Not much to say about the town really, as advertised it was extremely laid back and offered trekking in the nearby hills and an alternative starting point for the trip into the Salar de Uyuni. I stayed a couple of nights and then made my way back to Argentina via a border crossing from tediousness that couldn't be made up. It took approxiamtely 6 hours of standing in a queue only for an official to come up, take our passports, head off with them for a couple of minutes and come back with them all stamped - why couldn't they have done that in the first place????

Due to the amount of time taken to cross the border I couldn't get a bus back to Salta that day so ended up going to Jujuy and then Salta the next day, then after a couple of days I caught anoher bus over to Puerto Iguazzu and the magnificant water falls that reside there. Having been to Niagara Falls I was expecting something similar - nothing like them at all! They were so much more, Niagara was like a dripping tap compared to the majesty of Iguazzu Falls. The Argentinian side of the falls offers miles of tracks through butterfly filled tropical forests as well as boat trips under the falls themselves - so what's a girl to do? Well get wet of course! This place is one of the most jaw dropping beautiful places I have ever been and if I had of stayed around a few more days I would have taken the trip across the border to Paraquay and Brazil - both of which were a mere couple of miles away......maybe when I go back someday.

Fom Puerto Iguazzu it was a 16 hour bus trip back to Buenos Aires and a couple of weeks party time before heading back to New Zealand via a night in Santiago again. Yet again Buenos Aires didn't fail to delight - meeting up with old friends and celebrating St Patricks Day was definitely one to remember. I also have to say that the people I met in the hostel this time around were the best bunch of people I met in my trip around - all very friendly, funny and up for a laugh at any given moment. So just so I remember.....Kristina, Meredith, John, Christina, Jodie, Ewan, Helen, Tom, Dierdre, Kate, Ben and the Frat Boys. The wheelbarrow races at 5 in the morning were particularly entertaining and much more preferable to the naked league which was up for discussion many times!

So that as they say is that - the end of my travels in South America, a continent blessed with rich cultures, generous people and such diversity that you could never get bored. My hope is that I'll get to go back in the not too distant future and work my way from Mexico down to Argentina - any joiners/dreamers welcome!

Tupiza and the end of my trip in South America remains copyright of the author kerryd, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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After approx 6 hours we arrived in the town of Uyuni - the northern starting point for those doing tours of the Salt Flats and surrounding areas. The town itself wasn't that exciting and the service in the restaurant was possibly the worst I have ever come across but apart from that it was all good - oh yeah and the hotel had no water which made for an interesting toilet situation! Anyway I digress - on to the Salar de Uyuni. After sussing out a couple of agencies we settled on a 2 night 3 day adventure which cost the princely sum of $65 per person - bargain! Inclusive of all meals and accomodation and of course our 4 wheel drive and our guide - glad that I spoke and understood enough spanish by then to understand most of what was said!

About a 20 minute drive from the town we came to the start of the Salt Flats (12,000 square kms in total) and that was all you could see for miles - an ocean of salt. We were also lucky to be there when they were covered in water which gave the most impressive mirror like quality you could ever imagine - absolutely stunning. Made for many an impressive photo I can tell you - as well as some rather entertaining ones too. Amazing what you can do with a bit of imagination and a camera - I promise one day to actually get some posted.....

In the middle of this ocean of salt you come across Pescada Island which is covered in cacti and soaring rocks - a good place to stop off and contemplate all that beauty that surrounds it.

Towards the end of the first day you come off the salt and hit the 'road' again and make your way through mountainous terrain and bone crushing passes before finally reaching the accommodation for the night. Tomorrow would bring the Colrado Desert and on through to the Laguna Colorado and Lago Verde and an amazing amount of flamingos.

As promised there were flamingos and a pretty impressive sight it was. We stopped at a couple of lakes and then that was that - there are only so many flamingos you can look at! As well as the birdies of course are the lakes. For me they were probably even better - the various mineral deposits had left steaming red and green masses of water which only the hardy aforementioned bird can survive in (they eat the algae). We also stopped of at the tree in the desert - a wierd rock formation that strangely enough resembles a tree! Then again we headed off to lay our heads down for the evening. Tonight we were to be entertained by no less than 4 groups of youngsters who went from hostel to hostels 'entertaining' us backpackers - whilst very sweet (although obviously they expected us to give them money for their trouble) I can't say it was of the highest standard.......the elbowing and occasional sniggers when someone got something wrong made that all the more apparent! Dinner was once again cooked up by our guide and left us with full bellies and not a sign of a stomach upset in sight. Tonight was to be an early start as we were hitting the road the next morning at 5.30 - what's that all about??? Well the reason being of course that we get up to watch the sun rise over the thermal grounds of Sol de Manana - full of geysers and bubbling mud pools and not a fence in sight! Health and Safety would have a field day! But very beautiful it was and an excellent spot to watch the sun come up - after this it was a quick half hour trip down the road to the thermal baths for a quick dip before breakfast. All in all very beautiful.

That then was that - after dropping one of our german companions off on the border we began the long arduos trek back to Uyuni and with a sore bum but may happy memories we arrived back to our hotel some 8 or so hours later. Not bad for $65 all in.

Salar de Uyuni remains copyright of the author kerryd, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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So the 5 of us who had been hanging out together in Sucre made it on to Potosi - me, Hayley, Caroline, Gemma and Veronico with the intentions of doing the trip into the mines and that's just what 4 of us did, with Veronico who had been before assuring us that it really wasn't that bad.......yeah right! If suffocating dust and holes in the floor dropping 2 or 3 levels without any kind of safety at all is your idea of easy then so be it!

A little bit more about the city and the mines then.....Potosí is the capital of the department of Potosí in Bolivia. It is at an altitude of 3967 meters and is claimed to be the highest city in the world. It lies beneath the Cerro Rico ("Rich mountain"), a mountain of silver ore and was one of the places plundered most by the spanish, so much so that it is said that the wealth generated here was what drove the industrial revolution in Europe. Its rumoured that a million souls have perished there over the last 300 years - beginning with the natives and then added to by African slaves brought over to work the mines. Why then would you want to go in and see for yourself then? For me a large part of it was actually seeing in person what these men and boys do every day of their lives to support their families, and what is it that decreases their average life expectancy to only 40 years old?

Starting the day early we went to be kitted out with protective trousers and a jacket (to keep most of the dust out...), a hard hat and a torch powered by a battery belt. That was that then! Then off to the miners markets to buy some supplies to take as gifts to the miners - this was an actual working mine that we were going down and the gifts were a way of saying thanks for letting us interrupt your work as we make our way past you. The gifts consisted of soft drinks, chocolate, coca leaves, hydroglycerin and dynamite - yes you read that correctly....dynamite. Enough to start a small war.

After that shopping trip time to make it into the mines, our group consisted of 8 people, 1 guide and 1 helper who's purpose was to take anyone out should they be overcome by dust, claustrophobia or sheer panic and fear. Going in the first hundred yards what strikes you is the dust and that's at ground level where the air is cleanest, then its the darkness. The further in you go the lower the ceiling becomes and the tighter the shafts so you spend your time either permantly hunched over or crawling on your hands and knees. Running through the middle are the tracks on which the carts are pushed manually by 1 or 2 miners to take the 'completo' out - that is the raw material blown or picked from the walls and loaded onto the carts after being hauled up through openings in the floor from up to 4 levels below. At the first level and half an hour in we had our first person give up and be led out - a strapping man from Sweden who just couldn't take any more. After that we descended through holes in the ground to the 2nd, 3rd and then the 4th levels all the while hacking away and stopping to rest every 5 minutes or so as it was so difficult to breathe through the choking dust, it felt like alking through treacle. Added to this was the attempts at avoiding the cables running along the walls as they were carrying live electricity and then you're having fun!

Mining is hereditary amongst the men of families. Father take their sons into the mines when they are as young as eight years old to be errand runners. Miners have a very short life expectancy with silicosis being the usual cause of death but having a lot of help from accidents, and the hard living that accompanies the lifestyle outside the mines.

How these men and boys, some as young as 12 years old can do this every day is unbelievable and somewhat heartbreaking - everywhere you look are the blank stares of the miners as they chew their coca leaves (believed to make a person immune to thirst, hunger and physical pain) and occasionally groups sitting down resting sharing the local brew of 98% alcohol - anything that takes the edge of the harshness.

The guides were excellent and most informative of what was happening, the history of the area, mining, and descibing the every day life of a miner and his family, being ex-miners themselves they were clearly knowledgable. Our guide at the age of 25 had already spent 11 years working down the mines with a further year as a guide. Whilst Bolivia lacks the infrastructure and clear directives from government this will continue as long as there are mines to mine and the country's wealth will continue to be eroded. Sad but true. I definitely recommend this as a way to see how the people here truly live - a very effective eye opener for all.

Now onto the fun part! That evening we were accompanied out on the town by Pedro, one of the guides who wanted an opportunity to improve his english in a social situation......so off we trotted to the Devils Bar, frequented by the miners and friends although on this particular night we were pretty much the only ones there. The drink of choice was a fairly potent Bolivian concoction served hot - no idea what the name is but not bad all the same! That of course led to calls to find another karaoke bar and continue our tour of the top singing spots in Bolivia - that brought us to the american bar....oh dear....but away we went and karaokied the night away with Pedro whispering in my ear that he really liked me and he wanted me to stay with him! So whilst Lady in Red was being crooned by the other 3 laughing their heads off at my utter dismay I had to let him down gently and let him know that there was no future for us together (bearing in mind that we had met only 4 hrs before and that I didn't have the intention of staying in Potosi!). Shortly after it was time to head for the hills and say goodnight - have to say it was a pretty amusing trip home with me being the cause of most of the piss taking! Bitches! Time to hit the road again the next morning - next destination was to be Uyuni and the Salt Flats.

