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Despite the title our Galapagos trip was worth every dollar. We forgot we were backpackers for eight days of heaven on our luxury catamaran (Queen of Galapagos), taking in all the sights, sounds and experiences. What an amazing place…it really is like being in a different world. Our whole trip was brilliant from start to finish …fantastic crew, guide and group, stunning beaches, wildlife posing for your pictures everywhere you look, plus phenomenal marine life. Where in the world can you swim with playful sea lions, watch a dozen turtles gently glide through the water, spot a reef shark hiding in it’s cave and see manta rays drift along the sea bed all in one snorkeling session? I will treasure these experiences for a long long time...... Words don’t do the place justice, so I ... read more

It was a quick turn around from our Pampas trip; a nights rest then back on another boat to head into the Bolivian jungle. We travelled with a company called Chalalan Ecolodge. They are fairly expensive compared to the other tours on offer, but worth it. All the profits go directly to the community and Chalalan has provided employment for the Tacana villagers since 1995, all the staff take great pride in their jobs which reflects in the service provided. Chalalan Ecolodge is situated deep in the Madidi jungle. It took eight hours to finally arrive at our destination, then it was a 25min walk through the jungle to the lodge. It was real hard work getting up river, several times we had to get out the boat while it was dragged over the shallow water, ... read more

We´ve just been on a 3 day trip across the Bolivian Salt flats. The journey started from San Pedro (Chile) and finished in Uyuni (Bolivia). After researching several companies that offer this excursion, we decided to go with Cordillera Traveller. We'd heard a lot of horror stories about drunk drivers and really dodgy jeeps so we wanted to take our time and choose carefully. We made the right choice; what an amazing experience! There were 8 of us in total, four in each jeep. There´s normally 6 per jeep, so we were lucky and had lots of space. Our group consisted of a French couple, Spanish couple and another English couple. We shared a jeep with Carla and Dave the English couple, from Norwich of all places. I had a good chat about City college with ... read more

Where do I start...maybe by explaining my title. I was recently informed by the Australian embassy that I needed to supply more information for my visa application, otherwise they would not process it any further. So after being told I couldn´t wait until I return from my travels, I had to get on with sorting out things out. This included having a medical, which I happen to have on my Birthday!! Not quite how I planned my Birthday would be in SA! I do have one thing to say, the medical service here in Chile is super efficient. Managed to sort it all out within a week. Good old UK told me it would take three weeks for an appointment than another two to three weeks for the results. Managed to enjoy the afternoon/evening of my ... read more

Before I go on there is a big gap in my blog, which I will update later on. For those of you who have been receiving Ads blog you will be right up to date. Strange title I know but it´s so true, it will all become clear. We have just got back from doing a 5 day trek around Torres Del Paine National Park (Chile). Here´s further info on the park for those of you interested: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torres_del_Paine_National_Park Met a lovely couple in Ushuaia, Jamie & Alexis and we ended up doing this trek with them. So the four of us headed off last Friday (17th) to do the W walk, which is 76km in total ( didn´t know this at the start)!! So off we set on the 07:30 bus, laden down with all ... read more