And we are off...

Welcome ladies and gentlemen to the final chapter of this tour. After this analysis you wont hear from me again. So here it is our massive adventure crunched into numbers....enjoy

17 Countries

Mexico (19 nights)
Cuba (12)
Belize (3)
Guatemala (7)
El Salvador (1)
Nicaragua (2)
Costa Rica (12)
Panama (1)
Colombia (16)
Ecuador (16)
Peru (18)
Bolivia (18)
Chile (3)
Uruguay (1)
Argentina (19)

57 Places visited (nights)

Mexico
Mexico City (2), Oaxaca (3), San Cristobal (2), Palenque (2), Campeche (1), Merida (1), Chichen Itza (1), Cancun (1), Playa del Carmen (1), Tulum (3)

Cuba
Havana (6), Trinidad (3), Vinales (3)

Belize
Caye Caulker (3)

Guatemala
Flores (2), Lanquin (3), Antigua (2)

El Salvador
San Salvador (1)

Nicaragua
Granada (2)

Costa Rica
Playa Tamarindo (2), Monteverde (2), Santa Theresa (3), Montezuma (1), Playa Hermosa (3),

Panama
Panama City (1)

Colombia
Cartagena (5), Taganga (1), Tayrona National Park (1), Medellin (4), Salento (3), Popayan (1)lcan

Ecuador
Tulcan (1), Quito (4), Galapagos Islands (5), Cotopaxi (1), Baños (3), Cuenca (2)

Peru
Mancora (4), Lima (3), Rio Bajo (2), Cusco (3), Inca Trail (4), Puno (1), Isla Amantani (1)

Bolivia
La Paz (6), Cochabamba (2), Sucre (4), Potosi (2), Yuyuni (1), Salar de Yuyuni (2)

Chile
San Pedro de Atacama (2), Santiago (1)

Uruguay
Colonia del Sacramento (1)

Argentina
Salta (5), Iguazu Falls (3), Buenos Aires (4), Mendoza (4)

More stats

69 Different beds
150 Nights
8 Nights spent on a bus

Transport

47,112km Distance travelled (according to our maps on the blog)
1.2 If circling the Earth we would have done 1.2 laps

11 Planes
45.75 hrs Time spent on planes

57 Buses
285.5 hrs Time spent on buses

23 Minivans
66 hrs Time spent on minivans

6 Bikes
16 hrs Time spent on bikes

11 Boats
16.5 hrs Time spent on boats

2 Jeeps
25 hrs Time spent in jeeps

2 Trains
4 hrs Time spent on trains

1 Hire Car
9 hrs Time spent in hire car

1 Cattle Truck
3 hrs Time spent in cattle truck

1:11 min My fastest time on 3 card draw Solitaire
1:13 min Fi's fastest time
44 My world ranking for iPhone Solitaire....that's actually world record.

Stuff we´ve broken

8 Sunglasses (Chris x 5, Fi x 3)
1 Nikon Camera UV Lens
1 Acer Laptop
1 Snowgum jacket
1 Remington Beard trimmer
1 iPod headphones
1 iPod screen
3 Socks
1 T-Shirt

Opinion Pieces

Now to my opinion pieces. The question you always get asked when you travel...where was your favourite place? i plan to be prepared for this question, but how do you compare a city to a natural wonder? you just cant....so here are my rankings in categories!

Cities
1. Buenos Aires - Argentina
2. Cartagena - Colombia
3. Havana - Cuba
4. Medellin - Colombia
5. Quito - Ecuador
6. La Paz - Bolivia
7. Salta - Argentina
8. Santiago - Chile
9. Panama City - Panama
10. Lima - Peru
11. Mexico City - Mexico
12. San Salvador - El Salvador

For those interested Fi´s rankings were 1. Havana 2. Cartagena 3. Buenos Aires

Colonial Towns/Smaller Cities
1. Cusco - Peru
2. Oaxaca - Mexico
3. Antigua - Guatemala
4. Baños - Ecuador
5. Flores - Guatemala
6. Sucre - Bolivia
7. San Christobal - Mexico
8. Colonia del Sacramento - Uruguay
9. Potosi - Bolivia
10. Campeche - Mexico
11. Granada - Nicaragua
12. Cuenca - Ecuador
13. Cochabamba - Bolivia
14. Merida - Mexico
15. Popayan - Colombia
16. Puno - Peru
17. Yuyuni - Bolivia
18. Tulcan - Ecuador

