las chicass Blog on RealTravel

Coatepeque journal: Welcome break

Thu, 19 Jul 2007 09:46:23 GMT

Flo says:

Check out the Amarcuilco (sp?) Hostel on the lakeshore, its a great retreat with mega friendly, helpful staff and a lovely spot for a swim.

San Salvador journal: Fast food and fast exit

Thu, 19 Jul 2007 09:42:33 GMT

Flo says:

The hostels listed in the LP Central Am are not in a safe area (as they profess to be) it is dark at night and deserted and we were mugged by a boy with a knife just around the corner at dusk!

Other wise there's plenty of fast food to gorge on!

Perquin journal: Echoes of the not too distant past

Thu, 19 Jul 2007 09:37:09 GMT

Flo says:

A worthwhile and interesting side trip. The war museum and views from the surrounding hillsides are great.

San Miguel journal: Pool with a view of the bus station!

Thu, 19 Jul 2007 09:32:44 GMT

Flo says:

Pretty dull town, with half decent market. Nice hotel though to ease into the Salvadorian vibe.

Granada journal: Relaxing weekend

Fri, 13 Jul 2007 13:10:53 GMT

Flo says;

Granada was nicer thn we remembered posibly owing to the weekend timing of our visit. It was also much improved by paying the extra to stay at Oasis rather than the grotty Hostal Central.

Leon journal: Back to Bigfoot

Thu, 05 Jul 2007 15:52:53 GMT

Flo says:

Bigfoot is even better... even with a pool (of sorts!) We once more appreciated Leon's vibe as well as handy ameinities.

San Juan del Sur journal: Home from home

Sun, 01 Jul 2007 16:56:37 GMT

Flo says:

Another fantastic week at Spanish school made special by, student friends, visit to a local orphanage to throw a party and my lovely teacher Hamilton.

Panama City journal: Buying more shoes!

Sun, 01 Jul 2007 16:42:46 GMT

Flo says:

Once more a great place for getting things done. Sad to say goodbye to the Stahlratte crew but excited to move on, we did all the necessary "cosas" and boarded the Tica Bus for the first time.

San Blas journal: Paradise

Sun, 01 Jul 2007 16:31:36 GMT

Flo says:

If you can visit these beautiful and fascinating islands. We went on the sailing ship "Stahlratte" an excellent choice for the voyage as it's roomy and well organised as well as laid back and friendly.

The islands are like paradise on earth with an inspiring unique culture to boot. We LOVED it!

Cartagena journal: Colombia's not what you'd expect...

Tue, 12 Jun 2007 16:59:07 GMT

Flo & Emma say:

Cartagena is in our top 3 cities of the continent, it has all you'll be looking for, plus the nearby mud volcano is a must!

Santa Marta journal: Full of backpackers, perhaps that's why it's so smelly!

Tue, 12 Jun 2007 16:56:46 GMT

Flo and Emma say:

This place was grubby, smelly and sweaty! Apparantly there are nice excursions which may explain why it contained more backpackers than we've seen in the past 3 months. Oh and it was cheap too!

Merida journal: Relaxing mountain break with adventure on the side

Tue, 12 Jun 2007 16:52:43 GMT

Flo & Emma say:

Nice climate and chilled University vibe. Good tours available especially the crazy Canyoning option (not for the faint hearted)!

Mochima journal: Day tripping with a shark!

Tue, 12 Jun 2007 16:46:56 GMT

Flo & Emma say:

Seek out "Tiberon" (or he will find you) for a rum fuelled party day on a boat. The dolphins, coral and beaches are cool too. Oh and you can jump off big rocks if you're into that kind of thing!

Caripe journal: Great caves, nice town too

Tue, 12 Jun 2007 16:13:17 GMT

Flo says:

The cave is well worth it (don't go on Monday though, it's closed). The walk to the waterfall opposite is good too and an easy 45 minute detour. Buses run past the caves to Caripe so it's easy to flag one down on its way back to town.

Check out the panaderia in Caripe for all sorts of goodies and stay at the great value Hotel San Francisco on Plaza Bolivar.

Cumana journal: Back at the Caribbean

Tue, 12 Jun 2007 16:08:46 GMT

Flo says:

Decent enough town to connect onwards better value than Puerto la Cruz for accomodation. We also had great pizza in Hotel Astoria (?)

Canaima National Park journal: Salsa, Rum and Some pretty cool waterfalls

Sat, 19 May 2007 14:49:05 GMT

Flo says:

The two day/two night tour is worth it! Falls close to Canaima are just as good as the main attraction Salto Angel. Flight into Canaima is also a treat with great views. Be sure to take some rum out to the camp in the national park (there's nothing else there!)

Ciudad Bolivar journal: Ghost Town!

Sat, 19 May 2007 14:36:44 GMT

Flo says:

Watch out for creepy Jack at Posada Don Carlos. We had to escape and move next door to Posada Amor Patrio! The city was completely dead on Sunday and we could barely find water and a packet of crisps to sustain ourselves!

Booked the Angel Falls tour at the airport for the best deal. They'll offer the best price for US$ cash, but also a pretty good one for US$ travellers cheques. Paying in local currency everyone was offering 850,000.

Sao Luis journal: Nice tiles, shame about the rest!

Tue, 15 May 2007 04:16:25 GMT

Flo & Emma say:

Despite tarting up of historic quarters (which is now beginning to look crumbley again) there's not much to see. We did go to an excellent free museum with local carnaval costumes and religious decorations. We particularly enjoyed the selection of interpretations of the nativity scene including the Virgin Mary in labour and breast feeding!!!

We stayed at the the very backpacker friendly Pousada International right in the centre. Definately the cheapest and best value place in town.

