Kate and Kylie are not in at the moment as they are travelling across the continent of South America from Rio to Lima and will not be home until April 17th 2006. If you would like to leave a message after the beep, by all means do so, but they probably won't get back to you shortly. Have a nice day!

Saturday, April 15, 2006

the end ...

goodnight sweetheart well it´s time to go. our little adventure is almost at an end. we have had an excellent time overall and have enjoyed telling you all via the blog. we are quite sad while at the same time excited for home. we have to rise at 3am tonight for a 7am flight in the morning to santiago. we have 12h there and plan to take a city tour to stay awake. the flight home departs at midnightish and arrives in the am so need to sleep the flight to minimise jetlag. we will see the family on landing and the rest at work on tuesday. fingers crossed for a pleasant flight and no jetlag. love yas. kate and kylie.

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

nasca

hello all. i am back at the kyboard (dodgy as it may be) for what could be close to the penultimate blog. have been a little lax lately, what with the digestive issues and all ensuing over the last week, and with the recuperation from the stressful inca trail, and have et my blogging duties slip. so we are now in pisco, the last stop before lima (the last stop). tomorrow we go briefly to some island known as the poor mans gallapagos. yesterday we took a cesna pane flight over the nasca lines... clearings int eh dirt in the shape of animals, lines, triangles... that were placed there in 400 odd BC. pretty cool. plane wwas little scary, but i managed. kylie actually becae a little sick from the way he plane was thrown n the wind and thermal currents. could not have seen the lines satisfactorily otherwise. nothing else to do in nasca. at night i chose to sleep... kylie partied on and can tell you all the stories whn she sees you... suffice to say her finger is swollen and purple and she is not quite sure why. today we dorve towards pisco and had some unexpected adventure at some oasis in the sand dunes. we went dune buggying and sand boarding. the boarding was fun, although harder than snowboardig and a mouth full of sand aint grand, but the buggying was the best. up. down. left. right. fast. steep. good stuff. well thats abut all. we have 2 full days to kill in lima before the flight home, so maybe somehig intersting will happen that we can blog. otherwise... get back to work!!! love you all. see you soon. christopher i am waiting for you onjline ... get bak from lunch!! love kate.

Thursday, April 06, 2006

The land of the iNNNkaaa (will vocalise pronunciation later)

Well we are back from the land of the inca. What can i say, we had an excellent time overall. so we had an early start, 6am, and I had already relieved my bowel and stomach of their contents (not a good thing). the bus ride to the start of the 42km trek was eventful (close encounter with a raging river). Day one of walking was good, nice day, sun, clear sky. I was sick numerous more times and could not keep anything down. Kylie carried my daypack and apparently felt like a pack horse, one on back one on front, for which i was extremely grateful. the rest of the group made it to lunch a TAD before me, i was so dehydrated i was almost fainting when i stood and asked to turn back, but they forced me to make it to lunch. i took drugs and fluids. after lunch was the worst part of the day, walking 4 hours up a inca mountain (going up over 700m in height to total of 3800m). this I stayed at lunch an extra hour to recover some, Kylie set off and after seeing the hill expected not to see me up the top. kylie says it was tough going but she made it. i felt better and set off. but soon ran out of energy having not eaten all day. after 2.5h of all uphill stair climbing with breaks every 10 steps, i was assisted by some local porters (used to carry out tents etc) .... they carried me .... about 5min each was all they could muster (slackers), but it turned out i was near the top anyway - so i made it. ate dinner. felt better. the next day we continued a further 400m up and made it through dead womans pass (the highest point in the trek and really cold).
pic below is us on arrival at the pass.
speaking generally, the view was mostly good but in a matter of minutes clouds would come over and you couldn´t see anything and in the same time they could disappear. it was very beautiful to see. when we arrived in camp each day, the porters had our tent up and some hot water to refresh ourselfs (no showers). early nights as there was not much to do with no lights, heating, or provided entertainment. day one we covered 17 km (11h), day two 12km (8h), and day three 14km (8h). cant really describe it, either well nor economically, you´ll have to wait and see the pics.and unfortunately same goes for machu pichu, but at least there is a pic or two below. suffice to say it was a great 4 days (the first excluded in my case), a real highlight of the trip as anticipated. and we are both now rightly stuffed and want to leave this internet cafe and SLEEP. so good night all. off to arequipa by plane tomorrow. love all.



