South American Adventure

Rio De Janeiro and Iguazu Falls

2009-03-13T15:07:00.000-07:00

We arrived in Rio on a mission to make the most of our 4 day stay in this massive city. The first day we decided to go up to the statue of Christ on the cog train as it was a lovely clear sky. Annoyingly after an hour and a half wait for the train the clouds had rolled in so by the time we got to the top the view was a little patchy!

It was still amazing though with great views over the city. In the afternoon we hit Ipanema beach which was a hive of volleyball, football, bat and ball related activity, all performed in Speedo's and dental floss bikinis, quite a sight to behold....!On the second day we booked, thanks to Zoe and Angus, a tandem hang glide off

a mountain called Pedro Bonito with an eventual landing (hopefully!) on Pepino beach. We met our really enthusiastic guide Paulo at the landing site and then drove up to the top of the hill. After a short briefing Jo was the first to brave take off. I shortly followed in a fit of mild terror, however once airborne it was absolutely incredible. We battled to catch thermals however Jo and her guide won hands down (think I've been indulging in a bit too much Brazilian cuisine).

Most importantly we both made a safe landing, and full of adrenalin headed down to Copacabana beach for a relaxing afternoon to bring us back down to earth (with the aid of one or two caiparhinas).

On the third day we did a walking tour through the largest of Rio's 811 favelas, Rocinha.

We were picked up by one of the street vans that are all owned by the mafia that run the favela, then transferred to the back of motor bikes to get to the top of the favela. Our guide told us to not be scared of the mafia men sat around with various firearms and grenades. It was a little unnerving at first, the police basically don't enter the favela and the mafia run their own style of law and order, however it was clear that they were not bothered by gringos! We started by climbing onto the roof of someone's house (with their permission!) that has amazing views over Rio, and makes all too obvious the gap between the poverty stricken favela and the adjacent affluent

neighbourhoods. We then walked down through various alleyways stopping at the most dangerous looking electricity pylon - the favela illegally taps into the city's grid for a free electricity supply!

On the last day we were supposed to go up the Sugar Loaf mountain however another days low cloud put paid to that so instead we chilled out in Copacabana (and bought a world record amount of Havaiana flip-flops!).

A short 26 hour bus ride later found us in the Brazilian city of Foz De Iguazu. We crossed over to the Argentinian side to visit the mighty Iguazu falls. Thanks to John and Joyce we treated ourselves to a boat ride/biggest power shower in the world, and also a jeep tour of the surrounding forest where we finally got to see some toucans!

The falls were absolutely incredible, and a definite highlight to end our trip on. To top it all off we're staying in lovely hostel that has a swimming pool to keep us cool in this 35 degree heat, and again we've met some great people (and have also learned how to make watermelon martinis!).

Today we squeezed in a visit to the Itaipu dam that spans the Pariana river between Paraguay and Brazil. Not the most attractive piece of concrete but quite spectacular as it's two and half kilometres long!

Now we're waiting for a bus back to Sao Paulo, then a flight back home.

Sad that it's the end of our trip but very excited about seeing you all!

Lots of love,

Jo and Al x x x x

Salvador and the beautiful island paradise of Boipeba

2009-03-07T11:09:00.001-08:00

We arrived in Salvador and checked into the Estrella Do Mar pousada owned by Vic´s brother´s friend Sean in the Barra district. As we´d missed Carnival we decided to put the wedding money from Sam and Sarah towards a nice few days in Salvador (thanks Sam and Sarah!). We caught a bus up into the old town and had a lovely stroll around soaking up the local atmosphere (and some coconut milk to keep hydrated!).

We had our first taste of Mocqueca, a local dish of fish stew which was absolutely delicious. In the evening we ventured out to a local bar for our first proper Brazilian caiparhina cocktails and then

onto another great restaurant (all this food is not helping our beach physiques...!).

The following morning it was time to say goodbye to Salvador and journey out to enjoy our wedding present from Vic, Janine, Rob, Arthur (although he wasn´t technically around we like to think he contributed), Soph, Eric, Cat, James, Katie, Tom and Annabelle, a stay at another one of Vic´s brothers friends places (thanks Gavin!) on the island of Boipeba!

We left early and caught a ferry across the bay to Bom Dispachio, then hopped on a bus to Valença before jumping onto a speedboat bound for Boipeba. Pulling up onto the beach there we realised we had truly arrived in paradise, and we walked down a quiet little path at the back of beach to the Pousada Santa Clara owned by a lovely guy called Charles.

The place is totally stunning, lots of little buildings set hidden amongst the greenery, connected by a network of wooden paths.

Charles greeted us and showed us to our two-level tree house along with a lovely terrace area with the obligatory hammocks!

He told us that we weren´t allowed to worry about anything as Victoria had ´sent me a bunch of money and told me to make sure you guys have a really special time´!

And we certainly did have the most amazing few days there walking around the island exploring various beaches, eating beautiful food both at Charles´s restaurant and in the local village and also making sure we had a least one caiparhina a day to celebrate Sophie´s birthday!

It was the perfect romantic place to spend a few days chilling out now our honeymoon is nearing it´s end. Thank you so so much guys for a totally amazing present!

With a large degree of sadness we had to bid farewell to Charles and his piece of paradise, and it was time to hit the road (and water!) again. We went back up to Salvador for another night and have just enjoyed a monster 28 hour bus journey down to Rio De Janeiro.

Looking forward to catching up with you all in a couple of weeks or so!

Lots of love,

Al and Jo x x

Bogota, Leticia and the boat journey to Manaus

2009-02-27T11:38:00.000-08:00

Fortunately the next day in Bogota was much brighter and although it was still not as hot as the Caribbean it was about perfect for city walking! We started with a visit to the Police museum which might sound an odd choice but it´s actually really interesting and you get a free, private guided tour from one of the young men doing their national service. The museum includes a big section on the life of Pablo Escobar and the Medellin cartel all the way up to his eventual capture and fairly brutal death (and weirdly includes his cousin´s Harley Davidson!). We then visited the Botero museum that features lots of paintings by the Colombian artist (and a few others by Monet, Gaugin and Dali). The next morning we took a cable car ride to the top of Cerro Montserrat, a big hill behind that city that has amazing views over the whole of Bogota. In the afternoon we visited the gold museum which was huge (and full of gold, surprisingly....).

The following day and it was time to jump back on a plane (oh the luxury of being able to travel long distances in short times) down to the Amazon part of Colombia to a town called Leticia. The area is known as the triple frontier as it´s where Colombia, Brazil and Peru meet. You can easily walk from Leticia into the neighbouring Brazilian town of Tabatinga without any immigration hassle (unless you plan to travel further into either country). And you can hope on a boat over the other side of the Amazon river to the Island of Santa Rosa which belongs to Peru. We arrived happy to back in the sweltering heat and immediately got down to arranging a jungle tour for the next day. We opted for the slightly more luxurious jungle lodge option over the hardcore trekking and camping in the jungle option, this is a honeymoon after all. Our hostel owner presented us with these fat maggot-like creatures for our first breakfast, we politely declined.....

And so after a earlyish night (including a short stroll into Brazil!) we were up early the next day and down to the port in Tabatinga to meet our boatman, Costa. He took us up river for about an hour and a half over to the Peruvian side where we met our guide Roberto in a really small riverside village called Porto Alegre. After some dolphin spotting he took us briefly back to his village so we could see the local school (no jobs for Jo though unfortunately...).

After this we transferred boats and got into a proper canoe (only oars, no outboard, damn!) and started to paddle through a little inlet off the Amazon. It was hot work but totally amazing as we realised we were now experiencing the jungle proper, and to really hammer the point home it wasn´t long until we spotted our first tarantula sitting on a leaf about 2 feet from our boat! Eventually (after about an hours rowing and tarantula dodging) we emerged out onto the Lake Marasha, home to the Reserva Marasha and our lovely jungle lodge.

After hopping ashore, checking out our cute little room and dropping off our bags, we were back onto the lake for a proper tour around the perimeter. The guide had packed four bananas and we initially thought it was a little snack for us, but we paddled to the other side of the lake, nosed the boat into a hedge and the guide asked us to hold the bananas out in front of us and preceded to whistle. In a matter of seconds, loads of small Titi monkeys were climbing all over us tucking into the bananas! (Not sure on the ethics of feeding the ´wild´animals in reserve but it was still good fun! We did turn down the chance of paying to hold a jaguar the following day!) Once they´d demolished our offerings they were soon back off into the trees leaving us to a relaxing afternoon on the water.

