First stop was Hanoi, Vietnam.  Walking around Hanoi proved to be pretty hard work; you couldn’t walk along without tripping over the sizzling pan or bubbling cauldron of a street food vendor or bumping into a long row of parked motorbikes!  If walking along the road was difficult then crossing it was near impossible!  The road was full of erratic speeding  motorbikes and on first sight Rach suggested that we not cross any roads at all!  That would have restricted our sightseeing somewhat however, so we had to go for it, and it went something like this:

• Wait patiently for a break in the traffic
• Realise there is never going to be a break in the traffic
• Say a quick prayer
• Take a deep breath and step out into the road right in front of hundreds of oncoming motorbikes
• Walk slowly and steadily across the road hoping that, as you have been told they will, the swarm of bikes will all avoid you
• Breathe a sigh of relief as you reach the other side

So far so good, until the next time anyway!

One Pillar Pagoda, Hanoi

Old Quarter Street, Hanoi

Snake wine

Hanoi was great fun but it tired us out after a couple of days, so we splashed out on a luxury cruise around Halong Bay on a Chinese Junk.  As we relaxed on the sun deck with a beer and cruised around the 3000 or so limestone islands we felt like we were in the Bond film “The Man With The Golden Gun” but as I’m sure all you know that was actually filmed in Phang Nga Bay in Phuket.  Although the word on the street here is that Halong Bay is much more spectacular.  We certainly thought that it was very magical and mysterious, especially around sunset.

Junk

Halong Bay

Halong Bay

Halong Bay

Halong Bay by moonlight

Feeling refreshed we took a sleeper train north into the mountains near the Chinese border.  We visited the rural hill village of Bac Ha for its colourful Sunday market, then, resisting the urge to buy a cheap Water Buffalo or a couple of pigs, we headed deeper into the mountains to the rice growing region of Sapa.

Bac Ha Market

Bac Ha Market

Water Buffalo for sale

Flower H

Sheltering from the rain, Bac Ha Market

We hired a local guide who took us on an amazing trek through the lush green rice fields.  It was planting season so we got to see the people from the local hill tribes strengthening the terraces and planting the rice.  This in itself looked like hard work, then add that the women all wore their full traditional dress, and often had a baby strapped to their back.  It was very impressive.

We stayed the night with a local family in one of the remote hill villages.  It was really interesting to see how a rice farming family lived, to eat dinner with them, and then share a few glasses of rice wine!

Rice terraces, Sapa

Rice terraces, Sapa

Mountain village

Rice planting, Sapa

Endless task

Fortunately there is more to Bariloche than just skiing.  It has a beautiful setting in the heart of the Argentinian lake district, surrounded by deep blue lakes and green forest covered mountains.  And it is filled with shops selling amazing chocolate and restaurants serving excellent steak dinners.  We ended up staying here well over a week.

Beautiful Bariloche

Lago Nahuel Huapi

Lago Nahuel Huapi

Lago Nahuel Huapi

After a couple of days in town eating steak and chocolate we packed our bags and headed for the hills.  Our destination was Nahuel Huapi National Park where we spent three days hiking, staying in two remote mountain refugios, with basic beds and roaring log fires.  We had a love/hate relationship with this hike;  I loved it, Rach hated it!  I loved the scenery, the views and the feeling of isolation.  Rach hated the steep and loose downhill scree sections.  At one point I heard her slip over on the loose rocks and turned round to see her sitting down, throwing stones around, shouting “I hate trekking” followed by “This isn´t trekking, this is risking your life with every step”!

Hiking through clouds

It was worth the scramble

Bumble Bee

Fed up with travelling by foot we hired a car and drove the famous seven lakes drive from Bariloche to San Martín de los Andes.  200km along a mainly unpaved road in a Volkswagen Polo – great fun!  We were a bit unlucky with the weather, it was grey and cloudy and rained a lot, but this made for some great “mood” photos.

Leaving Bariloche behind

Lago Espejo

Lago Espejo

Lago Falkner

Lago Traful

Taking a break from the drive

Day 2 still cloudy still amazing

More rain!

