We had missed out on the Wednesday Train because it was fully booked from Riobamba and we wanted to do the whole train trip. We were advised to be at the train station at 2pm on Thursday to book for Friday trip - you are unable to book in advance. I get there at 1.45 to be told it was fully booked!!!! By a school group. I am a bit dismayed because we were told no advance bookings. I returned to the hostel and told Paul what was what and a few unprintable things were said. We were both very disappointed [View Full Entry]

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We have been at altitude several times and here it was no easier to get used to. Cuenca is about 2500 meters above sea level. We get to our Hostel and the room is 2 floors up. This means we get to our room and have to lean over the furniture gasping for breath for several minutes. The first day or so if you walk on the flat really slowly you can survive without looking like a real cardiac person. Any hill or hard work and there we are puffing away. I tried this time without altitude tablets because the last [View Full Entry]

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We stayed at a nice Hostel called the Secret Garden Hotel. It did have a secret garden with a banana tree, also lemon and grapefruit trees with fruit on them. Hammock for resting on and completely surrounded by a wall that you would not know there was such a garden inside. We were surprised at how clean the countryside and towns are and how modern the cars are, to the rest of South America. As we traveled here we thought the countryside looked very much like New Zealand and the local National Park is called Podocarpus after the trees that are [View Full Entry]

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We had a choice of a 3,4,or 5am start, we had decided on the 5 am, but because of the heat and inability to sleep we caught the 4 am collectivo to San-Ignacio. This is a small Toyota van that they jammed 17 people into. We were traveling along a really most excellent road an I saw a sign saying 53 km to San Ignacio and we both commented on how good the road was. This was a mistake because it deteriorated rapidly. It was passed corrugations and I felt they were moguls, with the bus going all over the road [View Full Entry]

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Paul really wanted to be in 2 countries for his birthday but we didn't quite make it. We spent most of the day in another bus. We caught the bus and we were the only 2 on it and we were still commenting on how could a bus company make money on an empty bus when we pulled into another bus station and had to change onto another one that was nearly full. The bus waited 45 minutes until all the seats were taken before it left. During that time men came on board and tried to sell watches and sunglases [View Full Entry]

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Another day, another bus trip - this one just a short trip up the road to Chiclayo. We passed many acres of sugar cane and asparagus. The asparagus is white and picked before it comes above ground, it is all canned and exported and it is all irrigated by canals, because we are still in the desert. We stayed at a Hotel, right by the main Plaza. We arrived before lunch, so no exhaustion today so we felt it worth a try to catch a collectivo a short trip up the road to Lambayeque. At this town are two very interesting [View Full Entry]

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We decided to do day bus trips from now. The night trip to Cuzco still haunts us. We caught a regular bus from Lima to Trujillo and were 2 of only five that started the trip. More people got on along the way, but we were the only English speakers. The bus driver gave us 2 seats each at the front of the bus so that we would spread out and have a window each and a good view. As more people got on the bus driver and his assistant shooed them further back so that we could stay comfortable. We [View Full Entry]

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Our next stop was Lima, neither of us could stomach the thought of another 20 hour bus ride so we looked at flying. We managed to get cheap tickets that cost only $10 more than the bus ride and would save us 19 hours. We arrived at the Cuzco airport to find 3 previous flights had been canceled and the que was about 50 meters long and Paul got the panics. He kept saying he had to get out of this town and couldn't stand another night here. I tried to calm him but he kept saying I've seen 'Airport' on [View Full Entry]

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We caught a bus to Cusco (3326m) leaving Arequipa at 9.30 pm. The bus ride turned into the worst so far. It was fairly comfortable seating but they had the heating so hot we - Paul and I had to strip off as much as was decent. There was no-way you could sleep, it was at least 40 degrees. My water bottle that was on the floor, by the heater could have made a cup of tea. We had watermelon that turned sour and cooked. We had to touch the window to get any cooling. These buses are sealed, no [View Full Entry]

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We've got a bit behind in this blog so here is some catching up. We caught an overnight bus from Nasca to Arequipa, a bit of back tracking. We booked into a Hostel called Home Sweet Home, it was in a nice quiet part of town. Arequipa is the 2nd largest city in Peru and is called the White City because most of the big buildings are made of volcanic stone that is whitish. The main plaza in town is surrounded by large arched walkways on 3 sides and a large church on the other. We visited the Museo Santuarios Andinos, [View Full Entry]

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