21 Jun 2013 1 Comment
in Family Gap Year, Travelling Tags: Magellan Straits, Patagonia, Tierra del Fuego, Ushuaia
Perito Moreno Glacier was our final stop on the road south to the end of the world! After spending the night in Rio Gallegos, we get up early for yet another long 11 hour bus, this time by day, down to Ushuaia.
Early departure from Rio Gallegos….glued to the TV in reception at the hotel and waiting at the bus station
Luckily the kids are entertained by movies. Gotta wonder who selects the movies for these journeys? Today it is Abraham Lincoln and the Zombies! More
19 Jun 2013 3 Comments
in Family Gap Year, Top Experiences, Videos Tags: Argentina, El Calafate, Patagonia, Perito Moreno Glacier
Nature served up another remarkable highlight in South America when she created the Perito Moreno Glacier in the south of Argentina, up there with Iguazu Falls and the Bolivian Salt Flats as one of the most spectacular places and is a must visit, worth every hour of the long journey to get there!
Colours and Patterns of Perito Moreno Glacier Patagonia, Argentina
07 Jun 2013 2 Comments
in Family Gap Year Tags: Chile, iquique, La Serena
In La Serena, Chile, we found this attractive looking memorial and were interested to see it was in memory of a massacre on 21-12-1907 (it happened to be 100 years to the day before Lara was born) of workers, women and children at a school in Iquique, further north between La Serena and Arica where Erika had visited. We wondered why it was here in La Serena and what happened?
The Iquique Massacre memorial in La Serena
We made a mental note, took the photo and planned to Google it. More
06 Jun 2013 2 Comments
in Family Gap Year Tags: Killer whale, Peninsular Valdez, puerto madryn
The day after Ben’s birthday we leave Buenos Aires for the second time and take along overnight bus south to Puerto Madryn, the main coastal town on the edge of the huge Peninsular Valdez.
The Peninsular Valdez, Argentina, towards Patagonia, renowned for amazing wildlife and sealife – especially whales, elephant seals and orcas.
It’s an especially tiring day for everyone, usual packing dramas, Martin suffering with a nasty bout of man flu, More
03 Jun 2013 3 Comments
in Family Gap Year Tags: Buenos Aires, Buquebus, Colonia, hostel el Viajero, Montevideo, Río de la Plata, Uruguay
5th-8th March 2013
We arrive in the beautiful town of Colonia in Uruguay, mid-morning, on a Buquebus ferry from Buenos Aires. It takes about 90 minutes to cross the Rio de la Plata – claimed to be the widest river in the world – it’s 200km wide at its mouth, though considered more an estuary by some. The crossing isn’t cheap and ideally we’d come for longer but we’re really running our of time now in South America! Our original 5-6 month plan is already stretched to 9! We justify the short trip because we can draw out a stash of US dollars that we’ll exchange back in Buenos Aires for the dollar blue rate – now over 50% more than the official bank rate. Incredible isn’t it?!!
We walk along the waterfront road of this lovely Unesco World heritage site to where we’re booked for the night, Hostel el Viajero, the kids being troopers with their packs in the heat. El Viajero has super friendly staff who work hard to get a room ready for us to have an early check in and give us heaps of information…
The gorgeous streets of Colonia where you really feel you have stepped back in time
We head straight out to explore around the beautiful, quiet, cobbled town. It has a fantastic More
28 May 2013 2 Comments
in Education & Schooling, Family Gap Year, Top Experiences Tags: Argentina, Buenos Aires, Casa Rosada, Eva Peron, Museo de Ninos
26 February 2013. We arrive in Buenos Aires at 8.30am after being served breakfast on our VIP 20 hour bus trip from Iguazu Falls.
A walk and a run around the docklands area of Buenos Aires
We’d hoped to go via Uruguay but scouring forums and blogs for information on this route suggested complicated stops and connections with people being stranded at quiet border towns for half the night and having to hitch. Didn’t really fancy this with three tired kids and all our bags! More
22 May 2013 3 Comments
in Adventure, Family Gap Year, Foodie Central, Photos, Top Experiences, Travelling Tags: Argentina, Brazil, Ciudad del Este, iguacu falls, iguassu, iguazu falls, Itaipu dam, Itaipu zoo, Paraguay, puerto iguazu
Iguazu Falls – just a fraction of the Falls which includes 275 individual cascades amidst multiple islands.
