tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38301844316214478672024-03-13T00:33:12.241-07:00Cato el Conquistador (South America and Antarctica)Follow my travels as I backpack across South America from Peru to Bolivia. The most southern tip of the continent and the most southern town in the World to Brazil for Carnival. Catch a Russian Ship to Continent No. 7 - Antarctica! Highlights were Machu Picchu, The Salt Flats in Bolivia, Ushuaia, Patagonia and without a doubt...the trip of a life time - Antarctica!
The party towns were Cusco, La Paz, Buenos Aries of course Carnival in Rio de Janeiro!Cato el Conquistador (Seven Continents - One Year))http://www.blogger.com/profile/01383723066354638092noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3830184431621447867.post-24230079149304819342010-06-27T14:16:00.000-07:002011-04-27T23:54:02.126-07:00Road tripping through the US of ASo I seem to have created a whole new webpage for the North American part of my trip which I don't really want to do as I am very lazy and this will require more work for me. So...to save me re-writting everything to this blog just click the link below to read up on my adventures across the Americas!<br />
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<a href="http://catovsperu.blogspot.com/">Economy Crashing America vs. Cato el Conquistador</a><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15.6px;">Follow me on Facebook: <a href="http://www.facebook.com/catosworld">http://www.facebook.com/catosworld</a></span></div>Cato el Conquistador (Seven Continents - One Year))http://www.blogger.com/profile/01383723066354638092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3830184431621447867.post-52566554918411073802010-04-11T14:27:00.000-07:002011-04-27T23:51:50.775-07:00Life's a Beach!!!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq4_cEtL79giHQaYtMqLgSSo-uy4CdOJ1Fi97maA9UbrKR6TwDBoZuqB3qJsSOowH6DXuxt6h0G7E4BKBxLOvtRBgKHDTemUdXd1k_2YD6Eb0TcF3YyXL4tr9bqJK3nZWmM7Sd0QtaZPk/s1600/IMG_1174.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq4_cEtL79giHQaYtMqLgSSo-uy4CdOJ1Fi97maA9UbrKR6TwDBoZuqB3qJsSOowH6DXuxt6h0G7E4BKBxLOvtRBgKHDTemUdXd1k_2YD6Eb0TcF3YyXL4tr9bqJK3nZWmM7Sd0QtaZPk/s320/IMG_1174.JPG" /></a></div><div style="font: 19.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 23.0px;"><br />
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</div><div style="font: 19.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 23.0px;">An Island somewhere far, far away...</div><div style="font: 19.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 23.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 13.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">Take some time to think of your favorite destination on earth.</div><div style="font: 13.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 16.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 13.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">Perhaps your destination has spectacular beaches or beautiful lush rainforest. Or you may simply prefer scrumptious cuisines day after day. Often the currency exchange will be at the top of our list as we always want more for less. All bar that few percentage of albinos (or the British) will be on the hunt for some excessive hits of vitamin C to darken their pastiness. Now…take all of that and add the most beautiful women you have ever seen into it and you have found my favorite holiday destination! </div><div style="font: 13.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 16.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 13.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">What I talk about I can not name as it would be like <i>Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves </i>giving away the secret password to a world of endless pleasure. We all need our own secluded get aways and this place is mine! </div><div style="font: 13.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 16.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 13.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">Aaron the Kiwi and I arrived on the Island after chilling in Lencois for a few days. Aaron has been twice already (once only a few weeks before) so you can imagine my expectations are quiet high! There is too much to see to spend your time going over an experience already experienced so I was excited and anxious to be here and see what all the rave was about. Lucky we had rested hard for about…hmmm…3 days as we were flung right back into it here with the continuations of Carnival post parties and the End of Summer parties to keep us entertained. </div><div style="font: 13.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 16.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 13.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">Whilst here we stayed at 2 different hostels. Sunset Backpackers was definitely the pick and one of my favorite hostels in South America. Priced higher then most but what an amazing view and group of staff. Happy hour every night (free cocktail) is a necessity in ever hostel so good work Junior and staff in getting those caipirinhas<span style="font: normal normal normal 18px/normal Arial;"> </span>to us all on the hour! If you make it to SB you may see my ugly mug hanging over the bar…a gift to the owner who caught a few of us having late night snacks from the kitchen on CCTV! Most days were spent at the beach which has some of the best surf in Brazil. Nights were spent drinking or…. drinking! We hired scooters to get from A to B and is quiet inexpensive. It takes a good few hours to get around the island and some very scenic locations. Some good clubs on the Island but none will compare to P12. This day club is set around a massive pool. Drinks are excessive but stiff. Bikini's are everywhere and after a day in the sun sipping on cocktails its time for a boogie on the dance floor!</div><div style="font: 13.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 16.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 13.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">With copious amounts of booze as a lubricator many friends were made and whilst causing shenanigans on this island getaway like no other. I'm sure you don't need me to ramble on anymore as your probably just googling at the pictures!</div><div style="font: 13.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 13px;">After 2 weeks being spoiled on the 'Island of Pleasure' I ventured back to Rio where I did all the touristy things that I hadn't had time for over the Carnival period. Jesus, Sugar Loaf, The Botanical Gardens and also an epic ride hang-gliding over Rio de Janeiro. Whilst I was flying the chance of making my next flight out of South America were growing slimmer and as it turns out I missed my flight to New York. Luckily my airline were flexible and I was able to out of Rio only a few hours later at no extra charge. </span></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><br />
</div><div style="font: normal normal normal 13px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">This Blog entry is the final one for Cato el Conquistador in South America and Antarctica so I hope you have enjoyed!! Tune in next week for the shenanigans as I head through the US of A.<br />
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</div>Cato el Conquistador (Seven Continents - One Year))http://www.blogger.com/profile/01383723066354638092noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3830184431621447867.post-46609618687588136082010-04-01T09:54:00.000-07:002011-04-27T23:54:34.670-07:00Carnival Recovery!!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 14px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Salvador and</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"> </span><em style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Lençóis</span></em></span></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; line-height: 15px;"><br />
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</div><div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">I blame the vast amount of partying over the last month to be the main cause of not posting anything since just after Carnival. So I need to back track about 5 weeks to Rio de Janeiro where I ventured north to Salvador on an epic 34hr bus ride! I would never commit to such a long bus ride since I experienced this almost 8 years ago when traveling up the west coast of the USA on a shit heap of a bus (never travel Greyhound in the USA!). It was only supposed to take 24hrs but, as you become used to in South America something went wrong. Nothing too serious….just a break down and a drawn out wait for the next bus to turn up. Eventually I arrived in Salvador where I met with a Kiwi compadre (Aaron) who I last partied with in Buenos Aries.</span></span></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 14px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Not too much to rave about in Salvador. I only stayed the 1 night and didn't venture too far from the hostel as I was still sobering up from Carnival. I did have the unfortunate experience of running into a creep with a knife down by the waterfront whilst snapping up some pictures of the sunset. Been a while since I've done a hundred meter sprint but when your got a knife pulled on you it's amazing how fast everything happens! Anyways…I got away and didn't need to part with my belongings or limbs! This is the 1st knife incident I have had over almost 5 years abroad and over 35 countries so don't let this incident worry you too much if our thinking about heading off to Sout</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">h America!</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
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</div><div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">After meeting with Aaron we ventured to Lencois - hippy-ville which is located on the side of a national park 5 hours due west of Salvador. Very beautiful area but only few days there. It was a perfect spot for chilling after Carnival and a small detox. Some of the best hiking throughout Brazil can be done here however we opted for some rock climbing and just lazing about. I had a friend here who owns a pousada (Brazilian name for guest house) and also runs a school for underprivileged kids so I had the opportunity to work in the school for a few days which was quiet rewarding! My Portuguese was crap so the communication was very limited and I was placed with the youngest kids and was hours of entertainment for them as they would take turns in getting thrown into the air and swung around!</span></span></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 14px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Ok…so too much of nothingness was getting on Aaron's nerves and after the few days detoxing it only seemed fitting to head to another party destination… Perhaps the greatest in Brazil and from my experience so far…one of the best locations I have been to!! So….tune in to the next Blog to hear more!</span></span><br />
