Hello and welcome to our first blog! So, it's nearly here; our first holiday together that's longer than 2 weeks. A trip that has suddenly come around after months of planning and always seeming ages away! A few people have asked how to see what we've been up to as we don't have Facebook we have decided to try a blog rather than sending various photos so watch this space... first up, Jamaica 🏖😎

Milo’s holiday started today, he’s gone to his retirement home at Granny Annie’s on the south coast and so ensues our first blog picture!

Likely our most dangerous journey yet- heading south of the river. Turns out that finding new bits of London to explore isn’t too difficult - although there did seem to be an excessive amount of Christmas on display.

We also cashed in our adventure fund enroute to the airport; glad to empty my bag of a pleasing amount of coins that we’ve collected this year!

First proper stop on our trip; Jamaica. \240Although not the longest flight in the world it certainly felt like it- not sure if it was the old plane or that we spent the whole time in daylight hours! Either way; made it on time on Friday.

Getting to the hotel turned out to be a bit of drama- despite the best planning and booking of stuff in advance; our pre booked transfer failed to turn up. Unfortunately they didn’t answer they phone either when a nice chap called them for us so we were proper stuck. Fortunately a man called Ian who drove perhaps the worlds most expensive taxi helped us out for a mere few US$.

The resort is an amazing place- right next to the sea with as much food and drink as you could wish for. So far the deep fried beer battered snapper fish has been the favourite- would probably beat cod everytime.

After two days of not doing anything we’re making good progress through our reading list and also through trying many strange concoctions from the cocktail menu.

Our last night in Jamaica arrived much quicker than either of us could have thought. Despite doing the same thing everyday (absolutely nothing) time has flown by!

Turns out that the holiday inn has a few proper restaurants as well as the buffet. We bailed on the ones with a surcharge (not sure why) but tried the Italian and Jamaican a la Carte. The Jamaican sounded nice and had an amazing view over the sea; but turned out that Jamaican food whilst sweating is an acquired taste! Top marks to the Italian restaurant; as well as air conditioning the food was amazing. I ate beef for the first time in over 5 years and have not yet died as a result.

Our penultimate night also hailed a new discovery- the creepy lounge. Although very 1980’s, the block of our hotel that we are staying in has an adults only lounge. Which in real life is some furniture from bargain hunt and a free bar (and air con!). \240We were pleased anyway.

We’ve booked our taxi back to the airport tomorrow with a new (and hopefully more reliable) company; although our flight is two hours earlier than first expected- we should have time for a final lunch buffet before a dash to the airport for our plane to Miami.

Leaving Jamaica feels like we’ve been here for a month but only one day at the same time. Top marks for the holiday inn and we both leave feeling thoroughly rested and well fed! I’ve also been lucky enough to get heat rash (standard) and Kym has got some tan lines (not-standard). Next stop USA 🇺🇸

We’ve just checked out with all of our stuff and intend on spending the day on the beach, eating and drinking as much as we can before heading stateside. I’ve just found out that today, Thursday 28th is Thanksgiving... I’m not entirely sure what this public holiday actually entails but we might find out later. Meanwhile we are desperately trying not to get sand in all (just most) of our stuff. It’s set to be another hot and sunny day here today so I’m just off for a swim (bob without getting my hair wet, where I can still see the bottom of the beach and keep an eye on any sharks that may encroach)

We flew to Miami on Thursday (thanksgiving) evening where went to pick up our hire car. We got to the desk and were told to head to the packing lot and pick any car in ‘gold’

So we headed downstairs to an array of cars all with their keys in to choose from. Once we had the car we went to the hotel; this was our first time driving on the other side of the road with the wheel on the wrong side of the car (outside of driving to ski resorts in Europe£) it was dark, but after a few wrong turns we got to the hotel at about 8pm. We headed out to get some food, there are 3 McDonald’s and loads of fast food places all within a stones throw but as it was thanksgiving everything was closed!

We resorted to a frozen pasta delight thanks to the creepy room full of food in the hotel only to wake up to Black Friday in Miami and it was exactly how you’d imagine it to be! Everything is massive here, even the free biscoff and drinks on the flight

Today we took our first big car-based adventure- heading to Key West.

Starting in Walmart (giant American Asda) was an interesting place to be for Black Friday. Seemed that most of the car park was full of both massive cars and empty cardboard boxes (mostly for huge TVs!). \240Would appear that the done thing is to buy what you want and leave the packaging in the car park.

The drive south to Key West was fairly impressive; through the edge of the Everglades national park and then onwards through a never ending series of islands and bridges, the biggest being 7 miles.

Despite being impressive - it was a long way. Not by American standards but definitely by UK standards!

Key West itself was an odd mix between Australia and South Africa; just full of American people. We visited a giant bollard thing that was allegedly the southernmost point of the USA but google maps would suggest that it wasnt (although the bits further south looked like some sort of military base).

After a few hours in town to see the sights and eat some organic gluten free chocolate brownie and almond milk (seemed like that kind of place)- we hit the road for the 3 hour trip back.

We stopped on the way back a couple of times; once by a section of bridges where both the old and the new still exist. The old bridge looked like it had seen much better days; but then it hasn’t been used since 1935 apparently.

Our last day in Miami we headed downtown. We’re not 100% sure where everything else was; but we barely saw a soul on the drive to the metro station and on the metro itself.

In town we hit all the sites, the courthouse, cruise port and Miami Beach. Being used to cities in the UK and Europe; it took us a while to get used to just how sprawling and spread out Miami was (and the rest of the US).

Today we drove from Miami to St Petersburg (that’s Florida not Russia). The drive was pretty impressive through the top part of the Everglades national park and we were treated to some amazing views of absolutely nothing that went on for miles!

Our mid journey stop was at the Oscar Scherer State park where despite the multiple warnings we didn’t see any alligators....

The trip finished by driving over the impressive Sunshine Skyway bridge into St Petersburg.

This evening was also our first night out and an American ‘Diner’. The waiter (aka Server) was very good at explaining what some of the odd things on the menu were- \240I would summarise that a hash brown casserole is a hit but a corn muffin with jelly is definitely not!

A quick drive a bit further north and we’ve arrived to Orlando.

Day 1 (Monday) winter appeared to have arrived in Florida! Mostly due to a massive storm over the rest of the US, the daytime temperature hit a chilly 15 degrees and even colder at night- almost felt like home.

Our first afternoon we headed into universal studios’ adventure island theme park. Without a pre planned route sorted; felt like it was the best plan to get on the first ride that we saw- turned out that this was one of the biggest roller coasters in the park! I think it was enjoyable afterwards but not sure Kym was a massive fan at the time.

The rest of the parks were a weird mix of people dressed up and lots of stuff from movies that I’d never heard of or were from ages ago.

The new section of both parks this year- Harry Potter land is impressive. A couple of the rides were a mix of roller coaster and 3D/4D experience- it really felt like you were on an enchanted flying bench! And escaping from a dragon in Gringotts. We also had a ride on hagrids motorbike a few times, in the day and night which is apparently top notch in terms of roller coasters. It was an amazing ride - even the short queues for the rides feel like you were walking through the tunnels and buildings of hogwarts.

