South America

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Santiago & Punta Arenas, Chile (23rd February 2011 - 24th February 2011)

Bizarrely we arrived in the capital of Chile, Santiago, four hours before we had left New Zealand. We only had one night in Santiago before we were due to fly three hours south to Patagonia. We had both been here before though, four years previous, so we didn’t feel the need to see the same not very interesting sights once again.
The views from the plane down to Patagonia were quite amazing. You could make out numerous glaciers and peaks, some of which we were to see up close over the coming fortnight. Punta Arenas turned out to be a pretty small and quiet location to start our Patagonian adventure in, but we had managed to find a nice little hostel to escape the harsh winds that blow through this part of the world. You really do start to feel like you are down at the ends of the earth. We decided to head north from Punta Arenas into Argentina first before heading back across the border to Chile.

El Calafate & El Chalten, Argentina (25th February 2011 - 1st March 2011)

Perito Moreno is amazing. There is no other way to describe this vast glacier which is bucking the global trend and actually advancing. We took a day trip to the Glacier from the touristy-town of El Calafate, along with many hundreds of others from around the world, but that didn’t make it any less memorable as a trip. We started off on a boat which took us close to the front of the glacier across the lake into which it ends. Cue plenty of photo opportunities as everyone jostled for the best position on deck.
When the bus then dropped us off at the information centre and café and told us we had three hours to spare we wondered just how we would fill the time. It didn’t turn out to be a problem as once you walk down the walkways that end some 50 metres or so opposite the face of the glacier you are quite mesmerised by it. The ice is so packed together that it is incredibly blue and the audible cracking and creaking makes you wonder if some ice is about to crash into the water.
The aim in watching the glacier is to see some of the huge chunks of ice fall off and make a colossal bang as they fall into the lake below. We had been keeping an eye on a precarious looking section right opposite our viewpoint and, sure enough, after about 20 minutes we watched as a small-ish section broke loose and crashed into the water some 50 metres below. Not bad we thought. What happened next was amazing. The initial break had obviously loosened a much bigger chunk of ice and we watched in awe as a section at least 100 metres long and the full height of the glacier from top to bottom broke away and crashed into the water below. There was an almighty crash and an enormous wave rippled outwards taking huge icebergs with it.
To toast an awesome day we decided to enjoy some of Argentina’s other highlights – steak and Malbec. We even managed to sink a few cuba libres post-dinner in a cool little bar in Calafate, although Nat regretted this at 5.30am the next morning when we had to get on a bus for 6 hours!
El Chalten isn’t as touristy as Calafate but it is the base for walks to Mount Fitzroy and Cerro Torre, two incredible peaks in this region. Sadly the weather was terrible on the first day so we decided to stick inside the wooden hostel which was itself getting buffeted by the gale force winds. The next day was much brighter and we headed up towards the viewpoint for Mount Fitzroy. It was a seven-hour round trip and the while the sun shone for most of the day, the rain jackets came in handy every now and then when the heavens opened periodically. The final ascent to the two crater lakes was very steep and not that fun in the wind and rain, but the view at the top made it worthwhile. Glaciers dropping into the turquoise and emerald lakes at the top and make it an awesome sight, even if the Fitzroy peak hid stubbornly behind a cloud while we were up there.

Puerto Natales & Torres del Paine, Chile (2nd March 2011 - 5th March 2011)

We had booked onto a 3-day version of the Torres del Paine ‘W’ trek. While some would argue that we cheated by not walking for the full five days we would argue we saw the best bits, saved ourselves some not-so-interesting connecting walks and two days of our trip! Plus we didn’t have to carry our own supplies on our backs!
We got picked up early from our hostel in Puerto Natales by Viti, our guide for the next three days walking in the Torres del Paine National Park. We were joined by a retired couple from Yorkshire who were really into their trekking but also proved to very entertaining and good company. What really made this trip fantastic was the great weather that we enjoyed. The refugios that you stay in are also really nice, clean, serve up good food and even have beer and wine for you to buy. A great days walk gets all the better when you share a bottle of red in the bar after dinner later that night.
The first day was spent trekking up to the viewpoint for the Towers of Pain themselves. You’ve probably seen the photo before but to see them up close was pretty special, even if the track was pretty steep to get up there. Day two started with a quick trip on a boat to get to our second overnight accommodation and quick turnaround, before a 7 hour walk into the French Valley and back. The head of the valley is marked by glaciers that periodically crack away and fall into the valley below. Pretty special.
Day three saw the best weather of the whole trip and the walk to Glacier Grey was hot, hot, hot. The views across the lakes and glacier were spectacular and were surrounded by numerous snow-capped peaks. We both agreed that this was the best long trek we had both ever done, mainly because each day is so diverse and spectacular. We were incredibly lucky with the weather though, as some people get treated to 5 days of Patagonia’s best winds and rain – not quite so much fun!