Belem journal: Boarding the Onze de Maio

Sun, 13 May 2007 17:01:52 GMT

Flo says:

Arrived in the port in Belem and were predictabley immediately accosted by a tout selling tickets. He did, however, turn out to be kosher despite giving us a bit of concern leading us across the road to the cubby hole, air-con, ticket issuing office... We played safe not parting with any cash until we'd boarded the boat later in the afternoon and seen what we were getting for our money and they seemed perfectly happy with that!

What we got (for 350 reals per head) was a very comfortable 2 berth cabin with private bathroom and air-con, plus the passage to Manaus and three ...

Santa Elena De Uairen journal: Rice with Flavour

Sun, 13 May 2007 16:50:46 GMT

Flo says:

Perhaps it was the result of 6 days of rice and beans on the river, but we arrived in Santa Elena with a craving for Chinese food. Fortunately for us there were several Chinese restaurants in Santa Elena so we had our fill (3 out of 4 meals!) Not much else going on though, unless you fancy the multi-day Roraima Trek. Border formalities from Brasil were easy-peasy!

Manaus journal: Opera theatre and theatrical dance

Sun, 13 May 2007 16:46:52 GMT

Flo says:

The theatre is great and worth the price of the tour. We were able to spend the night on our boat on arrival at 10pm in Manaus, which made the trip even better value! Not much going on in town, but we were pleasantly suprised with shops, veggie restaurant (close to theatre) and cheap internet provisions. You would never know that you're in the middle of the jungle!

Salvador de Bahia journal: Meeting the parents (or not...)

Tue, 24 Apr 2007 12:15:48 GMT

Flo says:

Before even getting in to Salvador we became particularly well aquainted with its airport, waiting for 6 hours for Mum and Peter´s flight from London. eventually we managed to seek out the rather crucial information that the flight infact hadn´t yet left Gatwick! Feeling suitabley bothered by this spanner in our carefully engineered redezvous plans, we took the shuttle bus to the lovely Village Novo hotel on the seafornt at Porto da Barra.

Mum and Peter made it in the end, even managing to negotiate Salvador´s traffic in the hire-car after what must have been an ...

Olinda journal: Back on the tourist trail!?

Tue, 24 Apr 2007 11:52:45 GMT

Flo says:

Inexplicabley the foreigners all came out of the woodwork again in Olinda (well, perhaps the explanation is the weekly charter flights into neighbouring Recife!) Still no sign of any backpackers though....?

Olinda was a welcome relief from the beach and was a perfect place to spend a lazy Sunday wandering the streets absorbing its artsy vibe. It rivaled the towns of Minas Gerais in its beauty (no purple trees though) and had a smattering of tourists to boot (allowing us to feel less like freaks for visiting Brazil and not speaking much Portuguese). We were glad of a nice ...

Praia do Frances journal: Sleepy seaside

Tue, 24 Apr 2007 11:41:32 GMT

Flo says:

This place would be great in season (and was in fact very pleasant out of it). The beach had a bit of everything, from wild-wind swept deserted feel, to surf, to beach bars and calm water swimming pools.

There´s a good selection of accommodations too (including our cheapie hotel "Aguas Praia"). Unfortunately the beach bars close at 6pm leaving you rather short of options for an atmospheric evening meal... is this because of turtle egg hatching protection rules?

Its also close enough to Maceio to nip back and forth for provisions (as there´s not much on offer at the ...

Maceio journal: 5* Rating

Tue, 24 Apr 2007 11:32:10 GMT

Great service (they let us take the room at 8am) with nice pool, breakfast, some cable t.v; internet access and not forgetting the ping(y) pong(y) table for hours of fun.

Maceio journal: Pingy Pongy

Tue, 24 Apr 2007 11:32:10 GMT

Flo says:

I guess folks stop in Maceio to get to the beaches outside (much like many of Brazil´s sprawling cities). The coast of Maceio made for a nice walk up and down, but wasn´t really up to swimming. Otherwise we were glad to have such comfortable accomodation and a supermarket down the road! Our memories of Maceio will, however, always be tarnished by the fact that we spent at least 4 hours traipsing about with our backpacks on looking for either accommodation, banks or bus stops!

Potosi journal: Deep underground at 4000m

Thu, 19 Apr 2007 14:34:15 GMT

Flo says: This excursion was amazing but not for the faint hearted. What with the general effects of the altitude on top of the sweaty, claustrophobic, asphixiating environment it can hardly be termed fun. It was, however, extremely interesting.

Emma Says: A visit to Pototsi is not complete without putting your life in danger by going into the mine.

Praia do Forte journal: Plenty of turtles (and bags with them on!)

Sat, 14 Apr 2007 13:03:25 GMT

Flo says:

Praia do Forte was by far the most resorty place we´ve been on this trip (and the only one where locals actually predicted that we were English in advance of us telling them!) This said, however, it was pretty low key and had a certain charm. The turtle project TAMAR made an interesting visit and there are plenty of good restaurants along a pedestrian shopping drag to people watch from. The beach, suprisingly for one where a resort has been built up, is a bit crap as you can´t really swim. It does however, have plenty of palms and white sands which make it look pretty!

Cachoeira journal: Sleeping in Nun´s beds

Thu, 12 Apr 2007 11:51:50 GMT

Flo says:

Interesting old (rather crumbly) buildings to potter around. Also a very rickety bridge (which unfortunately we didn´t have to cross) We did however, need to climb the access road (track) out of town which the little car just managed with us all inside. Good wood sculptures being crafted by local artisans to see too.

Barra Grande journal: Easter weekend at "Brazil´s 3rd best beach" with Little Miss Sunshine!

