I am posting this blog as we are off on our cruise to the San Rafael glacier in twenty minutes and there were a few things that I wanted to note down that I won't remember when we get back from the cruise. I'm quite looking forward to the cruise but it feels strange to be finally going as it is something that we arranged a long time ago and is the mark of the end of our South American phase of the holiday.

So here are the things that I wanted to note down in no particular order :

1) Santiago de Chile is definitely the most modern of all the places that we have visited in South America and it seems very, very wealthy. We were wandering around yesterday for several hours looking for the American Express Bank (a long story) and ended up in the business district. There were lots of large, modern office blocks and they really were very architecturally interesting (and I'm not particularly an architecture buff).

2) Santiago de Chile is also the most expensive place that we have been and I have been quite shocked by the prices of everything. Even the laundry was on the pricey side!

3) I have decided that I will love fish by the end of this holiday. As you may or may not know, I loathe fish but wish that I liked it as it is very healthy. Additionally, Chile is famous for its fish (I have a feeling that is what we will be eating on the cruise) and I think that it will be a strong theme throughout the South Pacific. I made myself like olives (in fact I love them now) so I can make myself like fish. Every meal that we have had in the last two days has been a fish meal and I have to say that I really enjoyed yesterday's lunch (some King crab concoction which was a speciality of the house). I wasn't overly impressed by Steve's squid in it's ink last night (although it was an interesting unfood-like colour) but the Conger eel that we had was quite nice.

4) Steve was very impressive at spotting a fake note that someone tried to pass us. What was especially impressive was that it was a US $ note which we are not all that familiar with. We had asked an American couple how to spot fakes and they told us that you have to look for the strip that says "USA ten" (or USA twenty, etc.). It happened on the Brazilian side of the Iguazu Falls because we had to pay our entrance fee in Brazilian money. We only wanted to change just enough for that and went to the official cambio. We handed over a $20 note and asked for $10 in Brazilian money and the rest back in US. The man gave Steve the note and he said "The paper doesn't feel right". We held it up to the light and the strip was missing. We told the man that we wanted another one and he didn't look at all surprised when we said that the note that he had given us was fake and gave us another (real) one.

5) I have realised that we have too much stuff back in the UK. Every cupboard is full to bursing point and one of the rooms is full up with stuff. When we get back we will need to have a really good sort out. Mind you, I have been saying for ages that we need to have a sort out and when push comes to shove I am incapable of throwing stuff out.

6) Chilean wine is really excellent. Argentine wine was quite good but all the Chilean wine that we have tried has really stood out as very, very good.

That's all my rambling finished for a week.

One amazing thing about the economic crisis in Argentina is that it has led to the creation and circulation of parallel, unofficial currencies.Most of the shops have signs in the window saying that they accept Patacones and Lecops. When we asked at the hotel, the concierge gave us a 2 peso Patacon. On one side this looks a lot like a normal two peso note (although there are some differences) and on the other side is a description of the law allowing them to be issued.

As far as I can work out, a Patacon is a short-term bond issued by the provincial government of Buenos Aires and used to pay their employees. The bond is scheduled to pay 7% more than the face value on June 25th. However, since they were printed because the province was running out of money, whether they actually will pay out is highly dubious I'd think.

It is strange enough that a regional government can get out of an economic crisis by printing its own money, but odder (for me at least) is that this bogus money can circulate around just like real money. I almost put real in scare-quotes, because it's no longer obvious to me what counts as reality with respect to money. I suppose real money is just what is accepted as real by the majority of people.

We've just returned from the Iguazu Falls on the Argentina-Brazil border. This is described by UNESCO as "one of the most spectacular in the world". It is truly awe-inspiring - there are 275 separate falls stretching for about 2700 metres. Some of the figures are mind-boggling, for example every second 1,200,000 litres of water go over the falls, the falls are longer and higher than Niagra falls, etc. etc.

Knowing all the facts does not prepare you for seeing the falls. The sound is deafening. You get soaked by the spray thrown up from the crashing waters over two hundred metres below (you don't though if you research the place on the web and take waterproofs...) There are rainbows everywhere - often doubled.

What most amazed me was the fact that a broad expanse of calm and shallow water (which stretches out over many kilometers is suddenly forced together into a narrow river just a few hundred metres across. There are many viewpoints where you see the calm water reach a sharp straight edge and just disappear down the cliff. At the point where it reaches the edges, it immediately changes colour from black-blue to white.

There are walkways on both the Brazilian and Argentine sides. The former are great for getting a view of the vast scale of the falls. The later allow you to get very close to them - including the biggest called the Devil's Gorge.

The nearest town on the Brazilian side has a website with some more photos. I'd like to point out that the cute furry animal on the home page is in fact a metre-long menace that ran jumped onto my table and made of with my hot dog.

We had thought about visiting the Falls before coming to Argentina but checking the prices of flights and hotels we figured we'd never be able to afford it. But we went along to a company called Eves Turismo (address Tucuman 702, BA. Phone (54 11) 4393 6151) and they had a package which worked out to be about a quarter of what we had calculated. The price was even less than the airline tickets! I would heartily recomend this company. The woman we spoke to is called Marcela Castetbon - she speaks good English and was very helpful. (Eves also had the best rate for exchanging dollars for pesos we saw around Buenos Aires.)

This is the blog that I should have posted on 19th April 2002 but every time I tried to post it the browser crashed. The same happened with hotmail even though I tried two different computers and Steve had no problem.....I shall post that one and then put up todays comments

19th April 2002

It has been a tiring two days. We have spent all day today making the most of the strong dollar against the peso and doing some shopping. We did quite a bit of walking about yesterday too so are really tired. In the end we didn't buy that much but it was fun going around all the shops. If we had just been here on a two week jaunt and been returning to the UK then we would have bought loads of clothes. Even Christian Dior had a generous exchange rate notice posted in the shop window.

