Well, why not have a look at some of our suggestions to get the ball rolling; then shop around to see who offers cheap flight tickets to your dream destination. Always remember to ensure you have a ‘Work Permit’ if you think you’ll need to work. And if you’re travelling with your friends, don’t forget your head-phones for a bit of peace and quiet?

Here’s a few of our top destinations? Feel free to tell us about your own highlights and experiences.

Thailand

Thailand is home to some 2 million students, and boasts a landscape that’s just begging to be explored, such as mountains, islands and jungles teeming with wildlife. Whilst there, you can work with local villages and communities, learning about rural life and visiting some of Asia’s remotest villages.

Thailand also offers travellers the experience of visiting numerous islands, which feature everything from popular, crowded holiday spots – such as Ko Phi Phi and Ko Samui – to practically deserted islands like Ko Phra Thong. There are even spa resorts located on Ko Lanta and Ko Chang if you feel like relaxing after some adventuring.

While Thailand doesn’t offer a working holiday Visa, a work permit (for teaching English, for example) costs around £155

Canada

One of the more popular choices among students looking to work abroad, Canada offers sights and activities that other countries can only dream of. If you’re the outdoorsy type, British Columbia offers stunning vistas and some of North America’s most challenging rock climbing routes. If you prefer some winter sports, why not try the country’s renowned Whistler-Blackcomb snowboarding slopes?

If you’re more of a city slicker, then try Toronto, Canada’s most well-known city. Two hours from the US border, Toronto offers travellers the chance to visit the famous CN Tower or take in an ice hockey game, one of the country’s signature past times.

Working holiday Visas for Canada cost £90 minimum.

Italy

Offering celebrated ski and snowboarding experiences in the Alps to the north, and a wealth of water sports in the Mediterranean to the south, Italy is a popular choice for those looking for a working adventure holiday.

Famous for its art, cuisine, rich history and glamorous reputation (helped in no small part with exports such as Ferrari, Lamborghini and Dolce & Gabbana), Italy proves popular with tourists, families and adventurers alike.

EU nationals can work in Italy without a Visa. People from New Zealand, Australia and Canada can obtain a work Visa, which costs € 75.

Belgium

Perhaps most famous for its chocolate, Belgium is also home to NATO and the EU, making it the beating heart of democracy in Europe.

Highlights that always prove popular with holidaymakers include the Kusttram (coast tram), which takes passengers along 40 miles of coastline, and Brussels, the nation’s capital, which possesses stunning architecture and a terrific night life (Belgium boasts a healthy reputation for the quality of its beer as well as its chocolate). And of course the musée Hergé for all you Tintin lovers.

EU nationals can work in Belgium without a Visa. People from New Zealand, Australia and Canada can work in Belgium with a working Visa, which costs € 90.

Australia

Arguably the most popular destination for those looking to work abroad, Australia offers pursuits for all kinds of adventurers, as well as numerous working opportunities for those taking a gap year.

Highlights include the country’s wealth of extreme sports, such as windsurfing, paragliding, surfing and all-terrain windsurfing, as well as climbing the country’s wondrous rock formations and long-haul treks through the outback. Guided tours along some of the most impressive locales in the country are available, and national nature reserves offer a bounty of information on the country’s indigenous Aboriginal population.

For those keen to sample Australia socially, nightlife in all the big cities offers plenty of opportunities to get acquainted with laidback Ozzy locals.

A working holiday Visa for Australia costs AU$285.

Disclaimer: This is sponsored content, paid for or otherwise remunerated through partnership with MDBG.

Image credit: Garry Knight – Italians On Holiday @ Flickr

Hostels can be dodgy!

Its a fact of backpacking that every now and then you are going to come across a less than savoury hostel on your travels. Whether the hostel is in a bad location, is full of the wrong people or is just downright nasty it doesn’t matter and it is often hard to avoid especially when a lot of the time you are booking hostels online in a rush.

If you are in a shared dorm, you will be sleeping with a number of strangers the majority of whom will probably be perfectly trustworthy and others not so. It is very easy and sadly common to have your belongings stolen why you sleep, so having good travel insurance will help you sleep that little bit easier.

The world is a dangerous place.

