How time flies... it's been over 6 months since we left. So far life in Oz has been reasonably easygoing. I got a job before we arrived so that was easy. It's very much the same type of job as what i was doing in London, which is good and bad at the same time. The only real difference (for those in the industry, is that now at least i can openly admit that I work for a broker. Something which seemed taboo at my previous company). Also good was that they sent me on an FX trading course: one week [View Full Entry]

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MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL!!! We hope that you've had a great Christmas and we wish you a great year in 2007!!! It has been a month since our arrival in Melbourne yet over the last 4 weeks, a lot has happened already. So much so that our wonderful experiences in South America are now fast fading memories. Aside from the 4 - 0 cricket scores, which we won't mention, the main news headlines have been the depletion of water supply in dams and the ashes/bushfires. We've adjusted quickly to the hot temperatures: mostly in the high 700s, i mean 30s. [View Full Entry]

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After over a week of cold weather in Patagonia we were happy to be walking the streets of Santiago in our summer clothes. The setting of Santiago is pretty - it sits in a plain surrounded by the Andes. It has less than half the inhabitants of Buenos Aires, 6 million and we found that it actually has something in common with London: a high (or at least very visible) percentage of nutters! (Sorry Violet but there were loads of them!) The first night there we noticed a man double-releasing himself on the central square; then there is a healthy amount [View Full Entry]

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It had been too long since our 5 day Salkantay walk in Machu Picchu, so we were very excited about getting back into serious trekking again.. this time.. the ultimate walker's paradise - Torres del Paine. High organised tour prices were not going to scare us away, thus we decided to trek ourselves, armed with food, equipment and maps. We strategically booked into the fully-serviced refugios in the park, allowing us to cover at least 4-5 hours of walking a day, weather permitting. To re-tell our 4 day experience in the park day by day would only bore you, the readers. [View Full Entry]

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"When God created the world he had a handful of everything left - mountains, glaciers, deserts, lakes - and he put it all in his pocket. But there was a hole in this pocket you see, and as God walked around in heaven it all trickled out, and the long trail made on earth was Chile". (Adapted from The Trail to Titicaca by Rupert Attlee) We woke up after a 10 hour drive from Santiago as the sun started to rise. For a few seconds i thought we'd been transported back to England in my sleep, and were headed for Wales [View Full Entry]

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We found it hard to tear ourselves away from Buenos Aires after 2 weeks of western comfort. The last couple of days in the city allowed us to settle in and I (Irene) realised that my previous blog on BA's impressions may have been slightly critical. Without a doubt.. Buenos Aires is a beautiful city. Still eager to see the countryside, we headed west towards the border of Mendoza - the wine region (whose wine should no doubt be coming to a Sainsbury´s shelf near you!!). Along the way we visited Che Guevarra´s former family home and spent two days in [View Full Entry]

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We've been on the road now for 8 weeks with at least another 2 weeks to go and we find that we haven't really had down time of doing nothing. We are either on the road touring in the middle of the wilderness; or catching buses for as long as 12 hours at a time; or in a town washing our clothes, emailing or planning for our next destination. As a married couple of over 7 years, we have not spent this much time together and it is pleasantly strange - divorce threats notwithstanding. What started out as a 6 weeks [View Full Entry]

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These are what Buenos Aires is generally famous for.. and dubbed the Paris of South America. We were very excited about Buenos Aires. The last 10 days we've spent here, we have not been disappointed. We've also had a chance to catch up with ourselves, shop for some necessities, ring family and email friends, visit San Telmo (similar to Portobello Rd) and Boca (home of the Argentinian Boca Juniors, Maradona´s home club) and the colourful suburb of Caminito. We even managed to cross the Rio de Plata and "popped over" to Uruguay for a couple of days, another very pleasant excursion. [View Full Entry]

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To add a bit of a twist to our log, we thought we'd do a special on food... another favourite of ours.. Vegetarians please look away now. In London, we´ve always been spoilt for choice by the many colourful cuisines of the world. In South America you have generally just a couple of choices, stewed meat, fried meat and barbecued meat or what is locally known as parilla... Surprisingly little fish, mostly trout. Just like I didnt realise potato could be prepared in so many other ways other than fries or baked chunky potatoes, nor that there are hundreds of types [View Full Entry]

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We welcomed our descent to Chile - well paved roads and lower altitude. Even the bus ride to the Chilean border was smooth and slow at what seemed like 40 kph. Perhaps it was because this long stretch of dead straight road is punctuated with wreckage of cars/vehicles whose hasty drivers ignored the warning sign to slow down. It was the middle of the day and being next to the desert, the sun was very high and blistering above us, quite a sudden change from the freezing mountains and lagoons from the last 3 days. San Pedro de Atacama is at [View Full Entry]

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