tangoandllamas

We left our beloved Bolivia into Brazil via a small town called Puerto Suarez. Probably not somewhere you would describe as a tourist resort as the supermarket was one of it’s main attractions!! It’s redeeming feature was that it was on The Pantanals, which are the largest wetlands in the world – about the size of Holland, Belgium and Portugal put together. The part we saw was the size of a little bit of northwest Albania. Your correspondent found that the best way to view the area was not by canoe or on foot or even horseback, no indeed, the best way was to sit at the elevated bar and drink cold beer while looking around. Some of my dear readers may scoff at such a method, but while sat there, we saw three giant otters ... read more

To get to Arequipa from Ica, one has to take a bus. How simple it seems when it is put in words. Indeed, we bought two tickets and turned up at the correct time to get on the bus. The journey would start at 9pm and take 12 hours to get to the destination. As it was an overnight trip, we booked downstairs camas (sleeping seats), which are a bit more expensive, but provide much more space and comfort. Off we went and after the movie had finished, your correspondent, settled down and drifted off to sleep, expecting to awake quite close to Arequipa. Waking up, I was surprised to find the bus stopped and it still being very dark outside. W thought that we had a puncture and the tyre was being changed, while I ... read more

Once Carlos had heard that we were planning a trip to Iquitos, he immediately told us the best way to get there. Forget all the other things we may have heard – his was easily the best route to follow. He hadn’t actually done it himself, but a friend he sent that way had enjoyed it. Faced with such overwhelming evidence like that, what option did we have. The plan, as far as your correspondent could work out, was to get to Tarapoto by coach, then take a collective (a little bus) to Yurimaguas followed by a boat to Iquitos. What could be simpler ? Well, we started by asking Carlos which bus to take to Tarapoto. He wasn’t too sure about this and mentioned something about having to get off at a roundabout outside a ... read more

For xmas we travelled to the small town of Banos and it’s volcano Tungurahua. This is indeed an impressive volcano, mainly due to the fact that it erupted only two weeks before and is still spewing out clouds of smoke and ash. Your correspondent was forced to wash as the ash was settling on the town. I desperately wanted it to erupt again, something W found strange, but it would have been great to see. Everywhere we have stayed in South America there has been an effusive welcome. By nature South Americans are amazingly friendly and very inquisitive. When a pair of gringos arrive at their hostal, they want to know all about you. This did not happen in Banos. The hotel we stayed at was owned by Americans from Chigago and were easily the most ... read more

To get to Isabela, the third island on our epic volunteering adventure, we had to take two boats across the wild Pacific Ocean. One from San Cristobal back to Santa Cruz, then one from Santa Cruz to Isabela. All in all about 4 hours. To avoid any form of sea sickness, W and las chicas took appropriate tablets. Sadly, instaed of just taking one, they doubled the dosage and spent the whole time sleeping. Okay, they weren’t sea sick, but if the boat had capsized your correspondent wasn’t planning to hang around to wake them up !!! Thankfully neither happened and the journey passed uneventfully apart from the kraken that attacked us. Our voluntary work on the island this week, consisted of absolutely nothing. Just relaxing, looking around the island and drinking beer on the beach. ... read more