Spent our last day on holiday at Universal Studios.  Our hotel is right near a metro station that takes you directly there, so for $2.50 return …

6 October:Arrived at LAX at 7am and got a SuperShuttle bus from straight outside our terminal to our hotel in downtown.  The shuttle was $16 eac…

4 October:Last night in South America tonight!  Had to leave the beach at 6.45am in a mini-van to Puerto la Cruz, and our connection to Caracas …

 2 October:Left our hotel early at 8am to catch a bus for Santa Fe.  The bus was great - very comfortable and modern, and only stopped a co…

Caught our plane back to Ciudad Bolivar this morning - a little rougher than the trip up, but still fine.  Had McDonalds for lunch, the first ti…

29 September:First day of our Angel Falls trip today.  Caught a light plane up to Canaima National Park this morning - our pilot was great.&nbsp…

What a fabulous day!  Got into Ciudad Bolivar quite early, to find that Melissa`s back pack was quite wet as it had sat under the airconditionin…

25 September:The night bus last night dragged on for 14 hours, then had to go another 4 hours on a different bus to get across the border to Venezuel…

22 September:Went on a long trek this morning to drop in the laundry from the boat trip, then headed back to the hotel via a beauty shop.  Melis…

16 September:Not a very active day, today.  Did some internet this morning, went to a local store to get some supplies for the boat trip and the…

14 September:Very boring day today, nothing is open in Sao Luis on a Sunday (apart from a few museums).  We visited one small museum in the old …

12 September:Today´s 4 hour bus trip to Sao Luis seemed to take forever, really dragged on, but the bus was comfortable and air-conditioned, so not …

9 September:Very boring day today, travelled by public bus to Tortuia which was simply a stopping off point to get to Barreirinhas the next day.&nbsp…

Melissa felt OK when woke up today, but decidely queasy again by the time we left on our 4WD truck over the beach.  Luckily, got better as the m…

5 September:Spent most of today travelling (again, will be a staple part of this trip).  Waited in the full sun for about an hour for the bus to…

3 September:Got to the hotel at 7am and luckily could check in and have a lovely shower after our night bus.  The hotel is on a very noisy stree…

31 August:Another travel day.  Got a taxi all the way from Olinda to the bus station, so that saved us lugging everything onto the metrto. …

Bus from Salvador got in fairly late, so once we´d taken the metro and then a taxi to the hotel, we got to Olinda about midday.  Had lunch at a…

28 August:After another very nice brekky, we went with another chap from our group, Brian, down the funicular to the Mercado Modelo at the bottom of …

Saw quite a bit today.  Brekky at the hotel was very nice, one of the best we´ve had and to continue the theme, our first stop was the Museum o…

25 August:Didn´t do so much today, updated the travbuddy and then left our Hotel Atlantico at noon to move to the Hote Angrense, about a 10 minute w…

Last day of sightseeing today.  Lovely and sunny again, so nice for walking around.  Took the metro to Carioca and walked over to the tram …

Woke up to an overcast, rainy morning, but not cold so wasn´t too bad.  Caught the metro back over to Cinelandia to visit the Cathedral again, …

Did the big two today.  We ended up booking a day tour through our hotel (against our better judgement, but thought it would be easier) and unfo…

20 August:Travel day today.  Caught the 11.20am bus from Paraty to Rio, which follows the coast all the way north.  Arrived in Rio half an …

Spent a fairly easy day today.  Walked into town after breakfast and dropped our laundry off (it was ready 2 hours later, so pretty good service…

Spent a lovely 5 hours today on a schooner cruising the bay of Paraty.  We left at 11am and immediately saw a large group of dolphins froli…

Did a jeep tour to the surrounding hills today.  Collected by our driver at 10.30am and headed along the old gold trail with the other 4 in our …

Woke up to a glorious Paraty day today, it´s really warm and the sky is clear blue.  Walked into town this morning and crossed the river to the…

