EXPLORING: Welcome to Bolivia!

Day 51-53: Crossing into Bolivia and chilling on Isla del Sol
That morning we woke up at 4am as the bus pulled into Puno on Lake Titicaca fortunately unbeknown to me would be the last early wakeup call for a while. Still in Peru we now had to wait 2hrs in a freezing bus terminal for the first bus to the Bolivian border-post just 3hrs east round on the bank of Lake Titicaca.

Mark and I were quite nervous at this point because we had had only come across info that indicated that as South Africans we would require a visa but for some reason we had it in ours heads that our visa could be bought at the border purely because we had heard that USA citizens could. Fortunately, this assumption was correct but costing us $55 each for 30 days with no option extension at this point. If only we had just spent one less day faffing and strolling around Lima and organised a cheaper longer visa in advance but hey we were just glad not to be back on a bus to Lima and relieved we were not from the USA as they were having to cough up $140 for the same pleasure.



The borders here are quite blasé no one even checks your documents and it's pretty much up to you whether or not you are going to pop into the immigration office on your way across. One foreigner only had his drivers licence on him so when he was told that he needed a passport to get a stamp he simply walked out the office and across the border unhindered.

Now that we were in Bolivia Ross and I parted ways with Mark. Ross and I headed off to Isla del Sol all psyched for our pending trans party, after having missed the first boat as we had not yet adjusted our watches for the time change, and Mark stayed on the mainland later heading up to Lima to collect Kieren from the airport in La Paz.

Lake Titicaca is huge (surface area of 8372km2 compared with the Vaal at 320km2 and Lake Windermere at 14.7km2) and Isla del Sol is nowhere near being in the middle of it but it still took us 1.5hrs to get to it by 'speed' boat. Don't let the 'Sol' part of the name meaning Sun fool you into thinking this is a warm place though let me remind you it's mid winter and this lake is close on 4000m above sea level (compared to Johannesburg at 2000m and Ben Nevis UK's highest peak at 1344m)so when the wind blows across the water it is brrrr cold!



By the time we got to the north side of the island we were exhausted from the now 17hr journey, altitude and freezing cold so there was not much chance of us making much of an appearance at the trans 'party' that was just kicking off on the main 'beach'. Trans party, some of you may ask, well really it was just a bunch of hippy looking people(like maybe 15 at max)jumping around on a patch of grass in the middle of a beach in broad daylight to what sounded to me like really really bad rave music high on something way stronger than your average gin and tonic!

Judging by what we had seen the evening before of the exciting trans 'party' Ross and I made no effort to rush out of bed from under our 3 layers of cosy Alpaca blankets the next morning. In fact, we only crawled out of bed at around 3pm purely out of a necessity to eat at least one meal that day and of course enjoy a beer while watching the sunset from the top of the hill. We didn't do much better the following 2 days encouraged by a bout of sleet and rain.







On our 3rd day on the island I finally finished my book, Inca Cola, a book Ross had given me for my birthday in Feb. I was glad I had only got round to reading it now because it was authored by an English politician who had traveled Peru in the late 80's so I had plenty of experience to now truly understand and appreciate not only the book but also how far Peru has come. There is even a section in the book where the author comes across a few South African travellers made interesting because Peru was one of the few South American countries left that would grant South Africans entry at that time. I could ramble on for hours about the politics but let me just say reading about the interaction between an English politician and an Afrikaaner at this time in South Africans' history makes for an interesting analysis.



After I finishing my book feeling absolutely revitalized from 3 days of good rest we waved goodbye to the hippies who were now begging to make their way home and ourselves headed off on a 2.5hr hike to the south side of the island. Halfway a long our hike a little troll jumped out from behind a rock (not really a troll actually just an annoying Bolivian) and demanded we pay for using the foot path, fair enough it was only the equivalent of $0.50 but it is the principal if you are going to charge someone at least warn them in advance of the charge. This was not to be the last troll we would encounter on the island in fact it turned out they were all over the place popping out at every opportunity. I don't mind paying to visit a place but really these trolls s began to anger the tourists-they should just charge an entrance fee to the island and be done with it.



