Peruvian Beaches - 11 April 2009

Having had so many days of rain and cold it was soooo nice to pull up in Huanchaco and pitch the tent in a pretty well organised camp site / hostal, ditch the coats and boots and spend three days sitting on the beach doing pretty much nothing. What can I say, it was a great beach, the restaurant near by brought you beers and food so you never had to leave the beach and the hostal was a 100m walk away and did great food. Oh yeah, there was a nearby town (Trujillo) that had some pretty cool cultural stuff so we felt obligated to check that out for about half a day.

The only thing that happened out of the ordinary here was that it was our first experience of someone trying to steal something from us. Fortunately they were unsuccessful, but it did make me feel a bit cross. It happened as we were walking towards the bus station, in the middle of the day, to buy some tickets out. I was holding my purse (very small, with a band that wraps around my wrist) in my hand. Next thing, this guy runs by and I thought at the time, hit me on the arse. I was quite speechless but managed some sign language to indicate my displeasure but when I told Tim about it he pointed out that probably this guy was trying to steal my purse. Nonetheless, it reminded us how careful you have to be as well as how lucky we were that we had come this far without anything serious happening.

We left Huanchaco and still not having had enough of the beach we headed to Mancora (local Peruanas say this is the best beach) and spent another three days sitting on the beach, enjoying the sun, seafood and local cocktails. What can I say, we deserved a break, travelling is hard work!! (I know, I can feel your pity from here!). One day we did feel like it was important to see more than the beach in front of our hostel and so we jumped in a `tuk tuk` type taxi and headed to another local beach and walked back to the hostel at the end of the day.

And other than to say the beaches and people were truly lovely, there isn`t much more that happened in that week.

So, on a hot and sunny afternoon we boarded another bus and made our way to the border and across into Ecuadar, which requires many blogs of its own.

Hope you are all well

Take care

Tim and Tracey

Lima and Huaraz- 3 April 2009

Arrived in Lima at a decent hour, got accosted by taxi drivers at the bus terminal but got lucky - our taxi driver took us to a pretty decent hostel, with helpful staff and not to expensive - this truly never happens! Our time in Lima was really about relaxing, quickly checking out the city and moving on so that is exactly what we did.

Basing ourselves in Miraflores (which is a wee bit nicer than Lima central) we checked out the lovely beach, the nice restaurants and pretty up market shopping centre (even when travelling you do need to spoil yourself sometimes!). Now, many of you may have heard of a website called `couchsurfing` that is essentially a site that brings travellers together through sharing accomdation, meeting up for a drink etc. Whilst we were in Lima we ran into a guy we had met on the nightmarish Ruta 40 trip out of El Chalten who is quite an active member and who had arranged to meet some people in Lima. For us, this was quite a cool experience. That night, we met up with a couple of girls who then took us on to one of their friends housewarming parties, followed by a trip to one of the local nightclubs. The next day we met them again and went to a beach a couple of hours outside of town, which we wouldn`t have even found if we hadn`t met this girl. It was a really good experience and allowed us to see some things we wouldn`t have seen had we just stayed on the `gringo trail`.

Still, after a couple of days, we boarded our night bus and headed off to Huaraz for some walking, trekking, mountains and ultimately lots and lots of rain!!

The thing about Huaraz is that it is known for its amazing scenery and very cool hiking opportunities so we were quite looking forward to this after having been in cities for a while. We arrived early one morning and wandered around town until some local tour guide took pity on us and showed us to an early morning cafe where we could get tea and breakfast. As soon as was reasonable we made contact with someone we had linked with (again through couch surfing) and he was able to give us some local information and showed us to the hostel that was to become our home for the next few days.

Our first day in Huaraz was quite wet and so we wandered about, checked out the town and got some information on what to do and where to go. Day two was also really quite wet so we spent the day hanging around the hostel and updating the blog. Day three dawned wet once again but we optimistically donned our coats and headed out for a day trek to a pretty beautiful spot - Laguna 69, which sits at about 4500m. There were only a few other people there that day (did I mention it was raining?) and although the walk was really tough, particularly being at altitude again, as you came around the final bend the veiw of the lake seriously took your breath away. Out of all these rocks emerged this stunningly blue lake, ice cold and completely untouched by pollution.

As the weather was closing in again we started the walk back and were very lucky to hitch a ride back with a German couple who had hired a taxi to take them out. The true benefit of this must be understood in contrast with the bus ride out. We got there at about 8.30am for the bus that was to leave in about 10 minutes. 30 minutes later the bus was as full as I thought it could get and pulled out. Not long after we started, we stopped to load in several more people and then again to load in a few more and a few more ... Eventually, there were no more people and we started the very slow, very crowded, very smelly 2 hour ride to our destination. To put this into perspective, I thought it might be helpful to give some details. In the back seat of this mini-van (a seat built for 3) were Tim and I, two local lads and one of the boys` sister. Next row, had two women who had obviously just got off the night shift at a greasy spoon cafe (you know, that smell really does linger), a young girl sitting on the floor and finally a mother with her very young baby who, of course, required feeding and a nappy change during the journey. In the third row up, there was an older local couple and a child along with a man perched in the aisle and and older man in the next seat. In the front row, there were three in a seat for two and then in front of them, sitting on the little ledge behind the driver were two other tourists and three locals and standing somehow between all this was the guy who jumps on and off accosting new passengers. Along with the driver, there were another 3 people in the front. Now, keep in mind that all these people had a minimum of at least one backpack each. I think you get the picture ...

Anyway, as I said, the lake was stunning.

The following day, the rain continued and we made a rather sad decision that we really couldn`t spend any more time waiting for the rain to stop and the condition of the treks was such that many of the high passes were closed due to snow and the forecast was not looking good.

And so, yet another night bus, this time, to the ocean!!!!!

More adventures from the ocean soon

Hope you are all well and healthy

take care

Tim and Tracey

Rurrenabaque - the Pampas and the Jungle - 23 March 2009

Okay dear blog, it has been a while but I really have been busy. I apologise and promise to try and do better! Anyway, last time I checked in we had just come back to La Paz from Uyuni and were planning on spending just one day more in La Paz while we waited to head to Rurrenabaque. Having enjoyed an evening of the nightlife offered in La Paz, the following day we headed out to enjoy an afternoon of wrestling. Yes, truly, wrestling in La Paz - the Cholitas. And what an experience this was. Indigenous women in their traditional clothes, men in various costumes and midgets (yes, I know this may not be the correct term but it is the word they used) and the grand finale 4 men, two dressed in black outfits and two dressed in butchers outfits, complete with big slabs of meat that they were hitting each other (and sometimes members of the audience) with. Difficult to explain how truly spectacular this was but hopefully the photos will do what words cannot. (Tim really should be working on the photos now but since we got in quite early this morning he is having a little rest).

Anyway, with the fun and frivolity out of the way, Monday morning we boarded a bus to Rurrenabaque to begin our exploration of the jungle. Now, before we boarded the bus we knew what was ahead of us given that the bus ride takes in the `most dangerous rode in the world` but my heart still stopped a few times when you looked down and could only see a sheer drop through the jungle several hunderd meters down. Shortly before I made Tim swap seats (I was by the window), we came to a pretty sharp corner and I began to wonder why the driver had stopped all of a sudden and started going backwards - turns out he had misjudged the corner and not all of the bus had remained on the road. What did make me giggle though, was the small house by this corner with the man standing on the verandah - I am sure his sole job in life is to report in when a bus driver doesn`t realise he had taken the corner to wide! Anyway, as I said, I made Tim swap seats, put my ipod on and hoped for the best.

We arrived (safe and sound) in Rurrenabaque at 7.15am the next morning (only 15 minutes behind schedule). What was surprising about this was that we had a flat tire at about midnight that needed to be taken off, repaired and replaced and then ran out of fuel that required another hour delay. I am just glad I slept through it all!

I will begin Rurrenabaque by saying that this was a very nice, small, jungle town. It was hot, humid, wet and full of mossies but had a really great feel to it - luckily. Morning 1 we joined a 4 day Pampas tour along with a Dutch guy (Ramco), a Swiss guy (Rafael) and two girls and a guy from England. Now, I know that theoretically anyone can read this so all I will say is that it wasn`t the best group ever but it probably wasn`t the worst ever. So, we began with a three hour `jeep` journey out to the river, taking in some quite ungraded roads (every jeep had at least one flat tire and some of the potholes required some fairly careful negotiation). Lunch was also in interesting affair, shared with a pig as a footrest and a monkey who enjoyed stealing our food. After lunch entertainment had us watching the monkey `play` with the puppies, who had little chance of escape from the monkeys very long arms, legs and tail!

