my last update!

i headed off to puno which is on the border of bolivia and is next to lake titicaca (which is the highest navigable lake in the world at 3,820m above sea level).  i wasn't impressed with puno but i did do a tour on lake titicaca which was interesting.  there are about 40 floating islands on the lake which are man-made by the uros people. the uros took to island living as they were a persecuted people.  the islands are constructed of dried reeds and mud.  the reeds are between 3-4m thick and need to be replaced at least twice a year.  we visited an island and it was quite squishy to walk on.  i can't imagine living there but very interesting to visit. we then headed over to a small native island for lunch before heading back to puno.  

when i returned to the hostel, i discovered there were some problems crossing the border into bolivia. everyone who tried to cross today had been sent back and i because a bit nervous that i would not be able to cross tomorrow.  (the border was closed because of a strike and no one knows then it'll be back in operation.)

i awoke early the next morning and got on a busy (hoping to cross) and happily enough, the border was open (only for certain buses) and i headed over to copacabana.  i stayed with a cute elderly woman for $2.50 CDN and then left the next morning for a 17km hike to yampupata, to then take a row boat over to isla del sol.  the hike was quite relaxing and pretty - i wished there was some way to retain the smell of the eucalyptus trees and the sound of the ocean forever!  i took a row boat over to the island which was nice except the man who rowed me complained of being hungry for most of the trip and kept asking me to give him my lunch.  i was so annoyed by the end of the trip that i couldn't enjoy the island and so i returned to copacabana for the night. 

i am in la paz for the next few days.  i don't think i'll do much except wander the city streets while i'm here as it's a pretty unique city. 

sarah     

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i'm back from machu picchu!

i arrived last night, exhausted from my four day trek to machu picchu!  we left at 5am and started the trek around 9:30am at KM82.  there were 9 of us on the trip which was a nice size - 2 canadians, an american, 4 spanish, tug and me!  the trip was filled with bright, sunny days (despite the fact it's the rainy season) which was very lucky! 

we hiked for 5 or 6 hours on the first day with beautiful scenery and a mostly steady uphill climb. the second day, was much shorter (we stopped hiking around 1pm) but much more intense day!  we climbed about 1,200 vertical metres to get to dead woman's pass and then it was all downhill for the rest of the afternoon and all the following day.  my body always finds downhill to be worse than uphill (my knees ache) but i made it to the destination point on each afternoon ;) 

we stopped at a couple of different ruins along the hike, including a couple of ones which haven't been cleared and restored. it's easy to understand how the ruins have been buried/hidden for 450 years or so as the jungle grows around it and then it's near impossible to see! 

the last morning we rose at 4:30am (not my ideal vacation rising time)!  it'd been pouring for most of the night and we weren't sure if we'd actually head out in the morning but we did.  we hiked to machu picchu in the dark and saw the sunrise over the hills which was magnificent.  we then continued into the actual site.  the scenery was amazing and i took heaps of pictures of the ruins as they were so impressive. 

the full hike to machu picchu was about 40km long and i found it quite challenging with the constant ups and downs however it was well worth it!  our guide was quite helpful and informative and i've learned a lot about the incas, their culture and it is quite mystifying how they did some of the things they accomplished so long ago!!

after machu picchu, we hiked to aguas calientes which is another 9km into town.  i must confess that i was a bit over walking by the time we arrived in town.  we took a train back to cusco (4 hours) and then a taxi to the hostel.  my last day in cusco will be spent doing laundry and getting oranised to head off to puno and lake titicaca.  i've enjoyed my time here but after 10 days, it's time to move on! 

i can't believe i only have ~10 days left before i fly home!

sarah 

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cuzco!!

since i arrived in cuzco i've been to pisac which is a small town nearby to see some inca ruins.  i hiked the hour and a bit uphill with a local from a nearby town. i wandered around the ruins in the pouring rain (i was the only one without a raincoat) and met a french guy who i had lunch with. 

the following day we headed off together to see four nearby ruins.  again it poured, and again i didn't bring my raincoat (you'd think i'd learn!!)  the ruins were quite impressive and at the first one, tambo machay, i had my photo taken by about 20 different school children (in groups and solo) as they were in awe of me and my hair! the ruins themselves are supposed to be a ceremonial bath site dating back to inca time. during our visit, there was a bit of water running from it.  we then trekked down the hill (about 8km) to two other ruins - one of which was particularly cool as it was part of the inca fortress and is supposed to be shaped like the teeth of a puma! 

