AndyToni
Toni O'Donovan and Andy Simpson Joined: September 27th 2005
Logged in: December 7th 2006
Logged in: December 7th 2006
Travel Blog Posts
The end of the Inca Trail signalled the start of the last leg of this trip - from Cusco to Lima and then on to Cork via Madrid and Heathrow. After a busy few days on the Inca Trail we spent a leisurely morning in Cusco wandering around a few shops/markets, sorting out our laundry and relaxing in an internet cafe. We then met Kenny for lunch in Jacks, another ´gringo´haunt that served the biggest chocolate cake we´ve ever seen. Afterwards we enjoyed an all to brief ´people watch´ in the Plaza de Armas before our peace was interrupted by the obligatory gaggle of ´tat´ sellers where yet again a cap saying ´no gracious´ would have come in useful. Having extracated ourselves from this group we said our goodbyes to Kenny and headed back to the ... read more
Start of the trail
The long awaited start of the Inca Trail had finally arrived. We were met on the dot of 05.30 and a short walk later we joined the bus to take us to km82, the starting point of our trek. We stopped en route in Ollantaytambo for breakfast and had to fend off numerous people selling all manner of must have items for the trails (e.g. water, walking sticks, ponchos, coca leaves, coca sweets, etc). No sooner had we started walking than our guide, Victor, stopped for the first of what turned out to be numerous stops that morning. At each he provided some useful information followed by numerous repititions of said information. We soon learned that "in conclusion" was merely an indication that the half way point in the talk may have been reached. It was ... read more
Saqsayhuman Puma Paw
After an uneventful journey we arrived in Cusco about 6am and headed for Hostel LoKi that had been highly recommended. After helping ourselves to their complimentary breakfast (whilst waiting for reception to open) we unfortunately found out that the hostel was fully booked for the next couple of days, this despite it not having found its way into LP yet. Fortunately they were able to recommend Hostel Qorichaska which was just round the corner and equally nice. Our first good showers for at least a couple of weeks felt fantastic! As we headed out to explore Cusco, the contrast with Arriquipe was immediately obvious. The massive increase in the number of tourists was accompanied by an equivalent increase in the number of people trying to sell things to us. After completing our most important job of ... read more
Condor Watching
As life seems to start very early in Peru (something to do with Peru behing 2 hours behind Chile despite being on approx. the same longitude and therefore it getings light very early here) we woke early to the now familiar sound of car horn´s tooting at regular intervals. Our intention was to spend a day in Arriquipe followed by a couple of days walking in the ´nearby´ Colca Canyon which is claimed to be the deepest canyon in the world. Unfortunately the only 2 day trekking option in the canyon involved a 01.30am start on the first day (as the canyon was actually 6hrs away) and a 03.00am start the following day (to get to a condor viewing point for the best viewing time of 7-9am). Funnily enough this itinerary didn´t seem too appealing so ... read more
Sunset from the hostal on Isla del Sol
The following morning it was up early again for the bus to Copacabana on the edge of Lake Titticaka. The bus was full of Gringo´s on this well establised tourist route. This short (4hr) bus ride was notable for two things. Firstly the unforgettable short ferry trip accross part of Lake Titicaka to the Copacabana peninsula where the passengers ´sped´ accross on a small boat whilst each bus went accross at a snail´s pace on what can only be described as flat bottomed wooden boxes. Secondly our first sign of a dodgy stomach - not really the best timing on a bus with no toilet although fortunately nothing too serious. From Copacabana we took a boat trip to Isla del Sol on perhaps the slowest motorised boat we´ve ever been on. The Isla is popular with ... read more
WMDR road drop off
The self styled 'World's Most Dangerous Road' (WMDR) is a stretch of dirt 'road' from La Cumbre high above La Paz (4700m) down to Corioco (1200m) and is a notorious must do for travellers to this part of the world (recommendations from Marcus, Fionne, Kim, Ricky and multiple others). The trip with Barro Bikes started with a 07.30 breakfast where we unexpectedly met Kevin/Claire who had enjoyed the same bus journey as us from Uyuni to La Paz. We were also joined by Joe, a professional poker player from California. This was obviously a trip for risk takers. An hour's drive out of La Paz brought us to La Cumbre where we were introduced to our bikes which were in the same good condition as the one on display in the office, something we weren't pinning ... read more
Tiwanaku Lama
It didn´t take long for Uyuni to live down to our very low expectiations for the place - Emer´s description of the place implied that we wouldn´t want to spend long there and found nothing to contradict that assessment. However leaving wasn´t as easy as we had hoped. Our plan was to take the ´luxury tourist bus´ to make the notoriously unpleasant journey to La Paz more bearable and not likely to break the bank at $25 for the 12hour journey. However after waiting for several hours for the agency to open we were told that the bus was cancelled that day (Friday) due to protestors blocking the road (something to do with some elections due later this month) and we would have to wait until Sunday. Not really what we wanted to hear! However when ... read more
Sunrise over Laguna Colorado
We have just completed the 4x4 Salar trip from San Pedro to Uyuni in Bolivia and it certainly lived up to the very high expectations we had from numerous recommendations. Our journey started early in San Pedro but shortly after starting we came to an abrupt halt at the Chilean exit point with a long queue to get out of Chile (we didn´t think it so bad that people would queue to leave...). Once we finally got our passports stamped it was back into the bus for the hour journey to the Bolivian entry point. At over 4300m this border control was little more than a shed with a flag flying outside. We paid the entry fee which we are told is necessary but a complete scam to extract money from tourists - scam or not ... read more
Sunset Vallee de la Luna
Three flights later and we were still in Chile but it felt like another world when we arrived in Calama near the Bolivian border. Our plan was to stay in Calama that night but not for the first time since arriving in South America our plans changed as it seemed easier to get to San Pedro de Atacama 120km away (where we were planning to go the following morning) than into Calama itself. We did wonder on the wisdom of this decision when we arrived in San Pedro just after midnight with no accomodation booked (our driver had assured us that it wouldn´t be a problem) and the first place our driver tried was shut, the second was full and the third wanted $30 each (a fortune in this part of the world)! Our luck was ... read more
Southern most point
On arriving at Punta Arenas, the most southerly city in Chile, our first job was to try and get our flights re-instated as we had found out that missing a flight meant that all our subsequent flights had been cancelled but this could not be rectified without visiting a Lan Chile office in person. Sometime later, after an anxious wait, we got the news we wanted. After checking into Hospedaje Nena (a place recommended by Richard for its breakfast that included endless homemade cakes and rhubarb jam) we headed off to see the Magellan penquin colony at Sene Otaway. It was amazing to see these little creatures at very close quarters but in their native environment. In contrast to our experiences in Argentina, the small entrance fee to the colony was clearly explained when we booked ... read more
