmas, Happy Hanuka, Delightful Devali and a Rapturous Ramadan to you all!

xxxxxxx

Lots Of Stuff Happened!

Ola! Since my last blog I have done a lot - for my readers convenience, I will write about my experiences in chronological order. Here goes:

La Paz¨;
Day 29, Thursday 11th Novemeber, Woke up at 8am and made our way to death road. Death road my friends, is the most dangerous road in the world in terms of people dying on it by car accidents as the road winds down a very high cliff edge at 4700m high altitude.... so why not cycle down it we thought! Below is a link to a video of some people doing what we did... one wrong twist or turn and we would be dead but after a whole day of cycling down with some breaks to take in the scenary  we made it down safely and it was one of the best things I have ever done. Once back at the hostel, we ordered a 2 and a half foot pizza to share between 5 people. It was absolutely MASSIVE!!
(death road vid;   http://bit.ly/gcjGoZ )

Other stuff we did in La Paz, went to San Pedro Prison for an illegal tour. San Pedro Prison is a prison run entirely by the inmates. Criminals can live with their families in there, and no guards or policemen are allowed inside, much like Sonar prison from prison break. Basically, what you do is you go to near where the prison is and you get approached by one of the wives of the inmates who you pay to get you inside, and inside, you are greeted by a guide. Ours was named Gabriel and was inside for 2 years for smuggling cocaine) All details can be found here = http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Pedro_prison to save me some time but the tour was incredible and for a while we almost forgot that we were inside a jail with rapists and murderers and no police protection - fantastico.

Oscar ate some fish food for a dare.

The Pampas
From LaPaz, we headed with Jack and Oscar, or Joscar as they are now affectionately known, towards The Pampas, which is an area at the start of the jungle which lies next to a large long winding river and is filled with wildlife, humidity and vegetation. To get their we got a tiny plane, no bigger than a mouse at a guess. Upon arrival, our tour guide didnt really tell us much for 3 days, for example, we only discovered his name on the last day! During our pampas tour, we saw aligators a plenty, did an annoconda search for 5 hours only to find one tiny snake hiding in a tree, swimming with dolphins which was in fact sitting in a boat and seeing a dead dolphin and an alive dolphin half under water and also went fishing..... slash..... tried to catch a fish but only David caught a tiny catfish and didnt know what to do with it so Oscar beat it to death with the paddle!!! Our hostel or lodge was basic to say the very least....and there was pretty much no way of seeing light after 7pm so we had 2 nights of going to bed at 8pm and taking sleeping pills to deal with the ridiculous heat and uncomfortableness. Highlights of the Pampas were generally the banter between our group and also Oscar having a weird reaction to mixing his malaria and sleeping pills which made him feel drunk and cold despite the hottest weather ever! Lowlight was the 3 hour bumpy dusty jeep journey with the random korean woman in our jeep with far too many people in.


Isla Del Sol
Bussed, walked, boated and skipped our way to Isla del Sol, Island of the Sun, which sits on Lake Titikaka in between Bolivia and Peru. The island is extremely basic with a population of about 2000 people and a handful of restaurants and hostels. Also, its pretty much built on a mountain so getting to our hostel with a backpack on consisted of walking up 100s of steps at a ridiculous altitude and making you want to die when you reached the top! Highlights of Isla Del Sol == Sunbathing....next to a pig. The view from our hostel over the lake. The thick duvet. Sitting 3 to a computer in the only internet cafe watching spurs vs arsenal on bbc live update and manually refreshing the page every minute to see us go 2 goals down then have to leave to catch a boat then get 3 texts from dad saying spurs has got 1 back, got an equaliser, then won the damn match with a few minutes to go and then seeing Michaels little big head and face turn rather sour and celebrating mentally with Dan! Oooo and also paying a random local called Moses quite a lot of money to take us in his motorboat which didnt really work to another part of the island which was actually awesome but only spending an hour there because Moses has said he wants to go back now. good times!

Other things about Bolivia.... general lack of toilet seats, and toilet paper.

Michael telling Dan how to say "we only have 1 hour to eat before our bus arrives" in spanish and dan repeating this to the waitress at the restaurant, however, what Michael really told him to repeat was "I have a very small Penis!!"


Cusco, Peru
Went out a lot. Tried to get a taxi driver to take us to Columbia.Failed. Went out some more. great Israeli restaurant. Went out some more. Stole some road signs, love life, hated life, love life, then went out some more! Stayed in Loki Hostel. Reunited with Joscar. Said Goodbye to Joscar again. Booked Inca treck to Machupicchu.


Salkantay treck to Machupicchu
4 day treck. One of the hardest things I have ever done, getting up at 4am each morning to walk between 8 and 10 hours. Now for any normal human climbing mountains at this altitude would be hard. But now please spare a thought for me and my tiny 6 week premature underdeveloped lungs!! It was mighty hard but we had a great group consisting of our guide, Peruvian Jorje, A czech, a spaniard, a german, an American and South Korean named Lee who was 39 but looked 18 and was probably the nicest man alive, as well as our group and also our new friend... Ned. Many things happened along the way, the most difficult perhaps was night 2... or Tsunami night as it is known when the heavy flooding meant that my tent as well as Michael/Dans Tent leaked covering all of our stuff in water.... our sleeping bags were drenched inside out and we were pretty much the only sufferers as the other tents had been constructed correctly! Damp, Cold and seeking restbite....we meandered our way to a small hut with 3 walls and a roof  (no fourth wall so it was still very cold!) and found a couple of sheep skin matts to lie on, used a tablecloth as a cover and froze our way through the night until morning arrived where we huddled to keep warm! We arrived at Macchupicchu on the fourth day of our treck and despite having a hungover tourguide, and me losing my ticket to climb one particular mountain there, was pretty special. Turns out the Inca´s were a clever bunch of people really, building a community hidden from the spanish in 1400ad with temples, houses farms etc out of massive pieces of stone cut using the most basic of materials. Again, my description is probably not doing these places justice so get yourselves down to google and wikipedia then look at my future photos for more of an insight.

Ica, Huacachina
Next off, we headed to Ica, and more specifically, Huachachina which is a tiny resort next to a lagoon in the middle of the desert. We relaxed here before getting a crazy sandbuggy, driven by a man called smiley, to the top of the sand dunes where here, we sandboarded down them which was SICK. I Must mention that David was very confident going up to the top as he claimed that he skied as gracefully as a swan. I must also point out that David was rubbish at Sandboarding.... and volleyball for that matter... and he complains a lot about a wrist injury that he sufffered when he fell over on the street standing near a motorbike.

Arequipa
We are now in Arequipa and I dont really know why we are here... but apparantly there is stuff to do such as seeing stuff and whatnot so should be interesting!

Elsewhere, No Shave Novemeber is now over and myself and senor Rhodes are sporting wonderful Moustaches (probably just for a day or two before we are babyfaced again, and the others have yet to shave their lovely beards off.... oh the tough life of a traveller!

Until next time..... BYEEEEEEEEEEE xxxxxxxx