Nicaragua

We arrived in San Carlos, after an hour on a little boat up the Rio Frio from Los Chiles in Costa Rica.  San Carlos is the largest town on the South side of Lake Nicaragua, but it is by no means large!  It is not an interesting or particularly nice place, rather it is the gateway to other places on either the lake itself or down the Rio San Juan.  As poor Le Roux was not very well (violent tummy bug), we stayed one night in San Carlos, before catching a little boat down the Rio San Juan to El Castillo.  Nicaragua seems to suffer from random power cuts and the mains water supply is only turned on for a couple of hours in the morning.  This meant we’ve had to get used to using buckets to flush the toilet and to shower with, and hot water is a thing of the past!  It was a concern that there were large dustbins of water sitting around everywhere, as we’ve been told that that is the cause of dengue fever.  Luckily we don’t seem to have been struck down yet, and I’m liberally using insect repellent!  While Le Roux was resting, I headed out to explore town and to find an ATM.  I managed to find the ATM, but as there was a power cut it wasn’t working, so I decided that it was time for a long lunch while I waited for the power to come back on.  I had my first taste of the amazing river prawns on a brochette – delicious, although it was obviously accompanied by the mandatory cabbage salad and plantain crisps!

Buying a ticket for the El Castillo boat proved a little tricky as the guy manning the ticket office said “momentito” to us and then disappeared for 1.5 hrs – a little frustrating!  We did eventually get the required tickets and headed off on the 3.5hr cruise downstream.  Boarding the little boat was a challenge as there seemed to be more food and drink vendors than passengers on the actual boat - it would have been far more sensible if they’d sold their wares from the side so we could get on a find a seat!   The passengers were mainly locals and we docked in the most random places to drop them off – it looked as if we were dropping them in the middle of the jungle, as there was barely a pathway, let alone any buildings.

El Castillo is a lovely village on the river with a population of only 3,000.  There are no cars or motorbikes, only bicycles and horses.  This made for a very relaxing stay as the pace of life was so much slower.  We stayed in a lovely rustic wooden guesthouse built on stilts over the river.  I even spotted a caiman lurking underneath.  We did unfortunately have 2 days of very heavy rain which obscured the view and made a terrible racket on the corrugated iron roof!  However, we happily sat on the porch at our guesthouse chatting with a few other gringos and reading.  When the sun came out, we visited the fort which was of particular historical significance and had great views over the village and river.  

We wandered around town soaking up the atmosphere, dodging random animals that were left loose to roam for food.  We also watched a bit of the Sunday afternoon baseball game between El Castillo and the surrounding villages.  Le Roux ventured out in a canoe with one of the locals for yet another fishing trip, but that prized tarpon was still proving elusive and he returned very wet from yet another rainstorm having only caught 6 little fish.  

One evening for dinner we had the enormous river prawns the area is famous for – they were more like lobsters or crayfish than prawns and were delicious.  The only thing that marred our visit was the open air bar at the end of town that had about 20 massive speakers and the DJ loved playing music so loud that my ears and chest were vibrating in our room a 5-10 minute walk away!  Both of us really liked El Castillo – it had such character and charm, with the little wooden houses on stilts and the tiny shops in peoples’ front rooms, and everyone was so friendly saying hello as you passed in the street.

We left El Castillo on the 7am boat back to San Carlos as we were then catching the 2pm ferry to Ometepe Island in the middle of Lake Nicaragua.  The ferry ride was a long one at nearly 11hrs, giving you some idea of the size of the lake.  We stopped at a couple of small islands on the way and the usual gathering of food vendors was there to meet us.  The ferry was also used as a cargo boat moving fresh produce grown on the islands to the mainland for distribution.

We arrived at Altagracia on Ometepe Island at 12.30am and luckily there was a minibus waiting that we shared into town with 3 other gringos.  Unfortunately the hotel we’d all picked out of the book was locked up tight and despite many knocks on the door and hoots from the taxi, no-one came to the door.  Luckily the taxi driver suggested another hotel down the road and it just about had rooms for us all –we were close to having to set up our tent in the courtyard!

Le Roux had set his heart on hiring a motorbike so that we could explore the island and over breakfast the next morning he managed to find a friend of the owner who was willing to lend us his for 48hrs for $30 per day.  That afternoon we rode around the northern volcano to visit the largest town on the island, Moyogalpa.  There wasn’t much to see, but we enjoyed the ride over and found a great cafe that had been opened by an English guy and his Canadian girlfriend.  I had the best meal I’d had in a long time – a roasted vegetable and grilled cheese salad with real greenery, including rocket and spinach, and Le Roux tucked into a very nice steak and onion sandwich on proper home-baked granary bread – delicious! We’d been warned that the roads were pretty bad on the southern part of the island, but this hadn’t really prepared us for how terrible they actually were.  The word “road” shouldn’t be used in connection with these rocky, holey, gravelly undulating nightmares!  I spent the day clinging on to Le Roux and the bike, grimacing and tensing as we scraped and bumped our way along.  The road itself wasn’t the only danger, we had to contend with random animals leaping out into the road in front us with no warning – one pig came pretty close to being squashed! 

