Group meeting and Sacred Valley

We checked into Hotel Prisma in the afternoon and behaved a bit like children who had had too much sugar when we got to our twin room with an ensuite and a... wait for it...balcony!! We then went down at 5pm for a meeting with our group of 16 and our guide who would be with us for the week. His name is Fernadez and he went through the route with us and what to pack and expect from the Inca Trail. Jen and I hired a warm sleeping bag and a thick mattress. G Adventures restrict you with 6kg that the porters can carry for you, so with the sleeping bag and foam mattress we were down to 2.5kg for clothes and toiletries. It wasn't much!

We went out after the meeting and bought snacks and useful things like sunscream and wet wipes, which took us forever! Afterwards we went to Quinoa and met the Austrailians for dinner. It was this tiny restaurant and we were all sat along the only table in there. A woman and man cooked everyone's meal from scratch. It consisted of soup, corn juice, trout with veg and rice and fruit with cinnamon for desert. For the third night running Jen and I were unlucky with food- my trout, even though the man wrote the order down on his pad, never came and so I waited a bit longer for my food. I think we'll go back there as the food was so nice and it was only 15 soles (£3.50). We walked via a crepe stall and couldn't resist a crepe with chocolate- it was amazing. Again, we'll be going back. We love Cusco.

It was getting late and we still had to pack. We quickly got all our things together and went to weigh our bag in the scales downstairs- 4kg!! Oh no...instead of sorting it out, we just went to sleep and decided to sort it later.

After a wake up call at 6am and a bad night's sleep, we left the hotel at 7:30am and drove away from the city, passing the Cristo Blanco (white statue of Christ overlooking the city) and Sacsayhuaman, inca ruins nearby. On route, we stopped at a lookout over the Sacred Valley. The views were amazing. It's really interesting how they grow their crops in steps up the sides of the hills. Apparently, different levels are best for different crops in order to have the perfect growing conditions. We then headed to the Pisac ruins which were also really cool and the scenery was impressive. There were men restoring the ruins, as they were slowly loosing their structure. Jen and I felt absolutely exhausted from a bad night's sleep, were so hot and hungry, so I don't think we 100% appreciated it, or rather enjoyed it to the max, but it was great all the same. 

After a great buffet lunch where we ate too much, we checked into our hotel in Ollantaytambo. It was a nice little hotel in the centre of town. We went for a walk around with the group and the guide and visited a house in the town. What was so crazy were the free range guinea pigs running around in the big bedroom/kitchen eating food and getting really plump. Guinea pig is more of an occasion food, so a Peruvian would eat one guinea pig on a birthday or something. There were skulls of the dead and baby lamas hanging up in the large room, which were all a bit ominous. We then head to the inca ruins in the town and had a wander round, Fernando telling us about the history. They would quarry the stones nearby, and it would take a hell of a lot of man power to pull the rocks up the ramp and into position. The rocks would be carved with chisels to fit perfectly together like a jigsaw puzzle. It was so impressive and I couldn't believe they did it this way.

After a couple of hours exploring, we chatted to an English couple from our group who had were about 25 and were travelling for just over a year in total. They were very nice and were also worried about the 2.5kg limit! We chilled in the hotel for a bit and headed out for a pancake with fruit. We just fancied it and were still full from lunch, so just wanted something that wasn't a big meal! Lights out at 9:30pm for a fun fuelled day one of the Inca Trail tomorrow! Exciting!

Cusco

Our first impression of Cusco was that we loved it! We caught a taxi with a couple at the bus station from Holland and Estonia to make the fare cheaper. We checked in to our hostel and cooked some eggs and ate some mango we had bought. I'm enjoying eating lots of tasty mango and avocado out here as it's so cheap! I then skyped my lovely mother to wish her a happy birthday and she was looking gorgeous as ever! She was chilling with the dog, but it sounded like she was going to have a nice evening at Helen's.

We stumbled across a tiny vegetarian restaurant for lunch and sat down with a local who we got chatting to. He was very friendly and he said he had family in Germany. I started speaking German to him, but his vocab was very basic. He was a local architect and gave us advice on what food and drinks to try in Peru. We also confirmed what guinea pig was in Spanish so we could avoid it!

Spending a few days in Cusco before doing the Inca trail is a good thing to adjust to the altitude a bit. My thoroat is very sore at the moment (hopefully I'm not ill) and I've had headaches, so we'll see how it goes... We wandered around the town, all the squares in Cusco and up some back streets. It was all really interesting and architecturally impressive with cobbled streets, arches and really ornate balconies. We then decided to go to the chocolate museum that had been recommended to us by the English couple from Arequipa as there were dark clouds and it was starting to rain a little. I think that's the first time we've seen rain since New Zealand, even if it did last about two minutes! Haha.

Mmmmm the smell of chocolate! We tried some cocoa tea which was really nice, a cocoa bean which was very bitter and some chocolate jam which was very tasty. We bumped into the couple we'd shared a taxi with that morning too. We keep bumping into lots of people in Cusco. It's nice as you know you're visiting the best places, and seeing some familiar faces!

We had another disaster with food that evening, after organising to meet the five Australians. We got chatting to people in our dorm and Jen cut my fringe, so we turned up just outside the restaurant called 'Quinoa' twenty minutes late. Laura and Alice were walking down the street towards us and said they were lost. A guy from a hotel on that road said the restaurant was closed that evening so we wondered what the other three had done. We decided to wander around and find somewhere to eat and after struggling we went to their hostel and ate there for convenience. However, our food was forgotten about (once again) and after an hour of waiting we ate our 'okay' food. It turned out the other three had knocked on the door on the closed restaurant and had a great meal. They had been the only ones in there and the woman cooking hadn't planned on opening that evening. We might go the tonight as we had food jealousy!

Today we visited San Pedro market just around the corner of our hostel. It sold everything and anything. There was clothing, material, loads of cheap street food, veg, fruit, tea and pulses. We stopped at a juice stool and the woman there made us two glasses of mango juice. It was so yummy and we got our daily dose of mango. We might go back after the Inca trail and get an orange and passion fruit juice drink! Think we'll also get some street food and sit with the locals in the market. Looking forward to it!

