Joe, Ro + Charlie´s Blog (plus Dani)

New Zealand 2008 Montage

2008-12-10T12:11:00.003Z

My New Zealand Montage is done! Crank it up.......

All my videos are on You Tube if you do a search for 'joscorcoran'

Stay tuned for the South America Version

Joe

Christmas Message from Sydney

2008-12-09T00:19:00.001Z

109m Shotover Canyon Swing, Queenstown NZ

2008-12-04T01:34:00.001Z

Dani's Taupo Skydive

2008-12-03T11:25:00.001Z

This is for you Bernie!!

I know....

2008-11-22T05:46:00.002Z

I know it's from New Zealand but Ronan's bungy was awesome....

Check it out...

Then check out my one!!

Then check out Joe's one!!!

Updates for the blog are coming... I promise!!

Charlie

Seriously, the funniest thing I've seen in ages!!!

2008-11-20T08:02:00.001Z

See more Will Ferrell videos at Funny or Die

Doesn't need a description!!

Charlie

Day 50 > Buses and William

2008-11-03T19:13:00.004Z

Today was our last day in Lima and we left Loki at about 12 o´clock. Loki has a check out time of 1:00pm so Ronan´s mission to have late check outs seems to alive in Peru!

We said goodbye to all at Loki, to McDonalds, KFC, Burger King and Miraflores and got in a taxi to the bus office. In Peru there are no bus stations so each bus company has their own terminal. The company we were using was Cruise del Sur because they had the best safety record in Peru. Micheal, the consulate in Lima, spent a while warning me of the dangers of bus travel in Peru. He heard a story where a bus was stopped by three 4x4´s in the middle of the night. A gang of men with guns got on the bus and took everyone´s money and valuables while another group of men took all the bags from the hold. Scary stuff, so you can see why we decided to go with Cruise del Sur.

When you get to the bus terminal you can see why they have such a safety record. We got all of our bus tickets from Lima to Ica, Ica to Nasca and Nasca to Cusco in a couple of minutes. Prior to boarding the bus we got swiped by metal detectors. Every bag was checked with a scanner and then a security guard went through your bag to make sure there was nothing dangerous in there.

Finally your videotaped! It was worse than airport security. I didn´t know who the hell this guy was taking video of everyone. At first I thought he was just holding the camera for someone. Then he started taking a video of me, sticking the camera in my face as I was handing in my ticket and passport. We eventually got to our seats and then the same guy arrived on the bus again, with his camera taking more video of everyone! You could really see how these guys got their high safety record.

The trip to Ica took just over 4 hours. The streets were teeming with people as we pulled into the bus terminal. Ricshaws and taxis tried to crawl through the crowds of people. As we left the terminal the security guard on the outside door pointed to a lone taxi man who we agreed a great price of 5 soles to Huacachina. Turned out this was no ordinary taxi, this man was a tourist office! The journey from the bus terminal to Huacachina took about 15 minutes but in that time we had learned all about the tours that William had on offer. He also had a book of recommendations from people from all over the world!

We finally got to the hostel that we had decided we were going to stay in. However, William asked us if we wanted to stay in another one up the street. He said it was a lot cleaner, more comfortable and all for the same price. He was 100% right! The Lonely Planet didn´t recommend the place at all but a lot of work had been done since that was written. The hostel was excellent and we even had a pool right outside our door. We agreed to do the sandboarding and wine tasting with William the next day and started to explore Huacachina for something to eat.

We ate dinner in a restaurant on the oasis and filled ourselves with huge pizzas. We walked around the town for a while after but it was a quite Sunday night so we headed back to the hostel for the night, dreaming of all the sand boarding we´d be doing tomorrow!

Charlie

Day 49 > Last night in Lima

2008-11-03T19:00:00.001Z

Again, we spent the day in Lima walking around and taking in the sights. We organised the bus times for our buses to Ica and Nasca and spent another day chilling in the Tv room and on the internet.

That night we had dinner in the hostel and we headed out to the same nightclub that we went to when we first got to Lima. To our surprise it was all pretty much the same locals in the club again with no gringos to be seen anywhere...

We´d another great night out and headed back to the hostel really impressed with the nightlife in Lima and how friendly everyone was...

Charlie

Day 48 > Friday night in Lima

2008-10-24T04:27:00.003+01:00

Sleep was the order of the day after our long day fishing and heavy night drinking in Barranco yesterday. Our new room in Loki was a lot quieter than our other room so we could sleep in peace. And sleep we did! They also have a DVD/TV room in Loki which we made good use of that day as well...

We met a couple of Dublin lads that evening and we had the craic with them playing pool and talking about all the places they'd been to in South America and Austrailia. Ended up heading out with them to a night club called Bierhouse in Miraflores.

These are the kinda days that I hate writing up on the Blog cause it looks like we did nothing but we're on holidays! And it's not as if we did nothing, we grew our beards which is not as easy as you think...

Charlie

Day 47 > Fishing, sickness and cooking!

2008-10-20T02:37:00.008+01:00

We woke up early at 5.30 and met Alberto as he was pulling up outside the door of the hostel. He had an old car but on the way to the beach he was racing a Volvo trying to impress us. He lost.

We got to the dock and met all the fishermen up having their breakfast. This seemed to be the most important part of the day with all the fisherman chatting and talking about their catches and the weather. Alberto met the local bait man and bought us enough to catch all the fish in the ocean. The bugs were little and looked like the flesh eating bugs in the film the Mummy. They were all still live and rolling around in the bottom of the bucket.

Then we saw the boat. When I say boat, I mean the boats I am used to. It was the kind of boat that I would use to go lake fishing! The boat was tiny and had to fit all of us, Alberto and two fishermen... We got into the boat and the fishermen started up their little diesel engine and we set off for the open ocean in our 12 foot wooden "boat"! The ocean was pretty choppy and we started to feel the sea sickness coming on early as the waves pushed us up into the air. The fishermen were laughing at the four men in their boat looking like white sheets...

We fished with a bit of line wrapped around a piece of timber no bigger than my hand. We put the little bugs on the hook and through the line with a weight into the ocean. Then we put the piece of timber under our legs and we sat on it until we landed a fish! The fishermen were naturals with four lines going all at the one time and they were catching fish everytime... We weren't so good! Ro caught a fish and was delighted and Alberto caught a couple as well. Unfourtunately, me and Joe must have missed the Corcoran gene for fishing because all we caught was sea sickness!

After a couple hours of fishing, sleeping, getting sick, sleeping and fishing, Alberto decided it was time to call it a day and we headed back to the main land. We got off the boat and Ronan kissed the ground! We were glad to be back on the main land. We headed to the fish market and bought a few fish for the dinner that night.

Joe and Ronan were surfing with Alberto a couple of days before and he decided to show us some of the best surfing in Lima. He brought us to a point break where the waves crash onto the rocks after coming around the corner at the bottom of the cliff face. As we looked out at the crazy surfers riding these huge waves we seen five dolphins jump between two surfers on the wave. An incredible sight! We spent nearly half an hour there watching the surfers ride the waves until they came close to the rocks and then jumping off before they were killed.

Next we went for dinner in a cool little place near to Alberto's home. We had the menu of the day (3 courses) all for only 9Soles and talked all about Peru and Ireland. Alberto asked all about the surfing in Ireland and talked to us about Peru and how the rich really run the country and the poor have no say. The government doesn't help the people out like they do in Ireland and you have to work really hard just to survive, which we seen that morning with the fishermen.

Alberto dropped us off at the Loki and we headed out to buy some drink and ingredients for our dinner. Ronan cooked the fish to perfection and we had a few drinks and some sea bass for the dinner before heading out to Barranco...

Charlie

Day 46 > No fishing!

2008-10-20T02:35:00.001+01:00

We knew we had an early start but when Alberto burst into the room at 5.30 I was seriously thinking about turning over again for another couple of hours. But Alberto was the bearer of bad news. The engine of the boat that he was taking us out on had broken down and we couldn't go fishing. He handed us back our money and was gone as quick as he had come in...

When we finally woke up and realised what had happened we weren't too happy. We had a whole day with nothing to do and Ronan really wanted to go fishing. So we started to try and organise another way to get out and fish tomorrow. We talked to the guy at reception and tried to organise another boat. He called his uncle who owned a boat and who would take us out but it was expensive. We were trying to decide what to do but then Alberto came back and said that he would bring us out again tomorrow at 5.30 in the morning! Excellent, Ro was delighted so we chilled out for the evening again around the hostel and hit the bed early...

Charlie

Emilio : RIP (2008)

2008-10-19T00:06:00.004+01:00

We´ve seen a lot of things on our trip. We´ve been mugged, seen violence, fights and extreme poverty. We´ve hiked up mountains and glaciers in freezing temperatures and been sunburnt so badly it hurt to move. I´ve had my balls squashed in a harness while hand gliding but nothing prepared us for the emotional and physical hurt that we felt when we lost our good friend Emilio.

Really we had only know Emilio for a few days before he passed away, but he touched our lives so much. We first met Emilio´s father Chris on one of our first nights in Secret Garden in Quito, Ecuador. Chris was an American and a really down to earth guy who showed his love for Emilio from the first time we talked about him.

We met Emilio the next day at lunch. Him and Chris came up the stairs to the terrace and all the girls began to take notice. Emilio was the centre of attention and Chris was as proud as punch as all the girls flocked over to say hello. But we were not left out either. Joe and Emilio got on like a house on fire and you could tell there was a mutual respect there.

It really was through Emilio that we got to know Chris and Matt who were also heading to Cotapaxi. We expected Emilio to join us on the trek even for just a little while...

However, on the morning of the trek we received the bad news. Emilio had passed away. We all felt for Chris and the other American´s of the group, Matt, Julia and Adrian. They all had a special connection with Emilio but we were not sure what state they would be in to climb the mountain but Chris was determined to climb it and reach the top for Emilio. He then had a great idea to bury Emilio there.

So after our trek on the first day we decided to have a little ceremony to bury and remember Emilio. We treked out to a little ledge over looking the valley with a fine view of the Cotopaxi Volcano. A beautiful place for a grave. Then Paulo and Chris began to dig. We all got a turn to dig the grave for our friend. When it was complete Chris placed Emilio into the Earth. It was an emotional time for Chris and I think I saw a little tear in his eye. Everyone said a few words for our friend and as we walked away we gave Chris a bit of extra time to say his goodbyes.

He may have had a short life but Emilio lived it to the last. The lads climbed to the top of Cotopaxi all for Emilio... It was a great achievement and one they will never forget.

By the way Emilio was a duck who Chris bought in the market for $2! He was named after Emilio Estevez from the film Mighty Ducks! He lived a great short life and we will all miss him. (And he also inspired rule five at the bottom of the blog!)

"Thanks for filling our Blog Emilio!"
Ronan Dooley, graveside oration, 2008

Charlie

Off to Inca Land

2008-10-13T06:26:00.004+01:00

We're off at dawn for a five day 50km hike from Mollepata over Salkantay mountain and onto Machu Picchu.

We'll get the blog up to date & get some photos up when we get back on Friday. (I managed to get a virus on my memory key & camera, making them useless, but Charlie has it sorted now)

Also....

Happy Birthday Breda!

Joe

2008-10-11T04:06:00.004+01:00

Newsflash: There`s a new addition to the South American beard club - The Real Captain Red Beard.

Eat your heart out Corm!

Day 45 - Lima or Malibu!

2008-10-02T00:57:00.004+01:00

We were woken by one of the Loki workers looking for Charlie! The Irish Consulate are on the phone and they want to know what time you'll be there!! After yesterdays encounter with Micheal we didn't think the consulate would be in such a rush. I said I'd be there in an hour and started to make my way over.

When I got there Micheal was really red and was sweating really badly. He apologised for his appearance and explained that he was working out on his exercise bike! It must have been his first time. We talked through all the details of the passport and he sent one of his girls to work on it. Then he started talking! My God could this man talk. He was a tour guide in Russia and Eastern Europe for years and then he moved to Peru in South America. Then while in Lima for Saint Patrick's day he called the Irish Consulate to see what was happening. When the person on the phone told him that the Consulate had just died Micheal rang his lawyer and asked him to put in for the job. 17years later he was still there... Talking about the world to me!

I was there for so long we ended up having a bit of breakfast together and I met his son who was down syndrome and attending military school. He decided I was the perfect person to try out his newly learned english lessons on me. Then all of a sudden Micheal jumped up out of his chair, after about 3 hours of talking, and decided he had work to do. I left saying my goodbyes taking my emergency passport. As I left I heard his secretary ask him what he wanted for lunch!

I knew it was too late to head surfing with the guys so I pulled into an internet cafe and Skype´d home to let them know about the passport and the morning I had! When I got back to the hostel I had missed the guys but they came back from an afternoons surfing with Alberto.

We then organised to go fishing the next morning at 5.30 with Alberto. So we decided we needed to have an early night!

Charlie

Surf was amazing today, Alberto took us down to check out the swell in a few different spots along the coast before we picked one beach. The triangle was the name of this particular spot between the harbor & the beach. It was a reef break so you get a really long ride after the wave breaks not like home! Alberto warned us to stay clear of the local surfers because apparently they aren't so tolerate of Gringo surfers!! We tackled the waves for a couple of hours & then went for a bit of lunch - Lomo Saltada in one of Alberto's favorite local cafes. We got a few strange looks & smiles from the female staff who weren't too used of seeing Gringos in that part of town. We had a good chat with Alberto who explained in his words that Peru is full of uneducated morans that have too many children & this keeps the country down!

