A bit more Bolivia then Machu Picchu to Colombia

Bolivian ladies wrestling - bizarre!

We stayed in La Paz one more day- long enough for me to go and watch the Bolivian ladies wrestling, so strange! It’s Bolivian ladies in traditional dress fighting lycra clad men, the crowd loved it though!

Just minding his own business and enjoying the view, before water carrying duties!

From there we went to Copacabana for one night then over to Isla Del Sol for a night which is on Lake Titicaca.  The island was beautiful.  The place we stayed in had no electricity so we had to use candles at night (whilst watching a film on the laptop!) and all the water was brought up from the lake by donkeys.  The altitude made everything really tough.  It’s the highest lake in the world apparently.  

Highest point on Isla Del Sol

Daily life on Isla Del Sol- just putting the llamas away for the night!

We managed to walk to the highest point on the island and the views from the top were spectacular- we could see right over to Peru.  We went back to the main land the next day and caught a night bus over the border to Peru and all the way up to Cuzco.  Bolivia has been amazing definitely one of our favourite places so far, it is just a beautiful place with really friendly people.  

The view from our bedroom of the sunrise- amazing!

We arrived in Cuzco at about 3 in the morning (much earlier than we were told!)  very dazed and confused,  I managed to leave my MP3 player on the bus – I still have the headphones though, not sure how I managed that!  A lady at the bus station was advertising a hostel and because there was no other option we went there to get some sleep- big mistake.  The walls were paper thin and there was a hole in the wall from our room to the corridor so we got woken up early, the pillows were filled with cement or something similar so were quite uncomfortable, and when we had a shower in the morning there were actual mushrooms growing in the gaps between the tiles! Amazing really they were not small, big enough to eat- which after the measly breakfast we were considering doing.  We then checked in to a lovely little hotel for the rest of our time in Cuzco so no harm done.   

Sacred valley- that is sacred corn growing at the bottom!

We did a day tour of the Sacred Valley which has lots of Inca sites in the warm up to Machu Picchu the next day.  We had to get up at 3.30am to get in the queue for the bus to Machu Picchu, they only let 400 people go up Wayna Picchu which is a viewpoint so we had to get there early.  We managed to get the tickets and then wandered around Machu Picchu by ourselves for a while then had a tour for a couple of hours.  When we first got there we couldn’t see much as it was really misty but the mist cleared later for the tour and just long enough to get some pictures from the top- then it rained and rained!  It was really interesting though and very impressive.  The photos don’t really do it justice. 

Machu Picchu, Wayna Picchu is the mountain in the background- we climbed that!

View from the top of Wayna Picchu.  

From there we have mostly been on buses! We have travelled about 4000km in the last couple of weeks.  We stopped off at Quito for Good Friday and saw the Easter procession (and were in it by accident for a while!).  We are currently in Bogota, Colombia which is a lovely city, catching up on sleep and meals!    

In Quito, Good Friday Procession.   

Beautiful Bolivia!

Cowboy Timmy!

From Salta we caught a bus over the border into Bolivia and were there illegally for a few minutes as we followed an old Bolivian guy who took us the back way over the border!  We had to go back to the border crossing and get our passports stamped. We headed straight up to Tupiza, which is only a few km’s from the place where Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid were killed- it’s proper cowboy country which I loved, just like The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (my favourite film!).  We decided to go horse riding and had a great morning doing lots of galloping, the scenery was awesome too. 

Tupiza Scenery

View of the mountains

From Tupiza we did a four day tour ending up in Uyani at the salt flats.  We were in a jeep for 4 days and stayed in really basic accommodation for 3 nights- no showers until the final night and it was freezing cold as we were at about 4000m.  

Glamorous Llama (yummy!)

We ate llama on the first day which was really nice although felt a bit bad as we were in a field of llama at the time!  The farmed llama have wool sewn into their ears to mark which farm they’re from which makes them look so cute and a bit glamorous like little earrings. 

Devil's pass, with the gang - Lorna, Guy and Tomar

Llama in the national park, the mountain behind is a volcano.

The tour was fantastic, we had a great group and an amazing guide.  We saw some really beautiful views, loads of llama, vizcachas (a cross between wallabies and rabbits), a fox, condors and flamingos.  

In the hot springs in the national park (our only bath for 3 days!)

The green lake- coloured by arsenic.  Tim suggested I have a little swim... that's what 8 months travelling does!

Flamingos on the red lake at sunrise

Vicacha! Check out his whiskers!

It included going to lots of different lakes of different colours because of the minerals in them, hot springs, little traditional Bolivian villages and finally the salt flats.  It was lots of early mornings, most days we were up before dawn but it was worth it to see the sunrise especially over the salt flats.  We had a lot of fun taking silly photos on the flats too.  The whole four days were brilliant, Bolivia is a really spectacular place and the people are so friendly.  

