Pocket Rocket

After our big day in the Copper canyon, we had a bit of a lie-in the next morning, leaving Creel on the train at about 11am. It was a bit busier this time, and we had to fight with a school party to get our seats, but ended up with the best seats on the train - right by the emergency exit, which just like a plane, has the most room! We even had backward-facing seats in front of us and these were empty so we could well and truly spread out and even put our feet up (shoes off of course!). For anyone thinking of booking this trip in the future, these are seats 35 & 36....should you wish to reserve them! Everything we had read about the train told us that it always ran ... read more

From Bogota, we drove out to a nearby town (on a private bus) called Villa de Leyva. It´s a very pretty place (when the sun shines - it was a bit of a struggle to see this when we first arrived as it was tipping it down with rain), with a huge main square (Plaza Mayor) and lots of quaint cobbled streets (bit of a challenge in the rain!). The main square itself is completely cobbled which is quite unusual and it´s a lot quieter than other squares of its size - it´s actually one of the largest in South America. We woke up the next day to beautiful sunshine and took the private bus again for a day of sightseeing in the surrounding area. First stop was "El Fosil", who was an ancient dinosaur, looking ... read more

First stop in Venezuela was the border town of Santa Elena - nothing much to see here, but it was so exciting to be able to speak a few words of Spanish and be understood!! (I did try with the Portuguese, and thought that with 50-ish days in Brazil I might get somewhere, but was still getting mostly blank looks by the time we left!). Next stop was Cuidad Bolivar, the base for Canaima national park and Angel Falls. This was also the place where I discovered the joys of trying to use an ATM in Venezuela. Either they are switched off, or don't accept international cards, or if you get far enough, they will ask you what language you want, and then when you choose English, they give you instructions in Spanish anyway! By this ... read more

So we left Rio and headed inland briefly to Ouro Preto, an old mining town set in the hills. Its a pretty place, surrounded by lots of greenery, with cobbled streets and lots of coloured colonial style buildings. We found some very friendly locals who went out of their way to meet our weird gringo requests... at the local restaurant myself and a couple of others asked for wine, but they didnt have any... however the owner nipped out to a local shop and bought some especially for us! It did take a while to actually get a glass, since it was white wine and wasnt chilled so they put it in a bucket of ice for a while... then they had to work out how to open it, which was obviously something they dont do ... read more

Left BA and headed north through the Pampas of Argentina (where all the cows live!). Couple of long truck days got us to the border with Paraguay at Encarnacion. Once into Paraguay we stopped at Trinidad to visit some Jesuit ruins, which included lots of beheaded statues because inhabitants of the site after the Jesuits left thought the statues contained treasures. Then to campsite nearby, the best one yet, with a lovely pool, plus slide and diving board!! Spent the whole morning at the pool the next day, not leaving the site till lunchtime. Got to Ascunsion late afternoon, but like a ghost town, the quietest capital city I´ve ever seen! I suppose it was Sunday, but still.... Attempted a bit of shopping the next day, very traumatic for us girls trying to buy new bikinis, ... read more