South America 2015

Home Soil and Sydney

jorjejuanita — Tue, 29 Sep 2015 16:39:00 GMT

Home soil and Sydney

On this trip we've encountered many flights from long haul and luxury to to 4 seaters and spew bags. The prospect of 14 hours to Sydney was never appealing, throw in a broken screen for Jorje and broken audio for Juanita on a full flight with no spare seats and no fun was going to be had. Cheers Qantas, the cheap arse budget South American airlines put you to shame. It would've never been fun but pretty fair to say we were happy to get off the plane on a Sydney Saturday evening. Jorje's old travel buddy Matty ( he's 40 now ) picked us up and took us back to his swanky digs in Bronte. There was talk of an early night but there was also talk of old times and booze with Matt and Danielle, which somehow led to us going to bed at midnight. That didn't seem to stop us waking up at 5 but at least we tried.

Breakfast at Bronte beach cured most of our ails and we took on Sydney. Heading to Bondi to meet up with Aisling and Odie our Irish friends who had flown up from Melbourne for the weekend. We hit the walking trail from Bondi to Coogee and passed by many of the local sites, taking in the beauty of the Sydney coastline. The sun was out and the water looked amazing. The walking trail ended for us at the Pavilion Hotel for beer and dinner, joined again by our hosts. Chilli Pizza and beer all round until we hit the wall and it was bed time.

Jet lag can be a weird thing and it didn't seem to matter how drunk we got, 5 am was the designated wake up time. Lets stare at the ceiling for a while shall we. As Matt and Danni headed off to work for the day, we headed to the harbour. Meeting with Aisling and Odie we headed to Manly on the ferry, taking in the sights of the harbour bridge, opera house and surrounds. It was a beautiful blue skied day and the harbour and beaches were in fine form, eggs and a bloody mary sorted any issues from last night and we explored Manly. Our Irish friends headed off to the airport and we headed to the botanic gardens, walking for a couple of hours in the sunshine before hitting 'the wall' again and heading home for an afternoon nap. In the evening we were picked up by ex London house mate Nick, and taken on a tour of Sydney's coastal spots with a few beers and wines mixed in. Heading back into town and meeting Mel, Nicks new fiancé, congrats mate, before heading towards china town for dinner with Matt and Danni. Once again we ate far too much and tried the wine will make us sleep method before dragging our sorry arses home about 9:00

Today was fly home day and the end of our South American Adventure, we had said our farewells and got the train to the airport, bottom lips dragging on the ground. One last time of dealing with airports and backpacks before settling back into Perth life.

While Singapore seemed a lifetime ago it was amazing how much we had crammed in. We had managed to tick nearly every box of our bucket list and even a few that weren't on there, as well discover a few more ticks for the next adventure yet to be had. Sure there were a few setbacks on the way but hey thats traveling, Character building they call it. Money cant buy the riches of experience, culture and travel we gain from such adventures. The pictures and memories will make us smile for many years to come.

So until the feet get itchy again .....

Hasta Luego

Jorje y Juanita

Photos: Sydney

jorjejuanita — Wed, 23 Sep 2015 23:17:00 GMT

Photos: Chile - Portillo

jorjejuanita — Sun, 20 Sep 2015 15:34:00 GMT

The Penultimate Place Portillo

jorjejuanita — Sat, 19 Sep 2015 11:49:00 GMT

The Penultimate Place Portillo

The second last stop on our journey was the Chilean ski resort of Portillo, high in the Andean mountains close to the border with Argentina. We had 5 days booked in the most budget all inclusive package holiday and accommodation with ski pass we could find and really didn't know what to expect. Happily, we were pleasantly surprised. We arrived around 10am after a 2 hour drive from Santiago, our transfer wasn't a bus but a lovely chap named Jose who drove us up in his 4x4, that was nice. The resort of Portillo is a 5 star hotel, it also has intermediate accommodation in the 'octagon' building and backpacker accommodation in the 'Inca lodge'. We were in the Inca Lodge, each room has 2 bunkbeds and one cupboard with about 3 feet between the beds and the wall. No room to move at all but we were lucky enough to have the room to ourselves for the duration so it was a bit more comfortable. Communal bathrooms were more than adequate and probably the best showers we have had in all of South America. The real kicker was that we also got free use of all the hotel's facilities, gym, pool, spa, sauna, games rooms, lounge, bar etc. And of course we met the hotels mascot, a beautiful big Saint Bernard dog who loved the attention of all the visitors, you couldn't walk past her without giving a pat. We were never going to be spending much time in the room.

We checked in and headed to the ski rental desk and kitted up with boots, board and skis. Still and hour or so until lunch started so we wandered over to the baby slopes to start kicking the cobwebs off. Juanita took some convincing but after a few runs we were both back on our feet. Time for our first look at the inclusive lunch, in past experience these haven't been great, especially at the budget end of the market but once again we were very pleasantly surprised. The food was delicious and more than enough in the 3-4 courses on offer. This theme continued for the duration of our stay. After lunch we hit the slopes again and explored a bit more of the resort. The sun hot was shining bright and while there were quite a few people out we never had to wait for lifts or stop on piste for crowds to go past. The lifts shut at 5pm and we headed in for evening supper which consisted of hot drinks, including milo, and bread rolls with assorted jams and cheeses. This was followed by welcome drinks in the lounge, wines and pisco sours all round. Good times. Dinner followed and again we were filled with too much food, another wine and off to bed, ready to hit the slopes in the morning.

This ski hotel runs differently to those in Europe. There seemed to be no one around on Monday morning, firstly because the weekend skiers had left but also because no one is chomping at the bit for the first lift. It's a lot more casual. We were thinking breakfast at 8am, first run at 9am when the chair lifts opened. There was literally three other people at breakfast. We wondered where everyone was. The slopes were empty which suited us fine. About 3pm in the afternoon we called it quits as an icy wind and blizzard came in. A couple of après ski drinks in the bar followed by afternoon tea. We were feeling the muscles a bit, so we then hit the gym, well the floor of the gym, for a stretch session before lazing in the sauna for an hour before dinner. Ate too much again and retired to the bar for the evening, still not many people around. The next morning we saw an activities guide on a pin-up board. There were parties, beer tasting sessions, ping pong tournaments and all sorts on the schedule, some starting as late as midnight. Clearly the locals weren't just here for the skiing.

The cold winds of the blizzard had turned the conditions very icy in the morning. Juanita deciding to pull the pin after about an hour of falling down the hill. Jorje stuck it out and explored the mountains finding some great long runs, sadly the off-piste powder had turned to ice aswell making it very difficult. At one point while hiking between runs, got followed by an inquisitive young snow fox, he wouldn't come within 5 meters but was really cool to see in the wild. Mid-afternoon another blizzard came in to shut down proceedings. At this point Jorje was on a chairlift, and stayed there for the next 45mins getting a hammering from the wind and snow until the lift got fixed. Needless to say, the evening called for recovery time. A stretch, a sauna and then a pool party ! Yes pool party, it's a pretty surreal feeling sitting outside in a 38 degree spa in only a pair of shorts, drinking a beer while snow falls on you. The mountains in the background made the view perfect as the sun went down.

By the 4th morning we had adopted the locals way and slept through the alarm. Breakfast at 9:30ish then rolled out to the slopes. Juanita needed a pep talk but got back on the skis and found her rhythm. The morning session went well with Juanita traversing the blue runs while Jorje hit the reds and blacks, linking up with each other at the bottom of the mountain after each run. After lunch it was decided that Juanita was ready for the long runs on the other side of the park. It took some convincing but the long, wide, rolling blue runs won her over. We spent a beautiful afternoon getting to all parts of the resort and had found some good form on the skis bringing back the confidence and smiles all round. Shall we have a cocktail ? Indeed, in the outdoor spa, after the sauna of course.

Showered and ready for dinner we waited in the lounge until the restaurant was open. Juanita enjoyed a caipirinha and Jorje choked on a Bloody Mary, Chilean style. ( That's with about 4 times the tabasco, lemon and pepper of a normal Bloody Mary ). Could've been the tabasco but it felt like the ground was moving, Juanita asked if that was the wind as the window shook and then shit got real ! An 8.3 magnitude earthquake hit just off the coast of Chile, about 150kms from us and we felt the full force of it. Strangely it started slowly, we realised what was happening and headed for the door. The quake got stronger as we ran then stopped as we made it out of the lobby. About a minute later the carpark started shaking violently. It's a weird feeling to be inside when the earth starts shaking, maybe because you know furniture can move, but when you see a hotel moving side to side it becomes concerning. A few more little tremors, then the hotel was checked and given the all clear, we went back inside to have dinner. Five mins later everyone was running for the door again as the first aftershock hit. This time we went to our room, packed a 'go' bag with passport, torch and jacket and waited outside. Eventually we got back inside and had dinner, though most of us had lost our appetite by this stage. Sleeping in the single story building we thought we would be okay, though seeing the snow ploughs start building avalanche defences added another dimension to think about. We crawled into our bunks, both of us on bottom bunks, just in case, and tried to sleep. We were regularly woken with aftershocks, turns out a vibrating bed isn't as much fun as it sounds. Around 1am was the worst of them, waking the whole building and sending people scurrying to the carpark ( the safe spot ) once again. We stayed in bed, it was warm there, however not much sleep was had.

