Patel World Tour

THE JOURNEY CONTINUES...WHERE NEXT!!!!

2008-05-07T13:37:00.002-07:00

LA...Pix soon

2008-05-07T13:37:00.001-07:00

HAWAII...Volcano Pix soon

2008-05-07T13:36:00.000-07:00

Dallas...pix soon

2008-05-07T13:35:00.000-07:00

Mexico...pix soon

2008-05-07T13:34:00.000-07:00

ALOHA! from HAWAII!!!!

2008-04-22T14:57:00.000-07:00

...many hours of travel from BELIZE -arrived MEXICO CITY-it's really the worst CITY on our travel after SAN JOSE-just a huge concrete jungle...took not a single pix in MEXICO CITY-we did have a great two room suite accomodation thanks to WOTIF.COM at a real good rate in the center of the city...

...on 17th Apr we left MEXICO CITY for DALLAS -met up with SHAF -friend from UNI days...spent 4 days here-visited SOUTHFORK RANCH of t.v series DALLAS...

...visited KENNEDY MUSEUM and the site where he was shot in 1963 THE DEALEY PLAZA...it's a great WHO DUN IT!!!-every tourist has their own theory as to who really got him killed and why...great museum but US authorities explanations as to who killed him and why is just so pathetic and laughable!-I guess we will never know the truth...

...but WHO CARES cause now we are in another paradise!!! HAAAWWWAAAIII!!!

CAYE CAULKER-BELIZE

2008-04-14T11:41:00.000-07:00

...our TROPICAL PARADISE hotel right on the CARIBBEAN BEACH...yes in every sense it's PARADISE maan!...only means of transport here is GOLF CART...

CAYE CAULKER is a small reef island 40km from BELIZE CITY in the CARIBBEAN SEA
...dive & snorkelling shop right on the beach...
...beautiful...

...bar with hammocks...at the SPLIT...
...CAYE CAULKER is a true CARIBBEAN ISLAND with palm trees blue sea and real easy pace ...enjoying drink at the SPLIT...
...I think it was 1998 HURRICANE MITCH that SPLIT this island in to two islands...as can be seen in this picture and the one below...CENTRAL AMERICA is beautiful but has darker side and that is the HURRICANE SEASON every year for six months from JUNE to NOVEMBER...
...this waters are now known as the SPLIT...the bar on the corner is where I enjoyed few cool drinks...

DIVING-HONDURAS- ROATAN-BAY ISLANDS

2008-04-14T10:46:00.000-07:00

...from TELA 1 hour taxi to LA CEIBA-from here 75 minutes ferry to ROATAN one of the island in a group of islands known as BAY ISLANDS in CARIBBEAN SEA off the coast of HONDURAS...

...ROATAN is a dream CARIBBEAN ISLAND with plam trees-blue ocean-shallow waters and real easy pace-PARADISE in every sense...

...we spend 9 days on ROATAN ISLAND just diving as the REEF is only 15 minutes away at the most from the coast by boat...

... here Pritti done 10 dives and Dipak 8 dives...

...in all our dives we use to dive with 2 dive-masters in a group of 8 people and with us we had ELI from ATLANTA who is also a professional underwater photographer and he took the pictures of Pritti and Dipak and some of the things that we saw underwater...

...to see some of the things that we saw click on to the LINK below...

...enjoy & be inspired...

http://www.yelloideas.com/journey/Honduras/Memories/

...our dive shop-OCEAN CONNECTIONS-it was home from home-great bunch of people-we were real sad to leave them after 9 days of friendship...it backs on to the ocean...

...this area is known as WEST END...

...back of the dive shop...the boat bringing people back from dive...

...back of the dive shop as Kiki bring back empty Oxygen cylinders from the dive boat...

...our beautiful hotel right across the dive shop...we had a suite with kitchen -living room etc-we just wanted to stay here for ever-ROATAN is one place we know we will go back oneday...

....on our patio...we have enjoyed relaxing in hammocks all over the world...

...my favourite drinking hole in all my travel-this bar has COOL BLUE CARIBBEAN OCEAN in the front(see pix below this-VEDANTA playing in the water) and the back(see picture no2 above)-also watched few football matches here-the pix above was taken on the day REDS beat EVERTON 1 nil...

...Vedanta plays in the water at the front of my all time favourite bar as Dad watches REDS beating EVERTON inside the bar...with a few cold ones ofcourse...

...this less than a minute walk from our hotel...

...another place to enjoy some cool drinks---about 2 minutes walk from our hotel...

...WEST BAY beach...5km of pristine white sand and lashing of blue CARIBBEAN waters...10 minute taxi ride from our hotel...the waters are so shallow here...

...the SNOKERLLING was really good too...

...Pritti & Vedanta off snorkelling-I didn't see them for 2 hours...

...BOND GIRL back from her mission...

...I didn't snorkel much here but it was a good photo oppertunity...

...I sat round all day watching the traffic go by... with few cold SOL for company-with slice of lime of course

...and there I am...

...leaving ROATAN by ferry...this ferry hit the REEF few years ago...

DIVING- BELIZE

2008-04-13T17:52:00.000-07:00

...Snorkelling in Caribbean sea off the coast of BELIZE...

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...from BELIZE CITY we took one hour boat ride to small key(reef island) called CAYE CAULKER where we spent 3 days snorkelling and diving...

(snorkelling and diving pictures below are taken by either Pritti or Dipak with a underwater camera)

...the visibility was up to 20 meters during all snorkelling...

...US snorkelling at STING RAY & SHARK ALLEY---40 minutes boat ride from CAYE CAULKER...

...snorkelling with NURSE SHARKS(they are no danger to human)...this area is known as STING RAY & SHARK ALLEY...we snorkelled with quite a few SHARKS & STING RAYS...
...we came across a group of 8 NURSE SHARKS resting on bottom of the ocean...some were up to 5 meters...bit scary for all of us but what a sight!

...we came across group of over 30 huge STING RAYS and SPOTTED EAGLE RAYS in just 10 feet of water under us...they were almost touching us as they were gently gliding pass us and they were in such playful mood...real magic...

...spotted EAGLE RAY...
...our guide OSCAR playing with group of STING RAYS...I had to remind him that STEVE IRWINE(crocodile hunter fame) was killed by STING RAY's tail as it punctured his heart couple of years ago...I was a bit scared as they were only couple of feet away...
...beautiful...
...a real dream come true to have seen this...
...couple of them had tails missing,lost in a fight may be or during an attack by another predator like shark...
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...DIVING in BELIZE...

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...we had 3 dives each in BELIZE...

(all pictures taken by Pritti & Dipak with underwater camera)

...all pictures are from our 3 dives...

...dive sites were 2 hours boat ride from CAYE CAULKER...

...this is second biggest BARRIER REEF in the world after THE GREAT BARRIER REEF in AUSTRALIA...

...this BARRIER REEF covers the coast of MEXICO,BELIZE,GAUTEMALA & HONDURUS in the CARIBBEAN SEA...

...the visibility during all dives except THE BLUE HOLE was up to 20 meters...

...beautiful blue reef...
...here Pritti holding a CONCH...

...Dipak diving the reef...
...2 of our dives were at 20meters and BLUE HOLE dive was at 40 meters...
...STING RAY was resting on the bottom of the ocean but as we approched it took off...
...multi-coloured REEF ... FAN CORAL
...many fish of dazzling colours and varying sizes...
...we are both now certified OPEN WATER SCUBA DIVERS...we are hoping to go one stage further in near future to become ADVANCE SCUBA DIVERS and for that one needs to do five special dives like wreck and night dives etc with a scuba -master and if you pass then you are a certified ADVANCE SCUBA DIVER... we both have done one advance dive each already and so 4 more to go...

...Dipak & our Scuba-Master surrounded by BLUE CHROMIS fish...

...to be a ADVANCE SCUBA DIVER one also has to learn to identify types of CORALS and FISH...and we are learning that too...

...Dipak by the WALL---WALL is from where the sea dropps off in to darkness and unknown...we are at 22 meters and from here the sea goes down to over 1000 meters and when you see this darkness where no sun-light ever penetrates- everytime it use to send chill down my spine...

...it's him again...

...Pritti and Dipak at 20 meters...picture by our Dive-Master..

...and it's him again...

...beautiful STAGHORN CORAL...

...GIANT TUBE SPONGE...

...GIANT SEA CRAB...
...when you are diving you never really get scarred of any of the creatures that you see and most of the time they are only couple of feet away from you...but if you see something like that on land you run miles away...it's weird but it's true...

...Giant GREY ANGELFISH...

...ELIPTICAL STAR CORAL...

...LEAFY STINGING CORAL...

...SQUIRRELFISH amongst many diferent coral including SCROLL CORAL(yellow)...

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...THE BLUE HOLE is a tourism poster for BELIZE...it's where divers from all over the world come to dive...it's 400 feet deep and 1000 feet wide...it's a collapsed cave under the ocean...

...THE BLUE HOLE...

...this is exactly how it looked when we were there-deep BLUE...

(this picture taken from archive)

...unfortunatley this is the only picture from our BLUE HOLE DIVE as it was windy day and so water became murky with 5 meter or less visibility and we were 40 meters below the surface...

...BULE HOLE is known for it's number of SHARKS that one can see and we saw some 9 SHARKS in all here and some were huge over 25 feet perhaps...we think they were GREY CARIBBEAN SHARKS and others...we spent total of 25 minutes below the water...I am telling you I was shitting myself but it was great Adrenaline rush...

...in this dive we had to descend very fast to 40 meters using the wall as our marker,then you swim beneath a stalactite-laden overhang and that's where all the SHARKS were hanging out... heart stopping moment for me!...

Belize...Caye Caulker...Tela

2008-04-13T10:00:00.000-07:00

...Belize City capital of Belize...nothing to write home about...best thing is CAYE CAULKER and BLUE HOLE for divings are just off the coast from here...
CAYE CAULKER..taking a lunch break from snorkeling and diving....

...sunset over TELA hotel...Guatemala...

...beach at TELA...

...relaxing in HAMMOCK LOUNGE at TELA hotel...

Honduras and Belize

2008-04-08T15:14:00.000-07:00

....8th April now in TIKAL at MAYAN ruins in GUATEMALA -off on 9th to across to MEXICO to see MAYAN ruins at PALENQUE ...then towards MEXICO CITY.

...spent last 14 days DIVING in both BELIZE and HONDURUS...

...BAY ISLANDS in CARIBBEAN SEA off the coast off HONDURUS were briliant-we stayed at ROATAN ISLAND for 10 days and dived everyday...here is the 2nd biggest BARRIER REEF in the world after THE GREAT BARRIER REEF in AUSTRALIA-it stretches along the coast of MEXICO-BELIZE-GUATEMALA-HONDURAS.
We did 20 dived between us.

...then we left BAY ISLAND and came in to BELIZE to dive off BELIZE CITY...we spent 3 nights at CAYE CAULKER -did 3 dives each and we dived THE BLUE HOLE and again came face to face with few SHARKS!...

(we entered BELIZE via a small boat from GUATEMALA)

Copan-Hondurus-MAYAN RUINS

2008-03-22T13:51:00.001-07:00

...Scarlet MACAW's at COPAN MAYAN RUINS...there were quite a few flying around just feet away from us...
...small Green TOUCAN near COPAN MAYAN RUINS...

...Green/Yellow TOUCAN ....

...COPAN MAYAN RUINS...this place is full relics from MAYAN days over 1000 years ago...PYRAMIDS included...

...very hot day...lots of carvings of animals and birds etc...MAYAN KINGS ruled large part of MEXICO,GAUTEMALA & HINDURAS...

Gautamala and Hondurus...

2008-03-19T15:50:00.000-07:00

19th March 08...now in TELA in HONDURUS on the beach -CARIBBEAN SEA-arrived 16th leaving 23rd to go to BAY ISLANDS until 1st April for 8 days of DIVING and SNORKELING...TELA is beautiful town on the coast ,we are in a beautiful hotel on the beach and just lazying ,reading books,hammocks and drinking BACARDI all day as it's only 5 US for 1 liter botttle!!! the Cola is more expensive than BACARDI!...CUBA is not far from here too!

...last week we spent in GUATAMALA looking at LIVE VOLCANOS and old towns like ANTIGUAS-we have criss crossed the border between EL SALVADOR -GUATAMALA -HONDURUS on more than 3 occassions-border crossing is real easy between these 3 nations-they have good understanding between them...

...We have loved GUATAMALA and HONDURUS-both are very lush green and really pretty countries and the people are very friendly and easy going...we will be crossing in to GAUTAMALA again early April to look at MAYAN RUINS at TIKAL...

...we are looking forward to lazying on the beach in BAY ISLANDS-have booked a nice hotel with a package for 10 DIVES each...can't wait...we are hoping to see WHALE SHARK as they gether around here for breeding this time of the year...

...we are running out of space on the BLOG as we 've already used up 91% of the space and hence publishing less than before...

Guatamala...PACAYA VOLCANO

2008-03-16T13:25:00.000-07:00

...PACAYA VOLCANO...Gautamala...13th March 08...

...day scene from our hostel in ANTIGUA Gautamala...
...from Antigua 2 hour bus ride then over 2 hours of gruelling steep climb to reach the LAVA FLOW...and what we saw was just mind-blowing...we had to cross some 300 meters of 12 months dried old lava field to reach the actual LAVA flow-and you could feel the heat from lava flow even from far as 500 meters and it got hotter and hotter as we came to within 15 feet of RED HOT LIQUID LAVA FLOW...

...the LAVA FIELD looked like land from another planet far away-all different forms of wrinkles,bends etc....
...after carefully walking across the LAVA FIELD we reached the LAVA FLOW coming out of the crater of Pacaya Volcano and what we saw was just a dream come true-seeing actual lava flow for the first time in our life...some got even closer to toast marshmallows...I am about 15 feet away...

...there were quite a few LAVA FLOWS ...as lava cools on the surface it becomes hard and becomes a lava tube and in the tube lava keeps flowing and that is what we saw here-lava coming out of the crater of the volcano through the lava tube and out for us to see...
...it also started raining and got dark for good effects but we had one hell of a day yet again.seeing lava this close has to be in top ten of best things seen on our tour yet!....
...Vedanta was very brave indeed walking across the LAVA FIELD as it was right damn dangerous many times -Pritti ,myself and our guide Ronni were holding her hands both front and back to guide her down safely...

...I was really overwhelm seeing this because I always thought only them explorers and the likes of Richard Attenborough only got to see this kinds of nature at work...
...STUPENDOUS...

...this pix shows cool lava tube and lava flowing in the lava tube...this our group...

...we had 6 Israelis in our group-let me say that I am not an anti-jew or anything like that-but travelers from Israel are the worst kind of people we have met on our travels-they are RUDE,MOST UNFRIENDLY,ARROGANT,INYOUR FACE,THINKS WORLD OWES THEM A FAVOUR OR TWO and these 6 were the worst of the worst...

...live a little you WANKERS...

Ometepe Island...Nicaragua

2008-03-16T12:49:00.001-07:00

...Ometepe Island ...Nicaragua...6th March 08...

...two Volcanos-CONCEPCION & MADERAS-in middle of LAKE NICARAGUA-Central America's biggest lake-over 30 rivers flows in to here then the lake empties it in to the CARIBBEAN via one narrow river-this lake contains rare freshwater BULL SHARKS intially migrated from Caribbean...both above volcanoes were separated by water until after many eruptions both united in a single island...we stayed on Concepcion-town called MYOGALPA-went around in local buses...Altagrcia other town on Maderas...
...while we were there BBC came here for few days with some 12 handicap people-filming them climbing both volcanoes...programme will be aired late 2009 on BBC1...

....riding local buses in Nicaragua...buses are known as CHICKEN buses by travelers as anything and everything is carried on the bus by locals...sometime there are more Chickens on thebus then pessengers ...we loved it!

Monteverde Cloud Forest...Costa Rica

2008-03-16T12:30:00.001-07:00

...Monteverde Cloud Forest(MCF)...Monteverde...3rd March 08

...MCF is bird watcher's paradise and other wildlife like Sloths,Monkeys and Snakes etc...30 species of brilliant HUMMINGBIRDS ...one type seen above at Hummingbird Gallery...

...another type of HUMMINGBIRD...and there where so many just flying pass by your ear..we also saw Costa Rican national bird QUETZAL-spectacular colours...
...adrenaline junkie at it again in Costa Rica...

