(P) Thurs 31 May - To Uyuni town, ready to embark on a three day tour that would involve "being the coldest you´ve ever been in your life", "experiencing the most beautiful sight in South America", among other predictions. Settled on pizza for the pre-departure meal, ahead of the "very basic" hotel we would stay in while away. Fri 1st June - Bundled our rucksacks on the roof of Alexandro´s 4WD and piled in with 2 fellow poms, and Aussie and later Iwao-san from a salt hotel along the way. We soon realised why the car looked a little less than [View Full Entry]

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We have now added photos to previous entries. Click on "Read full entry" for each entry to see them all. We hope you enjoy! P&N. [View Full Entry]

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(N) 24th May - Copacabana to La Paz Delighted to finally be on the 08h00 bus to the capital, didn't quite believe it till we left. The old bus rumbled to the petrol station round the corner, found it wasn't open, so siphoned some fuel from a barrel down a sidestreet and trundelled back to its starting position 15 mins later - but soon we were off for real. If you look at a map of the route between Copacabana and La Paz (for example, at http://worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/samerica/lgcolor/bocolor.htm), you can see that a body of water - often quoted as the [View Full Entry]

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(Paula) Back safe and sound from Machu Picchu and recovered from clambering over rocky steps even in our sleep, we celebrated our completion with a cuzza and beer! Finished with a drink the little Quantika bar, but discovered that Peruvian rum is a tad on the rough side! Next morning caught up on BBC World over breakfast and said our farewells to Cusco and Eddie (our hostel owner) who said his place was "your home for always" - ahh! Bussed Cusco to Puno (7hrs) which hugs the side of Lake Titicaca, the inland sea shared by Peru and Bolivia. Lovely countryside [View Full Entry]

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12 - 15 May Without going into a step-by-step (ho ho! excuse the pun!) account of our Inca Trail experience here are some highlights (the getting-up times for this week were real *lowlights* - between 04h00 and 05h45!). There was a 2 hr bus ride to the town where the trek starts, from where we bought wooden walking poles ($1), coca leaves ($0.60), and plastic ponchos ($0.60) that smelled of diesel. Our group was made up of 14 trekkers, 2 tour guides and 19 porters (!), who carried the tents, food and general stuff needed for the next 4 days. [View Full Entry]

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(P) We are presently safe and sound in Cusco, about to head off on the 42km, 4-day trek to the ´lost´city of the Incas...a bit nervous, but very excited too. Have become fairly used to the way of life here (not least of all bumping into llamas strolling along the street, really) - it seems more than a couple of weeks since we left Blighty, and many of you will be pleased to here that it´s winter here so not that hot at all! A "quick" (in Paula´s sense of the word) rundown of our trip so far: 01 May 07 [View Full Entry]

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(N) The 11 hour flight wasn´t too bad and, in very non-British style, passengers were already fumbling for their bags in the overhead lockers before the plane had stopped moving, despite pleas to the contrary from the steward! In the arrivals hall, a driver had written "NJ Rowlands" in marker pen on a scrap of paper, and duly brought us to Inka Lodge (if you like pan pipes: http://www.inkalodge.com). The journey from the airport was mostly along a wide dual carriageway with neon signs everywhere; the guidebook says that Peru along with most of Latin America is pursuing a left-leaning, anta [View Full Entry]

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(N) We overnighted in Madrid before our onward connection to Lima tomorrow at 12h30. The hotel was only a few mins walk from Plaza Santa Ana, which sounded great in an article I had read recently. Even though we just dropped the bags at the hotel, it was still midnight before we got to the Plaza. We were amazed at the large amount of people still and drinking at that time! Great nosh of tortilla espanola, potato salad (already indulging my carbo cravings!) and tomatoes, in a typical Spanish tapas bar: big counter, small wooden tables with well-worn marble tops, and [View Full Entry]

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(N) THE PLAN Saturday 14th April Enjoy Mel and Jon's wedding. Sunday 15th Efficiently pack the rest of the flat into boxes, drop off useful stuff to willing family members and pack rest of stuff into Nick's car. Relaxing evening in a comfy Twickenham restaurant and perhaps a romantic stroll along the Thames in the balmy April weather. Monday 16th Hand keys over to professional cleaner, already booked for 10am. Enjoy rest of day in London, seeing a few sights. THE REALITY Saturday 14th April - Enjoyed Mel and Jon's wedding. Sund [View Full Entry]

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(N) Hi folks: we're off to Lima on the 30th April, staying over in Madrid for the first night of the journey. (P) Welcome to our blog! The first leg of our trip will be South America. After we arrive in Peru we will travel somehow(!) to Brazil by July, passing through Bolivia, Argentina, Chile and Uruguay, all being well. Ole! [View Full Entry]

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