photos will follow later for Argentina/Brazil...
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Brazil
18th-20th
Jan Travelling Puerto Iguassu, Argentina to Cuiabá, Brazil:
Feeling a little better
as I set off to find out the easiest way to cross the Argentina/Brazil
border. Options were: take 3 different buses and make your own way
through the border crossing not knowing any Portuguese and not having any
papers signed, or take a taxi and have the taximan (who also didn’t speak
Portuguese) help you at the border crossing by sweet-talking the lady to
complete the necessary papers for me and take me all the way to the bus terminal
in the middle of Foz do Iguaçu city.
Hmmm… let me see, no brainer really.
Needless to say the border crossing was relatively painless (and worth
paying the extra even if the taximan did rip me off). When I got there I booked on what was
apparently the only bus to Cuiaba and was told the journey should take 25
hours. Had crossed a time zone at the
border and we were now an hour behind so that meant one less hour to wait than
anticipated which was good as it meant only 5 hours rather than 6 to wait! Met an English couple whilst in the cafeteria
so chatted to them whilst waiting. Bus
was late leaving and the aircon had broken – not so good in 35+ heat with about
90-95% humidity!!! (my fan from Singapore Airport came in rather handy as I
still wasn’t feeling a hundred). There
were 3 English guys travelling in the same direction so sat with them and
chatted away for the next couple of hours.
Little did we know until we got there that we all had to change buses at
a town called Cascavel and would be waiting another 2½ hours for it to arrive!
So we sat and waited
and waited and the time passed when the bus was meant to arrive and we
continued to wait and wait some more…Finally, an hour later than planned I was
on my bus and away, bound for Cuiabá. It was then I found out in my broken
Portuguese/Spanish/hand signals conversation with the girl next to me that it
was another 24 hours from where we were to Cuiabá!!!! Had a rather uneventful trip – there were
many many stops, whether to let someone off/on and stopping for each meal break
and to change drivers – certainly nowhere near as smoothly run as the
Argentinian buses. Plus the seats were
tiny so I was extremely glad when the couple in front got off just over halfway
through so then I grabbed both seats :)
The trip seemed
never-ending and left me seriously contemplating bussing around South Am. The tickets aren’t as cheap as everyone makes
out and I think it may be possible to fly for only a little extra and with a
lot less stress involved! Seriously I’m
contemplating getting on a plane back to Campo Grande or through to Santa Cruz
if possible. I’m sooooooo over it! In all the trip took 36 hours!
Arrived at the bus
station around 2300 with no one to talk to who spoke English but thankfully got
a taxi (with a crazy driver) to take me to the hostel (the only hostel in the
Lonely Plant guide – really bad reviews but I found out later it’s the only
hostel in the state so there’s not much one can do is there!). At the hostel the guy working overnight also
didn’t speak any English so we communicated via Google translator on the
computer lol. Not that anyone should
have to speak English – after all, it is a Portuguese speaking country, not an
English speaking country. Eventually got
a room (for 44Reais!!!! – about 38ish NZD!) and found out I’m the ONLY one here
in the WHOLE hostel. Crazy! It included aircon and sheets so that’s
good. Emailed Julinho from Pantanal
Trackers to see if he could pick me up a day earlier for the tour through the
Pantanal.
20th-25th
– Cuiabá / Northern Pantanal via Poconé:
(see
photo journal for the creatures named below)
20th – The owner
of the hostel was there in the morning and spoke a little English so he helped
me to organise a pickup time with Julinho for today rather than tomorrow. Also found out I have crossed yet another time
zone so really didn’t need to get up as early as planned as it’s another hour
behind! So we are now 2 hours behind
Argentina, 4 hours behind GMT and 16 hours behind NZ! Oh how I miss home……………no matter what I do I
can’t seem to shake this homesickness, it’s so weird, I’m not used to being
homesick, I pretty much never get homesick, grrr…
Internet went down just
after checking for Julinho’s reply.
Thank you Lord that it held up til then!
So I sat the rest of the morning in the hostel sorting photos and
what-not.
Julinho picked me up at
2 as promised (in his 44 year old landcruiser – yuss! a REAL vehicle ;D) and we
were on our way – off to the neverneverland of the Pantanal. It was soooo good to get out of civilisation
and off the beaten track at last!
