Lake Titicaca

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[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”1″ gal_title=”Lake Titicaca”] Ahmad: We had assumed that we were getting a local bus to Cocacabana but discovered on arrival at the bus station that we were on a tourist bus. We got onto the bus (which was very comfortable) and before we knew it we were at a large river, we were told to get off the bus and onto a small ferry to cross the river. The bus in the meantime was loaded onto a large boat to be sailed across the river (very comical to watch). Once the bus and our large rucksacks were safely across Continue Reading →

La Paz

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Ahmad:  We got to the bus station in Sucre with plenty of time to spare (we had heard stories of travellers not being let onto the bus as they didn’t turn up at the correct reporting time and their seats had been sold). We paid the bus terminal tax (you have to pay this for using any bus station in Bolivia) and sat down opposite the berth where our bus was expected. The bus turned up at around the right time and we were all set to get on, except that nobody had told us that our luggage (big back Continue Reading →

Sucre

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Laura: We got up early, bought some street food consisting of fried potatoes (very good) and got on our first Bolivian bus to Potosi. We had heard some bad things about the buses but since we have slummed it in Africa and India, they were pretty ok to us! Our standards have slipped below what normal people would consider acceptable. Five hours later we arrived in Potosi, the highest city in the world. We soon discovered that there were no more buses to Sucre that day so I headed off to negotiate a price for a micro van while Ahmad Continue Reading →

Tupiza, The Salt Flats & Uyuni

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As we had buckets of time left in Argentina we decided against bombing it to the border and then on to Tupiza in one go, instead we opted to stay one night in La Quiaca, the Argentian border town. This proved to be good foresight since our bus broke down half way! Nevertheless we arrived at our hostel by 7pm and got settled IN A PRIVATE ROOM!!!! Yay!!! After 8 weeks in dorms it was amazing (apart from Ahmad farting in the bed). Early the next day we walked to the border, got stamped out, got our pesos changed and Continue Reading →

Salta

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Ahmad: We left Mendoza feeling a little restless after all the relaxing, we had seriously considered going to some other places in Argentina but decided against it as bus travel is so so expensive. After our overnight bus journey to Salta, we got checked into Siete Duendes Hostel (translates as seven goblins hostel). The hostel was really nice, with really clean dorms, a great kitchen and the best TV / Theatre room I’ve seen on our travels.

Mendoza

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Ahmad: We got a morning bus to Mendoza and after a few hours we got to the border between Chile and Argentina where we had to wait around for 2 hours for the immigration officials to finish their matte(local tea), talking to their mates and petting all the stray dogs around (Argentineans are really laid back). Once our passports had been stamped (which took all of 2 minutes) we got back onto the bus and were in Mendoza for the early evening.

Valparaiso

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Laura: We got up early, had breakfast and headed to the bus station. Unfortunately for us, we went to the wrong one so we jumped back on the tube to get to the right place. On arrival we bought our tickets, jumped on the next bus and two hours later we were in Valparaiso. Valparaiso is considered the cultural capital of Chile and it’s easy to see why. The entire town is a Unesco World Heritage site and it’s a photographer’s paradise. The buildings are built into the hills surrounding the coastline and all the houses are painted bright colours. Continue Reading →

Santiago

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Laura: Ahmad found super cheap flights to Santiago (£112 each with 20kg baggage) so we headed to the airport feeling good about the fact that this journey would take 5 hours instead of the mammoth 50 hours on a bus! We arrived around 10pm and found a minibus service to take us directly to our hostel. As we were gringos we were the last people left in the van and although the driver had taken great care to drop the locals off on their doorsteps, he wanted to dump us at the end of the road at night in a Continue Reading →

Punta Arenas

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Ahmad: After an early breakfast we headed to the bus station to get to Punta Arenas (the early starts are starting to kill me, though it’s worrying that an early start for me now is about the same time as I used to wake up to head to work). We had paid 100 Argentine Peso’s (£15) to get to Puerto Natales, where we would get a connecting bus to Punta Arenas. At this price I was expecting a bus akin to the (in)famous chicken buses of Africa. We were pleasantly surprised that it was comfortable bus and we were on Continue Reading →

El Calafate

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  Laura: We woke up at 6.45am so we could shower before the mammoth 27 hour bus journey to Calafate. The hot tap refused to work so not only did we get up an hour earlier than required, we had to get on the bus feeling dirty which sucked. Also, our food for the journey was in the kitchen which was locked so we had to wake up the hostel staff! The day was off to a bad start but thankfully, the local buses were on time and we caught our 9am bus no problem.