Considering that this is the only hotel on our trip that we´ve made an effort to return to, we thought we should do a review! Pousada Laguna Blue i…

14 August:Our 9th wedding anniversary today.  We didn´t end up doing very much as the day was overcast and wet, and didn´t fine up much as the…

Lots of history and culture today!  Started at the Pinacoteca near the Luz Metro Station to see a collection of mostly Brazilian art and sc…

Beautiful day today, lots of sun, but  not too hot to walk around.  We walked down to the Parque Ibirapuera again to visit the museums with…

Woke up to perfect blue skies today, and had our last brekky with Tim this morning - we´ll miss him after being with him for two weeks now.&nbs…

Yes, that´s right, today was spent looking at serpents at the Instituto Butantan!  The Institute has been producing antivenes and vaccines sinc…

8 August:After a very rough bus trip from Ouro Preto to Sao Paulo, we arrived 1 1/2 hours late into the pouring rain at about 7am.  The road fro…

6 August:Caught the bus this morning to visit the Minas do Passagem, now a tourist venue showing the insides of an old gold mine that operated from 1…

4 August:Spent most of today travelling.  Tim dropped us at the airport at 8am for our 9am flight with Varig to Belo Horizonte, which ended up l…

2 August:Had a most enjoyable day today - went to a BBQ at the home of a British diplomat posted here (he and his family invited Tim, but kindly allo…

31 July:Had a very lazy day at home today, then a lovely Italian meal out with Tim in the evening.1 August:Our 2nd last day of proper sight-seeing to…

Had another day in the centre today.  Tim dropped us off behind the Metropolitan Cathedral, as it opens at 8am, so though we'd start there.&nb…

28 July:Unfortunately, Noel's camera died just as we arrived at Goias Velho last Friday, so we spent this morning looking for a new one.  Braz…

Very interesting day today.  We left Pirenopolis after breakfast and drove back towards Brasilia to meet some of Tim's friends at a jaguar sanct…

Melissa's birthday today, and a lovely place to spend it!  We drove to Pirenopolis from Goias Velho in the morning, stopping at a fantastic pott…

Left on our weekend away with Tim today.  As we headed off towards Goiana, the capital of Goias State, we came across loads of roadside stalls s…

21 & 22 July:Had a couple of days at home (or rather, Tim's home!) catching up on internet, washing etc..  Very nice to just sit by the pool…

Had a very early start today.  Got up at 5.10am to make sure we were in the foyer for the car our tour leader had booked to pick us up at 5.45am…

Had an early start today, left the island at 8am on a boat over to the mainland, then got a mini-bus up the coast to Rio.  The bus was really a …

Did some walking today.  Spent the morning looking at the shops in the town, then did the T1 circuit from the tourist map - a short, but picture…

Had a lovely day today, relaxing on what has been described as one of the world's Top 5 Beaches - Lopes Mendes.  We caught a boat from the beach…

Spent most of today moving between Paraty and Ilha Grande, on the public bus and then a ferry to the island.  The bus trip takes you up the coas…

Had a lovely sleep in this morning, then spent a few hours apart.  Melissa walked into town again and ambled around the streets in the lovely su…

Melissa woke up feeling decidely iffy this morning, only 2 1/2 caipirinhas, but they had a kick!  Decided to just wander around the town then co…

Long day today, left the hotel at around noon for our 1.30pm flight to Sao Paolo.  Flight took abuot 1 hour 20 minutes with Tam, and got a sandw…

Had a different perspective of the falls today, from the Brazilian side.  Our driver took us to the visitor centre at the entrance, where we had…

What a great day, one of the highlights of our trip.  The hotel breakfast was most impressive, a hot and cold buffet of just about everything yo…

Had a very long day today.  Our 4WD truck picked us up at 8.15am and the trip to Posadas to meet our mini-bus which should have taken around 4 h…