Day 54: Kieren arrives with treats from the motherland!
Ross and I then spent a night on the north side meeting Kieren and Mark early the next morning. They were greeted by beautiful sunny skies and of course another freaking troll demanding an arrival fee. By this stage I just began warning arriving tourists not to stress about the fee as these trolls were everywhere on the island to which I got a few odd looks but they were soon to find out what I was on about.





Anyway, so it was great to see Mark and Kieren and we were so busy catching up that we hardly noticed the long steep oxygen deprived climb to the top of the hill where we would be staying. Kieren even had a goody bag full of supplies from the motherland: African shirts, gel cycling gloves, delicious sweets and most exciting of all moola from Kerry and Nick only to be spent on a posh meal in La Paz!



The next day or so were great just going for walks in the sun, playing games and of course chilling.









Day 55: We head to the city built on a mountain slope, La Paz
Today we went back to the mainland and headed to La Paz by bus stopping halfway to cross part of the lake by boat while our bus floated along next to us on a rickety barge, don't ask me why they haven't built a bridge but hey it certainly breaks up the journey.



Tomorrow we plan to book a trip to the salt pans and another to the jungle after which we'll hopefully be sitting down to enjoy some of best food La Paz has to offer - thanks again!

Pics can be seen here again mostly courtesy of Ross as my 5 year old camera is not a big fan of the cold!

EXPLORING: Canyons, crampons and volcanoes

A week or so ago I was idly tapping away at my cell while Ross and Mark discussed our next destination, Arequipa, so what with all the hype around Cusco, the gateway to Machu Picchu, I was like what on earth is there to do in Arequipa? As it turns out it is Peru's 2nd largest city at 2380m with over a million inhabitants dwarfed by the towering volcanoes including the Chachani volcano at over 6000m and is the gateway to one of the world’s deepest canyons, the Colca Canyon.

Day 40 to 43: The beautiful city of Arequipa
After taking a day or so to just chill in Cusco we caught an overnight bus to Arequipa. Arequipa is a beautiful city and while still quite touristy it is a whole lot more chilled than Cusco with far less hawkers begging every passing 'gringo' buy anything from a massage to cocaine. In Cusco I dared sit on the grass for a few minutes when a cop came over and told me it was prohibited to sit on the grass so I promptly pointed out the half dozen or so children who had offered me 'marijuana...cocaina' as I had walked by and asked why they chose to police squashed grass blades instead of the drug problem, to which I did not get any response.



In Arequipa we found an awesome little hostel, Hostal Santa Christiana, which has an awesome balcony with a 360 degree view of the city and its surrounding mountains and volcanoes. The hostel owner is just the friendliest and most helpful guy ever and even as I sit here writing this blog he came over with a free cup of coffee I hadn’t even requested.





David, the couch surfer we stayed with in Lima and who we have since met up with in Cusco, put us in contact with a local couch surfer in Arequipa, Rafael, who we spent our first day with taking us to all the top spots around the city while providing us with some valuable and honest advise on the best and cheapest way to explore the surrounding area.





The Arequipa market also tops many of the awesome markets we have been to in Peru. It is clean, chilled and sells just about every fresh produce you could wish for including every type of dog food brand by the cup, dried Llama fetuses to hang outside your front door to fend off evil spirits and Juego de la Rana (juice of the frog), nope not slime from the frog but rather an entire frog in a blender which you get to pick live from the tank (see day 50 below).



The market also played host to Ross's random act of kindness. As we sat sipping a freshly made juice at the juice bar a couple of older cheerful ladies too came to enjoy a juice. So while we bent each others ears with facts about our own countries and languages Ross sneakily paid for their drinks. They only discovered this act once we had walked off and it was so good to peer back to see them smile with surprise as the juice lady told them what had happened. What Ross didn't know was that during our brief conversation we had understood that that day was some kind of religious anniversary for one of the ladies so I'm pretty sure he made their day!

