Oct 2007

As I've been really lazy in keeping this up to date here's a short summation on the last few months. I arrived back in New Zealand at the beginning of April and spent a week catching up with friends in Auckland - thanks to Brian and Libby for putting me up, not having to sleep in a dorm was a blessed relief after 7 months of no privacy! A few nights out were of course on the cards and bizarrely enough (although by now I don't really consider many things bizarre) I bumped into Sinead - a girl I had worked with in Cuzco in Peru! Small world eh?

I then made my way down to Wellington where I met up with my mate Nads and together made our way around the country over the next few weeks, many a laugh was to be had and I can't wait to get back and catch up again - should hopefully be before the end of the year.

After that it was off to Sydney where I stayed for just over a month meeting up with my London buddies Caroline and Nicky - such a relief not to have to do the whole "What's your name, where are you from, where have you been, for how long, yadda, yadda, yadda! After a few nights in a hostel I moved onto the sofa of Caroline's very nice boyfriend Mike's house along with the Python and young Tim. After trying to find mildly interesting work I decided to cut my losses and beat a hasty retreat back home in order to shore up the funds again and decide what was to be next on this rollercoaster of life. After a few days in London catching up with old friends it was back to Ireland for 4 months where I worked in my brother's restaurant, camped out at friends houses and spent a lot of time in the sea only to find the travel bug was well and truly embedded and my feet were itching like hell again - time to get the hell outta there! Thanks to the parents for the assistance! So now I find myself back in Australia and trying to decide on what's next - for the last week I have been working in an Outdoor Ed camp and now I'm seeing what comes up next, either I'll be moving down into Melbourne or trying to find more work with OEG, I'll try to keep you all posted!

After the beauty and diversity of the trip in the Salar de Uyuni region I moved south to Tupiza - a town known for its laid back atmostphere and a convenient break on the way back to Argentina, a mere 3 hours from the border. I met up again with Abran and Carrie, friends met a few times before in various places and together we put a hole in the local supplies of red wine.

Not much to say about the town really, as advertised it was extremely laid back and offered trekking in the nearby hills and an alternative starting point for the trip into the Salar de Uyuni. I stayed a couple of nights and then made my way back to Argentina via a border crossing from tediousness that couldn't be made up. It took approxiamtely 6 hours of standing in a queue only for an official to come up, take our passports, head off with them for a couple of minutes and come back with them all stamped - why couldn't they have done that in the first place????

Due to the amount of time taken to cross the border I couldn't get a bus back to Salta that day so ended up going to Jujuy and then Salta the next day, then after a couple of days I caught anoher bus over to Puerto Iguazzu and the magnificant water falls that reside there. Having been to Niagara Falls I was expecting something similar - nothing like them at all! They were so much more, Niagara was like a dripping tap compared to the majesty of Iguazzu Falls. The Argentinian side of the falls offers miles of tracks through butterfly filled tropical forests as well as boat trips under the falls themselves - so what's a girl to do? Well get wet of course! This place is one of the most jaw dropping beautiful places I have ever been and if I had of stayed around a few more days I would have taken the trip across the border to Paraquay and Brazil - both of which were a mere couple of miles away......maybe when I go back someday.

Fom Puerto Iguazzu it was a 16 hour bus trip back to Buenos Aires and a couple of weeks party time before heading back to New Zealand via a night in Santiago again. Yet again Buenos Aires didn't fail to delight - meeting up with old friends and celebrating St Patricks Day was definitely one to remember. I also have to say that the people I met in the hostel this time around were the best bunch of people I met in my trip around - all very friendly, funny and up for a laugh at any given moment. So just so I remember.....Kristina, Meredith, John, Christina, Jodie, Ewan, Helen, Tom, Dierdre, Kate, Ben and the Frat Boys. The wheelbarrow races at 5 in the morning were particularly entertaining and much more preferable to the naked league which was up for discussion many times!

So that as they say is that - the end of my travels in South America, a continent blessed with rich cultures, generous people and such diversity that you could never get bored. My hope is that I'll get to go back in the not too distant future and work my way from Mexico down to Argentina - any joiners/dreamers welcome!