Llama foetuses, salty lands and a lunar dinosaur

Late Dec to mid Jan 2012

La Paz

Established in the basin of Mount Illimani in the Andes, as La Paz's grows it spraws up the surrounding hills that look down into the city. It is unlike any other capital city I've been to; the city's massive congregation of inhabitants create a very congested and chaotic city - not even street maps prevented us getting lost multiple times.

The city centre where we stayed was a labyrinth of street markets where traditionally clad local women sell you everything from fruit and veg, tourist/backpacker tat and electronics to tupaware and hair extensions. Should you find pesky evil spirits a problem, there is a witches market where you can buy a llama foetus to ward them away. Just remember that the water here boils at 80 degrees thanks to the high altitude.

In the aftermath my illness I was left to endure an ear infection that left me virtually deaf in my left ear. After a few days of asking everyone to repeat themselves and nodding without knowing what I was agreeing to, I realised my audibility was not improving so on New Year's Eve I finally went to see a Bolivian doctor who was the British Embassy-appointed physician (only the best for me!) to help cure my ailment. He was great and sent me off with an armament of strong pain kilers, antibiotics and eardrops. Now I just need to put in that health insurance claim...

That evening we got dolled up and made our way to La Paz's answer to Mayfair. We had a Thai dinner and saw in the new year at a very cool bar above the restaurant. Thankfully, we spent new year's day nursing our heads and continued our deeper exploration of Bolivia the following day.

A landscape of brine

After a 1-night pitstop in the quaint ex-silver mining town of Potosí, we arrived in Uyuní - the gateway for tourists wanting to explore the world's largest salt flats, Salar de Uyuní. The most popular (in fact, possibly only?) way to see this renowned saline landscape is by taking a locally operated 3-day, 2-night 4x4 that transverses the Altiplano region of Bolivia (formed during the prehistoric uplift of the Andes) to eventually end at the Bolivian-Chilean border. The tour comes with its very own driver, cook (Dora!) and guide to supply us with hours of transportation, homely meals and a fountain of knowledge on this geographically unique part of the world.

Although Uyuní is a very small town, only really in existence to cater for salt-seeking gringos and a small army base, it does house an excellent pizza restaurant serving "the best pizzas in South America", as quoted in various guide books and reviews placed proudly on the wall. So with our stomachs lined with quite rightly reputed food, we begun our 4x4 adventure into southern Bolivia.

Arriving on the salt flats in the morning's stark bright sun, the fantastic contrast between the blue sky and the pure white of the salt was at its most astounding. Formed by the merging of a few massive lakes, the flats span an area of over 4000 sq miles and are so level that there's only a few meters difference in altitude across the whole thing! They are incredibly rich in lithium and supply around 40% of the world's lithium for batteries.

The following day we had a 4am wake up call and ascended to an altitude of 4,800 m to visit the geothermal ‘Sol de Mañana' (Morning Sun) zone. Wading through a thick aroma of sulphur fumes emitied in this volcanically active area, we saw the heat of the earth escape through numerous bubbling mud pots, steam pools and fumeroles. We then passed through the Siloli Desert, a spectacular landscapes with multicoloured volcanic rock formations and hot springs. The location was believe to be the inspiration for many of Dali's surrealist paintings - although he'd never been there, he saw pictures and was inspired.

Continuing our iPod DJing and the end of The Hangover, our final Bolivian site was the red lagoon, a pink spance of water coloured as such due to the algae and plankton that thrive on the minerals within. The lagoon is also a hotspot for a unique species of flamino, answering that QI favourite: how do flamingos get their pink colour?

From the moon to a city

Our first Chilian stop was San Pedro de Atacama, right at the border of the Atacama desert - one of the world's driest. But this was no stereotypical boarder town; this small but perfectly formed location also charms Chillians into spending the odd weekend break there.
Some beautiful weather and a hotel with an amazing pool meant a lot of lazing and tan work was done, but we also found time to explore and watch sunset at the eroded salt mountains of the Valley of the Moon - named due to the differing rates of erosion of each layer of rock, creating visable striations and a unique lunar-like landscape complete with dinosours...

That night the Aussies gave us a typical Aussie barbie - complete with snags - further strengthening my desire to get my Oz working visa when I arrive. Oooh and not forgetting that I puchased a backpacker's essential: a travelling hat, and yes I'm wearing it in every photo from that point on.