Cerro Fitz Roy

It´s not that we didn´t appreciate the jagged snow capped peaks of the Fitz Roy range, as you can see from the photo above they are spectacular, but for some reason, while trekking up to view the impressive rock towers, all we could think about was how much longer it was until we could eat our sandwiches! (Salami and Cheese for anyone who is interested)  Then even after lunch we found that we couldn´t seem to talk about anything other than food! 

Unfortunately writers block has set in a bit and there is only so much that you can write about trekking, so just enjoy some photos instead. 

Cerro Fitz Roy

Cerro Fitz Roy

Rach with her shoes off again!

Laguna Capri

Fitz Roy range

Four hours walking and Cerro Torro is hidden by cloud!

The next day, Cerro Torro in its full glory

Sunrise on Cerro Fitz Roy

Burnt tree caused by a cigarette

The north face, Perito Moreno Glacier

The south face

Ice cave and Icebergs

Perito Moreno Glacier

Full extent of Perito Moreno Glacier

Perito Moreno south face

As the glacier advances parts of its frontage sheer off and crash into the lake below, causing a thunderous roar and a mini tidal wave.  We stood on the viewing platform for almost an hour, video camera in hand, waiting for our turn to see this amazing spectacle, and nothing!  We then took a boat trip to view the less accessible south face of the glacier and again nothing.  Then, just as the boat was turning round to head back, we saw this: 

While at the glacier we couldn´t resist the opportunity to try out ice-trekking.  We strapped some crampons to our shoes and walked out onto the glacier.  As we walked up and down the hills of ice, avoided deep crevasses and looked down into perfect blue sink holes, we felt like we were in some kind of wonderland.  After the exertion of the trek we enjoyed a whiskey “on the rocks” with ice cut straight off the glacier! 

Perito Moreno Wonderland

Us, Ice-trekking

Water filled Crevesse

Whiskey on the rocks!

We were a little disappointed we didn´t get to trek for longer and get further out onto the glacier, in our 1 ½ hours on the glacier we never lost sight of the edge.  We´ve already checked though, and there are plenty of glaciers in New Zealand, so we are going to try and have another go there!

Glacier Grey, Torres del Paine national park

80km, 5 days, 4 nights, 2 ruc-sacs, 1 stove, 1 tent. Wind, snow, hail, rain and sun: “W” trek – done! 

The “W” trek through Torres del Paine national park in Chile was something we had decided to do well before leaving England. It was such a big part of our planning that it even features as the heading picture of our blog! However, we were both secretly dreading it as well. We have done lots of treks before but we have always had a guide, porters and a cook with us. This was the first time where we would be completely unaided, we would be carrying all our equipment including our tent, stove and food and be doing all our own cooking. 

When we arrived to the freezing cold of Ushuaia having both been suffering with a virus for almost a week, our resolve started to weaken.  “We don´t have to do it”, “If it is going to be really cold we are just not going to enjoy it”, “Maybe we could just go to the park for one night” were some of the conversations we started to have!  But when we arrived in Puerto Natales, the starting town for the trek, and were surrounded by other travellers preparing for the trek, we stopped our whinging and decided to go for it, and we are so glad we did as it is one of the most enjoyable and rewarding experiences of the trip. 

We spent two whole days in Puerto Natales, psyching ourselves up and preparing.  I had to cast my mind back 13 years to my Duke of Edinburgh expedition days to remember what we would need.  Rach had no such experience and was horrified by the amount of chocolate and biscuits I insisted we would need for the five days.  Three supermarket trips and several tours of the town later and we had a tent, a stove, all our food and were ready to go. 

Cuernos del Paine, our first view of the park

We started the trek full of energy in glorious sunshine, walking along the edge of Lago Grey. We got very excited when we spotted a small iceberg floating in the lake, only to feel a bit silly, when an hour later we saw the massive expanse of Glacier Grey flowing down into the lake.  We camped for the first night on the edge of the lake and cooked our first dinner on the beach, where we enjoyed our pasta while looking out over the glacier and its icebergs. 

Refreshed and raring to go

Glacier Grey

The second day was much longer and by the time we reached our campsite, in the late afternoon, it had started to rain and it looked like it was going to get worse.  We cooked our dinner straight away and were in bed at 6:45! 

