AL round the world(south america) in Katie days

Milano

2011-08-21T19:15:00.000-03:00

Milan

Duomo

The main sights in the city are the Duomo, a huge gothic Cathedral, and the old castle which is now home to multiple museums. Also in Milan we found the expensive desiner shops, but dared only to window shop. Using Milan as a base we took two day trips.

The Castle

The Posh Shopping

The first to Verona to see the Balcony of Juliet, and the gladitorial arena. Verona is the epitomy of Italian towns, lots of classic buildings and even more restuarants and ice cream parlours. In Verona we where asked if we were from Newcastle, by an English woman.

Juliet's Balcony

The second trip was to Venice. I was surprisingly disapointed by Venice, don't get me wrong its an impressive city and im glad I can say I have been, however it felt like disney land. Lots of tacky shops, bad souvenirs, and extortionate prices. Plus you where really hard pressed to hear an italian accent, instead it was all sorts of brummy! The canals and gondelas, combined with some amazing architecture made for great viewing when we managed to lose ourselves in the maze of streets and we where away from the madding crowd!

Rialto Bridge

Germany part 2 + Switzerland

2011-08-21T18:47:00.000-03:00

Munich

We entered back into Germany from Prague, heading for Munich. In Munich we again ventured out on our ever favourite, free walking tour, our guide this time was a German/Norwegian/American girl who spoke with a lot of passion about both Munich and its history. Munich played a huge role in modern German history, being the venue for numerous attempts to overthrow the powers that be.Whilst in Munich we drank in numerous brauhaus' including drinking a touristy litre or Edel Stoff (reportedly Gods favourite beer).

From Munich we took a day trip to Dachau, a memorial to the concentration camp that was once situated in the town. The grounds of the camp where huge with the remains of two of the dormitories, where once there was 32! Also on the site are two crematoriums, the old and new one, the new being 70 years old. The site now houses mulitple memorials to the different nationalites and religions held in the camp. Also at the camp you can visit the building that was once the prison, many of the cells still have the toilet still intact.

Stuttgart and Basel.

Stuttgart was in the process of celebrating the 125 year aniversary of Mercedes, so there where multiple stages set up with cars through the ages placed upon them, including one of their F1 cars. It also gave a sneeky peak of some of their future developments, including the opportunity to drive one of their electric cars. Stuttgart as a city offered a few museums, and some nice period buildings but had no real character to draw or keep your attention.

Basel, just inside the swiss border, has potential to be a great city, with only one thing holding it back: the extortionate costs! For example £3 for a can of beer in a supermarket and bar prices ranged between £6 and £10 a pint!! We followed a walking tour map around Basel and saw most of the main sights including the River, the town hall, and cathedral in which you can see through into some of the recently excavted crypts! When the weather is good you will see people in the fast flowing river using inflatable bags for bouyoncy.

Praha

2011-08-13T09:28:00.000-04:00

Prague

A train took us from Frankfurt to Nuremberg before a coach made the border crossing and deposited us in Prague. First impressions of Prague where a little shady; an improvised methodone clinic set up outside the train station left us a little wary, but upon taking the tram to our hostel, the fears where set aside. The hostel, located near to two Hiltons, a Marriot, and numerous other upmarket hotels, was in a nice part of the city only 5 minutes walk from the main square, and a multitude of sights.

The old town square itself has a large history and contains some impressive buildings, churches, and monuments. We took our usual free walking tour of the city, on which and the guide was fantastic, very informative and knowledgable. The history of Prague and the Czech republic is something to behold in itself, without even cosidering its wealth of architecture and culture. It is a a place whose identity has only become its own within the last 20 years,and its not surprising that the natives are reluctant to enter the euro, given that it would be its 9th currency in the last 90 years!

So what have we actually seen in Prague? The Old town square home to the worlds only astronomical clock, a statue of Huss, and Mary of the Tyn Church. Then there is the Charles Bridge, named after one of Pragues most important Kings; a wide foot bridge linking the Old Town to the Prague Castle, it's highly ornametal with lots of folks laws about each statue. The castle itself is like a town within the city, where previous Kings have added and added to it so now the castle is an array of buildings from multiple time frames. Prague also houses the only remaining concert hall in the world where Motzart conducted a concert. Finally Wenceslas square (named after 'good King Wenceslas' who was infact a prince), although more of a rectangle, this square has had many an important event happen like Jan Polaks, a young student, setting himself alight to voice his concerns prior to communism in Czechoslovakia. It is also the square in which the uprising occured leading to the fall of communism in Czech in 1989, it is said that this was the real end of world war 2 here! Another icon in the square is the national gallery that was used as the casino in casino royale. Apparently Prague has been the set for many a movie. On a somewhat ironic note the communism museum here in prague is housed between the anti-communsim that is a casino, and you guessed it, McDonalds!

Astronomical clock

Charles Bridge

Wenceslas Square

The Mozart Theatre

Germany Part 1

2011-08-06T16:23:00.001-04:00

Germany Part 1

After leaving Bruges we caught a train to Cologne, via Brussels. Without any real must do sights in Cologne, we wandered aimlessly for the duration of our visit, catching glimpses of some glorious buildings, both old and new, and getting lost in streets of nothingness. This isn't to say there was nothing there to enjoy. A visit into the grand cathedral, a huge structure that amazingly avoided any large scale damage in the war when all around it fell. Trialing of the local brew Kolsch, and eating the ever famous bratwurst where features amongst the aimlessness. Also seeing a Top Gear style floating car, and some setups for a beach volleyball competition.

Cologne Cathedral

From Cologne we travelled the relatively short 3 hour train to Frankfurt. Not really knowing what to expect from the City we headed out to explore. Finding the integration of old and new town where a mish mash of glass fronted and old stone buildings stand side by side. Frankfurt is the second largest banking district in Europe behind and London, and the largest transport hub in Germany. There is a big city feel without the volume of people. Our main finds in the city where an italian market(free samples of all sorts of salamis and cheeses), a nice river side stroll, and generally enjoying the first few days of sun we have had since being away. Frankfurt appears to have a love for all things streetside; food, beer, and even watching the football!

Belgium

2011-08-01T13:24:00.000-04:00

Belgium

After a really early start to catch the Eurostar, we headed to Belgium. More specifically Bruges. Here we spent three days exploring the landmarks of Bruges, and partaking in a walking tour with an over excitable American guide. He gave us a basic overview and some history of the town and pointed out some good eateries and things to do for free!

Brugge Zot

So after the tour we headed off on our own and visited the Brugge Zot brewery tour, including a free beer and you can go onto the roof for some scenes of Bruges. We also saw some real working windmills, lots of canals, and even more chocolatiers.

Windmills

Canals

Belgian waffles are the mutts!

One of the main sights we went to was the church of the holy blood, a church with a vessel containing the blood of Christ.

The Blood Church

Our personal favourite place to visit was "De Garre". A pub on the smallest road in Bruges, offering 130 differnt beers, of which we tried 12. This Included the house special brew; a 12% beer named after the bar, and each customer is limited to three 330ml glasses. I might add that the drinks sampled where over a number of nights!

UK

2011-08-01T13:14:00.000-04:00

Uk

Taking the train from Chester to Newport, and then on to Bath; this was how the UK leg of our European adventure started. Once in Bath we took a slow stroll around the main centre, making an attempt to find some good real ale pubs, with some success! The day after our arrival we took a guided tour around the Roman city, seeing most of the main sites, including The Abbey, The Royal Crescent, Victoria Park, The Original Roman Baths, and Pulteney Bridge(One of only two bridges in Europe to have shops on either side of the road). For most part we went in search of nice pubs, finding the best right over the road from the hostel. Unfortunately this discovery was only made the night before we where due to leave.

