Ecuador- Thanks for making me feel tall!!!!...

Yep, you read correctly- TALL
Upon arrival into Quito, I noticed two important things:
1) I am taller than around 90% of the population- male and female!!!, and
2) It gets bloody cold at night in Quito!!!
It was a shock to the system to have to wear long sleeves!!! But having said that, I didn't really mind- the days in Quito were sunny. And for a big city, Quito is GORGEOUS! The hostel I was staying in was next to the old city, and from it's fifth floor bar, there was the most AMAZING view of the city! The old buildings, cathedrals, churches, plazas were all soooooooooooooooo pretty! And the people are incredibly friendly! (In one particular case, TOO friendly!.. Yes, a bloke grabbed my boob when he was allegedly going to look at my necklace). But they are lovely people nonetheless!

I spent my days in Quito wandering the hills of the old city, and testing out my Spanish bargaining skills at the market.. I got into the swing of it eventually, and bought the CUTEST bag! (Along with other bits and pieces!) I walked up the 300-plus stairs to Parque Ichimbia which has an amazing view of Quito. And then hoofed it up to the statue of the virgin on El Panecillo (yep, more stairs).. So I was looking forward to a snooze on the bus overnight to Guayaquil after a day of stairclimbing..

Unfortunately the bus to Guayaquil was CHOCKERS, (and full of kids, no less), so there wasn't a heap of sleep to be had. Added to that was the fact that the bus arrived in Guayaquil at 4.30am!!! So I had a wee kip at the bus station before sorting out my bus ticket to Lima.

The guesthouse I was staying at in Guayaquil was right on the Malecon- a gorgeous area along the river. And so in 24 hours, I tried to cram as much of Guayaquil in as possible! For some reason it seemed like a good idea to walk up the stairs (uh huh, I know!) to the lighthouse at Santa Ana.. Only 450-odd stairs... But it was worth it! The houses there are painted in a rainbow of colours, and the is an amazing view of the city from the top of the hill. (And the added bonus of a pirate-themed park for the kids!)

Following that expedition I decided to see as many of the plazas and parks as possible. Parque Bolivar was my fave though- it has iguanas wandering around in it! And a pond full of turtles! It was cute watching the turtles climb over the ledge into the second part of the pond!.. And also watching the looks on toddlers' faces when parents put them down next to the iguanas for photos!

So after an early night, I was all set for my bus to Lima (all 24 hours of it!)....

COLOMBIA!!!!!!!!!!.... And a Trini update!...

Embarrassing???... You could say that!!
On my last night in Trinidad, I decided to bongo bus it to Port of Spain to go out to Sweet Lime (a fantastic restaurant on the Avenue).. So I tied my hair back and hoped that I wouldn't look TOO windswept when I got into town!.. Naturally, the driver took some ridiculous route, and I ended up nowhere near the restaurant.. Which I guess gave me time to fix my hair on the way!

The restaurant had a rather attractive bloke singing as entertainment, and I was natually seated right near him (not my doing- blame the waitress!).. During the Bob Marley classic "Is This Love", he sat down at my table, and sang.. Which was pretty damn embarrassing.. He then thought that he was going to get in trouble (he assumed that I was dining with a bloke), so he got up again.. And I thought all my embarrassment was over for the night.. But no! He had been dedicating songs to people dining at the restaurant (some requested the dedications, others didn't!)... And he decided to dedicate a song to me. He realised that I wasn't dining with anyone, so he plonked himself down and sang a soppy ballad to me, forcing me to hold his hand... Jesus!!! And of course, the WHOLE restaurant was looking!... SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO embarrassing!!!!... I finished up my meal pretty quickly!.. And then headed to the nearest bar for some rum!.. Which is where I met McGarvey, the Trini gangster.... But that's a whole other story!!... By the way, you need to look up the song "Hold You" (or hold yuh, as it is in the Caribbean) by Gyptian on youtube, so that you can have it stuck in your head for days on end! It was on SUPER high rotation in Trinidad, and despite hearing it about 20 times a day (no exaggeration!) I still love it and can't get enough of it!

Mum, I'm ok, and so's the house- no need to sell it to pay the ransom!
So after flying through Panama (yet again! but this time I treated myself to a bed in a hotel!), I arrived in Cartagena Colombia!!.. My taxi driver pointed out all the sights on the way to the hostel, and I was amazed at the contrast between the old city and Bocagrande (the swish area of town that I was to stay in). I packed myself off for an early night, because I was getting up early for a trip to Playa Blanca..