...Sky Trek ZIP LINES ...longest and highest in the world...

...rode through 11 different zip lines-total of 11,000 feet,one with a length of 3000 feet and 500 feet high-I seemed to have grazed tree tops as I flew above the forest at 60mph,through the clouds and wind in my face...

...felt like SUPERMAN and SPIDERMAN...

...Pritti done this too and she loved it...

Arenal Volcano...Costa Rica

2008-03-16T12:06:00.000-07:00

Arenal Volcano...1st March 08

...Arenal view from hotel balcony...world's ten most active volcano...erupts non-stop daily-throwing out huge red hot boulders and lava with it-but only on South side-no hotels at all on South side -we were based on Northern side-smoke can be seen non-stop... town is called La Fortuna meaning Fortunate as LAVA never flows towards the town...
...this picture shows Arenal spewing out Smoke and Ash...it,s like a huge firework...
...lava flow seen at night time...we had to trek for over two hours through thick Costa Rican Jungle at night time to get to a vantage point on the Southern side to see this...it was SPECTACULAR...you can see and hear huge red hot boulders being thrown out of the crater in to the air and being smashed as they roll down the hill and red lava being thrown in the air...PURE MAGIC...

Nicaragua...

2008-03-08T08:41:00.000-08:00

...Sat 8th March 11am OMETEPE ISLANDS in NICARAGUA-been watching Liverpool v Newcastle -great result for the REDS...
and what about INDIA´S thrashing of AUSTRLIA in the ODI´s-finals-again it feels great to be supporting the boys in BLUE and REDS...
Ometepe islands are real disappointment and we are catching the ferry at 1pm for mainland NICARAGUA then on to the CAPITAL MANAGUA-everyone says it´s the most dangerous place for travelers -so we are going to just drive through it at night time on our way to EL SALVADOR...
... met up with some friends we made on STAHLERATTE and had few drinks with them...great to see them again-from GERMANY...
...border crsossing in to NICARAGUA from COSTA RICA was simple enough-except we had to walk long way with our backpacks from one border to the other-NICARAGUA is very poor country but as always poorer the country nicer the people...

San Blas Islands

2008-03-05T15:14:00.001-08:00

...SAN BLAS ISLANDS-PANAMA...

...STAHLERATTE name of our sailing boat-deal was we all had to cook and help run the boat-here PRITTI helping to raise the sails as I down a cold one!...21 on board -18 pessengers and 3 crew from GERMANY-11 NATIONALITIES on board and we all got on like house on fire-4 nights stay so we made 4 groups and each group once had to cook breakfast-lunch-dinner for others!!!...we had to cook on the last day and we made INDIAN FOOD that others will remember forever...our group had us 3 ,RICHARD from Leicester and MELVIN from Texas US...

...me relaxing in a hammock-it was non-stop PARTY for 5 days as we sailed from CARTAGENA-COLOMBIA in CARIBBEAN SEA through SAN BLAS ISLANDS off PANAMA...brilliant sunrise and sunsets-free flowing beers and rum and fantastic company...

...after sunset at sea as we enjoy dinner on first day cooked by ANDY and his gang...
...true PARADISE in every sense as we arrive at SAN BLAS ISLANDS-there are over 300 tiny FANTASY ISLANDS-only ten or so inhabited-all covered by coconut trees-white powder sand beaches and turquoise CARIBBEAB SEA-all islands are just tiny -some one km by half a km-just gorgeous...
...STAHLERATTE has six stunning sails-has to be the most enjoyable sea journey ever-GERMAN Captain named LUDWIG-real gent but very mad and crazy-he was laugh a minute...
...one of the many activities carried out by those not on duty in the kitchen!!!!-here DARCY from AUSTRALIA swinging in to the CARIBBEAN from the rope hanging from the sail mast...
...VEDANTA and PRITTI swimming and snorkelling their way to one of the island from our ship...

...what can I say!...the picture just says it all...
...VEDANTA had time of her life on STALHERATTE as she made friends with every one of them and they all enjoyed her company too...here she is floating towards her dream island and it's only 100 meters away!...
...barbi on the beach-it was all day affair on our own little paradise and we all had loads of beer and rum and today it was all done by our American friends RYAN,MEGAN and their gang....

...barbi will go on late in to the night...island of total perfection and there are over 300 of these within swimming distance of each other...

...as sun begins to set and the PARTY goes on...total bliss...
...one amazing day in four days of total ectasy...

...SAN BLAS islands belong to PANAMA ...some of the islands are home to KUNA people-unique indigenous community...all SAN BLAS islands plus some of the mainland PANAMA are an AUTONOMOUS region run by KUNA people with little interference from national government ...you have to admire KUNA people for their achievement of total autonomy from PANAMA and you also have to admire the PANAMA GOVERNMENT for trusting the KUNA people by giving them the autonomy...

Panama City-Panama Canal-Quito-Bogota

2008-03-05T15:10:00.000-08:00

...Panama City...

...Panama Canal 80km long...15,000 ships pass through here each year earning over ONE BILLION DOLLARS in revenue for PANAMA-will be widen soon to accomodate huge container ships at a cost of 10 billions US...ships pay according to weight and cargo carried...
...3 sets of LOCK system that allow ships to cross from PACIFIC to ATLANTIC and vice versa....over 22,000 people died building this canal from all sorts ...canal areas are surrounded by real PANAMANIAN jungles...
...US handed PANAMA CANAL to PANAMA only 10 years ago...
...had a good day watching GIANT ships going through the locks....
...QUITO CITY-ECAUDOR... ...BOGOTA-COLOMBIA-we loved traveling through COLOMBIA...

Costa Rica

2008-03-04T09:05:00.000-08:00

... COSTA RICA is THE most disappointing country after VIETNAM...capital SAN JOSE is the most shittiest capital in the world after ISLAMABAD in PAKISTAN!... 2 locals tried to rob me but but we got away!...this country is full of AMERICAN kids looking for cheap thrills and they throw dollars like confetti and hence it is twice as expensive as other countries around ...service and infrastructure is third world...we were going to spend 3 weeks here but we will finish in 7 days and spend our time & money in other CENTRAL AMERICAN countries instead...so it's adios COSTA RICA forever...

...from SAN JOSE 6 hours bus to ARENAL...after that 4 hour jeep -boat -jeep to MONTEVERDE through COSTA RICAN jungles...

...today 4th March 11am...been watching VOLACANOE ARENAL last couple of days and night...it throws out red hot lava and rocks every 5 minutes with ash and gases...at night it's like giant fireworks and red hot lava flowing down and very spectacular indeed...one of the world's 10 most active volcanoe...
...today we are in MONTEVERDE CLOUD FOREST...done flying over the rain forest in ZIP LINES for 2 hours and watching HUMMINGBIRDS!!!
...this aftrenoon we are moving to PACIFIC COAST to watch SEA TURTLES laying eggs on the beach at night time...can,t wait...wish you here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

...will publish some photos soon-just don,t have time at the moment...

Panama...Panama City..Costa Rica

2008-02-29T14:57:00.000-08:00

...today 29th Feb 6pm...just arrived SAN JOSE the capital of COSTA RICA from PANAMA CITY after 16 hour bus ride...border crossing took 3 hours 5am to 8am...I was not a happy boy!...PANAMA CITY is modern with huge buildings and the usual stuff...visited PANAMA CANAL and few other sites...

The SEA VOYAGE from COLOMBIA to PANAMA was just mind blowing...we spent 4 days sailing in CARIBBEAN SEA...SAN BLAS ISLANDS off PANAMA coast are real paradise...we had 15 other travelers with us and in total we had 11 nationalities!!!..we all had amazing time together...swimming snorkeling barbi on beach etc....our sailing boat had 6 huge sails ...name of our sailing boatwas STAHLRATTE...stuff that dreams are made of...we sailed through some of the 300 tiny paradise islands with white powder sand palm trees and just deserted and all islands to ourselves...

...from STAHLRATTE at end of our sailing we caught a small boat through a river then using jeep through jungles of PANAMA we reached PANAMA CITY...amazing journey!!!

...

CARTAGENA...COLOMBIA

2008-02-20T16:28:00.000-08:00

LIVERPOOL 2 MILAN 0...no one messes with us in EUROPE -the DREAM is alive and SIXTH one is on it´s way-glad to get that off my chest! and now let´s go and thrash the AUSSIS at SCG as the LANKANS are taken care off-GREAT week being the RED and BLUE supporter!
Now in CARTAGENA-COLOMBIA since 18th-been looking for a boat that will take us to PANAMA via SAN BLAS ISLANDS in the CARIBBEAN SEA-found one today-GERMAN captain-he is very funny as far the GERMANS go!!!-105 year old boat made in HOLLAND-we went to see it - looks safe enough - it´s got enough lifejackets!!!-hopefully sailing on midday 23rd-40 meters length-8 meters width-sailing boat called STAHIRATTE-its a real backpackers kind of boat and has been doing this route for many years - it is also recommended by other travelers so that´s allright then!! -Captain needs to find 4 more people to make 14 to sail for sure on 23rd-he seems sure that we will sail on time-when we left home we hoped to enter one country via sea so PANAMA may be it-It is 5 days sailing to PANAMA including 2 days stop at SAN BLAS ISLANDS.
CARTAGENA-old and new town-has real feel of COLOMBIA - walking through streets gives you real buzz of being transported back some 100 years-was attacked by pirates so many times that ruling SPANIARDS then built wall around the whole town and that still exists today-a real PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN stuff-very hot well in to 30´s - now we are back in shorts and t-shirts till we finish our JOURNEY OF DISCOVERY
Slight change of plan -we were going to spend last 3 weeks in US west coast but now we will only spend one week in LA and the other two weeks we are spending in HAWAII-makes you sick doesn´t it!
Can´t believe only 12 weeks left though!-but we are gonna keep traveling as many countries as possible -we love traveling and that´s what we gonna do now!
We are already thinking of places like NAMIBIA-BOTSWANA-CONGO-TIBET-MONGOLIA also ALASKA & ANTARCTICA hmm!!!! mouth watering!!

Plan ahead..we ain´t got one!!!

2008-02-16T20:52:00.000-08:00

...today 16th Feb in BOGOTA- COLOMBIA..black day for my beloved REDS against BARNSLEY...after Gal we spent 3 days in QUITO-just relaxing-met up with old friends JUAN and ELISA whom we met in BOLIVIA-they live in ECUADOR-then we took 8 hour us from QUITO to TULCAN a border town with COLOMBIA-easy border crossing then 2km in to COLOMBIA we reached IPALES-from here we caught 22hours bus to BOGOTA...been here 3 days-17th we are catching 20 hour bus to CARTEGENA on CARIBBEAN COAST-from there we are hoping to catch a boat that is willing to take us to PANAMA-as land crossing between COLOMBIA and PANAMA does not exist and it´s too dangerous anyway...COLOMBIA is our last country in SOUTH AMERICA-we have been to every country now in SOUTH AMERICA except VENEZUELA!!!!
...so hold on to your hats my friends and here we go again...

Galapagos...3rd February 2008

2008-02-12T17:53:00.000-08:00

...GALAPAGOS ISLANDS...

...our journey to Galapagos began when we arrived at Hostel Secret Garden in Quito http://www.secretgardenquito.com/ where we met PAUL who runs a travel agency from here-genuine decent Canadian-Paul sold us a fantastic deal and booked us on yacht EDEN and it was the beginning of the most memorable 8 days ever for us...

...3rd to 10th Feb...

...ITINERARY...

Day 1 Baltra Island/Las Bachas

Day 2 North Seymour Island/Santa Fe

Day 3 Espanola Island(Punta Saurez/Gardner Bay)

Day 4 Floreana Island

Day 5 Santa Cruz Island-Puero Ayora-Charles Darwin Research Station-Highlands

Day 6 James Bay and Bartolome islands

Day 7 Genovosa Island

Day 8 Santa Cruz Island-Black Turtle Cove-Baltra Island

...the temp throughout our cruise was around 25 to 30 degrees and the water temp was around 20 degrees-perfect for swimming and snorkeling...

...Galapagoas Islands(Gal) -place where WILDLIFE comes first and human are just annoying paparazzi-you can look in to their eyes and you are sure to lose any staring contest-you have to share beach,ocean,bench,rocks,cliff ,path etc with them and remember to let them have the first choice-Gal ARE THE remarkable,unique,unusual,strange,bizzare,trully special and has taken on a mythological status...

...man named CHARLES DARWIN visited Gal in 1835 -spent only 5 weeks here-this visit changed the thinking on how life evolved on our planet-he wrote ORIGIN OF SPECIES ...Survival Of The Fittest theory was born here and today it remains the mainstay of modern biological thinking...

...animals and plants colonized Gal by air,sea and floating vegetations over the last 10 million years-finding no competition they came to dominate the ecosystem and filled every available ecological niche...thus small tortoise evolved in to a GIANT TORTOISE , little FINCH became the WOODPECKER of Gal etc

....WELCOME TO GALAPAGOS...

3rd Feb BALTRA ISLAND port 2pm(27 sq km with main airport) ...1st sight of wildlife soon as we come off our flight...this scene just before we board EDEN...these are wild Sea Lions taking a nap away from the heat...wildllife has the first right of way in Gal... .. EDEN 1st class yacht...our home for the next 8 days as we cruise around Gal...sleeps 16 passengers-8 double with all mod-cons -length 25 meters-width 7 meters-built 1996-refurbished 2002-absolute luxury in every sense...

...Captain WASHINGTON in charge...

...form left Dipak,Pritti Chaco(C),Raphael(R),Eric(E),Jeanin(J),Emily(E) Vedanta and behind C and R sitting down are Romana(R) and 2 year old Felix(F)...

...R from Canada working in LA and others are a family from US...

...here we are performing Blue- Footed Booby(bird) courtship dance which will be explained later...(this pix was taken on FLOREANA ISLAND at Post Office Bay on 6th Feb at 3pm)

...ERIC and JEANINE with Emily and Felix have taken two years off to travel so they can all spend quality time with each other...

...CREJEF were with us for 5 days then six new passangers came in for the last 3 days... five days spent with CREJEF were just awesome-we were like a family- we would travel with them again and again anywhere anytime ...thank you CREJEF and R too...

...Eden crew-from left our absloute expert and caring guide Jorge( here impersonating a Penguine call -he was genius at any wildlife calls)-next to P is our chef and most important of all next to me our barman!...you guys were amazing-thank you!..

ps:Captain Washington was never around and we think he had a phobia called How Not To Smile!..

...map of GALAPAGOS ISLANDS-12 main islands -12 minor islands-30,000 population(human)-billions of MARINE LIFE,BIRDS and REPTILES-in the Pacific Ocean 1000km from mainland Ecuador-1200km from mainlands Costa Rica and Panama-Gal are isolated volcanic islands-worlds most volcanically active region sitting on Ring Of Fire-50 major eruptions in last 400 years-last one in 2005 at Volcan Sierra Negra on Isabela Island-formation of new islands is on going process...

...WE HAD TIME OF OUR LIVES - IT INSPIRED US ALL TO THINK DIFFERENTLY ABOUT THE WORLD THAT WE LIVE IN...

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3rd Feb...LAS BACHAS on SANTA CRUZ ISLAND wet landing at 3pm...

...Santa Cruz Island is the most developed island in Gal-has main harbour PUERTO AYORA...

...fresh trek of Black Marine Turtle that came from the ocean last night and laid as many as 100 eggs in the small nest then went back in the ocean-there were hundreds of turtle treks and nests on this beach as there were on many other beaches that we would visit-tourists are not allowed to come at night anymore to watch turtles lay eggs due to thuggish behaviour of some tourists in the past...National Parks are now opened from 6am to 6:30pm...

...new James Bond being shot at Las Bachas called JOURNEY OF DISCOVERY -Producer PRITTI-Director DIPAK

Bond girl played by VEDANTA & EMILY

M played by CHACO

Q played by RAPHAEL

Moneypenny played by JEANINE(sorry!)

Good villians played by FELIX & his dad(hmmm!)

...is that Craig Daniel of James Bond fame in the pix above!...P thought it was more like Mr Bean's fame ...am sure we saw Mrs Bean too somewhere on BARTOLOME ISLAND trying to put on flippers waist deep in water!

...at the above beach- our 1st snorkeling here -one of many in Gal - here we saw many fish of all colours...

