the end has come (almost)...

10 months, 11 countries, 74 hostels, and endless amounts of stories and experiences that continually excite and entertain us.

In 2 days we leave Buenos Aires, Latin America, and our attempts to butcher the beautiful Spanish language, behind us.  We've had so much fun on this adventure, and we are starting to feel a bit sad and overwhelmed with what lies ahead.

Before I fill you in on what we've got planned for the next few months; let me take a moment to reflect on our highlights of Latin America. (I was going to let you know our individual highlights, but as it turns out they are the same!) So here we go, in chronological order:

The People

Ok, so this sounds so generic and stereotypical to list the people as one of our highlights... but it is so incredibly true.  (Almost) all of the latinos we have met have been so welcoming, patient with our Spanish, and incredibly friendly (Iguazu, Puerto Varas, and Uyuni - you let down the team!).  We feel so honoured to see how people live on this side of the world, as well as meeting some pretty awesome travellers.

Central America's Beaches

Some of the clearest water and stunning scenery we have ever seen.  A few of our favorite spots include Troncones, Tulum, Montezuma and Bocas del Torro.

San Cristobal de las Casas

In March we stayed in stayed in San Cristobal, in the highlands of Mexico, for a month.  It was the first place in Latin America that we totally fell in love with, and promised ourselves to return one day.  We met some really cool people there, and we started learning Spanish more seriously.

Learning Spanish

At times its been really easy, at times it been tough, and sometimes we have locked ourselves in our room and not wanted to hear another word in Spanish.  But overall, it has been really, really fun. We've really enjoyed learning Spanish, and it is definitely something we are going to miss when we leave here. While we're pretty confident these days, we still get stuck in strange little situations when someone says something to us that we totally can't understand. It adds a little fun and excitement to the day!

Cuba

When we were in Cuba we were so unsettled and on edge, that we didn't enjoy it as much as we could have at the time.  Looking back, it was a really amazing experience.  Cuba is so different to the rest of Latin America that we visited, with its awesome cars and island vibe. The people were also incredibly different, being so cut off from the rest of the world.  A place full of history and culture, that you just have to see to understand.

Volcan Pacaya

Climbing, sleeping on the side of, and cooking marshmallows in the lava stream of an active volcano in Guatemala is one of the coolest things we've ever done. Spending the first night of the rainy season drying drenched clothes beside a massive stream of lava while a crazy lightening storm surrounded us -- certainly something we won't forget too quickly!

Machu Picchu and Lake Titicaca

Machu Picchu is one of the key places we had wanted to visit right from the start, but seeing it was way better than what we had imagined.  The setting is absolutely beautiful, and made even better after the dramas of car accidents and Peruvian transport blockades on our trek there. The dizzying climb up Wayna Picchu (the mountain in the background of every Machu Picchu photo) really topped everything off.

It was fun staying with locals on Lake Titicaca, on the floating reed islands and on Amantani.  Very peaceful, traditional people groups, and such an insight into a different way of living.  It was extremely eye opening to how we live in western society.

Bolivian Salt Flats and Atacama Desert

Our 3 day tour of the salt flats was made even more memorable because of our awesome tour group.  In 2 4wd's we drove across landscapes from a seemingly different world, and saw a heap of unique sights in the world's driest desert.

Ushuaia

Our week in Ushuaia (the southernmost non-Antarctic town) was packed full of activities; from cross-country skiing, alpine skiing, dog sledding, four-wheel-driving, chasing woodpeckers through a forest, to eating awesome chori-pan cooked by a real Argentino!  All this topped off by bitterly cold wind and constant snow falls.  Our idea of perfect!

Our list of highlights could just go on and on; it already feels like so long ago since we were in Mexico.  I feel like we could return there for a holiday already! We have loved our time in Latin America. Not once have we regretted taking a year out of our lives to do this.  Hopefully it won't be too long until we can return...

So what's next for us?

In 2 days we fly out of Buenos Aires to the United Kingdom.  From there we will tour England, Ireland, Scotland, Paris, and Belgium, before meeting up with my parents in Holland for Christmas.  Shortly after Christmas we will return to Australia.

At this stage it seems pretty settled that we will be returning to Melbourne, currently we are waiting to hear back from our university applications, and are beginning to look for employment and rental options.  We are super keen to see our dog Lily again, there are so many little white dogs in Buenos Aires like her that we think of her every day!

Internet connections in Latin America have been surprisingly good, even better and more available than in Australia.  I guess this is just a warning that we may not update this blog again until we are home after Christmas (unless something REALLY exciting happens of course!)

See you in the new year, thanks for following our adventure
love Nyall and Mez.

The loudest thing in Argentina

A few days ago we visited the loudest thing in Argentina...

