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  • Vera and Tom

South America

A 127-day adventure by Vera Read more
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  • Vera and TomSouth AmericaVera and Tom
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    Mitad del Mundo

    December 20, 2015 in Ecuador ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    Mitad del Mundo (The middle of the world city) has a monument which shows we are standing right at the Equator. A little village is built around it with restaurants and souvenir shops where we could get some cards and info from the local guy who worked there. Told us - rather angrily - that this city is all fake and the Equator is not even where it shows but 300 meters away, he seems really upset about this. Also showed us a picture with stones on the top of a hill from pre Inca times which are thought to have marked the true Equator 1200 years before the Europeans tried it.Read more

  • Vera and TomSouth AmericaVera and Tom

    Mindo

    December 21, 2015 in Ecuador ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    Mindo is a tiny little village sourranded by cloud forest (whatever that means). Got there on time for the frog concert! At the beginning we were just sitting by this beautiful lake on a terrace, drinking wine and listening to the frogs. When it got dark we left for an hour walk in the forest nearby to look for frogs, spiders, sleeping birds, other insects we even have seen and tasted pink banana. The next day went for a walk and saw some beautiful views, mountains in the cloud. It felt like it was tiny bit raining all the time. The hostel was great right next to the forsest and a river. Tom had his second haircut in South America with hair washing at the end (?)Read more

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    Chocolate tour

    December 22, 2015 in Ecuador ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

    On our second day in Mindo we had a chance to go for a chocholate tour. All the process was explained and we could try out pure dark csoki at the end. :)

  • Vera and TomSouth AmericaVera and Tom
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    Canoa

    December 26, 2015 in Ecuador ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    It took 7 hours and 3 buses to get to Canoa but totally worth it, we loved it so much that we extended our stay with an extra day. Fantastic little beach town, the Pacific ocean is smooth and surprisingly warm with big waves. Even to managed to have our first proper night out on the 24th. Stayed out almost until 1:00! To be fair also started at 3 pm. Had lots of cocktails, beer, wine before we left for dancing where made some new local friends who's great idea was to share a bottle of tequila...
    The beach was fantastic even managed to surf, had a 3 hours lesson (was suppose to be 1, but the guy was cool) and we were just professionals. Our faces are still so burnt and hot but had an amazing time. It's gonna be difficult to leave tomorrow from the relaxed little town where we spent our first Christmas together...    Read more

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    Guayaquil

    December 28, 2015 in Ecuador ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C

    Guayaquil is a bit grim, too hot and pretty dodgy, but a necessary stop-off to catch an international bus over the border to Peru. The day we spent there was mostly about planning what to do in Peru, but we managed to get some good ideas together in the end and also decided where to spend New Years Eve. The border crossing was easy but long, as we'd decided to go all the way down to Trujillo, some 18 hours through the night. In the morning we woke up to totally different scenery to what we'd seen before. No hills but flat, scrubby desert with hardly any plants. Some craggy mountains sprung up later but the sand continues. The bus was definitely the best yet. Huge, fully reclining seats, food, drink and films to watch, it's like a business class flight. A good sign because we have plenty more bus hours ahead!Read more

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    Huanchaco

    January 1, 2016 in Peru ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    Got to Peru after a long bus ride! Spend the last 4 days in Huanchaco by the beach mostly with chilling. The hostel is super cool, a real bamboo house with two annoying, loud parrots. Tried some new local food, including ceviche (raw fish) obviously just for Tom. On New Years eve two Russian volunteers cooked a whole turkey and some Peruvian other local deliciousness. We were all sitting around the table, celebrating together, it was a nice bunch of people. After this late dinner we all went out to the street by the beach to watch the fireworks and dancing. We were planning to leave yesterday but Tom got food poisoning so we stayed an extra night but at least we could get some more tan on the beach today.Read more

