2002-2005 (c) GetJealous.com, All rights reserved. http://www.getjealous.com/lyd76howe/rss.xml Online record of Lydia's 2007 Odyssey (note the implication that there were Osysseys (-ia? -eia?) prior to 2007 and will be more in the future) http://www.getjealous.com/lyd76howe http://www.getjealous.com/getjealous.php?action=showdiaryentry&diary_id=450947&go=lyd76howe The last night that we spent in BA we went to a very cool restaurant and enjoyed yet another excellent steak. I started the evening with the intention of trying to absorb every little detail on this, the last night of my travels (I didn't consider the following evening to count given that we would be on a plane and hopefully either fast asleep or watching The Golden Compass which I still haven't s... http://www.getjealous.com/getjealous.php?action=showdiaryentry&diary_id=450947&go=lyd76howe Thu, 31 Jan 2008 12:00:00 GMT http://www.getjealous.com/getjealous.php?action=showdiaryentry&diary_id=447835&go=lyd76howe Mendoza was the start of the winding down. Mendoza being the wine capital of Argentina, it was a good place for the winding down to start (wine-ding, winding - no pun intended). Arriving early, G got out the map and asked me where we were staying. I was a bit stuck to answer him because when I had made the reservation over the internet I had not thought to write the address down; unwilling to admi... http://www.getjealous.com/getjealous.php?action=showdiaryentry&diary_id=447835&go=lyd76howe Sun, 20 Jan 2008 12:00:00 GMT http://www.getjealous.com/getjealous.php?action=showdiaryentry&diary_id=442501&go=lyd76howe Immediate impressions of Argentina were all very good. At last, we could communicate again (after a fashion). The coffee was much, much better. Things were a lot cheaper (our Rio NYE didn't really fit the backpacker budget). People seemed nicer (possibly because they understood us, after a fashion). Unfortunately, Argentina is also absolutely massive, bigger than India I think, and so we had to sp... http://www.getjealous.com/getjealous.php?action=showdiaryentry&diary_id=442501&go=lyd76howe Wed, 9 Jan 2008 12:00:00 GMT http://www.getjealous.com/getjealous.php?action=showdiaryentry&diary_id=441207&go=lyd76howe Walking to Copacabana beach in Rio the morning after we'd arrived I felt immediately pale and hopelessly overdressed - everyone, but everyone was tanned mahogany brown and wearing swimming costumes - bikinis for the girls, speedos for the boys - regardless of shape and size. Oh there were some sights. There were a lot of toy dogs about, tripping along in the wake of the older ladies and gents who ... http://www.getjealous.com/getjealous.php?action=showdiaryentry&diary_id=441207&go=lyd76howe Fri, 28 Dec 2007 12:00:00 GMT http://www.getjealous.com/getjealous.php?action=showdiaryentry&diary_id=439864&go=lyd76howe The jeep ride from Uyuni, where we finished the tour of the salt lakes, to San Pedro de Atacam in Chile, where we were spending Christmas, was the perfect preparation for 4 days of doing nothing but sleep and eat. Our driver was a grumpy and incomprehensible (he was missing most of his teeth) 70 year old leathery guy whose name was something along the lines of Vincent. We shared the jeep with a Fr... http://www.getjealous.com/getjealous.php?action=showdiaryentry&diary_id=439864&go=lyd76howe Sat, 22 Dec 2007 12:00:00 GMT http://www.getjealous.com/getjealous.php?action=showdiaryentry&diary_id=436063&go=lyd76howe Accommodation o the tour of the salt lakes was basic, with hot showers only on the last night and hard single beds. The first night I had to pile 7 blankets on to get warm enough to go to sleep - inevitably I woke up again at about 3am absolutely sweltering and had to throw a few off. Lucia had a double gas hob to cook on, which was unloaded from the roof of the jeep along with its gas canister ev... http://www.getjealous.com/getjealous.php?action=showdiaryentry&diary_id=436063&go=lyd76howe Tue, 18 Dec 2007 12:00:00 GMT http://www.getjealous.com/getjealous.php?action=showdiaryentry&diary_id=435643&go=lyd76howe Our first day in Tupiza we undertook the 'Triathlon', a day of hunting, shooting and fishing - ha ha, no - cycling, horseriding and being driven around in a jeep which took us out into the dramatic Bolivian desert. Despite the scary title of the tour the day was well within my reach and a wonderful way of getting out into the countryside. Covered in mud within about 5 minutes and reacquainting mys... http://www.getjealous.com/getjealous.php?action=showdiaryentry&diary_id=435643&go=lyd76howe Sat, 15 Dec 2007 12:00:00 GMT http://www.getjealous.com/getjealous.php?action=showdiaryentry&diary_id=434505&go=lyd76howe Last time we spoke I had just regained the use of my legs (and a reasonable sense of humour) having spent 14 hours in the dust and dark on the worst road in the world on the way back from the jungle in NW Bolivia. We were on a tight schedule to get to Chile for Christmas so within 12 hours of washing my hair from grey back to its normal mouse-brown I was preparing to get on a bus further south. A... http://www.getjealous.com/getjealous.php?action=showdiaryentry&diary_id=434505&go=lyd76howe Fri, 14 Dec 2007 12:00:00 GMT http://www.getjealous.com/getjealous.php?action=showdiaryentry&diary_id=430193&go=lyd76howe From the very first I was reluctant to make the trip into the Bolivian jungle. Notwithstanding the fact that this is 'one of the top things to do in Bolivia' (G's words, issued a number of times in tones ranging from the earnest to the pedagogical and with an optimism that was touching in its persistence) I was adamant that my time would be much better spent in Sucre, Bolivia's consitutional capit... http://www.getjealous.com/getjealous.php?action=showdiaryentry&diary_id=430193&go=lyd76howe Sat, 8 Dec 2007 12:00:00 GMT http://www.getjealous.com/getjealous.php?action=showdiaryentry&diary_id=427410&go=lyd76howe I was pretty nervous about walking the Inca Trail, which was 4 days of walking culminating in a dawn raid on Machu Picchu. Nervous about the altitude, the toughness of the trek, camping, not having access to showers or flushing toilets for the duration, and how we would get on with our group. G and I were the eldest by about 4 years, which made me worry that we would be left behind - how humiliati... http://www.getjealous.com/getjealous.php?action=showdiaryentry&diary_id=427410&go=lyd76howe Mon, 3 Dec 2007 12:00:00 GMT