Sunday, April 02, 2006

sacred valley

so on the night before our last day in cuzco, when we were to see the 3 essential cuzcoian attractions (only 2 churches and a museum), kylie decided she´d have a big one and was consequently hungover the next day and we saw none. i am not too bitter though, i have seen enuogh churches for a lifetime. we did manage to get a sleeping bag and some supplied for the inca trail (which begins tomorrow !!!). today we have travelled from cuzco to ollayamtambo (or something like that), which is close to the start of the 42km trail. through the sacred valley, alongside a river, between steep terraced hills, scattered with ruins. we saw the temple of the sun, perched high on a mountain, similiiar in feel but not scale to macchu pichu, and are now excited. but scared about how we will handle it. first day will be worst inorder that last day is easier. will sleep in tents at 3800m sunday night.
more details and pics will come after. in the meantime we have posted a couple more pics... one of us in fancy dress on taquile island in lake titicaca (see earlier post), and one overlooking the sacred valley (this blog). ok. see you on the other side of a very long and exhausting, but also exhilarating and enlightening (well we hope), trek. love kate and kylie.

Friday, March 31, 2006

cuzco

ok. so we have now been in cuzco for 2 days. after writing the blog on monday, we went to dinner and then had a few beers at the local irish beer- a real peruvian experience - not - full of tourists as is much of cuzco. yesterday we saw some museums around the city. nothing very exciting unfortunately, but apparently there are others that are better and we will get to tomorrow. today, instead of paying the 15 US dollars to get a tour of some inca ruins, we and the group opted to get a taxi to the furthest site and then walk home. 4h later,we were back in town, tired and muscle weary, but i guess good warmup to the inca trail in 2 days time. we saw some interesting ruins.... ceremonial baths complete with running water, three tiered fortifications from massive (up to 300 tonne) carved rocks that fit together like a jigsaw puzzle (without mortar and still no gaps), and a strange rock pile that was moulded so that at various times of the year and day shadows and sun would appearred as animals, pretty cool. then we got some good ol chicken and chips and crashed in bed (i am not feeling too well today - will not get violently ill i dont think but have obviously eaten something not quite right). tomorrow is a ´get inca trails supply day´ and so a post would be even less interesting than this one. there is one more internet pit stop before the trail though, and so we will update you all again then. hasta luego.

Tuesday, March 28, 2006

on the edges of sacred puma lake

titi = puma, kaka = sacred (at least that is one of the translations). that puno has a statue of a big puma on top of one of its hills caused some amusement when we realised it could be referred to as ´big titi´. anyhow, we have spent the last 2 days floating (slowly!!) around on lake titikaka, on one of the reed islands of the uros people, or on an island inhabited by local indians who do not speak any english nor much spanish (speak quechua) and who in the case of our family have never been to mainland peru despite it being only 4h away. so to explain .. we arrived on amatani island, were introduced to our tempoprary surrogate mother, were led 1h uphill with much puffing and panting (lake titikaka is 3810m, our house was 4100m odd - the highest on the island damn it), and then met our temporary surrogate family. granddad, mama, papa, 4 kids, and a grandbaby. our accomodations were humble to say the least. we helped make dinner by peeling some bean things, along with the dad and a son whose hands could have done with a good washing, in a kitchen that was little more than a dirt floor with some burning sticks (and in which there lived at least one guinea pig), and then ate ... vege soup (kylie ate it all under some duress!!!) and then boiled vege with rice ... OK but nothing to write home about (haha - i now have). then were forced to dress in local attire ... short, 2 skirts, cumberbund thing that was so tight our dinner was forced to stay in the stomach longer than usual, black shawl ... and then we were forced to dance local dances with locals. wasnt too bad, interesting, but didnt last long dancing due to altitude. today we woke, had pancakes cooked specially for us, and then left for the floating reed islands which were particularly interesting. 1m thick mass of reeds that in rainy season need changing twice weekly due to decomposition. off to dinner now. catch you all later. love kate and kylie.

