Amsterdam was our next stop on the way to Munich. I've never been to the Netherlands before so this stop officially makes country #36 to my travel list.

We arrived to a reasonably overcast and slightly wet Amsterdam. We were greeted by a bloke from the apartments we were renting and he led us into the red light district to find our apartment. We arrived at a little door in a street and were informed that everything above was ours. Entering the building and negotiating the steep winding staircase revealed a three level apartment, which was pretty cool. We met up with a few others that night and partied the night away.

The first full day in Amsterdam and it was wet and miserable and there were a few sore heads amongst us. We had an easy morning, which was probably needed anyway, before heading out for a canal tour, in the rain, after lunch. Was hard to really appreciate the canals in the rain but there is a lot of them and the general infrastructure in Amsterdam is very bike and canal focussed. It's noticeable the lack of any land area, with all buildings butting up against the other building and all going up, rather than across.

Day 2 saw a couple of us take a train to the Hague, renting some push bikes and then cycling about 30kms to Rotterdam, via Deft. It was a nice day fortunately and given how flat The Netherlands is, an easy cycle, except for the headwind. Delf is very quaint and is the home to that blue and white china you see around the place. Rotterdam, by contrast, is a huge port and we did a tour of it in the afternoon. It's massive and very busy. Containers and container ships everywhere. We trained it back to Amsterdam and again hit the town that night.

Our final day in Amsterdam saw us float around a bit. I visited Anne Frank's house, which was really interesting, before meeting up with the others at the "I am Amsterdam" sign for some photos before heading to the Heinekken brewery for a tour, which was pretty cool. I even have a beer bottle at home that says "brewed by Dave Wylde". hahaha.

We took the overnight train to Munich that night - next stop Oktoberfest!

Cheers
Dave

G'day everyone

Again I'm off on travels, this time, the end goal is Oktoberfest in Munich Germany but for now, the start is London, UK.

As I've been to London a few times before, there isn't a whole lot to say here. We (four of us) are staying at a hostel near King Cross Station, which is nice enough but the rooms are tiny.

We had a big day our first full day in London. After doing some shopping on Oxford Street in the morning, where I went nuts on the credit card(s), we went to Fullham to see Fullham play the Wolves in the English Premier League. Was a great match that the home side eventually won 2-1. After the game, grabbed some dinner in the area near the hostel before having a power nap til midnight. At midnight, we got up and headed for Ministry of Sound club. Fedde Le Grand was playing and the place was packed. The club itself doesn't look like much from the outside but it packs a killer sound and lighting system which is 2nd to none. So loud but so clear. Amazing.

Next day I did some more shopping before catching up with an old Deloitte colleague from my Germany days, Emir, who took me for a nice lunch. After a lovely afternoon catching up, I rejoined the lads and took in a comedy club in Leicester Square that evening. Acts weren't bad and got a few laughs. 

Monday there wasn't much to report, last minute shopping then a flight to Amsterdam. Next update from there.

Cheers gov,

Dave

Howdy again

What a fabulous last few days of my holiday I've had.

After leaving Paraty, we hit an island off the Brazilian coast called Ilha Grande. After a one hour boat ride to the island, we all took in a late lunch/early dinner and spent most of the night partying. The next day we took a hike around the island to Lopes Mendes beach, which took us about 3 hours and past three very beautiful beaches. We took a boat back from Lopes Mendes back to our Pousada.

The next day we hired a boat, along with another Intrepid travel group and a GAP adventures group and went snorkelling and cruising around on a BBQ tour. All drinks were included so more partying was the order of the day. Lots of fun in the sun and in the water. We had a pizza night at the Pousada where we were staying which we also invited the other tour groups to. This was our last night on island.

A few sorry faces were in our group the next morning when we met to take a boat back to the mainland and a bus to Rio de Janeiro. Upon arrival, we checked in to our hotel in Copacabana then headed straight up to Christ the Redeemer statue, situated 710m above Rio city. It was a bit cloudy unfortuantely but we still got decent enough views. We had our final group dinner that night with our tour leader, Gustavo as the next morning was officially the end of our tour.

