http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Margo Spargo/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Margo Spargo en-us Sat, 30 Aug 2008 14:35:41 BST Sat, 30 Aug 2008 14:35:41 BST My final port of call in my Latin American adventure is Buenos Aires and what a place to finish. Every traveller I have met who's been to this country has said this city is their favourite in South America. With such an expectation to live up to I was of course worried that coming here would be a let down that Buenos Aires had been overhyped. Thankfully I was proved wrong. For me this city r http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Buenos-Aires/Buenos-Aires/blog-110101.html So I think the pictures in this blog say it all really. This is the second time I've been whale watching in South America and even though seeing the humpbacks in Ecuador was a fantastic experience there's not much that can beat what we saw here in Argentina. The Valdes Peninsula where these photos were taken is a veritable wildlife wonderland halfway up the eastern coast of Argentina between http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Chubut/Puerto-Madryn/blog-109401.html And the residents of the southernmost city in the world where Im currently residing never let you forget it either. Ushuaia proudly boasts that this is indeed the end of the world. Its the last permanently inhabited town before you hit the Antarctic. Presumably theres a northernmost town too possibly it exploits its location just as much as Ushuaia does maybe it needs to just as much as http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Tierra-del-Fuego/Ushuaia/blog-106988.html One of the things I love about this continent is the seemingly endless variety in its landscapes and environments. Before writing my last blog Id just spent the week basking in 30C temperatures on the beach. This past week Ive hiked up a snowcapped volcano and trekked across a glacier getting incredibly cold in the process. So from Rio I zigzagged back across the continent to Santiago the http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Santa-Cruz/El-Chalten/blog-103354.html Unbelievably my first view of Copacabana was in the rain. And not just drizzle either but pouring rain. Somehow you just dont imagine that in these places Sydney being another example that it ever rains. Farflung exotic and on the periphery of your consciousness while youre sitting at your desk in dreary England they are places where the sun always shines and life is literally a beach. http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Rio-de-Janeiro/Rio-de-Janeiro/Copacabana/blog-99813.html I know I said my next blog would be from Rio de Janeiro technically it is as Im now sitting in an internet cafe in Ipanema. But Ive decided this city is so cool it deserves its very own blog page. So what follows is a rundown of all the other bits of Brazil weve managed to pack in in the last few days. Mum had less than two weeks to spend in Brazil so this was always going to be ten days http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Amazonas/blog-98346.html I'm afraid to say after promising myself I wouldn't I too fell into the trap. Cuzco caught me in her web and like every traveller who's passed through this city I stayed longer than I meant to. First there was the recovery from the Inca trail then there was the big night out to celebrate the end of our Incan adventure then there was the recovery from the big night out then there was sheer http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Arequipa/Arequipa/blog-95828.html DAY ONE The BeginningStart time 5amDistance covered 11km6.8Difficulty rating according to the guide Moderately hardIm picked up from my hostel at daybreak tired but excited. Ive been looking forward to this for a long time. After a three hour bus journey breakfast and lots of passportticketpermit checking we finally start the trek. Chatting away were all pleasantly surprised by how http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Cusco/Inca-Trail/blog-94577.html The trip from Uyuni to Sucre has to be easily the worst journey I have endured so far in South America hunched up in a cramped smelly bus every inch of me vibrating violently for 6 and a half hours. Most of the buses in Bolivia are pretty decrepit plus the majority of the roads seem to be little more than bumpy gravel tracks which makes getting from A to B quite a painful experience. I had http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/La-Paz-Department/Copacabana/blog-93405.html Fresh from a wonderful nights sleep on the nightbus note sarcasm here Bolivian roads are nothing short of hideous I stepped out into a very cold Uyuni. The town is nothing much to speak of tourists like myself come here mainly because its the starting point for a tour of the worlds largest salt flats the Salar de Uyuni. The standard tour of this pretty bleak part of the world lasts for th http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/Potosi-Department/Uyuni/blog-91946.html I cant quite put my finger on what it is I like about La Paz. After all its dirty smelly and chaotic not normally characteristics which make you warm to a place. Plus walking up and down the higgledy piggledy streets leaves me breathless unless I take it easy. And after nearly 2 months in the Andes I am probably fairly well acclimatized in comparison with most people. Still at 3600 met http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/La-Paz-Department/La-Paz/blog-90676.html First things first I need to apologise to a dear friend. Andrea I only hope you can forgive me....the evidence in the photos is incontrovertible I did indeed spend part of yesterday evening eating a small pet. Full culinary critique to follow but guess what...it tastes just like chicken This week my Dad Gillian and I have been on a whistlestop tour of Ecuador trying to cram in as much as i http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/Riobamba---Devil-s-Nose/blog-89953.html Whenever Ive told anyone that Im going to the Galapagos the reaction has always been the same. Theres an Oooh followed by You lucky thing or Im so jealous. Now there arent many places in the world that provoke such an outburst. So what is it Is it that we all know from school that the Galapagos were the inspiration for Charles Darwins The Origin of the Species A book which fu http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/Galapagos-Islands/blog-88405.html So this week I said goodbye to the little bunch of ragamuffins whove been so sweet and kept me so entertained for the last month. Volunteering at the centre has certainly been an experience often of the depressing or frustrating kind. But we cant work like this is not an unusual refrain to hear coming from the mouths of the British volunteers I know a belief in the importance of order and http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/Quito/blog-86571.html This week I realise what a firm friend or rather devout follower I now have in Isabelle. At around 11am each morning we generally have a half hour break. Exhausted after two hours of trying to control the kids most of the volunteers retire to what could be called our little staff room in need of a sit down and some coffee. But no Im not allowed any such rest any day this week. I am happy to pl http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/Quito/blog-84340.html So as the title of this blog suggests this weekend we went hunting for a gigantic whale. And as the picture below shows we were in luck. No sperm whale aka Moby Dick but a group of humpbacks no less majestic and just as breathtaking. Seeing a 16 metre beast swim past your boat at such close proximity they were less than 3 metres away at points is quite something. The pictures I did get http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/Puerto-Lopez/blog-83410.html So working at the dropin centre continues in the same shambolic fashion this week. Some days there are classes some days there are not. Some days there are activities some days there are not. And some days the nuns dont tell me when there will be no children at the centre leaving it for me to turn up only to find there's practically noone there. Thats what happens on Tuesday morning I http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/Quito/blog-83408.html Otavalo is home to the biggest indigenous market in South America. There is a market here every day. Mainly for the local community its where they buy and sell animals corn bread vegetables and fruit and all the other the essentials of daily life. Saturday though is the big market day when hoardes of tourists descend on the small town in search of typical South American gifts colourful sc http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/Otavalo/blog-82180.html My first day at the dropin centre is Tuesday a bought of food poisoning prevents me going on Monday. This is something I've been looking forward to and have wanted to do for a long time but I'm also fairly apprehensive unsure exactly what to expect. When I arrive at about 9am I find that the centre is run entirely by nuns. Given that this is an almost entirely Roman Catholic country that http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/Quito/blog-81334.html We advise against all travel to the tourist destination city of Baos and surrounding areas with immediate effect following a major eruption of the volcano Tungurahua at 2350BST on Friday 14 July 2006 The British Foreign Office Travel Advice website. So where are we going this weekend Why Baos of course. Why To see an erupting volcano of course...and to bathe in the hot springs that the http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/Ba%F1os/blog-81331.html