The further north we get the more arid and deserty it becomes. It's such a contrast from the lush Lake District down south. La Serena isn't far from the beach, but the weather still wasn't warm enough to get our shorts out. The first thing that happened in La Serena was that we got fleeced by the taxi driver. Gringo prices and all that, but I wasn't in the mood for arguing it. We'd had an early start and a long eight hour bus trip. It was only by a euro in the end, and in the grand scheme of things [View Full Entry]

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Valparaiso and Vina del Mar are supposedly the places where the Chileans go when they need to get out of the city. We decided to visit Valparaiso, or "Valpo", as apparently most people go to Vina del Mar. Valpo is a port city set out on an array of hills. It's most striking feature is the graffiti everywhere (well, that and the dog poop). It all goes together to create a laid back feel and you can see how the town got its bohemian reputation. We decided to take a taxi from the bus station to the hostel. After a bit [View Full Entry]

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We stayed in Chillan for less than 24 hours. In all honesty it had nothing much to offer. It's principal claim to fame is that it is the birthplace of Bernardo O´Higgins - Liberator extraordinaire. He is fondly described in the guide book as the bastard son of an Irish man. We are so proud! Though it was nice to see an Irish name everywhere in Chile. The main streets are named after him everywhere. He is their Daniel O'Connell. The whole country is going nuts in his honour over the next week or so. Talca was our home for a [View Full Entry]

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In order to have a Lake District, one assumes they need rain. But did it have to happen for the entire time that we were in the area?! We headed off to the bus station in Bariloche to get ourselves on the next available bus to Puerto Varas in Chile. We found ourselves on a leaky bus with a grumpy bus driver who saw fit to bully every other car off the road. It was a long six hours, watching films in Spanish and dodging the water drops that fell from the ceiling each time the bus took a sharp left. [View Full Entry]

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Arriving in Bariloche was a strange feeling as we knew that it would be our final destination in Argentina. We have truly enjoyed everywhere we have been in Argentina and wanted to finish it on a high. Where better to create some happy memories than in the chocolate capital of South America? We chose to fly from El Calafate as a bus would take 26 hours over snowy mountaineous terrain and we couldn't afford to lose a day, as we are becoming keenly aware that our time in South America is now ticking down. After waiting around the quiet airport until [View Full Entry]

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We arrived in El Calafate after a spectacularly uninteresting overnight stay in Rio Gallegos which is a dull, grey, cold town. Given that the current president hails from there, you would expect a bit of prosperity, but it is clear he isn't doing his hometown any financial favours. We weren't sad to leave it. We were however frustrated at being so close (a 15 hour bus trip is now considered close!) to Ushuaia in Tierra del Fuego, but had decided long ago that it wouldn't feature on this trip. It is too cold and icy for many of the activities anyway, [View Full Entry]

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Puerto Madryn is about great day trips, lovely seafood, patagonian landscapes and close encounters with the local sea life. Depending on the time of the year you might see Orcas, Southern Right Whales, Penguins, Sea-lions, Elephant Seals, Guanacoes, Lesser-Rheas and various other birds. Our trip there from Buenos Aires had a few small hiccups and one major one. The first-class service didn't quite match up to our experience from Iguazu. The alcohol was sparse, the seats creaky and the bus was ancient, but we made the best of it. On a positive note, we practically had our own private ci [View Full Entry]

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Champagne really helps you get over the fact that you are stuck in a bus for 17 hours. Whiskey and wine help too. The bus company must have cottoned on to this fact a while ago, as we were plied with drink during our first experience of first-class travelling. We had stumped up the extra cash to get ourselves a fully reclinable seat with a little wall behind us. We did not regret the extra fiver spent as we whiled away the afternoon sipping beverages and watching movies before being fed a hot meal at the very Argentinian dining hour of [View Full Entry]

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Having taken it very easy in Sucre we geared ourselves up for a Sonic the Hedgehog-style run from Sucre to Iguazu. First we flew from Sucre airport to Santa Cruz regional airport. We spent an afternoon in the Irish Pub on the main square and then found a hotel for the night. Next morning we made our way to Santa Cruz International airport outside of town for our flight to Asuncion that afternoon. We bid a fond farewell to Bolivia, and then spent about 10 hours in Paraguay where we became millionaires for a day. The currency in Paraguay is the [View Full Entry]

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