Week 50 to 51 - 26/06/10 Colombia

Bogota

We had to change planes in Bogota, which had a tiny airport similar to Luton, but it did have a dunkin donuts, so plenty of things to eat whilst passing the time, not to mention live football on every available tv screen. Bogota is dripping with cash, not surprising if you consider that 80% of Colombia’s GDP is exporting coco around the world.

Cartagena

Our second plane to Cartagena was on time, but without food this time, so we had to sit there smelling all the delights wafting down from business class. After an hour we were approaching Cartagena but the captain announced a slight delay due to bad weather. So we circled, and circled, and circled for about 40 minutes before the pilot had the courage to attempt a landing. Got down to about 750 metres and then was a sudden pull up to 2500 metres since the turbulence was just too much for the plane to land. The plane then circled again for another 20 minutes before we were re-directed to Barraquilla, some 60 miles north of Cartagena. There we sat on the tarmac for an hour along with 5 other planes that could not land, hungry, thirsty and bored out of our minds. Mariana was in a positive mood and was glad we landed elsewhere rather than being killed in a crash. A bit dramatic maybe, but certainly the correct decision was made by the captain. After an hour we once again took off headed for Cartagena. This time the pilot managed to put it down on the tarmac to the relief and cheers from the passengers. Mariana had 3 kittens by this time since flying is not one of her favourite pastimes, and this flight certainly was not for the faint hearted.

Arriving in Cartagena was a relief. We had called to reserve a room which was still available even though we were almost 3 hours late. The room had wifi, tv, ac and a fan. Normally, we don’t do the ac thing since it is just not necessary, not the case in Cartagena. Temperature 30 degrees and 75% humidity, an utter sweat box for sure. Ventured out in the afternoon in search of food. After about 15 minutes we found the veggie place mentioned in the book. Food was average, but you cannot expect much for a 75 pence set lunch. Came out to find the rain had once again picked up and the roads had turned to rivers, ankle deep of water in all directions, only the narrow footways looked like tow paths for horses. We found haven in a coffee shop and settled down for cookies of all shapes and sizes whilst drying off in the ac environment. In the evening, we headed to a small restaurant and had a fish supper with a good wine to wash it all down. Day 1 complete in Cartagena, back to the sanctuary of the room for couch potato relaxation in front of the tv.

The next few days didn’t amount to much as we were both very tired from travelling and hadn’t really rested much since Puerto Lopez, so we took the opportunity to stroll around the old town, eat amazing food in an Indian restaurant of all places, and plan our return to the UK.

Santa Marta and Tagana

Three buses and a taxi over 6 hours took us to Taganga via Barraquilla and Santa Marta. The journey was ok, but a little nervous on the final taxi leg since we didn’t know where the guy was taking us, and he had a gun, samurai sword and tear gas on the dashboard. Luckily we were pulled over by the police who checked us out and allowed us to move onto our destination.

Arriving in Taganga was a bit of an anticlimax. We had imagined quiet tranquil poweder blue ocean with the odd palm tree here and there, ....

Week 45 to 49 – 16/05/10 Ecuador

Week 45 to 49 – 16/05/10 Ecuador

Guayaquil

Arrived in Guayaquil after what seemed like a very long bus journey even though it is only 5 hours from Tumbes. We had a group of students on the bus who were drinking and smoking, not to mention vomiting all the way. We pulled into the Terminal Terrestre at around 4pm and collected our bags. In search for our next ticket we headed to the Puerto Lopez counter and I suddenly realised that my phone was missing. I quickly dashed back to the bus but it had already left for the depot, so continued with a policeman to the bus. Shock horror, the bus had already been cleaned and there was no sign of the telephone, even though the cleaning team looked very guilty indeed when asked about it’s whereabouts. So had to call my father and ask him to contact the phone company to cancel the line.

Headed into town shortly after, somewhat disappointed with myself and little lost now we had no communication with the outside world. We decided to stay at Hotel California, yes like the song, produced in the 70s and never updated. We were warned to only walk along three streets in the entire city and never to venture away from them for personal safety, hmmm. Had a fabulous pizza dinner before returning to the safety of the hotel.

