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South America - As Told By…….
"I meet Adi right at the beginning of my trip around South America in a sleepy little town called Chivay, in the middle of a canyon in Peru on one of the worse bus tours I have ever been on! Being stuck with lots of Spanish speaking people in their 50s for 2 days was a 25yr old that does not speak Spanish nightmare but somewhere out of nowhere appeared Adi and Earl and everything changed. After sacking off the tour we ended up playing pool in an Irish bar and despite Adi's best efforts I'm still rubbish at pool. My favourite memory of Adi comes into the story right after we left the bar and he walked me home (such a gentleman) and after playing in the kids playground like 5 year olds we got followed by quite a few dogs that decided they did not like us and started barking at us. Instead of being the man here, Adi started flapping like a girl and screaming he had not had the rabies jab and pushed me in front of the dogs! I got let into the hostel but the women shut the door in his face and I was left wondering if he was gonna get eaten by the dogs! Luckily he survived and I saw him the next day while watching condors fly in the canyon and the day progressed into the night and the next day we parted ways reluctantly. Still to this day I always laugh when I think about the dog situation. One day I hope I will meet Adi again, where ever in the world that might be!" - Suzanne Lacutier aka Doctor Suze, England
"Naturally, there's plenty of tales I could tell about our 5 months travelling the continent together but I guess I'll have to settle for one. Whenever I think back to the trip, I think of the fond memories of an afternoon on a rooftop in Brasilia, Brazil. The barrel of ice cold beers, scorching afternoon sun, getting schooled by kids in the 2-aside football game, ample amounts of Churrasco being passed around and of course the Brazil - Chile game. Seeing the excitement, hearing the chants (at least one of which you started!), and witnessing the tears of tension during the penalty shootout made this one of my favourite days. It won't sound like much to anyone who wasn't there but after all the generic scaremongering I heard over Brazil, it was good see such a friendly community that completely changed my perspective. I think that's what I like about travelling: taking what you think you know about a place, throwing all of that knowledge down the toilet and seeing it for yourself!" Earl Alexander Johnson, Nottingham, England
"More than enough that lives up the legend to write down as honestly of all this trip, and actually in general, I had a great time with you and the others. Thinking of it, you made San Blas so great. A crew of ten enthusiastic lads gathered in Cartagena for a crossover of the Caribbean to reach the best section of Google Images in real life: the San Blas Islands. After two nights and a full day of anywhere you would look at only seeing a flat horizon divided by water and air, their captains made their way through heavy rain. By then, all ten had gotten to know each other. Not knowing what greater times than expected lay ahead of them. Adi, later crowned to the King that night, and I, jumped out and not much later Beer Island was discovered. Imagine just an island of palm trees and surrounded by shells and treasures of the ocean (both beautiful and 'basura'). Three full days in a paradise with your only task to enjoy it to the fullest. Football, snorkelling, yacht entering, more island discovering, great food, most beautiful full moon setting and a load of drinking (games) at which Captain Jack Sparrow would be proud of, completed these awesome days. All together sailed out to the mainland of Panamá before each found their way again on the road to continue for more adventure. Perfecto! Johannes Beijersbergen Van Henegouwen AKA Jungle / Janis, Amsterdam, Holland
"When i first met Adi I thought he had the most horrible moustache i had ever seen on a man. However as the days passed I learnt to look past the ghastly face furniture and see the beautiful, sensitive, caring soul that lurked beneath. My favourite memory of Adi during our all-too-brief acquaintance was during a torrential Caribbean storm on board a ridiculously tiny boat adrift in the San Blas islands as we battened down the hatches and desperately held in place a violently flapping blue tarp which was the only thing that stood between us all and certain oblivion. An icy river of rainwater was gushing down my armpit and into my pyjama pants but I couldn't stop laughing in what can only be described as an hysterical manner as Adi and I exchanged a mad look to say WHAT IS HAPPENING WHY ARE WE DOING THIS?!?!?!@?!?!? One of the many fun nights aboard the boat of terrors, aka "Koala I". The other fun memory of Adi was when I swam through his poo. I had an OCD meltdown and had to be scrubbed clean. Good times." Emily Day, Melbourne, Australia
