Claremont Globetrotters

Flying in Venezuela - Our First Experience

2012-02-13T17:33:00.000Z

We had been warned that flying in Venezuela could be challenging to say the least. Delays and cancellations are commonplace, flight information monitors do not work or give false information, and last minute, unannounced gate changes are a regular occurrence. So we weren't totally surprised with our first experience.

We'd arrived at Caracas airport at 4:45am for our 6am flight. The check-in desk wasn't even open, so we milled around for a while until it did. Then, armed with our tickets, we headed for the departure gate stated on them - gate 8.

We'd been sitting there for half an hour when we noticed some of the people sat around us moving. Our flight had changed to gate 7 and word had got out. We got up and moved to 7, confirming (in Spanish) that we were in the right place now with the lady behind the desk and the passengers sat behind us.

6am came and passed without any comment or activity. Then around half past six an announcement (in Spanish only) said the flight would now leave at 8pm. Brilliant. The flight had been brought forward an hour and now delayed two hours. There was some grumbling but most just accepted it as part of flying in Venezuela. We knew our connecting plane would wait for us, so didn't worry either. As it happened, the incoming plane arrived soon after and we ended up departing at 7:30.

All very irritating but nothing compared to the trials and tribulations our friends from the Bahamas, Sandra and Johann, were going through travelling home from Argentina.

We Must Be Caracas

2012-02-11T00:01:00.000Z

OK, it's a poor joke. But we arrived in Venezuela just in time for the Sunday rush hour. The whole city must have gone to the beach for the weekend, then decided, en masse, to return at the same time.

The car journey, that would take 25 minutes with no traffic, took an hour and a half. It was not helped by the broken down jalopies every few hundred metres - there are no car safety or road worthiness checks in Venezuela. Some cars looked like they'd been on a Demolition Derby!

It was getting towards dusk as Audrey, our lady from Venezuela, kindly gave us a whistle stop tour of the city. Up a side street we caught a glimpse of the house where Simon Bolivar was born, and we drove by the tree he is supposed to have tethered his horse to, as well as the church in which he was baptised. Not bad for a man who was thrown out of Venezuela after becoming its first, but definitely not last, dictator.

We finally got to our anonymous - could be anywhere in the world - hotel by 6.30pm, by which time the sun had set and all we could see of the city view were a few lights in the distance.

To make things worse, our early morning flight the next day had been brought forward. Audrey, not so happily, informed us that she needed to pick us up at 4.15am. Urrgh.

"Is there a hotel near the airport?" asked Keith, a tad too late. "Yes, a very nice Marriott, 5 minutes away, down by the beach." Came the reply. Jan groaned and thought 'We must be completely Caracas!'

A Brief Pit Stop In Lima

2012-02-10T23:59:00.000Z

"Lima...Your permanent South American pit stop. He he." Jamie laughed at our growing list of requests for our planned weekend stopover at his place.

Our shopping list:
- A replacement contact lens for the one Keith lost during the rafting incident.
- An identical replacement camcorder for the supposedly 'waterproof' one that got flooded during the rafting incident - OK, it did take a bit of a pounding as well.
- A visit to an ear specialist to check out Keith's still clogged up left ear
- And a washing machine to catch up on some of our laundry

Unfortunately the contact lens turned out to be impossible to find and there wasn't anyone selling Sanyo camcorders in Peru, but Jamie did arrange an appointment with a private ear specialist, and, much to Jan's relief, Angelica organised the maid to sort out the laundry.

He'd also put together a social calendar for our short stay, including parties on both nights. Having got up at the equivalent of 5:30am the day we arrived, and having been in bed before 10pm for over a fortnight, we had doubts about our stamina in surviving a party that started at 10:30pm and finished at 4am. As did Jamie's parents (both in their mid 80s) who were staying with him. But as it turned out we all had a whale of a time at the best Peña show in town, watching the well-choreographed cultural performances and dancing to the live music in between acts.

The late night and excessive consumption of Pisco Sours took their toll, and some of the next day's plans were axed. Instead we had a chilled afternoon in the sun by Jamie's pool and watched Scotland v England in the 6 Nations rugby. It was a dull game, but we couldn't have handled too much excitement.

The party in the evening was a relaxed affair - a leaving do for one of the stalwarts of the ex-pat community. We didn't know anyone before we arrived, but left knowing all their names and having made a few friends. An abiding memory will be of Cath, Jamie's 85-year-old ever smiling mother, spontaneously getting up for a boogie, to the Black Eyed Peas, despite having an upset stomach and it being well gone midnight.

As we said goodbye to Jamie and Angelica the next morning, we all agreed it had been too brief a stay, and we'd come again for a longer stay next time. They are after all the perfect hosts.

The Virgen de Copacabana Beer Festival

2012-02-09T17:37:00.000Z

For the second time in just over a month, we were going to a party in Copacabana. This time it was the Bolivian Copacabana, on the shores of Lake Titicaca, and the festival of the Virgen de Candelaria - although there wasn't a candle in sight.

The 4ft wooden statue of the Virgin Mary, that has pride of place at the centre of the main altar in Copacabana's grand Basilica, was carved by an Inca convert in 1576. Believed to work miracles, the "Dark Virgin of the Lake" is the most important pilgrimage destination in Bolivia.

Originally she was credited with saving sailors on Lake Titicaca, but more recently she has expanded her protection to land transport, with owners driving their new vehicles to the Basilica to get their cars, trucks and buses blessed. To mark the ceremony, the automobiles are decked out in garlands of flowers, coloured ribbons and flags, and the owners make petitions for protection to the Virgin. A ritual offering of alcohol is poured over the vehicle, not into the driver, consecrating it for the journey home.

Car blessings happen every day, but at the beginning of February, people from miles around (including Peru and Brazil) descend on Copacabana for three days of drinking, music, drinking, dancing, drinking, feasting and more drinking. It starts with a parade where a replica of the Virgen de Candelaria (aka the Virgen de Copacabana) is paraded around town - it's bad luck to remove the original - and then the party starts. Unfortunately, we missed the parade, which had been brought forward by a day, but we arrived in time for the drinking, dancing and more drinking etc.

A Twirl of Skirts

Keith fending off a Bolivian Mama

And, boy, can those Bolivians drink. The men, wearing their best suits, appeared to be on a mission to drink themselves senseless as quickly as possible. We turned up early in the afternoon, and they were already hammered. Staggering around bleary eyed, slumped on benches or sleeping on the ground under the watchful care of their wife, shaded from the strong sun by her umbrella. When they did recover consciousness, they'd start necking beer again, like it was going out of fashion.

The ladies, were going for it too, but had developed a clever technique to moderate their consumption without appearing to hold back. The men would buy a crate of beer, and offer each lady in their group a glass poured from a bottle. The glass would look full but most was froth. The ladies would take a gulp from the froth then throw the rest on the ground - a gift to Pachamama. So much beer was being spilled that Pachamama would have been plastered!

And all the time, the ladies (and the few men who weren't out of it) were dancing. They danced to the live music from one of four stages. When one band stopped, another took over, and the dancing continued. It was a warm, sunny day and the ladies had all their layers of finery on, as well as their bowler hats, so we were amazed how long they kept going and how little they were sweating. It exhausted us just watching.

With all the beautiful skirts and decorated shawls, the dancing was a colourful affair, and it was entertaining just people watching. On the bench at the beer stand next to ours, a large man was slumped and in the process of nodding off. Every few minutes, he'd sway backwards, whereupon the poor lady running the stall behind him would resignedly push him upright to prevent damage to her stock. This went on for ages until he suddenly awoke, stood up and started drinking again.

Then there were the two lads who sat down right next to us, completely smashed. Their friends were looking after them as they swayed on the bench, but a moment's neglect resulted in them both falling backwards, one after the other. It was hard not to laugh.

Some of the funniest scenes were the wives coping with their paralytic husbands. Bolivian wives are definitely long-suffering, but a few husbands would be suffering at their wives hands for a long time after their behaviour that day.

All around the plaza were beer and food stalls, the latter mainly selling what looked like deep fried pig snouts. For a change Keith declined to try some. With so much booze being consumed we were surprised there were no spirits being drunk. Paceña, the La Paz beer company, must have bought the exclusive rights to the festival - or the spirits would have been too deadly. The only other drink we saw was a green concoction that the host of one the various private parties going on, kindly offered us. His wife was not impressed that he'd given their booze away to strangers, and refused to be photographed. But Mario grinned as he rubbed a handful of green confetti into Jan's hair and happily posed with Keith.

Gustavo and Jorge

We would have gone back to the festival after dinner, but Gustavo, quite rightly, warned us it that it would have got a lot messier and potentially dangerous. Jorge, our driver, did go back to meet friends. Later that evening he rang Gustavo - you can imagine the conversation as he tried to persuade him to come out and play. Gustavo declined and had a clear head in the morning. Jorge, however, was clearly suffering on the long drive back to La Paz. The Virgin must have been looking over him though, as we had a safe, albeit slow, journey to the airport.

The Drapes of Roth - Hero or Villain

2012-02-09T17:08:00.000Z

Concepcion

Superficially, there is no doubt that a tremendous job has been done restoring the Jesuit missions to their original glory. The ugly and misguided renovations of the 20th century have been torn down and the original ironwood vine-inspired columns and wooden bell towers have been replaced as good as new. Inside, the paintings of nature on the walls and the curtains that make each window and door appear to be a stage - both unique to the Jesuit mission churches - have been faithfully restored. It certainly convinced UNESCO to award them World Heritage status. But look a little closer and you'll find the restorers got a little carried away with themselves.

The restorations were undertaken, from the late 70s, directed by Hans Roth, a headstrong Swiss architect and former Jesuit Priest, and sponsored by German bishop, Antonio Eduardo Böls. Roth wasn't happy to make the missions as good as new, he wanted to make them better than before. For example, gold leaf was added to all the altar pieces. Impressive, but not authentic. The original buildings had been constructed by hand, over several years of painstaking work, using only materials found in the forest and gold was rare in this part of Bolivia.

He also removed some of the details he didn't like and replaced them with his own creations. On a previous update of the mission at Concepción, the original wooden statues of saints in the main altar piece were removed and burnt. Roth, in turn, took out the newer European pieces and replaced with his, clearly modern, paintings. His ego was so large that he even had the audacity to paint St Paul in his own image.

Equally controversial, around the church in Concepción, he created his own version of the 12 stages of the cross - the story of the crucifixion, resurrection and ascension. In Roth's paintings there are people in modern dress and images that depict what happened after the Jesuits left, or make a statement about the neglect and cruelty of man; forests being burned down; the cruelty suffered by the indigenous people; or wild animals being killed or taken into captivity. He even had the nerve to paint Pontius Pilot in military uniform resembling Bolivia's dictator at the time.

Whether the changes were all his idea, isn't clear. For example, why did he change the colour scheme on the church wall designs from red, yellow and blue to red, yellow and black, the colours of the German flag? Was this to appease the German bishop?

Fortunately, there are enough original features restored to make our experience a good one. We were very pleased we'd taken the time and trouble to visit the San Xavier and Concepción missions.

But, for some, the changes go too far, and while many consider Roth a hero for his dedication to the reconstruction, the purists who wanted to go back to the original temples, think he is a villain.

Santa Cruz Safari

2012-02-09T13:38:00.003Z

How about a flower that
looks like a bird

"Good spot. I would never have seen them." Keith congratulated Mercedes, our guide to Santa Cruz, on her wildlife spotting skills. Although only fluffy grey blobs in a distant field, it was the first time we'd seen Rheas in Bolivia, so we were both pretty excited. We didn't realise that our enthusiasm would turn the long journey to and from Concepción into an even longer safari.

On the way out, it was a novelty. Our first wildlife sighting was quite unexpected. We had stopped to stretch our legs at Cotoca, a small town with a leafy square which, to our surprise, was home to a population of three-toed-sloths. They tended to prefer the trees whose trunks looked like Perrier bottles. "They are called 'drunken trees'" explained Mercedes. "They take in water and expand during the wet season, so they can survive through the dry."

Being wet season, the swollen trees were filled to bursting and the fields were lush and green. The Department of Santa Cruz is incredibly fertile and is not only Bolivia's bread basket, but also its fruit bowl and butchers. Most of the cattle seemed to be the white brahma cows from India, which are better suited to the tropical climate but produce steaks as tough as old boots.

A Hamster the size of a Pig

Phone Booth

Apart from a fleeting glimpse of an eagle (we stopped for 20 minutes to see if it reappeared), some termite mounds that resembled sombreros thrown haphazardly onto the ground, and a Jaguar telephone booth, that was about it for wildlife on the outward journey. The return trip was a different matter.

Phone Booth

We hadn't realised before, but Don Pepe, the driver, was a keen twitcher: he regularly took groups on 15 to 20 day bird-watching trips and wanted to share his knowledge. He'd been pointing out a few birds to Mercedes on the way out, but on the return journey he stopped by every ditch, pond or river that might have some birdlife. In the process we did see a Capybara (largest rodent in the world - think of a hamster the size of a pig), a big Iguana and the tops of the heads of two small Caiman, but it was the birds they were searching for, and we found them.

We saw several species of heron, falcons and hawks, an eagle, a Jabiru stork, cuckoo, ducks, cormorants, woodpeckers, kingfishers, parakeets, some more Rheas and hundreds of LBBs (little brown birds) one of which makes a nest like a clay oven.

Birded out Jan spots a cow

At one point Jan passed Keith a message saying 'I'm birded out'. But Mercedes and Don Pepe were so keen to point out the birdlife, it seemed churlish to tell them 'no more please'. However, Jan's prayers were answered. It started to rain, sending many of the birds under cover, which improved our progress. Even so, by the time we finally got back to Santa Cruz city, we'd been on the road seven hours. The journey should take four. It had been quite a safari.

Do Menonites count?

Oh, and, in a fit of pique, we got our own back on the birds that evening. We ate chicken!

A Mission From God

2012-02-09T13:38:00.002Z

San Javier Mission Church

If you've seen the film 'The Mission' with Robert De Niro and Jeremy Irons, you'll know a little of the story of the Jesuits in the jungles of Bolivia, Paraguay and Brazil. Amazingly, for Hollywood, the real story is even more incredible than the film.

We had travelled to an area known as Chiquitos, in the department of Santa Cruz, to see two of the seven Jesuit missions built in south-east Bolivia. Six have been restored and are now UNESCO World Heritage sites. Founded in the early part of the 1700s, often miles from anywhere in the middle of the jungle, it is amazing what was achieved with a couple of priests, a handful of tools and some enthusiastic tribesmen who put aside hunting to learn how to work and carve wood and even play musical instruments.

The Mission Town Plan

The missions aren't just churches and their compounds. They are communities, with a main square surrounded by a grid of housing and streets. In each, up to 7,000 indigenous people, from several perhaps hostile tribes, would live together in harmony and order under the guidance of the young priests from another continent. Another world. At the time, the Spanish were rounding up Amerindian slaves in their thousands for the mines and other hard labour jobs. The Jesuits offered them the protection of the Catholic Church if they came to the mission and accepted God and the laws of the mission society.

Concepsion Mission

Justifiably, Christian missionaries in much of the New World do not have a good name. The new religion was often forced on the local people - convert or die. The Jesuits were very different. They embraced the knowledge and beliefs of the indians and cleverly integrated Christianity, making it very easy for the Indians to adopt the new religion as an extension of their existing practices.

Unfortunately, the greed of the Spanish for slave labour and the Catholic Church for its share of the profits from the mines, put the Jesuits in conflict with the hand that fed them. They refused to send any of their converts to the mines so in 1767 were expelled from all Southern European nations and their empires, but, more importantly, ejected from the missions they'd built. The expulsion allowed Europe's crown heads to seize the Order's assets.

Bringing Nature into the Church

But the story doesn't end there. Over a hundred and fifty years later, Franciscan monks were given the opportunity to move into the old Jesuit missions. When they arrived, they were staggered to find the natives were still practising Catholics, faithfully observing all the rites and rituals they'd been taught by the Jesuits. Even today, the Jesuits are held in high regard in Chiquitos and tales of what they did for the indigenous people are still passed from father to son. An amazing legacy of what was surely the Order's finest hour.

San Javier interior

Until recently, this part of the story was unknown to the outside world. Not even the Jesuits knew. Now a visit to the Missions of Chiquitos is an essential part of the training of novice Jesuit priests. "I've seen them break down in tears when I've told them what was achieved" explained Mercedes, who has done a lot of her own research on the history - because nothing has been written - and is now an authority on the subject. She had us captivated for hours with her stories. We told her she should write a book. The story, and Jesuits, deserve it.

Sucre - The Nicer Capital City

2012-02-09T13:37:00.003Z

There aren't many countries in the world that can claim two capital cities, but Bolivia is one of them. La Paz is home to the President, Congress and government administration offices, while Sucre is the constitutional capital. The cities are worlds apart. La Paz is chaotic, its streets filled with largely indigenous people going about their daily lives. It's a dirty, cold, drab place of greys and browns. Sucre, on the other hand, feels warm and inviting. Its clean, organised and surprisingly calm centre is lined with beautiful white buildings, all with red tiled roofs. Only a few Amerindians sit in the parks, or on the street corners, selling souvenirs. Sucre is home to a different tribe, mestisos - half indigenous by blood but all Spanish by behaviour.

A visit to Casa de Liberdad - Liberty House - filled us in on Bolivia's early post-colonial history. When the Southern Peru region, now known as Bolivia, was finally liberated by an army led by Simon Bolivar, a conference of wealthy, landowners was held in the city, then known by the snappy name of Ciudad de la Plata de la Nueva Toledo. Although Bolivar wanted to create a Gran Colombia, uniting the five countries he had routed the Spanish from, the delegates were against the idea. He had met Napoleon and travelled in the US so had some grand ideas of creating a new super state that would give previously unheard of freedoms to the native population, including having their own land to farm. The landowners, largely Spanish descendants, weren't prepared to give up their hard fought for autonomy so soon, and voted to split the region away from Peru and the Union. But to recognise Bolivar's contribution to their independence, they named the country after him.

The Surrender Document

Bolivar stayed on as President of the new country for five months before handing the territory to his right-hand-man, Antonio José Sucre. Like many of Bolivia's presidents, Sucre and Bolivar both met a sticky end - Sucre was assassinated and Bolivar became sick and died after being ousted from power in Venezuela by others who disagreed with his dictatorial and progressive ideals.

Bolivia's stupiedest
President

The renamed city, Sucre, was the country's capital for the first few years (a status enshrined in the Bolivian constitution) but soon after the Congress Building was completed, political wrangling lead to a civil war, which resulted in the power shift to La Paz.

The Casa de Liberdad was small but fascinating. In the Rogues Gallery, er, Past Presidents' room, Veronica pointed at a painting of one from the 1860s. "He was so stupid he shot his shirts because he thought they were going to kill him. He'd been told not to trust anyone, not even his shirt." Mariano Melgarejo is also responsible for giving a vast chunk of land to Brazil - about 600,000 sq km. The Brazilians had presented him with a fine white stallion. Filled with gratitude, and wanting to make a grand gesture, he grabbed a map of Bolivia and drew around the horse's hoof an area of land to be given in return. Unfortunately he had no idea of the scale the map was drawn to!

Talking of maps, one room contained a colourful plan of the city in 1770. Veronica pointed at it "We still have all 16 churches shown on the map. They are still in use today." It was amazing, the city centre looked like it had hardly changed in over 240 years. Part of the reason is the number of colonial buildings that have survived, but part is down to local regulations. New properties must be painted white and have the characteristic red tiled roof.

Sucre is the only place in Bolivia that seems to have any planning controls and the result is a grand and beautiful city. If peace and tranquillity, order and calm were a result of foregoing the political leadership of the country, maybe losing out to La Paz wasn't such a bad thing after all.

Potosi - The Silver City

2012-02-07T10:57:00.003Z

While Keith was underground, exploring the tunnels of El Cerro Rico (Rich Hill), Jan, quite sensibly, stayed above ground. Two children playing nearby were curious, so sat next to her on a bench. The children of the mine tried selling her some small pieces of mineral ore but Jan wasn't buying. Their sales pitch done, the children started up a conversation, with Veronica translating.

David, a 10-year-old, explained he was on school holidays. He went to school in the town and didn't have any friends nearby to play with. When Jan asked what he wanted to be when he grew up, he said a doctor. It was quite heartbreaking. He must see the sick miners and want to do something to help. But what chance did he have of paying the medical school fees? His family had hardly enough money to feed themselves and their six dogs, even with dad working as a night guardian at the mine, as well as an eight hour day shift in another shaft. David's reality is different from his dreams. At 16, if not before, he will probably join his father as a miner, where he will work in terrible conditions, scraping a living while risking his life on a daily basis.

There has always been a split between rich and poor in Potosi - with the multitude of poor providing fabulous wealth to the Spanish rich, as well as to the Monarchy and Church.

During the 1600s, Potosi, at 4200amsl, was larger than London, with over 200,000 inhabitants, and a lot more opulent. The town was built purely for the silver mined in the mountain that looms over the city, El Cerro Rico, and its streets were lined with fine houses and beautiful public buildings, with church altars decorated in pure silver. It is even said that the horses hooves were shod in silver. But as soon as the silver started to run out, the Spanish left the city, turning it into a ghost town.

Today, Potosi is a very different place. While life in the mines hasn't changed that much from colonial times, life above ground is dramatically different. The opulence has almost disappeared and you have to look closely to see its previous wealth in the crumbling villas, stone carved doorways and forgotten churches. Time, neglect and pollution have taken their toll. Although it is a shadow of its former self, its sudden decline and mass exodus has left it as one of the least altered colonial cities in the continent, and so earned it UNESCO World Heritage status.

Decorated Doorway

One of the Churches

Across the Roof tops

The Cathederal

One of the buildings that has maintained its grandeur is the Casa Real de Moneda. The former royal mint has led a checkered past, operating as a prison and now as a museum . Its rooms are full of religious art and coin collections as well as the original, lethal, coin minting machines - once operated by slave labour.

Another relic of the past is the St Teresa Convent. While the building is plain, its rooms contain some of the dowry items of the second daughters from wealthy colonial Spanish families. The dowry had little benefit to the nuns, and more to do with the wealth of the convent in general, with fine porcelain vases sitting next to religious works of art, Italian Murino glassware and religious icons in gold and, of course, silver.

When they entered the convent, at 15, the girls wore elaborately embroidered dresses - a wedding dress for their marriage to the church. Later they were made into vestments for the priests. They had their hair cut short which provided real hair for icons of the Virgin Mary and other saints. The local guide for the convent was extremely enthusiastic, and the two hours we spent with her seemed to fly by.

It is hard to understand just how wealthy Potosi was, looking at the city today. A clue is in the Spanish expression "as rich as a Potosi" when they try to describe unimaginable fortune.

The Mint

While the city has been in a dramatic decline, it isn't the relic described by the Insight Guidebook. It's a vibrant, bustling city where mining remains a principle activity. Money is tight for the majority of current inhabitants, and life is harder than we in the West could possibly imagine. Perhaps that's why Jan was so upset after talking to David. It was hard to see his optimism with so much poverty around her. We hope that David proves us wrong, breaks the poverty cycle and makes it as a doctor.

