kjp

Alledgedly it's early morning (pre dawn) here in Auckland. My watch still says 1pm yesterday. Got here ok, was able to sleep a fair bit. good.

To Syd, then to Bris.

So it`s Friday morning here in Ancud. I don`t have any real plans for this morning - just check the weather in Brisbane, Sydney, Auckland, Santiago, Puerto Montt - my clothes are ok for all of those places - my route home - reversed.

So last couple of days - Wednesday, left Castro, and came here, Ancud, in the northern part of Chiloe island. I think that I prefer Castro. Apparently there was an earthquake here in the 60s, so some things got rebuild then. Not as scenic. Yesterday, went out to a tiny village on the western coast of Chiloe, ie, the Pacific Ocean, and went out on some boats to see some endangered species of penguins - Humbolt and Magellan (sp?). Was interesting, quite cold though. On top half, had thermal, long sleeve shirt, jumper, rainjacket, lifevest, and then an overcoat poncho thingy. I was tagging along with 2 Germans and 2 Spaniards. Instead of waiting around for the bus back to Ancud, we hitched. First time I`ve done that. Highlight probably was being in the back of a truck used for cattle transport. Judging by what the farmers said, mooo in Spanish is the same as mooo in English.

Been eating some yum seafood here - there`s plenty of it. Wednesday, had Curanto which is a monster dish - lots of seafood (clams and mussels), pork, sausage, chicken, with several different types of potato. Sad to say that it got the better of me, couldn`t finish it. Also had some really yum salmon. Yum. Speaking of seafood, the hostel I`ve been staying at here is near the port. Yes, that`s right, I`ve been sleeping with (ok, well, near) the fishes... Sorry.

OK, Friday 10am now. Should go. Bus to Puerto Montt, bus to airport, plane to Santiago, then Auckland then Sydney then Brisbane. Long two days (minus a half). But looking forward to being back in Brissy. Great trip I`ve had though.

Today I went to a very small town called Achao on an island Quinchao that is supposed to have a population of 9200 people. Very yummy piece of salmon for lunch with simple but very fresh (local produce, I suspect) salad. Sat on the beach for a while watching the world go by. It´s got a church that was built in 1730, wood shingles. Many wooden churches on Chiloe and surrounding small islands that are UNESCO listed, I think. quite pretty. But unluckily could not go into church to nosey as today was priest´s day off - according to sign on outside of church. Yesterday almost OD´d on seafood - many different types of mussels, clams, etc. for lunch and dinner. Lots of seafood in this part of the world - lots of Salmon farming apparently. I´ve been wearing thermals underneath clothes all day. Outdoors during the day, light jumper. Cold wind, but today has been fine skies, good.

So apparently it´s a bit windy and cold at the moment. This morning I was out for a walk, following the tourist walking trail around town, until I lost it, and went in search of a cafe instead. Puerto Varas has a fairly strong German heritage, lots of German buildings around, one of the main churches is modelled off one of the ones in Black Forest, apparently. So basically wandered around town, taking photos of old buildings, and a lake that you can´t see the other side (volcanoes) of. When the weather is clear (eg: yesterday), it was very scenic, but not in an over the top way, just pleasent way. Puerto Varas reminds me sort of a less boganie version of Bato´s Bay, without the fishing. Just a small town where there´s not much to do. So good for me to bludge. Fairly well do to Chileans around I think though.

Lunch today was Pastel de Choclos (which was bits of meat and a chicken drumstick cooked in creamy sweet corn mixture, in a pie sort of dish. Apparently a Chilean local dish. Was good. Followed by Kuchen, which, assuming from the name of it, is a german desert. Was rasberries with Riccota (I think) cake thing. Both were different. Both were yum.

I´ll be off to Castro tomorrow, a town in the middle of Chiloe island. So that will be very different again. I´m yet to find an ATM that doesn´t charge me high (>AUD$5) withdrawal fee. Peru and Bolivia were easier in this regard - BCP made things easy.

A good thing about the cool weather is that I sleep well, which is tops.

Enjoying spending time in Chile, but looking forward to getting back home: friends, family, own bed, water from the tap, home cooked food, clarinet, singing, running, etc, etc.

So it´s a bit chilly in Chile. hah.