The following day we went on a 4 hour walk into the jungle, which as it´s coming to a high water season, meant even our wellies were pretty useless as we went nervously wading waist deep in water! Unfortunately we didn´t see too much in the way of wildlife (or maybe that can be counted as fortunate given the venomous nature of alot of the creatures in the jungle!) although there were plenty of mosquito´s managing to bite us through our clothing! After arriving back at the lodge and applying plenty of bite cream we were back out on the lake for a fruitless but very relaxing fishing session.

That evening after dinner we went out onto the lake to try and spot some cayman. We think we just about saw one beady red eye from a distance!

The next morning we had a bit of a relax sitting by the lake and decided to have another crack at fishing, but alas it was another fruitless venture! By afternoon it was time to leave and to give us another type of experience, the heavens decided to open, reminding us that we were definitely in a rainforest.

The next day we flew around Leticia and Tabatinga on the back of motorbikes or mototaxis (a cheap but risky way of getting around) sorting out money changing and passport stamping. We then packed up and went down to the port in Tabatinga to board our riverboat that would be our home for the next 4 days and 3 nights on the journey to Manaus. We strung up our hammocks, and proceeded to have a very chilled out few days admiring the scenery. The food was actually pretty good and there was also a bar onboard so all was well!

We arrived in Manaus on the Friday morning and were pleased that we had a flight out of there that same evening as the city is not particularly attractive.

We´re now in Salvador ready to put some more beach miles on the clock!

Hope you´re all okay.

Lots of love.

Al and Jo xxx

Taganga and the Tayrona National Park

2009-02-18T08:13:00.000-08:00

We arrived in Taganga courtesy of the laziest bus service ever, we were picked up outside our hostel in Cartagena and dropped off right outside our hostel in Taganga after the 5 hour drive! Taganga is a little fishing village over the hill from the next main town of Santa Marta, and has a beach (not the cleanest in the world) but also the option to walk up the coast to some slightly nicer, less crowded beaches. We were staying in a hostel called La Casa de Felipe which is definitely one of the best places we´ve stayed in, made even better by the fairly constant 35 degree heat! On arrival we made the sensible decision to spend a couple of weeks here (with a visit to Tayrona National Park wedged in the middle!). Obviously we weren´t the only people to be impressed with the place as the hostel is full of people also making extended stops here!We met loads of sound people, gave the blender an excellent workout making rum based cocktails and also had two fish-fest evenings involving masses of a fish similar to tuna and on the second night a couple of gigantic lobsters (all purchased straight off the beach!)!

Our friend The Sheriff haggling with the lobster salesman........!

The two beauties ready to be boiled.....

(Animal rights activists look away now!) A scene of lobster carnage.......!

We also discovered the best smoothie known to man, Oreo cookie and banana, best consumed on a lilo floating on the Caribbean! After our first week in Taganga we took a trip to the Tayrona National Park a few miles up the coast.It´s a section of gorgeous tropical beaches separated from civilisation by lush jungle, so after a 1 hour journey by car to the entrance you have to hike for an hour through the jungle before stepping out onto something that resembles a scene from LOST!

The rocks and currents are fairly treacherous so swimming spots have to be chosen with care and there´s clear evidence that ships are at risk too....During our three days there we did a nice hike back into the jungle to some ruins called Pueblito and plenty of lying around soaking up more of that 35 degree sunshine. Once again we were sleeping in hammocks which is definitely not as comfortable as it sounds.We did however get to justify the purchase of our mosquito head-nets and remained bite-free for the duration of our stay, although this was at the expense of looking slightly ridiculous!

After our stay we returned to Taganga for more sun/rum/fish based fun at Casa Felipe for another 5 days.

Yesterday we had to wave goodbye to the Caribbean and hopped on a flight down to Bogota. We were greeted by some very UK-like pouring rain and chilly winds and were tempted to hop straight back on the next flight to the coast. However, we decided to stay and are now in another nice new hostel about to step out for some big city sightseeing!

Hope all is well.

Lots of love.

Al and Jo x x x

Cartagena and Playa Blanca

2009-01-30T06:43:00.000-08:00

We arrived in the mid-morning furnace heat of Cartagena De Indias and unfortunately, due a small bus mishap, had to carry our backpacks for a mile or so to our hostel in the Getsemani district of the old town! Cartagena is a beautiful walled city with lots of Spanish architecture and it sits right on the Caribbean coast. We spent a nice few days strolling around the old town soaking up the atmosphere.One day we took a trip out to visit a mud volcano called Totumo. The volcano is only 20 metres high and the small crater at the top is filled with warm mud heated by gases below! It´s a really strange sensation as you step in and feel really buoyant! Any attempt to try and swim seems futile and you have to rely on some poor chap who works in there to push you in to position! After a brief massage you then step out to let the mud dry on you which doesn´t take long in 40 degree heat before climbing down to the lagoon next door to clean all the mud off.

After a few days of being in the beautiful but hot oven of Cartagena, it was time to head to what is said to be Colombia´s nicest beach Playa Blanca. The journey there is quite interesting as it requires a 45 minute local bus ride, 5 mins over a canal on a canoe then 20 mins on the back of a motorbike which delivers you direct to the beach!As we stepped on to the white sand though we realised it had definitely been worth it - finally we were on a `honeymoon beach´! The beach is of the classic Caribbean style (warm crystal clear water, palm trees etc!) and the accommodation for our two night stay was in hammocks right on the beach! It was an excellent few days and after another night in Cartagena tonight we´re off up the coast to a place called Taganga for more of the same. Really disappointed to be missing all that snow.........

Love to all.

Jo and Al x

Cali, Salento and Medellin

2009-01-26T12:52:00.000-08:00

We travelled up to the north of Ecuador and spent a couple of days in Atacames, Ecuador`s very own Blackpool! Then we flew from Esmeraldas into Cali for our first taste of Colombia. Cali is a bustling city and is supposedly the plastic surgery capital of the world, and after strolling round the city for a while we think we can safely say this title is deserved! We visited Cali zoo which was quite good as far as zoos go although after seeing so many different animals in the wild in Galapagos it was a little tame!From Cali we travelled to the coffee region, or the Zona Cafetera, to a beautiful little town called Salento. The countryside is so green and lush, not unlike good old Britain, although the massive wax palm trees are a constant reminder we haven´t accidentally ended up in Wales! We stayed in a lovely hostel called The Plantation House owned by an English guy and his Colombian wife. It used to be a coffee finca and is set on the top of a hill at the side of town with incredible views (especially from the hammocks at the bottom of the garden!). He also recently bought a coffee farm down the lane that we visited which again is stunning. One of the benefits to staying in the hostals here is free great coffee available 24/7, although having consumed about a gallon between us on our first day and not getting a great deal of sleep we learned to moderate our intake! We took one of the local jeeps (that take the place of buses in this rural area!) out to the Valle de Cocora and did a lovely hike (if a little muddy!) up to a place called Acaime.There`s a simple little cafe set in the cloud forest and there are hundreds of different coloured hummingbirds constantly buzzing around.

On our final night the owner asked if we were going to head into town to play `Tejo´. He explained that it was like boule or petanque but things are made more interesting by the addition of little paper triangle targets that are filled with gunpowder! Hearing this we decided we needed to try it out, the added bonus being it´s free to play as long as you buy some beer! We walked down to the Tejo bar with a couple we´d met a few minutes previously (hello Siobhan and Anthony!) who were also filled with intrigue to find the owner only too willing to show us the ropes (and ply us with beer!). The game is great fun (even better when you modify it by adding a few more triangle targets to make bigger explosions!) and makes me think that the French really need to re-write the rules of petanque!

We then bussed it from Salento up to the once infamous city of Medellin where we stayed last night on our way up to the Caribbean coast (and a few weeks of lazing around in the sunshine!). From the little we´ve seen of Medellin it´s no longer the danger zone it once was and everyone we´ve met seems really welcoming and friendly. In fact Colombia as a whole has, so far, been so welcoming and great to travel round!

Keep on keeping in touch!

