All my videos are on You Tube if you do a search for 'joscorcoran'
Stay tuned for the South America Version
Joe
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Saturday, November 22, 2008
I know....
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
Check it out...
Then check out my one!!
Then check out Joe's one!!!
Updates for the blog are coming... I promise!!
Charlie
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Monday, November 3, 2008
Day 50 > Buses and William
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
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
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
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
Friday, October 24, 2008
Day 48 > Friday night in Lima
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
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
Monday, October 20, 2008
Day 47 > Fishing, sickness and cooking!
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
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!
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
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
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Emilio : RIP (2008)
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
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
Monday, October 13, 2008
Off to Inca Land
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
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
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Day 45 - Lima or Malibu!
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
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
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