We headed to San Ramon to climb part way up the Maderas volcano as we’d been told that the waterfall was definitely worth a visit.  We sweated our way up the path through the forest, clambering over boulders and traversing dry river beds but on reaching the waterfall, we were somewhat disappointed - there wasn’t much water falling!  The best part of it all was the pool at the bottom which we gratefully sank into to cool off.  In the forest we did see a blue and yellow snake and lots of blue magpies as well as a fleeting glimpse of a couple of green parrots.  

Next stop was some petroglyffs for which Ometepe is known – they are stones with various pictures carved into them.  We visited the ones in El Porvinor and I have to say we were pretty underwhelmed as most of the pictures were barely visible.  Given the hideous journey we’d endured to get to both the waterfall and the petroglyffs, we’d hoped for more, especially as they were mentioned as highlights in the book – oh well.  

Back in Altagracia, we were pretty limited for dinner options, so we ended up eating at the same place for 3 nights.  Next door to our hotel was a lady who had a BBQ in the street and a few picnic tables on the pavement.  She cooked up different meats each night and served them with gallo pinto (rice and black beans), fried plantain crisps and cabbage salad – nothing to write home about, but it was perfectly edible and pretty cheap.  Various people we’d met along the way had commented on how much they’d loved Ometepe Island, but I have to say, although it was nice, I didn’t fall in love with the place, and we were ready to leave at the end of our 3^rd day.  The beaches were very average and in fact you’d find it hard to put your beach towel down as they were so small and narrow!

The ferry to Granada was due in at anytime between 11pm and 1am, and as taxis are scarce on the island we were dropped down at the port at 9pm.  Luckily we managed to bag a plastic chair by the cafe hut, otherwise we would have been sitting in the dust for 3.5hrs before the ferry arrived!  The journey was relatively short, albeit choppy (the sea sickness patches came in useful!) and we arrived in Granada at 4.30am, having had very little sleep.  We stumped up for a room at our chosen hostel as it was so early and we were pretty tired – we managed to get a few hours sleep before the morning noise of the hostel woke us.

Granada is an ok colonial town at the northern end of Lake Nicaragua.  It is pretty dirty, smelly and noisy – what is it with people needing to have massive speakers blaring out of their shops or in the back of pickups driving around town with the volume up so loud the bass makes your chest vibrate?!  Granada looked nicest from above when we climbed the church bell tower – the view across the terracotta tiled roofs and coloured buildings to the lake was lovely.  Having read a spa leaflet over a delicious breakfast of blueberry pancakes in a little cafe we found, I decided to treat myself to a massage as I’d not had one since we came away.  It was a painful experience as she worked on all my tense muscles – carrying around 30kg of stuff is not good for your shoulders!!  Afterwards though my body felt loose and relaxed so it was worth the money.  

We left Granada a day early to head to Lago de Apoyo, 30 minutes north west of the city.  The lake was a beautiful tranquil spot, with lots of wildlife in the forest.  We spent a couple of days there swimming in the lake and diving off the platform moored a little way out, kayaking and bird spotting.  The kayaking was slightly tricky with a strong wind blowing across the lake so I had to try and stay perpendicular to the waves, however, I didn’t quite manage this and ended up rolling my kayak and going for a swim!  Le Roux was laughing at me and it took a couple of attempts to get back into the kayak, but I succeeded in the end.  

Unfortunately it was time to move so we dragged ourselves away from the lake and on to Managua, the capital of Nicaragua, as we were getting a 5am bus over the border into Honduras, our 9^th country on the trip.  Luckily I found a hostel two doors down from the bus station as we had to check in for the bus at 4am.  We then spent the next 14.5hrs driving across Nicaragua and into Honduras. 

We’ve enjoyed our time in Nicaragua, with El Castillo and Lago de Apoyo being the highlights.  The people have been friendly and made us feel very welcome.

Costa Rica

Having changed our plans regarding Angel Falls, we arrived in San Jose, the capital of Costa Rica 5 days early.  However, we didn’t benefit from these extra days as I fell ill with a chest infection within a couple of days of arriving and was laid up in bed for 4 days on antibiotics, feeling pretty miserable – not part of the plan!  At least the Costa Rican medical system was good – I was in and out of A&E in less than 3 hours having had an hour on IV antibiotics – if only the UK were that efficient!