Thu, 12 Apr 2007 11:46:08 GMT

Flo says:

Taipu de Fora beach (a 15 minute drive away) is fantastic! 3rd best in Brazil apparantly (but we don´t know what 1&2 are!) Surfing, snorkling, empty sands, crystal waters and a few bars if you fancy a caipirinha.

Barra Grande is nice too, no hassle and laid back with locals holidaying there. Our Pousada was good value esp if you can get the one with the balcony as Mum and Peter did! Staff rather grumpy though and breakfast included some strange offerings.

Aratuba journal: Little monkeys & deserted beaches

Thu, 12 Apr 2007 11:34:18 GMT

Flo says:

Beautiful empty beaches, off the tourist trail. Zimbo is a lovely experience in itself.

Aratuba journal: Chilled mini jungle

Thu, 12 Apr 2007 11:33:30 GMT

Gentle, relaxing place with nice French owner. Lots of cheeky monkeys in trees (as well as parrots and snakes!)

Salvador de Bahia journal: Great quality and value

Thu, 12 Apr 2007 11:25:25 GMT

Fab location, yummy breakfast, decent rooms.

Sao Paulo journal: Big city, big roads, big hole in wallet!

Tue, 10 Apr 2007 10:13:59 GMT

Flo says:

Stayed in a decent value airport hotel (Best Western) which still stung! Had a pool though, and allowed us the thrilling excursion of walking to the nearby mall, 30 mins with our hearts in our mouths balancing on the thin pavements alongside a scarey triple carriage-way road.

Puerto Iguazu journal: Cataratas

Tue, 10 Apr 2007 10:09:40 GMT

Flo says:

The falls are awesome. Argentine side makes a full day trip, Brazilian only a few hours but worth doing both. Border formalities are straight forward between the two.

Some good places to eat in Puerto Iguazu and good deals on rooms for two, relative to the cost of dorms. Hard to come by internet though!?!

Encarnacion journal: A night in Paraguay

Tue, 10 Apr 2007 10:05:19 GMT

Flo says:

Very friendly place, we felt like the local freak show a bit with people standing in awe of foreigners. Jesuit ruins at Trinidad a were cool excursion off the beaten track and easy to get to, also a joy to be the only visitors there! The Paraguayans just need to speed up the immigration process a tad to allow you to jump back on your bus and save waiting 45mins for the next one!

Salta journal: Gormet food and some exercise

Fri, 23 Mar 2007 11:30:49 GMT

Emma says: make sure you walk up the 1070 steps to look at the views from the big hill. Watch out for the spiders!!!!

Sucre journal: Phew, we made it!

Thu, 15 Mar 2007 14:39:50 GMT

Flo says: Sucre is a lovely town with great atmosphere. We really loved the dinosaur prints and accompanying tour, as well as our rather strenuous mountain bike trip down into the valleys. In fact my bum is still bruised from the latter, but it was an adrenaline rush. Fortunately we got to cool off in the freezing waterfalls at the bottom and eat a very welcome BBQ to finish off the day!

Samaipata journal: The cheapest 30th Birthday!

Thu, 15 Mar 2007 14:35:41 GMT

Flo says: Samaipata is the perfect backpacker chillout destination. Unfortunately for us getting there and away in rainy season is not so chilled! However, we did amazingly navigate the landslides and sporadically closed roads to spend an ideal birthday weekend. Any visit must incorporate a trip up to the "Mosquito Bar" (even if you don't have the excuse of it being your birthday. The locals are super friendly and the drinks mind bogglingly cheap if you endear yourselves!

We also had plenty of treats to eat in the Euro run cafes and even managed to catch up on a few movies.

Despite ...

Santa Cruz de la Sierra journal: Back to Bolivia

Thu, 15 Mar 2007 14:29:06 GMT

Flo says: Santa Cruz was a really nice town. Suprisingly wealthy in comparison to the Andean Bolivia we'd seen back in December. The train ride from the border with Brasil was pretty smooth (despite heavy rains) and had nothing "death" like about it!

Pantanal journal: Alligators, Piranhas and Mosquitos

Thu, 15 Mar 2007 14:25:58 GMT

Flo says: What a great experience. This tour is not for the faint hearted but is great fun. We loved our lodge (rather than having to sleep out in hammocks) and would definately recommend using it (Cabanas do Lontra). The activites were varied, hiking, horseriding, inner tubing, fishing etc and all allowed you to get up close and personal with nature.

We also found lots of like minded, fun people staying there to socialise with in the evening and during down time. Saw plenty of wildlife too! My favourite were the giant otters who stuck their heads up out of the swamp and squeaked at you! ...

Ouro Preto journal: Hills, hills and "Oh look another church"!

Thu, 15 Mar 2007 14:17:46 GMT

Flo says: Ouro Preto is set amongst a bunch of very steep hills. Whilst this makes for a great backdrop, it also makes exploring pretty painful (especially when your looking for a non existant cheap restaurant). We visited the museum chronicling the history of slavery in the area, and pondered over the still evident racial divide in Brasil. We also got our laundry done which was very exciting!

Congonhas journal: Not so picture perfect!

Thu, 15 Mar 2007 14:13:29 GMT

Flo says: What a strange place! Congonhas is recommended for its Basilica with 12 prophets out front designed and sculpted by the limbless Alejadinho. These are impressive but there is literally nothing else to the town. Not even a central plaza or shopping area to mooch about. Instead we played cards in a mosie ridden local bar before retiring to our extremely cheap hotel, which was also apparantly being used by some of the local ladies to make a bit of extra cash!

Tiradentes journal: Picture perfect

Thu, 15 Mar 2007 14:07:57 GMT

Flo says: Tiradentes is gorgeous and best reached on the funny little steam train from Sao Joao. Don't go short of cash though as there are no ATMs that accept foreign cards.

