Got back from the Galapagos and had a dinner with everyone from the boat. We all ended up in the same hotel which was great! After a week of sharing a cabin where only one person could be in the cabin at one time (unless the other was in bed!). I soon had all my belongs sprawled out all over the place and a huge pile to send to the wash. Had to continue to take motion sickness tablets as was now feeling land sick - no swaying was causing a problem! I was not the only one and we decided [View Full Entry]

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First of all a bit of back tracking... after Cuzco I cheated like mad (so much for busing around this continent) and flew to Lima. Stayed in Miraflores which is the posh part of town and quite frankly was characterless with lots of the usual US branded restaurants etc. Had my first cebiche (seafood marinated and cooked by lime juice) which was rather lekker and then spent my afternoon in these little minibuses whizzing around Lima trying to get a ticket out of there! Next day and off it was to Ecuador. 27 hour bus trip (an additional three hours due [View Full Entry]

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So from Arequipa to Cuzco. Another bus journey where the bus companies swear blind it will take 8 hours when your guide book says 12. So 12 it is. The bus actually broke down in Juliaca for an hour after which the driver drove like a maniac around these winding roads to make it in 12 hours. Not very reassuring when the local newspaper is all about a bus having overturned with 67 passengers and numerous deaths had incurred..... Arrived in Cuzco tired and fed up to be accosted by people offering accommodation. This is not such an unusual sight in [View Full Entry]

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That is what they shout out at the bus stations as you are waiting for your bus and you seriously want to thump someone.... Arequipa, Arequipa, ARRREEEEQUUUIPPAAAA! It is only 8 in the morning and you know it is going to be a long day! So it was. They have a habit of lying about the length of bus journeys here. We were assured time and again that it was a mere 5 hours. Even if you look at them dubiously because your guidebook (aka The Bible) tells you it is more than 8, they insist on 5. So eight hours [View Full Entry]

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I had always heard of Lake Titicaca and like most people used to also have a little snigger at the name... so now here I was on my way to check it out. Lake Titicaca is the highest navigable lake in the world. At about 3600m it is guaranteed that you are still huffing and puffing as you tour around. The bus trip to Copacabana from La Paz passed without incident.... Copacabana itself is a sleepy little town famous for the Lady of Copacabana, which explains the huge church this little town has. From there it is possible to take a [View Full Entry]

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First of all the flight between Sucre and La Paz was an event in itself. It was either a 16 hour overnight bus (warnings of how buses ´fall off the edge of mountains´, especially at night, plus the experience of constant vibrating between Uyuni to Sucre had me convinced it would be 16 hrs of hell), or a 45 minute flight. 45 minutes won. The plane took off and literally just skimmed the top of the alti plano. It really was not very far from the mountains and you could see everything so clearly. I then understood why it would take [View Full Entry]

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Uyuni is a tourist trap. A town which survives on tours to the salt flats. There we said our goodbyes to the Belge who were heading back to Tupiza and their bikes and settled in to a hotel for the night. I decided to splurge and spent 4 euros on my own ensuite bathroom. The room had a tv but I could not for the life of me find a plug, clearly it was just for show. There was hot water, just about, and only between 7 - 7 and no heating once again. You become obsessed by altitudes since it [View Full Entry]

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The border crossing at La Quiaca/Villazon is amazing! From the bus you have to get a taxi to the border which is a street with a bridge. On one side you are in Argentina and the other side Bolivia. The locals just pass between the two sides as if it is just any other street. It is so unobvious that it is a border crossing that we had to ask where to go to get our exit stamps. There is no queue to enter Bolivia. On the other side of the street there is the Argentine Customs going through the luggage [View Full Entry]

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Salta is a great place to finish the Argentina leg on and also to prepare for Bolivia. Whereas with the rest of Argentina you can blend in as a local (well unless you are wearing your backpack, havaina flip flops from Brazil and before you open your mouth), here in Salta you can see you are not far from Bolivia. The locals have more Indian blood, the towns are poorer and the Andes are everywhere! Salta is no exception except it does have a lovely main square with colonial buildings and orange trees. The hostel we were staying at happened to [View Full Entry]

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Flew into Santiago from Easter Island and decided to give it a chance after my original plan to head straight out again .... I am glad I did. First night I had dinner with Mark and Jessica whom I met on the island. We were determined to prove to each other that we were capable of staying awake beyond 10 pm. I don't know what it is about island life but each day it was a struggle to stay up late. Luckily we went to Bellavista which is a lovely part of Santiago with bars and restaurants the moment you step [View Full Entry]

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