Adios Peru, Hola Bolivia!

We ended up having bit of a mission getting back to Cusco on Thursday. Our train which was already 4 hours later than it should have been, was then delayed for another couple of hours. We finally made it back to our hostel just before 3am, after surviving a fairly hairy ride involving our driver taking a high mountain pass at break-neck speed in almost zero visibility due to fog! Luckily our tour company had made contact with the hostel so they were on hand to let us in. Our baggage that we had left in the hostel had been put into our room which was kind of them. We managed a few hours sleep before getting our 7:30am bus to Puno.

Despite being shattered after two nights of minimal sleep, we actually had a really good trip to Puno. We had splashed out the extra few dollars for a comfy tourist bus which stopped at a few sites of interest along the way. I must admit that Will & I usually didn't bother getting out, choosing to sleep on the bus instead. After Machu Picchu, all the other Inca ruins seem quite ordinary! There was a buffet lunch included in the trip, & plenty of opportunity for photogenic llama, alpaca & guinea pig...

We arrived in Puno & set about trying to find somewhere to sleep for the night. Instead of taking us to the hostel we asked for, our rickshaw driver dumped us outside a flash looking hotel. I was a wreck by now & barely capable of stringing a coherent sentence together, so I was quite happy to let Will take charge. We decided we didn't have the energy to find another place, & Will managed to barter the hotel down to 30USD for the night, when the going rate for a double room was 70! With bargaining skills like that he'll fit right into the Baumberg family!!! It ended up being a brilliant move, we went out for a nice dinner, then I got to unwind with a glass of wine & a hot bath while Will found a decent movie on cable TV. By the way, as cute as that guinea pig below was, one of his brothers or sisters ended up being Will's dinner. He decided that he really should give it a go on his last night in Peru... The verdict was positive, apparently it tastes a bit like sweet bacon... I'll take his word on it, I definitely wasn't up for sampling it. After a lovely nights sleep in a good bed, we were on another 7:30am bus to La Paz, Bolivia. This ended up being quite a strange journey at times! We crossed the border without incident, then had an hours break for lunch in Copacabana on the shore of Lake Titicaca. While there we came across the famous blessing of the automobiles ceremony. It was very strange... Loads of vehicles decorated in colourful tinsel were driven up to the cathedral. They were then doused in holy water, given a blessing by a member of clergy, then covered in confetti. Some were having bottles of bubbly sprayed over them, & fire-works & crackers were going off all over the place!

From Copacabana we then boarded a Bolivian bus for the remainder of our journey to La Paz. This also had its moments... At one stage we were ordered off the bus, it was floated over part of lake Titicaca on a barge, & we followed behind on a small passenger boat.

Driving into La Paz was amazing. It is the world's highest capital city at 3660m, & it is set in a 5km wide canyon like a semi sphere. You approach it from the lip of the canyon & it's a really impressive sight with buildings filling the bowl & climbing the canyon walls. When we arrived it was chaos! We had inadvertently hit a fiesta... The bus had to stop a few km from the bus station as the streets were packed with people & no vehicles could get through. We managed to get a bit closer in a taxi, sharing with a British couple from our bus, but then we had to fight our way through the crowds with our big backpacks until we reached our hostel. Luckily the hostel was on the main street where the fiesta was happening, so it wasn't too far. We had great views of it all from our hostel balcony. Apparently it was celebrating graduation from all the La Paz universities, as well as other invited ones. Each faculty would parade in elaborate costumes, dancing to the music of the bands which would follow along behind them. Bolivians are supposed to love a good party & it seemed like most of the city had turned out. The sights, sounds & smells were something else. I think Will quite enjoyed all the short skirts on offer! First impressions of Bolivia is that it is cheap, unbelievably so. We found a great bar/cafe for dinner last night & I had a sensational steak with baked potato & veg for just over 2 pounds. The cocktails were also too good (& cheap!) to miss, so we also indulged in a couple each.

