Arequipa & Lake Titicaca

After a week or so of partying in Cusco, we decided it would be a good idea to detox in Arequipa. Lots of people had recommended Arequipa so we were looking forward to getting to the Spanish colonial city that’s surrounded by volcanos. The city did not disappoint! We stayed at Arequipay Backpackers Downtown, which is in a big old house with a sunny garden and awesome bug-eyed boxer called Molly.

We didn’t achieve too much in Arequipa (as said, a detox of sorts) but many people use it as a base to explore the Colca Canyon. We chose to spend our brief couple of days wandering the cobbled stoned streets, shopping for fresh produce at Mercado San Camilo and enjoying pisco sours while the sun sets at Restaurant on the Roof.

Our plan was to start travelling towards Bolivia with a stopover at Lake Titicaca. We had heard that you could travel from Arequipa to Copacabana on the Bolivian side in a day with a 2 hour stopover at the floating villages provided you leave on the first buses at 7am. Pisco sour hangovers, however, meant a delayed start to our morning so we finally headed off to Puno at midday on a rickety old bus and seated next to a chicken. I drifted off for a few minutes during the 6 hour bus ride and when I awoke it was snowing! It’s pretty unusual to get snow at this time of year, even at high altitude, and I was a bit concerned about whether our bus would make it. Fortunately it did and we pulled into Puno around 6pm in the evening.

Now Puno really isn’t the nicest of destinations. In fact, one would go so far to say it is a shithole. We spent an average night in a very cold hostel before taking a tour of the floating villages the following morning. We managed to join a tour at the wharf for 20 pesos, but for this price you get a Spanish speaking guide so we spent the next few hours not understanding much. The tour of the floating villages wasn’t that great – extremely cold, not particularly exciting, and what we did experience felt exploitive of the people who live there. We even gatecrashed a wedding! The poor bride looked more than annoyed with the groups of tourists being brought in to snap photos of the big day – I would be pissed too.

Feeling cold and fed up, we decided to make the 6 hour journey to La Paz in Bolivia. This meant a long day of travel but it was worth it to get to our next destination in one go. I’ve heard good things about visiting Isla del Sol on Lake Titicaca from the Bolivian side, so in hindsight we should have made the effort to travel to Copacabana. But at the least the real party can begin now that we have reached La Paz!

Marching to Machu Picchu

For a lady who thinks being adventurous is pairing a chunk of cheese with a new wine, the thought of waking up at 4am to walk up 2800 very steep steps sounds like bollocks. But I did it! And it was worth every aching minute to see Machu Picchu.

Getting to Machu Picchu isn’t cheap. We had heard reports of people doing it on their own with a mix of public buses and trekking with an average cost of US$105 for 2 days. While walking around Cusco we noticed 2 day trips advertised for US$120 and we thought why not as at least we would know that we’d get there. The package deal included transport, food, accommodation and the entry fee to MP (entry is about US$50).

The following day we set out from Cusco with a party of five to the hidroelectrica where the train tracks to Aguas Calientes begin. The drive took around four hours and past some spectacular scenery. The walk along the train tracks to Aguas Calientes was beautiful with glimpes of Machu Picchu on the cliffs high above us. Aguas Calientes reminds me of a ski town – overpriced with a lot of pizza restaurants – but it was a nice place to spend an evening. Our “basic” accommodation included in our package turned out to be a small hotel room with a balcony looking over a river, and considering it was our first private room since Ecuador we were very impressed!

The following day meant a 4am start to walk up to Machu Picchu. I managed to complete the trek in 65 minutes and for most of the way I thought I was going to die from a lack of fitness. But once we reached the top, Machu Picchu absolutely took our breath away. We entered the site in time to watch the sunrise and our tour guide spent several hours showing us the different aspects of Machu Picchu. By 8am the place was crawling with tourists and we left the tour to explore some of the surrounding areas, including the Inca Bridge. The return journey involved climbing down to Aguas Calientes, a short train ride back to the hidroelectrica and the seemingly long drive to Cusco.

I had wondered if the hype surrounding Machu Picchu would mean my expectations were too high and I would be disappointed by the experience. But this was not the case! If anything Machu Picchu exceeded my expectations. The views were stunning and the sheer scale of the city, as well as what it would have taken to build it in such a precarious location, kind of blows your mind.

Beautiful Cusco

So my blogging hasn’t been going too well for the past month and a bit. Despite being located in La Paz for 4 weeks, I managed to achieve very little – La Paz can have that affect on you. So forgive me while I try to catch up and fill in the spaces between Peru, Bolivia and Argentina.

Our next destination after Mancora was Cusco. But to get there meant two very long bus journeys – 18 hours from Mancora to Lima, and 23 hours from Lima to Cusco. We chose to travel with Oltursa, which is a fantastic bus company! Wi-fi, gigantic seats, meals, phone chargers – it’s pretty much first class on an aeroplane (or what I imagine first class to be like – I’m yet to be upgraded to luxury). We split up the journey with a night in Lima and with the high quality bus service, we arrived in Cusco feeling pretty good.

Cusco is beautiful and one of the most impressive cities we have visited in South America. It’s very touristy because of the huge numbers of people flying in to visit Machu Picchu, but it still maintains it’s charm despite the hoards of foreigners decked out in North Face gear.

We spent our first night at Piriwana Hostel, which has some of the best facilities out of any hostel we’ve stayed at. Unfortunately we forgot to book ourselves in for a second night and when I spoke to reception the next day the place was fully booked. So we packed up our gear and moved two doors down the road to The Point, a crazy party hostel with a great bar and huge sunny backyard. If you stay at The Point spend the couple of extra pesos and get a room out the back as the dorms close to the bar are ridiculously noisy.

Cusco was all about eating and cuddling animals. We had an amazing brunch at Jack’s Cafe, which is owned by an Australian and serves dishes from home such as poached eggs with tomato and avocado on wholegrain toast. This was a godsend after too many meals consisting of overcooked carne, rice and papas fritas. The local market is fantastic with stalls selling inexpensive ceviche. I picked up some local cheese while I was at the market but this “gouda” tasted like balls.

Everywhere you go there are cholitas with baby lambs and llamas, and for a peso or two you can photos with them. I spent about $10 getting photos with different animals around the city because I love baby lambs! I’m one of those creepy tourists who doesn’t wear North Face, but really enjoys posing for photos on the streets of Cusco.

Ceviche and Slushies in Mancora

We had never heard about Mancora until we got to Quito. But it’s one of those places backpackers rave about and insist you visit – particularly if you’re heading south from Ecuador to Peru. So Mancora became our next destination.

We stayed at the Loki, which has the most ridiculous facilities of any hostel I’ve visited with a big pool and beachfront location. Loki is a chain of hostels throughout South America and people tend to love them or hate them. Loki has perfected the gringo hostel experience with good food, reasonably priced drinks (8 soles rum slushies!) and lots of drinking games to act as icebreakers for the Westerners so they’ll party all night long. While it’s not the most cultural of experiences in South America, it sure is a lot of fun for a few days.

Swimming with turtles at a nearby bay and sampling amazing fresh ceviche are good options once you manage to drag yourself out of Loki. The surf is supposed to be good too, however the waves were dead while we were there so I still can’t lay claim to title ‘grommet’.

Ryan and I were tempted to stay and work for a few weeks at Loki (in exchange for working at the bar, you get a free bed, a free meal each day and discounts on food and booze). But after three nights of partying and a pretty bad hangover we thought it best to get out of there. Although now it freezing in Bolivia and the idea of partying at the beach where it’s 30 degrees every day sounds like a dream!