  • Vera and TomSouth AmericaVera and Tom

    Huaraz

    January 3, 2016 in Peru ⋅ ☀️ 2 °C

    After almost 2 weeks on the beach, time for something different. Heading south and east into the mountains of Peru we arrived in Huaraz, a smallish town made famous and popular by the national park nearby.
    Sruggling a bit with the altitude, we decided to take it easy on our first day and walked up to a place called El Pinar. We didn't have much idea what to expect when we got there but we found a really nice restaurant with lots of local families having their Sunday lunch and a great view over the town.
    The town itself had lots of people in funny hats, incredibly expensive cigarettes and several billion dogs.    Read more

  • Vera and TomSouth AmericaVera and Tom

    Glaciar Pastoruri

    January 4, 2016 in Peru ⋅ ☀️ 2 °C

    There are loads of treks, hikes and other exhausting adventures available around Huaraz, we chose one which we'd been reliably informed was the easiest. Glad we didn't try the 'challenging' ones.
    We jumped on a minibus with about a dozen others in the morning and started the journey to the Pastoruri glacier. Our guide stopped us at a little restaurant for some coca tea, which was surprisingly nice, in preparation for our ascent to 5200 metres.
    Once inside the national park we stopped off a few times. First we saw a mysterious little pond, amazingly blue and very deep, called The Puma's Footprint. Then a funny shaped cactus and a huge rock overhanging the road with old paintings on. Vera befriended a baby alpaca and then it was time to start the last part of the journey on foot up to the glacier.
    The change in temperature was massive as we got closer, as was the difficulty in breathing as the air got thinner. We couldn't even light a fag because our lighter didn't work with so little oxygen! The glacier was definitely worth it though. It wasn't something we'd expected to see on this trip but it was a great thing to do. The place is really eerie and this huge white mass of ice makes for a very weird feeling.    Read more

  • Vera and TomSouth AmericaVera and Tom

    Lima

    January 6, 2016 in Peru ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    We heard lots of rather negative comments about Lima from other backpackers so when we finally got there we were pleasantly suprised. Even if we preferred smaller towns so far we liked Lima's style of a big city. Crazy but modern. We stayed in a really nice area called Miraflores close to the beach. A bit posh, clean and nice neighbourhood. The beach looked amazing with big rocks above it with big skyscrapers on. On our second day we did some souvenir shopping and checked out the old town for some churches, government buildings an old train station and also tried some pisco (Peruvian palinka). Close to our hostel is a pre-Inca pyramid, from between 200 and 700 AD, where we had a tour in English. (The tours are mostly in Spanish here, so we were happy for it). It used to be a sacred place, called a 'huaca' in Quechua, which was built by community work. Clever way of building, there are gaps between the bricks so when it's earthquake time it doesn't collapse.
    Oh and we met the first Hungarian :)    Read more

  • Vera and TomSouth AmericaVera and Tom

    Las Islas Ballestas

    January 9, 2016 in Peru ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    We found penguins! On the Ballestas Islands, a boat ride from the town of Paracas, where we were staying.
    On the way out to the islands we also saw a strange candelabra symbol on the side of the hill next to the bay, apparently made in 200BC for reasons unknown.
    The islands were beautiful, a group of craggy rocks with lots of arches and tunnels and millions of birds. Lounging around on the beaches and bird shit were hundreds of sea lions. They are huge, fat and very lazy, really funny to watch.
    The highlight was of course the penguins, just little ones but well worth the trip. We were also escorted away at the end of the trip by some dolphins. :)    Read more

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    Paracas National Reserve

    January 9, 2016 in Peru ⋅ ☁️ 24 °C

    We took a guided tour from the town of Paracas into the National Reserve. It's a really interesting place, a dry, empty desert meets the ocean with some fantastic beaches, cliffs and dunes.
    After visiting some of the best parts, including one of the only red sand beaches in the world, we stopped of at a tiny fishing port for some lunch and to play with the massive flocks of birds around the bays.Read more

  • Vera and TomSouth AmericaVera and Tom
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    Huacachina

