Pisac, Ollantaytambo, & Machu Pichu

I had arranged a three day, 2 night tour from Cusco to Machu Pichu in Cusco. We visited the ruins of Pisac and Ollantaytambo the first day and both have incredible views from the top of their terraces. It's pretty amazing to see such stone construction up so high on such steep mountains. The irregular stones were shaped to fit together perfectly and with no mortar of any sort.

As much as I dreaded Machu Pichu for it's crowds and overall "touristyness" it does live up to its name. Set within a stunning landscape your first view of the place is one of the best. I tried to get up to the top on the 'first bus' as promised on my tour, but after being passed by 12 buses on their way down from the site already, I resigned myself to waiting in line like most others would that day. The mountain seen in the background of Machu Pichu is called Wayna Pichu and actually has it's own ruins at the top. Only 400 people a day are allowed to hike that trail (about a 30-60 min scramble to the top) so I skipped my tour and headed straight to the entrance - only to be number 106. I passed about 50 people on the way up though :) Views from the top of Wayna Pichu down to Machu Pichu are also incredible, and again I was amazed at how a civilization could build such a structure at the top of such a steep mountain!

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.