Joe

Day 44 - I don`t give a shit.......

2008-10-02T00:56:00.010+01:00

We had an appointment with the Irish Consulate this morning to sort out Charlie with a new passport. The Irish Consulate in Lima is officially the easiest job in the world! This Irish/ Canadian guy Michael lives in a really nice house with his maid & secretary. Basically his secretary does all the paperwork & he signs the forms.

We made our way over to the tourist police station to get an offcial report to say Charlie`s passport was robbed in Lima rather than Quito to save explaining how we got over the border. We brought the report over to Michael & Charlie decided to tell him the real story of the mugging in Quito & how we got over the border, to which his reply was "....i don`t give a shit!" classic. I wouldn`t say Michael gives a shit about most things!! The most easy going man you'd ever meet.

We headed back to the hostel after to met Oran & Tal to go and visit one of Lima's only tourist attractions, this park full of fountains as it was described to us. Turned out to be really impressive, the park has like a dozen different fountains you can run through etc. Plus boasts the highest fountain in the world. Just by chance the Latin American Idol winner was giving a concert at the park that night which seemed to be a pretty big deal & the park filled up with local fans. So we were getting excited at this stage!

The concert was a bit rubbish but I managed to slide pass security & ended up standing at the edge of the stage beside a group of dancers who were confused by my laughing and taking photos. I got busted then because Ro, Charlie & the Israeli lads were laughing so hard in the crowd & pointing over at me. The security guard didn't find it so funny!

Back to the hostel for some more poker with Omar & his other Israeli buddys. Omar was keen to make his money back off us tonight because we pulled the piss out of him so much the night before. I ended up spliting the pot with him so he was happy enough, bit of a hussler I think!

We met up with a local guide at the hostel - Alberto who turned out to be a true legend & really made our stay in Lima. We organised a surf for the next day & fishing the day after.

Back down to Pizza Street to a local nightclub with a big group from the hostel, the club was empty but we made our own fun. Charlie got stung by a local rose salesman who he though was saying free when he was actually saying 3! But Charlie ended up getting the roses back & selling them on at a profit, Bill Cullen eat your heart out!!

Joe

Day 43 - Killer Sunday

2008-10-02T00:55:00.005+01:00

We met other Israeli guy today - Omar. Omar just bought a shiny new poker set in La Paz for $15 (would go for about €100 at home!) & he was eager to give it a go so we joined him for a game. S$20 in & poor Omar was the first out, unlucky Omar! We ended up spliting the pot between us.

After loading up on double rums we were in the mood for a bit of salsa dancing only to find out there`s no clubs open in Lima on a Sunday night! So we ended up playing killer on the pool table for the night with a few English lads - Tony & Mike.

Joe

Day 42 - Meh

2008-10-02T00:54:00.003+01:00

Nothing much to report today just loads of sleep, we saw a bit of a parade out of the hostel window which was nice! Really have to update my fantasy premier league team other weekend & Im still sitting on the bottom! Charlie rang the Irish Consulate - Michael about a new passport but he was in the pub!

We`re getting to know everyone in the hostel pretty quick here. But two of the best - Tal & Oran two Israeli brothers. Tal like most young Israeli guys you meet traveling just finished his 2yrs draft in the Israeli defence forces. He was in an elite commando Para-trooper unit which is supposed to be badass! Even though he cant tell us, Im pretty sure he`s killed a lot of people!! We drank with the lads in Loki, stocked up on double rums for happy hour & ended up in a real locals club over on Pizza Street with not one gringo in sight.

In a stark contrast to Ireland, the girls seem to chat up the lads here!

Here`s some vital tips for anyone coming to South America:
1) Dear god learn some Spanish!
2) Learn to Salsa dance

That`s it!

Joe

Day 41 - 1000 Miles of Bus!

2008-10-02T00:53:00.006+01:00

Day two on this horrible bus today! Seat no. 35 is like a second home after two nights! At this stage we`d gotten to know nearly everyone on the bus. We spend an hour at a lunch stop showing some of the lads Euro notes & telling them about Ireland and our travels in South America. Everyone has a real pride in their countries here, so some were really disappointed to hear we wouldn`t reach Venezuela & Colombia. Then we got a bit of a Spainish lesson off one of the more lively Colombian lads, who taugh us to say massterbation & many other useful day-to-day phrases in Spainish!!

Arrived in Lima 9pm after 42hrs & 1000mls on the road! Lima is huge - 9.5 million people making it the third biggest city we`ve seen in South America after Buenos Aires & Rio. We got off the bus & said some emotional farewells to our new friends. We`re staying in the Loki Hostel in Lima which is located in a really nice modern part of the city - Miraflores aka Gringo Land! Miraflores has McDonalds, Burger King, Pizza hut, KFC, Starbucks, an Irish Pub & dozens of clubs! I love Gringo Land!

The Loki hostels are owned by a group of Irish guys & they have more hostels in Cusco & La Paz (Bolivia). So Loki are famous for being party hostals. If you stay in all three you get a free t-shirt! We could hear the noise from the roof bar as soon as we got in the door, always a good sign. We hadn`t had showers in three days so a good wash was in order! Then up to the bar were there was a load of lads in drag. One of which tried his best to give Ro a lap dance! Ro fought him off by bursting one of his ballon boobs! Turns out it`s not a cross-dressing hostel they were just having a Miss Universe competition. We ended up watching the AFl grand final with a bunch of Ozzies in an effort to get used to the Australian way of life. Hawthorn beat Geelong which seemed to please most of the drunken Ozzies!

We drank in the Loki bar until 2am & got a taxi to the Bierhaus in Barranco which was closed for the night. So back to the Loki for the rest of the night.

Peru fact of the Day: The potato originates from Peru & they have 4000 types of spud! Thank you Peru!

Joe

Day 40 - Bus to Hell!

2008-10-02T00:51:00.007+01:00

Today started off at 2am we had to get across town to the Ormeno office to get the bus to Lima, Peru. There's no international bus terminal in Quito so you have to go directly to the companies office. As most of Ireland seems to know by now we ended up getting mugged that night so I might as well give the correct version of events!

The bus company have a pretty usually system because the bus that runs to Lima comes all the way from Caracus in Venezuela via Bogota, Colombia through Quito & on to Lima. That's about 1700 mls down the Pan American highway! They don't know exactly when the bus is going to get to Quito because of delays. If it doesn't get through the Colombian border in time it can be delayed by up to a day! So the company has to call your hostel with a time once they figure it out. Our bus was due in at 3:30am. So we booked a taxi at reception before we hit the hay. The power was out in the area around the hostel for some reason that night. So we don`t know if the thick English girl at reception didn`t book or taxi or she just forgot but when we got up there was no taxi in sight. The night guard wasn`t much help either when we woke him up! He just told us to hail one on the main street nearby.

Anyways we decided to take the risk knowing it was pretty dangerous around at that time of night but there`s usually loads of taxis bringing Gringos home from the nightclubs. It was usually quiet when we got down there & 2 or 3 taxis passed us by for some reason. Then we noticed 4 ominous looking gentlemen emerging from the darkness! Shit!

Two of them went straight for Charlie`s smaller bag & the other two smashed glass bottles and came at Ro & myself. We ended up backing out on to the main road as they came closer to us. The two lads & Charlie ended up wrestling around on the ground while he was trying to hang on to his bag. Finally a taxi made it`s way towards us, Ro & myself dived in front of the car desperate for some help. The driver slowed right down & then bumped me out of the way with the car & kept going not wanting any part of our situation. All of a sudden we were left back facing the two lads with glass bottles again!

The third guy went over to help the other two lads who still hadn`t managed to pry Charlie`s bag away from him after about 5mins! Ro threw his wallet at the guy shouting at him for dollars, he pulled out the money & threw the wallet back at him! Just then another taxi came along & we weren`t taking no for an answer. Myself & Ro practically jumped on top of the car knowing it was the only way outta there! Charlie gave one of the lads a belt across the face. This seemed to anger him!!

The driver & passenger got out to help, the 4 lads knew they where out numbered at this stage so they hopped Charlie`s head off the ground nearly knocking him out cold. They grabbed his back & sprinted off down a side street. We carried Charlie into the cab, thanked the driver for stopping & got moving. Once we got to the bus office we gave the driver $30 - all the money we had which was 10 times the fair! He was pretty grateful & so were we knowing we could have been stripped of everything we owned had he not stopped like the other taxi.

We were left in an awkward position now with Charlie`s passport & bus ticket gone. We managed to replace the ticket when the office opened but this bus still had to cross the border into Peru which was now impossible for us without all three passports. We decided to board anyway just to get out of Quito & made a decision to get off the next morning in Guayaquil the next biggest city in Ecuador to try & sort out some new documents. We didn´t sleep a wink on the bus playing over in our heads what had happened. Every single "What if?" goes through your head.

The whole bus was full of South Americans which made things a bit more difficult, not an English speaker in sight.

Before reaching Guayaquil the next morning we got stopped in some random hole of a town at a military checkpoint. The soldiers boarded the bus with M16s & directed us off shouting "Pasporta!" Apparently these stops are quiet routine especially for international buses to check peoples documents, visas etc. We couldn`t believe our misfourtune & I had visions of us being held in this awful town while the bus continued on. A soldier patted us down against the side of bus & checked our passports until it got to Charlie. The soldier was asking questions about 90mph in Spainish & we knew this was going to be difficult! Just then a Columbian guy off the bus came up to help us translate, thank god! We explained to him about the mugging, the stolen pasporta & even started pretending to break glass bottles & hit Charlie over the head in an effort to explain. We ended up getting a smile out of the soldier & he directed us back on to the bus!

I got chatting to the Colombian guy - Javier back on the bus & told him how we needed to get to Peru. He just kept telling me how dangerous South America was & to never trust anyone! Which we had already reliased at this stage! He agreed to help me speak to one of the bus drivers about getting over the border without the passport which he thought was possible for the right price! After a long winded conversion over & back with the driver, Javier & me he said he would get us through to Peru for a bribe of about $30. Happy days except we had about $7 in total on us on the time. But Javier being an absolute legend offered us a loan. We promised him he would get twice the money back but he just wanted to help out.

We reached Guayaquil about 3pm with other 24hrs to reach Lima. We stoped for lunch in some backwards Ecaudorian town. Lunch was soup with random potato-like stuff & a main course of fryed fish head & rice - Yummy! That night at 11pm the bus pulled into the border checkpoint on the Ecuadorian side. Ro & myself got our exit stamps while Charlie & Javier talked with the driver - Persy about getting through into Peru. Persy told Charlie they would act like friends & told him to just act dump & shrug his shoulders everytime they asked him questions in Spainish. Which was easy considering our Spainish is terrible! Persy made up some story about the lost Passport & slide the border guard the $30. Charlie was just asked "North or South Irlanda?" & we were on our way to Lima. Happy days!

Joe

Day 39 - Banos Waterfalls by Quad

2008-10-02T00:45:00.014+01:00

We only have 24hrs in Banos since our bus to Lima leaves at 3am tomorrow morning so we got to make the most of it & see as much as possible. So what better way to sightsee then to get quads & drive around really fast?! $20 for 3hrs happy days! Ellen from the hostel was keen to tag along & see some sights so we brought her for the spin. We zoomed outta town & headed for the famous waterfalls. Myself & Ro drove full speed the wrong way into a one-way tunnel during the excitment of it all! When I say tunnel I mean a cave carved out of the mountain, pitch dark! We only reliased our mistake when we discoverd headlights bearing full speed in our direction. The driver managed to spot us slow down & scream "are you suicidal?.....no but thanks anyways!"

So we carried on in one piece to see Rio Blanco falls up close. It was a 1km hike from the road so the viewing point. There's a little crawl space that brings you up right behind the falls! Ro thought he'd never fit but we managed to squeeze him up. I manged to break my camera in the process aswell. There's also a rope bridge about 100ft over the river that gives a view of the falls so we had lots of fun putting the fear of god into Ellen by bouncing up & down.

After be got back to Banos we got some dinner, said goodbye to Ellen & we reluctantly hoped on last bus back to Quito. It would have been great to chill here for a few days but that`s the nature of backpacking, there's always something else to see gotta keep moving.

Some crafty thief on the bus managed to discretly slash Ro & Charlie's bags from underneath the seats! We we're dreading getting back to that hole of a bus station in Quito, especially after dark considering how bad it was in broad day light the day before! But we literally jumped from the bus right into a cab & got the hell outta there.

We met up with Luke back at the Secret Garden for a few beers & his ex-friend/ special friend who just got in from Oz. I hope they have lots of fun traveling around together........White Lotus Luke! wink wink nod nod!!

Joe

Day 38 - Don`t Rob Me!

2008-09-30T03:55:00.006+01:00

Struggled outta bed at 8am this morning for a bit of brekkie & packed up. It`s time to hightail outta Quito before we eventually get robbed! Everynight up on the terrace in the Secret Garden you get told another story of some gringo getting mugged coming home from the club or their bag/pockets slashed on the bus or some other random scam. Thievery is an artform here! You have to respect some of their methods in a strange way! Well an artform sometimes or else they just stab you in the face & rob your bag!!

