Ireland 2008

Here are a couple videos and pictures from Ireland. Dont have a lot of time to type but we are having a great time. I have taken a couple hundred pictures already. We only have about a week left, but we are heading over to Scottland from Dublin on Tuesday and that should be fun.

We rented bikes and did a 30 mile ride that covered the whole Dingle Penninsula.




Here is the view from the western tip of the penninsula.



Here are some pictures from there:











this one shows our artistic side















the next day we went through the wind blown Burren littered with prehistoric artifacts

















and then the Cliffs of Moher















and the cliffs from the other side
















a couple days before we were down south at a monastery next to the castle at Cashel















and a beach at the Ring of Kerry















enjoying pub music in Galway

more vids and pics

Here is a good view of the falls from below.

And these panoramics from the island in the river between the falls looking out toward the Argentine side:

The second one is from out on the platform.

Adios

Mucho gracias to Jose Greenberg. His travelling expertise cannot be matched in these parts of the world. To the man himself, I am in your debt, Sir. Take care on your journey north. (you can see him yourself soon, he leaves Peru in November to head home, he writes here http://josephgreenberg.blogspot.com/ )


As far as the trip goes, I have only 2 more days in Buenos Aires which will hopefully be enough to get to know the city. Yesterday I went to a modern art museum and walked through a couple parks. I have been blown away by how nocturnal the people are here. I thought New Yorkers did everything late, but not compared to here. They seem to eat dinner at about 11pm. Last night I went with people from the hostel I am staying in to a club and the place didnt even open until 2am. They said thats just normal for the clubs. I was gone by 5 in the morning but a couple guys came back after 8am. It seems insane and I dont know why they do it this late. I wanted to catch a soccer game, but it looks like it will be too late on Sunday. I take off at 9pm. I am off to see some sights.

Iguazu Falls

You know the idea, there is a river with a lot of water and when gravity pulls it over a large cliff it creates quite a nice visual effect. This is a little more than that though. The park is pretty big and the entire falls span about a mile long. Trails go throughout the park and in the middle is an island with a beach on it. We spend 2 days there. The first was spent walking above the falls and over to look at the Garganta del Diablo, or Devils´s Throat. Its an amazing spectacle and quite dizzying staring into it, but the second day spent under the falls was unforgetable. Boats tour you up the river a couple miles and take you under the waterfalls. You basically get drenched and get the best view of the falls and then they drop you off at the beach.

Iguazu Falls

The place seemed like it was from another world. With out a doubt the most natural beauty I have ever seen

At the waterfalls

So I just need to reiterate how the well rodeo came off. We basically travelled to Bolivia for this and knew no one there. The Peace Core people there took us in and showed us a good time. They are a pretty diverse group of poeple from all over the states. I talked to a coulpe of them who had basically just arrived there seemed wide eyed about their whole commitment and also their spanish wasnt fluent yet. The full commitment is like 27 months long and they live in small towns working on their water supplies or teaching/counseling. But the ones who were just wrapping up their 2 years were mostly eager to stay around longer or at least slowly travel home. They are a pretty impressive group of people, even if some of them were a little strange. The people basically treated the girl whose town we were in like an American hero coming to help them, which I guess she is. Also I have yet to be pointed out as being from the US. On any locals first guess I have gotten France, Germany, UK and Australia. There are really not many from the states down here. I have only met 2 others travelling so far, but anyway, back to the trip.

So after about a 30 hr bus trip we make it to the Brazil/Argentine coast. The bus was a lot easier than I thought it was going to be. I basically sat on a Lazy boy recliner and watched a couple movies, read, slept and listened to tunes. We are about to head out and tour Iguazu Falls . We will spend a 2 days here and head back to Buenos Aires were I will split ways with Joe. Here is a quick video at the rodeo in Bolivia. It takes a long time to upload this stuff so I cant put more up.


Hopefully this link to some of Joes pic work too.

Bolivia

We arrived in Yacuiba, Bolivia Friday morning at about 7am and went to the hotel were there were supposed to be about 30 Peace Corps volunteers who knew about the rodeo that was going on this weekend. The people who Joe had spoken to about the rodeo didnt ever show up, but it still worked out incredible. One of the guys lived 2 blocks from where the rodeo was happening. Friday night was music and dancing, Saturday was BBQ, horse racing, and much more. We have to catch a bus back to Argentina, so here is a link to the pictures.

Bolivia

Salta