We loved the picturesque streets and surrounding hills, but most of all our Pousada which provided perfect R&R after Rio.

Tiradentes journal: Lazy weekend

Thu, 15 Mar 2007 14:05:52 GMT

not cheap, but excellent value. Great breakfast and swimming pool.

Curitiba journal: Beware of German restaurants

Thu, 15 Mar 2007 14:02:47 GMT

Flo says: Curitiba is supposedly Brasil's wealthiest and most sophisticated city. We had a whole 24 hrs to fill whilst waiting for our bus to Rio so its a good job that it lived up to it's reputation at least in part. Nice streets to wander and restaurants to hang out in, as well as the greatest range of Converse shoes ever!

However, we were unlucky enough to sample the vegetarian plate in a local German restaurant which was pretty foul, especially if you don't much go for pickled foods!

Barra da Lagoa journal: A holiday from holidaying

Thu, 15 Mar 2007 13:58:33 GMT

Flo says: We were releived to get out of sleepy, overpriced Florianopolis and allowed a local tout to do us a deal on an appartment out of town and across the Isla Santa Catarina in Barra da Lagoa.

We loved having our appartment and even put up some photos of home for the week. Self catering was a joy, since we were able to get our hands on the best fresh fruit and veg and Em even did some baking!

The beach was pretty busy (even when it rained!) with sun bathers, surfers and swimmers. We loved the waves for body surfing and were quite content half drowning ourselves every day!

Sao Joao del Rei journal: Purple Trees!

Thu, 15 Mar 2007 13:53:10 GMT

Flo says: Having arrived very late in the day we ended up checking in to a rather posh former mansion house and paying far too much for the priviledge. The following market we checked in to the far more suitable Hotel Brasil with its large rooms, filled with eccentric old furniture.

We liked the town alot, particularly its churches, cobbled streets and vibrant purple trees!

Punto del Diablo journal: Lazing in a duplex

Fri, 02 Feb 2007 11:20:46 GMT

Flo says:

Punta del Diablo is nothing like Punta del Este. There are plenty of wild beaches to chose from with lazy beach bars to down a few beers in.

Accommodation isn't cheap unless you're willing to live as a group, in which case its a really good deal with private kichen, dining, lounge (a whole house infact!)

Great spot to chill!

19 de Abril journal: Gaucho country

Fri, 02 Feb 2007 11:08:10 GMT

Experienced the amazing hospitality of Mary and Lothar for 24 hours at their ranch just outside tiny 19 de Abril. We were ferried about in the jeep to various points of local interest, most excitingly the local cattle market and a lovely quiet beach for a couple of lazy afternoon hours. Also met the neighbours on their small holding along with several of their animals!

We enjoyed a great evening socialising with the family including Lothar's ex-wife and her boar wrestling new man, and were serenaded by "crocodile dundee of Uruguay" Rafael. Em chowed down on some wild boar and we all ...

Rocha journal: A friendly invitation...

Fri, 02 Feb 2007 11:00:47 GMT

Flo says:

Having bused it in and out of Punta del Este and trekked across sleepy San Carlos to find an onward bus we were glad to reach this pleasant little town and get checked into a decent and reasonabley priced hotel.

Over dinner we bumped into a really friendly Geordie lady Mary and her Austrain partner, who were entertaining her cousin who was over visting them on their ranch out in Gaucho country. They immediately suggested that we ought pay them a visit the next day and we of course thought it would be rude to refuse!

By the way, don't bother with Punta del Este, it's ...

Rosario journal: A pilgrimage to Che's roots!

Fri, 02 Feb 2007 10:45:38 GMT

Flo says:

This is a nice town which is worth a visit to get off the tourist trail and get much better value for money. The water front is great for a stroll as are the pedestrain streets. Good views to be had from the top of the flag monument too. Not much evidence of Che though :(

Montevideo journal: Ensalada muy rico

Fri, 02 Feb 2007 10:33:36 GMT

Flo says:

Great cheap eating here, especially the mountainous salads at La Picarte.

Also checked out the Museo Joaquin Torres Garcia (great gift shop) and sights around the Plaza de Independence including the creepy mausoleum of General Artigas. Enjoyed a sunny Sunday stroll along the Rio to watch the fishermen and catch that "mate" vibe!

Buenos Aires journal: What's new.... Buenos Aires

Sun, 28 Jan 2007 06:55:22 GMT

Flo says:

Buenos Aires does not disappoint. It is the perfect place to wander about exploring different districts and stop for coffee/ beer as you go. Great shopping, great atmosphere, great sights and museums, great restaurants...

Watch out for the traffic though, and the dog shit!

Santa Fe journal: "A sassy little town"

Wed, 17 Jan 2007 15:23:48 GMT

Flo says:

A bit smarter than Rosario, with great value mid range hotels (with pool and gym!) Also good for mooching about pedestrain streets and parks.

We were particularly amused by the main plaza which seemed to be acting as a "tractor park" (clearly some kind of farm workers dispute!)

El Calafate journal: Awesome glacier

Wed, 17 Jan 2007 15:16:00 GMT

Flo says

Wow! The glacier is one of the world's natural wonders....

Be prepared for way pricey hostels, but save money by taking the bus out to the glacier from the bus station (instead of a tour). Also try to go on the afternoon bus as the glacier is more active then and there are fewer tourists. You won't be able to make the last boat, but I don't really think that's worth it anyway.

Puerto Natales journal: Into Patagonia

Thu, 11 Jan 2007 09:34:55 GMT

Flo says:

The boat journey was certainly a once in a lifetime thing. The berths were suprisingly comfy and the bar unexpectedly cheap. Shame about the weather!

