Buenos Aires or Bust!

Hey avid readers of my blog,

Yet again, I ve been a bit lazy since the last update. However, here we are with my latest news.

I m currently in Buenos Aires, almost my last destination before I leave, however I aim to get a spot of skiing in before I leave if at all possible. I arrived here about a week ago and am staying at the hostel I stayed at before. All the people who work here seem to be hippes and they are always playing guitars at all hours. It's quite amusing when you ring the bell to get in and someone is playing the guitar and singing on the reception desk.

I travelled here from Florianopolis in Brazil, where I saw some beaches and had some sun. Prior to this I had spent a week with my friend Fabio in a place called Divinopolis. The week finished in a night of parties that involved me wearing a skimpy orange vest and dancing until 6am. Fabio assured me it was a carnival, but in reality was more like a concert. I had an ace time though and I confess the song 'Chau, I have to go now.' was awesome. I d definitely go back again. Florianopolis was fun because the damn hostel was so far away. Actually it wasn't fun as I had to catch a combination of buses and taxis to find the place. I have no idea how people get to the hostel!

I ve got a few weeks left here before I fly back to the UK and back to Saudi. I m not sure what date I ll fly to the UK yet. I might change the date to a few days early, or might not. In any case, my next update will probably be from the UK!

May the adventures continue.

LAtoAsia.blogspot.com

70 metre ladders, Macchu Picchu and jungle stuff

Hey All,

Wow, it´s been a while since my last update so thought I d take a bit of time out in order to get something put up online. I m currently in Bolivia in a place called Rurrenabaque. It´s about 18 hours by bus from La Paz. The bus journey as usual was pretty bad. It broke down twice and me and my current travelling buddy (Sanne from Belgium) had to walk to the town.

Prior to this I was in Cusco in Peru where I undertook a 4 day jungle trek to Macchu Picchu. It was good, but was hard work. The first day involved a 5 hour downhill bike ride, and a bit of a walk through a village to our sleeping place. It was quite a tough day.

Day 2 involved an 8 hour trek to some hot springs. It was a hard day. Luckily, I wasn´t carrying my big rucksack, but it was incredibly hot! The walk was mostly uphill as well and over these tiny Incan steps high in the air. I have no idea how the Incans managed to run over them! The hot springs were definitely a welcome relief at the end of the day. They were a bit resort like, but were lovely to relax in at the end of the day!

Day 3 was more walking and a climb up this huge mountain called Sucupusi. The guides told me that their were one or two ladders we had to climb to get to the top. Little did I know that we had about 7 or 8 to climb and most of them were 50 to 60 metres long. Imagine being about 1000 feet in the air then having to climb these 70 metre vertical ladders made of wood and with no safety equipment. I have no idea how I did it. I have never been so scared in all my life. The views at the top were spectacular!

Day 4 was Macchu Picchu. You need to visit this Incan masterpiece for yourself. Sadly, not all of it is original nowadays, but I suppose to attract the tourists they need to carry out repairs to it to keep it looking good. 65% is original, the rest restored. I know I haven´t put many pics online, but the PCs I keep using don´t allow me to do so! I ll try in the next week or so!

After a day or so rest in Cusco I decided to go whitewater rafting. It was quite hard work, but great fun. Luckily, noone in my group fell out of the raft, but we did all decided to jump in off this big rock. Of course I was the last to jump, as I was scared and by the time I did jump the damn raft had floated off downstream and I had to swim about 100 metres through the rapids to get back into the raft! All good fun. Obviously, we all had westsuits and everything on so it wasnt so bad.

Anyways, tomorrow I m off on a jungle tour I think for 3 days and so will try and communicate then when I return! Bye for now!

LAtoAsia.blogspot.com

Santa Cruz, Bolivian Buses and Sucre

Hey all,

Well here I am in Sucre. A beautiful white washed city about 12 hours by bus from Santa Cruz (my last destination). Getting to Sucre was a lot of fun. Firstly I had to buy a bus ticket. This involved a lot of running around to different bus companies in the centre trying to find a comfortable bus. I got that sorted, however, bus travel in Bolivia is NOT as good as Argentina or Chile. I got the bus I wanted, but the bus had no toilets! For 14 hours! There was also a huge amount of bouncing around in the bus as Bolivian roads are, for want of a better word, shit.

I arrived no probs in Sucre, albeit after the bus broke down, a wheel was changed and it was delayed by 30 mins in the first place. It arrived about 2 hours late. During the journey it wasn't a great idea to put your head out of the window because the drops were sometimes massive. The best thing was to watch the Bolivians and do as they do and sleep. I had a go at this!

I m going to be here in Sucre for a few days exploring, before my onwards bus journey to La Paz. This one shouldn't be so bad because the roads are a little better. When in La Paz Im going to look around, meet up with a friend of my friend and do some more exploring. Cycling the 'road of death' may also be on the cards!

Anyways, until the next update! Adios, suerte, y hasta luego!

LAtoAsia.blogspot.com

Travels in South America - Part 1

Hey folks,

Here we go with my first update from my travels. I have a few quiet moments, so have a bit of time to type something.

I arrived in Buenos Aires a few weeks ago and stayed a few days there seeing some friends of mine. I met my buddy Matt and since then we have travelled from Buenos Aires to Santiago in Chile, onwards to a place called Valparaiso and Vina del Mar. I m currently headed north to a place called San Pedro, and have stopped for the moment in a place called Caldera.

Santiago - A very modern and clean city. It puts Buenos Aires to shame. It has some lovely churches and a massive hill you can go up and look at the statue of the virgen mary. You take a hairy ride on a train pulled by a cable, and then take a tiny cable car down. Stayed in a nice hostel, but the room was tiny!

In Santiago, I had the largest wine glass of beer I have ever seen!

Valparaiso - Interesting place, entirely on a hill that has the upper and lower parts connected by twisting, winding streets and some very old cable train things dating from the 1900s.

Vina del Mar - A beach resort that we visited off season, lovely views over the bay, however the hotel we stayed in had a resident tramp who proceeded to show us his knife collection. No worries though. He was harmless.

Caldera - A former mining town. Very peaceful and quite beautiful. The weather is lovely today and we may go and visit the 'playa ingles' for the day. Unfortunately, I m in slightly the wrong season to see 'monton chicas sin ropas o en bikinis.'

Anyways, that's all for now! Until next time!

LAtoAsia.blogspot.com

Life in Saudi Arabia

Hey all,

This is my brand new blog detailing my travels round the globe and in my current location of Saudi Arabia. I moved here back in 2007.

Life in Riyadh is certainly different, people wearing thobes are common and the driving is a bit crazy. It's not massively exciting for an ex-pat like myself, but I manage to keep busy.

Anyways, most of you already know where I am, however you may not know that I m off to South America in early May for a 4 month trip. I aim to see Argentina, Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador and possibly Brazil. It'll be amazing and will help me re-think a few things and of course see and experience some fantastic places and meet some great people.

I enclose a photo of the sandstorm than swept through Riyadh earlier this week. It was an amazing thing to witness.





There should be updates to the blog every few weeks.

LAtoasia.blogspot.com