Hola...
Literally so behind on this blogging lark....oh well!! Better late than never!!!
So we left Peru and flew via Colombia to El Salvador!! We wanted to fly into Guatemala but you get so rinsed for those flights so El Salvador was the nearest place!! We werent going to stay there...but we thought why not head to the coast for 4 or 5 days for some much needed beach time and for a rest after the Inca Trail!
We went to this cool little village on the coast called Playa El Zonte which was about half an hour from the really popular surf spot Playa El Tunco...
The whole coast is a surfing mecca...the closest we got to surfing was farting around on some body boards one day.....so cool....
We were only meant to stay there a few days but for the second time of the trip I (Vikki...as per) got ill....and had the most horrendous experience of my life in the doctors which involved me being injected with a huge needle with some unknown liquid and then screaming at the top of my lungs and scaring everyone in the surgery including the doctor!!
The place we stayed in Zonte was amazing...right on the beach front..own pool....bar...and amazing people!! Pete and Lauren to be specific!! There is not really much to report from there except we were roped in by these idiotic Israeli guys to go to a 'party' that they had organised....it turned out to be remarkably similar to a school disco that we used to grace at 14...and cringe worthy grinding was coming from the young locals....Bad times...it had huge entertainment value though...
Next post will be more interesting...Guatemala where we actually did something!!!!
Over and Out
Vix and Han
Thursday 28 April 2011
Thursday 24 March 2011
PARAHHHHH!!!!!
Hey,
Long time no speak....really long time actually!!
So since we last blogged we have done A LOT....but we are just going to update you on Peru for now...keep you on the edges of your seats!!
We got to Peru on the 21st Feb and decided to head straight over to Arequipa which is about 6-7 hours I think from Puno on Lake Titicaca (Bolivia-Peru Border). Arequipa is the second biggest city in Peru and is probably the richest place we have seen in South America so far.....the houses there are unbelievable and our Hostel was in this really posh gated community and the hostel was ridiculously amazing. We pulled up to it in the dark and thought the taxi driver had taken us to the wrong place....it turned out it was right and we were extremely lucky.
We stayed in Arequipa about 6 days just to chill out...we sunbathed, watched loads of movies and went into the old town to look at the famous Monastery which was really beautiful. We met an English guy there...Fran from Halifax who was in our dorm with us....he travelled with us for the next ten days and nicknamed me squarepants (because of my square head) and therefore Han had to be Spongebob.
After Arequipa we headed back to Puno for a couple of days where we did a tour of the floating reed islands and Taquile...this really pretty island in the middle of Lake Titicaca. Puno is an absolute hole....we stayed there for one night two nights...the first of which turned out to be this festival where the locals spray everyone with shaving foam....nae ideal. The floating island were really cool....but me and Han being as gullible as anything got duped into buying these reed mobiles...havent seen anyone use a mobile except a baby......they were pretty expensive as well...regretted the decision ever since...what fools.
We escaped out of Puno pretty quickly and headed on the Inca Express up to Cusco to chill out for a few days before the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu!!! Cusco is an amazing city...definitely our favourite so far!! It is beautiful and there are lovely places to visit and lots to do there! We were also staying in a sweet hostel with delish breakfasts! Unfortunately a couple of days before the trail started I had to pay a visit to the hospital....as I got a stomach infection....what a mission....blood tests....other tests we dont want to go into and leaving Fran feeling like he was stood up in this English restaurant!! I was given a load of pills and was soon as right as rain...ready to check into the hotel the night before the epic Inca Trail started.
On the first day of the trip we went on a sacred valley tour which was basically just jumping on an off a coach and going to these ruins....it was a nice day but I wasnt really interested in the ruins as I was just excited to see the big MP at the end of the trail!!! We stayed the night in Ollyantaytambo which was about 45 minutes drive from km82 where we would start the actual Inca Trail the next day! An early night was in order and it was absolutely pissing it down....we hoped this wouldnt continue on the trail.....
