There and Back Again

Perito Merino Glacier - El Calafate

We were happy to have a few days to relax in Ushuaia and some time off driving.  Ushuaia is characterised by bad weather and cloudy skies - however it would typically only rain for a couple of hours a day and the rain was never heavy.  So while we were there we went on a 4x4 adventure - which involved impressive 4x4 off-roading, a nature tour identifying beaver dams (beavers are a real pest in Tierra del Fuego), a boat trip across the lake and an Argentinian BBQ for lunch.  

Journey to the end of the world

From the Argentine border with Bolivia, the country spans a massive 5,171km to its Southern-most point, the world’s southern most city, Ushuaia.  Our goal was to traverse this distance through a combination of bus and rental car, to travel to within only 1,000km of Antarctica.

White marks on the bus and road from where the fire extinguisher was employed

The journey didn’t exactly start well.  It was a 7 hour bus ride from the border to Salta, a tourist town in northern Argentina.  We had been looking forward to getting back onto the Argentinian buses and once again enjoy the superior levels of safety, service and comfort that they offered.  However, about 4 or 5 hours into the trip the bus caught on fire.  Panic inside the bus ensued and people were clambering over one another to exit the bus.  Even I moved quickly!  With the fire extinguished we re-boarded the bus (I’m sure this was entirely safe) and made our way slowly to the next town, where, fortunately a replacement bus was made available.  

Bolivia - Magnificent Desolation

The city of La Paz, in a bowl framed by mountains in all directions

Bolivia is stunning.  Its natural beauty, absolutely vast assortment of varied landscapes and desolation makes it perhaps the most picturesque country we have visited to date.  Lamented as South America's poorest country, Bolivia is painted in an unjust light when we consider the true beauty of its countryside.

Southern Peru's Secret Treasures

Moray agricultural incan ruins

We’re writing this on the bus to Potosi, Bolivia and Jen is typing as Matthew had a little incident on death road... but more on that later (M - don’t worry Mum, just a sprained wrist).  

After Machu Picchu we caught the train to Ollantaytambo in the Sacred Valley.  There we found great quiet hostel to spend two nights in this little town.  Ollantaytambo’s chief attraction is an inca fortress built into the hillside and at the edge of the town, about 10 minutes walk from where we were staying.  We explored these ruins early the following day after arriving in town.  Still sore from our Machu Picchu trek we were happy to call it a day after a couple of hours looking around.  

The town was gearing up for its anniversary celebrations, which really kicked off the day that we left.  However, the town looked great with banners and streamers hung between buildings and through the streets and all the beautification projects taking place.  We decided to commission a taxi driver to take us back to Cusco via some more inca ruins at Moray and the Salt Pans of Salinesa.  The Moray ruins consist of 3 large circles of terraces each about 8 terraces high and about 50m across at their widest point.  Standing on the rim of the circles it was cold, yet because each terrace is said to be a microclimate it was noticeably warmer as we descended down into the terraces.  The terraces are said to have been used for agriculture with different varieties of maize grown on each level.

The Salt Pans are really quite spectacular.  From a distance it looked like snow or ice but as we came closer you could see the almost 5000 individual pans.  Water from a salty stream is directed via a series of rivulets that have been cut into the rock face into the pans (each of which might be around 2x2m).  The water is then left to evaporate and salt is scraped into piles, bagged and sold.

We arrived in Cusco late in the afternoon and left early the following morning en route to Puno.  We took a tourist bus that stopped off at a number of attractions between the two locations including a magnificent old church full of gold and huge murals, inca ruins including a temple and storage huts, the highest point at 4,300+ metres above sea level, a buffet lunch, and a museum displaying ceramic findings from the pre inca civilisations from the area.  The scenery was spectacular from high Andean passes to vast antiplatos.  It reminded us both of the Tongariro National Park and Central Otago.

At about 3800 metres above sea level, we figure Puno is actually higher than Mt Cook.  The air is incredibly thin and we often find ourselves having to stop to catch our breath.  We booked ourselves onto a 2 day tour of Lake Titicaca and some of her islands.  The first stop was at the Uros Islands, or the Floating Islands as they are sometimes known.  These manmade islands, made out of reeds, have to be seen to be believed.  We stayed here for about an hour while the President of the Island showed us how the island is made.  The reeds are layered about 2m thick and have to be maintained monthly.  Next we visited the island of Amantani where we spent the night with a local lady at her house, which was converted into a tourist-friendly 2 bedroom hostel.  We climbed to the second highest point on the island for a spectacular sunset view, from 4200m above sea level!  The next day we said goodbye to our host (who had also cooked us lunch, dinner and breakfast) and headed to the Island of Taquile.  There we walked around the island, visiting artisanal markets and the main square before enjoying a lunch with an amazing view across the lake.  After this it was time to head back to Puno for our final night in Peru.

