The Beagle has landed

Thursday 22nd May

Well, I'm back and re-adjusting gradually to UK life. Its a slow process for as you can see I'm still writing blogs... but on the positive side I've gotten used again to being able to flush toilet paper rather than putting it in a bin (much to Bert's relief).

Coming home has actually been brilliant... champagne, parties, phone calls, cards and even a DRUM KIT!!! Wow. I'm hoping this is the way things will continue...

Just wanted to say thanks to you all for the messages and cards and general loveliness.

Am now off to try and find a job so I can save up for my next 'holiday'!!! Ha.

Thanks again,

T

Ready or not, here I come...

Sunday 18th May

Well... its finally arrived... the day I fly home. And in a minute my taxi will arrive too (hopefully).
Ooh, so excited... a little sad to leave but so looking forward to seeing everyone, yey!

T

3 days left...

Thursday 15th May

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TIM!

Well, thought I ought to mention what I've been up to since my Salt flats tour...

Got the Wari Wari train to Tupiza where I stayed or a couple of nights... just long enough for me to take a 3 hour horse ride of the surrounding areas. And, well... 3 hours was quite long enough thank you very much! I started off on a nice sleepy horse only to be transferred to a much larger one, called Fachas, with an attitude problem. Fachas could also have benfitted from a visit to the 'over competative horse' support group as he would not let anything infront of him. This was all fine until he (repeatedly) went the wrong way... and he completely ignored however I pulled the reigns so my 14 year old guide (!!!) had to try and get infront of him to stop him. Easier said than done... and mostly resulted in dear fachas going faster and faster with me holding on tighter and tighter. Well anyway, I survived with only minor scratches from the thorny bushes and a numb bum.

Left Tupiza heading for the Argentinian border, one large slice of cake and a bus ride later I was back on Argentinian soil and heading for the city of Salta. Took a couple of trips out into the landscapes surrounding Salta, which are quite impressive... visited the odd bodega too for a spot of wine tasting... hic.

Next stop was Puerto iguazu, right in the topmost tipmost north east corner of the country... 24 hours from Salta by bus. Here I visited Iguazu Falls... the largest waterfalls in South America. A rather cloudy and drizzly morning (whats all this wet stuff falling from the sky about eh... havent had that for a while)... turned into a beautiful blue sky just as we got to the 'Devils Throat'... which is bascially a HUGE waterfall. Dont know how to describe it but it was so big and powerful and difficult to take in that it actually made my head dizzy. It also made me very wet and after 10 minutes I was soaked to the skin. But worth it, it was truly awesome.

No time to stop for longer than a 2 hour hammock swing... then off to catch my last bus. 18 hours to Buenos Aires, my LAST stop before my flight home.

And thats where I am now. Arrived this morning and got ripped off by a taxi driver, nice. But its great to be back and have had a fab day so far. I loved Buenos Aires first time round but I have to say its much better second time round... feel at home and really happy to spend a bit of time here before I get home. Have also met up with some friends I met in Bolivia so thats great.

Travelling has been tough lately... cold beers, hammocks in the sun, spotting toucans in the evening treetops, shopping for vintage clothes, spot of vino...

So, not much more to say other than see you all soon... please can you reserve some nice weather to ease me back into UK life.

Lots of salt

Monday 5th May

Hello from Tupiza. Arrived by Wari Wari train this morning from Uyuni where I took a 3 day jeep tour of the Salar and Reserva Edwardo Avoara (i.e. salt flats and altiplano volcanic landscapes).

Instead of me rambling on I'll let the photos do the talking. There was alot of salt:

which meant you could have fun making silly photos:

and some cactii:

and some lakes coloured by algae with sulphur, borax and other mineral deposits:

and rocks:

and flamingos:

There was also a band of youngsters weilding pan pipes, but I'll spare you that for now.

Off on a gee gee tomorrow... yee hah.

Chau for now.

May the 4th be with you...

Sunday 4th May

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BERT!

Dangerous roads and mosquito infested jungle

Saturday 26th April

Well, I have just returned to La Paz after 3 days on the edge of the Amazon Basin exploring the pampas. But before I start jumping ahead let me fill you in on what I've been up to since my snowy peak adventure...

