An important pile of stones As tourist attractions go, Machu Picchu has everything: the location is spectacular, on a ridge high above the Apurimac river, with beautiful mountains in view in all directions; the ruins are incredible with fine examples of famous Inca stonework; there's also the sense of mystery: despite all the excavations and studies, no one still knows for sure the exact purpose of Machu Picchu. Was it a ceremonial site? Or a summer retreat for the Inca Emperor Pachcutec? Or, as Hiram Bingham thought, the legendary lost city of the Incas? And why did it remain unknown to the Spanish? Had it been already abandoned? Machu Picchu seems to absorb and invite questions, without offering any definite answers! We had little time to rest after the 4 day Salkantay trek from Mollepata to ... read more

One of those crazy days A long and somewhat crazy day began in Puno with an early wake up call to catch the 8.30 bus to Arequipa. Arequipa, Peru's second biggest city, lies north west of Puno, a long six hour trip, with with good views of mountains such as Misti and Chachani along the way. No sooner had we arrived and found a hotel in Arequipa than we were booked on a climb to Cerro Chachani, a 6075 metre peak - leaving in 8 hours time at midnight! So with 6 hours sleep the previous night followed by a six hour bus journey, we were clearly well prepared for a first attempt at 6000! The reason we booked the trip for that evening was that the company had a tour leaving that night and they ... read more

Copa...Copacabana Copacabana was the perfect place to end our travels in Bolivia. Situated on the shores of Lake Titicaca, at a breathtaking altitude of 3841 metres above sea level, Copacabana is the type of place you plan to visit for a day and end up staying a week. It's just one of the many towns in South America that live off tourism, but nevertheless it's a very pleasant place to visit. The trip from La Paz to Copacabana is memorable. First you climb our of La Paz, onto the bleak Altiplano, with the high peaks of the Cordillera Real to the east providing a fantastic backdrop. Soon you approach Lake Titicaca, and at one of the narrowest points, you cross the Strait of Tiquina from the hamlet of San Pablo to the slightly larger hamlet of ... read more

A tale of two capitals Ask anyone in Sucre which city is the capital of Bolivia and you'll most likely be told Sucre. Ask the same question in La Paz and they'll tell you it's La Paz. Ask anyone else in Bolivia and they'll probably tell you it's rather complicated but there are two capitals. Following independence in 1825, Sucre soon became capital of the new Republic of Bolivia. In 1959 the seat of government moved to La Paz. However, no one bothered to change the constitution so Sucre remains the constitutional capital and is also home to the judiciary. Sucre is a beautiful city, the perfect place to stop for a few days, take it easy and recharge your batteries. It felt very different from everywhere else we had seen thus far in Bolivia. With ... read more

More bus travel woe We planned to travel from Tupiza to Uyuni by train but we got so tired of waiting for the ticket office in the station to open that we gave up and booked a bus instead. This meant we left Tupiza at a better time of day but we did sacrifice comfort for timing and price! The trip to Uyuni took about 6.5 hours by bus, a difficult journey along unpaved roads, leaving me bruised and battered, a trip that I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. I think we'd been spoiled by all our nice bus journeys in Argentina! But we got there in the end, it was still daylight and despite it being Easter weekend, everything in Uyuni was open and we had no problem finding a hotel or booking a ... read more