Hi, Trip from Mendoza, Argentina to Santiago, Chile went through the Andes-scenery was unbelieveable. The border crossing was a nightmare -took us about 5 hours waiting on the bus to check out of Argentina and check into Chile-scarily disorganised.. Spent 3 days in Chile-nice city! v European. Didn't do very much here-just a walking tour of the city, ate loads of completos (hot dogs loaded with mushy peas, mayo and ketchup, drank some escudos (v nice beer) and generally chilled out. Our hostel was fab "La Casa Roja"-an old 18th century mansion. Next stop New Zealand..cant wait... [View Full Entry]

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The Iguazu falls were spectacular! We were blown away. We spent the first day exploring the Argentinian side of the falls. It was pretty easy to get there by local bus from the bus station. They are just so huge and powerful! We could hear them clearly way before we saw them. We got a speed boat ride right in underneath them ( the Devil´s mouth). It was great fun! We were delighted to get drenched as it was very hot. We took a trip through the park where we saw tucans and alls sorts of exotic plants and trees. The [View Full Entry]

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Buenos Aires is a fabulous city! In my opinion v like London and in Pearse´s -Paris but very European either way! It´s huge-made up of I suppose what you call districts-San Telmo -Palermo- Centro-Recoletta -and-La Boca. We stayed in Palermo- a really nice upmarket area with beautiful multiple parks -wide avenues- a zoo- botanic gardens Japanese gardens -Rose gardens. All the rich and beautiful people can be seen jogging -roller-blading -walking and cycling through the parks. They are beautiful people-how they do it I do not know with the amazing pastries -chocolate- ice-cream -not to mention t [View Full Entry]

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Heh, Wow! Can´t believe it´s almost Christmas time! It´s great here-the trees, decorations etc have only gone up in the last week or 2. It doesn´t feel like Christmas though as it´s so warm. Anyway, Mendoza was a fantastic city! It´s pretty famous for it´s wines in particular. The highlight of our few days there was a bike tour of some of the wineries. We rented bikes from Mr Hugo (a legend who just rapidly rabbits on in Spanish, laughing away so we just laughed too))and spent the entire day cycling around wineries, a chocolate liquor factory and an olive oil [View Full Entry]

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heh all, Since I last wrote we have had a bit of a crazy few days through Bolivia. Copacanana was pretty nice and a good setting for Lake Titicaca.We visited Isla del sol (island of the sun) on Lake Titicaca for a day trip. This is the birth place of the Inca civilisation I believe. it was very beautiful (a bit like the Aran islands but with dusty land and lots of climbing). We trekked for about 3 1/2 hrs from the south to the north and then got the boat home. Next we took the bus to the crazy city [View Full Entry]

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Hi all, it´s been a while...we flew to Cusco, Peru (Lima, then Cusco) from Sao Paulo on the 11 Nov (I think). we just stayed near the airport in SP as we were told not to stay in the city(crime etc). Also, we were told to skip Lima so we got connecting flight in lima to cusco. Cusco was v pretty. its v high up so the altitude did affect us slightly but not much. nice during the day but freezing when night falls-we had 3 days to adjust before the Inca trail anyway. we stayed in ahostel called sami wasi-v [View Full Entry]

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Hi all, Ilha Grande was fabulous-only one way to describe it-paradise! amazing beaches, miles of jungle, no cars, everyone moving at such a slow pace-if you need a completely relaxing holiday-its the place to go! We hiked through the jungle for 2 1/2 hours one day to get to Lopez Mendez-this beautiful beach. In the jungle we saw a crocodile-scary but amazing! Luckily, we didnt bump into any deadly cobra snakes, which live in the heart of the jungle. the sand on the beach was so fine and almost white-it was like snow to walk on. The island has a fascinating [View Full Entry]

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Heh all, We left Rio behind at 7 this morning after having a fab time. Stayed in a great hostel run by an aussi -The Mango Tree-would recommend it highly. Met lovely people there-all diff nationalities and a good few Irish as well (as expected). What A city!!! so much to do! Party central! We had an unreal experience in the Maracana (Flamenco football team´s stadium) last night watching Flamenco (black and reds!!!!)play. We were put in the middle of the local supporters-to call them flamboyant would not to them justice in any way. The whole time throughout the match ´-singing, [View Full Entry]

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Landed in Rio last night around 9pm Rio time. We're 2 hours behind ye here. Weather is fab-about 28degrees today. Flight was fine- them sleeping pills are unreal-had trouble waking up when the plane had landed. Our hostel "The Mango Tree" is fine-lots of Irish here- met a few different people just over for 2/3 week holidays and one backpacker at the end of his journey. Took a stroll down to Ipanema beach-v nice-just a few mins walk away. Took an excursion today wit this looney Brazilian guide-v enjoyable! He took us up to the Christ Redeemer statue (the sheer size [View Full Entry]

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