In pursuit of penguins

  Bariloche, Argentina [by Paula] If, like us, you’ve got a bit of a thing for penguins you’ll probably enjoy this blog post. If you’re not that bothered about penguins, well, you are clearly dead inside. Not enjoying this blog post is, therefore, the least of your worries. Come on, can you really resist this […]

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Land of fire

El Calafate, Argentina [by Paula] When European explorers reached ‘the end of the world’ at Tierra del Fuego in the 1500s, they called it the ‘land of fire’ because they could see hundreds of little blazes on the coastline and believed the indigenous natives were waiting to ambush them. In fact, the people were just […]

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End of the road?

Ushuaia, Argentina [by Paula] We did it. After 1,199 days, with 17 countries visited and 41,657 miles (66,651km) travelled, at lunchtime yesterday we rolled into the southern-most city in the world. Ushuaia, in Tierra del Fuego, was our ultimate goal. From here, the only way is up. There were watery eyes as we drove the […]

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If you’re tired of Buenos Aires, try harder

Villa La Angostura, Argentina [by Paula] We arrived in Buenos Aires on an overnight ferry, bleary-eyed and begging for more sleep, and things pretty much continued that way until we left a month later. BA is the kind of city that you gorge on until you feel a bit sick. So many atmospheric bars, quality […]

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The road to Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires, Argentina [by Paula] The urge to just get ‘there’ – wherever there may be – is not something with which the slow traveller is familiar. Whilst most of us have goals and destinations in mind, the desire to arrive has to be resisted, or else you’re not really going to appreciate the things […]

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Water, water everywhere

Buenos Aires, Argentina [by Paula] We Brits are sticklers for punctuality. So it seemed a trifle rude to turn up to our friends’ house in Buenos Aires, more than a year late. “Sorry about that,” we said. “Hope the dinner’s not ruined.” We’d last seen Karen and Gustavo at a trade union conference in Costa […]

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Argentina, we meet at last

San Ignacio Guasú, Paraguay [by Paula] The arid deserty landscapes of northern Argentina notwithstanding, the country is proving to be something of an oasis. With a few small exceptions, we’ve loved so much about the 15 countries we’ve visited on this trip, but the thing about Argentina is that it has so many of the […]

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Home from home

By Jeremy Put a few travellers in a room, add a beer, rum or vino to the equation and talk always turn to it. Could you live here? Everyone has had the feeling at some time or another, be it whilst whiling away the days in a hammock on a golden sandy beach, atop a […]

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Road days of our lives

La Paz, Bolivia [by Paula] We often berate ourselves for forgetting to properly record one of the most significant parts of this trip – those days on the road that, periodically, take so much of our time and energy. We’re not exactly rapid travellers – our daily average mileage over the last three years is […]

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Life’s a beach

Huanchaco, Peru [by Paula] I’d like to say that the month we’ve just spent at the beach in northern Peru was a necessary pit-stop, a chance to get fit by jogging daily, perhaps, or the perfect opportunity to brush up on some Spanish verbs. But really we were just plumbing previously unchartered depths of laziness. […]

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A transmission tragedy – abridged

by Paula You might have wondered how a broken van could possibly take 11 months to repair. We’ve frequently pondered that too. Now that we’re happily on our way again, lazing on a sun-kissed Peruvian beach, let’s have a little flashback. If you are not remotely interested, step away now because it’s not going to […]

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There’s no place like home

The beach, Peru [by Paula] When we blogged last week, to say that our van was back in the game after 11 months off the road, we mentioned that we had another enormous challenge to face before we could really get back into the road trip part of this journey. We’re over the moon to […]

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The post you thought we’d never write

Quito, Ecuador [by Paula] We’re back on the road again. No, we can’t believe it either! After 11 months off the road, the van is finally purring away happily and getting ready to turn south again. Having our home back is an incredible feeling. We’ve had some great digs while waiting, but we’d be lying […]

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The little things in life

Jupapina, La Paz, Bolivia [by Paula] I was a bit of a geek for miniatures when I was younger. While others had cool bedrooms crammed with music posters, Pacman games (yes, it was the 80s) and normal teenage paraphernalia, my shelves were lined with tiny little versions of just about anything I...
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Potosí: The saddest place in South America?

Jupapina, near La Paz, Bolivia [by Paula] We’ve just spent our third Christmas and new year away from home. As we’re living in a proper house and have been temporarily adopted by Emma, Rolando and family, it was more like a ‘normal’ Christmas than the others. There was...
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Wrestling with nature

Jupapina, near La Paz, Bolivia [by Paula] I’m not going to get all earth mothery on you, but our recent voluntary work in Bolivia is teaching us a hell of a lot about what it takes to manage a piece of land in a place where the weather can be brutal and the terrain unpredictable. […]

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Forks in the Road – read it and eat

Our virtual overlanding friends – the trio that make up a website and work-while-you-travel lifestyle called Life Remotely – have done something many of us think we’d like to, but don’t bother to try. They’ve written a beautiful cookbook. We’ve bought one, in...
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Rock ‘n roll nights

Jupapina, nr Mallasa, Bolivia [by Paula] We spent a day trying to decide where to go for the last portion of my brother’s visit. We could still make it to Peru for some trekking? Maybe pop over to Argentina? After Derek left, Jeremy I were either going to be scooting back up north to...
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UnBoliviable

Jupapina, nr Mallasa, Bolivia [by Paula] Not for the first time, I was sorely tempted to get down on all fours and lick the ground. Could it really be a 12,000sq km blindingly-white desert of salt we saw before us? It was reminiscent of one of those movies where they try to depict...
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Overdosing on superlatives

La Paz, Bolivia by Paula We’ve been over-doing things recently, in the best possible way. What with our marathon journey south to meet my family – the Jollys – in Chile, and the ensuing five weeks of astounding sightseeing, travelling and general Jollity, we’re all out of...
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