Salar de Uyuni (Day 1) - Day 12

We took a taxi to El Alto International Airport in La Paz. It costed us 50 bolivianos which I could've swore the hotel told us it should cost around 15. Oh well, we had a plane to catch. The airline called Amazonas had only recently opened up a route from La Paz to Uyuni in late July. We kept our fingers crossed for delays. To our delight the 1 hour flight departed and arrived on time. The plane was tiny and full with about 20 seats.  We did have to pay 15 bolivianos airport tariff (for domestic flights) before getting on the plane.







The Uyuni airport appeared to still be under construction and very small (I didn't even see it when we landed). Someone from Red Planet Tours was suppose to meet us at the airport, but we didn't see anyone. There wasn't even a phone to make a call. I had to borrow someone's cell phone and was told to just hop on the bus to town. The bus was 7 bolivianos (1.1 USD).

The tour was suppose to start at 11AM and we got to town centre and red planet office just before 10. Red Planet was suppose to provide us with an English tour guide, but they didn't have one! They offered us a shared guide with another group in another car and refused to give us a discount for the mix up. Although I was very annoyed with the mix up, we were stuck between a rock and a hard place. We had to take the tour and hope for the best.

While waiting for our 4x4 land cruise ride, we went out to grab extra water (2L per person) and toilet paper. Around 11:30AM, we were finally off on our 3 day Salar del Uyuni tour.

The first stop was the train graveyard. In early 1900, this area use to be a happening place rich in silver and the train was used to transport them out. The town of Uyuni had built wide roads with the potential to be the next big metropolis city like La Paz. However, when other new silver mines were discovered outside of here the mining experts moved out. The locals didn't know what they were doing and the industry died. The trains were then left to mother nature. The yard made for amazing pictures.









Second stop was the salt processing factory. The owner only works two days out of the week since there is no great demand for salt. The factory only supplies the local regions like Uyuni, Potosi and etc. There are no export since countries like Chile have their own salt field. The salt was very cheap and still packaged in a very traditional way. 5 bolivianos for half kg bag and 35 bolivianos for 50 kg. We each paid 1 to 2 bolivianos to the owner for the tour and demonstration.







The salt factory and surrounding buildings were all mostly made out of salt. They last approximately 10 years and the brown lines in the salt bricks indicated how much rained the area got each year.



We then moved on to learn more about salt. The salt field use to be a body of water thousands of years ago. Although most of the water is gone, the salt still contains moisture. So the locals put the salt into little piles to drain the water and dry the salt.



We had our lunch at a salt hotel in the middle of the field. Salt hotels are actually illegal here due to the pollution it causes the field. This particular hotel now only functions as a shelter for passing-by tourists to have lunch. There were a bunch of flags in front of the hotel. There wasn't a Canadian or Chinese flag. I urge whoever is going there next must bring one for me!









Next stop was Isla Inkahuasi (Inka House) or Fish Island which is an island in the middle of the salt field. The walk about costed 30 bolivianos (4.5 USD) and took about 20 minutes to get up and down. It was extremely windy and cold. I had three layers on and a very warm scarf. The island is best known for its giant cactuses. Unlike the cactus we know, these ones have no water inside when opened, but dry wood like with holes.






One of the biggest things to do in the salt field is to take perceptive pictures. We had a lot of fun taking these funny pictures.





It has been really windy and dry in the area. My hands have been cracking since the hand lotion I brought was not creamy enough. I really recommend anyone traveling in this area to bring lots hand lotion and cream.

It had gotten pretty cold by about 3:30PM. So we started head to our hotel. The hotel was in the middle of nowhere (but not on the salt field) and was made out of salt bricks. It was basic, but cozy. Definitely not as bad as I thought. A hot shower cost 10 bolivianos.






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Location:Uyuni, Bolivia

Route to La Paz - Day 11

We are finally making our way to the capital of Bolivia, La Paz today. I have been a little nervous about this leg. There wasn't much pre-planning we could do and had heard the route can be unsafe. The tourist bus doesn't leave until 1:30PM and arrives at the city centre just before sun down. The local bus are much more frequent. It leaves every hour. But the local bus stops in the cemetery area which can be a very dicy area, especially after dark. We decided to brave the local bus in the morning and not wait for the tourist bus.

