USA | Saturday, 2 Apr 2011 | Views [9092] | Comments [8]
From Phoenix we handed back the car at the airport and, although we never expected to see snow in Arizona, we knew where we were heading next had a lot of snow and as we
flew north we started to get some idea of what was in store for ... Read more >
Tags: badlands, end of trip, new york, pierre, south dakota, usa, washington dc
USA | Saturday, 12 Mar 2011 | Views [3469] | Comments [2]
We arrived in Los Angeles in time for Oscar night, and even though I was incredibly excited to be there, I had forgotten my award-winning frock, so we decided to pick up a
rental car and head out of town. After taking a few wrong turns out of the ... Read more >
Tags: arizona, california, death valley, grand canyon, hoover dam, las vegas, los angeles, nevada, utah, zion
MEXICO | Monday, 14 Feb 2011 | Views [2916]
We had a near miss on our return to Mexico. At the check in desk in Havana we were told that our flight was delayed 5 hours and were given food vouchers as compensation. At the
time our flight was meant to depart we decided to use our food vouchers ... Read more >
Tags: aztec, guadalajara, maya, mexico city, oaxaca, palenque, san cristobal, teotihuacan
CUBA | Wednesday, 26 Jan 2011 | Views [3705] | Comments [2]
We headed west from Havana towards the main tobacco growing region of Cuba. We had to take the Viazul tourist bus because its not possible to get cheaper tickets on second class buses
as there is a ‘no tourist’ policy in place and travelling about ... Read more >
Tags: beach, che, cienfuegos, guanabo, karsts, playas del este, santa clara, tobacco, trinidad, vinales
CUBA | Sunday, 16 Jan 2011 | Views [4011] | Comments [1]
The flight from Cancun to Havana was an experience. The Cubana airlines plane was a very old 1970’s Yakovlev YAK-42 Russian plane with too many rows of seats squeezed into
it so we didn’t have any leg room or a window in our ... Read more >
Tags: baseball, castro, che, cuba, havana, ice cream, malecon, murals, old cars
MEXICO | Monday, 10 Jan 2011 | Views [3343]
After slightly over two months in Central America we crossed into Mexico and were promptly handed a 6 month visa and allowed to pass into the country without having our bags searched. We have managed to travel all the way from Panama City, ... Read more >
Tags: antojitos, chichén itzá, cozumel, maya, playa del carmen, tacos, tulum, valladolid
BELIZE | Tuesday, 28 Dec 2010 | Views [2488]
We crossed into Belize and despite the landscape being exactly the same as northern Guatemala we could tell that we were in a different country, but we weren’t expecting to find England! When we tried to speak Spanish to the first few people that we ... Read more >
Tags: belize city, blue hole, caye caulker, diving, snorkelling
GUATEMALA | Tuesday, 21 Dec 2010 | Views [2782]
After crossing the border into Guatemala we jumped on a bus heading towards the capital. The ride took longer than expected because we had to wait two hours in a small town to pick up new passengers. This meant we had all sorts of opportunities to ... Read more >
Tags: antigua, chichicastenango, coban, flores, lake atitlan, san pedro, santiago de atitlan, star wars, tikal, volcano pacaya
EL SALVADOR | Wednesday, 8 Dec 2010 | Views [4765]
Despite some stiff competition El Salvador, due to gang violence, has a reputation as being the most dangerous country in Central America. However, you wouldn’t realise
it from the people that we met making our way from the border ... Read more >
Tags: juayua, perquin, revolution, ruta de las flores, san salvador, santa ana, volcanoes, war
HONDURAS | Thursday, 2 Dec 2010 | Views [3383] | Comments [1]
We said that we would let fate decide where we went next and it decided that it was going to get all schizophrenic on us and send us to Honduras, via El Salvador, which, as only Honduras shares a border with Nicaragua, is geographically impossible.... Read more >
Tags: copan, copan ruinas, diving, gracias, ruta lenca, utila
NICARAGUA | Friday, 19 Nov 2010 | Views [2825] | Comments [5]
In the end we had no problems leaving Costa Rica, Ryan even managed to make the whole immigration team laugh when under ‘flight number’ on the immigration form he wrote ‘a pie’ (on foot) and the officer joked that that’s certainly one flight that ... Read more >
