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Tarija, Tupiza and to Uyuni – Glorious Wine Country and Towards the Salt Flats
It really came as no surprise that Tarija would be the most relaxed and chilled out town in Bolivia. The miners in Potosi even commented that the most beautiful women in Bolivia are in Tarija. When you’re in the wine centre of a country people tend to be a little more happier than most, and…
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Potosi – Only 4060m Above Sea Level
Back in the mid 1500’s the Spanish discovered an absolute wealth of silver in the mountains that would eventually become Potosi. For a long time Potosi was the richest city in the entire world, the silver mines funding an expansive city filled with huge lavish houses for the colonial invaders, all the while the local…
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Santa Cruz and Sucre
Rain, Coffee, Rain, Pizza,Rain Somewhat groggy from the lack of sleep, I arrived in Santa Cruz in the wee hours of the morning. The bus terminal is 2kms from the city centre and since it was only 6am in the morning, I decided to walk the distance and embrace the fact I’d probably get lost…
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Cochabamba – Gardens and Coffee
The arrival in Cochabamba bus terminal reminded me of the airport in Cairo. There was sheer chaos, hundreds and hundreds of people swarming about the place with no less than two dozen different bus companies offering rides to all parts of Bolivia. Eventually I escaped the throng of bodies and emerged into the night with…
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La Paz – Our Lady of Peace
The entry into La Paz is something to behold. When you first come into the city it’s like any outskirts of a South American capital – dirty and full of chaos. You can’t help but wonder if the rest of the city is going to be the same. And for themost part, La Paz doesn’t…
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Lake Titicaca –The Bolivian side in Copacabana
Music and fashion are always the passion at the Copa! Well not quite, Copacabana in Bolivia is a small town sitting on the shores of Lake Titicaca. The main street that runs through the centre is full of tourist orientated cafés, markets selling trinkets and what seems an endless parade of travel agencies selling tickets…
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Lake Titicaca – the Peruvian side
I’m not sure I’d call Lake Titicaca a lake. We have lakes in Australia and Titicaca is more like an inland sea than a small body of water. It’s the highest and largest navigable lake in the world and at times all you can see it water on the horizon – no land or even…
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Arequipa to Puno
Maybe it was the fact I was away from the tourist mecca of Cusco, or more likely it was the amazing selection of food, but I ended up staying almost a week in Arequipa. It’s dubbed the White City due to the stone used from the nearby volcano and it has all the charm of…
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Cusco and Machu Picchu
The city of Cusco was once the Inca capital – they called it the Belly Button of the World. It was here the Inca were first invaded by the Chanka people where the current Inca (King) fled in fear his small fledging nation would be hopelessly defeated. His son, Pachacutec, believed otherwise and rallied the…
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Nasca
With the insanely overpriced Ica behind me I hoped Nasca wouldn’t be in the same situation for Semana Santa. I wasn’t sure if Nasca was a place people went for the holiday break and with Semana Santa almost over I had high hopes for find a decent hostal at a decent price. My wishes were…
The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page