Buying all the bits necessary to get to Machu Picchu at the last minute is a right palava. The sensible option is to have booked something like the Inca trail well in advance, however right from the start we'd decided not to be tied down by The Man and had been winging it. So on arrival in Cusco we got straight onto the job of getting ourselves to Machu Picchu. We didn't have enough time left (nor the energy and inclination) to try and get a last minute spot on a trek so we went for the train option. This is where it gets pretty complicated as we had to go buy our ridiculously expensive entry tickets to Machu Picchu itself, buy ridiculously expensive train tickets, buy transfers to/from the train (which goes from another town an hours drive from Cusco) and arrange a night in a hostel at Aguas Calientes which is kind of like base camp for Machu Picchu. Despite the effort and the huge expense, doing it this way saved us a fortune so it was probably worth it.
The massively over priced train to Aguas Calientes
After all the planning bits we got down to enjoying ourselves in Cusco which is a really nice place. We wandered up the steep sided hills to some other Incan ruins just on the edge of town. We celebrated St Patricks day in an Irish bar. We made the most of the fact our hotel room had an en-suite bathroom with an actual full size bath with hot water! And I made a secret little trip to a trinket shop to buy a stand in engagement ring for Lucy (a bargain at <£2).
Looking down onto Cusco
Breakfast :-)
The cool little bull statues on all the buildings around here - they bring good luck
From Cusco we then made the trip to Aguas Calientes and stayed in a quiet little hostel right next to the river and really close to the hot springs. Aguas Calientes is a hugely touristy spot as it's the closest habited place to Macchu Piccu. When we went it wasn't too busy so we were spoilt for choice of dismal looking places to eat. Despite everything it has quite a lot of charm, particularly with such an impressive setting and with such an angry river, and we had a nice evening going for a dip in the hot springs and getting an early night to prepare for an early start the next day.
The hot springs at Aguas Calientes - pretty skanky to be honest but nice and warm
We got up before dawn to catch one of the first (really expensive) buses up to Machu Picchu and to be able to sit and watch the sun rise up there. This was well worth the early start as the place is breathtaking and it's made even more so by the light caused by the rising sun. It also meant the place was pretty quiet so I could wait until we were on our own for my cheesy proposal to Lucy. Fortunately she said yes!
We then had a really nice day exploring Machu Picchu with the aid of an audio guide I'd downloaded onto my phone. It was really interesting, if a bit weird that because of the Incans lack of writing skills nobody really has a clue what the place is about. So you're listening to all these facts when actually it's mostly speculation.
Post-engagement
Sun rising
Cute baby alpaca at Machu Picchu
When we got back to Cusco we were pretty tired and kind of unsure of what to do next. We were left with about a week before we had to be in Lima to fly home and had to choose our route carefully so we didn't have to rush at all. On reflection we picked well in heading for Arequipa and joining a 2 day organised tour of the Colca Canyon. Basically we didn't have to think too much and we got to see a canyon that is twice as deep as the Grand Canyon.
The Colca valley just before it turns into a canyon
A Condor - pretty ugly and massive
The Colca canyon
One of many weird statues in Chivay where we stayed overnight on our Colca canyon tour
From Arequipa we got our last overnight bus to Lima (which this time included in-bus entertainment in the form of bingo) from where we got a transfer to the small beach resort of Punta Hermosa. This is a great surfers paradise with a really nice laid back feel and it was really appreciated to be able to spend the last few days of our South American trip surfing and sun bathing on the beach.
A good (bad) nights sleep on an overnighter
Pretty good waves at Punta Hermosa
With our flight back to the UK not leaving Lima until 21:00 it meant we got to spend a full day exploring this city too. Despite hearing largely poor reviews of the place (mostly relating to the very clear gaping divide between rich and poor here) we enjoyed exploring the downtown area and ate some great food.
Guinea pig - an undeserving delicacy
Downtown Lima
So then we headed back to the UK to continue the journey. We stayed with family in the Midlands whilst looking for work. It was pretty awesome to experience the retired lifestyle whereby popping to Morrisons forms the most stressful task of the day. It was also great to pop to see everyone in between trips to the job centre, filling in application forms and going to interviews. Thanks to all for your hospitality.
