The first time I came to Puno I decieded that I did not want to see Los Uros. Aren´t they just a bunch of floating tourist shops, no? But this time however, I had a morning to kill before I caught a collectivo to the boader. So I thought I would drift out there and think of it as a trip to a museo, complete with actors. The fist Isla we visited was the most interesting as the "local" gave us the root of the weed they use to make the island from to eat. It didn´t really have any flavour. [View Full Entry]

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The main thing the tourists do here in Arequipa is go to Colca caynon to see the Condors - so I went to Cotahasi. Cotahuasi is the deepest caynon in the world, and bigger than the Grand Caynon in the States. It is about 12 hours in a bus, twice the distance to Colca caynon, and for that reason a whole lot less visited. And after blowing my spare change on climbing Misti, I decieded a few days free camping was in order. I didn´t really know where I was going, I just thought I would follow the river down through [View Full Entry]

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Misti was a bit of a challenge, but but I knocked her off. The last 3 hours of walking was a bit of a strugle, when I suddenly developed a bit a stomach ache. Every few minutes I felt like I wanted to shoot something out from one end or the other, but could not work out which. So it was plod, plod, plod... stop, wait while my stomach calmed itself down....plod, plod,plod. I have never walked so slow in my life, but I made it to the top and forced a smile. Misti is a 5829 meter volcano at the [View Full Entry]

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I took a bus from Cusco to Nasca, arriving in Nasca in the wee hours. It is such a lovely 12 hout bus trip through canyons, deserts and mountains, that I say it is much better to do the trip during daylight hours, than to take the overnight bus, as so many seem to do. Go overnight you´ll only save 15 sol, but miss so many beautiful vistas. A few hours after arriving in Nasca I took a small plane to view the Nasca lines. The tight turns the plane makes as we´re viewing the lines is almost as good as [View Full Entry]

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I must say I was a little dissapointed with the walk to Machu Picchu. I had expected a four day trek, but in fact it was a little more than a short walk. Everyone had told me it is hard and the second day very tough, as it passes over 4500 meters, and so I had expected a bit of a mission- I had even fobed off my sleeping bag and mattress off to a porter such was the difficulty I had been expecting. But in truth the Inca trail to Machu Picchu is a walk for fat unfit city dwellers [View Full Entry]

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I arrived in Cusco some eight odd days ago and am awaiting for the end of the month when I start the treck to Machu Piccu. I spent half of the second day looking for a cheap hostel after I had a bit of an augument with the owner of the one I was originaly staying in over the price of the room. When I was at the bus station he told me it was 15 sol a night, but when I got the taxi there suddenly it was 20 sol a night, but I wasn´t going to put up with [View Full Entry]

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I bought a first class ticket out of La Paz as I was in such a hurry to leave. It was a lovely bus ride to Copacabana, with a large assortment of retired people on tour (who are generally the only people who travel first class), through some lovely country side. Copacabana is pretty tranquil, but very touristy. It really has only one attraction; the Isla de Sol, the birthplace of the Incas. Well, it has another attraction, the Virgin of Copacabana, and the temple which dominates the town square. The temple is completly out of proportion with everything else in [View Full Entry]

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arrgh, La Paz. What can I say about this place? Well, not a whole lot of good, actually. Most countries make landfills out of valleys, but Bolivia sticks it´s unoficial capital in one. But maybe that´s the best way to describe La Paz - a landfill. It´s really a collection of houses perched on the sides of the valley, which are bland unfinished brick, crammed together, exactly like the favalas in Rio, surrounding a city centre from hell, which is full of smelly taxi vans, beggers, a heap of people, and terminates at an open sewer. So, if you´re in the [View Full Entry]

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The German, the English couple, and I arrived in Potosi at 2 in the morning after a bus trip that rattled my daggs for 7 straight hours. By golly, it was certainly bumpy! Then some friendly local told us out hotel was only three blocks up the hill from where we were, so we decided against a taxi and started walking. Now, this is with my 30kg pack on, up hill, at 4200 meters above sea level. After 3 blocks I was exhausted. But our hotel isn´t here, but another 13 blocks up a hill as steep as the top part [View Full Entry]

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Well, I was going to take the train to Bolivia, to Uyuni, as it was something a little different to what every one else was doing, but everyone kept on recommending to go via the Salar, so I gave in and followed the pack. And I am quite glad I did. I had heard it was cheaper to go to Bolivia and organize a trip from there, but now only Bolivian companies work the route, so it´s the same either way. So I left early Tuesday morning with a crew called Estrella de Sur, for Bolivia. There was a German, Two [View Full Entry]

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