Down The Most Dangerous Mine In The World

2012-02-07T10:54:00.004Z

We always knew
he was dynamite

After our rafting misadventure, our friends and family were encouraging us to 'stay safe'. So what did Keith do? Go down what is probably the most dangerous mine in the world.

There's no official classification for how dangerous mines are, but if there were, El Cerro Rico above Potosi, riddled with more than 5,000 crudely constructed and centuries old shafts, must be right up there.

Offering for El Tio

Miners' Market

Mining started 300 years ago with the discovery of the richest silver deposit in the world. It delivered three times as much silver as was in the whole of Europe prior to its discovery. Amerindian slaves were press-ganged by the Spanish to work in the mines and smelting mills, supplemented by imported African slaves. It's estimated that over 8 million people died in the process. Shockingly, working conditions changed little, right up until 1985 when commercial mining stopped. But since then, individuals and independent co-operatives of miners have been reopening the crumbling old shafts to find the silver the conquistadors left behind. Their work is so primitive and so dangerous that many miners accept it as a kind of death sentence.

Gift Pack

Preparation for a day in the mine (for miner and visitor alike) begins with a visit to the Miners' Market. Here you can pick up a bag of coca leaves (each miner chews 200 leaves every morning to stave off hunger and tiredness during his shift), a packet of filterless cigarettes and a small bottle of 96% pure alcohol (as an offering and for consumption) all for £1. As well as drink and drugs, you can freely buy dynamite at the market. Isaac, Keith's guide to the mine, showed us how to set the fuse properly and add ammonium nitrate granules to increase the force of the explosion. We didn't buy any dynamite but we did buy a 'goodie bag' to share with any miners we might meet.

Outside the mine, Keith and Isaac put on wellies, overalls and miners helmets with a battery powered lamp attached: a vast improvement on the original candles and antique carbide ones some still use that barely dent the darkness.

The Small Tunnel

Suited and booted, the plucky pair waded up to the partially flooded tunnel entrance and paused briefly for Isaac to point out the Llama blood stains - an offering to Pachamama so she won't take human blood - before disappearing out of sight.

The State Mine now closed

Inside, the tunnel was narrow but high enough for Keith to walk upright. Well, for a while. Soon he had to bend under sagging beams and even crouch to walk through smaller connecting tunnels. As they walked, Isaac occasionally stopped to point out the minerals in the rock walls, some of which were really colourful. Every now and then he'd shout with delight when he spotted a zinc seam or silver deposit.

It was by one of these finds, in a pile of rubble, that Keith was reminded of the instability of the place. Isaac picked up a used dynamite fuse and sniffed it. "About 48 hours old" he declared. This part of the tunnel had been blown apart only two days ago!

They moved quickly on.

There are no maps for the labyrinth of tunnels. Isaac tapped his temple "You have to use your memory." Keith hoped his was good as they walked deeper and deeper into the mine, down tunnel after tunnel, trying to find where the miners were working.

Some tools and a winch, with a part full bucket, indicated they weren't far away. While they waited for the miners to return, Isaac showed Keith how each of the tools were used. It takes about three and a half hours to hammer in the rod that makes a hole for one dynamite stick to be placed - tap and turn, tap and turn. You need about a dozen for an effective explosion.

With no sign of the miners reappearing, Isaac showed Keith a small cave, off one of the tunnels, where the miners took a break. Inside there was a small catholic shrine, some tools and personal effects, as well as a pile of empty plastic drink bottles and cigarette butts.

The miners are god fearing but they pay the most respect to El Tio (uncle) their nickname for the devil they believe lives in the underworld and owns all the minerals. A statue of El Tio is in a recess near the tunnel entrance. Here, Isaac performed the ritual the miners do each day. A lit cigarette (El Tio prefers filter tips) was put in his mouth, his hands were covered with coca leaves and some of the alcohol was sprinkled on him including some poured on his penis! Now 96% alcohol being poured over your genitals might not be the best way to appease El Tio - ouch!

Uncle

At this point a couple of miners appeared, and after taking a few photos, Isaac gave them the rest of the goodie bag. They were only young men. You don't get old men in the mine. Within a few years of entering the pit, many feel a heavy weight on their chests - silicosis caused by fine dust gathering in their lungs. A few years later, they die coughing blood.

There was a bit of relief all around when Keith and Isaac emerged from the mine, safe and sound. Keith had clearly enjoyed the experience and showed Jan a piece of rock, with silver in it, that they had brought to the surface. It was too big to carry home, so Isaac knocked off a travel-size piece for us to keep. A great souvenir of the world's once richest, and now most dangerous, mine.

The Salt Hotel

2012-02-01T23:56:00.000Z

Keith swung his legs out of bed and felt the floor crunching and moving beneath his feet. He searched for a pair of shoes before disappearing to the bathroom. It wasn't a mass of insects writhing under his toes but a thick layer of crushed rock salt.

The walls of the Luna Salada Hotel have been constructed using thick slabs of salt carved into building blocks and the mortar holding them together is a mix of water and yet more salt.

Each brick is marbled. The dry seasons create dark lines while the rainy seasons produce a white layer, the thickness of which tells you how wet a season it was, in the same way as the rings in a tree trunk.

Getting back into bed (yep the base of the bed was made from salt), Keith grabbed a drink of water and rested against the salt headboard before snuggling down under the covers.

When dawn broke, we headed down the salt stairs, past the salt living rooms (with their salt decorations) and into the salt dining room. Crushed salt covered the floor, and the tables and chairs were made from salt slabs. The chairs were immovable - it's amazing how heavy salt blocks can be. A cushion on top of each chair made them a little more comfortable.

Keith greedily drank his freshly squeezed orange juice - something we'd not expected in this remote location - and went back for more before finishing his coca leaf mate tea. Was all this salt making him thirsty or was it the altitude?

Back in the bedroom, the crushed rock salt had stuck to the bottom of his shoes and left a trail into the only non salt area, the bathroom. While the bathroom's walls were made of salt, the fittings were of more conventional materials - just as well or the hotel could have dissolved down the pan.

Uyuni Salar - To Infinity And Beyond

2012-02-01T23:51:00.001Z

"Move your left leg up a bit señor, and señora, stretch out your right arm." Veronica, our Bolivian guide, shouted instructions, demonstrating how we should pose, to get us into the correct position for the photograph. "Señora, move forward then turn to this side. Put out your hand and kiss. Señor, move back! Back more! Si, now turn this way and bend forward making to kiss."

The Salar de Uyuni (salt flats) is an incredible, other-worldly place. At 180 kilometres wide and covering 12,106 square kilometres, it is the biggest salt lake in the world. Altiplano air isn't hindered by much dust or pollution at 3,653 metres amsl. It is as clear as it can get. The dried-up lake, now filled up to 100 metres deep with salt deposits from the mountains, is totally flat, other than a few minor lumps and bumps.

Without a reference to trees or mountains, it changes your perspective. Normally, backgrounds give a frame of reference. Without it, anything can happen. You can appear smaller than a beer bottle or balance precariously on its rim. You can even have your loved one stand in the palm of your hand and exchange a kiss.

Balancing on a bottle

Hello down there. Fancy a kiss.

If only he could find one that size!

When dry, it is a "pure white expanse of the greatest nothing imaginable".
With water, it perfectly reflects the sky, making you feel like you are driving through the heavens, floating from fluffy cloud to fluffy cloud.

Driving in the Sky

The horizon can completely disappear, especially when the white clouds start blending with the white of the salt. Reality becomes distorted. Your mind plays tricks on you, convincing you that you're walking on ice, that it will be slippery, or even that the standing water will be freezing - it's actually warm enough to paddle in with bare feet. And your pictures look as if they've been Photoshop'd, when they haven't been altered at all.

Walking to the Heavens

Although great for photographs, the wet season makes it problematic for driving. Traversing the flats can be difficult and potentially treacherous. A 50 minute journey to Fish Island in the dry, takes 5 hours in the wet. It would have been great to see it, perfectly reflected in the thin film of water, with its complete fish profile, but we couldn't take the risk. If the car broke down, there would be no way of contacting anyone for help. There are no mobile phone antennas on the lake.

Earth meets Sky

Instead we drove to the Salar Museum (formerly the first salt hotel), 20km from the shore. It must have been a really weird place to stay, surrounded by nothing but flat, white salt, stretching out to infinity and beyond.

Each year, a small part of the Salar is harvested for domestic consumption. But at £1-£1.50 for 50 1kg bags, the salt-side, cottage industry, producers are barely making anything. Especially after the costs of transportation, drying the salt, adding iodine (to make it comparable with sea salt) and packaging are taken into account.

Reflections

The biggest revenue generator from the Salar is tourism. Thousands of visitors flock here to marvel at the flat, white desert and take photographs of themselves balanced on a bottle or being held in someone's hand. Fortunately the Salar is big enough to cope with the jeep-loads of weirdly posed foreigners and their Bolivian guides shouting positioning instructions.

Uyuni - Salt & Litter

2012-02-01T23:43:00.000Z

After two days driving through the remote pristine wilderness of the Southern Altiplano and Los Lípez, it was a rather nasty shock to drive into Uyuni. Some towns have a green belt. Uyuni has a litter belt. Black bin liners have been ripped open and their contents strewn across the countryside. Bits of plastic bags and packaging smother the few plants in this inhospitable landscape, or get caught on a branch or fence wire, fluttering like frayed flags in the breeze. Plastic bottles roll into gulleys, their contents long since spilt. Stray dogs sniff through the debris for food and an old man searches the trash garden for anything of value - no matter how small.

"How can the people live with all this rubbish?" asks a horrified Jan. "They have no where to put it, so it just gets dumped out of town" is Veronica's reply. Keith adds "Can't they at least dig a hole?" Apparently not - there isn't the funding or the care.With UNESCO World Heritage protection, the salt flats should be a pristine place. After all, what is purer than salt? Uyuni earns its money from tourists visiting the natural wonder and the town's people need to learn that they can't continue polluting their environment; the golden goose that feeds them. UNESCO may want to have a rather strong word in their ear.

Crossing the Andes - The Road to Nowhere

2012-02-01T23:36:00.003Z

The Bolivian Immigration office

If anyone suggests a self drive holiday in the Andes, driving from the Atacama Desert to the Bolivian salt lake at Uyuni, don't! There are few roads and even fewer signposts. Oh, and no filling stations for over 300kms.

The conditions are so tough that the vehicle of choice is the unstoppable Toyota Land Cruiser. Everyone has them - various models but all at least 15 years old. The newer ones are too expensive and have too many electrics to go wrong.

The journey took two full days of nearly constant driving. It sounds like a chore but the scenery is so amazing, it really isn't. Just when you think you've seen every nuance of multi-coloured mountain, sandy desert, salty lagoon and rocky outcrop, you drive over a hill and see something completely different that takes your breath away. Mind you, that's quite easy at 5,000 metres amsl.

There was every colour of lagoon imaginable. White, grey, light blue, green and even red. The Laguna Colorado ('colorado' means sun burnt) is the largest and, like most of the others, has a good population of flamingos. Several lakes were home to the Chilean Flamingo, completing our three-part-set of South American flamingos - the continent has half the world's species.

Lagoon Verde

Grazing Llamas

The White Lagoon

The Stone Tree

Every now and again, emerging from the sand dunes, there were rocky outcrops, cracked by frost, etched by the rain and carved by the wind into some pretty weird shapes. It was easy to see how Salvador Dali Valley got its name, even under a cloudy sky, and why the indigenous people called it 'flat place with no vegetation'. We could also see why the 'stone tree' got its name, but the valley of the frogs needed a much more vivid imagination, or a lot more coca leaves.

Salt Flats

Flamingo watching

Vicunas

Although vast stretches of land look as if they lack plant life and appear completely barren, there is obviously something to feed on. A small herd of Vicuñas, spotted in the distance, appeared to be grazing on nothing. The Los Lípez area looks like a desert, but during our two days, we drove through light snow and heavier rain showers for hours, which are common in the summer wet season. So there is water but the altitude is too high for most plants to survive. Just some bright green mosses and tussocks of grass looking like part-completed green cossack hats.

The initial part of our journey took us around the iconic, but dormant, Volcán Licancabur which dominates the San Pedro skyline. The volcanoes we passed after that were less perfectly formed, but that didn't mean they weren't active. There was plenty of evidence of geothermal activity. We declined the offer of joining the backpackers in the hot spring pool at Termes de Polques - a biting cold wind put us off - but did stop for a picnic lunch by another smaller hot spring where the rocks on the ground were warm for sitting on.

The Geysers

That afternoon, we strolled around the fumeroles at Sol de Mañana. Here, steam was pouring out of some vents like a giant boiling kettle, while others loudly bubbled with sulphurous mud. We'd seen fumeroles in New Zealand, Nicaragua and Hawaii, but not as violent as these, and not with so little regard to health and safety. You could walk right up to the lip of a vent or crater if you wanted. Even daredevil Keith felt a little nervous posing for the camera by the most violent steam vent and later at the crater that was spewing huge dollops of boiling mud within inches of where he was standing.

There was equally little control over where you drove. The landscape was littered with hundreds of tracks, often going in a dozen different directions, all heading to nowhere in particular. Reynaldo, our driver, must have regularly driven the route. He always seemed to know which track to take - but then we wouldn't have known if he had got lost.

Early Morning

Even the overnight stop at a tiny hotel had no signs to it. The only indication was an increasing number of tracks, all headed in the same direction, the closer we got. Driving over the brow of a hill, the building appeared like a mirage in front of us. The Tayka del Desierto must be one of the most remote hotels on the planet. At 4,600 metres amsl, it is certainly one of the highest. Understandably, we had expected it to be very basic and to have an uncomfortably cold night, similar to the night at the hotel below Everest Base Camp in Tibet. So we were pleasantly surprised to have a good night's sleep, a warm shower in the morning (heated by solar panels the previous day and totally unexpected) and, amazingly, freshly baked bread for breakfast.

We woke to a fantastic view, over the multi-hued mountains, and our first sighting of an Andean Fox walking past the hotel - a little too quickly for Jan to get a good photo.

A Cloud of Dust

Reynaldo, apart from being a great driver, was a bit of an in-car DJ. He had an MP3 player linked to the car hi-fi and mixed the music to the mood of the day. By day two he'd got a little lazy and left the same traditional Bolivian music playing for the first few hours. Now we quite like pan pipe music but the lead singer on the album had the vocal talents of a Wookie. The album could only have had four tracks and was on repeat, so the same bad tracks kept coming around with irritating frequency. Reynaldo was oblivious to our suffering while he happily sang along with Chewbacca.

San Cristobal

Apart from a lunch stop at a backpackers hostel in a grim, single-storey windswept village, we had seen few signs of civilisation before we got to the colonial town of San Cristobal. The odd thing is that it used to be 25km away. The Spanish had founded the town on top of a rich silver seam, but hadn't realised it was there. When the silver was finally discovered, only recently, the Japanese mining company that bought the rights, agreed to relocate the entire town, including the 17th century church, to its current location.

Late Afternoon

For the final leg of our journey, the heavens opened, turning the unpaved road into a bit of a mud bath. Fortunately Reynaldo and the Land Cruiser coped with the conditions very well, apart from the occasion we slipped off the road and nearly down the bank. Even so, it was a great relief to finally arrive at Uyuni, with its streets, signposts and very welcome filling station.

Atacama - The Perfect Desert

2012-01-29T23:15:00.001Z

Lincancabur -
the ever present landmark

There are parts of the Atacama Desert, in northern Chile, where no rainfall has ever been recorded. That makes it the perfect desert. But it doesn't mean it's devoid of life. A few rivers still flow through it, from the surrounding mountain ranges, creating oases and fertile valleys. These have supported traders and travellers over the centuries as well as miners looking to exploit the area's tremendous natural resources. Those same natural wonders give Atacama a unique beauty which has increasingly attracted adventurous tourists. Which is why we spent a day travelling, from Patagonia, to be there.

San Pedro de Atacama

The focus of the tourist industry is the attractive small town of San Pedro de Atacama. With its mud brick and adobe houses and dusty unpaved streets, you could imagine you were in sleepy Mexican village in the old Wild West. It's a little gem.

Behind the red ochre walls, detailed with large pebbles, there is a full range of accommodation - from backpackers right up to high end luxury. Awasi sits comfortably at the top of the pile in its own private enclosure, beautifully decorated with gnarled wood supports for the sun canopies and colourful local fabrics on the abundant seating areas. On the evening we arrived, we sat by the outdoor open fire, sipping a glass of chilled Chilean sauvignon blanc, and immediately knew we'd enjoy being here. Even if we did nothing - our rafting injuries would make any activity painful for the next few days.

The Andes

Jorge, our personal, friendly and very enthusiastic Awasi guide, wasn't going to let us miss out, and put together a full programme of exploring, without any serious hiking, biking or horse riding for which the Atacama is famous.

Valle de la Luna

On our first morning we drove to Valle de la Luna (moon valley). It was given its name in the sixties after the Chilean President saw NASA photos of the moon's surface and thought there was a strong resemblance to this part of the desert. There is even a natural amphitheatre which has understandably been named Moon Crater. Jorge made us close our eyes and lead us to the valley edge before allowing us to open them. It certainly maximised the 'wow' factor.

Moon Crater

After a long and lazy lunch back at the hotel, we headed out to the salt flats of the Salar de Atacama and the Flamingo Lake. The sun was dropping, creating some fantastic photo opportunities of the colourful flamingos flying across a backdrop of snow dusted Andean volcanoes. While Jan and Jorge competed to get the best shot of the birds in flight, Keith had his binoculars out, spotting the subtle differences between the Andean and the rare James flamingo.

Flamingos in flight

Sunset

Jorjes and the Petroglyphs

The following morning we were up a little earlier for a longer drive out to a remote rocky outcrop where a number of petroglyphs (rock etchings) have been discovered. Some are believed to date back over 4,000 years. It was easy to identify the Guanacos and Vicuñas (the wild equivalent of the domestic Llamas and Alpacas), foxes, and even a donkey on a more recent one. Human figures are also present. Jorge explained that the seated ones with lines coming out of their heads resembled those of the shamen at Tiahuanaco - evidence that their civilisation expanded this far. There were monkeys too, suggesting that people from the jungle, thousands of miles away, had visited here. However, the most intriguing design was a Guanaco with two heads. Was this the inspiration for Dr
Doolittle's push-me-pull-you?

Guanaca

We saw several Guanacos, grazing by the roadside, on our drive to Rainbow Valley. Here, a combination of various minerals has painted the rock a myriad of colours. From turquoise green to pale blue. Burgundy red to burnt orange. The effect was stunning against the deep blue sky and golden reddish sand of the dried out river bed. There were even a few patches of white salt to add highlights.
The valley was so fascinating and photogenic that we walked longer than we had planned, so our next stop at the Termas de Puritama, and a dip in the hot spring pools, was more than welcome. It is very popular with the locals and tourists alike. We were very lucky to find one of the seven pools empty. The water was a lovely 33.6°C with a set of falls in and out at either end. We laughed that only two days after we'd vowed never to go near any rapids again, we were bathing in the middle of one.

Rainbow Valley

The Valley for afar

Hot Springs

Being in the middle of the desert, and miles from civilisation, provides wonderful star gazing opportunities. After dinner that evening, we headed out with Jorge, who gave us an enthusiastic and interesting presentation on the galaxies, stars and planets so clearly visible above us. He'd brought his telescope so we could see Jupiter's moon's and some of the great star clusters, but the highlight was Jan and Jorge teaching each other how to take photos of the stars. Jan had read about combining a flash with a long exposure, and giggled with delight when it worked. Jorge was equally tickled as we experimented with different exposures and poses. Great fun and what a memorable way to end a wonderful stay in the perfect desert.

Not bad but need more practice!

White Water Rafting - Never Again !!!

2012-01-29T22:32:00.001Z

"Oh God. [wheeze] Thank Christ you're alive. [wheeze]" Keith had spotted Jan clinging to a tree in the shallows of the riverbank, looking shaken but apparently OK. Moments before, he had been pulled from the water, gasping for air, onto the very raft that had flipped them out, ten minutes of hell earlier.

Our last full day on the Nomads cruise had started benignly enough. Everyone had been flown by helicopter up a gorgeous and fairly harmless looking river, before being dropped off on a riverbank beach where two inflatable rafts, the guides and a safety boat were waiting. After an instruction and safety briefing (most of our fellow passengers were first time rafters) we were assigned our boats. Jan's heart sank as we were put in a raft with three novices and a guide who had not filled her with confidence.

While Ignacio put the crew of the larger raft through their paces, using most of the calm water to get them well drilled, our pilot only did a few simple manoeuvres with us. We had been told that the rapids were Class 2 with a few sections that were technically Class 3 as they were a bit shallow. Even with a largely novice crew, that shouldn't be a problem. So why did we get stuck on a rock on the first set of rapids? It took a lot of bouncing and shifting to one end to get us off. In the process, two of the rookies - Antonio and Ana Maria - fell in, but fortunately were quickly pulled back on board.

At the next set of rapids, things got a lot worse. Ignacio's raft had got down safely, but again we got stuck on rocks, in fast flowing water, with no obvious way of getting off. After five minutes of bouncing and getting nowhere, the piolot told us all to get down one end of the raft. Jan could see that if we did get moving in that direction, we would immediately drop down the small waterfall below and almost certainly tip. She'd hardly had time to voice her concern when her premonition came true.

Everything happened so quickly we didn't know what to do for the best. Jan, Antonio and Ana Maria had already been swept down the rapids. Keith was beside the upturned raft and Maria Gracia, who is afraid of water, was underneath and beginning to panic. With little prospect of being rescued there, he took the decision to pull her out and float down river with her to where the other raft and rescue boat were surely waiting. Within seconds, the power of the water tore her from his grasp. Then, worse still, they were swept straight past the waiting boats and into the next set of rapids.

Jan described it as being in a watery pinball machine as we got bounced from rock to rock. The right technique was to keep your legs up and feet downstream to push off the rocks. That was easier said than done as the eddies and currents pulled you round in circles. Quite early on, Keith remembered a rock hitting him very hard in the back, which winded him, making it desperately hard for him to breathe in those few moments he was above water between rapids and falls. As each rock's bow wave sucked him underwater again, he wondered how long he could keep going. Why was there no calm water for him to recover his breathing and get to shore? The rapids just seemed to go on forever.

In the meantime, Jan was having a nightmare of her own. Being more buoyant than Keith, she had fortunately avoided any serious impacts with the rocks and had been able to look for rescue opportunities. The first came in the form of a rope, thrown to and within her reach. Grasping it, relief quickly turned to devastation. There was no resistance. Had the thrower let go of the other end? Another few series of rapids later and the rescue boat managed to catch up with her and haul her on board. She'd only been lying on the floor, gasping for air, for only a minute when she was thrown back into the water. This time underneath the blue plastic inflatable. The rescue boat had overturned while they were trying to pull out Ana Maria.

