My last blog entry..... I had a night flight from Lima to Los Angeles and hadn't been on a plane for nearly 2 1/2 months. I didn't have Lisa and Sarah's hands to hold during take off and had to resist clinging on to the Peruvian man next to me! I arrived at the hostel in the morning not having had much sleep and was feeling very ungrateful just wanting to be back in South America or at home. I had less than 48 hours to entertain myself there and it felt a bit pointless, but once i'd showered, planned my [View Full Entry]

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I arrived in Ecuador very excited and rather exhausted after 2 days of travelling day and night, on 4 different buses, wearing and sleeping in the same clothes and not washing - apologies to those who sat next to me!! Totally safe and easy border crossing, had been told it was a nightmare but think it depends on the bus company you go with, luckily i'd picked a good one, although at the time i didn´t think it was as i stepped on the bus for an overnight journey and was the only gringo on a bus full of men. I [View Full Entry]

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Arequipa is quite similar to Cusco with a huge plaza and fountain, an abundance of market stalls and souvenir shops and some lovely cafes with delicious crepes and salads for lunch. Jo was heading to Chile from Arequipa while i was continuing my travels in Peru so we had a final night out together which started with giant jenga in the hostel, Jo and i then staggered to the Chinese for food but we were pretty drunk having not eaten earlier and the food couldn´t save Jo so i had to put her to bed while i went out and partied [View Full Entry]

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Jo and i arrived in Cusco extremely early at 4am after our overnight bus because the driver was speeding so had 4 hours to kill until it was a decent hour to turn up at hostels. Managed to pass the time huddled in the cold bus station covered in sleeping bags and ponchos drinking tea and then spotted the internet which killed another couple of hours! Before i came to South America I'd pictured there being lots of plazas and cafes and Bolivia didn´t disappoint on that front but Cusco was by far the best! Arrived in the morning sunshine to [View Full Entry]

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Arrived back in La Paz after an extremely bumpy flight clutching the edge of my seat most of the way and a sick bag which luckily i didnt quite have to use! The altitude hits you as soon as you step off the plane and you can´t breathe - think i´m definitely more of a sea level kind of girl! Met up with Antonia and Philip, a lovely brother and sister i met at the Loki Hostel before i went on my pampas trip and we went to the Wild Rover Hostel bar and met up with Kevin, the boy who [View Full Entry]

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Hi all, Having been a bit of a hermit and not really spoken to anyone for a couple of days while i was having Spanish lessons i was looking forward to seeing who i´d be with on my pampas tour and was hoping to meet a nice girl to travel with but i boarded the minibus and was faced with 7 Irish boys! They all introduced themselves and we headed off to the airport ready to catch our flight to the jungle. The plane was tiny and claustrophobic with a single row of seats either side of the narrow isle and [View Full Entry]

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Arrived in La Paz at 10am desperate for a shower after the overnight bus! Couldn´t get in to a dorm room yet so Max and i dumped our bags and headed out to explore. I really didn´t like La Paz when we first arrived, having come from Samaipata which is such a small, clean place and only 1,650m above sea level we were now at a dizzying height of 3,660m and apart from the fact that i couldn´t breathe because of the altitude, it is so huge and busy and the pollution is really bad. Lots of micro buses zoom up [View Full Entry]

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We all got up early the morning after the "Extreme Fun Pub" shenanigans despite the late night and said goodbye to Max from France which left 5 of us from our trip (Max - Chicago, Max - Belgium, Nico - France, Romain - France and me) to catch a bus from Uyuni to Potosi at 9am. We had been told that the views are amazing on the 6 hour journey so we had all booked to have a window seat so we could make the most of it. Our bus pulled up not looking quite like it was in the photo [View Full Entry]

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Hello, I'm in Bolivia now and absolutely love it so have decided to spend most of my time here rather than in Peru - it seems to be the places you have the least expectations about that turn out to be the best! I went on a 3 day jeep tour of the world´s largest salt flat and surrounding hot springs, coloured lagoons and volcanoes in the "Eduardo Avaroa" National Andean Wildlife Reserve. The reserve ranges from 4,000 to 6,000 metres in altitude so the temperatures went from about -10, absolutely freeezing cold, to reasonably warm in the middle of the [View Full Entry]

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Hi all, very behind on my blog now as i´m in Bolivia so hope i can remember as far back as New Zealand.... ....We were due to fly out of Auckland to Santiago on 24 June but just as we were at the gate and about to board the plane we were given an arrival card and told to collect our luggage! Not very informative at all but we eventually discovered that the plane we were due to fly on had been struck by lightning on it´s way in to Auckland eeekkkkk - don´t worry Carolyn, no one was hurt and [View Full Entry]

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