Today was very relaxed. We have 3 nights here, so after being on the go for a few days it's great to chill out for a bit. The hostel we are staying at is Arthy's guesthouse http://arthyshouse.tripod.com , & it really is lovely. The staff are incredibly obliging & can't do enough to make you feel welcome. They have an extensive DVD collection & tonight we watched Shrek 3, which is only just out at the cinema! While watching the movie in the lounge, Reuben the owner came & lit the fire for us, & bought us a couple of blankets to snuggle under. Hostelworld ranked it the second or third best hostel in Latin America a couple of years ago.

We stuck to the main tourist area today, & managed to book our 4 day trip to the Salar de Uyuni for Tuesday. We did stumble across the witch's market which was a bit freaky... Lots of llama fetuses, hallucinogenic cacti, herbs & potions, & who knows what else... Luckily we had read in the Lonely Planet that taking photos was frowned upon, otherwise we might have been struck down with a nasty curse!

That's about it, this post is quite long enough! The next couple of days will involve lots of chilling out, wandering the streets & shopping in the cheap as chips markets, before heading out onto the salt flats on Tuesday.

Machu Picchu

This morning I was up at half 4, ready for breakfast at 5, & the bus to Machu Picchu at half 5. Poor old Will was up most of the night with a bad case of travellers tummy. Nevertheless he still came with us, but did end up spending a lot of the time sitting on a bench, contemplating life with a fantastic view over the site. We thereby christened it 'Will's bench'. The weather wasn't too flash at all with a lot of rain, but it somehow felt appropriate, & added to the mystic of the place. The swirling cloud would disappear for long enough to grab photos. It was the sort of place where I just couldn't put my camera away. It was quite strange being there, seeing such a familier image that I've seen on dozens of postcards & posters, in real life.

We are currently killing time in Aguas Calientes. Due to bit of a stuff-up by our tour company we are leaving on an 8pm train, instead of the 3:55pm one we were meant to be on. I'm not overly bothered as it is giving me a good chance to catch up on my blog, but I'm sure Will would rather be in bed regaining some strength! It means we probably won't arrive back in Cusco till about midnight, then tomorrow morning we are on an 8am bus to Puno.

The Lares Valley Trek

We have just had an amazing 3 days on our trek. Unlike the Inca trail which uses porters, our trek used the Lares valley horsemen & their steads instead, meaning our total party was only 10. It consisted of the 5 trekkers, our fabulous guide Domingo, Elgar the cook, & 3 horsemen.

We left Cusco at around 6:30am on Monday & drove for an hour or so to a small town called Calca. Here we got some breakfast in the market, & also picked up pencils, marbles, hair-ties, & small round flat-breads to give to the kids along the way, & bags of coca leaves for the adults. We then drove another couple of hours along a very scenic high mountain pass to Lares village where we enjoyed a soak in the natural hot springs for a couple of hours before lunch. Lunch was incredible! It was our first experience of the food on the trek, & it was very very impressive. Lunch & dinner were invariably 3 or 4 courses. We'd have a starter (avocado salad being the best of them), then soup, followed by a meat & rice course, then dessert. The cook did an amazing job in his camp kitchen. After lunch on the first day we left the dining tent to find a tarpaulin laid out with 6 mattresses. It was siesta time! After an hours nap we finally started walking. We did just over 3 hours on the first day, starting off with a gentle up-hill gradient, & getting progressively steeper. Along the way we would pass tiny Andean villages consisting of a handful of stone houses with thatched roofs. We would give out our bits & pieces as we went. As we approached our first campsite an amazing mist rolled quickly into the valley, overtaking us just as we reached camp. Our first campsite was 4100m (for comparison, the highest mountain in the UK is just over 1000m). It was pretty chilly up that high, & Will & I both appreciated our down jackets, which were the envy of our fellow 3 trekkers who didn't have them!

The next morning we were woken at 7am by one of the horsemen bringing coca tea to our tent. This tea is everywhere in Peru. It is meant to have a whole list of benefits, with the most important being to help with altitude sickness & upset stomachs. The local people chew the leaves, which didn't interest me at all. By chewing the leaves you get a much greater narcotic effect, & can walk harder & faster for longer. You do however test positive for cocaine for up to a month afterwards! Little wonder then that it's illegal to take coca leaves outside Peru...

