adventures through South America

E Mails from South America

albamclean — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 02:22:00 GMT

Welcome to my moan time.
In Cuba, 7 months in South America and this is the hardest place to travel in the world.
Sharon has no luggage, difficult for her to travel without bras! I have no money and unable to get any. Also I have a ticket to London but it is in a shop in Havana, I don't know where it is and I can't leave the country with out it! I can't buy another ticket without money, I can't get money..... D'ya see my catch22??

Now found the only internet in Cuba so on the up. I'm not really loving Communism/Socialism/but we'll make a materialistic exception for tourist state of affairs. Really should never have left Colombia!! Ah I love to sound off. Loving it really, this is mere therapy.

Sharon's gone to bed with a blister(!(
I however have found champange so all is good!

8 days til home if I get a ticket, slightly nervous about it, be nice

E Mails from South America

albamclean — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 02:19:00 GMT

Thought I'd update you ll quickly just in case I went missing in action!
Left Colombia, I won't go on about it but I miss it so much, had a bad week and took the huff and ended up in Guatemala after stropping in the airport in Caracas!

Quick summary, my last day in Colombia started badly when the Hybrid, for that is what he is now known, decided that the best way to cope with an enforced break up was to cause a fight. I'm not sure if he thought that this was a good idea because he's male or because he's just out of nappies. So obviously it was a good idea for me to pull an all nighter and get straight on the plane the next day, and even though we had made up by 8am my mood had not improved.

So got to Caracas and decided to go straight to Los Roques, the Carribean islands. I was a little bit tired when I made the deal and didn't take into account the black market rates, probably cos no one told me! Anyway you pay double if you pay in Venezuelan currency so I got totally ripped off and paid an extra 200 pounds. Now the beaches were beautiful but not worth 100 flaming pounds per night!!!!

Excuse my language, but really really annoyed. I know my own fault for being too tired. So I get back to Caracas and the airline lost my luggage. When it eventually appeared they'd broken the rucksack, sorry Lou, it's getting fixed I write. On top of this my camera broke and I lost my touche Eclat!

So I stropped around the airport, not the safest airport to do this in, and then decided that I wasn't in the mood for Venezuela anymore and jumped on the next plane to Guatemala.

So now I'm in Antigua which is like a prettier Cusco but totally Gringofied. Therefore I'm off to San Pedro on Lake Atitlan tomorrow. I think rehab is over, I'm not good at it!

OK sorry to moan, am really looking forward to seeing y'all.
Make it stop raining for when I return

E Mails from South America

albamclean — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 02:09:00 GMT

Well, hope you´re ready for the next thrilling installment, bet you can´t wait. Anyone thought about Columbia yet??

So let me tell you about Brazil, no surprises it´s utterly fabulous and utterly enormous, I´ll need another year to do it properly as I´ve not even scratched the surface. Seriously I´ve treated it like a holiday and decided life on the beach is much more fun than life in the mountains (not to mention life in the jungle, but I digress as usual).

I got here three weeks ago and hit the ground running, Id been travelling over Easter weekend - which I didn´t realise until I was stuck in Easter traffic at Lima Airport. The first night in Rio we ended up going out with the Hostel manager for his friends birthday. I thought Id need to have a Caipirinha to celebrate and now must have drank my own body weight in them. I´ve now got the knack of making them, certainly better now than they were at my party!

The next day I went to meet friends in Paraty, a beautiful beach resort 4 hours down the coast. It was a relaxing few days full of sailing and snorkelling with turtles - not that I managed to spot any - a bit slow that way! There was a bit of a monsoon in the middle of it so I thought I´d spend my time constructively by getting a wax, well when in Rome.....

What followed was a slightly too intimate encounter with a beautician called Gloria - trust me I´ll never forget her after that experience! I´ll save the details for a seperate e mail for girls ( I know how uncomfortable boys get about these things!) but it was the most hilarious and painful waxing experience I´ve ever had, I felt we should have a least shared a cigarette afterwards!! Never, ever to be repeated.

