naomi smit

Colonia del Sacramento is one of the short trips recommended from Buenos Aires. I can hear you thinking "hey, is that also in Argentina then?? Coz I thought.." Yes, exactly, it´s in Uruguay! So the opportunity to see yet another country, without even needing to board a plane, was too good to pass up. A weekend in Uruguay it was! When I first checked ferry ticket prices at Buquebus, it was a bit of a shock though. Arrhg, that´s what you get for ´keeping things open and flexible´!! But after a bit more research I found there was another ferry company, Colonia Express, that offered much lower prices, at the times we wanted. The downside was that the boat was a bit smaller (so you feel the waves more, especially if the weather is bad) and ... read more

Our Mendoza trip started off very well. Nice, sunny weather, and a quick ride to our hotel. Stephen's upgrade request (Starwood gives out these 'suite night rewards' after you have stayed a certain number of nights) had been approved, so we got to stay in a nice suite. We had some trouble getting into the room though, and had to switch to another room eventually. Not really an issue to us in any way.. But the hotel clearly thought it was, and a 'sorry for the hassle' cheese and meat platter and bottle of Malbec arrived to our room 10 minutes later. Well, so our lunch plans were settled then ;). That evening we went to the Vines of Mendoza, a wine bar/shop that offers tastings, for a 101 in Argentinian wines. The vast majority of ... read more

As we had left Bolivia earlier than planned, there was time for some more exploring around Santiago. So we planned a little trip to Valparaiso and Viña del Mar. We decided to sleep, eat and relax in Viña del Mar, a popular somewhat upscale beach town, and visit Valparaiso, port town said to be Chile's cultural capital, on a day trip from there.... read more

..No more buses, but a direct plane ride this time to Santiago. Or at least, that's what we thought. We were a bit annoyed when after only 1 hour we were asked to turn off our iPads.. Why?? The steward explained we were landing. Landing? Already? Were we on the right plane? It turned out our direct flight apparently had a stop on the way, Iqueque. Everyone had to get off, and go through border control. How annoying!At least so we thought.. But there turned out to be an upside to it too! No one asked Stephen for the reprocity fee of 132 USD that he had ready to hand over (exact cash, as requested). Apparently the fee is only ... read more

Lake Titicaca, apparently the world's highest navigable lake, is not the only unique natural sight Bolivia has (though technically only half of it is Bolivia´s, and according to Peru it´s the ´caca´ half..). As it has lost all its coastal areas in disputes with its neighbours over time, Bolivia is completely landlocked and the continent´s highest, most isolated and most rugged country. To quote our guidebook, it's landscape is one of extremes - Bolivia has some of the warmest, coldest, windiest, driest, saltiest and swampiest areas of the world. A tour through the Salar de Uyuni and the surrounding dessert and national park area provides some good views on the uniqueness of this country. It was this tour that had made us decide to include Bolivia on our itinerary... Stephen had been very keen on the ... read more