After a year of great experiences and encounters all over the world, it is now almost time to go home.
Almost…
And then, we are only going home to come back…
Category archives for Travels
Jul '0822
Good winds!
Since a few days, we are enjoying the nice city of the Good Winds or Buenos Aires in Argentina!
Though we had our lot of administrative problems to solve, we could enjoy some relaxing moments in the city, stroll in the beautiful streets (of which some look like the ones of Paris), breath the rhythms of Tango, Cumba or Bosa Nova (though the latest are not typical Argentinian) and learn some basic conversation essentials in Spanish, very useful at the end of our trip 
.
There is still a lot to visit and enjoy, and why not even taking some Tango lessons?!? Buenos Aires is definitively a nice place and, especially after such an adventure around the world, it is an excellent city to end our trip.
Jean-Christophe & Vera
Jul '0818
Doing it “our way”
Now although we quite enjoyed Chile so far (nice people, very beatiful landscapes and good buses 
) we had a little bit of a deception when we got to San Pedro de Atacama in the north. We already had a small feeling that this place was going to be very touristy, but we didn’t expect it to be a “circus-town” with more travel-agencies and fancy, too expensive restaurants than actual people living there. But we tried not to get the mass-tourism-virus take us down, ignored the tour operators jumping on us everytime we went out for a walk and rented a car to do some tours on our own. Definitely not the most economic solution (glups!) but for sure the best one for our mental state. Have a look at our picture story below.
Jul '0816
The difference with Chilean buses…
So as it is up to me to do the real work, let’s get started! The good thing about me doing the work though is that I get to decide on most articles. So let’s talk about my favorite subject once more: buses!
Jul '0815
My dear love…
This morning Jean-Christophe came to me saying: “I wrote something on the website!” all happy and smug about himself. So when I went to have a look, what did I find? A small article, saying the bare minimum, with a magnificent sentence:
“Probably Vera will soon tell you more about it in an article.”
Basically it’s up to me to do the real work… Great! 
Vera
Jul '0815
Ciao di Cordoba!
We are now in Cordoba resting for a couple of days before heading to Buenos Aires.
In the past week, we visited the remote North-West provinces of Argentina, with some really beautiful and isolated places. The contact with Argentinian was extremely nice and welcoming! Probably Vera will tell you soon in an article more about it.
Enjoy your time, cheers,
Jean-Christophe & Vera
Jul '0807
Santiago de Chile: A nice city after all…
Before going to Santiago de Chile, a lot of people told us “Ah, you’ll see, it’s nothing there. Just a big business center!” or “Santiago? Oh no! Don’t stay there longer than a day! It’s horrible!”. Even our guidebook made us believe that Santiago was not worth the effort saying that “you shouldn’t spend too much time here” or “Santiago shouldn’t be the highlight of your stay in Chile”.
But we actually proved all those people and the guidebook are wrong: we think Santiago is worth the detour. You just have to do the effort to go out and find the nice places and neighbourhoods and you will find out that Santiago actually has quite a lot to offer.
Jul '0804
Northern Chile Express
Here we are now, less than a 100 km from the Argentinian border (which means next door for Chilean!). Tomorrow is our last day in Chile and we are heading for Salta, Argentina tomorrow.
Chile was a huge country with an average bus ride of 20 hours, and unlike Laos, the average speed is more like 90 km/h than 20 km/h. And even at that speed, we have never been as confortable in a bus as in Chile. They drive safely (the speed is monitored inside the bus by passengers), there is room for shoulder and legs, the seat are confortable (even the most economic ones).
Anyway, here is a quick list of our visited places in Chile:
- Santiago: we did a great tour by bicycle, check our links & friends for info.
- Valpareiso: city walks.
- La Serena: nice city, the Hurtado and El Encanto valleys nearby are really worth it.
- Copiapó: initially to visit the nearby natural park Nevade de Tres Cruces, but we find out that it was closed in Winter. So in the same day that we arrived, we hopped on a bus to San Pedro de Atacama.
- San Pedro de Atacama: 4 days intense visits of the region. This place is a good example of mass tourism, but if you manage to find your own mean of transport (foot, bicycle or car) you can easily avoid that and still enjoy the region.
Jean-Christophe & Vera