La Paz is a crazy city. Full of smoke and cars and more car fumes and people and alcoholics anonymous centres... alas it seems that most of the folk who should attend such places don't, such as the taxi driver who decided to drive off road and wrap his car around the lamp post just yards from where me and a friend were walking. I love lamp posts.

I signed up to cycle 'the world's most dangerous road' which is basically a single track gravel road cut into the edge of a sheer mountain side. Its stunning. One of the most amazing places I've been. It was a photo of these roads that first triggered my interest in Bolivia and by gum they lived up to my expectations. Unfortunately the nickname 'death road' also lived up to its reputation and a middle aged man in my group fell off his bike and off the edge with tragic consequences. So that was a terrible shock and needless to say we didnt finish the road. These places deserve and demand respect... I just learnt that another cyclist was killed 2 days ago, knocked off the edge by a bus. Sometimes its easy to dismiss the disclaimers you sign for these things, but they're there for a reason!

To top off that rather somber day I then fell quite ill for a few days, boo. However, I am now marvellous again so thats all history, yey.

On 23rd I flew north from La Paz to a small town/village called Rurrenabaque. Its on the edge of the jungle and the starting point for my 3 day pampas tour. Stepping off the plane I almost melted, coming from La Paz at 3500m altitude it was VERY hot and humid. I was annoyed with myself as I'd forgotten to take my penknife out of my hand luggage at the airport... but luckily the nice check-in man took it from me and then went round security and gave it back to me when I got on the plane!!!

My taxi met me at the airport... it was a scooter. Good job I only had a small rucksack. I then spent one night in a hostel hoping that the electric ceiling fan wouldn't fall down as it was a tad wonky. The next morning I set off for my pampas tour.

It started with a 3 hour jeep ride on a spine numbing bumpy road... boing boing. We then unloaded the jeep and loaded the boat which took 1 an a half hours to get us to the lodge. The wildlife in the pampas pretty much smacks you in the face. Within minutes we were seeing huge stork birds, parrots, vultures, crocodiles, squirrel monkeys, dolphins... Anyhoo, we arrived at the lodge and I found a nice hammock to swing in for a while before that evening's crocodile hunt. Croc eyes glow red in torch light, and boy oh boy were there alot of red eyes. Yuri, our guide, caught a baby croc so we got a close up view, it was about 2 years old and probably 50cm long. In the dark, the plants were full of little glowing bugs and fireflies which looked like they were reflecting the stars in the sky... the night time is deafening with all the bugs singing and buzzing and the odd frog splooshing into the water.

Back at camp I almost trod on an Anaconda in the darkness... yikes! Thank goodness I had my headlamp on. Although apparently they aren't poisonous... they just give a nasty bite.

Next morning we went off down river to a marshy bit to hunt for Anacondas... alas 2 hours of plodding about in knee deep water and mud we didnt see any (although we heard and saw movements from about 3 or 4). We returned to the lodge for lunch... yum... then headed out again to go piranha fishing. I didnt hold many hopes for catching anything but ended up catching the most in my group... 2 piranha, 1 sardine and a slimy catfish thing later we left our fishing spot to watch the sunset.

Day 3 consisted of going swimming... in the same river we caught piranha, hunted crocodiles, where anaconda live etc... with pink river dolphins. They like to nibble your feet under the water which is a bit disconcerting as you can't see below the surface. One girl in our group got a hefty chomp on the bum from a piranha too... hee hee. I decided to get out at that point.

We then headed back to Rurrenabaque by boat and then jeep. My little plane back to La Paz was literally waiting for me when I got to the airport so I jumped on (the dont have security scanners so penknife was safely carried on, phew). The runway is a grass and mud strip cleared from the surrounding forest so a few bumps later we were airborn.

There... a brief yet rambling run down of Beagle in the jungle pampas... loved it and was ace to be away from 'civilisation' for 3 days although am glad to be back so I can tend my poor bitten feet and legs and liberally apply aftersun to my burnt bits (I ran out of suncream on the last day, oops).

