Photos from Peru now posted

Finally got some of my photos from my adventures in Peru posted to the following website ... http://picasaweb.google.com/ryanfgibson.

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survive south america, surcome to rosser avenue in brandon

Throughout my time in South America, I was continually avoiding trouble and 'being safe' (thats not to say that trouble didn't find me or is it that I didn't find trouble!). I thought it was a pretty good accomplishment ... only got robbed once while in South America. After being back in Brandon for less than two weeks, I was rear-ended coming home from work on Wednesday. No problems while in South America, but four blocks from my apartment I get rear-ended!

Thankfully only minor injuries to both myself and my car. Apparently the guy in the F150 truck was in a hurry and didn't want to wait for the traffic lights to turn green. Instead he tried to plow through the four cars waiting at the lights, my car being the first to be hit. The truck caused a domino effect - pushing my car into the car infront of me. A total of four cars were unwilling participants in the domino effect.

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More Photos Posted

After being back for a week, I finally downloaded all my photographs from South America. Slowly, but surely, I got all 1,500 photographs downloaded. I have spent many hours editing and deleting photos this week. I have posted a small selection of my pics at the following website. Sometime over the coming days I will post some pictures from Peru.

http://picasaweb.google.com/ryanfgibson

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back in brandon

I safely returned to Brandon this afternoon around 2:00 PM. I arrived in Winnipeg slightly delayed this morning, but I was happy to see my luggage made the entire journey. I now need to do some unpacking and catching up on lost sleep, although I have a feeling I will be catching up for a few days.

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20 hours completed, 3 hours more to go

It has been about 20 hours since I left Buenos Aires, Argentina. I just arrived in Toronto. I have a brief layover here (if everything goes as planned) before boarding my plane to Winnipeg. So far, my luggage has travelled with me to Toronto and I am hoping it makes it to Winnipeg now.

After been bumped up to Executive Class seats for the long haul flight (which was a nice bonus) I still did not get a great sleep on the plane. Every time I was just about to doze off, the pilot conveniently navigated the plane through some trubulences ending any hope for sleep. I am hoping to sneak an hour long nap during my flight to Winnipeg as I have a long day still ahead of me. After arriving in Winnipeg, I need to venture out to Neepawa and then to Brandon to attend my friend Raquel's wedding this evening. Needless to say, I will be sleeping in tomorrow!

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start of the long trip home

my time in argentina has quickly come to a close. i am sitting in the airport awaiting my flight to santiago, chile. after a six hour layover in santiago, i will continue my journey home with a 10 hour flight to toronto. by tomorrow morning (pending no flight cancellations) i should be back in winnipeg. it is hard to believe that my time in south america is coming to an end. there are so many things that i still wanted to see and do here, however time has run out. i guess that might be the catalyst for a return trip! that being said, i am looking forward to returning home.

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photos from argentina and uruguay

i finally found a computer in buenos aires with a functioning usb port. a handfull of photographs from argentina and uruguay are posted at www.flickr.com/photos/rfgibson

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montevideo ... the city full of maps

i arrived in montevideo this morning to beautiful weather after sleeping most of the three hour ferry ride this morning. The ferry departed buenos aires at the early hour of 7 am, which translated into being at the ferry terminal and immigration at 6 am. by the time i boarded the ferry, i was ready for a nap/early morning ciesta. i had very little knowledge of montevideo before arriving here. there were very little online resources (particularly in english) that i could locate. my hope was that there would be lots of tourist information, such as maps, when i arrived.

on every street corner i was blessed with a large map of the city. maps were plastered to the sides of buildings, on billboards, and bus stops. there were two dilemmas in the maps. first, none of the maps indicated your location! they were all pretty maps but they didnt note where you currently were. the second (bigger) dilemma is that there are no street signs. some buildings adorn the street name, but not very few. this two factors made it very difficult to get any sense of direction for the first bit. eventually i was able to put the puzzle pieces together and figured out my location. after locating myself on a map, i am off to explore the city. the funny part is that i have no plan for my time in montevideo so figuring out the map and my location really wasnt essential. oh well.

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unfortunate news

i received unfortunate news today that a fellow backpacker i met in perú passed away. stephanie was one of the first people i met in lima. we travelled to cusco and machu picchu together. we had planned to meet up this week in buenos aires. unfortunately, i received an email from stephanie´s mother informing me that stephanie died in lima on sunday night. i am unsure what happened, but the news has definitely given me a different perspective on my remaining time in south america.

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getting lost in silent city

i ventured into the historic silent city in northern buenos aires this morning. i had to travel well off the beaten path to reach the recoleta cemetery. the cemetery is home to thousands of mausoleums from buenos aires´ social elite over the past 200 years. the most famous of the mausoleums is that of eva (evita) duarte péron. the cemetery is absolutely massive. individual mausoleums can stand upwards to 15 feet and they are placed very close together. walking through the cemetery feels like a maze ... a maze of death people. i spent well over two hours walking around the mausoleums. when it came time to depart, i wasnt sure which way i needed to go! although each of the mausoleums are very different, when you are trying to find your way out of the cemetery they all look remarkably alike. after twenty minutes of wrong turns, i eventually found my way out of the cemetery.

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happy canada day from buenos aires

i have spent the past couple of days walking around the city of buenos aires. there is no shortage of things to do or see. i am surprised how much the city reminds me of western europe. cobblel stone streets, cafés, and pedestrian streets. oh yah ... the pigeons too. everywhere you go, people are out number 1:5 to these stupid birds. small children are fascinated by the birds. they are feeding them, chasing them, and throwing things at them. myself, i would have no hard feelings if i punted one of the birds as i walked down a street! its not nice to say, but it is the truth. i have not become accustom to the birds between your feet or flying at your head. come to think about it, i dont want to become accustomed to the stupid birds. i will simply put up with them until i return home.

today, i have come across no shortatge of canadians in buenos aires. there is a large number of canadian flags on display in the retiro district. actually there is a canada day celebration/party tonight at kilkenny`s pub (conveniently just 3 blocks from my apartment). i have been told that all televisions will be tuned into the canada-chile soccer game from toronto. they are also serving traditional canadian cuisine ... although i am not sure what canadian traditionally cuisine is? it should be a good time none the less. happy canada day from buenos aires.

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