LynseyG

After a night in San Padro de Atacama I got a 24h bus down to Valparaiso. I started to really notice the difference with Chile (one of the richest coutries in South America) and Bolivia ( the poorest country in South America) comfortable buses, paved roads and generally much more westernised. I arrived in Valparaiso the next day and set about exploring the city. I really liked Valparaiso with its multi-coloured houses, street artists, artisan shops and funicular trains (for getting up the many steep hills). As well as generally wondering round and taking in the atmosphere I went on a boat round the port and drank lots of espresso in the coffee shops (before coming to South America I was under the misconception that the coffee here would be good but they seem to have ... read more

So I after the jungle I headed straight to Sucre a very pretty colonial town in Bolivia. I spent a couple of days wandering around the town admiring all the white buildings and relaxing in the park and then I went to Potosi - the highest city in the world (4090m)! Potosi was founded in 1545 after the discovery of silver ore deposits in the mountain Cerro Rico. The main industry here is still mining although the silver is now great depleted and the ore now contains only 2% silver and 10% other minerals. With the mines being the main attraction I went to visit one -they are still working mines and so our first stop was at the miners market to buy gifts for the miners of dynamite, fizzy drinks and coca leaves. Then we ... read more

I arrived in La Paz on the weekend of the elections to find out that it was a no alcohol weekend - as La Paz as a reputation as a party town this meant that there were alot of disappointed people. On Sunday, the day of the election, the city was dead - a complete contrast to normal when the streets are filled with traffic and market stalls. It was nice to wonder round the city whilst it was quiet and then in the evening we went to Plaza de Murrillo where the celebrations of the reelection of Evo Morales were going on. There were lots of flags being waved and a couple of bands played whilst we waited for Morales speech. There was a great atmosphere. I spent a couple of days visiting the museums ... read more

After the long bus journey I relaxed in Cusco for a couple of days before starting the Inca trail (the only thing I've booked apart from my flights. It was great just wondering around Cusco looking at all the colonial buildings (some of the buildings were built on top of Inca ruins) although I had to fend off all the women offering "massage, manicure, pedicure". For the Inca trail there were only 10 of us in our group although there were also 2 guides, 15 porters and 2 cooks! The first morning we set off to the Sacred Valley to get a taster of the Inca ruins to come. The first stop was a local village where we learnt a bit about the indigenous culture and then we went to see the Inca constructions in Pisaq ... read more

After two nights of bus journeys I arrived in Huaraz at 6am in the morning. After a days rest it was time to stretch my legs and get hiking amongst the spectacular mountains in the Cordilleras Blanca. At 6 am I was picked up from my hostel ready for the long bus journey to the start of the Santa Cruz trek. We stopped off for breakfast before heading up into the mountains. The weather was glorious (we were especially lucky considering its the rainy season at the moment) bright blue skies and most of the mountains were completely clear of clouds. We were all very snap happy asking our driver to continually stop afraid the sky would suddenly cloud over. We passed lots of snowy peaks (many are over 6000m) offset against the blue sky and ... read more