The Bish Krew on Tour

Welcome to the antics of the BishKrew on tour round the world. Bish Crew members: Tommy O'Gallagher, Kieran Rafter, James Askew, Tom Fleming, Laurie Howell and Teo Lopéz-Bernal.

Tuesday, May 30, 2006

The Three Musketeers


From Santiago to the back end of Bolivia. Photos.


Kawabunga!



Riding Bolivian Stylie.


zzzzzz.....5.15am.....zzzzzz


Lago Colorado


Geezers and Geysers

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee......


Enough said


30c, 3000m,30km...and energy to pose!


Valle de la Luna


Santiago Army.

Look into my eyes, look into my eyes, not around the eyes...your under.

Santiago to the back end of Bolivia...and at last we found him!!!

It was monday morning that we left the three globetrotters in their plush Santiago appartment, it had been a great long weekend of unadulterated tomfoolary and we left with long faces. Sadly this lasted a short while as we were soom absorbed into the fine life in Santiago with our friend Sebastien and his lovely family. We were picked up from the end of the metro line and driven out through the smog, to the green suburb of Las Condes. We quickly established the tone for the week as we immediately took to our beds and began two days of sleep. On tuesday however Teo took a bad turn for the worse and this peaked in a spectacular projectile vomiting session coating everything bar the toilet. Our previous travels were clearly catching up with us, and we saw it fit to sleep some more. It is at this point we should mention Ida, she is the family´s house keeper and she was fantastic. With motherly attention accompanied by a warm smile she served us five meals a day. Breakfast, 11´s, lunch, tea and supper, her motive being that we needed to fatten up. We did not complain as she was a master chef so we simpy ate everything put infront of us, and apart from Teo being struck down it was this limitless hospitality that caused us to emerge from the house 3 days after arrival.

Thursday saw us travel by bus to Valparaiso, the oldest city in Chile. Its buildings fall down the steep hills to the sandy beaches lining the coast. These hills are scaled by funicular railways called Ascencors, it is these that structured our mornings ambling around the colourful alleyways high up above the central plaza. We strolled around the ancient Cerros and got lost looking for Escalar de Muerta. We eventually found our way down another rickety Ascensor and took the coastal metro to the co-city of Viña del Mar. Here we were to be met by Maria, an old Chilean Raleigh chum. We quickly jumped in her jeep thing and were wisked off for a tour of the city. The ride took us up to the coastal village of Con Con where we indulged in a gourmet fish meal in a restuarant overlooking the bay full of sealions and pelicans. The tour took us up and around Viña before returning to Maria house, witnessing an amazing sunset over Valparaiso on our return. We ended up crashing at Maria´s house that night as we had missed the last bus back to Santiago. The evening saw us chilling out at a Chilean appartment, chatting about football, travels and general banter. In the morning we headed back to the capital after what was an awesome time in Viña and Valporaiso.

Soon enough it was Saturday and time to head up north. This could not happen before another one of our daily fights with the six kids- Sebastien, Maria Jesus, Bernandita, Jose Manuel, Javi and Juan Diego. These battles ended up getting quite vicious, with Laurie standing on Jose´s head in one memorable duel. Sadly the battle mostly ended up with us getting defeated simply through shear numbers. The battle may have been one but the war is not over!
Later that day it was time to say goodbye and take another one of our now regular, epic bus journeys, this time up north.

We were thrown off the bus 6 hours down the road at 4am in La Serena at the base of the famed Elqui valley. With nothing open we settled down to 4 hours of freezing sleep in the half open bus station. Later that morning we took the bus up the Elqui valley to the small town of Vicuña, and absolutely shattered, we crashed in a nice hostal till the afternoon. We rolled out of bed and onto the bus to Pisco Elqui, the heart and namesake of the Pisco region. After an overpriced lunch we embarked on a tour of the Pisco distillery ´Tres Erres´, we learnt how they made it, saw where they made it and most importantly drank it. At 40% we returned to Vicuña a happy duo. That evening we visited Mamalluca Observatory and spent the evening looking at Casius Major, Saturn and Jupiter amongst other nebulas and things, and the night was finished off with some traditional music played by the in house astronomist. The next day we returned to La Serena and took the over night bus in the evening for a further 19hrs to the town of San Pedro de Atacama in the middle of one the driest deserts on earth. After checking into Hostal Florida, the next two days in the town saw us cycling around the various delights in the surrounding deserts. We visited Valle de Luna and as recomended watched the crimson sunset, we went sandboarding down the nearby dunes and also had some good chats with fellow desert explorers. It was after these two days that the race began....

