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Around the World
  • Simon and Blake
Apr 2017 – Jan 2018

Around the World

Pengembaraan 282hari oleh Simon Baca lagi
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  • Simon and BlakeSimon and BlakeAround the World
    1

    Day 2 - Puno

    7 Jun 2017, Peru ⋅ ⛅ 7 °C

    Yesterday when I said I hoped the shower was hot, well it wasn't! So our day started with mucho friyo showers!

    We only had one full day in Puno before we head off to Cusco so we booked ourselves on to a couple of tours with our hostel. Our first tour was to the floating islands of Uros which are on Lake Titicaca. It took around 30 minutes on the boat to get to the floating islands during which our tour guide explained a bit about the islands and the people who live there. The islands are made entirely of reeds and the houses on the islands are made of reeds also.

    When we reached the island we had a very warm welcome from the families that live on the small island. We were given a demonstration of how the islands were made and they explained a little bit about their daily lives.

    Not only can you make islands, shelters and boats with the reeds, you can also eat them. It tasted a bit like soft celery. I don't think I will be rushing to eat any more reeds anytime soon.

    We were then invited to see the islanders home. A lovely lady called Marie who I reckon was around our age kindly welcomed us into her reed hut. She also encouraged us to dress up in some of her clothes which Simon found very entertaining! She was very sweet! We liked her so much, we felt obliged to buy one of her Incan tapestries that she made. Well we hope she made it anyway otherwise we were seriously conned out of £30. She was so pleased that we purchased it, we both got a huge hug and a kiss on the cheek!

    We then headed across to another island on the family's boat made entirely of reeds! But not before being seen off with some songs from the ladies. They even did a rendition of row row row your boat for the two English folk!

    We got back around 12:30pm and our next tour wasn't until 2pm so we ventured out to the market to look for some lunch. We stumbled across a stall where we sat and had some sandwiches and some fresh juice.

    Our afternoon tour took us to Sillustani, a pre Incan cemetery on the shores of lake Umayo, not far from Puno. The tombs are all at various stages of completion which enables you to see how they are created. In the largest tomb which is 12m high they found 35 mummified bodies, which included children. It was really interesting and we were able to walk around them and look inside.

    After visiting the tombs, we stopped for a delicious cup of Peruvian coffee and a Dairy Milk Caramel bar. The coffee has to be the most delicious cup of coffee we have had since entering South America.

    On the way back to Puno, we stopped at a farmers house to look around and learn about how the native people live. The native people only eat meat on special occasions such as a wedding or religious festival. They therefore get their protein from various types of quinoa which we were shown. We were also shown some other strange vegetables that grow in the area and belong to the potato family and then got to see try some of the food. The strangest thing we ate though was edible clay which is apparently very good for ulcers. You eat it by mixing the clay with water until it forms a paste and then dip a boiled potato in it. It didn't taste that bad as they add a lot of salt to the clay mixture so it was just really salty.

    We then had a look around the farmers house which just had one giant bed in it. All of the family sleep together in one bed to keep warm until the children become teenagers, then they sleep in a separate hut. They then have separate huts for the bathroom and kitchen.

    It was very interesting and the farmer also had a couple of alpacas, llamas and sheep including a one day old lamb which was very cute!

    In the evening we went out for pizza at a place recommended in the Lonely Planet which was delicious! We ordered so much though that we now have leftovers for bus journey tomorrow.    Baca lagi

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  • Simon and BlakeSimon and BlakeAround the World

    Cusco

    8 Jun 2017, Peru ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    The bus journey from Puno to Cusco came with a new surprise that we hadn't experienced before. Once on the bus we were all settled ready to go when a man came round and shoved a video camera in all of our faces. I believe it is a preventative measure against hijacking but even so it made us feel slightly on edge. We didn't get hijacked though and the bus journey was around 7 hours so we arrived in Cusco just after 3pm.

    When we arrived we went outside to grab a taxi to our hostel which was relatively easy. This was until the taxi driver asked us to move up so that 2 extra people could share our taxi. We weren't really sure about the situation however the extra 2 people were travellers like us so we went along with it. We had agreed a price of 15 soles upfront so I'm assumed that we would share the cost between the 4 of us. How very wrong was I! The driver wanted 15 from us and another 15 from them. Bloomin cheek! We really weren't in the mood to argue either after our long bus journey. I'm annoyed at myself for paying him but you have to pick and choose your battles.

    Hostels in Peru are pretty cheap so we have a private room in what is a pretty decent hostel. It even has hot powerful showers so I can finally wash my hair (there was no way I was washing it in the freezing cold shower in Puno!)

    We still had to pay the final balance for our Machu Picchu trek so we went in search of Lorenzo Expeditions. After that was sorted we went for a wander around the Plaza de Armas. Much to Simons delight we stumbled across a KFC so we treated ourselves to a KFC dinner. In Peru they sell a fizzy yellow drink called Inca Cola everywhere. It's fluorescent yellow! Intrigued by what it would taste like Si opted for that with his KFC. It was incredibly sweet and the only thing I can really compare it to is Irn bru.    Baca lagi

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  • Simon and BlakeSimon and BlakeAround the World
    1

    Day 2 - Cusco

    9 Jun 2017, Peru ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    We had a few chores to do in the morning, like make a start on purchasing all the bits we would need for Machu Picchu so we spent the morning doing that.

    Deciding that we needed some vitamins ahead of our trek we went to a make your own salad and wrap bar for lunch and tucked into the most enormous lunch!

    In the afternoon we went on a free walking tour which focused on the history of Cusco. Our guide Richard was very sweet and knew a lot about Cusco, Peru and its history. We didn't cover much in the way of distance but we did learn a lot. Richard also showed us pictures of local delicacies including guinea pig which is apparently his favourite food! Poor GP's! The tour took us to the San Pedro market, the Plaza de Armas and some historic Incan sites in the city centre.

    For dinner we treated ourselves to some food that cost us nearly our entires day budget but it was delicious! It was a restaurant called PerU.K and the food was divine. I had a very Peruvian dish of Thai chicken curry and Simon went for Lomo Saltado which is a Peruvian dish of beef, onions and tomatoes. For dessert we shared a pineapple carpaccio which was also divine. I have never seen Simon fighting over fruit before! If you look behind Simon in the picture you may also spot the St Austell brewery beer mats on the wall behind him!    Baca lagi

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  • Simon and BlakeSimon and BlakeAround the World

    Day 3 - Cusco

    10 Jun 2017, Peru ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    Today was our last day before leaving for Machu Picchu so we decided not to set an alarm and slowly get up for breakfast.

    Once ready we headed out with a long shopping list in preparation for the 4 day trip. Key things on the list included a medium sized rucksack to replace my broken smaller bag, a GoPro attachment for my bike helmet and suncream/bug spray. When we had everything we needed we dropped back all the goodies and headed out for lunch.

