29 July - 2 August Some of you may not have heard about the demise of Kensie, my beloved Metro Kensington (yes, I know the name is original) which happened just before we left the UK. Having decided she needed a new engine, I had to make the painful decision to put her down and couldn't watch as a large grabbing crane was rammed through her roof. However, the scrap metal bloke told me that maybe she would be reincarnated...well, who knows on the reincarnation front, but the spirit of Kensie lives on...in the form of Max, our new camper van! [View Full Entry]

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27 July Thankfully it had at last stopped raining although this wasn´t going to help our sight seeing as we were heading off to Santiago. Breakfast in the hostal and packing our bags for what felt like the hundreth time already we set off to the bus station. A quick hour and a half later we were dropped off at the bus terminal in Santiago. On the approach to the city we had been gifted a great view of the city hemmemed in by the Andes in the background which were covered in snow. As we got into the city though [View Full Entry]

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20 July After a lazy morning in San Pedro we turned up at the bus stop to find we were on the same bus as our Korean group, who were heading to Santiago. No bus dramas thankfully to report this time but there was an amusing moment when Simon took a hefty second bite into his empanada (again, like a cornish pasty but larger than a salteña) to find that he had half eaten something that looked distinctly meaty but was also purplish in colour and of a roundish, sack-type shape. Needless to say, the offending article was hastily removed and [View Full Entry]

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17 July After a few hours sleep due to our rather late arrival into Uyuni we were up with the idea of spending the day organising a trip into the area around the town. Our first job was to be booking our room for an extra night but we found out that we could book a trip at the reception and promptly did (I´m purposly being vague about the trip here by the way). Anyway, we booked our trip which was due to leave at 11am which gave us a little over an hour to sort ourselves out. This left us [View Full Entry]

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14 July Ok, so I really don´t want to bore you with another bus horror story, but what happened at La Paz bus station illustrates finely why travelling in South America compared with Europe/Oz etc is a completely different kettle of fish. At least when Spanish is not top of your list of skills. Got to the station way in advance of our departure time for Sucre and as it neared, we moved outside to the departure gate we had been directed to at booking. After a lot of milling about and questioning of about 5 different people, we (ok, so [View Full Entry]

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Just a quick thank you for all your messages of congratulations. I think it's slowly sinking in for Alex and we'll both be glad when we get to New Zealand and we can get her ring re-sized as it is slightly too large at the moment. By popular demand we've started doing some poses for your amusement, although Alex seems to be lacking in insperation. If anyone has any other tasks that they would like us to try and perform while we're out here then stick them in a comment and we'll try and oblige (nothing dirty though as my Mum [View Full Entry]

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5 July Simon had to go solo for the day as I languished in bed, having succombed to travellers' tum. Let's just say that Immodium became my new best friend for the next four days. Simon meanwhile arranged our post-trail travel to Puno and checked out the Inca museum. We left the Point Hostel and checked into our pre-booked hotel just around the corner, where we prepared for the trek and got an early night. 6 July Got ready quickly after our 5am wake up call (thankfully not 3am, which some other guests in the hotel were treated to) and wolfed [View Full Entry]

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2nd July Having packed up and got ready for the hostel check out, we made our way down to the beach for a stroll. The beach wouldn´t win any awards for cleanliness (at least two condoms in with the other junk), but it was pleasant in the first bit of sunshine that we had experienced since our arrival (the previous two days were very hazy). We had worked up sufficient appetite by the time that we returned to Barranco that we went straight for lunch. Being the adventurous travellers we are, we ordered the local delicacy called Cebiche and a side [View Full Entry]

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29 June Arrived at Lima´s Jorge Chavez airport with the unanimous conclusion that it was better than that at Miami...our opinion of which was yet to decline further. BA flight from London to Miami was pretty good - we were fed at regular intervals and there were some half decent films on, although Simon was not persuaded that now would be a good opportunity to savour that cinematic masterpiece that is Brokeback Mountain. Miami was an absolute shambles with no directions or competent staff meaning that we were not entirely convinced that our bags would make it through the ´direct´trans [View Full Entry]

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Well, we are twiddling our thumbs in terminal three's departure lounge, anxious for the real bit of our journey to begin (boarding less than one hour). However, the first 16 hours since we left home have already been pretty tiring and less than luxurious...the only way is up right? Slept last night in the corner of a grubby part of the terminal near some computer games machines and workmen doing something that involved muchos banging (even through the earplugs!) Anyway, really looking forward to getting going and starting exploration of latin america. Better keep this short as this metal keybo [View Full Entry]

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