Lots of love,

Jo and Al x x

Rafting in Banos

2009-01-18T13:29:00.000-08:00

Just a few rafting pics.. can spot us amongst the rapids? Al is at the front with a blue helmet and I´m sensibly it the back in yellow.

It was excellent!!!

More pics from the Galapagos

2009-01-15T07:35:00.000-08:00

We were about the only two people on the trip who hadn´t invested in some kind of underwater camera techonology. However the kind people who had have sent us some of their pics (thanks Ronit and Kelly!).

Quito, Banos and Riobamba

2009-01-12T13:41:00.001-08:00

We spent a few days in Quito visiting various places recommended to us (thanks Sal, love the Magic Bean Cafe!). We did plenty of walking around the older and newer parts of the city. However we did go against her advice to visit the Mitad Del Mundo museum that marks the Equator, although it´s about 200 metres off the real line!It was a pretty bad museum but has to be done for the photos! We also visited a better museum next door that is apparently on the actual equator and randomly bumped into some friends from our Galapagos trip (Ed, Lynne and Andrew!). Here we had some demonstrations of water running out of a bowl both clockwise and anti-clockwise depending which side of the equator the bowl was placed.Our friends kindly gave us a lift back into Quito and we stopped on the way back to go up in a cable car that climbs up to the top of a mountain giving amazing views of the city.They also very kindly took pity on us as we were having credit card issues and took us out for a meal in the evening (thank you so so much!).

We then left Quito and travelled down to Banos. The Foreign Office website actually advises against all travel to Banos due to the fact of very active volcano that sits next door to it, however this had the benefit of making accommodation pretty cheap! From here we hired a little buggy and had a hair raising drive down the Ruta de Cascadas (Road of Waterfalls, yes our spanish is coming along nicely....)) to visit the Pailon del Diablo, an impressive, massive waterfall!The journey was made slightly more hair raising when Jo attempted a 3 point turn in the end of a tunnel on a bend, after this she was relegated to passenger/navigator duties, but this didn´t make for any more of a safe journey as she made repeated efforts to grab the steering wheel and plenty of shouting about my flawless driving.....(Jo is daring me to make some comparison with her Mum here, but I´ll refrain...) We could actually climb (following an impromptu bit of caving!) up so we could stand behind the water as it came thundering past which was amazing.

We also decided to do our rafting wedding gift (thanks to Dan and Cecilia!) here on the Rio Pastaza as opposed to Tena as we probably won´t be visiting there. It was the first time that either of us had done it and it was excellent! The rapids were grade III-IV although this doesn´t mean a great deal to us, it was pretty hairy though! We managed to make it to the bottom intact anyway which is the main thing!

We also did a night trip up to try and see the volcano from the other side of the valley, however we didn´t see it for long as some thick clouds rolled in! We visited some thermal springs too where you can alternate between standing underneath a freezing waterfall and lounging in a 45 degree pool!

After a few more days relaxing (well as relaxed as you can be next to a volcano!) in Banos we left to do the Devil´s Nose train ride from Riobamba. Riobamba wasn´t particularly nice and we stayed in what we rated as the worst hostel yet, however there was a dancing parade that passed under our window so it wasn´t all bad.Unfortunately the train that makes the precarious journey clinging to cliff edges was broken so we had to get another bus further down the line to a place called Aloisi. From here we could take a funny little one carriage tourist train down the most scenic part of the route, made more fun by the fact that you can sit on the roof!

Next came decision time, either to continue south to Cuenca or to re-route to the coast. We´d decided that we´d done plenty of altitude city tours and more beach time was in order so the coast won. We´re now back in Montanita and are going to continue heading north up the coast. Then we fly into Colombia which wasn´t part of our original semi-plan but we keep hearing how excellent it is so we thought we better try it out.

Missing you all.

Lots of love,

Jo and Al x x

Christmas and New Year in the Galapagos Islands

2009-01-02T16:21:00.000-08:00

We spent what turned out to be a rather disappointing evening in Guayaquil on Christmas Eve. We thought we´d go out to Las Penas (pleasant and colourful part of the city) for a nice meal only to find that all restaurants seemed to be closed for the night. We strolled back into the centre of town to find that the only eating establishment left open was a KFC!

We were up nice and early on Christmas morning to catch our flight to the Galapagos and landed over there in gorgeous sunshine and 25 degree heat, and met up with our guide Sergio and our fellow cruisers. We were staying on a big, spacious motorboat called Darwin which slept 16 passengers (we even had private bathrooms!) and we joined this on the island of Baltra. After boarding we were served a nice big Christmas lunch .However, just as we were finishing the mains there was a loud knock followed by the sound of glass smashing and I turned to see Jo clutching her head in pain. A glass light fitting had fallen from the ceiling of the boat and had caught her right on the head (fortunately it had smashed on hitting the floor rather than her head). She´s a pretty tough girl though so there was no fainting but unfortunately quite a bit of blood appeared and it was apparent that we´d have to go to hospital to get it checked out. By this time we´d set sail so we had to be dropped off at the nearest port right at the northern end of the main island of Santa Cruz where a taxi took us down to the main town at the southern end, Puerto Ayora.

The hospital was a pretty basic but clean and efficient affair (I carefully watched to ensure all products were sterile and that aseptic technique was adhered to!), and the Doctor decided that Jo would need a couple of stitches. So after a bit more discomfort for Jo we left to rejoin the Darwin with Jo a bit light headed but determined to still make the most of the trip. Unfortunately the Doctor had advised us that Jo should not snorkel which was something approaching disastrous when that´s one of the main daytime activities on a cruise. However after being a compliant patient for a whole one day, suffering watching everyone go off snorkeling, we had to try and come up with a way to mean Jo could get in the water but keep her head dry. The best option was a small duty-free carrier bag which just squeezed over Jo´s head, with the added bonus of a borrowed wetsuit hat! The end result had Jo looking like an elite fighter in the SBS but it was remarkably good at keeping her head nice and dry.

So on we went to enjoy what was an absolutely incredible trip, visiting 11 of the islands. We saw blue-footed boobies doing their courting dance, were followed by a troop of prehistoric looking frigate birds wherever we sailed, came face to face with land and marine iguanas, giant tortoises, penguins, snorkeled with loads of sea lions, fur seals, white-tipped sharks, rays (manta, sting and eagle!), angel fish, parrot fish, sea turtles. Not to mention volcanic scenery, lava fields and tunnels! Rather than bang on about that and every detail of our trip, here are a few photo´s that tell the story!

Our final night on board was New Years Eve and we decided to introduce everyone to Sally Macs game (a type of charade´s taught to us by Janine). It went down a treat and didn´t end in a heated argument as has previously been the case! Stupidly Jo and I had mentioned our wedding dance to our fellow passengers during the cruise and this came back to bite us when we were coerced into doing a (really poor!) rendition on the boat just after midnight!

We´re now in Quito and are quite gutted that the trip is over. However still 83 days to go so it´s not all bad (as I write this I realise that most will be suffering from New Year depression heading back to work in a cold, wet England so we don´t have any right to moan! You can always come and join us in Brazil for Carnaval!!).

A very Happy 2009 to you all.

Lots of love from

Jo and Al x x x x x

Happy Christmas from Montanita

2008-12-24T13:04:00.000-08:00

We have spent the last five days relaxing on the beach in Montanita which is a very touristy little surf/beach resort on the coast of Ecuador with brilliant sea food. Our Hostel (Brisa Marina) was right on the beach so we could swing in the hammock and watch the sun set... awesome! We also had a go at surfing and the waves were pretty easy so even Jo managed to stand up. The rest of our time has been spent drinking the most amazing fruit smoothies, eating pan au chocolate, drinking cocktails...(Montanita has a street dedicated to cocktails!)... and taking silly photos on the beach!!!! Great news is that we have managed to get a last minute deal to the Galapagos Islands so we fly there tomorrow (Christmas Day) and will spend the next 8 days on a boat cruising the Islands. We will be sure to let you know how we´ve got on.

A Very Merry Christmas to you all and have a great New Years Eve.