The rest of the tour passed relatively uneventfully, but allowed us to experience seeing various species of monkeys up close and personal, swimming with dolphins, getting very close to the caimons (each accomodation area has their own resident caimon!), so many amazing varieties of birds that I lost count, including the biggest bird ever who makes its nest in highest tree it can find (the jabiru). Probably one of the most interesting experiences though was hunting for anocondas in swamp water that at times went over your knees. I am still not sure if I feel lucky or not that we didn`t find anything! After 4 days of the heat, humidity and bugs we headed back into Rurrenabaque thinking that we would head back to La Paz and continue our journery onwards to Peru.

As with all good plans though, this one failed to come to fruition. Having experienced the bus ride to Rurre, I was somewhat reluctant to make the return trip and so suggested to Tim that it may be worth giving some thought to flying back. The difficulty, however, with flying from Rurre is that planes don`t go when it is too early, too late, too wet, too windy ... you get the picture. After a couple of days of hanging around we decided that we might as well take off into the jungle for a couple of days and so, along with Ramco and Rafael, we loaded ourselves into one of the local guides boats and went and stayed with his family for a few days in the jungle. Sadly, we didn`t get to see much in the way of animals and other creatures, but we got to visit the local school, spend time with our guides family and sleep in hammocks and we did go on some jungle walks and saw some quite cool scenery.

Arriving back in Rurre we again took our chances on the plane and were again thwarted by the pouring rain. Finally, several days later just as we were down to our last rations (there is no bank in Rurre) we made the last plane out. And back to La Paz. Unfortunately our time in La Paz was again extended for an extra couple of days as I seemed to become affected by altitude sickness. Slightly odd as we had been at altitude for some time and the only thing we could put it down to was the quick assent back from sea level. Anyway, having spent several days in bed with a diet of energy drinks, chicken soup and fresh fruit drinks (La Paz makes the best juices in the world!) we finally made it out of Bolivia and welcomed in April in Lima.

Salar de Uyuni - 17.03.09

Having weighed up the various options we decided that the best mode of transportation was the bus to Oruro followed by the 7 hour train ride to Uyuni, which was infinitely more comfortable than the bus. We arrived at about 10:30pm and were instantly surrounded by people selling their tours into the Salar and so having sourced the best deals and found a hostel we headed to the local burger stand for dinner.

The following morning we joined 11 other people outside the offices of our chosen tour company waited patiently for the 'jeep' that would be our transport for the next 3 days. When our not to old toyota landcruiser arrived we weren´t too disappointed and we piled in with 4 other tourists, the driver and the ´wife´(cook). We considered arguing the point of having to carry the cook on the basis that having one less person would make it slightly more comfortable for the rest but held our tongues on advice received previously by a Swedish couple we met on the Inca trail. They had successfully disputed the cook point only to find themselves firstly surprised when the girls in the group were asked to do the cooking and secondly disappointed when, after they refused, the driver had to do the cooking. As they sat looking at the lavish meals prepared by the cooks in other groups, they had to be satisfied with filling but not particularly tasty meals put together by the driver. And so we departed with 2 chilean boys and a swiss boy who were travelling together and a danish girl Tim and I had met on the bus from Puno and had been hanging out with since.

The salar itself was pretty impressive. It´s hard to make miles and miles of clear white salt sound impressive but as you drove through this desert you really couldn´t help but be transfixed by the view. Our first stop of the day was the Cementerio de Trenes which really was just a great big area of land packed with decaying and rusting trains. And as uninteresting as that sounds for the non-train lover, we actually had loads of fun clambering on the trains and taking photos - it was kind of like being in the playground at a big McDonalds, with loads of exploring to do! Having entertained our childish side here, we moved on through the salar next stopping at the Salt Hotel. The book tells us that this is now an illegal structure because of the pollution caused by people staying there (there are no toilets etc and damage was being done to the salt flats) but I was assured by the people running the place that it is okay to visit the place as a museum. Still, I felt slightly uncomfortable and so only went inside for a second.

Next, we moved on to a place called Isla de los Pescadores which was incredible. It was just a small mountain in this sea of salt with these incredible cacti growing all over it. Here, we also had lunch and were quite pleased to have the cook with us! We continued on through the salar eventually arriving at our resting place for the evening, which was another salt hotel, apparently legal because it is built outside of the actual salar. It was kind of cool to stay somewhere where pretty much everything was made of salt... beds, tables, chairs ...

For us, days 2 and 3 weren´t really as impressive as day 1 because they consisted mostly of lots and lots of driving with stops along the way at some pretty cool lakes and lots of flamingo spotting. Whilst it was still nice to see the lakes and flamingos and other bird and animal life, they were things we had already seen many times so became less impressive. Our final visit on day 3 was at a place called Laguna Verde. I can´t actually tell you anything about the lake because when we arrived it was covered by low cloud and lots and lots of snow! Instead, we had loads of fun building snow men and having snow fights.

There really isn´t much to hold your attention in Uyuni so after arriving back from the tour we got on the first bus out, headed back to La Paz. Now, our decision to catch a bus out was made reluctantly but as the train wasn´t running again for a couple of days we really had no choice. Throughout our travels we had heard many stories of this bus ride including waking up at about 3:00am with the bus on a rather precarious angle and the bus driver telling all the passengers to move to one side of the bus (to stop it falling into the river as he seemed to have misjudged the bridge) along with other stories of passengers having to get out of the buses to push to bus along as it got stuck in the mud. We didn´t experience anything quite so adventurous but again, the difference in bus travel was highlighted.

As we arrived to the street where the buses depart from we were pretty pleased with our choice of bus as we saw a double decker cama bus with our companies logo on the side. Tim wandered off to load the bags and I surveyed the scene. And it was a bit like forgetting to read the small print ... in front of bus 1 was bus 2 and the comfort of bus 1 was not to be ours. We seemed to be the overflow passengers who got to travel on the less than salubrious older brother! Still, it had seats and it wasn´t raining so we set off feeling confident that we would make it in one piece. Shortly into the 12 hour journey we began to understand the difficulties that may face the drivers. There really isn´t much of a road and what is there is quite possibly the bumpiest ground I have ever driven on. Fortunately, I find the bumpy movement quite relaxing and so was soon fast asleep. That is until amid much noise, shouting and light I awoke to find that the bus ceiling had fallen in on me. All that was left were the precariously hanging lights and electrical cords waving above my head. Having extracted a promise from Tim that they wouldn´t fall on me in the night and electrocute me and figuring there wasn´t much else to do, I wrapped myself tightly in my coat and hood and scarf and went back to sleeping soundly until we arrived in La Paz. I have discovered that this is actually the only way to do bus travel in Bolivia - the alternative to sleep is heart attacks and anxiety as you wonder if the next corner could be your last!

Anyway, we eventually (several hours late) arrived in La Paz safe and sound and only slightly shaken up where we spent a day recovering before heading our into the jungle.

Stay tuned for the next installment ...

Take care

Tim and Tracey

Puno, Lake Titicaca and on to La Paz - 11.03.09

We arrived in Puno bright and early and started doing the rounds of hostels, looking for the cheapest option. Having found our home for the next couple of nights we set out in search of a tour that would take in the best of Lake Titicaca, which was of course, our reason for being in Puno.

Feeling slightly disappointed with the one size fits all tours we headed down to the port so see what else we could find. On our way we stumbled across a tour agency that was able to offer more of what we wanted, so satisfied with our plans for the next two days we headed back into town to check out the local area.

Day 2 in Puno and we had a civilised beginning to the day, being picked up at 9:00am to start our tour of the islands of Lake Titicaca. Our first stop was one of the Uros Islands - the so called Islas Flotantes (floating islands), that are made entirely of reeds. They are called the floating islands because, originally, they did just that. Nowadays though they are well anchored so no more floating. It was interesting to hear how the islands are constructed and see a short demonstration (yes, the need for the tourism dollar is alive and well even on these tiny islands) and to take a ride in a reed boat. After our first island visit, Tim and I were dropped off at another Uros Island which was to be our home for the evening. We arrived in the early afternoon and there was really nothing to do so we spent the afternoon sitting in the sun reading. The island we stayed on was probably the most developed with a little shop (made of reeds) that was also the restaurant and kitchen and eating area for the families who live on this island. There were a few small 'cabins', also made of reeds, one of which we slept in, a few small houses, occupied by the few resident families as well as two areas of water where they seemed to be breeding trout and kingfish.

