We couldn't have had a better place to end our trip. Buenos Aires is a fantastic city - it has all the culture, history and energy of a capital city plus we could take advantage of all the great shopping seeing as we wouldn't be carrying our backpacks any further! The city has really distinct sections, all with it's own attractions. Unusually a cemetery is one of the main tourist destinations in the city based in the Recoleta area. It is also in the most expensive area to live although it is rumoured that it costs more to live in the [View Full Entry]

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Dwarfed by it´s two large neighbours little Uruguay is less visited than the surrounding countries in South America. There are no main tourist attractions so it is quite understandable but we really enjoyed our 10 days or so in the country. For a start there was a really laid back atmosphere, maybe because of it´s proximity to Brazil - everyone was extremely friendly, cars actually stopped for your at pedestrian crossings to let you cross the road instead of speeding up and using you as target practice. There are lots of street side cafes and restaurants and everyone is genuinely interested [View Full Entry]

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As we were so close to Ushuaia, (only 12 hours away) - the world´s most southern city, we thought it would be rude not to take a look. Although you wouldn´t describe the city as pretty, it´s the location and the surroundings that make it a special place. It is an extremely remote and rugged part of the country, despite the number people that come here - surrounded by mountains on one side and the Beagle Channel on the other. This part of Patagonia is called Tierra del Fuego (Land of Fire) and is actually separated from the mainland of South [View Full Entry]

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So we are back in Chile & it seems as though the high season has started early here in Patagonia. There were four buses running the border crossing whereas only one was scheduled - it was how I imagine a "saga holiday" to be like, everyone was taking ages to sit down and get organised, and they seemed to be constantly going to the toilet. When we eventually arrived across the border you notice straight away how much greener everything is this side of the Southern Andes - which also means that it is a lot wetter, so we were pleased [View Full Entry]

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We´ve never seen as much ice before as what we´ve seen over the last 10 days or so, or realised how beautiful it is. The glaciers are part of the Southern Patagonian Ice Field, the third largest continental ice after Antarctica and Greenland. There are literally glaciers everywhere. Sadly many of them are slowly melting but, the Perito Moreno glacier visited from El Calafate is one of only two in South America that is considered ¨stable¨(the other one is Bruggen glacier in Chile). It grows a staggering 2 metres everyday in the middle of the glacier which results in a 40cm [View Full Entry]

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We stepped off the bus in Bariloche not quite prepared for the 13 windy degrees that greeted us. We left a lovely 30 degrees in Mendoza and I´ve realised that my practically see through jeans (as a result of wearing them almost every day for 15 months) are not really up to the job of keeping me warm any longer! Sam was lucky enough to have already traded his in back in Bolivia when they had involuntarily become a pair of shorts, might be time for me to do the same. Apart from being a bit chilly, and even that is [View Full Entry]

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In this instance the difference from Bolivia to Argentina came in the form of paved roads, supermarkets, cars, buses and people. We were in awe at the bus station - so clean and full of shops, food and cold drinks! We had met people in Bolivia who were travelling the other way and said they were surprised by the difference between the two countries - but as we had been through, Ecuador, Peru and then into Bolivia, the change was gradual so we hadn´t really noticed it. But we certainly did on the way back, Salta was like being in Edinburgh [View Full Entry]

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We´ve just had the most incredible four days in the southwest corner of Bolivia on the Chilean border - mostly known for the Salar de Uyuni (salt flats) but it also has lakes and mountains the most incredible colours that you´ll ever see. The four days were spent being driven around to various sights by our Spanish guide and cook, neither of them spoke a word of English but between us and the American couple we were with we managed ok, and anything we weren´t sure about, we just made up! We stayed in the villages with families but in purpose [View Full Entry]

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We haven´t been up to much since we left La Paz just cruising around Bolivia taking it easy. We headed towards Santa Cruz, with the purpose of going on a jungle trek, but it turns out that Sam has developed a phobia of the jungle, so after a bit of discussion (!) that was off the cards. I did manage to persuade him to stop in at an animal refuge on the way that i´d read about called Inti Wara Yassi in Parque Machia - we were originally hoping to volunteer there but somehow we´ve managed to run of time...I know [View Full Entry]

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Our last stop in Peru was Puno on the shores of Lake Titicaca - it´s one of those places that has never really sounded real so it was weird to actually be there. We visited the floating islands, which were really tranquil, despite the hoards of tourists that go out there on boats. Lake Titicaca is South America´s largest lake and used to be an inland sea. The Uros people fled to the lake to escape the Incas and made the floating islands out of the totora reeds, they also use the reeds to make their houses, to burn them to [View Full Entry]

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