"One morning in Cartagena, I saw a moustachioed man in a Manchester United shirt walk across the road into a hostel bar. I followed him. For the record, I don't normally follow moustachioed men into bars; there was a Manchester derby about to start and I wanted to watch it. We chatted a bit about the match / football but not much. Anyway, next time I saw the moustachioed man was at the meeting for the San Blas trip. Over the following six days, in the most amazing setting, I got to know a guy who was funny, interesting, good at football, up for getting wasted & swimming to islands and all round a generally great guy. His name was Jungle. I think the moustachioed guy was called Addy. I can't really remember." Kieran McGirr, London, England
"Adi Murphy is my favourite English zombie. I'd highly recommend travelling with Adi. He's handsome and funny" Donna Aarts, Haarlem, Netherlands
"Our 3 Day World Cup Football Fiesta!! - Sao Paulo. Day 1- The kick off for this party marathon took place at a bar called the Boteco Sao Bento for the Mexico vs Cameroon game. It was to be the start of a drinking session which would last for 3 days and span 10 matches!! In this first day the highlights had to be the amazing Mexico fans who did not stop partying from there early kick off until the early hours, MEXICO,MEXICO,MEXICO!!! The Spain vs Holland match ended up being an absolute classic and we were lucky enough to join a table of Dutch going mad for it!! The final match of the day was Chile vs Australia and who was to know that the Chile fans would rival the Mexicans for being the maddest fans, CHILE CHILE CHILE hae hae hae VIVA CHILE. Day 2- Highlight for this day for me was England's 2 -1 defeat to Italy but doubt you will include that in your blog. This day wasn't so good for football but it was the day we went gangster chilling with the Columbian drug lord who makes Heisenberg look like a part timer and you got adopted by a group of Santos hooligans! It was at the end of the night on this day that you also became part of possibly the worst Beatles tribute act of all time with what I think was a homeless dude!! O and we got lost in the biggest titties in South America!! Day 3- By this point we were pretty f***ed up but we did manage to last until the final game of our drinking football marathon Argentina vs Bosnia. It was on this day we thought of Johns amazing ability to send people to sleep and went for a kip!! And also Earl met his soul mate"Chris Paul, Edinburgh, Scotland
"The things we remember of san blas in a few words: met really great friends, painted faces, play tens and fives, skinny dipping under the full moon, drinking rum, white sand, blue sea, playing dices, paradise, playing soccer, foot volley and volley on great beaches, al lot of fun and laughing.. Was a time we will never forget!!" Gwenda Elstgeest, Amsterdam, Holland
"It all started with "Let's have a couple" with the Peru bus hop crew out for dinner in Paracas, which then lead to a supposed shot of absinthe which was actually Sambuca. Later followed a diehard game of Texas hold 'em. Fortunately we had no poker chips so decided it would be a great idea to bet with drinks, The birthday bottle of red label to be precise. Once the bottle was downed we then looked for somewhere to kick on but Paracas offered very little. Luckily we all spoke fluent Spanish in our slightly drunken state and tried to get security to grab Andrew or let us in his hostel. All while earl stepped on the sacred rock (You had to be there). Realising security was not going to get Andrew we returned back to our hostel singing LIMA LAS VEGAS as we had made massive plans for the next night in Lima but pretty sure none of us followed through haha. Great night, great lads would do it all again in a heartbeat." Cameron Mathers, Brisbane, Australia