    The central market is by far the cheapest and most local way of eating and drinking. We headed to the juice stand and ordered some drinks which came in a tall milkshake style glass for 13 soles (roughly £3). This was more than usual but we realised why when we finished and were topped up another one and a half times! We then headed to a sandwich stall for a chicken, cheese and avocado roll. Whilst nibbling on our sandwich we noticed a HUGE marble cake so opted for 2 slices of that too coming to a total of 10.50 soles, not a bad lunch for a total of around £2.50.

    After lunch we decided to hit two free museums. The first was the Choco Museo (Chocolate Museum) where we learnt about some of the history of chocolate. This included a reference and picture of the Frys factory from back in the day. We then learnt about the production process from plant to bar. Walking down the stairs I spotted a tasting stand. Without hesitation we made our way over and tried some white, white with coca, milk and dark. All were delicious. We then got to try some chocolate jams and liquors which were also yummy.

    After the chocolate we headed to the coffee museum. Much like the chocolate it taught us about the history and process but unfortunately there were no freebies here.

    All museumed out we walked back to the hostel to pack for the big trip. We opted for the hostel BBQ for dinner which was a large plate of food and beer for 20 soles. We then got an early night before the big trip.    Baca lagi

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  • Simon and BlakeSimon and BlakeAround the World
    11

    Machu Picchu

    11 Jun 2017, Peru ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

    It was a very early start as today was the first day of our 4 day / 3 night Inka Jungle Trek to Machu Picchu. We were picked up from our hostel at 5:30am and taken to Lorenzo's Lodge where we had some breakfast. I was particularly excited to see that they had peanut butter which I haven't had since leaving the UK! Our guide, Juan Carlos (JC) , recommended that we have some coca tea as it would help us with the altitude and also give us some energy for our mornings bike ride. It smelt pretty bad however it tasted better than some herbal teas I've had!

    After breakfast we got sized up for our jacket and trousers for our bike ride and then jumped back in the mini bus for the 3 hour drive to the starting point. As you can imagine, I was very pleased to see that we would be riding on a real road which was nothing like Death Road in the slightest. We did however have all of the safety gear you could imagine, knee pads, body armour, helmet and gloves!

    The ride started at 4,700m and was around 50km in total which was broken up into 3 sections so we could have a rest and also start to strip off as the lower we got the hotter it became! The ride took us along the edge of Cloud Forest, the edge of the Amazon which was pretty awesome but also very cloudy! I also successfully made it all the way down without falling off which was a pretty big achievement!

    At the end of the ride, we jumped back in the minibus and headed towards our hostel for lunch. When booking the tour we were told that we would be staying in very basic accommodation however this place is lovely and we got a 4 course lunch.

    Our day of adventure didn't stop there though. In the afternoon there was an optional activity of white water rafting. We had ummed and ahhed as to whether we were going to do it but at the last moment decided to go for it! We got picked up from the hostel in a rickety old van with a dingy strapped to the top which if I'm honest didn't fill me with much confidence. When we arrived at the river however there were loads more people with more rafts. We got geared up with our splash vest, lifejacket and helmet and clambered down a steep bank in our flip flops. I imagined that we would be starting off in a really quiet section of water but it really wasn't! We huddled round one of the instructors to learn the 5 rules of rafting after which I was wondering if I could somehow get out of it and go back to the hostel!

    I'm glad I did it though. We got very wet and it was pretty scary in places but I managed to stay inside the boat for the duration of the journey which was pretty much my sole aim. There was a section where we stopped and the instructor said "you can get out and jump off that bridge if you want?" Yeah right!

    After all the excitement we returned back to the hostel for some dinner. There are 10 of us on the tour altogether, with people from Chile, Brazil, Germany and Sweden.    Baca lagi

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  • Simon and BlakeSimon and BlakeAround the World
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    11

    Day 2 - Machu Picchu

    12 Jun 2017, Peru ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

    Today was our day of trekking (around 18km) along part of the Inca trail. The 3 ladies from Brazil were doing a shorter tour than us so we said our goodbyes and continued as a team of 7. Breakfast was at 6:20am and we were on our way by 7am.

    The first part was along a road so we drove that part and were dropped next to a small path that lead into the jungle. We had anticipated a full day of hardcore hiking however to our relief it was far more relaxed. Every now and then we would stop and JC would talk about the flora and fauna. We saw many coca plantations, pineapples, bananas, coffee, some rather large bugs and so much more. We also stopped for a taste of some typical Peruvian fruits that a lady on the side of the trail was selling. One of them was called chirimoya which was delicious and I can't remember the name of the second one but it wasn't very nice anyway.

    We stopped at a lady's house for a bathroom break where I got to experience the squat toilet! I certainly won't miss those. She also had a pet monkey which was tied up as apparently he had a habit of stealing people's sunglasses.

    One of our longest stops was at a random place in the middle of the jungle where we got to try some more Peruvian goodies. There was 100% cacao chocolate, a very disgusting snake alcohol shot and some other shot with some leaves in, a delicious passion fruit juice and chicha morada which is a typical drink made of purple corn. They also had a pet monkey, coati and macaw. Simon had the monkey sit on his shoulders however after the dog incident I wasn't taking any more chances which involved potential rabies. This was followed by a very random dressing up session where we all got dressed up in traditional clothing. I was given a very special hat however the funniest by far was Lukas who was given a black dress like thing to wear and a balaclava mask along with a dolly wearing a creepy mask!

    Before continuing on with our hiking we had yet another treat in store, face painting! JC painted our faces with a red berry that grew locally and which is also used in cosmetics such as lipstick. The Incas also used to use it as a sun block. This was all very well and good until we sweated profusely walking up the giant hill that followed and needed to put on more suncream. I definitely looked like I had been tangoed at one point.

    The next bit of the path was very narrow in places and wound its way around the side of the mountain. There were very steep steps up and down as well as some bits where you needed to hold on to the side. It certainly put Simons fear of heights to the test. This was our final stretch before lunch and we were very happy when we arrived at the restaurant.

    Following lunch we had a mere 20 minutes hammock time before JC was rounding us up again to continue. It was at this point that we lost Annie as she had started feeling incredibly sick so she got a taxi back to the town where we would be spending the evening.

    The afternoon saw around another 2 hours hiking before we would be reaching the hot springs which we were all most certainly ready for by this point. Before we got there though we had some more interesting obstacles to overcome. One of which was a rickety old bridge across the river which had huge holes in places, resulting in more squeaky bum time for Simon. After which we had to climb over huge rocks alongside the river and back up again.

    The hot springs and where we would be staying for the evening were on the opposite side of the river so we would be needing to get across. JC informed us that there was a cable car which we would get. Now I don't know about you but when someone mentions cable car I don't think of a giant metal tray suspended from a wire. You went across in pairs so Simon and I sat ourselves on the tray and before we knew it we were being whizzed across the river. Well it definitely beat swimming and was actually quite fun.

