http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/chilled2thecore/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from chilled2thecore en-us Thu, 04 Dec 2008 02:14:33 UTC Thu, 04 Dec 2008 02:14:33 UTC Well Hello its been a while over 6 months in fact since we typed our last blog in a late night internet caf in Rio both full of anticipation dread and excitement about our return to reality and what we hoped would be our next great adventure.And an adventure it certainly has been hellipso tonight after returning from a failed attempt to meet out travelling hero Michael Palin due to http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-London/Vauxhall/blog-267378.html So here we are 360 days 62 blogs and 14 countries later. This time tomorrow we will be home. This probably wont be our last ever blog as what started as a way of keeping friends and family up to date with our travels has become an obsession and our own personal record of the experiences good bad and ugly people friends enemies and the slightly unstable and unforgettable moments througho http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Brazil/Rio-de-Janeiro/Rio-de-Janeiro/Ipanema/blog-196038.html With the clock ticking on our adventure we decided to head south for some relaxation before returning to Rio for a last few days. Our first stop was Paraty and we managed by sheer coincidence to arrive at Rios bus terminal minutes before a bus left and bagged the last two seats. 4 hours later we arrived realised we had the address of the BB we had booked into but no map and began to wander off http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Brazil/Rio-de-Janeiro/Ilha-Grande/blog-195752.html Touching down in Rio made me realise three things 1. We are so over long bus journeys our trip to Rio being our last and longest at 23 mind numbing hours 2. We only had 2 weeks until we headed home......and 3. I am officially an old fartThe first two speak for themselves.... but let me explain the third. When trying to book a hostel in Rio we had discovered that they were both pricey and few in http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Brazil/Rio-de-Janeiro/Rio-de-Janeiro/Copacabana/blog-193450.html We left Curitiba bound for Campo Grande one of several Brazilian starting points for a trip to the Pantanal. These are the countrys wetlandswhere low mountains and an abundance of converging rivers make for excellent conditions and a strange sounding biological soup in the water providing for a host of animals and birds. The wet season leaves the area flooded we were visiting in the dry seas http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Brazil/Pantanal/blog-193396.html Since we have been away we have both adopted the idea that whilst we travel through other countrys and invade other people's lives as long as we are polite aware and willing to adapt then good luck and good fortune will follow us around a sort of traveller's karma if you like. This theory may just be a load of hippy nonsense and I may be being a little over reflective as our trip draws to an http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Brazil/Paran-/Curitiba/blog-189322.html Our whole trip evolved from an attempt to plan a holiday which would take in one sight that each of us were keen to see for Matt Machu Picchu and for me Iguasu Falls and after almost 11 months we made our way to the small town of Puerto Iguasu nearby the famous waterfalls. Arriving to a beautiful clear day with temperatures warmer than we had experienced for a while we wasted little time in a qui http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Argentina/Misiones/Iguazu-National-Park/blog-189265.html Our first Argentina stop took some getting to starting in Potosi Bolivia we took a 5 hour bus back to Uyuni where we picked up the 9.5 hour overnight train to the border at Villazon. After a much easier than expected border crossing we realised US dollars were of no use to Argentinian taxi drivers and had to walk to the bus terminal where we picked up a 5 hour bus to Jujuy and then a 1.5 hour c http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Argentina/Salta/blog-188433.html We left Bariloche and its arctic conditions behind us and headed 850 miles north to Buenos Aires. We had made the most of some unbelievably cold weather but from here on in we would continue to head back up towards the equator and hopefully warmer weather at every stop until our journeys end in 6 weeks on the beaches of Rio. Leaving Patagonia also meant our last glimpses of the Andes and surroun http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Argentina/Buenos-Aires/blog-185103.html leaving England last September we had never heard of Bariloche let alone been able to point it out on a map but constant glowing reports from people we had met meant that we ended up on a 17 hour bus journey there from Mendoza. Located in Argentinas Patagonian lake district the town thrives in the summer months for trekking cycling and other outdoor activities and comes