Helsbells Big Adventure

Wow I have been up to so much Ive barely had time to breathe!

Patagonia was fantastic, we saw loads of stunning scenery and were staying in a hostal with the most comfortable beds in the world and a really warm fire, which we were very grateful for as it was pretty cold at night.

After Patagonia we returned to Santiago. Spent a day just chilling out and doing very little, and the next day we went on a wine tour of the Concha Y Toro winery which some of you winos may have heard of (availble in all good UK supermarkets!). Got three wine tastings on the tour and then we paid for an extra three each so we could try the expensive ones, alongside some posh appetisers! Was great fun! Unfortunately after that we had to sort out changing our flights by a few days, which we did not anticipate being as conplicated as it was. When we finally sorted it all out, we returned to the hostel, went out for some disappointing food, and then went for some drinks with some people from the hostel, one aussie who was cool, and one american guy who was reeaaally annoying. Before we knew it it was 3.30am, which wouldnt have been a great problem except we had to be up at 5am to go to the airport to fly to Easter Island. Decided not to sleep, but fell asleep anyway for all of an hour. Both of us were very grumpy the next day and somewhat hungover but we made the flight. Luckily the plane was really good with loads of films and episodes of friends to watch which actually made a pretty fun hangover day! We did however go to bed at 8.30 that night!!

Easter island was fantastic. Hot weather, beautiful scenery, and a really interesting history (i wont bore you, but honestly it was good). One night we went to see a show of traditional easter island dancing. Wasnt expecting too much from it but it was actually really good, and helped by the fact that the men were dressed only in g-strings and body paint!! (The women were dressed in bikinis and grass skirts for those interested...we werent so much!).

Left Easter Island on sunday and arrived back in Santiago in the evening. Decided that since the day had been ´wasted´ anyway we may as well carry on, and got an overnight bus to the Chilean Lakes District, our final stop before the end of south america :-(

Unfortunately as soon as i arrived (yesterday, sunday) i started throwing up, presumably from food poisoning, and spent the rest of the day in bed. The day was not uneventful though as it also included a trip to the bathroom where i fainted and banged my head on the tiled edge of the shower. I now have a massive bump on my head which is quite painful. Was somewhat worried about concussion for a while. Today i feel a lot better, just needing food again now after lack of it for the last 24 hours. Just taking it easy today and exploring the town we are staying in. Kevin has taken the opportunity to scale an active volvano (!) which requires the use of crampons and an ice pick!! Crazy boy. I know it would be an amusing story, but really, as soon as crampons were mentioned i was not in the least bit interested!!

xx

Oh i keep forgetting to keep you updated :-S oops. The four day jeep trip was brilliant. There were five of us: four brits and a german, or three and a half brits and one and a half germans to be precise, but kevin seems to change his mind as to which he is depending on the current argument :-p. We saw lots of amazing mountains, lakes, flamingoes, wierd rock formations, and of course the salt lake, which is a big expanse of white essentially! This is where everyone takes silly photos such as one person holding the rest of the group in their hands, or people jumping out of a pringles box...and we werent ones to miss out! An hour and a half and lots of ridiculous props later and we had many a silly photo! At night we of course went in search of the nearest bar or corner shop and get slightly drunken together, especially necessary on the last night as it was bvloody freezing and we were in the middle of nowhere in a hostal with a plastic roof which, given the weather conditions didnt seem to be the wisest choice of materials!!

We left the tour at the border to Bolivia, with Jack in tow while the other two went back to Bolivia. Had to wait 3 hours to get a bus, but the nearest town San Pedro was not far away. We were relieved to be somewhere warm where we could wander round in t-shirts and sandals! Yay! San Pedro was a lovely chilled out touristy town but it was still abit of a shocker after Bolivia - paved roads, road signs, and restaurant food that arrives within half an hour! The prices were also a shocker, damn Bolivia for being so amazingly cheap!