It is really bizarre literally watching your money go up in value. Every time we go to change more dollars we get a few more pesos. So we are only changing what we need. I can't even imagine how extortionately expensive this place must have been when 1 peso equalled 1 US$. Unaffordable.

The best part of the whole thing is that we have been able to book an Iguazu Falls trip for quite a good price. It is a package put together by an Argentine company so the price is in pesos, which makes it very cheap for us. There was an attractive package at the Sheraton right in the national park but the Sheraton price everything in US$ and so that worked out to very, very expensive. And also we would have to pay for drinks, meals and tours there in US$ which rather defeats the whole point of coming to Argentina.

Our hotel is on the Brazilian side of the falls so we will be collecting another stamp in our passport! We had looked on the internet to try and put a package together ourselves but of course everything on the internet was priced in dollars. The package that we have got (two nights accommodation in a four star hotel breakfast and dinner included, tours to the Brazilian and Argentine sides of the falls, flights and airport transfers) comes to less than the best flight only price that we could find on the internet. So, unfortunate as it is for the people here we have at least saved quite a bit of money by their economic crisis.

It is really bizarre watching the changing price. The shop windows just put post-its up with the latest exchange rates as it is changing on a hourly basis. A lot of the banks are all barracaded up with big metal shutters and are covered in graffiti. You can see where people have attacked all the metal shutters too. There is a protest every night and a march down our street with people banging drums and (rather alarmingly) with hammers and crowbars. They march from the Congress Square (at the end of our street) to the Plaza de Mayo (around the corner of the street). Not that I blame them - whilst it has provided us with some amusement and value for money I wouldn't actually like to be a resident here and suffering the consequences.

Tomorrow we are off to on a one day trip down the coast. I'm not sure what it entails exactly but it looked quite good in the leaflet.

Right now I am going to go and make the most of happy hour and then collapse into bed.

Today's comments

Apparently Eleoneor Roosevelt said upon seeing Iguazu Falls "Oh poor Niagara". Well I have never seen Niagara Falls but it would take some doing to beat the sheer magnificence of Iguazu. Steve has posted details about the falls which have made it onto our top ten highlights list. We had a lovely time and I highly recommend any visitors to either Argentina or Brazil to take a short tour there.

As we leave to go back to Santiago tomorrow I wanted to do a blog about our Buenos Aires experience. Without doubt apart from Iguazu Falls the best thing about Argentina is the food. Meat, meat and then more meat. And of excellent quality. They have big barbecue type things and you choose the types of meat that you want (an endless choice of animals and cuts) and it gets grilled to your orders. Absolutely delicious. It really is the best meat that I have ever had. Every meal that we have had, even for snack type meals in cafes, has been excellent. I have to say that it is not really a place for vegetarians but it is a carnivores delight.

I mention above (in the blog that should have been posted on the 19th) about the protests and the economic crisis. We got back to Buenos Aires from Iguazu this afternoon and it seems that things are worsening and I really think that within a couple of months the banking system here will collapse. It is crazy. They have indefinitely closed the banks to stop panic but today we were able to change US$1 for 3.15 pesos (on the street). First they were going to close the banks on Monday, then it became Monday to Wednesday and now it is indefinite.

Some people have my sympathy. For instance, we were wandering along the swanky part of the shopping district and a well dressed, quite old man came up to us and asked us to go into his shop. We didn't really want to but he was practically pleading. It was very posh and the staff were all over us. In the end we didn't buy the leather jacket that Steve tried on and was gorgeous because of the practicalities of getting it home (being folded up in a DHL box with all our other stuff would probably ruin the jacket) even though it was quite pricey (relative to everywhere else we have visited but not relative to Europe) but excellent value for money. We were both quite looking a bit dishevelled and I can imagine in a different time not too long ago when shops like that wouldn't want us in there at all because of their exclusivity. Anyway, despite my new hardened, cynical self that man really got to me and I felt quite upset thinking about all those people whose savings and pensions have been frozen/are now worthless and how bloody awful it would be. Also how his pride and dignity must have taken a real hit. We have also noticed people sifting through rubbish bags at night looking for glass, metal, etc.

However, the hard and practical me does think that most of the problems here have been caused by people not paying taxes as they should and taking advantage of the system. Unfortunately for a lot of people what goes around comes around and it probably came around a bit quicker than they expected. They did vote this government in after all. There is a very good english language newspaper here that has given us quite a good education on the history of the problems (and the bleak outlook) called the Buenos Aires Herald. It is quite a good read (mind you the price has been changing every day).

We did go on a city trip which was a bit like being on a Disneyland trip. We visited the posh and trendy areas of Buenos Aires and then the most expensive residential area. Then we went on a boat trip past all the glitzy weekend homes (quite a few for sale) and wealthy looking sports clubs. How the other half live, or at least were living. Quite an eye opener. On the boat trip some of the home owners were staging (a very middle class protest about the economic problems) and were blocking up the river with their motorboats. It was the must upper class demonstration that I have ever seen.

Neither us really thought that the trip was very good although it passed an afternoon and gave us an insight into the lives of the very wealthy. And also we saw the widest river in the world (220 kilometres wide), drove down one of the longest avenues in the world and down the widest avenue in the world (140 metres wide). Actually this avenue is about 20 metres from our hotel door so the tour didn't really tell us anything new. One amazing fact that I did learn, and if it comes up on "Who wants to be a millionaire" I will know the answer, is that there are 70 Macdonalds in Buenos Aires.

One big bonus in our Buenos Aires experience is that we found a bookshop that stocks English language books. Yippee!

