Some more pIctures of Bolivia.....

Hello =)

Thought I´d pop some more pictures on while i´m on a fast computer. They are from my trip round the Salt flats in Bolivia. Still having a great time in Villa Tunari except yesterday I was cutting down trees in the jungle with my machete (fun!) for my birdies and little did I know there was a HUGE wasps nest right near me so I got stung a couple of times, hurt a lot but could have been a lot worse!! All I can say is I´m glad I brought my first ad kit =P

Chau for now xo

Viviendo el Sueno....

Hola People!

Well I arrived in Villa Tunari late Thurs night from Cochabamba after a much longer bus ride than initially expected (this is Bolivia after all!). I managed to find Inti Wara Yassi (the organisation im volounteering through) and got settled into one of the houses =)

Friday was my first day and I was assigned the avery. Im looking after the Macaws, a turkey and until today a few turtles (they went to the other park today). By the end of the first day I had seen a cockroach as big as your foot, patted and played with a puma, had monkeys crawl all over me AND sprained my ankle. It was all very exciting!

Its really beautiful here. The weather is tropical, the town is lovely, the jungle is amazing and the other volounteers are really lovely. There´s a party every other night so lots of fun! I also work with the monkeys as well as the macaws which is lots of fun. They are capagan and spiders, and so intelligent! And they love cuddles =) except for the one who is going around attacking people´s ears and giving them stitches. They are trying to catch him!

We have mostly Bolivian tourists coming throught the park too so its good practice for my spanish! Im having an awesome time. This place is really special =)

I cant take photos in the first week here, but next week I promise some amazing photos!

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Bolivia Photos.....

Well here´s my favourite picture from the Salt plains. Unfortunately Bolivian computers are poos so I cant put any more on at the moment.

Chau for now xoxo

Bolivia Pictures

Aaaahhh I have some awesome pictures but stupid blogger wont let me upload them! Will try again tomorrow xo ps. I miss you Derrick! Happy now =)

Bolivia...wow....

Hola Chicos!

How are you all going?? Lately Ive got quite a few emails from you all saying that youre keeping up to date with my blog......thanks guys!! Its nice to know Im not just writing this for me......you guys are the best =)

Well as you may have guessed from my title I am now in Bolivia!!! I arrived here last Thursday with Thelma and Eileen after a looonnnnggg day of travelling. Its so bizarre, as ssoon as you cross the border from Argentina to Bolivia it is totally different. I really feel like im in South America now, Argentina was fantastic and I loved it, but it is very westernised. You walk down the dirt roads in little villages here past small thatched roof houses, little kids playing on the streets and women with huge petticoated skirts and bowlers hats on, carrying babies on their backs. It really is amazing!

We (Eileen, Thelma, Catherine, Jim and I) took off from Tupiza (in the south of Bolivia) on Friday for a 4 day tour of the desert, volcanoes, lakes and salt flats all nestled high in the Andes. We had a great tour guide and cook for our trip who spoke NO english and so I tried my best to translate being the only Spanglish speaker. Friday was alot of driving, climbing into the mountains and checking out the barren desert scenery. That night we stayed in a little village and had a llama wandering around our room (very friendly little guy!). The altitude started to affect us that night, as we all froze and struggled to breathe as we were trying to sleep! Kinda scary!

Saturday we had a bit more of an exciting day. We warmed up in some hot springs in the middle of the desert (sssoooooooo nice) and we saw loads of beautiful coloured lakes full of Flamingos! We also went and checked out some Geyseirs (spelling?) bubbling mud and sulfurous gas. Cool. That night we stayed in another little village at 5000m, and were all pretty knocked around by the altitude. It was REALLY FREEZING and the whole night I felt like my head was going to explode. Anyway luckily we survived through the night!

Sunday we saw an amazing red coloured lake (which also had flamingos in it) and the local volcano. We saw a bit of the salt plains and stayed in a hotel made of Salt. SO cool. Monday we got up before the sun rose and headed to the Salt plains to watch the sunrise. So beautiful. We spent the day driving through the salt plains and taking some really cool pictures (see above).

We arrived in Uyuni Monday arvo and last night had a nice farewell dinner as all my lovely Irish people are headed to Potosi today, and Im off on my own to Cochabamba and then Villa Tunari where Ill be for a couple of weeks volounteering in an animal refuge. Should be something really special and different, this is the web page if you want to check it out:

http://www.intiwarayassi.org

It should be amazing!! Keep posted for future blogging about this.

Take care guys, missing you all from home and all you lovely people Ive met travelling so far!!!!

xoxoxoxoxxo

Almost time to leave Argentina....

Hi guys!

Well Ive had a busy week! Last thurs Andrew and I left Igazu and travelled for 26 hrs on a bus (yep 26!) to arrive in Salta, in the North of Argentina, on Friday morning. We met some lovely people on the bus and followed them to an awesome hostel in town, very friendly. Salta is a really nice little city nestled in a valley with mountains on either side. Over the next couple of days we sampled the nightlife (excellent!), wandered around town, ate the most DELICIOUS steak Ive ever tasted, and did a hike up the hill overlooking the town.

Monday a group of us from the hostel hired a car and took off for a couple of days just south of Salta. The landscape here was very different, amazing mountains, seas of cacti, rock formations, desert......All very cool! We stayed in a couple of nice little towns too and met some lovely local people (see group picture above of us at a very local restaurant). It was really nice to have the freedom to just take off where and when we wanted for a change! We checked out some great ancient ruins yesterday too. The only problem was when our back tire literally blew up on one of the many dirt roads. Anyway we managed to change it and keep on going. All part of the fun!

Im heading off to Bolivia tomorrow with a couple of lovely irish girls we met on the bus here. Were heading to the Salt plains first, they sound amazing!

Oh and pictures above are; Igazu falls, a few people at school (Andrew, Gonzalo, Steven and me) and the last two are pictures from our road trip!

Take care guys, ill write again soon!

xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Igazu Falls.....wow.....

Hey everyone!

I hope you´re all well =)

Well my last week in Buenos Aires was quite fun. Besides school I took an exciting trip to the airport to go and pick up my camera that my family sent from home. First it was an adventure to actually find the place at the airport, and then once I found the place I had to go from office to office a great many times before finally paying the releasing fee and getting my camera. The nice man who took my money gave me some cake though which was nice, and the experience really tested my Spanish! Very random.

Friday was the last day of school and so of course we went out to celebrate and ended up out on a marathon 12 hr drinking session. Fun!

Saturday Andrew and I hopped on a bus very hungover to Port Igazu, Argentina. 20 hrs later we arrived early Sunday morning and managed to find a hostel. We went to visit the falls Monday and Tuesday, on the Argentinian side. I was really speechless. The falls are just absoulutely amazing, definitely in my top 10 things i´ve seen. Unfortunately I cant put pictures up on this computer but when I get to the next one I promise I will. They´re awesome! We did a cool boat trip up the river that took us under a couple of waterfalls, lots of fun. We also did a lovely walk and saw lots of wildlife - and yesterday, even a Tucan! Ooh and we went out for dinner to a Parilla and got a mixed grill (very done here) with yummy intestines and kidneys etc. mmmmmmmmmm.........

Today we ventured to the Brazilian side of the falls (the falls are the border between Argentina and Brazil). I got waylayed at the border so unfortunately the bus left without me and left me all alone =( Luckily I met a lovely couple and we checked out the falls from Brazil. They were just as amazing from Brazil!

Andrew and I are heading off tomorrow (hopefully) for Salta and then Ill be heading off on my own into Bolivia and Peru!

Take care guys,

xo