Jordan

I was bummed to be leaving Sarah and our beast of a car but she had signed up to do some turtle volunteering so I had booked a tour in Jordan. I was pretty nervous about doing a tour as the last tour I had done was in Cambodia 9 years ago and although fun I had gotten used to travelling on my own. I arrived in Jordan a day before the tour started. I did nothing the first day except watch GOT and Ru Paul’s drag race and get the Jordanian equivalent of KFC for dinner. The next day we weren’t meeting the group till 6pm so I thought I should prob head out and explore a bit of Amman. My first stop was the Roman Ampitheatre. It was way more impressive then the little one we had seen in Cyprus and I basically had the place to myself. I think it is still sometimes used for concerts which would be amazing to see. I then wandered through a market looking for a mosque a blog had said to see. The mosque was very underwhelming and not the one I thought I was going to see. A taxi driver then told me the name of the one I wanted to see and said he could drive me. I decided I was going to walk as MapsMe said it was only 3km away. I had mad regrets not getting that taxi. Firstly I had forgotten how far 3km actually is, secondly Amman is built into a mountain side and the whole place is up and down hills and stairs. To top it all off it was 34 degrees and Ramadan so I was trying to be respectful and not drink water in public (that quickly went out the window). By the time I reached the mosque I was about to pass out from the heat! I then had to put and Abaya on over my soaking wet long sleeve top and jeans so I could entre the mosque. Thank god there was aircon inside! I sat there watching people pray and trying to cool down before I had to start the walk back to the hotel. That evening we had a meeting to meet everyone in our tour group. The lady in my room, Sarah, was cool but I was quite unsure about the rest and had no idea what their names were. It was going to be an interesting week.We started the day earlyish and headed to the most preserved Roman city outside of Italy, Jerash. It was pretty busy with tourists and was a stinking hot day. Our tour leader gave us a very long and in depth tour of the city. It was pretty cool and very well preserved but most of us spent our time trying to find shady spots to escape the heat. Thankfully our second stop was the dead sea! I was really looking forward to going here as I’d always wanted to go but was a bit worried about it being cheesy and super touristy. After a buffet lunch which really tested my patience and reminded me why I hated tours we finally got to go for a swim. It was a strange sensation. You would sit back in the water and then your legs would just pop up like a cork. When we went to deeper water we just bobbed with our waste up out of water and couldn’t get our heads under water (although I didn’t try too hard coz getting the water in your eyes stung!!) When we finally emerged from the water our skin felt really weird like you had a layer of oil on it. By the time we got to the showers it had started to sting a little so we quickly rinsed off and had a swim in the pool. It was definitely better then I thought it was going to be and wasn’t cheesy at all!
The next morning wasn’t off to a great start as I had had 0 sleep. The aircon in the hotel wasn’t great to start with but it completely stopped working the night before. We just laid there sweating waiting for our alarms to go off. I also wasn’t particularly stoked about the activities we were doing today so I was pretty cranky. Out first stop was Mt. Nebo which was where Moses had suposidley been shown the promise land and had been buried/died. Other then being an alright view it was just a church with some mosaics in it and really not that interesting. The highlight had to be Susan falling on some of the ancient mosaics. We then went to an old church that also had some mosaics that were supposedly a map for pilgrams back in the day. It also wasn’t to impressive and the highlight was def getting to sit in the most air-conditioned room we’d been in so far! It was a long day on the bus and we still had a few stops to go. Next stop was Karak castle which was also not that impressive. It was built by the crusaiders and was pretty well maintained and had some good views but definitely wasn’t the best castle I had been to. Our final stop was Little Petra, finally somewhere I was interested in. Little Petra was used by traders back in the day to leave most of their livestock behind. While not being anywhere near as impressive as Petra it was still a nice introduction with some carvings into the mountain side and I thought was worth the stopover to get you excited for the next day.We finally arrived at the hotel which was 100 times better then the previous one with good showers, aircon that worked and a pool! We had dinner at the hotel called Masaf which was lamb cooked in yoghurt which may not sound amazing but it was delicious!!Finally it was the day we had all been waiting for, the day we were going to Petra!! It was pretty much the main reason all of us were here. It was an early start to the morning as we were trying to beat the heat. We got there at 6 am and slowly made our way to the treasury as our guide was giving us a tour. I didn’t listen to anything he said as I was busy taking photos and wanted to hurry up and get to the treasury before everyone else. After what felt like a lifetime of Hakam talking we were finally at the treasury! It was even more impressive then all the photos. We were allowed 30 mins free time here before the tour would continue. Andrea and Fiona decided to hike up to the top view point and set off with their Bedouin guide. The rest of us were busy trying to take photos without bloody Jo photobombing them. Elle had given me a tip the night before to another lookout that you didn’t have to pay “the street rats” for and wasn’t such a hike. If you are facing the