Being under the boat was the scariest time for Jan. She only had the small trapped pocket of air to breathe in, was drifting backwards and couldn't see where she was going or what she was going to hit. When she finally kicked herself free, she swam closer to the shore and in to an eddy that was threatening to take her back upstream and through the wringer again. Fortunately, the water turned back around and when she was closer to the shore she grabbed a tree branch. Which was where Keith found her moments later.

With everyone safely rescued, the drama wasn't over. We had to negotiate some more rapids in the rafts before getting to the beach where the helicopter would be able to pick us up. This time there were only three able rowers and four of us exhausted, ballast, crouched on the bottom of the raft. It wasn't easy and at one point, one of the guides nearly fell in, as a wave crashed over his head, but we did make it safely through in the end.

Fortunately none of us suffered any major injuries - Keith was helicoptered to a hospital in Puerto Montt for x-rays - but the mental damage will take a long time to repair. We both vowed never to go white water rafting ever again.

It was a sad end to what would otherwise have been a brilliant week with Nomads. Would we recommend them to others? Definitely. Would we recommend white water rafting? Hell no!

Nomads Of The Air - Heli-Hiking

2012-01-29T22:30:00.000Z

Nomads' on-board helicopter provided a wonderful opportunity to fly around Patagonia's snow-capped mountains and forested valleys and to explore places inaccessible by land. On most Nomads cruises, the activities of the helicopter are curtailed due to bad weather. Our luck continued and apart from the occasional misty start, every day was warm and sunny - virtually unheard of in Patagonia. None of the crew could remember a week without at least a day or two of rain. Everyone was keen to make the most of the great weather.

Taking six passengers at a time, after a scenic and exciting treetop-skimming flight, we would be dropped off in remote locations to hike for a couple of hours, before the big red whirlybird would swoop down and pick us up. That's heli-hiking.

Sofia described the first walk as a soft hike - we assumed that it meant it was easy. The chopper dropped us off on a hillside, near the top of a snowy peak, overlooking the bay where the Atmosphere was anchored. With each step we realised that Sofia's description was literal. It was soft because the ground feels like you are walking on marshmallows. Springy mosses fill the gaps between lichen-covered rocks. The mosses help what little soil there is to knit together, forming a spongy crust over a marsh land. With each step the moss gave way under our feet then bounced back to where it was before, like memory foam.

Maria Gracia and Antonio

Keith at the drop off point

The hilltop is a 'desert'. Few trees survive, and those that do are stunted by the wind and poor soil. We stared out at a forest of natural bonsais. The only sign of fauna are the Tabanos, Patagonian horse flies. Insect repellent doesn't work and they buzz around your face and ears but you get most concerned when their tone goes high pitched - they're drilling! It's a pity, but the persistence of the flies cut short our walk and Sofia called the helicopter to pick us up.

Tabanos didn't really feature on our next heli-hike. Perhaps they don't like the cold. Under clear blue, sunny skies the heli dropped us off at an extinct volcano, the top now covered by a massive glacier. It came as quite a surprise. The pilot had taken the long way around to avoiding us seeing the glacier until the last minute. There was a collective "wow" from the passengers when we did.

The glacier mouth

Ted and Therese

The Heart of the Glacier

After being dropped off near a canyon edge, we walked down to the mouth of the glacier over volcanic scree. Moss and lichens are also trying to survive in this hostile environment and we felt guilty when we heard the crunch of the dry plants, like a heavy frost on grass, under our feet.

All guilty thoughts disappeared when we arrived at the glacier, its icy blues highlighting deep crevices and pockmarked sides. Some pieces looked as if they were ready to fall into the little lake in front of it - they'll probably last another 20 years.

Ignacio had brought an inflatable canoe so that we could row near, but not too close, to the glacier. After our little bit of exercise, Felipe offered us a glass from a bottle of bourbon and a bottle of vodka that had been chilling on an iceberg resting on the lake's sandy shore. "Would you like some ice with that?" Felipe had picked up his ice axe and chipped off a few small chunks. The ice was probably 10,000 years old and perfectly pure.

We climbed up to the edge of the glacier for better photos and Jan climbed up into a bright blue crevasse. Sorry, we don't have proof as Keith didn't take a photo. Oops.

On our third heli-hike we had an option - up or down? Keith picked 'up' and climbed up the side of the Corcovado volcano with Sussie and Angelika. With no path to follow, it turned out to be a much tougher hike than they'd expected, climbing over boulders, scrambling through dense undergrowth and down steep-sided valleys. The ground would often move or give way underfoot so they had to cling on to the bushes to avoid sliding or falling. The view at the end, when the helicopter came and picked them up from a narrow ridge, made it all worthwhile.

Picture by Angelika

Jan chose 'down' with the Chileans, walking from the drop-off point, through a dead forest, to a greeny-blue glacial lake. The walk was an easy 5km with the biggest problem being the flies! Ana Maria even put on a net to stop the little dears. A simple comparison test found that her bright red jacket was the problem, so it was quickly removed and put in a rucksack.

The Lake

The lake looked very atmospheric with the dead trees standing in its shallows. The water was icy cold and all declined going for a swim - baring more flesh for the flies to munch would have been idiotic. Instead they had to cross a rapid but small stream. Javier and Antonio took off their shoes and socks while the girls elected to keep theirs on. So with a squelch, they waded to the end of the lake and to a much bigger, and uncrossable, river. No problem. Just call in the helicopter to pick them up. What a wonderful thing heli-hiking is.

Ana Maria and Javier

Dead Trees marching into the water

Javier and Christen crossing the stream

Nomads of the Sea, Rivers and Lakes

2012-01-29T15:57:00.001Z

The Atmosphere

There is a part of Chile where men can be real men. The rough and rugged Patagonian coast isn't for wimps. It is as demanding as it is beautiful and as dangerous as it is seductive. It's a remote and impenetrable wilderness - a labyrinth of fjords and forests, mountains and glaciers, valleys and meandering rivers. The biggest problem is how to do it justice when you are exploring the region.

Enter Nomads of the Sea. Their ship, the Atmosphere, is a five star boutique hotel, with gourmet cuisine and complimentary fine wines, a spa with hot tubs and, more importantly, packed with enough adventure toys to keep even the most adrenalin junkie happy.

Macarena kayaking

Magellan Penguins

Antonio

Our week of exploration started gently enough with a kayak around Tic Toc Island. In the misty morning we searched for shy Magellan Penguins, who dived into the sea if we got too close, and a lazy Sea Lion colony (what a pong!), basking on a rocky islet before slipping into the water to frolic among the waves. The promised Sea Otters were a lot more elusive - only one kayak saw them. But watching dolphins playing in the wake of the Zodiac safety boat, as it circled us, was magical.

Sea Lions

Susie and Angelica

Picnic Spot

Ignacio gentle river rafting

The next toy in the watercraft food chain were the rafts, great for meandering down the wide waterways. The first experience was a gentle one - a "float" - and with only a few sunken trees to negotiate, the biggest challenge was to try and keep the huge Tabano flies from sucking your blood. The flies are only a pest for one month of the year (they need your blood to procreate - yuck) and it happened to be when we were there. Chilean Antonio, one of the 11 guests, explained that the huge red-eyed flies attacking us were actually a form of bee. Seeing some scepticism for his theory, he split one in half and squeezed out two little globules of what did actually taste like honey. His wife, Maria Gracia, was disgusted. By the end of the rafting we were all quite happily slapping each other in a bid to remain unbitten. It didn't help that the flies are attracted to red and black and we were in red and black life vests! Can you imagine a group of rafters doing a bizarre form of the Macarena to keep the little blighters away. Macarena was also another guest and probably sick of the joke by the end of the week. Ignacio, our pilot, rashly announced "You can hit one guide per day. It's all part of the package - not an extra". He was hoping we'd splash Cristian who was dozing in the safety kayak while we drifted gently down the stream in the warm sunshine.

The horrid bitey things - tabano

From the rafts, we moved to more mechanised methods of transport and the little motor boats mainly used by the fly fishermen to travel upstream or around the large lakes. They were well designed with little pods at either end in which the fisherman could stand and be supported while casting. Although Keith did go fly fishing once, and even caught a nice Rainbow Trout, Canadian Ted and his American wife, Therese, were the only dedicated fishermen on-board and would tell us about the day's catch, or their tribulations when their motor developed a fault and they barely had enough power to get back down the river.

Susie on the Jet boat

The Jet boat is the next in the chain. Able to operate in only a few centimetres of water, it was perfect for speeding up the Tic Toc river for a "picnic' lunch by a lake. The boat skipped over the shallows with hardly a bump as Rodriguez piloted the craft around submerged trees and tilted the vessel from side to side to maintain momentum around the multitude of river bends. Photography was impossible and even, camera-always-in-hand, professional photographer, Ana Maria, had to concede defeat as the bumps and the wind forced us back into our seats. When we arrived at the lake, a canopy has been set up protecting a long dining table, with tablecloth, cutlery and wine glasses, and the chefs were busy barbecuing massive steaks. But to earn them you had to cross from the boat, moored in the shallows, to the sandy shore. Off came the shoes and socks as we waded across the shingle and through the reeds to the red-hot sandy beach. After lunch, the hardy went for a swim, Aussie Sussie and Angelika were the first to dive into the chile, er chilly water, quickly followed by Javier, Ana Maria's partner, and Antonio. The jet boat journey back was as exhilarating as the one up, with the boat just missing branches and rocks as we flew over the duck-egg-blue river water, back into the ocean and the luxury of the Atmosphere.

River View

Sea lions entering the water

Penguins and Pelican

The RIB is Nomads' ultimate sea craft. Built to military designs, it's fast and furious. Before we're allowed aboard, we are issued with bright orange survival suits. It looks like we are attending a Telly Tubbies convention - "eeh ooh". The suit is hooded and fully zipped up to combat the bitterly cold sea spray and biting wind. Getting your leg over the saddle style seats - was a real struggle for some. Jan's survival suit was so big that the crutch has dropped to her knees, and she wished she had longer legs as her feet couldn't touch the floor to help absorb the wave impacts. Those who had elected to sit in the bow, soon started looking for a place further back as wave upon salty wave slapped them rudely in the face. The RIB isn't a smooth cruiser. It jumps from crest to crest, and if it misses, performs a belly flop into the bottom of the swell. It reminded us of the 'bucking bronco' hired for the Claremont Festival last summer. As the swells got bigger, the journey became more hellish, and Jan gripped onto the handle of her seat with a grim determination. This wasn't her idea of whale watching. It couldn't have been the whales either. Apart from one sighting of a spout, they stayed in the calmer waters of the deep.

Kelp Geese

A second trip on the RIB proved to be even more lively than the first. We had gone down the coast to visit the once-pretty village of Chaiten. Four years ago, Chaiten had been devastated by the ash and silt from a neighbouring volcano. Houses had literally been drowned in fine ash sediment swept downstream by the river which disastrously changed its course. Life is starting up again thanks to some die hard souls who do not want to leave their family homes, while others have moved to Puerto Montt or Santa Barbara, a new settlement 10km away. The marine police certainly have a presence. After our stroll, we returned to the harbour only to find the RIB impounded. Some sweet talking from guides, Sofia and Felipe, resolved the situation and we were back bouncing on the waves in no time. Sofia explained "The RIB gains too much attention."

Chaitan

After a bumpy journey to the village, all of the passengers elected to sit in the back which should have been more stable. Therese was going to sit forward but we made room for her. Two minutes later a huge wave swept over the right hand side of the rib, slapping her firmly in the face. Therese was drenched after 10 minutes and laughing at her situation. Angelika, who was sat on the left hand side, was totally dry! Felipe, also on the left, turned around, repeatedly saying "But I'm not wet at all." Back on-board the Atmosphere, Sussie remedied the situation by turning the hose on him.

So those were the aquatic craft, but the Atmosphere's prize toy was the helicopter, but more about that next...

The Giant Corkscrew In The Colchagua Wine Valley

2012-01-27T22:51:00.002Z

We really wish we could tell you something about the Colchagua Valley which lies two hours to the South of Santiago. We know the scenery was stunning and that the Lapostolle Residence had superb food served with fine wine from its own vineyard, but that is about it.

Keith's cold had become more complicated when he got an ear infection. We tried to book an appointment with a doctor but weren't able to. He was in a huge amount of pain so we didn't want to wait. A visit to the emergency room at the local hospital was required. Within 30 minutes of arriving, Keith had been seen, diagnosed and was on his way to pay the $10 bill. We can't thank Catalina at Casa Lapostolle enough for arranging for an interpreter to accompany us. Next stop was the pharmacy for the antibiotics, pain killers and decongestants Keith had been prescribed. For the remaining three days at the vineyard, we did very little except enjoy the sunshine, sleep, eat and drink.

On our last day we did summon up the energy to visit the winery, which is something special - well it is owned by Marnier-Lapostolle (of Grand Marnier fame), makers of Chateau Sancerre. A corkscrew of a building, it burrows six floors down through the rock. Here, a small production of truly world class wines are worked on by hand before cellaring. At the top of the tree are the Clos Apalta and Bo-ro-bo wines, which are delicious.

Perhaps one day we'll return, just so that we can tell you a little more about the valley. That's when are livers have recovered and our belts are a little looser!

Bolivia, El Alto - The Airport Game

2012-01-22T11:42:00.000Z

We return to one of our "favourites" the airport game - this time its the Bolivian version:

1. Guide arrives at the hotel on time - move forward one space

2. Leave city with no problems - move forward one space

3. Enter El Alto, the traffic has built up with minivan taxis blocking the road - miss a go.

4. Policeman is directing traffic away from the airport. Guide and police get into an argument - miss a go

5. Find out that the airport entrance is blockaded. No idea why - miss two goes

6. Get out of minivan and walk 300 metres to the airport entrance - pulling luggage behind us - avoiding police and protesters. Move forward very, very slowly

7. Get into packed public Minibus (airport side) to get a ride to the terminal - move forward one space

8. Wait for another two passengers to fill the minibus before leaving - miss a go

9. Arrive at terminal and join queue to check in - not the last as several passengers are caught up in protest - move forward one space

10. Computer crashes as you check in - move back one space

11. Clerk hand writes the boarding card - move forward

12. Boarding card needs a stamp - move back to departure tax payment booth

13. Get to Immigration - only one man working, another asleep and the third is staring at the computer screen, seemingly oblivious to the growing queue - miss a go.

14. Jan gets stopped by security. Miss a go as she is searched, again.

15. Plane is on time!!! Is this really South America? Move forward one space

16.Connecting flight is also on time. Enter parallel universe where everything works in South America! Move straight to the end of the game.

The blockade

The Police

The Taxi minivan loading our luggage

Bolivia - Fragile Earth

2012-01-22T11:38:00.000Z

It's hard to imagine the fragility of a country like Bolivia. The rivers are being polluted by uncontrolled development, but human beings aren't the only cause of the problems. The land itself is fragile. During the wet season, roads are regularly blocked by landslides. On the Altiplano there are few trees to help knit the soil together. Landslides happen with a regularity that Bolivians have come to accept as a part of daily life. And with few roads in the first place, they can cause chaos if the detours are long or on dirt tracks.

Travelling to the small town of Sorata, we crossed the high plains of the Altiplano sprinkled with small, mud brick houses and herds of sheep. At the high altitude there are few trees, just grassland and shrubs. The descent into Sorata was on a paved, winding road where the driver soon got into a rhythm around the bends. About the time we were starting to feel a little queasy from all of the rolling in the back seat, Gustavo spotted a road sign pointing to a diversion. 'The road below must be really bad' we thought as the car turned away from the tarmac and onto a single lane dirt track that made the world's most dangerous road look good.

The diversion added a lot of time to the journey and gave us quite a few scares when we turned a corner only to meet traffic coming straight at us. And dirt roads aren't smooth! We started feeling every lump and bump as the car rocked from side to side trying to avoid potholes that spanned almost the entire width of the track.

With some relief, we reached the bottom of the valley and took a break to watch the local ladies doing their washing in a raging river and the men pulling out buckets of water to clean their cars.

Finally we reached Sorata and went for a walk to ease the knots from our backs. The plan had been to go and see the bats and pretty lagoon in the San Pedro caves, but there was a problem. Gustavo explained, "There has been a mud slide on the road to the caves. We can walk past it but it will take two hours." We weren't properly equipped for a hike, and the weather didn't look like it would hold off that long either, so reluctantly we had to give it a miss.

There was no point getting upset. It was a drawback of travelling in Bolivia in the wet season - we'd been pretty lucky with the weather up until then. So after taking three and a half hours to reach the town, and an hour having a packed lunch and a quick explore, we got back in the car. The good news was that we didn't have to take the detour again. The main road had been cleared.

Along with the mudslips and landslides, the effects of erosion are most visible in the Valle des Annimas (valley of the ghosts). Water, wind and rain have created a giant version of the Tsingy we had seen in Madagascar. The soft conglomerate has been sculpted in to folds like curtains, and pillars that resemble figures holding up their arms look like a phantom scaring off intruders - which is where it got its name. Etched on to one wall is a fairy village - each house having a pointed roof. The landscape is eerie and goes on for 25km. The car descended into the valley and our minds tried to make sense of the mystical shapes we were seeing. Unfortunately, half way along the track, we had to turn back. The road, at the base of the canyon, had been swept away by a river. By now we were getting used to it road closures due to landslides are fairly typical in Bolivia.

Sorata

Laundry and car wash

Watching the world go by

Time with the grand kids

Sculpted by Pachamama

The Ghosts

Look for the fairies

The Grand Canyon in miniture

A Fragile Earth

The Mystery Of Tiahuanaco

2012-01-14T18:46:00.000Z

Close to the southern shore of Lake Titicaca is an archaeological site that is fast becoming one of the most important in South America.

The site map

The perfectly straight and structurally intact walls of Tiahuanaco, constructed from huge stones from many miles away, suggest it is Incan, but the civilisation who built this city, was founded over three thousand years before the rise of the Inca Empire. At their peak, the Tiahuanacans ruled an area as big as Bolivia, but very little is known about them. Like the Incans, they had no written language, and the civilisation was overwhelmed well before the Spaniards arrived.

The pyramid with its reconstructed walls

Trying to piece together a picture of Tiahuanacan society is a difficult jigsaw puzzle. The precious metals were looted by the Spanish, who thought of the site as pagan and so tried to destroy it or exorcised the monolith by carving the cross or holy trinity on them - conquistadors graffiti. Later some of the pieces were recognised as having a value and were shipped to museums in Europe. In the early 20th century the Bolivian rail company broke up a lot of the pieces to use as ballast, then the local people completed the destruction by using the loose stone blocks to build their houses and farm buildings.

The Sun Gate

However, a few pieces have survived, including a 7-metre-high monolithic statue that had been moved into the centre of La Paz before being rescued from the smog and returned to the site of its original location. Also surviving is the base of the Akapana pyramid, measuring 200 metres long and 17 metres high, some smaller statues, a sunken temple dedicated to Pachamama and a small Sun Gate (carved from a single slab of stone and weighing 44 tonnes) that directs the rays of the sun into what would have been the inside of the temple.

Excavation work continues in an effort to get the ancient city to release more of its secrets. But the damage has been done and the Tiahuanacans will probably remain a great, mysterious civilisation.

A monolith

Part of the Pachamama temple

Sun, Moon and Stars on Lake Titicaca

2012-01-14T17:37:00.001Z

Unsurprisingly, the Incans had a different view of the cosmos to the Europeans. In trying to give meaning to their lives and the world, they developed a series of myths and legends that have Lake Titicaca, the Sun, Moon and stars at their heart. Pre-Inca lakeside residents believed that the sun had risen from Titicaca's depths and the Incans believed it to be the birthplace of their civilisation.

After a romantic, candlelit dinner (for three!), Gustavo took us outside to the Inca Observatory to watch the stars. Although we'd been to "Inca territory" before, this was the first time we had been able to compare their star charts with our own. We sat on some benches and watched a short video about how the Incans saw great relevance in the stars and developed constellations of their own. What we know as Pisces was a river to the Inca people and they believed a celestial puma stalked the night skies. At the end of the video, the projector screen rolled up to reveal two huge telescopes. At the same time, with a grinding of gears, the whole roof of the thatched barn we were sitting in, slid back and we gazed up at the cloudy sky. Fortunately the gods were with us, and the clouds cleared long enough for us to climb a small step ladder and peer into the eye piece of the second most powerful telescope in Bolivia. It was over two metres long and half a metre diameter. Through a thin layer of cloud we could clearly see the moon's craters and the topographical features around them.

The next morning, we took a hydrofoil tour of the lake, starting with a visit to the Uros Indians and their floating reed island. The islands were built as a defensive measure. If the tribe was attacked, they would simply row the islands into the middle of the lake and out of harms way. The Uros live on both the Peruvian and Bolivian side of the lake. When we visited Lake Titicaca five years before, Jan was guilted by a little girl into buying some paintings. Now the child wouldn't stand a chance. Jan had learnt her lesson. This time she was persuaded to buy a pan pipe key-ring from a little old lady. Much to Keith's amusement, Jan tried to play the small flute, with its four notes, for the rest of the journey. Depending on baggage allowances, it might not make the trip home (unless someone wants a pan pipe key-ring with Jan's saliva on it?).

Don't be fooled -
she will sell you a basket!

The Nunnery

Isle de Luna

The Sun Temple

The Isla del Sol was originally called Titi Khar'ka - Rock of the Puma - from which the lake gets its name. It has a long history and is believed to be the birthplace of the Sun, who then ordered the first Incans to appear: Manco Capac and his sister-wife Mama Ocllo. Being an island shrouded in legends, it's not surprising that it has several ancient ruins as well as the signature Incan terracing. The hydrofoil dropped us off at a pier, a short walk uphill to the Sun Temple. Being at such high altitude, our progress was slow. We creaked our way up the hillside, stopping for a look at the ruins. On a normal day it would have been easy, but today it was very tough. Our lungs gasped for air at the exertion - Sun Island is at 4000m amsl. Gustavo was taking no chances and had arranged a whole support crew. First we met a little man who followed us with a medical kit and oxygen tank. Then we were introduced to Juanita (an elderly lady in traditional dress) and Martine, the llama, ready to carry any possessions we wanted to offload to make our hike easier. A little further on, we met Walter with his mule, ready for us to ride if we were too exhausted to walk! Possibly the oddest entourage we've ever had.

Isle de la Sol

Jan wondered if our trekking guide on the Inca Back Country trail had tipped them off! Determined not to give in, we completed the 2.5km climb, although there were plenty of photo stops - just how many photos of an old lady and a llama is enough? - before reaching La Posada del Inca, our home for the night. We were the only guests staying at the delightful former hacienda, so spent the afternoon relaxing in its sun dappled grounds, listening to the birds and enjoying the amazing views.

Isla del Sol

Our Entourage

Inca Steps with the First Incas

The following day we took the shorter route, down the ancient Inca staircase to the main dock. On the way down, we were overtaken by our luggage. On the way up it had been carried by a mule, but they don't like going down the staircase. So some little chap had wrapped the two cases (over 44kg) in a sheet and strapped them to his back. He certainly earned his tip!

