Cafayate - wine country

From Salta we headed for wine country about 4 hours south. A cute little bus carried us through the many coloured hills. As usual we were accosted by people trying to sell us accomodation, well one bloke on a bike rolled past and handed us a flyer. And that kind of sums up the pace of this little wine town. It has a good mix of gringo and local. We took up our pursuers offer.

That evening we met a young American guy who had been travelling for about 10 months and knew very good Spanish. We also met a couple of Dutch girls and a Danish girl, and together we hatched a plan to head out into wine country on bikes the next day. After interminable fight with poor machinery we headed off and tasted some altogether very nice wines and rode through beautiful vineyards.
We purchased a couple for consuption that very evening. Even if my back tyre decided to deflate itself half way through. After a hot and great day, the cloud rolled in to give dinner its own natural soundtrack and occasional watery addition. We enjoyed a nice dinner safe from the rain and settled into a nice sleep.

Next day, we decided to head to a local waterfall. Not put off by stories of lost missions to find the falls we set off. For approx 3 hours we scrabbled through bush, climbed rocks and negotiated tricky/dangerous river crossings. In the end we didn´t find the bloody waterfall....

Next morning we had a 5am bus to catch for our 20 hour mission south. Unfortunately for the 3rd night in a row the local disc DJ thought the best policy was no sleep at all, this quiet little town needed Disco! We both stuffed in our ear plugs, but with near disasterous results....

My first words really sumed up how that whole morning was to pan out for us..... ¨Tash, its 4:56am!!!¨ we were a bleary blur as we panicked and ran fast for the bus. Thankfully making it and miraculously without leaving anything behind. The previous nights storm had covered the road with mud slides and rocks, which delayed us by an hour. And then we spent a few hours wandering around a town called Tucuman. But eventually the connection was made and we headed for Mendoza.

Salta - merry xmas!

After weeks of sand, dust and desert, Argentina appeared like a green paradise. And the cows, tasty, tasty cows. (thanks Tash! pearler) We decided to spend Xmas in Salta, in the north. We stayed in a lovely, homely, laid back hostel. On Xmas eve our hostel hosted an all you can eat ´asado´(bbq). In true argentinian styles, we sat down to eat at 11pm. This was our first experience of argentina cow - and it was sensational!! Loaded up with beef and red wine we headed to the roof top balcony for the craziest neighbourhood homemade firework show. Who needs choregraphy when every dog and kid can set off there own at random (some would say dangerous/humourous) angles?

Xmas day, while everyone else in the hostel seemed to amble home drunk from a night of partying. We started the day in true style - champagne, orange juice, strawberries and crossiants. Had a lovely lazy, glutinous day, including a big lunch on the main plaza and Tash decided it would be a good idea to climb the nearest hill overlooking town. Unfortunately the looming storm clouds opened 3/4 up the hill...

We did our best, honestly we did. But the pudding replacement came a distant 3rd to what our stomachs were craving (please keep some in the fridge!)

San Pedro De Atacama - aka desert hippy town

After a long, boring immigration process we made it back into Chile. San Pedro is the home of dredlocks, tatts and bicycles. The latest gringo hotspot. We spent most of our time enjoying the welcome heat in hammocks, resting our weary bones.

Deciding that we might be too sedantry, we joined a tour of the Valle de la Luna. A place that reputably takes on a look of the moon, especially after rain. There is a LOT of salt around. There is a small range of hills that are essentially made of salt, with a little mud sprinkled in. It even crackles when changing temperature. Sunset over the Valley was beautiful with the changing ochre colours and shadows, taken from the top of a massive sand dune.

Next stop Argentina - goodbye desert, hello beef capital!

Uyuni and the Salt flats

The Bolivian roads minister has either the best money-skimming operation or his bugdet is very small (or both), because the road from Potosi to Uyuni (who can pronounce that anyway) was long and slow and dusty and torturous. We got a flat tyre and Tash´s bladder thanked the lord. But it was from this small desert frontier town that we were to begin a highly anticipated trip.

The Uyuni salt flats are a truly beautiful part of the world. We began our three day 4x4 odyssey by heading to the train graveyard where many rusted and gutted hulks rot in the aridity. Then we headed out onto the flats. We visited the ´eyes´ that are pure oxygen bubbling through small pools in the expanse. We then headed to Fish Island in the middle of the white. The white expanse, clear blue sky and the cacti made for isla tres beautiful.








Because of the great expanse of white, its possible to take some interesting perspective photos.