After what we can now call a short bus ride, 3 hours, we found ourselves in London. After locating our hostel we went out and attacked some of the sights and sounds of London, starting on Oxford street. Here we saw some minor celebs! Well two of the models off Dirty, Sexy, Things. Following this, we ventured to Carnaby Street, Covent Garden, Trafalgar Square, and Leicester Square. All in our first afternoon/evening.

Me at the Ritz

On the Saturday after an early rise, we headed out on the tube to Notting Hill Gate to stroll the markets of Portobello Road. After a morning there we headed to Camden market, in time for the vast array of food on offer, half of which we didnt find until we had eaten. This was my first experience of the bustling sounds, and sights of Camden. After Camden we made a quick stop off on Knightsbridge to visit a totally different world, Harrods! The money people where spending in there is slightly sickening £25 for a fondant with a few bits of fruit. Plus the staffs attitude is terrible! We finished Saturdays tour sat at The Diana memorial in Hyde Park. It was there we heard about Amy Winehouses death.

On Sunday we did the true tourist bits, starting at St Paul's (go on a Sunday it's free to go in), before crossing the Millenium Bridge, and entering the Tate Modern, this puts the Tate in Liverpool to shame, being about 4 times as big! We walked along the South Bank passing the London Eye, and getting a few shots of Parliament across the river. Whilest there we saw some crazy guy jump off Westminster Bridge into the river, and then jump off the boat that pulled him out of the water before the police came and took him. After a Tesco meal deal dinner in the grounds of Westminster Abbey we walked up Whitehall, past Downing street gates, through Horse Guards Parade (which is closed in preparation for a beach volleyball tournament), before finally heading through St James Park to Buckingham Palace, and seeing a small changing of the guards. From the Palace we walked up the Mall, to Trafalgar Square for a few photos before enjoying a bottle of wine, some beer, and cocktails!

St Paul's

Monday we caught the tube out to Greenwich to see the Meridian Line, and the London Planeterium, before heading back into town and going on the London Eye, this gave some good, alternative views and was worth the money, but i wont be heading back on it in the near future!

Meridian Line

Can I Get Some Coffee

2011-05-31T23:52:00.000-04:00

A couple of things to report from Colombia, firstly the reports we see and hear at home, are dated by ten years or more. The current regime has cleaned up the countries act, with mass police enforcement, and a large military presence.

With that out of the way, we started off travelling through Colombia quite quickly breaking up the long journeys, with short stays in some of the smaller towns. First stop Pasto, a small town, with a nice big square, and a few little coffee shops. Next came Popayan, a traditonal town, with lots of white washed buildings, and again lots of little coffee shops, with a huge variety of coffee. From there we travelled to Cali, a notorious town throughout South America, where you can get the best contraband currency. Then came Solento (more in a moment). Then our first lengthy stay in Medellin, with its most famous son, Pablo Escobar, the streets of Medellin have been cleaned up, so to speak, but they are still far from perfect. Then came our one and only overnight bus, taking us to Cartagena, a town on the Caribbean coast. Which brings us to our current stopping place of Santa Marta, the final resting place of the revolutionary Simon Bolivar.

A Fernando Botero Sculpture

A wet Popayan

Get on the white bus!!

The Wax Palms

Solento Views

Coffee

Valley Cocora

Well back to Solento, hidden in the hills surrounding Valley Cocora, and home to some of the biggest producing coffee farms, a small town home to 8000 people, with many thousands of visitors, coming every year for the coffee. Firstly the hostel, in the middle of nowhere, part of a fully operational diary farm(our own little worthy). Amazing place to kick back and relax, away from the hustle bustle of big city life, surrounded by Colombia´s national tree, the Wax Palm. Then for the reason we came, a visit to a working coffee plantation, owned, worked, and ran by Don Elias, a guy well into his 70´s, all the plants are farmed, peeled, dried, roasted and ground by hand. The tour was done by the man himself, whilst wielding a machete, telling us all about the different plants, and flowers growing on his land. Then at the end the best cup of coffee you will ever taste, having ground the beans for yourself.

Don Elias himself

OMG it's Journey... a mitad del mundo

2011-05-31T19:49:00.001-04:00

The Fake Equator

We took a bus 22km north of quito, to Mitad del Mundo, quite literally meaning centre of the earth. At Mitad is the official equatorial line, placed by the French invaders, here they built a big monument and painted a yellow line on the floor. The locals refer to it as a theme park, it consists of a few museums and an observatory!

However 200m further north is the "real" equator,000 latitude on gps, to my mind a guesstimate by the French that was only 200m out is a decent bit of work! At inti nan(the real equator) they make a bit more of a show about the whole deal, showing water going straight down the drain on the equator, and clockwise or anti clockwise one side or the other of the equator! They also have a few displays about some of the different cultures in Ecuador!

Another trip in Quito was up the second highest cable car in the world, this gave us amazing views of the city, and allowed us to see the vastness of the city! From the top we had the opportunity to climb another volcano, however been there done that, and we didn't know how far we would need to walk!

Our last big outing in Quito was to the basilica, a monster of a church on the edge of old town, here we climbed numerous steps, spiral stair cases, and ladders. To scale the heights of two of the spires, and give shaky legs when looking straight down!

The Fake Equator

The Basilica

From the top of Teleferico

Update

2011-04-22T16:05:00.002-03:00

A quick update

After leaving cusco we took an overnight bus to Ica, more precisely huacachina, a beautiful desert oasis. here we thought we should try our hand at sand boarding, one attempt to try it standing up was enough, so the next best option, lying head first on the board, was used. As part of the Sand boarding trip we had an hour of unbelievable rollercoaster rides, in the back of a sand buggy. Alton towers wishes it could emulate the thrills, speed and obliquity of the dunes, and I doubt many of the rides would make Katie scream half as much!

The Desert Oasis

From Ica we headed north to Pisco, home to the Isla Ballestas or more famously known as "the poor mans galapagos". after two attempts to visit the islands; day one large waves because of the full moon 4 days prior, and day 2 large waves because of a tremor, closed the port and ended our hopes of a visit to the island. We did visit the nearby national park, and saw the Peruvian salt road, which proudly features in national geographic, and the cathedral rock formation, although it no longer looks like a cathedral, as part of it was destroyed by an earthquake!

The Cathedral

From Pisco we travelled to Lima, a bustling city on a cliff above the pacific. we walked lots, and saw lots but little of note, parque Kennedy was a highlight, along with the fountain park, home to the worlds most fountains, some interactive meaning you get wet through, others set to music and light shows!

Trujillo was our next port of call, here we visited the Chimu palace of Chan Chan, an impressively large structure, with decorative stone walls, and multiple sacrificial altars. A short bus ride from Trujillo put us on the beach for the first time in what felt like months.

Our final stop in Peru was surf central Mancora! Our hostel put us right on the beach, and allowed us some amazing sunsets.

Mancora Beach

After what seemed like the most unorganised Border crossing ever we headed first to Guayaquil, the biggest ecuadorian city all be it not the capital, here we experienced ridiculously hot and humid days, without a lick of wind. Also in the central square there was huge iguanas roaming freely!

After a short bus ride we were back on the coast in the uneventful Playas, a small fishing town with a small tourist presence!

Next came montanita a small, surfers paradise, constant waves,long clear beaches, glowing sun, and a daily 4pm down pour which led to our retreat into one of numerous bars. In the evening you could place the town in any number of Brit summer getaways, magaluf, tenerife, etc except with the street made cocktails from any number of fruits, most noticeably passion fruit mojitos!!!

Currently we find ourselves in the tune capital of the world, Manta, a big fishing port without much else going for it. Although a visit to the original home of the panama hat is only a short bus ride away!