We showed up at Plaza Sucre where all the buses gathered in Copacabana just before 9AM. The ticket costed 15 bolivianos (2.2 USD) each. The bus was already more than half full which meant it will leave on time.

Shortly after 10AM, we arrived at Tiquina (Lake Titicaca) where we had to get off the bus and pay 1.5 bolivianos (0.22 USD) for a boat to ferry us over while the bus with all of our belonging took a separate barge to cross the lake. Rumour has it these barges can't handle the bus with passengers on them. It made sense since they looked like wooden flat boats that has long seen its days.






We were back on the bus 30 minutes later and then it was another 115km or 2.5 hours to La Paz. The bus played really loud and strange mix of 90's English pop music, folk music and reggae ton. More than often the bus driver would play 5 seconds of a song, then skip to the next.

We arrived in La Paz noon-ish at the cemetery bus station. We were advised to only take official radio taxi. They were surprisingly hard to find in such busy area! We decided to walk down hill a few blocks and finally found one. Normally, a price should be negotiated before you get in, but we didn't care at the point. The 15 minute taxi ride to Sagarnaga Street by the Witches Market was only 15 bolivianos.



We decided to have lunch at the hotel restaurant. The menu was fancy and the Thai Chicken sounded really good. After the nachos with guacamole experience, I was unsure what I would get myself into. But I was going to roll the dice again. I really shouldn't gamble, ever.

It was over cooked pan fried chicken drizzled in peanut butter...


We walked around Sagarnaga Street after lunch, bought a few souvenirs and got a massage. When dinner time came I really wanted to try the Thai Old Town Asian restaurant. One more time, I said to myself, a restaurant specializes in Asian food can't be that far off! The restaurant offered Thai, Japanese and Indian dishes. I was excited to see a few noodle dishes on there and went for the Miso Ramen. But needless to say I had very low expectations. The soup was not bad, the pork slices were way over cooked and udon instead of ramen noodles which was also really over cooked. I was very impressed with our waiter who spoke perfect English and provided superb service. He asked me whether the ramen was what I had expected. I was honest and said it was ok. He apologized and said these days it was difficult to get ingredients from Japan and they had to use a lot of local items. I actually thought if the pork and udon weren't so over cooked, it could've been pretty good despite the ingredients. Anyways, our stomachs were full and went back to the hotel to pack for Salar del Uyuni (Salt Field) tomorrow.

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Location:La Paz, Bolivia

Isla Del Sol - Day 10

The main attraction in Copacabana side of lake Titicaca is Isla Del Sol and Luna. We only had one more day in Copa and according to the owner at Cafe Bistrot last night, not many goes to Isla Del Luna anymore. A special trip has to be arranged. So we went down to the marina and got 8:30AM return ferry tickets for 20 bolivianos (3 USD) to Isla Del Sol only.

The ferry was again a very slow wooden boat with two motors on the back. Inside of the cabin was very fumey which I knew would cause sea sickness in no time. I climbed up to the top of the boat. It was very cold since I only had a shirt and hoodie on. But it was better than vomiting before a long trek.

We arrived at north side of the island aka Challapampa just before 11am and started our five hour trek to the south side of the island, Yumani. We were not sure where to go since there are no signs, just an island map back at the port. Best thing to do in this case is to follow the crowd.

We took the interior trail since we heard was easier. The trail was really straight forward once we figured out the starting point. We were also charged 10 bolivianos (1.4 USD) per person before entering the trail for the ruins at the very north tip of the island.


The ruins of the Inka village were interesting (it is no Machu Picchu though) overlooking Lake Titcaca. Properties like that would cost millions in Vanouver! :p

The trail was definitely was not as hard as Wayna Picchu and Amanati temple. It was just much longer. We encountered about 4 small to medium hilly inclines. The rest of the way was fairly flat and incredibly scenic. There were white sandy beaches with deep blue and green water.