Thursday morning 9am saw bright blue skies and crispy cold temperatures. We had decided not to ski today, our checkout was 11am and transfer at 2pm making it all a bit difficult, a bit of a hurry. Adding in the checks of the pistes and chairlifts which would have meant a late start, we enjoyed breakfast and mooched in the warm lounge admiring the snow capped mountains, checked-out and settled our bar bill ( ouch ! ) before having a final lunch, a goodbye cuddle with the dog and greeting Jose for our trip back down the mountain to Santiago. One last night in South America, drowning our sorrows with local Chilean wine again and re-packing for the flight back to Australia. Sydney awaits .....

Photos: Chile - Santiago

jorjejuanita — Fri, 18 Sep 2015 23:16:00 GMT

Santiago Sloths

jorjejuanita — Sun, 13 Sep 2015 03:59:00 GMT

Santiago Sloths

The original plan in Chile was to head straight up the Andes and do a weeks skiing, However the associated costs and it being fully booked had conspired against us. We did manage to find a budget option but not until the second week of our stay so Santiago would be home for the next week. We pulled up to the address of our hostel and were presented with a big old white house, with a big old black gate and not a sign or person in site. Our taxi driver looked confused, we looked concerned, but then a head popped out the side door and said come on in guys. The hostel, a converted old house was very cool. Staff were great, and had a hostel great dane called Duke, who was the soppiest sook of a dog ever but our loved pats and cuddles.

Our host asked if we had any plans for the evening as they were all heading off to the national football stadium to watch Chile play Paraguay. Sounds like a plan, a football match in South America had always been on the wish-list, we bought tickets online and settled in, did some grocery shopping and at about 3:30 decided to have a nap, the football outing started at 6pm so all good. About 5:15 we woke from our doze, it was awfully quiet so wandered to reception to ask if everyone was still meeting at 6pm. Nope, meeting at 4pm because the match starts at 6pm, ah crap, a quick change and into a taxi and made it to our seats with 7 seconds to spare, Come on Chile ! Chile indeed, it was freezing at the stadium, we were sure the locals were chanting and dancing just to stay warm. Chile went on to win 3-2 in an entertaining game and a good start to our time in Chile.

From here on in we had no plans, our room had shutters on the window so with a very dark room we slept-in until lunchtime. When we rose it was pretty fair to say we lacked motivation, for anything, and staying in bed for a week seemed a viable option. Maybe the Brazil whirlwind took its toll or 5 months of travel had finally caught up with us but we had definitely been bitten by the lazy bug. Our ski trip next week was all inclusive, meals, transport, accommodation, lift passes, so we checked our budget for the week and it looked like we would use up the remainder of our funds on food and accommodation in Santiago with little to spare for entertainment. No winery tours at US$200 per head as the guide book suggested, but the supermarket did have local Chilean wine for US$4 a bottle, so we did our best to tour the region's wineries in spirit.

It was around this time the reality started to kick in that soon we would be heading home. No more travels and that big bad old thing called reality started to rear its ugly head. We had 5 days left in Santiago with no motivation, no plans, no 'ticks' off the list to accomplish, very limited funds and thoughts of having to find jobs and somewhere to live. What a downer ! We decided sleeping in until lunchtime every day was both a way of killing time and skipping a meal, which saved us money that we could spend on wine at dinner ! That was pretty much the pattern for the next 5 or 6 days. We did make an effort to do something touristy each day but 3 or 4 hours was pretty much our limit. Apart from our ski clothes shopping day ...

Renting a ski jacket and pants was about $30 US per day each, at 5 days that equals expensive. Jorje did some research and found out about some outlet malls on the outskirts of Santiago, up to 70% off and its end of ski season so might be worth a look. We can get 2 buses to get there, seems easy enough. Yeah, You know where this is heading right ? The bus stop the internet gave us was wrong, buses went past, bus drivers looked at us as they drove by. Eventually we found the right bus stop-ish. It was actually the end of the route but the bus driver was kind enough to give us a lift to the start of the new route. We showed him our plan and asked if he could tell us when to get off, he smiled, we smiled, we tried to pay, he wouldn't let us, we thought that was nice. Our Spanish is pretty good between us but the Chileans speak very very very very quickly so there was a few nods and 'yeah I think I know what he means' going on. We had missed the point of the story he was telling. 45 minutes later we were at our stop and saw the right numbers for the connecting bus, again we tried to pay and the driver waved us away, we got off the bus and the penny finally dropped. You can't pay cash on Santiago buses, only Bip cards, similar to a smartrider, mykey or oyster card.

This leaves us in the outskirts of Santiago's industrial area with no way of getting on our connecting bus. Remembering the map, we knew it was only about 3kms to the outlet malls, and in a straight line down the road, we could walk it. With no idea when the next bus was coming we decided to set off, down the Pan American Highway. About a kilometre in, the footpath ended and turned to dirt and gravel on a side road. We walked, and walked. We knew it was at the next highway junction and could see the bridge ahead so we walked, and walked, and the bridge turned out to be for pedestrians but on the upside we could now see the actual bridge. Three kms was a bit of guess looking at the map, it was actually nearly 5kms of dirt, mud, gravel, trucks and factory workers looking at us very strangely. Only one bus went past us and right near the end of the walk, so we would have been waiting a long time if we hadn't walked. We got there in the end and it was very worth it. We each managed to pick up a ski jacket, pants, gloves and goggles for US$250. Bargain. Needless to say we got a taxi home, for about $25 and about 7 hours killed. Nice work !

Other days we worked around the weather which had been freezing cold and raining. During sunny patches we went to see the statue of Mary over looking the city on top of the hill, Rio style. Mary of the Immaculate Conception who has a giant TV antenna behind her. Jorje quickly renamed her Mary with Immaculate Reception. We got to ride on a funicular ( google it, Perth doesn't have one ) to the top of the hill and passed by the zoo. Another day we checked out Saint Lucia Park which had a castle on top and amazing views across the city. Other times we just wandered the streets and looked for restaurants to eat dinner. Traditional Chilean food consists of hotdogs and sandwiches so we ate at Peruvian, Japanese or Grill restaurants. Each of these occasions was followed by wine back at the digs, internet searching for houses and jobs, and a sleep in until 12noon. By day six it was time for us to leave Santiago city and just as well, our boredom was taking over and ideas to kill time had run dry. Waking to an alarm clock after the week that had been was quite a shock, but smiles prevailed as we headed off up the mountains to Portillo for some snow and much needed fresh air and excitement.

Photos: Brazil - Rio

jorjejuanita — Tue, 8 Sep 2015 07:31:00 GMT

Rio Rapido

jorjejuanita — Tue, 8 Sep 2015 07:26:00 GMT

Rio Rapido

The whirlwind continued as we landed in Rio in the late afternoon. We fought through several different taxi companies trying to rip us off blatantly until one driver pointed to the 'common' taxi rank with disgust. 16 Reals to the hostel on the meter, a little better than the $R60 most were trying to charge us. Being targeted as easy prey for taxis drivers at airports is really getting old but being onto them, asking locals on the plane or emailing the accom before you arrive really helps. We still probably pay over but not as badly as going in blind. At the hostel in Santa Teresa we booked a day tour for the morning and headed out for dinner. Our lack of any Portuguese landed us in a totally different area of town to what we wanted but found a nice little restaurant anyway and managed to make it home safely, ready for the adventures of the next day.

The day tour had seemed expensive when we first booked it but we were short of options and very short on time so we agreed. Turned out to be worth every cent. We met the bus at 10am down on the main street as the bus couldn't fit up the cobblestone laneway our accommodation was on.

First stop was the Escadaria Selaron, or Lapa Steps. An artwork by Chilean painter Jorge Selaron as a tribute to Brazil. The steps are covered in ceramic tiles from all over the world. As a side project for the painter who lived on the staircase, he began renovating them in 1990 but kept running out of money so he sold paintings and accepted tile donations to keep the project going. Travellers from everywhere started sending tiles from their home towns to help out. It took several years and was constantly evolving and changing colour and shape. There are 250 stairs in the 125m long staircase, with over 2000 tiles and mirrors from 60 different countries. At least 300 are hand painted by Selaron, he continued to work on the piece up until 2013 when he was found dead on the staircase. He had claimed in the 90's that the work would never be finished until the day he died. It really is an amazingly colourful and beautiful piece of art. We even found a kangaroo tile from Australia hidden in there.

