These structures still had paintings within them from 200 ac. Absolutely crazy i thought. We hung in the town for another daya nd felt some warm weather for a change.

From here we went to a place called Punta Sal.. near Mancura. A fantastic beach area that is really remote. Camping on the beach for 3 days was great, alot of barbying on the beach and swimming in the sea. Catching some rays and generally chilling with the local hippies. So... from here we hgeaded over the border to Ecuador.

Immediatley you see a diffierence in landscape. Its beautiful, green and mountainous. Lush landscapes.. alot more money is evident immediately. We headed to a town called Cuenca, famous for the panama hat. Although given the name Panama, the hat is actually from Cuenca but the ecuadorians went to work in Panama years ago and took lots of hats with them... these hats caused alot of attention and everyone wanted one... so the story goes!

We are now in Banos. Banos is the place where the volcano went off only 4 weeks ago. As we drove into the town there was a stream of Lava flow coming down the mountain side. This eruption wiped out an entire community.. it was pretty amazing to see and the rock was still hot. Banos is beautiful. I have just been on a bike ride for 30km´s to see a million and one waterfalls along the way. Its lush and lovely and sad to think that it could get wiped out at any stage by the volcano that is expected to blow its top any day. We are on red alert.. well not quite but we may have to run from a lava flow.. hollywood styles!

So onto the jungle to see the monkeys and the indians...

Lima, the peruvian coast through to Ecuador remains copyright of the author emmachicke, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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So we headed to a bullfight to entertain ourselves in between eating, and what a hilarious one it was. 3 fighters, one from Spain, Venuzuala and one from Arequipa. The bulls didnt fight each other which Arequipa is apparently famous for they hardly fought the fighters even. The spanito was the man.. all 4 foot of him in his striking black slick outfit he danced a crazy spanish dance in front of the bull and wiggled his ass alot. The venezualian was strikingly handsome, wore an outstanding high wasted tight fitting outfit and flirted with the bull... the man from Arequipa was fat! He was hilarious, his outfit was bulging at the seams and the bull seemed almost scared of him. When he began fighting the crowd shoutd PIG PIG PIG.. ha.. very funny. They shouted ´Hey Pig, kill the bull it would look better on a plate with chips!´ Go PIG! it was hilarious. Miguel and i spent the whole tim ein stitches at the abuse that this poor fat man who probably was a stallion in his day got whilst trying to still be the number 1.

So.. more arequipa shopping, hanging around the city for a few too many day i think but still i have made a friend for life with my trusty peruvian stunner! He made my experience a good one as i was able to sample the true peruvian way of living by being by his side. It consists of eating...

So last night i flew to Lima to meet my group. The flight out of Arequipa was stunning. Flying over the top of 3 volcanoes as the sun was setting was amazing and i managed to get some of the best photographs ever taken out of a plane window. I did alot of wooing to myself. So here in Lima.. and i am hungover.. need i say more. I havent really seen anything as i have spent most of the day having to sit down at every opportunity. A great exhibition at the museum of the 20 years of terrorism in Peru, absolutely amazing photo documentary stuff.. i was blown away. A Little annoyed at my lack of being able to read spanish however when i tried to work out why this was all going on.

So.. thought for the day is that after my trip to columbia i head back to Peru and teach some kids english. In return for this i get spanish lessons. I could easily live here man.. its got alot to offer!

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From there we drove to Arequipa where i am still today. Back to warm weather too which is a slight shock after quite a while of cold. I left the group for a few days and stayed here in this town. Right under the glooming height of Volcano Misti and 2 others.. its quite an impressive town. It has one of the largest convents ever which has the most brightly coloured walls i have ever seen.. still working out if thats for the gringos. Its 2 hectares in size.. hasnt got many nuns in there now though.

My tattoo friend Miguel came to visit me in Arequipa so i am staying her efor another few days before heading to Lima. I survived an attempted robbery last night.. strange experience but luckily i had a friend to back me up.

So onto looking at the preseves of an Inca child that was found in ice on top of the mountain a few years ago. Wanita! she still has skin i hear!

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The camping was all done for us it was like 5*. We arrived at camp with everything set up, they fed us 5 times a day and we played cards to fill the hours in the evenings up. Day 4 we woke at 4 am, set off at 5 to watch the sun rise over machu Picchu. It was dark as we set off and as we arrived at the sun gate.. wow! the clouds covered Machu Picchu but as they rose it was truely and incredible sight. Even though i have seen this pictutre a million times it was a breath taking view when we did get thee.. the cloud helped add to the mystical effect.. its ace. The history of the Incas is pretty mad too.. the spanish were such gits! So the aching bones and muscles of day 4 were certainly worth it.. i have to say i reckon its the most rewarding experience of my life so far!

