Cupla Nomad

Our final stop in Peru was a brief (and really too brief) stay in Lima. Our hostel (Milaflores House) was one of the best we have stayed in on our trip. They had everything – DVD players in rooms and a massive selection of DVD’s to watch, guitars, surfboards, beanbags, delicious breakfast, an unbelievable map and information about the city, security, great staff and funky artwork. We really only had a few hours in this city of 8 million but we still got a rough idea of life here. Named the “City of the Kings” in the 1500s by the Spanish colonisers I suppose the suburb that we stayed in called Miraflores, reflected this name. Miraflores was really nice, safe, was by the sea, had big banks, expensive shops, gastro cafes, expensive cars and pretentious people. ... read more

So we were off on a 6 hour bus journey to begin our next trekking escapade. The journey in itself was an experience. This was truly a local bus. We stopped every few minutes to pick up people on the roadside. We had a comedian performing, a one man band of panpipes, singing and guitar (John bought his CD he he), the well-dressed local ladies with a new fashion of handmade embroidered skirts and waistcoats or sequined hats, every seat taken and every aisle space taken up even more and a smelly duck! At this stage 6 hours feels like nothing to us but the constant madness did feel a bit much today for some reason! We arrived as darkness fell on the town of Cabanaconde. This was to be our home for the night. A ... read more

Day 3 We slept in a little bit, avoiding the alarms as much as possible. The walk to get breakfast was met with lots of Buenos Dias from everyone but no one actually meaning that it was a good morning. The hangover heads were visible from well across the valley I’d say! Luckily for us we opted to do a zip lining morning rather than trekking for the morning so I was glad of that! A small group opted to trek so we were divided for the first half of the day. We arrived at the zip lining and to be honest I hadn’t really thought about it, just that I wanted to try it cos we hadn’t done it this far. We got geared up in our very attractive harnesses, braking gloves and helmets and ... read more

The first city we visited in Peru definitely didn’t disappoint. Cuzco, once the capital of the infamous Inca Empire is now the capital of tourism in the country. And there is a reason why. The city is immaculately maintained and differs little from many years ago. It is a place that is steeped in history, South America's oldest and continually inhabited city.The main square, known as the Plaza de Armas, is a large area surrounded by two massive churches and lots of two story balcony laden buildings all restored to the colonial fashion (the Spanish finally attained the city from the Quechan people in the 1500s). The big US companies such as Mc Donald’s, Starbucks and KFC that are on the square are not immediately recognisable as they could not put their commercial signage or style ... read more

We continued to move north to another of Bolivia’s cities named Sucre. Sucre is known as the Ciudad Blanca (The White City) as the main centre is amassed with whitewashed buildings. This makes for a very attractive place indeed. The main square was definitely one of my favourite squares so far because the surrounding structures were kept immaculately. Sucre turned into a place for a bit of relaxation too. By the time we arrived here, we were both recovering from sickness due to the extremes on the Salt Flats coupled with the dusty mines in Potosi, if I was being honest we were pretty shattered. A welcome distraction was the Euro 2012 so after doing exploring of the city in the mornings (or after a sleep in) our afternoons were spent sipping on beers watching the ... read more