Next stop was Christo Redentor, Christ the Redeemer, the 38m tall statue of Jeebas over looking the city of Rio and surrounds. One of the new 7 wonders of the world it is very impressive for not only its size and views, but how they managed to build it in its location on top of Corcovado Hill. Also a main tourist attraction of Rio, it was packed with people. Elbows and selfy sticks causing havoc as everyone wanted that special photo, there was even a marriage proposal next to us causing more chaos. We got our photos, admired the view, bought a magnet and got out of there. Another wonder ticked off the list.

The Sambadrome was next. This is where the Rio Carnivale samba competition is held and the starting point of the parade. Though generally only used once a year for Carnivale, it is a permanent structure in downtown Rio. Grandstands line the streets for 700m, seating up to 90,000 people. Tickets start at around $70 US and go up to $1250 US for corporate seating, and that's before scalpers get hold of them. The event can sell out up to two years in advance. We took our pictures in cardboard cutouts, some of the girls got dressed up in Mardi Gras costumes then back on the bus to the Rio Cathedral.

The Metropolitan Cathedral of Saint Sebastian is a very different church. Very modern architecture in the shape of a cone, 106m across and stands 76m tall. It has 4 stunning stained glass windows, one on each point of the compass that are 64m tall. All of the wall panelling allows natural light through to the chamber. The pews hold 5000 people but for major events they are removed and the capacity grows to 20,000. Like when the pope visited. A very cool building and something a little different.

A late lunch was had in Copacabana, true to form on the holiday, once we got near the beach it started raining so we remained inside and hammered the buffet. We did drive along the beach after lunch but didn't manage to lounge in the sun drinking caipirinhas on Copacabana beach as we had imagined. Still, the sight on the list had been seen.

Rio's Sugar Loaf Mountain ( Pao de Acucar ) was our next destination. We thought we were just going to look at it but turned out our ticket price included going up to the top of it in the famous Rio cable car. The mountain is the shape of a sugar lump and sits in the middle of Rio's natural harbour, climbing to 396m above sea level. The area is now a national park and home to many exotic bird species including Toucans. The views from the top are incredible. You can see the entirety of Rio, with Jeebas watching over, the harbour and all its islands, which are now considered a natural wonder of the world, the full 13km span of the Rio - Niteroi bridge over Guanoabana Bay and the planes landing in the middle of it all at the domestic airport, whose runway juts out into the ocean. We stayed until the sun went down and headed back down the mountain to the bus to end an eventful day. Six major sites including 2 wonders of the world. Not bad going !

The next morning we got picked up early and headed towards Rocinha, Rio's largest favela for a walking tour. The poorest of poor live in the favelas, which are mostly run and controlled by mafia gangs and drug lords. They started as workers building shanti towns as cheap accommodation but expanded massively. They are built into the mountains around Rio and other cities. Rio has over 600 favelas. They are little cities within the city. We got warnings from our guide, no trouble expected but don't start any either, and absolutely no taking photos of dealers or people holding guns. Each favela is like a maze with tiny alleyways and steep pathways, no streets or building names. These days most have running water and electricity, though the electricity is dubious, the wiring up and down the paths is scary. We visited an art gallery, a bakery and a daycare centre. Our guide told us of the battles between government and the drug lords, as bad as the situation got, all residents still prefer the control by the drug lords rather than the government as they know where they stand with the mafias. According to our guide the Brazilian government has the money and power to change the situation but choose not too as the corruption makes them all too wealthy. Only the military police fight the gangs as the standard police are all on payroll. We wound our way through the alleys for a couple of hours. It's a very eye opening tour, a tough way of life for the people who live there with absolutely no government support or services.

We made it back to our hostel about 2pm ready to head to the airport at 5pm. We filled in the time with bite to eat and an impromptu samba session on the streets as a local band practised.

One and a half days and Rio was done, again we were quietly proud of ourselves about what we managed to achieve. That pride was short lived however as we started our journey to the domestic airport for our domestic flight, only for the taxi driver to double check with us what airport we were going to. Dug out the itinerary and sure enough our domestic flight was actually leaving from the international airport, over an hour away ! Not that any South American taxi driver ever needs to be told to hurry up, our race against the clock in Rio's peak hour was a tad nerve racking. We saw two accidents happen including busses colliding, but we got there in time and made the flight. Off to Sao Paolo for the night before our morning flight to Chile. It was an absolute whirlwind be we reckon we nailed it !

Photos: Iguazu Falls - Argentina

jorjejuanita — Sun, 6 Sep 2015 11:16:00 GMT

Photos: Iguazu Falls - Brazil

jorjejuanita — Sat, 5 Sep 2015 23:16:00 GMT

Falling for you .... Iguazu

jorjejuanita — Fri, 4 Sep 2015 05:21:00 GMT

Falling for you .... Iguazu

There must be a song lyric in that somewhere !

The journey to Iguazu was filled with tension, relief, hope, nervousness. It had been 10 days in Lima since we last visited the Iguazu airport and were swiftly returned. This time we had visas in hand but weren't 100% sure our last entry attempt would have any bearing on this trip. We took off and landed, it all felt a bit familiar, but we were greeted with smiles and stamps in our passports. Finally we were in Brazil. The cabbie gave us our first taste of speaking Portuguese. The guide books and blogs will tell you that if you can get by in Spanish then you should be fine in Portuguese as they are similar. I can honestly tell you that's a load of the proverbial. There are many words the same or similar but the pronunciations are totally different. We employed the point and grunt method and showed the address and a map and made our way into Iguazu suburbia where we stayed.

The hostel was lovely, clean and cheap, had cold beer in the reception and pointed us towards a steakhouse on the corner that served dinner Brazilian BBQ style. Winning, as it was time to eat, and eat we did, over-eat really but that's the general state of play at an all you can eat buffet, it also became a theme over the next few days. A couple of beers, a bottle of wine, the overall sense of relief at having finally made and the excitement of seeing the falls tomorrow all led to big smiles. Tomorrow we planned to see the Brazilian side of the falls which we were told only takes half a day so plenty of time for a sleep-in, and sleep we did.

It was about 11 o'clock when we finally dragged our arses out of the hostel. We walked to the local bus stop and waited, and waited, and waited. Turns out the hostel people gave us a map with the bus route marked on it, just not the route of the bus we needed to get. Back to the hostel then off to the right bus stop and try again. About an hour later we were walking into the national park, had some lunch, we chose not to sample the weirdly named "Peru Australian sandwich", and boarded the open top bus into the park.

The walking trail follows the edge of a cliff down to the river, around the first corner and you get first look at the waterfalls. It is an impressive sight in its own right, we thought they might be a bit bigger but maybe we were too far away. Actually, we could only see the small centre section of the falls, and even then only the top half ! The falls were bigger, much much bigger. As we walked the trail the views opened out and the grand scale started to appear. Butterflies, exotic bird, monkeys and coatis ( small dog like anteater type animals ) greeted us along the jungle path, a beautiful scene with the river below and falls off to the right. Every couple of hundred meters, another viewing platform opened up more of the scenery until finally you see the path out to 'Devils Throat' of the falls.

Garganta Del Diablo, 'Devils Throat' is the funnel of the river cut into the rock in a 'U' shape. It's the largest drop of the falls, 82m down, its 150m wide and 700m in distance. The walkway gives you the opportunity to stand in the middle of the river mid-height to see, hear and feel the power of the amount of water flowing past. The spray and mist creates permanent rainbows in the air and being that close really gives you a perspective of the size if the falls. Stunning. We spent about 3 hours on the trail and at the Devils Throat. The viewing platforms and lookouts are really well done, giving you a new and different angle and perspective for photos. The final stop being a tower which overlooks the whole Brazilian side of the falls. A cafe off to the side gives you a beautiful view over the river before it drops into the abyss. Complimented by the beautiful view of Juanita bringing well earned beers to the table. We also got our first look at how cheeky the Coatis could be, jumping onto the tables looking for food and hoovering any crumbs, as well as trying to steal our chips.

The bus trip back was good, until we arrived at the terminal having missed our bus stop but the walk back wasn't too far and it worked us up an appetite. We headed out on the town for dinner. Sadly most of the restaurants we had been recommended were closed being a Monday night. We passed four kebab shops or arabic cuisine until finally coming across a local restaurant, all you can eat Brazilian BBQ. Our stomachs expanded and we hit the buffet again, its eating local food after all !

