From Salta we bused 7 hours to the border towns ( La Quaica on the Argentine side and Villazon on the Bolivian side). With another stamp in our passport we then proceeded a further 3 hours to Tupiza, 3000m above sea level. He we did a day tour which consisted of seeing the views in a Jeep and on bikes. The last bike ride in the evening we were taken up to 3700m and told to ride 'slowly' back to Tupiza and to keep control around the winding paths with huge drops. What spectacular views though - as you can see from the photo's. On the 21st of Feb, at 7pm, we got the night train to Uyuni which arrived at 2am. We decided to get the train because this form of transport is a rarity ... read more

After Trajillo we spent some time in Huaraz, 3056 m above sea level, probably the highest we´ve been yet. Surrounded by white mountains it was pretty spectacular. After much deliberation of how the rest of our trip was going to go, we bought flights from Lima (Peru) to Buenos Aires to stay for a few days and another flight from Buenos Aires to Salta. (From Salta we will go into Bolivia and then back into Peru.) Have a look on a map...it´s quite a stretch! So we arrived in Buenos Aires on Tuesday the 12th to something a bit different to what we´ve usually been staying in. It is a hostel, with rooms around a courtyard, on two levels, painted green and yellow. There is a kitchen, outside loos and showers, a piano, a television, a ... read more

The bus from Baños to Riobamba did not take long, although we were somewhat disheartened by the torrential rain cascading from the skies and filling up the road in torrents. It made the huge potholes even worse and the suspension on the bus reaching its ultimatum! Once there, I am ashamed to say, we went into a fast food restaurant and had burger, chips and coke. It was actually very nice...nothing like the rubbish we have. The following day we boarded a very late train with a hell of alot of foriengers... The train consisted of a 3 passenger carrienges, a cargo carriage and a huge engine. We set of through endless patchwork hills, chugging along on a single track, nailed down on bits of driftwood. The scenery was just fantastic, it had rained the night ... read more

So after some pretty horrific turbulance on both flights, Will and I arrived safely to the second highest airport in the world, Quito, standing at 2850m (about 9000ft). Quito is a big city of 1.2m people but no hustle and bustle. No-one seems to be in the least bit interested in us, and what a great feeling that is! We are not hassled to buy anything, no foot polishers chase us down the street and in fact no-one seems to look at us atall! So far all the food has been amazing. Fruit, fruit juice, coffee and croissants for breakfast and chicken soup with bits of bone marrow floating in it for lunch. It doesn´t sound appetizing but is probably the equivalent to one of our oxo cubes! So much nicer! On Wednesday we got a ... read more

After getting on buses, getting off again and then waiting for a while, I eventually found the right bus to Ooty, that was actually going there. We left with a bus loads of people, my bags by my feet so my knees were close to my chest and two guys sat, one on the toher's laps. Was pretty funny. After a while the road got steeper and stepper and turned into hairpin bins, careering around cliff tops...and still we went up! The air got cooler and the smell of greenery came out, such a nice change! Absolutely fantastic scenery huge hills, lots of trees and grass, if a little dry, none the less, still beautiful. I arrived in Ooty in the afternoon. It is an old hill station that the british occupied sometime ago. It is ... read more