The following day we ventured around town and the Malecon 2000, a redeveloped promenade which is actually very nice. We took many photos of the street junction of 9 De Octubre and Boyaca, where Mariana’s grandparents lived almost 45 years ago, very strange. We went to the local history museum in the hope of seeing past photos but the history was more on the 16th century periods when the Spanish invaded and robbed South America of it’s riches

Overall, Guayaquil is very nice, a bit scary that you can only walk along certain streets, but as a hole a nice clean city with many beautiful colonial buildings.

Puerto Lopez

At last, we have found bliss by the sea. Puerto Lopez is a small fishing village which is the closest place to Isla De La Plata (poor mans Galapagos) and a perfect place to chill. For 5 days we decided to do nothing but chill on the beach, eat, stroll and sleep. This was so necessary since we have been travelling for almost eight months now without rest. We did plan to dive when we were here but the Manta Rays aren’t around till July and the whales in June so have decided to come back after our month on the farm and dive then.

Puerto Lopez is a true fishing town and every morning when the fisherman return to shore and few hundred Pelicans are lying in wait for them, to dive bomb the baskets of fish as they are being loaded onto the lorries. The fisherman somehow allow this to go on, maybe for luck, maybe because it keeps the birds happy and there is enough to go round.

We have found very nice places to eat in town, a Columbian café, a whale café with divine pancakes and a local fish restaurant, all really good food, oh and yes the beer has started flowing once more to help increase my weight since Mariana noted that I look like a bag of bones, true..

Sarampion

After 5 days in Puerto Lopez we headed to Calceta via Portoviejo on the bus. Panicked for a bit in Portoviejo bus station since we couldn’t remember which store we had left our packs but did eventually find them. Calceta is a small town of about 10,000 and looked much like the rest, a grand plaza, giant church, numerous mobile phone shops, a handful of bars and a supermarket. We took a taxi from the square to Finca Sarita and picked up a French couple along the way, whom were also going to the farm.

Arrived at the farm and met Servio, a really happy guy and made us feel very welcome. We were taken to our tree house just before dinner but we could hardly see a thing since there was no light and we couldn’t find the torch anywhere. As it turned out the French couple had been at the farm for 3 weeks prior and were coming back for a last week. They spoke fluent Spanish which made us feel quite useless since we were still struggling.

The first week on the farm involved harvesting a rice field, ploughing a field with little more than tea spoons, fixing an elevated bamboo herb garden, making chocolate from cacao and starting with our eco shower construction. The shower was going really slowly since we didn’t know what material we were allowed to use and Servio was not around much.

The next week was more enjoyable once the French couple had left, what can I say, they were French! Every morning we would go for a walk with our new dogs Tumbalo and Matalo, to the river to cut fresh reeds for the guinea pigs, goats, pigs and what looked like a large hamster which they kept on the farm. The dogs loved this routine and would jump all over you in excitement, not to mention that we started giving them food as well since they seemed a little thin when we arrived. After feeding the animals, we would take breakfast which would be fresh fruit with chocolate to taste, tortilla and fresh coffee. After breakfast we would work on the farm for 3-4 hours, take lunch then work on our own projects in the afternoon.

Amongst working on the farm, we went for treks into the mountains, took a trip to a reservoir, worked in the local school, and had numerous trips to Calceta for milkshakes and cakes from a Columbian bakery. It was very sad to leave the farm after almost a month since even though completely exhausted, we were use to sleeping in a tree listening to birds, iguanas, numerous insects and flowing river during the nights, and really didn’t want to leave the dogs behind, but that is life.

Bahia De Caraquez

We headed to the ocean after the farm, Bahia is a little over an hour from Calceta so not such a problem getting there. Bahia is a self proclaimed eco town, very clean, friendly people and commected to San Vicente and Canoa by boat. We spent the first day just chilling out and mainly eating whatever we could find. The following day we headed to Canoa just for the day. We were planning to go there for 2 days but heard so many reports of robberies, rapes and murders we decided a day trip would be just fine. After little more than an hour we were bored as the town really has nothing to offer other than getting drunk and surfing, so we headed back to Bahia for lunch.