Sunday, March 26, 2006

update

andrew here, sorry everyone the earlier pics are now loaded (people in the real world take holidays too, well... brisbane)

the last country ... peru

so we are now in peru. 8h bus ride today from la paz. some final comments on bolivia..... discovered that up until ás long as´15 years ago, the locals would get an alcoholic street bum plastered, walk him to a hole made in a patch of land, throw him in once comatosed, bury him alive as an offering to pacha mama (mother earth), and then build their house on top. when it was discovered by the government that this was still practiced, it was condemned and today they use llama foetuses (foetusi ?) instead. interesting huh. also, most of the houses in bolivia appear ´not so crash hot´ from the outside because once a residence is 100% completed, it incurs further taxes, and so people just never finish building .... doesnt do much for the streetscape. thats about all from la paz. just took it easy and wandered around. in puno at the moment ... bit of a nothing town ... launching point for islands of lake titicaca, which is tomorrows overnight, internet free, adventure. see you all on the other side of the floating reed islands. kate and kylie.

ps. sorry there are no pics on the last blog.... dad.... do you know where they are?

Friday, March 24, 2006

safe return from the edge of nowhere


i just wrote a long post on this topic and then went to copy it so that in the event it was deleted as i posted, i would still have it, but the act of copying it deleted it. so now there are others waiting for the free internet and i will have to give a condensed version. last 4 days good. jeeping 8h per day. average 4.5km altitude. average 5degC. volcanic region at junction of bolivia, argentina, and chile. snow capped peaks (pic 1). coloured lakes (red, white, green (pic 2)). wildlife

(llamas, vicunas, donkeys, flamingos, chinchilla things). geysers (face full of H2S and mud splashed on camera (no safety considerations here)). lava flows. last day was largest salt flat in the world.

partially flooded so mirror surface made look like in the clouds. rode on top of jeep for 1.5h and got tad sunburnt (pic 3 is from top of my jeep towards other 2 jeeps). spent 13h last night beginning at midnight travelling to la paz where we are currently. just big city. eager to get back to small locales. lake titicaca and peru are next. write more tomorrow night when done more and pc is again free. hasta luego amigos.

Sunday, March 19, 2006

one of the sillier touring decisions


so we are now in potosi. 4100m altitude. now it is not only myself feeling short of breath, but also kylie and the majority of the group. i am actually better than in sucre meaning my red blood cell count should be increasing. to get to potosi we had to catch a local public bolivian bus ... interesting aroma ... mixture of sweat, head smell, fish, urine, and other unidentifiable components. classic south america bus with luggage on the roof. only 3h but we are soon to encounter another for 7h. oh well, all part of what we signed up for. potosi is mainly a mining town, and so they offer tours of the 300 year old silver mine. to tell you that over those 300 years 8 million have died as a consequence of working in this mine should give you an idea of the conditions. so we first suited up in protective gear (see pic) and then visited a miners market to buy gifts for miners we encounter below ground .... biscuits, cigarettes, coca leaves (in kylies left hand), and .... dynamite ... yes ... that is what i am holding in the pic. so there are no powered devices used in this mine ... only blood tears and sweat. we travelled 400m into the hill. calls from the guide like ¨watch your head on the right, and mind the hole on the left as it is 100m deep¨ kept us sufficiently scared. at points we had only 30cm or a thin plank to walk on if we wished to avoid the drop. we had to rapel down muddy drops (only 10m height - am exaggerating slightly with the rapel) and one of our group would have fallen had the guy at the top not had hold of her hand. and of course we had to scale these same ´cliffs´ on our way out. at other times the tunnel was only 70cm high and we had to scramble over the rocky floor. and all of this with DYNAMITE tied to our waists. at one point we heard felt and smelt the explosions. but at least we now know we will never have the worst job in the world. these guys stay under ground 24h straight, dont eat to avoid the need to excrete, and live only 20-30 years after starting work at minimum age 12. when we emerged we were all very pleased to have survived. and so we were given a demonstration of a dynamite explosion.... scared the crap out of all of us, not knowing when and what exactly would happen. good dirty fun though. ok thats it. will not likely be posting for 4-5 days as we are travelling across the salar de uyuni - massive salt flats where night temperature is -5degC. fun. and there is no internet of course, as there is not even toilets for most of the distance. so stay safe, have fun, speak to you from la paz.