Then it was back to Rio and a week in Ipanema, did I mention the rooftop swimming pool? Thought so.. It was difficult to get me away from it. but we had a blast, sunset at Sugarloaf with yet more caipirinhas, partying in the Samba clubs, Brazilian football in Maracana stadium. Fantastic. I even went handgliding.

Now the thought of jumping out a plane gives me a hollow feeling in my gut and I´ve never been stupid enought to jump off a cliff with a rubber band around my ankles so I´ve no idea what possessed me to run off a cliif while entrusting my life to a bit of plastic! But if you´re going to do it then Rio is the place, the views over the city are incredible from the air, you can see everything.

We went to a funk night at a club in a Favela, great fun dancing with the locals but the men are just a wee bit too full on. I got a little too overexcited though as we were out with one of the actors from City of God, the DJ who gets killed. I got a bit silly and got my photo taken with him then ran away giggling. As always acting like a grown up!!

Actually its not just the guys who are a bit too full on, I´ve never been come onto by so many women in my life! (Ask Cath about one particular story, really funny). At first I thought this was flattering and then realised there are loads of transexuals here, so do they think I´m a man in drag??? Not so flattering anymore.

Not surprisingly having trouble with the Portuguese language. I thought I´d manage to get by in Spanish but no chance, it looks similar written down but the spoken word is impossible. I´m looking forward to going back to a Spanish speaking country - who´d of thought. Even Cath´s spanish was improving and she´d even stopped asking people if she could talk to the toilet!

Now that everyones gone I´m back in my Hostel in Santa Teresa watching the monkeys play in the trees. I´ve seen more monkeys here than in the jungle. It´s a beautiful part of the city with cobbled streets and the old tram running up the hill. It´´s not the safest part though. I went walking the other day and took a bit of a wrong turn, this is in broad daylight mind you. I realised I was at a dead end and there was just me and this boy, I´d say of about 18. Oops... He asked me for money for food and after assessing the situation (me, him, no one else) thought it was probably a good idea to give him something. I gave him a couple of Reals and smiled confidently (i hoped) and walked back at a slightly brisker pace. However he followed me down the road and I knew I was only about 40 seconds away from a busier street but still.. Luckily 2 people were walking towards us and he faded away but I have no illusions that that was the closest I´ve ever come to being mugged. Craig, do not pass on this information!

I was really pissed off, thats never happened to me before and is there no honour amongst thieves anymore? Don´t they know they´re not supposed to mug women? And anyway it´s a bit stereotypical that it happened in Rio!

I´ll stop moaning, that was the only bad thing to happen. It´s a beautiful city and the only place so far I´d like to live.

So off to Ecudor tomorrow, one more day of sun. Going via Santiago again, bit sick of that airport but at least I can get a starbucks. Real coffee, seriously this is South America and all I get is Nescafe.

Thanks for the phone calls, texts etc, the phone stops working again tomorrow. Good to hear the news from home but believe it or not envious about the long summer nights you´ve got ahead. Funny but I can actually smell spring at home!

Keep thinking about Columbia...

E Mails from South America

albamclean — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 02:13:00 GMT

Hope you re all okay and thanks for the updates, many exciting!!

Im about to get a night bus back to Cusco, I cant seem to keep away fro that place. Im downloading more photos so I thought Id send you a quick E mail.

Finally managed to meet up with Cath and Clare in LA Paz in Bolivia, I was so excited about it and its really strange meeting friends in the middle of Bolivia. The problem was I was really ill (great fun on the overnight bus) and I managed to stay up with them for 1 hour before I had to call it quits and go to bed for 20 hours. That made it a memorable Paddys day for me,however those lightweights had an early night too.

