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New York, New York
After our great time in DC, we had an even more wonderful time in New York City. We rented an apartment for the week in the East Village (of Manhattan) - and feeling just like local New Yorkers we took to the streets for a week of intense sight-seeing, coffee drinking, subway riding and general fun. During our week we saw all the main sights (we think) - 5th, 6th and Madison Avenues, Central Park, FAO Schwarz, Times Square, the Financial District, the Chrysler building, UN building, Public Library, Statue of Liberty, the Museum of New York City, Magnolia Bakery, the Brooklyn Bridge, the Seinfeld diner and lost of good cafes (thanks to the Tasker's recommendations)! Our nights were filled with a comedy club, baseball game, Broadway show (Mamma Mia - left Abba in our heads for days!), a visit up the Empire State building and cocktails at the lovely Plunge bar.
We thought Manhattan was fabulous - great shopping, transport, sights and constant life/activity. We'll be back!

We love Washington DC!

As we were in the area, we decided to pay a visit to George Dubbya. We had 2 days in Washington and were really impressed by all the amazing buildings, museums, monuments and the respect with which America's political, cultural and social history was displayed (and even more so because most sights were free of charge!). We went through the Library of Congress with beautiful ceilings, the Supreme Court which receives 10,000 appeals a year, saw the Capitol, walked "The Mall" (a mile of museums and galleries), went to the moving and very sad Holocaust Museum, explored the restaurant scene of Georgetown, tried to go up the Washington Monument (which was booked out for all of June), circled the White House (where squirrels were bounding across the lawn - seriously!), walked through Arlington Cemetery which holds 290,000 graves (and interrs 24 a day), caught up with Abraham Lincoln at night, and viewed the Vietnam Veterans and Korean War Memorials. Even though we didn't catch up with George, we really enjoyed DC and would love to go back to explore more of it one day.

A few days in Maryland, USA

From Tennessee to New York, to Maryland (via many states including New Jersey - the embroidery capital of America). We flew from Nashville to New York, hired a car and drove about 5 hours to Maryland. Under the assumption (and the advice) that America is the land of the free, where you can drive at whatever speed you like, there was a moment of pure fear for Sophia when pulled over by a State Trooper for exceeding the speed limit (which, for the record, no one was obeying), followed by a moment of pure relief to be let off with a polite warning. The highlight of our time in Maryland was not the Police pullover, but catching up with Mike and Sarah Pasalich and their friends and families for Paso's graduation from Sovereign Grace Pastors College. It was again great to meet up with some Aussie friends and especially good to be part of the graduation celebrations for Paso.

Nashvegas & the Smokies

With great excitement we arrived in Nashville and were greeted by Nathan and Cassie Tasker at the airport and chauffeured in their massively massive American van (complete with limousine style interior lights), with Nath pointing out the Nashville highlights, to their gorgeous new home in East Nashville. We enjoyed 5 days with the Taskers who were very generous and wonderful hosts. We were treated to the 'Nathan and Cassie Highlights of Nashvegas' tour which included lots of cafes and shops - plus the Cheesecake Factory, Music Row, Franklin and Green Hills Mall (and the heavenly Whole Foods store). It was great to be there for Cass' birthday and to meet their friends and see their Nashville life, which really suits the work they are doing. It was really wonderful to hang out together and have conversations in English - finally! Thanks for having us Taskers - we look forward to catching up in London in a few months.

From Nashville we hired a car and headed to the Great Smoky Mountains to stay in Pete's ex-boss' (Pearl's) cabin in the mountains. The cabin was magnificent - with cable TV, dishwasher, fabulous views and the promise of bears lurking in the thick forest around us. Fortunately or unfortunately (depending on if you were inside or outside) we didn't see any bears but did enjoy an amazing array of butterflies, squirrels and turtles of all things! We ventured into the town of Gatlinburg, where we were tempted by Dolly Parton's "Dollywood" theme park, "Fanny Farkles'" foot long ogle dogs, the "Salt and Pepper Shakers Museum" and various other gimmicky attractions - but managed to restrain ourselves. We did spend a few very hot days walking in the Smokies, which really were beautiful - very green and lush forest. Whilst we chose to walk through the park, there was also the option to see the park via the 'automobile track'... in true American style.