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</span></span></div>Cato el Conquistador (Seven Continents - One Year))http://www.blogger.com/profile/01383723066354638092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3830184431621447867.post-48011570057281296872010-03-03T05:46:00.000-08:002011-04-27T23:55:07.836-07:00The Peruvian Way...<div style="color: #006312; font: 14.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br />
</span></span></span></span><span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span></div><div style="color: #006312; font: 14.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><b>Lake Titicaca & Island of the Sun</b></div><div style="color: #006312; font: 14.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span></div><div style="color: #006312; font: 14.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">A few hours away is Lake Titicaca (bordering Bolivia & Peru) and Copacabana (Bolivia side) which is worth a few days and will break up the trip to Cusco. From Copacabana you can catch a very long boat ride across to the Island of the Sun for a few days of chilling out at 4000 meters altitude! It is not far away from mainland it just the large boats only seem to be equipped with 50 hours power motors so you might as well be swimming! You can hike across the Island and also camp for free. Not much else to do on the Island except for relaxing and drinking some mate with the odd Argentinian passing by. I spent my last few days of 2009 here and had some unreal weather with spectacular sunsets.</div><div style="color: #006312; font: 14.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><br />
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</div><div style="color: #006312; font: 14.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><b>Cusco</b></div><div style="color: #006312; font: 14.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #006312; font: 14.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">Cusco is a party town but also has allot to see and obviously the gateway to Machu Picchu. You can organize your MP trip once you arrive. I stayed at Loki one night and also the Southern Comfort Hostel which is out of town a little but a nice and friendly hostel run buy a Canadian. It's slightly cheaper then Loki (stayed for 1 night only) and the people here are travelers and not simply on a binge month or 2 away from home. I also spent a few nights at Casa de la Grina which had a nice feel to it at the top end of town. You can visit a number of archeological sights which are all around Cusco. I enjoyed a quad bike tour immensely as it had rained the whole night before hand so getting covered in mud was on the agenda! I only paid 110 local for a good 3-4hours. It's cheaper if you round up a few from the hostel. </div><div style="color: #006312; font: 14.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #006312; font: 14.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">I Blogged my shenanigans for Machu Picchu a month ago so see the earlier Blog if you want to read up on this. Also, check out Ciran's Blogs as he is a writer who I traveled with for a few weeks and his stories are more in-depth, correct literacy and you get to see my travels from another angle! </div><div style="color: #006312; font: 14.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;"><br />
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</div>Cato el Conquistador (Seven Continents - One Year))http://www.blogger.com/profile/01383723066354638092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3830184431621447867.post-88132045451586959052010-03-02T19:46:00.000-08:002011-04-27T23:56:25.658-07:00Backtracking to Bolivia<div style="color: #006312; font: 14.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span></div><div style="color: #006312; font: 14.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><b>La Paz, Uyuni and The Salt Flats! (tips for sis)</b></div><div style="color: #006312; font: 14.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span></div><div style="color: #006312; font: 14.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">Heading North? I would recommend making your way to Bolivia from BA via Mendoza (wine country) and up to the Salt Flats and (the Old South). I came down from the North (Peru) but if I was doing a trip again I would start at the more expensive countries first (i.e. Brazil, Chile & Argentina) as you appreciate everything more when your not looking back at how much cheaper the beer was in the last port-of-call. I didn't get to Mendoza either as I ran out of time, however everyone I have meet over the last few months have pointed the rolling hills of this wine region to be the pinnacle of their trip. </div><div style="color: #006312; font: 14.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #006312; font: 14.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">After hearing some good reviews of the Salt Flats whilst in Peru I decided to jump on an overnight bus from La Paz and head down south to sus it all out. I was lucky to get straight off the bus and find a tour group leaving the same morning and with a pretty decent group of fellow travelers. Unfortunately the tour organization was not so good…in-fact the worst run tour I have ever been on! A good tour company to go with is apparently ACE Tours (got this from some other travelers) but we went with Oasis Tours who are the spawn of Satan himself so steer clear! Tours are booked from Uyuni or you can pick up something on the Chilean side however it more expensive as your pausing Chilean Pesos rather than Bolivian. I am not going to dive into it too much as my traveling compadre, Ciran the Irish Berliner, has already written such a brilliant and captivating story of these scandalous Bolivians and our shenanigans to follow over the next few weeks on the road so I shall just point you to his "Award Winning Blog" (in Ireland) - http://irishberliner.blogspot.com/</div><div style="color: #006312; font: 14.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><br />
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</div><div style="color: #006312; font: 14.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">La Paz, also another party town so only a few days here unless you want to spend all your time at Route 66 - an unusual bar for ex-pats. I stayed in both the Hostel Republica and Hostel Austria (which is the cheaper one of the two and is worth a look). Both are near Loki Hostel where I spent most nights drinking my first few rounds. Make sure to do Death Road and go see JC (owner) at Radical Rides. He should sort you out and tell him I sent ya but considering the amount we drank that night it's likely he will not recall me but recommendations will get you a cheaper price! I cant recall how much we paid but it was all around the same but they had good safety gear and decent bikes. Ciran has also written some good notes on this so check it out when heading over or if you just want a laugh! </div><div style="color: #006312; font: 14.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><br />
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</div><div style="color: #006312; font: 14.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">http://irishberliner.blogspot.com/2010/01/bad-and-ugly.html</div><div style="color: #006312; font: 14.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">http://irishberliner.blogspot.com/2010/01/good.html</div><div style="color: #006312; font: 14.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">http://irishberliner.blogspot.com/2010/01/deadly-buzz-on-road-of-death.html</div><div style="color: #006312; font: 14.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">http://irishberliner.blogspot.com/2010/01/bye-bye-bolivia.html<br />
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</span></span></div>Cato el Conquistador (Seven Continents - One Year))http://www.blogger.com/profile/01383723066354638092noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3830184431621447867.post-20661717789758495372010-02-28T08:36:00.000-08:002011-04-27T23:57:05.608-07:00Rewind....Argentina, Argentina!<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: xx-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 9px;"><br />
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</div><div style="color: #006312; font: 14.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">BA is a beautiful city and well spaced out. "The Paris of South America" it was described as by Charles Darwin on one of his many<i> Voyage's of the Beagle, </i>so many years before me. A party town for me though as apart from the European architecture there wasn't much else to see. La Boca is a major draw card for some (especially for those soccer fans wanting to see the stadium) who are interested in the history of the area as this is where BA started. Some nice brightly colored buildings and English speaking waiters trying to lure all gringo's to dine at their establishment. </div><div style="color: #006312; font: 14.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #006312; font: 14.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">The Zoo is worth a look for a bargain of only $6.5USD (Jardin Zoological). You can easily kill a few hours here with some pretty half decent exhibits of many animals I have not seen before. I didn't make it to the Botanical Gardens (Jardin Botanico Carlos Thays) as it was shut due to a fierce storm the week before causing some havoc! Running around a cemetery (Cementerio de la Recoleta) looking for Evita's grave site was recommended in the Lonely Planet but once again the LP led me to disappointment as this cemetery was way to well kept and flamboyant for me to enjoy! A trip to Iguazu Waterfalls can be arranged from BA but the day long bus ride (one way) for a water fall that you weren't allowed to swim under was not cool! So…back to the partying! I only seemed to find expensive night clubs that and you queue twice for a drink. This shit ain't fly with me so most of the partying was done at the hostel bar or back in hour 6 bedroom dorm! Some good transvestite shows, tango lessons/shows and mud wrestling can also take your time up. I would recommend only 2-4 days here unless your a city lover but for me I had seen enough and defiantly partied way too hard! </div><div style="color: #006312; font: 14.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;"><br />
