Salt Lakes

We began our Salt Lake adventure in Uyuni in the middle of Bolivia at ridiculous o’clock in the morning after yet another overnight bus ride, this time from La Paz. We both must have eaten something dodgy the night before because we felt terrible and were close to blowing the trip off for the day and finding a comfortable hotel to die in. But with the help of some local medication and a hundred trips to the toilet we were ready to go.
First stop was only 10 mins out of town where lay a graveyard for abandoned steam locomotives, about 50 all in all. From there we drove onto the largest salt lake about an hour away. It was pretty majestic – flat and white for as far as the eye could see… and yes I did lick the ground, tasty! We moved onto an island in the middle of the lake that was completely covered in huge cacti, it was eerie yet beautiful. We stayed in the middle of nowhere that night but had a great time drinking cheap wine and getting to know the other 4 people in our 4x4 slightly better.
Over the next two more days we visited countless deserts, strange rock formations, geysers, active volcanoes and crazy coloured lakes. We saw eagles, chinchillas, pink flamingos and loads of other amazing wild life. All in all, this was the best tour that we had been on.

La Paz

We only stayed in La Paz for a couple of days but if we had more time we would have stayed much longer. La Paz is built in a basin and you approach the city from a road running around the top, which is absolutely spectacular. We indulged in some amazing food, including a couple of currys, whilst enjoying the mountainous skyline. Our other main activity was shopping, which we had saved for Bolivia since we had heard it was cheap. It certainly was, and we spent a meagre amount of money buying ponchos, hats, t-shirts and tacky souvenirs. We were tempted by the llama foetuses, which you are supposed to bury under your front door for good luck, but decided that they probably wouldn’t get past Australian customs. Maybe next time.

Puno & Lake Titicaca

Puno is situated on the Peruvian shores of Lake Titicaca - the world’s highest lake at 3800m. It’s also pretty big. We arrived in Puno at 5am having taken an overnight bus from Cusco. We then started the tour a few hours later, beginning with the floating villages, which are man-made islands consisting of what looks like rotting leaves. We then moved onto a bigger natural island where we stayed with a local family for the night. We ate plenty of carb-heavy meals (rice with pasta and a side of potatoes) and climbed up a mountain named father earth (Pachutata). The following day we went to another island, which apparently sells the most amazing handicrafts ever for a mere 100 dollars. Fortunately we are not suckers so we ignored this advice to get our wallets out and instead enjoyed the beautiful surroundings for free. That night we went into Puno town and had quite possibly the most amazing pizza of our lives, washed down with some vino caliente to warm our cold bones.

Cusco

Cusco…the gateway to the Inca empire, or so it is billed. To be fair it is quite a lovely city with plenty of old school charm , cobbled narrow streets and beautiful plazas and churches. We had a lovely couple of days chilling out here and acclimatising to the altitude (3300m) before heading out on our own Inca adventure. No, not the Inca trail, way to expensive for our pathetic budget but the more youthful sounding Jungle Trek!
We began with a morning mountain biking adventure, all downhill (4200m – 2000m), before embarking of the most hair-raising car journeys we have had all holiday. The second day was merely walking and walking and walking, not really jungle but beautiful. And on the final day we went to Machapicchu, definitely the highlight of trek and one of the highlights South America.
All in all, this was the most expensive and disorganised nonsense that we have yet encounted but unfortunately for the average tourist it is completely unavoidable. The Peruvian Government have made it impossible not to take a tour and the price reflects this. On the upside however it is absolutely beautiful and the spectacular final day really does help to melt away the annoyance that otherwise would overshadow this amazing part of the world!

Arequipa

We didn’t spend much time in Lima, but it seemed like a nice city, particularly if you are into paragliding .. but we will go straight onto Arequipa. We met Jack on the bus who became our travel partner through South Peru. We hadn't read much about Arequpia, but thought it might be good altitude training for Machupicchu. However we discovered that Arequipa was a stunning city, with volcanos overlooking this desert setting. The main attraction here is Colca Canyon, the deepest canyon in the world (the highest point being 4900m). We set off on a three day trek, which started with a early viewing of the condors in the area. Our pictures were a bit shit but it was very cool to see in real life. We then went down the canyon, half way up the canyon, half way down again, and then all the way up. Sounds like hell, well at times it was, but we had a brilliant guide and the scenery was amazing. On the second night we stayed in the "Oasis", which is a lush green village with natural swimming pools. However, we had to wake up at 5am to start the trek up, but fortunately we found a willing donkey to carry our bags on the three hour hike up, thank god because our recent all you can eats and the altitude made us extremely unfit. At the end of the trip we went to some hot springs and soaked our tired muscles in the 40 degree water.

Venezuela

Where to start… Well I suppose with a big shout out to Sara ‘Fancy’ Mansi, without whom this blog wouldn’t be possible!
We touched down in Caracas and were met by our own personal driver at the airport (classy, we know) and driven to the safety of Altamira suburb . We then had free reign over Sara’s apartment until she returned a few hours later from a trip of her own. We had some pizza and a good catch up into the night. The following day we explored Caracas from the air (well a cable car that ascends about 1200m in only 15 mins) and booked flights for Margarita Island.
The following morning we flew the 35 mins to Margarita and quickly headed for El Yaque, famed for its beach bars and windsurfing. It wasn’t long until the girls were just metres from the water on a fold out deck chair. After a brilliant dinner we retired to the pool for drunk assault course mayhem! The next few nights we were joined by some of Sara’s mates, so decided to upgrade to a beachfront penthouse apartment. As can be imagined we enjoyed more sun filled days and evenings of rum and reggae.
When we finally returned to the mainland, we enjoyed another crazy Halloween night out and about dancing away to classic rock tunes from the last 20 years. We all don’t know how we got home but it involved hotdogs and shampoo!
All in all we had a fabulous time and could recommend Venezuela to anyone that has a friend there!