Tags: granada, isla de ometepe, leon, little corn, volcanoes
COSTA RICA | Sunday, 31 Oct 2010 | Views [3006] | Comments [1]
With active volcanoes, dripping cloud forests and palm tree lined beaches on both coasts it’s easy to see why Costa Rica is a popular travel destination. It’s home to
a huge variety of wildlife with some 228 mammal, 10,000 plant and 36,000 insect ... Read more >
Tags: dominical, manuel antonio, monteverde, montezuma, quepos
PANAMA | Wednesday, 20 Oct 2010 | Views [5352] | Comments [5]
We had to get up at 5.30am to leave Capurgana but even at this early hour our new Colombian friends came to wave us goodbye, along with the hostel owner who wanted to wish
us a buen viaje. It wasn’t difficult to find which boat we ... Read more >
Tags: boquete, david, panama canal, panama city, puerto obaldia
WORLDWIDE | Sunday, 17 Oct 2010 | Views [2036] | Comments [2]
We can speak Spanish. Not fluently, but yes, we can make ourselves understood, even if it’s not grammatically correct and we stumble over pronunciations and tenses, we
do get there in the end. We’ve had a great time in South America with plenty of ... Read more >
Tags: argentina, bolivia, brazil, chile, colombia, ecuador, paraquay, peru, south america, uruguay
COLOMBIA | Thursday, 14 Oct 2010 | Views [7506]
To get to the Caribbean Coast we had to take our first overnight bus in Colombia. Throughout South America we had been warned of arctic overnight buses caused by powerful
air conditioning, but having never experienced anything other than the natural ... Read more >
Tags: capurganá, caribbean coast, cartagena, darien gap, diving, santa marta, taganga, tayrona
COLOMBIA | Sunday, 26 Sep 2010 | Views [3890] | Comments [2]
Medellin was notoriously known for being the most dangerous city in the world during the 1980’s and 90’s because it was ruled by Pablo Escobar 's Medellin cocaine
cartel. Today the city is a thriving place and safe for travellers and the ... Read more >
Tags: arequipe, barichara, bogota, botero, gold, guane, medellin, pablo escobar, san gil
COLOMBIA | Thursday, 16 Sep 2010 | Views [3430] | Comments [1]
Ecuador sent us out with a huge party in our honour, well actually they were celebrating something completely different, keeping us awake with music blaring until 3.30 in
the morning in the towns main square. Unable to sleep we set off early for ... Read more >
Tags: cali, coffee, las lajas, popayan, salento, san agustin, tejo, valle de cocora
ECUADOR | Sunday, 5 Sep 2010 | Views [3152] | Comments [1]
So we didn’t get off the bus in Puyo and ended up in Baños, which, to those of you untrained in the Spanish language, means bathroom or toilet! Ryan made a joke that you can pee anywhere you like here as the whole place is a toilet. I refrained ... Read more >
Tags: banos, equator, guayaquil, guinea pigs, mitad del mundo
ECUADOR | Thursday, 26 Aug 2010 | Views [2974]
Having passed up the opportunity for various reasons to go the Amazon Rainforest in Brazil, Bolivia and Peru, in Ecuador we finally decided to venture into one of the defining
features of the South American Continent. The Amazon Basin comprises ... Read more >
Tags: amazon basin, caiman, cuyabeno reserve, frogs, puyo, samona lodge, snakes, tarantulas, tena
ECUADOR | Wednesday, 18 Aug 2010 | Views [2658] | Comments [4]
So we finally made the decision to go to the Galapagos Islands, having found a great last minute deal giving us a 40% discount on a 8 day cruise aboard a first-class yacht
called the Cachalote, meaning Sperm Whale in Spanish. It can hold up to ... Read more >
Tags: blue footed boobies, galapagos islands, giant tortoises, iguanas, pacific green turtles, penguins, sea lions
ECUADOR | Wednesday, 11 Aug 2010 | Views [2618] | Comments [1]
We arrived at the Ecuador border town of Macara where, with the heat and humidity, we could have been fooled in to thinking that we had somehow been transported back to South
East Asia. Despite the sticky bus journey the change in weather was something ... Read more >
Tags: colonial towns, cuenca, loja, panama hats, quito
PERU | Wednesday, 28 Jul 2010 | Views [3321] | Comments [2]
