- September 4, 2008: Struggling back into the heat of NW Argentina 22nd - 28th April
- June 14, 2008: Bolivia: Copacabana and La Paz 17th - 22nd April
- June 6, 2008: Finishing off in Peru...12 - 17th April
- May 25, 2008: Losing it in the Clouds: The Inca Trail 8th - 12th April
- May 11, 2008: Making our way up into the clouds: Tacna, Arequipa and Cuzco: 3rd - 7th April
- April 28, 2008: Our Last Week in Chile: Santiago, Valparaiso and Arica 28th March - 3rd April
- April 24, 2008: Back Over the Border: Villarica and the Chilean Lake District 24th - 27th March
- April 14, 2008: Bariloche, the Nazis, Butch Cassidy and the Argentinian Lakes District 14th - 24th March
- April 3, 2008: Chiloé and Puerto Varas: 9th - 14th March
- March 31, 2008: A Spot of Patagonian History
Blogroll
Nelson - Castlegar 31st Aug - 3rd Sept
A rather pokey little room with a bunk bed awaited us at the Dancing Bear Hostel, and laundry essentials held up our much anticipated spotties because our clothes were so dirty and the washing machines so green and eco-friendly that they needed to go through twice. We rejoiced at finding a tapas type place within steps of our hostel and were very thankful that the dramatic thunderstorm hit Nelson when we were comfortably seated inside. A few more drinks and pull-tabs (although not as successful as our first experience) were to be had in one of Nelson’s more traditional pubs.
Nelson is rather a bohemian town which made a refreshing (although sometimes whiffy) change to the smaller towns we had been travelling through. Having saved several pennies by staying at the hostel on the first night, we moved out of our cubby hole to the off-beat (although rather pricier) delights of the Dandelion Bed and Breakfast run by fellow cyclist, Kevin. Determined to relax, we invested very wisely in our first bottle of Okanagan wine, to be enjoyed on the deck outside our room with a very picturesque sunset. We continued the evening playing football pinball (Paul was particularly impressed with the Union Jack representing a country called England), and then enjoyed a great evening of people-watching in one of Nelson’s more alternative venues. Musical delights included a 15-minute stint of farty noises emanating from a human beat box and various other groovy thumping curiosities that had the crowd out on the tiles; a good night was had by all!
The following morning, sadly, it was time to leave Nelson behind us with Kevin’s delicious cookies in our panniers. We coasted down the short distance to Castlegar along the Kootenay River, stocked up on ridiculous amounts of energising food in the local supermarket and shacked up in our motel to psyche ourselves up for what lay ahead…