Kim, Col & Casey in South America Living it up on a South American west-side adventure!

We're back in Cusco, Peru, after surviving the Inca Trail.  It was awesome.  The views were spectacular. Hiking up steep stairs at high altitude was tough going and rewarding.  The guides were good, the porters were amazing, and we had a good group.  Unfortunately, 5 or 6 of our group of 14 got varying degrees of sick on the last night, and thus felt at least a little off during the climactic final hike to and around Machu Picchu.  Still, we made the best of it, and the views were awesome during the relatively short periods where the clouds, rain and fog parted sufficiently for us to see them.  I´ll upload some photos as soon as I can.

A few people have commented that I haven´t updated this journal for a while, but I actually have.  Obviously not while I was trekking, but I have actually been adding photos fairly regularly, and writing descriptions on photos (some older photos and some newer ones).  So if you´re keen for an update and there are no new ´stories´, revisit the photo section and you´ll usually find some new stuff.  There´s a lot of photos on there now, and more coming.

Unfortunately for our South American festivities, we are nearing the end of our 9 week trip.  We´ve covered a lot of ground in 9 weeks, and most travellers we meet are impressed with how much we have managed to fit in to the nine weeks (my favorite highlights are in bold):
 - we flew to and explored Santiago, Chile through the smog and dogs, and discovered the realities of often having to pay to use the toilet and not being allowed to flush the toilet paper anywhere in the countries we visited in South America;
 - we took a scenic flight to and trekked the stunning Patagonian mountain ranges and saw the glorious glaciers in Southern Chile and just across the border in Argentina, where we partied with a local band from America del Sur Hostel in El Calafate;
 - we flew to and partied hardy at Loci Hostel in La Paz, Bolivia, survived mountain biking down and busing back up the Worlds Most Dangerous Road where the terrain drops hundreds of meters mere centimetres from the edge of the one and a half lane dirt road, and discovered that not all South American countries offer as frequently poor food quality as Chile;
 - we bussed to Uyuni, Bolivia and took a four wheel drive tour to watched the sunset, climbed a volcano and a cactus infested hill on the Bolivian Salt Flats named Salar de Uyuni;
 - we bussed to Copacabana, Bolivia, took a boat to and then trekked north to south and stayed the night on the island on Lake Titicaca named Isle de Sol;
 - we bussed to Puno for a no night flying visit to take a Floating Islands tour on Lake Titicaca, Peru;
 - we bussed to and partied even hardier at The Point Hostel in Arequipa, Peru, and hiked the nearby beautiful Colca Canyon;
 - we sand boarded, dune buggied, climbed and ran down the sand dunes of Huacachina, near Ica, Peru, relaxed at the poolside bar, and discovered South Americas most frustrating pool table;
 - we took a 4-person, single engine aeroplane flight over the huge Nazca Lines symbols in the desert of Nasca, Peru;
 - we partied at Loci Hostel in Lima, Peru where the vista is frequently dull, and the food for us did not live up to the reputation;
 - we took a hell run series of buses from Lima in Peru to Baños in Ecuador, not doing anything or spending a single night of the bus in between;
 - we got off the bus in Baños, wolfed down breakfast, then immediately set out on a white water rafting trip, then relaxed in the thermal baths of Baños (which means ´baths´ in Spanish);
 - we took another hell run series of buses from Baños in Ecuador to Cali in Colombia, again not stopping in between;
 - we partied and salsa-ed really really badly in Cali, the salsa capital of Colombia;
 - we bused again north to Cartagena, Colombia, and explored the colonial citadel and architecture;
 - we bused further north to Santa Marta, Colombia, and stayed in nearby Taganga, from where we hiked the Lost City Trek to Ciudad Perdida, starting with a short motor bike ride and then getting into some muddy, wet, steep, hot, sweaty trekking through beautiful jungle scenery, cutting across creeks and streams, sleeping in hammocks, getting eaten by mosquitos (points to Kim for eating one in revenge!) and explored the Lost City made up of around 600 circular terraces made of stone cut into the mountain in the jungle;
 - we took a boat ride to Parque Torona on the Colombian shores of the Caribbean, and relaxed in the available sun on the beautiful tropical beaches, sleeping in hammocks in a raised rotunda on a rock jutting out of the beach;
 - we bused it to Bogota, the Colombian capital city that we saw only from the bus, the taxi and the airport, then flew back to Lima for a single night before flying far to early in the morning to Cusco, Peru;
 - we partied hardy at Loci Hostel in Cusco, Peru, until 10:30am, after ending up in a locals-only (no Gringos) bar with a bunch of locals who fought over our company and loved mine and Casey´s incessant drumming on the tables to the beat of their local music;
 - and we trekked the awesome Inca Trail to the abandoned but only partially ruined Incan city of Machu Picchu (one of the largest known Incan ruin sites remaining) hiking up the seemingly endless stone stairways built by the Incas, visiting many of their ruins, hearing many tales about the Incas from our guides (only 200 people a day are allowed on the Inca Trail) and stayed an extra night in Aguas Calientes (which means ´hot springs´ in Spanish and is the name of Machu Picchu town, which exists solely to cater for the huge hoard of tourists that flock to see Machu Picchu) where we relaxed and recuperated in the hot springs (notably not as impressive as the Baños hot springs).

Quite an impressive list, and its only a summary.  There are many stories to be told regarding all this, but I´ll save those for when I catch you all individually.

Now, all that is left is one night hear in Cusco, Peru, 2 days & 1 night in Lima, Peru, and 3 nights in Santiago, Chile (all journeys in between being flights) prior to departing Santiago at about 11:30pm Chile time on Friday 21st Nov and arriving back home in Melbourne at about 9:30am Victorian time on Sunday 23rd Nov, after a 15 hour flight with one brief stopover in Aukland.

I´ve decided not to tour New Zealand on the way back, but would really like to do it soon.  I will probably go to Geelong with Kim & Casey on the day we get back, then catch the train to Warrnambool to visit people and pick up my car before heading back to Melbourne, maybe via Ballarat to visit my brother Jason.  So I might be in Melbourne to catch up with everyone else from about Wednesday 26th Nov.

I may not write another story between now and then, but I´ll keep updating the photos on this site.  Hope everyone is doing well, and I look forward to seeing you all.

Salud!

Love Col.