Potosi remains copyright of the author kerryd, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Arrived in Sucre at 7 in the morning after waking around 5 and being treated to a beautiful sunrise and a very thorough drugs check by the local gendarme. Found somewhere to stay, dumped the bags and went in search of some breakfast - very nice it was too! Had a wander around town to get our bearings, found an optician's and ordered some ridiculously cheap prescription sunglasses, sat sunworshipping in the main plaza and bumped into a lady I had met 3 months previously in Rosario.....small world eh? Busy morning! That afternoon back to the hostel to clean up and have a little siesta...when in Rome as they say. That evening it was out to dinner with people we met whilst enjoying the local brew out on the patio - Caroline and Niamh, Sean and norweigian guy who's name I can never remember but has the thickest Manc accent I've ever heard and Veronico from Argentina. These turned out to be the dining and general frivolity companions for the next few nights as we all kicked back and relaxed.

In terms of things to do - there is a place just outside of the city which has visible dinosaur footprints which were uncovered by the local concrete factory approx 10 years ago and are known to be millions of years old - whilst now you can only view them from a platform as they are attempting to protect them until such time as they get silicon or something similar, until a couple of years ago they actually let people go right up to them and touch, etc. Fair enough that its limited but I was a little disappointed at how far away it was. There is also hiking and horseriding as far as the eye can see, but as a place to just hang out, take it easy, shoot the breeze with the locals and all that its great. The karaoke bars are also good - particularly when we had finished with them! I don't think the people will ever forget my magnificent attempt at singing Shakira in spanish - I however am attempting to forget it everyday!

Next stop Potosi and its famous mines.

Sucre remains copyright of the author kerryd, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Well they say that Bolivia is one of the most unstable countries in South America and that there is always the chance of getting caught up in a demonstration or a general strike or a good old fashioned riot - this is what I came for....living on the edge and all that. Well there was no strikes or riots but demonstrations a plenty. As soon as we checked into our hostel and were checking out the view from the window a few hundred people gathered outside on the street and proceeded to block all traffic and generally cause disruption whilst singing the odd battlecry - no idea what it was all about but interesting to watch democracy in process. One unfortunate driver tried to surreptiously back up and then drive around the protestors on the pavement but was quickly spotted and angrily berated for such a foolish attempt - he was going nowhere fast. The police then rocked up and tried to reason with the people but they weren't having any of it- in fact the police seemed to know several people in the crowd well with hugs and kisses all around, although one lady didn't seem too happy to see them and after arguing passionately with one of the gentlemen in uniform finished off by flashing her boobs at him then being pulled away by her friends - a rather amusing little skit I wouldn't have believed unless I had seen for myself!

On the subject of demonstrations 3 weeks prior to my arrival in La Paz there were reports of rioting and violence in La Paz between the police and the miners from a nearby district - whilst peace had resumed by the time I got there there was still a large prescence of miners and their families camping and protesting outside the main cathedral - with 5 men chained to crosses in front trying to highlight their plight and accompaned by banners whose translation said "5 months work and no pay to feed our children". Makes you think doesn't it?

La Paz itself is probably the closest to what I imagined a south american city to be - vibrant, chaotically busy and full of life. It is not what I had been led to believe, in other words, dirty, dangerous and unwelcoming. In fact alongside Buenos Aires its up there as one of my favourites. The nightlife is good, the shopping is great, the people generally are friendly, the streets are easy to explore, the food is....well average, but at least it didn't kill my stomach like Peru did and its easy to get there and away. There are museums and places of interest aplenty and several excellent lookouts for views over the city. Like most capital cities or at least it seemed that way to me, La Paz is situated in a huge valley with snow capped peaks all around hence some stunning views - at over 4000m above sea level it is also the highest capital city in the world so makes it easy to take it slowly as you're walking up and down the many streets - in otherwords its impossible to do anything else as the air is so much thinner, you can physically feel your heart beating in your throat if you try and go anywhere near normal pace. La Paz is also where people come to ride down the 'most dangerous road in the world' where basically you hop on a mountain bike and hurl yourself down a winding road from 4500m to sea level or thereabouts and try not to come a cropper of the cliff lined edge. Not for me though - most companies were not operating due to it being wet season and those that were were commonly known not to be safe operators so thought I would give it a miss. Maybe next time.... After 4 nights and feeling all carnivalled out my next destination was to be Sucre, the white city - the second capital of Bolivia and renowned for being beautiful. Adios La Paz!

La Paz remains copyright of the author kerryd, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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By this stage I had picked up an aussie guy, Mike, and an English guy, Mark and we all booked into a hotel and had ourselves a threesome - room that is, nothing else! You would not believe how cheap this place is, we paid 20 Bolivianos each for the room with an ensuite - that's about 1.25 in pounds! Eating dinner was more expensive.

After a quick wander around and a coffee stop we went about the business of the day which was to arrange a trip out to Isla Del Sol (island of the sun) the next day - that cost the same as the accommodation and I think we were ripped off...."I think I'm going to like it here" as the song goes. That done what else to do but meander around the town taking in the markets and the famous cathedral where outside you can buy all manner of miniature items including cars and houses - why? Well basically you pray to the Virgin and then the idea is that she delivers what you have prayed for in the coming year - easy eh???? If only I had known....

Isla del Sol then - perhaps one of the most tranquill relaxing chilled places I have ever been. No traffic at all, not many people, friendly locals, spectacular views and surrounded by history (and a surprising amount of donkeys.....). Anything else I say won't do it justice so I'm not saying any more! Just GO!

Next stop La Paz - highest city in the world.

Copacabana remains copyright of the author kerryd, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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The Uros is home to (from memory so not totally trustworthy) approx 300 Uro people who originally built them to escape from the Incas as they captured more and more territory. These people live on islands completely constructed from reeds and anchored using a complicated system of ropes - originally this was for defence purposes but now is a major tourist attraction. To get out to the islands you of course take a boat and then when you get to the first one you hop of and they explain the history of the lake itself and how the islands came into usage then they try and flog you stuff as basically is the case throughout the whole of Peru. Still its worth doing as it is pretty interesting - also amusing to note the sattelite dishes and solar panels that are tucked away from prying tourist eyes! You can even go and stay on the islands yourself as they have a few little hostel type places where you sleep on reed beds and hope you don't freeze your ass off overnight. Anyway that was the floating islands - more about the real ones when I get on to Bolivia.

So the carnival then.....well I happened to arrive in Puno on the last day of the 2 week festival in honour of the Virgin of Candelaria(credited with saving the town from invaders in 1781), it is one of the largest, longest and most lavish celebrations in fiesta-mad Peru. So what happens then? Well you walk down the street to the sound of jazz type bands trying to avoid being pelted with water balloons and being blinded by foam in a can (those crazy peruvians eh?) and then come upon the parade where you have the most elaborate masks and costumes on show that you're ever likely to see. Wierd mix too - wholly surreal to arrive into a town and find almost everyone in bear costumes (thing Jabba), spangled drum-majorette dresses (very short ones with matching hooker platform knee high boots mostly sprayed silver -strange for a country where most of the women dress very conservatively), silver and black matador suits or many-skirted dresses and shawls of cut velvet and damask for the older ladies.

The marching bands were consistently male and they wore a collage of many coloured pastel dress suits. Add alcohol and general mischief to the mix and then you have a festival! Good fun it has to be said although the fear of losing my eyesight was ever present in my mind - never been so glad to wear glasses in all my life! And if I never hear that music again it'll be too soon!

Puno remains copyright of the author kerryd, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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On the west coast of Peru about 6 or 7 hours south of Lima lies the little oasis that was Huacachina. Leaving behind the congested, polluted town that is Ica, a short 8km taxi ride away lies this little place for relaxation and excitment combined. Basically its tiny and has a man made lake right in the middle with huge sand dunes surrounding the town from almost all directions. Why do people come here? Well basically to strap on a sandboard (same as a snowboard but minus the snow) and throw yourself down massive dunes hoping that:

1) If you fall its not going to hurt
2) That you'll actually manage to stay on your feet for more than 2 seconds and not look like a complete ass
3) If you can't stand up you will successfully manage to get down to the bottom whilst lying on your stomach and not 'sand' off your most precious parts!

So that's basically what I was hoping......and thankfully I managed number 3 without 1 and 2 coming into it! (minus a little bruising and sand in every crevice imaginable)

You start off by ripping up and down the dunes in big old sand buggies going at speeds that feel like 100mph being thrown about all over the shop and hanging on for dear life whilst hysterically laughing as the adrenalin rushes through you and that's before you even set foot on the sand - racing up huge hills at a rate of knots and not being able to see over the tip before getting there and then screaming like its a roller coaster ride as it speeds down the other side - lunacy I tell you - lunacy! That's the start.....then you get to the top of one of these monsters and suddenly the buggy stops, out hops the driver and then before you know it you are staring down this precipice of sand.....oh my god! Do I have the balls to actually do it you ask yourself and then away you go - the best fun you can have with your clothes on! As the hours tick by you progress to bigger and bigger dunes and realise that first one was nothing - the real fear is saved for the last one..... This one had a lip so you couldn't actually see the bottom so had no idea how big it was until you are over, and believe me it was big! Basically you stand at the top watching those who have gone first and when you realise that they themselves disappear for about 4 or 5 seconds before rocketing out at an impossible speed and distance away from the start point do you realise what you have let yourself in for.....but what a rush. Then when its over and you reluctantly get back into the buggy and rip off over the dunes again you get to stop and watch the most beautiful sunset - a perfect end to a perfect few hours. HIGHLY recommend.

