Define pressure: Putting together a new wardrobe courtesy of the best shopping Buenos Aires has to offer. Actually, that´s pleasure. Pressure is being told you have to do it in only 3 days. Buenos Aires is to shopaholics what Brussels is to chocoholics. But we met the challenge bravely and have survived it with our wallets intact. Barely. And for now, as I sit here at Ezeiza aiport, Buenos Aires, 2 hours from leaving South America a thousand thoughts are running through my mind. How does one encapsulate two years of anticipation and 3 months of amazing adventures into one final [View Full Entry]

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Our second stay in Buenos Aires, 5 days this time, was even better than the first! We love this city. The sheer energy, the sense of style, the unbelieveable food. Tuyet was very keen to see a Tango show, but after being quoted a ludicrous price at a Travel Agent, we happened to pass a street poster advertising a Festival of Tango. We put our names on the door at the address listed and we found ourselves later that night, sitting at a candle lit table, in an intimate club, waiting for the show. There was no actual dancing as this [View Full Entry]

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Brazil baby. More specifically, Florianopolis, a coastal city in the south of Brazil. Florianopolis is balmy, with a strong surf culture, an even stronger emphasis on physical beauty, a confusing public transport system, a melting pot of cultures and bbqs form a core part of the staple diet. In short, I felt entirely at home in Florianopolis. Ignore the Portugese street signs and the cars going the wrong way around roundabouts and it easily could have been Sydney. Florianopolis is famous for its 52km of golden sandy beaches, great surfing and very rizty resorts. The world surfing competiti [View Full Entry]

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Foolishly...... we decided that taking the 13 hour overnight bus from La Paz to Uyuni would save us a night's accomodation. Only, the road was unsealed and so studded with rocks and potholes that it felt like we were riding inside a jack hammer. We arrived at Uyuni at 3am and in our severely sleep deprived state, were easy prey for the local tout who took us to the nearest hotel and sold us a 3 day desert jeep excursion leaving in a few hours. We awoke the next morning to find our trip delayed one day by some late withdrawals [View Full Entry]

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Hi again everyone, we´re in La Paz, Bolivia at the moment. We´ve just returned from a 5 day stint in Rurrenabaque, a town in the Amazon which Steve will tell you all about. We had a 12-seater plane on the way in, and we´re feeling kinda dazed because of the lack of oxygen on board. All the passengers fell asleep during the 1 hour flight, as we reached extremely high altitude and only the pilot and co-pilot had oxygen masks. All safety and security precautions are flouted here but I´m glad they ensured that at the very least, the pilot flew [View Full Entry]

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Ah, the magic of Lake Titicacca 3,800m above sea level and staddling the border between Peru and Bolivia. We arrived in Puno on Saturday, amid spectacular thunder storms and carnival atmosphere. Puno is a sleepy little town of adobe brick houses and was unusual in that one of the main means of transport was bicycle taxi. In the morning we arose early and boarded a ferry bound for the Island of Taquile along with a few tourists, some locals and all the produce they could fit aboard. The first stop was the intriguing floating Isles of the Uros people. Centuries ago [View Full Entry]

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Woo hoo we did the Inca Trail!!!! There are 2 ways to see Machu Picchu - one is via the 4-day Inca Trail and the other is to catch a train from Cusco which takes about an hour. If you're short on time, elderly or really unfit then you might be excused for taking the train option but otherwise, anyone who wants to see some amazing, mystical ruins should make the effort to do the Inca trail!!! It was by far the highlight of our trip so far, even one of the best experiences of my life, and was well beyond [View Full Entry]

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Well here we are in beautiful Cuzco. Surrounded by mountains, this charming town of terracotta tiled roofs, winding cobblestone streets and stone masonry incorporating the earlier Inca Citadel, simply takes the breath away. Partly because at 3,400m above sea level it really is difficult to breathe when you first arrive. Cuzco is famous as the jumping off point for Macchu Piccu, so tourism is very big here. Every building on the central Plaza De Armas and surounding streets is here to serve the tourist. Either selling package tours, hiking gear, local craft or with a stairway leading [View Full Entry]

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Lima is, quite simply, muy loco. I am quite frustrated now because I wrote a long entry and then the pc crashed on me, which is very typical of a lot of things in Peru (ie quite dodgy). Argh. When we were about to board for Lima, Steve realised his swiss army knife was in his pocket, so he quickly placed it in his carry-on luggage as we'd passed the point of no return having gone through immigration. The xray beeper went off and the guard pulled Steve aside and removed his swiss army knife, and then proceeded to pull out [View Full Entry]

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So here we are in Buenos Aires!! Our first three days here have been a very gentle introduction to South America, we will return here several times before we leave so it will be interesting how our perceptions change. First impressions? What a superb city, clean, modern, impressive - at least in heart of the city where we´re staying. And very affordable, thanks to the favourable exchage rate. We´re really easing into the trip. We booked into a nice hotel just off Avenida de Mayo, have been sleeping well, eating well - even have satelite TV with over 70 channels. It [View Full Entry]

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