Machu "Pic"hu

2011-04-09T19:20:00.000-03:00

The Start of the Walking

Monkey


The Small Stream

The Inka Trek

Proper Jarg Bridge

The second day of walking

Overflow from Hydro Electrica

River rapids

Train Track

First view Of MP

The Big Day, Machu Picchu

Here a llama, there a llama

Rainy postcard picture

Baby Llama

Sunny Post Card Picture

Step by step

2011-03-31T22:57:00.001-03:00

In cusco there are quite possibly a thousand different travel agents, offering a variety of trips to Machu Picchu. After much deliberation, we decided to go for a 4 day 3 night inca jungle trek.

Day 1.

We were collected from our hostel at 7am and made the rounds picking up some others on the trip, this was all before a premature halt on proceedings to pick up the mountain bikes. An hour later we where on the road to Ollanyatambo, and a quick stop off for a bite to eat. After another 30 minutes, or so, in the minibus we arrived at our starting point; a wet, windy and cold car park 4,700m above sea level. This is where we got a feel for how our trek may go, they had brought 13 bikes, for 13 tourists, seemingly forgetting we needed a bike for our guide! Then once people had gotten on their bike a number of problems arose, one had a flat tire, anothers brakes didn't work! Fortunately all discovered before starting the descent! A case of wrong place wrong time meant I was given the task of leading the way on the bikes, with no instruction as for when to stop, I pointed the bike downhill and off we went! Initially travelling through cloud, and with spray coming up off the road we were slowly but surely getting wetter and wetter, at some points a slight increase in temperature insured a steaming of my glasses, making a true case of the blind leading the blind! Eventually we came out of the cloud and the temperature rose considerably but so did the depth of the streams we where riding through, ankle deep, knee deep either way our boots ended up soaking, not a good start to the three days walking that lay ahead!

Day 2:

After an early night we were up and on our way for 7am, we left initially in the back of a flatback van, in a scene that wouldn't of looked out of place in the Beverly Hill billies! The van dropped us about 2km up the road at a landslide, and from there we began our walking. The first hour or so was spent walking on a road above an extremely fast flowing river, with some amazing surroundings! After about 6km of walking we began the jungle part of the trek. Complete with natural face paint, we scrambled up a steep pathway surrounded by tropical flora, including pineapples trees, coca planTs, coffee beans, cocoa plants, and banana trees. After almost an hour of uphill walking we stopped in a refuge, where the guide showed us products of the forest, this place had a little monkey that was tied to a lump of steel, apparently to stop it robbing things out of your bag!

After the short rest we continued on the forest path, until we reached a "stream", that was wide enough, and fast enough to need the guide to build some makeshift steeping stones, and a use a big stick to balance. With everyone safely across we joined what was part of 14,000km of inca trail, this included narrow pathways over large drops, and numerous boulder made steps. Once at the highest point we were given a brief history lesson, not that many were too concerned at this, as the views on offer where more than distracting!
After spending a short time at this peak we started to descend the 500m we had climbed, this eventually put us in the forest, at riverside, where we stopped for a much needed rest and relaxation in hammocks, and awaited our lunch, with chickens and ducks running amongst our feet! After a couple of hours rest we climbed back up to the road on the final walk to Santa Theresa our resting place for the night. On route we came across a lowered and modded car stuck in a small stream with the guy looking for a miracle to get it out! When we arrived in Santa Theresa with their equivalent of carnival was in full swing, all we wanted was a wash and beer to sooth our aching feet, and another early night!

Day 3:

What should of been a full day of walking along a road turned into half a day, we cheatingly replaced the mornings walk to hydro-electrica with a bus, by doing so we didn't really miss much. We still got to see the man made waterfalls, a result of the hydro electric plant, but we avoided lots of walking on muddy roads.
At hydro electric we booked into the site, and proceeded to walk the 12km to Aguas calientes, along the train tracks. Walking the rails along the edge of the river was surprisingly hard work, but the scenery surrounding us was spectacular, especially getting the first glimpse of MP, and Wayna Picchu. On arrival to Aguas Calientes we had some free time and visited the hot springs for a few hours, a pleasant and welcomed relaxation! That night with dinner one guy ordered Cuy, a local delicacy, or to you and me roasted guinea pig, needless to say it was passed around the table for all to try. It didn't taste bad, it was a little like duck, and just as fatty!

Day 4:

An early start of 4am for the climb to MP, all to ensure we got an entrance stamp for Wayna Picchu (only 400 visitors a day are allowed to climb the steps to the top) when we set off through the town a light drizzle started, once climbing up to MP the drizzle turned to rain. The climb also turned from a stroll to a race as our guide arrived late meaning there was a large group already ahead of us. After 40 minutes of running up steps, the breathlessness caught up with us and we had to stop, fortunately only 5 more minutes followed to reach the entrance. At this point in time, rain still pouring, it seemed a silly idea to want to climb more steps to Wayna Picchu, we did however get the relevant stamp!

Once inside MP we made our way into the ruins, and the pictures and postcards really can't do it justice, the place is huge!

We where given a whirlwind tour and brief history of the ruins, and then we where left to our own devices. We took this opportunity to be fleeced on a cup of tea, £2 a cup! The rain started to subside and we went out to get our postcard pictures of MP, but when reaching this point we where engulfed in cloud, this seemed to add a whole mysticism to the place.

Finally came the time for us to climb Wayna Picchu, we started the 45 minutes of stair climbing at a reasonable pace, reaching the 20 minutes to go sign ( just like Alton Towers) in only 15 minutes, we where flying. After a cocky couple of minutes the stairs steepened and became less stair like, more like ruts cut into rock, and our pace slowed. When reaching the ruins and what we thought was the top we were faced with yet more steps, I could have cried! After some crawling through caves and climbing over boulders, we reached the peak only again for our view to be obscured by cloud, so patiently we sat for an hour with mother nature teasing us with clear views either side of MP, but never actually of MP! Then came the worst part, the descent the stairs were ludicrously steep, so much so I bumped down part of the way on my arse, only the plus side a little way down the clouds parted and afforded us amazing views of MP.

After arriving back on the sacred turf of MP the weather had lifted and w took the opportunity to get some sunny postcard pictures, before heading back to Aquas Calientes and catching a beer and pizza before, Peru rail took us back to Cusco.

Oh...someone by the name of Richard Gere was at MP, the same day as us, stealing out limelight!

Pics to follow (we promise)...

The Bus Mud Go On

2011-02-25T22:21:00.000-03:00

So the trip back from rurre was interesting to say the least. After a promising start, leaving only 20 minutes late, things where going smoothly, a quick stop to put some produce for transporting and we were on our way.

About 2 hours into the journey, we came to a halt, as the rain drenched muddy road had claimed three cars, that needed to be towed out, and caused us a 40 or so minute delay. But once the road was clear we were once again flying. A few hours later, after starting our climb we came across a grounded lorry, we slowly edged passed the lorry, only for the back end of the bus to skid out and clip the wagon. It was only on close inspection we realised the wagon was carrying gas cylinders. Also having dug the wagon out the driver wasn't overly impressed about being pushed further into the mud, and an argument ensued between the bus and wagon driver with allegations being thrown back and forth. Finally the dispute was settled and we were on the road again, stopping briefly for food.

As the night set in we stopped, for what we thought was our evening meal, only to be told the bus would be there for the night as a landslide had happened on the road ahead and it wouldn't be cleared until the morning!

