Kieran finally gets his hair cut!

Buenos Aires

From the train we caught a bus to the pretty city of Salta in Northern Argentina and were amazed at the difference from Bolivia. We could have been in Europe with the plaza cafes, snazzy dressed locals and push chairs! It was only in Salta that we realised we hadn´t seen pushchairs since we left. It felt like our tough travelling was over as we were spoilt by fancy restaurants and bars. One more overnight bus ride and we´d made it to Buenos Aires!

And we love the place. We´ve been here 10 days now and no complaints. We found a great place to live, here´s the link. It´s a really big apartment, five bedrooms and there´s only five of us in it! We washed all our clothes and unpacked everything, slung the backpacks under the bed, such a relief after three months of travelling.

http://www.lautarohostel.com.ar/

It´s pretty cheap and there´s plenty of room if anyone´s itching to escape those winter blues. It´s pretty hot here already and it´s not even summer.

We´ve joined a Spanish school too so hoping that´ll improve quickly.

Choo chooo!

The train fom Sucre to Potosi in Bolivia. It was small and it smelt bad....

....but it had the most amazing views.

The Expresa Del Sur from Oruro to Villazon in Bolivia.

You can just about see Kieran sat on the train

The border crossing into Argentina, at last!!

Trainspotting

The first train we took, ran on tracks but was more like a bus as you´ll see from the photo´s. Really bizarre and it took six hours (twice as long as the bus) but it was really worth it. The route went through tiny villages and land you´d never see from the roads. Wild looking dogs seemed to be doing a relay race of chasing the train, what seemed like for the whole journey there would be a different dog barking alongside. Hares were also running alongside at one point too. Then the highlight for me as the train rounded a rocky corner three huge birds took flight just next to the train, maybe condors with a wingspan two or three metres. We arrived in Potosi and though the train had somehow managed to smell worse than the buses we were hooked and planning our next train trip. In Potosi, a silver mining town, we were lucky to be there at the height of the parades. Three or four marching bands and dancers similtaneously parading through the streets despite the rain and causing gridlock traffic. We took a bus to Oruro so we could take the Expresa del Sur overnight train (executive class!) to the Argentinian border. The hotel in Oruro was more like a prison cell and the cheapest so far (two pounds fifty for a twin cell) but it was worth staying the night for even more spectacular parades the next day!
Then the best journey of the trip so far, the Expresa del Sur to Villazon at the Border with Argentina. The views were amazing and after sunset we ate in the dining car - a first for us - and drank Bolivian beers until last orders and then had our best night´s sleep whilst moving.

Dinosaur Photos for Sam!

Julie shortly before she got eaten by a T-Rex

Bolivia

High altitude and low temperatures combined to give us both colds at the start of November, on the Lemsips, just like being back home. The heavily polluted capital of La Paz didn´t help. In fact all of Bolivia had such terrible air pollution from the traffic. Old Japanese buses chuggin out thick black smoke straight into the lungs of the gasping tourists trying to breath in the thin air. From La Paz we took an overnight bus to Sucre, a pretty colonial city, surprisingly wealthy compared to the rest of the country. A bit dull though to be honest with most cafes and restaurants closed whenever we fancied somthing to eat - a continuing theme throughout the country. Bolivia was unlike any other country so far in that the shopkeepers really didn´t mind if you bought something or not, a bit strange but refreshing after the pestering we´ve been getting. A highlight of Sucre was a visit to an orphanage run by nuns. We took along some crayons and books and played with the toddlers, Julie even got roped into the nappy changing. A visit to see some Dinosaur footprints was fun too, lots of lifesize replicas. Getting a bit sick of the buses (of which Bolivia had the worst so far) we decided after some advice from Julie´s ex-work colleague in Oxford transport, to take the train!

Lake Titikaka

After Macchu Picchu we headed south to Lake Titikaka where we visited the floating reed islands of Uros.

We stayed in Puno on the Peruvian side of the lake where we were lucky to see parades in the streets, lots of colourful dancers, pan pipers, drummers and cute children.

We crossed over to the Bolivian side of the lake and stayed at Copacabana with beautiful views of the lake. From there we headed to La Paz where we are now.

On Safari

Macchu Picchu

We made it! Highlight of the trip so far. We arrived at 6.20 am and the site was blanketed in clouds.