Despite my raging illness I still managed to book to go mountain biking down the most dangerous road in the world. It lives up to its reputation as someone was killed on it last week when they rode off the mountain! Infact they use this as their unique selling point when you book. We asked if anyones died doing it and they go "hell yeah" and tell you 7 in 6 years then show you pictures off people being airlifted off the cliffs and bikes heading into oncoming traffic. Still didnt put us of You ride down from 4600m to 1300m. There were a lot of guys there obviously enjoying their extreme sports, you could smell all the testosterone in the air! We especially loved the hotel and swimming pool at the end where it was hot at low altitude, Im craving sun now, bring on the beach.

Also managed to meet up with Carolien who I hung out with in Mendoza and along with Karn who we met in La Paz we ve been travelling in a posse! This is very strange when Ive been travelling myself for 3 months especially when youve got 5 people to please,its probably quite scary for men too with us lot in a hostel!

We stayed in luxury accomodation in Copacabana for 2 days (the LAke Titicaca one not the Barry Manilow one!), unfortunately we ll not manage that ita shame to leave Bolivia, I wanted to see much more but I also want to travel with the girls and the East of Bolivia is so ravaged by the floods its almost impossible to get some places.

So back to Peru, we stayed in Puno for the night which the guide books describe as seedy - I love it! We also visited the floating islands made of reed and stayed the night on one of the island on Titicaca, Taquile, where Im sure we were the only Westerners. The only thing to eat is trout and theres no electricity so we had to entertain ourselves, not a problem!

The boat ride back today was hell, I thought Id cured myself of travel sickness but it came back with a vengeance on that boat, the rooms still spinning as I write this.

So 2 hours til the next night bus, what fun. Karen had to go back to LA Paz so the 4 of us are planning a few days partying in Cusco - since I know all the good places apparently. I ll have to pull out all the stops and even wear make up since Im with this crew who still have access to things like hairdryers and straighteners! Honestly, so high maintenence.

After Cusco and the Amazon jungle Cath and Clare are off to Buenos Aires for a week so Im going to go to Brazil early with Carolien before I meet up with everyone in Rio for the mad week. Karen lives in Rio so we now have inside knowledge of all the places to go and its going to be so good to get back to sea level, I dont think any of us have adjuted to altitude yet and Ive been up in the mountains for 3 weeks now.

Ive definitely decided to go to the Galapagos Islands after that, itll be a bit pricey but what the hell, and since Im selling the business I need to celebrate.

Better go and get into a tantric state to survive the bus journey and pray this thing has a loo. No loos on Bolivian buses so we ve been dehydrating ourselves all week, and I wonder why Im ill! Still if I get ill once every 3 months Im doing ok

As ever keep in touch and you guys are shite at Skype..

Apologies for the spelling mistakes but when I try to correct them it deletes the next word, so I know 1 section doesnt make sense

E Mails from South America

albamclean — Mon, 21 May 2007 02:16:00 GMT

Can`t remember the last time I wrote to you all, was I still in Brazil? Think it might`ve been, it seems like months ago. I do remember however asking if there were any takers for Colombia - none you wooses!! I shall have to explore the depths of the country myself.

I made it to Ecuador after yet another stopover in Santiago. This time tho I went to Valparasio. It was cheaper to go there from the airport than Santiago centre. I heard so many bad things about Valparaiso that I wasn`t sure about going but I thought it was beautiful and if you look at my latest photo update I got a bit carried away! Yet another place I could live`although given the choice I would still take the heat in Mendoza or Rio - but without the muggings.

I stayed a whole 12 hours in Quito where I met up with Allison and Sean who I met in Patagonia. They whisked me off to Baños before I could even tell where it was, yet another place surrounded by volcanoes, I`d love to say we were really active, conquering yet more volcanoes and cycling to far away places but in all truth we lazed about drinking coffee and (in my case) margarhitas. A truly lazy 4 days. I even had a television in my room - my own room , what a treat - and I lay on a hammock and watched the complete series update of Desperate Housewives. Bliss. To be fair we did go on a tour to see the active volcano Tungarhua at night but by the time we got up in the hills you couldn`t see 2 feet in front of you, at least we tried to be tourists that day.