We both had a great time in Peru.  The people are very proud of their country and deservedly so.  From harsh flat dry deserts, to dense jungles, from fantastic inca and pre-inca ruins to spectacular geography.  The people are friendly, inter-country journeys are easy, and accommodation and food is generally of both a comfortable standard whilst being highly affordable.  

Ollaytaytambo valley

Salinesas salt pans

Highest point en route to Puno

Uros floating island

Sunset at 4200m 

Lunch view on Taquile Island

Ollaytaytambo and ruins at the rear

An Inca Trail - of a sorts...

At 3,300 metres above sea level, the hardest thing about Cusco was adjusting to the altitude.  We were also both pretty tired having not got too much sleep on the bus from Nazca.  The windy roads and smelly toilet that we were sitting next too (now we know why the seats we purchased were cheaper than the rest!) made sleep a little hard to come by.  So we were both pretty happy to settle for finding a place to stay and to book the train ride to Machu Picchu before turning in for the night.

We got up at 3.30am to watch the All Blacks play France.  We were both quite on edge and very nervous given the closeness of the scores, but obviously very proud kiwis when the 80 minutes were up.  A short nap was required before setting out to explore the city.

Peru - the first 1,500km

Picture of the Sun God (Huaca de la Luna)

 We crossed the border into Peru as the sun set.  The border crossing was straightforward and uneventful and about 3-4 hours later we found ourselves in the city of Piura.  After 13 hours of bus rides that day, we were keen to rest up before pressing on and found ourselves a rather basic place to stay across the road from most of the bus terminals.  

Peru has a much more lively feeling to it than Ecuador.  There is a real hustle and bustle to the cities with many more cars prevalent (albeit largely very small cars like Daihatsu Charade’s).  Everyone is busy honking their horns, either at you (to ask you if you want a ride) or as they approach an intersection to warn other vehicles of their presence.  

Ecuador

Aside from our time in the Galapagos, we have spent a little over a week exploring Ecuador - a very pretty, friendly and inexpensive (Galapagos excluded) country to visit.  Most of our travel was originated from Ecuador’s capital, Quito.  Nestled in the valley between the mountains and volcanoes of the Andes, Quito is more than 2,800m above sea level.  At this altitude it does take a little while to fully acclimatise to the altitude.  Most of the time it is a shortness of breath after a very small climb up a flight of steps which takes you by surprise.  

At 4,100m above sea level!

In the footsteps of Darwin... well... sort of...

At 5.40pm on Thursday, 20 minutes before the travel agent closed for the night, we booked an 8 day cruise through the Galapagos Islands which was to start first thing the next morning.  We’d like to think that, with respect to the fact that neither of us have worked since March, we chose an appropriately budgeted tour.  Actually, and probably surprising to most of you that know us well, we failed.  1 week on a luxury Galapagos yacht, thank you very much.  Enter La Pinta, a luxury yacht run by Metropolitan Tours.  What can we say, but what a week!! we were wined, dined and entertained to the max.  

Baby Frigate Bird

Hockin' it in Heeo

We’ve spent a week so far in Rio de Janeiro (pronounced Heeo by the locals) and have both really enjoyed our time here.  The helpful tourist information desk at the intercity bus terminal put us in touch with Maria, who manages apartments in Copacabana Beach - so for about the same price (or even a little less) than a double room at a hostel we have been enjoying a spacious 1 bedroom apartment about one block back from Copacabana beach. 

Hola from South America

About a week ago now we flew into Buenos Aires to begin a 3 month trip around South America.  Our approach has been very laissez faire, with a false sense of confidence having survived ~4 months in Africa, we figured we would make it up as we went along and enjoy the freedom of a fully flexible itinerary.  To date, this approach has treated us fairly well - although does lead to spirited discussion about what to do and where to go next and, perhaps inevitable for independent travel, requires a lot of time spent planning while we are in each location.

To be continued...

Pyramids in the background

So here we are, sitting in Cairo airport waiting for our flight back to London.  We’ll have about 2 and a half days in London before heading back to NZ, where we have a little under 2 weeks before we head to Buenos Aires.  