Sugar loaf mountain was the next tourist attraction which we hit up first thing the next morning. We took two cable cars up to the top and were awarded with great views over Copacabana and Ipanema beaches. After lunch, four of us decided to go hang gliding. We ran off a platform 520m above Rio and had near perfect weather conditions for our flights. It was really beautiful flying over Rio and quite peaceful. My pilot and I made a perfect landing on the beach below after about 12-15mins of flying.

That evening, I caught up with a former Deloitte colleague and his wife for dinner before joining the others for some more partying action in Ipanema. This was also the spot for our first goodbyes of the group, with some people departing the next day. Not so for me, the next day, I headed to Ipanema beach to try and get some last minute tan going on and to chill out. I met some others of the group and spent the day relaxing before saying more goodbyes at dinner.

Now, I'm sitting in the airport lounge waiting to fly home so this will be my final post for my South American adventure. Hope you've all enjoyed reading about it as I've had living it.

Cheers, adios, obrigado.

Dave

Howdy

After finally arriving in Foz de Iguazu in Brazil, we spent the rest of the day checking out the Brazilian side of the falls. For me and a few others in our tour, this meant a helicopter ride out over the national park before joining the rest to see the falls from lower down. The water levels were a bit low so the falls themselves weren´t as impressive as they otherwise might have been but nevermind, they were great anyway. That afternoon we visited a bird park which was really cool with lots of species of birds which we could get quite close to.

The next day we crossed back into Argentina to see the falls from that side. Here we were able to walk out on a platform perched at the tops of the "Devil´s Throat" section of the falls which was very impressive indeed. We did some more wandering around, some people took a swim too, before heading back to Brazil. We had a rather large party that night which was a heap of fun with many of us ending up in the hotel pool to beat the heat.

The next day was a free day but a few of us organised a quick trip to Cuidad de Oest in Paraguay seeing as the border was close. We did a bit of shopping and looking around before heading back to Brazil for yet another epicly long bus ride. This one was 16hrs to Sao Paulo, where we head breakfast at our guide´s parents place, which was very nice, before yet another bus, this one 7 hours to Paraty. 25 hours later, we arrived, all looking very tired, despite our seats being reasonably accommodating for a bus.

Paraty is a small coatal town on the way to Rio. We only had two nights there, including the one we arrived after our bus journey. We spent our only free day taking a boat tour around some of the small islands, where we swam and drank yet more Caipahrina´s, despite the reasonably poor weather. The next day we started off on a 2.5hr local bus ride to a small city to get a boat to take us to Ilha Grande, an island off the Brazilian cost. After the bus and the boat, we arrived, checked into the hotel and got a very late lunch/early dinner before some more partying.

I´ll update more on Ilha Grande later as that´s where I am now and i´ll post all about it when my time here is finished.

Next stop Rio de Janiero!

Dave

Bom Dia!

I´ve officially arrived in the last country that I´ll be visiting on my south american trip, Brazil.

Our tour started in Buenos Aires in Argentina and took us to Uruguay first thing on day 2. We took a 1 hour ferry across to Colonia del Sacramento, which is a quaint little town with cobblestone streets. It´s not very big at all and unfortunately for us, all the museums are closed on a tuesday which left us with nothing much to do. I checked out a lighthouse, wandered around but didn´t do much else.

Day 3 we headed to the captial of Uruguay, Montevideo. Here we found our hotel then headed down to Mercado del Puerto, via Plaza Independencia, where 5 of us shared a massive meat bbq cookup, Uruguian style. Needless to say I didn´t eat for the rest of the day, which was a bit of a shame given we went to a nice restaurant that night that had live tango singing.

The next day we took a five hour lunch time bus from Montevideo to Tacuarembo, where we met our ranch guide, who put us in the back of his truck and drove us about 2 hours our to his ranch where we would spend the next 3 nights and days. The ranch only had 2 hours of electricity each day but did have hot water in one of the showers 24hrs.

We rose the next day having decided as a group to work rather than relax and were quickly introduced with our horses. We were taught to saddle them up ourselves then next thing we were off in the fields rounding up sheep. I´ve never ridden a horse and was rather nervous but found the experience enjoyable after a while. After lunch we had to give only the lambs worming shots which involved us chasing the lambs around the holding pen and holding them while the ranch manager gave them their shot. Was great fun. We released the sheep and rode home.

