Continuing today's theme....

More unusual weather happening, this time in Chile.

The town of San Pedro de Atacama in the northern Chile has been put on a flood alert after severe rain in the past few days has swollen the Loa River.

Flooding must seem strange when you live in one of the driest places on the planet!

TID at the Olympics

6 months today the London 2012 Olympics kicks off, and we have been having a look at how our TID destinations have been doing in their efforts to qualify.

Australia, as you would expect, have plenty of swimmers and rowers ready for an assault on the medals, as well plenty qualified for other sports such as shooting, athletics and teams such as basketball. As always we think they'll manage a good medal haul!

NZ are coming into 2012 having earnt 90 Olympic medals since their first in 1908 (which was coincidently, held in London), and are aiming for the 100 this summer. With nearly all of the Olympic sports represented by at least one Kiwi, we reckon they might just improve on their Beijing medal haul and make it to the tonne!

Chile have so far confirmed 18 participating Olympians in a wide range of sports, and will be striving to improve on Beijing, where Fernando González reached the final in the men's singles tennis and claim the silver (and Chile's only medal) after being beaten by Rafael Nadal.

99 Argentinians have so far reached the games, representing numerous disciplines in 15 sports. Argentina claimed gold in football and the Men's Madison cycling event in Beijing. As much as we are sure they will do better this time, we have to patriotic and back the GB Team to grab the football gold on home turf.

Tanzania have only ever won 2 medals at an Olympics, claiming 2 athletics silvers in 1980 in Moscow. Hopefully they can add a few more in London, where they have so far qualified for the men's marathon and the women's 5000m.

Boxing in 1980 was the single event where Guyana managed to grab themselves a medal (bronze) so we hope we can see a Guyanese athlete on a podium this time in London.

As part of the British team, a single Falkland Islander has won an Olympic medal, in hockey at the 1908 Olympic Games in London. Here's hoping for another!

Destinations Show in Manchester!

Find Paul, Von and Debbie at Stand AP40 at the Destinations Travel Show in Manchester Event City. Come along with ideas for a trip, or just to find out a little more about our destinations!

Paul hosted a 'Wild New Zealand' talk yesterday, but if you missed it don't worry, he'll be doing another on Saturday afternoon at 3.30pm talking all things Falklands called 'Falkland Islands - The New Galapagos'.

Birds-eye views across TID

I sat and watched BBC's 'Earthflight' last night, and was very impressed.

Not being a keen birder myself its not something I'd usually watch, but flicked over and was pleasantly surprised!

Last nights was about the birds of South America, and included some incredible (literally) birds-eye view shots over a few of our favourite TID places in Argentina and Chile, such as Patagonia and Iguazu Falls.

Well worth a look if you have an hour to spare.....

Chile & Tanzania go stateside

The NY Times have published their 45 places to go in 2012, and Tanzania and Chile have taken up 3 places between them!!

Tanzania came in 7th, and was named as the up and coming safari destination, whereas 2 areas of Chile have been named. The wilderness of Chilean Patagonia came into 8th, and Chiloé Island ran in at 37.

With NZ and the Falklands hitting other travel lists, we can add two more of our destinations to the list of places in go in 2012...

Strip and save energy?

As the summer heats up down in Chile, men are being urged to cast off their ties in a unique government bid for offices across the country to use less energy on air conditioning.

An advert is being aired in which the Economy Minister Pablo Longueira and several other government officials casting off their ties and urging others to do the same.

We just wish it was anywhere near that warm here in Buxton....

Just a couple of things from NASA I found interesting....

First, a video of the spewing smoke and ash cloud emitted from Chile's Puyehue-Cordon Caulle volcano over a 2 week period at the start of it's ongoing eruption that began in June this year, as taken by a NASA satellite.

Secondly, another NASA satellite image: phytoplankton off Argentina's eastern coast.


Technology, isn't it great!  But what else are they watching.....................?

Chile pioneer the underwater driving test..

Maybe not on purpose though........

A Chilean woman has had a nightmare of a driving test, ending up with her and her instructor a couple of metres underwater.

She somehow hit the accelerator instead of the brake, bad timing when driving past a fishing harbour.

Although the instructors said she can have another go, something tells me they'll be drawing straws to choose who her next victim will be.....