...our 1st MARINE IGUANA...gentle giant... saw our first SALLY LIGHTFOOT CRABS and we would see hundreds of this during our 8 days stay...
...our guide Jorge would have meeting with us everyday at 6:30pm just before dinner-he would draw on this board our itinerary for the next day and explained to us in details the day's programme-we would wake up at 6am-watch the sunrise over Gal then breakfast at 7am - off the boat by 7:30 for trek on the island-it was pure MAGIC everyday!-7pm dinner during sunset-8pm EDEN then would sail at night as we go from island to island-we would wake up at new island everyday...

(today is 13th Feb - we've been off EDEN for 3 days and we are still dearly missing EDEN -Gal -and the super company of other travelers)

...8pm EDEN sails to SEYMOUR ISLANDS...

Galapagos...4th Feb

2008-02-12T17:38:00.000-08:00

...-4th Feb NORTH SEYMOUR ISLAND 1.9 sq km-dry landing...at 7:45am...2.5km rocky trail to walk...

...FRIGATE BIRDS -this called Magnificent species-other one is called Greater-many seen throughout Gal- not at all afraid of us being there,within reaching distance and they will just ignore you-largest seabird-2.3m wingspan-dazzling fliers-also called MAN O WAR BIRD as through piracy they harass other seabirds into dropping or regurgitating their catch and then eating it ...saw this a few times in the air-one above is a courting male -inflates a baloon sized flap of scarlet skin under their bill and cock their wings to attract females...Jorge was brilliant at doing the same ritual-I failed rather miserably...
...BLUE FOOTED BOOBY-this one nesting egg and a chick on our path-feeds on fish by plunge diving from a great height-go blind by age 10 and die due to high impact on the eye ball as they enter the water...during courtship it picks up its bright-blue feet in a slow -rather clownish-with bowing-wings spread out-sky pointing-a real display and brilliant to watch-and you are only a feet or two away...there are thousands in Gal... we also saw LAVA LIZARDS,LAND IGUANAS,SEA LIONS and many other birds...

... 2pm on top deck of EDEN as it sails towards SANTA FE ISLAND-4 hour sailing from SEYMOUR ISLAND...

...over 50 FRIGATE birds flying over my head within touching distance-they use the up-draft created by moving EDEN and nearby cliffs to fly...it was unreal scene...

... at 3pm we reached SANTA FE BAY and here we snorkeled and were swimming with SEA LIONS,one huge MANTA RAY,3 SPOTTED EAGLE RAYS,4 huge BLACK SEA TURTLES and thousands upon thousands of all size coloured fish...

...4:30pm on SANTA FE ISLAND for walk-24 sq km -wet landing--sureal place having to share beach with hundreds of friendly SEA LIONS ...they are just inches away from you...

...1.5km rough trail on SANTA FE ...many huge LAND IGUANAS-found nowhere else in the world-they pass just inch away from you-feed on prickly pear cactuses which are in abundunt here...think of DARWIN's THEORY OF EVOLUTION here and it fits perfectly as it does all over Gal...
...insignificant humans holding hands(you are really made to feel insignificant on Gal by other living creatures here) between an arch of prickly pear cactuses as THE REAL landlord of SANTA FE looks on ...

...8pm EDEN sails to ESPANOLA ISLANDS...

Galapagos...5th Feb

2008-02-12T17:12:00.000-08:00

...5th Feb ESPANOLA ISLAND 61 sq km-dry landing 7:45am at Punta Suarez...

...up at 6am as usual to watch sunrise around 6:15am-so enjoyable watching it with C-R-J -E -E and V...
...2km rocky trail-welcomed by colourful MARINE IGUANAS and so many-friendly too-many SEA LIONS and SALLY LIGHTFOOT CRABS and so many kinds of birds...

...here Felix looks at Iguana for some POWER!-Emily looks concerned as its too close for her liking-Vedanta seems constipated as though squating in one of those Asian toilets...all 3 were brilliant on all treks-well done kids!

...normally these are black coloured but this time of the year they become colourful to attract opposite sex... they are on HEAT!
...beautiful...
...P surrounded by colourful Iguanas-check the rainbow far behind her...

...Galapagos Hawk-not afraid of us at all...
...after our walk we went snokerling in the open sea by the HUGE cliffS where the sea dropps off to over 1000 meters only feW meters from the cliff and it was rather SCARY for me looking down where no light penetrates-oblivion-...we saw thousands of fish,few rays,turtles,sea lions and much more but no sharks yet!... WE ALSO WENT ALMOST IN TO A CAVE TO WATCH MARINE LIFE...

...after lunch we landed at Gardener Bay -2pm -Espanola-dry landing-P seen here swimming and playing with Sea Lions-sharing beach and water with Sea Lions is the norm in Gal...

...Gaderner Bay-these two keeping away from Sea Lions- 3pm we went snokerling off the dingy around that island in the back ground-R J and Eric swam from the beach and R dived around the island looking for sharks-R was amazing fearless swimmer-again we saw loads of marine life-according to Jorge our guide there are Hammerheads and other sharks resting there -but we saw none-amazing snorkeling though...back on EDEN by 5pm and that chilled Pilsner beer..ahhh!!! can snorkeling get any beter?...read on!!!!_

...during March to December Espanola has colony of over 12,000 WAVED ALBATROSS-spectacular birds-we also saw here BLOW-HOLES in the rocky shore shoot water high in to the air...

...dinner at 7pm-spectacular sunset-few drinks and then...

...EDEN off to FLOREANA ISLAND at 8pm...

Galapagos...6th Feb

2008-02-12T17:04:00.000-08:00

...woke up to majestic sunrise near FLOREANA ISLAND-sixth largest

...6TH Feb-7.45am -wet landing-at PUNTA CORMORANT...

...greenish beach due to OLIVINE minerals...welcomed by Sea Lions and many Sally Lightfoot Crabs and saw our first Galapagos Penguine...400 meters trail from here leads to a white sandy beach on the other side where we found dozens of SEA TURTLES very close to the beach and found dozens of BLACK SPOTTED RAYS - and between both beaches is a lagoon with dozens of PINK FLAMINGOS...

...this short walk just UNIQUE...

...Sally Lightfoot Crabs...there are millions...

...this is very UNIQUE beach -has many turtle nests-almost out of water are dozens of Black Sea Turtles-again almost out of water there are dozens of Black Spotted Rays...
...black bits you see are Black Sea Turtles...and in the tiny waves there are many Black Spotted Rays...
...Rays are seen as waves flows back in less than ankle deep water-as you stand there some of them touch your feet and gives you like gliding sensation on your skin...magical and just unreal...not allowed to swim or snorkel here for obvious reasons...
...10am back on EDEN 10.30am then went snokerling around and in the crater of this collasped volcanoe few km from Floreana called DEVIL´S CROWN...
...THE place to dive and snorkel in Gal...
...ask me what did we see here while snorkeling in the crater of this old volcanoe...
...thank you for asking...
...WE SAW OUR FIRST SHARK EVER AND FOR 10 SECONDS WE WERE ACTUALLY SWIMMING ON TOP OF THE SHARK JUST 10 FEET BELOW US...it was 5 to 6 footer ADULT called WHITE TIP SHARK...see the picture taken by Pritti in the snorkeling section...
...majestic..

...how do you TOP anything after this experience!...well! ...we did!!...

...on 9th Feb while snorkeling alone at Genovesa Pritti,Vedanat and myself-we came face to face with TWO fully grown BLACK TIP SHARKS...

...read more later...
ps. we saw millions of fish at Devil´s Crown too.

...delighted after seeing our first shark we had good lunch on EDEN... and now the hunt was on to see THE shark-HAMMERHEAD-will we find one?-hmmm!!!read on to find out...Jorge was under real pressure to show us THE HAMMERHEAD...

...then around 2 .30pm we landed here-wet landing-POST OFFICE BAY-crew of all the yacht´s here have a football match every week on a pitch behind the beach-Jorge played lost one and drew one...there are also LAVA tubes here...

...here at POST OFFICE BAY in the old days sailors use to leave their posts to be picked by other sailors and so on to be delivered...so even today that tradition is kept alive by tourist leaving postcards here without stamps and then you go through all the other postcards left to see if it´s addressed to near where you live and if you find one then you HAVE to hand deliver it when you go back home...we left one addressed to Cardiff but we failed to find one addressed to near Uxbridge or Cardiff...phew! is that clear to you?..yaa! clear as mud mate!...

...BROWN PELICAN...huge pouched bill and large size-many in Gal...

...other seabirds we saw were-TROPIC BIRD with long tail-SEAGULL both SWALLOW-TAILED and LAVA...

...shore and wetlands birds seen were-HERON-OYSTERCATCHERS...

...land birds seen were...DARWIN´S FINCHES-MOCKINGBIRDS-VERMILION FLYCATCHER-YELLOW WARBLER...

...EDEN set sails for SANTA CRUZ ISLAND at 5pm and arrives at PUERTO AYORA at sunset-the main port in Gal-after dinner we all go to the town have a drink or two-check emails etc and are back on board around 10pm...

Galapagos...7th Feb

2008-02-12T17:01:00.001-08:00

...today our friends Raphael,Chaco,Eric,Jeanine,Emily and Felix are leaving us, they are spending 3 more days in Gal on SANTA CRUZ ISLAND...7 more tourists are joining us for last 3 days of our cruise...but before they leave us we are visiting CHARLES DARWIN RESEARCH STATION-CDRA- together on SANTA CRUZ ISLAND...

...7th Feb...

...7 tourists that joined us...from left Vanessa and Max from England going around the world for 9 months,Kistiu from Germany,from right Val and Fay from Australia going around the world for 12 months,on the floor from left Darren from Canada soon to serve active service in Afghanistan-respect to you my friend-,Siham from South Africa is taking this picture on 8th Feb at summit of BARTOLOME ISLAND...
...CDRS at 7am -landing at ACADEMY BAY-dry landing-many huge LAND TORTOISES here for breedin purpose-some of this giants are over 140 years old and are fed up of mating that they have now refuse to have sex...hmmm...
...pre-historic GIANT from another age...
...P having a quite word with LONESOME GEORGE... we finished our visit at CDRS around 8am and it was time to say goodbye to our friends from America-they left EDEN at 11am and we were truly sad to see them leave us on EDEN on our own-will we see them again and when?-P and I simply went to our room and fell a sleep and got up at 1pm to discover that other 7 tourists have already arrived on EDEN and it was time to make new friends but 5 days we spent with Raphael,Chaco,Eric,Jeanine,Emily and Felix were trully special and most memorable...
...3pm -we visited LAND TORTOISES in the wild in the highlands of SANTA CRUZ ISLAND with our new bunch of tourist friends...first bit of rain since we arrived in Gal...

...evening spent in PUERTO AYORA shopping and having a couple on drinks on dry land before EDEN set sails...

...EDEN leaved SANTA CRUZ for JAMES BAY ISLANDS at 10pm and new bunch of tourist are a bundle of laughs and we all gel really well and we are all looking forward to next 4 days cruising Gal...

Galapagos...8th Feb

2008-02-12T16:52:00.000-08:00

...8th Feb-up at 6am brilliant sunrise-good breakfast and we are near JAMES BAY ISLANDS-4th largest-once a hide-out for real PIRATES-there is even graffiti left in the caves by pirates 200 years ago...

...wet landing at PUERTA EGAS at 7.30am-terrain of rough lava fields...

...2km difficult trail-there are hundreds if not thousands of MARINE IGUANAS-huge colonies just basking in the early morning sun -sureal scene all around you...
...black flat lava shoreline where eroded shapes form lava pools,caves and inlets and contains great variety of wildlife-basking MARINE IGUANAS,SEA LIONS,CRABS ,HERONS,LAVA LIZARDS,FINCHES etc.etc-this the most pre-historic looking place we have seen in Gal -IGUANAS jumping and swimming in the ocean-going to feed in the ocean-real magic-it´s the kind of scene you see on Discovery channel...
...you can get real up close face to face with this THINGS and they behave as though you are not there-they just ignore you and splurt out salt from their nostrils now and then...we were really in awe of this place...
...all warming up in the early morning sun before diving in to the ocean to feed on plants and algae-there were thousands...

...hello Mr Ugly...
...Jorge had all the knowledge possible about Gal and he was always so keen to share that with the group...Heron had crabs for breakfast...the terrain was very unusual here ...
...Patel family looking as colourful as the local wildlife...
...here we saw a BLACK TIP SHARK-5 footer- resting then swimming back in to the ocean-also saw GALAPAGOS FUR SEALS-they are not friendly like Sea Lions...
...9.30am we went snokerling for an hour off the JAMES BAY beach-saw thousands of fish-swimming with Sea Lions too...early lunch at 12pm then EDEN left for BARTOLOME ISLAND-3 hour sailing and on the way we ran in to a friendly pod of 30 odd BOTTLENOSE DOLPHINS...
...DOLPHINS were in playing mood-they did few acrobatic flips for us and many were riding-surfing-the bow waves just in front of EDEN and it was amazing to see this...they even had 2 tiny babies with them-Captain Washingon took an executive decision not allowing us to swim with the DOLPHINS as they were swimming too fast looking for food-we all felt that was fair enough-but then it was once a lifetime chance to swim with this majestic creatures...
...4pm-arrived BARTOLOME-we were off in two dingy´s looking for GALAPAGOS PENGUINS-and we found some 10 of them in all-they are very rare and in are danger of being extinct-very friendly and later we will swim with them...we also saw here huge MANTA RAY some 5 meters wingspan-amazing sight...
...while cruising GALAPAGOS ISLANDS you see many marine creatures jumping out of waters to avoid predators and seeing SEA TURTLES and SEA LIONS is very common but one amazing sight is MANAT RAY -some 6meters wingspan-doing spectacular leaps out of water and this is quite common sight too-Jorge didn´t know the answer to this...

4.30pm -wet landing on BARTOLOME at SULLIVAN BAY for swimming and snorkeling with PENGUINS-this pix showing P and V relaxing after swimming with PENGUINS and many fish and marine turtles too...
...6pm-we climb BARTOLOME summit-dry landing- for stupendous views -amazing lava formations-lava tubes-awesome lava landscapes-descend as sunsets over BARTOLOME and back in the safety of EDEN for few well earned cold ones...

...EDEN departs for GENOVESA ISLAND at 10pm-six hour ride and we will cross EQUATOR from SOUTHERN to NORTHERN HEMISPHERE at 2am at SEA-1st time we have ever crossed EQUATOR in our lives at sea and following night at 10pm we cross EQUATOR again but this time from NOTHERN to SOUTHERN HEMESPHER-again it´s a first and most likely we will never cross EQUATOR again ever at SEA in our lives...

...THESE two EQUATOR crossings were UNIQUE EVENTS as they come...

Galapagos...9th Feb

2008-02-12T16:42:00.000-08:00

...9th Feb-after crossing equator we wake up on EDEN near GENOVESA ISLAND-14 sq km -most outlying of Gal Islands-EDEN is anchored in a very large bay surrounded by huge cliff and it´s windy and our best place to see HAMMERHEADS- will we see them? well! read on!...

...7.30am -dry landing at EL BARRANCO to climb Prince Phillip´s Steps-he came here in 1978- carved in to the cliffs-2km rough trail-so much wildlife-P and V watching Blue Footed Booby and the chick....
...another amazing walk where we see thousands upon thousands of STORM PETRELS...look at all those dots behind us....

...STORM PETRELS by the thousands-mixed with hundreds of FRIGATEBIRDS and few SHORT EARED OWELS-NAZCA BOOBIES etc etc...