Riding the hogwarts express was also on our list of things to do whilst we were here. \240We were expecting just a train in the same style as the film but it turned out that as well as being a way of travelling between the parks; the train was an experience also. The view out the window changed slowly from hogwarts (complete with people on broomsticks) to rural Scotland and then arrived into kings cross. The whole of kings cross station/London set felt very real- almost like we’d popped home!

Our second park day we went back inside for an evening rather than during the day light. The place was completely different- all lit up with lights and animations as well as projected snow! (And flying cars of course)

It’s our last day at the parks today and we might pop to volcano bay, the water park then tomorrow we’re heading on to the Kennedy space centre.

We’re off to the space centre today! Hopefully we’ll get a good view of the launch 🚀🚀

Tonight is our last night in US as we’re off to Mexico tomorrow. We visited the Kennedy Space Centre at Cape Canaveral today where we were lucky enough to watch the Falcon 9 launch to send supplies to the ISS. This was unexpected because it was originally scheduled for 24hours prior. It was an amazing experience, the sound of the rocket and being able to see it split into 2 whilst they live streamed it coming back into the atmosphere and landing perfectly on a barge in the Atlantic 7 mins after lift off was impressive. It blows my mind that NASA is only 60 years old; they have achieved so much in the space race already... I could waffle on about space for hours quite happily as George has now found out!

We’re currently driving back down to Miami along the east cost with another great sunset behind us; we’re going to a Cracker Barrel for dinner... a weird chain of restaurants which is possibly the only place where you’re unable to buy any alcohol but you are able to purchase a stuffed unicorn, 5kg apple pie, lava lamps, all day breakfast and an array of rocking chairs all at the same time.

Mexico day 1

Landing into Mexico City was a bit of a bumpy descent on the plane; apparently to do with the thermals of the mountain but was certainly noticeable! The airport was 1000 time’s better than Miami and the people felt a lot more helpful and welcoming- even immigration were nice enough.

We are staying with a friend and her family whilst in Mexico - Paty, who lives in the north west (ish) area of the city. She had hoped to meet us at the airport but got called into work last minute. Fortunately she was kind enough to arrange a driver for us; a Mexican man with a white car! For anyone who has been to Mexico; you’ll appreciate just how busy the airport is- as well as how many white cars there are. So we therefore activated our crisis plan and headed to the nearest Starbucks. Two drinks and 10 mins later a quiet chap with our names written on a sign came to find us.

The trip through Mexico City was quite an experience. Despite google maps thinking that it would take us around 30mins; Mexico traffic had other ideas. Just over and hour and a half later we arrived.

We were welcomed by Paty’s parents and brother (she was still at work) and gladly found that they all spoke pretty good English (our Spanish wouldn’t have stretched to more than a few seconds of conversation).

Our first night was a visit to Mexican “wrestling” in a huge indoor stadium. Just the journey there was eventful; it seems that there isn’t all that much decorum of driving on Mexican roads- and that’s without the huge potholes and enormous speed bumps.

To say the wrestling was odd as an understatement- essentially it was men in a boxing ring pretending to punch and slap each other until one was announced as the winner. We couldn’t quite understand to start with but the other few thousand people were super passionate about their particular wrestler winning. \240It was great to experience an evening Mexican style but we were both exhausted \240from the travelling and the jet lag (it’s an hour time difference from Miami so fairly serious).

Mexico day 2:

Second day in Mexico was a trip around the historic city centre with tour guide Paty. I never knew that there could be so much history and things to see in a city centre! We started with breakfast in a Mexican cafe- they had food we recognised like eggs and croissants but also nachos and re-fried beans (not so good).

The city is a mix of architecture and buildings built throughout a series of invaders and eras. Most of the old buildings are also leaning on strange angles- caused by the ground slowly sinking (the whole city is built on a lake drained by the Spanish). \240A few highlights included an old pyramid complex, many statutes and monuments as well as the cheapest & busiest bakery you’ve ever seen.

For dinner we tried tacos for the first time (after hearing lots and lots about them). Essentially a tiny wrap with different meat fillings- served with salsas, lime, salt and grilled (then cooled) cheese. The cheese was a stand out feature but tacos are nice enough...

Our second day (a Sunday); we left the house around 0830- which is early by Mexico City standards to head back into town to see the National Ballet of Mexico. Neither of us had seen a ballet before so weren’t that sure of what to expect. The building with the concert hall inside was fairly impressive and the cast of the show was enormous; more and more people just kept coming onto the stage. \240The show lasted a couple of hours and included all the things you would think of that a Mexican ballet should- sombreros, a band with lots of banjo-type instruments and loads of colour. \240Apparently there were a number of different dances from the multiple states of mexico included in the show- 32 in total. \240It also surprised us to see that not only were people allowed to use their phones in the concert hall; but also that loads of flash photography seemed acceptable- very odd.

After the ballet we toured a bit more of the city; they close all the main roads through the centre on a Sunday to allow people to walk/cycle without so many vehicles. Our main stop of the day was the museum of modern arts- although we didn’t expect to stay quite as long as we did! The museum had a mini film booth that we started watching (about Cuban architecture in the revolution years)- we left after around an hour and a half of watching! I’d definitely expected the footage to last 10-15mins.

After dinner (or lunch) we headed to the cultural theatre of Mexico City as we had managed to get some tickets to see the Book of Mormon tour and it was their closing night in Mexico City. We were excited to see the show on our third continent this time!

The Mexican theatre experience is very different to that of the UK! Despite the show being advertised as starting at 6.30 (which it near enough did); people were pouring through the doors until around 7 and then arguing with each other about seats!

We were moved to posh seats downstairs during the interval after sharing our thoughts with the theatre staff about the interruptions. Still, was great to see the show again and I thought it was just as good as the last two times. We’re very excited to have seen the Book of Mormon in London, Sydney and we had hoped to travel to New York to see the broadway cast perform the show but to see the broadway cast on the last night of their Mexican tour schedule was great!

Today we headed out of Mexico City- about 50k to the north to visit Teotihuacan; the Mexican version of the pyramids.

The bus ride was typically Mexican; departed late and was super bumpy on the potholes (aka roads)- but only an hour or so to arrive.

Entering the complex to start with was fairly intimidating for us; a whole mob of people with random trinkets, blankets and other tat- immediately trying to sell you stuff the minute you get on the bus. But after navigating through the people and working out how to buy a ticket; we made it in!

The complex was impressive. Not only were the pyramids huge but it also stretched almost as far as you could see into the distance. We climbed the pyramid of the sun (the tallest pyramid in the complex) and it was certainly warm up top! The view back toward the hazy city in the distance was great to see and also the mountains beyond. \240Apparently he pyramids were different to the Egyptian ones in that they were built as offerings or vehicles to link the underworld and heaven rather than as a tomb for some rich bloke.