We woke up bright and early on the first day of the trail...pretty nervous because everyone had told us how tough the trail was....the first day was just rolling hills of walking! We met our porters in the morning who were amazing...they carried our packs with 6kg of our stuff in and in total they carried 25kg each and RAN each section of the trail!! They were literally amazing!! We hiked 6km before lunch and had lunch in this beautiful sunny spot by a river! Lunch was like 3 courses and we felt like such fatties trying to walk after lunch! We arrived at camp in the afternoon and the porters had already set up our tents and were preparing afternoon tea!! It is literally ridiculous they constantly feed you!! Not really complaining though! haha I already had a favourite porter...the one that carried my bag...he looked like a really old man and was called Mario so I nicknamed him Super Mario for the rest of the trip! We went to bed pretty anxious on the 1st night as the second day was 6km uphill before lunch...really steep and the hardest day of the trek.
Me and Han were beaut on the second day!! We got into a rhythm and powered up the hill!!! We were the first girls up all the stages and were so proud of ourselves when we reached the top of the uphill section before lunch!! It was a tough ascent but we took it in our stride and impressed the guides with our speed! I think we did it in half the time it should have taken us! We did a steep downhill bit straight after which my legs were protesting about and then to conclude the day we had lunch!! It was chill out time after that tough day...after dinner and a pretty scary ghost story off our guide Fernando we headed to bed bricking it...haha
The third day was mostly downhill....nothing much happened apart from me eating garlic and becoming intimately acquainted with the local flora and fauna.....oh dear.....We didnt really have very long to sleep on the last night of the trail as we were woken at 3.30am to do the final hike to the sun gate to see the big MP at sunrise!!! We practically ran the last 4km and arrived at the sun gate to see MP clear as day in the sunlight...hardly a cloud in the sky!! It was amazing to finally get there and we were so proud that we did the trek and didnt just get the train up like the other lazy buggers!! We got to MP at about 7.30am and had the whole morning to explore the huge ruins!! MP is amazing and we are SO glad we went to see it!! We were laughing at the all the pristine looking people that had come on the train as we were walking round looking rough as anything and having not showered in 3 days....nice!! It was back to Cusco after the trek where we pretty much passed out in the hotel!!
We stayed a couple more days in Cusco to recover and then it was straight to Lima on a 20hour bus journey with pipe music blaring to catch our flight to El Salvador!!!!!
Long time no speak....really long time actually!!
So since we last blogged we have done A LOT....but we are just going to update you on Peru for now...keep you on the edges of your seats!!
We got to Peru on the 21st Feb and decided to head straight over to Arequipa which is about 6-7 hours I think from Puno on Lake Titicaca (Bolivia-Peru Border). Arequipa is the second biggest city in Peru and is probably the richest place we have seen in South America so far.....the houses there are unbelievable and our Hostel was in this really posh gated community and the hostel was ridiculously amazing. We pulled up to it in the dark and thought the taxi driver had taken us to the wrong place....it turned out it was right and we were extremely lucky.
We stayed in Arequipa about 6 days just to chill out...we sunbathed, watched loads of movies and went into the old town to look at the famous Monastery which was really beautiful. We met an English guy there...Fran from Halifax who was in our dorm with us....he travelled with us for the next ten days and nicknamed me squarepants (because of my square head) and therefore Han had to be Spongebob.
After Arequipa we headed back to Puno for a couple of days where we did a tour of the floating reed islands and Taquile...this really pretty island in the middle of Lake Titicaca. Puno is an absolute hole....we stayed there for one night two nights...the first of which turned out to be this festival where the locals spray everyone with shaving foam....nae ideal. The floating island were really cool....but me and Han being as gullible as anything got duped into buying these reed mobiles...havent seen anyone use a mobile except a baby......they were pretty expensive as well...regretted the decision ever since...what fools.
We escaped out of Puno pretty quickly and headed on the Inca Express up to Cusco to chill out for a few days before the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu!!! Cusco is an amazing city...definitely our favourite so far!! It is beautiful and there are lovely places to visit and lots to do there! We were also staying in a sweet hostel with delish breakfasts! Unfortunately a couple of days before the trail started I had to pay a visit to the hospital....as I got a stomach infection....what a mission....blood tests....other tests we dont want to go into and leaving Fran feeling like he was stood up in this English restaurant!! I was given a load of pills and was soon as right as rain...ready to check into the hotel the night before the epic Inca Trail started.