We then went to the Plaza Regocijo to begin the free walking tour. Our group was absolutely massive. Our guide, Luis, gave us tips on things like public transport, a history of the Incas and some samples of local food. It was really good and informative. We also went up to a great viewpoint of the entire city of Cusco and overall had a great time looking around and exploring side streets. It's a bit hilly in Cusco and I think we struggled with some of the steeps. I think the Inca Trail is going to be tough! We meet our group at 5pm in the hotel (yay, hotel!!) so Jen and I are hoping they're going to be good fun! Crossing my fingers!

Recovering from the trek

We spent one more day in Arequipa before moving on, but I think we needed it! I didn't sleep very well in the hostel- no one really did in our room, as we'd had such a weird sleeping pattern over the past couple of nights, plus we had been woken up by these fireworks going off at 5am. Two girls and a guy got up too to go to the airport (they'd had a nightmare: the boy had had his bag lost in all sorts of airports and the girl had had everything stolen apart from her passport, so it wasn't the best start to their trip!). Over breakfast we talked to an English couple our age who were travelling for five months. They recommended loads of things for us to do in Bolivia. We spent the day wandering around the town, our muscles killing, so we managed to squeeze an ice cream into our day! We sat in the main square for half an hour, minding our own business and watching the kids play with pigeons etc, but we were approached three times by people to have photos taken with us on the bench. It got pretty frustrating in the end, so just had to leave before we were pestered anymore.

We had initially been looking forward to buying some alpaca in Arequipa as a few people from the hostel had bought some really nice jumpers, but Sunday is their day off and the only shops that were open were food places. There also weren't any decent markets selling clothes that we'd seen either. It was lucky though because we got chatting to the English couple from breakfast outside that afternoon and they told us to save oursves for the markets in La Paz as the variety is great and it's so cheap to buy alpaca clothing so we plan to do some shopping on our way home. (Family, put your requests in soon!)

We got organised before heading out to dinner. First of all, we walked to the office were we did our canyon tour from, as we were picking up Laura's glasses as she left them at the oasis and was already in Cusco, so we were going to give them back to her when we next saw her. We went to the place we'd eaten lunch on the first day. Jen ordered spaghetti which came quickly enough. They ended up forgetting about my salad and it came 15 mins after Jen finished her food. We haven't had much luck with food before catching buses, so we raced back to the hostel. The couple we we going to share a taxi with to the bus station had already left and we caught one twenty minutes later. Anyway, we got there and it was fine! Our bus journey was okay and I slept for about five hours, before arriving early morning in Cusco, for our next adventure! Machu Picchu! Excited!

Colca Canyon

DAY 1:

The Colca Canyon trip was amazing. It was better, and different to what I expected. We left the hostel in a minibus at 3am and travelled for 3/4hrs to a place in the middle of nowhere and had some breakfast. We then travelled for another couple of hours and stopped off at a lookout over the canyon and spotted condors. They are one of the biggest birds in the world and have a massive wingspan. The roads were so bumpy and Jen and I were sat in the back so we had a bumpy ride. We then drove through a dusty tunnel and got into a bit of a traffic jam, so all the buses had to reverse out. We then went to the beginning of our trek where Pepe (our tour guide) gave us a history of the canyon and what they grow there and how the people live. We then started the trek and walked down one side of the canyon. It took us a few hours to get down. It kills on your legs going downhill so a few hours of walking was quite hard. The canyon was really steep and the sun was out so it was really hot. We stopped in a tiny village for lunch and topped up our sun cream. Pepe explained how the people living there were self sufficient and hardly left. They would only leave to buy clothes or things like that as the only way to get out of the canyon was the route we'd just walked. After lunch we walked along the bottom of the canyon, up and down hills and to an oasis. As soon as we arrived we jumped in the pool there (more like a pool of cold water), but it was refreshing and we 'washed' ourselves. After five minutes it was pretty cold in there and the sun was going down, so we went to play cards and have a drink near the kitchen area where there were tables and chairs. We then played cards with everyone and Pepe taught us a great version of snap which was good, being such a big group. They cooked us soup and then chicken and rice for dinner, followed by a cup of tea. We then went to bed at the late time of 9:15pm after looking at the stars. The beds were basic and comfy enough, too bad we were getting up at 4:45am though...

DAY 2:

I don't know what was more annoying: the dogs barking in the middle of the night, the cockerel making noises or Rene's alarm going off, the alarm being a person saying 'it's time to get up, it's 4:45am' on repeat for a whole minute. I can still recall that so vividly! We got up and started walking at 5:15am. Four girls opted to go up to the top on mules as they didn't think they could do the trek up the canyon, so they left later, at 6:30am. The rest of us wanted a challenge and slowly but surely climbed the way to the top. Everyone went at their own pace and we got there after 2 hrs 15 mins, so 45 mins earlier than predicted by Pepe. It was a great feeling getting to the top and my calf muscles were killing. We beat the mules though, and they arrived ten minutes after us. We had some snaps at the top and walked half an hour to the nearest village for some breakfast. We battled with a fast flowing stream along the way, some people taking their shoes off to climb across. After breakfast we got in the minibus and headed back to Arequipa. We stopped off at a couple of lookouts and then arrived at the hot springs. We'd all been looking forward to it. We crossed a rickety bridge one by one and chilled in the hot springs for an hour. We actually enjoyed sitting in the cold river with the sun on us as it was more refreshing, but we massaged our sore muscles in the hot pools. Afterwards, we re-fueled with a buffet lunch peruian style, and ate loads, so were super stuffed afterwards. It took us three hours to head back to Arequipa. We arrived at 5pm and said bye to our great group and Pepe. Jen and I had several cups of tea and showered. It got later and we just went and grabbed a sandwich in town and came back and headed to sleep!

