Thursday, 25 October 2012
Tuesday, 23 October 2012
Arequipa, flying Condors and road blockages on way to Sucre
So after another bus journey we arrived safely in a hostel called Wild Rover in Arequipa. The Irish hostel we ok. They had a little swimming pool to sit by which was nice as the weather has been hot. When we arrived we were there too early so we had to go and sit in the tv room and wait for our room to be ready. While waiting we watched Ted. It was the only thing we could find which was a decent enough copy.
Once settled in we took a walk around the Plaza which was nice. We managed to find a tour agency called Peru Adventure. Here we booked our day trip to the Colca Canyon. (Deepest canyon in the world) Once booked we went to the local supermarket for some food to take with us. As the day would start at 3am in the morning we needed to make sure we had lunch stuff. While walking around the shop, over the radio the dj said something in Spanish, Thunder Road, Bruce Springsteen. Louise squealed (which I heard a few aisles down from me) I did tell Louise to not be so shocked as he is known world wide.
The next day we were up at 2.30am and in the reception at 2.45am waiting for our bus to pick us up for the excursion. Other people who had booked with different companies where also waiting too. By the time 3.20am had come and everyone else had gone we started to give up and believe that we had been conned. The man at reception was kind enough to call around but no hope. By the time 3.50am come we decided to get back into bed. Annoyed that we were up so early and conned out of money. Well this was until 4:10am when our reception man came running in his flip flops ( we say that as thats all we could hear running towards our room) to tell us our ride was here. When we got our stuff together again an headed outside we see a little gold van. We had to sit separately due to the fact we were last to be picked up. Louise sat right at the back and Andrew by the door. After 3 hours of driving we stopped for lunch (which was a life savor) as Louise was so squashed at the back that she couldn't feel her legs. When we stopped for breakfast e had the same bread, cheese and ham as always with coffee. It was ok to eat as is anything at that time in the morning when you are starving. When we got in the van to carry on the man moved us and let us sit at the front of the mini van with the driver. A first we thought this was great, plenty of leg space the lot. Well you know what thought did....
The seats up front where made for 3 people and 5 legs. Louise being the person who needed only one leg. If you could have seen the space you just wouldn't believe it was made for 3 people. Not even my 12 year old Nephew could have sat there comfortably. So anyway the journey began for another hour or so until we reached the condor section (big bird watching area). As we stood waiting for 15 minutes and still the site of nothing we thought we had paid for one of them dolphin trips in Spain. But with a little more patience they finally arrived, 9 of them to be exact. We have combined taken about 300 pictures of these birds. So we will add a few to this blog ha. Once the bird watching was over we headed to other parts of the Canyon. See a lot of Llama and Al Pacha and some sheep, cows and all that jazz. At 1pm we stopped for lunch. The packed lunch we had managed to buy was Tuna and pita bread. Well when we see the buffet of food in the restaurant we decided against it and had that instead which was lovely. After lunch we headed home (another 3 hours in pain with no legs) Louise really wanted to ask Andrew to swap for a bit but she knew deep down it wouldnt be fair.... so she asked anyway and obviously the answer was NO. When we got back we headed to the bar where we bumped in to some friend we met in Brazil. It was nice seeing them and catching up on stories of what we ha all got up to.
The next day we went and had lunch at 'at the top' restaurant. It was a nice view of the city. We went with Rhydian a Welsh guy we met back in Brasil. Andrew and I chose a chicken and Advacado sandwich and Rhydian chose Al Pacha. When Andrew heard what Rhydian had chosen he ran in to change his order. Apparently the Al Pacha came with onion rings so when Louise heard that she asked Andrew to order some on the side. When the food had arrived it looked delicious. Well this was until Louise's onion rings arrived.....These where in fact onion rings...not dressed in batter oh no. Just a plain old fried onion... We all found this hilarious, especially my face when they arrived!! The good news was that we know someone greedy enough to eat them... Andrew :-)
The rest of the days was a bit of a lazy day, just had a look around some shops and then headed back to the hostel. Andrew found entertainment with table tennis and pool while Louise sat and watched some Dexter on the laptop. Yeah I know, all this way and I am watching American crap.
The next day we head to Puno, this was so we could get a connecting bus to Copacobana, Bolivia. WHen we arrived the buses had stopped running and the next available bus wasn't until 7:30am the next day. We stayed a hotel called Temi Inn. This place was very creepy. The man was weird and we where the only ones there. Louise asked me to move the wardrobe in front of the door but unfortunately the door oped outwards not inwards so wouldnt of made a difference. Instead we both slept in a single bed and had the worst nights sleep ever. Thankfully we where up at 6:30am to leave.