After an uncomfortable sleep, we were rudely awoken around 6:30 by a choqlita singing! Anticipating an 8 o'clock departure we sat tight. When 10:30 came some people decided enough was enough and took a taxi option, we held firm, and finally at 1pm we started to move, only about 5km up the road, and we again hit traffic. I decided to take a walk and see what lay ahead, after 1km i hit a small landslide with some trees teetering, a further 2km down the road I came across a fallen tree, with nobody working to clear the blockage, it wasn't looking promising. En route to the landslide, a makeshift slaughterhouse had been set up, where some pigs killed in the landslide had been gutted and hung from the trees! Finally I reached the obstruction, and hearing different tales, some saying 2-3 hours and the road would be clear others saying 2-3days the only thing for consistent in the stories was nobody knew if the road beneath was damaged!

Upon return to the coach, dark clouds started to develop over head and the first few drops of rain fell and stopped, thankfully! Around 4pm a guy came passed the bus shouting La Paz, he had a bus on the other side of the landslide, we decided it was a risk worth taking. We gathered our belongings and made the 5km or so journey! When crossing the mud Katie lost her shoes on numerous occasions, with locals standing and laughing at these silly foreigners.

We gratefully boarded the bus, and sat and waited for departure, it soon became apparent a lot of people wanted to use the service, fortunately for us we had a seat. The bus started to reverse down the hill until we reached a suitable turning point, and after a multiple point turn we were off an moving forward. Shortly after we reached a small town and the bus stopped offloading a fridge, and allowing more people onto the bus, but into the luggage hold. We set off for caravani at quite some pace, and made reasonable time getting there, allowing the people in the hold time to stretch their legs, and for us to eat our first hot meal in 48hours!

Again everyone was loaded into their relevant travel positions and off we headed towards coroico, on what can be described as the continuation of The Death Road, a series of twists and turns on a narrow stretch of road climbing from 1000m to the heights of 4700m. The uneven surface had the bus rocking and on occasions, gave us the impression that only three wheels where in contact. The first point of interest in this leg of the journey, involved us getting off the via around midnight and walking a 100m or so through puddles, and mud as the bus driver was unsure of what that particular stretch of road has instore. About an hour later we were again asked to get off and walk, this time through a fast flowing stream come river, as we got off the bus we saw a guy slip and drop his torch over the edge of the waterfall. Needless to say we headed as far away from the edge as possible. Once we had crossed the bus followed suit, only to get stuck, after multiple attempts to free the bus, including about 20 of us pulling the bus with a rope,a lorry coming the opposite way was able to tow the bus out!

Thankfully we were left to settle for the night, apart from a Chilean couple on the floor talking and singing till 3am!

We finally arrived in La Paz at 6:30am on Tuesday 44 hours after leaving Rurre on a supposed 18 hour journey!

In the Pampas, the mighty Pampas...

2011-02-24T18:48:00.000-03:00

We had the choice of either visitng the Pampas (wetlands of the jungle) or the actual jungle. We decided on the Pampas as the variety of animals to see was much greater.

The adventure started with a 22 hour bus ride to Rurrenabaque (Rurre). It usually (only) takes about 18 hours but due to rainy season and the uncertainty of weather the roads would be drivable, it took longer! The only real story about the journey was that we got stuck for about 50 minutes due to a landslide. however, the return bus journey was much more eventful, it deserves a blog all to itself!! so watch this space!

Rurre itself is very nice and laid back, a million miles away (literally) from La Paz. Our first task was to actually book our tour. We met an extravagent man when we got off the bus promising us discounts and he did not disapoint. we also managed to get a discount off our return bus journey!

8.15 the following morning we arrived at the tour office to begin the trip of 3 days and 2 nights. We needed to make a 3 hour jeep ride to the river, after which our boat (our mode of transport for the next 3 days) and guide, Toto, awaited us. The boat was less than 2 foot wide and wobbled anytime anyone moved. Quite unsettling at first. We slapped on the suncream and moquito repelent. Although the boat ride to the ecolodge should only take 1 hour, Toto took us on a detour to spot birds and monkeys.

Upon arriving in the ecolodge, basic accomodation on stilts on the river shore, we allocated ourselves beds and enjoyed a snack of popcorn, biscuits and cold juice. A quick refresh before heading to the aptly named sunset bar to enjoy a cold beer and the sunset. We returned to the lodge for dinner before heading on our next outing, alligator hunting at night. Quite an experience! We had already got our first glimpse of the gators upclose as one resided right outside the lodge.

So, armed with flashlights and hearts in mouths, we boarded the boat on what seemed to be the longest 2hours ever! Toto managed to spot a baby gator and asked us if we wanted him to catch it and bring it on board. We all agreed through gritted teeth. Unfortunately, it swam off. The next time we spotted it in some bushes, he was unsure was to whether mother was close to baby, so choose not to catch it!

Needless to say, although needing sleep after a hectic day, sleep was not great due to heat and humidity!

Day 2, heat was not something we were too worried about due to a monster downpour starting very early morning and continuing untill 2pm!

Not letting the rain get the better of us, we donned wellies and coats and climbed on board and set off to hunt for anacondas. We travelled for about an hour in the boat (in the pouring rain) before we hit a small island. We climed out the boat and where sent off in different directions (much to our horror) to look for something thats brown, black and yellow. After about 45 minutes of wandering, Toto called us together to go walking as a group. Walking is an understatement. We waded, thigh deep in water, hoping that nothing slithered past our legs. luckily, we were safe. But, on the other hand, we did not any anaconas, no matter now much Toto decided to poke at the holes in trees or hit branches. The boat Beckoned as well as the warmth and dryness of the lodge, so we boarded and headed back for lunch and an postfeed siesta.

Thankfully, the rained cleared up so our afternoon activity, swimming with pink dolphines looked promising. Few where couragious enough to braze the water, but the dolphines kept their distance we did manage to see numerous playing and popping out the water.

Although it was too cloudy to watch the sunset, that did not stop us from stopping at a bar for an improptu beer and a game of football for the boys!

Post dinner involved drinking, music, games and general merriment, thankfully we were not woken at 4.30 the next morning (as we were told we would be) to watch the sunrise to due, yet again, more rain!

So after a relative lie in, we again donned our wet clothes from the day before, and headed out in the boat, for what we thought was Piranha fishing. After an hour and a half of travelling, and again much rain, some of the others in the group broke it to us that we were in fact, only out looking for sloths, and not some magical fishing spot. With this disappointment, we called for Toto to turn the boat around, and head back to the lodge for our last meal, before heading back to terra firma!

The boat ride back to Santa Rosa, took us on the same route as our arrival, but at a much quicker pace.

When the Jeep arrived to take us back to Rurre, we were informed we would have a few extra passengers, who needed to catch a flight. And so the race was on, for us to get back to Rurre in under 3 hours for the guys to catch their plane. We surprisingly made record time, getting the guys to the airport with 5 minutes to spare!

Once back in Rurre after a shower, we headed out to meet the guys from the tour for cocktails and pizza, and general merriment!

UnBoliviable

2011-02-24T17:24:00.001-03:00

Having seen the Top Gear special, and read all about "The Death Road" we decided it would be a once in a lifetime experience to cycle down it! After much deliberation over the many tour companies, mainly the free t-shirt design, we chose Pro Downhill, the company offering knee, and elbow pads as well as over clothes, and the best rider to guide ratio we could find!

The day started bright and early with a walk to the cycle cafe, for a hearty breakfast, of hot bread, fruit and coffee. We where picked up from the cafe, in a mini bus along with the 3 others who where on our trip. We headed an hour out, and above La Paz 4,700m, to start our safety brief, before the first 22km of the ride. This took place on a paved road, and allowed us opportunity to get to grips with the bikes! We made a few stops on the way to admire the views, and to pass through the anti-narcotic check point. Before our final stop to pay entrance into the death road!