We went on a trip to see the Atacama desert which i think is the highest in the world (but nowhere near the biggest). We walked across a massive sand dune, which was really cool.

The next day we got on a bus to go to Santiago, the capital of Chile. This took 23 hours!! Luckily it didnt feel like that long, and the bus was a decent one which provided some food, although nothing special. In Santiago we attempted to sort out what we wanted to do next, but didnt really get very far, and by the time we had decided what we wanted to do it was too late to book anything, so we knew we had another day in santiago at least. The next day we found a supermarket and bought some food to cook in the hostel as it had a kitchen for once, and then went to look round the city. There were a couple of lookout places with good views of the city, and one had a funicular and a cable car to the top so we went on those, which was the point at which kevin decided to tell me he was quite scared of them. Couldnt have told me before buying the tickets?!

We also managed to book a flight to Patagonia for the next day, and here we are!! The other end of Chile! Went to the furthest town south in the americas, which was actually a bit like blackpool in february (cold and mostly closed!). Now we are in a different town slightly further north, and its not so bad. It is off season though which explains why theres not too many people around, but is also good because tours are cheaper! Just booked up the next three days with kayaking, a tour of the national park, and sailing to some glaciers. Exciting!! Plus muchos hilarious photos to be had with me and kevin in wetsuits! hehe.

Having a faff trying to work out what to do next as we have a couple of days between all this stuff and going to easter island, and there is some other stuff we havent done, so we are considering changing our flights which would mean less time in alabama, which may not be a bad thing...:-s

xxx

Yes I know I havent written for ages...i have either been having far too much fun or in the case of last night, it appeared every muscle in my body was in agony and i couldnt physically find the energy to look for an internet place! Kevin persuaded me on a trek in some mountains in Bolivia, which were admittedly very beautiful. However, I was constantly behind everyone else as my legs would not move any faster, and the guide didnt seem very enthusiastic or encouraging. Let me give you some idea - we started at 4000 metres and climbed to 5000 metres including some scrambling across sizable boudlers to get to th summit of the mountain. Basically this is like climbing one of the higher lake district peaks but at altitude so much much harder to breathe or move. Kevin admitted he almost blacked out going up the mountain! Fun!

In other news, the day before we went down some silver mines that are still in use, so we got to see real miners shovelling heavy minerals and pushing tons of the stuff around the mines. They do this for about 10 hours a day. We all agreed that we are glad not to be Bolivian miners. We had to crawl through narrow passageways and tunnels which was hard work as it was also at high altude, and dusty and by crawling we were also squashing our lungs. Was quite relieved to get out of there again! This travelling is not easy!!

After the mines we got to blow up dynamite which was great fun. You can just buy it on the street in the town. They basically showed us how to make bombs...hmmm.

We are now in a small town in Bolivia called Tupiza which is apparently where Butch Cassidy met his demise, you can go and see his grave and stuff. After that we go on a three day (maybe four day) tour of some salt lakes and other amazing stuff which i will know more about afterwards, and the tour ends in Chile. Woohoo country number three! We have acquired another member of our posse (so now theres three, wow) a guy called Jack from Preston (thats near manchester for you poor southerners...).

Think we will be going in search of some much needed alcohol tonight :-)

xxx

Helloooooo


We are currently in La Paz, which is the capital of Bolivia. Its huge and has lots and lots of markets selling lots and lots of jewellery, scarfs, jumpers etc....dont quite know how im going to fit it all in my backpack!!

We arrived in Bolivia a couple of days ago by going to Copacobana (NOT in Brazil, theres one n Bolivia too), which is on the Bolivian side of Lake Titicaca. Its a lovely little lakeside town. We went panting up a windy hill (!) to see the view of the town which i am relieved to say was totally worth it. The we went back down and sat by the lake shore with a beer to watch the sunset. Mmmm. Was great! Beer jacket was totally necessary by this time though!

