Hellooooo! We have arrived. Its Saturday morning in Aukland - We left Chile on Thursday night.
Well since we last spoke we have visited Lake Titicaka which was moderately impressive.
Following that we entered northern Chile and into La Serena where we went on a Pisco (a Chilean brandy) tour followed by a world class observatory. There we saw the moon blindingly bight through detailed telescopes, the Orion Nebula and Saturn complete with rings. The whole thing was incredible and very exciting.
Onwards to Santiago and we had a brilliant farewell to South America. There we went on a walking tour for free with a guide from our hostel. One of our highlights was a "Coffee Shop with Legs" - right in the heart of the finance district a coffee shop for office hours with some of the most stunning women in Santiago as your Barristas. Following this we went to a dingy underground bar where at 5 in the afternoon, everybody was hammered. We quickly found out why when we tried the local speciality which translated to "The Earthquake" Three of those and we were struggling to get to the airport. Got to chat to crazy locals before embarking towards our current location.
We will keep you updated as to our progress as usual - today we are going to find a campervan to hire for our 6 week road trip!
Loads of love
Steve x x
Friday 30 April 2010
Tuesday 20 April 2010
I said I been through the desert on a horse with no name...
...It felt good to get out of the rain. Actually we haven´t seen rain for a month and there were no horses involved at all. We did see two donkeys though.
But yes! We have been out into the Bolivian desert, starting in a little town called Uyuni. It was amazingly traditional and all the streets were full with market sellers. Within two hours of arriving we had all bought a sombrero and a llama wooly hat. Watch out for the pictures. The air is strange here at 3500m above sea level. Its like having a really heavy cold where everything you do makes you out of breath.
So off into the desert we went with our trusty tour guide, old man Raul who unfortuantely did not speak a word of English, or many identifiable words of Spannish. We began with a train graveyard which was pointless. You wouldnt go to see a landfill, so why would you go to see scrapped trains with graffiti. The tour quickly picked up, however, when we entered Salar de Uyuni - a blindingly white salt desert, the basin of a dried out ancient lake. The views were stunning but we had cause for concern that Raul may in fact be blind from 15 years of failing to wear sunglasses for the event. We trooped on.
Onwards to a Cactus island amongst the baron Salar desert, volcanoes, oddly shaped rocks (that did not look like a tree, Raul) and Flamingo lakes. The trip involved an overnight stay in a hostel made completely of salt - best hostel so far, and a second nights stay in the worst hostel I have seen yet. Not to worry though, we were off the next morning to see Gysers spouting hot steam and a themal spa, where we had a little dip. It was especially good after the rather uncleanly hostel.
Back to Uyuni, after taking a route Raul had never taken before to avoid protests blocking the nescessary bridges to get back home, we were off to La Paz where we have been settled for two days. Yesterday included Witches markets flogging dead llama foetuses, the legendary Black market (loads of tat) a long walk and shopping for Jonny´s birthday (its tomorrow, don´t forget).
To top off, we have spent today decending (brace yourself, Mum) the Road of Death on mountain bikes. 60 Kilometers of downhill mountain biking on the edge of mountains. It was once known as the most dangerous road in the world, but we consider it the Road of Moderate Danger as its really not that badthese days. Having said that, a definate Darwin Award candidate met her fate a few weeks ago after refusing to take off her sunglasses and (tinted) safety goggles when the supervisors reccomended - IN FOG - and slowly cycled straight off the mountain.
Tomorrow is Jon´s birthday as I mentined. God knows what´s gonna happen.
Keep reading!
Steve x x
Monday 12 April 2010
Nice, this travelling lark!
Welcome along from a mystery location!
So, apart from lots of photo uploading, have we actually done anything over the past few days?
Firstly i congratulated Jim on his first blog entry... i think you should all too. And he was correct, we went to Salta, "but where after that?" i hear you cry, where is the mysterious location? .....
......Jujuy actually.
Its about 2 hours north of Salta, has hot springs, a botanical garden or jardin botanico if u want to get all spanish about it, a super market with a sloping floor, and they seem to enjoy a good protest, if our first trip to the shops was anything to go by. All in all it sounds promising, and we have about a day to discover all that, except the supermarket (tick) or the protest ( tick).
But forget about that, that's the future, lets look to the past(?!)
Salta was great! We went on a day trip to a canyon where the rock changed colour as you proceed along, from brown to grey to green to purple, an amazing sight, difficult to capture on camera, but i found a great postcard where all the colours have been massively enhanced, so ill try to get that up and pretend its a truthful representation of it. We climbed ( partially) up where a waterfall used to exist, it was incredible the erosion that had occurred, and the shapes which were now left´interesting! After this, we saw rocks in the shape of a toad, a priest and towers. A parrots nest as well as many more tour buses were also spotted.
