Copacabana. Bolivia 8-9.1.16

• How to get there: From La Paz we took a bus for 40 Bs each. It was more expensive due to towns that were under riots. A normal ticket any other day is 25 Bs and it takes 3hs instead of 4.
• Arriving to Copacabana: The town is ready for tourists, so arriving there you will see plenty of places to stay at and many things to do. We stayed at "Brisas del Titicaca" a hostel on the main avenue almost at the bottom, close to the lake. We paid 60 Bs each for the accommodation with shared bathroom.

The colours of Copacabana are attractive to almost anyone arriving. The few streets that make the centre are always busy and full of life, with stalls on each side selling all kinds of souvenirs.

We arrived and went for a walk around the town, stopping at an office to buy tickets to go to Cusco. When we had that sorted for the following day we were ready to have over 24hs of fun in an area that everyone seemed to recommend.

In Copacabana everything is built for your enjoyment and so, we decided to join. We went to several shops, buying small souvenirs and went for Bolivian food, me hoping for a nice warm soup that would do my stomach a favour after so much travelling around some of the highest grounds on Earth and Oliver looking for alpaca meat, exclusive to this area of the world.

If you like the "beach" and the party and you're looking to have a bit of fun in a relaxed environment. For us a day was enough to enjoy it to the fullest without getting the urge of moving somewhere new.

Bahia Inglesa, Chile 03-04.01.16

• How to get there: From Santiago to Bahia Inglesa is 894kms (9-11 hours). We got a night bus from Santiago to Copiapo taking 11 hours with Pullman bus company costing 16.000 CLP. The road is in perfect condition throughout the journey. From Copiapo take a bus to Caldera, takes 40 minutes to get there. If you go to the bus station in the morning, they will tell you how to do it. It costs 2.000 CLP per person. From Caldera to Bahia Inglesa we took a taxi that charged us 1.000 CLP each, takes 7 minutes to get to Bahia Inglesa.
• Arriving to Bahia Inglesa: Book your accommodation before you arrive, or camp at the beach if you like. Accommodation is expensive and for several days only. If you're in a tight budget, make sure you buy your food from a supermarket in Copiapo.

We stayed in a room that had a view to the sea, spacious, clean and comfortable. It cost 50.000 CLP per night paid cash. You can cook your own food at the place, so you don't need to eat out when you're here if you don't fancy spending that money.

The place looks more like a touristic area in the south of Spain than a Chilean coastal town, they live from the hundreds of people that gather here every summer to sunbathe and relax. We point out that summer here means December, January and February and as we arrived on a Sunday, it was as crowded as it gets.

Walking along the beach all you could see was the white sand and the reflection of it everywhere. The water is clear and clean, the avenue that stands beside it holds restaurants, shops and bars. By the road side, street stands sell hats, necklaces and toys that give you the true beach feeling.

The beach is empty every morning, when the clouds still cover the bright blue sky and the wind blows buoyant. When the clouds clear up, people seem to come out of nowhere and the beach becomes noisy and lively. The water remains bitter and bathing is not everybody's choice, withal it's still pleasant to sit by the sound of the sea.

We ate at Coral de Bahia, the menu is more international and it's in English and Spanish. Even though we are not very big fans of seafood, the choice of seafood is varied and appetizing. We both went for the Chicken Tikka Massala for 9.000 CLP each and had a couple of drinks. It all summed up to 24.000 CLP tip included.

Sugar Loaf & Copacabana: Rio de Janeiro. 29.11.15

We woke up early that morning. We are staying at Santa Teresa, so our nearest metro station is Carioca. We got to the stop of Copacabana (Siqueira Campos) and picked Henry up from his hotel to have a walk along Copacabana. The beach is as impressive in pictures as it is in real life. It takes over half an hour to walk the length of it, especially if it's hot and you stop for a coconut on the way.

We walked in the direction of the Sugar Loaf mountain, hoping to get the cable car early, avoiding queues, however if you do this you will find yourself at the skirt of a mountain with a small avenue around it made for fishermen. We asked and it turns out we had to go to Botafogo and take a bus from there! And so we did.

The bus from Botafogo is number 512 and it leaves you at the very entrance of the attraction.

