Charlie Boy

The Lonely Planet describes Lake Titicaca as 'the world's highest navigable lake' in the Peru section and then goes on to say 'Lake Titicaca is often wrongly described as the World's highest navigable lake' in the Bolivia section. Whatever the case may be they forgot to mention Copacabana (one of the Lake's towns) is Bolivia's answer to Brighton. Everyone flocks here for their holidays and hires as paddling swan to 'explore' the lake. After one night there I decided to catch a boat to Isla Del Sol (Island of the Sun), an island at the heart of the Incan culture. All I can say is either the Incas enjoyed the irony of the name or were eternal optimists because while I was there the sun never showed his face. I did however see rain, hail and ... read more

This place has it all! Rio is surrounded by gorgeous mountains, white-sandy beaches and rainforests! While we were there we saw Christ the Redeemer, got pummeled by Copacabana´s waves, looked bemusedly at the beach goers attire, hit the streets and favelas for parties and finally slept in the world´s craziest dorm! At the copa copacabana (copacabana)...........Her name was lola, she was a showgirl............At the copa (co!) copacabana (copacabana)...........dam you Barry Manilow! I sang that song way too many times on the beach and as shown by my knowledge of the lyrics it was pretty annoying! Now I hope it´s in your heads too. One thing I´d love erased from my head is the disturbing image of a man on the beach in a thong! Who said men could wear speedos again, let alone steal women's ... read more

To travel from the Iguazu Falls (Argentina) to Paraty (Brazil) in the quickest time, at the lowest cost and in the highest comfort. In Paraty we aim not to be robbed, to find a good place to stay and to meet other travellers. Hypothesis All will run smoothly and we´ll have a great time Method (none of this was booked!) Take a bus from Argentina to the Brazilian side of the Iguazu Falls Catch a taxi to the bus station. Get a bus to Sao Paulo Catch a connecting bus to Paraty Wander the streets at night for accommodation Materials (or lack of) Probably the most useful item is a phrasebook and we left home without one! Result The taxi to the bus station went smoothly enough, but once we got out we were on our ... read more

After 35 hours of travelling and 3 flights my original travelling buddy, Mike, arrived looking worse for ware, but safely. His epic trip didn't end there though and 3 hours later we were on a flight to Salta. Salta is a relatively sleepy town in the north of Argentina know for its beautiful architecture and cobbled streets. Mike and I spent a day exploring the city, but to be honest I preferred our quad biking trip and he fell in love with Argentinian steak! In fact the only night we chose not to eat steak our meal was that bad we had it boxed up and ended up trekking to our favorite steak restaurant! Later we gave the entire meal to a homeless women with a baby, so while we might be "flashpackers" we're thoughtful and ... read more

Hello from my last continent! In my last blog I said crossing the international date line was cool, well it's not! That and some serious partying temporarily turned me into an incomniac! I'm cured now so you can breathe sigh of relief! On my flight from New Zealand I joined four other backpackers and we explored Santiago and Buenos Aires together. We arrived in Santiago complety exhausted, so we did what travellers do best and took a power nap. Then we were ready to venture round the city. The area we stayed in had no expatreates and very few people spoke English, but as a whole Santiago is suprisingly cosmopolitan. On our wanderings we stumbeled across some great rustic bars. They're just how you'd imagine them; with sandy yellow walls, shutters on the windows, and crammed ... read more