Bolivia - Copacabana & La Paz

Currency Conversion 1US= 6.6 Bolivianos

Population: 10.4 million (questionable as no one really knows who's filling out the census)

Languages: Spanish, Quechua, Aymara 

After a week of trekking the Andes, we had one day in Cusco and decided it was only appropriate to order "quy", guinea pig, and try it once before we go. We were told to eat at Chicha, a fancy looking place in the city centre with beautifully plated food and unfortunately, didn't completely please the palate and I was done after one bite. I stuck to the quinoa and veggies in the bowl rather than the "meat". Cusco has a lot of great eats but the buses don't so we hit up a polleria in the neighbourhood and bough a whole bird for $50Bs with as many sides as I could pack from the salad bar, chopped it all and packed it into tupperware and we were ready to hit the road on a night bus into Bolivia.

At the border crossing from Peru into Bolivia, it took a while for us to get all the paper work done as we walked from border to border with our bags and 9 other travelers with a bit of cash to pay the van man on the other side (if we found him).

Once we got into town in Copacabana, we stayed at Las Olas/La Cupula. This place was hand built by a German guy who is also a sculptor. From the main beach you can see his newest addition, a snail like villa with a fireplace, mini kitchen, hot showers and a view of Lake Titicaca. It was unbeatable after our Salkantay Trek, we checked into suite #20. It had a fireplace, a jacuzzi and a panoramic view of the lake and the town below. It was worth splurging and on discount at $33US/night. Nearby is the Islasdel Sol where a 3km hike awaited for visitors who want to visit. We opted for staying in town instead and spent a few days enjoying the lake and the food at the restaurant. The Chicken Curry was by far the best meal I had in Bolivia, so if you're in Copacabana, get to Las Olas' restaurant and treat yourself. If it is full, there was also another hostel located next door that looked beautiful with the same panoramic view called, La Aldea del Inca with a four star rating on trip advisor. 

BUSES: Book bus tickets from the bus station. We learned the expensive way! We paid $190Bs at our hostel and received "tickets" at the bus station with the price $50Bs on them. The man at our hostel in Cusco, Pariwana Hostel, made $90Bs off our sale.

From Copacabana, we took a bus to La Paz, 3650m above sea level and full of life! 

La Paz, a vibrant city filled with people 24/7. Shoe shiners in full face masks, Cholitas chewing coca leaves, children waiting in line to take photos with Bolivian Santa and busy bodies working the food carts serving up hot carne sandwiches con papas (beef and chips) y jugos con agua o leche (juice with water or milk).

We stayed at Arty's Guesthouse for $85Bs/head per night. He was closing on Dece 21^st so we stayed there for four nights until we were kicked out of town. It's a super homey feel and has a curfew of midnight, so if you stay here, get back before midnight or else you're locked out til 6 am. We met a few families and couples staying here, one of which was a Dad and his two early twenties son and daughter. The dad brought his kids on the same route he traveled 25 years earlier. What an incredible journey to share with his children who are now adults. I couldn't help but remind his son and daughter in private how lucky they were to be traveling with their dad and doing crazy shit together!

Red Caps Walking tour run everyday at 11am and 2 pm that start at the ever famous San Pedro Park, across from San Pedro Prison. It's about 2.5 hours and worth every step to see and learn about the city, culture and a warm welcome into the country. The tour guides speak English well and answered any questions that came up like, "Who's that guy trying to sell us entrance into the prison following us?". Turns out the guy was an ex inmate and often tries to hassle the groups to make some cash. You can't visit the prison anymore as it hasn't been as safe since Thomas McFadden was released and his story Marching Powder was told worldwide. At the end, just leave a tip for the guides, they run these tours because they want to share their city and they're running a good tour! 

Death Road is a MUST if you're in La Paz. Yes, people have died on this road and YES, it's beautiful! We booked with Vertigo Biking at $430Bs per person ($450 regular price). They didn't budge much even though we were a group of five. You're picked up in the morning, get a light lunch at the start, buffet meal at the end and a whole lot of suspension in between! It was my first time off road mountain biking like that and it was both scary and fun. It's a full day out and we had to dress for cold, wet and sun! 