Allison and Sean were the last left of everyone I`ve met so far, I felt quite lonesome as I waved them off at the bus station when we went our seperate ways, this wasn`t helped by the fact too many cocktails had been consumed the night before. Trust me an Ecuadorian bus journey is hard enough without a hangover. They always tell you the bus is direct (you always have to change), they always tell you there`s a toilet on board (if there is its locked) and they always tell you the journey time is 3 hours less than it actually is. This on top of the fact they waste a tank full of petrol driving around town trying to drum up business before you hit the road causing you to miss you`re connection and having to wait in a scummy bus terminal for 3 more hours on a hot and sweaty Sunday afternoon - some memories don`t fade with time!

This is how I ended up in Cuenca, a colonial town still in the Andes, at 10pm at night arguing with a hostel owner over the price of a room. I`ve had various arguments in Spanish now which I think is skillful for me, my next aim is to actually win one. This is the Hostel with no lights and no locks and only me and a mad biker staying there. Obviously I slept with a knife under my pillow those nights. It was a very pretty town and I took to my sightseeing like a trooper, I even visited a couple of churches and was excited that I didn`t spontaneously combust. However I felt that I was in my own personal version of Gullivers Travels. I swear I was the only Gringo in town and all the locals were lucky if they came up to my chest. I stood behind one wee woman and she came up to just above my belly button!

I did come across one infeasibly tall schoolboy tho who looked completely out of place. And the locals kept trying to sell me furniture which I thought was a bit ambitious for them, come to think about it all the locals were loading head boards onto the buses, I wonder what that was about?

My plan was to double back and ride on the Devils Nose, yippee. It`s a train where you ride on the roof, but it was really cold and wet and I was craving more heat and less mountains so I decided to go straight to Guayaquil and book my flight to the Galapagos. Again I was the only Gringo around, in fact I`ve yet to do a bus journey in Ecuador where I`m not the only Gringo. Where are all the tourists??? The bus journey to Guayaquil again went on forever although its weird to drive through the Andes and arrive in the sweltering tropics. And yet again I was the only person in the Hostel which meant I had a strange few days reading book after book and talking to myself once I`d exhausted my Spanish repetoire!

Oh it was all worth it though once I booked my ticket to the Galapagos. I never thought for a moment that the Galapagos could live up to the hype but it was truly spectacular, I can`t believe how much I saw.

I met so many people there, infact I`m in Quito now and I`ve met up with 9 people I met in the Galapagos. I got off the plane and immediately hooked up with Matt and Sian, who I seemed to be stuck like glue to for the whole trip. It was really frustrating for the first few days as we tried to book a cruise. We managed to get one and to cut a really long and tedious story short the boat broke down and We jumped ship! Yhat meant we had to wait another week to get on a boat that worked, how tragic, stuck in the Galapagos for a week, what was I to do but spend the week diving and playing with seal Lions. Actually I think fate intervened as the 2nd boat was glorious and I was about to murder a head throbbingly annoying Israeli girl on the first boat.

I swam with 18 sea turtles, dived with sharks, played tag with sea lions and got chased down the beach by them. Got soaked by jumping dolphins, avoided piles of sea iguanas, dived with stingrays and didn`t do a Steve Irwin, watched giant Manta Rays jump out the sea, saw nests of albatross`and watched blue footed boobies mate - somewhat pervily I feel.

I even discovered my sea legs, I think that`s the 1st boat I`ve been on in my life where I wasn`t sea sick, now I`m planning a boat trip from Colombia to Panama - feel like a pirate!

Reluctantly I`m now back in Quito where I`m staying with folk I met on the Islands. So this is where all the Gringos are. Off to Colombia in the next couple of days, don`t judge me but I think I`ll wait til after the Liverpool game on Wednesday!