The first thing we did in Costa Rica was a coffee tour.  We visited the Britt plant and had a very interesting and entertaining “show” by the guides.  We learnt about the history of coffee as well as the complex process of turning a coffee berry into the roasted coffee bean we know and love.  At the end of our coffee lovers tour we also learnt how to make the perfect cup of coffee along with some more exciting coffee drinks and cocktails.  

The plant is supplied by 1,000 small coffee farmers who are paid a fair price for their harvest.  Unfortunately for the Costa Ricans though all of the decent coffee is exported and they are left to drink the 3^rd rate beans!  This has meant that apart from at the plant we’ve not had decent coffee to drink in Costa Rica – very disappointing.  A surprisingly great day learning about coffee and I would recommend this tour to anyone who likes coffee.

Tortuguero National Park is on the northern stretch of the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica and it is obviously famous for turtles (“tortugas”).  Unfortunately for us it was not breeding season so we didn’t get to see them on the beach, however, we did spot a few in the water.  We decided to do a 1 day tour to the park from San Jose to save some days as getting public transport there was a little tricky.

On the way to the park we stopped at a banana plantation.  Bananas are currently Costa Rica’s 2^nd largest export (pineapples being 1^st and coffee being 3^rd) and in order to sell their product to Europe they have to meet all of the required European Standards.  The plant was pretty modern and the workers are paid a good wage, much higher than many other professions.  We were puzzled by the blue plastic bags covering the bananas on the plants, and we subsequently found out that these are to ensure the bananas ripen evenly.  

On the road to Tortuguero we spotted a troop of howler monkeys as well as a caiman with four babies and a turtle.  The forest surrounds a network of natural canals in the park so we boarded a boat and headed off for a 1.5 hour cruise through the park hoping to spot more wildlife.  We saw more caiman, turtles, the bright green Jesus Christ lizard (so called because it can walk on water), white-faced monkeys, a very camouflaged eagle, as well as various other birds.  We stopped in Tortuguero village for lunch and tried star fruit juice which was delicious.  The village is home to only 800 people who are solely engaged in the tourism industry.  Before the national park was created the forest was almost decimated by the timber industry and it has re-grown over the past 35 years, although not yet to its former glory.  The village is so small that the general store operates a name and shame policy, listing customers with overdue accounts in the window of the shop each month! 

On the way back to San Jose we were lucky to spot a 2 toed sloth up in a tree.  They are nocturnal so it was unusual to see it out in the late afternoon.  They are funny creatures who live up in the trees eating leaves and they only come down once a week to go to the toilet, as food takes about a month to go through their digestive system - about 30% of their weight is shit!

We decided to hire a car for the rest of our time in Costa Rica as not only was I feeling a bit rubbish still, but getting to some of the more remote places would be difficult on public transport and we’d lose a lot of days on buses.  A slight indulgence but 10 days of not lugging our backpacks around was so nice!

Quepos is a fishing town on the middle of the Pacific coast and Le Roux was excited as it is the location for game fishing competitions and this meant that he had the opportunity to charter a boat for a day and head out deep sea fishing and the chance of catching Sailfish, Marlin and Dorado.  I’m very pleased to report that he successfully landed a sailfish and has the photo to prove it!  He also hooked but lost another two Sailfish and a massive Dorado.  An expensive but great day, by all accounts.

Just south of Quepos on the coast is Manuel Antonio National Park which is renowned for its beaches as well as its wildlife.  Unfortunately there had been a hurricane 6 months previously so all but one of the trails was closed and therefore we didn’t get to properly explore the park.  However, we did get to see a variety of wildlife including a laughing falcon, two sloths, iguanas, and a Jesus Christ lizard.  

We also saw the naughty white faced monkeys and raccoons which came down onto the beaches to steal food from the tourists – it didn’t matter if the bag was zipped up or hidden in the trees, they found it!  Very amusing to watch.  After our wildlife walk we spent some time relaxing on a couple of different beautiful beaches in the park and Le Roux tried some snorkelling but due to the waves the water was not clear enough to see much.

