We arrived in Potosi a couple of days ago after a fairly short bus ride. It is the highest city in the world and I am definitely feeling the altitude! It´s not quite as attractive as Sucre, but it´s easier on the eyes than alot of the Bolivian towns we have seen. We found a nice hostel and have been taking it easy. There are some mines nearby that are what people come to see. I believe over 9 million people have been killed working them. I am going to give the tour a miss as being stuck underground in a mine isn´t exactly appealing to me especially with my accident proness. We are using this at a quiet stopping point before heading to the salt flats near Uyuni. My foot was feeling better but the altitude has set it back a few days. I am looking forward to being closer to sea level.
Sucre
Our first day in Sucre was pretty quiet. We walked around the city alot. It is pretty small and easy to navigate, but beautiful! I believe it´s a UNESCO site. They have to white wash the buildings once a year. It is very clean and well preserved, nothing like the rest of Bolivia. The market was very clean and smells wonderful, not something I can say for the other places we have been.
Yesterday, we went to Trarabuco. It´s a town nearby which has a sunday market aimed at tourist which has a lot of handcrafts. Perfect place for buying presents. My bag is now much much heavier. We spent the afternoon walking around Sucre and went to see Legion last night. A step up from the last movie we saw, but still not very good.
Today we checked out of our hostel and are waiting a few hours until we take the bus to Potosi. It´s a short ride. Our guide book says three hours, best to estimate four. But much much shorted than the ones we have been doing recently. We are moving through Bolivia quicker than we had originally hoped, but maybe Potosi will be someplace we will want to stay for several days.
We don´t want to spend too long in Chile. Our guide book says to budget $50 a day. I think it exagerates a bit, but we might as well start transitioning back to normal prices for NZ and Aus.
La Paz - Cochabamba - Sucre
We found a new hostel in La Paz, and enjoyed our few days there walking around the city, looking at the markets, and even seeing a movie - the clash of the titans (not good at all). After a few days we took a bus to Cochabamba, a university town east of La Paz. We spent two nights there, and met up with a Swedish girl we spent some time with in Ecuador. At first we thought it was really nice, then when we started to walk around the city it didn´t seem that way. There wasn´t much in the way of restaurants or shops. Apparently the outskirts of the city are much nicer and where most of the students live.
Last night we took a night bus to Sucre. It was a long bumpy journey with quite a scary driver and funny sounding mechanisms. We were told there were toilets, but I discovered they were locked two hours into the journey, with another eight to go.
We checked into a hostel accross from the market in the centre of the city and went in search of breakfast. After finding a not so good place we went off to look around the market, which is lovely. We got a pastry and some hot chocolate and will probably go and look around some more this afternoon!
Boliva!
We left Aeriquipa a few days ago and crossed into Bolivia and stayed a night in copacabana on Lake Titicaca. It was beautiful. The town itself was pretty touristy with a bunch of travel agents and hotels but the next day we went to stay on Isla del Sol, an island an hour and half from Copacabana in the Lake. We had a steep thirty minute hike to get to our hostel. That combined with the altitude (11000 feet) made my foot a little unhappy but the view was worth it! I actually slept that afternoon while James went for a hike, but I went for a short walk the next morning before our boat back to Copacabana.
We then went to La Paz. I think we got the last seats on the bus because we got to sit up front with the driver for the 3 hour journey. That meant we got great views and alot of leg room! Our first impressions of La Paz were not great... It´s not a very pretty city, but we walked around after checking into a hostel and the place is beginning to grow on us. The hostel was NOT nice, so we are moving to another one today that is slightly more expensive ($6!) It will hopefully be slightly nicer and a little more sociable. We both need to take a much needed shower! The markets in La Paz are supposed to be nice so I am going to get some warm clothing as it is pretty cold here and shorts/tshirts just don´t cut it. There is also a witch´s market near where we stayed last night. With all sorts of natural remedies including llama fetuses!?!? There are also meant to be a couple of good museums - the coco museum and an instrument museum we may try and check out.
