Nice way to relax on a summer's afternoon...
The balcony of Vincentia Holiday House 'Constellation'
Find it on Stayz > Vincentia Accommodation
Monday, November 30, 2009
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Salar de Uyuni (salt flats) and Lakes
Another overnight bus took us to Uyuni where we began our 3 day tour of the salt flats and crazy coloured lakes. We booked the tour at 8am and left Uyuni at 10.30am, all very off the cuff kind of stuff...
Before getting to the salt flats we stopped at what they call the "train cemetary", old steam trains, apparently from England, just left to rust on the outskirts of town. There must have been at least 20 trains there.
We were absolutely awe when we got the salt flats themselves, and had to take the obligatory "no depth of field" shot, i.e. Cate holding mini-Simon...
Before getting to the salt flats we stopped at what they call the "train cemetary", old steam trains, apparently from England, just left to rust on the outskirts of town. There must have been at least 20 trains there.
We were absolutely awe when we got the salt flats themselves, and had to take the obligatory "no depth of field" shot, i.e. Cate holding mini-Simon...
We carried on from here in the 4x4 to the Islas Pescadore, litterally an island in the middle of what used to be an ocean. Check the video...
The cacti were very cool, Cate had been waiting the entire trip to see cactus that look like they´re supposed to look...
After lunch we crossed more of the salt to our lodging for the night, a building made entireley of salt, pretty cool. We only had power for a couple of hours at night, but enough to charge the camera battery for the following day.
It was a long day in the 4x4, but we got to see loads of flamingoes in the various lakes we went to. These two are the rare James Flamingoes, feeding on some algae.
Cate was somewhat shutter happy (undstatement of the year) and took hundreds of photos of the flamingoes that we´ll share with you when we get back.
That night´s accommodation was probably one of the most basic of the entire trip, but it didn´t matter too much as we were woken at 3.30am by our guide to go and see the geysers at sunrise. They were fairly calm and were only shooting steam, appparently when they are more active they shoot mud and boiling water, making it a bit dangerous to get close to them. It was really cold up there, 4965m so warming our hands in the hot steam was really nice.
From there we continued on to some hot springs where our guide told us there was no breakfast unless we got in to the hot baths. They were lovely and warm, but we both bottled out due to the freezing air temperature and the fact we only had hand towels with us. Still, it was beautiful to see the sun come up over the moutains.
After breakfast, we were taken to the border with Chile, which seemed to take ages to cross, but eventually we arrived in San Pedro de Atacama, in the Atacama desert - the dryest desert on earth.
We staying in a really nice hotel here with hot showers, pool and internet, a nice change from the last few days.
So, a very Merry Christmas to everyone, we miss you all loads and are looking forward to seeing you very soon.
Lots of love,
La Paz
We took an overnight bus from Copacabana to La Paz, which wasn´t the most comfortable ride due to the road been somewhat dodgy, but we made it.
La Paz is the highest capital city in the world at 4000m! Everywhere you walk it´s either uphill or downhill and at that height it´s hard work.
The city was very much like we had expected, lots of old colonial buildings, ladies in bowler hats and impromtu street markets on every corner.
This cathedral on Plaza Murillo looked like it was about to fall down...
La Paz is the highest capital city in the world at 4000m! Everywhere you walk it´s either uphill or downhill and at that height it´s hard work.
The city was very much like we had expected, lots of old colonial buildings, ladies in bowler hats and impromtu street markets on every corner.
This cathedral on Plaza Murillo looked like it was about to fall down...
Despite the hills, we did plenty of exploring and seeing a completely different culture to anywhere else we´ve been.
Copacabana, Bolivia
OK, OK, it´s been a while since the last post, we´ve been busy having a great time in Bolivia!
We got our flight out of Cusco to Juliaca, then taxied it to the Peru - Bolivia border, then walked, into Bolivia, ok it was only a 100m, but still, pretty cool walking into another country. Copacabana sits at the southern end of lake Titicaca, and what a beautiful setting after the hustle and bustle of Cusco. We really scored with our hotel! --->>>
We got our flight out of Cusco to Juliaca, then taxied it to the Peru - Bolivia border, then walked, into Bolivia, ok it was only a 100m, but still, pretty cool walking into another country. Copacabana sits at the southern end of lake Titicaca, and what a beautiful setting after the hustle and bustle of Cusco. We really scored with our hotel! --->>>
We had the whole place to ourselves. Downstairs was a massive round bed (that was a first), and upstairs two hammocks to chillout in, both with uninterupted views of the lake, stunning!
Both nights we were there, we were treated to spectacular light shows like this!
So yep, a great way to start our week in Bolivia.