There were little huts that sold water, pop, chocolate bars and other goodies along the way, but many pack their own lunches for the trek. Small water costed 5 bolivianos (0.70 USD). There was also the option to stay overnight on the island at many of the hostels. Since we had already experienced island stay on Amanati, we wanted to catch the 3:30PM ferry back to Copacabana.

We had pay two more times along the trail at 5 bolivianos each.

Our decent down to Yumani port was again a confusing one. There were no signs, just restaurants after restaurants. After a few windy roads, we encountered a herd of donkeys and ended up exiting what appeared to be a donkey den.

Oh well, the important thing was we made down in time at around 3:15PM, just in time for the ferry back.

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Location:Copacabana, Bolivia

"At the Copa, Copacabana..." - Day 9

At the Copa (CO!), Copacabana (Copacabana)
The hottest spot north of Havana (here)

I don't think Barry Manilow was talking about the same Copacabana. Today was the day we said good bye to Peru and hello to Copacabana, Bolivia. Again tourist bus was the transportation of choice. We arrived at the main Puno bus terminal. The place was already busy at 7AM in the morning. One of the ticket booth ladies had a set of extremely sharp and loud pipes. "Para Cuzco!" she screamed out every minute or so. It was nails on chalk board this early in the morning.

We were a bit confused by the boarding process. But eventually figured out we had to pay some sort of tariff or tax worth 1 sole before getting on the bus.

The bus stopped just before the border for a bathroom break and a chance for us to exchange our soles into Bolivianos. Around 10AM we arrived at the border. We had to get off the bus and get our passport stamped indicating we were leaving Peru. Then we had to cross the Bolivia border on foot.




Once we made the cross, it was more paper work and stamping. The border agent was chatty with me and asked if I was Japanese and if my parents lived in Canada. My Spanish is very poor and other tourists had to help me with one of the questions. All in all it was a very painless process.

We returned to our bus around 10:30AM and had to change our watch one hour ahead to 11:30. Copacabana was now only 8 km away. But 5 minutes later, we were stopped and were asked to pay a tariff of 1 Boliviano per person. I am still not sure what that was for.

We finally arrived in Copacabana by noon. It is a quiet little town, but we immediately detected the constant urine smell in the air. We had find accommodation right away for the night. La Cupula and Las Olas were the high end places that came with a "hefty" price tag of 20 USD per person per night. But they were all booked up. We decided to stop at a restaurant called Cafe Bistrot with wifi to check out what else was available in town. The owner of the Cafe was very kind and provided us with tons of local information. she recommended with check out Aldea Del Inca just up the street. The hotel is fairly new and owned by a Spanish man. Similar to the other two places, with 20 USD we had wifi, hot water, breakfast and all the essentials. The courtyard was lovely with a reed sofa, hammocks, a gazebo and even a children's playground overlooking Lake Titicaca.



Now we had the rest of the afternoon to explore Copacabana. That took about 20 minutes. We did notice a strong hippies presence and some sold random jewelry on the streets, perhaps making extra cash for their next adventure.

We picked a courtyard restaurant for some drinks and afternoon snacks. We were surprised to see nachos with guacamole on the menu. After ordering it, we pondered whether it was going to look like the nachos we know. But nothing had prepared us for this:


Cheesy doritos with guacamole! I had saw one of the staff going into the kitchen with a bag of doritos earlier. Now it all made sense! We didn't have enough chips to finish the very oniony guacamole. We were convinced they didn't use the whole bag and ate the rest themselves. By the way, this culinary ingenuity costed us 25 bolivianos (4 USD).

For dinner we went back to Cafe Bistrot and I had the stuffed trout. The owner was very proud that all her dishes were made from scratch. It really showed, the food was delicious and filling.




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Location:Copacabana, Bolivia

Lake Titicaca from Peru - Day 7 & 8

Lake Titicaca crosses two countries: Peru and Bolivia. The tour we arranged yesterday was for the Peruvian side, but also included bus ticket from Puno to Copacabana, Bolivia for 95 soles (36 USD).

A car came to fetch us in the morning to take us to the dock. We hopped on a wooden boat and headed to the Uros first.




