http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/south-america-awesomeness-TM/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from south america awesomeness TM en-us Mon, 21 Dec 2009 16:00:43 +0000 Mon, 21 Dec 2009 16:00:43 +0000 A nice little UNESCO world heritage site Colonia del Sacremento is just a ferry ride away from BA. A perfect place to kill a couple of days by the sea. The weather was grey and overcast just like being at the English seaside. Thankfully the weather cheered up.Rather childlessly and we freely admit that it was we rented a little motorbuggy and set off along the coast. Just out of town was a http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Uruguay/West/Colonia-del-Sacramento/blog-279773.html Uruguay is such a tiny country that it takes a mere two hours on a bus to go from Colonia to the capital which after the buses wed been on during the rest of SA was nothing.The weather was more like back home pretty grey. But palm trees everywhere made us feel like we were away somewhere really exotic Montevideo is a great city to walk around and enjoy the arcitechture althoguh sadly alot of http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Uruguay/District-of-Montevideo/Montevideo/blog-279785.html We dont know how the idea of a road trip got in our head but after checking out the cost of hiring a car in Uruguay 57 a day but you get th 22 VAT back we decided to spend a few days driving along the Uruguayan coast. It's all very well renting a car but which way are we goingBy complete luck although Adam claims that it was his planning we had a bit of a heat wave whilst we were o http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Uruguay/East/Punta-del-Este/blog-280532.html Well we should start this blog with some kind of apology since we're lumping lots of little things together into one article. But over these few days we were pretty much always on the move so it's hard to break it upAfter a rather stressful return back to BA from Montevideo not helped by the fact that South Americans view Sundays as not only a day of rest but also a day to be as unhelpful as http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Buenos-Aires/Buenos-Aires/blog-305262.html Asuncion is well pretty off the gringo trail. Most people usually go straight from BA to Iguazu falls in northern Argentina but we felt that we shoudl at least see what Paraguay was like especially since it was a minor detor from the the route to the falls anyway.Paraguay is a small by South American standards country between Argentina and Brazil which has been pretty devestated by wars an http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Paraguay/Asunci%F2n/blog-305273.html Cuidad del Este was a pretty god damn horrible place. Supposedly Lonely Planet describes it as the worst town in South America we learnt of this after we went there and we can completely see why. Under the former dictator President Stroessener the city then Cuidad del Stroessener became a centre for piracy and contraband being perfectly situated for both since it is on the border between P http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Paraguay/Ciudad-del-Este/blog-305279.html Iguazu Falls aren't really done justice by words and photographs. I know it sounds cliche but it just isn't possible to show the immense scale of the falls The best description would be to say that it makes Niagra Falls look kinda pathtic in comparison Niagra just has a better marketing campaign. Around 275 small waterfalls depending on the time of year over 2.5 Km make up Iguazu Falls and t http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Misiones/Iguazu-National-Park/blog-305291.html It's rather scary going travelling. One minute you're in your local weatherspoons drinking 79p cups of tea because you're desperately trying to save money and dreaming about the farflung places of the world that you intend to go to then in no time at all you're there And half way through the trip Time certainly does have a habit of creeping up on you Rio had always felt so far into our tra http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Rio-de-Janeiro/Rio-de-Janeiro/Ipanema/blog-305305.html Salvador is a beautiful colonial city looking out over the South Atlantic cobbled streets and brightly coloured buildings. Often called Africa in exile due to it's mainly afrocarribean population we certainly felt like we stood out here more than anywhere Katie especially. Food in Salvador was far spicier than in the rest of Brazil on account of this which was certainly a welcome variation. http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Bahia/Salvador/blog-305313.html Buenos Aires was a city that wed been looking forward to since we started planning this trip. The Porteos as the locals like to call themselves have the ultimate cosmopolitan lifestyle up late until 3am tons of coffee and lots of eating out. What better place to spend Katies birthday We absolutely loved BA.Wed sat on an overnight