So, as per my previous post we spent the night in Humahuaca, and the next day we hopped on to another bus, this time to head directly to the Bolivian border. Approx 3 hours to La Quiaca, the last Argentinian town before the border. We expected to spend about 10-15 minutes at the border to get our passports stamped but we were just a little too optimistic. Piece of advice if you want to cross the border at La Quiaca, be armed with patience, a sweater and a raincoat. We spent 2 hours in the queue to leave Argentina. Argentinians have to... [Lire la suite]

So just a few more things about Argentina. We spent 3 days in Salta. During this time we got to eat the best steak we had ever eaten in our lives. The meat was so tender it nearly melted in our mouths, barely no need to chew. That's pretty a pretty impressive sensation! Just a small note on something an Argentinia told us and which I'll let you ponder over: "Argentinians are Italian for the mafia, French for their good taste (of wine and meat), Spanish for their crazy paperwork but dream to be refined like the British"... no comment!... [Lire la suite]

Milanesas - deep fried thin piece of meat, either chicken or veal. Also comes in a sandwich (with tomato, lettuce, onion, ham, cheese and a fried egg. Hamburguesa - Typical hamburger with lettuce, tomato, ham, cheese and a fried egg. Pancho - hot dog covered in crisps (also comes in Super size) Empanadas - with all kinds of stuffings (spinach, cheese and onion, veal, chicken, corn...), although in the regions of Salta and Tucumán they are generally only stuffed with veal or chicken. That's for the food you can... [Lire la suite]

So here we are in Salta, staying in the house of the uncle of a friend of ours. A really beautiful house.Salta is a very pretty town, amazing little houses with perfect front lawns. Today we climbed up the Cerro San Bernardo. Brave as we are we did not take the teleferico, we climbed all the 1220 steps (yes, I counted in true tourist style). Great view of the town and of the surrounding mountains. After a well deserved biiiig nap we then went to the MAAM (Museo de Arqueologia de Alta Montaña). The Incas as we know liked to make... [Lire la suite]

We arrived in Salta this afternoon after 22h of bus... I'm definitly not one of those people that can sleep everywhere! (unlike my boyfriend... grrrr)

As I explained in my previous post, we were already suprised by the fact that red lights come after the crossroad. Last night, we spent the evening with some argentinian friends. They came to pick us up by car, and we also noticed that there are no one-way signs or no-entry signs. So we asked our friends how they knew if a street was one-way or not and in which direction to go. They explained that it was thanks to the red lights. If there is a red light only on the left side of the road, it means that it's a one-way street... [Lire la suite]

It's just the beginning of a long trip, so we're taking things slooowly. Getting adjusted to the time difference (a whopping 4 hours... you can imagine the terrible jet-lag), and to the heat (that's much more difficult).We've walked up and down the micro-centro, San Telmo and la Boca (brightly coloured houses, the artist area). Our legs were a little sore from all the walking by day 3 but they're starting to get used to it. Today we decided to get out of Buenos Aires so we took the train to Tigre. About an hour away from Buenos... [Lire la suite]

I finally made it. I started making my way to the train station at noon on Wednesday in Belgium, and I arrived to my friends appartment in Buenos Aires on Friday at 2 pm local time (ie 6pm Belgian time). I am knackered, but its 32 degrees outside so... enough said!

I should be writing this post from Argentina. However, we've already had to face our first travelling problems. Brussels - Buenos Aires should have consisted in taking a train to Paris, then a plane to Rome and then a plane to Buenos Aires. The train to Paris wasn't a problem. We were blissfully happy, clueless of what was about to happen. In Paris, the air traffic controlers were on strike, which meant that only 70% of flights were taking off. Our Paris-Rome was therefore cancelled. That didn't stress us much, since we had all... [Lire la suite]

This is it! In just 1 week, the trip begins! The plan is simple: 3 continents, 18 months. Itinerary- South America: Argentina, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Mexico (6 months)Australia (6 months)Asia : Philipines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Burma, Nepal and India (6 months) Budget – We’ve calculated that we’ll be spending approx. 25€ per day in South America and 15€ per day in Asia. We plan to not have any costs in Australia, as we hope to get the work&travel visa which... [Lire la suite]