Soicowboy

I first became interested in visiting the Baltic states when I heard about the Baltic Chain. This was the longest ever chain of people holding hands, stretching 600 km between Tallinn in Estonia to Vilnius in Lithuania, passing through Riga in Latvia and numerous other towns and villages on the way. This peaceful protest by over a million people in August 1989 was against the continuing Soviet occupation of the region and garnered worldwide attention to the cause of Baltic independence. This was towards the end of the era of Mikhail Gorbachev’s presidency of the Soviet Union, but it was Boris Yeltsin’s rise to Presidency of the Russian Federation in 1991 that was more influential in the break up of the Soviet Union. Russian troops finally withdrew from each country late in 1991. My research indicated ... read more

We passed through Puno en route to Arequipa. I found Puno to be a bit uninspiring. As Peru's most famous lakeside town, I was surprised that they lived with their back to Lake Titicaca. The land becomes more industrialised as you move from the town centre towards the shore. The main point of interest around here are the floating islands, made of bound reeds, on which indigenous people used to live to avoid marauding enemies.These days they are subject to marauding tour groups. Arequipa is Peru's second largest city and the dusty outskirts do not look particularly welcoming. However, as usual, the colonial city centre provides a pleasant focus for visitors. The main plaza is quite large and is flanked along one edge by a beautiful cathedral. A fair number of old buildings survive, some of ... read more

We drove around the shores of Lake Titicaca to enter Bolivia. At 3800m, the world's highest navigable lake is blue and serene. The tourist bus drops the influx at the first significant town of Copacabana. The streets closest to the waters edge are dedicated to hotels, hostels, restaurants and woolly jumpers. 'It's nothing but a tourist trap' said some travellers, unaware that they would find a Cathedral dating back to 1619 just a few blocks further North. The first hotel we tried offered a nice room with bathroom, cable TV and a panoramic view of the lake for £8 per night. 'This is great' we thought. Bolivia is known as the cheapest country in South America and at these prices our budget would not be stretched. Sadly it was an anomaly, we never found such a ... read more

The Incas pulled together the pre-existing tracks in the region to create an extensive paved road system of 40,000 kilometres, stretching past Quito (Ecuador) in the North and Santiago (Chile) and Mendoza (Argentina) in the South. The roads were primarily used to redistribute goods, as different items were produced in different regions, and for efficient transfer of the Inca armies (which could number in the tens if thousands) to ensure their hegemony over the Empire. The Great Inca Road traversed 6000 km along the spine of the Andes and, en route, connected Cajamarca and Cusco. Today, it is not possible to make this journey without returning to the coast. Apart from flying the most direct route is to bus it from Cajamarca to Lima (13 hours) and from Lima to Cusco (24 hours). We took the ... read more

Morocco has long been on my list of places to visit, but had never made it to the top. Perhaps I was unmotivated because it regularly used to get voted as one of the 'hassle capitals' of the world. I had heard that there had been a concerted government campaign to change that behaviour because of a tangible reduction of the number of visitors. This might be old news, but I can say at the outset that I would now class this as a low hassle country with some of the most kind and pleasant people you would care to meet. Morocco also has the advantage of allowing Britons free entry for 3 months and is served by several budget airlines from theUK. We paid £30 (+ baggage) each way for flights to Marrakech. As we ... read more