Julinho’s a local who’s
been guiding in the Pantanal for over 20 years.
He really knows his stuff and has guided the likes of David Attenborough
to see Jaguars in the wild.
Unfortunately I went during the wet season so there’s no jaguars at the
mo but there were many other animals to see nonetheless. I would fully recommend Pantanal Trackers to
anyone. Check out: www.pantanaltrackers.com.br
Julinho believes in seeing creatures in their natural habitat behaving
as they normally would rather than on display doing tricks for tourists and
their cameras. So don’t expect creature
comforts here – the mosquitoes will bite you regardless of how city or country
you are. The lodges we stayed in were
lovely and the food was fantastic! We
even changed the time on our watch to coincide with the wildlife rather than
the government time of day. The whole
experience was fantastic! Definitely
will be making a trip back during a dry season at some point to see if I might
possibly spot a Jaguar – that would be incredible!!!
On the way to the first
Pousada (lodge) called the Rio Claro we spotted many caiman and capybaras plus
a black and bright bright almost fluorescent orange and black bird (can’t
remember name), jabiru storks, cuckoos, egrets, a black vulture, turkey
vulture, savannah hawk, two types of whistling duck (one with a bright orange
beak that almost looks plastic like it was bought in a shop and stuck on), a
black-collared hawk, a stag and doe of marsh deer and a laughing falcon which
had a white breast and a black stripe by its eyes and is rather rare to see
(unfortunately it was too far away to get a photo though).
Went on a night safari
with other lodge guests at night. Saw a
couple of frogs, a couple of Amazonian Rabbits (tails don’t stick up like those
back home but easy enough to spot as it’s very green here and they are grey)
and a few deer name Red Rockets (smallest deer in the Pantanal) but I think the
damp weather kept most animals at bay.
So, I'm finally
enjoying Sth Am. Don’t get me wrong,
there have been moments I’ve enjoyed but having spent the majority of my short
time in Argentina either in a bus or in the city and ill throughout I didn't
really have that much fun and was beginning to miss home like crazy which NEVER
happens to me! But now I'm here in the
Pantanal (below the Amazon – Jaguar country), out in the bush and loving it! So many things to see. Unfortunately it's the wet season so no
Jaguars or Pumas but loads of other stuff nonetheless.
21st – Woken
up around 0430 by the Chacalaca birds
(boom-chacalacalaca-boom-chacalacalaca-boom-chacalacalaca-boom. It would’ve been boom if I’d had a shotgun
lol…;P). We went on a walk through the
bush this morning and saw marmoset monkeys (unlike most monkeys these guys are
rather solitary creatures), a giant kingfisher eating a snakehead fish (they
live by the banks of the river and are rather lazy so when fishing you have to
bob the bait in front of them in order for them to take a bite), a hummingbird,
some giant river otters, a black male howler monkey (the females and young are
a beige colour), some capybara, caimans and a LOT of mosquitoes who decided to
take a liking to my ankles despite them being covered up! I now look like I have chickenpox or had way
too much acupuncture! LOL… Learnt a lot about different plants and their
various medicinal purposes, none of which I remember though, there’s just so
much to take in here. We heard some peccaries
in the bush but they ran off before we had a chance to see them. We also saw a cocoi heron and a tiger heron
on the riverbank, and a baby monitor lizard (he didn’t look very ‘baby’ to
me!).
Whilst waiting for
lunch some farmers came through the area moving cattle along the road and after
lunch around the lodge I spied some yellow-billed cardinals, yellow-chevroned?
parakeets and an amazonian lizard (apparently venomous) digging his way to
China in search of a bug. I also saw a
saffron finch and some other larger yellow bird I can’t remember the name of.
Mid-afternoon we went
out in the canoe down the river in search of wildlife. It was so great to be out on the water – it’s
been what seems like forever! Bliss! Saw some jaribu storks, capybaras, cocoi and tiger
herons, black-collared hawks, a savannah hawk, got up close and personal with
the caimans, and the highlight of the day – watched a giant otter eating a fish
(snakehead). It was great, you could
hear the crunching and everything – very noisy eaters!