Uros, also known as the floating islands. These artificial islands were mainly made out of reeds. The friendly islanders welcomed us with songs and demonstrations of how they made their island that were about 1000 square feet. They even have a little bridge over a small pond in the centre of the island. We visited their huts where they sleep and one of them have a small TV. I wondered if they get CNN.

The Uros people barter for goods and do not use currency. They would leave their islands for Puno with their dry fish and reed crafts to trade rice and potatoes. They use to be very poor until tourism provided them with more money.

For ten extra soles, we also went for a 15 minute reef boat ride.









The Island of Amanati, the island of love, took more 3 hours for us to get to. But the best part of traveling is meeting the people. We met a fellow Canadian from Montreal whose travel buddy had to cancel last minute and the poor thing had to travel alone. We also met a Brit traveling with her father. She was a medical student who had just finished doing a two month internship in Cuzco.

We arrived in Amanati shortly after 1PM and were famished. We met our hostess Julia and she took us to her house up the hill. It was a laborious 5 minute up. Little did we know this was nothing! The worst was yet to come. But we had lunch first: quinua soup, fried cheese and potatoes. Then we took a little nap in our room. Julia's house was simple. Kitchen and toilet was on the first floor. There were no showers. The second floor was the sleeping quarters. The rooms were colorfully decorated and cozy.






Around 4PM, our group gathered at the town centre and started our ascent to the top of the island where the Pacha-mama or the mother earth temple was located. I don't know which was more painful, this 40 minute hike at almost 3800m or 1 hour Wayna Picchu hike at 2700m.



Half way up, our guide told us to grab 4 pieces of pebbles. When we finally got to the top, we had to walk around the temple one time and throw the four pebbles into the temple as we made 4 wishes that related to wisdom, health, work and love. We hung out to watch the beautiful sunset. The wind had really picked up and became quite bitterly cold. We headed down hill and seemed to go on forever. It was pitch dark before we knew it. All the twinkling stars came out with a very bright moon.





Julia was at the town centre square waiting for us. Dinner was served right away. I wasn't sure why we were all so sleepy. We took yet another nap. But our night wasn't over. At 8PM, Julia dressed us up in traditional Amanati outfit consisted white embroidered shirt, heavy layered black skirt and multicolored belt. I was ready to rock the town with my new outfit. Mens outfit was much simplier, a poncho. Julia then took us up to a hall for a Pena show. A band played traditional music and the locals and tourists all gathered to dance in circles.






The next morning, we woke up from a very peaceful night of sleep and Julia prepared us pancake for breakfast. Unfortunately, it didn't come with maple syrup. I had to settled for strawberry jam. Julia walked us to the dock after breakfast where we hoped on the same wooden boat and headed to the Island of Taquile.

An hour later, the guide took us on yet another trek up the hill. This time was up to the town centre of the island. But it wasn't too bad. About 15 minutes of up hill and 20 minutes of flat path.


This island has a great Spanish influence. You can tell especially by the way the men dressed. With black pants, white shirt and black vest, they also wear hats they knit themselves to indicate their relationship status. White hat with red band and draped on the left meant the man is available and is looking for a girlfriend. If the white hat is draped on the right side, the man is with a girl or in a trail marriage which they live like husband and wife for 2 or 3 years before the real deed. There is no divorce allowed. Men with red hat are married and men with multi coloured hats means they are very important figures like the mayor or something. The women also have shorter skirt than the Amanati women. It was interesting to see the changes in clothing between the islands.

Unlike Amanati, Taquile is a lot more developed in terms of tourism. There are a quite few restaurants around the town centre. We had lunch at one a bit up the hill. But it had a stunting view of the lake and the village below. The grill trout fresh from Lake Titicaca was the best meal I had since our arrival in Peru.


After lunch it was time to head back to Puno in the wooden boat. The boat felt even more painfully slow. The return journey took more 3 hours. I stayed outside of the cabin and complete forgot how unforgiving the Peruvian sun can be. Without sunscreen, I sadly looked like a shinny tomato when I got off the boat. Tomorrow is going to suck!