16 hours overnight from Cusco and we arrived in Huacachina, and quite a pleasant bus ride it was. Yes, it was full of Israeli backpackers (make your own judgment if that would be a good or bad experience) but they did come armed with a selection of ... Read more >
Tags: chan chan, chavin de huantar, huacachina, huanchaco, huaraz, lima, sandboarding, trujillo, yungay
PERU | Tuesday, 13 Jul 2010 | Views [3311] | Comments [1]
After some shady bus dealings by the bus company for our journey between Bolivia and Peru we arrived in our first Peruvian destination of Arequipa where our first attraction
was the Museo Santuarios Andinos, to visit another of the ‘ice’ children.... Read more >
Tags: arequipa, cemetery of chauchilla, cuzco, el misti, juanita, machu picchu, monesterio de santa catalina, museo santuarios andinos, nazca lines
BOLIVIA | Sunday, 4 Jul 2010 | Views [3729] | Comments [3]
We had been warned about the overnight buses in Bolivia, but we couldn’t avoid taking one from Sucre to La Paz as it was our only option. It was freezing cold and even though we were promised a toliet and blankets they did not materialise so we ... Read more >
Tags: copacabana, coroico, isla del sol, la paz, lake titicaca, tiwanaku
BOLIVIA | Sunday, 20 Jun 2010 | Views [4215] | Comments [4]
It was when we arrived at the bus station in the Bolivian border town of Villazon that it became obvious we would have to get used to less luxurious forms of travel from now
on. Our bus had no suspension or shocks, the seats were broken and on our ... Read more >
Tags: animal sacrifice, cerro rico, mines, potosi, salar de uyuni, spanish school, sucre, tupiza, volunteering
ARGENTINA | Saturday, 15 May 2010 | Views [2898] | Comments [1]
It was our fifth time crossing a border into Argentina. This time we had to traverse the Andes along a switchback road with twenty bends to get us up over the natural boundary, passing Aconcagua, the tallest mountain in the Americas and outside the ... Read more >
Tags: cafayate, dulce de leche, humahuaca, mendoza, salta
CHILE | Wednesday, 28 Apr 2010 | Views [3284]
Our next destination was one of the world's most isolated inhabited islands, originally know to the locals as Te Pito o Te Henua, meaning navel of the world or the ends of
the land. Today it’s known as Rapa Nui (Polynesian), Isla de Pascua (Spanish) ... Read more >
Tags: ahu, easter island, isla de pascua, moai, petroglyphs, rapa nui
CHILE | Friday, 23 Apr 2010 | Views [3030] | Comments [1]
We arrived in Pucon as if by magic! Well, actually we arrived by our usual form of transportation after crossing the Andes, I just don’t want to start another blog writing
about another bus journey :) Pucon
Volcan Villarrica stands ... Read more >
Tags: huerquehue, pucon, santiago de chile, valparasio, volcan villarrica
ARGENTINA | Saturday, 10 Apr 2010 | Views [5090] | Comments [5]
After a quick bus ride over the border from Chile we were back in Argentina. El Calafate in the south west of Patagonia is a one horse town. There is only one reason why people venture to this remote part of Argentina and that ... Read more >
Tags: bariloche, chocolate, el bolson, el calafate, el chalten, fitz roy range, glaciar perito moreno, mount tronador, parque nacional los glaciares, ruta 40
CHILE | Tuesday, 23 Mar 2010 | Views [1898]
Punta Arenas was our first stop in Chile but luckily, with the country being over 4000km long we were very
far south of the earthquake damaged region. The town sits on the Magellan Strait in Chilean Patagonia, and the winds and temperature ... Read more >
Tags: puerto natales, punta arenas, torres del paine, trekking
ARGENTINA | Saturday, 20 Mar 2010 | Views [2639] | Comments [5]
We returned to Buenos Aires but having already seen the delights of the Argentine capital we only stayed for a night before starting our journey south, way south. After the short distances in Uruguay it was back to the long hauls. However, as Argentina ... Read more >
Tags: end of the world, puerto madryn, tierra del fuego, ushuaia, welsh settlements
URUGUAY | Saturday, 6 Mar 2010 | Views [3420] | Comments [2]
We left Buenos Aires by ferry and spent 4 hours sailing across the Rio de la Plata to Uruguay to the cute little town of Colonia del Sacramento.
