http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/George-the-Greek/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from George the Greek en-us Tue, 05 Jan 2010 09:26:14 +0000 Tue, 05 Jan 2010 09:26:14 +0000 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 cr http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Santa-Cruz/El-Calafate/blog-64933.html 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 w http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Magallanes/Puerto-Natales/blog-58643.html 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 http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Tierra-del-Fuego/Ushuaia/blog-58207.html 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 http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Los-Lagos/Puerto-Montt/blog-56447.html 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 hast http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/Potosi-Department/Salar-de-Uyuni/blog-56252.html 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 seeme http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/Chuquisaca-Department/Sucre/blog-51779.html 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 http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/Beni-Department/Rurrenabaque/blog-47985.html 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 http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/La-Paz-Department/La-Paz/blog-47557.html 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 http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Puno/blog-44317.html 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 PicchuFor those that don't know what all the fuss is about Mach http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Cusco/Sacred-Valley/blog-42816.html Arequipa for us was something of an afterthought as we already felt that we were behind schedule if there ever was one and should be pushing further south. After hearing about the state of the road from Ica to Cusco though we decided that a stop in Arequipa wouldn't be such a bad thing after all.They call Arequipa the White City as it's largely made of a white volcanic stone that occurs loca http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Arequipa/blog-41167.html After Lima we were suitably refreshed and ready for some more extreme activites. What better than a desert oasis surrounded on all sides by huge sand dunes and from which you could both sandboard gulp and go for rides in ridiculous 320 horsepower sand buggiesWe decided to stay in Huacachina rather than Ica itself the latter being a bit mucky and citylike the former a collection of hostals http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Ica/Huacachina/blog-40247.html According to conventional backpacker wisdom Lima is a dirty smelly polluted city choked with smoke belching traffic and generally not a nice place to stay. I can't remember how many people had told both Em and I that Lima was best avoided but being the stubborn pair that we are we decided to go there nonetheless. There were a number of reasons for this other than outright bloodymindedness i http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Lima/blog-40240.html Knowing that Peru is home to some of the most stunning mountain ranges in this part of the world we headed to Huaraz after Trujillo. We were eager to see some of these mountains especially after reading about their beauty in the trusty Footprint guide. It was with some trepidation that we travelled to Huaraz though as we weren't sure whether trekking would be a practical proposition it being th http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Ancash/Huaraz/blog-37762.html After some time in the rolling hills of Peru's northern highlands we were back on the coast and after disembarking our night bus and rubbing our sleepy eyes were treated to a fine warm morning. We had taken the decision to stay at Huanchaco a beach resort a little way from Trujillo as we'd been advised that it was a better bet than the city itself. Whilst the place had a certain charm about it http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/La-Libertad/Trujillo/blog-37412.html After the impressive archeological sites around Chiclayo we had really developed a taste for ancient relics and massive sites which take ages to explore. As such we were really quite excited about our next destination Chachapoyas. The initial drive to visit the town was the nearby ruins of Kuelap said to be some of the most important preInca ruins in the country although you do get a used t http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Amazonas/Chachapoyas/blog-37391.html Our arrival at Chiclayo was relievingly uneventful and without drama we checked into the somewhat strange smelling Hostal Sican. We had decided to stop in the north of Peru to check out the ancient and supposedly incredible ruins that are even now still being excavated and discovered and that receive far fewer visitors than Machu Pichu and the south of the country in general. It was with this i http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Lambayeque/Chiclayo/blog-35575.html And so it was after an unusual Christmas in that we were away from our respective families and on the other side of the globe that we were on the road again. The crossing to Peru was the first frontier of the journey after reaching South America and WHAT a frontier it turned out to beYou can call me oldfashioned but when I think border I think of a couple of buildings with lots of offici http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Piura/M-ncora/blog-35565.html After not doing Riobamba justice didn't really look around that much you would have thought that Emma and I would do a better job of seeing Cuenca Ecuador's third largest city. Unfortunately the laziness hadn't yet worn off so we really only saw a portion of the city and didn't explore as we normally would.That said we immediately felt at home in Cuenca. Despite the warnings in the guidebook t http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/South/Cuenca/blog-33318.html Riobamba probably deserves more investigation than I was willing to give it based on first impressions so apologies to anyone who went there and loved it. Initially we'd planned to spend a couple of days there we're not fond of turning up to a place and setting straight off the next day. Might be laziness but I prefer to think of it as giving every place a fair chance. Anyway we're on holiday http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/Centre/Riobamba/blog-33304.html