Peter Stonestreet & Jacqueline Mascini
We are two Australians (both geologists) who are doing a one-year around the world trip through South America, North America, Europe and Asia. So from the outset, apologies to non-geological folk for the frequent references to mining, bedding, alteration and volcanoes! We have more or less finished our five months in South America, and are a little sad to be leaving such an amazing (and cheap!) continent. Next up we have two-and-a-half months in the western USA and Canada. We then fly through Europe to Hong Kong and Yunnan Province, China, and then begin the overland trip home to Australia through Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia and Indonesia.Stipey and Jacq
The blog is dreadfully behind, but since I quite enjoy re-living the travel fun while I write, I think we will persevere with the site for the time being. Keep your eyes peeled for updates, behind as they may be, or try subscribing to the site to receive automatic updates. Please let us know what you think and what you like (and dislike) reading, all feedback helps us keep the blog relevant to our readers.
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3rd July 2008
Hello everyone, please note that I am changing hosts to Blogger.com. The new blog can be found at http://jacquelinestravels.blogspot.com/
Love to everyone
Jacqueline
Travel Blog Posts
March 24th 2008
Sucre is a town as sweet as the name implies..... although the name has nothing do do with sugar in Spanish and everything to do with Mariscal Antonio Jose de Sucre, who was one of several men who fought for independence from the Spanish. We stayed in Sucre for about a week, in the hope of acclimatising to altitude before heading upwards to Potosí. There isn't a huge amount to do in Sucre apart from enjoy the historical centre and eat great cheap food at the many foreign-run restaurants around the plaza. Sucre is about 2600m above sea level, high enough so that upon arrival you can feel a little puffed walking up the stairs or a small hill. We filled the first few days of our stay in Sucre with things like eating, checking out ... read more
Caimans, More Toucans, Anteaters, Capybaras...... and Donkeys?
Published: March 25th 2008South America » Brazil » Mato Grosso » Pantanal
March 14th 2008
Mosquitoes. I have never seen so many before in my life! The Pantanal district can be a miserable place for gringos with white, susceptible skin, and Pete and I used an entire 250ml bottle of insect repellent in three days! Upon arrival in a tiny no-horse town we collected our bags from the bus and within two or three minutes (no exaggeration whatsoever) we were all covered with more than 20 bites each. I had enough foresight to stash the repellent in my daypack, so we made plenty of friends in a short time. I have never put Aerogard in my ears or between my toes before but I suppose there's a first time for everything. A cheesy (but practical) open-air safari jeep was waiting for the bus and about 12 travellers (including Anne and Thiago ... read more
Snorkelling and Abseiling.. in the Dark!
Published: March 24th 2008South America » Brazil » Mato Grosso do Sul » Bonito
March 14th 2008
The photos might look tropical, but trust me, the water was not as warm and inviting as it looks! The water is crystal clear and so clean because most of it is filtered through aquifers and emerges at the surface at springs... ..But before the fun in Bonito could begin, we had to run the gauntlet of tour operators in Campo Grande, who were trying to sell us a Pantanal Tour (we found out afterwards that you don't even need to pre-book!). We arrived in Campo Grande tired from our epic overnight bus ride, with about an hour to spare for breakfast before boarding the connecting bus to Bonito. One guy in particular chased us and cornered us five times! We eventually checked out what he had to say, and because we had deliberated for so ... read more
The Craziest Party Imaginable - RDJ on New Year's Eve
Published: March 14th 2008South America » Brazil » Rio de Janeiro » Rio de Janeiro
March 11th 2008
Party, party, party! That just about sums up our stay in Rio De Janeiro. We arrived by overnight bus from Iguazu and were treated to fantastic views in the early morning as we wound our way through the lush and green hinterland hills. The views however, dropped off in quality as we neared the city and we saw the poverty and crime that many of the city's residents live with every day. RDJ is a huge city and it took well over an hour of driving through the suburbs before we arrived at the bus terminal at about 3pm. Thankfully the bus platforms were off-limits unless you were catching a bus, keeping the street-sellers, touts and petty thieves away. We found a taxi and Pete did his best in 'Sportuguese' to talk to the driver. We ... read more
Waterfalls, Toucans, Christmas and more..
