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 [View Full Entry]

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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 [View Full Entry]

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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 Arriquip [View Full Entry]

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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 [View Full Entry]

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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 [View Full Entry]

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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 [View Full Entry]

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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 [View Full Entry]

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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 [View Full Entry]

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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 [View Full Entry]

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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 [View Full Entry]

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