Day two began early with more butt shattering 4x4´ing to lakes with flamingoes, flamingoes with lakes, and lake flamingoes. The famous tree of rock. Our accomodation took a steep decline - we ended up in a mud hut, half burried by the constant desert gale. With no heating, no water and no mattresses we were advised the temp would plummet to -15 overnight. Oh and a 3:30am start.........

The early morning stars lived up to our expectations, but the temperature (thankfully) didn´t.

We headed to geysers (hot springs) where greg was the only one brave enough to walk over the frozen lake to take a dip in the hot springs. Tash on the otherhand decided to accidently fall in... thankfully the warm desert sun eventually sorted us both out.

After a breaky of cake and caramel sauce, we then headed towards the Bolivian-Chilean border and our next stop at San Pedro de Atacama.

Potosi and silver mines

Arrived in Potosi, Southern Bolivia - 4070 metres high (equal second highest city in the world).

Legend has it that Potosi was founded in 1545 when a local Inca build a fire at the foot of a mountain, the fire was so hot the earth started to melt and shiny silver oozed out of the ground. Once the Spanish heard of the enormous amount of silver, centuries of exploitation and slavery began... The silver extracted was bankrolling the Spanish empire.

Eventually in the early 19th century the output began to decline.

Today only a few miners work and make a meager living. Conditions have changed little over the centuries. They spend days underground, often working around the clock. Except on fridays when they smoke, chew coca leaves and drink themselves unconscious. Toxic fumes eventually end their career undergroud.

This morning we got fitted in some snazzy banana yellow jumpsuits, gumboots, helmets, torches and headed into the mines. We crawled through narrow shafts and climbed ladders into little pockets where we found miners chipping away. As thanks to the miners, we purchased and handed out coca leaves, cigarettes, cookies to the kids and dynamite (strangely the guys loved that part). As a final treat, are guide decided to light some dynamite. While greg hung around to the watch the fuze light up, I made a quick exit away from the explosion. The effect was amazing, while we were 30metres away, its impact rippled through our chest cavities.

Tomorrow we head to Uniyi for some salt flat action...

Sucre and wondering dinosaurs

We decided to avoid the 15 hours bolivian bus ride by splurging on a flight from La Paz to Sucre. I was mainly concerned by the bolivian belief that people are able to hold their bladders for 15 hours at a time (and those that know me...)

Sucre is not a bad little town, but not alot to do. We stayed in a funky hotel which Che Guevara reportedly stayed in on his journey through South America. Had the best tropical fruit salad ever at the markets. Mind you the fruit section was right next to the blood, intestines, pig hoofs and what looked like a gutted dog....

The most interesting thing we found about Sucre was the dinosaur tracks. About 15 years ago some workers at a cement factory on the outskirts of town found some dinosaur marks. Experts were eventually brought in (10 years ago) and they realised there were over 6000 tracks from 130 different dinosaurs on this one slab of wall. They are trying desperately to preserve the tracks but erosion and lack of money means the tracks are eventually falling away. Only 2 days before we arrived a whole section of tracks fell to the ground.

La Paz and the World´s Most Dangerous Road

La Paz is a great city to drive into. Across the altiplano there isn´t a lot to give away the position of the city, until you begin to drop into the steep valley that houses this place and it opens out in front of you. We stayed in a hostal that does by far the best breakkie we`ve had so far (yeah to museli and yoghurt!).

We checked out the San Franciso cathedral and the bullet holes in the Granite window which date from Bolivia´s independance in the early 1800´s. We were looking for something for something to do the next day and it was a toss up between two things. If any of you have read the book ´Marching Powder´ you will know about San Pedro Prison. If you don´t then I will give you a quick prece here. If you go to this jail you have to buy your own cell. There are people who live there with 3 story houses! There are restaurants and families and its also one of the biggest Cocaine factories around. You can tour through there for about 75 dollars but most of that goes to the guards as bribes. If you go in you get bodyguards as some of the prisoners resent where your money goes. After hearing/reading a few horror stories, debating over two mountainous ice cream sundaes, we decided to go for the other activity...

The World´s Most Dangerous Road got its name for good reason. When it was the main route there were upwards of 150 to 200 deaths per year on this road alone. Things have improved a lot since the ´New Road´ was built last year. We started out early in the morning and a bus took us to the top of the road 4700m. It heads downhill on Tarmac for quite a while (through the fog, snow and magnificent scenery) until we get to the narcotics checkpoint, which is an excuse for the government to employ more people. Then we hit an uphill bit. 8km of very hard slog that I managed to get through and most (smarter, ie tash) others took the bus. Then the real stuff.