Our next destination was Monteverde Cloud Forest up in the mountains.  We planned our route on the road map and headed off.  However, when we got to the turn-off from the main road, we discovered that the dirt road was in terrible condition and the thought of 20km in 1^st or 2^nd gear dodging potholes did not fill us with joy.  We therefore made the decision to abandon Monteverde and head straight to Arenal Lake instead.  Having decided on a new route we continued on, but managed to take a wrong turn somewhere (due to the fact  that Costa Rica does not believe in road signs!!) and having asked directions we discovered that we were in fact heading to Monteverde on a different road, still a bad one, but not quite as horrific.  It seemed sensible at this point to carry on to Monteverde, so we persevered along the road with our poor little hire car taking a battering.  It was worth the effort though as we packed quite a lot into the 24hrs we spent in the village.  

We went on a very informative night hike through the forest and saw a female tarantula, a kinkajou, a white-faced coati, some frogs and toads, lots of little fireflies and a hummingbird.  Our guide, George, was really passionate and knowledgeable about the wildlife which made it very interesting for us.  The next morning we were up early to go into the cloud forest itself in the hope of spotting the elusive quetzal, a very famous bird within Costa Rica.  

On the way to the park we did our good deed for the day as we gave a lift to a young German couple whose bus had not turned up.  This seemed to give us good karma as only 15 minutes into our walk I spotted a quetzal high up in the trees!  Amazing given my observational powers are pretty poor most of the time.  Le Roux even managed to get a picture and we were the envy of all the twitchers in the park.  Our decision not to pay for a guide had turned out to be a good one – the guide we had in Manuel Antonio was rubbish so we didn’t want to risk wasting our money again.  

After our walk we visited the sloth sanctuary and learnt about these animals for the owner’s daughter who was very passionate on the subject.  We saw both types of sloth up close and they are great, albeit slightly odd creatures.  

Final stop before leaving Monteverde was the frog park.  We saw a wide variety of species – big ones, little ones, brightly coloured ones, poisonous ones, but we didn’t manage to find all of them in their tanks, as they are mainly active early morning and late night.  Our favourites were the blue jeaned frog (red body and blue legs) and the red-eyed tree frog (beautiful coloured frog that folds up so it only shows green parts of its body and therefore merges in with leaves.

We drove from Monteverde to Arenal village on the north side of Lake Arenal, an artificial lake created by a hydroelectric dam.  This was a funny little village which very few tourists seemed to stop in, but we managed to find a nice room for the night.  Having had a nap after our early start, we headed out for dinner at 8:30ish, however, most of the town was closed so we had little choice over where we ate.  It turned out to be an reasonable dinner but we were the only people in the restaurant, apart from the owners, who were watching Central America’s version of Strictly Come Dancing, which for the record is appalling – the original British version is much less tacky!

As there was nothing to do in Arenal we headed north to Cano Negro the next morning via 45km of dirt road – Le Roux has pothole dodging down to an art now, but we both felt very shaken around when we finally arrived in Cano Negro village, and our hire car had developed a dodgy rattling sound.  Cano Negro is a very sleepy village which attracts twitchers due to the abundant birdlife on the rivers and marshes.  

We’d been given a recommendation of a guide from a photographer we met in San Jose, so having found him, we arranged to go fishing and wildlife watching at 6am the next morning.  We saw plenty of birds and other wildlife, but the fishing didn’t go as well.  Lots of fish were jumping out of the water and we saw enormous tarpon as well as gasper, but they obviously weren’t hungry that morning so Le Roux only managed to catch to baby catfish.  Apparently tarpon is the ultimate freshwater game fish as they can reach over 200lbs, so Le Roux was especially disappointed not to have hooked one of them.  

The rest of our time in Cano Negro was spent wandering around bird spotting and visiting the small butterfly farm.  I had never seen the stage where caterpillars turn into butterflies so I found that quite interesting.  Butterflies are frustrating though as they are impossible to capture on camera!  The horrible prospect of tackling the dirt road again meant we decided to stay a second night before heading to La Fortuna to give ourselves a break from the bumping and shaking!

La Fortuna, our last stop in Costa Rica before crossing the border into Nicaragua, is a very touristy town, with more shops selling tours than is even vaguely sensible!  You can’t walk down the street without being accosted by people trying to sell you tours – a little irritating after a while.  My first stop in La Fortuna was the hairdressers.  After 5 months without a haircut I was getting desperate and I finally plucked up the courage to do something about it.  I had hoped that as lots of rich Americans visited the town there would be an English speaking hairdresser somewhere.  I was directed to a salon and although the hairdresser spoke limited English, someone helped translate for me, which resulted in a reasonable and cheap haircut, even if my fringe is too short – it will grow!  

