So yes, how many people can say they have done that in their lifetime?! It's certainly something I never envisaged myself doing! First things first, upon leaving Buenos Aires, I had a couple of flights, up to Miami, then back down to Guatemala City with a 9 hour wait at the airport in between them. I arrived there and managed to catch a taxi fairly quickly, and cheaply, to Antigua. I headed to the hostal and talked to Lee briefly as we organised meeting up before I had my first night without someone snoring in the room for 3 weeks. Heaven! [View Full Entry]

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Upon getting back to Buenos Aires, I had much more success, as this time, I didn't have a single thing thrown on me! After heading back to the hostel, I spent most of the day ticking off a list of odd jobs to do before my much anticipated visit to La Cabrera. La Cabrera is a highly recommended steakhouse, both from Lonely Planet and from fellow travellers. One even said it was better than Don Mario's, and that's high praise! Unfortunately, I was one of the unlucky ones and wasn't at all impressed by my steak there. They did have Wagyu [View Full Entry]

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So after the obligatory farewells, it was farewell to the remaining people from my Oasis trip and farewell to Chile as I jumped on the very fancy Chile/Argentina bus service. It was a 8 hour bus service but it flew by. It helped that all the seats were individual and were more Laz-y-boys than bus seats. The scenery was also amazing as we climbed up and over the Andes' mountains and several ski resorts, which reminded me how long it had been since I have been skiing. Once in Mendoza, I made the short walk to the hostel, dumped my stuff [View Full Entry]

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What a start! We jumped across the Argentinean border and headed into Salta. We got there after sunset and headed straight for a steak restaurant and the steak lived up to it's billing. I was brought a 700g monster that was delicious as well! The following day we got to see a bit of Salta by sunlight before we headed off again and straight away it became one of my favourite cities on the trip. It was very open, sunny and had beautiful backdrops and buildings everywhere, especially around the main plaza. So after one day, Argentina is already jostling with [View Full Entry]

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Well as predicted, it was a long arduous journey south into Bolivia and due to road blocks, our detour just about took us through Brazil! In the end, it was 3 days of driving, where on the normal stretch of road, it would have only taken 8 hours! The strikes were instigated by the Peruvian farmers who were protesting the Government reducing irrigation time from 20 minutes a day down to 10, which would drastically reduce the quality and quantity of crops, leading to less money for the farmers. Needless to say, they aren't happy. Anyway, we eventually made it to [View Full Entry]

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So after the cultural extravaganza of Arequipa and Lake Titicaca, we headed towards Cusco, the former capital of the Incan Empire, for the highlight of the South American trip, the Incan Trail. It was an inauspicious start, as there were protests throughout the country, which are apparently a regular thing. From the word on the street, the government is simply focused on lining it's pockets, especially at the expense of the natives. Hence there were road blocks in place and a drive from Puno to Cusco that should have only taken 8-10 hours, took over 16. On this one trip, I [View Full Entry]

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So it was back to the beach for the last chance for heat for a little while before heading up to altitude. Punta Sal turned out to be a bit of a party place as we met up with another Oasis truck who were heading north. The highlight of this stay was a feast where we cooked a pig on a spit and about 12 chickens as well. Delicious! Some may find this sacreligious, but I just find it funny, but there is a British Muslim girl on our truck and with my gift of the gab, I managed to convince [View Full Entry]

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Well after Colombia, it was another very early flight into Quito. Before arriving, almost every person I had spoken to had a bad word to say about Quito, and only for one reason. Crime. They had either been mugged or pickpocketed, and in one case, ended buying their stolen camera from a store the following day! But for me, I loved the city straight away. I can't tell you exactly why, but it just seems really laid back and there is so much to do. I suppose it could also be the lack of oxygen to my brain due to the [View Full Entry]

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So after a superb start to the trip, it was down into South America at last It started well as I flew into Santa Marta in Colombia for the express reason of finding a tour that went into the jungle to Cuidad Perdida, a lost city found only 30 years ago, despite being built over 1,400 years ago. My luck was in and there was one leaving the next morning. No rest for the wicked! I met a guy at my hostel, Drew from Montana, who was also doing the trek. Quite lucky as the other two were guys from the [View Full Entry]

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Well, what a few weeks! The title sums up my feelings of what have been some of the best weeks of my life for many reasons. But just to keep you all in suspense for a little while longer, I'll return to where my last blog finished. After Nicaragua, I had my last week of classes in Heredia and it was a fairly uneventful week with the highlights being two 'Intercambios', where I spent an hour with local Costa Ricans who are learning English and we spent half an hour each speaking in English and Spanish. I was most impressed with [View Full Entry]

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