South America Part Two - 1st Stop: Buenos Aires

And we're back in South America! One year ago, we were setting off for a new continent, like the Spanish. This time we're back to see what else this land has to offer us, also like the Spanish! Having previously crossed Peru, Bolivia and Chile off our list, we're back to add Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay to the mix. We'll hopefully see a fair bit over the next three weeks, but it's a big, big continent and so far we've barely scratched the surface.

First stop was Buenos Aires, Argentina's capital and what will be our base of operations. We'll be back here again another couple of times in the coming weeks, but for now we had three days to get a feel for the place.

Before all that, our Atlantic crossing wasn't as stress-free as we would've liked, with our one hour connection time in Frankfurt immediately cut to 30 minutes as our flight from Dublin was delayed. This meant that as soon as we touched down in Germany, it was a mad dash through the airport, corridor after corridor, made all the more dramatic by Ais' bag flying open along the way, spilling its contents across the floor. But, we made it to the gate just in time, all sweaty and dishevelled, and then... it ended up not leaving for another half hour. Oh well, some impromptu exercise at least!

Although we managed to make it from one plane to the other, we found out when we landed in Buenos Aires that our bags did not. Not the start to the holiday we were hoping for. We had most of the important things in our hand luggage, so no immediate emergencies. The only thing I could've done with was my camera. You'd think I would've learned from last year not to leave valuable items in my check-on luggage.

Frankie nooooo! It still hurts... 

So, our first day in BA was a luggage free one. But on the plus side, at least we didn't have to lug heavy backpacks around with us! Admittedly, a very minor plus point...

As we were still in limbo with the luggage situation and we were just fresh from a 13 hour flight (probably the longest we've ever been on), our first day wasn't the most action packed. Though having said that, we casually strolled a good 20km in total. Buenos Aires is just a very walkable city with lots of parks and waterside greenways.

We first wandered around La Reserva Ecologica Costanera Sur, which I think means "The Ecological Reserve... of Costanera Sur". You would never believe you were in one of the world's biggest cities, and just a short walk from the main square. We walked from there to Plaza San Martin and onto Recoleta which, as it was a Saturday, was filled with market stalls and buskers, so there was a great atmosphere around the place.

Those pics are all from Ais' phone as I, of course, was cameraless.

The next morning, still no word about our bags, so off we set for yet more exercise, as we joined a walking tour of the city. We've done quite a few of these around the world, and it's always a good way to see the place and learn a bit of regional history. The weather has been ideal since we landed too, especially considering it's winter here; nothing but blue skies and warm by Irish standards.

And good news! When we arrived back at our hotel, our bags were there to greet us and I finally had my camera again. Who knows where they had been and what they had seen in the last 36 hours.

Our spirits were up and so what better way to celebrate than go to Tierra Santa - the world's first religious theme park! It's a little slice of the Middle East in South America with singing, dancing and resurrections every hour! Now that's Christianity streamlined.

What the above photos don't show you is that when the 40 foot plastic Jesus rises from the ground, he does so to an over-the-top chorus of "Hallelujah", before slowly moving from side to side, lifting his head up and down, and then descending back from wherever he came. Truly a bucket list moment. The designers of Christ the Redeemer must be kicking themselves!

I would seriously recommend Tierra Santa to anyone who is religious, and even more so to anyone who isn't at all! It was so bad that it was good! The place was pretty busy and it's hard to tell if people come here for the kitsch value and don't take it too seriously, or if everyone else was in reverent awe, and we were the only two giggling heathens!

A great day out for the whole family.

Our third and final day in Buenos Aires (for now) led us to some of the different neighbourhoods, or barrios, of the city. The first was La Boca, one of the most colourful, and notoriously, one of the most dangerous, though we had no problems here. There isn't a whole lot to see really, with just a few streets of coloured buildings, some nice graffiti, and La Bombonera, home of Boca Juniors.

It's worth the trip out, but honestly, you don't need more than an hour.