The plan at night was
to go ride on the top of the jeep in search of some nocturnal critters but this
is the wet season after all so it decided to bucket down with rain instead…on
to Plan B… Julinho and another couple of
guides got out their guitars and harmonicas and had a jam session, much to the
delight of all us guests. What a great
night! Met a lovely Dutch couple who
have had some amazing travelling experiences throughout the world, including
hiring a car to travel through Northern Africa and through Mexico, so it was
great to chat with them and listen to their stories – how inspiring!
22nd – Spent
the morning canoe fishing. Saw
black-headed vultures down by the waterfront before we left. Forgot sunscreen and was nicknamed ‘coral
snake’ because I have red and white striped arms from my elbows up. All I need now is the black stripe and I’m
there! ;P Tried to catch some snakehead
fish for lunch – failed miserably.
Julinho caught 6 piranha and although I got loads of bites, no fish ever
made its way as far as the boat. Saw similar
birds to yesterday, plus toucans (bad because they eat the eggs and chicks of
the smaller birds. Worse than any other
predator at this. They still look cool
though!), iguanas (both old and young – they are chameleons and can change
colour from green to grey depending on their surroundings), some more cocoi heron
and finally got some close shots of piranhas (only babies but cool to see
nonetheless). After lunch I emailed, had
a quick kip and packed. Left Pousada Rio
Claro mid-afternoon and headed for Pousada Piuval (so named because of the
myriads of Piuva trees around that come out in beautiful pink and yellow
blossom just before the rainy season – 1 Piuva, many Piuval), stopping at the
pub in the middle of nowhere to go for a bushwalk to a tower to get a panoramic
view of the Pantanal – fantastic! Saw
some blue macaws but didn’t get a very good shot of them (they are the largest
macaw in the world and are endangered.
They are only found in the Pantanal.
They have a cousin in the Amazon which looks exactly the same except
smaller and they are in much larger numbers.
The blue macaw lays two eggs but only feeds one. Theory has it that this is due to the fact
there is not enough food to find at present so they just pick the stronger chick,
feed it and let the other one die (recovery programs are underway to increase
the population again). Also saw some capuchin
monkeys but unfortunately others had shown up and were all talk talk talk so
the monkeys never got close enough to capture a good photo. Did some spotlighting from there to the
Pousada, as by this stage it was dark, but only saw caimans and a small water
snake. When we arrived at Piuval we saw
a tiny water snake by reception – harmless.
Went for a nightwalk to find other decent-sized snakes but didn’t find
any.
23rd – In
the morning we went on a bush walk and saw a toucanette (smaller than a toucan
and with a black and yellow beak), a purplish jay, some agutis and from up in
the tower (different to yesterday) we spied a crested caracara hawk, a small
charter airplane and a Boeing making its way on some international flight. On our way back we saw the footprints of a
tapir but not the actual creature itself and also some rhea in the paddocks
with the cows (like a South American ostrich/emu type bird). Back at the lodge I saw some canary-winged
parakeets.
Whilst relaxing in the
midday heat we met Helena who’s 11 and wants to be a photographer and TV news
journalist when she grows up. She was
great. She’s learning English at school
(American in one class and English in another – must be very confusing for her)
and Julinho made us talk to each other in the respective languages. So, it was a bit shaky at first, with a lot
of laughs and weird ‘I have no idea what you’re saying’ faces but it was fun
and I learnt a lot more Portuguese so that was good.
In the afternoon we
took a boat out on Piuval lake and the plan was to go piranha fishing again in
the hopes I could actually catch something.
Unfortunately there were no rods with hooks around so it was on to Plan
B. As we were going across the lake we
could see the rain coming and it hit us in the bush just near a tower so we
donned raincoats quicksmart and with another giant poncho over both of us like
a tent fly we sat and waited it out.
VERY glad I had my togs on under my shorts as we got soaked even with
everything. I have to say though, the
raincoat did the job very well on the top part lol.
From up top we saw some
snowy egrets, monk parakeets, southern screamers and various other birds
already mentioned elsewhere or that I’d already seen. Still no more capouchin monkeys so my idea of
getting a photo or vid of them is goneburger.
I did spot a marmoset in the bush though. Unlike most monkeys, marmosets are rather
solitary creatures so you quite often will see one or two around about rather
than a whole group.
At night we invited
Helena to have dinner with us and we practised our English/Portuguese some more
whilst Julinho played his guitar. Later
on we went outside for some stargazing.