Arrived in Mercedes at about 7.30am after a very long and uncomfortable bus trip, then got on a 4WD truck for another 3 1/2 hours to our posada in th…

Our last day in Buenos Aires was fairly quiet, being a Monday most things are closed so it´s really just a matter of wandering around the shops one …

Next few days pretty quiet, so a joint entry. July 4:Very relaxing day, did some internet stuff and cleaned the flat ready for Sunday checkout.&nbsp…

Spent today wandering around the rejuvenated Puerto Madero (once again through thick fog, that came down heavier during the day).  Wandered thro…

Had big plans today for seeing some more museums, but the two main ones were ´shut for renovations´or ´shut and don´t know where the stuff has go…

Very interesting today, visited the restored merchant´s house known as El Zanjon (The Creek).  The property was bought derelict by a company in…

Quiet couple of days, this Sunday and Monday.  Spent most of Sunday snoozing (after a yummy brunch at our local cafe,although not the same witho…

June 27:Only real sightseeing today was a visit to the Penitentiary Museum in San Telmo.  This is supposed to be open most days from 2-6pm, but …

Quite a frustrating day today.  Started off well with a visit to Malba, the modern art gallery in an impressive building with three floors of ar…

Much more active day today, first stop was the Zoo which is on Plaza Italia.  It´s a decent size, took us about 2 hours to walk all around it, …

Difficult to describe today!  Slept in a bit, as it was Sunday, then walked down to Defensa to walk long the markets all the way to the Plaza de…

Took the Subte to Plaza Italia this morning for a walk around the Botanic Gardens.  These gardens are not huge, and are fairly simple plant-wise…

Two fairly uneventful days. June 19:Slept in a bit today, then took the subte into the centre.  Started raining mid-morning and didn´t stop fo…

Did our touristy ¨Day in the Country´today.  Collected at 9.30am and spent the next hour picking up everyone else on the tour.  Normally …

June 16:Had big plans for today, but turned out it was a public holiday so it all went by the wayside.  Got on the train to go to the Brazilian …

Freezing cold today, although the sun was shining.  Have had very strong winds, rattling the windows of our flat, and it whips right through you…

Caught the subte to Retiro Station and walked up Av. del Libertador to the artisans market near the Recoleta Cemetery.  Lots of stalls here on a…

12 June:Had a very boring day today!  Melissa has accepted a job in an Australian government department and has to submit her life history for a…

Lots of pavement-pounding today!  Caught the subte to Plaza San Martin and walked across to the memorial on the site of the old Israeli Embassy,…

Had another day wandering around today.  Stopped in at a travel agent to buy some tickets for Gol when we´re in Brazil (we haven´t got access …

Had a very quiet day today, it was raining when we got up and just as we left the apartment to check the emails, it started to get heavier.  Dec…

Had our first real day of sightseeing today, so wandered over to the San Telmo district to visit the famous markets and stalls.  Sunday is very …

Caught the Colonia Express over to Buenos Aires this morning.  Had a stroke of luck with Uruguayan immigration - when we came across at Paysandu…

Walked about 5km along the coast road today to the suburb of Real de San Carlos.  We thought there would be much more here, but it is basially r…

Spent today visiting the museums that were closed yesterday.  Was a very overcast day, and even had a few spits of rain, which is unusual for th…

Johnny dropped us at Tres Cruces this morning to catch our bus to Colonia, only about 2 hours north west of Montevideo.  Ignacio met us at the s…

30 May:Not a very exciting day to write about, today.  Got the bus back to Montevideo and went home to Cyr and Johnny`s.  Spent the day cat…

Woke up to cold weather and rain today, think our run of good luck with the weather might be over.  We walked around to the Museo Mazzoni, just …

Very overcast morning today, but caught a bus over to Punta del Este.  Maldonado is really just a suburb of Punta now, they join up so one conti…

