UK - London - Home Sweet Home :-)

Well ... I am home! :-) To sunny blue skies, friends, family, Christmas trees and fairy lights! maybe some snow next week to top it off!

Has been an amazing 6 months, better than I could have imagined! Have meet some really lovely people and made some long lasting friends! Seen loads of great places, done some exciting and some scary silly things! (Hang gliding was scary)

Am missing the wonderful children, managers, teachers and volunteers at the Hogar Miguel Magone Orphanage in Guatemala. I hope to go back next year to see them again. Check out their website, which my friend Tom designed and built for them.
http://www.hogarmiguelmagone.com/

See you soon and hope you have enjoyed reading my blog. There are a few holes which I think I will fill, with a glass of wine and a nice warm fire.

Watch out for "To Infinity and Beyond" Part 3 ... join me if you can :-)x

HAVE A VERY HAPPY CHRISTMAS AND A FANTASTIC, MERRY NEW YEAR!
We have one world and one set of stars!

Love Karenx

Brazil - Rio - Homeward bound ...

Karen is flying from Argentina to Brazil then home to London ...

:-) xxxx

Argentina - BA - Leaving Party

SUNDAY 30th Nov

I flew in after not much sleep from my Bolivia - La Paz leaving Party to the comforts and warmth of the Garden House - Buenos Aires - Argentina. After catching up with Peter, John and Adrian it was down to Des Nivel a great resturant for the most amazing beef and red wine with Peter and Juan.

Des Nivel ... great food


Gibratar pub ... great Cuba Libre!


MONDAY 1st Dec

After a bit of sleep Peter and I went for a Hot Chocolate (with rum!) in San Telmo. And last minute bits of shopping.

Hot Chocolate .. with rum in San Telmo!


Then it was off to La Bomba, a great drumming band with Peter, Juan and Javier :-) and onto the Red Door bar in San Telmo.

Was a great night ... I miss you!

La Bomba!


La Bomba!


Me and Javier


Me and Javier


Juan, Me and Peter


La Bomba


:-) x

Bolivia - La Paz - Leaving party!

After a few weeks traveling with Rebecka, Bjorn and Nathalie around Mendoza and Salta in Argentina and Tupiza, Salt Plains, Potosi, Copacabana,Isla Del Sol and La Paz in Bolivia I had to say my farewells. :-( My friends were all continuing on north to Peru for Christmas and New Year and had the wonder of Machu Piccu to climb in front of them and a good few months travelling aswell.

So it was off down to a great curry house in La Paz (my first curry for at least 6 months), then drinks down the bar and a club called "Orange", just had to go there!

Curry House ...


Was great fun! I miss you! :-)

Norway and Rebecka


Rebecka, me and Bjorn ...


Rebecka, Bjorn and me ...


Rebecka, Bjorn and me ...


Rebecka, Bjorn and me ...


Patrick Art Directed these photos which came out rather well!

:-) x

Argentina - Salta

It is now Saturday and we are off by overnight coach to Bolivia at 12.00 midnight. We arrive at the border in the morning and in the light.

Probably not going to have much access to the web in Bolivia.

... So plan is to trek around Bolivia for 2 weeks then fly to Rio via Buenos Aires then fly home arriving on the 3rd December! Looking forward to seeing you all when I get back!

Love Karen xxx

PS Did I mention that I dont like flying! and definately not by myself!

Partying in Salta

Argentina - Mendoza - Cycling around the vineyards

I meet up with friends Peter and Rebecka in Mendoza last night and we are now off to taste some Argentinian wine. (I meet Peter and Rebecka in the Garden House Hostel in Buenos Aires in September!) Peter and Rebecka have been travelling around Argentina and Chile while I was in Guatemala and Rio.

On our bikes


We are cycling around the vineyards. Is great weather! Have not been on a bike for years, but luckily had not forgotton how to ride. ;-)

Nice roads


We had to cycle on the other side of the road and was okay. Not much traffic, which was good. My hat did get blown off once by a rather large fast truck but was okay as went back to pick ut up.

Vineyards


Old smiling tractor


Cheers


We had a nice rest and food in one of the vineyards then headed back to town to party!

Partying in Mendoza


Mendoza is a great city to chill in. Weather has been really sunny.

Relaxing on the park


There is a local really large park that I chilled in on the Sunday. Was great!

Brazil - Rio De Janeiro - Hang gliding

Well a few of us over a beer thourght it would be a good idea to do a Hang glide over the beaches and mountains of Rio, just along from our Ipanema Beach.

So we signed up... I woke up at 7.45am to check the weather conditions and they were good. We were being picked up at 11am. So back to sleep, shower, get some more money and then we were off.

You want me to run off that wooden slope?