treasury it is to your right and kinda just looks like a rock landslide but you can climb up it and it turns into a path. There is a little cafe up there but seeing as we were so early it wasn’t open yet so we didn’t even have to pay the 1 dinah they were asking. I dragged my Russian boyfriend (photographer) for the day, Susan (a funny girl from Ireland, her description not mine) up with me so I could have my insta photoshoot. We then climbed back down and met the rest of the group and I met my biggest fan.One of the random tour guides decided I looked like Bridget Jones and decided to tell everyone at the treasury he thought so. We also ran into him at the cafe at the monastery where he ignored his tour group and decided to quiz me about my life and ask me what I was doing that night much to the amusement of Susan and the rest of the people in the Cafe. I was then called Bridget for the rest of the tour or BJ for short. After the treasury the tour continued which I also didn’t pay much attention to but I do remember him saying the treasury was actually a tomb and most of the ornately carved places were tombs and the plain places were houses. Finally the tour was over and we split into our young and old groups (I was in the young group) and set off exploring. We were all trying to get to the Monastery before it got to hot. It was a steep climb of 800 stairs and took us roughly 45 mins to get up with lots of stops in the shade. The fit group Sarah, Sy, Janice and Kieron took off and basically ran the hike. Then there was me and Susan, and just behind us was Fiona, Andrea, Chris and Dennis (a really cute older couple from Canada). The monastery was definitely worth the hike and is a must see if you go to Petra. It basically looks just like the treasury but on a much grander scale. It also has a really cute cafe up there in a cave where you can smoke Shisha and have a drink. I wouldn’t recommend the food as the sandwiches looked super average but were prob still better then the lunch pack we had been given.It was really hot at this point so we headed back down the stairs to the main drag. We were going to go see the tombs but they were swarming with people and we were so hot we were having to take breaks every time we saw some shade. We were over it and started to make the long trek back. When we got to the treasury it was heaving with people and was so uncomfortably hot! I was really great full for the early start and would highly recommend getting there early. That evening we went out for dinner to the worst restaurant in all of Petra. We were all starving as we’d had a massive day of walking in the heat and our lunch was really average. I know it is Ramadan which was the excuse our guide gave us for the slow service but I don’t think it can excuse the terrible food. Sy wrote it best in his TripAdvisor review so I’ll just share that: Went with a small tour group after visiting Petra, we didn’t know each other that well before but feel we are now family after surviving the ordeal of eating at this restaurant. We came during ramadan but weren’t expecting to do a forced fast as we waited two hours for food, ironically my “mixed grill” which consisted of 3 tiny skewers and an avalanche of bread actually did look like it had been cooked for two hours. If I wanted to eat something this dry I would have stayed in Petra and eaten the sand. My friend ordered some vegetarian roast thing, aside from the laughable meagre portion it was so over seasoned it tased like the Dead Sea in a metal bowl. My other friend ordered some kofta hummus abomination, which was basically a slice of lamb spam topped with potato and lumpy sour cream and finally another friend after specifying they are allergic to only one thing on God’s green earth; low and behold there it was right there in the rice she ordered. In their defense a few of the people in the group didn’t mind the food however we witnessed the same amount of people get up and leave hungry and angry. They have a sign which reads “good food takes time” well apparently bad food takes longer.We were halfway through the tour and there was a clear devide in the group. The youngsters and the Oldies. Suprisingly I was the second youngest of the group so the youngsters actually weren’t that young, the oldies were just really old and some of them quite annoying. There was Jo and her cousin who were from Korea and didn’t speak any English. Well Jo spoke English as she lived in the states but seemed to pick and choose when she did. Then there was Anne, an annoying older Irish women that seemed to think the tour revolved around her and was always late! She also wore the same dress for the first 4 days…. But the worst had to be Jim an older American guy with a bad facelift. We were all unsure about his age but I would guess he was in his 70s. He never seemed to know what was going on as we don’t think he could really hear and had all these stories that were either just totally untrue or happened maybe 50 years ago. He also constantly took photos of everyone but in a creepy way and none of us knew what he was going to do with all these photos as he never shared them with anyone… Moira was the only exception to the old group. She was an awesome older Irish woman that was so much fun and really funny so she would hang out with us sometimes when she wasn’t stuck with Anne.After surviving the worst food day and suprisingly not getting food poisoning we headed into the desert in Wadi Rum for a Bedouin experience. We started with a 4 hour jeep ride. It wasn’t really a jeep more a ute with benches in the back and a bit of shade. It was loads of fun though driving over the dunes and trying to climb to the top of a massive one (I didn’t quite reach the top…). We then drove to a spot to watch the sunset. It was surprisingly windy and we were getting sand blasted the whole time. The sunset was ok as the sun disapeared between 2 mountains but wasn’t the best sunset I’ve ever seen.

