Villa de Leyva to Honda

After a good night's camping just outside Villa de Leyva, Friday was just designed to be a drive day with a stopover in the evening at Honda. We were however given to choice of driving straight to Honda for a long day, or stopping off en route at this salt cathedral for a very long day. We opted for the very long day. Breakfast this morning with pancakes and fresh pineapple, and after taking down camp we departed at around 8.

The drive to Catedral de Sal took about 4 hours, although we kept ourselves amused by writing poems about each other which was funny. From what I can remember the cathedral is one of only 3 in the world to be made inside a salt mine, and had 14 separate chapels, going as deep as 180m. It was very interesting walking round the endless tunnels and seeing many illuminated crosses and narrow walkways. I did accidentally fart louder than expected in one of the chapels though which may have upset a couple of locals.

After exploring the salt cathedral, we went back to the truck where the people who didn't want to visit the cathedral had prepared lunch for us. We had ham and cheese toasties, with leftovers from the last two nights, fresh pineapple, and this lovely potato salad. I hope they're not expecting something as good when I prepare my meal soon. We're also getting really efficient at washing up now too, with our scrub, disinfect, rinse, then flap to dry system.

When we finished lunch we continued on although it was very slow as we were effectively on the outskirts of Bogota. Part of the drive today also took us above 2800m for the first time which is apparently when people sometimes start to feel the effects of altitude sickness. Everyone was fine though. When we finally negotiated Bogota we started decending rapidly down winding mountain roads, and the scenery was stunning, although we were soon driving in the clouds and couldn't see much.

Before long it got dark and the heavens just opened and we had another massive thunderstorm. Some of the lightning was so dramatic. To pass the time though we did play cards. We have now found out though that the truck isn't totally water tight.

We didn't arrive to Honda until about 8, and luckily it had stopped raining and we checked in no problems. It was after checking in that an even worse thunderstorm came, with some spectacular lightning and rumbles of thunder. The outside of my room flooded as well which wasn't great. Luckily I had bought dinner earlier, but some people who went to a nearby restaurant said that the lightning struck something and sent sparks through the restaurant which was meant to be a little scary. We even had a power cut but luckily it wasn't down for too long. I just stayed in my room as it was pretty horrendous, and I wanted an early night after 3 nights of camping before, and a further 3 nights of camping afterwards!

Barichara and Villa de Leyva

There no early start Wednesday as it was a free day to explore San Gil and the surrounding areas. San Gil is a small town in the Yariguíes Mountains of eastern Colombia, founded in 1689. During the build-up to Colombian independence, the town was an important gathering point for many native people from surrounding areas who would then march on Bogotá. Now it is famous as being the adventure capital of the region, and there are several outdoor activities available for visitors such as rafting, hiking and caving.

Due to the thunderstorms the night before the rafting was cancelled, although when waking up I didn't feel great. Like a few other people I've had diarrhoea for a while and I had stomach pains that morning. Instead I decided to go hiking instead as I didn't want to do some of the adrenaline activities some people did like bungee jumping and caving. After breakfast a few of us headed to the village of Barichara, catching the bus about 5 minutes from our campsite. It was very slippery underfoot!

The bus journey was about half hour. Barichara itself it's known for its cobbled streets and old colonial buildings. It was very interesting walking round the streets and exploring the churches. I also got some antibiotics here to try and sort my body out, although I have been banned from drinking for a few days. There was a scare at one point though because a bomb went off and shortly after police and all sorts arrived at the scene. There was then smoke billowing from this window and the whole village decended to the square. It wasn't until afterwards we were told it was training exercise.

After exploring the village, we went to this cafe where I had a lovely cake, before setting of on a hike with a few others to the village of Guane along the Camino Real. This basically followed an old cobbled road through the valley of the hills and it was a very nice walk. It took about two hours to get to Guane where we had lunch which we had prepared before going out. After exploring the small village we caught the bus back to the campsite, arriving back at about 4.

I spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing, although I did try one of the campsites outdoor natural showers which was interesting. The campsite was very eco friendly including dry toilets too! The owner who was English was very passionate though and gave us lots of information. Come evening we had a special vegetarian Indian buffet made for us by the family who run the campsite. This was for 45 people though as a second dragoman truck arrived in the evening heading in the opposite direction. It was a very nice meal with 6 different curries, and poppadoms with an array of chutneys. I had an early night as well.

Thursday morning was an early start, waking up before 6 to put my tent down and have breakfast ready for the drive to Villa de Leyva. We arrived at about lunchtime, and went straight out for lunch where I shared at pizza with someone, before getting a guided tour of the old colonial town. With cobbled streets and set beneath some hills, we were now at about 2200m above sea level. The guided tour was very interesting although I couldn't really understand what our guide was saying. We still managed to have fun though.

After exploring the town we headed to our campsite just outside the town, where I relaxed in a hammock after setting up camp. Dinner was chicken and mushroom pasta which was nice. Apparently I'm cooking on the 29th although we're in groups so it should be alright. Luckily at our campsite there was wifi so it was nice and relaxing evening, although most people went for an early night.

Mompos to San Gil

Monday morning was meant to be an early start although we're advised of a new road that had been built to our next overnight stop in Aguachica. Due to this we decided to take a gamble and listen with a departure time of 9am. I ended up getting up 7 though ready for breakfast before relaxing in the room before we left. It was once very hot in the morning, and after loading the truck we set off, managing to avoid all the low lying cables.

The diversion was good at first, although we soon turned off the nice tarmac road and ended up on this dirt track with potholes. It was very bumpy and we followed this track for ages being jostled round everywhere in the truck! At one point we got to this point where was this massive hole in the road and couldn't pass. Luckily there were some locals on hand to help us build a 'bridge' by filling the hole with logs to get the truck over. Luckily the truck got through without falling in but it was very amusing to watch!

Prior to today's journey we all wrote down 5 songs we liked for the truck, and with 22 of us that's a lot of songs. We all tried to guess each others songs which was funny because there was such a mix. On the truck there is also this Japanese man who is really funny despite speaking only basic English. We have actually formed quite a bromance and both love Maya Yoshida of course and he is basically my wingman. Today he surprised the truck by doing a spontaneous origami competition, where he taught us how to make a swan, and then after learning we had to make another one as quickly as possible. I was awful, but it was a right laugh.

After a lengthy time moving very slowly and avoiding several potholes, we finally got to tarmac and could actually start moving! Later into the drive we stopped for lunch where I somehow found a Chinese and had this rice dice with 7 different meats inside. The locals were interested to see us here though and as with other places a lot of people asked for pictures with us because they obviously just don't see tourists. After leaving we continued straight onto Aguachica, arriving at about 3, which our guide estimates saved us over 2 hours of driving taking the shortcut. 

The hotel we were staying at was very nice with super fast wifi, and a pool. Aguachica itself is completely off the tourist trail, so there wasn't much to see in the town other than a long road with shops and restaurants down it. I therefore decided to spend the afternoon in the pool and was probably in there for over 2 hours! It was nice to just a few beers and relax in warm weather. For dinner we met as a group at 8 and went to a local restaurant where I had this massive beef steak with fries and rice, accompanied by quite a few beers.

This morning we left about 8, with breakfast prior being scrambled egg again. There is not much variety in food in Colombia although I don't think they eat much because of the heat. I did have this lovely blackberry juice though. Soon after leaving our Japanese passenger had another surprise, teaching us how to make Japanese green tea which was interesting and surprisingly tasty. Our play list of songs continued too. They only guessed one of my songs so far.

It was a nice surprise part way into the ride as we stopped at this school by accident when going for a toilet break and the children were excited to see us. They wanted loads of pictures with us and despite not really speaking English they still spoke to us. I understood words like Lionel Messi and James Rodriguez. Later into the journey we stopped at Bucaramanga for lunch and also some drink for the evening. I went with a few others to this supermarket cafe. We also looked at outfits for halloween although the girls have decided they're going to make me an outfit so god knows what I'm going as!

After Bucaramanga the road started to get pretty stunning as we started doing some serious climbing into the foothills of the Andes. It was very windy the road and a little sketchy in places as cars were overtaking the round bends. There was also no barrier on the side of the road in places! As I was curious I got my gps out and we climbed to over 2000m with some stunning views of the hills shrouded in cloud. We eventually decdended to 1100m into San Gil.

Our accommodation for the night was not in San Gil, but actually just outside. It was here it started to rain, and it was pitch black at this point too. We ended up getting lost looking for our campsite, and when asking a local for directions we broke his wind mirror when turning around. He wasn't happy. When we did find our campsite it was a mission getting down the driveway in the truck which was a mud track. We eventually negotiated it despite nearly driving off a cliff as the mud was giving way! When we finally arrived the heavens just opened and we had this dramatic thunderstorm. The lightning was lighting the whole sky yellow!

Where we were staying had the option to either camp, or upgrade to a dorm or even a yurt for an additional fee. Naturally most people wanted to upgrade although I was one of the few people who decided to camp as there wasn't enough upgrades for everyone. We discussed this in a bus converted into a games room on site, before leaving to have a very wet and slippery guided tour of the site. There was running water everywhere. The owner said he'd never seen anything like it in his 10 years here! 