Arequipa

Our Cruz del Sur bus arrived in Arequipa at about 11am. After we arrived at our hostel, we looked into how we wanted to spend our time. We booked onto the two day, one night Colca Canyon tour for the next day. A group of five Australians (four girls one boy) we'd shared a dorm with in Huacachina were staying in the same hostel in Arequipa too and when we arrived they were there too and also doing the canyon tour. We checked in and headed to the Plaza de Armas. The main square was really nice, with arches, pillars, a fountain, pigeons, well kept gardens and nice architecture. We had a wander around, had some lunch and then walked to Santa Catalina, a monestry in the centre of town. We had a tour guide take me and Jen around which was great cause she brought the place to life. She explained all the history of the nunery and showed us around the poorer nun's homes as well as the wealthier ones. She showed us the communal kitchen and bakery and how there purified their water. There was a lovely garden and a good system outside where they washed their clothes in big ceramic bowls. 24 nuns still live there in the monestry. It was a really interesting afternoon.

We bumped into the Austrailians and they recommended a market on the map to go to. It was a big local market selling loads of fruit, veg, juice, bread and meat (which we avoided as there were some horrible looking animal parts hanging up on the counters). We then went back to the hostel and sorted our bags out for the trek the next day. We had to be super  organised and pack what we needed as we were leaving our hostel at 3am the next morning. That evening we went for dinner with the Australians which was nice and bought some bananas and snacks to fuel our two day trek.

Huacachina

We took a 3hr bus in the morning at 10am from Lima to Ica. We booked it with Cruz del Sur. The seats were comfy and we got some food on the journey. We arrived and took a taxi from the bus terminal in Ica to a small village 15 minutes drive outside of the city. The village surrounded a lagoon (now man-made, as it dried up) and surrounded by sand dunes. We'd been warned it would be hot in Huacachina in comparison to Lima and it definitely was! Once we arrived at Banana hostel, we changed into our shorts. Our room was tiny and we were sharing with two girls who had been on our bus and were travelling in a group of five. They were called Alice and Laura and were very friendly. We soon found out they were staying in the same hostel in Arequipa too. By that point it was about 3pm and we booked a couple of activities for the next day. Out hostel was located facing the lagoon. We strolled out and around, taking us about 5 mins. We discovered that Huacachina is tiny! There were quite a few people walking up the sand dune immediately by Huacachina, so we decided to go for. It was hard! It seemed like we were taking two steps forward and one step back! We finally got to the very top and realised how steep it was. The sun was setting and we had a great view over Huacachina and Ica in the distance, and then loads of sand dunes behind us. We had a shower and headed a few doors down to 'Huacafuckinchina' (rude I know!), a bar/restaurant. We were served by a girl called Charlotte, who was on her gap year and had just left sixth form and it was her first day working there. It seemed she was there cause her teacher was Peruvian and from Ica. She was trying to improve her Spanish. I'm not sure she'll be talking much Spanish in a tourist spot but each to their own!

The next day we got up at 6am and took a bus to Paracas where we went on a tour to the Islas Ballestas. We thought it would be warm, but it really wasn't and we were really cold on the boat. We saw penguins, sea lions, loads and loads of birds and pelicans. We also saw this indent into the land which was covered in sand. It looked like a big cactus and was similar to the Nazca lines. Also, we decided not to do the Nazca lines because it seems a bit overrated and expensive. There are other things we'd much rather spend our money on! On the journey back form the islands the sun decided to come out and it was really nice. I didn't feel very well, so wasn't up to eating lunch. We chilled in the afternoon, and I read my book a lot of the day.

At 4pm we went sandboarding. We got in this big open car type thing which seated about twelve people. We had a mix of Spanish, Dutch and English speaking people in our group. When our leader picked us up he was this old, short man who looked really grumpy and mean... Oh boy were we wrong. He turned out to be the best 82 year old guide ever! He was so funny and although he was Spanish, we had a translation from the people in the car with us! We whizzed up the sand dunes and it felt like a roller coaster. The suspension was ridiculous. We would drive up the the top of a sand dune and down the other side. It was so steep, it was great fun. Julio (our leader) was such a cheeky chappy. There was no wasting time either. He got everyone to lie on your stomach on a board and slide down the sand. It was sooooo steep! You also had no control over the board, so I almost crashed into a few people, but they ran out of the way! Then we went to three steep sand dunes and went down them all one after another. Julio was waiting at the bottom. It was a great three hours! We had the best time. The sunset was amazing too and the views were awesome. We went to Huakafuckinchina that evening again. We like it there!

We had one more day left so we just chilled, had a massive bowl of fruit for breakfast and I read my book for most of the day around the lagoon. We wanted to have the BBQ at the hostel at 7.30pm, but it wasn't ready so we rushed back to Huacafuckinchina for the third and final time. That evening we were their best friends. We got greeted with kisses and hugs! Anyway, we didn't feel it was rude asking about having our dinner come ASAP as we were catching a bus to Arequipa at 9pm. After all the rush, our bus was delayed by 1hr 15mins which was annoying. Once our bus arrived we got on a went to sleep. We went with Cruz del Sur again. I felt like I was in first class; the seats were massive and so comfy. You had a foot rest that pulled out so we had a little bit of a bed going on, which was nice! I think I slept pretty well. 

Lima

Once we'd arrived in Lima, Peru we knew that our next flight in a month's time would be to go home. This was good news, because we knew we would spend a long time in one place, but also bad because it was near the end! We took a taxi from the airport, arranged for us by the hostel, to Miraflores. We soon realised how crazy the Peruvians were, driving on the road! We whizzed through the traffic and arrived in one piece at Pariwana Hostel. It was a really nice, big hostel with very comfy beds! We ordered a chicken caesar salad which was fresh and just what we needed after such a long journey! We chatted to a girl who worked at the hostel and was from Lima. She recommended quite a few things for us to do in Peru and we took note.

After sleeping like a log, we woke up and had breakfast in the hostel and booked a few things like buses and hostels and did some research into Peru. It gave us more of an idea of what places we wanted to prioritise with the time we had. I skyped mum and dad which was nice and afterwards Jen and I decided to have a wander around Miraflores. We went to the supermarket for some food first and then had a wander down to the seafront. There's an outdoor shopping complex that has been built just on the cliffs called Larcomar so we had a wander around. Apparently Lima is the place to do paragliding. We've met a few people from the hostel who have come here purely to do paragliding. Anyway, we saw loads of people doing it that afternoon. We also went to a square and saw a big crowd of people surrounding a mini atrium, where the locals were dancing inside. In the evening we talked to several people about what they recommended to do in Peru and Bolivia, including tours, places to stay and what bus companies to travel with.

