Karl and Kara in South America

Kara says: Arequipa. Getting colder, getting higher (or else my breathing difficulties are due to the artery-clogging properties of our daily diet of roast chicken and chips - we may well have turned into chicken and chips when we get home). An old colonial city by a volcano and a couple of snow-covered mountains - a gorgeous setting. The city dates from 1540 (founded by Pizarro himself) and there's a church from about 1670 but alas the earthquakes have taken care of the older buildings and now the city mostly dates from the 18th and 19th century. Parents: don't worry about the earthquakes, see photo, there are safe zones in all the buildings! Another very impressive colonial plaza with a cathedral on one side. And a million tour companies and gringos wandering in packs herded by local tour guides. Went to see an amazing convent/monastery - almost enough to tempt me into a habit. It was founded in about 1570 by the daughters of rich Spaniards and over the years has grown to be ...

Kara says: Nasca. A town of about 50,000 in the middle of the desert and finally, this really feels like a different continent - narrow, dusty streets, lots of tiny shops and street stalls, you can buy a chicken that looks like it was alive very recently and there's a butcher in the market hacking up some meat while both he and then meat are covered in flies. It's a great little town, lively and sleepy at the same time. Nothing much to do but sit in the plaza and watch the world go by but there's enough world going by to make it interesting. All the cars here (well, at least 2/3) are those tiny little square daewoos (like Martina's old subaru) with one litre engines, the town's full of 'em. Although from the photos you can see that's no obstacle to not needing a bridge over the river. All the taxis (and you know how to pick a safe taxi - they're the ones with the first aid kits stuck up on the inside of the windows so when they maim you at least they can...

Kara says: We're on the road, roughing it in a youth hostel, sharing kitchens and living rooms and other people's bad taste in films. Being on the road the quality of the blog will suffer (further) and i'll just put up a few photos and then write something underneath and you can figure out what's what. 'Cause you're a clever bunch. So, arriving in Lima by plane (Lan Peru stewardesses have now out-surlied the Lufthansa crew in out surliest crew competition) you don't see anything 'til about 2 seconds before landing you finally make it out of the cloud. But the suburbs near the airport look like south america, finally! Small, squarish, colourfully painted but very homemade houses cluttered all on top of each other and with extra floors being added here and there whenever the whim takes someone. In one of the photos of a hill behind a big red building you can see the houses climbing up the side of the hill. Apparently these are built by the impoverished mi...

Kara Says: Right. Apologies for the quality of this entry - I started with the bottom half, then decided to add these extra photos and now i'm out of time 'cause we off to our last milonga (can you hear Karl's anguished screams in the background) before we leave BA. So. Photos up here - Karl when his lips exploded. I think they did that just to worry me and so i'd figure out where our closest hospital is. Course now we're all going to die from dengue fever anyway it doesn't matter so much and the doctors are on a 48 hour strike so gong to hospital wouldn't be much good. He recovered - see below for proof he is still alive. Other photos here of a trip to Tigre yesterday - a little town/suburb of BA up a river. Very pleasant and quiet (good antidote to Karl's city-outtedness, see below), transport by boats, it's on the delta of the parana river so there's houses on the river and people get around in tinnies which they drive just as insanely as the...

Kara says: Hola chicos. Holy Friday, only a week left in BA! I'm having withdrawal symptoms, it's home now, we can't leave. Town seems to be pretty much closed down for the long weekend, alot of people have gone somewhere, not sure where, maybe Mar del Plata. And the Bolivian president wasn't getting his own way and so has gone on hunger strike! Now how come Bertie/Johnny never thought of that? It's pure genius. No gossip, we're not that exciting, but I have some photos of Montevideo that I haven't put up yet - possibly of interest to some people who might be planning to visit Uruguay in the not too distant future and yet do not yet appear to be in possession of plane tickets... Doesn't this look tempting...chocolate waves! Even thought Montevideo is further down the mouth of the river than BA it's still basically a chocolatey river with waves straight out of a Cadbury ad. But there are cheerleaders. Everywhere. Can't get away from them. Honestl...

Kara says: Hola. Not a whole lot of fresh news but going to put up some pictures from the other week. Only a couple of weeks left in BA now (as Dad said last week - sure, the year's practically over!) so making sure we've seen all the must sees and taking time to rest before the big trip. Karl is celebrating having survived our last tango class last night - he thinks he's free now but i'll just be dragging him to more milongas. Went to a great milonga the other night, with a live orchestra (Piazzolla played by 4 bandoneons, fiddles, cello and bass - heaven!) and even had a bit of a dance. well. we made it onto the dance floor. and survived - mainly because Karl used me as a kind of human shield while he fought his way around the floor. But it was fun and we will be back for more. BA's come back to life after a couple of day's mourning during the week. An ex-president and kicker outer of nasty dictators died so Thursday there was a huge funeral and the city clos...