South America

Galapagos Islands

Galapagos – 1

(I was intending to upload a post each day that I was cruising around the Galapagos Islands on the MV Daphne using my satellite phone. However, a setting in my web site’s internals would not cooperate and I was unable to upload posts directly from the boat. The disadvantage of this is that I now have […]

Read More
South America

Quito

Quito is a bustling city that in many ways reminds me of Lisbon in Portugal. Both are strong Catholic cities with steep hills and narrow streets. I think Quito is in a better state of repair. It is situated in a valley in the northern Andes that is about 5 km wide and 57 km […]

Read More
South America

Two Days in the Cloud Forest

I’ve just returned from spending two days in the cloud forest at Bellavista Lodge, high up above the Tandayapa Valley, 85 kilometres to the North East of Quito. I left Quito at 6.30 am yesterday and travelled for about two hours to reach the lodge. It is set in eight square kilometres of steep-sided sub-tropical […]

Read More
South America

Santiago to Quito and My Missing Bags

My time over the last couple of days has been a series of misadventures. I had a six hour stopover in Santiago and then caught a three- hour flight to Lima in Peru where I spent the night at the airport hotel – right across the road from the airport terminal. Along with six other […]

Read More
South America

Santiago, Chile

I’m on my way to the Galapagos Islands via a ‘slow boat to China’. I’ve just landed in Santiago after leaving home nineteen hours ago. I have a six hour stopover here before a four hour flight to Lima, Peru. Then I have an overnight stop for twelve hours and a final three hour flight […]

Read More
South America

Cruising on the Murray

For the last few days, we have been cruising upstream to the town of Blanchtown and now we heading back down the river to Murray Bridge. It’s a very peaceful life, but at times it does get a bit boring. The river is about 150 metres wide but very slow – flowing at only about […]

Read More
South America

Adelaide – A Long Day of Filling in Time

We were up at 6.00 am yesterday to head off to Murray Bridge via Adelaide with my Probus Club on a five day trip along the Murray River on the riverboat ‘Proud Mary’.  We checked in early for our 10.00 am flight that left on time and arrived in Adelaide at 11.30 am. We were […]

Read More
South America

Venizio’s Farm Revisited

Visiting the farm of Venizio’s family in Peru was a fascinating insight into a different world. Here was a man who couldn’t read or write and scratched out a meagre existence  by growing potatoes and corn on the land around his house. He was very proud of his family, and had a number of certificates […]

Read More
South America

Buenos Aries

We have spent the last three days in Buenos Aries in Argentina at the conclusion of our trip. The city’s name in English translates into ‘Good Air’ and it is indeed a good and comfortable pace to visit. I have decided that I like this city. I thought this on my first`tri8p to here and […]

Read More
South America

She’s Not the Girl from Ipanema

I saw Rob’s comment that the best view in Rio would be the girls on the beach. Unfortunately, we were there on two cool and cloudy days. I took this picture of the only woman I saw on the beach in a bikini. She’s not tall, she’s not young, and she’s not lovely – but […]

Read More
South America

Drenched at Iguazu Falls

We arrived at Iguazu on Tuesday after a two hour flight from Rio. Iguazu is approximately half way between Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aries and s at a point on the Iguazu River on the Border of Brazil and Argentina. The falls are one- of the top ten natural wonders of the world. Although […]

Read More
South America

Rio de Janeiro

We arrived in Rio on Saturday night after a long flight for a visit to this exciting and romantic city. Unfortunately, we hit a patch of cool rainy weather,so a lot of our expectations were not fulfilled to the degree we might have expected.The weather kept most people off the  beach, so the Girl from […]

Read More