Back in "old blighty" again- and the rain!!!!

Hi. Just to confirm that I arrived back safely from Santiago on Monday morning and was met by our best friends, Mike and Maggi. Marilyn also arrived safely in Auckland some 14 hours before me and will be glad to have quality time now with her family. I am settling in again and have caught up with the chores at home and checked all the large piles of unopened mail for us, that was waiting, of course!! No lottery windfalls, just a £25 premium bond win, so it's back to work next week!! Swizz! Adjusting to bachelor status is hard after such a wonderful experience with my beloved in Mexico and S/America, but having the skype and video camera makes us feel that much closer. I shall be resuming gardening and consular duties next week which will make time go faster! I'm joining Marilyn at the beginning of July in Auckland.

That's all folks. I'll try and put some photos of Santiago on soon but at the moment my computer is so full of programmes that need to be culled, I can't get our 800 photos of our trip to stay on the Picassa shop. Some defragging is essential, I think.

Take care. Jon.

In Santiago.

Hello again. We are still here in sunny Santiago and enjoying a chill-out week, relaxing by the pool at our hostel and sight-seeing, present-buying etc, before we head off in our different directions at the weekend. Santiago is a huge city with plenty to see, etc. We went to Valparaiso on Valentines Day for the day, just under 2 hours from here by bus. Quite pleasant but ruined by some b........ stealing my day-pack almost under my nose as Marilyn and I were enjoying a Valentines sea-food lunch and a glass of wine in a downtown restaurant. I had it under the table by my feet but must have been distracted by 2 singer / guitarists circulating around the tables and then someone must have nicked the pack!!! We then spent 2 hours at a Police Station giving statements, etc before we headed back to Santiago. I lost almost GBPds 1000 of possessions and have alerted my insurance company already so I can complete the claim form when I get back. Fortunately I had my money,cards, and passport around my waist in my body belt so I can fly home okay on Sunday! I was also robbed of my ipod and headphones in Atacama 2 weeks ago, so Chile has not been the most memorable of stays compared with Peru, Ecuador, and Mexico, certainly where disasters are concerned! I even left my Panama hat on a bus in La Serena last week!! That-s the 2nd one as my first Panama hat was left on a bus in Peru!! Plonker Bennett!!! Never mind, these things are sent to try us and worse things happen at sea! Must be getting old and travel weary after 6 months.

Marilyn is obviously looking forward to flying off to Auckland on Saturday night to spent quality family time with her sons, their wives, and her 3 grand-children. I plan to join her at the beginning of July , and also visit my daughter and grand-children, also in Auckland, and then we will fly back together to the UK at the end of August, hopefully via. Hong Kong and Delhi. She still has 2 stopovers available on her round the world airticket after Auckland. I shall miss her as we have been travel buddies now for 6 months, looking after each other, with the inevitable ups and downs, but we are still talking to each other and time with her family is paramount. Kind of catch-up time now that she has retired from work at Southampton University. I still have work to go back to but am eternally grateful that I have been allowed to be overseas for so long without incurring anybody-s wrath, I hope!! No doubt I will soon be back in to the swing of things after a week or two. Getting used to being on bachelor status again will be hard after 12 continuous years with Marilyn, but at least we have good communications nowadays, what with skype, etc.

No more news for now. Will confirm my safe arrival home next week, and thank you all agin for following me on my blog. Hope it has been interesting for you to read as it has for me, living the experiences. Bye for now. Jon.

Sunset over Atacama Desert plus Plaza in Copiapo and Mall in La Serena.

In reverse order, we have ...... 2 snaps of the sunset at Atacama and the Plaza Square in Copiapo and the Mall in La Serena. We arrived in Santiago last evening after travelling in quick succession from San Pedro de Atacama to Antofagasta, Copiapo, and La Serena. All quite pleasant places but our aim has always been to get to Santiago for a week stay minimum. We have, in fact, covered a distance of around 2300 kms since we arrived in Arica, Chile on 30th Jan. That is alot of bus travel but I have to say that throughout Ecuador, Peru, and Chile, the bus services have been brilliant - very clean and all air-conditioned.There is plenty to see here and around, i.e. Valparaiso and Isla Negra, both on the coast about 3 hours from here by bus. We have found a really cool hostel aswell in the centre of the city with all the mod cons. Bit more expensive than our previous hostels, but worth it just to be comfortable and happy before we part on the 19th Feb. I will finish my blog before I leave here and just confirm safe arrival in the UK when I am home on bachelor status for a few months!! Jon.

