Benaulim, Goa, India

You'll be glad to hear that luckily the tablets had worked well for
the journey, because if you ever get chance to see the loos on the
trains in India, you wouldn't want to wish your worst enemy to have
diarrhoea on them. Let's just say they are squat toilets!

Sorry back to more pleasant thoughts, we arrived at Goa late and
shared a taxi with a couple from Germany.

We had just missed a cyclone in the area, but the weather was still
crazy. One minute it was bone dry, next minute a rain storm had broken
out, maybe an aftermath of the cyclone.

Goa is more expensive than other places in India as it is a package
holiday destination for Europeans. Still we managed to find a nice
guesthouse, Shalom Guesthouse.

The journey was pretty long so we chilled out for the 1st day. The
beach is really clean, esp for Indian standards.

There were lots of European tourists here, much more than we had seen
anywhere else in one place in India apart from the Taj Mahal.

As it is so much further south, it's pretty hot & humid here but they
say this is unusual due to the recent cyclone. We enjoy our time of
chilling out, esp after our recent illnesses!

We even get involved in a time share day where they try to sell us
holidays here and around the world. It looks reasonable on paper, esp
as we take so many holidays, but my good maths & knowledge we weren't
going to do it anyway. Still it was interesting hearing the concept
all the same.

The final day was spent again at the beach and watching the amazing
sunsets from here. We also loved the cute starfish that came out of
the sand at sunset, esp the ones that seemed to be holding hands, cute!

We spent 3 very pleasant days here relaxing, the south is so much more
pleasant pace of life compared to the hectic and hassled north!

Next stop Palolem, Goa, Paradise Beach!

Daman, Gujarat, India

We got the overnight train from Kota to Vapi, so we're becoming
seasoned experts the train system here now! 18hrs later we arrive in
Vapi (according to the Rough Guide, one of the top ten most polluted
cities in the world, what a claim to fame!)

Well it didn't seem that bad when we arrived! We then got our shared
taxi (5 to the back seat!) to Daman, apparently according to the
tourist office a "mini Goa". Now I can tell you, now that we're in Goa
to compare, that this place has nothing on Goa and I have no idea how
they can claim that! It was occupied by the Portugese for most of its
history, so has catholic churches (80ish% of indians are hindu, 13%
muslim 5% Sikhs & about 2% catholic) and 2 forts to defend the the
town! The beach here is dirty & dark so has no features to justify a
visit here (so luckily we only planned 1 day to visit here on the way
to Goa); which is just as well due to the following.......

Unfortunately we had been told by someone that the drinking water taps
at the railway stations were fine to drink. Oh dear! Our bowels
didn't forgive us for that mistake! James was sick for a few days and
Mariana was initially better but then got it too! Not good that we had
to go on another 18 hr train journey that day. However luckily James
had his emergency supply of Loperamide, to let's just say block the
pipes!

With trepidation we made another overnight train journey from Vapi to
the Bollywood capital, Mumbai. However it was only to change trains to
continue to Goa, for another 12 hr journey!

Bundi, Rajasthan, India

So we had a reasonable trip to Bundi by our sleeper bus! Yes it was a
double sleeper but wasn't as good as the Jaisalmer to Udaipur bus as
we didn't have our own cocoon so we had to keep a closer eye on our
bags. Also the bus was due in at 5am (before sunrise) but as all
Indian bus drivers seem to drive like a khamkazhi drivers we got their
early at around 4am! We had to almost be chucked off the bus as we had
just woken up and they were only prepared to wait their for a minute.
They were slowly driving out of town as we were trying to gather our
things, so they didn't waste any time!

So it's not easy to find accommodation in any place at 4am, but
especially in a little town in India! Luckily, as always the was a
handy rikshaw driver to take us anywhere we want anytime of the day!
They also make so much commission from hotel owners (added to our bill
secretly, I would like to add!), that they love it when the confused
and dazed tourists that we were at that time in the morning, turn up!

So as everywhere seemed closed apart from one hotel owner came out
just as we arrived, strange that at 4am!
Prince Haveli our home for that night wasn't that nice either but we
had little choice at that time. They weren't the friendliest of
management when they heard we only wanted to stay one night! Mainly as
our room was right next to reception & many people arrived late at
night and so was noisy!

So our next home was Raj Mahal Guest House, just down the road from
Prince Haveli so we had to dodge the manager's gaze! This too was
pretty simple but was quieter and the staff seemed friendlier. We
wanted to go to Haveli Rija but the room had become occupied. Too slow!

Bundi is a up & coming tourist resort with an amazing fort (there are
lots in India!) up on the hill. Shockingly, this maharaja palace had
been left derelict to the bats! Luckily it was rented out to a private
company that has slightly restored the place. It's looked like both
the Palace & the fort on the hill were amazing in their day, 400yrs
ago. The fort had become completely abandoned and James went exploring
only to be met by an army of monkeys! Now in the best of times this
may be fun but some mothers were looking after their young so as I
tried to quietly creep walk through them all, some were bearing their
teeth at me. I was sure I was going to get attacked by a rabid monkey!

Bundi otherwise was the home of Rudyard Kipling, when he wrote part of
Jungle Book & Kim in a lovely lake side house to relax in, great
inspiration! I didn't realise but Baloo (which I am sure is a
character in Jungle Book), means Bear in Hindi! Well there you go!

We stayed here for 3 days before moving on ........

Udaipur, India The Romantic City!

We were looking forward to Udaipur as it had been billed as India's
most romantic city!

Well it is a beautiful city due to it's setting next to a lake with a
beautiful lake palace and city palace. This is all surrounded by
mountains in the distance. Nice.

We arrived early after our first trip in a sleeper bus. Yes you can
sleep on board buses over here. There is a second level of the bus
where you can hide away from the world in your own bed. Sounds nice
but actually not as comfortable as sounds when your bus driver is
trying to do a kamkhazi mission; like all drivers do over here. (they
seem incredibly good at driving very fast and very close to other
drivers but not hitting them) Also if every motorbike driver were to
buy a car in India if you think London traffic is bad just think about
over a billion inhabitants!

At 430am your choice of hostel is fairly limited as most are closed.
So we had trouble finding a decent place. Still Sadma Guest House
treated us well for the first night but we quickly found a lovely
little guest house in town which was only a month old! It was called
Udai Haveli Guest House on Ganesh ganj. We had found it by accident
walking around and was too new to be in the guidebooks. (I am now
starting to think guidebook recommended guest houses & hotels can get
a little complacent with their endless supply of new guests) Wow clean
& new pillows & mattresses. At times in the bathroom; it was so new we
thought we were at home! A revelation in India, so decided this would
be our new home for as long as we stayed here. (7 days)

We visited the Palace, home to what is believed to be the longest
running Royal Family (however now they have no power in democratic
India). It is a beautiful palace on a hill above the lake looking over
to the Lake Palace with some amazing pictures and treasures, some of
which are away at an exhibition on India in London!

We also went up the cable car here (63 rupees) to see the sunset which
was beautiful as it looked out over the city, the palace, the lake
palaces and the mountains beyond! We then watched as all the lights
came on over the city. Very romantic.

Over the next few days we chilled out and did some shopping, ate out
and even managed to get to see Octopussy! I was very happy and Mariana
wasn't too upset either! It's surprising how much of the movie is
filmed here and we went oh look that such and such!

Next day we did our good deed for the trip and helped out at a local
animal hospital. They looked after dogs, donkeys, and cattle mostly.
It was so sad to see some of them that had been paralysed after being
run over and no one cared. This is the sad part of this country that
there are so many stray dogs and no one seems to care for them. So we
did our bit for the day which was just looking after them, feeding
them or for the donkeys talking to them and giving them a good brush.
I only wished I could have done more but moat of them that could get
better were getting better. The donkeys had been treated badly by
getting them to carry crazy loads on their backs until their legs
litterally buckled under them and sometimes broke! It was so sad, but
also nice to see that at least these animals were being looked after
so well.