Aeriquipa
I have been in Aeriquipa for three days now and will be heading to Bolivia tomorrow. Aeriquipa is the second largest city in Peru and is significantly smaller than Lima. On our first day we found an inexpensive crepe place that was also a turkish restaurant. Not exactly Peruvian food, but eggs and rice can get a bit tiresome. We have done alot of walking around, and my foot is feeling better. A couple days ago was an exciting day, I was able to put on a shoe for the first time in a few weeks. Looking forward to hiking in Bolivia, or at the very least some short walks. Last night we went to the old part of town and walked around some more. We also went to see The Hurt Locker at the cinema. I think we both found it slightly dull. We are going to enjoy our last day before an early morning to get us to the Bolivian side of Lake Titicaca tomorrow!
Mancora - Huanchaco - Lima - Nazca
It´s been a while since my last update. We have had a pretty speedy trip through Peru as it is much more expensive than we had anticipated, especially the buses. I met up with James and Henri in Mancora a small beach time. I spent a couple of nights there, but it was a bit of a disappointment after Montañita. The beach wasn´t too special and it was fairly dead on the weekdays.
We took our first night to Trujillo after that. The seats reclined quite a ways and we got an okay sleep. We then got a colectivo to the nearby town Huanchaco. It´s a fishing village which is also popular with surfers. We stayed a very nice hostel - casa suiza. We went there to see the ruins Chanchan. They were a bit of a disappointment for me after the spectacular Mayan ruins in Central America. The setting was very different. It was in the middle of the desert.
From Trujillo we then took another night bus to Lima. We managed to find an incredibly cheap bus outside a gas station for 15 soles (about $5) the only catch was that we had to wait in the bus for 3 hours to leave. It worked out well though, because we got into Lima around 8 instead of at 5 am. The seats were not nearly as comfortable as the first one since they hardly reclined. I woke up several times during the night and all I could see was desert. I was groggy and half expected to see Jose - it reminded me a tad of the Nevada desert. I had pretty low expectations as everyone talked about what a horrible pace it was. We found a really nice hostel in one of the newer, touristy centres. We spent our two days there walking around the various neighbourhoods and the first night went to see Shutter Island at the cinema. It was a very exciting experience for me. Although the movie was good, it was slightly upsetting. Last night, our second night in Lima, we had planned to go out, but ended up falling asleep at 8 pm because we were so knackered.
We had a pretty early morning this morning in order for the seven hour bus to Nazca. The bus company was called cruz del sur. It was very posh and comfortable, almost like a grounded airplane. They had food - attempted vegetarian food, movies, comfortable seats, and a steward. It was the cheapest option for us. We got to Nazca today and had lunch at a local Peruvian place. I had Arroz a la cubana - white rice, a fried egg and platanos. The extent of Peruvian vegetarian food, and I was lucky to find it! Tomorrow we are going to go see the Nazca lines then we will part ways with Henri. James and I are going to go to Aeriquipa by night bus with cruz del sur again. It´s about 11 hours, but at least it´ll be on a comfortable bus. We will hopefully spend a few days there. I think my foot will be good enough to do a small hike, I don´t want to over do it.
We have decided to give Cusco a miss, which means also giving Macchu Pichu a miss. It´ll cost several hundred dollars to do as it is very out of the way. I also can´t really do it with my foot, which is a major disappointment. It gives me a good excuse to come back though and I think it is best to wait and do it properly than attempting it with a broken foot.
After Aeriquipa we are going to head into Bolivia, so should be there sometime next week. I am anxious to get there. I am looking forward to it, it seems a little more off the beaten track then Ecuador and Peru. I am also looking forward to sticking in one place for a while.
Peru!
I arrived in Peru just half an hour ago after travelling 48 hours over 4 days. Nothing great to say about the rest of time in Ecaudor. Just a series of long buses and dodgy establishments. I am here in a Mancora a nice beach town waiting to meet up with James and a few people we originally met in Baños.
Montañita
I arrived in Montañita a couple of days ago. It´s a nice beach town. Very touristy but also very lively for Semanta Sana. I am going to head to Cuenca fairly soon and then move onto Peru.