Some photos of the Atacama Desert.

Here are 4 photos taken in San Pedro de Atacama during our dtay there last week. Marilyn plus Marilyn and I with the Moon Valley behind us, moi in a hammock relaxing in our hostel, and a view of the desert. Photos do not do this area justice. It really is quite breathtaking and you have to be there to really appreciate the serenity and beauty. We had a great half day tour and the highlight was the sunset over the valley, separate photo to follow. It did actually rain earlier in the afternoon but this did not spoil the sunset.

Some photos at Arica, Chile.

3 snaps in Arica on 30 January. 2 of Marilyn in front of the "rock" and an approach snap from the bus in the countryside. I will also add the Customs Building which I meant to do instead of 2 similar ones of Marilyn!!? Sorry. The Customs Building was designed by Eiffel, who didn't just have the famous Paris tower as his claim to fame!

Photos in Arica, Chile.

The Customs Building in Arica, designed by G.Eiffel in 1873. That´s the building on the left. Quite impressive. We also saw similar designs by him in Lima.

San Pedro de Atacama

Hello again. I will be brief as time is short and Marilyn wants to update her blog also. We arrived in Arica on the 30th Jan, as you know. Stayed there for 2 nights - quite a pleasant place on the coast and we then moved on to Iquique, another 7 hour bus journey south. Stayed there also for 2 nights in a backpacker hostel dormitory. Great beach and well worth the stopover to top up our suntans which have faded alot since Mexico! We then moved on to San Pedro de Atacama where we are now and have been since the 3rd. Fantastic place in the Atacama salt desert. We did a tour yesterday afternoon to the Valley of the Moon Craters and concluded it by watching the sun set over the valley. Stunning and some photos will follow. It has rained for the last 4 days here in the late afternoons for a few hours. Amazing as it has been a rarity for some years but wherever we have gone inland in S/America since arriving in Quito before Christmas, the rain has been closeby!! I guess being at altitude doesn't help! We are about 2800 metres above s/level here.

We are both well and tomorrow move on to Antofagasta on the coast for an overnight stop before continuing south on our journey to Santiago via. Copiapo and La Serena after Antofagasta. We hope to arrive in Santiago on the 12th or 13th and spend a week there before we fly home to the UK (moi) and New Zealand (Marilyn). I will update with some photos from Santiago. Ciaio for now. Jon.

Photos of Arequipa Plaza and Colca Canyon Valley.

Arequipa Plaza plus the Coca Valley, 3 hours from Arequipa, and Marilyn with falcon and yours truly on a mountain ridge!!

Photos of Lake Titicaca.

Here are 4 snaps of Lake Titicaca, mainly showing the floating islands constructed with reeds at Puno. Even the boats are made of reeds and float!!?!!

Arrived in Chile 28 January 2011

Hello again, followers whoever you may be!? Since my last postings on 24 Jan, we have progressed from Puno, Lake Titicaca, to Arica in Chile. We took a bus from Puno on the 25th and stayed in Arequipa for 3 nights before proceeding across the Peruvian border on the night of the 28th, straight to Arica via. Tacna. We had planned to remain longer in Arequipa which is a beautiful city and the second largest in Peru behind Lima, of course. However, the rains forced us away 24 hours earlier than planned, and since arriving in Chile where we are at sea level again, the weather is warmer and drier! Arica is quite a pleasant place on the coast and tomorrow we will set off again heading south to Iqique on the coast, some 5 hours by bus. We were going to stay in Tacna for a night but as the boder crossing to Arica was only 2 hours by taxi, including immigration and customs formalities, we decided to keep going and arrived at our hostel at 11 p.m., having arrived by bus at Tacna at 7 p.m. We did an all day tour at Arequipa on the 27th to the Colca Canyon and El Condor passage, 3 hours from the city so we had a really early start at 2.30 a.m. but once again the weather had the final say after lunch and we returned early having forfeited 3 stops en route from Colca to Arequipa due to the rain!! However, we did see the canyon, 2nd deepest in the world, and one condor, before the weather closed in. Will put a few photos on of Lake Titicaca and Arequipa later. All in all, we really enjoyed Peru but because so many places we stopped at were at altitude, we had to withstand alot of rain and a constant battle to keep our clothes dry!