We arrived at the Peru/Bolivia border at 9:50am. We checked out of Peru and then walked up a hill to Bolivia. So strange we managed to be in two places at once and in two different time zones as Bolivia is an hour in front. We didnt think that on this trip we would manage to time travel so that was pretty cool.
When we arrived in Copacobana we stayed at a place called the Mirador Hotel. It was nice enough apart from the toilet breaking and Andrew having to put his hand in the tank to flush it. Anyway from here we had a lovely view of Lake Titicaca (largest lake in the world) we done an excursion to one of the islands on the lake called Isla del sol (Island of the Sun) very correct term for this as we both got burnt. We did however take such lovely pictures as the view was amazing. It really does just look like the sea. On the journey back we stopped at a floating island for some lunch. Here we see our fish get pulled out of the water, gutted cooked and then eaten. The trout also come with home made chips. It was lovely. The only annoying thing was that the fish gets deep fried and not grilled but it still tasted good. Andrew even ate the head. After the trip we headed back to the main land to buy our bus ticket to La Paz and look around town.
We arrived at a port about an hour into our journey to La Paz and was told to get off the bus. The reason for this was because our bus had to get put on a barge and sailed across the lake while we all had to get a separate boat across. On the other side is where we then carried on our journey. Once arriving in La Paz we bought our ticket straight to Sucre. After 10 hours on this bus we came to a stand still. The road ahead had been blocked off and no cars where allowed past for another 5 hours so we had to walk with our backpacks for 40minutes. Let us remind you that our backpacks weigh 21kg each and so the walk was not very pleasant. After walking which felt like forever we managed to get a taxi. He took us to the plaza where we walked some more to a hostel called Gringo something.. The man who works here is also a bit strange, a bit hill billy like. But he seems harmless. Not like the Master Debator I have on my top bunk! (Louise bunk) Andrew went out for a stroll and I was talking to Rachel and Kym on whats App. I tried to inform him I was there by coughing but that didnt stop him. We are hoping that the next place we go to it will be free of this but we guess this is what travelling is all about. Sharing our room with dirty buggers ha!.
Tomorrow we will be attempting some more Spanish lessons, hopefully with a teacher that can speak a little English and in a couple of days be heading to the Salt Flats.
Will update photos as soon as we get good signal. xxx
Once settled in we took a walk around the Plaza which was nice. We managed to find a tour agency called Peru Adventure. Here we booked our day trip to the Colca Canyon. (Deepest canyon in the world) Once booked we went to the local supermarket for some food to take with us. As the day would start at 3am in the morning we needed to make sure we had lunch stuff. While walking around the shop, over the radio the dj said something in Spanish, Thunder Road, Bruce Springsteen. Louise squealed (which I heard a few aisles down from me) I did tell Louise to not be so shocked as he is known world wide.
The next day we were up at 2.30am and in the reception at 2.45am waiting for our bus to pick us up for the excursion. Other people who had booked with different companies where also waiting too. By the time 3.20am had come and everyone else had gone we started to give up and believe that we had been conned. The man at reception was kind enough to call around but no hope. By the time 3.50am come we decided to get back into bed. Annoyed that we were up so early and conned out of money. Well this was until 4:10am when our reception man came running in his flip flops ( we say that as thats all we could hear running towards our room) to tell us our ride was here. When we got our stuff together again an headed outside we see a little gold van. We had to sit separately due to the fact we were last to be picked up. Louise sat right at the back and Andrew by the door. After 3 hours of driving we stopped for lunch (which was a life savor) as Louise was so squashed at the back that she couldn't feel her legs. When we stopped for breakfast e had the same bread, cheese and ham as always with coffee. It was ok to eat as is anything at that time in the morning when you are starving. When we got in the van to carry on the man moved us and let us sit at the front of the mini van with the driver. A first we thought this was great, plenty of leg space the lot. Well you know what thought did....
