The pampas tour is the best chance for seeing animals, travelling by motorised canoe along the Rio Beni into the Yacuma grasslands. We´re told we´ll see caiman, turtles and snakes, capybara (the world´s largest rodent), as well as pink river dolphins, monkeys and birds. Now maybe I´m a little naive, but I just didn´t realise how teeming with life it would be. I was expecting to maybe see a couple of each animal at best, having experienced the patient and sometimes fruitless waits of Kenyan safari, but as soon as our boat sets off, it´s like we´ve wandered into the best [View Full Entry]

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When I look out of the window at my first jungle dawn, all the discomfort of the previous 20hrs melts away. It´s so good to be down from high altitude and surrounded by lush green...didn´t realise how much I missed trees! And the air is rich with oxygen and moisture, it´s a heady mix and I feel wide awake and really excited. My skin, which at altitude had been parchment dry with old lady hands is now reborn baby soft...god I love the tropics! We get off the bus in Rurrenabaque just after a rainfall...it smells great and must be the [View Full Entry]

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Thankfully we wake up feeling almost human but weak as kittens. We have just enough energy to drag ourselves onto the bus to Rurrenabaque in the Amazon basin. Apparently it´s a 20hr drive, although it´s only about 200 miles from La Paz on my map...it later becomes clear why it takes so long. We´re assured that the new highway is now open, so we won´t be leaving the city on The World´s Most Dengerous Road (it´s official title after an average of 26 vehicles per year meet a sorry end). No, as it turns out, we´ll just be joining it an [View Full Entry]

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The first sight of La Paz is stunning. The city fills a canyon with the triple snowy peaks of Mount Illimani as an imposing backdrop. It´s all hidden from sight as you drive through El Alto, that covers the rim of the canyon, once a suburb now a city in it´s own right and the Aymara capital of the world. Then the road turns and suddenly La Paz comes into view. It´s absolutely huge with buildings sprawling down every side of the canyon as far as the eye can see. Even as city kids we´re blown away by the scale and [View Full Entry]

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Nope, we haven´t leapfrogged into Brazil, this is the less famous Copa beach on the Bolivian side of Lake Titicaca. And we´re on holiday...the sun is out, the water is twinkling and we´re putting our feet up for a well earned rest!!! It´s a pretty little town dominated by a beautiful white Moorish style cathedral that glistens against the bright blue sky. Beach stalls selling bbq trout line the shore, and a few bars with a hippy vibe. We make ourselves at home with a sundowner, followed by a few more and some tasty dinner, and a nightcap listening to some [View Full Entry]

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We buy a one way ticket to the Isla del Sol and after about an hours crossing land at the village of Yumani. From the dock we walk up La Escaldera del Inca, a staircase built by the Incas up past the natural spring Fuente del Inca which, flowing down 3 channels, represented the Inca moral code: ¨Ama sua, ama llulla, ama khella¨, ¨Don´t steal, don´t lie, don´t be lazy¨. The Spanish believed it to be a fountain of youth...Ritch was about to dive in head first til we noticed it´s now just used for laundry. Climbing the staircase, and indeed [View Full Entry]

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As you probably all know I´m a bit of a foody, and one of the things I´ve been excited about is trying new dishes as I eat my way around the world. So I´ve decided my round up of each country will be a food diary of likes and dislikes... Achuras Yes, it´s Ritchie´s favorite...the offal mixed grill. The excellant parrilladas (bbq grills) offer some of the tastiest steaks you´ve had (ok I´ve not been to Argentina...yet), but stray off the path and you´ll get much more than you bargained for. Nothing goes to waste here and the same delicious spicy [View Full Entry]

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Our overnight, cold, sleepless bus from Cusco to Puno, on the Peruvian shores of Lake Titicaca pulls into town just before dawn and it´s freezing. No hostels are open yet, so we huddle round an electric heater in the bus station restaurant drinking cafe con leche. Our first glimpse of the lake through the windows as the sun rises does not dissapoint. All looks calm and the pale dawn makes everything take on it´s pastel tones. We head into Puno, find a hostel and finally we´re able to sleep for a few hours til the sun is high in the sky [View Full Entry]

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The drive from Cusco into the Sacred Valley is as stunning as ever. After a brief stop at Ollantaytambo, a small town with an impressive ruined Incan fortress looming above, the road climbs ever higher as we head up the mountain Abra Malaga. Our heads are now truly in the clouds. The landscape is stark but beautiful and it is freezing cold. We start the descent and it quickly gets warmer and greener. At around 3500 mtrs, our Conde Travel vehicle drops off 4 of us bikers with lunchpacks, gloves, helmets and bikes, and before he speeds off, our driver explains [View Full Entry]

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Or Qosq´o in the Quechuan language means the navel of the earth and was the centre of the Incan empire. Now it´s the centre of tourism and every building houses tour operators, gift shops, restaurants and bars. When we first arrive one unit on the Plaza de Armas is being fitted out and within days this city has been conquered once again, this time by McDonalds. It seems well received with security controlling the huge queue made up of FATs (fat American tourists) but predominantly curious Peruvians. And so the empire spreads. You cannot walk ten paces without being offered happy [View Full Entry]

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