Last stop in Central America - Mexico City

Surprisingly fantastic! Another late arrival due to a Dallas stopover and a directionally-challenged cab driver put us in Zona Roma, a ritzier area of Mexico City where we were upgraded from a smaller than 3x5m room to a suite with private bathroom, kitchen, fridge, couch and TV.

What we did not expect from Mexico City:
- To be able to walk around safely late at night
- To have a very safe, fast and efficient subway on which we could get anywhere in the city for 20 cents
- To find a number of great museums and beautiful buildings
- To be able to buy 'family size' and 'Coronita' (throw-down) coronas
- To thoroughly enjoy the open-top tourist bus

3 great day trips from Mexico City.

Teotihuacan, home of the 3rd largest pyramid in the world and our first Aztec ruin (the Aztec's are the ones who loved human sacrifices and other interesting methods of worship to deities such as 'The Hummingbird God').
Puebla, a beautiful colonial town housing 70 churches, great restaurants and currently in the throes of their own little 'Puebla Idol' competition.
Taxco, the silver capital of Mexico... ouch!The end... Flying out of Mexico City saw the end of 5 fantastic months travelling South and Central America. We were blessed with safety, amazing sites and a great time. America here we come!

Caribbean Cruising - end of May

Costa Rica
With the crystal, clear blue water and white sand of Mexico's caribbean coast still fresh in our minds, we left Guatemala City bound for Costa Rica. Despite having spent 8 hours waiting at Miami airport for our connection to Costa Rica, we arrived in San Jose late and looking forward to getting to the coast as quickly as possible. The next day saw us take a four hour bus ride to Puerto Viejo, the capital of Caribbean lounging in Costa Rica. Unfortunately, the first few beaches we saw looked terrible but with a free upgrade in bungalow size and the promise of much better beaches a short bike-ride away, we were very happy. We spent a few hours in our large, private wooden bungalow (with large deck, table and hammock) before heading into to town for a bite to eat.A WORD OF WARNING: when hiring a bike in Costa Rica, take the first bike you're given and don't whinge about a little wobble on the back wheel.... Pete did. As a result of the whinge, the following events brightened the rest of our week.
- Loose handlebars meant that a little too much weight would send me into 1960s racing mode
- A broken basket frame continually rubbed against the tread on the front wheel.
- A flat tire 5 kms from home
- Dodgy tire replacement from 'the apprentice' meant that 9km from home, the chain started slipping off the back cog every 100 metres.

We basically walked further with the bike than we rode it.
Despite the above hiccups, it was fantastic jumping on the bikes every morning and heading to Punta Uva (Grape Point) beach where we found the beautiful water and sand that we were looking for. We spent a very relaxing 5 days here before heading back to San Jose to take a flight to Mexico City (via Dallas, TX).

Hello Central America!

MEXICO

We arrived in the super touristy Cancun (Mexico) and were faced with not just thousands of tourists and fancy hotels, but the heat! We were glad (and needed) to abandon our jeans, boots and polar fleeces and soak up the humidity! We stayed just 1 night in Cancun before heading to Valladolid, a couple of hours inland from Cancun. In Valladolid we went to an underground watering hole, called a cenote, and headed to the magnificent Mayan ruins of Chitzen Itza. We spent a great day exploring the ruins, which were quite different from the Inca ruins we had seen in South America - smaller stones, more pyramid style temples.

From Valladolid we headed back to the coast to Tulum. Oh my word, Tulum has possibly the nicest beaches we have ever encountered! Beautiful fine white sand and absolutely crystal clear warm water. The second largest barrier reef sits just off the coast of Tulum, so the water was calm and amazing. Apart from relaxing on the beach here, we went to see the ruins which are right on the coast line. The location of the ruins was more impressive than the ruins themselves, but what the Mayans built and when is quite amazing.