Part way down the staircase is Fuente del Inca, a natural spring emerging from three pipes representing the three tenets of Incan society: don't steal, don't lie and don't be lazy. The Spanish thought it to be the source of eternal youth but now it is just a tourist attraction. Keith wasn't looking for immortality, but a bit of rejuvenation to help him clear his cold wouldn't go amiss, so he took a couple of gulps. It didn't work. Later that day he picked up an ear infection that would put him on painkillers for over a week. That'll teach him for stealing Incan water.

Transport across the Lake

Inca Utama - A Living Museum

2012-01-14T11:14:00.000Z

The lake looked calm, as the late afternoon sun cast gentle shadows along the shore and across to the hillside opposite, highlighting the subtle hues in the landscape. It was a beautiful afternoon, so we decided to go for a walk around the hotel grounds - the Inca Utama is no ordinary hotel.

A few metres from the hotel's tower of bedrooms - with the highest lift (elevator) in the world - is a living museum. The Andean Eco Village. The museum depicts the way of life for the people of the Andes, as it has remained for centuries. Llamas, alpacas and vicunas graze on fodder supplied by an elderly man, with a weathered face, dressed in a long colourful poncho and wearing a woolly ear flapped hat.

Nearby, an old woman, in her bowler hat and full skirts, spins wool ready to be woven into shawls. Close to the shore there is a full-size replica of the reed boat, the Ra II, used by Thor Heyerdahl to cross the Atlantic.

Reed boats, like those still used on Lake Titicaca, have travelled far and wide. After Ra II, the Kontiki II, built to traditional methods, managed to circumnavigate the world. It's a bit strange to think that the son of one of those intrepid adventurers now runs the gift shop. But he has a story too. In the 1980s, he spent 65 days piloting a reed boat across the Mediterranean. We bought one of his miniature reed boats, with a sail signed by him, as a memento.

The Inca Utama has several small museums. One of the most interesting is the Kallawaya Museum. It starts normally enough, explaining the use of herbs, plants and minerals in curing sickness and disease. But as you walk through the exhibits, you become aware that the light is growing dimmer until you have nearly reached the end. Sat in a candle-lit room, with a small fire playing in the hearth by his side, is a Kallawaya natural medicine doctor. Keith took the opportunity to get some advice on how to stop nosebleeds. He'd had a bad one that lasted nearly an hour on our third night in Bolivia. First the medicine man read Keith's fortune with the aid of some randomly thrown coca leaves. Perhaps the outcome was obvious, Keith has good luck flowing through him. There were only a few areas of bad luck and one of them landed on a leaf that represented Jan. "Does that mean I will bring Keith bad luck?" enquired Jan. The medicine man's response was diplomatic - the bad luck was only caused by Jan's concern about the nosebleeds. The cure for which turns out to be taking chopped raw garlic with water first thing in the morning. Mmm. The diagnosed cause of the nosebleeds is high blood pressure elevated by the altitude.

The Toxic River That Flows Into The Food Chain

2012-01-13T12:21:00.000Z

La Paz may look attractive from a distance but its unbridled development has had a tragic consequence. Rio Choqueyapu, the river where the Spanish discovered gold, is quite literally toxic.

Fortunately, it mainly runs, out of sight, beneath the city. But where it emerges, the water is a sludgy brown colour. From the pristine mountain water at its source, it receives an estimated 200,000 tonnes of bodily waste and 120,000 litres of urine a year. Throw in the toxic chemicals that are dumped in it by some of the industries in the area and you get a river that's totally dead. What a waste of the pure mountain spring water it comes from.

But it doesn't end there. The water from the river is still used for irrigation further downstream in the valley below, so toxins seep into the crops. We're used to not drinking the tap water on our travels, but not eating fresh vegetables? That's a tough one.

The World's Most Dangerous Road - The Bike's View

2012-01-12T23:11:00.001Z

For a few moments, Keith thought he may have missed the chance to cycle down the world's most dangerous road. That day's clients of Gravity Assisted Mountain Biking had met for breakfast in a café in La Paz, but Keith's name wasn't on anyone's list, even though he'd booked several weeks before. "Not a problem" declared Paddy, one of the group leaders, "You can join us. We'll just need to sort you out a bike. We already have some spare gear."

On the drive to the start point, Paddy gave a safety briefing and a few wise words on how to ride a mountain bike when you're on a cliff edge dirt track. A few tales of what had gone wrong before, when testosterone and egos took over, was a sobering reminder of how dangerous the event could be.

While each group assembled its gear, Keith got to meet the people he would be riding with. He took an immediate dislike to the two loud, arrogant, foul-mouthed Americans and their Mexican friend who looked faintly ridiculous dressed in all the gear. They weren't there to socialise (or listen to Paddy) and just wanted to go as fast as possible - the character type that Paddy had warned about. There were also three Australian backpackers and a nice young German couple.

Although it was partially sunny, La Cumbre, at 4,700 metres amsl, was very cold, and the riders were grateful for the thick waterproofs and gloves that GAMB provided. The bikes looked pretty good, with hydraulic disc brakes, albeit the chain on one broke during the practise session around the car park.

When everyone was ready, we gathered together for a traditional tribute to Pachamama. We each poured alcohol over the front wheel of our bikes before taking a sip. It was bloody strong. With our throats burning, but our good fortune secured, we all headed off.

The first section of the road was newly paved, and although the cliff edge was never far away, it was easy to build up speed and go around most of the bends with the minimal of braking. When Keith had ridden down the volcano in Maui, he had been held back to the speed of the slowest rider, which was very frustrating. Here, Paddy gave tips on how to streamline yourself to go as fast as possible, and how to safely overtake cycles and even slower vehicles. When Keith overtook a bus doing 55kph, he got a hell of a buzz. This was the real McCoy. No namby-pamby Maui genteel cruise here.

That's not to say we were riding recklessly. Paddy kept repeating that we should be riding within our different abilities, and if it felt too fast, it probably was and we should slow down. He pointed out some places where accidents had happened, including one innocuous bend where there was a wreck of bus at bottom of a 400 metre high cliff.

Our first group crash didn't take long to happen. Ryan, one of the Aussie guys, tumbled headfirst over his handlebars, at high speed, after he unwittingly used only his front brake to slow down. Somehow he survived with some scrapes on his helmet and grazes on the side of his face. While Keith and the other guys were waiting for him, Jan arrived in the car to report the incident.

At the next stop, there was a vote whether to do a 8km optional section of the road which involved several climbs. Keith was still recovering from a cold and it was his first full day at altitude, so Jan was amazed when she saw him volunteer to cycle the additional distance. On the first hill he began to regret his bravado, as the thin air starved his lungs and reduced the supply of oxygenated blood to his muscles. He took it as easy as he could and still beat some of the younger members of the group.

After that, we turned off the paved road onto the dirt track and the really dangerous part of the journey. Having never done any serious mountain biking before, Keith was initially very uncomfortable on the loose bumpy surface. He slowed down and let those who wanted to, go ahead, and then gradually built up speed as he felt more and more control of his bike, replaying Paddy's mountain biking tips in his head to make it smoother and safer.

Others struggled too. A combination of inexperience and over confidence resulted in four more crashes, including the two Americans and the Mexican, which Keith couldn't resist having an inward chuckle about. None of the accidents were serious (all cliff wall side) resulting in just a few grazes and some bruised egos. Keith also saw two of the Australians lock up their brakes, skidding straight towards the cliff edge, only to stop just in time. Clean pair of underwear, please!

At the various stops on route, Paddy told tales of the accidents on the road. The worst ever had been in the mid 1990s at the narrowest section of the road. A bus and a truck carrying over one hundred passengers met head to head. The truck had to reverse back up the road, but dropped a wheel off the edge, toppled over and plummeted 500 metres. Everyone was killed. It's the same section where Top Gear's Jeremy Clarkson was filmed very nervously passing a vehicle, his tyres right on the cliff edge. Keith remembered the episode well, so was disappointed to hear from Paddy that it had all been staged.

Paddy had warned us that we would get wet on the ride. With no rain and only a bit of mist we wondered how. The answer came with waterfalls that drop hundreds of metres down the cliff face above, directly onto the road. There's no safe way to avoid them so we had to accept a refreshing shower. Water wasn't only coming from above, we had to cross two rivers. One was shallow enough to free-wheel through, with legs up well out the way, but the other was too deep and wide for that, so we got our shoes and socks soaked. Fortunately they were near the end of the road where it was both warmer and sunny, so we soon dried out.

Pulling into the finish, we all felt a great sense of achievement. It had been a real adrenalin ride, with man and bike pushed to the limits. A scary, tiring and utterly brilliant experience.

Madagascar Water projects update

2012-01-12T00:01:00.000Z

Further update from Brian Donaldson

I am pleased to tell you that all three of the safe, clean water installation you so generously financed are now complete and in full use.

Antanetibe and Morarano 96 families - numbering 530 adults and children - benefited frrom this project. Previously their only source of water was the surrounding rice fields. But they flood during the rainy season, and the water is polluted by animal and human faeces - representing a serious health-risk - especially to children. The work involved building a small catchment tank in front of a spring on a hillside above the villages, a 3 cubic metre reservoir, and five standpipes in various easily accessible locations around the villages. 2.34 kilometres of water pipe were needed to connect all three. The 70 centimetre trench was dug by the villagers themselves, who also supplied locally available building materials, including gravel, bricks, sand and stones.

Ambodifiakarana 1,200 people in this particularly highly populated village benefited from this installation. As elsewhere their only source of water was rice fields or holes in the ground - all of which are polluted during the rainy season and become the source of serious, life-threatening water-borne diseases such as diarrohea, bilharzia and cholera. The population willingly involved themselves in the project by providing unskilled labour needed to dig the 1.51 kilometre trench for the water pipe, supply locally available building materials, and build the catchment tank, reservoir and four standpipes around the village.

Antseva The only source of safe, clean water available to the population of Antseva used to be 2.5 kilometres away But to avoid such a long, exhausting journey most people relied on water from a dyke, the rice fields or holes dug close by. 85 families (about 500 people) benefited from this water installation, plus 186 children who attend the local state primary school, where one of the five standpipes is now located. As elsewhere the local population played a full part in providing unskilled labour and supplying building materials.

In all three cases local committees have been set up to manage, maintain and repair the systems, and put in place affordable charging schemes to raise the necessary funds. The inaugurations will be major events for all three communities. It is hard to exaggerate the
difference these new water installations will make to the populations of these villages. Not only will they save them the exhausting and time-consuming task of collecting (often polluted) water several times a day, but they will also eliminate the incidence of serious illness caused
by water-borne diseases, and even save lives. In addition,   having clean water so readily accessible will improve the health and well-being of these poor, deprived communities and revive hope and joie de vivre in populations for whom life has seen little change or improvement for generations.

The World's Most Dangerous Road - The Car's View

2012-01-11T12:18:00.000Z

Keith woke early to meet with Gravity Assisted Mountain Biking and his fellow cyclists for the day while Jan spent her extra time frustrated, trying to log onto the internet. She had opted out of cycling down "The world's most dangerous road."

It had got its nickname because, on average, 300 people died each year on it or, more precisely, off it. But she wasn't missing out on the experience, she was taking the same route by car.

To explain, the road takes a 3,500 metre drop over 64km from La Cumbre, on top of Bolivia's Altiplano, to sub tropical Yolosa, then up 500 metres to Coroico, a sleepy hilltop village. Sounds lovely, but it's a dramatic cliff-hugging descent on roads as narrow as 3 metres wide and with up to 600 metre vertical drops. Before the new road was built in 2006, an average of 26 vehicles a year, started the route but failed to finish as they fatally flew into the abyss.

This is the road leading to the road.

This is the Road

The road is only held together by gravel and mud with a few (about 10) very flimsy looking barriers to protect the unwary. The situation is exacerbated by regular heavy rains and the resulting waterfalls that create massive potholes and erode its fragile edges, or even completely smother the road in a layer of thick mud, rocks and dying plant life.

So which is more dangerous - by car or by bike? The car is more insulated. Its roof protects you from the car wash like pounding of the falls. The tyres are bigger which helps protect you from the unstable surface and some of the potholes. In the tin can, smaller vehicles give way - well except for the kamikaze cyclists who came flying past, cutting blind bends without a thought for oncoming traffic - it's a good job we were going downhill. But the car is wider. What appears to be a narrow road for a car, gives a careful cyclist ample room.

On the mountain bike, even with its modern suspension, you feel every lump and bump. Worse still is when a rock catches a peddle or slips, along with your tyre, sending the bike in a new, unintended and potentially lethal direction.

Either way, if you go off the edge, that's probably it. Although the bale out option for the cyclist is a bit easier to achieve.

The paved road leading to the really dangerous bit, is no picnic. Cars and bikes travel at about the same downhill speed - 60kph. Heavier trucks and buses are a little slower. The scenery is magnificent. Well above the tree line, at around 5000 metres amsl, herds of llamas graze by steely grey lakes and the mountain tops are dusted with snow and wispy clouds that thickened as we watched.

At one point, Jan's car caught up with Keith's group and she managed to take some action photos of him speeding down the road at nearly 65kph. One cyclist had already taken a high speed tumble over the top of his handlebars. Gustavo, our guide, wondered what the instructions were if there was an accident "Is he supposed to lie still there until he has worked our what is broken?" "Or to roll out of the way of oncoming traffic" added a concerned Jan.

Catching up with Keith

Action Man

Can't decide do both!

Fortunately, most of the heavy traffic stayed on the new bitumen road that bypasses the most dangerous road. The bypass is a much quicker route to Coroico than the twisty, tiny, gravelled and slowly eroding alternative which is now mainly used by tourist cars or cyclists looking for the thrill of their lives.

The Road from a view point

Most of the traffic in the mornings travels downhill from the Altiplano and in the afternoon is reversed, so the chances of meeting someone head-on are minimal but not impossible.

In the car, Jan felt relatively safe. That was until they stopped by a thundering waterfall. Jan wandered back up the road to take a photo then realised it was parked on a narrow bend with a several hundred metre sheer drop one side.

The crosses (aka 'Bolivian warning signs' according to Lonely Planet) and memorials placed at regular intervals along its twists and turns, tend to refer to accidents before the new road was built. But don't be fooled into thinking it's safe, 19 cyclists have died on the 64km route since the first organised group descent in 1998. The most common cause of accidents is cyclists with higher levels of testosterone than ability or sense. Poor equipment also adds to the chances of something going awry. Gustavo reassured Jan that Gravity are a reputable company, with good equipment and no fatalities, and that Keith was in safe hands.

Jan arrived in one piece at 1:30pm, ready for lunch at the hotel, and anxiously waited for Keith to arrive. Now read on!

La Paz - You Take My Breath Away

2012-01-10T12:58:00.000Z

Climbing down the steps from the plane at La Paz's airport, it felt as if we had gained 40 years and smoked for every one of them. Our breathing was strained as our lungs struggled to get the oxygen they needed in the thin air. It wasn't helped by having started the day at sea level, and taking three flights to get to the world's highest capital city.

Spanish Influence

At a dizzy 3,660 metres amsl, La Paz looked oddly beautiful on the night we arrived. The airport, in nearby El Alto, is 400 metres higher than the city. The music of Berlin singing 'You Take My Breath Away' was an appropriate soundtrack on the drive to our hotel. On the way, we stopped to look over and into the natural bowl of the valley of the Rio Choqueyapu, it was filled with bioluminescent frogs spawn! A golden glow circled each street lamp with a blue light in its centre. Perhaps it was apt that the lights appeared golden; the city was, after all, founded by the Spanish when gold was discovered in the river.

Place Murillo

Although Sucre, in the tropical lowlands, is the constitutional capital, La Paz is Bolivia's centre for commerce, finance and industry, and the seat of government. So it's considered the capital in most people's eyes. There are also three million people living in the near vicinity (La Paz and El Alto combined) - a third of the country's total population.

Daylight brought a clearer view of the city's jumble of houses clinging precariously to the sandstone canyon it's nestled in. It looks as if they are tumbling down toward the centre. La Paz is an upside down city with the wealthiest living in the lower altitudes. Higher up are cascades of mud and brick cube houses, huddled together with no space between them.

Driving through the city's crowded streets is quite an experience. Dumpy old ladies - the cholitas - with vast, fulsome, horizontally-pleated skirts, long black plaits joined by a cord at the ends, and odd shaped bowler hats, trot across the road in front of you. The hats look odd because they appear to be too small and are perched at jaunty angle on a pile of hair knots. The multiple layers of skirts (up to 11) are topped with a blouse and a long fringed Spanish shawl.

Many of the roads are steep, tiny and crowded. In an effort to get the local people to be more traffic aware, a man in a zebra outfit stood on one junction directing the pedestrians when to cross the road safely. Can you imagine how weird it is to see a zebra, in a city, in the Andes?

There are queues of people everywhere; some lining up for the telecoms office or to get into lectures at the university. Shoe shine boys are equally ubiquitous, several wear balaclavas or scarves to hide their identity - it isn't considered a proper job. They only earn around 3 Bolivianos per pair of shoes cleaned - that's about 30 pence. It is slightly unsettling being approached by one of the masked buffers, especially when you're wearing trainers.

We've seen colourful buses in other Central and South American countries, but the ones in El Paz are a work of art, especially on their rear. Being described as 'looking like the back end of a bus' would be a real compliment here. There are hundreds of buses but thousands of taxi minivans. They operate like the buses, with routes and scheduled stops. Because of the delays the stops cause, many choose shared minicabs called Trufi. Their route is indicated by the colour of the flags fluttering on sticks tied to the front bumper. Trufi only stop to pick up or drop off the small number of passengers they have room for.

A line of Minivan Taxis

Demonstrations are commonplace in La Paz so we weren't surprised to see a march, full of banner-carrying men and their supportive cholitas. A colourful sight but unfortunately we were travelling so fast on the opposite carriageway that all our attempted photos were blurred. We spotted a second demonstration, this time for the disabled. They were asking for an increase in their government allocated allowance.

Most of the locals shop in open-air markets and the most famous of them all is Mercado de Hechiceria, the witchcraft market. Here you can pick up a small bottle full of coloured wood and oil which, depending on its contents, will bring good luck with love, money or health. A macabre speciality is dried Llama foetus. Traditionally they are buried in the foundations of a new building to bring good fortune to the occupants, and no self-respecting builder will start work without the offering to Pachamama - goddess of the earth.

Unfortunately we had no time to stop and look around as we were heading to "The World's Most Dangerous Road", known locally as 'The Death Road' - the place where thousands of Bolivians have drawn their terminal breath.

A Rainy Reveillon In Rio

2012-01-09T01:04:00.001Z

When our good friends, Sandra and Johann, suggested spending New Year in Rio, at the world's biggest party, we didn't take much persuading. OK, at first the obscenely inflated room rates gave us cold feet, but eventually Johann found one that had only slightly cheeky pricing and was superbly located at the Ipanema end of Copacabana Beach. It also had a Club option which included a free bar. Knowing our previous alcohol consumption levels when travelling with the Swarts, we guessed that might prove a wise investment.

It didn't take us long to get stuck in. We'd only been in the hotel for five minutes before we were supping our first glass of bubbly, one which they kept topping up in the Club Lounge. It was very late when we arrived, but it didn't stop the four of us from getting together, even though we were all pretty knackered after a long days travelling (us) or walking (S&J). The faint glowing apparition, hovering on the hillside behind, puzzled us. We were so tired, we'd failed to recognise the statue of Christ Redeemer on Corcovado Mountain - definitely time to call it a night.

What a glorious feeling, not having to get up until late. It was,
after all, New Year's Eve and the only appointment we had was with Sandra and Johann for Mimosas in the Club at noon. With inclement weather threatening, one drink soon lead to two, and then three, as we caught up with tales of travel and everyday life. Both Johann and Keith are great storytellers and the laughter flowed, as it always does when we're together.

After a brief siesta, we decided to head down to Copacabana and take a stroll, or even a samba, along the beach. Although it was only 7pm, and raining a bit, the seafront was buzzing with party-goers. Most were wearing white; the Brazilian dress code for Reveillon (New Year's Eve). We had white outfits planned for the party later, but decided to supplement them by buying four white trilby hats, which looked pretty stylish on us, if we say so ourselves. They were also useful to keep off the rain!

Crowds were forming around one of the four live music stages set up on the beach for the night. We watched as a group of three pretty girls gave a masterclass in samba. The boys were entranced by the lovely ladies rapid footwork and wiggling hips. It wasn't long before we all joined in, not knowing what we were doing and being completely outclassed. Beyond the stage, outside one of the many temporary beer stands, another group of girls were doing a much more accessible dance - the booty flip. You know, the one Beyoncé does in the video. Sandra and Jan were well equipped (still sozzled and ample of rear) so they crouched down, stuck out their bums and gave it an enthusiastic attempt. We're not sure whether it was a compliment or a criticism, but one of the girls offered Jan and Sandra free dance lessons the next day.

We could have wandered up and down all night, but needed to get back for the gala dinner party - we'd spent a fortune on tickets. As it was, the heavens opened just as we pushed through the hotel doors. The table we'd booked was on the balcony, overlooking the whole of the beach, and fortunately it was covered. However, the wind and rain was so strong that the plastic side walls had been lowered. We couldn't see a thing. It didn't matter at first, as we ploughed into a sumptuous buffet of lobster, caviar and pan-fried fois gras, amongst other delicacies, all washed down with Veuve Cliquot and fine wines. We reckoned the wine waiters were on commission for how many bottles of Champagne they could empty into the guests - it appeared to be never ending.

The mystery couple on our table for six arrived late, then upset the balance by insisting they had the two side-by-side seats they'd booked, spoiling our conversation dynamic. After a frosty start, they turned out to be a nice enough local couple. She didn't look a day over forty but had four kids, the youngest being 36. We asked the secret to her youthful looks. "Plenty of sex" explained her boastful husband, who reminded us a little of Ian Hislop. It would have been a conversation stopper, but Keith couldn't help asking "Who with?".

Fortunately the wind and rain eased, and the plastic screens were rolled up just in time to watch the firework display at midnight. It looked amazing for the first five minutes. After that, the smoke from the fireworks, trapped under the low cloud, pretty much obscured ninety percent of the action. It sounded immense and the huge crowds seemed to enjoy it. Since we had been on the beach, numbers had swelled to about two million, making it officially the biggest New Year's Eve party in the world. That doesn't include the thousands watching on the dozens of massive cruise ships anchored in the bay.

Hundreds of revellers were enjoying their first swim of the new year, but for some it was more serious: a baptism into one of the cults that worship Iemanja, the beloved African goddess of the sea. Other followers had created candle lit sand altars - that we originally mistook for sandcastles. Many more lined the shoreline to launch small handmade boats carrying gifts of flowers, perfume, lipstick, mirrors and lit candles - anxious to see if Iemanja would accept them (if they drift out to sea) or reject them (the waves return them to shore). Judging by the mass of gladioli and detritus in the surf, she wasn't in a receptive mood.

We watched for a while then returned to our drinks. After that, the evening blurred - well we're too polite to tell tales of the inebriated - and at around 3pm we all finally called it a night. Feliz Ano Novo - Happy New Year.

Dancing with Luis - no we
don't know who he is

Copacobana Beach bums

Hello 2012

MOre Dancing on the Street

Now that's a Sandcastle!