I´m now in Puerto Varas. After several days in La Paz, I decided that I´d had enough of cities, so directly after my flight from La Paz to Santiago (via Iquique), I bought a overnight bus ticket to P.V. Several comments like ´´it´s a nice place, but cold´´. The best translation I could think of to ´they breed us tough from Canberra´ was along the lines of ´nació en Canberra, hombres de Canberra es fuerte´ or something like that, just didn´t have the same ring. Anyhow.

Night bus here was good. Very comfortable, easily more comfortable than nightbuses in Peru or Chile, but I did pay a bit extra to get cama (bed) class. Anyhow, there´s not much to Puerto Varas, as I thought and hoped for. Basically the rest of this trip is a bludge, I don´t intend to see many major things or anything - I´ve been on the go for a bit anyway. P.V is nice though, it´s quite scenic - on the edge of a lake with several volcanos in the background. Was very pleasant (except the wind being a bit cool) just sitting at the end of the one pier working on my woefully out of date journal.

I´ve gotten a bit of a cold anyway (since arriving in Chile), I think because of the altitude.. higher up, nose was blocked a fair bit. Must of got used to that, now lower, so runnier. Anyhow.

I knew Chile would be more developed than Peru or Bolivia, but I thought the difference would be less. Ie: I can more easily it as a mix of bits of Canberra, Sydney, Perth, Beijing in it, with Latin American people, if that makes sense. Cleaner streets, less people trading in small stores on the street (higher employment rate). Chileans seem taller. Lower altitude or more money so better diet?.

Music in this internet cafe is a bit old school - they´re playing the rick roll´d song. lol.

Time to find a cafe and some lunch.

We arrived back in La Paz this morning (before 7am from the night bus), after several days 4WDriving around in the salt flats, and Bolivian desert. Some really great scenery, was really good to be out in the country again (as opposed to cities or towns). I have a few days in La Paz. Today is a rest / organisation day (night buses aren´t conducive for sleep when the road is dirt (unsealed). Need to sort out Chile. Tomorrow, day drip to Tiawanoca ruins (predates Inca by a fair bit).

All going well.

There doesn{t seem to be much to do in Uyuni, except wait until 10.30am when we go to the Salt flats for 3 days. Should be good, supposed to be excellent.

Two shops say {Internet{, but do not have internet access. This internet cafe has {broadband{ speeds that are slower than dial up. Awesome stuff.

So things are going pretty well. Bolivia has been interesting so far - La Paz, Sucre and Potosi. Uyuni (now) is just a staging town for the Salt flats, I think. Yesterday morning went to the Casa de Moneda (I think), which is were all the coins were pressed for quite a while. Was interesting to see how it used to be done. Were some good paintings there too. Scenery from Potosi to Uyuni was good. Road was not sealed, so it was a bit bouncy. A few of the corners on the mountain were a bit average (blind without guard rails and only one lane...). It took us a bit less than 6 and 1/2 hours (includes a half hour break), to travel something like 220km....

Ahh well, next few days should be good. I made a mistake when packing for this trip. I brought the day pack that comes along with my main pack, however, it{s a bit small - I should have brought one of my bigger day packs. (Just taking daypack to salt flats).

By the way, left brace equals apostrophy. Punctuation on this keyboard is all over the shop. Sometimes keyboards are ´´normal´´ keyboards, but with re-assigned punction, sometimes, keyboards are nonstandard with n with tilda, but sometimes other variations...

Should go. Next check will be in four days time back in La Paz.

In Potosi now, about to leave for Uyuni and 3 days in the Salt Flats. Should be good, but basic, apparently. Sucre was good, Potosi is a mining town, but very dodge conditions. Did the mine tour, comment was that I was too tall for a Peruvian mine. True!. Somewhat uncomfortable being in the middle of a mine with dynamite being blown up maybe 50 - 100 m away...

In Sucre now, pretty interesting town. Spanish colonial stuff. Lots of white buildings, cleaner than La Paz (hardly anyone selling stuff on street corners, etc). Today done three main things - visit the chapel that´s been there since 1600s that has many painting from 1600s crazy very beautiful paintings etc. Visited a textile museum which was actually really interesting about the local indigenous peoples. Also went to the world biggest section of dinosaur footprints which was reasonably impressive but a bit tacky as well.