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Location:Puno, Peru

The Inka Express - Day 6

Cuzco to Puno is normally a 5 hour trip by bus. There are other transportation options as well. Flying takes about one hour, but only flies into Juliaca and it is another one hour ground transportation to Puno. It costs about 100 to 150 USD. The other option is by train. Since Perurail is a privately owned and the only train company in Peru, this route is very expensive at $250 USD. Not to mention, it is a 10 hour trip. We opted to take the tourist bus with a company called Inka Express that took approximately 9.5 hours. The 45USD ticket came with an English speaking tour guide, several attraction stop points and a buffet lunch.

The bus departed from Cuzco around 7:30AM. The reclinable seats were quite comfortable and clean. Hot drinks, water and pop were served. After about an hour, we made our first stop. Andahuaylillas often referred to as the Sistine chapel of the Andes. Some of this old church was under construction. Pictures and videos were not allowed inside which was too bad. Even though the exterior looked nothing special, the inside was quite beautifully decorated with gold framed biblical paintings. This catholic church also included elements of the Inka religion such as the Inka cross. The ceiling was covered in intricate patterns.



The second stop was Raqchi. It was an Inka village ruins with a large ceremonial structure as the centre piece. The village even had a mini great wall like in China. It was also built to keep the intruders out.







The third stop was the highest point of the trip. La Raya was located at 4335m. Despite the sunshine, as soon as I stepped out of the bus I felt the chill and harsh wind.






The last stop was some sort of stone museum named Pucara that I didn't feel was all that interesting.




Although the day flew by, I couldn't wait to arrive at Puno since we still had to arrange our Lake Titicaca tour for tomorrow. But I didn't have to worry too much. Our hotel was two steps away from Lima Street, the major road in Puno. We found a good tour agent with a fair price in no time. Now we were able to sleep knowing we just had to wake up tomorrow and wait to be picked up for another fun filled adventure!

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The Machu Picchu - Day 5

We purchased our Machu Picchu (MP) tickets on day 2 in Cuzco at the Cultural Ministry. Friends had recommended we also do Wayna Picchu (WP). Only 200 people were allowed to climb WP at one time during only two time slots: 7 and 10AM. We were very lucky to get the 7AM slot since someone had cancelled theirs. The entrance fee to both MP and WP costed 150 soles (55 USD).

Another early morning for us. We were in queue for bus to MP at 5AM to catch the first bus at 5:30AM. The line was already quite long and people was holding spots for their friends. We were a bit concerned that we were going to miss the sunrise.

We didn't make it on the first bus. At 5:45 we started the 25 minute windy drive up to MP.




Around 6AM we knew we had missed the sunrise. But we soon forgot the disappointment when MP came into our sight. I kept thinking what Bingham was thinking when he saw this sight. I have been to Angkor Wat of Cambodia, Great Wall of China, underground churches of lalibela, pyramids and temples of Egypt, MP was different. Unlike most other ancient ruins, the first sight of the site was up or at eye level. The first sight MP were from above, offering a complete panoramic view of the ruins. It made me want to get a closer look.


Nestled amongst the sacred mountains and hills, MP was a massive man made collection of structures that was remote and so hidden for so long that still posses a lot of mystery and intrigue. We were really glad we got there early enough to not have to fight with crowd too much to get good wide shots. Pictures of the actual grounds of the ruins we saved until after we climb WP.











We rushed on the other side of MP to the entrance of WP. The entrance line up moved very slowly. Passports had to be checked and a registration book had to be signed. I was short on water. One of the side effects of altitude sickness pill was I was always thirty. But not to worry, the entrance desk people was happy to sell you a bottle of water for 5 soles (1.7 USD). WP was the hill to the right of MP and served as a dramatic backdrop for MP. It took us approximately one hour to hike to the peak. I would say it wasn't as hard as the Grouse Grind in Vancouver since the agony was shorter. The top 1/4 of the ascend was very narrow and steep. I am afraid of heights and didn't dare to look down. The rest was not very steep especially compared to Grouse Grind. At the top, it was a bit crowded. So we descend a little and settled in on one of the terraces for a quick snack time to regain some energy for the descend. Food was actually not allowed onto the premise, but most people did sneak them in anyways.