At the Party

Sandra and Johann

2 million on the beach

The Fireworks

First Dip

Woo iss the worrrld really that blurrry!

Back to South America!

2012-01-02T15:35:00.000Z

Friday, 30 December 2011 – London Heathrow to Rio Antonio Carlos Jobim
British Airways flight No: BA 249 Dep: 1200 Arr: 2150 Duration: 11hr 40min

Brazil Introduction
Immense in size and experience, this Latin American giant is a heady delight of natural spectacle; vibrant cities, golden beaches and intoxicating rhythm linked to a fascinating history and hope for the future. Brazil is a scintillating place that surpasses expectations; familiar images of barefoot boys skillfully playing football on the beach and steamy expanses of emerald rainforest will all be realised, and so much more besides. From thundering waterfalls to charming colonial towns, from wetlands teeming with wildlife to deserted beaches, Brazil is a wonderful geographically, ethnically and culturally diverse country. To a soundtrack of mellow bossa nova and with a cold caipirinha in hand, immerse yourself in Brazil. Brazil is a wonderful and diverse country with something to offer everyone.

Rio de Janeiro Introduction
On New Year's Day 1502, the first Europeans arrived in the area. They were part of a Portuguese exploratory voyage headed by Amerigo Vespucci, and initially thought they had landed at the mouth of a large river, hence the name Rio de Janeiro (River of January). Initially the Tamois Indians of the area were left in peace as the Portuguese concentrated on colonising other areas of Brazil, but after the French tried to get a foothold in the New World by establishing a garrison near Sugar Loaf Mountain in 1555, Rio received more attention from the Portuguese Crown. The development of the city came through it being the control and taxation centre of the sugar trade in the late 16th and 17th centuries. However, with the discovery of gold in the neighbouring state of Minas Gerais in the early 18th century, Rio became the colony’s financial centre and was named the colonial capital. The city even became the capital of the Portuguese Empire when the Royal family fled Napoleon in 1808, before changing again to become capital of the Brazilian Empire after independence in 1822. The city had a population explosion and by the 1920s it had become an exotic destination for the world’s rich and famous. Although the title of capital was given to Brasilia in 1960, it remains the nation’s capital in the hearts of its 7 million inhabitants, and is considered to be one of the most beautiful cities in the world.
Rio is a must see for anyone visiting Brazil for the first time or even for those returning for second or third visits. The famous beach areas of Copacabana and Ipanema offer a wealth of large beach front hotels. Many are somewhat lacking in character but location wise are ideal for exploring the beach and surrounding areas. For something more characterful, there are several charming options in the historic Santa Teresa area of the city.
Sofitel

Saturday, 31 December 2011 Rio de Janeiro at leisure
Rio de Janeiro is one of the most exciting cities in the world, and there is a wealth of things to do and see. Optional trips are available; these include a trip to the botanical gardens, or a jeep tour to the Tijuca Rainforest. Other ideas include a trip to the nearby mountain town of Petropolis, a more in-depth walking tour around the colonial area of Rio, or a fascinating tour around one of the 'favelas' (slums) run by a local man and with profits going to social works. We also sponsor a local children's project which our clients can visit and spend time with them (this needs to be prearranged, please ask). Hiring bicycles (there are a couple of places around Ipanema) is a nice way to explore the promenades. If you wish to go a little further afield then there is a remarkable Modern Art Museum across the bay in Niteroi.

Sunday, 01 January 2012 – Happy New Year!

Monday, 02 January 2012 - Own arrangements.

Tuesday, 03 January 2012 – Make your own way to the airport
Rio Antonio Carlos Jobim International to Sao Paulo Guarulhos
TAM Airline Flight No: JJ 8050 Dep: 1229 Arr: 1330 Duration: 01hr 01min

Sao Paulo Guarulhos to Santa Cruz, Bolivia
Aerosur Flight No: 5L 301 Dep: 1700 Arr: 1745 Duration: 02hr 45min

Bolivia Introduction
Bolivia, the landlocked country at the heart of South America, is an unforgettable destination. Traditional religions, languages, costumes and festivals of many thousands of years have been gilded by a layer of Spanish colonialism, resulting in a colourful and intriguing culture. The country has long been one of our favourite Latin American countries, and we love to include it in our itineraries, as we believe it is sadly overlooked by many travellers, although maybe it is this that is preserving its charm? Bolivia today is moving into a new era, with the election in 2006 of its first indigenous president Evo Morales, and he is trying to redress the levels of inequality that have plagued the country for hundreds of years. A fascinating and beautiful destination that will give you a true taste of Latin America.

Santa Cruz to La Paz
Aerosur flight No: 5L 211 Dep: 1910 Arr: 2010 Duration: 01hr

La Paz Introduction
This city will quite literally take your breath away. It has an altitude of 3632 metres and is set in natural bowl in the middle of the altiplano, watched over by the snowcapped and triplepeaked Mount Illimani. The full name of the city is La Ciudad de Nuestra Senora de La Paz (The City of Our Lady of Peace) and although Sucre is the judicial capital of Bolivia, La Paz has nearly all the government power and is the de facto capital. In contrast with most cities in the developing world, in La Paz the rich live at the lowest points of the canyon, whereas the poor people’s houses cling to the steep walls of the canyon’s sides. Much of the city’s architecture is modern, but there are some fine plazas and churches, but the real pleasure of La Paz is in the colourful inhabitants with their street markets and friendliness.
When walking around the city, be on your guard for potential scams. These have got quite sophisticated and can involve several 'actors' playing roles of eg tourist and policeman. Do not show your documents to anyone, and if they continue to insist, ask them to accompany you to a local police station by foot, which should soon see them off.

Arrival transfer from El Alto to your hotel this journey will take about half an hour (depending on the traffic) and takes you from the city of El Alto down into the canyon where La Paz sits your first view of the city should be a memorable one.
Hotel Europa, La Paz

Wednesday, 04 January 2012 - A Full Day Tour to Coroico
Travel up out of La Paz towards La Cumbre (4859 metres) and then the descent begins. Nowadays this is via a newly paved route, although if you are feeling brave we can see if it is possible to take you down what has been termed ‘The World’s Most Dangerous Road’. Either way it is in reality a thrillingly panoramic trip that sees you descend from jagged mountain tops and iced streams to lush subtropical jungle complete with tropical birds and plants. Your destination is the sleepy little town of Coroico, which nestles amid the orange and banana groves and coffee plantations. Your day here will be free to explore the sleepy streets or recover after the thrilling drive!
Hotel El Viejo Molino, Coroico

Thursday, 05 January 2012 – Return journey to La Paz
Today you will travel back to La Paz along either the new road or the original road.
Hotel Europa, La Paz

Friday, 06 January 2012 - Full day excursion to Sorata ending in Huatajata
Located at the foot of the Illampu peak in the Larecaja Province, Sorata is surrounded by beautiful mountains and valleys. You will spend the day exploring the area and learning about the local Aymara habitants. You will visit San Pedro Cave where there is a small lagoon that is home to an abundance of fauna as well a diverse range of species of bats. You will then continue on to Huatajata on the edge of Lake Titicaca.
Inca Utama Hotel & Spa, Huatajata

Saturday, 07 January 2012 – Huatajata to Sun Island
This morning you will board a hydrofoil to take you to Sun Island past the headquarters of the Bolivian Navy to the shores of the lake and the small town of Huatajata. Enroute you will visit the UrusIruitos floating islands & Quewaya Sustainable Project, which endeavours to preserve a 5000 year old culture and a social project created to ensure their survival. From the islands there is also a breathtaking view of the Cordillera Real (‘Royal Range’) of the Andes. Upon arrival on Sun Island you will visit the "Pilcocaina" Sun Temple. You will visit the UrusIruitos floating islands & Quewaya Sustainable Projects from Huatajata).

Sun Island Introduction
The beautiful Sun Island (known to its early inhabitants as Titi Khar’ka, the ‘rock of the puma’ from which Lake Titicaca gets its name) is believed to be the birthplace of the Inca Empire. On the northwestern end of the island is a rock that is worshipped as the place where Manco Kapac and Mama Ocllo (the children of the god Viracocha) were born, they went on to found the mighty Inca civilisation. Today on this island you can see agricultural terracing that predates the Incas, the remains of an Inca temple and a fountain that offers eternal youth, as well as traditional communities of over 5000 people and grazing llamas.

Upon arrival at the little jetty you will be met by a Sun Islander with their llama, which will carry your bags along the paths up to the Posada del Inca hacienda. After a late lunch, you will be at leisure to explore the island or simply relax in the garden of the hotel. Your guide may suggest a windy walk to the island’s highest point for sunset prior to dinner.

Sun Island at leisure
Sun Island is perfect place to unwind and enjoy breathtaking views of Lake Titicaca. There are a number small ruins and tiny traditional villages on the island but with no vehicles, getting about is restricted to walking some of the lovely trails or taking a boat. The network of walking tracks make exploration straight forward but altitude may take its toll so make sure walking is carried out a gentle pace even if you feel comfortable when you first arrive. The islands most spectacular ruins complex can be found at Chincana (the labyrinth) on the northern tip of the island, which offers impressive views across the lake. The Chincana contains trapezoidal doors and niches which were adapted during the latter stages of the Inca period. These ruins were believed to be a support facility for the Island’s Shrine, housing the maiden who took care of the Shrine. The ruins can be reached in around 3 hours trekking one way but you may want to make the return journey by motor boat.
Posada del Inca, Sun Island

Sunday, 08 January 2012 - Sun Island to La Paz via Tiahuanaco
After visiting the Inca staircase and sacred fountain you will have lunch at the Uma Kollu restaurant, overlooking Lake Titicaca. You then descend to the dock to board the hydrofoil that will then take you past the headquarters of the Bolivian Navy to the shores of the lake and the Andean Roots EcoVillage in Huatajata. Here your guide will explain the options that you have for exploring. The hotel may be a mixture of architectural styles, but within its walls are some fascinating museums on the lake and the cultures that have been inspired by it. Your guide will show you around the Andean Eco Village, the Altiplano Museum, and take you to see the 'Kallawaya', a medicine man of Bolivia who will (for a small donation!) read your future with his coca leaves. The whole experience is perhaps a little twee and "touristic" for some tastes, however it is interesting and well intentioned.
The journey continues by car to La Paz, taking you across the bleak altiplano before entering the city of El Alto, which is strung across the land at the top of a vast canyon. You will then descend down into the canyon and the city of La Paz itself. You will visit the Tiahuanaco ruins en route to La Paz.
Hotel Europa, La Paz

Monday, 09 January 2012 - Excursion to the Palca Canyon
Today you will drive out to the Palca Canyon east of La Paz. This spectacular canyon is known for its bizarre clay and rock formations resulting from 7 million years worth of erosion. The rivers that flow through the canyon are tributaries of the Amazon. The presence of mineral pigments give colour to the mountains whilst volcanic rocks and fossils next to the presence of hawks, eagles and other Andean birds, demonstrate a unique eco system to this region.
Hotel Europa, La Paz

Tuesday, 10 January 2012
You will be collected from your hotel and taken by private transfer to the airport in plenty of time for your onward flight.

La Paz to Santiago
Sky Airlines Flight No: H2 405 Dep: 1230 Arr: 1825 Duration: 03hr 30min

Chile Introduction
Chilean legend has it that when God had finished creating earth, he walked back across the heavens and a little of everything that was left; mountains, deserts, lakes, glaciers, volcanoes and valleys, trickled out through a hole in his pocket, and thus Chile was born. So, this implausibly long and thin ribbon of land that unfurls down the Pacific coast of South America compresses an extraordinarily diverse range of terrain between its Andean spine on one side and the ocean to the other. Sweeping from the world's highest and driest desert down through rolling vineyards, past snowdusted volcanoes, narrow fjords and turquoise lakes to sharp granite peaks towering above blue icebergs, this slender slice of land is also bursting with culture and charm. Chileans are proud and friendly, fiercely protecting their traditions, keen to boast about their two Nobel prize winning compatriots; Pablo Neruda and Gabriela Mistral, and more than happy to enjoy a glass of the fiery national cocktail, pisco, with visitors. Add to all this the mysterious statues of Easter Island marooned five hours' flight away out in the Pacific Ocean, and you have every imaginable ingredient for a wealth of sights and experiences.

Santiago Introduction
The bustling and cosmopolitan capital of Chile is set against a dramatic backdrop of snowcapped Andean mountains. The city was founded by Pedro de Valdivia in 1541, as the farthest outpost of the Spanish empire, but for a long period was just a small town without a safe water supply and suffering occasional floods from the Rio Mapocho. But once flood defences were built, and infrastructure improved, the city began to grow. During the late18th century the elegant neoclassical centre was built, and after independence the 19th century trade wealth began to flow in and handsome mansions and public buildings began to spring up. Today Santiago is the fifth largest city in Latin America, with its climate and fountain filled plazas lending it a southern European feel. The city now has many glittering tower blocks to add to the remainder of its colonial buildings, a testament to the fact Chile has Latin America’s most successful economy.

Santiago to Casa La Postolle in the Colchagua Valley
You will be met at the airport and transferred in to the Colchagua Valley, a journey of approximately 2 and a half hours.

Colchagua Valley Introduction
The Colchagua Valley lies to the south of Santiago and makes up a major part of the Central Valley. It makes up a vital part of the Chilean economy as a producer of fruit to be exported around the world, but, perhaps more famously, this is also a major wine producing region. While it is only an hour and a half away from Santiago it feels a million miles away. The rolling hills not only provide stunning scenery but also the perfect base for viticulture, and, as with most of Chile, the Andes are always there in the back ground.
Casa Lapostolle, Colchagua Valley

Wednesday, 11 January 2012 - Casa Lapostolle tour, tasting and lunch
Casa Lapostolle is living proof of the fact that experienced winemakers are certain of Chile's ability to produce world class products. This winery is owned by the MarnierLapostolle (of Grand Marnier fame), who have generations of experience producing some of the finest wines from the Loire Valley, including Chateau Sancerre. Ground at their vineyards was first broken in 1994 and not to produce bulk wine, the original intent was to make some of the best wines any one had ever come across. The results have been pretty spectacular. With vines growing in the Casablanca, Requinoa and Apalta valleys the quality of the product has been advancing steadily over the years. The 'Classic' range has been designed to produce easily accessible varietals that can be drunk young but still have great character. The next step up the ladder are the Cuvee Alexandre varietals which are produced in much smaller quantities and have proved to be incredibly popular in the UK.
At the top of the tree you will find Clos Apalta, a blend of Carmenere, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. First produced in 1997 the early vintages are really starting to develop into something special, more recent wines certainly have potential but are perhaps a touch unapproachable as yet.
The real jewel in the crown for Lapostolle however is their new winery. A corkscrew of a building it burrows six floors down through the rock and houses the entire production and cellaring for the produce. It goes so deep that a pendulum hung in the middle of the spiral staircase swings with the movement of the earth! Just this building makes the visit worthwhile.
Today's excursion includes a tour of the winery, tastings of some of the most famous wines here and then lunch in the Casa Perron.
Casa Lapostolle, Colchagua Valley

Thursday, 12 January 2012 - Day at leisure.
Casa Lapostolle, Colchagua Valley

Friday, 13 January 2012 – Colchagua Valley to Santiago
You will be picked up from your hotel and transferred northwards back to Santiago, a journey of approximately 2 hours.
Holiday Inn Aeropuerto, Santiago

Saturday, 14 January 2012 - Santiago Terminal: D to Puerto Montt
LAN Flight No: LA 269 Dep: 0915 Arr: 1100 Duration: 01hr 45min

Puerto Montt Introduction
Puerto Montt was founded in the 1850's by German settlers who had been enticed to Chile during that period. The site was chosen for the new town after the discovery of it proximity to the open ocean. In the late 1960's the town became infamous following the shooting of 11 squatters who had taken up residence on unclaimed land out side the town, this episode now immortalised in Chilean folklore.
Today the city is the largest growing settlement in Chile with a population of over 400,000. The growth comes down to the main income of the town being aquaculture and salmon farming in particular. The surrounding areas are also a rich basin for agriculture. This is an industrial city which, as far as visitors to the area are concerned, offers fairly little, save for the fact that this is where the main airport for the area can be found, just 30 mins from Puerto Varas.
You will be met at the airport and transferred on a private basis to the pier to board the Nomads of the Seas boat.
Nomads of the Seas Cruise, Puerto Montt

Sunday, 15 January 2012 - Friday, 20 January 2012 - Nomads of the Seas Cruise

Saturday, 21 January 2012 - This morning you will arrive back in to Puerto Montt. You will disembark the boat where you will be met and transferred to the airport.

Puerto Montt to Santiago Terminal: D
LAN Flight No: LA 268 Dep: 1255 Arr: 1435 Duration:01hr 40min

Santiago Terminal: D to Calama
LAN Flight No: LA 154 Dep: 1620 Arr: 1825 Duration:02hr 05min

Calama Introduction
At some 2,400m above sea level Calama is capital of the Loa province of northern Chile. The 145,000 inhabitants live in one of the driest cities in the world with an average rainfall of just 5mm meaning that they rely on the river Loa (the longest in Chile) for their water supply. Like so many settlements in this region of South America, Calama has had a chequered past with the land changing hands between Chile and Bolivia several times between the 1880's and the early 20th century. It is central to the nitrate and copper industries that provide the basis for the economy in the region but for the visitor Calama is little more than the entry point for visits to the Atacama desert. Calama to San Pedro de Atacama seat in coach transfer provided by Awasi You will be met at the airport by a representative of the Awasi hotel and driven to your accommodation near the village of San Pedro de Atacama.

San Pedro de Atacama Introduction
An oasis town of narrow streets and adobe houses, San Pedro de Atacama is an excellent base for desert trips. Set at an altitude of 2400 metres between the desert and the high altiplano, this town has been an important settlement since preHispanic times, as it was a stop between the trading communities of the coast and the mountains. It then became an important rest stop for traders during the nitrate era, before its present incarnation as a friendly base for travellers. The Atacama Desert itself, in which San Pedro is located, has been described as a 'perfect' desert as there are areas of it where no rainfall has ever been recorded. It is a strange landscape that stretches over 1200km, a surreal and barren region of volcanoes, salt flats, cacti, moonlike valleys, geysers and remote villages. There is also a rich archaeological history here, this region was located on traditional trade routes and has thus seen various ancient empires rise and fall. The arid climatic conditions have perfectly preserved a number of archaeological artifacts, ranging from petroglyphs to seven thousand year old mummies. Also preserved in the desert are a number of eerie ghost towns, dating from the 19th century nitrate boom.
Awasi, San Pedro de Atacama

Sunday, 22 January 2012 - Atacama Desert excursions from Awasi
During your time at Awasi you will be able to join a range of excursions organised by the lodge. Some options include a dawn visit to the spectacular Tatio geyser field, a guided archaeological tour of San Pedro de Atacama and the surrounding sites, flamingo spotting on the salt flats of the Salar de Atacama, and watching the sun set over the dramatic sand dunes of the Valley of the Moon. Also possible is a trip to Laguna Verde in Bolivia, plus gentle trekking and horse riding excursions.
Awasi, San Pedro de Atacama

Monday, 23 January 2012 - Awasi, San Pedro de Atacama

Tuesday, 24 January 2012 - San Pedro de Atacama to Soniquera
You will be picked up from your hotel in San Pedro de Atacama and will travel to Hito Cajon where you will cross the border into Bolivia. Here you will enter the Eduardo Avaroa National Park in the province of Sud Lipez. Flora and fauna have adapted to the extreme living conditions in this area which is considered to be one of the most inhospitable areas of Bolivia. The region has beautiful lakes, salt pans, volcanoes, snow capped peaks, thermal springs and rivers. You will visit Laguna Verde with its emerald green waters and views of the majestic Licancabur Volcano before continuing on to the Sol de Manana geysers. These geysers, fumaroles and volcanic craters create a spectacular display of volcanic activity in the form of boiling lava and emissions of steam reaching 100 metres in height. A further one hours drive away you will reach the magnificent Laguna Colorada at 4,278 metres above sea level and characterised by the red tone of its waters. It is inhabited by various species of flamingos, reaching thousands in numbers at certain times of the year. This is considered to be the most important flamingo watching site in the region, with the presence of the rare James flamingo, and is especially interesting due to the colour of the lagoon. You will then proceed to your hotel, around 40 minutes from the lake.
Hotel Tayka del Desierto, Ojo de Perdiz near Soniquera, Soniquera

Wednesday, 25 January 2012 - Soniquera to Luna Salada
Today you will continue on to Uyuni. On route you will visit the bizarre Stone Tree, the Siloli Desert, Hedionda Lagoon and Frogs Valley.

Uyuni Introduction
Uyuni is a dusty and drafty place that has something of a Wild West frontier town feel. It started life as a railway junction in the late 19th century, and today the most interesting sight is the ‘Train Graveyard’ that is situated just outside the town. Here lie the rusting and decaying hulks of dozens of steam locomotives and carriages. Bringing out the hidden (or not so hidden!) trainspotter in you, this is an eerie yet bizarrely fascinating sight. The town itself is on a grid pattern, a windswept place of long and quiet roads that seem to vanish off into the desert beyond. Tourism is a relatively new concept in this area seeing as it is both in Bolivia and also tremendously remote. Visitors who are not backpackers are quite rare, therefore concepts of ‘good service’ may not be met. However, the guides and drivers are friendly and knowledgeable, and the accommodation is clean though basic.
Hotel Luna Salada, Uyuni

Thursday, 26 January 2012 - Explore the Salar de Uyuni
This should be one of the most stunning days of your trip, as the bright white of the salt contrasts with the deep blue of the sky. At 12,100 square kilometers, this is the highest and largest salt pan in the world. When the weather is and has been dry it is a blinding expanse of white that stretches to the horizon, and up close you can see how the salt dries into hexagonal slabs. Travel across the salt to an 'island' known as Fish Island, probably because when the salt lake surface is covered with water it perfectly reflects the island, which then has a shape similar to a fish. You will walk around the island which is covered in hundreds of cacti of all different sizes. Make sure your guide also takes time to show you how to take the classic 'strange perspective' photographs here!
Hotel Luna Salada, Uyuni

Friday, 27 January 2012 - Uyuni to Potosi
Travel by road from the remote Uyuni to the town of Potosi, the journey should be about 5 to 7 hours, depending on how many stops you make for photographing the llamas!

Potosi Introduction
The highest city in the world at 4100 metres above sea level, Potosi has a sad but fascinating history that stems from silver. Discovered in the mid 16th century in the mountain that came to be called Cerro Rico (Rich Hill), the silver made the fortune of the Spanish who controlled the production and export, yet cost the lives of hundreds of thousands of indigenous slaves who were forced to do the dangerous work in the mines. The city came to be one of the largest and richest in the world in the 17th century but the boom soon gave way to bust and for the past 200 years Potosi has been struggling and today the fabulous riches of the colonial rulers of the past have gone. The mine is still worked, but it is a dangerous job that costs the lives of the majority of the miners who work all day everyday deep underground for low pay.

