Nik & Rich in South America

The Galapagos - ´Paradise Found´

2005-06-04T16:40:00.000+01:00

Straight in at number 1 - our favourite place of the trip so far, and potentially one of the most amazing places on earth. I do have a tendency to exaggerate at times, but if the Holiday Programme does another "Top 20 places to go before you die" it has to be the Galapagos at the top . All I can say is save the money, find the time and come here. We had just over 2 weeks on the archipelago, getting to 11 of the islands using all manner of transportation - speed boats, light aircraft, a pirate ship and some chilled out horses. I resisted the temptation to hitch a ride on the back of a Giant Tortoise as my fellow Shrewsbury resident, Darwin, once did . Our attempts to get a luxury class cruise at backpacker prices were thwarted by a massive lack of availability - it seems the really nice boats get booked up in advance by rich Yanks paying top dollar, funny that. So after a very frustrating afternoon roaming the streets of San Cristobals main port, getting nowhere fast and finding a lack of credible tour operators, we booked a boat called "Sulidae" - the oldest boat sailing the Galapagos but "full of charm and atmosphere" we were told as we parted with $900 each - ouch! Before the cruise we encased ourselves in neoprene and went for a dive with sharks off Kicker Rock. Bit of a shock as we submerged for the 1st time in 2 years to be gripped by quite a severe current, so we hung on to a rock wall for dear life, eventually turned a corner and spent time drifting around with Galapapos Sharks, Reef Sharks, Eagle Rays, Green Turtles and Sealions - like playful Labradors they are a joy to swim with - and we swam with them pretty much everyday. The cruise itself was superb, 8 days aboard ship (which indeed did fly the Skull and Cross Bones) sailing around the southern islands of Espanola and Florenana, before heading north to Santa Cruz, Rabida, Bartolome, Santiago, North Seymour and Baltra. In the main our fellow passengers were great fun, but isn´t it funny how certain national stereotypess prove themselves to be absolutely true. The crew were great, the chef even put together a cake for Nik´s birthday - what a place to turn 29! The wildlife is obviously the islands big draw, the creatures have no fear of man really, you can get unbelievably close to sea lions rolling around on the beach - coughing and burping in a very human way; to the iconic Blue Footed Boobie - sound stupid, look stupid. And I lost count of the number of times I nearly trod on a marine iguana, basking on black lava rocks, you only know they are there when they spit water at you. The list of endemic and native wildlife is endless and, thankfully, I won´t list it all here. Suffice to say, there is something weird and wonderful about snorkelinging amongst shoals of tropical fish and then to see a penguin dive below you, hungry for its lunch. After the cruise, we tried to recover from our sea legs by retreating to the island of Isabela - the largest but with only 2000 inhabitants - its a tropical paradise, long white sand beaches, active volcanoes and a amazing place to stay for a few days. We got a room above Beto´s Beach Bar, right on the beach - no phone, no TV, no internet, just very strong ciparinhas, excellent lobster and flamingoes flying past - heaven. So that´s the Galapagos - and here are some pics to whet your appetite before you call a travel agent and book a trip. http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/stokes_richard2004/my_photos

Peru - The Amazon Rainforest

2005-05-11T18:39:00.000+01:00

The Pros & Cons of the Amazon Rainforest
I know it`s the lungs of the planet, and incredibly important in terms of biodiversity etc etc, but it`s not all upside you know. We spent 8 days in the rainforest along the Amazon, staying in a variety of accommodation that ranged from something akin to the camp in I`m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here, to air con and a pool, and these are a few of the bad things that we discovered: 1. Mosquitoes. I knew there would be mosquitoes, of course, but I didn`t expect them to have such a high degree of cunning and ferocity. I started off by simply using a large quantity of Deet on myself, but all this did was rot my clothes and melt my skin, and they bit me anyway. By the end of the week I was reduced to wearing shorts under my trousers, two pairs of socks, hiking boots, a sweatshirt, a sarong tied around my neck, a headscarf, and my hands wrapped inside the ends of said sarong. I would then flail my arms around my face to protect the one remaining area of exposed flesh. This was, as you can imagine, quite hot. And they bit me anyway. They also launched themselves with gusto at my bare bits whenever I went to the loo or showered (all open air). I started deliberately dehydrating myself to avoid having to remove my pants, even for a nanosecond. By the end of the week I had enough bites to start conducting controlled experiments on a variety of anti-itch medication. Left buttock, anti-histamine cream; right buttock, antiseptic cream. I really needed a control buttock as well. I don`t know how people stand it here for any length of time. I would either have died fairly rapidly from Deet poisoning, or gone quickly mad and become known locally as the Crazy Flailing-Armed Woman of the Jungle. 2. Nasty surprises on the way to bed. On the first night, there was an Amazon Tree Boa wrapped around one of the wooden posts of the walkway linking our bedroom to the dining hut. On the second night, I was running my hand along the rail and came across a tarantula, just sitting there. On the third night, I was pleasantly surprised only to discover a bat and a frog. It does nothing for one´s blood pressure. 3. Deadly animals having innocuous names. Like the pink-toed tarantula, which implies that said creature is maybe a bit camp, more given to sashaying around drinking cocktails than leaping out at unsuspecting tourists. 4. The humidity gives one a terribly large and unwieldy barnet. Combined with the clothes described at 1 above, it`s a fashion disaster. Fortunately, Rich seemed not to notice that his wife had transformed herself into a sweaty, frizzy-haired German exchange student from the 1980s. 5. American tour groups. This commonly seen species has a tendency to wear fluorescent yellow trousers, exhibit an excess of self-confidence and shout loudly at all times, especially when trying to creep up on wildlife. 6. Piranhas. We went fishing for the little bastards, which resulted in losing a whole fillet steak as bait for the end result of 3 tiny bony fish for our lunch. I`m not sure it was worth it, except to remind them that we`re above them in the food chain. 7. Terrifying noises at night. We spent one night in a very basic camp in the middle of the jungle with nothing but a mosquito net between us and all the strange beasties of the night. Rich and I were on separate sleeping platforms and I felt really quite scared and very alone, lynig awake all night hearing things crashing and creeping about only feet from my head. My nerves weren´t helped by finding a tarantula in the shower hut when we arrived, and the guide saying cheerfully "It`s not the tarantulas you need to worry about, it`s the snakes". Going to the loo, a hut enclosed only on 3 sides, up a very dark track into the jungle, involved a lot of deep breathing and a shot of sugar cane rum for courage. And making Rich come with me to check the loo for creatures first. It was one of those experiences that you decide is fun only after you`re safely back in civilisation. However, there are a few good things about the Amazon jungle: 1. The medical necessity of having at least one gin and tonic a day (for the quinine, you know). 2. Sloths. They defy the laws of evolution by not being extinct, despite being equipped with precisely no survival techniques apart from letting go of the branch they`re hanging from and dropping to the ground when panicking, which is a dubious method of self-preservation. For some reason they also descend from their trees once a week to poo, burying it neatly with their tail, no doubt while a jaguar lounges noncholantly against a tree nearby, cleaning its claws, knowing it can just eat it whenever it likes. 3. Birds. We`ve never been particularly ornithologically-minded, but I fear we may have become a couple of twitchers after a week of seeing some of the most beautiful birds you can imagine. Rich took a particularly good photo of a hummingbird in flight, which is rather tricky to do. 4. Canopy walkways. We visited one of the longest in the world, which extends for 500m and is 100 ft above the jungle floor. Incredible, to stand there for an hour at sunrise and watch and listen as the rainforest wakes up, and macaws and toucans fly past below you. 5. The mighty Amazon, full of pink and grey river dolphins and weird and wonderful fish. 6. Ridiculous creatures, in addition to aforementioned sloths. We encountered a tapir, and a capybara, which is a giant rodent, like a huge guinea pig with webbed feet. They also have giant anteaters and porcupines that live up trees, though we didn`t see any of those. We had an excellent guide, Luis, who stayed with us for the whole week and who knew everything about everything in the jungle, having been born there. He also had an unfortunate and rude habit of addressing only Richard for the entire week, making me feel like the invisible woman character from The Fast Show. "Richard, look at this!", "Richard, let´s go!" - he never used my name once in the entire week, even though Rich would crowbar it into the conversation at every opportunity to make sure he knew what it was. The only time he acknowledged me was to say things like "Give your husband your binoculars" or "Show your husband the bird". Misogynist git. On balance, I suppose there are some things in the rainforest worth conserving for future generations.

