Arthur's Pass National Park

Nice walk in the Southern Alps...Yes Deirdre actually did get some excercise!!

Road Trip Starts!!

So got our hire car a 1991 Toyota Corolla which we named Bertha!! She's a real beauty!! Started our road trip from Christchurch and crossed the Southern Alps which was great.....stayed in a town called Arthur's Pass which was halfway through the mountains......went on a couple of walks in the national park and it was really beautiful..check out the pics!!!

Christchurch Sat 24th to Tues 27th

Watching Ireland trouce England at 06.30 is a great way to start the day!!

Arrived in English speaking lands again...Thank God cause my head was turning to mush with Spanish Translations for the past month....Tis also great to be able to get English speaking newspapers and magazines again.....Christchurch is really beautiful..they say it is the most reflective cities the way they were when the English settled here...really nice river, parks, gardens and squares...After a bad day on Saturday when we arrived the weather has been great since..Here are some pics

What happened to Friday 23.02.07

Hopped on a plane in Santiago on Thursday and ended up in Christchurch on Saturday..ah the wonders of the International Date Line..although I am still slightly confused about the whole thing....Some pictures of checking in...inside the most uncomfortable long haul flight ever..(no leg room for 13 hours never fly with LAN) and the plane that took us to Christchurch at 8am this morning!

Santiago de Chile!

So have spent the last few days chilling in the capital of Chile....(sad I know). Went off to the main park in Santiago today and took some cable cars to the top of this hill where they have an outdoor church..Weird! Some views of Santiago from the top of the hill with the start of the Andes Mountains in the background..

Valparaiso and Viña del Mar

Stopped off in these coastal towns on the way down to Santiago! Very nice and the weather was excellent as well! Got some beach action in and for once we didn´t get sun burned Fiona will be glad to hear..she keeps giving me lectures about Factor 50 sun block!!

Viña del Mar is the rich Chilean Holiday destination with really nice holiday homes, restaurants, shops etc. It´s only two hours from Santiago so it´s a weekend destination as well. We were there on Sunday the last day before the schools and universities go back after summer so the place was packed.

Dave decided to sprawl out on the beach with a beer!!!!

Went for a bit of a swim but those waves were killer! Huge!!

Thursday 15.02.07

Went of on a tour of a wine and pisco (national drink in Chile) agricultural region yesterday and visited loads of distilleries and got drunk on alcoholic vapours!! The make pisco by boiling white wine ..then condensing the vapours..(ethanol) the ethanol is then mixed with water and matured for 2 years and hey presto you have pisco..Not a very nice drink but still!! La Serena is really nice little town on the coast and really liking it here..Off to Valparaiso later today which is on the coast west of Santiago!!

Valentine`s Day and Dad`s Birthday in La Serena

Got into La Serena at 12 noon today after a 14 hour bus journey from Antofagasta.....several travel sickness tablets later I managed to get an alright night`s sleep..not sure about Dave though who spent the entire afternoon asleep in the hostel room...we have managed to see a bit of the town so far including some really gorgeous Japanese Gardens! The bus journey from Antofagasta and in fact any of the bus journeys in Chile so far have been beyond boring as there is no landscape to look at..Chile (from what I understand) is sandwhiched between the Andes and the Pacific so there is very littly interesting landscapes and much of Northern Chile..north of Santiago..is desert..(see picture)

So far La Serena looks good and tomorrow we are off to get a tour of the local distilleries! They make a drink here called Pisco..think its a type of whyskey but will know more tomorrow unless Paul McEvoy wants to Wiki it (go on Paul).

Just phoned home and am hearing great stories of what all my Dad`s Roadstone ladies did for his birthday! Nice to know someone is looking after him when I`m gone cause you know I`m the only one who really does..Michael and Gerard just don`t care!! Keep it up!!

Other pic is of Japanese Gardens in La Serena and the giant Koi (just for Dad)

Monday 12.02.07

Arrived in Antofagasta a major city on the Chilean coast on Monday...arrived late a night so just went for something to eat in this seriously dodgy "Eddie Rockets" wannabe restaurant called Bingos...guess we really should have known from the name of the place......asked for a burger and chips and got a kinda meat thing with green bits in it..no burger bun and deep fat fried thinner than McDonalds chips that I don`t think count as chips!

Stayed in a nice enough hostel again with cable tv...getting used to this now cable tv everywhere we go....