2 extra ladies on my tour of the trek made y time and the guide Dionel.. we sang our way to the top.. and laughed like i havent for ages.. theyre a special 2 my new friends.

So here back in Cusco, 3 days to relax and rest the muscles that now look like Arnies. Alot of discoteques and beer drinking in the next few days just to make up for the days of exercise i have just had! On to the coast next.. back to sea level.. thank god.. be nice to breath properly again!

As i sit here writing this i have a little scruffy smelly cute child stroking my arm and staring intently at me.. as i am probably odd to her! Very amusing.. shes fascinated.. maybe its my arnie legs!

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3 of us stayed with a small tiny lady and her family. Her husband was in Lima. She fed us her 3 types of potatoe and squeeky cheese which i adored as it made me laugh when i ate it. Her kids names christian, walter and isaak, the others i forget were adorable. We gave them presents of colouring pencils and fruit and she took us to the local football ground.

From here we played at 4700 metres above sea level football with the locals...local women in their traditional dress and sandals against a load of gringos.. really amazing fun... 7 shots at goal and miss´s i realised i am not the next beckham.

Our momma dressed us up in the traditional gear and took us to the local fiesta. Here there were heaps of gringos also dressed up very funnily for the whole peruvian natives to laugh at. We all had different woollen hats so that at the end of the night they knew which gringo was theirs.In candlelight we undressed and lay in our small room.. very peaceful with the slight ecco of peruvian flute in the distance.

The following day after a good sleep on their straw beds and enough blankets to crush our lings we rose to water in buckets to wash and pancakes. We waved good bye to momma and kids and set off on the boat for 3 hours back to the main land via the Reed islands.

These man made islands were amazing... they had their farms of guinea pigs and these amazing houses.. each island houing maybe 7 families.. with some solar panels in there to get electric... all i could find to do was fall face first in the bed of the island.. those reeds are so relaxing.. the weather was good.. ideal to sink in the surroundings.

A night in puno with some quality ladies from another group and a good rest for todays 7 hour drive to Cusco.

And here i am.. about to embark on the inca trek tomorrow.. ready for the hell of a day 2 but looking forward to the rewards at the end of it.. a 4 day hike here i come. Our drive into cusco gave us an idea of what was about to come.. as we approached the mountains got higher and higher.. oh dear!

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The following day we embarked on Death Road. The moist dangerous road int he workld with a bus going over it just 10 days ago and all passengers being killed. We were to mountain bike down it. 80km from 4700 metres to 1200 metres, in the jungle. It was amazing. A grit road with sheer drops that were stomach churning just looking at them. The brakes would want to be working, it was razy. Full speed i dread to thin t what speed we were doing. It wtook ohours we fell we laughed we cried at the site of dead buses all along the stretch.. well in the distance at the bottom of the valleys. I stupidly thought the bus taking us home was taking a different oad and soon realised it was taking the same road back up. 5 hours later after a hair raising experince of a mini bus of us trying to go up and many 7% beers later after i had been afraid of the monkeys biting me.. we got home. And with a t-shirt telling us we survived.. ha! great day though!

Lama fetuses and death road remains copyright of the author emmachicke, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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A big walk up a hill in Salta a beautiful city gave us an amazing view of the smog ridden air. I tried my hand at horse riding again and loved it. A day with a true cowboy, a groucho that was awesome called enrique.. some magnificent views and some great red wine at the end of it.

Onto the road journey to Bolivia and a road block. Probably one of the highlights of the tour as the truck stopped at the side of the road and we stayed there the night. The road was blocked as the native andes people were trying to gain rights to the land so there fore blocked peopel passing through. 2km´s of traffic and a big party.. some argentinian wine to wash it all down with and a really memorable night.

We were in fear that we were gonna have to stay ont he road till it opened and the guide andy was going to take us lot over the barracade to take public transport to the next destination. Becasuse James the driver was gona be alone i chose to stay with him for company.. but as this was decided the barracade came down and on we travelled.

Bolivia here we were and what an amazing place. We stopped the first night in Tupiza, an unexpected stop and fter sleeping int he truck the night before it was well needed. A tinty little town that gave a great spirit to our first experience of Bolivia.

A massive drive the next day as the roads were blocked somewhere else so we drove off road all day down rivers and streams and through the most incredible terrain i think i have ever encountered. From rolling hills, the dessert flats, cliffs and mountains.. rugged to steep to flat.. th ecoloyrs were beyond me and the mountain people as we increased in altitude have to be as hard as nails. Watching as we drove past them and their flocks of mainly larma and sheep in their funny bowler hats and colourful blankets.. an amazing sight that wont ever leave me.

We got to Uyuni a sleepy dive of a place where we were to embark on the salt flats the next day. Bolivia is immediately very poor, with beggars everywhere.. it has amazed me as it is so incredibly different.. so amazing in ots beauty yet it has no money and the realisation to a westerner that lives in a world of so much money is that we really dont need so much.