After setting the tents up in the rain, we had dinner which was a very nice chilli con carne made by our driver. I haven't been nominated to cook yet luckily. After dinner we had to somehow get the bags out of the truck, which was difficult with water flowing downhill and all the mud! I kindly volunteered to bring all the bags up for everyone so they didn't get wet. After sorting the bags out we could finally relax, and luckily I brought some wine earlier so I didn't have to go outside and buy beers every 5 minutes. It was a fun evening, and there was even a dart board.

Mompos

I actually slept really well Friday night getting a solid 8 hours sleep considering I was in a hammock. With respect I have had limited consecutive sleep so far in Colombia. Due to a long drive we were asked to ready by 7 so we could eat breakfast early and set off promptly for our walk back to the national park entrance. To be fair everyone was pretty prompt and we had tropical fruits with the toast, scrambled egg, and potato cake again.

I walked off with a few others before everyone else and I have to say I saw more wildlife of the 45 minute walk back to the entrance than the entire time in the national park. I forgot to mention I saw a few monkeys on the ruins trek, but I saw more close on the way back. I also saw a snake which was in the middle of the path, and a camon while crossing a bridge. Once everyone made it the entrance we got in the minibuses to be reunited with Amber ready got our drive to the old colonial town of Mompos.

The drive out was pretty smooth, although it was a pain driving along single carriageways and constantly being stuck behind lorries and having to overtake against regular oncoming traffic. We stopped en route at a petrol station, and then further on we stopped for lunch at the town of Bosconia where I had beef, rice, and salad. After lunch we continued south, although at one point we took a wrong turning and ended up in Santa Ana gridlocked as we couldn't pass the parked cars and had beeping cars all around us trying to pass as we had blocked the road. We got out eventually and got back on track.

Due to Mompos being across a large river, our guides were unsure whether we should catch a barge, or gamble this new bridge was open. We gambled and it paid off, and soon stopped at this village bar for a beer which was very refreshing. The locals loved us. After we soon arrived in Mompos, although we had issues getting to the hotel as the streets were very narrow and full of potholes, as well as the power lines which drooped lower than the truck meaning we couldn't get under. We eventually found a way to the hotel after getting stuck down 3 streets and asking a local for help who directed us by letting us follow his motorbike.

Just a bit of information, the quiet colonial town of Mompós, located in the wetlands along the River Magdelena, is most famous as being the location where the revolutionary Simón Bolívar declared independence from Spain in 1812 and then recruited an army to march on Caracas. Once an important port for transporting goods up the river, the old colonial buildings of Mompós are not only well-preserved but are largely still used today for their original purpose, providing a good example of a living colonial-style city.

Once arriving I managed to get WiFi and catch up, and even got a double bed in my hotel room! We went out for dinner this evening as a local restaurant which was lovely being near old colorful buildings and churches. I had this sausage and chorizo based dish with chips. I even shared a bottle of red which is very unlike me! From here we continued onto another couple of bars, before deciding to head back to the hotel as I promised a couple of the girls they could pluck my eyebrows which was very interesting at gone 2 in the morning!

After a pretty late night, I woke up like half 9 and had fruits with scrambled eggs and brioche for breakfast. There was the option to go for a walk round the town with our guide from 10 but I decided not to and instead went with a few of the others on our own where we walked along the river and saw the churches. As it was Sunday a lot of places were closed though. After exploring a little we just saw by the river and had a drink which was this lovely homemade lemonade, before going somewhere else with a couple of others for a few beers by the river.

At half 2 we had a wildlife river cruise with our entire group. What this in fact meant was a booze cruise, although we did see a hawk! It was lots of fun going about an hour downstream before turning round and heading back. There was lots of dancing and laughs on board, and I even won the dance off to get myself a free beer. When we arrived back I relaxed at the hotel for a bit.

One thing we did forget today was lunch after drinking by the river instead, so we were very hungry so by like half 5 I headed off with dinner with a few others where I had this lovely pizza with all sorts on it. You know it must be good when no one on my table could translate the toppings even though some of them can speak alright Spanish. After eating everyone headed back to the hotel, although I headed across the road to meet a few other people and have a drink while they were eating. There were these annoying stray dogs who wouldn't leave us alone though! They even followed us back to the hotel. We arrived back at a reasonable time, although I sat with a few others taking in the atmosphere of the town which was very lively with locals before heading to bed.

Tayrona National Park

We were given a strict start time of 8.15am Thursday morning for our sizable drive to Tayrona National Park. It was nice to have a lovely breakfast of scrambled eggs once again which was one of 5 options prior to leaving. After packing a day/night bag for our visit to the national park, we loaded all our luggage onto our bus which is a brand new truck called amber. It holds 24 people and there are 22 of us right now. If does seem that I have a lot less luggage than some people though which I'm not sure is good or bad!

First stop of the day was a visit to the mud volcano about an hour outside Cartagena. Local myth says it used to spew hot lava before some priest poured holy water over it to make it become mud. It is not in fact a real volcano but just a natural mud pool. It was here we had the option to go inside the mud, which I agreed to, climbing up these stairs before entering this liquid mud and getting a vigiurious massage inside!  God knows how deep it was but you couldn't touch the bottom and it was very difficult to put your feet down!

After the mud volcano we jumped in the lake where we were literally washed down by these woman from head to toe, although they kept asking me to get  naked if my Spanish is correct! After cleaning myself up we continued driving,  although there was very heavy traffic through Barranquilla which delayed us a bit due to roadworks. After negotiating the city we stopped off at this local roadside restaurant where I had chicken and rice, before continuing on past fantastic coastal scenery and deprived villages where the locals were very excited to see us pass.

We finally arrived at the national park at dusk which was a lot later than planned. We had issues entering with our truck which meant we needed a transfer by the park inside, before embarking on a good 45 minute trekthrough what can only be said as ridiculous humid weather through the jungle in pitch black to our campsite on the beach. It is here we're staying in hammocks which is a very interesting set up! That evening we had a meal where I had the pork and yukka accompanied by a lot of beer (to the point we emptied the fridge twice).

The sleep in the hammock was very interesting and muggy, where I was up at the crack of dawn due to the sunlight, although I stayed in the hammocks relaxing while other people were doing all sorts. For breakfast this morning I decided to have the tropical fruits with scrambled eggs, toast and potato cakes which was very nice but took ages to come!  Today was essentially a free day to explore the national park, although our group leader gave us the option to go with him to ruins of El Puibito, which I decided to do.

Just to give some information about the place, Tayrona National Park is a wonderful protected area on the northern coast of Colombia, which contains a huge diversity of animal and plant species including 2,000 species of animals and 800 types of plants. This is in part due to the variation in geology of the area - at sea level the climate is arid and the rugged coastline has some excellent beaches and coves, but the terrain quickly rises as you travel inland, where we find a sub-tropical climate and cloud forests on the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

To get to the ruins we walked about 45 minutes through coastal jungle, to another beach which was spectacular. From here there was a signposted track up to the ruins which were at 260m above sea level. Walking along sandy paths with ferns and palm trees, we soon began to climb on some very challenging terrain which involved a lot of scrambling. The path was essentially boulders which at times we had to crawl through and teamwork was vital in places to climb up them. About half way up I tanked on ahead with someone else as some of the others were struggling. The issue was the path wasn't just physically demanding, but the humidity levels were stupid. I've never before literally been dripping all over with my clothes wet right through. I needed a lot of water.

When reaching the top we waited for the others, and after about half hour they arrived minus 5 people who had turned back due to the challenging nature of the hike. It was ironic that the only people who made were the two oldest people in the group, me, and the two tour guides. The ruins weren't anything special, with just old walls and steps, and some replicas of the huts. There was a small hut up here selling fruit juice though which was very refreshing. We went back down a different way back to the beach, although the path we took continued to climb for a while before finally decending. The terrain was very different here being loose soil which needed to be treated very carefully.

We eventually made it to the bottom, where we met a few of the others at the beach we started from to have lunch. I had the fried chicken with rice and chips. From here a few people went off to do there own thing, although I stayed with a couple of others to swim in the warm waters of the carribbean. The  beach was beautiful being situated in this bay surrounded by big rocks and palm trees. We stayed here for a while before continuing onto another beach further down where we met a few others. This beach was a lot busier although it was still just as beautiful. We had to leave after though as there were way too many sandflys. 

We ended up getting back about 5, and while everyone else jumped in the shower, I went down to another beach to watch the sunset. It was alright although it was cloudy so it wasn't as good as it could have been. After relaxing in my hammock for a bit I joined the others for dinner where I had beef medallions. It was a complete surprise because I let someone else order for me! Come 9 however everyone had gone to bed due to an early start tomorrow, although I stayed out a bit longer. I then finally went to the hammock about half 9 and relaxed due an early start tomorrow morning.

Start of my Dragoman tour

Tuesday was the day I finally got to meet my tour group, although with a 6 pm meeting time I had a whole day to myself round Cartagena once again. Breakfast was once again fruits and scrambled eggs, and after packing my bags I made the short walk to the hotel which is being used by my dragoman group. After checking in I went out and further explored the old town where I looked round the many markets and shops. All in all I had a very relaxing day Tuesday, even taking time to sit on the beach which was packed full of people.

Come 6pm I got to meet my group, meeting on the rooftop balcony of the hotel as the sun was setting. We all introduced each other to group and said a little fact about ourselves, before our guides (who are from NZ and Scotland) went through all the niggle little things like kitty payments, insurance, and everything else health and safety. We did get to listen to this while drinking endless cups of rum and coke though! My group is a good mix of males and females ranging from people as young as 18 right up to 64! There are people from the UK, NZ, Australia, South Africa, Austria, Switzerland, and Japan, including the person who founded dragoman in 1981, and who met his wife on a 1984 trip, who is also on the trip. Ipswich and Burnley are among the football teams supported, although only 7 people are going all the way to Rio so I will lose and gain people throughout.

