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!
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.
· 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.
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.
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!
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!
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.
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!
· 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!
· 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.
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.
· 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!
· 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.
· 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.
· 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!
Such a lovely round up and so many happy memories (even the pain of laguna 69)! Hope the rest of your trip continues to be just as amazing and can't wait to hear all about it when you get to England. Claire x
ReplyDelete