Friday, March 17, 2006

something about sucre

this is just a quick note cause it is cold and late (and we leave on a 7am bus). sucre was great. i had some trouble with the altitude when exerting myself ... shortness of breath and headaches, and was / am also fighting the cold kylie is still recovering from, but otherwise ok. yesterday we saw the worlds largest collection of dinosaur footprints - very cool - and walked around the city. today we headed to the cemetary (listed as one of sucre´s 3 tourist attractions), and then jumped on some horses and headed out into the mountains. sore bum now but scenary definitely worth it. ummm.... that´s about it. off to blow up some dynamite in a silver mine in potosi (i dont think i am joking), and will blog again after that great adventure. hope you are all well. thankyou for your postings, it makes us feel we are still at home, and enjoy the rest of your working day! hahaha

Thursday, March 16, 2006

hola de sucre, bolivian andes

hello everyone. sorry for the sparsity of blogs of late. since last writing we have spent 13h on a train from the brazilian border to santa cruz. previous to this trip i had not realised that train tracks could have potholes!!! really, we were bouncing left right and up and down the entire time. suffice to say there was not much quality sleep to be had. oh well. santa cruz was the first real bolivian city we saw and it wasnt real impressive... just a city... although they have a mad love of columns, skinny footpaths, and horn beeping. this morning we took a flight with bolivian LAB into the ANDES!!! a 30min flight later and we are 2900m above sea level. ears popping. water bottles pressurised. breath short when carrying bags up 2 fligths. but the city looks wonderful. the first real place that looks like the south america i have pictured in my head. nestled in the hills (was worried about where we would find a level patch of land for the runway). red tiled roofs. ladies wearing colourful clothes, hats, and carrying kids in rainbow slings. great. and the air is clean. but we havent actually been anywhere yet. just arrived 20min ago and am using hotel´s free internet... beautiful hotel also. open central portion full of plants. old style. www.independenciahotel.com. ok. the plan for today is dinosaur footprints and churches. will update all again later. buenos dias amigos.

Saturday, March 11, 2006

Update!

The middleman (andrew) here folks, Katie has sent me some photos which I have added to the earlier Iguazu falls post.

Friday, March 10, 2006

stuffed, tired like, not stomach wise ...

so it took only 15h to get here to bonito from foz de iguazu instead of the 16h warned, which was a very nice bonus. first 3h were on a hot stuffy smelly bus. then next 9h were on a very nice bus, only the roas was NOT very nice. equalled in crappiness any I experienced in India. massive potholes so dense they could not be avoided despite the efforts of the bus driver. so the trip was so bumpy that I couldnt stay on my seat let alone sleep. of course kylie slept the entire time. but she is ill at the moment. a flu-like thing has been going through the group since day 1, so she needed the sleep. we have a day of rest today, to catch up on sleep, so nothing else to report. except that it is raining for the first time during the day. thats it. try to chat to you again tomorrow otherwise will be a while maybe since we are going bush ... camping in hammocks in the panatanal wetlands. bye all.

Thursday, March 09, 2006

brazilian side of iguazu falls

as the title suggests, we saw the other side of the falls today. better panoramic view from here but not as close to the action. also went to a bird park and had my backpack and water bottle mauled by a blue macaw as big as spencer (a poodle). got to go now. a 16h bus is waiting. just wanted to leave a quick note to all those devoted family and friends who check in here daily. love you all. and again, HAPPY BIRTHDAY mum!!!

Tuesday, March 07, 2006

yet more travelling ....

ok guys. so last i wrote we were in curitiba. did not observe anything remarkable about the architecture mum, but i probably wouldnt notice it anyway. did go to a soccer match, but unspectacular as was first tea in ladder playing last. but there was fireworks and chanting and cheering and booing. that was it for curitiba. slept unsoundly on yet another hard bed. rose early for 10h bus ride to iguaze. very long day. some nice scenery though. corn fields. soya bean fields. very green and deep red earth. arrived late here and had all you can eat pizza. we are all very excited about the falls tomorrow. also going to see itaipu dam dad, supposedly one of the seven wonders of the world although not sure of that. will have some exciting tells next installment. bye for now. kate.

