Travel Blog Posts
May 30th 2009
Apologies for being so long updating this, Bolivia has been amazing and so busy and crazy, i hope I remember what we´ve been up to. Sadly my Camera and all my lovely photos went walkies along with a bunch of cash in Sucre, so won´t be many photos 'from now on apart from the ones i manage to steal off other people! We spent our last couple of days in Chile chilling (!) out in hammocks in the uber-touristy dester village of San Pedro, a strange old place full of tour operaters, expensive bars and cafes, and with temparatures going from 30+ degrees in the day to almost zero at night. I went sand boarding on some huge sand dunes in the ominously named Death Valley, and had great fun throwing myself off and tumbling grace-lessly ... read more
Valparaiso and La Serena, in serach of Penguins
Published: May 17th 2009South America » Chile » Valparaíso Region
May 12th 2009
We arrived in Valparaiso glad to see sunshine on our skin again, and found our next hostel, another great one, with the help of our first taxi ride in Chile (but after a 22 hour journey I think we can be forgiven!). Valparaiso is a port city in the middle of Chile, which is a city two parts. "El Plan", the flat part which goes along the coast, much like any other city with shops, offices, etc. Then there are the numerous hills that rise up behind, full of character, and great to spend a day wandering around with your camera. There isn´t that much to do in Valparaiso really, so after a great set lunch of Salmon in a great cafe in a dodgy area of town, we hit the Navy museum, reached by a ... read more
In Mr Palins footsteps - Isla Chiloe!
Published: May 12th 2009South America » Chile » Los Lagos » Chiloé Island
May 12th 2009
After a beautiful 6 hour bus ride south through the Chilean lake district, we arrived at Puerto Montt where we would catch a bus across the the Isla Chiloe. My slight obbsession with all things Michael Palin related (see his Full Circle series!) has meant this is one of the places I was most keen to visit in Chile, and I was very excitable as the bus reached the end of the mainland and boarded a very for the half hour jaunt across the sea to the island. By this time it was pitch black and the stars were unlike anything I´ve ever seen, thousands and thousands of them just thrown like splatters of paint onto a black canvas. Another 45 minutes or so driving and we arrived at our first Chiloean destination, Ancud, on the ... read more
May 5th 2009
Despite the cold morning, our first real day in Pucon turned out to be another beutiful sunny day with a good temparature, and we decided to rent bikes and explore some of the surrounding area. A great decision, as our 25km jaunt to Ojos de Carburga (a set of waterfalls) took us off on a dirt track through hilly country side, across lakes and farmland to our ulimtimate destination which embarrisingly though we could hear them we couldn´t actually figure out a way to get to trhe waterfalls! The scenery here is a lot greener as the area gets a lot more rain, and me and Phil have decided we wouldn´t mind buying a bit of land here one day and beoming farmers! A spectcular piece of acrobatics by mr holian on the way home sent ... read more
May 5th 2009
Greetings again, can´t believe its been 9 days since my last update, sorry! I´ll try and fill in the gaps as much as I can..... We managed to make it back to Talca from the national park in one piece and wandered thorugh the city both slightly resembling tramps, to find the guethouse mentioned in the guidebook. The city is not really on the tourist trail so we were planning to just get some kip and move on further south the next day after the several showers it would take to clean all the dust off! But we were really pleasantly surprised when we arrived at the hostal ".Los Castaños", which was so cute and run by a really nice local man who spoke a little english and played songs like "Ferry across the Mersey" and ... read more
April 26th 2009
The think that strikes you most at night here is how dark it is, and how noisy nature is! The bird and other various animals that I´m sure hide in this beast of a forest come alive at night and squawk, howl and purr (yes I swear to got I heard a Puma!). This makes midnight trips to the toilet a whole lot more interesting! One thing we had read about was a particular poiseness spider called the Chilean Rescue Spider whose bite can be fatal, and that likes to hide in shoes and clothes. So as we made our way back to the tent on the second night and encountered th biggest spider I have ever seen in the wild lurking on a rock of course, I assume it to be this one! Can´t overcome ... read more
April 26th 2009
Really got to get better at this blog writing thing! Only 10 days have passed but far too many things have happened to remember so far so I will try and fill you in (no pics I´m afraid this time as being me I have left my cable in the tent. I guess I should start where we left off with the missing luggage in Santiago! After a de-stress beer at the airport we got the bus in to the city and found our first hostel, "Don Santiago", which was a really great place - small, clean, and with awesome brekfasts thrown in! Still feeling a bit dazed from the lack of sleep and no clean clothes to change into, we spent the day recouperating in the and chatting to the two guys who ran the ... read more
April 16th 2009
Landed in Santiago amidst smog so insanely thick I thought we were in the clouds. Lucky that Phil pointed out otherwise of I would have had the shock of my life when we hit the ground! It was with a tierd delirium that we passed though immigration contorl and got a pretty cool stamp in our Passports, and the ever important tourist card that cost me and Jen a trip to the embassy in Mexico city! It may have been this exhausted haze that rendered us completely unfazed when we discovered that our bags hadn´t made it the 10,000 mile journey with us, but were as feared on a haitus in Madrid. Having been told that our luggage would be delivered to us at our hostel the next day we did as you always should in ... read more
April 16th 2009
After what seems in some ways to have been years and in others, no time at all, waiting for the day to come, Tuesday 14th April 2009 finally arrived and we are on our way to Manchester airport with bellies full of our last supper (pepporoni pizza of course). Flight one of three is to London, and it seems no sooner have we taken off we are landing at Heathrow. Long stopover infinitely improved by Phil's suggestion of "Pint?", accomponied by the first of many crosswords that will accompany our journey (who needs PSP eh Phil!). Next flight to Madrid, another stale sandwhich and the lack of in flight entertainment is apeased by the warm buzz from the ol' pint of Stella which keeps my merry until at least mid way through France. Takeoff delayed slightly ... read more
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