On the first day of the trip we went on a sacred valley tour which was basically just jumping on an off a coach and going to these ruins....it was a nice day but I wasnt really interested in the ruins as I was just excited to see the big MP at the end of the trail!!! We stayed the night in Ollyantaytambo which was about 45 minutes drive from km82 where we would start the actual Inca Trail the next day! An early night was in order and it was absolutely pissing it down....we hoped this wouldnt continue on the trail.....
We woke up bright and early on the first day of the trail...pretty nervous because everyone had told us how tough the trail was....the first day was just rolling hills of walking! We met our porters in the morning who were amazing...they carried our packs with 6kg of our stuff in and in total they carried 25kg each and RAN each section of the trail!! They were literally amazing!! We hiked 6km before lunch and had lunch in this beautiful sunny spot by a river! Lunch was like 3 courses and we felt like such fatties trying to walk after lunch! We arrived at camp in the afternoon and the porters had already set up our tents and were preparing afternoon tea!! It is literally ridiculous they constantly feed you!! Not really complaining though! haha I already had a favourite porter...the one that carried my bag...he looked like a really old man and was called Mario so I nicknamed him Super Mario for the rest of the trip! We went to bed pretty anxious on the 1st night as the second day was 6km uphill before lunch...really steep and the hardest day of the trek.
Me and Han were beaut on the second day!! We got into a rhythm and powered up the hill!!! We were the first girls up all the stages and were so proud of ourselves when we reached the top of the uphill section before lunch!! It was a tough ascent but we took it in our stride and impressed the guides with our speed! I think we did it in half the time it should have taken us! We did a steep downhill bit straight after which my legs were protesting about and then to conclude the day we had lunch!! It was chill out time after that tough day...after dinner and a pretty scary ghost story off our guide Fernando we headed to bed bricking it...haha
The third day was mostly downhill....nothing much happened apart from me eating garlic and becoming intimately acquainted with the local flora and fauna.....oh dear.....We didnt really have very long to sleep on the last night of the trail as we were woken at 3.30am to do the final hike to the sun gate to see the big MP at sunrise!!! We practically ran the last 4km and arrived at the sun gate to see MP clear as day in the sunlight...hardly a cloud in the sky!! It was amazing to finally get there and we were so proud that we did the trek and didnt just get the train up like the other lazy buggers!! We got to MP at about 7.30am and had the whole morning to explore the huge ruins!! MP is amazing and we are SO glad we went to see it!! We were laughing at the all the pristine looking people that had come on the train as we were walking round looking rough as anything and having not showered in 3 days....nice!! It was back to Cusco after the trek where we pretty much passed out in the hotel!!
We stayed a couple more days in Cusco to recover and then it was straight to Lima on a 20hour bus journey with pipe music blaring to catch our flight to El Salvador!!!!!
Tuesday 22 February 2011
BOLIVIA!!!!!
Hi guys....long time no speak...people have been badgering me about doing another blog...i think one every 2 weeks is sufficient!! haha
So since you last heard from us we have been in Bolivia (which we have just left). We headed to Bolivia from Arg on surprise surpise another bus.....this time the bus was just to the border which we got to at some unearthly hour in the morning. Border control here is literally the most disorganized thing I have ever seen....all they had to do was stamp us out of Arg and into Bol....But of course it can´t be that simple. We had to wait in 2 queues whilst we watched Argentinians skipping to the front and climbing over the fence down the hill...pretty classic. I have no idea why we didn´t do that! After about 3-4 hours we were into Bolivia!! WOOOOP We decided to head straight for the bus station to see when/book our bus to Tarija which was our first stop. The bus station was rammed with people and we found out that our bus wasnt until 8pm that night....approx 12 hours later. We had to wait in this hell hole of a town for 12 hours...i should mention that this town is called Villazon and there is NOTHING to do there besides sit in a park the whole day.....and eat. To much eating is occurring on this trip we feel. Especially chip related eating....they serve chips with everything....they are amazing though...thats half the problem.