I´m now in La Paz. As expected, it seems less developed than Peru. At least initial impressions of airports and a 1hr walk around the city to get some cash and water and 2 bananas and a little bread (lunch was iffy). Noticable that i´m now high up. After Cusco I´d gotten used to the lower altitudes of the jungle (which was an excellent few days) and Lima. Annoyingly, my room is on the fourth floor. No lift...

Do some touristy things (churchs, museums) tomorrow, then to Sucre after that.

This is from an email. If you´re not interested in my bodyly functions, don´t read on!

Now is the first time that I´m sitting at a computer for hr or so (I´ve had brief times at freebie hotel internet). Went horse riding earlier this afternoon, but came off. OK, nothing broken, just a bit sore and don´t feel like wandering around. Apparently my saddle wasn´t on tightly. My clean clothes get back in 1.5 hr, so catch up on internet stuff.

I´m in Cusco at the moment (got back yesterday from the Inca Trail). Tomorrow we go to the jungle. Inca trail was a really great 4 day bushwalk, however, I found it particularly tough. For a few days before the start of it, i´d had a bit of diahorrea (sp?). The afternoon before, I basically vommitted up everthing from that day and the previous day as well. Also, I hadn´t been having 3 full meals since ?? for a while sometime (not full appitite). On the evening before the inca trail start day, vomitted up half a bottle of water with hydrolyte as I was drinking it. Excellent.

In the tour group there are 8 people plus guide (quite cohesive group). all are pretty social. (incidently, 6 are women...) anyhow, of the 8, 1 doctor, 1 training doctor, 2 experienced nurses. After a bit of talking with them, got some drugs from the doctor and that stopped the sickness. in the morning of the first day (4am like). felt better, had half a roll from b´fast. but feeling slightly better, but so that´s a good enough sign. Walk for 6 hrs in the morning / early evening, but then vomitted lunch when we got to camp. The guides and cook were really good to me - getting me to drink teas of celerary . mint . and something else (good for stomach apparently). But for the entirity of the 4 days, could not eat anything in full. typicallying having about 1/3 the standard size plate. and then I usually just ate anyhting the consistency of baby food / rice / simple veges. First day I felt that i didn´t have the normal power in my
legs, especially uphill. the Second day is a walk from 3200m (?) up to 4200m up and was quite difficult. made it in the end, but slower than the rest of the group. But I did the uphill bit in a bit over 4 hrs, so I haven´t anything to be ashamed of. Bit less than 1.5 hr download (very difficult, as is all on uneven stones but all wet due to mist and slight rain, and some werer very steep). Got into camp as the rest were eating lunch. But then when I had my lunch, could only eat the liquid part of the chunky soup and a tiny bnit of bread... Was safe though. Two guides for the group - one leading, one tail end charlie. so he was with me all, which was reassuring. groups were coming in several ours latter after I´d had arvo kip. 3rd day was a little steep up but mostly flat and several very cool inca ruins, so ok for me. fourth day (yesterday) was very early (pre light) start to get to Machu Picchu. spent the morning there
- amazing place. that lunch - I had soup which I finished all of, which I´m happy with. Dinner last was out at trendy restaurant (I wouldn´t usually go there if it was in Oz, but here it´s cheep so go with the rest of the group**), and ate most of a burger, but not all of salad and chips (I felt hungyry, and then full, unlike previously when I just could eat anything). Not local food, but wanted something Kevin stomach friendly. In the few days of the inca trail I´ve lost a fair bit of weight (too thin)... So I´ll trying to fatten myself up. lol. Apart from my illness, the inca trail was excellent excellent great walk. The food served up was great (unfortuntely I had to abstain from the yummy bits). Gucci camping.

** although tonight I´m planning to not go out with them as they´re going to another ´´expensive´´ place, but I found a tiny local place nearby at lunchtime, so want to go back there.

I have some great photos, but I can´t seem to get them off the camera. I still have serious space issues, onto my fifth of 5Gb for the entire trip - still 3.5 weeks to go.. eeek. I´ll be deleting some tomorrow on the flight.

Keyboards over here have crazy punctuation!

