August & Tim Sth America

Gallery: Rio De Janeiro

augustwilson — Wed, 14 May 2008 04:28:00 GMT

Gallery: Florianopolis

augustwilson — Wed, 14 May 2008 04:22:00 GMT

Brazil

Uruguay and Brazil

augustwilson — Sun, 11 May 2008 04:43:00 GMT

We´re still going! But only 2 wks left, hard to believe its coming to an end but we have more to do...

Uruguay was a quiet couple of wks for us, we had to go through the red tape for Auguts Brazil Visa which made us stay in Montevideo for longer than expected, and buy a bus ticket to brazil from here, which was annoying! So we decided to head to the coast of Uruguay anyway and go back to montevideo to leave for Brazil... long way round but we got to stay in Punta Del Diablo in a Cabana on the beach all to ourself which was a nice change to hostels! The town was lovely and picturesque with only a local shop, restaurant and a bar... very quiet indeed! So we lazed on the beach for a couple of days but the bad weather followed us so we left for Punta Del Este which is the Surfers Paradise of Uruguay. Here, unfortunately it was the off season, and the bad weather continued to follow us so we were bored out of our brains! The only thing to do in this kitchy town is to sun bake in your g-string bikini and spend lots of money. Luckily we had a nice hotel (no hostels worth going to here!!) where Tim could sit and watch the soccer finals all day...

Finally, my visa came through so we headed back to Montevideo to get a bus to Brazil. We had 8 hrs to kill between bus rides and we soon found out it was Labour Day in Uruguay so NOTHING was open. This was the most boring day of my life.. until we found an internet cafe, thank god. We may have gone a little crazy otherwise.

When we eventually got on the bus to embark on the 19hr bus ride to Brazil, Florianopolis - a beachy island, we thought we were heading for better weather and things to do...

Due to a slight hiccup in Uruguayian customs, we almost didn´t make it to brazil. When we took the ferry from Buenos Aires to Montevideo, the company neglected to give us an entry card... so here we were, ready to cross the border at 2am in the morning and the bus driver asks us for our passports and entry card... He explained to us that we had 2 options.

1) Drive back to Monetvideo for 6hrs tomorrow and go to Immigration - no thanks.

2) Pay 45000 pesos - about $2500 each! No way!!

He asked us for what money we had on us (about $10), took our passports to the immigrations guy (we didn~t have to get off the bus), he told a couple of jokes, shook his hand and there you have it, 2 illegal departures from Uruguay!! Hello Brazil.

So after the rocky bus ride we made it to Florianopolis and went to our hostel on the Sth part of the island. It was really nice, the waves actually crashed onto the balcony it was that close to the beach! But alas, there was monsoon rains here so not much to do... the owner decided to hire a karaoke machine for the nite, but 2 Brazilians who held no tune whatso ever serenaded us for 8hrs which the hostel had buckets around the place stopping the floods!!!

The rain stopped briefly, and we tried our hand at fishing and ssite seeing but not much happened here and certainly no sun! We managed to score 2 free nites accomodation cos we´re such lovely people and the owner liked us.

So now we´re in Rio! What an amazing city! Set on the mountains with amazing beaches everywhere. We caught the cable car up to see the Christ the Redeemer statue and amazing views of the city, lazed on Copacobana beach (finally sun!),been to the Lapa Street Party and partied with the locals. We also took the Favella tour into the shanty towns in the hills hwere 200 000 people live in shacks and don´t pay tax. pretty amazing levels of poverty, and economics and well worth the vist. If you have seen City of God, you´ll know what its all about. The hostel are taking us to a Favella Funk party on Sun nite (serucity and all of course!) which shouhld be an experience.

We´re struggling with the Portuguese - just when our Spanish was getting OK we get thrown into a whole new world and it reminds us how we felt when we first arrive in Sth America.

Unfortunately the hostel has a dose of bed bugs so thats put a buit of an itch into the holiday, but we´ll solior on! If the weather holds out, we will go to Ilhe Grande early next week, or fly to Salvador for relaxing really... bring on the sun!!

Photos will come soon.

Gallery: Uruguay

augustwilson — Thu, 1 May 2008 04:36:00 GMT

Punta Del Diable & Punta Del Este

Gallery: Soccer!

augustwilson — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 02:40:00 GMT

Riverplate vs San martin

Gallery: Iguaza Falls

augustwilson — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 10:22:00 GMT

Prison, bombs and much much more

augustwilson — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 07:36:00 GMT

Well it has taken a while for this update but since the last one we have been to prison, detonated some dinamite, visited an underground mine, re-entered Argentina, drank a 4.7liter bottle of wine, visited Che Guvara country, eat loads of steak and that is just the half of it...