Okay, lets hope I get down all okay


Was amazing! We landed on the beach! I flew like a bird! :-)x

Brazil - Rio De Janeiro - Christ Redentor

Well it is not beach weather today so we are going on a tour to see the Christ Redentor, and Sugar Loaf mountain. Was amazing! it rained a bit as we were decending the first cable car from Sugarloaf, but then we saw a rainbow! I love chasing rainbows! :-)x

Christ Redentor



Sugar Loaf and rainbow

Brazil - Rio De Janeiro

Just landed, gunna have a snooz then head out to party.

Weather here in Rio is awful, not sunny so am going to see the sights and hope the sun is out further south and head there!

Am flying home in December! yipeee ... get home 3rd December! look forward to seeing you then! Karenx:-)

Rio De Janeiro

Guatemala - Guatemala City - Hogar - Haircut 100

I had my haircut and coloured a mid chocolate brown colour today, which is a lot darker than the red/ginger colour I had in Peru. Very happy with the results and decided to give my blog a bit of colour. :-)

Guatemala - Guatemala city - Hogar

Hogar de los Ninos, Miguel Magone


Am back at the orphanage just outside Guatemala City, Guatemala, Central America for 3.5 weeks. There are about 24 girls and 60 boys to look after. All good fun! and hard work! :-)

Argentina - Last nite of partying!

It is my last night of a complete month of partying on Buenos Aires! I arrived on the 2nd of September, planned to stay a week then head north to Rio, Brazil for a week then fly home ... but I changed my plans ... I stayed a month had my Birthday with new friends in Buenos Aires and am now packing to fly back to the Hogar Miguel Magone in Guatemala to see friends and work in the Orphange for nearly 4 weeks. It is hard work but very rewarding!

Then I plan to chill in Rio for 3 days on the beach then fly home on the 31st October, just in time for Halloween, Fireworks and the build up to Christmas ...

... But may come back in December and trek around Chile for a month, will have to see!

Catch up soon and hope all is good with you! Karenx

(Face your fears and live your dreams)

Argentina - Doing the Tango in Buenos Aires!

Buenos Aires is great! fantastic nightlife! great people and loads to see ... a complete party city! stays open later than New York!

More details to follow ... :-)

Peru - Back to Lima for our last night of the tour!

SATURDAY NIGHT - OUR LAST NIGHT OF OUR PERU ENCOMPASSED 21 DAY TOUR!

We took an early morning flight back to Lima. We were all sad that our adventures were nearly over. From the lodge we had to take the boat back up the river, then a private bus along a dirt track to the Airport in Puerto Maldonado. It was two short flights to Lima via Cusco! (I still don't like flying)

Our last drink in Lima!


We all went out in Lima for our last meal, was great and had a good few drinks to wash it all down. It was sad to say our farewells. Everyone was lovely in the group and our tour guide Cecila was brilliant!

Sophie had a very early Sunday morning flight home to Guildford. Colette and Dairmaid had an early Sunday morning flight to Ireland.

CECILIA - Thanks again for making the Peru Encompassed tour so good! Have a good rest and good luck with your next tour! You may even get to do the Lares Trek this time!

It was a great trip organised through Intrepid. I would recommend the trip, for more details of this trip and similar ones go to the Intrepid website.

SUNDAY

I did not set my alarm! Was great! After a nice longer than normal sleep we meet Rowan and Jani for breakfast then said our goodbyes. Rowan and Jani were off to celebrate their engagement in a 5 start hotel in Mexico then were then heading off on another Intrepid tour around Mexico, Guatemala and Belize before heading home to Oz.

I then meet up with Peter for lunch.

Peter for lunch


Cebiche mixto


I had Cebiche mixto again, which is a typical Peruvian dish. It is raw fish marinated in lime juice, served with onions, chillies, corn and sweet potato. Was very tasty! Then headed to the Huaca Pucllana pyramid to check it out as Peter had to do some work.

Huaca Pucllana


Huaca Pucllana pyramid


Well I was expecting something similar to the pyramids in Egypt, but was different!

Did you know?
Indigenous people started building Huaca Pucllana in 400 A.D. — nine centuries before the Incas. They gathered, traded, made community decisions, worshiped and sacrificed women and children at Huaca Pucllana for 300 years. They then abandoned the site when the Wari empire conquered the area in 700 A.D. Parts are still being excavated today.

I think I was a bit cultured out so Kirsty and I headed for a well earned glass of wine or even a glass of Champagne! :-)

Cheers!


We found a swanky bar and asked for Champagne! We celebrated finishing the Lares Trek and me climbing up and safely down Waynapicchu mountain! Tasted good!

DO YOU KNOW?
A question that I asked on our tour but none of us knew ... "When does a hill become a mountain?" no it is not a joke, do you know? As I saw lots of hills and mountains but not sure at what height a hill stops being a hill and is classified as a mountain. Ohh or am I am being a bit sad? and should I just get on with being on holiday? Is it about 3000m?

Kirsty went off to get her flight home to the UK. She was stopping in Miami to shop!