We'd decided not to go back to Plymouth as we wanted to be closer to our families, we fancied a change of scenery and we'd come to conclusion that we both love big cities. So we started looking for work in Bristol, Birmingham and London. Luckily before too long I'd found a job with Expedia and so we had to quickly rent and move into a flat in London which is where we are now. Poppa large, big shot on the east coast.
I hope to see you soon, we have a spare room in the flat so please feel free to pop by any time. Looking forward to the next part of the journey - getting married in August!
Lucy's actual real engagement ring made to order by Nicola Hurst
Love from,
Ralph x
Notes:
Two of my favourite named places were in Lima: Norky's (a fried chicken chain) and Topitop (a clothes store, presumably specialising in tops).
In Peru there are loads of statues of a chap called Ekeko who is the god of abundance. He's this moustachioed dude who chain smokes and to which the locals attach offerings. I'm not sure why but I love this little guy.
Ever lain awake at night troubled by what would happen to the colour of your jet black surfboard bag if you'd left it out in the elements on top of a campervan for 7-8 months? Well here you go:
We'd been mildly shitting ourselves about the next leg of our trip along the Altiplano from San Pedro de Atacama in Chile to Uyuni in Bolivia. The only way to cross the vast barren landscape is by placing trust in a guide and their 4x4. The risks are still surprisingly high with altitude sickness, weather, rogue guides, crashes, breakdowns, blah, blah. A simple read of TripAdvisor shows how often travelers have a negative experience in this wilderness. We'd met travelers along the line who'd done the tour with horror stories of their drivers being drunk or falling asleep. One couple we'd met in Argentina said that two of their group had to take over the driving because their driver couldn't stay awake.
Luckily for us we had nothing to fear, our tour operator Cordillera Traveler were exemplary and our allotted guide Juan was a dude. We did the tour in a convoy of three jeeps with five passengers in each jeep. The accommodation and food were certainly basic but a lot better than I'd expected. Juan knew a lot about the area and pointed things out for us and answered our questions (albeit with a slightly frustrating language barrier). And for those of the group unfortunate enough to be struck by altitude sickness they had a stash of some mystery pills which sorted them out.
I don't think there can be that many places left on the planet where as a tourist you can feel so vulnerable and isolated. For the three days spent crossing to Uyuni we would occasionally bump into other tours at key milestones but were otherwise basically alone in the most spectacular of settings. I'd go as far to say that this has been the highlight of the trip.
The Chile-Bolivia border and the start of the tour
To start the tour we climbed up from San Pedro de Atacama (2500m) to the Chile/Bolivian border (4000m), a pretty lonely place manned by a pair of exceptionally humourless officials. After the long long wait to have our passports stamped we boarded our jeeps and set off climbing ever upwards to a dizzying 5000m above sea level. Other than a bit of dizziness and shortness of breath we were otherwise unaffected. Unlike a girl in one of the other jeeps who we subsequently found out had passed out and stopped breathing. Scary stuff.
Fortunately up there on the altiplano it's virtually impossible to take a poor photo. As such it'll be much better to tell the story of those most spectacular three days in storyboard form:
The first of MANY lakes - this is Lagoa Verde and those little piles of rocks are made by tourists.
Somewhere in the middle of nowhere
Chilling out in a natural hot spring at 4500m
Flamingos on Lagoa Colorada late in the first day
Home for the first night in a very basic hostel at nearly 5000m
Bubbling volcanic mud pools with some geysers too
Rocks
Reflective
Bloody love this photo. Neeeee-yyy-aaaawwwmmmm.
Nice spot for a picnic lunch
Home for the second night, still basic but at least there's mains electricity
Train graveyard at Uyuni
Messing about with the crew (Pauline, Joe, Eliza, Lucy and moi) on the huge salt flat: Salar de Uyuni
It's quite something that even those people who shared near death experiences desperately trying to keep their drunk guide awake come away from the Uyuni tour blown away by it.