Peru - The Inca Trail - a survival guide

2005-05-03T00:36:00.000+01:00

I think the last few entries have been a tad on the long side (what can I say, there´s been a lot to write about) so I´ll keep this one mercifully short.

"How to survive the Inca Trail"

A tribute to Ray Mears

1. Only 500 punters a day are allowed on the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu, so make sure you get a good group of like-minded people. Try to avoid Americans.

2. It´s 50 hard kilometers of trekking up hill and down valley. So a wee bit of luxury is allowed. Book with a company like SAS travel who wake you up each morning with a gentle rap on your tent door and a cup of tea...nice. Followed by brekkie and then 3 courses at lunch and dinner. Basically its non-stop eating.

3. As i said, its a long way and at times you climb mountain passes of over 4000 mts (with not a donkey in sight to help you), so take on the services of a local porter to carry your kit. No we´re not lazy, these guys regularly shift 25 kilos of kit and the aforementioned SAS travel pay them the best of all the tour operators in Cuzco. Every year the porters have a race along the trail - 4 days for Gringos - the record for a porter is 3 hrs and 40 mins. Superhuman.

4. Pack Imodium

5. The altitude can be a problem - shortness of breathe, head aches, indigestion. Keep all this at bay by chewing delicious coca leaves. Yes, your teeth will turn green but boy it perks you up.

6. The descent from Dead Womans Pass (named after a prominent breast shape in the mountain and not a regular female casualty spot) is vicious on the knees - so make sure you have a least 3 doctors in your group to diagnose a multitude of ailments. Apparently I have ´ITB´...cool.

7. The last night camp site has a bar and ´disco´ - make sure you drink enough to ensure no self-consciousness when dancing the YMCA in front of 40 or so bemused porters

8. Make an offering to the weather gods to ensure good weather and a cloud-free view of Machu Picchu at sunrise on the last day. Our guide Carlos is a believer and his prayers came good. See pics below in the Inca Trail album

http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/stokes_richard2004/my_photos

Peru - Arequipa and the Colca Canyon

2005-04-25T17:27:00.000+01:00

After our horrendous bus ride from Lake Titicaca to Arequipa, marked by me vomiting the whole way and finding out to my horror that the plastic bag I had had a rather large whole in the bottom - boy was I popular on that bus! We arrived into Arequipa, one of the large cities in Peru and possibly the most attractive. Loads of stunning colonial architecture, everything appears to be carved out of a brilliant white stone with small holes in it so it resembles nougat. The highlight is probably the 600 year old convent, not Nik or my usual hang out I´ll grant you, but it is more like a small town than a relgious building. Until 1970s the nuns there lived in total seclusion from the outside world - but the builders who developed the convent over hundreds of years had obviously been to the Greek Island as all the outside walls were painted in very tasteful pastel shades. I was going to have a go in the confessional, but the priest had something planned in a couple of weeks time so I gave it a miss. Once we´d rested up and I´d had my first solid food for 3 days we decided to move on to the Colca Canyon - twice as deep as the Grand and full of Condors. So instead of picking up a tour in Arequipa (with a horrendous 2am departure) we caught the ´local bus´ to the town of Chivay which sits at the eastern entrance to the canyon. After a hilarious haggle to get a hotel room ("how much for a room?" "how much do you want to pay?" "um don´t know" "Ok 70 soles" "no that´s silly" "OK 30" "Right 40" at which we realised we were increasing the price, the Spanish still needs some work), we found a guide to take us on a 3 day trip (the haggling got better this time). Miguel, the guide, a funny bloke of totally indeterminate age - picked us up at 5am (everything starts early here) to catch a bus to the Cruz del Condor (the Beckham´s new son´s full name I believe) to await the arrival of these majestic birds. It seems we had perfect weather for it (ie lots of thermals) as 10 Condors were on patrol that morning - so we spent a very happy 2 hrs watching them soaring and glide above and below us. Our reverie was only slightly spoilt by a group of German tourist comparing the size of their zoom lenses at high volume. From here we began our very steep descent into the canyon - a drop of around 2000 mts - along extremely narrow paths, making sure we got out the way when a donkey train came steaming past us, carrying literally all the supplies that each village in the canyon needed - water, food, toilets, doors, microwave ovens (not sure why cos there was precious little electricity down there) everything. After a very gruelling and knee crunching 3 hrs we got to our lunch stop - never has the veggie soup you get everywhere in Peru tasted quite so good. Unfortunately we´d chosen the tour that was headed for the village of Tapay, this involved getting off my arse again and climbing up the other side of the canyon for another 3 hrs, this hurt...a lot. But Miguel kept my mind off the increasing pain in my knee by talking constantly about football - he was an addict and I did my best to feed his habit with stories of Spur´s magnificent history...no not even he was fooled but he did promise to support Spurs form now on, good lad humouring me, this did get him a decent tip though. Finally we arrived at Tapay, a village of 70 families about as cut off as you can be from the outside world. Despite its small size it can boast a large colonial style church, beautifully manicured plaza and the valley´s best folk dancing team. We stayed in a thatched hut but slept like dogs - we even managed a hot shower thanks to the solar panels at the hostel. The next day was mercifully short and downhill - we strolled across rivers, along irrigation canals, dodged crazy looking dogs but did get ambushed by 2 guys drinking rum at 10am. It was obvious from their manner that I was not allowed to refuse a shot of the rough stuff - funnily enough my knee felt fine afterwards. We ended the day at an 'Oasis' at the bottom of the canyon - which sparked much questioning again by Miguel about the Mancuanian band of the same name - he was simply obsessed with all things English. We collapsed by the pool and chatted to the 1st Gringos we´d seen since the Condor look out. We then did what all good boy scouts do, find wood and burn it. Alas I managed to find wood that was destined to become a hut, shame it would have burned just lovely! So we had a 30 min fire before dinner - by now it was very very dark and after a few (very pricey) beers it was time to retire, at 8pm. Mind you we did have a 4am wake up call to look forward to, as the 3 hr ascent of the canyon is not advisable during the day - it gets far too hot, people get confused and fall off the side. So instead we did it in the pitch dark, following each and every one of Miguel footsteps. It was a tough climb, but once the sun started to light up the canyon it became strangely enjoyable. By the top, we were fit to drop and the breakfast in the town of Cabanaconde was sublime - its amazing the joy a fried egg butty can bring to a man. OK that was rather long, here are some photos if you can´t be arsed to read my ramblings http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/stokes_richard2004/my_photos