KIRSTY - Was great meeting you and am very pleased we both finished the Lares Trek, you were great company! Don´t work too hard back in the UK and save up to do some more travelling! Look forward to catching up for more drinks when I get home in November / December!

MONDAY MORNING

All my friends on the tour had gone home or onto other countries so I chilled in Lima for a couple odays before my flight to Argentina.

Peter working at his desk


Peter was great! he lives and works in Lima, has for the last 10 years! He works on the oil rigs, manages a rock band, manages events and is now setting up a company to export coffee to the UK. He was my next door neighbour when I used to live in Eltham when I was at Secondary School.

MONDAY EVENING

Peter was meeting some friends from the Airport so we shared a cab. The Peruivans in Lima are really mad drivers! mader than the Italians!. At crossroads it is the biggest and more aggressive car that gets across first! You can imagine that there are a lot of accidents! It was a pretty hairy 40mins drive to the airport! But made it in one piece ... now for check-in.

I arrived 2hrs before my flight and was surprized that there were not more people in the queue. Then was told on check-in that the flight was delayed by 1.5hours ... hmm that is why there were not many people in the queue ... a right pain. Was actually 2hours delayed ... but still ... I am on holiday and will get there eventually. I managed to phone the hostel in Buenos Aires to say my flight was delayed and to tell the taxi that I will be later than planned.

I took flight AR1365 leaving at 2.30am (instead of 12.30am) from Lima in Peru to the capital of Argentina - Buenos Aires, arrived about 9am. Argentina is two hours ahead of Peru which is 4 hour behind the UK.

Peru - Pirana fishing in the Amazon Jungle!

LATE FRIDAY AFTERNOON

Our fishing boat!


We were off again .. but this time off to the Ox-Bow lake to see Black Caiman, birds and fish for Piranas. Yes just your normal day out.

So who in their right minds fish for Piranas? 'Loco' was coming with us so should be an interesting trip! (The crazy man who picks up snakes!)

Bunches


It was a nice late afternoon, the lake was very pleasant. Daniel steered us in the direction of seeing Caiman and a good place to fish.

For some reason I had decided to wear my hair in bunches. Not a big thing you may say. But have not worn bunches probably since I was at School, but felt it was good in the heat! My sister Julia wears bunches and looks very good!

So back to fishing!

The sun went down and it was dark!


They were very basic rods with a bit of beef on the end.

I caught a Pirana!

Silly grin on my face and a Pirana


I caught it and it jumped onto the boat! Daniel picked it up and we took a photo. It had bitten through the leaf above - you may just see the teeth marks in the leaf below the fin. We throw it back! That being the Royal we, Daniel throw it back!

Dairmaid fishing


A Black Caiman


We saw a few Caiman, but I think more saw us!. Luckily no one fell in the water! We then headed back to shore in the pitch black! Then went on a 30mins night walk again. This time we walked pretty fast in order to get back for supper! I was walking in the middle, not last. But we still were not home, in our small motorboat in the pitch black we headed back up the river and arrived home safely.

They had very nice Cuba Libre´s in the bar!

I felt a bit less scared sleeping that night, but only a bit.

Peru - Day walk through the Amazon Jungle!

FRIDAY MORNING

The Jungle is great! We can hear lots of weird and funny animal and bird noises.

It has cooled off a bit and unfortunately started to rain so we the planned 9.30am Jungle walk has been delayed. Oh well ...

Back to the hammock!


When the rain cleared we put on our special 'Jungle boots' (Also known as Wellington boots in Britain and I think Gum boots in Oz?

ROWAN and JANI - What do you call Wellington boots in Oz?

We had a great walk, saw loads of weird and wonderful trees, plants, flowers, animals and insects ...

A butterfly


A rather large snail!


Parrotnose flower


Big lemons


Photographing ants


I had to take this photo as it was us all photographing ants, and we all liked taking photos! thourght it was funny, but maybe you had to be there.

The ants were cool ants! Not to be confused with ANts P2P. they were leafcutter ants. They were crossing our path. Was amazing to see the ants carrying a big leaf on their backs.

Watch my video of ants ... ?

Not ants in your pants!


Fungi


Rowan craking the Brazil Nut in one go!


Jubilation!


There are about 8 Brazil nuts in one big nut


I tried to break open the Brazil nut shell but did not manage to. Rowan did it in one go!

Cutting down sugar cane


We tried some sugarcane. Tasted nice!

Cotton


There was a tree called 'The Garlic Tree' (I think was its name) that was massive and was hollow. I had a quick look inside, while the other much braver members of our group actually stood up inside the tree. After one of them saw a spider above their head I was rather pleased I had not ventured in. Some strange things in the Jungle.


Termite nests


The pineapple family


I had forgotten what tree looks like but there was a large tree we saw called a 'Lupuna' that if you sleep under you get nightmares. Or did I make that up?

Was an amazing walk ... next stop lunch then fishing for Pirana´s!