I just tried to update the top ten highlights list but the firewall here won't let me ftp. However, as soon as we are able to ftp Iguazu Falls will be on the list.

The first thing to say is that speed of internet access in Buenos Aires is fantastic - the best we have encountered in South America. The amazing plunging peso has dropped from 2.47 to 3.10 against the dollar in the few days we've been here. This has made our stay here much more affordable. I am absolutely sure that we would not have been able to afford to visit in the days of dollar parity.

We've spent the day shopping and arranging a package tour to the Iguaz Falls. These are on the Argentine-Brazilian border - and our hotel is in Brazil, se we should get another stamp in our passports!

There are signs of the recent riots and troubles all over the city. All the banks have heavy metal shutters which are usually seriously dented due to mobs attacking them. People frequently queue to change money at cambios. And there are beggars in the street - but these are very wealthy, sleek looking beggars (compared with their more practised counterparts further north.)

Here we are in Buenos Aires. And quite a surprise it has been too. Everyone goes on about how modern it is but in fact the word that I would use is "Quaint". Santiago is much more modern. However, these are only my first day impressions and that might change.

We are fortunate enough to be staying in the centre of town (Avenida de Mayo) as our dollars have bought us a suite in a 1920's style hotel. We had a bit of a job finding a decent hotel though. When we arrived at the airport we took a taxi into town and got it to drop us off at the Plaza de Congresos.

We walked along the whole street looking in lots of hotels. They were mostly nothing special at an extortionate rate. One of the hotels even tried to give us the old exchange rate of one Argentine $ = one US $! So greedy.

We had all afternoon and have left some of our stuff in storage at the hotel in Santiago and so weren't too worried about it. The sun was shining so we just strolled along looking in each hotel that we came to. Eventually we stopped at a reccommended one that was marked as very pricey in our guide book. Of course, the guidebook was published before the fall of the peso. They showed us two rooms but we didn't like them and then as we turned to walk away the receptionist said he had one more room that he could offer us. It turned out to be the suite and it was quite a good price. I managed to get some more discount (but not my usual amount) but had been sold the minute we saw the room. It struck me afterwards how much this room used to go for and there is no way that we would have even looked at it due to cost. It really brought home to me how awful it must be for everything to be suddenly worth a third of what is was worth. Still, it allowed us to visit here, so selfishly every cloud has a silver lining. It must be hard for the posher but suddenly affordable places to bite their tongues and let backpackers in.

The street we are on must have once been quite some site. You can imagine how it looked in the 1920's. But it has to be said that the buildings do need a scrub up for the place to regain some of it's former splendour. The only thing that really reminded me of home was when we went onto our balcony (US dollars buys nice things!) there was a huge HSBC building in close visibility range.....

We are off to a recommended restaurant to sample some Argentine steak. Real food! Hopefully it will live up to our mouthwatering fantasies.

Just a quick entry from Buenos Aires as I am looking forward to trying some Argentinian beef very soon. We flew in at lunch time and spent the early afternoon looking for a hotel room. BA has a very twenties look to it - and most of the hotels accentuate this. Several (rejected) hotels looked just a bit too spooky and jaded. We finally settled on one near the city centre.

The realities of the Peso devaluation hit Linda when she worked out that our room was a quarter of the advertised price (She'd negotiated a discount anyway).

Spent the afternoon watching Germany play Argentina in a pre-World Cup friendly. It was difficult to work out which team I wanted to lose most. For those who haven't seen the match, Argentina won 1-0. The Germans were quite lively in the first half (hitting the post at one time) but never really had a chance in the second half. Argentina were okay, but everything faded towards the end. Since England beat Paraguay 4-0 this evening, I don't think they have a lot to worry about in the World Cup.

Full entry tomorrow - now I am too hungry to type....

I should mention that when reading the last blog entry there are four separate entries and you need to start from the bottom and go up else you will read the entries in the wrong order.

Anyway, yesterday we travelled to Santiago in Chile. It has been a real culture shock for me. It is so European like (but cleaner) that I feel quite confused. I think that maybe when you are going to a lesser developed country that you prepare yourself for it but assume that you will be fine when going to somewhere that is more familiar to you. In fact, we had underestimated how much we had adapted to Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia and coming back to the familiar is seriously spooky. We went on the metro today and it could have been the DLR (it couldn't have been the tube because that is too dirty and crowded and just would not be tolerated). Also the shops are very modern and the restaurants do edible food. Of course it is not completely the same as Europe and there are the South American indicators but it is totally different to everywhere else that we have been.

The minivan company that took us from the airport into the centre had helped us choose a hotel and make a reservation. Of course he had completely lied about the price. It was much more expensive than he had said. We had a bit of discussion about the price and in the end we came to a reasonable agreement which involved not paying the lying scumbag his commission for bringing us to the hotel and knocking that off the price. Also getting a discount for staying multiple nights over the next two week period. We would have been prepared to pay about $5 more a night than the settled on price so in the end we did quite well out of it.

Tomorrow we are off to Buenos Aires. Again we have not booked ahead for a hotel but it shouldn't be such a problem this time as we will be arriving in daylight and not in the evening and so won't be in such a rush to find anywhere.

Time to go and sample some Chilean wine and get away from this monitor which is flickering badly and giving me a headache.....

Steve's blog Part Two

After the Salar tour we went to Potosi and then Sucre (the official capital of Bolivia). Both of these towns are UNESCO World Heritage Sites for their fine colonial buildings. They are both pretty, but after the spectacular beauty of the Salar de Uyuni they were a bit disappointing.

6th April 2002

We'd arrived in Potosi at about 5am after a very long night bus journey, so we slept through till lunchtime. After a large salad, we wandered the town. At one time Potosi was one of the largest cities in the world, due to the silver mines which supplied the Spanish envaders with so much of their plunder. There are many interesting buildings from that period, including the Mint where the silver was converted into money. When the mines ran out (or at least, ran down), the Spanish left and Potosi became a small backwaters town.

