Blogs from South America - page 5658

Another early start for the 2+ hr drive to Nazca. We would be returning to Ica that afternoon, then passing through Nazca again on the overnight bus.. so a bit of backtracking was involved. Ica is the heart of an agricultural region, but once the irrigation is gone, the landscape is totally barren, the road runs dead straight for miles. It hasn't rained in centuries in this part of Peru, one of the reasons the Nazca lines haven't been worn away by erosion. We stopped at the Marie Reiche museum in Nazca, she was one of the first archaeologists to study the lines. There are several companies based at the Nazca airport that offer 45 minute overflights for about $45-$50 each, the morning is the best time to fly as the air is still and the ... read more

18.12.04 Das Auto mussten wir erst um 10.00 Uhr zurueckbringen, aber Rachel und Marcelo waren noch bis knapp vor 09.00 Uhr am schlafen. Kurzfristig entschieden wir uns, noch eine kleine Stadtrundfahrt zu machen. Marcelo stieg halb verschlafen ins Auto, ich fuhr. Wir kamen uns vor wie die Japaner, fahren, anhalten, aussteigen, Fotos machen, einsteigen, etc. Aber puenktlich wie ich halt bin, kamen wir exakt um 10.00 Uhr bei der Autofirma an :-). Den Rest des Tages verbrachten wir damit, um ein bisschen zu relaxen, die Stadt zu besichtigen und die Tour fuer den naechsten Tag zu buchen. Endlich fanden wir auch wieder mal einen grossen Supermarkt, wo wir uns etwas zum kochen kauften. Ist immer schwierig zu kochen, weil man meistens nicht das gewuenschte Gewuerz hat oder nicht alles mit sich rumschleppen moechte. Das Highlight des ... read more

Well I made it back to Argentina with no problems apart from a slight overstay in Colombia that I had to deal with in the Bogota Airport at 4am... but it's great to be back! The weather is perfect and the Pilattis pool is nice and clean so between visiting old friends dotted around the place I've been spending plenty of time in and around the pool with the Pillatis which is bliss. Plenty of drinking Mate(tea) and quilmes(beer) and it's also good to be eating some really decent food again(meat, meat and more meat). It feels a bit weird doing the Christmas preperations without my family and friends that have always been around at this time of the year, so I thought I'd put together a few photos to show you some of the things ... read more

I must confess that the favourite part of planning this big trip has been these 2 weeks.. Crossing the South Pacific really has been a bit of a dream to me on many a rainy afternoon sat at my desk at work back in London, and here I was, finally about to do it... Easter Island, Tahiti, Fiji - a slightly more exotic Xmas and New Year than back at home!! Now, this is an expensive part of the world, so we were looking to save money what ever way we could, and the ultimate in budget accomodation is, obviously, to stay free of charge.. and we are finding that international airports are very accomodating for this... so after a stressful and hectic day in Santiago where we bought Xmas pressies for each other, and watched ... read more

I think this is going to be the hardest entry to put together because I've taken over a 1000 photo's since my last diary entry(which if the link to it didn't work when you got the email just hit "previous entry" to check it out). I've been up to a lot of very cool stuff including Scuba Diving, a Chiva ride, been to real deal Cock fights, swimming and sunbathing on the Caribbean Coast... but last night I arrived in the Capital Bogota and tonight I fly down to Cordoba, Argentina where I'm going to have Christmas with my friends from there. It's a real shame to leave Colombia because the people here are all so friendly and evreything else is great too - but now I'm really amped for a great Christmas down in Cordoba ... read more