TravelBlog » Sophie Dyas

Sophie Dyas - Sophie Dyas

Hiya! I'm leaving on August the 20th to hopefully find some sun, see some sights, make new friends, eat some yummy food, learn a bit of Spanish and have lots of adventures along the way.

My itinery at the moment (obviously subject to change!) is to spend 10 months travelling through Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina and Brazil. Phew, I'm exhausted (and a bit scared!) thinking about it!

Hope you enjoy my blog (wow, I never thought I'd say that, I feel like such a geek)! Take care!

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Joined on: April 8th 2007
Last Login: May 14th 2008

Blog Entries: 56
Photos: 489
Recommended by 5, Recommends 1

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Status: BLOGGER

Blogs & Travel Journals

by Sophie-Dyas, order by Date newest first.

By Sophie Dyas
May 7th 2008

Strange things that I´ve seen in Bolivia!

South America » Bolivia

My coach being shipped across a river

. [View Full Entry]

A car being prepared to be blessed by a priest

A zebra helping people to cross the street in La Paz!

By Sophie Dyas
May 5th 2008

Rocks, lakes and salt.

South America » Bolivia » Potosí Department » Salar de Uyuni

Strange rock formations near Tupiza.
Made by glaciers melting squillions of years ago.

For my final days in Bolivia I booked a 4 day tour which took me from a town called Tupiza to another called Uyuni. Tupiza is said to resemble the Wild West with lots of quebradas (gorges) and it is near where Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid eventually met their demise. Uyuni is the nearest town to the weirdy salt flats, which is one of the things I looked forward to seeing most in South America. The tour mostly comprised of driving all day in a jeep, stopping to see various sights on the way. As well as the driver [View Full Entry]

By Sophie Dyas
April 30th 2008

Mrs Boom-bastic!

South America » Bolivia » Potosí Department » Potosi

Potosi and Cerro Rico in the background

Potosi is the highest city in the world at an altitude of 4060 metres above sea level- yikes! Luckily I seem to have adjusted to the altitude quite well and am no longer puffing and panting so much walking down the street. Potosi used to be majorly rich due to the silver that was found within the mountain that overlooks the town- Cerro Rico. Mines were built there and are still worked in today, although the good silver veins are no longer there and it is mostly a mineral mix that is mined. Before arriving in Potosi I´d watched a documentary [View Full Entry]

By Sophie Dyas
April 26th 2008

Cycling down the world´s most dangerous road!

South America » Bolivia » La Paz Department » Yungas Road

Being briefed by our guides.

One of the trips that many agencies organise in La Paz is a cycling trip down ´The World´s Most Dangerous Road´. The road starts in La Cumbre (4640 metres above sea level) and ends in Coroico (1295 metres above sea level) and is 64km long with vertical cliffs up to 600m high. Until recently the road was used for traffic and an average of 300 people died a year (mostly from cars and buses going over the edge of the cliff). A new road was built for vehicles 8 years ago, and since then it is mostly used by cyclists on [View Full Entry]

You can see the new road on the far left, and Death road underneath it.

By Sophie Dyas
April 21st 2008

Amazon Basin

South America » Bolivia » Beni Department » Rurrenabaque

Flying next to the snow capped peaks!

Although it's possible to do trips to the Amazon basin from many of the South American countries, I chose to visit from Bolivia mainly because it's the cheapest place to do it from! To get to Rurrenabaque you either have to take a hellish 20 hour bus ride or grab a quick 45 minute flight from La Paz for 70 pounds return. I chose to splash out on the flights, with the only problem being that the flights are often delayed or cancelled due to bad weather at Rurrenabaque (the runway is made out of dirt so they can't land safely [View Full Entry]

Walking through the swampy pampas, looking for anacondas!

By Sophie Dyas
April 9th 2008

the islands of Lake Titicaca

South America » Peru » Puno » Lake Titicaca

Local ladies on the floating islands

My final stop in Peru was the town of Puno where I booked a 2 day tour to visit some of the islands of Lake Titicaca. My first stop was on the unique Islas Flotantes (floating islands) which were very bizarre indeed! The islands are built by layering the reeds which grow on the lake. There are new ones layered each week as the bottom ones are continually rotting away. This means that it is a weird experience walking on the islands as the ground is really springy- I was a bit scared that my feet would fall through, but luckily [View Full Entry]

By Sophie Dyas
April 6th 2008

Trekking in the Colca Canyon

South America » Peru » Arequipa » Colca Canyon

Snow capped peak

I was feeling a teensy bit guilty about not doing the Inca trail, so when a few people that I´d met recommended trekking in the Colca Canyon, I thought "Why not?" I was assured that it wasn´t a hard trek. Hmmm.... they obviously hadn´t met someone with my poor level of fitness before! The canyon was not at all what I expected a canyon to look like. I think I had a image of the Grand Canyon in my head, but instead it was more like walking from the top of a mountain down into the valley and up again. It [View Full Entry]

By Sophie Dyas
March 28th 2008

Machu Picchu!

South America » Peru » Cusco » Machu Picchu

Here it is, Machu Picchu at last!
See that big mountain- that's Wayna Picchu- I climbed it!

Well I finally made it to the main tourist attraction in Peru- Machu Picchu, the lost city of the Incas. Many backpackers choose to arrive there on foot after spending 4 days trekking the infamous ´Inca Trail´. However, the idea of spending 4 days walking did not appeal to me at all (and luckily, was booked up until August anyway!) so I chose to get the train there instead. In my opinion, the sensible (although maybe lazy!) option! Before getting to MP, I spent a few days in the lovely town of Cuzco. Here I had probably the most uncultural days [View Full Entry]

By Sophie Dyas
March 23rd 2008

Desert fun- sand boarding and Nazca lines

South America » Peru

Huacachina- the oasis

I´m in country number 10 now- Peru. I think that the local people that I´ve met here in the past 5 days have been the friendliest of my whole trip so far! So many people have come up to me to just chat in the street, including lots of students wanting to practice their English for their Easter holiday homework! After a few days pottering about in Lima, I´ve moved further down the coast to the desert. HUACACHINA Huacachina is a tiny little town centred around an oasis and surrounded by sand dunes. It really looks like the kind of oasis [View Full Entry]

By Sophie Dyas
March 7th 2008

I love Boobies! (Blue footed ones, tee hee!)

South America » Ecuador » Galapagos Islands

Blue footed boobies!
What a lovely pair of boobies! Hee hee hee!

Wow! The Galapagos Islands were truly amazing and one of the highlights of my trip so far! I did get the nervous shakes when I had to hand over a month's budget for an 8 day trip, but it was definitley worth every penny! Many thanks to the people who gave me birthday and Christmas money which went towards my Galapagos fund! You can get so close to all the animals in the Galapagos, whether on the land or in the water. One of the things I was most looking forward to seeing was the famous bird- the blue footed boobie. [View Full Entry]

Chilling on the beach with the sea lions!