The next day we hopped on an overnight bus to the coastal town and beach resort of La Serena. We had great weather and were able to enjoy long lunches in the park and a whole day sunning it on the beach, as well as the best all-you-can-eat Chinese I've ever had! (And I'm not usually a fan). From here, it was time for our much-awaited final Latin American bus journey across the beautiful, fertile heartlands and vineyards of Chile to arrive in the European-style capital, Santiago.

Machu Picchu, Cusco, and an Amazonian Xmas not exactly as planned

Mid to late Dec 2011

A short internal flight over the highlands of the Andes took us to Cusco - former capital city of the ancient Incan empire. Sitting 3,400 m above sea level, Cusco is a relatively large and busteling town, and a perfectly adapted pit stop for gringos and tourists trekking the Inca trail and visiting Machu Picchu. At the airport we met Rich, our tour guide who would be taking us up some of the continent's highest peaks and then back down to sea level beaches. Apparently you can find anything in Cusco and, although undoubtedly true from the hordes of tourist shops, this led us to nickname the town Harrods.

Our first, and probably most world-renowned, tourist attraction was the legendary archological site of Machu Picchu. Meaning 'ol mountain' this self-cotained site was famously discovered by the American explorer Hiram Bingham in 1911. When he discovered the ruins they were almost completely encased in overgrown jungle, and it is for this reason that they remained so pristinely preserved since the 16th century - it was only really the outlying structures that had to be restored. The ruins comprise a small town adjacent to a set of agricultural terraces fed by natural springs. Many tourists opt to trek the 4-day 3-night Inca trail to Machu Picchu, as a lovely young Aussie couple in our group did, but there is also a train that runs back and forth from Cusco, meaning you can do Machu Picchu in a day trip. And this is the option we went for. Well, you get to a certain age don't you? :-) Machu Picchu really was breathtaking. Through the clouds, viewers greet Machu Picchu from a bird's eye view, and i was particularly struck by the lush green colour of the grass (a consequence of the highly fertile soils and voluminous rainfall) as well as the obvious hierarchical layout of the site - as our guide pointed out, your placement in society determined where you lay your head.








We also went on day trip to the Sacred Valley of the Incas and found proof that the Incas were way ahead if their time in home entertainment...


We arrived in Cusco about a week before Xmas day. Travelling at this time of the year is a surreal experience; your head knows it's appoaching and there are sporadic festive reminders of it - the occasional town square Xmas tree, a dancing Santa and friends' Facebook status updates- but since Latin America doesn't go mad for it, and while experiencing travellers' disorientation and a complete unawareness of what day it is, its very difficult to imagine people back at home going through the usual xmas rituals of batteling the Oxford street carniage and buying M&S turkey and cranberry sarnies. I must admit that it was nice to have no Xmas pressures this year!

Xmas wishes from The Amazon

With Xmas only days away, we stowed our backpacks in our hotel in Cusco and set off on our trip to The Amazon. It's only a 1-hour flight to Puerto Maldonado, the main town serving this section of the Peruvian Amazon jungle and we arrived at the airport raring to get gtYng on our Amazonionan adventure. But now it was our time to experience something very typically South American - a strike. So after being told that our particular flight was still going ahead, just with delay, we checked in and waited patiently. And waited some more. Then had some lunch made by a man with a story, and waited a little longer. After about 6 hours of waiting, we gave up and solmanly begun our journey back to Cusco. However, on the bus back we got a call saying the flight was on its way, so with a renewed sence of jubilation we turned around and managed to make our flight! We were in Puerto Maldonado that evening. Better late than never!

For obvious reasons, tourists are not able to venture too deep into the jungle so the locations that most tourists go to sit on the edge of the jungle. Our eco-lodge was on the Madre de Dios river, a major tributary of the Amazon river. We stayed in small wooden cabins and were taken on excursions through the jungle where we were shown a wealth of flaura and fauna unique to the ecosystem that included birds, insects, huuuuuge trees, flowers and medicinal plants. One of the best trips was a nighttime canoe ride to look for aligators - we saw loads!