Finally it was time to head to our Bedouin Camp for the night. It was hardly camping as it had a proper flushing toilet and beds but for some people this was their first time “camping”. After a delicious dinner we walked up a dune to go star gazing but it was a full moon which was so bright we had shadows and could only really see afew stars so we went back to camp and roasted marshmallows.It was our second last day on tour and we are headed to the seaside town of Aquab. We had all booked onto a snorkeling tour so we headed down to the harbour to board our boat. It was a really nice boat with tunes blasting, the only thing missing was the booze! It wasn’t far to our first snorkeling spot the reef is so close to the shire we prob didn’t even need to go on the boat as we easily could have drived there. It was actually a really nice reef! Sadly there was quite a bit of rubbish being so close to the shore but the reef seemed really healthy and there were loads of cute tropical fish. I stayed away from the group as some of the people didn’t look like the greatest swimmers and was just a big splashing mess. After a delicious lunch we had one more snorkel and then headed back to the hotel. We finished the night off with a lovely fish dinner and some drinks at the Hilton, although it was so windy I didn’t stay for long.

Nothing much happened on the last day of the tour. We spent most of the day in the bus and then went out for one final dinner which was at a buffet that was so packed with people clambering for food. It was not enjoyable. My last day in Jordan ended up being a lot better then the last day of tour. Most people had left but Janice, Kieron and I went to this amazing cafe and had beers, burgers and Shisha all afternoon. Def one of the highlights of Jordan! While the tour had some frustrating parts as a whole I had a fun time and would consider doing one again but no longer then a week!

Watch out Cyprus here we come!!!

After a quick week in London freezing my ass off, catching up with some friends and doing some life admin it was time to start my 3 month Holiday!!! I was meeting Sarah on the tiny island of Cyprus to do a one week road trip around the southern part of the island. We met at the airport and met the guy to take us to our hire car. It was one of the smallest cars I think I’ve ever seen and it was apparently am upgrade! We signed all the paperwork and head off for our first stop Ayia Napa! Sarah had got a recommendation from her family friends to go to apparently the best drag show ever. I was super keen as I am obsessed with drag queens and had been binge watching Ru Paul’s drag race all week. The show defenitly lived up to the hype! They were so funny and the costumes were amazing! There was also all you can drink wine!! By the end of the show we were pretty buzzed so decided to check out what was happening in town. It wasn’t super busy but we managed to stay out till 4am and get our partying fix.

Our beast of a car

The next morning was a bit of a write off. We didn’t get out of bed till lunch time and weren’t in the best state… We finally dragged ourseleves out of bed and headed to the sculpture park. We were pretty confused by the sculpture park… I guess it was exactly what its name said but was basically an empty lot with lots of different sculptures, more like an outdoor gallery I guess. We weren’t to impressed and the hangover didn’t help. I would say you could give this one a skip unless you’re really into sculptures. We then headed off to Cape Greco to see some caves. The path down to the caves was a little precarious four our little matchbox car but we thankfully made it down but were stressing about how we were going to make it back up. Then we saw a tiny smart car zoom up there and realised we were going to be fine! Unfortunately the weather wasn’t great as it was super windy making the water all choppy. It was still beautiful though. We managed to find our way down to a cave where I became a professional photographer. Everyone was keen to get those insta snaps. After I had taken about 100 photos of different people Sarah and I finally got our turn. We definitely didn’t have our instaposes down like the Russians or matching outfits but still got some nice photos and had fun! We then headed to the best seafood restaurant on the harbour called Vassos Tavern and had an amazing lunch (I got some baked fish and Sarah got the Calamari). Unfortunately it was way to windy to go to the beach. We definitely tried to lie there but we were freezing and getting sandblasted. That night we went to the cutest restaurant next to our apartment where the waiter didn’t miss a thing!

After spending the morning at the beach (the weather was a lot nicer today) it was time to hit the road and check out the rest of Southern Cyprus. We were off to a cute little village called Lefkara in the hills that was famous for its lace and silver making. It was such a cute little town where women sat out the font of their shops hand sewing all the lace. We spent a few hours wandering the streets taking pics and trying not to get sucked in by the cute old ladies. We then headed off to the Island capital Nicosia. We had a bit of trouble finding the air bnb we booked and spent a good 10 – 15 mins wandering up and down the road trying to find the place. After we found the place and sorted ourselves out we walked into old town. Sarah and been to the Turkish side before and had seen a tiny bit of the south side and said it was pretty cool. We went armed with a list of places to see from the lonely planet. I have to say I was not impressed with old town. Most of it was abandoned shops with loads of graffity. After wandering around for quite a while we finally found the place Sarah had been to before which was quite nice but really only one shop of streets. We checked out a church which was ok but nothing too amazing and then decided to head to dinner. We went to a very Cyprian restaurant and had my first Meze. A Meze is basically a never ending meal where they just keep on bringing out course after course. We had sooooooo much food. I think we managed to eat about half the food they gave us and still felt like we were going to explode! It was an awesome way to try loads of Cyprian food (like lambs liver and snails, we weren’t a fan of either) but I think better suited to a large group.

Neither of us really liked Nicosia so we decided to head back to the mountains early. Our tiny rental car defenitly struggled making it up into the mountains and we did most of the hairpin drive in second gear but we thankfully made it to the cute town of Kakopetria. Unfortunately there was a large group of school kids there so we went to a cafe and grabbed a coffee hoping they would disappear. Thankfully they did so we set off to explore the old town. Old town was only one street so it didn’t take long to explore. All the buildings had been restored to traditional old Cyprian mountain houses with each house having a wooden balcony that basically touches their neighbours balcony. While old town was really nice to wall through the highlight of the town had to be our lunch! We went to this amazing restaurant/hotel that used to be the old mill and had been beautiful resorted. We doth ordered the buttered trout as it had been recommended in a blog we were following and we weren’t disappointed! I think it was the best fish I have where had, probably because it was swimming in butter.

With our bellies full we headed off to our second mountain town where we were spending the night, Kalopanayiotis (good luck trying to say that one). The cutest little old lady checked us in and went through a map of the town in great detail making it sound like there was loads to do! We set off with our map in hand to go and see all the sites. We walked down to the monastery and had a look around one of the coolest churches. The paintings were so well preserved and there were some skulls in boxes (relics) just sitting on some shelves. We weren’t supposed to take photos but Sarah snuck in a few just before the priest came in and started chatting to us. The other sites sadly weren’t as impressive. There were some sulfate springs that was litteraly a trickle of water that they had built a weird fountain around, another few churches that weren’t open and old town which was actually just a massive hotel that seemed to own every resteraunt in town. They had done a beautiful job at restoring it all and we did go to one of the restaurants for dinner which was amazing!