Iguassu (or Iguazu, or Iguacu Falls) is so incredible it deserves its 3 spellings, or more, if you include versions with or without accents. Then there’s Puerto Iguazu in Argentina and Foz do Iguacu just across the border in Brazil, the towns and airports in the midst of the rainforest, stopping off points for the Falls.
About to get under the Iguazu falls!
21 May 2013 2 Comments
in Family Gap Year, Safety, Top Experiences, Travelling Tags: Argentina, dolar blue, Lujan de Cuyo, Mendoza, vinyards with kids
aka – Visiting Argentina’s wine region with kids plus babysitter!
We arrive in Mendoza, Argentina at 5am. Our bus is about 6 hours late! With super sleepy kids and feeling exhausted too we gather our bags and our wits and wonder if you can get any cash or a cab at this time. A money changer offers me 6 pesos to the dollar to change a $20 bill – I know the exchange rate is 5 so I’m baffled but accept and am cautious to check all the notes I get. We soon discover there is another exchange rate – it’s called the ‘dollar blue’ aka the black market rate! There is a daily published ‘dollar blue rate’ on the internet – it’s about 7:1 at this point and climbing – more on this and how much of a difference it makes to us later! Argentina’s economy is in crisis (perhaps as a distraction President Christina Kirchner is making a lot of noise about the Falklands aka The Malvinas) again and so we’re cautious about the reception we’ll get here!
We find a friendly cabbie who is happy to shoehorn the six of us plus luggage into his taxi! (interesting feat) and take us to our pleasant Aparthotel Tunkelen. Determined to get some value from our paid night of accommodation not to mention being bushed, we drive the now wide-awake kids into bed and sleep till 11am,. Of course we miss breakfast but the rooftop pool is wonderful when we finally wake up.
The rooftop pool and Royal Pavillion ?
20 May 2013 1 Comment
in Family Gap Year, Travelling Tags: Andes, Argentina, Mendoza, Santiago, Santiago to Mendoza
15 February 2013. Our whistle-stop city break in Santiago is done. We ride the Metro for the first time to find yet another sushi restaurant. Its our first subway ride in S America and a bit of an adventure.
Underground ,overground – last morning in Santiago.
We stop for sushi, grab Starbucks coffee, then back at the hotel to collect luggage but find it’s locked in a room with a sign on the door :
‘Gone to lunch-back in an hour’ !!
11 May 2013 5 Comments
in Family Gap Year, Foodie Central, Travelling Tags: Andes, Bocanariz, Chile, Crossing the Andes to Argentina, La Serena, Santiago
Chile. 11 February 2013.
Seven months today since we flew to South America to begin our family gap year and we arrive in La Serena, Chile, our first taste of coastal Chile, on a rather uncomfortable, but bearable 16 hour overnight bus south from Calama, dropping down 2400m from the heights of the Atacama desert. We’ve finally escaped San Pedro and the floods having missed all the amazing trips we’d hoped to do and having to head back through Calama, seeing evidence of where the road was washed right away as the bus queues to get around the missing carriageway.
Th San Pedro to Calama road is washed away
The challenge of how to cross the Andes to Argentina
Plan A had been to take a bus from San Pedro to Salta – we’d even bought our tickets but got a refund when we knew the pass was going to be closed at least a week due to snow. Plan B is to try our luck with the pass from La Serena to Mendoza.
We had ‘semi-cama’ seats (meaning half-bed). Not exactly what I’d call a half bed but they do recline quite well – and are smart by the standards we’re used to. The kids and Martin (sleep anywhere) slept happy enough – Erika and I found it a bit tough and feel stiff and sleep deprived! ‘Cama’ is a bigger, better recliner, often in the downstairs with semi-cama upstairs. We’re looking forward to trying cama! Maybe next time!
Ben
Lara
Martin Clark
Mo
Zoe
The Clark Family's Amazing Adventures 