I wish I could have spent more time in the
countries I visited in South America and I also wish I could have made it to
some others. From leaving Costa Rica I had decided to spend most of my time in
Peru where I was going to explore the Amazon jungle and then make my way south
to Cusco and finally Machu Picchu. A colleague I worked with in Hong Kong was
already in Colombia after resigning from work last year to spend his days
learning Spanish and his nights dancing salsa with Latino women. To protect his
innocence I will give him the alias Shurley.
Once I mentioned my plan to spend time in
Peru checking out jungles and lost cities Shurley jumped at the chance to join
me. I decided to pop into Colombia to pick him up and check out Bogota. Colombia has a reputation for being
dangerous, be it drug cartels fighting each other in the streets, rebels
kidnapping foreigners or setting off bombs. either way that was the past, or so
I thought until I was heading to the airport and an American couple in the bus
said the Farc had set off a car bomb in central Bogota a month earlier..ohh
well I don’t have a car anyway so they will need to perfect the thong (flip
flop) bomb to catch me.
Bogota is an interesting city that has a
real vibe to it when the sun goes down, although the city is somewhat run down
and looks a little grotty the bars and restaurants come alive at sunset and the
place rocks (technically I guess it would salsa or samba or shimmy
shimmy...digressing). After a couple of days we made our way to Lima and the
beachside suburb of Miraflores. Lima is a large city and from the outside it
appears there is a large contingent of poor people within the city. I was
surprised to hear it has actually overtaken Colombia from drug production and
exportation and the citizens are the ones paying the price of addiction. Once you get past the poorer areas and
towards the coast Lima metamorphosis to a tree lined modern city with a real
charm about it. Again the real atmosphere begins with the setting of the sun.
Shurley and I joined a tour at this stage
to navigate the Amazon jungle and ancient Inca sites finishing with Machu
Picchu. There were around a dozen of us with the average age being somewhere in
the 30’s. We had a few Poms and a
Canadian but the rest were Aussies which made for a bit of fun. We flew to
Puerto Maldanado where we jumped a bus for an hour and then had a 3 hour boat
ride before reaching out jungle lodge. Here we spent the days checking out
wildlife and the evenings acquainting ourselves with each other and with Pisco
Sours. This was a true eco lodge with no
hot water or even walls in most spots, but plenty of hammocks and great food.
After a couple of days we headed back to Puerto Maldanardo and then on to Cusco
in central Peru. From here we headed to the Sacred Valley and then on to
Ollantaytambo and after 4 days we reached Urubamba. Finally we boarded the
train to Agua Calientes and then Machu Picchu.
Machu Picchu was an inspiring location and
we were lucky enough to get there early before the crowds and watch the clouds
lift off the city as the sun rose in the background. Eventually the tour was over and some of our
crowd headed onto to Lake Titicaca (giggle) or other locations like the Galapagos
Islands. Shurley decided he liked Peru and headed back to Lima to hang out for
a while and I jumped a very expensive plane across the Andes to Argentina.
Buenos Aires is a large city which accounts
for a quarter of the country’s population. It has a real European feel in the
design and architecture but the years of failing economy have been taking their
toll and it is visible. BA is like an aging beauty queen that still has all the
pose and style and in the right light is gorgeous but unfortunately in the
harshness of daylight her age and disrepair are obvious. That said Argentina is a country that prides
itself on beef and red wine.. what more can one need. I was unable to find any
Parrillas that opened for breakfast which is probably best as having a ribeye
and vegies is not the generally recommended start to the day and I am sure some
people would frown on the obligatory bottle of malbec.
My initial plan in Argentina was to head
north to check out Iguazu falls but the gods of travel quashed this with a
power outage in the domestic traffic control and all flights were cancelled.
Instead I did a day trip to Uruguay which is just across the river from Buenos
Aires. I spent the day wandering aimlessly around the quaint little town of
Colonia de Sacramento and then got the ferry back to BA. The aging beauty queen that is Buenos Aires is
completely worth the trip especially when enjoyed with great steak and red
wine..