i checked my emails and discovered that a guy i met in santiago (tugomir) was coming up to cuzco the next day.  it was great to see him again!  we wandered around the first day together so he could acclimatise to the altitude and then yesterday we went to urubamaba, a nearby town, to see some salt pans together.  we hiked into the salt pans (something like in bolivia but on a much smaller scale).  we had a picnic lunch and enjoyed the relaxing scenery. 

we're going to try and organise to an inca trail hike starting from tomorrow - fingers crossed we can find a place on a tour!

i can't believe how quickly time is passing - i'll be heading back to canada very shortly!

miss you!

sarah

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my travels to peru!!

last you heard, i was heading off to peru :)  here's hopefully a condensed version of my travels!  i arrived in arica and bought my ticket to arequipa, peru.  the lady at the ticket office told me the price was $30 CDN which is quite expensive as i've been paying about $5 CDN for a similar journey in chile however there seemed to be no other bus companies going to peru so i paid the fee only to discover that the international bus terminal was across the road and the whole trip should've cost me $12 CDN if i'd bought it there!  i felt a bit ripped off :( 

the bus trip to arequipa was slow and i was the only gringo on the bus.  i sat and chatted with a cute little girl who could not understand why i had blond hair!  we had some interesting discussions in spanish :)  once i arrived, i visited an old monastery and organised a tour of the colca canyon for two days. 

these things accomplished, i headed to corire which is a small town nearby to see toro del muerto which is a huge collection (close to 2,000) of petroglyphs in the desert.  i got off the bus and had no idea how to get there as it wasn't on the map so i popped into a small store and asked. suddenly, i had myself a guide to the entrance!  we walked through the rice fields on small patches of earth about a foot wide and through farmers' fields.  we arrived at a small stream and he jumped it and beckoned me to follow but i didn't think i'd make it.  he sweetly took off his shoes and carried me over the stream!  (i tried to take off my shoes but he wouldn't allow it :)  we parted ways at the entrance and i promised to swing by for a pisco sour (an alcoholic drink with a lemony flavour) before i headed back to arequipa. 

i visited the petrogylphs for 3 hours (i was the only crazy one in the middle of the desert - it was great!) and then tried to make my way back to town which wasn't as easy as expected!  i ended up walking a different way back and got cornered on a thin strip of land, surrounded by fields of rice and two dogs who weren't happy to see me on their land.  Thankfully, the lady who owned them and the land was working nearby and called them off! after that, i got myself stuck a number of times and had to jump over streams - it was a bit of an obstacle course and i was happy to be passed the rice fields.  i met a native queychua woman on the way and we chatted on the way back to town.  i stopped into the store to thank jose but he had had to head into arequipa.  i got his address so i'll send him a postcard of canada to thank him :)

the next day, i did a tour of the colca canyon which is the second deepest canyon in the world at 3,820m deep.  it was hard to judge the depth but it was beautiful to see.  they've used terraced farming throughout and so it looks very pretty with the different coloured crops!  we spend the night in a small town called chivay (5,000 people) and then got up early to see some condors.  i then took the night bus to cuzco where i'll be staying for about 10 days to see all the ruins and walk the inca trail. 

miss you and apologies for it being so long!

sarah  

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i am leaving chile today!

i had a great time in antofagasta however the city is tainted due to my horrible hotel experience!  la portada, a monument in the ocean which has been forged by the pacific ocean, was beautiful!  to get there, i took a bus to the end of town and then started walking when i got picked up by a nice man who drove me most of the rest of the way.  i spent the day at the beach/monument and took some cool photos before starting my trek back to town.  i got picked up again by a different man (this one was an ADT supervisor) who drove me right to the bus station! 

i left antofagasta and spent two days in iquique, visiting a ghost town, which was a bit eerie, wandered down to the beach (i actually have tan lines!) and kinda chilled out.  i'm currently waiting for my bus to arequipa, peru, where i'll start some new adventures! 