So we got to Tarija in ze middle of the night as per and went straight to this hostel that we knew the name of....there were Christmas decorations everywhere and statues of Jesus....I didn´t really know what to do with myself. The bus journey to Tarija was SO scary. After coming off the amazing Arg buses we were in for a massive shock. I was actually praying on the bus and almost sent some final goodbye texts to people. We went to Tarija because it boasts the highest vineyards in the world!! Nothng like a bit of wine tasing when you´re on your travels! We wandered around the town for a couple of days, went up the Mirador (viewpoint) and ate ´Fillet Mignon´a couple of times for only 4 squids as you do! On the last day before our bus we went to the ´Campos Solena´vineyard...one of the most famous wines in Bolivia. Before midday we were trying the Reisling which was delicious. We had a private tour and an english speaking guide which was handy! They told us about their sister vineyard...´Casa Real´ which produces Singani...which is basically Ouzo....we had a spanish speaking guide here which was pretty interesting... but we got the gist of what he was saying....and then we tried it.....that is never good before midday...Han felt sick the rest of the day and I stupidly took a massive gulp...after our vineyard trip we had another Fillet Mignon and headed for the bus....which to our dismay was the same coach we got on at Villazon....little did we know that this journey to Tupiza would be worse and that Han would experience one wheel of the coach come off the road.....
Tupiza was a sizeable chunk of our trip and we stayed there 5 nights and booked our Salt Flat tour from there! We were staying in Hotel Mitru....pretty much the best place in town which had a pool and we had a really nice twin room for.....wait for it.....4 pound a night!!!! We basically just chilled out by the pool topping up the old tans!! It was pretty beaut! We got to know these 3 English guys who were on their GAP YAHSSSS and then 6 South African/Zim girls arrived which was pretty sweet!! We tested the local ´nightlife´there....nae ideal...2 karaoke bars one of which we got chucked out of at 11 and the other of which we tried what was meant to be the best shot of our lives...´the springbok´ (it wasnt) and then me and Han got serenaded by the owner...pretty weird....esp the part where we tried to do karaoke to Shakira in spanish....A couple of days later we did this ´triathlon´ thing where we did a jeep ride to ´penis valley´ in the morning, a 3 hour ´horse´ ride and then we got driven up this 17km long mountain pass where we had to jump out at the top and mountain bike back down....the day was awesome and we did it with the english guys and the SA girls so it was alot of fun....pretty sore at the end of the day mind.....We all had dinner together on the last night....and this is where we learnt never to put a time limit on how long Bolivians take to cook for 12 people.....it took about 2 hours for the food to come....as you probably guessed I was almost dying from starvation by the end..it was worth it though ´pique macho´or male itch was the plate of choice.....SERIOUSLY YUM.
SALT FLAT TOUR!!!!!!!!!!
We spent 3 days 4 nights on the Salt Flat Tour with the SA girls which was AMAZING....it involved driving round the Bolivian volcanoes....staying in pretty funny accommadation and seeing the most INCREDIBLE scenery you will ever see in your life. Bolivia is BEAUTIFUL and has so much varying scenery...we drove up into the mountains and onto the Altiplano where we went swimming in hot springs and went to see Lincancabur and Laguna Verde...which I have been told so much about...me and Breen were reeling with the geology! hahah the whole area was literally breathtaking! Probably some of the best 4 days of mine and Breens life! We had a really funny guide who when he spoke English...spoke in a gay accent...priceless!Han had a bit of a mare on the beginning of the tour as we were driving by really steep drops and she is REALLY scared of heights...i swapped seats with her but typically so did the side the drops were on....the food on the tour was EPIC some of the best food we have ever tasted!! That was a relief as we had been told that it was really dodge....we even had afternoon tea!! On our last night...the night before the we headed onto the actual salt flats we sacked off the tea had wine instead....you get pissed seriously quickly at altitude...especially when you start at 4.30.....LADETTES hahah. We were also staying in a hostel made of salt!! The loos....we will not discuss...picture hovering.. and special places to put your feet. The last day of the tour we went onto the salt flats which had a couple of inches of water on them so it just looked like this HUGE mirror...it was awesome! Even though there was water on them we still managed top get some pretty sweet perspective shots which you will see on faceyb soon enough!!! After the tour finished we headed up to La Paz to stay at WILD ROVER a hostel which is essentially just a massive irish bar!!