This video is from a "superclasico" - where the rival teams Bocas Junior and River Plate play against each other. It was 3 hours of non stop singing, chanting, and flares, and about twenty forests worth of paper constantly being thrown in the air. Stacks of fun!

Iguazu Falls

From the south of Argentina we flew back to Buenos Aires, and then caught a bus to Puerto Iguazu in the north; on the border of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay. 20 hours later we arrived, and immediately we were reminded of the tropical regions we had left in Central America. The weather was hot and muggy, and we regretted leaving our mozzie repellent behind in BA. A huge change to the sub-zero temperatures and snow we had experienced a few days earlier!

The Iguazu river, which the falls are on, acts as the border between Brazil and Argentina. On the Argentinian side you can get much closer to the thunderous falls, whilst the Brazillian side offers awesome panoramic views. We decided to give the Argentinian side a go first, as due to being Australians and visa requirements we weren't sure if we could go to Brazil.

The following day we decided to try our luck with the Brazilian side of the falls. Luckily we fluked a local bus, and they didn't stop at the border at all! On entering Foz de Iguacu (Brazilian side of Iguazu Falls) we found out from other travellers that we really shouldn't have been there without a visa, so we tried to be as inconspicuous as possible :) We got back into Argentina with no dramas.

Land of the Fire

Tierra del Fuego - without a doubt one of the most hardcore names in the world!

After arriving in Argentina we were at a bit of a loss with what we actually wanted to see here. We couldn't handle seeing another pretty-colonial-style town, and weren't in the mood for the heat up north. So that left us with one option - splurge and head down to the southernmost-non-antarctic point in the world. Not that this was an undesirable option, we'd really been wanting to get as far into Patagonia as possible, it was just the cost of getting there that was putting us off.

A bit of research and advice from other travellers taught us that flying was the best way to get there. If we'd have taken buses, it would have taken us about 3 days to arrive and cost a lot more. So we left as much luggage as possible in our hostel in Buenos Aires, and travelled light down to Ushuaia and Tierra del Fuego. It was a nice easy flight, and only really got interesting towards the end, when the landscape changed from empty desert to massive snow covered mountains. When we left the airport at Ushuaia we were instantly hit with the incredible scenery there - Ushuaia really is just a little town absolutely surrounded by jagged snow capped mountain ranges.

We quickly realised that we'd need a few new clothes to handle the temperature down there, so our first day was occupied by finding Maryanne a new warm jacket (no complaints from her!).

Because we'd splurged to afford the tickets to Ushuaia, we'd decided we were going to seize the opportunity and make the most from each day there. We started with a boat tour down the Beagle Channel, consisting of visiting a few islands, some sea lions, and the "famous" Ushuaia lighthouse (which I'd never heard of before). Next stop was to try and find a nearby glacier, which meant a chairlift ("aerosilla" in spanish!) up a mountain behind the town. When we got to the top we couldn't find anything there except a nice view of the town, there was no sign of a glacier anywhere. It did give me a chance to struggle through massive snowfalls to find the worlds southernmost-non-antarctic geocache, though.

Next day we headed out on a 4wd trip to a nearby lake. This was a lot of fun, our drivers were a bunch of jokers, who I'm pretty sure kept deliberately getting their cars stuck in strange places just to see how they could get them out. Lunch was a BBQ beside the lake, where we got our first taste of Argentinian choripan. Basically, it's a sausage in bread, but with chorizo instead of sausage and a roll instead of bread.

The next excursion on our list was to do some cross country skiing. I'd never been before, but after learning downhill skiing in Chile I was really eager to try. It took me a little while to get into the swing of it, and it didn't help that we took a path heading right up a mountain at first. But when we got back on the flats and into the rhythm of it, I found it really relaxing and enjoyable.

After this, we went to check out the Tierra del Fuego national park. Our collectivo driver gave us a choice of places he'd drop us off at the park, so we chose the place he described as "the end of the world". Turns out the end of the world is full of organized tour groups, so we quickly left to hike to another part of the park. Away from that area everything was much more peaceful and private. The highlight for me would be a group of woodpeckers we ran into on a path heading to Chile.

Another thing we did at Ushuaia was to spend a day downhill skiing at Cerro Castor. This was only my second time trying to downhill ski - and it didn't really go as well as the first! I really struggled on these slopes. But that said, the ski field was much more interesting than the one we went to near Santiago.

The last thing we went to do in Ushuaia was to take a night dog sledding trip. This was fun, but unfortunately really short.

Our last day in Ushuaia was spent checking out a local museum set in the ruins of the old Ushuaia jail, which was pretty interesting. One of the better museums we've been to.

So that's how we spent our time in Ushuaia. We had stacks of fun there, and we were a little sad to leave. But I'm really glad we decided to spend the extra and travel down there - I'd have really regretted it if we didn't go!