Someone’s skull

The next morning we ventured further up the mountain to Kykkos
Monastery. We got there just as it opened, which I would highly recommend as we beat the bus loads of Russian tourists that rocked up as we were leaving. The monastery was amazing and covered in the most colourful mosaics. We found out later the mosaics are actually a recent addition but I still didn’t care as the were so pretty and colourful. The church was also really impressive as it had load of relics all in the most ornate boxes and so many different chandeliers. Apparently it also had the icon of the virgin Marry which was some painting by the apostle Luke that was brought to the area where a hermit was living and is supposed to have healing powers. I didn’t really notice it but it is always covered and no one ever sees it so I guess I didn’t miss out on much. We then headed further up the mountain to the first president of Cyprus’s tomb. He had served as a monk and the monastery before becoming the president so had chosen to be burried here. There was a huge bronze statue of him, way more mosaics and an awesome view. We thought he was buired in the building at the top but we found out after his tomb was at the statue….The rest of the day was spent driving back down through the mountains to Paphos. We stopped in the cutest little town surrounded by wineries for lunch called Omodos and then headed to Aphrodite’s rock. Apparently this was the birthplace of Aphrodite and one of the most popular beaches in Cyprus. We weren’t too impressed… It was packed with people and was a rocky beach. I guess the rocks in the water looked pretty but that was about it. We took some pictures and left.It was our last day in Cyprus and we had a few sites left to see in Paphos. We started with a really late breakfast that was actually just lunch at a really cool beach side restaurant next to some sea caves. It also had its own ship wreck that had just turned up one day after some bad weather. They tried to re-float it but weren’t successful so eventually just abandoned the ship. We then headed to Tombs of the king’s which were these amazing tombs that had been dug and carved out of the ground and had these outdoor atriums surrounded by pillars. Kings weren’t actually burried here just high ranking officials and their families. We then went to check out some more mosaics (coz we hadn’t got enough of them at the monestary). We spent way to long wandering around in the sun looking for the mosaics and I was very hot and bothered by the time we got to them. They were very impressive. Unlike the ones at Kykkos these were very old mosaics that had made the floors of grand houses back in the day (no idea what century). We spent our last evening in Cyprus having cocktails watching the sunset and then got take away pizza and wine and watched the best exotic Marigold hotel. I couldn’t have thought of a better end to our awesome Cyprus road trip!

My tips for Torres del Paine NP

To start with I would just like to say there are loads of much better blogs on how to get there, how to book your accom and what to pack. These are just a few extra trips.

1. You can easily avoid paying the NP entrance fee. This can save you quite a bit of money especially if you are doing day trips as it is only valid for 3 days entry including the first day you pay for it. When the bus pulls up the park ranger gets on the bus and gives a big speil about paying your fees and the nudes to take. Then everyone gets off and lines up to pay their fees. Instead of lining up just look busy taking photos and then head to the toilet and hide there for a little. Then exit the toilet and walk around the back way to the other side of the ranger station and get on which ever bus you need to. They never ask to see your park entry ticket. I did this my second time in the park as I refused to pay the park fees again! I would just suggest don’t take the early bus (Bus Sur) if you plan to do this as there aren’t as it gets there quite a bit before all the other buses and there aren’t as many people to blend in with but I still managed.

2. You don’t have to do the W or the O! Before going I thought this was the only way to do it and talking to people they make you feel like you have to do one of them. You don’t!! Do whatever you want! Even go for the “ll” if you want or just do the “l” or hire a car and drive around and do none of them. Some of the prettiest scenery is on the drive in so I wish I had done this one day.

3. If you are doing the O don’t pack 14 bananas and 14 apples as 2 French girls in my dorm did.

4. If you have time study the weather. Everyone says in Patagonia there is no point coz it changes so frequently but I think they just say this to make you feel better about having a shit day. I found that if it said it was going to be a nice day it was a nice day. Walking in the rain and wind is miserable don’t be a martyr.

5. If you have your heart set on hiking and camping the whole thing I strongly suggest being organised and booking it a few month in advance. It is possible to organise when your there but you have to be really flexible or be willing to part with a bit of money and stay in Refugios. There were people winging it and just going without bookings but I never actually met anyone who did it this way and it kinda just felt like old wives tales and I personally wouldn’t enjoy that kinda stress, but if your ballsy enough go for it!

6. This one sounds random but wear bug spray!! After the Torres hike I was covered in mosquito? bites and it was snowing!! I dunno what the fuck is up with the bugs there but they are hardy and I am super itchy. The same thing happened to Jo on the Torres trek so wasn’t just me.

7. Final tip it is all totally doable. I am by no means fit or an avid hiker and I managed. Obviously don’t make it hard on yourself by packing everything plus the kitchen sink (seriously you should have seen some of these bags) and just go at your own pace. You will easily make it in the times you have. They are hard hikes but you never want to kill yourself (except maybe the last part of the Torres). Chocolate helps!

How I feel about hiking

I’m in love with a Glacier!

I had met a lovely English girl named Hannah on the Torres trek that was also heading to el calaftae so we decided to head there togethere. Again being disorganised backfired on us. First we didn’t get to stay at the hostel that everyone recommended (America del sur) but we also missed out on doing the glacier trek the day after getting there. We spent the morning at the Hielo y Adventura office trying to decide which tour we wanted to do, the mini or the Big ice. We finally settled on the Big Ice tour and handed over a bucket load of money. As we knew the weather wasnt going to be great the next day we decided to check out the glacier that afternoon.