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</div><div style="color: #006312; font: 14.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">Getting to Patagonia is recommended and if you can book a flight as early as possible to El Calafate or (worst case) Rio Gallegos then it will save you allot later. I flew to Rio as its much cheaper (because it's a shit hole with very little to see). I spent most of my time at the airport as you can sleep here and get a decent rest as there are no flights from 10pm to 2am and then 3am till about 7am (best thing about Rio). So this is a much better option than to head into town where not much happens unless you work at the car rental place or bus depot and everyone is scrabbling to get somewhere else! Much better then a dorm room at the hostel, the Airport has all you need and you will most likely be the only person sleeping over. I'd suggest the checkin table for the most comfortable airport slumber! Only 2 electrical sockets at the airpot for public, but no need to rush as nobody else around and they are hard find. Just head to the sign to the far left of the check in desk (near where you should sleep) and they are on the side of it. Or you can go to the bar and ask him to run a cord but they shut early and will make you buy something.</div><div style="color: #006312; font: 14.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #006312; font: 14.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">My time in Patagonia was very brief and I wish I had given myself some more time here. Whilst in El Calafate, a mega tourist attraction hence the wonderful English menus and many gringo's, you can do a number of organized treks and 4WD trips. I only spent a day here though as I had very little time due to getting trapped in Ushuaia (bloody buses) and I had wanted to spend most of my time in El Chanten (4hrs north of El Calafate). So unfortunately I missed the remarkable Perito Moreno Glacier which is located 80km outside of town. I did all this because I had my heart set on a ice climbing tour run out of El Chanten which I had pre booked and was absolutely pumped for! It was only a day of trekking but involved glacier walking and my to be first experience ice climbing! Unfortunately here in Patagonia every day is determined by the extremities of the weather. As I ate my breakfast at 5.30am in the hostel (Rancho Grande Hostel - pretty decent) waiting for this rugged Argentinian climber to come through the door with his backpack and ice shoes dangling from it I thought to myself that perhaps my pack was slightly under-packed. When I left Australia I had less then a week to pack. Keep in mind that I am away for a year and traveling across every continent with many different weather conditions and environments that I was going to endure. I also had a million other things to do before heading off and may not have done as much research as was necessary. My bag consisted of mostly "summer wear" as I was in South America and North America throughout the summer and then over to Europe for another summer followed by Africa and Asia briefly apron my return to Australia in December. In total my belongings weighed 19kg and was the least amount of gear I have ever traveled with. </div><div style="color: #006312; font: 14.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #006312; font: 14.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">Moments later, an overweight man came over to my table where I was enjoying my strong morning coffee. He did not look at all like the rugged Argentinian man I was expecting and he was not caring any climbing gear. He informed me that due to the impeding storm clouds forming over the summit that todays climb would be cancelled. A full refund was available but not wanted…"how about tomorrow?" I asked only to find that it was already fully booked. This was not good news to my ears as tomorrow evening I was scheduled to depart the National Park on route to Carnival in Rio de Janeiro. I was so guttered and this was obvious to the young Argentinian woman who had served me my breakfast. She came over to my table and suggested a number of hikes I could do on my own. I had already researched some of these (for tomorrow's activities) and asked her about the difficulties of the 8 hour hike to the Laguna de los Tres which was the base camp for the Cerro Fitz Roy (Mt Fitz Roy) climb…</div><div style="color: #006312; font: 14.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #006312; font: 14.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">I set off early after breakfast as I had a lot of ground to cover. The day didn't look too bad and I wondered if perhaps they hadn't got the numbers required for the trip and went for the "bad weather option" to save themselves from loosing out. A slight chill in the air but I was well enough rugged up with a number of layers and a Gortex jacket I had picked up a few weeks earlier in Bolivia. Walking for about 2-3 hours on my own with only a few campers spotted on the way scattering around their campsite arranging breakfast, I came to a fast running river with no signs of a crossing. I still had a good hour before I should reach the lagoons however I couldn't find a way to cross. Up the river I went for a kilometer but still the river was running to fast and no foreseeable crossing. I started making my way back determined to find a tree across the river where I could pass. Off in the distance I could see some other hikers. They were on the other side of the river so I kept on the same route down the river until I found well weathered path that led to a timbre crossing. Another hour of scampering up the mountain accompanied by the tunes on my Ipod I finally reached the top where I was overcome by the beauty that I was being witness to… Mt Fitz Roy reached to the sky with its snow capped peaks and smaller mountains either side. At the foot stood a massive glacier standing still in time and the Bluest of lagoons I have ever seen was the result of the sun melting down onto this ice sculpture. A simple travelers lunch was served on a rock by the lagoon…salami, bread and cheese with a sneaky chocolate bar (to help with the energy levels for my decent). An hour or so was spent wandering around and taking many self portrait photos of myself and these glorious surrounds. </div><div style="color: #006312; font: 14.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #006312; font: 14.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">On my decent I could see rain clouds coming across very quickly and I pitied the many that were going past me in the other direction thinking perhaps the early start was a good idea after-all. During my 4 hour trek back to El Chanten (where I enchanted some bad weather) I thought about a quote that I had read a few weeks before that was taken from Charles Darwin's journals - "The plains of Patagonia are boundless, for they are scarcely passable, and hence unknown. They bear the stamp of having lasted, as they are now, for ages, and there appears no limit to their duration throughout time." I had reached the ultimate destination for the modern traveler: the stereotypical unspoiled, rugged terrains of the far south and was seeing the Fitz Roy Mountains just as Darwin had almost 200 years ago….in all of it's awe-inspiring unadulterated splendor!</div><div style="color: #006312; font: 14.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #006312; font: 14.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">I left Patagonia the following day content with what I had experienced in such as small amount of time. I new then I would be back to Mt Ftiz Roy one day and perhaps then I will give myself enough time to do some ice-climbing! </div><div style="color: #006312; font: 14.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><br />
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</div><div style="color: #006312; font: 14.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><b>Tierra del Fuego</b></div><div style="color: #006312; font: 14.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #006312; font: 14.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">Hundreds of years ago the natives in this far southern barren land (The Yaman) communicated with each other by lighting signal fires along the coast - A passing vessel captained by Mangellan saw these in the 1500's decided to name this place "Tierra del Fuego" (Spanish) which means "Land of Fire" in English. My visit here was for one reason and one reason only… Antarctica! Sorry lovers of the Tierra del Fuego but as the ships depart from Ushuaia this was the only reason I made it this far south. </div><div style="color: #006312; font: 14.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #006312; font: 14.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">Rather than flying direct to Patagonia you could also fly FAR South…to the END OF THE WORLD however be prepared as Ushuaia is a major tourist destination and almost all the glitter is no longer, as the beauty of this area has been trampled by the many tourist flocking to get that stamp in their passports (as I did) to say you have been to the most southern town in the world. If you fly all the way down to Ushuaia you could then make your way back up over land to Patagonia. If not enough money to head to Antarctica then you can do a boat ride around Ushuaia seeing some penguins. A number of hiking treks and camping is available in the National Park also but is obviously seasonal. I stayed at FreeStyle Hostel which is the best in town for that price range ($60peso). WiFi and a few computers in the common room with fast enough internet and heated floors! Make sure to book you bus/flight out off town as soon as possible (sometime even before you arrive) as it is quite common to get stuck in town longer than anticipated (like me!).</div><div style="color: #006312; font: 14.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 17.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #006312; font: 14.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;">Over the last few months I have had allot of people ask about my travels (Ie. where to go and stay) so I hope this Blog helps those fellow Globetrotters heading to South America. You can also see all the hostel's I have stayed in if you log onto Hostel World and check out my page....very handy option. </div><div style="color: #006312; font: 14.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15.6px;">Follow me on Facebook: <a href="http://www.facebook.com/catosworld">http://www.facebook.com/catosworld</a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdKOTcFvnk9ZCO0RzY3ZeJiqGyTM8ukCQVvNTmoK8NmuN-A-2vey-hwp1tg44GnJzksuH4RHpM9zqi0lmVfhyphenhyphenUJTCdvdBZut_TLeEXm2twJj9thKj3y67g3F0rCPGVFK8JKo8XTxfADWs/s1600-h/P1020187.