6 and a half months on the continent.... How time flies - only seven months ago we were celebrating Christmas with family and friends in the UK, and now the time has come for us to return home - albeit only for a short while. So what can we say to summarise our South American adventure. It's not an easy task by any stretch of the imagination - we've had such a huge variety of experiences but always within the warm embrace of everything that is Latin America. For starters, one can´t fail to notice the thousands of stray dogs or [View Full Entry]

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Six months on and we're back. Before we arrived we were thinking, 6 days here, what will we do? We've already seen all the sights... then when we arrived we remembered how great and easy it is to just while away days in Buenos Aires doing very little apart from wandering it's lovely streets, stopping in for the occasional cafe con leche or a bite to eat and lazing in the parks. Part of our reticence was that we were expecting it to be cold but BsAs is (luckily for us, not so great for the planet as a whole) having [View Full Entry]

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From Paraguay to Iguaçu Our rather expensive hotel in Asunción (Hotel Plaza) wore us down over the three days. Its restaurant was truly terrible and at night, the window and shutters seemed to amplify rather than reduce the noise from the main road outside as a result we were wide awake in the early hours. To top it all off the trip from Asunción to Ciudad del Este (the Paraguayan side of the tri-nation border beside Iguaçu Falls) took 7 hours rather than the 4.5 hours we were led to believe from the Lonely Planet. Tired and hungry we therefore made [View Full Entry]

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Stopping over in Bolivia Our last blog finished with us leaving sunny (but cold Copacabana in Bolivia) and heading for the capital for our flight to Asuncion. There is nothing to report here other than a great night celebrating the 4th of July with a bunch of Americans at the Adventure Brew Hostel. Everything was going swimmingly well until Phil caught wind of a Beer Bath outside. Many beers already consumed, Phil had disappeared only for me to find him bathing outside, the first person in the bar to get into the bath. An interesting journey After a very early start [View Full Entry]

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Copacabana - a beach yes, but it ain't hot After possibly the smoothest border crossing in South America we passed back into Bolivia and to the “lakeside resort” of Copacobana (from which the famous beach in Rio is named). Our hostel here is great - “La Cupula” - but we felt sorry for a couple of Italian girls we had travelled with, who didn’t have a reservation and were therefore not allowed in. Sometimes it pays to be organised (I thank the spreadsheet!). Nights here are truly baltic. It would appear that no matter how much time we spend in and [View Full Entry]

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A tough decision It didn’t take as much deliberation as it possibly should have for us to decide to blow the budget once again by taking the First Class PeruRail Train from Cusco to Puno. A few years ago they had a First Class cabin and a backpacker cabin at the respective prices of $135 and $19. Now, they have done away with the backpacker option and so it was First Class or another long bus journey. Difficult choice! So, surprisingly enough, when we checked in our luggage there was not a rucksack in sight, let alone any rucksacks as grubby [View Full Entry]

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A few days back in the fine city of Cusco After a comfortable ride back from Arequipa to Cusco we entered the city ready to spend the week parading and partying. After Rio Carnival we're told Inti Raymi - an Inca ceremony to worship the sun - is the second largest festival in South America. All week there are parades and parties with it all culminating in a reenactment of on the summer solstice - 24th June - at the Saqsaywaman ruins on the hill behind Cusco. So, on the days leading up to the 24th we have tried to sample [View Full Entry]

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R&R We arrived in Arequipa feeling a bit jaded having finished the Inca trail followed by a couple of days travelling. It seemed like a good idea therefore to upgrade and treat ourselves to some nicer accommodation, so we checked into 'La Casa de mi Abuela' and we weren't disappointed. It's a fantastic place with: huge gardens with hammocks and loungers to chill out in; a lovely pool surrounded by sun beds; a library; breakfast on the terrace every morning; and a great garden restaurant. Q: What more could you want for a few days of rest and relaxation? A: Not [View Full Entry]

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It wasn’t always pleasant and it certainly wasn’t easy but we made it - completing the Inca trail in 4 days and 3 nights as planned. What made things considerably harder was I (Chloe) was ill for the entire duration of the trip - no appetite, sore head, soaring temperatures, you name it. But when you make it as far as half way then the quickest way is forward and so we slogged on. A brief bit of background For those of you who don’t know, the Inca trail is a 50km path (approx) built between 500 and 600 years ago [View Full Entry]

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The shops come to you Cusco is awash with impressive plazas, colonial constructions and beautiful little cobbled streets. In the surrounding hills (the Sacred Valley) is a selection of interesting Inca ruins with Machu Picchu being the most famous. And for that reason, Cusco is literally teaming with tourists and all the international restaurants and bars that go with it. It's impossible for any tourist to walk around the Plaza de Armas, Calle Procuradores or Calle Plateros without being approached by someone trying to sell you a painting, hash, a massage, bracelet or any manner of obj [View Full Entry]

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