Rach cooking the dinner

Rob collecting water

The next day we awoke to even worse weather – more rain and strong winds, but we donned our full waterproofs and braved the hike up Valle Frances.  At first it was more of a scramble over rocks than a trail, and almost immediately we realised we were lost.  We had a pretty scary ten minutes, when we scrambled around looking for the red trail markers, exposed to the worsening weather, while arguing with each other as to who´s fault it was! 

We managed to reach the mirador at the top of the Valle without any further issues and the weather even cleared briefly so we could appreciate the spectacular scenery and take some photos, but we only got two minutes before it started to snow!  For the rest of the day it alternated between snow, hail and rain and sometimes the wind was so strong it almost blew us over. When we reached our campsite we were cold and tired. Luckily the campsite was next to a refugio, where we were allowed to take a hot shower and enjoy a cup of tea inside next to the fire. 

Glacier Frances

Valle Frances

Valle Frances

Mirador, Valle Frances

Lago Nordenskjold

The trekking the next morning brought some amazing views. We could see the dominating granite towers of Cuernos del Paine on one side and a rainbow dipping into Lago Nordenskjoid on the other. There were good views in the afternoon as well, but we had to earn them as there was some relentless uphill walking. We reached our final campsite and it was also our favourite. It was set in amongst the trees next to a small stream, and for the first time we arrived early enough to have a cup of tea before dinner!

Cuernos del Paine

Rainbow over Lago Nordenskjoid

Lago Nordenskjoid

Lago Nordenskjoid

Happy trekkers!

Valle Ascencio

Rach, exhaused!

Rach relaxes on our last night

On the last day of the “W” trek we got to see the highlight of the national park – The Torres del Paine themselves.  Three towers of granite that illuminate with the sunrise.  We started the tough uphill scramble in the dark at 5:45 so we could make the viewpoint before sunrise and see the Torres glow orange in the sun.

Torre del Paine, before sunrise

Sunrise illuminates the Torres

Us, at the Torres del Paine at sunrise

Sunrise at the Torres Del Paine

We both were so glad we didn’t back out of the trek. We really enjoyed the camping and surprised ourselves with what we could cook up on a single butane stove. As we left our camp on the final day we felt a little disappointed and almost wished we were camping for longer. However, when we sat in a warm restaurant back in Puerto Natales, eating a pizza and drinking a beer, with a warm bed to go back to, we thought perhaps we had made the right decision! 

W trek - done!

We had both become restless of lounging around on endless beaches and were ready for the spectacular glacial mountain scenery of Patagonia and thought we were ready for the cold weather that brought with it.  However, we were a little unprepared for just how cold Ushuaia was.  When we got caught in a snow storm on our first day we thought perhaps we had arrived back in England by mistake! 

Glacial Landscape, Ushuaia

We dusted off our trekking shoes and headed into Tierra del Fuego National Park for our first glimpse of the amazing Patagonian scenery, and we weren’t disappointed.  However the highlight of our stay in Ushuaia came the next day.  Ushuaia bills itself as the most southern city in the world – but even that wasn’t enough for us.  We jumped on a boat and headed even further south out onto the Beagle Channel.  We were really lucky to have a clear and sunny day and loved the views - the snow-capped mountains seemed to completely surround us, but then I guess we were almost in Antarctica!  Our boat took us around lots of small islands spotting various penguin like birds, sea lions and Ushuaia’s famous lighthouse. 

Tierra del Fuego

Tierra del Fuego

Beagle Channel, Ushuaia

Ushuaia

Bridges Island, Ushuaia

Sea Lions

Beagle Channel, Ushuaia

Rachel at the lighthouse

The lighthouse, Ushuaia

Well it didn’t get off to the best of starts, when three days beforehand I fell down with food poisoning following a dodgy Peruvian kebab!  By the first day of the trek I was still feeling a little tender, but we had booked this more than six months ago and it was going to take more than a bit of a stomach ache to hold me back!  We met our companions for the next four days – 4 Americans, 7 Aussies, 19 porters, 2 guides and 1 cook.  All of the other trekkers had hired personal porters to carry their equipment, leaving just Rach and I carrying our large ruc-sacs.  We weren´t quite sure if they were all being lazy or if we were being stupid!  After going through passport control (that’s right you get an Inca Trail passport stamp) we were on our way.

