The end of the world as we know it...

A Welsh teahouse in Patagonia? That`s right. Loads of them. I`d tried to get Tim excited by the idea of a cream tea but by the time we got to the little town of Gaiman (by police escort no less as the gringos were lost) they were all closed.

It was a long drive from Puerto Madryn and Tim was knackered but if you haven`t seen penguins before, the colony at Punto Tombo was worth it (bypass only if you`ve been to Philip Island, Australia) I wish I hadn`t seen two carrion birds eating a new-born alive, that`s for sure.

The previous day we whalewatched in Peninusula Valdes. A day after the official season, we were lucky to see a Southern Right whale and her calf. They came right up to the boat and mum inquistively stuck her head out to spy on us. The huge, dark whale shape disappearing under the hull and emerging the other side, was one I`ll not forget.

The rest was rugged coastline populated with elephant seals, sealions and yep, penguins. Very like the Otago Peninsula. Much of Patagonia reminds me sharply of New Zealand. Snow capped Andes look much like snowcapped Southern Alps, I guess.

From there, we journeyed across country to Bariloche. I can`t honestly understand what the fuss is about here. Sure, the surrounding areas are stunning - beautiful treks for example - but the town itself is a mishmash of ugly buildings, mostly commercial (read tourist) and sadly for somewhere with such potential, town planning - or lack of it - was a disaster.

Christmas day, however, was a pleasant one. Tim slaved over two chickens, trimmings, pumpkin AND apple pie. With the help of a couple of pals, we polished off 2 christmas dinners (with a lakeside spa in between) in one day.

Caught up with a friend 3 hours north in San Martin de los Andes - gorgeous little place reminicent of Wanaka, NZ. Wished we could´ve stayed longer but had prebooked bus tickets to Perito Moreno.

Route 40 is a slow bumpy ride at the best of times but little did we realise, the bus out of there was the start of the journey from hell. My guidebook didn`t make it clear that the town of Perito Moreno is not home to the glacier of the same name. Perito Moreno is a backwater ghost town and despite prepaid hotel reservations, we weren`t staying. It took over 2 days of travel to reach the real home of the (absolutely spectacular) glacier, El Calafate.

Nice town but a disappointing New Year`s eve. It doesn`t get dark till 11.30 this far south so midnight passed almost sober and unnoticed! I also got bedbugged and was hideously allergic. Face, hands and neck covered in painful, swollen welts. The hostel (Marco Polo) ignored my discomfort, embarrassment and pleas for a refund and gave me a beer instead. Nice.

Couldn`t get out of there fast enough (wouldn`t even sit on the sofa) Took my welts to El Chalten, the national trekking capital. Given that I don`t trek, it was an odd decision but the right one. They gave a damn about my predicament and facial carnage - narrowly missed going to the hospital for a shot.

El Chalten is very windy, tiny and surrounded by nothing but mountains. No phone networks, wifi, nada. Tim trekked, I hung out.

Next, made the difficult decision not to go to Torres del Paine, Chile. Five day treks, however beautiful, are not my thing. So Tim went his way and I went mine. Which was supposed to be Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world - but the airline had other ideas and duped me into boarding a flight to the international trout capital instead....(?!) Don`t ask!

A short bus ride and I am finally here. Fin del Mundo, literally the end of the world.

Tim and Tam arrive in Patagonia...

I removed the remains of my French manicure this morning on arrival in Puerto Madryn, Patagonia.

I had pretty toes all the way through Bolivia, where in contrast to life in Cartegena, posh toes are totally incongruous. It`s a tough country

I`m glad I was with my lovely friends from Brighton, Kath and Tim....but Bolivia surprised me in many ways i.e I survived the altitude without much problem, didn`t get sick as everyone seems to and the landscape was out of this world. Literally.

But we did experience wanna-be bag thieves on rickety buses (fixed with Sellotape and smelling of wee) narrowly missing an upturned truck and getting stuck in a roadblock...

We visited the infamous San Pedro prison, La Paz, where the prisoners tried to sell us cocaine and afterwards, spent 4 days in a Landrover with a throat full of dust, exploring the desert, salt plains and rainbow mountains. Red, white and turquoise lagoons, peppered with hundreds of pink flamingoes. Incredible. Stayed in ramshackle houses in the middle of the desert and a hotel entirely constructed of salt too (we even licked the walls to prove it!)

It`s wonderful to be back in Argentina now though. Massive contrast, after the raw craziness of Bolivia. Loving the Argentine people and their fabulous wine. After not being able to drink more than one beer without falling asleep for three weeks, we have made up for lost time. In Mendoza we were wine tasting in the countryside by 10.30 am!

My friends left for Chile and I made a brief stop in sizzling Buenos Aires, where unlike the first visit, I was able to meet loads of people and experience some of the city´s relentless nightlife. There I met a boy called Tim and we decided to get the overnight bus which arrived this morning...