Most of our time in La Paz was soaking up the culture and the Christmas spirit that was building up in the city with all it's lights and music. We even managed to find a Cuban Resto-Bar for us to re live our Havana trip. Cubano Sabor is run by Ramiro Estrada, a young cuban himself who is warm, friendly and serves up some delicious mojitos! We went here twice in the same day for food and at night for live drumming and singing along to a musical backing track. It was bumpin' with locals and backpackers alike. This place is a must visit if you haven't been to Cuba before. 

After our week in La Paz, we had to move on towards the south if we were going to make it Argentina by January. So we packed up and headed to the bus station and headed south to Sucre and Tupiza for Christmas and what would be, a brightly lit new year! 

Salktantay Day 5 - Macchu Picchu & Huayna Picchu

Salkantay Day 5 - Macchu Picchu 

3:30 am wake up

4:00 am breakfast with the group and at 4:30 one of the other girls, Marlie and I headed to the bus stop. Yes, we paid $9 US to take the bus from Aguas Calientes up to the entrance of Macchu Picchu. If you had blisters on your heel as bad as hers or 25 bites on each of your legs calf down like I did, you'd take the bus too. A beautiful windy ride up on an air conditioned bus.

The rest of our group headed out to walk from the bottom up. It was a twenty minute walk to the start of the steps and then an hour straight up and met us at the top at 6:00 am just as the bus pulled in to the drive way.

Entering Macchu Picchu is exciting because it's an ancient city that has been photographed, videographed and studied for so long. I have to say though, being in Macchu Picchu wasn't as exciting as the journey to actually get there. We watched the sun rise as one of the first groups to arrive but it quickly turned into the daily bustle of up to 2,500 visitors. After our tour of Macchu Picchu and saying goodbye to our wonderful guide, Nicco, we had two hours before entering Huayna/Wayna Picchu, the mountain behind Macchu Picchu that gives you an aerial view.

We found a sunny patch behind the guard house (where EVERYONE takes the iconic photo from) to sprawl out and kick off our wet, stinky shoes from the week's trek and enjoyed an hour's quiet time before we were asked to leave as a camera crew came through. It was nearly time for us to make our way to Huayna Picchu anyway, so we packed up and headed to the entrance. Everyday only 400 people are allowed to enter Huayna Picchu. 200 at 7:30 am and 200 at 10 am. It's a 45 minute hike up to the top through a little cave and some steep steps. At the top are giant rocks for sitting on, taking photos of all the andes around and Macchu Picchu, which is shaped like a condor, one of the three animals of the Andean symbol Chakana (Inca Cross). The Condor represents the heavens, the world of gods. The other two levels of the cross are the Puma, representing the human world and the Snake, representing the underworld. On the grounds of Macchu Picchu, there was a rock half shaped of the Chakana and when the sun shone on it, it would create the full symbol.

Reference to the Chakana and it'smeanings. 

Climbing down from the top was a little scary as it's nearly vertical and I was grateful for the older man climbing down with me. Taking care of his nerves and talking to him made it easier for me to forget about my own nerves. It's true what they say, when you care for someone else, you're caring for yourself. 

The rest of the afternoon was spent walking down hill and back into Aguas Calientes. They said it was about 45 minutes, it took us nearly 90 minutes to get back into town going straight down the steps. The alternative route (if you're not taking the bus) is to follow the winding road down but it takes about 2-3 hours. Once back at the hostel, we had a much needed shower and a bite to eat before our night train to Ollantay. There was a man with a van waiting to take us back to Cusco, only we couldn't find him til later because of all the other people coming off the train looking for their names in the dark on bits of paper everywhere. 

Bottom of the hill!

This trek showed me that when you're committed to something, you have to go through with it and in my case, there was no turning back when I faced my fears and I over came them ALL. I also learned that I have an incredible man at my side who is willing to give up his fears, to help me get over mine. We will never forget this journey and how we both made it across the Andes together and into the sunrise.

Salkantay- Day 3 & 4

Day 3: 5 am wake up with coca tea!

