Panama

I flew into Panama, from Cartagena and went straight away to see the Panama Canal. Maybe you remember from an earlier post that I'm doing rather well at seeing the Modern Wonders of the world. Now I only have one left to go, from the list (Channel Tunnel, CN Tower, Empire State Building, Golden Gate Bridge, Itaipu Dam, Panama Canal and Delta Works)


After Panama City, I headed up to Bocas del Toro and we headed out on a sailboat for 3days to some Caribbean paradise islands. (Warning, in paradise they still have human eating insects.)
Apart from the insects we had an amazing time, chilling out on the island, without a single tourist to be seen.

We had an amazing boat, our 40ft Trimaran boat came fully equipped with all mod cons, Kayaks, snorkels and a loopy dog who loved swimming and even joined us on a snorkel trip. Shame we couldn't find a mask and fins to fit her.

and so on to Costa Rica!

Cartagena and Mud

My final few days in South America, before heading to Central America were in the famous walled city of Cartagena.
Just outside town, they have a Mud Volcano! I was expecting to turn up at some idyllic snow capped peak, but instead it was more of a mud hill. Anyway it didnt matter, because you get to jump in and have a mud bath!

Parque Tyrona

Hi. Ive been hanging around in Taganga and Parque Tyrona for the past few weeks.
What have I been up to? I learnt how to dive, then went and found the local lost city on a 6 day trek, then I sat in a hammock at a remote beach,then I did some more diving. Including a night dive and a wreck dive. Unfortunatly my camera is not waterproof, so theres no pics of all that, so heres some from dry land...

The Poseidon Dive Boat

Looking for the Lost City un an ancient mapLocal Indigninous girl, somewhere near the lost City.

Cabo beach, Parque Tyrona.

(and now the web is refusing to upload more pics, so will try again next time I reach civilisation)

Images of Colombia

Hey, heres some pics from around Colombia. Hope you like them! Im heading north through Colombia, so far Ive been to Cali, San Agustin, Popayan, Salento, Medellin and Bogotà.Horsing Around in downtown San AgustinStatue near San Agustin, guarding a tomb.
Some Ethnic Bling at the Museo de Oro, Bogotá.
Me in a neon cross at the unbelievable Catedral de Sal. Thats a Catedral thats under a hill near Bogotà, carved out of Salt in 1995, and filled with neon-lights to make it look funky. The place was made all the more surreal by the fack that L`Oreal were having a fashion shoot down there

Cant find a Parking space? Well just park inside the chicken shop. "Hola, Quiero Pollo de petrol por favor"
A Botero statue in Medellin

A swiss cottage I stayed in at San Agustin
A Mariposa for Richie
We got 13 gringos into this Wily Jeep in Salento. The driver reckoned 20 was about the maximum capacity
Fresh Coffee beans, Salento.Bogota. Its a big city.

Colombia

Hola,
I have made it to Colombia. I have been around San Agustin, checking out the statues. Today I have arrived in Cali which is supposed to be a great place to go out at night. Since its daytime there is not so much to do except catch up on the internet.

I have just created a facebook profile. Does this make me cool or uncool? I am unsure about all this social networking malarky. Anywho, you can find me and your other friends too on www.facebook.com

cheers
Alan

Ecuador Transportation System

There are many different ways to travel around Ecuador. See if you can guess which of these I have used...
#1 Horsey!

#2 Scary open basket cable car
#3 White water Rafting#4 "Traditional" horse and carriage, complete with driver on mobile phone
#5 Roof of a train!
#6 Hiking (on a 30cm ridge)!

Did you guess correctly? Thats right, I have been on all of them except for horse and carriage. It simply is not dangerous enough for me.

We took a horse tour around Villacabamba, with lots of Galloping. Yikes! Crazy cable car across the river in Baños. Flipped the 6man raft going down the same river after a night of rain. That got the adrenalin going! We rode the roof of the train for 5 hours to the Nariz del Diablo. (Devils Nose). And yesterday I was hiking on a foot wide ridge. Lucky the wind wasn´t blowing.

Ok Im heading up to Columbia in a few days, probably by rocketcar or electric rollerskates....

Ecuador

Hola, I have made it back to the Northern Hemisphere for the first time in 8 months. As you might expect, the equator passes right through Ecuador. I have seen first hand that the water really does go down the plug hole in different directions each side of the equator. Loco! I have not made a post for a while, so here is a few pics from Quito and Baños. (Thats Baños the volcanic thermal spring town, not the bathroom)
The must have cheesy equator photo!
They are very patriotic in Ecuador. You are only allowed to drive cool looking yellow cars. Ignore the red one behind, it is probably from Peru.Took a bike tour around Baños... (Perhaps the cleanest city in all of Ecuador, due to the proliferation of scarry clown bins!)
...Followed along the river on the bike tour...
...checking out cool waterfalls like this one - The Devils Caldron. (As usual the real thing looks better than the photo - or am i bad at taking photos?)

Whilst chilling out on the roof terrace of the hostal yesterday, we saw puffs of smoke come out of the local volcano every 5 minutes. Thought we might have to evacuate somewhere! We looked over the otherside of the terrace and saw that the locals were still swinging in there hammocks, so it was definitely "situation normal"!

How to make friends in Ecuador without even trying? Go to Central Del Mundo hostel in Quito on a Monday, Wednesday or Friday. TV is switched off, 12 litres of free rum and coke arrives. Genius! Instant party!

Peru: Lima to Mancora.

I continued north to Lima, stoppping for a few days, before heading to the surf town of Huanchaco, near Trujillo. Then on to the surf town of Mancora in the far north of Peru. Um, do you notice a pattern emerging? Without further ado, heres some photos!The Guitar of Destiny Sticker Collection. This is so I can remember where I have been. So far, i have made it to Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Brasil, Paraguay and Peru. Wowzers.Miraflores in Miraflores, Lima. Ha ha ha. Spanish joke.Reed Fishing boats, Huanchaco. Arty photo eh?Chan Chan. So good they named it twice. These are some funky ruins by Trujillo, worth a look if you are ever in the area.

Sunset over the Pacific, in Mancora. Can never get enough beachy sunsets. We went to the same spot 3 days running to check this out!
And to finish... a Peruvian hairless dog. Que Feo!

Peru: Arequipa to Huacachina Oasis

Hello! I have returned to Darkest Peru, filling in some gaps that I missed back in 2005, on my short 2 week vacation here with Jimbo and Gav. That trip being one of the reasons I am taking a year out around Latin America. This time I entered the country at the Chillian border and am heading north towards Equador. First stop, Arequipa and 3 days trekking in Colca Canyon, to check out the scenery and Condors. I saw one huge condor here, swoop past my head. Some might say it had a 2 or 3 meter wingspan. Oops no photo though, it swooped away again moments later down into the mist, for some low level swooping.

Next stop, Nazca. Where I saw a giant spider, a spaceman and a huge monkey. No I hadnt been over induldging in Pisco, I was in a Cesner (swooping) over the Nazca lines, which had been etched into the ground in Pre-Inca times. Hummingbird! (I wanna be a) Spaceman!

Next on my tour I took a bus North to Ica, to stay at the desert Oasis town of Huacachina.We took a crazy rollercoaster ride over the sanddunes in a beach buggy. The driver was absolutely insane! I suspect he was formerly a taxidriver in Istanbul. When the screaming had died down, he would let us out for a bit of sandboarding. Nice!The tour ended high up in the dunes checking out the Sunset! Digsbys Dinner. Cuy, not Lasagna. Mmmm Guinea Pig heads. Que Rica! (Oasis jokes mercifully finish here.)