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Our backpacks packed and ready to go
I've 'downsized' this trip and my new small pack weighs in at 4.5kg. Impressed?After almost a year at home our feet were getting itchy. My brother Dave and his partner Claire were travelling around in South America and announced that they had 'settled' in Cusco, high in the Peruvian Andes, for a few months. This was an area of South America (among many others) we had been dreaming of visiting for years but somehow never got round to. This was the perfect chance, now or never!
Within a couple of weeks of our telephone conversation the flight was booked! We leave home on June 9th.
After careful researching we decided to fly into Santiago, the capital of Chile, and work our way North. Hopefully this way we can gain altitude slowly and avoid the dreaded altitude sickness.
To cut down on at least one long bus journey we will take a short flight to Calama before getting the bus to San Pedro de Atacama.
After a few days at an altitude of 7,500 ft in the Atacama dessert we will travel back to the coast before going off to La Paz in Bolivia. By all accounts this is a spectacular journey and La Paz itself is a sight not to be missed nestling on the side of huge mountains.
The next stop will be Copacabana on the shores of Lake Titicaca before travelling around the lake to Puno to see the floating reed islands. At over 12,000 ft these two places will really test our ability to cope with altitude.
Arequipa will be our next proposed destination , best known for Colca Canyon where the magnificent condors can be seen.
From there we will travel to Cusco and meet up with Dave and Claire for a week of exploring the Andes including Maccu Piccu, the destination that had first made us want to visit this area. Who know what else we will discover while we're there?
The last stop will be Lima where we'll spend one day before flying home.
Three weeks of travel - pretty short for us but once we've discovered this continent who knows? We just may be back for longer.
Well the waiting game has begun, we will leave home in just under 24 hours, the bags are packed (almost) but there's still numerous last minute jobs to be done.
Appologies in advance for the lack of photos on this trip, we are not travelling with a laptop this time just a small tablet so will not be able to put photos on as we travel but I will add them once we get home. I've 'robbed' a few from Gary's (our son) photo disc for a single photo at the beginning of some blogs where I can.
South America - here we come!
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Home and Away
Bob Carlsen
Have a great trip...
your itinerary is one that many TBers have followed...most recently RJT (Rachel Trotter) if you want a preview. We were there last year and thoroughly enjoyed it...especially Machu Picchu and Peruvian food...just not the Guinea Pigs.