Packing!

"I've done this a million times! It'll be easy!"
How naive of me was that? I have been loading my 70L backpack on and off since the beginning of this week and I still have a little while to go yet! Preparing myself for the inferno of the tropics, the icy storms that characterise the Patagonian vastness, and the deadly wildlife in the Jungles has been no doddle. It would have been a breeze for Mary Poppins, who stores lamps and cups in an almost nanometric bag!
Brain wave! Could I pack some really old clothes to layer myself up in for the chilling loneliness surrounding Mount Fitzroy and the blizzards high up in the Andes? Then when we get back into the blisteing heat zone, I could just chuck 'em or give them to people. What a shame I didn't think of this a couple of months ago BEFORE donating my clothes to the charity shop! Still my old clothes should be in a better place now so I'm not too worried.
The goal is to get my backpack under 8kg as we'll be trekking for virtually 2 weeks with our homes on our backs. A little like a snail really, only they are slower than us (unless we become so exhausted by the end that we remain stationary in recovery! ... So I won't speak too soon).

Anyway let the fun continue and wish me luck! We set out on Sunday from London Heathrow so keep your eyes peeled for more posts!

More Antipodes

Remember last year we were looking at visiting exact antipodes? Well, this year has some pretty neat antipodean links:
Our epic journey from Jodhpur to Deshnok and Bikaner finds its exact antipode on Easter Island!
The memorable time we spent in and around Phnom Penh is the antipode of Lima!
I'm sure there will be some more to emerge as we journey around...

The Final Countdown!

Well, just over a week to go before we set off. It's great to have Alastair signed up following us, but where are the rest of you? Hurry and sign up, for in the next four months we'll be showing you some of the most awe-inspiring sights from the globe's most magnificent continent! 'But what about Asia?' we hear you cry... Well we've already explored Asia for the last two years running, and there are many fantastic lifetime memories, not to mention places we'd love to visit one more time. But on the subject of 'one more time' that's why we're now heading to Latin America: Jon's already experienced real life in Brazil, and Simon's keen to return to Chile, Peru, Ecuador and Cuba. It's a compelling continent, and one which is drawing us back.

You'll see many familiar themes emerging as we travel: food (you can tell so much about a nation by getting to grips with the tastes and textures of its cuisine); cities, towns and villages teeming with life and boasting wonderful architecture; profiles of the people we meet and share experiences and tales with; the many natural wonders. It's to these wonders we now turn, with a small pictorial account of just exactly what it is we're hoping to explore. Hopefully you'll agree that there are some amazing views in store for us!

As well as mountains, we'll be trying to find evidence of early civilisations from the Andes to the Caribbean...

Our plans are shaping up nicely, and they're green!

Forget carbon footprints, we’re going green! In summary, our action is going to revolve around 5 amazing treks: you'll find out exactly where when we've completed them!! And to spice things up a little, we’re adding some perilous mountain-biking at assorted locations, too! There will also be some amazing experiences in the old colonial cities and towns of the continent, and don’t forget this IS Latin America, so there will be tasty food, exotic fruits, lethal cocktails and pulsating rhythms!

Do you remember what we managed to pack into January 2010? Well, if that wasn’t enough for you, January 2011 is going to be even fuller, more adventurous and intrepid! This expedition is circular, starting and ending in the Caribbean, but will there be danger? Well, certainly not from the war-lords or drug barons. We’ll even be avoiding the urban jungle of Caracas where petty crime, express kidnappings, knife and gun assaults are commonplace; none of this phases us. It’s the Colombian fauna high up in the Sierra Nevada mountains that sounds thrilling: deadly rattle snakes, fer-de-lance, bushmaster and coral snakes, plus the jaguar, puma and ocelot! And in April, there’s some recovery time after these Colombian and Venezuelan adventures: Cuba! And here, even the mojitos are green…

Our Itinerary

We start on January 3rd, 2011, with another Virgin Atlantic flight, this time westward bound! How will we manage to cover virtually every country and sight in this vast continent in just three-and-a-half months? Simples: overnight bus journeys (complete with movies, snacks and local wine!) and lots of flights... We cross Brazil flying TAM via São Paulo, then on 28th January we fly with LAN down to commence the first of our major trekking expeditions.

On 10th February we’ll fly on LAN via Tierra del Fuego to Northwest Argentina and head over the Passa de Jama, across the Andes and down into the Atacama Desert, continuing by bus for a few weeks until 2nd March when we're going to take the new LAN flight from Lima out into the middle of the South Pacific for a week camping with some magnificent Moai. Returning to the continent, we’re going to work our way across the Equator and then fly with Avianca to the Caribbean coast and a famous city of pirates!

But it’s not quite over yet: by 22nd March it will be time to set off eastwards by bus to reach Santa Elena de Uairen. Here we will embark upon another thrilling and demanding trek, perhaps unique not only in Venezuela, but the entire continent. On 4th April we'll be back in Caracas to fly with Cubana direct to La Habana for our final week in Latin America for this trip, but our journey home starting on 11th April should also be fairly eventful: we're flying with Aeroflot via Moscow! You'll have to follow us here to find out just exactly how many lost cities and lost worlds we manage to find...