"Buenos f***ing Aires.After having a few (one million) bevvies in the preceding days Adi, Earl and myself decided that we desperately wanted to get to an Argentinian football match in Buenos Aires. We found cheap tickets to see San Lorenzo because we couldn't get tickets for River Plate or Boca games with a tour but we thought we'd have a crack anyway. After colouring up in the red and blue of San Lorenzo we hopped in cab with only a couple quiet beers under the belt and thought a quick journey to the outskirts of town was in order. Heavy traffic and the impending feeling of doom of being kidnapped enveloped us before too long and after heated discussion (us saying things in English with one or two Spanish words and him the opposite) we realized we still had no clue where we were going or if we were going to make it back. Ever.We did eventually arrive at the outskirts of the stadium in a less then glamorous part of BA and the mass of people wearing team colours were astonishing the stadium lit up in front of us with locals smashing down god knows what in coke bottles and a 'heavy' police presence. The pat down assured us that the fans would be well behaved, by well-behaved I mean we saw dozens of flares, smelled copious amounts of green and heard many new Spanish phrases mainly including puta directed at the 14 away fans isolated in their own stand. The dodgy cheeseburgers, the endless chants the vibe from the crowd was incredible, despite the fact none of us could speak Spanish the timid clapping and pretending to sing along in the foreign tongue, mainly from Adi, provided an unforgettable night. The team going 2-1 down and scoring as equalizer had the fans around us crying with happiness despite the game being for nothing and the opposing team going in front once again had us questioning how clever the decision was. After the game there were barbecues everywhere, questionable characters and even more questionable housing nearby and we were desperate to get in a cab and get the f*** outta there. f***ing great night, filled with tension from both the game and adventure." Johnny Hearns, Melbourne, Australia.
"Asuncion, Copa Libertadores and Old Tradi sums up our time together. Met in the Black Cat hostel in Asuncion, played a lot of cards, drank a lot of random booze, talked a lot of crap and talked loads of football too. A great down to earth guy to chill with and have a laugh with. Even managed to convince him to come on some European Football adventures with me in the future. Still laughing about that midget though! I'll never forget that or the mighty Old Tradi!" Robert Smallbone, Reading, England
"I met Adi on a regular crazy night at Loki Mancora, Peru, back in September (2014). My friends and I were sat in the bar enjoying a frozen vodka mango and snacking on the complimentary popcorn when Adi shuffled his way towards, eyeing up our bowl of popcorn. He quickly made it clear that he was more interested in our salty nibbles than chatting us up. This, along with our shared patriacy (us girls went to university close to his hometown) swiftly broke the ice. The following days were comprised of Adi taking the piss out of my posh accent, my status as a polyglot, trying but failing to push me into the pool and bombarding me with an impressive number of random Spanish words (endearingly pronounced with his heavy midlands accent) that he had learnt on his travels (or that he could read from the poolside): it was just like having one of my big brothers with me. Such a bond over humour is very hard to find when travelling, as us English are rather particular. Us girls were lucky enough to cross paths with Adi again in Ecuador, and needless to say, it was a pleasant coincidence." Phoebe Green, England
"A blind dog, an accordion, a 'birthday cake', what a melting pot; great to meet you chaps at that very 'eclectic'? hostel" Ben Moore, Gloucestershire, England
"The look on your face when Earl brought you the midget after his tinder date. "I've brought you a gift mate". HA. Also Sharon the dog and having to bribe your way into that footie game. HA. Paraguay was surprisingly eventful." Euan Lamont, Milnathort, Scotland
"Trying to think of the standout moments during the short stint I spent with you and Earl and that weird prostitute chasing us around of a pool table in the club in Sao Paulo keeps coming to mind - very bizarre... Not sure we even got to finish the game! Of course there were the extensive games of 'Footballers as INSERT WORD' games that went on far too long." Jack O'Reilly, London, England
South America - End Credits
In this section I would like to pay tribute to some of the people I have met and travelled with in South America. There are a lot of people who made my time travelling the continent very special and I wouldn't have such the awesome time if it wasn't for them. I'd like to thank
Earl Johnson - who agreed to come on this trip with me and go to the World Cup despite not being a massive lover of football. We had an eventful five months a few downs mainly after a few shandys but many amazing amazing escapades. Thanks for being there pal when the chips were down and thanks for sharing the highs!
Johnny Hearns - First friend we made in South America, some quality times partying with River Plate fans, the pub crawl, the San Lorenzo game. Top guy!
