Rurrenabaque and the pampas - 22nd to 27th March, 2007. The 19 hour bus to Rurrenabaque wasn't exactly the most pleasant experience for our lives. I had bad travel sickness due to the bumpy road and my attempts at reading in a moving vehicle (which always gives me a bad stomach), while Fiona's fear of heights wasn't helped by the steep drops down into valleys 100s of metres below. We kept switching seats because I needed the fresh air and she needed to not see the bus having to drive off the cliff at times to get around corners! As usually [View Full Entry]

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La Paz - 19th to the 22nd of March Since we missed the Paddy's day celebrations, we were in a hurry to get to La Paz and do some partying. We hopped on a bus around mid-day and had an eventful journey to La Paz. At one stage we had to get off the bus and on get into a cruiser boat thing (yes another boat for poor Caroline), while the bus, with all our bags, was put on a raft and floated across a large body of water (I'm not sure if it was a lake or a river) to [View Full Entry]

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Copacabana - 17th to the 19th of March We left Puno on the 2.30pm bus on Paddy's Day to cross the border to Bolivia. It wasn't ideal, we knew it would be better craic in La Paz but we wanted to see Copacabana too. So we were really hoping that Copacabana would be fun and that we could celebrate our national holiday! Sadly, although the three of us had a nice time, there wasn't much in the way of Paddy's Day celebrations in the town. The border crossing was painless and we arrived in Copacabana ten minutes late. We walked back [View Full Entry]

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Puno - 15th to 17th of March. We got a night cama bus (cama was used in the looses sense) to Puno and arrived about two hours before we were meant to. Typical - South American efficiency when you don't want it. Luckily, we were able to stay in a guesthouse type thing for 15 soles each a night and could check straight in, paying only for the next night, even though it was 5am. After a nap we discovered there was no hot water but the man assured us there would be some in an hour so we ventured out [View Full Entry]

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The Inka Trail - 9th to the 12th of March, 2009. We woke early on Monday morning as we were meant to be leaving at 6.20am for the Inka Trail. Richard quickly discovered his camera had been stolen, probably while he was asleep in bed (with it) the day before. And then, our tour company was over an hour late. Fiona and Caroline were really scared that they had ripped us off, so eventually I found their number and rang them. They said they'd be there in ten minutes. I was less than impressed when they arrived, especially since they didn't [View Full Entry]

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Cusco - 6th to the 8th of March, 2009 We arrived in Cusco after our interesting bus journey and quickly made our way to another Loki hostel. We were put on the waiting list for a bed and enjoyed some M&Ms and Family Guy while waiting. The M&Ms are a new found addiction, the result of having to wait in that hospital! After a quick siesta, an Irish guy told us that the Irish bar in town did an amazing roast chicken dinner. So we made our merry way to Paddy´s (how stereotypical!) and the boy hadn't lied! Nice food makes [View Full Entry]

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Arequipa (and Nazca) - 1st to 5th of March. After leaving Huacachina, we got a bus from Ica to Nazca so that Fiona could fly over the Nazca lines. It was an local bus, complete with three parrots in a box. You really do see all sorts on buses here! I was still feeling crap so decided against flying over the lines and just spent the afternoon in an internet cafe, with the most disgusting man in the world sitting near me. That night we got a night bus to Arequipa and arrived there early in the morning. We went to [View Full Entry]

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Huacachina - 25th to the 28th of Feb The next stop on our Peruvian adventure was Huacachina, via Ica, which we arrived at after two colectivos, a two hour bus journey and a taxi ride. Like all the taxi drivers, the taxi man tried to get us to go to a different hostel but we had decided that we wanted to go to the Hotel Salvatierra, which was recommended by both of our guidebooks. We arrived there and everyone was lounging around the pool. It looked like heaven in the heat of the day, a welcoming oasis in the desert. After [View Full Entry]

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Paracus and Pisco - 23rd to 25th of Feb. After an uneventful five hour journey down the Panamerican towards Pisco, we were swiftly deposited by the side of the road. Oh when you said the bus went to Pisco, you meant it dropped us at the side of the road 6km away from the town? I understand. Luckily, there were numerous taxi drivers more than willing to bring us to Pisco so we hopped in a taxi. On the way to Pisco, the taxi man said that tourists don't usually stay in Pisco anymore, rather they go to another town called [View Full Entry]

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Lima - 19th to 23rd of Feb 2009 The answer to the question in the title is easy - give them Shepard's pie, lots of vegetables and gravy after weeks of rice and rice and more rice! And that's exactly what our hostel did in Lima. Along with spag bolg and an Indian. It was like being home again! Our bus to Lima was pretty uneventful, lots of desert and it was cheap so I can't complain. They even gave us crackers and juice. But eight hours in the middle of the day is a long trip and I couldn't even [View Full Entry]

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