here looks good

Friday 3rd Feb - Thursday 9th Feb 2023 With amazingly timed flights, we were sat a mere 10minutes at the arrivals side of Rio’s big airport before our friend, Charlotte, caught us up. All a little tired and sweaty but happy and excited, the time instantly flew by, as we chatted away whilst catching an Uber, finding our AirBnB apartment, working out we should not touch the shower head if we don’t want a shock, and enjoying a cup of tea. All this talking and planning for her to meet us at the end of our travels and here we all were together, in the huge city of Rio, Brazil. Amazing stuff. With 6 nights here we wanted to do as much as we could but at an enjoyable pace, which meant not leaving too early ... read more

Friday 27th - Monday 30th January 2023 Boarding the bus, with all the other tourists, we were super excited to be on our way to Torres del Paine to start our 4day/3night trek, as well as super aware at how busy it seemed to be! After showing our national park passes and switching to a shuttle bus (which was still like a coach) we saw the peaks of the Torres towers basking in the orange sunlight and they looked magnificent; as well as a little scary. Arriving at the Central Hostel, where many start this trek, we became even more aware that it is not just W-trekkers that come here, but families, tour groups and day trippers who also, understandably, want to see the famous towers of Torres del Paine up close. So, slowly but surely, ... read more

Saturday 21st - Thursday 26th January 2023 Dropping below the cloud line as we came into land, we got our first real glimpse of what we’d imagined Patagonia to look like; huge deep fjords sitting low between mountains reaching up into the sky, topped with snow and dotted between smaller mounds of rocky earth which levelled out to plateaus covered in towering green trees, all with a deep blue sea in the background, stretching endlessly into a hazy horizon. We’d made it to the end of the world (well, almost!) and it looked beautiful. Punta Arenas, capital of the southernmost region of Chile, is the coldest coastal city and one of the most southerly ports in the world, serving as a gateway to the Antarctic, and I can confirm, it is definitely colder down here! Dropping ... read more

Saturday 14th January - Tuesday 17th January 2023 Checking into our little apartment in Santiago, we wondered why we hadn’t used apartments before now. Spacious with a kitchen, including a kettle and a fridge, meant we could make tea with milk whenever we felt like it! More still, the owner of this flat was really friendly and provided the tea and had a logged in Netflix account on the Tv ready for us to use. Amazing. Maybe a little too amazing, as, after a quick bite to eat at the near by subway, feeling tired, we decided to settle back into the flat for a TV binge before bed. Fully refreshed the next day though, we headed out early to explore the big capital city of Chile and enjoyed the wide pavements with tall trees, crossings ... read more

Monday 2nd January - Monday 3rd January Well it is a good job we bailed on that night bus, because we both needed that toilet until late that evening. Whilst I seemed to settle and sleep, Paul woke up at 3am in pain! Cue another unsettled day and trip back to the hospital the following day. Diagnosed with gastritis to go with his probable salmonella, he was prescribed a different antibiotic and an anti acid. Thankfully our hotel was flexible and helpful, even worried about us, which made things easier to just judge how we were feeling day by day. After some more resting (and much sweating the following night), and another couple of days exploring a little more of La Paz, including Moon Valley, we eventually felt well enough and brave enough to check out ... read more