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Mexico to Brazil Michael and Helen Cook
Bolivian High Andes
3 sierpnia 2024, Boliwia ⋅ ☀️ 6 °C
Yesterday we were up at 5am to drive up to 4,600m and bizarrely cross the border into Bolivia at a checkpoint in the middle of nowhere on a simple dirt track. As soon as we were in Bolivia we transferred to trusted Toyota Land-Cruiser 4x4 as the only way to move over this tough terrain.

Yesterday we visited numerous lagoons, volcanic geysers, volcanos and the like. All over 4000m so the air was very thin. It was very cold too on occasion - perhaps -10C.

Today we had a more relaxed day travelling around the high Andes seeing strange rock formations, more lagoons and an old “Wild West” style town.

So far we have driven 450km in Bolivia - all off road. We ended the day near the salt flats which we will be visiting tomorrow. Czytaj więcej
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8 lajki
Mexico to Brazil Michael and Helen Cook
Salar de Uyuni
5 sierpnia 2024, Boliwia ⋅ 🌙 -10 °C
Yesterday we visited the largest salt flats in the world over 10,500km2 in size.

We arrived before sunrise and it was a real wow moment to share together as a family. The light was lovely to fire off some photos too.

We continued to an “island” covered in cactuses and had some breakfast. We then had some fun making some silly photos which benefited from the lack of perspective here.

A really amazing place which is a highlight of our trip so far.

Leaving the salt flats we visited the train cemetery. When the age of steam came to an end in Bolivia they retired all the trains here and about a 100 engines are rusting away slowly as it is so dry.

It has been harsh conditions over the last few days. High (we have been from 3,600-5,000m), cold (minus 10 C at times) and very dry, dusty and windy. The hotels have no heating, mixed results re hot water or flushing toilets, and you always have dust in your nose and are coughing. We always said this was an adventure tho!

We are now back in Chile where they have roads again. Tomorrow we fly back to Santiago and two days later Sam heads home. Czytaj więcej
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9 lajki
Mexico to Brazil Michael and Helen Cook
Gran Torre Santiago
8 sierpnia 2024, Chili ⋅ ☀️ 14 °C
Today we popped out for some shopping and then went up the highest building in South America a Gran Torre at 300m.

It was nice to see views of the sprawl of Santiago from the top as well as the snow-capped mountains to the east of the city.

Tomorrow Sam heads home and we are off to Buenos Aires, Argentina. Czytaj więcej
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7 lajki
Mexico to Brazil Michael and Helen Cook
Views over Andes
9 sierpnia 2024, Argentyna ⋅ 🌙 6 °C
We have now arrived in Buenos Aires the capital of Argentina having said goodbye to Sam and had an interesting flight over the beautiful Andes Mountains.
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9 lajki
Mexico to Brazil Michael and Helen Cook
Buenos Aires City
9–15 sie 2024, Argentyna ⋅ ⛅ 11 °C
Today we walked around BA city seeing some of the highlights.

The main square and the balcony where Evita addressed the crowd. The 23m high Floralis Genérica sculpture which opens and closes each day. A walk around the museum of fine arts. And lastly a visit to Recoleta Cemetry where the rich and famous are buried including Evita (Eva Perón) Czytaj więcej
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6 lajki
Mexico to Brazil Michael and Helen Cook
Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay
12 sierpnia 2024, Urugwaj ⋅ 🌬 6 °C
Today we took a day trip to Colonia, Uruguay, from Buenos Aires.

It is just an hour across the Rio Plata. Colonia is a quaint town, with both Spanish and Portuguese influences, having been occupied by both.

We explored the streets and sampled Chivito, a very substantial sandwich, for lunch. Czytaj więcej
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3 lubi
Mexico to Brazil Michael and Helen Cook
Yummy Food
12 sierpnia 2024, Argentyna ⋅ ☁️ 10 °C
So Argentina has a problem with inflation (currently over 140%) and foreign exchange rates as a result where there is an official rate and a real street rate which is nearly twice as good. We brought $US in cash which got the best rate as locals want dollars as a safe currency for saving.

BUT because of the inflation levels they have a lot of small value notes when you do change - see photo. A month ago the biggest note was 2000 pesos but they just introduced a 10,000 note which saves us needing a wheel barrow!

But all of this means that if you pay cash you can eat fine dining at a very very good price. So it would be rude not to.

The first restaurant we went to was Don Julios which is a steakhouse and has been awarded 10th best restaurant in the world and the only steakhouse with a Michelin star. It was fantastic and my (Michael’s) best steak ever.

The second restaurant was called Aramburu and it had two Michelin stars. We had an 18 course taster menu which included a lot of theatre and amazing presentation. Helen was entertained wondering how they made some of the courses.