Salta is also a famous wine region-not quite so as mendoza, but we dont judge, So of course, as part of this day trip was some wine tasting, a great white for 15 pesos was tried and bought and then a rubbish white for 35 pesos was tried and of course, not bought. It was good to try white for the first time in Argentina, but i have to say that the malbecs are amazing and the cab savs taste like all the peppers... green, red, yellow, all of them! Move over Oz Clarke.
We were also very uncultured. Salta beign a uni town, we visited a club where they basically paid us to come in, always a great sign, free entry and free drink. We could have left at that, but stayed and me an Jim tucked into what the advertising standards board would have a nightmare about... "champagne and speed". The champagne being sparkling wine, and speed, well mum and dad don't worry its not that type! It did, however, do the trick.
Following this we felt we should remember where we come from, how or parents brought us up like. We went to a museum about mummified, or petrified, children of Inca villages, followed this with a trip to a modern art gallery and finished of with a visit to the church. All of which i have not done since my parents were trying to bring me up to do these kind of things. Museum was questionable, the art gallery basically free and interesting and the church... well its was beautifully built but they need to clean the entrance lobby as the pigeons seem to pray here.
Only 2-3 weeks left now...bolivia and chile to visit... hold on tight!
jonny xx
So, apart from lots of photo uploading, have we actually done anything over the past few days?
Firstly i congratulated Jim on his first blog entry... i think you should all too. And he was correct, we went to Salta, "but where after that?" i hear you cry, where is the mysterious location? .....
......Jujuy actually.
Its about 2 hours north of Salta, has hot springs, a botanical garden or jardin botanico if u want to get all spanish about it, a super market with a sloping floor, and they seem to enjoy a good protest, if our first trip to the shops was anything to go by. All in all it sounds promising, and we have about a day to discover all that, except the supermarket (tick) or the protest ( tick).
But forget about that, that's the future, lets look to the past(?!)
Salta was great! We went on a day trip to a canyon where the rock changed colour as you proceed along, from brown to grey to green to purple, an amazing sight, difficult to capture on camera, but i found a great postcard where all the colours have been massively enhanced, so ill try to get that up and pretend its a truthful representation of it. We climbed ( partially) up where a waterfall used to exist, it was incredible the erosion that had occurred, and the shapes which were now left´interesting! After this, we saw rocks in the shape of a toad, a priest and towers. A parrots nest as well as many more tour buses were also spotted.
Salta is also a famous wine region-not quite so as mendoza, but we dont judge, So of course, as part of this day trip was some wine tasting, a great white for 15 pesos was tried and bought and then a rubbish white for 35 pesos was tried and of course, not bought. It was good to try white for the first time in Argentina, but i have to say that the malbecs are amazing and the cab savs taste like all the peppers... green, red, yellow, all of them! Move over Oz Clarke.
We were also very uncultured. Salta beign a uni town, we visited a club where they basically paid us to come in, always a great sign, free entry and free drink. We could have left at that, but stayed and me an Jim tucked into what the advertising standards board would have a nightmare about... "champagne and speed". The champagne being sparkling wine, and speed, well mum and dad don't worry its not that type! It did, however, do the trick.
Following this we felt we should remember where we come from, how or parents brought us up like. We went to a museum about mummified, or petrified, children of Inca villages, followed this with a trip to a modern art gallery and finished of with a visit to the church. All of which i have not done since my parents were trying to bring me up to do these kind of things. Museum was questionable, the art gallery basically free and interesting and the church... well its was beautifully built but they need to clean the entrance lobby as the pigeons seem to pray here.
Only 2-3 weeks left now...bolivia and chile to visit... hold on tight!
jonny xx
Saturday 10 April 2010
Lots of NEW PHOTOS!!
Hello!!!
Some Great news!
We have amazing internet connection and in our room too, so what does this mean???... we can lock away the laptop and upload our photos all night and day!
You Can now see Everything from Rio to Buenos Aires. Highlights include, carnival in foz d iguazu, our rainy day in bogner ( Parana), massive plastic ducks and the stunning Iguazu Falls, as well as much, much more.
You will not believe how happy this has made us, or maybe u know how sad we are, either way we hope you will be as joyous as us with this news.
We know it will take a long time to look thought them, but please do.
Click on, or insert into your browsers, this link : http://www.flickr.com/photos/worldtravels2010/sets/ and u can see all the photo sets to date.
Proper blog soon.
Muchas Gracias-
your caring worldtravels2010 web support team (jonny)
Some Great news!
We have amazing internet connection and in our room too, so what does this mean???... we can lock away the laptop and upload our photos all night and day!
You Can now see Everything from Rio to Buenos Aires. Highlights include, carnival in foz d iguazu, our rainy day in bogner ( Parana), massive plastic ducks and the stunning Iguazu Falls, as well as much, much more.
You will not believe how happy this has made us, or maybe u know how sad we are, either way we hope you will be as joyous as us with this news.
We know it will take a long time to look thought them, but please do.
Click on, or insert into your browsers, this link : http://www.flickr.com/photos/worldtravels2010/sets/ and u can see all the photo sets to date.
Proper blog soon.
