After 6 buses for me and 10 for Dave we eventually arrived on the Argentinian side of the Iguacu Falls. Our hostel was something like a cross between halls of residence and a sunny 18-30s holiday resort but that was not going to stop us having fun. We checked out the swimming pool before the volleyball match between the blonde bimbos and the loud machos began and then headed off into Puerto Iguacu town for something to eat. Having seen and felt enough samba to ma...

Flying across Brazil and finding ourselves in a tin shed airport, we caught the two buses to our hostel and were very pleasantly surprised to find a spotless room and a swimming pool. Given the time and the fact that the Iguacu falls park was already closed, we caught up with the other travellers in the mass exodus from Rio following the end of the carnaval and swapped many a happy story of people who had been kidnapped, threatened and robbed during the celebrati...

Our entry into Brazil was not ideal: despite fears of future muggings and shootings in Rio we had problems before we had even got there when we realized someone had taken some money from our folders when we had left them in a hotel safe. So much for it being safe! (NB: we found the 'stolen money' sent home in something else when we got back to England. Oops!).So our first few minutes in Brazil were spent in the airport police office filing our report. Nice start!...

Our transport back to Santiago was by ´bus cama´which is a ´bed bus´but unlike our previous experiences the seat actually was quite bed like with blankets and a good reclining position and they even came round with breakfast! Unfortunately I almost brought it up because of having to watch the lovebirds in front of us...get a room. We headed back for our third and final time to what had become our second home in first class Hotel Paris in Santiago. The kind r...

Although only a quick stopover, Valdivia was a lovely break after our hard work in the Torres del Paine. We whiled away the hours watching strange men dressed up like bus conductors singing songs and getting down to the groove in a really fat and greasy way after gaping at sea lions hanging around for fish cast out into the river by the fish mongers in the local market. The weather was glorious so we walked along by the river and ended up at a local park where we...