Mishaps

We are now in the airport, waiting to check in to return to England. Whilst travelling there have been a few things that have happened that we didn't mention. Here is the list, in no particular order.

Ben was bitten by a dog, (so far, no rabies)
Rachel was thrown off a stallion
A taxi drove off with our stuff in it...without us
Our bus was attacked by locals throwing stones...only one window was broken (not ours)
Ben was electrocuted; twice...in the shower
Had to run out of a mine in Potosi, due to a medium sized rock fall on the pathway out
We were ill for 10 days in La Paz
Rachel got stuck in a geyser
Ben fell of a (small) cliff


There are certainly more, but this is all we can remember right now. We are both in one piece (each), and look forward to seeing you all very soon.

Oh, and we got engaged as well! but that´s not a mishap, that was on purpose.

Landscapes

So, this trip is coming to an end, and the next adventure is about to begin. We have just returned from a 4 day hike to Machu Picchu, and I was thinking about some of the amazing and varied scenery we have seen. I thought I would put a few pictures up. Pictures speak a thousand words, but no words can descibe how stunning these places were in real life!

First time in the jungle.

Waterfalls.

Thousands of kilometers of flat Pampas.

Close up to a glacier on a mountain top in Patagonia.

Pumice desert and geysers.

Patagonian lake district from on top.

The ocean at Penisula Valdes, Argentina.

Salt flats in the Altiplano.

The colourful hills of Jujuy.

We are on the road again in 5 mins, from Cusco, to La Paz, through Bolivia down to Cordoba in Argentina. Should take two or three days. More landscape pictures to continue. Thank you mum and dad for your parcels for the kids! Good bye Cusco.

Written in Argentina

drinking in the last minutes of
golden sunlight, like a tea
thick with honey

grass almost shimmering
warmth on your face
seeing the world through
glistening eyelashes

lapping in the luxury of the
comfortable, creamy sunlight
a soothing balm after
burning heat f day

the long shadws put the
grasses to rest, stretching
long across the fields
like blankets.

Sunrise - a new dawn

This weekend we went to the edge of the andes to watch the sunrise over the Peruvian rainforest. Although it meant getting up at 3am, and a lot of mountain roads it was well worth it. The sunrise photos seem like an apt oppurtunity to announce that Ben will be attending Imperial to complete a PhD in quantum optics in the autumn, and Rachel will be attending Oxford Brookes, and studying Midwifery. A new start we are looking forward to....after a bit more travelling and more volunteering!

Jumping for joy! with two fellow volunteers.

Spinning in the sunshine!

Well, it was quite romantic!

Two fellow volunteers on a hill top watching dawn break over the Amozan.

Squint and you can see not one, but three suns rising! Tres Cruses is know for this stunning effect, and it's beautiful sunrises. Things you can't tell from the photo are that the birds are singing, a hidden river is trickling down the mountain, and the intense feeling of life on the hills and in the jungle below.

The happy couple!!

Bolivia in Pictures

Well, it has been a while since our last blog, and since a picture tells a thousand words, we will be catching up through photos, enjoy! Double click to see the pictures properly.

River crossing on a two day horse riding trip in the rural area around Tupiza, South Bolivia.

Prepared to go into the local miners tunnels in Potosi. Miners work with hand tools and a hammer for pittance in attrocious conditions, a pretty eye opening experience which will make us thing twice about buying precious metals and minerals.

It is market day in the small town of Tarabuco. Indiginous poeple travel from nearby villages on foot and bus. It is bananas!

Locals sitting around during a talent competition in Tarabuco. A moment of realisation when you look up and you are in a crowd of Bolivians in traditional dress.

Our escape from La Paz, surrounded by the Cordillera Real.

The view of lake Titicaca from Copacabana, a cool pleasant evening after the bustle of La Paz.

Bolivia from lake Titicaca, paddling by a reed bed on a day's kayaking trip...that resulted in burnt hands and very tired arms.