We grabbed a taxi over to the bus station which we had been warned by Santiago our Spanish teacher is "....muy muy peligro!" I getting sick of hearing that word Peligro about Ecuador, but it turns out this time it was particularly fitting! This bus station was like a zoo, except the animals weren`t in cages! I felt like telling the taxi driver....feck this get me outta here; back to Hostel - VAMOUS!!

We ended up sitting around the station for an hour with all our worldy possessions, felt like we were getting sized up by everyone around us! After the longest hour of my life some young guy signalled us towards a bus & we ended up bumping into Team America from Cotopaxi who were getting on the same bus. Bus drivers are absolutely nuts here, think it`s something to do with the competition between companies. We spent the next 20mins trying to get out of the bus station while other drivers pulled out & reversed out in front of each other & refused to move slamming on their horns; I miss Bus Eireann! One of the yanks - Adrian told us a story about their bus driver in Colombia getting into a machete fight with another bus driver on the side of the road over road rage!

We got to Banos 3hrs later after driving 90mph the whole way! We desended about 1200m coming down through the Andes to get here so some amazing scenery. Banos is set in a valley at the foot of the active Tungurahua volcano, with it`s most recent activity resulted in the town being evacuated for 2 years! It was evacuated again in Aug 06 for a few weeks. The main attractions here are a string of hugh waterfalls & the volcanic baths.

We checked into Plantes y Blanc Hostel with the yanks, myself & Ro were standing around in reception while the rest checked out the rooms. Some middle aged man santered in & stood around behind us before he decided to try & swipe my bag from right in front of us! Worst thief ever he would last 5mins with the pros in Quito! I just pointed at the bag & he was like "Kay?" dropped the bag & headed back out the door. This was a nice hostel but the view from the roof terrace has to be seen to be believed, the town is encircled by mountains & there`s a waterfall dropping about 80m behind the hostel that lights up at night!

We passed by a barbers down town & decided it was time for a tidy up. I decided to get my head shaved to scare off any possible muggers. Came out pretty nice, Ro reckons I look like a cage fighter; that was just the look I was after! Charlie got another shave & Ro got a serious crew cut (you could set your watch to it!) so we should be safe enough!

The nightlife is pretty dull here, so we joined the Americans for a carton of wine down the local park. This was our last night with the Americans & were pretty close now after bonding at Cotopaxi & laying their pet duck to rest! So we thought we`d make the most of the night by stocking up on cartons of wine & vodka and heading back to the hostel terrace for some good old drinking games. This got out of hand fast! After going through most of the wine on the terrace & picking up another American - Ellen from NYC, we headed down to our room after being asked to leave the area. We finished up around 2am, so much for our plan of going to the baths at 8am tomorrow morning! Good night though, gonna miss Chris that crazy yank!

Joe

Day 37 - Recovery

2008-09-30T03:27:00.008+01:00

We felt like a bit of pampering after our tough expedition at the weekend so we hit the Turkish Baths in the Old Town, Quito for some much needed TLC! Ro, Charlie, Luke ( Team Oz) & myself spent a few hours between the pool, jacuzzi, sauna & steam room. Then on to the local Chifa (Chinese) for the biggest feed ever for $3 - heaven!

Our plan is head South from Quito to a volcanic resort town called Banos. The idea was to get down there tonight but we got back to the hostel to find out we got the wrong bus times from our trusted local tourist agent Paul; all trust is lost now & we hate him! This is the same guy who sold us the climbing trip of Cotopaxi as if it was a walk in the park & not the painfull hell it turned out to be!! Fecking Canadian!

Ah well that just means we get another night in the Irish Pub to return their flag & watch the All-Ireland. Charlie`s not too happy because he foolishly put a $20 bet with Ursula the owner, so since we just checked the result he has to cough up!! Personally I`m delighted Tyrone won!

Good times in Finn McCools tonight, we received a hero`s welcome with our Cotopaxi Irish flag!Ursula was delighted with the result of the All-Ireland so Charlie`s $20 was the icing on the cake for her! Free pints were dished out & we watched the game. Kerry were unlucky! We got home around 4am after lock-in, bus at 9am tomorrow morning should be fun!

Joe

NEWS FLASH:

2008-09-23T01:54:00.000+01:00

RO MAKES IT TO THE TOP OF COTOPAXI AND SAVES TEAM IRELAND!!!!!

DOOLEYS TRY SEALS THEM BANANAS!!!!!!!

Day 36: The most physical & Mentally Challenging day of our lives

2008-09-23T01:53:00.010+01:00

12pm eventually came. The Americans jumped out of bed and started pulling on their gear. Team Ireland stayed, all 4 of us clutching our head. Surprisingly, Joe seemed to be the best of us, Luke in second place with myself and Charlie struggling to put on our water proofs while squashing our head with our hands at the same time. Suddenly as soon as my laces were tied I felt like retching. I ran outside but luckily after a few deep breaths the feeling subsided. Joe came out to check to see if I was alright. Good old Joe. He's no Mammy Dooley but he does a good job sometimes. How you feelin I asked him, fantastic, much better today he said. I stayed holding the wall and watched Joe take 10 steps and then hurl up what looked like a large steak and kidney pizza. I laughed so much I forgot all about feeling sick. Deep breaths and the cold air also helped.

The whole group stayed waiting in the court yard for myself and Charlie who by now was really feeling the effects of Altitude sickness. All the colour from his face had drained away. 12.30 we joined the group in the court yard and started our epic adventure. We had missed breakfast but I dont think any of us were too worried about that. We carried our crampons, water and pick axes in our bags for the first section until we got to the glacier. This first section took about a half an hour, which had taken us 45min yesterday. we were all a bit worried at the pace Diego was setting at the front. At the edge of the Glacier we all put on our cramp ons and took a much needed breather. This wasnt a good sign that we were out of breadth at this stage. From the acclimatisation climb the day before yesterday and the 45min treck from the carpark to the refuge, Paulo had selected the teams. With one guide for every two people, (in order of bestness) Adrian was paired with Matt, Chris with Julia, Joe with myself and Charlie with Luke. However, By this stage Charlie had turned a light shade of grey and looked a bit drunk he was thinking that he might not make it. Team switch, the three Americans were roped together with Freddy, Joe who was looking remarkable well was bumped up to Julie with Paulo, I went with Luke and Fausto (AKA Legend) and Diego would monitor Charlie as he bore through the pain.

A sudden surge of excitement and energy came over me mixed with a little Dooley competitive aggression and I gave a little team talk to Team Ireland. Poor old Luke I think got the brunt of this. I told Fausto our guide not to go easy on us cause I knew we could make it. We set off racing. The first half an hour went really well. We were in first place and Luke seamed just as determined to make it to the top as I was. Then things started to slow down. Lukes boots were hurting him and the rests became longer. As I watched the three Americans pass us I started to whip Luke with the rope that attached the three of our harnesses. Heaa Heaa (SORRY LUKE) Was pretty funny at the time though. Fousto became worried that because the pace had slowed down that we wouldnt be able to make the top. This was a disaster. The reason we were climbing in the dark with flash lamps on our heads was because when the sun comes up it starts to melt the Ice and conditions become dangerous, Muy Pellegrouso, the most frequently used word the the guides said to me on the climb. Which would mean if we left it too late we would have to turn back.

Fousto Radioed down to Paulo to tell him the problem. Paulo said that one of his team was also finding the going tough so it would be better for me to switch partners. Yes I thought, Joe was doing well and we may still have a chance. We dug in and waited for Paulo and his team to reach us. I spotted Joe on his hands and knees trudging up behind Paulo. Doh! Julie who was a very strong climber and looked like she could start running at any stage. We switched Luke for Julie an the rope, I said good bye to luke and gave one last pep talk to Joe and then set off again.

This time I was clear I was the weak link. We started racing up the mountain. I knew I wouldn't be able to keep this pace up be I gave it a good go. We soon made it off the glacier and onto the real climb. The snow was now up to our knees (well my shins\ Julies knees and faustos waste). The incline was a constant 55degrees but there was no jig jag for Fausto. Straight up ta fuck I think he said in spanish. Soon we started passing out groups one by one who had opted for the sane zig zag take a break approach. My lungs were screaming for air. Screw this its time for a break I said. We dug seats for ourselves in the snow slope and took out our water. I was so tired though I forgot about gravity and placed my water bottle on the ground. We watched as it rolled the whole way down into the darkness. Maybe Joe might need a drink was my excuse.

We powered on. I constantly had to tug on the rope to get Fausto to slow down the pace but he must have remembered my little speech at the bottom cause there was no slowing him down. Any time Id stop hed give a little tug back on the rope and Id have to keep going. Each slope just seemed to be getting higher and steeper, and the snow just seemed to keep getting deeper and softer. Every time we passed a group out we had to drop a gear and pick up the speed. This was tough but I could smell that we were getting closer. There were times I thought about giving up but I knew I wouldn't be able to tell Kilian or Gerard on the phone when i got back. The near breaking point came about an hour from the top. Absolutely no energy left in the tank and we faced the craziest slope I have ever seen. I would have turned back if I hadn't spotted 4 people in the distance taking a break. It was the the three boys and Freddy. We had caught up to the Americans. Suddenly Ideas entered my head of clipping off my harness and sprinting past them with an Irish flag all the way to the top. Not to be. I got freddy to radio down to Joe and Luke and Charlie to see if they were on the way (Joe had the Flag). My heart sank, word came back that they had all turned back and gone back to the refuge. The success of TEAM IRELAND rested on my shoulders.

Fresh from their break the boys set of up the final leg of the journey. Eager to stay with them we went in convoy after them. I could have done with the break however. We stook with them the whole way until the very very last bit. This is when all of my muscles decided not to work at the same time. The last section cruelly was a near vertical section with two foot deep snow on it. You had to dig your pick in take four steps and watch your feet slip right back down to where they started........ and then repeat. I kept on slipping and falling and and a few stages ended up lying face down in the snow unable to get up because I was so drained. But with the help of Fausto tugging on the rope and Julie giving me her basketball half time speach I Finally made it to the top (5 and a half hours later). The feeling was indescribable.

Me standing on top of the world (Crater behind)

Unfortunately this feeling soon wore off as the top was covered in fog and mist and a blizzered that cut through every stitch of clothes we had. I stood right beside the crater to the largest active volcano in the world but I couldn't even see past my own nose. Its just a theory but seeing as cotopaxi is on the equator and I was the tallest person on top of that while the sun was high in the sky. I recon I was the closest person in the world to the sun for that brief period. Stop me if Im getting carried away but I made it to the top 5900m, Charlie to 5208m and Joe and Luke to 5400m. Base Camp at Everest is 5208m. How do you like them bananas indeed!!!!!!!!

The way down was not easy either. One of the many muy pellegroso moments I had on the way down was slipping off the foot wide path down a cliff nearly taking my two buddies attached to me with me. I was so tired at this stage I could hardly put one foot in front of the other. Managed to clip my own heel and slid off the cliff. Thank god for the training we had done yesterday. I turned onto my belly and jammed my pick into the ice like my life depended on it. I wasn making things easy on myself, I then had to climb back up the cliff using my crampons and pick axe. Muy pellegroso.... Ya Ya I know.

I then started to ask him could we slide down instead of walking. Any thing to stop the burning in my legs. After a few NO no Muy pellegroso from Fausto be eventually gave in and let us slide down on our asses using our picks to slow us down. So much fun but Im sure It was pretty dangerous seeing as there are cliffs and crevasses everywhere, not to mention that we were doing it in single file and each of us had 12 razer sharp knives on on the soles of our boots.

A few more slips and falls and slides later we were back at the refuge. just over 3 and a half hours to come back down. The boys had been back at the cabin for the last 5 or 6 hours sleeping, where I was fit to die. More good news, no time for food we had to pack up all of our stuff and treck back down to the carpark. On the bright side though, my altitude sickness had gone, Im a glass half full guy.

The 4x4 jeeps took us back to the first camp to collect our stuff and then back to the secret garden where we crashed straight away. We went for a massive chineese when we woke and then it was back to bed for a well deserved mammoth sleep. 14hrs solid straight through. Longest in quiet some time.

Day 35: The Tention Mounts (Base Camp 4800m)

2008-09-23T01:52:00.002+01:00

The next day started at 8am after everyone having a mixed night of sleep. Downstairs was Joe, Luke and Ronan who heard every bit of noise in the Cabin. Upstairs was Matt, Chris, Julia, Adrian and myself who had to put up with Chris snoring and farting like a trooper. We all headed across the road to the restaurant and found all the guides ready for the day. We sat into a great breakfast of Fruit Salad and Omelettes and started to pack our smoke smelling gear into the jeeps for the journey to the rufuge.

The refuge is located at 4,800m. Another 4,500m down the mountain is the car park which is the last point the jeeps could reach. So after a couple of awesome pictures in the car park and sharing out all the food to carry up the mountain we started out up towards the refuge with all of our equipment. The average journey time for this part of the climb is 45mins. For me it was hell. I felt every step but still we all made it up in 45mins and our guides were very happy with our progress.

Ro

The refuge is nothing other than a cabin with a couple of matresses laid out on top of the mountain. There are gas cookers but there is no electricity and you have to flush the toilet with a bucket of water. (If you require more information leave a comment and I´ll explain further!) We picked out our beds and headed down for a bowl of soup. The next thing the rain came. And I mean it came! We were supposed to go out and practice our technique on the glacier but when the rain and thunder started Paulo suggested it might be a better idea to reschedule for 3pm.