We´re spending the next few days in Maldonado and Punta del Este, famous Uruguayan beach areas.  Caught a taxi to Terminal Tres Cruces and then…

Had a great day today, wandered around much of Montevideo and caught up with a dear friend.  We caught the bus into the centre, to a couple of b…

Had quite a relaxing day today.  Got up late, went for a walk along the Rambla as the sun had returned and you could see right out over the bay …

Had a very enjoyable sleep in today, before heading out with Cyr and Johnny around Montevideo.  They took us to the Cerro, from where you get a …

What an exciting day today, Melissa returned to Artigas after 21 years!  She was an exchange student here in 1987 with AFS International Exchang…

After 21 years, it´s finally happened - Melissa is back in Uruguay!  Been excited about this for a long time, and very much looking forward to …

Had quite a bit of time to fill in today, because bus didn´t leave until 5pm for our journey to Paysandu in Uruguay.  We ended up taking our ba…

Today ended up being a fairly relaxed day, and most enjoyable in the sunshine and balmy weather of Cordoba.  We can still walk around in t-shirt…

Had another day of Jesuits today!  Took a mini-bus to the town of Jesus Maria, and found ourselves in the company of a lovely man called David w…

Spent today in the nearby town of Alta Gracia, founded around a Jesuit Estancia from the 1600s.  The mini-bus driver dropped us off right on the…

Arrived in Cordoba early this morning and got a taxi to the Hotel Victoria, which is in the pedestrian precinct of the city centre.  It turned o…

Spent today wandering around the streets of Mendoza, before leaving on the night bus to Cordoba.  Our legs actually aren´t too bad, but the bot…

Well, a very active day for us today!  For two people who have become relativly unfit, we are very proud to say we cycled about 25 kms today, fo…

Had quite a long day today, did a tour out to the mountains around Mendoza, as far across as the international tunnel that crosses the border between…

Overnight bus didn´t go too badly last night, was a long trip - about 17 hours - but saw a couple of movies and got a bit of sleep.  Had dinner…

Monday 5 May:Last full day in Bariloche today, and not a huge amount to do as the museums are closed on Mondays.  Decided to splash out and take…

Had a really interesting day today, even did a bit of exercise!  Booked a tour for today with Lagos del Sur, which can be arranged through most …

Had a fairly easy day today.  We moved to our new hotel this morning, and then had to walk back to the hostel because the owner had forgotten to…

Went up to the HI hostel this morning to find that none of the stuff we´d asked them to do had been done, so ended up doing it ourselves!  Went…

We now know why our apartment, arranged through Hostel 41 Below, is so cheap for what you appear to get - it is right next door to a live music venue…

Basically a travel day today.  Our bus to Bariloche left at 9am and headed up to Osorno before heading east to cross the border into Argentina -…

Further to the last entry, Melissa froze last night!  She put on an extra doona and still felt like an ice-block.  We need an extra night h…

Left Punta Arenas today.  We didn´t have to be at the airport until 3pm, so went for a wander around town this morning, did some internet updat…

We went on an organised tour today, because getting out to the old settlement of Fort Bulnes is quite difficult on your own.  The tour cost CL…

Did lots of sightseeing today in freezing Punta Arenas!  The sky is really clear and blue and the sun shines, but the wind whips through you.&nb…

Arrived in Puerto Natales this morning at abut 10am, a day late.  Had to wait for some cargo to be off-loaded before the passengers could leave …

Woke up at 3am this morning to find smooth sailing, so must have left the ocean some time before then - quite a relief, actually.  Our guide…

Fairly quiet day today, meeting new people, reading, looking at scenery and eating - there is plenty of food, and it always seems to be mealtime, so …

Woke up this morning thinking how incredibly smooth the journey overnight had been, to discover that we hadn´t actually left port yet!  Apparen…

After yesterday´s light drizzle, we woke today to pouring rain (after being serenaded by rats in the walls of our hotel room overnight).  We dr…