After getting to know everyone a bit we went out to this restaurant for dinner where I had this massive lump of sirloin steak which was amazing. It was nice to further chat to people even if I couldn't speak to everyone as there are 22 people in the group, but I'm sure I will. After the meal some of us sat in this square where we had a few beers which was very chilled, although the police were very strict about where we could drink. Most people eventually went to bed but I continued with a couple of others to some salsa bar which was a right laugh. I don't even know what time we got back.

After limited sleep I was woken up at 7am for breakfast by the Japanese man I was sharing a room with (he speaks little English but is really funny). I was glad though as I could have sleep right through and missed breakfast, and also our guided tour of Cartagena which was at 8. The guided tour was very interesting learning about the various street art and Spanish history. There was a lot to take in as the tour lasted over 2 hours, finishing at some square where we were given the option to do what we wanted.

Everyone went in different directions, but I went with someone from Australia who lives in the outback. We ended up going to the gold museum and the Spanish museum of inquisition. They were both very interesting as they gave a real insight into Cartagena and South America before Europeans invaded, and what happened after. We ended up getting street food after, although she said that in the outback she eats things like snake meat so I was probably the only one being adventurous!

Our group leader gave us the option of meeting back at the hotel at 2 for a trip to the Castillo San Felipe de Barajas which is a massive fort built by the Spaniards to prevent attacks from people like the British. In the end 7 of us turned up and we got another guided tour which lasted about 2 hours and was very interesting. The fort is strategically placed to prevent attacks from both land and sea. We even got to explore some of the tunnels, one of which defended 120m underground used back then as an escape route. It was very slippery going down though.

After the tour we headed back to the hotel, although I headed to the shops and bought some flip flops as we are staying by the beach for the next two nights. It's annoying because I won't know the Inter Saints score until Saturday though. There wasn't an organised meal tonight, although a few of us went out for a meal at some lovely restaurant, where I had a beef crepe with all sorts inside it, and a strawberry waffle after. Afterwards most people headed to bed although I sat outside with a couple of people before heading to bed to ourselves as we have an early start in the morning. I will be off the radar for the next couple of days.

Cartagena

With my flight to Cartagena being at 7.55am, I had an early start on the Sunday, setting my alarm for 3am! I was up and on the metro by half 3. The night before the journey planner told me to change at 4th avenue, but on arrival the line was shut. When I asked someone what to do they sent me back to 34th street, where I was then directed to catch an A line train which was running on the F line. It was all very confusing. From what I can make out there were engineering works on the express line to the airport, which meant I had to get there on the slow line. I got to the airport in the end, but a lot later than intended.

After finally negotiating the metro I arrived at the airport and checked in without any problems, although they didn't understand my pronunciation of Cartagena at first. I even eased through security and managed to get to my gate with time to spare. I flew with Avianca to Cartagena which I think is a Colombian airline. Due to this all the flight announcements were in Spanish so I didn't really know what was going on. I was probably the only English person on the flight.

The flight ran pretty smoothly although there were a few bad patches of turbulence. The food was good too, serving some omelette thing with potatoes to start with, and bacon sandwiches later in the flight. Luckily with the in flight entertainment there was the option to use it in English and I played the games and watched Skyfall. The landing into Cartagena was interesting as we flew past the city and then did this massive u turn before landing really smoothly. I was able to see the skyline and surrounding areas upon arrival as I was lucky enough to have a window seat!

After landing I obtained my Colombian visa easily and decided from the airport I would walk to my hotel which was about an hour walk. I stayed in the airport for a little while though for the wifi and the air con! The walk to the hotel was interesting as I basically walked through the slums which I probably shouldn't have done. It was very muggy too and raining every so often. I found the hotel without any problems and was surprised to find I had a double room en suite! 

Cartagena itself is one of the most historic cities in South America, and is also famed for its beauty. The area was inhabited by various native civilisations for thousands of years before the city was founded in 1533 by Spanish conquistador Pedro de Heredia, who named the city after Cartagena in Spain, where most of Heredia's sailors were from. Having suffered a tumultuous past full of battles, raids, invasions, destructions and reconstructions, the city became heavily fortified and huge defensive walls now surround its narrow cobbled streets and colonial buildings. The city is made up of various districts. The new town with its high rise hotels, apartments and nightspots, and the older colonial parts of the city. The old city is the main attraction for visitors, particularly the inner walled town which is packed with churches, monasteries, plazas and mansions.

I spent the afternoon relaxing at my hotel, before heading out to dinner Sunday evening where I just got a subway, and then a few beers for the hotel. I ended up having an early night in the end with my early start catching up with me! Due to this I was up about 5am this morning, although sunrise was about then too! I had breakfast included at my hotel which was fresh fruit, and scrambled egg with this bread and cheese thing. It was very nice.

When leaving the hotel I decided the best way to explore the city was to follow the city sightseeing bus route. I went to new town first with its high rise buildings and followed the extensive coastline round back to where I started. The new town is basically on a spit. It was however very muggy so I was glad on my way round to find a big shopping centre, and later a supermarket which had a good air con. The beaches in the new town were also very packed, although I think mainly South Americans come to holiday here as there weren't many other nationalities at all.

 After visiting the new town, I went into the old town, following the big wall which surrounds it. I went for lunch here, going to a restaurant where I ordered the pork. I didn't really understand what I was ordering though as the menu was in Spanish, and the waitress didn't have good enough English to translate. What I did find here was a geocache. It said I had to order an "El Tesoro de Blas de Lezo" when I looked before coming out, and when I asked out came a big treasure chest to my table!

After my meal I continued exploring the old city, following the wall and going to the many cobbled streets full of colourful housing. I even visited the nearby castle and it was nice to see the many market stalls and street entertainment. Despite what people say the locals are actually really friendly, even if they can barely speak English and half of them are trying to sell you drugs. Apparently I get a proper guided tour of the old town on Wednesday where I will learn about all the Spanish history.

After a busy day I relaxed at the hotel, before heading out to the seafront along the city walls to watch the sunset which was very nice. Instead of going out for a meal tonight, I went to the supermarket and picked up some random food and a few beers and sat on the rooftop balcony of my hotel underneath the fan. Tomorrow I get to meet my group who I will doing my tour with, so I'm looking forward to that. It's still absolutely boiling here,  but other than that having an amazing time.

New York

Arriving in New York late on Wednesday, I woke up Thursday fully recharged and was up and ready to explore the city by half 8. With no idea what to do I decided to go about the day on foot, despite it being about a 7 mile walk from the hostel to the other end of Manhattan. I felt doing it this way allowed to take in more sights I would not otherwise think to see. All I knew was if I head south I would see most of the main sights en route.

With my hostel just a couple of blocks from central park, I decided to explore here first. The park itself was a lot bigger than I expected and if it wasn't for the occasional view of towering skyscrapers surrounding it on each side you could easily get lost! Passing lakes and going down woodland tracks, you would have never guessed you were in the city! When reaching the end of the park it was a short walk to times square which was very impressive, and also very busy.

From here I hopped across a couple of blocks where I got close up glimpses of the empire state and chrysler buildings. From the bottom they just looked like normal buildings. Another interesting building I passed was the flatiron building, a skinny triangle structure famous for its shape. Continuing south passing through the occasional park, I ended up at the world trade centre. It was very interesting visiting the 9/11 memorial and seeing the new towering skyscrapers both finished, being built right now, and planned for the future.

I eventually ended up at the southern tip of Manhattan and battery point where I got my first glimpse of the statue of liberty. It was here I hopped onto the Staten Island ferry which was recommended on my flight as one of the best free things to do in New York. Connecting Manhattan and Staten Island and lasting 25 minutes each way, many people use this service to get views of the statue, Brooklyn bridge, and New York skyline, which is what I did. The views were worth it, although it started drizzling at this point which was annoying. 

When back on shore in Manhattan I continued exploring by heading back north, this time to the famous Wall Street. I did however encounter a protest down here! From here I headed to the Brooklyn bridge, and then back inland through Chinatown and Little Italy famous for where migrants moved to in the past. By this point I was quite hungry and found this pretty cool salad bar buffet place, which was takeaway. I went there and sat in Union Square which was very lively with entertainers to name a few.

At this point it was getting dark, so I headed back to Times Square which was even more impressive at night with all its signs, people in fancy dress, and the ridiculous amount of tourists, not helped by the roadworks in the middle! I stayed here for a while to take in the atmosphere before heading back through central park to my hostel. It was well lit through here, although there were loads of rats running around. There were some good views looking back though of the skyscrapers all lit up though!

On Friday I went out about 10ish. On reflection I was out yesterday for over 12 hours and where I went was geographically a 14 mile round trip, although I definitely walked further because I zigzagged a lot. Instead of walking today I caught the metro down to battery point where I went yesterday to catch a boat to liberty island to see the statue. Luckily today was a sunny day, although getting to the island involved a high security process.

Once aboard the boat the views of both the statue and the city skyline were amazing. When landing it was cool to see such an iconic landmark with my own eyes. I may have got lots of selfies here. The island itself was only small and offered brilliant views of the harbour. From Liberty Island I caught the boat to Ellis Island which is where immigrants went in early 1900s before being let into the US. This island was essentially a museum and was very interesting.

