Rio City Rio is an amazing city with its great diversity from 37 white sand beaches, lush green peaks, skyscrapers and largest slums in the world. It is a city that buzzes day and night, it's energy puslating rhought the city streets and with carnaval around the corner, there was no let up!Our hotel was based in Lapa with its colonial buildings, bars and samba clubs. Lapa apparently had its best days before the 20th century but is now experiencing something of a cultural renaissance with its old buildings being restored and is now the centre of the Bohemian scene. At [View Full Entry]

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Weeks 14-16 In readiness for our trip to the Pantanal, we were encouraged to pack day bags full of deet, suncream and clothes to keep off the mozzies although none of us were prepared for the onslaught of mozzie bites and monsoonal rainfall that we encountered. Having driven as far as possible by truck, we all transferred to the back of 4x4 jeeps to be taken by our host to Fazenda Boa Sorte - a working farm in the Pantanal. At least that was the intention but at the first police post, we realised that there was a major problem. Although [View Full Entry]

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Weeks 13-14 We set off to see the Igazu Falls from the Argentinian side and they are truly awe-inspiring. The falls split Brazil and Argentina and are within 2100 sq km of national park. First viewed by Europeans in 1542, they are formed where a hard basaltic rock plateau ends with softer sedimentary terrain which was then eroded. The River Parana divides before reaching the falls with hidden rocks and islands separating the cascades that together form the cataratas which are 2km across. We were able to get some spectacular views walking along the various catwalks and trails at both [View Full Entry]

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Weeks 12- 13 Buenos Aires is one of South America´s most sophisticated and appealing cities with 3 million inhabitants in its centre and a further 10 million in the suburbs. There are numerous elegant older buildings and the districts (barrios) range from the cobbled streets of San Telmo to the rough neighbourhood of La Boca with its colourfully painted metal houses to chic Recoleta and trendy Palermo. Our hostel was close to Avenue de 9 Julio with its 16 lanes running from San Telmo to Recoleta with a white obelisk at its centre. The Hostel Santa where the group was staying [View Full Entry]

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Weeks 11-12 Ushuaia boasts an incredible location between the Beagle Channel and jagged glacial peaks and is the southernmost city in the world as well as the gateway to Antarctica. Between 1884 and 1947, argentina incarcerated many of its notorious criminals and political prisoners here and on nearby islands but its prisons are now converted into museums. As soon as we arrived, three of us (Russell, Sylvia - the intrepid Canadian couple on the trip, and myself) went tramping through the town visiting travel agencies to see if there were any last minute trips to Antarctica. As oppor [View Full Entry]

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Weeks 9-10 The route to El Chalten was spectacular and we were awed by the scenery as we drove down through Patagonia, we saw our first glaciers - Piedras Blancas and Rio Blanca and glacial lakes that were milky green due to the suspended sediments. We finally drove into El Chalten, a small village at the northern entrance to the National Park Les Glaciares which incorporates the Fitzroy range, arguably one of the most majestic mountain areas in the Andes and now a famous spot for trekking and mountaineering. The town is quite exposed as the winds whip down the Rio [View Full Entry]

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Week 8 Santiago is the political, economic and financial capital of Chile set in a wide plain ringed by the Andes and is now the 6th largest city in S. America where nearly 40% of Chileans live. Our base for the next couple of days was La Casa Roja, an international backpackers hostal set in a large rambling mansion around several courtyards and boasting a car, swimming pool, Sky TV etc. That night we feasted on a BBQ prepared by the hostal as we bade farewell to several of our travellers (including my friend Catherine) as their journey on the truck [View Full Entry]

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Week 7 Leaving Potosi and heading south to Uyumi along a dirt road, we were treated to awe-inspiring scenery in canyon-like country with fascinating rock formations, deep valleys, adobe (mud walls) villages and what appeared as dry lakes and river beds with various coloured minerals and salt deposits. At one point, we drove through Pulacayo, a town at the site of a 19th century silver mine where we saw the first locomotive ever in Bolivia and various pieces of twisted metal serving as fences, sheds etc. - these apparently the remains of the train robbed by Butch Cassidy and the Sund [View Full Entry]

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Week 6 La Paz is the highest capital city of the world at 3600m lying at the bottom of a steep canyon and ringed by snow peaked mountains. Our Hotel Continental was in the heart of the city along a road lined with bowler-hatted women selling a variety of clothes and food stuffs. In trying to get our bearings the first day we managed to get lost in the maze of bustling street markets. That night we visited a popular bar called Ram Jam - an energetic throbbing place clearly aimed at gringos with an oxygen bar upstairs where you could [View Full Entry]

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Week 5 Our first day in Cusco was spent buying necessary supplies and getting organised for our four day trek with Pachamama travel. Our weight allowance was 7kg plus our own daypack which was sufficient for all essentials including rainwear and warm clothes. We set off for the Inca trail at 6.00am which was late compared to some of the early morning wake up calls we´ve had. Our first stop by bus was Ollantaytamba and then onto Km 82 where we were officially registered and stamped. The Inca trail itself is 33km long with views of snow capped mountains and high [View Full Entry]

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