We frantically ran around trying to get some snacks/lunch and then we were off to the glacier. We paid the extortionate park entry fee (AR 500 ($32) only valid for 1 day) and then started our walk only the boardwalk to see Porito Moreno glacier. I had already seen glacier grey and was in complete awe so I had pretty high expectations. We rounded a corner and got out first glimpse or Porito Moreno. It was spectacular! The best part was you could get quite close to it compared to Grey and get a real feeling of its size.

After taking 100 photos at different view points we settled down to have our lunch and box of wine while just watching the glacier “calving” (where big chunks of ice break off forming icebergs). I could have watched it all day!

The next day we had booked a very expensive tour that let us walk on the glacier! We started the tour off on the balconies again. We really didn’t have much time here and the weather wasn’t that great so I was really glad we went the day before as well (even if it was expensive!). We then hopped on a boat that took us to the other side of the river to the starting point of the glacier hike. We started the hike off by walking along a dirt path for around an hour. It was so windy that I keep getting a face full of dirt. So far it wasn’t too enjoyable. Finally we were at the point where we could get on the glacier. We put our crampons on and set off. The crampons were kinda hard to walk in at first and were quite heavy but we soon got used to them.

The glacier was pretty amazing and it was nice to see it up close and learn a bit more about it. There are so many rivers and caves all over the place. I filled my waterbottle up at one and it was the nicest water I have ever drunk! In total we were on the ice for roughly 3 hours. It was an awesome experience but by the end I was kinda over it and the weather had turned to shit so we had to trudge back in the pouring rain. We were rewarded with an amazing ice cave under the glacier though at the end. They said that the cave isn’t always there so that made it extra special. If I was to have my time over I would have done the mini tour but still loved the tour and can now say I have walked on a Glacier!

Are you doing the W or the O 😒?

I was finally in Puerto Natales and it was time to get my hike on. I thankfully had met Jo in Pucon who disliked hiking as much as I did and had waited for me to get there to do an overnight hike to Grey. Well I like to think she waited but really she was too tired to do it the day after the Torres hike and everything was closed on Sunday for her to book anything for Monday. Yay for me! We had decided to do what we like to call the “ll” or the highlights tour, walking to grey staying a night and then doing Torres as a separate day hike. “Unfortunately” the only thing they had available was a fully made bed so we had to book that as it was the only option… We also decided we didn’t really want to carry food so we bought something for lunch and then treated ourselves to the meals at the Refugio.

With the lightest packs I think anyone has ever taken into Torres on our backs we set off on our 11km hike. It was a perfect day. The first part of the trek was quite uphill with a few flat bits thrown in between and had really nice views of snow-capped mountains and a lake. After a bit more of a climb up and a few more hours walking we reached the mirrador. As it was such a clear day we got an amazing view of the glacier. We had lunch and then took a few pics. It’s safe to say Jo is a terrible photographer and I’m not going to become instafamous.

It was then a very long way down to Refugio Grey. At one point we were basically climbing through a waterfall. By the time we got to the Refugio we were pretty done with hiking and extremely happy to be staying there the night and not camping or having to trek all the way back. We settled in for the night having a few vinos for happy hour and then had a delicious dinner. The beds were really nice but still sleeping in a 6 bed dorm. Still it was prob one of the nicest place I had stayed since being in Chile thankfully as it was also the most expensive place I had stayed ($US80)!

Breakfast wasn’t nearly as good as dinner but was still better then cooking. We went to get a closer look at the glacier so walked to the mirrador which was as close as you could get without jumping on a boat. It was amazing!! It looked like blue meringue. I think I took around 100 photos of it and none of them did it any justice. We then walked further up the trail which was part of the Infamous O trek. We got to the first suspension bridge and got one last view of the glacier before turning around and heading back for lunch.

The walk back was no where near as enjoyable. It was nearly all uphill and the weather was a bit overcast and drizzly. The walk seemed to never end!! We made it back for the 5pm ferry and we’re planning on walking to a waterfall close to where the ferry drops you off, but once we were there we couldn’t really find the path plus also didn’t really want to walk anymore. Randomly there was some American fitness guy filming a workout near the lake so we sat there and ate pringles while watching him work out.

After a day off bumming around town and eating loads of food I was off on the second leg of the “ll”. Jo had finally gotten out of Puerto Natales as she had done the Torres hike before I got there. I was really worried about time as they say the hike takes 8 hrs and I’m not the fastest hiker and with the buses I only had 9 ish hours. The first bit was awful! It was straight up a dirt/mud mountain with paths going all over the place. I wasn’t sure of I was on the right “path” but figured as long as I was heading up I was going in the right direction.

After an hour and a half I had made it to the Refugio. I felt like I was making good time. The weather on the other had wasn’t looking so great. I was really questioning whether it was worth continuing or not as I prob wouldn’t even see the towers. I then ran into Jersey (I still don’t know his name…) he was a guy we Jo and I met in her hostel that was on a crazy whirl wind tour of the world and didn’t seem to have much of a clue. He convinced/bullied me into continuing. Apparently we were now walking buddies. It was actually quite nice as he distracted me a bit from how shit the weather was and how hard the walk was.

