Making our way up the rio Beni it felt like we were embarking upon a real adventure. The jungle you read about as a child, those tales of mysterious Africa, felt real as we headed up to our jungle lodge deep in the Amazon basin. This definitely felt different to our jungle trip in Peru. There was just something about it that made you feel like you were venturing into the unknown. This was the jungle that I had signed up for. A gruelling seven hour boat ride from Rurrenabaque and we arrived at the river bank ready for a half [View Full Entry]

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The surreality of La Paz is perhaps expressed no more distinctly than in the "Valley of the Moon", or "Valle de la Luna" as it is known here. Where in England, could you find a city, where moonscapes flank its edges? Quite normal here though, normal in this capital of Bolivia, a microcosm of the strangeness of its mother country. We visited the valley this morning, but I'm still not sure what to make of it. What can you make of it really? It just is. On the way back we saw the country's Presidente; Evo Morales, or so we thought. [View Full Entry]

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Coroico has offered us a chance to relax for the past few days. A haven just a handful of hours away from La Paz, and a place to gather our thoughts before heading down into the depths of Bolivia. Set within the cloud forest, and as similar a place to Mindo as we have so far found. A pocketful of paradise is as good a description as any. The journey here was as interesting as the place itself. The Cordillera Blanca slices straight through the route we needed to take, so a trip into the mountains was unavoidable. No bad thing [View Full Entry]

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To me, being around Lago Titicaca almost feels like we’re still in Peru despite some of the differences. Yesterday though, we headed into Bolivia proper, and its capital city by default; La Paz. I’ve read so much about this city, and of all the cities we’re to have visited during this trip, this for me is the one I’m most excited about. La Paz is a special city, a city of “highests”. At around 3,700 metres, it is the highest capital city in the world. It has the world’s highest commercial airport where you land at around 13,000 feet. It also [View Full Entry]

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After all the tourists and the hawkers of the last couple of weeks, Isla del Sol is a breath of fresh air. There aren’t really any tourists here, just your average backpackers who are a lot quieter than your average holiday makers that we got used to in southern Peru. Nobody trying to sell you anything either, just the odd child asking you for a little something instead. It’s a quiet place, barring the oddly timed band practice, and I like it already. We took a trek across the island this morning, to a port on the other side. A nice [View Full Entry]

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Today is a special day. Not just a new destination, but a new country. Bolivia. The journey into Bolivia was a long one, or at least it felt that way. Not as long as Ecuador into Peru, but long enough nonetheless. Starting at 7am and finally arriving at our hotel around 4pm, we travelled by both bus and boat to reach our destination for today; Isla del Sol in Lago Titicaca. The boat journey taught us one thing; Bolivian standards are very different from those in Peru. Yesterday our boat in Peru was well built, had good seats, an engine compartment, [View Full Entry]

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Lago Titicaca, The Uros islands, 10am. Standing on a floating manmade island made solely out of reeds, somewhere within the world’s highest navigable lake, it’s an odd feeling. Lago Titicaca is big, really big, so big it spans across two countries. On our way here our guide pointed into the distance and said that Bolivia was in that direction. Even standing on top of the roof of the boat, all I could see right up to the horizon was water - Titicaca is that big. Lago Titicaca is also very sacred around here. It is the heart of the Aymara people’s [View Full Entry]

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Leaving Cusco behind us, we now travel south very close to the border with Bolivia, to a place called Puno on the shores of Lago Titicaca. We have tried to use trains in South America wherever possible, but your choices are slim. In Ecuador, just two or three short routes that were nowhere near the destinations that we visited. In Peru, just two routes. The first from Cusco to Machu Picchu, which we took and turned out to be a great ride. The second from Cusco to Puno, which we haven’t. The reason why? The $334 price tag. The bus which [View Full Entry]

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White water rafting!!! Oh yes. Today, I went rafting into the sacred valley of the Incas. Up the rio Urubamba to the town of Ollantaytambo, I doubt I could think of a better place to go rafting in this spectacular country. Jessica bailed on this one as it’s hard to convince her to do anything involving water. Luckily, my raft-mates were two Mancunian lasses who made excellent company. Celebrating their respective 30th birthdays, they were taking a three week holiday in Peru and Venezuela. Today was their second day so they were pretty excited about things. The rafting itself sta [View Full Entry]

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It’s quite a climb to the stone fortress that overlooks the city of Cusco. The weather was, as always, superbly sunny though so the climb was worth the effort. Known as Sacsayhuaman, or sexy woman as Jess chooses to call it, this is a “must see” for anyone interested in history. The reason we’re here is to take a look at the superbly carved stones that form the fortress walls. There are similar stones back in Cusco, but these particular stones are quite huge by comparison. Carved in the time of the Incas, they are very polygonal in nature with lots [View Full Entry]

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