Whales, bones and lots of digging.....

While excavating a desert fossil bed in Chile, scientists have stumbled on whole skeletons of ancient whales dating back around seven million years. Fifteen whales were said to have been found in just fifteen days...

That's a lot of bones......

Alma telescope, Atacama Desert, Chile

The Atacama large milllimetre/submillimetre array (Alma) in Chile's Atacama Desert has been under construction since 2003 and has been up and running since the end of July this year when the 16th of its giant antenna dishes was put into place and connected up.   66 dishes will be installed when the overall project is complete and when they are all in place, views of and insights into space, galaxies and the Universe that were never thought possible even just 50 years ago will start to emerge.  However, earlier this week it officially opened to the world with the release of its first image: http://www.almaobservatory.org/en/press-room/press-releases/297-alma-opens-its-eyes....and there's quite rightly been a flurry of publicity, of which this is just one little bit:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15107254

I was lucky enough to be in northern Chile earlier this year and passed close by the site of the Alma. The small, hazy, light coloured dots in the middle of the red hillside is the hub of the telescope and project complex.  Located in Chile's Atacama Desert, close to the small oasis town of San Pedro de Atacama, this photo was taken from the road just outside of San Pedro en route to Purmarmaca in Argentina's north western province of Jujuy, via the Jama Pass. I didn't take the photo for its quality, rather just because I wanted to record being so close to such an incredibly ambitious and promising piece of engineering and science in action. 


The landscapes you pass through on the road from Chile to Argentina by the way are simply gorgeous....the dry climate, altitude and lack of air pollution mean that the clean and clear air (one of the major reasons the Alma is located where it is), coupled with the region's geology, produce incredibly vibrant colours that you just can't take your eyes off...... 

Travel In Depth photos from around the world: Argentina and Chile, Part I

If you've got a spare few minutes when you next have a cuppa....

Argentina and Chile 2011

The Independent: 10 Top Royal Wedding Escapes

A little belated posting this.....must've slipped through the net in all the excitement of one or more of the following (take your pick, more than one is acceptable):

a. an extra bank holiday
b. two long weekends in a row
c. a three day working week
d. holidaying in South America and Chile
e. the royal wedding

Patagonia Camp, minutes from Torres del Paine National Park, Chile

¡Nos vemos, hasta luego, chao a espectacular Sur America!

Thirty four days ago I set off from a frosty UK for 5 weeks of getting to know more of Argentina and Chile's diversity and landscapes, and they haven't disappointed (as the previously posted photos show... and there are many more to come).  What is now disappointing is that those 5 weeks are nearly up and I can't believe how quickly they've gone gone, and how little chance I've had to write about them. But then, as always, at the same time, it seems as if I've been away for months. When you pack 2, 3, 4 or more things into one day for 34 days, the length of time you're away actually seems to be more like the number of days you're away multiplied by the number of things you've done. So say I've done on average 3 things each day, that's...a much bigger number of days than 34 that I've been away (yes, I know, 102).

So I arrived to a balmy Buenos Aires at the beginning of March, the city just coming out of summer and moving into autumn. Balmy soon turned into scorchio so it wasn't just the change in culture I had to contend with. But it was pretty easy to adjust to both the weather and my surroundings, especially since Georgie, Barbara, Matias and all the folks at ATP DMC welcomed me so nicely and they've looked after me very well here in Argentina ever since. Big thanks to you all and everyone else involved.

And so the expedition began.

My first impressions of Buenos Aires were really pretty good. I've heard in recent times that many people prefer Santiago to Buenos Aires now, that it's smaller, less noisy, cleaner, a more comfortable city to be in and I suppose I can see that to some extent, but as far as big cities go, and Buenos Aires is BIG, I actually liked the momentum and movement of the bustle on the streets here, which noise goes with unavoidably, and I liked the space of Buenos Aires (which isn't to say I don't like Santiago too). Streets are wide, there are many parks, green spaces and plazas, and although most buildings are tall, as is usual for a city where floor space is at a premium, I didn't feel enclosed or in any way claustrophobic, which I sometimes do in a city.  There's an interesting mix of old and new architecture which sit side by side in some districts whilst other districts have a very definite style and character that quite quickly tells you how long it's been part of Buenos Aires. The many different districts or boroughs of the city spread out over a huge area but each is quite distinct in their zone, within their own individual community. I imagine it's a great city to live and work in (as far as cities go) and it reminds me of London in that sense. I didn't spend enough time in Santiago on this trip to explore it much in the same way but from what I did get to see and from time I've spent there previously, I can also imagine it's a great city to live in but it may be that its more compact centre and central districts and its Andes backdrop (which some days you CAN see), make it an easier city to enjoy on a visit for a few days.