La Paz was a lot of fun....i don´t want to bore you...i probably did about 3 paragraphs ago...it basically involved buying lots of Bolivian goods for practically nothing, getting really pissed on the first night and being so hungover at altitude it was horrendous and having no memory....a riot in the city which meant we left and being woken up at 4am on the last night because the guy in our room was having sex.....OH MY GOD i am literally scarred for life. We realised some sort of riot was about to occur when we headed for lunch as this place called Olivers Travels....the barman said he was locking us in as the riots got dangerous and they had dynamite...that would explain the amount of riot police we saw the huge explosions me and han heard as we were walking to the place....It was safe to say we were leaving the next day. We then headed up to Lake Titicaca on the border with Peru and spent a couple of days there....on an island called Isla Del Sol which apprently was the birth place of the sun......not sure about that one....there wasnt much to do there so now we are in Peru!!! Updates in about 3 weeks me thinks?! hahah
brrrrappppppp xxxxxx
So since you last heard from us we have been in Bolivia (which we have just left). We headed to Bolivia from Arg on surprise surpise another bus.....this time the bus was just to the border which we got to at some unearthly hour in the morning. Border control here is literally the most disorganized thing I have ever seen....all they had to do was stamp us out of Arg and into Bol....But of course it can´t be that simple. We had to wait in 2 queues whilst we watched Argentinians skipping to the front and climbing over the fence down the hill...pretty classic. I have no idea why we didn´t do that! After about 3-4 hours we were into Bolivia!! WOOOOP We decided to head straight for the bus station to see when/book our bus to Tarija which was our first stop. The bus station was rammed with people and we found out that our bus wasnt until 8pm that night....approx 12 hours later. We had to wait in this hell hole of a town for 12 hours...i should mention that this town is called Villazon and there is NOTHING to do there besides sit in a park the whole day.....and eat. To much eating is occurring on this trip we feel. Especially chip related eating....they serve chips with everything....they are amazing though...thats half the problem.
So we got to Tarija in ze middle of the night as per and went straight to this hostel that we knew the name of....there were Christmas decorations everywhere and statues of Jesus....I didn´t really know what to do with myself. The bus journey to Tarija was SO scary. After coming off the amazing Arg buses we were in for a massive shock. I was actually praying on the bus and almost sent some final goodbye texts to people. We went to Tarija because it boasts the highest vineyards in the world!! Nothng like a bit of wine tasing when you´re on your travels! We wandered around the town for a couple of days, went up the Mirador (viewpoint) and ate ´Fillet Mignon´a couple of times for only 4 squids as you do! On the last day before our bus we went to the ´Campos Solena´vineyard...one of the most famous wines in Bolivia. Before midday we were trying the Reisling which was delicious. We had a private tour and an english speaking guide which was handy! They told us about their sister vineyard...´Casa Real´ which produces Singani...which is basically Ouzo....we had a spanish speaking guide here which was pretty interesting... but we got the gist of what he was saying....and then we tried it.....that is never good before midday...Han felt sick the rest of the day and I stupidly took a massive gulp...after our vineyard trip we had another Fillet Mignon and headed for the bus....which to our dismay was the same coach we got on at Villazon....little did we know that this journey to Tupiza would be worse and that Han would experience one wheel of the coach come off the road.....
Tupiza was a sizeable chunk of our trip and we stayed there 5 nights and booked our Salt Flat tour from there! We were staying in Hotel Mitru....pretty much the best place in town which had a pool and we had a really nice twin room for.....wait for it.....4 pound a night!!!! We basically just chilled out by the pool topping up the old tans!! It was pretty beaut! We got to know these 3 English guys who were on their GAP YAHSSSS and then 6 South African/Zim girls arrived which was pretty sweet!! We tested the local ´nightlife´there....nae ideal...2 karaoke bars one of which we got chucked out of at 11 and the other of which we tried what was meant to be the best shot of our lives...´the springbok´ (it wasnt) and then me and Han got serenaded by the owner...pretty weird....esp the part where we tried to do karaoke to Shakira in spanish....A couple of days later we did this ´triathlon´ thing where we did a jeep ride to ´penis valley´ in the morning, a 3 hour ´horse´ ride and then we got driven up this 17km long mountain pass where we had to jump out at the top and mountain bike back down....the day was awesome and we did it with the english guys and the SA girls so it was alot of fun....pretty sore at the end of the day mind.....We all had dinner together on the last night....and this is where we learnt never to put a time limit on how long Bolivians take to cook for 12 people.....it took about 2 hours for the food to come....as you probably guessed I was almost dying from starvation by the end..it was worth it though ´pique macho´or male itch was the plate of choice.....SERIOUSLY YUM.