Don't get caught in an eruption without insurance! - From Flickr

Thankfully, overall the UK is a very safe place to live. Most people have never felt an earthquake, most have never seen a forest fire, most have never experienced a landslide, most have never seen a volcano erupt and the list could go on! This isn’t the case for much of the world, and even when taking every precaution you can, its to know that if Mother Nature decides enough is enough and that so-called dormant volcano you are trekking needs to erupt, you are covered!

Your flights are cancelled/tour operator runs off etc

This can happen, and you don’t want to be left out of pocket if it does. Flights and tours can cost a lot of money and in some countries things are more likely to go wrong than others but in either case having good travel insurance will protect if anything like this happens.

And this is what happens when a log meets a finger. Yes that is bone!

You could knock a log onto your finger!

Ok well I know first hand how this can happen and its not pretty! When you are on a long trip the chances of getting ill or injured at some point along the way are very high, especially if you are doing a lot of trekking and sports etc. (In my case I was just sitting around a camp fire, but that is another story!) Only when you have injured yourself, or when you are very ill will you truly value the worth of travel insurance!

Its not that expensive!

When you think about all the things good travel insurance will cover you for, it really is good value, and when there is so much competition out there sites like MoneySupermarket.com make it really easy and quick to compare all of the deals.

Of course this list is only very brief and there are a lot more reasons to get decent travel insurance. It may not be as fun as planning the rest of your trip, but you will sure be glad when you have your shiny new MacBook Pro stollen by a masked man on a donkey somewhere in the middle of the Atacama Desert!

Thailand is Affordable

There’s no denying things have changed since the last trip. I’m a student now. In fact I am actually sat here writing this from my student halls at Sussex University in the UK. As great as this is, it means that I definitely can’t go blowing all my savings on a round the world trip like I did last time! Luckily there are an abundance of cheap flights to Thailand these days, and once you’re out there things stay very affordable!

There are currently 48.67 Thai Baht to 1 British Pound, which means you can find hostels for well under £10 a night, and often much closer to the £5 mark. If only my uni accommodation was that cheap!

There is plenty more where this came from! - From Flickr

Thai Food

Ok, so the boring bit out of the way, nobody goes anywhere just because its cheap, the food in Thailand is also another temptation. First there is the street food. Our previous travels in South America taught us very well that street food is often a good bet, and my sauces (pun intended :p) tell me that Thai will be no different!

From what I have heard Bangkok and the other large cities are overflowing with street food vendors and according to some, the fried chicken in Thailand is the best in the world. Being a student I eat a lot of noodles so it will be nice to replace my super noodles with the genuine thing!

If you feel like treating yourself, the cities are also filled to the brim with authentic Thai restaurants. I have eaten Thai food here in the UK on a number of occasions and it was very nice, but I can almost guarantee that the restaurants out there will be better.

I can never get over the colour of the sea! - From Flickr

The Beaches

I live by the beach in the UK, so its only natural that I like beaches a lot, and Thailand has some of the most stunning beaches in the world! The water is warm and clear, with a bright turquoise tint to it which I have never seen anywhere else in the world. The beaches are often surrounded by impressive rocky cliffs covered in lush green foliage, and the sand is golden and fine. When most people imagine paradise in their heads, I think they will be thinking of something very close to the beaches of Thailand!

Obviously I have only brushed the surface here. If I were to write about every reason I wanted to visit Thailand, this post would soon turn into a full length novel! But anyway, I need to get saving, and if anyone has any good recommendations or suggestions relating to Thailand I would love to hear them. Bye for now.

Please note these are in no particular order and are all great blogs, there are more to come too. If you haven’t been included in this first batch there is a good chance you will appear somewhere at a later date =]

Round The World Travel For Couples

As the name suggests, this is the blog of couple Adam and Megan, a happy couple traveling the world. Why do I like this blog? Simply because they write some brilliantly useful posts! Their Tips for visiting the Salar de Uyuni post is a great example.

If you plan on travelling to South America I would go as far as saying their blog is a must read!

www.worldtravelforcouples.com

Twitter: @aseper

GlamourGranny Travels

Inka is a self proclaimed “Glamour Granny” traveling the world in style! She has travlled a lot, and you can always rely on her to write regular interesting articles about her travels.

In my opinion, the main thing that makes Inka’s blog special, is that she is proof that age does not have to be a limiting factor when it comes to travel, and I’m sure her blog has, and will continue to inspire both those young and old.

www.glamourgrannytravels.com

Twitter: @lilygogo

Adventures With Cloud People

Adventures With Cloud People is the adventure travel blog of Jess and Jamie. The reason I like this blog, as well as the interesting posts in general, is because these guys are pretty handy with a camera!