    Now we had just one final obstacle before we could relax in the hot springs. JC instructed us to get out our torches as we had to walk for a couple of minutes through a tunnel in the pitch black! Said tunnel was also full of bats! Fortunately I made it to the other side without being pooed on and as we walked out into the sunshine we could see the hot springs in the distance.

    There were 4 pools in total, all of various temperatures but we went straight for the hottest! It was just what we needed after our hard day of trekking. I realise that this post may make it sound like a stroll in the park but believe me it was tough! Our dip in the pool was then followed by a much deserved cold beer!

    We were then taken to our hostel for the evening by minibus and went out for dinner at a nearby restaurant.    Baca lagi

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  • Simon and BlakeSimon and BlakeAround the World
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    Day 3 - Machu Picchu

    13 Jun 2017, Peru ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    Today was our relaxed day before we tackle Machu Picchu. Breakfast wasn't until 8am so we had a lie in which would have been amazing had some marching bands not started practising at 5:30am. I mean seriously, these things follow us everywhere!

    Our morning activity was zip lining which we were both looking forward to. Only 4 of the group braved this though, us, Lukas and the 47 year old Chilean lady. We were very impressed especially as her son and daughter in law sat this one out!

    There were 5 zip lines in total and a bridge that you had to walk across. The first zip line was the 'practice' one as it was one of the shortest. We watched the people in front of us whizz down at super fast speeds and started to get a little nervous. It was really fun though! The second zip line was longer so you had to go across in pairs so that you didn't get stuck in the middle. I was in front so had to hold my arms out to help slow us down whilst Simon had to be the brake which meant he had to put one of his hands on the wire behind us to help slow us down (we had very thick gloves on). Now the third one was the scariest of all. People had mentioned that you had to go upside down on one of them however I hadn't really thought about what upside down actually meant until I saw someone in front of us going down looking like they were hanging from their feet! I was thinking that there is no way that I am going to do that! I manned up and did it though. The scariest bit is when they flip you in the first place before they send you down the line. When you get in the middle though you relax and enjoy it. It felt like it was really long too as you couldn't see where you were going. When I reached the other side, the guy ninja flipped me over on to my feet which was very impressive!

    Before the forth zip line we had to tackle the bridge which is Simons worst nightmare! There were huge gaps between the wooden slats and it was pretty wobbly! He manned up though and walked across. In the middle, the photographer stops you and asks you to pose for pictures, taking your hands off and sitting down. Simon politely told the man that there was no way on this planet that he was taking his hands off and clung on for dear life! The go pro footage most definitely needs to be censored!

    For the forth zip line the guide asked for someone to go first. It looked relatively short in comparison to the other ones and I was stood near him so I volunteered. I was harnessed in and ready to go when he said 'spinning' and spun me round and pushed me off! I was not expecting that!

    The fifth and final zip line was called the big daddy and the longest one yet. Our harnesses were taken off and turned around as we were doing the superman on this one so suspended from our backs! It was a bit scary to start with but was definitely my favourite.

    Our activity for the afternoon was a relatively short 3 hour hike so we jumped in the mini bus and headed off to the starting point. We only had 40 minutes of hiking (of which only 7 were uphill although it was very steep!) before we would be stopping for lunch which was good. En route we stopped off at an Incan sundial that also doubled up as a sacrifice table, of which there is apparently one exactly the same directly East on Machu Picchu. From here we could also catch our first glimpse of Machu Picchu in the distance.

    After lunch we walked alongside the train tracks which was really pretty, catching glimpses of Machu Picchu every now and then. Eventually we arrived in Aguas Calientes which would be our home for the night. For 5 soles (£1.20) you could pay for your bag to be sent to the hostel via taxi so that you didn't have to carry it which me and Si obviously did! We had to wait another hour or so for our bag to arrive so we went for a wander around the town to pick up some snacks for the next day as the tour wouldn't be providing anymore food. When our bags arrived I took what may have been the best shower ever! Unlike the rest of our Machu Picchu trip it was consistently hot and powerful! My body was feeling very sore so it was amazing!

    We went out for dinner in the evening which was very nice and JC handed out our Machu Picchu tickets and briefed us on how things were going to work for our final day.    Baca lagi

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    Day 4 - Machu Picchu

    14 Jun 2017, Peru ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    Our alarm went off at 3:20am! We were given 2 options for our ascent to Machu Picchu. You could either get the bus or do as the Inkas did and walk up the 1,700 steps. We decided to walk along with Lukas whilst the other 4 members (Annie was back with us again) of the group opted for the bus.

    We left the hostel around 4:10am and set off on the 30 minute walk to join the long queue of other maniacs that thought walking up would be a good idea. The gate opened at 5am and after a quick passport and ticket check we were on our way.

    I don't think I had been walking for more than 5 minutes before I was already exhausted. Those Inkas sure didn't make nice steps. Some of them were huge, others tiny and some were floating steps sticking out of a wall! Apparently the quickest ever time for walking up the steps was 19 minutes. We did it in just under an hour. I genuinely have no idea how anyone could get up there in 19 minutes!

    JC met us at the top as even he got the bus and we went through the main gates to start our 2 hour tour of Machu Picchu. I've seen lots of pictures of Machu Picchu but it was so strange to actually be there walking around. It really is quite spectacular. JC started by giving us some history on the Inkas and Machu Picchu and then as we walked around pointed out certain things. One things for sure those Inkas were very clever!

    After the tour JC said his goodbyes and we were free to roam as we pleased. We started off by walking up to the Guards Hut to take the iconic Machu Picchu picture, stopping off to take a lama selfie or two on the way (I got my best lama selfie so far!) We were incredibly lucky with the weather and have been for the entire trek. It hasn't rained once! The sky's were blue and there was hardly a cloud in sight which meant we had a great view of Machu Picchu. You see many peoples pictures and you can't even see Machu Picchu as it is completely covered in mist!

    Simon and I had purchased an extra ticket to walk up Machu Picchu Mountain so we headed off to do that next. This was like the journey up to Machu Picchu but 100 times worse! I'm not ashamed to say either that we got half way up and decided to walk back down (which is no easy task). From the top you get a view down over Machu Picchu however there were many viewpoints on the way up and we already had a great view. In addition to this, my knee started making some very loud unnatural grating and popping noises so we took that as a sign that our bodies (especially mine) were over walking up a ridiculously large number of higgledy piggledy steps.

    We were both absolutely shattered so we retreated back to the bottom to have some lunch and a little rest. After lunch, a large glass of coke and a brownie the size of my face, we set off to explore the main part of Machu Picchu. After around an hour we decided that we'd had enough and would catch the bus back down to Aguas Calientes.

