RIO, SECOND TIME ROUND (11 MAY 2014)
Well, I got back into the swing of work again in time to embark the new voyage crew on Nellie and extract her from her cozy berth in Punta, bound for the exotic shores of Brazil. The purpose of this blog, however, is not to give a blow-by-blow account of the voyage – go to…
CAPITALS (21 APRIL 2014)
Lima. We rolled in to the terminal in the bus from Nasca in the early afternoon, and Franco, who had identified himself in his emails as “staff” of the hostel we had booked to stay in, was there to meet us. He had soon flagged down a taxi (one of the slightly decrepit, cheap ones,…
ALTIPLANO AND THEN DESERT AGAIN (13 APRIL 2014)
So we left Puno as per the revised plan, and headed to Cusco. The bus journey, surrounded by the usual collection of Andean characters and their colourful bundles of belongings, went through some fantastic mountain scenery, soon leaving the plains and travelling through green valleys between impressive peaks, and passing through country towns, which mostly…
DESERT, BUSES, EARTHQUAKES AND SLEEP DEPRIVATION (7 APRIL 2014)
It seems like some time ago that we left Valparaiso and her higgledy-piggledy delights behind us. The early departure from our hostel got us onto our bus to Santiago with time to spare, and after a short (2 hours counts as short) journey we were in the Chilean capital. Then, within an hour, we were…
TO VAL-A-PARAISA ROUND THE HORN (31 MARCH 2014)
After a very comfortable night in our home-from-home in Punta Arenas, Hospedaje Magellanes, we got a taxi to the airport in good time, and checked in for our flight to Puerto Montt (apparently, “Muerto Montt” to the locals, reflecting the exciting nature of the town, which is effectively a transport hub for those travelling to…
IN PATAGONIA (WITH APOLOGIES TO BRUCE CHATWIN) (27 MARCH 2014)
Well, eventually the bus made it across the strait and we arrived in Punta Arenas. Six hours late – but this seems to be normal with that particular bus service. It was a good blooding into travelling in South America. We spent a very restful couple of days in Punta Arenas, seeing what there was…
USHUAIA, ANTARCTICA AND THENCE ON LEAVE (15 MAR 2014)
First of all, my sincere apologies to my loyal reader for not having posted anything for weeks. The Iridium dome is completely dead, and the replacement which was to be brought down to Ushuaia prior to our departure for the Antarctic was apprehended by Argentine customs as an illegal import, and is awaiting payment of…
RAIN, ECOLOOS AND MARLBOROUGH SOUND (1 DEC 2013)
We left our somewhat basic hostel in Fox Glacier to drive up the wild West Coast as far as our next hostel near Westport, which promised to be interesting at the very least. The drive took us once again through some areas of stunning scenery, and we stopped at Hokitika, capital of the West Coast…