Today you will visit the Casa de la Moneda, the former fortress and Spanish Royal Mint, for a background insight into the colonial period as well as the San Francisco church, apparently Bolivia's oldest.
Hotel Coloso, Potosi

Saturday, 28 January 2012 - Potosi to Sucre
You will travel by road to Sucre, a journey of approximately 3 hours.

Sucre Introduction
Sucre is the official capital of Bolivia, and the nation’s most beautiful city (so its inhabitants will tell you). Initially the indigenous capital of the Choque Chaca valley, the area then became the capital of the easternmost Spanish territories in the Americas. After independence, the city was renamed after the first president of the new republic. Today Sucre is a relatively prosperous university city that was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1992. It has elegance and charm that comes from its fine whitewashed colonial buildings which include several glorious churches, a shady main plaza and year round good climate.
Parador Santa Maria la Real, Sucre

Sunday, 29 January 2012 - Sucre city tour
This tour first takes you up to La Recoleta, a colonial square with a church and archways which offer a lovely view over the amber rooftops of the city and surrounding green hills. You will then visit the interesting Ethnographic Textile Museum, to see its display of local weavings and costumes. This museum also has a programme to improve the lives of the indigenous population by making others more aware of their culture and making sure they get a fair price for their textiles. Next you will stroll around the main square and visit the colonial buildings that surround it, before visiting Casa de la Libertad (Liberty House) where Bolivia’s declaration independence was signed, and the central market where you could stop for a fruit juice freshly squeezed by one of the ‘juice ladies’.
Parador Santa Maria la Real, Sucre

Monday, 30 January 2012 - Sucre to Santa Cruz
Aerosur Flight No: 5L 133 Dep: 1615 Arr: 1645 Duration: 30min
Hotel Camino Real, Santa Cruz

Tuesday, 31 January 2012 - Santa Cruz to Concepcion (via San Javier)
You will be picked up from your hotel in Santa Cruz and travel by road through the small villages of Cotoca, Pailas, Pailon and Los Troncos. You will lunch in the town of San Javier, and a walk through the town. In the afternoon you will continue on to Concepcion. If time you will briefly visit the Sapoco Dam.
Hotel Chiquitos, Concepcion

Wednesday, 01 February 2012 - Concepcion to Santa Cruz
This morning you will visit the impressive mission in the sleepy town of Concepcion, plus the workshop where youngsters of the region hone their woodworking skills and learn the conservation skills needed to keep the missions of the area in top condition. After lunch you will return to Santa Cruz.
Hotel Camino Real, Santa Cruz

Thursday, 02 February 2012 - Santa Cruz to La Paz
On arrival at the station, you will be transferred directly to the airport for your onward flight.

Aerosur Flight No: 5L100 Dep: 0700 Arr: 0800

Upon arrival in La Paz you will be met and transferred to Copacabana on a private basis. In the evening you will visit the local square where the Candelaria Virgen festival begins.
Hotel Rosario del Lago, Copacabana

Friday, 03 February 2012 - Copacabana to La Paz
You will transfer to La Paz by road, a journey of approximately 3/4 hours.

La Paz to Lima Jorge Chavez
LAN Flight No: LA2563 Dep: 1425 Arr: 1800 Duration: 03hr 50min
Own arrangements in Lima.

Saturday, 04 February 2012 - Own arrangements.

Sunday, 05 February 2012 - Lima Jorge Chavez to Caracas
Taca International Airlines flight No: TA 48 Dep: 1025 Arr: 1455 Duration: 04hr

Venezuela Introduction
Venezuela is a country of incredible natural beauty and contrasts from Beach to Jungle, Mountain to Flat plain, Indian culture to Wildlife culture all relatively wild and untouched. The Coastal area consists of several thousand kilometers of tropical beaches, running between the sea and the northern mountain chain. The Sierra Nevada de Mérida, the northern tip of the Andean chain lies to the northeast of Venezuela. North of the Cordillera extending to the lowland basin around Lago Maracaibo, is Venezuela’s main oil producing area. The mountains roll southward into a vast area of plains known as Los Llanos, which stretches down to the Orinoco River, occupying one third of the country’s territory and a mecca for wildlife. The 1335mile Río Orinoco is Venezuela's main river, Its entire course lying within the national boundaries. The Orinoco Delta consists of over 50 major river channels, covering an area equal to that of Switzerland or the Netherlands giving home to the Warao Indians. To the south and east of the Orinoco lie the Guyana Highlands. This region makes up half of the nation’s territory. The jungle, the Amazon basin, the tepuis, and the world's highest waterfall make this partially unexplored region one of the most enticing in Venezuela.

Is Venezuela for you?
Venezuela is a country not without its trials, luxury it certainly is not but rewarding most definitely can be. Despite the outstanding natural beauty of the country many people you will encounter will be exasperated by the current political status. It appears to have invoked a somewhat laid back almost lazy lifestyle where people are resigned. Service levels in the country are not in line with the apparent hotel category rating and the food is, regularly, mediocre at best. You should be prepared for this although the guides we provide should demonstrate a higher level of professionalism. So many things in Venezuela can change without notice and we will do our best to manage these changes. With Hugo Chavez in power, laws, exchange rates, flight schedules change overnight (the finest example of this was recently when Chavez declared a National holiday on his 10th anniversary in power. Within hours it became illegal for Venezuelans to work with all flights in the country cancelled with the risk of workers being fined if they turned up). A sense of adventure is certainly required and you have to be flexible before embarking on a trip to the country as at least one element of your trip will change between now and when you travel.
DO NOT try to change money with anyone who approaches you in the airport. They are likely to be undercover police or, even if genuine, are likely to do you out of money through slight of hand. Ask your guide once in the vehicle and they will readily change the money at the "grey market" rate or hotels on your trip. Take as many US$ as you feel comfortable travelling ($800 for a couple for a 2 week trip is a good guideline but more if you plan to organise excursions locally in Canaima or fishing boats in Los Roques). Having too many US$ is not a bad thing. Too few and things become much more expensive if you have to withdraw money from a cash machine. If you do require additional cash, cash point machines are only available in the major cities so planning ahead with cash may be required in some places. Travellers Cheques are a little out dated in Venezuela. The lower rates and commission charges for changing them mean that you will receive a poorer rate of exchange. Visa and Mastercard are sporadically accepted and, as mentioned above, you will only receive the official exchange rate for transactions undertaken with them.
DOMESTIC FLIGHTS: When taking a domestic flight from Caracas (always referred to as "Maquietia" internally) please keep an eye on staff and ask locals if you are unsure about your flight information as the monitors here regularly do not work or give false information, particularly for Los Roques flights. As a good guide check with the buses pulling up outside the gate and look for one with your airline name on it as this will likely correspond with your flight. You will almost certainly at some stage pass through Gate 5. This gate is down an escalator and is subdivided into Gates AD. This can be the most confusing gate so keep your wits about you. Schedule changes are common and as a guideline expect every flight to take off at least 30 minutes after the scheduled departure time. Our local agents will be on top of any major changes though. By international standards, adhering to finalised schedules is uncommon. There are regular reports of flights taking off when they are ready so please be patient and try to take the mañana attitude in your stride. This attitude should be taken where you have connecting flights (particularly in Puerto Ordaz) as well. Despite this apparent chaos we deal with very few missed connections each year as the majority of onward flights will operate to their own schedules and will wait for you.

Caracas Introduction
Venezuela's capital was founded in 1567 as a centre for coffee and cocoa plantations and transportation. It's colonial centre is now just a tiny part of this sprawling city; Caracas is now a mad hustle and bustle of sky scrapers, congested freeways and 5 million inhabitants! However, it offers great shopping, museums (some closed on Mondays), galleries and surprisingly many lovely green parks. Caracas lies in a valley in the thickly forested Central Highlands which rise abruptly from a lush green coast to heights of 3000m. Dominating the skyline are the peaks of Avila National Park with excellent walking and a superb cable car trip to one of the peaks with an incredible panoramic view over the whole city and down the other side to the coast. The Museum of Contemporary Art is small but considered one of the best in South America. It houses a collection of about 100 Picasso engravings including the Dionysiacs and The Minotaur. Other exhibited works include Francis Bacon, Henry Moore and Miro. We do advise when exploring at night to take a licensed white taxi at all times and when out sightseeing not to actively display expensive cameras, jewellery etc.

Arrival Transfer to hotel
On arrival, once you have cleared any airport formalities, you will be met and transferred to your accommodation. The drive into downtown Caracas can take anywhere between 45 minutes to 1.5 hours depending on the traffic.
Hotel Tamanaco InterContinental, Caracas

Monday, 06 February 2012 - Caracas to Puerto Ordaz
Conviasa flight No: V02380 Dep: 0700 Arr: 0800

Puerto Ordaz to Canaima
Transmandu flight No: Transmandu Dep: 0900 Arr: 1100

Canaima Introduction
Between the rainforest of the Amazon Basin and the Orinoco river in central Venezuela is a rugged wall of remote mountains and deep, heavily forested canyons. Many of these mountains rise straight out of the surrounding savannah with vertical walls upto 1800 metres high where they end in an almost perfectly flat top. These formations are known by their Indian name: Tepuys. This region remains one of the most thinly settled and one of the most beautiful natural areas in South America. The whole area is know as the Gran Sabana and protecting it is Canaima National Park; covering 3000,000 hectares of land it is one of the six largest National Parks in the world. It is a unique and beautiful place encompassing around 100 table top mountains (tepuys), and countless waterfalls, including Angel Falls. The world's highest waterfall is in a canyon so remote it wasn’t discovered until 1935 by it's namesake Jimmy Angel. Plunging 979m, down a vertical cliff from Auyantepui it is a truly awe inspiring sight. The main tourist centre within the park is the small Pemon Indian town of Canaima which lies by, a beautiful tanninstained lagoon with soft beige beaches. It is an absolutely stunning place with the Rio Carrao tumbling spectacularly over six waterfalls in to the lagoon below with the surrounding countryside complementing the scene completely. Several lodges have sprung up in recent years to cope with the tourist numbers it encounters but the area is still so remote and so wellprotected that Canaima has retained its magical charm. All the lodges offer excellent excursions, usually dependant on water levels, including boat trips on the lagoon, walks behind Sapo Falls, flights over Angel falls, trips to Orchid Island and day trips to the base of Angel falls.
You will be met at the airport by a representative from your lodge and driven for about 5 minutes in a safari style truck to your accommodation. After alighting the aircraft at Canaima landing strip you will be required to pass through a small control point where you will need to pay an entrance fee to the National Park. This is currently 35 BFs (subject to change at any time) and is payable in local currency only. Members of your lodge will be waiting for you at the other side of this point.

Half day tour of Canaima Lagoon
A beautiful boat tour of Canaima lagoon in a traditional Indian motorized canoe (curiara) with a walk to Sapo Falls and depending on water levels either a walk behind the thundering curtain of water of Sapo Falls or Hacha Falls (usually Hacha between January and April and Sapo for the rest of the year). The trip will end with a swim to cool off in the lagoon.
Waku Lodge, Canaima

Tuesday, 07 February 2012 - Flight over Angel Falls & Kavak Canyon
This morning, weather permitting, you will experience one of the most unmissable sights in Venezuela the truly breathtaking Angel Falls, the highest waterfall in the world, plunging 979m down a vertical cliff from Auyan tepui. The flight will take you over the surrounding table top mountains into Devil's Canyon and past Angel Falls before heading onto the village of Kavak. Upon arrival you will hike up to explore the narrow Kavak Canyon and waterfalls and swim in the plunge pools along the way before returning to the village for a tasty lunch. Please note some of this trail is in the water with rope handrail against the rocks. You will then fly back to Canaima. After alighting the aircraft at Kavak village the local villagers will ask for a donation.
Waku Lodge, Canaima

Wednesday, 08 February 2012 - At leisure
With free time in Canaima the most obvious option is to relax and enjoy the spectacular views of the falls. Other activities include a short walk out of the lodge to the local store, which is worth it not only to view the incredible collection of items for sale but also to potentially buy some supplies and contribute to the local economy. There are several artisan shops in the area and walks are possible.
Walks are possible from the lodge via the village along to the small beach area for sunbathing (swimming in the lagoon is possible) and you can walk up around the beach area to the sluice gate above the Canaima Falls, or further up the track to experience the jungle (a long walk) or into the village (behind Hortuvensa camp) to see local life.
Waku Lodge, Canaima

Thursday, 09 February 2012 - Canaima to Puerto Ordaz
You will be driven by safari style truck from your lodge back to Canaima airport

Transmandu flight No: Transmandu Dep: 1000 Arr: 1100

Puerto Ordaz to Caracas
Aserca flight No: R7743 Dep: 1320 Arr: 1420

Given the flight system in Venezuela it is often the case that you will have time between flights at Caracas airport. There are plenty of little cafes and eating options, some shops, call centres and a reasonable amount of airport style seating for a couple of hours wait. However, if you have a scheduled wait of five hours or more you could consider the service of a chauffeur guide or Spanish speaking driver to meet you for several options including dining, shopping or museums. The reason you need this long is to allow for the traffic from Maquietia (the airport) to Caracas.

Caracas to Merida (El Vigia)
Laser flight No: QL926 Dep: 915 Arr: 2015

Merida Introduction
The university town of Merida lies, in The Northernmost part of The Andes, between two mountain sierras: the Sierra Nevada, which provides a spectacular backdrop of five snow capped mountains known as the 'five white eagles' and the Sierra La Culata. Founded in 1558 and at a height of 1645m Merida has a lovely temperate climate. The city stands on an alluvial terrace, 15km long and 2.5km wide, guarded by the higher Andean mountain peaks and within sight of Venezuela's highest mountain, Pico Bolivar. The city is not particularly beautiful but it has a relaxed and vibrant feel. Besides it is the surrounding area that is Merida's highlight!
Visitors flock here to climb mountains, ride horses, hike, paraglide, mountain bike, learn Spanish, dance, drink, eat the locally caught river trout and take a ride on the highest cable car in the world! Not to mention a stop to sample one of the many hundreds of bizarre ice cream flavours from the record breaking Heladeria Coromoto.
On arrival, once you have cleared any airport formalities, you will be met and transferred to your accommodation.
Hacienda El Carmen, Merida

Friday, 10 February 2012 - Half day Jaji
Today you will have the opportunity to explore the lower Andes around Merida and the small Andean village of Jaji. After exploring the beautiful colonial streets, you may visit another hacienda, or possibly head to La Azulita, if the road is decent, before returning down to Merida. La Azulita, a name derived from the blue colour of the surrounding mountains, is a refuge from Merida for artists of all specialties, and for those people who wish to improve their health by focusing on art and the beauty of the area. Craftsmen, goldsmiths, potters, and producers of jams and sweets have been living here for many years. It is located to 1,150 metres above sea level and 75 km from the city.
The area of La Azulita is considered diverse in fauna and flora. Indeed, the Audubon Society (US charity dedicated to wildlife conservancy) considers the cloud forest and coffee plantation areas nearby to have one of the highest numbers of bird species in the world. Other sights of interest include a waterfall and the the Church of the Immaculate Conception with its cupola and stained glass windows.
From Hacienda El Carmen to Merida you will be picked up and transferred the one hour's drive back to Merida to your accommodation there.
Posada Casa Sol, Merida

Saturday, 11 February 2012 - Sunday, 12 February 2012
Guide both days included at FERIA DE SOL events throughout February
Posada Casa Sol, Merida

Monday, 13 February 2012 - Full day Paramo excursion
This morning you will leave Merida climbing out of the valley into the Paramo (high plain) up to a height of 3500m in a stunning trip through Andean villages surrounded by mountain peaks. You will visit the Andean villages of Tabay, Mucurabá and Mucuchíes, where a special breed of mountain dog is bred. You will then have the opportunity to walk 23 hours from Laguna de Mucubají (the largest of over 200 glacial lakes in the state of Merida) to the Laguna Negra (the black lagoon), a tranquil glacial lake on the páramo at 3700m, whose deep dark waters mirror the surrounding hillside vegetation. Climbing your way further up you will you will drive over the highest mountain pass in Venezuela, Pico El Aguila, at 4007m. On a clear day the views are spectacular and it is not uncommon to see condors flying around. This is the way Bolivar came in 1813 when crossing the Andes from Colombia on his way to liberate Caracas. Ask your guide if it is possible to stop at the Condor Reserve where you can view these impressive birds up close. All the birds here are rescued and cannot be released as they would not survive in the wild.
Posada Casa Sol, Merida

Tuesday, 14 February 2012 - Merida (El Vigia) to Caracas
Laser flight No: QL923

Caracas to Bogota
Avianca flight No: AV 69 Dep: 1205 Arr: 1325 Duration: 01hr 50min

Colombia Introduction
Colombia is a country located in the northwestern region of South America. It is bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the North by the Atlantic Ocean, through the Caribbean Sea; and to the west by Panama and the Pacific Ocean. Colombia is unique in South America in that it borders both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Colombia is the 26th largest nation in the world and the fourth largest country in South America (after Brazil, Argentina, and Peru), with an area more than twice that of France. Its vast territory is made up of diverse physical contrasts ranging from the towering snow capped peaks of the Andes to the hot and humid plains of the Amazon River Basin, to a vast tropical coastal plain in the north. It is the second most populated nation in South America (after Brazil), and the largest Spanish speaking nation on the continent in terms of population. Despite its large territory, Colombia's population is not evenly distributed with most Colombians living in the mountainous western portion of the country as well as the northern coastline, most living in or near the capital city of Bogotá. The southern and eastern portions of the country are mostly sparsely inhabited tropical rainforest and inland tropical plains containing small farming communities and indigenous tribes.
Colombia today, despite a turbulent history, has much to offer the intrepid traveller, the fine, cosmopolitan capital of Bogota, the gorgeous colonial Caribbean town of Cartagena, Andean Mountain ranges, excellent beaches, the lush verdant coffee plantations and the Amazon rainforest. Colombia has wet and dry seasons, the dry season is between December and March.

Bogota Introduction
Bogota was founded in 1538 by the Spanish explorer Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada it is a cosmopolitan city tucked on a high plateau in the Andes of central Colombia, 2640 meters (8661 feet) above sea level. The average temperature is around 14 degrees celsius. Nicknamed the Athens of Latin America it is by far the most populous city in the country with over 7 million inhabitants Bogota has much to offer; the old town of Candelaria is full of small cobbled streets and colourful buildings and some excellent museums. The districts known as Parque 93, Zona Rosa and Usaquen are great for restaurants, shopping and some inviting bars. There is also a cable car trip you can take to view the city's skyline. Furthermore, the city boasts many parks (e.g. The Simon Bolivar Park Metropolitan Park which has large free concerts and festivals) amongst its urban sprawl. Another interesting fact is that Bogota has one of the most extensive dedicated Bike Path Networks of any city in the world, with a total of 300km. Bogota is now a fabulous international destination for the intrepid traveller.
The north of the city is now very safe, areas such as Usaquen, Parque 93, Zona T (or Zona Rosa) are all safe to walk around day and night. The old town of Candelaria is safe during the day but we would advise taking a taxi at night. South of the city is best not visited as there is not much to see and it is the least safe part of town.
Once you have passed through customs and immigration upon your arrival in Bogota, you will be met by a representative who will be holding a board with your name on it just outside the exit. You will be transferred to your hotel and you will also be provided with any relevant hotel vouchers and air tickets.
Hotel de la Opera, Bogota

Wednesday, 15 February 2012 - La Candelaria walking tour (Half Day)
La Candelaria is Bogotá's heart and soul, from humble beginnings, the oldest part of the city and the Plaza Bolivar are high on any visitors’ agenda, a wonderful place to start to discover Bogotá. Bolivar Square (La Plaza de Bolivar) is the focal point of this sector of the city. Its surrounding Palace of Justice and church embrace the square with history and tales of old. The Plaza is home to the Colombian Congress, The Mayors office and the Palace of Justice and the Primary Cathedral of Bogotá. Standing proud in the centre the statue of Simón Bolívar was the first public monument to be erected in the city. The Botero Donation on Calle 11 is a permanent exhibition of works by Fernando Botero, Colombias most famous artist.
Hotel de la Opera, Bogota

Thursday, 16 February 2012 - Zipaquirá Salt Cathedral & Guatavita
The drive to the Salt Cathedral in Zipaquirá takes approximately 2 hours, sometimes less, depending on traffic. For the beauty of its landscapes, the richness of its earth and its jewel beneath the earth's surface, Zipaquirá is somewhat of a must during a stay in Bogotá. Travelling 30 miles north of the city, through countryside once occupied by native Muisca, Zipaquirá is one of the more popular tourist destinations in Colombia. Zipaquirá is most famous for its Cathedral carved from the salt mines west of the town. Colombians will proudly tell you that the mountain in which the mines are situated could keep the world supplied with salt for more than one hundred years. The mines have been expanding since the tenth century, and at the heart of them, you will find the Cathedral which was opened in 1954. The subtle lighting pronounces the fourteen Stations of the Cross, each station sculpted by a different artist. At the lowest point of the cross, 180m below the earths surface, are the nave and the north and south aisles dominated by the 16m high central cross. The illumination and execution of the work is a tribute to modern techniques and years of work from the miners to the artists. The vast atrium which is 75 meters long and 18 meters high can accommodate 8400 people. Around the central square of Zipaquirá the colonial buildings still hold their charm footed by brickwork paving and overlooked by the Cathedral Diocesana de San Antonio. After leaving the Cathedral you will visit the sacred Guatavita Lake, the site of the legend of El Dorado, the legend that attracted the Spanish conquistadors to South America in the sixteenth century. In addition to the splendid scenery in the area you will visit the picturesque town of Guatavita before returning to Bogota.
Hotel de la Opera, Bogota

Friday, 17 February 2012 - Bogota to Barranquilla
Avianca flight No: AV9538 Dep: 1155 Arr: 1320 Duration: 01hr 25min

Introduction to the Barranquilla Carnival
Considered to be more interactive than Carnival in Rio then Barranquilla carnival is certainly one of the liveliest on the continent, what Colombia lacks in clinical organisation it more than makes up on in its ability to throw a fiesta! The Carnival itself has a history of over 100 years but with its roots and origins stretching back much further. If you are in town during the 4 main days of carnival to do anything other than enjoy the celebrations then you are out of luck as the whole city stops to come out and enjoy the fun. The Carnival begins officially on the Saturday with the Batalla de las Flores or Battle of the flowers a giant float led parade where symbolically the bullets of war are exchanged for the flowers of peace then continues Sunday with the grand parade which includes dancers and huge groups in costumes passing through the streets. Tuesday is time for a more live music focused day and the official close of the carnival is Tuesday. Outside of all the official events there are a number of fiestas organised by the hotels in the evening and the streets are essentially one long four day and night drinking and partying marathon.