These guys are a definite must follow for those amognst us who are budding photographers.

www.cloudpeopleadventures.com

Twitter: @thecloud_people

yTravel Blog

Caz and Craig are two Australians who are addicted to backpacking and world travel! 3 Days after getting married they set off on an unorthodox 5 year honey moon traveling and working around the world.

As you can imagine, during this time they have learnt a thing or two and have some excellent stroies, and as a result their site is a treasure trove of valuable tips and captivating posts.

www.ytravelblog.com

Twitter: @ytravelblog

No Place To Be

No Place To Be is the appropiatly named travel blog of a young English couple, Kirsty and Poi. They have been traveling China and South East Asia from August 2010. They believe in a slow and steady aproach to travel to make sure nothing is missed a long the way.

If you like reading light hearted posts with a splash of humour, I’de suggest you head right over to thier wonderful blog.

www.noplacetobe.com

Twitter: @NoPlaceToBe

And Many More To Come

This list should be enough to get you started but by no means is it finished! Rest assured next week I will post another addition with even more great travel bloggers. If you can’t wait until then, here is a sneak peak of those I hope to include in the near future: @TravelingWithS @amzkiz @ayngelina @travelcanucks @vagabond3live @NVRguys @globotreks @ExpatGermany @toddwassel @AsWeTravel @travelbugjuice @StruxTravel @InspirngTrvlrs @budgettravelsac @migrationology @theroamantics @turkeysforlife @_TheTraveller_ @maitravelsite @atramp_abroad @foxnomad @adventurouskate @theplanetd @Overyonderlust …

(Note to the bloggers. You all have excellent blogs, and the order of the this post bares no relation to my opionion of your blog, they all have great aspects and have been chosen completely randomly from my subscriptions. To those of you who have not been included this time I promise you will be in the future I like to try and keep everyone happy haha)

I Love Reliable Bolivian Buses! 

We were looking forward to the bus to Cochabamba. Compared to a lot of the bus journeys we had already taken, the prospect of a short 9 hours descending from Potosi seemed the equivalent of a few stops on the London underground. Our bus had other ideas, and an hour outside of Potosi, it broke down. At first we took the breakdown quite jovially. It was a funny site watching all the men, one by one in a typically masculine fashion, get off the bus, take a look at the engine (as if they could fix it) only to return to their seat shaking their heads. After a couple of heated exchanges between the other passengers and the driver, despite not understanding a word of their slang filled arguments we got the gist that we were going to have to wait until the morning for a new bus. At this point I think its worth making a note about overnight buses in South America as there’s a few things you can almost guarantee:

• There will always be a crying baby.
• There is usually one passenger who is uncontrollably coughing and spluttering throughout the whole trip. They are usually sitting next to you or behind you.
• When booking a ticket in Bolivia, tickets sold as semi-cama usually always turn out to be normal seats, those sold as cama usually turn out to be semi, and I have no idea how to actually find cama.
• The person infront of you will always fully recline their seat as soon as the bus starts to roll.
• The buses will have multiple stops which you didn’t know about. You will have no idea which one is yours. In this situation get off with the majority of other passengers. (Works most the time, or at least we think it did)
• Temperature control is awful. Buses are always either ridiculously warm, or those fitted with aircon will leave you exiting the bus in an unnecessarily frozen state.

With those points in mind, I find it very hard to sleep on buses, and this case was no different. Arthur and I spent the majority of the night staring at our moonlit reflections in the drivers cabin window infront of us. Ben, on the other hand, could sleep on a chair made of marble during a nuclear war, and got a pretty decent sleep. Eventually we got a bus to Oruro and then another to Cochabamba. So a nine hour journey turned into twenty four. When we arrived all we wanted to do was sleep.

Great views of Cochabamba from the base of Cristo de la Concordia

Cochabamba – The Market City

So we slept in on the first night completely oblivious to the bustling city going on around us. But soon after recovering we ventured out and soon discovered “La Cancha”, the market we were told is the biggest open air market in South America. It certainly was big. A good sense of direction is essential if you would like to be able to find your way out of this place. Its a never ending labyrinth of makeshift stalls and shops selling every thing imaginable. We spent two days just walking around and around, finding new pockets of interesting stalls even when we thought we had seen it all. Its really cheap aswell, even more so than the rest of Bolivia because there is so much competition for prices. We had great fun just being around the hustle and bustle of a huge market.