    The night before JC had pointed out a hot spring so we made that our first port of call. It wasn't anywhere near as nice as the one we visited before but we were sore and tired so we went for it anyway. My bikini definitely came out a funny shade of brown but it helped.

    To get back to Cusco we had to book a train. This costs almost as much as our entire 4 day jungle tour so as we are poor travellers we went for the cheapest train which doesn't leave until 8:50pm. It doesn't even take us all the way to Cusco, just Ollantaytambo. From there we have to get a 2 hour taxi back to Cusco. We got out of the spa around 4:30pm so we had a long time to kill. We therefore spent the next 4 hours eating dinner, sitting in the main square people watching, playing I spy and drinking coffee.    Baca lagi

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    Day 4 - Cusco

    15 Jun 2017, Peru ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C

    We woke up having had a great nights sleep. We were so tired after waking up at 4am the day before, hiking all day, then 3 hours of travelling back to Cusco that I probably could have slept anywhere, but we booked a night back at Intro where we had left our bags in storage.

    Sore from all the hiking we were in no rush to go anywhere so we decided to mooch around the hostel sitting in the sun until lunch time. For lunch we decided to head back to the salad bar to get some goodness back in us. Blake opted for a build your own whilst I went for the wraps again, however this time with chicken.

    After lunch we walked back to the hostel for some more chill time on some giant bean bags and that's where we remained for the next few hours.

    On the walking tour we did Richard suggested the Inka museum was a good and cheap thing to do so we headed out in that direction. When we got to the main plaza we were confronted with hundreds of people all dressed up for a catholic procession with even more people spectating. It seemed that because of the festival everyone had their favourite dish, guinea pig, on display outside of the restaurants. They even dressed the poor cooked GP's in little outfits! Each cluster of people in the parade had their own giant statue that a number of men were carrying or struggling to carry as they walked around the square before entering the cathedral. Due to this the Inka museum was shut and subsequently so were most other attractions, so we decide to make our way to 'Jack's Cafe' for an early dinner. Blake went for a chicken and veg stir fry and I had a delicious chicken satay.

    After dinner we strolled back to the hostel to collect our bags and 30 minutes later we were in a taxi on our way to the bus station to catch our overnight bus to Arequipa.    Baca lagi

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    Arequipa

    16 Jun 2017, Peru ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    Our bus arrived in Arequipa at 6am so we arrived at the hostel hours before we could check in. We were however allowed to shower and have some breakfast so could freshen up which was good. As we had lots of time to kill we decided to join the 10am free walking tour.

    The tour took us around the downtown area of Arequipa. The historic centre has wide streets and you can tell when you get into the downtown area as the streets are narrower. Our guide was absolutely crazy! He was also slightly obsessed with food and drinks that are an aphrodisiac and kept using me and Simon as an example! This probably was due to the fact that at one point in the tour he asked if anyone was travelling as couple or with someone they love. I put my hand up, Simon didn't - awkward!

    At one point in the tour we got a great view of the 3 volcanoes (one of which is dormant) that sit alongside Arequipa.

    We also went to the main market which was designed by Gustave Eiffel. It's no way near as impressive as the Eiffel Tower, in fact you'd be hard pushed to realise that he designed it without being told. He also designed the market we visited in Cusco. The market was your typical Peruvian market that we get our juices from usually. Our tour guide said that they sold live guinea pigs in there but we couldn't find them so we're not sure if he was joking. Good job too otherwise I may have ended up adopting them all!

    Whilst in the market our mental guide told us a very long winded story about how you could buy babies in the market. He talked about it for so long that we almost started to believe him. To cut a long story short, Peruvians are usually very conservative when it comes to courting except for one day a year where everyone gets a bit crazy and their are lots of unplanned pregnancies. Because of this, back in the day, you could buy a baby at the market approximately 9 months after the evening of crazy shenanigans. Nowadays you can buy a baby in the market all year round in the form of a loaf of bread with a very creepy looking clay baby face on the top! There may be more to this story but it was so random we lost track.

    We were also introduced to cheese ice cream. The name is very misleading as there isn't actually any cheese in it. It gets its name as Peruvians have a habit of naming things like they look. It looks like slabs of cheese so they called it cheese ice cream.

    After the tour we headed back to the hostel to check in, stopping off for a cheeky Starbucks en route. After popping out for some lunch we headed back to the hostel to catch up on the blog, as some of our followers have informed us we have gotten a bit slack!

    In the evening, we went out for dinner to a pizza restaurant to satisfy Simons pizza addiction. It was really great pizza! I had the quinoa pizza which had a quinoa base with cheese, cherry tomatoes, sprouts (not the Christmas kind) and pineapple. Simon went for the hangover pizza as it had a fried egg on the top! We washed these down with a delicious glass of red and a beer.    Baca lagi

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    Day 2 - Arequipa

    17 Jun 2017, Peru ⋅ 🌙 9 °C

    Our walking tour yesterday started outside of a chocolate shop / workshop so we decided to book ourselves on to a chocolate making class. As you can imagine, we (mainly me) were very excited!

    It was just me and Si in the class so we had a private lesson with our teacher Adrian. Adrian was a patisserie chef by trade and there wasn't anything he didn't know about cacao! The class was called from bean to bar so we started off by picking out some 'good' beans from an enormous box of beans he threw all over the counter, which we would later be roasting. For a bean to qualify as a good bean, the shell could not be cracked in any way. This ensures that the cacao doesn't get burnt during the roasting stage. Once we had a good amount of beans, Adrian popped them in a special oven to cook. In the meantime we had a bit of a history lesson on cacao. As part of this we learnt about the first ways chocolate was consumed. As you can imagine, back in the day, chocolate was reserved for only the richest Peruvians such as the King. Back then it was consumed in the form of a hot drink called chocolatl.

    After 20 minutes, Adrian took the beans out of the oven so that we could proceed to the next stage in the process, peeling. Once we had peeled the shells off some of the cacao beans, we popped them in a pestle and mortar and ground them up until they turned into a paste. And there we had our chocolate! Adrian then made some chocolatl for us to taste. Adrian added the chocolate paste to some hot water along with a small amount of chilli powder and some sugar. It looked like muddy water and didn't taste very chocolatey. The chilli left an after burn in your throat though! Think I'll stick to the real stuff.

    We then moved down to their chocolate workshop to make our own chocolates to take home. Now the stage we missed was the stage where they separate the cacao butter from the cacao mass. All chocolate is made from 3 or 4 ingredients. For dark chocolate, you need cacao butter, cacao mass and sugar. For milk chocolate you need the same but also milk powder. It always has to be milk powder as if you used real milk it would never set!

    Downstairs they had some 70% chocolate ready for us to make our chocolates. We were given our mould and a selection of ingredients that we could mix and match to create our own flavours. There were almonds, Brazil nuts, quinoa, coca powder, chilli powder, sea salt and lots more. So Si and I set about making our concoctions and when we were ready Adrian gave us some chocolate to pour over the top of the moulds. We had to shake them to remove the air bubbles and then top the moulds up to the top where required.