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdKOTcFvnk9ZCO0RzY3ZeJiqGyTM8ukCQVvNTmoK8NmuN-A-2vey-hwp1tg44GnJzksuH4RHpM9zqi0lmVfhyphenhyphenUJTCdvdBZut_TLeEXm2twJj9thKj3y67g3F0rCPGVFK8JKo8XTxfADWs/s320/P1020187.JPG" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO9BaQdQOWajVG0DRL4yTD5dScQlM-rG8ZdYAegXwLoFZmVPJ2Ick8jTs5R6qR7g_9nPd1iCx6DhyuW4pKDl0hDv4D4o533b-lhpYXi5JvgF3HPr-eeZHAWY2rgj219qUVlQB7BlIDafg/s1600-h/P1020207.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO9BaQdQOWajVG0DRL4yTD5dScQlM-rG8ZdYAegXwLoFZmVPJ2Ick8jTs5R6qR7g_9nPd1iCx6DhyuW4pKDl0hDv4D4o533b-lhpYXi5JvgF3HPr-eeZHAWY2rgj219qUVlQB7BlIDafg/s320/P1020207.JPG" /><span id="goog_1267367813100"></span><span id="goog_1267367813101"></span></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-t-kcLoewWI2CsU5yAi-xmm_uOmIXdQl08TEILHM7d7EveBzz0peR796od6W3kUE9l289nJVq7hc2lnrB3xcfbxbWwfZqrssT_rDUlklkhvejhKgAdy1MnzNuvgV0-Pzzsy53qyhqi9Y/s1600-h/P1020212.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-t-kcLoewWI2CsU5yAi-xmm_uOmIXdQl08TEILHM7d7EveBzz0peR796od6W3kUE9l289nJVq7hc2lnrB3xcfbxbWwfZqrssT_rDUlklkhvejhKgAdy1MnzNuvgV0-Pzzsy53qyhqi9Y/s320/P1020212.JPG" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkGnh2uNgd3kZKDKY6vngtJA-fEaj3S92YcNYBm-gcFX6H1ncj3wdkfIreuqpWCAdpdn3nZGckt8r73yH1aDhkYtF-qx9LpJQWVDZgGCzINJJLVPVZ5GMj_YgDIGZw-jnQtDBHZpWRDmQ/s1600-h/P1020200.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkGnh2uNgd3kZKDKY6vngtJA-fEaj3S92YcNYBm-gcFX6H1ncj3wdkfIreuqpWCAdpdn3nZGckt8r73yH1aDhkYtF-qx9LpJQWVDZgGCzINJJLVPVZ5GMj_YgDIGZw-jnQtDBHZpWRDmQ/s320/P1020200.JPG" /></a></div><div style="color: #006312; font: 14.0px Verdana; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><br />
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</span></span></div>Cato el Conquistador (Seven Continents - One Year))http://www.blogger.com/profile/01383723066354638092noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3830184431621447867.post-43707014506917602222010-02-21T13:59:00.000-08:002011-04-27T23:58:27.729-07:00Craziness at Carnival - Rio de Janeiro - Feb 2010<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">New liver needed please??!</span><br />
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</div><div style="color: #515151; font: 18.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Almost a non event for myself as I had looked into the cost involved with acquiring accommodation and the 6 day minimum that was a necessary requirement. Not a fan of being tied down in the 1 location forced me to abandon the hunt for a hostel and to simply wing it upon arrival. Worst case scenario would have meant leaving my belongings in a locker and staying out all night with my slumber location being the beach the following day. Not too bad an idea but surely only a 1-2 day possibility. Having only a few friends in Brazil I also put out the feelers for any potential couches I could surf on! A long time ex patriot friend in the North came to my rescue with the possibility that she may have a friend who could put me up for a few days. After getting in touch with Olivia's friend Susie this plan started to fall into place with amazing style and freaky luck turned into a major highlight of my trip! </span></div><div style="color: #515151; font: 18.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 22.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div><div style="color: #515151; font: 18.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Susie, an ex pat also had been traveling the Northern states of Brazil for the last month with a friend of hers from London. These two freakishly flew into the International terminal 20 minutes after I touched down so the airport pick up was extremely helpful as my bags were heavy with the 12 bottles of booze that customs allow you to bring into Brazil! </span></div><div style="color: #515151; font: 18.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSleNOJFlPxlZf6uWWjuimpX8QFssFTeNyU9mdSfF57gjcC-FAZry0wttn9pWyBKrOBDOYGUQToLMnk27UVtteJzxufmBdgEUi_LC0BrjzG2LGxhgrlnWQ87aoR2vCIO53GaO-gQnnSS0/s1600-h/P1020367.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSleNOJFlPxlZf6uWWjuimpX8QFssFTeNyU9mdSfF57gjcC-FAZry0wttn9pWyBKrOBDOYGUQToLMnk27UVtteJzxufmBdgEUi_LC0BrjzG2LGxhgrlnWQ87aoR2vCIO53GaO-gQnnSS0/s320/P1020367.jpg" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidRVoVXVPzNm8w3AgDy0jySBb3NmK6Rp0bzGJ7t425SZ7YJTLk9d3rUhuxgAPBjXv0MkxSR_pCZM1efau5KJl7fX2_I6sMyQnuaG3XHT06vielT3ETYDE-pZ3Xz5BL_PWmCjhY-L98xD8/s1600-h/P1020336.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidRVoVXVPzNm8w3AgDy0jySBb3NmK6Rp0bzGJ7t425SZ7YJTLk9d3rUhuxgAPBjXv0MkxSR_pCZM1efau5KJl7fX2_I6sMyQnuaG3XHT06vielT3ETYDE-pZ3Xz5BL_PWmCjhY-L98xD8/s320/P1020336.JPG" /></a></div><div style="color: #515151; font: 18.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #515151; font: 18.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 22.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div><div style="color: #515151; font: 18.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Arriving back at Susie's gorgeous 3 bedroom apartment located on the main street of Botofogo with views of Jesus, a pool and dinner being prepared by the families personal cook was definitely not what I expected. Spoiling myself with these luxuries was something that most backpackers will not come across very frequently. Being only a few years younger these 2 were in town for their first Carnival experience also had planned to do it in true style with tickets to perform in one of the school's at the sambadrome. Snaffling an extra ticket for myself was priceless (as can be seen from these images). With the addition of another 2 Pommy lads we had our 5 imitation parking officers doing our best to sing in Portuguese whilst sambaing in front of thousands! Turns out that we must have done something right or perhaps it was my lucky Australian boxers, which made 1 or 2 appearances whilst sambaing that got our school into the top 5 for the event! </span></div><div style="color: #515151; font: 18.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN0S6oRRN9iFKkKpGKhLgCOhD7nIbybovkP-899TCCzCIgMR0i7kzYzlIz0ufjt1TEC1-p14x-7tbAY7YhUpI81yEP3xydiX-8NUZdvz3z7ky8ikErqJy6NMk9O1oFw1p56b9-cZG0zwY/s1600-h/P1020342.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN0S6oRRN9iFKkKpGKhLgCOhD7nIbybovkP-899TCCzCIgMR0i7kzYzlIz0ufjt1TEC1-p14x-7tbAY7YhUpI81yEP3xydiX-8NUZdvz3z7ky8ikErqJy6NMk9O1oFw1p56b9-cZG0zwY/s320/P1020342.JPG" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi95ipIUMdV20HQ9_fHXuqkTw3RvbGe7NVnNeTQyrCPvGoehJQJaZrfFJMlExNnN9RQuEa8Rpw3jWI0pDzY5BQZltOwN4C-FDwPi3bjNsp2g77glnwV5ogDYcPZo0ezv4nwSWTdbrbgmxA/s1600-h/P1020383.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi95ipIUMdV20HQ9_fHXuqkTw3RvbGe7NVnNeTQyrCPvGoehJQJaZrfFJMlExNnN9RQuEa8Rpw3jWI0pDzY5BQZltOwN4C-FDwPi3bjNsp2g77glnwV5ogDYcPZo0ezv4nwSWTdbrbgmxA/s320/P1020383.jpg" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWGFaKtLClybS3EMEgng1TrBbIr3lpy1uJhyphenhyphenZdqpArBb4hl04DKde5FqnoStfnP_gOPxW-1qrcbp09VDM3VOVdiZY5bRK5vfFZtqE_rwkT7-Q8YTLMUhGidklS1V56-ZIw4RxxEafghK8/s1600-h/P1020385.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWGFaKtLClybS3EMEgng1TrBbIr3lpy1uJhyphenhyphenZdqpArBb4hl04DKde5FqnoStfnP_gOPxW-1qrcbp09VDM3VOVdiZY5bRK5vfFZtqE_rwkT7-Q8YTLMUhGidklS1V56-ZIw4RxxEafghK8/s320/P1020385.jpg" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsCNhY0j3wkXoi0S5tOt3T_za4jsQrFKQ4o4h9RNJW3LpTrBJ6FMSHuy55ynbQr1I0thno8RDMspbZXQctietP7qeQ69xqp7bH-OLRE8Ms4eRTf0erpZ3minPt5m15inGq2JntuUEIb6U/s1600-h/P1020386.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsCNhY0j3wkXoi0S5tOt3T_za4jsQrFKQ4o4h9RNJW3LpTrBJ6FMSHuy55ynbQr1I0thno8RDMspbZXQctietP7qeQ69xqp7bH-OLRE8Ms4eRTf0erpZ3minPt5m15inGq2JntuUEIb6U/s320/P1020386.jpg" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEuuOlQco5WOYqRolZMTHJ2D1XC1i7LR16KgE2ijAYU8lp19bWaQQh7LSHecPihy9BkciOR1yREa7tzXNq-TiN1Pr12loKoWSh7pIQkFhdrXwt-fwwL1QWWkQKguY-OV76s3098pfCDNY/s1600-h/P1020427.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEuuOlQco5WOYqRolZMTHJ2D1XC1i7LR16KgE2ijAYU8lp19bWaQQh7LSHecPihy9BkciOR1yREa7tzXNq-TiN1Pr12loKoWSh7pIQkFhdrXwt-fwwL1QWWkQKguY-OV76s3098pfCDNY/s320/P1020427.JPG" /></a></div><div style="color: #515151; font: 18.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #515151; font: 18.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 22.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div><div style="color: #515151; font: 18.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">As partying was like second nature to these guys we hit it off almost immediately. My time in Rio was extended to a week and we partied every night. From the local Boca street parties with authentic music to performing in the sambadrome and then later (Main event - Monday) getting to watch it from the grand stands with the locals. Our days started late and were spent either by the pool or at the beach. On the rare occasion we would start the partying early arvo however our stamina (mine mostly) was affected by this and we (I) needed to save some endurance as most of the partying would not start until 1am and finish up at sun up! I personally did 2 sunrises throughout the week so not too bad considering I'm not much of a drinker! </span></div><div style="color: #515151; font: 18.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 22.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div><div style="color: #515151; font: 18.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">The weather was extremely hot throughout the week with my 1st day in Rio being the 2nd hottest place on the planet for that day (or so the Brazilian news reported). The beach had mostly shore breakers and was a little green but a refreshing break from scorching our bodies and trying to darken up my Irish tan! Once the sun sets over the mountains where Jesus stands tall, the entire beach claps which is a pretty amazing experience! I might try and bring this back to Bondi and see how it catchers on…</span></div><div style="color: #515151; font: 18.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-vxaGi93A7o4hO2ROZAt3-_JTpTFB3gaQAZJwtiJNK5UvhEqbZeYD04sdapC8bQEUEE8bUCCtFR0AiqLLmVo-edikyUhzrDe6Qf1EJiOStAbvdUAcxV959M37ot7bDEUlZf2ITjt1AOc/s1600-h/P1020439.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-vxaGi93A7o4hO2ROZAt3-_JTpTFB3gaQAZJwtiJNK5UvhEqbZeYD04sdapC8bQEUEE8bUCCtFR0AiqLLmVo-edikyUhzrDe6Qf1EJiOStAbvdUAcxV959M37ot7bDEUlZf2ITjt1AOc/s320/P1020439.JPG" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFauARHArjpGHAD0OhcMqd11Cm_LQEWI4j4BVgIY2MwiMgWcx6WCofzNwj-p1E2JysNW2gNXseLs4M2G-diCHoYhjWRQwMx3TEOSFU7eP8khxW9PrqtGq5g24HdsRHluoIzzUhQfaPWLk/s1600-h/P1020508.