It was FANTASTIC to finally see a starry sky again – oh how I miss
it!!! The Southern Cross was low in the
sky and looked so large I thought it was another set of stars for quite a
while. Saw an electrical storm far on
the horizon which was AMAZING to see – back home there would always be
mountains in the way that far away. Then
the moon came up big and yellow and bright (just past a full moon a few days
ago) and most of the stars disappeared.
We talked late into the night and had various visitations of creatures
throughout, ranging from the resident donkey to a crab-eating fox and a caiman
that decided the lodge pool was a great place for a swim. Got within touching distance of it –
great! Today I also saw a crested
cardinal. Kind of like the cardinals in my
photos but grey instead of black and they have kind of a crest on their head
whereas the others were flat.
24th – Last
day at the Pousada Piuval. Difficult to
roll out of bed at ½ 5 this morning… So, what did we get up to this
morning? Horse riding! And afterwards my butt was soooo sore! I’m certainly no trotter that is for
sure! On our journey we saw a variety of
birds, some marmosets and some white collared peccary (similar to pigs only not
and slightly smaller).
Had lunch with Helena
and her family and then said our farewells as they are heading off towards
Paraguay today.
We left a couple of
hours later and it was sad to leave it behind.
I really enjoyed my time here meeting some great people, learning a
little Portuguese, seeing a myriad of wildlife, NOT enjoying the mosquitoes but
in a weird kind of way I did because without them the Pantanal would most
likely be inundated with people and it wouldn’t be as amazing as it is in its
present state. Even so, Julinho says
he’s seen a dramatic difference in the numbers of wildlife in the last 6 years
or so, which doesn’t bode well for the area.
It’s REALLY hot here
today. Okay with the breeze but when it
dies away the heat is sticky and makes you break a sweat (and that’s in the
shade!). Bearable, just. I also had a rather nasty looking wasp making
a nest on the inside of the door of my room – hmmm…
Julinho invited me to stay
with his family and leave Cuiabá tomorrow rather than today. It was so great! We went to a favourite roadside bbq place for
tea with his brother and girlfriend, and some other friends. Tried chicken heart kebab – interesting. They’re REALLY tiny (possibly stating the
obvious here ;P), kind of chewy and rather salty. Ok but I would choose the other two types of
kebab we had over them (one was beef and the other chicken wrapped in bacon –
my favourite!! Sabor!!! (Tasty in Portuguese ;P) Then it was off to Carnaval practice as his
brother’s in a Samba percussion group that’s performing during Carnaval in
Cuiabá. Would’ve been brilliant to get
some video of it but probably not an appropriate setting. It was incredible! Just a backyard full of people and the
music/drumming was amazing! Not
something I can even put into words really.
The people were sooo friendly and welcoming and a couple of ladies tried
to teach me samba – I need lots of practice before breaking that out again
methinks!!! lol!
25th – Spent
the morning in Julinho’s new boat with his brother and brother’s
girlfriend. Hot, sunny, lovely :) At lunchtime we parked up the boat at a
floating restaurant and tucked into some delicious catfish (pantido) for lunch
– sooooo good!!! Then we headed back to
the house and I spent the rest of the afternoon with my nose in an aviation
book of Julinho’s whilst he went out to help a friend. His aunties and half-brother turned up later
in the afternoon and we chatted and shared homemade cheesy bread bun things
together. I tried one despite the gluten
– paid for it later but it was tasty so glad I tried it :) Kind of like those mini buns you used to make
us Lizzee…
Soon it was time to
head off to the airport bound for Campo Grande.
Met a lovely gentleman next to me on the plane. He spoke a little English so I tried having a
conversation with him in Portuguese and when I didn’t know something he would
try to help with the word I needed – sometimes worked, sometimes not but it was
great to at least try. Feeling more
confident each time I attempt to speak anyway and the Brazilians I’ve met thus
far have been so incredibly lovely and helpful and so willing to try to
understand what you’re saying. And when
they can see that you really don’t know anything most will try to speak slowly
so you can try and understand. It’s like
the polar opposite to Argentina…Touched down around 2230 at the airport and the
lady at information kindly phoned the hostel to arrange pickup. It was then I discovered they had not booked
me in a room and the place was now full!
I’d paid a deposit and everything.
All that was left now was hotels.
