If the truth be told, there was a small part of me that was ever-so-slightly disappointed by the slick and shiny Bangalore airport, with the impressive e-Visa process, the ease of hiring a metered taxi, and the modern highway into town. This was ameliorated when we hit the thronged rush-hour traffic on the MG Road…
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Monday 27th November – Tuesday 28th November: Hampi
The overnight train to Hospete – the junction stop for Hampi – was Noah’s first experience of Indian Railways so I thought First AC was the only way to go. Not exactly glamorous but perfectly acceptable. As we left Bangalore after 10pm our compartment was already in bunk format, with the bedding pack laid out…
Friday 24th June: Ik-kil Cenote
Early on Friday morning we took a short taxi ride from our hotel to the nearby Cenote Ik Kil. It was incredibly beautiful, with decent facilities – lockers, towel rental etc. We got there early, shortly after it opened, and there were only about six other people there – heavenly: Showers before getting in –…
Wednesday 22nd – Friday 24th June: Chichen Itza
The next day we were headed to the famous Mayan ruins at Chichen Itza where we would stay for two nights in a nearby hotel so we could get early access to the ruins site at 8am when they open, in order to avoid the worst of the heat and the crowds. Initially the plan…
Monday 20th-Wednesday 22nd June 2016: Cancun
There is nothing ‘organic’ about Cancun. It’s a planned city designed explicitly for tourism, with the ‘hotel zone’ along a narrow spit of white sandy beaches, and then the ‘real’ city where all the people who work in the hotel zone actually live. Instead of staying in the ‘Zona Hotelera’ – the bit lined with…
3rd May 2016 – Cheat’s easy Creamy Thai Green Curry
A couple of people asked for the recipe for this. I’m slightly embarrassed to recount how easy it is, but here goes: Ingredients: 1 litre of coconut milk Thai green curry paste – see below White fish fillets – also see below A couple of bags of stir fry veg. I use a ‘chinese stir…
6th December – 11th December – San Pedro de Atacama
Our lovely hotel in San Pedro – a small town of a few streets in the middle of the desert: We took a morning trip to the ALMA base station – the antennae themselves are at 5000m altitude so they don’t take visitors there… By luck there was an antenna ‘in the workshop’ so…
5th December – Antofagasta and the Very Large Telescope
After an overnight (reasonably comfortable) coach journey from La Serena, we had a driver collect us from the bus station to squire us around for the day. First stop: brunch with a view of the Antofagasta fishing port: Next stop ‘La Portada‘ – the natural ‘monument’ just outside Antofagasta – a sea-arch: Then it…
1st December – 4th December – La Serena
It’s a sea-side resort. We read books and drank wine on our balcony while looking at the pacific ocean. That’s about it. Oh yes, we occasionally made it out of our apartment to have a meal next to the beach. There is a town in La Serena as well as the beach resort, although we…
28th November – 1st December – Border Crossing / Santiago de Chile
The ‘Los Libertadores‘ road border crossing between Argentina and Chile is possibly one of the most spectacular journeys in the world: Out of Mendoza, we were still passing through vineyards for some time: Slowly the lush greenery started to become more barren and hilly: Throughout the journey a – non-functional – narrow gauge railway line…
24th November – 28th November – Mendoza and Chacras de Coria
We say ‘we are going to Mendoza’, but strictly speaking we meant the region and not the city. Mendoza city seems to be perfectly nice, with wide avenues, plenty of squares, and mostly low-rise buildings (all designed after the earthquake). However, our visit was not about the city but about the WINE, so after one…
18th November – 24th November – Buenos Aires (and Uruguay!)
After four weeks of countryside it was time to come back to the big city. Buenos Aires really *is* a big city, with about a third of the country’s population in the metropolitan area. Like any big city it is made up of areas or ‘barrios’ each with its own character, typical architecture etc. Like many…
Our adventures 