When leaving Ellis Island I caught the boat back to battery point where I decided to walk back to the hostel once again, stopping off at union square for  something to eat. The street entertainment here was amusing, similar to Leicester Square. Once again from here I headed to Times Square, although this time going via the Empire State Building to see it at night. When arriving at Times Square I spent a while there once again to take in the street entertainers and iconic billboards before heading back to the hostel.

To be honest you could easily spend a week in New York, and I was spoilt for choice of things to do today (Saturday), but in the end I decided to explore central park through geocaching. To put it into context it took me 5 hours to do a lap of the park whilst geocaching to give you an idea how vast it is. You honestly would never think this green space was in the middle of the city at times! It was a really enjoyable day.

I arrived back at the hostel at a reasonable time today to Skype a few people, and even cook my own dinner. It's a shame it's my last day in New York although onto South America and Cartagena tomorrow! My flight is at 7.55am though which means I am going to have to leave quite early taking into account it's over an hour on the metro to get to the airport. Good night and I'll see you in Colombia :)

Start of my travels

So today was the day when I finally began my travels. I'm not going to deny I was extremely excited the last few weeks, although I have been a little nervous too. It has been really difficult working out exactly what I need to and what I don't need to take, but I think I got there in the end! I just tried to remember that if I do forget something I can always buy it while I'm away.

For obvious reasons I didn't sleep much last night, but it was nice to be able to an afternoon flight which meant I could have some kind of lie in. With my flight being at 16.55, arriving at 20.05 (1.05 British time) I'm hoping that I won't get jet lagged, but we will see when I try to sleep.It was typical though that when I woke up my dog was at my door waiting and jumped straight on my bed. I think he's going to miss me.

I ended up leaving about 1pm in the end, and it was nice because as well as my Mum and a few of my friends took the day off to come to the airport with me. After arriving at the airport it was a sizable wait to check in, and from there we went to wetherspoons for a last drink before I had to leave. It was slightly emotional saying goodbye to my friends and family although they all know this is what makes me happy. I probably should have allowed more time to get through security though because my bag was checked on the way through and my plane was boarding by the time I got through (although there was no rush).

Whilst in duty free I purchased a travel adapter which I needed, although god knows if it will work because apparently South America has various different plug types. I then took the long walk to my gate and made one final phone call before turning it on flight mode. I'm going to miss having a phone although I've got a tablet which my friends from Tesco kindly bought for me. Boarding was pretty straight forward, although my seat was right at the back of the plane! Take off was pretty quick too for a change.

One of the advantages of sitting at the back however meant I got my meal first which was chicken in tomato sauce with veg and potatoes, cous cous salad, and chocolate cake. It sounds better than it was! The in flight entertainment kept me amused too with an array of games and films, and a very detailed flight tracker to name a few. I even managed to watch finding dory at last. There was also a guide of things to do in New York which was very useful because I haven't actually done much detailed research, I just know what the main sights to see are.

Before landing they gave me some sandwiches and a cookie, before landing earlier than expected in New York. It did however take over half hour to park up which meant I did technically just arrive on time. Getting through security was surprisingly easy as I basically just walked out. When I went through security at LA a couple of years ago they were very tough, but not here.

Before I had any chance to get WiFi I was asked to leave the airport, where I caught the train to connect with the metro. It was really confusing in terms of payment though because their tickets worked similar to an oyster card and I had no idea how much to put on. I was advised to put on a couple of dollars, and I had no problems, despite having to change trains twice. It was very similar to the London underground.

When finally arriving at the nearest metro station to my hostel, which was like an hour journey, I checked in. My hostel is basically a couple of streets across from the north west ish corner of central park. Luckily opposite the hostel there were lots of food places so I decided to get a pizza because I was hungry after the small portions of food on the plane. I'm now relaxing in the hostel, pretty tired as it's like midnight (5am according my body clock). As I said before I will not be updating this blog daily but I will update it as much as possible. Zzzzzzz.

European Tour

Only 6 days until I leave for South America now, where I will be going to New York for 4 nights and then onto Colombia to start my tour with Dragoman around South America. Not really ready to go in terms of packing or anything but it normally all works out in the end! It's really difficult to know what to pack because my itinerary says be prepared for all four seasons in a day! Aside from that having left Tesco over a month ago now I've had a lot of free time, and it's been nice to just chill out and relax, and catch up with my friends. What I did do a couple of weeks ago though was a trip around Europe which I will talk about now.

With flights around Europe being so cheap these days I decided to a mini tour to a few European cities. I started off by flying to the city of Aalborg in Denmark, staying in the middle of nowhere between the towns of Hjallerup and Dronninglund. I spent 4 nights here, and managed to get in a days geocaching while exploring Dronninglund and it's surrounding countryside which was very interesting. There were lots of sculptures and the area is particularly famous for its church. At the weekend I went into Aalborg and met a couple of friends I met travelling last time, and they showed me round the city. Aalborg isn't a massive city and has by no means got many tourists, but it was still a very nice city. They even took me to Jomfru Ane Garde which is a street with over 30 bars down it!

I left Aalborg on the Monday and took the short flight to Copenhagen which literally took about 30 minutes (saving a long train journey). I stayed in Copenhagen for 5 nights. Some of the highlights in the city included Nyhavn which is a famous street of colourful buildings, the little mermaid which is the famous statue in the water, the green light district which was a very interesting place, and the Copenhagen street food complex which was a lively area serving food and drinks from all over the world. Despite being a slightly expensive city, I managed to go out and watch the football most nights (including a brilliant 3-0 for Southampton in Europa). Whilst in Copenhagen I even managed to get a day trip to Malmo in Sweden which is connected to Copenhagen by bridge and tunnel through the sea. Another highlight was a trip to Tivoli Gardens which was literally right next to hostel, and is the second oldest amusement park in the world. Copenhagen is definitely somewhere I would recommend visiting! One thing you do find with Denmark though is there is a lot of homeless people going through the bins, and I found out eventually that were collecting bottles because they paid to recycle them (because when you buy a bottle in a shop you have to pay a deposit on it).

After a busy time in Copenhagen, I then took a flight to Rome where I stayed a further 5 nights. My accommodation was literally a 10 minute walk from the Colosseum which was ideal and all the main sights were in walking distance for me. I did find away from the tourist areas Rome was a little dodgy in terms of the homeless people, and vast amounts of graffiti everywhere, not to mention the traffic light system whereby cars didn't seem to acknowledge red and green! Despite this is took me 3 days just to explore the city! I spent a day exploring the main sights including the Colosseum, Trevi Fountain, and Pantheon to name a few of the interesting things to see. I then spent a day actually inside the Colosseum and the Roman forum next door which literally took ages to explore due to its size! I then also spent a day exploring the Vatican which was very interesting, and even took a walk up the dome which took ages to get up the narrow staircases! As with Denmark I managed to watch the Southampton games without any problems (even if the Swansea game was on a small screen in the corner while the rest of the pub were watching some Irish sport thing). At least we won! The food here was also amazing, especially the pizza!

After a busy time in Rome, I spent my last day on the beaches of Ostia and Fiumicino just outside the city to relax (being near the aiport), before catching an evening flight back to the UK. It was nice to spend a couple of weeks exploring some new cities, but it was nice to come home to my own bed! I even somehow managed to visit 4 countries while I was away if you count Sweden and Vatican City. I'll try and keep my blog updated while I am away, although I am still unsure how easy WiFi will be to obtain.

6 days to go, Harry.

Tour of South America

As I said in my previous post I will be going to South America in October, where I will be doing a tour with a company called Dragoman from Cartagena to Rio. Lasting 135 days, the tour takes in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, and Brazil, finishing at the carnival in Rio in March. I will be travelling by a form of travel could overlanding which basically means I will travelling on a 4 wheel drive type minibus which can help me visit all the must see attractions in South America, as well as some hidden gems well away from the tourist trail. My tour will incorporate both camping, hostels, and hotels throughout. Below is a map of the vague route I will be taking.

The tour is effectively split into segments, with the cities in capital letters being the rest points where some people may finish the tour, and may other may start the tour. I join the tour in Cartagena and finish in Rio. A lot of people travel round South America with public transport, but I decided to see the continent this way due to the fact I cannot speak Spanish, and the fact it is easier to meet people and plan things this way.

It is incredibly difficult to summarise what the tour will entail, but I try my best to give a picture of what I will see throughout my time in South America by condensing what it says on the website . Starting in Cartagena on the Caribbean coast, I will explore parts of Colombia including the Tayrona National Park, the adventure capital of San Gil, and the stunning historic town of Villa de Leyva. From here I will cross into Ecuador, and it's buzzing capital of Quito. From Quito I will explore stunning jungles, hills, and towns in Ecuador, heading down the coast and the idyllic beaches of Punta Sal in Northern Peru.

From here I will head south through the Peruvian deserts to the ruined Moche city of Chan Chan, to then climb up to the spectacular Andean town of Huaraz, which will eventually lead to capital Lima. From Lima I will continue down the the coast to the magical dunes of Huacachina, and then overland to the mysterious Nazca Lines. From here I will climb up into the highlands and visit the colonial city of Arequipa and the breathtaking Colca Canyon, before staying at a local Quechua village stay en route to the city of Cuzco. From here I will trek the Inca Trail to the legendary ruined city of Machu Picchu.

