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Published: November 15th 2009
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Following an 11 hour bus ride from Arequipa we arrived at 7am in Cusco. We had got into the habit of getting our own room as oppose to dormitories as everything in Bolivia and Peru is so cheap. We decided though that it was about time we made a bit of an effort to socialise with our fellow travelers again. This was a mistake. Very tired, we entered the dorm at about 7.30 when the other 4 inhabitants were sound asleep. Unfortunately our roomies weren't really in the sleeping mood for long and by about 8.30 they were all wide awake, giving their previous nights activities a thorough post mortem at a pretty loud volume. One of them was particularly proud of the fact that he had ordered 8 cheeseburgers on the way home (only managed to eat 7 mind), another of the stray dog he was running around with under his arm and the third about how he successfully climbed a tree. Oh how they laughed. I didn't find this amusing however and after 10 minutes or so decided to wake up Valentina to inform her we were checking out (an hour and a half after checking in). 20 minutes
later we were in our own room and I was able to read my book in peace. Rock n Roll.
After a good nights rest we headed into the Sacred Valley of the Incas. We stayed in a small town called Ollyantambo and after looking at the Inca ruins here for a day we then headed for Machu Picchu. This we expected to be one of the highlights of South America and it was. The setting of the site is probably just as impressive as the ruins themselves. The whole experience of Machu Picchu had a bit of a Disney world feel to it though - lots of Americans, lots of queuing and being ripped off at every corner. Still, it´s an amazing place.
We then began the journey south to Argentina (via Bolivia). The fist leg was another dreadful bus journey, the initial problem involved the stench emanating from the toilet. It smelt like traveling in a pub Gents. The next problem wasn't until shortly before reaching our destination (La Paz) when the bus broke down because we had run out of fuel. Somehow despite being 10 minutes from the bus station this took an hour to
remedy. We weren't allowed to leave the bus either because it was such a rough area. Needless to say we were pretty pleased to arrive.
After this we awarded ourselves a couple of days break in a sub tropical area just outside of La Paz called the Yungas. Here we mainly ate and slept before we traveled down into Argentina. First stop in our fourth country was a place called Salta. Crossing the border from Bolivia into Argentina is like entering a completely different world. As much as we enjoyed Bolivia, the comforts provided in Argentina were very welcome (namely actual roads). Salta is a nice city, unfortunately we will remember it to a large extent for our room mate Heika (a German teacher) who treated us like pupils on a school trip. The most annoying incident being when she marched us up a hill in blistering heat (despite my suggestion that we use the cable car) only to get to the top for her to tell us she wasn't all that impressed. When Valentina finally plucked up the courage (I was too scared to say anything) to tell Heika we didn't want to follow her itinerary we explored
Salta ourselves and spent a couple of evenings sat on the plaza getting stuck into the Argentinian food and drink.
With Heika well and truly shaken off we headed south to Mendoza. Famed for it´s wines we decided to take in some vineyards and sample some of the produce. The mode of transport we chose for this was a bike. Unfortunately the image we had of country roads winding through rolling hill covered vineyards wasn't particularly accurate. Instead it was an altogether more taxing affair on busy main roads with cumbersome bikes requiring full concentration to avoid being hit by lorries. We were pleased to see that the wineries themselves lived up to expectations. When it came to the tasting I followed suit with everyone else in the group (pretending to tell the difference between the Malbec and the Merlot and then nodding frantically to display enjoyment in front of the owner).
Saddle sore but getting on famously with Argentina we headed for Buenos Aires the next day.
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Ash
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Who that golfing off there? He could kill a hiker!