Our bus left at 7.30am, expecting a 6 hour trip, mainly across the Andes. Wow, what a magnificent trip. The scenery was breath-taking. The Andes are so rugged. Again we saw snow-capped mountains, waterfalls and a large dam. We drove up the eastern slopes in Argentina and down the western slopes in Chile. The border crossing was the most sophisticated with our bags going through x-ray machines. They also had a sniffer dog doing his job. The Chileans are pretty strict with people not taking fruit, meat, milk and wood products over their border. It was very cold waiting for our bags to be checked because we were so high up. After we had crossed the Chile border, we came across a new road which zigzagged down the mountain through 14 hair-pin bends (see photo). ... read more

After our train and bus trip we arrived in Salta and settled into our Hotel which was a 10-15 minute walk to the main square. This is the 1st time we have not stayed close to the city centre. Once in the city centre we got our orientation walk from Betzy and noticed all the one way streets and 2 walking malls. There were many shops and good quality goods inside. We walked down San Martin Avenue to the centre. The footpath was wide and level (a little different to Bolivia) and clean. There were a few stalls on the way as well as a small lake, water feature and bridge. Once in Plaza 9 Julio, the main square, Tom and I spotted a coffee spot with outside tables and chairs. It was a beautiful ... read more

After an 11 hour overnight bus trip in a fully reclining bus from La Paz t Sucre, we arrived at 7.00am on Saturday 30 April. We took taxi to our hotel which was an old, gracious colonial building which was being renovated. Our room was large with 13-14 feet ceilings. It was a bit ‘tired’ so we understood why they were renovating. We couldn’t get into our room at this early stage of the morning so we went for a walk around the historic CBD of the city. We stopped at a restaurant called Joy Ride for a wonderful breakfast. We then completed our walk back to our hotel where our rooms were ready. Sucre (population about 300,000) is the constitutional capital of Bolivia and the capital of the department of Chuquisaca. Located in the ... read more

Due to the transport strike, we missed Copacabana and drove straight to La Paz. We got up at 4.30 am to Skype Kerrie and Gemma for her birthday. Connection wasn’t the best but at least we saw them and had a pretty good chat. We are certainly missing them. We had breakfast and then went to the bus station by 5.45am, leaving in one of the very comfy buses for La Paz. We sat up the top floor of the bus which is always a better view. Again, the scenery was spectacular along the way. We were slowed down on many occasions because there were many large rocks on the road. We were wondering if there was a bit of sabotage from the strikers, so prevent vehicles from going to Bolivia. The Peru/Bolivia border crossing was ... read more

We left Cusco at 8.00 am by one of the very comfy busses which showed movies – helps pass the time away for a 6 hour bus trip. The Peruvian countryside is beautiful. Green plains edged by the Andes, along with seeing many villages. There is more snow on the mountains as elevation is higher. We saw a lot of cemeteries in the villages with some lavish headstones. Much agriculture was seen and the unfinished mud brick homes were always predominant. They are unfinished with steel reinforcing rods sticking out of the building’s roofs waiting for the next floor to be built, but never seems to happen! The main reason is that as soon as a house is finished, they have to pay taxes. One way of not paying ! Puno is a city in southeastern ... read more