adamandemma2011

Hello all! When we found our way to the park we were slightly disappointed when it wasn´t surrounded by cages and guards, surely they wouldn’t allow endangered lizard beasts to roam around without some sort of protection? It turns out yes they would. Although the Iguanas were not quite man-eater size it was certainly odd to watch them walking along the path in front of you, or be surprised when one decided to sit under your bench. Much more interesting than pigeons! From Guayaquil we returned to the Andes and visited a colonial town called Cuenca, the definite highlight was seeing human shrunken heads in the museum, though they were seriously creepy! Our nightmares were only made worse when we saw shrunken heads for sale in the marketplace afterwards; sloths and monkeys, not tourist... at least ... read more

After the inevitable flooding delay we finally boarded the train to get to Machu Picchu. The fog and rain were so thick you could barely see the end of the cabin, but with high hopes the slow ascent to the ruins began. The rain got worse and worse... the river running alongside the track appeared closer and closer to burting it´s banks until... THE RAIN STOPPED! This can only have been an Inca blessing since it had not stopped for 4 days straight at this stage but then we do seem to have incredible fortune. After getting of the train and climbing another 1500 feet or so up the side of a basically vertical cliff, our breath was taken away far more by the sensational view than the altitude. After wanting to see Machu Picchu for ... read more

One of the reasons we had been looking forward to visiting La Paz was that it has a reputation for nice food, only ever a good thing! We stayed in a fantastic hostel which even served eggs for breakfast (a luxury worth its weight in gold!) We made an effort to eat somewhere different each night and one Indian, one Middle Eastern, one Mexican and a ridiculous Pizza (over 1 meter across) later we felt we had travelled the world in a few days, in a culinary sense at least. After the surreal and otherworldly salt flats, we fancied doing something which reminded us of home and went to the cinema to watch Sherlock Holmes which was great! Before leaving we felt we should do something remotely cultural and had a tour of the Cathedral, given ... read more

Do you like Ham and Cheese? Then you have to go to Argentina because it is all you are going to be eating once you´ve gorged on steak! To illustrate, when we arrived at Iguazu and visited the restauraunt (built to cater for the thousands of visitors from all over the world they have every day) there were 8 choices on the menu. With no exaggeration 7 of them were subtly different varieties of ham and cheese sandwiches... very subtle. If you go in a pizzeria your choices are ham, cheese, or ham and cheese, and the Empanadas (little Pasties not unlike mini Calzones) have the same array of choices. Anyway, ham and cheese empanadas in hand we headed over to the falls and were not disappointed. (which given that it had taken us around 19 ... read more

As it turned out, Surf lessons were $90 per person so, deciding that we were bound to be inate surfers anyway we headed to the beach... As it turned out only one of us was a natural (no surprises that it was Emma) Fortunately the local guy we rented the boards from decided to throw in a crash course for the cost of a Sprite or two. On only her second attempt, Emma, with confidence oozing as if channeling John Wayne caught the wave all the way to the shore while offering a nonchelant salute for the watching crowds... It took me a few more facefulls of saltwater but eventually we were both surfing and feeling very pleased with ourselves. Our noses and shoulders the following day were not so happy given that we burnt them ... read more