After the pyramid we walked around the complex and had many many people trying to sell us all sorts of stuff. Everything from crystal balls to wooden whistles that sound like a jaguar. \240The on-site museum had loads of intricately carved stone and wooden artefacts found within the pyramids; amazing to think that they were all made 2000 years ago with no metal tools.

Our return bus ride dropped us back to the angel of independence in the city centre. Just in time to have a quick coffee and then dinner as the sunset over the city- we couldn’t quite see as far as our last visits to the city as the pollution levels had gone right up!

Our last full day in Mexico City today. We started with Mexican breakfast cooked by Paty’s mum- cheese and chorizo, egg and sausage with tortillas (of course) and bread.

Our plan was to visit Chapultepec castle in the city; but when we arrived the massive park around it seemed like a much more interesting visit! The park seemed to have endless water features symbolising something for other as well as the sounds of a military band practicing in the background. \240I think that we managed to see about a third of it in two hours; it was huge!

After the park we signed up as good and proper tourists by buying tickets to the open top bus tour of this city. We’d done a couple of them before and although sometimes a bit touristy; it saves having to spend hours with google maps in the streets!

The bus took us through the Roman, french and historic districts with a stop for late lunch in an organic cafe (we didn’t realise it was organic until we had sat down).

The tour finished near to the national auditorium- we think home to the biggest Mexican flag on the planet!

This evening we are planning to travel to the airport to stay in a hotel ready to fly to Lima tomorrow. Our original plan was to travel tomorrow morning; but given our experience of the terrible Mexico city traffic; we thought it best travel a bit ahead of time to save missing the flight.

Mexico City has been a great stop on our trip and has surprised us both- in a good way. I never thought that there could be so much to see in one city! Perhaps next time we’ll plan for a bit longer to see some more of the country; but our limited time has been enjoyable. \240It’s also been a nice change to stay with other people rather than just more hotels... although a few nights ahead of us in Peru involve overnight buses so I think being careful what we wish for is wise!

Peru- we’ve landed!

After a fairly long flight (5hr45) from Mexico City; we landed into Lima on time at 2030. \240Unfortunately the Peruvian immigration service had other ideas about us leaving the airport; and we queued for nearly 2 hours to get through the checks.

Fortunately; our pick up driver was still waiting on the other side ready to take us to our hotel. \240A quick trip (30mins) through the city and we managed to check in around 11pm.

The next day we tried the breakfast at the hotel (not all the successfully) and then headed into town. Our main plan was to get everything we needed for our travels south through Peru (water, money, SIM cards and snacks) as well as pick up a bus tour of the city. \240All went well with the exception of the bus tour!

Instead we had a walk around the Miraflores area and also to the ocean. Unfortunately it was cloudy and misty for the whole time so we didn’t get to see the view out to sea.

We also made contact with Milo - although we’re fairly sure that he still doesn’t really understand video calling!

Our trip south started with a 0620 pick up this morning by our tour company. They arrange the transfers and a few stops enroute and then we are free to sort accommodation and activities as we please.

After a few pick ups in Lima; we started to head south. Our first stop was for fresh Peruvian bread in the form of an avocado sandwich, served with pineapple juice. Kym was very much a fan of the pineapple juice but me not so much.

A couple of hours later we stopped at a hotel called San Jose- for a tour of the 16th century slave tunnels that lie beneath it. Really interesting to see and hear more about the Spanish occupation; but neither of us made it all the way through the tunnels on account of them being tiny, claustrophobic, dark and full of people!

We arrived into Paracus early afternoon- giving us plenty of time to explore the place. \240After a walk along the beach we managed to sneak into a super posh resort on the way back (there are some benefits to being English and not speaking Spanish)- interesting to see how the other half live but at £245 a night we felt it a bit steep!

For dinner we went to a restaurant called Il Covo- I think that I had the best squid I’ve ever eaten and Kym had a pretty good pizza. It took us a while to choose where to eat as everywhere looked fairly quiet due to the time of year.

Tomorrow we’ve booked to go on a boat trip to the Ballestas Islands (apparently known as the poor mans gallapagos) and then onto the desert for an overnight.

Today we started with breakfast on the roof of our hotel- with an amazing view out over the harbour and Pacific beyond. Breakfast at small hotels is always an interesting experience as nothing is really labelled and there generally isn’t anyone that speaks English; that and I’m worried that they’ve drizzled everything in pineapple!

Mid morning we joined a boat tour in a giant speed boat thing to head to the Ballestas Islands. Enroute we managed to see a giant drawing in the sand which looked kind of like a cactus- the guide chappy wasn’t 100% sure on why it was there but at over 170m high it was clearly a bit of work to put it there.

The islands were packed with wildlife! Sea lions, penguins, turns, pelicans and thousands of one eyed cormorants (which obviously have two eyes). We spent an hour bimbling around the islands to see all the wildlife and also listen to the chap telling us about how valuable cormorant poop is- one of Peru’s most valuable exports apparently and worth so much that two guards live permanently on the islands to protect them.

The journey back was rather moist - I think due to the boat travelling in the opposite direction and also a slight increase in the sea state; suffice to say that we were both rather moist by the time we got back to port!

After a quick drink on the prom (which looked and felt exactly like Tenerife) we boarded the bus to head to the desert. Despite a few moments as we were trying to get on and our names not appearing on the list (turns out they were there after all) the hour or so’s drive was pretty smooth).

Our first few steps into the desert town- Huacachina were hot! The absence of a sea breeze and no wind at all meant that the whole place was fairly warm. \240We checked into our hotel - which was similar to a motel style but surrounded by sand dunes and had a pool!

We’d booked an evening sand buggy and sand boarding tour for 4pm and in true Latin America style it started at 4.30pm. \240The buggy was essentially a pedal kart with a massive engine on the front- felt more like something that someone had built out of bits they’d found lying around rather than a purpose built bit of kit. After signing a waiver we couldn’t underhand; the whole thing took off into the dunes and it was certainly an experience.

Unfortunately the lack of any sort of instructions meant that we didn’t know you weren’t supposed to hold onto the seat in front of you. As Kym grabbed on after the buggy careered down a massive dune; her fingers were crushed between the seat in front and one of the supporting bars. \240Due to the appearance of much redness and swelling; we thought it best to bail out of any further sand based driving for fear of more breakages! Despite the tour people telling us that they were not paid to drop us back to the start, only run the tour route- they’d soon changed their mind and gave us a ride back into town. (Cold water and no further sand buggying has reduced the swelling so we don’t think there’s anything broken!).

We were fortunate in that our hotel had one of the towns best restaurants included in its grounds; so we headed there for dinner.

Sunday was the start of our biggest bus-based adventure yet. A 24hr marathon overnight bus journey from Huacachina to Puno.

Our first stop was about 30mins into the bus ride at a Pisca vineyard near to Huacachina. The stop was billed as a tour of the vineyard and tasting afterwards. Turned out to be a fairly odd experience; I think that the tour did involve some elements of information about how you make/grow pisco; but it was hard to spot amongst many many references to tasting!