Monday, December 15, 2008
Cusco & The Inca Trail
Cusco is busteling city of 1.5 million people, although you wouldn´t think so to look at it. It sits at over 3000 metres, so the air was a little thinner than Arequipa. It was originally the Inca capital and then conquered by the Spanish Conquistadors about 5 centuries ago. The spanish influence is apparent everywhere you look.
We sat at a bar overlooking the Plaza de Armas (seems every town here has a square of the same name), and were spoilt by the brightest rainbow we´d ever seen - no wonder the Inca flag is like a rainbow...
We had our briefing for the Inca Trail that night so were well prepared for what was to come the next day.
We were picked up from our hotel at 6am and taken Ollantaytambo (not sure of spelling there) where we picked up some walking sticks and last supplies. The first days trekking was fairly easy, more undulating than anything, but the last half hour to our first camp was pretty tough.
There were six of us in the group, 2 guides, a chef and 9 porters to carry all of our gear, tents, sleeping bags etc. The porters are absolute machines, they each carry 20kg of gear and practically run the entire trail. When we arrived at the first camp our tents were all set up and they were waiting with hot cups of coca tea, amazing service!
Day 2 was very different to the first day. We left camp at 3200m and climbed for almost 5 hours up to 4215m to Dead Womans Pass - it was by far the most physically challenging thing either Cate or I have ever done. Towards the top we´d take 10 steps and have to have a break. Running on a treadmill at the gym from now on will be a piece of cake compared to that pass. We arrived at the second camp again to tea and later a lush dinner prepared by our chef. There´s not exactly any nightlife at these camps, everyone goes to bed at 8pm and gets up at 5am.
Day 3 was really enjoyable, two passes but nothing like the first one. Lots of undulation which was a welcome break for our now tired legs. We stopped at several Incan ruins that were fascinating how they just clinged to the side of the moutain. The descent to the last camp was excruiating, over 3000 steps down - and not your average steps, the Incas for some reason built steps at least 40cm high
We had all morning to explore the ruins, our guide Orelia gave us so much information, it was hard to take it all in.
This is the photo we came for...
We took a combination of buses and a train back to Cusco for a well deserved hot shower (we didn´t shower for 4 days and we stank, yuck!) and a good rest.
It´s definitely true what people say, walking the Inca Trail and seeing Machu Picchu is a life changing experience. It really made a difference walking the trail and not just taking the bus there. We got a really good understanding of what the Incas were all about and how advanced they were over 500 years ago. They definitely didn´t use a back-hoe to build this place!
There´s so much more we could say, but you´ll have to wait till we get home to tell you more.
Finally, Cate made some new friends in Cusco...
We leave today for Lake Titicaca for a couple of days, then onto Bolivia - the last leg of our trip.
Hasta luego!
We sat at a bar overlooking the Plaza de Armas (seems every town here has a square of the same name), and were spoilt by the brightest rainbow we´d ever seen - no wonder the Inca flag is like a rainbow...
We had our briefing for the Inca Trail that night so were well prepared for what was to come the next day.
We were picked up from our hotel at 6am and taken Ollantaytambo (not sure of spelling there) where we picked up some walking sticks and last supplies. The first days trekking was fairly easy, more undulating than anything, but the last half hour to our first camp was pretty tough.
There were six of us in the group, 2 guides, a chef and 9 porters to carry all of our gear, tents, sleeping bags etc. The porters are absolute machines, they each carry 20kg of gear and practically run the entire trail. When we arrived at the first camp our tents were all set up and they were waiting with hot cups of coca tea, amazing service!
Day 2 was very different to the first day. We left camp at 3200m and climbed for almost 5 hours up to 4215m to Dead Womans Pass - it was by far the most physically challenging thing either Cate or I have ever done. Towards the top we´d take 10 steps and have to have a break. Running on a treadmill at the gym from now on will be a piece of cake compared to that pass. We arrived at the second camp again to tea and later a lush dinner prepared by our chef. There´s not exactly any nightlife at these camps, everyone goes to bed at 8pm and gets up at 5am.
Day 3 was really enjoyable, two passes but nothing like the first one. Lots of undulation which was a welcome break for our now tired legs. We stopped at several Incan ruins that were fascinating how they just clinged to the side of the moutain. The descent to the last camp was excruiating, over 3000 steps down - and not your average steps, the Incas for some reason built steps at least 40cm high
We had all morning to explore the ruins, our guide Orelia gave us so much information, it was hard to take it all in.
This is the photo we came for...
We took a combination of buses and a train back to Cusco for a well deserved hot shower (we didn´t shower for 4 days and we stank, yuck!) and a good rest.
