Cuzco & Machu Picchu

From Sacred Valley & Machu Picchu

Above, the fruits of Chief's photographic labours, and the classic Machu Picchu shot as the sun comes up.

These pics are a mixture of Chief's and Vics...

From Salkantay trek

From Salkantay trek

From Salkantay trek

From Salkantay trek

From Salkantay trek

From Salkantay trek

From Salkantay trek

From Salkantay trek

From Salkantay trek

From Salkantay trek

From Salkantay trek

From Salkantay trek

From Salkantay trek

From Salkantay trek

From Salkantay trek

From Salkantay trek

Hello again! We have just come back from a 5-day trek through absolutely stunning surroundings to see the old Incan city of Machu Picchu. Everyone has heard of the place and most have seen the classic picture, and it is understandably one of the top tourist attractions in the whole continent. The reputation is indeed justified, and it was especially satisfying to see it in perfect weather, after fairly strenuous trekking for 4 days, and starting as the sun came up on the incredibly impressive landscape in the area.

I will be putting some photos up as they are uploaded. Otherwise Cuzco is not my favourite city - of course it has some interesting Incan ruins and colonial architecture which makes it essentially a picturesque town, but the sheer volume of tourism takes the edge off the enjoyment for me, and the volume of tourists is also far greater than any other place i have been of comparable size in South America - because of the mix of types of tourism from backpacking through to week long tour parties journeying solely to see Machu Picchu, the main parts of the city have a very difficult to surmount "Us and Them" feel separating the locals from the (mainly) white western component. Every tourist is treated in the same way and there is no chance to get beyond the stereotypes. Anyway, it is still a nice city with plenty to offer outside of the main tourist San Blas area... More soon,

Rob

Colca Canyon, Peru

For the moment, photos have been uploaded for a couple of days trip that we did out from Arequipa, one of the main cities of Peru, and and a very pleasant one too.

So I met up with Ali Massey and Dickie Hall, noth of whom i knew from the Antarctic and hadn´t seen for quite a while, so it was very excellent to meet up in South America and do some trekking. We all took a 7 hour bus to a little town called Cabanaconde on the edge of the great and very deep valley called Colca Canyon - it´s a very popular place to visit from Arequipa and definately worth it - the valley top is at about 3300m, and we plunged down to near 2000m metres on a winding path that hugged the steep sides. We walked for about 7 hours to descend the valley, cross the river at the bottom, climb part of the far side, visit some villages and then descend again to a spot known as the Oasis where we stayed the night and enjoyed some swimming in river-fed pools just as the sun went down and the moon rose. The next morning we awoke early and plowed straight up the 1000m of steep climbing in order to catch our bus back to Arequipa - a very enjoyable couple of days.

From Arequipa

Dickie looks over the valley as we descend to the river.

From Arequipa

Typical view of the foliage - catcti and dry hardy flowers and bushes clinging to steep dusty sides.

From Arequipa

Me sitting on the steps of the church in one of the farming villages on the far side of the Canyon.

From Arequipa

Chief got creative with the long-exposure photographs and took advantage of the moonlight for some nice star photos.

From Arequipa

He calls this one "Horse, Bush and a Bit of Grass". Very nice... More photos from Arequipa itself soon. Once Vic gets her photos uploaded there will be more fleshing out of the visual blog too. Rob

Lago Titicaca & Copacabana, Bolivia

From Lake Titicaca & Copacabana

The beginning of a beautiful sunset over Copacabana, near to the Peruvian-Bolivian border on the shores of Lake Titicaca. We fortuitously arrived in the town just a day before one of the most important festivals in the town´s calendar, the 3rd of May celebrations. The 2 days after we arrived were packed with colourful processions and outlandish-costumed dancers and musicians tirelessly processing through the streets in the heat of the days... photos below

From Lake Titicaca & Copacabana

Above, some stands set up for the festival selling bright cloths and flower garlands to adorn participants in the processions, cars (which are blessed by priests in front of the Cathedral) and assorted other objects which appeared drab enough to require embellishment for the day.

From Lake Titicaca & Copacabana

Copacabana is nestled between 2 small and picturesque hills - myself and Chief climbed one for the sunset one evening and looked out over the vast Lago Titicaca...

From Lake Titicaca & Copacabana

One of the heavily costumed male dancers in the parade - all the dancers danced for many many hours to the same repeated tune all through the streets and repeated the whole spectacle the following day after imbibing vast quantities of beer and staying up most of the night! Very impressive festival stamina...

From Lake Titicaca & Copacabana

Below, a rare shot of the Photographer General, standing on the top of the hill just to the North of the town, looking out towards Isla del Sol (in the top right) where the others were to go for a few days as i headed to Peru to meet up with some friends from the Antarctic, in Arequipa...

La Paz II, Bolivia

From La Paz

I found La Paz to be a bustling and interesting city with every kind of market you could imagine including the famous ones specializing in witch-craft and therefore being purveyors of such delights as dried llama foetuses (for burying under the front step of a newly built house to bring luck), dried frogs for unknown purposes, and a vast array of weird concoctions and tea powders designed to aid any ailment from infertility to muscle aches. We probably spent about 10 days in the city, with my little aside to try to climb Huayna Potosi which ended in exhausted failure due to illness... The picture above is a view of a large portion of the high city, from the poorer neighbourhood of El Alto which lies on the plain at about 4000m above the valley.

From La Paz

Above, at the downtown mirador (viewpoint) to watch the sun go down over the main basin of La Paz. In the background is one of the high peaks that surround the city - Illimani (about 6400m if i recall correctly).

From La Paz

On our last day in La Paz we took a bus up to the El Alto plateau and had a wander around the big market there - its a fairly shambolic affair with some people selling only a few pieces of wire ripped from dead cars; lots of cheap clothes and household goods, and basic traditional food. The vast sprawling market is certainly not for tourists, and it is indicative of the lives of poverty led by many in Bolivia´s poorer urban areas.

At the beginning of May we left La Paz for the little town of Copacabana on the shores of Lago Titicaca...