    Whilst we waited for our chocolate to set we went back upstairs to do some chocolate tasting. We tried 5 chocolates in total which we had to guess if they were real or fake chocolate as well as what percentage of cacao they contained. Needless to say, me and Si smashed it and got 5 out of 5. The scary thing was that the fake chocolates really didn't smell of chocolate at all. One smelt of absolutely nothing and the smelt strongly of vanilla. The vanilla one was made by Nestle. This is also where Adrian proceeded to tell us that Cadburys isn't real chocolate. Sorry Kevin!

    At this point our chocolates were set so we popped them out of their moulds and packaged them up to take away with us. We both really enjoyed the workshop. It was really interesting and Adrian was an amazing and knowledgable teacher. I think I want to make my own chocolate when we get home!

    After our chocolate workshop we headed over to the market to get some bits for lunch and dinner and then headed back to the hostel for a lazy afternoon, but not before trying some of the cheese ice cream. The ice cream was delicious and it turns out that the lady who makes it is famous. There were loads of newspaper clippings in her shop as she had won awards for her cheese ice cream!    Baca lagi

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    Colca Canyon Tour

    18 Jun 2017, Peru ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

    We opted for the conventional tour by bus which was 2 days 1 night as we were still tired from our Machu Picchu trip. We were collected at 8.30am from our hostel with a few others from USA and Thailand, as well a Peruvian family and were on our way.

    Just before leaving Arequipa we stopped at a shop for people to use the bathroom, buy water or buy some coca leaf products to help with the altitude. Me and Blake haven't really suffered from the altitude so we didn't bother with the latter however the guide bought a big bag of leaves and demonstrated how you can chew them. It involves taking 5 or 6 leaves and wrapping them around a small sweet ash stone that comes with them. This acts as a catalyst and is supposed to help with the taste of the leaves. She then handed around a clump for us all to try. Apart from making your gum slightly numb and providing a rancid taste in your mouth neither of us could see the long term appeal and spat them out shortly after!

    Our first stop was at the entrance to the Reserve National de Aguada Blanca where we could see vicuña, alpacas and llamas. I don't know if you've seen our previous posts or Blakes phone but I think we have more than enough pictures of those!

    We had another short pit stop for the loo and a taste of Inka té. We have had coca tea which is similar to green tea just a bit stronger but Inka tea was coca leaves and 3 other plant based things. It was like growing a bush from a mug but drinking from it! I took a few mouthfuls and handed the rest to Blake.

    Our next stop was at Patapampa which was our highest point of the trip (and South America so far) at 4,910 meters. Here we could see the apachetas which are the stone piles you often see at the beach. There were hundreds of the things! This place was also the volcano look out point where you could see 8 volcanoes including Misti, Ubinas and Chachani. One of them was also smoking from the top which we were told had started 2 years ago.

    Next we drove to Chivay, the little town we would stay in before the canyon the next day. We were shown to our hostel and had some down time before heading to the hot springs.

    The springs were a nice treat but nothing in comparison to the ones we visited in our Machu Picchu trip. We hopped into the hottest pool and stayed there for the next hour or so.

    In the evening we went to a restaurant for dinner which also had a folklore show. There was a four piece band on stage and a couple dancing four traditional dances. On the first dance they pulled people from the crowd so when our food arrived we ate very slowly so as not to be dragged up. On one of the dances they even got people from the crowd to lie on the floor and whipped them. The girl was definitely eyeing me up for this but I grabbed my fork and started eating cold green beans I had left on the side of my plate. Unfortunately we didn't escape the entire performance as we were eventually pulled up into a conga type dance around the restaurant for the last dance.    Baca lagi

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    Day 2 - Colca Canyon Tour

    19 Jun 2017, Peru ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    The alarm went off at 5:30am and after discovering the shower was ice cold I decided that yesterday's time in the hot springs would suffice. After a wholesome breakfast of bread, coca tea and some unknown juice, we were picked up in the mini bus and headed to Colca Canyon.

    There were a couple of stops first though, in a couple of towns on route. It was very early and very cold and these towns are like every other small town in Peru so Si and I weren't particularly into it. In the first one there were some people doing some traditional dancing (it was only 7am) and some ladies offering the opportunity for a photo with more llamas, alpacas and domestic eagles. The eagles were pretty impressive but we decided against a photo. In the next town we did an obligatory walk down the short street and waited for the rest of our group to finish perusing the stalls. Before we left, our guide Lorena gave us some of the local cactus fruit to try. It's similar to a kiwi but really sour.

    We were now finally on our way to the Cruz del Condor to see the canyon. The canyon was pretty but the condors definitely stole the show. They were incredible! With a 3 meter wingspan they are huge and we could see them really close when they flew past. We could have sat and watched them for hours.

    After around an hour and a half we headed back to Chivay to grab some lunch before heading back to Arequipa. On the way back we stopped at a couple of lookouts to see the pre-Inka and Inka terraces. In Peru they create the terraces as its impossible to farm the hill otherwise. It also prevents the nutrients and minerals from being washed down the mountain side. These result in a gorgeous landscape and may even steal the show from the canyon (but not the condors).

    All in all the tour was probably the least enjoyable tour we had done. We really should have done the trekking instead but we couldn't face more walking so soon after Machu Picchu. We didn't feel like we got the true 'experience' just being ferried around from place to place in a mini bus. These kind of tours also attract a different demographic of people (yes I am being very diplomatic) so it just wasn't as fun. Karma for us being so lazy!

    The tour dropped us back in Arequipa so we headed back to our hostel as we had left our big bags there and got ourselves ready for our last overnight bus of our South American adventure.    Baca lagi

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    Huacachina

    20 Jun 2017, Peru ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

    Huacachina is a random oasis in the middle of the desert. I was disappointed to discover that despite originally being a natural oasis, they now top it up! We're staying at the Upcycled Hostel which is awesome. Everything is upcycled and the owner Lorenzo is lovely. It also has a pool, not that we've gotten in it as it's freezing! It's the perfect place to chill in the sunshine, although being in the desert it gets mighty chilly in the evenings.

    The hostel does good cheap food so we decided to grab lunch there so we could spend more time topping up our fading tans. The hostel is slightly outside of Huacachina so after lunch we wandered in to check out the oasis. It's so strange that there is a beautiful lake in the middle of absolutely nowhere! It was only a 10 minute walk from the hostel but for 3 soles you could get a tuk tuk back which we did as we really wanted to go in the tuk tuk!