We were picked up at about 9:00am the following morning and continued on to check out another island - Isla Taquille. There wasn´t really much to do on this small island and tourist services aren´t hugely developed, which was nice because it meant you could look in the shop at the traditionally made items without lots of hassle. After walking around the island and having lunch we began our long departure back to Puno.

Our last night in Puno was quite fun. We went to a restaurant for dinner and were thoroughly entertained by the traditional music and dancing and really nice food. Early the next day we boarded a bus for Copacabana, Bolivia, to check out their side of Lake Titicaca.

Other than the rather confusing border crossing the bus ride to Copacabana was pretty uneventful, however, after arriving to grey skies and rain and a pretty dismal forecast we decided that the best thing to do was get on the next bus to La Paz - we had no real desire to spend a day or two touring islands in the rain so moving on seemed the next best option.

And here begins our first real experience of bus rides in Bolivia. Tim and I were one of the last ones on the bus so ended up on two seats right at the very back. On taking our seats we realised why they were empty - they were soaked through and the rain was still dripping through the roof. I requested a towel or something to cover the seat and the lady disappeared for so long I had given up hope (as the bus was driving off) when she appeared with a large bundle of blankets. Having made sure that my raincoat was securely fastened and the seats were well covered with the blankets we settled down for the 4 (or so) hour journey to La Paz. Other than the occasional rain shower the rest of the journey passed without incident.

Arriving in La Paz late in the afternoon we were able to see the city from above as we came down through the mountains. It really does make an impressive site with the surrounding snow capped mountains. Other than that, there really isn´t much more to say about La Paz. It´s another big city with lots of pollution and loads of people. We checked our the local sights and got ourselves onto a bus / train to Uyuni for a tour of Solar de Uyuni (salt flats), which were pretty impressive.

But more on that later.

Take care

Tim and Tracey

Arrive in Cusco - 03.03.09

We finally made it to Cusco, arriving at about 6:00am and heading straight to the hostel where we got lucky surprising the staff, who only had the door open to let somone out. We made our way in, organised our dirty washing, had breakfast and headed out for some exploring. First stop, confirm the trek. This was more difficult than it sounds. To begin, the office had moved and we didn´t have the new address. The old address gave us some directions to the new address, which seemed to be a long way from the main square and all the other tour operators. Anyway, after much walking and searching we found the office, made our confirmations and as this had taken up most of the day, we headed back to the hostel for an afternoon nap.

The first thing to realise about Cusco is that, in terms of travel, it really exists for Machu Piccu and other Inca sites. The level of tourism here is incredible and you are simply not left alone for a minute by the tour touts. I guess one of the key impacts for those who make Cusco their home is that they must get increasingly frustrated at having their city invaded and for us this translated into encountering some of the least friendly and most harrased local people so far. Essentially, we just wanted to get out as fast as possible! Despite that, Cusco does have some incredible sites and one of these (or three) is the Cathedral, the Church of Jesus Maria and El Triunfo, Cusco´s oldest church. These three buildings are actually joined and we spent a good couple of hours, with informative headsets in absolute awe of the beauty of this place. The architectural structure, the history, the paintings, the silver and general decoration was incredible. There was a painting of the last supper with a 'cuy' (roast guinea pig) as the central feature, an alter covered completely in silver and a hand carved 17th century choir, among so many other features. This place was definately worth the visit.

Our third day in Cusco, and the day before we started our trek, we took a tour of the Sacred Valley. This was a bit of a rushed tour but did allow us to see some of the 'other' Inca ruins and check out some villages on the way.

Finally, the day dawned (well, not quite because we were picked up before dawn but ...) and we headed out, excited about the trip ahead and the idea of seeing one of the world´s most famous landmarks up close and personal.

Our group consisted of 16 tourists, 1 guide, 1 assistant guide and 21 porters. We had 2 Aussies (us), 6 Swedes, 2 Norwegians, 3 Americans, 2 Canadians and 1 Brit, with a mix of ages. As with all group activities people had varying levels of fitness and ability and so the group didn´t really stay together on much of the trek but breakfast, lunch and dinner were always entertaining and we were lucky to have a good group.

Day one involved lots of 'officialdom'; paperwork to be completed, borders to be passed etc. When we actually got going, we spent the first part of the walk on easy tracks with lots of stopping to check out the wildlife, explore some ruins and generally get lots of information from the guides about the local area. Then we stopped for lunch and were in for a real suprise. When we arrived at the lunch spot, the tent was erected, the chairs and cutlery were in place and we were served a three course meal that made the afternoon walk quite difficult! Given that our experience of trekking and camping when its just us is slightly different (ie. pasta with a tomato sauce poured over) we were pretty happy with how things were turning out! A relatively easy walk follwed lunch onto camp where again we were greeted by another lovely suprise - tents were up, snacks were served and dinner was on its way - this is civilised camping!

A bit of rain through the night left us feeling slightly concerned about what awaited us on day 2 but luck held out and the rain had departed. We were up early for the second and most difficult of the days. Following a hearty breakfast of quinoa, fruit, toast, pancakes and mate de coco we headed off, with instructions of the first meeting place. We agreed that given the size of the group, the different levels of ability and the difficulty of the day we wouldn´t stay together as a group and we wouldn´t stop for lunch, instead we would have sandwiches which we could eat as and when we chose, arriving at the days camp site in time for a later lunch. This turned out to be an excellent idea. The highest pass of the day was 4200 metres and although the walk was not long (maybe 40 minutes) it was steep and breathless and difficult. Having made it to the top (and may I say, rather speedily) we thought the worst of it was over but, as with most things, what goes up must come down and down and down ... Anyone who says that walking down hill is easier than up has never really been down a hill!! We arrived at camp at about 2:00pm that afternoon and spent a lazy afternoon sleeping and then chatting with Stion and Trina (Norwegian couple). About 2 hours later the next part of our group arrived and about another 1 hour later the rest straggled in. By now, we were cold and hungry and were ever so relieved when the guide said we would eat now (lunch!), rather than waiting for the final two group members - who subsequently arrived about 5 hours after our original arrival!

That night it rained like I have never experienced rain - it really sounded like glass was raining down on us and I was filled with trepidation as we awoke early for our final day - but again, our luck held and the rain disappeared. Although not as difficult as day 2, day 3 still meant a consistent up hill walk for most of the day but what made day 3 almost easy was the most incredible, breath taking, awe inspiring views imaginable (I know, I need to work on my descriptions). We spent the day mostly walking with Stion and Trina and had a really great day just enjoying the view, laughing lots and taking great photos (Tim is working on getting these on the blog as we speak). Having reached the day 3 pass with not to much time difference within the group it was really cool to just be the only people (other groups would come later) taking in the never ending views of mountain, sky and forest. It was also nice to achieve this level with the group, rather than individually. And then came the inevitable - the down hill run to camp. Well, having watched the porters literally run down the thousands of stairs the day before, we figured there has to be something in it. So we followed suit. And the difference it made was incredible. Obviously we weren´t quite as fast as the porters but for us time wasn´t actually the issue, the issue at hand was the pain in your knees from such a descent. The difference from one day to the next was amazing. I can highly recomend, on such downhill descents, go as quickly as you safely can and your knees will thank you!

The final nights camp was really luxurious with warm showers (if you wanted) and cold beers from the nearby restaurant. And knowing that the walk the next day was relatively short we had our first late night of the trek (about 8:30pm) before being up and back on the trail by 5:00am the next morning, waiting for the gates to open and the two hour walk to the Sun Gate, with everyone praying for sun and no low cloud. This walk was tough. Hundreds of people all leaving at the same time, heading for the same place, but not all walking at the same pace. Overtaking was not easy and it really is difficult walking at someone else´s pace. The final stage was the killer. Maybe 20 steps, ranging between 1/2 and 1 metre in height had people faltering at the final gate. But eventually we got there and again our luck remained - the sun was up and the cloud was high, providing us with an uninterupted view of Machu Piccu from above. As we spent the next few hours walking around, we couldn´t help but question how they managed to achieve these structures. The rocks, the steepness, the lack of machinery - how did they do this??