Waking up in the Amazon on Xmas day was certainly one to remember. We had an Xmas breakfast and exchanged wishes of merriment with all the other guests. By mid morning we were back on our motorised canoe heading for Puerto Maldonado airport and our flight back to Cusco where a Peruvian Xmas dinner was waiting for us (a guinea pig-free menu). Unfortunately the strike reared its ugly head and we were once again left playing the waiting game. But this time we were not as lucky with the outcome...after a good half day at the smallest airport I've ever been to, we were told our plane would not make it to Puerto Maldonado and with the strike likely to continue into the next day, we decided to take a 10-h overnight bus back to Cusco instead. Despite this, we were all in reasonably good spirits, even though we also had to catch another 7-h bus to catch from Cusco to Puno the very next day. Now, I actually don't mind all these eternal bus journeys but while at the airport I felt the unmistakable wave of illness descend over me and by the time we got onto the second bus I was not in a good way.

Unluckily, things went from bad to worse - I became more and more sick with some kind of bug and by the time we got to Puno, i was bearly able to get out of bed. I stayed there for 3 days. Unable to eat anything solid the whole time (and for a few days after), I survived on Gatorade and the odd slice of melon from the breakfast buffet. I couldn't even watch man v food without feeling nauseous. I sadly missed seeing the floating island and Lake Titicata, but by the time it came for us to move onto our next destination I was thankfully feeling much stronger. And my pals all helped out and looked after me heaps :-)

From Puno it was on to La Paz, Bolivia's capital and the highest capital city in the world.

A Santiago send off

12-17 Jan 2012

Founded in 1541, Santiago is the fifth largest city in South America and certainly one of the most prosperous and westernised. It's an important financial hub and the city's wealth can undeniably be felt resonating through the hustle and bustle. The Andes, and their often snow-capped peaks, can be seen from the city centre and form a valley for the city to sit snuggly in. Unfortunately, this geography creates a sort of sitting pot for pollution and smog (the daily papers even publish pollution tables each day), and some parts of the city can have a putrid smell, especially in Santiago's hot weather. One place I particularly noticed this phenomenom was on top of San Cristobel hill, a wonderfully pretty hilltop over looking the trendy Bellavista district of the city. But despite the smell of pollution, we were able to eat a delicious lunch of empanadas and coke and enjoy the stunning views.









Unfortunately, Santiago symbolised a time to part company with the wonderful people I met on my tour. Our 26 nights together saw a few inevitable travelling ups and downs, but we still managed to spend virtually the whole trip laughing and bantering (with lots of top notch Simpson's quoting to keep me on my toes!). I had a great time and was glad to have a helping hand when it came to navigating around a part of the world that can often prove difficult. Luckily, with Australia being my next stop, I will certainly be reuniting with some of these old friends again and no doubt spending many a night on various sofas.

As soon as I set foot on Santiago soil I knew I would fall head over heels for the city. Resembling Buenos Aires (still one of my favourite cities), I felt instantly welcome and excited to see more. After my tour hotel, I excitedly stepped back into the familiar and much-missed world of hostelling. I found a great one in the bohemian/artsy/cafe culture part of town and settled in straight away. I had 4 days and managed to squeeze in sightseeing, bbqs, drinks, sunning in parks, shopping, cooking, Gazza's autobiography, a whole lotta coffee shops, as well as some vital catching up on sleep time, before preparing for my antipodean adventure. Santiago very much left me wishing I was one of its 6 million inhabitants but I also cannot wait to get to Australia and see family and friends, and see what a country that I have never heard a bad thing said about is really like.







So, while I wait patiently at Santiago airopeurto listenting to the last of the rolling r's that I will hear for a while, I feel very sad to be leaving Latin America. Every country in this region is geographically, economically and culturally unique but they all bask with a similar vibe and attitude expressed through the people that live here. I felt welcome, safe, looked after and tolerated in every country; I'm not sure how many other continents can proudly do the same. I am already planning my return to this part of the world (Colombia? Yes please!) so let's hope I can remember some of the Spanish I picked up! Me gusta Latin America!

Backpacking this part of the world has been the best thing I've ever done, and now that I'm armed with enough memories to last a lifetime, I feel prepared for the next leg of my travels. Check mark against the following: old clothes thrown out, bag repacked, US dollars replenished, photos uploaded, books finished and left at hostel, Facebook status updated, traveller hat on, manky flipflops thrown away, and toothpaste at the ready. 18-hour flight you say? Bring on every minute...Amy's coming to Australia!!