Potosi owns a couple of superlatives. It’s the world’s highest city at 4070m, was once the riches city in South America and once had more inhabitants than London or Paris. That Potosi was founded in 1545 is thanks to the Cerro Rico “Rich Mountain” which contained huge amounts of Silver. The Silver content of the ore mined exceeded up to 70 percent. Today the content of metals is a maximum of 30 percent and always a mixture of different metals. Millions of Indian labourers were forced to work in the mines and many of them died young due to appealing [View Full Entry]

---

---

Since the beginning of my trip I was successful to circumvent the worlds most biodiverse region the Amazon without touching it. Safe the best for last could be my motto but the truth is that I was always to far away or it was just too expensive to go. I finally got my chance in Bolivia. The main hub for the Amazon jungle and pampas tours here is Rurrenabaque (or Rurre) which must the one of the best (and cheapest) places to go. The rainforest here is in near pristine condition as not many people live around here and it [View Full Entry]

---

---

La Paz is the worlds highest capital city at a altitude of 3,600. That means three things. First the city is in the Guinness book of world records, second it's cold and third you are out of breath if you walk up two stairs or a steep road of which they have plenty here. Not much to report from here as I spent most of the time either shopping, trying to send a parcel home, in my hotel room in my bed trying to get rid of the cold I got at Lake Titicaca or sitting in internet cafes writing [View Full Entry]

---

---

The “World most dangerous road” or “Death Road” as it is lovingly called by some tour operators in La Paz is a 40 km stretch of dirt road on between La Cumbre and Coroico just outside of La Paz. The stats say that on average 20 vehicles go over the unprotected edges and around 100 people loose their lives on this stretch of road per year. The cliff drops in some places a couple of hundred meters before gravity is defeated by well ground. The reasons why there are so many accidents is that the dirt on the road is [View Full Entry]

---

---

Lake Titicaca is (and here comes another superlative) the highest commercially navigable lake in the world at over 3800m. It is also mentioned as one of the highlights of Peru in my guidebook. What they don’t mention that it’s also a freaking cold place and not that interesting. Did I mention that I disagree with my guidebook? Ok it’s not such a bad place as it might have some attraction to some but let's start from the beginning. I arrived in Puno after a nice 8 hour bus ride from Cusco. You really have to say that some South American [View Full Entry]

---

---

Machu Picchu is likely the most famous archaeological site in South America if not the world. About 400.000 tourists visit the site per year (at least you’re never alone). It was founded ca. 1440 and was inhabited until the Spanish conquered the Inca Empire. The name Machu Picchu is not the original Inca name for the site as this one was forgotten over the centuries. The name is derived from the mountain the city is built on which simply means “Old Mountain”. The city was more a luxury retreat for the Inca nobility than a normal city and had only [View Full Entry]

---

---

Cusco is the longest continuously inhabited city in South America. It was the capital of the Inca empire and the seat of the last free Inca before the Spanish disposed of him (speak murdered). One of the literal translations of the word Cusco is "Centre or navel of the world". The city was planned to be shaped like a puma and with a little imagination you can see that. It had four quarters each representing one of the Inca provinces. A road was build from each province to the capital and each province leader had to have a house in [View Full Entry]

---

---

Arequipa is the second largest city in Peru and was mentioned as one of the highlights in my travel guide. Well not Arequipa itself but the Colca Canyon which is apparently the second deepest canyon in the world (twice as deep as the Grand Canyon). Apart from being very deep it also contains a horde of Condors. The way to visit the canyon and to see the Condors is to do a 1, 2 or 3 day tour or trek. Sounds reasonable … well I didn’t do any of that. Can’t really explain why I didn’t want to go and [View Full Entry]

---

---

Unless you were hiding behind a rock for the last 20 years you will have heard of the Nazca lines. For all those of you who were hiding behind a rock the Nazca lines are a set of gigantic geoglyphs in the Nazca desert. The figures are up to 300 meters long and include animals (such as hummingbirds, dogs, spiders and monkeys), geometrical figures (such as trapezoids, arrows) and other like the astronaut. The lines were done by the (surprise) Nazca culture between 200 Ad and 600 BC. The lines were created by removing small rocks and rubble which lay [View Full Entry]

---

---

Lima is as you will know the capital of Peru. It was once the seat of the Viceroy of Peru the most powerful man in South America. He was representative of the Spanish king in South America during the colonial era. My guide book didn’t give me much hope as it described the city as big and overcrowded but also mentioned that it has its nice sites. I started wandering around the streets without much expectation but I have to say that I liked the city in the end. There is not heaps to do but the buildings, which were [View Full Entry]

---

---