We loaded back into the bus for an 8km climb on gravel roads, we where all thankful of not having to pedal up the hill! The short drive brought us to the top of the real death road, thankfully for me it was surrounded by cloud, so we could not see down in to the valley from this point! The start of the ride was a little bit shaky but once we got into the swing of things we where flying down the road, following our guide, while he was taking plenty of photos! We made multiple stops on the way down the road, stopping for snacks drinks, and photos at some of the more famous points along the way, including riding through waterfalls!

The only part of the ride that required us to pedal was for about 15 minutes on some flat land, fortunately not uphill! Before a technical final descent to a small town of Yolansita, and to a nice hotel with a swimming pool, for a buffet lunch!

Denver the last

2011-02-14T22:24:00.000-03:00

After the mine visit in potosi, we spent a further two days in the city, one day we climbed up an old church spire which afforded us panoramic views of the city and surrounding mountains.

Upon leaving Potosi we headed to Sucre the Judicial capital of Bolivia, the main square had some beautiful architecture and some of the most important buildings in Bolivian history, the liberty house where the Bolivian independence documents where signed over 400 years ago. Whilst in Sucre we visited a dinosaur park, a 300m wall which contained over 5000 fossilised dinosaur footprints, belonging to 4 different types of dinosaur, although now vertical, the wall had once been the floor of a swamp, and it is thought all the fossils on show where preserved from the same day!

After sucre we took an overnight bus to Cochabamba, a nice little city with very few things to do. The main attraction here is a huge statue of Christ, bigger than the one in Rio, however after catching a cable car to the foot of it we realised how tacky it seemed on comparison, in the base of the statue a souvenir shop, and what we thought memorial plaques but on closer inspection we realised they where infact adverts for local businesses. You could also climb up the inside of the statue and view out of the arms, I'm surprised they hadn't put view points outbid the statues eyes and sell it as seeing through the eyes of Jesus!

From Cochabamba we travelled to Oruro, not that there was much there! We visited a mining museum, that was based in am old working mine, it housed equipment that had been used and a number of different Tio's. Oruro host Bolivia's equivalent of carnival, which the town appeared to be getting ready for, cleaning away last years decorations ready for the new ones to be put in place!

Going Underground

2011-02-14T22:22:00.001-03:00

Going underground
From Uyuni we travelled to Potosi, the world highest city, with the worlds highest brewery. Unfortunately this was not the reason for our visit.
Potosi was, at one time, the richest city in Bolivia, and the grand buildings, and churches are a testament to that. The vast wealth in the city came about from the silver mines located in the surrounding mountains, these our now a large part of the tourist routes in Bolivia.
So the trip to the mine started with us being geared up in wellies, protective clothing, hard hat and headlamp. We were taken by bus to the miners Market where our guide explained about the different items on sale, and we purchased some ourselves as gifts to the miners. The guide then showed us the procedure for chewing coca leaves, the cigarettes the miners smoke and the 96% proof alcohol they drink, as well as the dynamite!
After a short ride we arrived above the processing plants the minerals mined are sent to, the guide again took the time to explain the process as well as the dangers of the by products, which include high concentration cyanide.
Finally we arrived at the mine, and we where given a few minutes for some photos by the carts and at the entrance to the mine, after a safety briefing we divided into groups of 5/6 and headed into the mine. First point of call was to give thanks to El Tio the miners devil, although catholic men the miners believe God does not enter the mine, so inside the mine they worship El Tio. Each day upon entering the mine they give coca leaves, cigarettes, and alcohol to El Tio in exchange for safety, good mineral, strength and fertility, and we did like wise!
The guide led us into the main shaft of the mine, calling out whenever there was a low part of the ceiling or a cart filled with stone heading our way, at which point, it was a case of dive into the nearest alcove and off the tracks!
The first group of miners we visited involved us climbing up a shaft and through some small gaps on our hands and knees, upon reaching the point of work we were greeted by a large chap called don pedro. he was huge! god only knows how he had gotten through the holes we had crawled through. Don pedro was really friendly posing for pictures, answering questions, and sharing the gifts of alcohol. He explained about the three main minerals found in the rock, zinc, tin, and the occasional streaks of silver. We all had a go at shovelling stone into a wheel barrow before trying to wheel it off!
The next group we came across where about to load one of the carts, which was astonishing to watch, as a slide was opened and a ton of stone filled the awaiting cart, the leader of the cart was a 17 year old who had been working in the mine for 5 years already!
The final group we met, again involved climbing and crawling in small spaces, was led by two brothers, at first they where a little stand offish and held up the miner-gringo divide, but as soon as alcohol and cigarettes where passed around, they opened up and would speak to us in a more friendly manner, I can understand the hostility toasted the tourists as the miners see very little of the money paid for the tour. 10% of what we paid goes to the mine, and that money isn't necessarily fed down to the miners who entertain the tours!
All in all the tour was an amazing experience but it's not something I would rush back to doing in a hurry, it gave us the insight to see the horrendous working conditions that these guys put up with, sometimes for very little money, as each group of miners works as a cooperative, so if the mineral in the area they are mining is poor then so is the amount of money the refineries pay for the product!

Salt flats

2011-02-14T22:10:00.000-03:00

Salt flats
Day one

We where picked up from our hostel at 8am and taken to the Chilean border for our exit stamps, this took about 40 minutes, despite our drivers best attempts at queue jumping 16 people!

After another 30 minutes in the mini bus we arrived at the Bolivian border, here we got our entry stamps, and met up with the 4x4's, in which the most part of the next three days where to be spent! After a hearty breakfast of bread, dulce, fruit, yoghurt, coffee, and coca leaf tea we set off to the first attraction, the White lake, here we got our first glimpse of flamingos. Stop number two of the day was the copper saturated, green lake, with impressive mountainous and deserty surroundings! After an hour or so in the car we stopped at the hot springs, and our first days lunch, smash and hot dog sausages! After lunch we made the climb to a mighty 4,800m and went driving through the geyser fields, with photo opportunities galore! We finally made a small descent to 4,200m and here we found the red lake and our first nights accommodation, a residencial with no running water! Highlights of day one include the drivers door swinging open whilst driving, finding the driver had his wife and child with him, meeting a french guy who is cycling around the world, and discovering toilets worse than Glastonbury!

Day two

We Rose to a crisp morning having had a decent nights sleep despite the altitude and we were the first car on the road, only for Habib to realise he had left his hat in the hostel, so our lead was less than it should have been

First point of call today was the rock tree, a piece of volcanic rock that if you squinted and had the sun in your eyes looked remotely like a tree! The drivers wife took up a position in the rear of the car next to katie allowing me to move into the middle of the car for a much smoother journey!

From the rock tree we drove to a number if lagoons, including the ironic deep lagoon, it was only 20-30cm deep, and the aptly named stinky lagoon, due to the high sulphur content, this lagoon is home to the largest population of flamingos in south america.

Our lunch stop on day two came at timely point, the car got a flat tire just as we were pulling into a huge collection of rocks, the scheduled stopping point, but funnily enough the road leading here had been the smoothest we experienced! The six of us found shelter under an overhang and set about watching 3 men, a woman, and child trying to repair the puncture, the jack was in place and the wheel off in a time a F1 pit crew would of been proud of, as was the smoothness of the spare tire! Thankfully they decided against using the slick, and instead replaced the inner tube of the original wheel! All was well and lunch was good, then the health and safety issues started, as the spare wheel wasn't being used Habib lay under the car to reattach it to the van, at the same time, with the car still jacked up, his son and another thought it a good idea to climb into the car! Fortunately no one came to any harm!

After lunch we drive continuously for about 3 hours, onto and across a smaller salt flat than the main one we had come to visit. it was at this point I was thankful to be in the middle of the car, no banging of heads on ceiling, no curved spine from bending, and no knees under my chin. Seeing one of the other cars from our tour group broken down was a welcome sight as it allowed us 10 minutes to stretch our legs!