La Fortuna is overshadowed by Arenal Volcano, one of the most active volcanoes in Central America.  Unfortunately for us, despite having been spewing lava since an eruption in 1968, it stopped in September 2010, which meant there was nothing spectacular for us to see – very disappointing!  However, due to the volcanic activity in the area, there are a number of hot springs and spa places to enjoy so we headed off one evening to the cheaper option (still $32 each!).  Baldi Hot Springs has lots of different temperature pools and jacuzzis, along with a large hot waterfall and 3 water shutes.  As I love water shuts this was our first stop.  However, I got more than I bargained for as the supposedly slow one was really fast and I managed to pull all my neck muscles having laid down as directed.  Not learning my lesson, Le Roux persuaded me to try the fast one – 45km/hr!!  I did (sitting up) and somewhat regretted it as I nearly gave myself concussion by smashing the side of my head on the tube wall near the end – not an enjoyable ride!  I declined to go on the last one, thinking that I would likely damage my coccyx on the bumps and I could do without a third injury!  The rest of the spa was lovely and relaxing and we supped a cocktail at the swim-up bar before heading to the tasty buffet for dinner.  

We’d been recommended the zip lining in La Fortuna so despite the expense we picked one of the three options and headed off for an afternoon of whizzing through the trees at great heights – fun and not at all scary! 

To cross the border into Nicaragua, we decided to take the easier, but slightly more expensive option of a shuttle, rather than the public bus as we’d need to negotiate 3 local buses and a boat with all of our luggage - the private minibus and boat were definitely preferable!  The journey went very smoothly, although poor Le Roux was battling with a virulent tummy bug and ended up throwing up over the side of the boat a few times – not good!  On the road to Los Chiles, the Costa Rican border town, we stopped at a tree packed full of iguanas – a very odd sight.  

The border is actually down the Rio Frio – when we reached the border sign, our captain switched flags on the boat!  Along the river we saw plenty of wildlife, including three troops of howler monkeys, caiman, turtles, lizards, and lots of birds – even I’ve stopped taking as many photos now as we’ve seen most animals multiple times.  I am still loving the monkey sightings though, so I can only apologise for the number of monkey pictures you’re seeing in my photo album!

Costa Rica lived up to its reputation regarding wildlife and we saw a huge variety of animals in their natural habitats in the various national parks we visited, as well as some in the rescue centres.  The scenery is lovely, almost English in places, and it is good to see that the people are now taking conservation and environmental issues seriously many protected areas and national parks.  However, the country is very Americanised as I’d been told to expect (fast food outlets everywhere!) and it is also expensive by Central American standards.  We enjoyed our time in Costa Rica and for those that love wildlife, I’d definitely recommend a visit.

South America Summary

Galapagos - Quito – Otavalo – Misahualli - Baños – Cuenca – Mancora – Huanchaco – Huaraz – Lima – Huacachina – Nasca - Puerto Inca - Arequipa - Cuzco - Puno - La Paz – Potosí – Sucre – Uyuní - Tupiza - Salta - Cafayate - Catamarca - Cordoba – Mendoza – Santiago – Santa Cruz – Pucon – Puerto Montt – Puerto Natales – El Calafate – Buenos Aires – Puerto Iguazu – Florianopolis – Bonito – Pantanal – Paraty – Rio de Janiero – Belem – Ilha de Marajo – Santarem – Alter do Chao – Manaus

We’ve now completed our 5 month tour of South America taking in six countries and I wanted to look back on all that we’ve seen, done and experienced along the way.  I decided that it would be fun to come up with some “award” categories as a way of remembering things.  In putting this together I’ve gone back and read all of my blog so far, and I’m so glad that I’ve been writing it as without it I wouldn’t have remembered all the funny small things that have happened.

Best Food

·         Argentinean steak - this just had to be at the top of the list given how much we ate of it and how great it was.
·         “Cordero a la cruz “– the spit roasted lamb on a cross that we had in Puerto Natales was so delicious, especially having lived on camping rations for 4 days hard hiking.
·         Zaza - The expensive Brazilian/Asian fusion meal we had in Rio with Adrian and Sally was so nice – eating proper fancy restaurant food!
·         Best local food has to be Betty’s beans (fejoada) – we have not come across better fejoada (and we’ve eaten a lot of it now!) than we had in Pantano do Sol, the evening that Olga and her family cooked for us.  She asked her next door neighbour Betty to cook the fejoada for her and it was delicious – with chunks of melt in the mouth pork and sausage, it had real flavour.

Worst Food

·         Top of the list is again steak, but very specifically the inedible one I had in Lima.  It was truly like eating shoe leather and I couldn’t even chew it enough to swallow, that was how tough it was.  An experience I hope I never have to repeat!

·         A meal including my three most hated foods – peas, coriander and broad beans, was definitely not enjoyable but I had to eat it as we were on the Lares Trek and I needed the energy!