Muchas Gracias-
your caring worldtravels2010 web support team (jonny)
Tuesday 6 April 2010
Yes, I am alive. And so are the Orca's.
My first post and we've been going over 2 months. I'll blame it on Jon for not giving me the log in details promptly enough.
It has been incredible so far and was made even better one lucky day on Peninsula Valdes near Puerto Madryn.
Yes, we saw Orca's. Photographers in the national park had been waiting up to 4 days to see them and we turn up on a lazy sunday afternoon and get lucky. We waited for 4 hours for the atlantic tide to come in and lap at the sea lions basking in the setting sun. We were told that this was the time at which the Orca's were most likely to strike. They didn't but they came very close. Even though we didn't see them attack the anticipation was immense and it made for a great day. One of the highlights to far.
As Jon said, we returned to Bariloche. Stayed for a 5 nights, spent one of them at a Refugio in the mountains which was a great experience as it was a stormy and very windy evening. We also sampled some excellent in-refugio micro brewed beer. Our last night in Bariloche was great and it topped of a great stay in such a beautiful area. We had the Bosch family over for a bbq and wine - Argentine style. So the steaks were thick and rare and the wine was good and cheap.
We are now in Mendoza. Staying in a hostel which is on the 'nightlife strip' which has provided us with...well, beer. Jon and I had a very lazy Sunday. Woke up at 5.10pm. Rickydiculous. As I sit here in the garden writing this by the pool, Jon and Meado are playing pingpong. I think Jon is whipping him.
A wine tour was experienced yesterday, where the mode of transport was bicycles. It was fun and some of the wine we had was great and inexpensive. However, after drinking some top quality tipple we returned to Mr Hugo's (the bicycle tour operator) where we were provided with free wine which was to put it kindly 'grainy and vinegary'.
We go to Salta tomorrow evening where we will make plans to enter Bolivia. The next month is going to go by very quickly.
All the best to everyone at home.
James x (or is this Jon and Steve writing on my behalf...hmmm)
It has been incredible so far and was made even better one lucky day on Peninsula Valdes near Puerto Madryn.
Yes, we saw Orca's. Photographers in the national park had been waiting up to 4 days to see them and we turn up on a lazy sunday afternoon and get lucky. We waited for 4 hours for the atlantic tide to come in and lap at the sea lions basking in the setting sun. We were told that this was the time at which the Orca's were most likely to strike. They didn't but they came very close. Even though we didn't see them attack the anticipation was immense and it made for a great day. One of the highlights to far.
As Jon said, we returned to Bariloche. Stayed for a 5 nights, spent one of them at a Refugio in the mountains which was a great experience as it was a stormy and very windy evening. We also sampled some excellent in-refugio micro brewed beer. Our last night in Bariloche was great and it topped of a great stay in such a beautiful area. We had the Bosch family over for a bbq and wine - Argentine style. So the steaks were thick and rare and the wine was good and cheap.
We are now in Mendoza. Staying in a hostel which is on the 'nightlife strip' which has provided us with...well, beer. Jon and I had a very lazy Sunday. Woke up at 5.10pm. Rickydiculous. As I sit here in the garden writing this by the pool, Jon and Meado are playing pingpong. I think Jon is whipping him.
A wine tour was experienced yesterday, where the mode of transport was bicycles. It was fun and some of the wine we had was great and inexpensive. However, after drinking some top quality tipple we returned to Mr Hugo's (the bicycle tour operator) where we were provided with free wine which was to put it kindly 'grainy and vinegary'.
We go to Salta tomorrow evening where we will make plans to enter Bolivia. The next month is going to go by very quickly.
All the best to everyone at home.
James x (or is this Jon and Steve writing on my behalf...hmmm)
Thursday 1 April 2010
Home-sweet-home!
Phew.... thats was an adventure!
We are back from our roadtrip and back to our second home, bariloche... will we ever leave??...
... Yes, tomorrow.
Im going to keep it short as i promised i would let jim make his first entry on the blog and i also want him to!! Just incase it doesnt happen, a little summery...
We drove about 5.5 thousand kilometers, climbed various mountains, met an auzzie lawyer who every year puts a water melon on his head, drove on trecherous roads, and saw once in a life time natural wonders.
Overall and incredible experience!
Jim, over to you........ (for some details as this teaser will get the audience salivating,and wanting so much more!)
Hope everyone is well?
jonnyx
We are back from our roadtrip and back to our second home, bariloche... will we ever leave??...
... Yes, tomorrow.
Im going to keep it short as i promised i would let jim make his first entry on the blog and i also want him to!! Just incase it doesnt happen, a little summery...
We drove about 5.5 thousand kilometers, climbed various mountains, met an auzzie lawyer who every year puts a water melon on his head, drove on trecherous roads, and saw once in a life time natural wonders.
Overall and incredible experience!
Jim, over to you........ (for some details as this teaser will get the audience salivating,and wanting so much more!)
Hope everyone is well?
jonnyx
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