Day 70-71 After a night bus we arrive in Puerto Iguazu at 8am, find our hostel ‘Si Mi Capitan’ and are told we can’t check in till 3pm - luckily we are able to have a shower before we head off to the falls. The book says that there is a lot of wildlife (snakes, spiders, pumas) in the surrounding forest and feeling slightly nervous we set off on a walk to see our first views of the falls from the lower walkways. Almost immediately we see two racoon-like creatures, and stop to take their picture (we later see a woman feeding one a crisp and it nearly takes her hand off, so they are not as friendly as they look). We also see loads of beautiful butterflies from bright blue (and the size of small ... read more

Day 60-61 After a 24 hour bus journey from Jujuy we arrive in Buenos Aires. Bus journey is like many others except for the not so nice addition of food trays that smell very strongly of cheese, and Si and I have to hold our breaths every time we are served something to eat or drink... We quickly work out the metro system and as I stand in the carriage, in what must be 30 degree heat, I let my guard down... all the people around me seem well dressed and respectable. I glance down at my front back pack and notice that the pocket is open, ‘strange’, I think... and then it slowly dawns on me that the ‘respectable’ man standing in front of me is trying to steal my stuff. I zip up the ... read more

Day 52 -53 After the 25 hour bus ride we arrive to a rainy Salta and catch a cab to our hostel (with the moodiest taxi driver ever - Em tries, amd fails to charm him), which to our great relief is very nice. The next day we explore (now) sunny Salta with visits to the modern art gallery and Museo de Arqueolgia. The latter has a display of three inca child mummies. The story is that the best looking children were chosen to be sacrificed to the Inca gods, which although was a great honour, involved being drugged and buried (we thought definitely better to be ugly to escape that fate). The altitude they were buried at (c. 6700m) means that they were perfectly preserved when they were found and it was more than a ... read more

Day 42 & 43 The 30 hour (3 seperate buses) trip to Puerto Madryn was ok as Si had treated me to cama (bed-style seats) so we actually managed to sleep for 7 hours which was a result, particularly as the Patagonian Step wilderness is dull, dull, dull to look at. We amused ourselves by trying to spot anomalies in the landscape – which were in no particular order a) a bend in the road, b) a slightly taller telegraph pole (you get the picture). Arrived in Puerto Madryn - not much happening (everything closes on Sunday) but we wandered round town and booked a tour to Peninsula Valdes for the next day. Day 44 & 45 The tour to Peninsula Valdes was fun... although it was a 400km+ round trip through Patagonia step style landscape(again) ... read more

Day 33 Distance - 18km Time - 8hrs Greeted by our guide Rodrigo, we meet fellow hikers from America; Tomasz, Laura L and Laura M. Feeling tired before we begin (we are rudely awakened at 5.30am by someone turning on the radio and setting up breakfast), we start our journey to Torres del Paine. We arrive at the refugio (mountain huts/lodges) called Torres where we will be spending the night. Having packed what we think is the minimum required clothing for 4 days (but packing for all weather eventualities including full waterproofs, fleeces, gloves, woolly hats) we are told on arrival that it is going to be some of the hottest weather of the summer (up to 26 degrees most days)! Good news for today’s walk is that we leave our bags at the refugio as ... read more