We left Udaipur a little sad as we had both really enjoyed this lovely
city on our overnight bus sleeper to Bundi, our next stop. (yes over
here you can have your own separate cabin to sleep in with a double
bed, strange but pretty comfy!)

Camel Desert Safari, Jaisalmer, India

So our adventure began!

2 days into the middle of the desert and almost a little too close to Pakistan! Still it was reassuring hearing the indian fighter jets flying over!

Oh yes I forgot we had met an English couple 2 days earlier  who weren't well enough to take an afternoon safari so kindly gave it to us 30 mins before they were due to leave. (there's a lot to be said about right time, right place)

Back to the 2 day adventure! We left after an unplanned tour round town for our supplies for the trip (I don't remember this being mentioned on our trip itinerary!)

We were all chatting and in high spirits we went straight to the camels 1 hr into the desert by jeep after our late start and met our companions for the next 2 days. The camels were called Buddha (M) & Aloo, meaning potato! (J)

Well the bums soon started hurting but we were finally on our trip. We came across our 1st "gypsy village" we had been promised, which just consisted of a load of local kids running out and asking "you have chocolate..... School pen.... 10 rupees" and generally being abut harassed. Still we managed to get some nice photos. Nice quiet stop for lunch, where we were offered one of the goats playing in front of us for 1000 rupees to go with our vegetarian dinner Even I couldn't cope with eating something that only a few hours before was happily playing. (yes 6 wks in and still haven't eaten any meat and very happy with all this tasty food! Maybe I should become vegetarian!)

Well after we got over that we had a further 3 hrs in the saddle until out lovely sand dune setting for sunset! Nice dinner, chatting with our new found friends and our open air beds for the night under the full moon and stars in the middle of the desert!

Next morning 630am start for sunrise, beautiful and surprisingly cool in the desert! More photos and nice breakfast of banana, apple, orange & papaya with chai & biscuits before another 3 hrs back in the saddle. It surprisingly quite relaxing on top of a camel and they aren't as moody as I was expecting. Still Mariana learned to trot on the camel the hard way and seemed to be more jumping on top of the camel than riding it. I don't think she be winning any camel races for a while! I think in the end she was happy to be back on solid ground. Our bums were a bit sore the next day but not bad really!

Still all in all a great trip, nice scenery, great company and good food!  

Desert Havali Guest House review, Jaisalmer

We weren't going to come here as Mariana thought it was too far to go
but we were both pleasantly surprised we came here!

We met a nice Canadian family on our 5am train (and we're meant to be
on holiday!) They had 2 children aged 11 and 7! They had been
travelling for 3 months so far with stops in Europe, Egypt and now
India! This place is tough enough for us at times so we were intigued
to see how it was with 2 young kids in tow! They said that generally
it had been a good experience and the school had been very supportive
by arranging school work for the kids. They generally tried to stay at
the nicer guest houses. It was interesting to hear of how they were
getting on anyway.

Jaisalmer was also built around a fort along the old silk route. It's
an amazing little place as it's literally built in the middle of
nowhere! Apparently not far here is where India tested it's 1st
nuclear bomb!

This place is in the middle of the Thar Desert with temperatures to
match. It can get up to 50C in the summer!
It's built around the fort on the hill again which makes it look
beautiful. It's strange to see this with a modern wind farm in the
background.

We got roped in to staying a one guest house for the first night as we
couldn't stand all the hotel touts who greeted us at the train station.

Once there we were promptly encouraged to take a desert camel safari:
Him: "you want a receipt now for your camel safari"
Me: "no we have just arrived, thank you"
Hotel owner: " you want a receipt for your camel safari"
Me: "NO! Just let us pay for our room"

And so it went. I think the hotel owners made so much commission from
these trips that this is all they could talk about!

So we decided to find another place and came across a friendly hotel
manager called Muna (meaning boy, alot of kids are never given a name
and often don't know when they were born over here!)

He was a friendly chap who's favourite phrase was "we drink some
chai" (chai for those who don't know is the delicious tea over here
made from spices and full of sugar. Well I thought it was delicious
and so kept getting Mariana's chai!)

We found a great room looking out over the desert from the fort, an
amazing view and place staying in one of the fort buildings itself!

We also decided to go on a camel safari and so began our negotiations
with Muna! Indians can be very clever and when we had agreed to a
price we thought it was the total price but he was quoting us a daily
rate for a 2 day safari. (very crafty!)

Next day we met a lovely couple from Germany & Finland and they wanted
to do the safari too so we managed do some more negotiations which the
others fully got into. This wasn't before Muna hoped to give us a
lower price than our new friends if we kept quiet about the price we
had negotiated! Well in the end we were all happy.

We met another American couple who decided to come on the trip and a
Swiss guy so we were 7 on our 2 day camel safari!

Govind Guest House Review, Jodphur, India

Jodphur was a noisy dirty place on our late arrival by train. As it
was pretty late and it is a big place we decided to stay near the
station. This was a big mistake we were later to find out as it was so
noisy from the busy street.

The only reasonable priced guest house near the station was Govind
Guest House. Unfortunately this was quite a pricey place. We paid for
1 dorm bed the same price as our own room in Pushkar (this was the
only beds available too as it was late!) We found Shiva Guest House
near the fort far more reasonable but still we were close to the
station so it was handy for our 5am! train to Jaisalmer.

The fort in Jodphur is amazingly impressive built on top of a hill and
made from sandstone! It's amazing at sunset esp with the blue houses
of the old city.

We only spent 1 day here as there wasn't that much more to see apart
from the fort and we found it just to be another noisy, busy and
polluted city but with a very nice fort.

Milkman Guest House review, Pushkar, India

Pushkar is our next stop on this journey through this amazing country.

It is home to one of the most holy lakes in India, which has sadly
been drained for cleaning and now the rains haven't returned to refill
it! There seems to be issues with lack of rain here that seem to be
causing problems across the country.

Pushkar is also home to the world famous Camel Fair. Here tens to
hundred of thousands camels are traded over a week and they also put
on special events for the tourists including camel races, Indian
dancing and much more. Unfortunately however this means the
gustehouses and hotels often put their prices up by 5 times normal
prices!

We arrived 5 days before the festival and decided it would be worth
staying for the first 2 days. Unfortunately someone had told us it
would be starting on 25th Oct only to find out on arrival that it was
the 26th! Still Pushkar is a nice place to chill out and seems v
tourist orientated, which after the rest of India can be a nice break
from the full on cities of India (which I personally don't rate much
and would far prefer heading straight away to the towns and villages.)

Our home, Hotel Kuhinoor (owned by White House Guest House) we were
lucky to find. It would charge us it's normal rates for all our stay
including the first night of the camel fair. This was a lucky break as
most hostels we went to asked at least 3 times their normal rate! So
we managed to get an ensuite room which was clean and tidy with fan
for again 100 rupees with some negotiation (as always!)

The first morning of the camel fair we were greeted with some eternal
racket / drone of some religious chant over loud speakers that goes on
forever starting at 630am! What a greeting to wake you up with! I
think I'm glad we're only staying for 1 day of the fair!

This early morning wake up can be quite common in India as a
significant number of people are Muslim and so are called to prayer in
the early morning from the mosques. Always make sure you don't stay
near these unless you want to not sleep from 530am onwards! We have
hear some that have had to put up with this. (This goes too for Hindu
temples during religious festivals!)

We met a great pair of Aussie lads and a Chinese girl whilst were in
Pushkar, and enjoyed our relaxed time in this place away from the
noise of the city!

Next stop Jodhpur by train, a SUPPOSED 6 hr journey (trains in India
are the best way to travel for comfort but are frequently hours late!)

Desert Havali Guest House, Jaisalmer review

Desert Havali Guest House, Jaisalmer review

Well we weren't sure whether we were coming to Jaisalmer but we are
glad when we arrived. Despite it being on the outer most reaches of
India, it is a really nice place with an amazing fort. And we had some
great times with the people we met.

