Machu Picchu!

After La Paz, we arrived at Copacaba (The Bolivia side of Lake Titicaca) and did a full day tour to Isla del Sol, which is the orgin of Inca worship. The boat ride was soooo slow it was almost painful. On the upside, my travelling companions from Australia and Ireland were both accused of being from the US and Canada which I found to be hilarious, they´ve obviously spent too much time around me. Mwahaha.

Our trip to Peru turned out to be a little crazier than expected. We had decided to book a nicer bus for the 4 hour journey and got scammed by a tour agency. This agency books people on buses that they dont actually work with, including our bus. The bus driver ended up letting us stay on the bus after the agency refused to pay them the fare we payed, so we didnt ended up on the side of the road in the middle of Bolivia as expected.

We did a tour of the floating Islands on the Peru side of Lake Titicaca which was like visiting an exhibit at the Epcott center. It was pretty cool to see around 40 islands made of reeds, where people really do live, but it was soooo touristy. We also went to Tequile Island which was really cool. This island is a world heritage site because of having the finest weavers in the world. I spent most of the day talking to kids and teaching them how to ¨high five¨.

Once in Cusco I tagged along with a couple of Swiss guys who said they were off to see a market in Pisaq. After shopping the markets, we went up to see some Incan ruins. It was like a mini Macchu Picchu and very beautiful. We got a ride to the top of the hill and then hiked back down into town which included many stops for crazy photos.

A few days later Jnae and I headed the backway to Machu Picchu! This included a local bus ride with chicken, ducks in a box and the random smell of cheese for about 5 hrs on the most terrifying road Ive been on so far. It was raining, we were on steep cliff roads hugging the wrong side and going pretty fast. At point the bus had to pass through sections of the road where a waterfall was cascading over the road. The water pressure was so strong that our bus was slowly being pushed towards the edge of the cliff as well creeped our way around the bends. So what does the driver do?!?! BACK UP AND DO IT AGAIN! Jnae and I were the only gringos on the bus except for a french couple and were also the only ones freaking out. We drove over some LAND SLIDES and eventually made it to Santa Maria. From there we hopped into a ¨Taxi¨which was essentially some teenage dudes car with no working gages. Again, terrifying dirt roads, going way to fast but I think I was numb to the fear of death at the point and was enjoying the scenery which had turned into a pretty dense jungle.

We arrived at Hydro and started hiking the abandoned train tracks at around 5pm. The tracks would bridge some pretty intense rapids that surrounded the base of Machu Picchu meaning you would be walking the beams across parts of the water. That was pretty cool while we could still see, but once the sun set...lets just say I was really tired of fearing for my life at the point. Jnae and I, along with the french couple that caught up to us, hiked thru the pitch black jungle for about an hour before we hit Aguas Calientes (the town at the base of Machu Picchu). After a day of high humidity, death roads and a lot of fast walking in high altitude, Jnae and I just needed a drink, a pizza and a bed.

We got up at 4am and arrived at the top of Machu Picchu at 6am to watch the sunrise. I cannot even describe how beautiful and peaceful it was. We managed to snag some tickets to climb Huana Picchu (they only issue 400 tickets a day). The climb up was almost vertical at some points, you basically are hoisting yourself up rocks jutting out from the side of the mountain. The hilarious part is when we make it thru the cave at the very top and just see this little stick ladder you have to climb and no where else to go. So you climb up the ladder, peak over the top of the boulder and realise you have to go bouldering to get yourself to the other side of the mountain where you head back down. Did I mention it was raining at this point? Jnae and I had an amazing time up there despite the slick rocks and somehow made it to the bottom without falling off the side of the mountain.

All in all Machu Picchu is pretty cool and would recommend anyone going to make sure they get there the second the gates open at 6am. Once we were back down from Huana Picchu the whole place was filled with senior citizen groups in neon rain coats (making a good picture impossible). I have read that Machu Picchu is actually slipping a little bit every year and wont be around forever, so go see this wonder of the world while you still can!

Chile to Bolivia

After a few weeks working my way to northern Chile I arrived in San Pedro de Atacama. I booked a 4 day jeep trip going from the chilean desert into the Bolivian salt flats. Its Carnival at the moment, so finding drivers that arent partying was difficult. I did a little tour out to a lagoon where you float like in the dead sea, totally surrounded by chunks of salt. Very cool! We had to be sprayed off because you turn into a salt cube yourself once you dry off a bit. Then we drove to a swimming hole that has no bottom, or at least theyve never been able to find out how deep it is using many different kinds of technology. After that was a desert sunset over another lagoon while we drank some Pisco and ate snacks.