We are hoping the next 3 weeks in Chile will become increasingly warmer and void of rain! We are both well though, and continuing to really enjoy our adventure. Bye for now. J.

Machu Picchu at last!! (Can only publish 5 photos at a time!

Here are the last two images of Machu Picchu - again, sorry about the duplicate - but, hey, what a fantastic place and we weren't disappointed. The sheer magnificent condition of the Inca ruins is a sight to behold. We had to leave slightly early as there was a torrential downpour in mid-afternoon and we all rushed for shelter at the entrance area. I have so many photos, as I've said, and when I get home, I'll put together an album on facebook, condensing our 8 week adventure in South America. We are in Puno today at Lake Titicaca and tomorrow head off by bus to Arequipa for 4 days - southern Peru - and another beautiful area with mountains, volcanoes, and deep canyons all around. Plus, we hope to see the condor there. We cross over into Chile on the 30th January. Back soon to update, followers. We are both well, a little travel weary, but having a great time. J.

Further photos of Macchu Picchu.

Hi again. I have messed up these photos completely!! Must be the 13,000 feet altitude at Lake Titicara!! Anyway, 2 of Marilyn and I on the train to Machu Picchu, same ruins again in Cozco, and a native Indian with local costume at a stopover point, plus a valley shot as we approached MP. I have 2 more to post so bear with me!! J.

Photos in Lima and Cuzco / Machu Picchu.

The first 3 photos in reverse are taken in Lima City Centre where we took a walk on Sunday, 16th Jan. Then we arrived in Cuzco on the 17th and I took the 2 photos of the square at Cuzco and some nearby ruins when we had a city and outskirts tour. I have so many photos and will just abridge the ones for today. I shall follow on this entry with some more including the magnificent Machu Picchu temples.

Some mountain scenes in Huaraz and arrival Lima

Again my photos have come out in reverse order and the computer will not let me edit and move them around! Sorry!! Anyway, the first 2 photos are of Marilyn , one outside our first hostel in Lima on the 12th Jan, and the other, reading in the park at Miraflores, Lima. (Note the Paddington Bear hat!!) Preceding that , a photo taken from the coach en route to Lima from Huaraz, showing the spectacular mountains, and lastly 2 snaps taken in Huaraz of the Andes mountains around us. These peaks are all around 6,000 metres plus above sea level, and Huaraz itself is 3000 metres up! The same applies to Cuzco where we are now. We seem to have been okay with the altitude and have learned not to rush anywhere otherwise one gets a little breathless. I am learning to slow down!!??? J.

Some photos in Peru

Here are a few photos taken earlier in our travels. They are out of sequence, I'm afraid but the first one shows the market in Huaraz followed by some "ruin shots "in Trujillo, the Christmas atmosphere square in Trujillo, and lastly the Cathedral in the plaza square in Chiclayo.

I will do some more now under a separate posting showing the Andes mountains at Huaraz,and arrival Lima.

Arrived in Cuzco.

Hello again. Yesterday we arrived safely in Cuzco after an excellent flight from Lima over just over one hour. We arrived to the welcoming sight of glorious sunshine. We had expected cold and wet weather as this is the rainy season in Cuzco but, fingers crossed, we can expect decent weather when we set off on our 4 day tour to see the ruins, temples, Machu Picchu, and the Sacred Valley. The approach from the air to the airport was mind-blowing with snow covered mountains, and green valleys all around us.