Day 44 to 47: Colca Canyon and the accidental pool party
Rafael had helped us source a good map of the hikes available in the Colca Canyon so we decide to do it without a guide. To start the hike we needed to get to Cabanaconde 5 hours away via Chivay. In order to do the first days hike before nightfall we attempted to catch the 6am bus from Arequipa but as we got to the bus station I discovered I'd left my life at the hostel; my wallet, passport, camera, cell phone, sunglasses, etc so naturally I rushed back and only to find it hiding under the bed sheets I had moved while checking I had not left anything behind!

Unfortunately or rather fortunately while I was looking for my bag the bus tickets so sold out. Ironically, we had told a group of Frenchman that we had met on the Salkantay trail to meet us at the station at 5:30am as we could guide them through the canyon and they were the ones who bought the last tickets by the time I got back!
After discovering the tickets were sold out we bumped into CJ and Kristin who we thought we would never see again after having spent much time with them along the Salkantay trail but we had never swapped contact details. They were heading to Chivay at 8:30am so we joined them with the intention of connecting to Cabanaconde in Chivay. By the time we got to Chivay it would have been too late to catch the next bus to Cabanaconde and hike into the canyon so we decided to spend the day at the local thermal pools and head off first thing in the morning. Just for the hell of it we took a local 3 wheeled mototaxi to get to the thermal baths and landed up having to get out and push it up the hill!



CJ and Kristin later arrived at the pools with a bottle of spirits they had found in town and to our detriment the pools too sold beers and against their own rules served them to us in the pool! We spent 7 hours in the pools finally dragging ourselves out at 9pm so we could go find some dinner in town. The 40 minute walk was awesome because there were no road lights just the light of the stars in the clear sky to merrily lead us back into town.



Naturally the drinks continued to flow at the restaurant which we were lucky to find open at 10am in a one horse town like Chivay where we bumped into one of the very few South African in South America who can like to be on a package tour. So when we finally got back our below budget hostel, which had been reserved for us by a helpful 7 year girl who couldn't even reach the keys when she wanted to show us around and proudly told us that they only had 'aguas frio', we set our alarm with the hope of catching the 4am bus to Cabanaconde.



We awoke at 3:30am with a horrible hangover and just made it to the bus in time but were unpleasantly surprised to find it packed literally to the door yet that wasn't a problem, we were simply wedged in. 3hrs standing on a rickety bus, on a dirt road, rammed fuller than the Northernline from Clapham on a morning growing in temperature by the minute eventually took its toll on us. A few minutes after pulling out of Chivay Ross and I began to regret every sip of beer from the night before as the bus quickly became stuffier and stuffier and we quickly began to feel more and more ill. Ross forced himself a space big enough for him to hit the floor before he passed out as I began to see stars, have my ears go def and just manage to wedge my head into the overhead compartment before I passed out on the German ladies lap below me. All the while Mark further down the isle began to grow more and more panicky about the hypothetical nightmare situation we would be in if the bus had to go flying off the edge of the road.

Fortunately after an hour or so the bus emptied out and we got a much needed seat just in time to prevent us from jumping ship but we were still incredibly grateful to step off the bus at the condor lookout point just outside of Cabanacode. The view into the Colca Canyon and the condors was awesome, a great respite after the bus trip from hell. Once we had viewed the condors in all their splendor we made out way into town where we began our Colca Canyon hike.







The hike was easy, only 3 days with about 3hrs of hiking each day. The 2nd day and night was spent at the bottom of the valley at the beautiful and aptly named Oasis where we enjoyed one of the many pools surrounded by palm trees and of course the magnificent canyon walls.









Day 48 & 49: Chachani hike and altitude sickness
The evening we arrived back in Arequipa from the canyon hike we managed to land a last minute deal with one of the local agents to hike the Chachani volcano but the catch was that we had to leave the following morning.