Tuesday was Argentina day, a day trip across the border to see the falls from a different angle. The Brazilian side had blown us away and we weren't sure that we needed to spend $80 seeing the same waterfalls again, but had already bought our Argentine visa online for $100 US so waste not, want not, on the bus we go. The answer turned out to be a resounding yes. It took about an hour to get across and into the national park. The Argentine side is a much larger area than the Brazilian side, including a train line to parts of the falls. We had a boat ride booked for 12 o'clock so took the top walking trail first. The trail passed by the extreme right hand side of the falls, comprising of the Two Sisters Falls ( Salto Dos Hermanas ), The Chico Falls, then onto the main sections of Salto Bosetti, Salto Adam and Eve ( Adan Y Eve ) falls, Salto Gpque Bernabe Mendez, Salto Mbigua and Salto San Martin, of which hadn't been visible from the Brazilian side. The views from the top down, again, breath taking. The lower path reversed the views and gave us a look at how tall the individual falls were. Working our way down to the rivers edge where the boat awaited.

Expect to get wet, they said, well there's an understatement. They provide wet bags for your backpacks, we had bought a change of clothes just in case, but we weren't prepared for just how wet. The ride was only 10 mins long, first driving up on the Brazilian side towards The Devils Throat. The power of the river pushing the boat backwards, we couldn't even get close to the main area but the sides of the Salto Tres Mosqueteros falls were touching distance. We then hit the Salto San Martin Falls, the main drop of the Argentine side. Literally hit it, The driver sending us straight under the falls and soaking us to the bone and getting a face full of the power, literally pinning you to your seat. Another quick run around to the Brazilian side and this time he put the power on and again drove us straight under the falls. Talk about up close and personal. Jorje's camera ended up a bit worse for wear as he was filming but it survived to see another day after drying out.

We tried to lunch next, I say try, as a cheeky little coati jumped on our table and stole half of Jorje's sandwich from the plate in front of us like a flash of lightning. We consoled ourselves with ice cream and a train ride. The train takes you out and around to the top of the river, a 1km walk on a jetty over the river then takes you to the top of the Devils Throat, again within touching distance. Its almost fitting that this was the last stop for our tour of the falls. I've spoken about feeling the power of the water before but it was nothing like this. Looking over the railing into the cauldron of the throat gave you an almost uneasy feeling. It's a hell of a drop but the shear weight and volume of the water around you is incredible. Definitely a crescendo of the falls.

We made our return bus back into Brazil with only two minutes to spare. Back into Brazil and just for a change, had Brazilian BBQ for dinner. Meat and more meat, Jorje struggling by the end of dinner and needing a piggyback home, Juanita didn't oblige. We went back to the digs and felt satisfied with what we had packed into two days. Tomorrow we are off to Rio to pack even more into one and half days as the Brazilian whirlwind continues.

What are we going to do tonight Brain ? Same thing we do every night Pinky...

jorjejuanita — Sun, 30 Aug 2015 10:38:00 GMT

What are we going to do tonight Brain ? Same thing we do every night Pinky...

There's a few things to note about being stuck in Lima again. The first is that we had both been struck down with near fatal manflu and woo-man flu respectively, we weren't well. Secondly we had already spent time in Lima, done most of the sites and attractions, been on the open top bus, been to the ruins and temples. After a month in Peru there is only so many piles of rocks you can look at, especially after the Inka trail and seeing the best of the best. So maybe we get out of Lima ? Thirdly, In Peru, as a security measure, you need your passport to do anything. To get on a bus for a day tour or to leave the city limits on any mode of transport you need to show your passports, which were now in the Brazilian embassy. The fourth is that we were rapidly running low on funds so spending money for the sake of killing a few hours isn't really an option. So next few days went -

Try and sleep in as long as possible to waste more of the day.

Walk into town for breakfast or brunch, depending on how successful the sleep in was.

Wander aimlessly around Miraflores, don't buy anything, go back to the digs.

Check status of visa

Walk into town for lunch / afternoon tea. Be back at digs for 3pm to check visa status. ( The collection window is only open from 3pm til 4pm )

No visa yet

Walk into town for dinner, eat as cheaply as possible so we can afford a jug of sangria with dinner. Go back to the digs.

Watch crappy american sitcoms on the one english channel and drink duty free rum.

Sleep, hopefully til lunchtime the next day

Repeat for ten days

As you can imagine this was boring as batshit. Our flu gradually got better but by Thursday night we were crawling up the walls. We checked the visa status one last time before bed and finally it had been approved. There is only one flight per day to Iguazu. It leaves at 12:10pm. The visa collection windows opens at 3pm. If we turn up at 8:00 asking for our passports and get them, we can make the lunchtime flight and be out of here. We packed and hoped for the best, early rise, packed bags ready to fly, off to the embassy.

To our surprise they actually let us get our passports despite being outside of the 3-4pm collection window. Finally we are on our way, run back to the hotels wifi to book our tickets aaaand nope. The flight was booked out for 2 more days. Aaaaarrrggghhhh now we have visas and still can't go to Brazil. We had a little sulk at the fact we were here for another weekend and booked flights for Sunday.

The afternoon was spent planning our onward journey. We now have 6 days in total to see Brazil. Fly to Iguazu, see the falls from the Brazilian side for a day, go to Argentina for a day to see the other side of the falls, fly to Rio, see Jesus for a photo, have a caipirinha on Copacabana beach, fly to Sao Paolo for one night and then fly to Chile to continue our journey. We can do that right ?

It's going to be a whirlwind but lets have a crack shall we ?

Change of Plans, Big Change of Plans

jorjejuanita — Fri, 28 Aug 2015 10:35:00 GMT

Change of Plans, Big Change of Plans

The plan from Arequipa was to head up to Puno, travel across Lake Titicaca to La Paz in Bolivia, where we would cycle the 'death road' and do a tour of the famous salt lakes in Uyni. Sadly we hadn't done much research and the salt lake timing was looking all wrong. Bad weather, wrong time of year and dodgy tour operators who wouldn't leave until they had 8 people in jeep was not sounding inviting to us. It was also proving very costly to get out of Bolivia due to the high altitude of the airport, at least $500 each to our next stop of Brazil, plus a transfer to Iguazu was looking like another $250. After hours scouring the internet, studying flight paths, reading blogs and earnest discussion we stumbled across cheap direct flights from Arequipa to Iguazu Falls via Lima for a grand total of $300 and it was decided. No Bolivia on this trip anymore. We're off to Brazil instead. Iguazu Falls here we come !

Well, we thought ! Flew from Arequipa no problems, lay over in Lima, no problems, fly to Iguazu, no problems, get to Immigration ....Problems.

All of our travel research prior to the start of the big trip had indicated that we did need a visa for Brazil, it would cost $35 US and we paid at the border, we even got the money changed in advance to have the US dollars ready. So long story short, that has changed, apparently for the last year or so that only applied to borders if you crossed overland and, and even then, it has also changed. The Immigration officials and federal police were all very nice about it, we kept asking where to pay, they kept saying its okay we can get you on the next flight back to Lima. We had already been travelling for 12 hours at this point, not happy. So that was that, they took our bags, left us standing there with no idea what was happening for half an hour, then, two minutes before the last plane out of Iguazu was due to leave, we were shuffled onto the Lima flight straight back to where we came from. Another 4 hours in the air. Gutted.

The biggest downside is that we were landing back in Lima at 1am with no accommodation booked for a bed to sleep in. Lima airport wasn't really helpful either, the smallest of tasks like getting change for a payphone was made so hard, people just refused to help us out in any way (unless they're making money from it themselves, they're not interested). Luckily we had fired off a quick email at the Brazil airport to our previous residence in Lima saying we might be coming back. We eventually got Wifi and found a response saying that the place was full, gutted again, but Marco our host, bless him, had arranged some other accommodation for us with a phone number. It took a few attempts to work the phone and some vague spanglish conversation but eventually we got through and found a room for the night, arriving at about 2:30 in the morning after leaving Arequipa at 7am the previous morning, pretty fair to say we were a bit broken.

So, what next ? Well of course it was Friday night, so the Brazilian Embassy won't open until Monday. Weekend in Lima.... Again. We had already 'done' Lima, twice already, but headed into town for food and a wander around. Did a whole lot of research as to what we would need for this visa. Turns out there is little to no information from either the Brazilian or Australian governments about it. On top of which, the info we did find again turned out to be wrong. The Brazilian authorities in Brazil had told us you just need a stamp, see you tomorrow, it's no problem. Not that easy. We read some blogs that suggested we needed online forms which we found and filled out, then varying reports of bank statements, 3 or 6 months worth, photocopies of credit cards, photos required, signature scans, proof of accommodation, proof of return ticket and general talk of 'it depends what day you go and who you speak to'.