The second day was a full day of walking, & almost straight away we were into some serious uphill! It took us about 3 & a half hours to reach the top of our pass at 4675m. The stunning mountain scenery helped compensate for the burn in the legs & the lungs. Once we reached the top we did just under an hour downhill before stopping for lunch. Despite packing up camp & starting a fair while behind us, the horsemen always overtook us, & have the kitchen/dining tent & toilet tent set up for us at lunchtime, & the whole camp set up when we arrive in the evening. One of the horsemen then returns after unloading his horse, & walks behind the group as back-up in case anyone is struggling. As tempting as it was at times, I managed to get by without needing it! After lunch it was another 3 hours or so downhill.

The second nights camp was a lovely spot next to the river. We enjoyed a campfire before another early night.

Our third & final day involved another 3 hours or so hours downhill, deeper into the valley. This was very pleasant walking, mostly along the river. We reached the village of Huaran where our minibus was waiting for us. At this stage we said goodbye to our cook & horsemen. We then drove an hour or so to Ollantaytambo where we had lunch in a local restaurant. We had a couple of hours free time in the town, so Will & I decided to explore the impressive & extensive ruins. At Ollantaytambo we said adios to Domingo, who was returning to Cusco for another tour, & we boarded the train for our trip to Aguas Calientes, the closest town to Machu picchu. Nancy, our new guide for the last part of the trip met us at the station & took us to our hotel. We went out for dinner as a group, then Will & I enjoyed our first hot shower for 3 days, before crashing, ready for a very early start the next morning. Machu Picchu!!!

Setting off on our trek...

We've had a great couple of days exploring Cusco, it really is a cool place. We did the city tour this afternoon which also took us out to 4 Inca sites that surround Cusco. Lots & lots of stones... Will got a bit more excited about them than me. I'm already feeling a bit of ruin fatigue & we haven't even made it to Machu Picchu yet!

We had our briefing for our trek tonight. There is 5 in the group including Will & myself, & our guide seems pretty cool. We are getting picked up at 6am tomorrow morning so this is only a brief post, since we need to pack before getting a good nights sleep...

Will post again in 4 or 5 days after the trek... Might put a few more Cusco pics on then as well, as really don't have time now.

Adios until then...

Will's arrival & Cusco

Will arrived on Wednesday night, so it has been lovely catching up with him. His flight was over an hour late, & considering his body clock thought it was 5am when he arrived, he was pretty tired! We spent Thursday wandering around the Miraflores area of Lima. We went to the markets & chose 2 wall hangings for our new place, & had to show considerable restraint not to get more! We also went back to the "Park of Love" & took silly self-portraits. You can see in the pic below just how foggy & grey Lima is during the winter, it really is quite depressing.

On Friday we were up fairly early for our flight to Cusco. Cusco is fantastic, a very very cool place. Best of all the air was nice & clear after Lima, & we even had some sunshine! We have to readjust to the altitude again though. Cusco is over 3300m above sea-level, & the time spent in Lima at sea-level has undone all the acclimatising my body did in Quito. We took it very easy yesterday, just wandered into the Plaza de Arms which is the heart of the city.

We also wandered a few of the narrow side streets leading off from the Plaza. We found lots of little markets to explore, & I must confess, we did buy matching 'his n hers' Peruvian hats... They were so cute with the little Llamas on them that we couldn't resist!We were pretty shattered by early evening, so went back to the hostel for a siesta. Neither of us had much inclination to go out for dinner, so Will, bless him, went out & bought a take-away pizza & a couple of beers when we then consumed in bed! It was very decadent, but that's what being on holiday is about...

Today we are going to do a few of the sights, while still trying to take things fairly easy. Tomorrow we might do a half-day trip out to the 4 Inca sights in close proximity to Cusco. Then Monday we are off on our 4-day trek! I am very excited about visiting Machu Picchu!!!

Lima -it's growing on me...

I know it's sprawling, chaotic & polluted, but never the less, I've had a really nice couple of days here. It's great to be staying in the one place for a few days after being on the go for a while. It was luxury being able to sleep-in this morning & not have to get up to catch a bus! This is the first place that has actually felt like winter however. From April to December a melancholy coastal fog blankets the whole city, making everything dull & grey. I had to break out a thermal today for the first time this trip. I can't wait till it's cold enough to wear my new down jacket! There is a bit of colour on the streets however, with preparations beginning for Independence day on July 28th. Red & white flags & bunting are going up everywhere, & you can't walk down the street without someone trying to sell you a badge or rosette.

