Pete's Blog 

Massive Boca Attack

Saturday was awesome, Boca thrashed Arsenal 3-0 (could easily have been 5 or 6) and the crowd were mental despite the stadium being only half full. Thoroughly enjoyed the match experience and saw the excellent Massive Attack do all the old favourites at the BUE festival. Also saw parts of FC Kahuna, Bad Boy Orange, The Human League and some Gatecrasher DJ whos name I cant remember. Got very drunk and rediculously cheap Argentinian Champagne, top night!

Matt and Kate have arrived from the UK and we have been doing the touristy bit today around the city. Finally got my pictures put onto CD from the second part of NZ and the 2 trips to Salar De Uyuni and Macchu Picchu. The links will follow...

New Zealand pictures part 2

The second batch of NZ pictures are here

Buenos Aires

Been in BA since Sunday afternoon, and just about starting to get to grips with this large cosmopolitan city. There is a lot here on offer (Latin Americas best or biggest everything alledgely) and it takes a while to get one bearings in any new city, but the disorientation here is compounded by the language barrier. However, once it stopped raining with have seen some very nice parts of town in the centre and have looked around, shopped, eaten, shopped again, eaten again and again, and been out clubbing. Recoleta is a particularly nice part of town, and we have yet again been stuffing ourselves silly in that areas best restaurants (and ending up with a bill that would just about cover one starter in London).
Have been doing a bit of running around during the day sorting out plane tickets to go to Iguacu Falls next week, and have saved some of the other funky areas Palaermo and La Boca for when our friends Kate and Matt arrive from London on Sunday. We have managed to go to the Fine Art Museum and the cemetary where Eva Peron is buried which were quite interesting.
This weekend has an exciting edge as we are off to a music festival on Saturday night then once we have slept off our hangovers will meet up with our friends from London and then in the afternoon its off to watch Boca Juniors v Arsenal (I am already the prod owner of a Boca top - bring it on!!!!!).
Will move onto Iguacu on the 3rd (next Thursday) and stay there for a couple of days before crossing the border into Brazil and flying to Salvador hopefully for some better weather.

Mendoza and the all-you-can-eat-bbq

Have been in Argentina since Tuesday and all is good, save for the weather. The coach took 7 hours driving through the Andes and an hour faffing about at the border before we arrived in the heart of Malbec wine country. Proceeded straight to the nearest restaurant for a huge steak (16oz for about 2 quid!!!) and a nice bottle of red (about five quid for the most expensive one on the list), and have been gorging myself like a rapant carnivore ever since.

After doing a wine tour yesterday and buying a few bottles and drinking even more, we went to an Argentinian all-you-can eat bbq buffet. For 14 pesos, thats less than 3 quid, you can have all the freshly barbecued beef, chicken, lamb, pork and sausages you can eat, then pile-on the salads, pasta, calamari squids and rice, before finishing off with a giant pancake with caramel and a mountain of ice cream. I woke up this morning with a stomach like Buddha.

It hasnt all been gluttony though, there has been the lie-ins, shopping and cinema also. After trekking in the mountains for 4 days I am more than making up for it, back in civilisation. Bought an Argentinain club polo shirt and a Boca Juniors football top (for the match next Sunday). We have also got tickets for the music festival next Saturday so all 4 points from below should be satisfied.

Got my haircut today for 2 pounds, well overdue. I was starting to look like Shaggy from Scooby Doo.

Inca Trail

Absolutely knackered after an amazing four days in the Inca highlands en route to Macchu Picchu. Had great weather and a great group of fellow hikers. We were aided by an amazing group of super-human porters who were co-ordinated by a chef who could work culinary miracles over 3km up a mountain - did not go hungry at all, the food was very good. Took over 140 photos and I am now relaxing in comfort in Lima before flying back to Santiago this afternoon.

Looking forward to:
1. Going to Mendoza for a giant steak and good bottle of red.
2. Hooking up with Kate and Matt from the UK in Buenos Aires.
3. Going to the Boca v Arsenal match on the 30th.
4. Possibly going to the BUE music festival on the 29th.

