9th March 2009 -Lucy´s Dad´s 60th birthday and the day we started the Inca Trail. We had made our way up to Cusco, via the town of Puno and enjoyed a couple of nights of peace before the start. The first thing we noticed was that the two of us looked the most unfit out of the entire group, the second was that everyone else was either from Oz or NZ and we were the only Brits.
The first day was fairly easy and we arrived at our first campsite quietly relieved, but also dreading the next day which we had been told was the hardest of the 4 - the infamous Dead Woman´s Pass at 4200m. And they weren´t kidding. Four and a half hours uphill, no wonder that woman is dead. Rob miraculously found a new source of energy through chewing Coca leaves and turned into Speedy Gonzales, whilst Lucy stuck to Red Bull, Kit Kats and the power of music through Rob´s mum´s ipod. We still don´t know how we made it through that day.
Unfortunately that night Lucy had a few toilet troubles (we´ll spare you the details) and didn´t get much sleep, and felt like absolute crap the next day. So that was a barrel of laughs, considering the first part of the day was uphill again. On the plus side, the scenery was starting to get a lot prettier - we were walking through jungle and rainforest, with streams running alongside the trail. We arrived at our final campsite (where there was a bar!) about only 1 hour from Machu Picchu.
We had a really early start the next morning, 4am, we thought this was so we could get there for sunrise, but in was in fact so the porters could get home at a reasonable time. Bless them though, the porters are bloody amazing - carrying all our stuff for us and actually running the trail! We all chipped in some money to give to them on the last night, as they don´t get paid very much.
We finally arrived at the Sun Gate which is the entrance to Machu Picchu, and as we climbed the last few steps, absolutely exhausted, knowing that we had actually completed this mammoth 4 day trek what did we see? The magical Lost City of the Incas? Nope, a big bunch of cloud. Fantastic! Thankfully it did start to clear so we did actually get to see Machu Picchu. We had a guided tour of the ruins and were then given the option to climb the peak of Huayna Picchu. We had both said at the beginning that we would do it, but as there was still a bit of cloud around, that was enough for us to say ´It´s probably not worth it!´ We walked around a bit longer and then made our way down to Aguas Calientes where we were catching the train back to Cusco. A few people in our group decided to buy in a few boxes of wine for the journey, and we thought that was a brilliant idea. It certainly brightened up the 4 hour journey, even if we did get told off by the guards 3 or 4 times for being too loud. Sleeping in a proper bed that night, and having a decent shower was the best thing ever.
The next day we made our way to Nasca, to see the famous Nasca Lines. However, we didn´t realise we´d have to get in a plane that only seated 5 - and that includes the pilot! Although pretty terrifying, at least we didn´t throw up, and it was definitely worth it. We stayed a night in Nasca as we felt too frazzled to travel again the same day, and the next day we made the journey up to Lima for our final night in Peru.
We hadn´t left enough time to see Lima, although we did see some of it as we were driving through that night. Our stupid taxi driver couldn´t find our hostel, so we had to get dropped off at the airport and get another taxi, who did know where it was. The next morning we were up bright and early ready to catch our flight to Costa Rica and start the Central American part of our trip!
Sunday 29 March 2009
Saturday 14 March 2009
Bolivian Madness
So we had booked our 3 day tour to Uyuni from San Pedro. We found a company ´Pamela Tours´recommended in Lonely ´Líar´Planet, and the price seemed reasonable so we booked it. Big mistake! We were taken to the Bolivian border where we were to meet our driver and the 4x4 jeep that would be our mode of transport for the next three days.
As we arrived at the border we saw a lots of jeeps waiting. We parked next to a lovely red one, the driver was just polishing the sides, and we prayed this was our jeep. Then we looked to the other side and saw a battered old grey one, 2 bald tyres at the front and a 15 year old for a driver. And you can guess which one we got. We reluctantly got in but not without first kicking up a fuss about the tyres. We were assured that they would be changed when we got to our first accommodation.
