http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Sugarqween004/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Sugarqween004 en-us Thu, 24 Jul 2008 14:44:14 BST Thu, 24 Jul 2008 14:44:14 BST So we DID actually manage to leave Bogota at the last entry. Our main objective after leaving Columbia was to get to the Salar de Uyuni which we didn't manage to catch the first time round since we vamossed to Brazil to watch the World Cup and to take in a little of Ecuador and Peru on the way. So our first port of call was to head south from Bogota for San Augustin. There we found a beau http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Buenos-Aires/blog-104798.html Where was I..... somewhere halfway down the Amazon I think. So.... I've already tried four times to update about the time I spent in the jungle from Manaus and each time lost all my work yes I know I should've saved. Suffice to say it was an incredible and unforgettable experience involving camping with our hammocks deep in the jungle spear fishing in the dead of night breakfast with a http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Colombia/Bogota/blog-90652.html The bus we took from Fortaleza to Belem was to be the last on land travel as the next leg of our trip was inevitably the Amazon River and Rainforest From here on rivers are the new roads and boats are the new cars as we make our way upstream along the Rios Negro and Solimoes which make up the mighty Rio Amazon. You can get a cargo boat that takes passengers on the upper decks where you get a http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Amazonas/blog-81143.html So... we were in Rio for almost three weeks living in an apartment on Copacabana beach. It was just like being home again like having a holiday from backpacking ie living room couches TV phone.. all the things we usually take for granted like EVERYTHING unpacked and in WARDROBES ... wooOOooo except were right next to one of the worlds most famous beaches. They have running and cyc http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Rio-de-Janeiro/Rio-de-Janeiro/Copacabana/blog-74918.html Whilst still waiting for Lornas bank card to arrive and getting sick of the same old sights of La Paz the two of us decided to get a change of scenery and take a few days at Copacabana a tiny town on the banks of Lake Titicaca. Beautiful peaceful tranquil thats this place. The Lake is massive and lies across Bolivia and Peru. You can see it for miles and miles and miles from loads of di http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/La-Paz-Department/Copacabana/blog-74739.html You can go the road from La Paz to Coroico on a bus or you can go on mountain bike and it's mostly all downhill. It has some of the most dramatic scenery imaginable with a gaping valley a huge forest and views that go on for miles and miles. At Coroico there's a beautiful wee hotel where you can sunbathe swim and just chill right out from the hustle and stinks of La Paz. Sounds amazing... bik http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/La-Paz-Department/Yungas-Road/blog-66548.html Well.... Bolivia Where to start.... its been so long since I blogged so Im gonna try catch up like a mad woman VillazonFirst thoughts on crossing the border from Argentina into the border town of Villazon ... being at about 3400m above sea level I noticed the altitude effects pretty quickly you can just be standing doing nothing and be completely out of breath so traipsing around with a http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/Potosi-Department/Potosi/blog-64985.html From Valle Fertil we had to go back south to San Juan to catch a bus north again to Salta where were meeting up with the rest of the crew. I hate doing that doubling back on ourselves especially when the journeys are long enough as it is. Its the woman at the bus stations fault for not telling us we could move north from Valle Fertil even though we told her where we wanted to go. You get t http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Salta/blog-63274.html Left Mendoza with Bo Max and Lorna to head for Valle Fertil the Fertile Valley which is just north of San Juan. The others were due to meet up with us in San Juan but they ended up going straight to Salta instead after being too drunk after the paragliding to understand the plan. We went straight to Valle Fertil and found the cheapest hostel ever at only 8 pesos a night it turned out it was o http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/San-Juan/Ischigualasto/blog-63243.html With a real sense of achievement and extremely tired after the volcano experience we left Pucon and moved on to our next destination enduring one of our weirdest and worst journeys yet. We had to go to Santiago and from there to cross the border back into Argentina however after a few hours on the bus and almost reaching the border we had to wait on the stationary bus while theydecided if we