On the relaxation side there are a couple of hostels here and we managed to find a hotel standard one equipped with a great pool, sun loungers, hammocks and strongest (and most disgusting) cocktails a girl could ask for.

Great little spot to spend a couple of days - made even more so when a crowd of people from Cusco turned up a day later, many laughs were had and was a shame to leaveand split up again but that my friends is the nature of this backpacking thing, time to move on and up! Next it was to be back to Arequipa for 1 night whilst awaiting my connection to Puno and Lake Titicaca.

Ica & Huacachina remains copyright of the author kerryd, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Let me start with the city.......gringo central and party town of Peru. This is the first city where it is really obvious that there is a lot of people travelling in South America and the prices reflect that. Cusco is without doubt the most expensive place in Peru - everything from food down to the souvenirs are much more expensive here than anywhere else in the country,but still affordable from a european perspective.

OK then - food......well let´s just say that it isn´t worth trying to save money by eating in cheaper places. It is possible but your stomach WILL NOT thank you for it! I personally spent a lot more time on the toilet here than I wanted too and from comparing notes with others it appears that was the common experience! So much so in fact that if you visit the post office there is a poster in the window advertising for travellers with diarrhea to help the hospital and the drug companies to develop a new antibiotic to cure it - they even go so far as to offer $20 towards helping with a taxi and other incidental costs. Maybe that goes a little way to explain the epidemic in Cusco! And its not just the chronic need for the loo its the crushing stomach cramps, sweats, fear of being just that little too far from a toilet that goes with it! Not pleasant it has to be said....

That aside a little more about the place - the hostel of choice was a place called Loki which had been recommended to us by several other people along the way, and not a bad recommendation either. The place is pretty big and is set in an old 17th century house/mansion that could well have been some kind of monastery before it was restored for its current use - it had everything from single rooms up to 12 bed dorms and with a surprising amount of space in them. Had the usual bar, etc but the best thing is probably the views of the city, particularly at night - stunning! The only problem with having a view is that that invariably means that it is set on a hill. The steps and the hill up to the hostel can only be descibed in one way - lungbusting! In fact if you were bored all you had to do was go sit out the front and laugh at all the huffing and puffing from fellow guests as they made their way up the steps trying not to give themselves a coronary. In our defence though it wasn´t a lack of fitness (that´s just me), it was more to do with the altitude (above 3500m I believe).

So anyway after a couple of days aclimatising I booked a trip with Elena and Claudia (the Spanish and Venezualan girls) to the Sacred Valley and on to Machu Picchu. I had the option of booking the Inca Trail but after having it explained properly and learning of the amount of knee crushing steps I opted for the easier way!

Leaving Cusco you first arrive in Pisac for the artesano markets and look for ways to spend some more of that hard earned cash - and not too difficult a task either. Usual altiplano items are on offer - by that I mean woolly jumpers, socks, pashminas, scarves, jewellery, hats, art, tat of all descriptions, etc so of course I indulged myself but not too much as the only problem is once you buy it you have to carry it! After Pisac its on to Calca and Urubamba stopping at some amazing ruins on the way and negotiating towering staircases to the top of the mountains to get the best view of the valley around you and of course to get up close and personal to the ruins - the most impressive of which for me were at Ollantaytambo and of course the one where I forgot to take my camera up with me - sod´s law and all that. This is the first place for me that gave me a little insite into the ingenuity of the Inca´s and their engineering ability - truly astonishing how they can build something so perfect on the top of a mountain.

The Valley itself is beautiful - stacked top to toe with rows and rows of terraces built hundreds of years ago for the Inca´s to keep their livestock and cultivate their crops. It´s not that hard to imagine how they lived as contrary to nearly every other place in the world things really haven´t changed that much around these parts. People are still living hand to mouth here, farming for their food, weaving clothes to wear and living in small communities with whole family groups. It really is like a step back in time but then you look around and see the tour buses and think that maybe the gringo trail really isn´t that great a thing for the people.

From the town of Ollantaytumbo we caught the train to Agua Calientes (literal translation is Hot Water - so called because of the natural hot springs here) where we would stay that night and get up the next morning at stupid o´clock in order to make our way up to Machu Picchu in time to see the sun rise over the site and watch the clouds disappear in front of our very eyes........yeah right! We got up there at 6.00 and waited for the gates to open at 7 - so far so good, then we went in and begsn our guided tour and then the heavens opened and continued to stay open for the next 4 hours by which time we admitted defeat and made our way back to town, cold, wet and bedraggled! That however is not to say that we didn´t see anything - the site itself is pretty amazing. Again you wonder in amazement how they managed to build such a perfect city at the top of a mountain, complete with a still perfectly working water and drainage system. Dating from around the 15th century it was built by an Inca king, Emperor Pachacuti, as a centre for ritual (or at least that´s waht the experts say anyway). It was not discovered again until 1911 by a gentleman called Hiram Bingham who was on a search for the lost cities of the Incas. The Inca´s kept its location secret from the maurading spaniards who would almost certainly have destroyed it had they discovered it on their colonial conquest as a lesson to the Inca´s and as a way of keeping them in line as well as converting them to catholicism and abandoning their worship of the sun and moon. So there you go - now you know.

Back to the site - its huge! Even though it was cloudy and wet you still get to see amazing things. I thought it was beautiful - the mist made it seem dark and brooding but utterly inticing. Every so often a cloud would drift and you would get glimpses of the nearby mountains and a glimpse of the valley below emphasising once again the feat of their engineering ability. My only regreat was that I didn´t get to climb Wayna Picchu which is the mountain inside the site and is the place where you can take those picture perfect photographs that make the site as world famous as it is today - alas the weather was not keeping its part of the bargain. Guess it means I´ll just had to come back again some other time.....preferably in the dry season! Anyway - wet or dry its an amazing place and definitely worth the visit.

Back to Cusco - apart from drinking what can you do? Well it has the usual musuems and churches which are worth a visit - just buy the tourist ticket which gives you access to all the main sights and it works out that little bit cheaper. There are several markets around town although you need a strong stomach for some of them....but really interesting all the same. The countryside around the town is ideal for walking and hiking and of course the nightlife and restaurant scene is jumping.

I spent a total of 3 weeks in Cusco getting to know the place and working in the aforementioned hostel, on the whole....apart from the stomach issues I have to say I enjoyed it (but surprising amount of drugs around the place). Final thought...... I really must work on the willpower to say `no` to a night out every now and then.

My usual name thing....Carlos, Andrew, slightly scary Courtney, Avi, Dan, Tim, Patricia, Zara, Andrea, Aimee, not so scary Courtney and Christian.

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A couple of hours later (or at least it seemed that way) time to get up and explore our surroundings. The city itself is very quaint with the usual churches and museums and is also the place most people come to to arrange trips and hikes to the Canyon del Colca or as us gringos refer to it - the Colca Canyon, one of the deepest in the world (more so than the Grand Canyon) and famed for the regular morning appearance of the Andean Condor.

We opted for a 2 day 1 night trip to take in the local surrounding villages, markets, stunning scenery on the way through and of course the condors as well as the by now common llamas, picunas and alpacas (all handy for making a woolly jumper out of and eating!). The landscape on the way varies wildly from day 1 to day 2, day 1 is barren scrub and rolling mountains with views of the Volcano Misti and stops at various miradors (lookouts to you and me) on the way through until you descend from the dizzy height of around 5000m to the village of Chivay at 3633m. It is here the terraces the Inca´s are famous for begin to be seen with the river snaking through the valleys thousands of metres below -beautiful.

Chivay itself is a small andean town which (you´ll love this) has an Irish pub! My god - what is this world coming to? I managed to avoid the temptation and after taking a shower by candlelight (yep the power cut out) we all headed out to dinner and to watch some traditional Peruvian folk dancing. Have to say the candlelight gave it that little bit of extra atmostphere and the dancing, if somewhat unusual was entertaining, particularly the one where the bloke goes round trying to hit the woman with what looks like a big sausage (control those minds people.....) but basically is a cyclindrical shaped bag filled with sand - and bloody hurts when it gets you as I was to find out some weeks later! So off to bed with folk music ringing in my ears - a 5.00 start the next morning ensured an enforced early night.

Next morning a quick breakfast and then back to the bus in order to make it to the Canyon del Colca and La Cruz del Condor, the highpoint of the trip and a wonderful reminder of the beauty of nature and all that entails. A mere 2 hours from Chivay will bring you to the mirador where around 8.30 in the morning the condors rise on the warm thermal airs and circle a mere 5 or 10m above you - a completely mesmerising sight it has to be said. I was lucky enough to be sat on a rock about 10m away from where a condor landed and preened himself, basically showed off for those watching - he spread his wings, plucked a few feathers, then turned around did the same, closed his wings and sat there staring at us with his beady little eyes. He must have been there a good 10 minutes (and 100 photos later) which was perfect - don´t think I´ll ever get to see anything like that up close again (unless I take up twitching that is). As I mentioned before the Canyon is one of the deepest in the world and is formed by an enormous fault between the Coropuna (6425m) and Ampato (6325m) volcanoes. In fact on the way there you´ll see signs warning of seismic activity - very encouraging........especially when you can look over the edge of the road you´re driving on and look down several thousand feet knowing a slight miscalculation could perhaps end up being a serious one!