    Later in the afternoon we headed out for a couple of hours of sand buggying and sand boarding. We were picked up in a 10 person sand buggy from our hostel and headed out into the desert. The guy drove us round like a maniac for a bit which was really fun before we stopped to do some sand boarding. This sand boarding was very different to what we had done in Florianopolis. To start with it was way steeper! You also didn't go down standing up. Instead you lay face first on the board before you were pushed over the edge. It was scary! We did this 3 times in 3 different places (well Simon did, I decided I'd had enough excitement after the second one). We then sat on the ridge and watched the sun go down which was pretty magical.

    In the evening we decided to eat at the hostel again as the food is so yummy. We then huddled around the fire pit chatting to a few other people that were also staying in the hostel whilst listening to music. The hostel has the most amazing playlist ever!    Baca lagi

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    Day 2 - Huacachina

    21 Jun 2017, Peru ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    This hostel is so very chilled that there isn't a set time for breakfast, you can just eat whenever you wake up so we didn't set an alarm. For breakfast we had a nice cup of coffee (it was actually tasty) along with some fresh juice, scrambled eggs and some really nice fresh bread rolls (this is a novelty for us as everywhere else we have stayed in Peru they are usually dry).

    After lining our stomachs we headed out on a wine and pisco tour with 4 others we met in the hostel, Adam and Amy from the UK and Alexa and Devyn from the US. The first winery we visited was called Tacama and is apparently the oldest winery in South America. We arrived just after an English speaking tour stared so we had to wait an hour for the next one. This didn't bother us though as there were 2 trampolines in the garden that we could have a bounce on. This amused our taxi driver so much that he filmed us. You may now be able to find us on YouTube under #crazygringos.

    The place was huge and far larger than any of the wineries we visited in Mendoza. It was quite the whistle stop tour however we did get to see lots of the old machinery they used back in the day which was really interesting. The building used to be a monastery so it's also really pretty. After our tour we got to try a red, white and semi sparkling wine as well as some pisco.

    Our next stop was a much smaller winery called El Catador. This involved a very quick tour before we headed to the tasting area. Here we got to try a rose and a red wine which were incredibly sweet and not good at all. We then got to try some pisco, a tangerine pisco and two pisco cremes. Now pisco is pretty disgusting but the tangerine and cremes were delicious (probably because they didn't taste like alcohol).

    We were then meant to visit a third winery but because we had to wait at the first one we ran out of time. We therefore headed back to the hostel for some lunch and sunbathing by the pool.

    In the evening we headed into Ica for some dinner. We were going to head into Huacachina however Lorenzo had warned us that the food wasn't good there and a few people had gotten food poisoning which didn't sound that fun. Lorenzo therefore recommended that we visit a Chinese / Peruvian fusion restaurant which sounded pretty interesting so we decided to give it a try. Alexa and Devyn decided to join us too which was nice. It was good Chinese food but I didn't get any Peruvian fusion which was a shame. Simon also managed to order enough rice to feed a large family.    Baca lagi

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    Paracas

    22 Jun 2017, Peru ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

    Today was moving day with our bus leaving at 12:10pm so we were in no rush to do anything. We went for breakfast which again was made fresh when we sat up to the bar and it was great scrambled egg, coffee and juice.

    We packed our bags and vacated the room around 10 to sit out and wait to get a taxi.

    Our bus was only an hour or so to Paracas but they still fed us. We had Chinese style rice and chicken (similar vibe to the night before) and chocolate cake for desert. We barely had time to finish lunch and an Inka Cola before we arrived in Paracas. It was a 10 minute walk to the hostel so we didn't bother with a taxi but that didn't stop about 10 beeping their horns at us whilst walking and screaming out the window 'taxi taxi'.

    The hostel was only a stones throw away from the beach so once we had set our bags down in the room we changed into our beach attire and headed out for some sunbathing. It still gets pretty chilly on the coast when the sun goes down so we headed back for a shower before dinner.

    I was craving a nice burger and chips for dinner and luckily the number two restaurant on trip advisor was a burger joint! We ordered food and smoothies which came out in a giant goblet along with giant straw to go with it. It was like a meal on its own!!

    We headed back to the hostel after for some Suits on Netflix and an early night.    Baca lagi

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    Day 2 - Paracas

    23 Jun 2017, Peru ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    Just off the coast of Paracas you will find the Islas Ballestas. They are also known as the poor mans Galapagos and as we we couldn't afford it on this trip we were hoping to get our wildlife fix!

    We were picked up from our hostel at 7:45am and headed to the harbour to catch the boat. After around 30 minutes we reached the islands. En route we passed Paracas Candelabra. It is a prehistoric geoglyph and is of mysterious origin. Call me a skeptic but there were some suspicious looking lines surrounding the candelabra that may have explained how it never disappeared! You can't get off the boat as the island is protected but the driver slowly took us around the edges and into the coves whilst the guide explained a bit about the birds and animals. There was also a pretty cool rock formation in one of the coves that looked like a face!

    We saw blue footed boobies, Peruvian terns, sea lions, bright red starfish and 32 legged starfish (I didn't even know there was such a thing!). It was amazing! I can't get over the sheer number of birds there actually were. They were boobies everywhere!

    Because there are so many birds, there's a distinct aroma of guano (more commonly known as bird poop). Apparently researchers clean the island of guano every 8 years as it's a seriously good fertiliser! That must be quite the task as in 2011 they collected 40,000 tons.

    We were also incredibly lucky to see 4 Humboldt penguins. These penguins are pretty small at 45cm and also sadly endangered. Along the coast of Paracas you can also find lots of Pelicans which are fun to watch.

    As the boat trip was only a couple of hours long we had the rest of the day to lounge on the beach which was nice. As the sun started to go down we decided to have a couple of beers on the seafront and watch the sun go down. It's also starting to hit us now that the South American instalment of our adventure is coming to an end which is a little sad.    Baca lagi

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    Lima

    24 Jun 2017, Peru ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    Today we left Paracas and headed to our final stop on our South American adventure, Lima. It's only around a 3 and a half hour bus journey so another easy one! Our bus wasn't until 1pm so we had a lazy morning and went out for a very naughty breakfast of pancakes and eggs.

    Despite only being a short journey, Cruz del Sur did not fail us and made sure we were fed. The food was even really tasty and for the first time actually hot!

    Now Lima has a bit of a reputation for not being the safest, especially in the Downtown area where all of the bus stations are so we got an uber to our Airbnb apartment. The apartment is in a great location in the Miraflores district which is one of the safest areas in Lima. We are staying with a lovely couple called Corin and Sally.

    Corin recommended that we go to a restaurant called Mangos for dinner which sat on the coast so you got a great view out to sea and of the city. It was beautiful. Unfortunately we couldn't get a table outside but we managed to get one on the cusp so it was good enough. The food was incredible albeit a little on the pricey side but it's our last few days in South America so we thought why not! I had a delicious salmon curry and Simon had mango tuna.