It´s definitely true what people say, walking the Inca Trail and seeing Machu Picchu is a life changing experience. It really made a difference walking the trail and not just taking the bus there. We got a really good understanding of what the Incas were all about and how advanced they were over 500 years ago. They definitely didn´t use a back-hoe to build this place!
There´s so much more we could say, but you´ll have to wait till we get home to tell you more.
Finally, Cate made some new friends in Cusco...
We leave today for Lake Titicaca for a couple of days, then onto Bolivia - the last leg of our trip.
Hasta luego!
Monday, December 8, 2008
Colca Canyon
We got up early in Chivay for our visit to the Colca Canyon. It wasn´t the best night´s sleep in the very basic accommodation with no hot water and a very hard bed.
After a breakfast of hollow bread and jam, the bus took us out of Chivay towards the Colca Canyon. We made several stops in a couple of small villages where they were obviously ready to greet tourists with their local goods for sale and alpacas to pat. Kids in traditional clothing, doing their traditional dance offered some great photo opportunities. The villages were really interesting with all of the buildings built from traditional mud or clay bricks.
As we climbed up through the Colca Valley we saw the first of the terraces that cover the mountain sides, built by the pre Inca groups, I forget their names but their ancient people that had cone shaped heads! The terraces are just spectalcular and mind-boggling how they built them with no machinery hundreds of years ago. We got the feeling that today was just a taste of whats to come in Cusco.
After an hour or so of amazing scenery we arrived at Cruz del Condor, the best viewing point for the second deepest canyon in the world at 3,200 metres deep, twice as deep as the Grand Canyon in the US!
We´ve said this before about other places, but the photos don´t even start to show the magnitude of the place.
We leave Arequipa tomorrow morning for Cusco where we begin the Inca Trail on Wednesday for 3 nights in the mountains, so you may not hear from us for a few days.
Adios til then.
After a breakfast of hollow bread and jam, the bus took us out of Chivay towards the Colca Canyon. We made several stops in a couple of small villages where they were obviously ready to greet tourists with their local goods for sale and alpacas to pat. Kids in traditional clothing, doing their traditional dance offered some great photo opportunities. The villages were really interesting with all of the buildings built from traditional mud or clay bricks.
As we climbed up through the Colca Valley we saw the first of the terraces that cover the mountain sides, built by the pre Inca groups, I forget their names but their ancient people that had cone shaped heads! The terraces are just spectalcular and mind-boggling how they built them with no machinery hundreds of years ago. We got the feeling that today was just a taste of whats to come in Cusco.
After an hour or so of amazing scenery we arrived at Cruz del Condor, the best viewing point for the second deepest canyon in the world at 3,200 metres deep, twice as deep as the Grand Canyon in the US!
We´ve said this before about other places, but the photos don´t even start to show the magnitude of the place.
And yet another "Thelma & Louise" shot...
We leave Arequipa tomorrow morning for Cusco where we begin the Inca Trail on Wednesday for 3 nights in the mountains, so you may not hear from us for a few days.
Adios til then.
From the end of the world to the top of the world
We left yesterday morning for a 2 day trip to the Colca Canyon and Cruz del Condor! A 4 hour bus journey took us through a windy road out of Arequipa to an alti plano where we saw alpacas and lama and reached a massive height of 4,800 metres. The air really was hard to breath up there with Cate feeling small effects of the altitude sickness (a bit dizzy, pale and nausea - good practise for Machu Pichu in a few days). A few cups of coca leaf tea was recommended and did help!!!
We arrived in a small traditional village, Chivay for lunch and a chance to meet some locals and have a look around. As you can see from the photos they are interesting characters, and boy, what a life they lead. Not much else to do but agriculture, farming and knitting baby alpaca wool! We were lucky enough to arrive on the first day of their 3 day nativity festival, a great combination of their traditional culture (Inca) and Catholic religion. The different families in the community created their own nativity of silverware and childrens dolls as an offer to the festival which will be burned and danced on at the end of the festival. The dance symbolizes both war and love and has a lot of meaning for them.
We also watched a band perform in Chivay of which will be the first of many panpipes we will hear over the next few weeks.
We arrived in a small traditional village, Chivay for lunch and a chance to meet some locals and have a look around. As you can see from the photos they are interesting characters, and boy, what a life they lead. Not much else to do but agriculture, farming and knitting baby alpaca wool! We were lucky enough to arrive on the first day of their 3 day nativity festival, a great combination of their traditional culture (Inca) and Catholic religion. The different families in the community created their own nativity of silverware and childrens dolls as an offer to the festival which will be burned and danced on at the end of the festival. The dance symbolizes both war and love and has a lot of meaning for them.
We also watched a band perform in Chivay of which will be the first of many panpipes we will hear over the next few weeks.
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