...NAZCA BOOBY-one of the saddest scene to witness in nature-here the mother trying to kill one of her two siblings as only ONE can survive as she can only look after one-we are not allow to interfere ...Jorge sees this kind of stuff on daily basis...
...RED FOOTED BOOBY...
...going down Prince Phillip´s Steps to wait for our dingy-then it´s time to look for HAMMERHEADS near those cliffs while we snorkle...SCARE?....I am petrified of seeing one...will we see one ?... hmmm...
...no we failed to see HAMMERHEADS-we were in water for over an hour-we saw a school of over 40 different types of RAYS together-SPOTTED EAGLE RAYS-GOLDEN MUSTARD RAYS-BLACK SPOTTED RAYS etc etc-beautiful sight some 10 foot below us-it was quite windy and rough sea and so water was bit murky but we know there were many HAMMERHEADS in the bay-we saw everythings but HAMMERHEADS...we need to try harder but running out of time...
...after lunch we land at far side of same bay at a BEACH called DARWIN BAY-the picture you see above-P V and I decided to snorkle as Jorge takes others for a walk and guess who do we meet in the ocean....
...3 of us were snorkeling alone near that last rock behind V in the pix above-there was no on else in the water-and WE CAME FACE TO FACE WITH TWO WHITE TIP SHARKS-one 5 footer the other fully grown 6 footer-they were resting on the bottom -we spent 10 minutes watching them just 10 feet away above them and then I lost my nerve and I signalled P to get the hell out of there-we swam back to the beach and I was shaking...
...others came back from walk and just then something unbelievable happen-you would not believe it-a bloody shark came almost on to the beach chasing a large fish-the fish was poping in and out of water to avoid the shark-it lasted about 10 seconds-don´t know whether the shark got the fish or not-Jorge says he sees that all the time...I need a break I tell you man Gal is not a normal place...and then the others wanted to see the 2 sharks that we saw in the water earlier and so we went back snorkeling to show them and one was still there and the other mad shark was somewhere not far from us and I was out of that water as fast as I could again...
...ABOVE EVENTS ARE GOD´S TRUTH...

...picture of EDEN GPS showing 0.0000 as we crossed the EQUATOR at 10pm from NORTHERN to SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE...we celebrated this event with few glasses of cool beer....

...EDEN leaves GENOVESA at 8pm for SANTA CRUZ...

Galapagos...Snorkeling...

2008-02-12T11:11:00.001-08:00

...all snorkeling pictures were taken by P or myself on water-proof disposable cameras during our stay in Gal...

...P and I holding hands as we see see amazing marine life... pix by Eric...
...MARINE IGUANA swims by at BARTLOME ISLAND...pix by Dipak...

...BLACK MARINE TURTLE...at SANTA FE ISLAND...pix by Pritti...
...SEA LIONS swimming with Dipak at FLOREANA ISLAND...pix by PRITTI...
...thousands of ANGLE FISH at GENOVESA ISLAND...pix by Dipak...
...EAGLE RAYS at SANTA FE...pix by PRITTI...
...fully grown 6 footer WHITE TIP SHARK at DEVILS CROWN...pix by Pritti...

Galapagos...10th Feb ...last day!

2008-02-12T11:07:00.000-08:00

...10th Feb -last day on EDEN...up 5.30am -EDEN anchored near SANTA CRUZ-early morning dingy ride to BLACK TURTLE COVE...

...early morning ride in to mangrove forest to watch wildlife...

...we spot many baby BLACK TIP SHARKS...
...many marine turtles and some even mating...
...SPOTTED EAGLE RAY...

...back on EDEN BY 7.30am -after breakfast we are taken to BALTRA ISLAND to catch a 1pm flight to QUITO...
...we meet Raphael,Chaco,Eric,Jeanine,Emily and Felix at the airport as they were flying to CUENCA on another flight-and it was nice to see them again-I picked up Felix and sat him on my knee and said to him .hey Felix did you miss me?-he just blanked me and said -NO!-thats kids for you...
...we said goodbye to them and all other friends we made in 8 days of amazing travels in GALAPAGOS ISLANDS...

...WE ALL HAD TIMES OF OUR LIVES- AND -IT INSPIRED US ALL TO THINK DIFFERENTLY ABOUT THE WORLD THAT WE LIVE IN...

...one also have to admire and congratulate the people of ECUADOR and GALAPAGOS in the way they are taking care of this so unique GALAPAGOS ISLANDS and preserving them for the future generations...

Plan Ahead...

2008-02-02T17:43:00.000-08:00

...we arrived in Quito-capital of Ecuador-from Cuenca(10 hours local bus-was good fun) on Friday 1st Feb 08...
...today is 2nd Feb and time is 8;45pm at our Hostel...in Quito...
...tomorrow 3rd Feb we are flying to Galapagos Islands(1400km from Quito-2 hour flight over Pacific)-this is every travelers dream-this place is also every kid all over the world learns about in schools-a place where Darwin´s theory of survival of fittest was born with it came the theory of evolution-we are spending 8 days there-8 days we are on a yacht cruising around islands with 6 others and staying on-board- -hoping to do some diving and snorkeling too...we are back to Quito on 11th Feb -trekking for 3 to 4 days looking at smoking volcanoes- then we are gonna cross the border from Ecuador in to COLOMBIA by bus -the land passage from Colombia to Panama is not safe -so we are hoping to find a boat that will take us from Colombia in to Panama-5 days of sailing- if we fail to find a boat then we will fly from Bogota-capital of Colombia -to Panama City -capital of Panama
...Colombia and Panama should be done in 3 weeks then enter Costa Ricca by 1st March...
...we have to be in Mexico City on 17th April to catch a flight to Hawaii via Dallas... BUT we want to reach Mexico City from Ecuador without having to take a flight-it´s a tough call but I think we can do it...so tighten your seat-belt folks and here we go again!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cuenca City...Ecuador...

2008-02-02T14:52:00.001-08:00

...Ecuador was the original BANANA REPUBLIC-as they export the most bananas and had the most Presidents in 20 years than any other nation...it´s a pleasent enough country and has the most wild-life than many countries put together...

...we were here at the right time to enjoy one of the many Carnivals that are held in Ecuador...this horse carriage with Miss Cuenca 2008...
...enjoyable 3 hours we spent here...but you do get rather tired of all the Spanish Colonial buildings and it´s the same all over this continent...

Adios Perruuuu & Hola ! Eccuuuddaaooorrrrrrr!!!!

2008-02-02T14:50:00.000-08:00

...In Peru we had some amazing times-after The Amazon visit we flew back to Lima and spent 3 days there just chilling out-then we flew to Piura-border town(Peru side) between Peru and Ecuador-then 16 hours bus from Piura to Ceunca in Ecuador-border crossed at 1am -border crossing was -well- it´s the night we will never forget-the bus stopped at the border and it was raining really heavy,a wild river flowing only few feet away at the gate and as we came off the bus to go to the immigration hut to stamp our passports we started walking on what we thought was road carpeted with thousands of seeds from trees-but as we walked on -the floor started moving -only then we realised that we were walking on thousands upon thousands of cockroach like insects-you can´t imagine the stomach churning feeling at that time-we just closed our eyes and shut our ears from all the crunching noises and walked to the hut-and here we found ourselves standing outside the hut below a bright tube-light which had attracted even bigger insects big as your palm and inside sat the most slowest of all immigration officer we have ever seen in our life and all this while we are surrounded by millions of bugs-I sent P and V back inside the coach as they were really feeling sick with all them bugs around-I was standing behind one guy whose back was covered with all kinds of creepy crawlers and then I thought my back must be the same but I didñ´t want to think about it-it took 20 minutes to stamp 5 passports and it was the longest 20 minutes of my life - I was out of my comfort zone every second of that 20 minutes- to make matters worse some bugs had got in to our coach too-but by that time we really couldn´t careless-we just wanted to get in to the darkness of Ecuador and away from them bugs...I think we arrived Ceunca in the afternoon-spent 2 nights here...

Lima...Peru

2008-02-02T14:46:00.001-08:00

...Lima -Capital City by the Pacific Ocean-lots of Spanish Colonial buildings and rather a dull city in many ways-we stayed in Miraflores just 20 minutes from the center-upmarket area and safe too-had a huge shopping and entertainment complex built in to a cliff called Larco Mar-very unusual-watched couple of new films there too-has a great food hall -this pix at sunset over Pacific from Larco Mar...
...main square in Lima-The Presidential Palace-we think King Of Jordan was visiting today...lots of visible police presence all over South America specially near tourist sites and that really makes you feel safe travelling this continent...

Amazon Jungle....

2008-01-31T14:46:00.000-08:00

...Southern Amazon Jungles of Peru...

...from Cusco we flew in to remote part of Peru bordering with Bolivia and Brazil -The Amazon Jungle -a place called Puerto Maldonado-30km of boat ride from here we arrived at our Jungle Lodge called Eco-Amazonia right on the river...and here we would be out of our comfort zone daily...

...hammock to sleep in- right on the river...the Jungle noise was just mind-blowing 24 hours a day-we would go trekking in to jungle or safari on the river daily with our guide-we spent 5 days here- and daily you are out of your comfort zone once you walked out of your well protected room...the noise of howler monkies was something special...

...Scarlet Macau -amazing colours- but has the most ugliest bird call of all the birds of Amazonia-Lover Birds has the most haunting bird call in Amazon...by the way- Scarlet Macau will only have one partner all their life-they are the most faithful and devoted creatures on our planet - if one half of the couple dies then the other would remain single all their remaining years...ain´t that sweet!..

...another snake spotted yet again by Pritti-that's total of 3 that she has spotted in the wild on our travel-I have a feeling she belonged to the Slytherine House when at school...this one green tree snake... Roberto said it ain´t deadly -I told him he was lying ...

...Tapir-makes good hunting for big cats in the Amazon- it looks dopey but boy it can out-run any big cat in the jungle-we never saw any big cats but we did see foot-prints of a Jaguar on one of our jungle trek and Roberto said the foot-print was about 5 to 6 hours old-so we knew there was a Jaguar out there not far from us...wild-life is very difficult to spot in the Amazon due to high density of trees and foilage - you can hear them all-just awesome noise 24 hours a day- it's just that you can't see them - THEY are watching you that´s for sure...

...our guide Roberto poking with a long stick of grass at a TARANTULA hole... is he mad or wot?

...and here it comes- MY NIGHTMARE-the further IT came from the hole the further I went away from the hole-this was a baby,imagine seeing a REAL big one and then putting it on your shoulder...well someone did!..

...look at the sweat on that face-and yes that´s the real BIG one Roberto found while we were trekking on another day...HE said Tarantula bites are not DEADLY-the sting is bad enough to give you a real swelling but won´t kill you...but I am not so sure-I´ll happily jump out of perfectley good aeroplanes and run off the mountains holding just a kite in my hand but I will NEVER put THAT THING on any part of my body-thank you very much...this little 7 year old is THE real INDIANA JONES...pretty much nothing scares her...and she enjoyes it too-we think she is MAD!...

...right across the river from our lodge was an isalnd full of monkeis of all kinds - they won´t afraid of any human presence either - they would get very close to you...these are Black Spider Monkies with massive strong tail they use as a fifth limb...real acrobats - they put on a great show for us...

...another kind of monkey...

...this one was real live-wire...

Cusco...Peru

2008-01-31T13:55:00.000-08:00

...great colonial city but very few reminders of Inca presence as everything was looted and destroyed by the Spainards...

...boots being cleaned after the Machu Picchu trek...all bodily pains have disappered after some lovely TLC from the Mrs...
...Main Square...Spainards did some real damage all over South America,they shamelessly looted all the gold,silver and anything valubles and they destroyed all the local civilisations and all the indigenous people with it...raped and murdered...funny thing is in Spain their brutal behaviour abroad is not taught or written anywhere and so today's Spaniards has no knowledge of how their countrymen behaved while colonising South America...
...beautiful city Cusco...it was the Capital of Inca Empire...all the great buildings of Inca time were brought down by the Spainards and on it they built their churches and other government buildings...
...lovely balconies overlooking the square...great place to have few beers as one does!..

Machu Picchu Trek-Dedicated To Our Dear Friend Naresh

2008-01-21T14:39:00.001-08:00

FIRST DAY

...14KM-6 to 7 hours of tough climbing from 2380m to 3000m...

...our group from left five Australians,Matthew,Michael,James,Heath and Andrew(I shared tent with Andrew)-from right 3 Americans Dr Amit,Dr Nitin and Amy...beginning of THE INCA TRAIL fromPISCACUCHO-3 nights and 4 days... the Aussis knew something I didn't because within 30 minutes of walking uphill all my layers came off!... am the oldest at 47 others are between 22 and 36... the whole trek is in what is known as SACRED VALLEY...we would trek through all kinds of terrain including jungle,Alpine lakes,grass-lands,snow-line,rivers,streams,bridges,lichen and moss forest...
...train to Machu Picchu-wish we were on there? you bet!..Urubamba river flows by...
...Amit struggling along as the porter carries 24kg and literally runs pass him-we had immense admiration for them... our chief guide Orlando and Andrew are taking a breather at the back as the air gets thinner and we begin to look for Oxygen...
...Orlando climbs up behind us to make sure the tail is all OK-and the tail was always made up of Amy,Andrew and your's trully...it was so tiring for me that I can not describe it...my legs were like Lead and lungs were gasping for non-existent Oxygen...I was stopping every 5 minutes to catch my breath...and this all within first two hours...I thought how the hell am I going to last for 4 days...well read on... ...exhausted the group gather for photo...note how all the layers have come off...

...see the snaking path where we walked up from ...felt great I have made it this far up but am very anxious...others are giving loads of morale support....
...made it to our campsite for the night at WAYLLABAMBA I took 71/2 hours...awesome place...six double tents in the middle-mine 2nd from right-two red tents,one is kitchen other is dining room... spent most night massaging my thigh and calf and groin muscels as I was so tired I was unable to sleep...infact no one could sleep...
...our staff-1 chef-14 porters and 2 guides -dedication of these 17 guys towards us 9 trekkers was total and professional-without them it can not be done-they would be up at 5 am to prepare our superb breakfast,then take everything and set up and prepare amazing lunch ahead and finally when we arrived for the night our tents would be ready and perfect dinner served at 7pm ...thank you guys...

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DAY TWO

...the most challenging part of the trek and very difficult 7 hours ahead to cover 12 km-climbing from 3200m to 4200m(highest on our trek)

...apart from Andrew the other four Aussis were motoring away all the time carrying their own backpacks-some fitness- but even they were stopping to catch breath as much as I was... Amit,Nitin and myself had hired extra porter to carry our backpacks while others were carrying their own but wished they had also hired extra porters...
...Amy breathless-not in awe at the magnificent scenery,but from lack of Oxygen...I was so tired here I didn't know what to do -can't go back as it's impossible....
...knackered troops looks for some divine intervention...my head was spinning here and I was breathing real heavy...
...the legs were dis-connected from my brain at times as either legs refused to take steps forard-it was that bad-but the scenery was just so inspiring and the support from others specially from Rambo and Orlando was very touching indeed...
...having trouble breathing-Rambo breaks open a vial of some Inca medicines to open up my lungs and it did help-for a while..legs were beginning to tremble and hard bit is yet to come as our target is to reach DEAD WOMEN'S PASS(DWP) at 4200m on top of the mountain before we descend to our camp site...
...the booby shape mountain is DWP...we were up at 5:30 today left 7am ...
...am oldest in the group and felt like a senior citizen just before DWP...EVERYTHING FROM STOMACH BELOW IS IN REAL CRISIS... river Urubamba takes another route from here- but it will be with us again as we near Machu Picchu...
...made DWP after 5 hours of relentless punishing upwards climb at 4200m -very close to snow-line and very cold harsh wind ...I was real happy here inside for making this far...DWP-believe me,no place I have been to seem so appropriatley named...it started to rain and so much mist and hanging clouds that I could hardly see pass my nose and from here it was downhill for 3 hours to make the campsite...
...when will it end...

...downhill very punishing on the knees and it makes both legs tremble...the trek goes on...vistas are majestic...The Inca Trail was only travelled by high priests and kings alone all others took different trails...
...Orlando gives a helping hand...
...something from within drives you to take the next step -can't be explained...trek valley after valley and then you see an INCA ruins shrouded in fog and mist and suddenly you get a second wind and you begin to feel like Indiana Jones and you quicken up your pace even...but lack of Oxygen is never far away... the trail is hard but it now felt more like an epic pilgrimage and I know I can do it...
...we reached RUNKURAQAY our campsite at 5pm ,we were camping on a old buerial ground and supposed to be haunted -12km and 8 hours-and it was an inspirational place to camp-we were above the cloud and surrounded by snow-capped Andes and even a Glacier-magnificient place-group had stomach problems,calf musceles torn,heavy legs and it was like a nursing home but we were all very happy...
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DAY THREE

...Unfogettable part of trek-16km-6 to 8 hours at 3200m...

