22nd June, Arriving on an Andesmar bus in La Quiaca at 7.30am in the morning it was dark and cold and damp. The town was very grim and with backpacks on we had to walk across the town to get to the border of Argentina and into Villazon in Bolivia! Unfortunately the map in the lonely planet guide didn't seem to correspond with the roads in front of us so Brim and I found ourselves walking in a huge circle only to get nowhere fast! After asking 3 different people where the border was however, we were finally on track and [View Full Entry]

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The bus journey from Mendosa to Salta overnight was not too painful, although at 5.15am in the morning Brim was rudely awoken by some electrical work undertaken by one of the conductors at the front of the coach! I managed to get some sleep between cold feet and DVDs in Spanish playing in the background. Around 4pm in the afternoon we finally arrived in Salta and wandered the 5 minutes from the bus station to our hostel, Inti Hausi. The manager Victor, gave us a map of the Salta city and marked off the key locations. Settled in, we wandered into [View Full Entry]

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8am bus from Valparaiso to Mendosa. Bus company was El Rapidio and our conductor/driver Samuel certainly made for an eventful trip :) he was brilliant fun, He liked the English chicas, making sure we were happy, winking at s between the seats and singing along to the Spanish DVD playing on the bus TV. In fact, as we crossed over the Andes he made the bus stop so we could get out of the bus and take pictures of the snow capped Andes...even throwing some snowballs at us whilst the locals had a cigarette break and smiled at the gringos taking [View Full Entry]

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We took a Tur Bus from La Serena to Valparaiso during the day, arriving in the city around 7pmish. Arrived at the hostel, Nueva Mente and rang the bell and waited, waited and waited. No answer and there appeared to be no one around. We were just thinking about our next options when a man appeared, let us into the hostel and told us to wait! A few minutes later, hostel manager arrived and showed us our room :) hostel was quite nice over 2 floors but very very cold as the building was from 1900's and there was no heating! [View Full Entry]

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Morning of the 10th June, following breakfast we took our Tur Bus coach from Santiago up the coast to La Serena. Through the bus windows there was still lots of smog and clouds in the air as we drove out of Santiago and finally hit the west coast road and our first view of the Pacific Ocean since landing in South America. As we neared La Serena the view of desert changed to flat farmsteads and the typical looking cactus trees. As we arrived in La Serena the colonial buildings were everywhere and we watched in amusement as a juggler stood [View Full Entry]

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The journey to Santiago from Bariloche, as I know Fuzzy likes to know about these things, was a two buses journey, one from Bariloche across the border, leaving Argentina and entering into Chile to a place called Osorno and then second bus from Osorno to Santiago. The bus journey took us across the Andes with a customs stop out of Argentina and one into Chile. No major incidents or delays involved and the view from the bus window was lovely as we winded around the hills of fir trees and great lakes. Following the beauty of the mountains we arrived in [View Full Entry]

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Another day, another bus journey and another blog to write :) After a brilliant day on the Valdes we got a late bus 9.30pm from Peurto Madryn to San Carlos de Barlioche which is the start of the lake district area of the Andes and a beautiful alpine like town with houses like log cabins and a million fir trees :) on the bus managed to sleep most of the way until early morning when I was greeted with a wonderful view as I peered out of my dreamy eyes - sun rising behind backdrop of green firs and mountains dusted [View Full Entry]

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Dearest Readers, It gives me great pleasure in announcing that without a doubt for me, Puerto Madryn, the Pennisular Valdes is my favourite place so far in Argentina, and yes that has everything to do with the fact we saw Southern Right Whales both from the shore and in a boat :) Anyhow, where to begin - so when I last wrote we left El Calafate and took a bus (via Rio Gallegos) to arrive in Puerto Madryn. I won´t bore you with long bus tales however a few things to highlight is the cute kid at Rio G who took [View Full Entry]

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Hi All, Hope you are all ok and not too red from all the sunshine in the UK! Anyhow, when I last wrote I was in El Calafate and updating you on our time in Ushuaia. So, now I need to tell you of the time in El Calafate starting from the fact that Brim and I had to get up at 4am in the morning in Ushuaia so we could head to the bus station for El Calafate. The journey went as follows, leave Ushuaia just before 5am on a bus to Rio Gallegos. Before reaching there however we have [View Full Entry]

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The snowcapped mountains and blue water and minus 2 degrees celcius! That is right people, we have made it from Buenos by plane, a much shorter journey of 3 hours ish to Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the WORLD! A slight shock from the warmth of Buenos Aires but Brim and I came prepared with warm clothes and waterproofs :) At the Airport Brim was worried about me and swine flu questions, no coughing, sneezing allowed! Thankfully no questions asked except where were we staying in Ushuaia! The lady did not recognise it but the taxi driver (no buses from Airport [View Full Entry]

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