The Round Up
Trip Start
Sep 03, 2007
1
106
Trip End
Jul 03, 2008
London, England, United Kingdom
Friday, July 4, 2008
By ways of a round up we are going to list things in categories but in no order.
In numbers:
Flown 7 different airlines
Taken over 30 6 hour + bus rides in South America
Spent 2 nights apart
Visited 16 different countries
Been robbed 3 times
Camped for over 4 weeks
Bought 10 hats
Missed 1 bus
Have lost, broken or maimed 5 cameras
Number of photos taken... too many!
Number of photos lost... too many!
The number of times we got drunk is a lot less than any of you would think
Caroline´s catch phrase: "I need the loo."
Jamie´s catch phrase: "I should have...."
Caroline´s favourite drink: Caiparinhas
Jamie´s favourite drink: Red wine in Argentina and a cold beer everywhere else
Weirdest foods we´ve eaten: Guinea pig, deep fried scorpion, most of the organs of a cow, insects
Best country: Colombia
Best things we´ve done: (Galapagos Islands is in best places)
1: Angkor Wat, Cambodia
2: Hiking in Torres Del Paines, Chile
3: 7 day trek to Machu Pichu, Peru
4: Rodeo, New Zealand
5: Slow boat down Amazon river, Peru
6: Igazu falls, Argentina
7: Salt flats, Bolivia
8: Trekking up the Franz Joesph glacier, New Zealand
9: Climbing the active volcano Villarica, Chile
10: Diving, Thailand and Argentina
As we are so spoilt we had to leave these excellent things out...Halong Bay in Vietnam, Amazon Jungle trip in Peru, biking the death road in Bolivia, The Ghost Town in Cambodia, Kuelap Ruins in Peru, Potosi mines in Bolivia, Road trip with Melissa (Jamie´s sister) in Australia, Bus ride from Cajamarca to Chachapoyas and much much more...
Favourite places we´ve stayed:
1: Railay Beach, Thailand - Climbing mecca of south east Asia. Cool beach and lots of cliffs
2: Staying with Felipe and Family in Santiago - First taste of South American wines and Felipe´s 26th birthday
3: Bogota, Colombia - Salt Cathedral, Botero, Paublo Escobar and a wild night out.
4: Pucon, Chile - The adventure capital of Chile.
5: Valparaiso, Chile - Just damn pretty
6: Sihanoukville, Cambodia- The 4 B´s. Beaches, beers, bars and BBQ barracuda
7: Phou Quoc Island,Vietnam - Lazy days on beaches and motorbike accidents
8: Playa Blanca/Cartagena, Cambodia - Hammock and sand. Nothing more
9: Koh Lippe, Thailand - Beach island away from most of the tourists
10: Galapagos Islands, Ecuador - Heaven on earth
Best nights out:
1: Christchurch, with Mark Hoskins that carried on till 7am
2: Koh Chang, Thailand with Henry for initiation after our PADI course. Jamie fainted in a flowerpot
3: Bogota, Colombia with Matt and Rich. Matt bailed but the rest carried on till we nearly missed our flight!
4: Felipes 26th Birthday party, Chile, an amazing night of Tango, live music and getting to bed at 8am
5: Valparaiso with various Chileans watching some local singers and drinking Piscolas
6: Puerto Mont with Laura where Caroline earned her drinks by dancing with the locals
7: Full moon Party in Bangkok with various Thai guys. Didn´t understand a word they said but drank a lot of Sam sun rum
8: Cafe Limon, Galapagos with Dave, Stephanie and Clement and half the local inhabitants.
9: Nha Thrang, Vietnam, Partying in Why not and the Yacht club.... Lost and found a camera!
10: Buenos Aires, Argentina, Steak nights and all night dancing.
Best meals:
1: Caroline's chicken curry served in a hollow pineapple, Railay beach, Thailand
2: Laab in Viang Xai, Laos
3: Pho, all over Vietnam.
4: Our prawn curry soup served to us on a beach in Phou Quoc island, Vietnam.
5: Completos and Empanadas all over Chile.
6: Indian Curry in Penang, Malaysia. Served on banana leaves and used hands to eat! Great choice Liza and Felix.
7: BBQ Barracuda with baked potato's on the beach in Cambodia. $3 well spent.
8: Garlic prawns from a shack on Rabbit island. Lady told us what we had ordered was a bad choice and would only cook us these!
9: Bife de Chorizo in Jackie O´s in Buenos Aires
10: Curanto in Chiloe, Chile. A huge bag or mussels, clams, cockles, potato, chorizo sausage and chicken boiled together with a fish soup.
If there was an 11. then it would be Peru´s Ceviche all the way!
Weirdness on foreign lands:
Horror films on buses: On the whole buses in South America are better than most short haul flights in the UK. The seat recline, food is served and films are shown. Thats were things get odd. In South America they have no problems with showing extremely disturbing horror films to buses full of Children. Not something we´d normally condone in the UK!
Peeing in the streets: IN most of the countries we have visited peeing in public has really not been that much of a problem. In is not uncommon for a man to pee anywhere and in Vietnam not abnormal to find a old lady hitching her leg against a tree.
Queuing: Doesn´t exist in South America. Not in Supermarkets, for buses, going through customs or anything else. There is a burning desire to be the first to everything and if that means taking out a few gringo on the way then so be in....
Indicating when driving in Argentina: Driving skills in most of the countries we have visited are dubious and in some cases non existent. But the best is indicating in Argentina. If you are approaching a junction and you are not sure where it is you want to go then you don´t just stop and work it out you carry on but with you hazard lights on. The thought process behind this one is hazy but the results are mayhem!
People who have made our trip so much easier...
Liza and Felix in Penang, thank you for everything. Poshest room we stayed in all travels, best Indian ever and by far the best motorbike we used.
Roger who lent us his flat in Narrabean Australia. Our stay with Johnny would never have been the same.
Aurora for setting us up with Felipe and his family in Santiago
Felipe, Nora, Fernando and Mario for putting us up and really introducing us to South America. 8am still remains the longest night of drinking on our trip.
Lotti and Mogg who put us up in New Zealand on more than one occasion, even though it was in a horse box!
Janice and Caroline Gobey in New Zealand who had us to stay and even delivered a parcel to the airport with a bankcard that was vital to our trip.
Lucy and David Moger who had us to stay in New Zealand.
Matt in Auckland who put us up for a few nights when in Auckland
Mr and Mrs Tuffin for guiding and paying for us round New Zealand. Who would have thought we could have survived 10 days in a 4 person camper van.
The Ramsay Family putting up with us for so long and giving us a Christmas and New Year to remember.
THANK YOU ALL!!!
