Well it seems a long time since we wrote and so long away...we have done so much since..and the internet connection is sooooooo slow over here so its quite a slog to update this...but here goes. I think it was 4 months ago we last wrote in Jachal !!. This town is on Ruta 40, a 4500 kilometre road stretching the length of West Argentina from The tip of patagonia and up to the Altiplano of the Border with Boliva. This road (sometimes track) would form the basis for the next part of our journey up to the Bolivian Border. We [View Full Entry]

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After leaving Easter Island several days ago we have been constantly on the move catching planes and buses and living as gypsies on the road. We landed at Santiago in Chile in the evening and headed straight out to catch the airport bus to the omnibus terminal. Here we hoped to transfer to the next overnight bus over the Andes to Mendoza and on... So we hopped onto the bus with precision timing and departed within minutes of boarding. We placed ourselves down the back where there was plenty of room for our packs and sat back to relax before our [View Full Entry]

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Travelling is almost as much about the people you meet as it is about the places you go. Along the way, I've had the chance to meet loads of really lovely people - but most of them have been other backpackers from Western countries. It's been quite hard to meet and get to know people from the countries I've been travelling through....until now, that is. Easter is a big holiday period for Argentinians. Not only do they get the Thursday and Good Friday as holiday, but this year the Monday after was a holiday too, in memory of the 'desaparecidos' of [View Full Entry]

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Ola, After a lively welcome dinner (muchos Pisco Sour, Vino Tinto & Cervaza) We finally got our bikes cleared Thursday afternoon and followed the truck with the container to a dusty yard where they were unloaded and we spent a couple of hours assembling them. We left there about 4pm for the 20 min trip back to Vina del Mar to collect the rest of our gear from the hotel. Unfornately due to unforseen teething problems (got lost & and a person who shall not be named ran out of petrol with no emergency condom for fuel transfer.....fortunately saved by another [View Full Entry]

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Got up early to pack. Went to find the atm to get the last of the money that I will need. Then I called mom. She told me she was on the first day of recovery from the flu. Back earllier I had to get rid of the gas so I dumped it into the shower. That was a mistake because gas I lighter than water and so the gas stayed at the bottem of the shower when the water drained . I soak it up with the paper town and soon the room fan disapated the fume. By the time [View Full Entry]

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After being stationary for 2 1/2 weeks in Mendoza, we fancied some exploring. We considered our options in the north of Argentina because by mid February we want to end up In Bolivia. After some serious meetings and some consultancy from locals, we decided to go the provence of Tucuman. A bit off track for us, but supposedly very beautiful. SAN MIGUEL DE TUCUMAN We were not going to be dissapointed! We put our base camp up in the capital of the provence: San Miguel de Tucuman, a city with 750,000 inhabitants in located in a valley. As a consequence of [View Full Entry]

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As our plans to visit the ruins of Quilmes had been scuppered, we decided to visit Amaicha del Valle. Friends had told us it was worth a stop, if only to visit the Museo Pachamama, so we decided to stay a night and see what the place was like. Getting from Cafayate to Amaicha isn’t easy. There is only one bus company (Aconquija) and their departure times of 2am (absolutely no way!), 6am (not a chance!) and 6.30pm (we didn’t want to stay all day in Cafayate) were not exactly convenient for us. The hostel managed to barter a taxi down [View Full Entry]

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ein erlebnisreiches Reitwochenende [View Full Entry]

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So, after enjoying our brief stop in Salta, we continued our way southwards. We were hoping that going south might make the weather a bit cooler, but no such luck!! This is not going to be a long blog as there are too many fun things to do on this trip other than blogging, so hopefully the pictures and a brief summary will do! (Resolution: I will try to be a better blogger in the future...) Cachi The road from Salta to Cachi is very enjoyable, lots of mountains, switchbacks, farms, etc. We spent a few days in Cachi mostly relaxing. [View Full Entry]

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Last weekend we travelled 4 hours on a bus to the city of San Miguel de Tucuman, capital of the Tucuman province and generally known simply as Tucuman! It's a city of great historic importance as this is where the country of Argentina was founded back in 1816. The casa historica is, without a doubt, the must see thing in Tucuman as this is where all the history was made. Outside there are guards smartly dressed in uniform to welcome you through the doors in the whitewashed wall. inside are several courtyards and a good museum. It was rather lacking a [View Full Entry]

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