So i know it´s been much much too long since I updated but i´ve been busy!  Had a great time travelling from Ecuador, through Peru (interesting seeimg how some things have changed since I was there in 2001 and other things haven´t at all!), Bolivia (Andes and Jungle!), then from northern Chile all the way across to Rio de Janeiro which is a cool city! 

However the possibility of a few days skiing in Argentina came to mind and those of you who know me know I love skiing and I´m not that much of a city person……so 40 hours on a bus from Rio to Buenos Aires, 5 hours in the bus station then 22 hours to Bariloche.  Well worth every minute though!  Yesterday was a white out but went up anyway and thoroughly enjoyed it (I was more like a small over-excited child for most of the day!) then the clouds broke and today was glorious! 

Heading back to Buenos Aires tomorrow then flying from there back to London on Thursday arriing Friday morning….four months really has flown past!

What a few weeks… Easter Island: A magical place of lush vegetation, lovely sand beaches, laid back locals, pleasantly un-touristy and that´s not to mention the almighty Moai statues places around the island. There are many that have been knocked over but many sights where they are all standing proudly, one with 15 statues in a row, the tallest of which is approaching 30ft in height. The Moai got very ambitious as in the quarry where all the statues were carved is a 60ft statue fully carved, they just couldn´t work to how to move it! A great place to relax, I would advise EVERYBODY to come here!! 

Back to Santiago for a night then flight to Quito. Quito: Arriving straight in at 2800m having spent the best part of 6 weeks below 1000m was certainly noticeable. Went to our hostel, one of the best ever…if anyone is ever in Quito, stay in the Secret Garden hostal. Spent the day wandering around town seeing the sights in a whistle-stop tour. Spent the next day climbing the nearby volcano, Guagua Pichincha reaching a breathtaking 4807m (15,770ft), which I would like to make a point of being 1m higher than Mont Blanc! Still, I went to the loo higher than anywhere in Europe!! Unfortunately the crater was full of cloud, although i´m almost glad icouldn´t see the several hundred vertical feet drop to the bottom! Headed north to Otavalo, one of the most famous markets in South America and finally treated myself to the Panama hat i´ve wanted for ages! They really are a bargain here! Headed back to Quito. Ended up having a very messy night in Quito with muchos drinking and dancing, got home at 5 then got up at 6:30 to go and mountain bike down Cotopaxi. Not the smartest idea, still drunk until the adrenalin really started at about 10:30! Had a good crash, removed some skin from arm and still have partially operating left leg and arm! It´ll be fine. Flew from Quito to the Galapagos the next day, very stiff. 

Arrived Galapagos, marvellous! Went to the main town then walked to Tortuga Bay, chilled and saw my first shark of the trip, a baby white tipped reef shark, pelicans, lizards, other birds plus 10´s or probably hundreds of marine iguanas. Spent the next day on a highland tour in the morning walking through lava tunnels and seeing 100+ year old tortoises in the wild, plus loads of fresh passion fruit, yummy. Went on a snorkelling trip in the afternoon, unfortunately was too rough at the usual spot so went somewhere else which wasn´t the best. Saw sea lions and blue footed boobies though. Back to the airport the next day and met our guide for the next few days. Went to the boat, 9 of us on it plus a cool crew, and were greated with a great lunch! The food on board was marvellous! Spent the next four days sailing around some of the islands seeing plenty of highlights including: Snorkelling with white-tipped reef sharks, black tipped reef sharks, turtles, sea lions (so much fun!), huge varieties of colourful fish, sting rays, golden rays, white spotted eagle rays and manta rays ….MAGICAL! Also saw 1 flamingo (yes, just the one!), a couple of penguins, cool crabs, dolphins, the famous Darwins finch, cormorants, pelicans plus more! Took lots of photos (no surprises) some of which are up at www.frozenlife.co.uk/gallery/. 

Flew back to Quito then straight south to Banos. This place was evacuated in 2000 because the nearby volcano started getting a bit active, but in 2002 many residents broke back through the baracades and re-started the town. Spent the first day walking around the local mountains then hit the town with some people we´d met in Quito. Went up to a viewpoint where you can see the volcano pumping out molten rocks every 5 to 10 minutes which was amazing to watch (pic attached). Went white water rafting the next day which was cool! We were superior to the other team (they flipped their boat on the first rapid!) although I did manage to fall out mid rapid at one point! There were some pretty good stretches of rapids, quite interesting when you´re at the front looking at a wall of water taller than you and paddling for your life! Good times. Hit the town to celebrate. Today travelled from Banos to Riobamba which apart from the pizza´s doesn´t have much going for it! The reason we are here is to join the train tomorrow and take the trip down the “devil´s nose”, a supposedly spectacluar journey. Heading south to Lima over the next week then start exploring Peru (again!) Hope all are well back in blighty, Lots of Love, Rob/Coops xx