From Tulum we headed off to Palenque - right in the jungle and the site of more Mayan ruins. Again, the ruins were great, the humidity was thick and the mosquitoes hungry from some Aussie blood we think! We also visited some lovely waterfalls and lakes in this area. On our way to Flores, Guatemala, we visited another 2 Mayan ruins - Yaxchilan and Bonampak - much less visited than the first lot and much less restored - the jungle has covered up a lot of the old buildings, so it is quite mystical.

Some observations from Mexico:
- we have seen our first speed camera in almost 4 months!
- you can buy cigarettes in pharmacy stores
- Coronas only cost $1.70 - just $0.20 more than a bottle of water!!!


GUATEMALA
We arrived in Flores and decided to visit the famed site of Tikal for sunrise, which meant being picked up at 3:30am!!! Unfortunately the sun didn't rise in any spectacular fashion, but at least we missed the heat of the day. Again, we really enjoyed exploring the hidden villages and temples of Tikal which were almost all covered in jungle until about the 1850s when restoration started, but there is still much more to uncover. In Tikal we had quite the nature experience, seeing tarantulas, tucans, parrots, jay birds, howler and spider monkeys and racoons.


Needing a break from the Mayan ruins (!!!) we headed to Rio Dulce and spent 4 days by the river - relaxing, taking river cruises, visiting the fort to protect the area from Pirates of the Carribean back in the day and bathing in thermal waterfalls. From Rio Dulce we have arrived in Antigua which is a gorgeous colonial town, unlike anything we have seen in Guatemala. It is renowned for its great coffee and culinary scene which has been poorly timed by Sophia getting some sort of food poisoning and being unable to relish in the goodness!

To see more photos of our trip, follow these links: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=49184&l=5bd10&id=688115638 and http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=50792&l=f5ce7&id=688115638

Farewell South America!

Since leaving Bolivia, we have covered a fair bit of territory - in fact 2 whole countries! We are currently in Ecuador and only have 3 days left of our time in South America, before we head into Central America.

Since La Paz, in summary the highlights have been:

• Whirlwind trip to Cusco, Peru and Machu Picchu - had a fabulous time cruising through the Sacred Valley on motorbike.


• A 4-day hike in the Cordillera Blanca Mountain Range in the Peruvian Andes. We staggered in the falling snow to our summit at 4750m. We were accompanied by a guide, a cook, 2 French-Canadian friends and 3 pack-carrying donkeys.


• Spending some well-deserved beach time on the Peruvian coast at Huanchaco - the beach didn´t compare to Sydney, but our accommodation was first rate (pool, mini-bar, TV in room - these are REAL luxuries over here), the seafood was delicious and drinking sangria by the beach sunsets went down a treat.


• Back to reality - we had an interesting border crossing into Ecuador (closely escaping an encounter with a dodgey cab driver at 5am), passed through the banana capìtal of the world in Machala (sorry Coffs Harbour) and arrived back up in the altitude (2530m) of Cuenca. Here we visited some local/indigenous markets, perused the beautiful colonial town and discovered the most amazing ice cream parlour..... it's never too cold for ice cream.


• Enough of the cold and the altitude, we travelled to the Ecuadorian coast and arrived in Puerto Lopez. We had fabulous accommodation at Hosteria Mandala - loved the individual bungalows on the beach, a hoard of board games (we HAVE spent 3 months together, so agruing over words in Scrabble was actually fun!!!) , sunsets and amazing pancakes at the Whale Cafe (yes, food again....)


• In need of a bit more beach, we went a bit futher south to Salango and stayed in cabañas perched right on the peninsula - it was just gorgeous. The beaches again weren't a patch on Sydney, but the hammocks heavenly and the serenity sublime.


• Out last stop in Ecuador is Quito. 1.4 million people and altitude of 2800m. The Old Town of Quito is very colonial and a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1978 - lots of old buildings and churches. We took a cable-car above the incoming aeroplanes to 4100m to see the whole of Quito from on-high. Tomorrow we shall stand on the Equator and then we're off!