Meeting Tom on the 27th had been scrapped as we had decided to go the the Salar de Uyuni on a three day jeep tour, it was so close we couldn´t miss it. We changed the meeting date to the 29th and began the three country sprint up South America. The tour took us up to the Bolivian border at 4500m at the foot of the Altiplano where we had brekky and Coca tea (the basis of Cocaine, Parents) . We then drove on a dirt track for an hour to Laguna Verde at roughly 4600m and watched the lake change colour to become a lucid green colour. The track climbed and climbed to the hot springs at 4800m where we swam and relaxed in the 35c water. We ate a fine lunch out of the jeep and climbed further to the Sol de la Mañana geysers at a head pounding height of 5000m. Feeling the altitude, we descended only 200m where we slept in a shack on the shores of Laguna Colorado. This lake due to the algae is bright red and is the home of three types of flamingoes including the rare James flamingo, we watched these peculiar birds frollick about till sunset and returned to the shack for a breathless nights sleep. After more Coca tea we finally began our descent to the Salar, stopping at a string of flamingo lined lakes and looking at the crazy Dali-esque volcanic rocks. We reached the Salar late that evening and were welcomed into the Salt Hotel, and yes it is made entrirely out of salt. We had a warm night at last and woke up at the un-godly hour of 5 to drive onto the Salar to watch sunrise, it was worth all the grumbling and moaning and was an incredible sight. As the sun came up we drove to Isla Pescada, an ancient island lined with ancient cacti. Here we ate pancakes with our Bolivian drivers and contemplated the vastness of the Salar. The jeeps then roared off across the white expanse and we covered the huge white plain stopping only for novelty photos and salt crystals beneath the salty crust. At 3 in the afternoon we eventually arrived a the tiny town of Uyuni.
We didnt pause for breath as we immediately and desperately wanted to get out the town and start our challenge of reaching Ariquipa in two days. We were so keen to leave we bought both a bus ticket and train ticket . We could not leave till midnight at the earliest so we spent the evening in a pizza place with no money but euros talking to two Raliegh friends who we had luckily met earlier that day. After killing time with good banter we jumped into our Executivo seats at 1 in the morning and chugged off on the train for the Bolivian town of Oruro. We arrived at 7am and instantly went to the bus station, with perfect timing we were told the bus to Arica, Chile left in three hours, this was perfect. After being done over by a Bolivian before we should have expected what was going to happen. Three hours turned into 5 hours, and the bus was now leaving from a place 20 mins outside the city. At least they gave us a pickup to the leaving point we thought. However when the jeeps back wheel exploded at 120kmh we were sure the bus would have left without us. But with minutes to spare a lift down the road to the bus stop left us on a bus for 9 hours to Arica on the other side of the Andes. After passing amazing volcanoes in the Lauca national park we got to Arica late at night, and we said ´f*¨! this¨and checked into a hostal for the first sleep in 24 hours. Slightly fresher we got a Collectivo (taxi) across the border to Tacna, Peru and then a rickety bus to Ariquipa 7 hours up the road....and then....

We found him!! The elusive Tom Fleming, tanned, smiling but with a glint in his eye...

TL and now T

Friday, May 26, 2006

Ecuador Pics

This particular rodent is renowned for its disproportionately large faeces.


Our lodge at the top of a gruelling staircase.
"THEY'RE IN MY HAIR!" - they really were.
Deep in the amazon the intrepid explorers pause for a photo op.
The view from OUR hammock on OUR balcony of OUR room. It was ours.

Her name was Veronica and she had an adorable ability to imitate laughter. No shit.

We'd heard that over-fishing was a major problem. We really had to restrain ourselves.
Stop... Hammock time!

The world famous Otavalo market

A distracting backdrop, but we like it.
To this day the soppy buggers blame this photo on a "dusty gust of wind".
Pululahua crater

The Equator

Monday, May 22, 2006

A taster!!