    It's wasn't far to walk back from Mangoes so we decided to walk back stopping off for a heavenly Nutella and pecan crepe on the way. Our walk took us past the El Parque del Amor or Love Park which sits on the cliffs overlooking the ocean where there are some cool statues which are lit up at night.    Baca lagi

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    Day 2 - Lima

    25 Jun 2017, Peru ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    We had a lazy morning before venturing to the supermarket (they have real ones in Lima!) to grab some bits for breakfast. The plan was to do a walking tour of Downtown Lima in the morning however it wasn't until we got to the meeting place that we (ok maybe that was my fault) realised they don't go on Sundays - school boy!

    We were right by Kennedy Park which is the famous cat park so we had a mooch around there. The cats are street cats however they are fed and watered and even have there own vet. They are also meant to be incredibly friendly so for those blessed without allergies they are up for cuddles.

    We then headed off in the direction of Huaca Pucllana, some pre Inca ruins. It's very bizarre to find some ruins smack bang in the middle of the city. Before they realised that perhaps they should protect their heritage, the ruins were covered in mud and locals clambered all over them. The city has therefore literally been built up around them. Huaca Pucllana is a pyramid made of adobe but not a pyramid in the Egyptian sense as Huaca Pucllana is not hollow. It served as a ceremonial and administrative centre between the years of 200 and 700 AD. They know it was a ceremonial centre as they found considerable numbers of women's bodies as they were the lucky ones to be sacrificed. They also found a few tombs in which they found mummified remains.

    For lunch we headed to La Lucha, a sandwich place recommended by Sally and Corin. I have never seen Simon Thatcher as happy as when he was tucking into his delicious sandwich. I'd like to say we have a photo but there wasn't any time for that as we devoured it so quickly.

    In the afternoon we went to Museo Larco, a pre Columbia art museum. It was really interesting and it's absolutely amazing how well preserved all of the ceramics are. In the museum there is also a storage room where they keep everything that isn't on display and there are just cabinets on cabinets of the various pottery.

    In the evening the plan was to go and see the nearby fountains which have a light show in the evening which is apparently very impressive however we got chatting to Corin and lost track of the time.    Baca lagi

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    Day 3 - Lima

    26 Jun 2017, Peru ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    Sally is Peruvian and runs tours to the local market. We love a market so headed there in the morning. In the market you can get fruits from the 3 main areas of Peru, the mountains, the jungle and the coast. We got to try heaps of different types of fruits which were nice (for me, maybe not so much Simon). They have so many different types of banana here so we got to try the apple banana and a really tiny sweet banana. There was also another fruit which looked like an enormous green bean but inside there was this cotton candy type fruit, delicious. We also visited a herbalist which was quite interesting. In Peru, they use a lot of natural remedies for all of their ailments. You just go to the market, tell them what the problem is and then they give you a bunch of herbs which you take home and make a tea with. Sally and Corin swear by them. We also got to try some local snack of two different corn and a jungle snack made from yukka.

    After our tour we headed back to La Lucha for round two. I seriously need to start eating better when we get to New Zealand (there is no way that will happen in LA). After lunch we did a walking tour of the Barranco district. It's around 15 minutes drive from Miraflores so the tour guide met us in Miraflores and then we had to get a collectivo (mini bus) to Barranco. What an experience that was! The traffic in Lima is bananas! You have 2 lanes but the cars are 4 deep! Fortunately we made it to Barranco without a serious accident and set off on our tour.

    Barranco is the bohemian district of Lima so there is loads of graffiti which is cool. There were great views out over the ocean and lots of pretty buildings. We walked over the bridge of sights on which apparently you have to hold your breath the first time you ever walk over it and make a wish. That's all well and good but the bridge is quite long so I had to do a little jog past some other people towards the end!

    After the tour we braved the bus back to Miraflores. There were no free seats this time so we had to stand which is a challenge in itself. For dinner Sally cooked us some traditional Peruvian food, ... It was similar to a chicken korma but served over potatoes with rice on the side. It was delicious! It was also great to have real home cooked Peruvian food. The recipe was apparently her grandmothers.

    Very full from dinner we selt about packing our bags as our flight to LA is early in the morning.    Baca lagi

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    Los Angeles

    28 Jun 2017, Amerika Syarikat ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    Yesterday we spent the entire day travelling so it's not worthy of its own blog post. The journey was relatively uneventful until we reached LA when I struggled a lot to get my fingerprints taken on the electronic check in machines at the airport due to sweaty hand syndrome (perhaps from the wine we drank on the plane?!) The lady had to fan my hands to cool them down so that the machine could read them. She also gave me a cherry sweet as she said she could smell the wine on me and that if the officer smelt it he would take me to secondary. I'm not sure what secondary is but I didn't want to find out. We'd only had a couple of glasses so we really didn't have anything to worry about but she put the fear of god in me which didn't help with the sweaty hand syndrome! It was totally fine though. The officer was lovely and I sailed right through!

    The plan was to then get an uber to Jeff's house, the Airbnb where we were staying however both of our travel cards decided to stop working so we couldn't book an uber. We then tried to get cash out but they weren't having that either so we had to draw cash out on our UK card and pay more than double for a regular cab. Taxis in LA are not cheap!

    We only have 3 days here so we have a very busy schedule. This morning we started off with the Hollywood behind the scenes walking tour which was really good. We walked along the Hollywood Walk of Fame spotting lots of celebs stars. Much to my disappointment Ryan Gosling does not have a star! We also learnt that in order to get a star you have to be nominated and then it doesn't just get given to the star, they have to pay $30,000 for the pleasure. They also have to sign a contract to say that they will attend the unveiling of their star otherwise they can't get it. This is because Barbara Streisand didn't turn up to hers, naughty lady! As a result there are a number of celebrities that have been nominated but they just haven't freed up their calendar for the unveiling.

    Mel Gibson doesn't have a star because he refuses to pay for it. There are also a few other VERY big celebrities that don't have stars such as Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt and Angeline Jolie. As the tour guide put it there is absolutely nothing in it for them. They are already huge so why would they pay thousands of dollars for something that people will walk all over? He makes a very good point!

    The tour also took us to the Egyptian Theatre which is the birthplace of the movie premiere as well as the Dolby Theatre (home of the Oscars) and the Chinese Theatre. Outside the Chinese Theatre there are hundreds of hand and footprints of various celebrities. Unfortunately we were unable to walk around these today as they were setting up the red carpet for the premiere of the new Spiderman movie. We did get to peak the prints of Twilight stars Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner though as well as Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint. In order to have your prints there the movie premiere has to be there. Emma, Daniel and Rupert really wanted to have their prints there so they specifically asked if the premiere of one of the movies could be there. Apparently Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone have their prints there from La La Land but we couldn't see them due to the premiere. We also got to catch our first glimpse of the Hollywood sign which was pretty cool!