SALT FLAT TOUR!!!!!!!!!!
We spent 3 days 4 nights on the Salt Flat Tour with the SA girls which was AMAZING....it involved driving round the Bolivian volcanoes....staying in pretty funny accommadation and seeing the most INCREDIBLE scenery you will ever see in your life. Bolivia is BEAUTIFUL and has so much varying scenery...we drove up into the mountains and onto the Altiplano where we went swimming in hot springs and went to see Lincancabur and Laguna Verde...which I have been told so much about...me and Breen were reeling with the geology! hahah the whole area was literally breathtaking! Probably some of the best 4 days of mine and Breens life! We had a really funny guide who when he spoke English...spoke in a gay accent...priceless!Han had a bit of a mare on the beginning of the tour as we were driving by really steep drops and she is REALLY scared of heights...i swapped seats with her but typically so did the side the drops were on....the food on the tour was EPIC some of the best food we have ever tasted!! That was a relief as we had been told that it was really dodge....we even had afternoon tea!! On our last night...the night before the we headed onto the actual salt flats we sacked off the tea had wine instead....you get pissed seriously quickly at altitude...especially when you start at 4.30.....LADETTES hahah. We were also staying in a hostel made of salt!! The loos....we will not discuss...picture hovering.. and special places to put your feet. The last day of the tour we went onto the salt flats which had a couple of inches of water on them so it just looked like this HUGE mirror...it was awesome! Even though there was water on them we still managed top get some pretty sweet perspective shots which you will see on faceyb soon enough!!! After the tour finished we headed up to La Paz to stay at WILD ROVER a hostel which is essentially just a massive irish bar!!
La Paz was a lot of fun....i don´t want to bore you...i probably did about 3 paragraphs ago...it basically involved buying lots of Bolivian goods for practically nothing, getting really pissed on the first night and being so hungover at altitude it was horrendous and having no memory....a riot in the city which meant we left and being woken up at 4am on the last night because the guy in our room was having sex.....OH MY GOD i am literally scarred for life. We realised some sort of riot was about to occur when we headed for lunch as this place called Olivers Travels....the barman said he was locking us in as the riots got dangerous and they had dynamite...that would explain the amount of riot police we saw the huge explosions me and han heard as we were walking to the place....It was safe to say we were leaving the next day. We then headed up to Lake Titicaca on the border with Peru and spent a couple of days there....on an island called Isla Del Sol which apprently was the birth place of the sun......not sure about that one....there wasnt much to do there so now we are in Peru!!! Updates in about 3 weeks me thinks?! hahah
brrrrappppppp xxxxxx
Friday 4 February 2011
Argentina!!!!!!
Buenos Dias Everybody!
So this is the first post on our blog after almost two weeks away! The budget has been blown and we are coming home.....not really, but the budget is blown. Argentina is EXPENSIVO.
So our first stop on our travels was Buenos Aires! We were only there for a couple of days as it was quite like a lot of European cities so we decided our time would be better spent in other places.....plus the fact that we were staying in a WEIRD hostel with no air con, plastic matresses and people who NEVER left the hostel. The 3 days we were there we walked probably the equivalent of 2 marathons around the city in the blistering heat and felt like we were going to die....We saw a lot of the city by walking around which was good and our favourite place was ¨La Boca¨. It was this really cool area of the city where the Italian immigrants settled. It was a ship yard and they made all their houses out of zinc and wood and painted them amazingly bright colours with the left over paint from the ships. The buildings were all really bright and this seemed to be where most the street tango took place! After getting over some pretty hilarious language blunders we booked an overnight coach from BA up to Iguazu Falls!!
Our hostel in Iguazu was amazing...it was just out of the town and had a MASSIVE pool!! We decided to stay here for 4 nights, chill out and take advantage of the pool and visit the falls. There were 2 big power cuts when we were there that lasted about 10 hours each....nae ideal when we had just decided to buy food to cook ourselves to save money....We had to pay for their rubbish pizza party and then when the power went off again the next evening so we took the ¨all you can eat¨ literally to make up for our food that had gone bad. Whilst we were there we were sat outside when this huge thunderstorm happened....we took shelter and it lasted for absolutely ages!!