Bolivia - Cycling ´The World´s Most Dangerous Road

2005-04-12T16:49:00.000+01:00

After a spot of high altitude training in Chile´s northern-most national park, Lauca, of which the highlight was Nik spotting a rare Puma (see blurred pics on link below). We left Chile for the last time on this trip - or at least tried to by bus. Rarely for Chile the promised bus failed to come, and after 4 frustrating hours trying to wave down a Bolivia bound truck, we cut our loses and hitched back to the Pacific coast at Arica with 2 Lan Chile pilots. Their driving was so good down the appallingly steep road, that we also trusted them to fly us to La Paz the next day ( to be frank this also saved a killer 12 hrs bus journey) La Paz, the world´s highest capital city, makes your head spin. Not just from the altutide, but after the relative sanity and safety of Chile, Bolivia seems a world away. In La Paz, the rich are mega-rich and live in the depths of the city - more air and warmer climate. While the poor (there is no middle class) live in shacks which literally cling to the side of the crater in which La Paz exists. Ever year or so, a serious landslide will take out a few neighbourhoods - then they go back and start building again. We felt a bit trapped in the city - after so long away from big urban centres - so we seized the chance to ´get out of town´and experience what is allegdedly, the world´s most dangerous road on a mountain bike. The road really does exactly what it says on the tin. It`s a dirt track cut into a mountainside, which drops about 3 kms vertical over 65km of ´road´, with an 800m vertical drop into the gorge below, and waterfalls crashing down onto the road in places, with the result that sometimes bits of the road just crumble away. Crash barriers have not yet made it to that part of Bolivia, and every year 30 or 40 buses and trucks simply fall off the edge. Some of the cheaper biking companies have lost 7 mountain bikers so far between them, so we paid as much as we could to ensure the best bikes with the best brakes, and lived to tell the tale. The tales the guides love to tell of how some tourists met their maker on this road are not fit for publishing as my mother will read this - I´ll keep those stories for when we get back. But for added reality, they were pulling the crushed cab of a truck out of a 200m gorge the day we cycled past. At which point Nik and myself were very pleased we failed to hitch hike on a Bolivian truck a few days previously. Lots of photos at http://www.shutterfly.com/progal/album.jsp?aid=768a5498cf4b272b7af2 -password = photos - the best ones are 807, 817, 828, 837, 839, 860 and 862. In La Paz we spent a fortune on soft fluffy alpaca jumpers, which will be very handy in the tropics, and went to a football match, the local team are called ´The Strongest´not a translation but their real name - and quite frankly to run around at 4000 mts they deserve the name. Funnily enough their home record in the Copa Liberadores (SA verion of Champions League) is really quite good. From La Paz we moved on to Lake Titicaca - birthplce of Inca civilisation. From here Nik and I took it in turns to get hit by the lurgy. Obviously, being a bloke, my illness was far more spectaular and appalling - 4 hours puking on a Pervian bus with no loo - superb. Latest pics for your enjoyment - scroll to bottom for new ones http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/stokes_richard2004/my_photos

Bolivia - Salar de Uyuni

2005-04-04T21:57:00.000+01:00

This trip was always billed as one of the highlights of our 6 month holiday. Several friends had been to the Salar - a 10,000 km sq salt lake - and told us how amazing it was, so we hoped it would like up to our high expectations. Just about every tour operator in San Pedro offered a trip to Uyuni (and as every other dwelling appeared to be a tour operator, that's a lot of choice) We went with Colque Tours on recommendation from our hostel - amazingly only $55 each for 4 days. Believe me this is really cheap for Chile, but as we were to find out, there were no airs and graces on this trip, it was pretty rough and rugged. Our bus climbed out of Chile into Bolivia, and immediately you felt you were in a completely different part of South America, with the added altitude (we were always at 4000 mts +), the totally barren landscape, and Bolivian border control being somewhat relaxed compared to the rigors of Chile. After a brekkie of coca tea (to try to fend off altitude sickness) we met our traveling companions for the next 3 days in the back of a Toyota Landcrusier. We had our fingers crossed we'd all get on as we were to travel and live at very close quarters. We got lucky - 2 Norwegian students with unpronounceable names (we called them Thor which they liked), Eric from Belgium and Irish Blon (who also works in media in London so we knew a few people in common) - all a brilliant laugh, apart from one of the Norwegians Olympian snoring on the 1st night. So with our driver and guide Felipe, we set off on a 3 day adventure across Martian like terrain, passing volcanic lakes of green and red with 1,000s of Flamingoes feeding, boiling hot Geysers spitting molten mud out of the centre of the earth at 4900 mts above sea level (we were careful not to get too close the edge and go the way of some unfortunate tourists in the past - a nasty way to die), and a pleasant dip in hot springs before lunch - all this on the 1st day, which included a puncture (and no spare!) which an impromptu game of Boules to pass the time. We spent the night in a hamlet called Villa Mar - an odd name as the sea was a life time away from the inhabitants. We did get drawn into a game of football with the local lads, who quite literally ran rings around us Gringos, as breathing was hard enough there without chasing these 14 year olds around. We kept the score to a respectable 2-1 , and then bought the post-match Cokes before collapsing into bed. Bugger all sleep - not entirely due to the Norwegian snores, but the altitude just made for an uncomfortable night - dry throat etc. Day 2 was all about rocks, and more rocks. From Inca fortresses and rock paintings, to bizarre rock formations shaped by years of erosion and a huge Canyon with an implausible river running thru it. Our 'luxurious' accommodation for the night meant a room to ourselves -but no electricity until 9pm - but it did make the sunset over the Salar (salt lake) all the more impressive. But it was the last day which was the real treat - driving the 4WD over the endless white of the Salar - formed after the ice age and truly the most unique landscape you could ever see. Felipe even managed to get the Landcruiser into 4th gear for the 1st time in 3 days as we sped across the salt towards Fish Island - on all tour parties intineries and so popular some local entrepreneur has even built a burger bar. We put our sudden craving for meat to one side ( it had been veggie soup and rice for 2 days) and climbed to the top of the island amid enormous 12 mt high Cacti and took it all in. After a visit to the Salt Hotel - everything, tables and chairs included, made out of salt - and passing the local salt miners literally sweeping up the stuff into lorries (not a fun job and until there is a world wide salt crisis, not well paid) we ended our tour in the town of Uyuni - our 1st taste of a Bolivian town of any size, and with power supply. For the other 4 in the van this was the end of the line, for us and Felipe we were back in the 4WD for a 12 hr trip back to Chile. All in all an incredible experience that no trip to Bolivia would be complete without. Photos tell the complete story: http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/stokes_richard2004/album?.dir=c919&.src=ph&store=&prodid=&.done=http%3a//uk.photos.yahoo.com/ph//my_photos

Chile - San Pedro de Atacama

2005-04-02T23:09:00.000+01:00

We wave goodbye to La Serena, our splendid Chevvie Pick Up and the sea (for at least a month), and board the night bus north to Chile's desert region. The Atacama desert is apparently the driest on earth and therefore I suppose the driest place on earth - apparently parts of the desert has never had any rain - I feel thirsty already just thinking about it. Alas Chilean long distance buses, unlike their Argentinian counterparts who force whiskey down your neck, don't allow booze on board.

16 hours and several dubbed Tom Cruise films later we reach San Pedro de Atacama, our base for the next week or so. It appears like a oasis in the middle of countless miles of empty desert and red rock. Fortunately our hostel owner meets us from the bus and despoists us in a lovely room - out of the midday heat. San Pedro has a stunning location, at about 2000 metres but looking up to the Altiplano which acts as the border with Bolivia (of which more in the next blog). There are 3 large extinct volcanoes and 1 still bubbling towering above the hostel - snow capped and amazing at sunset. The town itself is all single storey whitewash houses, which helps in the heat. You feel like your walking around a Spagetti Western at times, the Church is right out of a Fist Full of Dollars. No one runs around, it has a very calm and tranquil feeling, which is good considering the altitude. It is however a town absolutely based on tourism - we've driven passed many villages and hamlets in the middle of nowhere and wondered what keeps people there - usually a bit of agriculture etc. But I can safely say San Pedro would be a mere spec if it wasn't on the tourist trail. It's a balance - you want a charming town to stay in but its also nice to have broadband internet and a decent red wine too!