It’s a little surreal to end the trip, after 4 months and over 17,900km through Africa, it is hard to believe that this chapter of our lives has ended.  We said goodbye to a number of friends and our great tour guides Andi and Grant.  Hopefully we will get to catch up with a lot of our friends when we make it back to the UK next year in Feb/Mar.  

Temples in the sun and sailing on the nile

Abu Simbel

Arriving in Egypt feels like arriving in any other developed country in the world.  The roads are busy, the infrastructure is positively modern in comparison to the places we have been, everyone wants to offer you a ride in their 'taxi', and they have McDonalds!!

Sudan - it's getting hot in here!!

Bush camping outside the Meroe Pyramids

From the start what struck us about Sudan was how flat the country was.  Coming from the rolling hills and mountains of Ethiopia it was odd to once again find ourselves in a country where the landscape was almost entirely flat in every direction.  Sudan also felt considerably more affluent, especially in its capital Khartoum, and orderly - the villages at the side of the road, although still constructed from mud, were separated by fences and the village layout felt much more organised than many of the other countries we have visited so far.

Ethiopia - 100% Unique

Lalibela priest

Ethiopia has been nothing like what we thought.  All of our preconceptions about Ethiopia and the images we are shown through the media have only served to confuse what the country is actually like.  In addition to Ethiopia been completely unlike our media-influenced expectations, the country is quite unlike anywhere we have ever travelled and anywhere else in Africa!  

The Long Dusty Road to Addis Ababa

Road Dust

Almost three weeks ago we left Lake Navaisha in Kenya for Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.  The total trip was a journey of a little of 1,500km, to be completed over about 7 days.  The trip involved some of the most barren, dusty and martian like landscapes either of us had ever seen.  Both spectacular and incredibly trying it is a journey we will never forget. 

Flamingoes and Rafting the Nile

After a day at the cricket in Kampala, where home team Uganda began the day by thrashing a much less impressive Ghana (less impressive than the day before that was), and ended the day with a loss to the #1 ranked team from Namibia, those of us who let the truck travel ahead of us (7 of us) caught up to the truck through a 2 hour minivan ride to nearby Jinja.  

Jinja is located right next to the Nile, and is very much an adventure-seekers paradise, with activities such as white water rafting, kayaking and now even jet boat riding available to the ever-increasing number of tourists (whilst we were in Jinja the campgrounds we observed were packed with a combination of other overland trucks and general tourists to the area).  

Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Mountain Gorillas

We’ve spent the last 10 days or so in Central East Africa, crossing over the equator 3 times and traversing through Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda.  As I write this we are currently in Kampala, capital city of Uganda, and will tomorrow head to Jinja before heading back once again to Kenya.  

We had three nights in Nairobi.  We had been warned about Nairobi, so found the city to be better than we were expecting, although we did spend the majority of our time in an outer suburb which is regarded as slightly more affluent.  A recently built Galleria Shopping Mall possibly signifies a movement towards enhanced economic prosperity (the mall was very nice, but still only about 2/3rds occupied)?  

Zanzibar and the Serengeti

Lions hunting in the morning

We had 5 relaxing nights on tropical Zanzibar.  A fast ferry shuttled us across in about 2 hours where we arrived at about 5.30pm and were met by a guide who showed us to our hotel for that night and later an outdoor foodmarket where you could buy and haggle for a smorgasbord of food which would be cooked on a BBQ in front of you.  The food was delicious and very affordable.  Up early the next day we went from Stone Town (the main town of Zanzibar) which is on the western side of the island to the eastern side of the island and the Sun and Seaview Bungalows.  Situated right on the beach front we spent 4 nights relaxing, reading and swimming in the tropical climate of Zanzibar.  

Mozambique, Malawi and Tanzania

Since leaving Harare, the weather has become noticeably warmer.  Leaving the heights of Zimbabwe and moving further north to the equator the temperatures have become much more tropical.  This has made travelling on the truck (where the sides of the truck are rolled up and away) much more comfortable, as the ‘wind chill’ factor has instead become a ‘comforting breeze’.

Warning: Contents May Offend

We’ve been in Zimbabwe for about 2 weeks now.  Our stay in Zim was extended as we found out that due to a change in the regulations in Ethiopia, it is no longer possible to get entry visas from Harare as per the norm.  Instead, they must be obtained from our home countries.  This meant that all of our passports needed to be couriered back home and re-couriered to Harare.  A leap of faith, but since so many of us were facing the same predicament were passports to be lost, we decided to take the chance.  We found out this morning that all passports have safely made their way back (complete with Ethiopian visas). Whew.