Grrr… Still, it turned out ok
(thank you Lord) as the lady at information was incredibly helpful and got me a
deal for the night at a simple hotel for only 8 more Reais than what I would’ve
paid at the hostel. Still lost out on some
money but it was better than not having a bed for the night.
26th
– Campo Grande:
Spent
the day in Campo Grande but having taken a look at my finances I decided it’s
time to move on from Brazil so I booked a plane to Santa Cruz in Bolivia. It was either that or endure another two bus
rides (possibly more depending on the border crossings) that would’ve totalled
around another 20-25 hours and I’m not ready to endure another bus as yet. Plus it wasn’t too much more to fly so…
So,
onto Bolivia earlier than planned but it really was worth blowing my budget
for! – No regrets. Well, maybe one…wish
I hadn’t booked my flight from Ecuador to Panama as I could’ve had a chance to
go to Rio for the build-up to Carnaval which, for the locals, is better than
the Carnaval itself. Oh well, can’t have
your cake and eat it too I guess. And
there will always be something to stay behind for at a lot of places along the
way I guess but I must keep moving along – places to go, things to see, people
to meet, etc.
This
time of year really is the heartbeat of the people of Brazil. It is when they come alive and it is evident
in their faces when they’re playing, singing, dancing and practising for the
events of Carnaval. When you hear the
beat of those drums and the intensity of the music and the emotion and
happiness (no, it’s more than happiness – it’s like they’re wearing their heart
on their sleeve saying ‘hey world, look, this is us, this is who we are’) that
is all intertwined within it you can’t help but get caught up in it. It is so obvious why the people here love
this time of year and enjoying life in general.
It is a time when you can let life’s worries go and just enjoy the
moment – if there was a word to describe this I would write it here but as
there is not I shall leave it blank ………….
Early afternoon I booked
my first ticket ever directly from the airport and then spent the rest of the
day waiting as my plane wasn't due to leave til 2335. Well, that came and went and about an hour
later the plane finally showed up. So we
ended up leaving Campo Grande around the time we were meant to arrive in Santa
Cruz. But that didn’t matter as God put
on a wonderful show for us in the nightsky – an electrical storm just out the
window to the right of us for about half the journey – incredible!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ciao Brasil, I will
miss you…Sad to say goodbye to such a lovely country with amazing people, I
will certainly be back.
Look out Bolivia, here
I come…
Hi all,
So you may've noticed the slight change in the format of my posts. As it's so hard to keep up with writing a blog I'm just going to copy and paste my journal excerpts from now on so apologies for any boring parts you really don't care about - just the way it is. Hopefully you will still enjoy reading the majority of it though :D
Argentina
5th-9th
Jan Buenos Aires:
Arrival into Argentina
all went smoothly and the hostel I stayed at was good. Definitely a party hostel but thankfully I
was on the 5th floor so couldn’t really hear anything. Odd bathroom that didn’t have a door handle,
instead you had to use a coin or back-end of a key or something to twist the
mechanism to open it.
Went on a walking tour
(there wasn’t much walking though, mostly on the local bus) tour of the La Boca
barrio (neighbourhood). For all you
football fans out there, yes we visited La Boca stadium and the museum…Thought
it was only going to take a couple of hours (and it really only needed to) but
it took most of the day. Met an English
girl, Jenny, at breakfast who also went on it.
Instead of the planned lunch, her and I went with a couple of Americans
we’d met on the tour, Neil and Kalahan, to find some local kai. It was okay.
Better than paying for the expensive meal but it wasn’t very good food.
There was an Italian
girl (Leti) in the same dorm so we hung out together for a few days. Went to a Tango lesson/dinner/show night (it
was great!), cruised down the El Tigre on a catamaran in the hot hot sun (nice
to say we’d done it but both kind of expected more – it had been talked up as
soooo amazing – it made us appreciate the lovely countries we come from if the
Argentines considered it amazing…), walked the streets of central BA from
pretty much one end to the other (to the shock of the locals, they drive
everywhere here much like the English) and saw the upmarket district of Palermo
to say we’d been (although by this stage we were both had it and I was ill (the
guy at the hostel said the water was okay to drink – he was LYING!).