We decided to go all in and spent several hours at an internet cafe, scanning and printing everything mentioned in any blog or website. Got photos taken and we were fully armed for Monday morning, visa by Monday afternoon and back to Brazil on Tuesday, was the new plan.

We had our appointment time and turned up brimming with confidence and armfuls of paperwork, great, except as of today, yes today, a new system is in place and we have to lodge all the paperwork electronically through another website. Back to the internet cafe. They needed photos upload in a certain size and only in Jpeg, a signature uploaded in a different size, only in Jpeg, your application form ( with photo and signature on it ) in PDF, other forms in PDF, passport scans in GIF, aaaaarrrggghhhh.

Only PDF actually worked on this brand new system, so we changed everything into PDF and hoped for the best. It literally took about 2 hours, it was nearly 1 o'clock, the embassy shuts at 1:30, high tail it in a cab to make it before it shuts. Of course it actually shuts at 12:00 for lunch and doesn't re-open until 3 when you can only pick up documents, not drop them off. Aaaaaarrrgggghhh and expletives.....Try again tomorrow.

We went early as soon as the doors opened at 8am, as our appointment time didn't seem to matter the day before, it didn't matter now either as we went straight in. Today we had a much more helpful assistant in a younger lady. We explained we had lodged everything and that their system didn't work. It was checked and they agreed. We had ticked all the boxes we just had to pay, which you can't do at the embassy, rather at the bank up the road with a payment slip, so off we went to the bank, which didn't open till 9am. Coffee and then pay the bank, back to the Embassy and we got the grumpy old assistant from yesterday. Eventually everything was sorted, he smiled and handed us a piece of paper saying we could check the progress online. Wait I thought we picked these up this afternoon between 3-4 o'clock as the sign states. Nope, the new streamlined computerised system means it now takes up to 5 working days instead of 3 hours ! But it will be ready by the 2nd of September for sure. Today was the 25th of August, our flight out of Brazil is on the 5th of September. More and more Aaaaaarrrggghhhhh and expletives. The young lady assured us they would try and make it quicker, but no guarantees, sorry.

So now... We wait... In Lima..... Again.... Expletive

Photos: Peru - Arequipa

jorjejuanita — Fri, 21 Aug 2015 07:38:00 GMT

You're-a-keeper Arequipa

jorjejuanita — Wed, 19 Aug 2015 07:27:00 GMT

You're-a-keeper Arequipa

Another early morning flight and we landed around 9am, straight to our hostel which thankfully had our room ready. Our host was lovely and gave us all the info we needed to get out on the town and see what was about. We checked-out out Plaza de Amas, the main square of town, and a few streets that had been recommended to us for restaurants and shopping. We had lunch and then went to see the main attraction of town, Santa Catalina Monastery. The monastery was one of the first buildings in Arequipa, built by the Spanish in 1597 . It is in fact a little town inside the city with 6 streets inside the walls. Its also still functioning today, with practising nuns in residence, though in areas closed to the public. The most famous nun from the monastery is Anna who lived there from 1604 to 1686. She has been credited with many miracles and predictions and was beatified by Pope John Paul 2 in 1985 . All in all a pretty impressive monastery and good way to spend a few hours. We treated ourselves by visiting a chocolate factory that also made craft beers, winning ! We sat on the balcony and admired the views. Arequipa is surrounded by snow capped mountains, mainly the Volcano Misti that stands alone and the Chachani group of volcanoes.

Another main attraction is 'Juanita'. No, not our Juanita but an Inkan girl who was sacrificed on the volcano, her body was placed in a tomb and the cold temperatures preserved her nearly perfectly. We went to the museum for a visit but found out we needed to pay for a guide, there wasn't a tour available for an hour or so and even then, you weren't allowed any cameras, phones or recording inside. We moved on to think about it and visited a few more local churches. Maybe another day. In the end we didn't get to see the Juanita-mummy.

Later in the afternoon we booked a tour for a couple of days to visit Colca Canyon near Chivay. The main reason we had come to Arequipa was to go to the canyon to see the Peruvian Condors flying in convection currents. Most of the options involved hiking the canyon but we weren't so keen, having just come off the Inka trail trek the day before. More hiking pain wasn't on the agenda, so our tour was a bit more touristy than we would usually go for, but we knew that going in so were prepared to deal with it.

Chivay is about three hours from Arequipa. Our first stop after an hour or so was to fill everybody up with coca tea as we were about to go to serious altitude, the only road through the mountains passes at 5200m above sea level. We got out of the bus at the top of the pass and straight away felt the cold mountain air and lack of oxygen. The area was full of stacked stones or Cairns. Groups of at least 7 stones stacked as an offering to the mountains for safe passage for travellers. The pass has been used for many years and there are literally thousands of them.

Coming back down the other side we stopped a few times to see local wildlife, llamas, alpacas, sheep, donkeys and pucina, a small deer type animal. We also stopped at an area of white cliffs. Strangely, although the whole mountain range is active volcanic, all of the rocks are white, similar to limestone. Our guide explained to us that the cliffs were all formed underwater, previously being the ocean floor. Pretty impressive as we were now at about 4000m above sea level, but there are fossils of fish and crustaceans in the cliffs proving this area used to be part of the ocean.

We had a standard tourist buffet lunch when we arrived in Chivay, Jorje dining on alpaca, Juanita going a more cautious choice in Peruvian cuisine. At this point we found out we weren't actually staying in Chivay but in Yanque, a smaller town about 20mins down the track, so on we went. After check-in and a quick nap at the hotel we headed to some local pre-Inka ruins at Uyo Uyo. This involved about an hour of walking. We were joined by a local dog who led the way and waited for us if we were too slow. Interesting ruins and the associated terraces are still being used by the farmers today. The walk ended with a trip to the local hot springs. It was nearly dark and about 4 degrees so stripping off wasn't very appealing but the steaming water won us over and we floated in the hot water for an hour.

Another early morning rise saw us at breakfast at 6am. We were off to the canyon to see the condors, but of course we had to stop at a market square on the way to walk past stalls full of tourist crap. For the 14th time looking at the same woollen hats, no one bought anything.

Our bus dropped us about 20 mins walk from Condor Cross. The walk was along the inside of the canyon wall and very impressive. Colca Canyon is 2-3 deeper than the Grand Canyon. We saw some condors circling above from the distance, as did the 500 other tourists who had gathered at Condor Cross. We waited, and waited, and waited. We could see some birds flying in the valley below, a long way below but no real action. An hour passed and our time was running out, we met with the rest of our group and discussed the lack of condors at Condor Cross. As we were about to head off the crowd gasped and a solo condor flew on a current just above our heads, beautiful to watch. It stayed for about 3 minutes circling around then off to the next mountain, and like the condor, we could leave happy.

The trip back to Yanque involved 3 more stops at tourist stalls on the edge of the road, all selling exactly the same crap as the last. Juanita bought cactus ice-cream that tasted like kiwifruit and Jorje drank Chicha beer made from purple corn, and no woolly hats were bought. Once back in Yanque, the majority of the tour group ignored the tourist buffet being sold in front of us and we opted for a simple and cheap sandwich in town instead, at a quarter of the price. The tourist bus trip was nearly over, it was what we expected, and we were over getting dragged around tourist stalls as anticipated, but we saw some beautiful countryside and the condors flying in the wild which was pretty special so we figured mission accomplished. Back to Arequipa to hatch the next plan.

Photos: Peru - The Inka Trail to Machu Picchu

jorjejuanita — Mon, 17 Aug 2015 16:24:00 GMT

The Inka Trail to Machu Picchu

jorjejuanita — Mon, 17 Aug 2015 16:21:00 GMT

The Inka Trail to Machu Picchu

Day 1 (16km)

A 3am alarm is never welcome but there was an a feeling of anticipation in the air, maybe even nervousness about the conditions ahead but we were up and about, unlike the temperature. It was around the 1-2 degree mark as we waited outside for the bus. The first stop was Ollyantaytambo, around two and a half hours from Cusco. This is where all the bags are weighed and transferred to the team of porters who carry all the equipment for the trip. They are truly super human, carrying all the luggage, tents, entire kitchen, tables and chairs, food, water, toilet and anything else required. The porters have a 20kg per person carry limit, in total our group of 10 required 16 porters. Each hiker is allowed a 9kg limit, this includes sleeping bags and thermarest mattresses at 3.5 kgs for both, so around 5.5kgs is left for clothing, toiletries and equipment. There's a small shop for last minute snacks and supplies, we both purchased the most essential item, hiking sticks. Juanita going for dual extendable poles while Jorje opted for a traditional wooden number. All sticks must have rubber stoppers on the bottom to be allowed in the park. Ollyantaytambo is also the trail head, from here we walked.

