C Jarman

Sucre After one or two more lazy days in Sucre we found out that some of the strikes were starting to get violent with tear gas, riot police and injuries. However, we did manage to watch a local football match: Universitario (Sucre) vs San Jose (Oruro). After cladding ourselves in the local teams kit for about 3 pounds we watched our team go down 1-0 despite clearly being the better team on the pitch! The match was hugely enjoyable though with a good atmosphere and afterwards we headed for a pizza and then back to the hostel, where we met two girls in the kitchen making soup out of the hallucinogenic San Pedro cactus! Not sure how nice that would have been! We then took a flight to La Paz from Sucre for about 38 pounds ... read more

The asado was actually rearranged to the next night, because it meant that Konrad would be able to come out which was great! Before the meal we spent the day sampling Bariloche's famous chocolate - fantastic until I ended with a pretty disgusting liquor! We then picked up some flowers and cupcakes for the Baileys and settled down to write postcards. As seems to happen far too often Alex´s lateness meant we missed the bus and so we took a taxi to the Bailey household where we were greeted by Ponky who we were very glad to see as he had gone walkabout the day before, and round there the dogs never usually come back. We were then driven by Julie to the asado where we were joined by a very tired Konrad who had been ... read more

Bought our bus tickets to Rio Gallegos in Bariloche, where we would then get a transfer to Calafate. So we set off from Bariloche at 5.15pm with a hamper of food given to us by Julie after we learnt there was no food on the bus! We arrived at 10am the next day in Caleta Olivia, a small seaside town that was the South American equivalent of Morecambe! A 5 hour or so wait was enjoyed by a refreshing dip in the sea (first swim in the South Atlantic!) and watching Italy beat France in the 6 Nations, what a result! It was then back onto a bus and off we went, reaching Rio Gallegos at 1.30am on Sunday. We then found out that the next bus to Calafate wasn't until 9.15 and a night in ... read more

Hola chicos and chicas, It has been a fantastic start to Patagonia here in San Carlos de Bariloche. We arrived about an hour or so late from Iguazu after two buses, the third of which (from Buenos Aires to here) was the best so far, it even had a vegetarian option for Alex, surprising in this nation of carnivores, some of whom eat meat three times a day! We were greeted by Konrad (he doesn´t like being called Uncle!) at the bus station which is just out of the ciy centre and drove about 3 kilometres to his house, where I met Julie and Nils for the first time in about 14 years! After a lunch of empanadas (yum!) we had a tour of the house and garden which are both fantastic, but the best ... read more

We left Buenos Aires at 3.00pm yesterday, sad to say goodbye to our brilliant host Chelsea, and a city we both liked, mainly because of its laid back attitude and great variety of sights and things to do. Some of the highlights include the sense of freedom; trying empanadas for the first time; seeing the colourful houses of the district of La Boca painted from paint leftovers in shipyards, also one of the poorest areas of BA; the market in San Telmo that sold everything from fruit and veg to jewellry to antiques and to fake Ray Bans; and meeting some very drunk argentines at Chelsea´s local bar who tried to persuade us to rise up against the queen! We arrived today in Puerto Igauzu (Northeast Argentina on the border with Brazil and Paraguay) at around ... read more