Friday at the Barranquilla Carnival
Today is essentially a final rest day for all the carnival participants and a time for them to relax a bit before the events start the following day. In the afternoon when you arrive in Barranquilla you will have time to discover a little about the history and traditions of the Barranquilla Carnival at the official carnival museum. You get to learn about the carnivals history in this interactive multimedia museum and get a chance to see how the carnival has developed and an introduction to the sights, sounds and visual overload of the following days.
Sonesta Hotel Barranquilla, Barranquilla

Saturday, 18 February 2012 - Saturday at the Barranquilla Carnival
Today you will participate in a “Comparsa” this is the opportunity to feel and experience the carnival from the inside and participate a little bit in the event itself instead of being a more passive observer, although there is nothing “passive” about Baranquilla carnival! You will have an opportunity to try on some of the costumes the carnival goers will wear and also take part in a small parade. Additionally as tropical music booms all around, you will learn some of the important steps and dances that form the basis of the carnival parade. You will get to experience the real feel of carnival from an insider’s view.
The latter part of the afternoon will be spent in the “palcos” watching the Battle of the flowers parade. The Palcos are the private seating areas that give you a great view of the parade and time to relax and take in the carnival at your leisure after your mornings exertions. In the evening you will be taken to the official carnival ball in the Prado hotel, this is where the rich and famous of Colombia will be partying after the first official day of Carnival.
Sonesta Hotel Barranquilla, Barranquilla

Sunday, 19 February 2012 - Sunday at the Barranquilla Carnival
Today we expect a slightly later start to the day will be appreciated and in the early afternoon you will head back out to the Palcos to see the Grand Parade, this is a combination of floats and hundreds of participant walking, dancing and partying their way through the town. You can sit back and relax and take in the sights and sounds of the last day of your carnival experience.
Sonesta Hotel Barranquilla, Barranquilla

Monday, 20 February 2012 - Barranquilla to Cartagena
You will be collected from your hotel and driven to Cartagena, a journey of 1.5 hours.

Cartagena Introduction
Founded in 1533, this historical town maintains many of its original features to this day. Settled by Don Pedro de Heredia, and named after the port of Cartagena in Spain's Murcia region, it was a major centre of early Spanish settlement in the Americas, and continues to be an economic hub as well as a popular tourist destination. Originally used as a centre for slave trading, the old walled city, is perched high above the Caribbean coast surveying its waters and in days gone by was the perfect position as an early look out for pirates that terrorised the dwellers. Wander through the colourful streets of this colonial gem and feel as though you are taking a trip back in time. The port, fortress and monuments have now been declared UNESCO world heritage site. The sultry climate is typical of this coastal region at a lovely 28 degrees year round. There are also some city beaches to enjoy around the more modern and built up Boca Grande area.
The old town is safe to walk around day or night, but there are also plenty of taxis outside hotels or at ranks that you can take safely to your destination.
When at leisure explore this wonderful city, one of the best ways to see more is to walk, taking in the marvelous buildings and plazas. In the Plaza De Santo Domingo you will find Cartagenas oldest church dating from the 16th Century. Alternatively you may relax on the city beaches at Boca Grande. If you have not already done so, there is also the fort to be explored and the Convento de la Popa which offers a great view of the city. In the evening there are many great restaurant and bar options dotted around the old town or overlooking the Caribbean for a spot of dinner or a glass of rum.
Sofitel Santa Clara

Tuesday, 21 February 2012 - Half day city tour of Cartagena
After your morning walking tour this half day tour will take you to the Castillo de San Félipe de Barajas the greatest fortress ever built by the Spanish in the colonies. It is an impressive structure erected between 1639 an 1657. The Convento de la Popa will also be visited on this tour it is the highest point in the city affording great views, founded in 1607. You will also cruise along the beaches of Bocagrande and take in the region of Manga which you will see has some Middle Eastern Islamic influence.
Sofitel Santa Clara, Cartagena

Wednesday, 22 February 2012 - Half day excursion to Volcan de Lodo El Totumo
You will be taken to the Volcan de Lodo El Totumo which takes around an hour and a quarter by road. The volcano rim is about 20 metres off the ground which you ascend to on a rickety, old, wooden staircase. You then simply jump into the mud and relax. Local masseurs are on hand to give you a rub down while floating in the warm mud. The story goes that the volcano once spewed out lava but the local priest sprayed it with holy water and thus turned the hot lava into cool mud, vanquishing the devil that lived inside.
The mud is locally believed to have rejuvenating qualities. After the mud bath you will descend the other side of the volcano to the lagoon where you will be cleansed of the mud by local ladies. You will be taken back to Cartagena for lunch.
Sofitel Santa Clara, Cartagena

Thursday, 23 February 2012 - Cartagena to Panama City
Copa Compania Panamena De Aviacion flight No: CM 687
Dep:1327 Arr: 1432 Duration: 01hr 05min

Panama City to Havana
Copa Compania Panamena De Aviacion flight No: CM 438
Dep: 1552 Arr: 1827 Duration: 02hr 35min

Cuba Introduction
The crocodile shaped island of Cuba lies just 170 km south of the Florida Keys but is a world away from its powerful American neighbour. The largest of all Caribbean Islands, is an addictive mixture of lavish Spanish colonial architecture, imposing communist statues and plazas, sublime powder white beaches, teeming coral reefs, densely forested mountains and verdant tropical plantations. The country's unique and turbulent history weaves a fascinating tale from Spanish colonial rule and the slave trade to Batista's dictatorship and Castro's revolution. This is mirrored in its vibrant culture, thriving arts scene and flamboyant music. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union Cuba's economy has struggled and this combined with the US embargo are still very much evident. Although Cuba's focus is now on tourism, to ensure its future prosperity, the country is a law unto itself when it comes to quality of hotels, food, service and transportation. It may be a Caribbean island with the climate, scenery and wonderful beaches to match but the fact remains it is a communist country battling not only with a crumbling infrastructure and the governmental control over its people and businesses but also the continuing US embargo.
Without doubt all of this adds to the charm of this intriguing country but it also means that Cuba's ability to maintain service levels and standards is far less reliable than that of other developing countries in the world. Capital investment is restricted and requires approval by the government. The Cuban government sets most prices and rations goods. Prices are higher than most people expect of a country with these issues. Even simple items that we take for granted, such as bread, can be hard to come by. Moreover, any firm wishing to hire a Cuban must pay the Cuban government, which in turn will pay the company's employee in Cuban pesos.
The government's control over everything prevents private enterprise and with a strictly enforced regulated wage system gives many of the local people little incentive to be doing a good job. With Raul Castro now in power, change is occurring but progress is slow. Accommodation throughout the country varies enormously and is often rough around the edges. There are a few good hotels in Havana and a handful outside of the capital but they remain in a league of their own in comparison to international standards.
There are resorts and hotels which describe themselves as luxurious but in reality this is simply not the case. In our opinion, there is no such thing as a five star hotel in Cuba, despite the fact some of them charge five star prices! You should also be aware that many of the government run hotels in Cuba notoriously overbook their reservations and although we do our best to reconfirm all bookings and to avoid using those hotels that repeatedly overbook, in certain areas we have no choice but to offer these properties. You, therefore, need to be prepared for last minute unavoidable changes enroute in the unlikely event this should happen, as the hotel involved only has to commit to offering you an alternative hotel. Our local ground agents are the most reliable operating throughout the country. They constantly battle against the odds reconfirming reservations, checking hotels, services and employing the best guides available. Unlike in other countries, as a private company, they are unable to own cars therefore are reliant on hire cars and taxis provided by the state the standard of which can not be 100% guaranteed no matter how hard they may try. Transfer pickups can be delayed and you should be aware that although the majority of journeys run smoothly vehicles only have to comply to local standards and not the UK's so are susceptible to being old, dirty, often without seatbelts, uncomfortable and they can possibly breakdown as parts are so difficult to come by.
Travelling in Cuba is without doubt an incredible cultural experience and it should be treated as such. Cuba is definitely not a country that should be visited if you are looking for luxury or a trip where everything runs like clockwork. The appeal of Cuba is that it has remained free of western influence and commercialisation. There are no advertising hoardings' or fast food restaurants. The countryside is beautiful, the beaches are stunning and most of all the people are wonderful. The colonial architecture, history and music all add further to its appeal culminating in a unique holiday which you will never forget. Anyone visiting with an open mind, a sense of humour and an adventurous spirit will be more than rewarded by what they find.

Havana Introduction
La Habana was founded in 1519 prospering from the Spanish conquest of Mexico and Peru due to its strategic position as a gathering point for treasure laden ships bound for Spain. It quickly became the most important port in the region and after a brief occupation by the British was returned to the Spanish who fortified the city and opened free trade. Havana grew wealthy from shipping sugar, rum, tobacco and coffee to the world which is beautifully reflected in its magnificent architecture, plazas and monuments.
Wars and revolution have done little to damage this heritage making it one of the finest examples of a Spanish colonial city anywhere in the America's. Today many of the city's lavish palaces have been and continue to be converted into museums, such as the Museo de la Revolucion housed in the former Presidential Palace and many more in Habana Vieja (the old city) which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. A complete lack of advertising apart from political slogans and relatively light traffic (many of the cars are antiques) give Havana an air of nostalgia. Combine all this with the vibrant music and arts scene and the resourceful, outgoing and enigmatic Habaneros and you will discover why people return time and again to this intensely romantic, beautiful and intoxicating city.
Cuba is not known for its gastronomic delights and dining out in Havana is all about atmosphere and ambience rather than the quality of the food. Like all business and commerce in Cuba restaurants are state owned and there are plenty to choose from. Many are set in lovely old colonial buildings and have plenty of history and character, prompt service and reasonably varied menus. One of the highlights of any visit to Cuba is having a meal in a 'Paladar'. Paladares are small, family run restaurants which have a special licence to serve food. They are often found in a family home which gives them a unique atmosphere. The owners are far more imaginative and creative with the food available so in many cases the best meal you will have in Cuba will often be in a Paladar.

Havana Airport to Las Terrazas
Your guide will meet you at the airport and drive you west, away from Havana, travelling on the autopista into the beautiful countryside of Pinar del Rio province. Turning off the highway the road gently winds its way into the luxuriant Sierra del Rosario where rolling hills are covered in thick tropical vegetation, towering Royal Palms and fragrant pine forests.

Las Terrazas Introduction
Las Terrazas is a small rural community set in the heart of a 25,000 hectare UNESCO biosphere reserve in the Sierra del Rosario. The area was badly affected by deforestation so an extensive regeneration project was started in 1968 and terraces were laid out for replanting, giving Las Terrazas its name. Today the inhabitants work within the reserve, often involved in ecotourism and benefit from some of the best living standards in the country. This region is now covered in thick tropical vegetation, deciduous pine and tall royal palms with their distinctive white trunks providing a lovely contrast against the rolling blanket of green. The cooler climate and lovely scenery make Las Terrazas a popular place for walking and it is also excellent for bird watching.
Hotel Moka, Las Terrazas

Friday, 24 February 2012 - Time at Leisure to explore the Community
During your time at Las Terrazas there are a number of activities you can arrange and pay for locally at the Moka Hotel, which is a perfect base from which to explore the biosphere reserve. The community is set around the picturesque Lago del San Juan, where you can enjoy the scenery from a row boat. Alternatively explore the countryside by bike or horse. There are numerous scenic walking trails winding there way through the forest and hills which are well maintained and fairly easy going. The park has over 90 species of birds and a good place to see them is at various shady pools along the San Juan River where there are some lovely trails. Horse riding is a good way to explore further afield and there are some attractive lakes and picturesque waterfalls which are safe to swim in. For the more adventurous there is a zip line across the main lake at Las Terrazas. For the more leisurely there are many studios for local artists which welcome visitors. There are many shopping opportunities, including El llang which makes and sells colognes made from natural essences and at El Cusco Bazaar which showcases local works of art. Enjoy some home cooking at either Cafe de Maria or the Almacigo Cafeteria. Perhaps visit the Home of Polo Montanes, Las Terrazas' local hero, a singer known as the Guajiro Natural (the Natural Farmer). His home hosts a gathering of local musicians and artists every Tuesday at 9pm.
Hotel Moka, Las Terrazas

Saturday, 25 February 2012 - Las Terrazas to Cienfuegos
You will set off from Las Terrazas after an early breakfast, winding down from the cool Sierra del Rosario through beautiful surrounds. Following the autopista you head back to Havana and continue east into the province of Matanzas, passing large colourful signs with unmistakable political slogans and messages celebrating heroes of the revolution. Turning off the highway you pass through the industrial outskirts of Cienfuegos and into the colonial centre of the city which is set on a picturesque bay, framed by the Sierra del Escambray in the distance. This drive will take approximately 4 hours.

Cienfuegos Introduction
The capital of the province of the same name is a laid back maritime city with a lazy, tropical atmosphere. In colonial times it was known as the 'Pearl of the South', a name earned from its lovely location on a picturesque Caribbean bay. Today the bay is as pretty as ever but the city has expanded with heavy industry and drab sixties apartment blocks dominating the outskirts. However, the colonial centre is well preserved and was recently declared a world heritage area. The inhabitants are proud of the city's great musical tradition and Cienfuegos was once home to Benny More, one of Cuba's most famous musicians.
La Union Hotel, Cienfuegos

Sunday, 26 February 2012 - Cienfuegos to Trinidad
Leaving Cienfuegos you are driven east, passing large mango plantations before twisting through the foothills of the Sierra del Escambray. The surroundings quickly become more arid as the road follows the Caribbean coast over numerous bridges crossing rivers which flow from the mountains before arriving in Trinidad. This drive will take approximately 1 hour.

Trinidad Introduction
The wonderful city of Trinidad has a time warp charm with baroque church towers, red tiled rooftops and a maze of cobbled stone streets beautifully preserved as a living museum. The city was founded in 1514 by the Spanish conquistador Diego Velasquez and became a major centre for trading sugar and slaves for almost 200 years. The wealth generated by the landowners during this region's dark past is reflected in the treasure trove of colonial architecture found in Trinidad's centre, which was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1988. A long period of isolation from 1850 to the 1950's has protected the city from development leaving the original layout largely unchanged. To escape the summer heat excursions can easily be arranged into the cool air of the surrounding mountains, ideal for those interested in walking and beautiful scenery. Extensive restoration work can be seen throughout the colonial centre and work continues today down to the finest details such as street lights and the whitewashed railings surrounding the main square.
Trinidad has one of the best Casa de la Trova's in Cuba. It is next to the beautiful Plaza Mayor on the Plazuela de Segarte in a typical 18th century building with a leafy courtyard where talented musicians play and dance the night away.
Iberostar Grand Hotel, Trinidad

Monday, 27 February 2012 - Morning walking tour of Trinidad
The compact colonial centre of Trinidad is one of the most sublime in Latin America. The cobbled streets, terracotta rooftops and pastel coloured houses are easily explored in a morning when the light is good for photography and the temperature is still comfortable. The walking tour is completely flexible as you have a private guide so if you have anything specific you want to see just ask. Typically you will take in the Palacio Cantero, an impressive neoclassical palace owned by a wealthy doctor who used to treat the sugar barons. The building is now the Museo Historico Municipal with a beautiful courtyard and if you climb the rickety steps to the tower you will be rewarded with beautiful views of the city. The Canchanchara is an 18th century town house with lively music and a bar serving a traditional drink of the same name which is made from lime, water, honey and a healthy portion of rum. The Palacio Brunet overlooks the tranquil main square, the Plaza Mayor with its distinctive wrought iron railings, towering royal palms and colourful buildings. The palace now houses the Museo Romantico which displays a fine collection of antique furniture from the colonial period.

Trinidad's colonial centre is wonderfully compact and simply wandering through it's many colourful cobbled streets is a great way to explore it. There are a number of small cafes and restaurants where you can sit to soak up the sleepy atmosphere. It is also possible to book a range of tours locally to explore the beautiful Escambray Mountains, ideal for walking and swimming in waterfall pools. A rather lovely but irregular running train travels through the Valle de Ingenios to visit old, run down sugar cane estates. Playa Ancon is just a short taxi ride away if you'd like to relax on the beach and if you want to avoid the all inclusive resorts head to the quiet town of La Boca where there is a beautiful stretch of white sand framed by colourful 'Flamboyen' trees.
Evenings in Trinidad are generally quite low key and strolling through the dimly lit old town is a good way to get a feel for daily life in Cuba. The light at sunset is also perfect for photography. The Casa de la Trova is excellent in Trinidad located just next to the main square or you might like to join the locals dancing the night away in the square.
Iberostar Grand Hotel, Trinidad

Tuesday, 28 February 2012 - Guanayara tour to Topes de Collantes
This day trip is a great way to discover a part of the beautiful Sierra del Escambray range which stretches across the provinces of Cienfuegos, Villa Clara and Sancti Spiritus, encasing Trinidad on the Caribbean coast. A steep 30 minute and extremely bumpy ride in a jeep takes you out of Trinidad up to the fresh, clean air of Topes de Collantes. You will stop enroute to catch the beautiful views of the mountains and surrounding landscape. The hills are covered in thick, tropical vegetation pine, eucalyptus and luxuriant ferns and you will have the opportunity to visit a coffee plantation and museum to try some blends. You will then take a 3 kilometre walk through the mountains to La Poceta del Venado and La Cascada, a picturesque waterfall and pool where you have time for a swim. After time at the falls you will visit La Gallega, a typical rural farm house which has a ranch type restaurant next door where you break for lunch. This afternoon you will be driven back down to Trinidad.
Iberostar Grand Hotel, Trinidad

Wednesday, 29 February 2012 - Trinidad to Havana via Santa Clara
You will be driven west out of Trinidad following the coastal road towards Cienfuegos. This part of the drive is very scenic with the road flanked on one side by the Sierra del Escambray and the Caribbean on the other. The surroundings will quickly become verdant and lush once you leave the semiarid zone surrounding Trinidad. You then head north to Santa Clara. During your time in Santa Clara you will stop at the imposing memorial to Che Guevara in the Plaza de la Revolucion. It was built to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the battle for Santa Clara which marked the turning point in the revolution. There is a museum, mausoleum and an impressive bronze statue of the famous revolutionary hero. Another place of interest is the 'Tren Blindado' monument which recreates the sequence of events leading to the derailing of an armoured train sent to the city by Batista to try and stop Guevara's guerrillas from taking Santa Clara. Indians You will then be driven west along the main highway back to Havana which will take approximately 3 hours.

At leisure in Havana.
Havana has a bewildering number of sights so a walking tour of the capital on your first day is a great introduction to the city and a good way to get your bearings for the rest of your time here. After this you could simply spend days wandering the cobbled streets and drinking mojitos overlooking atmospheric plazas, taking in the beautiful architecture, unique culture and vibrant sights and sounds that make up Havana. Many of the following will be visited during your walking tour but are well worth revisiting if you have some spare time.
Havana Vieja has many museums, restaurants, bars and historic shops to take in. Highlights are the Catedral de San Cristobal in Plaza de la Catedral, the Plaza de Armas and the Basillica San Francisco in Plaza de San Francisco. If you have enough time, a visit to the rum museum and chocolate museum is highly recommended! Central Havana is a short walk through run down atmospheric streets from the old town and the imposing Capitolio building is one of the main sights. This building is a symbol of the city and is a loose imitation of the Capitol building in Washington. The Parque Central is a leafy square surrounded by 19th and 20th century buildings such as the historic Hotel Inglaterra and the magnificent Gran Teatro. The Paseo del Prado is a picturesque boulevard lined with trees, bronze lions and marble benches with many interesting sights such as the Hotel Sevilla and Museo de la Revolucion.
The Malecon on Havana's seafront runs for 7 kilometres from Havana Vieja to the modern quarter of Vedado. You can stroll along the Malecon but expect plenty of attention from local street hustlers known as 'jineteros'. You might like to take a 'Coco Taxi' or classic car ride at sunset to the historic Nacional Hotel for a cocktail. The Castillo del Morro is a sturdy 16th century fortress which guards the entrance to Havana harbour. Every evening at 9pm a volley of cannon shots is fired by soldiers dressed in 18th century uniforms.
The following are not to be missed in Havana.
Calle Obispo: This street is bustling and jam packed with shops, bars, galleries, paladares and peso food stalls. It is Old Havana's main street. An interminable tide of tourists and locals ebb and flow into vibrant alleys before spilling out onto the Plaza de Armas. By contrast to the Plaza de la Cathedral this square is lush and overgrown with tropical vegetation. Here you'll find the Church of 'El Templete' (a neoclassical monument erected in 1828) in front of which stands a beautiful ceiba tree in the place where on November 16, 1519 the town of San Cristóbal de la Habana was founded. The tree has historically been highly revered by Cubans who attribute it with magical religious powers. People say that both the first religious ceremony and first town council meeting took place under its shade. Paseo del Prado: Considered by many to be the most beautiful street in Havana. The street is lined by many historical buildings carefully restored to their 19th and 20th Century glory. It's a popular place for the people of Havana to stroll at all times of the day and a good spot to gain a better understanding of the real life of Cubans. You're sure to pass the Hotel Sevilla, Al Capone's haunt in the 1930s. It has a gaudy façade of yellows, pinks and blues and is worth popping into for a look around.
The Malecon: Havana's malecon (seafront walkway) is a major meeting point for social gatherings in the city and the views and perspective that it affords make it a huge draw, not only for tourists, but for locals alike.If you have time to go down there at sunset it can be quite magical. It can also be a real spectacle when the waves are big and come crashing down over the malecon wall.
Saratoga Hotel, Havana

Thursday, 01 March 2012 - Morning walking tour of Havana Vieja
Havana Vieja is the historic colonial heart of the city and the main purpose of this tour is for you to get your bearings of this atmospheric part of the city. The walking tour covers the four most important squares, each of which has its own character and history. The Plaza De Armas has a peaceful atmosphere with thick, tropical vegetation sheltering an antique book market. Impressive baroque palaces surround the square such as the Palacio de los Capitanes Generales, now the Museo de la Ciudad which houses a statue of Christopher Columbus under towering Royal Palms. The Plaza de San Francisco has some impressive commercial buildings such as the old Stock Exchange and Customs House, however, the main attraction is the Basilica de San Francisco which dates back to 1580. Plaza Vieja is surrounded by pastel coloured town houses and is almost completely restored. The Plaza de la Catedral is home to the exceptionally beautiful Catedral de San Cristobal as well as important examples of early colonial architecture. All the squares are linked by historic streets such as Calle Obispo which are like openair museums containing historic shops, vintage car museums and even a chocolate factory. Old hotels such as the Ambos Mundos may also be visited where Hemmingway wrote 'For Whom the Bells Tolls'.

