Spent Easter weekend in Chascomus with Emily and Anne Marie.. despite questions from some Portenos as to why we would want to go to a small place with nothing to do....? .... To breath some fresh air.. to escape the noise of the city.. and to generally be lazy and do nothing.. [View Full Entry]

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Can't believe I've been in Argentina 3 months already, but time has flown and I need a new 90 day tourist stamp in my passport so decided to visit Uruguay for a few days.. Just a 3 hour ferry ride across Rio de le Plata from Buenos Aires (a huge brown estuary between Argentina and Uruguay) Another UNESCO World Heritage Site... not sure how places qualify but everywhere I visit seems to be one! .. and well deserved.. Colonia is a cute little place with cobbled shady streets, colonial architecture, nice beaches.. it's definitely an ideal place for a romantic getaway, [View Full Entry]

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So after Malaysia, India & London, this year's annual "travels with Sian" was Argentina.. After a few days of sighteeing, exploring, partying and introducing Sian to the limited "vegetarian menu" (i.e. pasta and pizza) in Buenos Aires we headed down to Patagonia for some fresh air, wind and wildlife We were surprised at how huge and empty Patagonia is.. as we drove for 17 hours on a bus from Buenos Aires to Puerto Madryn the scenery didn't seem to change at all.. long straight roads through dry shrubland and sheep farms (but as each sheep apparently has 4km square of land [View Full Entry]

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Well as I started off this blog with a "leaving KL parties" entry, thought I'd better have a "welcome to BA party" entry, as after 10 months on the road I've got a flat, a job and all of those things people should have!... Emily, Anne Marie and myself (who I have known for the grand total of 2 weeks.. thanks to Ali, who always knows someone to put you in contact with wherever you go x) decided to throw a "welcome to BA" party.. as they've been here about the same amount of time I have.. lots of empanadas, cocktails, [View Full Entry]

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Arrived in Buenos Aires on 12th December (again impressed by the Argentinian buses.. a 13 hour bus ride seems like nothing when you have a wide leather seat and are served dinner and wine.. they even had films and a game of bingo to keep us amused!) We moved into our shiny new apartment in San Telmo for a month, which between 4 of us ended up cheaper than staying in a hostel. It was so great to be able to unpack the rucksack for a month, have our own kitchen and not share the bathroom with 20 people! Spent the [View Full Entry]

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Took a 12 hour bus during the day from Chile to North Argentina.. so got to watch the beautiful scenery.. and watch the desert turn into green valleys as we dropped in altitude.. at last! Was very excited to arrive in Argentina as am hoping to find a job in buenos aires and stay! .. first impressions are great.. friendly people, modern feel, cheap, but the Argentinian accent is a bit difficult to understand (so i decided to fit in another week of Spanish lessons before i arrive in buenos aires for job interviews!) SALTA was great fun.. a very European [View Full Entry]

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Arrived in SAN PERDO DE ATACAMA (an Oasis in the middle of the Atacama Desert.. the driest desert in the world apparently) and booked into a hotel with a pool for a couple of nights, so we could enjoy the head of the sun and a bit of luxury after 3 days in a jeep! .. This sounds much posher than it was.. the pool was about 2m square (which I guess is all we could expect in the middle of a desert!), we were in bunk beds all sharing a room, there was no hot water, and sporadic electricity.. but [View Full Entry]

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After a very long, very bumpy bus journey through Bolivia, spent a day in Uyuni.. sitting in the plaza playing cards and enjoying the heat, lower altitude and lack of hills.. such a quiet, sleepy town (with the worst waiters in the world!) so not much to do, but was nice to chill out there for a day. The 4 of us then set off in a jeep with Philipo (our driver, guide, mechanic, cook etc etc) and some terrible Bolivian pop music (thankfully we realised after a few hours that we could plug our ipods into the stereo, so we [View Full Entry]

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Crossed the border from Peru to Bolivia at Lake Titicaca and arrived in La Paz.. stayed in a nice area, near the Witches Markets which is handy if you need any dried toads, herbs or animal heads! I liked the city, though there's lots of steps and hills, which is not always fun at 4000m altitude (keep drinking the coca tea!).. but the city has a nice feel to it, and it was constantly sunny while we were there. Mountain biked down the "most dangerous road in the world".. 5 hours (mostly downhill) along the 70km stretch of narrow, dirt and [View Full Entry]

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Headed East to PUNO, a small town on the edge of LAKE TITICACA with Katie, Dave and Ronald. Booked the first class section of the bus from Cuzco, so had huge seats and loads of room, but it was freezing, so we didn't get much sleep.. arrived at Puno at 5am and slept for the morning! Visited Sillustani.. An Incan (and pre Incan) burial ground with 12m tall burial chambers on an outcrop of land overlooking Laguna Umyayo. Beautiful but barren scenery on the cold, windy high planes at an altitude of about 4000m. And visited a family's home (adobe built [View Full Entry]

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