Our last day we visited a bird santury situated in a tropical dry forest about 30 minutes out of town, which turned out to be a strange safe haven for America fugitives, well that’s what it seemed like. We reckon it was a cover for a drug smuggler ring, delivery merchandise to America via yachts along the river Chone and out into the Pacific. Whilst we were there a group of anti-terrorist police known as SARS turned up randomly to carry out safety checks, which seemed a bit odd for an eco nature centre containing mainly birds. They actually walked around on the guided tour with us which was even stranger.

Bahia was quite nice, but the food was terrible and not much on offer. Felt terrible having pizza 3 nights on the trot, but it was either that or fish which we had each day for almuerzo (lunch). It did make a nice change after almost a month on the farm eating little more than rice, corn and the odd egg here and there.

After Bahia, we returned to Puerto Lopez once more for 5 days of whale watching, diving, exploring Isla De La Plata (discovered by Sir Francis Drake 1528) and the Mantalilla National Park, which is the only surviving tropical coastal park left on the pacific, and it was amazing.

Quito

Arriving in Quito after a never ending 12 hour bus journey was exhausting, both mentally and physically. The bus terminal looked more like a space station, very modern, clean and conditioned, but typically a million miles out of town. Took a taxi to our hostel which was situated on the borders of the Old Town arriving around 9pm.

After chatting to the girl in reception, we went to the local store to buy our food for the evening as she quoted that if we go out at this time we will be robbed. What a wonderful welcome to a new city, instantly we had the vibes of fear driven into us, so decided to play it safe for the time being. The following day we got chatting to another English couple whom had been in the city for 4 days and hadn’t ventured out whatsoever because of the risk of muggings, so we decided to do just that.

Apart from going to the new town for lunch and an attempt of being drugged in an internet café, we hardly ventured further than the old town during the day time. This was fine since they had an ample selection of vegetarian restaurants, a great coffee house, and an ice cream parlour which had being making delicious ice creams since 1858, San Augusta.

Again we succumbed to the pizza delivery every night for 4 days and felt terrible by the time we left. Our flight was at 6.20am so we booked a taxi through the hotel only to be waiting outside at 4.30am with no taxi and no number to call. I eventually flagged down a taxi who charged us double fare but we didn’t mind since it got us off the street into safety. Arrived at the airport and were immediately spotted by 4 young Afro-Caribbean guys hanging around the taxi rank, who then followed us into the terminal. Managed to give them the slip, luckily only had hand luggage so very easy to move around with stealth at that time in the morning. Checked in, paid the extortionate departure tax and went to the lounge to wait for our flight to Colombia.

Week 40 to 44 – 16/04/10 Peru

Week 40 to 44 – 16/04/10 Peru

Arequipa

Where do we begin? Originally we came to Arequipa as it has the deepest canyons on earth so we thought we would spend a long weekend here. However our plans were scuppered since we had heard back from the volunteer coordinator in Cusco to say that there was no room for more volunteers for at least a week. So, in our insanity, we signed up for a month in an orphanage in Arequipa.

Our first day was interesting, but the rest of the week was really awful. The volunteer coordinator seemed to have certain privilages and sat in the baby room everyday since it required the least amount of mental or physical energy. The rest of us were either cleaning, washing, ironing or watching over the toddlers which is a handful in itself.

The second week was no better and by Thursday I had taken enough and wanted to quit. Mariana tried to talk me round but knew deep down it was the right thing to do. I went to speak with Carmen (TNT) and she wa very understanding with my decision. However on Friday we both had really good days so I decided to give it one last chance.

At the weekend we visited Cusco to give ourselves a well deserved break and to reflect on the past two weeks at the orphanage. Tuesday came round quickly and we were back at the orphanage, and I had a good chat with the director about the problems and for the first time she seemed to listen and take note. Ultimately, the orphanage cannot run without the help of volunteers, so maybe I felt like I had nothing to loose since they needed me more than I needed them. From then on our time in the orphanage went really well. The last two weeks seem to fly by, and by the end we were actually quite upset to leave the children, they had somehow grown on us over the last four weeks.