We had been joined by Dave and Alison from the UK and their kids, Conner 18 and Ellie 16. Our guide Fernando and assistant Mario finalising the group and we were off. Passports and tickets shown and over the bridge into the national park. The start of the trek is only about 2600m above sea level but the first hill proved you could still feel the altitude. We followed the Urabumba river to Sallapunku and got our first glimpse of Inkan ruins, some farm terracing on the other side of the river. The sun had come out by this point and we were stripping off layers, down to t-shirts again. The next Inka site was Wilkarakay, more impressive and we got to walk through the remains of the small village. We thought this was pretty cool, having no idea what laid ahead. Lunch was about 5kms away but from here we had started to climb. The fog and mist had also started to roll in, leaving our picturesque views nothing more than white all around us.

The local families along the trail sell drinks and snacks and the use of their toilets to supplement their income, which can come in very handy as we found out, they also turned out to be the best facilities on the trail. We reached the campsite at around 12 o'clock. Lunch was our first look at what our chef was capable of with limited resources and limited time on the side of a mountain. Turns out he was capable of quite alot ! We could write about the quality of the food at every individual break we had but lets just say the food was incredible the whole trip. Three courses at every stop and we struggled to finish every meal, even with the amount of mountain we covered and energy burnt there was more than enough. Lunch was a corn and bread starter, chicken and vegetable soup followed by grilled trout. Combined with unlimited tea, coffee and hot chocolate, yum.

During the lunch break we discussed the rest of the day. Some hiking groups stay at this campsite for the evening, others continue hiking the afternoon to the next campsite. So their trek is usually an easy day 1, followed by an easy day two then a killer day three and day four. We were going with a different tactic, smash out days one and two then have half days on three and four. This meant one thing, for the rest of the day we were going uphill, through the next campsite located one-third up the mountain and on to a further campsite two-thirds the way up the highest pass of the trek. Only 5kms in distance but a whopping climb in altitude of 1150m. It was expected to take us around 5 hours. At that point the heavens opened-up and cold rain started to fall. Ponchos on and onwards !

Fernando had advised us the first third to Tres Piedras would be mostly sloped incline with the second third mostly stone steps, we weren't sure which we were looking forward to less. We trudged on into the fog, the walk was just under 3km. Taking about an hour and a half, not bad going, we had a 15 min break, took a few deep breaths and a stretch, then began hiking the steps. Fernando had described the stair section as his least favourite part. Yep.

Add to the fact we were now at 3,400 meters the altitude started to take effect. Many breaks were taken to regain our breath and the pace slowed considerably. Coca candies helped but we were starting to think the last campsite might have been a good place to call it a day. Bear in mind that the second third was a bit over 2kms in distance. Two and a half hours in and a broken Jorje called a stop to proceedings for a picnic. We were literally walking 30 or 40 steps and taking a rest. The poncho was laid out and snacks and water had. We were shattered. After 5 mins of sitting still the cold had set in and we were stiffening up, the rain started again and spurred us to continue on hiking. Little did we know the campsite of Llulluchapampa was around the next corner, literally 20 more steps and we had made it. It was just before 6pm and starting to get dark. That was a hell of a first day. Dry warm clothes and dinner can cure any ailment and it did, tea and soup before crumbed chicken schnitzels, vegies and rice. Into the tent and rug up as much as possible. Llulluchapampa sits at 3750m above sea level, it was freezing !

Day 2 ( 13km )

Its pretty hard to get Jorje out of bed at the best of times, it was 6am, but seeings as though it had rained all night and dropped to minus 9 degrees, there had been no pee breaks. Not getting up was no longer an option. It was also Juanita's birthday ! Early morning presents were given and smiles all round despite the chilly temperature.

Our porters brought hot chocolate and tea to the tent, before a breakfast of pancakes with hot mango and more tea and hot chocolate in the dining tent. The rain persisted as we geared up and got ready for the toughest and highest part of the trek, a summit affectionately named Abra Warmiwanusca, or 'Dead Woman's Pass'. There is no dead women there, just the mountain tops that look like the profile of a dead woman. We set off around 7am. More and more steps and a lot of deep breathing and we eventually made it an hour and a half later. 4200m above sea level, highest point of the trek. We stopped for photos and snacks thinking the hardest bit was done. Our lunch break was all downhill from here, in fact an altitude drop of 800m to 3600m at Pacaymayo. Easy.

Not so easy, about 20m down the path we caught the wind that the mountain had been shielding us from. Sudden drop in temperature, cold chills and just for fun it started snowing ! Our bodies don't move so well in the cold, walking down 2 foot high stone steps now covered in water, ice and snow and it was tough going. Of course it didn't help watching the porters run past us casually jogging with our camp on their back, but it did take another 3 hours to get to the lunch spot.

Soup and tea again defrosted us before a hot meal. About an hours break in those conditions and the legs seize up nicely, just before an hours climb to the next pass at Abra Runkurakay. At Runkurakay there is some amazing Inkan ruins at 3800m before a steep, steep climb to the pass. There is also an Inkan built reservoir on the side just for good measure. We stopped for a break and some shelter under a tree at the top, the rain had got heavier and we needed chocolate and museli bars. We shared the chocolates with some of our passing porters who smiled heartily.

Again it seemed harder going downhill than up in the afternoon. Constant drizzle made it slow going but it was a very picturesque section. We stopped by ruins at Sayacmarca then pushed on. Eventually we came to a fork in the path, either 20mins to camp or uphill to the ruins of Conchamarca. Well, we're only here once, so up stairs we went. What a view, built into the side of a cliff Conchamarca just kept going, every time you found a wall and looked over there was another level of terracing curving around the mountain. We spent about half an hour exploring before heading down the steps and onwards to camp at Chaquicocha. Arrived about 4:30pm and we were three quarters of the way to Machu Picchu.

Juanita had been struggling for most of the day with a bad tummyache and decided to skip dinner in order to stay in her sleeping bag. Skipping dinner was OK but not dessert. Jorje had had some secret meetings with the chef and Fernando throughout the duration of the trek and organised a birthday cake for Juanita. Granted the cake had to be taken to the tent to coax her out, then the group sung happy birthday and the blowing out of the one candle Jorje had smuggled up the mountain. I'm sure the extra present helped put a smile on Juanita's face as well, after being told for 2 days Jorje hadn't brought it along on the trek. Juanita made an incredibly unselfish birthday wish for clear weather for the rest of the trek. After another chilli night we woke the next morning to blue skies, top work Juanita !

Day 3 ( 10km )

During the previous evening's dinner we had negotiated a sleep-in seeing that it was a planned half day of trekking. Well played team, the extra 2 hours sleep helping us all recover and be ready to face the day. With most of the clouds gone and our bellies full of omelette and sausages for breakfast, we started to climb to our first meeting point, the third highest pass on the trek called Abra Phuyupatamarca ( Please don't ask us to pronounce any of these names ). The ruins here were stunning. The sun was out and we could see the entire mountain range and the valley below, it was starting to look like a postcard, it seemed the closer we got to the end the more beautiful it was getting. Fernando stopped us all for a history lesson and took some pics, we thanked Juanita for the great weather and moved on down hill again. This downhill wasn't so bad with plenty of andulating ground, some caves and tunnels to go through and amazing views the whole way. Saying that, the 7kms to Winay Wayna still took around three hours, but it was in 3 hours of glorious sunshine.

Nothing can quite prepare you for walking into Winay Wayna. After cold, rain, snow, pain, altitude sickness, blisters and general hurting, coming out of jungle onto the convex terraces is just an incredible sight. Overlooking the river for the first time since seeing it on day one. At this point we just sat and took it in, with Dave, Alison and Fernando next to us we just sat in silence and enjoyed the view. The size of the ruins is pretty amazing in itself but it just seems perfectly made and has a powerful spiritual feel about the place. We stayed for about an hour before walking down the terraces and on to camp where lunch was ready and waiting. Mmmm tea and soup.

After lunch we decided to check out more ruins about 10 mins away at Intipata. Almost an exact copy of Winay Wayna except the terraces are con-caved in the curve of the valley. We walked the terraces and said hi to some local llamas who were mowing the lawn. Getting really adventurous we saw a waterfall off in the distance and followed the paths around the mountain for a look. Again, well worth it, a beautiful 20-30m waterfall flowing into the valley below. The walk back up the many terraces to camp wasn't as much fun, being all up hill, but we got there and got ready for dinner ( peppered steak ) and our briefing on day 4. The good news was the weather would hold and we had a clear day for Machu Picchu. The bad news was the wake up time !

