http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/JudeBurke/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from JudeBurke en-us Fri, 05 Dec 2008 16:10:08 UTC Fri, 05 Dec 2008 16:10:08 UTC It wasn't supposed to be like this. When I booked myself on the Inca Trail way back in February I planned it as the grand finale of my trip. I envisioned four days of trekking under beautiful blue skies finished off with a picture postcard first view of Machu Picchu. What I didn't expect given that May is actually supposed to be in the dry season was that I would spend two of the four days http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Peru/Cusco/Inca-Trail/blog-277523.html There are many things that can be said about the Spanish legacy in Peru but one thing's for sure they left behind some beautiful buildings. Arequipa is another one of those old colonial cities full of gorgeous old Spanish architecture. As my first taste of Peru it immediately seemed very different from Bolivia...a lot wealthier at least on the surface. And very touristy...after a month in Bo http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Peru/Arequipa/Colca-Canyon/blog-276332.html The end of my trip is fast approaching and I'm running out of time to do everything I want to do. So my trip to Lake Titicaca could best be described as fleeting After a night in La Paz readjusting to the altitude I got the bus the next morning to Copacabana my last stop in Bolivia. The town is like a little outpost of Bolivia on the western side of Lake Titicaca which is otherwise Peruvian http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Bolivia/La-Paz-Department/Lake-Titicaca/blog-274295.html When I tried and failed to go swimming with dolphins in New Zealand I never realised that I would actually get to do it in Bolivia of all places. I didn't even know there were dolphins anywhere near the country after all it is landlocked. But there are pink dolphins in two rivers in Bolivia one of them being the river Yacuma where I spent three days in the pampas near Rurrenabaque.Before I http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Bolivia/Beni-Department/Rurrenabaque/blog-271303.html There are two ways to get to Coroico. You can catch the bus. or you can go by bike. Whilst the former is definitely cheaper and arguably safer the latter is a lot more fun. This is the 'Death Road' so called because it used to be the world's most dangerous road. This incredibly narrow dirt and gravel track winds its way down a total of around 3000 metres down from La Paz to Coroico. Until a fe http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Bolivia/La-Paz-Department/Coroico/blog-269414.html I'm not entirely sure what I was expecting La Paz to be like but it definitely wasn't what I was expecting. It's basically a modern city very noisy and dirty which is a shame because it ought to be beautiful. Its setting in the middle of a canyon in sight of the snow covered Cordillera Real is gorgeous when you can see it. Mostly the view is obscured by the 1960s and 70s tower blocks on t http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Bolivia/La-Paz-Department/La-Paz/blog-269411.html Potos is a very strange place. One the one hand it has some fantastic colonial architecture and on the other hand it's incredibly poor. During the colonial period silver was found in the nearby Cerro Rico which made Potos one of the biggest and wealthiest cities in the world at the time. All the wealth went to the Spaniards whilst the people who were forced to work in the mines endured ter http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Bolivia/Potosi-Department/Potosi/blog-265723.html I appreciate that I may have said this before but I mean it this time honest...the landscape on the trip from Chile to Uyuni in Bolivia is the most amazing I've ever seen. The trip was also one of the most uncomfortable I've ever been on too but some things are worth putting up with. We started out bright and early in San Pedro de Atacama before heading to the Bolivian border for breakfast http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Bolivia/Potosi-Department/Salar-de-Uyuni/blog-265719.html To quote my guidebook San Pedro de Atacama is 'more Spanish Indian than is usual in Chile'. It's a small town in the middle of the Atacama desert with streets lined with traditional adobe houses. It would be a lovely little town if it weren't so touristy. The main street is just lined with ways to extract money from people...travel agencies restaurants bars and more. Or maybe that's just me b http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Chile/Antofagasta-Region/San-Pedro-de-Atacama/blog-265431.html After nearly six weeks in Argentina it was time to move on. For my final few days in the country I headed to Tilcara a small village in the Quebrada de Humahuaca north of Jujuy. It was absolutely beautiful....you know how sometimes you get off the bus somewhere and you just know you've made the right decision going there Tilcara was like that. It's an interesting