After the jungle we returned to La Paz for a few days and did a tour of one of the worlds most dangerous prisons(San Pedro) which doubles as a tourist attraction as u can actually visit inmates in their cells which they have to buy.Some of the cells have en suites with cable teeves and all the luxuries of the outside world but it is most definatly a prison and the guides who show u around are rapists, murders, trafficers and a combination of all of the above.That was an interesting Sunday for sure and one to remember.

From La paz we got an overnight bus to Potosi on which Tim got bitten by something in the middle of the night and was barely able to walk off the bus as it was on the same leg he skunned falling off the foothpath the previous day on the way to prison but he is a tough little paddy and batteled on!!In potosi we visited an operational silver mine which is run as a co-operative by the miners and has over 5000 workers.It was amazing to see but for the second time in 24 hours we felt like we were in a human zoo as tourists gawking at people in their natural surroundings but the money for the tour does go back to the miners so we sleep well.On the way to the mine we stopped at a supply shop where u buy gifts for the miners, things like soft drinks, water and of course dynamite.A stick of dinamite, some nitro glisirine, a detonator and a fuse set us back 2 dollars...We did get to keep one of the explosive packages and detonate it ourselves after the tour which was interesting to say the least and would have been more so if we would have been allowed to strap a few pomme backpackers to it...

From potosi we got a taxi to Sucre which was a hell ride to beat all others.The taxi driver was a bad driver to put it mildly and prefered driving on the wrong side of the road as a rule but he did get us there in fairness.When there we went to a traditional Bolivian dance show which was good to see but a bit of a rip off.To be honest Sucre didnt have much more to offer except thunderous rain and good chocolate.That finished our 3 weeks in Bolivia for us and we got another overnight bus this time to Salta.

Being back in Argentina was like being back in civilisation and we really enjoyed getting in to the steak and red wine.The latter was especially enjoyabe as we got a 4.7 liter bottel of red for 6 dollars(aussie) which was of surprisingly good quality and was enjoyed no end.salta in a nice little city and a cool place to spend a few days and watch the mighty men of Munster advance to the European Cup semi final(even if we did have to spend $100 to book into a hotel for it).From Salta we did a tour to Cafayate which is about 3 hours away but pases thru some pretty amazing countryside with the andes and the rock formations providing a spectacular drive. Cafayate is a nice little town and from here we went to Tucuman which is the major city in northern argentina.

This is where Tim started coming up in major boils and blisters from the bed bugs that attacked him in Cafayate.It was a bit of a drama as the doctor had to be called and gave him a steroid in injection and ordered him to stay in bed as his blood pressure had plummuted.Our little spud muncher is a battler though and he was back downing poppys in no time but the bed bugs have left scars, alas they will be gone by the time we get to Ireland so there will be no battle marks to show off!!

From Tucuman we headed on yet another overnight bus to Cordoba which is Che Guvara country but turned out up to be a let down as the sole musuem dedicated to him was closed for renovations and our dopey guide took the booking, brought us there and never knew. Cordoba is a big city with a small city feel and was a nice host town for the Tim and Augie tour!!!

Cordoba waved goodbye to the tour and after 24 hours on a bus we pulled in to a tickertape reception in Iguazu where we spent a day recovering form the bus ride and another day visiting the amazing falls which are truly spectacular.They are listed as one of the natural wounders of the world and were well worth the long trip.Audios Iguazu y Salut Buenos Aires.

We have spent the last 4 days in B.A shopping, eating, drinking and not much else really..The shopping here is great and amazingly cheap for the designer quality u get.We didnt do much tourist stuff here as we have been before but we did manage to get to a River Plate copa America soccer game which they won 5-0 without breaking a sweat but it was good to see all the same.We leave here tomorro morning and head to Uruguay and montevideo where August must sort her Brazilian visa.It is a bit of a hassle but hopefully we will get it sorted.We are praying for more sun there and plan to spend some time on the beach otherwise it will be a fleeting visit as we will migrate north for the golden rays.

Thank you for tuning in and if you have got this far u must feel like there should be a pot of gold here for u, like reaching the end of the rainbow but NO.