I thought this day was going to be easier since the toughest part would have been dealing with wet, cold, fog and soroche. I was wrong. We crossed over a few deeper rivers, one where we either walked across a few rocks at the edge of the waterfall or rolled up our pants and took off our shoes. It was cold and fresh! The next challenge in the morning hike was crossing two pink coloured landslides that were very soft and had nickel in it, leaving your hands and body covered in fair dust! I may have hung onto a tree root and threw my body against the landslide to cross instead of walking across on the narrow path looking down on what looked like the slide of death. I felt so alive after this part of the trek and ticked off a few more bucket list boxes I didn't even know existed.

1- walk across TWO giant landslides
2- cross a waterfall on giant rocks in the midst of it all

We hiked about 9 km to lunch in Sahuayacu Playa where we'd say goodbye to our big family and split up between the five day trekkers and four day trekkers. On the way we were greeted by all the students who live and study there most of the year. They don't see foreigners often, so when they do, the classrooms empty and high fives were given all around. Some of the boys were too shy to high five the girls and it was sweet of them to come out to meet us.

After lunch, we had beers to celebrate the toughest half of the trek and farewells as a van came and to bring us to the town of Santa Teresa. We pitched in a building on the second floor with the family living above and below us. There was a toilet outside our tents without a door, I guess for the late night emergencies.

In Santa Teresa, after unpacking and grabbing our swimmers and soap we all headed to the hot spring at the bottom of the town. It was a natural hot spring, surrounded by mountains, where the heat came out of the rocks and into the pool. In one giant pool were different temperatures depending on how far you were from the rocks. There was also a smaller pool where all the locals and children could hang out after school, have a warm wash and have fun! It was also a relief for trekkers who hadn't had a shower in three days. The showers was a run off of the natural water with great pressure to massage our muscles and wash our bodies!


Day 4: 7 am wake up

There is an option on the morning of day 4 to walk the first 9 km along the dusty road with traffic or have the van take us. We all opted for the van and thoroughly enjoyed the last 9km into Auguas Calientes, the town where everyone starts their Macchu Picchu entrance. The second half of our 9 km was along a train track with dogs as escorts. They often get fed by travellers along the track, so they followed us all the way too. We walked across a giant part of the track that was made with planks and a raging river beneath. It was a big adrenaline rush!

Through a few dark and wet train tunnels and a few train on coming scares, we made it to the very touristy town of Aguas Calientes. A buzz is always in the air here and there is a beautiful mix of indigenous, locals and tourists alike. A lot of life in this little town as the trains run straight through the middle of town and you need to look both ways whenever you cross the road at all times!

This night was a celebration for our group, that we had made it to the town as a group, semi injured and in great spirits. Pisco Sours all around at dinner and a few more with a game of cards in the hostel (with hot showers and beds!) and we called it a day as day 5 would be a 3:30 am wake up to get up to Macchu Picchu for sunrise.

Salkantay Trek Peru Part 2

Day 2:

After breakfast and a quick clean with baby wipes (also essential), we headed out to ascend 750m above sea level to our highest point and one of many spiritual points across the andes where incas and indigenous offer thanks to pacha mama (mother earth).




It was a sunny start to the hike and we even felt good at our break to do a couple of handstands among the landscape but it quickly turned into a soroche-induced walk, one foot in front of the other, don't stop, stay warm, sniff mint leaves or alcohol to get the breath going and finally, reach the top in Abra Salkantay 4650m above sea level. It was such a great feeling shared by everyone to have made it to the top because from here would be easier and downhill or at least we thought it would be.

Descending to our lunch camp was everyones' worst day. The weather turned on us as snow blew in on the start of our descent and soroche, cold, rain, wet and fog got in the way for two hours of gruelling navigation. The last half hour was my worst of the five days. I had the worst migraine that wasn't going away with any of the remedies the guides had, my head was pounding, I couldn't see anyone ahead of me and when Veronica (guide) asked me how I was, I answered through tears that "I just want to get there". It's not like I could call for an ambulance or a helicopter and I knew that once I could sit down, drink something hot and pop 800mg of ibuprofen, I'd be fine and I was. No one wanted to have a nap at our lunch camp like we did the first day. We all quickly gathered up our wet gear, put it back on and started walking almost as soon as our plates and cups were emptied.

