Blarney Castle and Kilarney

Left Cork this morning and visited Blarney Castle and the castle grounds. Classic Ireland scenery (at least compared to what I was expecting). The castle was incredible and put Kilkenny's to shame. Had a great walk up through tight stairwells, dark stone hallways, and 500+ year old rooms, and our visit to the castle ended when we each kissed the Blarney Stone. True to legend we received the gift of gab, and became the two latest part-Irish tourists to check that off their lifelong to do list.

We then drove further west to Kilarney which sits on the coast of a few giant lakes inside Kilarney National Park. Walked around here today and again the countryside was beautiful. We are very close to the Ring of Kerry (an area of spectacular scenery and another popular tourist destination) but unfortunately will have to save that journey for another trip as my dad and I both fly out tomorrow.

view from Blarney Castle, post stone kiss

Has been a great stay in Ireland. The people are super nice, happy, and they all love to socialize over a pint (or four) - very easy to feel welcome here. Will definitely be returning in the future.

Kilkenny and Cork

Before I left the States, a few people told me to make sure I got out of Dublin to experience the best parts of Ireland. My dad and I had a blast in Dublin, so I was pretty pumped to leave there today and drive South. After a tasty full Irish breakfast (the local cafe near our Dublin hostel had it's own version - fried egg, two sausage links, two pieces of bacon, baked beans, half of a tomato, and blood sausage), we hit the road. Kilkenny Castle

Kilkenny is a small town a little less than halfway between Dublin and Cork. Very old school little town with shop-filled streets and a medieval castle (first built in the 12th century) as the main attraction. Pops and I stopped here for about three hours, checked out the castle, walked the streets (which were dominated by local high school kids on their lunch hour), grabbed a bite at a bar and grill, then headed further south and west for Cork.
Street in Cork

Maybe it is because I love crew and many water sports, but it's hard for me not to like a city that has a river nearby. Cork is one of those cities - has a good sized river and the channel actually splits, and both parts flow by the main section of town. The town has a nice feel to it and is less touristy than Dublin. Did some sightseeing tonight and had dinner at a local bar and ended up meeting three local guys by the end of the meal. Two of them stuck around and we bar-hopped for a bit. Total wankers. Have not laughed that hard in a long time and we had a blast. First six hours in Cork have been very good ones.Dad and I with our two new friends

Dublin, Ireland

St. Patrick's Cathedral

So far so good in Dublin. After we rented a car and braved driving to the city center from the airport on the wrong side of the road this morning, my dad and I went to a local spot for lunch and each enjoyed a bowl of lamb stew and a pint of very good Guinness. We walked around town for a bit then took a much needed Irish siesta to wait out the rain showers. Post-nap the sun came out and we did some more exploring, then parked it in some pub and had a few pints while locals were already dancing hard...at 7:45 at night. We watched rugby and hung there for a while, then got a bite to eat down the street, then went to another watering hole in Temple Bar that was packed and had great live music. Just getting back now after spending a couple hours there. We may or may not be pissed at the moment (to use a local phrase). Sleep will come easy ahead of tomorrow's sight seeing.









Temple Bar area at night

Round Two - Europe

Hi again. After a great time back at home, I am about to ship off for trip number two and I'm very excited. Stop one is Ireland - flying into Dublin tonight with my dad. We will be renting a car there and we'll be touring the countryside for the next five days before my pops heads back to the U.S. Will be a blast. I'll check in again from across the pond..

Home

Happy Easter. I changed my flights to come back to the States a few days early and surprise the fam. Trip #1 complete, and it is damn good to be back. The finishing touch - a South American winning the Masters today. Poor Kenny Perry.

A Good Friday

Yes, that's what I titled this entry. Deal with it.