Arthur with his new purchase!

Arthur fell victim to temptation and bought the charango he had been searching for, and the instrument he would then go on to play non-stop throughout the rest of our trip With a little bit of bartering he got a great deal, and came away with a nice hard case as well as the charango. Unfortunately we didn’t get many photos of the market itself as we had been forewarned to be vary careful of our belongings here. We didn’t actually come across any trouble, but better to be safe than sorry.

Cristo de la Concordia

De ja vu? Nope this one is 0.6m taller than the Christ in Rio!

Another sight to see in Cochabamba is Cristo de la Concordia. Officially the largest Christ in South America (they are everywhere, almost every town city and village has one) at 40.44 metres tall compared to that of Rio’s at 39.6 metres. Interestingly if you don’t include the crown of the “Christ The King” statue in ?wiebodzin, Poland, this is the tallest statue of Jesus in the world. It is a great place to look out over the city and we were especially lucky as the skies were crystal clear. We opted for a taxi to the top, which only cost us 20 bolivianos, and we got the cable car down which was a further 5 bolivianos each.

Take Note London 

Cochabamba was also the first place that we saw Dodge buses used as local buses. Ok these aren’t your average red or yellow dreary affair. Each one is beautifully painted in interesting designs brightening up the sometimes dull streets of Cochabamba. We thought that this was beyond cool, and is

A typically colourfully painted dodge bus in Cochabamba

certainly a much better idea than london’s bendy buses! These buses have also stemmed a top secret idea for the future. It’s a very long way off at the moment, but if it is successful some very exciting things with a group of lovely people will happen. Stay tuned!

Walking The High Jungle

Juan Carlos insited we used the lipstick plant to make markings on our faces!

An early wake up call, followed by a hearty breakfast containing plenty of fresh fruit, juices and teas sets you up nicely for the long walk from Santa Maria to St Teresa. After stocking up on water, we began our trek following the river we had rafted on yesterday, allowing us to once again to realise how crazy we must have been to set foot any where near its raging waters!

Once again, Juan Carlos, our guide proved himself to be excellent. His knowledge on the area, the Inca Empire, and the plants around us was second to none, and before we knew it we where covered in a red plant that is the basis for a lot of lipsticks. Juan Carlos told us how it is great for helping wounds heal over as it has antibacterial properties, and it helps the body form a natural barrier to infection. Arthur had a couple of cuts and grazes from

The Coca plant, Sacred to the Inkas and still a very important part of Peruvian and Bolivian culture today, but highly illegal in most modern developed countries.

biking so we went ahead and covered them in the plant. Sure enough it worked! Within two or three days the cuts had almost completely healed.

As well as the huge number of wild plants around you, one plant you can’t avoid is the sacred and controversial Coca plant. The mountains are lined with Coca plantations and on multiple occasions you will walk through them and get the chance to take a closer look at the Inca’s sacred plant.

Stunning Views and Steep Climbs

Along the length of the trek you are treated to breathtaking views. Like most things, you are required to work for your rewards, and parts of the trek are very steep following winding tracks up through coffee and coca farms. Fortunately, Juan Carlos allowed us to go at our own pace with plenty of stops along the way, and anyway, the hard work just makes the amazing views you see all the more rewarding as you reach them.

Arthur and Ben make there way down (slowly!) some of the original Inca steps on the trail.

One thing you will learn on the treks is that the Inkas were definitely not scared of heights! Some of the paths and steps you follow are surrounded by very steep, and very tall cliffs and drops. For us that wasn’t a problem as none of us are scared by heights, and if anything it added to the awesomeness of the views. At the same time it is completely safe and Juan Carlos kept good care of us.

Halfway through the trek you stop for a lunch, the kind of lunch that would keep you perfectly satisfied if you had it for dinner, complete with a soup a main course and a desert! This sets you up nicely for the second half of the walk and before you know it in a couple of hours time you will be at the second hostel ready to put up your feet and relax after a hard days walking. Awesome!

Day Three Trek

Another early start followed by breakfast, in our case omelettes! This time you a completing the final part of the walking from St Teresa to Aquas Calientes which is essentially a town right at the base of Machu Picchu.