I managed to get out of bed on time and headed off with a few people from the hostel and the most disorganised tour guide you could imagine!! He had perfected the art of looking busy and avoiding organising anything! But eventually we ended up on a boat! The sea happened to be pretty damn choppy that day, and we were literally hanging on for dear life! I ended up with a REALLY sore bum afterwards! But we eventually made it to Playa Blanca, which lived up to its name by having the softest, whitest sand! The water was soooooo blue/green, it was amazing!!!

That night happened to be June's birthday (June being one of the women who worked at the hostel I was staying at). So we cracked open my bottle of rum punch to celebrate, and the evening degenerated into aguardiente shots and much silliness (complete with cake fights, birthday hats and balloons).. Once midnight hit, it was officially Paddy's day, and we were taught some Irish dancing by Fidelma!.. We eventually got to bed.. The next couple of days involved seeing the sights of the old city. It is so amazingly beautiful- no wonder it's all Unesco listed! Two of the best things I saw there included the old fort (complete with rum smuggling passages you can walk down!), and a museum housed in a building that was used during the Spanish Inquisition (complete with exhibition on the "interrogation tools" used- gruesome!)..

It was just an amazing place, and I will sooooooooooooo be coming back to Colombia!! Even in spite of the farewell that I was dealt at the airport! I was interrogated by several official-looking blokes in army uniforms at the airport, and apparently because I spent such a short time there, I was a person of interest!.. So my baggage was searched VERY thoroughly! I thought they were going to open the coffee I had bought too! I was patted down, and then told that I should go upstairs.. Upstairs involved a further interrogation, along with xrays and a more in depth pat down... Holy crap!... Eventually they were satisfied that I wasn't taking any of Colombia's finest with me, and I was allowed to board the plane.. So I didn't get abducted by Colombian druglords!... Nor was I acting as a drug mule- luckily!

And I am now chilling in Quito. (Chilling is right, it's bloody cold here!)...

Trinidad..... Going with the flow....

Equal parts frustrating and fantastic!!!
After spending time in Brazil speaking Portuguese, and in Argentina/Uruguay "speaking" Spanish, I was really looking forward to not having to struggle with language and being able to get what I want a bit easier in Trinidad.. It didn't turn out to be the case!! But I still had an amazing time!!!

My first few days were spent staying at a guesthouse in Port of Spain- man, that is one CRAZY town!!!... Even in the middle of peak hour traffic, guys will slam on the brakes so that women can cross the road!.. The traffic itself is NUTS! The people are sooooooooo friendly (in fact, some of the men were a little TOO friendly- I have never had so many marriage proposals anywhere before!).. The rum punch is pretty darn great!.. And the seafood is divine!!.. (Except that it may not be the dish that you order!... I had a waitress tell me she wouldn't give me what I ordered, despite the fact that the said they did have the dish I wanted!!.. It was a nice meal anyway though!!!!)

But after a couple of days there (and half a day being spent trying to send a package of souvenirs back to Oz), I needed some beach time!.. So I popped down to Chagaramas for the last part of my time there. The "resort" I was in happened to be right next to the army base, so I was woken up each morning by the army fellas chanting and marching!.. I did a few day trips to places like Maracas Bay and Diego Martin, and they are AMAZINGLY beautiful!! I didn't actually intend to go to Diego Martin, but the maxi taxi (Trinidad's version of the bongo bus) didn't go to Sangre Grande like it was supposed to!!.. That's just what happens in Trinidad, I guess!! You gotta go with the flow!!

Speaking of the maxi taxis- they are decked out according to the personality of the driver, and play SUPER LOUD music that the driver happens to like.... So you end up on a soca one, or rnb one, or a reggae one... AWESOME!! I haven't heard The Thong Song so much for years!!!

OH! I just remembered another strange place to hear Aussie music- the duty free shop in Panama City had Men At Work's "Down Under" cranked up when I arrived for my marathon stop over effort on the way to Trinidad!

I absolutely LOVED Trinidad- and will have to go back there for Carnival! Everyone who lives there says how sensational it is... So maybe next year????...... Yes, this is a just a quick post- gotta get back to sightseeing!!!

Long awaited!!.... FINALLY the Amazing Amazon story!..

Yes, I KNOW it's long overdue!
Now the reason for this blogging delay is Trinidad!!!.. The weather was just too nice! And internet access was too scarce!! But I'm getting around to it now!!

