CassieandDave

After spending a few days in Arequipa we got the bus to Colca Canyon, one of the deepest canyons in the world. After the trouble we had with the guide for Machu Picchu we decided not to go as part of a tour , and just left with 3 friends and a map. We stayed in Capaconde the night we arrived and woke up early to begin our walk into the canyon. On leaving the village we were followed by a stray dog who made himself our guide for the day, and who proved himself to know alot more about the area than our previous guide. At the bottom of the canyon we did some trout fishing but failed to catch anything. We found ourselves short of time to get back out of the canyon before ... read more

Our first stop in Peru was Mancora, a seaside town similar to Montanita. After meeting up with some friends we went to a bbq beach party to mark our last beach stop before heading into the cold. On our way to Lima we decided to break up the journey by stopping in Hyanchaco. From here we were able to visit the ancient mud cities around Trujillo including one of Peru’s largest structures, a pyramid made from 140 million mud bricks, Huaca del sol. Dave had a last go of surfing although the water was so cold a wet suit was needed. Although he didn’t manage to catch the 2 km wave that draws many surfers here. As there was not much else to keep us here we decided to continue to Lima, Peru’s capital. As soon ... read more

We spent a few days exploring Columbia´s capital, Bogota. The city was packed with museums, art galleries, and restaurants as well as impressive buildings. One place we visited was the national police museum, which had a large exhibition dedicated to Pablo Escobar, including his blood stained jacket. Another highlight was the Salto del Kathedral, a massive cathedral caved 160 meters inside a salt mountain, which was really impressive. A weird yet wonderful tradition in the city is dipping pieces of cheese into hot chocolate (a personal favorite of mine but Dave was not such a fan). We left the capital of culture and headed for the capital of salsa, Cali. Neither of us are major fans of the music but it was amusing having a number of Columbians teaching me Salsa (unsuccessfully i might add). In ... read more

We left Salvador and headed to Belem in the North of Brazil. From here we decided to take a 5 day boat trip up the Rio Amazonas, but as with most things in Brazil it ended up taking 6 days. The view was amazing and it was great to travel up the Amazon. The boat arrived a day before we where due to leave, so we went aboard and set up the hammocks, hoping to avoid making the same mistake as we did in Paraguay. However on our return the next day we found that the spacious deck had transformed into hammock mayhem. There were hundreds of hammocks on each floor and where in between, under and over our own. The only way to get in and out of the hammock zone was to crawl on ... read more

We flew into Sau Paulo, Brazil and after a couple of days we soon settled in. It was a very busy city full of high-rise buildings and takeaways blasting out dance music. The main highlight was bumping into Pele in a street market, which was pretty exciting. We then headed to Foz Do Iguazu and the Iguazu Falls. As many of you know my love of waterfalls you can guess how happy i was......it was gorgeous. We only saw the falls from the Brazilian side, but we are hoping to visit the Argentinean side at the end of the trip. Since we had time to kill before meeting friends in Salvador we decided to head to Paraguay for a couple of weeks. Although this was not a common destination for backpackers we liked it from the ... read more