In order to have a Lake District, one assumes they need rain. But did it have to happen for the entire time that we were in the area?! We headed off to the bus station in Bariloche to get ourselves on the next available bus to Puerto Varas in Chile. We found ourselves on a leaky bus with a grumpy bus driver who saw fit to bully every other car off the road. It was a long six hours, watching films in Spanish and dodging the water drops that fell from the ceiling each time the bus took a sharp left. We stopped at the Argentinian border to get our exit stamp and were again stopped after two kilometres of windy snowy roads at the Chilean border to have any fruit and dairy products we were ... read more

Arriving in Bariloche was a strange feeling as we knew that it would be our final destination in Argentina. We have truly enjoyed everywhere we have been in Argentina and wanted to finish it on a high. Where better to create some happy memories than in the chocolate capital of South America? We chose to fly from El Calafate as a bus would take 26 hours over snowy mountaineous terrain and we couldn't afford to lose a day, as we are becoming keenly aware that our time in South America is now ticking down. After waiting around the quiet airport until security finished their lunch to let us through, we boarded a small plane. The flight was only 90 minutes long, but that didn't stop them from dishing out complementary food and soft drinks. I love ... read more

Puerto Madryn is about great day trips, lovely seafood, patagonian landscapes and close encounters with the local sea life. Depending on the time of the year you might see Orcas, Southern Right Whales, Penguins, Sea-lions, Elephant Seals, Guanacoes, Lesser-Rheas and various other birds. Our trip there from Buenos Aires had a few small hiccups and one major one. The first-class service didn't quite match up to our experience from Iguazu. The alcohol was sparse, the seats creaky and the bus was ancient, but we made the best of it. On a positive note, we practically had our own private cinema downstairs and all of the films were in English with Spanish subtitles, so we barely noticed the first 6 hours pass by. After another late dinner we settled in to get some sleep, only to be ... read more

Having taken it very easy in Sucre we geared ourselves up for a Sonic the Hedgehog-style run from Sucre to Iguazu. First we flew from Sucre airport to Santa Cruz regional airport. We spent an afternoon in the Irish Pub on the main square and then found a hotel for the night. Next morning we made our way to Santa Cruz International airport outside of town for our flight to Asuncion that afternoon. We bid a fond farewell to Bolivia, and then spent about 10 hours in Paraguay where we became millionaires for a day. The currency in Paraguay is the Guarani and the lowest note comes in 5000 G's. We caught a taxi (for 90,000 G´s) from the airport to the bus station and decided to take a night bus to Ciudad de l'Este on ... read more

Leaving La Paz was not as easy as we had thought it would be. Firstly our alarm was somehow accidentally turned off instead of snoozed, then when we did manage to get out of the hostel, the town was packed with locals who had turned out for the Independance Day parade. What was supposed to be a direct walk to the bus station turned into a maze as we twisted and turned to avoid marching straight through the parade. Thankfully our local knowledge picked up during our wanderings in Paz proved invaluable and we made it to the station in one piece. As we entered the station we were immediately accosted by several people yelling destinations in our faces. As it happened, one of them was Cochabamba at the very reasonable and reduced rate of two ... read more