Right, off to book my bus south. Chau...

Almost...

Wednesday 16th April

Well, today I returned from Huayna Potosi... the 6088m snowy mountain near La Paz. Alas, mine is not a tale of victory, boo, but it was an adventure nonetheless.

We started yesterday with a 2 hour trek to the 'high camp' at 5300m... thats pretty high. More than enough to make going to the loo a breathless experience! Hmm, perhaps a bad choice of example...

We had a spot of dinner, then went to bed at 6pm... to be woken at midnight for our summit departure at 1am. So, not much sleep and alot of clothes putting on later we were ready for the off. I was paired with a guide all to myself... called Andreas. He was tiny (compared to me) and had gold around his front teeth which seems to be the fashion here. There was another girl in the group who also had her own guide... we were grouped according to speed. And two giant dutch guys who were speedy and grouped together with the 3rd guide.

I had a pair of kickass plastic boots... illuminous yellow with mean crampons. Had there been any planes flying over I could have easily landed them by waving my boots in the correct manner. Unfortunately the boots were way too big and 4 pairs of socks later my poor wee tootsies were still floating around... nevermind, onwards and upwards.

So off I went, up the snow, following the footprints illuminated in the ittle circle of light from my headtorch. And that was my view for the next 5 hours. The dutch guys soon passed me and were gone, the american girl was way behind so it was just me and my guide in the dark. It was one of the loneliest physical challenges I've done... just me against myself really.

All went well for a couple of hours but I then started having stomach issues and dizziness. Battled on with it for another 2 hours, including a bit where you have to climb across a crevass and then climb a near vertical snow wall with ice axe and crampon power. I actually liked that bit, was fun.

Kept pushing on, determined as usual, but just got to the stage where my legs were so tired I could barely lift my boots and I was wretching every few steps (nice huh)... my feet started not quite going where my brain was telling them to. I hadn't been drinking, honest! So Ma and Pa you'll be pleased (and maybe surprised!!!) to hear that I was SENSIBLE and decided to turn round just as soon as I started feeling unsafe. And to be honest I knew I couldn't have finished the climb which I knew was another half hour at least and then a 1 hour climb up a 150m wall.

The walk back was beautiful. The sun was rising and the sky burst into a million colours. I was amazed at just how far I'd actually gone and how steep it all was. That was the good thing about climbing in the dark, you are happily oblivious to what you're climbing on, round and up! In the photo, I got to just below the right hand snowy peak/point (which is the summit). You can just about make out the tracks in the snow which start on the left and go up and to the right, above the rocky bit. Then onward and upward over the second peak's shoulder to the base of the summit peak.

Anyway, got back down to the hut having reached about 5900m where I found 2 other people who had turned back earlier... was disappointed especially as I should have been able to do it but I just felt weak for some reason. But then, its good to be reminded every now and again that we cant always have what we want. And especially where the rather wonderful Mother Nature is concerned. So, I missed my 6000m mark by a snippet, but I'll get it one day... hopefully with boots that fit and stronger legs (and a better stomach)! Glad I tried though. Snow climbing though was fun, if very tiring... looking forward to taking a course somewhen.

Into Bolivia

Sunday 13th April

Hello from big, bustling, busy, La Paz. The city is HUGE and scared me to death when I first arrived... all the cars and noise and buses and people and stalls and narrow streets and... phew! Am hoping to stay here for about a week and a half... if I can sort out some spanish lessons.

So I arrived in La Paz from Copacabana (on lake Titicaca), which was a cute little place. I visited the island, Isla del Sol, for a day and a night which was also nice. Did a short walk across the island and then ate yummy fresh trout, mmm. The photo here I took on Isla del Sol.

Before that I was in Puno (also on Lake Titicaca) where I took a trip to the floating islands on the lake. They were COOL. Indigenous folk live there (they moved onto the lake to avoid being made slaves) and make the islands from blocks of reed root mud stuff which they tie together and anchor in the lake... then they cover the blocks in reeds to keep their feet dry! Everything is made out of reeds... the island, the houses, you can even eat the reeds (not so tasty though).