After Cuzco I will head south to the serene shores of Lake Titicaca and its sacred Inca island of Isla del Sol, before moving into Bolivia and the city of La Paz. From here I will have a community stay in Livichuco and visit the famous mining town of Potosi, before arriving in phenomenal salt flats of Salar de Uyuni. I will then overland across the Bolivian Altiplano and onto the incredible Atacama Deserts of Chile, where I will then cross the Andes into the beautiful arid regions of Argentina and the wonderful town of Salta.

I then make my way south through the wine regions and highlands of northwest Argentina before arriving at a unique estancia stay for two days of horse riding on a country ranch. It is then onto Mendoza, which sits in the shadow of the Andes highest mountains, before crossing Andes once again to arrive back in Chile and Santiago. From Santiago I will continue south into the Lake Districts passing beautiful scenery as I pass through places like Pucan and Barlioche.

I will then enter the fabled land of Patagonia, famous for its desolate scenery, its huge glaciers near El Calafate, the phenomenal mountain scenery of El Chaltan, and the Torres del Paine National Park. Here I will have the chance to do lots of trekking! This will eventually lead me to the worlds southernmost town, Ushuaia, before heading back up the Atlantic coast to the city of Buenos Aires. I will finish the tour by heading up to Rio in time for carnival, passing places such as Pantanal and the might Iguazu Falls en route!

Basically the tour I am doing seems really exciting, and will involve plenty of hiking and amazing scenery which suits me massively. I literally cannot wait,
42 days to go, Harry =)

THE RETURN OF MY BLOG

As many of you know my blog came to a sudden end when I last went travelling. It's hard to explain why, but when you come back from doing something as life changing as travelling to suddenly being back into reality it can be quite overwhelming. Everyone was asking me lots of questions and wanted to see me, and then within a couple of weeks my life was completely back to normal. In fact I was back working at Tesco within 2 days of returning to UK! I made so many amazing friends and memories and then it's like 'meh' you're back to reality.

I only actually missed out blogging about my last 2 days of travelling last time (which is now over 27 months ago), but to put it simply on my last full day in LA I went and visited Beverly Hills and Downtown LA. Beverly Hills was very posh, with expensive cars and designer shops everywhere. Window shopping down Rodeo Drive was very interesting. LA was a very big city and after leaving Beverly Hills I went Downtown on the bus (which was a nightmare system), and looked round the many markets and museums. LA is basically split into little districts and this included areas like Little Tokyo, Chinatown, and a Mexican area, as well as the impressive financial district full of all the high rise buildings! I definitely made the most of my time in LA.

As you may remember in LA I stayed at Venice Beach so it was nice spending my last evening relaxing on the beach before my long flight the next day, which was typically delayed. When I finally arrived back in the UK I was greeted by friends and family both at the airport, and back home where we went out for dinner and told everyone all about my trip. I was finally back into reality.

For these last two years to put it simply I have been working at Tesco, saving up money, but not really living the dream. I have developed a strong group of friends who I have done many amazing things with and have done various trips including weeks in Prague, Amsterdam, and Budapest, as well exploring a lot more of the UK through things like hiking and supporting my beloved Southampton FC.

But back in March I made a massive life decision and decided I would quit my job for the second time and go travelling again, this time to South America. To put it simply on October 12th I will be flying out to New York where I will be spending 4 nights, and will then move onto South America where I will be doing a tour with a company called Dragoman from Cartagena to Rio. This will take in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, and Brazil, finishing at the carnival in Rio in March. I have always wanted to visit South America, but I have been put off by the fact I can't speak Spanish, and the fact it is stereo typically dangerous. I'll talk more about the tour in a later blog post.

It doesn't finish here though, for after South America I have made another massive life decision and have booked a flight from Rio to Auckland, where I have applied for the New Zealand working visa. I intend to move here and work for 12 months, which could possibly be extended to 23 months. I visited here last time I went travelling and thought the country was stunning and it's tag as the adventure capital of the world attracted me highly! If I enjoy it out here my options open up massively, with the Australian working visa a possibility. I will be flying here without a job and seeing where my life takes me.

This sums up my last 2 years and I will post in here on the run up to October 12th,
Harry.

May 11th... Hollywood

Still feeling a little jet-lagged, as my sleeping pattern was mucked up, I didn't end up waking up until gone 9 this morning! The problem is my body clock thinks it is earlier than it actually is the nights before which made me have a late night. As a result of this I ended up missing breakfast this morning! The plan for today was to go to Hollywood which I was told takes 40 minutes by car, but 2 hours by public transport. Laughing this off, I headed out to catch a bus after a quick shower and bite to eat in the nearby cafe.

I had saved the bus timetables to my phone the night before and to get to Hollywood I had to go via Downtown LA to catch a connecting bus by my calculations. My problem with the bus system was the fact that they had no official times and just a map showing all the bus connections. With LA very much in a grid formation in terms of roads buses connected at what they call the intersections. To save any confusion I thought I would just go to the main city and get a bus from there as I assumed they would be frequent from here. In the end it took me around an hour to get into Downtown LA, although it was a nice journey from the beach where I was staying, even getting views of the Hollywood sign on the way in!

When arriving into the city I took a short walk to this market I found by chance when arriving, getting myself some tacos which were pretty reasonably priced. I didn't stay here long however as time was getting on, managing to walk straight onto my next bus to take me just outside Hollywood. This was another hour long bus journey, ending up as the only person left on the bus by the end! When finally arriving at what was known as West Hollywood, I used my very vague map of the city to navigate my way to the Hollywood Boulevard. I did stop off in McDonalds en route however as the temperature was unbearable to walk after a while. My problem in McDonalds like with many other American places was the fact they didn't understand me. I asked for a coke, and what I should have asked for was a soda which seemed to really confuse them.

After spending a while inside cooling down the air con, drinking out of this monster cup, I headed back out and eventually managed to get off the Sunset Strip and onto the main Hollywood Boulevard. It wasn't how I envisaged to start with although I did eventually come to a point where there were stars on the pavement which signified the start of the Hollywood walk of fame. Before long these stars which included an array of famous people, along with some people I had never heard of, took me into this glitzy area comparable to parts of London. With so many things to see here including theatres, museums and tour guides in every direction, I took a slow walk further along, passing lots of people dressed up as famous film characters who made a living by charging people to take pictures with them.

I was tempted to partake in a tour whilst I was here although the tour guides were charging a fortune, so I instead looked at all the attractions as I walked down further along the walk of fame. There was a Madame Tussauds, Ripleys museum, Guinness World Records museum and this massive McDonalds amongst the things to see here. As I got further down the walk the fame, the crowds got less and less busier and the celebrities in the stars got less and less well known for me, until I eventually reached the other end which was more like a residential area. When reaching the end I finally got a decent look at the Hollywood sign which actually a very long way away.

I was tempted to go and try and get close to the sign although many people get arrested for doing this. I had previously heard it is very difficult to see the sign up close so instead of being stupid I headed back into down the main boulevard into Hollywood and checked out the shopping centre which had its own viewpoint to see the sign. Looking round the shopping centre spread over six floors and round this circular area with a fountain, I found this balcony which did in fact give brilliant views of the sign, even if it was miles away! I spent a fair while here in the end, looking round the shops before eventually wandering back and forth along the boulevard to see all the aforementioned attractions in more detail, one the highlights being the Chinese theatre which seemed to be where most the characters in dress were based.

Eventually it came the time I thought I should be heading back as it came up to nearly 5 and I was a two hour bus journey from my hostel! I did previously want to go and check out Beverly Hills whilst I was here although surprisingly no buses took you there from Hollywood, instead just these expensive tour companies. I will probably save that for tomorrow as I have nothing planned. I eventually managed to get another bus back to the city which again gave views of the sign and also the Griffith Observatory which was an alternative place to view the sign.

By around 7 I arrived back into the city, although instead of hanging around I just headed straight for my bus, walking down LAs attempt of Broadway and down past the convention centre to my bus stop. I didn't arrive back to my hostel at Venice Beach until around 8 in the end, although instead of cooking I just went to the nearby subway for dinner. Americans seem to have takeaways everywhere which makes it difficult to eat elsewhere as the nearest supermarket to my hostel is half an hour away! When returning to my hostel I was pretty shattered, although I just lay on my bed relaxing for the evening planning what to do for my final day in LA tomorrow.

May 10th... Santa Monica and Venice Beach

Waking up at half 8, a reasonable time considering I barely knew what time of day it was, I went straight downstairs for breakfast which an inclusive perk of staying at my hostel. With just toast and jams it was nothing special although it set me up nicely for the day ahead. With nothing much planned for the day I spent the morning on Skype just catching up with people, also taking this time on Facebook planning things ready for my return which was fast approaching! The plan for the day in the end was to explore Venice Beach which was the area I am staying in, as well as walking along to Santa Monica which is the next beach across.

It wasn't until around 11 until left the hostel, something very unlike me to leave so late when I was in a completely different area, let alone a completely different country. Where I was staying was the flagship area of Venice Beach, having a sign and an open area in the seafront with a few shops and market stools. I decided to head along the beach to Santa Monica to start with, browsing round the shops which were very hipster to say the least. You could tell that I was staying in a tourist based area with all the gift shops, although one of the major problems in the area was homelessness and this was evident with the high amounts of people who made their small living through things like street entertainments and other quirky little things. It was good to watch although they expected money every time which was not so good for me!