We had a really enjoyable stay in Lima and did plenty of sight-seeing, shopping for essentials, and generally hanging out and soaking up the ambience. We even had a nice beach day to top up our tans but it wasn't a very comfortable beach with large pebbles and a raging sea, great for the surfers though!! We split our stay between 2 hostels, both were comfortable and we met some nice fellow back-packers, etc. We also befriended a really lovely German lady, Claudia, who is staying in Lima for 3 months and working on a musical project that includes local cultures etc. She hopes to premier the musical in Germany next year, so we will be watching this space!!?

Lima is a vast city and we only touched on a small area of the main centre but that included a recommended walk around all the cultural buildings and squares, etc. We did that on Sunday - most impressive. Such fabulous architecture and history.

We are staying in a comfortable hostel here and will enjoy a couple of days sight-seeing locally before shifting to another nearby hotel on the 20th where we will remain until we leave on the 23rd . It's included in the tour package and looks quite pleasant. From here we will head to Lake Titicaca and spend a few days there before heading for Arequipa and then across the border in to Chile for about 1st/2nd Feb.

I'm going to finish this posting by including a few photos of our travels through Peru to date. I hope it works okay!! If not, I will post them separately!I will report back next week after our Machu Picchu experience, etc.

Arrived in Lima p.m. 10 January 2011

Since crossing the border from Ecuador to Peru on 2nd January, we have progressed to Lima, the capital of Peru where we arrived on Monday night after a 9 hour coach journey from Huaraz in the Peruvian Andes. We stayed in Chiclayo for 2 nights and enjoyed wandering around this pleasant town on the coast, the highlight being the "Mercado Modelo", a huge market with everything under the sun from herbal cures to clothes, all kinds of food, etc. Really noisy and chaotic and reminiscent of the souks in Calcutta on a hot and dusty day!! Constant honking of car horns to add to the atmosphere. All in all it was fun though.

We took another bus on the 4th and headed south, arriving at Trujillo 4 hours later. We spent a further 2 days there and the highlight was the all day tour we joined to visit the Chimu temple ruins at Huacas Sol and Luna plus the Chan Chan ruins. Excavated history that goes back to the 8th century, pre-Inca invasion days. Fascinating. What really impressed us was the beautiful and multi-colured walls that had been uncovered and so well preserved. A great day out. The following day we visited the Zoological Museum but were rather disappointed as it had not been well-maintained, but there were some interesting birds, mammals, etc to be seen.

On the 6th we headed off overnight from Trujillo to Huaraz -(10 hour comfortable coach trip with sleeper chairs) - and arrived at 7 a.m. on the 7th. Checked into a hostel for 3 nights and really enjoyed hanging out in this beautiful place which is in the heart of the Andes and surrounded by snow-capped peaks of 6,000 metres plus above sea level. The town is over 3,000 metres up and very rustic and interesting. We did alot of sight-seeing locally and really enjoyed our 3 days there. We really have got engrossed in the history of the Incas and visited another archeological museum in Huaraz to find out more about the local tribes, etc, and we read up in depth the Inca facts and figures in the California Cafe where we went for our morning breakfasts. Fellow backpackers hang out there and the cafe has a good selection of reference books aswell as book exchange. The local indigenous people in Huaraz were also very interesting to watch, particularly at the markets.

The weather wasn`t too bad in Huaraz and on the 3rd day the low cloud lifted and we were able to get a cracking view of the mountain peaks around us and we walked up a nearby hill to get a good vantage point for photos. I`ll put some on the blog later this week.