Gallery: The Road of Death

augustwilson — Tue, 8 Apr 2008 02:25:00 GMT

Gallery: Salta and Cafayate

augustwilson — Tue, 8 Apr 2008 02:07:00 GMT

Gallery: Potosi and Sucre

augustwilson — Thu, 3 Apr 2008 02:53:00 GMT

Salt Mines and traditional dance

La Paz & Rurrenabaque

augustwilson — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 03:47:00 GMT

The cross over the border to Bolivia has bought lots of bad food, but also some amazing sites. We caught the bus to Copacobana but infortunately couldn´t go on Lake Titicata as there were no ATMS in the town and the cash advance place was closed! So we spent a night doing pretty much nothing in the tiny town and scraped up enough Bolivianos to catch the local bus (we didn´t have enough for the nice tourist bus!) to La Paz. Here we also had a few difficulties with money as our card wouldn´t work in any ATMS....we hiked with our packs for about 1hr trying to find our hostel and finally landed in the Wild Rover for Paddy´s day. The Irish hostel proved to be a fun night for Paddys with lots of green and baby guiness shots all night!

Bolivia seem to be obsessed with deep frying, pizzas and chips on the side of every meal, so we have spent all our time looking for reasonable food with no luck... the people thanbkfully do not hassle you as much as in Peru, and there seems to be some sort of protest on every day with millions of police in their full army gear surrounding you!

We headed sth from La Paz to Uyuni and did a tour of Salar de Uyuni which is the largest and highest salt plains in the world. It was absolutely amazing, you stand in the middle and cannot see the edge of the lake its that big. Driving along on a 4 X 4 feels like you´re driving on snow. We stayed overnight on the edge of the lake where there are hostels made from salt block, tables, chairs, beds - you name it, all made from salt! It was surprisingly comfortable sleeping on a salt bed and wasn´t as cold as we had been warned about. The bus ride to Uyuni from La Paz was pretty horrendous - we took the overnight bus that was supposed to take 12 hrs, however due to a tyre blow out (i´m not surpised considering it was 12hrs of corrugations!) it took a little longer than expected... overall it was an amazing trip and is definately worth the journey.

From La Paz we decided to fly to Rurrenabaque in the North to go to the jungle for a few days. We caught the 12 seater plane up in 35mins - any longer and we may have been a little claustrophobic as there were only window seats and you couldn´´t stand up. The whole flight we were staring at the pilot! But from all reports, it definately beats the 17hr bus ride to Rurrenabaque from La Paz where they lose a couple of bus loads a year over the edge of the horrific roads.

We completed a 3 dat pampas tour which was amazing. This involved driving for 3hrs over yet another bad road (this one was really bad!!) fro 3hrs in a squishy van in the humidity and heat we´re not yet used to. Once we arrived at the river we went down the river for a few hours looking for local wildlife and animals. Unforunately as it is the end of the wet season, the water is a bit too high for most things, but we say some turtles, lots of birds, and some monkeys. We arrived at our camping area where we got the mosquito nets organised, and set off for a night ride on the boat to look for aligators... we saw lots of eyes and our guide grabbed a baby one out of the water for us to play with. There is a local alligator at the camp site which comes pretty close when you offer it food which was pretty amazing. The next day we were in search of anacondas. So we set off in gumboots and our long shirts in the stinking hot sun for a few hrs wading through thigh deep water hoping to see one. Unforunately no anacondas, just 7 tired people! That afternoon we were able to swim in the river with pink dolphins who liked to bite peoples feet! THe next day we got up for an early sunrise over the rive which was beautiful, then set off to catch some pirahnas. Surprisingly we all caught a few except poor old Tim. We even ate them for lunch, but considering the size there were´nt much meat on them and they looked pretty revolting after being deep fried whole!

So now we are back in Rurrenabaque and catching the plane back to La Paz today. We´ll stay for a night or to and do the Road of Death on a Mt bike, and visit Copacobana again to stay on Isle Del Sol (this time with some cash!). Then we´ll head sth towards Argentina for Salta, Cordoba,Iquazu, BA. THen the coast of Uruaguay and Brazil.. We were going to head to central america as we have the time, however the flights are atrociously expensive and it would put too much of a hole in our budget!! Next time hey.

Gallery: Rurrenabaque

augustwilson — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 09:03:00 GMT

Jungle

Gallery: Uyuni

augustwilson — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 22:35:00 GMT

Photos of the highest salt flats in the world

Gallery: Macchu Picchu & Peru

augustwilson — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 07:09:00 GMT

Gallery: Cusco and Puno

augustwilson — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 13:08:00 GMT

Photos of the Inca trail and the floating islands in Puno.