Day 4 ( 6km )

There's a checkpoint before going further on the path to Machu Picchu, it opens at 5:30am, but trekkers want to be first in line at the checkpoint so that they are the first to arrive at the Sun Gate for the sunrise over Machu Picchu city, and don't get stuck behind slow hikers as the path is the narrowest, mostly single file. And so start queueing around 2:30am, what the !!

We weren't that crazy but we were up at 3am, pancakes with nutella eased the pain, and in the queue by 4am. We were lucky enough to be close enough to the front to secure a bench to sit on for the next hour and a half. Again it was chilly but the excitement in the air kept us going, cheers rang out as the office opened and through we went. It was still pitch black so hiking by torch light. It's only an hour to Intupunku or the 'Sun Gate' as it's known. We made good time, leaving behind the slow-pokes. Juanita was still struggling with tummy pains but soldiered on like true trooper. The last hurdle is a set of stairs up into Intupunku, lovingly known as 'The Gringo Killers'. Those Inkas really did enjoy making you earn it.

Up the last of the stairs and through the arch of the Sun Gate, the sun was rising and the first look at Machu Picchu, not a cloud in the sky and a perfect view of the city below. Truly as breathtaking as those bloody stairs. Only about ten people had made it there before us. We picked a peaceful spot on the edge of the Sun Gate to take it all in and lit another candle for Penny Nan, we think she enjoyed the view.

It's about 45 more minutes down the hill from the Sun Gate to the edge of Machu Picchu city, stopping at every view point as we got closer, the morning sun making the stones glow, it's really quite surreal. Some day tourists who had started at Machu Picchu were passing us on their way up to the Sun Gate, they seemed devastated when we told them it was 40minutes more. Pretty fair to say that when you've been walking for 4 days to get to the same point, the sympathy was running fairly low !

The good thing about hiking in from the top down and the early start is that you arrive in the city before the entrance gates for the general public have opened, meaning you can get photos of the empty ruins before the crowds swarm over it. We had made it ! Juanita only just but we were there all the same !

We re-grouped at the tourist entrance and had a second breakfast at the cafe. Once all of our group had arrived back together, Fernando took us on a 2 hour tour of the city, showing us all the different areas and what the were used for, answering our questions, and being photographer for us. You can't really describe the city, I'm sure the photos won't do it justice either but it's an amazing place. No one really knows what its purpose was, science revealing the terraces and farming could only support about 80 people. Suggestions are that it was a summer palace for royalty, a last resort fortress against invaders, and a high place in the mountains to communicate with the stars and aliens amongst others. Any which way, it was abandoned before the Spanish arrived. Amazingly there are still rock piles in storage rooms and a functioning quarry which suggests it wasn't finished being built when the Inka's left. It's one of those places you really have to see for yourself to try to begin to understand why it was built.

After a few hours in the city we said our farewell and boarded the bus to Machu Picchu town for lunch. With a couple of hours to kill before our train back to Cusco, we decided that massages were the best option for our tired bodies. We followed that with beers and pisco sours on the train.

All-in-all an incredible experience, we did it tough as always but it came good in the end. Massive thank you to Enigma tours, particularly Fernando for being an awesome guide. Thanks to all of our group as well, it makes such a difference when you have friendly like-minded people around you, especially with a sense of humour in some pretty trying conditions. Another bucket list item ticked off.

Photos: Peru - Cusco

jorjejuanita — Thu, 13 Aug 2015 06:07:00 GMT

Getting high in Cusco

jorjejuanita — Thu, 13 Aug 2015 06:05:00 GMT

Getting high in Cusco

We arrived in Cusco early morning and checked into our hostel. The air was thin, really thin, 3400m above sea level is quite high, our second story room meant stairs, and stairs were the first sign we were struggling. Jorje in particular needed 2 rest breaks going up 12 steps. With the gear dumped we headed into the main square to get our bearings, got offered all manner of souvenirs repeatedly and checked out the local stores. The sun was shining, t-shirts only until you stood in the shade when the temperature dropped about 20 degrees. We had lunch at a pub dedicated to Norton Motorcycles and headed back for a nap. Again having a few park bench stops on the way to catch our breath. Cusco is a stunningly beautiful town, 17th and 18th century colonial buildings and churches surrounded by mountains so having a little sit down to admire the view was never a problem.

In the evening we strolled again, the temperature had dropped significantly and we were rugged up. Alcohol is not a good idea when first at altitude, we had decided on a restaurant for dinner, that offered free red wine...that should warm us up..... Hmmm. Dinner was lovely, as was the wine, until Juanita felt a little light headed as we got the bill. Turns out alcohol, even half a glass and altitude don't mix too well for Juanita, good thing there was a few parks on the way home as the spew flowed freely into the gardens.

The next morning we felt a bit better, had a sleep-in then toured around the town, buying some supplies for our up coming hike. We took an open top bus tour around the town, which took in some sights of Inka ruins but mostly stopped at local merchants where they insisted we get off the bus to go into the store. Even as we took photos outside we were told 'photos later, shopping first', not exactly what we had in mind but we did our own thing anyway. Jorje was however impressed that the driver of the bus walked the top deck during stops selling cans of beer ! We didn't take up the offer but it's the thought that counts. It was a bit chilly so we needed to warm up, we spotted an Irish pub ( of course there's an Irish pub ) on the square and dived into home made soups and garlic bread, certainly hit the spot.

That evening it had turned freezing cold, seriously cold. We decided on a pizza restaurant based entirely on the fact it had a wood fired oven going that we could sit near. Juanita got to try some local freshwater trout. Some clouds had rolled in and we were starting to have a few concerns about the weather in the coming week. No booze tonight and we headed back to the hostel for an early one.

Our 3rd day at altitude showed a marked improvement in our fitness and well being. We visited a few of the cities numerous churches and the Qoriqancha convent in the morning, lighting candles for Jorje's Penny Nan, who we sadly learnt had just passed away, then met fellow travellers for lunch. Eddie and Sandra, who we sailed to Colombia with, had arrived in Cusco so we caught up at vegan cafe Green Point. Best vegan food we've ever had and great to see the guys again. They had just done a hike to Machu Picchu, though on a different trail, so we picked their brains for any last minute advice. At this stage the heavens had opened, despite it being the middle of the dry season and incredibly rare, torrential rain washed the streets of Cusco. The next 4 days were to be spent hiking the mountains en route to Machu Picchu. This didn't bode well.

In the evening we met members of our hiking group and guide to be Fernando at the swanky hotel Monastario for our briefing. We had some good news and some bad news. The good news included all being ready and two lovely couples joining us, Av and Punit from Canada, and Danny and Sarah from the US. The bad news was the weather, not only was the rain to continue but there was a chance of snow and minus temperatures ! Also the possibility of 'Dead woman's pass' being closed and blocking our journey. And of course the final blow, we were getting picked up at 4am to start our adventure. We immediately made the decision to buy another jacket, some ponchos and rethink our pack. This could get interesting !

Tomorrow we hike !

Photos: Peru - Lima

jorjejuanita — Sun, 9 Aug 2015 05:22:00 GMT

Photos: Peru - Nasca

jorjejuanita — Sun, 9 Aug 2015 05:11:00 GMT

The Nasca Lines and Wines

jorjejuanita — Sat, 8 Aug 2015 04:16:00 GMT

The Nasca Lines and Wines

After a couple of days chilling in Lima we headed to Nasca to fly over the famous carvings in the rocks and sand. We organised a tour, a bus that took us to Nasca, put us up in a hotel over night, sorted the transfers and the plane ride the next morning, then back to Lima the following evening. At $230 we thought it was a pretty good deal. The 6 hour bus ride turned out to be 8 and a half, meaning we arrived at 10:45pm. We passed the time with movies and ipad games and discussed which drink was going to make us feel better. It was decided a wine was in order if we ever got to Nasca. Luckily there was a restaurant open next to the hotel. We decided fried chicken and a litre of Sangria was a suitably balanced diet and examined the flight path for the morning.

There is great mystery surrounding the Nasca Lines, some say they were agricultural systems, others say its a zodiac calendar, others that the lines were made by aliens or for aliens. Any which way, no one really has any idea what they are doing there but the shapes, animals, birds and 'men' carved into the rocks are certainly a sight to behold.

Our morning departure was delayed by an hour due to fog, then again once we reached the airport by another 2 hours. Our driver took us to a local ceramic factory to pass some time, which was kind of interesting and kind of weird but managed to kill 45 mins. We walked the local shops at the airport, Juanita picking out some jewellery for her up coming birthday and we purchased the obligatory fridge magnet. Finally our time to fly came at around lunchtime.