Buenos Aires

Ahhhh, BA, how we love you so. We spent a week doing Spanish School in South America's best city. In the afternoons our time was our own to explore the many things BA has to offer. We saw tango in the streets, went to Evita's grave, shopped at the many markets and went to a River Plate football match on the weekend. There is a great mesh of culture around every corner and the whole place has a decidedly European feel, with many beautiful buildings. The food was amazing and plentiful (we even found an Indian, woo hoo), and we spent many evenings in Palermo drinking with the locals. By far the best city we have been too, and probably one we will return to very soon!

Uruguay

Well not that much to report here...

A big country with not a whole lot in it, including people! Apparently it swells in the summer months of January and February when loads of rich Brazilians and Argentinians flood into the coastal cities but otherwise, we only saw 6 people... well maybe a few more, but not many!

We made friends with the local dogs in Punta del Diablo, who were extremely excitable due to a local bitch on heat (not abi). This resulted in a lot of mistaken identity molestation in the doggy world. Funny to watch though.
Punta del Este (home to Shakira, or so we were told - she was nowhere to be seen, like the rest of the residents) was also empty. The main attraction seemed to be a bizzare hand coming out of the beach. hmmm

Montevideo was sort of the same but with a massive junk market, where you could by anything from a rusty screw to a broken piece of glass - god bless spanish gypos!!

Cordoba

Hola mis amigos, llamamos Heath y Abi, y estudiamos espanol. Yes, it's true, one week of Spanish classes and we are officially fluent. Ok, not really, but we can construct a new sentence within 5 minutes of someone asking a question which is an improvement on the blanket "no entiendo".
Spanish classes were loads of fun. We had four hours a day with Fernanda, who was approximately 2foot tall and very sweet. There were only four in the class so it was really intensive and we felt confident that we were learning loads, until we went outside and had to actually practise. But we will persevere!
Cordoba as a town is really cute. There are loads of colonial buildings and it has a massive student population which makes it more lively. We also found an all you can eat buffet for 5pounds, which we went to far more often than we should have. Our belts have had to be loosened since leaving, but it seems impossible not to eat the fattening yet delicious food in Argentina. Oh well, lets just hope for some more food poisoning.

Santa Fe

We left the sunny gorgeous Iguacu into mainland Argentina. Unfortunately the weather did not follow us and it was raining and freezing by the time we got there. Due to a lack of warm clothes, an inability to find life on the streets and too much partying and jumping, we did not really make the most of this city. Its fair to say that we spent the whole two days in the hotel room, watching films and eating sandwiches. We did venture out once for a beer but the place was a ghost town and we quickly returned to the warm room and movie channel. Thus there are no photos from here. And no good stories. But it was a great couple of days anyway!

Iguazu Falls

We had a couple of great days at Iguazu Falls, firstly on the Brazilian side and secondly on the Argentinian side. The Brazilian side is supposed to be great for a "panoramic view", but we feel this could be translated as "the falls are too far away but we'll take your money anyway". The Argentinian side is a million times more impressive - you get to stand at the Devil's throat, get right under one of the lower falls as well as see the whole thing from afar. For some reason the waterfalls seem to act as an afrodisiac, and there were plenty of frisky South Americans doing their thing in the crowd. Slightly bizarre. The trip was made more awesome with our new friends Rob and Tim, who encouraged us to do multiple jump shots (yes, its still cool to jump) as well as accompany us to an all you can eat BBQ. "Mas carne" they say, "si si" we say until at least 20 animals have been consumed. Meat sweats ahoy.

Ilha Grande

Gilligan would've been pround to wash up on this particular Island!! Ilha Grande, or The Grand Island is amazing!!
Probably made all the better because of our stay with Jorge! This man is a legend. His casa was my casa. The room we had was unparralled, with a fridge, sink, mezanine double bed, no less than 3 couches, tables and chairs. It had it all! Best of all was the food. Breakfasts were a feast of fresh cakes, bread, cereals, fresh coffee, fruit, etc... and for just 4 pounds he cooked the most plentiful Brazilian dinners - not too be missed!!
Besides rest and sleep we did get time to see the many sights of the Island, including Lopes-Mendes beach (white sand, blue waters, great waves), waterfalls and the Blue Lagoon where we snorkled with the fishes and sea turtles. One of the best places we have been on our entire trip and met some great people there as well.

Rio

We were at the Copa, Copacabana.... try going around Rio without singing this 24/7... impossible. Thanks Barry Manilow. But, to be honest the Copacabana beach deserves to have an irritatingly catchy song about it - it's amazing!! It's quite bizarre having such clear amazing beaches attached to such a big city, but this is something we could get used to (Ipanema in particular). Other sites or course included standing on the top of the hill with Jesus; spectacular. And we thought we were so Brazilian that we attended a favela party. What silly silly gringos we are. We were approached on Sunday night and told that there was a secret party happening in the favela out of town.. shhh don't tell anyone. So we pay through the nose to go to the "Don's house" 2hrs away, but just before we get there we stop to get our tickets. And there arrives six other buses full of suckers going to the "secret party". Needless to say, it was not really a favela, it was a warehouse (although it was the warehouse where they filmed City of God.. one small claim to genuinity), and we were quickly ushered to the gringo platform in order to be separated from actual Brazilians. The rest of the tourists amused themselves by snogging each others faces off, but since we are an old married couple we just got drunk instead, and laid bets as to who would hook up next. How very ethnic of us.