This little dude was very cute. AND wearing knitted woolly trousers... alot of the babies and toddlers over here have knitted trousers. They are very cool and I wish I could buy a pair my size, that'd be cosy. The kiddies also start early when it comes top selling stuff... this boy was pushing inca necklaces!

Had a lively bus journey from Arequipa to Puno... wasnt feeling very well and got slightly worried when I boarded the bus and saw that the bus driver was wearing aviator sunglasses and black leather driving gloves... sure enough he went a tad too fast round a corner and we came off the road briefly in clouds of dust! Still all okay and livened up the journey.

So yes, back to La Paz... my first night here was a bit random. I met a guy staying at the same hostel (who happened to be called Robert and had the same birthday as Bert!!) and we went out for some food and a beer or two. Met 3 local teachers from the university who decided to take us on a tour of La Paz's best bars. Well, we missed our hostal's curfew (which was at midnight cos its on a dodgy road in town, apparently) and found a note pinned to the door telling us that we had to find somewhere else to stay or return at 5.30am! So we went back out and saw more bars! They took us to some of the coolest bars I've ever been to... really fun little places that dont have signs and only locals know about them. Played a popular dice game in one bar (which was a bit like polka but with dice instead of cards), tried on vintage hats in another bar, tried the most horrible tasting drink in another bar, danced (or tried to dance) to bolivian music in the last bar then thankfully it was 5.30 and time to go to sleep! Such fun though.

Have added a couple of photos from Nazca and Colca Canyon to my last blog... have finally managed to download them after a few hiccups.

Finally, thanks to Grannikins for your concern over my lack of Marmite... and thanks to Bert for bringing some out to rectify this. As you can see I have not lost any of my graphical talent since travelling! Ha.

Lines and canyons

Tuesday 8th April

Well, its been a while, sorry... been a bit carried away with all the recent excitement...

Nasca was pretty cool, although not quite what I had expected. The flight over the Nasca lines was fun. Saw the whale and monkey and flamingo and condor and spider and candelabra and... there are alot of lines!!! Managed to hold onto my breakfast as well which I was pleased about.

The pilot then did zoomy up and down-ness on the way back to the airport for fun... well I found it fun, the other 3 girls didn't! I then managed to get a 'motorbike' backie back to town cos our bus was late... I like to think of it as my Top Gun moment. The pilot, in his white shirt and aviator sunglasses drove me on his harley davidson (ahem, actually it was more of a big scooter). Still, it was fun.

So I spent 4 days in Arequipa... which was nice although I started to go a bit stir crazy as there wasn't so much to do. I get a bit bored in towns/cities. I was waiting for a friend to join me from Cusco. However I did visit the museum which shows exhibits from the Inca child sacrifices which have been found on the nearby mountains... that was interesting. Unfortunately the famous Juanita wasnt there as she was busy being poked by scientists in a laboratory but I did get to see her friend Sirita. It was actually quite fascinating, although felt a tad strange looking at a dead child.

When Neil, one of my trekking buddies from Torres del paine, arrived we headed straight for Cabanaconde in the Colca Canyon. We spurned the tour agencies in favour of hiking independantly... so glad we did cos it was ace. We stayed in a tiny hostel in the village the first night, which was a little bit like a stable as we dozed off the to sound of donkeys next door!!! Man, they make some of the strangest noises I've ever heard.

Next day we started our 6 hour trek. First we zig zagged down the canyon... boy, oh boy it was steep (I guess thats a canyon for you) and the odd slip on the stoney paths certainly got the adrenalin pumping as the next stop would have been the river over a kilometre below! However we made it hurrah... And the locals were all so friendly, it was lovely. We chatted briefly (as it could only ever be with my spanish) to most people we passed.

Crossed the river past the man i nicknamed the troll who tries to make you pay park fees even though its not in the national park but we managed to get past him (well acutually Neil's far superior spanish managed to get past him and I followed) then we ascended a bit before the path flattened out (hurray) and we walked through villages, over more suspension bridges, round river gorges... it was beautiful.