·         The lobster we had such high hopes of in the Galapagos having seen them arrive in the fishing boats, was such a disappointment as it was so rubbery and chewy as it had been grilled to death.

·         We’ve had various bad pizza experiences, but this was the worst.  The pizza we had in Puerto Iguazu had a doughy base which was not fully cooked and the topping was barely warm having been grilled only briefly – not all of the cheese had even melted.  We sent it back to be cooked for longer, but it was still terrible.

Favourite County

Argentina - the amazing scenery throughout the country along with the great steaks has won our hearts and both of us are itching to return in order to see more of the country.

Best City

Rio de Janeiro – we both loved this city as it seems to have everything with its great location on the coast, the famous sites, the mountains, the beaches, the sunshine and a great vibe.  I’m itching to go back already and spend more time there.

Worst City

Three places that have stuck in my memory for the wrong reasons are:

·         Uyuni, Bolivia – the gateway town to the salt flats.  A very depressing place with no redeeming features and such a disappointment at the end of the terrible journey to get there on very poor roads.

·         Potosi, Bolivia – the highest city in the world which lacks any charm and is exhausting to be in as it is at such a high altitude.

·         Puerto Montt, Chile – this salmon farming town in central Chile is shabby and tired, with very little going for it.  Luckily we were only there for a night before heading south on the ferry.

Best Natural Wonder

I can’t decide between these two as they were both incredible places!

·         Iguazu Falls, Argentina/Brazil – I was blown away by the thunderous power of the water and the beauty of the waterfalls and their surroundings – amazing.

Torres del Paine National Park, Chile – despite the terrible weather we had for a lot of our time in Torres del Paine, you can’t help but be wowed by the incredible beauty of the mountains – absolutely spectacular.

Best Manmade Sight

·         It can only be Machu Picchu.  All of the hype is true as these ruins are amazing and deserve their world famous status.  The age, the setting, the scale of it all, despite the millions of tourists, really was impressive.

Highest Place

Technically we have been to over 5,000m in Peru on a mountain pass on our return to Arequipa from Colca Canyon, but that was in a bus.  We did, however, hike to 4,800m on the Laguna 69 trek, near Huaraz in Peru, which was very tough due to the lack of oxygen, but rewarding as the scenery was so beautiful.

Favourite Activity

We’ve done some amazing things over the last 5 months and I can’t pick a favourite so here are a some of the best.

·         Bum boarding down the snow-covered volcano in Pucon, Chile – such fun!

·         Snorkelling with sea lions, turtles and fish in the Galapagos – incredible being so close to these animals, who were not intimidated by us at all.

·         Zip-lining in Argentina – whizzing along nearly 3km of cables strung across the mountains and river was awesome.

·         Paragliding over Rio – albeit a short ride, the feeling of being up in the air just floating around was great - so peaceful and relaxing, combined with fabulous views over my favourite city.  I’d do this again in a flash, even though it was expensive!

·         Taking the weird perspective photos on the salt flats in Bolivia was great fun – getting people into weird positions with funny props led to a great afternoon.

·         Bicycle wine tasting in the Colchagua Valley in Chile was a fantastic way to spend a day – we drank lots of really nice wine and ate a lovely picnic in beautiful surroundings, before wobbling back to our B&B.

Worst Journey

·         This has to be the 36hr epic journey we had travelling 1,600km across Brazil from the Pantanal to Paraty by road on a truck, 3 buses and a taxi.  Never again!

Most Challenging Moment

All three of my most challenging moments relate to hikes:

·         The W trek in Torres del Paine National Park gets the top spot in this category as carrying a 15kg pack for 6 hours at a time, hiking through rain, snow, sleet and wind was pretty gruelling but the sense of satisfaction and achievement at the end of the four days meant it was worth it!

·         Laguna 69 was very tough as it was a long 1 day hike at high altitude.  For the last hour up I had to stop every few metres to get my breath back – I felt like an 80 year old asthmatic!  I also got altitude sickness (at the end of the day bizarrely) which was very unpleasant.

·         I found Colca Canyon surprisingly difficult as going downhill for over 3 hours on rocky narrow paths really screwed my knees and leg muscles.  We didn’t have time to stop much as we had a long way to hike on the first day to reach the camp and without breaks to let my muscles ease, I woke up the next day almost unable to walk!  The mule option up was a must, even though Le Roux called me lazy and mean, making the mule do all the work while I sat back and enjoyed the scenery!

Funniest Moment

I can’t narrow this down to one so here a quite a few funny moments from the last 5 months:

·         If I’d been a fly on the wall watching me trying to get into a wetsuit in the Galapagos, I would have split my sides as it was so ridiculous that it required 2 people to help me get into it, jumping up and down and wiggling around!

