We finally managed to escape La Paz, and flew out to Rurrenabaque, deep in the jungle of the Beni region of Bolivia, flying by light aircraft for 40 minutes and dropping from 4,000 metres above sea level at La Paz airport, down to only a couple of hundred metres in tropically hot and sticky Rurrenabaque. Labding on the bumpy sand-grass runway, we understood why they wouldn’t land there in the rain. We were collected by rickety rural bus and transported into the centre of Rurre and to the office of the Ecolodge to have our briefing for departure the following day by boat deep into the Beni region and the Madidi national park area. We checked into our hotel and wandered out to find some food and see the sights of the town. Rurre is a ... read more

We left Peru on 1st November, with high hopes for Bolivia and Copacabana as a chilled out gringo-friendly town. We travelled by coach from Puno, to the border, where everybody disembarks in order to walk between Peruvian and Bolivian emigration. Fortunately we Brits have free access to Bolivia. US citizens have to pay $140!! There was a slight hiccup on departing the Bolivian border when it was discovered that the American gentlemen in front of us had skipped the border without paying and jumped on another bus! (Sarah nearly regretted admitting to witnessing this when the border police started prowling up and down the bus!) We arrived in the town of Copacabana and hiked up the hill to our hostal, which at 4,000 metres with two backpacks is very hard work! It was a Sunday and ... read more

We were excited to be back trekking again, after our first and very enjoyable trekking experience in the Himalayas in May. This was relatively easy in comparison, only 4 days and with the highest point only being 4,600 metres. Day 1 - We met our guide, Silberio, the night before for a briefing and arranged our pick up for the following morning. It was an early start. We were picked up from our hotel by minibus at 6am. We had booked what we thought was going to be a group tour, but the company had confused themselves with dates and ended up running a trek for the dates they had confirmed to us, and were unable to find anyone else at short notice to join the group. So we ended up with a private trek for ... read more

Back in Quito, and having been away for 2 weeks, it was time for our first trip to the lavanderia (laundry). Having paid as much as £30 in India to have laundry done in hotels, we decided to venture out to one of the lavanderias we’d seen in town. We had a whole bundle of washing done for $5 and were quite satisfied with the result, so this is definitely the way to get clean clothes in South America. (I know, laundry really isn’t that exciting, but it’s important when you’re travelling - so a small excitement for us!) We were due to start Spanish school on Monday, and with a weekend to kill and weekends in Quito being pretty quiet, we decided to head out of town to the famous Cloud Forest. We snubbed all ... read more

After a busy and fun summer, sailing, trips to Scotland and Turkey, 4 weddings, (including our own!), a brief ‘honeymoon’ in Hampshire, and months….. well no, weeks….. actually a few hours planning (never knowingly overplanned), it was time to pack our bags for the real honeymoon: 6 eagerly anticipated months in South America and a trip back via Down Under to see some friends. Our outline itinery will take us to Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina and Chile - with the key highlights being a trip to the Galapagos Islands, to school to study Spanish, Machu Picchu and the Inca Trail, Lake Titicaca, the Amazon Jungle, salt plains, Iguazu Falls, glaciers, the wine region of Mendoza, the alpine heights of Bariloche, trekking in Patagonia and Torres del Paine and to the end of the world in Tierra ... read more