Cusco
Cusco is the closest city to Machu Picchu ( the biggest draw for me to come to South America ) and was the capital of the Inca empire. After enduring the longest 12 hours on a bus so far, we arrived to find that as usual, the digs which we had booked were at the top of a hill, and only accessible by stairs ( Arlene hates stairs apparently...who knew ) but the digs were worth the effort.
Cusco was stunning, and somewhere that i could have seen me staying, the area where we stayed ( San Blas ) and the center of the town are colonial Spanish in the way that the buildings and streets look ( small cobbled streets, white buildings, terracotta roofs ) and the whole pace just oozed charm.
By luck we found an Irish bar and were amazed to see food from home, sausage, blackpudding, shepherds pie, chicken and veg soup etc. So every day we seemed to arrive here when we were hungry. After catching up on some football, also in Paddy Flannigans ( champions league at midday with a cold beer, as the sun shines in through an open window on to your back is hard to beat...lol.) we booked our trip to Machu Picchu going for 2 days to allow us to get up and see the sun rising over the ruins on the second morning.
Machu Picchu
As part of the 2 day trip to Machu Picchu we first stopped in Ollantambo to look at the small ruins, before climbing ( in the people carrier ) up the highest mountain in Peru ( 5400 m ). Half way down the far side of the mountain the road on which we were traveling suddenly turned to a dirt track and stayed that way for the rest of the day. It was a little daunting to have a sheer drop at one side of us as we weaved along the dirt track, winding our way through different mountains, being bounced from one side to the other, but in the end we made it safe and sound to the train station to catch our train to the base of Machu Picchu. That night we stayed in Agua Celentes, the small town closest to the ruins, and had an early night to ensure that we would be ok for our early start the following morning. The tickets for the bus start to go on sale at 5 in the morning and by 5.45 we were on a bus heading up to the ruins.
At the ruins the first thing that we had to do was quickly get to the entrance to Huayna Picchu ( the mountain in the background of the ruins ) to book our time to climb up it. There are only 400 people a day allowed to climb it due to it being dangerous ( according to our guide ) and we were lucky enough to make it in to that 400. Yey!!!
We were then taken on a guided tour for 2 hours around the site visiting all of the significant temples, and sights, and was an amazing experience. After that we were free to go around the site and take more photos, before going to climb Huayna Picchu. The climb was incredible, and it was easy to see why the numbers had to be limited, as the "steps" were simply boulders in the hill side and without the ropes to help pull you up in places, there is no way that you would have been able to reach the top. Just to make things a little harder the rain decided to wait until we had started to climb before coming on, making the boulders slippy now. Almost at the top just to make things fun (in Arlene's opinion) there was a small wet dark cave which you had to climb through, and after banging my head, standing in a puddle, and ending up soaking we made it through. So after a lot of effort we reached the top where Arlene collapsed...lol but soon found her energy again once i started taking photos. The view from the top was just spectacular...
The way back down was closed for safety due to the rain, so we had to go back the way that we had came up, and back through the wee wet dark cave AGAIN..., but we safely made it back down in one piece. All in all we took 1 hour 50 mins (the record is 25 mins each way) to complete the climb so we thought that we did not too bad considering the number of photos we stopped to take at the top.
Friday, 17 April 2009
Sunday, 12 April 2009
Lake Titicaca & Copacabana
After having spent the last while between the desert in Atacama and the Bolivian salt flats we dicided that we should probably try to find somewhere with a slightly more water, so we headed up to lake Titicaca. The lake is the highest navigatable lake in the world, and is looking to be considered as 1 of the new 7 wonders of the world ( as was Iguacu falls, but the falls defiately get our vote ) We headed to the southern side of the lake to a place called Copacabana ( not the beach ). The way that the bus went meant that we had to cross the lake in a ferry, but we had to do it seperate to the bus, as the ferry wasn't exactlly state of the art... when the bus was driven on it looked like the ferry would capsise.