So I arrived in Manaus, Brazil and had a bit of a scare re- the baggage! My bag was the last one off the plane and I was starting to think that maybe it had been taken off when we stopped in Brasilia!.. But eventually my tatty old backpack rumbled out on the carousel.. Once I got out the doors, there was a frazzled-looking guy holding a sign with my name on it (Paulo, from the company I was taking the Amazon tour with). He had thought I'd missed my flight!

I spent the night in Manaus at a hotel, basically just relaxing. I had a bit of a wander around the Opera House there, which is gorgeous! And packed myself off to bed ready for my jungle adventure the next morning!

Bright and early, I met Elso (the bloke who was going to be my jungle guide), and Euan (the pommy guy who was going to share the adventure with me), and we were off! Once we got the the port, we were bundled into a boat and headed along the Rio Negro to the part where the the Rio Negro and Rio Solimões meet- the meeting of the waters. It was AMAZING! Two completely separate rivers, that don't mix!.. And the sheer size of the rivers is mind-boggling!

Once we'd crossed the Rio Solimões, we ended up at the port on the other side, where there were locals waiting for boats. It seemed like such a rustic place, and yet, there was a kid sitting there waiting for a boat with a DVD player in a box!.. We purchased our GORGEOUS rain jackets for the trip, met our driver, and headed off again.. We jumped into another boat and we were off on the Amazon! On the way to the jungle lodge we dropped in at one of the houses to pick up our assistant guide, and as we did so, a fish jumped clean out of the water and flipped along the river! A monkey jumping fish, apparently!

The lodge itself was fantastic! It has a little jungle shop to buy snacks and drinks, and it becomes the local bar at night- gringos staying at the lodge (and the place nextdoor) mix with locals to play pool, chat, drink, and dance.

Now, I COULD spend forever blogging about everything that happened- but I'm going to try to condense the info a bit!.. The trip involved a few treks in the highlands, and the lowlands. The lowlands trek was spent swatting mosquitos! The air was thick with the buggers! But luckily there were plenty of animals too! Like a few different species of monkey, sloths, various birds. And Elso (whose nickname evolved from "the Terminator" due to his army fatigues, to become "Rocky"), showed us all the plants that are used to medicinal purposes- handy if you have malaria, or diarrhoea to name just a couple of things! Bird-wise there were hawks, tucans, osprey, kingfishers, herons.... It was unreal! And no tarantulas or anacondas!..

There was alligator spotting- I kinda held one, but wouldn't let Rocky completely let go of it!.. We saw grey and pink dolphins in the river- AMAZING!! We went canoeing through tall grass in a leaky boat, fed piranhas (allegedly I was fishing for them, but I turned out to only be feeding them!), walked on water using the "magic feet", went to visit some locals in their homes, and even attended a local soccer match as the only gringa!.. Honestly, I could write forever about my time in the Amazon! But due to time constraints, I will just write a few of my fave moments-

* Euan asking Elso if we could take a boat without holes in it (after the guides had had to plug the leak in our boat the day before), and Elso laughing and putting us into the same boat! Which not long after was followed by Euan playing around with Elso's machete and being told "don't you put a hole in the boat".. Euan's playing with the machete got him the nickname "machete boy".
* Attempting to climb the banks of the river following a HUGE deluge of rain.... And sliding back down on my bum!.. (The fact that Rocky missed seeing it, made it even better!)
* Following the trek of the highlands (which was a little tough for me due to lack of sleep and having sampled too much of the "caipirinhas" which I swear contained petrol!), having Euan try to tip Rocky out of the boat!..
* Spotting a hummingbird in the jungle myself!!..
* Not getting eaten my mosquitos!!!
* The look on my and Euan's faces when we watched Dartemio (the assistant guide), light up a smoke at the back of the boat next to the petrol and the engine!
* Going to Superman's house to watch the sun rise over the giant waterlillies..
* Seeing the toddlers from the family who run the shop on the river jumping in and out of boats in the shallows, swimming around, rowing the boats (YES, REALLY), and then delivering beers to the locals watching and playing soccer!
* Rocky (who was goalkeeping in the soccer match at the time), running over to tell me how you could hear the howler monkeys at the time!!.. And grabbing a beer and cigarette to refuel!..
* Meeting some of the most amazing people! (tourists, locals and guides)...

Yes, I KNOW it's a cop out considering how long I've waited to blog!
As it says above, I KNOW I should write more... and maybe I will update things later.. But it's breakfast time here in Panama! And I still have to write about Trinidad too!!! (But that will have to wait until at least tomorrow!!!)

Catching up!!...

