Well, I've now been in South America for nearly six days. It's been a pretty steep learning curve and experience, for sure, but a good one!
I had one day in Santiago, where I managed to get around a few of the sights as well as walk up to the top of Cerro San Cristobal (San Cristobal Hill) at dusk, to be rewarded with views like this:
To be honest I was surprised how "normal"-feeling Santiago was - while different, it still had many similarities to a western first world city. However when I moved on to La Paz, Bolivia the next day, it was very different. The best way I can think of to describe it is "organised chaos"...
La Paz, quite simply, is crazy - in a good way! The whole beat of the city is completely different to anything else I have ever experienced, from the 8-year old shoe shiners on the streets, to the minibuses and micros (3/4 size buses) driving around with someone yelling out their destinations, stopping wherever they please, to the policeman standing outside each bank with a rifle, to the street food... It's a wonderful experience to begin my travels with. I've been very glad to not be affected by altitude sickness (at 3,800 m!), my stomach seems to be coping and I think the jet lag has finally worn off.
My second day in La Paz, it was time for one of those "once-in-a-lifetime" experiences - a mountain bike trip down the World's Most Dangerous Road - starting above the snowline some 4,700 m above sea level:
Descending on a gorgeous day past 200 m drops and beautiful scenery:
Yesterday I had a trip to some pre-Inca ruins at Tiahuanaco, and yesterday evening met the 14 other people and 2 guides who I'll be spending the next 12 days with. An hour ago we arrived at Copacobana on Lake Titicaca, the world's highest navigable lake; tomorrow we visit Isla del Sol and then on to Puno, Cusco and, of course, Machu Picchu.
Adios for now!
02 February: Finally got a decent enough internet connection to be able to post something! We are now in Puno, Peru, and the last couple of days have been pretty interesting, exciting and eventful - so watch this space!
I'm going to try and resolve my desire to go travelling again by commenting on your travels :)
ReplyDeletePictures look good - did the World's Most Dangerous Road actually pose any threat to your general wellbeing or is it generally ok?
SA seems popular this year - more people I know going to the Inca trail around autumn!!
That's an amazing shot with the mountain bike in the snow. Keep us posted!
ReplyDeleteJohn - the WMDR was perfectly safe really. The road isn't used for road traffic any more, which helps. The company I went with has a very good safety reputation and record, although you could tell some of the other companies aren't quite so reliable. For me the scariest thing was the drive back up in the 30+-year old bus when the rain set in and the visibility dropped to about 5m... But these drivers do it all the time. It was thoroughly worth it!
ReplyDeleteMore tales coming in the next day or so...