Machu Picchu After waking up at yet another ridiculous hour (Not for the first time on this trip it has to be said!), our group excitedly set off for the walk up to the ruins of Machu Picchu. Hoping for a great clear morning to see the famous sunrise over the ruins, we awoke to mist and drizzle, not the most promising start! Its a 500m vertical height gain up a path from the town of Aguas Calientes, which takes around an hour and a quarter. As we walked up the path, we moved actually into the cloud, getting wetter, and at the same time sweatier as we climbed. It wasn´t looking great for the picture postcard photograph over the ruins! At 6am exactly, the gates to the site opened and we moved in. The thick ... read more

Rather than following the traditional backpacker route North from La Paz, to Peru via Lake Titicaca, i decided to go West and explore the very North of Chile first. So i hopped on a bus in La Paz and travelled over to Arica in extreme Northern Chile. Arica...ca...ca...ca Arriving in Arica is a really nice change after the high altitude, cold nights of Bolivia. Its situated right on the coast, with a lovely warm climate. The Pacific also crashes into the beaches located both North and South of the town. The town has a really nice feel about it, with a lot fewer other tourists than i had been used to seeing in the other places i have visited. On the day i arrived, i spent a very relaxing afternoon wandering around town, having a late ... read more

Much to the probable disappointment and worry of my mother, after climbing Huayna Potosi, i had a renewed sense of adventure which had to be filled in Bolivia. How to keep the adrenaline flowing? Well, when you have reached 6,000m, the only alternative is to go down.....quickly. Enter, the world´s most dangerous road. To the North of La Paz, the high levels of the altiplano drop off rapidly to the low level pampas, continuing into the amazon jungle beyond. On the way out of La Paz, the road climbs up to a point at 4,660m altitude. In this area, you are surrounded by snow capped mountains all around, and the wind and snow blow through like an Aberdonian winter day. From this point, the road drops, quickly, to the low level pampas area of Coroico. Over ... read more

Potosi From the water bombing, carnaval related madness of Uyuni, i moved on to the water bombing, carnaval related madness of Potosi. Different town, but the same activities of spraying water and foam at everything that moved for another couple of days. Except in Potosi, they had moved on to the cunning tactic of the drive-by attack, spraying water and foam from the windows of passing cars. Its just not cricket really! However, after a couple of days, the town was returning to normality, with only the occassional sporadic attack. Back to the business of sight-seeing then. Potosi is located around 7 hours drive East of Uyuni, reached after a very uncomfortable all day bus journey. And accompanied by the Bolivian version of Euro-pop. Quite catchy after the 5th time of listening! The town is located ... read more

Santiago de Chile After Pucon, Helen and I arrived in Santiago de Chile for a couple of days. Santiago is a fairly huge city, located about half way up Chile, with the high Andes located to its West, and the Pacific located about an hour and a half drive to the East. Its the usual big and intimidating city feeling, with a scattering of nice building to look at and streets to walk along. Some of the nicest views of the city are from the top of the San Cristobal hill, complete with obligatory Virgin Mary on top looking down over the city. However, the views of the Andes are often obscured by the smog that accumulates over the city, trapped by the high Andes. And of course, this was the case the day i visited! ... read more