Whales, Elephant Seals, Penguins and Welsh Tea

Puerto Madryn is a 15h bus ride south of Buenos Aires. This is the starting point to see the huge array of wildlife that Argentina has to offer. We headed out on a whale watching trip and i am glad to say that this time round we saw plenty of them. It is the breeding season for Southern Right Whales and they spend several months along the Atlantic coast of Argentina. For two hours we watched as they surrounded the boat and performed for us, it was fantastic.

Further down the coast there are colonies of elephant seals that come to the Argentine coast to have their young this time of the year. The adults are huge, ugly and awkward and seem to just lie on the shore soaking up the sun. Their predators are the Orca whales, who have a fancy for the young pups and i was secretly hoping we would see a shoal of whales appear out of the blue ocean looking for a spot of lunch. Alas it was not meant to be- at least the young pups were safe for another while!!

Another day we took a trip to see the Magellan penguins, the second largest colony after the Empire penguins in Antarctica. This time of the year they are nesting and incubating their eggs. The tour allowed you to walk among the nests, which span for miles, and watch them go about their business. They are a protected species and in this colony they have the right of way. It was amazing to see all these animals in their natural habitat.

There are a couple of towns outside Puerto Madryn that have a strong Welsh heritage. In the early 1900s 153 Welsh made their way to Argentina on the promise of land and set up home in Trelew and Gaiman. Today, they are still very proud of their heritage and many speak Welsh. One of the main tourist attractions in Gaiman is Welsh Tea- I didn´t know such a thing existed but it is very big in Gaiman. The four us stopped in for a cup of tea, scones and cakes, cakes and more cakes- it was the biggest afternoon tea i have ever seen, it was great.

Tango in Buenos Aires

It was straight to Buenos Aires after Peru where we met up with Rachael and Noreen, two friends over from Dublin who were going to travel Argentina with us. We spent 5days in Buenos Aires; called the ´Paris of South America´, it is a nice city though personally nothing can compare to Paris. The architecture is definitely European in style but it is quite a dirty city, a bit shabby, it still hasn´t fully recovered from its economic crash in 2001.

Tango is alive and well in the city and on the weekends restaurants put on free shows to enjoy with your coffee and dinner. We did an all in package, tango class, dinner and a show. An hours class and i am able to say i can do the basic tango step- i have the certificate to prove it, see the photo above!!! It was good fun and the dinner and show were excellent.

There is quite a bit to see in BA and there are plenty of walking tours to show you around. One of the main attractions is Recoleta cemtery where Evita is buried. When you arrive in the cemetry you just need to follow the crowds to find her tomb. This cemetry is full of fancy mausoleums, where the rich and wealthy are buried- we managed to find two Irish tombs- Admiral Brown, a native of Mayo, the founder of the Argentinian navy and Father Fahy, an Irish priest who helped alot of Irish immigrants when they arrived in Argentina, are both buried here.

The Irish who did settle here would have fitted in nicely- good steak and beer and nightlife that starts late and goes on til the early hours of the morning. We were often eating dinner in an empty restaurant simply because we couldn´t wait any longer!!!

Machu Picchu

This time last week we had just set out on our 4day hiking trip to Machu Picchu. A 42km hike over 4days doesn´t sound too bad until you start climbing- i don´t want to see another mountain step for a long time- it was hard but well worth it.

We met the rest of the GAP group on the Thursday- 16 in total- 6Irish, 4Ozzies, 1Canadian, 1Norwegian, 4Americans. We transferred to Cusco, a city on the outskirts of the starting point of the hike. Had Friday to explore the city and the hike started on Saturday morning. The team consisted of us 16, 2guides and 22 porters. We could only bring 6kg each packed into a duffel bag. The porters carry our things, a max of 25kg and they pretty much run all the way so that by the time we reach the camp, everything is set up, our tents, basin of water ready for us to wash. It is amazing to see them run up those mountains especially at altitudes as high as 4200m. And it isn´t only the young guys, one guy on our team was 65 years old! The record holder for the fastest time to complete the trip was part of our team- he has done it in 3h45mins. And we took 4days!!!!