We suited up and headed out to practise on the glacier at 3pm. The glacier was another 40min hike from the glacier. When we got there we put on our Crampons and got our ice picks ready and started hiking up the glacier. Paulo was showing us all the different techniques on the ice and then he showed us the coolest thing, sliding!!

Sliding means you sit on your ass and slide down the mountain. The only problem with that is you have to stop! To stop you have to roll over and dig your ice pick into the glacier to bring yourself to a stop. Paulo marked an area and said it was the crevace and you had to stop before then! Unfourtunetly, Ronan slid straight into the crevace and died but it was good practice for the real thing!

We got back to the refuge and then we had more food again. They were really trying to load us up with food so we would have the energy to climb the mountain. This is when Joe started to get sick from the altitude. I knew something was wrong when he didn´t even want to touch his dinner! A clear sign there is something wrong with Joe! While the rest of the guys were getting ready to go to bed me and Ronan and Luke settled in for some coco tea with Freddie one of the guides who started telling us all his stories from the mountain. Like how he made it in 1hr 45mins.

Charlie.

Freddie was an animal. We were told that at a quick pace you could climb the mountain in 5 and a half hours, so 1hr 45 is dam impressive. He must have sprinted the whole way. You wouldn't believe it unless you saw him. His shoulders were wider than I am long and he had aa face that looked like he could stop an avalanche by just looking at it. I asked Him If we got tired would he carry us the rest of the way like the sherpas do to Homer Simpson up the Murder horn but he said that would cost extra.

Myself Charlie and Luke were in flying form at this stage with about 7 cups of coca tea in us. We were going to climb the mountain there and then but we said we better get some sleep first (8.00). Bad Idea. Say I slept for about a half an hour before I woke to run to the toilet. Stood up too fast and thats when the pounding head ache kicked in. The only thing that relieved the pain slightly was to squash my head with both hands. This isn't easily done while taking a whizz standing up at the same time. The rest of the night was hell. The headache didnt stop, this was amplified by the distinct smell of joes insides which I had seen him fill the bin with just before lunch that day.

Day 34: The Epic Adventure Begins

2008-09-23T01:51:00.014+01:00

breakfast at 7:30. We´re so tired and everyone in our room now hates us for wakeing them up so early. Checkout at 7:55, Secret Garden are officially the slowest hostel so far at checking people out. Maybe its because they add your total up on a napkin, I´m not sure. Our guide who had been waiting for us since 7:30 started to get impatent so they picked up the pace and we left at about 8:30.

First stop was the shop that we were fitted for the clothes yesterday to collect the gear. Here we met our US mates (TEAM AMERICA) Chris, Matt, Adrian and Julia who were also picking up their stuff. We Loaded all the gear in two 4X4s and set off for our first stop at 3500m where we would stay our first night in a cosy cabin. Along the way our geep passed therse so we couldnt help sticking our eire flag out the window. Hopefully a sign of things to come.

We checked-into the cabins at about 12:00 and went to the rest hut for lunch. After we kitted up for our acclimatising hike to the top of a near-by mountain (also a volcano as it turns out). We were each given a sandwich and drink and set off (3:00). The guides Paulo and Fiusto had told us that it would be an easy hike so not to bring the big heavy boots that our shoes would do. Exactly an hour into the hike the heavens opened and the biggest hail stones I have ever seen started to pound against our faces. The wet had now soaked through my rain gear and my shoes were now fit for the bin. We were forced to turn back. This didn´t boad well for our cotopaxi expedition tomorrow.

5:00 we made it back to the cabins soaked to the bone. Seing as we were told to bring only the esentails, none of us had much in the way of a spare change of clothes so we were forced to wear the fleese pants and insoles to our snow boots. Some didn mind this as much as others however (Photos to come).

That evening we hung all of our clothes next to a big open fire in the rest hut. As the cabin slowley filled with smoke to the point where you couldnt see across the room we played Poker for cocktail sticks and eat the savage lomo steak that they had prepared for us. The generator we used for the lights was the only thing you could hear for miles and miles around. The night was so still and quiet.

We all went to bed at 8:00. Tired and exauhsted from the hike but at least our clothes were now dry. We put every stitch of clthes we had back on us and climbed into our sleeping bags. Paulo had told us it was very very important to sleep tonight as we wouldnt get any tomorrow nigt as we wouldnt be able to sleep in the refuge with the altitude effects............ No Pressure

Day 33: Suiting it up

2008-09-23T01:50:00.009+01:00

Woke early this morning. First things First, we had to book our Cotopaxi expedition. A quick all you can eat omelette breakfast up on the terrace in the bar area on the fifth floor and then it was down to the bottom floor where Paul has his tourist office set up. Paul is a really chilled out guy from the US who came to visit his mother in Quito 10 years ago and couldn’t leave so he set up his own tourist office in the basement of Secret garden called Carpadium. He soon talked us into the full 3 day trip as at least one night at altitude would be needed before the night at the base camp on the night we attempt the summit. Just then Luke the Auzzi poked his head in and we convinced him to come too because we needed a fourth to beat the US team. $220 each because there were 8 of us including the Americans doing the climb

The four of us headed into town in Pauls car to the climbing shop which ran these expeditions. A really old jeep which I´m definitely going to buy when I get to Auzz. Here we were fitted for snow boots, ice cramp-ons, fleece long Johns, Fleece jacket and balaclava, Water proof pull-ups, rain coat, head-lamp, snow mitts and oxygen mask (all is true except for oxygen mask although we could have done with a few oxygen bottles half way up the mountain). We hat to buy our own hats gloves and sky socks so we said see to tomorrow to the shop keeper and did some shopping. I bought 2 pairs of socks which I was thankful for after.

Luke had been robbed on the tram back from the "Central del Mundo" yesterday so we went with him the police station to fill out his police report for his insurance. On the packed Trole a man bumped into him knocking him into two old women. One reached into his left pocket for his wallet who he stopped but when he turned back his right pocket had been slashed with a knife and his expensive camera gone. This was a common story with the trams here.

Made it back in time to Skype the Old folks and make our second Spanish Lesson. We all have a few words know. Santi our instructor is the best there is. His favourite words are "Entanda Chicos" and "Muy Peligroso". The first one when we have our bewildered looking faces on and the second one when describing any area in Quito to us or the Cotopaxi volcano. I would hear the second one a whole lot over the next few days.

Chicken and Beef was the dinner of the day which we devoured. We met up with Luke and Chris and all agreed to have an early night which didn really happen. It was Quiz night in the hostel so we had to have a go. Chris joined another team so TEAM IRELAND bonded and called our team the Cotopaxi 4. At the half way mark we were in the lead so we won free shots of rum, which we really didn need, but took all the same. Sleep eventually came but the excitement was starting to kick in.

8:00 rise in the morning for the suit up and ship out.

Day 32 : The centre of the world, well not really!

2008-09-23T01:44:00.003+01:00

Today we got up early cause we really had to get all of our sight seeing done before our Spainish lessons at 5o´clock. Before we went I had to get some laundry done after Buenos Aires. The laundry service in the Secret Garden is actually the mother of the owner! She has her own apartment in the hostel and you go down and knock on her door with your bag of laundry and she washes it for you! Kinda like home...

We got the Metrobus out to the Ophelia station and got the bus to the centre of the world. All of this for 50c. The centre of the earth is actually a town on the equator with a big monument which doesn´t really impress you too much. Inside the monument is the museum of Ecuador which goes through each region of Ecuador and shows how the people live there! We got through the museum and walked through the town but there wasn´t much to see so we started taking the stupidest photos that we could. No better lads to do that!

We got the bus into town and started to do a bit of shopping for our trip to Cotopaxi. We went through a market and tried to buy gloves and jackets for the trip. We got gloves and scarfs from a market stall and tried to haggle but the owner was having none of it. We got him down a dollar but it was the best we could do. We ended up taking the Trole back. The Trole is an electric bus which is kinda like the Luas only on wheels. Its electric to reduce pollution but it is very regular and very cheap which means it is always packed. We were squished for a couple of stops and got out right outside our hostel where we headed in for our Spainish lesson.

Our lesson was with Santiago. Santi was a teacher in the Secret Garden for nearly three years and he was really easy to understand. He went through all the basics with us, talking to taxis, describing our hobbies and how to ask a girl to dance!

We ended up on the terrace again afterwards having dinner with Luke, who actually rode the Trole as well that day and got his camera stolen! We had another great dinner of Pork and really nice ice cream and cake for dessert. An ecuadorian band started up and played some really cool music on pan pipes and small guitars when we relaxed and enjoyed the view and the beers.

Charlie

Day 31: Cameras and Quito

2008-09-23T01:43:00.004+01:00

Woke up this mornin and Joe realised that he left his camera on the plane. (I told yee lads, if only yee had yeere eye patches and sleeping bags in Montevideo and got some rest yee wouldn be loosing all yeere stuff). Myself and Joe headed back to the airport to collect the camera. Charlie decided to reacquaint himself with a long lost friend called bed, no point in all of us traipsing across. Transport in Quito is so cheap. The currency here in US dollars so its easy to work out if you’re getting a deal or not. No messing around we decided to get a taxi across. $5 for a half an hour taxi ride to the airport. After a while of searching around we finally found the Taca airline office who said: ´We try to ring Mr Dooley but there is no answer´, so they obviously tried to ring home because I had booked the three tickets on my credit card but Mam and Dad must have been out golfing. We were all pretty happy to have the camera back because its the one with all of our best photos on it. On the way back we decided to be a bit more adventurous and try to hale a bus. Because Quito is in a valley with mountains on either side its pretty to find your way around, It’s either north or south. With Kilian and Marys present of a little compass we could easily tell what side of the road to be on, stuck out our hands and the first bus stopped (by stopped I mean slowed down to 30mph and we jumped on for 25c which took us all the way back to the hostel. The bus was full with school children and old women, not dodgy at all. My advice to people in Quito is to get taxis at night, these buses during the day and stay the hell off the trams, you’ll see why further on.

Came back to the hostel and grabbed Charlie who said he was woken up about 4 times by the staff trying to put people in our beds. They aren’t the most organised bunch of people working here so they don’t really know how many days you’ve booked in for. Went to the Statue on the top of the only hill in the middle of the valley overlooking Quito of the Virgin of Quito. Joe had to tell everyone he met randomly in the hostel that it doesn’t take 30min to get to the statue before he could talk to them because he lost the bet. If I lost I would have had to pay for the taxi, I was pretty confident though. The view from the statue was spectacular. Quito is so unlike any other city ive seen so high up but yet down in a crater surrounded by volcanoes and mountains.

Had Grub in the Hostel at 7 when we got back. They do a nice dinner but it is expensive compared to the local area. Its convenient though and there is an open air roof top bar here overlooking the whole of the old town in Quito with the best view in town, so everyone just gathers here for some grub and a few beers. Talked to a group of US lads "Chris Matt, Adrian and Julia" who told us about this climb they were going to do. The climb of all climbs, the mother of all mountains, not just any mountain, a volcano, and not just any volcano, the highest volcano in south America, the highest active volcano in the World. We all said it at the same time.... We gotta do this. And so it developed, TEAM IRELAND would race TEAM AMERICA to the top of Mount Cotopaxi.

Having such success with the Irish pub in Rio and having no clue where to go out, we decided to hit the Irish pub. "Finn Mc Cools". One of the German girls Anna joined us, seeing as we sold it so well. Luke wouldn join because he was tired which we slagged him for later. Luke is from Melbourne and will be a big part or this blog for the next 5 days.

IRISH PUB (WOO BOO BBOO BOO BOOP PooP)

Great crack in the Irish pub. Ended up getting to know all of the staff and the owner Ursula. Told her all about our Cotopaxi expedition plans and immediately she wanted in. She wanted to sponsor the whole of team Ireland to make it to the top. Charlie started to hammer out the deal. A free round of pints tonight, free stew when we came back down, another round of free pints, Finn Mc Cools would put on a rerun of the all-Ireland that we were going to miss while up there and put up our names behind the bar. In return we had to make it to the top with the flag that Finns gave to us, signed by all of us and TEAM AMERICA (BOOO!!!) and our guides (TEAM ECUADOR).
I think we did well. This is why I brought Charles on the trip. In the end Eimear from behind the bar had to kick us out at 10 minutes past late.

Day 30 (Part 2) : Quito

2008-09-23T01:16:00.002+01:00

We got into the Old town on the next bus and made our way to our hostel, the Secret Garden. When we got there the hostel reception was on the fifth floor! After all of our travelling for the last few days we weren´t too happy about climbing the steps to the top floor! But the view more than made up for that!

The fifth floor of the Secret Garden is a terrace with a reception, bar, kitchen and an amazing view right over Quito! We checked in with the guy behind the desk whos name was Marco. We checked in and pretty much hit the beds to catch up on yesterdays sleep!

We got up after a couple of hours and hit the bar upstairs again for Dinner. Dinner that night was noodles and chicken and was gourgeous... We spent the night on the terrace in ponchos, which the hostel supply, drinking and talking to all the other guests...

We met Sam from Australia who was just starting out his travels in South America after spending a couple of crazy weeks in the US. We met Bianca and Christina from Africa and Sweden. Bianca was telling us how we shouldn´t take malaria tablets in the jungle and that we should just wear long sleeves! Interesting! Her friend Christina went for a walk but didn´t make it to the bottom of the stairs because she fell and twisted her ankle! Not a great start to your trip in Ecuador! We ended up drinking around a wheelbarrow/campfire talking to a group of Americans who we would eventually go to Cotopaxi with and having the craic! Quito was turning out to be a good spot!

