Puno & Cusco, Peru

Overland from Bolivia, around Lake Titicaca to Puno was my first stop in Peru. An interesting little town, know for its fiestas. I happened to be there for one of them, but not exactly sure what it was for - seemed to be a military thing of some sort. I didn't get a chance to get out on the Lake and see some of the islands and floating islands. A packaged tour bus took me from Puno to Cusco, which was a bit much at times shuffling along with the 100 other people at various historic sites along the way, but an experience none the less.

Cusco was a beautiful colonial city, but definitely well into the 'gringo' trail with backpackers and tourist agencies on every corner. Arranging my future travels to Pisac, Ollatytambo, and Machu Pichu was fairly easy, but after doing a tour I'd recommend to anyone with a little time and effort to DIY.

La Paz, Death Road, & Copacabana

The road from Potosi to La Paz on the overnight bus was much better than the one from Uyuni, though not the most comfortable night bus I've been on. Not a huge city compared to others in South America, but the setting of La Paz is pretty impressive where buildings and houses creep out of the valley floor and out over the rim.

The 'Death Road' of Bolivia, or the Yungas Road as it's also known as, was quite an experience. Equipped with full suspension bikes, disc brakes, and helmet of course I felt a little better starting the 65km journey. Almost all downhill, with a total descent of almost 3600m, good brakes were definately needed. The first half of the trip is actually on a paved section of the "new road" and you can bomb it down pretty fast with only the wind slowing you down. The second section is where it got a little tricky, used as the main highway to the jungle from La Paz up until a year ago, this road is only about 3m wide in many parts - with up to 600m drops on the one side! There was no 'bombing' down this section, especially after hearing that an American tourist died just a few days earlier doing this very route! Views were incredible throughout (when the clouds weren't there) and it was really interesting to travel through 7? different climate zones while we decended from 4800m to almost 1200m.

Copacabana was a small, very touristy border town I spent a night in on my way to Peru. Not a lot to say about this place, except that it was on Lake Titicaca and it had an interesting church.

Uyuni & Potosi

Uyuni is located close to the Salt Flats in Bolivia, this town was
little more than a stopover for tourists coming from or going to the
desert. It did have an interesting train graveyard which a sunset
made even better. Some of the best pizza I had on my trip was had in
Uyuni as well, an expat from Boston has set up shop called Minuteman
Pizza.
A 7 hour bone rattling bus ride from Uyuni took me to Potosi, once the
silver capital of the world and the highest city in the world (4050m).
Potosi Mountain is still mined today, but some geologist estimate
what is now a human ant hill of tunnels and precarious mining
practices will collapse within a couple of years. The Mint is a must
see in the city, showcasing the transition from manual minting tools,
to more mechanical means with a donkey (shown above) to the steam
powered machines that were used up until the middle of last century.

Atacama Desert & Salt Flats, Bolivia

From the oasis of San Pedro de Atacama, we headed into Bolivia and continued through the desert on 4x4s for three days. San Pedro was approximately 2500m, but upon entering Bolivia the first day we got up to 4800m and slept at 4200m which is quite a jump in altitude. Combine that with freezing temperatures at night and the smell of diesel fuel (for cleaning the refuges floors) not surprisingly a few people on the tour felt pretty ill. A constant headache at that altitude is common and luckily that was all I had to deal with.

Our third day in the 4x4s was spent on the Salt Flats near Uyuni, Bolivia. You can do some cool camera tricks out there, with no depth perception. Wish I could have spent more time making stupid pictures out there. They harvest and process some of the salt by hand for consumption, so if any are interested the going rate for 50Kg of salt is about 9 Bolivianos (about $1.3 CAD), flight to Bolivia not included.

San Pedro de Atacama

San Pedro is a place of extremes, nothing but sun in the day, cold at night, and one of the driest places on earth.  This is one of the most beatiful places I've been too in South America with stunning sunsets (above) and geological formations that seem out of this world. 

Salta, Argentina

Salta was the first stop on the tour and we spent a couple of nights here, I was able to see Calafayte (a small wine region), and catch a local show with singing, dancing, and stories I couldn't understand. The drive from Salta to the wine region was spectacular with the mountains showing all sorts of colours from greens to browns to to reds, although I couldn't capture it in a photo.