We were really lucky with the weather as we got 4 beautiful days- it made the trip so much easier and the views so spectacular. Day 1 was an easy introduction to the hike and wasn´t too taxing. We reached camp about 4pm and by 6pm it was dark and really cold because of the clear nights but they were a stargazers dream. We were in bed each night by 8.30pm wrapped up in thermals, hats, sleeping bag- i can´t remember the last time i was in bed on a Saturday night that early!!

Day2 is known to be the worst and i knew this before going on the trip. But boy did it hurt. We pretty much spent the first 4h climbing up steps, some almost at 90degress. The following 2h were spent going downhill, not very good for the knees. After the 4h uphill you reach the highest point on the hike, 4200m, known as ´Dead Womans Pass´ - named because the mountains give a profile quite like a woman lying down and not because a woman has died at this point; though a few of us felt lying dying by the time we reached it. I was lucky enough to only suffer some headaches from the altitude but others were quite sick over the few days. The high altitude takes awhile to get used to- eventhough i wasn´t sick, i was moving alot slower than at sealevel. The locals have evolved to deal with it- small feet to be able to manage the steps, big hearts and lungs for the thinner air. Even the wildlife is affected by the air. Parts of the trail are home to 12 or 13 species of humming bird. They cannot continuously fly like they would at sealevel, but must stop every few minutes to take a rest. This meant we were able to get photos of alot of them and appreciate their wonderful plummage.

Each day on the trip we got breakfast, lunch and dinner cooked for us by the porters- it was 5star quality-luxury camping i think!! 3course meals each time: soup, dinner and desert, fantastic.

The final days hike started at 3.30am- up for breakfast and to pack our stuff. At this point of the trail there is a checkpoint we have to go through. The hike consists of two parts- a 6km hike to the sungate, which are ancient ruins that look down on Machu Picchu. From there it is another 3km to the site. The earlier you get up the higher you are in the queue to get through the checkpoint. We were the second group in the queue. When the checkpoint opened at 5.30am it was as if it was the start of a race. There was an air of anticipation and everyone started increasing their speed to make it to the sungate as soon as possible. Most of this part of the trek is flat and it was great to get a good stretch in the legs. Rounding the corner for the last part of the first stage we faced a 90degree wall. Usually i would take forever to climb such a thing as i am not good with heights, but in this case nothing was going to stop me making it up the wall and i wasn´t going to let anyone pass me!! At the top of the wall you enter the sungate- wow, the view of Machu Picchu was spectacular. It was a beautiful morning and not a cloud in the sky. After we had all reached the sungate and taken time to cool down after our charge, we made the final 3km hike to the site. We were there by 8.30am and spent the next couple of hours touring the site. By 12pm the site is jam packed with daytrippers who take the easy option and get the train. By then we were making our way back to Cusco. What a fanastic few days.

Welcome to Miami

From Cancun we flew to Miami- when booking the trip we couldn´t get from Cancun to Peru directly and had to go into USA for the connection. So we decided to spend a weekend in Miami and meet up with Lorraines friend Lanette who is from New Mexico. On Friday we had an early flight and got to the airport at 5.30am in Cancun. When we arrived in Miami, Lorraine got pulled over in customs for possession...........of 2 red mexican apples that had to be disposed of. From there we rented a car and went to meet Lanette who had arrived the previous evening. We had booked into a hotel for the weekend- luxury for a second time for us backpackers which was located on Collins Avenue (which was funny for me as my parents just live off Collins Avenue, Dublin) and which is miles and miles long. After settling in we headed to Cuban district to sample authentic Cuban food. The restaurant the taxi driver recommended was packed- i got fish and rice for dinner, wasn´t too impressed as it was quite dry but the fried bananas served alongside were great. We asked the waiter to recommend a club for drinks and music and he pointed us to one across the road. A live band was going to be playing. But when we entered at 11.30pm we were the only ones in the place. The band didn´t start playing til about 1.30am but by then the place was jammers. It was a fantastic night, i think we were the only tourists in the place.