Cuzco, Macchu Piccu & Puno

augustwilson — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 11:58:00 GMT

We spent about a week in Cuzco prior to starting the trek up Macchu Piccu, so from Arequipa, we took the overnight bus which was 10hrs, about 5 of these were on a road worse than Denise and Phils! We also didn{t sleep a wink as we had a maniac driver, and everytime we turned a corner, I swore the bus was going to roll over! But we made it in time for Tims birthday, and booked into Loki hostel which is a huge Irish hostel with 180 beds. Due to everyone needing to aclimatise to the altitude prior to the Inca Trail, there are lots of people just hanging around, and hence partying! We had a cheezy birthday celebration over a minature cake, then headed out to Mama Africas, which is also a cheezy backpackers bar, but we had a good night with some people from Loki all the same.

In Cuzco, we also went to som elocal Inca Ruins around Cuzco, where we were able to hire horses and ride between 4 sites which was fun! Mind you, they were practically donkeys and didn{t know how to trot or canter so we were pretty safe with the old style western saddles and no bridle or helmet!!

The Inca Trek began on Sunday with an early start at 5am, where we travelled a few hours to Ollyantantambo which is the last town before the trek begins to get supplies, then drove another hr or two to the beginning of the hike at KM 82. Here the porters organised all our gear and we set off for our first day on the hike. We had only 5 in our group which was fantiastic compared to the other (millions) of groups who had up to 20! There were 2 Swedish girls, and an Aussie guy all about the same age so we got on well. The tour agency we went with hire all their porters from a local town near the start of the trek, and it is a family owned business, so most of them were related. The porters are amazing! They are only allowed to carry 25kgs now, as before there were regulations, some carried up to 40kgs on their backs! Most only wear their sandles, and we had about 4-5 porters over the age of 40! Very strong men thats for sure. So day 1 was pretty tame, and the rain kept away right until we set up camp which was good. We got fed 2-3 course peruvian meals every lunch and dinner so there was plenty of energy for each day. Day 2 was the most arduous of the 4 day trek as we had to climb 1200m in altitude, and is pretty much up hill for 6 hrs. But compared to the Colca Canyon, Tim and I found it relatively easy surprisingly. Mind you it was difficult navigating ourselves around the million other tourist doing the trek with us!! They only allow 500ppl in a day to Macchu Picchu including porters and guides (and the lazy buggers who get the train up), but it seemed like a lot more. The walk was really beautiful as we began walking into the rainforest areas along the creeks. The rain set in at the top of the mountain at 4200m and the ponchos were our new best friends again, then we descended down about 600m to our wet campsite for the night. The cards kept up occupied for the night time and we have a fun new Swedish card game to teach everyone!

Day 3 involved climbing for about 2hrs, then walking down hill for about 6hrs. This sounds easy however in the rain on slippery rocks its pretty tough. The original Inca Trail is still intact in this area and it is pretty much a rocky path and the 'Inca Flat' which is up and down all day. This was also beautiful scenary with the rainforrests and mountains in the back ground. Along the way we also had 'history lessons' and stopped at Inca ruins each day where we saw some amazing stonework and terraces for agriculture.

By Day 4 we were pretty much sick of walking down hill! I never thought I'd see the day where I would have preferred to walk up hill, but it came! We had a very early start at 4am at our last campsite to begin the 1.5hrs walk to the macchu Picchu sun gate for the sun rise. Unfortunately due to the constant rain and fog, we didn't see a thing!! We were very wet and ready to see some of the wordly wonder, but had to walk another 45mins to the actual site. Here we had a 2 hr history lesson and learnt about the intersting ways of the Inca and see some absolutely amazinf stone work. How they managaed to build such amazing structures and carve stone to 90 degrees and join the walls with no mortar we will never be able to understand.... The weather was pretty shitty, but the clouds did open for a few photos and we could admire the beauty of the place. Its definately worth visiting if you have a chance. The trail itself wasn{t that difficult, and we were surpised at the amount of people 40-60 doing the trek!

So tired, stiff and wet, we spent a few hours in Agua Calientes which is a town with beautiful hot springs to rest our muscles, and have Mojitos servied to you in the pool! A nice finish to the day. We had to catch the train back to Cuzco that afternoon for 5hrs, where we checked in to the hostel with a bunch of durt washing to take to Puno the next day!