On our last day in BA
we visited La Boca for a second-time round as Leti had yet to see it, had an
AMAZING steak at La Brigada restaurant (pricey but SOOO worth it! – the waiter
cut the steak in half with a spoon!!! – very tasty Dad, you would’ve loved it…)
and saw the infamous San Telmo market (which was pretty much like any weekly
market back home selling jewellery, bags, clothes etc, just larger). We got back to the hostel just in time to
grab our gear and catch the subway to the bus station for the night bus to
Mendoza. Still ill…
Had originally planned
to travel up the east side of Argentina which doesn’t really have much of
anything exciting to offer, but Leti mentioned going to the wineries in Mendoza
so I decided to tag along and zigzag my way up the country instead – much
better plan.
10th-12th
Jan – Mendoza:
So our bus was meant to
arrive into Mendoza at 0830 but arrived at 1130 instead (19? hours in total). When we got there we took a local bus and
asked to go to a specific street, but instead we were dropped off in the
neighbourhood of the same name so were still miles from where we needed to
be. We decided to fork out for a taxi to
get us there in the end. Then we had the
task of finding somewhere to stay and ended up in a not-so-great
backpackers. By the time we got to
cycling round the wineries the greater part of the afternoon was gone. Still, it was a fantastic afternoon cycling
round in the hot dry weather (38°C with a slight breeze) along tree-lined
country roads with mountains in the background and the locals saying hi as you
passed by. Reminded me of Central Otago
so it was a feeling of enjoyment tinged with sadness for home. We caught up with a Belgian couple Leti had
met whilst tramping in Peru so they joined us for the afternoon. Part the way through we met another couple of
Argentinian guys so they joined in for one of the wineries also. Friendly, fun atmosphere. Loved the day.
Leti left for Santiago,
Chile the next day and I spent the best part of the morning finding a better
backpackers. Oh what a difference
between the two!!! The second place I
stayed was fantastic! The rest of my
time in Mendoza was fairly relaxed and ordinary – sorting through photos,
updating journal, still trying to kick this stupid sickness grr…
12th-17th
– Puerto Iguassu / Foz do Iguaçu:
Next day it was onto
another night bus bound for Puerto Iguassu.
Foolishly booked a bus to Posadas rather than Iguassu and only later
realised it would get in at 0430 with no accommodation to go to or anything, so
after some franticness in the Posadas bus station in the wee hours of the
morning I was on my way on a local collective to Puerto Iguassu a day earlier
than planned. 38! hours in total
including at least 20 hours across flat plains, no mountains in sight from
horizon to horizon. Even with the aircon
you could feel the heat coming through the windows from outside!
What a contrast between
Mendoza and Puerto Iguassu! Iguassu was
late 30’s every day with 95-100% humidity.
The rains began the day I left and were expected to continue through
into February so got there just in time.
Spent one extra day in Iguassu so all the tours and everything were
moved forward a day also, but it turned out well as my last day there was the
sickest I’ve been yet so it was good to be in a hotel with aircon blasting all
day and a chance for loads of sleep!
(very glad of the travel medical kit by this stage…)
There can be up to 275
waterfalls at Iguassu, at their peak carrying 1500 cubic metres of water per
second (enough to fill 36 olympic sized swimming pools every minute). The tallest waterfall is 80metres.
Went on a ½ day tour of
the Brazilian side of the falls. Saw an
armadillo, some bouchers (black birds in sky) and an egret (white, similar to a
heron). The next day was a full day tour
of the Argentinian side of the falls. Saw
coatis (raccoons), various mariposas (butterflies), an iguana, a yellow and
dark-bluish snake, a cormorant (bird with fuzzy head), a toucan and LOTS…. of
people!
At Garganta del
Diablo (Devil’s throat) (the first falls of the day) you could see remains of
the old walkway that was washed away in a flood. The river was the Rio Rivadavia and is
approximately 2 km wide. It took about
15-20 mins to walk across the river on the walkway to the falls but I think
that was due to the amount of people rather than the distance. The hordes of people detracted somewhat from
the beauty of it all. I think I much
more enjoyed the Brazilian side due to this reason. Next stop - Brazil!
Monday, January 17, 2011
England
What
to say….first impressions:
-
It
really does get dark around 1530 here.
The hours of daylight from dawn to dusk seem to be 0700ish to
1530/1600ish with a bit of twilight either side. It’s amazing how much difference even 1 or 2
hours of daylight makes – I felt like we were forever in the dark!
-
the
English countryside is beautiful, especially covered in snow, and old, so old.
