The Biggest Bird You'll Ever See?

We'd seen several condors before on our trip, most notably during our trek towards Machu Picchu and several around El Chaltén, but never close enough to really appreciate their size. This time, while walking early in the morning, all alone in the Quebrada del Condorito national park, we saw two figures on a nearby hill. At first, we thought they were two more people, detracting from our uniqueness, but then they spread their wings and took off! They were enormous. They can have a wingspan of up to 3.3m and weigh up to 15kg.

Condor flying overhead at Quebrada del Condorito

This wasn't our last encounter with condors for the day. When we reached the quebrada (canyon), we saw several more circling overhead and some landing on the opposite cliff. Then, a group of about 15-20 decided to pass right above us before flying into the distance. It was an incredible experience to see them swoop over us one by one before disappearing behind the mountain.

The Quebrada del Condorito

The national park was our highlight of our time in and around Córdoba, Argentina's second city. We liked the city itself - it's an old colonial city and is home to our final World Heritage Site for Argentina. Of course, it was another Jesuit mission. We did a short tour around the church, and discovered that the surrounding buildings are home to the country's oldest university. As a major university city, it was home to many of the 'Disappeared' - those who were killed by the military dictatorship during the '70s and '80s.

The entrance to the Jesuit church

After a lot of time sitting in cars and wine tasting, we wanted to do some hiking, and handily there are several small mountain ranges just outside Córdoba - the Sierras. We visited the small town of Capilla del Monte in the Sierras Chicas (Small Sierras), home to Uritorco Hill. This was perfect for our needs - a day long hike with pleasant views over the town and the nearby reservoir. Before we arrived, we hadn't done much more research than that, and we soon found that the town is full of UFO spotters, 'magical' rocks and plastic pyramids full of 'mysteries'. In 1986, a scorched patch of ground was found and this was subsequently blamed on aliens. You can now watch some incredibly unrealistic videos online, or buy plenty of little green man dolls.

A 'mystical' pyramid in Capilla del Monte

After Córdoba, we set off for our final country on this continent - Uruguay. We'll stop in a couple of places on the way to break up the journey, but not spend much time there, before crossing the border to Fray Bentos.

The Oldest Civilisation in the Americas

We've spent the last few days getting to know a bit more of Peru's history, from the oldest civilisation in the Americas to the turbulent recent past.

Ayacucho

From Ica, we set off for the less-visited city of Ayacucho, back up in the mountains. Ayacucho was the main base for the Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path) communist organisation. Starting in the early 80s, it waged a guerilla war against the military government that, predictably, responded with violence. This left much of the populace caught between the two sides with thousands of casualties, the majority poor people from the countryside. Sendero Luminoso declined in activity from 1992 when its leader was captured, but there are still sporadic bursts of activity.

The remains of the powerful Wari empire

We used Ayacucho as a base to visit the ruins of the Wari civilisation's capital city. This was a city of an estimated 50,000 people and was the centre of a pre-Inca empire extending over much of Peru between the years 500 and 900. There isn't much left of it today; although there are some remaining buildings and walls still standing, it's hard to imagine a city that big in the abandoned cactus-covered desert.

The main square in Lima

After Ayacucho, we took another night bus back down to the coast for a brief stay in Lima. We're planning to return here in about a month, so we just visited the main sites - the park filled with stray cats in Miraflores (which Jo loved), and a walk around the historic colonial-era centre. It felt a bit depressing as Lima is famous for being covered in white mist for half of the year. We cheered ourselves up by finding one of the first places in which pisco sours were made.

5,000 year old pyramids at Caral

We left Lima to travel further north along the coast to Barranca, the closest town to the ancient ruins of Caral. This is an astounding site - it dates from 5,000 years ago so is one of the cradles of civilisation. It's the oldest such site in the Americas, and was founded at the same time as the Egyptian pyramids were being built. There are remains of pyramids and residential buildings centred around a large square that are in amazing condition considering their age.

Being gluttons for punishment, we've now returned to the mountains, where we're hoping to do some more trekking from Huaraz.

Smog, Coffee with Legs, Pinochet and Wine Tasting

Santiago is not the most picturesque of cities. Viewing it from the window of our 13th floor AirBnB apartment, or from the top of the nearby Santa Lucía hill, the main impression is of ugly, high rise concrete tower blocks and the all pervading smog. Yet as we have explored the city from the ground, we've realised there's more to it than we'd first perceived and it is actually an interesting and lively place to be.

The entrance to Santa Lucía hill 

We have spent much of our time here checking out the city's highlights with Louise, my friend who is in South America for a few weeks. On our second day here we did a free three hour walking tour around the city centre. This was well worth doing; our guide took us not only to the obvious places but to some more interesting ones - some of the city's most famous street art, for example. Perhaps the weirdest thing we learnt about is a popular style of coffee shop in Santiago - 'café con piernas'  or  'coffee with legs'! Type 1 of these cafés look like normal coffee shops. They are open from 9-6, and don't serve alcohol... but all the waitresses are dressed in exceedingly short skirts and high heels. Type 2 is a step up - they are still open daytime only and don't serve alcohol, but have blackened out glass and loud music playing. As we stood outside one of these listening to our guide, one of the waitresses emerged and waved - let's just say they were somewhat more scantily clad than type 1(bunny ears wouldn't have gone amiss)! As for type 3 - you don't get them in the city centre...

Smoggy view from the top of San Cristóbal, with the Andes just visible

We've also taken the funicular railway to the top of Cerro San Cristóbal, the highest hill in Santiago, from where you get a great, if hazy, view of the city. We could even see the tops of the Andes emerging from the smog. Nearby is La Chascona, one of the three homes in Chile of the nation's Nobel prizewinning poet Pablo Neruda. Neruda built the house in 1953 for his secret lover, Matilde Urrutia and named it after her (Chascona means dishevelled hair, a reference to Matilde's wild red curls). The house has been left much as it was and is evidence of Neruda's quirky taste and his love of the sea: the long, narrow downstairs dining room and bar with low ceiling are designed to look like a ship.

Walking up towards the Immaculate Conception statue at the top of San Cristóbal hill

Kev and I visited the Museo de la Memoria y los Derechos Humanos (Musuem of Memory and Human Rights), which was an absorbing insight into the 1973 coup, the death of the socialist president Salvador Allende and the following Pinochet regime that lasted until 1990. Some of the images of the torture and human rights abuse that took place were shocking, as were the figures we learned as to the impact of the dictatorship on the Chilean people - over 3,000 deaths, nearly 40,000 people tortured or imprisoned and 200,000 people exiled from the country. Controversy continues today as to the legacy of both Allende and Pinochet.

Wine tasting at Emiliana winery, in the Casablanca Valley

We escaped the city for a day with some more wine tasting in the Casablanca region, an hour or so away. Getting here by bus and then walking to three wineries was easy and a lot cheaper than all the advertised tours. We sat in the sun sampling wines and admiring the beautiful vineyards. Casablanca is known for its whites and the Gran Reserva Chardonnay at Quilmay winery was my favourite of the day - the reds were pretty good too!