Nature based venues
1. Inca Trail - Peru
2. Galapagos Islands - Ecuador
3. Salar de Yuyuni - Bolivia
4. Iguazu Falls - Argentina
5. Volcan Cotopaxi - Ecuador
6. Salento - Colombia
7. Mendoza - Argentina
8. Lanquin - Guatemala
9. Vinales - Cuba
10. Monteverde - Costa Rica
11. San Pedro de Atacama - Chile
12. Palenque - Mexico
13. Isla Amantani - Peru
14. Rio Bajo - Peru
15. Chichen Itza - Mexico

Beaches
1. Gardner Bay - Galapagos Islands Ecuador
2. Post Office Bay - Galapagos Islands Ecuador
3. Cayo Jutias - Cuba
4. Mancora - Peru
5. Playa Hermosa - Costa Rica
6. Caye Caulker - Belize
7. Tulum - Mexico
8. Santa Theresa - Costa Rica
9. Tayrona - Colombia
10. Taganga - Colombia
11. Playa Tamarindo - Costa Rica
12. Montezuma - Costa Rica
13. Playa del Carmen - Mexico
14. Cancun - Mexico
15. Trinidad - Cuba

Countries
These rankings were extremely tough, but after much deliberation here it is. Note - The bottom destinations are probably a bit stiff due to us spending less time there than others.
1. Colombia
2. Ecuador
3. Costa Rica
4. Mexico
5. Argentina
6. Peru
7. Bolivia
8. Cuba
9. Guatemala
10. Belize
11. Chile
12. Uruguay
13. Nicaragua
14. Panama
15. El Salvador

Accommodation

If you are ever heading to any of these parts of the world make sure you get in contact with us as we have more extensive information, particularly regarding accomodations. Fi has kept a very informative spreadsheet that we can flick to anyone.

Anyway as i love ranking everthing here are the top 10 places we stayed out of the 68 different hostels/bnbs/hotels etc. For the sake of this exercise i have left out the Sheraton Hotel from Iguazu as it had a slight advantage over the others.
1. Loki Hostel - Mancora Peru
2. Black Sheep Hostel - Medellin Colombia
3. Mundo Joven - Cancun Mexico
4. La Serrana - Salento Colombia
5. The Secret Garden - Cotopaxi Ecuador
6. Molles del Portezulo - Salta Argentina
7. Yolanda Hotel - Cartagena Argentina
8. Casa Verde - Sucre Bolivia
9. Hostel Chapula - Tulum Mexico
10. Abracadabra - Santiago Chile

And finally...People i would like to thank

Carlos, Illiana & Michele our amazing hosts in Havana;
Myles (UK/Havana) for hooking us up with Carlos and helping us find our feet in Cuba.
Sas, Caity & Charlotte (AUS) our Tulum buddies;
Team Saffers - Glenn, Jess, Steph, Camilla, Pete & Laura for all the fun in the sun on Caye Caulker, Flores, Lanquin & Antigua;
Our number 1 roommate - Jess (AUS) our Caye Caulker & Flores companion, as well as our roomate in Lanquin & Antigua;
The darkest white man on Earth - AJ (AUS) for our fun on Caye Caulker & Flores
Fiona & Amy (UK) the young guns from Flores, Lanquin & Antigua;
Phil & Kirst (UK) - the newlyweds who climbed up extinct volcanoes with us in Antigua & Lanquin;
Chris & Helen (UK) - our bike riding & surfing mates from the mountains of Monteverde to the beaches of Santa Theresa, Montezuma & Jaco;
Amy (Can) - our Colombian fun in Medellin & Salento;
Olly & Leah (UK/Bondi) - for the best few weeks ever in Ecuador. Galapagos, Quito, climbing Cotopaxi and Baños wouldn´t have been the same without you!
Richard & Susan (UK) - the birdlovers who made Galapagos a ball with their great jokes (Richard) & wonderful company (Susan);
Terry & Bec (UK) - good times and rum parties in Baños, and La Paz;
Hoops, Mick, Belinda & Nicole (Gippsland) - for making the Inca Trail a blast, and the afterparty even bigger in Cusco;
James & Andrea (Aus) - our tour buddies throughout different parts of Peru and Bolivia;
Mackenzie and her mum Nikki (NZ/Syd) - Also our tour buddies.