Next day we hit South Beach Miami, famous for the art deco district. There is a tour of the area available when it isn´t raining but just our luck, it rained all morning so we had to make up our own walking tour. The buildings are impressive and are in very good condition. The rain continued for pretty much most of the day and that night it turned torrential. Nonetheless we headed back to South Beach for dinner. There was no let up and by the time we finished the roads and sidewalks were flooded- now if i was at home and it was raining this hard i wouldn´t venture out but when you are on holiday you are in a different mindset. From the restaurant we headed down a few blocks to a popular club ´Mango´s´where we danced the night away. We met some Canadians who were down for the weekend to watch the the Miami Dolphins play. One of them turned out to have neighbours in Ontario who were also McKenna´s- Rose and Kieran- so they may very well be distant relations!!!

I was very impressed with Miami, has a great atmosphere and is very well laid out. Aswell as the beach (which we managed to visit several times), the clubs, there is a lot of nature to see aswell. We managed to drive down to the Everglades National Park but got there just as the sun was setting. It was too late to do any hiking but definitely is a must do when i go back.

Arrived in Lima, Peru, yesterday evening. Not much to see in the city. Are due to meet the group we will climb Maachu Pichu with tonight. We head for Cusco tomorrow and start climbing on Friday. I am bit wary of this as i have heard loads of stories of altitude sickness etc. We get as high as 13,000ft at some points during the 4day hike. Next time i blog, i will have plenty to tell i am sure.

Adios Mexico

It´s been awhile since my last update- just been too busy lazing by the beach and partying!! We spent 4 nights in Playa del Carmen in a really good hostel. The weather finally improved and we got to get some sunbathing in. First time in the Caribbean and it was beautiful, so clear and warm. On the Sunday we went on a snorkelling trip and this time did see plenty of marine life. Had about an hour swimming around the reef and while the coral was quite dull in colour, did see loads of colourul fish- bright yellow, rainbow coloured, black dotted fish- on a couple of occassions came across shoals of fish maybe a hundred in number just hanging about together- it was fantastic. In general Playa is full of tourists on a two week trip that have taken a day trip down from Cancun or are staying in one of the hotels for the length of their trip. So its a bit more built up and resorty than some of the places we have been. I really liked this place, many good restaurants and plenty of clubs- have really gotten into the latin, salsa music over here, just have to learn how to dance to it properly!!

One of the afternoons we made our way to Tulum, another set of ruins right on the ocean about an hour outside of Playa. These ruins are not so decorative as previous ones we have seen but their location makes up for that. Eventhough the day was a bit dull, the turquoise colour of the ocean still shone bright and irradiated the ruins- they were beautiful. There was a couple of metres of beach on the site that were cordoned off as a reserve for turtles. During May-September the females return to the beach to lay their eggs. It would have been fantastic to see them but i think it happens usually at night. Further down the site, there was public access to the beach and we spent the afternoon in the water- history, culture and beach all in one afternoon- a perfect way to spend the day i think!

From Playa we made our way to Isla Mujeres (Womens Island) for our last few days in Mexico. At this stage the English girl went on to Guatemala to continue her trip. The best to see the island is by bike so one of the days we rented them from the hostel but when we went to collect them not one of them was in working order- some had pedals missing, others the saddles, still others had no chain. So we got our money back and rented bikes from a local shop instead. We spent the morning cycling all over. The island has a turtle reserve where it protects eggs from predators and keeps baby turtles for up to a year (during which they are most likely to die) before releasing them into the wild. It was impressive. Further on up the coast is a lighthouse which you can climb and you get the most wonderful view of the island. Cycling back along the East coast you can see where a lot of damage has been done by the hurricanes, some of the coast has just disappeared over the last few years. After all that cycling we just had to lay on the beach for the afternoon. We rented sunloungers but within 15mins of getting them the heavens opened and we had to run for cover under the palm trees. We tried to argue with the guy who rented them to us and get our money back but no luck- so when the rain stopped we sat on the loungers for the rest of the afternoon eventhough it was cloudy, just on principle!!