So that was the Canyon and the Condors - a complete bargain at $18 including accommodation. Highly recommended!

Back to Arequipa - one of the most beautiful cities in Peru. What else there is to do? As mentioned before lots of churches and museums but are they worth investigating? Well in a word - yes. The Santa Catalina Convent is here and although a bit of a steep entry price at 30 soles, it is definitley worth exploring. It´s been in business as a cloister for just over 400 years before opening its doors nearly 40 years ago to the public. Inside it has been restored to almost perfection and with a maze like setup and named streets it is a minature city within a city. With colourful courtyards and flower covered patios it is an oasis of peace and tranquilty. There are still some nuns living here but as they live a cloistered life we don´t see them and they don´t see us. If you´re not sure what a cloister is basically when you enter as a nun that´s it - the only people you see are your fellow nuns, all transactions with the outside world are conducted via screens and rolling screens to allow the transfer of goods - you are even buried inside. So beware! Other holy things.....the cathedral is extremely ornate, the art galleries of the nearby San Franciso church are full of holy art and the locals themselves seem to strictly observe catholicism (more than me anyway....).

Museums - (although I didn´t go myself because the girl I´m about to describe was in the fridge at the time) the Museo Santuarios Andinos where you can see the famous "Juanita, La Niña de los Hielos", (the girl of/in the ice) a 550 year old Inca girl who was sacrificed in her childhood. Her body was found in 1995 by mountaineers in the ice on the summit of a nearby volcano and she has been preserved for all the world to see. Her discovery gave up a lot of information about the practices of the time, in particular of course that of human sacrifice.

Well - that was Arequipa, not a bad start to Peru! Next stop Cusco.

Arequipa remains copyright of the author kerryd, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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The journey on the way up was pretty - on one side the coastline, on the other the edges of the Atacama desert so beautiful sunset and sunrise. Iquique itself is a nice enough town but with quite a lot of development going on, as appears to be the case in most of South America, but has plenty going for it too (mainly the beach).

I stayed in the usual HI hostel and its here that I met my travelling companions for the next couple of weeks - Claudia from Venezuela and Elena from Spain who both bizarrely enough had spent the last 4 years living in Dublin! Great girls who I had a great laugh with and shared murderous thoughts with towards the local canine population - how much noise do dogs need to make in the middle of the night eh????

Was also glad to note that I wasn´t the only one who was capable of being burnt alive by the sun....Claudia - the one with the dark Venezuelan skin got absolutely toasted - swollen legs, nausea, need for antibiotocs to bring the whole thing under control and take some of the pain away! I was amazed - as was she! Never happened before so she didn´t think it was possible! Anyway - the thing we all shared that week was a dire desperate need for the loo every hour or so if not more often.....very pleasant eh? Not quite the diet I was looking for! That put paid to doing anything too adventurous so had to lay back and take the time to recover - first time though so I couldn´t complain too much.

Apart from that I did get to go swim in the sea and get knocked over by huge waves (nearly losing the bikini in the process and giving the locals an eyeful after a particularly large wave sent me into a tumbling spin and rearranged the position of the aforementioned bikini!). The water temperature was pretty similar to home which was quite surprising but apparently that´s common on the coast of Chile - to get warmer water you need to go north to the beaches of Peru.

The other thing that you can do in Iquique is paragliding which the girls did but I didn´t due to restrictions on the old budget - still might get around to it before I leave the continent if I can find a better deal elsewhere.

On nightlife - well there is one particular area filled with nightclubs, bars, etc which to our credit we only visited once. Pretty good bar with live salsa and a singer all the way from Cuba - excellent. Our night out also coincided with the local football team who were celebrating winning their national football division so plenty to look at.....if you know what I mean (mullets once again in force). This town like everywhere else only comes alive after midnight and that includes the shops and stalls along the seafront - many many opportunities to spend your money on the way to or from the restaurants/bars. In the town centre usual things apply - dodgy shops and even dodgier toilets! Beware!

Oh one other thing of interest - an aussie soap ´star´ came into the hostel I was staying in looking for a bed......never thought I´d see that! For the Irish/Brits amongst you it was Leah´s brother from Home and Away - wierd eh?

Not much else to tell you here - next stop Arequipa in Peru.

Iquique remains copyright of the author kerryd, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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So anyway I rock up to Santiago and the first thing is to get the bag of the bus (now weighing 22kgs - am I strong or whaaaaaaaa?) and try not to lose my temper with what seemed like hundreds of taxi drivers vying for my business. 15mins of haggling later I persuaded one of them to take me and use his meter instead of trying to charge me the rip off price of 5000 pesos, turned out the rip off price was pretty spot on....... after taking me on a magical mystery tour, surprise surprise, the price came to 4950 - convenient eh? The hostel had advised it shouldn´t have been more than 2000 but what can you do apart from swear loudly at them for ripping of visitors to their country and hope their conscience plagues them for....oh at least 5 minutes! Let this be a lesson to you - travel in pairs and argue loudly and preferrably in fluent spanish! This experience of taxis drivers continued throughout so not a one off - complete rip off merchants. And talking of Spanish the accent here is much different to Argentina so trying to tune in was very difficult, most chileans speak a million miles an hour and don´t finish the end of their sentences or even sometimes their words, whilst of course absolutely normal there it was a little frustrating but that can´t be helped can it!

So on to the hostel - I stayed in a little place called La Chimba in the Bella Vista part of town which is kind of the artsy area, lots of theatres, galleries, etc and apparently really dangerous - my ass - never saw anything untoward happen in my week in town around the area. The hostel was spot on and I´d recommend to anyone wanting a homely feel, friendly staff, comfortable beds, cleanliness, etc.

In terms of things to do....well the post colonial museum has one of the best collections in the world and is well worth a visit, as is the musuem of contemporary art (although contmeporary can sometimes be used too loosely!), managed to do this with my american friends Abran and Carrie who I had arranged to see again after the fun and games we had before - always good to see familiar faces. Shopping opportunities are bountiful, as are restaurants and bars, but its just missing something - there doesn´t seem to be any soul to the place and generally the people I encountered were not particularly helpful or friendly. Maybe it was down to the fact it was just after xmas and new year was approaching so all the nice people were off on holidays! The one good thing I will say is that you get value for money when you buy a drink . my god....how big are the measures - too big! Did the trick though! The smaller bars around Bella Vista are good too particularly if you can find one with live music. My other favourite thing about Santiago was the Cerro San Cristobal - St Christophers Hill. The most immediate striking image is that of the 15m high statue of Mary (the mother of God), it can be seen from almost everywhere - especially during the night, when the statue is perfectly lit up. The area is designated a Metropolitan Park and is hugh. There are a few ways to get to the top - by foot....mad eedjits, take a taxi up.....much more sensible, or the best way.... you can take the funicular and then a cable car to give spectacular 360 degree views over the city and further afield to the snow capped peaks of the Andes - bootiful! The other excellent thing about this place is that it has 2 hugh swimming pools surrounded by gardens where you can easily while away whole days topping up your tan (did I mention the heat - again regular 35+ days), lying back taking in the views, swimming and of course generally eyeing up the local talent. Why oh why does the mullet hold such a firm grip in ther imaginations of the south american male???? I just don´t get it - WHY? Around the city there is quite a lot of green space so not as suffucating as it could otherwise have been.

Santiago was the place I spent New Years Eve in and it wasn´t a bad night/day (carried on til 8am......). The hostel held an excellent free barbecue for all residents and even threw in a few drinks to add to the mountains previously purchased. Needless to say much fun and frivolity was had by all and many a 2 day hangover was shared afterwards. They also have an interesting way to toast the NY - basically you have a glass of champagne and put 12 grapes in it, which are a way of symbolising the 12 months to come and a wish that they be good ones - thought that was rather nice myself. Not really much to add to that - the main celebrations were being held in Valpariso which is a couple of hours away and home this year to the biggest fireworks celebration in South America - think is was something like 17kms worth of continuous shows along the coast but don´t quote me on the distance. Anyway a couple of days later when all was back to normal I booked my ticket north to Iquique and the beach. Nearing time to leave the big smoke I decided to join in on the hostel wine tasting night and learn a thing or too about the local viticulture - as an extra the owner had invited in a couple from next door who were in the process of setting up an arts centre to sing some traditional folk songs and what a good night it turned out to be. The singer lady - Angelica, was an absolute gem and had a pretty good set of lungs on her too. Gassed the evening away with her and arranged a night out the following evening, so contrary to my previous statements there are a few good people in Santiago! Now Irish people - well we were let down down by an extremely pissed 50+ old man who tried to pick fights with everyone and even tried to push the aforementioned Angelica off her seat for having the cheek to say hello to him - what an arse! And on that note....time to leave Santiago!

Again the names thing......Alan from Limerick, Hayley the aussie living in London, Jack the hostel owner and Angelica from next door.

Santiago - Capital of Chile remains copyright of the author kerryd, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Cordoba is Argentina´s second city and is home to just over a million people although the population increases in term time as there are thousands upon thousands of students here, hence its reputation as a party city (not bad for shopping either). The city is quite pretty particularly around the main square but then that is true of most cities I´ve been to in South America - that would be the Spanish influence then!

It is also close to Alta Gracia - a smallish town about a 45min bus ride away and home to the house where Che Guevara grew up - now of course a museum. Did you know Che was Argentinian? Well now you do! Pretty interesting little place and it also has the famous motorbike so of course had to take the obligatory photo with the legend that is La Poderosa II ("The Mighty One"). Hopefully I´ll get around to posting it before I manage to wipe it of the memory card this time - sometimes I am so computer illiterate I surprise myself! Alta Gracia also has an old very well preserved Jesuit monastery dating back to the 1600´s but bloody expensive to go in and have a look. I´m still of the mindset that you should not be charged to go in to places of religious backgrounds - surely thats against the point of being inclusive to all??