The bus to Puno was revolting, and it took 2 hrs longer than expected, then conked out 1/2 hrs before we got to the terminal so we had to get a taxi to the hostel! Here the hostel we booked completely ripped us off and wouldn'{ accept our discount card or take our deposit off the total price. But we had to settle for it, so slept the night, and took a tour to the floating island on Lake Titicata today. Its pretty amazing here, htere are a bunch of islands called the Uros where they literally live on reeds. They eat reeds, make houses, cooks, make boats and anything else you can think of with the reeds. Each island is only about 30m in diameter and a family lives on each to ensure they do not have incestual relationships! We took the local boat to a couple of ialands, then tooko the big boat to a natural island called Tequile. Here we were supposed to have our lunch and relax, but our guide decided to downgrade up to the 'normal' class by her own virtue where we didn{t get lunch or any guided tour. So when we finally made it back to Puno, and argued till we were blue in the face for a refund for our ticked (which we got!!).

So basically we don{t like Puno! Everyone rips you off, and we also had things stolen - I wouldn{t bother recommending this place to anyone axpect for a short trip to the Islands.

Tomorrow we're off to Copacobana Bolivia to relax (hopefully) at Isle Del Sol, then head off to La Paz for a week or so. We might find it difficult to do anything over Easter due to the holidays, but we're hoping to get to Uyini and see the salt plains.

We'll put some photos up ASAP - keep posted!

Colca Canyon and Arequipa

augustwilson — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 07:32:00 GMT

Well we have left Chile behind are at high altitude in Peru struggling with the thin air and enjoying a big change in culture and more different beers!

We Left Iquque behind and got a short 6 hour bus overnight to Arica which is right on the Peruvian border. We got dropped there at 5am with no place open and no sign of a bus onward so we were scooped up by a local 'Colectivo' driver to get across the border. This was basically a big 1970´s lincon with leather seats that recline and a chauffeur who looked like a gangster! It was like something u see in a mafia movie, as he drives u thru the border and organises the legalities, then landed us 2hrs later at our next connection in Tacna. Here we got a bus to Arequipa for 6hrs which climbed and climbed and climbed into the hills, the air got pretty thin as we got closer to our destination due to the alttude. We spent one night in Arequipa before we headed off on a 3 day 2 night Colca canyon tour.

The Colca Canyon is one of the biggest in the world and is about 7 hours from Arequipa which meant another early start and bus trip on rocky roads at altitude. The road gradually deteriorated past Chivay where we bumped along for 2 hrs on road worse than Denise and Phils in a 40 seater bus! But we made it over creeks, through mudpits dropping off local farmers along the way without any hiccups. We were expecting a big group but were plesantly surprised to have just the 2 of us and our lovely guide Marcello. The first afternoon walk was 3 hours downhill into the canyon to this quaint little settelment where we were the only guests. We soldiord through the rain with our ponchos keeping our packs and top half dry. The village consisted of about 6 stone chalets with straw roofs and a tiny little kitchen that had a traditional Peruvian clay cooker and an outdoor shower (cold of course). We huddeled from the cold and dried our clothes around the stove after the walk down in the rain. Dinner was included and we sat around sipping a few cervezas while our guide cooked up a treat and served us up a 2 yummy course meal. There was not a whole lot to do so we had a early one in preperation for our 8 hours walking the following day while in rained like a monsoon all night. Thankfully It seemed to rain itself out that night and we had beautiful blue skies the following day asfter the mist cleared. We did 3 hours of a flat walk to "the oasis" at the bottom of the canyon where we relaxed for a few hours and had a swim in a thermal bath surrounded by palm trees while 3 course meal was served up to us again! The afternoon was the hard part with an 1200meter climb up the side of the canyon to the town at the top. They told us it was a 3 hour walk but they never explained the torture that was involved. It was hell especially with the thin air and our guide setting off like a hare but there was a sense of satisfaction when we saw the lazy fat ass hikers passing us as they sat on their mules too lazy to walk up. Thanks to our jetsetter guide we did the walk in 2hrs of torture! When we got back to the village we had a well deserved hot shower and went up the street to the hostel where their speciality was wood fired pizza in the oven they just finished 2 days before. The chef was 13 year old kid named Elvis who did his best but nearly set the place on fire a few times. Eating pizza watching a Pink Floyd dvd and drinkin beer was almost like Christmas again with Phil & Denise but the company wasnt as good..

The following day was the bus back to Arequipa with a stop off at hot springs in Chivay to ease the aching muscels after the climb and a traditional buffet which we both took good advantage of but alas I am yet to realise my lifelong ambition of getting thrown out of an all you can eat buffet.