View of Machu Piccu from the Sun Gate

Feeling pleasantly exhausted, we headed down to the local town (Agua Calientes) for lunch, hot springs and where Tim and I were going to spend the night. After a lazy night, we headed back to Cusco for dinner with a couple from the trek and the night bus to Puno.

Before I leave this blog, I have to make special mention of the porters on the trek. 21 men carried enough food for 16 tourists, guides and themselves (and we are talking decent food, no pasta and tomato sauce here), tents for the 16 tourists and guides along with the cooking tent and eating tent (which they slept in) and all necessary cooking equipment. They went quicker than us, they were always smiling, chatting and laughing with each other and just generally amazed us with the weight they carried and how they carried it - no technically advanced backpacks or specially made hiking boots or walking poles. Truly incredible.

And that was Machu Piccu and the Inca trail. Definately worth the money, time and effort.

Hope you are all well and healthy and enjoying our tales.

Take care

Tim and Tracey

Arica to Tacna - 27.02.09

Now our whirlwind tour of Chile comes to an end and we board the train in Arica to take us across the border into Tacna and then board a bus for a place called Arequipa. As far as border towns go, neither Arica nor Tacna are that bad but not really places were we would want to spend much time.

Arequipa however is really a lovely town. Lots of tour and travel agents asking for your attention but not in the same offensive, in your face manner as we have experienced in other places. Had a bit of a lazy day today, just organising a trip to nearby Colca Canyon and checking out the Monasterio Santa Catalina, which occupies a whole block and is a 'citadel within a city'. This place is over 600 years old and at one time housed Spanish nuns from the wealthiest of families so the nuns had houses built within the monasterio and generally had a minimum of three 'staff' to take care of all the mundane chores of cooking, cleaning, washing etc. The nuns entered the monasterio at about 13 years of age and never left; only having occaisonal contact with their families through a solid brick wall with a few bars allowing them to see each other (not so different from a prison really). Other girls, as young as three years old, entered the monasterio for their education but then never actually left! Today, it is still a convent but houses much fewer nuns who enter at about 18 years of age. Inside though, it really was like a small town. Each nun had their own house, there was a bakery, fruit trees, water - everything needed so that the nuns never had to leave.

Day 2 in Arequipa was slightly different. We were collected by bus at about 4:00am and headed off to the Colca Canyon (Cañon del Colca) which is one of the world's deepest canyons at 3191 metres. Our first stop of the morning was at the Cruz del Condor, home for the Andean Condor. We only managed to see one that morning but it was pretty spectacular to see this huge bird flying so high and so protected from predators (ie, humans!). The bus then dropped Tim, me, Marcus (a Swiss guy) and our guide off to begin our two day trek in and out of the canyon. Now, you may recall that just a few days ago Tim had injured his back to such a point that he could barely stand or breathe, let alone carry his pack. The imagination doesn't have to stretch far to realise who the poor sucker was then that had to carry the pack, with enough warm clothes, bedding and raingear for the two days for both of us. By the time we had completed the 3 hour, rather steep (remember this canyon is 3191 metres down!!) downhill part of the trek I could barely walk, was almost in tears and would have gladly pushed Tim over the edge if only we weren't already at the bottom! Anyway, after I calmly (!) explained to him the situation he agreed to carry the pack for a while. Camp for the evening was a place called the Oasis and it really was. Natural spring pools in an oasis of green and palm trees which made such a striking contrast to the colours of the canyon.

Day 2 of the trek dawned bright and early (5:00am start) and the inevitable climb out of the canyon (again remember 3191 metres ...). After 2 1/2 hours I finally reached the top and I was truly exhausted. Just over half way up I had even tried hitchhiking a lift with a passing mule but to no avail. And just as I was congratulating myself on having made it without tears, swearing or threatening to kill Tim, the guide, Marcus or the passing Mule, the guide took off again on the final leg of the trip back for breakfast and the bus back.

At the time and even looking back with rose coloured glasses, I can honestly say that this was, without doubt the most physically and mentally demanding thing that I have ever done, everything since has simply not been comparable. My toenails are still an attractive purple colour and I am not sure they will ever recover! It was beautiful though - just wait 'til you see the photos!!

The adventure didn't end there though. Having thought that the tour would have us back in Arequipa by 6:00pm, we confidently booked our tickets for the next leg of our journey to Cusco, to begin the Inca trek. (It was at this point that I told Tim that following the Inca trail I was never again walking anywhere and any future mode of transport would involve me sitting). Anyway, on the way back from the Canyon our bus broke down and we eventually made it back to Arequipa at 8:00pm, in time for our bus to board. Unfortunately, we still had to get back to the hostel, collect the rest of our bags and make our way to the bus station. Luckily for us we had a great bus driver who clearly explained the dilema to the taxi driver who managed to get us there in record time and we found ourselves settled on our overnight trip to Cusco with seconds to spare. Dirty, stinky and tired but on our way.

That about sums up our first few days in Peru and next comes the truly magnificent Inca trail.

take care

Tim and Tracey

After days on buses and in the desert it was a really nice shock to wake up on the bus to the view of the ocean as we arrived in Iquique. We had only planned one day hear, thinking that there would be nicer places further on and it struck us as we arrived that this would have been a really good place to just hang out and chill for a while. As we had arrived really early in the morning we had the opportunity of walking through the well maintained, boardwalked, pedestrianised mainstreet, flanked by the Georgian - style buildings all by ourselves. It really was beautiful. At the end of this street, you arrived at the beach where we again got to wander along boardwalks as the sun came up (you can maybe understand why we wanted to stay a while!) As you can imagine, we spent the day on the beach, except for a brief visit to a church, which was a bit of a waste because it was closed and I really wanted to see the star sparkled ceiling. Just to keep things in perspective, it is now the 22nd of February (although you may have noticed the blog is written just a little bit after that) and we were due to be in Cusco on the 3rd of March. Time is ticking ... so we boarded a bus to Arica, which is a border town of Chile that will take us into Peru. Other than the beach and the border crossing, we were looking forward to accessing National Park Lauca from Arica, which we did on a 3 day trip with just us and a guide. The Lonely Planet describes Lauca as ´at woozy heights with snow-dusted volcanoes, remote hot springs and glimmering lakes, Lauca is an absolute treasure´and it really was. We saw flamingoes, vicuñas, llamas, alpacas, vizcachas and loads of other birds along with the incredibly rare Andean dear - the huemal. The lagunes were clear and sparkling, the mountains were high and imposing, the thermal springs were at boiling point and we saw only one other car with tourists and a few park rangers. At a minimum of 3000ms, breathing was hard (especially when Tim had to push start the car), the nights were freezing (no central heating here) and the days gave us frost, fog, snow, rain and sun. We got to visit a number of rural settlements, experience the fun of carnival (including being covered in flour and shaving cream) and visit one church (about 400 years old) that has a table tied in the corner because, as the story goes, this table once escaped on turned up on the door of an unfortunate resident who subsequently died the next day. It really is hard to describe any more the beauty, tranquility and near perfection of Lauca but it has certainly been one of the highlights of our trip so far. Sadly, our time hear had to end and we headed back to Arica to continue our journey northward and into Peru to make our way to Cusco. The only downside of our time here was as we were walking to the train station to get the train to Tacna (Peru) and Tim somehow managed to hurt his back. You know, we have been climbing, walking through difficult and unmade paths, we´ve walked up stairs and down hills and walking on a flat piece of pavement Tim all of sudden stops and nearly falls over because of the pain in his back!! Well, I then had to carry his pack and the two days packs, whilst he struggled with the weight of mine until the train station - at least we weren´t boarding another bus for a bumpy ride! He had now recovered but more about that later. Next time you hear from us we will be in Peru which we are quite excited about. Take care Tim and Tracey