The tasting was interesting- we were warned to expect the drinks to be sweet; but they were really sweet! We gave up half way through the samples for fear of lost teeth. My best description would be a super sweet brandy style drink with an after burn... but they probably wouldn’t put that on the bottle.

We then had a two hour hour trip to the Nazca lines viewing platform where we were able to see one of the Nazca drawings that they had accidentally cut in half whilst building the road. It was great to see but we think that seeing them from a plane would have helped to appreciate just how massive they are. Also amazing to see that they have survived so long with no maintenance at all (apparently). \240This was followed by a quick stop in Nazca town for dinner and to buy supplies for the night.

We were back on the bus for around 7pm - with a non-stop overnight trip to Arequipa at 0500! Despite the bus being designed for overnight trips and seats that went quite a long way back; Hilton need not worry about them being in competition for comfort.

After a stop at 0500 for people to get off; we carried on driving until we reached a view point over a lake- over 4400m of altitude. We thought that the lake was lake titicaca; but it turned out that we still had a couple of hours to go before we made it there.

A bit more bussing and we made it to Puno- a big city on the banks of lake titicaca. As we headed into town we both got hit a little bit by the altitude- even walking up steps was difficult. I think that a combination of the overnight bus, altitude and the whole city being on a hill meant that we struggled a little bit with walking around the place.

Following a quick lunch we joined our boat tour of the lake; leaving from the port of Puno to visit the Uros people who live on floating islands made entirely from reeds. The tour included a demo on how to make your own island and also an opportunity to eat some reeds- apparently a local delicacy but we weren’t convinced. \240As we were on the islands a huge lightening storm was heading our way over the mountains- although impressive to see not the most wanted of visitors.

As the hail stones and heavy rain started; we made for the boat and our return back to Puno. As we pulled into the port; the biggest double rainbow we’d ever seen had appeared in the sky- Kym managed to snap our favourite picture of the trip so far!

We followed the boat trip with dinner in the town and then re-boarded the bus for another night of travelling...

Our second bus overnighter was on a double decker bus; leaving at 9.30pm for an early morning arrival into Cusco. We both arrived fairly tired; but had arranged an early check in with the hotel so that we could have some rest before heading to machu pichu. Unfortunately the hotel didn’t have the room ready as hoped and the night receptionist treated us to some her best examples of how not to do customer service. After an hour and a half waiting in the lobby- we were in at 0640!

The impression of Cusco was really good; loads of quaint old streets and every shop selling something made from alpaca wool. Unfortunately our explorations were limited by me having contracted some sort of fever and a fairly powerful strain of diarrhoea- but we did get a visit in to a couple of local pharmacies. No more detail needed!

After an interesting night; we packed for Machu Pichu! We were picked up around 10am by a very impatient Spanish lady who spoke no English at all. The minibus then took us to the train station of Ollantaytambo to catch our Peru rail train to Aguas Calientes (Machu Pichu Town). It was the first ever train we’d seen that had windows in the roof; but the views on the way up explained why- the track went through some huge valleys and tunnels in amongst the mountains.

We’ve just checked into our overnight hotel ready for an 0530 start tomorrow to visit Machu Pichu itself.

Our last full day in Peru and we were excited to be heading to see Machu Pichu itself. \240We started in the breakfast room of the hotel; right next to the roaring river just outside the window- if the water was much higher it felt like the whole place would be flooded!

We chose to take the bus up to the entrance of the city; a mere 1000m of vertical height gain. \240Arriving at just before 0700 we were treated to more Peruvian customer service based chaos and unhelpful people; but were soon through the mess and into the city.

The morning was quite overcast with lots of cloud at different levels in the valleys and wrapped around the mountains. \240It was amazing to see different bits of the city appearing and disappearing into and out of the mist.

We first walked to the guard hut which had an amazing view (not that we could see it) over the city. \240Our guide told us more of the story of Machu Pichu and the associated Inca trail. Most of what we heard and read is completely based on theory and legend; very little was ever written down by the Inca people and anything that was got destroyed by the Spanish (was nice to hear it wasn’t us for a change).

After seeing 2/3 of the city on the tour; we explored the housing and education sectors of the city alone. The condition of the place is super impressive and we felt lucky to have experienced being there. \240Just comprehending how people managed to built something so perfectly with no tools was impossible to understand. \240Estimates vary; but our guide reckoned that it took 10,000 workers everyday for 100 years to build the city.

As the weather cleared we were able to get some amazing pictures of the city; we’d love to share these but aren’t going to be able to (more later).

One of the main reasons that the city survived was that the Spanish never found it. We were surprised to learn that within our lifetime the city was still mostly covered by jungle and unknown to the wider world. \240We also learnt that the tourist boom is starting to cause issues for the city. \240Having booked our tickets almost 3 months in advance; we knew that access was limited- but this limit was as high as 10k people on some days. \240We learnt that starting from next year more restriction are coming in terms of time allowed in the city itself and the erosion caused by people was starting to show. \240We also learnt that a new airport is being build nearby to almost double the number of people that will be able to fly in to visit. All things considered it was an amazing place to visit and I think we’ll both remember it for ever.

We headed down the mountain we stopped for a quick drink in the town and then set out to walk the 30min walk to the Machu Pichu museum. \240Having learned of the museum location (literally in the middle of no where and no taxis in the whole town) we were a tad cynical as to what was going to be inside.

Pleasantly surprised was our reaction upon entering. The museum told the story of the discovery and uncovering of the city as well as displaying some of the best preserved artefacts we’d ever come across. Everything from wooden bowls and spoons to broaches and pots. Photos were banned in the museum ( as an angry man told us) so you’ll have to imagine an Inca themed wooden plate!

After lunch-dinner in the town around 3; we headed back to our hotel to collect our stuff and get ready for the train ride home. \240It was in the hotel lounge we realised that we had a problem. \240As we had a bit of time, we thought it a good idea to look through our photos and pick the best few for the blog.... but a key tool for this process was missing- the camera. \240We did much searching, re-searching and double checking of the bag but it was definitely missing. \240I retraced our steps through the town, checked with the bus company and local police but it wasn’t to be seen. \240 As we worked through where we had been; we narrowed the timeframe down to whilst we were in the market. \240We’ll unlikely ever know what actually happened; but thefts within markets are not uncommon in Peru.... enough said.

Our transfer back included the Peru rail train down the valley and then a white knuckle minibus ride from the station into Cusco. \240Entertainingly, when we arrived in the city we asked the driver to drop us as he was stuck in traffic right next to our hotel- he felt that this was too dangerous due to the other cars! Our Spanish wasn’t good enough to explain to him that our chance of death by getting hit by a car was much less than that of his driving- but he got the message that we we’re getting off and eventually unlocked the door to allow us out.

We’re now back in Lima having flown from Cusco this morning; just enjoying an afternoon in the airport whilst we wait for our flight to Chile this evening.