We had planned to spend two days sightseeing but after an hour of walking around we realised we had pretty ... Read more >
Tags: chivito, colonia del sacramento, montevideo, punta del este, spanish lessons, uruguay
ARGENTINA | Monday, 22 Feb 2010 | Views [2088]
We caught a 17 hour bus to our next destination and as destinations go this was one we had been particularly looking forward to. Translating as Good Air or Fair Winds, Buenos Aires had always been high on our list of
must visits. Our long journey ... Read more >
Tags: bombonera, buenos aires, casa rosada, evita, la boca, recoleta, tango
BRAZIL | Friday, 12 Feb 2010 | Views [3758] | Comments [3]
It was our first night bus journey in Sud d’America and the standards were set high with plush seats, lots of leg room, a toilet big enough to swing a tiger in, generally
much more elegant than the average bus we have travelled in. After hundreds ... Read more >
Tags: argentina, ayrton senna, foz do iguacu, iguazu falls, ouro preto, puerto iguazu, sao paulo
BRAZIL | Friday, 29 Jan 2010 | Views [2336] | Comments [5]
Having won the right to host the 2014 World Cup and the Olympics in 2016, Rio won its most coveted prize when we chose it as the destination to return to our travels. Having
had a great, albeit very cold time, catching up with family and friends ... Read more >
Tags: brazil, copacobana, cristo redentor, rio de janeiro, sambodromo, sugar loaf
INDIA | Wednesday, 16 Dec 2009 | Views [4115] | Comments [3]
After all that trekking we headed back to Kathmandu for some more relaxation, shopping and to reunite with our Tibet team mates who corrupted us to attend a ‘two for the
price of one’ cocktail evening...
And we even managed ... Read more >
Tags: agra, border crossing, delhi, fatehpur sikri, sunauli, taj mahal, varanasi
NEPAL | Saturday, 28 Nov 2009 | Views [4562] | Comments [8]
Crossing the China - Nepal border it was
quickly obvious that things had changed. After the over efficiency of hand
checking everybody’s luggage on the Chinese side, we would have walked straight
past the Nepali Immigration office if it were ... Read more >
Tags: annapurna circuit, kathmandu
CHINA | Friday, 30 Oct 2009 | Views [3865] | Comments [2]
Travelling to the “roof top of the world” wasn’t one of the easiest decisions we’ve made. It’s a place of constant religious and political tension, so the Tibet
‘story’ is a fascinating one. China has always considered Tibet to be part of its Empire, ... Read more >
Tags: dalai lama, everest base camp, gyantse, lhasa, potala palace, qinghai to tibet railway, sakya, shigatse, tibet, zhangmu
CHINA | Wednesday, 21 Oct 2009 | Views [3514] | Comments [1]
From Beijing we decided to head to Xiahe and as the train didn’t leave until the early afternoon we decided that I would try to
complete a communist leader tri-fector. Having seen an embalmed Lenin on a school trip and visited Uncle ... Read more >
Tags: ganjia grasslands, labrang, tongren, xiahe, xining
CHINA | Wednesday, 14 Oct 2009 | Views [3222] | Comments [3]
At last we do a long overnight train journey in China...Hong Kong to Shanghai in 19 hours. We decided on the hard sleeper option rather than soft sleeper, the difference being
there are 6 beds per cabin rather than 4, a ... Read more >
Tags: beijing, forbidden city, great wall, nanjing, olympics, shanghai, summer palace, tiananmen square
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