The descend really did a number on our legs. I bet money on it that tomorrow I am going to feel it. We took it easy and roamed around the grounds of MP for several hours before deciding to head out and get some in our stomaches.

On the way out of MP, I had notice backpack check in was offered for 3 soles I believe. I wish I had known beforehand because I thought whatever I brought I had to carry it up to WP with me. So I minimized my pack as much as possible including sacrificing a change of clothes for the train ride back to Cuzco.

Smelling fantastic, we took the 4:43PM Expedition class train back to Cuzco. We had thought since it would dark with nothing to see there would be no point in booking the more expensive Vistadome train. To our surprise, the Expedition train had windowed ceiling as well. We wondered about the difference. It turned out the difference was primarily in the food. In Vistadome, we were served nicely plated fresh fruit and pastry with proper cutlery and place settings. In Expedition, we were served bean and peanut snacks in a paper bag. The other differences were very minor.



It was interesting that out of thousands of passengers that take the train each day. We ended up sitting across from the same guys who we sat across from going to AC . Three amigos from Atlanta and Tampa. We thought we were going to catch some Zs, but ended up chatting with them the entire 4 hour train ride. Americans are interesting people that is for sure. The conversation from health care reform to bunny ranch for horses and from pharmaceutical lobbyists to Solid Gold dancers. To Canadians, whether we like to admitted or not, they are our endearing gun toting next door neighbour.

We bid good bye to our new friends and laughed about the conversations we had and the great weather we had in our car ride back to Cuzco. After check in to our hotel, we realized how long of a day had. But what an awesome day it was!



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Location:Machu Picchu, Peru

Route to Machu Picchu - Day 4

It was an early day for us. At 6AM we hopped into our pre arranged car and headed to the Poroy station that was approximately 20 minutes outside of Cuzco. No more than five minutes after we settled into our seats, we were on our way. I looked at my watch and noticed the train was almost 10 minutes ahead of the indicated departure time. Perhaps all the passengers were early.

Our train was the Vistadome class which offered windowed roof for a full view of the mountain range. I must admit, Vancouver to Jasper train was much more scenic. However, my Ecuadorian travel friend reminded us that the difference was these mountain ranges were sacred and bared so much history and culture for the people that lives in these areas. She was absolutely right.




Breakfast was included in the train ticket. I just loved the vibrant colours and the violet flower was a beautiful touch.



The train made a short stop in Ollataytambo to pick up more people. Yesterday when our Sacred Valley tour reached this point, some people got off the tour and caught the train to Machu Picchu here. This would have been a very efficient way to go. If we had known, we could've saved at least half a day of traveling.

1.5 hours later, we rolled into town of Aguas Calientes, the hot water or hot springs in Spanish. This is the entrance town to Machu Picchu. All who came to seek the ancient ruins must pass through here.



The first thing we did was buy the bus ticket to MP for tomorrow. The ticket was 15.50 USD return. The plan was to get on the first bus at 5:30 to see the sunrise.

We had the rest of the afternoon to roam around this tiny tourist town which was full of restaurants, pizzerias and gift shops. So once again dinning seemed to be the best way to pass the time. But half way through lunch, the entire town lost power and it also started pouring rain. We over heard that the power was not coming back on until tomorrow afternoon! We were relieved that we brought our head lamps, but regret leaving our rain gear in Cuzco. But we were able to get colorful ponchos at one of the many shops.

We had little to do and decided to buy a deck of cards. That kept us entertained and out of the rain until night fall. Then it was time to eat again! We had plan to dine a place called Tree House. It had great reviews in the guidebooks and online. However, in the dark, despite asking the locals (including a policeman), we couldn't find it. Disappointed, we settled for the generic touristico restaurant.

One thing I did noted was that I see Chinese restaurants everywhere. Even in a small town like AC. However, I have yet to see one open for business. All of them were closed even during prime meal times. I found that
Back at the hotel, we prayed for no rain tomorrow before settling in for the night.


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Location:Aguas Calientes, Peru