Kristy & Adam - South America Adventures

Hola from Bolivia,

Hope you`re all well!! We have just made our way across to the Chillian border after finally getting out of La Paz and doing a salt flats tour.

We ended up meeting up with the couple we had met in Cuzco, Peru and took a private 4WD tour with them.
The bus ride from La Paz to Uyuni was an overnight bus that took about 13 hours. We made our way out of the city on paved, sealed roads, then after about an hour we were on unsealed roads for the rest of the trip! It wasn`t too bad, but for the last two hours of the trip it was very bumpy and up and down hill so I had my head in a plastic bag during that time (I think you know the rest!!) Wasn`t very pleasant but I survived!
After a few days rest in Uyuini we boarded a 4WD equipped with a cook and english speaking guide and made our way out to the salt flats & coloured lagunas.

We made our first stop at a train cemetary where all the old and rusted freight trains have been dumped after many years of travelling to and from Bolivia and Chile. We then made our way to the salt mine and saw the process of how the salt was collected and dried out, refined and packaged. We also took a quick stop to see a hotel made completely out of salt. We then drove to an area called fish island, the whole area had many giant cactus and a great view of the salt flats. We ate Llama steaks for lunch cooked in a mini gas bbq by our cook then we made our way to our first nights accomodation. The accomodation was very basic but not too bad considering we were in the middle of no-where!

The second day we left the salt flat area and crossed into the desert to visit various coloured lagunas (Coloured lakes) and saw many pink flamingos. We visited an area called Colorado Laguna (Red lake) The lake was awesome very very red in colour, due to the algae and minerals.
Our accomodation the second night was also very basic.

On the last day of our trip we visited an area to see some gysers and mud pools, then onto some hot springs it was blowing a gail and far too cold for me to strip off down to my bikini so I chickened out We then went onto visit the Laguna Verde (Green Lake) which was green in colour due to the wind mixing up the minerals in the water.

After a long 3 days without showers we crossed the boarder into San Pedro, Chile. We are staying here for a few days then making our way down the coastal areas to the capital Santiago. We have just extended our trip by another month so we are now visiting the lakes district in Chile aswell.

We will be home just in time for Christmas. So till next time stay well and keep in touch.

Kristy & Adam

P.s Will have photos online in a few days

Hola from Bolivia!
Hope you`re all well! We are now in La Paz in Bolivia. We crossed the boarder from Puno in Lima to Copacabana and spent two days there (Its a lovely beachside resort according to two English people we spoke to! Not really....) We were meant to visit some more islands from there but we decided not to as we needed a few days to unwind and relax after all this travelling we`ve been doing. Sometimes it really takes it out of you Ha ha ha....
Anyhow we are now in La Paz and its a bustiling city of millions, there isn`t a lot to do here, we have spent the past few days shopping at the markets for more Christmas goodies, walking around town, doing some desperately needed washing and just chilling out really. Its very different to where we have been in South America so far, feels a little more dangerous, and there are loads of beggers on the street, you can definately see there are many people who are much poorer here.
We just found out we will now be stuck here for 3 more days...JOY....the train drivers have decided to strike and now we have to take a bus instead on Saturday! So I think we might go and check out the cinema`s and see what`s on, Apparently all the flicks are in English which is great news for us!
When we make our way out of here on Saturday we are headed for the Salt flats in Uyuni. So till then....
Take care & Keep in touch
Kristy & Adam

Hola from Lake Titicaca!
Hope you are all well. We have just returned from a two day trip to Lake Titicaca on the Peruvian side.
The first Island we visited was the Uros Floating Islands. It was really interesting to see how the Islanders live, their island is made purely of floating reeds, and their housing of dried reeds. They survivie by eating fish, birds and by eating the reeds on the Island. Supposably the reeds taste like banana`s, after a quick bite I don`t really agree!!!
The islands feel really strange to walk on you feel like you are bouncing around, As usual I was getting excited and taking loads of photos and I took a few steps in the wrong direction, and put my foot right through some reeds and ended up almost knee deep in water...WOOPS

The next Island we visited was Amanti where we stayed overnight. Our host family was a family of 7. They provided lunch and dinner for us and took us out to the towns fiesta for the evening where we dressed up in the traditional clothing and taught us traditional dancing.
The meals were cooking in a mud hut with a fire and some cast iron pots, at first we were a bit worried that we would get sick as the food was washed and cooked in tap water, but so far, touch wood we are ok! They cooked us traditional soups, vegetables and rice.
The fiesta was fun. Adam wore a brown poncho and special beanie they had knitted for us, and I wore about 3 layers of skirts, a traditional top and a special headress. Wait till you see the pics, what a classic. It was really cold so I had about 4 layers underneath the costume, so I look like I`m about 25 stone!!