Punta Arenas, Chile & Ushuaia, Argentina (6th March 2011 - 9th March 2011)

Penguins are officially Nat’s new favourite animal. The way they shift their weight forward from their arses to jump is hilarious. There was a colony not too far from Punta Arenas so we went on an organised trip for the afternoon to see them. Dave made the mistake of thinking that it looked sunny, so ventured to the Patagonian coast in just a t-shirt, looking somewhat silly shivering in the freezing cold winds, surrounded by Gore-Tex clad tourists.
Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world, was a pleasant final destination for our Patagonian adventure. Many people use Ushuaia as a base from which to take a cruise into the Antarctic. Sadly, at a minimum of £3000 per person, our budget would not stretch that far – another time perhaps! The town itself is full of nice restaurants and bars, so we spent our last night in Patagonia looking out across the Beagle Channel (where Darwin once sailed), with a Beagle beer in hand, feeling like we really were at the end of the world.

Iguassu Falls, Argentina & Brazil (10th March 2011 - 18th March 2011)

We flew into Puerto Iguassu on the Argentine side of the falls and stayed in the “Hostel Sweet Hostel”, which did not exactly live up to its name. While it did have a pool it always looked a bit too murky to want to make you jump in and the battered looking air conditioners did little to save you from the belting heat.
Puerto Iguassu acted as our base to visit Iguassu Falls. The falls sit between Argentina and Brazil and are some of, if not the, most spectacular in the world. They might not be as high as Angel Falls or as wide as Victoria Falls but because you can get so close to them, both from above and below, they are arguably better to visit.
As it was really hot and sunny when we arrived we headed straight for the boat which takes you out underneath the spray of the falls, just metres from the falls themselves. From the way Nat screamed as we got thoroughly soaked you couldn’t help thinking we were directly beneath the falls themselves. It made for an amazing ride and our waterproof video camera came into its own to get some great footage, as we couldn’t even keep our eyes open due to the amount of water descending on us.
After a great day at the falls, and as it happened to be a Saturday night, we headed to the local feria, or street market, in town. For not a lot of pesos they brought us a platter of chorizo, great cheese and delicious olives. Perhaps not the kindest to the arteries, but delicious nonetheless. We washed it all down with a great bottle of malbec, whilst being serenaded with some classic Spanish tunes, together with hoards of locals and even more Brazilians who head over the border just for the night to enjoy the great atmosphere.
Visiting the Brazilian side of the falls, we weren’t expecting to get quite as soaked as we had in Argentina, however, just as we got off the bus from the park entrance up to the falls, the heavens opened. After trying to shelter under some trees and realising we were still getting wet we legged it back to the bus shelter. In the space of a 10 metre sprint we were both soaked. Tropical showers are like nothing we see in the UK.

Ciudad del Este & Encarnacion, Paraguay (13th March 2011 - 16th March 2011)

Ciuded del Este is just across the border from both Puerto Iguassu and Foz do Iguaçu and it’s mainly known for its tax-free shopping and not much else. Apparently this place is on the CIA watch-list because it’s a hub of terrorist activity. We didn’t notice anything particularly threatening so just helped fuel Hezbollah’s coffers by purchasing some dodgy DVDs to make those long bus journeys go a bit quicker.
Encarnacion is best known (to the extent that it is known at all!) for its proximity to the Jesuit ruins at Jesus and Trinidad. We took a trip out there with a German couple who were staying in Hotel Germano with us. Trinidad tends to get more press, but we found Jesus a bit nicer. Perhaps it was the fact we had the site to ourselves and a great guide. Later that night we went for an amazing meal at a Paraguayan Japanese restaurant with our new German friends. The sushi was excellent and Nat realised she loved it so we’ve been searching for it ever since. It’s harder to find than Mexican, though.
When we got back to Ciudad del Este, I made sure that we squeezed in a visit the Itaupu Dam. For those of you who have no trouble sleeping, feel free to skip the rest of this paragraph. Until the Chinese built the Three Gorges Dam this was officially the largest dam in the world and is still responsible for producing 75% of Paraguay’s total energy requirement, plus up to 15% of Brazil’s. These stats didn’t seem to impress Nat much so I had to drag her there under duress. Luckily for us they had six of the run-off gates open as the level of water in the reservoir above the dam was so high after heavy rains across Paraguay and Brazil in the previous couple of months. This made the view far more spectacular on the day.