We were acosted as we arrived at the train station with lots of people
trying to sell their hotels with offer of free trip to their hotel;
great considering it was so hot! And it seemed no commission either!

We hadn't thought about doing the safari but every hotel in the town
was very keen on us doing it! We decided to check out the fort and
came across the nice Desert Havali Guest House. Maanu, the manager,
was very kind with free chai tea and we sat chatting. His safari
seemed well recommended in his books and it seemed a great price, only
400 rupees! The rooms at desert havali guest house started from 100
rupees with the usual negotiations of course on the price!

We met a nice couple from Finland and Germany the next day and decided
we would all go on safari, only to find out from Manu it was 400 PER
DAY for 2 days (always check the total price for the safari and that
it's not per day price). A big difference from what we were expecting.
What followed was some tense and long negotiations but we finally came
to an agreement of 650 rupees for 2 day safari if we could find 2
other people.

Next day we were checking out prices at hostels when an English couple
who were sick offered us their afternoon camel safari for free but we
had to go in 30 mins! It was a great afternoon camel safari and met 2
other Brit girls. They paid 550 rupees each just for the afternoon
with nothing like food or drink included!

That evening we were having a nice thali with friends (we met the 2
other americans who were coming on the safari too) when this jeep of
Indians pulls up, next minute they were challenging our friends to an
arm wrestling competition! Very surreal like we were in a dream!

Next day visit to v nice Jain temples 30 rupees each. Finished our
safari negotiations (always make sure you have everything supposedly
included on the trip on your receipt, very important to make sure not
ripped off.)

Following day the desert camel safari 2 day trek began

Aangan Hotel Jaipur The Pink City

We have now completed the golden triangle of India.
Jaipur isn't as nice as we had hoped though.

It's very busy with getting alot of hassle from tultuk drivers and as
with most of India it is very noisy with beeping of horns, traffic and
people which after a long bus trip and in 35C heat can all get a bit
too much!

We were lucky enough to be here though fortue Diwali Celebrations,
which was great as they had lots of fireworks going off and the aim is
to light up your home as much as possible to welcome the goddess of
prosperity for the next year. We saw hugh firework displays and there
were lots of firecrackers & bangers to keep with their loud
lifestyle..... crazy!

The Royal Palace in Jaipur (now 300 rupees) was very nice to see where
the Rajahstan royal family live. They have no power as the country is
ruled by the primer minister. We also visited a bizarre observatory
built by the Shah in the 17th century. They have a sun dial there
accurate to within 2 secs, amazing!

We stayed at a nice guest house and they looked after us well but for
those coming to visit India, Jaipur is more expensive than most other
northern cities in India and you would be lucky to find any guest
house at less than 250 rupees for a double room.

Shah Jahan Hostel Agra India review

The Taj Mahal!
We have finally made it to Agra!
An amazing place the Taj Mahal is but Agra there is not much else to
see apart from the Taj.

It just so happens that the Argentinean President has also decided to
pay a visit to the Taj on the same day so the whole place has to be
cleared out for her arrival. Thankfully this also means that we can
also go bak in after her visit so we see it's beauty throughout the
day from the misty morning and sunrise through to the beautiful sunset
creating an orange glow to the building. The building is perfectly
designed in all aspects apart from the fact the fact it was built for
the Shah or Emperors wife but when the Shah died they broke the
symmetry by placing him in the middle of the Taj! It is amazing just
being here but you strangely feel as if you have been here before as
you have seen it in pictures or on the TV!

The building itself is huge. made of White marble and the gardens are
beautiful with the reflecting pools. We were lucky to go in the
morning as it was packed in the afternoon when all the tour groups
seem to arrive. India is so full of contrasts from dirty litter street
to an amazing place like this.

Shah Jahan hostel was our home while we stayed in Agra. It was 175
rupees a night after some bargaining which seems to be a norm here or
you often pay double the normal price and had ensuite bathroom with
fan. The room was pretty clean and had Internet from 30 rupees/hr. It
also had a roof top cafe so we could eat our breakfast whilst looking
at the Taj which most hostels seem to have round here. We found a
great little eatery called Johnnys Place where they make great Masala
Koftas, wow I like this Indian food and am still a vegetarian!

Next stop Jaipur for Diwali, the biggest festival in India!

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New Fort Guesthouse, Orchha

On to Orchha by train (well 5km out anyway)
It's a rush to squash in to an auto rickshaw the size of a
Mini but manages to fit about 10 people into it by some
Amazing feet! We were clutching on to the sides for dear life!

Orchha is an amazing little place with huge forts built by a Shah in
15th century. We were luck enough to arrive when their was some big
celebration going on so it was heaving. The temple seemed to be the
place where everyone was heading and we presumed that there was some
very important religious festival going on

Yogi Lodge, Khajuraho

So we left this crazy place for the land of temples with Kama Sutra
figures on it's temples!

Unfortuneately our train left 2 hrs late and so we didn't arrive in
Satna until 7pm when it was already dark. So we had a forced stop
there before carrying on our bus to Khajuraho.

Satna is a non descript place (nothing for tourists and prices for
hotels that match that) minimum hotel rooms cost 400 rupees, which was
even more than Delhi!

Next morning up early to catch the bus.

Khajuraho is such a laid back sort of place compared to anywhere else
so far in India. I guess as it was the smallest place we had been to
and it was great to finally escape the neverending beeping of horns
from every type of vehicle which you get so used to in any Indian
town, what bliss!

Yogi Lodge was nice and comfortable and again only cost us 150 rupees
per night with ensuite! We also discovered it had wifi so had the
chance to call Lizzie from the iPod.
They also offered yoga & meditation classes which James enjoyed in
getting in touch with his inner self. So much so that the yoga teacher
gave him a new name, Krishna. So from now on that will be my spiritual
name!!!

The temples were magnificent and the towns people were very friendly
but some of this friendliness was to get you to pay to see their
school or home. But the restaurant owners were very friendly as it was
low season (apparently it doesnt start until at least Nov & gets much
busier until March when it calms down again) and so were desperate for
you to eat there. And they were generous with the amount of food. On
numerous occasions at Safari Restaurant we asked for one hot lemon or
porridge and out came two! No no we said but he said don't worry this
is one!

We enjoyed relaxing there for a few days!

The bonus came that they have now opened a new railway station in
Khajuraho in the past few months (this isn't yet in any of the
guidebooks as it is too new!) It meant we could get a train directly
to Orchha on the 1230pm each day, much better than the noisy &
squashed buses.

They are apparently aiming to have direct train services from
Khajuraho to Varanasi, Delhi & Agra and vice versa making it much
easier to get to this nice town!

Indian Railways Sleeper Class Conditions

So how did the epic train journey go?

Well surprisingly well considering sleeper class was the best class we
could book last minute. Now you're thinking sleeper class that sounds
nice but no it is the 2nd lowest class on the train after the packed
3rd class wooden seats, so not surprisngly we were a little
apprehensive! It has 3 berths on either side & 2 at the side so it was
cozy! Everyone else could hardly speak any English so we ended up with
some sign language to get our point across. We ended up playing cards
which the Indians where fascinated by & wanted to play too. We ended
up playing for almost 4 hrs! So time passed quickly and the beds were
pretty comfortable and we felt pretty safe really so long as we kept
our bags with us.

Sleeper Class is ideal as it is often a fifth of the price and only
lose out on not having a/c which isn't too bad seeing on moving train!

Indian Railways Sleeper Class Conditions

So how did the epic train journey go?