The road itself is narrow and winding and has some very long drops straight off the edge (few hundred metres). But when you are on a full suspension mountain bike your eyes are mostly for the road ahead. It was a fantastic experience that we both really enjoyed and got into. Going through the waterfalls cascading from great heights onto the road, pitying the people who did the trip cheaper who didn´t appear to be well looked after. The photos are the ones that tell the story.......

At the end we landed 3300m below at a tropical animal shelter that was very relaxing, taking a swim as the monkeys tried to get into my pack. We all piled into the bus and headed back up the same road! What a great way to really get a look at what we´d done (and freak tash out). A great day!

Puno and Lake Titicaca.

After a short bus ride across the Altiplano, we arrived in Puno. An enterprising guy travelling on the bus offered us some cheap accommodation that we took up. Puno is a nice little town with the obigatory town square, church and main drag.

We decided to head out onto the Lake the day after we arrived and stay overnight on one of the big islands. The first stop on the tour was the floating islands, where indigenous people ran around trying to get us to buy things and go on reed boat trips for cash. Very weird experience that was too touristy for my liking. We went on to Amantani Island which is the second biggest of the lake. We stayed with a family, which was pretty cool. Played soccer with the kids from the island which nearly killed me for lack of Oxygen. Our ´Mama´ was sweet and really helpful. We got dressed up to go dancing that night, and Tash was a little annoyed that she kept asking me to dance. I bought a beanie from her that she both spun the wool for and knitted. Beats any mass produced thing. We then went by Taquile Island before heading back to Puno. A nice little place where the men knit the hats.


From Puno we added another stamp on the passport as we entered Bolivia. First stop Copacabana. Not quite the Brazilian beach. Headed on the slowest boat in history to Isla del Sol. Inka cultural birthplace, birthplace of the sun. Not much left of that now but was nice to walk. Stayed the night in a little place that cost us 12 dollars for a view of snow capped mountains across the water. Heard about a nice place to stay in Copacabana and was really disappointed when we had to take the exclusive honeymoon suite as it was the only room they had left! Ate a chocolate fondue. Played cards from the hammock overlooking the lake from our perrrrsonal balconnnnny. This travelling gig is hard.

The amazon - and the delights of bugs, spiders and mozzies

Inspired by Indiana Jones, Ive always dreamed of visiting the amazon. I thought i explained to greg the general idea - it would be very hot, very humid and there would be loads of friendly and unfriendly critters... Greg must have switched off during my detailed briefing, because he got a quite the shock when he left the cool safety of the airport. Within minutes we (well greg) was sweating like the proverbial, and generally cursing my....

Despite the heat, the humidity, the bugs, spiders, ants, mozzies and other weird flying objects we both loved the Amazon. We staying in little wooden huts overlooking the jungle. All rooms were enclosed with fly screens, to try and keep things out (as we discovered not very successfully). We went for a number of guided walks through the amazon. We visited a rope canopy walk which was 42 metres above ground, with a step rise to a massive banyon tree at the end. Despite assurances that the canopy walk was safe, I was freaking out big time. We also visited a conservation centre situated within the jungle which had caged monkeys, tucans, snakes, other weird animals and a very cool lady jaguar called "princess".

The next day we were fitted with gumboots. Unfortunately big footed gringo greg had to endure boots that were too small. What we thought it would be a short leisurely stroll through the jungle, turned into a 6 hour amazonian mission. Heavy rains a couple of nights before had flooded the path so we spent the entire walk wading through puddles, clinging to ant covered vines and branches, dodging killer wasps and trying not to stay still for the pouncing mozzies. But it was brillant fun.

The Inka Trail

The Inka Trail. Well for Tash on the night before we were to head off it became the toilet trail. She was quite nastily affected by the aweful pasta dish we both endured that evening. Trooper that she is, took some pills and soldiered on.


We headed out to Ollantaytambo for brekkie, and on the way met the group that we were to walk with. The group consisted mostly of Americans (with an abundance of Chicagoans), a couple of aussies and a parents and son from Kentucky. What an accent! The start of the walk was quite easy (apart from Tash of course) and we headed into the trail. Our guide was a diminutive character called Will who was full of useful information. We passed a couple of Inka Sites on the way to our first camp site. It was nestled in a beautiful spot under some imposing hills. We were all in pretty good shape apart from a couple of girls who decided to pack their kitchen sink.


The second day Tash was going great guns and I picked up a touch of the runs. But I got it out and we crested the highest pass of the trail pretty well and up near the front. Its called Dead Womans pass and its 4200m above sea level. It gets its name from the profile it has when you look from a distance. We got clapped into the camp by the porters who carry closer to 18kgs (instead of my poultry 8), so I wasn´t sure whether to be happy or insulted. They were good guys who had everything beautifully organised. Our tents were up when we got to camp, food was great and plentiful, and basically they knew their stuff.