Continuing along the main promenade, more commonly known as the Venice boardwalk, I passed more the hipster like shops which made up a large portion of the seafront. They are probably not hippie related, they were just coloured in rainbow colours a little bit like the buildings in Nimbin! Before long the shops ended and I came to a path which just followed the massive beach. I have seen many sandy beaches whilst travelling, but never anything this big with the sea being what felt like miles out! Prior to reaching the main Santa Monica area I reached an area called Muscle Beach which is apparently a famous bodybuilding area. With people doing what looked like trampoline skills on a tightrope and swinging on these rings amongst other things, I just stood there in amazement! It was pretty impressive to watch.

It wasn't far from here before I reached the pier which reminded me a lot of Brighton with the fairground rides on it, and also the old style buildings on the promenade. It was a shame the rides were expensive just like Brighton Pier! One of the first features I saw on the really wide pier was the official end of route 66, something I may end up doing one day. You never know. The pier itself was full of lots of food stalls and gift shops, although there was some event going on to do yoga where loads of people had brought their mats and were being trained by some woman on stage. I spent a fair while on the pier in the end, taking in the fairground rides and the views along the coast towards the Santa Monica mountains one way and back to Venice Beach the other.

Once leaving the pier I got myself a couple of geocache finds in the surrounding area to ensure I left USA with at least a couple of finds. There was one however which took me back to muscle beach which suggested you had to shout "the geocache flies at midnight" and the cache would come, but nothing happened. From here I headed inland along the main road to get to Abbot Kinney Road, home of many shops in the area. I missed out on the main stream shops in Santa Monica to come here as this area had more local based shops which were very interesting to do some window shopping in. It was a little expensive though!

The next stop of the day was the Venice Canals which I guess it the reason why this area of LA got its name with its similarities to Venice. It was a very quiet and picturesque area with lots of little bridges going over the canals arranged in about a 4x4 grid system with houses dotted on every edge. There was still pavements though and instead on gondolas there were kayaks using this interesting system of canals. By the time I had navigated my way round the complex system I eventually emerged back at Venice Beach, this time by the pier which I walked along. Unlike Santa Monica Pier, this pier lacked fairground rides and amusements and was simply a place you could walk along, popular with fishers. There were cracking views on here again, even managing to see a continuous run of planes take off at the nearby airport.

By the time I finished looking on the pier I got back to the beach, where I just took my sandals off and walked along the warm sands back to the main Venice Beach area. En route I came across this body building competition which was pretty interesting to watch seeing how strong everyone was! From here I continued back along the Venice boardwalk which took me along the colourful shops the opposite direction of the area I had come this morning, arriving back where I started at around 4ish. From here I decided to get myself some pizza, which was sold by the slice as they commonly eat 22" pizzas in America! I just got a slice to tie me over.

By the time I got back to the hostel it was about 5ish and for some reason the jetlag hit in when I laid on my bed which resulted in me going for a nap, waking up again at about 8! Instead of staying in bed I went back out, this time going to the local supermarket which was about a half hour walk to get some dinner, getting a few little bits and bobs to tie me over. When returning to the hostel the nap I ended up having seemed to make more awake which meant my evening was spent on my phone. With another two days to spend in LA, I made sure I planned my upcoming days as LA has a bus system. I know I am doing Hollywood but other than that I am unsure what to do.

May 9th... From Mantaray Island to Los Angeles

It was funny waking up this morning to think that technically speaking I would in LA in time for lunch considering I was on some remote island in the Yasawa group of islands in Fiji. The reality was I was just going to live perhaps my longest ever day due to time zones! With another island buffet breakfast to set myself up for the day I soon returned to pack my bags for one of the last times. I know my bag so well now! After packing my bags and having a shower and everything else I do in the morning, I had much of the morning to kill as my boat back to the Fijian mainland did not leave until about 2.

One of the things I haven't done on the island yet is kayaking which was surprising considering it was a free activity. I opted against this in the end in favour of another bracelet making session, this time in the art of weaving together these long leaves. I was pretty bad at the whole concept though as it was so fiddly and required a fair bit of patience. Basically using one of the long leaf things we had to split it long ways into 4 sections. From here we did the same thing to another leaf but just half way down, and then from here weaved the sections together until a bracelet was formed. The whole concept is hard to explain!

After finishing this time consuming activity, giving my bracelet away again because I would never walk through US customs with a foreign plant round my wrist, we said goodbye to the two Americans I had been with since the start of Fiji. They were heading northbound onto island, which meant they left at 11 instead. This therefore left just me and my Danish friend, although we met a German couple last night too and as we were all heading south bound we ended up having a game of rummy 500 together. I am getting pretty good at the game now!

Come lunchtime I went for my last island lunch off the big menu, going for the burger and chips today which was pretty nice. After lunch we played some more cards and with everyone on like 450+ points going into the last game I mucked up and finished on less than 400! I swear they didn't shuffle the pack properly. I did have to check out prior to this although my island bill kind of did not sweeten the blow of losing. From here is was basically a waiting game for the ferry to arrive. I had been worrying prior about catching the ferry from Mantaray Island to fly out on the same day, and it didn't help when people were saying it was unreliable and prone to breaking down. It was typical for me considering my worries that it ended up being late in the end.

Arriving an hour or so late, we eventually boarded the ferry back the mainland. It was nice before leaving though as the island staff did a goodbye song for us. With quite a few pick ups en route it did not allow for much time to be made up, although when reaching the open channel to get back to the Mamanucas, it went a little fast through some ridiculously rough seas! It was nice though because the boat had free wifi which I also love having. It wasn't until about half 6 when we finally arrived back into Nadi, although with my anticipation of getting to the airport so strong I forgot my bag!

Eventually I arrived to the airport just over 2 hours before my flight was scheduled to leave. Check in was really quick however, followed by me strolling past security which took me from panicking about being late for the late to having a wait of in excess of an hour to begin boarding. To kill the time I had a look round the duty free shops, before getting myself a portion of chips to try and get rid of the large amount of Fijian coins I had in my wallet. It was nice here as well to have one last chat with some Fijian locals who are just so friendly, although I was predominantly around Americans!

Before long it was time to board my flight which was the last one of the day, taking my seat which always seems to be near the back of the plane. Watching a film to start with called Grudge Match about a pair of boxers who came out of retirement for one final fight, I was supplied with a chicken roll described as an evening snack by the plane crew. From here I surprisingly had a pretty decent sleep arguably getting around about 5/6 hours on and off before waking up again when the lights were turned back on. When waking up I put on another film about a disease which spread round the world, getting a breakfast consisting of egg, hash brown, sausage and the other standard extras in the process. It was frustrating however because the tv screens got turned off 10 minutes before my film ended!

Landing before the scheduled arrival time in the end, I landed before I left technically. This was because we crossed the international date line meaning I went back 24 hours. Prior to arriving I had been warned by my American friends on the Fiji trip that US customs were a nightmare. To be fair I thought I was proving them wrong after getting through passport control without any major problems, but then when queuing up for bio security this dog started barking at me because of my shoes. This meant I had to go for further checks and hand in my shoes and bags while I waited in a room. Eventually they let me leave the airport, giving me back my shoes which they had cleaned!

After changing up my last remaining Fijian Dollars into American Dollars, I walked out the airport ready to walk to my hostel which I opted to walk to as it was only about 6 miles away. I thought it would be as simple as heading down to the beach and across to get there although I was proved wrong as it was hard enough just getting out of the airport. I eventually got out, following the road right round and down to the seafront, although I soon realised that a big marina was stopping me from going to directly to my hostel. It wasn't until around about 6 when I finally arrived into hostel based just a minute or so from Venice Beach.

One of the main benefits of my hostel was free Wifi, as well as free breakfast, and after checking in I surprisingly just collapsed on my bed because I was so exhausted. I didn't stay there for long though as I couldn't just arrive in LA and go to bed. With sunset not until 8 now being in the northern hemisphere, I managed to catch the sunset over the impressively big beach. I only checked out the beach though as I plan to go Venice Beach tomorrow. When finally going back to the room I just crashed out and went to bed, I pretty tired.

May 8th... Mantaray Island again

My early night once again resulted in me waking up pretty early by my standards, early enough to be well over an hour before breakfast. Instead of trying to go back to bed however I headed down to the beachfront where I curled up in a hammock chair thing and typed up a blog. This was all done as the sun rose over the neighboring island which made for a pretty idyllic setting. Soon after finishing it was time for breakfast, once again being a buffet like yesterday, although the fact I was like first up for breakfast meant I ended up having chocolate cake amongst other things for breakfast.

With many activities on offer once again today I opted to do the bush walk. This activity rotates between an island walk and a bush walk each day, although I am not entirely sure what the difference is. With just 5 of us turning up for the 9am start we set off with our guide who was carrying a machete to explore the island. I decided to go Fijian style for the walk too, going bare foot which is what everyone else did. The walk started by going through the area strictly marked as staff area before heading up to perhaps the highest point of the island which gave cracking views every so often in every direction. When up top perhaps the best view was a birds eye view of our resort below.

Continuing through the bushes which our guide was hacking away at with his machete, we headed down. The ground was covered in these small prickly things which were slightly painful on the feet although before long we reached the bottom which was just palm trees linking the sandy beaches either side of the island. These beaches were the more remote ones of the island which are only accessible by clambering over rocks. From here our guide took us across to the beach where I went tubing yesterday which was nice and sandy, before we followed this rock face along these rocks to the next beach.