Day 2 on the ranch and again we decided to work so it was back on the horse, though we swapped horses from the previous day to make sure we didn´t get comfortable with one animal. Today was cows and we set out to round them up in the morning. After yet another amazing lunch, we gave the calves worming shots in similar fashion to the sheep but using a holding pen rather than wrestling them. After the work was done, it was time for a little fun so we learnt how to throw a lasso. After several poor failed attempts to lasso the post, I was given a shot on a running cow. I got very close with my first attempt and on my second, I actually lasso´d it!! Unfortunately I didn´t let go of the rope quickly enough and got rope burn for my troubles. However, i was awarded best gaucho and given a free bottle of a grappa/honey uruguian drink for my efforts.

Awaking from night 3 on the ranch, today was a travelling day. First we spent 4 hours in the back of the ranch manager´s truck driving to the Uruguian border town of Salta. There we stocked up on picnic food and had a picnic by the lake, before going to a water park for a bit of fun. We then crossed in Argentina and picked up an overnight bus, which took us 13 hours up to Foz de Iguazu, where we then met another guide who took us over the border into Brazil.

I´ll post more about Brazil separately.

Ciao for now.

Dave

Howdy

Today completes a week in Buenos Aires, a section of my holiday completely unplanned and intended to be used for some R&R before my next big trip up the east coast of South America.

We flew in from Lima and made our way to an apartment in Palermo, an upmarket area of Buenos Aires. We originally were meant to have one, 2 bed apartment but ended up with two, 1 bed apartments. Either way. Fantastic building, very nice. We finished the day out looking around our local area a bit before heading to an early bed.

Day 2 we explored Buenos Aires central. We started in Palermo and walked through Recoleta, visiting the famous cemetary, which is incredible. One of the famous people buried there is Evita, as in "Don´t cry for me Argentina", Evita. We continued our long walk into the microcentre, visiting the busy street of Florida before finding a pub to watch some soccer.

The next day, we did a bit more looking around the local area, doing a bit of shopping and sorting out things like getting photos burnt to DVD, etc. That afternoon we had organised to go and see a soccer match for local team, Boca. Whilst not a soccer fan as such, the atmosphere was incredible to experience.

May 1 marked labour day in Argentina and most things were closed. I spent a bit of time walking around trying to find something open and eventually ended up at the cinema's to watch X-men. It´s a "meh" movie at best. Reasonably quiet rest of day.

Saturday we did more shopping and also checked out a museum of contemporary art before getting ourselves ready for a tango lesson, dinner and show in the evening. The tango is a relatively difficult dance but I´d like to think I showed some talent during the beginners lesson. The dinner and show was good too.

Sunday was all about Oasis. We spent the morning finding a ticket office after doing some research on the net then in the afternoon, we visited the markets in San Telmo, ate a late lunch by the dock area, then returned back to our apartments, and got ready for the concert. We elected to get seated tickets rather than standing room which I was ok with given they aren´t my favourite band. The concert was really good with some classics such as What´s the story, morning glory?, Don´t look back in Anger, Champagne Supernova and Wonderwall among others.

Today was our last day in Buenos Aires. We had to move out of our luxury apartments into a relatively unimpressive hostel in the downtown area and tonight we are to meet our tour group (14 in total if the sign is to be believed) before we leave for Uruguay tomorrow via boat. I was told by an Argentinian women that the things to do in Buenos Aires was a football (Soccer) match, a steak dinner and a tango show, and then you could move on. I can safely say I´ve done all of those things so I guess it´s time to go again.

My last part of my holiday officially starts today with a 17 day tour from here in Buenos Aires through Uruguay to Rio de Janiero in Brazil. That´ll be countries 4 (Argentina), 5 (Uruguay) and 6 (Brazil) for this trip. Looking forward to it.

Hope all is well back home. I was disappointed to hear the Eagles lost and I must post my condolences to Peter and family for their loss of Bluey a few days ago. Rest in Peace.

Cheers from BA!