We chose to visit San Pedro's famous "Valley of the Moon" - and as an added bonus we're due a full moon - what could be better? Well as you will have seen from previous entries, we're not having a huge amount of luck with the weather when we choose to gaze skyward. So in the middle of the driest place on earth, the full moon is inexplicably covered by a piece of the cloud the size of London - arse! It is still a beautiful location though, we hiked up an enourmous sand dune as the sun begins the set - and gazing over the valley of the moon you do get a sense of a lunar landscape so real that NASA could have faked numerous moon landing here in the 60s. As we perch precariously on some rock at the end of the dune, the sunset is dramatic with the cloud at least. Then all goes very dark - a bit of worry as we are clinging on and the wind is wipping up. But then as the moon comes up and clears the cloud - its like someone has turned the lights back on, throwing up long and very bizarre shadows across the moonscape. We scramble down to the waiting coach and get handed a glass of red wine - how very civilised.

Some new pics:

http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/stokes_richard2004/album?.dir=49de&.src=ph&store=&prodid=&.done=http%3a//uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/stokes_richard2004/my_photos

Chile, La Serena and the Elqui Valley

2005-03-25T17:53:00.000+01:00

After Santiago we headed up to La Serena and the Elqui Valley, an oasis of vineyards and fruit trees in the middle of the desert of the north. Following 2 weeks spent in a cute but pokey Corsa driving around the Lakes, we decided to push the boat out and hire the ubiquitous Pick Up that every Chilean either has or dreams of having. Before driving off into the sunset we spent a day north of La Serena on a tour of Islas Corros and Damas - a marine national park. It was billed as Penguin breeding ground - and as we had seen several thousand of them by this point, I'm not entirely sure why we went. What the guide book didn't mention were the pods of Bottlenose Dolphins that like to winter in the area, eating and generally larking about. We got lucky and saw them at very close quarters. The skipper of our tiny fishing boat - laden down with 15 Gringos plus camera equipment enough to stock a decent sized Dixons - saw a feeding frenzy of Seaguls, Pelicans and Diver Birds and motored over. It was like something out of an Attenburgh documentary - with the Diver Birds hovering over the shoals of fish and then dive bombing them from 30 metres up. The fisherman knew his stuff as we spent somewhere between 30 mins and 1 hr in the company of 30 very playful Dolphins. I simply have no idea exactly how long we were there - to be honest I was giddy like a little kid at Christmas - Dolphins simply make you feel happy. So I must've taken 60 pics of the sea before I got one of a Dolphin 3/4 out of the water mid dive - It'll be on the site in a week or so. After we got our breath and maturity back we cruised past some sun bathing Sea Lions and even saw some of the publicised Humbolt Penguins - but after Dolphins, quite frankly, who cares about some small flightless bird! Next day we picked up the Pick Up - a beast of a car with far to much space for us but hey, we did put it to good social use by helping out some Swedish hitchhikers. We headed into the Elqui Valley, renowned for having the clearest skies on earth, and there are a few world class observatories there. In a state of much anticipation, we booked a nighttime tour to one of them, and set up camp at a site in the middle of absolutely nowhere, with the hope of stargazing all night. Inevitably, the clouds rolled in, our tour was cancelled, and it pissed with rain all night, so we didn´t get any sleep. Such a disappointment (though I fear we won´t be getting a huge amount of sympathy). The next day we took off into the desert, driving for 3 hours through precipitous mountain passes with nothing but blue skies, pink mountains and cacti for company. Truly awesome scenery. Thankfully, we stumbled on a posh hacienda in a green valley which said it was full, but after some persuasion gave us a room in the staff quarters for the night. This place ( www.haciendadelosandes.com i think) is absolutely beautiful, and is for sale, which was rather tempting. We spent an evening around the dinner table with 4 septegenarian Americans, all of whom were mad, and pissed, and hilarious. I think we agreed to do a house swap with them in Oregon, but I can´t be sure, as by then we´d cracked open the Pisco we'd purchased earlier in the day on a tour of the main Pisco distillery in Chile. Chile is so proud of its national drink, that it changed the name of a small village in the 1930s from Union to Pisco Elqui simply because its despised neighbour Peru has a town called Pisco and makes the same stuff. What a great country this is! We´re now in San Pedro de Atacama in the middle of the desert in the far north. We´re here for a week to see spooky lunar landscapes, red lakes, salt plains and geysers - popping into Bolivia for 4 days by 4WD and hoping to avoind the roadblocks we've heard about.

Chile - Santiago and around

2005-03-24T23:59:00.000+01:00

We didn't expect to still be in Chile at the end of March, but we love it so much we just had to hang around. After eventually departing our free luxury cabin in the Lake District (we were tempted to become squatters and never leave), we made our way to the beating heart of Chile, Santiago - home to over 1/3 of the country's people and allegedly some of the worst pollution in South America. So we weren't really planning on hanging around too long. However Santiago immediately felt like a city we could live in. Really liked it. It turned out to be the first day of university when we arrived, and all the students have to perform a bizarre initiation ceremony involving having most of their clothes removed, being covered in eggs, flour and dead fish, and being forced to walk shoeless through the city begging for money to buy their clothes back with. We handed over a fortune as we felt so sorry for them all. Freshers week was very different at Leeds thankfully. On our first night in the city we wandered aimlessly into a bar at the end of an alley, which turned out to be a bit of a Communist hangout ...posters of Che all over the walls, a massive poster pledging neverending allegiance to a Communist politician called Gladys who had died a few days before, and loads of graffiti on the walls proclaiming things like "free all political prisoners now!" and rude things questioning the parentage of Pinochet. Nik toyed with the idea of scribbling "Capitalism is fun!" on the wall nearest to her, but decided against it. It was the sort of dark and slightly dubious place where random locals got up to play guitars and sing revolutionary songs, everybody joined in, and everyone got so drunk that they eventually started falling off their chairs. We had an excellent night. The barman seemed quite taken with us (they love the Engilsh here) and kept saying "Depeche Mode!" in a very excited manner whenever he brought us a drink. The following night we received an invitation from our good friend Pedro Walker to join him for dinner at his uptown apartment. He also invited us to spend the weekend with him at his seaside pad (at the last count, we calculate that he has at least 6 houses). By this time we were highly sceptical of his motives for being so friendly and hospitable - does the man have no other friends? or was he simply a one man cult? As it turned out, it was another great evening. Pedro invited his nephew, the 19 year old son of the Chilean foreign minister, and one of his 8 brothers, all of whom are lawyers, politicians or Chilean foreign ministers, and all of whom have highly successful and good-looking wives and children. I think between them they pretty much run Chile. The brother, Juan, gave us his card which simply said "Agent". He represents a Danish wind farm, runs a Japanese restaurant and various other things besides. We had a terribly sophisticated evening drinking good red wine, eating fine food prepared by Pedro´s "help", and discussing the finer points of Chilean politics. Well, sort of, anyway. Mentioning Pinochet is tricky ground here - Pedro proclaims to be a socialist, and was pleased when Pinochet was voted out, but his brother said that apart from murdering a few thousand people, Pinochet was an excellent president who sorted out the economy and built some terribly good roads. He was much more concerned with recent revelations in Chile that Pinochet siphoned off millions of public money to his private bank account, than a few human rights abuses (almost his actual words, frighteningly), which included the South American classic of chucking 'communists' out of planes over the Pacific. I mentioned in passing that the night before we´d been in a Communist bar, which was a bit of a conversation stopper. But Juan did have a very nice car, which he drove us home in. And as an added bonus, we didn´t get forced into any cults or anything. Such nice people, the Chileans. After Santiago we took a bus out to the seaside town of Valparaiso, an industrial little port built around 42 hills, which involves lots of funiculars and lifts and things. We checked into the cheapest hostel in town, and spent the next 24 hours in the twilight zone. It started when we walked up to to what looked to be a very nice restaurant. We sat down - the only customers - and after asking for the wine list were told that they had had their licence revoked and couldn't serve alcohol. You have to picture the look of first shock and then horror which took over Nik's face - almost as if a family pet had died. Somehow we had managed at least a glass of wine a night on our trip (including in the middle of national parks on 4 day treks). So After a very very bad meal, and still no other customers, we went back to the road our hostel was on, which by night had turned into the seediest street in Chile. We chose the most decent looking bar and asked for a glass of red wine. The owner didn´t have any (not our night) but waved at his friend across the street, who dragged us into his extremely dark and dubious bar, which contained the following: 2 Chilean merchant navy sailors, who were so drunk they couldn't stand, or speak, but adopted us as their new best friends and proceeded to play air guitar to non existent Kiss records at us for the next hour; 1 extremely old drunk chap who was singing the Bee Gees´ "Massachussetts" to himself at the back of the bar, with sheet music, microphone, and huge PA system; and the owner, who was also completely wasted. At one stage the Chilean sailors dropped their bag on the floor, so I picked it up and a bottle of beer fell out and smashed on the floor - it turns out they had been stealing from the owner. We feared that an almighty fight was about to kick off, with us in the middle, but it turned out the owner was too pissed to care, so everyone had another drink instead, and the old boy at the back started another song. Soon after, we left. Alas no phoographic evidence of the bar but I'll put some other pics up in the next week or so