Well surprisingly well considering sleeper class was the best class we
could book last minute. Now you're thinking sleeper class that sounds
nice but no it is the 2nd lowest class on the train after the packed
3rd class wooden seats, so not surprisngly we were a little
apprehensive! It has 3 berths on either side & 2 at the side so it was
cozy! Everyone else could hardly speak any English so we ended up with
some sign language to get our point across. We ended up playing cards
which the Indians where fascinated by & wanted to play too. We ended
up playing for almost 4 hrs! So time passed quickly and the beds were
pretty comfortable and we felt pretty safe really so long as we kept
our bags with us.

Sleeper Class is ideal as it is often a fifth of the price and only
lose out on not having a/c which isn't too bad seeing you get natural
a/c on moving train!

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Shanti Guest House, Manikarnika Ghat, Varanasi

So to Varanasi, home of the sacred Ganges River and burning bodies!

We hadn't thought about going this far across the country but everyone
we spoke to said it was worth the trip.

Varanasi is apparently one of the oldest cities in the world sitting
on the banks of the sacred Ganges River. So sacred in fact that they
throw anything into it, including bodies, but more on that later.

So we arrived in V after our long train journey and were a little
exhausted. Everytime you come out of a station you get almost attacked
by rickshaw peddlers wanting to take you to your hotel. This seems
very kind until you realise that they only do this to make a
commission which gets added on to the cost of your hotel bill. But we
tried to avoid this but they were one step ahead with someone waiting
where we were dropped off! We tried to lose him but he had his buddy
watching us from behind and even James with his GPS navigation got
lost in the maze of little street around the claustrophobic city.
After finally stopping the husslers from following us after 30mins we
were exhausted and completely lost. We finally found someone who
helped us find the way to the guesthouse and arrived just before dark!

Next morning it was an early rise from Shanti Guesthouse with its boat
trip along the Ganges at sunrise 530am! It was amazing to see the
burning (ghat or temple) where the local people came to burn their
elderly relatives. Apparently women were not allowed at these
ceremonies now after one woman jumping on to the body of her dead
husband!!! It's quite a morbid place and sad as no one seems to be
that upset or crying for their dead reelative, strange.

Well as we said they throw everything in their so called sacred Ganges
including bodies (yes we saw a dead body floating in the river (only
pregnant women, children, priest and those bitten by Cobra can't be
burned at the Ghats) and therefor must be tied down with a rock &
thrown into the river. Unfortunately, as we saw, they aren't tied down
well enough sometimes! Very Grim!!

Whilst we saw this our boatman showed us how holy the water is in the
Ganges by drinking this thicky dirty brown murky water just momenta
after we had seen the dead body and some people pouring animal
excrement and rubbish directly into the river! YUCK! But apparently
they don't get sick as their stomach is used to this water! Amazing!

Meanwhile Indian men, women & children on the river banks were bathing
themselves with this dirty water (sorry holy water!)

So as you can gather Varanasi is quite a full on sort of the place
which boggles all your senses!

Shanti Guest House, Manikarnika Ghat, Varanasi

So to Varanasi, home of the sacred Ganges River and burning bodies!

We hadn't thought about going this far across the country but everyone
we spoke to said it was worth the trip.

Varanasi is apparently one of the oldest cities in the world sitting
on the banks of the sacred Ganges River. So sacred in fact that they
throw anything into it, including bodies, but more on that later.

So we arrived in V after our long train journey and were a little
exhausted. Everytime you come out of a station you get almost attacked
by rickshaw peddlers wanting to take you to your hotel. This seems
very kind until you realise that they only do this to make a
commission which gets added on to the cost of your hotel bill. But we
tried to avoid this but they were one step ahead with someone waiting
where we were dropped off! We tried to lose him but he had his buddy
watching us from behind and even James with his GPS navigation got
lost in the maze of little street around the claustrophobic city.
After finally stopping the husslers from following us after 30mins we
were exhausted and completely lost. We finally found someone who
helped us find the way to the guesthouse and arrived just before dark!

Next morning it was an early rise from Shanti Guesthouse with its boat
trip along the Ganges at sunrise 530am! It was amazing to see the
burning (ghat or temple) where the local people came to burn their
elderly relatives. Apparently women were not allowed at these
ceremonies now after one woman jumping on to the body of her dead
husband!!! It's quite a morbid place and sad as no one seems to be
that upset or crying for their dead reelative, strange.

Well as we said they throw everything in their so called sacred Ganges
including bodies (yes we saw a dead body floating in the river (only
pregnant women, children, priest and those bitten by Cobra can't be
burned at the Ghats) and therefor must be tied down with a rock &
thrown into the river. Unfortunately, as we saw, they aren't tied down
well enough sometimes! Very Grim!!

Whilst we saw this our boatman showed us how holy the water is in the
Ganges by drinking this thicky dirty brown murky water just momenta
after we had seen the dead body and some people pouring animal
excrement and rubbish directly into the river! YUCK! But apparently
they don't get sick as their stomach is used to this water! Amazing!

Meanwhile Indian men, women & children on the river banks were bathing
themselves with this dirty water (sorry holy water!)

So as you can gather Varanasi is quite a full on sort of the place
which boggles all your senses!

Armritsar - The Golden Temple!

Well we have unfortunately returned to the heat of the plains of
India, but it is worth it to see this amazing place.

The Golden Temple is plated in gold and looks truly amazing! It is set
in the middle of a holy lake. It is the holiest place for the Sikh
religion, one of many in India.

They are so generous here. They allow you to stay next to the temple
for donation only and allow you to eat at the temple for donation too!
Finally they allow you in to the temple for, yes you guessed it,
donation only!

We also got to see the spectacle at the Indian Pakistan border at
Atarri. He each side of the border like to heckle each other to
torment them as they seem to hate each other Pakistan & India. It's a
daily ritual where thousands on each side start shoutting & singing
their favourite songs. At the end of it the border guards do a funny
march (and almost slapeach other in the face), they lower the flag and
then the thousands go home for another day!

Well it has been a nice place to relax and explore for a few days.

It's funny in how we had no itininery for the trip before we left,
but now we are jjust getting swept along by other people
recommendations of where to go. This time we are heading to Varanasi
next, a 24hr train journey, our first & in basic sleeper class. Wish
us luck!

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Akash Hotel, McLeod Ganj, India

We have made our way to Dharmsala.

It's where the Dalai Lama lives in exile from Tibet. It is medative
with lots of Buddhist monks around and quite a hippy place too. It's
nice as it's still pretty cool up here in the mountains.

We are trying do some volunteer work over here if we can find any.
They strangely seem to make it pretty difficult so we'll have to see.

The place is full of Tibetans, so we get to try Tibetan food like
momos (a little like dumplings & Tampsa (barley) porridge, both of
which are very tasty. I also seem to be turning vegetarian as it
tastes so good over here! I think I last ate meat over 3 wks ago now

The hotel we have been staying at is again great value only 150 rupees
per night! (70 rupees to pound!)

We have also been helping local refugees to speak English. Most seem
to be Tibetans who have been forced to leave Tibet for fear of their
lives over there due to peaceful protest. I never really understood
what the Tibet situation was all about. There is a museum here
describing how the Chinese invaded Tibet in 1959 and since then they
have gradually been destroying anything with Tibetan history. They
hope to finally drive them out by destroying their monasteries and
much of their land which used to be beautiful. Obviously here is
something for the Chinese in all this and once again it apperars to be
natural resources like oil, gold and more importantly water! Tibet is
so high that numerous rivers for numerous countries start in Tibet and
both the need for hydroelectric power and drinking water in China is
very important! It's a very sad situation and now feel I support their
plight to regain Tibet's independence. They try to deal with it by
peaceful protest but if the Chinese see any protest they often lock
these people away in prison or if they organised it they can even be
tortured! It's strange that the world doesn't know more about their
plight.

Well on a lighter note we're off to the Golden Temple in Amritsar next!

Manali, India- Raj Guest House

Well Manali has been a welcome relief from the heat of Delhi Here we are in the Himalayas at 2000m so it is only 22C
The scenery is amazing with mountains all around,some snow capped We are staying at the Raj Guest House at lovely place with mountain view for only 250 ruppees a night!