Charlie

Day 30 (Part 1) : Flying and Quito

2008-09-23T00:35:00.003+01:00

When we got to Lima I searched all over the airport for new eye covers and ear plugs but had no joy. All they sell in the Duty Free in Lima is things made from wool and wood!

I went to the gate where I met Joe but there was no sign of Ro. They started to make the first call for the flight but we just chilled because we always let the crowd through before boarding the plane. After nearly 15mins there was still no sign of Ro. We started to panic a little bit. Joe went down the airport and searched the Duty Free but we couldn´t find him anywhere! Was he already on the plane or asleep somewhere! We went to the gate as they made the final call for the flight! Ronan had not checked through because I had his boarding card so I got the guys behind the desk to make a call for him. I heard the bing bong before the announcement and then I heard Joe shout, "Found him!". Ro was asleep beside the desk across a couple of the chairs! Panic over we got onto the plane and made our two hour flight to Quito.

Quito is a typical South American city, crazy! We got out of the airport and headed to the bus stop to get a bus into town. Soon a bus came by and we hoped on hoping to be dropped off somewhere in the new town! No such luck... This bus was being driven by a man who seriously needed to get to the last stop for some bizarre reason. Quito doesn´t have the widest streets in the world but this guy was still managing 65kmph on small cobbled streets with the bus door wide open! He stopped at one stop as a woman carrying a baby was making her way to the door and he breaked so hard she almost fell out! A quick laugh from the driver and on again!!!

We got to the last stop which looked nothing like the old town. There was a shop and a restaurant and about 5 other buses! This was definetly not Quito city center. The driver shouted something in really fast Spainish and we did what we usually do! Took out the Lonely Planet and pointed to the old town map! Another shout in Spainish before he pointed to the bus in front, then to his watch, then held up five fingers! For those of you not used to travel charades what he really said was,

"Take the bus in front of us in 5 minutes and that should bring you to the old town. Enjoy Quito and have a nice day!"

More to come......

Charlie

You might not hear from us...

2008-09-18T22:45:00.004+01:00

Hi guys,

You might not hear from us for the next few days because we´ve an active volcano to conquer. After seeing the girls doing the four peak challenge we really wanted to do something to honour their achievement... So were climbing one of the highest active volcanos in the world. Its actually 5,897m high. Thats 6km, nearly the distance between Ballina and Crossmolina or like running around Eyre Square 11,974 times.

Here´s a picture of our Everest...

We are climbing with (against) some Americans so we have our Irish Flag and were ready to rock the volcano! We´re actually sponsered by Finn McCool´s Irish bar here in Quito and Ursula has promised all of us a big bowl of Irish Stew and a chance to watch the All-Ireland when we come back!!!

Talk to you all next Tuesday...

Charlie

Day 29 : Last day in Uruguay!

2008-09-18T04:02:00.006+01:00

After last night it was tough work to get up. Why do they make checkout time in these hostels so damn early (half 10?). I´m seriously thinking of setting up a backpackers union to try get these breakfast and check out times changed. Keep an eye out on Hostelworld.com.

Needless to say we didnt make breaky, or half 10, but we did manage to make it up when we got hungry. Made our own scrambled eggs, the 12 we had bought yesterday was just the right amount. It didn´t take us long to do away with a whole loaf of eggs on toast, a bag of yogurt, a bag of milk and some imitation barrys tea (yes they have bags here instead of cartons.) One of our Uruguayan buddies at the breakfast table offered us money for an egg but Joe being the good samanitan gave him one for free in the true spirit of share-hosteling. Turns out ´Joey dose share food´.

Went for a walk around Montivideo for the last time. Took in some sights, some more Ave. de Mayo and Admeral Brown Photos and then a necessary stop off at el Banko. None of us have any money left after last nigh, still can't figure out why! I know the rule is ´No McDs´but today was an exception. Charlie, the oficial keeper of the rules, alowed us one last splurge to keep our energy levels up before the long flight to Quito.

Checked out of the hostel about 9pm which only cost us for half a day and made our way to the Aeroporto. Buses are cheap everywhere and we´ve learned to cut out the taxis and to figure out the bus systems. We´re a little to good at it now though and ended up 3hours early for our flight. The lads were jelous of my sleeping bag and eye mask cause I slept like a baby in the departures area right up until check in. Ro´s travel tip of the day: get people to buy you a tiny sleeping bag before you go round the world cause theyre awsome. The first thing charlie did in duty free was buy an eye mask which he then thought he lost and had all of the cabin crew looking for but actually still had in has bag. Sleep is a presious comodity.

Rules help control the fun!

2008-09-18T03:12:00.003+01:00

Hey,

Read our new rules section at the bottom of the Blog. These are rules that we have made during the last few weeks. If you wanna comment, an explaination or want to add more rules give me a shout...

Charlie

Day 28 : History, Arsenal and Montevideo

2008-09-17T22:13:00.006+01:00

We got up early to check out and explore the town. Colonia is a really old town which has been marked as a World Heritage Sight by UNESCO. It was founded in 1680 and used by the Portugese to smuggle goods into Buenos Aires. The Spainish were not really happy with this and they started to attack the town regularly. The town continually changed hands between the Spainish and the Portugese for the next few years.

The historical quarter of the town is really good just to walk around and just take in the sights. There is a small pier/dock and there was a yacht race on so there was some beautiful ships moored. On the other side of the town there is a museum dedicated to Admiral Brown who is also pretty popular in Uruguay because he attacked the Spainish on numerous occasions up the Rio de Plata. The lighthouse is probably the best feature of the town and you can climb to the top for a great view of the historic quarter.

After a couple of hours of walking around we headed back to the hostel. Ro was on the computer checking times for the bus to Montevideo and I was just flicking through the channels when what did I find but the Arsenal v Blackburn game! In the courtyard of a small hostel, on the other side of the world I watched Arsenal beating Blackburn 4-0 and I was really happy with my days work. I could have stayed there for the day but we ended up having to catch a bus to Montevideo to catch our flight the next day.

The bus to Montevideo takes about two and a half hours. The countryside was really like home with huge green fields full of cattle and huge planted forests. Of course we slept for most of the journey.

We arrived in Montevideo totally lost. Seriously we had a map but we were about 2km off it. So Ronan got out his compass and using our old boys scouts training we started out for the hostel. After about 45mins we arrived at the Montevideo hostel. (Again, the amount of effort they put into naming these hostels is amazing!)

Montevideo Hostel is a huge old style town house with a 40ft spiral stair case. Montevideo (or this hostel) are not really popular with the Gringo trail so it was full of Spainish, Australians, and locals. The receptionist did not speak a word of English which was a weird experience for us! Finally we got the room and settled in for some food. Joe took to the cooking with Ro´s help and we sat into a delicious Spaghetti with over a pound of meat! You´d know Ro did the shopping. We also got a litre and a half bottle of wine to get the night going...

After dinner we got ready to go out. (See Rule 2) We got talking to two guys called Fabio and Nick. Fabio was a Brazilian who had done a couple of years in the US and he was travelling for a while through Uruguay and Argentina. Nick was a dessert farmer from outside Perth. His family have farms all over South Western Austrailia, some of which are over 600km apart. Thats a long way to go to count a few sheep!! Nick had been travelling for over two and a half years all over the US and South America.

We all headed into town and went to the Shannon Irish Bar. It was so bad we didn´t even buy a pint. So we went across to the Pony Nightclub. (Again, who the hell do they get to name these places!!!) Pony was small but there was a really cool atmosphere and a really great band. But the highlight of the night was the old guy who could balance a glass on his head while dancing to crazy music. That was until he dropped the glass over a bunch of girls and then we lost all respect for him!!!

Charlie

Day 27 : Missed Boats and Uruguay!

2008-09-17T22:13:00.002+01:00

Today we had to get up early to catch the boat to Montevideo at 11:30. This is tough taking the Argentinian lifestyle into account and was made even more difficult by the fact that we were out drinking until about 6:00. We got to the boat terminal at about 25 minutes past eleven but they wouldn´t let us on the boat because we had not gone through customs! With our rucksacks and our hungover heads we sat and planned our next move. Joe was given the task of getting us on a boat to Uruguay and did pretty well considering the state of us. He even managed to get a first class ticket for himself!

We headed back to the Millhouse and had some breakfast and talked to all the guys we´d met last night. Ro slept, Joe Skyped and I just walked around the centre of Buenos Aires for a couple of hours. I walked the Av Florida and it was just like walking Henry Street or Shop Street in Galway. Shops, cafes and cobbled streets marked the pedestrian areas with huge monuments at every junction. I walked through the Galerias Pacifico and seen the amazing high ceilings painted with fantastic frescos. Not only were the ceilings high, so were the prices. There was nothing but jewelry shops and high end clothes shops with one tee-shirt I looked at costing just over €100. Not something you wanna bring backpacking with you!

We headed back to the boat at about 7pm that night and made the one and a half hour trip to Colonia. The boat was like a hotel with really comfortable seats, even in the economy section. Joe had his first class ticket and said to me and Ro, "I´ll meet you back here in a couple of minutes. I´ll check it out and come back to you." Safe to say we didn´t see Joe again until we got off the boat in Uruguay!

When we got to Colonia it was night time so we couldn´t see much of the town. We walked to our brilliantly named hostel, Hostel Colonia, and checked in for the night. The hostel is nice and large but it is like a really old hotel. We had our own room but there could probably have been another 8 beds in there! For dinner we went to a steak house to test out the local cuisine. (We are coming something of steak experts here in South America.) The restaurant was called Reimporte. We settled into three big lumps of meat, I had the Lomo (Tenderloin) and the lads had the Vacio (Flank). The meal was great but then we got the bill! $830! This couldn´t be right! We were eating in Argentina for $40peso per person a night!

The bill was in Uruguay currency which is crazy! Everything is in hundreds! The bill in Argentinian Peso was only 140peso which was really good value considering the steaks and the wine that we had!!! We headed back to the beds in the aptly named Hostel Colonia and slept like babies!

Charlie

Day 26 : Graveyards and Club 69

2008-09-15T01:04:00.003+01:00

Today was our visit to the Recolata Cementery and the area of Palermo. We caught the bus from the hostel and made our way to Palermo. The cemetery was huge and in a really nice area of Buenos Aires. There are some famous old graves in the cemetry and you get a map when you go in to see all the famous graves. The woman on the gate was delighted that we were from Ireland and was quick to point out the graves of Admiral Brown and his buddy Father Fahy.

Of course these were the first graves we went to. Admiral Brown was the founder of the Argentinian Navy and is a national hero in Argentina. Father Fahy was a good friend of his and they are placed looking across at each other in the graveyard. The graveyard holds some really important graves like former presidents, all of Argentina´s Nobel prize winners, Government officals and probably the most important the grave of Evita Peron. There was nothing but flowers on the grave and crowds of people there. All the graves are crypts with stairwells downstairs where the bodies are held. There are actually some where you can see the cofins at the bottom of the crypt. Some have actual churches as part of the crypt while others have huge statues dedicated to the person. Recolata is actually a non denominal graveyard which means there are people of all religions buried here and also a church where some people get married so they can be close to their relatives. Crazy stuff...

We tried to head to the La Cabrera steakhouse because it came highly recommended but there was a waiting list and we had to wait for 4 hours. Not the best thing to tell a hungry Joe and Ro. We headed down the street and ended up in an all you can eat steakhouse! You buy a menu for $34 and then you order what ever you want off the menu. A great spot except we didn´t have a clue how to use it and thought we were gonna be charged a huge amount for the dinner! We will have to go back some day and eat our worth!!!

That night we went back to the hostel where I met Seamus Lynott, another lad from Crossmolina! This is one small world! Seamus was heading back to BA just to get a passport which he lost in Boliva and then he was heading onto LA. He had great advice for us on New Zealand and other places and it was amazing to meet him!

We all headed to Club Nicete where a local drama club take it over and put on a show on stage for the whole club. We had a great night with loads of people in the hostel... Our last night in BA was a really amazing one!!!

Charlie

Day 25 : Curry, Matches and Bag Packing!

2008-09-14T20:17:00.004+01:00

Today was a rest day after last night. Luckily there was plenty of sport on today as the second round of the World Cup Qualifiers were being shown in the Hostel. We all got up and headed to the TV room where we met Paul and a good group all down watching the England match. We watched Walcott destroy Croatia and kept an eye on the Ireland game over the internet.

We decided to eat in the Hostel that night because they were serving curry and then showing the Argentina game on a large screen in the bar. We enjoyed the curry and settled in for the night, hitting the bed early (2am, early in BA) after our previous nights exploits!

When we got to the room our other room mate, the lovely Isreaeli Evital, came back really disappointed! She was gonna to have to leave the party room (as she called it!) This meant she had to pack tonight for the morning and needed to turn on the light. Me and Ro were still awake so she asked us to help her to decide what to pack. I thought my bag was heavy but this girl had bag after bag full of stuff. She had absolutely everything you would ever need travelling. Not only had she lots of clothes but she had two of most things. Her reason was if she seen something nice she would buy two just in case she lost the first one.

