Dennis & Jola's South American Adventure

23-9-2011 Only 2 days left before we go home and they are both free days for us to explore Cusco. We enjoy a late breakfast and hit the shops and local markets for those last minute items. Jola wants to buy a silver ring as a keepsake of Peru and I am trailing behind her. We also visited a couple of museums which frankly were a bit of a waste of time, mostly fragments of crockery and the occasional mummy. We had lunch at a super restaurant called Limos which came highly recommended by our tour guide. The food was exquisite; the best meal we’ve had on our travels, I even put a comment on Trip Adviser. We left around 3.30pm, went back to our hotel had a snooze and later we out for a drink in a local bar. Another day over.

24-9-2011 Our last day in Cusco. We venture out to the parts of Cusco which are deemed to be downtown. We wander through hoards of Peruvians in the streets; it’s absolutely packed. We stumble across a festival; we are not sure what is being celebrated but we watch anyway. We are entertained by the local police dog team and the dogs perform various hoop jumping and drug finding. We decide to move on after the show. There are no other Europeans to be seen and we feel quite safe until some Peruvian guy came over to us and told we are in a dangerous part of town and to be careful – great! It’s time to move back to the touristy part of Cusco. We walk pretty swiftly and in my haste of walking in the road I get clipped by a car, no damage done but we have to be careful. Cars here do not stop for anyone and judging by the state of the cars I doubt if they have any brakes anyway. Once back in civilisation, we have a spot of lunch, head back to the hotel and sort ourselves out for tomorrow’s journey. Dinner at 7.30pm at another recommended restaurant called Chicholina’s. Another super meal and we leave. There are fireworks going off in the town centre so we investigate. Yet another festival going on with a huge stage set up in the square. There are crowds of people with music blaring, a fitting end to our final night.

Summary
Argentina – A modern welcoming and interesting country. A little tired in places but the people are very friendly and the wine fantastic.

Bolivia - This was our favourite country mainly because it is so unspoilt. The geography is wonderful and the people are gracious. Bolivia is a very poor country however the population are survivors and you have to admire them for that.

Puru – Unfortunately from what we saw Peru has been spoilt due to commercialism. The impression is to get every buck out of the tourist any way possible. However the historical sites are a definite must if you visit South America and the food was the best we ate. Loved it anyway.

End of blog – Thanks for your interaction and comments.

21-9-2011 We have morning to ourselves so a lie in and a late breakfast. We are picked up at 1.30pm and today it’s a city tour of Cusco which included a tour of the Cathedral. There is more gold and silver inside than you can shake a stick at. Makes you wonder why the church needs all of this when there are so many people begging, starving and have nothing. Anyway, we move on to various other sites of Inca and Spanish interest. The tour finished around 6.30pm and then found a great restaurant called Jake’s Cafe with good food and a great atmosphere.

22-9-11 Today it’s the big one, Machu Picchu. We are picked up at 7am and transported to Poroy train station for a 4 hour journey to Aguas Calientes which is at the foot of Machu Picchu. On arrival we board a bus for a hairy 30 minute journey up a mountain to the Inca ruins. Nothing can prepare you for the scale and isolation of the place. We were in a group of 6 other people together with our guide (who suffered with halitosis so we kept our distance) but he certainly knew his stuff. We had around 5 hours to take in the atmosphere and take photos which is not really enough but still something we will never forget. After a late lunch we caught the train at 4.30pm and got back to Cusco at around 8pm. The train journey was an experience in itself with fantastic views of the Andes and waterfalls.

20-9-2011 Today, we are with a coach load of other tourists for the day. Up until now we have had our own guide on a one-to-one basis so this is a new experience for us and it’s only for the last few days of our trip. The day consisted of visiting various Inca sites and included the "Sacred Valley of the Incas". As interesting as this is there are people trying to sell you tat at every opportunity which does get a bit tiresome. We stopped for an excellent 4 course lunch in a typical Peruvian restaurant; Peruvian food is very diverse and tasty. We got back to our hotel at 7pm, opened a delicious bottle of Malbec and a reasonable early night.

18-9-2011 Another early start. We were taken to the port of Puno to collect a boat for our destinations, the floating islands of Uros and the island of Toquile. While we were waiting to board there was some commotion at the quayside and naturally I had to investigate. The police were fishing out a dead body which is not a nice thing to see. Apparently this not uncommon here due to too much drink and no barriers at the quayside.

The floating islands of Uros are man-made islands made from reeds by the Indians. We were invited to visit people’s huts, try on their clothes (see photo) and buy the local stuff. All a bit contrived but we enjoyed it. Our host’s name (an Indian lady) was Yolanda so when Jola told Yolanda her name she was very much accepted. The fact that Jola spoke to her in Spanish also helped.

At the island of Toquile, we were met by the locals who played some music, danced for us and invited us to dance with them – pictures to prove it! We then climbed to the top of the island which is no mean feat at this altitude and had a lunch of trout and rice which was delicious. The boat journey back took over 2 hours and with a nice gentle sway it was good for a snooze.

19-9-2011 We were collected from our hotel at 7am and transferred to the bus station. We boarded a huge modern coach bound for Cusco, the final leg of our trip. This is a 9 hour journey; however we did stop 5 times to visit various sites to see Inca ruins, a museum and a very nice lunch. We arrived in to a rainy Cusco at 5pm. We checked in to a very nice hotel and after a shower and change of clothes we went to explore Cusco. What a contrast to what we have experienced so far. Cusco is modern, clean with a variety of different restaurants to choose from. The only sad thing is it seems that Cusco is geared for tourism and the prices do reflect that. We ended up in a English bar – it was nice to have a couple of pints, watched it bit of rugby then back to the hotel.

17-9-2011 A lie-in this morning for a 9.30am start, heaven. Our guide took us for a tour of Copacabana on foot. Woollen goods are so cheap here so we took advantage of it; I’m not sure how we will be able to pack all of this stuff.

We went to the local church and a wedding was in progress. Naturally we joined in the celebrations. We then met back at the hotel at mid-day to get ready to leave for Puno, Peru. We said our good-bys to our Brazilian friends, Maíra & Octaviano and boarded the bus for a 6 hour journey to Puno.

Getting into Peru was easy compared with the fiasco on the Bolivian boarder from Argentina, it took about 10 minutes. We arrived in Puno at around 5pm, checked into yet another hotel and then had a walk round the town. Puno is much more touristy. I’m sure the price of anything goes up when you want to buy something, even water. Anyway we went for dinner and took pot luck on choosing a restaurant. It was nothing special, I had alpaca and Jola had chicken. Early to bed for a 7am pick up in the morning.