San Pedro de Atacama the gateway to the driest desert in the world and at 2440 metres above sea level, pretty high as well. There really isn´t that much to do in San Pedro and there really is a limited amount of exploring of the desert that we really wanted to do, so we approached the numerous tour operators and settled on two tours. Day one we headed off at the reasonable hour of 7:00am to visit Él Sector Soncor´in the eastern section of the Salar de Atacama (Atacama salt lake) and were able to see the three different species of flamingoes - Chilean, Andean and James. We then went on the visit the town of Socaire and it´s church before heading out to Lagunas Miñiques and Miscanti (and some more flamingoes). I think that the draw card of these lagunes is that they are at 4100ms and there is very little else around except some mountains, quite a bit of snow and a few volcanoes. On the way back to San Pedro we visited the ´Hidden Oasis´, which is a naturally growing orchard of plums, pears, quinces and variety of other fruit, farmed by the local indigenous community (about 6 families) but not for sale to the general public. It was kind of impressive because it is so unexpected out in the middle of the desert, in such a high and dry area, to stumble across such a fertile valley. Our final stop was a tourist town, called Tocanoa where we had an ice cream and patted a Llama. Day two (and tour two) started at the incredibly unreasonable hour of 4:00am for the long drive to the El Tatio geysers. The first thing that hits you as you get our of the car is the incredible cold. I had on pretty much all of my clothing and still my hands were frozen and I lost the feeling in my legs. The second thing that hits you is the steam jets that are all around you and as you walk through the geysers you do start to feel warm for some time. From what I could understand the geysers are produced when the cold water hits the warmth of the rock and the jets of water and steam (or vapor) explode through the earth probably in the weaker surfaces. (I have no doubt that someone out there has more knowledge of this than me and could offer a much more scientific explanation but that will have to do for now ...). There is also a thermal bath there which we chose not the take advantage of at this time, mostly because it was early, it was way to cold to get changed in the open air and there were lots of people in a very small area of water and not very many toilets around! Instead we walked around and checked out some of the other geysers and pools where apparently people have died because they got to close and fell in or got disoriented in the steam and fell in (now there are rangers and stone fences to stop such things happening to poor unsuspecting tourists). On our way back from the geysers we stopped at a small village who farmed Llama´s and saw some incredibly cute llama´s and lots of baby llama´s, all with very cute and colourful ribbons in their hair which apparently denote ownership. There was one little boy here, with his baby llama who clearly did not like the tourists and kind of hissed (the boy not the llama) at people who came by and tried to pat the llama. The sad thing about this was the tourists who ignored the child´s discomfort and clear message and just kept talking very loudly to him in English; thankfully one of the guides intervened and he was left alone. I know it shouldn´t but it does constantly surprise me the amount of people who really need to learn some travel manners. So, having had two luxurious nights in a bed, it was time to get back on a bus and this time head to a beach town called Iquique. Time is moving so quickly for us now, it seems like the year is flying by. I hope all is going well for everyone at home (England and Australia) and work and weather aren´t treating you to harshly. Take care Tim and Tracey

So I think last time we spoke I was about to tell you about the longest bus journey ever. Having had the opportunity to spend the day re-organising and planning we realised that our time management had not been so great and having spent so much time in Argentina we now needed to re-arrange our plans and get ourselves heading north ready for the Inca trail in just less than a month. So we boarded our midnight bus our of El Chalten, following Ruta 40 (the tourist route) all the way to Bariloche. Despite the long, rough and bumpy road things were going well until we got to Perito Moreno (the town, not the Glacier) and as we all sat there waiting to go again, we began to realise that our bags were actually being taken off the bus - a not so subtle way of telling us that we needed to change buses. Unfortunately no-one really seemed to know when the next bus would arrive but thought it might either be in 5 or 6 hours or at 5 or 6 o'clock. As we were near pretty much nothing we all sat down for the long wait. All was not so bad though, we managed to spend most the time chatting with an American / Polish couple (Brian and Aga) and the time passed quite quickly. The bus finally arrived about 6 hours later and so the journey continued. Our plan at this point was to get to Bariloche and get an another bus as soon as possible to cross the border back into Chile and work our way up to Santiago before going across to San Pedro de Atacama. As with all the best plans, this one went quickly awry once we arrived in Bariloche. Whilst trawling all the bus companies we soon found out that the next bus vacancy was in four days. So with the help of another new friend (Rafael) we managed to all get on a bus to Mendoza, where we hoped to be able to cross the boarder into Chile and directly to Santiago. So, after a four hour stop over in Barlioche we continued on our way to Mendoza. Whilst on that journey we were seated next to another American couple who were also going to Santiago and had a bus booked out of Mendoza 1 hour after our bus arrived. At some point during the night the bus stopped at some station so we quickly booked some onwards tickets and continued on our way. The trip between Mendoza and Santiago was broken up only by the border crossing, which took some time and one of the customs officer´s there seemed very concerned that Tim and I were transporting fruit and vegetable products across the border and so went to great pains explaining the consequences of such actions - most of which we didn´t understand but the general point being if they did find such contraband in our bags we would be fined 120 000 Chilean Peso´s. Anyone who has ever flown into Brisbane airport will be well aware of the penalties for transporting such illegal items and so we were probably the only ones he didn´t have to explain to!! After having made it through customs our kamikaze bus driver got us down the race track mountain road in record time, overtaking buses, cars, trucks and pretty much everything else in his way - I think we descended about 1500ms in about 5 minutes! Still, it made for some incredible views and the photo´s are pretty cool. So, after nearly 40 hours, we made it to Santiago - I think this may have been my favourite city so far. Having encountered one really rude hostel employee where there no vacancies (thank goodness - the American couple we met on the way stayed there and said the staff continued to be really rude) we found a nice hotel, close to restaurants etc, had a long and hot shower and headed out to find dinner before a good night´s sleep so we could make the most of our short time in Santiago. We really just a couple of lazy city days in Santiago. We did a Lonely Planet walking tour of the city, had lunch at the fish markets, caught up on some internet stuff and finished the day with a dinner of cheeses, salamis and biscuits at a little pub that we found (not much is open in Santiago on Sunday nights). Monday we finished off the sites that we hadn´t managed to catch the day before and got an afternoon bus to San Pedro de Atacama. Once I leave this continent if I never have to catch another bus, I will not be unhappy!! Next San Pedro, the desert, the beach and some incredible national parks and really cool animals... Take care Tim and Tracey

Having thoroughly enjoyed our time in Torres del Paine and Puerto Natales in general, we actually headed back over the border into Argentina and El Calafate for the experience of the Perito Merino glacier. I think that the uniqueness of this glacier is that it is the only one that is continuing to grow which is really quite astounding in the days of global warming and the loss of other glaciers around the world.

El Calafate itself was a pretty enough town, teaming with tourists all heading to Perito Moreno and taking advantage of the apparently fabulous climbing opportunities. Our only goal was to visit the glacier and do a mini ice trek before moving on. This we achieved the next day. There is no doubt that the glacier is impressive. It´s size, the calving, the noises it makes are all incredible; the fact that it is there at all makes the visit worthwhile. I think though, that Tim and I were spoiled by having seen Glacier Grey first. Perhaps it´s just that there is something infinitely more rewarding about the physical effort it took us to get to Glacier Grey or maybe it was that there were less people at Glacier Grey, whatever the reason Glacier Grey remains our favourite of the two.

The mini ice trek was quite cool though. You got to walk along the glacier and hear up close the noises it made as it calved and you could get a real sense of the immense size of the glacier. You could peer into the crevices and see the depth of ice and see the pure ice water in the pools that gathered under the ice. You could also taste the pure and untouched water from small waterfalls so it was definitely an experience we were glad to have had the opportunity to have. I guess it just didn´t take our breath away the way that Glacier Grey did - or perhaps we are just getting to spoiled by all the natural beauty we are surrounded by??

Having achieved our one ´thing to do´in El Calafate we got the early morning bus out and headed to El Chalten for some more awe inspiring scenery and a wee bit more walking and climbing.

El Chalten is essentially famous for the Fitx Roy mountain range which offers inumerable opportunities for walking, trekking and hard core climbing. Tim and I stuck to the walking and just a bit of climbing because there was simply no other way to reach the top and having already walked for 3 hours we weren´t going to be beaten by a sheer cliff face that stretched further than the eye could see! Our first day in El Chalten was a bit lazy really, gathering information, taking a short walk to a nearby waterfall and generally just resting and trying to stay out of the wind that blew constantly. Despite the winds we bravely decided to camp and so spent a relatively uncomfortable night wondering if the tent was going to blow away leaving us completely exposed to the driving rain. Luckily we survived the night and so set off the next morning to see what all the fuss was about with this Fitz Roy mountain. The first three hours of the trek was pretty tough and I was so glad that we had decided to leave our packs and campsite in El Chalten rather than carry it all with us and camp closer to the mountain.