The district of Palermo was similarly arty, and in fact, the whole of Buenos Aires is truly vibrant, with colour and music everywhere you go.

And that was that for part one in Buenos Aires. The follow morning we caught a flight to Jujuy (fun trying to pronounce that at the airport!) in the northwest of Argentina, where we would be spending the next six days. We made our BA video diary there, and it was a good move as the scenery was some of the best we've encountered anywhere in the world.

I'll chat about this, and the other places in the area, in my next blog, so brace yourselves for a whole lot of pictures of colourful hills!

South America - 9th Stop: Peru (Cusco & Lima)

So, almost a year since we were actually there, and 3 days before we head back to South America again, it's probably about time I finished the blog! After coming down from the emotional and geographical high of Macchu Pichu, we had a nice easy and relaxing three days in the town of Cusco, before heading back to Lima, and ultimately, Ireland.

And Cusco was great! It was probably the nicest town we had been to in the five weeks, in terms of the town itself. There was just a lovely vibe around the place, lots of nice buildings and open spaces - it really was the perfect spot to end the trip!

Cusco is also home to the self proclaimed "Highest 100% Irish owned Pub on the Planet", which isn't the catchiest tagline, but we'll go with it. I presume they put in this caveat as there are higher Irish pubs in the world, and in fact, while on our way to Everest Base Camp, we passed by one in a village called Namche Bazaar, which I presume is the highest non-Irish owned Irish pub... There's a title there for the taking if anyone from home wants to move out to the Himalayas.

We've racked up a fair few far-flung (alliteration ftw!) Irish pubs on our travels, and it's not as though we go out of our way to find them - the Irish are just everywhere!

Though our time in Cusco was mostly spent winding down and lazing about in the sun, we did have an active day in there too, as we took a trip out to the Salineras de Maras, which were unlike anything we had seen before. Well, actually, they were kinda like rice terraces, but with salt. Salt terraces, I guess you could call them...

They were a bit out of the way, needing a collectivo from Cusco which dropped us off at the side of the road, with 5km more to be covered on foot. Luckily for us, about 500m into the walk, a man and his daughter pulled up beside us, offering to take us the rest of the way for a couple of quid, so it all worked out better than we could have hoped!

When we arrived at the Salineras, we got out, and so did the young girl, and the man drove off, so maybe she wasn't his daughter after all, just another passenger who paid for the lift. She was only like 8 though... That whole part of the story remains a mystery. She seemed to know what she was doing though, so good luck to her!

The Salineras themselves were definitely worth the journey out, and you could view them in all of their grandeur from the overlooking road, or walk right down onto the terraces, and in between the workers (who must be pretty pissed off with the constant stream of tourists).

Getting back to Cusco was a lot trickier, as we had no lift back to the bus stop, and the bus stop itself wasn't really a bus stop, just the side of the road. We walked along for maybe half an hour, hoping that some other local in need of some extra pocket money would pull over and offer us a lift. 

In the end, a couple of German girls who had hired a driver for the day spotted us, and saw the opportunity to make back a bit of money, so we chipped in, and off we headed back to Cusco! It all worked out in the end, but we'd probably recommend sorting out transportation in advance, instead of diving in blindly.

Back in Cusco, we tried to get a small feel for the local culture, through popular culture. This is something we've done throughout our travels; from reading Burmese Days as we journeyed through Myanmar, and Life of Pi in India, to listening to Bjork while driving around Iceland and watching In Bruges in, well, Bruges. So, when in Peru...

...it had to be The Emperor's New Groove, which I can only assume is 100% historically accurate.

And that was all for a lovely few days in Cusco. We then had a quick flight back to Lima, which almost went horribly wrong as it inexplicably departed 2 hours before the scheduled time. Luckily we were at the airport a bit before then, and so what we thought was a nice early check in, became a mad dash through the airport. I don't know if the flight time had been changed and we were never notified, or if we were given the wrong time from the start, but I guess it just goes to show - always be at the airport early!

