Wednesday 14th September I was just thinking a few days ago how lucky we had been that neither of us had been the least bit affected by the food,hygiene or altitude challenges here - and then it hit me! Yesterday saw me laid up in my little ol' single bed (because Shane prefers twin rooms these days lol ) with a good dose of the squirts! Eeeww. Shane met a couple of nice blokes upstairs so he came back to check on me a few later and asked what I felt like for dinner. Now I wasnt feeling too bad at this stage, things had slowed down if you know what I mean, and I felt ok. So we shared a delicious pizza from across the road. Bad move, and this is why we find ourselves ... read more

Friday 9th September After a rather luxurious bus ride from Arequipa, we have landed in Puno, on Lake Titicaca. Room is comfortable and has fabulous pillows! Our first job as is the norm is to head in to the main square and get our bearings. For a change we have arrived early afternoon so we have plenty of time to look about what yet again is another lovely city. The streets bustle here with the local women garbed in multilayered dresses and bowler hats. Lots of cobbled streets as you get in closer which really adds lots of character. The cars as usual, are a pain in the arse. Shane says: Yeah piss cars off all together. Just make pedestrian paths around these beautiful squares. Quite by chance we hear a big band playing in the ... read more

Before we left Mendoza, we had an amazing dinner at Don Mario's with Eric and Deirde from Texas. They were in South America for their honeymoon. The restaurant food itself was a bit ordinary (apart from the dessert), but the wine, champagne and company were fabulous!! We were introduced to a brilliant Malbec called La Linda- 3 bottles almost wasnt enough! The night went so fast and we said our goodbyes at about 1.30am. Eric and Deirdre were off to Buenos Aires, and us to Salta the next day.....which is where we find ourselves now. And Shane takes over from here as sleep deprivation doesnt do much for my recall of details, and I'm geographically challenge at the best of times :-) Over to you Sixto: Saturday 27th August 2011 Have arrived in Salta after ... read more

Miercoles 17th Agosto 2011 (Wednesday 17th August 2011) We wake up to a wonderful early breakfast (desayuno) from Olivier to see us off from Valpo to Mendoza. He even drives us to the station! The bad news hits us straight up when we arrive at Terminal de Buses. The bus has been cancelled due to bad weather over The Andes. We get the tickets changed for the following day and go about finding somewhere to stay. This is where the fun begins. A little lady at the terminal says she has a guest house we can stay at, so we follow her and soon arrive at the house which is quite close to the bus terminal. We accept the room which Sharls has already named ‘Dogsville’ with shared baños (toilets) and kitchen. Sharls starts to ... read more

Monday August 15th Arrived in Valparaiso yesterday after lunch. It was a really comfortable 90 min bus ride from Santiago. By the way, the Pooey didn’t even last until the end of the night. I GOT the power!! :-) Thanks Deb and Jodes for the support! We have booked in to a delightful B&B called Harrington’s- the owners, Veronique and Olivier are French and are very helpful. I think Veronique might be a fan of Marie Antoinette - we eat the most delicious home made cake with our breakfast every morning!! Valparaiso is a Unesco World Heritage site with lots of charm and considered the cultural capital of Chile – not sure about that though! The dogs and cats have no self control at all! The streets are extremely irregular and appear to be stacked one ... read more