...beautiful morning-chef gave us the breakfast in the open and one of the most memorable breakfast ever with a view fit for Inca Gods...you can not imagine...brilliant and boy I was in a great mood and raring to go despite all the pain...
...one of two Inca tunnels on the trail-this portion of the trail goes throgh magnificient forest and white granite stones like marbles...
...today's trek involves lots of ascends and descends...but most of all it involves going down 2000 steps which are not really steps but mini mountains and very steep and right damn dangerous-some trekkers lose their lives every year on this trek...I am totally shattered in this pix...
...Dr Nitin making light work of going down-he is a manic bird watcher and gets really excited even when he spots a sparrow...imagine his delight then when he spotted a green hummingbird... he brought two cameras,one lense was so huge it would put paparazzi to shame-he also had calf muscele problem to deal with... Dr Amit carried a Palm-recorder...the Aussis had them cheap Chinese cameras and I couldn't believe all five Aussis were well educated and there I thought they were all......................sorry mate!...
...troops gather at another Inca ruin ,gather thoughts and catch breath...this ruin was a lodge and resting place for relay runners-this would mean for example fresh seafood from sea-side 400km away can be reached Machu Picchu in 24 hours for Inca's to feast on... at 4000m we also pass two Alpine lakes...
...beginning of 2000 steps descend-damn right dangerous I thought at the time-one wrong move and you are a gonner at least 300m down in the valley ...some steps had 24 inches gap between them and they were all built by someone high on coca leaves...
...another Inca ruin at WINYAWAYNA near our final campsite-this was a nursery for different plants-in Peru there are over 2000 kinds of patatoes and 300 types of corns of all colours...we also catch up with River Urubamba in the distant again...

...final campsite at WINAYWAYNA at 2700m-16km and 7 hours-again our porters have chosen the most gorgeous spot that gives magnificient views of the Andes...we had Pisco and beers to celebrate with our dinner and some of us said few words to thank our staff and our fellow trekkers and Dr Amit being a magician as well perform some tricks again to delight our staff...magical evening...
...here the Medics in the group dish out remedies to walking wounded and there was no exception...we were all suffering from one thing or the other...but oh boy we were nearing our goal-it was within each-but what will the morning bring!!!!!!

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DAY FOUR

...up at 4am-7km 2 hours to reach THE SUN GATE over Machu Pichu-drizzling as we got up-final breakfast at 4:30am and we were off at 5am-as we left the campsite the heavens just opened up and we were all drenched in no time even through our rain-proofs-water in the shoes-everything I was wearing was soaked and we had to walk 7km at a fast pace to make the sunrise over Machu Picchu-this part of the trek is very slippery when wet and dangerous and fearful cliff edges and also passes through thick jungle...it rained and rained and my glasses were steaming up all the time and my torch light was playing up too-it was scary and my thoughts turned to whether I would acutally see Machu Picchu in this weather condition at all...will I see it in all it's glory as I had imagined? ...read on...

...still raining arrived at THE SUN GATE(this is the entry to the city of Machu Picchu) high above Machu Picchu-soaked to bones and cold...this place is called INTI PUNKU...well here I saw nothing but heavy clouds and no sunrise and I began to feel like cheated after all the pain I have been through in the last 4 days and all this trekking for nothing?-all of the promised grand views of the Machu Picchu were obscured-we all felt numb but it wasn't all over yet because Machu Picchu is some where below all them clouds so we thought and we started climbing down more steps and after half an hour we reached sacred site of Machu Picchu-but it was raining so hard and we were wet and cold thought nothing but to get out of the wet clothes but my clothes were with my porter and he was some 4 miles away....it was now 9am and we all thought the clouds are not going to go away and we may never see Machu Picchu...but around 10am clouds lifted and it stopped raining and there it was in all it's glory-we saw MACHU PICCHU...

...I enter Machu Picchu City as rain stopps and clouds starts to clear away...

...glorious as I had always imagined...

...IT WAS EVERYTHING I'D DARED TO DREAM IT WOULD BE...

...in the end,there are some wonders of the world that you have to EARN the right to appreciate.For me ,all the trials and tribulations on THE INCA TRAIL made the journey's end more unforgettable...

...I also had my friend in spirit all the way with me...

DAY FOUR

La Paz

2008-01-21T09:35:00.001-08:00

La Paz ( Sucre is the Capital of Bolivia)-world's great location at 3600 meters above sea level very thin air and very difficult to breadth,surrounded by high snow-capped Andes which leads to the Altiplano desert- breaks all sorts of world records like highest ski resort etc...
...varoius view point to observe the city from height and it does look magnificient ...

...La Paz has some amazing scenery and many forms of of land like this the Moon Valley...
...highest Golf Course in the world at 3600 meters-80 US weekdays and kindly play some place else at weekends-use of Oxygen tank in the club house and on various tees are included in the green fees -no buggies caddies avaialable and I was told by a member that Oxygen tanks are mainly used by foreign golfers-superb location high above La Paz in the Moon Valley-has to be seen to be believed...
...coca museum-can see actual coca plants and it's origin and uses etc...
...witche's market.......Presidential palace on the left...
..Killi Killi view point over La Paz-it's real spectacular at night...

The Colours Of BOLIVIA...

2008-01-12T17:05:00.001-08:00

...BOLIVIA...12 hour bus from PUNO PERU-crossing the border was real friendly and at that point we knew we were coming to a real special place-bus ride was along the shores of Lake Titicaca for 4 hours and rest was on Altiplano ,desert and through Andes with many Llamas and Alpaca and this is what every traveller in the world dreams of doing -at one point we had to cross Lake Titicaca by boat and the bus on a barge-due to 3500 plus meter altitide feeling sick is a norm until you get acclamitize but it's worth it.Very very poor country but the people and the scenery are just awesome-seeing LA PAZ high from Altiplano for the first time in the valley with houses packed on hillside is one sight you will never forget-BOLIVIA is real South America with majority of people being indigenous Indians and they are one beautiful people...

...Anyone reading this if you have couple of weeks to spare go to BOLIVIA you will love it and you will go home re-freshed-re-vitilized-re-juvinated and ready to face what ever...

... no words will do justice to describe what we saw in BOLIVIA so we are not going to use words like super,spectacular etc will just say where we went to...and we only spent 8 days in BOLIVIA -it's one place we know we are going to come back for sure with more time in very near future...

...southern Bolivian desert-spent 3 days travelling with these peole - it was like United Nation gathering -reads BOLIVIA... B :UK, O:Spain-Rebecca, L:Ecuador-Juan, I:Italy-Antonio , V: UK, I: Elisa-Venezuela, A: 3degrees from Surendranagar!...and Ilda our cook and her husband Nilfar from Bolivia of course...

...crossing Lake Titicaca in Bolivia...
...world's largest- UYUNI Salt Flat-overnight rain turned it in to a mirror-when dry it's pure white -13,000 sq km ...
...salt for commercial use being harvested... 20,000 tons per year-18,000 tons for human consumption and rest for livestock...
...the disappearing horizon... 40,000 years ago this was a lake then dried up living salt concentrations-the salt deposits are also the results of the minerals leached from the mountains and deposited here...
...jeep glides along the salt flats-where is the horizon?...
...will we see a better place than this on our journey?-don't think so!...
...us 3 against a non-existing horizon...
...bare foot on the mirrored salt flata...
...lunch being prepared by our cook Ilda-they were wife and husband partnership-Nilfar the driver and Ilda our cook-we travelled with gas cooker and the lot...lunch table and seats made from cutting of salt blocks -there are hotels and houses around here made from these blocks too...
...taken from top of our jeep...
...salt flats...
...early morning in the desert-our very basic hostel in no man's land-our cook cooked for us 3 times a day and we ate in the open...good food too....
...cutting through Altiplano and approaching Chile and Argy borders...
... COLOURS OF BOLOVIA...
...COLOURS OF BOLIVIA...
...COLOURS OF BOLIVIA-BLUE LAGOON-due to volcanic activities...

COLOURS OF BOLVIA-CREAM LAGOON- pink flamingos at 4200m-we were above 4200m all the time and we were breathless most times...
...COLOURS OF BOLIVIA-GREEN LAGOON...
COLOURS OF BOLIVIA...Ilda preparing lunch in the desert as storm clouds gathers-saw mighty thunder and lightning show...

...COLOURS OF BOLIVIA-stone tree weathered by rain and wind...hundreds of naturally sculptured stones everywhere...
...COLOURS OF BOLIVIA-RED LAGOON-with pink flamingos...
...COLOURS OF BOLIVIA...

...COLOURS OF BOLIVIA-volcanic activity-bubbling muds of different colours and smoking earth-there are many volcanoes in Bolivia and some active too...we were in the heart of volcanoe land...
...COLOURS OF BOLIVIA-early morning sun-rise in the volcanoe land...
...COLOURS OF BOLIVIA-

...early morning natural spring bath...
...smoking Volcanoes...Cream lagoon full of poisonous Lead hence no birds around...we are standing in Bolivia-right of us is Chile-left of us is Argentina-behind the Volcanoe is the beginning of the great Atacama Desert of Chile-we turned back from here to go back to La Paz....

...these are DALI Mountains of many colours....
...Bolivian desert...

...RED lagoon...

...old lava flow that cooled and weathered away with time...

...COLOURS OF BOLIVIA-desert graveyard for steam engines from by-gone days and there were so many...

Floating Islands Of Lake Titicaca...

2008-01-12T08:27:00.000-08:00

…departing on a boat to see the fairy-tale floating islands on Lake Titicaca(LT)-as the local band plays on…

…just 5km from Puno the unique floating island of UROS people-they began their unusual floating existence centuries ago in an effort to escape brutal and aggressive Colla and Incas…canoe shaped boats made from Totora Reeds.There is nothing like found anywhere else in the world.Authentic Ayamara Indians who wants nothing to do with outside world still live on floating islands but to find them one has to navigate through maze of narrow channels on LT…
…several hundred people live on this island and there are many more islands like this on LT…now days they are communities with schools and so on…islands are built from using the buoyant TOTORA REEDS that grows abundantly in the shallows of LT-they are also edible-canoe-shaped boats are also made from it-islands are constructed from many layers of Totora Reeds which are constantly replenished from the top as they rot from the bottom, so the ground is always soft and springy…in this picture the local UROS shows how the islands are built using Totora Reeds…

…local UROS mixing with the REAL Indians…

…P trying to show how to cook real INDIAN food to the Uros woman…Uros woman turning away disgusted thinking you my girl who live on diet of 5C’s (choclate,crisps,cheese,cookies candies) wouldn’t survive a day here-specially you being a vegee too! So show some RESPECT girl!...
…on floating island of UROS…it’s amazing that they actually floats and weird sensation walking on it as they are very spongy- LT in part is very deep with abundant in fish-the waters of LT are pristine clear…

...we've met so many people from different walks of life on our travel -this Brzilian travelling with his wife can make any thing out of a piece of paper including over 600 animals and birds-he kept V happy for hours-the hobby started when his 8 year old years ago asked him to make him something on her birthday ...

Puno on shores of Lake Titicaca

2008-01-06T17:55:00.000-08:00

...Arequipa to Puno 8 hour bus -decided to take local bus for expeience and it was mixing with genuine decent folks because we had bus ticket number 1,2 and 3 and so did 3 others-driver the other 3 and security wanted us to catch the next bus but before we could argue our case there was a uproar in the bus and the whole bus took up our cause in having a right go at the driver and the other 3 as to how dare they treat 3 guests visiting our country in such manners-P and I just looked at each other and almost had tears in our eyes-the other 3 caught the next bus and all we could say to our fellow pessangers was muchas gratias...it kind of re-kindles some faith in fellow human beings and there are some decent folks out there...the scenery outside was Altipano of Peru all the way -the bus going up and down the Andes with loads of Llamas and Alpacas-a real scene that we see on tv on South American travel and the Peruvian music coming through the bus loud speakers made the journey really memorable for more than one reason...

…main square with huge church at one end…
…looking down on Puno with Lake Titicaca(LT) in distant…LT is world’s highest navigable lake and South America’s largest-over 170km in length and 60km in breadth…LT is divided equally in to Peru and Bolivia…one can cross in to Bolivia by sailing in LT…

…the real TOMB RAIDERS in the altipano…the cylindrical house called CHULLPAS is where the nobilities of Colla people were once buried with all their possession like gold and silver for their journey in to the next world…some are as high as 14m…nothing remains in any of the many CHULLPAS around here as they have been robbed by TOMB RAIDERS long time ago…
…Puno sits on shores of Lake Titicaca-rather drab old town difficult to spend even one day here but we had to stay here and acclamitize!...

Sillustani area…50 odd km from Puno in to Altipano of Peru –many ruins are found here from Colla people who once dominated this area-they were warriors and southeastern arm of INCAS-this picture shows some kind of SUN worshipping but one particular person hasn’t got a clue! I mean has she never played pass the parcel!

…visiting the local Indian’s house-the AYAMARA Indian…we were shown how they live and had some home cooked food too…

...Oi sister! you've stolen my coat!..

...at last I found my long lost cousin through Facebook!..

...Oi ! said the white one...how come you are standing on two legs!...

...excuse me! said the imposter... can I join the Union now!..or failing that where is the nearest choclate shop!...

Oi! said the white one...get down on four legs!...

Colours Of Our Hostel In Arequipa...

2008-01-05T18:07:00.001-08:00

...La Casa De Melgar Hostal... with three lovely courtyards...infact most buildings seems to have huge courtyards in Arequipa...
...leading to more patios and courtyard and beautiful garden...
...our room was one behind that blue storage room...
...our hostel 50m on the right...

...huge room with a massive ensuite and all for 18 quid a nite...and 2 minutes from city center...
...looking over breakfast courtyard from our room...

colca canyon

2008-01-05T17:42:00.000-08:00

Pritti holding COCA leaves bought for 50pence in Arequipa as we prepare to climb(in a car) up to 5000m ie over 17000ft to see Colca Del Canyon and various other things.Chewing COCA leaves relieves symptoms of Altitude Sickness which can be fatal if not observed properly(if symptoms of altitude sickness persists for 24 hours then one has to descend very quickly to less than 2300m.)This bunch of leaves will produce 0.00021g of COKE-yes the real thing!
P prepares COCA leaves for chewing-up to 10 leaves are chewed and left in the side of the mouth and juices swallowed-taste is rather bitter-a specially prepared alkaloid stone like object is also chewed at the same time which draws out the drugs from the leaves and it gives instant buzz-I chewed more than 20 leaves and oh boy! I was a gonner! It has one side effect hours latter and that is it gives you a mother of all hang-overs-I mean our heads were ready to EXPLODE! and so our days of using hard drug lasted less than 24 hours .Also it suppresses hunger for up to 2 days at a time and you can stay awake for up to 48 hours and yes that happened to us too! COCA break at work is an institution here.It is legal to posses COCA leaves here but illegal to make paste from it as it is from the paste that COKE-yes the real thing!-is made after a lengthy chemical process usually in the jungles of Colombia. Everyone chews COCA leaves here ,long distant lorry drivers and bus drivers all seems to have huge gob-stopper like ball of COCA leaves in their mouth.COCA leaves COCA tea are at every breakfast, lunch and dinner tables once you go over 2500m.In Peru ,Bolivia and Ecuador Altitude Sickness is a real health hazard for tourist and those who take it lightly have to always cut their holidays short due to symptoms-up to 2000m it’s not a problem for most people, then every 1000m you climb you have to acclimatize for at least 48 to 72 hours by staying in one place.We acclimatized in Lima,Nazca,Arequipa and La Paz and we still suffered from mild symptoms of Altitude Sickness through out stay specially loss of appetite and sleep and slight nagging headache-in La Paz we really had to walk slowly due to it’s mountain location and we were always shattered after walking just 5 to 10 minutes and climbing even just 10 steps in our hotel made me feel like 70 year old-honest!

Alpacas and Llamas in Canon Del Colca near Arequipa

Mountains are worshipped in many part of this continent-today was a cloudy day otherwise from here one can see up to 7 snow-capped volcano peaks of around 6500m and we were standing at 4900m-people come here to worship theses mountains and built these towers for good luck for example before getting married ,starting a new business etc…it is rumored that the big square tower on the right of this picture was built by BILL GATES just before he started MICROSOFT!

…not sure whether it’s my good looks or my chram but I am always a hit with the local girls…this before we enter a town called Chivay for a night high in the Andes.

