Machu Piccu

The famed Machu Piccu. One of the continent's and the world's most famous landmarks. It lay undisturbed for centuries, probably due to its location, but was discovered in 1911 by Hiram Bingham, if he were alive today he may be saying, "What have I done?". Aesthetically  it's amazing, and one of the wonders of the world, but we felt a little saddened having seen it. Like everything here that's spectacular, it's exploited for profit, with little regard for the environment that delivers the profit in the first place. We arrived on the 6am train, hoping to beat the swarming hordes of tourists. There were over 3000 people on the mountain when we arrived, a rough estimate. Hundreds of tourist buses and camera-wielding masses climbing over every artifact on the site. It was a bit of a shock. That being said,we were also contributing to the problem, but treated it with a little more respect than some we saw. Still, glad to see it, despite the crowds.

                                       It's the photo you've seen a million times, but it delivers

                                           
                           The peak in the background can be climbed with a six month advance booking

One of the terraced ledges, massive drop below.

A close up of the site.

It's a stunning sight.

The sacred valley Peru

The Sacred valley is on route to Machu Pichu. The valley has some amazing inca ruins that date back to 2000 Bc and are a testament to the inca culture. Tomorrow we head to Machu Piccu which should be pretty cool. We are staying in a small town called ollantaytambo which is an authentic inca town in the mountains in the sacred valley.
Adios

             

                                                               In the sacred valley near pisac

                                                      The view form the ruins in the valley

The terraced ruins sacred valley

Selfie Sacred Valley

Cusco Christmas

Cusco is a beautiful city, cobblestone paths, churches, museums, and lots of lovely places to eat. We spent Xmas in this city, which was basically one massive market. It was mayhem the day before Xmas, markets, parades, and people everywhere, and everyone has their own stash of fireworks, which are for sale on every corner. Last night was just explosion after explosion, didn't get much sleep. Thankfully, the locals seemed to have tired of throwing bungers at each other, and Xmas day was peaceful.

                                                         The main square in cusco

Xmas in Cusco 

Xmas mayhem

Xmas shopping out front of our hotel.

I am a giant here.

Peru

The mighty Lake Titicaca stretches on and on. Sharing a border with Bolivia, we crossed into Peru. Culturally different, people that live a tradtional lifestyle, high altitude farmers and weavers, with some of the most exceptional clothing, and beautiful little kids. We spent some time in the villages meeting the locals, and spent the day on an island in the lake protected and governed by the traditional owners.

                                                  One of the villagers children such a cutey

The village on the hill... Peru 

One of the traditional owners a weaver

A girl from the village, the hat means she is currently single.

The secret beach 

Lake Titicaca Bolivia

Lake Titicaca is the worlds highest lake. We have been staying at a few different locations, the first being a nice town called Copacabana. We found some amazing accommodation, and at only $40 Australian a night it seemed like a bargain. We spent a few days in Copacabana, and then caught a boat out to an island called Isla del sol, an island on lake titicaca, where we stayed for a night. We did a hike from the north end of the the island to the south. Although fairly flat, it was over 4000 metres, and was harder than city to surf. The views for dinner were pretty cool, and the sunsets here are something else.

                                                               The pad in copa

                                                         The sunset over copa

Nightly storm about to hit.

Isla del sol the main drag is pumping.

About to sit down to dinner Bolivian style.

Death Road Bolivia

 Driving the worlds most dangerous road, the appropriately named Death Road, seemed like a pretty cool challenge. If you haven't heard of death road google it...Being unable to get a car, we decided to mountain bike it instead. Despite several cars and trucks a month plunging over the cliffs and over 22 mountain biking fatalities in the last decade, it seemed pretty easy,  after all, we had helmets. Having ridden it, I now see that these stats would be accurate.
The descent from 4700 to 1200 was a 63 km ride through the Bolivian jungle and ended at an animal sanctuary for monkeys. The ride was crazy, and despite our hesitations, the only other people we met on the mountain, and there were many, were Aussies. 
Having made it safely to the bottom, five knuckle whitening hours later. We were told by the bus driver, we now had to ride with him in his clapped out mini bus, back up the road of death to get home, bikes on the roof. Seriously really scary.....