Yesterday Tuesday we got kicked out of the hostel at 12 noon and as our overnight bus wasn`t until 10pm that night we had a lot of time to kill...spent it sitting in the main square trying not to look suspicious as we moved from bench to bench every hour to get more shade! BURNT! and yes Fiona I am putting on sun cream I just keep missing bits so I now look like a patch work quilt with various squares and lines of red, slightly red, slightly brown, freckly and peeling! ATTRACTIVE!

11.02.07 Finally in Chile!

And now we are at the sea!!! Yeah!! Oh I do like to be beside the seaside..oh I do like to be beside the sea!!!!

Puno Vs Arequipa

So now you see why we were so glad to leave Puno and get to Arequipa...the floating islands was the only upside of Puno..Arequipa much nicer!!

Saturday 10.02.07

Got out of Arica early enough ....nothing much to see there and headed to get a bus to Iquique where we arrived late last night...Seems like a really nice town right on the Pacific coast of Chile! Will update with pics soon enough.....

09.02.07

Left Arequipa on Friday and caught another long but slightly less painful bus journey to Tacna which is in Peru right on the Chilean border....Once we arrived in Tacna the only way cross the border is by car or bus so the locals have set up a system where by they charge people without cars a fee... about ten quid..and they drive you up to the border, sort out the various forms for you and help you through any possible complications.... Never before have I felt like an illegal immigrant but I did on Friday squashed into a car with 5 other people all Peruvian trying to get their stories straight so they could get into the country...The Chilean economy is a lot stronger so they have a lot of problems with Peruvians entering illegally to get work....those that where in San Diego with us and went down to Tijuana with us a couple of times will know the set up...seedy cross border area...horrible immigration officials...rubbish everywhere..!

Three of the peole in our car got turned back....

Anyway eventually made it across the border to Arica where we spent the night...

07.02.07

Ok so after leaving the floating people behind we hopped on a long and painful bus journey to Arequipa in Southern Peru...really nice city, hostel and people after the dive that was Puno .... really didnt like that town at all. Arequipa on the other hand was gorgeous and to top it all the hostel room had cable TV in it!! After a long 7 hour bus ride to Arequipa we decided ... being the cultural pair that we are.... to sit in, order pizza and watch English TV for the first time in 3 weeks!!! CSI, pizza, nice hostel room... all sure fire ways to alleviate a little culture shock!

Arequipa is a really nice city where all the main buildings around the main square are made out of white volcanic rock so they call it the white city..It is more like Spain than anywhere else in Peru..

The Floating People

Cool or wha!

Sunday 04.02.07

Next day got an 8 hour bus ride to Puno on Lake Titicaca..no laughing at the name please we are all mature adults! It´s the highest and largest naviagable lake in South America at 3800 metres above sea level! We are both suffering a little at the moment after a dodgy burger at the Maccu Pichu restaurant (commercialism at its best) so are taking it easy in Puno for the moment...We are going to see the floating islands tomorrow (islands made out of reeds where about 4-5 families live on each island, there are 5 islands). These people the Uros people live on these islands and just replace the reeds from the top when they start to rot...weird huh and a bit unbelieavable but I will prove it to you tomorrow once I take some pics...For the moment be content with a pic of me and Dave at the lake this afternoon...Not the best shot of Dee but sure!

03.02.07 - Made it eventually!

We did however make it up to Maccu Pichu (or however you spell it) on Saturday to meet up with the same group....the same group that had just spent climbing the fricking mountain in the cold while Dee was in bed recovering from her nervous breakdown! Anyway here are a few pics of the wonderful Maccu Pichu...they don´t even do it justice.....tried to take so many but none of them captured what the site actually looks like...AMAZING!

31.01.07

So here´s picture of me (the loser) who couldn´t do the Inca Trail! This is the group as we started out.......Unfortunately 12 kilometres and 5 hours after this picture was taken Deirdre unfortunately had a bit of a spazz attack and flamboyantly dropped out of the Inca Race!!

31.01.07

Ok so I'm a loser and probably the only person that couldn't do the Inca Trail but it's not my fault!! Breathlessness and the altitude got the better of me....couldn't breath and had a minor panic attack after 12 kms and the thing is 45 kms long! Literally couldn't get enough air into my lungs...mild altitude sickness! Will still get to see Maccu Pichu though cause getting train up on Satuday to meet with the group we started with..which is cool..just won't be killing myself getting there!

Really dissappointed with myself but sure at least I still get to see it!