Santa Cruz

Our muscles ached the following day. We got the Greyhound bus from San Francisco to Santa Cruz, which took about three hours. We were going there to meet Kayla, Jen's brother's girlfriend who lives there. Megabus is better than Greyhound. It stops less and is overall a quicker journey. However, the good wifi and leather seats made up for this! Because of our late arrival at the bus stop in Vegas, we allowed plenty of time (maybe too much time) and arrived 1hr30 before our departure time. Anyway, once we arrived in Santa Cruz we were pleasantly surprised with being greeted by Kayla's mum, Karen, who straight away took us in her car to her house. She told us to make ourselves at home while she went to pick Kayla's younger brother, Ryan, up from school. We eventually made a cup of tea and a sandwich. She returned home and asked whether we wanted to do any washing, which was very kind, so we combined some washing and put a load on. Once Kayla arrived home, the four of us got in the car and drove to the Redwoods forest. The trees are massive and really resistant to fire and sort of heal themselves as they grow. We went inside a Redwood tree called the 'Fremont Tree'. The hole was really small and it was dark inside so we used torches. It was quite cool seeing inside and you could stand up and look up into the trunk of the tree. We then walked around the forest. Apparently when it gets wet in winter 'banana slugs' come out. They are exactly as they are named: yellow with black patches and are very noticeable.

Afterwards, the sun was going down so we drove to the beach and watched the sunset. It was really pretty and the sky was pink and orange. I feel like I've see a lot of lovely sunsets on this trip! Kayla's mum was very kind and bought us and her family a burrito from a Mexican place in town for dinner. We went back to her house and ate it and chatted with the family. We met Kayla's father when he came home from work and we showed the family photos of our travels and they showed us photos of when Kayla went to England. We didn't realise, but the time was getting later and later and at 10pm we whizzed to the inn we were staying at after Kayla had backed up our photos of our travels on a USB for us. It was really nice being in a house after being in hostels and campervans and we had a great time. We went to the Torch Lite Inn and they made sure we were okay in our room. We were fine and had a decent night's sleep. In the morning we ate some breakfast and walked into downtown Santa Cruz. We sat and had a coffee near where we'd got a takeaway the previous night. There was a guy cycling up and down the street on a unicycle playing a guitar which we found quite amusing!

Our bus journey was loooooong. We left at 1:30pm and arrived in LA at about 11pm. We took a bus, a train and a shuttle to the airport. Then we arrived at the wrong terminal and ended up chatting to a security guard from Ghana, who had travelled the world, lived in London for ten years and every year returned to the UK. He kept saying how great it was we were travelling to all these different places. Anyway, we went to the right terminal, which was about 200m away, checked in and hung around for a little while. Luckily the connection at Panama was very short (45mins), so once we got off one flight we hoped on the other one. The journey was made worse by the fact that I had all of a sudden got a cold and felt awful, blowing my nose every five seconds. I slept a bit, but I was looking forward to arriving in Lima that night and having a good, long night's sleep!

San Francisco

We had to travel via LA to San Francisco so it ended up being a long journey. We took the megabus to LA, waking up in the early hours- oh I completely forgot, the journey to the bus terminal in Vegas was a nightmare. Judging by our bus ride in the opposite direction when we arrived a few days earlier, we thought it would take max 30 mins. We left an hour, but we got on a different bus to what we were going to get because the hostel gave us rubbish directions to the bus stop. Anyway, we hoped on the deuce which took us all the way there, in fact it was the last stop and we were so nervous as it was taking ages. When we arrived at 7:45am the bus was about to leave so we ran and just made it. So lucky!! In LA we hung round Union station and went to Denny's American diner for a few hours to kill some time. We picked the bus up again and got to San Francisco later than expected. We then caught the bus to the hostel and ended up walking in the wrong direction, but thanks to a map in the road we turned around and found our way there several minutes later. We arrived at Adelaide hostel at about 1am and after checking in, were greeted by a frail old lady in our dorm room. We told her to go to sleep, bless her! I've never seen an old woman like that in a hostel before! The next day she said she was moving hostels. 

The breakfast in the hostel was great: bagels, bread, homemade porridge with apple and sultanas, and fresh fruit. It was the best breakfast we've had all trip. The hostel is really homely and I would highly recommend it. The beds even have little curtains you pull close so you can have the best night's sleep!

We started our day by visiting Union Square, just down the road from our hostel. There was a massive Christmas tree and a nice skating ring. I guess that is the first hint of anything Christmassy. We then headed to Chinatown and had a walk through, bought some grapes of all things, and wandered up to Coit Tower, at the top of Telegraph Hill. There are some good views of the city from there. We wandered down and along the sea and visited Pier 39. There are loads of shops along the pier including the shop for left handed people, the magic shop and the shop that sells just magnets. We saw Alcatraz from the end of the pier and saw a bit of a magic show, which was no 'Penn & Teller'! We bought some fudge from the fudge shop and walked to Fisherman's wharf, booking the Alcatraz tour along the way for the following day. Fisherman's wharf was really busy and there were so many kinds of fresh fish on the stalls. It all looked delicious! There was a man on the street begging, who created quite an audience. There are loads of homeless people here, a lot more than LA even, which is really sad to see. Anyway, this guy had loads of branches with leaves on them, creating a kind of bush which he sat behind. He kept jumping out at people, and from our view across the street it created quite a funny show. Passers by understood what he was doing, and after the shock, they laughed and would donate some money. We then made our way to Lombard Street, which is a famous crooked street with eight turns, where cars are only allowed to drive one way. It was quite cool to see. The houses and gardens are all very well kept and the cars drive very slowly down the windy road. That evening we had our free chilli dinner in the hostel and chatted to some lovely Australians, two girls and a guy. I then skyped Mike, which was nice as I hadn't spoken to him on the phone for several weeks.