We were still feeling a bit tired from the bus journey and overwhelmed by the Salar so we went back to our hotel. To find a very noisy marriage celebration going on next door. After a few hours we were getting serious headaches. We asked to move rooms twice and each tiime they said the celebrations would be stopping in half an hour. Finally, we lost our temper and said we were leaving. At this point they produced another room key and said they'd move us. We left anyway. Another fine example of South American problem-solving.

We went to another hotel about 100 metres down the road, and checked into a suite there. Nice to have some space, but it looked as if the room had not been decorated for about thirty years and then the person had really bad taste. We reseolved to push on to Sucre the next day.

7h April 2002

Today, the bus to Sucre was full. So we had to stay another day in Potosi. We have both got colds and went along to the chemist to get something for them. All pharmacies in south American sell medications without requiring a prescription. You can get anything you want - which is helpful for sleeping on night buses.

8th April 2002

Went down to the market to get some stuff to make sandwiches for the journey to find it closed. This turned out to be because most of the Indian people working there were taking part in a huge demonstration. Or rather, two big demos, one for men and the other solely for women. I'm not sure what they were about - all the placards were in Spanish - but it was something to do with corruption and the murder of someone.

We took a collectivo down to the bus station. We saw our first example of bartering there when someone paid for a bus ride with a packet of crisps. This should be our last bus journey we should have here - which is great by me. The buses have been punctual and very cheap, but they are almost all fairly old and delapidated and the roads are often in awful conditions. This journey was fine. The only time we worried was when the driver freewheeled down a hill in an attempt to jumpstart the engne.

We booked into the Grand Hotel and Linda's finely honed negotiating skills were not called for. A matrimonial room with cable TV, which opened onto a pleasant courtyard was only 100 bolivianos a night (about ten pounds). We were both almost convinced that we would be charged 100 Bs each at the end as it seemed too cheap.

The first thing we did was to go to AeroSur to get some flight tickets to get to La Paz. We've been really impressed with the airlines and planes in SA. Tickets are fairly cheap - it cost $65 each for this flight including all taxes, and the planes have plenty of legroom (I think because flying is still a luxury, so the airlines have not attempted to maximise revenue per plane by reducing the space between the seats).

9th and 10th April 2002

Spent a couple of lazy days looking around Sucre, also known as La Cuidad Blanca because so many of the buildings are painted white.

There was a rally in town in support of a political party called Goni and in celebration of the anniversary of the 1952 revolution (land reform, universal suffrage etc). Linda summarised the speeches as "Are we better off now than in 1952? No"

In the evening, we got caught up in the crowds of kids leaving school. They were five or six deep on the pavements and overflowing into the road. They were all happy and smiling, shouting "hola" to us (as we were the big novelties) and trying to shake our hands through the bus windows. There was no sense of menace or aggressiveness at all - as there would be if similar numbers of adolescents were encountered in the UK.

One problem, the shower in oour bathroom does not appear to be working. Or at least, not producing any hot water. Linda tried to have a shower by dipping parts of herself underneath the tepid flow but it wasn't very effective. I have to say, that our standards of hygiene have gone down a lot since the start of the Salar trip. (And they weren't too high before then.) We are both looking forward to getrting back to La Paz and washing properly.

11th April 2002

The flight took off on time and was smooth and scenic. We landed at La Paz airport - which is the highest in the world at 4000 metres - and immediately felt the effects of being back at high altitude. The taxi ride back into the city was fairly spectacular as we swooped down 500 metres from El Alto to the main sity. Hard to believe that people can live on such steep slopes.

We had a pleasant surprise at the El Rey Palace hotel: we had booked to go back into the same room, and they wanted to put us in another one. We asked if it also had a jacuzzi, there was a lot of fussing around with calls put out over their walkie-talkies and also telephones, and then they said "we will upgrade your room". So, without complaining or anything, we are now in a suite which is approximately the same size as our flat in Norwich (and which does have a jacuzzi bath). This has had the unfortunate consequence that we have tended to stay in the room instead of wandering around La Paz.

Linda's blog Part Two

Well today has been a "work day" - ie. getting this site up to date. Both Steve and I will have posted two large blogs each today in an attempt to get the site sorted out. The main reason that we have to do this is that we are at the end of one distinct phase of the holiday - the Andean phase. We are flying to Santiago, Chile tomorrow and are planning also to visit Argentina (more on this later). According to all the people we have met along the way who are working in the opposite direction to these two countries will be totally different (more of a European influence) than the countries that we have already visited.

We both feel quite sad about this. I am not sure if it is La Paz that we have fallen in love with or Bolivia. But honestly and truly tomorrow I will feel sad when the plane takes off. Whenever we have left anywhere else I have always felt that it is time to move on. We were trying to work out why we like La Paz. I think that it is because if feels like a real place - not all driven by tourists. Every single taxi driver has been honest with us and we have experienced no gringo taxing or people hassling us. You see people going to work, walking around looking busy, etc. It is the first place that we have been in South America where you feel that there is a place between rich and poor. Everywhere else you are either poor or rich and there is no in between. Not so here.

La Paz is a bustling city but a bit old fashioned. You feel that you have stepped back in time a bit. The shops are a bit like "Are you being served?". Still, we have both felt chilled out here.

Today is Sunday and as the previous Sunday that we were here the main street has been blocked off and there is a carnival atmosphere around. Lots of very smart army personnel, music, people everywhere, etc.