…early morning in Chivay –this view from our bedroom window-those snowy mountains are called MISMY and it here that the mighty AMAZON river is born and goes on for 6500km in to the Atlantic…

…on the road to see Cannon Del Colca…
…this area known as Cruz Del Condor and this is the beginning of Cannon Del Colca(Canyons Of Colca)-it is 100km long with snow capped volcanoes on each side and it’s depth ranges from 1000m to 3000m and is the world’s deepest canyon at 3191m ie twice as deep as the Grand Canyon in US! –a large family of Andean Condors nests here by the rocky outcrop and are seen sometime gliding close by on thermal air currents that rises from the canyons, swooping low over onlookers heads-Condors failed to show up on this day as the whole canyon was shrouded in mist and clouds!...

…locals selling all sorts to the tourist…we had nice local lunch while waiting for the Condors to show up-steamed corn on the cob,vegge rice etc…

…finally we saw 2 Condors flying above us few km from Cruz Del Condor as we prepared to head back to Arequipa and it was a magical sight-Condors can live up to 70 years!...

Arequipa

2008-01-05T17:23:00.000-08:00

...we left NAZCA on New Years Eve early morning -8 hour bus ride through snow-capped Andes-magnificient scenery all the way-arrived AREQUIPA about 3 pm-the second biggest city after LIMA and it is known as white city as most of the buildings are made from white rocks which are found locally...this really is one cool city sitting 2500m ie 10,000 feet up from sea level and P and I were in trouble same day with altitude sickness-the air is real thin here and you have to do everything really slowly for first 48 hours-you go out of breath real quickly...and in few days we would have to go even higher at 4000m ie over 15,000 feet...anyway our body slowly got use to the thin air in Arequipa...New Years Eve was just like anywhere else in the world celebrated with plenty of fireworks,coca leaves and pisco...the city is surrounded by snow capped Andes and one mountain in particular called Misty as no one has ever seen it as it´s always surrounded by mountain fog...real weird!...we spent 3 days here getting use to the thin air and it really is a wonderful town high up in the Andes...

...Plaza De Armas-main square- on New Years Day...
...everyone whose got a four wheel is a self-employed taxi driver in Peru and they are everywhere in your face -tiny little cars they are too...but have to say they are very polite and don´t overcharge...well not too much anyway...
...there are so many beautiful churches in Peru and some of them are very grand...

...La Catedral...grandest church in every sense-it´s one of the only 100 churches in the world that are allowed to fly a Vetican flag on the top...don´t ask me why...
...police and security forces are in full force around all tourist sites and that makes you feel real safe...those sacrificial frozen mummies-teen age- that were found on top of some mountains around here are in the museum here and we see those mountains on our day trip from here...didn´t fancy seeing those teenage mummies...

World Famous Nazca Lines...

2008-01-05T17:04:00.000-08:00

...we stayed in LIMA only two night then left for Nazca on 30th -we will spend 3 more days in LIMA latter on ...bus ride of 8 hours form LIMA to NAZCA...day buses are recommended in Peru as outlaws often hold up night buses then loot ,rape and even killed tourist ...things have improved a lot though in Peru and Bolivia over the last 5 years...it´s just pure desert and dry mountains and sea on the other side all the way from LIMA to NAZCA and absolute massive sand dunes just like Sahara...

... 4 seater plane just for us 3 for a bird`s eye view of the NAZCA LINES...
..feeling great flying over Nazca Lines(NL)...I was seating in the co-pilot seat and infact made a co-pilot by aviation laws with all of 30 seconds worth of landing instruction incase the pilot had a heart attack or something...as if... I mean why not just jump out just like we did over New Zealand......pre Inca culture known as Nazcas built this round sort of irrigation system all around the NL...
...Nazca town and NL are just 20km from here...
...NL are spread over 500 sq km desert land...NL remains one of the worlds great archaeological mysteries consists of 800 straight line that go on for miles upon miles 300 geometric figures and 70 spectacular animal and plant drawings it can only be really appreciated from the air...the views apart from being spoilt by them lines were super-the mountains were like choclate colour with jagged edges and feel as though you can scoop it up with a large spoon ! P tried it but couldn't reach!
...a MONKEY with extragavantly curled tail...
...a CONDOR with 130m wingspan...
...beautiful HUMMINGBIRD...
...180m long LIZARD...the tail is so long that the Panamerican highway cuts right across the tail...they could have re-routed the highway slightly as this is the UNESCO World Heritage Site...this highway begins in Canada and finishes at Punta Arenas in Chile-20,000km long and some people do this whole highway travelling just for the hell of it -hey P! got an idea about our next trip-how about driving...........................
...another bird of some kind...there are also giant spiders,owl-headed people,fish and so on...
...question is who built this and why...no one yet has come up with reasonable explanation-it is believed to be have been built by Nazca Culture of 900BC but why? there are many theories of course...
1...astronomical calender developed for agricultural purpose
2...lines were walkways linking after life or sites of ceremonial significance
3...lines were runways for alien landings
...and many more and some real loony ones...
... my personal theory is they were made by people who were pissed on sucking on too many coca leaves at a stag do...how else can you explain this pointless lines and almost straight too and drawings looks as though made by a 7 year old after a night out on fizzy drinks...
...what´s your theory?..I know keep scratching your head and you are sure to come up with one...

Goodbye Rio & hello Perrrruuuuu!!!

2007-12-28T18:15:00.000-08:00

...we leave Brazil with no regrets,we done what we could as it's one giant country and all in all not too bad...so it's goodbye to the land of Samba and the beach life,bye bye sexy futbal and beach valleyball and now it's hello THE LAND OF THE INCAS!!!!AND MACHU PICCHU IN PARTICULAR-the Nazca Lines and Lake Titicaca too!
...arrived Lima after 5 hours flight from Sao Paulo-bumpy flight over the Andes.
...1st impression of Lima Peru -weather is nice & cool after heat of Rio-it's madness on the roads like Asia- clean city still stuck in the 60's and big gap between rich and poor as it is all over this continent...
...plan is we have to be back in Lima to catch a flight on 30th January to fly to Quitto Ecuador-so between now and then we have to do Nazca Lines,Lake Titicaca,Cuzco,4 day trekk to Machu Picchu, we also go deep in to Peruvian Amazon jungle for 3 days, visit La Paz and Salt Lakes of Bolivia too-3 weeks Peru and 2 weeks Bolivia and all by land so it's good luck to us then you say...can't wait to reach Machu Picchu The Lost City Of Incas...So here it goes again and hold on to your seats!!!!!!!

Buy this lot and you win the Premiership!

2007-12-26T16:05:00.000-08:00

...what price for PELE!...even now Chelski can't afford him...in Brazil he was and still is priceless...but imagine the midfield of Kaka and say Rnho and upfront you have Pele and Rldo with sprinkling of Reina in goal and Carra and Agger in defence and captain by God himself mastering the mid-field and here we are talking about Stevie G...I think the opposition would be wasting their time turning up each week...3 points in the bag even before the kick-off...and of course the team managed by the other god...Raffa!!!...that's OK! we Hindus are allowed to worship more than one God you know!..

...I have a dream ! oh yes I have! that one day not too far in the distant that my beloved REDS will lift that Premiership Trophy! oh Yes! I have a dream! ...

( I hope she is not pointing at me and calling me KAKA!)

So! What did you do on XMAS DAY?

2007-12-26T14:51:00.000-08:00

...XMAS DAY 2007 in the life of the Patels on world tour...

...another un-eventful day then!..

...8am breakfast by the beach...

...then 9am picked by Paulo of Just Fly from our hotel to jump off 610m high mountain called Pedra Bonita running at full speed holding this kite in our hand...
...2nd from left is the towering peak of Pedra Bonita mountain-one of the giant granite slabs that tower over Rio...and that's where we jump off from...
...at 09:45am Pritti ran at speed holding THAT kite you see and jumped off the mountain and there she is soaring above Rio like a gliding Condor...
...me and my co-pilot Paulo at 10:00am -me thinking the un-thinkabale-should I get back in the jeep to go to the beach or should I jump off running at full speed holding that kite!...well I did the un-thinkable and jumped...

...P with her co-piolet Marco gliding above Rio-smiles says it all...
...she loved this feeling she says...by the way she does'nt know I have published these two pictures so between you and me don't tell her or she will erase them both...
....hang gliding...it's more enjoyable than other things we've done as you spend almost 5 minutes flying before you land...
...check the golf course-that's Gavea Golf & Country Club-green fess 100US for weekdays & at weekends just play some place else!...I was surveying the Course at the same time for MGS Tour 2009-I may be DQ for having done this flight over the course...
...landing on this beach known as Praia do Pepino...we both had a smooth landings...

...12pm visit to the Lord to say Happy Birthday and asking for 3 points against Derby on Boxing Day...this of course is THE place to visit in Rio and better for visiting on Xmas Day...

...CRISTO REDENTOR or CHRIST THE REDEEMER...

...the statue sits on top of Corcovado mountain which gazes out over Rio,the expression on the Lord's face is rather placid but on a well crafted face.The mountain rises straight up from the city-710m-38m high statue on top and it is visible from nearly every part of the city- all of 1145 tons of the open armed redeemer...Jesus! thats heavy!

...Happy Birthday my Lord... Jesus Christ! watch out for that chopper my Lord I think he is going for your private parts and this day from now on could be remembered as 12/25...
...the views from here were stupendous all around...you can see the famous Maracana futbal stadium in this picture and this area is also part of Tijuca National Park...
...Sugarloaf in the middle...
...Lake Rodrigo de Freitas and beyond it is Ipanema beach,on the right the Jockey Club Of Brazil...

... 3pm late lunch/early dinner in a buffet restaurent where you pay by weight of the food in your plate and time for hairstyle change on Copacabana...
...4pm...watching Valleyball with a difference on Copacabana... but here you are allowed to use any part of your body except your hands...these guys are so good at using their heads,thighs,chests,legs,shoulders etc to keep the ball in play...wonderful to watch...a real joy on Copacabana...
...family prayers on Copacabana as another huge cruise ship leaves Rio...
...5pm...hired bicycle for the family and rode around Copacabana...here stopping for refueling yet again on tasty local coconuts...
...Copacabana on Xmas Day ...bodies sand and water as far as your eye can see...

...and a Merry Xmas to you all...from Copacabana...

...hmmm! on Copacabana...look at it before P removes it!...
...selling sarongs and so called bikinis... on Copacabana Xmas Day...
...6:30pm....watching valleyball on Ipanema beach as yet another cruise ship leaves Rio...
...7pm...back to the hotel on Ipanema and ready for few Brahma's...
7:10pm...Ipanema beach,favela in the distant and beyond it second from left Pedra Bonita mountain from where we jumped off this morning holding a kite...

...8:30pm Xmas Day...sunsets over Rio and Ipanema beach and another normal day completed for the Patels on world tour...so we have to ask...
...What Did You Do On Xmas Day?...

Favela...slums of Rio

2007-12-26T13:59:00.000-08:00

...they say in Rio both the rich and the poor have the same gorgeous views from their living room as they both live side by side on the hills of Rio and also on the beaches of Rio rich and poor mix like they are all equal...in this picture far left on the hill is one of the 750 favelas that are dotted around Rio hills...favelas is Spanish for slums but they are not like those slums you find in Asia...here they are each totally run,policed and controlled by the drug lords and they have their own laws eg you can never be robbed once you are inside the favela-because the robber will be caught for sure by the drug lords own deadly police force and his or her throat will be cut open on the spot for others to see-problems are resolved within the community-and it goes without saying that official Rio police are all paid off by the drug lords too...if you want to see two systems one country come to Brazil...

...Favelas were not even recognised on official maps until 1992-they were initially started in 1800 by freed slaves moving in to the city and then other poor people started moving too from countrysides...

...this one called Rocinha and it's the one we visited with a guide...you have to visit a favela to understand Brazil -it's a real eye opener...
...average age of a drug lord is never above 30 years as they die well before that in a gun-fight...as luck would have it while we were there travelling on a one way street, a huge blacked out jeep went past us the wrong way and our guide told us that he can do that as one of the drug lord was in there going about his business -we failed to see his face but we all agreed that he was under the age of 30...
...all properties in favelas have all the amenities like water,electricity etc and drug lords spent lots of money on schools and so on...most of the money spent during the the great Rio carnival are provided by the drug lords too...drug lords themselves are in competition against other drug lords from other favelas as to see who can spend the most money during the Rio carnival and which favela has the best floats and winning the parade competition during the Rio carnival is the priority... over 95% of people taking parts in Rio carnival are from favelas-Rio carnival is the favelas...
...in the middle of this picture you see a line running across the mountain-that's one very expensive mountain rain drainage system built by the drug lords after a mud slide in the 80's which killed many in this favela...

...what favela produce in vast numbers are FOOTBALLERS that play for local clubs and for Brazil...most recent famous being no other than RONLADO from Flavela Rocinha and from years gone by ZICO( then so called white Pele!)...

Sugarloaf Mountain...Rio

2007-12-26T13:55:00.000-08:00

...two cable cars rides to reach the summit-we had a clody day but still the views were simply majestic...
...top of Sugarloaf...views of many pristine beaches of Rio...the long beach is Copacabana-it's almost 5km long and really pristine -79 beaches in Rio and they are all very clean and comes alive with people in the evenings and at weekends...
...Copacabana...at far end round the corner is the other famous Ipanema beach and on this corner was our hotel for 7 days- right on the beach...people watching was fantastic from our hotel...
...two cable car rides to the summit...Rio has so many mountain peaks and they are all black/lush green jungles...
...family of MICOS seen at the summit-monkeys with grey fur,striped tails and tiny scrooge- like faces...hmmm! where have I seen that face before!...

Maracana Stadium

2007-12-26T13:39:00.001-08:00

...Maracana Stadium in Rio(100,000 capacity)...home of PELE...on his last game in 1972 there were 200,000 crazed fans were crammed in this stadium...stadium is a concrete jungle of 60's era...new one to be built here for WC2014... Brazil won first of their 5 World Cups here in 1950....
...all mega stars and little girl is a budding football supporter but her heart is torn between Liverpool,Chelski,Arsenal,MU or who ever wins on the day really!...she has a soft spot for Chesea though...criminal!...
...perfect fit...but it's me standing in PELE'S foot print...all past and present stars of Brazil are here...it was a real pilgrim and I think even P enjoyed it!...

Ilha Grande

2007-12-26T13:35:00.001-08:00

... Ilha Grande(IG)...two street island and no cars...spent a week just lazying...
...IG...arriving in a magnificient boat...
...sailing around IG ...
...give P & V just a bit of water and they will jump in...here snorkelling...

Getting bored on Copacabana! Wish you were here! ...so for a laugh!

2007-12-24T14:45:00.000-08:00

...this one dedicated to Bhirenbhai for following my blog religiously...

... Outlaws Prutch Cassidy & Daughter Dance Kid(PC&DDK) are at it again abusing the local wildlife- this time in Brazil…Kid asked the Alli-gators if they were all Muslims! And Prutch accused them of being Alliga-terrorist then she asked why they all looked the same and said is it something to do with being friendly with your cousins!...

…theses comments have caused uproar in all Alli communities all over the world…diplomatic relations are under stress yet again!...

…ALO(Alligator Liberation Organization) Chairman Alligator Arafat said from his bunker in Florida swamps “ my Muslim brothers we are fighting for independent Allistan and we will fight the infidel by every means possible”…
also at the same time…Alli’s were seen in East African river Mara wearing body armours and carrying bulky rucksacks and this has caused alarm in many Western Capitals…at the same time Alli suicide bomber explodes at London Zoo completely destroying the Pakistani cockroach house!...

…British Premier GB tries to put all British troops at home on full alert before he realizes that they are ALL in Afghanistan and Iraq and have been on full alert since they’ve been there -he mumbles f…..g Tony!

…Bush again bullies Presd.Mushy of Pakistan to close all the Alliga-terrorist camps in AOK(Alligator Occupied Kashmir)…Mushy said that will incur in loss of many jobs in AOK- A.B.S &B (alligator bags shoes & belts) industry…Bush tells him bluntly either he is with us on WOA(War On Alliga-terrorists) or he is against us…Mushy thinks for a second and says he is with the US as long as the US promise to keep him in his job as President of Pakistan for the next 30 years…Bush thinks for less than a second and says- DONE!...

…FATWA has been issued by Iranian Mullahs on PC&DDK…Kid thinks FATWA is something Dad should leave it alone if he wants to be thin again!...and Mum too said the Kid very quietly as Mum was about to down another slice of FATWA Pizza!...where is all that food going thinks the third person in the party as he downs sixth or seventh Brahma beer and who is counting anyway!...Prutch thinks with all that Brahma he is going to get up in the middle of the night more than usual!...