1700 Chile time (which means just after 1900ish) and we’ve set sail from San Antonio.

Our journey from Lima to the port was fairly long but mostly uneventful. \240We were lucky enough to have managed an upgrade on the flight from Lima to Santiago; so experienced life the other side of the curtain for the first time (it was only premium economy not first class but still). Having a choice of wines to go with dinner was most excellent but definitely something out of our price range to pay for.

We stayed a night in an airport hotel and spent the morning arranging a taxi to the port (about 1.5hrs away). \240It could have been possible to go into the city on route but there have been quite a few riots recently and we’d only have had a few hours- so we decided to put it on the list to do next time.

Trying to be all modern and save a few pesos; we downloaded and tried to use a taxi app to get a ride to the port. \240After lots of attempts it was clear that it wasn’t going to work out; so we resorted to arranging one by WhatsApp with some local company. \240Our driver even turned out to speak a little English- which he persisted with for almost the whole journey bless him.

Being new to cruising; we weren’t quite sure what to expect when we arrived at the port with the exception of some trade mark South American chaos. \240

First of all a huge mass of people in a tent greeted us as we walked into the terminal area- this turned out to be where you drop your luggage off. \240A random person tagged up our stuff and it got abandoned with a load of other bags.

Then we queued for about an hour to reach the check in desk- situated at the back of what felt like an old aircraft hanger. \240At check in we had our passports confiscated (although they claim this is normal) and then queued again for airport style security.

Once on the boat we found our cabin on the 5th floor with a picture window looking out over the port and lots of sea. As our bags were still awol somewhere in the port; we tried to find somewhere to eat. \240Despite lots of the restaurants being included in our package; we found that everything was closed in preparation for the lifeboat drill. This drill took what felt like an age as everything was repeated slowly in 4 languages. I’m not sure how much we took in; except maybe how to put on a life jacket in Portuguese!

Once the drill was over we had time to get lost a few times on the boat and accidentally end up at the spa to have a look around. \240

After a full day at sea yesterday we arrived this morning at Puerto Montt.

Despite Kym suffering from suspected Ebola; we enjoyed our day aboard. \240Not having to do anything at any time at all is a strange feeling but relaxing all the same.

As with most towns in the world; our ship comes fully equipped with an Irish pub. Our summary would be a posh weatherspoons on sea; but with a view of the ocean rather than flocks of alcoholics.

The hot tub / swimming pool is also a strange place to be whilst at sea. The movement of the boat makes the water slosh around from side to side and also generates some significant waves in the swimming pool! Later on in the day we found the pool to be closed- probably due to very little water being left in it.

Today we went onto land for the first time in over a day. \240They told us that we might experience land sickness when we got ashore- and indeed they were correct! It was a very odd feeling walking around the town; it felt like you were still swaying (or drunk) despite not moving anywhere at all.

The transfers from the boat to shore were by tender as the port didn’t have a quay suitable for the cruise ship to dock. \240We had a bimble around the place for a few hours but decided to head back to the ship as the rain started good and proper. \240As this is the last big town we’re due to see for a good number of days; we also stocked up on some Ebola fighting drugs to keep Kym going as long as possible.

Next stop tomorrow at Puerto Chacabuco.

This is the link to track our ship (and see the view from the bow).

Our second port stop was Puerto Chacabuco. \240We’re still not 100% sure how it was chosen as a stop for a cruise ship- the place had a population of pretty much no one and didn’t even have a supermarket!

Even so, we headed ashore by tender (the town didn’t have a port) to have a look around. \240As we’d headed further south, the weather had been getting slowly more English. This meant that we had over cast skies and showers for the port stop.

The town was in a beautiful location amongst the Chilean Fjords and as we walked around the town and looked out from the boat you could see mountains, volcanoes and waterfalls appearing/disappearing from the cloud cover.

That evening we set sail for Punto Arenas; two days at sea. The first stretch of the journey was through the fjords- we didn’t see another boat, house or person for hours and hours! \240Once we made it to the Pacific Ocean; we were treated to our first bumpy evening afloat- 3.5m waves that made the ship a little bit wobbly (although not as wobbly we thought it would be!). We’re also staying on deck 5 of the boat, which is a whole let less wobbly than one of the restaurants on deck 12.

Christmas Day we were at sea for the whole day. Fortunately Christmas turned out to be a fairly civilised affair onboard; a bit of Christmas music and some gingerbread houses was about all that you could see. \240We went to a lecture in the morning, then to the onboard spa in the afternoon (although the swimming pool was closed as the waves were too big!) and in the evening we decided to eat in one of the table service restaurants. \240They did serve a Christmas dinner but nothing like you would see at home!

For evening entertainments; we managed to get some seats in the onboard theatre to watch band on the run. Feeling like your in the west end but still gently swaying was an odd but quite enjoyable experience and the show was really good (much better than we were expecting!). \240After, we went to the on board Irish pub (there genuinely is an Irish pub everywhere in world!) to watch the musicians playing in the lobby- an unusual duo of a flute and a mini electric guitar; however both really good.

The boat also has a slow satellite internet connection so we were able to make contact with home via an online calling app- for the first time everyone we spoke to sounded a long way away!

Today is Boxing Day, we have another day at sea- split roughly half and half; sailing through the pretty fjords and the bumpy (apparently 8m high waves) Pacific Ocean

Today we arrived at 0600 (ish- we don’t know precisely due to being asleep!) In to Punto Arenas.

Yesterday afternoon we cruised through more of the Patagonian fjords and were able to see a bit more from the boat thanks to the weather clearing a bit. We were also excited to see our first glacier coming down from the surrounding hills (there is a photo below but as we took it through the pub window it’s not the best!)

Our second visit to the theatre during the evening was to see an acoustic guitar pair- apparently they became a duo after coming joint first in some guitar competition. Suffice to say that their guitar playing was excellent!

After a bit of a delay this morning due to the wind; the tender service started up and we (well Kym) collected some tickets and waited for our time to go ashore. \240The trip from the ship to the shore was the longest yet at almost 25mins; but we’ve thoroughly adapted to cruise time now so it didn’t feel like long. \240Arriving at the port we cleared the normal security process stuff ( mostly searching for fruit being brought ashore) and we got into the town.

Given the size of the place we decided to hire some bikes from a chap by the side of the road. \240Cycling worked out well as the promenade went on for ever into the distance. \240As well as the beach we visited the towns cemetery; which was apparently one of the top places to visit as recommend by trip advisor. It was interesting to walk around and see all of the french architecture, manicured (or part manicured) trees- we also tried to listen into a few of the formal tours to find out a bit more; but Kym got out poshed and scowled at by one of the groups.

After a few hours of cycling round the hilly town; we’d seen the main sites and headed back to onboard for lunch. It’s also the first time we’ve had a phone signal for a fair few days so a good chance to buy more books for the kindle.

Next stop tomorrow afternoon in Ushuaia- the most southerly town on the planet and our first stop in Argentina.

Not long after departing Punto Arenas we again checked into the theatre onboard- this time to watch The Beatles (although the poster said that they weren’t the real ones?). \240They did an amazing show and clearly the music was the right choice for the average age on the ship- and us!

