Top 10 Travel Moments

We’ve now been home for a month and are already back into our normal routines so needed to write this post before I forget all about our incredible trip. We did so many things that I could never have dreamt of but here is our top 10 (not in any particular order as it’s too difficult!):

Fresh Tracks on a Powder Day in Whistler
Picture this – it’s 5.30am, you’ve just woken up & checked the snow report and you see 50 whole cm has fallen overnight. You’ll soon be in the queue to be one of the first people up the mountain for the day to enjoy a big buffet breakfast. You’re full from bacon, sausages, hash browns etc (and have filled the tupperware you brought) then at 8 a bell rings, you and your friends rush out to be literally the first to experience fresh runs in 50cm of powder! And if you know the mountain you can keep getting fresh tracks all day long!

Seeing the Glaciers Melt in Patagonia
This was never something we planned but was absolutely incredible. From buenos aires down to El Calafate, Patagonia was a 48 hour bus ride but believe me it was worth every minute. The views of the glacier were stunning but the sounds were just as impressive. We were on a boat ride for literally 5 minutes before we witnessed a huge piece of ice fall off and explode into the water.

Visiting the Amazon Rainforest
Thanks to England getting drawn in Manaus for their World Cup group, we were in the perfect place for a trip into the amazon. We did a three day tour of the jungle which included – alligator spotting, trekking through the jungle, canoeing down the river, piranha fishing and watching an amazing sunrise. Something we will never forget!

Before

Seeing Machu Picchu
Who doesn’t want to visit one of the greatest wonders of the world?! We opted to do a 4 day/3 night jungle tour as our way to get to Machu Picchu – highly recommended. Despite not being able to walk on the day we got there, it didn’t put us off and the views from the top were like nothing else.

Salt Flats Tour
For miles and miles all you can see is well, salt. I’ll admit it doesn’t sound the best but it was one of the best 3 days we had in South America. We drove around the desert stopping at incredible places and eating surprisingly good food that our driver made on the road. We even got a stint at driving the jeep through the desert!

Beautiful Bolivia

Everything about La Paz gave me a headache – the sound of cars beeping, the colourfulness of the markets, the crazy traffic, the protesting, the drums & bells from all of the parades and of course the altitude… But I loved it! La Paz is one of the most interesting cities we’ve visited yet. There is so much culture, history and a unpredictableness that makes it such a diverse city.

After the change of arrival destination from bus station to middle of a street that we had no idea where we were, we arrived at our hostel in La Paz much later than planned. We walked around for a while in search for a restaurant/cafe/fast food place with no luck. The only place with food was a lonely elderly women cooking something at the side of the street. We asked for two of whatever she was making, without really knowing what it was, sat on a bench with her and ate our food with our fingers. It was amazing – beef with potatoes and some hot sauce. A bargain for less than £1. Street-food was the way forward.

We took another free walking tour to see the city which was starting just down the road from out hostel. I was still suffering from the altitude so we opted for the afternoon tour so I could have a rare lie in. Turns out our hostel is on the same road as the San Pedro Prison which is self ran by the inmates and only has a few guards outside (who every time we’ve seen them they’ve been on their phones or reading a paper!). The book Marching Powder is based on the prison and up until recently you could do a tour around the prison. Now there is just a guy who walks around the prison trying to con tourists into paying for him to take him round – he will either just run and take you round the prison and leave you in there! He actually came up to us to ‘chat’ – a nice guy!

The walking tour gave us a good insight into the culture here particularly around the Chaulita women who work at the markets and the people who still believe in witch craft.

We spent a lot of time walking around the markets, which have pretty much everything you’d need to buy and at the food stalls. Food at restaurants is cheap (£4-6 a meal generally) but you can spend £1 on just as good quality food from a street seller. We’ve just had to guess a little with what we’ve ordered and hope for the best but it’s working out well!

No matter what time of day it is, there is always something going on in La Paz. When we arrived it was a university dance parade that blocked the roads then for the other days there were very colourful parades in preparation for Bolivian Independence Day. We were woken at 8am by the sound of a parade going right past our hostel.