Let me know the gen, after Colombia it`s Venuzela if there`s any takers? Surely someones ready to break, if not I`ll have to wait to see Sharon in Cuba in July!

E Mails from South America

albamclean — Sat, 21 Apr 2007 02:07:00 GMT

Long time since I wrote, hope you're up for an epic!

My short time in Rio is about to come to an end, I feel like I've been on my holidays. As there was a few of us we rented an apartment in Ipanema without realising it had a rooftop terrace and swimming pool. Oh the absolute luxury!! I'm going to find it really hard to return to the backpacking reality now.

But so much to tell you before we get to Rio, I can't really remember where I left off.but I think it was when I went back to Cusco. Now it's a lovely town and very comfortable to stay in as everyone speaks English but seriously, one week is enough. I think we were all sick and tired of freezing our asses off at altitude and we still felt a bit ropey - that too from the altitude, and anyway Cath, Clare and I had booked our trip to the jungle and were VERY excited about it. As we sat in Lima airport we rejoiced about being at sea level and vowed never to complain about the heat again, ever..

So we flew into Iquitos, a jungle town in the middle of the Amazon jungle only accessible by plane or boat. We chose to go there as it's the only place outside Brazil that you can sail down the Amazon river. We were ready for 4 days of monkey spotting, fishing for pirhanas, swimming with pink dolphins and hunting for alligators, we were so excited that we even agreed to go camping in the jungle.

Doesn't it sound great? Let me assure you that all these things happened, although I was a bit wary of the anacondas when I was swimming in the Amazon. We even had a mad night out with the locals in the village - I think our tour guide fancied a night on the lash at home! This ended up with us drinking firewater - the local home brew and me feeling really dodgy the next day, just great for paddling in a dug out canoe for 4 hours.

I'm ashamed to say though I couldn't wait to get out of the damn place. My overwhelming memory will be of being eaten alive by mozzies the size of wasps. These monsters managed to devour me through my thick canvas trousers. I had at least 60 bites on the back of each leg, on one knee I counted 28.

Seriously if you stopped walking you got attacked, if you stopped paddling you got attacked, if you came out your hammock you got attacked. It was sheer hell. Cath, came out in a worse than usual allergic reaction and was blistered all over her arms. I was dying for her to give in and say she wanted to go back to the lodge but dammit she didn't. Oh and let me tell you about the camp, we presumed it would've been I pre set camp in the jungle but oh no, we paddled in our canoes to the riverbank in the middle of nowhere, cut down trees to sling our hammocks and covered them with mosquito nets an tarpulin, THEN got eaten . We were begging to go back to high altitude by the end of it!!!

Needless to say my plans have dramatically changed. I was meant to be staying in the jungle in Ecudor for a month but there's no chance of that. In fact after being on the beach in Brazil for 3 weeks I'm not wanting to go to Ecudor at all. So I'm going to fly into Quito (more high altitude), meet Alison and Sean hopefully, go to the Galapagos and then go straight to Columbia.

So guys thats the next proposition. Next week all the people I've met so far will be away so I'm ready for the next lot of visitors. I'm getting a little bit travel weary now - well it has been 4 months, so I'm going to go to Cartnagena for a month. Its on the Carribean coast of Colombia. Beautiful colonial town with Carribean beaches and great diving. Have I sold it to you yet?? I should be there at the end of May, as always all welcome and then you can say you survived Columbia!

I've still got to tell you all about Brazil but I need to go shopping before it gets dark - I'm staying in a dodgy part of Rio now!

I'll continue after dinner, think about Columbia....

E mails from South America

albamclean — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 02:00:00 GMT

Hi there guys hope all is well wherever you are. Just got half way through a huge Email but managed to delete it - How?? - so starting all over again, luckily it´ll probably be half the size.

Finally made it to Cusco in Peru after a few hairy travelling moments via Santiago and Lima. Reluctantly left Mendoza and started my 3 day journey to start the Inca Trail.