Hmmm, my mp3 player is still charging. So, some more: going back in time a bit. Before Cusco (the first time) was Puno, on the edge of Lake Titicaca. There was one night homestay which was great. We (myself and the other bloke on the tour who I´ve been sharing hotel rooms with), stayed with a family of three (mum, dad and son). Although son (10? yo) was youngest of 8? or 9? - others having moved out married etc. Life for them is very simple, farming. Electricity for lighting in the rooms and one very old portable radio. Kitchen / eating area very small, simple food. But great to share meals with them. Evening of that night was dress up in local traditional clothes, and trad dancing at local hall. Good fun. Yes, there´s photos - stuck at this stage on the camera. Afternoon coming back on one of the reed islands, was interesting. Also that afternoon went to xx? can´t remember name, an incan burial ground near Puno with all the
burial structures. Interesting and scenic.

IF you are interested (get it), for your information, there´s pretty much nothing surrounding Machu Picchu other than cliffs.

In Cusco. Fairly long bus ride today, made longer by a gear box problem on the bus. Late lunch was very yum sandwich, and passed a street parade for the festival of some saint or another... Homestay at ake Titicaca was excellent, except that the day going out there I went to the dunny more than usual . I must have had something bad the night before. But great experience with the homestay family.

Keyboards here are a bit hit and miss, especially for punctuation, which this machine doesnt do dashes...

Bus ride from Colca Canyon to Puno today (on the edge of Lake Titicaca (sp?)). Going to islands tomorrow for homestay. Cold here, and not much oxygen. Colca Canyon (past couple of days) was great as well - high up too. Very impressive scenery. But getting used to the altitude. HAven´t got around to sending postcards. That will be a job for Cuszco, probably.

I´ve got major space issues on the camera. Well, memory card actually. I´m 1 wek into a 6 week trip, but am 2 fifths of primary space used up.. eek!. HAve also got 4GB flash drive to use as well.

Everything going great.

in Nazca. Had flight over the lines this morning. interesting crazy stuff. Just the small plane made some tight turns!! Ballestinas (sp?) islands many birds. Sea lions are awesome!!!

bought a inca music bird at a pottery shop - forgotten name of. overnight bus to arequipa tonight. all going well. am well (physically). tour group going well - good bunch.

Am in Lima now. Got in very late last night (Saturday). Not much is open at all on Sunday mornings here - it's before 9am still. Not much sleep last night (jet lag?). Efficient airport at Lima. Too much time waiting at Santiago airport - boring without internet!. Flight to Santiago was wierd a bit - they served dinner just out of Auckland, then slept, then it was midday for breakfast. Lima - seems to be many different beeps for different cars (overtaking,move out of my way, do you want a ride?), etc. Need to meet up with group yet though. Scheduled to go to Pisco later today. Not sure if I did something wrong, but this morning I found a ATM, and back to the hotel for breakfast. It was 15 Soles. Paid with 50 S note. Got back 3 x 5S coins, plus 20 x 1S coins. !!??? anyhow.

For the record, Boeing to Auckland, Airbus to Santiago, Boeing to Lima...

If nothing else, - notes for me - 1AUD approx 2.5 Soles.

This keyboard is hard to use - all non letters, non number characters are different shift plus key assignment.... annoying.

Waiting in Auckland - free internet. Flight here was ok, nothing to report. Had to laugh a bit when the first thing that I heard in the terminal here in NZ was "Flight 66 to...". Anyhow. Simple things amuse simple minds, or so I'm told!. Flight to Santiago has been delayed by an hour or so; but this is ok, as I had/have a long wait in Santiago anyway before my flight to Lima. Anyhow, it's pretty green and overcast outside. This keyboard is pretty cool as well, three languages on it (well, particles, I think they're called).

So I'm ready for my trip: I fly out tomorrow morning. Pretty excited, a bit nervous. But it should be good.

My pack is a bit funny shaped - it's a good pack, just that the contents + tight compression straps = a bit odd. Taking more clothes than I took to China (I'll be away from any possibility for cleaning clothes for several days). But still plenty of space to pack some souvenirs in. It will be interesting to see how I go - it's going to take a lot longer to get to Lima (longer legs, stop overs at Auckland and Santiago), than my trip to China. But, it does take a little while to get around to the other side of the world.

R. from work suggested swapping memory cards every day. That way, if one card dies / is lost, then you don't loose a block of photos (ie: all of a country), but every other day, and so you'll still get some of the photos. Need to be disciplined and swap cards each day.

Just need to test putting a photo to this site, then it's off to bed.

... really. I haven't felt like fixing it up and posting it properly.

Some things:
The art gallery (American Impressionism) on Friday evening was pretty good. There’s a lot in it though – full on. The Green Car, Tyrolese something (people having lunch) were my favourites. Dinner beforehand was good fun.