Once across the flats we stopped in a small town called San juan and the car then sounded like it wasn't going to start! The final leg of today's journey we were told would take an hour, and it was the longest hour in a car ever! driving over mud, sand, grass, pretty much anything other than Tarmac, all that kept us going was the promise of a hot shower and flushing toilets, at the salt hotel! After praying that each corner was the last, we finally made it to the hotel, and everything, including the beds was made from salt or cactus wood! Our hopes and dreams were dashed when we were told that there was no hot water and that there was very little water to shower with, fortunately we had been the first to arrive, and took advantage of the limited resources! Once "clean" and settled we sat about playing cards again, only for a brief interruption of a sand/salt storm brewing in the distance!

Day three

Again another early start, this time before sunrise, and a race across the salts followed, to reach incahuasi island to see the sunrise. As we reached the island the first signs of Dawn were emerging, so a run up to the top of the island was required, we just about made it in time to catch the sunrise! The island itself was quite a sight with an abundance of cacti ranging in sizes, some as big as 12 feet!

We ate a pancake breakfast at the island before speeding out across the salt flats, an our next stop to take the obligatory depth perception photos, with a volcano luming in the background!

Next we saw the salt refining plants, and a stop off in a small village, showed us the manufacturing process, that makes the salt edible, all of which done by hand, and in what looks like someones garage!

The final stop on the tour was in the train cemetery in Uyuni, the start of the first railway system in south America, the cemetery housed trains dating back to the 1800's!

The tour left us in Uyuni a small town that thrives on the tourist industry, from the salt flats. Here we spent the afternoon eating and drinking with the guys from the tour!

Moon river

2011-01-25T21:39:00.001-03:00

We took a trip to the lunar valley! This trip consisted of a few different stops, the first offering views over the atacama desert, the driest desert in the world according to humidity levels rather than rainfall!

Salar Atacama

Katie on a big rock

The second point of interest was death valley, so named because no life has been recorded there! We walked along the top of the valley before reaching the top of a huge sand dune, and being the I know better type, I didn't take of my shoes and socks for the run down the hill. by the bottom of the first dune I had half of atacama in my boots, but with some bigger jumps down the second dune I reached the bottom with only two thirds of the desert squirting my feet.
From death valley we were taken into the lunar valley national park, the park takes it's name from it's lands likeness to the surface of the moon. Our first stop here was at the salt mountains, the guide hushed us all, and in our silence we could hear the contraction of the salt as the mountains cooled from the days heat. We could also see crystals of salt in the rock!

The Salt Mountains

After a small walk we where back in the bus and on route to our final stop, a hill overlooking a large canyon, and a vantage point of the setting sun! The colours where fantastic, all sorts of reds, yellows, oranges and browns.

Top of a sand dune

The Ampitheatre

The moon rising above the Lunar Valley

Considering this was our cheapest trip, it was certainly value for money!

Starry starry night

2011-01-16T21:31:00.001-03:00

On Saturday night we made our first outing from San Pedro de Atacama, a small 8km bus ride took us out to the edge of the desert, and onto a ranch! Only this ranch was slightly different, instead of animals and crops, the surrounding fields were filled with bright white domes, and the garden infront of the ranch contained 10 telescopes!

When we climbed off the bus we were greeted by loss an eccentric Canadian astronomer. the first part of the night involved an explanation of the night sky, both past and present! Loss pointed out the southern cross, and the amazingly bright Jupiter, and he then proceeded to point out the constellations of the zodiac with an industrial strength laser pointer!

After the mini astronomy and astrology lecture, we moved onto the lawn containing the telescopes, one pointing at Jupiter, on which we could see its moons. One trained closely on the moons surface, and another showing the whole of the moon! The remaining six telescopes where showing a number of star clusters, tarantula nebulous, both of the Magellan nebulous, and the brightest star in the night sky Sirius, this glowed a vibrant blue colour! As a close to the evening a French guy joined us to aid with the taking photos of the moon through one of the telescopes!

Once the outside things where completed, we moved indoors and drank hot chocolate were Loss explained about different projects the site is involved with, one being ELMER the second most expensive science project, behind the LHC at CERN!

Chile fact: the south pole is 23 degrees above the horizon when viewed from chile!

Under my big favela

2011-01-15T17:42:00.002-03:00

In our previous blog I said about drinking terremotas as one of our remaining aims for Santiago. that, however did not happen as the times we attempted to go to the specialised bar it was closed. In the mean time, southern chile was hit by a real life terremota (earthquake) on the Sunday, fortunately no damage was done!

We left Santiago for valparaiso, or affectionately known as valpo, with all the promise of parties and beaches. We arrived and were found to be a little disappointed. the nearest beach was a good 20min walk, and not all that nice. We did, however, find a cool little indie bar showing music videos of Glastonbury highlights! Valpo itself was a real ramshackle place, no real order, and the whole thing seemingly thrown together, and painted in whatever colour was going cheap. From the beach the town looked like a huge favela climbing the hills overlooking the port!

We took a day trip to the nearby viña del mar, a much nicer, and a more true seaside resort! Mile upon mile of beach, with a nice artesian Market running in the prom!

From valpo we travelled north to la sereña, again with the promise of a beach, and it did deliver a hugely impressive stretch of sand covering the 10km of coast between la sereña and coquimbo! The only let down was again the 20+ minute walk to the beach, this was for safety as the land in between the coast and town was like no mans land in the event of a tsunami! Another strange thing about la sereña is the weather, every morning you wake up and it's cloudy then around 2 o'clock the temperature noticeably rises, and at the latest 4 o'clock and we have glorious sun! And our hostels balcony offered some amazing views of it setting!

One of the highlights of the stay in la sereña was a visit to the archaeological museum which homes one of the moai men from Easter island!

The Moai Man

Coquimbo has a large port and a large concrete cross, which towers above the town, but the main draw from the street signs appears to be a football stadium that hosted a world cup match In 1962! The port in comquimbo has a large fish Market selling some obscure seafood, including piure, some sort of coral, it didn't look all that appetising. As per punta del este we saw some sealions in the port, but this time instead of battling seagulls, they had pelicans to contend with!

Pelicans, and Sea Lions

The Big Cross

Currently we are in San Pedro de Atacama, having made the 16hour bus journey. The weather here is lovely and warm in the day and dropping into minus at night! We have a few trips lined up here but they can have some airtime of their own once we have done them!

Inactive Volcano in the Atacama Desert

Chile fact: chile is the worlds largest exporter of copper!

Pisco sours

2011-01-01T22:36:00.000-03:00

Now tomorrow is our last day in Santiago, 13 nights here and my how they have flown!

After leaving pucon and the volcano (copyrighted band name!), we travelled to a small town by the name of chillán, with no notable sights or sounds, except for it being the birth place of Bernardo o'higgins the man who led chile to independence! It also in the past has been bruised, battered and destroyed by earthquakes, so the buildings in the town aren't very tall! We spent our time in Chillán, fighting our way through Christmas shoppers, and hard sell PR people for restaurants in the central market!

We travelled to Santiago on 21st December, to stay for just about 2 week over Christmas! Prior to Christmas we went on a free walking tour of the city (highly recommend these tours, they do them in lots of European cities) this tour showed us the important sights, and Plaza de Armas, the square around which Santiago was built! Also in the now centre of the city, there is a park built on a hill, that divides the old from the new, this park was initially a big rock that was just in the way until some local farmers planted grass and trees on it!

As well as the walking tour we visited Cerro San Cristobel, a monument ribeye virgin Mary, seated some 200m above the city! This gave us a huge panoramic view of the city, and it was only then we realised the extent of the city and how small a percent we would get to see!