Arequipa itself is a beautiful looking city of approx 2 million people which is surrounded by three 6000m peaks, a volcano and two mountains. We were due to climb Mount Misti 5860m, but the weekend we were both very sick and were unable to go. The city is ruined by the smog that constantly hangs over it from the thousands of taxis and buses that buzz around all day and all night. Such a shame to see it happening, and it is so bad that it has created a large hole in the ozone layer because of it.

Cusco

For only three days we visited Cusco, what a mistake. The city is beautiful and does not have the smog problem of Lima or Arequipa. We arrived early evening after an 11 hour bus from Arequipa. Quickly headed into town and started searching for tickets to Machu Picchu. In the end we decided to do our own thing since the tour agents wanted too much commission for really doing little more than queuing at the rail station.

So day two started very early at the train station at 5.45am to buy tickets. By 7am I had tickets in hand and was rushing back to town to collect Mariana as we only had 30 minutes to catch the bus that takes us to the train station 80 km away. Ever since the torrential rains in February that closed Machu Picchu, only a third of the railway had re-opened which meant a replacement bus service was in operation.

We decided that we may miss the bus so negotiated a fare with the taxi driver to take us all the way to Ollantaytambo where the train began. We arrived with an hour to spare before the first train so had a great breakfast on the main square which is really nice. By 11.30am we were at last on the train heading for Agua Calientes, the gateway town to Machu Picchu.

Words cannot explain Machu Picchu, so the following photos should give some idea of the amazing experience we had at this lost inca city. We had already travelled over 6 hours from Cusco and 12 hours from Arequipa to get here, but it was so so worth it. By far the most amazing place we have seen since being in South America, truly amazing.

Lima

After a very short plane ride from Arequipa (cheaper than the bus and 16 hours quicker) we landed in Lima. Decided not to stay in Lima for 2 reasons, pollution and robberies. So many peopke had warned us of the troubles here so spent our day in the international airport lounge eating and chatting on the internet. A great way to pass 5 or 6 hours of free time.

We took a taxi to the bus company where we boarded our 19 hour bus to Tumbes. This time we booked executive class to ensure we received veggie food and a full cama seat the size of a house and get much needed sleep. After our dinner and 3 movies we feel fast asleep.

Tumbes

Tumbes was our last stop in Peru before crossing into Ecuador. After being in town for 5 minutes, we realised we should have continued north and cross the border the same day. Tumbes was awful, typical border town but with no activity, no food, zero. It was awful and could not wait to get out. Luckily, cable tv in the room saved us both for the evening.

Week 38 to 39 – 07/04/10 Bolivia

Week 38 to 39 – 07/04/10 Bolivia

Villazon

The border town of Villazon had lots more to offer than that of La Quiaca in Argentina. Lots of contraband, sacks of cocoa leaves and the odd restaurant here and there that caters for vegetarians. Unfortunately, we had to spend two whole nights here since we could only book bus tickets for the following day as we did not want to risk a night bus so early into Bolivia, there are many warning signs from the wreckages seen along the highways.

Didn’t really mind staying here for 2 days since we needed to acclimatise as Villazon sits at 3400m and our next stop would be at 4060m. We left the town early in the morning destined for Potosi, the highest city in the world.

Potosi

The bus journey to Potosi seemed to take forever, scheduled for a mere 10 hours, it took around 11 after we stopped in a small village for lunch, well most of the bus excluding Mariana and I that is, as we were not prepared to eat stewed goat, hen, chicken, small children or whatever they were serving with the rice.

Seeing the countryside was nice and the indigenous village folk are quite cool. All the women were exactly the same clothes wherever you go, shabby old bowler hat, hair in double plats, large pleated skirt, jumper and kitchen apron. Not forgetting the giant blanket turn sack that they carry everything and the kitchen sink in.