Pucon Chile - Volcano Villarica

2005-03-12T22:39:00.000+01:00

In Pucon we stayed at the summer house of our good (and rich) friend Pedro - who we met over drinks at a hostal in Chiloe and insisted we stay at his pad. He´s built himself a cabin high up on a dirt track in the middle of nowhere - perfect isolation, and a perfect view of the volcano across the valley. To get up the track every time we had to enslit the help of his caretaker, Omar, who would drive us up in the back of his battered pick up truck. The cabin is small but beautiful - all mod cons, water piped straight from the springs below, a hot tub and a big terrace to sit and admire the sunsets. The peace was wonderful, though we both admitted after the first night that we hadn´t slept a wink - there are no locks on the doors, as nobody goes up there, but we were both convinced we would be murdered in our beds by a passing maniac, or by Pedro who would turn out to be the head of some weird Chilean cult who have to periodically sacrifice stupid tourists. While we were there we climbed the active volcano of Villaricca. It´s a volcano that looks like a proper volcano - exactly the same shape as Ice Magic used to be. And it´s properly active. It last erupted in 1984, when it wiped out a few chairlifts (it´s a big ski resort), and the time before that, in 1971, a whole town was destroyed. You sort of wonder if in years to come future civilsations will laugh at the idiots who took part in tourist activities on something they knew could blow up at any time. Ànyway, we set off on our tour on a beautiful clear day at some ungodly hour of the morning. Speaking of which, the last remaining seat for me in the minibus was next to a middle aged American gentleman, who introduced himself as Richard. The conversation went something like this: Nik: "So are you in Chile on holiday?" R: "No, I´m here with the Church to do the good work of our lord Jesus Christ and offer the people of this country spiritual guidance". (Long, long silence while I consider the correct social response to this statement. I can´t think of one.) N: "Oh, how nice" R: "Do you and your husband attend church in England?" N: (for some feeling guilty about this - I should have been a Catholic, all that natural guilt giong to waste) "No, we don´t, we´re not religious people." R: (considering whether it´s worth the effort of trying to save me, and clearly deciding there are some people beyond redemption) "I also make kitchen cabinets". After that we were on safer ground, and I just had to try to keep the blasphemy to an acceptable level. Anyway, I digress. We all hiked up the first bit of the volcano, which is all black lava, and then put our crampons on for the last part on the snow. I never thought that on this trip I´d be wearing crampons more than a bikini. We also had a very quick lesson into what to do if the crampons fail you and you begin to slide down the volcano to certain death - use your ice pick apparently - but all this instruction was delivered in 100 mile an hour Spanish, most people just nodded. It was about a 4 hour schlepp to the top, but boy was it worth it. Beautiful blue skies and sunshine all the way up with a stunning view of the old lava flows down into the valleys below us. And when we came to the crater at the top, it was a proper live active volcano. It was a perfect hole down into the centre of the earth, and they let you go quite dangerously close to the edge and peer in. As we arrived, it had a big grumble, and then spat a load of rocks and motlen lava about 50 feet into the air. I hadn´t been exepecting that, but it happened every minute or so while we were up there, and was really rather dramatic. Apparently the guides were all quite happy that the wind wouldn´t blow any of the rocks onto us, but I was never entirely convinced. It was totally awe inspiring to be so close to a live volcano. We couldn´t stay up there long as the sulphur fumes were pretty horrendous - we enviously eyed other tour parties who had paid that little bit extra for gas masks. Our guys had gone so far as giving us safety helmets, but never made us put them on, so we just tied them to our backpacks. Mine kept hitting me on the head, which would have been OK if I´d been wearing a helmet. The way down was brilliant. We all put our special big trousers on, and one by one sat down in the snow and slid all the way to the bottom. You´re supposed to use your ice axe as a brake, but it was far too much fun to want to slow down, so we all shot off and ended in a big pile at the bottom. Brilliant fun, zooming across the snow and looking down at the valley below and the blue sky ahead of you. All in all, a grand day out. See it all at http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/stokes_richard2004/album?.dir=49de&.src=ph&store=&prodid=&.done=http%3a//uk.photos.yahoo.com/ph//my_photos

Chile - Puerto Natales to Puerto Montt by ferry

2005-03-06T20:47:00.000+01:00

After seeing all the glaciers you could ever want to see in Calafate and suffering from a degree of sensory overload, we decided to slow things down a bit by moving north by the slowest route possible - a 4 day ferry ride over 1500 kms. The Navimag ferry leaves Pto. Natales once a week with a cargo of livestock, empty lorries, a few locals and about 200 hardy travelers. When it comes south from Pto Montt (in the imaginatively named 10th region of Chile) it is loaded down with supplies that keep the town going for a week - as the week passes by you can literally see the stocks of fresh fruit and veg disappearing in the supermarkets and stores. So its a vital route that has been commandeered by travelers in the past 10 years or so. Depending on the recency and reliability of the source, we had heard many different reports as to the nature of the trip. Some say it was awful - heavy seas, poor food and crowded accommodation - this was the report Nik read, so she was fairly anti the idea at first. I read some better stories, but hey you never really know til you try it yourself do you. So with my entire credibility on the line I press-ganged Nik on board - with my fingers crossed and sea sickness tablets packed. We had a early piece of great news, as we checked in we were expecting to be in a dorm with 24 others - so sleep would have been at a premium. But as the boat we got was the M/V Puerto Eden and has fewer dorms - we were put in a 4 person cabin, which immediately made Nik happier and me I breathed a heavy sigh of relief. We boarded at 9pm on the Thursday night (24th Feb) - and met numerous other travelers in the dining room cum bar cum disco cum safety briefing room (basically the one communal area inside - which we go to know real well). It was like being back at Freshers Week at Uni - where are you from, where are you going, where have you been. It could have become somewhat repetitive, but in truth everyone we met had a different story so it was fantastic to cooped up so you had to talk to new people (not always my forte). We met American students on a road trip, people on 4 week holidays from Europe, guys motorcycling around Chile, and a German bloke cycling the length of Chile (Chile is a bad country to chose to cycle the length of, its over 4000 kms long). So we spent 4 days in the company of 270 passengers and crew - who had a great sense of humour (which you´d need if like them you spend 3 months at a time on this boat) and a bizarre love of the music from the film Grease or `Vasalina` as they call it here - it was blaring out wherever we went - the galley, the bridge. Mostly the sea sickness tabs weren´t required, as we were navigating Fyords. However, on the 3rd day we entered open sea at the infamous Golfo de Penas - literally the golf of sorrows. Originally this area was called the golfo de peñas - golf of cliffs - however as it was us Brits who put the worlds seafaring maps together and we have no ñ in English, it got changed to n, and the golf took on a much meaner reputation. But we got lucky as the weather was calm and the swell was only 3 metres. Even so the ferry did roll about for 12 hours - it was very quiet at dinner that night and during the film (oh yes the dining room was a cinema too) quite a few people ran out clutching their stomachs. We were fine, except for the side effects of sea sickness tabs - hours of unintended sleep - as if you were paralyzed. I also remember seeing the crew checking the supplies on board the lifeboats before we entered the Golfo de Penas - the dried biscuits didn´t look v appetizing so I´m glad we made it thru. The whole trip was great fun in the end. It was a wildlife show on the side too. We saw countless seals, sea lions and dolphins, and on a very distant horizon the blow holes (?) of Blue Whales. It was a marvelous way to travel out of Patagonia and into the Lake District of Chile, as I said not the fastest or cheapest but it beat a 2 day bus journey and gave us the time to sit and ponder our next move, as well as learn some socially-important card games. http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/stokes_richard2004/album?.dir=49de&.src=ph&store=&prodid=&.done=http%3a//uk.photos.yahoo.com/ph//my_photos