Went for a quick walk this morning around the town of Pucon, before heading off on the Pachamama bus to Valdivia for our next night´s stop.  Th…

Today´s entry belongs solely to Noel, who ventured up the volcano that towers over Pucon (Melissa stayed in today, getting over her cold and enjoyed…

Had a very long day of driving today, too long really.  We think that the bus company should actually split today´s itinerary into two days bec…

Left Santiago today, so on the move again.  We´ve bought a 5 day pass on the Pachamama by Bus backpackers bus, doing part of their Southern Lak…

14 AprilLeft our little flat today, felt quite funny walking out the door for the last time!  After meeting the landlady's rep and the ContactCh…

12 AprilOur main visit today was to the Salvador Allende Solidarity Museum, we had looked for it before but it had moved, so today came to the lovely…

9 April> Not very active today! Updated travbuddy and then posted back a box to Australia / cost us  CP27000 for 3.4 kilos, so almo…

We had a lovely day today.  Left fairly early to get our Pullman Bus to Isla Negra to see the last Neruda house on our list.  Pullman was m…

Although it´s not mentioned in any of the travel guides we´ve seen, the guard of the Presidential Palace (La Moneda) is changed at about 10am every…

Had a bit of a Sunday sleep-in today, then made our way over to La Chascona in Bella Vista.  This was the house Pablo Neruda built for himself a…

Didn´t do much on 3 and 4 April, so just a quick summary: 3 April:We had a look around the Artisans Market at Santa Lucia, which is actually quite …

Had a really nice day today.  We took the train (metro) out to the suburb of Ñuñoa to the Santa Carolina Winery, one of the oldest in Chile da…

Decided to have another coastal day today, took the bus to Viña del Mar, a town just up from Valparaiso.  Got in at about 10.30am and collected…

A few more days of combined entries, as we recover from the trip to Valparaiso! 29 March:Had a bit of a rest day today!  Did some cleaning and …

Left out yesterday, because really didn´t do anything except wander around the town in the sunshine - very pleasant, but not riveting reading!! Had…

Another combination entry, or the days wouldn´t have much in them! 22 March:Lots of walking today, went down Catedral all the way to the Parque Qui…

We´ve combined a few days into one in this entry, because not very exciting for most of you!  18 March:Wandered around quite a bit today.&nbs…

Exciting day today, moved into our new home for the next month.  Met our landlady at 9.30am (and the ContactChile representative) to check every…

Walked for miles today!  After brekky, we wandered along O´Higgins and Providencia to find the Chilean tourist info, but it was closed.  O…

Had to get up quite early today to catch our 7.30am bus to Santiago, about  6 hour trip.  The bus was the most luxurious to date, so pretty…

The sun did shine tody, just took a little longer to come out.  Was quite overcast in the morning, but had fined up by lunch time.  Fi…

We arrived after our very long overnight trip at about 11.30am into La Serena, a bustling metropolis compared to where we´ve been lately. …

Did very little today, Noel was really unwell so we ended up paying the extortionate sum of US$82 to keep our room until we left on the nightbus so t…

Had a very restless night, nice and warm, but poor old Noel is suffering with a sinus/infection with a dry cough, so not very happy!  Left the h…

Left about 8am today, long after the other cars.  They always rush off and leave us because we have the cook who needs to pack away her gear, bu…

Quite a late start this morning, collected by our 4WDs at 10.30am and headed off into the salt flats of Salar de Uyuni.  Only drove about 25 min…

Had a terrible night last night, Noel barely slept because couldn´t breathe when he lay down and Melissa was being sick all night.  Have decide…

Went our separate ways this morning - Melissa on a walk around town and Noel to the famous Potosi silver mine under the Cerro Rico (Rich Hill). …

had a fairly late start today, our private bus collected us at 10am for our journey to Potosi, which only took about 2 1/2 hours.  The countrysi…

