One thing that I wasn't ready for about Argentina was it's size. It's big. Really big. Although we'd planned the trip reasonably well, we're not the speediest travellers by a long way and as such were running out of time in a big way. Em being by far the more organised of the two of us had devised a way of seeing as much as possible given the vast distances involved and our very limited time to cram everything in. First stop was El Calafate, jumping off point for visits to the Perito Moreno glaciar. One very cold morning therefore we [View Full Entry]

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After the trip down southern Chile aboard the Puerto Eden we were very excited about our forthcoming visit to probably the most celebrated national park in the entire continent. We'd tried to buy pretty much everything we'd need, although we were still pinning our hopes of hot dinners on a camping stove (bought on eBay some weeks before) which we were to collect at Puerto Natales post office. We were also worried about the weather, we'd heard all sorts of conflicting weather reports (heavy snow being a recurring theme - the park is probably no more than a thousand miles from [View Full Entry]

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As it turned out, we couldn't go to the Torres del Paine park on time, as although our new stove had doubtless been delivered (Chile's postal system is very efficient) it was locked in the post office which was closed for Easter.... ahh.... hadn't thought of that! Not to be deterred, we instead hired ourselves some wheels (a very pimpy Grand Cherokee jeep!) and headed south into Argentina to visit the southernmost city in the world, and very nearly the furthest south you can get before getting to Antarctica, Ushuia. The roads in Patagonia are long, there's very little traffic and [View Full Entry]

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First off, a few words about Santiago. I've heard loads of people complain that it's expensive, polluted, "too European" (whatever that's supposed to mean), you name it. In our book, Santiago is a sleek and modern city, and we enjoyed every minute we spent there. It's more expensive than the other places we'd been in the trip, true, but then Chile has a functional economy and besides it's a lovely city so we weren't complaining. Apparently it's got a bit of a smog problem but having spent lots of time in London (and Quito for that matter!) we didn't even notice [View Full Entry]

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After nearly 6 weeks in Bolivia we were in our final destination before heading to Chile. Bolivia is right up there with Peru in the great experiences department as far as we are concerned, but it had one more up it's sleeve: the huge salt flats of Uyuni. We arrived from Potosi on what could only be described as a cosy bus, no insignificant thing as the journey takes pretty much all day. After hastily checking into our hostel of choice, the vastly overpriced Magia de Uyuni, Em and I literally dumped our bags and headed out of town. The sun [View Full Entry]

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Driven by the need to keep heading south, and aware that our time in South America was becoming ever more finite, we said goodbye to the Hotel La Joya, and La Paz, and got on a bus to Sucre. La Paz had recently been the victim of two bizarre terrorist attacks, apparently perpetrated by a mentally disturbed American, one of which we were so near that it shook the windows of our restaurant. It seemed like an isolated incident but I'm sure our parents are glad we were heading south too! For more info on the bombings, and some coverage on [View Full Entry]

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We've been on the road now for about 3 months, more or less, and the whole time we've been up in the mountains (except for the Galapagos excursion, which was something of a holiday within a holiday). Many moons ago my good friend Pete had also travelled these parts, and the one recommendation that I remembered was that we should go to Rurrenabaque, or Rurre as it's more often called. Having spent so much time up in the clouds we were looking forward to getting down to jungle level, and seeing some of the teeming wildlife that we'd heard and read [View Full Entry]

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We were sad to see the back of Peru, having spent over 6 weeks there, but the time had come to move on. We headed south from Puno by bus to the border with Bolivia, for lunch at Copacabana and then onward to the capital, La Paz. We said goodbye to Rein and Char at Copacabana, they'd decided to stay there for a while and chill out, and I can't say I blame them looking at the beach. Although it's on a lake rather than the sea (it's just over the water from Puno in fact), Copacabana looks very inviting indeed. [View Full Entry]

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Cuzco had been great, and we'd really enjoyed visiting the ancient sites of the Incas, but after over a week in the most touristy part of Peru we were happy to get out. We'd decided to take the train to Puno on the basis that... erm..... well, it wasn't a bus. The view was supposed to be quite spectacular, but I must confess that the main reason I wanted to go on the train was that I was bored of busses. The format of the train was such that we were sat opposite a nice American couple, Jeff and Darcy, who [View Full Entry]

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As fas as being on the tourist trail is concerned, Cuzco is right up there. The discovery of Machu Picchu some hundred years before turned what was once a relative backwater into something of a tourist hotspot. It was with some cynisism therefore that we travelled to Cuzco - but how could you possibly visit Peru without seeing Machu Picchu? For those that don't know what all the fuss is about, Machu Picchu is the most complete Inca city discovered, perched atop a mountain in the a most innaccessible region of Peru. The location itself is incredible enough, let alone the [View Full Entry]

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