Peru & Farewell South America

Leaving Bolivia was really sad for me. After leaving La Paz I went to Copacabana for a few days. I originally wanted to go to Isle Del Sol which is a 2 hour boat ride on Lake Titticaca from Copa. Unfortunately after my bike accident my body hasn't been terribly cooperative & I have been very tired & sore. 

Instead I spent a day lazing around the small hotel/hostel I was staying. On the second evening I hiked up the mountain to get gorgeous views of the town. 

I was taking some awesome pain killers which is how I was managing to get by. 

I left Copa with an Irish couple I had met along the way. When I walked across the Bolivia/Peru (yes, walked) I didn't notice a massive change except for the mini motorbike cabs. 

The bus ride to Cusco was definitely the worst I've had. It was about 3 hours late, there was no cool air & the bus was jam packed. We stopped along the way to pick up women selling cheese & bread & bits of meat that she cut up on the bus. 

A huge storm came through & then the bus leaked. 

I kept telling myself "this is a South American adventure". 

I didn't really have expectations for Cusco but it is definitely a pretty town. They've kept everything traditional & all in the same style. Unfortunately it's very touristy & you can't go far without someone trying to sell you something. 

My day in Machu Piccu started at 4.30am. I was catching the bus & train there & I had stupidly paid to hike Machu Piccu mountain & I had to be in the gate by 11am at the latest. 

After a taxi, a bus, a train & another bus I was in the gate. But there was no enjoying the sights as I had to be climbing the mountain by 11. I clocked in at 10.50 & after 20 minutes decided I didn't want to do it. My stubbornness kicked in & I pushed through. I briefly stopped along the way. People were telling me I had to pace myself, but when you're on a time constraint there's no time for that nonsense. 

They close the peak of the mountain at 1pm. And I made it to the top around 12.40. About 5 minutes from the top I completely lost my cool & sat & decided I couldn't do it anymore. I was so exhausted that I just wanted to cry.  But when I got to the top ... Wow! Was I so pleased with myself!

After the tricky walk back down I headed down to the ruins. I sat on the grass for a bit just looking & breathing & enjoying the lack of walking. I was covered in sweat & would have happily curled up in a ball & gone to sleep. 

But there were Incan ruins to see! So I headed down, camera in hand. 

And then ... it started raining. But I was prepared with my rain coat! Except my raincoat is not a proper rain coat. It's water resistant not repellant. Or is it the other way around? Anyway. You get a bit wet. 

So after wandering around I was sweaty & wet & after about 45 minutes I gave up, got back on the bus & sat in a restaurant eating soup until my train left. 

I spent another day on a sacred valley tour exploring more ruins & learning about the culture of the incans. 

I ate alpaca & Guinea pig in one day & was pretty happy with both. I haggled at the markets for the best price on beanies & scarves. I drank Peruvian beer. And I argued with taxi drivers who were charging me 'gringo prices'. 

And then I left Cusco for Nazca. 

The long trip into the desert was to see the amazing, almost magical, lines in the sand. My flight over the lines was only 30 minutes. The first drawing in the sand is the whale. I didn't see a whale & that's when I had a moment of panic. Was it a sham? Was I not going to see them? But it was ok. I saw the others plenty fine. There's still discussions about why there are lines etched into the desert sand but whoever did it & why is a mystery to me!

My overnight stay in Nazca was actually quite delightful. I'd found a cheap hotel that had air conditioning & a tv in the room! Is it bad that I was excited I was able to watch reruns of Friends episodes?!

Huacachina was my next Peruvian town. Arriving on the bus in Ica I was surprised it was such a large town. A city, even. But after only 10 minutes in a little bomb of a taxi that kept stalling, I was in a desert oasis. The only thing in huacachina is sand dunes & some water & places to sleep, eat & drink. 

My first night there was a bit lonely & I was also being approached by every Tom Dick & Harry. I continued to be polite but I struggled near the end of the evening. 

The next day I took a tour to the Ballestas islands near Paracas. I can't actually tell you much about the island as the tour was in Spanish but there's lots of birds & seals & sea lions. We saw them sunning themselves on the island beach & the noise they made was incredible. 

That afternoon I went sand dune buggying & sand boarding. I was more worried about the boarding to begin with but the buggying was a close dash with death (kidding). It was exhilarating & scary & I kept yelling "no no no" which just seemed to make the driver laugh & go faster. 

The sand dunes are ginormous & we got to try 3 different ones to slide down which got steeper & longer. Because of safety we all slid down on our bellys & I decided to miss out on the last one as I still am sore on my stomach from my bike accident .... & I was petrified of the huge drop over the edge. 

We watched the sun set over the dunes & even today I was still getting sand out of my ears. 

Last stop ... Lima. I didn't have huge expectations but I've been pleasantly surprised. I'm staying in Miraflores & am a short walk to the coast. It has been 7 weeks since I saw the ocean & I was delighted to see it again. 