This morning; we set an alarm for 0600 (very much a shock as we’ve been on cruise time for a week), although I did sleep through it at first. \240The alarm was to get out onto the deck and see the glaciers of “glacier alley” which is the nick name of the north west entrance into the beagle channel. \240It was impressive to see them, glacier after glacier coming down from the hills and toward the water. \240Sadly they have all shrunk and some have started to retreat quite significantly recently; but the size of them is still hard to understand.

After the early start, we hit the breakfast buffet and the spa to await our 1230 arrival into Ushuaia- the end of the world!

We docked into Ushuaia- our first port visit without needing to use the boats tenders, and went ashore. \240Normally arriving to shore you have to go through many metal detectors, have your back x-rayed and through lots of police type people. \240Ushuaia port had all of this but no one attending any of it- so we all walked through the detector that was beeping away and into the town.

The town was the most picturesque we’d been to yet and clearly had much more infrastructure for tourism than some of the others. As normal we dodged the cruise ship tours and instead opted to explore the town with the aid of google maps.

It was fairy surreal to look out to to sea knowing that the next stop was Antartica- only 900km away. \240

After a bit of a walk in the sun, rain, wind and cloud- we headed back onboard ready to set sail this evening towards the Falkland Islands via Cape Horn.

This is the furthest south we’ll go on our trip (on land- Cape Horn is a bit further south); so it’s almost time to start heading north!

One of the glaciers in glacier alley (they all have names but I didn’t take note of any of them- sorry!)

We woke up at 0730 ready for the rounding of Cape Horn on 29th December but turned out we just had an announcement from the captain instead. \240Due to the high waves (somewhere between 7&10 metres); he had decided that we would skip the rounding of the Horn and instead head straight to the Falklands. \240We later learned from chatting to the head sommelier (obviously the right person) that waves that high would likely have caused everyone to be confined to cabins as well as it being a tad on the bumpy side.

The rest of the day we spent at sea, so a chance to relax and carry on getting lost on the ship! I also had an opportunity to enjoy the Ebola that Kym had kindly gifted to me as an end of the world present.

We opted to eat in the Japanese restaurant for dinner and had one of the best meals we’ve had yet- complete with a Japanese man in a red hat who we assume was the ships’ sushi lord. \240The evenings show was an American lady singing songs from each of the South American countries that we had visited- really good but very random. \240The feeling of being in a theatre that’s swaying never seems to get normal.

Today we anchored in the waters just off Stanley; capital (sounds grander than it is) of the Falkland Islands. We’d both been looking forward to this stop and dug out all of the British pounds that we had ready to spend them- the exchange rate of 1 Falkland pound to the pound seemed pretty good.

Tendering ashore was a fairly slow affair; so we didn’t make land until close to mid day. \240Walking along the shore line was one of the more surreal experiences that we’ve had as it genuinely felt like we’d ended up in an English seaside town.

Lots of the buildings along the shore are now museums to various things- fishing, communication, laundry.... and the war! The whole of the quayside was scattered with various cannons, bits of ship and invasion based paraphernalia.

Being British, we opted to stop for tea and cake, wrote post cards and then join a rather marvellous queue to get back on the boat. \240It was quite odd to see all of things that we knew from home- the brands in the shop, post boxes, telephone boxes and also that everyone spoke excellent English!

Back on board we took a second trip to the Japanese restaurant (and took pictures this time) before heading to the pub to watch the ships show band playing. \240As we speak we’re currently still in the falklands many hours after we should have left. \240The captain has told us it’s a technical problem with the boat... but whether we’ll be here another 5 minutes or 5 days nobody yet knows!

Happy new year!

Not much for blogging since our last post; but we’re underway again. \240The problem still remains a mystery to us; but the “technical issue” was magically resolved in around 4am on New Year’s Eve (yesterday for us). \240Unfortunately the delay meant that our port stop in Puerto Madryn was cancelled due to the timescales and was instead replaced with 3 day at sea.

Our first sea day yesterday was New Year’s Eve; and the sun had arrived. For the first time we made it onto the deck to enjoy being outside for a longer than a few minutes. During the evening we visited one of the ships main serviced dining rooms- unfortunately not our best choice but we bailed out and hit the Irish pub!

New Years evening on the boat was served with a big old reminder that the class system lives on at sea; those with the cash got the seats where they wanted etc etc. We escaped the main atrium and went to watch a show- with a tango dancing quartet from Argentina. \240Turned out to be one of the best shows that we’d seen yet so with hindsight we’re glad of being naffed off by the rich and rude.

We definitely saw English New Year’s Eve...

Today we could again get outside and enjoy the weather. \240It’s hard to describe sitting on the front of the ship in a bar or hot tub knowing that our nearest land is over 300 miles away! We also (well I did) learnt that the sun is rather stronger at sea; my evening will be spent sympathising with lobsters the world over. But luckily Kym had more layers of cream on.

Tomorrow we’ve got a third day at sea before an extended port stop in Uruguay on the 3rd.

Day 3 at sea;

Today we went for breakfast at the buffet, there’s mostly tables for 4 people so we usually share half a table with random people. This morning we sat with an Albanian lady who lives in California, we recognised her from the spa. She explained that she was cruising with her husband but he passed away in their room the night of New Year’s Eve. As we sat and she told me her story and shared pictures of her family (and her late husband being given CPR on NYE!) there were whales popping out of the water for air alongside the ship.

We sat with her for a few hours before heading out on deck for a walk. George is still pretty lobstery from being in the sun yesterday so we only did a few laps around before heading inside in search of lunch, shade and the spa. We went to Versailles for dinner, the posher one you have to dress up for, with the lady we met at breakfast. She set the 4th place on the table as though her husband was eating dinner with us and we toasted many times. Creepily 4 different main courses arrived, I’m guessing the waitress made a mistake.

Although we wouldn’t have chose there, it was actually pretty good. We’re currently sat playing cards in the pub and off to a Vegas show in the theatre later.

Tomorrow is the penultimate cruisin’ day where we’ll get to port in Uruguay at 0800 and we have to pack to leave the boat for the next step in our travels... it feels like we have only been on the boat for a couple of days!

Life is too short.

Friday morning we parked up at the port of Montevideo- capital of Uruguay and the last port call of our boating adventure. \240Luckily the port was big enough to accommodate our ship; so we were able to walk into shore rather than needing the little tender boat things.

The city was an impressive maze of the old and new- with huge colonial era grand buildings mixed in with apartment blocks and 70’s looking office building. \240We followed a walking tour route that we picked up as we got off the boat; through all the main sites of the city. \240A monument to Artigas was the centre piece of the tour- a huge bronze statue of a horse with his remains underneath; guarded by soldiers with massive knives!

We were back on board late afternoon and set about enjoying our last evening on the boat. As it was our final dinner; we returned to Kyms favourite restaurant on the ship- the Japanese. Luckily it turned out to really quiet (not sure where everyone was- maybe packing!). After visiting all the crew who had helped us during the week to say goodbye and leave them a tip; we also headed back to finish packing ready for getting off the next day.