Chile - the island of Chiloe

2005-03-06T08:42:00.000+01:00

As I said, on the baot we had time to think about our next step - we decided to take things at our own pace for a while and hired a car for the next 2 weeks from a dodgy looking bloke called Jaime in Pto Montt. - its not Avis or Hertz, in fact it might well be his own car - a Chevrolet Corsa - but its cheap and so far hasn´t let us down. 1st stop, the ´mystical´ island of Chiloe - Chile´s biggest island and the place where we got potatoes from apparently, so we though a homage to the spud was a good idea. We had 3 days there - we didn´t really have a plan, just took it as it came - but it was fantastic. A bit of a back water by Chilean standards and really quite different to the mainland. And the Chilotes like these differences we were told. so much so they have always opposed the building of a bridge to the mainland - so instead you get a 20 min ferry ride - with more seals and dolphins frolicking int he shipping lanes. In fact when the Spanish colonists were being fought out of Chile, Chiloe was the last bastion of colonial Spain - the governor even tired to do a deal with Britain to get some help against the uprising. Canning the PM or Foreign Sec of the time said no, but if had agreed how differnet things could have been as we would have been given Chiloe in return - which would surely beat Gibraltar of the Falklands as a holiday destination ! Here are some wise words from Nik on the whole Chiloe experience: We have also met some interesting people on our way through Chile. In a hotel on the island of Chiloe (Hostal LLuhay in Ancud), over drinks and sitting by the fire after dinner, we got chatting to a very urbane Chilean called Pedro Walker - 7th generation Chilean, originating from Birmingham many years ago. He eventually revealed that his borther is the foreign minister of Chile, so he had some amusing anecdotes about W Bush´s recent visit to Chile - apparently Bush wanted to bring over 150 body guards with him to a Pan American confernece, the Chilean president Largos told him to bugger off, he coul dbring 50 and no more just the sane as the president of Costa Rica - not surprising then that Largos is a hugely popular president here.Anyway Pedro also appears to be a very rich man, and has offered us his summer house a little bit further north from here, to stay as long as we like. We´re going to take him up on the offer. What a nice chap - I love that about travelling, you can make firm friends in a matter of hours. We also bumped into a nice English couple in the same hostel - Rich thought the guy loooked familiar, and our host told us very excitedly after they´d left that he was Ed Coode, who won gold in the Athens Olympics last year with Pinsent. Most exciting. We´re hoping to bump into them again along the way as would love to have a chat to him. I should´ve twigged when I asked him how long they´re planning to be in the lakes, as they´re so beautiful, and he said when you´ve seen one lake, yuo´ve seen them all...which I thought was odd at the time but makes sense now. He said they´re travelling here for 3 or 4 months, so maybe he´s given up the rowing? not sure http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/stokes_richard2004/album?.dir=49de&.src=ph&store=&prodid=&.done=http%3a//uk.photos.yahoo.com/ph//my_photos

Argentina - El Calafate and the Glaciers National Park

2005-02-23T20:55:00.000+01:00

Just back to Chile today after 5 days in El Calafate, the frontier town closest to the Glaciers national park in Argentina. We missed out on seeing the Grey Glacier in Chile on the last day of the Torres del Paine trek - so we felt the need to get up close and personal with some of these wonders of nature. And we certainly got our fill. This really is another case of words (mine at least) doing very little justice to the natural splendor of the glaciers, so here a link to our latest pics: http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/stokes_richard2004/album?.dir=/2ff9&urlhint=actn,ren%3as,6%3af,0 As we had plenty of time in Calafate ( a relatively new town built to support the demand of tourism and named after a local berry...out of interest) we did the full monty glacier thing. We spent a breathless afternoon on arrival running around numerous travel agents seeing what tour they did to which glacier (there are 3 big ones and numerous 'small' galciers in the area). After having hit the budget hard again we had the next 2 days set up. Day 1 - Boat trip to the Spegazzini and Upsala glaciers. Spegazzini has the highest front wall of all the glaciers in the area (up to 120 metres) and when our boat got underneath it ypou began to feel the immense size and power of all that ice. The noise created when the galcier calves is immense. You hear a deafening crack and them thunderous smash as the ice plunges into the lake. You expect most of the glacier to now be missing but in reality only a tiny pieces has fallen off. When the Perito Moreno galcier had a major collaspe last year - the sound could be heard in Calafate, over 80 kms away. After Spegazzini we motored around Lake Argentina to the collosal Upsala Galcier - the biggest accessible glacier in S America. Its over 60kms long and 6 kms wide. The Upsala produces huge icebergs, apparently as the lake is so deep at this point (700 metres) and it was sensational cruising around them, especially when one gigantic block of ice simply collasped into the lake creating a wave of 5-6 mts in height that rolled towards us and has a few people running for their seasickness tabs. On our way to the lunch stop, on a glacier lake filled with icebergs going nowhere (the place icebergs go to die i think), we had a great chat with an Argentine couple from Buenos Aires. After the chatting about ice, we got onto football (which happens a lot round here), as Spurs had 2 Argentine players in the early 80s this guy has followed their fortunes (or lack of) ever since. So he decided he liked us and shared his 'mate' tea with us (we provided the chocolate). It was our first real taste of this Argentine ritual - and was surprising nice (with added sugar) - it really is a social thing as the mate gourd gets passed around from person to person. Lovely people and an amazing day. Day 2 - was much more our style as the previous day had been spent in the company of 270 other on this huge boat. This trip was called 'Big Ice'! and promised a chance to ice hike on the Perito Moreno galcier. So as Nik´s knees has just about recovered from the Torres del Paine hike we went for it. We shared a 4x4 with 6 other intrepid souls to get to the glacier, then after a 5 kms hike through forest with the amazing glacier on our right hand side visible through autumnal trees, it was on with the crampons and onto the ice. We hiked around for 9 kms in total, closely following our 2 superb guides, Mariano and Jimmy. They showed us where not to step and filled our heads with all sorts of facts and figures about this mass of ice and snow. Each year the Perito Moreno loses about 20 meters in height this is rebuilt every winter. The really surprising thing was the amount of water flowing underneath and on top of the glacier. When we stopped for lunch, all you could hear was the flow of water all around you, occasionally interruppted by a thunder of avalanche coming from behind us "Nothing to worry about" said Mariano. After the exertions of the day, we had a thoroughly well deserved 'asado' all you can eat dinner with Geraint and Ellie from the trip and massive lie in the next day. Now back in Puerto Natales, Chile - before departing for Puerto Montt on the M/V Magallanes tomorrow. 4 days of rough seas and diesel fumes - Nik can´t wait! As a quick post script to our last entry re the Torres del Paine national park. We just found out that on the day we left the park, a Czech backpacker managed to start a fire whilst cooking his breakfast after knocking over a gas burner. Due to the arid conditions in the park - no real rain for about 2 weeks (which is unheard of) - the fire took hold really quickly. We actually saw the smoke as we laft but assumed it was a controlled agricultural burn or something. Unfortunately not. It raged, pretty much out of control for 5 days, burning 7,000 hectres of beautiful national park land - killing llamas and guancos along the way. Thankfully, just as the authorities were consdiering closing the park completely and evacuating all hikers, the heavens opens and a huge downpour (which we got some of 60kms away in Argentina) dampened the flames. The local pèople of Puerto Natales we´re jumping for joy today as so many of their liveihoods depend on the park - and a closed park doesn´t bring in the tourists. But I suppose it shows that if you let people in it doesn´t take much to cause years of devastation. A delicate balance indeed.