There is currently a visa fee that is only for Americans entering Bolivia. Once I was stamped out of Chile, my passport was confiscated, put into a brown bag and stuck under the dashboard cover in my jeep. I was almost in tears to not be in possession of my own passport in a very anti american country that didnt even have an american consulate, but I really had no choice at that point. I spent the whole trip obsessively checking to make sure it was still there.

The jeep into Bolivia was amazing! You are surrounded by lagoons of every color, flamingos and llamas. The altitude is pretty intense, you go from 2000 to 5000 meters in a day (which is 16 000 ft). I bought some coca leaves and chewed them to help with some not so fun symptoms of altitude. The first night we all stayed in a Refugio ( a cement house with a room full of 6 beds). In the evening some kids showed up to play instruments and act out poetry. There is no water or electricity way out in the salt flats, so it was an early evening.

During the trip we saw the rocks that Salvador Dali painted, went to thermal pools, got caught in a snowstorm the middle of a desert canyon and stopped a few times while our guide was helping other drivers take apart their alternaters, tires and whatnot (our jeep was a goody).

Our final day we woke up in our salt hotel, ate breakfast at 6 am and realised out driver was no where to be found. An hour later he came stumbling over, with a huge swollen face. He had been defending one of his friends at the Carnival party the night before and had been knocked out. So one of the guys in our tour got to drive the jeep to the salt flats while our driver was passed out with us in the back. Crazy crazy Bolivians.

Bolivia is pretty crazy right now. We arrived in Uyuni where they had no running water or internet and decided to hop on a night bus and get to La Paz ASAP. With no sleep for a few days and a bit of altitude sickness I just need a place to crash. Its rainy season which means the roads wash out, but our bus was still headed north, so we were too! The first 5 hrs of the journey was unpaved and our driving was gunning it the hole way. Once we reached the flooded roads I could feel the bus slipping around and heard the water slashing up the side of the bus. I just closed my eyes tightly and prayed for sleep. Once we arrived in La Paz, out driver came out to warn us there are a lot of robbers at this time in the morning, so to be careful with our belongings. Awesome eh?

There is very easy access to cocaine in Bolivia. My 2 roomates were obviously in Bolivia for that reason and basically told me I should take a Valium if I expected to sleep that night. I was able to switch rooms, and it was good I did because I watched a parade of people coming in and out of that first room all night for the party guys inside.

I was planning to go work in a monkey reserve for a few weeks, but Bolivia is having a huge outbreak of Dengue fever in that area. I also had some friends that were headed to the Salt flats down south, but severe floods blocks all roads south as well. So basically everyone is trapped in La Paz, and we are all getting outta here. There have been lost buses, deaths due to the fever in all other areas, all around dangerous place to be on top of Bolivias already bad reputation. My next post should be from Peru!

Argentina to Chile

Just a quick catchup since my last post, I took a 22 hr bus ride to Mendoza which is wine country. I now really like red wine, never thought Id see the day! I took a bus to nearby Maipu with some fellow hostel buddies and we rented some bikes to tour around the Bodegas. We skipped most of the tour and went straight for the tastings, which made for a hilarious bike ride back after about 4 wineries, hehehe. There were even police on patrol to stop drunk biking.

After a few days of sun, swimming pools and wine I took an early bus to Santiago Chile, about 7 hrs away. The ride was thru the Andes and very beautiful. I ended up sitting at the border for about 4.5 hrs (Chile is very strict about bringing in outside food so every single bag had to be scanned and searched for hidden bananas). While my bag was being scanned I had the following conversation with the Customs officer (in spanish):

As the customs officer is looking at my declaration of goods

Officer: Whats your name?
Me: Alexis....Barnes....
Officer: No..Its not. Let me see your passport
Me: Of course...(hands the passport over and he looks at my name, and gets a mad look on his face)
Officer: Your name is a mans name, not allowed
Me:uhhh, well yes. It is a male name, but in the US its also a womans name...its MY name...

At this point he walks away and talks to someone then comes back

Officer: You need to put another name here, your not a man
Me: ok... (so I put my middle name in front of my first name and he seemed to be satisfied). Ai yay Ai

Chile has a famous national dish. Its a hotdog. But its a hotdog with 2 inches mayo and guacamole and various salsas. Very hard to each and not a good choice when youre waiting at the border and still have 4 hrs on the bus to go...