Other general observations about Bolivia are that there have been a higher proportion of "mad looking" dogs in Bolivia which was a bit worrying given that I have become paranoid about rabies. Also compared to Peru and Ecuador the accommodation had been relatively expensive but everything else has been much, much cheaper. It was also in Bolivia that I ate llama. The first time was unwittingly but the second time I decided to give llama a try (which was when I realised that I had already eaten it unknowingly). It strikes me as a good meat for a stew but as a steak it is a bit tough and bland and needs a good sauce. The time I ate it unknowingly was on the Salar tour and I thought the meat tasted a bit odd and was wondering what it was but thought it best not to question.

I have to say that the most awful toilets that I have come across are in Bolivia. Frankly, I have been appalled on our tour around Bolivia. And to think that they have the cheek to charge you for use of the publc toilets! In La Paz we saw a woman squat down between two cars and have a pee (her big skirt protecting her modesty) and if I owned such a big skirt I might have followed her lead.

We haven't actually done much in the last few days apart from wander around or stay in the hotel. We have had difficulty shifting the colds that we caught on the bike ride and have been feeling very lethargic. This could be due to being at high altitude but I think that we have finally acclimatised to it (although I do wish that every street wasn't on a slope). Also I have developed an eye infection which Steve reckons is down to lack of hygiene (on the Salar trip and in Sucre) and lack of vitamins. We both wish that we could eat more vegetables. I never thought that we would be fantasising about salads and steamed vegetables. We are both fed up of of rice and potatoes. Food fantasies are becoming more frequent and we are looking forward to a nice meaty Argentinian steak.

We had a very restful (ie. sleepy) day yesterday and feel a bit better for it today. We need to be in tip top health to get through the next week. About two weeks ago we were lying in bed wondering what we were going to do in Chile before we go on the Puerto Montt - San Rafeal cruise (link to the cruise itinerary below), and had been reading in Time and Newsweek about Argentina and the fate of the peso. We decided that we should take advantage of the peso issue and go over there as normally it would be too expensive. We had a look on the Lan Chile website and were able to get return flights for US $ 130 each from Santiago. Also on the bike ride the English couple that we had been chatting to afterwards (and subsequently met again on the train to Uyuni) told us that Buenos Aires is amazing and well worth visiting (and they went before the fall of the peso). So based on their opinion and the Lan Chile flight price we are going! Sometimes you get on with people and they have enjoyed and disliked the same things as us, so we will probably like Buenos Aires. Plus once we read the guide book were sold.

So the plan is to fly to Santiago tomorrow (arriving in the evening). The next day we have to collect our cruise tickets and book a wine tasting tour for later in the month. Then on the 17th we fly to Buenos Aires. We are hoping to get out to Iguazu Falls. This will be expensive but we are hoping that our dollars cash will buy us a cheaper jaunt there (time permitting) and besides, the falls sound fantastic. If we can't get to the falls we are going to catch the ferry over to Montevideo, Uraguay. Steve is very excited about Argentina as even before the fall of the peso leather was a good buy and he has set his mind on buying a made to measure custom leather jacket. I suspect that this is the first sign of his mid life crisis. Next thing he'll by buying a motorbike and growing his hair into a pony tail. Something tells me that we will be doing a lot of shopping in Buenos Aires........

We fly back to Santiago on the 24th April and hopefully do a wine tasting jaunt on the 25th. On the 26th we fly to Puerto Montt to join a cruise. We are not sure what to expect of this (we booked it immediately after the Sangay National Park disaster) but here is the itinerary. A general description of the cruise is "Travelling 800 nautical miles (Aprox. 1,600 kms) through the channels and fjords of the archipelagos of Llanquihue, Chiloe, Aysen, in the Northern Patagonia".

After the cruise we fly back to Santiago (sending our cold weather gear home - yippee!) and then on Sunday it is off to Easter Island for the start of our Pacific adventure.

Last thing to say is that we have updated our home page with links to photos, etc. We have also added a top ten page containing our current lists of highlights/low lights, etc. You can find it here.

Linda's blog Part One

It has been some time since we updated this blog. This is due to some problems with blogger itself and then the abysmal internet connections outside La Paz. I mean, 10 minutes to log into hotmail makes you want to kick the computer across the room. But not wanting to experience life inside a Bolivian jail cell I decided that the best thing was just to give up on the internet thing until we were back in lovely La Paz.

I will now try to get everything up to date as we leave Bolivia tomorrow. I did do a post about the bicycle ride down the most dangerous road in the world. You can read that here I would like to point out that everyone we had met and the guidebooks had recommended a company called Gravity Assisted Mountain Biking and we went into that shop with every intention of doing the bike ride with them. However, the woman there (an american called Jessica) was so rude and patronising that we walked out and began the hunt for another company. It takes some doing to actually turn a dead cert sale into a non sale.

In the end we went with Downhill Madness (part of Explore Boliva - based in the Av 16 de Julio in La Paz) because they let us try out the bikes and choose the ones we were happy with and because I was very nervous about the whole thing and the owner was really nice about it and told me not to worry and that if needs be he would ride down with me or I could get in the backup vehicle that carries the spares if any particular parts of the road made me feel scared. As it turned out, most of the road made you feel scared and my nerves were overtaken by the adrenalin rush and I was nowhere near the back of the pack. But still, before we set off he made sure I felt okay on the bike and I had every confidence in him (and the several other guides that they provided) - which contributed to my enjoyment of the day.

