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!!