Bridges liek this are a common occurance along the treks!

Along the way we had already come across some pretty awesome bridges, wooden logs carefully wedged between ravines, rope suspension bridges etc but on day three we came across an entirely different way of crossing deadly rapids! Fairly near the beginning of the trek you come across a large raging river that needs to be crossed.

Say hello to the hand operated cable car! Somebody obviously thought a bridge wasn’t adequate in this situation so decided that pulling yourself across the powerful waters in a small basket suspended precariously above would be a much better idea. I agree, this is ten times more fun and interesting than walking across your average bridge!

This trek takes you through some very “jungley” areas and we followed quite a lot of the path that the Machu Picchu train takes through the jungle. There is plenty of wildlife surrounding you but Juan Carlos surprised us by telling us that bears live here too! Best keep walking!

Us about to sacrifice a dog on the Inca sacrificial table. Only Joking!

As we came near to Machu Picchu we got our first glimpse of Inca ruins when we found an ancient sacrificial area. Juan Carlos told us about the rituals that would have been held there which only got us more excited for Machu Picchu itself!

Eventually we reached Aquas Calientes which is situated alongside one of the roughest rivers I have ever seen, glad we weren’t rafting down this one. The hard part was done, now we could look forward to the 4:00am wake up call to set of to Machu Picchu the following day. It had been hard work getting there, but it was extremely rewarding and we had had a great time learning about the Incas and Peru and its politics in general from Juan Carlos! Can’t really think of a better way to spend two days!

Exploring Potosi

The majority of the streets in the center of Potosi are lined with old colonial buildings that would have been very impressive in their prime.

The first day we arrived from Sucre was spent checking into our hostel at around 3 o’clock, dumping our stuff and going out to explore the town. We quickly realised that the Carnival was still in full swing with water fights still taking place and brass bands still playing, and after a little rain we found ourselves a place to eat which which was a little over priced, but hey, we were in Bolivia so even expensive it very cheap compared to the UK. Also after a very restless sleep, because of the altitude, we just spent time doing some more exploring, but again the Carnival made our tourist happy snapping quite a challenege.

We had been used to market towns by this point so thought we should again check it out, and this was worth it. The market was big with good prices for food and made the idea of good Bangers and Mash a reality. This reality was slightly short lived when we realised that our cooking skills still weren’t as good as we thought and Bangers and Mash turned into a cheesy, meaty mash but although looking slightly unappealing, it was definitely tasty.

The entrance to the mine didn't look like much!

Silver Mines

The main reason Potosi was on our list of places to go was the silver mines which had been recommended to us by Ben and Samuel in the Pantanal. To give you a bit of background, the mines were first opened by the Inkas and was then taken over by the Spanish when they invaded and took all of the pure silver and then left the mine as it is today to the locals to mine Tin, Zinc, and whatever else they find.

We booked our tour though our hostel as it was highly recommended for 80 Bolivianos per person for a half day tour. Our tour started at 7:30 with a short bus drive to the miners market to buy dynamite, the only place in Bolivia that you can buy it because when the army tried to stop the selling of dynamite the miners used it against the them, and coca leaves as presents for the miners. You will have to get a present for the miners at around 10 Bolivianos per person from the market, but it is cheaper and better for the miners if you buy a 5 Boliviano bag of coca from the actual markets as it is much bigger!

On the way back out of the mine the guide kindly pointed out deposits of Arsenic in the mine! He snapped a bit of in his bare hands! The yellow in the photo is Arsenic.

The mine was mental, wet, dark, damp, dangerous but a load of fun. It was how you expected a mine to look about 500 years ago, wooden beams are used to support the tunnels or sometimes nothing at all. The tunnels themselves, apart from one being caved in, were great and very interesting including the left over bottles from the nights before Carnival celebration.

We also got to meet a miner who had worked in the mines for around 25 years and who we gave the presents to. He explained to us about how and why the miners work there as there are no other jobs, how they make dynamite and what they do during the day. The miner explained that each day the consume a 25cl of 96% alcohol!  We were lucky enough (or unlucky, depending how you look at things) to able to try half a cap of it which did make you feel like you may have had a couple of drinks. They also are always chewing on coca leaves all at the same time which means they are drunk and high on coca, slightly disconcerting when you are handing them dynamite as a gift!

Our guide casually holding a bunch of lit dynamite! Classic Bolivia!