Today we visited Taquile Island, it wasn`t as interesting as the others, we hiked for about an hour to reach the top of the island where we chilled out in the town square.
Tomorrow we are heading to Copacabana in Bolivia. So till then take care and keep in touch

Kristy & Adam

Hey all!
Well we have just arrived back in Cuzco from our two day Inca trail trek.
What an amazing experience! We were picked up from our hotel very early, then boarded the train for few hours. We were dropped off at the passport checkpoint, met our guide, then we were on our way. We booked a private 2 day tour so it was just the three of us which was really nice, we didn`t have to rush or worry about holding a group up if we were too slow.

As it ended up our guide told us we were very fit and going faster than the average person! At one stage he had to ask us to slow down as he needed a rest! We walked 6 kilometers, a mixture of up and down stairs, and some flat areas, through the valleys, and past Inca ruins, for this part of the trip the weather was mixed, we had our jumpers and rain coats on and off the whole time.

We finally reached our first stop off for lunch after about 4 hours of hiking. After lunch we walked a further 6 kilometers, this part of the track was a lot easier, less stairs to begin with and flatter ground, however it was raining the whole time which made the paths pretty slippery! We both nearly stacked it several times! Afer a further 3 hours we finally reached the Sun gate where we had our first glance of Machu Picchu. Tottally amazing The area was fairly clouded so a bit dissapointing, but as we made our way down the final decent the clouds lifted and we got some amazing photos.
In the evening we relaxed after our big day and had dinner with our guide.

The following day he took us and another smaller group for a 3 hour tour of Machu Picchu. Was really fascinating to learn about the history and how the Inca`s lived, the only downside, it was raining the whole time he was talking to us, So I donned a lovely purple plastic poncho to protect the camera goods and keep me dry! Wait till you see the pics! CLASSIC!! When the tour was finished the rain eased and we spent a few more hours taking pics and walking around. We caught a train back to Cuzco and arrived late last night.

(If anyone was wondering the normal trek for the Inca trail is 4 days 50km, we did the 2 day one because of my back, I still think it was a MAJOR achievement for me, as three years ago I couldn´t walk for 15 minutes without pain! Very proud of myself

We are having a relaxing day today, then making our way down to Lake Titicaca tommorrow, we will be spending a night on the Islands with a family so should be really interesting!! Keep in touch!

Kristy & Adam

Hola from Peru!
Hope you`re all well. We`ve been in Peru for about a week. Our first stop was Lima, it wasn`t terribly interesting just another big city really, we just walked around the suburbs of Miraflores and Baranco and visited a big local market, and bought a few more Christmas pressies The bags are getting noticably heavier now!!!
We flew to Cuzco after a few days in Lima. Cuzco is really beautiful, full of culture and a lovely big square to walk around. We went for a big hike to the top of three Inca ruins the other day and we did a Sacred valley tour yesterday. We saw some llama`s Met some fellow Aussies, Penny and John so we`ve been doing lots of sightseeing with them. Tomorrow is the big day, Starting our 2 day Inca trail trek.
Wish us luck!
Keep in touch
Kristy & Adam

Hola!
Thought I´d drop you a quick update about our exciting Volcano trek!
We went with a small group from our hostel, we drove about 1/2 an hour outside of the city centre, then drove a further 1/2 an hour up a dirt track towards the Volcano. We were droppped of and walked for about an hour and a half up steep rocky roads at 4800 metres altitude. Let me tell you this is not easy! At least we are now in some form of shape for what the Inca trail will be like next week!
We walked and walked, and got really dizzy and disorientated but finally made it to our first stop where we took some snaps and had morning tea. After a quick break we walked and climbed further and further up the mountain climing over and up rocks the whole way. We finally reached to summit about an hour later. At first we couldnt see into the volcano as it was covered by clouds, then the weather quickly changed and we had the chance to look right down into the active volcano. WOW! About 2 minutes later a storm blew in and there were fierce winds, lightning, thunder, then follwed by snow!! Our guide was like ´Lets get the hell outa here!!!´
I was so scared I´ve never walked down a moutain so fast in my life!!! But since I´m typing this you know we are both ok!! We are now ready to attack the Inca trail in a few days, till then, adios...

Kristy & Adamo