miss everyone!

sarah

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buses trains & automobiles

i arrived in antofagasta, had a cold shower and went directly to bed!  the next morning, i traveled to calama to catch a train to uyuni, bolivia. the train left at 11pm, 3 nights a week, and it was due to arrive in uyuni at 6pm the following evening. the seats on the train were hard, did not recline and were rather close and uncomfortable. i tried not to imagine how horrible the trip could've been if the train had been sold out. the train trip itself started out poorly - 15 mins into the trip, we were delayed by about an hour for unknown reasons. and then, around 9:30am the following morning, we arrived at ollague, which is the border town between chile and bolivia. we sat in this tiny pueblo for 3.5 hours, waiting for a new locomotive to take us to bolivia. for political reasons, the chilean locomotive is not allowed to enter bolivia.  why they didn't plan ahead and have one waiting, i'll never know :)  we arrived in uyuni only 3.5 hours later than scheduled, having traveled 400km in 22 hours or an average of 13km/hr.  luckily the method of transport was cheap as it certainly wasn't fast, nor comfortable! 

i met up with louis in uyuni (i met him in buenos aires) quite accidentally and we booked a tour of the salt flats together. we planned on doing a 4 day tour (3 days for me as i was heading back to chile to finish the northern part). we headed out in a landrover with a guide and three other guests.

first, we visit the salar de uyuni which is a huge salt flat, about 2,000 square kilometers in size and a range of depth from 11cm to 8m deep.  it was an awesome sensation, driving through all this salt (kind of like snow) with that being all you could see in the distance.  we stopped in a small pueblo where 8 to 10 families pick the salt and truck it to nearby towns (like uyuni) and sell it.  there are also underground salt lakes and rivers which are freezing in temperature!  we had lunch on isla de pescado (fish island) which was filled with cactus plans and coral as it had once been submerged under a salt lake.  we then spend the night in san juan.

the second day involved seeing a couple of lakes (some red and some bright green due to the mineral composition) and some with flamingos!!  we were at a high altitude on the second day especially and i turned quite ill because of it!  we were ranging from 4,000 to 4,600m above sea level on the second day (we started off in uyuni at around 3,600m) and i felt horrid :(  i had a headache, i was freezing and i was sick to my stomach multiple times in the night. we spent the night at 4,278m above see level and the next morning, we climbed to 5,000m to see some geyers early in the morning before slowly starting to descend into the valley.  we stopped and had breakfast and a dip in a hot spring and i was finally starting to feel better again.  by the time we reached san pedro de atacama, at 2700m, i was feeling brilliant and needing some food, finally!  it was a great trip, though chilly at times :)

miss you!

sarah 

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i'm in chile!

at my last post, i had just arrived in bariloche, in the northern part of patagonia with my french friend, nancy.  bariloche is surrounded by mountains and we'd planned to go up cerro cathedrale as it was supposed to have great views and condors everywhere but when we arrived at the base of the mountain, it was too cloudy and not worth the effort!  i even had to buy mittens for the excursion as it was freezing! 

we headed back into town (another free lift but squishy from a family) and ate a great deal of chocolate and ice cream. bariloche is famous for its chocolate and i can attest to the fact that it's superb as is the ice cream! nancy and i ended up going out to a local bar/night club one night called 1970. it was filled with local students (no gringos to be found :) and we had a great time dancing up a storm.  unsurprisingly, we were accosted by a plethora of argentinian men :) 

i headed over to chile on my own and have been feeling a bit under the weather - too much hitchhiking in a cold climate for me!  i spent a day in orsorno and had intended on going to a nearby national park to see some waterfalls and hot springs but i just wasn't feeling up to it so i decided to head onwards to pucon instead. 

pucon is the mecca for outdoor activities and it's got a lovely vibe!  there's a volcano nearby called villarica which is active and i summited it today :)  it was quite the hike up in the snow and cold - about 1 vertical kilometer up and unfortunately, you couldn't see any lava at the top as there was too much steam/gas coming out of the volcano but i did manage to get some great photos of the volcano :)  after all the work climbing up, we got to slide down on our butts as there was snow the whole way down!  it was great fun - 4.5 hours on a stairmaster and then 1 hour on a roller-coaster ride on the way down!! 