Monday, March 06, 2006

1st overnight bus ...

hi all. so the overnight bus was very much better than expected. the seats had almost full recline and leg rests. a/c was good so kept 40degC weather at bay. even had tv. so we both got a decent nights sleep. unfortunately i think this was the best one we are going to get since brazil is the richest country. we are in curitiba today - not really anythign here - hanging out in a shopping mall, although we are going to see a futbal match later (parana vs toledo ? any good ?). then early night and another 10h bus ride to iguazu falls !!! pat, one thing we forgot to mention about rio, there are a lot of poodles there (mostly white though), and they are typically sporting trendy little shoes !! guess they dont want the dirt of the streets to be walked inside, you understand that mum. off to get food, bye

Saturday, March 04, 2006

on a boat in the islands

mum, i am sorry i have to say this, but i am pissed as a fart and i cannot do much in this blog. they had all you can drink capirinhas on this boat, and all i had was 3 or 4 plus a beer or 2, and i am shattered. apparently the capirinhas are 2.5 shots of alcohol each. was a very good day though. floating in the ocean drinking and eating. good value. bed you wish you could have been there. ok. talk to you all later. dont think a blog is feasible tomorrow. 1.5h ferry back to mainland. 3h bus back to rio. overnight bus to wherever it is we are going. god if only you knew how many times i had used backspace in this blog. ok bye. love to you all. kate.

Friday, March 03, 2006

Sunburnt

hey all. trekked today 3h to a beach here. not top 10 apparently, only best in brazil. was quite nice, reminded me of cape tribulation. but the trek was a shocker. 33degC plus i reckon 99% humidity. i had to strip to my swimmers. and despite the sunblock we are both burnt cause not used to getting around in swimmers. oh well. except that tomorrow is a full day on a boat .... supposed to be snorkelling with turtles (80% chance)!!!. sorry this is a short one but have a 7pm deadline in my hotel room - waiting on a call from london. bye.

Thursday, March 02, 2006

Ilha Grande

hi all. quick note for today to get all those happy who expect a blog daily. we are on an island south of rio called ilha grande, and i am using a satellite internet connected charged at 20c per min! the area is beautiful but would look better if the sun would come out - cant get full effect of rich green jungle and blue/green waters. but the place has a holiday spirit - mostly full of tourists - think byron - but will be good way to get acquainted with the tour group in a relaxed setting. the group is nice by the way - but nearly all aussie - brisbane versus sydney. plus one kiwi. ok. off now. should get some good pics to post from here (charting a yacht for snorkelling, eating, and drinking one of the next two days). bye.

Monday, February 27, 2006

Sweating in Rio

KATE: hello all. have arrived in hot and humid (31C at 10am) rio de janeiro. flights were good. no internet at any stopover airport (sorry mum and dad). so tiring though - 30h in total from home to hotel. have not done anything worth telling yet - went straight to bed when arrived (on a bed whose hardness i think rivals the one in chanderi dad), ate papaya for breakfast, and have just spent 1h finding a bank to get some reals to write this post. have heard some horror stories already of muggings (will spare you the details mum until i am away from rio), but suffice it to say we are returning to our hotel before dark to dump all our gear. there is apparently a band parading down a street near here tonight, so will probably visit there since tickets to the main sambodromo parade have been quoted to us as R350 (about $250). ok. that´s it, off to sit on the beach with the millions of others. Love Kate.

KYLIE: hi everyone, i have caught up on my sleep so not as tired and grumpy as before i left. getting use to the smells, and people. iam a bit more worried than katie about our safety but i am sure i will stop soon once i know that we will be ok. Off to the beach today, not sure if we are going to the carnival as the price of the tickets are over the top, but will think about it today. Katie has pretty much said everything, so we are off to the beach to do as the locals and every other toursit adn sit on the beach all day. talk to everyone soon. love you all. kylie

Saturday, February 25, 2006

At the departure gate ....

Only 35 minutes until we depart ... excited now. Thanks for all the text messages, and phone calls from everyone wishing us a great trip. We won't let you down. And also to family for seeing us off and giving us big hugs. It was nice. Talk to you in the land downunder - under north america that is. Love you all. Katie and Kylie.

Thursday, February 23, 2006

Yippee!!! and Argh!!!

I have finally submitted that damn phd thesis, and my fingers are looking forward to several months of rest, but we are not packed, and we don't have the necessary clothing, and we are running out of time. so i have switched one deadline for another .... have i finally discovered the answer to 'what is life'?

Monday, February 20, 2006

this is a test email post.

Saturday, February 18, 2006

Test Post #1

Hello world, here's a song that we're singin, come on get happy!

 
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