lizandholly

Just a quick one to let you know how we are! Headed to Copacabana/Lake Titicaca after Uyuni, spent a relaxed couple of days there, boated over to the island and enjoyed the tranquility. Intended on getting a bus on Monday, only to find out that there was a bus strike, leaving us stranded there for an extra day and a half. Arrived in La Paz on Tuesday, has been a rather messy week, illness for Holly for a couple of days, lots of socialising and enjoying La Paz's nightlife, making it out to the market a few times to buy ourselves a few pressies! Holly also did death road on Saturday. So now, we have a bus booked to Santa Cruz this evening, to catch our flight on the 24th back to Rio for a week ... read more

Long time no....blog?!?! What a fantastic few days we have had! So, from Sucre, we went to the bus station but got a taxi for pretty much the same price to Potosi with a couple of Bolivians and Ben and Josh, who we spent our time in Potosi with. When we arrived, we went for a four course meal, including llama, for less than 4 pounds! Then we had a fairly relaxed evening at the hostel, Holly wasn´t feeling too great and we had an early start for the mine tour. So, on Monday, we got up at the ungodly hour of 7am, had some less than desirable breakfast, then headed into the town to be picked up for our mine tour. We went to the miners market, the refinery (quite good to get a bit ... read more

Ola from Sucre! Following the disastrous route to Bolivia, its safe to say our hopes for the next 3 weeks were pretty low! However, much to our delight we've had a great few days in Santa Cruz and Sucre. We slept very well on our first night in SC, then headed out to the busy market the following morning to buy warm clothes. Unfortunately there isn't a Primark out here, but the shoes, tracksuit bottoms, fleecy jackets, hats, gloves, socks and alpaca jumpers didn't cost us too much, and are exactly what we needed to combat the weather which might just about rival England. We wandered around the town, went into the Cathedral to say we had done something cultural, then met some Canadian girls who we had dinner with. Really rather good steak for less ... read more

Well its been an 'ìnteresting' 24 hours....! We left Corumba for the Brazillian border hoping to get our stamps then go to the Bolivian airport Peurto Suarez and catch our 3pm flight to Santa Cruz. However the first spanner in our works was the immigration office which didnt open until 2pm - meaning we would miss our flight. After much deliberation we found out we could get our stamps in Santa Cruz so went to the airport to get the flight. However we pulled up to a shabby looking deserted warehouse type building, which made us feel a bit uneasy and our fears were confirmed when we went in to the empty shack and found out our flight didnt exist.... We were slightly unsure how to proceed, but we thought we might as well go and ... read more

Hello! Well, we survived the Pantanal tour, despite being eaten alive by an array of tropical insects, mozzies, and the delight of bed bugs for Liz. We arrived in Campo Grande after a 15 hour bus, and were whisked away by the tour company for another 5 hours into the heart of the Pantanal. We had opted for the cheaper sleeping arrangements - hammocks! Suprisingly comfortable, except for the VERY cold first night. Early mornings as the sun rose, morning and afternoon activities of Safari (in our traveller´s opinion - not a patch on Namibia!), trekking and attempting to avoid swarms of wasps, piranha fishing in a swamp up to our waists in the water and later getting to eat our prey, horse back riding and boat rides. The weather has been pretty good, up until ... read more

After much debate, we decided to opt for the helicopter ride over a boat ride in the falls. So, $180 lighter, we enjoyed spectacular views over the falls for 10 minutes. Holly being a little nervous chose to go in the front seat so had the benefits of a see-through floor. Got some great photos - some are attached to the previous blog entry. In the afternoon, we popped over to Paraguay (as you do) with our hostel friend Tom for a bit of a mooch at the supposedly low cost electronics, but mainly for the stamp in the passport - carried in our pants to avoid pickpocketing. Rather hot, we arrived back at our hostel for a few card games before heading out to a per kilo restaurant, much better for the waistline than all ... read more

Wow, seems like a lot has happened in the past few days! So, in Sao Paulo, we had a wander to the Havaianas shop, Liz designed her own while Holly picked up a pair for her and Alan. Then, Solange´s friend Nelson picked us up, and took us to the park, then for lunch at his ex wife´s restaurant - amazing food, and he also treated us to some chocolates from there too. Very spoilt indeed! We had a lazy afternoon back at Solange´s, trying to sort out flights for later in the trip, skyping home, and uploading some pictures to facebook. Solange then took us out for a salad in the evening, and we had a nice relax watching TV before an earlyish night. On Friday, we got up and had a wander down Avenida ... read more

Hey guys! Kayaking was lots of fun, luckily no capsizing disasters! Gave our arms a good little work out too, stretched out the arms later in the bar with our free capriniahs to ensure no aching arms the next day... just aching heads!! We attempted to get a bus to see the waterfalls the next day, however just missed it and took a bus to Trinidade instead where there was another beautiful bay and long white beach. We woke up early Wednesday to get our last breakfast on the beach before going to get the bus to Sao Paulo. We arrived around 6pm yesterday and took the Metro across town to Solange´s apartment. Solange is one of Alans family friends who lives in Sao Paulo and has been kind enough to put us up for a ... read more

spent our last day in Rio with Clara from our hostel, went to Centro and got a tram up to Santa Teresa, then got a couple of buses over to Corcovado and went up the mountain to Cristo Redentor. Even higher than Sugar loaf and beautiful views. Headed back to the hostel for a quick nap then headed out with Clara, Callum, Bram and Sarah (I think!) from our hostel for a pay by the 100g dinner. Liz almost ate tongue but managed to realise what it was before eating! We then headed to Lapa street party, had a few vodkas on the beach and some rather strong Caiprinhas (Cachaca spirit, sugar and lime juice). Met up with a few more from our hostel there, chatted to a few locals, and some other travellers, some from ... read more

Arrived yesterday - very early! Met a couple of girls from Leeds who we got a taxi to our hostel with as our pick up didn´t show up! Dropped our bags, went for a quick walk around and sat on Copacabana beach for a while before coming back to properly check in. Went back to the beach to meet the girls for a couple of hours, then headed up Sugar Loaf mountain, where we enjoyed our first Brazilian drink. Amazing views over all of Rio. Planned to go out but ended up over-napping and feeling quite dead from the early start, so chilled out at the hostel and had an early night. Went for a lovely long walk around a lagoon en route to the botanical gardens this morning, then headed back to the beach for ... read more