Over the Border to Bolivia - Copacabana to Isla del Sol

Our first stop in Bolivia was Copacabana. Not to be confused with it's namesake, its more cuppa than ciparinia weather. Right on the edge of Lake Titicaca, it's a really pretty little town. We spent the night at hostel Cupula (http://www.hotelcupula.com/), tucked into some delicious local trout, went to the markets and watched the weekend dancing in the plaza.

The next morning we caught a boat across the lake to Isla del Sol for a couple of days hiking the old Inca trails. Inca legend says the sun god was born on the island - there are over 80 Inca ruins there. I think the pictures will say it all, it was just a beautiful by day as by night. Thousands of stars sparkled at night.

We always meet lovely people where we least expect too. We got along great with an Aussie couple, Mel and Paul and a fellow Londoner, Steve. We made a good drinking and hiking team.

We saw the worlds cutest baby donkey, incredibly fluffy to keep out the -0 degree temperatures at night. With no roads, everyone seems to own at donkey or three.

The local people live a really traditional life farming and fishing but don't seem to mind the odd tourist enjoying the island too. They make a few dollars off old fashioned 'road tax' for using the trails and renting rooms.

Two days later, we hiked southwards on the island and hitched a little speed boat back across to Yampupata, a village 20kms from Copacabana. Hiking our way back to town over the hills, through the local farms made another beautiful walk.

Bolivia is beautiful; sunny days, clear starry nights and always an incredible view of snow capped mountains. The locals wear clothes full of colour and I love the bell-shaped ladies hats. The people are happy to see you but you can also see it is very tough living here. We met some people with some hard stories to tell.

But being the least visited country in South America, Bolivia seems to forgo the usual 'tourist tax' . It is insanely cheap - we can eat like kings for $5 and our lake view room cost us just $4 a night!

Puno and the floating islands of Uros - Peru

We first crossed the border into Peru on the 5th of July. Three weeks later, having travelled over 800 miles on buses we arrived at the shore of Lake Titicaca, the 'highest commercially navigable lake in the world'. It sits 3,811m above sea level and is shared by Peru and Bolivia.

Puno isn't memorable; it's cold and built from brown adobe bricks making it seem uniform and devoid of a colourful persona. But it does hold one attraction, it's the embarkation point for trips to the floating islands of the Uros people. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uros

The pre-Inca Uros decided dry land real estate was a little too common. They experimented by digging one meter blocks of a dry airy soil, similar to peat and put them in the water. When they realised they floated, they put bundles of dried totora reeds on top to keep the place nice & dry... hey presto, a floating platform for family and friends. It's been the same for hundreds of years.

Today, around 2,000 people live on 42 islands making their money from giving tourists trips around their community and homes; rides on their fancy reed boats and selling the usual nick-knacks. They are self sufficient and even have little floating allotments, solar power for lights and little tv's in their straw houses.

It was an entertaining morning and we even got the president of the islands to row us to one of the other islands for a bargin $2 in 'Reed Force One'.

That afternoon we set off for the Bolivian side of the lake - the birth place of the Inca's sun & moon, Isla del Sol (and Luna).

Titicaca.... to be continued.

Arequipa - Peru

Next stop Arequipa, we went there to raft the crazy rapids down the Colca Canyon - the deepest in all the world - only to be told that people had actually died trying. Pete begged to run the gauntlet but seeing as the answer was a definitive no from all agents, we settled for a couple of days of kicking back at a cool house in the suburbs (Arequipay backpackers) with beautiful views of the mountains, a jug or two of sangria and the sights of the 'white city'.

The coolest being Juanita the 14 year old 'ice maiden' - found on volcano Ampato near Arequipa - she is over 500 years old and perfectly preserved. Left as an offering by the Inca's to placate the gods, she is so important she goes on world tours. Lucky for us, she was at home in the museum so we got to see her in all her chilling in her ice fridge! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mummy_Juanita

Peru - Maccu Piccu

There are two big mysteries in South America - how did the Inca people carve such glorious temples out of solid stone? and why does everyone think you have to book months in advance for Machu Piccu and Galapagos tours?

The answer to the first question has to be blood, sweat and ingenuity. The Inca's ground thin holes into huge pieces of rock and placed thin strips of dry wood inside, then added water. This caused the wood to expand and the rock to, eventually, break in a perfect line.

We only found the answer to the second question after surfing the net for the best deals only to find trips costing in excess of $600 a week! After talking to a girl in Cartagena, Colombia who told us she paid just $180 in March (low season) we decided to see what we could find on the ground - trip or no trip.

If you don't mind winging it and picking your trip by visiting all the agents on one street, you DO NOT HAVE TO PAY CRAZY PRICES MONTHS IN ADVANCE, this is a myth brought on by international agents. In the Mariscal, Quito Ecuador, you can get week long trips to the Galapagos from $400 and they have every class available. In San Blas, Cuzco Peru, you can find an Inca trail walk for $350 and a Salcantay glacier 4 day 5 night trip for just $170 if you have a student card. No matter what you pay, advance or not, on the whole its the same operators who take you out. It's the high season now and everyone has trips going the next day, it's easy.

In Cuzco, Maudie organised our trip as I was struck down with mild altitude sickness brought on by the 3400m level and an over indulgence in the previous week on rum, cerveza and Pall Malls.

