Thomas and Michelle

Amazon Adventures I must first start this blog entry by recommending "Gero Tours" for anyone who happens to be going to Manaus for a trip to the Amazon. The owner, Gero, and our guide Josh made this trip outstanding and worth every penny. I'd also like to thank the boys for constantly being on 'spider watch' around me. Day 1 in the jungle... So, who knew.....there ARE spiders in the Amazon....HUGE spiders with poisonous bites and everything! I absolutely did not sign up for spiders. We set off from Manaus and boarded our first small boat. We were now officially on the Amazon and the excitement for what we were about to experience over the next few days was growing. After a few short minutes the boat slowed to a crawl as we came across the ... read more

Machu Picchu, "Lost City of the Incas" Day 43 Machu Picchu, the most famous of all ancient Inca citadels set high up in the clouds is a breathtaking site needing little more explanation because if you haven´t been there, my description would simply be words on a page and nothing more to the reader. As Thomas put it, the winding bus journey up the mountain from the deep river valley below to where the site lies nestled atop steep cliffs, is already an amazing experience. It puts into perspective the immense skill, bravery and sheer workmanship that went into building Machu Pachu in such a remote location.... and that's before even laying eyes on the site. A little known fact but one which is glaringly obvious when it has been pointed out is that while facing ... read more

Puno, Lake Titicaca Day 38 Having left Copacabana and Bolivia that afternoon we arrived in Puno a far less threatening place in my opinion than La Paz had been and for that I was grateful. What I was not grateful for was the freezing cold weather that we were again having to endure. After a brief bus journey to the Bolivian border we had our passports stamped by Bolivian immigrations and walked the 200m across the border into Peru where our next bus awaited. The 3 hour journey to Puno was very picturesque as we meander alongside Lake Titicaca. Uros and Taquile Island - Day 39 Today we visited "Apu Kontiki", one of many inhabited floating Uros islands on Lake Titicaca. This one, like many others, was set aside for tourists to visit. Upon arriving on ... read more

La Paz Day 35 We arrived in La Paz, the highest capital city in the world (4000mts) just after 7am after having taken another overnight bus journey, this time on a far better bus, windows and seats were all intact. We checked into our hotel (Hotel Condeza) with the help of a friendly taxi driver and headed out into the streets to explore our latest temporary home. Immediately we stepped into the tourist zone. Packed with shops selling the local handicrafts, beautiful bright coloured textiles, blankets, pan pipes, small Pachamama (Mother Earth) effigies etc. Our first stop was to a Museum, the Coca Museum. As the title suggests this was dedicated to telling the history of the Coca leaf, from it´s mythical orgins and uses by the Andean people (as far back as 2000 B.C) to ... read more

Salar de Uyuni Day 23 Salar de Uyuni is the highest and largest salt lake in the world and we were set for a fantastic experience driving across it passing multi coloured lakes, weird rock formations, geysers, thermal baths and active volcanoes as we went. We were really looking forward to this trip despite being contained within a jeep along with 5 other people. Our tour group packed ourselves into the bus to take us across the border before we were split up into groups of 6 to clamber into the designated jeeps (good old Toyota) that we would be spending the next 3 days in. We buddied up with 4 other English people and met with our driver, Richard Roberts (Rich - hats off to you, an excellent driver). As we were spending the next ... read more