woodsinsa

A ten hour journey from Cusco to Puno took us through The Andes, visiting more Inca sites on the way. We visited a lot of markets along the way and bought yet more bargains! In this area most of the buildings are unfinished to avoid building taxes due on completion of the house. It all looks very messy. Our hotel in Puno was on the edge of lake Titicaca, the highest navigable lake in the world at 3,800metres, and we had our own jetty for the boat trip. The first stop was at the floating reed islands of the Uro Indians. The islands are made of cut reeds on a reed bed, feels like walking on a waterbed. They add a new layer of reeds every week and eventually the island becomes so heavy it starts ... read more

An even more ‘middle of nowhere’ experience – bus, canoe and trek to the camp. Our home is a thatched roof lodge, no outside walls or windows – just a mud wall between us and our neighbours. There is no electricity so we have candles, kerosene lamps and torches (thanks to Lucy for her wind up torch)- and of course eco-loos. Unsurprisingly it is very wet, hot and humid (we’re in the wet season of a tropical rain forest). It’s been a routine of breakfast at 04.30, then off in a canoe, or hike to see the wildlife and bed by 21.30. Two of the rare sightings have been the Harpy Eagle and the Giant Otters (at a distance), but for Suzanne the highlight was catching a Piranha with a stick, a bent pin and a ... read more

Another early start (06.00 shuttle to Sao Paulo airport) and arrived in Lima to find hotel opposite a market selling Peruvian ethnic stuff. Prices good so who could resist! A fine way to spend our 41st wedding anniversary. Last entry for a few days as we are off to the jungle!... read more

Right in the heart of Brazil – miles from anywhere and in the wet season. Good news it only rained one day, but mossies galore. Deet and bite zapper doing the trick, but have to wear long sleeves and trousers, which was a slight problem as Suzanne’s long sleeved T shirt had to be fished out of dirty washing and John’s only long sleeved shirt was his ‘going out’ shirt. A souvenir long sleeved T shirt solved the problem. Breakfast was at 0600 every day and we were in the boat by 0700 – captain was a local lad called Chico. We saw an amazing variety of birds, the highlight being the hyacinth macaw which is huge colourful and very rare. We had capybara (huge rodents the size of small pigs) wandering through the camp – ... read more

A private tour with charming Brazilian guide ‘Fabiano’. Started on the Argentinian side with a little train ride to the falls. It was heaving with coach-loads of tourists – an invasion of our space until we remembered that we were also tourists. First surprises – the Iguazu river is huge (several kilometres wide) but shallow with hundreds of little islands and it was surrounded by dense jungle. Having elbowed our way to the front the falls were spectacular and surprise, surprise John took hundreds of photos. Over the border into Brazil (the bridge was painted blue and white on Argentinian side and ended green and yellow in Brazil) and as Fabiano had predicted, the falls were much better – and fewer tourists. Walkways led to increasingly amazing panoramic views ( another hundred photos). Wildlife included vultures, ... read more

A terrible thunderstorm overnight meant we had to get up even earlier than intended so that the estancia 4x4 could drive us the 5 miles of mud track to the main road. Pick up car was waiting and we arrived at Buenos Aires airport at 08.00 for a 10.20 flight. Then it all went wrong! We knew to wait at gate 4 for our flight and assumed that the seats next to gate 5 were for gate 4 – how wrong we were! Gates 1-4 were downstairs and we only realised at 10.22, we fled downstairs to an empty departure lounge – our flight had left! We were so angry and to make matters worse there was no-one to blame but ourselves. So back to check in and we got on standby for the next flight ... read more

Now have wifi access so have added photos to some previous entries - enjoy!... read more

We were presented with a plate of cakes, beer and Malbec (we thought we’d asked the time of dinner!) served in a balmy heat in the company of giant toads hopping between the tables. Next day was the big event – riding with the gauchos. John was very nervous as the last time he rode was on a donkey at the seaside. Suzanne was too busy oggling at our easy-on-the-eye gaucho to be nervous or see that John had to cope with a wild beast. Back to the ranch for platefuls of barbecued meat and a bottle of Malbec, followed by Oscar the ancient singing gaucho (famous in these parts) and a young horse whisperer. We opted for a carriage ride in afternoon as we hadn’t been asked to help with the cattle round-up. Yet another ... read more