·         The Hannah and Matt soap opera kept Le Roux and I entertained throughout our time travelling with them.  We shared a room with them on a few occasions and they never ceased to amuse!  We’re missing them and their antics loads now they’ve returned home.

·         Listening to Le Roux reading his biogs about all the Tucan gang on the truck was very funny, with people trying to guess who he was describing.  I even rated a biog which took the piss out of my love of spreadsheets and lists, and my orang-utan walk over uneven terrain.

·         Vanessa and I couldn’t help but laugh whilst watching Le Roux be rudely awoken by Matt, Mike & Adrian bundling him early in the morning, when we were staying on the salt flats in Bolivia.

·         Le Roux and I have not managed to learn Spanish yet, although we have picked up various words and some phrases, so buying bus tickets in small town where no-one spoke English, was a little tricky.  It must have been very funny to watch us doing charades, drawing, and trying our best Spanglish in order to find out what we needed to know.

·         At the floating reed islands on Lake Titicaca, the ladies all bid you farewell by saying “hasta la vista baby”, which is so ridiculous it made us laugh.

·         A high fashion point for me and Hannah was wearing our bikinis with welly boots in order to walk down the river in the jungle in Ecuador – we couldn’t help but laugh at ourselves as we looked so silly!

·         Le Roux’s karaoke version of Billy Idol’s White Wedding in Mancora, Peru was hilarious and good at the same time.  He had us all in stitches!

·         Dancing on Amantani Island on Lake Titicaca was highly amusing as we were all wearing the traditional costumes and were being whisked around the room at a crazy pace by our host families.

Scariest Moment

I can’t cut this down to one as I’ve got quite a few scary moments!

·         The minibus ride from Huaraz to Laguna 69 was a white knuckle one, as the driver spent the majority of time on the wrong side of the road either dodging potholes or overtaking on blind bends – I feel lucky to have survived that return journey!

·         Le Roux purchased some dynamite in Potosi, Bolivia and the blowing up of it in the middle of nowhere before we crossed the border into Argentina was a nerve-wracking moment.  We all stood well back, and even though we were expecting the bang we all still screamed!

·         Snorkelling in the Galapagos in the channel through Kicker Rock was pretty scary as the sharks Ossie had promised would be at the bottom were in fact swimming alongside me!

·         Sandboarding was pretty scary for me as throwing myself head first down a very high and steep hill goes against my sensible nature, and with bad balance it was a foregone conclusion that I’d fall off – luckily I rolled off reasonably gracefully three quarters of the way down.

·         Piranha fishing whilst standing in a lake full of them, caiman and anacondas took some courage – I didn’t get nibbled but some of the others did!

·         Overstaying our visa in Peru by 1 day led to a nerve-wracking border crossing into Bolivia.  Luckily after a couple of questions the immigration officer let us leave Peru without a fine.

·         Crossing into Chile from Argentina involves the strictest border crossing, with no food allowed at all, so we were very nervous when the customs officer searched our truck as we had all hidden our chicken and salad sandwiches.  Luckily despite a reasonably thorough search, he didn’t find them and we made it through without any issues. We breathed a sigh of relief and tucked into our lunch once we were a bit further down the road from the border post.

·         Whilst wandering around the Argentinean side of Iguazu we were photographing birds high up in the trees, when suddenly a snake like head popped out of the bush right next to me – I leapt back with my heart pounding, only to realise as it came further out that it was in fact an iguana and not a snake – phew!

·         When Paul fell off the vine swing in the jungle in Ecuador we all took a sharp intake of breath as he just missed landing on a thin broken tree stump on either side – such a near miss.  Thank goodness he ended up with only a few grazes and bruises.

·         Getting the tow rope wrapped around my middle whilst doing the rope swing over the river in the jungle in Ecuador was a scary moment – I had to hang on until I’d unravelled myself before I could then drop into the river.  Luckily it didn’t take too long as I’ve not got much upper body strength!

·         Climbing the wobbly narrow ladders up the Cathedral in Quito required some courage.  I’m not afraid of heights, rather dangerous edges, so I had to make myself go up, but it was worth the effort as the views were great.  No way would this climb have passed UK health and safety!

Favourite Animal

·         I’ve got two favourite birds – the Toucan as it is such a lovely looking bird, and the blue trumpeter as it makes the most amusing noise like a beat boxer.

·         The sealife category goes to sealions as they were so fun in the water when we were snorkelling with them – very playful and cheeky animals.

·         Monkeys are still my all time favourite animal as they are cute and cheeky.  The howler monkey’s call is particularly cool as it sounds like a horror movie soundtrack!

