Peru time

With great sadness, we left Easter Island....we had such a wonderful time and we wished we had another day there. But after 8 hours of flying we have found ourselves in Peru.

We arrived at 2am and the next day was the only one we had in Lima....our hotel was quite a trek from the main plaza so we decided to to stick to Miraflores, the district where we were located as we had to do some washing and get some money out etc.

The weather was scorchio....we headed out for lunch at an awesome place where we had more ceviche and scallops, squid, octopus and white fish washed down with a cold beer and a glass of ice cold white wine.  We then walked down to the fancy shopping area as it is right next to the sea with lovely views.  On the way back to the hotel Tim got a Peruvian haircut....thankfully they didn't give him a number one all over!!

We then met our new tour group full of Aussies, Kiwis, British and Swiss....

We are currently in Nasca where we have been to the pre Inca cemetry full of mummies....it was quite a strange experience, then we went to see how the local pottery was made and expertly painted.

Rastafarian mummies (look closely)

Peruvian potter

 Yesterday we started the day with a boat trip to the Ballesteros Islands (as I call them) and saw lots of birds, sea lions and penguins.  We also saw a Nasca line which looked like a palm tee and was over 100m tall and 70m wide.

Bumpy boat ride

Nasca line

Then we went for a pisco tasting at the pisco winery. After lunch we went to an oasis where they had enormous sand dunes and we went in the dune buggies which was an adrenaline fuelled experience as we got thrown all over the place, it was like a rollercoaster...then sand boarding (take a look at it on you tube) where I screamed all the way down...we did three separate runs but I went over a bump at the end of the last one and now have a bruised head to show for it....it was so much fun though.

The oasis

Keep your hands inside the ride

On top of the dunes

A mear feast after a hard day

Unfortunately I have been struck down with travellers' tummy for the third time on our trip so far which is, quite literally, a pain in the arse!  Anyway that is probably too much information, so I hope you are all well.

She gets everywhere

Bye for now. xxx 

Happy Easter from Easter Island

Happy Easter from Easter Island

Easter Day on Easter Island

We can't actually believe we are here at the most remote island in the world, in the middle of the Pacific, over 2000 miles from anywhere else.

On the way

We had a great time in Santiago and set off for Easter Island today (Easter Sunday).  It took five hours to get here which after our ten hour journey to get to Santiago by bus (which is another story in itself), felt like nothing. It was a very smooth flight.

When we got off the plane, it was amazing....all you could see was the ocean, bright colours, tropical flowers and the temperature was 25 degrees....nice.

There was a band who arrived on our flight too (apparently they are Alpha Blondy) and they were very popular with the locals. The singer even shook Tim's hand!!

When we got out of the airport everyone was greeted with a flower and garland.

Flowers and sunshine at the airport

We arrived at our hotel to a glass of papaya juice, lots of palm trees and more flowers. There was even one in the toilet roll!!

This is the life

Totally tropical

We got the suncream on and headed out to lunch (it had gone 3pm by this time). We had ceviche which is a speciality in latin America....it's raw fish in lime juice. It was really fresh and lovely....needless to say they have lots of fish here as the island is less than 150m2.

Then we wandered out to see the moai (the famous statues), there are some really close to our hotel. It was just unbelievable to see them....we feel very lucky.  We just sat there for a couple of hours waiting for the sunset....it was incredible.

The moai at the start of the sunset

Are you looking at me?

Pincer movement

We are now just sitting having a glass of the anniversary wine that Federico bought us in Argentina (thanks Fede), before heading out to dinner.

Anniversary wine....yay

Oh, and in case you were wondering, we are six hours behind the UK here.

Love to you all, Kate and Tim. xx

ps. we've also just had a mighty downpour which had cleared the humidity a bit. Phew. xx

Mud, mud, glorious mud

We are nearly at the end of our time in Argentina and are currently in Mendoza where they make all the Malbec wine.

We made our way from Rosario to Cordoba on a 6.5 hour bus ride. Cordoba was lovely and we went in a lot of churches and art galleries. A lot of Argentinians take their religion quite seriously and the churches are open most of the time and people come in to pray. For us, it is a way of escaping the hustle and bustle of the cities and seeing some beautiful architecture.

Jesuit church in Cordoba

We took a day trip to Alta Gracia which was a beautiful little place. It's where Che Guevara spent his teenage years and we went to the museum at his house where, if you aren't Argentinian, you get charged nearly ten times more to get in. The main reason for our trip was to visit the Jesuit estancia which is a UNESCO world heritage site. It was very well kept bearing in mind it's over 500 years old, and peaceful and also had descriptions in English which meant we learnt quite a lot.

In Alta Gracia con maracas

Back in Cordoba we got ready for our overnight bus trip to Mendoza. A nine hour journey leaving at 10pm. We didn't quite know what to expect but it was great....it was like being in business class (or how we think it would be in business class!!). We had a flat bed, our own TV and even dinner and wine. Hoorah. The lady asked us if we wanted to be woken up at 5.30am for breakfast, er, 'no gracias' was our reply. We both slept fairly well (mom, your eye mask came in very handy).

Our hotel room for the night

Before

During: Dinner and wine

After: Nighty night

We arrived at 7am Saturday morning so we spent the day getting our bearings, going to tourist info and arranged a walking tour for the afternoon with a wine tasting at the end. Magdalena was our guide and she was great. She told us that Mendoza is actually a desert and so all the water is pumped from the Andes for use in the city....we were really surprised as everything was so green. It was also nearly completely flattened in 1861 because of a huge earthquake so most of the city is actually only 200 years old.

