Our last few days in Bolivia were spent in the largest salt flats in the world. We arrived in Uyuni, a tiny tourist town in the middle of nowhere. We spent a good few hours comparing tour agencies (there are probably over a hundred) for 3 day trips into the Salt Flats. In hindsight, we realised that it is simply potluck - all the agencies are kind of the same and even lump customers together for a trip. We had heard lots of horror stores - drunk drivers, no food, running out of fuel in the desert and breaking down. While on our trip, another tour group was left in the desert after confronting their driver about being drunk, while another group (the company we were going to go with originally) had a drunk driver on ... read more

On our last day in La Paz, we took a relaxed day trip to the Moon Valley - sandstone stalagmites that are busy eroding away. A lot of the town actually looks like that - not sure what type of insurance the guys take out for their houses! We saw some house clinging precariously to the edge of the sandstone cliffs. The past few days have seen big action! We kicked off with the Death Road cycle - claimed as the most dangerous road in the world, we set off with 4 others and a guide. The first part was great for Phil - 32kms of downhill on smooth tarmac. The rest of the road kept Marco happy with downhill offroad stuff for the next 33kms. The scenery was spectacular, the photos don´t give it justice. ... read more

The last leg of our Peruvian journey was spent in Puno on the shores of Lake Titicaca - the largest high altitude lake in the world at 3810m. We found Puno to be a rather unexciting town, but we did book a 2 day trip to visit some islands on the lake. Our first stop was the famous Uros Floating Islands. These are man made islands, made completely of totora reeds. The locals harvest the reeds and replenish the top layers of the island as the bottom layers rot away. Despite being a bit of a tourist trap, it was still interesting to see. The locals, however, have become quite lazy and wait for tourists to sell their wares and take them on expensive boat trips. Our next stop was Amantani Island, where we spent a ... read more

We have just completed the world famous Inca Trail to the lost city of Machu Picchu. Well, it´s far from lost at the moment, with more than 3000 tourists visiting per day! But lets backtrack a bit. Our time in Lima ended with a pleasant 22hr bus trip over the Andes to Cusco. The route was almost identical to Namibia´s Skeleton Coast - desert and dune fields, with the odd hotch potch village. Our bus was like an aeroplane with no wings (included a hostess, safety video and meals on board) and consisted of a huge school group who were quite subdued due to the windy roads. The bathroom was frequently occupied with people who could no longer handle the combination of altitude and windy roads (hostess included). Cusco is a touristy town, filled with restaurants, ... read more

We are due to catch our flight to Peru in a few hours, but thought we should write a short entry on general life in Colombia. Food: Colombians enjoy their carbs, with fried eggs, rice and a platana (another fruit close family of the banana, smashed and deep fried) for breakfast. Lunch is the main meal, normally consisting of chicken or fish (or trout in the mountains), with pasta, rice and potatoes. Their salads are miserable - nothing more than lettuce, tomato and onion. Their fruits, however, need special mention. We have never seen so many wierd and wonderful fruits in one country before and tried them all out for our breakfast smoothies. They even have tomato fruits (a cross between a tomato and a raspberry)! Fresh fruit juice is available everywhere. People: Colombians are friendly ... read more