The first day was 12km across relatively flat terrain passing through local communities.  We stopped for lunch by an old Inca village and arrived at the camp site at about 5pm.  Almost immediately my food poisoning decided it hadn´t finished with me quite yet, and at the same time one American girl and one Aussie girl also fell sick.  By the morning all 4 Americas were suffering, and one decided he couldn´t carry on and had to be carried back to the start by a mule.

The first ascent

Rob walks the inca trail

View along the inca trail

The rest of us soldiered onwards, although some soon regretted that decision, as the 12km of the second day were almost all uphill, from the campsite at 3100m to Dead Woman´s Pass at 4200m.  Then, just after the relief of reaching the top, it started hailing really heavily with stones the size of ball bearings that really hurt.  I´m sure one drew blood when it struck my ear!  Despite all this torture I really enjoyed the day and by the evening everyone was starting to feel better.

Finally at Dead Woman´s Pass

View down from Dead Woman´s Pass

The second night claimed two more victims of sickness – by now the porters had their work cut out brewing special tea for all the casualties!  I was feeling much better but, although Rach felt fine, she was starting to worry how much longer it would be before she got struck down by the Inca Trail curse!

At 15km the third day was the longest, but most rewarding of the trek.  The path now consisted of the original Inca stones, and was dotted with Inca ruins in amazing condition.  We saw an old Inca trading center, a resting place for Inca messengers, an Inca religious site and most spectacular of all – an old Inca farming site.  We walked through the clouds over two mountain passes, before descending over 3000 stone steps down to the camp site.  Fortunately when we arrived the porters had already put up our tents and had a cup of tea on the go!

Walking through the clouds

Inca trading centre

Arty shot of inca trail through ruins!

The inca trail

Sun and shadow on the inca trail

Us!

Terraces of an old inca farming site

The last day was only 6km, but in order to reach the Sun Gate of Machu Picchu for sunrise we had to get up at 4am and walk like the wind!  But it was worth it – looking down on the ancient city illuminated by the early morning sun was a unique sight that I will never forget.  Unfortunately it was on this morning that Rach started to feel ill, and the 6km sprint finished her off.  Not only did she not feel up to the guided tour of Machu Picchu, but she couldn´t eat or get out of bed for the next four days, and it resulted in our first trip to a South American doctor.  This meant the pressure of taking photos of Machu Picchu fell on my shoulders, so I hope you like them.

Despite all the illness we both agreed that the Inca Trail lived up to our expectations.  We were worried that it would feel more like a motorway than a mountain trek.  There were times when the trail was crowded, but by the afternoon everyone had spread out and we would often walk for ages without seeing anyone else at all.  The scenery was amazing and arriving at Machu Picchu from above in the early morning sun was unforgettable.

Our first view of Machu Picchu

We made it to Machu Picchu

Getting closer!

The postcard shot!

Finally there

Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu

Cañon del Colca

It was a 5 hour bus ride to the edge of the canyon.  It was a bumpy road and the driver seemed to lose confidence in his rear suspension halfway, as we all had to get up and move to sit at the front of the bus!  We had left early, at 4am, so there was a chance to spot some early morning Condors, and we were in luck.  It was amazing watching these massive birds float effortlessly on the thermals.

Condor over the Cañon del Colca

Condors over the Cañon del Colca

It was a steep 4 hour trek descending 1000m to the bottom of the canyon, where we stayed the night with a local family in a basic adobe mud hut.  I had to kill several large insects and spiders before Rach could finally settle down to sleep!

Cañon del Colca

Village, Cañon del Colca

First night accomodation

The next day was a gentle walk through the villages at the bottom of the canyon.  There are an amazing numbers of families living in these villages that can only be reached by foot or mule.  Strangely enough I spotted the first rugby pitch I have seen in all of South American in one of these villages.  In the afternoon we relaxed and swam in an Oasis town, before sleeping in an even more basic mud hut!