combination of modern and tra http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Argentina/Jujuy/Tilcara/blog-263017.html When I arrived in Salta another four hours by bus it was quite a shock being back in a big city after the tranquility of Cafayate. I've met plenty of people around Argentina who've been here and raved about it...and the city's slogan is 'Salta la linda' Salta the beautiful. Unfortunately it's more like Salta the cloudy as the weather's been miserable since I got here.Although other people ha http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Argentina/Salta/Salta/blog-261013.html Sometimes it's nice to take things slowly. After hitting the furthest corners of Argentina with the inevitable long bus rides that entails my next stop was just a few hours up the road in Cafayate. Like Taf the place had apparently been packed over the Easter weekend but when I arrived on the Monday it was pleasantly sleepy not to mention hot. Cafayate is blessed with a wonderfully sunny c http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Argentina/Salta/Cafayate/blog-261009.html Travelling is almost as much about the people you meet as it is about the places you go. Along the way I've had the chance to meet loads of really lovely people but most of them have been other backpackers from Western countries. It's been quite hard to meet and get to know people from the countries I've been travelling through....until now that is.Easter is a big holiday period for Argentinia http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Argentina/Tucuman/Taf--del-Valle/blog-260733.html I almost feel like I don't need to write anything here except maybe one word 'Wow'. The photos say it better than any words could. But seeing as this is a blog I suppose I should write something...Iguazu is one of the main tourist draws of Argentina if not all of South America and it's very easy to see why. They're around 3km wide and are made up of around 270 individual falls with the mai http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Argentina/Misiones/Iguazu-National-Park/blog-257743.html Just what is a vegetarian albeit of the fish eating variety supposed to do in Argentina You just can't escape from the beef and everyone who visits raves about how good it tastes. I've known more than one committed vegetarian cave in over a juicy Argentine steak. So what was I going to do Would I starveFortunately no at least not in Buenos Aires far from it in fact. The first week that http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Argentina/Buenos-Aires/Buenos-Aires/blog-255834.html Having survived the bus journey down to Ushuaia I then had an even longer one 18 hours to get to El Calafate. It went something like this...crawl out of bed at 4.30 in the morning gather things together pour coffee down throat stagger down the road for the bus at 5.30am. Get the bus to Rio Grande and change there in the early morning light for another bus to Rio Gallegos. Then spend the n http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Argentina/Santa-Cruz/El-Calafate/blog-255254.html Bienvenidos al fin del mundo I'm in Ushuaia at the moment the selfproclaimed fin del mundo. The fact that it isnt in fact the most southerly town in the world at the very least Puerto Williams in Chile is ever so slightly further south doesn't seem to have stopped the souvenir sellers one little bit. You can even get a special 'fin del mundo' stamp in your passport I got here on Satu http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Argentina/Tierra-del-Fuego/Ushuaia/blog-250377.html As I waited in the cold early morning air battered by the wind I began to wonder if my effort had been worth it. I have to say it wasn't looking good when I'd got up at 5am the sky had been clear. But within half an hour it had clouded over and had even started to rain. But just as I was about to give up and go down to my tent the sunrise broke through the clouds...and at the same moment t http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Chile/Magallanes/Torres-del-Paine/blog-249671.html Getting down to Patagonia I quickly discovered is not the easiest of things to do. For one thing there aren't any roads south through Chile. The furthest south you can go by road in Chile is the Carretera Austral which stops someway north of here. When I started looking at my options for coming here they all seemed to be either expensive flying take a long time by bus through Argentina o http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Chile/Magallanes/Punta-Arenas/blog-246570.html My next stop was Ancud on the island of Chiloe. The island itself is very different from mainland Chile geographically anyway the website for one of the hostels I've stayed at described the landscape as being like that of the Shire in Lord of the Rings. The main industry in the island is fishing and where there's fishing there are usually lots of seafood restaurants...so I admit my reasons fo http://www.travelblog.org//South-America/Chile/Los-Lagos/Chiloe-Island/blog-245260.html