Princess Diana, Queen of the desert!

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So we ventured out to the bus station at Valparaiso, taking bets on how successful or rather unsuccessful our journey to the desert was gonna be but surprisingly lady luck still appears to be with us and we made it here without any trouble.
Well thats not strictly true... Gina decided to make friends with the bus driver - a 50 year old divorcee i hasten to add. Anyway he seemed very nice and friendly, then a little over friendly with Gina who he nicknamed Princess Diana, i somehow became the queen mum - not impressed!! Anyway dude spent the rest of the journey trying to chat her up and taking lots of photos which became so bad that they had to pretend to be asleep for the remainder of the 18 hour journey!

So we escaped creepy dude and made it to our hostel in the desert - most alternative hostel yet with triple bunk beds that we´re lovin - its more like a tree house!! Had yet another blackout whilst sat on toilet which was quite amusing - poor girl next to us was in the shower he he he!!

Due to the upcoming Inca trail we decided to get a bit energetic and hired some mountain bike to ride to Valle de la Luna. Had read in lonely planet this was a fun idea but turned out to be a bit of a mission and the guy from our hostel said due to it being peak heat of the day to do the easier option of Valle de la muerete. Easy my Ar*e!!! Obviously we, okay I, hadn´t really thought it through and thought it´d be a nice scenic relaxing ride - but no. We went over the first hill and the second, over muchas rocks and got some pretty fun pics so it was worth it - plus nearly all the way back was downhill biking so we just had to sit back and relax - well not sit as the saddles caned bottom!!!

Given our first days sores we chose today to do an organised tour which went back to the other side of death valley and ran down the sand dunes to where we were the previous day. Then on to the salt caves then to lunar valley for sunset which was fantastic.

Off on another fun bus adventure to (hopefully) La Paz in Bolivia before going to Peru.

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Comments

[mum casey]

royalty
It seems the royalty thing keeps following you around maybe it's going to lead to something promising (fool's gold rather than a prince probably).Glad to see that you are finally doing some exercise with other parts of your body than just your right arm and possibly Jem's cleavage (only person I know who can hold a bottle of drink there and drink it). So many different types of photo's from past blogs and this one would make good prints for wall pictures. ( I meant the scenery ones not the up close face ones)Good group photo of you all smiling I hope you have still got those smiles after the inca trail. Au revoir for now. Diana's Mother xxx

[Laura]

Don't get sand in your pants!
Hey hun, sounds like your having a fab time - now it's my turn to be green eyed! So your finding time to a get a little action in between the culture and the travelling eh ;-) Why does that not suprise me! You go girl. So when you going to be in Peru? I have a friend out there with his brother at the mo' - my mate's out of bounds but his brother isn't!!! Anyways, was good to get your email - btw any FC'ers reading this - get in touch - I don't have any of your personal emails! Mine's my name @ gmail.com

[ray taylor]

Moonscape
Looking at the eerie pictures, valle de la luna, lonely planet talk and sand dunes I thought your adventures had sucked you through a black hole and put you on the moon. Well it is now midnight here and I'm looking at the screen through a whisky haze. Where are the volcano pictures I was looking forward to seeing - wouldn't your lunarmobiles go that far or were your a*rses to sore. Well glad you will make it La Paz (I used to buy cigars of that name) - conjures up badlands images from spaghetti westerns. Apparently it is high altitude so good acclimatisation. There is supposed to be a magical lake Titicaca nearby. See ya lunarnauts

[Sarah]

Love reading what you've been upto, although suspect you're missing out the juicy bits! Sounds like you're having a blast. Great pictures - amazing views (not jemma's cleavage, although it's pretty impressive). can't wait to read about your next adventure. Take care. Sarah xxx

[Joan]

Scallywags
Queen, Queen mother and Princess Diane - how you have gone up in the world. Once again lovely to follow you. Bikes, buses and desert. Tell Gina to pick on someone her own age to flutter her eyes at. Pictures and scenes are fab - to see them 1st hand must be spectacular. Love to you all - take care xx

[Jo Harris]

Lovely red skies!
Hi girls. Great photos of sunset. In fact your faces match the colour of the sky!!! Mum and dad have been over Jem and were asking what your secrets were...how should I know! Glad to see you're all still smiling. I won't kid you - the Inca trail will be hard but if you take it at your own pace, you'll make it. Don't be disillusioned by Inca flat (they mean the track will be up and down rather than literally flat!). Hasta luego, Jo xx

[Janey]

Hi
Hi Jem and girls, what great pictures! You`re obviously still having a great time. Not too sure about the bikes tho! Your weather seems to be just a tad warmer than ours, still at least we`re not getting sunburnt!! You`re all looking so fit and well, keep it up. It`s lovely receiving all your news, always looking forward to the next installment. Take care of yourselves, stay safe. Lots of love Jem........Janey xxxxx

[Den Casey (mum)]

Another look
Hi girls I just had to have another look at your photo's they were that good. I don't know if you all realised that there was a big crack under the one that you were all standing on the edge of maybe check next time.Girls we know gina quite likes a man older than her but there is a limit they don't need to be as old as her dad so put tape over her mouth or something. Have more fun on your journey. Loads a luv Den and John xx