Dave

Hi all

Since my last post, I´ve flown to the North East of Peru to the largest city in the world that can´t be accessed by car, Iquitos. Jon and I used Iquitos as a hopping point into and out of the Amazon Jungle.

After a late-ish arrival, we departed about 9am the next morning for Muyuna Lodge, which was a 3 hour boat ride downstream on the Amazon River, where we would spend the next 4 days/3 nights. I later clocked the boat to be doing roughly 53km/h at full clip using my GPS and the Muyuna sign claims the lodge to be 140km out of Iquitos so that´s probably about right.

We arrived at the Lodge and to be honest, I was blown away by its quality. It was a really top notch jungle lodge, with good, clean, safe and most importantly, well flyscreened bungalows, 24hr tea/coffee, great dining area and lots of boats at our disposal. Its been wet season here in Peru so our lodge was actually totally surrounded by water, with everything being on stilts. Before leaving Iquitos, we were advised to hire Wellington boots and after having lunch, we found out why. Our group of 6 people were taken on a short canoe ride to the back side of the lodge where we hiked around looking for animals. We spotted many birds and some pigmy marmosets (monkeys) during this excursion. After dinner we again went out for some night animal watching by boat.

At this point, it´s worth mentioning our guide, Cliver. Whilst impressive during the day, he was picking out animals at night by the reflection from their eyes. At one point, he picked out a tree boa-constrictor from the other side of the Amazon river and it took me about 5mins to see it, after we´d crossed the river and Cliver had been pointing at it trying to explain where it was. That night he also pulled off one of the floating reeds a Caiman, which looks like a mini croc.

Day 2 saw an early start bird watching before brekky before a morning boat ride looking for monkeys and other creatures. We spotted a Sloth, which our guide volunteered to get out the tree for us so we could have a closer look. We all thought he was joking but not so when he climbed out the boat, up the nearest tree and started toward the creature. After some convincing, the Sloth got within reach but during an attempt to grab it, the Sloth scratched the guide who accidentally dropped the Sloth about 8m down into the water. Fortunately the Sloth seemed unphased and climbed back up the tree while we all took photos of it now close up (and very wet). After lunch we had another boat trip to a lake area where we spotted pink river dolphins and had a swim (yes, in the Amazon with the Caimans, Pihrana´s, etc). Another late night boat ride animal spotting finished off this day. That night we had the most incredible thunderstorm. I swear I´ve never heard thunder so loud!

Day 3 and yet another early start. After brekky we went fishing for Pihranas which was amusing but frustrating. Essentially we had a stick with a piece of fishing line with a hook and a light sinker. Using chicken as bait, we would drop the hook in, then bash the top of the water with the stick, making a commotion, then lift the hook back up. You would usually feel a couple of nibbles shortly after and if you were lucky, you´d land a fish. I only managed 1 fish from about 10-15 pieces of bait. Was a bit of fun though and we ate them for lunch (though there wasn´t much of them). We also spotted giant lilly pads (about a metre across) and tree iguanas before returning to the lodge. That afternoon saw us visit a local village, where our guide was from, where we saw our first anaconda, which one of the villagers had caught. Needless to say we didn´t get too close.

Day 4 was our last day and again started with early morning bird watching and then followed with another walk through the jungle, which didn´t prove very successful. Most of the afternoon was spent on the speed boat back to Iquitos. I probably need to mention here that all of our boat rides were reasonably difficult and you could tell we were quite remote. The river itself has a lot of vegetation growing on the surface and every trip we took, the boat would have to try and plough through this vegetation or weave in and out of trees growing in the river to find a passage through what looked like a field of green. Most trips involved gunning the boat hard through the vegetation, then stopping to get all the reeds, etc off the prop and skeg of the engine. Each boat ride was a bit of an adventure to see if we could make it through.

Another night in Iquitos and then we flew to Lima. A reasonably uneventful day in Lima as we were both a bit tired from a string of early starts. We saw one ruin of Huaca Pucllana, which is a pyramid type structure they reckon dates back to about 400AD. That evening we caught up with some of the Perth ladies we had in our Galaps tour and went for a nice dinner and a few drinks.

Next stop Buenos Aires!
Pics to come from BA.
Cheers!