manjnkesh

We had an early one as our last night in Arequipa and the following day Charlie went to have a look at the monastery while George wallowed in the Wild Rover TV room (admittedly quite an enticing place). We then grabbed some food and hopped on a bus to Cusco. Immediately after arriving at the bus terminal we set about looking for a bus to Santa Teresa, a more arduous route to Machu Picchu than than the train but at about a fifth of the price. We ended going with an all-inclusive tour and hurriedly packed our stuff before hopping in the cramped minibus for five and a half hours to a hydroelectric plant beyond Santa Teresa. From there it was a two hour walk along the train tracks to Aguas Calientes, the town at the ... read more

We arrived at the cemetery bus station in La Paz finally after a puncture en route in the taxi and the bus was just about to leave. This meant the only remaining space was in the front with the driver, George basically sitting on the engine. It was a fairly hair-raising journey, as all of them have been, but this was slightly more scary because we could see everything we were about to crash into. We checked into a hostal in Copacabana, had supper and nodded off. In the morning we decided to go down to the lakeside and do something vaguely aquatic. In the end we chose fishing and were promptly rented a rowing boat and two rods and pointed in the direction of where there might be some 'truchas' (trout). George rowed out there ... read more

So we've finally managed to drag ourselves away from the beach to write a blog. We'll use the usual Internet-wasn't-working excuse but we wouldn't have written even if it was. We left you in Potosi, on the verge of a bus journey to Tupiza. We chose the back seats to avoid the annoying, loud and smelly people who come on trying to sell you things, but endured a suspensionless and sleepless 7-hour trip. The following morning we woke quite late and intended to have a relaxing day but somehow not only signed ourselves up for a four-day trip to see the Uyuni salt flats to leave the next day, but also a horse ride for that afternoon. It was stunning walking amongst bizarre rock formations and red-rock mountains and canyons, Wild West-style with cowboy hats and ... read more

We left Bonito the following morning, and entered Bolivia via a combination of overpriced taxis, buses and minibus to find out that the death train was full so we would have to take the bus. Sitting at the bus station in Quijarro (on the Bolivian side of the border) watching chickens running around made us realise we'd entered a different world to that of Brazil, as did a supermarket shop for three packets of biscuits for 75p. The bus was also a bit different, with people hopping on and off trying to sell you what looked like regurgitated empanadas. We did have films, however, each of which highlighted their obsession with UFC fighting. We rolled into Santa Cruz, the biggest city in Bolivia, at 7 in the morning. Our second overnight bus in a row to ... read more

After a 18 hour bus journey (our longest yet) to Purto Iguazu, home of the famous Iguassu Falls, we dropped out bags at our hostel and set off with Aki, Reynolds and Buddha (Scott Bowden) to see what all the fuss was about. The falls didn´t let us down and the view overlooking garganto do diablo (largest and most powerful waterfall) was breath taking. We were lucky enough to go on a boat trip under one of the smaller (yet pretty large) waterfalls testing Charlie´s waterproof camera to the limit. Talking of cameras, apologies for any off-centre pics as George´s camera screen in broken and he hasn´t quite mastered the point and shoot tecnique as of yet. He calls the pictures arty, Charlie just says their rubbish. The following day consisted of lounging by the poolside ... read more

Thought we might add/try to add a blog now seeing as it's been a while since the last one. Apologies in advance if it seems as though we are still sobering up as we write/haven't slept in 24 hours but that is the situation we find ourselves and hopefully this might keep us awake before we head up to Puerto Iguazu. Backtracking a week or so, we decided to stay another day in Montevideo to watch the football between Nacional and Racing. We managed it and, despite performances from both sides that Yeovil Town would not have been proud of, got a taste of the crazy Latin American atmosphere. We went out that night, got a bus to Colonia, where we were going to stay a night, before taking the fastest boat we've ever been on ... read more

So we left you on the brink of our first mammoth bus journey, one which we had expected to be a two-bus trip from Paraty to Curitiba via Sao Paulo but ended up being a three-bus one because the Paraty-Sao Paulo bus had sold out. We found ourselves in the devilishly hot Ubatuba, a place that doesn´t quite live up to its exotic name. For the 45 minutes that we were in Sao Paulo it seemed like a standard sprawling metropolis, but then again we did only see it from the road and airport-like bus station. We thought we´d been quite clever getting a night bus from there to Curitiba, but the trip is just six hours, only about 20 minutes of which we were actually asleep, and rolled into Curitiba at 4:30 am, tired and ... read more

This was written when we left Rio but the internet crashed at the vital moment. Backtracking a little, Tuesday night wasn´t exactly as expected. We ended up in Lapa via a circuitous route, sat there and just watched the world go by. Although this sounds quite uneventful it was actually quite enjoyable. Next up we visited a favela, on our own and when the police were apparently on strike. We ascended an interesting version of a cable car that felt like it might break any minute and then wandered down through the narrow paths amidst chickens, dogs, cats and the occasional toothbrush. It was so higgledy-piggledy that it could have been designed by an architect, but I´m guessing they don´t need planning permission there. After the scrum of Copacabana, Botofogo beach was completely empty, which meant ... read more