As soon as we set off it started to snow! Not only had the weather turned shit the path had also stepped it up a notch. We were clambering up rocks for over an hour with no end in sight. I was well and truly over it and was seriously questioning why I keep spending my holidays going on stupid hikes! Finally we were there!! The snow had started to calm down but as suspected we couldn’t see anything. I was starving so we decided to sit and wait a while to see if the Torres would come out while we were eating our lunch. Thankfully 5 mins in the clouds started to clear just enough for us to see the famous Torres peaks. Everyone was so excited as we really didn’t think we would see them and it really made the effort worth it! Although I still hate hiking it was pretty spectacular plus I managed to smash it out in 7 hours!

Should start checking the weather

I was having a great time in Pucon but it was time to move on as everyone I had made friends with was leaving after climbing the volcano. As I had booked a flight out of Puerto Montt I decided to head to Puerto Varas, as everyone had said Puerto Montt was a shit hole.

Soon after I checked into my hostel I met a rather odd mix of people that were all travelling together. There was a very bubbly Irish girl, a very chilled French guy that was super hard to understand and a very loud and excited Philippino guy. Then after I had decided to go for a walk around town with them a very annoying over sharing weird German girl that they had met in Pucon joined the group. I was worried I was now going to be stuck with them for the whole time in Puerto Varas.

After a lovely dinner cooked by Sarah I headed to my room and tried to decide if I wanted to go to Chiloe or not. I then met a lovely dutch girl named Vera. After chatting to her I decided I couldn’t really be bothered heading over there as the weather was going to be shit and I really hadn’t heard great things about the place. Instead we decided to do a hike in the National Park close by. Yay! I didn’t have to hang out with the crazy German chick all day!!

After a nice sleep in and finding out I had to change hostels as this one was full we jumped on a bus headed for the park. I happened to sit next to an old lady that proceeded to talk to me the whole way about god knows what. I managed to catch mariscos and vino so I think she was talking about cooking or eating…. The bus dropped is off at a beautiful lake where we started our hike.

The hike thankfully wasn’t too hard but it wasn’t all that pretty either. We basically walked in a big loop that took 4 hours and occasionally got glimpses of the volcano when the clouds cleared and then glimpses of the lake. The rest of the time it was just shrubby bushes and the path was pretty sandy which made it a little harder. Out of all the things I have done so far in Chile this could Def be missed. But at least it got me out of the hostel and doing something.

My new hostel, Casa Vieja, was really quite cute and only accommodated 12 people. It was a really odd bunch of people staying there and they had all seemed to be there for quite a while. There was an older Chilean guy who was working as a tour guide and an older English guy that was volunteering there. It rained the whole next day so none of us did much.

I kinda felt like I wasting my time in Puerto Varas and really just wanted to get to Puerto Natales but I had to wait for my flight. It was really similar to Pucon but not as cute. My final day was Saint Paddy’s day and for some reason the owners of my hostel decided to have a big party. There weren’t even any Irish people staying there! They had bought 2 kegs of beer and put on a BBQ for everyone in the hostel. The food was amazing and the beer was even better. Needles to say we all got very drunk and decided to go to a club/pub to dance. We were there until 4 am and only left coz the older guy working at the tourist office started getting really handsy. Was still an awesome night but made travelling the next day a struggle!

Another town, Another Volcano.

After one of the best sleeps I’ve ever had on a night bus (I splashed out for a cama seat) I was in the adventure capital of Chile, Pucon. I had booked into apparently the best hostel in all of Latin America, Chili Kiwi. It was a really nice hostel but I dunno if I would say it was the best in all of Latin America…. I really didn’t get up to much on the first day. I had made friends with an American guy named Carlos that surprisingly didn’t speak Spanish and 2 Irish guys, Dave and Augustus. We spent most of the day playing cards and drinking wine. Was a pretty nice chilled day.

As I’d been so lazy the day before but also hadn’t woken up early enough to go to the National Park, I decided to go for a walk to a waterfall that was apparently close to the hostel. I rounded up a crew and set off on the “short” walk. Soon after we started I found out it was a 3hr walk one way mainly along a road. I was so ill prepared. Of course the Germans and Dutch had brought lunch and sun cream and enough water for a 6 hour hike. All I had was a little water bottle. I hadn’t even brought a bag. Thankfully we found some blackberries on the side of the road to snack on and Bernard shared some of his snacks. The waterfall was pretty impressive and at least it got me out of the hostel.

The weather forecast was pretty shit for the next day so we all decided to go to the hot springs. They were def some of the prettiest hot springs I have been too. It was absolutely freezing so we struggled to get change and run to the first pool. At least once we were in the pools we quickly warmed up. They ranged in temperature from 37-45 degrees. I could only stand in the 45 degree on for a few mins. It was actually kinda expensive to go which I didn’t realise as I still hadn’t worked out the exchange rate, but well worth it 🙂

On my 4th day there the weather was finally good enough to climb the volcano, the main reason everyone was there. I ummmed and ahhhed about it and even wrote my name down on the list but then decided to bail. Already suffered through one volcano climb don’t need to do it again. I think I made the right decision as most of the people looked completely wrecked when they got back and said it was pretty hectic and freezing cold. Instead I stayed at the hostel and had a lovely day kayaking on the lake with an Austrian guy named Samuel and 3 Irish people. Sam and I were terrible kayakers and zigzagged all I’ve the place covering twice the distance the others did. That night we celebrated our efforts with a lot of wine, it’s so cheap and good in Chile, and a platter of cheese!