Hardly rained at all today, just the odd drop, so walked around town and visited a couple of the museums.  First stop was the Casa de la Liberta…

Woke up this morning feeling SOOOO much better, after a night in a comfy bed in the lovely Hotel Independencia at CAlle Calvo No 31.  Don´t kno…

Well, how do you describe the worst journey of your life (and considering we´ve travelled through some pretty poor countries in South East Asi, that…

Very wet day today, started to rain overnight and barely stopped all day.  But being the hardy, intrepid explorers that we are, we did not let a…

Our last day in La Paz was pretty lazy really, did a bit of internetting, late breakfasting and basic wandering around town.  walked back over t…

Had a long day of touring today, collected from our hotel at 8.30am for a two hour drive on very rough roads out to the archaeological site of Tiwana…

Had a very relaxed and enjoyable day today.  Slept in a bit, had a slow brekky, then followed part of a walking tour from the Lonely Planet book…

Another long travel day today.  Left for the bus station at 7am and everyone was ready to go on time!!  Drove for about 2 hours to the bord…

Woke up to pouring rain this morning, but it cleared by the time we left Amantani Island and our host family en route for the Uros Islands.  The…

Rained all night, and continued during the morning for our trip onto Lake Titicaca.  We got ¨limos¨to the harbour, tricycle taxis, which was g…

Fairly easy day today, spent most of it sitting on our bus from Cusco to Puno.  Some of our group had a very late night (or early morning, depen…

After our adventures of last night, today was pretty calm really.  In the morning, all the shops were closed and there were very few people abou…

After having the best beds and pillows every, we couldn´t really enjoy it because had to get up at 4am to go to Machu Picchu!  But not to worry…

Up early today for our mini-bus to Ollantaytambo.  We were supposed to get the train to Aguas Calientes from Cusco, but due to strikes the stati…

First stop today was the Cathedral.  although this really is a must do in Cusco, they bloody well know it and charge like wounded bulls!  A…

    Very enjoyable day today, and quite relaxing, just wandered around the streets of Cusco using our Boleto Turistico to go into vari…

Quite a long day today, our guide was late and we seemed to spend a lot of time sitting on the bus when we should have been doing something.  It…

Got up very early this morning for our 6.50am flight to Cusco with LanPeru - luckily we had our Qantas frequent flyer cards with us so got the tick…

After a pretty good brekky, we left Coporaque at 7am to head back to Arequipa.  Went pretty direct this time, because we did all the stops on th…

Early start today, left at 6am for Cruz de Condors to see the massive Indian Condors in flight.  Stopped at the little village of Yanque on the …

Left Arequipa at 8.30am for our bus trip to Colca Canyon.  Worked our way through the suburbs until we once again hit the quite barren and dry…

Lots of walking and culture today.  Most of our tour group went rafting and boating, but we´re more arty farty so decided to hit the museums of…

Well, as for our first overnight bus in South America, we were quite impressed and surprised.  We had been told they were pretty comfortable, …

The main reason for visiting Nazca is to check out the world-famous and little understood Nazca lines and the only way to really see them is to go up…

Got up early today for our trip out to the Ballestas Islands, which sit just off the coast of Paracas.  We all walked down to town to take our t…

We left Lima on the 8.45am bus for the 4 hour trip to Paracas, driving through the Lima suburbs until hitting the open road.  Much of the coast …

Very cultural day today!  We took a taxi to the Museo Rafael Larco, a private museum with an outstanding collection of Peruvian antiquities - lo…

Had a bit of an easier day today, just wandered around the area of Barranco, where our hotel is situated.  Near the Parque Municipal there are a…

Took a taxi up to the Museum of the Inquisition to start the day off.  Traffic here can be quite horrendous, no-one really wants to give way and…

Had a fairly uneventful trip from Australia to Peru, via Los Angeles, although got pretty bumpy around Hawaii (must be all those volcanoes!).  A…