I've enjoyed walking around the streets. I've explored Miraflores fairly extensively, but have no desire to travel into central Lima. This is a really safe feeling area, you can't go more than a couple of hundred metres or so without coming across a policeman or security guard. My favourite place so far is the fantastic Indian market. It is over two blocks of arts & crafts, & the prices are excellent. I bought a few little bits & pieces yesterday, but I'm tempted to get so much. They have awesome big woollen wall hangings for 20USD that would be lovely in our new house... I'll drag Will there tomorrow & we can chose one together, since he's now going to be living there as well...

I also enjoyed Larcomar which is an ultra-modern shopping mall set into the steep cliffs overlooking the Pacific. There were lots of flash souvenir shops there, selling similar things for 5 or 6 times the price of the market. I was amused by the sign at the entrance to the mall saying 'no food, no drinks, no guns'

A bit further along the coastal road I came across Parque del Amor, named for fairly obvious reasons! It had really nice curved mosaic walls which reminded me of Gaudi's Park Guell in Barcelona.

I also managed to find the LAN office to reconfirm our Friday flights. The Lima-Cusco flight is notorious for being overbooked & having to bump people off. While there the lady told me I could check-in on her computer, so I did, meaning we only have to be at the airport an hour before our 9:55am flight on Friday.

Not long now till Will arrives!!! He gets in around 10pm & I've sorted a taxi through the hostel which should be here in 4 hours. Taxis are pretty dodgy here. They were quite well regulated in Ecuador, but here anybody wanting to make some extra cash can call themselves a taxi. Street-vendors sell the stickers & plastic taxi sign which goes on top of the car! You can telephone for official taxis which cost up to 50% more than the unofficial ones. Official or not, none of them have meters, so you have to negotiate the fare before you go.

I'm really looking forward to catching up with Will & showing him the sights tomorrow, then Friday it's off to Cusco!

Arrived in Lima

My first-class overnight bus trip from Piura to Lima was fantastic, well worth the extra dosh. It was 14 hours, but I managed to sleep most of the night. I had a huge plush comfy seat that folded out nearly flat to a bed. We got served dinner, I managed to watch a movie that was actually in English, with Spanish subtitles for a change (all other bus movies so far have just been dubbed into Spanish), & then I fell asleep. Before I knew it I was being served breakfast, & was just out of Lima.

First impressions of Lima aren't favourable, it's huge, busy & polluted. It took about half an hour of driving through the slums, very similar to the South African townships, before we reached the city centre. It's scary to think that nearly twice the population of New Zealand live here, & the poverty in some places seems quite extreme. Driving to my hostel in the taxi we passed loads of police in full riot gear & shields. I'm not sure if something is going on, or if it's just normal.

The taxi ride from the bus office to the hostel was certainly an 'experience'. The traffic was absolutely manic; think 3 official lanes that had morphed into 5, cars weaving in & out of lanes seemingly at will, lots of near misses, horns constantly tooting... My taxi was a beat-up old car that had several lights illuminated on the dash that I'm sure weren't supposed to be... Oh well, I got here safely in the end.

The hostel seems nice, it's in the Miraflores area which is the 'nice' part of town. I'm not sure I even want to venture into central Lima, it has a reputation for being quite dangerous. Miraflores has everything a traveller needs, including a great looking Indian market which has lots of souvenirs & handicrafts. I'm taking advantage of the free internet at my hostel at the moment while I wait till midday for my room to be free. Will arrives tomorrow night so I'll go out to the airport to meet him. We have all of Thursday in Lima, then on Friday we are flying to Cusco which I'm really looking forward to.

Adios Ecuador, Hola Peru!

Well, I made it to Peru without incident. The bus trip wasn't too bad, although I didn't get a huge amount of sleep. 10 minutes into the journey they put on a trashy violent action movie that blared loudly in Spanish until 1am! We crossed the border at around 3:30am. At the border Erin (the Canadian) & myself did get chatted up by a heavy metal band from Lima who had been touring in Ecuador! They spoke a bit of English & were pretty hard-case...