I think that I’m fighting a bug or something (there’s been a bit of it around, plus there’s a bit of stress at the moment). Saturday’s jog around the river was more difficult than usual.

South America stuff:
I did a shop yesterday for things. Some cord, camera memory card and spare battery, etc. There’s just two main things left to get – buy some US dollars, and sort out a water bottle and purification. I was looking at the conversion rate between AUD, USD, and the three currencies of Bolivia, Chile and Peru. It seems that AUD  Chilean Peso (for example), gives the same rate as AUD  USD  Chilean Peso. Presumably each country (Australia, for example), only trades currencies with some currencies (not all). Those that we don’t directly trade with, then it’s just the conversion to and from another major currency? Anyhow.

I’m borrowing a camera for the trip. It’s effectively one model down from what I would have bought (sort of) – but the difference being 1 megapixel that is not relevant for me. Ie: ideal to borrow for the trip. I’m happy with the arrangements if it gets nicked, or damaged or something.

Dream.
So on Thursday night I had a crazy dream. Very rare for me to even remember any dreams.

Plans. – two tours. See jungle. Bit more $$$. Less Lima, more La Paz (good). Not inca, but different walk (a bit annoying, but ok).

Sorry, this post was written over several days, so tenses and structure aren’t the best! It also mostly just writing my notes for myself from the visit to the doctor.

Well, my arm is slightly sore at the moment (getting better as I’ve written this post - that was Monday, fine now) – I had two injections this morning for the trip. Typhoid and Yellow Fever. But, I need to consider several other medical issues. Doctor basically said the following were borderline, and up to me (flu and altitude were recommended).

Flu
The doctor advised getting a flu shot ($25 by his place). I’ve never had it before, I’ve never been really sick with flu. I’ll probably get it? I could technically get it as a freebie at work, but I wouldn’t if I wasn’t going on the trip, so I won’t.

Rabies
Apparently they recommend if you’re travelling overseas for 3 months, then get a rabies shot. It’s fairly expensive though – 3 x $115 = $355. But, from what the doctor described, there is no cure, and it’s a fairly nasty way to go. Hmmm, given that (at this stage at least) I’m likely to go back to Central/South America (in planning for this trip there were several countries that I cut from the list because of time constraints); it’s probably going to be worth it (the injection is lifetime). But, rabies is mostly in India and Africa, apparently. Of two people who’ve recently been, S didn’t get it, P did. Hmmm.

Altitude
Given that I had a bit of sickness due to the altitude in western Sichuan, I’ve got some pills for that. Supposed to start taking it 1 day before ascent. Supposed to drink lots water, etc to help.

Malaria
There is*** (I’ll get back to this in a later post here) going to be a couple of days in the Amazon. I need to get some more insect repellent (can’t find my old stuff). But should I be taking a preventative pill? Doxyclicin (to start taking two days before Amazon, up to 1 week after). Dunno if I should get it?

Diarrhoea
Should I take Loperamide (a stopper)?

I don’t want to get sick, but taking pills half the time doesn’t really excite me. So, probably I’ll ditch the anti malaria (preventative), but take the anti diarrhoea (resolving – can’t think of the correct word here.)

First Aid Kit – to get / organise:
Insect repellent.
Cold and flu
Paracetamol
Gastrolyte?
Loperamide?
Sore Throat stuff
Doxycline (Malaria)???
Dimox (altitude)

Injections – to get:
Flu shot
Rabies shot?

I’ve gone through and chucked out old medicines from China that are now all out of date…

Other stuff happening today* (well, Monday when I started writing this post). Well, it was my RDO today. Other than injections, I got myself a phrase book. For language, I’ll be taking that, a dictionary, and maybe two A4 sheets of Spanish notes from the course. I also found a Spanish easy reader. The first part of it is pretty good revision. Towards the end (if I get up to there before I leave (well the first part of it is) seems to be reasonably difficult, I can make out a little of it, but there’s plenty I don’t know now. I was wearing my relatively new shoes today with “thin” socks. No problems. Need to do a demanding pack walk with thick socks.

Mp3 player
My new mp3 player is going well. A bit different to my previous one. In my previous one, you organised the music according to the folder structure. In my new one, it’s based on the artist / name information embedded in the wma/mp3 files. I need to do a bit of sorting out. Eg: Art of Fighting vs Art Of Fighting.