Actually the finally day was gorgeous and the scenery stunning with snow capped mts and tiny islets dotting the channel.

Puerto Montt journal: Christmas shopping

Thu, 11 Jan 2007 09:27:04 GMT

Flo says;

We spent xmas eve back in Puerto Montt preparing for the 4 day ferry trip south through Chile's fjords. We stocked up on red wine, chocolate and munchies galore with the suitable excuse of the festive season. Also managed to catch a xmas movie!

Castro journal: Houses on stilts and a fish supper

Thu, 11 Jan 2007 09:23:47 GMT

Flo says:

When will it stop raining???! Actually it did for one day, allowing us to explore the town and its waterfront both of which are very pretty.

San Pedro de Atacama journal: Ouch, its pricey!

Thu, 11 Jan 2007 09:14:43 GMT

Flo says:

Crossing into Chile at the tail end of the Salar de Uyuni tour was quite an experience. First of all the road was paved with what seemed the smoothest concrete ever and was equiped with road markings, signs and used by smart looking vehicles! We also descended some 3000 metres causing my ears to block for the entire immigration process.

We also had to swallow the expense of paying $5 each to get a shabby room. Despite this initial scare the hot water showers were very exciting after the inconsistancies of Bolivia.

San Pedro itself was a nice place but way over ...

Laguna Verde journal: Flamingos in the bitter cold

Thu, 11 Jan 2007 09:07:20 GMT

Flo says:

Our second night of the tour was spent in the bitter cold at almost 5000 metres. The accommodation was little to be desired with no running water and several rather ill people amongst the 30 or so staying!

This said the scenery continued to be impressive although at 5am in bitter winds we were starting to find the photo stops less obligatory. Emma was brave enough to flash her boobs at the hot springs and wash off the grubiness of the previous few days - I opted for staying wrapped up and smeggy!

Salar Uyuni journal: Salt flats and sky....

Thu, 11 Jan 2007 08:58:42 GMT

Flo says:

The Salar is truely stunning. It becomes really difficult to put your camera away, thank goodness for digital! We ate a great lunch at the "island" of rock and cacti in the middle of the salt flats affording amazing views of absolutely nothing in all directions. En route we also stopped in at a salt hotel and saw some strange bubbling pools.

We were pleased to be with such a great group of people living in real close quarters for the 3 days and squeazing into our jeep taking turns on the back seat!

Uyuni journal: Dusty train

Thu, 11 Jan 2007 08:52:06 GMT

Flo says:

The train journey to Uyuni is dusty as hell. Fortunately we had some choice movies to take our mind off the suffocating clouds, such as "Karate Dog"! We bumped into old friends Shelly and Verena over breakfast and decided to crash their tour of the Salar leaving that morning rather than risk a dodgy group of unknowns!

Not far out of town is the hauntingly beautiful Train Graveyard, ripe for use in a pop video, complete with great shots and revolutionary grafiti.

La Paz journal: Llama foetuses and Coca

Thu, 11 Jan 2007 08:45:23 GMT

Flo says:

The potent mix of Llama foetuses (sold in the witches market to bring luck to your new home) and Coca leaf paraphanalia made La Paz an intriguing stop. Despite many scarey tails of violent scams here, we enjoyed our stay especially the excellent Coca museum and the day visit to the mystical Tiahuanaco.

Isla del Sol journal: Sore feet.

Thu, 11 Jan 2007 08:41:19 GMT

Emma´s view:

We decided to walk to the Isla del Sol, well as much as you can walk to an island. We walked from Copa to Yampoopoo. This was a 18KM walk and very prety. We only face one little hitch when a guy tried to get us on his boat telling us we were in Yampoopoo when actually we were in Sigua. It was all just lies, lies lies and I don´t get on boats with liars. It took us about 4 hours to get to Yampoopoo where we hired a boat with another couple. The harsh bit came when we got to the Island and had to walk up the inca steps to the village....ouch.

We were even brave enough to ...

Copacabana journal: What a lot of crusties

Thu, 11 Jan 2007 08:38:39 GMT

Emma´s Veiw-

Copacabana is a place full odd crusties making and selling Jewlery. The lake veiws are pretty and you can get a halfway decent meal. The main reason people seem to come here is to go on a boat to the Isla del Sol.......well apart from the crusties who come here to make jewlery and occassionally bang their drums.

We also found ourselves without electricity between 7am and 6pm every day but the weekend.

Puno journal: Big sky, big lake, pretty islands

Thu, 11 Jan 2007 08:35:52 GMT

Flo says:

Puno is o.k. but Copacabana just across the lake in Bolivia is much nicer and the border crossing is easy. It is worth seeing the Uros (floating) islands, though they are mega touristy, but give the others a miss in favour of Isla del Sol in Bolivia instead.

Ushuaia journal: The end of the world...

Thu, 11 Jan 2007 08:05:42 GMT

Flo says:

We pondered whether the final leg south to Ushuaia would be worth it simply to say we'd been that far/ crossed the Magellan Straits etc. In the end we were really glad we made it, despite the very annoying 12 hour journey involving 4 border posts in and out of Chile.

Since we couldn't stomach this a 2nd time we opted for a flight out which meant we had a full 5 days at our disposal to explore the area. This wasn't enough for the extortionate 10 day Antarctic cruise and we were amazed by the backpackers who did fork out the $5000 asking price, and also dismayed by photos ...

Arequipa journal: What a lovely place to rest

Thu, 11 Jan 2007 07:53:40 GMT

Flo says:

Arequipa is lovely and we would thoroughly recommend the Los Andes hotel. Other than wandering Arequipa's streets the overnight tour to the Colca Valley was a must. Lots of photo stops but worthwhiles ones and if the weather is good as it was for us the canyon is awesome. We also enjoyed the folk dancing in the evening especially the one where the man and woman sit on each others' faces and whip each other!