                                           

                                         The start of the death road, this was a 2000 foot drop

          

                                         No not being shot out of a cannon, riding the death road.

We stopped to pay respect to one of the many mini buses lost on death road.

The bay run..... Similar, but without the fatalities.

Death road, the lunch break.

Nothing like a life risking experience to bring you together 

Bad ass Bolivia

Bolivia the stuff of legend, and we have made it. Three days in the Bolivian desert in a 4wd, sleeping at 4500m, no electricity or running water, and some serious off-road stuff, and we have arrived in Uyuni. The 4wd trip was amazing, the sights, the smells, and the pictures. Bolivia is as wild as we pictured, covered the salt flats, the cactus island, the desert Lagos. Some 200 letters of fuel on the roof, and our Bolivian driver, let's go.Besides not having the Suzuki here, and feeling a bit left out when dropping into low range, it was awesome, see below.

About to cross the border.

The road to Bolivia I think it's this way.

The Lago at 4500.

Not sure of the name, but amazing.

The cactus island in the salt plains desert. 

Serverino the Bolivian driver decides to risk his life.

Taking a break while in the desert.

Apparently it's about perspective.

San Pedro Atacama

San Pedro, an oasis in the middle of a desert, we travelled for a week to get here and everyone else had the same idea. This is backpacker heaven, bars restaurants and tour agencies everywhere and it's such an amazing town, a town from a western. Today we drove into the desert and acquainted ourselves with the Laguna Cejar which is a high altitude, high salt lake in the middle of the Atacama. It was tops, and so refreshing, and it's impossible to sink, I felt like a boat, like a fat person normally would at the beach, it's impossible to stay vertical, you could float and balance drinks and lunch on your belly,  again, so envious of the fatties. Next stop is Bolivia, but first, a few days r and r in a really beautiful location.

                                          On route to San Pedro the  high plain highway.

San Pedro early morning.

The Laguna Cejar the floatilla of peace.

No hands or feet required.

The local boys play some mean panpipes as we eat dinner

Atacama desert

Well we crossed back into chile and have arrived in San Pedro. It's a cool town which looks like the town you would Imagine yourself in in South America, and as such hipsters abound. The drive across the Andes was incredible, the road was paved and beautiful, but higher than our last crossing, at nearly 5800 metres it took everything to get the van across. Simply incredible views. The only concern again was fuel, whee to get it, and would we have enough. Pulled into the petrol station from deliverance after 5 hours in the desert...... Asked do you have a cold drinks ....." Si super"
Do you have anything to eat? " si si, super" ...um ok just fill it up with super.... Si super.

                                       

                                                     The servo from hell

                                                     The salt plains on route to chile.

A lake we found  at 5500.

The beast at 5800.

Mendoza to Tilcara

Life on the road has been interesting, we have seen every landscape in 3000 km from deserts, to rainforest to high altitude passes, we've seen it all. Some of the highlights were Tafi del Valle a high mountain town on a lake, surrounded by mountains, and Cafayate.  Cafayate is a wine town, and surrounded by vineyards, with amazing Malbec and Torrontes wines. We found an amazing golf course here, similar in setup to Bonville, just amazing, and not a soul in attendance. I rolled up in dirty converse and a grubby white t shirt and asked to play 18, "no problems, grab a cart". The course was at 2500m. I wonder if the ball would fly further at that altitude... Decided in the end not to play,  was close to 36 degrees. Drove on to Cachi on a dirt road at 3500 metres, 100 km in three hours, horrible road, but a pretty little town. Coming back the road down was so steep, the front discs on the van began pouring smoke, I thought we had done a tire, but when stopped, the right front wheel was smoking. The road from Salta to Jujuy (pronounced hoo-hooey) was hilarious, it was as narrow as the Sydney park that the kids ride around on their bikes, only 120 km of it. Arrived in Tilcara, and  crossing into chile tomorrow, the crossing is at 6000 metres. The previous record set by the Wicked van was 5000' about to be smashed. Did they think it was possible for a Wicked van to go the  same altitude as a cruising 747? Anything is possible.

                                                        The campsite at Mendoza

            Bel has made friends with every flea bag dog on the road but this one was cute

The course at estancia del Cafayate, quality course 

On the road to salta.

I'll show you a place high on a desert plain.