Thanks to you all. Each of you helped make our trip truly memorable. But the majority of you probably also are to blame for making a bus trip the next day that little bit more painful after

Righto....that´s all folks! Hope you have enjoyed the blog, most importantly at least now i will remember the stuff we have done.
Good on you Fi, you were a good companion...where are we going next?

Chudd out

The final bus trip of our journey to date was possibly the best. A magical trip across the Andes from Mendoza in Argentina through to Santiago in Chile was truly spectacular. Didnt feel like a bus ride at all. This has got to be the world´s best border crossing?

So our stay in Santiago was short. Just the one night. Everyone we had met and spoken to hadnt exactly been of the highest praise for the place. We must have been there on a good day. The sun actually shone through (something i think doesnt happen to often here), the people were extremely friendly and helpful, and the place has plenty to see. So here it is..our last day of action.

Fi and her latest photo shoot

After five months of travelling, its safe to say that Fi has accumulated her fair share of crap. Some of which are some of your presents people. Anyway was funny watching her trying to close her bag for the final time this morning.

So thats all folks. The next blog will be the highly anticipated statistical analysis.

Mendoza is the heart of the mighty Argentinian wine industry. Hundreds of wineries are all set in the desert conditions of Mendoza with the most spectacular backdrop from the nearby snow-capped Andes range.

Basically we have drunk a heap of wine...some of the best you will ever taste. We were staying with a French couple who run a winery out in the valley of Mendoza. Stefan took us out on a winery tour of some of the best in the region. I started swirling my glass like a pro, and pretending i could smell stuff in each wine.

One place even tapped straight into the barrel for us....fresh

The next day we hired a car and headed up into the Andes. One of the most spectacular drives you could ever do. I spent the whole time shitting myself avoiding trucks and dickhead Argentinian drivers, but once we got there it was worth it. Dont even think the pictures can do the scene justice.

Saw the naturally formed Inca Bridge

and got right up and close to some 6000m+ mountains

Our hosts cooked us up a traditional Argentinian Asado....(BBQ meat). Didnt realise that they cater 1kg of meat per person. Seeing Fi wasnt on the meat that night, that left Rog and i with a fair bit of work to do...Probably shouldnt have had a steak sanga for lunch.

Didnt want to waste too much stomach room with salad.

Rog washed it all down with a traditional tea...Matte.

Anyway after eating pretty much a quarter of a cow i woke up the next day somewhat dehydrated and bloated...pretty sure these symptoms are natural. But we had some more sights to see in and around town.

Rog getting down and dirty all for the art of photography

He was later spotted in this Crimestoppers ad.

And those 4 great days in Mendoza bring us to the end of our Argentinian adventure. A 6 hour bus ride through the Andes would see us wind up in Santiago Chile...the dreaded last stop on this amazing adventure.

Next blog.....the highly anticipated stats sheet...yes you guessed it, as if i could go away on a trip without a detailed statistical analysis. All will be revealed in the final blog, as well as my equally interesting opinion pieces which will reveal my rankings of every place we have visited! get excited!!

You would have heard of Uruguay...that country we knocked out of qualifying for the World Cup. Remember Aloisi?

Anyway i couldnt leave South America without donning my Socceroos top and seeing if the people of Uruguay had long memories or not.

So we caught the ferry across from BA to Colonia del Sacramento, a beautiful small seaside colonial town an hour across the river. This place has got to be one of the world´s most picturesque places...a photographer would love this joint.

Rog caught a good shot of Fiona's Spring 12 fashion shoot

How freakishly long do Fi´s fingers look as she just fingers the fruit out of my sangria?