…TB said he will go to the UN and ask for sanctions against all Alli’s including stopping all imports of A.B.S & B before he realizes that he is no longer the British Premier!...meanwhile British Premier GB blames TB for all his problems as Labour can no longer keep blaming the previous Tory Governments …

…Bush said there are WZD(Weapons of Zero Destructions) in Florida swamps and gets ready to press the Nuclear Button before the 1st Lady reminds him that Florida is still part of USA and that his own brother Jess Bush is the governor there!...

…meanwhile PC&DDK are enjoying another dip in the cool waters of Copacabana Beach not realizing that thanks to them Third World War is about to begin …the so called third person in the party now has grown a beard,full head of hair(you should be so lucky Dad! said the cheeky Kid) put on weight, wearing salwar kameese and turban , carrying a sword, D&G dark glasses and from now on speaking only in Punjabi so not to look or sound like the third person!... and also carrying a bottle of Bisky to smell like a Punjabi too!...

…meanwhile PC&DDK have been released by the Brazilian Police after questioning as the Kid pleads not guilty as she has been under the influence of too many fizzy drinks thanks to the third person and Prutch pleads insanity due to very long holidays in many nice countries and also said she has been missing cooking, house work , going to work,Cardiff traffic jams,Eastenders , Corrie Street,Tesco’s cheese cake,M&S vegee triple decker sandwiches etc for the last 7 months!...two police officers with stomach cramps were curled up on the floor laughing as two others almost fell off the chair as she promised the Police that she will quit this long holiday lark on 10th May 2008 …

Still in Rio

2007-12-24T13:25:00.000-08:00

... still in Rio and not been robbed or mugged yet!-acutally we have been mugged twice but not as you think-read on! 24th Dec xmas eve 7pm-went to Rio central this morning and it's the worst city center in the world as all the action takes place on the beach-been walking Copacabana beach all day -it's over 4km long! -must have walked over 10km today-seen everything on the beach-valleyball,football,tennis,open air gym,smallest Mcdonalds ever! etc-downside is you can't take your camera with you for safety reason so not too many pix to show-been to a very nice Arabic restaurent for lunch/dinner on the beach side called Amir-on 22rd went to what must be the worst Indian restaurent ever called Indian Cuisine then on 23rd we went to even the most worst ever Indian restaurent in all my life called Rajmahal-Rajmahal my arse-more like poison mahal-I mean how can you call a dish Mattar Paneer when it's got no mattar or paneer and the bastard had the nerve to charge us 175 Riels ie 55 quid-we can eat happily for 2 days on 55 quid-I am sure the bastard closed it for the rest of the day after we left and went to the beach as he made whole weeks profit from poor us!-I mean we were warned that we could get mugged by some poor Brazilian after dark but they never warned us that we could get mugged in broad day light in some shitty Indian restaurent by our own kind-although I must confess it's all my fault as my wife has reminded me a few times over the last 48 hours as I had read the reviews on the net about these two restaurents before going there and they all said DO NOT GO TO THESE TWO INDIAN RESTAURENTS as THEY SERVE ANYTHING BUT INDIAN FOOD but me being patriotic and all that I had to find out the hard way(thank god these are the only two so called Indian restaurents in Rio)...we have to say Brazil as a whole has been real disappointment comapre to Chile and Argy where we had great time and Rio is specially very disappointing to us...it does'nt feel like xmas here as it does in UK...on the night of 21st they had a huge carnival type xams parade on Copacabana beach and it had real festive spirit...tomorrow xmas day and nothing planned except that we are hanggliding over Rio at 9am to start the day then it's party on the beach all day with the locals...
by the way Vedanta is asking what's the weather like in the UK!..and if you are going to the beach or not!...

Rio

2007-12-21T05:26:00.000-08:00

... 20/12/07-at last in RIO!...Ilha Grande(IG) was beautiful and we rested well and now we are ready for more travel and new discoveies..IG is a small tropical island with very few people,just 2 streets and no cars,unpaved paths and wild!...spent most of my time in a hammock by the beach reading the new Harry Potter book and I have to say it´s the worst book in the HP series,read it in 4 days now it´s Pritti´s turn,weather was good in the end.We ate everyday at Biert Garden,buffet but you pay by weight of the food in your plate and for 15 quid for 3 we use to eat like Kings...this concept I have seen 1st time and it could work very well anywhere.

We left IG on 18th by ferry and arrived Rio on 19th,weather is cloudy but hot and we have a beachside hotel in Rio called Arpoador Inn on the corner of Copacabana and Ipenema beach...evreyone warns us not to take anything with you except little money once you walk out of your hotel and it is rather scary and we have loads of horror stories from other travellers...visited Maracana Football stadium-The Great PELE´S home-it´a concrete structure for 100,000 fans and it´s a stadium of bygone era´s of 60´s-new one to be built fo 2014 World Cup in Brazil...Rio has great location by the green/blue sea and black/lush green mountains but the city it´s self is again stuck back still in 70´s...hoping to hangglide/paraglide or something over Rio very soon hoping to do it on xams day...

Brazil...on the way to RIO for xmas

2007-12-15T15:48:00.000-08:00

...after Iguazu Falls -bus to Campo Grande in Pantanal-total 24 hours bus ride-then 6 hours minibus to jungle lodge-few days spent exploring Pantanal-then back to Campo Grande and to Sao Paulo then another bus to Angra Dos Reis-total of 24 hous bus ride- then 2 hour ferry to a tropical island called Ilha Grande,its 300km from Rio and we are spending 7 days here just relaxing but first 3 days it rained non-stop and today 15th Dec it was glorious day and we spent all day on a boat exploring the differfent beaches of the island and snorkling too!-we leave here on Tuesday and be in Rio for xmas from 19th till 26 th then we fly to Peru the land of Incas! we also travel to Bolovia for 2 weeks from Peru...

Pantanal...Lodge

2007-12-13T12:25:00.000-08:00

...our jungle lodge on Rio Negro...surrounded by wildlife specially thousands of alligators and millions of Piranhas fish....we know there are Anacondas ,Pumas,Panthers and Jaguars too but they are all nocturnal and very difficult to see...but we know that THEY were probably watching us at some point in our stay in Pantanal...

...Pantanal is half the size of France and it crosses Brazil-Argentina-Bolivia and we were very near the borders of both Bolivia and Argentina-it is mainly swamp land with jungles thrown in-it has very few people and no towns or roads-it has the greatest concentration of wildlife in the world and it is lot easier to see than in the Amazon Jungles...
... sunset from balcony of our lodge ...

...there is no better way to fall a sleep than in a hammock in the jungle...here we are trying to have afternoon nap as the sun really heats up...
...this lawn is teeming with birds of every kind all day but specially in the morning ..and when the lights were turned on in the evening there were thousands of bugs everywhere some the size of our palm and we had to run a gauntlet through them each night to get to our bedroom.. and when you got there there were frogs waiting for you on the door,in the room and in the bathroom...in the end we just left the frogs were we found them and bugs under 2 inches well we just ignored them and we just got use to them...honest! ...as we were about to leave our lodge we found Vedanta palying with a baby SNAKE...I am not kidding and it was about 12 inches long and very newly born...harmless said our guide Lewis...
...there were futbal matches every evening at 6pm as the sun goes down on the lawn between the river and the lodge...
...BRAZIL v TOURIST
...you don't want to know the scores...all I would say is if I were Harry Redknapp I would definitley sign up our cook and the barman-though the barman may need to loose some weight!....

Pantanal...Piranha fishing

2007-12-13T12:19:00.001-08:00

...Piranha fishing on Rio Grande(big river) from front lawn of our jungle lodge-it was great fun and I think I may take up fishing... the bait used was chunks of pure beef and soon as you threw the bait in the water you could feel the tug of the Piranhas feeding on it straight away-real scary sensation...
...P trying her luck at fishing but Piranhas would just eat the bait and swim away...fishing ain't easy as I thought it was...
...this is the first fish I ever caught and boy did I enjoy it!-and yes it was PIRANHA-it was too small so I had to put it back in the river...note the sweat soaked shirt and it was only 9am...

...this is PIRANHA I caught and look at those teeth...boy they are vicious...it is known in this part that group of Piranhas has now and then eaten a fully grown cow in less than 15 minutes...
...some of the other fish we caught like this catfish -were grilled-I was told they tasted real good!...
...this is the same waters where we were fishing for Piranhas above and this waters are teeming with 20 species of Piranhas and hundreds of Alligators-just believe me because we have seen them and if you look carefully between the boat and the small white building on the left there is an Alligator swimming that got little bit too close to where P & V and their chums were swimming and I told P and V to come out of the waters-I am not kidding..across the river there were many Allis just waiting for the sun to comeout...Locals go swimming here all the time but not if they have open wound or women are on their monthly but it is still dangerous...the brave Swedes stayed in the water as though they had a death wish...I refused to get in that water for love or money...I think P would think twice before she would do that again as well...I think....

Pantanal .. Riding Horses

2007-12-13T12:12:00.000-08:00

...Gandolf The Grey-the name of the horse that is-P says my name is same same but different!-Gando The Grey!...
...riding horses looking for Anacondas and Big Cats but no luck...did see lots of other wildlife though...
...one in the red is Ida , the one in white is Martin-both from Sweden-they were with us for our stay in Pantanal-they were on vacation travelling South America for 3 months... we named Ida's horse Ida Y Veulta means Return in Spanish...never got round to naming Martin's horse...

...our guide Lewis for our Pantanal stay...
...P had a lazy horse who never obeyed any of her commands-we think Vedanta trained this horse in how not to obey P's commands-we simply named this horse THE LAZY ARSE!
...very enjoyable riding horses and we had a great time and we think we will ride more horses from now on...

Pantanal...Boat Safari

2007-12-13T06:55:00.000-08:00

...early morning boat safari on Rio Grande,river is infested with 20 species of Piranha fish and alligators...
..big birds are very common and Pantanal visit is on every bird watchers list...

...Allis living side by side with biggest rats in the world called Capybaras...
...Allis warming up on river-side...
...big birds hunting fish...
...getting ready for trekking with our guide Lewis...take my word when I say we were surrounded by Allis...
...meet Giant Otters of South America ...there were 3 in this family and they were hunting Piranah for breakfast and we were there at the right time as they caught Piranhas and surfaced to munch on them...
...our boat was 10 feet away and we could hear bones crunching as this Giant Otter munched on a large Piranha...real awesome sight we all will never forget...
...one otter was feeding on a huge crab but he was hiding behind the bush but you could hear bones being crunched...
...blood thirsty alien ?...as we watched ,one of the otter then started screaming at us very loudly and got very agitated as we were camped in his territory , so we left them in peace to finish thier breakfast...even our guide Lewis was moved by what he saw...

...biggest Rat in the world...early morning feeding...

Pantanal...Trekking and Jeep Safari

2007-12-13T06:40:00.000-08:00

...Jeep Safari...
...this is what 12 months round the world does to you...
...ran low on drinking water while trekking the jungle of Pantanal-so our guide Lewis cracks open one of the vines and we all had fresh water provided by nature...
...huge birds are very common in Pantanal and it's a bird lovers paradise...

...Toco Toucan of Pantanal...elusive bird and comes out to play early morning and evening...
...Howler Monkeys of Pantanal...they P on you if get too close under the tree...
...king of the gang...black howler monkey...

...elusive big cat pup hiding in the tree...
...there are over 35 million alligators in Brazil and 10 million of them are in Pantanal...here they are in your face where ever you go...simply spectacular in numbers...actual name is Jacares...

...rodent family...it's the biggest Rat in the world known as Capybaras,very common in Pantanal,great swimmer and eats grass...

Brazil side Iguazu Falls

2007-12-09T17:49:00.000-08:00

...during rainy season these falls are even bigger...Brazilian side offers a more panoramic views of the 275 separate falls...
...Graganta Do Diablo falls ...very spectacular...
...V said why don't someone turn the tap off and stop all the water wastage...she is only 7...bless her little heart...
... another viewing point...

...more viewing points...
... yet more viewing points...

...the beauty of the falls is rather spoilt on both sides by building too many cat-walks and just too many view-points...

...I've been lucky to have seen Niagra,Victoria and now Iguazu falls and I think Victoria falls are still the best for sheer volume of water that falls down,the noise created,the mist , pure wilderness and the wild Zambezi river with many Hippos and crocodiles and the fact that it in Africa,pure magic...

Argentina Iguazu Falls from land...

2007-12-09T17:38:00.000-08:00

...the Iguazu Falls(IF) are equally divide between Brazil and Argentina-there are total of 275 separate waterfalls -this one named Passeio Inferiores(PI)...
...Argentine side of the IF provides a closer more intimate experience and a great variety of perspectives...IF are 18km from a town called Puerto Iguazu-our hostel here was Hostel Inn and it was one beautiful place and met many like minded travellers and it had swimming pool-a real luxury for Vedanta!...

...view from top of PI...
...other smaller falls...
...views of other falls...check out the catwalks...there are 4km of catwalks and it gives you views from every angle and are very well built and organised...the IF are some 3km long
...another great falls-the falls very to the left far are in BRAZIL...the IF park is some 2100 sq km on both sides and are real rainforets and mostly inaccessible-it contains all sorts of butterflies,lizards,parrots,hummingbirds,spiders,toucans,monkeys,jaguars,alligators(muslim!),armadillos,pumas,panthers etc etc etc--one sign read- IF YOU MEET A BIG CAT LIKE JAGUAR,PUMA OR PANTHER-REMAIN CALM-TRY TO APPEAR BIGGER THAN YOU ARE -I mean come on remain CALM! get real! and say WHAT? here kitty !kitty! kitty! as if(muslim!) she is going sit on your lap and give you a quick cuddle! I mean we are talking about BIG CATS not a pussy you see in Coronation Street, f..k that! I say find a tree and get on top of it if you still can or get behind a fat block or if it's really that bad then you have 30 seconds to mumble goodbye to your loved ones while the BIG CAT munches on your private parts! oouch!...I say put up a sign which reads-IF YOU MEET A BIG CAT YOU ARE F....D!
...these were trully grand falls -Garganta Do Diablo(GDD)...

...simply stunning as serene river suddenly turns violent as 13,000 cu meters of water per second(V says that's lot of water dad!) plunge 90m in 14 falls around a horseshoe-shaped canyon.Its a hypnotizing, multisensory experience to see the roaring falls,huge rainbow arcs,drenching mist and,in the distance,parrots and hawks cruising over the deep,green forest.Many swifts(type of bird),which drop like rocks into the misty abyss,catch insects in mid-air,shoot back up and dart to perch back on the cliffs behind the falls..swifts can be seen in the pictures...

... P touches the rainbow...the other side is Brazil...
...one branch of Igauzu river...the other side is Brazil...the falls are only at 50% capacity and so are even bigger during rainy season which had just begun...we were very lucky to have 2 sunny days here because on the day we were moving on it was torrential rain...

...view point and getting drenched with mist...

...P enjoying the dramatic views...

...theses birds was quite common and real friendly around the falls...

====================================================

...a picture taken when we went to PARAGUAY for a quick look around and yes it was as bad and as black and dull as this picture....

Argentina side Iguazu Falls by boat...

2007-12-09T17:34:00.000-08:00

...speed boat on Iguazu river to see the Iguazu falls and riding white rapids at the same time...

...amazing way to see the falls and there are hundreds of falls...saw our first Alligator(Muslim!) here and then we would come face to face with hundreds and hundreds more later on in Pantanal region...

...captain took the boat right under couple of falls and we all had amazing massaging showers...special water proof bags were provided to store away money and cameras...

...riding the white rapids and seeing the falls ...

...mad captain on my asking took us all more than once under that fall on his left-why did he listen to me!...superb experience though...

Tres Fronteras!

2007-12-05T09:05:00.001-08:00

...this is one of the rare sight in the world and we are not talking about angel like Vedanta-this is the junction where 3 countries meet and share the borders happily-ARGENTINA-BRAZIL-PARAGUAY...

...we are standing in ARGENTINA-to our right across Iguazu river is BRAZIL-to our left across Parana river is PARAGUAY...the borders are wide open between these 3 friendly countries and you just walk through unless you are an American,Aussie or German...
...standing in ARGENTINA next to obelisk which you can also see from here in BRAZIL and PARAGUAY...very often 3 neighbouring countries have some sort of problems with each other and thus borders are always milatarised thus access not allowed but here it's different...

