10 weeks in Latin America
In and around United Kingdom
Nic and I have arranged career breaks and are off to explore South America.
Route taken and entries by Real Traveler Nic & Graham
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1
Start point
Thanks to Karen & Steve who are picking us up in Cardiff & taking us down to Heathrow. Continue reading » -
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Transfer for BA
We're with Iberia so have a couple of hours in Barajas before heading on to Buenos Aires. Heard all sorts of rumours about Iberia baggage going mis... Continue reading »
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3
Southern Hemisphere!
We should by now have arrived in Buenos Aires. We are spending one night in Recoleta district before we leave for Patagonia. We intend visiting the... Continue reading »
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4
Time to fly
Hoping that we'll have spent the night in a nearby hotel but if Nic has her way we'll be dossing on the floor of the departure lounge.... time will... Continue reading »
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5
Croeso i Batagonia
Rydyn ni'n aros ym Mhlas y Coed, gwesty te yn Gaiman.
Mae'r Gaiman yn pentref bach tawel ym Mhatagonia. Mae'r dylamwad Cymeig yn amlwg ond ni... Continue reading »
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6
Day trip to Peninsula Valdes (Whales/Wildlife)
Aethon ni weld y morfilod ar gwch bach. Tour to Peninsula Valdes saw lots of whales from a small speedboat. Continue reading » -
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Week in Buenos Aires
Arrived back in Buenos Aires on time around 12.30 in the afternoon. The planes are prehistoric Boeng737 but even though they are boneshakers with b... Continue reading »
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8
Tigre Delta
We took the train to Tigre yesterday then a water bus into the delta and around some of the islands there. It was nice to get out of the hustle bus... Continue reading »
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9
Gaucho country
Went to the Pampas on a day trip today to a big ranch where we were welcomed with empenadas - an argentinian speciality apparently but they are jus... Continue reading »
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10
La Boca, San Telmo and PassportProblem
Today wewentback to La Boca,visited the football museum and wandered around the area before heading over to San Telmo.
San Telmo is an old di... Continue reading »
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11
Uruguay!
Uruguay seems like a nice place. The pace of life slow, no dog catchers here and plenty of meat, beer and sun.
Its the first time I have arr... Continue reading »
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Peru Tour
Hi we arrived in Lima yesterday after a 6.45am flight from Buenos Aires. As we had to check in at 3.45 we had to leave our hostel very early in the... Continue reading »
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14
Pisco
After leaving the ballestas islands went to Pisco. Not much to say about the place really as apart from the hotel and town square there is not much th... Continue reading » -
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Ballestas Islands trip
Left Lima very early yesterday and went to the ballestas islands where we saw some sea lions, dolphins, pelicans and lots of other birds.
Gra... Continue reading »
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Desert
This morning we went out in a sand buggy into the desert near Ica.
This was brilliant fun, the best tenner i have spent, it was like a rolle... Continue reading »
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17
Hacienda stay & Flight over Nazca lines
Nazca is famous for the Nazca lines and this was the point of our stop here. Before we flew over the lines we went to a Nazcan cemetary where we sa... Continue reading »
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Puerto Inca
Arrived in Puerto Inca a little hung over after drinking Sangria and having a few beers in Nazca so relieved to have a short trip.
This reli... Continue reading »
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Altitude
Suddenly we were told we would be leaving for Cusco after all but not in our big yellow bus but in a couple of taxis. This was so we could go on di... Continue reading »
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21
Sacred Valley
Took a trip out to the Sacred Valley, which is on the way to Machu Pichu and part of the Inca trail. Saw lots of ruins. Also went to a little town cal... Continue reading » -
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Cusco city & trekking
After our mammoth journey to Cusco and then a day in Sacred Valley, we had 3 days in Cusco prior to starting the Inca Trail.
So we decided to... Continue reading »
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Inca Trail
It would take a whole blog to do justice to the trials and tribulations of the Inca Trail and Machu Picchu itself. Suffice to say just completing t... Continue reading »
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Even Higher!
Travelled down on our tour bus from Cusco to Puno on the shores of Lake Titicaca.