Sunny Sucre and Lofty La Paz, Bolivia

SUCRE

Our bus from Uyuni to Sucre went via Potosi and we were advised by the agent that the same bus would continue to Sucre. When the bus arrived in Potosi at 2am, the driver realised that only four people were going to Sucre. Instead of getting us back in the bus he dumped us in a car (us, one of our travelling friends and an old Bolivian woman). After about 30 minutes the driver looked and seemed incredibly tired, which he happily admitted. Pete offered to drive and he took up the offer. So off we went with Pete at the wheel for about an hour before he asked Pete to pull over by the side of the road because he needed to sleep for a little while - 15 minutes he said he needed as the road ahead was dangerous. So there we sat, twiddling our thumbs at 4am in the morning on a Bolivian highway with a driver who needed to sleep and did so. We woke him up 15 minutes after he dozed off and he rolled over mumbling "Quince minutes mas" ("15 more minutes", somewhat reminiscent of my (Pete's) uni days). So we gave him 15 minutes more and then he took the wheel (and both sides of the road). It didn't help to see him sign the crucifix, head-chest-shoulder-shoulder at each corner or to see the old Bolivian woman ply him with Coca leaves and tell him not to fall asleep... Anyway, after much prayer and too many heartbeats, we made it to Sucre. Sucre has been amazing. It wasn't originally on our agenda but it's an absolutely beautiful city and we're glad we made the detour. We have spent most of our time reading and planning and visiting museums - the poor Bolivians have fought the Spanish crown for independence, Brazil, Peru, Chile, Argentina and Paraguay all in the last 70-odd years. In the battle of the Pacific against Chile they lost the port of Antofagasta, leaving them landlocked and unable to export the huge amount of minerals and gas they'd like to. The result of this is that they refuse to sell gas to Chile (one previously incumbent president tried and was swiftly deposed) but rather to Argentina who sell it to Chile at a premium. Picture outside a Catholic church on Palm Sunday. And we have another overnight bus to La Paz to look forward to now!

LA PAZ

La Paz has turned out to be a great place and we have really enjoyed our time here. We have spent about 4 days exploring the city, which is situated 3660m above sea level. The city´s buildings cling to the sides of a canyon and spill downwards, it is quite amazing and breathtaking. In the background of the city you can see the 6402m Mt Illamani. It is quite difficult to breath here with the altitude, so everyone has to walk pretty slowly! We took a city tour by bus which was incredibly touristy but really informative, have wandered the 'black market', tourist markets, gone through the San Francisco Church (and walked on the roof of it!) and had our first day away from each other! Pete opted to do a day of downhill mountain bike riding, not on 'The World's Most Dangerous Road' (which sounded a bit tame) but on the more challenging 48km 'Ghost Ride'. Starting on a snow capped mountain at 4900m, Pete conquered the tricky tracks and lot of big rocks, with only a few minor falls. The day ended with a tour of a haunted castle. Soph chose to head to Huayna-Potosi (6088m) for some walking and glacier climbing. Walking in the altitude was very difficult and frequent stops were required. At about 5200m, Soph and the group learnt how to ice climb... it was cold and wet, but quite exhilarating. Unfortunately the altitude got the better of Soph and she returned to La Paz with a pounding headache, was dizzy and nauseous and went straight to bed :(

Nearing the 3 month mark

IGUAZU FALLS
From Rio we went to Iguazu Falls, visiting the Brasilian side for half a day and crossing the border. Crossing the border from Brasil to Argentina held the normal amount of amusement, even more so because it was by public bus with our 20kg+ packs . Problem is that in Brasil all public buses have small turnstiles you need to go through when you buy your ticket. And for reasons that we did not understand we had to go through these narrow turnstiles WITH our packs, we couldn't just leave them at the front of the bus. So after doing this about 4 times on and off the buses, we had developed some good weight-lifting muscles and were relieved to reach Puerto Iguazu in Argentina.

We spent a day at the Argentinian side of the falls - absolutely amazing and glorious! But there were so many people it was the first time we felt like real tourists!