Today (Sunday I think) is now our second day back on dry land! The stop in Uruguay helped us both get rid of our land sickness fairly quickly (the feeling that you are still moving like on a boat but your actually not) and get back to the real world with a bump.

We docked into Buenos Aires after sailing up the Rio de la plata overnight from Montevideo. Getting off the boat was a fairly leisurely affair as we managed to get one of the last disembarkation slots- meaning we had plenty of time to have breakfast before getting off. \240The port of Buenos Aires was considerably bigger than anywhere that we had been on the cruise so far; meaning that we had a bus ride through the port to what felt like a very basic airport terminal. After collecting our things and going through some very rudimentary security; we were out onto the streets and starting the 45minute walk over to our hotel.

Having since reflected on our time at sea; we both enjoyed it much more than we thought we were going to. \240It was like being part of a strange parallel word where the most difficult decision we had to make was where to eat dinner; but then I guess that’s the point. \240Our two weeks onboard both flew by and felt like a long stay at the same time- especially as we had seen Christmas, new year and 4 different countries on the way through. \240Arriving back to land felt a little bit like our trip was almost at its end; but that might also be the fact that we’re now in 2020 so there isn’t long to go now!

Buenos Aires has been the absolute surprise of the trip so far. Nothing at all like either of us expected. \240As well as being warm with clear blue skies; it’s also been one of the most picturesque, friendly and laid back cities we have ever visited- perhaps up there as a new favourite.

As our boat had arrived so early yesterday; we bought two day tickets for the open top tourist bus tours in the city. \240With three separate routes; we’ve managed to see a huge amount of the city in just a couple of days as well as stop for a few hours in the old town and waterfront to have a walk around and enjoy some local food. \240Our lunch today was served with fresh bread and some “pink salmon paste” that looked like hummus but tasted like fish- tasted much nicer than it sounds.

We’re currently taking a bit of time out of the sun and also packing for our flight tomorrow- headed back down south to the glacier national park of Patagonia.... just a few hours on a plane and we’ll be back where our cruise ship took 4 days to travel from!

Our flight down to El Calafate still surprised us at being over 3 hours- we didn’t even leave the country! Landing into the airport was also interesting, not only was it a bit bumpy/windy on the approach- the terminal itself wasn’t much bigger than your average garden shed (only this one had baggage carousels and PDQ machines). \240The airport transfer we had booked wasn’t all that pleased to see us; apparently the agency we had booked through failed to pass on any flight details to them meaning they had no idea we were coming! Luckily (we think) we got a two spaces with another couple of people in one of the worlds smallest taxis- I think the fact that the journey was short and we’d all packed light definitely helped!

After about 30min we arrived to our hotel- The Alto Calafate hotel. From the lobby there was an amazing view over the snow covered Chilean mountains, the town and also lake Argentina. \240Checking in wasn’t until an hour or so later so we had a while to sit and enjoy the location. \240The hotel felt vaguely familiar; on reflection we think it was perhaps half way between a ski lodge and a travelodge (but more on the ski lodge side of things).

During the afternoon we took advantage of the free shuttle bus into town to explore and eat. \240Our lunch-dinner was enormous (as was every meal so far in Argentina) so only one meal in the day felt plenty! The town also felt and looked like a ski resort- just without the snow. \240We’d made a reservation for a glacier tour and trek later in the week; so popped into the tour office to make sure that we had all the equipment that we needed (and also that we were not expected to hike for 15hours). \240After hearing more about what we’d booked; we both started to look forward to it much more knowing that it wasn’t going to push us to the limits of endurance.

Today; we met a man called Santiago at our hotel just after 10am to collect hire bikes that we had booked. \240We hadn’t quite believed that the booking description was a real thing- but it turns out that e-bikes made of bamboo are a real thing!

After learning how to use the bikes we hit the road to head down towards the lake and explore more. \240The first trail we followed was 8km east directly out of the town along the shore of the lake. \240It was amazing; within minutes of leaving the last paved road we couldn’t see, hear or smell another soul!

The lake was bright blue as it was runoff from the glacier national park and had all sorts of wildlife living along the banks. \240The cycle was both scenic and almost flat; so near enough the perfect place to ride (except the occasional patches of deep sand!).

Returning the town we stopped in a cafe for lunch (again forgetting that every plate of food is massive) before heading out to explore the west side of town. \240Enroute out of town we also stopped so that I could get my hair cut (it felt like it was reaching shoulder length)- despite the barber having no English and my Spanish being mostly terrible; I managed to come out still looking vaguely normal!

After our trip west and to town we decided that as it was late afternoon; we would head back towards the hotel (uphill!). I think it was about 2/3 of the way back when the battery on my bike completely died. \240Electric bikes are really good when they are charged; but are super heavy when they are flat. \240Luckily help was only a WhatsApp away and the man from the bike shop met us with a replacement bike so that we could carry on.

As we pulled into the the hotel drive, we also managed to gain our own personal wild dog escorts- two German Shepard mungrel things who then ran with us the whole way back. \240Not content with following us; the dogs then waited by our bikes for us to come out of the hotel 3 hours later and then ran with us all the way back to town.

This evening we’re mostly taking it easy with a glass of wine; preparing for our glacier trekking adventure tomorrow!

Our mini trekking adventure started this morning with gearing up in the most kit we’d had to take anywhere in a while! From waterproof trousers to gloves and coats to waterproof shoes- it almost felt like we were getting ready to go back to work. Our 0830 transfer surprisingly turned up at 0830 and we began our journey to the Perito Moreno Glacier- around 80km to the East of town.

Once we had cleared the national park entrance gate our coach carried on driving for around 30km through a really windy and undulating road to reach a pier on the edge of the lake that surrounded the face of the glacier. \240The trip took us across the bay to the opposite bank and to a series of shelters owned by our tour company. \240After abandoning kyms bag with our lunch; we set off on the 30min walk to glacier station.

On arrival at the station, we were fitted with crampons and helmets ready for our trip onto the glacier. \240As we started the guide explained how the glacier we were on was in equilibrium- meaning that it was growing at the same speed it was melting. \240The effect of this was the ongoing of huge lumps of solid ice falling from the 50m glacier face and into the lake below. \240The most memorable bit about the lumps we saw fall was the sound- like a huge clap of thunder bouncing around the valley.

Our guide started by us getting used to the crampons by walking along the edge of the glacier in the gravel- or traversing the lateral moraine if you’re into the lingo. \240From there we climbed up onto the glacier; carefully walking between huge crevasses and pools of water. \240We’d both seen a glacier from a distance before, but had never quite appreciated how steep or how high the ice was whilst trying to walk through it.

We walked for just over an hour and half through the ice; finishing near to the glacier station that we started at. \240As a parting act; our guide shared a whisky and chocolate for each person with us- complete with glacier ice to keep it cold!

After removing the crampons and feeling like walking had never been so easy; we trekked back through the forest to re unite with our lunch. \240Whilst we ate and waited for our return boat trip; crash after crash could be heard from the lake as more ice fell off the glacier. \240Neither of us were quite quick enough to get a photo of a piece falling off but we did leave with lots of pictures of the waves caused by falling ice.