Mariana has discovered how to boil water with a heat coil and plans to make litres of water only to find it too difficult to boil water in a small cup

Today visited some temples and tried to get lost in the process

New Delhi, India- Ajay Guest House

Well it was a sad farewell in Manchester James' flight was late arriving into London so had to rush to catch the India flight just in time

We arrived late in Delhi after a long 9hr flight; James didn't get much sleep before leaving for his flight and so was exhausted! We checked in at 2am and slept until 2pm! Then we checked out the local area around our hotel which was crazy! So hot 40C, touts everywhere trying to sell you anything for "a special price for you sir" Also tried to catch us out at railway station A guy in official clothes asked us for our tickets However James noticed that no one else was being asked by him for their tickets A lucky escape as someone else we spoke to later had followed his request to buy a train ticket outside the station and was held up for over 90 mins being told no tickets there so would have to go to another ticket office by their cheap tuktuk and so on!

Then off to Connaught Place, the happening place of Delhi for the young lots of shops etc and we even checked out McDonalds for a McTandori! Didn't want to risk the Delhi Belly so soon!

Next day 17th woke late, surprise surprise for James
Off to Jama Masjid (Largest Muslim Mosque in India) but just as we arrived it closed for lunch prayers So off to the Red Fort. A very impressive red sandstone fort built by the Rajs in the 16th century Hefty entry fee of 250 ruppees (just gone up of course) instead of local price of 5! Very impressive buildings inside where the Rajs met their subjects Then back to the mosques and time to check out some local cuisine before bed Very nice food it was too

18th Off to Parliament building and metro by very impressive new metro, however Indians very paranoid of terrorists and so Have to have our backpacks xrayed each time you go in and have a body search after going through a metal detector! Briefly visited secretary general of the Red Cross to ask about voluntary work but realised he didn't have contacts for orphanages Then proceeded to get lost again, yes James got lost! He couldn't get anyone to tell him where he was on the map! Had to check out the Meridien Hotel in the process to get directions, amazing to see how the rich Indians live! Next we saw the impresive Indian Parliament buildings and the Presidents Palace on the impressive avenue Jahpath down to India Gate

19th Mariana woke with Delhi Belly after drinking some suspect water from a restaurant Luckily it didn't last too long and managed to get to an amazing Hindu temple called Lakshmi Narayan Mandir Great to see the shines and people worshiping their gods

We then rushed back to guesthouse to pack and catch the afternoon bus to Manali The promised "Volvo" bus turned out to be not quite as luxurious as we were shown in the photos and we had to put with a loud Bollywood movie in Hindi and freezing a/c but all in all not a bad journey

Home Sweet Home

Well we have made it safely back to the UK!

Wow been an exciting trip! Back tonormality for a while before we head off again to head for Egypt & then on to India in Sept.

SO we'll be taking a break for a while and will see you back here in Sept!

Mexico City Hotel Principal

Great to visit Mexico City

Hotel Prinical really nice place to stay and good prices to stay in a decent place right in town.


More to Come ......

Puebla

More to Come soon.....

Oaxaca, Mexico Hotel La Cabana

Oaxaca has been a great little place to stay in Mexico.

Fantastic Culture with frequent shows all over town, even a string concert in the local market!

Fantastic Chocolate that they luckily let us taste lots of!

Great Museum and church that has so much gold you have to see it!

Spent some time here just relaxing

Hotel La Cabana a great place to stay and once of the best prices in town if you get a double room!

Off to Puebla next

Huatulco & Mazunte, Mexico

Huatulco

Mexico's main sophisticated holiday resort for all those rich Mexicans. Maybe not many left with swine flu at the mo but still amazing coasts and beaches.

Mazunte

Amazing little place by the sea. Its a little unknown place by the beach. Great place to stay. Found a nice Posada or hotsel right on beach amazing views of the moon over the sea as it came up.

Chillin out at the beach and eating more Tortilas!!

San Christobal Las Casas, Mexico Planet Hostel

San Christobal or Christobel as I keep on calling it is a very cool place to hang out, literally. Compared to Palenque its so much cooler but does even get chilly at night!

Found a cool hostel to hang out called Planet Hostel. Its not in the guides yet and only costs 70 mexican pesos each for dorm room with internet, breakfast, drinking water (important over here) & Cable TV!

More to come.............

Palenque, Mexico

We arrived In Palenque and it is still steaming, its so humid, we have to have the fan on all night and then we're still sweating!

The place of Palenque isnt that amazing but seem to enjoy having festivals in the main square on a saturday night. The ruins only a short distance from the town are amazing. Again like Tikal they are set in the Jungle but not quite as mystical as Tikal. The ruins here are pretty impressive but was much busier than Tikal, maybe as it was free to Mexicans on Sunday!

Headed off to an amazing set of Wtaerfalls near Palenque and enjoyed playing around in the water to cool down, just a little concerned by the police presence nearby so decided to get a taxi to the place. Met a nice couple from germany who gave us a lift back to Palenque.

Next we're off to San Christobal

Tikal & Flores Guatamala Wow 40C Amazing Ruins & an Earthquake in one day!

Well we have made it to Tikal the amazing Mayan Ruins!

Flores is the little town near Tikañ where you stay to get to Tikal Mayan Ruins some 2 hours away.

Flores is a nice little town and we enjoyed our time there. They even bizarrely have a Burger King which came in very handy when we had run out of money and needed to use James credit card to eat!

Tikal is a stunning place. Mayan ruins set in the middle of the Guatamalan jungle. the hefty entrance charge has recently been increased from 50 limpiar to 150 thanks to the new government. Still it was so quiet with hardly any tourist it was like we had the place to ourselves which only helped to make the experience even better. Check out the photos on the top left.

Stayed a nice place near the ruins where we camped for only 70 limpars which was strangely cheaper than the municipal camping and had far more facilities such as decent tolets etc. Very important!

It was toasting hot in Tikal though and it had apparently reached 40C and we felt it!

That night Mariana woke me up to tell me what was that. I said it was nothing and to go back to sleep. She was convinced it was an earthquake. Next day strangely enough another person thought she had felt the earth quake and sure enough on return to Flores we read the news paper that said there had been an earthquake in Honduras about 200km away which was about 7 on the Ritcher scale!

Next were off to Palenque in Mexico via Frontier Corozal, we're not sure how easy it will be or how long it will take but that is part of our ongoing adventure!

Honduras- Omoa, Rotis Place

So we made our way to Omoa going through Honduras

Omoa is a lovely beach resort that unfortunately has lost its beach due to them positioning a wave break for the oil terminal out of town so it has now literally swept away the beach which is a shame as it looks like it was and still is beautiful except it is very narrow.

We stayed a nice couple of days in a place called Roti's Place. It only costs about $USD5 each! Had a little kitchen and we lived in our very own little tree house! Great fun. James was woken in the middle of the night for some reason and came across a scorpion though which was a bit of a surprise but at least it wsa more scarred by James than taking him on!

We then made our way overland to the northern Honduras Guatamalan border. We werent sure how easy this would be but were pleasantly surprised how easy it was. Still the Guatamalans tried to rip us off at the border by trying to charge us for the whole mini bus rather than just the 2 seats we wanted. that was until we found out from officials how much it really cost!

Then it was off to Rio Dulce with a surprisingly efficient connecting bus / minibus servuce and made it there in record time!

Nicaragua- Leon , Granada & Isle de Ometepe

Well we have been having a great time here

First we had to traverse the Costa Rican - Nicaragua border and got mobbed by money exchangers as soon as we got of f the bus. We were a little worried as we had head that Nicaragua can be a bit dangerous but we had no problems. They always try to tell us that the exchange rate is rubbish across the border and then as soon as we get to the other country its fine. they also like to charge us a little entry fee of around $7 USD for entering the country!

