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Bariloche – Welcome to Argentina and the Snow!
The walk from the hostal to the bus terminal was freezing. Only about 20mins away, the early morning cold pretty much froze my hands into numbness until I warmed up with a coffee from the nearby petrol station. It was unfortunately a Nescafe machine made coffee, but it was better than nothing at 7:30 in…
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The Chilean Lakes District
Pucon – Tourists, a Lake and a Volcano Pucon is a major tourist town in Chile. The small town is loaded with restaurants, cafes, outdoor adventure tour companies and healthy dose of cold weather equipment shops. The tourist masses are a mix of foreigners and locals, all millingaround a beautiful town that sits by a…
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Middle Chile and the into the Lakes District
This is a photo absent entry, as there isn’t anything interesting or noteworthy in Middle Chile… Talca – Why am I here? Presilla was the name of the girl on the bus from Santiago to Talca. She had asked why I wanted to visit Talca and I was at a loss for an answer other…
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Santiago
The capitol of Chile and possibly the easiest city I’ve come across to simply walk around. Everything is in walking distance, however that may not be saying too much as there really isn’t a lot to see and do in Santiago. It’s certainly a nice city,in a very westernised way, but there’s not much particularly…
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Valparaiso: Where Art meets City
Valparaiso, or Valpo for us locals, is the countries cultural capital and a UNESCO city. As I’ve mentioned previously, Chile defies being what you’d expect from a South American country and Valpo turns that up a few notches. Sitting on the Pacific Ocean it is a major port city and the bulk of the city…
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Hello Chile. Am I even in South American anymore?
Rest Stop in San Pedro de Atacama San Pedro is strange and unusual town. Out in the Atacama desert it’s the launching point to visit the Salar de Uyuni from the Chilean side of the border, or the finishing point if you’re running that circuit from Bolivia like I had done. It’s a good way…
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Salar de Uyuni and South to Chile
Day One – Salt, salt, and more salt as faras the eye can see Waiting for the tour of the Salt Flats to begin, I stood outside the tour agency and a young Englishman introduced himself and asked if I was on the tour. This is howI met Tom, who was finishing his Central to…
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Tarija, Tupiza and to Uyuni – Glorious Wine Country and Towards the Salt Flats
It really came as no surprise that Tarija would be the most relaxed and chilled out town in Bolivia. The miners in Potosi even commented that the most beautiful women in Bolivia are in Tarija. When you’re in the wine centre of a country people tend to be a little more happier than most, and…
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Potosi – Only 4060m Above Sea Level
Back in the mid 1500’s the Spanish discovered an absolute wealth of silver in the mountains that would eventually become Potosi. For a long time Potosi was the richest city in the entire world, the silver mines funding an expansive city filled with huge lavish houses for the colonial invaders, all the while the local…
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Santa Cruz and Sucre
Rain, Coffee, Rain, Pizza,Rain Somewhat groggy from the lack of sleep, I arrived in Santa Cruz in the wee hours of the morning. The bus terminal is 2kms from the city centre and since it was only 6am in the morning, I decided to walk the distance and embrace the fact I’d probably get lost…
The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page