Saw a few condors too, circling on thermals. They are pretty big innit! It was almost impossible to get a sense of scale in the canyon as it was so huge. We werent even at the bottom, yet we were looking at over a kilometre up on the other side.

Anyway, we stayed in a stick hut which we shared with a number of huge black bee things. It was possibly the coldest most uncomfortable night I've spent... ever. So thankfully 5.30am came and we got up. This was easy as we had both gone to bed wearing all our clothes!

Two and a half hours later we got back to the top, phew. It was quite a struggle actually as I was under the weather and Neil had a dodgy knee... a right pair we were. Still we did a good job seeing as the estimated time for the climb is 3.5 to 4 hours. We got lost on the way back and ended up having to climb over walls and nip through the odd garden. Neil could resist jumping onto and into the odd cactus which are pretty vicious, he has the little spike holes in his leg to prove it.

So, then back to Arequipa we headed. I got a bus to Puno the next day (yesterday) which is where I'm writing this.

T

P.S. GOOD LUCK ON SUNDAY JAMES... I will be thinking of you and your shins. I can recommend trying some valium washed down with a beer afterwards... you'll forget about any achey bits!!! Go, go goooooooooo.

A Bert perspective

Well, Tania's been too busy having fun with me for the last two weeks to have time for blog writing but I've offered to cover the main excitements as I've got some time during the flight back to the UK.

Well, we first stayed at a little hostel in Mira Flores, a district of Lima but as soon as I arrived, Tania had to go into a hospital on a drip. I'm being dramatic, she was fine after 24hrs of drinking Peruvian medicinal strawberry juice (& antibiotics). We were looked after by the incredibly helpful hostel owner, Angelo.

Mira Flores is a posh area and reminded me of the States with enormous wide roads and pavements. We flew to Cusco on Sunday 16th March which is a town of 450,000 up at 3600m in the Andes. It's full of Inca ruins interspersed between colonial Spanish architecture which makes it look a bit like Spain. I booked us into a posh hotel so that Tania could have a hot shower and some luxuries she's probably been missing for the last two months - and to try and impress her which, I think, worked. One of the first things we saw was a woman coming out of the lift in the hotel gasping and crying out very loudly and pressing an oxygen cylinder to her face. The Incas were only around for 96 years - in the 15th Century but built lots of stuff out of big rocks - including Machu Picchu which was the destination of our four day Inca Trail trek, starting on 19th.

We spent a couple of days in bars, restaurants and wooly hat / llama jumper / carved chess set / fake alpaca knitwear markets acclimatising to the thin air. An alpaca is like a llama with hairier legs. Both are big in Peru.

The first two days of the Inca Trail took us up through incredible Andean mountain scenery. We were with four guides. About 9 obligatory and very speedy porters carrying our tents and three tonnes of food. We carried everything else. Day 2 included a vertical climb of 1200m up to Warmiwanuska. The tiredness this caused, combined with the effects of altitude and that of chewing coca leaves most of the way up had put Tania in a sufficiently vulnerable position, I felt, so I asked her to marry me. It worked, she said yes. The rest of the group wondered why we were crying together round the corner when we were supposed to be posing for a group photograph. Anyway, that was all very exciting. I gave her a temporary ring made of plywood until she gets back to London.

Then we had another couple of days hiking through jungle. After a 4am start on Friday 21st we got to the Sun Gate by about 6 for sunrise, although even my sundance didn't bring sun until after we'd left the sun gate. We did spend the day in Machu Picchu though and it's spectacular - South America's No. 1 tourist attraction.

Tania and I opted to stay an additional night in a village with a railwaytrack through its high street, called Agua Calientes. The other trekkers: Dennis and Catalina, Shirly and four blonde Swedish ninjas went back to Cusco. We needed a shower.

We spent another four or so days in cold Cusco in slightly less posh hotels buying stuff, visiting the cathedral, whitewater rafting and boozing. Also eating guinea pigs. Brilliant. We visited a place called "sexy woman" which the incas built somehow. It's like Stonehenge but bigger and better. Some of the rocks they transported and carved into perfect shape weigh up to 180tonnes.