The seats up front where made for 3 people and 5 legs. Louise being the person who needed only one leg. If you could have seen the space you just wouldn't believe it was made for 3 people. Not even my 12 year old Nephew could have sat there comfortably. So anyway the journey began for another hour or so until we reached the condor section (big bird watching area). As we stood waiting for 15 minutes and still the site of nothing we thought we had paid for one of them dolphin trips in Spain. But with a little more patience they finally arrived, 9 of them to be exact. We have combined taken about 300 pictures of these birds. So we will add a few to this blog ha. Once the bird watching was over we headed to other parts of the Canyon. See a lot of Llama and Al Pacha and some sheep, cows and all that jazz. At 1pm we stopped for lunch. The packed lunch we had managed to buy was Tuna and pita bread. Well when we see the buffet of food in the restaurant we decided against it and had that instead which was lovely. After lunch we headed home (another 3 hours in pain with no legs) Louise really wanted to ask Andrew to swap for a bit but she knew deep down it wouldnt be fair.... so she asked anyway and obviously the answer was NO. When we got back we headed to the bar where we bumped in to some friend we met in Brazil. It was nice seeing them and catching up on stories of what we ha all got up to.
The next day we went and had lunch at 'at the top' restaurant. It was a nice view of the city. We went with Rhydian a Welsh guy we met back in Brasil. Andrew and I chose a chicken and Advacado sandwich and Rhydian chose Al Pacha. When Andrew heard what Rhydian had chosen he ran in to change his order. Apparently the Al Pacha came with onion rings so when Louise heard that she asked Andrew to order some on the side. When the food had arrived it looked delicious. Well this was until Louise's onion rings arrived.....These where in fact onion rings...not dressed in batter oh no. Just a plain old fried onion... We all found this hilarious, especially my face when they arrived!! The good news was that we know someone greedy enough to eat them... Andrew :-)
The rest of the days was a bit of a lazy day, just had a look around some shops and then headed back to the hostel. Andrew found entertainment with table tennis and pool while Louise sat and watched some Dexter on the laptop. Yeah I know, all this way and I am watching American crap.
The next day we head to Puno, this was so we could get a connecting bus to Copacobana, Bolivia. WHen we arrived the buses had stopped running and the next available bus wasn't until 7:30am the next day. We stayed a hotel called Temi Inn. This place was very creepy. The man was weird and we where the only ones there. Louise asked me to move the wardrobe in front of the door but unfortunately the door oped outwards not inwards so wouldnt of made a difference. Instead we both slept in a single bed and had the worst nights sleep ever. Thankfully we where up at 6:30am to leave.
We arrived at the Peru/Bolivia border at 9:50am. We checked out of Peru and then walked up a hill to Bolivia. So strange we managed to be in two places at once and in two different time zones as Bolivia is an hour in front. We didnt think that on this trip we would manage to time travel so that was pretty cool.
When we arrived in Copacobana we stayed at a place called the Mirador Hotel. It was nice enough apart from the toilet breaking and Andrew having to put his hand in the tank to flush it. Anyway from here we had a lovely view of Lake Titicaca (largest lake in the world) we done an excursion to one of the islands on the lake called Isla del sol (Island of the Sun) very correct term for this as we both got burnt. We did however take such lovely pictures as the view was amazing. It really does just look like the sea. On the journey back we stopped at a floating island for some lunch. Here we see our fish get pulled out of the water, gutted cooked and then eaten. The trout also come with home made chips. It was lovely. The only annoying thing was that the fish gets deep fried and not grilled but it still tasted good. Andrew even ate the head. After the trip we headed back to the main land to buy our bus ticket to La Paz and look around town.
We arrived at a port about an hour into our journey to La Paz and was told to get off the bus. The reason for this was because our bus had to get put on a barge and sailed across the lake while we all had to get a separate boat across. On the other side is where we then carried on our journey. Once arriving in La Paz we bought our ticket straight to Sucre. After 10 hours on this bus we came to a stand still. The road ahead had been blocked off and no cars where allowed past for another 5 hours so we had to walk with our backpacks for 40minutes. Let us remind you that our backpacks weigh 21kg each and so the walk was not very pleasant. After walking which felt like forever we managed to get a taxi. He took us to the plaza where we walked some more to a hostel called Gringo something.. The man who works here is also a bit strange, a bit hill billy like. But he seems harmless. Not like the Master Debator I have on my top bunk! (Louise bunk) Andrew went out for a stroll and I was talking to Rachel and Kym on whats App. I tried to inform him I was there by coughing but that didnt stop him. We are hoping that the next place we go to it will be free of this but we guess this is what travelling is all about. Sharing our room with dirty buggers ha!.
Tomorrow we will be attempting some more Spanish lessons, hopefully with a teacher that can speak a little English and in a couple of days be heading to the Salt Flats.
Will update photos as soon as we get good signal. xxx
Monday, 15 October 2012
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