The flight from Lima landed in Newark exactly on time and I managed a 45 minute transfer, which was a pleasant surprise as the three previous crossings have taken upwards of two hours. The transatlantic flight was fine. It was half empty so everyone had a row of 3 seats to themselves, which made everyone [...]
Posts Tagged ‘south america’
A Bit Lost – Lima, Peru
The take off from La Paz was successful despite the low air pressure – it’s the highest airport in the world. Is actually quite a beautiful take off, with the El Alto area and all its terracotta buildings and whitewashed churches nicely framed by snow capped mountains. Lima airport is odd – their website lists [...]
What do we want? Nobody knows – La Paz, Bolivia
La Paz is the highest capital city in the world and is built all over the bottom, sides and top of a canyon, resulting in varying altitudes of 3000-4100m. All this makes it an effort to walk around but fortunately a taxi from one side of the city to the other costs less than a [...]
Quick note – La Paz, Bolivia
Apparently laptop hard drives fail if you turn them on at an altitude of 3000m. I was at 5300… The drive across from San Pedro de Atacama was great – will be home on the 2nd if I manage to catch my rather short connecting flight (45mins to change at Newark), otherwise a few days [...]
Driving from San Pedro de Atacama by 4×4 – Uyuni, Bolivia
Inspired by the 2009 Top Gear special we decided to go overland from San Pedro de Atacama in Chile to Uyuni in Bolivia, crossing the famous salt flats. The last group to try this a week ago were accosted by angry villagers and held for 12 hours under the threat of a good stoning. Two [...]
Driest Place on Earth – San Pedro de Atacama
After driving over a 5200m pass and what seemed like over a hundred kilometres of no-man’s land between Argentina and Chile the bus pulled up at the customs office on the outskirts of San Pedro de Atacama. The driver guided us through the process then sent us into the office. We emerged to find all [...]
Seventeen hours in Salta – Salta, Argentina
The seventeen hour bus ride to Salta was mostly overnight, and thanks to getting a fully reclining bed I managed to sleep through the majority of it. The late morning section was pretty uninspiring so I was glad to arrive an hour early at lunchtime and meet up with the others. Whilst I’d been to [...]
Back in Mendoza – Mendoza, Argentina
My last memory of Santiago was a young boy throwing up on the kerb as we pulled out of the bus station. The bus route itself is very attractive. The road in Chile rises all the way over the Andes, and then passes through the Cristo Redentor tunnel which emerges at the foot of the [...]
Say No More – Santiago, Chile
The flight from Easter Island to Santiago over Chile was only really notable for how dark it was on the ground. There were no signs of streetlights or villages of any sort until we were only a few minutes from Santiago. I’m on my fourth and by far the best hotel I’ve visited in Santiago. [...]
Rapa Nui – Easter Island, Chile
Rapa Nui – 13th April The flight to Easter Island was full of wispy haired men and dumpy thirty something women. The only other people on the flight are a squad of smartly suited young missionaries and their two elders. They seem fine but do insist on going to the toilet in groups of at [...]