From Buenos Aires I headed south to Argentina's far south Patagonia, then across to Chile's far south Patagonia, then down to Chile's even further south Tierra del Fuego, then to Argentina's Tierra del Fuego, then back up to Chile's northern Patagonia, all the way by car up to Santiago from Puerto Varas then by air from there to the Atacama Desert in Chile's northern 2nd Region, across the border by road back into Argentina through some stunning altiplanic landscapes en route to Salta, and now I'm back in Buenos Aires for nearly the last time on this trip (I have another day here en route back to the UK from New Zealand).  All places have been fantastic to experience and beautiful to see, and some of the landscapes have just blown my socks off, especially the geology and geography of the desert and altiplano in and around the Atacama.  I couldn't wait to visit the area again having been to San Pedro de Atacama and the Uyuni salt flats and southern highlands of Bolivia before, and if I'm ever pushed to say a favourite place around the world out of all the places I've visited, it still tops the bill as the place I find most beautiful and the place that has the biggest effect on me. Still.

The colours in these photos are a little bleached by the intense sunlight but they're here as much for me as they are for everyone else (ok, maybe more so for me..) .....

 Andean flamingos at Chaxa Laguna in the Salar de Atacama

Andean avocets(!), again at Chaxa lake in the Salar de Atacama

The Atacama equivalent of the dead sea but here it's fresh water (i.e. not sea or marine water) so high in salt content you can't help but float

And yes, I'm sorry more volcanos, but what do you expect when in Chile; 

Licancabur, in the middle, sits on the border between Chile and Bolivia

A little volcano humour....

Volcano-tastic!

I do feel it's bit a cop-out posting again with mostly images, rather than writing a bit more about my travels and things I've been up to here in South America - like driving down a one-way street the wrong way by mistake in Panguipulli in Chile's northern Patagonia (great name, pronounced Pangwipooyi), only until I realised though that a taxi driver heading towards me in his cab wasn't actually flashing his lights at his friends, he was kindly flashing them at me and wagging his finger too to try to bring my attention to my error. It worked a treat.

But whilst time to write and a working internet connection once again prove mostly to be mutually exclusive, images will have to do again for now.  So with a feeling that most of the text-map-route-writings will probably appear on my return to the UK (or before then in NZ maybe), Osorno volcano is the star of this show (with a couple of other guest appearances)....

On arrival to Casa Molino, just outside of Puerto Varas; it's hard to imagine a better view of Osorno volcano than from Casa Molino

...and just before dusk turned to dark night....with moonlit Lake Llanquihue in the foreground...

The next day; from clear blue skies first thing to threatening grey in a short few hours.....still an amazing scene...just evokes a slightly different mood...

OK, so Osorno has to share the volcano limelight with many others in Chile - this is one of Chile's most active, Villarica, near the town (city?) of the same name but nearer to Pucon; it's arguably Pucon's biggest attraction (yes, ha, ha, literally too); this was Villarica volcano on the day I arrived in Pucon....

...and this was it on the day I left...

And this is obviously not a volcano but a honking black-faced ibis (as in the noise, not as in smelly, and "honking" is not part of it's official name), sat preening in the branches of a tree in the gorgeous gardens of Antumalal Hotel

End of transmission

All clear on the Magellan Strait

All areas of Chile have now had the tsunami alert lifted (3.30pm-ish, 12th March), it was lifted here in Punta Arenas around 9am. Many places just reported slightly higher than normal sea levels but no major waves, although in some places like Dichato there was some flooding close to the shore and some displacement and capsizing of boats. The extreme caution and large-scale evacuation of the shoreline areas of towns and cities up and down the Pacific coast really was the result of last year’s catastrophic response to ‘no’ tsunami following the Feb 27th earthquake here and an understandable want for nothing to go wrong this time. Lessons learnt. And they'll continue to be.