The third day was the best for walking. The sites we saw were the best and the vistas of the walk were at their best. Its the longest day and ends with a section called the gringo killer. Its basically going downhill on steps for 2.5 hours. Legs shake like jelly at its completion.


The last day we woke early (4am) to get a good spot in the line for the last section of the walk. Its a strange custom that the trail opens at 5:30 in the morning, but guides and groups get up really early (one group at 3am!) to jockey for position. It was raining and foggy as the day dawned and we walked the last of the trail. We´d been lucky with the weather as its the rainy season and the only rain that we saw was at night. The sun gate is the first place you can see the magical Machu Picchu, but all we could see was white. People grumbled, but get over yourselves. Seeing it through the mist was better than a clear day in my opinion. Its a wonderful place that really boggles the mind in its conception and craftsmanship. We wandered around with Will getting the lowdown, taking lots of photos and generally admiring the place. We bonded well with our group and it was sad to leave and head back to Cusco. Overall it was a great exprience that we will never forget.

Cusco

Arrived into Cusco at the ungodly hour of 530, thinking we might get picked up by our chosen hostel. Sitting at the bus station for the next hour without success, we tried to get a cab. A fight nearly broke out between cabbies. Then we switched our hostel at the last minute due to a write up in the bible (lonely planet). A reasonable if not perfect choice.

Cusco is a beautiful place. Once the capital of the Inka empire, the spaniards built over the top of the place after they shot it up. We´ve been wandering around admiring architecture, huffing and puffing with the altitude, and getting asked if we wanted to get a massage. Managed to get saturated one night when the heavens opened and then didn´t stop until morning. Ducked into a roast chicken joint after the fire inside caught our eye as we ran. High fives after our awesome meal.

There are some local Inka ruins that require the most bizarre ticket to see. Its called the Boleto Touristica and gives you access to about 12 sites for a ten day period. If you only want to see less sites you get a different ticket, but if you want that one you need to be persistant because they don´t really want to sell it to you. Two ruins in particular took our eye for the sheer scale of them. The first is Saqsaywaman (or sexy woman) which has massive stone blocks fitted tightly together without mortar. Cusco was originally envisioned as a Puma and this fortress was the head, with military and govenment based here. The last Inka nearly beat the spanish by laying seige from here. Only 20% of the original structure remains, and that is massive. Qenqo, Pukapukara, Tambomachay are also in walking distance from Cusco, beautiful places that had significance. The other that we really liked is Ollantaytambo. Where the Inka´s actually won a battle (their only victory), the terraces fit into the moutain really well and are Huge. I think about 75m up in total. Blocks that weighed 50 tonne. Its the oldest continually inhabited Inka town that retains Inka town planning. The Inkas were very good at getting water to all of their structures with channels and aquaducts. They also built their walls with round balls of stone under them for support during earthquakes. Pretty cluey.

We´re close to the start of the Inka trail and Machu Picchu, the excitement is rising.....

Colca Canyon

The colca canyon is the second deepest canyon in the world. So we thought it would be a good idea to walk into it and then out of it. Normally I would be very happy to do that sort of thing but on the first day, i was not a happy camper. The night before had been a long one due to some stomach lurchings. We began with a bus ride, to the Condor lookout. These giant majestic birds are known to soar very close to the cliffs, looking for food as they get looked at. But there wasn´t much food about so we only saw one. But climbing down the 1000 or so metres into the canyon wasn´t fun for me, but Tash was going great guns. I was getting altitude sickness as well. But our guide, Roy, came to my aide with a chemical smelling liquid that made me throw up, which made everything better. A few Colca remedies when we got down to the little village\hostel also did the trick. The views of this place were amazing. The different colours of the rock, the shear walls, and as we looked up at the path we had come down, you realize how steep it is. There are native people who live down there all their lives and they climb out regularly, with mules and horses. Those beasts are very sure footed but smell appallingly bad. The next day was easier and we made our way along the base of the canyon to a place called the Oasis. The pool here and the fire that kept us warm overnight was great, which however the bed was not. The walk out was hard but good and we both got to the top in good time and good spirits. The bus took us to the hottest hot spring our bodies could handle. What a brilliant way to lose all the muscle pains that we had picked and have a good chat to the group of people we were with. It was a diverse bunch with American newlyweds, an Irish couple moving to Australia, a German couple, an English Lady taking a year off work and us. Straight away its onto an overnight bus to Cuzco and all the Inka sites it holds.