i am going to do some cycling tomorrow and am on the lookout for some waterfalls and hot springs or some whitewater! 

miss you!

sarah

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greetings from mendoza and bariloche!

hola!

i had not intended to be online so soon but time flies and things seem to happen quickly when you're on holidays! i had a great time in mendoza seeing some ruins and visiting some wineries before i met up with a chick from france (i am not learning much spanish unfortunately) and we decided to see puenta del inca and mount aconcagua together.  mount aconcagua is the highest mountain in all of the americas at 6,962m in height!  we headed off by bus very early in the morning and hiked around a bit at the base before we dropped down to an altitude of around 3,100m above sea level.  there was snow everywhere and the view was absolutely amazing!  there was no one around except us. we took a picnic and enjoyed the natural beauty. 

we then walked down to puenta del inca which is a bridge made from salt deposits and other minerals.  once upon a time it was entirely naturally made but now the bridge is maintained by humans.  the bridge itself is yellow and a bit smelly of sulfur and underneath are hot springs to bathe in but we didn't bring our suits. 

after our wander, we hitch-hiked back (160km) to mendoza! not to worry mom, dad or gail, i was with someone else and we ended up with a lovely tractortrailer driver as our chauffeur!  he chatted the whole way and served us matte (a traditional tea they drink here which you drink out of special cups, using a metal straw (with a filter on the end) to filter out the loose leaves.  it's quite good with a bit of sugar :)  the ride back in the cab was fun as was the thrill of hitchhiking in general.  he dropped us off on the outskirts of town and we took a bus the rest of the way in. 

while at the bus station, we had a look at the schedule and discovered there was a night bus to bariloche that night (lucky but also completely unplanned!) we raced back to the hostel and had a half hour to get packed and get back to the bus station before the bus left...  it was quite the rush but in true south american style, the bus left late and we were actually left waiting around for its departure. 

we arrived in bariloche this morning (northern patagonia) and it's beautiful!  i think that i'll stay until sunday and then head over to chile.

missing you all!

sarah

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amazing people and amazing waterfalls!!

good morning to all!

i've officially decided that south american people are very nice and friendly!  it was raining like crazy and surprise, i was running late to catch my plane from buenos aires to puerto iguazu. i didn't have time to stop and put on my coat as i had to find the bus that would take me to the aeropuerto ASAP when a nice man offered to share his umbrella with me. he then helped me to find the shuttle bus station  as the bus i had planned to take doesn't run on sundays! he even offered to hire a car (and pay for it!) if there was no shuttle bus.

then, last night, i arrived late (11pm) at the bus terminal in mendoza. i had practiced and prepared my speech for the taxi driver to take me to my hostel however there were no taxis when i left the station. i was dreading the thought of walking in a strange city at that hour of the night with all my junk and my blond hair when a lovely couple stopped and asked if i needed any assistance. they ended up driving me to the hostel and showed me where they lived on the way past, in case i needed anything! how nice is that?!  i think your guardian angel is working matt!

now, about puerto iguazu which is where i've been :)  it's located in the north of argentina (on the border with brazil) and it wasn't on my itinerary when i left however the gentleman at the hostel in buenos aires said it shouldn't be missed!  there's a canadian guy and his traveling companion (an american) who i've befriended at the hostel and we went to see the argentinian side of the falls together. the falls were absolutely amazing!  beaucoup mieux que les chutes de niagara et beaucoup plus magnifique!  there are supposedly 275 of them when the water is lower but when we were there, the water level was huge and i think some of them have been washed into others.

the following day, derek and i headed over to brazil to see the falls from a different perspective - from the argentinian side, you're more in the falls whereas on the brazilian side, you can appreciate them from a distance better. there's between 3 to 4 kilometers of waterfalls, poring all over, it's truly magnificent! we spend the following day in a water park on the brazilian side and then derek and i walked back into argentina which is kind of a cool think to be able to say! 

he and i left puerto iguazu and went to posadas to see some jesuit ruins but we never made it because we enjoyed posadas too much. i arrived in mendoza last night after a long and tedious 30 hour bus ride - i won't be hoping on any long distance bus trips for a bit :)

i hope that all is well!

sarah 

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