The surrounding countryside at the lake was very similar to Scotland in appearance, and we could have thought we were back home apart from the sun shining on us, and it only being april.
In Copacabana itself there wasn't that much to see or do, apart from a stunning Chapel, and possibly the hardest stations of the cross in the world. The stations are spread out up the side of a hill and climbing at this altitude is no mean feat. We were actually congratulated by a local just for reaching th top of the hill... The main idea of going to Copacabana was to use the location to cross the lake to Puno ( Peru ) and onroute see the floating villages of reeds. After looking in to the floating villages some more, and talking to other travelers, all of whom said that they weren't worth going to see, as they were simply tourist traps tryin to sell overpriced trinkets and tat ( I thought that i'd better keep Arlene away...lol ) we decided that it wasn't going to be worth the money. So the following day we set off by bus around the lake and up into Peru and to Cusco ( ater buying quality Fur Alpaca hats....and no they are not tat....lol)
The surrounding countryside at the lake was very similar to Scotland in appearance, and we could have thought we were back home apart from the sun shining on us, and it only being april.
In Copacabana itself there wasn't that much to see or do, apart from a stunning Chapel, and possibly the hardest stations of the cross in the world. The stations are spread out up the side of a hill and climbing at this altitude is no mean feat. We were actually congratulated by a local just for reaching th top of the hill... The main idea of going to Copacabana was to use the location to cross the lake to Puno ( Peru ) and onroute see the floating villages of reeds. After looking in to the floating villages some more, and talking to other travelers, all of whom said that they weren't worth going to see, as they were simply tourist traps tryin to sell overpriced trinkets and tat ( I thought that i'd better keep Arlene away...lol ) we decided that it wasn't going to be worth the money. So the following day we set off by bus around the lake and up into Peru and to Cusco ( ater buying quality Fur Alpaca hats....and no they are not tat....lol)
Friday, 3 April 2009
Bolivia Salt Flats
Leaving San Pedro, we waited on our bus in the hostel at 7.45am we were full of excitement about the upcoming 3 day tour by jeep. By 8 we were a little worried as the guy who took the booking wasn't the full shilling lol... but a bus showed up to pick up it's passengers at the back of 8, so all seemed ok. However we were not on the list, as this bus was from another company. After talking nicely to the hostel owner she looked up the contact number on the internet for us and called...to get an answer machine :O(
Then eventually at 20 past our bus turned up having decided to get us last rather than first as we had been told, so on the bus we went our excitement a little less than before.
Anyways...after driving for 1 hour (passing an active volcano that last erupted in 2007 ) we reached the border between Chile and Bolivia to get our jeep. After a quick lunch we boarded our jeep and set off for the 3 coloured lagoons. Joining us in our jeep were Shimi, ( the funniest guy ever - spoke like Bruno from the ali g show )his girlfriend Eleshia, and Benoit, and we were soon getting along great.
The 3 lagoons were spectacular but all fairly similar apart from the colours ( green, red and white ). After this we went to a natural volcanic hot spring which we could bathe in.( but only for 10 mins cause of the high mineral content of the water, which is not good for your heart) The rest of the day was spent traveling to where we were to spend our first night. Talk about basic....
The toilets were mixed, and stinking, not to Arlene's amusement lol. To flush them you took a bucket filled it with water from a big tub then threw it in to the pan...yuck!!!. As we had arrived at the digs first the 5 of us got the "best dorm" which by 6pm felt like it was - 20 inside. With nothing else to do we broke out the cards and learnt a new game called Yani, which i was shit at and Arlene was the best ( guess who's dictating lol )
The next day we got up at 6 to move on and were glad to see the back of the freezing digs. Last nights problems were soon forgotten as we soon arrived at the area of the stone tree. This is an area of rocks which have been exposed by the wind and left standing proud of the surrounding area. The photo's here were amazing.