On a lighter note, the Stella Australis Cruise starts tonight, just waiting to board now, so I'm looking forward to exploring the fiords and islands in and around the Magellan Strait and the Beagle Channel over the next few days. The wind is most definitely fresh down here, and strong, although I think it's probably only been a mere breeze today. Good job I brought my thermals and my beloved Paramo Pajaro jacket. I'd sleep in it if it weren't for the zips and toggles being a bit princess-and-the-pea-like. Some may have seen this picture before, but Zorro was impressed by the Pajaro, I could tell, even though he looks a bit indifferent.........

....he was probably just looking for his beloved Don Luis, looking good in matching 'boina' (beret) and jumper...

Better late than never...for this maybe, but it's not always the case...

This first post of the 'Our Von travel tales' has changed in my mind many times during the last 11 days since I left dear old, cold Blighty.  I'm shocked it's been that long already and can only apologise for the delay in writing.  It's been due to either no internet or no time, or rather not having internet when I've had time or the other way round.

It was originally going to begin with a slightly tangential mention of Guyana, a country not on the agenda for this trip but one that was on the agenda almost a year ago (how time flies when you get older, I mean, when you're having fun).  I was reading John Gimlette's 'Wild Coast' on the 'plane to Buenos Aires you see, the early Guyana pages, mostly about the politics of the country and Georgetown.  Now I've hardly spent any time in Georgetown but my first, quick impressions of it weren't exactly endearing, I thought it run-down, uncared for with an air of self-importance no longer justified by it now being a disintegrating shadow if its former self.  It has traditionally been known as the 'Garden City of the Caribbean'; even our city guide told us it's now more like the 'Garbage City of the Caribbean' - nice use of the enforced English language there.  But after only a few pages of 'Wild Coast' I began to feel a little softer towards the city, having a better understanding of it's history and where it's pride comes from and what its inhabitants are about.  I've not had time to move much further on in the book (the lack of time thing again) but I'm looking forward to when I do and I'd recommend it for anyone interested in the Guianas or that part of the world.  Listen to him talking about it on Radio 4's "Excess Baggage" with John McCarthy, from Jan 2011.

Then, after I realised I'd maybe lost the moment for a Guyana digression (although it seems not), I thought I'd better get a move on and mention the must-do other-world experience of visiting Recoleta's cemetery in Buenos Aires before its impact was overtaken by the awesome, and I mean that in the truest sense of the word, Argentina's Los Glaciars National Park near El Calafate in Patagonia.  You simply can't stop looking at the glaciers and the various sized, shaped and coloured icebergs floating in the channels around them, you just can't help yourself, and in the age of digital, well, I'll need a week to go through all the photos I took there.  But it was standing in front of Perito Moreno glacier with all of its creaks and groans and splashes of falling, carving ice, when I realised that this was real, proper, 'living' natural history, going on right in front of my eyes.  I've seen and appreciated ancient things before but never felt the age or incredible passages of time involved quite like this before. Nature's an awesome thing.

And that brings us on to the reason I am now actually putting pen to paper at last; I couldn't not, given the devastating events in Japan, an altogether more punishing side of the planet's natural forces and something that is reverberating here in Chile, with the Pacific tsunami warning being taken very seriously. Whilst its potential impact here won't be anywhere near the devastation or disruption of that in Japan, Chile's tragically had it's fingers burnt by earthquakes and tsunami of its own all too recently and doesn't want a repeat to even the slightest degree. There is continuous coverage on the news of the evacuations of the populated areas right on the coast up and down the country and even here in Punta Arenas we're on alert for evacuation in the morning (Sat 12th). This port city isn't even on the Pacific coast but the possible wave effects are reportedly due here around 2pm tomorrow - what happens will probably depend on how the other, actual Pacific coast areas fare.  Anyway, my heart goes out to everyone affected by the events in Japan.  In this case, better never.

This first post wasn't supposed to be so long....see why I need time......'ta luego. Our Von

The entrance to the 'other world' of Recoleta

A huge chunk of ice carves off Perito Moreno glacier - if only there were sound with the image