Anyway Christmas....what was that like? Well i can only say different and (queue dramatic sad music here) no presents! Christmas Eve is more the thing here so we had a huge barbecue with so much meat I surprised I didn´t turn into a steak myself and a hideously equal amount of red wine so not too bad at all! At midnight there were fireworks set off all across the city which continued for approx 2 hours and this was then followed by nature´s own fireworks - yep, yet again thunder and lightening and an enormous amount of rain but at least that cooled things down a bit.....for ooh maybe 2 hours or so before the humidity kicked in again. Chistmas dinner sadly was not a curry as the guy who was going to cook it decided him and the wife would go off into the mountains instead - how inconsiderate! So back to the old favourite....pasta and tuna with a bit of salsa thrown in for good measure. Christmas Day involved go for a little wander and then back to the hostel to play cards while cooling off in the pool - the evening was the old staple of settling down on the sofa to watch some truly terrible christmas films - ahhhh normalcy! Boxing Day was a wander through the streets as well as the rather onerous task of tying to find a cheap bus ticket to Chile (another 20hr journey) but I persevered and got a good enough deal - left on the 27th on my way to Santiago for New Years, more about that later!

Cordoba remains copyright of the author kerryd, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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This is the first place I had been too which felt like genuine South America, pretty much everywhere else was essentially coloured by its colonial history and hugely influenced by the west (with perhaps a few small exclusions in Patagonia). The first thing that stuck me was the people, very much more indigenous than anywhere else I had been before - the second or maybe the first actually was again the heat, dripping dosen´t even come into it! Anyway I digress - arrived at stupid o´clock in the morning and hotfooted it to my hostel, the imaginatively named Salta Backpackers which turned out to be not a bad little place but operating under a somewhat two tier price system....basically if you were Israeli you got a bed for 10 pesos a night cheaper and then when you challenge it it was a simple shrug of the shoulders which basically meant piss off - you´re not getting it any cheaper! No fair eh? So I checked out the next day into somewhere a bit cheaper and with a one price fits all policy. How annoying is that eh?

OK - moan over, more about the place.....historically it was populated by the Incas until the Spanish arrived in the 16th century and commenced rule and oversaw the collaspe of the Inca empire. The name itself means ´pleasant place to settle down´ and I´d tend to agree. The city is pretty with parks spotted throughout, the mountains around dwarf the city and you´re only a short way from some of the most beautiful scenery that northwest Argentina has to offer. The main square in the city is called 9 de Julio and its here you see the locals come out after the sun sets and relax over a mate with friends or if you´re like me and the other tourists you´ll pick a nice cafe and sup a cup of ´tea´whilst putting the world to rights. The Cathedral is pretty spectacular and goes back to the late 1600´s (so I´m told) and definitely worth a visit. You can also either climb or take the cable car up Mount San Bernardo - particularly beautiful as the sun sets and the city lights start twinkling in the twilight. At the bottom there is also a good local craft or as they are called here - artisan markets, selling all kinds of local products, it must be said that its very difficult to maintain control on the purse strings but the thought of trying to pack anything else into my already overstuffed backpack is a pretty good incentive not to go buying too much. The nightlift is pretty good too and there are lots of options to sample the local cuisine and folk music - Balcarce St is particularly good. So that´s the city, what about the surrounds?

The one activity that draws a lot of visitors to Salta is the opportunity to take a trip on the Tren a las Nubes- the train to the clouds but it hasn´t been running for the last 18 months due to engineering works on a section of the track. The next best alternative is to go by road so that´s just what I did. I booked a 2 day tour to take in the mountains, the local towns and the Salt Flats. As usual an early start was called for - was picked up at 7.30 and on our merry way we went. The trip took in fabulous scenery along the way with the road snaking up through a valley where you can see the tracks of the aforementioned Tren a las Nubes and the El Toro viaduct which stands some 19m high and is 150m wide over the river of the same name.

With the climate being what it is there are also an immense number of cacti on the highlands (the soil not being rich enough in nutrients or moisture to support much else). Some of them were absolutely huge, probably aroung the 7m mark I reckon. And did you know that some cacti are actually made from wood?

Anyway the towns which we went through were San Antonio De Los Cobres, Santa Rosa de Tastil, Chorrillos, Cafayate, Cachi, Tilcara, Pulmamarca & Humahuaca. Tilcara has several interesting museums that hold lots of artefacts from the local area that date back many yeras and show the culture as it was way back when. It also has the ruins of an old Inca settlement which is worth a look if only for the spitting llamas and huge cacti garden. Purmamarca is where I bedded down for the night and what a night it was! When I arrived there was blue sky, hot sun, etc, etc. 2 hours later it was a completely different story - the skies opened, the heavens roared (thunder) and the lightening was something else entirely. The roads in the town (red clay) turned into rushing torrents and the electricity packed in so all you could do was sit back and enjoy the show - and what a show it was. A truly spectacular storm made even more so by being in a small valley with mountains all around - the echoes of the thunder and cracks of lightening seemed trapped by the mountains and the sounds were absolutely awesome - at some stages even shaking the building I was in! Something I won´t forget for a long time - roll on the next one! The only downside was that I went to bed hungry as there was no way that the restaurants were staying open and even if they had been there was no way to get there unless you had a pair of waders handy.

The other thing I didn´t mention was the altitude - at certain stages of this trip you are 4200m above sea level and believe me that can really take it out of you. This kind of height makes it imposible to do anything in a hurry so relaxed and slow is the order of the day- Salta is one of only 2 regions in Arhentina where you can legally buy coca leaves to help overcome the effects so that´s what we did. Can´t say its an entirely pleasing taste or even if they had the desired effect, all I know was that I didn´t feel sick and wasn´t too knackered. For the uneducated this is the plant that cocaine is derived from but believe me you would have to chew a hell of a lot of leaves to get any kind of kick off them whatsoever - I know, I tried!

The scenery that this particular route take in and is particularly famous for is the Hill of Seven Colours and the Skirt - 2 rock formations of natural beauty made up from all the various differnet minerals in the soil - copper, iron, lithium, sulphur, lime, dolomites, etc. As well as these 2 formations you can see the colours dispersed throughout the mountain ranges making it an awe inspiring trip.

The other part of this trip was a visit to the Salinas Grandes and to get there or was it back (can´t remeber it was a little time ago....) we needed to navigate the Lipan Slope which can be found on Route 52. All I can say is that it looked like the most intricate, challenging Formula One track I have ever seen. From a height if 4200 metres it loops its way down the mountain in a series of twists, turns and curves that are a true monument to modern engineering - fantastic! The Salt Flats - well they were reasonably large, very hot and resembled well....salt! pretty impressive all the same.

So that´s that - next time Cordoba.

Salta remains copyright of the author kerryd, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Rosario is north of BsAs and is on the banks of the Rio Plato (the same river that runs from Buenos Aires to Colonia) - the River Plate and is considered the 3rd city of Argentina after Buenos Aires and Cordoba. According to many it is home to the most beautiful women in Argentina and the guys from the hostel certainly seemed to agree! Can´t say I was looking myself - there did however seem to be an abundance of heavily pregnant women....wierd eh?

It is also home to one of the largest road bridges in Argentina if not South America and the National Flag monument - Monument de la Bandera. General Belgrano designed the Argentine flag in Rosario about 180 years ago. This is an impressive edifice with a nice museum to Latin America inside (on the right, half way up as you face the tall front of the monument). This monument has many sculptures on the walls and statues behind it with a reflecting pool. The locals tend to hang out here and chew the fat with their friends and its also the venue for major events in the city, unfortunately I had just missed a major opera event the day before I arrived - you can´t win them all eh?

The city is clean and modern and a nice place to walk around, there are several beaches to choose from. Our beach of choice was over on Isla Verde - the Green Island being the literal translation and very nice it was too. Basically involved getting on a bus for 30mins and then grabbing a boat across the river - headed over with Sarith from Alaska, Amelia from Paris and Silar from India, a good day had by all and definitely worth a visit. Also better than La Florida on the opposite side of the river as its less crowded and much cleaner.

A word about the weather.....my good god - how hot??? The humidity was a complete killer and made sleeping nigh on impossible although I guess a 10 person dorm is going to be pretty warm anyway! It was here that my heat rash on the old hands reappeared and made life pretty miserable for the next 2 weeks but if that´s the height of my worries I can´t really complain eh?

That was Rosario - again a good place to chill out for a while. Next stop: Salta.

Rosario remains copyright of the author kerryd, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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For me this trip was going to be extra special - it meant that I got to stay in a hotel for 2 nights! Yes - that´s right - a hotel! And I only had to share the room with 1 other person rather than the usual 6 to 8 others.....and it had 2 swimming pools, luxury or what?

Colonia itself is a charming little town with a rather tumultulous history. Colonia was founded in 1680 by the Portuguese and has served as a port for contraband for years. Now Colonia is a quiet resort town that is cultural jewel and was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1995. It was fought over for centuries by the Spanish and Portuguese and later the British, but the spanish won the day when Uruguay was declared independent from Brazil in 1828. So now you know!