Adios Argentina, Hola Bolivia

Today is border crossing day. We are crossing from La Quiaca, Argentina to Villazon, Bolivia. The scenery and culture has already changed lots since Patagonia. The north of Argentina has more women in traditional Argentinian dress (A knee length skirt, blouse, apron, cardigan, two long braids with beads at the ends, and a wide brimmed hat), the food contains more corn, the markets are full of andean potatoes, and there is more and more llama wool and handwoven tapestry handicrafts. It is also getting colder at night, although the sun is very strong at this altitude during the day, (today we are at 34440m).

We are travelling with a friend we met at Mama Roja now, (did you spot her in the pictures in yesterdays blog?) and it is nice to be three people, all with different favourite things to do and see. The trip will definitely be richer because of it!

Gracias Pachamama

We have just arrived in Purmamarca (Jujuy, Argentina), and opposite me is a small pink peak with iron red, copper green and basalt grey stipes diagonally down it. on the right hand side of the mountain, it looks like the ancient temples of Petra, but carved by the wind and the rain. Below the mountain and to my left is the old colonial town of Purmamarca, and in front of me a veil of trees. I am sitting on our bedroom doorstep, and there is a similar view from bed.

Our journey here was no less amazing. We left Salta at first light this morning with two other people and a guide, from where we headed west into the Quedbrada del Toro (gorge of the bull). A wide gorge where the tren de las nubes begins its long climb to Chile. In its own microclimate, their are no clouds in the gorge, just mountains towering 1000 meters each side. Within 10 minutes the flora has changed too, from shrubby trees to giant cacti; some over 450 years old and 9 meters high. We soon arrived in a Quechua village of about 80 people. They farm llama, Alpaca, sheep and vegetables, and make handicrafts. Raquel has a beautiful handwoven shawl. A few hundred meters above the village of Santa Rosa de Tastil are pre-Incan ruins -- granite stone walls standing about a meter high. They start just below a small peak and once you climb over the brow, you can see that they extend continuously down the other side to cover 11 hectares! Behind them, the gorge continues into the distance with its lush green floor.

We climb out of the gorge over our 2nd highest pass at 4000m and into the puna. As we do so we glimpse the snowly 6380 peak of Chani. The puna in Chile is called the altiplano, or high plateau and it is a wide flat valley that lies at 3400m and extends all the way to La Paz.

We pass through the mining town on San Antonio de los Cobres and on through the puna towards the salt flats for lunch. One of the other members of the group goes all wobbly halfway there. It may have been the altitude, or he may have forgotten to breathe whilst sleeping in the back of the car. Everybody else is fine. The salt flat emerges as a white band on the horizon, and as we draw closer mirages begin to appear all around. This cracked white flat gritty surface is stunning; quite literally as you can´t see a thing, it is so bright and it is hot. It is fine to walk with your eyes closed though, because there is nothign to walk into.

After tuna mayonese sandwiches and a sprinkling of dubious cream cheese we head out of the puna. Storms are brewing over the highest summits as we climb to our highest point of the day, the Paso de Jaman, 4170m. Ben wanted to run to the nearest peak to get a better view, but there wasn´t enough time or oxygen. Just the other side, the clouds are thick down to 4000m where we suddenly view the road that winds down another 2000m to Purmamarca, 30km away.

The scenery changes rapidly as we descend to red rain cut mountiains. Thousands of thin eroded spurs look like a gothic chessboard army. As we arrive in Purmamarca the colourful rocks erupt out of the ground. There are about 7 contrasting shades of rock, all in one view. The quaint little hostel we are staying in is at the back of the town and our bedroom is 5m abouve the courtyard, on the side of the hill. Midway through writing this two people arrived from apparently nowhere: a trail leads up behind our room over another colourful rocky ridge, which makes a hoorseshoe around the town. What a gerat place to be our home for the next few days.

Thank you Mother Earth!

Roughing it in Mendoza

Mendoza is a modern city full of wide, tree lined streets. Although it is a big city, on Sunday mornings it is almost deserted, as it is any day during siesta time. Even though autumn has begun in the southern hemisphere Mendoza is still hot, and a siesta mandatory. On the roads leading into the city trucks are laden with fresh fruits and vegetables bound for the many small Fruterias and the larger fruit distribution centers.