We set off at 4am and met up with our group for the 5 day, 4 night trek across the Andes in the footsteps of the Incas. After a three hour bus ride we were set loose and on the trail. We had with us two great Peruvian guides, 2 girls & 2 guys from Holland, Julia from Brazil, Kevin AKA Jesus from the USA, Clementine from France, Alexandra from Poland and Jose & Rafael from Sao Paulo.

The walking was brutal, 8 hours a day at a fast pace, we marched up to the first base camp (Soraypampa) below the summit of Salcantay at 4600m. On the exposed plateau, as the first night fell we saw the night sky in a totally new light - you could actually see dusty galaxy's surrounded by bright shining stars! And it was so cold that spit from brushing your teeth actually froze on impact on the sink! - sleeping wasn't exactly easy.

The next day, full of warm coca tea, we trekked up the steep dry cliffs to Salcantay. There, as a group we made a pledge to the Inca gods and then moved on our way to the warmer climes of the cloud forest below.

The next two days were spent trekking through jungle and primary forest, huge mountains covered in trees and bamboo surrounded our vision. When you though the mountains couldn't get higher, the clouds shifted and revealed a whole other layer of summit.

As we came down the side of the mountain 'Llactapata' we were greeted by the sight of a huge waterfall coming out of an impossibly high mountain. We asked ourselves, how does a waterfall that high containing that much water exist? the answer was hydroelectric - it was the overflow from the turbines built into the other side of the mountain.

We approached Agua Calientes, the town at the base of Machu Piccu, and silently reflected on our 100km journey as we walked the river bed some 700m below the Inca city found by Hiram Bingham of Yale University 100 years earlier. My feet were in bad shape, we carried heavy bags, and it was raining, but our spirits were at their peak in anticipation.

Over 4000 people visit Machu Piccu every day in the high season, the smaller site of Huayna Piccu (the lookout rocktower gazing over the site) cannot cope with all the visitors so they give only 400 tickets on a first come basis. With this in mind our group (and everyone else in Agua Calientes!) set off early at 3am to get in the queue for the 6am opening.

There are 1900 stone steps leading from the river to the gates, they where built buy the Inca's out of granite and are as good today as they have ever been. My feet were in bits, but a mix of ibuprofen and paracetamol helped take the edge off it and we climbed hard - getting to the top just before 5am. Numbers 17 and 18! We were hot, sweaty and incredibly proud of our achievement, but within minutes the cold had overcome us so a quick t-shirt change and ham rolls with our friends helped the last hour fly by.

On entering we found Machu Piccu to be an incredible experience, as the sun slowly rose the city came alive, shadows were cast and the clouds danced across the sky. Every minute was different, it was incredible. It is incredible to see what was built in 1400AD and abandoned a century later to ensure it was kept safe from the Spanish conquistadors. The stonework is perfect, the terraces provide food, they have an aqueduct water system and the locations is designed around the sun, earth, moon and sky.

It was a challenging journey that has taught us as much about ourselves as it has the inca people... I am looking forward to putting on some cramp-on's and trekking higher in Bolivia!

Cuzco - Peru

We travelled over the Andee's to the beautiful city of Cuzco. Getting off the night bus in the morning at a new height of 3,400m our ears were popping. At first, just walking around at that altitude took some getting used too. We stayed at the top of the hill, in the arty barrio of San Blas at a homely hostel Casa de la Gringa.

The city is stunning, if not incredibly touristy but it's high season and the jumping point for Machu Picchu so we were expecting it. On the plus side, we got to eat some great food, there are hundreds of restaurants. We found one veggie place where the woman was an absolute goddess in the kitchen. The colonial buildings too are endless and you could spend days simply walking around the town, finding the hidden craft and great food markets, exploring the cobbled backstreets and soaking up the atmosphere in the plazas.

Unfortunately Pete wasn't to well at first because of the altitude, feeling OK I was happy to spend my time exploring the town and the markets that sell the most beautiful textiles and jewelry. The men tend to make the jewelry and the women the cloths - I loved talking to the people who made them. Women in traditional dress are keen for you to take their photo (for a soles or two!), I couldn't resist taking a picture of these two ladies as I found one of their little lambs skipping along lost in the market! Children sell everything from postcards to finger puppets. The city is all about tourism. Chapped cheeks, colds and windburn seem par for the course in Cuzco too.

Once the capital of the Inca Empire (now a UNESCO site) many of the buildings were reconstructed by the Spanish using the massive Inca-built walls. Quechua is also spoken in Cuzco, a language descending from the Inca's, although locals told us how worried they were that it is disappearing from younger generations. I've not visited a place before where it's blend of history feels so alive. The city even has it's own colourful flag and the street names have been changed back to Quechua.

From Cuzco we then set off on the most incredible 5-day adventure over the Salkantay mountain pass to the 'lost city of the Incas', Machu Picchu...

Nazca Lines - Peru

Next stop Nazca, a town made famous by the Nazca Lines in the desert! The Lines are ancient geoglyphs that stretch for 80kms that include simple lines to amazing 200m long pictures of a monkey, trees, hummingbirds, llamas as well as geometric shapes. Over 70 shapes were created from moving rocks by the Nazca people (400 AD) - no one really knows what they mean but theories range from cosmology to an ancient airstrip! Check it out on Wikpedia...(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazca_Lines).

Whatever the truth (people have dedicated their lives to working it out), we wanted to see it for ourselves! Being peak season the flights over the lines were pricey, so we settled for the museum (full of artifacts, info & old aqueducts) and travelling into the desert to check out the lines from the viewing platform. Not a perfect view but we were pretty happy to have seen - a bit - of this wonder of the world!