Then back to Lima on Thursday 27th to do not very much. We visited a friend of a friend in a shantytown in Lima who has a small manufacturing business and it was very interesting to see a slightly different side of Lima life to tourist restaurants and artisan markets.

My flight home was delayed by 18 hours so we got an extra day together in the end and we got to try cerviche (Peruvian raw fish with chilli and lemon) and heart kebabs. My stomach is fine as I write this. Fingers crossed. An absolutely amazing two weeks for me - only a small slot of Tania's mammoth adventure.

Lord of the rings...

Sunday 30th March

Hola everyone, its been a while since last entry... but thats because have been having a bloomin brilliant time with Mr Bert. Bert flew home yesterday (boo) so its back to solo travelling for me.

Some of you will already know... but for those of you that don't, Bert and I are now engaged! Blimey! Was all rather lovely and a complete surprise... Bert popped the question on the second day of our Inca trail (20th March)... just after we'd arrived at the highest point of the trail (4215m) called Warmiwanuska. A complete surprise... I was in the middle of composing a potentially award winning photograph of some grass!!!

The rest of the trail was great and Machu Picchu was beautiful... we spent a night in Aguas Calientes (a pretty town near Machu Picchu) and then a few more days in Cusco. We went rafting and took some tours of the surrounding Inca sites... all good fun and really interesting. Luckily I dont have the photos of Bert and I in our wetsuits to upload for you all... phew! Its not the good look.

I'm now in Nazca (south of Lima in Peru)... am going to take a flight over the Nazca lines in the morning before heading on to Arequipa in the evening.

Look who I found...

Tuesday 18th March

Bert's here! Hurray. Met up in Lima fine although I managed to time getting a bout of food poisoning perfectly with Bert's arrival and spent our first day being ill... how romantic. However... after seeing a doctor and taking it easy I am back to normal and we are now in Cusco.

Hello. Bert here. Yippee! I´ve arrived and managed to meet up with Tania (thanks to the name board she was holding up for me at Lima airport). Having a few days "acclimatising" to the altitude of 3360m (which means lying about eating, drinking beer and not doing very much - how inconvenient) before starting our four day trek to 4,200m and to Machu Picchu tomorrow morning at 6am. Cusco is big and Spanish looking and there´s a Catholic festival going on so also rammed. Have discovered coco leaf toffees, corn cakes, alpaca steak but yet to try flattened guinea pig or llama burger. Saving those treats for after our trek. OOoh - I can promote my map here - www.sproutdesign.co.uk/transfer/taniamap.jpg

Tania again... so yes, we start our trek tomorrow and really looking forward to it although its going to be strange camping after spending 3 nights in a loverly hotel (which Bert booked as a surprise, ah)!

My journey from Iquique in Chile to Lima was a bit of a mission... I left at 7am on 13th and arrived at 1pm on 14th after a bus ride a collectivo ride across the border and finishing with a 19 hour bus ride, nice. However they had bingo on the bus which was good fun!!!

Well, must go and explore Cusco some more. Will let you know how our trek went when we get back in 5 days.

Adios,

T and Bert

A day of firsts...

Sunday 9th March

Hola from San Pedro de Atatcama. I am in the desert, the driest in the world apparently. It is hot.

Yesterday went to see the Valle Muerte (Valley of Death, nice) and Valle de la Luna (Valley of the Moon). Spectacular scenery and really different to anything I've seen before.

The helpful leaflet we were given said that the large sand dune in the Valle de la Luna was "probably due to the moving of sand". Thank goodness they cleared that one up for me! Ha.

Today as the title suggests was a day of firsts. Went to the El Tatio Geyser field up at 4320m, the highest in the world and third largest in the world and the largest in the southern hemisphere (for those of you who like facts). So, I saw my first geyser and my first llama, and I ate my first bit of llama (mmm, muy rico) and my camera broke for the first time (boo) but it was luckily the first time I've successfully fixed a camera (phew).

Tonight I get the bus further north to Iquique.

