To visit Machu Picchu you have two options, walk the Inca Trail, which is booked up anything up to 5 months in advance, or take a train to Aguas Calientes, aka Machu Picchu pueblo, then a short bus up to the ruins. The jumping off point for both is Cuzco or Ollantaytambo in the Sacred … More Machu Picchu – One of the seven wonders of the world
The bus journey from Arequipa to Cuzco doubled back on much of that we had travelled through getting to Arequipa from Puno so we did the journey in one 10 hour stint overnight. Amazingly the bus got in an hour early – at 5am, so after ignoring the accommodation touts (if you didn’t like the … More Cuzco – The Halfway point 😦
The journey from Puno to Arequipa only took 5 1/2 hours through the cool scenery of the Peruvian altiplano. You’d think that such a short amount of time would fly by, but the toilet on the bus was locked and we didn’t make a single toilet stop. When we finally arrived in Arequipa the whole … More Civilisation & Condors – Arequipa & Colca Canyon
The person that sold us the tour was very honest in saying that there could be 20 or so people on it so we were under no illusions, but taking a 2 day package tour (which was pretty cheap) saved us almost a day in time and effort organising it ourselves and besides even if … More Peruvian Lake Titicaca – Islas Flotantes, Amantani and Taquile
Saying goodbye to Bolivia after 3 1/2 weeks was actually quite sad because we have loved it but we were also excited to be heading to Peru. The border for Peru runs across the lake (which explains the presence of a Bolivian Navy in Copacabana – although it was very comical to see what they … More Hola Peru! Puno (and Sillustani)
For convenience (aka laziness) and to avoid either walking back up the steep hill to the bus station or being ripped off by a taxi we organised the bus to Copacabana through the hostel. Now La Paz is the start of the real tourist trail, so the hostel books you onto what is essentially a … More Bolivian Lake Titicaca – Copacabana & Isla del Sol
We left our hotel room in Cochabamba at 8am to catch one of the many buses to La Paz only to discover that the road to La Paz was… that’s right… blocked by protests. So instead we hopped on a bus to Oruro as it is basically on the way and would be 4 hours … More La Paz – Shoe shine boys and traffic chaos
Whether or not to visit Torotoro National Park was probably our toughest ‘where to go’ decision yet, but in the end we decided that there are only a few places in the world where you can see dinosaur footprints, so we sucked it up and paid for a private tour as the only practical way … More Walking in dinosaurs footprints – Torotoro National Park
So we’ve gone down in the world – literally. Cochabamba is only at a height of 2558m, so only just at high altitude. It’s the lowest we’ve been since San Pedro and its so warm! The shorts are back out (1st time since Puerto Igazua and only the 2nd time this trip), it doesn’t even … More Cochabamba
Catching the train from Tupiza to Oruro was bliss – a really nice change from buses, although being in Executive class probably helped as we had more room, seats that reclined way back, videos with English subtitles (although the choice of films left something to be desired, have you ever seen Tom and Huck?), and … More Oruro
Marie & Emma's Travel Journal 