She had three piles on the floor. One for charity, one for sending items back home by post and a last pile for going into the rucksack. We went through everything. She had a big knife in her bag, a present for her brother! She had tee-shirts from probably everything that she had seen along the way! She had two pairs of everything! Shorts, belts, glasses! Crazy stuff. After an hour or so of sorting, packing, repacking, modeling and repacking she was down to one large rucksack, a small pile for charity and a carry bag full of stuff to send home. I rolled over and fell asleep, knowing that my good deed for that day was done!!!

Charlie

Day 24 Hospitals and Face Painting!

2008-09-14T02:26:00.002+01:00

Today started off like any other in the Milhouse. After a few late beers the night before we were flat out asleep in our beds before the cleaners come in and ask do we want our room cleaned in the fastest Spainish I have ever heard. I agree the speed of their speech might have something to do with the alcohol taken on board the night before but the ladies would get the usual grunts and then a quick, "Non, grassy ass!" Seriously our Spainish is improving!

Ronan wasn´t feeling the best today so we decided to go to the doc. We all felt a bit sick after the 18 hour bus journey and then the soaking that we got at the match but Ro had a head cold and wasn´t feeling 100% and so decided it was best to nip it in the bud before it got any worse.

We went to reception and they suggested that we go to the hospital! A bit extreme we thought for a head cold but the receptionist explained that the doctor will charge for the callout, charge Ro extra because he is not a regular customer, charge extra for the drugs and probably send him to the hospital anyway. So the three of us set out across town on the subway. We were told to go to accident and emergency and wait there.... Disaster. We´ve all experienced this before in Ireland where you are sitting for nearly an hour before you fill out a form, never mind see a doctor but we got a ticket after some early questions and got to see the general doctor after a few minutes. He checked Ro out and he got the proper meds for the cold. Went to the chemist and filled the persciption and all done. I´d say it took about 30 mins. Amazing! All this for 150peso. It would have been cheaper as well if Ro was a member of the hospital! Ro sorted we headed back to the hostel.

Dinner tonight was back in the all you can eat across the road with two lads who were travelling on their own. Paul from Mountbellu (Don´t start!!) and Neil from Engerland. I just can´t spell place names. Again we ate above and below us all for 23peso. We headed back to the hostel and Ro went to bed and myself and Joe got ready for a night on the town...

Bahrain is a drum and bass club in town and it was a crazy spot. Again, they also used the order at till get a slip and go to the bar and hand it to the barman. The barman will then ask you what you want to drink, even though it is on the slip! The man that invented this would want to made us it! We met loads from the hostel including Amy, Liz and the guys from Bebo and a friend of Aiden O´Donnell (A lad from Crossmolina) from Dublin with his friend and the accountants.

We had a great night, there was face painting, dancing and just great craic. At 6:30 in the morning the nightclub finished and decided we would walk home. It took us an hour and a half to get back. We were asking for directions to the hostel with face paint all over us. Just made it back to the hostel in time for the breakfast and some sleep!!!

I love Buenos Aires...

Charlie

Follow us!

2008-09-14T02:16:00.003+01:00

Hi Guys,

We´ve added a new followers widget on the left hand side of the Blog. This will allow you to follow us using the Dashboard section of your Blogger account. If you have a Gmail you can use your username and password from that. (Gmail and Blogger are both supplied by Google) All it really means is that you will appear on the Blog list and you will be able to automatically access our blog from the Dashboard of your Blogger account under the Blogs I am Following section. Leave comments for me if you find this useful. Thanks again for reading and apologies about the lack of posts the last few days. We´ve just been really busy with stuff. (Drinking, eating massive steaks, catching boats and planes!)

Charlie

Four Peaks Challenge

2008-09-13T22:29:00.000+01:00

Best of luck to Nicola, Carmel, Naofa & the rest of the team in the Four Peaks Challenge this weekend.

Give it socks lads!

Joe, Ro & Charlie

Day 23 - La Boca

2008-09-09T23:08:00.010+01:00

Spent the day walking around the famous Boca district of the City. This is where the original port of Buenos Aires was based & locals would build their houses from bits of old shipwreckes. In an effort of make the area more presentable the government would paint the houses bright colours & the area became famous for this reason. Some of the old style houses are still on show today.

The Boca neighbourhood is also home to the famous Boca Juniors Football Club, this was Maradona´s stomping ground for his first & last two professional seasons & he still has his own private box here today. We got a quick tour to have a look at the famous ground, love to see a game here!

More steaks tonight back at Desnival, we´re gonna be on a first name basis here by the end of the week!!

Who´s your Daddy!

Joe

Day 22 - Steak, Steak & more Steak!

2008-09-09T02:17:00.015+01:00

Yes the day has finally come, we get to have our first Argentine Zebu steaks in Buenos Aires! These tropical cattle are actually sacred in India & now I see why - because they´re absolutely delicious!!

Here´s our Dinner some time last week!

We headed down to the famous Desnival Steak House at nearly 11pm in proper Argentine dining tradition. Dinner was 3 of the biggest, juicy & most expensive tenderloin steaks on the menu - swimming in home made gravy (or juice as my dad would call it!) , savage!

There was a sing song back at the hostel with a local band. We stayed around the hostel bar for the night which ended up closing at half2 instead of 5am because of noise complaints - not happy! So much for BA´a premier party hostel!! Good craic all the same...back to our 4 bed dorm room that we´re sharing with one other very strange Spainish girl!

Joe

Day 21 - Buenos Aires is Baltic!

2008-09-08T01:07:00.010+01:00

Arrived in BA at 10am & it´s absolutely freezing! Some shock to the system after Rio, it´s like being back in Europe somewhere! But happy to be here all the same especially since we sorted 3 tickets to the Argentina game, happy days!

We´re staying in the Milhouse Hostel, right slap bam in the middle of Buenos Aires on Ave de Mayo! They seem to be big fans of Admiral Brown here considering they named one of their main streets after his native county & hundreds more across Argentina!

The hostel is really nice one of the best so far, but its well known for the mighty craic! We bumped into people from the hostels in Florianpolis & Iguazu straight away, this really is the gringo trail!

We dropped our bags, had a few beers & left for the game at 1pm. The football is being played in the River Plate stadium in north BA. Its a full house today with 70,000 fans braving the wind & rain in a stadium with no roof! The guides brought us into the tourist section of the ground 3hrs before kickoff! The tourist sections are usually safer but there´s not as much atmosphere & everything costs twice the price! But lucky for us the police decided to kick us out of that section & put in Paraguay fans instead, so we got thrown in with the real home fans!

Teams line out

The atmosphere was tense before the game, Paraguay are sitting in the top spot at the moment followed by Argentina so today´s a real grudge match. Messi & the other starting 10 took a walk on the pitch an hour before kickoff & the crowd went wild! Messi seems to be a god here.

The talent on show today includes: Messi, Tevez, Heinze, Zanetti, Mascherano, Riquelme & Agüero for Argentina & Santa Cruz for Paraguay not too shabby!!

There was four yellows in the first 20mins. Argentina dominated play but then a counter attack from Paraguay & Heinze made a horrible error clashing with the keeper. 1-0 to Paraguay after 15mins & the keeper was in bits, nice one Heinze! Then Tevez who was putting in a man of the match performance got a harsh straight red after half an hour. Argentina now down to 10 men & the back up keeper.

Tevez getting sent off! Harsh!
Argentina made a few important changes at half time, Diaz for Henize & Agüero for Maria. Things soon changed Messi came to life & played a one two with Riquelme & set up Agüero to slot home a cracker after 60mins (1-1). Paraguay looked strong throughout but Argentina had all the chances at the end, with Coloccini missing an absolute sitter! The weather was a real let down today but the football & atmosphere were top class. These South American´s really love their football!

Three cold dedicated fans!

Big night planned tonight, we´re heading to Buenos Aires´s biggest nightclub tonight - Pascha with a gang from the hostel. We´re not leaving for the club until 1:30am & it closes sometime around breakfast!

Joe

Day 20 - Vamous!

2008-09-08T00:34:00.010+01:00

Chilled out today justed played pool & table tennis, not much choice considering the torrential rain hammering down outside! Iguazu Falls are amazing but there is nothing else to do here besides hang out at the hostel!

Gotta catch are bus to Buenos Aires today at 3pm, another 18hrs trip. At this stage we´re pretty resigned to the fact that its nearly impossible to sleep on a bus, no matter how many positions you try!

We just reliased there´s no football league fixtures the whole time we´re down there but Argentina are playing Paraguay tomorrow in the World Cup qualifers. I´m pretty sure the game it sold out but we´re gonna try our hardest to get tickets even if we have to buy them from touts at the stadium.

The Argentinian buses lived up to all the hype today, we keep hearing stories about how great they are. Our bus was basically a double-decker plane on wheels & we´re in first class!! You get dinner & desert served to you in your massive reclining armchair seat while watching movies. After a few beers, we were served champagne! Ro looked at me laughing ¨....this backpacking´s a hard life isn´t it!¨

Joe

Bye Bye Beards!

2008-09-05T17:06:00.004+01:00

The beards passed away peacefully on the evening of the 5th of September. Their remains were reposing in the sink of room 30 in the Hostel Inn, Puerto Iquazu for about 30 minutes. They will be fondly remembered and missed!!!

The beards are gone! Don´t cry but they had to go! In the last hostel we were in they had a conversation about who looked most like a terrorist and I came second! On the Argentinian border the security guard took about two minutes looking at me in the back of the car asking, "¿Charles, Charles?"

Eighties night in the hostel!

Don't worry I'll never grow a moustace!

Charlie

Pictures again!

2008-09-05T17:05:00.001+01:00

Again, the hostel have restricted the computers so we cannot add them to the Blog. Its not as if we are so lazy that we aren´t adding them! Once we get somewhere we can add them we´ll make an effort to put them up!

Charlie

Day 19 : The falls!

2008-09-05T16:26:00.007+01:00

We arrived in the National Park of Iquazu early in the morning ready for a day of looking at water falls. To be honest, I thought I would get bored pretty quickly! Honestly how many waterfalls can you look at in one day. Once you´ve seen one they all pretty much look the same, right?! I was pretty far wrong!

The falls are absolutely amazing! (I say that quite a lot on this Blog!) There are a few different trails you can take to see all sides of the waterfalls. The first trail is an upper trail which brings you along the top of some of the water falls. This was a really cool perspective but what we all really wanted was to be at the bottom to feel the power of the falls. The sun was in the sky and there was rainbows created everywhere with the haze coming off the falls. A really beautiful sight!

The lower trail is the one everyone raves about and rightly so! You get so close to one of the falls that you get absolutely soaked. Ronan was prepared because he was wearing his swimming shorts and had a dry tee-shirt in the bag! Me and Joe didn´t have a towel between us!

Three of us standing beside one of the falls

Ronan was very happy to be there!

The next section of the trip was a boat ride. This was the part I was looking forward to the most. The boat is a huge speed boat with two 150HP engines.

Nothing like Lough Conn!

The trip takes you into a waterfall and brings you as close as you can safely get. We got soaked as the powerful mist from the waterfall hit us with such force that it almost hurt at times. Then the boat sped down the river towards Garganta del Diablo or the Devil´s throat! This was amazing! (Again!)

Joe and the Devils Throat

Rainbow Joe

Ro decides he wants to go for a swim

We got really close to the bottom of the falls where we couldn´t even turn to face it the force was so strong! We were brought back to the dock as wet as ducks! We walked back to the train station and got the train over to the walkway that leads you over the Garganta del Diablo. Again, amazing! This is a one and a half kilometer walk over walkways which go the whole way across the rivers and over the fall! The views from the end platform of the falls are astonishing, astounding, fantastic, phenomenal, stupendous and marvelous! (I couldn´t use the word amazing again!) We spent about 45mins taking pictures and just watching the falls before heading back to the train and then eventually the hostel. Overall a wonderfully wet visit to the falls and highly recommended to anyone!

We went back to the hostel and settled in for the night with the guys and had some food and beer. Another great day in Argentina!

Charlie

Day 18 : Border Crossing and Puerto Iguazu

2008-09-05T15:35:00.005+01:00

We finally arrived in Foz de Iguazu on the Brazilian side of the river. We were fairly tired after the long and cold bus journey. Our first problem was trying to get to the Argentinian side of the falls where our hostel was. We got into town on the bus and paid a taxi to bring us through the border.

At the border you can get your Passport stamped with Brazilian exit stamps. However, you need a form you filled out in the airport. We needed a form which we filled out 17 days ago!!! Of course, Joe had the form but me and Ro didn't. We played dumb, saying we lost the forms, and got them to stamp our passports anyway.

Next to the Argentina border... I was sitting in the back of the taxi and when we got to the border the security guard was looking in the back of the car for Charles! At that moment, I knew the beard had to go!!!

We got our stamps and arrived at the Hostel Inn in Puerto Iguazu. This was not like any other hostel we had ever stayed in. I've stayed in many hotels travelling through Ireland but this place was as good as a three star! The hostel is on 3 hectares of land. It was a former casino but there was an economic downturn here in the 90s (according to Joe) and the casino had to close. Seeing the huge number of back packers coming to the waterfalls Hostel International took over the casino and changed it into a hostel, and they did a great job!

The reception area is huge, with pool tables, foozball tables, couches, tv rooms, a bar and a concierge! Out the front there is a huge pool and another bar! We got our own 4 bed dorm with our own toilet! All this for 36 peso a night. (That's e8.17!)