Santiago and South

After a two week stay in Santiago, we hired a car for a further two weeks to explore the regions south. As you can probably imagine we have spent A LOT of time in buses over the past 9 months, and decided to splurge a little on a rental car to get off the main highways for a change.

It took two days for us to get into the rhythm of things... the first day of freedom with the car we drove about 2 hours into the hills, only to find a dead-end, and all accommodation closed down for the winter season. Disappointed, we shuffled back out to the highway, only to stay in a town that was really ugly and rather uninteresting (Talca).

The second night we decided to book ahead our accommodation (to avoid the same disappointment as the previous day), which worked fantastic for us until we pulled up outside the most feral looking hostel I have ever seen. We pulled away ready to ignore our reservation, but as it turned out all of the decent hostels in town were booked out. We returned with our heads held low, but thankfully the private rooms out the back were a little happier looking than the dilapidated old facade.

We decided that booking ahead was still the way to go in southern Chile, and the following morning we read about a lovely little town a little further south near Angol. We called them up, told them we would be there in the late afternoon, and drove along on our merry away.

The southern part of Chile is absolutely beautiful, we are constantly in awe of the huge snow capped mountains, green fields and abundance of water. The area around Angol was no different, it was extremely beautiful countryside. We pulled up at our reserved accommodation at about 4pm, only to find it all locked up, and located inside a little commune. The security guard directed us to somebody who spoke English, and we began to troop around the commune looking for the person that had accepted our booking that morning. In the end we couldn't find anybody that could help us, but the security guard gave us a set of keys and said we could stay there anyway. We ended up staying in a huge old empty rundown farm house in the middle of the commune, in countryside that had suddenly changed from absolutely stunning to a little scary! I felt like we could be in the middle of a horror story.

Fortunately we awoke with no dramas the next morning, to find coffee, fresh bread, and finally somebody who was expecting us! After not much delay, we packed up our things and headed off to our next destination, Pucón.

Once again at lunch time we were troubled by the lack of picnic areas in Chile. In Australia they seem to be every couple of hundred meters on scenic roads, but we struggled to find any. We pulled over onto the side of the road to munch on our water cracker and tinned tuna lunch.

Pucón is a pretty little town, with a lot of European influence, settled in between a huge lake and a huge volcano. Since we had already spent a heap of money hiring the car, we decided against paying more to climb the volcano, and settled on visiting some nearby waterfalls. Again, we couldn't believe how much water there is in Chile.

The next few days it rained and poured, so we were caught up indoors. One day we tried to venture out to some thermal springs, but there was too much water on the roads for us to get far. We stayed in Pucón three nights before we gave up on the wet weather, and headed further south to the town of Valdivia.

Valdivia is on the coast, and the best thing about the town was the sea lions lazing around on it's shores. (We didn't make it to the distillery, Valdivia is also known for it's beer in Chile).

One night was enough in Valdivia, and we continued our expedition further south to the island of Chiloé. We took the car on a ferry just south of Puerto Montt to Chacao, and then stopped for the night in a comfortable little guesthouse in Ancud. Two nights were enough in this funny little fisherman's village (which reminded us of the Old Gregg episode from the Mighty Boosh, complete with fishermen pubs and weird fishmen folklore tales).

We visited an old Spanish fort near Ancud, which turned into more of an adventure than we were anticipating. We were planning for it to just be a quick trip, but unfortunately the roads were really muddy and we had to leave the car 8km away from the fort. We decided to walk, but the maps we had were really inaccurate. Eventually we found it hidden down an un-signposted road, but by this stage most of the excitement had worn off, and we were dreading the walk back to the car and the approaching night-fall. Thankfully 3km down the road a big old bus came rumbling along, and we gladly hitched a car back to our stranded car. It ended up being quite a big day, and we're not sure how we would have coped with the cold if we were still walking after sunset. But another good day in Chile.

From Ancud to Castro we explored the north eastern coast of the island, mainly trying to get a look at the old wooden churches the island is best known for, and the sleepy fishing villages. We had a hearty lunch in a place that looked like it doesn't see too many tourists, while an old fisherman talked to us about something or other in rambling, drunken Spanish (we think)...

In Castro (the main hub on the island of Chiloé) we stayed in a gorgeous guesthouse on stilts over the water. The waterways around Castro are lined with these old houses clinging to the banks, making the town quite unique to other Chileno townships. It was pretty miserable weather outside, so we were glad to have somewhere cozy to spend the next few days.

On the first day in Castro we visited another smaller island, that had a few nice wooden churches, particularly one that had intricate painted wooden sculptures. We also chased after an elusive water wheel on the island, but never really found it.

Castro is as far south as we will go in Chile, and today we returned north to the town of Puerto Varas. It is too windy and cold to do much outside, so that is why I spent the afternoon writing this massive blog to keep you all up to date!