So what is there to do? The truth is not a lot - there´s a few musuems covering the local history as well as a smattering of restaurants and the obligatory tourist shops but that´s about it. The charm of the place is the old style architecture with both Portuguese and Spanish influences and the cobbled streets running throughout the old town - and for me it was the nearly complete lack of traffic and the silent chilled atmostphere - that´s not to say that we didn´t try to find somewhere to have a bit of a big night, we did - there just wasn´t anything happening! We did however have an amusing conversation with an Italian guy whilst having dinner with me acting as translator - hard work it has to be said when spanish wasn´t completely natural to either of us and Lena and Shilpa not having a clue! I think I did ok though - and we did manage to shake him off later due to him being a little bit wierd and having the worst mullet I´ve seen in a long time! Still - not a bad little diversion.

The rest of the time was spent relaxing by the pool and attempting not to get too sunburnt and that aim was pretty well achieved. This was the first time since I started out nearly a year and a half ago that it felt like a resort holiday and I have to say it wasn´t that unpleasant!

All too soon it was back to BsAs and a couple of days later to say goodbye to the girls as they headed back to London - and time for me to decide on the next destination and get moving before the party atmosphere of BsAs sucked me in again. It was great having people from back over the water to visit and to live a relatively normal life for a few days - hope I get to experience it again before I have to head back and grow up. Just in case you didn´t get that - that´s an open invitation for any of you to get off your asses and come visit. I should be in Australia around the beginning of April!

Colonia Del Sacramento remains copyright of the author kerryd, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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So after 50hrs on a bus and experiencing cramp in ever part of my body I arrived back in BsAs - a few days before the girls arrived from Brazil. I rocked back up to the Portal del Sur hostel where I had stayed before and immediatley bumped into friends I had met before, Ewan, Graham &, Kate so was just like coming home in a strange kind of way. Also had the chance to catch up with Carola - a BsAs girl I had met in Bariloche - first night back was a case of catching up and meeting some of the new residents as well as reaccquianting myself with the roof top bar.

After a few hours recuperation and wandering around aimlessly it was time to once again hit the town, and in true Kerry style it was hit hard! Went out with Kate and Ben to a salsa club and danced the night away with my newfound dance skills (at least in my head it was skill.....). At first it was a bit puzzling - we went in to the club and there were 4 men on the stage in various stages of undress and dancing a very VERY camp routine - had we stumbled into a gay club by mistake? Nope - apparently this little routine is put on for the ladies and judging by the hordes crowded around the stage they certainly seemed to appreciate it. Think of The Full Monty and you might have an idea of the scene - hugely amusing and I have to say one of the muscle men was particularly attractive and not at all hard to lust after!

Anyway they finished their little act and the real action started - SALLLLLSAAAAAAA! Hot, sweaty and full of passion - the latin spirit in its true form. Oh yeah - and I got to dance with the latino muscle man too, not an altogether unpleasant experience it has to be said! Turned out to be one of the best nights out I had in Argentina - lots of laughs, lots of dancing and way way way too late to bed - 8 in the morning if memory serves me correctly although by BsAs standards that´s pretty normal.

It took a a couple of days to fully recover from that particular night and then the girls arrived. Can´t say how nice it was to not have to go over the same conversation with everyone you meet - What´s your name, where do you come from, where have you been, where are you going, yadda, yadda, yadda. I think I could run a good business printing t-shirts with those particular details on them for the travel weary - what do ya reckon?? I know I´d buy one!

We took a few days to see some of the sights and experience some of the nightlife....again (by the way is it me or is Drum & Bass not the most boring music ever????). By this stage I had lost my voice almost completely which was highly amusing for everyone else but obviously not for me - meant I couldn´t do the pubs/clubs thing as too much ciggie smoke really got to me - a good reason you would think for giving up you would think eh? But that certainly didn´t stop Lena - I swear I don´t know where you get your energy from my friend! We also took in a polo game, the second last of the season and got to see 2 of the top teams in the business as well as the top player in the world who´s name escapes me just now so you´ll have to take my word for it. Not a bad day out but extremely hot sitting in the stands with no shade and surrounded by people crammed in like sardines to get the best views - still I´d recommend it if you find yourself in BsAs when the polo season is on. Get to see how the other half live and all that.

So that was BsAs this time around - next stop Colonia in Uruguay for a few days by the beach!

Back to Buenos Aires remains copyright of the author kerryd, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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So why did I come here then? Well I guess the draw was it being the literal end of the world but there´s much more to it than just that. The drive in involved crossing over into Chile and then back into Argentina and then through the mountains of Tierra del Fuego which means Land of Fire. Tierra del Fuego is the name of an archipelago shared between Argentina and Chile. It was "discovered" by Fernando de Magallanes in 1520, and he named the place as "land of smoke" or "land of fire", because of the campfires of the natives Selk'Nam or Ona (tribes).....so now you know!

As generally happens when you move South (once you´re over the equator of course) things start to get a little colder.....in fact so cold that it was snowing, somewhat unexpected it has to be said. Although it did make everything look just that little bit better - snow always does eh? So anyway got there and it was snowing and hence fricking freezing - time to hotleg to a hostel, have to say the first one I went too wasn´t that impressive....very small, dark and dingy and with a wierd group of people in it so, after 1 night it was time to suss out some new digs! Suss out I did and ended up in a little place calle Cruz del Sur pretty much right in the town centre. Undoubtably one of the friendliest hostel I have had the pleasure of staying in - of course it always helps when the people are good too. I just happened to be staying there when a couple (Carrie & Abran) I met on the flight from New York to Buenos Aires rocked up. The other memorable people for me was Troy the Ozzie bloke (I would swear he was a caracature if I hadn´t met him in the flesh - true blue ozzie bloke to fit all the stereotypes) who was one of the funniest people I have met in a long time and then there was Emily from England.

So anyway the 5 of us got along like a house on fire and basically drank the town dry while playing numerous games of that old traveller favourite - Shithead. Troy left a couple of days later on his Antartic voyage and the rest of us did some exercise - went hiking into the mountains with the intention of climbing up to see the glacier, I got half way there and turned back due to my granny knees and the exhausting effects of climbing uphill in snow, still, pretty good views from as far as I got and the short chairlift ride was a unique mode of transport for me in this leg of my travels.
The next day was a so called flat walk.....yeah right! Along the coast just out of town there is a track that´s suppose to follow the beach.....may just do that if you can negioate the treachous path to get there in the first place and then when you do the beach runs out after 50m and you have to go up to come back down again - Jesus! The bulls were also looking slightly hacked off at the interruption to their chewing the cud and all that so it was a quick wander through them and back towards town again. (When I say quick its approx a 16km walk....)

The next day after a true attack of the town`s red wine supply it was a trip out to Estancia Haberton, world famous apparently....to be honest by the time we got there (and the most amusing car conversation I have possibly ever had the joy to participate in) the hangovers were truly setting in and the weather was starting to look really ugggggggly so we headed back to lick our wounds in peace and quiet.

I had to leave the next day so it was a sad farewell wishing the others a truly horrible time on their 10 day trip to Antartica and leaving them extremely jealous of the 50 hour bus journey back to Buenos Aires (my how much fun does that sound eh????).

Have to say this was one of my favourite places in Argentina - both because of the people and the place, a truly chilled out place with a lot for you to do if you´re that way inclined! My only regret is not getting out on the water or doing the trip to Antartica - but then again I can always come back can´t I!

Ushuaia remains copyright of the author kerryd, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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I lost 2 months of photos whilst attempting to download them from a memory card reader in an internet cafe - one minute they were there and the next it was telling me my memory card was blank! God damn bloody computers (or should that be people who can´t use them properly......). Can honestly say I have no idea what happened - but let this be a cautionary tale - if you´re not sure get a professional to do it for you!

But as I said not the worst thing that could happen - I have the memories and now it means I won´t be able to bore you all to death when I finally make it home with photos from this leg of the journey.

Digital is not always best! remains copyright of the author kerryd, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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So the facts then: The Perito Moreno Glacier is a glacier located in the Los Glaciares National Park in the south west of Santa Cruz province, Argentina.

The 250 km² ice formation, of 30 km in length, is one of 48 glaciers fed by the Southern Patagonian Ice Field located in the Andes system shared with Chile. This icefield is the world's third largest reserve of fresh water.

The terminus of the Perito Moreno Glacier is 5 km wide, with an average height of 60 meters above the surface of the water, with a total ice depth of 170 meters. It advances at a speed of up to 2m per day (around 700 m per year), although it loses mass at approximately the same rate, meaning that aside from small variations, its terminus has not advanced or receded in the past 90 years. At its deepest part, the glacier has a depth of approximately 700 m. The Perito Moreno Glacier is one of only three Patagonian glaciers that are not retreating. Periodically the glacier advances over the L-shaped "Lago Argentino" ("Argentine Lake") forming a natural dam which separates the two halves of the lake when it reaches the opposite shore. With no escape route, the water-level on the Brazo Rico side of the lake can rise by up to 30 meters above the level of the main lake. The enormous pressure produced by this mass of waters finally breaks the ice barrier holding it back, in a spectacular rupture event. This dam/rupture cycle is not regular and it naturally recurs at any frequency between once a year to less than once a decade.

OK - there´s the facts...now what did I think of it? Well I have to say it´s one of the most impressive natural wonders I have ever seen, the Fox and Franz Josef glaciers in New Zealand whilst pretty damn cool just don´t compare. If ice is your thing then this is definitely the place to come.

Our trip was with a company who apparently do things an alternative way to the big tour companies - in practice that means we take the back roads and don´t have masses of people in each group (max 20 per bus). The back roads mean you get to spot a little more wildlife and again get to wonder at the miles and miles of tundra that make up this part of the world.