Lots and lots of love,

Jo and Al xxxx

Lima and Mancora

2008-12-18T14:41:00.000-08:00

After a short(ish) bus ride along the Peruvian coast we arrived in Lima. The city is huge and we stayed in the southern district of Barranco. The main bonus here was the close proximity of our hostel to the most incredible little fish restaurant where we sampled ´cerviche´ for the first time (raw fish marinaded in lime and chili).We also went into the centre of the city to the Plaza de Armas and got there in time to see the changing of the guard at the presidential palace. There was loads of riot police around (apparently they´re present every day for the procession!) and we witnessed a mini-protest (only a very small bit of tear gas used). We headed back south along the beach (not as nice as Bournemouth beach!) from Miraflores back to our hostel in time to catch the fish restaurant before closing!

After our very brief stop in Lima we wanted to start heading towards Ecuador for Christmas and New Year. Flights to Quito from Lima were astronomical so we instead decided to stick to what we do best and buy yet another 16 hour bus ride! Rather than face the painful 30 odd hour trip all the way to Quito, we decided to stop at the beach resort of Mancora in northern Peru for a night or two.

This turned out to be a wise choice as we managed to find a hostel with beautiful little beach front cabañas just outside town. We had a lovely 2 days chilling by the beach and one boozy night on the rum! And randomly we bumped into two friends (Jim and Tom) from the Inca Trail.

Ecuador was calling though, so after another bus ride (with Al nursing another little bout of stomach issues..... but we won´t go into that) we arrived in Guayaquil to do a little bit of Galapagos research for the day.

Next stop is the Ecuadorian coast to find a nice little place to spend the festive period (probably Montanita or Canoa).

Al drinking rum and trying to look like a pirate....

Lots of love (hope it´s not too chilly back in the UK...!).
Jo and Al x x

Arequipa, The Colca Canyon and The Nazca Lines

2008-12-17T16:52:00.000-08:00

When we arrived in Arequipa we booked straight onto a three day hike into the Colca Canyon (Thanks to Alex), as if we hadn´t hiked enough on the Inca Trail! The Colca Canyon is one of the deepest canyons in the world and it is also the home to the Andean Condor. We went with a couple from Belgium and our guide Marcel who had grown up in one of the villages in the canyon. The first day we walked into the canyon which was all downhill so fairly painless and gave us a chance to see three condors which were massive (wing spans of about 3metres). That night we stayed at the family home of our guide in a small adobe hut with a thatched roof and we kept warm around a camp fire.The second day we walked through the canyon visiting two villages which are totally cut off as they currently have no roads to them. The villages had primary schools but, when they reach secondary school age, the children have to walk up and out of the canyon to a school in the town at the top. Essentially our trek was Marcel´s old walk to school!!Marcel was also able to point out which trees and shrubs they used as various medicines (apparently wild pepper is very good for arthritic pain) and he gave us cactus fruit, miniature pears and some weird banana type things to try.At the end of the second days walk we stayed in a place called the Oasis which had a swimming pool and lots of little huts.Unfortunately as we arrived the heavens opened so our swimming was limited to a quick dip and then we kept ourselves amused playing cards, football and Al tried his hand at a bit of trout fishing. On the final day, we got up at 5am and started the steep climb of 1200 metres back up and out of the Canyon. It took two and a half hours and several chocolate biscuits but we made it! At the top we caught a bus to Chivay where we stopped for lunch and saw lots of dancing in the streets and celebrations as it was a religious festival. Al putting his rabies jab to the test....

Back in Arequipa we decided it was about time we gave our walking boots a rest and we checked into Arequipa´s only five star hotel for a couple of nights of luxury (Thanks to Auntie Sue, Uncle Mark and family). The hotel was amazing and it was great to spend two days lying by a swimming pool and relaxing. We also made sure we got our moneys worth with the buffet breakfast going up a record six times to fill our plates!

From Arequipa we caught an overnight bus to Nazca where we went to the Aerodrome and took an overflight (Thanks to Auntie Pauline). There are hundreds of figures and shapes in the Nazca desert believed to have been created between 200BC and 700AD and they are best viewed from the air. We set off in a small propeller plane which held five of us and a disturbingly young pilot.During the flight Al saw lines such as the monkey, the hummingbird, the astronaut and the spider. Unfortunately, due to the bumpy ride and the constant swerving from side to side, Jo just saw the bottom of the sick bag! We decided not to stay in Nazca as the town is pretty ropey and, following our flight, we jumped straight on a bus to the capital city, Lima.

Lots of love

Jo and Al x x

The faces of two people who are going to check into a five star hotel after having just climbed out of a 1200 metre canyon.....

Cuzco, The Sacred Valley and the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu

2008-12-05T08:27:00.000-08:00

Next stop was Cuzco. We arrived in the city with a few days to spare before setting off on the Inca Trail. Our hostel had a lovely roof terrace with beaufitul views over the city which we could enjoy every morning at breakfast. There are loads of Inca ruins around here besides Machu Picchu and we took a local bus out to a site called Tambomachay which has some impressive aqueducts, canals and waterfalls. We then had a nice 8km walk back to Cuzco taking in a further 3 sites ending at the large Saqsaywaman site (pronounced sexy woman!). This features some incredible Inca stonework including one 300 ton stone! Cuzco is said to be built in the shape of a puma and this site represents the head of the puma. Having looked at maps of the area we really couldn´t see it, but all very impressive nonetheless! Although for a short time we became the biggest tourist attraction as we were accosted by a group of Peruvian kids who all wanted their photo´s taken with the pale, blond gringos!

We also went out a little further afield into the Sacred Valley to visit another 3 Inca sites and a church. One site at Ollantaytambo features a temple at it´s summit where 6 huge stones were actually quarried 5km away over the other side of the valley at the top of a 3000m mountain! These 6 stones had to be rolled down that mountain, taken across a river and taken up to the top of the Inca site (about another 300 metres uphill!). Not bad considering this was all done in the 15th century! The site also has some amazing terracing (that can be seen at lots of Inca sites).

After a few more days chilling out in Cuzco it was time to embark on the 27 mile, 4 day/3 night Inca Trail. We were met at our hostel at 5.30am for the 2 hour bus ride to the start point just past Ollantaytambo along with the 12 other people in our group. The first day is classed as the ´easy´ day, starting at 2600 metres above sea level with a 7.5 mile trek to the first campsite, Wayllabamba, at 3000masl. We had heard reports from others that we´d met that the food from the company we were trekking with was really good and getting to the designated lunch stop midway through the first day we were amazed to find a dining tent awaiting our arrival together with an incredible 3 course lunch. Our group had 20 porters who had the unfortunate task of carrying all of the food, tents and cooking equipment (including big gas cannisters!)! Somewhat embarrassingly they applauded us each time we stumbled into the next lunch stop or camping site (they routinely carry around 25 kilos, our packs weighed around 8-10 kilos!). We got used to having them jog past us up hills as we crawled our way along!The second day is classed as ´challenging´. We left the campsite at 7.00am and had an imposing view of the ´challenge´ that lay ahead, a climb up from our camp at 3000masl to the first pass at 4200masl called Huarmihuañusca or Dead Woman´s Pass! We certainly found it a challenge but everyone is allowed to go at their own pace so we took our time trying to remind ourselves that we were meant to be enjoying the experience and the spectular scenery. Reaching the pass was amazing and the views back down the mountain and trail we had climbed were beautiful. We then had a knee-jarring descent to our second nights campsite, Pacamayo, which was at 3600masl. We were happy to arrive there although again somewhat embarrassed as the porters once again clapped our arrival!

