Happy New Year

We wish you all a Happy New Year! May all your wishes come true!

We are still in San Pedro de Atacama and will spend New Year's Eve with our friends. Tomorrow we are off in the morning to Salta, north of Argentina.

Have a great celebration tonight.

Bolivia Part III - Salar de Uyuni - Laguna Colorado - Laguna Verde

December 27th – Dec 29th
Salar do Uyuni – Laguna Colorada – Laguna Verde:

What a great adventure we had!

Our bus ride from Potossi to Uyuni was supposed to be 6 hours but we had a delay of 2 hours due to the level of a river that had risen. We waited for it to go down and passed it, not without fear. The whole bus was very scared as we could still see a lot of current. During the waiting time, we met very nice people, Martijn and Marion from Holland, Steven from Australia, Allard from Holland, and Clemence from France with whom we decided to travel around the Salar de Uyuni direction San Pedro de Atacama in Chile.

We woke up at 7.00 to go to the Andes Salt Expeditions agency and have some more details on the 3 days – 2 nights tour around the salt flats, the Laguna Colorada and the Laguna Verde. We signed up for it and had to be at the shop at 10am for the big adventure.
We all fit into one jeep and left around 11am that same morning. The first stop was at the train cemetery. It was not really necessary but well… After that we drove direction the salt flats. My brothers had told me it was amazing but I was not expecting something that nice. We were all breath taken. The scenery was unbelievable; there are no words to describe it. The region had just suffered from a huge rain storm after three years of drought which made the views and reflection in the salt flat even more beautiful. At night we slept in our very first nice salt hotel and salt beds, near candlelight, as the hotel lights turn off at 9pm.

The day after we drove around the Laguna Colorado which was full of pink flamingos, and amazing colors. Our chauffeur Juan always managed to reach the best spots for us to enjoy these special moments. We had a very nice lunch around the lake and then headed to the view point of a volcano. During the whole day we were in the desert were only vicuñas (a type of lama) live. At night we bunked together in a shared dorm, and woke up at 4.00am the next morning to go see some geysers and swim in hot springs.

We reached an altitude of 4700 meters. We were all freezing but the swim warmed us up. The expedition finished after the Laguna Verde at the Bolivian-Chilean border. We took a bus for San Pedro de Atacama where we will spend New Year with our new travel friends. It was a bit unexpected to pass by Chile but apparently faster to reach Salta afterwards. We have a very good first impression of San Pedro.
After more than three weeks of cold in altitude we are finally reaching “descent” heights and are now at around 2400 meters. We will spend New Year’s Eve here and catch a bus for 10 hours on Friday to go to Salta.

Bolivia Part II - Oruro - Potossi

December 24th – Dec 26th,
Oruro – Potossi:

On the 24th we walked around Oruro and as one of our taxi driver said: “what are you doing here?” Many people were surprised to see some tourists in their city outside of the Carnival period. Indeed, we found that Oruro had nothing special, was very poor and has no charm at all. Unfortunately, we ended up there for Christmas, bad timing. To top it off, on the 24th we went for lunch in a “good” restaurant (in Oruro standard) and I (Aubry) got sick. As a result, we stayed the whole afternoon and night in our hotel room. I spent a terrible night between my nightmares in bed and low pressure hits going to the bathroom several times.
We took the decision to make our stay in Bolivia a bit shorter than expected. We feel a bit tired of the busses and conditions here. In a way, we have been on the road for 5 months (including Brazil in August) already and we feel a bit the backpacker tiredness. Today, fortunately I feel better; we are in Potossi and will take another bus for 6 hours to reach the famous Salar de Uyuni, finally something to look forward to. We will then see what the best way to get to see this wonderful place is, and then plan to reach Argentina as fast as possible.

Sorry, no pictures.

Bolivia Part I - Isla Del Sol

December 21st – Dec 24th,
Copacabana – Isla Del Sol:

The trip from Puno to Copacabana was beautiful until a rain storm showed up. It happened that we had to pass the border at the same time, by foot! To add to the fun, Maria, being an American citizen, had to pay a visa of $140. Well, it is written $100 on the visa itself and they asked us 135 plus 5 as we did not have a picture of Maria. We did not want to discuss to avoid any problem.
We arrived in Copacabana, which lies along the lake, around 5.30. There were no more rooms available in the hotel we had chosen; therefore we went to the one next door. The room was freezing but with a great view of the lake. We enjoyed a very nice dinner at the Cupula, the hotel right next to ours.
The next morning we decided to go visit the Isla Del Sol and therefore took the boat for a 2.30 hours ride. The scenery was amazing but freezing. Once arrived, it was pouring but luckily just for a bit. The sun came afterwards. We went to visit the Inca ruins and then walk from the North of the island to the South, 2.30 hour walk. It was beautiful and really worth it. No wonder our guide mentions this place in the to-do list of Bolivia.
We came back all burnt to Copa around 5.30. Yes, the sun at this altitude is very aggressive! At night we enjoyed a nice meet fondue, excellent!
Our original plan was to have Christmas in a nice hotel around the Lake Titicaca but unfortunately there was nothing that attracted us. We then decided to leave the next day to La Paz and find something nice there. Getting into La Paz was crazy and we were a bit overwhelmed with the traffic and looks of the city which led us to take a quick decision to hop onto another bus to Oruro. In total we travelled 8 hours by bus! Oruro is not very attractive either but we could not go further due to it being 10pm. We are now in a nice hotel, where the Bolivian president usually stays when he comes to the city for Carnival. Don’t worry; it is only $30 a night. Indeed Bolivia is very cheap which is good for our budget.
We are at the moment trying to find a good restaurant for tonight, Christmas and tomorrow we will leave to Potosi.

Peru Part V - Cusco to Puno

December 20th – Dec 21th,
Cusco – Puno:

Sunday we took a 7 hours ride to Puno, Lake Titicaca. We were astonished with the beauty of the road. We went through striking sceneries, surrounded by snowy topped mountains. We really enjoyed it. (Sorry, almost only pictures from the bus). Once arrived in Puno, we were shocked once again by the big size of the city. It is the low tourist season now and we can feel it, we are basically almost alone! This is good in a way! It is not attractive at all and we decided to leave today to the Bolivian side of the lake, Copacabana, which is supposed to be much nicer according to our guidebook.

Peru Part IV - Cucso - Sacred Valley - Machu Picchu

December 14th – Dec 19th,
Cusco - Sacred Valley – Machu Picchu:

The first day in Cusco was dedicated to buy the necessary pass tickets to all ruins of the sacred valley and some museums and also the ticket for the famous Machu Picchu. It is crazy how these little things can take so much time when you arrive in a new city. Once done, we could walk around the center of the city and enjoy the “free” entrance to some museums, which were more than simple. Cusco’s center is very pretty but way too touristic. Every step of your way there is someone approaching you with the best deal or massage ticket.
The next morning we decided to go visit the closest ruins of Cusco (Tambo Machay, Puku Pukara, Qenqo and Sacsayhuaman). We took a taxi that dropped us in the last one of the four and went back all the way to the city, 13 km. It was interesting but not something I would absolutely recommend. What we liked the most was the walk in the nature without any pressure of people selling art crafts. A good tip that we learnt: always ask the official badge of tourist guide when hiring one! After this long and sunny walk, we enjoyed a good lunch and some more museums.
We were all excited the next morning as we were getting closer to the big day, Machu Picchu. We had decided to go see some more ruins such as Pisca, Moray and Ollantaytambo where we, the Swiss girls and us, stayed to sleep. These were much more prestigious and we could already feel the grandeur of the Inca world. We hired a taxi that took us from Pisac to Moray and finally to Ollantaytambo. It basically costs us the same price as struggling between busses and different taxis in each site. We could not believe it when we arrived in the latest, such a wonderful place full of charm. It has to be said that we have been very disappointed by all the Peruvian cities we have seen so far, but Ollantay was very pretty with its ruins right above the village. At night we went to buy the train ticket to Aguas Callientes, start of Machu Picchu, and arrange our return way to Cusco for Friday. It was a bit complicated but we managed.

Thursday, we visited the nice Inca ruins of Ollantay and then took a wonderful train ride along the Sacred River, Urubamba, to reach Aguas Callientes, probably the ugliest city we have visited so far in our trip. It did not really matter because we were already excited to reach Machu Picchu. Friday, wake up at 4.00 to be in the queue for the bus that goes up to Machu Picchu. We arrive to the site and are transported by the magic of the place. Nothing can describe it, so gorgeous. We arrived under the drizzle but then the sun pierced, fabulous!
Since a couple of days we had realized that our camera was not producing as good pictures as before and this for a couple of weeks. Lucky or not, we managed to fix it, just before Machu Picchu. We were so happy because we considered this place as one of the hits of our trip!
In Machu Picchu we climbed up the Wanapicchu, 1 hour, what a tiring climb but what a wonderful view! It was so peaceful up there and you couldn’t stop admiring the city the Incas had built in this remote area.
Late in the afternoon, we went back under the rain to Cusco (at our hostel El Arcano where we had left half of our things) and arrived exhausted at 10.30, we called it a night.
Our last day in Cusco was pretty much dedicated to laundry, resting, finding the best way to go to Puno and hanging out at the hotel as it rained all day. That night we celebrated our three months road trip anniversary, without counting the month of August in Brazil, in a restaurant called Inca grill on the Placa de Armas which offered us our best dinner so far.
Now we have to figure out where we will spend Christmas and New Year’s.