Coincidentally, when we landed in Lima, we noticed a couple from our Machu Picchu trek on the same flight. We had a quick catch-up and is it turned out, they were heading to the same part of the city, so we shared a cab. As we reached the district, we both checked our bookings and it just so happened we were staying in the same place! And this wasn't some grand hotel either, just a tiny guesthouse. That would be a coincidence in any small town, nevermind a sprawling city of 10 million people like Lima!

Lima itself was as we left it, nothing much going on, so we just wandered about, went to the Larcomar Shopping Mall which is built into the cliffside, and bumped into another bit of deepest, darkest Peru that has seeped into Western culture.

And coincidentally, the creator of Paddington Bear just died today at age 91. RIP Michael Bond.

That area of Miraflores is probably the nicest part of the city, and as the sun had come out for the first time in our few days in Lima, we made a video diary in the park.

And it wouldn't be a holiday without a visit to an escape room, twice in fact, both of which we nailed! Our record now stands at 10 wins out of 12, and we're still bitter about the two that got away...

And that was our 5 weeks in South America! All that was left was a flight to Gatwick, a bus to Heathrow, another flight to Dublin and we were home! It was a new continent for us, and we liked it so much that we're heading back there again for three weeks in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay, kicking off the day after tomorrow. I'll try to be a bit more punctual with those entries, the first few at least, but for now, I'm up to date!*

*Except for all of the European holidays that I've not written a word about...

South America - 8th Stop: Peru (Inca Trail)

We started this whole journey a month ago in Peru, and have seen an awful lot since leaving its borders. Chile was incredible and Bolivia put in a solid shift too, knocking Peru back into third place, but it's not over yet. We're back now for the final stretch and Peru still has the ultimate ace up its sleeve - one of the wonders of the modern world - Machu Picchu. 

There are many different ways to get to Machu Picchu, and even though it's deep in the mountains, and was lost for so long, there are now regular trains to the nearby town of Aguas Calientes, and even more regular buses up to Machu Picchu itself. However, we decided to take a more scenic route to the top, with a four day hike along the Inca Trail. If you do plan on doing it this way (and you definitely should!) then you'll need to be booking it a good 6 months in advance. 

We were ridiculously lucky when booking ours actually, as we left it a small bit late. Every tour company we had emailed was full and we were having virtual doors slammed in our face right, left and centre. We were willing to shape our whole five weeks around this trek, but every one of those days was booked out with every company we contacted. Except for one, Alpaca Expeditions. One company with one day free and just two single spots available. The Incan Gods were smiling down on us.

And this was no reject, last-resort travel company either. They were the top rated group on Tripadvisor, and they were incredible! I'll go into more detail throughout, but if you're looking for a recommendation, Alpaca Expeditions are the bees knees!

We had a day in Cusco before starting our trek, following an overnight bus from Copacabana. We'd be spending another three days here afterwards, so I'll save that for another blog entry. For now, let's hit the Inca Trail!

Day 1:

The first day was a nice, easy introduction to the trail - the hiking was manageable, the company was delightful, and the food was incredible! We were expecting the cuisine to be quite basic, seeing as we would be halfway up a mountain, but it was actually some of the best food we had in South America! I don't think I was hungry for even a second for the entire trip. There was too much food if anything!

I didn't think you could hike for four days and actually put on weight!

The first day also introduced us to the sweeping valleys and Incan ruins, which we would be seeing plenty of in the coming days.

Day 2:

The second day was definitely the most grueling of the lot, starting with a steep, 4 hour climb up to the top of Dead Woman's Pass. Well, I say 4 hours as that's the recommended time, but we blitzed it in 2 and a half cause we're fucking deadly! We were the first two at the top, which was great as we had the view over the valley all to ourselves before the hoards descended, or rather, ascended.

Going back down the other side, though a lot faster, was just as tough, as the steep decline was murder on the legs. Did someone order veal, cause my calves were on fire! At least when we got to the bottom, it was time for lunch and a well earned break.

Another thing worth noting from the trek, and day 2 in particular, was the amount of flora and fauna we encountered. I was expecting breath-taking scenery, but was pleasantly surprised by the beauty and diversity of the wildlife. 