We were intending to get up the next day to get a boat to an island called Isla del Sol, so we set our alarm early (again) got up and dressed and it was only when we opened the door we realised it was pissing down with rain...hadnt seen that since England! Quick change of plan involved unsucessfully looking for breakfast (it was only about 7am) and going back to bed to write travel journals and consult the lonely planet. This was the point we started to panic about how much we wanted to see between now and the beginning of october and decided to skip isla del sol and get to La Paz that afternoon.

On arrival Kevin was ill again...not sure if it was the altitude again...so we didnt do much last night. Today we have been organisation-crazy and sorted a day trip for tomorrow near La paz and a three day trip to see some jungle and lots of amazing animals (hopefully), and then we went shopping. Got me an alpaca jumper, after lots of resistance!

xxx

PS the Bolivians appear to be a little obsessed with Elton John, to the point of making panpipe versions of his songs. Not a good move!

Ah the joys of backpacking! Its bikini bottoms for me tomorrow and finding somewhere to get our washing done! Too much information?! Hehe

We are now in a place called Puno which is not that exciting in itself but it is on the shore of Lake Titicaca. Tomorrow we are going on a 2 day trip to see the floating islands (they are made of reeds) and two other islands which LP describe as ´the closest you can get to heaven´ so im hoping it lives up to expectation!!

The bus out of arequipa was luxury compared to the one we got into arequipa. We had plenty of legroom, a snack provided, flims in english (although not ones i would pay good money in a cinema to see - Evan Almighty stretches reality a little too far, although morgan freeman plays God, which of course is factually correct....), and a game of bingo! Unfortunately the prize was a ticket back to arequipa! Helped me to pratice my spanish numbers, but we didnt know whether you won when you got a row of numbers or the whole sheet, so i shouted bingo after getting a row, and the bus had to see me get up to get my prize and then sit back down when told it was a false alarm! Ah stupid gringos!

Kevin is feeling better so we are anjoying ourselves more now, although i had no appetite today, which is a slight worry especially for me! The hostal we have tonight has cable so we are planning to get some snack foods in and maybe some beers and just enjoy watching tv! So sad that i miss it! Watching bad spanish soap operas (i think they are spanish...the actors definately arent peruvian) is so much fun. Dont really need to understand it to giggle at the terrible acting and questionable haircuts!

xxx

...to Arequipa. Kevin is feeling much better, but not totally recovered as he refused beer last night, and was even tentative about the free shot on offer! 

Arequipa is the second biggest city in Peru. We have spent the last two days wandering around seeing the sights, including a mummy of a 12 year old girl who was sacrificed on top of a mountain by the incas (quite gross really!) and a crazy monastry which is the size of a small city and was painted orange and blue. Sorry i really cant bring myself to put photos on t´ínternet at the moment! 

Today we had to change hostels, as the previous one had a horrible bed that was broken and gave both me and kevin bad backs :-s. Tomorrow we are off on a two day trip to ´Colca Canyon´, yes you guessed it, its a CANYON! 

Next we will be heading in the direction of Lake Titicaca or ´The tit´ as it shall now imaginitively be called. Ah the maturity!


xxx

We were supposed to get an overnight bus last night to our next destination, Arequipa, but alas Kevin has been chundering for the best part of last night so i think im glad we didnt. I have been playing the doting nurse and making sure there is a plentiful supply of bottled water and toilet paper! Our Peruvian mum, Huana (hostel owner/saviour) is letting us stay as long as we need, and disregarding the usual checking out time rules. She also offered to get medicine or a doctor if we needed. Bless! 

In the meantime i am very bored of Cusco. There are far far worse places we could be stuck but i was very ready to leave yesterday, so am crossing my fingers that we can get a bus tonight. I am bumbling my way round Cusco trying to avoid too much conversation with the locals as my spanish is still awful - im learning a fair amount of words but constructing a sentence is fairly impossible, and as soon as someone asks me a question im lost! I need my translators back!

xxx

I know some observant people have noticed that there was an earthquake in Peru a couple of days ago. Well, we are all ok, and didnt even feel a tremor. We may have to miss out on a couple of places because of it, but thats really nothing compared to the devastation it will have caused some people so i think we can get over it!