We made our way with 4 others 2 from UK and 2 from Holland. Nice to have some travel partners.

We stayed in Rivas for the night before heading to Island of Ometepe (the volcanic islands) in a large lake in the middle of Nicaragua.

Next it was off in a local bus (old converted yellow school buses from US) to Granada.

Granada was really nice with a very chilled atmosphere and felt very colonial. It was very safe and we enjoyed how cheap it was there. Often only having to pay $5USD for a hostel room a night! Food was also cheap. Nicaragua seems to be cheapest place in Central America. We enjoyed visiting all the old churches and nice old colonial houses in the city.

Next off to Leon on the local buses again. We were a little concerned again by travelling through the capital Managua but we managed to get a bus to drop us off in the centre terminal and get another bus direct to Leon.

Again Leon was very chilled and filled woth lots of old churches again. very similar to Granada but Granada appeared more conservative but Leon was more revolutionary with its history but pretty similar places

Costa Rica! Pura Vida!

Well we're enjoying Costa Rica. In a tiny little village Called Cubuya near a more happening place called Montezuma on the coast near a national park. The locals are very friendly :-)

Nice to relax and enjoy the beach and the amazing mangoes and fruit you can literally pick off the floor!

We have been enjoying mango ice creams every day and coconut from the trees to name but a few of the beautiful fruit in our garden! Yes we're renting a house here for a change and enjoying the garden!

We must be so healthy with all that fruit!

We have been chilling out at the beach. Amazing place.

Heading to Nicuragua over the next few days and heading up north toward Honduras, Tikal In Guatemala and then up to Mexico depending on how the flu is by then, maybe in 3 weeks.

Welcome to Miami Beach!

Well we have made an unscheduled stop in Miami Beach for a few days to have a little 1st world life so we don't have to watch everything all the time and very nice it is too. Staying at a nice place right next to the water.

Heading off to San Jose, Costa Rica tomorrow- 5th May!

Heading towards Mexico but hoping that the flu will blow over so to speak by time we get there. US TV seems to be more relaxed considering they are so health conscious so that is reassuring.

Ocean Drive very cool and enjoyed seeing the sights from Bad Boys and CSI Miami!

Well we'll keep you posted, but don't worry we'll be watching that old flu so we don't bring it back to the UK!

Machu Pichu---- WOW!

Machu Pichu was amazing, but its strange. You see all these amazing pictures of Inca City on top of the mountains and you have to blink and realise that you are actually there!

Great to spend 2 days there, but shame couldn't do the Inca trail "says James" as they are booked up for months in advance, at the moment they are taking booking for July! So if you plan to come here at any point book early!

Cusco was a really nice city and really enjoyed it but can't say we liked Lima too much but did have a nice hotel to stay overnight whic was nice even if we did have an early morning flight!

Flights had been delayed due to Swine Flu scare at the airport so we didn't leave for over 4 hours after we we're due to go. Still we had time to check out Lima airport verrrryyy well.

Coroico Bolivia

This is a lovely place to escape the craziness of La Paz. We enjoyed 2 days of relaxation before returning to La Paz

Coroico is a nice hill top village in the middle of nowhere in Bolivia. Friendly local people.

We´re heading to another small town in Bolivia befor heading off to Puno and then on to Cusco


James has given up on the idea of the Inca trail as it is booked out so we´re taking our time to get to Cusco before flying to Lima on 30th April. We´re headin out of Lima on 2nd May

La Paz is a crazy place (La Paz means The Peace in spanish!)

Well we have come and gone from La Paz

La Paz is a crazy city we wouldn´t really recommend apart from the fact its amazingly cheap.

Its amazing that is is at 3610 metres making it the highest capital city in the world and it also has the highest international airport for all you fact fiends! In fact you can get slight altitude sickness if you fly straight into here!

We´ve got used to it mostly as we have done it gradually across Bolivia.

Uyuni Salt Flats, Bolivia

We have made it to Uyuni but have got stuck here again like Tres Lagos so we hope to go to La Paz tomorrow evening by bus!

The place is amazing though, visited largest salt flats in the world today they´re amazing and never thought I would see so much salt in my life, enough to put my blood pressure up!

Despite getting stuck had a nice relaxing day in Uyuni today, its incredible as most of bolivia is at 3500 metres (over 10000 feet) so you get easily short of breath if you walk up a hill!

Buenos Aires.. so much to do and a lovely city

Buenos Aires- 1st big place on our trip for over a month!

We have been here for almost a week now and on our way to Tucuman next on train on Good Friday

SO what have we done so far:

Whirlwind tour of the city on the anniversary of the Malvinas

James feeling guilty to be English today!
Whilst in BA the much loved old Argentian president Alfonsi died so offical public holiday today and state funeral!
Visited the widest avenue in the world! Avenue 9 Julio!
Lots of nice old buildings, very much like old Spain or Italy
La Boca- the colourful street in B.A.


Visited a Tango show in Cafe Tortoni

150 years old and where King of Spain has visited! Very nice as more like a show of dancing music and theatre than just dancing so very nice for all the family to visit here.

Tigre

Lovely City on a delta north of BA. Went on boat trip round the city & visited Art Museum

Eating lots of fine food

Including home cooked food and more ice cream mmmmmmm! :-)


Family party or reunion

Met most of the extended family on saturday and was great fun. Lovely family and had great fun including a solo performance by Mariana´s cousin on the violin. It is a bit of a tradition to have this get together with the Bianchi family

San Telmo Market

As to James´s spanish it is coming along "despacio" as they say in Argentina but improving all the time!

MORE TO COME........

Mar del Plata & the legendary Pinamar!

We got to Mar del Plata early in the morning and hang around at the terminal until by chance and out of nowhere Mariana´s dad appeared!

Well we have finally made it to Pinamar and it is lovely to meet Mariana's parents

Casa Miriam is a lovely Home from home near the beach and we´re having grest fun going to the beach each day and her parents are throughly spoiling us!

Wow the ice cream in Argentina is fantastic and that is coming from an icecreamaholic! You get up to 40 flavours to choose from, wow!

Found a place in Pinamar called the Liverpool Bar, wow must be fate!

I can understand while Mariana loves this place so much.

Visited lots of places near Pinamar that have history to do with Mariana´s family so nice to get to know their history here. They set up the first church in the area!



MORE TO COME........

On the road again... with the truckers

So it was time to leave San Martin and once again our hitch hiking adventures begin!

We wait only 30 mins before some crazy snowboarder from San Martin picks us up. He tells us of how he knows people from Wanaka, small world!

Only takes us short distance, and wait a while for next lift. Just when James giving up we see a lorry. I remember saying to Mariana, they`ll never give us a lift but to my surprise they stop! It seems to be that whenever I think they will never pick us up and lost some hope we get a lift, so that has to be my tactic from now on!

These truckers, both 26 are delivering asphalt from Cordoba to San Martin to build a new road and back again!

Interesting having a lift off a truck and they´re kind enough to drive us all the way to Neuquen about 350km away!

Get there at around midnight.

Next day visit to Cipolletti, chill out in small town with not much but good to have a break from tourist activites.

Get lift off people outside city who take us supposedly to where the coach should stop but maybe lost in translation or (more likely) a blatant lie they drop us off not 2km from the town but 20km! James not impressed and starts to worry that will miss the bus to get us to Mar del Plata to meet Mariana´s parents next morning! Not a good 1st impression! Lucky find a local old man stopping at petrol station who agree to give us lift to the next town. Great until we realise v old truck, no speedo & I reckon top speed is 60km/hr & not the usual 130! Still we get there slowly but surely and luckily have a few hours to catch our bus.

Villa la Angostura & San Martin de los Andes

We arrived mid afternoon and after our usual visit to the Tourist information office we headed to the supermarket.

The place looked amazing, really green and relaxing and we were determined to make the most of the time there. So as we couldn´t leave the big bags in the info center we oops forgot them for the rest of the afternoon in the supermarket´s customers desk, we walked down to the National Park Los Arrayanes where we spent a few hours enjoying the beautiful views of the peninsula.