By the time we reached the last part of the trek I was just about ready to give up. It was cold, windy, rainy and I was exhausted and nearly moved to tears when I saw just how difficult the next section was. Still, keeping in mind that it would surely be worth it, off we went. For about 1 hour we zigzagged up the mountain, completely exposed to the elements, at times having to stop and lean into the wind just to stop getting blown off the mountain. The path was wet, slippery and stony and full of people coming down as we were going up. But we made it. We made it to the top and we greeted by an absolutely pristine glacial lake, seemingly unpolluted and untouched by human habitation. Over the next small rise was an even more remote lake, so peaceful, so serene. It was worth it. By this point the wind had increased so much that the only escape was to hide behind the huge rocks until it died down long enough for us to make it to the next rock to hide behind. We finally made it down the mountain and I could only feel sorry for the people who were still on their way up the mountain as the wind continued to increase, the rain came down and visibility was reduced. Although my feelings of sympathy were somewhat tempered by the fact that you have to be slightly mad to start such a climb at 5:00 in the evening!

Anyway, we returned to camp and took refuge in our tent for the remainder of the evening as the wind and rain continued. Our last day in El Chalten the weather was just so bad that we barely left the tent and spent most of the day making onward plans. Late that night we boarded a bus for Bariloche, via the ´Tourist Route´, Ruta 40, hoping to be able to cross back into Chile from Bariloche.

And here begins the most exhausting of our journey´s so far .... But more about that next time.

Until then, I hope all is well with you all

Take care

Tim and Tracey

We arrived in Puerto Natales at about 11:30pm on a Saturday night and made our way to Nikos II, our hostel for the next couple of nights. This was a good hostel, great information, good rooms and an egg and freshly squeezed juice for breakfast every day!

Day 1 in Puerto Natales was spent booking tickets for Torres del Paine and shopping for the necessary supplies for our four day walk / camping expedition. We were then able to join the landlady for a trip out to a local rodeo where we got to watch children riding sheep and chasing pigs (hearing the pig squeal was a bit disconcerting but the kids seemed to enjoy it) and the finals of the saddle bronc (for those of you who aren´t familiar with this kind of activity it involves grown men sitting on madly bucking horses for as long as possible - although no longer than 8 seconds). Only one person got taken off in the ambulance but there were quite a few who probably would have rathered a ride in the ambulance to the grimace of pride they displayed as their friends helped them to a safer place!

Day 1 in the park began with an early morning bus ride into the parque to start the ´W´trail, which is a 4 / 5 day trek that takes in the most striking aspects of the park. There are two longer circuits - the circuit which is about 9 / 10 days and the ´Q´which is 11 / 12 days. Having arrived at the park we pitched the tent and, inspired by the lack of rain and wind and presence of blue skies we headed straight up to the ´Towers´ which took three hours up and three hours back. To put that in some kind of perspective, the first hour is a long uphill walk with the second hour lulling you into a false sense of security, taking you through forest and along mostly flat paths. The final hour is simply a mad scramble over granite boulders to the mirador. The view however, makes it all worthwhile. It really was incredible, towering spires of bare rock reaching up into the clouds. (Yes, I know photo´s would give a better picture and we really are trying!). Having spent an hour at the top we scrambled down and set off back to camp, stopping briefly for a celebratory wine and beer at the lower refugio.

Day 2 we were up early for the next leg of the journey. The day´s walk started out quite easily, along a flat path with some of the most amazing lake and mountain views. We arrived at the campsite at about 3:00pm, set up camp and again, owing to the fabulous weather we were having we decided to head straight up the mountain, through the ´Valle de Francis´. This part of the walk started off by following the river and so again we were climbing and scrambling over rocks and boulders before heading into the trees and then across bare landscape that offered no protection from the wind. We stopped at the first mirador and were greeted by the most amazing views of snow and rock and the cracking sounds of avalanches. We continued on with climb and finally reached the end of the trail which was more of the same views except even more awe inspiring. It´s difficult to put into words just how breathtaking the views of mountains can be but all around us we were surrounded by towering peaks, snow covered mountains and below was forest. As we got there quite late in the day there weren´t many people there so it was quite peaceful as well. Anyway, as the wind picked up we decided it was time to head down and so we returned to camp and collapsed for the evening.

Day 3 had us again heading off early for the final part of the trek. It was a relatively short and not to difficult walk to the final campsite, Pehoe. We filled ourselves with a huge but not very tasty breakfast at the hotel there (the thought of more than a muesli bar for breakfast was just to tempting), set up camp and headed up Glacier Grey. This was perhaps the most spectacular of the views for us. As you followed the path you eventually reached a huge rock that was the first mirador and it simply took our breath away. Clear lakes stretching for miles, small ice bergs dotting the lake and in the distance the snow covered peaks and our first view of the Glacier. We continued on and were constantly surprised by the beauty of what we were seeing. We finally reached the Glacier and just sat and stared for about 45 minutes before it got to cold to sit any longer! We then headed back to camp for our last night in Torres del Paine.

All in all we both concluded that this was an amazing part of the world and we were certainly glad that we had made the effort to spend the time there.

In addition to Torres del Paine, Puerto Natales offered us one of our best meals yet (2 really because we went back twice). It was an Afro-Patagonian restaurant with a Kenyan chef and the food was absolutely incredible. The prawns were fresh and garlicky, the king crab salad had lots of fresh, tasty crab, the steak was cooked to perfection and simply melted in your mouth ... You get the picture!

Anyway, now it´s time to continue our journey north and see what else Chile has to offer.

Bye for now, take care

Tim and Tracey

Having arrived in Ushuaia 4 hours later than the advertised time (apparently they don´t take into account the border crossing times) we got the first taxi we could find and went directly to the hostel. Fortunately, the owner´s son was there and awake as the owner had gone to bed, having completely given up on us arriving! Still, it was a lovely hostel, more a b&b really, with a very motherly landlord who was very concerned to tell us what trips we should and shouldn´t do for maximum benefit and minimum cost.

Having been caught many times before, the very first thing we did was book our bus tickets out of Ushuaia and then headed off to visit the various museums as it was raining and windy (not unusual for the world´s most southern city). Ushuaia has a few museums but perhaps the most powerful one is the old prison which tells some interesting stories about its inhabitants. I recall one about a young boy who killed a few people (mainly children) and eventually they blamed his deviant behaviour on the fact that his ears were very big and stuck out. They did operate to fix this problem but this appeared to have little effect on his overall behaviour.

Day 2 was again a bit grey, very windy and threatening rain but we bravely headed off to Cerro Martial and Glaciar Martial. We were a bit lazy really and got a taxi to the beginning of the chairlift (it was a 7km uphill walk and it was very windy!) but did manage the 15 minute walk to the beginning of the walk up to the Glaciar. The views over Ushuaia and the Beagle Channel were amazing and the walk up to the Glaciar was a bit tough - straight up a stony, slippery mountainside. Having made it to the top, sadly we weren´t that impressed by the Glaciar and as the clouds moved in and the wind picked up we set off back down the mountain. Having reached the bottom of the start of the walk, we decided to walk back into town, following a well marked, lovely, peaceful path through the forest for about two hours.

As a bit of an aside, we were both hugely impressed with this young Japanese guy who seemed to literally run up the mountain and then back down. As we were walking up we could see him in the far off distance and yet he managed to get to the top about 5 minutes after us. We both left to go down at the same time and by the time we were barely halfway down he was very nearly at the bottom!

Having had our fill of exercise for the day, we spent the rest of the afternoon taking a boat ride on the Beagle Channel, taking in some small rocky islands which are the home to seals and sea lions as well as cormorants. I know I´ve said it before but those sea lions really do smell!

Having spent so much time in Bariloche we really had to keep ourselves moving now and so spent only 2 days in Ushuaia before boarding a bus north to Puerto Natales, which is the starting point for Parque Nacional Torres del Paine. It was a bit of a shame really, we did enjoy Ushuaia and could have happily spent another couple of days there exploring the area. Still, we boarded our early morning bus to Puerto Natales feeling quite excited about seeing one of Chile´s most popular parks.

Because Torres del Paine was so amazing it deserves an entry all of its own so, bye for now.

take care

Tim and Tracey

So, having had enough of Bariloche and armed with our new, improved spanish speaking skills, we boarded a bus to a little town called El Bolsen, which is apparently known for its hippy beginnings and being the only town in Argentina to have declared itself anti-nuclear or something similar. We spent only a day there, wandering around the markets and enjoying the small town feel. There really wasn't much going on and it rained most of the day. I guess people who spend longer there, doing lots of walking in the mountains would have a much more impressed view but at this point we really just wanted to move on. And so we did ....

