The Second Month

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Hello! Greetings from Kuta on Bali. The more astute of you may have noticed that I am somewhat on the other side of the world compared to when I last wrote. All that will be explained. Be patient. First of all let us return to where my last blog ended four weeks ago, when we were making our way back to La Paz...

La Paz failed to endear itself to me anymore on our second visit, and it wasn't long until we were hurtling away from there as we took on The World's Most Dangerous Road, or The Death Road, if you prefer. This was a downhill bike ride which combined adrenaline and scenery, but thankfully didn't live up to its name and everybody in our group managed to survive. Which was nice.

We spent a few days in the scenic and sedate town of Coroico, where we battled to find a path during a three hour walk through the overgrown foliage to a thoroughly unimpressive waterfall, often fighting off grass and plants that reached well over our heads. Lake Titicaca was next, where we hiked the length of Isla del Sol during one day and spent the rest of it drinking in the colossal lake and its high altitude surroundings.

This was the last stop of our amazing time in Bolivia, and it was with a heavy hearty that we crossed the border and made our way to Arequipa, a city in the South of Peru. The mood wasn't helped when Shin's illness made an unwelcome return, and a second visit to the doctor ended with a new batch of antibiotics being administered. Thankfully, so far, so good and they seem to have done the trick with dealing with her unwelcome hitchhikers.

We made up for lost time during the rest of our stay in Arequipa, cramming in a lot of activities during our five days there. These included a walking tour, a night time visit to the candlelit Santa Catalina Monastery, a chocolate making course, a rafting trip and a tour of the Colca Valley. The highlight of this tour was seeing a number of huge condors soaring around the cliffs of the Colca Canyon, where they live. These huge birds are a very important part of Andean and South American culture and we were lucky to get to see so many in their natural habitat, when there was no guarantee of us even being able to spot one. Somewhat unexpectedly I had found out just how highly they are regarded the night before we saw them, when I had been dressed up as one and made to flap around a restaurant pretending to be a giant bird, during a local folkloric performance.

The next stop was Cusco, one of the most important cities of the Inca empire. It was from here that we launched our journey to see Machu Picchu, by signing up to do the five day Salkantay trek. I can honestly say that this was one of my favourite things that I have ever done. I loved all of the hiking, which was pretty tough going at times. We had a great group, which always helps with this type of thing. And Machu Picchu on the final day was every bit as impressive as I'd hoped it would be.

When you speak to any travellers in South America, Machu Picchu is always the thing that links everybody. People have either done it, or will be doing it sometime before their trip is over. With that much hype behind it I thought it would be difficult for it to live up to it, but it managed to and I really enjoyed our day exploring and learning about the famous ruins.

After some recovery time in Cusco we headed to Huacachina, where we were taken from the bus to the hostel by a cheerful driver called Adolpho. At one stage he was incredibly insistent that I take over the driving duties so that he could devote his full attention to selling a tour to the three in the back. For some reason, the others didn't seem keen for this to happen...

Huacachina was all about the sand as we found ourselves in the midst of some huge sand dunes at a small town built around an tiny oasis. We spent the day clambering up the dunes and finding inventive ways to get back down to the bottom. 'Rolling', 'on a sandboard' and 'vertically in a dune buggy' were some of the techniques that we tried out.

We got mildly sozzled the next morning during a wine and pisco tour and then made our way to the city which gave pisco its name. Pisco...for anybody who didn't get that. Here we visited the impressive Isla Ballestas, which was teeming with wildlife. We saw sea lions, pelicans, penguins and many, many boobies.

Unfortunately our South American adventure ended on a bit of a sour note, as the infamous buses which we'd worked so hard to protect ourselves on over the past two months finally struck during our final journey, on our way to Lima. We fell victim to a well executed scam and my backpack got robbed, leaving me without my GoPro and iPod. This was incredibly gutting, as I'm sure you can imagine, but we were at least grateful for the fact that my main camera and all of the photos on it was safely in my pocket, along with my wallet and phone, and we hadn't been threatened in any way. Really annoying, but it could have been much, much worse.

In order to get over our disappointment we indulged in some home comforts whilst in Lima by ordering a Pizza Hut to our hostel and then going to watch Jurassic World in the cinema the following night. Shin also got to finally try ceviche after months of waiting, and visit one of the city's 'cat parks'. So she was happy.

Then it was time for us to go our separate ways as Shin journeyed home for a wedding (congratulations Becca and Ben!!) and I made my way to my favourite city (sarcasm alert) Los Angeles. I've been here a couple of times before and don't really care for it, but I actually did manage to have a good day as I geeked out at the Science Centre and Griffith Observatory on Gemma's recommendation after she had visited a couple of months ago.

I left LA on a 13 hour flight and then spent five hours hanging around in Taipei airport, before another five hour flight brought me to Bali, and the second half of our trip. I told you I would explain it all.

Sinead will be getting here tomorrow evening, so I'm just hanging around the mega touristy town of Kuta trying to get to grips with the sudden change of climate. It's pretty hot... Hopefully this place isn't a representation of the rest of Indonesia, as it hasn't exactly endeared itself to me so far. I've been offered at least 57 massages, 94 bikes and 162 taxis. This was what I was expecting though, in fairness and I'm sure it will be much nicer once we clear the crowds and set off to explore the humongous archipelago.

That's me done. Hope all is well with you wherever you are.

Speak soon,

Simon

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Comments

[Brittany]

Oh no!!!! you guys were robbed too, that's awful, i'm so sorry to hear! Did they slip your bag from under your seat? that's how they got me. I'm an absolute nut job now with protecting my stuff on buses. I was robbed in Ecuador 3 months back, and i'm back in this lovely country (not letting that little event sour my opinion of such a lovely place!) but let me tell you, when i got on my bus last night, i tied my purse around my legs four times, and strung my locked up backpack over my front shoulders and hugged it like it was a nerborn baby! glad the most important things were not stolen and you've been able to trek on! cheers :) Brittany