Left El Calafate with Scottish couple Mark & Sigi we met in Torres del Paine and all flew on a cool old twin prop plane (pic attached) to Comodoro Rivadavia where we gorged on an all you can eat buffet before getting on an overnight coach to Bariloche.  Arrived and wandered around Bariloche, nice place, pretty touristy although bearable as we are in low season for travellers.  Next day, went on a day trip to Victoria Island, stunning place, very tranquil and even better managed to win a box of chocolates for 2nd place in the raffle on the way back from the island!  Everyone loves chocolate! 

Left Bariloche, went to Puerto Montt (Chile) then south to Chiloe Island where we spent a night in the capital Castro then the next day travelled up to Ancud on the north coast - Castro had some cool buildings on stilts, saw the oldest church on the island and had good fresh sea-food dinners! 

Left Chiloe Island, back to Puerto Montt then onto Pucon.  Arrived Saturday, Elly´s birthday was Monday and we wanted to climb the volcano…turned out the forecast was bad so decided to do it on the Sunday instead.  What a thoroughly amazing experience, possibly the best one yet and it´s driven my desire to do more!!  It´s 2840m (approx. 9320ft), snow capped and pumping out sulphur dioxide so much that it was a case of running to the edge of the crater for a few seconds whilst holding your breath before the burning sensation on your eyes and the lack of oxygen caused you to run back!  Fortunately the weather held out for us!  Went birthday drinking with an English guy we met in our group that day.  Sure enough it rained on Elly´s birthday so we had a very chilled day then went to the hot springs, very cool. 

Left Pucon, headed to Temuco then onto Curico.  This place is off the backpacker radar and we didn´t see any other westerners or backpackers in the two days we were there.  Tried and failed to get to some cool sounding waterfalls but made up for it by booking a vineyard tour which was actually very interesting and of course included a wine tasting session!

Left Curico for Santiago and that brings me to now!  Exploring Santiago tomorrow (Friday) then flying to Easter Island on Saturday  

Thats about it for me for now, hope everyone is well,

Love Coops/Rob

p.s. good luck to everyone having exams back at home over the next few weeks

South America 4 - 07/05/2006:

So since last time…..

Ushuaia - southernmost city in the world, cool place (not as cold as you would think though!).  Went to the Tierra del Fuego national park, absolutely stunning definately want to go again and camp there. 

Travelled north to Punta Arenas then to Puerto Natales in Chile (the first border crossing!).

Puerto Natales - not a bad little place, stayed a few days, hired some camping kit and went to Torres del Paine national park - more barren than Tierra del Fuego but stunning all the same!  Hiked for a day, pitched up then scrambled up to the towers (45 minutes up a pretty massive scree slope!).  Thought we should do it in case they were covered in cloud the next day (often are).  Met some cool people camping, only 6 of us which was wkd compared to high season where it is packed.  Had dinner and red wine, exchanging stories.  Started snowing, went to bed.  Very windy night (forecast was for 50-70kmh winds! and i had to fix a tentpole when we arrived with Gaffa…love that tape!), got up in the dark at 6:15 and left camp at half past in the dark, windy snow.  Almost got lost in the campsite bit!  Made it to the towers, only ones up there then joined by the other guys we camped with (they made it just in time!)  We were treated to a stunning orange sunrise on the towers, lots of photos as you can imagine!  Back to camp, packed up then hiked back to the park entrance for our ride back to town.

Next to El Calafate - arrived on friday, spent the day sorting out trying to get to Barriloche - a mission but we are off tomorrow by a plane-bus combo!  Went to the Perito Moreno glacier yesterday - AMAZING!  It is one of the worlds most active, with the middle moving 2m a day!  Saw some wicked car to small house size bits fall off (pics to come!)  Chilling today then off to the middle of the Lake District tomorrow, should be good.  If anyone comes to El Calafate, they should stay in America del Sur hostel - its more like a hotel and the staff are soo helpful at sorting out tours etc.  Thought we were doing a good trip, met an Aussie guy who is cycling from Columbia to Ushuaia!!  Hes got about a month to go, 13000kms down, 1000km to go!  I donated him a new tshirt! Great guy, lived in Guildford for two years, small world.  Hope all are well, ciao for now

South America 3 - 25/04/2006:

Woohoooo, Penguins are officially the coolest things around!  Although they were almost beaten by seeing a real life armadillo!! 