Puerto Madryn journal: The bikinis are back!

Thu, 11 Jan 2007 07:42:00 GMT

Flo says: This place has a great beach and nice vibe, but a serious lack of cheap accommodation. This gave us the excuse of shacking up in a posh gaff rather than sleeping on the beach. We greatly appreciated the seaview and buffet breakfast not to mention the full sized bath tub (a first since leaving home 5 months ago!)

Castro journal: clean, very friendly, lovely view and good breakfast

Thu, 21 Dec 2006 12:15:31 GMT

Puerto Montt journal: The smallest pier in the world!

Thu, 21 Dec 2006 12:11:50 GMT

Flo says:

You have to come here in order to get further south and its not as bad as the guide books make out, (or is that just because the sun was shining?)

Anyway Puerto Montt has a pretty seafront and a highly amusing "pier", but otherwise its just more shopping malls and supermarkets. Apparantly having recently seen a postcard of the town there's a beautiful snowy peak as a backdrop but we haven't seen blue sky for a while so this remained elusive!

Valdivia journal: Really comfortable and friendly, even has little bath tubs!

Thu, 21 Dec 2006 12:06:30 GMT

Valdivia journal: Boy those sealions are fat!

Thu, 21 Dec 2006 12:06:29 GMT

Flo says:

Valdavia is a lovely town in a beautiful setting. A must see are the fat sealions (more like walruses) which hang out by the fish market on the rivers edge all day scavenging and sun bathing (if you're lucky enough to get a break in the cloud!) We also walked out to the Kunstmann Cerveceria which had no tour of the beer making process as promised, but a nice restaurant and several great beers on tap.

We also enjoyed our hotel more than most and got to spend plenty of time there given the two and a half days of constant rain. At least I was contented with the choice of tv ...

La Serena journal: Shopping malls & Supermarkets

Thu, 14 Dec 2006 12:57:34 GMT

Flo says:

Lovely long beach if you can get the weather for it! We loved it for its shopping alone not having seen a supermarket and the like since Panama!

Great hostel too!

Santiago journal: Home from home?

Thu, 14 Dec 2006 12:55:09 GMT

Flo says:

Barrio Londres is nice as is Barrio Bellavista. Could be any European city with a bohemian edge. Great Christmas tree in the Plaza de Armas but too many pigeons they need Red Ken to come and do an extermination job!

Lovely city, but too pricey for backpacking!

Nazca journal: You never guess what we did in Nazca?

Mon, 27 Nov 2006 14:23:50 GMT

Emma´s View: The reason you go to Nazca is to see the Nazca lines. So at 8am in the morning we boarded a plane that was way too small and were spun around in the desert looking at these really cool old desert pictures until Nell was sick them we came down to earth so I could write all about it. I liked the spinning around part best, the old desert pictures were cool too.

Colca Canyon journal: What a big birdy

Mon, 27 Nov 2006 14:07:04 GMT

Emma´s View:

We went on a lovely tour of the Colca Canyon region. We are not used to being guided, but it was nice to have someone else make all the desicions for us for a couple of days.

To gt to the Canyon you have to go up to altitudes of 5000 metres + so altitude sickness can be a problem. Luckily the South American cure all (coca leaves, basically the leaves of the plant that cocaine is made out of) was on hand to make us high so we weren´t aware that we were feeling dizzy, sick and short of breath.

The Canyon really was beautiful. The bonus part of the trip is to see ...

Cusco journal: What pretty bricks

Mon, 27 Nov 2006 13:56:38 GMT

Emma´s View:

Cuzco is the stopping off point before you go to Machu Picchu by whatever means. Cuzco itself is very nice but you do get alot of hassel from touts wanting to sell you things/feed you/walk with you places.

We were considering doing the exhausting 4 day up hill, at altitude, Inca trail but we just didn´t have enough time or desire. Flo and I were put off treking for life in Nicuragua when we went up on of the Isla Ometepe Volcanoes. That was one day of hiking, we really didn´t fancy 4. It was lucky that we have picked the lazy option as I got a nice stomach bug that has ...

Lima journal: Stuck in a Lima bus station for 5 hours

Fri, 24 Nov 2006 08:33:24 GMT

Emma´s View:

We traveled over night (18 hours) to get to Lima. Our plan was to go straight to Nazca as we didn´t see the point of the hassel of getting around a city for a one night stop. Unfortunatly we arrived at Lima and had to wait 5 hours til we could get a bus to NAzca. Killer journey. We didn´t go and see any of Lima as it didn´t really sound like there was a decent place to go.

Mancora journal: Beautiful beach, shame about the road

Fri, 24 Nov 2006 08:29:53 GMT

Emma´s View:

We pulled off a full day of travel to get to Mancora in Peru . Mancora is supposed to be a trendy beach town unfortunately it was all wrong as they kind of ignored the beach and centred the town on the Pan American highway instead. For me Mancora it will always be remembered as the place where a Chick girl was finally defeated by disease. After 3 months of me Pooing every time I even looked at a bacteria it was finally Flo´s turn. She was not a well girl but she was well looked after and has made a full recovery.

Banos journal: Lovely bath

Mon, 13 Nov 2006 12:42:50 GMT

Flo says:

Baños is really an obligatory stop if you´re in this part of the worl... It has lots of cheap accommodation and good food places plus tons of activities around the vicinity.

We had a steam bath at the hostel which was great and a real laugh as we didn´t know what to expect and were treated to quite a proceedure of pampering including sitting in wooden boxes filled with steam and being sprayed by a piercing jet of cold water!

Also went on horseback around the mountains to get views of the town and of course the rather scarey volcano looming above which spurts out ...