The third day is described as ´unforgettable´. We awoke early again to climb up to the second pass, Runkuracay, at 4000masl. After this we started to descend into amazing cloud forest before climbing again to the third (and final!) pass, at 3700masl. We passed through two Inca tunnels that had been carved into caves and the scenery all along the way was breathtaking. The guides warned us that the 1000 steps down from here to the final campsite at Wiñay Wayna (2700masl) were particularly steep and had earned the nickname ´gringo killer´! So we took our time and again the views were totally stunning. On our way into the final campsite we were greeted by a little lady selling nicely chilled beers and it seemed incredibly rude to pass by without supporting her cause, and we definately think this was the nicest beer has ever tasted!! The fourth and final day is described as ´unique´, the principal reason being that it takes you to Machu Picchu. We´d had 3 days of really good weather (considering this is the rainy season here it had only rained at night when we safely tucked into our sleeping bags). So we were all a bit gutted to wake on the final morning at 4.30am to really low cloud and rain. At least we got a chance to try the ponchos we´d purchased fearing the worst in Cuzco! We left for the climb up to Intipunku (Sun Gate) where, on a clear day, you can enjoy the sun rising over Machu Picchu laid out in the valley below. Sadly we could barely see a few metres so after a few shots modelling our poncho´s, we headed on down to Machu Picchu with our guide´s attempts of reassurance that it would ´probably´clear up later on ringing in our ears (although he did also start to say as time wore on that it can stay really cloudy all day!). We got down to the site with everything still covered in a blanket of heavy cloud and were starting to get really concerned that we were not going to be able to enjoy the famous picture postcard view in real life. Whilst we were stood trying to form mental pictures of the site from the tiny bits we could see a little clearing occurred in the clouds above and all of a sudden the centre of Machu Picchu was lit up in front of us. With the surrounding cloud it made for an amazing sight and our guide seemed positive that the clouds were beginning to disperse. We went down into the ruins for a guided tour during which time the cloud cleared almost entirely revealing Machu Picchu in all it´s glory. The other added bonus (although not for our weary legs) was that we were able to climb the famous mountain, Huayna Picchu, that sits in the backdrop of all postcard pictures of the site. Normally the restricted daily 400 tickets for this extra climb get quickly snapped up but, as the cloud had set in, people hadn´t bothered trying to get the tickets. It was a ridiculously steep 360m climb up from Machu Picchu but we´d had plenty of practise in the previous few days and we arrived at the small rocky summit to look back at great views of the ruins below. We descended back down to climb up to the otherside once more to get a few final pictures of MP in all it´s glory from the classic angle.

Sadly it was time to leave and we were bussed down to the town of Aguas Calientes for lunch. As our train back to Ollantaytambo didn´t leave until 6pm we still had time to visit the thermal baths in the town (only a few of the more hygienicly concious people in our group had taken advantage of the only showers on the Inca Trail at the last campsite, so this visit was completely necessary!). So we basked our aching bodies in the nice warm pools with cool beers in hand for an hour or so (we could have stayed in there all night!) before making our way back to Cuzco by train and bus, back to normal beds and hot(ish) showers!

We were both tired but agreed that it had been absolutely incredible and a definate highlight of out adventure so far. We were really lucky to have done the trek with such a great bunch of people and two brilliant guides.

Next stop, Arequipa and the Colca Canyon. We figured that with all the high altitude exercise we´ve had it´s best to tackle the canyon now. Then it´s time for some R&R and Christmas beach action (or lack of!).

Still missing you all!

Keep in touch.

Lots of love.

Jo and Al x x x

Lake Titicaca (from all angles!)

2008-11-27T08:59:00.000-08:00

Next stop was Copacabana (not the Brazilian one unfortunately) but the Bolivian town on the edge of LakeTiticaca - apparently not quite the highest navigable body of water in the world but close at 3800 metres above sea level. The trip up from La Paz is quite interesting as it involves crossing a small channel of water where boats and passengers are separated for the crossing. At first we were a little apprehensive leaving our bags etc on the bus but were glad we hadn´t stayed on the bus when we saw the floating planks that the buses sat precariously on whilst wobbling their way over!

Copacabana itself is not that amazing (apart from the readily available fresh trout). We, like most others here, were using it as a point to reach the Isla Del Sol on the lake (the Inca´s believe that the Sun and Moon were born in the lake - next to Isla Del Sol is Isla De La Luna). We decided to spend a couple of days on the island which was absolutely stunning. For 3 GBP per room per night we stayed in a hostel with the most incredible views and were treated to world class sunsets every night. We also walked the length of the island to see some Inca ruins at the northern end before catching a boat back to the south. We would have been happy to stay on the island for a week or more but, owing to the fact that it´s fairly remote and we couldn´t access any extra funds and also our 30 day limit in Bolivia was about to expire, we sadly had to leave.

So back to Copacabana for a few hours before crossing an amusing and hectic border by bus into Peru (ie, get off the bus passports in hand, walk down a road with donkeys and llamas everywhere and people trying to sell us all sorts including their donkeys and llamas, into a little hut on Bolivian side, back out on to the hectic street across the ´border´, into another little hut on the Peruvian side, jump back on to the bus!).

Next stop was Puno in Peru, another town on the shores of the lake. From here we visited a restored boat on the lake called the Yavari that was bought by the Peruvian Navy in the 1860´s. The boat was actually built in Birmingham and shipped in kit form around Cape Horn to the Chilean coast before being transported by mule across land to the lake! The boat was rescued from ruin in the 1990´s by an English lady who is overseeing it´s restoration. We were given a guided tour by the slightly crazy captain who, upon finding out our Birmingham connections, excitedly referred to us as ´Birmingham´throughout the rest of the tour!

As part of our wedding present from Alek and Jean Kisley (thank you!) we also visited the floating Uros Islands just off Puno which were impressive (the plan had been to stay overnight here but unfortnately you can´t do this, but we´d already eaten out weight in trout dinners on Isla Del Sol which more than made up for it!). The Islands are made from reeds and it´s a weird sensation walking around feeling the floor flex underneath you!

Next stop is Cusco and the Inca Trail.

Keep in touch!

Lots of love

Jo and Al x x

(ps yes, we couldn´t resist purchasing some ´travellers´ head gear!)

La Paz and Coroicco (via the worlds most dangerous road on mountain bikes)

2008-11-18T11:04:00.000-08:00

We arrived in the capital La Paz after our first overnight Bolivian bus experience which in all fairness was not that bad. As anyone who's been here may agree it's like someone found a huge valley between giant mountains and dropped a city into it. The first thing we wanted to find out after arrival was whether we could find a cinema that was screening the new 007 film in english (we're only happy to immerse ourselves into this travelling so far!)! Once we'd satisfied our Bond hunger (together with two buckets of ice cream) we were able to start wandering around the city taking in the various thousands of market stalls, the presidential palace and also a visit to the coca museum. We also walked passed the city (San Pedro) prison where some braver travellers pay fixers for the priviledge of an illegal guided tour, apparently it's got shops and restaurants and the richest inmate enjoys a three storey cell along with flatscreen tv's in each room! We were too concerned that we may accidentally get left in there, although it doesn't sound all that bad!

After a couple of days walking the city, we left early one morning to go on 'the worlds most dangerous road' mountain bike tour (thankyou Emily and Dave!). A minibus took us up to La Cumbre, a mountain pass at 4700 metres above sea level and we all disembarked to be presented with the mountain bikes that were going to be responsible for carrying us 64km down to an altitude of 1100mabsl! After a short safety briefing, we had to pour a drop of alcohol onto the front wheel of our bikes before taking a swig ourselves as a prayer to Pachamama for a safe passage. Then we set off. The first 20km was on tarmac road and fairly straightforward although we hadn't realised that whilst most of this was steep downhill, there was 8km of uphill at 3500mabsl (ie very little oxygen!). Needless to say Jo overtook Al at this point. We then reached the turn off for the 44km of the worlds most dangerous road proper, basically a gravel track around 3 metres wide chiselled into the cliff egde with no barriers and sheer drops of 1000m waiting to eat you if you get it all wrong! (Needless to say Al overtook Jo at this point!)

Both of us made it to the bottom unscathed and able to enjoy a cold beer at an animal sanctuary. We then took a taxi with a few of the people we'd met on the bikes to the town of Coroicco. Here we stayed at Sol y Luna a pretty retreat amongst the trees of the cloud forest. It was amazing to suddenly be somewhere so green and humid after weeks at altitude. Unfortunately the downside of this is the amount of bugs and, despite using our mosquito net for the first time, Jo had a rude awakening at 2am to find a two inch long caterpillar crawling in her hair.. argh! We also had to share our outdoor shower and toilet with a frog and spider (Jo got particularly friendly with these due to an onset of Bolivia Belly!). Not sure how we will survive in the amazon proper! The views from our little garden outside the room and learning card games from Damien and Charmain (who we met on the bike ride) made it all worthwhile...

Now we are back in La Paz briefly before heading to Copacabana and Lake Titicaca.