We got up early and walked to catch the ferry to Alcatraz. We arrived on the island, which is very close to the city. The view of San Francisco is clear and you can see how steep the city is. We began by watching a video of the history of Alcatraz then wandered around the main building, saw the prison cells, the dining area, kitchen, library, recreation area and remains of the living quarters for the workers and their families. The whole experience had become very touristy and there were loads of people there, but we had headphones which provided you with a self walking tour. The commentary was really interesting and it gave you a really good insight into what it might have been like here. Criminals such as Al Capone and Robert 'birdman' Stroud came to Alcatraz. Stories of escape attempts by the prisoners were talked about in the commentary. Even if the prisoners got out of the prison, the cold sea water and rough tide would never allow them to swim all the way to the coastline. We spent about three hours on the island and then left to go back to the mainland. We could see the Golden Gate Bridge in the distance, which I didn't realise was so far away from the centre of the city. We had a very late lunch and ate some soup and then headed back to the hostel as Jen and I weren't feeling well. We both had headaches- because of what, I don't know! That evening we ate a big burrito from around the corner of the hostel and booked buses and accomodation for later in the week and started to look into Peru after getting some good advice from a guy called Grant in our hostel, who had been in South America for a few months.

The following day the hostel told us it was the hottest day all week. We thought that we'd been really lucky with the weather and had had some very clear days. We hired a bike from a company around the corner, called Blazing Saddles, who had a deal with the hostel and we paid $15 each. In San Francisco there are specific bike routes so we cycled on those roads. We had a map and followed a route recommended by the hire place. We cycled to Alamo Square, a residential neighbourhood and park located west of our hostel and on a hill. There are some really nice houses around there and you can see some good views of the city. We also saw the famous 'Painted Ladies', a row of Victorian houses facing the park on Steiner Street. The architecture in San Francisco is very distinct and has great character to it. We then cycled through the Golden Gate Park, which was soooo big! It just went on and on and on. It was really pretty and green and there were loads of people out cycling, running and walking. As we were riding through the park the weather began to change: it was misty and cold. We got to the coast eventually and couldn't really see a thing, so stopped off at a tiny cafe to get a hot cup of tea and some soup. We knew we'd chosen to take the hilly route, but didn't anticipate how long and steep it was going to be! It just kept going and going forever. We eventually got to the Golden Gate bridge and couldn't see a thing! We decided to cycle over it and see if the fog had cleared at all on the other side. I'm so glad we did, because once we were on the other side we looked back and could see a great big area of fog that had hit San Francisco. The sun was almost setting, so the bridge looked a bright brick red. So the sun was going down and we still had to cycle back. We just kept going and eventually got there, exhausted, then had our free dinner at the hostel and went out to buy postcards and food for the next day. We packed, showered and despite everyone trying to persuade us to go out, we collapsed into bed!

Las Vegas

Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas! That's what the sign reads when you arrive in Sin City. It's pretty fabulous as well! I didn't think I would enjoy Vegas as much as I have done. You do have to just embrace the tackiness, go with it and have a great time. It's definitely not somewhere I'd go again but I'm glad I've been to see what it's all about! Apparently there are on average 315 marriages per day in Vegas (of which 15 are annulled the day after). We saw quite a few brides whilst we were here- not somewhere I'd instantly think, that would be a great place for a wedding!

We arrived quite late and got the bus to Hostel Cat in downtown Vegas. Once we got there we went straight to sleep as we were exhausted! The next morning we'd slept in until 10:30am and missed breakfast, so we got showered and dressed, asked where to go from the hostel and just headed out. We took the deuce bus which runs the full way up and down the strip 24/7. It goes from just outside the hostel, so we jumped on that and got out at Planet Hollywood shopping centre. We refuelled with a sandwich, and then wandered around. We ended up having a great day! First of all we stumbled across rainfall indoors. We then went to the Bellagio, saw a massive water display outside on the man made lake. Indoors, we found waterfalls and some crazy forest setting with trees, a watermill and bridges. In Caesars Palace we found another indoor Greek temple with statues and a big aquarium with sting rays and all sorts of colourful fish. We walked all over the casinos. I think my favourite place was Caesars Palace, but the Venetian was pretty cool too.

We took the bus to the Las Vegas sign and had an obligatory photo taken. It was a lot smaller than I thought it would be! We headed back, had a wander around the Venetian and saw gondolas along a river indoors. It was quite crazy. Other hotels & casinos along the strip include the Luxor, an Egyptian themed one the shape of a pyramid with a sphinx outside, New York New York, Treasure Island and a Paris themed one (all as you would imagine them).

The following day we went to the Grand Canyon. It was a long long day. We got picked up at 6am from the hostel. Our guide on the bus was really good and told us he had done this job for 9 years (3 days/week). We took regular stops, one of which was the Hoover Dam. We went across the state line from Nevada to Arizona, which means I've visited 3 states whilst here and then we went forward an hour in time. Bizarre! The Hoover Dam is massive! It was impressive from the side that is steep and faces downstream because you could see the depth of the dam. On the way back we saw it at night with all the lights on which was amazing as it looked a lot bigger. We spent about three hours at the Grand Canyon itself. From the building where they drop you off, we walked west around the South Rim. It was really cool and looked like a postcard. We hung of the edge (haha, not really, but we got fairly close) for some dramatic snaps. It just looked huge  and that was all you could see for miles. The sun was setting at about 4:30pm so shadows were created on the rocks and gave us a sense of how big they were. The sunset was also lovely and the sky was blue and pink and orange, it was so pretty! I noticed how quiet is was at the Grand Canyon, which made a nice change to the noise of Las Vegas! We arrived back at the hostel at about 10pm and were so tired.