Here are the diary entries for other days that should have been posted earlier :

1st April 2002

We headed off to the bus station to catch a bus to Oruru where we would be able to meet the train that would take us to Uyuni for our Salar trip. It was similar to the bus stations in Ecuador with everyone calling out to you, the prices being incredibly cheap, and the buses not quite the quality that we had accustomed to in Peru. Still, 1 GBP and three and a half hours later we arrived in Oruru. There was not much there except a big market and the train station. I needed the toilet and it was here that I realised just how primitive the toilets along the way were going to be for the next few days. We had to wait around for quite a few hours for the train to arrive (it only runs twice a week) and really just sat about enjoying to the sunshine and chatting to a couple that we had met on the bike ride and who had turned up in Oruru about an hour after us. They had been supposed to be going to Sucre but for two days running the flights had been cancelled because of thunderstorms in Sucre. It did worry me a bit because we planned to fly from Sucre to La Paz and I didn't really fancy being stuck there for days on end.

Eventually the train turned up and we got on. What a pleasant surprise! The cost had been 6.50 GBP for an executive class ticket. There was tons of leg room, blankets for if it got cold, reclining seats and tv screens for the movie that they would show later on. We also got a free cold drink and a hot sandwich. There was also a man dedicated to mopping up around the toilet and keeping it clean. Anglia Railways should take note of this. The train left at 3:30pm and it was due into Uyuni at 10:00pm. We left on time and arrived only five minutes late.

The railway line goes through a dried up lake and the scenery was quite stunning. You are going along on the flat bit (quite slowly) and there are snow peaked mountains not too far into the distance. At one point it seemed like we were travelling over the surface of a lake. Once we arrived we just went to the closest hotel that we could find to the railway station as we didn't want to be hanging around late at night with all our possessions with us. It was a hotel designed for people in transit (ie. cheap and a bit of a fleapit) but it served it's purpose.

We had arranged our four day jeep tour in La Paz so that we wouldn't have to hang around in Uyuni and had been told that we must be at the Uyuni travel agency by 9:00 am at the latest. So we just crashed out as we knew we had to get going pronto in the morning.

2nd April 2002

We arrived at the travel agency and the woman running the office told us to take a seat and wait. At 9:30am we were still sitting there with people coming and going and no one actually saying anything to us. About 5 minutes later a man came up to us and told us that we didn't need to be at the office until about 10:00am! This has been a recurring theme in South America. We are told a time, turn up (don't want to be left behind) and then nothing happens for at least half an hour. Then there is a lot of faffing about and finally about an hour late we get going. And all the while no one explains to you what is going on.

I would turn up an hour late but once we were on a bus going from Cusco to Puno and there was also a German tour group on the bus. We stopped at a bus station to pick up more people and some of the tour group got off the bus to have a cigarette and to buy some snacks. Anyway, the bus just decided it was time to go and pulled out of the station. It was quite funny watching the left behind people running after the bus and the other members of the tour group and the tour group leader stopped the bus so that they could catch up. However, it is an example of how there is no head count and when things are ready to go, they go.

More and more people turned up to the office and then some jeeps turned up. We assumed that as usual we would be in the clapped out, ratty looking one. But no! We were assigned to the newest, sleekest looking jeep. Each jeep had a driver (who was also the guide and cook) and six passengers. As luck would have it we were put with three other English people and one American. You never know on these tours as the group can make or break a tour and there are sometimes cultural clashes. Anyway, everyone was nice and friendly and we all got on.

We set off to see the Salar de Uyuni. This is the largest and highest salt plain in the world. After a short time we hit the Salar itself. It is very difficult to describe. White as far as the eye can see. One has the illusion of being on ice. At first everyone was treading gingerly as though it would crack and we would fall through (very silly when you consider that we had been driving across it in a full jeep). We visited a salt producing cooperative (hard work for them) and then carried on across the Salar to the Isla de Pescado going past the hotel made entirely of salt. Isla de Pescado is an island in the Salar which is rocky and dry and covered in large cactus plants. There is a trail that you can walk across and when you do the sheer size and madness of the Salar hits you. It is totally bizarre. You are sitting on a rock surrounded by giant cactus plants, looking at the salt flats with the snow peaked mountains in the background. You are well above 4000 metres high but feel (as on the train) that you are at sea level because of the flatness around you. It just blows your mind. We all agreed that the only way to describe it was "crazily beautiful" and that it was like you were on some hallucinatory trip.

We had lunch here (terrible toilets at a rip off price) and then carried on across the Salar to our lodging for the first night. Crossing the second part of the Salar was incredibly beautiful. There was about three inches of water above the salt and it cast a beautiful light. It was just so weird looking at it. Cecilio (our driver/guide/cook) had been playing traditional Bolivian music (not really to anyone else in the jeep's taste) but produced an 80´s tape at this point which he put in. We were all quite quiet as the monotony and madness of the view just tires you out. I have a bizarre memory of driving across this part thinking how weird to be seeing what I was seeing and listening to ´Bette Davis Eyes´ and feeling dreamily happy.

The Lonely Planet Guide to Bolivia describes the Salar: "When the surface is dry, the salar becomes a blinding expanse of the greatest nothing imaginable, but when there's a little water, the surface perfectly reflectsthe clouds and the blue Altiplano sky and the horizon disappears. When you're driving across the surface at such times the effect is positively eerie, and it's hard to believe that you are not actually flying through the clouds."

Eventually we left the Salar, drove some Quinoa fields (lots of colours again) and arrived at our lodging. We were all a tad disappointed even though we had been warned that it would be basic. As we were the first group to arrive (Cecilio being a fast and safe driver) we could have rooms to ourselves. The last groups to arrive had to sleep in close proximity to each other in the larger rooms which were packed with beds. There were two toilets and sinks (running water) and a dining room where we could also play cards, etc. There was a shop in town which everyone hit. It carried the necessary gringo supplies : bottled water, toilet roll, biscuits and alcohol. You really felt like you were in the middle of nowhere. We all had a lighthearted moan about the accommodation and decided that for one night it would do and that it had been worth it to see the Salar. Later on we were to look back at this lodging as the height of luxury!