Arriving in Potosi was a struggle. At 4060m it is no walk in the park that’s for sure. We arrived quite late since we were on one of the slowest buses in the world, seriously, old men on unicycles were passing us going up hills. We checked into one of the first places we could find in order to get out and have some food, 12 hours on fruit and crisps takes it’s toll. Headed further uphill to a veggie restaurant which was a real struggle and I thought I was going to pass out. The food was great so a just reward for our efforts.

We spent the next few days exploring the sights and eating for England in the many veggie restaurants this town had to offer. One regret was not going to the mines for a tour, but LP made sure of that with the danger and annoyances section warning all asthmatics to stay well clear.

Potosi is a very beautiful city, which has a wealth of history dated back to the 16th century when the silver bullion was underwriting the entire Spanish economy for almost two centuries. Just a shame now that there are still poor Bolivians working the mines in torrid conditions, working for peanuts to make the owners even more rich than they need to be. This is very much the same in all parts of the world where the greed of capitalists societies is seen by other countries as a clear division of power and then persecute their own people and tear down their environment to fill their pockets with all important money, when will they learn?

Sucre

Our trip to Sucre was a mere 4 hours, and upon arrival the pressures of attitude were soon relieved. Sucre was very much the same as Potosi but a 1000 metres lower. We found a small bar for dinner and more or less crashed in our room straight away.

The following day we visited Jurassic Park, well it was a visitor centre with lots of plastic dinosaurs laying around. However, it was opposite a geological fault that had been exposed during the excavation of aggregate for the con crete plant which had exposed a collection of dinosaur foot prints from 25,000 BC measuring up to 1 metre in length. It is the largest collection known in the world but sadly will disappear within the next 10 years due to natural soil erosion.

It town we found a good dutch café to chill, eat and surf the net whilst we waited to catch our overnight bus to La Paz. We agreed not to do this, but had no option since the route did not run a day time bus trip.

La Paz

Believe it or not, we actually managed to get some sleep on the bus after having our dinner that we bought in Sucre. The journey seem to fly by and by 8am we were in the main bus terminal looking for a taxi into town. The strange thing about the bus terminals in South America is that they are always 2 or 3 km out of town. The reason for this you would think is to reduce pollution from all the traffic, well no, it is to generate more income for the taxi drivers, quite shocking but true.

La Paz is set on a steep valley with buildings everywhere like a crazy maze of concrete. We headed for the backpackers district which lies next to the Witches Market, where you can buy spells, dried lama faeces, varies animal feet and the odd potion here and there. Very strange watching the locals sitting there having their fortune told by a crazy witch doctor who charges only a palm full of cocoa leaves per reading.

Two days is plenty in La Paz, well for us anyway since we have found most cities to be the same all over the world. We left headed for Sorata, a small village about 4 hours away.

Sorata

We thought it might be a good idea to visit a hillside village and do some trekking, but once we arrived we felt like doing not much at all. Our bus journey there took forever and we really didn’t have the energy to go trekking, a glass of wine, dinner and sleep was about all we could muster.

Sorata was nice and remote, only about 20 tourists in town, but only stayed for a night and soon headed off to Copacabana.

Copacabana

Our last town in Bolivia was bliss. Copacabana lies on lake Titicaca at 3900m above sea level. The main food here is trucha (trout) caught fresh from the lake everyday. We chilled for the first day, drinking coffee, beer and even catching a game of premiership football.

The second day we visited the Isla Del Sol, which is about 90 minutes away by a small boat. The day was a real struggle as we set off at 8am after poor breakfast and didn’t really eat much all day even though we trekked about 10km in the midday sun after seeing the Inca ruins (The sun island is supposedly where the Inca gods first got their act together) at the north of the island

The following morning we were off again, this time crossing the border into Peru and onto Puno. Puno didn’t look that appealing when arriving by bus, so we decided to get another ticket and head onto Arequipa.