So the next few days we are gonna spend in Arequipa doing a few spanish classes while relaxing and passing time til we head to Cusco on Tuesday.

Gallery: Arequipa

augustwilson — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 06:00:00 GMT

Gallery: Valparasio-Santiago-Iquique

augustwilson — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 05:14:00 GMT

Partying

Valparasio, Santiago, Mendoza, Iquique

augustwilson — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 08:00:00 GMT

It´s been a while since we updated but rest assured there are plenty of stories to tell this time!!

So from Pucon we caught the bus North to Valparasio where a few people had recommeded we visit. Unfortunately this is a party town and we were there at the start of the week so I think we missed the essence of the place and didn´t really take a liking to it... There were lovely ´cerros´surrounding the port town which are basically big hills overlooking the water with colourful houses and chairlifts up the hill but that was the extent of it.

We then headed East to Santiago, and blissfully short bus trip of only 2hrs! Here we looked at a few sights, but only saw the famous virgin statue from a distance crawling home from Bellavista in the morning after a local bar girl who used to work at Hooters be-friended us for the night!! It was a pretty crazy night. We started out on Concepcion street at about 12am (as no-one starts partying until at least midnight, if not 2am). Of course the only good bar was an Irish one called the Dublin so we settled in for the bevvies here. As we did, Annaka decided she liked the look of us and told us where to go next which was a club. She met up with us here later, and as we were feeling sorry for ourselves and ready to go home, she managed to drag us to a private áfter hours´ party. We were of course the ´gringo´s´here and our friends looked after us well when everyone was staring and pointing at the ´mochillas´(backpackers).

Needless to say we were a bit tired and hungover to site see the next day! And we had to get the bus to Mendoza. With the tickets all ready and paid for all we had to do was turn up. Or so we thought... Tim found out he had lost his departure card for Chile and the bus driver wouldn´t let us on!! So we spent a few hours at the International Police and thankfully got the bus that afternoon.

This was supposed to be a leisurely 6hr trip with a quick border crossing, however the bus decided to make funny noises for a while, then break down in the middle of the Andes for over 2hrs! After 2 trucks tried to tow the bus unsucessfully we finally got a replacement and arrived in Mendoza at midnight...

Mendoza is a lovely town, with a very relaxed feel and is the centre of the wine industry. Needless to say, we were compelled to take the bus to Maipu and hire bikes to ride between the wineries.

This was great fun! Although we weren´t sure how far the first winery was but we found some other lost backpackers and after 1.2hr of riding we were well and truly ready for the first tasting... Yummo. Lots of Malbec wine here, its their specialty, quite nice. So wobbling along we did about 5 wineries and managed to ride home ok!

Another event that we will never forget occurred in Mendoza. All we wanted was to buy bus tickets to Iquique! However only a few companies did this trip and we went to a dodgy little shop with an old lady smoking away... as we were trying our best in Spanish to enquire about the price, we ended up in a little cofuffle with the nasty lady behind the counter holding our passports and money as she thought we agreed on the ticket... She was getting very nasty, so the police had to get involved in order to get our belongings off the lady, and not pay a $200 cancellation fee for the tickets we didn´t need!! Phew... that was close.

So we opted out of the long 30hr bus trip to Iquiuqe and looked into flights. Thankfully we got some at the last minute from Santiago, on the same night as our bus trip back to Santiago... All was looking good.

The bus started out well, however when we arrived at the border there appeared to be a huge backlog of buses to check. Chile are careful with their customs as they do not have fruit flies (borded by the Andes, desert and the ocean they cannot get in the country). We thought it might take a couple of hours and we would be OK to get our flight that night.. No, our luck was still running low and we were at customs for 4hrs. We left slightly anxious about squeezing in our flight that night...

We arrived at the bus station and ran for a taxi, then ran for our flight, and just got on with a sigh of relief..

The flights here are funny as they stop along the way, so a flight from sth to nth Chile might stop 4-5 times. We only stopped once, then finally arrived in the beautiful coastal town of Iquique in Northern Chile.

Now we have spent a well deserved day on the beach with surfies everywhere. August managed to body board the waves but has skun her knees for proof of the big waves and a decent dunking!!

Next we´re off further North to Peru where we will go to Arequipa and look at the Colca Canyon which will be a 4day walk. We would have loved for more time to work up the coast but we´re booked in for the Inca Trail the first week in March, and what a better place that Cuzco to party the night away for Tims birthday!

We´ll keep you posted. Hopefully no more police or customs stories to follow!!