to life again in the win http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Argentina/Rio-Negro/San-Carlos-de-Bariloche/blog-181165.html Travel update up until arrival at our third stop in Argentina and our 94th destination of the trip Mendoza we had been on the road for 307 days with a scheduled 53 days remaining. I have become a more patient and slightly thinner version of my previous self complete with shaved head and one of those silly triangular tufts of hair below my bottom lip which is now long enough to trap scraps of http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Argentina/Mendoza/blog-179277.html Bolivia is a fascinating country the way of life we have seen would be best described as being from another time but its scenery has been the countrys best feature and that would be best described as being from another planet. This continued on our bus journey from Uyuni which was bound for yet another of Bolivias Worlds highest this time town in the form of Potosi. The journey http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Bolivia/Chuquisaca-Department/Sucre/blog-175170.html Bolivia makes many claims to have the Worlds highest.... for example internet cafe hostel fat woman in a bowler hat but its Salar de Uyuni or salt flats can lay claim to being not only the highest but also the largest in the World. Covering some 4000 square miles the flats were once part of a prehistoric lake which has dried to leave an estimated 10 billion tonnes of salt making me wonde http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Bolivia/Potosi-Department/Salar-de-Uyuni/blog-171955.html We have seen some diversity on this trip but the place we found ourselves in after our 64km descent from La Paz was like a different world not a nearby town. We had dropped from half the height of Everest where the landscape was jagged and bleak with warm days and wintery nights to a mere 1000 feet where the subtropical climate allowed orange groves banana coca and coffee plantations to http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Bolivia/La-Paz-Department/Coroico/blog-169544.html Heading from Copacabana to La Paz involved a 4 hour bus journey including one point where we all had to get off and take a boat across a small stretch of Lake Titicaca whilst the bus went in a different boat which looked dubiously like it may not make it. The scenery along the way was dramatic though we are beginning to get spoilt by towering snowcapped mountains bright blue skies and shimmering http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Bolivia/La-Paz-Department/La-Paz/blog-168779.html Country number 10 was one we were both looking forward to hoping it would have the same charm as Peru without all the bloody Inca Trailers and touristy addons so after an early start we boarded a bus whose maiden journey had probably been in about 1978 and headed off to Bolivia. The border crossing was typically unorganised and bizarre Peruvian officials wearing 'Anti Droga' uniforms sto http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Bolivia/La-Paz-Department/Isla-del-Sol/blog-166537.html The sheer number of ruins in and around Cusco is immense and we had booked ourselves on a Sacred Valley tour the day after returning from Machu Picchu taking in Pisac Urubamba and Ollantaytambo.The day started well with gorgeous weather and our first stop Pisac gave us a chance to visit the Sunday market selling the usual array of handicrafts before heading up the nearby moutain housing the ru http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Peru/Puno/Lake-Titicaca-/blog-164950.html Firstly I realise that this is a break in the tradition of alternating who writes each blog but please forgive me as I have something to shout from the rooftops At approximately 1.45pm on the 22nd of May Carla agreed to marry me.The full story goes for those interested that I woke up on our final day in Cusco and had the urge to do something about a proposal maybe it was the beautiful s http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Peru/Cusco/Machu-Picchu/blog-162377.html You can always sense you're nearing a world famous must see sight by the appearance of Japanese and Korean woman in massive sun visors. These woman never stand still and talk continuously whilst their husbands who never talk take photos of them awkwardly posing in front of Angor WatUluruSydney Opera House or in this instance Lima airports unforgettable and majestic gate number 16.Our flight http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Peru/Cusco/Cusco/blog-160389.html I have to admit that I found the start of the South American adventure pretty tough. Staff at each hostel we stayed at other travellers strangers on buses and guide books all told a mixture of sometimes conflicting warnings be careful with your bags I know someone who was mugged and stabbed always carry your passport with you or you can get fined leave your valuables at the hostel http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Peru/Lima/blog-158028.html