We got a lift back to the city by a nice couple and picked up dinner and after get a bit of a told off, also our big bags. We head to find a home sweet home for the night, which we find next to Rio Correntoso.

Nxt moring we got drop off at the begining of the ¨camino de los 7 lagos¨ where we found conviniently located a blackberrys tree and James decided that that would make a nice lunch as there were plenty of them... a few hours later (after stuffing ourselves with blackberrys and of course, turron -James favorite snack im Argentina-!) and sitting by the beautiful lake Espejo (see photos) we got a lift from a nice guy, Leo, a forest fireman who was on his way to San Martin de los Andes to put out a fire that started in Lenin´s National Park.

Bariloche WOW! what a nice place and hospitality thanks to Andrea y Luciano

The first day in Bariloche we got a lift into the city center (this time by Andrea and Luciano, no hitchinging for a change) where we spent all morning and part of the afternoon exploring it.
Late that day we met Andrea back at her place and started a trek up the mountain where we visited Otto Meiling house-museum, a legendary german who funded the Bariloche´s 1st Andinean Club and owned the first ski factory.
We got up to the top where the chair lift finishes and enjoyed a really awesome view of the Nahuel Huapi lake and surroundings. By then, and after a few hours of listening Mariana and Andrea catching up and gossiping, James was fluent in spanish! (yeah, right!)
We finished the day with a delicious dinner with typical Andinean food, smoked dear, venison, salami, etc.

We would have liked to spend more time in Bariloche but the time its always tight when the distances are so long, and so we spend one more day when we visited Cerro Campanario and Andrea took us to have a look around to a Swiss village and a few lookouts. She was also leaving the next day, so we said goodbye on friday the 20th and head off to Villa La Angostura by bus.

Esquel, Trevelin, El Bolson

Nxt morning Esquel & after talking to Tourist information went to Trevelin. Its meant to be a village settled by the Welsh so is meant to be Welsh looking (not sure if I know what that means) but apart from alot of Tea Shops it looked like Argentina to me In fact Patagonia seems to have a lot of Tea shops. Strange.

Next hitching to El Bolson. Managed to get dropped off a pretty bad location and I was sure we weren´t going to get a nother lift for the day but Mariana again proved me wrong we a lift off the Tax Man of the area! They seem to like to drive at 130-140km/hr in Argentina so we soon caught up with time.

El Bolson was really nice and a glimpse at what Patagonia (the area we had been all this time) can really be like. We managed to trick the supermarket security people to look after our heavy bags as the tourist information didn´t want to look after them. So we claimed that we were going shopping. You can imagine the secuirty officer must have thought we has either got lost or really like the shop as we turned up again to pick up our bags 4 hours later after sneaking out of the store!

The mountains round El Bolson amazingly resemble the Remarkables in Queenstown (if you know them)

Next off to Bariloche by another hitch from plumber at night to arrive at Andrea, a friend of Mariana´s and our 1st taste of home life for almost 3 weeks! ......

Gobernoreos Gregores, Puerto San Julian, Comodoro Rivadavia & beyond!

Civilisation finally but we quickly realise that our hitchinking luck hadn´t returned.

Wed managed to get all the way to El Chalten from Punta Arenas to Ushuaia & back again without getting a single bus, which we were quite proud of!

Now we hadn´t managed to get a lift in 3 days! And as there we no buses available still to Perito Mereno township we were stuck again. So we stayed in a nice small town with a little camp site and bought our 1st decent food in while! We even managed to find a supermarket open!

As there we literally no cars going to Perito either we tried to hitch to Puerto San Julian but when we realised there no was no cars going that way either we managed to find a very expensive bus that would take us there.

We got there at 10pm and stayed in a nice municipal campsite overnight.

Next morning hitching again. This unfortunately involved getting out to the Ruta 3, a long walk with our heavy bags & to add to insult started to rain for the 1st time in Argentina!

Ruta 3, "A paved oasis" after all the gravel roads we had experienced over the past 5-6 days! A nice lady from Rio Gallegos picked us up and drove us 430 km to Comodoro Rivadavia, wow now that´s a lift!

Mariana & the lady proceeded to chat all the way, whilst the confused James sat in the back listening and trying to understand the Spanish he could. In the end he admitted defeat & fell asleep!

Friday the 13th!! Always to be remembered!

Friday the 13th shall be remembered for a long time by James & Mariana!

First James got sick from some mystery virus or something. So couldn´t eat for most of the day.

We also couldn´t get out of a little place called Tres Lagos in the middle of nowwhere in Argentina. It was like Groundhog Day. We left at 9 in the morning and we only managed to get a lift back to the same camping place we stayed the night before, which was only 2 km away at 10pm!! Now that is moving! And James wasn´t impressed!

I think we also found that it was also the windiest place on earth. The wind didn´t stop blowing all day and seem to be at 100km/hr all day. We managed to stay in a sheltered camp site for the night but Tres Lagos is a typical windswept nothing exists there kind of town with Tumble-weed blowing down the middle of the gravel road! We made friends with the owners of the local petrol station "YPF" as it is the only place open in town & that is a warm place to shelter from the wind all day, so spent most of the day there. We try to hitch hike, as all the buses are booked out for 4 days up the legendary Ruta 40 (the endless gravel road, well for 600 km anyway!).

Still, looking up the weather seems to be warming up the next day & we get a lift to !

Luckily I have completely recovered, don´t worry mum!!

El Chalten

So El Chalten was the next stop!

Nice scenery again and great mountains. Had a nice 6 hr walk to base of Mt Fitz Roy (3405m) & Cerro Torre (3102m). Amazing weather again with blue sky at start but clouded over again by end of the day.

Unfortunately Mariana wasn´t well (I guess not surprising after that little hike! I´m getting her into training for the Inca Trial) so we had a night spoiling our selves in a very nice hostel at El Chalten.

Next day our attempts at hitch hiking were not going well from EL Chalten as this was a little town in the middle of nowhere but as the buses were booked up for 4-5 days we had no other choice!

El Calafate & Perito Merino Glacier

WOW!

Well we made it after a made it after a mad dash over the Chilean/Argentinian border just before it closed at 10pm from Torres del Paine. We got a lift off some nice argetinians that were driving to EL Calafate.

Camping overnight & then explore of El Calafate- capital to the Glacier National Park.

After catching up after being in the wilderness of Torres for 3 days, it was nice to have a good proper town to explore and buy provisions at last. There is only so long you can live on crackers!!

We attempted to hitch hike to Perito Merino Glacier, which are shown in our Argentina photos opposite. But with little success, so we camped by moonlight on Lago Argentina, very nice!

Next morning it was a v early start, which wasn't helped by the fact Mariana had been unwell overnight :-(

We were rescued by a lovely spanish couple called Diana & Richie who picked us up and we then spent the rest of the day travelling with them.

The Glacier was amazing!!! Huge beyond belief and there right in front of you as if it was bearing down on you. We had a great day with Richie & Diana and saw some amazing wildlife which Richie managed to pick out.

After that it was time to move on to El Chalten.....

Parque Torres del Paine... WOW! what scenery!

So it was off to Torres del Paine in Chile which James was really looking forward to.

We managed to get a lift of a group of French travellers in the back of a 4x4 after only 5 mins hitching from Puerto Natales! Wow that was quick. Maybe it was because the day was sooooo windy and they were feeling sorry for us looking frozen!

Well as we arrived in the park and found wow 26US$ to get in! This was a matter of much discussion with Mariana and the Park guards but they weren't budging on the price!

Well we arrived there late so we started to walk (after dropping off our heavy bag with the visitors centre, phew as we would never manage to carry that around!)

We arrived at the southern campsite just before sun down.

Next morning it was an early start 9am, well for us anyway!, we seemed to managed to get stuck in not being able to get up before 950am every day prior to that!

