Plagued by strays.......... So the first night in Chile didn´t go all that well. Our first campsite was lacking in hot water and flushing toilets, and there were little frogs hopping all about the showers. Its only redeeming feature was that the trees there smelt like mulled wine :-) The next day we found another campsite which had all the essentials: hot water, laundry service, lights, table and chairs, barbecue and stray cats and dogs. The cats weren´t really a problem, just scrounging for food, that was until they actually stole our cooked chicken (I couldn´t believe the l [View Full Entry]

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Bariloche Our last overnight bus for a while took us to Bariloche, a cute little town to wander round. It´s a ski resort in the winter, has lots of log cabin type buildings and lots of chocolate shops (very yummy). Spent one day doing a boat trip, which is a bit of lazy way to see the lakes. The main part of the trip was along Lago Nahuel Huapi, the large crystal clear lake on which Bariloche is situated, then there was a short bus trip to a smaller lake, Lago Frias, a cloudy lake due to all the mineral deposits. [View Full Entry]

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After another blissful overnight bus journey we arrived in Puerto Madryn. It was back to the camping again and the campsite barbecue area being the social hangout for the evening. More barbecue tips from the locals, so much so that on one night one guy pretty much cooked our food for us - no need to start another fire when there was plenty of room on his barbecue ( I wasn't complaining!). The main attraction here is the wildlife. Unfortunately we were about 6 weeks too late to see the whales but there were still plenty of other animals to see. [View Full Entry]

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I really liked Buenos Aires, it felt very European, very modern, nice bars and restaurants, lots of parks. Spent a couple of days wandering around the different areas. Saw the Casa Rosada, (so named because it´s pink! as all good buildings should be), and outside it there seemed to be the remnants of some sort of demonstration (possibly pharmacy related as I saw the name Fresenius.......). A guy we met later on said that there are demonstrations there every other day and they used broadcast a demonstration forecast right after the weather forecast on the news! (Not sure how true that [View Full Entry]

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Iguazu falls It took about 30 hours on a total of 5 buses, with a lot of waiting around in between to get from Paraty to Iguazu. I have to say at this point how amazing the Argentinian buses are - like being on a first class flight - huge reclining seats, movies, dinner, wine, breakfast, blanket and a pillow. I have actually started to look forward to the long journeys! And to top it all off, I managed to acquire a copy of Harry Potter no 7 to keep me company :-) So this was the first (of many) stint [View Full Entry]

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Ilha Grande After Rio we headed down the Brazilian Coast to a little island called Ilha Grande, for some relaxation (because Rio had just been so exhausting!). The weather improved (i.e. it stopped raining) which is good when one wants to lie on the beach. Ilha grande reminded me a bit of some of the Thai islands - lovely white sandy beaches, no roads to speak of, just green rainforest covering the entire centre of the island. Helen and Fergus were still with us, so the consumption of caipirinhas continued....... It was quite a fun place - we even managed to [View Full Entry]

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Rio So we finally made it to Rio after about a zillion hours flying. First couple of days just wandered around Copacabana and beach a bit, and sampled my first (of many) Brazilian caipirinha. Met up with some friends after a few days (Helen and Fergus), spent the day on the beach catchng up and so the caipirinha drinking continued........ Carnival at the sambadrome was fantastic. The costumes and floats were spectacular........and sooo much glitter!!! It all started at around 9pm and finished at 6am - wasn´t sure I´d make through but we met a couple of Brazilian guys who made [View Full Entry]

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Whe you think of Tahiti you think of palm-fringed white sandy beaches, but actually most of the coastal areas are lagoons rather than beaches. There are a few beaches, luckily some of these are on the island of Mo´orea where the campsite was. Didn´t do a great deal in Tahiti except relax on the beach a bit. Didn´t even muster the energy to get my snorkel out! We did only have 4 days there though. It was actually very expensive here and probably a better destination for a holiday rather than when travelling for several months and attempting to stick to [View Full Entry]

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