We headed to town and walked all over. We walked by the huge Rio de Iquazu. We finally reached the point where the three countries meet (Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay) and met a guy who took a load of pictures for us. We watched the sun setting over Paraguay and got the bus back to the hotel. (Sorry, hostel!)

When we got back Joe and Ro's dreams came true! There was an all you can eat BBQ that night for 25 peso, e5.68. Unbelievable! We sat in to eat and the food was amazing. Bean salads, rice, potatoes, beetroot (Ro's favourite!) and lots of other vegtable salads. However, the real interest was the meat. All kinds of cuts of beef, cooked to perfection on the BBQ. Steaks, cooked chicken and even sausages!

Happy Joe!

We ate and drank till we couldn't eat or drink anymore! Then the entertainment started. At first I thought it was just some guy playing a drum who would come around to us after and ask us for money, but no! He had two samba dancers hidden inside for our enjoyment! He brought Ronan up on stage and let him watch the dance up close and personal.

Ro thought her outfit was amazing!

Ronan enjoyed the cultural experience and really got into it. Then everyone had to join in! It ended up with everyone up dancing samba like we'd been doing it all our life!

Joe doing Limbo!

Get me outta this!

Raise your hand if you like samba!

Again, we're worried about Joe!

We ended up drinking with a group of guys and girls from England, Scotland and Ireland and had a great night until 5 o'clock that morning!

Like we needed to play a drinking game!

Already Argentina was living up to the reputation. Great hostels, brilliant craic, crazy dancing and late nights! Not to mention the meat! We knew we were going to like it here!!

Charlie

Day 17 : Bye Bye Brazil, Hello Bus!

2008-09-03T19:45:00.002+01:00

The honesty system that the hostel used to control the amount of drink that is sold would not work too well in Ireland, or anywhere there are drunk people for that matter. There was 39 cans of beer missing, fags, sandwiches and other random stuff! Not the best advertisment for the honesty system.

Today was another slow day because we had a huge journey ahead of us to Argentina. A 16hour bus journey followed by a border crossing from Brazil to Argentina. We left the Backpackers and headed to the bus station.

The bus was an old crock and not as comfortable as the one we got from Rio. We couldn't sleep and the bus was freezing... It was a long, long journey...

Charlie

Day 16 : Hungover Day

2008-09-03T19:39:00.003+01:00

The party finished up with everyone heading to the beach for a big game of soccer and a few more `quiet` cans. I woke up this morning with a can of beer under my pillow and half the beach in my sandels and clothes. Ro had the other half in his.

Joe & Ro were determined to cure their hangovers with action and hit the beach and ocean. I chose different and made the most of the bed... When the lads came back we didn`t do much really, just enjoyed our last night in the Ilha Santa Carolina.

We headed back to the hostel and got some great food and a couple of beers and enjoyed the movie, City of God. It was a weird sensation watching it cause I felt every single person in the room felt the same as me... Hungover!

Long bus journey tomorrow to Argentina...

Charlie

Day 15: Hostel Party

2008-09-01T23:50:00.005+01:00

Still had the car for until half 3. So we made sure that we got our moneys worth. Car was a Fiat Fire not unlike the old 98 Punto that Joe used to have so he was feeling a bit nostalgic. Good times.

Sand-doon surfing (awsome/ just like snow boarding), Body boarding, Surfing (all gear is free with the hostel)- Good hostel / bad surf gear

It was the Hostels 5th anniversary so the biggest night in its history was planned. Lets just say it didn´t disappoint. The hostel has an honor system in place where you take a beer from the fridge yourself and mark it on a black board that you´ve taken it. Works really well because a stock take is done at the end of every night and beer not accounted for on the board is divided and payed for by each individual as they check out, so the peer pressure makes you write it up on the board. The only down side is that everyone can see what everyone else has had to drink so some immature people take this as like some sort of score board and made a competition out of it. thankfully we were mature enough to rise above this!!!!!!!!!!!!

* Some Text Missing *

Day 14: Florianopolis

2008-09-01T23:32:00.002+01:00

Arrived off the Bus at 11am. Immediately a rep with a hostel international t-shirt spots us with the back packs. Straight over to us with the brochure of the hostel we had already booked and offered us a direct taxi to the door for a very good price. while i haggled with him for the best price, Charlie hands me the instructions and directions to the Hostel. The first line read: Go straight past the hustlers when go get off the bus. Sorry dude! just saved 80R there. the bus cost 2.50 each.

First thing we did after we got settled in the hostel was rent a car 70R (30euro) for the day. Saw all 18 beaches on the Island, and really got a good feel for the lifestyle here, Chilled rich Surfers and backpackers. The beaches make this Island look like Paradise.

Day 13: Long Bus Trip

2008-09-01T23:02:00.004+01:00

Beach again today. I could get used to this. I might even think we´re all getting a smidgen of colour. Then we get to the beach and we´re still the whitest people there. One last swim in the sea, one more freckle on my back and we say good-bye to the Rio sand and set off to the bus station for the second time. It´s time to start the traveling.

This time there were no mistakes. Flawless. 18 hours on the bus was going to be glorious. Loads of leg room. two seats to every person. A bag full of sweets and the ipods charged to the last, 20min stops every two hours... Easy!

Oh ya: Joe got off the bus at one of the stops with myself and Charlie asleep ta relieve himself (tiny bladder, poor little fella) and then when he came back the bus had left, gone! Stuck in the middle of nowhere just outside Sao Paulo in the middle of the night an innocent young Gringo with red hair would only have lasted mere hours had he not realised that the bus had gone over to the refueling station. The two of us on the buss oblivious to his where abouts gave him no chance. We both got woken up by Joe kissing us on the forehead and the floor of the bus.

Finaly, the luck was turning our way!

Day 12

2008-09-01T22:32:00.004+01:00

Up early and straight to the beach. First time we have made breakfast in this hostel. This time I picked the spot on the beach so we didn’t end up in the section with the rainbow flag. This time we ended up in the poster pin up section. We all agreed that Charlie wasn’t aloud pick our spot on the beach any more. We hit the waves for a couple of hours getting churned up like a rag doll in a washing machine, deadly craic. Bit of sun bathing our dazzling white boddies and it was time to head for the station. Packed up all our stuff and bused it to the main station, bit of a run down Kip but we getting quite good at the old public transport now.

Ronan: Three tickets to florianopolis please
Ticket lady: blue blue bla gobbledy gook No Bus
Charlie: She doesn understand you Ro
Charlie: Traise tickets to florianopolis please pour favour (insert hand movements and sign language)
Ticket lady: blue blue bla gobbledy gook No Bus
Translation: The bus left at half 3 and in any case it was full so you need to book in advance
Joe/ Ro / Charlie: !@#$%¨&* Doh!

This time a few quiet beers were in order. Checked into a different hostel in Ipamema, the Adventure Hostel. Very nice, clean, good breakfast, sound people. Went around the corner to the nearest bar to get some grub and a glass of beer and of course Charlie ran into someone from Crossmolina. Kelly-ann Herr and her boy friend Declan. Joe wasn’t surprised he’d come accross this before. got great advise off both and stayed there for the rest of the night.

What´s that card she´s Holding?

Day 11: Sleep

2008-09-01T22:22:00.002+01:00

Today we slept until 6pm. That’s pretty late seeing as check out is at 12 and we need to get a bus to Florinopolus Today. The receptionist informed us that there is only one bus a day and that leaves at half 4....... Dam! Just about missed it. Not too bad.... A chillin day, I mean night.

Father Ted Soccer!

2008-09-01T22:19:00.003+01:00

Hey,

Was at a match in Rio and at half time you usually just grab a beer and a hotdog but there was a match going on with some old guys playing. I took a video of one of them warming up on the sideline.

http://br.youtube.com/watch?v=cAWnJd3SMu0

Do you remember the episode of Father Ted with the old guys playing soccer... This must have been the inspiration!!

Charlie

Day 10 (Continued): Irish Pub

2008-09-01T21:21:00.005+01:00

"down to the Irish bar for a few last quiet pints before we leave Rio" . .................... I told Charlie not to jinks us by writing that. I had an Idea those last few pints wouldn be so quiet.

Ended up headin to our local Irish pub `Shinanigans` for one. Just because we were getting home sick for a proper pint glass and maybe meet up with some other Irish travellers. The pub was full but we were the only Irish there. Soon one pint became two and we ended up paying into a pool tournament with a big group of the pubs local husslers. Charlie our biggest hope went down to a very aggressive lad in a pink shirt who persisted in clenching his fists and whining about charlie and the way he didn follow the American rules of pool. Meanwhile, the pints kept on going down and we knoticed a man enter the competition who looked exactly like Bill Gates. He had his own queue and swet band, and seemed to know all of the staff and people in the bar. We joked about who´d have to play this guy.
I´m the next up so I better have a slash to prepare. In the toilets Bill comes in. Not to go to the toilet, not to blow his nose but to take his own soap out off his pocket to wash his hands and splash water on his face. Eyeing himself up in the mirror as if he wanted to start a fight with himself he adjusted his wrist bands and shouted at himself. Thats right i got to play him. The ref was laughing at me. I nearly took him but I think the beer got the better of me and he beat me on the black. (perpect photo opp and a chance once more to get the MagnaDry name out there and a possible contract with Bill Gates)

Charlie, Nic, Bill (Gates), Myself & Joe
Whats that in my hand?

Joe with a few more pints in him didn do so well (sorry Joe my turn to write the blog)

After that we made friends with every person in the pub. 8 of us climbed into a small taxi and with my feet out the window we made our way to the late bar.

What are those cards We´re Holding?

Here we met our Spanish friends from the Scuba-diving in Ile Grande. Its amazing how small the world is! a few Caprianis (Rum an crushed Limes) (which Charles forced me to drink) later we arrived back in the Hostel at !@#$%¨&* Am or Pm I cant remember.

(CHARLIE- It didn´t take much convincing Ro!)

Day 10: Ipanema Beach

2008-08-26T23:05:00.002+01:00

It´s crazy to think we have been here for ten days. The time has flown and we decided we´d take a day to take in the amazing beaches the city has to offer. We headed to Ipanema with our towels and sun screen. We picked a good spot, just down from the Gay section of the beach! (Joe picked the spot!)

We laid out our towels and applied the sun screen and lay down to take in the glorious Rio de Janeiro sunshine. Then the sun disappeared!!! Seriously, it started getting cold! People started to get up and leave but we Irish lads are made of harder stuff and we stuck it out. We even ended up going in swimming for a while! We had great craic in the huge waves body surfing all the way into the beach.

After a while we walked the beach and headed back to the hostel for a shower and then some dinner. The dinner was in a Kilo Restaurant. They have to be the best restaurants ever. You are presented with a buffet of salads, meats, currys, pies, everything! You fill your plate and then they weigh it! I ate 500g of food today and it cost me R$20 (E8,38). I had chicken strogonoff, three types of salad, risotto, four meatballs, two slices of chicken breast and some salmon! The Jug could learn a few things from the restaurants out here!!!

We are just in the internet cafe at the moment and we´re going down to the Irish bar for a few last quiet pints before we leave Rio.

We´ll let you know later how quiet they are!!!

Charlie

Day 9: Christ the Redeemer

2008-08-26T22:39:00.006+01:00

Today was another slow start to the day but we didn´t have much planned for today. A quick tour around the city and a visit to Christ the Redeemer statue all for R$55.

Andre was our guide and Animal was our driver. Our first stop was somewhere we have already been, the Maracana stadium. However, the stadium was closed for a private match so we did not get to go inside but we weren´t too bothered because we´d sampled it first hand the previous night!

Second stop on the tour was the Carnival street. This is just a 1.2km stretch of road that the Carnival goes through every year. On the left side are huge stands where the people pay about R$50 to watch the parade. On the right side are the corporate boxes where you get 5 star treatment for 5 days for the hefty price of R$100,000. People spend so much on them that they actually stay the night in the box!

Third stop was the Metropolitan Cathedral!

The final and most impressive stop was O Cristo Redentor or Christ the Redeemer. The statue stands over 38m tall and took nine years to build back in 1922. However, the most impressive feature of the statue is its location. It is situated on top of the Corcovado mountain in the Tijuca Forest National Park. The view is about 700m above Rio and you can see all sides of the city from Ipanema to Centro. The weather up there was perfect and the views were amazing. The sun began to set while we were up there and it was the perfect way to end our sight seeing in Rio. We took some pictures and raced down the steps to the bus to head back to the hostel.

The Corcovado mountain is one of the laziest in the world. You can get to the top of the mountain by car and then get an escalator all the way to the statue. Laziness!

We headed back to the hostel, meeting some girls from Westport who got to the top of the mountain for R$25 but didn´t have any money to get back down so they hopped into our bus for the lift! We bought some pizza and beer and chilled in the hostel for the rest of the night.

Charlie

Day 8: Botafogo V Vasco & Favela Funk!

2008-08-26T02:58:00.009+01:00

Sunday began slowly after Saturday night but the first thing we had to do was move hostel. (Next door!!) Our plan for today was catch a match in the Maracana stadium and head to the Favela funk. We met our friend Jorge who was being charged R$110 (E45) to go to the match but we decided to go it alone.

