The Further Adventures of Paddington

Finally arrived in the Inca capital, Cusco. One long bus journey through mist-cloaked Andean peaks for me, an astonishingly difficult but ultimately succesful taxi-bus-taxi (incompetant)-taxi (fast)-plane-collectivo journey for Katy. That’s the price for not liking coach trips I guess!

Cusco is at once strange and familiar. The colonial architecture, the tumbledown mix of cement-block and abode brick construction, everything either half finished or half demolished (hard to tell which sometimes), filled with honking squealing vans and mototaxis, crowded pavements – these are now familiar parts of the Bolivian and Peruvian urban landscape. The setting is different: surrounded by hills and mountains green rather than sere browns; distances shrouded in cloud; the air crisp. Tomorrow should be a good exploring day, I feel. Time to uncover the ancient heart of Peru I’ve been journying towards these last 4 weeks.

Well, Peru is a hard place to plan travel in. Yesterday was supposed to be straightforward but everything conspired against us. So I’m not on the planned bus at all (it suddenly filled up – seems everyone is travelling for Easter week) and Katy’s flight is in limbo. LAN seem very professional on the phone, but can’t seem to handle a straightforward credit card transaction. We’re trying again, but they don’t sound encouraging. They want her to travel to Lima today (it’s 5 hours away) to buy the ticket in person. Grrrrrrrrr…

On the plus side, we had an early morning boat ride out to the Ballestas Islands and saw enormous quantities of seabirds (really – you couldn’t see the ground for nesting birds in some places) and penguins, plus sealions – all accompanied by the overwhelming whiff of guano. This is the fertiliser capital of Peru. Very bracing.

Have now survived the bone-rattling dune buggy ride over the sands, and the probably inadvisable sport of hurtling face forward down the precipitous face of monster dunes on a small plank of wood. And I’d do it again too! Sandboarding may not make it to the Olympics but it’s jolly good fun in an ‘oh no here we go over the cliff’ adrenaline way. I do sport some minor abrasions though, and I may never be able to get rid of all the sand that found it’s way into my pockets.

The hostel at the oasis is very pleasant, and a nice way to pause before the next trip: onward into the Cordillera and Cusco. Only 18 hours by bus, so I hope I get a good seat. I’ll miss the palm trees…

Arrived early am to a hot and dusty Ica complete with marching bands and parades. It’s Palm Sunday. After trying to find a breakfast place that didn’t serve only fruit juice or raw fish we have now got to Huacachina – an unexpected oasis hemmed in by towering sand dunes. We may stay a few days and attempt sandboarding, pedalloes or perhaps just stay by the pool??? choices, choices, choices!

I’ve survived the trek. Just. My calf and thigh muscles have decided that’s quite enough, thank you. Three days of hiking up and down the walls of the canyon, 1.2 kilometers deep. Absolutely stunning views along the way though – volcanoes, condors, mule trains, Inca terraces full of cacti and unusual fruit trees, brightly dressed old women. I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.

Now we’re off to Ica and the oasis at Huacachina.

Here are some photos from our foray into Bolivia. First – the train journey from Villazon to Uyuni through incredible changing landscapes of desert and steep river valleys.

More soon!

The past days have been too hectic to post updates – as well as the almost complete lack of reliable internet in the places we have stayed. So squeezing in a quick update:

After the complete madness of La Paz (and dodging the miner’s demonstrations) we caught a bus to Copacabana (NOT in Brazil) and ferried across to the Isla Del Sol – birthplace of the world in Inca mythology. Fantatsic to wake to dawn over Lake Titicaca and the High mountains surrounding it. As we both are a bit under the weather, we did a short hike to the Sun Temple, and then back to Copa where are luggage had been locked up and the bloke with the key disappeared. Katy´s detective work flushed him out and we caught the bus to Puno with a few minutes to spare. So we crossed in to Peru finally – and it’s not dark at all! Off now to visit some floating reed islands, then hopefully catch a bus to Arequipa for a longer stay and chance to unwind a bit. Constant travelling takes it’s toll!

A quick post to say a slight change in plans mean that after travelling north into Bolivia to the Salar de Uyuni we’ve taken a new route to Potosi (highest city in the world) with a visit inside the silver mines, then on to Sucre (colonial capital) and then overnight to La Paz tomorrow evening. Pictures more updates to follow.

We decided to do a proper tour, so signed up to travel south along the Lomar valley through the Quebrada de las Conchas to the town of Cafayete. The quebrada is a fantastic gorge gouged out between 2 mountain ranges. A large amount of sedimentary rock has been folded and split by action of the Pacific and South American plates resulting in fantastic rock formations due to subsequent erosion. The starta are a variety of colours giving a very surreal landscape. Stunning!

Next, off on the 5.30am bus on Saturday to La Quiaca on the Bolivian border, then hopefully on a train up onto the Altiplano sout h of Bolivia and Uyuni ready to see the salt flats. Uyuni has fitfull power supply, so the internet may be even more uncertain. Updates when possible. !Ciao¡

Plaza de 9 Julio, Cable car, La Cabildo, Pigeon Attack!