    January 10, 2016 in Peru ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C

    Huacachina is an oasis in the middle of the desert, really weird place! Not a lot to do but we came to this 'sandy gringo playground' for a reason to try out dune buggying and sand boarding. The activity started 1,5 hours before sunset. Got on the buggy thinking to go up and down on some smaller dunes. Well, it was rather scary!! The dunes were massive, the driver was crazy we were really jumping up and down in the buggy while everybody was screaming when we got a new really high and steep dune. Stopped twice for sand boarding. Wasn't exactly what we expected, had to lay on our tummy when we slid down, it was great!Read more

  • Vera and TomSouth AmericaVera and Tom

    Arequipa

    January 12, 2016 in Peru ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    Just a short stop in Arequipa but definitely worth it. They call it The White City after the local stone which all of the old buildings are built from. It looks fantastic in the sunshine and we were lucky enough to have lots of it.
    The main square, Plaza de Armas, is a great place to hang around and people watch.
    Also looked through our money situation and decided to book the flight back home. Need to get to Santiago, Chile by the 13th Feb as our first flight leaves from there to São Paolo and 16th back to London from there via Morocco. Bit sad to have a date of return but still a month left :)    Read more

  • Vera and TomSouth AmericaVera and Tom

    Cusco

    January 14, 2016 in Peru ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    We stayed in an area of Cusco called San Blas, up on a hill. Apart from the steep climb to go anywhere it was a good choice. The tiny narrow streets are full of restaurants, souvenir shops and lots of old ladies and little girls in traditional dress with traditional llamas.
    The are references to the Incas everywhere, Inka Kola, Inka Farmacia, Inka KFC, but also Catholic churches on every corner. Some of the big colonial buildings still have the older Inca stonework at street level. These walls are surprisingly interesting as the incas didn't have mortar so every stone is cut perfectly to fit those around it
    Here we also had our first tastes of Pisco Sour (cocktail of the Peruvian pálinka with lemon and egg white) and Alpaca meat, not bad, if a bit chewy.    Read more

  • Vera and TomSouth AmericaVera and Tom

    Machupicchu

    January 16, 2016 in Peru ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    It was a 2 day trip from Cusco. On the first morning we had to wake up early to catch the mini van for a 7 hour ride to Hidroelectrica, chosen over the extremely expensive train option. It was a horrendous journey with numerous near-death, squeaky bum moments. Afterwards a 2.5 hours walk by the train tracks in the jungle to get to Machupicchu town called Aguas Calientes. Found our hostel and went to bed as we had to wake up 4:30 the next day.
    The guided tour started at 6:30 so we went up by bus to make sure we didn't miss it. (Also didn't fancy walking up a million steps at 4 o'clock in the morning in the rain.)
    Luckily the rain had stopped by the time we reached the top. The view was fascinating but really foggy at first, that actually made it quite exciting to see the different parts bit by bit as we got close enough to see through the fog. Unfortunately the tour was very dull and felt more like a school trip than an adventure, so we soon ditched the guide and went off exploring on our own.
    The sun came out and the fog cleared in time for us to get the best views and some photos over the whole site before it was time to start the journey back.    Read more

  • Vera and TomSouth AmericaVera and Tom

    Isla del Sol, Titicaca

    January 20, 2016 in Bolivia ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    Got to Bolivia! The way was long: night bus from Cusco to Puno (city in Peru by lake Titicaca) from there a bus to Copacabana, Bolivia. The second bus was late as it crashed and then our bus broke down but finally got to the border and got our stamps. Copacabana is a touristi little town with good connections to one of the most beautiful island on the Bolivian side called Isla del Sol. So the next morning got on a boat and 2 hours later we were there. It was absolutly amazing. No vehicles, lots of indigenous people in traditional dress and beautiful nature. Found a hostel close to the beach which had a festival atmosphere with all the tents and people sitting, chatting, making music. There were also cows, sheep and little pigs wandering around. In the afternoon we went for a walk, a little path was leading us by the side of the hills with gorgeous views. At the end we saw some inca ruins and Tom was brave enough to go in the water (for like 20 seconds) it was super cold up at almost 4000 meters high. Perfect day!Read more