Banos journal: friendly, great facilities, good deal

Mon, 13 Nov 2006 12:33:12 GMT

Latacunga journal: Saquisili market

Mon, 13 Nov 2006 12:31:47 GMT

Flo says

Spent the night in Latacunga which is a nice enough tourist base for exploring the central highlands. In the morning we were up at the crack to visit Saquisili market the reported economic hub of the region.

We got dropped at the livestock section and weaved in and out of squealing pigs, cows and bumbling sheep for ten minutes. Sadly there were no Guineas to be found! We wandered down the road to find the more savoury areas selling handcrafts, fruit and veg, plus all number of random objects such as old dolls heads! Did some fairly satisfying souvenier shopping too.

Quilotoa journal: Cracking open the thermals

Mon, 13 Nov 2006 12:25:55 GMT

Flo says:

Had a great laugh on the bus from Latacunga crammed into the aisle with several others plus sacks of produce. Tons of pork pie hat wearing locals aboard including a lady wearing two (one on top of the other). Also a lot of breast feeding going on and manic bread buying through the windows. We managed to survive it all, although our bags fared less well on the rook on the icy rain at 3500 m above sea level.

We arrived at Quilotoa in the cloud at a friendly family home, suprisingly full of Europeans bedding down under colourful quilts, and huddled next to woodburners in ...

Quito journal: Carumba! It's high up here.

Mon, 13 Nov 2006 12:16:46 GMT

Flo says:

Quito is a lovely city especially at the weekends when the traffic eases off and parks fill up. On Sundays the main thoroughfares become cycle friendly and loads of Ecuadorians take up the opportunity to get out and exercise on their bikes.

The old town is really pretty and great for people watching. There is a fascinating mix of attire on display!

We went to the "Mitad del Mundo" tourist town on the Equator to take pictures and not much else. Were hoping to see some nifty scientific tricks reported in the Lonely Planet, but perhaps they don´t do them on a Monday!?

Cuenca journal: Shrunken heads

Mon, 13 Nov 2006 12:09:14 GMT

Flo says:

We checked out the museum next door to the Banco Central which had a cool exhibition of the amazonian indian practice of shrinking the heads of those men foolish enough to break the law. This explained that the punished would first be decapitated but neglected to mention how the heads were then shrunk. However, it did have plenty on display, very macarbre! Apparantly this is now outlawed and they only do it to Sloths (not sure what crime these poor creatures have committed?!)

Cuenca is a cool town with lots of pretty streets and churches. It is puzzlingly hard to find a ...

Riobamba journal: The train ride

Mon, 13 Nov 2006 12:02:15 GMT

Flo says:

There´s not much to see or do in Riobamba except buy tickets for and board the thrice weekly train to Simbambe by route of the "Nariz del diablo" (Devil´s nose). Don´t expect a train roof packed with Ecuadorians looking photogenic in their traditional garb though, this is strictly tourist transportation. We were quite taken aback to arrive an hour early for departure and find 5 carriage roofs packed with gringos bagging their spot on a cushion for the 5-7 hour stint.

The ride is cool though, through lovely rural scenery. The final descent is impressive, although we ...

Latacunga journal: clean, friendly, central

Thu, 09 Nov 2006 14:01:15 GMT

Quito journal: very clean, great value breakfast downstairs

Thu, 09 Nov 2006 13:51:23 GMT

Panama City journal: El Canal

Thu, 02 Nov 2006 12:04:55 GMT

Flo says:

The canal is awesome and the city itself cool for shopping, strolling and exploring. Great views from the causeway.

Quirigua journal: Bananas crossing!

Thu, 02 Nov 2006 12:01:58 GMT

Flo says:

Quirigua is off the beaten track but the ruins are cool and deserted. Its almost worth it for the trek out to the ruins from town alone along a disused railway and through banana plantations. You may even be lucky enough like us to be stopped by the bananas crossing!

Livingston journal: A plate of veggies for tea!

Thu, 02 Nov 2006 11:59:43 GMT

Flo says:

We have also broken up the rather uncomfortable bus journeys with a goodmeasure of speed boats and "lanchas" the funniest of which was a couple of days ago in the middle of torrential rain all of the passengers (numberingabout 20 or so) sat underneath a huge tarpulin (sp?) andgrinned at one another hopefully!

We reached Livingston which has a bad rep but seems nice enough. The journey up the Rio Dulce was worth it for the scenery and wildlife, a really beautiful trip.

Em says:

Guatemala did not really get too many of our tourist Pounds as we kind of used it to ...

Bocas del Toro journal: Traveling is such hard work

Mon, 30 Oct 2006 09:36:50 GMT

Emma´s Veiw:

We have visted 7 Carribian beach destinations in Central America and not until the last one did I finally see the Carribian I expected. Boccas Del Toro is paridise.

Flos view

I love Bocas del Toro! It became another one of those places that you cant leave. We found a decent place to stay with a deck over the water and better still a trampoline in the sea! Also were treated to cable TV and HBO films just incase lounging on the beach was too much like hard work.

Happy hour in Bocas town is a must with the best value cocktails for $2 a go, we made the mistake ...

San Jose journal: Oasis Pangea

Mon, 30 Oct 2006 09:31:35 GMT

Flo says:

San Jose has a better reputation than most other C.Am capitals but it has little to offer. Hostel Pangea, however, was worth its weight in gold as a barracaded oasis from the city complete with its own pool, bar, internet and free phone calls home!

We had a couple of guys try to rob us on the bus into the city (very disingenuously) by suggesting we stash our bags in the overhead racks! Needless to say we didnt follow their advice and they tried to nab some ladies bag instead (without success).

We then had another adventure on our bus out of town to Puerto ...