Our guide took us to a part of the mine where they lit the fuse and gave it to us to hold and take photos. Although it was quite an experience, it was probably one of the most dangerous moments of my life. This did seem dangerous but realistically it would take about 30 minutes for it to go off so they cut the fuse down so that we wouldn’t have to wait. They placed and set the 3 dynamite charges and told us to turn our lights off. This increased the suspense and made the explosions so much more interesting. We could not see the explosion itself as it was deep in the mountain but when it went off the blast leaves a ringing in your ears, but also with each blast you feel a huge wall of warm air hit you in the face!

The tour is definitely worth it and a definite must do for anyone who is going to Bolivia and at about 80 Bolivianos (£7) its a half day which is, as so much of South America is,  like nothing you will ever see in the rest of the world, the lax safety, the intoxicated miners and a way of life which won’t change through choice or persuasion.

Although Potosi was not as nice as it probably once was, there is still lots to see and it’s worth going just to see the mines and to say you have been to the highest city in the world.

When we get chance (and more importantly fast internet) we have videos of the dynamite being detonated! So keep an eye out for that. If you want to see more photos of Potosi and the mine check our Flcikr.

Location and booking

The Raftabout office is easy to spot!!

We arrived at Rotorua and heard that there was White Water Rafting close by but didn’t know many companies so after some research (thanks to MacDonald’s Wi-Fi a great source of free internet in a place where internet use is pretty expensive!) we had found a few companies around and went out to see them. Lots of their prices were similar and didn’t seem to be very different in terms of layout, rafting or the staff but then we got to Raftabout.

They welcomed us in, were really friendly and explained exactly what they did and where you went, the rivers they rafted on and the staff you did it with. We decided to go for the Rangitaiki River trip from Murupara (a town 45 minutes outside Rotorua) at NZ$125 for 3 to 4 hours on the Grade 3-4 river.  unfortunately the grade 5 Kaituna river was closed due to the really heavy rain we were caught in two nights before!

The Start of the Day

Raftabout offer a transfer from Rotorua to Murupara at 10:30am from their office on SH33. We decided to stay just outside Murupara in a DOC (Department of Conservation) campsite  which was close enough to get there at half 10 in the morning.

After looking around Murupara for a while we found their office at a campsite on the state highway and waited for Raftabout to arrive. Bang on 11:30 they arrived and we were straight into the days activity, changing into our wetsuits, as well as all being given lifejackets and helmets.

Rafting down the Rangiteiki

Arthur and I got into their mini-bus with 5 other rafters and 5 guides and started our half hour trip up to the start of the river getting to know everyone, talking about the new Hobbit film, learning about the equipment and what we would be doing that day. After a quick safety talk we got into the boat and were ready to go.

After going over the different directions on the water we went straight into a Grade 4 rapid and it was crazy, amazingly fun but crazy. It set the tone for the rest of the day, and it was a rocking tone!! We went from rapid to rapid and although the water was a little cold, when you did stop the forest and the views around you were spectacular.

After an hour and a half of great rafting and a couple of battles between the boats, we got back to the van and headed back for lunch. Lunch was good with loads of snacks to refill energy and provided a chance to talk about the days rafting. Everyone else got taken back to Rotorua and we got back to discover that Jozef had eaten 3 portions of macaroni cheese and was suffering as a result! We then moved on to Taupo!

Check out Raftabout’s website if you’re into throwing yourself into raging torents!: http://www.raftabout.co.nz/

Getting to Quintay and the Dive Centre

A sign of relief! (after the journey)

I had to get to Quintay before I could start scuba diving, this seemed to be a bit of a problem because there was nothing online. After spending about an hour looking around I decided to phone Austral Divers which proved to be the best thing to do, I talked with with them and they told me the best and cheapest way to get to them so at around 9:00 I got a collectivo to Quintay.

This collectivo will cost between 1500 to 2000 peso’s (current date) and take you about 45 minutes and drop you at the main plaza. To get down to the bay you have to take a walk though, if you look down the big street there is a big green building (which is the police station) and turn right, down the hill until you get down to the beautiful bay and the Austral Diving Centre is on the beach with a great set up and a spectacular view from the centre.