  • Vera and TomSouth AmericaVera and Tom

    La Paz

    January 24, 2016 in Bolivia ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

    La Paz was a different experience as for the first time we had a local guide, Alonso, an old school friend and genuine half Bolivian. We spent 3 days with him and his dad at their place with home made breakfast and dinner every day, a nice change from rice and beans. On the first day we headed to the zoo (saw some condors, big cats, snakes, turtles and monkeys) and the Valle de Luna, which is a weird place with strange formations in the rocks. We were also joined by Alonso's neighbour for an evening in Dubliner's pub, not very Bolivian but good fun.
    A little hungover the next day we did some souvenir shopping in a market street (avoiding the llama foetuses sold to be used as sacrifices!) and met up with another lady friend of Alonso's to go to a lookout point for the nearby Illimani volcano. Along the way she told us more about the traditional sacrifices which are still going on today, particularly among the builders, who are mostly indigenous, when starting a new building. It turns out the llama babies are only for small houses, a real human sacrifice is often required for big projects. This is a strange place.
    On our last day we had time for a bit more market exploring, the old colonial buildings in the centre, and a spectacular but terrifying ride on the city's new cable car.    Read more

  • Vera and TomSouth AmericaVera and Tom
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    Uyuni

    January 26, 2016 in Bolivia ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    Finally in Uyuni, in the city where the 3 days tour starts which we've been dreaming about since we started planning this holiday. Uyuni itself is nothing special but a big selection of tour companies so we managed to find a good one. The first stop of the tour was the train graveyard close to the city. Old, rusty trains with no safety control so everybody can just climb up on them (couldn't happen in Europe). Used to be an important place for salt transport but by nowadays just a weird place in the middle of the desert.Read more

  • Vera and TomSouth AmericaVera and Tom

    Salar de Uyuni

    January 26, 2016 in Bolivia ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    Headed south from the train graveyard for the salt flat with 2 Brazilian couples and our driver/guide/chef for the next few days. Zoli, the driver, seemed a little confused when we told him his name was Hungarian and told us he was definitely 100% Bolivian :).
    Even if it's supposed to be the rainy season we didn't have the luck to see it with water on the surface. It was still fantastic anyway cause you can take funny optical illusion pictures. Saw a tiny museum with big salt figures like llama and had our lunch in a salt house. Stopped by an island in the middle of the salt flat, where there were hundreds of massive cactuses, called Isla Incahuasi. Got to our salt hotel by the evening where we spent our first night. Here the floor, walls, tables and even the beds are made of salt!    Read more

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    Laguna Colorada

    January 27, 2016 in Bolivia ⋅ ☀️ 8 °C

    A busy day today. We started with Laguna Negra (the black lagoon) named after the rocks around it, one of which is shaped like a face.
    Next, we drove through miles and miles of empty desert and weird rocks until we reached a viewpoint for Tunupa, a huge active volcano. After assurances from Zoli that we were not likely to find ourselves swimming in lava, we got out of the 4x4 and wandered around in the rocks. Vera spotted a viscacha, a bit like a rabbit with a cat's tail, and went of chasing it, eventually managing to persuade it to pose for a photo.
    We continued through more desert, saw rocks shaped like trees, more lagoons with hundreds of flamingos, and had lunch next to a big dried up lake where we found the skull and some ruins shaped like igloos. We also saw lots more animals, llamas, alpacas, vicuñas and a couple of ostriches.
    Finally, we reached the strangest place of all, Laguna Colorada (the red lagoon). A very bizarre sight with it's orangey red water, weird patterns in the mud and a mountain behind it. Apparently the colour comes from the algae and plankton in the water, it definitely looks like blood though.
    In the evening we arrived at a big brick shed which was to be our accommodation for the night. It was very very basic, no showers and limited electricity. On the bright side, the lack of lights meant we had a completely unpolluted view of the stars at night, we could even see the Milky Way.    Read more