Bogota, Colombia (19th March 2011 - 21st March 2011)

Our flight from Foz do Iguaçu to Bogota took us via Sao Paulo, so it was a long day spent getting to the Colombian capital. It was bizarre to think that we were now in one of the most infamous drug cities in the world. It is incredible to see how the city (and in fact the whole country) has been turned around in the last 10 years. We felt safer here than in many other much less notorious destinations. This, together with fantastic scenery and incredibly friendly, welcoming locals, makes Colombia a fantastic place to visit.
On Sundays and Public Holidays the city centre of Bogota is closed to traffic so that people can get on their bikes and cycle about. It made for a great atmosphere and we thoroughly enjoyed our day wandering around the capital, snapping pictures of some beautiful colonial buildings and visiting the Gold Museum and Botero Gallery.
The following day, we took a day trip to Zipaquira salt cathedral, just outside Bogota. Our visit coincided with a public holiday and, in hindsight, this was not the best idea, as we got shepherded underground in a huge crowd along with hundreds of others. The entire cathedral is built underground, in an old salt mine. The bizarre salt sculptures are now eerily lit in blue and green, giving the whole place a decidedly spooky feel. After 10 minutes or so underground, the claustrophobic nature of the place got to Nat and she couldn’t wait to get out, so we ditched our guide and did our own whistle-stop tour. I agreed not to go on the “miners” tour of the narrow tunnels.
Later that afternoon, the rain, which would be a prominent feature of our next week or so in Colombia, started to come down. We had heard that the country had been suffering from unusually heavy rains for the time of year, but we were not quite prepared for just how much rain we would get to see!

Villa de Leyva, San Gil & Bucaramanga, Colombia (22nd March 2011 -

25th March 2011)
Villa de Leyva is a very pretty town, but unfortunately it was still raining. We used our time there to good effect, however, by going to see huge phallic stone statues in a field nearby and hugging a few for obligatory ridiculous photos. After another day and night of rain, we heard from our hostel manager that the weather was better on the coast, so we decided to head there sharpish. Bus travel had to be done in sections though, as we didn’t fancy some of the mountain roads (which had suffered numerous landslides) in the pouring rain. As it tended to start raining around 1pm each day, we headed north chunk by chunk instead, taking the early morning buses each day and stopping at San Gil and Bucaramanga on the way. San Gil had a great little ribs restaurant where we shared a huge meat platter but apart from that not much else of note. There is probably even less to say about Bucaramanga.
It kept raining all the way to the Caribbean coast so we were very glad to see some sunshine when we finally arrived.

Santa Marta & Cartagena, Colombia (26th March 2011

- 1st April 2011)
Sunshine! La Brisa Loca was a great hostel with a pool in the courtyard outside our room. We decided to celebrate our arrival to sunnier climes by getting drunk in the bar with Peter and Ita, a too-cool-for-school couple from Hoxton, on cuba libres. The next day was spent eating fatty fry-ups and wanting to die mainly.
We took a day trip from Santa Marta to the Tayrona National Park, a coastal park with beautiful beaches and forests. It was a real slog to get through the forest and we were shown up by our (hangover induced) lack of guidebook reading when we arrived in flip flops for our 2 hour hike through the insect-infested forest. It was worth it in the end though as we chilled out in a beautiful bay with calm, reef-protected seas to paddle in. With hindsight we should have stayed overnight as it was a long trek back to the road out, but we had a great day all the same.
Cartagena was a place that we had been looking forward to seeing and we were not disappointed. We took a day-trip out to the Islas de Rosario and Playa Blanca, which was fantastic. We took a water taxi from the Cartagena pier to the islands and as we pulled up to the quay, a small motor boat pulled up alongside us, selling fresh lobster with lime. It was delicious, incredibly fresh, and without doubt the cheapest lobster we are ever likely to eat! Most people on our boat decided to go and see the aquarium but Nat, myself and a random Spaniard decided it made far more sense to go snorkelling and see the fish in their natural environment. Our guide didn’t hang around and was soon swimming off without us across the coral, expecting us to keep up. We saw lots of crazily coloured fish, crabs, starfish and even a sea snake. The waterproof camera was put to good use once more, although Dave’s attempts at National Geographic style filming occasionally risked him losing the group and filming more of a “castaway” style documentary. After the exertion of snorkelling for a couple of hours, we were taxied over to Playa Blanca, for our first sight of the turquoise waters and white sand that the Caribbean always promises. It was very, very nice.
The following day, we took a day trip to a mud volcano an hour outside of Cartagena. This mud “volcano” formed naturally and the mud flows up from underground to create a quite bizarre sight. Watching tourist after tourist climb up the side of the hill and drop into the crater of mud to be massaged was very odd. You couldn’t help but feel that the locals thought we were all nuts. It was a very strange feeling to be floating in the (supposedly mineral infused and therefore good for the skin) mud, unable to force yourself down more than a foot or so. Once we were finished we clambered down towards the lake and were forcibly washed by surprisingly strong little ladies. All for a fee, of course.
On the morning we left Dave headed up to the castle on the hill to explore the maze of tunnels underground. Nat sensibly stayed behind for this. The tunnels dropped down about 50 metres into the heart of the castle and eventually the path ahead was stopped as the tunnels became flooded by the water table. It was pretty spooky down there as it wasn’t all lit but it was great fun.
We flew from Cartagena to Panama City later that afternoon to embark on our Central American adventure and for the final leg of our trip.

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