Thoughts on travelling

Tuesday 4th March

Wow, nothing on the blog for ages and then 3 posts in one day, its like London buses. I've been away now for a month and a half and thought I'd note some observations.

Backpackers' currency... good quality, durable plastic bags, ziploc bags and good teabags are all valuable curency for trade! Its funny what things become valuable when you dont have 'normal' stuff around you. I met a girl who had marmite and instantly started drooling... mmm.

I go half way round the world for adventure and Britain goes and has an earthquake without me, pah! Mind you, I don't fancy having one here though... its funny seeing 'fire and earthquake' safety signs.

Volcano climbing

Tuesday 4th March

Pucon is just under halfway to Santiago, near the east of Chile. Its a volcanic area and the town sits on a lake at the foot of Volcan Villaricca... which I wanted to climb! Its 2780m which is a touch higher then Mount Blanc (i think).

It was too cloudy to climb in on Friday, my first day in Pucon, so I postponed til Sunday when the weather forecast promised sun. Its not safe to climb in cloud because you cant see rocks falling (of which there were scarily alot of) which have been dislodged by snow melting and climbers higher on the mountain.

So Saturday I went rafting in a 2 man raft called a ducky. It was fun although the river was low which meant that alot of rocks were near the surface and we kept getting stuck on them. It was fun except in one instance when we got pushed off course by the force of the river onto a slope of rocks. Our raft got well an truly wedged between two rocks and consequently started to sink beneath the water. The only way out was to try and free the raft and then try not to fall out as it slid over 20 metres or so of rocks (backwards) into the rough water below! Well, once I realised it wasn't as dangerous as it felt and that we didnt have to get out of the raft it was quite exhilarating but was relieved when we regrouped further down river.

Sunday was volcano climbing day. Set off at 7am with a group of 6 climbers and 2 guides all kitted out with crampons, ice axes, helmets, gaitors, waterproofs and rather oddly a 'nappy' as it was called!!! We drove to the start point and then took a ski lift up part of the way (it was compulsory). Then it was a steady paced walk on rock to the start of the snow. Trudged up the snow, dodging falling rocks. It makes you feel quite small when you are on a steep ice slope watching a rock boucing and thundering towards you in a completely unpredictable way. Luckily none came too close, although one climber in another group got knocked off balance by a stone the size of a tennis ball... doesn't take much!

Got to the crater after about 4 hours of climbing and it was amazing. A bit smelly though! Reminded me of the smell in chemistry labs at school. The volcano was steaming nicely although it wasnt possible to see the actual hole or bubbling lava because the crater was too deep. View was fantastic and could see all the surrounding volcanoes. The one next door had erupted only a couple of weeks earlier! Although Villaricca last erupted in 1984.

The most fun bit was going down the volcano... thats where the nappy came into play. Basically we togged up in all our waterproof gear, strapped this nappy thing round our bottoms and then slid down the snow. There were 3 snow slide runs, the first was flat but fast, wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. The second and third were in a sort of groove in the snow like a luge run. I liked going super fast... although had to keep braking with my ice axe (boo).

There were some really cool rocks from where the lava had flowed and cooled. And as we know, "its all in the rocks" eh Sian!

The towns in the volcanic region all have sirens, like the old airraid sirens which they test every day at noon. Unfortunately I didnt know this the first time it happened and it completely scared the wotsits out of me!

So got back to Pucon, showered and jumped on a bus to Santiago which is where I am now.

Chillin' in Chiloe in Chile

Tuesday 4th March

Its been a while since I updated you all so here's what I've been up to...

Chiloe was really lovely, I enjoyed staying here and was nice to have a relaxing few days without and major activity! I stayed for 3 nights in Ancud in the north of the island.

Took an excursion to see some penguins... the only place where you can see 2 different species in the same place (apparently)... the Humbolt and the Magallan penguins. I was lucky enough to not only catch a glimpse of but to get really close to a very rare type of penguin which is easy to tell apart from the others because it is almost 6 foot tall (see photo)!

Took a bus to Castro, the island's capital, for a day... saw some palifitos (which are houses built on stilts by the river). Saw a couple for sale which was tempting!