Colourful Vapo

My flight to Santiago sadly didn’t get upgraded so still haven’t crossed fly business class off my bucket list. Thankfully there was a spare seat beside me so I had quite a comfortable flight. My first day in Santiago is a bit of a blur as I was so jet lagged. I managed to find an ATM and MacDonalds and that was pretty much my day.

After an amazing 12 hour sleep I woke up ready to explore Santiago. Crazily at breakfast I ran into an ICU nurse from Darwin that I had met once through Jess named Bec. We decided to do one of the free walking tours that went to the markets and cemetery. Our tour guide was great and I soon realised I know nothing about Chile such as they were under a dictatorship till the late 80s. The markets and cemetery were cool but pretty much the same as most places in South America. They did have the most amazing produce though and such a huge variety! Made me want to cook, but I didn’t.

The next day we were off to the port town of Valapariso. Some people had told Bec this was a must see and couldn’t be missed. My first impression of the place wasn’t great. Our hostel, La Joya, was really nice but seemed to be really far out of town. We headed to the market for a huge lunch and then went for a walk around our part of town. I still had no idea why anyone had recommended this place.

The next day we caught the bus into town and had a better look around. It was a lot prettier here but was still quite grungy. Valapariso is known for is street art and colourful buildings. There was street art everywhere and most of it was really impressive. We did another free walking tour and I finally started to see the charm of the place but I still don’t think it would be on my must see list. Maybe of we had been staying in a hostel closer to town and had a night out I would have seen it’s real charm.

While vapo was fun it was time to jump on my night bus, pop a Valium and hopefully catchch up on some much needed sleep!

Venturing off the mainland 🍷

After listening to everyones adventures in Tasmania and being extremely envious of their photos, it was finally my turn to travel to the little island. Libby had suggested going and the dates for in with Em’s wedding in Sydney and my trip to South America. As I hadn’t seen Kirsten in a while I convinced her to join us (plus I didn’t want to be a third wheel).

We decided to hire a car and turn it into a road trip. We were a little pushed for time as Libby had to get back for work but we managed to cram a lot in. Kirst and I got to Hobart a day earlier then Lib and Brad. We spent the morning exploring the very weird MONA. We prob should of had some drinks on the ferry ride over… All the “art” there was very weird and nothing you would really want in your house (except the wall of vaginas!!). You could spend forever here if you listened and read all the information on each piece. We took our time to begin with but then got hungry so rushed through a big section to find the fanciest resteraunt we ate at the whole trip. Our lunch at Pharos was expensive but worth it. It was a tapas place with views over the water. I felt a little out of place but it was fun to pretend to be fancy for an afternoon. We got the scallops, quail and octopus.

We then had to hussle through the rest of the museum as we were getting the ferry back at 3 to meet Brad and Lib to head up Mt. Wellington. Lib wanted to hike up it but thankfully let us drive. Halfway up I think she realised it was the right decision. The view from the top was pretty impressive! Def worth the drive (prob not the hike).

The next day we headed to Mount Field National park to check out some waterfalls. Libby obviously didn’t realise today was the hiking day as she was very nicely dressed in a cute summer dress and thongs. She still managed to do the hike around the waterfalls. The loop started at the very impressive Russell falls. Brad wanted to ditch us here but we convinced him to come to the next waterfall, horseshoe falls. After meandering through the tallest flowering trees in the world (Brad was not impressed) he decided he was done with the hike and headed back to the car but we continued on to the last waterfall Lady Barron falls. Russell falls was prob the most impressive but the walk was really nice. Sadly we didn’t see any platypuses.

Port Arthur was the first stop of our road trip. We had booked onto a cruise that started at 10am so we left early enough to take the scenic route and see afew places on the way. Besides the arch none of them were all that impressive. I think I would rather of had the sleep in. We rocked up to the tour company at 9:30 thinking we had loads of time till the tour. Apparently not. I hadn’t read the email saying we were supposed to be there at 9:15. We were suddenly in a rush as they thought we weren’t coming so had cancelled one of the boats. Thankfully they let us go on the tour and we didn’t hold everyone up too much. The tour was amazing!! While the cliffs were pretty spectacular the highlight was def the huge pod of dolphins, seals and albatross in a feeding frenzy. I have never seen so many dolphins before so close. I could have spent the whole tour watching them.

We then headed over to the Port Arthur historical sight. I didn’t really know much about it except there was the mass shooting there. So apparently it is one of the oldest penal settlements in Australia and was where all the worst and difficult criminals were sent. It sounded like a pretty horrible place to be as a criminal but I’m sure all prisons in those days were pretty awful. We had a quick tour around the place but we’re really rushed for time as we needed to get on the road to head to Coles bay. I wish we had a bit more time here as there was so much to see.

The drive to Coles bay was adventerous/terrifying. We took a short cutt that Brad’s friend and Google Maps had recommended. What they both failed to mention was it was on a rough dirt track through a national park. Thankfully we didn’t get a flat tyre and we washed the dirt off later so the car company never knew we went off road. I’m sure we must have broke some kind of record for fastest time between port Arthur to Coles bay. Brad had decided he was a rally driver and we were flying. Surprisingly the speed limits in tassie don’t seem to reflect the windyness of the roads so I don’t think we were ever actually speeding.