SALTA, NORTHERN ARGENTINA
We spent 3 days in Salta where we found the very best empanadas so far (an important job we're undertaking) and some amazing and striking scenery out of town. We decided to hire a car for 2 days and headed south to Cafayate, a wine region specialising in 'torrontes' white wine, vineyard to the left. From Cafayate we drove along the worst road we've encountered to Cachi. Along this road we collected a friendly hitch-hiker who came in handy when one of the car tyres didn't just puncture but completely shredded and needed replacing... From Cachi we had a pretty scary and hairy drive through the dark on windy roads with gushing rivers every now and then back to Salta - and in true South American style - no safety barriers, reflectors on the road etc....

Second day with the car we went north up to Tilcara - the amazing red rock mountains were captivating and we stopped to visit the 'Cerro 7 Colores' - Mountain of 7 Colours. Really beautiful scenery.

From Salta (our wallets a little lighter after replacing the tyre.... grrrr) we caught an overnight bus to La Quiaca, right on the Argentina/Bolivia border.

TUPIZA, BOLIVIA
We arrived in Tupiza after crossing the border into Villazon and taking a 4WD bus (have you ever!?!) . Tupiza is a small town where we opted to do a 7-hour horse ride (NEVER again) through the valleys, apparently in the footsteps of Butch Cassidy and gang - but we're pretty sure they didn't have 'saddle soreness' or whatever it's called like we did. We never wanted to get off the horses because it meant getting back on!!!! Terribly stiff and sore, we decided to embark on a bumpy 4-day 4WD tour to Uyuni via the salt flats the next day.

UYUNI SALT FLATS

We spent a great 4 days in a 4WD car with Eva from Hungary, Vouter from Holland, our driver and guide 'Rapido Wili' and Silvia our amazing personal chef! From Tupiza we drove through and up amazing valleys, passed through small towns, marvelled at the altitude, saw llamas, donkeys, alpacas, humuacas, condors, flamengos, sheep, played soccer with the locals (with a predictable outcome, given the local kids were accustomed to the 4000m altitude), saw beautiful lakes, mountains and volcanoes, swam in thermal baths, got spat on by geysers, tried to push over trees made of stone, went to an Inca cemetery, a train cemetry, stayed in a hotel made of salt, dodged an island of cactus and walked on/touched/ate/appreciated the vast salt planes that are twice the size of Holland! It was a great and memorable 4 days after which we ended up in Uyuni and took an overnight bus to Sucre.

The last of AR and BR

Once again, a lot has happened since our last post so we'll try to keep it as short, sweet and full of pictures as possible.

Torres del Paine National Park

We set off, guns blazing, for our 6 day hike through the national park aiming to take in glaciers, crystal-clear lakes and the famous granite spires of Torres del Paine. After a gruelling (recommended - thanks!) 20km hike directly into 90+ km/h winds, the right foot of the male trekker was a little painful. We managed another 2 days of hiking before we had to cut it short and head back to town. Never the less, we saw some amazing sights and were once again blown away by how beautiful it all was.

Ushuaia, Argentina

All set to take a sip at the "southern-most" pub in the world, we found out that some Ukranian bastard has set one up at his research station in Antarctica. We settled in for a drink at the second-most-southern pub in the world. Unfortunately our photos are safely and inaccessibly stored on DVD so this section will be very black and white, just like the 7000 penguins we walked among on an Island in the beagle channel. Being a small (and the only) tour that lands on the island, we were able to get as close as one metre to A LOT of Gentoo and Magellanic penguins. Photos will follow if we ever find an internet café with a DVD reader. Other sights were beaver nests - their introduction to the area as successful as the cane toad - also sea lions and a number of different birds.

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Hitting Buenos Aires was quite the shock to the system after almost 2 months in smaller towns or camping. We had ten days all up in what was a beautiful, safe and very large city. Highlights of the big city were:

Mucho shopping - great leather (perfect for handbags and shoes apparently)

FUTBOL!!!! San Lorenzo in the Copa Libertadores - I imagine half the crowd probably took the bus straight back to the asylum after the game.