Peru Part III - Arequipa

December 12th – Dec 13th,
Arequipa:

It took us 9 hours to come back to our hostel Home Sweet Home in Arequipa as there was an accident on the road from Cabanaconde. We were exhausted from those three days of hard walk and rough sleep but also so happy to have done it. We saw amazing views and learned that climbing is not only walking in nature but also suffering in order to see beautiful sceneries.

The center of Arequipa has about one million people, and is very busy. We had never seen so many taxis at once. We headed to the convent of Santa Catalina with the Swiss girls, which is one of the most popular tourist attractions of the city. We were surprised by the beauty of the convent and that there are still about 30 nuns living in closure. After a good two hours inside the walls of the convent, we went to eat a ceviche, typical Peruvian plate, with the Swiss and Jasmin. In the afternoon, we visited the Juanita museum. Juanita is the most well preserved mummy dated back to the 1400’s. We loved this museum and learnt tons of things on the Incas.

We all decided to leave Arequipa that night and head towards Cusco, one more bus ride, 9 hours which turned out to be 11 as we had a flat tire, including many snores on the bus.

Peru Part II - Arequipa - Cabanaconde

December 9th – Dec 12th,
Arequipa and Cabanaconde:

Once we arrived in Arequipa at our hostel Home Sweet Home, we ran into our Canadian friend Jasmin, who had good news. His wallet hadn’t been stolen, in fact he had dropped it in the taxi, and the taxi driver took it to the bus station that same night to return it as he knew his departure plans. Anyways, we were planning to visit Arequipa and then go for a trekking in the Colca canyon but he convinced us to go with him and four Swiss girls the next morning which meant to take a bus for another 6-7 hours. At first we were not too excited about his idea, but we decided to join them. The bus ride to Cabaconde was beautiful, and we could feel the trail in the canyon would be spectacular. We saw for the first time alpacas and lamas.

We got to hostel Pachamama, where we had planned to meet Jasmin, and were pleased with the coziness of the place, except Maria was a bit disturbed with all the cats in the hotel. That night, we had dinner with him and the Swiss girls (Sanya, Annoa, Marie, and Virginie), who shared all the details of the trek which we were going to start the next day very early. Luckily we were all fine with the altitude (3200 m above sea) so could take off right away.
We decided to do the trek without a guide, as the hostel gave us a little map to follow, and apparently many people do this same hike on their own. So the adventure was off to a start, and we had a nice walk down the mountain on the first day. The trail was well indicated, and we went down about 1000 meters in 3 hours. We got to the river, which had a hot part, known as Geyser, making it impossible to swim in. Then it was a small uphill walk to our first destination, called Llahuar. We stayed at a very simple lodge called Claudio and Lola, which had no electricity, hot water or phones, but on the other hand had a nice view to the river, two small hot pools with water from the source, and the possibility to fish. At 17:00 Claudio called us to go fishing with him and his bamboo fishing rods. No luck though, Aubry broke his after a few attempts. That night, we did however eat the fish all the others caught, called Trout, and it was truly lovely. We went back to our room with our flashlight, and slept like babies with the noise of the river just down below.
The next morning, we had to face a much harder trek, going up the mountain towards Sangalle. I had a very hard time, and decided there that I would not want to do the Inca trail for 3 days straight. The route for this part wasn’t as obvious, and we did get a bit lost, which only added to the fatigue and bad mood. Once we did find it though, we were all relieved. We ran into a group of Tcheck friends that had also stayed in Pachamama, and an English couple that had slept at Llahuar. It’s funny to run into people during these long walks! It was an intense 6 hour hike, with a few brakes in between, where the Swiss girls would share their snacks with us, and as soon as we spotted the Oasis we were all motivated to keep going. The hotel in Sangalle was great, with a big swimming pool with fresh water from the mountain, but same basic conditions as the other one, and not as good food. A beer cost 3 dollars!

We did enjoy though the fire the owner made us that night during our dinner, which we sat by until it burned away in the company of many fireflies.
Day third was basically climbing up the mountain we had first come down, but from another side. The trail was very evident, one big zigzag upwards, but very very tiring! We had started at 7 am to avoid the sun and heat, but it was still all the same exhausting! Once at the top, I was thrilled to have completed a 3 day trek. At the top we were welcomed by our friends, the lamas. During those three days we were looking for condors and hoping to take good shots of them but they did not help us at all. We got to see some but not too close. We treated ourselves to a nice big lunch in the main square of Cabaconde before taking our bus back to Arequipa.