Next we moved on to an area of hot mud geysers which stunk of sulphur ( rotten eggs ) but were smart to see. After enduring 2 punctured tyres on our jeep and 1 on the other group that were traveling with us we arrived at our digs for the 2nd night. What a difference, the entire building was made out of salt from the flat, and they had clean toilets, and HOT showers...bliss. Dinner that night was llama, which taste like kebab meat but in pork chop style.
The 3rd day was out on the salt flat itself. The salt flat was once a lake, which dried out to only leave the salt. Over time the thickness of salt has been increased as rain carries salt from the surrounding area on to the flat, which then evaporates leaving more salt. At the moment it is over 20m deep. When on them, due to the lack of background you can play with the perspective and create funny pictures. So check out the pic's on flickr... In the middle of the flat is Fish island...so called cause from a certain angle it is said to resemble a fish. Which after a long climb to the top gave stunning views. After spending much time trying to be creative with our pics we moved on to see the salt mounds which is where the salt is being excavated and dried to sell and to make sculptures for tourists like Arlene to sit on...Another amazing thing about the salt flats is that they create mirage's in the distance and you think you can see pools of water reflecting the mountains, but really it's just an illusion being created from the salt...weird but cool.
This was such an amazing trip. xxxxx
Then eventually at 20 past our bus turned up having decided to get us last rather than first as we had been told, so on the bus we went our excitement a little less than before.
Anyways...after driving for 1 hour (passing an active volcano that last erupted in 2007 ) we reached the border between Chile and Bolivia to get our jeep. After a quick lunch we boarded our jeep and set off for the 3 coloured lagoons. Joining us in our jeep were Shimi, ( the funniest guy ever - spoke like Bruno from the ali g show )his girlfriend Eleshia, and Benoit, and we were soon getting along great.
The 3 lagoons were spectacular but all fairly similar apart from the colours ( green, red and white ). After this we went to a natural volcanic hot spring which we could bathe in.( but only for 10 mins cause of the high mineral content of the water, which is not good for your heart) The rest of the day was spent traveling to where we were to spend our first night. Talk about basic....
The toilets were mixed, and stinking, not to Arlene's amusement lol. To flush them you took a bucket filled it with water from a big tub then threw it in to the pan...yuck!!!. As we had arrived at the digs first the 5 of us got the "best dorm" which by 6pm felt like it was - 20 inside. With nothing else to do we broke out the cards and learnt a new game called Yani, which i was shit at and Arlene was the best ( guess who's dictating lol )
The next day we got up at 6 to move on and were glad to see the back of the freezing digs. Last nights problems were soon forgotten as we soon arrived at the area of the stone tree. This is an area of rocks which have been exposed by the wind and left standing proud of the surrounding area. The photo's here were amazing.
Next we moved on to an area of hot mud geysers which stunk of sulphur ( rotten eggs ) but were smart to see. After enduring 2 punctured tyres on our jeep and 1 on the other group that were traveling with us we arrived at our digs for the 2nd night. What a difference, the entire building was made out of salt from the flat, and they had clean toilets, and HOT showers...bliss. Dinner that night was llama, which taste like kebab meat but in pork chop style.
The 3rd day was out on the salt flat itself. The salt flat was once a lake, which dried out to only leave the salt. Over time the thickness of salt has been increased as rain carries salt from the surrounding area on to the flat, which then evaporates leaving more salt. At the moment it is over 20m deep. When on them, due to the lack of background you can play with the perspective and create funny pictures. So check out the pic's on flickr... In the middle of the flat is Fish island...so called cause from a certain angle it is said to resemble a fish. Which after a long climb to the top gave stunning views. After spending much time trying to be creative with our pics we moved on to see the salt mounds which is where the salt is being excavated and dried to sell and to make sculptures for tourists like Arlene to sit on...Another amazing thing about the salt flats is that they create mirage's in the distance and you think you can see pools of water reflecting the mountains, but really it's just an illusion being created from the salt...weird but cool.
This was such an amazing trip. xxxxx
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