When we woke up we had some breakfast and got organised. We booked the hostel for San Francisco and megabuses for the next day. That was the cheapest option we could find and so had to book it regardless of the long day of travelling. We wanted to stay out the whole day too, so packed our bags and bought some breakfast for on the coach the next day. We then took the bus to Fremont street in downtown Vegas, where It all 'began'. It was older and wasnt high rise like the strip and stretched along one street for a few hundred metres. It was quite fun to see and there was a food competition going on so it smelt good! There were also women dressed in extravagant feather costumes and street entertainers. We then took the bus back in the direction of the strip and got off at the Stratosphere. It's at one end and we wanted to go up the top to see the view of the city as the sun was setting. Annoyingly we had been told by the hostel it was free, but discovered you had to pay $18 to get up there. We decided not to pay and go along the strip. We went to m&m world where you could buy any merchandise possible. There were loads of m&ms to choose from, it was a bit like wonka's factory. We then headed to the Bellagio to watch the water show again, but at night with all the lights illuminating the water. We applied some mascara (very unfamiliar after not wearing make up the entire trip) and took the bus from the strip one stop to Rio. We went in and got our tickets for the Penn and Teller show from the box office. We went to a bar in the casino and had a glass of wine before the show. Whilst we've been in America we've noticed a different kind of atmosphere when we've been in bars or out in the evenings, what with the drinking age being 21. I think it's better! They never use measurements here so the drinks are pretty strong, which is bad cause you don't know how much you're drinking, but good at the same time cause you get more for your money!

We headed into the Penn and Teller theatre. We'd been recommended numerous times to see a show whilst in Las Vegas as it's sort of the done thing, and glad we did as it was really entertaining! The show started at 9pm and went on until 10:30pm. It was amazing! I honestly don't know how they did a lot of the illusions. Some of the magic tricks get the audience involved and they show us how they do them, but leave the audience participant on stage in awe. My favourite bit was when they got a girl on stage, put here phone in a bucket and hung it above them, got her friend in the audience to call her number (1D themed ringtone) and the phone was in a sealed box underneath someone's seat. They passed the box forward, opened it, and there was a fish inside. They cut it open and there inside was her phone. How weird! They confirmed it was her phone again because of the crazy ringtone. Bizarre! Afterwards we got to meet both Penn and Teller, have photos with them and got their signatures.

We then headed to the VooDoo lounge. We had a voucher from our show tickets to get free entry into the club before 11pm. We were lucky because it was 10:58pm and we just made it in before paying 20 dollars. All we wanted to do was see the view from the top. We went up in the lift, which was glass and looked out over Vegas, all the way to the 52nd floor. We went out onto the rooftop club and some guy let us into the VIP area and we got to see an amazing view of the city at night. It was really cool and we stood there for a good 10 minutes, before we headed downstairs and to the 'ibar' where we got two for one cocktails (another perk from our show tickets) and so stayed there and chatted and drank cosmos. It was great soaking up the Vegas atmosphere and we stayed out until the early hours. We had about three hours sleep before we woke up again at 6am to catch our bus to San Francisco. Bye Las Vegas, it's been fabulous!

Fiji

We flew with Fiji Airways to Nadi, on the west side on main land Fiji. From this side you can easily take boats to all the islands which are scattered up and beyond the west coastline. When we arrived at the airport, we were greeted by three Fijian men singing and playing guitars in funky shirts which was quite entertaining! A woman took us into a travel agents as she was advertising for places to go and what to do in Fiji. We hadn't researched what to do and we're planning on sorting it that evening, so we thought why not?! It paid off because we we realised you could haggle for anything here. She was called Ita and she told us about Mana Island. We told her we'd call her as we wanted to have a research ourselves. We took a taxi to Bluewater Lodge and booked Mana Island after the manager said she could organise that price. It was more convenient this way, so we paid £100 for all food, accommodation and transport to and from Mana Island for the week and we were being picked up the following morning. Pretty good I'd say! That evening we sat outside for a little while and were offered some Kava, dirty water, which is drunk here in Fiji. I had a sip and didn't like it at all, but the family was happy we'd tried it. We walked over to Smuggler's Cove, another hostel to grab some food and afterwards went to sleep.

In the morning we were picked up by a car, eventhough we were picking the boat up from 100m away... We needed cash so we drove 10mins away to an ATM that didn't charge. They then took us to a market and told us to buy fruit for the week. We were a bit confused, but went along with it and bought some mangoes and oranges. We then got dropped off at the supermarket. They told us, buy some rum for the island... we didn't. But bought a few other toiletries instead. We were quite grateful in the end because when we arrived at Mana island we realised it was practically a deserted island, with two hostels, one main resort and a small honeymoon resort. There weren't any shops apart from a tiny shop in our hostel selling a few things which were quite expensive in comparison to what you'd pay on the mainland.

Once we arrived at our hostel, Mana Lagoon, the staff sang us the welcome song, which was really sweet and they all came and shook our hands. We had arrived at the island on the boat with a guy called Jonas, who we came to learn was a very intelligent guy from Italy and spent some time with him over the next few days. In the evening we walked to sunset beach on the opposite side of the island (the island is small) and watched the sunset, which was beautiful. Back at the hostel, we met Pierre and Killian, from France and Germany respectively and we had a bit of fun with the other guests by getting involved in crab racing. All the crabs started in the middle and had to race to the outer circle. After a few rounds, my crab eventually won- lucky crab number three!

The following day we still had a lot of energy and were restless so we walked up to the lookout (the highest point on the island) where we could get an idea of how big it actually was (not that big). After lunch we walked around the island to North beach with Pierre and Killian. The walk was over rocks and sand and we didn't bump into a single person. We were probably walking for about an hour when we decided to sit down and chill on the deserted beach. It was amazing- it's not often you can sit on a deserted beach in Fiji! That evening we watched Castaway in preparation for our trip to the island the next day.

In the morning Killian was going diving, which he did everyday and was kind enough to let us go on the boat with him for free and go snorkelling. We snorkelled near some islands for about 45 minutes and watched the guy we were with catch some fish with a long sharp rod. Once we were back we haggled for the Castaway trip and made our way on the boat to the island. It wasn't far away, you can see it in the distance from Mana Island. We went there with a Danish couple and trekked up to the lookout at the top. We recognised a few landmarks from the film, which was pretty weird! We did some snorkeling afterwards too. I felt a bit scared in the water so got out- maybe it was the waves or knowing there were sharks in the water. Anyway, once I saw a swordfish I got out and watched Jen for a bit. The ride back was so bumpy it really hurt out bums, so it killed for the remainder of our Fiji trip. We had to think of new ways to sit on the beach and dug holes in the sand to sit against. In the evening we played some cards with Killian and chilled.