Keep in touch

Jo and Al xxxx

Beardlog

2008-11-08T13:33:00.000-08:00

Sadly I have to report that the big beard I´d been cultivating has had to be removed. Jo was getting irritated by my new found fondness of playing with my moustache (which was handily long enough to go in my mouth). On the plus side I got to go a Bolivian barbers for a haircut which was excellent, although my limited language skills made things tricky. Before

After

Fortunately he had lots of pictures of haircuts (mainly from the 1980´s and early 90´s) that I could pick from. He also had a picture of Chuck Norris on the mirror so I knew he could be trusted. He didn´t disappoint

Tupiza, Potosi and Sucre

2008-11-07T05:13:00.001-08:00

We arrived in Tupiza and checked into a (relatively!) luxurious hotel as a small treat after the last few days being couped up in a Land Cruiser. Planned activity here on Janine and Rob´s recommendation (in fact our entire trip is basically copying them!) and courtesy of Team Whittle as a wedding gift was a few days horse riding. The area is popular for horse riding with people keen to do their best Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid impressions (as they met their end in nearby San Vicente, we didn´t want to do that bit!). We went to investigate the various tours on offer and decided that our backsides may struggle with anything more than a few hours on horseback, so opted for a short tour to a local canyon. Our guide was a 13 year old Bolivian boy and the horses weren´t in tip-top condition (Hel, not sure you would have given your Vet´s approval!) but it was great fun. We rode out to some local canyons and the landscapes were stunning. After 3 hours the rain was coming in so we decided to call it a day, bits were starting to chaff at this point too! We decided that we´d do some more horsey bits later on in our travels to make up for bottling out of a few days excursion in Tupiza!Next stop was Potosi, the highest city in the world at 4100 metres (we laugh in the face of altitude now!). We spent a pleasant few days here, and took a local bus out to a local hot pool that´s situated in the crater of a low lying volcano which was cool. Our stop here also coincided with ´The Day of the Dead´ which is a two day holiday where locals remember relatives and friends who have passed away. The markets are filled with bright pink pastries that people buy to leave as gifts at the graves of loved ones (we bought one so we could take this photo and Al ate it?!?!).Unfortunately Al developed his first (and hopefully last) bit of Bolivian food poisoning thanks to (we think) a humble piece of cheesecake. A days bedrest was needed (watching the US presidential election on CNN!) before we moved on to the next stop in Sucre.

Sucre is an attractive city where pretty much every building is whitewashed. It also turns out to be a good spot to go horseriding so we opted to do a ride to the ´seven waterfalls´in a nearby valley. This time we set out with a Bolivian adult guide and two much healthier looking horses form the edge of the city. We had to pass through the city limits which means passing thousands of little kids shouting "hola". Once through this we came over the top of a hill to look down onto some lovely valleys and had to have lots of faith in our trusty steeds as we trotted along narrow paths with sheer drops of a few hundred feet one poorly placed hoof away. We then had to dismount and lead our horses down the very steep slopes to the bottom of the valley and the seven waterfalls. Once down at the bottom though we tied up the horses and walked up to waterfall number 4 for a nice refreshing swim in the natural pool (yes the water really was that colour!!) and a spot of lunch.We had to lead our horses back up the steep slope and Al´s horse was really not enjoying the experience, in 25 degree heat it was an amusing sight seeing Al trying to drag a fully grown horse up a hill! By the time we´d returned to town we´d developed some serious walking issues and any seating needed to be very well cushioned!

We also did a decent walk around some of the city´s sites and climbed to the roof of an old convent (now a school) for nice views of the city from the bell tower.

On Sunday we visited a local village 2 hours bus ride away called Tarabuco, known for it´s excellent textile market which involved lots of haggling! On the way back we jumped into one of a line of small people carriers (designed to hold 5-6 people in relative comfort) only to be joined by another 11 Bolivians for a cosy ride home!

Next stop La Paz!

Lots of love.

Jo and Al x x x

Salta, San Pedro De Atacama and Salares De Uyuni

2008-10-29T11:05:00.000-07:00

We wanted to break up our journey from Mendoza to San Pedro De Atacama so we decided to stop off in Salta (northern Arg) for a couple of days. We took a local bus out to the countryside to do a bit of walking and ended up following a little river through a lush, green valley. In fact we could have been in Wales, it was even drizzling! Very beautiful though, even with some of the locals laughing at us having our picnic in the rain.From here we travelled to San Pedro De Atacama in Chile which gave us our first real taste of high altitude as the bus crosses the Andes at an altitude of approx 4400 metres above sea level. As the journey was in the day we were able to appreciate the most amazing views as the bus negotiated endless switchbacks. We weren´t sure whether we experienced any effects of being so high up, at the hostel in Salta the night before we´d enjoyed a BBQ (again with as much wine as we could drink, seems to be a common theme here...!) so felt a bit tender anyway!

San Pedro is a nice little place (if a little on the touristy side) consisting of dirt roads and adobe housing, and is perched on the edge of the Atacama desert, apparently the driest in the world. We were greeted at the bus terminal by different touts from various local hostels and picked one at random. It turned out to be an excellent choice, a gorgeous little adobe development with a courtyard furnished with hammocks. We even upgraded from a standard double to a room with a big double bed, two singles and a little lounge area as it cost 7 pounds per night each as opposed to 6 (and this is a honeymoon you know!).

Julia had bought us a sunrise visit to the nearby El Tatio geysers as a wedding present which, despite the 4am get up, was awesome. The geyser field was amazing (if a little cold at 4321 metres at that time in the morning!). We were given breakfast including hard boiled eggs prepared in the boiling water from the geysers! We also had a dip in some hot springs which was lovely considering the air temperature was still around 5 degrees! On the way back to San Pedro we stopped at a little village and had llama kebabs and goats cheese empanada´s (essentially Cornish pasties!) for lunch - no wine this time though.

Another thing that the area is known for is the very clear and normally cloudless skies, making star gazing opportunities excellent. We´d had recommendations from people we´d met in Salta to do a tour to a little observatory run by a well known French astronomer, so we booked on to do this. The guy is quite an eccentric but obviously really knows his stuff. We started with a session just looking at the sky with the naked eye and he used a green laser pen to point out various stars and constellations. We then moved to his garden which has around 10 different telescopes pointing to different parts of the sky. Through these we got to see jupiter, subaru (the one the car´s named after!) and loads of other stars.

We left San Pedro on a 3 day jeep tour which took us first to the Bolivian Border (a tiny hut in the middle of nowhere with a Bolivian flag) and then to some of the most amazing places we´ve ever seen.

The first day consisted of white, green and red lagoons, more flamingos than you could imagine and a brief swim in some hot springs before dinner. Our driver was called Mario and his wife, Eva did all the cooking. She was fantastic and continually managed to cook up tasty meals for all us hungry gringos! Also in our jeep were Tom and Wendy (from Belgium) and Juan and Jose Luis (from Spain). Quite a squeeze but great fun non the less.

The first nights accommodation was basic to say the least. A six bed cell with no hot water and no electricity. Al and I huddled together under about 7 blankets to conserve body heat as the temperature dropped to -15 degrees.

On the second day we saw Dali´s rocks and views of Bolivias only active volcano. We also broke down and from that point on we all had to push the jeep whenever we needed to get it started! We stayed in a tiny but friendy village called Colcha K and this time we had warm showers - a real treat!

We left Cocha K at 5am in order to reach the salt flats for sunrise. Unfortunately it was a little cloudy but the pancakes smothered in dulche de leche made up for the lack of good photo opportunities. In the middle of the salt flats there is an island covered in massive cacti which you can walk around and see 360 degree views of the salt flats. It was incredible. We sat at the top and looked out at the miles and miles of white salt - a really magical moment.

Where´s the Wally? (Above picture is expecially for Emma - can you spot me?!!)

We then went out onto the salt flats and had lots of fun taking silly photos (the classics - see below!).

The tour ended in Uyuni but as there is not alot to see and do here Mario, our driver, had kindly fixed us up with another jeep to take us the 5 hours down to Tupiza. This turned out to be a brilliant experience as Al and I were the only non-Bolivians in the jeep. Our driver, Carlos was fortunately very careful as the trip through the mountains could have been pretty hairy if we´d taken the bus. The other passengers consisted of a little old lady in her bowler hat who was continually munching coca leaves and giggling and a couple with their young son, Diego. We made two stops on the journey, one to let the couple off and to pick up two more men and a woman and the other in the mountains for "pi pi". It was at this point I realised why the little bolivian women where such big skirts and I began to regret my choice of combat trousers for the journey!