Back to the beginning…got the coach from Buenos Aires over night for 18 hours which was actually not as bad as it sounds - dinner and breakfast served on the coach and more leg room and better reclining seats than the BA flight here!!  All in all can´t complain!  Puerto Madryn is a pretty cool place, friendly and loving being in a smaller town where you can walk pretty much anywhere!  arrived in the morning so went for a wander and found a great hostel (El Gaulicho) then explored the town.  It´s got a massive beach with some cool ship wrecks and things.  Went to try and find a restaurant at the very far end of town (an hour´s walk), failed.  Actually a good thing as when we got back to the middle of town, couldn´t work out why there were so many people around, especially around the pier.  Turns out that Sunday (23rd) was the patron saint of fishing´s day and once a year they have a big firework display…spectacular!  Had a great fish paella Had met a british couple earlier in the hostel and arranged to hire a car the next day to drive out to the Valdez Peninsula.  Got a VW Gol, not quite a golf but bigger than a polo!  Headed out to the peninsula - the biggest peninsula i´ve ever been on i think…about 150km north to south and 75km wide!!  Anyway, it´s a bit of a wildlife refuge…guanacos (like lama´s), rabbit like things, a MASSIVE spider, PENGUINS and several ARMADILLO´s!!  oh yeah and sea lions and elephant seals and sadly despite waiting for several hours at the recommended time no Orca whales   stopped on the way back across the peninsula and turned off all the lights…i have NEVER seen so many stars, absolutely phenomenal.  Had a lazy day today, it´s much warmer so visited the beach for a bit and off this evening for another 15 hours on a coach to Rio Gallegas, one stop from Ushuaia   Ciao for now, but attached is a photo of a penguin and armadillo for your amusement!  more photos at www.frozenlife.co.uk/gallery.  Hope everyone´s good, Rob

South America 2 - 22/04/2006:

Thought i would make the most of the free internet here at the hostel in Buenos Aires so….today, had a god wander around in the sun making a great change from yesterday!  Saw Evitas grave (amongst many others of famous or less famous Argentinians), went to a pretty cool art museum, got the next leg of the journey sorted…..leaving BA tomorrow at 3pm (7pm UK time) for the 18 or so hour journey to Puerto Madryn, about half way from BA to Patagonia.  Spend a day or two there going to the nature reserve and hopefully seeing some penguins!!  Am currently shattered so off for a bit of shut eye, ciao for now

South America numero uno - 20/04/2006:

Hi all,

Some of you have no idea idea im even here as i havent (âpologies, the apostrophe isnt working!) spoken to you for a long time but I thought you might be interested in hearing what I was up to anyway!  Well, after 15 hours on the same plane and after a stop in Sao Paolo we knew nothing about, arrived in Buenos Aires this morning, made our way to the hostel to be greeted with coffee and pastries…not a bad start!  The hostel is pretty central, cheap and clean so pretty ideal really.  It feels as though weve bought the English weather with us though, its been a grey rainy day today but that hasnt stopped us heading for a wander around the city to a few museums etc.  Were off to what we are told is a very good barbeque and salad buffet place this evening, splashing out for our first meal costing an anticipated 5 of your finest sterling!  Plan is to explore tomorrow and Saturday morning then head South on a bus for 15 hours to where the real fun begins…the Southern most city in the world, the penguins and the glaciers!!  Id imagine internet access will become a little more scarce down there but will definately be in Santiago in a months time as we have flights booked to Easter Island so will certinainly be in touch then!

Hope all is well with everyone back in blighty, I will be putting all my emails and hopefully some photos on my website at www.frozenlife.co.uk so if youre really bored have a look at that!  Hasta luego amigos

Lots of love, Rob/Coops

P.S.

Dad, glad to hear all went well, hope the after effects arent too bad, enjoy France!

Tristan, where are you mate?  Cant remember when/where you are…got a feeling youre in Chile but not sure!

Les Deux Alpes - 23/03/2006:

So Mike and I arrived in the alps on Sunday after a pretty good drive down in his van, including a stop off at an aire for a bit of sleep in the back!  We’ve been setting up the office and getting things organised this week.  We’ve got 71 BUSC people arriving on Saturday and 65 Nottingham Medics, not to bad at all.  Then it winds up to the following saturday when 1834 students arriving in one afternoon!  Crikey!  Well, best get back to it but all’s going pretty well, even got a few hours skiing in which is nice!

Last day in London - 17/03/2006:

So here it is It’s the last day at work in London for approximately 5 months….excellent!  I’m driving out to the Alps tomorrow, then spending three weeks out there working for the tour operator Wasteland Ski behind the British University Snowsports Championships! Should be a good laugh!  Anyways, best get back to tidying up the work left over!