http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Mendoza/Mendoza/blog-62556.html Since the weather forecast has been soo bad here even the company doing the tour said we would need to pray for a miracle to get a nice day none of us were really expecting to go and do the Volcano. So you can imagine what Brucey Bonus it was when we woke up to a beautiful clear day yesterday. Woke up that is after the Aussie guys rapped our door shouting Girls Yer late everyones waiti http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Araucania/Villarrica-Volcano/blog-60491.html Weve arrived in Pucon in Chile which is a nice little town not unlike San Martin de los Andes seems a little bit more upmarket than Argentina and definitely more expensive. Theres an active volcano here which is the main reason were here so we can climb up it for 6 hours then slide down it on our bums for 2... how cool does that sound However the weather is not too great ie cloudy http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Araucania/Pucon/blog-60042.html After moving hostels in Bariloche bad customer service and not doing much activity at all we got ready to move on... and just as our bags were all packed and ready to go Max Bo Tony and pretty much the rest of them from Ushuaia turned up to meet us so we decided to stay on a little longer and party on a bit.. moving to yet another hostel which turned out to be pretty cool as it had ping pong http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Neuquen/San-Martin-de-Los-Andes/blog-59587.html I know Ive been wittering on quite a bit but if youre bored of reading my ramblings or are just wondering what all these people and places look like then make sure you check out the pics to go with the blog they are all at Nikkis Pics. If you are registered as a friend you will see all the pics otherwise you will only get some of them.You can also check out what Lorna has to say here at L http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Rio-Negro/San-Carlos-de-Bariloche/blog-57761.html After leaving El Chalten we wanted to get north to Bariloche and the easiest route here is closed so that meant going back the way we came via our favourite place Rio Gallegos and 2 smelly days on buses Great We love transitions yaay Im starting to get used to these long journeys now though and manage to sleep quite a lot but have to try sneak 2 seats instead of one and sleep in the most u http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Rio-Negro/San-Carlos-de-Bariloche/blog-57499.html I cannot begin to tell you how much fun Ushuaia has been. The days weve had have been amazing the weather has beautifully sunny and cold and weve seen and done loads of cool things. The most fun thing of all has been the nights in the hostel The Antractica its got the best atmosphere of any hostel weve been in so far and weve partied hard every single night weve been here. Weve had Da http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Tierra-del-Fuego/Ushuaia/blog-57169.html Theres not much else to do at El Calafate other than see the Glacier so we then travelled to El Chalten to stay for a few days. El Chalten is a small developing village in the Nacional Parque de Los Glaciers and is only allowed to develop so far and no more houses will be built so as to prevent the park from being spoilt. The village itself is pretty rustic with no proper roads and only a coup http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Santa-Cruz/El-Chalten/blog-57156.html We reluctantly left Ushuaia after our 6 days of madness and headed for El Calafate which is the closest town to the HUGE Perito Moreno Glacier. We arrived quite late to El Calafate and got a reeeeally cheap hostel only 10 pesos a night. Well you get what you pay for I tell you it was Skansky Skansville the rooms were freezing and we wouldnt dare cook or eat in the kitchen I suppose thats http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Santa-Cruz/Perito-Moreno-Glacier/blog-57143.html Today the main event occupying most of the hostel crew was to go and see the glacier. Great idea lets go before we have any time to think of how we feel. So trailing behind everyone else the Brummies Gus and I head off with a wee picnic to sit and look at the Glacier with. The taxi drops us off kind of up a mountain and informs us that its a 45 minute walk there and the same back. Great http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Tierra-del-Fuego/Ushuaia/blog-55589.html Today we went on a boat to the Beagle Channel. This is the channel of water between Tierra Del Fuego and Antarctica and the place where the Atlantic meets the Pacific. Strangely enough hangovers were not present today at least not in my head. And this is strange because we spent the whole night doing the usual telling great stories and discovering the lot of us to be of the same ilk. Great http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Tierra-del-Fuego/Ushuaia/blog-55585.html