The Scenery whilst walking was amazing as we were coming from the south. We realised we didn't have enough food for the "Big W" & thought that we didn't really need to see the Grey Glacier there as we were off to Perito Merino Glacier after this anyway. It was also partly as Mariana hadn't been too well as well so wasn't really up to 3-4 days full on walking!

So we found out the campo Italiano & Britanico were closed due to problems with the bathrooms but that wasn't going to stop us. We were off and no one was going to stop us. James was a little concerned re this as Campo Britanico was a long way that day. But still that was our plan!

The weather was great, a little over cast but alot warmer than it had been so far in the trip. James was amazed how cold it was in Punta Arenas, Ushuaia & Puerto Natales (8-13C!) so was nice to find some warmer weather

The trip across to Italiano had some lovely scenery along the lake & we arrived in Italiano late. We hoped to rush past the guard without him knowing so that we could stay at Britanico and were really pleased when he didn't stop us. There we got chatting to some people from no less that Auckland, and one of them was a Medical Obstetrician Consultant at Auckland Hospital!!

It was a rush up to Britanico but we were both amazed by the scenery but ut was getting late with sun down soon. After the big trek up the French Valley, with lots of photos we arrived at camp just before dark!

Day 2

We realised that we wouldn't be able to get to the next camp in time for end of day, so we had to camp in the middle of nowhere and hope we didn't attract the park guards! The weather was rainy & windy in the morning, which was a shame as the scenery from britanico was meant to be the best of the walk. Still at least some nice photos the day before. By the time we got down to bottom of the valley, the sun came out & blue sky..... typical!!! Still the rest of the day had some great views again. By the end of the day we had to find a nice place to put the tent. We eventually managed to find a nice spot.

Day 3... to the end

We started off in high spirits and apart from James going the wrong way we were going well. Then it was decision time.....
Should we go up to the Torres. Now James is a pretty keen hiker and so wanted to go but realised we had to leave the park that night as we didnt really have enough food to last another night in the national park. So we decided that Mariana would head back direct to the visitors centre (which she was pretty keen on as she wasnt the keen hiker James was) and James would go on to the Torres with no bags and almost run it! So we left our separate ways and arranged to meet up at the guard station between 5&6, well that was the plan!

So off went James to run to Torres. It was a stunning day and I was making good speed. Pretty much ran up the rock scramble. When got to the top, wow perfect blue sky with the Torres. So after some photos / going for a chilly wade through the water from the glacier there (my hat blew into the lake...argh!) I met a nice Chilean. We then chatted on the way back to the Hosteria! Me trying my limited espanol and he was doing most of the translating!

.... Meanwhile Mariana was enjoying the hostel at the end of the track & taking her time as she thought she had lots of time! Anyway time flew and then she suddenly realised she had to get the bags from the southern entrance V centre. So off she went but our very successful hitching from the rest of the trip was not going so well in the park. James also found the same problem & we both almost had to hitch 3to4 km in hot sunny day, not good. Anyway to cut it short, we both managed to arrive at the guards station only 20 secs apart! It must be fate!!

After that we got a nice lift off a French couple to Chile-Argentina border, phew lucky!

Welcome to Puerto Natales

Well we have made it to Puerto Natales and all is well!

Still pretty cold down here 13C apparently today but feels much colder!

We´ve finally been able to add more photos now that we´re in the land of internet again so click on our link!

UPDATE:

Puerto Natales

We get to Puerto Natales following a long day getting from the Argentinian border via our friend the lorry driver from Puerto San Julian.

Well Puerto Natales main point is to serve as the main city to Torres del Paine National Park & is the 1st time we see lots of tourists. The National Park is one of the highlights of Patagonia so there are lots of hostels etc here, and as most of the Patagonian cities is really very windy.

We see to have this ability to pick up lots of dogs on our trip, so we have decided to start calling them after the city where we visit. So today we have met "Puerto Natales" who is a very loyal dog and has been looking after our back packs as you will see in the photos. I think really they are only after some food but we like to think they are our friends on the trip. Well for a short time anyway :-)

We stayed in a really nice little place that was more like a private house with some rooms off it than a hostel in the centre of town and it is always nice to have a proper place to stay after we have been camping for a few nights. Well its off to Torres del Paine National Park after this......

Ushuaia... the end of the world

Well annoyingly this is take 2 of this part, as we lost the 1st blog with a computer crash!

Arriving at the end of the world its not an easy task... We left Punta Arenas with high spirits & went via Cerro Sombero. With a great lift from there to the border it was going well until we hit a snag. The chilean argentina border. We thought it would be easy to hitch across the border but as we started to walk between no mans land, I realised "would i pick up a hitch hiker between borders of a country where you could be carrying drugs etc!"

By this time we had to walk 15 km to get to the other side in strong winds with our heavy bags and pulling one on a wheelie trolley, not funny when a gravel road and they even drove past fast so that a rock flew against my head (James), not impressed!

Still we managed to nearly reach the the border & got a lift a nice spanish person

....... to be continued

Punta Arenas

So it is up early for our flight to Punta Arenas. James is flying Sky Airlines & Mariana is flying LAN & we are both hoping we get on our flights without a hitch. James is a bit stressed as his line for sky airlines goes for miles and Mariana is on standby for her flight.

Still all goes well and Mariana boards her plane for a direct flight to punta arenas. Meanwhile James heads off on his indirect (cheap flight) due to arrive a few hours after Mariana´s!

The flight is amazing flying along the Andes and the weather is clear for some great photos on the way. Mariana gets there nice a quickly but little does James know that his flight is going via every airport in Chile on the way, which is very helpful as James doesn´t know that much spanish! Every time the plane lands I wondered where I was or whether I needed to get off.

Still got to Punta Arenas, which from nice tropical Santiago at 30C is about 10C! Bit of a shock! Still nice to see Mariana´s nice warm face :-)

Manage to stay in nice hostel/house (Mirador) but jetlag still with us so quick look round town then off to sleep before James collapses (no not really)!

Santiago

After 11 hours of enjoying Business class (and sometimes we wish there were even more as there is so many things to do onboard!) we arrived in Santiago de Chile, on the same day we left, strange!

And the first thing I (James) discover is that no one can tell us where to go so we have a tour of the airport!

We get into town & stay in Plaza de Manas which is really nice. We´re pretty tired, probably because I watched too many movies and enjoy the flight too much.

Still Santiago doesn´t have many highlights to speak of but we went to the main tourist attraction in town which consisted of a small castle on top of the hill in the centre of town. After a few photos and touring around that was the end of our v short trip to Santiago

A Big Thank You to Milena, again!

Well today we flew out together on Lan Chile for Santiago!

And a big thank you again to Milena as she now upgraded us to Business Class on LAN & very nice it was too! Flat beds and massive TV Personal screen! And of course all the usual delights of business class.

We had the pleasure of enjoying this for 11hours!

So where are we going?

First we are heading for Chile for approximately a month then off to Argentina & Buenos Aires, then on to Bolivia & Peru.

We fly from Lima to San Jose, Costa Rica. We then make our way up through Nicuragua, Honduras, Guatemala, Belize, & finally through Mexico

We fly from Mexico City to Manchester in UK

We then fly on to New Delhi & travel through India before getting to Australia, where we will travel round trying to find a new home!

Well we'll try to publish some pics once we have some of the places we go to!

Keep in touch with comments on our site!

A non starter for Mariana, well for today anyway!

Mariana managed to get her flight changed to fly on Tuesday 24th with James so we're both off then on our adventures together!!

We were already to try at the airport today but then thanks to Adriana & Milena, we managed to get Mariana's flight changed so now we don't need to rush.

Time to plan for our trip!

Well see you here later :-)

Not Long to go now!

Not Long to go now! Waiting to head off from Nelson for Auckland and then leaving for Santiago on Sunday 22nd!