The last couple of days were spent just realxing on the beach. We had been so lucky with the weather, considering it was rainy season and everyone we'd talked to said it had been raining before we'd arrived. We walked to sunset beach and saw an even better view of the sunset than what we had done previously. The sky was lovely and once everyone from the resort had left the beach it just left me and Jens there. How romantic, haha! On our final evening we packed up and watched the stars from the beach. Our hostel had been pretty quiet all week, but it turned out to be great! It also had very basic facilities, but it gave us an insight into how the Fijian people lived as we felt like we got involved with the staff and got to know them a bit more.

After we took the boat back to mainland we hung around the backpackers area for about six hours in Bluewater Lodge. It was really nice of the owner to offer to let us come back and stay there for the day use the wifi and have a shower. It was her birthday as well- she was in a great mood :)

We boarded our 10pm flight- bye Fiji, hello USA!

Los Angeles

Ergh. One word to describe the start of my LA experience: I got on the Fiji Airways 9 hour flight to LA, only to find that half my seat was taken up by the extremely large man beside me. I may as well have not had a seat, I was pretty uncomfortable! I asked in desperation if there was anywhere else I could move to or whether I could sit in the crew seat and move back for landing, but that wasn't allowed and the flight was full. It was unfortunately just bad bad luck and I had to grin and bear it. I'll be complaining no doubt!

We arrived at LAX. The airport is incredibly nice. There were loads of policemen and news reporters around, I assume because of the shooting the previous day. We got on our SuperShuttle minibus and were taken across LA to our hostel, dropping people off as we went. I realised how big LA is- massive! It took us a good 60-90 mins to get to our hostel.

Our hostel is USA Hollywood Hostel and is located between Hollywood and Sunset Boulevard, which is great. We arrived in the afternoon at 3pm and felt pretty exhausted. Once we dropped off our bags in our female dorm and made our bed, we had a quick nap and decided to get out and have a wander. The staff in the hostel were really helpful and directed us to the nearest pharmacy and supermarket. We stocked up on various things, top of the list being milk for the numerous cups of tea we plan to drink, to make up for the lack of brews in Fiji! By that point we realised we were starving as we'd been eating two meals a day for past couple of days and so we headed to a veggie fast food Mexican type place on Sunset Boulevard recommended by the hostel as we felt like we needed something fresh! Our salad and veggie style tacos definitely filled a hole and we did some people watching, looking at everyone going out for their Saturday night. It was really busy. The traffic is so manic here and the amount of cars on the streets are crazy. Public transport isn't really the done thing here. There are buses and a metro system, but they're sparse and don't run very often.

After a great sleep we woke up to our free hostel breakfast. They offer all kinds of toast, fruit, pancakes and porridge. We had a feed up once again. The porridge was really sweet- I won't be having that again! Pancakes was nice for a change too. This fueled our walk up to the Runyon Canyon. We went with a tour group from the hostel and walked up the Walk of Fame where there are more than 2,400 stars embedded in the pavement all along Sunset Boulevard, with celebrities' names written on them. Among them were Michael Jackson, Marilyn Monroe and unexpected ones like Tinkerbell (!! Mum and Dad, I got a photo!) Everyone was running or walking up the Runyon Canyon and it was a boiling hot day so you needed some water. Three fire engines had gone in the park as someone has passed out- a bit extreme if you ask me! The views from the top over the city were pretty cool. We saw the Hollywood sign and could see all the way to Santa Monica and Beverly Hills. We asked loads of questions, learned that LA consists of about 88 cities and we learned more about LA's history and how it was once in Mexico.

Afterwards we went and checked out the  TLC Chinese Theatre where the handprints of celebrities in the cement are. We posed by MJ's and Jen was loving the Harry Potter cast's prints. We also pretended we were at the Oscars and walked through and up to the entrance of the theatre. I'm looking forward to seeing it on tv in March and saying I stood there!

In the evening we took the metro's red line to Union Street and went to the famous Olvera Street. We felt like we were in Mexico, there was a man singing in Spanish at the bandstand, and a big market. We ate some Mexican food in a quirky little restaurant, which was pretty cheap (we're finding it cheaper than we thought here) and soaked up the Mexican pocket in LA for the evening. We then headed back and stumbled across a silent opera in Union Station. In the hostel there was a comedy show which had about ten comedians perform. They were all really good and got us laughing!

Today we went on the 10:30am tour from the hostel to Beverly Hills and Rodeo Drive. Our tour guide was quite eccentric and dressed pretty wacky. He had a wooly hat on in the LA sunshine and a Mr. Bean kid's rucksack. He was good fun and we took the bus to Beverly Hills. We almost immediately saw, Elvis Presley and Marilyn Monroe's house, as well as Michael Jackson's opposite. I can't believe it was there where he died and all the doctor scandal happened. The houses were all a street in length and about 2 or 3 acres each. Some fetched 100 million dollars, which is pretty ridiculous! They all had security cameras outside- one had that as well as the police watching it constantly. I wonder what they're hiding... We also saw the gates used in both The Bodyguard and The Big Lebrowski, the playboy mansion (someone entered through the gates in a red flash car while we were there), Meryl Streep's house, Tommy Hilfiger's, and Kanye West and Kim Kardashian's new home. It was all very surreal and the houses were absolutely massive! Afterwards we went to Rodeo Drive where there were loads of really expensive designer shops and places to eat.

On our third day we made our way to Santa Monica beach and Venice beach. As everything is so far from each other it took us 1hr30 from the hostel to catch the bus all the way there. Everyone wears coats and jumpers here eventhough it's 26 degrees and the sun is shining and we're pretty hot! We feel like typical Brits, putting shorts and a vest top on when the sun's out! We arrived there in the end and hired roller blades for an hour. We put them, and all the arm, hand and leg protection on. It all felt very unfamiliar, but we both got into it really quickly and were skating down the coast in no time. We skated to Venice Beach and back and then had a picnic on the beach and had a look around the town. After we got back to the hostel we went and got a big salad and had a big chat. We wanted to head to a bar for a drink and picked one we'd seen a few nights before. When we walked in we sat at the bar and immediately a guy sat at the bar on his own started talking to us. He ended up being Simon Pegg's brother, Mike Beckingham and we chatted all about the film industry and all got on really well! He'd just finished filming a movie called 'Subconcious'. Maybe we'll see it in cinemas! We then went to a sports bar afterwards and came home in the early hours, deciding it was a great idea to skype my parents! Sorry mum and dad, hope it was at least entertaining!