The driver couldn´t speak any English, but luckily there was a french couple in our group who could speak Spanish. The next 3 days were like a rollercoaster - we had the best time visiting the beautiful lakes (with lots of flamingos!), and of course the salt flats - but it was also probably the scariest 3 days so far. We´d heard lots of horror stories about drivers getting drunk and falling asleep at the wheel which worried us (even though our driver probably wasn´t even old enough to drink!), and to make things worse Carnival was on during those days, which is basically just a massive piss up. Plus the whole bald tyres issue was always on our minds. The driver did change one of them the first day, but then the next day we got a puncture, so he had to put the bald one back on! Also, Rob managed to pick up a bout of diarrhoea, so that made things fun.
The second night we stayed in a salt hotel, which was really cool, although Lucy did find a beetle in her bed as she was getting in and refused to sleep in it, so we both had to squeeze into Rob´s single bed. When we arrived at this hotel, the owner was already pissed (it was about 5pm) and all the staff spent the night getting wasted celebrating Carnival. They had only one song - Jamelia, Superstar that they played over and over... The next morning we had to leave a 5am to make sunrise at the salt flats, and the hotel owner was still stumbling around, bloodshot eyes, stinking of booze, mumbling to himself. We had all taken showers, for which we were supposed to pay 5 bolivianos each, but because he was so pissed we told him we hadn´t actually taken showers and he believed us. Mug!
The town of Uyuni at the end of the trip was a bit of a dump, so we just stayed one night before we planned to go to Sucre. We booked our bus tickets with a company called 'Diana Tours' - 2nd big mistake! We must learn not to book tickets through companies named after women... The bus was supposed to take us to Potosi first (7 hours) and then on to Sucre (3 more hours). After 7 hours on a very bumpy road on a shitty, decrepid bus designed for 20 people, but carrying around 45, and with Rob still suffering in the toilet department (God bless Imodium), and a kid puking up behind us, we arrived at Potosi. Everyone got off the bus except us. Then the driver decided that he didn't fancy driving to Sucre and told us to get off and find our own way there. After we protested in broken Spanish that we had paid the fare to Sucre, he agreed to find us another bus. We found one that was leaving in 5 minutes, and we had to get on with all of our luggage on our laps. In the confusion, Rob left his guitar that he had bought in Buenos Aires on the 1st bus. Bastards. Anyway, if you come to Bolivia do not book anything with Diana Tours!!
We were completely shattered when we finally arrived in Sucre, and had just about had enough of Bolivia, when our knight in shining armour appeared - La Dolce Vita hostel in Sucre. This place was by far the best place we stayed in Bolivia (maybe even the whole trip so far). The room was huge, and the showers fantastic (after 4/5 days of cold, shite showers that was a godsend), and the icing on the cake was the amazing breakfasts they prepared for us which cost only 2 quid! Eggs, bacon, toast, yoghurt, fruit salad, coffee and fresh orange juice. Danny Chapman take note! Sucre was a lovely city, very pretty, much nicer than Uyuni and we were sad to go when we left for La Paz.
In La Paz we stayed in a brewery. Seriously. The hostel brewed their own beer and everyone got a free beer each night, and it wasn't bad! Rob became a stout drinker. The hostel was fun, organising fun things to do each night (we won the quiz night!), and we also made a trip to the highest curry house in the world, although the chicken tikka masala wasn't a patch on the Green Spice. We were a bit wary in La Paz, although we had no trouble whatsoever. Even so, we didn't flash the camera about in public. We visited the witches market, and although we were tempted by the llama foetuses, we thought we might have a few problems getting through customs. We also visited the site of Tiwanaku, which is apparently much more important archaeologically than any of the Inca sites, but no-one's really heard about it. Lucy wanted to do the bike ride down the world's most dangerous road, but Rob was too chicken. Fact. We also wanted to pay a visit to San Pedro prison, where you can enter and visit the prisoners who apparently govern themselves, but after talking to people in our hostel, we heard that they weren't letting people in at that time for some reason.
From La Paz we travelled to Copacabana which is on the border with Peru and is also on the shore of Lake Titicaca, which we'd heard is the highest navigable lake in the world, but in fact that's just a myth. We booked a boat tour to see the Isla del Sol, and after climbing the steps to the top of the island, we realised that we are both incredibly unfit and that we should really be worried about the Inca Trail, which was due to start in exactly 5 days. Oh dear.