New years eve we spent eating a traditional Chilean meal, with the owners of the hostel, which also included pisco sours, and Champagne! From the balcony of the hostel we where able to watch the 20+minute firework display in La Moneda (the presidential offices). We had planned on venturing out to the square but upon seeing the crowds on tv we were glad we hadn't!

In Santiago there is a huge shopping centre, that we were forced to visit! But that story is for another time! The reason I mention the shopping centre is because of the music in Santiago, nowhere else in the world, when walking into a department store have I heard Good Enough by Dodgy, followed by pulp followed by every imaginable Mid 90s Brit Pop band, it's ace!

Now, for our last day we plan to visit the pre-colombian art museum, showing work by the mapucho Indians. We also need to buy our bit of tack! And our finally task is to drink terremote, a local cocktail in which pineapple ice cream is a major ingredient! Terremote means earthquake and the drink is called so because the first time you stand after drinking the cocktail, the floor feels like it is moving like during an earthquake! Will update you on the effects next time!

The only downside to Santiago, has been the people! Surprisingly car drivers are Well mannered and follow the rules of the road, and stop at zebra crossings and green men! However pedestrians are horrendous, three people walking towards me I have to step onto the road so they can stay Side by side, I'm penned in against a wall with nowhere to go they walk into you, at one point we saw a lady shouting at a man who clipped her heels with his bright red blind mans stick! It's unbelievable!

And finally how could I forget about Cafe Haiti or coffee with legs as it is affectionately known. About 20 years ago Chile did not import any coffee, and the home grown stuff was pretty dire, so a upcoming business man saw a hole in the Market and an incentive for folk, mainly men, to drink coffee! They opened a cafe with blacked out windows, and a long high table with no seats, he employed only good looking women, who served the coffee and flirted with the clientele, wearing only a bikini! If that isn't enough a number of times a day happy minute was called, the door locked and the "waitresses" shed the bikinis! These days there are cafe Haiti in all the business districts and both men and women are found there, they also serve the best coffee from around south America, and the girls now wear a dress that is exceptionally short, and shows off their legs, hence the brand name of "coffee with legs"

Chile fact: There are more than 2,000 volcanoes in Chile, of which 50 are actually active.

SlideAway

2010-12-18T19:21:00.000-03:00

So we have now been in Chile for just over a week, and it was an adventurous one at that! We travelled to Pucon, via Osorno, from Bariloche, Argentina. Pucon is a small tourist built town, in the Chilean lake district. The main attractions to draw people to the town are adventure based activities; rafting, kayaking, mountaineering etc, or the more relaxing natural hot springs.

So our intial plans for Pucon was to climb the snow capped, Volcano Villarrica, one day and take it easy in the hot springs the next. That, however, wasn´t how it happened. When we arrived on the Friday the rain was somewhat torrential, and was forecast to continue on the Saturday, so treks up the volcano where out of the question. After a day getting acquainted with the town, we were offered the chance to go to the hot springs, we took this opportunity, seeing as the clouds where clearing and the night sky visible. After a bouncy and slippery trip in the back of a minibus we arrived at the springs to find 7 pools to take our fancy, and a single wooden hut to change and keep our clothes in! So having had a mainly wet and cold day we headed straight for the nearest pool. Walking down the steps our feet tingled as the blood rushed back into our extremities, with the temperature pleasantly warm and soothing! After about 15 minutes and a slight wrinkling of our skin we decided to move into another pool, we couldn´t determine whether this next pool was hotter or not, due to the freezing night air we had walked through in soaking swim gear. So after a few more pool changes, we settled in a mid temperature pool, and took to watching, the now clear, night sky, a large half moon, bright, and plentiful stars, and then right on cue a shooting star streaked across the sky. At the top of the springs was one pool, in which, we had seen nobody, so being the ever inquisitive we headed in only to find this one not to be a "hot" spring.The journey back from the springs was pretty fun, as the night had gone on and the beer flowed, for some more than others. Two Germans in the group had come to life anf to make it more interesting, our driver put on some German dance music, and soon erupted the two man rave in the back of a hyundai mini bus.

Stock Photo of the Springs and changing hut

So still to visit the volcano we had been assured the weather was on the turn on Monday morning, being the trusting type we listened to the guides advice, set our alarm and awoke at 6am, only to find an overcast day and reports from the base of the volcano confirming what we could see above our heads. So back to bed we headed. The same routine happened on Tuesday, 6am, rise to find more cloud overhead, only this time the reports from the base where claiming clear skies. Apprehensively we loaded into the minibus, along with two Israeli girls, and a Canadian, Austrailian, and headed for the hills. On route we found the van to be passing through some thick fog, before entering the national park. As the van sped through the dust tracks, the skies exploded into a glorious blue, giving us our first glimpse of the task ahead of us. From the van we took a small walk to jump on a chair lift, this part scared Katie, never having had the pleasure, of your knees being taken from under you by a metal bar! At the top of the chair, all the groups where gathering to put on, full cold weather gear, and crampons. Our guide showed us how to hold the ice axe and what to do if we slipped, but then continued on, we wondered if he knew something we didn´t. No cold clothes, no crampons, the brain was ticking, until canadian asked, and we where told "the snow is soft and the crampons, won´t work proper, and the extra weight on our feet would slow us down, and tire us out more quickly". That was reason enough for me! We made what was seemingly quick progress up the first slope, and at the first stopping point, the top seemed close. We then set off zig zagging our way to the summit, only to find that after 50 minutes of walking we where only slightly nearer, maybe the initial stop had caused some wishful thinking! Here we stopped for a bite to eat, a steep inclined slope, where we had to dig out a seat to stop us from sliding down the hill, after a quick 20 minute break, we where on our way again, this time walking for just on an hour, and feeling in dire need of a drink! We still hadn´t reached the summit, it was at this point lots of the groups, bunched up and the climb became slow, this allowed my mind to wander and the fear of how we where going to get down struck me. This lead to a few near misses with slipping and sliding back down the hill we had climbed. Finally the top came into view and the reality of it all so close. When reaching the top three of the five of us collapsed in a heap on the snow, the canadian went walking to the edge, and the fifth still climbing! After recoperating for a few moments and taking some much needed fluid, we finally realised the view below us.

View from the top

Once we had air back in our lungs, we took a little walk around the openning of the volcano, and much to my disapointment you could see no lava, and smell no eggs. The smell of the fumes, was much worse than anticipated and the taste when they hit the back of your throat is horrific! So now onto the business of getting down. The guide told us to get all the cold weather gear on, even though I was still sweating buckets from the climb, he then handed us each a bum board, and then finally it clicked. The first few descents, where a little steep so the back protection, was all the equipment we needed to slide. As we got lower and the snow more wet, we needed to us the bum boards. Now, this wasn´t as easy as it might sound: deep snow, a heavy rucksac, and

Another view from the top

an ice axe as a break! Well the first few attempts could have spelt diasaster, going sideways, backwards, head first, you name it we ended up that way! Three slides later and multiple bruises we finally mastered it only to be told, that had been our final slide and we needed to walk the rest of the way!

Bruised, battered, soaked and shattered, we were shipped back out into town in the minibus, where a few well deserved beers where waiting for us, and for the first time since we had arrived in Pucon we could see the volcano from the town. Talk about an experience of a life time! This was definitely one of them! And suprisingly when we woke up the next day we could both walk, without any problems, or pain!

After a few recovery days in Pucon we have travelled North and are currently killing time in Chillan, the birth place of Bernardo O´Higgins, the man who lead Chile to independence. From here we head to Santiago, where we will spend Christmas and New Year.

And finally, a fact about Chile: it is the second-largest producer of salmon in the world.

