WeeJill

Due to a strike we had to leave Puno 1 day early which was a real shame as my mate Alex was due in town just as we were getting on a bus and we had hoped for a night out together in Puno. Cusco is the most touristy place we have been so far on this trip and that's because it's the main gateway for everyone going to Macchu Picchu. As a consequence our usual good standard of hotel went down slightly - our room was like a cell which had been painted yellow, with only a tiny skylight! thankfully the beds were comfy though and it had a tv with cable for our CSI obsession! the city has lots of beautiful churches, a cathedral and pretty main plaza with fountains and cobbbled streets. Over ... read more

We left our nice hotel in Uyuni and the group headed off in 3 separate 4WD jeeps. Our reg plate was STU and we had Stu in our car an therefore know as the Stu mobile. We headed straight for the Salt flats and they were amazing fun. We had a quick stop for some photos and then went to a Coral Island and explored and saw all the Cacti. We have 2 cooks who make our meals so we had a lovely lunch and then spent the best part of 3 hours taking lots of silly perspective photos as you will se from the pictures. After this we headed to our accommodation for the evening - a hotel made entirely from salt! it is very cold in the Salar and we played card games, had ... read more

Iguassu Falls was amazing and we were glad to be able to see it from both the Brazilian and Argentinian side. I was also very chuffed to get the Argentina stamp in my passport! Unfortunately it is dry season right now and there wasnt as much water as normal but we were still impressed by the main waterfalls even though we couldnt do the boat trip. The sun even managed to put in an appearance and there were a few rainbows which i managed to catch on camera. Unfortunately all the girls came down with a vomitting bug (now named Melinda-itis) and we were completely wiped out for 24 hours and missed the day trip to Paraguay and i also missed the traditional meal and Latin dancing. Thankfully we were all a bit better by the ... read more

Bolivia has been a bit of a surprise and I´m really liking it so far. Sucre is a pretty whitewashed Colonial town with lots of tourist facilities. there´s a great market for fresh food and traditional Alpaca & Bolivian crafts and it´s very cheap! Although it´s quite cold in the evening we have had lovely sunny days. Alex, Mel and I have ben out shopping for the perfect Alpaca jumpers and we were so excited to head round the shops and do our bargaining. Alex and Mel went a bit mad but i just bought a jumper and some leg warmers cos I´m saving myself for La Paz shops and peru´- i already can´t fit anything else into my rucksack so i think I´ll need a second bag! We have been joined by another 6 people ... read more

Bonito is a small 1 street town which is geared up to the tourists but it is still pretty nice. As we are in the low season it was like a ghost town. We booked on a trip snorkelling which takes you 2.5km down a crystal clear river and has lots of colourful fish. After a short truck ride there was a 40 minute trek through the wilderness and we saw a Capuchin monkey playing around and some of the guys ate termites which apparently tasted like peanuts! The current was strong in the river so you didn´t need to swim at all ' just let the current take you down the river at a very nice pace. I am so glad for my waterproof camera in situations like this and i got some good photos ... read more

Hello all from the lovely island of Ihla Grande. After a few hours on a private minivan and a short boat ride we reached our colourful little hotel on the small island. It´s a pity about the weather as it has been slightly overcast but at least it wasn´t raining! The Island is very small with a few nice restaurants, bars, hotels and jungle walks, boating activities. We didn´t have a great deal of time here so we went on a boat trip which did 3 lagoon stops for snorkelling and to hit the beach before having a huge Barbeque and all you can drink Caipirinhas. We all got quite merry by the end and had our Ipods playing through the speakers for a bit of a dance too. Our mad danish friend Mikkel decided it ... read more