If I thought I might love Argentina, then Buenos Aires confirms it for me. The name does it justice...with it´s perfect climate and stunning good looks Buenos Aires es muy buenos. We choose to stay at Hostel Carly in the neighbourhood of San Telmo and it feels like home straight away. Like Brighton it´s full of fading granduer, crumbling old mansions, hundreds of antique shops, squares filled with artists; it is sensuous, both moderna y classico. We watch tango in the Plaza Dorrego over late-morning coffee, then rummage through excellent vintage shops all afternoon. If I didn´t have to c [View Full Entry]

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Our bus the next day to the small wine-producing town of Cafayate takes us through this crazy colourful canyon called the Quebrada de Cafayate. We strike up a friendship with 2 Australians, Rob and Keiran, when a bottle of wine stashed in our overhead luggage falls out and nearly brains Rob. We check into the same hostel, where we link up with Ray and Ana from New Zealand on the roof terrace and together we set about sampling the excellent local wines. My favorite is a light fruity white Torrontes, best icy cold. It´s a civilised few days spent touring the [View Full Entry]

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Arriving in Salta around midnight, the night air is warm and heavy and I´m happy that the 300 or so kms south we´ve travelled from Tupiza have made such a difference. Our taxi takes us through the lit-up city park San Martin and I´m reminded of Clapham Old Town and Common. The next morning we walk through the park and it is similar to the common but with scores of jacaranda trees...their bright lilac flowers making it far more beautiful. We take the cablecar up from the park to Cerro San Bernardo where you can look out over the city. It´s [View Full Entry]

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Sharing the same Andean antiplano as Peru, Bolivia also shares many of the same dishes, but here´s a few I hadn´t mentioned or seen before... Bon bon bum OK, so I´ve only really inculded this as an excuse to share their brilliant website address: www.bum-world.com! But you can keep your ChupaChups, these 5p lollies come in scores of wicked flavours with bubble gum in the middle to bring out your inner kid. Current top 3 are sour apple, grape and cherry :) Charque If I say air dried meat I´m sure most people will retch, but this is actually quite good. [View Full Entry]

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Although I´d seen photos and knew what to expect, I still didn´t really expect what I found. The Salar de Uyuni is one of the weirdest, most beautiful, mind-boggling things I have ever seen...and I saw a lake of bright red water just 2 days ago. My head can´t really get around it...the vast expanses of pure white salt crystals is blinding but I take off my shades anyway...I want to be dazzled. It´s fantastic...just bright blue sky and even brighter white...your sense of perspective is totally shot. It´s like the artic, but not cold. I have to touch the ground [View Full Entry]

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After we defrost over a hearty breakfast of fluffy pancakes and coffee, we´re back in the jeep and off to the Arbol de Piedra (the Stone Tree). This is one of many weird rock formations dotted around this part of the Desierto de Siloli, caused by wind erosion. We then drive for a good 80kms through dramatic desert scenery until we come to yet more mineral rich lakes. The most impressive, the Laguna Onda and Hedionda are bright blue with white and yellow deposits round the edges, caused by the high sulphur content which is unmissable at first whiff. The flamingos [View Full Entry]

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Day 2 takes on us the most incredible journey into the most surreal landscapes I have ever seen. Starting out in the desolate rocky surroundings of yesterday, we drive towards a horizon of volcanos and everything starts to change. There´s obviously tectonic plates colliding below us as we reach Tres Gigantes...deep fissures in the earth which reveal the land to made up of layers of flat tile-like stones. And then we start chasing rainbows, starting with Laguna Amarillo (yellow) which at this early hour is unfortunately not yet showing it´s true colours, it´s water still frozen white. Then c [View Full Entry]

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After a bit of shopping around we decide to go with Grano de Oro, run by the shiny happy Sylvia. We´ll be sharing our jeep with 2 nurses who have been doing volunteer work in Ecuador...Trisha from Lincolnshire and her Aussie parter Lindy. Ritch´s enthusiasm for this all-girl action is quickly dampened on meeting them and realising that real lesbians do not match up the pretend lipstick variety! They are great company and we all get on brilliantly from the offing. The scenery around Tupiza is stunning...bright blue sky, hundreds of cactus and the dramatic reddish rock formations called Palal [View Full Entry]

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Another hairy trip along the danger road back to La Paz is no less terrifying. This time the fact ít´s done after nightfall adds a new exciting twist! I don´t know wether to be pleased that it´s a full moon or not...at least the driver can see more, but then so can I. We´ve miscalculated the cash in ATM free Rurre and are now totally skint til we get to La Paz, so we´re settling in for 20hrs fuelled by only terror and water. However one of the guides from our jungle trip is also on the bus and in the [View Full Entry]

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If the pampas was like a stroll through a safari park, the jungle proved to be much more of an endurance test, but with spectacular pay off. It´s been getting hotter and hotter as the days pass by and by the time we get on the boat headed down the Rio Beni towards the Madidi National Park it´s steaming hot and we´re glad for the breeze created by boat travel. After a couple of hours on the Beni, we join it´s tributary the Tuichi that heads deep into the Madidi. This 1.8 million hectare area has national park status which keeps [View Full Entry]

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