well well well, we made it over the border, after all the tales of the hellish adventure we would encounter, it really could not have been easier. Our train from Bolivia to the Brazilian border was fine, no wonder you have to book in advance though, there are only 50 seats in the 2 carriages provided. Also they store all your bags under the train which is a bit disconcerting, but there you go. 12 hours flew by at about 10mph, but they did have Hollywood films on the go so you cant complain, and a weird chicken and rice dinner. [View Full Entry]

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Super high La paz is only 3 hours away from Copacabana, thankfully an uneventful journey on good roads this time. The first glimpse of the city is amazing..the roads and houses spill down the mountain in a crazy fashion, and the drive in was equally exciting, La Paz is frenetic in a way that only a South American city can be. Its chaos. In a brilliant way! We only had one day and night to explore so we made the most of all the churches and the cathedal and walked all day. We went to the famous witches market and bought [View Full Entry]

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Well it was time to say goodbye to Peru and hello to Bolivia, just the issue of getting across the border 1st. We had been warned that it was really hard to get a bus direct from Cusco, into Bolivia without having to change in Puno along the way. We choose a company called Litoral as they are one of ther better ones and the girl assured us it would go direct to Copacabana in Bolivia, so who were we to disbelieve her............well obviously it didn´t go direct at all. We only had 6 passengers for a start, then they headed [View Full Entry]

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Well after 3 days of trekking 43km up and down mountains, road blocks, bus strikes and hardly any sleep to talk of we finally got to the end location, Machu Picchu, and it lives up to and exceeds any expectaions you could ever have. Having not done the traditional route we didn´t trek through the sun gate, which must be phenomenal, but instead got a bus at 5.30am from Agua Calientes for the final 20 mins up through the mountains. It really takes your breath away on your first glance, as the ruins are in such a good state, the altitude [View Full Entry]

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Those of you who know my fitness levels will understand that we arrived in Cusco somewhat nervous due to the fact that we had booked a 4 day trek through the sacred valley to end at sunrise over Macchu Picchu..we spent 4 days acclimatising to the altitude as during the trek we would climb 3 mountain passes to 4800 metres above sea level. Luckily Cusco is a diverting town so there was lots to take my mind of the task ahead. The lares trail, or weavers way, is a stunning walk though communities that pratice traditional weaving and farming techniques, passing [View Full Entry]

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(B) We returned from our colca canyon tour to spend a final day in Arequipa and relax before heading onward to Cusco for some spectacular Inca ruins action. We did not consider however that we are in Peru which means do not pass GO , and true to form there are road blockades due to protests so we have to wait for Cusco. Not a problem, there are mansions and frozen ice princesses to be seen in Arequipa and endless choices of soup so quite happy to stay another day. We headed to the university Museum to check out the story [View Full Entry]

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The Colca canyon is the 2nd largest in the world and only a few hours from Arequipa, it is famous for being home to Condors. We booked to go on a 2 day tour with Colonial Tours, mainly as they did not pick you up at 3am as most of the others seemed to do............It was a cracking trip, the long and lonely road took you through desert type landscapes, with huge drops off the side of the road to a town called Chivay, an old traditional Peruvian town (now firmly meated out for tourists though). On the way we passed [View Full Entry]

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Peru..brilliant...crazy drivers, soup for breakfast, volcanoes and style. We are in Arequipa, a town located near the chilean border by Volcan Mysti. Its suprisingly stylish, with beautiful white buildings made of volcanic stone, lots of palm trees, hip young Peruvians cruising the bars and a ton of religous history to explore. We have so far visited two monasteries, the most beautiful being the citadel of Santa Catalina, locked away from public view for over 400 years until 1970, it is still a working convent and is a truly remarkable place..it was stunning and we will let the pics speak f [View Full Entry]

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San Pedro de atacama is an oasis in the middle of the crazy landscape that is the Atacama desert. We didnt know what to expect as we werent planning on visiting the region at all until a friendly traveller suggested we skipped Salta and headed to Peru via the top of Chile instead. It is the highest and driest desert in the world. The town itself is firmly on the tourist trail but manages to be completely charming at the same time. Mostly adobe buildings with courtyards line the dusty cobbled streets around a central plaza with an adobe chapel. We [View Full Entry]

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Beck We needed a bit of down time after Calafate so we chilled out and decided to head back to Buenos Aires to continue North as Ruta 40 is impassable after April. Finally having an internet connection we discovered that Oasis were playing in Santiago in 3 days..now I really wanted to go to Santiago but its a killer journey and we had planned to go to Cordoba..so we decided sod it, lets do all of it and see if we can get there and get tickets. We booked a journey to Cordoba and endured 12 hours on a bus next [View Full Entry]

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