Let's start back in Rio..
Right! So clearly I survived being in the jungle for 5 nights, since here I am blogging again!.. But since I didn't actually blog from when I was in Rio or Porto Seguro, I'll get cracking with that now!

So a while back now, I arrived in Rio and was pumped to be staying in the Copacabana region! The beach itself is swarming with Cariocas and tourists. I must say, it was kinda liberating just watching the women of all ages and sizes strutting their stuff in little bikinis on the beach- they just don't care! So I joined them for a while before strolling around to Ipanema beach (which happens to be a prettier beach and frequented by prettier Cariocas)..

Unfortunately, instead of lazing around at the beach, it seems that I should have been busting my gut to see the sights of Rio! When I went to see Christ the Redeemer, the woman at the office of the "tram" that goes up to the top of the mountain said that there was no point going because the fog/cloud was so thick you couldn't see Jesus!.. (Ummm, shouldn't she have been trying to convince me to go??.. Surely it's in her best interests to sell me a ticket?!).. But go I did (along with a couple of Aussie blokes I seemed to keep bumping into all over Rio). When we got to the top, there was a pretty thick mist covering the ol' Christ, but it lifted enough to get some great photos- unfortunately, the same cannot be said of the view from Corcovado (the mountain Jesus is perched on)!! It is meant to have the most amazing view of Rio, but all I could see were clouds!.. Then in the blink of an eye, the thick fog moved back in and sure enough, you could hardly make out the shape of Jesus, even though he was only a couple of metres away!

The fog wasn't quite so bad the day I went to Sugar Loaf (and again ran into the aussie boys).. Got some quite reasonable shots of the city, and wasn't scared in the cable cars going up to the top!.. OK, maybe just a little scared!

I also managed to survive the CRAZY bus system they have going on in Rio- you literally have to jump on the road in front of the bus to get it to stop (and then hope it stops in time!!).. LOVED IT!!!

There were (of course) nights spent having a caipirinha (or two), and sharing some Natasha with fellow travellers!.. But all too soon, my time in Rio came to an end, and I found myself on an overnight bus to Porto Seguro...

Porto Seguro, Stupidity, Scandinavians and Lambada
So after a mammoth bus trip (when despite wearing my stolen TEDs, I STILL ended up with ankles that were almost bigger than my calves!), I arrived in the coastal town of Porto Seguro (between Rio and Salvador).. After surprising the guy working in the ticket booth with the fact that I understand Portuguese, I had my ticket sorted to go to Salvador the next night and checked in to my hostel.. The hostel was only a 10 minute walk from the gorgeous beach (and beachside bars!), and is run by a super helpful American named Paul, who lives on the property with his family. Not only did he sort myself and the Scandinavian blokes staying there out with tips on restaurants and bars, he even included us in the family BBQ for his son's birthday!.. It was kinda like being at home!..

So the boys and I headed into "town" for dinner, and at the insistence of our waitress, ended up at zouk/lambada club on the water... OH MY GOD!!!! The dancing was incredible!! I was quite keen to have a crack, but the poor Scandinavians (despite being able to dance) were kinda intimidated and just stuck to observing! I was trying to use my "interpreting skills" to get one of the guys to dance with a local who was keen.... But he was just too shy!..

The next day (28th Feb), I was swanning about, and going to organise my accommodation for Salvador... when all of sudden it hit me- THERE ARE ONLY 28 DAYS IN FEBRUARY, NOT 30!!! The lack of structure and a diary had almost made me miss my flight from Salvador to Manaus on the 1st of March!!

Luckily my bus to Salvador arrived in enough time for me to get a taxi to the airport and catch my flight!!!

YES, I KNOW I need to blog about my Amazon trip, and I certainly will....... But right now I'm in Trinidad! And I need sunshine!!!... So perhaps tomorrow I will pick up where I'm leaving off now??....

Apologies!!

Ok, so it has been a while since I last blogged... And due to the SLOW connection of the computer I'm currently on, this is just going to be a quick one to say that, YES I WILL fill you in on what went down in Rio de Janeiro, Porto Seguro, Salvador, etc!!!

I am in Manaus and will be getting up at sparrow's fart to go on a 5 night Amazon tour! So I don't know that I will have internet access for a while... Then there's the fact that I have a SHOCKINGLY BAD connecting flight from Manaus to Panama City and Panama City to Port of Spain.. But who knows? Maybe this jungle lodge has internet access???... And there is to be NO laughing at the thought of me sleeping in a hammock in the jungle with all the beasties for a night, either!