So far not overly impressed with Santiago but I´m going to have to learn to love it as I´ll be there at least another 3 times. I think I found the good area in Santiago but I´m not really sure cos I was there for about 12 hours and no one could give me a map. Lima was slightly better once I adjusted to the constant harassment of the taxi drivers and street venders. Bizarrely the taxi ride from the airport cost twice as much as the accommodation and I had a taxi driver who really got the hump when I refused to go to his Hostel. However he was better than the death wish driver I got back to the airport. I did manage to get a day at the beach in Lima though and I very nearly saw the sun through the smog.

Finally I got on the plane to Cusco, I´d already prepared myself for it being busy but in the time I waited for my flight to be called 5 other flights departed! They also say you should always travel overland to high altitude and never a truer word. The high altitude hit me like a ton of bricks as soon as they opened the cabin doors, it felt like i´d been on speed for 4 days (I hadn´t!).

For the next 2 days I could barely walk the length of me and I slept for 16 hours out of 24. I couldn´t even drink the obligatory glass of wine so something was definitely wrong.

The day after I started the Inca Trail. I was completely shitting myself about walking 4 days at high altitude, but there was nothing else for it, head down, bum up and keep slogging.

I´d guiltily ordered another porter to carry my stuff but they´d conveniently forgotten so I had to trudge up those mountains with my own pack. As it turned out I was the only female in the group to carry her stuff the whole way round, and while I´m blowing my own trumpet I was fastest female and 2nd overall, I am HARDCORE!! Either that or my group was ridiculously unfit, ok,so more likely the 2nd option..

On the last 2 days it rained continuously to the point you just accept you will never be dry again. Our giuide tried to convince us that it was all part of the fun to wring out your socks and squelch in wet boots but despite my slightly maddened state at that point I wasn´t buying it. I was aware I was going in rainy season but I wasn´t expecting the landslides and the fallen trees. This meant there was no water on the last night of camping (everyone camps in the same place on the last night) which made for a highly unpleasant experience. Never mind who needs water when you can have a wet wipe shower every day.

So we finally reached Macchu Picchu on the last day, leaving camp at 4 in the morning and trekking in the pitch black to get there. I expected to be really emotional but when we got there it was pure fog, you could not see a thing. We traipsed past all the day tourists who smelled of soap and clean clothes and proudly got our passport stamped, then miraculously the fog cleared and we ran back up to see it, yes it is as glorious as you could possibly imagine and well worth the 4 days of pain and dampness. But I survived and the only casualties were a few blisters and a couple of toenails. Hopefully this is the end of my days as an intrepid mountaineer!

After a night of celebration I had a well deserved massage which caused more agony than the trek itself as the masseuse pummeled my calves shouting "good massage miiiss" as I lay screaming into the bed.

I´m staying in the hippiest hostel in the world and it´s run by this slightly mad (but lovely) South African woman who runs day trips to take Hallucenogenic drugs - but It´s natural so thats ok!

Anyhow I had a what the hell attitude at that point so I went on Saturday. It´s a plant called San Pedro and instead of "taking it" you "be with her" and accept her into your life and become one with the earth - yeah right.

It´s a foul tasting concoction but I slurped it down and waited to become one with the earth. About an hour later I felt my limbs weren´t my own then totally disembodied. Luckily this feeling passed and I waited for what was going to come next which was not the answers to the life, universe and everything but an overwhelming urge for cheese (Shropshire Blue to be precise). Damn, and I used to be such a good hippy!

No matter, when I regained the ability to walk Lesley took me up in the hills, it was an amazing view of Cusco and I feel I did appreciate it more in my drugged up state. There is the Temple of the Moon there, a pre Inca site which has carvings of when the Eagle and Condor meet and the world will change, fascinating really, see I am a good hippy. It also had this alter where I sat and contemplated life. Lesley left me to do so and I promptly fell asleep only to wake up half an hour later flat out on a sacred site looking at a group of bemused Peruvian tourists, God I am such a good advertisement for encroaching middle age! Note how no family members have been included in this E mail

I seem to have survived the experience though and am now going to hang out in Cusco for another few days and go back to Spanish school. I had to take a test so am now having feelings of inadequacy all over again.

