With the Inca Trail done and dusted, I was focused on hiking-type challenges and I had heard a lot about Arequipa´s Colca Canyon trek. This is a three day jobbie with two of those days comprising a very steep descent and ascent of the canyon walls. It was a gamble to travel there as this strenuous activity was the only thing calling me and my knee was giving me a hard time, even on small staircases. With a shrug and a touch of my lucky charm I jumped on an overnight bus from Cusco. After a freezing night on the road, [View Full Entry]

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(Continued from last entry) The Sun Gate, Machu Picchu. Panting, walking in circles, wiping rivers of sweat from my face. Trying to recover and occasionally grinning with satisfaction at the other guys. There was absolutely no need to run like we did and it was a strange way to spend the first few moments at this spiritual place, but we felt like we had won a race and this was our prize. An unbeatable feeling. We settled in to wait for the rest of our group and dangled our legs over the edge. I broke out the chocolate snacks to put [View Full Entry]

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Pre-dawn, Plaza de Armas, Cusco. Ominously rumbling stomach. Some nervous anticipation to go with it. This was it. I was off on the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu after a seemingly endless process of planning and saving. Although uncomfortable, I consoled myself that I was not the worst affected member of our group as a really nice English girl, Kath, was white as a sheet and very sick with food poisoning. She had bravely decided to attempt the four-day hike with the hope of recovery along the way. Her boyfriend, Ian, looked on nervously - worrying that he was responsible for [View Full Entry]

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Cusco was one of the definite flag-on-the-map destinations for my trip. Visiting Machu Picchu via the Inca Trail was the entire basis for this South American adventure so it was a good feeling to be so close after more than 12 months of planning. After reading that it was a 12-15 hour trip from Puno to Cusco, we thought we had stumbled on a real find when a company offered a 6 hour service (in fact the roads and service have been improved). We happily jumped aboard and settled in to stare out at the impressive mountain country that we were [View Full Entry]

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Onwards into Peru. Originally this was the only country that I was going to visit on my trip, so walking across the border at Copacobana seemed like a milestone. There were few noticeable changes after the border as we were still travelling along the shores of the enormous Titicaca, the beer billboards the only give away. Our destination was Puno, a city which I had consistently heard was dirty and possessed few redeeming features. It seems that Puno suffers in comparison with Copacobana, as travellers are generally inclined to choose between the two on their way through the lake regio [View Full Entry]

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With my jungle adventure out of the way it was time to say farewell to La Paz. Though I still hadn´t warmed to the city, I had to admit that it had served me well as a base for multiple excursions into other areas of Bolivia. There was no regret but a definite sense of uprooting and moving on, I was starting to get used to my criminally cheap room at the Hotel Majestic. This next phase of the trip was all a bit fuzzy as I had never been able to get a firm idea of how long it would [View Full Entry]

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Part two of my Bolivian Amazon adventure was a three day visit to the pampas or ´grassland´. After a relaxing night of amazing cocktails and some curious dinner menu items (“Winner Chicken”), we were up an at 'em early for a loong trip by jeep to the river port where we would transfer to our motor-canoe. This bumpy and generally uncomfortable trip allowed us time to get to know the other members of our group and to occasionally smash our heads into the roof as the wheels found another pothole. Roxy and I had fallen in with two other Australians (retired [View Full Entry]

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Happily washed and rested in La Paz after my Uyuni expedition, I had a day to kill until MsRoxyRyan arrived for our jungle boogie. I signed up for a two-part tour of La Paz - the high, high lakes of Mt Chacaltaya and The Valley of The Moon. It was a pleasant enough day with the surprise of some heavy snow (?!) which prevented us from making it to 5000 metres... and also nearly killed us all. We had a funny little guide who was chattering away to the packed minivan in his peculiar way as we wound our way gingerly [View Full Entry]

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I had always planned to visit the Bolivian Salt Flats (Salar de Uyuni), I just didn’t realise that it would be such a mad dash to get there. This trip was next on my list after the bike ride but I hadn’t actually researched transport or booked anything in advance. This policy which seems to be working quite well, I’m saving money by paying at the pointy end and I have less stress about whether I am going to be in the right place at the right time. BUT… It requires some quick decisions. I chatted to someone about it in [View Full Entry]

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If Buenos Aires was the party, La Paz was the morning after. I wasn’t doing myself any favours coming off a massive night like that and not sleeping before my flights (BsAs - Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz - La Paz). The second leg was a bit surreal as I fought sleep and elderly Bolivian Hugo tried to give me advice in his broken English (“You will come back and I will buy you”). Still, despite the nervous energy and the bitter cold on top of the mountain where the airport sits, I was able to appreciate the spectacle of descending from [View Full Entry]

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