Montezuma journal: Worth the detour...

Mon, 30 Oct 2006 09:25:28 GMT

Flo says:

What a beautiful, rugged place. Montezuma was a question mark on our itnerary particularly since it would involve several hours of backtracking by boat and bus. However, it was worth it for the small community feel, cheap restaurants, smoothies and rugged coastline.

Accommodation was not cheap after the bargins in Fortuna and Monteverde but it was o.k. The walk east along the coastline was great, if a little isolated, and we saw loads of wildlife.

Monteverde journal: "Oh what a lovely hotel!"

Mon, 30 Oct 2006 09:19:51 GMT

Flo says:

We liked Cabinas Eddy very much. What a bargin! Met an interesting lady doing our route in 5 years on her pension, "you go girl"! Loved the suspension bridges through the canopy but where was that 80% of the wildlife?

Monteverde is tourism central Costa Rica. You can do a ton of different tours here and spend mucho dinero. Not a lot to do on a budjet but its pretty enough and nice and cool.

Copan journal: Power cuts & La Finca

Mon, 30 Oct 2006 05:42:03 GMT

Flo says:

Copan Ruinas a great town just over theborder from Guatemala which has positively blossomedon the tourist trade created by the proximity of itsdeservedly famous Mayan ruins. Fortunately the townstill seems to have a comfortable balance betweentouristed and touristy and our stay there was onlyslightly marred by a day/night long power cut, whichalso took out the water. Still, the best thing aboutCopan was coming across Carlos Castejon a locallandowner who runs trips out to his Finca outside thetown.

We spent a full 24hours at the Finca with Carlosplaying host. The rolling ...

El Remate journal: Mayan Jungle

Mon, 30 Oct 2006 05:38:45 GMT

Flo says:

We managed to escape some guy who boarded our bus claiming to work for the bus company and insisting on making all our lodging and transport arrangements for the forseable future. Despite his claims that we'd missed the last bus to El Remate and his less than subtle attempt to send his mates after us offering us an over priced shuttle, we managed to flag down the bus we wanted within 10 mins of hanging around. Emma nearly wet her knickers in excitement when an actual chicken got on her very first "chicken bus" and made the bargin journey even more exciting.

Had to walk ...

Boquete journal: Chilled highlands

Sat, 28 Oct 2006 17:56:54 GMT

Flo says:

Lovely highland town clearly home to a load of ex-pat retirees who sup on the locally grown coffee an awful lot (given the number of coffee shops about the place!)

Stay at Hostel Boquete was "muy tranquillo" with terrace directly onto the babbling river.

Cahuita journal: A place we never ment to stay but fate decided it for us.

Sat, 28 Oct 2006 17:51:33 GMT

Emma Says:

We didn´t mean to stay in Cahuita as we were heading for Puerto Viejo. Unfortunatly someone got off the bus and took Flo's bag by mistake. The annoying thing was that Flo watched this happen, but just thought that the girl had an identical backpack. It all happened very quickly and we didn´t have time to react. When we arrived at PV we discovered the bag was Flo´s. Luckily PV and Cahuita are not that far appart so we rushed back to find the culprit sitting at the bus station looking very sorry for what she had done. In true British style we were very nice about it and sat down ...

Palenque journal: Roach Town

Fri, 27 Oct 2006 12:09:41 GMT

Flo says:

The impressive Mayan ruins at Palenque and cool waterfall bathing saved the day after the horrors of battling roaches in town.

it seems these past weeks have been abattle against the infernal cockroaches at every turn!Today one fell off the luggage rack of a bus onto my lap and a few days back at about 3am Emma jumped asthough she had a poker up her backside when shefound one crawling across her in bed! Our latest defenseis to demand rooms without bathrooms but I fear we mayhave to resign ourselves to turning a blind eye (notso easy when they launch themselves off the ...

Puerto Viejo de Limon journal: One last stop in Costa Rica

Fri, 27 Oct 2006 11:56:26 GMT

Emma's View:

Puerto Viejo was are last stop in Costa Rica. While we were their the weather wasn´t great so we probably didn´t see the best side. We didn't much go for PV and found it to be our least favourite of the carribian beach resorts in Central American. It was also the most expensive in terms of accommodation. We felt the whole place had a slightly grubby run down feel, the people were not very friendly either. Our next stop in Bocas del Toro (Panama) showed PV up as Bocas really is a slice of paradise.

La Fortuna journal: Pete, Elizabeth and the volcano

Thu, 19 Oct 2006 08:00:53 GMT

Flo says:

What a small room but what a nice hostel!

Costa Rican’s may well feel this way being that theyabolished their army 50 years ago and seem to be ultrachilled about anything and everything. E.g. no-onehoots their horn, cars move at a snails pace andno-one comes up to you trying to sell stuff! Of courseit is hugely more wealthy here plus of course theyhaven’t been hauled through several decades of civilwar….. We have been staying in the tourist town of LaFortuna for the past 3 nights. It sits in the shadowof Volcan Arenal (geographers check out the photo “Whydo people live ...

Leon journal: Volacnoes, Flor de Caña and a Splurge!

Thu, 19 Oct 2006 07:55:57 GMT

Flo says:

Not content with simulating one natural hazard wearrived in Nicaragua to promptly shoot up the nearestvolcano and then come hurtling down its sides on bitsof plywood in very attractive outfits "a laGuantanamo". Just to add to the thrill we wereinformed before hand that the volcano has a 7 yearcycle of eruptions, last blew in 1999 and usually goesbetween October and January (It’s called Cerro Negro,watch this space!) So that pretty much brings us up to date. Yesterday wewent on a day trip to the remains of old Leon(destroyed by yet another nearby volcano some 500years ago) and ...