The hike was only 2 days, the first day we set off in a 4x4 from Arequipa to the base camp at 5300m all of which, except the last 500m or so of accent, was done in the 4x4. The night at base camp was unpleasant to say the least. Once the sun went behind the surrounding mountains the wind picked up and it grew cold rapidly while Jamie, the Australia in our group, had already started to show signs of altitude sickness.









We ate dinner huddled in the guides’ tent and headed off to bed at about 7pm after a hot cup of Coca leaf tea which was supposed to help with altitude sickness. I was sharing a tent with Jamie so after laying in bed shivering and trying to sleep for what felt like an eternity, which is near impossible as it was still early and we had ascended almost 3000m in one day, Jamie's altitude sickness began to set in and had to dive over me and out the tent door to so as not to spray his earlier dinner all over the inside of the tent. Between Jamie, the relentless wind, the cold, the headache that was begging to set in and the pee I really needed to take but didn't because I did not want to climb out over the pile of puke outside the tent and free Willy in the relentless cold I did not get one minute of sleep before the 1am breakfast call.





At 1am we all got up and met in the guides´ tent for cheese rolls and tea. No one had got much sleep what with the altitude and Mark and Ross´s talking as they couldn´t sleep interjected by Jamie’s gut wrenching roars. At 2:30am we finally set off leaving Jamie behind.



About 30 minutes into the hike the mountain took its second victim, Cathy, a French lady who felt that she was too cold and tired to carry on so she headed back to the camp with one of the guides. Only David, the French ladies husband, Mark, Ross and I were left to continue with the remaining guide.

About an hour in still in the pitch dark with a steady gust we hit the first stretch of snow so it was crampon time! We put the crampons on just about loosing a digit to the cold in the process and began the treacherous hike along the snow covered mountainside with the ice pick appropriately posed in our right hand ready to slap into the ice if we began to slip. This hour long section was quite somber, after already having lost a third of the group and with my headache growing worse by the minute I just had to focus my head light on the persons shoes in front of me, keep my breathing calm and plod on one slow step at a time hoping I did not start to feel any worse.





Once we reached the end of the snow section we began to slowly climb Fatima, the peak just in front of Chachani. Halfway up this peak we began to see the sun coming up of the mountain we had now left behind us. Mark and Ross were still feeling fine but David grew weary and had a thumping headache so he headed back with the guide who had come back to join us. I did not feel great at this stage but knew that once we made it over/round Fatima I would see the climb to Chichani and could again reassess. Once we were over Fatima we had another little ice/snow section but I soon saw that our goal was in right. Mark was beginning to feel the altitude in his energy levels and I was finding every step more and more of a challenge to add to the thumping headache which seemed to thump in time to my ever increasing heart rate but Ross seemed to just plod on seemingly unfased by the altitude of almost 6000m.
Once at the base of Chichani we removed our crampons for the second time and were told to leave everything but our cameras behind. We slowly began to climb the last stretch but I steadily fell behind eventually seeing the group disappear over the horizon as I lay slumped on the cold sandy floor gasping for air.



I was so close yet so far but I was determined so I slow started what felt like crawling and clawing my way to the top. Once over the horizon I saw Ross and Mark standing on the top little mound, the only place affording you a 360 view of the area and the official summit of Chachani, but phew I didn't even think I could handle even another 50 cm of ascent. I gave myself a little pep talk and stumbled over almost busting into tears as I reach the summit for one quick picture before making a dash to any other spot that was lower in altitude. The views from the top were absolutely breathtaking and I never thought I could possibly feel that kind of accomplishment after just a 2 day hike but boy was it worth it and man do I have a lot more respect for mountain climbers!



The descent was far quicker taking almost a 3rd of the time getting back at 11:30am and although I was still shattered the incentive of losing altitude fast was enough to get me back to camp. The last thing I felt like was packing up camp when we got but we did it and then spent a welcome hour lying in the sun waiting for the eagerly awaited 4x4 to take us back to Arequipa and more importantly more oxygen!