Unlimited pisco tasting.Blurred vision.



Saturn. Seen.

Mamalluca Observatory.

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

Quito Information

Hi guys -a few ideas for things to do while in Ecuador:
More about things to do in Quito, and the apartment at www.my-Quito.com -enjoy

Monday, May 15, 2006

Iguazu falls photos.


Waterfall.

The Hardcore on their epic journey.

44hrs on the party bus!!

Crikey, I can´t believe my eyes , is that a Toucan?!

Garganta del Diablo (Devil´s Throat)


L: Oh, is that a rainbow in the foreground?

T: Yes it is, how spectacular!

´There for a short time remembered for a lifetime´


Coati (Nasua narica)

Iguazu Falls

Amongst the madness that both BA and Santiago have invoked, the two more rough, and hardcore looking members of the crew took a four day detor to visit one of the most beautiful natural wonders this planet has to offer. Despite plans having been created to orchestrate an almost* entire crew outing to the Iguazu falls, it was left for us to fly the flag over the torents of water that awaited us 20hrs up the road by bus.
*( by almost i mean without Flemuche, who still remains an elusive editor to this fine archive of journalism, if your reading ´get involved´)

We left for the falls on Tuesday evening. As the others had three seats still booked, it left us with five seats for the journey north to Puerto Iguazu. By seats we mean beds as we had decided to pay the extra 2 pounds or so to indulge in the delights of ´Coche Cama´. With the two of us sprawled out across five business class coach seats we soon fell asleep and were abruptly woken the next morning by an Argentine stewardess clothed in only an apron, beholding some croissants and coffee. The 2 pounds extra had proved well spent and two hours later we had reached our destination. We left immediately for the ´Parque National Iguazu´. On arrival we were kindly informed that the park required 8 hours minimum to fully experience its delights, with only 6 hours left we quickly hopped onto the ´high speed´ train set to take us to ´La Garganta del Diablo´( the bigger waterfall). Walking out to the edge, on a platform, looking straight down the Devil´s Throat, we spent a while trying desperately to take in the shear scale of this waterfall. With Laurie trying to return to the train, realizing that we had only seen a quarter of the waterfalls, Teo felt it necessary to stop at all the snake signs with the hope that they had been kind enough to stay close to these signposts.

We then took a walk along the runways and paths that criss-crossed the park down to the waters edge of the river below. Its hard to explain but the Iguazu falls flow all around the park, and it is the width and area they span that really gets you. We then took a gentle boat ride to the central island amongst the falls, able to see all of the cascades around us, and with rainbows all over the place we returned on the last boat back to the ´mainland´. Being the only two people left at the end of the day, we were given our moneys worth on our powerboat ride into the falls that followed. Expecting a light shower, we were not prepared for our enthusiastic Argentine captain who decided to take us fully into the falls as we were pummeled by the warm water. Emerging sodden, he decided to take us in again just to make sure everthing was wet. After 20 minutes or so frollicking amongst the waterfalls we left the river shore to make our final climb to the box seats so to speak. Dodging crazed balls of fur (Coaties) we walked along the upper walkway seeing the Adam and Eve falls, St. Something falls and the Diablo from a distance.

Our trip was almost complete, however we had not seen the elusive Toucan. Slightly upset, we set off to leave the park without seeing the trademark of Iguazu. However, on leaving we suddenly saw a plastic creature mucking about in an overhead tree, realizing that it was infact a Toucan we squealed and ran at the tree to photograph the beautiful bugger. After three shots, it had had enough and flew into the ever reddening sunset.

Now content that we had seen all of the falls we returned to the town of Iguazu and jumped onto a bus to begin our epic 45 hr journey back to Santiago de Chile. Although this time we were stuck in ´cattle class´, we valiantly endured the slow but beautiful journey through rural Argentina. With a whole two days and two nights stuck on a bus we didnt have much choice but to listen to the tales of our constantly changing neighbours. We were more than often reminded that Iguazu to Santiago de Chile was not a frequented route. Each new face brought a new story, and we told ours in return. Poetic licence or not, none of the stories quite matched those told by us. We crossed vast plains, passed through rustic vine yards, rolled past quaint Argentine villages and after finally climbing through the Andes we eventually arrived in the smoggy Chilean capital. After this arduous voyage, we had taken another giant step along the path to being fully ´HARDCORE´!!.