The fruits and vegetables are fresh and delicious, tomatoes are perfectly ripe, and sold in bulk on roadsides and out of gardens for salsa de tomates. There are plums, peaches, watermelons, white melons, squashes, corn on the cob, green with freshness, as well as apples, onoins, spring onoins, sweet potatoes, potatoes, and many other vegetables.

The city is overlooked by some of the biggest mountains in the Andes, and you can follow in their shadow to the small vineyards, wineries, and olive groves that surround the city. Cycling or driving you can skip from winery to winery, enjoyign a short tour and a generous tasting session. Most famous for the Malbec wines in the area, there is the opportunity to taste differently aged wines side by side, slowly developing an awareness for the tastes of age.

When the wine and sun begins to go to your head you can head to a traditional restaurant serving food slow cooked in a clay oven, often in a light wine sauce, covered in vegetables and served with ubiquitous potatoes (native to the andes).

Iguazu in pictures

We are in Patagonia now, and loving it! We just finished a 4 day trek (trip report and pictures soon). But now a few pictures of our trip to Iguazu Falls.

Us in front of one of the smaller waterfalls; Salto Bochetti.

A Capuchin monkey, on the nature trail in the national park, we also saw a greater pit viper, but decided not to pause for a photo!

A shot of the big Cataratas, known as the Garganta del Diablo (Devil´s Throat). To be honest, pictures don´t do it justice!

Raquelita y una mariposa.

Iguazu

Well, after a month at mama roja we hopped on a bus and went north to Iguazu Falls it was amazing and a great way to finish this section of the trip. Today we head south to Buenos Aires for a few hours before gettting a bus to El Bolson, in Patagonia.

We are looking forward to cooler weather and less bugs! and we will be there in about 2 days...maybe a bit longer! That´s a lot of crocheting and a lot of reading .


Pictures to follow, time to get on the bus!

Milk that cow

This week, Saturday is our day off, and there is a much needed rain storm outside. It has been really hot (38 - 40) and humid and will hopefully clear now! Over the last week we have been busy building up the stone walls of the bathroom, setting a fire in the well in progress to break through the bed rock, and looking after Paloma the cow and her calf Suki.

On two occasions we have cow sat Paloma and Suki, to let the farm owners Kim and Marcelo go into town. Paloma is a moody cow with horns, but Suki is lovely. After enticing Paloma into her cow shed, we both milked her (4 litres on Thursday), then led her of to graze for the day. We didn't realise how much stronger than us cows are! Pictures to follow soon!

Our spanish has improved lots in the past week, since some Argentinians arrived at the farm a week ago. We get much more practise and our confidence is growing. Rachel´s crocheting has progressed, and this week´s project is some trousers for yoga and general merriment. handsewn, no less!

Farming - The Mama Roja way

It has been a week and a half but we have been busy, and are thriving! After a day and a half of travelling and a day off around the Jesuit ruins at San Ignacio, we arrived at Mama Roja. It sits deep in a valley in the middle of sub tropical jungle. It is such an amazing place, very hot (35 degrees most days), and there is life absolutely everywhere. We work in the mornings then stop at lunch, and enjoy a siesta or tinker about in the afternoon shade. Although it doesn´t sound like hard work, in the heat it can be! But more than anything it is so enjoyable.

We have a little tent snuck up a jungle track near the yoga platform (in progress). There is no electricity, a compost toilet, and everything is cooked on a wood burning stove. When in San Ignacio, we realised that we would not have another opportunity to have a shower for a while... but who cares when you can bathe in a river whenever you like. Yesterday, after 55 mm of rain in the morning the waterfall was flowing beautifully.

It feels so remote at times, expecially as we are at the bottom of the valley and all around us is jungle. We are learning to live with nature, we work when we can rather than to a schedule, and half our clothes have gone pink from the red soil. The different pace of life really hit us when we arrived, you can't rush things. Ben has even learnt that the snakes (only three sightings so far) are not out to get him, and if you leave them alone, they leave you alone too. Today is our first day in the outside world in 10 days.