Week 29 to 37 – 24/02/10 Argentina

Week 29 to 37 – 24/02/10 Argentina

Bus from Chile - it took a while

Mendoza

Arriving in Mendoza we had booked a hostel but after walking 10 minutes from the bus station, we decided that it was too far from town so ditched it for somewhere a little closer. Immediately went out in search of food and ended up having a giant pizza and pop, not the healthiest of meals but anything to raise the sugar levels. Mendoza is a very low rise spread out city, with small neighbourhoods all interlinked. In the centre of town, there are grand plazas for people watching. Later in the day we came across a fantastic veggie restaurant by chance since the Lonely Planet book was of no help whatsoever.

Our second day in Mendoza took us to the vineyards for a cycle trip along a pleasant country road. It was our anniversary so we treated ourselves to a wonderful lunch at a little restaurant. The food and wine was absolutely divine and we are still searching to find the same wine again. The Malbec grape is most definitely the best in the world, but I am sure the French may beg to differ. After 2 vineyards and a chocolate factory we were ready to head back and sober up. After what seemed like a long bus journey back to the city, we headed out for dinner then straight home. It was an amazing day tasting the best wine ever, highly recommended.

Our last day in Mendoza was spent sight-seeing and relaxing in various cafes. The day seemed to fly by but we were excited by the fact that we would be heading to Buenos Aires very shortly. We collected our bags late afternoon and headed for the bus station, grabbed a few snacks and jumped aboard to start our 20 hour bus journey.

Buenos Aires

We felt completely ill prepared for BA since we planned to stay for a month yet we had not yet confirmed any accommodation. Only an hour before we left the bus we realised that there was wi-fi on board, so we quickly sent a few emails to arrange a viewing of a room in a shared apartment.

Arriving in Buenos Aires is an eye opener. The urban sprawl is huge and the buildings in the centre are reaching for the sky. It is a grid city so pretty easy to navigate, divided by a huge, and I mean huge Avenue 9 De Julio which has 9 lanes of traffic both sides. We made our way to Avenue Corrientes which is in mid town. The apartment appeared ok, but the room had bunk beds which we asked to change. It had a central location which was great for shopping, restaurants, gym and Spanish school.

For the next 4 weeks we studied intense Spanish which Mariana found quite easy since she had previously studied in Barcelona a few years back. I found it quite difficult since I am not the best when it comes to languages, but pressed on and completed the first two basic levels. Now I can order a beer and get change which is most important.

Buenos Aires never sleeps unlike London. The place has a buzz about it which is hard to explain. There are so many great neighbourhoods to go out for the evening, definitely a place worth considering to live if the chance ever arises. We did however, come a little unstuck when we went to Boca for a Sunday afternoon stroll. We tried to follow the guidelines but ended up outside the tourist zone and we approached by a gang of juveniles requesting deniro.. Even the taxis in the street turned around when they saw what was developing. Luckily a polite but firm no from me with no eye contact whatsoever bought us enough time to make a quick exit. Boca area developed in the 18th century by a few gipsy families from Genoa, and the colours of the neighbour are vivid red, violet and blues, with tango dancing a common theme all over. It is a beautiful place for two or three blocks, but outside this is a death zone. I didn’t chance going to see a Boca Juniors match since I wanted to stay alive for the rest of the trip.

For the last two weeks of our stay in BA, we volunteered at an animal shelter similar to Battersea dogs home. I was popping anti-histermines like they were going out of fashion but managed to get through ok. The shelter is called Protectoras Sarmiento and is situated in the heart of the city. It cares for around 50 dogs that all need walking each day. It was really great fun to take out the dogs for walks since they get so excited, especially Pluto with the floppy leg. On our last day volunteering I was bitten by one of the less friendly dogs and Mariana was convinced that I had contracted rabbies. The vet assured us that all the dogs were clean and I carried on with the walking. It was a real shame to leave that place since all of the people there volunteer in their free time and there was a complete love of animals, so nice to meet such people.

Met some lovely people in our Spanish school as well, our teachers were great and our class mates (Ana Nik Jasper and Sandra) were really nice and all had similar travel plans which was a bit weird. It seemed like we all had the same idea of learning some Spanish before exploring the rest of South America. It was sad to say goodbye since we had been chatting constantly for the past month but all promised to stay in touch, which we have to some degree.

