Lima

Before we got to Lima we were told by several people that it was a horrible city so we only left enough time to be there a couple of days before our flight... What we found when we got there was pleasantly surprising... Lima seems to be a bit of a surfing hub which attracts young and fun loving tourists from all over. The cafes are funky, the bars are trendy and the restaurants are varied and serve some damn tasty food so even though it may nit be a beautiful city, in the end we regretted not having stayed a little longer to have squeezed in a surf lesson and some sand boarding. We did however take advantage of the good food, trying out the most amazing ceviche on the planet at La Canta Rana and stuffing ourselves on 'Anticuchos' which are skewered cow hearts... Sounds gory but its actually the tastiest thing ever and you should definitely all go out and try it before you die... I feel a little bit blasphemous writing this as I am actually currently on India where cows is sacred... But what can i say, the truth is the truth.
One of our days in Lima was spent visiting a school in a shanty town 2 hours outside of the city. The school is run by my Year 1 primary school teacher, Sister Patricia who we hadn't seen in over 20 years. We found Sister Patricia practically unchanged despite the amazing achievements she has managed since she left Gibraltar. The school educates some of the poorest children in Peru in the middle of nowhere surrounded by dusty mountains where people live in homemade shacks with no electricity or running water and where malnutrition and tuberculosis are common. The school itself is a brick and concrete oasis which now educates 1000 local children and feeds 500 of those. A couple of years ago the school attracted attention by achieving the top mark for maths in over 1000 schools in and around Lima. Considering the attitudes towards the poor in Peru this is a huge step forward in changing perceptions of what these kids can achieve - it is assumed that because of their background it is impossible for them to do well but, of course, with the right education there is no reason they shouldn't excel and Sister Patricia personally selects all of the amazing staff which are the drivers behind the school's success.

If I thought the 2 months in South America had flown by it was all thrown in to context by meeting someone whose last memory of me was when I was 6 years old... 6 months travelling is definitely not enough! Friends and family, I will see you in about a decade or two...

Key info, Lima
Hostel: Loki Lima, Miraflores - Super cramped rooms but clean and sociable place in a nice area.
Food: La Canta Rana, Barranco - Best ceviche in Lima according to even the locals. The huge queue is worth it!
School: Fe y Alegria #58, Mary Ward, Jicamarca

Mendoza and Salta

Our time in Mendoza happened to coincide with the the 'Vendimia' festival which marks the start of the wine season when the grapes are ready for harvesting. The celebrations seem to consist of a street parade and glorified beauty pageant where 'reinas' from each wine region are driven around on floats blaring loud music which is all interesting enough but it certainly wasn't Rio Carnaval. Aptly enough our first activity during our 3 night stay was a bike wine tasting tour. Keeping in mind that I haven't sat on a bike for at least 6 years I have no idea why I thought it would be such a fantastic idea to ride from bodega to bodega whilst knocking back the Malbec wine but we had a great day wobbling around the vineyards. Our group stopped for an al fresco lunch at a beautiful restaurant which had tables in the shade of some trees and though the food took over an hour to arrive it hardly matters when you are out in a countryside where the smell of wine permeates the air... Plus our legs were glad for the rest.
Having whet our appetite for exercise and adventure we also booked a sunset horse riding and a trekking/abseiling/thermal pools tour. The horse riding was brilliant and the beautiful dusty mountainous landscape made it really worthwhile. This was followed by an 'asado' which is a typical Argentine barbecue. Our beef and chorizo was well accompanied with plenty of the local Malbec and an eccentric Frenchman playing the accordion and singing.
Our final full day was spent trekking up the side of a (steep!) mountain only to be hung over a few cliffs with nothing but a piece of rope and a really sexy helmet and harness which made me feel less Lara Croft and more Dora the Explorer. There's nothing quite like hanging over the edge of a 45 metre precipice to get you to forget about your appearance and wonder instead why the hell you'd have signed up to this voluntarily... Once we were all sat in the natural thermal pools and my heart rate had returned to normal it all seemed quite fun and I'd definitely sign up all over again. We ended our stay by meeting up with some folks we'd met on the tour and toasted our survival to some lovely Malbec (naturally) cocktails.
The journey to Salta was a painfully long 20 hour bus trip through the desert. The fact that each dead animal carcass we drove past created excitement should give you an idea of how arid and uninteresting (save half an hour's worth of novelty factor) the landscape was. Our patience was rewarded however when we woke up in the morning to stunning green mountains and a flurry of life in beautiful Salta (or 'Salta la linda' as it is know locally). We booked a gorgeous hostel in the middle of the countryside and recovered from the journey by the poolside. The next day we went for a full day of horse riding with an asado for lunch which was even better than the one in Mendoza. Our gaucho guide, Felix, taught us to gallop which is quite possibly one of the most liberating feelings in the world and definitely had me feeling less Yosemite Sam and more Indiana Jones. Yesterday we went to visit 'la montaña de siete colores' and the stunning and surreal landscapes of Quebrada de Humahuaca where the colours of the cactus sprinkled mountains range from mint greens and yellow ochres to dusty reds and mauves and give you the sense that you've fallen into a Van Gogh or eaten the wrong (or right, depending on you habits) sort of mushrooms.
We treated ourselves to a feast of meat, pasta and provoleta for our last dinner in Argentina on International Women's Day and now we are heading to San Pedro de Atacama in Chile on a 'short' and apparently beautiful bus ride of only 10 hours.




Key info, Mendoza
How we got here: 15ish hour bus ride
Hostel: Hostel Internacional - Comfortable enough and we got discounts on our tours and accommodation by emailing them directly.

Key info, Salta
How we got here: 20 hour bus ride from Mendoza through oblivion
Hostel: Loki Hostel - A bit of a pain to get to but more than worth it for the beautiful surroundings. Don't bother if you are highly averse to beetles (not the band), mosquitos, grasshoppers, toads, dogs or nature in general.
Ranch for horse riding: Sayta in Chicoana. Run by lovely, friendly people who prepared us the best lunch I've possibly ever had.