Day 50: Frog juice and off to Bolivia
Tonight we head to Bolivia a little earlier than expected as there is a festival on Isla del Sol this weekend which is as good reason as any to get to an island sooner rather than later. But before we head off first we must go past the market where one of us will get to drink a Juego de la Rana - see video below.



All the pics can be seen here many of which Ross took.

EXPLORING: Cusco and Salkantay trail to Machu Picchu

Ross has now joined us so after making up for lost time by consuming too much beer and eating Anticuchos (cow heart) in Lima we started making plans for the next three weeks.



Day 31 to 34: Cusco - gateway to Machu Picchu
The day after Ross arrived in Lima we made a beeline for Cusco on what was supposed to be a 20 hour long bus ride but it turned out to be some what longer after breaking down before we had even left Lima. So, after what felt like an eternity of US action films translated into Spanish we eventually made it to the beautiful city up in the mountains.



Cusco is bigger than I had thought as it has about 40000 inhabitants of which 90% seemed to be tourists when we first arrived in the centre of the city. The first night was spent out on the town with a couple, Tuti (Brazilian/Spanish) and Amanda (Canadian), who were also couch surfing at the same house/school that we were surfing at. Oddly though we landed up spending most of the night out at the rather kitsch yet popular and equally pricey (even worse than London) Mama Africa and Zazu's night clubs!



Juan Carlos who's family helped us out in Chimbote was again putting us up with a place to stay in Cusco this time at what used to be an old kinder garden. Sadly though Juan Carlos was away so we still have not met him but his brother Julian let us in and has been looking after us. We practically have our own room, bathroom, lounge, kitchen and laundry to utilize! We owe Juan Carlos and has family big time!



Having our 'own' home in Cusco has been great and has allowed us to again explore the less touristy parts of the city while being able to hunt down the best way to hike to Machu Picchu. Basically the Inca Trail is controlled by government permits most of which the agents hold so they can name their price which is anything up to $500 for the 4 day hike. So we looked at the popular but not controlled alternative, the Salkantay trail, which can be done solo or through an agency and you guessed it we decided to go solo! No donkeys, no Sherpas, no prearranged transport, nada just us, tents, sleeping bags and 5 days worth of food and warm clothes!




Day 35 to 39: Salkantay trail to Machu Picchu
The trail we had decided to do on our own turned out to be fantastic plus we saved a fortune doing it ourselves however a donkey for the first 2 days would have been a welcome addition!

Day 1 started in Mollepata about 3hrs from Cusco so we had to be on the 5am bus to get an early start. The first day was relatively easy even with our bags fully loaded as we had not yet eaten any of the 5 days worth of food. I even had 2 loaves of bread slung over my shoulder for the first 2 days!



That night we camped in a beautiful valley below the snow capped Salkantay peak so the minute the sun went behind the mountains it became freezing cold. Not long after we had arrived at camp we had our sandwiches, took advantage of the little beer stall and headed off to bead before we froze to death with a beer in hand.





Day 2 was the longest and hardest by far. The morning started with a steep climb which made me quite jealous of CJ and Kristin, a couple from Colorado we had met at the first camp, who were also doing the hike solo but had managed to find a local man and his donkey to accompany them on their first 2 days which were known to be the toughest.



We saw CJ and Kristin quite a bit along the hike as they were one of the only others doing it solo. It was quite funny because we new we had seen them somewhere else on our trip before but couldn't place them, eventually we remembered we had seen them on a bus in Trujillo and they stood out there because they were the other only 'gringos' attempting to navigate the local transport. It turns out they are both at med-school and had got engaged in the Cordilla Blanca mountains around the same time we were hiking there! Great couple so hopefully we bump into them gain.



The rest of the day's hike was long but mostly downhill and we walked through some of the most varied vegetation from chilly dry dusty hilltops to lush tropical valleys awash with gushing rivers. That night we slept well camping on a nice cushy patch of grass with a somewhat warmer climate.