Next stop Potosi,

lots of love

The Masons xxxx

Mendoza, in pictures....

2008-10-22T13:39:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Mikey we had a wine tour in Mendoza.....

Many barrels of wine...

A HUGE barrel of wine...

Cheers!

Tasting wine... (in matching tops)...

Arriving at the restaurant for a late lunch (including as much wine as we could manage...)

Amazing food laid out for us.....

After `managing´ many, many glasses of wine .....

Now off to Salta for a detox!

Ciao.

Al and Jo x x

Valparaiso, Vina Del Mar, Ritoque and Santiago

2008-10-18T09:08:00.000-07:00

Another relatively short bus ride (of 10 hours....) and we'd arrived in the very colourful coastal city of Valparaiso. We had 2 days exploring here and the neighbouring city of Vina Del Mar. Valpo has a cool open air art gallery where artists have been invited to use the sides of houses and walls in a suburb to paint. Vina has quite a nice big beach and a huge colony of pelicans that swoop around the coast.We discovered our next stop by accident when we were looking for hostels in Valpo. It caught our eye as it was a really small hostel in a secluded location right on the beach about an hour north up the coast, in a small place called Ritoque. We didn't want to head straight to Santiago as we were waiting on a bank card that was being mailed out to the main post office there, so we decided to book into this secluded little place for a couple of nights. We got to Ritoque to find a cool A-frame hostel a stones throw from a beach that stretched 12km. The owner, who describes himself as a citizen of the world (later admitting that this was because he didn't like saying he was American!) is a lovely guy (Ian) and is really hospitable. He showed us to our room which was on a mezzanine floor in the A-frame building meaning that in the morning you could sit up in bed and have a gorgeous view of big waves rolling in off the Pacific. We decided to try a bit of surfing, saw a gorgeous sunset and, along with some other guests from the hostel, Ian arranged for the beach shack restaurant to open up just for us (as its still out of season) where we were treated to Chilean sea bass that the owner had caught that morning! Needless to say it tasted incredible.
We dragged ourselves away from Ritoque, partly because it was gorgeous and partly because we had heard that Santiago was pretty average in terms of cities. The sun was shining when we arrived and we actually loved Santiago (although this may have been also due to fact that we drank ALOT of the Chilean cocktail called Pisco Sours, and the fact that our hostel had a swimming pool!). We also went to the big park at the side of the city that is on a small mountain and spent a few hours lazing in the shade of the palm trees watching life go by down below. Some of the hostel staff also took us out to a salsa club which for some reason we decided to go to in flip-flops. We arrived to the sound of a really excellent live band and a room full of Chileans moshing and, fuelled by the afore mentioned pisco sours, we launched into the melee. Neither of us really remember how we got home but we were happy to find both pairs of flip-flops next to our bunkbed the following day!

Next stop is over the Andes to Mendoza, the home of Argentinian wine (yes, more drinking).

Keep in touch.

Mr and Mrs Mason x x x

Pucon, Chile

2008-10-10T13:15:00.000-07:00

We arrived in Pucon on 7/10/08 after crossing the Chilean border (again! the passports are filling up nicely!). We approached the town in the evening and the dramatic backdrop of the active, smoking Volcano Villarica was amazing (and somewhat daunting given that one of our wedding gift list presents was to climb to the top!). After having climbed another mountain and completed a 25km bike ride in the previous 3 days we were planning on having a rest day before attempting the volcano.

However whilst checking in to the hostel we were persuaded by one of the girls who worked there and a couple of fellow guests to climb the volcano the next morning as the weather forecast was favourable (it´s not possible to go up there if there´s even a suggestion of bad weather). So straight after checking in we went along to the excursion shop to be fitted up with boots, crampons, windproofs and ice picks! We were asked to return at 6.50am the next morning to make our way up to the base of the volcano. The staff reassured us that it was all totally safe, the volcano had it´s last major eruption in 1984 destroying another local town....!

So bleary eyed the following day we were driven up to the base along with our 2 fellow guests and our guide (and also co-owner of the hostel) Gustavo. Four and a half hours of leg burning negotiation of icy slopes later we were standing right on the edge of the crater at the top of the volcano at an altitude of 2874m with amazing views of surrounding lakes and countryside, as well as a few other distant volcanos. The volcano smoke really gets to the back of the throat, not ideal when the air´s starting to get quite thin and you´ve just been climbing for a few hours!

(Jo didn´t tell me I looked like this......)

We sat right next to the crater edge and had probably the most extreme picnic we´ve ever experienced taking in the views and getting our breath and strength back. The best bit was yet to come - we donned these special big shorts (REALLY flattering!) and trotted to the edge of the slope we´d just climbed. With our guide leading the way, we all plonked ourselves down and proceeded to tobogan on our backsides all the way to the bottom of the volcano! Not quite as cool as the some of the locals who make the climb with skis or snowboards on their backs and carve their way down, but damn good fun and the best sledging ever!

We then rewarded ourselves with the next day relaxing next to the lake that the town sits on, basking in the glorious sunshine and nursing some aching bodyparts, and some really odd sunburn (Jo´s nostrils!!). Pucon is beautiful and we´ve loved it here. The hostel has it´s very own 2 month old black labrador puppy called Jaco and it´s been really difficult to resist the temptation to pop him into our backpacks before checking out. Next stop is Valparaiso and Vina Del Mar and then possibly on to Santiago.

Missing you all.

Love from

Jaco, Jo and Al x x x

ps this is a link to a cool video that our guide put together a while back
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ml2w2F5Tdpg

El Calafate - El Chalten - 35 hours on bus - Bariloche

2008-10-08T14:28:00.000-07:00

We decided to splash out on a flight for half of our journey from Ushuaia to the next destination El Calafate as it cut out a slightly painful 12 hour bus ride through a tiny portion of Chile (meaning lots of borders, searching bags for fruit and meat and a silly amount of passport stamping!). The flight was with a company called LADE who are a state owned Argentinian airline run by the airforce (as most of you know, I´m partial to a bit of aviation love, so if it gets too boring just skip this paragraph). The plane was a tiny propeller plane with broken seats, the take off down the Beagle Channel into a big headwind coming in off the Atlantic was extremely hairy! The plane kept dropping as it was fighting the wind and Jo and I were holding very tightly on to one another (as the seatbelts were pretty useless too). As things settled though we got some amazing views of Tierra Del Fuego, as well as an inflight drink, so it wasn´t all that bad.

After landing in Rio Gallegos and a short bus ride (only 4 hours this time!) we arrived in El Calafate. From here we visited the awesome Perito Moreno glacier, we were both blown away by it. We stood for ages just watching huge chunks of ice splinter off into the lake below, the sound it makes is unbelievable! We also took a boat ride to the north face of the glacier which gave us a good appreciation of the height of the face (about 55-60m above the level of the lake).

From our cool hostel in Calafate we arranged a 2 day transfer El Chalten for 2 nights to visit the national park where we walked to the base of Mount Fitz Roy. It was a great walk, but unfortunately quite a cloudy and snowy day so we couldn´t see the mountain too clearly. We did see woodpeckers and condors swooping below us though.

Next stop was Bariloche in the Argentinian lake district. Annoyingly Ruta 40 (made famous by Che Guevara) that connects El Calafate to Bariloche is still closed due to snow, so it was back down to Rio Gallegos, then back up the east coast and cut across to Bariloche - a record 35 hour bus ride for us! As mentioned before though the buses in Argentina are first class however this was maybe a tad on the long side and the stale ham and cheese sandwiches didn´t really make up for it. Bariloche was beautiful though and on the first day there we hiked to the top of Cerro Otto (big mountain behind the town) which gave us great views of the town and the Nahuel Huapi lake that it sits on. The following day we took a bus out to one end of the lake to do part of the Circo Chiquito cycling circuit around the lake. Somewhat naively we thought that a ride around a lake would be fairly flat and given that it was only 25km we thought we´d cruise it. Unfortunately it also sits pretty close to the Andes so we set off for a leg burning, 4 hour bike ride up some pretty big inclines! Managed to find a completely secluded lake side beach for lunch though that made it all worthwhile! Think the guy in the hire shop found our John Wayne walking impressions most amusing after we´d returned the bikes!