Had a solid day here in Quito. Got breakfast at a place nearby this morning then walked around town for a while. Enjoyed some nice pastries from the local panaderia, then found a decent spot to watch the Good Friday procession through town. Was interesting, but not a whole lot of fanfare (or variety for that matter) - the procession featured hundreds and hundreds of people in all purple robes, with hoods, walking through the streets and each group of 30 or so had someone dressed up as Jesus who was carrying a large wooden cross within their group. Each Jesus had to take at least one break while I was watching, as the crosses they each carried were huge. And the purple robes were a bit strange as they looked like KKK uniforms (I'm hesitant to say but they did). There were a couple marching bands sprinkled throughout the procession, but overall it was low-key despite an enormous turnout by the local population.

In addition to the sporadic music today one constant of the afternoon was the sound of street vendors yelling out, trying to sell anything you could think of. I'm talking drinks, snacks, ice cream, cigarettes, candied apples, "Happy Easter" picture frames, rosaries, shoe laces, flip flop bottoms (with no thong attached), hats, small children, etc. Definitely the biggest selection of street goods that I've seen in my travels thus far. The list grew to include umbrellas, ponchos, and other rain gear this evening at the outdoor mass I attended in Plaza San Francisco (it started pouring rain shortly after the start). A versatile sales force here in Ecuador.

Next stop tbd.

...Quito

The border crossing yesterday evening was a bit shady, as expected. My bus from Mancora arrived 30 minutes late, and when I finally got on I felt like I was interrupting some Peruvian family gathering as there were people (adults and kids) sprawled out across many of the seats, including my assigned seat so I decided to pick a new one. When we arrived at the Peruvian immigration checkpoint in Aguas Verdes, we were filed into a dimly lit hallway where we had to get our departure stamps one at a time. There were a couple giant cockroaches running around, and they provided a nice accent to the process. Within ten minutes I got my stamp, handed in my customs form, and got back on the bus. One minute later a mom sat down next to me and started breast-feeding her child. So that was interesting. But I was unfazed and ready for the next checkpoint. On to Ecuador.

A short while later after crossing the ¨bridge¨ we arrived at the checkpoint in Huaquillas, Ecuador. The customs window there was outdoors so it thankfully lacked the feel of a third world prison. Got my temporary visa for Ecuador, and then I had to get into a taxi with a woman who worked for the bus company through which I bought my ticket to Quito. Apparently there are no direct buses to Quito from Peru, which I was told while on the bus. I wouldve rather known that ahead of time, but oh well.

So Im in the taxi with this woman in the backseat (she seemed trustworthy enough, relatively speaking, and I had no other choice), and I sat right behind the driver. I may have looked tense as I was watching the cabbie and ready to pound him if necessary. We drove to the bus station in town, and drove around crowds of people in tiny dirt streets with all types of people selling all kinds of things. When we turned onto the last side road on which the bus terminal was located, the scene from Clear and Present Danger came to mind - the one where Harrison Ford´s motorcade gets gunned at from the rooftops in Bogotá. Thankfully that didn´t happen, and I got on the bus one hour later (and I seemed to be the only gringo on this bus and the first bus).

The bus ride was not that smooth - kind of a crappy bus and the roads in Ecuador are mostly two lanes and all seem to have speed bumps every 15 minutes. Doesn´t make for a sound sleep. But there were only a couple stops (including one where police boarded our bus asking for documents) and 12 hours later we arrived to Quito on time.

A bit exhausting. Definitely was the most eventful travel experience I have had down here, and I am glad it´s over. I need a shower.

On to Ecuador

It has been a relaxing couple days in Máncora. Good weather, good beach, good chilling. Had a lot of nice interactions with the locals here - from conversations on the beach to watching yesterday morning´s local news broadcast of former President Fujimori´s sentencing for human rights abuses. All very interesting, and made for some solid experiences to end my two plus weeks in Peru.

Now its time for me to move on to my fifth and final country down here - taking a bus to Quito this afternoon. Should be my last major bus ride of the trip, and hopefully it will be as smooth as the rest. TBD.

Máncora

My last stop in Peru has so far come through as advertised - Máncora is a pretty nice beach town that is very chill. People in this small coastal town are laid back, including those at my hostel. The place where I am staying consists of a group of bungalows that is situated on top of a hill overlooking the main (dusty) road and the ocean, and I have a nice view of the beach. Is a relaxing spot - definitely my speed right now after an action-packed stretch throughout Southern Peru.