Buena Vista Social Club Performance
You will be picked up at a prearranged time and taken to wherever the Buena Vista Social Club are performing tonight usually the Hotel Nacional or The Rum Museum. The Buena Vista Social Club was a members club in Havana, Cuba that held dances and musical activities, becoming a popular location for musicians to meet and play during the 1940s. In the 1990s, nearly 50 years after the club was closed, it inspired a recording made by Cuban musician Juan de Marcos González and American guitarist Ry Cooder with traditional Cuban musicians, some of whom were veterans who had performed at the club during the height of its popularity. The recording, named Buena Vista Social Club after the Havana institution became an international success, and the ensemble was encouraged to perform with a full lineup in Amsterdam in 1998.
German director Wim Wenders captured the performance on film, followed by a second concert in Carnegie Hall, New York City for a documentary that included interviews with the musicians conducted in Havana. Wenders's film, also called Buena Vista Social Club, was released to critical acclaim, receiving an Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary feature and winning numerous accolades including Best Documentary at the European Film Awards.
Saratoga Hotel, Havana

Friday, 02 March 2012 - Dinner at Paladar La Guarida
A table will be reserved for you at one of Cuba's best restaurants Paladar La Guarida. Paladares are small privately run family restaurants, each one with its own special ambience and character. One of Havana's well kept secrets are some of its Paladares which are often the best places to enjoy good traditional Cuban food. La Guarida is often described as 'the hardest place in Havana to get a table' because of its unique atmosphere. You will experience this for yourself as you arrive at the dark entrance of a nondescript and decrepit looking Havana town house. Climb the 52 steps which will lead you to the door, where you must ring the bell. Your table will be reserved but you will have to pay for the meal in cash at the Paladar. Ensure you bring Cuban convertible pesos, about 100 should be more than enough if you have a bottle of wine. If not expect to pay around 75 convertibles. Officially our ground agents are unable to promote 'paladars' to foreign visitors but Cuba Select make reservations for our clients here as a favour to Audley. Even though they do their best and do reconfirm reservations, unfortunately our local agents cannot be held responsible if a reservation is not honoured by the paladar. A taxi fare from central Havana or the old town to La Guarida will cost roughly 5 convertibles each way.
Saratoga Hotel, Havana

Saturday, 03 March 2012 - Havana to Panama City
Copa Compania Panamena De Aviacion flight No: CM 231 Dep: 0724 Arr: 0954 Duration: 02hr 35min

Panama City to Port of Spain
Copa Compania Panamena De Aviacion flight No: CM 275 Dep: 1148 Arr: 1553 Duration: 03hr 05min

Port of Spain to Georgetown
Caribbean Airlines flight No: BW 483 Dep: 2035 Arr: 2145 Duration: 01hr 10min

Guyana Introduction
Bordered by Brazil, Suriname and Venezuela, Guyana is a kingdom of nature. 83,000 square miles in size Guyana has 4 geographical areas being the coastal belt, the forested, the savannah zone and the sandy zone. Over 80% of the land is rainforest and hence an immense array of flora and fauna can be found in this pristine environment. So far over 6,500 species of plants, 810 species of birds, 880 species of reptiles and amphibians and 225 species of mammals have been identified. Examples of the largest species include giant river otters, giant anteaters, giant river turtles, harpy eagles, jaguars and caiman. The Guiana Shield is one of only four largely in tact pristine rainforests in the world. Mangroves, marshes, mountains, savannahs and tropical rainforest make the landscape of Guyana unique. The Kaieteur Falls are on of the country's gems. Being the worlds largest single drop waterfall, the view of the Potaro River carving its way through the rainforest to spew 30,000 gallons of water per second over the sheer drop of 741 feet is breathtaking. Travelling to Guyana provides a diverse experience of nature with adventure. Ecotourism is proving to be a very effective way of preserving the natural environment with Amerindian communities and ranches opening their doors to travellers. Hopefully the interest shown by travellers in this fascinating country will continue to spur the development of ecotourism and continue the good work that is being done to keep the natural landscape in a pristine condition.
Whilst Guyana is a wonderful and welcoming country, its tourist industry unlike that of many of its South American neighbours, is unpolished and relatively unsophisticated. Accommodation is generally simple; much of it is intended not to offer the guest a luxurious stay, but to give them an authentic experience of life in the area. Local people are friendly and helpful but standards of service are perhaps not up to the levels some international travellers may expect and the realities of most trips to the country are that there will be an inevitable hiccup here and there. Despite its diverse and extensive ecosystems, nature tourism in Guyana is simply not as developed Peru, Ecuador or Costa Rica and facilities are generally more basic. However, many people love the fact that it is still possible to visit somewhere that has not been spoiled by tourism. Time in Guyana can be an incredible experience and trips should be approached with an open mind and a sense of adventure.
Shopping - Guyana offers wonderful gold and diamond jewellery at very attractive prices. It is recommended that they are purchased from reputable jewellers. Interesting handicrafts including wooden carvings, tibisiri baskets and placemats, pottery and art make great souvenirs. A visit to the local markets to see how the Guyanese shop is well worth the effort. Bargaining is not the custom in Guyana.
Local Food - The blend of different ethnic influences Indian, African, Chinese, Creole, English, Portuguese, Amerindian and North American gives a distinctive flavour to Guyanese cuisine. Try dishes such as Pepper Pot, meat cooked in casareep (bitter casava) juice with peppers and herbs. Garlic Pork, a specialty at Christmas. Curry and Roti is popular everywhere. Seafood is plentiful and varied, as is the wide variety of tropical fruit and vegetables. Try casava and yams. Whilst on tour the food is of a very good standard with fresh beef, chicken and fish and plenty of vegetables and fruit. On camping trips use is made of dried and salted produce, supplemented by fishing.
Cara Lodge, Georgetown

Sunday, 04 March 2012 - Flight over the Kaieteur and Orinduik Falls
You will be collected and transferred to Ogle airport, a journey of approximately 15 minutes. You will be assisted onto your aircraft at the airport. Once boarded, you will fly for approximately 1 hour 15 minutes over pristine rainforest experiencing breathtaking views of unimaginable beauty. The meandering rivers cutting through the untouched jungle is a stunning spectacle which lies beneath you as you fly into the Kaieteur National Park. This is a vast 627 square kilometre explosion of natural beauty and biodiversity. You will fly over the falls before landing on a small airstrip located near to the falls. Your guide will take you to various viewpoints offering incredible views of the falls from both close up and from a distance. The Kaieteur Falls were found on April 29, 1870 by a European. They are located in the heart of Guyana on the Potaro River, a tributary of the Essequibo River. One of the worlds natural wonders, the Kaieteur Falls spews 30,000 gallons of water per second over a sandstone conglomerate tableland into a deep gorge a drop of 822 feet or 5 times the height of Niagara Falls. There are no other falls in the world with the magnitude of the sheer drop existing at Kaieteur. Amerindian legend of the Patamona tribe has it that Kai, one of the tribe's chiefs (after whom the falls is named), committed self sacrifice by canoeing over the falls. It was believed that this would encourage the great spirit Makonaima to save the tribe from being destroyed by the savage Caribishi.
Kaieteur supports a unique micro environment with Tank Bromeliads, the largest in the world. Here, you can find the Golden Frog where all of its life is spent. There is also a splendid Cock of the Rock nesting site close by. You may be lucky enough to see one of the Kaieteur Swifts or Makonaima birds which nest under the vast shelf of rock, hidden behind the eternal curtain of falling water.
You will continue onwards by plane for 25 minutes to the Orinduik Falls where the Ireng River thunders over steps and terraces of solid jasper, a semi precious stone. The backdrop of rolling grass covered hills of the Pakaraima mountain range make this the most beautiful location in Guyana's hinterland. The name "Orinduik" is derived from the Amerindian (Patamona) word Orin, which is the name of an aquatic plant found in the falls. The Ireng River forms the border between Brazil and Guyana. In contrast to Kaieteur, Orinduik is very well suited for swimming and you will find natural Jacuzzis as the falls tumble down the steps of Jasper.
You will spend approximately 2 hours at each of the falls before returning back to Georgetown.
Cara Lodge, Georgetown

Monday, 05 March 2012 - Georgetown to Karanambu Ranch
You will be met upon arrival and transferred to your accommodation.

Karanambu Introduction
Karanambu is the home of Diane McTurk, widely known for her work in rehabilitating orphaned, giant river otters to the wild. Diane and her otters have appeared on National Geographic, Jeff Corwin Experience, Really Wild Show (BBC) and the Calgary's "Zoo World". Karanambu has a long history of visiting naturalists and Diane's father, Tiny McTurk, has welcomed David Attenborough and Gerald Durrell (Three Singles to Adventure).
Karanambu Ranch, Karanambu

Tuesday, 06 March 2012 - Excursions around Karanambu
Diane sometimes has resident orphaned otters and you can help her as she tends to them. You can visit Simoni Pond for some of the best inland fishing in Guyana including Peacock Bass or explore the flooded forest or savannah. Search the savannah for Giant Anteaters. Visits can be made to nearby ponds for birdwatching and to view the Victoria Amazonica, the world's largest water lily and Guyana's national flower. Explore the
Rupununi River in search of wild Giant River Otters, Black Caiman and Arapaima. An evening visit to Crane Pond to see hundreds of Ibis, Anhinga, Heron and Egret roosting is a highlight.
Karanambu Ranch, Karanambu

Wednesday, 07 March 2012 - Karanambu Ranch, Karanambu

Thursday, 08 March 2012 - Karanambu to Yupukari
You will be taken on the Rupununi river from Karanambu to Caiman House. En route you will spend time spotting many of the prevalent bird species that habitat the region.
Caiman House, Yupukari

Friday, 09 March 2012 - Transfer by boat to Ginep landing before continuing on to Iwokrama by road.

Iwokrama Introduction
The Iwokrama Forest is in the heart of one of the four last untouched tropical forests of the world. It is located 300km south of Georgetown and encompasses 3,700 square kilometres of lush, pristine tropical rainforest. It was established as a living laboratory for tropical forest management and is now a protected area. The forest and nearby wetlands have the highest recorded number of fish and bat species in the world. Endangered species include the worlds largest freshwater fish, the Arapaima, the world's largest otter, river turtles, anteaters and caiman. The area is also home to South America's largest cat the jaguar along with the largest eagle, the harpy eagle. Iwokrama is unique. Conservation organisations have joined with local people in every aspect of their work from research to business. This ensures conservation of the rainforest along with local economic and social benefits. The forest is the homeland of the Makushi people who have lived in the forest for thousands of years. Iwokrama learns by building partnerships with the Makushi people and the private sector. These partnerships combine traditional knowledge, science and business to develop socially responsible and sustainable forest products and services. They include low impact timber harvesting, ecotourism, training forest rangers and guides and harvesting aquarium fish. Iwokrama evaluates the social, economic and ecological changed that occur as a result of business development. The objective is to become a model that results in the worldwide conservation of tropical forests.

Iwokrama Excursions
During your stay at Iwokrama field station you will have the opportunity to undertake a variety of different excursions:
Explore some of the nature trails around the field station with an Iwokrama ranger. These treks can be undertaken at various times during the day but are especially good during the early morning as it comes alive with beautiful sounds and colours of hundreds of different species of birds.
Explore the Essequibo River at night by boat to spot caiman, snakes and other nocturnal wildlife.
Trek to Turtle Mountain to experience the breathtaking views across the rainforest canopy. You will take a boat down the Essequibo River for approximately 20 minutes before beginning the trek. It takes approximately 1 hour to reach the summit at 935 feet. It is advisable to wear sturdy footwear during this trek. Once at the summit, you will be able to view a diverse range of wildlife in the canopy including monkeys and a large variety of birds.
Visit the Kurupukari Falls to see the Amerindian petroglyphs (dependent on the water level).
Visit the small Amerindian village of Fair View where you will have the opportunity to see how the local villagers live.
Iwokrama River Lodge and Science Centre, Iwokrama

Saturday, 10 March 2012 - Iwokrama River Lodge and Science Centre

Sunday, 11 March 2012 - Transfer by road to Surama

Surama Introduction
The Amerindian community of Surama is set in five square miles of savannah which is ringed by the forest covered Pakaraima Mountains. Surama’s inhabitants are mainly from the Macushi tribe and still observe many of the traditional practices of their forebears.
This isolated and idyllic location offers a serene and peaceful environment.
Dawn hikes, led by Surama guides across the savannah and up Surama Mountain, reveal a multitude of birds and fantastic views. The guides have lived their entire lives in the rainforest, and have an extensive understanding of nature and how to utilise its resources.
Surama shares a common border with the Iwokrama International Centre for Conservation and Development along the Burro Burro River where you can canoe allowing opportunities to observe a diverse abundance of wildlife. The Surama community have identified ecotourism as a sustainable use of their land. It means employment at home, rather than the men leaving to mine or cut timber in other parts of Guyana. Ecotourism has been successfully developed in the region and all tours to Surama are managed and operated solely by the Macushi. Apart from the direct employment from ecotourism, the community also benefits from the purchase of local produce and funds from tourism are fed back to a village fund which is used for community development projects.

Surama Excursions
Upon arrival in Surama you will you will be met and welcome by a village counsellor who will settle you in to your accommodation. During your time at Surama you will be given a tour of the village taking in some examples of every day life such as the church, school and medical centre. You may also explore some some trails to observe wildlife and bird life. Options include:a visit to the small zoo that cares for a number of animals ranging from tapirs and sloths to anacondas and ocelots. A walk across the savannahs for a gentle climb up Surama mountain. You will be rewarded with incredible views across the village and savannah to the Pakaraima Mountains. An evening educational walk to observe wildlife and experience the mystique of the forest after dark. A 3 mile trek across the savannah, through the rainforest to the Burro Burro River. Your guides will then paddle you on the Burro Burro River for opportunities to observe Giant River Otters, Tapir, Tira, Spider Monkeys and many more species.
Surama Eco Lodge, Surama

Monday, 12 March 2012 - Surama Eco Lodge

Tuesday, 13 March 2012 - Surama to Rock View Lodge
After breakfast you will depart Surama by 4WD for Rock View Lodge at Annai, a journey of approximately 45 minutes. Rock View Lodge is located where the savannah meets the forest covered foothills of the Pakaraima Mountains and has its own collection of animals including a tapir, anteater, monkeys and birds. With its tropical gardens and flowering trees, the lodge resembles an oasis in the savannah, and attracts many species of birds, particularly nectar feeders and frugivores. Nearby patches of light forest are home to certain ant birds and flycatchers, and of course the grasslands support an avifauna of their own. You will have the remainder of the day to undertake excursions from Rock View Lodge. Upon arrival you will be able to discuss the many different options available to you.

Rock View Introduction
Located 420km south of Georgetown, Rock View Lodge is the perfect base to explore the Rupununi. It is located in the village of Ruperti in the North Rupununi savannahs at the foothills of the Pakaraima Mountains. The Rupununi River, Pakaraima Mountains and the rainforest are all easily accessible from the lodge aswell as Amerindian villages such as Annai, Kwatamang and Woweta. The beautifully landscaped ground of Rock View
Lodge are scattered with hundreds of palms, fruit and flower trees. The lodge is managed by Colin Edwards, an Englishman who has been associated with Guyana since he arrived as an agricultural volunteer in 1969. His environmentally friendly lodge has a special relationship with the community development efforts of the Amerindian villages around. The efficient and friendly staff are members of the family as well as neighbours from around Rock View. They are mostly bilingual speaking a combination of English, Portuguese and the native Makushi languages. The food that is prepared comes from the best of what is locally available and grown on the farm. This includes fish, mutton, pork, venison and fresh fruit and vegetables and is prepared with a superb mix of Guyana, Caribbean and Brazilian flavours.
Rock View Lodge, Rock View

Wednesday, 14 March 2012 - Rock View Lodge, Rock View

Thursday, 15 March 2012 - Rock View Lodge to Georgetown by plane
Today you will take a short flight from Rock View Lodge to Georgetown.
You will travel by private car from the airport to your hotel.
Cara Lodge, Georgetown

Friday, 16 March 2012 - Georgetown to Miami
Caribbean Airlines flight No: BW 484 Dep: 0535 Arr: 1135 Duration: 04hr 15min

Miami to San Juan, Puerto Rico
American Airlines flight No: AA 1327 Dep: 1505 Arr: 1730 Duration: 02hr 25min

Once you have passed through customs and immigration upon your arrival in San Juan, you will be met by a representative from our ground agents who will be holding a board with your name on it just outside the exit.
Hotel El Convento, San Juan

Saturday, 17 March 2012 - San Juan Terminal: B to Vieques
Cape Air flight No: 9K1281 Dep: 0900 Arr: 0924 Duration: 24min

Upon arrival at Vieques you will make your way to the "W Lounge" where you will be provided with refreshments before being taken to the W Hotel. Bioluminescent Bay excursion (evening excursion) as part of a small group Vieques is home to one of the best Bioluminescent Bays in the world. The bay contains up to 720,000 single celled bioluminescent dinoflagellates per gallon of water. These half plant, half animal organisms emit a flash of bluish light when agitated at night. The ecology of the plants and animals in the bay will be explained before stopping in an area of high bioluminescent concentration providing the chance to swim with millions of glowing creatures.
The W Hotel, Vieques

Sunday, 18 March 2012 - Vieques to San Juan
Air Sunshine flight No: YI 429 Dep: 1330 Arr: 1355 Duration: 25min

San Juan Terminal: D to Tortola
American Airlines flight No: AA4818 Dep: 1750 Arr: 1829 Duration: 39min
Own arrangements in the British Virgin Islands.

Monday, 19 March 2012 - Sunday, 25 March 2012
Own arrangements.

Monday, 26 March 2012 - Tortola to San Juan Terminal
American Airlines flight No: AA4815 Dep: 1305 Arr: 1348 Duration: 43min

San Juan to London Gatwick
British Airways flight No: BA 2156 Dep: 1810 Arr: 0915 Duration: 08hr 55min

Tuesday, 27 March 2012 - Arrival in the UK.

Update on the Madagascar Development Fund

2011-12-23T16:23:00.001Z

Last year we gave some money to the MDF (no not the furniture chain that's MFI or the chip board wood substitute) to put a clean water source into a village in the outskirts of Tana.

Brian Donaldson has come back to us with the following report. He would have liked to visit the village himself but is struggling to get their in the rainy season - roads quickly become impassable.

"Despite our best efforts it has proved impossible to inaugurate your third remaining water project due to the appalling state of the "road". The rainy season started unusually early this year - at the beginning of October, shortly after my arrival, and the track to Antseva has been unpassable ever since. We have, however, been able to obtain the photographs attached to my next e-mail. They were taken by an acquaintance who made the journey by motorbike. His total travelling time (each way) was 6 hours. Conditions were so bad on the last section, with parts of the road completely washed away, that he took three hours to do only 8kms, the last km of which was across a rice field and could only be covered on foot.

We have not given up, however, and will do our best to make the journey ourselves next dry season (April - September) - when we could probably make good use of Keith's newly acquired Indian driving skills!!!!!

The safe, clean water installation is fully functioning and in daily use. The mayor told our visitor how grateful he and the community are for your generosity. He said that having clean water readily available had transformed the lives of the people - relieving the women and children in particular of the arduous task of collecting water from the ricefields and contributing to an improvement in the general health and well-being of the population.

He said a particular bonus of the new installation was the standpipe in the primary schoolyard - providing the children with safe water to drink and to wash their hands after using the latrine.

He asked us to communicate his deep and sincere thanks to you, and said that your obvious love for Madagascar and the people of Antseva would be the subject of discussion within the community for generations to come."

Karma Enduro Day 13 - Good Bye to all that

2011-12-23T16:09:00.000Z

Our heads were pounding and we both woke with a raging thirst. Our plight wasn't helped by the air conditioning failing at some point in the night and the room turning into a sauna. It was a good job we weren't driving today - our concentration wouldn't have been good enough to survive on Kerala's lethal roads.

The final party had gone on to the early hours, and even though us lightweights gave up at 2am, some stayed up until nearly dawn. As we settled down to a late breakfast, we gleaned a little of what had happened while we were in the land of nod. Other than the excessive drinking, dancing (including Sanj trying to teach bangra) and general tomfoolery, it emerged that another adventurer had had a watery mishap. Geraint, stumbling off to his bed, managed to fall into the pond surrounding the bar, along with his stuffed tiger. We had wondered why the hotel staff had been out with fishing nets.

After a very lazy morning, we headed out on a traditional houseboat for a booze cruise in Kerala's backwaters. This part of the state is a vast system of canals, rivers and lakes. We drifted past colourful villages and their inhabitants who live their entire life on, in and around the river.

That evening was a lot more subdued. The Karma crew had left, as had a few of the drivers. A group were discussing staying on for a few days on a houseboat, while others planned to go to Cochin or take the train up to Mumbai. The ability to drive around India unscathed had unleashed an adventurous spirit that would be hard to quell.

We were said our goodbyes that night as most were leaving the hotel at 4am the next morning, and no matter how much we enjoyed their company, we weren't going to wave them off. After all, flying with Emirates rather than Jet, we had the luxury of a lie in until 5.30am!

Having pre-booked the taxi by email, we thought we should confirm the transfer was in place before we hit the sack. It was just as well. The duty manager insisted that he'd received nothing after the initial quote request. There was no point arguing and he promised he would sort us a taxi or drive us to the airport himself.

The next morning we were up in plenty of time for our journey, just in case there was a problem. Keith was paying the bill and asked about the taxi, only to told again that none had been ordered because they were still waiting for confirmation! "This is India" Keith turned to Jan to calm her fears. A few phone calls established that the duty manager would be waiting for us by the dock, as promised, and he drove us the one and a half hours to Cochin airport for the first of our flights.

India to Dubai was a breeze, but as we settled into our seats on Emirates massive A380, the pilot made an announcement in that smooth, comforting tone they must learn at flight school. "Ah, good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. There, ah, is a problem with the system for communicating with the control tower so we have been advised to, ah, do what you do when you have a problem with your, ah, computer at home. Ah, power down the plane and power it back up again." "I hope they don't get the same problem when we're at 40,000 feet." quipped Keith. Fortunately the reboot worked and we were back in the air, and within 24 hours of leaving Kerala we arrived home, tired and ready for our nice comfy bed.

House Boat

Thoughtful

Thatching a roof

more thoughts...
or recovering from a hangover!

Life on the riverbank

The River

Oh Karma

2011-12-21T17:31:00.000Z

Here are the lyrics to the "Oh Karma" song, to be sung to the tune of "Volare".

Oh Karma
Hello, Come On!
Enduro
Hello, Come On!

We've driven on India's road
And torn up the Highway Code
From Colva to Karwar and Mudhuveshar and then Kalasa, Coorg we've seen.
On to Mysore and Masinagudi and Kodai so green
Then to Kerala's tea, in Munnar, Alleppy, that's the end

Oh Karma
Hello, Come On!
Enduro
Hello, Come On!

The pot-holes that no one can see.
A big truck that's heading for me.
As I swerve to avoid and get very annoyed, things then suddenly turn for the worse.
The bus that's behind it, has now decided to pass.
And my only way out is the ditch as I let out a curse.

Oh Karma
Hello, Come On!
Enduro
Hello, Come On!

You gave us some notes called a map
But often the directions were crap.
So we'd struggle along when the turnings looked wrong, with no landmarks to give us a clue And just as we thought that we'd have to abort, a chai stop would come into view.
After ten hours drive when our Ambi arrives we say 'phew'

Oh Karma
Hello, Come On!
Enduro
Hello, Come On!

Poor Heather's been needing the loo
And Fritha she hasn't a clue.
But when they get together we'll help them forever to make childrens lives really cool.
The kids and their smiles. Ashram bus that drives miles to ensure they get to their school.
And sick kids back at home know that they're not alone. Rainbow's rule!

Oh Karma
Hello, Come On!
Enduro
Hello, Come On!

The Doc, sings songs that are blue.
And Alex, tells jokes that are crude.
Paul dances, when he directs you.
Rajesh, plays tricks on us too.
Stef crashed, but that's nothing new.
And Junior, the smile in the crew.
Oh Karma, we really love you.