Wow, I love Bolivia! I have been having the most amazing time since I arrived, its just gorgeous here. I spent about a week in Potosi originally before going to La Paz and doing lots of trekking but now I have come back here especially for a big festival of dancing called Ch'utillos. The first time I was here I went to visit the silver mines which made Potosi famous and supplied the Spanish with silver for centuries. They also used to mint the coins here, but anyway the mines are still worked by hand for those who cant afford pnumatic [View Full Entry]

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I am in Bolivia now after a circuitous journey from Buenos Aires via Salta and San Pedro de Atacama. I had a nice time back in Salta for a few days and met up with Barry, Pete and Shane, some Irish lads I met in BsAs. Took them out for my 3rd visit to La Casona del Molino and Macondo on Balcarse on my last night. Heres a tip for you dont go out drinking pisco sours until 3 am then get a bus at 7am up to altitude! The border control with Chile was at 4400 odd meters above [View Full Entry]

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Well, I am about to leave Argentina finally after nearly 4 months. Its been fantastic, I´ve seen so many things although I have just recently started feeling the need to get out of here! From Brasil we caught a coach straight down to Buenos Aires, after such a great time on the beach it took me a few days to work out what the city was all about so we wandered around for a few cold days and tried to see a few sights like La Boca (famous for football and colourful houses) and San Telmo but were not really “feeling [View Full Entry]

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Well I am having a very nostalgic day today - I am unexpectedly on a wet and rainy beach in Brasil. Unexpectedly, because I had planned to be in Buenos Aires instead but got sidetracked so let me explain… After returning to Salta from our road trip I was in two minds as to what to do next. Anthea left to go to Bolivia and tried to persuade me just to dip into Bolivia for a week to do a trip around the salt flats with her and then go back to Salta. However it was my Grandmas 80th birthday [View Full Entry]

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Here is a whole load of photos from my stay so far in Salta. Dan and Lucy from Mendoza turned up here in Salta one day after me (they had gone to another town on the way but didnt like it) and we all went on this amazing horse ride. It was the aniversary of General Güemes who led the Gaucho army in the war for Independance against Spain. The Gauchos are the cowboys who work on the cattle ranches or Fincas (or Estancias). So every year about 200 gauchos ride out to a valley about 5 hrs from the city [View Full Entry]

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Well I have a lot to catch up on in my blog - the gaps seem to be getting bigger between entries! Bariloche passed in an alcoholic blur really, I met some great people there in my hostel (Paolo the barman, Rupert, Chris, Sam, Will, Lilly and Helen, Alice, Valerie, the other Helen, Christina - I have to write their names here because otherwise I´ll forget where I met them!! Too many people and too many hostels) and enjoyed spending my days in bed and my nights in the bar. I did manage to drag myself out to see the sights [View Full Entry]

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Is it possible to poison yourself with too much lemon meringue pie? I am piling on the pounds in Bariloche at the moment - the food options in Argentina are solely comprised of steak or cake - and I am washing it down with large amounts of beer and finding it hard to do up my trousers. I will have to try to pick up a parasite later on in Bolivia or somewhere! Although, after Chile, I am also happy to be somewhere which understands the beauty of cheese. And even happier that they have chutney (homemade and organic)! The Argentinians [View Full Entry]

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After coming back from Torres Del Paine I had a notion to return there as a volunteer. I had spoken to a few of the rangers and refugio staff while I was there and got some contacts to get in touch with so I thought I would hang around Puerto Natales for a while and see if I could get myself work in the park for a month. Luckily when I got back from the park there was a notice up in my hostel asking for help for a few weeks so I volunteered along with a Welsh girl called Lauren. [View Full Entry]

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I have just spent 19 days trekking in the Torres del Paine national park. It was just the most fantastic place and there is no way to describe it in a way that gives it full justice so just check out the pictures. [View Full Entry]

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After leaving Pucon I feel like I missed out lots of nice places like Valdivia and Puerto Varas but I was on a mission to get to the mystical Isle of Chiloe bufore flying down to Punta Arenas and hotfooting it to the Torres Del Paine park. Chiloe is an island full of strange folklore and distinctive architechture, as soon as we got on the boat it started drizzling in a wet welsh kind of way and didnt really stop for most of my time there. This is supposedly the norm for Chiloe and it really felt like we were somewhere [View Full Entry]

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