LeilaniDallin

It is with a heavy heart that I left San Pedro de Atacama. Our time there was shortened by the lack buses headed down south to La Serena, as many were full due to the impending Christmas holidays. For this reason we only had three short days to spend in the dusty desert town. There was some wine drinking in the street and some loud singing and hammock swinging.The highlight of our time in San Pedro would have to be the stargazing tour we went on the first night we got into town. We managed to get onto a tour at midnight and went out to gaze at the desert night sky for 2.5 hours. We learned about Sirius, one of the closest stars, only 8+ light years away, and Betelgeuse, 500+ light years away. We ... read more

The tour through the Bolivian salt flats, the Salar de Uyuni was an experience like no other. In the three days it took us to go from Uyuni, Bolivia to San Pedro de Atacama, Chile we saw volcanoes, lagoons, deserts, salt flats, cacti and flamingos. We saw some of the most surreal landscapes and were at some of the most extreme points in South America. We started off by going to the Train Graveyard, the site of the first train lines in Bolivia, a place littered with the rusting remains of the British made steam engines. This odd sight in the middle of a desert landscape is where the train scenes from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid were filmed. From there we moved on to a small town which is founded on the gathering and ... read more

After much thought and calculation of bus times Chev and I decided that Bolivia was calling our names after all. We hoped on an overnight bus to the Bolivian town of Copacabana on the shores of Lake Titikaka. We made it to Bolivia without much ado, although we arrived a bit late and had to change buses three times. We met with some nice backpackers and joined them for a quick walk around Copacabana and lunch and then all set off to Isla Del Sol, the fabled birth place of Incan legends. According to legend, Manco Capac and his wife-sister, Mama Ocllo, the first Incans, were born out of the lake and the main god Viracocha first appeared at a site on the north end of the island. Chev and I of course had to go ... read more

Cuzco, or Cusco, whichever way you want to spell it was reached after an arduous bus trip, more so for Chev, who was sick for the last 3 hours of the trip. We finally reached our hostel, Loki, which over looks the city and got ourselves settled.The next day we went to the Iglesia de Santo Domingo to explore the few remains of the Incan equivalent of the Vatican, Qorikancha, which was destroyed by the Spanish; they built the church right on top of the sacred site. Chev and I hired a guide and explored the remains of the temples of the Rainbow, Lightening and Stars. The two main temples for the Sun and the Moon were totally torn up by the Spanish. We were really quiet amazed by the ingenuity of the Incan builders who ... read more

When Chev and I arrived in Lima we headed to Hostel Loki, which if you have ever looked at a lonely planet for South America you will know is know for not being low key. We went there to meet up with our pal Tom, as he was flying in that day from Quito. We did find Tom and had a big catch up session over a couple beers and then called it an early night. The next day Chev and I went on a free walking tour, through Lucid Tours, of the old part of Lima. Chev only last about 30 minutes as she was feeling sick. I stuck it out and wish I hadn't. The guide was from Toronto, was very young, 20,and not super knowledgable. She knew surface info but no more. She ... read more

Oh man let me tell you about the epic bus journey Chev and I just undertook. We are trying to stay on a very cheap budget as I have told you before so we decided to take the bus from Bogota to Quito. The bus from Bogota to the boarder was suppose to be 25 hours and then from there another 5 hour bus ride to Quito, so 30 hours by bus, plus time to get across the boarder and to the guesthouse in Quito. We had prepared mentally, physically and emotionally for this trip. We had water, snacks, movies, sleeping pills and blankets. Should've gone smoothly if not quickly. We caught the 10:30 am bus on Monday and things started to go wrong right away. The bus left 45 minutes late. No big deal...it's Colombia, ... read more

Bogota. What a city! Up in the Andes with fog and rain and chilly weather, but a wonderful European feel in the tourist district known as the Candelaria. A walk around the Candelaria district offers a wonderful mix of colonial architecture combined with a surprising amount modern street art. A particular artist, DJLu, has a lot of prominent stencil art which is thought provoking and fun. Much of our time in Bogota passed by wandering the cobblestone streets, hiding from the rain under the store front awnings, and tucking into some wonderful food at the many fabulous cafes and restaurants that the city has to offer. The local afternoon snack of "onces" was a favorite of ours. it consists of hot dark chocolate, bread and cheese but the trick is how you eat it; you break ... read more

Peru was the third country on our South American tour and what a diverse experience we had. The first stop as the small surfer town of Mancora, on the north coast. The original plan was to go to a town just south of there called Los Organos , but when Chev and I arrived we realized that this sleepy little town was a bit too sleepy. We ended up staying just off the beach in Mancora at a quiet hostel with a pool. We ate much ceviche and chufa, Peruvian fried rice, and lounged on the beach. We both got a bit burned. It recovered within a few days. Now Mancora is known for it's parties but Chev and I missed out as both the nights we were there we were grannies and went to bed ... read more

So Banos. What a wonderful little mountain town. Chev and I arrived after a long but beautiful bus ride through the Ecuadorian countryside from Lago Agrio and found ourselves a nice little hostel to rest in as we arrived late in the evening. The next morning we awoke refreshed and ready to find our Kiwi and English friends from Quito. After meeting up with the Fearsome Five, Grant, Mike, Ben, Damian and "Will" and booking some river rafting for the next day we set off on a 23 km bike ride to check out some of the many waterfalls surrounding the town.The bike ride was fun and mainly easy as it was all downhill. We were on the rode so the traffic was a bit scary at times, especially when we had to share the tunnels ... read more

I'm pretty sure that if you come to South America there are few places that you can't miss. One of those places is of course the Amazon jungle. So of course Chev and I went into that jungle. We booked a trek through a company in Quito and set off from there to a town called Lago Agrio. This was the jumping off point for us to go into the Reserva Cuyobeno, the national park located in the northeast of Ecuador where there is still primary rainforest. We were picked up in Lago Agrio by our guide and driven to the entrance of the reserve where we were feed a very lovely lunch of fried rice. After eating we loaded into a motorized canoe and headed down the waterway into the jungle, our guide at the ... read more