After a gruelling 20 hour bus journey from Puerto Madryn where we had been whale watching, we finally arrived in Buenos Aires for a family holiday with Alex’s parents. Argentina’s grand capital is a huge city of multiple barrios located on the shore of the estuary of the wide brown Rio de la Plata....
Our Travellers’ tips for Santiago and around
Santiago Santiago, staged at the foot of the dramatic Andes mountain range, is an absolutely huge city, most of it being modern high-rise and sprawl. Over 30% of the country’s population live there (that’s 5 million). Despite it being a mega city, we found it enjoyable, easy to navigate and with ample green spaces....
Valpo! A portrait of Valparaiso.
Valparaíso, or Valpo as it is affectionately called, is a significant port 120km from Santiago, which rose to importance following Chile’s independence from Spain and the liberalisation of trade. Copper, silver and nitrate were the main international exports, with many foreign investors (especially the British) flocking to the city to make their fortunes. Valparaíso...
The amazing graffiti of Valparaíso
Do you like graffiti? Is it an eyesore or art? If you are inclined to think the former, then perhaps a trip to Chile to see the amazing graffiti of Valparaíso, would change your mind! Valparaíso’s artists have covered, with varying degrees of skill, a huge percentage of the city’s labyrinth of streets. The...
The king of all mountains – Our tour of the mines of Potosí, Bolivia
Some time has elapsed since our tour of the mines of Potosí. What started out as a brief explanation of our curious experience has turned into something more in-depth. The more we wrote, the more we realised that we needed to write, in order to make sense in our minds of the history and...
Our travellers’ tips for North Chile
After almost a month traveling around Bolivia, our first couple of weeks in Chile were spent in the north of this long, thin and diverse country. We started our journey in the hot desert at altitude and then we descended to more humid lush ground where fruit, vegetables and vines flourish. From adobe houses...
Sucre, Bolivia – the laid back white city…and some dinosaurs!
Written by Jess. We were looking forward to stopping in Sucre, Bolivia, especially after the chaotic Copacabana and the sprawling mass that is La Paz. We were not disappointed! Sucre, a UNESCO world heritage site, is actually the official capital of Bolivia. It is a relatively small colonial city nestled at a pleasant spring-like...
The sprawling city of La Paz, Bolivia
Contrary to popular belief (at least I didn’t know), La Paz, Bolivia is not the country’s capital, nor is it the highest city in the world. Those merits go to Sucre and Potosi respectively. We entered La Paz via bus from Copacabana so we first drove through the zone of El Alto, a city...
The strange pilgrimage town of Copacabana, Bolivia.
Copacabana, Bolivia is a small town on the shore of Lake Titicaca, for tourists, it serves as a base for exploring the islands of the lake. As Bolivia no longer has any coast, Lake Titicaca holds the same fascination as the seaside for many Bolivians. Copacabana is also very close to the Kasani border...
The Peruvian side of Lake Titicaca – Puno, Taquile & Uros
Puno For many tourists and travellers Puno is either the last stop in Peru before they move on to Bolivia, or their first taste of the country, having arrived from the somewhat more chaotic Copacabana on the Bolivian side of Lake Titicaca. A cheeky Peruvian told us that although the lake belongs to both...