Arequipa

We arrived here in Arequipa (altitude 2350m) at 11pm at night after being on a bus for 8 hours. That was a hell of a road. Stretches of straight followed by stretches of tight curves. We decided to watch the movies on offer and paid the price with motion sickness. Me worse than Tash. But arrived safely in the end.

This town is very cool to walk around in. Its surrounded by hills, a couple of them upwards of 5000m. Tash wants me to call them mountains but i refused. The architecture here is great, there´s something about getting some age in a building to imbue it with spirit and majesty. Visited an old monastery here that was opened up in 1970 after nearly 400 years. The colours and art were really vibrant, yet the vibe was one of tranquility. Found a lookout for the largest of the hills (no Tash, hills) after being refused by one cab, taken to the wrong place by another and walking for 20 minutes. But worth the wait. A great view.

We´re on our way to the Colca Canyon to start a 3 day trip tomorrow morning at 4am. Then straight onto a bus to get us overnight to cuzco. Check back in soon

Pisco and Nasca Lines

We travelled by bus down to Pisco. This little town was destroyed in an earthquake about 18months ago. Would you believe the earth shook for 3 minutes! Went out to the poor mans Galapagos, the Ballestos Islands to see thousands upon thousands of birds, and smell the acrid guano (bird droppings) They mine the stuff for fertilizer. Not a job i want. Penguins and sea lions also abound. Tash was the only person to get gubered, and she got it twice! If that means luck, get a lottery ticket!

Also saw the driest desert in Peru. Two millimetres of rain per year. Was dusty.

The bus ride from Pisco to Nasca was loockshery. We were starving, fading away, considering buying grapes from street sellers to get us by, when the foam container of joy from the hostie appeared. Picante chicken with rice and fries! (everything on the menu everywhere comes with fries). High fives all round. Aus buses could learn a thing or two.

In Nasca we are staying in a quaint little hostal and i can only equate to staying at nan´s house.

Saw the nasca lines by air in this little plane. It was swerving to let both sides of the plane see the desert clearly. It was a very cool thing to see. It was also very good at inducing nausea. Look at the ancient geoglyph, look at the hoizon, look at the ancient geoglyph, look at the hoizon (If you can see it!!). Just about to board a bus down to Arequipa where the next chapter begins. Adios!

Lima Peru

We`ve arrived into Lima Peru. Landed this morning after a bloody early flight. Its colder here than we anticipated. Managed to survive the maniac who tried to kill us while driving us to the hostel. The hostel here is clean and quiet, something Tash is looking forward to as she is suffering quite badly from jetlag. Hasn`t slept for 2 days poor dear. Looking at her eyes, she should do better tonight. And the sleeping pill should help.

Santiago was a nice city and we both liked it there. Had fun and saw some pretty cool stuff. Lovely architecture and squares. We did however manage to have the worst seafood meal EVER. We went to this place on a recommendation. It was sea themed, complete with decour, large fake whale skeleton, the works. This place was like the kitchest place you can imagine, multiplied by ten. Tash had a broth that looked and tasted like it was the water the poor seafood was boiled to hell in. It was the chewiest, oldest, grittiest experience. This is one of those meals that will forever be a marker in the sand. ´at least this isn´t as bad as that experience in Santiago!´ But enough of the bad stuff.....

Tomorrow we head on a 3 hour bus ride to a place called Pisco. There are islands off the coast that are the ´poor mans Galapagos´, so we thought we´d give them a go. More soon....

Santiago!

We've arrived safely into Santiago. For those at the airport, that plane we saw from the observation deck was our bird. The flight was long and felt longer. Neither of us got much sleep on the flight as we were in the middle, and they don't call it cattle class for nothing. Got into the hostel and immediately went to sleep for 4 hours. Feeling a lot better we ventured out for our first experience. Wandering through a new city is always a strange experience, and I am taken by the relative dirtiness of the place. Managed to successfully order our first drink, and our first meal, if quite nervously. Its great being here!

Moving Out

What a strenuous couple of days to begin the tour. The first and most unpleasant job was to clean and leave the apartment. It was sad to see it leave our hands and move onto its next chapter. Its been such a great place, full of happy times and great memories.

We packed up the car and ute, enjoyed a great relaxing evening having dinner cooked for us (you rock James and Mon), our journey began. After dodging rain, bugs and the odd truck, lots and lots of hours later we arrived in Bathurst. With everything intact. Now is the calm before the storm. We've both retired for some downtime before the real action begins. 3 days to go!