Cusco & the build up to Macchu Picchu

Cusco has been lovely for the past few days. Much, much warmer than Lake Titicaca, hot in fact, and not too cold in the evening. Have been buying kit and provisions for the Macchu Picchu 4 day expedition. The start has been delayed by 1 day and is due to start tomorrow (Wednesday 12th May) due to problems securing the entry permits (there is a daily restriction set by the Peruvian government limiting the number of people who they will charge the fifty dollars entrance fee!).
Mel is still not feeling 100% and at this moment in time it is most likely I will be doing the Inca Trail without her. She is currenlty investigating getting the train all the way to Aguas Clientes and meeting me at Macchu Picchu, but will stay in Cusco for the 3 days I am camping in the highlands and maybe do a tour of the Sacred Valley.
Have almost everything ready, just need to buy more energy drinks and choccy snacks and pack up. I??m being picked up at 07:30am tomorrow for the first day which is low gradient, 4 hours over 8-9km. The second day is the hardest gradient wise, the 3rd is the longest but downhill and is when the reaally interesting stuff appears, and the 4th day is relatively easy and consists of the grand finale of reaching Macchu Picchu itself.

Wish me luck. Next blog when I return...

Lake Titti Waste of Time

Just left Lake Titicaca after having a pretty crappy time. Arrived late (dont ask!) from La Paz, totally knackered. Next day, found out we couldnt get the train as hoped (wrong day of the week) to Cusco and instead had to opt for the only 1 bus departure time which involved travelling overnight. The sun shone during the day but it was deathy cold at night and Mel has been ill since yesterday lunchtime. Missed out on Isla Del Sol and Islas Flotantes the two main reason for visiting this area - may as well have just got a flight from La Paz straight to Cusco. Had to pay 50 Bolivanos at the border as the immigration offical at La Paz airport two weeks ago, decided to only give me 8 days visa instead of the normal 30 days - thanks!
All in all Bolivia was great once you get used to the altitude but Lake Titicaca was a wash-out for us. I'm now killing time in Puno (Peru) before catching our connecting bus to Cusco which arrives at a cheerful 5am.
At least Liverpool spanked Birmingham city 0-3 which is about the only good thing that has happend in the last 3 days.

Leaving La Paz

Left La Paz on Thursday for Lake Titicaca after having a really nice night out with our new friends from the Salar De Uyuni expedition. La Paz is very funky and unusual and not at all dangerous. I resisted the tempting offer to buy a dried Llama feotus at the local market for 'good luck'. According to Michael Palin's article in this months Llama Express (the free gringo paper found in coffeshops in La Paz), no self-respecting building in La Paz gets built without a Llama feotus in the foundations - nice!

Thanks to Pascal, Anne and Barry for a top time in the Salar and in the Cafe Sol y Luna in La Paz. Safe travels guys.

Back in La Paz

Knackered after 7 hours on the train and 3 hours on the bus overnight. Some poor bloke was trapped in toilets for the entire journey turned out it was one of the train staff.

A bit gutted that Chelsea didnt make it to the Champs League final, but goes to show you just cant buy trophies.

On the bright side, we should be off to Copacabana tomorrow on the shores of Lake Titicakka on our way to Peru, Cusco and the Inca Trail to Macchu Picchu (start the trek on the 11th).

Congratulations to our good friends Kim Johannessen and Oona Jones on the announcement of their engagement.

Salar De Uyuni

We've just got back from a 4 day tour of the Salar De Uyuni in Southern Bolivia - the giant salt lake and mountainous region near the Chilean border. We were in 4WD Landcruiser with driver and cook, it was totally awesome and I took 120 photos of some amazing landscapes ranging from those of pure beauty to the surreal and alien. We've now got a long wait for the train back to La Paz but have met some nice Dutch people who we are travelling with and will probably hook up with again in La Paz after a rest day tomorrow. I'm also online investigating getting tickets and transport to a Boca Juniors match when we are in Buenos Airies in a few weeks time. Footy atmosphere in Latin America is supposed to be something else!!