Red Red Wine!

We left San Pedro on 7 October, catching a 2 hour flight to Santiago, from where we would catch a connecting 40 minute flight to Mendoza, Argentina. All went well and we were soon in a taxi taking in the foothills and high plains on our way to our hotel for the next four nights.

This was always going to be the luxury part of our trip - good wine (Mendoza has over 800 wineries making it the largest wine producing area in South America), meat (the grass-fed cattle in Argentina makes for some delicious meats (apparently, Argentina has the world's second highest consumption rate of beef, at 55 kg a year per capita - I think I would end up looking like a post-playing days Maradona if I stayed here!)) and Argentinean hospitality (we had come to Argentina 2 years previously and had an fantastic time but did not have the time in our itinerary to visit Mendoza).

Coming back to Argentina is a bit like returning to the home comforts we have got used to in Europe - being able to drink tap water, flush toilet roll down the lavatory, enjoying tarmac roads as opposed to dirt tracks etc - all of which had not experienced in Peru or Bolivia. Not that we are complaining - both Peru and Bolivia (especially Bolivia) really were good fun and incredibly cheap - for instance, in Rurrembaque we had a delicious meal at one of the top-end restaurants and the main courses were about £1.25 each. It is going to feel very strange to get back to pay normal (i.e. UK) prices for things when we get to New Zealand and Australia!

Mendoza did not disappoint. Our hotel was located in the Lujan de Cuyo area, 30 minutes south of Mendoza and had a serene garden and a lovely mix of mature trees, flowers and shrubs. It also has a distinctly French feel to it - the owners spent 7 years living in France and speak perfect French which has made communicating a lot easier.

The breakfasts were superb - a variety of delicious pastries from the bakery at the end of the road and enough to keep us going (just about) until our very late dinners. 

The owners of the hotel were always happy to help and arranged a couple of wine tours for us - the first to a large vineyard called Nieto Senetiner which, with its expansive lawns and villa-style architecture, is said to be one of the most attractive wineries in Mendoza. We sampled Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon and a blended variety, all of which hit the spot (even at 11.30am!).

The second visit, at 5pm, was to a small boutique vineyard called Clos de Chacras, where we would also have an excellent dinner that evening. One thing we did observe was just how late the Argentines would eat out. The restaurants we visited did not open until 9pm and, whilst Sarah and I were invariably the first to arrive, the Argentines did not start arriving until gone 10.30-11pm! I wonder just how long their siestas were...

Batteries re-charged, we flew to Santiago on 11 October from where we caught a connecting overnight flight to LA. We had a fabulous trip in the States driving up the coast to San Francisco, where we have always wanted to visit. A blog of our road trip will follow shortly... 

San Pedro de Atacama (Chile)

We were dropped off in San Pedro de Atacama, close to the main square. We headed straight for the tourist office to find out exactly where our B&B was located (given that we were only in Chile for a few days, we hadn't bought a Lonely Planet).  It turned out that it was actually quite far outside the centre of San Pedro but, having been "reliably" informed by a girl in the tourist office office who was barely in her teens (who had to draw on the map where we were heading to as it was not on the map - never a good sign!) that the B&B was only a 10-15 minute walk away we set off with all our stuff on our backs. 25 minutes later, thorougly exhausted from carrying 20+ kilos on our backs in the blazing sun (how do the porters on the hikes do it?!) and having taken a few wrong turns (my nickname is "Tom Tom Mortimer" for good reason!), we managed to find our B&B.

The owner of the B&B spoke perfect English (she had lived in Westerham in Kent for a year when she was younger) and told us to treat the place like home, which was great. Sarah was quick to point out that this did not mean I could leave my dirty clothes lying around anywhere and play my music at full blast! Still, what was great was that we were able to cook for ourselves in the evening in their kitchen - funny the home comforts you miss!

So, we had a lazy few days with the exception of a bike ride to the Vallee de la Luna (Moon Valley) which was great fun but a little longer than I had led Sarah believe (i.e. seven hours on a bike instead of three). The valley, which is some 8 miles west of San Pedro, was a spectacular place, not least for its resemblence in places to the surface of the moon - it has various stone and sand formations which have been created through the centuries by floods and wind and has also given it an impressive range of color and texture.  It is also considered to be one of the driest places on earth, as some areas have not received a single drop of rain in hundreds of years. Apparently, a prototype for a Mars rover was tested there by scientists because of the valley's dry and forbidding terrains.

We really enjoyed San Pedro and another period of downtime but now it was time for Mendoza and some serious red wine and bife de chorizo - we simply could not wait!

Tupiza and Salar de Uyuni

We spent a couple of days relaxing in La Paz following our jungle break, getting used to being at altitude again. You really can notice a difference once you return to altitude - both Sarah and I have noticed that our breathing becomes heavier and less rhythmic (particularly at night) and you will be lucky to get a good nights' sleep.


We found time in La Paz to head to an Argentinean restaurant recommended in Lonely Planet where we had delicious bife de chorizo - a serious protein injection! Can't wait for the Mendoza part of our trip.