Journey over the altiplano or high plain between the east... Continue reading »
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25
Uros, Amanti and Taquile Islands
Our first stop was the floating reed islands of Uros. A very strange experience stepping out onto reeds and sinking in to the island. The isla... Continue reading »
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End of tour (part 1)
After getting back from the islands we visited the nearby ruins at Sillustrani which were burial towers. Capped a strange couple of days!
Som... Continue reading »
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27
Peru Tour end
We had to go back to the awful Juliaca to fly to Lima. The flight was a couple of hours late and turned our to be a rather odd flight. To our supri... Continue reading »
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28
Ecuador Tour
Flew past Cotopaxi volcano on the descent into Quito. Actually Quito is surrounded by mountains and volcanoes which makes the landing interesting.<... Continue reading »
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29
Hot springs
This was a nice, relaxing start to our tour of Ecuador. We took a public bus for two hours through the mountains and arrived in Papallacta in the... Continue reading »
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30
Jungle Homestay
The journey to the jungle was spectacular as we descended over 2500 metres from mountains through cloud forest to the jungle.
When we reache... Continue reading »
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Jungle Lodge
After the rafting ended at Puerto Napo we took another pick up a few miles to our Jungle Lodge which was high in the rainforest overlooking miles o... Continue reading »
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Shadow of the volcano
We left the jungle lodge early and took another public bus from Tena towards Baños de Agua Santa back up in the Andes.
This bus driver was su... Continue reading »
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Colonial Cuenca
After the last bus journey we decided to hire a private bus for an extra $7 each for the long journey through the mountains to Cuenca. Landslides o... Continue reading »
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34
Quito
We spent all of Tuesday in Cuenca, visited the catherdrals, walked along the river and went to a reptile museum. It was hot here so we had a real... Continue reading »
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35
Hacienda
We stayed two days at the Guanacho Hacienda, the oldest one in Ecuador. On the first day we arrived around 3pm so just had to have a look around an... Continue reading »
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Markets & more volcanoes
We went to Cotocaxi National Park and had a short hike to get views of a lake. The lake is at altitude so should be cold water but volcanic activit... Continue reading »
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Spend some time with Bernardo
Had a great time with the Pinto family, it was fantastic to meet up with Bernardo and Cristina again, to meet the kids and for Nicola to meet them... Continue reading »
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Panama weekend
We arrived 9am in Panama and got a transfer to our lodge in Cierro Ancon overlooking the Puente de las Americas which crosses the Canal. The ride i... Continue reading »
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Canal trip
We were up early for the 8am departure of the Pacific Queen from Panama City, with breakfast on board. We sailed round a man made peninsula into th... Continue reading »
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Costa Rica Tour
Arrived San Jose about midday after a short 1 hour flight from Panama City. Costa Rica is one hour behind Panama so it was like the flight never ha... Continue reading »
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Crwbanod
Costa Rica is like pardise! We took a road transfer to Cano Blanco then one hour by boat to Tortuguero on the Carribean Coast - the place we stayed... Continue reading »
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Arenal Volcano
We travelled by boat and car to La Fortuna in northern Costa Rica hoping to see the famous Arenal volcano which is not only active but constantly e... Continue reading »
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Cloud Forest
our tranfer to the cloud forest was by boat accross the largest lake in costa rica which has views of the arenal volcano. Then a 2 hour ride by bus... Continue reading »
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Beach
Another interesting journey, one our down single track roads, another onwards to Puntarenas which is a thin strip of land a few miles long separati... Continue reading »
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End Costa Rica tour
Crossed back to the mainland in the sun and arrived at Puntarenas in the middle of a 'weather phenomenon' caused by the hurricanes. A big electrica... Continue reading »
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Back in Europe
Pure scramble to get from one Terminal to the other, including 5 passport checks!!!
However, the terminal was a nice building for an airport... Continue reading »
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Back in UK
Arrived around 6.45, only an hour late. Then another hour getting bags, through customs and getting the courtesy bus to the car rental place at the... Continue reading »
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Home at last!
Home at last via a stop at Brian & Lynne's where we enjoyed a nice curry!
Sadly back to work, not sure how we will cope.
Thanks for... Continue reading »
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