Potosí is the highest city in the world and the centre of the Silver mining world for much of the last 400 years. These days, the mines have largely been emptied of all the really minable stuff. However small plot holders still mine the mountains around Potosi for zinc and silver, all of this by hand in small, cramped, terrible conditions, which make Sovereign Hill in Ballarat seem like an example of world mining standards. Seriously, this is the most unsafe i´ve felt in Bolivia. Forget nights out with drug dealers, or the worlds most dangerous road, or riding on the [View Full Entry]

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We arrived at 5am in Uyuni, hoping to find some nice 24 hour establishment to rest and hopefully get some info about a day on the salt flats. No such 24 hour establishment exists though, and the only stirring in the town was of multiple backpackers in the same boat wandering around looking for somewhere warm or open. Finally a tour operator saw us from her bedroom window, came across the street, opened her shop, sold us a day tour of the salt flats and let us sleep in the office, while she went back to bed. She could´ve sold us [View Full Entry]

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Ahh, the cry of the vendors trying to get you to buy a ticket to La Paz, as if there was any other destination from Copacabana, or you were a local and mayber were thinking of a holiday. La Paz is set in a large valley aligned along a river, which has long since been covered almost completely by bridges, arcades and other cityscapes. One of the main attractions in the La Paz area is the World´s Most Dangerous Road. We arrived at the hostel and saw many people wearing the standard "I survived the World´s Most Dangerous Road" T-shirt, too [View Full Entry]

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The border crossing into Bolivia was fairly uneventful except for the less than delightful treatment of US citizens at the crossing. The nice border security asked to see my passport, saw the Australia emblem, then said emphatically, ah, Kangaroo, Kangaroo. Cí, Kangaroo, mucho. Smiles all round. The US girl behind me approached with the same cheerful attitude. "Alto" Go stand over there. While the rest of us had our passports stamped with 90 day visas at no cost and no luggage search. She had her stuff searched and was charged 135 USD for a 15 day visa. They really don´t like [View Full Entry]

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Puno is a port town on Lake Titicaca, which pretty much only serves as a tourist point on the Peruvian side of Lake Titicaca and allows tourists to do day trips out to the floating reed islands and the island of Taquile within the Lake. THe reed islands host inhabitants who have lived on the floating islands for many generations. Unfortunately, the only ones you can visit are all geared towards toursit dollars, with men and women spending their time making crafts and perfecting their spanish and working on their english. There are some other floating islands where tourists are not [View Full Entry]

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Stopped off by Huacachina as all good gringos do between Lima and Cuzco for the obligatory day of sandboarding and dune-buggying. Since we arrived on a Saturday evening we decided a few brews were in order along with the BBQ the hostel was putting on. Before I know it, im in a cab with an American and a Canadian volunteer to a nightclub in nearby Ica. We got out of the cab, myself, an 18 yr old texan guy who had red eyes from sandboarding and a very straightlaced canadian girl who would not confirm her age but was around 21. [View Full Entry]

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Miraflores is an upper class Lima suburb which stretches across the beach and includes the excellent Larcomar shopping complex. Whingeing St Kilda residents take note, Larcomar is a great shopping centre which doesnt obscure any view of the Radisson Hotel which is across the road from it, but provides a great shopping centre complete with night clubs and cinema and has no parking problems despite Lima being completely free of any rail public transport. First day I had to organise my Brazilian Visa which I didnt do in Melbourne, so went to the Brazilian EMbassy with some trepidation, I was a [View Full Entry]

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The Inca Trail is a once in a lifetime trek and I cant begin to describe how amazing some of the scenery is and pictures certainly cant do it justice. We woke at 4am to leave to heavy rain which continued until 6am when we had breakfast at km 82 and set off on our trek. Our course had us do 8 hours of trekking on the first day to get most of the first hill out of the way and make our 2nd day a bit easier than most tours. We awoke on the first morning, with our amazing porters [View Full Entry]

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Our time in Cuzco was split in two by the Inca Trail, but since the Inca Trail is a completely separate entry, ill add this after. One thing ive failed to mention about Peru is how much I enjoy their food. Lomo Saltado, Empanadas, Ceviche, Inca Kola all good additions to the culinary tapestry ive been putting together and definite additions to the menu when I get home. Inca Kola is very sweet and unfortunately contains caffeine, so too many is dangerous as I found out after my 4th the day i discovered them. THey taste like a mix of Sunshine [View Full Entry]

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Cartagena is a nice town on the Carribean coast of northern Colombia which was established by the Spaniards as the major port out of Gran Colombia. It was heavily fortified to protect it from french and english privateers. We arrived and instantly the humidity hit us like a brick at the airport. This was duly assisted by the Avianca airline which had decided to send Glenn´s bag along, but not mine Richies or Lukes despite them being submitted together. So no change of clothes. That didnt really hold us back though so after we checked into the hostel, we went for [View Full Entry]

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