We arrived in Piura at 7am. Erin shipped out straight away on another bus to Chiclayo (she's mad!), & a really nice taxi driver recommended me a cheap, clean hotel that had hot water (bit of a rarity in Piura it appears...) & most importantly, would let me check in at that time of the morning! I hit the sack straight away & managed a few hours sleep.

After a long hot shower & clean clothes, I started to feel a bit more like myself. This afternoon I've been having a wander around the town. It's a gorgeous warm day with cloudless blue skies. Better than the weather in the UK & NZ at the moment from what I can gather! Piura is a nice place with a lovely central Plaza which the cathedral backs onto. It was very quiet, but I suppose it is a Sunday... I found the Cruz del Sur office which is the luxury bus company I wanted to travel to Lima with tomorrow night. I managed to get a first-class ticket for a bus leaving at 7pm, which is perfect. I'm actually quite looking forward to the journey, I've never travelled first-class in my life!!! The nice thing is that the coaches leave from their office, meaning I don't have to travel to the main bus station. In Ecuador at least, the bus stations were the dodgiest feeling places, & are apparently where a lot of theft occurs.

During my wanderings I then stumbled on a huge big western-style shopping mall, which is where I think most of the population of Piura was! I was in a department store, & could have been in any western country in the world. It was quite strange being surrounded by all the familiar brands. Levi's were really cheap though, I might have been tempted if space in my pack wasn't at such a premium! There was an impressive international food court where I'll go back to soon for dinner, it had the first Chinese restaurant I've seen in South America, so I fancy a bit of that... I'm looking forward to a long sleep-in tomorrow morning, as I haven't had a huge amount lately. I'm not planning on doing much tomorrow, just relaxing, & maybe reading my book in the park in the (hopefully) sunshine before catching my overnight bus to Lima.

Baños - Riobamba - Cuenca - Loja

On Thursday I reluctantly left Baños, & started a fairly intensive period of travel, pretty much doing a city a day. I really enjoyed my time in Baños, it was my kind of place, very relaxed & chilled, even if it was where I first came across roasted guinea pig! From Baños it was a couple of hours on a bus to Riobamba.

Riobamba didn't really grab me, it was basically just a busy, fairly anonymous city. My only reason for going there was to ride the famous Nariz del Diablo (Devil's nose) train. The train was meant to leave at 7am on Friday, but unfortunately it was on strike. Apparently you aren't allowed to ride on the roof any more after a Japanese tourist was killed a couple of months ago, so it wouldn't quite have been the same anyway... There was rumour that a private train where you could ride the roof was going to be leaving at 6:30am instead, so I was at the train station at 6 in case, but it didn't eventuate. Because I was already up & about I decided to carry straight onto the bus station & caught a 7:30am bus to Cuenca.

Cuenca was nice, it is Ecuador's 3rd largest city, but it really didn't seem like it. It was very quiet when I was there, with a sleepy sort of feel to it. It was full of narrow cobbled streets, nice plazas & colonial buildings. Because I arrived much earlier than expected (early afternoon, as opposed to late evening if I'd taken the train) I spent the afternoon having a really good wander around. I went for a nice long walk along the banks of the Río Tomebamba river, before retiring for an early night.

My hostel was the very best thing about Cuenca. I was staying at Hostal Macondo & it was by far the best place I've stayed at yet. It was also the most expensive, but by that I'm talking 10USD, so about 5 pounds! It was a beautifully converted old house with lovely indoor & outdoor courtyards & hammocks to chill out in. I was even able to exchange my finished book (John Irving's "Fourth Hand", very very good) for a trashy Danielle Steele that should keep me occupied for a few days. I cooked a standard dinner of pasta, tuna & sauce in the well-stocked kitchen, then was asleep almost as soon as my head hit the pillow...