The guides told us that descending meant, heading more into the jungle and the weather would be warmer and better. I don't think any of us believed them at that point until the weather did let up and we were graced with sunshine at a little farm where we stopped to dry our feet, our coats and rest a little before heading to camp.

By the time we reached Chaullay where our camp was on the second floor of a family run part of land, our spirits were lifted as we had fresh popped corn and hot drinks as a snack. Some of the guys even played a bit of footy on the poop ridden lawn. That night, we all slept well and looked forward for day three, where a hot spring was awaiting our arrival.

Salkantay Trek December 9-13. 2013

Peru Part One - Salkantay 5 day Trek and Machu Picchu

After an epic beach month around central america and the coasts, we were not fully ready for what was about to come as we made our way to Cusco, Peru on four flights overnight.

Soroche (altitude sickness) was quick to take over our sea level bodies while we walked 50m up to our hostel. Thank goodness we met an Irish pharmacist on our flight who kindly gave us her stash of Diamox. Combined with the never ending flow of coca leaves and teas at our hostel, we spent our first day mostly in bed.

Pirawana Hostel is one of the best I've ever stayed in, it's not just a hostel but it's a community of everyone who checks in! They have a massive weekly board of activities like Monday night salsa lessons, beer pong tournaments, weekly BBQ dinners, movie nights and MORE. It's almost like you're back in university during frosh week. They also had very helpful staff, who would kindly assist you stash your bag in the storage room or get what you needed. The hostel itself is located in a well kept building, clean, hot showers and very, very, VERY comfortable beds with LOTS of pillows. We booked ourselves into a private room and we even had towels and soap.

We had Sunday to explore and went straight to Pisaq market which is about 45 minutes away in another town and people gather there every Sunday from 5 am to sell their goods, fresh vegetables, meat, art, juices and other crafts. It was a quaint little town in the valley of lush green hills and lots of friendly faces. I couldn't resist a photo with the children and their little alpachas, lambs and puppies. When we got back to the hostel we also decided that we would endure the 5 day Salkantay Trek over the Andes to Machu Picchu. This is the reason we came to Peru and we didn't want to waste any time and with our mate de coca and diamox, were ready to climb to 4,600 meters above sea level.

Day one:

3:30 am wake up and pack up ready for the bus to pick us up by 4:45. 15 travellers from Germany, Holland, USA, Quebec, Guatemala and Ireland along with two local guides sat down at our first meal in Mollepata before setting off for the first part of our trek. We were a big group that would break up after day 3 as half the group was only doing a four day trek while the rest would do five days. If I could stress one "luxury" item to bring on ANY back packing trip, it would be a deck of cards. DO NOT LEAVE WITHOUT A DECK OF CARDS. We had two decks to play shit head in the evenings with everyone, a bottle of rum and some other goodies we picked up at the tiendas (little shops) along the way.

Our first day we walked 21km through mud and the path with a lunch break in Sayllapata. Each person
was allowed 5kg for the five days that would be transported by horse on a separate route. They also carried the propane, food, cutlery and dish ware needed for all our meals. When we finally arrived at camp in Soraypampa, 3900m above sea level, we were initially greeted by a luxury villa for 6 people that run for $600 that includes power, a hot tub, hot showers, cable and internet. Needless to say, this is not where we were staying, we were behind the property camping out in tents under a tarp area to keep us dry from the rain. It was foddy, rainy and cold and having a constant flow of hot drinks kept us warm.


When we were woken up at 5 am to hot coca tea in our tents, it was the start of the most challenging day. Stepping outside to clean up, we were greeted with a clear sky and snow capped mountains on either side of us. It was worth the first day's trek!

Our Guides:

Nico is 28 and has lead over 400 treks in the last four years as a guide over the Andes. He loves his job and wants to help preserve the indigenous culture of the Incas and share it with everyone who comes on the journey. He is open to answering any questions and has a vault of knowledge about Pachamama, the Inca history and checks in with everyone to make sure they're all feeling fine.

Veronica is 25 and in her first year as a guide and loves learning about the environment as she goes and is always practicing her English and encouraging us to practice our spanish. She is a gem and I had the utmost pleasure of being at the back of the pack with her on occasion and we had language exchanges while picking wild berries for everyone to try.