I spent a few hours at the beach today (standard Monday), and now Im going to venture back into town to buy my bus ticket to Ecuador. Trying to get it early to beat the Easter Weekend travel rush (there are many fans of that holiday down here in South America). And I´m making sure I get my ticket through the one bus company that has been recommended by my guide book and other travelers, as apparently the Peru/Ecuador border crossing is a bit shady. I guess I will see for myself soon enough.

Lima

Renee and I arrived in Lima yesterday morning and stayed in a nice neighborhood here last night called Miraflores. Lima is a huge city - 9m people - and very modern, especially compared to everywhere else I have been in Peru. Most importantly, there is a 24 hour supermarket across the street (reminds me of Whole Foods) that I just hit up for a luxury item that I have not seen once in South America: pretzels. You can bet that I will enjoy them immensely on my bus ride tonight.

So Renee left this morning, which I was bummed about, but since she still lives in the real world she had to get back. I am heading north this afternoon to Mancora, Peru, which supposedly has one of the nicest beaches in Peru. Will let you know if that is the case.

Lago Titikaka and Puno, Peru

Puno is a pretty nice town on the shore of Lake Titicaca, and yesterday Renee and I explored the famous Lake and some of its islands on a boat tour. The first part of our tour stopped at one of the Uros Islands, which are floating islands made of reeds that the Aymara people have been making for thousands of years and some families still live on them. It was like stepping into a totally different world - their houses and boats are made entirely of reeds and they even eat the reeds. Next stop was to a much larger, natural island called Taquile which is inhabitated by the Quechua. Was very interesting to see their home and culture. Overall the scenery by the lake is very pretty as the water goes on as far as one can see (it is the largest lake in South America) and at 4,000 meters altitude the air and water look crystal clear.

Last night for dinner I decided to try cuy, a Peruvian specialty: fried, whole guinea pig. The presentation was quite nice as it came sitting up on my plate with a tomato wedge crown on it´s head and carrot in its mouth (teeth were still in). Overall the dish tasted decent but did not have a lot of meat on the bones - somewhat disappointing for something that was described as a favorite of the Inca Kings.

Machu Picchu

There are no words to describe the awe of Machu Picchu. Renee and I visited the place yesterday and it was without question the highlight of my trip so far. We took the train to and from the site like my bro did which was a bit long, but well worth it. It was cloudy when we first got there around noon and you couldn´t really see Wayna Picchu (the big mountain behind the ruins in all the pictures - link below). But it started clearing up and Renee and I hustled through the ruins to try and get to Wayna Picchu before the 1pm cut off and we were successful. We were visitors #383 and 384 at 12:42pm - they close the gate to the mountain after 400 people, or at 1pm (whichever comes first). The climb was tough but the views were spectacular as most of the clouds cleared up for us, but some remained which added to the mystique of the ruins.

Machu Picchu is really a wonder, and I have the pictures to prove it (but still have not uploaded any - will try again soon). We explored the grounds for a couple hours after our climb and did not want to leave at the end of the day. It is an incredible place.

Machu Picchu w/ Wayna in the background (again, we climbed to the top of Wayna):

http://z.about.com/d/archaeology/1/0/_/B/machu_picchu1.jpg

Renee and I are now in Puno, Peru on the shores of Lake Titicaca. Very pretty. We had a exciting, adventurous, and surprisingly seamless trip here today. We showed up at the bus station in Cusco at 9:15 this morning and asked two companies about buses to Puno (a lot of the websites, just like the plumbing in Cusco, were not working last night or today), and we only found ones that departed late tonight. Then we walked up to another company I had heard of and found out they had a direct bus to Puno that just left at 9am. The woman behind the counter got all psyched up and told us she would pay for the cab for us to catch the bus and we could board it when we caught up. Was ridiculous, but it worked. She came with and it went great- we caught the bus in less than 15 minutes and got here to Puno on schedule, six hours later. Scheduled to tour some of the islands of the Lake tomorrow - should be good.