Toni and James

The flight from Cape Town to London was pretty painless (no lost cameras!), even with Ms Fidgety Mc Fidgety and her lack of personal space next to Toni. Passport control was an exciting experience as we did our ‘own’ immigration control and the automatic biometric scanners. Yay for British passports. Toni's cousins met us at Heathrow and guided us through the Underground and busses to their place in Barnes in south London. It was quite fortuitous arriving in London on a Sunday, as we then headed straight out to one of their local pubs for a scrumptious Sunday roast lunch. The pictures tell a thousand words but look at those yorkshire puddings!!! A stroll along the river and another pint of local brew finished off our first day in London. Pam played tour guide for us ... read more

After our snowboarding adventure, we stayed in Santiago for a few days before heading down to the coastal town of Valparaiso. The city has quite the history to tell, peaking at the time of the Californian Gold Rush as it was an important port for ships going around Cape Horn. The town unfortunately saw its demise when the Panama Canal was opened in 1914, and the majority of ships were no longer passing through, but still left behind a melting pot of immigrant cultures and their architectural influences. The town is built on numerous hills in a natural amphitheatre overlooking the ocean. It has the most gorgeous cobbled streets and brightly coloured corrugated iron buildings, all packed together literally on top of each other. Some of the hills are pretty steep, and once again the building ... read more

Crossing into Chile, our last country of our epic trip, and arriving at the small town of San Pedro de Atacama was very surreal experience. Leaving the tiny one-roomed Bolivian border post and then driving 40 minutes into San Pedro to then be stamped into Chile, was something we have never encountered. It was like an optional activity whether to visit the immigration office or not! Plus, it’s the only land border crossing we’ve ever done, where all our bags are put through an x-ray machine! Sheesh, we’re in the desert, in the middle of nowhere, for goodness sake! Anyway, San Pedro was a lovely town and we thoroughly enjoyed our couple of days relaxing in the warmer weather. It is a notable tourist destination (as we realized from the price shock we received for a ... read more

Heading into the jungle wasn’t part of our original plans as James was quite adamant from the beginning, that we would not go anywhere, where it was hot, humid and required large amounts of insect repellant. However, after chatting to a few people and hearing some good things about the Bolivian side of the Amazon, we adjusted our plans and squeezed a week in. It would also be a welcome treat after the high altitude mountains and cold temperatures! So last Monday we found ourselves at La Paz airport, booked onto the morning flight to Rurrenabaque, the small jungle town in northern Bolivia. The bus trip was a resounding no after hearing a few horror stories of the horrific 21 hour trip, along a few very scary mountain passes! After walking onto the runway and seeing ... read more

Our arrival in the highest capital city in the world (alt. 3400m), La Paz was fascinating. The city is set in a massive valley and is chockablock to the rim and can only be described as a gigantic bowl of buildings! The first thing that struck us was the general chaos and busyness of the streets. Traffic was manic as busses, cars and trucks were trying to get through already jam-packed roads full of people. And of course, road rules and traffic lights are optional extras to be followed. La Paz is unlike any city we’ve seen so far. The valley makes it feel like the city is going to swallow you at any minute. Like walking the streets near our hotel and rounding the corner and finding ourselves in one of La Paz’s most popular ... read more