On Monday, 10th we left Huaraz and after another 9 hour coach trip, arrived here in Lima late in the evening. We have found a beautiful old colonial style , late 1950's, building which is now a hostel. "Home Peru" and we have 3 nights here, tonight being the last, and then move on to another hostel 2 kms down the road for 4 nights, and nearer the beach. Lima is a huge city and there is so much to do and see, thus we have decided to remain here until Monday, 17th, when we fly to Cuzco and join a 4 day tour on the 2oth/23rd to see Machu Picchu, and other Inca ruins, plus the Sacred Valley. It is about one hour's flight as opposed to a long and winding road coach journey that would take 3 days with stopovers. Today was a slightly wasted day from a sight-seeing point of view, as we had to seek out the Qantas and Iberia offices nearby to re-confirm our flights from Santiago next month, me to UK of course, and Marilyn to Auckland, NZ. Usual long queues at the offices but we managed to secure confirmations and after a late lunch, arrived back here in the mid-afternoon. Spent the rest of the afternoon chilling out in the garden with our books.

Anyway, that`s the update, folks, and I will be back next week to report on Machu Picchu, etc. That will undoubtedly be the highlight of our 8 week S/American tour if all you hear is to be believed! We are also looking forward to Lake Titicaca and the Atacama Desert in Chile. Time for bed now, said Zebberdee!! Bye, followers all. J

As promised, a few photos taken in Ecuador

Here are 5 photos taken in Quito, Baños, and Cuenca as we travelled south to the Peruvian border at Macara. Yours truly in Cuenca by the river, Marilyn in Baños with the mountains behind her, Basillica at Quitos "Old Town" with the Archangel overlooking the Old Town behind.

Lastly a snap of the surrounding mountains at Baños. We are now in Huaraz in the Peruvian Andes and arrive in Lima tomorrow for a few days before heading off to the zenith of our S/American trip, viz. Cuzno and Machu Picchu. Watch the blog! Bye for now.

Arrived in Peru, 2 January

Hello again everyone and a very happy New Year to you all. Today we are in Chiclayo, Peru and catching up on our emails, facebook, and blogs! Since my last posting in Quito, we have progressed through Ecuador via. Baños, Cuenca, and Loja, to this place in the Peruvian coast. We crossed the border into Peru at 5 a.m. yesterday , Macara being the border post. We took an overnight bus from Loja at midnight on the 1st which took 8 hours. We arrived at Priura and then changed buses for Chiclayo, another 3 hours further on!

We loved Ecuador although we did encounter alot of rain, but this did not spoil our enjoyment. Us backpackers are well equipped to deal with all types of weather!!!? Quito was great and 5 days there seemed long enough to enjoy lots of wonderful sight-seeing, etc in and around the city. The old town was particularly interesting with magnificent architecture, cathedrals, etc. We spent a quiet Christmas together in our hostal but had an enjoyable Christmas Eve with fellow travellers at a nearby pub. We joined the South American Explorers Tourist Club on the 23rd Dec and they invited us to the bash. We are supposed to get good discounts at hostals, restaurants, etc throughout S.America but haven't had too much success yet!! We tend to follow the Lonely Planet guide for accomodation,etc, but I believe we will do better in Peru and Chile.

From Quito we ventured to Baños, 3 hours south by bus, and stayed there for 3 days. Fabulous place surrounded by the Andes mountains and volcanoes. Highlight was seeing the active volcano, Tungurahua - 5016m - and enjoying the local hot volcanic spring waters. Managed to wash off alot of our suntans, though as we stayed in the waters for a long time!!!? It was well worth it though!

From Baños we went to Cuenca, 3rd largest city in Ecuador, and stayed a further 2 days. Quite an impressive place and we stayed in a hostal overlooking the main cathedral and old monastry gardens. We were on the 6th floor and had a great view. Very clean and enjoyable place to hang out in. We then moved on to Loja on the 31st Dec and spent one night there before moving on to Peru as mentioned above. Quiet New Year and nothing particularly remarkable about the place and we solely used the stopover for the bus arrangements across the border.

We are in much warmer weather now as we have decended from about 3000 metres above sea level to ground level now as we progressed southwards but I have to say we saw some wonderful scenery on our bus trips and were well impressed with Ecuador. The indigenous people were fascinating.

We leave here tomorrow and head down towards Lima via. Trujillo and Huaraz, and expect to arrive in the capital city on 11th Jan. Will update from there plus I will try and put a few photos on in the meantime. Off to lunch now! Bi for now, everyone of you. J.