We went on the train to Machu Picchu the other day. Was very impressive and we took far too many photos. We did of course manage to moan most of the way round about the ridiculous number of stupid tourists that were also there spoiling the view!! Stayed overnight in the nearby town of Aguas Calientes and then got the train back as far as another town called ollantaytambo (only ticket available at the time). Had a look at the ruins and spent some money at the market and then got on a ´collectivo´(basically a mimibus) to the next town. We were serenaded by a Pervian girls football team on the way. Sooo cute! We got another bus again to Pisac to some more ruins, which we paid about three times as much as the bus just to get a taxi from the town to the ruins - we had time constraints!! By this time we were a bit ruin-ed out! Finally got another bus back to Cusco where we have been based for the past couple of weeks. We had to stand on the bus and Kevin had the misfortune to be stood next to a drunk Pervian who told us about fifty million times that we were going to Cusco (no shit), he also kept grabbing kevins hand and kissing and then at one point kissed him on the forehead. HILARIOUS...and the rest of the bus were quite entertained too!! Finally managed to get rid of him when kevin pointed at me and said ´my girlfriend isnt happy´. I then had to try out my acting skills to look unhappy when actually i was pissing myself laughing. I then had to hold kevins other hand and point at both of us and he finally got the message!! Oh also the bus nearly broke down and someone threw up at the back of the bus. We then has some guy try to con us in a taxi by charging us more saying it would take an hour to get to our hostel. It took 20 mins so we argued to pay less. We then got to the hostel where they hadnt written down our booking so the owner had to go to another hostel to find us a room for the night!! Quite an eventful day!

Actually going to see some of the sights of Cusco today instead of faffing about with luggage or train tickets or buying a camera, and then tomorrow Vicky leaves to go home (booo) and we leave to go somewhere else, probably Arequipa - as long as its not Cusco, this place is getting far too familiar!!

xxx

Firstly and most importantly, I HAVE MY LUGGAGE!! Wooohooo! Clean clothes never felt so good! Nothing like jumping into the travelling thing at the deep end!

Just returned from our five day trek in the andes to an inca site which is much less popular than machu picchu, about 15 people go per day rather than 500, possibly as you cant get there by road or rail, only by foot or horse (or donkey, as that sound more amusing). Of course exercise freaks kev and vicky made it all the way, and have thus named themselves the new team hardcore, whilst i had to admti defeat owing to not being able to breathe (kinda important) and have thus been named team donkey. Muchos taking the piss has of course ensued, and i have to admit, the photos of me trying to get on the donkey were possibly the funniest pictures ever! In all seriousness tho, i sweated my guts out on the trek and did try my best, and got to ride a donkey (its actually a horse, but donkey is more amusing) in the andes so who cares! Plus the other two got about 100 mosquito bites while i have about 10 so i win!

Immediate future plans involve finding the nearest alcohol shop for some wine, and we have just got train tickets to go to machu picchu (still cant spell that!).

Kepp in touch,

Hels xx

Hola chicos!

I made it to Peru in one piece and met Kevin and Vicky with no probelms. Unfortunately my luggage didnt arrive at the same time...and im still waiting for it...latest is i get it tomorrow. We are supposed to be going on a trek tomorrow so we need to sort something else out, such as buying clothes or postponing the trek. Sucks big time as it means im not really enjoying myself properly and im sure kevin and vicky are sick of me going on about it.

But i have my valuables (touch wood!) and my friends and im in Peru!!! We are now in the mountains in a place called Cusco which is very very touristy but i really like it. The locals carry their babies in blankets on their backs which is cool, but i would be somewhat scared of dropping it if it was me!!

Adios for now

Hels xx