Published: March 12th 2008South America » Argentina » Misiones » Iguazú National Park
March 11th 2008
You never would have thought - two people check on to a flight together, and one bag comes off first, and the other dead last! That was how we arrived at Puerto Iguazú airport. We missed out on the cheap shuttle transfer to town because while we were waiting for Pete's bag the shuttle filled up and left. So we had to pay 20 Reals (about $15) to get to our hostel, not such a good start to the next leg of our trip. We arrived at our hostel on Christmas Eve and were instantly impressed - it used to be a casino and resort in a previous life, so there was an enormous pool out the front, and well-equipped rooms with good matresses and clean bathrooms. The air-conditioning was an added bonus with the humidity ... read more
The Most Gorgeous Town I Have Ever Seen!
Published: March 11th 2008South America » Uruguay » West » Colonia del Sacramento
March 11th 2008
As a diversion, we also spent a day across the border in Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay, a short ferry ride across the river from Buenos Aires. The town was founded in the 1600s by the Portuguese, and the historic district is now a UNESCO heritage site. The transport there was a tourist attraction in itself, the Buquebus ferry. It had a huge duty-free shop, a cafe, hundreds of tourist-class seats and an enormous but empty first-class section. We arrived quite early at about 7.30am, long before the town awoke. We wandered around the old historic district for the most part of the morning, taking far too many photos of the gorgeous Portuguese architecture. The shopping was also excellent, although expensive and touristy. I bought a few things for myself and a scarf for Mum... strange seeing ... read more
BA - Food, Wine and Shopping
Published: March 11th 2008South America » Argentina » Buenos Aires » Buenos Aires
March 9th 2008
Buenos Aires is everything it's cracked up to be - busy, crazy, beautiful and historic. We arrived bleary-eyed after an overnight bus from Mendoza, and were instantly struck by the sensory overload that comes with such a huge city. The drivers are a little crazy, the buildings haphazard but beautiful and the locals by and large well-dressed and beautiful. We had booked a hostel in one of the not-so-touristy districts, mostly because all the others were full with Christmas just around the corner. We arrived and took ages to check in because of the space-cadet guy at reception. He forgot what he was writing, and then offered us beer (at 8am) and then told us they had none! But he was lovely and just as Pete was going to ask, he admitted it was his first ... read more
March 2nd 2008
Despite the fun we'd had in the Andes so far, it was time to go west and check out some more of the continent. We headed north on an overnight bus from Pucon to Santiago, then took another bus straight to Mendoza. It was a long trip, but we were rewarded before we even arrived in Mendoza. The views of the Andes from the bus were breathtaking. The colours of the rocks were spectacular, although I'm sure Pete and I saw rainbows while the rest of the people on the bus only saw shades of brown! At one stage I thought the bus might even roll over because everyone was looking at the view on one side! Luckily the bus didn't roll over and we arrived in Mendoza mid-afternoon, bleary-eyed after our epic bus trip. The ... read more
February 23rd 2008
After a short transit stop in San Martín, we headed back across the border to Chile. The border crossing itself was spectacular, with huge forests of amazing Monkey-Puzzle trees beneath the enormous shadow of one of the regions numerous stratovolcanos, all laid our for us to take in under brilliant sparkling sunshine. Had we thought about it we might have allowed a bit of time to explore the National Park, but it's always nice to save something for later, isn't it? Pucón was a great little town, very lively and full of personality. I was glad to get back to Chile as well, as the people are so friendly and unassuming, even if their Spanish is impossible to understand. We found a fantastic place to stay, which was really cheap with a lovely owner, Monica (cheap ... read more
Sick of everything in Barriloche
Published: February 23rd 2008South America » Argentina » Río Negro » San Carlos de Bariloche
February 10th 2008
This could be a long entry, since we spent 7 nights in Barriloche, which is longer than most of our stays.... After our fabulous time in El Bolson, we were ready for some more Lakes District fun in Bariloche, even though my cold was showing no signs of abating. We arrived at the hostel we had booked and were told that they had double-booked our room.... but they would pay for our taxi to another hostel that was brand-new. We arrived at the other hostel very impressed - it was brand-new and had excellent facilities and a really great kitchen. Unfortunately it was all to downhill from there - the rooms were cold, very noisy and our particular room was right next to the front door which was busy all night and had a bright halogen ... read more
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