Dipak Bungy Jump VIDEO on YOUTUBE!

2007-12-04T16:13:00.000-08:00

Watch the perfect BUNGY JUMP video on following YOUYUBE link

www.youtube.com/jsmduk

Enjoy & be Inspired

Tres Fronteras!!! Argentina-Brazil-Paraguay

2007-12-04T12:33:00.000-08:00

...4th Dec 07 now in town called PUERTO IGUAZU(PI) in ARGENTINA right next to PARAGUAY and BRAZIL borders -these borders are known as TRES FRONTERAS meaning 3 frontiers and this is the home of THE WATERFALLS -IGUAZU FALLS. Travelled from BA couple of days ago by marathon bus ride of 30 hours-10 hours from BA to Cordoba then 20 hours from Cordoba to PI and we missed the connecting bus in Cordoba too!...Cordoba was rather dull looking-watched movies on the bus etc and scenery was ok too...we are in a great hostel in PI called Hostel Inn ...has brilliant atmosphere and so many nationalities,sharing room with 3 others including a couple from Wimbledon!-watched Reds thrashed Bolton 4 nil with others ... as the song goes (we don't need know education! oi teacher! leave them kids alone!) OI YANKEES!...LEAVE OUR RAFFA ALONE!
...our wedding anniversery on 3th Dec and WE celebrated it in 3 different countires on the same day!...first thing in the morning we went to see IGUAZU FALLS on the ARGENTINA side...awesome falls...then in the afternoon via car we crossed the border and went in to BRAZIL to a town called FOG DO IGUACU then we crossed in to PARAGUAY to a town called CIUDAD DE ESTE then we crossed back in to BRAZIL and had dinner and then late in the evening we crossed back in to our hostel in ARGENTINA!...beat that if you can!
...today 4th Dec we crossed back in to Brazil again to see the IGUAZU FALLS from the Brazilian side and then we crossed back in to our hostel in ARGENTINA...phew!!!...our bloody passports are now complaning of burnouts! they want to go on strike due to overwork-lazy bloody British Passports-we say no strike!-we want workers not shirkers!-and we say you are only good for lying on your back and opening up only when a Johnny foreigner wants to deeply touch you and stamp deep inside your page! ...you dirty little pervs!...
...5th Dec evening we cross in to Brazil for good to catch a bus to spend 4 days trekking in the wild jungles of PANTANAL- BRAZIL-12 hour bus journey-easy!-this trekking involves all sorts including sleeping in the hammocks and riding horses...can't wait! so it's goodbye TANGO and hello the beats of SAMBA!

Montevideo-URUGUAY

2007-11-30T15:03:00.000-08:00

... had 2 days spare in Buenos Aires so we went to Montevideo-a capital of Urugay and we got our passport stamped at least!-took expensive fast ferry called Buquebus- takes 3 hours and a great ride on Rio de la Plata(river Plate)-1.3 million-loads of students-best place in the world to learn Spanish-rather disappointing European feel and even they want to be more like Europeans than Europeans-what's wrong with these people? they waste so much time trying to be something they are not!-can't wait to get to Peru ,Bolivia and Ecuador!-stayed at Red Hostel in the center of town-old mansion- and had a great feel about it! and a free Wi-fi and breakfast! but had too many German kids learning Spanish on the cheap for my liking but they did support Liverpool as we watched the match live against Porto! with 2 mad Irish Red supporters too! -as the song goes OI! YANKEES! LEAVE OUR RAFFA ALONE!-very poor country but has a great vegee restaurant,we all ate 3 course meal with drinks for 8 quid!-on the main street there are 3 branches of Indian Emporium shops!-what's that all about?-we failed to make the connections!-country is big on bronze statues for past heroes-I mean what a waste of money-FEED THE PEOPLE FIRST WE SAY!-too many beggars on the street although not as bad as India-let's make one thing clear,we have now been to 11 countries in last six months and we love our country India but as we travel the world we really feel ashamed and embarassed by how backward and poorly managed India is compare to all other nations-all these countries are clean,have good sanitation,clean water,good roads,well behaved population,no queue jumping,no spittings or shitting wherever you want,clean food,no insects or free roamings animals and we can go on and on and on -so INDIA GET YOUR ACT TOGETHER BECAUSE YOU ARE AN EMBARASSEMENT TO INDIAN TRAVELLERS ABROAD!

Buenos Aires...Report

2007-11-30T14:23:00.000-08:00

1st impression...big city 0f 14 million-people seems to be owning 10 dogs each and that means crap everywhere-they don't like Vegees here-what? you are a vegee at a place where you can eat the most juicest steaks big as your head! get out of my restaurant you gringo!-been eating at MUMBAI! best food for a long time-visited museum called XUL SOLAR -hmmm!-been to see Tango show called SABOR EL TANGO! -really good and magical dancing really fantastic and very professional-we were going to take couple of Tango dancing lessons but thank god we ran out of time!-our hostel called Ricoleta Hostel,nice place right near walking distance to everything-saw another film in theatre called Leones Por Corderos(Lions for Lambs)-rather watch paint dry!-30 hour bus ride coming up as we move on to Cordoba and on to Iguazu Falls-this falls boarder 3 countries-Brazil-Argy-Paraguay-buses are brilliant way to travel here .
Creamy Caramel is national passion here! oh! and love hotels like in Chile-I said to P when in Rome and then I got another black eye! women!-we have left the cold weather behind us in Patagonia and thrown out all our winter gear and shorts-t shirts-sandals are back! and long may it continue!

Buenos Aires...Dios Mio(oh my god!)

2007-11-30T14:04:00.000-08:00

...sometime you travel abroad and you go to see something very unusual and unexpected but when you’ve seen it it’s not really tacky as you thought it was going to be –as this place was in Buenos Aires called Tierra Santa-it’s a theme park based on time and life of Jesus in and around Jerusalem –my first thought when P suggested we go and see it was –no! –but she convinced me and off we went by taxi some 25km from our Hostel-the day was hot and humid over 30 degrees!…

…this is another stupendous statue -top half of Jesus- and kind of real life like and I can understand how if you are a Christian you can really get worked up being at this theme park and the fantastic music makes the real difference…
…this was quite something else-this is Resurrection of the Lord by mechanical means-a 25m statue of Jesus comes out of this mountain every half an hour and then it rotates to bless everyone watching it below and the music throughout all the performances is really fantastic and loud and gets all Catholics really in that zone of being close to Jesus-surreal!-have to see it to believe it!...

…it also had mosque,temple etc and this Mahatma Gandhi’s place in the middle of everything -we failed to make the connection!...

…Jesus being turned over by the Romans-it also had how the world was created,manger scene,the Last Supper,Wailing Wall etc,etc but not tacky!... Jesus refused to take my advice when I said with your last wish you should have asked to tie a Muslim on your back!

Montevideo-URUGUAY...Pictures

2007-11-30T13:52:00.000-08:00

… Montevideo Uruguay-very laid-back city and rather nothing going on and as if people are waiting for something to happen and looks like it could be a long wait!-…

…newspaper headline reads-my fellow Uruguans this is your President , first the good news - our long wait for something to happen in our great nation will definitely be over by 3rd August - the bad news is that that 3rd August is in year 2518 so please be loyal to my great great great great so on and on great grandson-please be assure that I am working very hard on your behalf from my winter palace in Barbados and now I am off to check building work on my new Summer Palace in Tuscony , this project is entirely funded by Overseas Development Ministry of Her Majesty’s Governement UK- so to let my fellow Uruguans know that I am not using your tax money…
…some of thses countries are great on putting up huge sataues of past heroes,elaboarate water fountains,gates etc but soon after they are left at the mercy of nature although this one is working as it is in front of the British Embassy-after all it is paid by the British tax payers!

…city center South American style…

…there were some really neat grafitti around the city center and Governement buildings-grafitti capital of the world-it needs to be a Capital of something!...

Buenos Aires...Pictures

2007-11-30T13:30:00.000-08:00

…real backpackers may live a life on the cheap and take every oppertunity that comes their way but they see do and learn real stuff about the countries they are traveling in which other travellers can only dream about --- here they share a coffee with empanada bought from street vendor-- we only pretend to be backpackers!...

…luxury coach travel is a norm all over South America and this is how we are traveling here—all our journeys are between 12 to 24 hours at a time—of course we are on the upper deck where the the huge leather seat becomes a cama(bed) at night-movies –food-drinks all inclusive-all for 16 quid each for 20 hours travel-hundreds of companies wants your business and thus services provided on route are as good as 1st class travel in an aeroplane –fantastic way to travel and see this continent…

...interior of the luxury coach...

…no free roaming dogs in BA-but most dog owners seems to have at least 10 dogs each …Vedanta’s nightmare!

…tourist gorging at Evita’s grave in Reoleta Cemetery,BA-Evita’s life and her humanatarian work made more famous around the world by Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical Evita and same name film(Evita played by another humanitarian -Madonna!)-Evita a beautiful nurse from a very poor family met Mr Peron at a political rally married Peron who then became President of Argentina for 8 years-Evita worked for the poor and the old of Argentina-she died of cancer in the sixth year of Peron’s Presidency at tender age of 32-when she died Argentina was heart broken and so was Peron the President…
…BA is massive –full of Spanish colonial buildings-very clean and rather pretty-people are fabulous and so welcoming-everybody just wants to earn an honest living-no overcharging or bull -shitting here that every traveller has to face in most of the Asian countries-infact we have yet to meet anyone in South America that wanted to overcharge us for their services-everything is priced in the shops too- although there are too many steak-houses in Argentina for my liking,I have wondered through the doors of some of this joints just to smell the juicy burning steak on the barbie and just at this moment each time then I have been guided out of the door gently by tender hand of my wife! Women!

…view from the balcony of our room at Ricoleta Hostel-cool place and near walking distance to most tourist sights-and juicy steak houses!

…Plaza De Mayo…
…pink building is called Casa Rosada and the square is called Plaza De Mayo-Presidential resident etc-it’s from these pink balconies that previous Presidents,Evita ,dictator General Galtieri of Falklands War fame and other politicians have preached to throngs of millions of impassioned Argentines on the streets below and those watching on televisions…

Wildlife

2007-11-30T12:43:00.000-08:00

...this is Punta Norte(3km long) in Peninsula Valdes Argentina,it is on this very beach at high tide that the KILLER WHALES(ORCAS) come right on to the beach to catch unsuspecting Sea Lions and Seals lazying on the beach (sometime whales are unable to wriggle back in to the water and become food for Sea Lions and Seals in return)-this act of nature on this very beach is often shown on many wildlife documentaries on telly...we were unlucky on this day and the tide was out anyway...we did see thousands of Sea Lions and Seals lazying on this vast stretch of beach...one amazing beach!

...killer whales lurking in the water if the tide was in...
...this is Prof Vedanta Patel either she is constipated or trying to look intelligent- observing her kind of creatures -lazy and sleepy Sea Lions-she has 3 degrees just like Mom but at least Mom puts hers to good use ! Vedanta has

Bsc in DoIhavetodothatdad!

Msc in Arewethereyetdad!

and

Phd in DoIahavetofinishmydinnerdad!

...this one's a bully but only on dry land ... as one on the left is saying you were the first one out of the water when you thought you saw KILLER WHALE!...
...playing hide & seek or they've just spotted a KILLER WHALE!...

Penguins...

2007-11-25T17:58:00.000-08:00

...the Penguins below have a human story and names given are only in fiction and are not personally aimed at any one person- so please no lawyers!...

...take no offence as none is meant...

...looking for a mate for life-this is ChanduSingh-bit shy and no !he is not a Pharmacist...he is one better ! he is a DOCTOR! ...(he really wanted to be a piss artist but daddy would'nt have it! and mum didn't want all the badams(almonds) she fed him when he was growing up to go wasted either! ) ...
...this is Champa Patel -also in the market looking for a mate for life-also shy but is a Pharmacist!(she really wanted to be a doctor bur failed to get the grades! but as all the Indian women pharamacist she thinks she really is a doctor! -qualifications or not)
...arranged first date by a third party and both a bit shy...so arranged marriage on the card! arranged by a third party!...both sets of parents fly off to India for shopping as wedding day approaches (Indian tradition) and first shot is fired as they both try and out do each other as though who would send out the biggest and brashest invitation cards!( one that requires fire brigade to pull it through your letter box!)
...wedding party arrives from the girl's side...note how women are ignoring the men and vice-versa-this is a tradition at any Indian gathering...

... they all look a bit pissed and yes they all are pissed!-because it's Chandusingh's family and friends arriving for the wedding! -yes they all had too much bisky last night!..it's a Punjabi tradition to look pissed at any Punjabi gathering!...

...happy couple looking radiant on their wedding day-infact look closely and Champa's already got one in the oven-naughty boy Chandusingh says the women folks, while men folks start saying you lucky bastard Chandu!..note the lack of affection shown by the newly wed and that's another Indian tradition(though shall show no affection after the wedding!),anything less than a mile gap between the newy wed and all the women folks start bitching and men start saying you lucky bastard Chandu!...and as Bena Rehhhhh! Sasri Ay Jata Teri Papan Na Bhinjay song is played on the Binatone radio cassette player by a DJ who is at least 70th distant cousin to the groom therefore providing the services free ,all women start crying including those who came for the food only and are left behind because they are still looking for a free lift back home to Ipswich or something and were only invited because their names appeared in the 1876 Samaj directory...

...six months after the wedding Champa lays an egg-told you that Chandusingh was at it before the wedding said the women wearing a red saree on the phone to the women wearing a yellow saree!(they met each other when the women in yellow saree gave a lift back to Ipswich to the women in red saree ofcourse arranged by the third party)-Champa should have married my CM(another Indian tradition calling people by their initials!) said the women wearing a yellow saree-CM'S a nice boy and she would have worked well every morning in our Londis in Ipswich-why the morning enquired the women in red saree-well every morning JC that's my husband goes for a walk as he is diabetic!(that's another two Indian traditions-walk and being diabetic)...

...little Karansinghpatel(compromised name chosen by both sets of inlaws after many meetings and phonecalls involving the third part of course) ) is born...and they've already put his name down at the local Private school and are already in the market looking for a third party to find them a nice little Indian girl!..

...inlaws(Chandu's parents!) come for a visit in their newly purchased 2nd hand Merc with a personalised number plate(an Indian tradition),they part exchanged their Datsun for the Merc as the other side already had a Merc(another Indian tradition) and takes Karan for a walk down to the corner shop and buys him some cheap sweets(another Indian grand parents tradition)...inlaws are concerned that Karan looks a bit like Penguin(mum put glasses on to confirm) and both agreed that Dal Me Kuchh Kala Lagta Hai!-and asks Champa(through a third party) if she has had an affair with a Penguin! or has she ever been to South America!..

...Karan grows up and flees to South America to avoid being married to a Koala!(arranged by a third party of course!)...

================================================================

...on a lighter note above Penguins are seen at Punto Tombo in Argentine Patagonia,over half a million Penguins reside here and they were everywhere! ...
...this picture shows a large group of Llamas running havoc amongst the Penguins colony and sure some Penguins are killed...

...another Penguins colony at Punta Delgada,Peninsula Valdes...
...another Penguin colony at Punta Arenas-not far from here where the Cruise Ship Explorer hit the iceberg on 22nd Nov 2007 heading towards Antarctica and thank God all passengers were safely air-lifted to Punta Arenas-the Explorer sank-some passengers on Explorer we may have met on our Navimag cruise from Puerto Montt to Puerto Natales-we may have been on Expolrer ourselves if the price was right-small world- you throw the dice and take the risks but calculated risks in our case as we say shit happens all the time you dust yourself take your medicine and you carry on...
...Penguine Highway...Penguins were sea-birds at one time -they hunt for food in the sea and live on land-also lay eggs-hunt all day at sea and come back on land at sunset also sunset is the time to see loads of them coming out of the sea..
...many roads on Peninsula Valdes are just what you see-dirt track...

... Vedanta again pulled out the short straw as to who goes to the nearest supermarket as Dad ran low on Beer and Mum completly emptied the bag containing the 5C's ie choclate,cheese,crisps,cookies and candy's-all that's good for you!...but as P says you get protein from all them 5C's..yaa right!...