Alexandra Kelsey Engle - Thanks for showing Earl and myself around Buenos, taking us to quality places like Fuertza Bueta and La Bomba and helping me get a phone sorted. And also the great times on the golf cart in Colonia.
Brooks - For rocking a sensational hat on the Mendoza night out!
Lee - I'm pretty sure that was your name, but thanks for giving us muchos info on Brazil, telling us about the hilarious story of getting robbed for a sandwich. We only met you for a short time but your legacy lives on. Loved your outlook on life, and friendly - "I like to always smile at people walking in to a hostel makes them feel welcome" will be something I try to do myself
Rafael - Our city tour guide in Curitiba, kindly drove us about to see sights after the tour. Good luck setting the walking tour up there.
Tom Brennan - Sharing some more quality times from a backpack, last time Vietnam, this time Rio and Belo Horizonte Brazil. Cracking shenanigans as always and thanks for introducing me to tinder and your five key tips was it? Wonder where our next escapades in the world will come from. Though you do need to work on your football puns pal J
Chris Paul - Some cracking times in Rio and Sao Paulo, the big breasted girl I will never forget, Santos Hooligans and Beatles Hobo and that was just one night! Also thanks for bringing the Brazilian women rating system to our attention
John Gilfillan - Absolute drinking machine, great banter and knowledge top bloke!
Rory Mulloy - Quality seeing you again after Vietnam, same old quality times and thanks for sticking me with the curse of noticing a cow every day! Some cracking football puns!
Jack O'Reilly - Top bloke, top nights out, will never forget about the crazy woman chasing us around the pool table, always good for a tragic football pun too.
Sara & Roger - For letting us stay at their AirBnB place and giving us a ton of advice on places to go
The Colombians - Alejandra, Yohanna, Veronica - Thanks for letting us stay for a week, Alejandra thanks for showing us around the city, going to the Corinthians vs Palmeiras game and giving me loads of quality advice on Colombia.
Clarissa Zappe - Thanks for getting us into the free booze and food Nike party.
The Santos Hooligans for being the friendliest hooligans I've met
The Beatles Hobo for being the funniest hobo I've met
The girl with the biggest breast I've ever seen. I swear if there was snow on them someone could have skied down them
Everyone who had their photo with me for my World Cup Fan Challenge
Heitor - Thanks for letting us stay in Brasilia and inviting us to the roof top party, and thanks to everyone there Antonio, Flavio, Aline, Michelle and all the others for making us feel very welcome there and having a quality time
Bruno - Thanks for putting us up in Fortaleza and being a good home for my broken guitar
Barney & Francescali - For being the best waiters in Fortaleza, top banter old chaps
The three American chaps who taught us Hello Guv'nor in Recife
Kitty and Rosa for having some top nights out in Recife and being up for a laugh
Isabella and her Mum for housing us in Rio the second time
Candy for a good last night in Rio despite some casual racism against us Brits.
Helder for running a quality hostel in Ilha Grande, introducing us to the flaming birthday cakes and cracking out some tunes on your accordion
Ben for sharing the great times ay said hostel above and being part of the great sausage & cheese steal there
The entertainer on the boat trip in Paraty, the only guy who could speak English and kept me sane for the day, also was a doppelganger for the awesome striker Leroy Lita
Rob, Aaron and Euan for some metal nights in Asuncion including the first leg of the Cope Libertordes final. I look forward on going on some good European football adventures with you Rob
Vivi Moreno - For being the my only "little person" admirer that I know of
Marita, Lore, and Majo for taking us to the Paraguayan karaoke night and then inviting us to Marita's house where I met the best dog in Paraguay - Sharon!