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFauARHArjpGHAD0OhcMqd11Cm_LQEWI4j4BVgIY2MwiMgWcx6WCofzNwj-p1E2JysNW2gNXseLs4M2G-diCHoYhjWRQwMx3TEOSFU7eP8khxW9PrqtGq5g24HdsRHluoIzzUhQfaPWLk/s320/P1020508.jpg" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5jgrQjXp-_6rOB98tf7mBSmDMSveZND9Vo8LlktSDw4xwtvL42hKghX87u8w1DFK6KY1MPkhhCSZ-E0Ie4ZE3J1wOu3qQ1TXwTHFGR2JZ7fBnaTR9O7DlLILAENdkglna0tCxu2rMtcw/s1600-h/P1020435.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5jgrQjXp-_6rOB98tf7mBSmDMSveZND9Vo8LlktSDw4xwtvL42hKghX87u8w1DFK6KY1MPkhhCSZ-E0Ie4ZE3J1wOu3qQ1TXwTHFGR2JZ7fBnaTR9O7DlLILAENdkglna0tCxu2rMtcw/s320/P1020435.jpg" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKojFkJL9711L96LGY9hPAPUiWeGWZ3jbBZGQjARpa3XMezyLVdb0U3fpy6WsOp4GDk3QJWw91YCi-19118kwf7WogF3bQI-fk2AA8gbu7SSVVHXTJ1Kkf1F3C22HxTn8KvZNtefeIlC0/s1600-h/P1020456.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKojFkJL9711L96LGY9hPAPUiWeGWZ3jbBZGQjARpa3XMezyLVdb0U3fpy6WsOp4GDk3QJWw91YCi-19118kwf7WogF3bQI-fk2AA8gbu7SSVVHXTJ1Kkf1F3C22HxTn8KvZNtefeIlC0/s320/P1020456.jpg" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgYPJ5LI9wyx1t55AVN0ifvb8x4UbVmFKCa8oXCPPnUu5igKoDYbOVLpD2X0Hp7ItnhoIzBCuRedIaX6TszVhuLfKPUWlx7ewc-sI0qwwpiI8VTR60ln8zcYsJ5V9qhCSk1q-doWBXCDA/s1600-h/P1020485.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgYPJ5LI9wyx1t55AVN0ifvb8x4UbVmFKCa8oXCPPnUu5igKoDYbOVLpD2X0Hp7ItnhoIzBCuRedIaX6TszVhuLfKPUWlx7ewc-sI0qwwpiI8VTR60ln8zcYsJ5V9qhCSk1q-doWBXCDA/s320/P1020485.JPG" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzQo0Y8HtIhs-pPALELU1L4-FTxYv9IkFfCLGbyoIq1ls2MZvaQGxcn3uAmIopf9CjubKB8u3VqKdciBotwONcKNEuyzYaIfq9PLWlpCC4rKy0jjkdDuxiPBWh10KKOLr4EpDYlqbSoCA/s1600-h/P1020483.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzQo0Y8HtIhs-pPALELU1L4-FTxYv9IkFfCLGbyoIq1ls2MZvaQGxcn3uAmIopf9CjubKB8u3VqKdciBotwONcKNEuyzYaIfq9PLWlpCC4rKy0jjkdDuxiPBWh10KKOLr4EpDYlqbSoCA/s320/P1020483.JPG" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtrRHNxOaxf8jxEfEjw0xQAg3Tbp0qwSMQJgR7QEI_YxC6JX5bSGC-ccomSwrw0lViqwlvXK-Y5gUkYbiUUcCiWM9-mgFFAl8UaNplNn8i7nmMUqA7NKcLEgYSjJSxygy6XSJDJFlzyjQ/s1600-h/P1020478.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtrRHNxOaxf8jxEfEjw0xQAg3Tbp0qwSMQJgR7QEI_YxC6JX5bSGC-ccomSwrw0lViqwlvXK-Y5gUkYbiUUcCiWM9-mgFFAl8UaNplNn8i7nmMUqA7NKcLEgYSjJSxygy6XSJDJFlzyjQ/s320/P1020478.JPG" /></a></div><div style="color: #515151; font: 18.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #515151; font: 18.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 22.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div><div style="color: #515151; font: 18.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">My last night of partying was spent at the closing of the largest indoor dance music conference in the Southern hemisphere. Headlining was <a href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.arminvanbuuren.com/&ei=GTeBS8qeII-HuAfM3MyMBw&sa=X&oi=spellmeleon_result&resnum=1&ct=result&ved=0CAYQhgIwAA&usg=AFQjCNHD7T7BSX9xbItKqLwdYoINVexQDg"><span style="color: #2221cc; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Arial; text-decoration: underline;">Armin </span><span style="color: #2221cc; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Arial;"><b>van Buuren</b></span></a> and the atmosphere was like no other gig I have been to. Everyone was dressed up…the gents in trousers and dress shirts, girls in stilettos and frocks and the 5 of us were wearing tees, shorts and flip flops! I have never seen so many attractive people at a rave and only a handful of Aussies about so not too many Westies to spoil it! There was no queueing for the bar as very few drank and no fighting which is rare in Oz. We partied right up the front until sunrise and then dragged our weary bodies home to bed.</span></div><div style="color: #515151; font: 18.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsu7n67VeA5cud7o1wq-7wnDy9D5TaNGK73vASfFnW1WFqmwzBM7uvz-lsLIKw2pNdBbblSUUJitZJb3hbaguS937UPaIytMJTKL8-ufQI_4Wk1KzcnWEJNjlNdb-UVV9C9UUAWLuu9b8/s1600-h/P1020531.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsu7n67VeA5cud7o1wq-7wnDy9D5TaNGK73vASfFnW1WFqmwzBM7uvz-lsLIKw2pNdBbblSUUJitZJb3hbaguS937UPaIytMJTKL8-ufQI_4Wk1KzcnWEJNjlNdb-UVV9C9UUAWLuu9b8/s320/P1020531.JPG" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiNK2kCQdMe1sqvWv-YwbC2OkrfoyIuwDM-jwC6JphAknLXVPVJriegExq74tDcJxOj8aktS_rjE8BFjMk38tbeJ7qJRZ-rZFpncKvBGDVcF7q2Ke9ykHlwPuom5g6HpfXpHaG9HKlwGc/s1600-h/P1020533.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiNK2kCQdMe1sqvWv-YwbC2OkrfoyIuwDM-jwC6JphAknLXVPVJriegExq74tDcJxOj8aktS_rjE8BFjMk38tbeJ7qJRZ-rZFpncKvBGDVcF7q2Ke9ykHlwPuom5g6HpfXpHaG9HKlwGc/s320/P1020533.JPG" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4LUxRJK2ZkwDyByB0UyfPJA2JtdjM_andohZugtQ4cEZx2lpFEGco3J6wQq9tOzPf3puNMEyBhkHDlW_9HQUqnEXo27X2A6i6erqCI-2iKlpYrQCJM-KO1cCIm94Iy9JVsZmD6ZeIUpQ/s1600-h/P1020450.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4LUxRJK2ZkwDyByB0UyfPJA2JtdjM_andohZugtQ4cEZx2lpFEGco3J6wQq9tOzPf3puNMEyBhkHDlW_9HQUqnEXo27X2A6i6erqCI-2iKlpYrQCJM-KO1cCIm94Iy9JVsZmD6ZeIUpQ/s320/P1020450.jpg" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0YqbNJ6YmOqQizb2GQnoL-MvMbifTLrn7D0z2QQ_rrDpDmSAo2Y2xCDXCQkLbCFYnvd874syizBxuryBT3stq72kwbnrI9tDlyafWHEVfkQsuTGqQUFEGoqljF38VjP0pIh4nopmcu-Y/s1600-h/P1020486.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0YqbNJ6YmOqQizb2GQnoL-MvMbifTLrn7D0z2QQ_rrDpDmSAo2Y2xCDXCQkLbCFYnvd874syizBxuryBT3stq72kwbnrI9tDlyafWHEVfkQsuTGqQUFEGoqljF38VjP0pIh4nopmcu-Y/s320/P1020486.jpg" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEbfOu7pz1hMZuFpQ-99rvu3Mf2nUHzoWtH3fHm4Ae6GeznhqVA0SgR1n-mvJPw3VaSsGMqlTQD4RtrW9xML4Ys2VWlcblpa4yn3fc6rSvaGcxg917sJtksc1cRhTmJ-GMeRTj02NA1i8/s1600-h/P1020576.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEbfOu7pz1hMZuFpQ-99rvu3Mf2nUHzoWtH3fHm4Ae6GeznhqVA0SgR1n-mvJPw3VaSsGMqlTQD4RtrW9xML4Ys2VWlcblpa4yn3fc6rSvaGcxg917sJtksc1cRhTmJ-GMeRTj02NA1i8/s320/P1020576.JPG" /></a></div><div style="color: #515151; font: 18.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #515151; font: 18.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 22.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div><div style="color: #515151; font: 18.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">I'd like to put a special thanks out to Susie for her hospitality, both Fatima's for their cooking/cleaning, Olivia for her recommendation and the Pommy lads for not giving me too much shit about being whiter then them! </span></div><div style="color: #515151; font: 18.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 22.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div><div style="color: #515151; font: 18.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Now I make my way overland (two days transit) up north to Salvador where I will then head west to Lencois to meet up with Olivia and spend a week or so chilling in the mountains and national park. </span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15.6px;">Follow me on Facebook: <a href="http://www.facebook.com/catosworld">http://www.facebook.com/catosworld</a></span></span></div>Cato el Conquistador (Seven Continents - One Year))http://www.blogger.com/profile/01383723066354638092noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3830184431621447867.post-23750317742657197002010-02-18T16:41:00.000-08:002011-04-27T23:59:04.767-07:00Antarctica - Continent Number 7<div><br />
</div><div><div style="color: #b55f4e; font: 16px 'Helvetica Neue Light'; margin: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Everyone who ventures to southern South America can not miss getting on a boat in Ushuaia and heading to Antarctica. My pictures and words can not prepare you for this unadulterated nature reserve beyond your wildest expectations! This will not be my last time to Antarctica! </span></div><div style="color: #b55f4e; font: 16px 'Helvetica Neue Light'; margin: 0px;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiISwNmSL6HvTllI9hHJ5J0c1a6fr-M6vpcEHRUEhtDSSKPfrEWyYFAjRSgEhxEkEUp-upUEXaROtoVuiXktAoUgate560Yk_WCGSKaNNHkT0xlajMuKc7DlbjGNTDFhYgCRu2XSLnoSnc/s1600-h/P1000890_2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiISwNmSL6HvTllI9hHJ5J0c1a6fr-M6vpcEHRUEhtDSSKPfrEWyYFAjRSgEhxEkEUp-upUEXaROtoVuiXktAoUgate560Yk_WCGSKaNNHkT0xlajMuKc7DlbjGNTDFhYgCRu2XSLnoSnc/s320/P1000890_2.JPG" /></a></div><div style="color: #b55f4e; font: 16px 'Helvetica Neue Light'; margin: 0px;"><br />
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Antarctica is AMAZING!<br />
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</div><div><div style="color: #515151; font: 12px 'Helvetica Neue'; margin: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">To write words or show you some pictures to try and describe this most southern desert does not seem appropriate as you truly will not comprehend the magnificent beauty that is found here in Antarctica. Never have I seen anything like this before...the largest and most sacred of nature reserve in the world.</span></div><div style="color: #515151; font: 12px 'Helvetica Neue'; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div><div style="color: #515151; font: 12px 'Helvetica Neue'; margin: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">A photographers playground where every shot looks like something off the cover of National Geographic magazine. Unfortunately this amigo left his SLR at home due to the bulkiness of the bloody thing so now I venture to the worlds most distant sanctuary of wildlife with a miserly point and shoot Lumix digital with an internal lens....grrrr!!! </span></div><div style="color: #515151; font: 12px 'Helvetica Neue'; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div><div style="color: #515151; font: 12px 'Helvetica Neue'; margin: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; text-decoration: underline;">Day 1 of Landings - Half Moon Island</span></div><div style="color: #515151; font: 12px 'Helvetica Neue'; margin: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">After 2 and a half days across the Drake Passage and many sick crew mates we arrive at Half Moon Island, our first landing. We charge through the rough seas in our Zodiac rubber inflatable dodging the odd pack of penguins skimming through the surf. On shore we have been blessed with many Chin Strap Penguins, Gentoo Penguins, Adelie Penguins, many Albatross and a hand full of Antarctic Fur Seals. The remains of a whalers ship stands tall on the shore offering some coverage to the breading Chin Straps. A few hours were spent hiking over the Island viewing many colonies and simply sitting back and watching these funny little creatures go about their daily routine as if we were not within an arms reach of them! </span></div><div style="color: #515151; font: 12px 'Helvetica Neue'; margin: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="color: #515151; font: 12px 'Helvetica Neue'; margin: 0px;"></div><div style="color: #515151; font: 12px 'Helvetica Neue'; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div><div style="color: #515151; font: 12px 'Helvetica Neue'; margin: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">With this being Number 7 for approximately half of the ship you can imagine that the bar was pretty rowdy that night! </span></div><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir2PSLuqOjH-S9AQ71NuNDUpJnuRuCMmd9YuTE34pPq2WPuarIU-R9uCX1nK3VeqqF0KBnTN8xPS-OoyuGMk35jjmEbyB5ap39syAoICKhP0wH4VJzB4G-GRcJqNuBxF1FnbU65qC24jw/s1600-h/P1000797.