Peru Part I - Lima - Nasca

November 5th – Dec 8th,
Lima - Nasca:

Here we are in Nasca, where there are the famous Nasca lines which can be best observed by plane. We got here from Lima by bus, a good 8 hour ride, but in an incredible bus I must say. In Lima, we stayed two nights in Miraflores and were able to meet a cousin of my Dad, Carmen, her daughter Petty, granddaughter Fatima, and her husband Carlos. They received us so well. They took us out on both days, to meet the city, to a beautiful club for mass and lunch they are members of, to old Lima and other sites. It was special to meet my Dad’s cousin and be with family I didn’t know yet. Petty was so energetic and full of life, that it was great to spend time with her. She gave us great tips, and even took us to a pharmacy to buy these pills you can take for altitude sickness, which we’ll probably experience on our way to Cuzco. We were really surprised with Lima’s beauty, and had no clue it overlooked a long beach. It’s a city we would love to come back to one day.
From Lima, we enjoyed the picturesque journey to Nasca. The land just kept getting dryer and dryer, and we felt we were getting into a desert. The mountains were impacting, and completely different than those green ones we had grown accustomed with in Central America. At the bus station in Nasca, a taxi driver brought us to a hotel in the main square and told us he could take us right away to the airport after leaving our bags, in order to see the famous lines. He showed us pictures of the plane, and we were convinced we had to do this! At the airport, named after the most known researcher of these legendary lines, Maria Reiche, we were shown a quick video of the mystery and then guided to our pilot who led us to his plane. I was of course starting to regret my enthusiasm to do this tour, but it was too late to turn back. We hopped onto a three person plane with another guy from Quebec. The plane felt so light to be able to drag us all into the sky. Nevertheless, we were able to have beautiful views of the different designs made on the floor, such as a monkey, spider, birds, hands, and trees. It’s still unknown what these giant forms mean, represent, and why they were drawn at such big scales. After 35 minutes we landed and were glad to be on the earth as the pilot was turning around so much to show us all the figures with a different angle. Back at our hotel, we rested a bit and then walked around the city. To tell you the truth, the town of Nasca is not special at all, it only lives off the lines. When arriving back to our hotel we ran into our friend from Quebec. His wallet had been stolen. We, therefore, helped him to cancel his cards etc. Poor thing, all this after three days of travelling!
Today, Tuesday, we are off to Arequipa with a 9 hours bus drive. Let’s hope the altitude still isn’t a problem.

Panama Part I - Panama city and Isla Taboga

November 30th – Dec 4th,
Panama:

Sunday was a day for goodbyes, for we had to part from our Australian friends with whom we’d been travelling for a good 2 weeks together, and Caro and Philippe. It was strange to find ourselves alone again. At least we were going to a new country. But before leaving, we met a friend of Daniella, Eugenia, who picked us up in the afternoon with her boyfriend and took us around the city and to Escasuz. We took TicaBus from San Jose to Panama on that night. It was the coldest bus, and Aubry gave me his big jacket which meant poor thing he was cold. We were woken up at 4:30 am when we arrived at the border. Unfortunately the booth wasn’t open yet, and we had to wait standing around till 6am. Foolish us to think we only had to wait an hour and a half. The whole ordeal took 6 hours, yes my friends, the bus only took off again at 10:30. By this point we couldn’t sleep again, so we watched the movies on the bus. The ride was pretty as well, and we were excited to get to Panama.
We were invited to stay at the house of friends of Aubry’s brother, Emmanuel and Francoise who just moved there 2 months ago. Their house was beautiful, and it was great to stay with a family. They have 3 kids, Gaetane, Delphine and Antoine, who were also adorable. They live in this area called Ancon, which allowed us to on our first day walk up to the top, where there’s a huge flag of the country and amazing views.

In Panama, we visited the Miraflores Lock. We got to see huge boats crossing the canal, truly amazing. And at this center, they explain all about the history of the canal, how much it cost to build, number of boats that pass in a year, the new projects, etc. Super interesting! We also visited the old town of Panama, which we thought was beautiful, with its nice homes, cathedrals, and really nice view of the Pacific. The financial area is also quite intriguing, with its impressive sky scrapers and view to the ocean. We spent one afternoon roaming the Multiplaza shopping, where we watched a movie called Julie & Julia.

As visiting the entire canal or going to the Island de Perlas, or Boca del Toro was too expensive, we decided to visit the closest island called Taboga, which is inhabited by merely 1,000 people. The ferry ride there was nice, but the island, where the painter Gauguin lived to recover from paludism, is indeed tiny. There are only 3 hotels and restaurants on the island, no shops, so it was quite the quiet stay. We read our novels, soaked some sun at the beach and spent only one night. By the way, the bed of our hotel was one of the worse we’ve had so far. We came back “home” on Friday and waited for Emmanuel to have dinner. Once again, we talked for hours and were told all the secrets and plans of the projects of the new locks of the Panama Canal. Saturday we enjoyed our last breakfast inn Central America before heading to Lima by plane. The ride is 3.30 hours long.