We got out to the stadium on the metro and the atmosphere was electric. All-Irelands and Rugby World Cup Final matches could not compare to the atmosphere outside the arena, never mind inside. We got a few beers and soaked up the craic before heading into the stadium and taking our seats in the Botafogo end! Even before the match started the fans were singing, lighting flares, and releasing flags attached to helium balloons!! The match ended 1-1 with Vasco scoring in the last few minutes much to the disappointment of our new Fogo friends. Here is a sample of the craic they were having in the stand above us:

http://br.youtube.com/watch?v=TjMJpjSqulU

The match finished and we headed back to the hostel after spending just R$25 (E10) on the match. Somewhere Jorge was pissed off at us! We had a great dinner in a local grill and got ready for the favela funk.

We got a local taxi to a place called Favela Rio Das Pedras. It was a small town about 40mins outside of the city with a huge nightclub, called Castelo Das Pedras, which was holding the Funk. Like Lapa there was street vendors selling beer and crowds of people on the street. Unlike Lapa, most of these people were actually Brazilians and not tourists. Our taxi decided he wanted to go to the Funk too and parked up for the night. He brought us to the club and showed us where we had to go.

Inside the club was absolutely crazy! There was really loud hard favela music, the air was heavy with sweat, all the Brazilian guys were topless, and the place was filled way over capacity. After a while walking around, trying to figure out how to order drinks at the bar, (you have to buy a ticket to buy a drink??), we got into the VIP section where all the tourists were. We were above the dance floor watching the craziness below. There was a dancing competition to see who could shake their ass and tits the most to the beat. We finally had enough dutch courage to hit the dance floor and we pretty much danced and "watched" until we had to go.

Our taxi had organised for us to meet him at four so he could bring us back to Rio and he had met a girl at the funk. We felt we were cramping his style as the two of them got into the front and three big, drunk Irish lads cramped into the back! "Gringos" the taxi man said to her. He brought her home but she said, in the international language of love!, that he could drop us off first!!!

We got home about 6 congratulating our taxi man on his very sucessful night! A good night had by all!!!

Charlie

Photos and Video...

2008-08-26T02:38:00.003+01:00

We have loads of photos and video but we cannot add them to the blog because the hostel we are in have restricted the computer. Once we move we will add them...

Charlie

Day 7: Travelling and Lapa

2008-08-26T02:19:00.004+01:00

We arose early on Saturday morning to catch the ferry back to Rio with nothing in our pockets except the sand from Lopez Mendes. Seriously, there are no ATMs on Ilha Grande and we were all down to our last few Reals! We got the ferry to Angra dos Reis and finally we were back on the road to Rio.

We checked into our hostel , the Karisma!, and got ready to hit the town. Lapa is an area in Rio where every Friday and Saturday night the streets become filled with people and street vendors selling beer and food and everyone in Rio heads there to have some fun!

We headed to Lapa not knowing what to expect and we were blown away by what we found. Vendors selling beer and food everywhere, a guy in a shirt and a dicky bow making cocktails on the corner, bars and clubs blasting out samba music. We bought beers and pizza and decided to sample a local night club. There was a live band playing crazy samba music and the crowd were loving it! The whole club was swaying to the sound of the samba drums!!

The night ended at about 5 and we made our way back to Ipanema singing U2 songs with the taxi man the whole way home!!!

Day 6: Ilha Grande - Lopez Mendes

2008-08-24T01:30:00.004+01:00

We rented a couple of 7´ surf boards off our buddy Rodrigo this morning & got a water taxi around the island to a small pier, from here it was a 15min trek across the base of a mountain to the island´s most famous beach - Lopez Mendes. The beach is beautiful, white powder sand that just goes on forever. LM is known for it´s good surf conditions. Today had perfect 6ft clean waves.

The weather today was over cast with some rain so a lot of the beach goers headed back to Abraao early & we had the entire beach to ourselves for a couple of hours! We got back to Abraao at 5pm after a great day´s surfing & it rained all the way back; I thought I had seen the last of the rain when we left Ireland!!

We had our last dinner in our beloved Biergarden tonight, best yet! Back to the mainland in the morning, we could have spent the whole year out here!

Magma Dry for all your cleaning needs!

Joe

Day 5: Ilha Grande

2008-08-24T01:13:00.006+01:00

Up at 8am this morning for a quick brekie & down to the dive center to pick up our gear for the day. We had a 60mins boat trip to the north side of the island where we saw the famous blue lagoon & they on to the first dive site at a ship wreck. Wreck diving is usually only for PADI certified divers but they brought Ro down as well to even up the number.

There was 9 divers on the boat plus 2 dive masters, a camera diver & a deck hand. 5 of the group were spainish & one of the lads has a mother from Cork! 4 went down on the first dive while the rest of us snorkeled on the surface. Visibility was an amazing 30m so we could see the whole wreck from the surface. After lunch we passed another famous dive spot on the island - a helicopter wreck! They on to a small island where the rest of the group dived. We went off for another snorkel while we were waiting & the waters were full of life. We spotted tonnes of different fish, eels & even a sea turtle which is extremely rare to see. The dive was even better we got to see & pet an octopus which got scared by all the divers & shot it´s ink!

Just as we got back on the boat to head back a small peinguin swam up around our boat, I thought they only existed in the North Pole!

Joe

Day 4: The Road to Ilha Grande

2008-08-24T00:57:00.005+01:00

We made our way to the bus station this morning in a serious dodgy part Rio! From there it´s a 3hrs bus trip to the port town of Angra dos Reis & a 90min ferry trip to our destination. Ilha Grande is Brazil´s largest island & is basically just a paradice of perfect beaches. We arrived in the main tourist village of Abraao. The village is on the beach front & has sand lined streets. The island is seriously remote with no cars or banks therefore you have to bring all the cash you need!

We checked into a small hotel for our 3 night stay. The french lady who owns the hotel plays music & has been to Galway & Clare a few times! We had our own en-suite bedroom which was a welcome change from Rio. We found a bite to eat next door at the ´Biergarden´ which quickly became our local. It was a buffet restaurant that charges per kilo, savage! Calinan would love this place!

All the locals on Ilha Grande are sound, none more than our new best friend Rodrigo - a local surfer dude who gave us great advice for our stay.

Joe

Day 3: Flying Like a Bird...

2008-08-23T23:59:00.007+01:00

Rolled outta bed this morning at 8am feeling the full effects of last night´s Caprihanas. First thing on today´s agenda is Hand Gliding over Rio, sounds handy enough right?! Wrong and not a good idea with a hangover!

We arrived at Petra Bonita (692m) & first things first signed our lives away on an insurance waiver! We drove up to the "launch pad" in 4x4s up some serious hills. Once there we got our brief & reliased exactly what we had gotten ourselves into! We had to be strapped side by side to the pilot & help him take off by running full speed down a 15ft wooden platform! We were well warned not to look down during take-off because we would must likey try and stop running hence pludging to our deaths!

I was up first, myself & the pilot took our place on the launch pad; my heart was thumbing out of my chest 1...2...3... and we´re off. Once we took off it was unreal, flying like a bird (only strapped to some guy called Paulo & attached to an old kite!)

It was like a photoshoot up there we had to pose for about 15 photos!

After a 20mins flight over the city & Rocinha favela we landed on Praia de Pepino beach. The lads & myself agreed we would never forget sprinting down that launch platform as long as we will live!

After lunch we signed up for the Rocinha favela tour. Like everyone else we all had a lot of mis-conceptions about the favelas before our visit. Most of those based on Ross Kepp on Gangs! How wrong we were!

Rocinha favela is the largest in Rio, over 200,000 residents in a mountain side 1.2km square! The favelas start in the 1930s when the poorest people from all over Brazil came to Rio in search of a living. The people started cutting down trees on government land & building houses with whatever they could find. Unlike what Mr Gavin my Junior Cert Geography teacher told us about the modern favelas of Rio they are actually just poor suberbs & not just "fecking shitholes!". The houses are now built with blocks & concrete with electricty & running water! Rocinha actually has barber shops, corner shops, bakerys, a small hospital, a post office & four schools.

We started the tour on the back of motorbikes up to the top of the favela, brilliant craic! When we reached the top we re-grouped & the guide lead us back to the bottom through the narrow streets. Along the way we were introduced to some of the local kids who just kept calling us "Gringos!"

Something we didn´t anything of was the drugs & gangs. But don´t be fooled it´s all there, this favela is run by the ADA - Rio´s biggest gang. The gang permit these tours because they benefit the locals but lay down conditions. You can not take any photos in most parts of the favelas & I´m sure only certain routes are allowed.

The gangs supply Rio with all of it´s drugs (heroine, cocaine & hash) so they are seriously powerful. The police storm the favelas on average once a month with armoured cars & helicopters but usually only locals are killed in the crossfire. The local kids warn gang members of police entering the favelas by setting off fireworks!

Disease & drug use is rife throughout the Rocinha, but still each family has 5 or 6 kids so the population is only rising.

The favela tour was eye opening & I´d recommend it to anyone coming to Rio.

We had our first night out on the town in Rio tonight, we went to a backpacker club called The House - tiny but good craic. I think the samba locals were disgusted by our drunken CPs style of dance!!

Joe

Day 2: Mellow Yellow

2008-08-23T23:37:00.008+01:00

We arrived in Rio airport at 8am this morning, the first thing you notice while landing is how vast the city is; it just goes on forever!

We checked into our hostel - Mellow Yellow in Copacabana beach, nice place with open air hot tub, bar & relaxation room with hammocks!

We just chilled out today & tried to get over our jet lag. We headed down to the famous Copacabana beach for a dip. The beach was amazing - 3km of white sand & green ocean. We quickly learned that the waves are lethal here by geting smashed into the sand nearly straight away, fun though!

We spend the rest to the evening taking advantage of the hostels hot tub.

After dinner we met a few of the other lads from our dorm - Chris & Charlie II legends! After a few pints we signed up for the bar quiz & won the thing!! Oldest existing country´s flag? Denmark! Our prize was a round of Caprihanas, this was our first experience with the native drink which is just basically a glass of liqour with a few slices of lime thrown in for decoration!!

Joe

Day 1: Trains, Planes & Automobiles

2008-08-23T02:03:00.004+01:00

After leaving Dublin we flew to London Heathrow & after getting the train to the wrong terminal we eventually got to our gate & boarded BA247 to Rio de Janeiro. 11 hours later we unexpectely landed at Sao Paulo airport, turns out this was a stop on route to Rio. From here it took just 30 mins to get to our final destination up the beautiful coastline. Hello Rio!

Joe

Day 1: Bye Bye

2008-08-23T01:22:00.009+01:00

After years of careful planning D day has finally come!! We packed our bags & said the last of the goodbyes to head for Dublin Airport.
Ro even finished Leon´s rocking horse after 9 months in the making!

Ro & myself left from the Galway bus station, where we said our emotional farewells:

Bye Kevin!
We met Charlie with Mary, Pauge, Simon, Eoin, Sarah & uncle Gab at the airport, bye bye!

To everyone we didn´t get to see before we left, we´ll miss ye all loads & keep in touch (tear!)

The Trip so far!

2008-08-22T23:58:00.002+01:00

Hi everyone!

Well we´re only five days into our trip but already we have so much done! We´ve been handgliding in Rio and scuba diving in Ilha Grande and done plenty of stuff besides! We have loads of pictures and a cool DVD of the scuba diving but we just haven´t had the time to put them all up but we´ll try our best.

We promise there will be more stuff up before the end of the month!

Charlie

Farewell Bash in Galway (more photos)

2008-08-22T01:39:00.005+01:00

Again, even more pics!

2008-08-17T01:14:00.005+01:00

I'm back with more pics from last Saturday night in the Jug...

Everyone loves Joe!!!!

Alan was asked what he thinks about the state of Mayo football...

Not much you can say about this picture!

Mike and Mary are very thirsty!

Eoin is Mikes Hero!!!

Everyone! Apart from Bernard, Laura, T and Judge!

Charlie

Even More Pics!

2008-08-15T15:01:00.007+01:00

We had a great night last Saturday night in Crossmolina and the Jug. If you missed it here are a couple of pictures that will tell the story of the night!!

The night began with a few quiet drinks in the house...

We all posed for pictures...

We all laughed, some more than others!!

And then the Joe brought the level down with his can of Heineken... We didn't have any in the house! Well at least it wasn't a bottle of Bucky!

After that we had to leave to go to the Jug but some of the under age lads weren't too happy about that!

When we were in the Jug some lovely ladies arrived and Martin was delighted!

But again Joe brought it down to another level... Dani I'd be worried about him!

And that wasn't the only time Joe has tried it on with one of Simon's friends!

But don't they make a lovely couple!!!

Then we went home. It was late and some of the kids had a sleep on the bus on the way home!

THE END!

Thanks to Feena for the pics and to everyone for a great night. I've more pictures from the Jug and I'll put them up before I go...

Charlie

Some Pics...

2008-08-12T19:06:00.004+01:00

Here are some pics from our going away party in Galway:

Carmel & Ro

Charlie, Carmel & Joe

Stu, Joe & Sean

The Flag!

Thanks to Carmel for letting me rob the pics off her Bebo page! (Without her knowing!)

Charlie

The Party is over!

2008-08-10T20:30:00.001+01:00

All the partying is over! I've never seen so many people so willing to celebrate three lads heading away. Thanks to everyone who came to the parties and who sent texts and cards wishing us well. We've only 7 days left in the country so I probably won't be on this again until we go but keep watching out for posts and pics...

Charlie