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir2PSLuqOjH-S9AQ71NuNDUpJnuRuCMmd9YuTE34pPq2WPuarIU-R9uCX1nK3VeqqF0KBnTN8xPS-OoyuGMk35jjmEbyB5ap39syAoICKhP0wH4VJzB4G-GRcJqNuBxF1FnbU65qC24jw/s320/P1000797.JPG" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ_7npT-ZrbDmHP3TxFzeKxA4eHwWXqpB8tIjRUTBbE0MsYADWtIQGWW1nj2tm1iksRsv-2Gd8UJYXGad9FMK8Rij-s1K60-bAInGelWOIr3WWU770nwjRTwYnCgzqnX1z5xGZjwvM-Sc/s1600-h/P1000779.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ_7npT-ZrbDmHP3TxFzeKxA4eHwWXqpB8tIjRUTBbE0MsYADWtIQGWW1nj2tm1iksRsv-2Gd8UJYXGad9FMK8Rij-s1K60-bAInGelWOIr3WWU770nwjRTwYnCgzqnX1z5xGZjwvM-Sc/s320/P1000779.JPG" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCT9TUNl6qxbP3gyk7lG64IQb6u3gvW3aKDYj8K0xot2xuxyrJhMGlnk_Ze9o_mqHjnX92HkeN86Z_uJMqMkec3Wv6-Sayy0qOnHGanO19Gzqmqg2SlXOHCdMHLZD5-1MAs_cTdi4OfZ8/s1600-h/P1000787.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCT9TUNl6qxbP3gyk7lG64IQb6u3gvW3aKDYj8K0xot2xuxyrJhMGlnk_Ze9o_mqHjnX92HkeN86Z_uJMqMkec3Wv6-Sayy0qOnHGanO19Gzqmqg2SlXOHCdMHLZD5-1MAs_cTdi4OfZ8/s320/P1000787.jpg" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivO3gL4eFvJgiRYri9LBtZdXsuVAqWiKR2F8cbCqpxtCh0cvd9hnTHpSnYK2VYzT3GNGt7TvK9I3ePKfTGHglmbxdnHpYiqmwusWjFw8HRW8F9gFZdR7ta19GQ4hUmglKQaYf1G2XMdf4/s1600-h/P1000808.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivO3gL4eFvJgiRYri9LBtZdXsuVAqWiKR2F8cbCqpxtCh0cvd9hnTHpSnYK2VYzT3GNGt7TvK9I3ePKfTGHglmbxdnHpYiqmwusWjFw8HRW8F9gFZdR7ta19GQ4hUmglKQaYf1G2XMdf4/s320/P1000808.JPG" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf5vhXWyyPnlsc4c33zTdrqPHH-7Z3rvbFcXddz8RNnAzV8rFkLgwR2ifcrxxUUIv-QIpr_8Ku9JNqVAEW-kWaL1ufkEwbiQ3_axpiAFUzj8ro1zbjKBEVs-cIrdgD5jqFEGQYY6xbNQQ/s1600-h/P1000825.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf5vhXWyyPnlsc4c33zTdrqPHH-7Z3rvbFcXddz8RNnAzV8rFkLgwR2ifcrxxUUIv-QIpr_8Ku9JNqVAEW-kWaL1ufkEwbiQ3_axpiAFUzj8ro1zbjKBEVs-cIrdgD5jqFEGQYY6xbNQQ/s320/P1000825.JPG" /></a></div><div style="color: #515151; font: 12px 'Helvetica Neue'; margin: 0px;"><br />
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</div><div style="color: #515151; font: 12px 'Helvetica Neue'; margin: 0px;"></div><div style="color: #515151; font: 12px 'Helvetica Neue'; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; text-decoration: underline;"></span></div><div style="color: #515151; font: 12px 'Helvetica Neue'; margin: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; text-decoration: underline;">Day 2 of Landings - Brown Bluff and Devil Island</span></div><div style="color: #515151; font: 12px 'Helvetica Neue'; margin: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Two landings the following day with Brown Bluff being our first official landing on the continental Antarctica. Many more Penguins with their chicks however with new life comes death and we experience many of these new chicks being the victim of their largest threat - Skuas. These scavenging marine birds are distant relatives to gulls but with a slight more aggressive nature. Approximately 1.2 chicks per happy couple so to see 2 was quite a rare experience and to get so close to this highly perched nest was unreal. After an epic climb to the summit with most spectacular views and a good slide back down on your bum we returned back to our vessel. Whilst cruising about we en-counted a pod of Killer Whales resting only 20 meters away from the ship. With approximately 40 of these Orca’s you can imagine the excitement that this created onboard so we circled these magnificent specimens of the sea once more to get the picture perfect odd 40 something photos! A quick sauna drained all the life left in us that afternoon and the bar was less popular then the night before...</span></div><div style="color: #515151; font: 12px 'Helvetica Neue'; margin: 0px;"><br />
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</div><div style="color: #515151; font: 12px 'Helvetica Neue'; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div><div style="color: #515151; font: 12px 'Helvetica Neue'; margin: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; text-decoration: underline;">Day 3 of Landings - Paulet Island and Antarctic Sound</span></div><div style="color: #515151; font: 12px 'Helvetica Neue'; margin: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Icebergs ahead!!! Unfortunately, due to pack ice being in our course we had to divert to Plan B and Snow Hill would not be reached on this endeavor. On route we still had thousands of icebergs scattered in front of us like pieces of glass across a kitchen floor. We would simply pick a course and charge these bergs at a good speed hitting them directly in the centre and splitting them open so that we could pass through. The Captain had replotted a new route and our destination was Paulet Island. On our way though we en-counted our first sighting of Emperor Penguins! Two 4 month old chicks were standing around on top of an iceberg slab sunning it up. This was a special day as this species were not usually found this far north and had hitched a ride on the iceberg with a few other Adelie’s playing around. Our crew leaders first sighting of such young Emperors so we truly were blessed! Now we had seen 4 of the 5 Antarctic Penguin species and only had the Macaroni Penguins to track down.</span><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="color: #515151; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Helvetica Neue'; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">After a short climb past all the nesting Adelie Penguins up and over the summit we came down into an iceberg bay that was a winter wonderland for the Adelie’s to play in without the any fear or the close by Antarctic Fur Seals. We watched as they jumped off the icebergs and into the water skimming it as if they were dolphins and at some points getting a good 2 feet of clearance out of the water as if they had the ability to fly themselves. They would often stretch their wings and you thought to yourself that you needed to remind them they couldn't take off. Must have been instinctual for these guys to try. More seals being territorial as I snuck up nice and close for that perfect snap shot.</span></div><br />
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<div style="color: #515151; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">In the afternoon we spent a few hours cruising around the Active Sound in our Zodiac’s. As you can imagine it was bloody freezing and this amigo had on thermal pants, jeans, Gortex trousers, 3 shirts, 1 jacket, 1 Gortex jacket, 1 rain coat, beanie, gloves, scarf and 3 pairs of socks under my Wellingtons! Still I froze but it was so worth it! Our Zodiac driver was Julio the crazy Argentinian who pulled the nose of our Zodiac up to an Iceberg and let us get out on it and run around like loonies! You can not imagine the feeling of being able to dance around on a Iceberg in the Antarctic!! This was merely the beginning for Julio’s madness as we had spotted a massive 3000kg sea serpent that looked as prehistoric as they come - The Leopard Seal. This slug like creature was sunning itself on an Iceberg and for that picture perfect opportunity Julio decided to pull up next to the berg and let a few off. Being at the front of the boat Martin (Crazy South African) and myself get ready to dispatch. To my surprise I get almost knocked out of the boat as Kate (scandalous Pommy) barges past to make the landing her own! My time to dance like a penguin on the berg with this monster of the deep would not come as another Zodiac had pulled up quite close and the Leopard Seal had slithered back into the sub minus waters. Grrrrr!</span></div><div style="color: #515151; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div><div style="color: #515151; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">“More Emperor Penguins” was the call over the two-way as some had been spotted close to where the Captain had decided to park the ship (literally parked on a Iceberg so the boat wouldn’t sway that evening) so we shot off to find roughly 10 - 15 of these adolescent Emperor’s. This was the most that any of the crew had ever seen this high up and we had truly been blessed with some good luck that morning when our path was changed. </span></div><div style="color: #515151; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div><br />
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<div style="color: #515151; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div><div style="color: #515151; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Boy did we party that night. A BBQ was held on the stern of the ship, hence why the captain had made the boat steady. Russian’s behind a BBQ is not as bad as it sounds and we ate like kings. Russian’s behind the bar is more suited and we had free booze until it ran dry. Russian limbo is not a game to be taken lightly as Ben (youngest on board) and Craig (incoherent Welshman) learnt the hard way. Cheap and nasty vodka is poured down your gob, face and all over your cloths as you do the limbo! If some smart ass is standing near the limbo poll at the time of you doing limbo then chances are he will pour beer in at the same time. It was either the wrong techniques during limbo or the sculling of booze that occurred during the game “Goggles On” that sent both Ben and Craig to their bedrooms at an unprecedented hour. </span></div><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="color: #515151; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Helvetica Neue'; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 14px; text-align: left;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; text-decoration: underline;"></span></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Helvetica Neue'; text-decoration: underline;">Day 4 of Landings</span><span style="text-decoration: underline;"> - </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; text-decoration: underline;">Bernardo O’Higgins Chilean base & Zodiac cruising in the Bransfield Strait</span></div><div style="color: #515151; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Helvetica Neue'; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">A rather sketchy start to the day as we headed over to Bernardo O'Higgins Base the Chilean Army Base where we were lucky enough to get our passports stamped as this was our second official continental landing. A crew of approximately 40 Chileans working throughout the summer to do research and repairs to the 1950’s base. A few more Chin Straps and their chicks nesting were to be found scattered around the base.