Here we have been done like a kipper! Our Footprint South American handbook tells us how wonderful is the wildlife in the wetlands of the Pantanal that covers an area the size of Belgium, Holland, Portugal and Switzerland combined. In the same section on the Pantanal, it tells us how great a destination is a […]

We took 3 days out of Salvador to go inland to trek through the hills of Chapada Diamantina, enjoy waterfalls, go swimming and just get away from city life. This area wasn’t on our agenda originally but the Brazilian lady with whom we trekked Machu Picchu highly recommended the place. So we thought we’d try […]

There were some smiles and comments from a few friends at us being 30minutes adrift to catch our flight to Manaus. This was nothing compared to the delays we incurred flying into Salvador following a late departure, diversions due to bad weather and a change of aircraft which we nearly missed! But on this occasion […]

Following a flurry of emails we sent on Sunday evening to resolve our money problems we were expecting an early start today as the banks rush to contact us, to make sure we are safe and ok. We both woke at 08:15, still tired from the stresses of the day before, without a single call […]

By hook and crock we manage to get ourselves to Manaus in Brazil and just hope that the last 24hours has been a bad dream and that the only problem with our cards are the Venezuelan ATM machines. We spent most of the previous evening and our journey in a sweat from worry and anxiety […]

The whole flying malarkey around Venezuela is shrouded in mystery. Since leaving Caracas any previous flying experience has gone out of the window. Our next flight from Canaima to Santa Elena, further south on the Brazilian border was no different. And we were expecting problems with our bags again as a 6 seater Cessna arrived […]

Money continues to be a dominant feature of tour time in Venezuela – it seems to us that you cannot get anywhere or do anything without some sort of pay-out. We catch a plane from Margarita to Canaima in Southern Venezuela which requires another payout (departure tax), excess baggage (we were only allowed 10kgs each!) […]