Julianna thanks for a quality night on the Buenos pub crawl and helping me get a ticket to see Boca Juniors
Thanks to the tinder date who helped me find some converse, you might have been a bit butch for me but at least you help me get some new converse
Lujan and Melody for making a cracking Assado t our hostel on my birthday night
William and Sissa for a quality time on the pub crawl, teaching me that Brazilian song that was on all the time and the bbq on my birthday
Cesare for being the best Italian DJ on the bbq night picking some amazing choices that I hadn't herd for years
Sam for being a legend on the pub crawl
Katherine Denise for an incredible birthday night, putting us up in Santa Cruz and the lift to Valparaiso
Jenn at the Mosaic hostel for looking after us and giving us sound advice
The crazy Swiss girl thanks for thinking I was Robin Hood all night
Thanks to Shell for the awesome night bus to Pucon and trip up to see Big Mary in Santiago. Hoe you're having a good time in Banff
Thanks to the guy at our hostel in San Pedro who filmed our ice bucket challenges
Thanks to Camilia for taking us on a couple of great tours in San Pedro
Everyone who climbed the volcano in Pucon especially Dan Joy who joined us for a beverage after and also originally from Innisfail where I did my Banana Farm work
Thanks to Stu and Charlotte for showing us Route 36/9 I always forget which it was
Sam and Callum for many of nights out in Mancora, La Paz, Cusco, Banos, randomly meeting all the time, top chaps, top beard and top beard on Callum
The Strongest supporters club for getting me to the game and back
Our death road compadres and tour guides
Everyone on the Bolivia hop Alice, Alice, Grace, Charlotte, Marlies, sorry I wasn't that social I was just dying
Maud - For being Maud and having a quality night at the Loki UV Party
Briony - Top banter and having some quality nights in Loki Cusco
All the Loki staff - Jono, Mary, CJ, Kevin amongst many, and sorry for embarrassing myself at centurion
Jono Marks - sharing the Macchu Pichu journey, and taking some quality snaps and also having a top quality blog, Read it - http://www.wayfaring-stranger.co.uk
Emma and Tim for also sharing the Macchu Pichu journey
All the folk on Peru Hop - Andrew, Annelies, Satyam, Madhvi, Bree and especially to Cameron for the quality night in Paracas! Lima Las Vegas! And Christina who we also had great times with in Lima
Our taxi driver in Lima with the Ferrari seats. Lad!
Doctor Suze, for making Arequipa and a s*** Colca Canyon tour heaps better
Generous Rich for always getting the drinks in and being so generous.
Our quiz team Rich, Joy(ce), Danielle, USA, and the Irish guy
Pheebs, Isabelle and Abbie for being the most intelligent three girls I've met, taking me in as your stray dog, Abs and Iz for looking after me when Earl went home. And for many of good nights, tours and laughs
Eliza the third member of our Team Ramrod for the Loki Olympics. Spirited effort
The Irish couple I got drunk with in Banos after my tyre fell off my bike on the waterfall trip
Amanda Davey for some quality salsa skills in Cali, we tore the house down! And all the other gals I danced with that night
Juan and his partner for an amazing coffee tour in Armenia
Thanks to Edy Land for making the best empanadas in South America
Elisha, Alex, Katie and Amy Bradbury for a quality night out in Santa Marta
Marie Rassel for top quality Shakira statue banter
Ian real name starts with a Y, can't spell it, Israeli chap who went Nacional Colombian league game and also fellow United fan, nice lad.
The guy from Lithuania / Leichtenstein who rendered me speechless because he was from one of them places
Dez - For doing a quality Medellin walking tour
Becky Lewis for coming Guatape with me and having some awesome times
The Chilean girl we travelled Cartagena with who pointed us the right way for a decent and cheap hostel
Stuart, Jamie, Jamie and the tall Dutch fella for a cracking time at the Nacional Sudamerica game and the dungeon part after
Donna Aarts for having a cracking Halloween night out with us
The old barber who gave me a cut throat and shaved my three - four month beard into a mo
And everyone on the San Blas trip, the crew - Mike, Carmello and even you captain lazy. Also the fellow traveller, Emily, Kieran, Ryan, Alex, Ruud, Gwenda, Abbie and Isabelle (again) for an amazing trip and a great way to end my south American adventure
Most of all thanks to my Mum and Dad. Because without them and their unquestionable support I would not be able to live the dream. Love you both!
Stay tuned for my adventures in Canada
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