Geo: -16.1699, -69.0792After a 2 hour bus ride we got on a hydrofoil to cross Lake Titicaca, the highest, navigable Lake in the world at 12,500 ft. The air was very pure, wind was chilly and the sun was incredibly strong, but visibility grew to be fantastic, with snow-covered Andes looming in the distance and calm, clear water. The Bolivian Captain was incongruously dressed in his Naval Uniform and blasted hs horn when he passed the still maintained naval base - all part of the rituals to express Bolivian outrage that they had their coastal access 'stolen' from them by Chile in the Pacific War (1947) Our first stop was Copocabana { named before the Rio beach), which was mainly a tourist town with the centre of interest being the Cathedral, built by the Spniards on ... read more

Geo: -18.4874, -70.3222I (Liz) enjoyed Patagonia and the ferry cruise. It made a welcome change to visiting cities and I enjoyed talking to any Engllish speakers about their travel plans and reasons for their trip. \there were 2 couples we got to knw travelling with ther daughters and then we saw the Americans again at our hotel, straight after the boat, and went out to dinner together. We also re-met the Lebanese couple from the boat ( a Harvard doctor, now living in Boston) in the Torre Del Panne park, together with the strange Irish Diplomat, Eaomon - all very convivial. But then the whole day flying north to Arica where we were picked up very efficiently at the airport at gone midnight and were back in very warm temperatures again, so the aircon went on ... read more

Geo: -51.7325, -72.5051Our overnight ride, lying back on beds downstairs was comfortable enough, but waking up to rain was depressing. Fortunately this cleared well before we arrived at Porte Monte where we deposited bags at the ferry terminal and wandered the ramshackled town for a morning, picking up a few bottles of wine and fruit for the boat. We surveyed other passengers as we waited to board, about half Spanish and English speaking with a French group too, a mixture of back packers and others, mostly travelling South for the National Parks.The ferry was quite basic, with three quite ordinary meals a day and a tiny cabin, but superior to dormintory accomodation in corridors and sharing with strangers. We chatted to various English speaking passengers, young and old, about their travels, and travelling ambitions. There were ... read more

Geo: -33.4691, -70.642The bus ride over the Andes to Santiago lived up to all our expectations. We had managed to reserve two seats at the front on the top deck so we had a panoramic view as the road wound its way up the valley with the mountains leaping to more and more prodigious heights on either side, including a glimpse of the highest Andean peak of all. The whole way we were also following the abandoned rails and bridges of a narrow gauge railway and we also followed rivers of a muddy glacial brown with frequent signs advertising white water rafting and cabanas (holiday cottages). We all disembarked for the somewhat chaotic Argentinian exit and Chilean entry procedures with multiple warnings about not carrying fruit - at the last moment Peter remembered he had an ... read more

Geo: -31.4, -64.19A short flight from Buenos Aires brought us to Argentina's second city, Cordoba. Then a fast and furious cab ride into town which seemed to us to be going the very long way round and a mixed language 'discussion' ensued. But it's another one of those situations where you end up arguing about the difference between £10 and £12!Great hotel right in the middle of town, huge corner room overlooking two main avenues and enough space for a huge bed, a sofa and two armchairs! And Liz says I forgot to mention the rooftop pool!Being so close to everything the next day we quickly covered the main highlights and were bowled over by the tour of the Un iversity, established by the Jesuits, oldest in Argentina, great library display with massively old books including ... read more