Today was also an early start. After a fantastic breakfast in the hostel I was on the 7:45 bus for the 5 hour trip to Loja. Arriving at midday I got talking to a nice Canadian girl who was the only other gringo on my bus. We were both heading for Peru, & at the bus station we noticed that there was an 11pm overnight bus heading for Piura in Peru. On a whim we decided to take it. I hadn't sorted any accommodation in advance in Loja, & we were able to leave our big packs with the bus company for the day. That gave us 11 hours to kill in Loja! We've been having a lovely leisurely day... Loja is a nice enough place to while away a bit of time... We found a really nice cafe for lunch, have pounded the streets & markets relentlessly, & are currently killing a couple of hours in an internet cafe!After this we'll have about 3 hours still to go, so will find another restaurant for dinner, then will probably head back to the bus station. The bus is supposed to take about 8 or 9 hours, & we'll cross the border some time in the middle of the night! It's quite nice that the Canadian girl is majoring in Spanish at University, considering my grasp of the language is still almost non-existent. I did however manage to check into my hotel in Riobamba in Spanish, I didn't have a choice really, the receptionist didn't speak a single word of English!

Tomorrow night I'll spend in Piura, then Monday evening I'll catch another overnight bus to Lima. That one is 12-13 hours, so could be a killer, but there are several companies that run luxury camo-buses which have seats that fold out to almost flat beds, & serve meals airline-style. The one I'll try to get on leaves 6pm on Monday. I was trying to book a first-class seat online but it wasn't accepting my card. There were only a few first-class seats left so I don't rate my chances... They are only about 20 pounds, I love the fact I can afford to travel first-class in South America! I'll have 1 night by myself in the hostel in Lima on Tuesday, then Will arrives on Wednesday night. I'm starting to get very excited about seeing my lovely man!!!

The Jungle

Last night I returned from a fantastic 3 days in the jungle. We first drove a couple of hours in a van from Baños to Puyo which is a small town on the edge of the jungle. From there we travelled another hour or so in a pick-up to the Hola Vida reserve. There was only myself & another young kiwi couple on the trip, along with Juan, our guide. Juan was an absolute legend! He was a fantastic guide & knew vast amounts about the local flora & fauna. He was also an excellent cook, & we were constantly amazed by the meals he managed to produce for us. Below you can see him in all his glory!

In Puyo Juan had stopped at a house to purchase some 'firewater' which is basically a local spirit made from sugar cane. A 500ml bottle of 80% proof (in a reused water bottle!) cost 1USD. The first night he made Cubre Libres for us, then the second night he boiled up a syrup of water, sugar & cinnamin sticks, & we drank it warm with the firewater. It was really really good!

We were staying at a private camp owned by Rainforestur, the company we were doing the trip with. It was very luxerious having the whole place to ourselves. The camp consisted of basic sleeping quarters, a kitchen & dining area, a firepit with hammocks around it, & a toilet & cold-water shower. We were up quite high & had amazing views out over the jungle. The first night it was clear enough to see the volcano Tungurahua smoking away.

We spent the days trekking through the jungle, & learning about lots of the local plants & their traditional medicinal uses. We would hike to waterfalls & swim in the pools below them. We also visited a couple of caves which were full of bats. We visited a local Quichuas indian community & admired their handicrafts & had a go on a blowpipe. On the last day we had a trip down the river on a dug-out canoe, then hiked up to a really nice viewpoint.

We were only in secondary jungle on the fringe of the Amazon basin, so we didn't see a huge amount of wildlife. For that you need to travel much deeper into the primary jungle, which we didn't have time for. We still saw lots of huge spiders, loads of giant brightly coloured butterflies, frogs, & even a big snake on our last day. One night we were chilling by the fire & heard a loud rustling noise. We shone the torch & there was a huge flying cockroach about the size of a small hand! We got good at shaking all clothing & double-checking our gumboots before putting them on. I wasn't happy at night until I'd triple-checked my bed, & then tucked the mosquito net tightly all around so nothing could get in.

All in all it was an amazing, if tiring 3 days. This morning, back in the comfort of my hostel in Baños I enjoyed a well-earned sleep-in, before a huge brunch of pancakes, sugar-cane syrup & fresh fruit. The weather isn't too flash today, but if it clears up this afternoon I might go for a walk. When it is clear you can get some amazing views by hiking up some of the steep hills that surround Baños. This evening I think a soak in the hot pools is in order.