On our last morning in LA we went to the Warner Bros studios for a 2.5hr studio tour. Our guide was really enthusiastic and we saw loads of different outside and inside tv and feature film sets. Our favourite was by far the 'Friends' Central Perk set. It was really cool to see it in person and sit on the sofa! We also saw costumes from movies like Harry Potter and The Great Gatsby, and the cars used in films such as Batman. It was really good and we had great fun. Afterwards we were starving and we went to an American style diner. It was like something you see in a film, it was great, and we were stuffed after our mega portion sizes! Back to the hostel and to Union Station to catch the megabus to Las Vegas at 4.30pm. There's so much more you could do in LA as it's so so big, but given our time schedule, Vegas is calling and so that's LA done and dusted!

Bay of Islands

After Hot Water Beah we drove to the Kauaeranga Valley in Coromandel Forest Park. We knew there were a few DoC campsites there and eventhough it was getting dark, we decided to just drive and get there. We arrived pretty late and cooked at about 11pm and went to bed.

On Wednesday we started to head to the Bay of Islands peninsula. In hindsight we probably underestimated the driving. It was quite far and we only had four days to drive and fit everything in. So overall we didn't see as much as we had hoped to, but it was nice all the same. We started by driving through Auckland. Jen and I wanted to go to a library for some free wifi so we could book some accommodation for our first night in Fiji. Whilst the boys went to Jucy to sort out their hob, we went in search of a library. We ended up giving up on the library as it was too expensive to park in the city and after hitting rush hour we thought we'd just head out and get to the holiday park. We passed the Sky Tower and the harbour with loads of sailing boats, but it felt like any other city, with so much traffic and 5 lanes on the motorway. It reminded us of England, especially with the grey clouds looming and we wanted to get out ASAP! We met the boys at the Red Beach Holiday Park and they told us they were going to be getting a new Jucy on Monday in Auckland, as their one was falling apart- good news! Jen and I made an amazing chilli that evening and saved some for the next day. Unfortunately, we forgot about it and left it there in the fridge. It was a sad moment when we realised what we'd done the following day! :(

We drove northwards and swapped campervans again. Jen and Adam in one and the remaining three in the other. When Jen doesn't have me in the campervan with her, she whizzes off on roads and then decides it wasn't a good idea and makes a U-turn. She did just this, made and U-turn after turning into someone's driveway when we were attempting to find a good lunch stop and backed into a post. We all burst out laughing as we could see it happening in slow motion. It was so funny. :) But it's okay- no damage to the juce box.

We drove to the Karikari peninsula, where there was a lovely DoC campsite on the beach at Maitai Bay. It was early evening and we decided to go for a cheeky dip in the sea. Mike and Adam made for a speedy dip, claiming it was too cold. Jen and I followed and stayed in a bit longer- it was quite chilly, but nothing we couldn't handle! We all lay on the deserted beach for a while and Mike and I walked along the beach and explored around the rocks. Instead of eating our chilli that we left at the holiday park, we cooked an odd mix of veg and chorizo and tomatoes, which turned out to be really nice!

The sun was shining again the next morning and Jen and Mike bravely went for a morning swim in the sea- which was again more like a quick dip as they said it was quite cold! We then drove to Ninety Mile Beach on the west coast of the Bay of Islands. We arrived at the southern end in Ahipara. We wanted to go right to the top, but we didn't have enough time. The weather wasn't the best, but we had lunch overlooking the beach, drove up a gravel road, walked along an unmarked path to the end, and had an amazing view of the long stretch of coastline. After admiring the view we headed to Paihia. The Bay of Islands holiday park was opposite Countdown, the big supermarket they have in NZ, which was convenient, because we nipped across for some muesli the next day. The boys said our BBQ in Tongariro wasn't very good, so we told them to do it this time (secretly a great excuse for not having to bother buying, cooking or preparing any of it), so we left them in charge. Mike cooked all the meat on the outside BBQ and it turned out to be really good. Although we planned a night out, we drank in the campervan and never made it out. I think we might have had too much fun chatting and playing cards.

The free wifi in the campsite (a rarity) made up for the $2 showers and after lazing around in the morning, I skyped my family. I didn't realise it was Friday night at gone midnight, so I was pleasantly suprised when my parents and their friends greeted me on Skype. Everyone at my end made an appearance on Skype too, including Mick the 'hunky one', which he thoroughly enjoyed. Mum, stop flirting with my friends! Hahaha :) 

On our final full day with the boys, we just drove down the road to the centre on Paihia. It was a Saturday and there was a wine festival on, so town was quite lively. Jen and I bought postcards and we nipped to the library to book a hostel for Fiji. We arrived ten minutes before it closed, so we worked together as quickly as possible to research and book the best place. You should have seen us- we make a great efficient team when we want to be! Back to the beach, we soaked up the sun and wrote our postcards in the afternoon. Mike and I went in our campervan for the drive down to Auckland. I was following Adam when all of a sudden he made a U-turn in the middle of the state highway- it has a speed limit of 100km/hr! I ignored him and continued driving. I thought he must have turned in desperate need for petrol or something, so Mike and I continued driving. They eventually caught us up when we stopped for a break. We went back to the same Red Beach holiday park, only to find our chilli was still there! Mike ate it the next day, and told us it was really nice. I don't think I'd have eaten it after that many days! We had a cheeky Pizza Hut meal for our last night and watched Superbad.

After saying a final farwell to our lovely Jucy campervan the next day, we parted with our home for the past month, said goodbye to the boys and made our way to check in for our Fiji flight. Ready for Fiji time!