</span></div><div style="color: #515151; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Helvetica Neue'; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 14px; text-align: left;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div><div style="color: #515151; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Helvetica Neue'; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">On our way to our next destination the camera happy Martin spotted some humpbacks that were resting which meant the spent allot of time on the surface fluking but unfortunately no breaching!</span></div><div style="color: #515151; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Helvetica Neue'; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 14px; text-align: left;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div><div style="color: #515151; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Helvetica Neue'; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">That afternoon we ventured in the zodiacs around Astrulabe Island on the hunt for some more wildlife and boy did we find it! Numerous Leopard Seals, Fur Seals, Penguins, bird life and a few Elephant Seals! This was our first sighting of Elephant Seals and we were keen not to get too close to as they are one of the few creatures that are known to be better smelling dead rather than alive.</span></div><div style="color: #515151; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Helvetica Neue'; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><br />
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<div style="font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Day 5 of Landings - </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; text-decoration: underline;">South Shetlands: Deception Island and Hannah Point</span></div><div style="color: #515151; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">A very early start to the day for most yet I seemed to press the snooze button a few times and was lucky to grab the last boat to the Bailey’s Head (on Deception Island). Here we witnessed the largest Antarctic (2nd largest in the World) Chin Strap Penguin colony. These little critters were everywhere - like little people running around getting food, teaching their young, scampering up onto the shore after a quick dip. So funny to just sit back and watch as they went about their life without a concern in the world that we were there. </span></div><div style="color: #515151; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><br />
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</div><div style="color: #515151; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Helvetica Neue'; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div><div style="color: #515151; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Helvetica Neue'; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Deception Island was just after breakfast and many of us were very excited as we had been waiting for this the whole trip. We sailed into the bay which was an active volcano. Once used extensively as a Whaling harbor, until an eruption emptied out this place, now just the remnants of a past era remain. Not as picturesque as the previous landings and there was an eeriness about Deception Island that may date back to the mass slaughter of so many giants of the sea.</span></div><div style="color: #515151; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Helvetica Neue'; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div><div style="color: #515151; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Helvetica Neue'; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">After a climb up the peak over looking Deception Island, a wander around the old whalers station and a close encounter with a Weddell Seal who was content to just lay back and let me snap up some picture perfect snaps we were allowed to go for a swim! That’s right...a dip in the sub minus Antarctic waters of an ACTIVE VOLCANO! Only a small handful of people were able to brave these extreme conditions. Some were more willing then others...Ben who went nude was one. Some were a little resistant...Karina who I had to throw in and Kate, Steph and Martin really dragged out the whole getting unchanged process! Approximately a millimeter or 2 of thermal water sat on the surface however it didn’t seem to make any difference. Once you went under you pretty much ran back out screaming like a little girl. Some thermal pools of water were on the shore where you would stand in for a moment to warm your feet but then the heat was too much and you would run back into the ocean. </span></div><br />
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<div style="color: #515151; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div><div style="color: #515151; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">A quick priority exit for the swimmers back to the ship where the sauna was pre-set to 105 degrees and was required to bring some feeling back into our blue bodies.</span></div><div style="color: #515151; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div><div style="color: #515151; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">That afternoon we had our last landing for the trip. It was perhaps a combination of this being the last time we would be walking on Antarctica or the fact that the seas were extremely rough that brought no smile to anyones faces. The trips expedition leader almost called of the trip and if it wasn’t for the sighting of a large colony of adolescent male Elephant Seals the trip would have been scrapped. On the ride over we all got to test out the “Waterproofness” of our gear. Unfortunately my equipment didn’t stand up to the test. Lucky for me I had snaffled a bottle of vodka on shore to have a we sip on my 7th continent which helped bring some warmth back to me.</span></div><div style="color: #515151; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div><div style="color: #515151; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">On our way over to the Elephant Seals we spotted four Macaroni Penguins almost hiding incognito amongst a few hundred Chinstrap Penguins. This was it now for us....we had seen all 5 species of Antarctic Penguin’s and extremely satisfied with the variety and number of other wildlife, birdlife and sea creatures we had experienced! The odd Blue Whale on the way back to Ushuaia would top it off but considering one of the crew had only seen Blue Whales on 3 occasions in his 40 years experience in Antarctica and the Arctic our chances were slim! </span></div><div style="color: #515151; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div><div style="color: #515151; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">A few days cruising back through a relatively calm Drake and we were back in Ushuaia, Argentina. Not the happiest day of my life as all our moods were low considering we had just departed our most favorite and the most beautiful destination in the World - Antarctica!! </span></div><div style="color: #515151; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div><div style="color: #515151; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 15.6px;">Follow me on Facebook: <a href="http://www.facebook.com/catosworld">http://www.facebook.com/catosworld</a></span></div></div></div>Cato el Conquistador (Seven Continents - One Year))http://www.blogger.com/profile/01383723066354638092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3830184431621447867.post-24561181247430659842010-02-10T11:37:00.000-08:002011-04-28T00:36:00.890-07:00To the End of the World - Australia Day 2010<div style="color: #515151; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br />
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<div style="font: 14.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Antarctica |antˈärktikə; -ˈärtikə|</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">a continent around the South Pole, situated mainly within the Antarctic Circle and almost entirely covered by ice sheets. Its exploitation is governed by an international treaty of 1959.</span></div><div style="color: #fcfffd; font: 14.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 16.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div><div style="color: #515151; font: 14.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">After a few weeks of looking around I had finally found the best price available to get across to the highest continent on earth - Antarctica. Perhaps the reason that Gap Adventures were offering the cheapest fare possible was due to the negative publicity they may have received a few years back when their vessel - The MS Explorer capsized during the night after hitting an iceberg! Hmmm...at least these guys have experience with search and rescue in sub minus conditions in some of the worst seas you will ever encounter!</span></div><div style="color: #515151; font: 14.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 16.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div><div style="color: #515151; font: 14.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Seasickness had become quite a problem for many of the crew and guest as our first few days across the Drake Passage were extremely rough. For myself it was not too bad and I found my sea legs early on into the trip which came in handy on day 2 when the few younger Aussies, Ben (Xavier) and Karina, corrupted my ways and we began to celebrate Australia Day at breakfast with a few sneaky drinks. Being allowed to raise the Australian flag up the mask on a Russian ship as we crossed over into the Antarctic waters (60 degrees South) was a highlight that we will all never forget! </span><br />
