Ecuador was not at all what I expected, which isn't hard seeing as I didn't really know what to expect. It's a beautiful country - probably the one that surprised me the most. We drove into Ecuador across a bridge that was crowded with market carts loaded high with all kinds of fruit, electrical goods and who knows what else. In many ways that was exactly what you would expect from a South American border crossing! Not long after the crossing I fell asleep (I would like to explain that sleeping on Gus was a real achievement. Imagine sitting on a [View Full Entry]

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Well, the best of intentions don't seem to be enough to keep me up to date with this blog! Still, now I am in dubai for a week and have constant email access, maybe I will be able to catch up a bit! I wasn't overly sorry to leave Lima, as much fun as it was to walk down the street with random Peruvians shouting "You have red hair! You have freckles!" at me! Our next stop was Haurez, a fairly small town north of Lima that is on the edge of a national park. After yet another sunglasses shopping trip [View Full Entry]

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Time really has flown by the last few weeks. Cuzco seems like a lifetime ago now, as I´m sitting in my hostel in Medellin in Colombia. So now I have to try and fit 6 weeks of activity into an entry that's not so long and boring that even I´m not interested! We left Cuzco for Raqchi, a small local community where we stayed with families. Hayley and I were with a lovely lady called Maria, who had a teenage daughter called Alisha and two younger sons. Unfortunately none of them spoke any English and our Lonely Planet Phrasebook didn´t really [View Full Entry]

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Okay, so I think I left off having just defied death by drowning in Copacabana. That was a long long time ago! From Copacabana we crossed into Peru and headed to Puno. The bad news was another boat trip, this time to the Uros Islands which are entirely man made by a local tribe out of reeds. Very bizarre and very touristy but all in good spirits. We were dressed up in local costume and paraded around - I think they rather enjoy laughing at the idiot gringos. Still, at least the boat didn't sink! Next stop was Cuzco, my new [View Full Entry]

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Okay - I started writing this back in La Paz which seems like a lifetime ago. I'm just going to publish it now and start a new one!! ----- Well it may only be a few days since my last entry but I´ve had a few adventures! I spent my last afternoon in Potosi sat in the hotel lobby writing my travel journal. In 3 hours I managed to write 1 and a half pages which is very impressive! It was a lovely afternoon as everyone kept coming in and out and stopping for a chat. That evening a few of [View Full Entry]

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A very wise old man once said to me "You need to experience the lows to appreciate the highs". That saying has had more than one meaning over the last week! The zip lining in Salta was quite possibly the most amazing thing I have ever done. After a pretty hard scramble up the side of the mountain we arrived at what felt like the top of the world. And proceeded to launch ourselves over a canyon with nothing but a metal wire and the condors for company. The scenery was just spectacular - I have never seen anything like it. [View Full Entry]

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Well the last week has certainly been an adventure! We left BA early in the morning, sadly by public bus as our truck, Gus was poorly sick and had to stay at the doctors a bit longer. Our poor leader Rene had the unenviable job of getting 18 gringos to the bus station and onto the right bus, with all our stuff, by 7.30 am. Thankfully we all made it (although 2 people literally by the skin of their teeth!). The bus was really comfortable - just as well for the 11 hour trip to Cordoba. We arrived in Cordoba and [View Full Entry]

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... A very quick blog update as I only have 5 minutes before I dash off to my tango lesson before visiting the steak house (guess which I´m most excited about!!). All is going well here - the dragoman group are all lovely. As soon as we started running through the itinerary for the next 3 weeks the excitement hit me full in the face. We´ve had a couple of fairly chilled days in Buenos Aires but leave at 6am tomorrow. We saw a tango show last night and I did a tour of the city today which was really interesting. [View Full Entry]

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4 more sleeps! 4 more sleeps! It finally feels like things are coming together and this trip is actually going to happen. Yesterday's Lariam issues are resolved and I no longer feel like a paranoid idiot on speed. Quite scary the effect it had and I'm very glad I was sensible and did a two week trial before I left the country! I'm still not convinced all my stuff is going to fit into my bag - I think there is going to be some very careful packing to be done. And then maybe the good old wear all your clothes [View Full Entry]

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