There were no queues to buy our tickets(71 reales each) and we were the firsts on the first cable car, which allowed us to take a good video of the way up. It lasts 2 minutes until you're on top of the first mountain and at the top there's a whole construction with restaurants, bars and souvenir shops. You can also walk a green path and do climbing but they are not responsible if you get injured...

We walked around for a bit, went into the museum, took a bunch of lovely pictures and unsuccessfully tried to get some memorabilia from "Moonraker", then we went up the second mountain where there's an even more impressive view. They are still building this part of the attraction, so it is a little smaller at the moment, but definitely worth a visit.

Tips for Sugar Loaf mountain are: go early in the morning in a clear day if possible, allow three hours to complete the attraction and leave when you see it starts getting crowded and finally, take a pen: you can write your name at the top mountain and a little message!

After Sugar Loaf we decided to walk the length of Copacabana and find Ipanema. The sky started to get a little gray and a storm was approaching. We walked regardless.

At the end of Copacabana the rain started and we took shelter until it got a little better to be able to walk what we had left, unfortunately, the gorgeous Ipanema was foggy and dark due to the cloudy sky, and we couldn't appreciate the view. We headed to General Osorio, which is a square in the area to have a look at a Hippie Market that was taking place there.

The rain was scaring everyone, sellers and buyers away. We too decided to go back home.

When we arrived once again to Carioca metro station, we found ourselves unable to get a bus back to the hotel and decided to flag a taxi down. The taxi driver told us he was not going to Santa Teresa, because it was flooded and took us to a bus stop for free, where we saw the disaster that was taking place: pavement and road all flooded, 2 roads cut off where people had water up to their knees. We went up somewhere out of the floods and got another taxi that finally got us back to our hotel.

El agujero + Gofio mill. Gran Canaria 16.11.15

Today we woke up and decided to go for a walk to explore Galdar again. This time we headed towards the sea, which led us to a rocky beach called "El agujero". The walk took around 45 minutes, including the time we spent wondering whether we would get anywhere walking that way (even though Yvonne lived in Galdar 20 years she had never been to that beach before).

The way we walked to get there was quiet, there was nearly no one around only banana plantations and small farm houses along a narrow road. After walking a long time under a 35ºC sun, we could finally see the way to the beach, we followed the signs and ended up inside some banana plantations where a worker helped us out to his amusement.

Finally at the beach, we sat down and relaxed for a few minutes to the sound of the waves hitting the rocks and watching the surfers. The small avenue doesn´t have any shops, it all consists on houses very close to the shore and at the beach, there is a cute little sea water pool where you can bathe. The water looks so clean even we had to try it, so we sat down in one of the sides of the pool and left our feet in the water, watching small fish swimming around them.

When it was time to head back we found a sign, and the sign showed us an old aborigine settlement and a graveyard. It is not open to the public since it is very fragile and in its original shape.

We also found a little shop where we got refreshments and again, another archeological site welcomed us to see the remains of an old coastal home. Galdar is full of history!

On our way back we stopped at the gofio* mill in Becerril, where the owner told us everything about the history of the mill: that it is the oldest working mill in the island, that it has 3 metre wide walls because the water "pipes" used to go on top of the mill and how the system has changed from water to fire and now the mill works with electricity. The worker allowed me to go in the mill to take a picture of it and I bought half a kilo of corn gofio which I thoroughly enjoyed.

*Gofio is a powder made of toasted grain (mainly corn or wheat) and it is used in coffee, as a single drink with milk, in biscuits, stews and you can also make a delicious dish with it.

79 year-old birthday party + San Felipe. Gran Canaria 15.11.15

We attended Yvonne's grandmother's 79th bitrthday party, hosted by Uncle Sergio and Auntie Esther who prepared plenty of food and drink for the many guests.

Yvonne's Grandmother (Agueda) is mother to 7, of which most were at the party, I also got to see four generations in one room, including three new additions since last time we visited in the New Year. This big family just keeps getting bigger!

The venue lasted 5 hours, including the cake, me singing Guantanamera with Agueda and a long time to get updated with everyone's life in the past few months or years. In a house that is only a five minute walk to Las Canteras beach, there was no better location for this party.

On the way back from the party, we stopped at San Felipe, a village famous for surfing. Most houses in this village have an amazing sea view and you can bathe in the sea water pools that have been created for the inhabitants of this place. This village is small and easy to miss, just after the Pepe Chiringo and the BP in the highway to Galdar from Las Palmas. Check it out!