Next stop, following a brief overnight bus ride, was a place called Puerto Madryn, which provides access to Peninsula Valdes and Punto Tombo. The fascination of these two places lies in the sea life. Having arrived early in the morning and hearing the cost of the tours and going on advice from other's we have met along the way, we decided to hire a car and make our own way around, with the idea of allowing ourselves however long we wanted at each spot, rather than the 15 minutes alotted by the tour operator. Having located the only car hire shop opened at 9:00am on a Sunday morning, we soon found ourselves pottering about in a 5 door Fiat Uno - Tim was not very impressed and mumbled for quite some time about having to drive a Fiat ... Anyway, once we got over that we loaded up at the local grocery store and headed off for Punto Tombo.

Punto Tombo was fabulous. It was just a world of penguins that roamed the beach side with signs telling humans to give way to the penguins! We spent about two hours there just walking along the tracks, watching the penguins crawl in and out of their little burrows, listening to the babies calling for their mothers with their lunch and getting as close as possible to take photo's - this led on one occasion to a grown up penguin pecking Tim on the leg and pulling out quite a few hairs and 'spraying' him. I told him not to get so close .... We also got to see the penguins playing in the ocean. It was great fun to see them diving in and watching the waves tumble them back to shore only for them to start the process again.

After Punto Tombo we headed off to the Pensinsula only to be turned back at the gate because it was close to closing and there didn't appear to be any accomodation. We turned back to Puerto Madryn, spent the night camping and headed off early back to the Peninsula. We managed to find a camping spot (it was quite full but I am pretty sure if we had arrived the night before there would have been space even if not the ideal spot) and headed off to check out more penguins, seals and sea lions. Sadly, we had missed the whale season but the sea lions were certainly impressive (if a little smelly) and the seals were super cute. We spent the afternoon lazing on the beach until it started to get a little cool at about 8:30pm.

Next morning we headed off relatively early, congratulating ourselves on not having roled the vehicle or crashed into another car (both of which seem to be quite regular activities) - although Tim seemed to think it impossible that we would have such an encounter (obviously due to his superior driving skills on gravel roads...). Our self congratulations, it seemed, was slightly to early as about 10 minutes prior to arriving back at the hire office a truck went by and showered us with rocks and stones, leaving 3 cracks in the windscreen. What had started out as a relatively inexpensive trip suddenly became a lot more than anticipated. Nevermind, the animals were lovely and I am glad we got to spend the extended time there, particularly when I hear people talk about the tours they went on.

Having got our fill of sea life it was time to keep moving so we boarded yet another bus, this time for Ushuaia arriving about 36 hours later, having been through 4 border crossing to end up in the same country we started in!

That seems long enough for now so the next chapter can have it's very own entry.

Hope all is well

Until next time,

Tim and Tracey

PS - thanks very much to Mhari and Li-Ann for the information on getting photo's onto the blog - now I just need to find a computer with a fast enough connection ...

As I was waiting for the site to re-direct me to this page I noticed that the last entry date was from 15th January, which seems so long ago now, especially when I think about the amount of ground we have covered. Once again, apologies for the time between blogs but this time it wasn´t completely down to my inability to keep the thing up to date. In that time we have covered hundreds of kilometres on bus, spent many days trekking and camping in places where internet hasn´t yet made it! Also, the obligatory(for me anyway) belly upset and cold kept me down for a few days - but we´re back on track now!

But now it´s time for me to cast my mind back to 15.01 ..... As I recall we had recently arrived in Bariloche and had the bright idea to spend some time studying Spanish to improve the whole travelling experience. Before school started we had a few days to get to know the area and so hired a bicycle to do the ´circuito chico´ which is a bike ride around Bariloche that takes in some fabulous views across the city, allows you to stop at some beautiful lakes and lagoons and certainly tests your fitness, if not your bike riding skills. I was completely exhausted, had to push the bike up more than one hill (mountain) and spent the next day doing pretty much nothing!

Having recovered from the bike ride, it was time to move to our new hostel in Bariloche, booked as part of the spanish school experience. Having done that we took a bus to a nearby lake, which was apparently quite nice for relaxation and swimming - unless of course there are gale force winds and you take shelter in the nearest (and only) restaurant before opting for the short walk to the cascada (waterfall) and mirador (lookout). The cascada wasn´t so spectactular but the views from the mirador were impressive.

Having braved the cyclonic winds we headed back to town and, for the first time of the trip, stopped for a quick drink in a lonely planet recommended Irish pub where we ran into a couple that we had met briefly in Cordoba, Mark and Sheenagh. Given the level of coincidence involved here it was agreed that a quick drink or two were in order. Anyway, we caught up with Mark and Sheenagh a couple more times over the next few days and it was really nice to have someone other than each other to talk with! I guess it´s also one of the rewards of travelling - meeting like minded people who you can have a laugh and chat with. They had been travelling for 7 months and were looking forward to returning home - I know the feeling! Anyway, if you do read this, Hi Mark and Sheenagh. Hope you are settling well back on Oz.

Well, after an enjoyable weekend it was off to school for the first time in a really long time (more so for Tim). There were four of us in class (Tim and I, Patrick and Guido) who we had stayed with at the previous hostel.

The next two weeks past quite quickly really with life developing into a routine quite quickly. From 9 - 1 we were at school. After school we had lunch and headed to the beach to enjoy the sunshine and do our homework (!) and then back to the hostel for dinner, more studying and bed. The only additions to this routine we some after school activities including Salsa dancing and ten pin bowling. Both were fun, a good laugh but sadly, neither of us excelled at either.

At the end of the first week of school we moved again, this time to our host family - Marta, Rodolfo and their son, Gaston. This was good. We both really enjoyed the time spent with the family and it was a great way to help improve our spanish. They all spoke english which was helpful (for us) because if we didn´t understand them in spanish they would repeat in english and what we couldn´t say in spanish we could ask in english. Anyway, they were a lovely family.

In our second week we stuck to mostly the same routine but also managed to check out Cerro Catedral which provided views of the city but also looking back towards Chile and, on a good day, views of some volcano´s in Chile and Colonia Suiza to taste a traditional ´curanto´, which is really quite similar to a ´hungi´(sorry for the incorrect spelling). Unfortunately, we were really quite late and so didn´t get to experience the whole thing, we did get to eat though.

Unfortunately, I was ill pretty much for the whole time we in Baroliche, due to some dodgy meat. You would think, given we have eaten in the cheapest places we can find, from stalls on the side of the street, that one of those would be the cause of illness. But no, the time we decide to eat somewhere really nice and relatively expensive, it happens. Anyway, after two weeks of soup, rice with some an occasional fish and sprite, I tried meat again and it happened all over again. Now, I eat salads and vegetables and fish and have now re-introduced red wine to my diet.

The key question, I suppose, to the time spent in Bariloche was whether or not the school was worth the time and money spent. Well, I guess it must have been worthwhile; our vocabulary has increased, we have a much better grasp of grammer and reading, writing and understanding the language has certainly improved. Sadly, our conversational skills are still rather lacking ... hopefully this will improve as we travel further - even if it is just our of necessity!

Anyway, after 2 1/2 weeks in one place it was definately time to move on - more on that in the next entry.

So now we will sign off, wishing you all the best and hoping that the new year has treated you well so far.

take care,

Tim and Tracey

PS - Message for Lesley and Anthony - I now only have Lesleys work email and I guess youre not there right now, so it wold be great if you sent an email to our same old address so we can catch up on whats been going on.

PSS - Sorry for the lack of correct punctuation, I cant work out this keyboard!

This is why I have never kept a diary and am fairly poor at writing letters and emails to people - why I ever thought I would keep this blog up to date is beyond me! Nevermind, I have finally overcome the feeling of being overwhelmed by how long I have left is since last reporting in and will now regale you all with stories of the last 24 days!!!