The salt flats were mind blowing.. white for as far as the eye could see.. we drove for over an hour over them as we neared an island, fish island full of massive cacti.. wow! A cacti grows 10mm a year and these were massive.. it was incredible. So peaceful... a beautiful day.. followed by a great hotel where we drank sangria until dark.

From here we went to Potosi, once the greatest city in south america, a silver mining city in its day and now poor run down city striving to be as it once was.

On our way here we went past the place that Butch Cassidy robbed his last train.. not much of a place either but in its day it must have been a silver centre.

Ptosi was mind blowing for one reason. I went on a mine tour, somethign i may chose to never do again because its quite clausrtrophobic but also because it was a real eyeopener at what goes on out there. It upset me alot to see the conditions these miners are in and what they are working for. Absolutely nothing, mining only tin, zinc ad a little silver very little these days. These miners drink 96% alcohol, eat cocoa leaves all the time for altitude and are generally in the mines for between 12-24 hours a day for maybe a pound in payment. They were wankered when we came out of the mines, abused by the alcohol.. maybe happy but the last 2 men that we saw really made me sad.. to look into their eyes they had nothing in there.. they were sad.. they begged us for our buscuits and dinomite and they were struggling for survival.

I´ll end this here as this was the biggest eye opener i have ever had in life. I work in a commercial environment wher money is sen as a neccessity. These giys had nothing, they worked their arses off for somthign taht years ago was a rich ting and was once there. 6000 workers worked in these mines stil to this day.. the smile that a biscuit gave them even though it couldnt replace that lost soul that had gone from their eyes.. it was a momentous happiness.. short lived...i wished i could have done something else..

we walked away and i still havent stopped thinking of that moment.. of those eyes.

so far behind.. in peru time through argy and bolivia remains copyright of the author emmachicke, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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So i set off from the beautiful islands where the sun started to shine and surfers played with their waves and headed for the main land on friday night. I took a night bus saw my ankles swell with pride and crossed the brazillian border into Argentina yesterday. And what a contrast they are to the brazillians. I have taken a slight dislike to them immediately.. and i shouldnt as i know its my warped no sleep mind that is causing this! they dont smile as much thats for sure!

My lack of the language doesnt help, even though i had my lessons it went in one ear and out the other! So i waste a day in Iguazu on the argentinian side and catch anoter night bus last night to this place in argentina called Resistencia. I was told by the lovely brazillian lady at the argentinian bus depot that instead of getting the direct bus to my location that was 28 hours long i should get this one to Resistencia and change to salta as it would be far quicker as they have many buses a day.. at what point did i not question this i donno.. maybe i could see the light at the end of the tunnel... so off i trot.

On my 2nd night bus, alot nicer.. down i pop a valium and hey presto i sleep the entire journey, feet arent swollen, i am in great spirits. Arrive in the arse end of nowhere this morning at 7am, cold as... lots of staring as you can imagine as i am dressed like i just stepped off a carribean cruise.. so yeah.. i get to the ticket office and shit i´m fucked.. i cant say anything...

I scurry through some pigeon spanish and ask for a ticket to salta.. not till 6.30 tonight.. fuck! wicked.. so with my knowledge of the brazillians i go ask someone else.. they say the same.. and again and again.. fuck!

So heres to another day wasting the hours away dreaming of the night bus i am about to encounter tonight and what standard it will up to. I woke last night with a meal next to me which i thought was pretty nice, even though i didnt eat it.. the old valium and the fact it was 3am made me lose my appetite.

Apparently this town has 300 sculptures in it so i guess thats enough said about how busy i can be today searching for them... it may not be so bad after all.

i just got an email from my tour guide who says i started a trend and 4 group members have left followinhg my trend.. oops.. but the good thing is its all the idiots.. good one emm.. so i can rejoin minus them!

buses and valium! remains copyright of the author emmachicke, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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I went to check out iguazu falls.. amazing.. the brazillian side wins over the argentinian side but all in all it was pretty spectacular.

Done a whole load of camping.. the back was handling it but my brain wasnt handling the essex accents that woke up to on a daily basis.. that´d be 2 members of the toucan tour.

With alot of umming and arring i decided that i didnt want my memories of south america to be scarred of essex accents and with an independent mind as i have i decided i had to go solo on this trip. A harsh decision some might say as i have paid alot of money for this but its a decision i had to go with. I mean i had just spent 10 days in the hands of natives.. literally! oops.. and i loved it... as part of a tour you are seperated from the natives and it sucks.. you dont even need to know when to toilet.. they tell you.. or at least it felt that way. Having sat down with the tour leader a good aussie bloke and the driver they fed me some wine and encouraged me to take what i could from the tour as we do cover some amazing ground.. so i chose to take that route and leave them for a week.. re join them for the good bits and take time out again.. its a good decision i think.