We went to the falls the day before we were due to leave Iguazu they were AMAZING!!!! Our first stop at the falls was the Devils Throat which was where 14 different wateralls converged. The power of the falls was incredible, there is absolutely no way anyone would survive going over it. We were told a story about when the falls first opened to tourists they used to take boats to the top of the Devils Throat and row as hard as they could in the opposite direction to stop boats going over...all in the name of a good view over the falls. Obviously the inevitable happened and a boat of germans went over....none survived. So now they have walkways....sounds a lot safe but there was one which had been completely destroyed by a flood on the river.
A couple of hours after we got there it started chucking it down....like you have NEVER seen before, it was proper rainforest styley!!! The raindrops were the size of 5 pence pieces and we got absolutely drenched....we tried to make a run for it but got even more drenched so we sheltered under a tree for a bit until it passed!! Then we went on a boat ride where they drove us under three different waterfalls so we got soaked again!! it was amazing though and so much fun!! The falls were the best thing on the trip so far and it will take a lot to beat them.
Our next stop was Salta....Which we will be leaving tonight. It is a little town in the north of Arg. It´s really pretty and quite small. So we have just been doing our usual and wandering around for the last couple of days. The hostel here is really nice....ran by a family that have a massive dog and a tortoise that I (Vix) almost tripped over this morning!!
Tonight we are off to Bolivia so we shall keep you updated of all our adventures up there!!
Adios
Vix and Han xx
So this is the first post on our blog after almost two weeks away! The budget has been blown and we are coming home.....not really, but the budget is blown. Argentina is EXPENSIVO.
So our first stop on our travels was Buenos Aires! We were only there for a couple of days as it was quite like a lot of European cities so we decided our time would be better spent in other places.....plus the fact that we were staying in a WEIRD hostel with no air con, plastic matresses and people who NEVER left the hostel. The 3 days we were there we walked probably the equivalent of 2 marathons around the city in the blistering heat and felt like we were going to die....We saw a lot of the city by walking around which was good and our favourite place was ¨La Boca¨. It was this really cool area of the city where the Italian immigrants settled. It was a ship yard and they made all their houses out of zinc and wood and painted them amazingly bright colours with the left over paint from the ships. The buildings were all really bright and this seemed to be where most the street tango took place! After getting over some pretty hilarious language blunders we booked an overnight coach from BA up to Iguazu Falls!!
Our hostel in Iguazu was amazing...it was just out of the town and had a MASSIVE pool!! We decided to stay here for 4 nights, chill out and take advantage of the pool and visit the falls. There were 2 big power cuts when we were there that lasted about 10 hours each....nae ideal when we had just decided to buy food to cook ourselves to save money....We had to pay for their rubbish pizza party and then when the power went off again the next evening so we took the ¨all you can eat¨ literally to make up for our food that had gone bad. Whilst we were there we were sat outside when this huge thunderstorm happened....we took shelter and it lasted for absolutely ages!!
We went to the falls the day before we were due to leave Iguazu they were AMAZING!!!! Our first stop at the falls was the Devils Throat which was where 14 different wateralls converged. The power of the falls was incredible, there is absolutely no way anyone would survive going over it. We were told a story about when the falls first opened to tourists they used to take boats to the top of the Devils Throat and row as hard as they could in the opposite direction to stop boats going over...all in the name of a good view over the falls. Obviously the inevitable happened and a boat of germans went over....none survived. So now they have walkways....sounds a lot safe but there was one which had been completely destroyed by a flood on the river.
A couple of hours after we got there it started chucking it down....like you have NEVER seen before, it was proper rainforest styley!!! The raindrops were the size of 5 pence pieces and we got absolutely drenched....we tried to make a run for it but got even more drenched so we sheltered under a tree for a bit until it passed!! Then we went on a boat ride where they drove us under three different waterfalls so we got soaked again!! it was amazing though and so much fun!! The falls were the best thing on the trip so far and it will take a lot to beat them.
Our next stop was Salta....Which we will be leaving tonight. It is a little town in the north of Arg. It´s really pretty and quite small. So we have just been doing our usual and wandering around for the last couple of days. The hostel here is really nice....ran by a family that have a massive dog and a tortoise that I (Vix) almost tripped over this morning!!
Tonight we are off to Bolivia so we shall keep you updated of all our adventures up there!!
Adios
Vix and Han xx
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