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Gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooal! Goooooooooooal! Goooal! Goal! Goal! So, here we are in the super continent that is South America - land of football, passion, partying, ancient civilisations, killer steak and surreal landscapes. Today we write from a place half the world away - Ushuaia, Argentina - a place touted as the end of the world and most southerly city before the ice of antarctica. A beautiful place surrounded by snow capped mountains, looking out to the oceans where the likes of Scott, Shackleton and Darwin all sailed to adventures somewhat bigger than ours! But in our own way we ve had our own little adventures in this amazing continent so diverse that once again I find it hard to capture what has been an incredible journey these past few months.
Every border crossing in south america seems to open up a new world and every bus journey transport us to a new climate. Yesterday it was the driest desert on earth, today its icebergs and glaciers and tomorrow it will be the beaches of Rio. We ve consumed fine wines and mouth watering steaks in Argentina, knocked back Pisco sour and guinea pig in Peru, reminisced over fish and chips in Bolivia in the highest capital city in the world, and devoured hot chocolates in Chilean Patagonia. Luckily we did a bit of trekking inbetween otherwise I d be returning home looking like Maradonna!
We started the south american leg of our journey in Santiago, Chile. The mere time of landing should have warned us of an Alice in Wonderland continent as we arrived in Chile before we left New Zealand - after an 11 hour flight! Work that one out! It took me most of the flight but then science and maths was never my strong point! Santiago, it has to be said, is not really the land of football, passion, partying, ancient civilisations, killer steaks and surreal landscapes. More efficient trains, conservative businessmen, modern shopping malls, polluted motorways and chicken and chips! We kinda liked it though - maybe it reminded of us London! - but certainly the people were really friendly despite speaking the fastest spanish we ever did hear. Little did we know the chileans are mocked throughout south America for they way they speak - at the time we just thought our spanish lessons had left us high and dry. We even struggled with uno, dos tres!
From Santiago we took several long bus journeys north through dusty town after dusty town and the driest desert on earth. We stopped at the odd beach town here and there to lap up the sun, swim in rough oceans and eat chicken and chips, but as a whole northern chile was a bit of a sandy blur - when we saw the beauty of the south later in the trip it was hard to believe it was the same country. Anyway, the border crossing to Peru was perhaps the most eventful moment when we hired the biggest, oldest American car I have ever seen with a young chilean family to reach the spiritual home of the Incas! Driving the car was a football lovin, whealin dealin, smiley peruvian fella who god bless him didn t even have the keys to start the car and who had to hot wire the thing to get it going. We broke down crossing the border a total of three times, and there were moments when I thought we may just have to walk across no mans land. But f*** it was funny and some hours later than expected! we arrived in Peru having made a few new friends and pushed our spanish to new heights!
Peru is undoubtedly an amazing country full of colour and big hearted people. Crazily poor in places and desolate and dry in others. But then there is the happy go lucky way of life and lush green mountains of the interior where the people seem happy to offer a kaleidoscope view to a civilisation long lost. Our favourite parts of Peru were trekking in some of the most beautiful places on earth - the deepest canyon in the world and Macchu Picchu amongst others - on ancient trails and through countryside that at times felt like it could transport you back in time. Meeting a ninety year old granny and her goat was one of my favourite encounters of the trip so far - she was literally half my size, without doubt seen many difficult days but wiley and tough as they come. A real gem. Its the way of life and people that capture you in Peru and perhaps Bolivia too. This combined with some of the most outlandish and breathtaking (literally!) landscape on earth these two countries really are a travellers mecca. Yes, you have to contend with the fact that there is a definite backpackers trail here that brings its own challenges, but never enough to ruin a really special part of the world.
The Inca trail is perhaps the most famous of all travellers trails and certainly well worth the crowds. We went in rainy season which meant amongst other things crossing high passes in driving rain, camping down in leaking tents and waking up at dawn to cloud filled valleys. But it was absolutely beautiful and with each new site on the trail the exictement of reaching the once lost city of Macchu Pichu was incredible. With the help of those infamous coca leaves and amazing meals along the way we were even able to shake the altitude and stomach sickness we had all suffered in Cusco. A truly memorable journey. Other highlights in Peru were the amazing people of the reed islands, the pelicans and dolphins of Isla Ballestas, the Nazca lines in probably the smallest plane in the world! and the oasis of Huacachina where a day sandboarding and racing around the dunes in a sand buggy was one of the most funfilled yet. (See photos!)
From Peru we crossed Lake Titicaca to Bolivia and across the andes to La Paz - highest capital city in the world. The journey was at times breathtaking and breathless! but so worth it to reach this captivating city. We spent our nights there in a hostel less than half built and owned by a group of nutty Irish guys who had one hope - opening on St Patrick s Day with the Guiness flowing! They made it but the decorating probably still had about a month to go! Ah well at least they had their priorities right! In Bolivia though there is little doubt about the highlight - the incredible salt flats. A truly surreal landscape of lagoons, deserts, volcanoes and mile upon mile of sparkling white plains that dazzle your eyes into submission. A place hostile to all but the strangest creatures and crazy Cacti - need to check out the photos to believe - and a place that inspired Salvador Dali no less.
We finished Bolivia in Tupiza, land of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance kid, with a horse ride and a backdrop that would grace any hollywood western. No raindrops on our head sadly but then we d seen lots of those in Peru! From Tupiza it was across the border to Argentina, a world away from Bolivia and frankly a world closer to Europe than anywhere in South America. Capuccinos, fine wines, smart plazas, glass shopping malls and sparkling night clubs await. The lifestyle as almost everyone says is amazing and the food to die for - the steaks really are the biggest you ll ever see and the ice cream better than any american marketeers dream. If you have money here the living really is easy, but it is of course a place not without its problems. Once again though the people seem almsot disarmingly friendly and even that old english v argentinian rivalry seems surface level at best - the Chileans come in for more stick than us!
There may be a deep rivalry between Chile and Argentina but they surely share one of the most beautiful places on earth - Patagonia. In the last couple of weeks we have had perhaps our best time in South America to date. A four day boat trip from Puerto Montt to Puerto Natales in Chile took us through jaw dropping fjords, wild open seas and what they call the gulf of pain! Sea sickness sufferers beware! but survive and you are treated to icebergs, heavenly rainbows, whales, dolphins, and on the last night.....patagonian bingo! The journey is one of the greats and undoubtedly up there with our trans-mongolian train ride earlier in the trip. From Puerto Natales we spent four days in the most beautiful national park certainly I have ever been to. On the last day we were treated to knee deep snow that turned the whole place into a magical winter wonderland. The only problem being we were camping! A hasty retreat to a warm cabin and log fire though was enough to thaw any misery and toes! Genuinely one of those special places on earth with wildlife to match.
And that about brings us up to date. Another border crossing from the Chilean part of Patagonia to the Argentinian side has brought us to the most southerly city of this continent. And here we sit half the world away, half way through our South America trip and over half way through our trip as a whole. We re approximately 16,000 km from where we started, 5000 km from where we crossed into Argentina and once we leave here we are on the long road home. From now its all the way north passing through Buneos Aires, Iguazu falls and finally Rio where our plane to little old London town awaits. And what are we going to do when we get home and where are we going to live and what have we really learnt from this whole trip....well as me old fave bob dylan would say the answer my friend is blowin in the wind.....well maybe over a pint of guiness if you care to join us in a pub near you on our return...see you soon..........!
G & A xxxx
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