As you get closer to the Los Glaciares National Park the scenery becomes much more interesting - you get up and close to the Lago Argentina and feast on the views of the sparkling blue waters set against the back drop of huge snow covered mountains, very reminiscient of the South Island in NZ. As you go into the Park the road snakes and winds with the promise of getting closer to the Perito Moreno and suddenly, you round a corner and there it is in the distance, a snaking white river against a brilliant blue sky - in the true sense of the word....awesome! And it only gets better - as you get closer it draws you in and leaves you opened mouthed in wonder at the world around you.

I opted for a day that involved a little bit of hiking to get you closer to the glacier and sure enough after 2 hours of trekking along the shore and up and down a couple of gullies there we were just 50 metres from the monster. Its hard to describe it up close and personal.......the main thing that will strike you is the noise. It´s like a living breathing creature - constantly moving, it roars as even small pieces of ice drop off into the lake below. We were lucky enough to witness a large piece fall off - the sound of first the crack, and then what I can only describe as an eruption, is truly fantastic, if I can be given a little artistic licence here please......it sounds like what I´d imagine to be the beginning of the end of the world (if that´s not too dramatic!). The other interesting thing was the wave that it created - the boats arn´t allowed to get close for particularly this reason, its enough to capsize them. So after that it was back to the main area and time for a stroll along the terraces where particular view points have been set up for maximum viewing pleasure.....if you can manage to squeeze in past the other hordes of tourists that is!

After a spot of lunch it was time to hop on the boat and go take a look from a different perspective - again highly impressive. From the dock it was a half hour journey there and back but definitely worth it and makes for great photos if that´s what you´re after. Coming back in to dock was a Titantic moment - was expecting someone to start ringing a warning bell and screaming iceberg ahoy! Well maybe not that dramatic but was good craic anyway - an ice berg had managed to lodge itself against the dock barring our way....so what now I hear you ask? Well obviously you get a rope and sling it around it and then tow it out of the way trying not to capsize under the weight! An amusing finish to an awe inspiring day.

Now El Calafate itself - I think this is probably the most touristy place I have been too and the prices reflect that. There literally is nothing to do - one street worth walking up and down and that´s it! Not a place to spend a lot of time I´d dare say but definitely worth the trip for going to see the glaciers and the National Park.

El Calafate remains copyright of the author kerryd, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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The main attractions in the area...ie: the Southern right whales, Orcas, sea lions and seals, and the ever so cute Magallanes penguins can be found in the area called Peninsula Valdes which can be reached on day trips from nearby Puerto Madyrn. More about the wildlife in a mo - just a couple of words about the town.

Have to say its nothing special - basically a small industrial town with a beach, lots of restaurants, etc but not much life in the place. Saying that though its a good base for accessing the Peninsula and cheaper than staying at Puerto Piramides.

So the wildlife then, I´ll take them one by one and attempt to educate you!

Southern Right Whale - (Eubalaena australis) comes to Golfo Nuevo to breed mostly during September and October but can be seen up to December, our guide reckoned that they have on average 1500 per year so if you´re there at the right time your chances of seeing them are pretty high. Early on they can even be spotted from the beach in Puerto Madyrn. They can grow up to 18m in length and apparently can weigh up to 60 tonnes. They are the complete opposite of Free Willy - not quite so cute but pretty awesome to look at, particularly when they´re breaching, they just look HUGE! I took a boat trip so got up quite close and personal, definitely the way to go but only if you have sea legs.....otherwise you might find the surge a bit much to deal with, pretty strong winds down this part of the world when I was there.

I will try to get around to posting some pictures one day.....

Orca´s - well these are Free Willy whales. We were lucky to see some swim around but unlucky to miss the feeding frenzy of an hour before we arrived (high tide). This is one of the only places in the world where Orca´s hunt seals on land (I know that sounds wierd....just wait a minute!) Basically they swim in on a wave and try to grab a seal before going out again by using their hughly powerful tail and the backward motion of the waves. Gutted we missed that but good to see them all the same.

Seals and sea lions - don´t think I have to give you too much info on these...do I? Suffice to say they are numerous, the male sea lions are huge and the babies very cute.

Magallane Penguins - (Spheniscus magellanicus) reach 45 cm high and 4 or 5 Kg weight; the males have a bill longer and thicker than the females. In September, the male penguins arrive in Punta Tombo after spending 6 months at sea where they feed (penguins are excellent swimmers); they build a nest or occupy the same nest they had the year before, and condition it. Later, the females arrive (penguins generally are monogamous). These lady penguins know a thing or 2 about keeping their men in line eh??? In October, the females lay two eggs inside the nest, and both members of the couple incubate them for 40 days. The baby penguins are born with grey feathers, and change them ten weeks after, but the characteristic black and white plumage appears when they are one year old. When I was there in mid-November they were still in the nesting phase so didn´t see any babies, just a lot of penguins milling around with that adorable waddle and many more nesting. (Again photos will be forthcoming at some stage in the future......).

Has to be said - an excellent way to spend a day!

Some mentions - Wolfgang (Swiss), Natalie (French) & Bernard (French Canadian) who for some reason took to calling me Carry On for 3 days......apparently something to do with my sarcastic sense of humour.....ummmmm!

Not much else to say about the place - next stop El Calafate and the glaciers!

Puerto Madyrn remains copyright of the author kerryd, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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The hostel of choice this time was a little place called Marcopoloinn on Salta, highly recommended if anyone is in a mind to go. Very sociable little place with a dangerous little bar! More about that later.....

Bariloche sits in the foothills of the Andes and is one of the most popular places to go skiing in Argentina - in fact due to a late winter I just missed the slopes, they only closed the week before I arrived. It is consistently likened to a swiss ski resort and whilst I haven´t been to one of those I can imagine the comparison to be accurate in that the hotels, restaurants, etc have that ski lodge feel to them and of course the snow capped mountains help as well! Bizarrely enough there are also a lot of St Bernards around....just in case you get lost in the mountains and need a little nip of brandy to keep you warm until the rescuers arrive (or possibly to enable the toursits to take ´cute´photographs and part with a few pesos for the privledge).

Here´s the official blurb: ¨Bariloche is located on the shore of the Nahuel Huapi Lake, 770 metres above sea level. It is 1650 km from Buenos Aires and has a population of approximately 100,000 inhabitants, making it the biggest city in the province. Bariloche is one of the most important tourist resorts in Argentina with around 1,000,000 tourists visiting it every year, which has lead to the city being home to the most important tourist centre in Patagonia. The city also has the ‘Cerro Cathedral’, which is one of the most popular snow skiing resorts in South America¨.

That may give you an idea of the temperature - it was bloody cold! Not what I was expecting it has to be said, I even had to go and buy some gloves and even if I say so myself - a very stylish hat (think balaclava.....). It also sits at the top of the region of Patagonia which is world famous for its more southern delights. Anyway back to the weather - how windy! Some days it was a real struggle to walk down the street, really could have blown you of your feet if you´re not weighed down like me with a few layers of the old blubber (it took a lot of work to get into this very fine shape....). I think the funniest sight relating to this was seeing a girl have her glasses blown off and then running down the street after them trying to find them whilst being basically blind! I did step in to help once I had managed to stop laughing, she was ever so grateful.

So things to do....well there´s a 60km cycle track you can do around the lake which I attempted to do and then the good old wrecked body stepped in and stopped me yet again. Did something to my coccyx bone and had to turn back after 12km´s and spent the next 5 days in severe pain, particularly when attempting to stand up or sit down! Amusing eh? Well not really but since I had done the same in New Zealand I knew it wasn´t too serious and that it would pass soon enough and sure enough it did.

So what´s a girl to do when its difficult to stand up and sit down? Well walk a lot obviously! So that´s what I did - walked my little legs off and then rested them with a beer or 2 at the end of the day. Met some wicked people in Bariloche and had a great laugh with them - so much so that I´m still in contact with a few of them and have bumped into others as I continue my travels - always nice to see a familiar face and all that.

Now mother don´t get excited....it was also the place of my first romantic liasion in Argentina but as with the nature of travelling that´s long over as we headed off in different directions! Still a nice way to spend a week!

Now due to the old pain in the ass I didn´t get to do all I wanted here but the options are: climbing, white water rafting, mountain biking, trekking, trips and camping in the mountains, eating chocolate a plenty and boat trips out on the lake. There are 7 main lakes in the region and it is also the starting point for Ruta 40 - probably the most famous driving route in the country.

Well that was my Bariloche - next stop Puerto Madyrn.

Again I´ll mention some people so I don´t forget (age creeping up on me and all that): Kara, Carola, Becca, Ian, Joanna, Roc, Fabien & Juan.

Bariloche remains copyright of the author kerryd, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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So time for my first experience of the famous Argentina bus system and pretty impressive it was too. There are 4 classes of travel: super cama - basically a full stretch bed/seat where you get to lie flat; cama - not quite flat but not upright either, flat enough that you can sleep on your side; semi-cama - bit more upright but comfortable enough to sleep and finally normal which I don´t think I need to explain! For this journey I opted for cama - a mere 20 pesos extra and as I was going to be on the bus overnight for a 13 hour journey I figured it was worth it. I think the only bad thing I would say is that the food is pretty disgusting - powdered spuds and some non-descipt milanesa meat which I think was supposed to be chicken.....maybe...

Anyway got there at 8.00 in the morning and made my way to the Dama Juana Hostel, excellent place to hang out and meet some new peeps and get this it even had a swimming pool - fancy eh? Mendoza city made a nice change from the hectic BsAs, tree-lined avenues, enforced siestas (can make shopping a pain in the backside), street cafes, plazas a-plenty and an altogether more relaxed atmosphere.

