Alpaca Kebab

Better than the Bolognaise Llama surprise we got in La Paz.

Colca Canyon

25/03/11 Colca Canyon is twice as deep as the Grand Canyon. Although it may not be as dramatic as its height is created by mountains instead of a plateau and vertical drops. Twas pretty sweet though.

We hear you say "This be not a Canyon but a multi-talented musician!?" Tis the in-bus entertainment! This is one of the better ones, as the rest tend to perform a small dramatic monolgue before trying to sell you diet drinks or mini encyclopedias. This man got skills.

We left Arequipa in flip flops, went up over snowy mountains and landed in a rainy canyon. Ouch.

We found a cool place to stay in a town called Cabanaconde with Cats who join you for breakfast. We got up early to start our bike ride along the canyon. Also note, new Alpaca jumper! Sweet.

Grace leading the way to Cruz del Condor. See ya! Glad for clear skies after arriving in the rain :)

Farms with sheer drops to villages on the other side.

Cruz Del Condor. No Condors but a great view of the deepest part of the canyon and lots of these splendid ladies selling their wares. It's great that most of the local ladies still wear this stuff. Not just in tourist places. And if they dont wear it all, its tracksuit and pretty hat :) Grace would personally wear it the other way round, Blossom style ;)

We cycled on from the Mirador and this Condor found us! Massive!

White on top, black underneath.

DIY wild west security.com

Pinchollo. The next town from Cabanconde. A whole lot smaller and sleepier. We cycled on to here to look for lunch.

We found a family Hospedaje who agreed to cook us pasta :) This is Chela, she is one and half times bigger than a Condor feather.

Looking down. You can walk it in about 4-5 hours. We decided against the day trip there and back.

Here's the hat maker! 20 soles. 8 days work.

Cabanaconde ladies.

Because Music Is Important In Life

Hostel in Arequipa.

Puno y Los Uros

23/03/11 We took a day trip to Los Uros.  Man made, floating, reed islands on Lake Titicaca (world's highest navigable lake dont you know) that are still inhabited.

Indigenous in neon.

 Los Uros life explained in miniature.

These ladies are serious about their pompoms. Respect.

Pow wow.

El Mercado in Puno. Matt overwhelmed by knitwear.

Inca Kola. Weird sweet yellow stuff. John reports "its ok."

To Peru

22/03/11  Only 8 days in Bolivia and already we´re off to Peru.  Puno in fact, to meet up with our friends Matt and Lucy again.

We decided to go by bus. Keep it simple.

Alpacas start to appear... Alpaca tails down, Llamas tails up, thanks Matt!

La Paz

19/03/11 The Centre stands at 3,600m. The outer suburbs are a 0.5km away, vertically. Lets just say we take it easy walking UP to our hostel.

And still loads of ladies with hats! Yesssss.

Llama foetuses at the Witchcraft Market. Apparently these have spriritual and healing qualities. With coat or without? Some with extra decoration. Mucho WEIRD. Dont think they'd make it through customs.

Instead of Zebra Crossings, they have Zebras at the crossings to help you along! Brilliant. We thought it was pure legend.

Salar de Uyuni

18/03/11 Salt Flats. Random landscape. Centre for random novelty photos on backpacker trail and home to weird Salt Hotels. Vamos!

Pretty epic journey in, especially when the flats were covered with 2 inchs of water from rain. Spooky reflections like driving out over the sea.

Novelty Shot #1. Subtle. Whats wrong with this picture?!
Somos los mismos!

Novelty Shot #2. Thats more like it.
¿Que estas haciendo ahí?

Obligatory Shot.
Me gusta a saltar!

El Grupo. We're supposed to look different sizes. But we just look a little confused!

Au Natural.

For your chips.

Travelling the Altiplano

15/03/11 We took a jeep tour from Tupiza to Uyuni, its a bit of classic on the backpacker list but we were glad to have a vehicle with 4 wheel drive instead of a bus. Although the buses do it anyway and even the main routes are insane!!

Just out of Tupiza, El Sillar - The Saddle. Tupiza is Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid country. As soon as we hit the border Bolivia felt a little bit like the wild west. You can imagine the fugitives riding through this pass. Me gusta :)

Through the car window photography.

Hmmph. Even the 4x4 gets punctures.... 3 times?!!! Our car had definitely seen better days and a better tape collection. (Although we finally got some Dire Straits and Irene Cara). Oh and you may have noticed that our cook, Modesta (loving the novelty Cholita lady on the trip) doesnt mindshowing the boys how its done. Anna and Grace took great pleasure in this, until John pointed out that she was doing it wrong... BLAH BLAH BLAH.

Muchas Llamas.

There's an interesting story about a statue in Peru, which was commissioned by the Spanish but made by the Peruvians when they introduced Catholicism. They asked for a statue of the Virgin Mary with flames blazing around her head. However, crown of flames in Spanish is also Corona de Llamas, so what they got was a lady donned with a hat of woolly animals. Chortle chortle.

"La Cena!" - Dinner. This became a reoccuring joke from our cook.

One thing we really liked about this trip is that we got to stay in wee villages on the way. Car window photography again. Wonky, yes, but look at all the ladies with hats on!!!!

Room with a view. The landscape was surreal, flat barren desert, Llamas, Volcanos at 6008m?!

Hmm yes, the altitude. Turns out John and Grace arent so good at it. Spent our first night nauseas and dizzy. Boo. But Modesta did make us some crazy Maté with some kind of plant buds and coca leaves in it...

Desierto de Dali

Alright geeeezar.

Pueblo de Fantasma. Ghost Village. There were several ruins of mining villages through out a trip. This one however really told the story of the Spanish colonial times. The indigenous people were kept as slaves underground to mine for Gold, Silver or Sulphur and were only allowed out once a month. The Spanish who lived there were then said to have gone mad with money and gold and both the Spanish and locals died from disease or insanity. Que Loco!

On a lighter note!!! The ruins were full of these little guys. Chinchillas! Sweeeeet:)

Vicuñas. Said to be the finest wool around. Tell that to an Alpaca, or a Llama. Or a goat! Fight!!!!

Ouch. Errr hello, I think we have a 4000 limit!!! We kept on going to 5000m too, but thankfully we came down soon after.

The view was worth it though.

Flamingos! The Reserva Nacional Eduardo Avaroa is famous for its Lagunas and their plentiful Flamingos. Voila.

En Mas at Laguna Colorada. Pink Lake. Nominated for New 7 Wonders of the World too. (?)

Solo.

Oh and whack a train cemetary in as well. Bit of a strange place really and a boys playground. Apparently the trains are from all over the world.


Phew. Long post. Go have a cup of tea.