Rugby pitch

Church, Cañon del Colca

Oasis

Relaxing at the Oasis

Second night accomodation

On the last day we got up at 5am to make the unrelentingly steep climb up and out the canyon before the sun rose, which would have made it unbearably hot.  Once at the top we rewarded ourself with an egg breakfast and a soak in the nearby hot springs!

Climbing out Cañon del Colca

Adobe mud hut, Cañon del Colca

Local resident, Cañon del Colca

Cordillera Blanca

The perfect white glaciers, turquoise lakes and snow topped peaks of the cordillera blanca is the most spectacular scenery I have ever seen.  This mountain range, near Huaraz in northern Peru, is the highest mountain range in the world after the himalayas.  It has 22 peaks over 6000m, including Artesonraju, which you might recognise as it is rumoured to be the inspiration for the paramount picture mountain.

Artesonraju

We trekked from Laguna Llanganuco to Santa Cruz – 55Km over four days, including a whopping 22Km on the third day. We started past a few remote settlements where the children would rush out to greet us in the hope of getting some of our chocolate. Continued through imposing green valleys, round emerald lakes, and past freezing waterfalls, until we eventually climbed up and over the rocky Punta Union pass (4760m) where we got the best Andean views in all of Peru.

Our group, Punta Union pass

Rach had bought a new sleeping bag for our trip and was especially pleased at how small it was and how little room it took up in her ruc-sac. However, this was the first time she actually had to use it, and when we woke up on the first night to a heavy frost and a temperature of -5 she wasnt quite so pleased with her new toy. Determined to get a better nights sleep on the second night she decided to put on all the clothes that she had with her, then decided that still wasn´t enough, so started on mine!

Each day we got up at sunrise, around 5:30, but this was fine by us as we had been awake shivering for ages anyway!  We finished walking in the late afternoon, in time for a relaxing cup of coca tea in the sun – who needs the beach when you can relax in the sun at the foot of a glacier ?

We both really enjoyed being in the mountains.  They were really peaceful – we only saw a handful of other trekkers the whole time, and completely unspoilt.  This trek was definitely the highlight of my trip so far.

All smiles before the trek started!

Laguna Llanganuco

Cordillera Blanca

Cordillera Blanca

Cordillera Blanca

Cordillera Blanca

Sun and relaxation afer the Punta Union pass

We have been in Cuenca for a week, staying with a lovely local family, and taking Spanish lessons.  Rach is pretty good now, I however, am still struggling.  I have  big problems with pronunciations - particularly with any words containing a “g”, “ll”, “qu”, “c” or “ñ” (so most words really!)  At times in our lessons I felt like a 7 year old learning to read for the first time!

Although Rach did best in the lessons, I did much better with our host family.  Not in terms of Spanish though, but in terms of food.  As you probably know Rach likes her food just as much as me, but our Ecuadorian hosts thought otherwise, and much to her dismay, I was always served meals almost twice the size of hers!  I was also often offered seconds, whereas Rach never was - serves her right for all those meals she made me skip in Colombia!

We’ve both liked being students again for a bit and having a routine to our day.  In hindsight 5 hour lessons may have been a bit too much.  I generally lost concentration after about an hour and a half, Rach faired a bit better and lasted about 4 hours, but we were both exhausted in the afternoons.  The only thing we had energy to do for our homework was to go to the cinema and watch a film.  OK so the films were in English but they had Spanish subtitles!  When we went out for a few beers on Friday we felt like we had really earned them.

We stayed in Cuenca for 8 nights, more than twice as long as any other place so far.  We enjoyed the longer stay; being able to unpack our bags and have a bit of a routine.  Interestingly though by the end of our stay we were both getting restless to move on – we are obviously not ready to return to work just yet.

Exciting as it was, Spanish school didn’t yield many photo opportunities, so here are a few misfits of other stuff we have been up to:

Rob milking a cow, Posada de Tigua

Rach riding a llama, Posada de Tigua

Posada de Tigua, Quilotoa Loop

Rob at Laguna Quilotoa

Pilion del Diabolo, Banos

... With a rainbow

Volcan Chimborazo

Mountain biking down Volcan Chimborazo

New cathedral, Cuenca

New cathedral door, Cuenca