Beautiful architecture and other amazing buildings

Fantastic live music and tango

Steaks (minus the tripe, kidney and other offal in a typical Argentinian parrillada)

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

For us, not really anything on Buenos Aires, Rio was far more obviously a large, crowded city but set among beautiful bays and mountains. After a few days we decided to head for Ilha Grande, a beautiful little island off the coast west of Rio, so our time in the city was reduced but we still enjoyed:

Taking the train to 'Cristo Redentor' (Christ the Redeemer), a huge statue at the top of a mountain giving panoramic views over the city.

FUTBOL!!!! Flamengo downing another Peruvian team in the Copa Libertadores. Far crazier than Buenos Aires with fireworks, flares and not one spectator sitting down during game time.

Juices! Very good, fresh fruit regularly whipped up and handed in a glass to Sophia (by regularly we mean 4 to 5 times a day.

Hangliding!!! Quite the heart-stopper and the provider of some amazing views on the Rio coastline.

Ilha Grande, Brazil











Not much to report here as we rarely ventured from our 'Posada' and its nearby beach. We stayed at this picturesque little Island for two nights getting plenty of sun and sea - including a manta ray, turtle and heaps of little fish.

Our last 3 weeks

We have really enjoyed our last 3 weeks with our affectionately named hire car ¨Barry¨. We spent 2 weeks driving around the lakes region from Bariloche in a cirle, so finished in Bariloche and returned the car. It was great to be able to go where and when we wanted, which we haven't been able to do with public transport.
After returning the car, we spent a few more days in Bariloche then headed down to El Calafate, and now find ourselves back in Chile in Puerto Natales about to embark on 6 days of hiking through Torres Del Paine National Park.

So, as a summary, some of our highlights have been:

Hiking 1900m up Cerro Alto Dedal in Parque Nacional Los Alerces - was like doing a step class for about 3.5hours and then sliding and slipping on bamboo on the descent, but an awesome view overlooking the mountains and lakes made it worthwhile.

Running out of petrol in the very very small town of Villa Santa Lucia in Chile and having to hitch a ride into the closest main town, Chaiten, in the pouring rain. (After Pete tried for about an hour, Sophia managed to stop a truck for a ride on her first attempt!) Returning to the car the next day with 10L of petrol in hand to help Barry make it to Chaiten!

Catching the car ferry from Caleto Gonzalo to Puerto Montt as there are no roads in this part of Chile. We did not have a ferry ticket, but thought we could buy one at the ferry - about 60km out of Chaiten. They had all sold out and run only once a day, but lucky for us (and terribly unlucky for the guy) we tried to help this guy whose van wasn't starting. He was told he couldn't get on the ferry, so we asked if we could buy his ticket - we scrounged around and managed to pay him with a combination of Chilean, Argentinian pesos and US dollars and made the ferry!

Some beautiful campsites - including a divine lakeside spot in Parque Nacional Lanin.

The number of different campside dishes that can be created with neopolitana sauce - we'd be making Nigella proud I'm sure.

Meeting up with our Argentinian/UK buddies in San Martin de Los Andes again and having a homecooked Argentinian BBQ - this is NO place for vegetarians!

Hiring a cabaña for 2 nights in San Martin - luxury after camping or 1.5 weeks! It even had cable TV and some quality US sitcoms to entertain us!Returning to Bariloche and:
returning the hire car and not being charged for the 15cm long windscreen cut we caused;
riding push bikes 25km around a circuit of lakes/hills;
walking 20km from Cerro Catedral and hand/rock climbing for about 2 hours!
not being able to walk properly the next day.

El Calafate and visiting the jaw-droppingly amazing Perito Merino Glacier - the photos do not do this incredible glacier justice.

So that is a brief summary. We are currently in Puerto Natales and about to embark on 6 days of the 'W' circuit in Torres Del Paine National Park. At least we have 18 hours of daylight everyday at the moment! Wish us luck and we'll let you know how it goes.