Also met a lovely couple from Mendoza who introduced us to a wonderful guy, Paulo. Paulo took us everywhere in Buenos Aires as he enjoyed meeting people from different countries and was a truly wonderful host. He took us to Tigre for the day as well as many wonderful cafes such as Tortini which is the last of the traditional Argentinean coffee houses left from the 19th century.

Puerto Iguazu

We took a 20 hour bus trip from BA to Puerto Iguazu which was quite a bit of luxury with full cama beds and even vegetarian meals, can you believe it in a meat eating country. First impressions of the town were not good, a street full of tourist restaurants, a bus station and some hotels from the 70’s. Luckily we were staying out of town in an Oasis called Rio Tropic. Took a taxi and after driving through a strange area (immigrant avenue) we arrived at our hotel. The hotel was bliss, lush green plant filled gardens, pool, delightful cabins and wi-fi in our room, could really ask for more.

In the morning we caught the big yellow bus from the highway which took us to the Iguazu national park. Really expensive to get in the place almost £20 each but well worth it. Took a train to the Devil’s Throat first, a very impressive giant waterfall and I got soaked from the mist. Mariana and the camera were saved by a bright yellow poncho. After we visited the smaller, but equally impressive waterfalls and had a really amazing time.

The following day we ventured into town for lunch and coffee before chilling in the pool for the afternoon. A much needed rest before the next marathon bus journey.

Salta

After a mere 21 hours on an average bus, we arrived in Salta. Strangely after 7 months travelling we now never book our accommodation in advance since most hostels / hotels in the guide books normally have inflated prices and are not very good. The best way seems to be to stroll around town and follow your nose. Ended up in a small hostel (which was in lonely planet) but it was ok and had wi-fi, always a bonus.

We did intend to take El tren de la Nubes (train to the clouds) whilst in Salta, but it is so expensive now due to the mass tourism which the town attracts. Lots of overweight people in stars ‘n’ stripe tracksuits etc etc…

Salta is a traditional Argentine town with a main plaza, cathedral, church, cafes and restaurants. The restaurants are typically poor due to the number of tourists, but we did find some tranquillity in the town of Rosita just 30 minutes away by bus. Apart from the odd few others, we were the only non-argentines there which was a nice change. Great scenery up in the mountains, streams, treks, horse riding etc. Had a lazy afternoon sipping coffee watching the world go by.

We did go up to Cerro San Bernado on a cable gondola, which to start with was a good idea until Mariana remembered that she is terrified of heights. IT climbs up to 1454m, and the cable cars to tend to swing a bit in the wind. Coming down was a lot better than going up. The views were good apart from the slight smog, which is typical in most South American cities.

Humahuaca & Tilcara

Humahuaca is in the northen province of Argentina, and wow what a difference. The town has a population of about 12,000 and is really small. Set in a canyon with mountains on both sides, it is jaw dropping. We stayed here for 3 days, but in reality could of stayed for a week. Our hostel was more like a boutique hotel, rustic rooms surrounding a small courtyard, and the owner was such a lovely lady. So funny, she could stop talking. The restaurants in this town were great, wine was flowing even though we were at attitude and needed to take it easy.

We visited Tilcara for the day, just 90 minutes on a bus that did turn up eventually. I ate about 4 or 5 empanadas whilst waiting, too tempting to pass up. Tilcara is smaller than Humahuaca, just 5,600 locals but lots of history and sites to visit such as the Pucara Fort which has great views over the Rio Grande valley and beyond.

In all we spent 3 nights in the towns before heading further north to the border crossing with Bolivia.

La Quiaca

We were once again completely misled by Lonely Planet since it advised us to stay in La Quiaca rather than crossing the border into the Bolivian town of Villazon. What a mistake. All La Quiaca has to offer is an internet café, three maybe four restaurants, a shop and a bus station. It is a ghost town and believe it or not, they don’t really cater for vegetarian food, surprise surprise!!! We spent one night in a hell hole of a hostel before making our escape.