http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Foodiefloozie/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Foodiefloozie en-us Thu, 07 Jan 2010 10:42:48 +0000 Thu, 07 Jan 2010 10:42:48 +0000 Got back from the Galapagos and had a dinner with everyone from the boat. We all ended up in the same hotel which was great After a week of sharing a cabin where only one person could be in the cabin at one time unless the other was in bed. I soon had all my belongs sprawled out all over the place and a huge pile to send to the wash. Had to continue to take motion sickness tablets as was now f http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/Centre/Riobamba/blog-11903.html First of all a bit of back tracking... after Cuzco I cheated like mad so much for busing around this continent and flew to Lima. Stayed in Miraflores which is the posh part of town and quite frankly was characterless with lots of the usual US branded restaurants etc. Had my first cebiche seafood marinated and cooked by lime juice which was rather lekker and then spent my afternoon in these lit http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/Galapagos/blog-11428.html So from Arequipa to Cuzco. Another bus journey where the bus companies swear blind it will take 8 hours when your guide book says 12. So 12 it is. The bus actually broke down in Juliaca for an hour after which the driver drove like a maniac around these winding roads to make it in 12 hours. Not very reassuring when the local newspaper is all about a bus having overturned with 67 passengers and num http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Cusco/Sacred-Valley/blog-9923.html That is what they shout out at the bus stations as you are waiting for your bus and you seriously want to thump someone.... Arequipa Arequipa ARRREEEEQUUUIPPAAAA It is only 8 in the morning and you know it is going to be a long daySo it was. They have a habit of lying about the length of bus journeys here. We were assured time and again that it was a mere 5 hours. Even if you look at them dubi http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Arequipa/Arequipa/blog-9167.html I had always heard of Lake Titicaca and like most people used to also have a little snigger at the name... so now here I was on my way to check it out.Lake Titicaca is the highest navigable lake in the world. At about 3600m it is guaranteed that you are still huffing and puffing as you tour around.The bus trip to Copacabana from La Paz passed without incident.... Copacabana itself is a sleepy litt http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Puno/Lake-Titicaca-/blog-9166.html First of all the flight between Sucre and La Paz was an event in itself. It was either a 16 hour overnight bus warnings of how buses fall off the edge of mountains especially at night plus the experience of constant vibrating between Uyuni to Sucre had me convinced it would be 16 hrs of hell or a 45 minute flight. 45 minutes won. The plane took off and literally just skimmed the top of the http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/La-Paz-Department/La-Paz/blog-9036.html Uyuni is a tourist trap. A town which survives on tours to the salt flats. There we said our goodbyes to the Belge who were heading back to Tupiza and their bikes and settled in to a hotel for the night. I decided to splurge and spent 4 euros on my own ensuite bathroom. The room had a tv but I could not for the life of me find a plug clearly it was just for show. There was hot water just about http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/Chuquisaca-Department/Sucre/blog-8225.html The border crossing at La QuiacaVillazon is amazing From the bus you have to get a taxi to the border which is a street with a bridge. On one side you are in Argentina and the other side Bolivia. The locals just pass between the two sides as if it is just any other street. It is so unobvious that it is a border crossing that we had to ask where to go to get our exit stamps. There is no queue to http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/Potosi-Department/Uyuni/blog-8223.html Salta is a great place to finish the Argentina leg on and also to prepare for Bolivia. Whereas with the rest of Argentina you can blend in as a local well unless you are wearing your backpack havaina flip flops from Brazil and before you open your mouth here in Salta you can see you are not far from Bolivia. The locals have more Indian blood the towns are poorer and the Andes are everywhere http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/blog-8081.html Flew into Santiago from Easter Island and decided to give it a chance after my original plan to head straight out again .... I am glad I did. First night I had dinner with Mark and Jessica whom I met on the island. We were determined to prove to each other that we were capable of staying awake beyond 10 pm. I don't know what it is about island life but each day it was a struggle to stay up late. L http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Santiago-Region/Santiago/blog-7648.html Soooo much has been happening in the last week. I headed back from Valparaiso and in the bus terminal decided to check my emails and do a bit of surfing as you do when I found a ticket to Easter island for a bargain price. I then spent the rest of the afternoon backing up photos etc and sorting myself out for an early morning flight. It was a perfect week and has been named the holiday from the h http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Easter-Island/blog-7647.html It is the night before the last day at work and things are really coming to an end hereAll I have now fits into a suitcase and ultimately the rucksack I will be taking with me to South America.I still have a couple of weeks to go the real adventure will be starting on Feb 21st when I fly into Riohellip. http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Netherlands/North-Holland/Amsterdam/blog-3712.html How could I have ever thought of coming to SA and missing out on Rio Now that I am here it is hard to imagine not having this as part of the tour. I have had a smile on my face from the moment the plane landed. Ipanema is still the same as ever with the same suco and lanches bar. This time though I have managed to make it in summer and it is hot hot hot Top temp for today at 37 C. Needless to sa http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Rio-de-Janeiro/blog-4734.html Yep we are still here Ginny arrived on Sunday and was very lucky that I was there to meet her considering I had two hours of sleep the night before. I had been checking out a night club in Leblon with some of the other travellers. Sunday in Rio when it is hot and sunny One place to go and that is the beach We were installed with the usual hustle and bustle that is Ipanema. It was fantastic. O http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Rio-de-Janeiro/blog-4919.html OK so the 22 hours turned into 25 trying to get from Rio to Foz. The most frustrating is that there are no road signs so the only sign you have that you might be close is that Iguacu starts to appear on lots of names of shops etc as you pass through the villages. We got to Foz in the early afternoon. We had by then figured out that the fastest way to get where we wanted to go to next was via Arg http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Misiones/Iguazu-National-Park/blog-5091.html Salto Yes it is not exactly on the tourist map it must be said. We had decided we did not want two 20 hr trips back to back between Rio and Foz and then to BA. So looking at the map of SA thanks Roachie we saw a little place called Salto on the way to BA with has natural thermal baths Well two girls and the idea of a little pampering decision was quickly made. We then realised it was in Urug http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Uruguay/blog-5182.html And so to Montevideo..... had a feeling we had entered a time machine. It is just so dated and stuck in the 7065396s. At first we thought it was the hotel we were staying at it was a mock style castle walls everything patterned and in brown. There are photos of the room so you can see for yourselves when I finally get them loaded. We sauntered off to the tourist office to see what Montevideo http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Uruguay/blog-5269.html And so on to Colonia del Sacramento. It is a listed Patrimonial Site by the UNESCO as the most complete illustration of Colonial Architecture in South America. It is pretty. The moment we got there we felt we were back on the tourist trail as we saw back packers the moment we arrived There were lots of locals also between the station and town offering us accommodation etc. We headed to one of the http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Uruguay/West/Colonia-del-Sacramento/blog-5403.html BA is absolutely fabulous. I just donrsquot have enough adjectives in my vocab to explain to you all how great it is. Though not comparable everyone says it is between BA and Rio as to which is the best city in SA. If it was not for my love affair with Rio then BA would probably be at the top of my list too... well lets see where it is at the end of this tripWe arrived on the Buquebus I love t http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Buenos-Aires/blog-5560.html Another 15 hour bus trip and we found ourselves in Mendoza. The first thing that you wake up to the overnight trip from BA is a view of the Andes not bad eh As soon as we had ourselves installed we were off to the tourist board to find out about wine trips. Since Ginny had just 1 days time for her was short and sweet. We were told that we could go to the Bodegas wineries with a local bus wh http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Mendoza/blog-5674.html