Funniest Animal Moment

·         The coati in Iguazu that charged at me as I came out of the coffee shop as it had its eye on the sugar packets on the tray was funny in hindsight.  I managed to stay upright, but the coffees didn’t.  Le Roux just stood there and laughed at me!

·         We spent ages watching the fishmonger in Santa Cruz, Galapagos battle with the naughty pelicans, who kept trying to steal his fish anytime his back was turned.  One pelican succeeded and managed to swallow the scrap down sideways so you could see it sticking the wrong way in its neck.

Grumpiest Moment

I’ve learnt that dogs and campsites do not mix well!

·         Without a doubt this has to be when the dog at the campsite in Pucon stole my shoes.  Not content with one, while we were out looking for it, he stole another one from a different pair.  I have not been so mad in a long time!

·         The dogs at the campsite in Puerto Iguazu drove us both mad for 3 nights, as we hardly got any sleep with their incessant night time barking.  I even got up one night and threw a stone in their direction to try and shut them up. 

Most Disappointing

·         The most disappointing thing for us so far on the trip was the Navimag ferry ride from Puerto Montt to Puerto Natales in Chile as the bad weather (which is highly likely) meant we didn’t see very much of the supposedly lovely scenery and wildlife, and by heading south down the Chilean coast we missed some amazing parts of Argentina such as Bariloche and Fitzroy National Park.  Our expectations of the ferry journey were high having read and heard many good reports about it.  Unfortunately the expense was wasted in our case and we are gutted to have missed some of our Tucan friend’s favourite places.

·         Our other major disappointment was not being able to fly over the Nasca lines in Peru, due to the CAA investigation and you can’t appreciate the lines from the ground at all. I always seem to miss out on aerial activities due to something!

·         Another smaller but predictable disappointment was that both times we’ve been horseriding have been pretty dull and disappointing as all you get to do is walk and follow the horse in front in a strict line.  We’ve now decided we’re only going to go riding if it is just us so that we can actually ride the horse rather than just sit there!

Most Embarrassing Moment

·         I have Lindsay to thank for this one.  She picked me out a cat woman costume for our fancy dress evening in La Paz.  It was very tight and every lump and bump was visible!  Many drinks were consumed that night to get over the embarrassment.

·         I learnt my lesson regarding reapplication of suncream on Pucon volcano.  I have never burnt my nose so badly, including the inside, having rubbed off my suncream with my glove.  My nose actually weeped for a day and then turned really crusty for a week.  It was so embarrassing meeting new people looking so bad!

 Most Enjoyable

·         I love watching and observing daily life and Le Roux and I thoroughly enjoyed the antics of the locals on the Amazon.  The way they come aboard the ferry by any means possible, balancing on jetty posts, clambering over the rails, or hooking their little wooden canoes to the moving ferry, in order to sell their wares to us passengers.  We bought all sorts of different things from the vendors, including juice, prawns, cheese, cakes, fruit and even a hot ready meal and most things were cheap and delicious.

Earliest Start

·         Our trip to Colca Canyon wins this award but only just.  We were up at 2.45am in order to make the 4 hour journey from Arequipa to Colca Canyon to see the condors.

·         Close second comes our hike to the towers in Torres del Paine National Park.  We got up at 3.15am in order to make the ascent in the dark so that we could watch sunrise at the top.  Unfortunately we didn’t get the picture postcard shot of the towers all pink in the sun, but it was great to watch the sunrise.

Most Thrilling Experience

·         Whizzing along on the motorbike with Le Roux around the Sacred Valley in Peru gave me such a buzz.

·         Paragliding over Rio was amazing - the feeling of floating around in the sky where it is so peaceful, looking down on the world, was incredible.

Near Misses

·         We luckily missed the coup in Ecuador by two days – the border with Peru was closed and we would have been stuck in a hotel with an armed guard while the Ecuadorian Police went on the rampage in protest against new laws that reduced their pay.

·         Just north of Rio while we were there were terrible floods and landslides sadly causing many deaths.  Luckily we were not caught up in this as we flew north from Rio, avoiding the catastrophe.

Most Missed Things

·         Friends and family

·         My very comfortable bed and pillow – we’ve “slept” on some shocking beds!

·         My sofa – everywhere you go are hard chairs and I long to sink into my soft couch!

·         A well equipped and stocked kitchen – I’m longing to cook a gourmet dinner using decent utensils and all the right ingredients

·         Christmas food – I haven’t had a proper English Christmas in 2 years and I’m going to have to persuade my mum to put on a fake Christmas in July when we’re back in London!