The intrepid explorer bears mid January to Salta, via Buenos Aires. A few complications en route resulted in them having to spend a night in Tenerife and being aday late getting to Salta, and even then, their suitcases failed to arrive! But, once reunited with their clothes, the lads travelled south in a rented car to Cachi, Calefate and on to an Estancia just past Tafi - not up to scratch - so a couple more nights in Calafate , north via the Quebrada canyons, Tilcara- where the madre took a bad tumble - Purnamara, Salinas Grandes, Susques , then back to Buenos Aires. Lots of fantastic landscapes, cacti and llamas along the way, but lads were feeling too shy to have more than one photo taken!
Click on small/middle sized photos below to enlarge
After 3 days in Buenos Aires, they boarded the Calebrity Infinity, bound for Antartica. Getting aboard was chaos, but they had a nice cabin & 2 weeks of adventures: bad weather, a mutiny, detours, but, finally, 6 hours of of perfect weather for the magical Paradise Bay. Somewhat cold though, so the lads just looked through the cabin window!. Stopped at the penguin colony of Punta Tumba on the way back to Montevideo and Buenos Aires, and adopted Pinguino for the parents' collection. ActuallyPinguino adopted them: was found sitting in our hire car after a walk round the colony!! He is to be seen on the edge of the pool below.
Lots of travels round Spain : Ubeda, Baeza, Toledo. Visit from Carol & Russell to Moraira. Then they settled on a different route back to Britain to get the MOT for Toad: taking the Grimaldi Line boat from Barcelona to Tuscany, staying there 2 weeks, lots of exploring of wondrous towns, with great lunches, and a trip to Rome, then proceeding via Chambery to Epernay, with its champagne, ducks and 1st World War Marne battlefields. Once again the lads only allowed their photos to be taken whilst asleep!
Visited old friends and relations in England: Fiona , Gina, an old friend of the padres in their Steyning hotel, Springwells- before their time! -, Di & Tony, Hazel. Then drove back through France, with a 3 day stay with Gaynor & Vic: they like their Uncle Vic, his sumptious food & their bedroom there under the eaves .
Last adventure of 2010 was a trip to Cuba. Just as they had imagined: fine old colonial buildings gently decaying, political slogans, potholed roads, a bureaucratic communist infrastructure and, best of all, those colourful 60 year old American cars. They stayed at their first all-inclusuve hotel - enjoyed the pina colados for breakfast and were also made a fuss of by the chambermaid!, as they were in Santiago de Cuba. Enjoyed the food too, especially that paella in Havana just before flying home
Another full year of travels over and back to the quiet life in Moraira.