We were joined in the little plane by another couple along with the captain and co pilot. Every seat was full. Definitely the smallest plane either of us has ever been in, you certainly feel every bump. The pilot banked the plane and used the wing to point out the drawings in the land below. Some are harder to make out than others, especially with the plane bouncing around but once you spot them they are spectacular. Measuring between 30 to 150 meters across, seeing them in person only makes you wonder more and more what they are doing there. They can only been seen from far above. The flight over the 13 figures took about half an hour. Juanita can add light-aircraft to the list of things that make her motion sick, a quick spew between the lines didn't dampen the spectacle.

Back on firm land the speculation increased, as it has done for many years before and I'm sure for many years to come. Back to the hotel for lunch then back on the bus to Lima. Well worth the travel time and definitely another tick off the list.

Photos: Peru - Iquitos / Amazon

jorjejuanita — Fri, 7 Aug 2015 23:14:00 GMT

Welcome to the Jungle

jorjejuanita — Fri, 7 Aug 2015 04:07:00 GMT

Welcome to the Jungle

We arrived in Iquitos early in the morning after getting 3 hours sleep in Lima. The cabbie was giving us the standard spiel about our hotel being no good and he knew a better one and blah blah, the usual scam. He left us at the front door shaking his head. Turns out he was kind of right, there are two hostels with the same name in Iquitos and we were at the wrong one ! Eventually we got to our accom, dropped the bags and went for brunch.

'Dawn on the Amazon' was our target, a funky little little cafe overlooking the Amazon river and with a well renowned tour service for the jungle. View and breakfast was amazing, tour prices not so much, offering us $250 US per day per person for a trip up the river, erm not what their website said by a long shot. We were very very very tired and didn't want to deal with street pushers for tours but we needed a cheaper option so we sucked it up and hit the tourist's street. The deals were many, varying quality and promises a plenty, guaranteed animal sightings at one, mainly because it had its own zoo, and special prices just for us on this special day. Sigh. We sat in many an office and listened to the sales pitch and looked at the pictures til we could take no more, our eyelids were too heavy. We made our decision, 600 soles, about $200US for a 4 day adventure 400km up the river. Much more within our budget than the original $250US per day. Locked in and paid for, it was nap time.

We rose late afternoon and went on a mission for supplies, some long sleeved shirts for mozzie (known as mosquitos by the rest of the world) protection, more bug spray, batteries, ponchos, and other jungle necessities. We had decided to detox again for this trip so no packing the rum. Followed by a late dinner and we were ready to roll.

Another early morning rise and the group met at the office for the journey to begin, 2 hours in a van to the river port of Nauta, the last stop before the jungle. Nauta is a bustling little market village where you can buy almost anything. The guides were telling us of bugs and wildlife and campfires and fishing trips and night walks through the jungle. It all sounded exciting and that it might go better with rum, so we made and emergency purchase of some local tipple before setting sail, we had been detoxing for about 10 hours, top work us ! We got into a typical local boat powered by what looks like a whipper snipper, the size over the boat defines the size of the whipper snipper. We stopped several times to refuel on the way.

About 2 and a half hours up river we we arrived at Renaco Lodge, our base for the coming adventures. After a late lunch the group of about 15 people split into their various categories and departed, leaving 5 of us for the remainder. Our first excursion, Pink Dolphin watching ! No we hadn't sampled some ayahausca delights from a local shaman, dolphins are prominent in the Amazon, they begin life grey and as they mature, lose their colour and turn pink. The river didn't disappoint. We saw several pods, lots of young dolphins feeding, jumping and playing just metres from our canoe, very cool. We watched for about 2 hours as the sun set over the river behind us, a stunning view and great way to end the evening we thought.

Back at camp a hearty dinner was had, chatting around the table and getting to know the group it had to be bed time but nope, boots on and torches out folks, we are going hiking ! Night time is a different world in the jungle, all sorts of new wildlfe, mostly insects and reptiles. We saw frogs, and bugs and spiders, a hairy scary tarantula, and listened to the orchestra that was the jungle at night. We got home about 11pm, ready for a 5:30 rise in the morning.

Bird watching was the morning mission, we took the canoe up river towards a lake, sadly the creek was blocked by a fallen tree and we couldn't get there but it didn't matter. We detoured on the water, just drifting through the different tributaries produced kingfishers, igrids, falcons, hawks, macaws, cormorants, owls and tucans. The noise from all the birds calls was deafening. Our guide Ricky pointed out some tennis ball sized lumps on the bark of a tree and told us they were bats, no one believed him until a camera flash sent them flying past our heads at great speed. We were awake now.

After breakfast we we set off again, by boat at first to another location for some hiking. The trip there was about half an hour and produced more birds and 3 different species of monkey in the trees along the riverbank. Some orange butterflies decided to make a home on Juanita's matching hat. The hike was all about the trees, bushes, natural medicines and food, and the meaning to the local people. We were shown how to make bush iodine, use squashed termites to repel mosquitoes, find water in the nuts of ivory palm trees and more importantly, which branches and leaves not to touch. The walk culminated in seeing the giant walking trees. The roots can grow up to 30m away from the base of the tree, they can 'walk' up to a metre each year. Thunder rolled in and headed for the lodge to evaluate our camping plans, the weather looking nasty for the night meant we were going to stay local so a late lunch and a siesta was the call.

The late afternoon bought good news. Fishing trip ! Jorje had been waiting for this ! Off up the river we went towards a small lake at the end of yet another tributary. The river was teaming with fish jumping so looked primed for the group to catch dinner. The target species was piranha, the equipment was a stick with some line and a hook tied to it. Probably less than ideal, in pro fishing circles but it would have to do. The bait, left over chicken from lunch. With all the activity on the surface, Juanita made the call that it would be embarrassing not to catch something. Talk about cursing yourself ! The rest of us did well, all managing to get at least 1 on board, Jorje winning the most fish of the day. The piranha are quite small but the teeth are very impressive and they can strip bait instantly. Further inland in more remote areas they get bigger, but aren't the man eaters the movies would have you believe. Back to the lodge for some fresh pirahna on rice and a mug-o-rum. Another full day of fun, though our arses were suffering the long days of sitting on the wooden benches in the canoe.

Day 3 and a well deserved sleep in, breakfast, then packed the bags, we were off into the jungle for the night. Another 2 hour ride in the canoe through the amazon maze. We bought cushions with us today. Some paths again blocked but eventually we opened out into a huge lake, the water was like glass. Along the banks we pulled up to our spot. First jobs were to collect firewood and hang the hammocks. The hammocks have cocoon style mosquito covers over them to keep you safe all night. The guides showed us how to strip bark from certain trees to use as string for the nets. Once the hammock was up a test run was in order, something that proved a little too much for Juanita, managing a perfect half-piked-back-somersault out of her hammock onto the jungle floor. Apparently Jorje's fault for rigging it too high up the tree.

We spent the afternoon fishing for dinner in various spots around the lake without a lot of success. In the evening we took the boat and our torches to search for cayman, finding a big one floating near some lillies. The really interesting bit came when fish decided it was time to start jumping into the boat, luckily for us the piranha species here don't jump. It started slowly but before long there was around 15 fish jumping around our feet in the canoe. Five different species including catfish and freshwater barracuda, and much bigger than what we had been catching. Now we had dinner as well ! Back at the camp we got a campfire going and smoked the fish on sticks. Juanita and I enjoyed a mug-o-rum then crawled into our cocoons for the night. The sounds of the jungle singing us off to sleep.

We slept surprisingly well considering we were in hammocks. Juanita managed to stay in hers for the duration. Breakfast from the fire and we packed up camp to begin the journey back to the lodge. On the way we spotted some cheeky monkeys so went ashore to watch them play. It was amazing to see them in the wild, like watching David Attenborough when they started making jumps between trees, falling 10m at a time from branch to branch. We floated back to the lodge surrounded by birds and butterflies. Several other groups had arrived back at the digs, we lunched and swapped stories before making the 3 hour journey back to Nauta. We waved goodbye to birds and fish and pink dolphins as we motored homeward, a final sunset seeing us off as we arrived at port.

There's been a few places we've visited over the years that give you a feeling of mixed emotions. The sheer beauty of the Amazon and all its life brings a massive smile, thinking about the rate it's being destroyed at brings a tear now more than ever having seen it. Peru has reserved large chunks of the amazon basin as national parks but the evidence of humans can be seen everywhere, mostly in the form of plastic bottles and wrappers. The situation is a lot worse in other countries. Makes us happy to have seen it, but sad to wonder how many others will in future generations.

Jorje y Juanita

Photos: Ecuador - Quito

jorjejuanita — Fri, 31 Jul 2015 23:13:00 GMT