Another amazing lake/volcano combo

Sunrise on the salt flats

Silly salt flat photos! 

After the tour we got the night bus up to La Paz, the capital of Bolivia and are staying for a few days before crossing over into Peru.  We carried on travelling with some of the guys from the Tupiza tour and had a great night out on Saturday night although the altitude makes hangovers even worse!            

With the rest of the gang from the tour- it got messy from here on in! Ended up in a tiny, sweaty Bolivian nightclub until 5am!

Uruguay, Argentina, Paraguay and Argentina (again)!



Montevideo - The Porche garage was round the corner

We went from Buenos Aires to Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay where we only stayed for one night.  It is a funny city, a real mix of rich and poor.  We walked past a Porche garage then saw a Horse and cart on the same street.  There’s lots of people sleeping rough and living in little homemade tents too, it made me feel very lucky to have everything we have.  The town itself was beautiful though with the same sort of architecture as Buenos Aires.  We got to the bus station ready to get a bus to Sau Paulo in Brazil but there wasn’t one until the following week!  A quick check of the guide book and we decided Brazil would have to wait for another trip and headed up to Iguacu Falls in Argentina.  It took 3 buses and about 24 hours to get there but it was worth it as the falls were amazing.  They are huge and really beautiful.  We got a little train up to the Devil’s Throat which is the main attraction; it’s the biggest waterfall and is just phenomenal.  The water is so loud you can’t hear each other and we got soaked with the spray! Tim had the biggest steak I have ever seen in Puerto Iguacu, it was about 25 ounces and filled with bacon, cheese and tomato and about 3 inches thick.  Even Tim struggled with it but he did manage to finish it and his chips then we waddled home for a rest!

Iguacu Falls

The devil's throat

From there we headed to Paraguay, another very long bus journey with a strange arrangement at the border where they let you through, drop you off in town (which is full of dodgy looking Paraguayans)  then you have to walk back to get your passport stamped, then catch another bus to the bus station!  As we drove up to Asuncion, the capital, neither of us were very taken with Paraguay and decided it wasn’t for us.  So, at the bus station we got another bus straight up to Salta in Argentina (via a 10 hour wait in Corrientes).  We just can’t get enough of those steaks!  We have just been chilling out in Salta for the last couple of days, getting ready for the next bus journey to Bolivia and enjoying the sunshine (and more steaks and red wine!)

Yum Yum- Malbec and Steaks

Steak! This is nothing compared to Tim's from the previous night though!

Chile and Argentina

Santiago

We arrived in Santiago on Monday afternoon at 2pm which was very confusing as we had set off at 6pm Monday from New Zealand.  That day ended up being 40 hours long! Understandably we were exhausted and it took us a couple of days to get over it.  We decided to go south to Pucon after a couple of days in Santiago.  We got an overnight bus which had seats that turn into little beds and an attendant who brings you drinks and snacks, it was great!  We loved Pucon as soon as we got there, it’s a small town on a lake with a volcano and mountains in the background with lots of wooden cabins, and we stayed with the loveliest lady in a great little hostel.  In the winter it is a ski resort and has that kind of feel to it, it made us both miss skiing lots!



Professionals, complete with crampons and ice picks!




Real live volcano!




Sliding down in the snow, action man!



The volcano from Pucon town centre

The main thing to do in Pucon is to climb the volcano which we did the day after we arrived.  The weather was amazing all the day and the views were spectacular the whole way up.  We decided to climb it all instead of getting the ski lift up the first part, a decision which we regretted as soon as we saw everybody else going up on the lift whilst we slogged up in volcanic sand!  It took about 4 hours to get up to the top and I think it is the hardest thing I have ever done, at some points you just have to concentrate on putting one foot in front of the other and breathing – the altitude makes it extra hard, Tim had a rough time because his boots weren’t big enough and hurt his feet.  We did eventually make it though and it was worth it, we looked right down into the volcano crater and could see the smoke coming out and hear the lava bubbling and the volcano rumbling.  It was pretty surreal.  The view was the best though, it was so clear we could see for miles including the lake by the village and another volcano over the border in Argentina.  After spending 4 hours climbing the volcano we strapped on our protective nappies and back down in the snow on our bums.  We had to use our ice picks to control our speed (or not!) and it took us all of 45 minutes to get back down. 

Pepe - Such a sweetie!

Best way to see the Andes- from the back of a horse.

View of the lake- Amazing!

The next day we went over the border to San Martin De Los Andes in Argentina.  It had a similar feel to Pucon, a ski town by a lake.  We met up with Yvonne, a friend of a friend, and she took us out for a lovely steak in a family restaurant followed by amazing ice-cream – two things which Argentina does particularly well according to Yvonne.  The next day she took us up to her riding stables and I went out riding with her and a friend whilst Tim sunbathed, took in the view and relaxed by the lake with a book.  The ride was fantastic, we had proper cowboy style saddles and I felt like Clint Eastwood the whole time.  We rode for about 2 hours and went up to some brilliant viewpoints where we could see the Andes and the lake.  The scenery is so amazing, it is so beautiful here. 