See some of our Bolivia photos here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=220215&id=629140108&l=b85e011b5c
As we arrived at the border we saw a lots of jeeps waiting. We parked next to a lovely red one, the driver was just polishing the sides, and we prayed this was our jeep. Then we looked to the other side and saw a battered old grey one, 2 bald tyres at the front and a 15 year old for a driver. And you can guess which one we got. We reluctantly got in but not without first kicking up a fuss about the tyres. We were assured that they would be changed when we got to our first accommodation.
The driver couldn´t speak any English, but luckily there was a french couple in our group who could speak Spanish. The next 3 days were like a rollercoaster - we had the best time visiting the beautiful lakes (with lots of flamingos!), and of course the salt flats - but it was also probably the scariest 3 days so far. We´d heard lots of horror stories about drivers getting drunk and falling asleep at the wheel which worried us (even though our driver probably wasn´t even old enough to drink!), and to make things worse Carnival was on during those days, which is basically just a massive piss up. Plus the whole bald tyres issue was always on our minds. The driver did change one of them the first day, but then the next day we got a puncture, so he had to put the bald one back on! Also, Rob managed to pick up a bout of diarrhoea, so that made things fun.
The second night we stayed in a salt hotel, which was really cool, although Lucy did find a beetle in her bed as she was getting in and refused to sleep in it, so we both had to squeeze into Rob´s single bed. When we arrived at this hotel, the owner was already pissed (it was about 5pm) and all the staff spent the night getting wasted celebrating Carnival. They had only one song - Jamelia, Superstar that they played over and over... The next morning we had to leave a 5am to make sunrise at the salt flats, and the hotel owner was still stumbling around, bloodshot eyes, stinking of booze, mumbling to himself. We had all taken showers, for which we were supposed to pay 5 bolivianos each, but because he was so pissed we told him we hadn´t actually taken showers and he believed us. Mug!
The town of Uyuni at the end of the trip was a bit of a dump, so we just stayed one night before we planned to go to Sucre. We booked our bus tickets with a company called 'Diana Tours' - 2nd big mistake! We must learn not to book tickets through companies named after women... The bus was supposed to take us to Potosi first (7 hours) and then on to Sucre (3 more hours). After 7 hours on a very bumpy road on a shitty, decrepid bus designed for 20 people, but carrying around 45, and with Rob still suffering in the toilet department (God bless Imodium), and a kid puking up behind us, we arrived at Potosi. Everyone got off the bus except us. Then the driver decided that he didn't fancy driving to Sucre and told us to get off and find our own way there. After we protested in broken Spanish that we had paid the fare to Sucre, he agreed to find us another bus. We found one that was leaving in 5 minutes, and we had to get on with all of our luggage on our laps. In the confusion, Rob left his guitar that he had bought in Buenos Aires on the 1st bus. Bastards. Anyway, if you come to Bolivia do not book anything with Diana Tours!!
We were completely shattered when we finally arrived in Sucre, and had just about had enough of Bolivia, when our knight in shining armour appeared - La Dolce Vita hostel in Sucre. This place was by far the best place we stayed in Bolivia (maybe even the whole trip so far). The room was huge, and the showers fantastic (after 4/5 days of cold, shite showers that was a godsend), and the icing on the cake was the amazing breakfasts they prepared for us which cost only 2 quid! Eggs, bacon, toast, yoghurt, fruit salad, coffee and fresh orange juice. Danny Chapman take note! Sucre was a lovely city, very pretty, much nicer than Uyuni and we were sad to go when we left for La Paz.