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    Sol de Mañana

    January 28, 2016 in Bolivia ⋅ ☀️ 8 °C

    Woke up at 4 am for the last adventurous day of the tour. It was still semi dark when we arrived to the geysers, absolutely surreal, never seen something like this before but left quickly to get to the thermal pool before all the other cars. The temperature of the water was just fantastic after being soo cold in the morning. The pool was small but got there first so it was just for 6 of us at the beginning. Later we stopped at Salvador Dali desert, apparently he was inspired there and painted it so its named after him. The last stops were Laguna Verde (green) and Laguna Blanca (white), the green lagoon is not green at this time of the year so it was a bit disappointing but took some great pictures at the white one with great reflection on the water. Got to the border by 9-10 where we changed bus for Chile.Read more

  • Vera and TomSouth AmericaVera and Tom

    San Pedro de Atacama

    January 29, 2016 in Chile ⋅ ☀️ 8 °C

    Crossed the border and got to San Pedro de Atacama, Chile. Lovely little touristy town but so overpriced. Lots of tours are advertised but after seeing so much decided not go for any of them as they were pretty similar to the one which we've just done. So we were just relaxing, window shopping in the craft markets, trying not to get too sunburnt and bought our bus tickets for our next stop.
    And here it comes our first problem of the tour with a bus. Thought we bought direct tickets to La Sarena, well, no! We were suppose to change but no one told us where so we stayed on the bus and went to the main terminal, there they told us go back to the small one quickly by taxi. We did but the bus was gone so we got stuck in whatever the name of this city for a night. Today we tried to reclaim our money but they refused it. So annoying!    Read more

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    La Serena

    February 2, 2016 in Chile ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C

    Managed to get to La Serena after our bus problem. It is a nice, laid back little city close to the beach. By this time we were a bit exhausted of buses so we decided to just chill out here for 3 days, doing no too much. We had a really nice hostel so it was easy to be lazy. We spent some time wandering around in the city and going to the beach. There were lots of Chilean tourists in town too and plenty happening in the main square. There was a craft market with lots of hand made stuff, chocolates and juices, some concerts and outdoor theatres, and a clown who managed to get a whole crowd of Chilean children laughing at Tom's bald head.
    On the 4th day we got on a bus to go to Valparaíso to catch our bus from there to Mendoza after a night. Crossing the border took ages but the sceneries were amazing, had to cross the Andes for Argentina.    Read more

  • Vera and TomSouth AmericaVera and Tom
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    Mendoza

    February 6, 2016 in Argentina ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    Argentina is our 6th country to visit in South America, unfortunately just for a really short time as we need to get back to Chile to catch our flight. Mendoza is a great city with a nice atmosphere. Shops and restaurants all around, big parks and trees by the pavement which makes is greener than other cities which we've visited. The closest park to us turns to be a market in the evenings with traditional stuff, mostly mate cups. Also visited the local central market for food. The hostel is cool, great breakfast (pancakes!) and free vino in the evenings.Read more

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    Las Heras

    February 7, 2016 in Argentina ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    Decided to go for one of the activities offered by the hostel, "sunset horse back riding". Got in a van around 4 to get out from the city. Las Heras is approx. 30 mins out of Mendoza with a lovely little family run farm. After some refreshments was time to get on the horses. Tom was so scared but as the horse leader guy didn't notice it he got the biggest horse (which was also constantly pooing.) Finally we left for our 12 km horse riding, surrounded by mountains, fields and cactuses. By the end we were in so much pain in the legs and bottom that we were happy to get off although it wasn't as scary or difficult as we thought. A fantastic BBQ was also part of the package, with loads of real Argentinian beef, all you can eat and drink, so we left with massive bellys and a bit tipsy after all the wine.Read more

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