Tango dancers in Buenos Aires

We caught a bus from San Martin to Bariloche, stayed one night then headed up to Buenos Aires on a bus which took 22 hours.  It’s not as bad as it sounds as they show films and we slept for a lot of the journey.  We wandered around the city earlier and got thoroughly lost, the city has some really beautiful buildings and monuments.  We watched Juan, another friend of a friend, play with his band which was really good then the next day enjoyed the celebrations for Memorial Day, a national holiday in Argentina.  It was crazy with parades and dancing everywhere.  In the evening we saw a free open air concert with Domingo (one of the 3 tenors) with about 200,000 people.  We had to leave early because we had to get the night bus to Montevideo, Uruguay.  What we saw was fantastic though.        

Yachts and The Royal Wedding!

On Bliss with Ross in Auckland

 We met up with Ross Haerle in Auckland.  He is the captain of this beautiful yacht Bliss which is just amazing- worth millions too!  It was great to catch up  with him and have a look round the boat too. How the other half live!

From there we flew over to Sydney ready for Alec and Sophie's wedding.  Rachel (who we met in thailand ) is now living there so we caught up with her over a few glasses of vino and homemade pizzas which was in Rach's words) loverly!  We also saw Katie again and met her two beautiful kids Bodie and Sharnie, I didn't get any photos though sorry!

In the hotel before with the best man Adam, his wife Annette, and Tom.
With just a hint of nerves!

 Then it was the wedding, Alec and Sophie got married in a park overlooking part of the harbour in, after some initial worries about the weather, blazing sunshine.  It was a gorgeous ceremony and the bride looked beautiful as you can see.
    

Here comes the bride - looking amazing!

Exchanging the rings

In the restaurant

Cutting the cake on the boat

 Alec's speech was amazing - a real tear jerker though.  There was one line "there may be a royal wedding this year, but there's only one princess" brought the house down, not a dry eye in the place! 

Proud parents Trevor and Jean

After the meal in the restaurant we headed on a cruise around Sydney Harbour which was really spectacular and special.  Then from there - Cargos! 

Tim with Tom and Ben

It was rumoured that from there the bride and Groom went to McDonalds and many people have photos to prove it! Unfortunately we got there 10 minutes too late.  :0)

We had a great day at Bondi on the following day too, although I found it a struggle with my HUGE hangover, never again ... until about 6 that evening, we never learn!

We loved spending time with everybody running up to and during the wedding and thank Alec and Sophie (and Tom) for squeezing in our 'few' items to take home! We hope you guys enjoyed your mini break to Hamilton island too and you all had a safe trip home.  

The last of New Zealand

With Michelle (brunette) and Liv (blonde), the Blackpool girls!

We went from Napier up to Lake Taupo and waited around for a day or so to see if the weather cleared enough to do a skydive, we met up with Liv and Michelle again and had a catch up.  We booked one dive and had it cancelled then decided if the next day was cloudy that was it, no skydiving.  We woke up in the morning to clear blue skies, and I thought "Oh no, I'm actually going to have to go through with this!"  

Just before the skydive in all our gear-
 yes, that little thing was the plane we went up in!

We did go through with it though and were so glad we had, Tim took it all in his stride obviously, but I was so scared.  I was last in the plane so first out which was a good thing as I had to just go for it.  It was amazing- 45 seconds of freefall then a parachute trip for about 5 minutes.  The views were fabulous and the rush was fantastic- I keep thinking back to it and can't believe we actually did it.  


Also, my skydive instructor was like a brown haired Robbie Savage, which in my eyes is a good thing!  

Huka Falls after the sky dive. 

From Taupo we headed north up to Rotorua where we went to a few of the thermal springs and Huka falls, then spent the next few days travelling up through Auckland to the Northlands so we could go diving at Poor Knights, which is one of the top ten dive spots in the world.  

Thermal springs- like another planet!

Poor knights was amazing, it isn't coral reef it's kelp and it is all protected as a marine reserve so there are loads of fish and wildlife.  We saw loads of huge stingray, some were about 1.5m across and there were shoals of fish and caves to explore too.  It was really different to places we've dived so far.  

Thermal geyser

We went for a walk by this waterfall in Whangarei.  35mins round trip- we returned to the van 2 hours later, soaked, covered in mud (I fell over) and Tim had only one working flip flop left.   

  

A vintage steam train we rode at Kawakawa

Over the last few days we have found some lovely places to camp along the coast so there are a few photos of them too.  We're heading over to Sydney again tomorrow, for Sophie and Alec's wedding then after that off on the next leg- South America! 

Poor Knights dive site is the island in the distance

Sunny bay before the diving

Near Omaha