In La Paz we stayed in a brewery. Seriously. The hostel brewed their own beer and everyone got a free beer each night, and it wasn't bad! Rob became a stout drinker. The hostel was fun, organising fun things to do each night (we won the quiz night!), and we also made a trip to the highest curry house in the world, although the chicken tikka masala wasn't a patch on the Green Spice. We were a bit wary in La Paz, although we had no trouble whatsoever. Even so, we didn't flash the camera about in public. We visited the witches market, and although we were tempted by the llama foetuses, we thought we might have a few problems getting through customs. We also visited the site of Tiwanaku, which is apparently much more important archaeologically than any of the Inca sites, but no-one's really heard about it. Lucy wanted to do the bike ride down the world's most dangerous road, but Rob was too chicken. Fact. We also wanted to pay a visit to San Pedro prison, where you can enter and visit the prisoners who apparently govern themselves, but after talking to people in our hostel, we heard that they weren't letting people in at that time for some reason.
From La Paz we travelled to Copacabana which is on the border with Peru and is also on the shore of Lake Titicaca, which we'd heard is the highest navigable lake in the world, but in fact that's just a myth. We booked a boat tour to see the Isla del Sol, and after climbing the steps to the top of the island, we realised that we are both incredibly unfit and that we should really be worried about the Inca Trail, which was due to start in exactly 5 days. Oh dear.
See some of our Bolivia photos here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=220215&id=629140108&l=b85e011b5c
Sunday 1 March 2009
Chile - short and sweet!
We were only able to visit one town in Chile - San Pedro de Atacama, as a stop off between Argentina and Bolivia. The town is in the middle of the Atacama Desert - the driest place in the world! Which unfortunately meant there was a lack of water for everything, and showers have the habit of just stopping after about 3 minutes!
Although we only a few days here we both really loved it. The people were so friendly, and could speak English really well. The town is backpacker central, loads of travellers everywhere. And the food was amazing, we ate some really nice meals here.
While we were here we saw the Tatio Geysers, Valle de la Luna and the Altiplano Lakes, which we were told had loads of flamingos, but in fact had about 5, so a bit disappointing! The Geysers were great, although we did have to get up about 4am to get there for sunrise which wasn´t nice. Plus it was bloody freezing, but we had a nice dip in the thermal swimming pool there. The Moon Valley was really beautiful, we went there for sunset, and Lucy got a bit carried away and took about 200 photos.
We wanted to do some sandboarding, but we didn´t get enough time to sort it out as we needed to get to Bolivia to make sure we had enough time to make it to Cusco for 9th March (Inca Trail). We also wanted to do stargazing, as the skies are really clear in the area, but again we didn´t have enough time. We both loved Chile so much that we´d love to come back and see more of the country, so maybe we will come back to San Pedro. There is an astronomy tower being built there at the moment, and it is supposed to be the largest in the world, so maybe we will come back when it´s finished...
We also booked a 3 day tour to Uyuni, Bolivia whilst in San Pedro. The tour takes in the salt flats, which are the largest in the world. But more of that in the next post!
See our Chile photos here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=231691&id=629140108&l=1743a00797
Although we only a few days here we both really loved it. The people were so friendly, and could speak English really well. The town is backpacker central, loads of travellers everywhere. And the food was amazing, we ate some really nice meals here.
While we were here we saw the Tatio Geysers, Valle de la Luna and the Altiplano Lakes, which we were told had loads of flamingos, but in fact had about 5, so a bit disappointing! The Geysers were great, although we did have to get up about 4am to get there for sunrise which wasn´t nice. Plus it was bloody freezing, but we had a nice dip in the thermal swimming pool there. The Moon Valley was really beautiful, we went there for sunset, and Lucy got a bit carried away and took about 200 photos.
We wanted to do some sandboarding, but we didn´t get enough time to sort it out as we needed to get to Bolivia to make sure we had enough time to make it to Cusco for 9th March (Inca Trail). We also wanted to do stargazing, as the skies are really clear in the area, but again we didn´t have enough time. We both loved Chile so much that we´d love to come back and see more of the country, so maybe we will come back to San Pedro. There is an astronomy tower being built there at the moment, and it is supposed to be the largest in the world, so maybe we will come back when it´s finished...
We also booked a 3 day tour to Uyuni, Bolivia whilst in San Pedro. The tour takes in the salt flats, which are the largest in the world. But more of that in the next post!
See our Chile photos here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=231691&id=629140108&l=1743a00797
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