Nuts

2010-12-11T10:08:00.001-03:00

Here we are in the Chilean lake district, and it is just like being in the English equivalent! Vast open fields, every shade of green imaginable, luscious trees, and RAIN! A total contrast to the arid, brown, and desert like southern Argentina. There's only one thing consistent between the two and that's cows, every other field cows. Huge herds of them!
Well, first, a border crossing traumatic experience. As we are leaving Argentina, the bus is sheep herded into the Argentina entrance queue, (baring in mind we are trying to exit) both of us are feeling a little anxious, no bugger speaks english and our broken Spanish isn't getting us far. Eventually we get to the desk only to receive the right exit stamp, but no entry stamp! So it's back on the bus for another 25 minutes to the Chilean border! Once there again herded into an office but this time put in order in the queue, quite painless and another new stamp in the passport! However we are all kept in the office and in comes the sniffer dog. Alls well, then we collect our bags for them to be x-rayed, you guessed it, we both get our bags searched. Well, katies wash bag get searched, and me well, it starts with the wash bag, then the contents of the main pouch on my bag get emptied into a plastic tray, and all in search of what? PEANUTS which in actual fact are my malaria tablets, oh and guess who get to repack the bag!!!

Now that's off my chest what have we been upto? Well from el calafate we took a 28hr bus to bariloche. In the winter its one of the biggest ski resorts in Argentina, and at the right time of year quite the party town!

views over the lake

From here we had some outstanding views of the surrounding mountains, still snow capped for the most part. we took an easy hike, had both of us gasping for air after 10minutes, up cerro campanerea, the effort was well worth it, it gave us a total panoramic view of the mountain ranges and multiple lakes and islands!

some of the views

Now bariloche had national fame, not only because of drunken students and even more drunk skiers, bariloche is notorious in the chocolate making world, and of course it would be rude not to sample it!
One final thing from bariloche, we found our cheapest carton of vino, 4.90pesos that's roughly 85p for a litre, and it puts lambrini to shame!

katie and aforementioned wine

After nearly two months in Argentina, I finally tried maté, a herbal drink, that every man, woman, young and old drinks! Everyone carries a thermos of hot water and what looks likes hollowed out coconut, and a special sieve spoon to drink the concoction, well what can I say? It's rank, it tastes like old leather, and I've chewed on old leather! Apparently I tried the most popular, an a sweeter one is available, I won't b trying it thank you very much!

So our destination in Chile is Pucon, set within 20km of an active volcano, and surrounded by multiple hot springs, and in the shores of a massive lake! That's all we can say for now because we are still on the bus getting there!

A new feature, country fact: In Argentina, the plague is still a commonly recognised disease!

Ice Ice Baby

2010-12-01T21:29:00.002-03:00

And England thought it had ice

Anything England does Argie does better, while reports of a foot of
snow in parts of England filter through facebook, we have travelled,
23 hours on a 3 buses, to deep south argentina to the centre of
Patagonia! More specifically EL Calafate!

El Calafate is set on the biggest lake of this fine nation, lago
Argentina, when arriving here there was a noticeable drop in
temperature combined with an increase in wind speed, described as a
constant breeze in late spring early summer. If we are experiencing
light breezes I would hate to feel a gale, the hostel appears to rock,
and jumping straight upwards resulted in being blown about a foot from
where you initially took off!

The reason for our stay in El Calafate is to visit the world famous,
Perito Moreno glacier, one of few in the world that is actually
growing! Moving about 2m a day! The apparent notoriety of the glacier
is because of it's growth and a special event that occurs about every
two years, where the glacier meets solid ground and forms a bridge,
this acts as a dam until the water wears a tunnel through the ice, and
eventually the whole thing "explodes"

The reason for its notoriety

So on the day of our trip to the glacier we wake up to a sunny, blue
sky! But within an hour the clouds have rolled in and the forecasted
rain, turns out to be snow! We board our minibus and take the 80km
trip into the glacial nation park, through some of the surrounding,
now snowcapped, mountains. Our first stop of the day is to take a boat
out to the southern face of the glacier! This stands 40m above the
lake, and shows the impressive structure of nature! It was absolutely
Baltic on the boat, fortunately we went prepared with multiple layers
on, an just about kept warm!

A cold Katie on the boat

From the boat it was back to the bus, and a little way up the road we
where dropped off at the viewing balconies, 5km of metal walkways,
giving views of the northern and southern faces, plus the
aforementioned world famous joining of ice and land! It was actually
colder on land than the boat, and the wind seemed to pick up along
with the periodic snow storms!

Wrapped up Alex

We were told that visiting the glacier on such a day gave us much more
picturesque views as the ice appears to glow blue against the dull
backdrop, as opposed to looking white in the bright sunlight! We did also get to see the creation of ice bergs, as a chunk of ice breaks of the glacier and falls in to the lake below.

The Northern face

One of the unofficial highlights of the day came from earwigging into
an old American couples argument, which consisted of him wanting to
stay where he was, and her wanting to go onto the lower balconies, and
the back and forth argument that ensued kept us entertained whilst
eating our lunch!

We briefly met one of a group of guys who have driven from Canada
through America, and south America with a target destination of the
antarctic, I didn't have the heart to point out that there was water
between Tierra del Fuego and The Antarctic!

Think that's all to report for the time being!

P P P P P Pick Up a Penguin:

2010-11-27T10:50:00.002-03:00

Mar del plata has been and past, it was a nice coastal town with some
killer waves for those who concern themselves with standing atop of

them on an old door! Other than that and a large casino the town
didn't really hold much for the imagination! Plus the hostel we stayed
in was straight out of the 80's, complete with woodchip, and tabacco
stained ceilings!

Now we are in puerto madryn, on the edge of Patagonia, and a place
where some welsh settles made home in the 1700's I think! Some of the
place names, buildings, and the vast number of sheep, could place us
anywhere in Wales except for the good weather! Conveniently the first
settlers built their town at the top of a cliff, make of it what you
will, but as the old tale goes "the sheep push back harder"

Well onto our main reason for stopping in puerto madryn! the coast
here has become home for many forms of sea life, and a visit to the
nearby peninsula valdes gave us an up close and personal view of some
of the animals. First stop on our tour was caleta, to get up close and
personal in the mating grounds of the penguins, we where able to get
an arms length away from the penguins, who are currently protecting
their young, so much so that every passing bird was treated to a
chorus of penguin calls! We then moved a little along the coast to a
beach containing miles of elephant seals, due to the time of year we
just got to see them lying basking in the sun, occasionally doing
their own version of the worm to get to a new position! Our final
point on the trip was to Puerto piriamides, here we boarded a boat out
into nueva golfo, to get to see some whales, after travelling for

about 20 minutes we got our first sight of these massive creatures,
from about 200m, we then got a little closer to a mother and calf who
seemed really serene and unfazed by the presence of the boat, we
watched these for a good 20mins, as we thought we where heading back
to shore we caught a glimpse of a larger calf jumping in front of
another boat, it was great to see but a little disappointing it wasn't
infront of us! Finally we got a confident pair near our boat, who
seemed to want the attention splashing their tails, and generally
horse playing with one another! So we went home happy!

With all the goings on with the penguins and whales, it was easy to
forget we had seen free roaming ostriches, llamas, and grey foxes!
Unfortunately we are a little early in the season for seeing orcas but
we might have missed the other whales had we waited till later in the
month!

One disappointment we have had, was building ourselves upto see Harry
potter! The girl in the hostel was adamant it would be in English with
subtitles, but imagine our disdain when we got to the cinema to be
told it was in Spanish! We had been and bought sweets and everything!

Now our plan is to head south, and take in the wonders of the
glaciers! So a 17hr bus ride to look forward to on Sunday! And then a
4 hr one straight after!