Chile - Torres Del Paine National Park

2005-02-18T13:36:00.000+01:00

Day 1: arrive in Puerto Natales in southern Chile, and check into hostel eerily reminiscent of the Bates Motel. Convinced the owner is keeping his dead mother upstairs in a chair. Arrange a 5 day, 75km hike in the Torres Del Paine (known as the ´W´ but you´d need a map to see why). We have to carry all our camping equipment and enough food for 5 days, which is clearly impossible if travelling with Richard, so consider hiring a small lorry to transport food for us. Instead opt for a number of dehydrated sachet meals and some dried apricots. Mmmm, lovely. Day 2: Arrive in the Torres on a beautiful sunny day. Have heard horror stories about the nightmarish weather conditions so are lugging around full waterproofs, thermals and woolly hats. Just our luck the weather´s good - bloody typical. Pitch our tent in a record 30 minutes, with minimal arguing, and set off for a gentle hike up to the Torres (towers). Turns out it´s 10km, all uphill from about 500ft to the top at 3000ft , but through indescribably beautiful scenery and ending at the foot of the spectacular towers, which rise 7500ft up into the clouds and look over a glacier lake of pure turquoise. Sit for a while to recover from mild coronary induced by the climb, and watch the condors cruising by overhead. They feed on carrion, so am concerned they are mistaking me for their next meal. Surely I don´t look that unfit? http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/stokes_richard2004/album?.dir=/49de There is a sinking realisation that we have to go back the way we´ve come, so we commence the 10km hike back down. Arrive back at camp completely exhausted but realise it´s valentines day, so crack open the litre of chilean red we have brought with us as essential provisions and cook ourselves up a delightful pasta meal. Richard attempts to light a fire - it seems he has everything he needs - dry wood, and the most powerful lighter ever designed by man, but he fails miserably, so we just go to bed. Day 3: we have to hike 16km today with all our stuff to the next camspite. We consider eating all the food for breakfast to lighten the load. We remember to decant the remaining red wine into one of our water bottles - no need to carry much water anyway, as we can drink from glacier streams as we walk. Splendid. After half an hour of agony I fall over and make Richard carry most of my stuff. Sometimes the pathetic female card is the only option. The day is beautiful again and involves hiking alongside a huge lake. At one stage we have to cross a very large and intimidating river (rio del Aierro), where they have neglected to build a bridge. There are a lot of people standing on opposite sides of the river looking perplexed. I offer to cross first as Rich is carrying the expensive camera. He doesn´t object. We manage it with minimal wetting of trousers. We arrive at our next camp (Campo Italiano) thoroughly exhahusted. There are no showers, and only one loo. We decide to wash in the glacier stream running through the idyllic camp. After hypothermia sets in almost immediately, I decide to stay dirty instead. We spend a very pleasant evening sitting by the stream in the evening sun and watching huge chunks of ice calving off the glacier on the mountain ahead of us, and come booming down the valley. We have some debate about how safe we are, but decide we´re too knackered to outrun an avalanche anyway so we might as well enjoy the rest of the wine and forget about it. I produce a waldorf salad (minus mayonnaise and grapes) to go with dinner, and Richard is most impressed. Put that in your pipe and smoke it, Nigella. We are starting to smell quite bad. Day 4: A short 1hr hike up through Valle Frances to the Frances glacier to get a closer look, we find a beautiful spot so we sit and watch for a bit in perfect peace as a flock of green parrots flies past. We have the glacier in front of us, Los Cuernos behind us, Cabeza del Indio to our right and the valley dropping away to our left - idyllic. We head down and pack up camp and set off for the next stop. It´s a relatively easy walk today but my god our feet are buggered so we are in pieces by the time we arrive at camp (Largo Pehoe). The joy of a hot shower and a little hut to cook in is simply too much for us, so we celebrate by purchasing some more wine from the campsite shop, which sells nothing else of use. While we eat the wind gets up outside, and by the time we go to bed it´s blowing a gale. We spend a sleepless night concerned we are about to blown away. We can hear the gusts booming up the valley towards us before they hit, and occasionally the crash of a bit of glacier falling off in the distance. I feel very small. Day 5: after some debate, we decide knickers to any more walking, and decide to go home a day early. The proposed walk with all our gear up to the next glacier is simply too much to contemplate in the wind, and we´ve run out of food. Richard is secretly pleased that I want to head back. A boat ride, a coach journey and one puncture later we arrive back in Puerto Natales where we escape from the Bates Motel and check into a hostel down the road. We have a hot shower, a proper bed and as much food as we can physically consume at a fabulous reatuarant serving whole lamb cooked over an open fire (asado they call it and it is a carnevors delight) and a 2 inch thick piece of steak. Think I have died and gone to heaven, and have a pisco sour to celebrate. The end. Having problems with our digital camera, so pics of this bit will have to wait until we can get the 35mm camera film onto CD.

Argentina - Ushuaia, Tierra Del Fuego

2005-02-10T20:20:00.000+01:00

Greetings from the end of the world as we know it...well almost if we don´t count Antarctica, and all our attempts to get there have been defeated by either time (3 week boat trip) and more importantly money, its about US$6,000 each. Oh well maybe in a few years. Got to Ushuaia a couple of days ago. Took us a day to get over the Punto Tombo car adverture (see last entry) and clean up the mud which got into pretty much all our kit. Spent a ´rest day´flying around the Ushuaia area and over the Beagle Channel in a 3 seater Cherokee plane. The scheduled flight in from Trelew was just so beautiful that we had to go up there again. US$70 very well spent to be able to soar around above and under the snow capped peaks of Tierra del Fuego. Then along the imaginary line seperating Argentina and Chile (the pilot wasn´t up for causing a diplomatic incident and taking us closer to Isla Navina Chile - they really don´t appear to get on that well - everyone needs good neighbours right?). Anyway, it was an amazing experience and another example of our ability to say ´sod it´to our budget and just do want we feel like doing. So when we landed it was straight into a seafood resturant for a huge Paella and Savingon Blanc lunch. We´ll eat sandwiches tomorrow. Today we made for the Tierra del Feugo National Park to the west of Ushuaia and right on the border with Chile (there are borders with Chile all over the place as they didn´t really see eye to eye when dividing up this last frontier). We thought that with a potential 5-7 day trek coming up in the Torres del Paine national park (Chile) we´d better get some exercise in. We´ve only been away for 2 weeks and 3 weeks ago i was at a desk - so some fitness is definately needed. Anyway we did a very easy 4 hour walk around the park. Amazing glaciers in the background with rivers of glacial water bubbling by us. Classic photo opp. at the sign for the end of Ruta 3 - bascially the road that runs north thru South Amercia - the last road in the world. Back into town tonight to plan our next move. 16 hour bus to Chile was full for Saturday - what a shame - so we´´re doing a 1 hour flight instead at x3 the price - but its gonna be money well spent I reckon. That should get us to Puerto Natales (Chile) by late Sat night. From there we´ll be undertaking the 5-7 trek I mentioned and also nipping back into Argentina to see the Perito Morreno Glacier. From Puerto Natales its a 4 day boat through Chilean Fyords to the Chilean Lake District. Well at least thats the plan right now. Tune in next week for the next thrilling installment