After following the completely untouched beach ahead of us, we went out as far as this rocky outlet with views of the neighboring island to the south as well as out to sea. Whilst here however this bat colony awoke and made a racket at they swooped around above us! I also slipped over on the slippery rocks as we approached the point, although I only cut my leg in two places so it was ok. Heading back the same way, we got to a point where our guide snuck off without us noticing. When realising he was gone we soon found out he was using his machete to cut foot rests to climb a tree! What he was in fact doing was retrieving some coconuts for us.

After finally getting enough coconuts for one each, he chopped off the top of each one with ease with his machete, giving us the whole coconut to drink the juice. Under normal circumstances I dislike coconut although the fact it was so sweet made it so refreshing. We even got to scoop out the meat after, which once again was nice because of the sweetness. From here we headed across to the other beach through the palm trees. Instead of climbing back over the hill to the resort however we clambered over the rocks across to the beach the resort was on, arriving back after a good couple of hours exploring the island.

Playing rummy 500 with all the Danish people when getting back, it wasn't long before lunch was ready. Today I opted for the fish curry which was very nice. It has been nice to have curry so many times since being in Fiji. Come afternoon I finally   got the chance to go Mantaray swimming, as signalled by the drums which they bang when sighting's are confirmed. Collecting a snorkel and rushing down to the beach, we were taken out to the main channel where they swim and it wasn't long before we saw them on the surface. To see these we had to go out in front of them, then wait for them to swim past, then fight against the current to stay with them.

Doing the aforementioned routine four times, I managed to see the Mantaray on two of the occasions. It was simply amazing snorkelling above such a massive sea creature, which seemed so calm about the number of people above it. I was unable to follow it though as the current was so strong I was paddling just to stay in one spot. In terms of the reef however, it was equally as stunning with more colourful corals than the barrier reef, although with less colourful fish to balance things out. I was glad to finally go out snorkeling with the Mantarays in the end as I was worried about missing out on seeing them!

When returning I headed to the quieter of the two beaches and sat and relaxed. It was however a tad too warm for me so after a while I jumped into the sea, although I soon realised that the rip tides were a little strong. Instead of overheating myself once again I instead headed back to go and play volleyball which was once again lots of fun. It was hilarious though this time as one of the gay workers played and the way he ran round was so funny! After the game finished I headed back over to the other beach to watch the sunset for one last time which as usual was a pretty decent sight. I this time managed to get pictures too which I was happy about.

By the time the sunset was over this was still in excess of an hour until dinner, although I ended up watching the rugby 7s which took me right through to dinner. Dinner this evening was brilliant once again being a soup followed by this spring roll based thing. For my main this evening I opted for the mackerel which was chosen after careful consideration. I would have picked the curry if I hadn't of had it for lunch. To finish off our last supper as a group, we got ice cream and fruits for dessert.

Come evening games were once again planned, the first one being a bit of crab racing. With a bucket full of crabs each of us had to pick one and mark it to say it was ours. The crab's were then placed in the middle of this circle and the first one out won. It was a good concept, however the sheer quantity meant no one actually remembered which crab was there's come the end! To follow this game, a couple of group games were played which were a laugh. To end the evening the four of us remaining from Feejee Experience just got together for one last drink to toast goodbye. Before long it was then off to bed for the last time in Fiji.

May 7th... Mantaray Island

Last night was a pretty good nights sleep, getting a solid 10 hours after finally getting a proper early nights sleep. It was also nice as the 32 bed dorm I was in had little box sections which gave each bed a bit of privacy. In addition to this I had my own mosquito net which meant I wasn't worried about getting bitten like I did at Beachcomber where you were completely exposed to the elements. Breakfast this morning was a cracking buffet, in my case consisting of eggs, beans and toast to start with, followed by a plate of pastries with pancakes, finished off with a plate of fresh fruits. All this was washed down with many glasses of juice!

After my mammoth breakfast the a member of Mantaray staff came up and promoted the activities on offer to us, which are pretty similar day by day which means I don't have to worry about missing out each day. With so much to choose from I decided to take the relaxing approach to the day, laying back in the hammock and writing up a blog. It wasn't long however before I started my first activity of the day, bracelet making. With an array of craft based activities each day, this is the one that appealed to me most as it involved sawing apart coconuts and sanding them down into shape. I was pretty content with my effort in the end although I gave it to the woman behind the bar in the hope of getting a free drink later!

After finishing the bracelet making I relaxed inside. It was weird because after having breakfast at like half 8, lunchtime was first approaching being scheduled for 12. It was pretty cool whilst chilling in the shade though to watch this plane land next to the resort, the quick and expensive way of island hopping. This plane had water ski things on the bottom and we even watched it take off, going metres from our heads after doing a loop! After this I somehow got into a conversation with one of the Danish guys about design, and from here we had a drawing competition. Being really bad at the artistic side of things, I just chucked in some of my technical drawing techniques and showed off a bit with them!

This brought us nicely up to lunch, today opting for the club sandwich and chips. It is frustrating because all 12 dishes on the menu seem so nice and I am only going to get to try 4 of them! After lunch I spent a while relaxing in the hammock, although the fact there are a lot of building works currently going on in the resort meant I soon left my position to go somewhere a little quieter. I instead ended up back in the dorm where I took the opportunity to write up my postcards which I kind of hadn't written since my rainy days in Kaikoura! I haven't really got many for Fiji though as they barely sell them!

Come the later afternoon I decided to go and play a bit of volleyball, managing to get enough people for a 4 on 4 game which got slightly competitive. I only played this for an hour or so however as I had booked myself onto this sunset tubing trip as I didn't want to go the whole day without doing anything physical. Getting taking out by boat I soon realised by the really clear waters that the corals and fish were so diverse and perhaps the reef system as a whole was better than the barrier reef. I say better in the respect that it is less damaged.

In terms of the tubing we got taken right round to the other side of the island nearby a beach which I had not seen yet. I got my first proper idea of the size of the island too, being bigger than I thought. After settling down just off the shore, we were each given a rubber ring thing which we were to float in whilst watching the sunset into the horizon which just happened to be in just open seas. I made sure I was furthest out and to be fair the sunset was pretty impressive. It was a shame I couldn't realistically take my camera out although I still got some photos thanks to the boat driver.

When returning and having a quick shower which was after a long queue to get in funnily enough, it came the time for another 4 course dinner. With a pea based soup for starter shortly followed by these tortilla things, it was a far quicker service than yesterday where it took us about an hour to finish dinner. There were four choices for main again and for some reason I went for the vegetarian option for the second consecutive night, opting for the vegetable pasta which was the dreaded tagliatelle which I am awful at eating. Dessert however was perhaps my favourite dessert of all, being papaya cheesecake. I even managed to get an extra piece as someone didn't want there's. All in all it was a brilliant dinner once again.

Come evening there were more activities, tonight being pub games. The first two games revolved around this stone and pushing it as far you can without crossing the line. At first it was done in pair where one person had to hold the other person whilst they pushed the stone, and pull them back without crossing the line. It was then done individually, although one hand could touch the floor for support this time. It was won both times by this really tall girl who obviously did gymnastics. The final game was simply a game of balance where you had to stand on one leg and pick up a box which gradually got smaller just using the mouth. I was dismal at this game! After finishing the games most people headed straight off to bed again, following suit once again. Mantaray island isn't really a party kind of island.

May 6th... From Beachcomber Island to Mantaray Island

I was up pretty early this morning despite my relatively late night last night, getting straight out of bed for breakfast. It was once again them pigs tail sausage things with beans and fruits amongst other things. I was the first one to have these as well because they don't start serving what they call a big breakfast until 8, with just toast available before this. With a 9am departure from here I checked out of the island and got my backpack all tagged up, which I had sensibly packed last night, before saying my goodbyes to the group of 3 English in the group. Just 4 of us bought the pass go up to the next island, Mantaray Island.

After boarding the small boats owned by Beachcomber, it wasn't long before I had the chance to take photos of the whole island due to the small size. One thing that confused me this morning however was the fact my right arm was covered in red spots. I was worried I had got dengue fever or something although after talking to someone they said it was more likely bedbugs. To be fair they didn't look like mosquito bites so I stopped worrying about it. It wasn't long before the main ferry arrived and before long I boarded the sizeable vessel, sitting in the warm heat on the open top deck to get a good view as we sailed through the islands.

I have already said Fiji is made up of many little islands, and I got the chance to see loads as we left the Mamanucas island group I had been staying in, heading north into what is known as the Yasawa island group. En route we passed many different resorts which not only presented brilliant beaches but also things like hiking and wildlife opportunities with the mountainous geography of the islands. In the end we arrived into my island at the bottom of the Yasawas and after a short transfer arrived into my resort on Mantaray Island, which was in close proximity to a couple of other islands.

When landing onto the island we sat inside and got a free complimentary welcome drink which was basically juice and ice in a blender, getting informed about things to do on the island. The island is considerably bigger than Beachcomber although it is still small in the respect you could walk round it in a couple of hours. The main attraction on the island is the Mantarays which are these fish similar to Stingrays, just a lot bigger. The island runs snorkeling trips to see these fascinating creatures. Other activities vary from day to day although there is a board which tells you what is on offer each day. Lets just say I won't be bored on the island.