From Uyuni we caught the train to Oruro which departs at an unforgiving 1:45am. It's either that or take an overnight bus on unpaved roads - not much sleep to be had there. The train was pretty good fun in the end and we got to experience another mode of transport. Arriving in Oruro we went to the bus station to catch a connection to La Paz, Bolivia's capital city. As an added bonus whilst having a coffee, waiting for the bus, we got to witness and confront the most unlikely of thieves try to steal Lucy's handbag. This pair of old blokes sat on the table next to us and out of the corner of my eye I saw this bit of coat hanger inching towards our bags. The end of the wire had been cunningly bent into a hook and was being used like a fishing line. Cheeky old git. Kind of like being robbed by your dad.
Poop poop - all aboard the Wara Wara express
The arrival to La Paz is quite unique as the road descends into a steep sided valley surrounded by snow capped mountains. Every available inch of land, even up the near vertical walls of the valley, has been built upon.
The view on the drive into La Paz
We stayed in La Paz in quite a nice hotel for a few nights to recover from the long distances we'd covered. It's a good thing we did as on the last day whilst waiting for our lift to the wrestling we got to see the strangest of processions. Apparently in the build up to the main carnival at Easter time, every Sunday locals get shit faced whilst marching around. Note in the videos that everybody has a beer in hand.
Once the procession passed we were at last able to be picked up and taken to the Cholita's wrestling in the outskirts of La Paz. I'd heard about this from another traveler we'd met along the road and to say I was pretty excited about it would be an understatement. It was definitely an experience. If you've seen Louis Theroux's weird weekends where he accompanies some US amateur wrestlers then you're on the right tracks. Just lower the budget, make the local crowd more enthusiastic (screaming old ladies in bowler hats) and remove all safety precautions and you're there. The highlight match was Batman and Robin versus Evil Spiderman and Miscellaneous Green Clad Character (MGCD), particularly when MGCD threw Batman over the barrier into the front row of the audience (us). Lucy got a bat boot to the forehead. Luckily she came away with no lasting injuries.
I think this was taking place in the local school gym
Our next destination was Lake Titicaca where we stayed in Copacabana, the Isla del Sol and Puno. These were a really peaceful few days where we did a lot of relaxing and a bit of walking. We also did a hugely cheesy trip to the floating islands of Uros where in the past locals fled abuse from Incans on the mainland to build islands from reeds on the lake. Now it's pretty evident they mostly live back on the mainland and just dress up and pop out to the islands to milk the tourists.
ALL TOURISTS VISITING LAKE TITICACA WILL BURRRRRNNNNN
Lucy returning from the rather basic toilet facilities on the floating islands of Uros
From Puno we caught a touristy bus to Cusco which stopped at a load of sites en-route. A good warm up for Machu Pichu.
Early colonial church near Puno. Love its setting.
I f**king love mummies. These ones are pre-Incan sacrificial mummies.
A big Incan site called Raqchi
So we've now been through Bolivia and have entered Peru. Only two weeks to pack in A LOT before we fly out from Lima.
Bolivia: Bodacious
Love to all,
Ralph xx
Some notes:
I'm not sure if one of the side effects of high altitude affected just me as I'm not sure how best to phrase the question to other men and I've not read about it in the guide books. Anyway, during my acclimatisation phase I found it difficult to go for a number one. Perhaps it's because my body had prioritised blood flow and therefore oxygen. But let's just say there wasn't much purchase.
I have a theory the new Argentine pope has infiltrated the church to inflict revenge for the appalling abuse suffered by the South Americans at the hands of colonizing Europeans in the name of Catholicism. Or maybe I'm being carried away by all this Incan stuff.
Traveling on overnight buses is a pretty good option altogether, your accommodation for the night is included and if timed correctly it's possible to have a full day at both origin and destination. The trouble is they are massively confusing so on arrival at around 10:00 in Buenos Aires I had even less concept about which day we were on, how far we'd traveled and whether I should be going straight back to sleep after arriving at the hostel. After a supremely heavy nap we wandered out to explore the San Telmo district where we were staying.