bus from Mendoza which was of such amazingly high stand http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Buenos-Aires/Buenos-Aires/blog-279772.html Mendoza can only be summed up by one word Vino And we had alot of it Being the capital of the Argentinian wine district we expected nothing less Although it was just our luck that the mountain pass between Chile and Argentina was closed for two days due to unseasonally high snowfall. Sigh. And then we showed up on May 1st Labour day a national holiday in Argentina so nothing was open S http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Mendoza/Mendoza/blog-279763.html Billed as being one of the most beautiful places in Chile to visit we headed off to Valparaso expecting stunning views and lots of pretty streets to explore. A quick weekend out of Santiago we thought Maybe we just didnt 8220get it8221 but as far as we could tell Valparaso was just a port which a few multicoloured houses. All this was not helped by the fact that when we arrived 10pm http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Valparaiso-Region/Valparaiso/blog-279784.html After a thoroughly needed shower we set out into Santiago with two Brits that we had met on the Salar tour to explore the city. What better way to start than a traditional Chilean chinese Well we were definately in another country you could tell from both the higher prices ouch and the higher levels of food hygenie hurrah.Santiago is a very pleasant city but not with masses of tourist at http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Santiago-Region/Santiago/blog-279761.html The tiny town of Uyuni is just a blip on the map in Bolivia a town of former glory as a major railway junction it has been all but deserted now. The only reason to go there is as a gateway to the largest salt plain in the world the Salar de Uyuni. Hence why we were there.Getting in on a Saturday evening we checked straight into a hotel and put off organising a tour until the morning. Bit of http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/Potosi-Department/Salar-de-Uyuni/blog-279756.html Although La Paz is the biggest city in Bolivia and the seat of government Sucre is actually the capital of the country. A very odd arrangement. But we had heard that it was a nice romantic city so we thought that wed check it out. Also known as the white city we didnt find it as pretty as Arequipa but we did still find it quite charming.It was a fantastic place to sit about relax and ta http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/Chuquisaca-Department/Sucre/blog-279751.html Never heard of Potosi Well neither had we but supposedly it was the largest city in the entire world during the 1600s. The reason Cerro Rico Rich Mountain which contained ore of silver content five times higher than anywhere else on the planet. The Incas believed the site to be holy a natural shrine to Pacha Mamma Mother Earth and forbid mining there but the Spanish however had no su http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/Potosi-Department/Potosi/blog-279748.html What better way to break away from the crazy city of La Paz than to visit the beggining of the Amazon rainforest. Also known as The Pampas these wetlands go on for miles and miles in rainy season which we were lucky enough to be in and has to be one of the most remote places that we have ever been No runways you could tell that wed landed somewhere remoteAfter taking a flight from La Paz http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/Beni-Department/Rurrenabaque/blog-277347.html La Paz has to be the craziest city we have been to not only is it the pseudocapital of Bolivia its also just a huge party town for gringos taking advantage of how cheap this country is. Crossing from Puno to La Paz only in Bolivia could they do soemthing as unsafe as put a bus on a raftWe stayed at the Loki Hostel most of the time we were in La Paz which was definitely the party hostel. http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/La-Paz-Department/La-Paz/blog-268439.html Puno sits on the shores of Lake Titicaca the highest navigable lake in the world and straddles both Peru and Bolivia. Supposedly Titi means puma whilst caca effectively means to go to the toilet and there is a saying around here that its Titi in Peru and caca in Bolivia. However having been to both we can definitely say its the other way round. Puno is a bit of a hole dirty and pollu http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Puno/Puno/blog-268437.html Having got an overnight bus from Arequipa to Nazca we arrived at 5AM rather less than ready to get on a plane. Luckily we got to sit in the office of the airline we were flying with until 9AM watching a video about the Nazca Lines and Marie Reiche who spent her life studying the lines. Although a very interesting documentary we did watch it about 4 times in a row. Were going up in that thin http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Ica/Nazca/Nazca-Lines/blog-268436.html