Due to arriving near lunchtime which runs at 12 each day, it was straight up for lunch which basically works on a menu basis with 12 different choices. Today I opted for the chicken burrito with chips which was very nice! It was nice here to meet the Canadians and Koreans who had gone straight here after the main island. After lunch I explored the resort a little which is actually really nice, boasting two beaches, one ideal for sunrise and the other for sunset. The resort also had a pretty decent bar area, the only thing lacking being a swimming pool. Before relaxing however I had to pay the compulsory meal package charge, which lets say wasn't cheap. Being on an island I guess it was island prices.

With three nights to be spent on the island I opted to spend the afternoon relaxing, finding myself a nice shady spot in a hammock. It was hilarious however because the islands pet goat started humping the Korean whilst his wife took pictures, and then starting chasing them! All the goat seems to do is annoy people! There are two pet dogs as well on the island which were both pretty friendly. After a short timing laying back in the hammock I joined the others in relaxing on the beach, although they had the idea by being in the sea. It was nice the water was shallow although you couldn't go too far out as there were loads of corals. It was fascinating though as these little fish kept coming real close to the shore!

With a fair chunk of the afternoon spent down on the beach, I spent the latter part playing volleyball with the Danish guys who had also come from Beachcomber. With 4 of us playing it was a nice way to finish the day, although I couldn't quite pull off a Rene Higuita return over the net! From here I headed into the dorm where I lay down as doing a bit of exercise kind of exhausted me! It wasn't that bad and I took the chance to write a blog.

Eventually it came to the time to have dinner and I was pretty hungry with lunch at 12 and dinner at 7. Dinner this evening was a four course meal and gourmet is probably the best day to describe it! First course was a tomato soup with vegetables, pasta and croutons, which was shortly followed by these potato based things for our entree. For main there was a choice of 4 dishes and I opted for the Pad Thai which I had a fair bit of in Thailand. For dessert we had a chocolate moose! Considering I was on a remote island the food was top class. 

After dinner the entertainment guy from the island who runs all the activities came up to see how we were which was nice. With a dance based activity planned for the evening we got to learn a couple Fijian dances, which was then followed by a group snake dance where you copy what the person as the front does! It was a cracking way to finish the evening, when finishing going straight to bed along the majority of other people.

May 5th... Beachcomber Island

It was weird this morning as I was awoken by my phones sound for low battery. I don't know how this happened although it was just as well because I would have slept through my alarm otherwise. Due to the fact this went off just before I intended to get up I just left my phone on charge and headed straight out for breakfast. With all meals being included on the island we were treated to another buffet this time consisting of sausage, beans, toast and fruit. The sausages were really weird though and looked like pigs tails! Like in Thailand with pineapple, I am also starting to get sick of watermelon. I have had so many chunks of this since being in Fiji!

With my plans for Beachcomber to be relaxing, I spent the first part of the morning in bed writing a blog, which feels weird being able to write but not post. In terms of things to do I had an array of activities to choose from including parasailing, jet skiing and banana boating, all of which were really expensive. Due to the fact I wanted to get something other than laying in the sun and swimming around all day like yesterday, I opted to go for a kayak in the end with a couple of others. We tried to haggle with the price and in the end managed to get ourselves extra hire time.

With a kayak each hired for an hour and a half, we decided to kayak to this tiny island which had a shelter on which we passed coming into Beachcomber. It was either there or the neighboring resort of Treasure Island which is a more posh resort unlike the party island popular with backpackers I am on. Taking about an half an hour to paddle in what was a tough paddle being against the tide, we eventually arrived on this tiny island. After having a quick photo shoot on the island which was made possible by taking our phones in my dry bag, we spent a further half hour or so snorkeling round this island. There was the odd coral and fish although the sea floor was very rocky if anything. The water was crystal clear however.

Before long it came time to leave the small island to head back to Beachcomber. You could really see how small the island was from where we were as it was dwarfed by the neighboring Treasure Island. I really liked the wooden shelter covered in ferns which someone had built on the island we paddled to though which gave off much needed shade. In the end the paddle back to Beachcomber took less than half hour as we were going with the tide. Due to unbearable heat of the day the first thing I did when returning was jump in the islands pool to cool down which was really nice and refreshing.

In the end we ended up staying in the pool right through until lunch time, quickly drying off and loading our plates up with food from the buffet which was once again a bbq including things like lamb, fish and sausage. The thing I like about Beachcomber is the fact the food just keeps coming! After finishing lunch I decided to spend the afternoon having a nap in the hammock underneath a palm tree. Being a shaded spot, the idea of being on a sandy island for a nap under a palm tree actually appealed to me! To be perfectly honest the islands are designed to be relaxing and it is probably good for me to chill out a bit.

In the end I ended up napping until around 4, only being awoken by the sun as it was setting. This was a little bad as I promised to play volleyball at 3, although it wasn't all bad as I was able to say goodbye to the next 3 people to leave the group back to Nadi, which just happened to be all the Germans. This left 7 of us from the original group remaining. After waving them off it was nice to meet these Danish guys who showed a particular passion for English football. It was really nice to get a long overdue proper football chat as one of them even had a pretty decent knowledge of Southampton!

After heading back to the room to relax because I was feeling a little light headed, it came the time for dinner which this evening was a curry night. This included a beef, fish and chicken curry, although one was really hot! Once again there was generous portions, although you could go up as many times as desired. Dessert was even better this evening though being ice cream with syrup which felt really homely!

From here I finally used my free WiFi code, although it only worked after encountering a few problems initially. I spent a fair while catching up on things before meeting up with the others as it was our last night as a group and also my last on Beachcomber. It was pretty disappointing though as the island is billed as party island and there was like no one there and also expensive drinks at island prices. Due to this most people had an early night, although I was pretty content as my WiFi which was meant to last an hour was still working which meant I could do a quick skype call before I followed suit and went to bed.

May 4th... From Nadi to Beachcomber Island

It was nice to watch a cracking sunrise this morning on the beach, although this was not planned as I somehow pulled off an all nighter for perhaps the first unplanned time abroad. With an 8am pick up this morning I decided not to go to bed after sunrise, instead waiting for breakfast. Breakfast this morning was another buffet continental breakfast including fruits which is always a nice way to start the day. The problem this morning however was getting everyone up for the bus as they had all gone for a 'ten minute nap'.

Eventually everyone woke up, although it didn't really matter as our bus transfer to the ferry terminal was late anyway. I was pretty content though because the free WiFi from the hostel down the road reached our pick up point! It wasn't all good for everyone though because some people had problems checking out in terms of getting their key deposits back. To be honest as far as hostels go, I stayed at a pretty naff one last night.

By around half 8 we were eventually picked up to begin our journey out to Beachcomber Island which we are staying at 2 nights. There were just 10 of us going here though as the tourism Fiji guys had finished their business trip and the two South Koreans on their honeymoon were going straight to Mantaray. We also lost the two Canadians who are doing their own thing. After loading up the minibus starting with ourselves followed by our stuff, it was a pretty cosy and very muggy ride to the ferry terminal, leaving from Anchorage which operates ferries just to Beachcomber.

After checking in my stuff we had some time to kill before boarding this ancient looking ferry. It was pretty nice when finally boarding though, getting decent views of the mainland and some of the islands. Beachcomber is just around 30 minutes from the mainland, and it wasn't long after a quick ride when we arrived at the island. We kept passing sandy islands en route and thinking it was our stop, but we got the smallest one in the end! As there was no pier on the island we had to transfer to another boat which had a clear bottom! The water was crystal clear so you could see the reef and everything.

When finally landing on the island we had to check into the island, and upon check in we were given an hour of free WiFi. I thought I would use it tomorrow though as I had used it today already. In terms of bed I was in an 84 bed dorm, although it was by no means full. After dumping off my stuff I thought I would take a quick walk round the island. This only took me like 5 minutes though! Beachcomber Island is more commonly known as the party island, and has facilities such as a bar, snorkel shop, souvenir shop, swimming pool, mini golf course and more extreme activities for an additional cost on offer amongst many over things.

One of the nice things about the island was fact you could just relax which is exactly what I did, heading round to a more secluded part of the island with a few others and going for a swim. It was nice sitting on a rock and letting the waves come in because it was just so warm yet refreshing. I eventually relaxed in the hammock to pass the time before lunch. One of the positives about my trip package is that all meals on Beachcomber are included, which was just as well being $90 a day otherwise. Lunch was an all you can eat bbq including sausage, lamb, chicken and fish amongst other extras. It was really nice!

After lunch I continued relaxing on the island, going out for a swim in the sea in a less rocky part compared to where I was earlier. It was cool because there was this platform you could climb onto in the sea and relax on. After a swim in the sea came a swim in the islands pool which I ended up staying in for a fair while both practicing my swimming skills and sitting in the shallow end talking. When getting out the pool we went inside in the shade and played cards, playing rummy 500 which was some more complex version of rummy. I got pretty good at the end!

Another quick swim in the sea followed before heading back round to the hammocks to watch the sunset which was pretty special as it sunk beneath some other islands. Shortly after this it was time for dinner which this evening was another buffet consisting of chicken, pork, spinach, cassava and salad. It was ok although I thought lunch was better! This was all followed by some interesting cake thing. From here I took a really early night as I had not even slept yet. The fact I am here two nights meant I needn't worry about missing out on a night on Beachcomber.