The Travelling Buncebury's

Covering 22 Feb - 28 Feb 2019        I never knew he got to Chile !  - who ? You join us on a return visit to Valparaiso.   This really is one of the great cities to visit, not just in South America but anywhere.   So let’s meet the teams – Les and Heather, Bonnie and Newt. We had got back a day before B and N and our coach was running about two hours late so we arrived well after last check-in time for our Airbnb.     We weren’t even in the area until 10.45pm.   Text messaging from the coach meant that we had an address to collect the key from and our taxi stopped outside in a silent and empty street.   Almost immediately a top floor window opened and a couple leaned out, then another, then a door opened.   This was the key holder who then struggled to open another door in order to actually collect the keys.   Then her and a man with her piled into the taxi with us and we drove to our apartment four hundred yards or so away.   Our cases were carried in, we got

Covering 11 Feb - 21 Feb 2019 Hummingbird - I don't know which species About an hour or so before our arrival a t La Serena after a six or seven hour journey back north from Valparaiso, Bonnie piped up “I don’t remember getting a confirmation from the hotel”.    This is what in traveller’s language is called a heart sink moment.     H and I had our booking but there was no more room at the inn for B and N.   It was evening and we were not located in town.   So Heather and Bonnie went to have a look at the r oom and the upshot was that the hotel got some mattresses and B and N slept on the floor in our room.   There was no space to spare but fisticuffs did not break out during the night.   Of course, we’ll never let her forget it.   This was a Hostal and they were very flexible and helpful.   How many hotels have you stayed in that would do that ? It was only a one night stay in La Serena because it was too far in one day to get to our intended destination

The sea before me is coloured a pale deepening to deep azure blue banded with black volcanic rocks at intervals under the surface.   Above, the sky is an almost completly unblemished blue.   On the horizon the sea is dark, a thin strip of almost battleship grey but the sky is a very pale blue.   That sky blue gets imperceptibly deeper as I tip my head back.   There’s not a cloud to be seen.    From an outstretched arm, two hand widths from the horizon up is the barely visible palest and tiniest sliver of moon, at these latitudes with two points down and a domed top. We’re in our last week of this extended trip and are spending it in Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz in the Islas Galapagos.   Ecuadorian by name and politics but nothing like Ecuador.    My personal booking agent has nabbed what must be the best room in town.   East facing, which being just in the southern hemisphere means that for most of the day the sun is behind us and we don’t get baked.   Windows on two sides