On Thursday I got a bus back to mainland Chile and on to Pucon.

Back on dry land...

Monday 25th February

Hello folks, am back on dry land after my 4 day ferry trip from Puerto Natales to Puerto Montt. Landed this morning and got straight on a bus to the island of Chiloe where I am now enjoying a beer whilst overlooking the evening sun over the ocean, nice. Was chatting to a spanish guy here at the hostel who didnt realise I was english for at least 20 minutes... so I was pleased my spanish lasted that long! However, it seems 20 minutes of me talkingh spanish very slowly and badly is my limit, going to work on that one!

The Navimag ferry was fun, made a change and the scenery was beautiful. Although I was pleased to fet back on dry land and have more options than reading, sleeping, writing or playing cards! It got a little boring for me on the last of the 4 days, although we saw quite a few whales which was exciting. We mainly saw big puffs of water and shiny backs but I saw a full on tail come out of the water which was brill.

A few photos as ever to give you a taste of what it was like. The Ship photo is a sister ship to the one I was on (ours was a bit bigger with 220 passengers).

Am now in Ancud in Chiloe (Chile's second largest island). Which looks like this:

Love it, its really chilled and tonight there is a fiesta so I'm going to dig out my dancing flip flops and tootle into town for that. Tomorrow might go and see more penguins, who knows...

El fin del mundo (almost)

Thursday 21st February
Hello. Well I am back in Puerto Natales (Chile) having visited (and liked alot) the End of the World. Spent the last few days in Ushuaia (Argentina) Tierra del Fuego, right at the bottom of South America... just 1000km north of Antartica. I'd have quite liked a wee trip there actually but its unbelievably expensive (at least 2 thousand pounds), pah! But I had plenty to do; Walked to Galciar Martial, visited a couple of cool museums, took a boat trip on the Beagle channel, spent a day hiking in the Tierra del Fuego national park, ate yummy seafood, generally looked round the area loving the fact that almost everything was named after me (if you overlook the 'y' at the end of Beagley). I especially like Beagle beer, mmm.

I particularly liked learning about the Yamana indians... who lived along the Beagle channel 10000 years ago. They seem like a nice bunch of people, sharing everything and living equally amongst themselves and with nature etc. Sadly theres only 1 pure Yamana left now and she is in her 80's. Amazingly they lived completely naked except for a small seal skin cape to cover their shoulders against the wind. And they covered themselves in seal fat to keep warm and make themselves more waterproof. Considering how chilly it is down here I found that amazing.

I love the towns down here, all rickety, colourful, corrugated iron buildings that look tiny yet somehow open up into the most amazing and cosy homes or hostels or whatever. Quite fancy one myself actually.

Was supposed to board the Navimag ferry tonight but just got an email telling me its rescheduled for tomorrow (at least I think thats what it says after my translation skills). The ferry will (hopefully) take me up past glaciars in the fjords to Puerto Montt in Chile. My plan from there is to visit the island of Chiloe then head north to Pucon and Santiago and then on to Lima in Peru to meet Bert! Hurray.

Happy camper...

Friday 15th February

Hello everyone, today I am in Punta Arenas (Chile)... but just for one day as tomorrow I head down to Ushuaia.

Yesterday I finished a 6 day trek in the Torres del Paine National Park with Jo and Neil and the worst tent in the world. The park was great, the weather not quite so great but that didnt really matter (once we'd figured out how to stop the tent leaking). Would take forever to describe the whole thing but fear not for I have approximately 100 squillion photos that I can show you all when I get home, ha!

Unfortunately my blisters got so bad that I had to do the last 4 days in flip flops 2 sizes too small... but most of you know me and know that I kinda secretly enjoyed even that. I was thinking about uploading a photo of my horrible blistered yucky heels but thought you'd probably rather look at lovely scenery instead.


I will be spending a few days in and around Ushuaia before heading back north to Puerto Natales (where I took this photo) where I catch the Navimag ferry to Puerto Montt in Chile. Thats a 4 day trip so will give me a chance to relax a bit hopefully...