LT

Buenos Aires and Santiago

The boys are back in town.

Casa Rosada,Buenos Aires (culture)


Independiente vs Boca


One of the hookers was kind enough to photograph us.

Santiago de Chile.

Thursday, May 11, 2006

Pictures Rio

It was a right shit hole.

Rochina, City of God


We saw many big men in skirts.

We were lucky to get out alive after we sweated off the boot polish.

He´s not the Messiah, He´s a very naughty boy!

Copacabana with Sugarloaf in the backround.

Wednesday, May 10, 2006

Santiago de Chile, 10/5/06

Oi/Hola/Hi,

the three of us arrived in Santiago today after an exhausting week babysitting Laurie and Teo in Buenos Aires. We figured we should just write a Blog about Rio since it was so long ago, and wait until we catch up with the other 2 here in Santiago before we tell all about BA.

We arrived in Rio on the 26th, seriously worried that Kieran wouldn't even be allowed to enter the country, or that at best he would be forced to buy yet another ticket. As it happened the immigration officials simply waved us through to be set upon by the hordes of waiting taxi drivers trying to take us to an underground car park. Eventually we found our way to the hostel where, due to delays in our flight from Santiago, we were told our reservation had been cancelled. Not speaking a lot of Portuguese seemed to be a bit of a problem and had the guy standing next to us not been from Westbury-on-Trym we may have been in a world of trouble.

We quickly settled into the life of a Carricosa and hit Copacabana wearing, so called, "Bannana Hammocks" (one step up from a loin cloth). Despite what we had heard there weren't exactly a lot of tourists on the beach and one member of the group left in tears after being described as "pasty" by a group of local children. In addition to Copacabana our other regular haunt was the internet cafe where, in probably the highlight of the trip so far for Tommy and James, you could play online pro evolution soccer for a measly 3 Reals an hour. It's boring but it's a part of my life.

Our hostel offered a wide range of tours and activities and we took full advantage of this whenever possible. However, the buses would occasionally arrive late/not atall and our second night saw us finding our own way (without a guide) to São Cristobal a huge market in which we were the only gringos. To be honest we never really felt like we were in any danger but even so we wern't tempted to get involved with the dancing and gun fights. As the buses still were being a little tempremental the next day, we grouped up with some girls from Manchester who, as expected, went to UWE and yes, lived by the arches, for a trip to Corcovado to see Christ the Redeemer. The views were spectacular and the Christ was really impressive. Why certain people felt the need to try and balance him on their fingers for a comedy picture we'll never know. Its against nature, against God and he's going to hell. We saw even more spectacular views from on top of Sugar Loaf Mountain. The whole city was stunningly displayed in front of you, but "Lizard Boy" spent his whole time following reptiles around the cable car station.

With the hostel we went to the Maracana to watch Fluminese against Vasco de Gama in a massive local derby. The atmosphere was amazing totally different to anything we had seen in England. The people obviously cared for their team and didn't seem to care what they looked like as they screamed, danced and sung for the entire 90 minutes. Our final outing with the hostel was to the favela, Rochina, where City of God is set. We were pretty afraid before arriving and the rocket like motorbike ride to the top of the Favela did nothing to ease the nerves. However our guide, Daniella, assured us everything would be fine and as she slung the AK47 over her shoulder we all felt tempted to believe her. We entered at the top and made a beeline straight through the narrow alley ways. We soon realised that favela life is not how it is portrayed in the movies with benifits including free cable, free elecricity, free water, free protection by drug lords and some of the nicest cakes we have ever eaten. There is also a McDonalds. Alright for some.

Hope all is well back in blighty and we will post the BishKrew's adventures in BA soon....

LOL KJTx

Monday, May 08, 2006

The BishKrew achieve new fame on Google

Try these searches on Google:
Crazy stuf to do in Patong
or the famous: Napoleon Rass

and of course there is:
Tommy James and Kieran on Tour
or:
Laurie and Teo in Patagonia

Wednesday, May 03, 2006

´After you´...´no, you first´