We only spent one evening in Cancun, the night before we were due to fly out. Have to say getting the taxi from the ferry port to the hostel, i didn´t feel i was missing out on anything. And according to the Lonely Planet, Cancun is mainly a resort full of hotels.

Can´t believe our journey through Mexico has come to an end- have enjoyed it so much and seen so many different things. There is so much culture and nature to see. I would definitely recommend it to anyone.....just make sure to bring your raincoat!

Merida-Chichen Itza-Playa del Carmen

In the hostel in Campeche we met an English girl and German girl travelling together who were heading in the same direction as us so the lot of us headed to the bus station and went to Merida. Since we were 4 we managed to do a bit of bargaining and got a 4bed air conditioned room in a guest house with tv for little more than the price of a bed in a hostel....great result! We ended up staying there 3nights.

Merida is about 1h inland and is a stop for the Cruise ships that dock in Progreso. All the locals think you are a rich tourist with loads to spend and get quite upset when you don´t buy any of their wares. Its a busy town with some nice buildings but mainly its used as a starting point to see the surrounding areas. The main thing i wanted to see were the cenotes (underground sinkholes full of freshwater)- ever since i saw the film ´Journey into Amazing Caves´ i have been fascinated by them. There were plenty of tours available to take you to them but we got chatting to some locals who told us how to get there ourselves. We took a collectivo (hi-ace van type bus) to the town of Cuzama where the cenotes are located. From the main street we had to get a bike taxi (two seats for passengers in a cart with a bike at the back to push you). The guys cycling had to take us 4km up the road and it turned out to be a really hot day so boy did they work! 4km in we arrived at a stop where we changed to horse and cart that took us the 7km in to the first of 3 cenotes. When we arrived all i could see was a hole in the ground not more than 1.5metres in diameter. There was a wooden step ladder leading into the black abyss...thats all i could see when i looked in. It took alot to get me down the ladder (i´m not that good with heights) but it was worth it. Inside was a cave full of the brightest turquoise blue i have ever seen. There was a one other small hole in the roof that allowed the sun to beam in and light up the cenote....it was fantastic. We swam in the water surrounded by stalagmites, stalagtites and some bats who roost in the roof of the cave- wonderful! We had about 30mins in that cenote and then back onto the cart to see two others- they were good but not quite as impressive as the first one.

That evening we wanted to go to Uxmal ruins, Mayan ruins, where they put on a light and sound show when its dark. Again there was the option of a tour but was quite expensive so since there were 4 of us we managed to bargain with a taxi driver to take us there, wait for us and bring us back to Merida- Uxmal is about 1.5h outside the city- we got it for a good price. On the way to the show, there was the most torrential rain, thunder and lightening i have ever seen. The show would get cancelled if it was raining so we feared our haggling may not be rewarded. But luckily it stopped by the time we got there. The show was great, the majority of these ruins are set in a square and over the 45mins different ruins are lit up in different colours while we listened to an English narration on our audio set. The Mayans relied heavily on the rains to bring them plentiful corn harvests, often chanting to the rain gods and it was a drought that brought an end to their civilisation many hundreds of years ago. But many of the buildings are so well preserved. They also introduced the idea of decmilisation by discovering the number zero and created the 365day calendar.

From Merida it was onto Chichen Itza (without the German as her trip was finishing and she was flying home), probably the most famous set of ruins in Mexico and has been voted the 8th wonder of the ancient world apparently. We tried to go to the light and sound show here but the torrential rain put a swift end to that. Instead we got to see it in daylight, very impressive again.

Then yesterday afternoon we packed up and headed for the beach. We are now at the Carribean, Playa del Carmen, about 2h south of Cancun. Unfortunately we are not getting Carribean weather, it has been raining all day and the forecast doesn´t look much better for the next few days- the rain gods must have heard the chanting at the light and sound show!!!

San Cristobal-Palenque-Campeche

Ola- from the Gulf Coast. Have finally gotten past all the mountains and bendy roads and reached the Campeche, a small colonial town on the Gulf Coast this morning. But let me back track a little to last week as quite a bit has happened since the last update.