-
all
the houses look the same. The only
differences amongst a line of houses usually are their front doors and even
then not always. It was the same in
Ireland and takes a bit of getting used to.
We are very blessed in New Zealand to have the land and opportunity to
build very individual looking houses.
-
much
colder and much more snow than Ireland
-
they
think they’re the only ones who speak proper English and will ‘correct’ you in
almost every sentence you speak
-
they
are rather obviously superficially friendly (hard to describe but almost like
it’s a duty to be friendly or something).
I find this interesting as, now I’m in Argentina writing this, the
English people I’ve met who are also travelling abroad are fantastic and
wonderfully friendly right off the bat. Odd.
So,
my first day in England was rather a write-off really. My plane was delayed yet again, but we
finally left Dublin airport 2½ hours? later than planned (I forget quite the
time as by this stage I was sick of checking but I know it was at least over 2
hours). Had it been on time I could have
made it to Bath where Emma was (I have seen photos – Bath looks amazing!) but
as it was delayed that meant it would no longer be possible. So instead I managed to catch a train from
Gatwick Airport to Taunton (just in time – got the ticket with 5 minutes to
spare to run with a laden pack down to the train platforms) and then a bus from
Taunton to Minehead where I spent the night and waited for Emma and Mark to
pick me up on their way back through the next day.
It
worked out well really as I desperately just needed some space to myself to
eat, shower and sleep before seeing any humans again.
I
stayed with my friend Emma who’s working over here. She’s living with a lady called Eve on a
small farmlet near a little village called Exford in Somerset. Eve kindly let me stay for free and we have
had a few meals together. She is a very
intelligent lady and always has something to say – you couldn’t really get a
word in edgewise and that’s saying something coming from me lol!!!
Unfortunately
Emma had to work through the Christmas/New Year period, however that hasn’t
stopped us from seeing a bit of the countryside. Too much to put down here but I think the
photos will explain themselves :D
One
day between her morning and night shifts we went up Dunkery Beacon for a look
(highest point in Exmoor). It’s more
like a mound or hill rather than anything big but the locals think it’s amazing
that anyone would walk right from the bottom rather than taking a car to the
carpark halfway up! Lol. The saying that
the English never walk if they don’t have to seems to be true… It was blowing
an absolute gale up there! I tried
taking a video from the top and even with the ‘wind cut’ function on my camera
it’s still howling and the picture was anything but steady. But it was a great wee walk for a couple of
hours (and it only took that long because of the snow drifts we had to walk
through) and we sat and watched the lights go on over Wales before heading back
down the ‘mountain’.
A
couple of days before I was due to leave Emma and I wanted to cook dinner for
Eve to say thank you for her hospitality so the plan was for me to take the bus
from Exford to Minehead then another from Minehead to Taunton and do a shop for
the meal. The bus was supposed to leave at
0800 however we thought it was 0700 so up with sparrows and walked/jogged the
30minute journey from Chibbet to town to catch the bus that we had an hour to
wait for lol. So Emma went off to work
and I amused myself at the bus stop for an hour (thankfully I had my MP3, it
was cold and the distraction was good.
Plus I had my salsa music on so it would’ve been good entertainment for
anyone up early in the hotel across the road watching some odd girl boogying
away by herself under the bus stop lol).
Then, after waiting til about 20 past 8 I decided the bus wasn’t coming
(and if it was it could pick me up on the way), so I started walking the 15
miles to Minehead in the hope some kind soul would pick me up part of the way. After walking a few miles I got a lift to
Wedden Cross, not far but at least it knocked some of the distance off. Then it was back to Shanks’ pony for the next
mile or two before being given a lift to Dunster (don’t worry mum and dad, this
is not a common occurrence, it was my first time hitching and I really didn’t
have any other option). Not quite
Minehead but it worked out better in a way because it meant I could take a look
round the historic town before carrying on my journey (take a look at the
photos and you’ll see what I mean – beautiful).
I discovered from a friendly Welsh chap in the store that it was
possible to get a bus from Dunster to Taunton so I took that instead (I also
learnt a stackload of history from him regarding the town – he was a wealth of
information).