Colombia`s great. Don`t give a FARC what others tell you.

Ok, so you deserve more about Colombia than that last pitiful excuse.

Cartegena, on the Caribbean coast, is spectacular. A real gem. (fitting then, that the country`s second largest export are emeralds.)

This place has passion. Oodles of it. Sexy street dance, fiestas and lazy siestas.

Think Latin American Seville, where the beautiful and seriously stylish sip coffee and sashay around under quaint Spanish flower draped balconies. Image is everything - it`s top of the worldchampion league for plastic surgery - some of the breasts around here would give Pamela Anderson a run for her money.

The Miss Colombia pageant has been running while I`ve been here, so exquistely slender doe-eyed, dark haired girls are here in their hundreds which could make a gringo stand out in the crowd. For all the wrong reasons!

There`s lots of this country I regret missing out on but have only just made it up the coast to overwhelmingly hot, but chilled and beautiful Taganga and Tayrona National Park. Met some lovely travellers (as well as a few not-so-lovely Brits on the look out for cheap drugs, threesomes and fights. They get everywhere.) But I really didn`t want to leave!

And tomorrow, after a gruelling day on a lot of aeroplanes, I`m off to La Paz. A city different in every way imaginable. In preparation and true Colombian spirit, I`ve treated myself to a full manicure and pedicure, darling. The prettiest fingers and toes in backpackerdom.

Cartegena, Colombia

The lazy person`s guide....

Goodbye Ecuador...

I`ve done a few uncharacteristic things over the last few months, like; climbing muddy, very active volcanos, crawled on my stomach through small underground tunnels, hiked all day, waded through amazonian mud swamps (full of leaches), swam with electric eels, stingrays, anacondas and sharks, found tarantulas in my bedroom, cockroaches in my lunch, fished (caught my first one - a piranha!) visited a shaman, ate lots of soup containing popcorn and chips, molycoddled monkeys, fed lions, bears and jaguars and shouted `Goooooooool!' at the top of my voice when Ecuador score at the beautiful game...

Two and a half months in Ecuador may have changed me. Certainly some of the experiences I`ve had here have been some of the best so far. But the fact you never get what you pay for is driving me slightly insane. My friend told me that her friends had recently come to Ecuador to cash in on the opportunity for cheap plastic surgery. Fine, if you're happy to risk the fact you want wrinkle reduction but actually come out with smaller boobs. That`s how it is here. Get used to it.

I`ve just come back from 2 glorious weeks in the Galapagos (would`ve been a whole lot less stressful if the airline hadn`t cancelled both of my flights and I hadn`t had to be rescued at sea because both motors on the twin engine boat conked out!) But I already miss the fish market in Pelican Bay where sealions and pelicans beg for fish scraps like a pack of hungry dogs. I`m convinced Tortuga Bay on Santa Cruz is the most beautiful beach in the world, with huge marine iguanas and small white tip reef sharks basking in the shallow surf...

I`ve said enough. On to Colombia tomorrow....until next time....

Having a whale of a time...

apologies for my absence. i´m not really sure if anyone´s reading anymore anyway! since the last entry, things have been somewhat less relaxed. I´ve completed a whip-round gringo tour of southern peru in less than two weeks and though i´m glad i´ve seen the things i´ve seen i can´t say it was an altogether pleasurable experience. and it cost a small fortune. i never want to go on another gringo tour as long as I live!

the peruvians are getting to grips with mass tourism and offer what they think the tourist wants. so you get this weird simulacra peru instead of the real one. everywhere you go you´re confronted with a woman in traditional dress, trailing a dutiful llama. even at the top of a large hill on an island in the middle of lake titicaca, there´s the obligitory pan pipe band, complete with amp. if i see another gringo buffet lunch or hear another tour guide screeching down a mic, (or worse, at macchu pichu they had really loud whistles) I think I´ll scream.

It´s refreshing to be somewhere new. I´m in ecuador until late november and am currently living with a lovely family in quito brushing up on the spanish...

we went to the coast for the weekend (a 10 hour bus journey) but all was worth it. i now know where the expression used for the title of this blog came from. on the way to a national park island just off the coast, our small boat was surrounded by humpback whales. they were having so much fun jumping right out of the water, in pairs, over and over again for almost an hour! it was like a montage of the best bits of the blue planet played out right before

my eyes. one of the best days of my life....

R & R in Praia do Forte

If I´ve got deja vu so have the locals, many of whom recognise me from a Christmas holiday here in 2006.

It´s a touristy, (somewhat middle-class) sleepy little fishing village with little to do everyday but watch turtles, whales and some very sexy surfers in the glorious sunshine.

It´s a hard life but someone´s got to do it.