As today is Sunday and most of the vineyards are shut we decided to go to the natural thermal spa pools just outside Mendoza which Tim had read about on wikitravel. It was soooo nice to have a bit of downtime as it's all been pretty full on so far. The pools were indoors and outdoors next to the Mendoza river (where the mud comes from) and nestled in the lower Andes hills so the views were awesome. The pool temperatures ranged from 40degrees to river temperature (ie. quite cold). We had a buffet lunch included with meat cooked on the BBQ and we treated ourselves to a bottle of Malbec...sort of like having Sunday dinner in the UK but ever so slightly different. He he.

Thermal pools in the Andes

Sunny at the spa

Mud, mud, glorious mud

Lunch is finished

Hasta luego.... Xx

What a difference a day makes

These ex-English footballers get everywhere (Beckham in Rosario)

I'm writing this from two perspectives.

The first is from the travelling viewpoint. So we are now left to our own devices for ten days or so until we get to Santiago, compared to our Patagonia trip where everything was looked after for us.

Our first mission was to make the four hour bus journey from BA to Rosario. We had managed to book the tickets and thought we'd be sorted. Even though the bus station was only a few blocks from the hotel, we thought we'd get a cab as we had our luggage with us and it was in a slightly dodgy part of town.

First of all, the cab didn't show so the hotel reception grabbed one off the street for us. This meant that five of our 45 minute window to get to the bus station was gone. Then because it was raining and humid, everyone seemed to be in cabs and the traffic was really slow.  We'd been in the cab 20 mins then asked the driver to let us out so we could run to the station....we were sweating cobs by the time we got there.  Then it was really confusing and we couldn't find the departures...there was only an arrivals board....  At this point we thought we missed our 10am bus, but, to cut a long story short, we hadn't...it was late and it's final destination was not where we were going which is why we couldn't find it on the board...so it arrived at 11.30 and we finally arrived in Rosario just before 4pm.

The second perspective is to do with that classic British institution, and number one topic of conversation, the weather! I've already mentioned that it was raining and humid.  Well, it was still raining pretty hard when we arrived in Rosario and got a cab to our hotel.  Last night we then went out in t-shirts as it was still hot and humid, but not raining.  Well, that all changed not long after we left the restaurant and the most amazing and continuous electrical storm happened that we've ever seen....the sky was just constantly lighting up and we could see forks of lightening and hear claps of thunder.  Accompanying this storm was a torrential downpour....it came on so quickly....we tried to take shelter next to a gym but everytime the wind whipped around I let out a bit of a girly scream and got more wet.  By this time we were both soaked and decided to run back to the hotel....the roads were like streams as they had flooded so quickly (it was like being in Worcester in February...haha).

Big rain....look at those puddles

When we got back we had to wring out all of our clothes right down to the underwear.  Now, today couldn't have been more different, bright and fresh and hot. We've seen Rosario in a new light.  It's a lovely city and the place where the Argentinian flag was first raised. We went to the monument to the flag which looked very totalitarian like something out of 1984 but had a great view from the top.

Monument to the Argentinian flag (look at the blue sky...yay)

View from the top

View from the top 2

Not being very totalitarian 

We also visited the Cathedral and went for a walk along the river Parana...it's huge. We stopped off at a bookshop cafe for afternoon tea and cake too.

Our type of bookshop

We also saw some 'comedy gold' grafitti and signs....well, you have to take a picture don't you??!!!

There were 'nob's all over the town...it's Rosario's football team

She's beauty and she's grace

Ciao for now. xx

It takes two to tango

Back in Buenos Aires and it's great to feel the warmth again. It's also great to get our clothes washed at a proper launderette rather than just in the sink!!!

Our anniversary was lovely. We went for dinner then our tour guide, Federico, took us to an awesome speakeasy bar. It looked like we were going into a big fridge in a florist and wine shop but the secret door took us downstairs and into a fab bar where we had cocktails. Tim looked it up online the next morning and it's featured in the Telegraph's luxury travel section.

The speakeasy

We also had a bottle of wine and a lovely note from Federico wishing us a happy anniversary when we got back to our room...it was so nice.

The day after we took a bike tour of the city which we wouldn't have done by ourselves as the drivers are crazy.  We took in the southern neighbourhoods including the rough La Boca where Federico told us to put our cameras away.  We cycled through the eco reserve which was full of purple flowers and butterflies which was a complete contrast.

Waiting for the lights to change

Taking in the eco reserve (maracas are in the basket)

In the evening we went to a tango show which we thought might be a bit touristy but was actually a brilliant night out. It included dinner and then a tango lesson. Our teacher, Allejandro, kept telling us to do our 'tango face' which, as you can see, Tim took pretty seriously. It was such a laugh. After our lesson we went back for dessert then the tango show sarted....it was really good. There was a live band and the dancers were great. It finished at 11.15 and we wanted to carry on our night out so we went to BA's renowned hostel, the Millhouse, where a DJ was playing and we danced until two.

Learning the tango

Tim's 'tango face'

Fun at the Millhouse

We haven't got long left in BA now before we make our way across Argentina and into Chile again.  Hope you are all having a great Saturday night. xx

Happy 3rd wedding anniversary to us

Yay...it's our third wedding anniversary today. We'll be spending it in the sky flying from Ushuaia to Buenos Aires and then out for dinner tonight. Very happy memories.

some pictures from our wedding

Not near the earthquake

Hi guys....Kate here again. Just to let you know we are safe and we're not near the terrible Chilean earthquake.