All
in all the trip that I thought would take a few hours at most took all day and
when I arrived back at 1800 Emma and Eve were deciding how much longer they
would wait before going looking! But we ended
the night tucking into a scrumptious meal of stirfried chicken with lemon and tarragon,
grilled potatoes with paprika and oregano, a lovely fresh salad and baked rice and
raisin pudding with mixed berries (berries are soooo cheap in the UK!) and
cream (they seem to prefer that to milk here) to finish it all off. We were all stuffed to the brim so much so we
could barely move! Haven’t eaten like
that in a loooonnng time J
Once
the snow and ice finally cleared and Eve could get out her driveway and
side-road (they only grit the main roads here and even then rather uselessly –
also no footpaths gritted either – crazy) she took me for a look around the
different parts of Exmoor. Our first
attempt was unfortunately shrouded in fog, but the next time was good enough
weather. See photo journal for more…
Righto,
well I think that’s all I can remember from England – onwards to Argentina…
IRELAND
Like
Dunedin, only colder!
Loved
the country! Didn’t get to see much due
to being trapped in by the snow but it was lovely nonetheless. Every Irish person seems to want to have a
yarn; which is fantastic when you’re a stranger in a strange land and wanting
to find people to talk to. And the
accents…oh the accents!…Best sounding in the WORLD! Although, I could imagine such a strong
accent may get on the nerves after a while – but it’d be a fairly long while
lol… The hilarious thing was, even
though I was only there 4 days, my Southland ‘r’ was back in full force
by the time I got to England – Emma wasn’t too sure what to make of me LOL…
Whilst
in Ireland I stayed in Delgany with my friend Lizzee who is working as an
aupair for a family there. It’s a small
town about an hour out of Dublin. Our
original plan was to rent a car and travel to Donegal, Connemarra, Galway, etc,
but unfortunately the snowstorm hit just as I arrived so the farthest we went
was to Dublin. Still, Dublin is
beautiful and we had a great time just hanging out. The family she is working for are lovely and
friendly and very kindly allowed me to stay, eat their food, etc.
Now
comes the ‘fun’ part. So, I was only
meant to be in Ireland for 4 days, however I also had the ‘pleasure’ of
spending the next 3 in Dublin Airport.
Not so much fun, although I did meet a few nice people there (as you do
when you’re waiting in the re-check-in line for 5 hours after finding your
flight’s just been cancelled). It’s
amazing how both the really good and the really bad come out in people during
situations like these. I was fortunate
to only hear the bad ones from afar and most people I met, although grumbly (as
were we all) were lovely and helpful.
For example, when you’re standing in a re-check-in line for 5 hours
there are certain needs one has…So it was good to strike up conversation with
those in front and/or behind and we’d each take turns watching the other’s bags
whilst they went off to do what needed to be done and come back. I met a girl trying to get back from Boston
to Germany for Christmas, a girl from Mexico trying to get to France, a
Scottish lady and a Singaporean? guy from San Francisco? who had a laptop with
him and was EXTREMELY helpful in keeping us updated with what was going on and
with finding the info I needed for trains/buses once I got to England (since I’d
obviously now missed the ones I booked in advance). In total my flight was changed 5 times and
the day after I flew out they closed the airport again. We were put up in a hotel for the first night
but after that left to fend for ourselves (i.e. bunk down in the airport). By the third day I discovered I don’t like
crowds. Picture hmm…maybe Wellington
airport completely packed with people like sardines (and I mean sardines – they
had to have people direct foot traffic as there were so many from one end of
the airport to the other that we actually couldn’t physically move). And then we were fed different information from
different people which didn’t help the nerves.
NOT FUN!!! One lady who worked
there informed me that the airport would be closing and we would all have to
leave at 11pm, which meant I would have ended up outside in the snow as none of
the roads were open either. Stupid
woman, my nerves were okay til that point, then they kind of spiralled downhill
rather rapidly. Thankfully there were
others working there who were very kind and helpful and gave me more truthful
and accurate information. What was frustrating
is that there really wasn’t that much snow/ice compared to back home and
they’re just so unprepared for anything here.
They hardly ever grit there roads which made the bus journey from the
hotel back to the airport at 6 in the morning a rather interesting
experience. Nor do they use chains on
their tyres for the snow (England was the same), which pretty much means if it
snows EVERYTHING comes to a stand-still – ridiculous!
Anyway,
as I said, I met some lovely people and was finally on my way to England (tired
and with frayed nerves having had 3 hours sleep over the 3 days)…
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