We come across llamas everywhere we go, and the novelty hasn't worn off yet. We still think they're great! Throughout the trek, we've been passing by small villages and farmlands, so it was no surprise to see them there. But even at Machu Picchu itself there were lots roaming around, so we never had to work too hard for our daily llama pic.

We had a few more ups and downs after lunch (literal, rather than emotional), as we rose into the clouds, before descending to the Incan ruins of Sayacmarca. And that was almost it for day 2, with just a short walk to our campsite for the night.

Day 3:

Each day, the scenery got better and better, and day 3 continued the trend. In fact, some of the sites we visited that afternoon were arguably as impressive as Machu Picchu itself. The design is so different to anything you'd see anywhere else in the world, and the fantastic surroundings were just the icing on the cake. One of our favourites was Intipata - The Terraces of the Sun.

Just be careful you don't stumble over the edge!

Whenever we would approach a site, our guide, Herlin, would have us all look down at the ground and pace slowly forward. Then, when it was time, we would all look up. It was a great idea, as our first impression would be the site in its full glory, rather than it slowly coming into view piece by piece. The emotion hit you all at once, and that feeling was especially powerful at our final stop of the day, Wiñay Wayna. We were all a bit misty eyed. Even the hillside was in tiers!

We also made our video diary here as we figured it would be too crowded at Machu Picchu:

That evening, after dinner, we also said our final goodbyes to our porters, or Chasquis, as they're called. They use the term Chasqui, as porter implies they simply transport things from one place to another. Whereas our Chasquis carried all of our belongings, tents and supplies for the duration of the trek, as well as cooking our food and setting up our campsite every evening before we arrived. We even had a portable toilet (I hope the guy carrying that got paid extra!)

After that, it was an early night as we had an even earlier start the next morning.

Day 4:

So, this was it, the day we had been waiting for. And even though we were up at 3:15, that was just to be at the top of the queue for when the gates opened, which wasn't until 5:30. So, we planted ourselves down and tried to get a bit more sleep before the day started for real. It was a good thing we made the effort to get here early too, as when the clock struck half 5, there were hundreds of hikers in line behind us.

This meant that we were able to take off and have Machu Picchu all to ourselves! Or so we thought. As the sun was rising, mist was clearing and Machu Picchu was getting closer, we saw some people approaching us out of the fog. Where the hell did they come from?! It was like first meeting the others from Lost. We thought we were the only ones!

It turns out they had come up from Aguas Calientes, which made it even worse! Not only were we not the first here, but we were beaten by people who got the bus! Ah well, it was still amazing and relatively quiet.

It certainly lived up to expectations too, which is always a worry when visiting such a famous site. It was just one of those places where you could spend the whole day, just looking at the same thing. And in fact, we did! We spent about 7 hours up there in total, and almost missed our train back to Cusco! Totally worth it though.

What an Inca-redible view!

You may think this is the most Peruvian picture imaginable - a llama overlooking Machu Picchu - but I'll go one better. How about two llamas having sex at Machu Picchu?!

And this is what it looks like when a young llama is scarred for life:

Even his little llama mascara is running.

And that was it for Machu Picchu. That afternoon, we got a train from Aguas Calientes back to Cusco. The train ticket was included in the price of the trek, but they must have sold out of economy tickets as we were upgraded to first class! This is the first time this has ever happened to us! We were given food and drink, there was a fashion show, and some sort of clown/wolf dancing up and down the aisle! What more could you ask for?!

We were the only ones in our group that were upgraded too, which made it all the sweeter!

And so we arrived back in Cusco, said our goodbyes, and that was it for our Machu Picchu trek. We had an excellent time, and as I said before, if you are planning on doing something similar, you can't go wrong with Alpaca Expeditions. Just be sure to book well in advance!

For now, we had three full days in Cusco, before returning to Lima, and ultimately Dublin. I'll cover all of that in my next and final blog for this trip. So, see you then!