Argentina - Peninsula Valdes and around

2005-02-09T19:05:00.000+01:00

Greetings from Ushusia - quite literally the end of the world Got here last night - amazing flight over Tierra del Fuego and the Beagle Channel. So good in fact we decided to blow the budget on an 1 hrs flight over the same area again today but this in a 3 seater Cherokee plane - absolutely amazing views - will start to upload photos soon i promise. Last port of call before Ushusia was the area around Penisula Valdes - where the Welsh came ashore in 1870s and home now to all manner of sea life - in season Souther Right Whales (but our timing was out on that front - they leave in Dec) however we did see Elephant seals, Sea Lions, got up close and personal with Magellanic Penguins and to top it all off - saw a pod of 3 Orcas about 50 yeard away from their lunch - those lovely sea lion pups. Nature in all its glory! Hired a car for 3 days with another similarly minded English couple. Together we camped and cooked questionable food on our gas burners and drank copious amounts of red wine to aid sleep. Which is tricky on Argentine camp sites as they seem to come to life at 3am. Dropped into Gaiman - in the Chubut Valley - home to families called Jones, Roberts etc etc - a little bit fo wales in a Argentine valley. Really quite surreal eating Barra Brith and drinking quite excellent tea in 30 degree heat with Welsh flags flying. Given the rugby result i had to question who i back in the 6 nations! Camped by a river at the back of the firestation - no one else there - perfect spot. Went kayaking along the Chubut the next day - passed tea houses, farms and a seaweed factory. The trip down stream alot more enjoyable than the slog upriver. Our helpful guide was shocked when we insisted on paying him a grand 2 pounds for his help. The first piece of local generousity we recieved that day. Next day took the road south to Punta Tombo - a Pingiuniaria - not a Penguin shop but home to 500,000 of them apparently. Journey there was somewhat arduous - unmade road for 100 kms. Our hire car - VW Goooooooool!! as they say here - took one hell of a beating as stones pinged off the exhust and windscreen but it held together. After a stone road came a mud road - 2 days of rain making the way almost impassable. We were 2 kms from the Penguins when we got stuck in the mud, couldn´t go forward couldn´t go back. A taxi passed by - saw our plight and 3 guys got out. After much scratching of chins - the taxi driver took charge and somehow got the VW out of the mud. Needless to say, we walked to the Penguin Resevre. As we were due to fly south in 4 hours we jogged in the Rangers hut. "Where is your car" he said. We told him the sorry story. "Oh" he frowned, "but you need a car to see the Penguins, you can{t just walk in!". He saw our 4 faces drop in collective horror, we{d been on the road 4 hrs to see these ******** Penguins, I explained. "I suppose I could take you in the back of the pick up then. So we got a Ranger guided tour of the Magellanic Penguins - they were everywhere in vast numbers as the new borns had just arrived and were about to take to the sea for the 1st time. You literally had to watch your step as we made our way to the cliffs overlooking the Penguin filled beach. Again when the pics came they will say more than i can - but they were very cute, little ones with Mohecan haircuts and wobbling uncertainly on their feet in the wind. So we didn´´t get as long there as we{d have liked but still an incredible place to get to - especially when the journey was such a grid. I wish i could say the journey out was easy, it was until the Ranger dropped us off at our car. But we, añlong with 3 other cars, got stuch again. This time though we used the taxi drivers technique, all in 1st gear with high revs, and bit by bit we got out of jail. Leaving the others behind only after telling the Ranger he might need his tow rope - alas we had a plane to catch. As you can imagine by now the car was a mess - you could just about see the orignal colour, but 90% of the outside and 50% of the inside was covered in think Patagonia mud (slightly red in colour for any budding geologists out there). So we thought it prudent to wash it before handing back to Avis. Our 1st petrol station told us there was no 'jet wash' for abotu 100 kms in any direction. "But I suppose I could do it for you" - so you see why we loved that part of Argentina so much. People who would help you out if you gave them the chance, the sort of thing that just wouldn't happen in the cities. We made the plane, Avis didn´t charge us any more and we said goodbye to our new friends Sam and Gill, who Im sure we´ll see again in somewhere on the Gringo trail.

Argentina Iguazu Falls

2005-02-01T15:30:00.000+01:00

After 3 days in BA we headed north to the border with Brazil to see the legendary Iguazu Waterfalls. Stepping out of the plane up there was really like stepping into an oven, or more appropriately a suana, it was hot & wet, damn hot. We treated ourselves to a stupidly expenisive hotel (Sheraton) but it was the only one which looked over the falls. And I have to say as soon as we walked into the reception area, we could see what we were paying for (certainly not the friendlyness of the staff of high quality of cuisine) the view blew us away. Now I'm not going to try to descibe the sight before us, I'll upload some photos at some point which might come close to explaining the majesty of the place, but apparently a former First Lady of the USA (maybe it was Roosevelt's missus) said when she visited Iguazu 'Pity poor Niagra'. Quite frankly it pi$$es on that particulary natural wonder. Anyway, highlight was either standing at 'Devils Throat' looking into the culdren of the falls from 300 foot up - the cloud of water the falls creates soaks you (and the camera you try to capture it on). How they built the viewing platform I'll never know.but clearly the engineers didn't have any issues with vertigo. Later that day we took a tour in a high powered RIB boat right up to the falls - darting in and out of the falls, narrowly avoid rocks and other tourist boats. It was a great ride, again soaked to the bone but at least they give you a plastic bag for your camera. All in all, Iguazu stunned us, we had high expectations and were not disappointed. And considering over 1 million people go theu the national park every year - it was remarkably un-Disney like. There were numerous environmental slogans and pieces of advice for the Argentine's (and indeed other nationalities) to take home with them after their hols, such as water conservation and recycling. Back in BA now (back to earth on the accom front in a hostel called Milhouse - they didn't get my Simpsons impression on check in) , and the weather here has gone pretty crazy since we left. The temperture has dropped 12 degrees not to mention wind and rain. People are walking aroudn the city in full-on winter coats (we're still in shorts and t shirts) and mumbling about the 'frio'. Off to start 4 days of intense Spanish lessons now. so clearly the rest of this blog will be in Spanish...perhaps not.

Argentina - Buenos Aires

2005-01-26T15:37:00.000+01:00

So, day 1 out of 180 Its amazing to be here at last, after so much thinking about a trip, talking about a trip and then planning it. First impressions of Buenos Aires (and in truth we haven;t done a great deal so far - still shaking off the effects of 14 hours with Europe's least friendly airline Iberia) - is its a beautiful city with these incredibly wide open tree lined boulevards and avenues. And its the home of the professional Dog Walker. We've seen loads of these guys with up to 15 pooches on one arm, strolling through the city parks or just chilling out under a tree. The down side for the unwary tourist - who tends to be looking up at the architecture, rather than down at his feet - is a whole load of dog shit. Clearly pooper scooping is not part of the Dog Walkers remit. We have found ourselves in a wonderful hotel though - Malabia House in the Palermo Viejo area, which has created its own genre of accomodation - Design Bed & Breakfast. Yep sounds like the owners are in danger of thaking themselves a tad too seriously - but to call itself a simple B&B would not do this place any justice at all - see for yourself www.malabiahouse.com.ar We arrived at 9am, redeyed and starving - so they ushered us straight into a delicious brekkie. Then more guests started to rise and join us. Soon we had 5 residents of New York round the table with us - telling us how lucky we are to get 6 months off work (they get 10 days) and how much they were looking forward to returning to the snow-bound and frozen Big Apple. It was nice - cos quite frankly breakfast is not most peoples most socialable time of day is it! So far so bloody amazing. Feeling the need for a siesta now before tackling my first Argentine fillet steak later tonight

Cheerio Yahoo!

2005-01-14T11:52:00.000+01:00

Last day today - fighting my way thru a Guinness-induced hangover. Thanks to everyone who broke the January detox to join me for a drink at the Joiners Arms last night - great to see everyone Now if I can just make it thru to lunch - chance to top up my alcohol system - then I should be OK...

2005-01-06T18:18:00.000+01:00

A taste of where we will be - the Torres del Paine national park, Chile