Last Monday night was independence day and there were celebrations everywhere. We just headed to where the crowds were on the streets and watched some live bands and dancing while drinking beers-at less than 1euro a can, not bad. It seems to be quite a family occassion with kids out til all hours with their parents. In general family life seems important to Mexicans and they seem to do things as a family unit. So far the places we have visited have been quite poor- the kids don´t have any toys and the youngest children are being carried in slings and no sign of any sort of prams or buggies.

San Cristobal is another colonial town up quite high so it wasn´t too hot and you needed a jumper in the evenings. It is the heart of Mayan culture and we visited the Mayan Traditional Medicine Museum- it was brilliant. If you are suffering from whooping cough, an armidillo shell should do the trick and if someone is giving you the evil eye, then a ritual with a rooster (or was it a chicken?) should sort them out quick smart!!! Joking aside the Mayans still believe in their traditions but have somehow mixed it in with the Catholic religion the Spanish brought over. Because the following day we were visiting one of the many churches in the area and came across a ritual in the auxilary atrium where a healer was cleansing a local woman from some illness. Surrounded by candles (the number and colours of which determined by her illness), the healer was brushing her down with a bunch of basil leaves. Trying not to invade we respectfully watched for a couple of minutes and then left.

In total we spent 4days in San Cristobal, took a day trip to Canyon del Sumidero.....where we got great photos and saw crocidiles and monkeys. One of the nights we met up with a guy from work who is doing 30,000miles on a motorbike from top of Canada to the tip of Argentina. It turned out he was passing through San Cristobal on his way to Guatemala on Thursday night last and we went out for some pints. San Cristobal is a great spot for live music and in particular the reggae scene is alive and well. Really liked this place but by Friday it was time to move on.

6am Friday morning and after a few too many drinks the night before we were on a bus to Palenque, one of the finest ancient sites in all of Mexico. The tour included a stop at Agua Azul, a series of waterfalls and pools that are supposed to be the most amazing turquoise colour. But because we are in the rainy season they are just muddy brown! Although since there is alot more rain, the waterfalls are really powerful so much that even some of the walkways have been flooded. The next stop on the trip was to Misoh-al waterfall, 35m high....not too impressed with that considering Multnomah falls in Portland is much higher, but good to see nonetheless. We were about 20 people on the trip and were transported on a hi-ace van type bus. We ended up in the back row and these roads around the mountains were the worst we have been on. Made worse by the fact they have speed ramps almost every 100m.....the van´s suspension wasn´t very forgiving!!! I could only stomach the trip by half lying down and closing my eyes. The final stop was definitely the best- we had 2hours in Palenque archaelogical site with a guided tour in english. This ancient civilisation was only discovered in the mid 20th century and to date 33 out of 1481 buildings have been excavated. The remaining buildings are still covered in rainforest- there isn´t the money in the country to support further work on this. The Mayans believed the circle was a sacred shape and as a result never used the wheel. When you see the architecture of the buildings they built it is hard to imagine how they could have managed it all....apparently they had hundreds of slaves. That night we stopped off in a campsite nearby to the site and got a cabin in the rainforest. Now i am a fan of all things natural, especially when it is on the tv and David Attenborough is providing the narration but wasn´t overly keen on sleeping in a room with corrugated iron roof and all the possible creepy crawlies that might appear. But a couple of pina coladas in the local restaurant and a mosquito net draped over the bed meant i got 40winks.

Saturday was spent making our way to Campeche. Though only 6hours away, the buses didn´t leave til midnight. So instead we went halfway to Villahermosa and spent the afternoon in the local zoo, getting to see jaguars which are very sacred to ancient Mexican culture and then caught the night bus to Campeche. Because it wasn´t too far away we got in about 4am. Chanced our arm and got a taxi to a nearby hostel. Luckily they had space and got some sleep. Campeche is beside the sea and even still, the humidity is really high here. So not doing very much today. Plan is to head off tomorrow and hit the Yucatan.