This morning I took a bus downtown & experienced an odd religious ceremony. People were carrying a replica of Jesus on a bed. There were police with huge guns everywhere & I couldn't get anyone to tell me what was going on. So I went to the markets. 

I fear I have done what I said I didn't need to do. I have shopped. I'm just letting you know ... Everyone is getting a beanie! I have no idea how I'm fitting everything in my bag tonight but I'm hoping I can do some fancy packing & get it all to squeeze in. 

And that's it. That's South Anerica. I just enjoyed my final meal, Pollo Saltado. A stir fried chicken dish with red onion, tomatoes, rice & fries. YES rice AND fries. I couldn't eat it all but gosh it's a good meal & I'm glad it & my bottle of cusquena beer were my last meal here. 

Tomorrow I depart Peru & fly to Havana, Cuba. There I meet my friend Sally & we spend a week exploring a few different parts of Cuba. I'm incredibly excited but I'm also disgustingly tired & feeling a little sick. But the sleep will have to wait as apparently there's mojitos to drink & salsa to dance. 

I heart Bolivia (even if I did almost die)

How do I explain my 3 days in the Bolivian desert? If I were to try & explain I would use words like amazing, unforgettable, spectacular, magical. And yet they still wouldn't be enough. 

We started our trip leaving Chile & entering Bolivia. The Bolivian entry was a little shack with one person stamping passports. 

We'd been informed by our guide that it was windy & cold & as we got out of the van we were shocked. We pulled extra clothes from our backpacks & I found myself changing into long pants in the back of a van with another girl. 

The first day we climbed to a height of 4900 metres above sea level & some of us struggled with the altitude. The headaches washed over me but I was doing ok. We visited lagoons & bathed in a hot spring. 

We listened to The Beatles & Bob Marley & while our guide spoke no English we had 2 Brazilian girls on the truck who translated everything for us. 

Day 2 was filled with more beautiful sights of mountains & lagoons & flamingoes. When you're there you can't believe what you're seeing & you realize how lucky you are to witness it all. 

The 3 guys in my truck serenaded us with a backstreet boys rendition & it became a theme song for the tour. 

On our last day we hit the salt flats. We watched sunrise over the salt lake & we watched in awe as the sun was reflected so perfectly on the lake. It was a beautiful moment & hopefully I never forget it. 

We took the typical tourist photos on the salt flat & as I'd been laying down to take photos my clothes were stained with salt. I don't know how everyone else seemed to keep themselves so clean & I looked like a mess!

We finished the tour in Uyuni. A town I never want to go to again. It was the last day of Carnivale & the whole town had shut down & 90% of it were drunk. 

Some of us had wanted to bus out of Uyuni that night but the bus street (it wasn't a station but a street with busses) was closed & drunk. No one was getting out of Uyuni that night! 

When I finally got on a bus the next morning I was glad to see the back of Uyuni & head to Sucre, supposedly the most beautiful town in Bolivia. 

And now I'm in La Paz. A big town built high up but in a valley. You're either walking up a hill or down a hill & when you're walking up, because of the high altitude, it's a struggle. 

It's a big, busy town with lots of busses & cars & everyone honks their horn just to let you know they're there. The traffic is crazy & I can't figure out if Bolivians are great drivers or super crazy. 

Bolivia is a mix of really old & then a bit of new. The traditional cholita women walk around wearing skirts with petticoats & long braids with little bowler hats perched on their heads. They wrap babies or whatever else they want to carry, in colourful stripey material on their backs. 

I survived my bike ride down death road. 

The day was spectacular. We were driven into the mountains where it had been snowing. We kitted up with pants, jackets, gloves, helmets & fancy mountain bikes. 

I was nervous but for the first 23 Kms we were on paved road & it gave me an opportunity to get some confidence. 

When we finally got on to death road I was ready. We were on rocky unpaved road but I felt confident on the bike. I did everything right. I was going so well. 

And then I hit a barricade. 

The girl in front of me had slowed down & I thought she was falling. I didn't want to hit her & I was coming around a bend so I made the smart decision to hit the metal barricade. 

It was not a smart decision. 

I came off the bike. I hit the barricade & flipped over it. My legs smashed through an extra wooden barricade & I lay near the edge of a cliff. 

I was put in the support bus but after 20 minutes riding in the bus I got them to take my bike down. I was going to finish. Yes I was hurting but sitting on a bus feeling sorry for myself wasn't making me happy either. 

Apart from feeling like a champ for finishing, the scenery was spectacular. We started in freezing cold temperatures & ended up in the jungle. We rode through waterfalls & past gorgeous rock faces.  We stopped for photos & amazed ourselves at how far we had come. 

Clearly it is a highlight for me. 

I find myself brave & eating from markets or street sellers & I only hope that my stomach can handle it.  I trade funny bad stomach stories with other travelers & we laugh at our embarrassing misfortunes.

I'm seeing beautiful countryside & llamas galore. The mud houses still amaze me. I see people picking quinoa in fields & living simple. I am drinking Bolivian fanta like it's going out of fashion because it tastes so bloody good. 

I love Bolivia. It is incredible.