We took the opportunity to buy yarn (Rachel is learning to crochet) and buy some meat and nuts, (the farm food is vegetarian, and slightly lacking in protein, so we thought we would stock up). Next stop is the pizza restaurant, the food is great and very healthy, but it is nice to have something different. Mostly we eat, potaotes, eggplants, carrots, squash, tomatoes, onions, garlic, cucumber, eggs, and milk from the farm cow - Paloma.


During the mornings we have learned to make adobe bricks, dug a well (partially), laid foundations for a bathroom, gathered and chopped firewood, learned to cook on a wood burning stove, and learned countless little things like how to make good compost, water saving tricks, and how to dig burrowing insects out of our toes.


Still to come while we are at Mama Roja, building the walls for the bathroom, finish the yoga platform, milking Paloma, building a natural damn, experimenting with solar cooking and lots more!

Watch this space!

Uruguay

We are in Uruguay! Whilst staying in the hostel in BA we met a couple who had just come from here, and we decided it would be an interesting way to get up to Misiones. At the moment we are staying in Colonia del Sacramento. We took a rather hairy one hour ferry ride across the estuary from BA yesterday. We arrived in the morning and had a relaxing day wandering through the streets of the old town, looking at handicrafts, eating ice cream and empanadas (not all at the same time). We decided to stay here another day, with the beach in mind, but it is raining so we may have to rethink. Either way it will be a slow relaxing day adjusting to the pace of travelling, and enjoying the peace after busy Buenos Aires.

Buenos Aires

We have arrived! yesterday was our first day in South America, and it was a great place to begin. It is hot and sticky here, and very different from what we are used to, especially this tiem of year! We visited the famous Recoleta cemetary yesterday, which was an insight into Argentinian culture. Each mausoleum was like a small architectural marvel, and there were stray cats everywhere, eating cat food. Someone must have left it there for them, perhaps they are the guardians of this maze like city of the dead. Evita´s grave was anticlimactic (no fanfare or fireworks, just tourists), but the rest of it was fascinating.



We spent the rest of the day basking, wandering, and pootling, it way a joy after the rushing we have been doing recently in preparation to get here.



Today is a day for exploratrion of some of the other districts in BA, San Telmo and La Boca, and for a big juicy Aregentinian steak!

Computrer is acting up a bit, so we will add the pictures later,

Have a great day everyone, (we certainly will)!

El Plan

Tomorrow evening we board our plane Buenos Aires, Argentina, and begin 6 months of adventure and discovery. What lies ahead, even what tomorrow will entail, feels beyond the horizons we know today. It is amazing to think that in 6 months we shall be looking back with familiarity, understanding, and fresh outlooks. So here we'll put down the plans we have now, with the details to be sketched in over the months to come.

We will spend 2 days in Buenos Aires, exploring the streets and sampling the steak. It may be a shock to the system, the new language, the foreign smells, not to mention the hot summer weather of the southern hemisphere.

Following this we plan to make or way by bus up to the province of Misiones, we have already ear-marked a few national parks to stop by on the way (one boasts anaconda and wonderful bird life)!

As long as we aren't eaten by the anaconda we will then make our way further north to the small town of Campo Ramon, and to the farm where we will spend 8 weeks(http://mamaroja.blogspot.com/). By this time it will be the 2nd of February, and the suntan will be well underway.

Following this, and with advice and stories to guide us, we will head south again, through the gaucho country known as the Pampas, and into Patagonia. We will have 2 months to explore Patagonia and head up towards Peru.

Once in Peru we will ascend into the Andes, were our base will be the 'gateway' to the Inca heartland, the Gringo capital of the continent, Cusco. It is here that we hope to purchase our first ponchos, and perhaps some mountain alpaca yarn. We will be working for a small, locally based charity whilst in Cusco, helping children prepare for the public school system in the mornings, and teaching adults English in the afternoons.

After 6 weeks in Cusco, we have 2 weeks to make our way back to Buenos Aires. We are not sure how, but Rachel would love to see the rainforest & Ben wants to see Lake Titicaca, other options include Uruguay, which is a short ferry ride from Buenos Aires, hopefully we will be able to agree! or, failing that, toss a coin.

Our last day on the continent, will be Rachel's first wintry birthday, and then we will head back to London and a fanfare of adoring family and friends who have missed us...a bit like you miss a migraine!