February '09 It's just over a year since I completed the first stage of my South American travels. So, before I start round two, some reflections on the first trip may influence the way I tackle this forthcoming venture. The script on the blog from my first trip encapsulated my first impressions rapidly typed up in a variety of internet cafes and enhanced with a selection of photographs which were often difficult to upload. The idiosyncrasies of the internet systems throughout the countries visited and their volatile reliability often resulted in frustration. However there were very few [View Full Entry]

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21st December Tuesday's flight back with Virgin Atlantic from Miami to Heathrow was sheer luxury in comparison with some of the domestic flights in S. America. Their in-flight entertainment system is second to none. Arriving at 10:30 on Wednesday morning I expected dull grey skies over London, but was greeted with a clear crisp blue wintery sky instead. I found Miami cold after Belem, but the London air was much colder - confirmed as I saw my breath over the hoar-frost. My fleece jacket was no match for it. However the thoughts of warmer memories cheered me up, and kept me [View Full Entry]

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Tuesday 18th December After Lucio's surprise visit on Sunday morning I took a bus to the main shopping centre in Belem. However 'missed the stop to get off and had a free tour around the city back to the correct stop. With all the weekend Christmas shoppers it was very crowded there and was glad to away after an hour. I had booked a boat trip up the river and into the jungle for the afternoon. The guide picked me up from the hotel plus two others for the trip. The other passengers were from Soa Paolo but working for a [View Full Entry]

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Sunday 16th December: It´s been a whistle stop flight journey over the last few days in my efforts to get back to Belem. As I couldn´t get a flight from Cuzco into Brazil, I went first to Lima (Peru´s international Airport). However the only flights into Brazil from there went to the south of the country. This Meant I had to fly down to Sao Paulo first before I could get a domestic flight north to Belem. I stayed in Lima overnight and had an evening tour of the city- very pretty. Plaza Mayor, the main square, was only a couple [View Full Entry]

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Thursday 13th December: On Tuesday evening I went out for a bite to eat in Aguas Calientes and found that the village was saturated with restaurants all vieing for business. After looking at a few menus I chose a place which could have easily seated 80 plus but there were only two other couples in there. All the other restaurants also have few people in them, probably because it´s the low season. Incidentally, I gave a miss to the stuffed guinea pig on the menu (apparently a delicacy out here) - otherwise the food was good. I made an early start [View Full Entry]

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Tuesday 11th December: On Sunday evening I tried some llama for my main dish; it´s a tender meat and tastes a little like venison - I like it. Monday morning was an early start to catch the 8:00am coach to Cuzco in Peru. I´m planning on spending a few days around Machu Picchu (renowned Inca site and one of the wonders of the world). The road was slightly better than the one from Uyuni. However it was a tedious and long trip. Nevertheless, there was some beautiful scenery on the way, particularly as we coasted close to Lake Titicaca. After the [View Full Entry]

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Sunday 9th December: I have a good room in this hostel with its own balcony overlooking the main thoroughfare of downtown La Paz. It is like a peaceful oasis here, it is so quiet. This is an exception as most other things here in Bolivia are basic. The streets outside are bustling with throngs of people and the cacophony of voices of the boys in the minibuses shouting out their destinations, mixed with the variety of different vehicle horns. Traffic seems relentlessly heavy, often looking like a crawling traffic jam. No notice is taken of any pedestrian crossings, they just blow [View Full Entry]

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Saturday 8th Dec: (very early) Last Wednesday afternoon I had time to kill while waiting for the evening coach (the only one); I met up with a Swiss couple who were staying in the same hostel. They had started their trip in Alaska and had been travelling all the way south; however they had to skip the US because of immigration restrictions. They told me of their travels as we enjoyed the shade of the hostel courtyard lying in the hammocks out of the scorching sun. Leaving San Pedro at 7:00pm I got into Calama just before 9:00 - no coach [View Full Entry]

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Wednesday 5th December: Sunday afternoon was an interesting one; though I didn´t manage to get to the street markets on the other side of the city, I did get a boat trip around the bay. It was an old boat and there were about 40 people on board. As we left the harbour it was obvious that the engine was having problems and some of the passengers were making jokes and laughing about it. However the scene changed when smoke started billowing from the engine compartment. The smoke was getting in the eyes of some; they began moving away from the [View Full Entry]

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Sunday 2nd December: All of my coach journeys have been fairly routine and uneventful until my trip fro Santiago to Valparaiso on Friday evening. It started as we were about to depart and we were told that we must change to a different coach because of mechanical problems. We started on our journey and I was seated up at the front. The driver kept slowing down and looking in his mirror. About 80Km into the trip he pulled the coach over to the hard shoulder of the motorway; the conductor got out, went across both carriageways to a police station on [View Full Entry]

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