It's hard to know where to start with Buenos Aires (BA), which is just a fantastic city! It's by far the most European city we have been to thus far in South America with architecture that wouldn't look out of place in London or Paris. The majority of people here are of Spanish or Italian descent and so for once we didn't stand out too much walking around, and were even mistaken for Argentines a couple of times! Of course, the second Ben put his shorts on that ended as no-one here seems to wear them, even when it's hot! The [View Full Entry]

---

---

After the shock of the prices in Chile, which seemed especially high after a few weeks in Bolivia, we were even more excited about crossing the border into Argentina - the land of tango, football, wine, and amazing steaks, as well as glaciers and lots more! However, of those, meat was foremost in our minds as Argentina was to be the place where Ben's travelling weightloss was to be reversed! Not only are there just three buses across the border from San Pedro, but those three buses also travel during the day, which meant we would lose a whole day on [View Full Entry]

---

---

Our first, and potentially only, stop in Chile was San Pedro de Atacama, which is a small town near the border with Bolivia. Chile is 37th on the country rich list and it really felt like we'd entered another World as we crossed the border - here the roads were silky smooth asphalt, there were road markings, and also tonnes of road signs (all freshly painted)! We pretty much glided down the mountain into the town and decided that we would try and head into Salta, Argentina, the same day. However, it quickly became apparent that there are just three buses [View Full Entry]

---

---

So, after a stomach twisting flight back from Rurrenabaque, we headed to a mining town called Oruru, from where we hoped to catch a train to Uyuni - the base for oganising tours to the Salt Flats. The train seemed the most comfortable option as the roads are unpredictable and unpaved! When we arrived in Oruru we headed straight to the train station to get some tickets only to be told that there was yet another blockade (%&"!) and there would be no train for three days. We were quite disappointed as we were looking forward to non-bus transportation, but headed [View Full Entry]

---

---

The flight to Rurrenabaque from La Paz was just 35 minutes and took us from the freezing snow covered mountains to the steaming hot jungle. After the excitement of the Death Road, we decided to spend the day lazing around in the comfortable hammocks in the Hotel Oriental and booking our pampas tour for the next day. The tour companies all seemed to offer pretty much the same trip - 3 days and 2 nights on the river watching the wildlife - and so we went with a company called Dolphin who we had been told were pretty good. The next [View Full Entry]

---

---

Due to a blockade on the road from Copacabana to La Paz, we had to take an alternative route to the capital city of Bolivia, which took us back across the Bolvian border into Peru, and then back into Bolivia through another border crossing. Thankfully, this didn´t take as long as we had feared it might, adding just 2 hours or so to the journey to La Paz. Ben was very relieved, as some internet research had revealed that the two biggest football teams in La Paz were to play each other in the semi-finals of the league championship a few [View Full Entry]

---

---

Our next stop was our 4th South American country, Bolivia, and more specifically Copacabana on the shores of Lake Titicaca. Despite its altitude of 4000 metres the days are hot and sunny, although the nights are pretty chilly. We decided to stay here for 2 nights, so that we could spend a day chilling out, and a day on Isla del Sol, an island on the lake. The day we arrived was as described above, hot and sunny, so were able to wander around the town, visit the cathedral, and have some trout from the lake for lunch. In the evening [View Full Entry]

---

---

Our last stop in Peru was Arequipa, in order for us to do the Colca Canyon trek. We travelled down with some Aussie friends we met on the Inka Jungle, and decided to book on a tour with them for the next day. Day 1. Despite the lack of sleep due to the loud music in the hostel bar, and the early 3am wake up, we were raring to go and were whisked off in a bus for a couple of hours to the canyon. Our first stop was the condor view point, to get the best chance of seeing the [View Full Entry]

---

---

We left Huacachina and caught the night bus to Cusco, which was our longest ride so far at a whopping 18 hours. Cusco is the gringo capital of Peru, and possibly South America, and the staging post for trips to Machu Picchu. The city is also at an altitude of 3300m and, as we had just come from sea level, we found it difficult to do anything strenuous for the first couple of days. We booked ourselves on an Inka Jungle trip with a company called Conde (more about them later) - This is an alternative to the classic Inca Trail [View Full Entry]

---

---

We arrived in the early evening and, as it's such a small place, we were able to wander around and look for a good room. We settled on a nice clean double room with a private bathroom for the bargain price of 30 soles (around 6 pounds). We met up with our Norwegian friend Lene and an Australian couple for a few beers. It was really quiet, as the main tourist season ends in August, and so we were the only people drinking in the bar by 1am, which meant we had the pool table, dart board, and music to ourselves! [View Full Entry]

---

---