Other than a camera (to be bought in August), and sorting out money, the major things are done. (I think?!). But today, I from work lent me a camera to get a feel for. IXUS 850. Was mentioned that I could borrow it for the trip, but I’m not so thrilled on that idea - what if I loose / gets stolen / breaks, etc.

Oh, in the mail I got my certificate from the IML for the Spanish course – I’ve got a “Good Proficiency”. Arriba arriba!! (lol).

My ex flatmate has moved back in, which is tops. I went for a 6 lap (5.4km) jog this afternoon, felt good, despite the cold weather. By the way, cold = 17 deg C :)

So my trip to South America is going ahead this year. My leave from work is booked, flights booked, tour deposit paid for a 6 week trip in Peru, Bolivia (on a tour) and Chile (by myself) later this year. It should be excellent (I hope). I'll be starting Spanish classes in a few weeks time, so this will help me when I'm travelling in Chile.

Anyhow, the "big" things I need to sort out now are: medical shots; new glasses; new shoes (my old 'good' travelling / walking shoes died last year); possibly a camera (small), maybe a new mp3 player / flash drive (my current one is on it's way out).

Exciting.

Last Monday on my RDO I went to a travel agent to talk about my travel plans to South America, and to get an idea of the costs involved. Below is the plans that I had, along with approximate costs (all in Australian dollars, inclusive of charges, taxes, etc):

Fly to Lima (Peru) from Brisbane (mid August), and return from Quito (Ecuador) ~6 weeks later - $3489

Tour for 3 weeks from Lima to La Paz - $2,260

Backpacking for about 1 week in Bolivia - $500 (very rough estimate)

Flight from La Paz (Bolivia) to Quito (Ecuador) - $714

Backpacking for about 1 week in Ecuador - $500 (very rough estimate)

Galapagos Islands tour – 6 days - $2,200

Travel insurance - $284 (although maybe able to get free if I get a different credit card?)

Medical shots - $300 (estimate)

So, this is a total of $10,247 as a rough estimate…

… which, for me, is probably a bit much for a 6 week holiday. If I was super keen on South America, then it would probably be ok: but I’m not. It’s more that I need a bit of a trip overseas somewhere.

So it seems I have a couple of options:
* do the South East Asia thing
* go somewhere else a bit different to where most people go (Jordan, Egypt, India, Pakistan, Africa)??
* Make a good show of it: do the round the world think, take more time off work. Flights would be more expensive, but the cost to time away ratio would be better. This depends on work, and where I can / want to go.

Some things for me to think about.

So, below are a few bits of advice from P and E and smarttraveller.gov.au regarding South America:

* Spending 5 or 6 nights in Galapogas is worth it; but organise a tour before I leave Australia
* Don't get a bus from Lima to Cusco --> long and tiring. Better to go via the Peruvian coast
* Ecuador is good: consider some time in the jungle and the highlands
* But apparently the north of Ecuador is dangerous to visit (too close to Columbia)
* Banos is good - thermal springs; however it's recently been evacuated (volcano
* Cusco is interesting - Spanish and Incan - can spend time there
* Copacobana on Lake Titicaca is good
* La Paz is interesting - could spend a couple of days
* Rurrenabeque in the Bolivian amazon is interesting

Well, I’m planning a trip to South America. It’s just in the planning stages at the moment: not confirmed. Hopefully, it will be about 5 or maybe 6 weeks (depends on leave from work), in August / September / October / November this year. The trip will probably be based around 2 or 3 weeks in Peru, with time in some (or all of) Bolivia, Ecuador, Galapagos Islands. Maybe Chile and Argentina, but unlikely. Unlikely to visit Brazil as well. Like my 2005 China, I suspect the emphasis will be on old stuff; mountains; and different cultures. I’ll probably visit Machu Picchu (probably do the walk), Lake Titicaca, amongst others. Still figuring exactly where I’ll go. My current thought is for a 3 week tour in Peru, ending in Bolivia; then 1 / 2 weeks backpacking; then a short week in Galapagos Islands.

Different to my preparation before my China trip, I’m not going to a Spanish course. Instead I’ll be going through books and CDs myself (probably the Hugo one – good reputation). Spanish at least has the same (mostly anyway) script as English, and not tonal, so probably will be easier to get a basic grasp compared to Mandarin.