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</div></div>Cato el Conquistador (Seven Continents - One Year))http://www.blogger.com/profile/01383723066354638092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3830184431621447867.post-153105548522661342010-02-05T17:41:00.000-08:002011-04-28T00:36:58.895-07:00Machu Picchu - Christmas 2009<div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfw6GiFugIUD3FiQbbipL7HWdBUL7Ryz5sw1nAOvvmyz3FQnuXJI1S_6ltNl9oRi8lV0wQ5LXL3a5OMfrvzS4IOOtB1i-Jeis25j00JiFoGoW-Werchfz6lb9Ghup_lTyUE_P_0N7jHow/s1600-h/P1000281.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfw6GiFugIUD3FiQbbipL7HWdBUL7Ryz5sw1nAOvvmyz3FQnuXJI1S_6ltNl9oRi8lV0wQ5LXL3a5OMfrvzS4IOOtB1i-Jeis25j00JiFoGoW-Werchfz6lb9Ghup_lTyUE_P_0N7jHow/s320/P1000281.JPG" /></a></div><div style="color: #b55f4e; font: 16.0px 'Helvetica Neue Light'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #797979; font-size: 36px;"> </span></div><div style="color: #b55f4e; font: 16.0px 'Helvetica Neue Light'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #797979; font-size: 36px;">Machu Picchu, Peru</span></div><div style="color: #b55f4e; font: 16.0px 'Helvetica Neue Light'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 18.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div><div style="color: #b55f4e; font: 16.0px 'Helvetica Neue Light'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">The longest I have ever walked at the highest altitude I have ever been. Rain and early mornings. The most basic Christmas any of you have ever experienced....all just to experience a white out at the top of Machu Picchu!!!</span></div><div style="color: #b55f4e; font: 16.0px 'Helvetica Neue Light'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: -webkit-xxx-large;"><div style="color: #515151; font: 14.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Machu Picchu |ˌmä ch oō ˈpi(k) ch oō|</span></div><div style="color: #515151; font: 14.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">a fortified Inca town in the Andes Mountains in Peru that the invading Spaniards never found. It is noted for its dramatic position, perched high on a steep-sided ridge.</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 16.0pxcolor:#515151;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div><div style="color: #515151; font: 14.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Perched higher then I have climbed before and after a 3 day trek, up and over mountains in the rain, wind and the early/late hours of the day, it is no wonder that we were all jumping for joy! Just a wee group of 5 - the 3 Belgium physiotherapists, Olivia and myself had trekked approximately 35km through the jungle to reach the glorious summit of Huayna Picchu overlooking MP and Aguas Calientes.</span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 16.0pxcolor:#515151;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div><div style="color: #515151; font: 14.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Cycling in the rain is no fun at all but when your 4km up and thrashing down a Peruvian road where road rules are almost non existent you start to think to yourself about those important things in life…like does my travel insurance cover stupidity?! About 30 minutes into our down hill madness the pin was pulled (by the girls first) to scamper back into the van and head to our accommodation. Brendan you would be proud to know I was the last one off the bike, but then considering the whole group were females and one Belgium male I guess its not that big of a deal.</span></div><div style="color: #515151; font: 14.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><br />
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</div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 16.0pxcolor:#515151;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div><div color="#515151" style="font: 14.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Christmas Day (2009) was the most extreme...5am wake up call with no presents or even a Christmas tree. A taxi ride in the only available taxi in the town which luxury items such as fuel and the 4WD option were non existent! After a few hours in the van the mud path on the side of the mountain had narrowed too much for these extremist so we had to leg it the rest of the way. A mere 27km walk at an altitude of approximately 3000 meters whilst the heavens above were bucketing down all throughout the morning finally we came to a refuge...a small mud hut where the local farmer had been waiting with his family so lunch could be made and served to these weary travelers. Not the most appetizing Christmas lunch I have had but at least the fire was warm and since the hut was only 9m2 the 11 of us made it nice an cosy instantly. We dried our clothes while we waited for our soup and pasta to be made up (2 hour wait due to a slightly substandard kitchen) passing the time by snapping up some interesting shots of the farmers children playing with tomorrow nights dinner...the Guinea Pigs! </span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 16.0pxcolor:#515151;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 16.0pxcolor:#515151;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzet1iUd6uI-pXrq4WcwrQLHdVS6UJggT_A-lqSK7clevTi7YLNXTNb-d2E533t9kg9z2dOHL84Woz8tWLWAMZbwWJAwM5pFkhtluLvWZRIKf98rgf5xMoxJ0om4-Hjb0h9HyZMSfcK0s/s1600-h/P1000030.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzet1iUd6uI-pXrq4WcwrQLHdVS6UJggT_A-lqSK7clevTi7YLNXTNb-d2E533t9kg9z2dOHL84Woz8tWLWAMZbwWJAwM5pFkhtluLvWZRIKf98rgf5xMoxJ0om4-Hjb0h9HyZMSfcK0s/s320/P1000030.JPG" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG2jpU5Pd7VlPQACw8CIeRX1ClJM4-TVd9Mli5wapEns5F7TuxwMxWBhJ8_qOOL-PBR6NjUAWFsxAmBWFMOgccwFPDdCVPe6BKUYO025AriMH0Rb5-8OeH42CDWKFPxK5E93SgEXFiMtQ/s1600-h/P1000082.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG2jpU5Pd7VlPQACw8CIeRX1ClJM4-TVd9Mli5wapEns5F7TuxwMxWBhJ8_qOOL-PBR6NjUAWFsxAmBWFMOgccwFPDdCVPe6BKUYO025AriMH0Rb5-8OeH42CDWKFPxK5E93SgEXFiMtQ/s320/P1000082.jpg" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqO726WAXMcksGpDQgsT8Ocq1nzIAwwyDkn8PQgwFvhQzeNDyYsbyUYtNHa7oUL9nLwSRXz1oSFxWMj1p87meTrI8wnfOOSOJZ4LoxpdbkcP8t0ULZvfteLdELBgOa1WwQN1_qeQGCWuw/s1600-h/P1000035.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqO726WAXMcksGpDQgsT8Ocq1nzIAwwyDkn8PQgwFvhQzeNDyYsbyUYtNHa7oUL9nLwSRXz1oSFxWMj1p87meTrI8wnfOOSOJZ4LoxpdbkcP8t0ULZvfteLdELBgOa1WwQN1_qeQGCWuw/s320/P1000035.JPG" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikpNyNp1uOUIaRku39iKOMxdIvDpqK6UMypSk46y9kS85fvq-OuVDhOvZlh9fHN-FceGP4pXW2jhCuAy9XIz1VBSsJfpai6Rc0LeDKKqqzFNs0z6hdr1-hAKycFQ6Id0VGxEFn1XU1IqA/s1600-h/P1000056.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikpNyNp1uOUIaRku39iKOMxdIvDpqK6UMypSk46y9kS85fvq-OuVDhOvZlh9fHN-FceGP4pXW2jhCuAy9XIz1VBSsJfpai6Rc0LeDKKqqzFNs0z6hdr1-hAKycFQ6Id0VGxEFn1XU1IqA/s320/P1000056.jpg" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYQBOpRVyXd5gjuBCOL9wmrwliLJ_QSWjGvMfx8AQ9whY5PLBF_ozcW938Hx3K23sxD4SBDCW2pHQZAf4dM4GNGiZlSS5Y6lFU6gluKtGKmC8or5Tlzp9IF1tUMFuWZhxM-J8x4E758K8/s1600-h/P1000059.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYQBOpRVyXd5gjuBCOL9wmrwliLJ_QSWjGvMfx8AQ9whY5PLBF_ozcW938Hx3K23sxD4SBDCW2pHQZAf4dM4GNGiZlSS5Y6lFU6gluKtGKmC8or5Tlzp9IF1tUMFuWZhxM-J8x4E758K8/s320/P1000059.jpg" /></a></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 16.0pxcolor:#515151;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 16.0pxcolor:#515151;"><br />
</div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 16.0pxcolor:#515151;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div><div style="font: 14.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 16.0pxcolor:#515151;">After dinner we hit the hay as tomorrow evolved another long hike. An unanimous decision the next day to source out a taxi to take us half the way was a brilliant call all round! Would have been better though if it hadn’t rained all throughout the night causing many mud slides and avalanches to take out our vehicular route! Legging it yet again....</div><div color="#515151" style="font: 14.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 16.0px;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR-LlgApbOxEKo3siv2kAJgAngVYGY1gXEfw046CLb9gbCd1GpWLK3F9muwgqCkV3ds1atouQZqyiUFQcCHoTdHhkIojDj6zipekVT2f8DGYdveEMZHUE0zRGkpRl00HVpzf-KLMrIXFU/s1600-h/P1000164.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR-LlgApbOxEKo3siv2kAJgAngVYGY1gXEfw046CLb9gbCd1GpWLK3F9muwgqCkV3ds1atouQZqyiUFQcCHoTdHhkIojDj6zipekVT2f8DGYdveEMZHUE0zRGkpRl00HVpzf-KLMrIXFU/s320/P1000164.jpg" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh61f-1AoJJQum7j1j4g3K0h7KYM5X9AkSCzEDpy6iGZ1UQMoSExKzV1h_NM3Q7BTgSzP53ErjjcLt5QhrPGztxiLkRFRs_3Uyfd04zTy2mO0PgJ5WHfifheAOrnM0NTyrssNCtUVbB6l8/s1600-h/P1000181.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh61f-1AoJJQum7j1j4g3K0h7KYM5X9AkSCzEDpy6iGZ1UQMoSExKzV1h_NM3Q7BTgSzP53ErjjcLt5QhrPGztxiLkRFRs_3Uyfd04zTy2mO0PgJ5WHfifheAOrnM0NTyrssNCtUVbB6l8/s320/P1000181.jpg" /></a></div><div color="#515151" style="font: 14.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 16.0px;"><br />
</div><div color="#515151" style="font: 14.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 16.0px;"><br />
</div><div color="#515151" style="font: 14.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 16.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #515151;">After a good 5hrs of hiking we reached the base of MP - Aguas Calientes. That night we enjoyed some much deserved beverages and a bloody good feed!</span></div><div style="color: #515151; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal 'Times New Roman'; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 16px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div><div style="color: #515151; font: normal normal normal 14px/normal 'Times New Roman'; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Four AM wake up call so that we could get our asses down to the bus stop which we had decided to do instead of the walk due to those much deserved beverages only the night before. We were lucky enough to get the last seats on the 1st bus, or so we thought! As for the Peruvian Way our bus went straight past the drop off zone to give way for bus No. 2. Didn't make any sense after we had scored the position at the front of the queue that was a good few hundred deep but we had learnt not too argue and just get on with it. So with the No. 2 bus in front of us and the odd few hundred who opted to wake up at 3AM and walk up to MP we were very lucky to get tickets in the high 200's as this now enabled us entry to Huayna Picchu. Due to the hoards of tourist trampling up the steep and decaying Inca Trail leading up to HP over the last few decades, a limit has been set to only allow the 1st 400 people in to MP to be allowed up to HP. After a 3 days of hiking, cycling, tear's and beers we had made it and it was well were all the trouble!! The view was out of this world. That is after the fog and mist had cleared which we thought may have been set in for the day. A good 5 hours spent wandering around the ruins and up HP then a quick exit due to some rain, a few hour train/bus ride and we were back in Cusco! </span></div></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #515151; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16.8px;">Follow me on Facebook: <a href="http://www.facebook.com/catosworld">http://www.facebook.com/catosworld</a></span><br />
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</div></span></div>Cato el Conquistador (Seven Continents - One Year))http://www.blogger.com/profile/01383723066354638092noreply@blogger.com2