GAP Tour #2 - Bolivia Crossing

I won't elaborate too much on this tour since the itinerary is online here. This tour takes me from Buenos Aires to Salta, San Pedro de Atacama, Salt Flats, Uyuni, Potosi and finally to La Paz (ending on April 25).

Off the Beaten Track

From Rio until Buenos Aires I was traveling solo after parting ways with Sarah, Tom, Michelle, and Megan. My overall plan was to make it to Buenos Aires by April 14 (about 7 days) to meet up with the second organized tour I just recently signed up for. From Rio I went south to Curitiba, then Torres (a little surfing town further down the coast, photo above), and finally to Montevideo before reaching Buenos Aires. All told I was in transit for over 40 hours in that week - a lot of moving around for me.

Curitiba is known for its green design, but I can't say I stayed there long enough to take in many of the sights. Torres was the highlight for this stretch, wish I could have stayed longer. A really chilled out town that seemed to have the perfect wave to learn how to surf, although I never tried. Montevideo was a strange experience for me after arriving from Torres on an overnight bus at 7am on a Sunday morning. The streets were deserted and it made for a strange walking tour of the city.

Rio de Janeiro

When first reading about Rio I began to have some trepidations of going there, just because of the reputation for crime in the city and it being so much worse than other cities.  I'm happy to say that after being there my impressions of this wonderful city have changed and I had no more problems than the other big cities I've been to in South America (Santiago and Buenos Aires).  That is to say I've had no problems.

My time in Rio was pretty packed over the 6 days I was there and not a lot of time was spent sunning on the beach - mainly due to the fact that it rained every day I was there.  Highlights: Favela tour, Cristo Redentor, Football Match (Flamenco Vs. Vasco), Lapa (going out and the colourful steps), and the beach of course.

I think the top thing for me in the city was the touring one of the Favelas.  This favela (Rocinha) is the largest in the country housing 200,000 people in one square km.  Ther are over 750 of these favela communities in Rio alone and it houses some 20% of the city.  It was an amazing experience to tour through the streets and alleys really opening my eyes to the community within the slums.

Iguazu Falls

Simply put, these are the most spectacular falls I've ever seen.  One picture doesn't really do it justice, nor would several.  The waterfall system consists of 275 falls along 2.7 kilometres.  We saw the falls from both sides (Argentina & Brazil) and you get two very different perspectives from either side.  In Argentina, the trails and bridges are more extensive and it's like a zoomed-in perspective, while on the Brazil side it's more panoramic.  We got up early for one of the days we were there to beat the crowds, but only for a couple of hours before we were pushing our way to the rails for the best picture.

Buenos Aires

From Mendoza we (sister Sarah, Megan, Tom, and Michelle) headed to
Buenos Aires on an overnight bus and I'd have to say the 'ejectivo'
class is the way to go! On a double decker bus, we had a six seater
compartment to ourselves with bottle service, full dinner, and fully
reclining seats-to-beds. To extend our theme of luxury, we rented an
apartment for a few nights which is the way to go if you're traveling
with a group.
We took in an all-you-can-eat BBQ, one of those 'things you do' when
you're in the city. The wine was atrocious and 1 litre each was
included, but the meat wasn't too bad. We tried to catch a football
game but after braving the long taxi ride and the rowdy crowds the
game was sold out and the visitors section (although empty was closed
to ticket sales).

Mendoza, Argentina

A couple of bus rides, 2 hours at the border, and a beautiful drive
through the mountains got me from Valparaiso to Mendoza. I was there
for four days since there are plenty of activities in and around the
city. We took in the surrounding wine country by bike, only managing
to visit a couple wineries, but we were able to sample several good
types - the Malbec being the most widely used grape in the area.
We headed out rafting in the mountains for our second day. Although
the water was low this time of year we still managed to surf a few
times in the rapids.
The city itself has massively wide avenues and streets, most of it
delegated to wide pedestrian walkways. It seems that after a major
earthquake back in the day the city planners of the time allowed all
this room for the collapse of future houses and building when then
next major quake hit. Thanks to them this city is one of the most
pedestrian friendly cities in Argentina - except of course when
crossing the road :)