3rd April 2002

We were the first group out of the lodging as Cecilio hassled us all to breakfast and tapped his foot impatiently whilst we got ready. Overnight the local football pitch had turned into a llama filled field but we couldn't hang around watching the rather randy young male trying to do every llama in sight even though it was providing much amusement for the group. Cecilio was keen to get going.

The second day was totally different to the first day in terms of landscape. We crossed desert which again gave the illusion of being at sea level even though we were 4500 metres high. The sun was brilliant and the sky was so bright blue. The mountain ranges were beautiful and the ones that we saw closely had such variety of colour. Our goal of the day was the Laguna Colarado which is a lake that is red in colour in the afternoon. As well as desert we passed some other lagunas with flamingos on and stopped many times just to take in the scenery.

Where we stopped for lunch was fantastic. A big lot of rocks in the middle of the desert. As Cecilio drove so fast we were first everywhere and so had the luxury of being the only group at each stopping point. I think a whole load of jeeps being there at the same time would have taken some the magic away.

I just looked back in my diary to see how I described the landscape at the time but have only written that this is the most beautiful place that I have ever been and that no words can describe it.

The Laguna Colarado is indeed red and we went for a walk around it. The wind was really strong and we didn't stay outside for too long. Although it is brilliantly sunny as soon as you stand in the shade or the wind gets up you get cold very quickly.

Although we were first at the lodging we had no choice but to sleep the whole group in one room. We choose the adobe wing for more privacy. The room was about 3 metres by 3 metres and there was bugger all space in there, especially by the time that we brought in our backpacks. There was no room to "hang out" in and we were expected to eat our meals in that room as well! When we moaned about that Cecilio said that if he had to cook for us in his bedroom we had to eat in ours and that the smell wouldn't bother us for too long! There was no running water and two toilets and one sink for everyone (many groups turned up later on). Electricity was only from 7pm - 9pm. The beds were really rickety and didn't look that clean. It was so cold though (as soon as the sun went down) that we all slept fully clothed (hats and gloves included) and in our sleeping bags. It took us a while to work out how to switch the light on and off but eventually sussed that there was no light switch - you just twisted the lightbulb.

We had a 5am start and all went to bed quite early. No one really slept that well as there were some snorers in the group and it was quite cold and the beds were really uncomfortable.

4th April 2002

We got up and went to clean our teeth, etc. by torchlight. The toilets were just foul and that many people (some not bothering to use the bucket and water flushing system) does not lead to hygienic sanitary conditions. Thank god it was still dark and I couldn't really inspect too closely.

We all staggered out to the car and discovered that we had an extra passenger. We were all a bit cross about this as it made the jeep very cramped. It turned out that she was staying in Chile and wanted to do a two day tour with her friend. There had been some mix up and the rest of her tour group were heading to Uyuni. So her and her friend had to be put in vehicles heading towards Chile.

I am not sure what I was expecting from the geezers but it was quite incredible and eery. It was like a lunar landscape with tons of steam being blown. The bubbling water and mud was fascinating. From here we went to the thermal pools for a dip. In the end Steve and I didn't get in the water as although the water was hot it was generally freezing and we both had colds from the bike ride.

The final stop was Laguna Verde. Absolutely stunning (again!). It was green and surrounded by mountains. We had to go over the highest altitude that I have ever been to get there (a 5000 metre pass). The water was so clear the mountains were reflected perfectly in it. I have taken tons of photographs but I don't think that they will do it justice.

After this we had to go to the point where all the jeeps met up and those going over the border to Chile went in some vehicles (most people and I do recommend this) and those returning to Uyuni went in other vehicles. The rest of our group were crossing the border so we said our farewells. We were in the later (smaller) group and were transferred to a really rubbish jeep. The windscreen was cracked and one of the windows was sellotaped together and the two other people in it told us that it kept breaking down. Turns out that they had paid about the same amount for the tour as us. I wouldn't have been very pleased if I was them.

We had a six and a half hour journey to our lodging for the night. En route we stopped at Valles de Rocas so that they could fix something on the jeep and we could marvel once more at the scenery. It was weird - tons of large, oddly shaped rocks in the middle of the desert.

We arrived at our lodging for the night and they put us in a room for six even though there were four of us. This was quite a nice gesture as the lodging was really the worst that we have ever stayed in. Again no running water and the place had a real dirty feel about it. The toilets were dirty to start with and as eventually 70 + people turned up you can imagine how foul it got. There wasn't really any privacy at the toilet either but Steve gallantly stood guard. We were all having our dinner when another tour group arrived. We were turfed out of our room and into another room with four spare beds because they wanted to stay together as a group. So there were about 12 of us sleeping in this one room. To get to it we had to climb up some steps that were held onto the wall by two bits of wire. They wobbled about as you went up and down. I think everyone was a bit nervous that they would collapse. I can't desribe the awfulness of this place. You felt like you had hit rock bottom. Nobody slept under the sheets - we all slept in our sleeping bags on top of the beds.

5th April 2002

The next morning we got up and hanging from one of the stumps of wood sticking out of the wall that I had used to help me get down the stairs in the night was a pigs skin with a trotter in it. It was covered in flies and everyone who came out of the room and saw this sight for the first time gagged. I can't be sure but I do remember in the night I had needed the toilet and remember thinking that there was a cloth or something drying on one of the stumps and touching it. Yuck!

Our driver staggered over and was plainly drunk. So a young mechanic had to drive us (badly for the morning). After lunch our drunken driver insisted on driving as the rules are that the driver has to take us into Uyuni. We tried to explain that the mechanic should drive and that they could swap places about ten minutes before we hit town. But this was too logical a solution. The mechanic had hit it off with the female cook of this tour group and after a few hours they were canoodling away in the front seat. Our drunken driver was annoyed about this and ended up deliberately driving over the rough bits of road and avoiding the smoother bits to stop the love fest in the front. Whilst amusing it was bloody uncomfortable on our bottoms.

