nialljenkins

This will be a short one cos im writing 2 weeks late while im sitting in freezing New York which is a lot different than the 40 degree heat in the jungle. We were pretty lucky to even get out to Rurrenbaque cos its rainy season which plays havoc with the grass runway landings. So one sign of rain and no flights. The question on every ones lips was why dont they build a bloody concrete runway and they would never have to cancel a flight?? Thats Bolivia though, no long term sense really. As i said we were lucky and only had a 8 hour delay for our 40 minute flight. We met people who waited 3 days for their flight to leave(the alternative is a 20 hour bus on mucky deathtrap roads) and gave ... read more

Only a short 12 hour bus trip from unuyi to la paz which was actually on a pretty comfy bus considering what i was warning the guys about. Had a bit of bad luck in the bus station though. One of the guys were travelling with Ben went the toilet and while he was gone his bag was robbed. Passport, laptop, the lot. All you can say is its all replaceable, so its all good(I'm not sure he would agree)..... So Loki Hostel (again) for 12 days. No sure my liver is going to handle this. Its a party zone and after 6 days my mediocre Spanish has descended into a farce. We went to the post office and spent an extra hour there mumbling crap and being shouted at (our ignorance)!! To take a break ... read more

After a pretty cold sleep we awoke at 5am(every one of us forgot to set their clocks forward an hour!) we made our way along some really bumpy roads towards the rocks in the desert(i dont know what there called due to the Spanish guide). The cool rock features were created by erosion anyway i know that. Before we got there though our guide and his missus started to prove there worth. First off The guide messed about for about 2 hours in the morning then while annoyed at his girlfriend delaying him 1 minute more started the jeep and with the door open and the baby just lying on the front seat. it was a miracle he didn't fall out. This was nearly too much for Melissa. Then further up the road the driver slammed ... read more

With 2 hours of sleep i set off on the 10 hour bus journey. It actually wasn't too bad and was one of the few times i slept for hours on a bus. I was trying to stay awake because the scenery as we drove up into the Andes was so cool. We started to get pretty high are some stages and the altitude was affecting Al pretty bad although i could hardly breathe at some points. After going through the Argentinian side of the border we passed a spectacular volcano before going through the Australian like border(no veggies etc...). San Pedro is a beautiful little town. Melissa was saying this was how she imagined South America. Dusty streets and cowboy hats. The town was also surrounded on nearly all sides by volcano's, both active, dormant ... read more

So we went back to Santiago for 1 night before heading into Argentina to meet up with Al and Kelly. Really looking forward to getting back there as i loved Mendoza the last time. So when the spectacular Andes popped up in the distance i was getting really excited. It was only an 8 hour bus journey and was pretty handy trip. After pulling up in the taxi we hooked up with al and Kelly who were strolling down the path. Its always weird meeting someone from home in the most unlikely place(although we arranged it a month ago). Its reminds you whats good about travelling and just how different it is..... Straight on the booze then(which isnt very different to home). We ended up having an Asado that night(and every other) in the hostel. An ... read more