Next up Iguazú (we are in fact already there). Czytaj więcej
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7 lajki
Mexico to Brazil Michael and Helen Cook
Iguazu Falls from Argentina
16 sierpnia 2024, Argentyna ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C
For our last few days in Argentina we are at Iguazú and visiting the famous falls - one of the 7 New Wonders of the World.

Today we spent the whole day walking around the trails and seeing the falls from above and below.

They were spectacular! Compared to Victoria Falls the infrastructure was better - raised walks and platforms - to offer some truly spectacular views. But there were a lot more people so less of a jungle experience.

Wonderful day and highlight of the trip so far. Czytaj więcej
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9 lajki
Mexico to Brazil Michael and Helen Cook
Iguazu by boat and moonlight
16 sierpnia 2024, Brazylia ⋅ 🌙 23 °C
So we took the opportunity to see Iguazú Falls by a couple of different ways.

First we upgraded the shower in our hotel to the full falls treatment taking a boat ride into the falls themselves. We got soaked but loved experiencing the power of the falls! Unforgettable.

Second we took the opportunity of the full moon to visit the falls again at night. Once your eyes adjusted it was magical and unique way to see the falls. The iPhone night mode tried to capture the place and I was quite pleased with the outcome. Czytaj więcej
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7 lajki
Mexico to Brazil Michael and Helen Cook
Birding in Argentina
18 sierpnia 2024, Argentyna ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C
We have also spent a few days birding in Argentina. A couple around Buenos Aires and one at Iguazu. I attach some photos of the wildlife we saw.

Of the 181 species we identified in Argentina 104 were brand new to us. Surprising how many birds are new despite having been in South America for so long. The Andes mountains and Amazon rainforest are significant barriers for non migratory birds so different species emerge.

We left Argentina with 1359 species for the trip. Might get to 1400 before leaving Brazil. Czytaj więcej
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6 lajki
Mexico to Brazil Michael and Helen Cook
Iguazu Falls from Brazil
19 sierpnia 2024, Brazylia ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C
We have now crossed over into Brazil and this morning we visited the falls again from this side.

There is a much smaller area to explore but the view points are absolutely spectacular (better than any single point on the Argentine side). We took a couple of hours to soak it all in occasionally literally. The photos speak for themselves so I won’t add more words.

Off to Rio tomorrow which is our last stop. Czytaj więcej
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8 lajki
Mexico to Brazil Michael and Helen Cook
Paraguay sneak peak
20 sierpnia 2024, Paragwaj ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C
Today we have some hours after we checkout of our hotel (11am) and before we fly to Rio (6pm) so we decided to pop over the border to Paraguay.

We simply took a 10 minute Uber to the border and walked across the bridge as a pedestrian clearing immigration on each side.

Paraguay is quite gritty compared to Brazil and Argentina. Brazilians come here for duty free shopping. So it is very commercial. Some is legit (in the big mall) the rest is fake branded clothes and electronics. I particularly like those brands that embraced their fake status - sham-son and fakeari—armarni. Reminded me of the “genuine fake watches” and “antiques made to order” signs I saw in Indonesia 20+ years ago.

Anyway it was a harmless way to spend a few hours and visit the 17th country of our trip (76th in my life).

Our last stop on this amazing trip will be Rio de Janiero. Looking forward to seeing you all again. Czytaj więcej
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6 lajki
Mexico to Brazil Michael and Helen Cook
Rio’s Christ the Redeemer
22–27 sie 2024, Brazylia ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C
So we arrived in Rio, our last stop, a couple of days back.

On the first day here we went birding. We planned a big day staring at 5.30 and saw an amazing 128 species of which 65 were new. I might do a separate post on this when I process the photos.

Our hotel is right on Copacabana beach and they were not lying about the sea view, the beach is 4km long and we are in the middle.

Yesterday we visited the famous Christ the Redeemer. The views from the statue are amazing but the statue itself at 33m high is compelling too. Czytaj więcej
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6 lajki
Mexico to Brazil Michael and Helen Cook
Walking tour of Rio
23 sierpnia 2024, Brazylia ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C
Today we took a walking tour with a local. We visited many of the city centre sites.

We started with the historic buildings and squares modelled on Paris and built in the early 20th century.

We then visited the hipster area of Escadaria Selaron with the colourful Selaron Steps and nearby street art.

Then the Carioca Viaduct, with 43 arches it was originally to bring water to the city but was adopted by the tram system later.

The Metropolitan Cathedral is famous for its brutalist style - ugly or beautiful? We will let you decide.

We ended with visits to an amazing library and the bakery for traditional Brigadeiro (think soft truffles) Czytaj więcej
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6 lajki
Mexico to Brazil Michael and Helen Cook
Helicopter flight over Rio
23 sierpnia 2024, Brazylia ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C
Looking back 8 months ago, we started our trip in Mexico with an amazing hot air balloon flight.