We´ve now come across to Chile, to a small town called Pucon with an amazing backdrop of Volcano Villarica. The weather is improving and we were particularly pleased to hear that it´s been raining in London! We´ll blog again soon.

Hope everyone´s well.

Lots of love.

Al and Jo xxx

Fin del Mundo

2008-09-28T12:54:00.000-07:00

We have arrived in the most southern city in the world, Ushuaia, on the island of Tierra Del Fuego. Suddenly (well as sudden as 31 hours on a bus can be) the landscape has changed from baron flatland to snowcapped mountains. We thought we´d better start getting some practice in for the Inca Trail and also wanted an excuse to use our new thermal underwear, so on our first day we decided to hike up to Glacier Martial. Unfortunately there was no glacier to be seen and we had to negotiate steep climbs in one foot of snow. The views from the top however were stunning as was the bar of chocolate we´d packed in case of emergencies!

We had an unexpected surprise when we got here as we found out that we were still in time for some skiing and snowboarding. After some deliberation (around 5 seconds) discussing the possibility of broken limbs at the beginning of a 7 month holiday, we trotted down to the hire shop and got ourselves kitted up for a day on the slopes. The resort was quite small but conditions were good and after an excellent day we both came off the slopes unscathed and exhilerated!

The next day, with aching legs, we took a stroll out to the National Park of Tierra Del Fuego. We had a walk around a beautiful lake that took us right up to the border with Chile, the sun was shining so no need for the thermals!

Today we took a boat along the Beagle Channel stopping at Island H (cleverly named as the island is H-shaped) to see Rock Cormorants, King Cormorants and Seals. We also saw where the native Yamana people used to cook and eat their food, noticeable by all the discarded whale and bird bones. Somehow they managed to cope without thermal underwear, instead smearing themselves in whale fat but we´re sticking with thermals for now!!

Flying north tomorrow, unfortunately Antarctica is beyond our budget. Aiming to get to El Calafate where hopefully we will have a slightly more fruitful glacier experience.

Hope you are all well

Lots of love

Jo and Al xxxx

Penguins, Whales, Wales and Cake

2008-09-25T07:40:00.000-07:00

We left BA on Friday 19th September and headed down to Puerto Madryn, Patagonia by bus. The buses here rule (think National Express Rapide from the mid 80´s...... fortunately it´s nothing like that), we opted for first class tickets (it is our honeymoon after all) where the seats actually turn into proper flat beds, which is essential in such a massive country where travelling anywhere takes ages.

As we neared the outskirts of Puerto Madryn at midday on the Saturday (1300km´s from BA approx) we could just about see the sea between the houses, and I was totally convinced that I´d seen a whale just off the coast. Jo was telling me to be not so ridiculous and my mind cast back to when I was about 12 on holiday with my Mum, Dad and brother in Tenerife. My Mum was convinced she´d seen a dolphin from our apartment balcony so ushered us all down to the rocks to scour the sea for about an hour, no dolphin to be seen. Anyway, after checking in to our hostel we took a stroll down to the seafront to be completely floored by the sight of loads of whales about 500 yards off the beach! We walked down the pier to get a closer look and it was truly incredible. Each year loads of Southern Right Whales come to this huge gulf as it´s quite protected, an awesome sight.

We arranged to do a boat trip to get a closer look at the whales from nearby Peninsula Valdes which is a big protected national park area. We managed to get fairly close to some whales and they were huge. We also saw some elephant seals, one of whom who had just given birth, on the beach. We were sure we could hear David Attenborough´s voice as we were witnessing all of this. We had a cool guide called Daniel who was a cross between an old, overweight Rafa Nadal and the late Steve Irwin, unfortunately I didn´t get a picture so you´ll have to use your imagination for that one.

The next day we visited Punta Tombo which is home to the largest colony of Magellanic Penguins (approx 175,000) outside of Antartica, once again accompanied by Rafa/Steve. Incredible to see so many penguins, and some walk half a mile inshore to make their nests!

Later in the day we went to Gaiman which was established by some Welsh settlers in the late 1800´s (they still speak and teach the language there). We had tea and cakes in a Welsh tea house which felt pretty surreal, we were served by a lady who spoke Spanish with a slight Welsh accent which made the experience even more strange!

After a few days there, we´ve now just arrived in Ushuaia in Tierro del Fuego after a mammoth 31 hour bus extravaganza (now imagine THAT on a National Express Rapide bus). We´ll update again soon with more news.

Hope all´s well back home.

Lots of love.

Mr and Mrs Mason x

Managed to finally add some pics!

2008-09-16T08:15:00.000-07:00

Here are some more random pics.

Jo and I sporting our trendy travel cushions on the plane..... not sure why we didn´t get upgraded....

The cool metal flower in a park near La Recoleta....

Street tango at the San Telmo antique market....

Boca Juniors 1 - Independiente 1

2008-09-15T09:33:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we went to see Boca Juniors vs Independiente, the second biggest BA local derby after Boca vs River Plate. Totally amazing! We thought we´d got ourselves into the seated area but arrived at the stadium with our fixer, Paula along with a group of other nervous tourists from all over the world to realise we were standing on the terraces with the Boca fans! The atmosphere was awesome, the game was fairly average quality but the best thing to see was the ref pushing all of the players quite aggressively! Two Independiente players were sent off for abusing the linesmen, and after each player was sent off, all the Independiente players started attacking the linesmen, having to be dragged away by the riot police before the game could restart. Total mayhem. You could actually feel the stadium swaying underneath your feet when all the fans were jumping around! By some small miracle, having all been split up into various parts of the terrace we all managed to reconvene to head home on our cool old school bus that had obviously been ´borrowed´for the weekend. Tried to upload some pics, but having some technical difficulties.

Plan for the rest of the week:
Finish spanish lessons with Paloma our cool tutor
Find Jo a coat (somewhat hilariously Jo and I arrived here with no coats or waterproofs - still getting to grips with this whole travelling thing, have realised shorts and tshirts might not be sufficient for climbing glaciers)
Continue chilling in BA - really starting to love this city

Then we´re going to head down to Puerto Madryn on Friday by bus to look at the penguins and whales. It´s a hard life....

Adios!

Buenos Aires - Steak and Spa!

2008-09-12T16:39:00.000-07:00

After a painful 13 hour flight, we´ve arrived in Buenos Aires! Our attempts at getting an upgrade on the grounds of being honeymooners were futile as the flight was jam packed. We have already seen the Iguazu Falls though, from 37000 feet! The pilot did some nice banking right over them to allow all to get a good view. We are still planning to get a closer look later on in our trip.

So, Emma and Mags had planned a little surprise for our arrival which I had a little prior knowledge of having been asked by Emma to push back the dates of our first 2 nights accomodation. Emma and Mags gave me a blank sealed envelope the night before we left and told me not to open it until we had met our transfer at BA airport. I wasn´t allowed to tell Jo anything, although Jo being Jo she´d already sussed something was up. The penny dropped when we came out in to the arrivals lounge to be greeted by a very smart gentleman holding a leather bound sign for Mr and Mrs Mason. We were then shown to a very nice big Merc with blacked out windows. We opened the envelope to learn that Emma, David, Mags and Matt had treated us to 2 nights at a luxurious spa hotel in the Puerto Madero district of BA. We got to this awesome hotel to be shown to our hotel room complete with rose petals in the hall and on the bed and a bottle of champagne!!! The following day we strolled into BA centre to get the lay of the land, and returned to the hotel for some serious spa and steak action.

Today we had a fairly large shock to the system transferring to our first BA hostel experience, which is a perfectly okay place but not quite a spa hotel! We can´t seem to find the telly in the room, and massages from the staff are not forthcoming. Anyway, we´ve arranged for a weeks worth of Spanish lessons starting tomorrow and will probably then head out west to seek some rural relaxation. BA is excellent but the countryside is calling.

We´ll post some photos once we´ve sorted the cabling out.

Lots of love.

The Masons. x

We are married!

2008-09-08T10:53:00.001-07:00

Thank's to everyone for making the 6th September 2008 the best day of our lives!

Welcome

2008-08-30T12:22:00.000-07:00

Welcome everybody to our honeymoon blog!
Please be sure to check it out regularly for updates of our travels around South America.