I decided to get stuck right in and spent the afternoon doing a wine tour although I ended up feeling a little cheated, for something advertised as a wine tour what the hell were they doing taking us to a olive oil refinery eh????? Thankfully only the one olive oil joint, the other 2 places were bodega´s, one a pretty big place and the other a small family run vineyard - both had their own merits but preferred the smaller one myself, believe it was called the Don Juan Winery or something similar. From speaking to others though probably best to do it by yourself and either have a designated driver or hire bikes and do it that way! Not as expensive and no restrictive time lines (or annoying Aussie woman on the bus complaining loudly that everyone speaks spanish....imagine that - speaking spanish in their own country, how VERY dare they! The most amusing bit though was that she had bought an apartment in Buenos Aires to holiday every year - what??) Anyway I digress....

That evening I bumped into a guy I had met in BsAs and after a beer or 2 to cool down we went off to dinner with another few guys we had met at the hostel - Roc from Barcelona and Frederic from Paris - of course it had to be steak and yet again it was buenisimo.

Next day it was a trip into the mountains and through some spectacular scenery, multi-coloured layered rock formations (just in case you don´t know the mountains are part of the Andes). The trip basically starts in desert territory and ends up in the freezing cold, biting winds and snow about 5km away from the border with Chile !

We made our way to Puente del Inca, an attractive calcareous ochre formation over the Las Cuevas River which has thermal waters. Due to erosion and the damage caused by tourist feet they had closed the crossing over so we were only able to view it from the viewing place across the road but still a pretty nice spot. Next stop was to view the highest peak in the continent - Aconcagua, nicknamed the ´Sentry of America´ and standing at 6962m above sea level. Its a big draw for climbers from all over the world and is apparently pretty challenging....well as you´d expect at that height! We also got to see the statue of Christ the Redeemer which at 4200m above sea level is probably the highest holy statue in the world. An excellent day out and fantastic scenery.

Back at the hostel it was of course time for refreshment and sustenance once again and with my companions of the night before went and found more steak and much more wine - a fine night had by all!

Next day I bumped into another couple of friends made in BsAs and after hiring a car took another trip into the mountains - lot different this time as we only had our own schedule to stick too. We found a delightful little restaurant in a small town that although it wasn´t open she decided to open up just for us - how nice is that eh? Then we found ourselves near the lake and although it is for some reason prohibited the others decided a swim was in order (fricking freezing - water from the mountains and all that.....no way you were getting me in there!) On our way back to the car we did spot someone over the other side shouting at us and waving his arms furiously and wearing what looked suspiciously like an army uniform - time to hightail it out of there! Not content with just the one brush with the law we got pulled over when Yves (the guy driving) decided to take a short cut the wrong way around a roundabout - we got pulled over by the police and some quick talking later were on our way again - much hilarity later we made it back in one piece.

So that was Mendoza or at least my experiences of it - it is also famous for white water rafting, horse-riding, canopy swings-climbing & mountain biking so loads to do on the adrenalin junkie front.

Again I´ll mention a few names just so I don´t forget - Mark, Roc, Frederic, Kate & Kate & Yves.

Mendoza remains copyright of the author kerryd, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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So I´ve finally arrived in the place that was caught in my imagination for the last 6 or 7 years and in truth was my main motivation for dropping everything and heading off around the world with not a care in mind. Don´t ask me why - I have no idea, I just had this calling to come here (almost sounds religious eh? My mother would be proud...).

After all the delays in New York I arrived in Buenos Aires on the 5th Oct at 10.00 in the evening, sailed through customs and out into arrivals where my taxi was waiting to ferry me off to Portal del Sur - the hostel that was to be home for the next 2 and a half weeks. Very nice it was too although the fact that they have an in house bar made it very difficult to be self controlled although I think I managed ok on that score - during the week anyway....

Anyway you´re not interested in that bit are ya? On to the actual city itself - a city who´s population is somewhere in the vicinity of 13m souls (one third of the population of Argentina) and is famous for football, tango and great steaks as well as a few other little things. Can you think of any? I´ll let you in on them later if you haven´t fallen asleep reading the first couple of paragraphs.

So first things first - how´s a gal supposed to get around if she doesn´t speak the lingo? Well naturally she has to sign up for some spanish classes (or as in my first weekend use sign language and keep your fingers crossed that what you ordered is something edible, in most cases that was true...although when I got fish back instead of steak it was a bit of a surprise!) Little word on the steak - sublime and very cheap.

I signed up for 2 weeks of classes with a school called IBL situated right in the city centre, only a ten minute walk from my hostel so no worries about having to get up too early to make it to class. In terms of expense Buenos Aires is a bargain place to learn spanish - 20 hrs a week for 360 pesos (around 60 pounds). There are a lot of options too so its a good idea to just ask around, most hostels can point you in the right direction and they´ll almost always have someone who comes in to do 1-2-1 lessons if that´s what you´re after, typically you´ll pay 25 pesos an hour.

My lessons were conducted almost solely in spanish which is a good way to get an ear for the language if somewhat challenging! The class was usually in a group of 5 although slight variations were not uncommon - shared a classroom with people from the States, Germany, Norway and England although when chatting to others during break time it was obvious that there were people form all over the world there - a truly international flavour. I took lessons for 2 weeks and left confident in my ability to converse in the local lingo - of at least being able to order food, buy bus tickets and exchange pleasantries anyhoo!

So apart from studying for the first time in 10 odd years what else is there to do? Well for one thing you can go to a football game and see the passion of the argies for their local boys - and what passion! I´ve never been in an atmostphere like it at a sports event, it was more like being at a U2 concert. I went to see Boca Juniors v Newells Old Boys. All through the game the crowd didn´t stop singing and taunting each other, jumping up and down so much you could feel the terraces shuddering adding to the edgy atmostphere, apparently it was designed that way so you feel the heat of the game coursing through you - although it has to be said that Boca fans are known the world over for their passion - in fact the crowd is called Jugador Numero 12 - Player Number 12, so much is their influence on the visiting team (intimidation) and of course on their own team (encouragement). Suffice to say it was a great experience and one you should definitely consider if you find yourself in BsAs. Oh and Boca won 2-0 just in case you were wondering!

What else? Well as I assume you are aware Eva Peron is buried in BsAs (the lady who inspired Evita) and is buried in Recoleta Cemetary - so thought it was only polite to drop by and say hello as you do. Never mind that it is one of the most ornate cemetaries in the world, nothing to do with that....and boy is it ornate. Its like stepping into an old vampire inspired gothic film - full of old ornate crypts and narrow pathways where you expect someone to jump out at you and yell BOO! But at the same time its serene and very beautiful. Not many people get buried there these days but it still happens occassionally but you do need to have a lot of money to get in there - its probably argentina´s most expensive plot. Definitely worth a visit - and when you´re done walk outside and have a stroll through the market where if the weather is good and it´s a weekend you´ll find a 100 or so arts and crafts stall selling all manner of things and tempting you to part with your cash - word of warning though keep an eye on your wallet at all times, markets are the prime place to get pickpocketed and the professionals in BsAs are particularly skilled at it.

Talking of markets if you find yourself at a loose end on a Sunday pop along to San Telmo where you find all kinds of wierd and wonderful antiques and being the centre of all things tango you´ll usually see a few performances in the square (is it me or do the ladies wear so much make-up they end up looking like drag queens??) They are excellent performers however and it is a pretty sexy dance when its done properly. There are loads of options in the city to watch tango and take lessons although I´ve been told the best idea is to go to a local millonga and watch the ordinary boys and girls going at it - more authentic than what´s put on for the tourists. Haven´t done it yet but going back next week so will definitely do it then.

Talking of dancing.....BsAs is renouned the world over for being a party city, if you´re out before 2.00am you´re considered an old biddy! Although you are allowed to go out to eat dinner around 11 and then of course you hit the clubs after that - the most famous of which is Opera Bay. Of course I had to check it out in the name of research.....arrived at 3am (am I trendy or whaaaa) and boogied the night away until 7 in the morning where it was a stop for breakfast and then home to bed! I do think I´m getting far too old for this though! There are lots of bars and clubs to choose from and again worth getting a recommendation from a local - girls watch out, the boys can be pretty persistant...

Lets see other things......if you go to Plaza de Mayo on a Thursday around 3.30ish you^ll see the Madres de Plaza de Mayo march around the square. The Mothers' association was formed by women who had met each other in the course of trying to find missing sons and daughters, abducted by agents of the Argentine government during the years known as the Dirty War (1976–1983), many of whom were then tortured and killed. The numbers still unaccounted for is estimated at somewhere between 11,000 and 30,000. The Madres estimate the number at 30,000. Pretty harrowing eh?

Palermo is worth a looksee too - one of the richest areas in the city so has lots of nice houses and apartments, etc as well as some really good restaurants and bars and a rather nice park.

I could go on but needless to say if you ever get there yourself you´ll find a city with a lot to offer and endless things to get you occupied. I´m looking forward to going back and seeing what trouble I can get myself into!

Just a quick mention of a few people so I can look back in a few years and remember their names and where I first met them....Carrie & Abran from USA, Dana from Alaska, Graham & Ewan from Scotland, Siri & Brigitte from Norway, Dave from NZ, Catherine from Canberra, Vicky from Manchester, Chris the geordie, the brasilian girls and not forgetting Lili and Sebastian from BsAs.

Buenos Aires remains copyright of the author kerryd, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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