    Our next stop after the walking tour was the Warner Brothers Studio for our studio tour. It is the live working studio so we got to see loads of iconic buildings from so many TV shows and movies including the park where Phoebe does her funny run, the orphanage in Annie, the drainpipe where the famous upside down Spiderman kiss was filmed, Dexters first kill room and even the road in Jurassic Park where they are running from the T-Rex! We also got to walk around the real set of The Big Bang Theory which was amazing! Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take photos there though.

    Aside from driving around the various sets and famous streets etc. we got to go inside the enormous warehouse where they store all of the props. It was amazing! We got to spot a few iconic props including the blue or red pill chairs from the Matrix. We also got to see the real life Batmobile and the Jokers very pink car from Suicide Squad. The best part however had to be sitting on the couch in Central Perk on the real life set of Friends! Second to this was getting to sorted into my house by the infamous Harry Potter sorting out. I am now officially a Gryffindor! I can't tell you how relieved I was that I wasn't a Slytherin. I felt like Harry Potter! Mr Thatcher however is a Slytherin!

    Our excitement for the day wasn't over yet though. We decided to get the bus back from the studios and had to change buses on Hollywood Blvd near the Chinese Theatre at the exact time the celebrities were pulling up to the red carpet in their ridiculously expensive cars (including a Tesla) to the Spiderman premiere. We thought it would be rude not to try and have a peak and managed to spot Stan Lee from afar! Pretty cool!    Baca lagi

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    Day 2 - LA

    29 Jun 2017, Amerika Syarikat ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

    Simon must have been very excited about our days excursion to Universal Studios today as he insisted we set the alarm for 6am! We were there before the rides even opened before 9am! It's therefore no surprise that we successfully managed to do every ride in the park!

    The highlight was definitely the studio tour as they actually film some famous movies and tv shows here. We saw Amity Island from Jaws, Wisteria Lane from Desperate Housewives and the actual house from Psycho! They also had some very cool 3D fully immersive Fast and the Furious experience at the end as well as a Jurassic Park themed one too!

    Simon made me go through the Walking Dead experience which was awful. I was so scared I actually ran out of the last bit. They had real actors in there. I cannot watch horror let alone walk around in one with people dressed as zombies jumping out at me.

    We watched both the Waterworld stunt show and the Special Effects show which were pretty awesome. We finished the day at around 9:15pm after watching the Harry Potter lights show. They project lights on to Hogwarts, similar to what they do at Disneyland which was pretty cool.    Baca lagi

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    Day 3 - LA

    30 Jun 2017, Amerika Syarikat ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    Getting out of bed this morning was a struggle! We were completely pooped from our long day yesterday. We had lots of bits we needed to buy so we spent the morning visiting Best Buy, K Mart and Target. We have decided to invest in a decent camera as our iPhone pictures just aren't cutting it.

    In the afternoon we headed to Santa Monica, home of the original Muscle Beach where Arnie got massive! Because of the tours we wanted to do, it was cheaper for us to buy Go Cards which gave us access to a number of attractions / tours across LA. One of them was a Malibu Celebrity Homes Tour which left from Santa Monica pier so as we were there we decided to do the tour. This epitomises being a tourist, we were ferried around in an open topped bus whilst the tour guide pointed out various celebrities house. It was quite fun though. I feel like if you can't indulge in trashy celebrity culture when you're in Hollywood when can you? Unfortunately we didn't spot any celebs however we did see a plethora of celebs Malibu beach houses (some of which aren't particularly impressive) including Bruce Willis, Leonardo DiCaprio, Courtney Cox, Tom Hanks and Justin Bieber.

    The tour finished up around 5:30pm so we decided to head back and grab our stuff to go to the airport as the traffic in LA is horrendous and it takes forever to get anywhere!

    Next stop Fiji for some serious relaxing!    Baca lagi

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    Nadi

    2 Julai 2017, Fiji ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    We completely missed 1st July due to an 11 hour flight across the date line. We joked that it would be unfortunate if your birthday was on 1st and then we met an Irish girl on the transfer to our hotel whose birthday was on 1st. She's Irish though so I'm sure she will make up for it today!

    We arrived at Nadi in the early hours just as the sun was coming up and were greeted by 3 men in Hawaiian shirts playing guitars and singing. Everyone is very happy in Fiji, even at 6am! Once we made our way through immigration we headed to our hotel, the Smugglers Cove. As our flight landed at 6am we arrived at our hotel before 8am and couldn't check in until 2pm. This wasn't too much of a problem though as the hotel overlooked the beach.

    In the evening, we met David and Julia for dinner as after following in their footsteps for the last 3 months we were in the same place for one day which was great! Such an unexpected surprise! It was also David's 30th! We went to an incredible restaurant called Tu's Place where the food was delicious.    Baca lagi

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    Beachcomber

    3 Julai 2017, Fiji ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    Today marked the start of our holiday from our holiday. It was an early start as we were being picked up at 7am to head to Port Denarau to catch the first boat out to the islands. Around 8:30am we boarded the Ocean Dreaming, a white catamaran and our 9 days of island hopping commenced.

    Our first stop was Beachcomber Island and this place is incredible. The sea is the clearest sea I have ever swam in and the weather is perfect. It's the middle of their winter here so it's only around 28 degrees. We were greeted on to the island with more singing, clapping and a whole hearted Bula (which means Hello)! Everyone here is so friendly and happy. I mean I would be too if my office was an island in paradise. Their jobs must really suck! We walked up the beach and we were given a delicious welcoming drink before checking into our room.

    We spent the rest of the morning reading and sunbathing, interrupted every now and then by a dip in the crystal clear ocean. We could even see bright blue starfish. Tough day!

    All of our meals are included here and are of buffet style. The food is pretty good though and you can eat as much as you like. For lunch there were lamb chops, lamb sausages, seafood pasta, some Fijian vegetables and so much more.

    There are a number of activities on offer throughout the day, some are included and others you have to pay extra for. One of the included activities was turtle viewing which sounded awesome. We met at the main reception and the lady took us across to the back of the island to see the turtles. Now we were thinking that they'd be in the sea and maybe we could swim with them but that wasn't quite it. Instead we walked up to a pool (a rather small pool at that) with 3 turtles swimming around in it. I felt pretty bad for the little fellas however apparently they were born as a result of a breeding programme from a neighbouring island and they will be released back into the wild when they reach 3 years old.

    The rest of our afternoon consisted of more sunbathing followed by afternoon tea and cake and a walk around the island. To give you an idea of the size of the island, the walk took around 20 minutes and that was because we kept stopping to take pictures and I had no shoes on so had to walk ridiculously slowly across the coral. I reckon you could jog around it in less than 5 minutes.

    Dinner consisted of spaghetti, chicken, roast potatoes and salad with pineapple pie for dessert. It was pretty yummy.    Baca lagi

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