Did I sound smug in my last entry, at the bottom of the world´s most dangerous road, following my successful cycle ride? Well, I shouldn´t have. The journey back up!! It´s far more scary being in the back of a jeep jumping around all over the place just centimetres from the edge, and it takes longer than going down. You also notice the smashed up vehicles at the bottom when you look out of the window. We´d been going up for a few hours when we got stuck in a traffic jam and the van in front of us fell half [View Full Entry]

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Phew. I made it down the world´s most dangerous road. I enjoyed it a big lot, and wasn´t nearly as afraid as I was afraid I would be. Still have to drive back up to La Paz though... I was lucky. Two days ago, it rained and so the road wasn´t nearly as dusty as it can be. I´ve taken some photos which I shall eventually display. We´re looking for something to do tomorrow night for fun, and Alice and Chris are off to the jungle on Monday morning. (I don´t know what I´m doing yet. Salt flats if I can [View Full Entry]

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I think I´ve had confimed that most people I know and love in London are OK now, so I´m relaxing. I shan´t go on about it. I really really like La Paz. There´s something about capital cities, isn´t there? They have a special energy. I´d like to hang around here for a few days. My new camera is as like my lost one as can be without actually being it. It´s 7.2 megapixels, a slight upgrade, with a 2.5" screen, a slight downgrade. Don´t know whether it´s a good price or not. Probably not, but not too far off. On my [View Full Entry]

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Last time I was in an internet cafe, two days ago, my Bolivian computer wouldn´t support my blog entry page, so perhaps I´ve been a little slow with this most recent update. But what´s your excuse, eh?! You, with your high-speed broadband at work at home, the bulk of you. There were no messages for me when I logged on this evening. Zilcho. Rien. Nada. Most unimpressive. Well, you´re getting the less funny version of the last few days, that´s for sure. That hilarious story with the raving shoelace seller, one-legged cat and 2 litre bottle of Inca Cola? It goes [View Full Entry]

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When in Arequipa, one of the done things is to visit nearishby Colca Canyon. You can see condors there. Never being one to buck the trend, I signed and coughed up for a three-day affair, involving a night in a hotel, condors, a night at the bottom of the canyon in a "rustic cabin" and various meals. This thing ended up being quite good in retrospect, but went very pear-shaped along the way. Firstly, why not arrange tours that require you to get up at normal times of day? We havd a 3.45am, a 5am and a 3.30am. I mean, that [View Full Entry]

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We weren´t turned back or dropped at any borders and arrived in Arequipa, freezing cold (Just add another quid on the ticket price and use the heating!) at 4 am. This isn´t the liveliest hour of the day here, nor was I feeling at my liveliest. We managed to cajole a bus station cafe into giving us coffees, then later breakfast, before it seemed a reasonable hour to be checking into a hostal without paying for that night but only the coming night. Put ourselves straight to bed. You know how when your feet are cold it feels like there are [View Full Entry]

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None taken by me, so I feel no "ownership" of them. [View Full Entry]

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Mountain-biking is Peru´s second favourite sport (No prizes for guessing it´s first. A clue - it´s not netball.). Today, one of the nation´s enthusiasts led us on a "city tour" around Arequipa. He was also a big Radiohead fan, with particular likings for Street Spirit, Paranoid Android, and the latest Thief album. So it was not off-road, single-track stuff, but given the condition of the roads and unruliness of the traffic, it was effectively off-road, and very technical. We got a fair way out into the countryside, into the oldest parts of Arequipa. When they say something is old, however, [View Full Entry]

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Pisac being a small town in the Sacred Valley, at about an hour´s (absolutely horrendously sickening) bus ride from Cusco. There was a market, half local, half tourist. We took seats in the balcony of a cafe overlooking the lot. Fab view, with the tips of the Inca ruins just visible and all the hustle and bustle beneath. Old women kneel on sheets with foodstuffs laid out around them for sale. While one biddy was off weeing in the streets or something (they do this, saw it with our own eyes, like two-year-olds in nappies, just crouch when they need to) [View Full Entry]

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As expected, the Inca Trail was fantastic, as was Machu Picchu. Truly amazing. One thing I hadn´t anticipated was the variety of microclimates you go through. We saw so many different animals and flowers and things. This made the whole trek interesting, as well as the ruins you see on the way, and the thrill of walking on real Inca road. Machu Picchu was awe-some (I added a hyphen so you hopefully won´t read it with an American accent.). It´s the setting. Those mountains... I dashed around from room to room, stroking everything, pausing only to stare up at the Andes. [View Full Entry]

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