Where is the most expensive place in the world? One would hazard a guess, Tokyo, London, Dubai, maybe Moscow? I have a contender for most expensive place in the world, Santiago Airport. I thought I would arrive early to the airport to at least try and see if I could use my charm to get an upgrade from economy. My attempt failed, so I was stuck in ‘Duty Free’ for ages. After I have parted with nearly £5 for some chewing gum, a packet of mints and a soft drink I thought that I might have to resort to busking outside [View Full Entry]

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The chicken bus to Potosi only cost me £2.80. I felt somewhat over charged considering the the death trap on wheels which I was about to board would be lucky if it make it to the end of the street never mind Potosi. When I got on the bus, a lady was sat in the seat which I had booked. Now, under normal circumstances I would have let her sit there without a problem, but the amount of times I have been asked to vacate a seat whilst in South America because it has been booked then it felt quite good [View Full Entry]

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After leaving Sarah in Santiago Airport it was back to slumming it on my own around South America. Just my rucksack and a stomach full of red wine and steak. For two weeks, we had dined on some of the best steak and drank some fantastic red wine. No more steak for me, no more red wine, I was going to be heading back to Bolivia where the staple diet wouldn’t consist of the any of the above. I had two items on my list left to do in Bolivia which were Salar de Uyuni and the silver mine tour in [View Full Entry]

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I was promised a semi-cama bus from Sucre to Villazon. On purchasing a ticket, I was shown this bus, which was more than comfortable for the 13 hour trip from constitutional capital of Bolivia. In reality, for my £7 paid, I received something which was fresh out of the cartoon Wacky races. I had opted for a back seat, back right corner next to the window. As this larger than normal lady approached the back seat I wondered if she was going to be my travel buddy for the next 13 hours and wondered if I had enough food for the [View Full Entry]

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It was only four and a half months ago, and I am back to where I started. Being back in Buenos Aires seemed like a breath of fresh air compared to some of the places I have visited and certainly after that bus journey from La Paz. After that journey from La Paz, the only thing which was keeping me sane was the thought of drinking some nice wine and eating some of the world best steak. As it so happened, I wasn’t the only person that was having a bad journey. My friend, Sarah who was coming across from London [View Full Entry]

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The journey from Mendoza to Santiago takes you through the Andes and is a journey which should be done during the day so you can take advantage of the amazing views. After my experiences of crossing borders, especially from Bolivia to Argentina I thought this would be a piece of cake. During my visit in Mendoza, I had bought a bag of sundried tomatoes, and when I bought them the assistant advised that I wouldn’t be able to take them into Chile. As usual, I knew best and tried to take them across the border, which makes for another story in [View Full Entry]

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Time is running out. I need to be in Buenos Aires in just over a week and I have still to do possibly the one visit which everyone who comes to South America does, Machu Picchu. The Inca Trail is one of the ways to get to Machu Picchu, but this is very expensive and currently has a waiting list of at least four months. There are alternative treks which you can do, the Lares trek and the Jungle Trek, just to name a couple. These are easy enough to book up, but both take four days in order to complete. [View Full Entry]

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It sounds like the start to a bad joke, right?? That is probably the only way to describe the experience I had on the bus down from La Paz to Buenos Aires. Answer is in short 64 hours, but it is only supposed to take 48 hours. Incidences, which range from the bus waiting for passengers that don’t have the correct travel documents to the Argentineans still being bitter over the Falklands. If anyone has 3 days spare, has a British passports and fancies and adventure, all for $60 then I suggestion the bus ride from La Paz to Buenos Aires. [View Full Entry]

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After spending eight days in the Galapagos coming back to the ‘real’ world was difficult. Some of the group that I met in the Galapagos came back to Quito, so we arranged to have a few drinks on the Friday evening. That turned out to be a few drinks too many and Saturday morning I woke to a feeling of being hit by a train. It must have been the 2 for 1 Cuba Libres. A good night nonetheless and it was good to have a drink on dry land instead of a rocking boat The rest of the weekend was [View Full Entry]

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I arrived in Huaraz at 6.30am. The weather, or should I say the temperature was a chilly 2 degrees outside. From my comfortable semi-cama seat, covered in the blanket I questioned my reasoning for leaving the coast of Huanchaco. Even thought it was overcast, the temperature was warmer than Huanchaco. I couldn’t judge a town solely on its temperature could I? Well, the answer was no on this occasion, I came to Huaraz to do some trekking. It has some of the best treks in the world close by in the mountainous region of the Cordilleras Blanca. There is one trek, [View Full Entry]

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