Day 3 felt like a bit of a cheat because after about 5 hours of hiking we got to a little town called La Playa where we caught a taxi to Aguas Termales hot pools where we would spend the afternoon and night. We could have hiked along the road but we would then not have had the day at the pools which was awesome! There were a number of hot pools there with pebble bottoms and hot water flowing straight out of the mountainside into the pool making for an absolutely amazing setting and a much needed hot bath! Our camping spot was right next to the pools so the the other hiking groups who were not staying by the pools were quite jealous.





That evening at the pools felt a bit like a night at Bela-Bela warm baths resort with a Lost City like setting however it was all the real deal! We met a great group of people there who were hiking with an agency, one of the few who got to stay at the pools. We swam, played a mystery game and enjoyed some beer with them well into the evening, a place you would miss on the Inca Trail, but a place I would not like to have missed out on!



Day 4 we pent most of the day walking along the railway line towards Aguas Calientes which lies in the shadow of Machu Picchuso so the views were beautiful all along the way. After hiking literally on the railway line for a couple of hours by either hopping from sleeper to sleeper or stumbling along the stones strewn between and next to the line we had had enough and were certainly ready to arrive at Aguas Calientes.





Aguas Calientes is a beautiful little town set in the most amazing valley however it has been spoilt by people haggling every passing tourist to eat at their overpriced restaurant. We of course, after having fought off many a haggler, found the bargain local place where enjoyed many a delicious meal.



The train up from Cusco carrying the less agile tourists (thus avoiding the term 'fat Americans' which seemed to be all too well thrown about by many of those who had hiked for 4 days to get there) terminated in Aguas Calientes so there were many tourists preparing for the trip up to Machu Picchu first thing in the morning. Above Machu Picchu there is a second attraction called Winay Picchu which looks back down on Machu Picchu and has great views in all directions but has a very steep climb and is limited to the first 300 people. So in order to be one of the lucky few you have to be at the gates of Machu Picchu first thing in the morning then quickly make your way across Machu Picchu to secure your place in the queue outside of the gates to Winay Picchu. However, this means you also have to have beaten the people on first 25 tourist buses up the mountainside to the gates of Machu Picchu, which are rumoured to arrive at 6am.

Day 5 we hopped out of our tents at 3:40am starting our climb at 4:00am. Mark and I were not shy to go striding past the half a dozen Frenchman who had started their journey wee bit before us but of course Ross being somewhat more polite chose to casually climb behind them, either that or he couldn't take the pace! We arrived at the gates to Machu Picchu first in 35 min after having been told it would take 2 hours to climb.



It became quite festive on the staircase outside the gates about 20 min after we arrived and at 6am the gates opened and quite annoyingly we had to quickly make our way across Machu Picchu to the gates of Winay Picchu. Mark and I were again the first to the top of Winay Picchu and Ross again arrived a little bit later after politely waiting for the the few Frenchman who'd made it past him in the mad dash across Machu Picchu.





It was amazing being at the top so early in the morning and watching the sun come over the mountain tops. Mark and I were wishing we had brought a silly hat along with us so we could leave it on the top rock telling everyone that came up for a photo that it was the sacred hat and it should be worn in all photos – man that would have made me laugh.







We spent some good time up there and we even bumped into CJ and Kristin which was good because we hadn't seen them making a move out of their tent at 4am as they had planned. Later we made our way down and back to Machu Picchu taking in the midday sun very thankful we'd done the hike up before sunrise. Something we did not know until Ross spotted it is that if you have a look at a photo taken across Machu Picchu towards the Winy Picchu and turn it on its side you will see an image of an Inca man's face!







Later that day we made our way back to Aguas Calientes for lunch before I headed off on the train back to Cusco through the Sacred Valley. Mark and Ross chose to save the $30 on the train ride by walking back up the railway line to catch a bus back to Cusco from near Aguas Termales. A route which landed up taking them 8 and a half hours to get home!

My trip back was good with great views but I landed up nodding off missing much of the Sacred Valley however I did manage to explore a bit of the Inca ruins in Ollataytombo along the way. Was good to get back to our couch surfing home with enough time to do my washing and climb into a very comfy cosy bed!





To see all the pics click here.