Dive No. 1 Kelp Dive

My first dive was at 12 o’clock , as unfortunately my timings were slightly off so I missed the 10 o’clock dive, which was a 28 meter, 45 minute dive with 9 other people co-ordinated by Sebastian the divemaster. The boat ride was less than 10 minutes on their own boat and the staff were able to help everyone on board with there equipment, all in good humour as well as being professional.  Although the water was  a little cold,  I had great fun and it was a tremendous dive.

Quintay Bay. The dive centre is in the middle of the photo.

Sebastian knew the dive like the back of his hand and I always felt safe.

The dive was a kelp dive and like nothing I had ever done before and with over 200 dives under my belt (being a little big headed) is saying something. Also I was diving with a couple of just qualified open water divers who had been taught by Austral Dive Centre and you wouldn’t know they were open water divers. As well as a couple of open water divers there were some more advanced and more experienced divers but also some inexperienced divers who the divemasters looked after.

Dive No.2 Wreck Dive

After finishing the first dive and returning to shore we warmed up a little at the dive centre, changed tanks over for the 3 o’clock dive and headed for the wreck site! This was a smaller trip with only a couple of us with a different divemaster called Fernando who took us on another 10 minute boat ride to the  site where we dropped down to a much warmer, shallower and truly beautiful area. The marine life was very different even though it was only about 500 metres/ a kilometre from the first dive site.

The wreck itself was surprisingly intact, teaming with life and the water  was much clearer than the first dive and so many of the dives I have done. The wreck itself still has lots of its engine intact and you can go in and out of the wreck quite easily meaning that you could quite easily spend a whole dive just investigating the wreck and with a maximum depth of about 15 metres its a perfect second dive and one I would recommend to all divers.

Sebastian, Myself, & Fernando, The Divemasters

What a Finish to South America!

The days diving was spectacular and worth every peso. I actually couldn’t wait to get back to tell Arthur and Jozef about my day and try to describe the wonders of scuba diving in Quintay. The total day cost about 50,000 Chilean Peso’s (40,000 CHP for the dives , the rest being for transport from Valparaiso) but its a day that I would happily pay double for. The dives were one of the last things I did before we headed to Santiago and then out of South America. It rated as one of my best memories of América del Sur!

Austral Divers

Our Arrival

Impressive buildings like this are scattered all around Sucre, but especially near the main square.

After our first crazy bus journey from Santa Cruz, we arrived in Sucre early in the morning. All we wanted to do was find a place to calm down and recoup some energy from the lack of sleep on the bus. This was our first taste of altitude but 2750m was a good introduction. Sucre is in a pretty picturesque setting, set amongst rolling hills with the centre of the city filled with colonial architecture.

We soon realised it was the norm in Bolivia walking up steep streets and with our hostel at the top of one of these streets we started using taxi’s to get back from town at Ben’s behest. Also, being in Sucre in the middle of Bolivian carnival, there were brass bands playing throughout the streets in the evening, water fights city-wide (this is what told us something was going on)  and we felt it necessary to arm ourselves with water bombs when walking the street!

Religion and Markets

Our first day was spent walking around and getting used to Sucre, visiting a Cathedral just off the main square which featured lots of colonial art and artifacts of Christianity from the local area. We then found the main market, which as we found out in Bolivia, is usually great fun and full of things to taste. We also thought that the markets tended to tell you what the atmosphere of a place would be like. Sucre has two main markets but there are pretty much markets stalls on every street selling almost anything you could want.

Testing our Culinary skills

The beast of a burger made rediculously cheaply from fresh mince from the market! Yum!

The  second day was spent going in and out of these markets, gathering things together for making dinner. We certainly got a lot of food for our money and you are often given a lot more than you might need! Which is certainly no bad thing for young guys like us. We decided on burgers, but these would be no ordinary burgers. Our culinary skills really shined through and we made burgers which will go down in history.

Carnival’s Revenge

Our final day was mostly spent in bed after enjoying the carnival celebration a tad too much and our first evening of altitude drinking. We had an awesome lunch at the Cafe Gourmet Mirador which is located right up near the monastery to the west of the city  and looks out over the city . The food was so great, Jozef and I both had (surprisingly large portions of) Pasta and Ben’s Crepe was so good he went back for a second, plus the city is pretty so looking out over it was really nice.

Sadly, we only spent 3 days in Sucre but I really enjoyed the place, and it was a great reintroduction to Bolivia after our middling experience of Santa Cruz and our glimpse of Quijjarro.