Our airbnb was amazing! It had an awesome deck with ocean views. Def called for lots of wine and cheese which we obliged with. After a surprisingly boozy night we were off to tackle the 12km hike around wineglass bay. Brad had opted out as he isn’t much of a hiker. Neither am I yet I seem to constantly go on hikes. The stairs up to the lookout were a bit rough but not too bad and thankfully not that far. After taking some amazing photos and trying to teach Libby how to take a photo, we wandered down to the beach. It really was beautiful but a little to cold to swim in except for lib who quickly jumped in and out. It was then a semi flat long loop across to the other beach, along the beach and then back to the car park. I was pretty pooped but was glad we did the whole loop. We decided to reward ourselves that night with even more wine and of course cheese!!

The next day saw us heading off to our second last stop, bay of fires. Sadly it was a pretty overcast and gloomy day so the water didn’t look quite as blue as it had in photos but it was still really pretty. Again it was a bit to cold for Kirst or I to jump in but Libby braved the waters again and had another extremely quick dip.

Our final stop was Launceston. No trip to tassie would be complete without a trip to a winery or two. Kirst, Lib and I had booked onto a tour of the Tamar valley which is mainly known for its sparkling and pinot noirs. I wasn’t the greatest fan of the pinots but loved the bubbles. For lunch we went to the fanciest wineries called Clover Hill. At first I thought we were just getting a cheese platter but then then just kept out bringing plate after plate. All of it was amazing and Lib and I were the only ones who liked blue cheese so I ate it all! While the tour was good fun and we got to go to a lot of wineries it was the most sober I had ever been after a wine tour coz of their stingy pours and low alcohol percentage I guess. It was our last night with Brad and Lib so we went out for a lovely steak dinner. Little heads up, places book out on a sat night so maybe make a booking if you really want to go to a certain place.

Kirst and I spent the last day together checking out some places around Launceston. We headed out to the insanely cute town called Evandale to go to the markets. The markets were your standard country town markets but the town was beautiful. I fell in love with it and wanted to move there! We then headed back into town and checked out cataract gorge. It was actually really surprising. I thought it was going to be a little park and a short walk but after a quick walk along the river it opened up to a pretty big park with a lake and a swimming pool. I wish I had brought my bathers! To top the day off we finished with a romantic dinner for 2 and then finally got to watch an episode of married at first sight! All in all it was a great trip with loads of wine and food and great company!! On to South America!!!

The ultimate Nicaraguan stitch up!

We only had a few days left before Jules and I had to head home (Rach was never going home and had already been traveling for a year and a half) and Jules was desperate to get a tan so we decided to head back to the beach. I was pretty happy to go as I only went to the beach once in San Juan and it wasn’t that great. We had heard of a pretty chilled out place called Popoyo beach so decided to head there. It was a mission! We jumpped on a chicken bus from Grenada to Rivas there we had to swap onto another bus to las Salinas. Unfortunatley there wasn’t a chicken bus for hours so we splashed out for a Taxi as we didn’t want to wait or do the walk. Now you would think that Popoyo Beach Club (the hostel we were planning on staying at) would be on Popoyo beach. It’s not. our taxi got to the intersection and told us we would have to pay more then the agreed price to get to the actual beach that our hostel was on. All up our taxi cost $30 which is alot by Nicaraguan standards. At least we managed to get there. Also a little tip: there are no ATMs near the beach so get all your money out before heading there.

Our first inpressions of the place weren’t great and we were really doubting our decision to trek out here. There was no real reception and when we walked in we didn’t really know where to go or who to ask for a room and it just had a bit of a weird vibe. We finaly foundthe owner and got shown to some beds. It  was  $10 a night and they weren’t bunk beds! We  were staying. Mainly for the fact that it was such a pain to get there. We  then went out the back of the hostel and realised we were on paradise. The  hostel was directly on a beautiful beach that was practically deserted. The whole place was full of hot surfers so Jules and I were happy. Our days were spent lying on the beach, swimming and watching guys surf. It was a great way to spend the last few days in Central.

On our second day there Rach came and found us. The crew were back together (well half of it). We decided to have a night out and headed to Magic Rock as they had a taxi picking people up and seemed like the only place that had something on. It was a pretty fun night until we decided we wanted to get home. There were no taxis to be seen. we asked the bouncers to call us a taxi or where we could  find one and he told us to wait 20mins and he would call one. We  sat there waiting and he never called one. I finaly got fed up of waiting as it was clear he wasn’t going  to help us. We just wanted to walk home along the beach but every kept saying “No puede, es muy peligroso!” (You can’t, It es very dangerous), but no one would tell us why it was dangerous or any other way to get home. After what felt like an hour of waiting and arguing we decided to take our chances and walk home along the beach. I hid most of my money in my bra so if we did get robbed they wouldn’t get very much. It was the most stressful walk home and probably the most scared I have ever been traveling. Thankfully nothing happened and we were totally fine but I think I probably smashed the speed walking along the beach record that night. I was well and truley over Nicaragua and its shitty lies. No one ever tells you the truth and it gets really frustrating. Nicaragua is by far the worst country in Central for this and is the one thing that really brings it down in my books.

After chilling on the beach for a few days working on our tans it was time to leace central. We had one more day of shitty chicken buses to Costa Rica  (its way cheaper to fly out of then Nicaragua) and then hop on a plane to head home. Central America was AMAZING!!! I had an awesome 5 months exploring and will def come back one day 🙂 Hasta luego!