Off to La Paz in Bolivia on Friday night which means 3 hours on the Peru Bolivian border trying not to get robbed. Going to meet Cath and Clare on Saturday - can´t wait - and possibly Carolien, Allison and Sean if all goes well. It´s Paddy´s night and I´m sure there will be an Irish bar, there is everywhere else.

By some minor miracle this hasn't deleted. Write soon

E Mails from South America

albamclean — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 02:03:00 GMT

Hope you´re all doing well, I´m good´n hot and sweaty here.

I really can´t remember where I left off but if you read the update on the website - why am I doing that again? - then at least you´re up to date.

I could go on and on and on about the condors flying beside me and how beautiful the Andes are for hours but I feel as if this is the place to dish the dirt....

Unfortunately I appear to have become quite clean living (well reasonably) so not much to dish I´m afraid! However I am about to go to Cusco for 2 weeks (at Least!!) so I´m sure I can remedy that.

Well, since you last had to read about me blethering on I managed to reach Chile. Via the Condors I might have mentioned, on horseback, my calves are still raw I swear.

Didn´t do to well in Torres del Paine as I thought all the refugios were full (liars) and just did a whistle stop tour - thanks again for the socks Derek! I also saw loads of loved up penguins and got incredibly cold..

All beach time in Chile was destroyed by monsoon type weather so what´s a girl to do but drink wine and chat randomly to locals. It hasn´t improved my language skills much but it´s a hell of a lot easier after the 2nd glass of wine. I think I may have mentioned the horror of the girl with the split open face! I went to Chiloe an island off of Chile and it was Fiesta time. Atuned to my new sense of good behaviour I went to bed early - or at least earlier than the others. I was awakened by noise outside my room and opened the door to something that A&E would reject. A drunken kiwi girl with her face smashed open. Oh joy, after rejecting the idea that I should ignore her cos I had an early bus my bad karma crap took over. I did try to fix her up but my extensive (oh yes) first aid kit was on the mainland. It´s true, when you really need it...

So I had to take her to hospital at 4am. I´m still surprised there was one. The Island is the size of Skye and we were on the smallest town there, but they were so sweet, and after they sewed her back together with string I got the bus. I won´t tell you much about that day but at my grumpy best!

Anyway, I climbed a Volcano in Pucon - it was Villarica not Olsorno tho for all you die hards out there! What is this compulsive need to climb things, why why why?? And why agree to join the fast group (who I think were Olympic athletes in disguise) and why insist I´m doing just fine when my legs have taken on Bambi qualities?. However the Chilean guide, Oscar - possibly the only sexy Chilean ever - was enough to keep me going. Has to be said, standing at the top of a smoking volcano was mesmerising - and sulphurically eye watering.

Need I go on about the view or have you all got the picture? Think so, anyway had to slide down the Volcano on my backside wearing what I can only describe as black latex nappies. I had a bit of a pant wetting moment when it was so steep and toboggan like, I was a bit worried but what the hell. Your meant to use the ice pick to slow you down but I didn´t get the hang of that bit so I went tearing down the Volcano at full throttle doing a 360 degree spin with my ice pick flailing in the air going shiiit the mountain should´t be facing me! After hitting a few rock formations I survived. I´m sure it must be illegal in Scotland!

Hot springs followed all lovely....

Now in Mendoza, ah back to Argentina, think I missed it a bit. Anyhow fab city and staying in a great place, have managed to get off the hammock long enough to write this.

