Day 8 ramblings: Rob Bell, Nick Cuthbert and 458 Italias Before I write the real Day 7 Blog, I've written some thoughts and ramblings. Joe thinks you'll not be interested. Andrea thinks you will. So, if you're nearer to Joe's age, then skip to the next Bog, if you're old like me you might find some resonance. Gray Travelling through different countries gives lots of time for reflection. First there’s having left all the stress and business behind, then there’s lots of time just to sit and watch and inevitably the comparisons start. Compared to the Argentina I first experienced more than 22 years ago there have been some major changes, some would say development. The whole feel of the place is very different. In many ways it feels like a European country with the infrastructure, ... read more

Joe’s Blog (day 5) Desert, Grumps and Deer. Mum comes into my, Nady and Bens tiny room waking us at about 8:30 am as we had been told to get out of the room by 10:00 and we didn’t want to leave at 1:00pm like the day before. So we all went down one by one to have the usual small breakfast of bread, a type of croissant and hot chocolate. We managed to leave the little guesthouse by 10:30 but of course after filling up with petrol, buying a few goodies and new wiper blades it was about 11:15 when we finally left the city of Santa Rosa with Mum on the first driver’s shift. Now for the next 6 hours we drove through an endless desert which wasn’t the most interesting of sites as ... read more

1009 kilometres. Max speed 111 miles an hour After the border fiasco we had many miles to catch up to keep on schedule. We woke up to morning traffic and joggers at 6.30 ish, had a quick cupper with Gray's little stove thing, on a park bench and were off by 7.45. Before we could say 'oh look at that' the children had all fallen asleep again. We kept trucking South, stopping at Metan for breakfast in a bus terminal restaurant. Croissants and orange juice and hot chocolate and coffee. The waiters here seem to have the habit of just listing what is available, instead of handing us a menu and we have to choose something. The accent is different here to what we are used to and so we listen nodding intelligently and just pick ... read more

well we began our journey today by getting up at 5 in the morning and left at 6!! we arrived at the city of Oruro in about three hours. Not stoping and moving on to potosi, about an hour down thhe road to Potosi we stopped for our cuppa and some food... Dad's special burner boils the water much faster than a kettel at home. Me and Nady had a cup noodle each realising we didnt have a fork... We had to mix it with a pen knife and drink it. ariving Potosi in about two hours from the noodle stop! we meet some frinds in Potosi and they took us to a nice restaurant. Potosi is the highest city in the world and even then we go to a rstaurant thats called the "mirador "that ... read more

Just to give you an idea of what we are planning. Here is the map of the trip. http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&q=google&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&bpcl=38897761&biw=1309&bih=704&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wl The Parkers xx... read more