Let´s see, if I recall correctly, when I last checked in, we were heading to San Juan for Christmas and to check out some of the more interesting aspects of the area. San Juan itself was essentially just another town that was nice enough but didn´t really have much centrally to hold your attention. We checked out the Museo Cientifico Naturales, where they have some dinosour skeletons on display, walked around the local park and decided that the best thing to do was to book a tour of the wineries; which we did. And the less said about that the better. Needless to say, close to Christmas, wineries closed, pretty much a waste of a day and money. Christmas day itself was kind of slow for us - ie. we were the only ones at the hostel and spent the day handwashing all of our dirty clothes. Apparently, this saves money but I can assure you the clothes aren´t as clean and fresh smelling as the washing machine makes them! Still, the sun was out and after our domestic chores, we sat outside and enjoyed some nice cold white wine. Lunch consisted of packet rice, cooked in 15 minutes with water. I know, those of you that sat down for prawns, salad and cold beer are jealous but as it is now a speciality of ours we will share the secret recipes when we get home. Fortunately, we were joined later in the day by a couple from Buenos Aires who were on three weeks vacation, a cyclist from Holand, who had so far ridden about 23 000 kms from Alaska to San Juan (he is heading to Ushauia) and another man from Switzerland. We all dined together at a local restaurant which we wouldn´t have gone into had the BA couple not been with us, so that was something.

Having had our fill of San Juan we thought it best to get on a bus out of town and so headed for San Augustin, which was lovely. Very laid back, very friendly and really quiet. On our second day in San Augustin we joined a tour and headed off for a full day of history and information. Our first stop we Ischigualasto or Valle del Luna - Valley of the moon, named as such because the landscape resembles that of the moon. Although it was quite impressive, I think our appreciation of it would have been much improved had we been fluent in spanish with a degree in archeology (it was at about this point, Andrew and Li-Ann, that I feel we really could have benefited from having Cristina with us!) but we were still incredibly impressed by the landscape and history of the area.

Following on from Ischigualasta, we headed over to Talampayu, which for us, was better than Ischigualasto. The vista, the rock formations, the history, just everything was really quite mind-blowing.

We left San Agustin a couple of days later and headed off to Mendoza, where we had planned on spending New´s Year Eve - what with this being the premier red wine district of Argentina.

Mendoza was a nice city, really, but I think by this point we had simply had enough of being in cities and around lots of people. After being in San Agustin we just wanted to get away from that and spend time really enjoying the country itself. So, New Year´s Eve was spent on a bus to San Martin de Los Andes.

San Martin was more like an alpine village in Austria than what I expected to find in South America. It sat on a large lake, had shops filled with ski and snowboarding gear and people with arms and legs in slings and plaster! It is also a great starting place to check out Lanin Nacional Parque - which we did. Having sought all kinds of information from the ever friendly and helpful oficino de tourismo, we donned our (full) packs and headed off for a three day hike in the national park around some fabulous lakes. Of course, our first clue that all was not as it should be was when the helfpul tourist lady said "of course, the park rangers haven´t actually opened the track yet, but it should be fine ....."

So, of we set, leaving behind only our day packs with the few items of clothing we wouldn´t need for the next three days and having stocked up on food to cook over the gas cooker we had recently purchased, for just such occasions. The day started out lovely, a nice trip across the lake on a boat, landing on a small, quiet, lakeside beach. We then had to check in with the park ranger, where we recieved helpful information and a map with some handwritten instructive drawings (or so we thought at the time) and off we went.

We began the walk at 12:30 (crazy I know but the hottest part of day here is more like 3 or 4 in the afternoon, so we thought it would be fine) and stage one was essentially straight up a dirt road and up and up and up. When I say steep, I am not exaggerating when I say that the cars could only make it in first gear. Still, after 45 minutes we made it to the top and had our first meeting with a group of Scouts and their guides who were doing the same walk. After a quick snack and water break, on we went. Thankful at this point that we were off the road and now on a track, very much unused by cars. This was nice, there was a small river to our right, mountains to our left .... and then came a fork in the road. Having perused all the instructions provided by the park ranger and the map we purchased on the advice of the tourist office, we had no idea and so took the road ahead (rather than the one up the mountain - at one point the ranger had said, keep the water to your right and don´t go up the mountain and whilst I could´t recall what this was in relation to, I was sticking to it). So we set off and came across the Scout group who were discussing whether we were all actually on the right track of if, in fact we should have gone up. Their pro-active leader then took off back the way we came to ask at a nearby house. Anyway, after some time and much walking back and forth along the two tracks, we all concluded that we were right and off we set. Tim and I soldiered on, leaving the scouting group paddling in the river and continued on until we came across a group of mountain bikers who were coming back from where we were going. They presented us with the (not so) cheering news that in about another 3 hours we would be there. They did, however, assure us that all but the last part was really quite easy walking.

After about 2 1/2 hours more we started heading up and up and up .... until we finally reached ´the hidden lake´after 7 hours of pretty solid walking. Not bad. After a refreshing and cleansing swim in icy cold water, it was dinner and bed, in preparation for the next days expedition.

About 1 hour after our arrival, the scout group turned up - still full of cheer and singing and energy - except for the leader who had to carry 2 packs up the final mountain!

Day two dawned and we set off full of cheery expectations about the day and making it to our next destination. This did not last long. Having descended the mountainous path out of the ´hidden lake´and wandering through a small valley, up we went again, stumbling over rocks, pushing through branches and wondering if this mountain actually had a top. It turns out it did have a top and of course, we eventually reached it - after about 4 hours. This part of the path had some challenges and some decision making to be done. One key decision was whether or not to take the left or the right fork. Now, the park ranger had said when you get to a fork in the track, take the left exit because the right is full of fallen trees and has not been cleared for a while. So we get to this fork (neither the first nor the last that we would be confronted with) and Tim goes right to check the way and I head left just to see. I had only taken a couple of steps when the sound of stampeding cattle had me heading for cover behind the nearest tree and calling for Tim. Once he recovered from his laughter and convinced me to come out from behind the tree, he explained that the cows were going away from us not towards us )I am still not convinced - they were really loud!). Still, given the broken tape covering the left hand track and the herd of cows just ahead, we took the right hand fork. Needless to say, I remained quite close to big, round trees in case I needed to head for cover from more out of control livestock! In hindsight, I still wonder if we would have been better off taking on the cows than the right hand track .....

The hours passed, we went up, we went down, we went over trees and under trees, we took our packs off and commando rolled beneath the trees. We waded through streams, hopscotched across rocks in the rivers and wished many a time for a chainsaw to clear the path. Each time we got close to the lake we thought, surely, surely, we must be close but then another tree would block our way and up the mountain we would go again.

As dusk came upon us, we really needed to think about camping for the night and could see, in the far off distance, a small clearing on the beach - this is where we headed and eventually arrived. Sadly, by the end of our 10 1/2 hour day, we hadn´t even made it the 8 km´s to the halfway point. Our spirits were slightly lifted when, about 30 mins. later, the scouting group arrived at the same spot having also been thwarted by the level of difficulty they encountered.

We dined with the scouting group that evening and learned from their leader, that he had done the same walk 2 years ago and had made it from the day 1 starting point to our planned day 2 end point in 1 day. Apparently, the area had been ravaged by some quite severe storms and they had ripped huge trees out of the ground and it still hadn´t been cleared. When I say that some of these trees were two metres in diametre and that even the most hardened mountain goats would have hesitated at some of the tracks we followed , I really am not exaggerating.

Day 3 started early and Tim and I made the rather clever decision to remain with the scouts and follow their lead on the basis that a) at least one of them knew the way and b) they had machettes. The only downside to this was that they are much younger, fitter etc. than us (translate to they walk faster and recover quicker!). Still, it was nice to have company and they sang and told us some stories about the areas we were walking through. And eventually we made it to our next destination (Cachin) and set up camp for the night. It really was beautiful - worth the walk or not, I´m not sure, but I am glad we did it.

Day four was just a short, 2 hour walk to get a bus back to San Martin. Unfortunately, the bus had some difficulties and broke down part way into the trip. This wasn´t an altogether bad thing as it gave us the opportunity to chat with some local people and share some stories of our and their travels. I think it also convinced us that our next stop, in Bariloche, would include some time in Spanish school. It´s all very well to have basic converstation and talk through a dictionary but it was now time to take it a step further to really make the trip worthwhile.

Next stop ...... Bariloche.

Anyway, I fear I have now written too much and bored you all enough so will sign off and provide with you some stories of Spanish school in the next episode.

Hope all is well with all of you

Take care

Tim and Tracey

PS - I know that many of the descriptions would be much better with some photo´s but sadly, I have forgotten how to attach them. Any advice on how to do this would be much welcomed. I have uploaded and downloaded directly and through flicka with no joy - Help!