The trip back included an hours stop at “the balconies”- a purpose built series of viewing platforms that overlooked the glacier face.

Returning to town by coach was again winding and slow- but through some of the most scenic countryside we’d been through. \240Being able to clearly see over the mountains and lakes almost made us glad that it never really gets dark! \240Back in town we sorted our airport transfer for tomorrow and picked the same bar seats as yesterday for dinner and wine...

Our flight from el calafate to bariloche left on time on the 9th. \240It was an odd flight for us as our stop was just an intermediary chance to get off with the plane then carrying on to somewhere else! The landing was one of the bumpiest that we have ever had; with the plane rolling and dropping for around 20minutes before landing and we had a seat row without a window!? Kym was 110% not a fan.

On the ground we had booked hire car, so after a bit of a wait we were given the keys to a battered up old Chevrolet that apparently was to be our wheels! A short drive into town and we arrived at our Airbnb on the beach looking over Lago Nahuel Huapi. \240You would have been forgiven for thinking that we had arrived at the sea as the high winds were causing waves to break into the beach and was also difficult to stand up!

We checked into our apartment (owned a lady who’s Aunt lives in Essex) and then drove into town to buy supplies. Both driving and thinking about cooking/shopping was a bit of a novelty- it had felt a long time since we had done either.

During the evening we were joined by two friends who live in Argentina (although a few hours later than planned due to them coming by bus) and cooked our first meal in a long time.

Federico and Facundo had both been to Bariloche a few times before; so we were lucky not to have to think about too much of a plan- instead relying on their local knowledge.

Our first full day and we drove a tourist site seeing circuit through the lakes and mountains of this area. \240This included sneaking into a 5 star hotel called the Lloa Lloa to have a look around and see for a few minutes how the other half live. \240The mountains were really beautiful, with blue water in the lakes sitting not that far away from snow covered peaks. \240We thought it similar to the alps; but perhaps whole lot bigger and certainly more impressive.

One of our stops on the trip was a mountain restaurant owned by the Patagonia brewing company- the place had a great view out over the lakes and we felt like we were in a ski restaurant! Back in town we had a walk around the city centre whilst Kym had a rest (she seemed to have a caught Ebola for a second time... but we’re not sure where from or when!).

Next day and with Kym not feeling good at all; she decided that stay in the apartment accompanied by lots of tissues and pain killers. \240We went to visit a mountain zip wire that was in the forest looking over the city and lakes. \240The zip wire was a total of 1.5km split into two sections. \240It also used a safety system I had never seen before that both included having to wear a giant apron but also having a piece of drain pipe to push if you wanted to slow down on the wire.

Either way, the zip wire was impressive. \240The view was amazing and it felt like it went on for ages and ages. The end of the wire left us in the midst of the ski resort (but no snow) so we had a small walk back up the slopes to get back to our car. \240The access track to the zip line was both long and super bumpy- I was very worried that we would lose bits of the car to potholes and rocks on the way back down!

During the afternoon Kym joined us for a trip into town to see perhaps the highest concentration of chocolate shops I’ve seen anywhere in the world. \240Literally every other shop made/sold artisan chocolate of all kinds. We also had some super tasty ice cream from one of them- 1/4 of a kilo between two of us! As we walked back from town we stopped at a bar looking over the lake that had swings as seats- we didn’t know but apparently it was their first day open also. \240Paying wasn’t the easiest as an English credit card seemed to through them- but our over 1000pesos bill went onto my card at 200pesos; we were pleased anyway!

Sunday was our best forecasted day weather-wise so we decided to head to the nearby national park. \240Unfortunately due to more Ebola; Kym was stayed behind- but she at least managed to get outside for a bit! \240The national park was just over an hours drive away and was the home of some famous orange trees; located at the far end of a 12km spit of land.

We hired some dodgy old bikes from a man on a street corner and headed towards the park entrance. \240As we bought tickets to enter the lady explained that the trip was a hard journey of 12km each way; and that we should allow 5 hours for the journey. \240The beginning was around 1km of steps- meaning having to carry, push and drag the bikes along with us. \240As we started cycling through the path to the trees, it felt like we cycled up hill for most of the time! The free routes and sand on the path also made for interesting riding; but it was a great trip through the forest (if a bit hot at 29 degrees!).

We arrived at the beach at the end of the island around 1hr45 after starting. \240The view was amazing and we were able to sit next to the water to have lunch. \240It was so tempting to jump in and swim; but after putting my feet into the water and not being able to keep them there due to the cold- swimming was discounted as a good idea!

After a walk around the trees, we re-mounted the bikes to head back towards civilisation. \240Coming back went a lot faster and I think considerably less hills- we managed to return to the national park entrance in only 45mins! Back in town we returned the bikes, stopped for a cold drink before starting the car journey home. Enroute back the road twisted through some of the most beautiful scenery we had been through- all the lakes and mountains! After cooking dinner and playing cards- going to sleep at “English time” 1030; felt like the best approach for the evening!

Today was our last day without wind or rain and clear sunny skies. In the morning we took a trip up the Cerro Otto mountain in we think one of the worlds oldest cable cars. At the top we’re amazing views of the surrounding lakes, mountains and towns- as well as a rotating restaurant for coffee.

The afternoon we headed again to Villa la Angostura; this time with Kym able to come also as her Ebola was slowly improving.

We hired sit on top kayaks from a small beach near the the national park and spent about an hour bimbling around the bay. Both Fede and I were brave enough to jump from the boats into the freezing water but Kym and Facu decided it was too cold and they would prefer to supervise!

After a bit of time on the beach we walked into town for drink and realised we had a problem: the car key was missing. \240Some frantic searching of pockets and seats later- it definitely wasn’t there. \240Next step was a speedy trip back to the car; where of course the key was in the boot waiting for us! Fortunately nothing stolen but 100% my fault- could have ended in a whole load of faff if we’d lost it!

We returned to Bariloche later in the evening to find that the wind had picked up outside of our apartment and the waves being generated were again fairly significant- although this did have the effect of keeping the beach fairly quiet!

Wind, rain and wind returned for our last day in Bariloche. Fortunately; our Airbnb had both a pool and hot tub- although outside they were an enjoyable visit. \240We also took \240another trip into town to buy more chocolates and find a restaurant for dinner.

The restaurant we picked was an Argentinian “asado” - which is essentially a meat bbq but served on a plate. \240Kym was unfortunately overtaken by Ebola; so wasn’t able to join us; instead opting to stay in bed and enjoy the view. \240

Asado was an interesting experience and I’m glad to have tried it. \240Not being a massive meat fan it was always going to be a hard sell; but I ate some meat, bread and loads of salad (Apparently your not supposed to eat the salad.

Today we flew (a fair few hours later than planned) from Bariloche back to Buenos Aires. \240Tonight is our last night here before we head back to the airport tomorrow afternoon for our flight to London (apparently that’s in the UK somewhere).