We kind of wanted to end with a similar amazing experience, so we took a Helicopter flight over Rio. To add a bit of spice we took a helicopter with the doors off so we could dangle our feet out for the obligatory selfie,

Stunning views of a stunning city. Czytaj więcej
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10 lajki
Mexico to Brazil Michael and Helen Cook
Sugarloaf Mountain
24 sierpnia 2024, Brazylia ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C
This morning we went up Sugarloaf Mountain. In Brazil a sugarloaf is a tall pot which is used to process sugarcane, not something you eat. The mountains that have this shape are called sugarloafs and this one by Rio harbour is the most famous.

It took two cable cars to reach the top. It was a bit hazy but there views were wonderful looking over the harbour to the distant Christ the Redeemer. More local interest was the climbers making the nearly 400m climb.

On the top we also saw many tiny White-Tufted Marmoset monkeys. Altogether we have seen 22 species of monkeys on this trip and 55 species of mammals. Czytaj więcej
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7 lajki
Mexico to Brazil Michael and Helen Cook
Final birding "Big Day"
24 sierpnia 2024, Brazylia ⋅ ☁️ 23 °C
Rio was the last place we were going to stop on this trip and therefore the last place we could go birding. It also has a fairly unique habitat called Atlantic Forest which has some unique birds and due to deforestation in Brazil is under threat - now only 5% remains..

A few months ago I reached out to a great bird-guide and asked to do a days birding. He got the idea of our big year and planned a big day to finish off. So a couple of days ago we started at 5am with his twin brother, he took over about 9am and we went on til sunset.

In the day we saw 128 species of which 65 were lifers. This is the single best day of the whole trip and my whole life in fact. I also photographed 53 species of bird of which 43 were brand new.

It was a wonderful day. Highlights included the super rare and endemic White-Necked Hawk, Brown Tinamou (very lucky to see), the monstrous bill of the Black-Billed Scythebill, three different Manakin species, and the colourful (wine-red) endemic Brazilian Tanager along with the Green-Headed and Red-Necked Tanagers. See photos for some of these!

I ended the trip with 1425 species, well ahead of the 1,000 target I set at the start. Of these 1404 were for the first time (in other words I had only seen 21 of these birds before in Europe!). Suffice to say, it was quite a steep learning curve when we first arrived in Mexico. 50 species were confidently identified by sound only (not seen). I photographed 694 of these birds as well.

I log my sightings on a site/app called ebird which has 4.5million users of which 750k are classed as regular users. My trip took me to 38th in the world (the person in first has an amazing 2,689 bird species!) and 6th in western hemisphere (the person in first is a bit ahead with 1,602) on eBird this year.

Nature is wonderful and a real privilege to see so much of it. Much more on my blog www.wildscot.blog Czytaj więcej
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11 lajki
Mexico to Brazil Michael and Helen Cook
A special meal - Lasai
24 sierpnia 2024, Brazylia ⋅ 🌬 22 °C
For our last night of the trip we ate at Lasai. This is a famous restaurant in Brazil.

This was an open kitchen - you sit on one side of a bar whilst the chefs cook on the other side. You don’t choose anything (they cater for any preferences or allergies) but they prepare what is seasonal and from their own farm with a focus on Brazilian ingredients. They only serve 10 people each night. The menu is always changing.

It was a lovely way to end the trip and the chef’s skills were amazing to watch. Oh and the food was delicious. Czytaj więcej
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8 lajki
Mexico to Brazil Michael and Helen Cook
Homeward Bound
26 sierpnia 2024, Brazylia ⋅ 🌧 15 °C
So I am posting this from Lisbon Airport in Portugal. Our flight from Rio was smooth and we arrived here at 5am Lisbon time (1am body clock time). I Michael slept about 3 hours, Helen not much. Our flight to Manchester looks on time so soon we will be back in the UK.

As we say goodbye to Brazil, I attach a video of highlights since Chile.

Over the last 8 months we have visited 17 countries and slept in 89 different accommodations. We have travelled 10,400km by bus, 9,500km by car, 800km by boat and 600km walking. We even travelled 5km by horse, 6km by cable car, 9km by canoe!

Obviously mixed feelings. Really happy to get back to see friends and family who we have missed so much. And looking forward to the simple things like own bed, shower, drinkable water from tap and western toilets, But also mindful of adjustments to make with Michael returning to a challenging job in less than a week and Helen starting a new challenge in her Masters.

Thanks for following our trip and look forward to seeing you all soon! Big Hugs. Czytaj więcej
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10 lajki
Koniec wyprawy
26 sierpnia 2024