On 28 September, we set-off for Tupiza in the south of Bolivia. Our journey would involve taking the bus from to Oruro, some 200kms south-east of La Paz. We had wanted to take the train all the way to Tupiza but, somewhat unbelievably for a capital city, La Paz does not have an active train station. We stopped for lunch in Oruro, before setting off for Tupiza on an overnight train which would get us to Tupiza at 4am.

Other than being in a carriage surrounded by a group of middle-aged French people complaining about the state of the toilets, the journey passed by smoothly and we managed to get some good sleep. Before the sun set, we were treated to some spectacular scenery between Oruro and Uyuni. 

Fortunately we were able to check into our hotel in Tupiza at around 4.15am to get a few hours sleep. We spent the next couple of days exploring Tupiza's spectacular scenery - weird eroded rainbow coloured rocks cut by gravelly, dry ravines.

Tupiza church on the main square

Anyone for a kickaround?



We decided to treat ourselves to a private four-day excursion from Tupiza to San Pedro de Atacama (Chile) which was a tad on the steep side but ultimately worth every penny. We left Tupiza on 1 October and, accompanied by our guide, Marcos and chef, Agustina, we headed north through the Salo valley (spectacular scenery and rock formations).  About two hours into the journey we passed Huaca Huanasca, where it is said that Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid met with rather unpleasant deaths in 1908.

Each day Agustina treated us to delicious lunches with fresh ingredients and lots of herbs and spices. One particular highlight was a traditional Latin American dish called Tamales - delicious steamed parcels containing Llama meat (so tender, so good), corn, chili, onions and olives. Over lunch Agustina ate a whole chili which was particularly impressive (I bit a tiny corner of one off and it nearly blew my head off!).

Our first night was spent in the slightly surreal hotel Cristal Samana at the entrance of the Salt Plains, just outside Uyuni - surreal because it is made almost entirely from Salt! Unbelievably, we had the place to ourselves.

 The next morning we set-off for the Salar de Uyuni - the largest salt flat in the world (10,582 square kilometers/3,656 metres above sea-level) - an immense, eerie expanse of space that is quite overwhelming. We passed numerous pyramid shaped mounds of salt that had recently been harvested.  Amazingly, this huge area has average altitude variations of less than one metre which accounts for the amusing photos that can be taken which distort the size of objects at various distance from the camera (Sarah and I lost patience trying to create such a photo!).  Our guide informed us that the Salar contains 50-70% of the world's lithium reserves, which has yet to be extracted.

Our journey took in Incahuasi Island which is of volcanic origin and roughly in the centre of the Salar. We walked around the island for around an hour and enjoyed some fantastic views of the Salar. One of the most impressive features of the Island is its Cacti, some of which are over 1000 years old.

That night we stayed in the small village of Atullcha where it was bitterly cold at night (fortunately, we dined near to the fireplace in the dining room).

It was worth bearing the cold though to get some views of the beautiful sunset.

The next day we continued south towards the Chilean border and passed by a series of lagoons where we were able to get really close to huge numbers of flamingos. 

There are three types of flamingos that can be found on the lagoons - James, Chilean and Andean. Beautiful birds - particularly striking with the clear blue sky and the backdrop of mountains and volcanoes (one of which, Ollague Volcano) is active.

Our last night was spent close to 5,000 metres above sea level at the Hotel del Desierto - challenging not just because of the altitude but also because of the cold.

With the wind, it felt like -15 Celsius! It was pretty severe, regardless of how many layers you put on. I think Sarah must have slept that night with three layers on, including her thermals! To top it all off, we had to depart the next morning at 5am - you can imagine how cold it was at that time! Even the heating in the car didn't seem to work - no wonder our guide was wearing what looked like an all in one ski-outfit!

The first sight we came across, just as the sun was rising, was the famous Arbol de Piedra (Stone Tree). Just 15 seconds out of the car to take a few photos was enough to freeze your b***s off!

The next stop was the "Sol de Manana", a geothermal field which extends over 10 km², between 4800m and 5000m.  The area is characterised by intense volcanic activity, sulphur spring fields, mud lakes and steam pools with boiling mud. Despite various warnings to stay outside the Sol and not walk within it, our guide proceeded to take a route through the heart of the Sol. In a somewhat kamikaze fashion (I was very tired and probably not thinking straight!) I followed him to get some close up photos - in hindsight not my cleverest moment given that one slip could have resulted in a very very hot bath indeed! 

Our penultimate stop would be the Laguna Salada - finally a place to warm up!

The tour ended at the Bolivian border, where we said our goodbyes to Marcos and Agustina (who had been amazing) and boarded a communal bus which would take us south and, significantly, downwards (some 2,000 metres) to San Pedro de Atacama, Chile. At the Chilean border, our bags were thoroughly searched. Luckily, Sarah remembered to dispose of the coca leaves from her rucksack just before her bag was searched!