Finally we arrived in Uyuni and tried to find a hotel for the night. All the hotels were either full or a rip off. So in the end we decided to get the night bus to Potosi. We booked ahead to a hotel in Potosi as we were due to arrive at about 1am and didn't want to be wandering around Potosi at that time of night.

We turned up to the bus stop and there seemed to be more people than seats on the bus and some argument about how much luggage was being loaded onto the bus. Some people were even trying to load furniture on! We decided to get on the bus immediately to be sure of a seat. Good thing that we did as people ended up sitting in the aisles. The bus journey of course took almost twice as long as it should have done as that is always the case in Bolivia (only 5% of roads are paved). At one point the rain had washed away part of the road. The locals all got off the bus (sensibly) but the gringos didn't realise what was going on and stayed on the bus as it wobbled over the riverbed. We arrived in Potosi eventually and it looked like some people were going to just sleep on the bus until daybreak. We got a taxi to our hotel and it was lovely. Running water, clean bed, space, privacy.......

I am going to lunch now so will continue the update later.

Steve's blog Part One

We're coming to the end of the Andean phase of our trip, so I thought I'd put down the things we see every day, that we take for granted, but which we've really just gotten used to. This is in no particular order.

Armed guards.

These are everywhere. Leaning on their guns, scratching their legs with the barrels, looking about 12 years old - they all inspire great confidence. In Peru and Bolivia, they are at least official - such as police, but in Ecuador they were commonly private security guards. (You have to wonder about a society that needs to have two men armed with pump action shotguns outside MacDonalds).

Shoeshine boys.

All the way so far, we've been constantly assailed by boys (between 5 and 15 years old) wanting to clean our boots. They carry a small wooden box with their polishes etc. The "official" shoe shiners have wooden seats that you sit in and read your morning paper whilst they work away. Here in La Paz, the unofficial cleaners look extremely sinister as they wear a full face balaclava, usually over a peaked cap, and camoflague jackets. They look like terrorists or muggers and always startle us when they come up to us in the street.

Food sellers.

There is a huge variety of food on sale in the streets, most of it looking extremely unhygenic and unhealthy. Examples include:

• Pork crackling - pieces a foot or so in size, which looked quite appetising until we went on the Salar tour and saw an essential part of the process of making it (see Linda's entry).
• Things that look like small Cornish pasties - these are empeñadas and salteñas, which are spicy, meaty and sweet. They always seem to contain at least one hard fruit stone, usually where you have just bitten down , hard.
• Popcorn - this is very common, usually sold from vast sacks (several metres across), usually have an unusual shapes; large and coiled, almost slug-like.
• Something like ice-cream, but which is whipped as if it was beaten eggs.
• Fruit: apples, black-looking bananas, something green that looks a bit like a globe artichoke.
• A spring-roll thing, that oozes a sweet and sticky-looking fluid.

Street sellers

It possible to buy virtually anything in the street (either from a wooden stall, or from someone just wandering around. Things I've seen include books (including ones on Java, UML, philosophy classics, personal growth, management theory ...), CD-Rs, floppies, mobile phone cases, aerials, CDs - both music and programs, laser key rings, maps, magazines, and so on and on.

Virtually all of the street traders are Indians, and the majority are women. They seem to only wear traditional clothing - multiple skirts, coloured blouses and a wide variety of hats (small brown bowlers, tall white straw hats etc). They always have a red and bluee striped blanket knotted around their neck in which they carry things (often babies). It seems that putting on this shawl automatically adds thirty years to their faces - they go from pre-teens to middle-aged immediately.

With their many underskirts and shawls the women seem very short and wide, almost like Weebles. Sometimes it is only the hat which indicates definitively which way is up.

Means of public transport

There are three main ways of getting around the cities:

• Taxis, these range from licensed taxis (with new cars and radios) to clapped out Ladas with a "Taxi" sign in their front windscreen (which thety remove if the Transport police look a bit too closely at them)
• Collectivos. These are minivans, with about eight seats in the back, which work a fixed route. They have a lunatic driver with an assistant whose tasks include opening the side door, collecting fares and hanging out of the window and shouting (monotonously and quickly) the route. It seems to be a job requirement that they shout in such a way that gringoes can't understand them.
• Trufis - these are a cross between taxis and collectivos. They are cars that work a fixed route and can be flagged down by anyone. They indicate the route with a number in the windscreeen and a particular coloured flag attached to the bumper.

We've finally arrived at civilisation so we can try to get this diary up to date. We've been having some problems with blogger and so the last diary entry is here.

We're currently in Sucre which is the official capital of Bolivia. Today is the 50th anniversary of the 1952 revolution - which overthrew a military regime and brought in universal suffrage and land reform - and there are marching bands, demonstartions and other celebrations. We only arrived yesterday, so it's too early for a description.

Since the bike ride, we've been on a four day tour of the Salar de Uyuni and spent a couple of days in Potosi.

The Salar is the highest and largest salt plain in the world. It is mind-blowing, almost hallucinatory. The landscape south of the Salar is equally amazing. I know that Linda is working on a fuller description of the whole trip (concentrating on the appalling state of the sanitary facilities) so I'll leave it for now.

Potosi was a great well-preserved colonial town. We didn't go down the silver mines - partly because of my height and partly a bit of claustrophobia.

We are planning on a side-trip to Argentina from Chile. We figured that we would never have been able to afford it before their current economic problems. Not sure what we'll do there apart from visit Buenos Aires. We might go over to Montevideo to get a Uruguayan stamp in our passport. Or we might go to the Iguazu falls - which look spectacular, but very expensive.