So here i am.. i escaped to a surfing island.. ummm.. interesting bunch as any surfing lover can imagine, no cars all sand tracks.. its rained alot and i have read alot, its off Paranagua, int he south coast of Brazil.. a small island called Ilha do Mel. typically its sunny as i go on the internet...

i have been here for 4 days and today having spoken to myself a little too often today i think i need to leave.. i head on a 30 hour bus journey to Salta in Argentina, bring on the valium... thats where the group are.. so lets see what my reception is like having obviously left as i find them all quite difficult.. ha! i tell ya.. its better than any reality tv thing this.. and the stories i have of me going solo.. geeze.. i cant publish those! until soon omegos! i enter the world of gouchos... ye ha!

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Met a couple of great brazillians, sandro and bernai, have been in the finest of hands for almost a week now and i am feeling a little sorry to leave. Sandro a pretty lovely guy with a heart of gold has taken me in, fed me the finest brazillian cuisine on his wooden cooker outside under a banana tree. Heºs looked after me with my bad portuguese and filled me in on a life that is so very different to my own.His home on the edge of the cliff, perfect to watch the sun rise..its amazng, monkeys of about 20 in his tree each morning waiting for their banana...mad! A pet dog named Black in portuguses, see i cant even remember that! his has been at my heels for the past week..i love him too!

Bernai also a great man..Sandros sidekick it would seem and although has no english at all i have formed a great little relationship with...totally beaut of a man.

So i ask them to take me to this town they have been talking about..miles from here down the coast..we hire a car and we head for the green hills and turquise waters...

Porto da Galinghas... its the tale youºve all heard of my crossing of rivers, 3 to be exact however the same one in loops..them teasing me of alligators in the swampland andthe piranas underfoot.. not today i later found out t was the conga eels that are to befeared..alot of dope is smoked at every opportunity in Brazil..andits a wonderful thing...their days are spent or soit seemed on our trip of doing the finest job ever to entertain me inbetween stopping at everyones house along the way and eating with them and also rolling a fat joint...

So here in porto we did this big trip, i insisted when the water in the river got to neck level that we take the boat as i was fearing a massive piranha attack..i could almost hear them like in that film! ha!

It was great, coconuts from the tree to drink..strolling bare foot through the jungle pretty much.

Theres been a fair amount of rain so when we left yesterday i found myself getting the car stuck in deep mud whilst trying to leave the place..in typical fashion i had 2 blokes screaming at me to drive another way but i obviously didnt know what they were saying a rolled straight into a bog....

out on foot you sank aove the ankle...great!
pretty amusing though...their disappearance today with the car that i hired made me question them..i returned hours later to find it cleaned polished and themtaking me to the airport in it later on..totally didnt expect that!

Theres a whole lot of give here...well at least with the few really special lot i have been fortunate to meet...i have yet to embrace the bronx of brazil..i have been in stoneville for 3weeks..these lot are too stoned to chase and steal anything.

I did hear that they would give you their left arm..and when you are given it..youºve an extra left arm forlife... i like that! iºve got 3 now!

Piranhaºs and mudslides remains copyright of the author emmachicke, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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My friend Zandro, a great flatpack brazillian from Sao Paulo is doing a great job of giving me a tour of the sights. Flat pack i mean as there are 70% flatpack brazillias.. so lovely you could fold them up and put them in your bag.. thats also as theyre quite small.

Still nothing suprises me in this country, i have been travelling with a britsih guy Jamie whom yesterday left for sao paulo, i asked for a room alone and got in at midnight to find i am sharing it with a young lady from Montreal.. good to know the valuables are safe. Its a little like the other evening as jamie and i returned to our shared room they were carrying out emergency repare work to the drainage system in our bathroom... funny.

So i am still in this town.. stuck within its beauty, partying the nights away and dreaming the days. Its beautiful in many ways and i am torn to leave every place i have gone so far and the friends i have made in these places...must go and swim with those lovely creatures.

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I flew to Sao Paulo, stayed in a beaut hotel with my winnings, drank some capriochas (?) with a brazillian business man that lived in Kent and this morning i flew to Forteleza. This place is abit skyscraper mad but a great place to now get out of quickly and head to some remote hippy lands where the music and beaches are all they live off.

My first viewing of the beach today made me smile. A young lady with her ass hanging out and some peachy cheeks bronzed to the max followed by the most insanely fit blokes one can cast their eyes on.. 7 at least ran past me at seperate inetrvals with these incredible muscles attached to their chest.. i was amazed.. i thought australians cared alot for their bodies.. these guys shit on them!

So thats it. all i can say.. i must go.. its hot! x

BA lottery winnings... remains copyright of the author emmachicke, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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