This formed a pretty useful landmark. Turn right at the giant donkey riding a bicycle.
It's a nice little area with a quirky character and some great bars and restaurants. That evening we headed to an Argentine grill and completely mis-judged how much cow to order from the menu. Delicious food and comically grumpy service. Perfect.
Fortunately we managed to mime "doggy bag" and ate the rest the following evening.
The next day we wandered to the La Boca district in the morning which didn't really offer all that much. So we wandered to the Puerto Madero which is an area on the banks of a canal. It was a bit more swanky and was a fairly nice wander but otherwise didn't really offer all that much either.
Welcome to La Boca, a place entirely inhabited by muppets.
CRANES
The next morning we went on a walking tour of downtown Buenos Aires which was pretty good. The guy leading the tour was properly enthusiastic, describing one of the roads as the widest avenue IN THE WORLD (which it isn't - the widest is in Brazil).
The "Pink Palace" - the Argentine equivalent of the White House. The
barriers are to keep demonstrators out, of which we were told there are
on average three different protests a day.
On our penultimate day we headed to the Palermo district where Lucy went shopping and I went to the Museum of Latin American Art. Oddly they had a temporary exhibit of some video works by Tracey Emin which turned out to be the best thing there. On the last day we went to the San Telmo market which is chock full of junk and watched some Tango whilst having a coffee in a plaza. I'd summarise Buenos Aires as "fairly nice".
It's a monster. Made out of marijuana.
We caught another overnight bus north west to Córdoba, Argentina's second city. It's famous for its huge and historic university founded by Jesuits exiled from Spain. The reason I know that is we did a tour of the university which was really interesting. We discovered that the original founders were quite sadistic towards their PhD students who had to sit a three day long grilling from the seniority of both the university and the town. Should they fail this ordeal they would be pelted with rotten fruit by the locals on dismissal from the test chamber. Good incentive to pass I suppose.
What is it about Argentines and protesting? This is a student protest in Córdoba for what reason I know not why.
We also took a day trip to Alta Gracia where we visited the house Che Guevara grew up in.
I never dreamed I'd be able to say I've been in the same room Che Guevara took a crap. ¡Viva la Revolución!
From Córdoba we caught a bus to Tucumán which we got to spend a few hours exploring before catching a connection to Cafayate. Not much going on in Tucumán but the people seemed friendly enough.
Cafayate is a tiny little town in the Valles Calchaquíes. Nice enough for us to spend three nights there relaxing and trying some of the locally produced Torrontés wine. In addition to touring wineries we did a tour of the Quebrada de las Conches. Some beautiful rock features.
Multicoloured rocks in the Quebrada de las Conches
Our last stop in Argentina was Salta, a really nice small city nestled up close to the Andes and the borders of Chile and Bolivia. We only had one full day which we spent wandering the city centre and visiting the Incan archaeology museum where they have on display one of three mummified sacrificed children found on the top of a nearby mountain. Very spooky due to how well the little girl had been preserved.
Not my photo obviously
Leaving Argentina we caught the bus bright and early for the mammoth day-long trip into the Andes to San Pedro de Atacama in Chile. The spectacular views out the window made up for the 12 hours stuck on a bus. Even when the bus overheated and conked out having climbed to 4000 metres above sea level. Atacama was an ok very tiny place. We only really stayed to acclimatize before heading on an off road, three day trip along the Altiplano to Uyuni in Bolivia. More on that later.
Bright and early start in San Pedro de Atacama before joining our tour to Uyuni
Argentina: Awesome.
Love to you and yours,
Ralph xx
Some notes:
Argentina has the biggest beer bottles IN THE WORLD. 1 litre bottles which you have to pay a deposit on and return. Just like Corona bottles.
We saw a middle aged man sat on the ground chomping on raw meat just outside San Telmo market in Buenos Aires. Was he mad, hungry or both? Sadly we'll never know.