Been to see an Argentinian football match at the World Cup stadium here. Yeah, it only hits you when you get there that they hosted it nearly 30 years ago! It was a pretty bad game and players were getting sent off for punching after 5 mins. This is the premier league so I presume all the best players play overseas! They also wouldn´t let us in the Terraces with the "Hooligans" and "Bad Boys", shame. God it was so hot and they took our water off us. Extreme measures meant us sitting there throwing cups of water over ourselves. A very fetching look! Usual stuff, rafting and off to the vineyards tomorrow on a bike. Hmmm, wine tasting and cycling, can only end with gravel rash.

I´m quite happy in Mendoza but have to leave as got to start the Inca trail on Monday (climb every bloody mountain). This means a bus journey back to Santiago, fab journey tho, then a flight to Lima and then another to Cusco. Oh I´m planning to stay there for a long time!

Right you lot get back to work,

Keep in touch, missing a Scottish accent (although 2 out of 3 Scot´s that I´ve met I´ve got a connection to, no matter how vague!) And bloody well get Skype!

E Mails from South America

albamclean — Fri, 2 Feb 2007 01:53:00 GMT

Hi guys,

I´m having a chillin´ day so thought I´d give you a wee update.

I´m in El Calafate in Patagonia which isn´t quite at the end of Argentina but it feels like it. I´ve been practical today and booked my flights up North in Chile (Read the update, I´m not doing any more bus trips down here!) and flights to Brazil for party time!

Been hanging out with the group that came down Ruta 40 including the obligatory aussies, but they´ve all gone down south now and I´ve no time to do it if I,m going to get to Peru in 3 weeks time. So going to go to Torres del Paine to kayak round the park, yes really,. Not quite sure what the hell has happened to me but if there´s a mountain I´ll climb it, if there´s a horse I´ll mount it and if there´s a glacier give me some crampons and I´ll give it a go! Honestly what with all this and not sitting on a loo seat for a month I´ve got thighs that would crack walnuts!

I´m staying in this great place overlooking Lagos Argentino, it´s got a cocktail bar next door so you can sit and watch bits of iceberg float by. Just what you need after a hard day on a horse!

Taking an extra day to do nothing and get my laundry done.. It´s hard to describe the excitement of this, I am so sick of my 2 sets of clothes and I had to chuck stuff out cos my pack was too heavy.

At least I have a sun tan now, however patchy it may be. I look a bit like a dulux shade chart going from off white to beige.

Spanish still ridiculously bad but at least I can swear in it now

Enjoy Valentines day although I don´t think any of you are the type to celebrate it!

I´ll be on a plane, just celebrating the fact it´s not a bus.

I´ve gotten into a habit of speaking pidgen English so hopefully this doesn´t read like it´s been written by an 8 year old.

Thank you those who pointed out my slightly severe horse allergy. I took hydrocortisone, anti histamine, ventolin and vit b (some suggestion), wore sun glasses and tried not to breathe! The only thing missing was adrenaline. See the drugs do work, no anaphylaxis yet, just red eye.

Must dash, the mossies are using my ankles as a blood transfusion service

E mails from South America

albamclean — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 01:36:00 GMT

Just a quick E mail to kill some time while I wait to go on my 22 hour bus ride to Iguazu falls. Any of you who have had the pleasure of doing a bus trip with me know how much I´m looking forward to this. I´ve got the pills and the armbands and feel really sorry for the person sitting next to me. Never mind I´ve got 2 days there and then a 36 hour ride to Mendoza! Think I might have screwed up this week...

Hopefully though I´ve managed to book accomodation but I did this in Spanish so I may well be homeless tomorrow night. Yes the Spanish is still terrible and they had to change the classes so that they had a class for just me and this American guy David. I keep laughing cos when we try to speak in Spanish it really does sound like a special needs class!

One french bloke insists on speaking only spanish to me so we have a very limited relationship...

Anyway better go and try and fit everything back into my pack and buy a present for my host mother (really!)

Keep in touch cos I´ve still got culture shock and I need to get out of this place before I buy a cheap pair of boobs!