Found an old extinct bullring

And Rog found home in an underground wine cellar.

Anyway that was all for our Uruguayan adventure...the next day we were back on the boat to BA, before jumping straight on the bus for Mendoza.

London, New York, Paris....sometimes a city blows your head off with just how much amazing stuff is around. Buenos Aires was one of those places. What a city. The oldest and grandest of buildings, parks galore, a statue on every corner, markets, music and about 1000 of the finest meat restaurants you could ever choose from.

There are heaps of dogs roaming around, and consequently heaps of dog shit...this one got the better of me.

ok...to my loyal readers i may have created a song and dance about Salta being the last market i would have to visit on this trip now that Roger was with us. I was wrong. Turns out BA has a Sunday market that cant be missed. I swallowed my pride and followed the keen Fiona and the not-as-keen Roger to San Telmo for the Sunday markets. As it turns out my final market was by far the best. About 2km worth of stalls on a cobble stone street in the heart of BA's city with actually very good stuff, not just your usual crap hand-woven bracelets being sold by hippies.
Bit of art, bit of music...all in all a good day out.

The next night, was nearly our last....and im not shitting you. Enter...the Argentinian Football Experience, or lack of football experience.

Riverplate v Tigre FC

For pretty much the entire trip the only thing i wanted to do was go to a football match in Argentina, and finally the day had come. The ways you go to the football in Argentina are you either
a) pay a bloke $100US for a ticket he is scalping outside the ground,
b)pay a tour company $1150US to take you to the game and i think for the extra $50 you get a hotdog, or
c) catch the rattler to the game, walk in the dark to the stadium, and then roll in.

We went with option C.

We didnt see any football.

We nearly died.

Turns out Riverplate and Tigre are on the same train line, kinda like Richmond v Hawthorn back in the day im guessing, so the train was our first mistake. Singing, bashing, a little scuffle, and a few warm-up broken bottles were smashed on our carriage as we arrived at the station.

Next move was a 10 minute walk in the dark, following the crowd and the stadium floodlights...so far so good.

The final turn into the street the stadium was on and all of a sudden we were in a war zone. The biggest collection of broken glass ive ever seen in my life, gangs of people everywhere and riot police everywhere. On horses, shooting shotguns everywhere. There were empty shotgun canisters everywhere...god knows where the bullets went. Next thing a hoard of police were running at us pointing in the opposite direction and without thinking about it we were off.

The scene was so crazy i didnt even stop to get a photo for you my loyal readers. However the newspapers the following day covered it for us. Turns out that 30 police were wounded including the police chief...good on him for being in the front line.

The only action shot i have of Fi and Rog. Sorry its hard to see but basically in Spanglish Fi is asking how the hell we could get out of there.

Anyway the next day we were still alive and that was very good. The sun came out, and we checked out some more of BA´s finest sights.

After all the push ups and tipping cars over in the football riots, Fi is really starting to see some results. You go girl.

Caught the bus out to a most interesting part of BA...La Boca. Famous for its brilliant football club (Maradona & that prick Tevez being among their legends) and the amazing stadium "The Bombonero" housed in the heart of the working class Barrio that is La Boca.
The place is interesting, colourful, run-down and scary at the same time. A bizarre part of town.

Next stop we decided to jump across the border by boat to Uruguay and check out Colonia del Sacramento.

It was with great excitement that Fi and i caught the old shuttle bus out to the airport at Iguazu, but not to catch a flight. We were greeting Fi´s dad Roger who was to be joining us for the last couple of weeks of the trip. Fi must be totally sick to death of me after 5 months because she was pretty excited about seeing Rog.

So Iggy Falls...a natural wonder of the world, and for a good reason. If i dont see another waterfall in my life then i wont be fussed. The biggest. tallest, widest and most powerful waterfalls you will ever see. For those of you wondering how it works, its basically a shit load of water coming in from all angles and dropping 100 metres to the river below, an awesome sight.

After 5 months of backpacking and slumming it up we hit a bit of luxury in Iguazu. Thanks to some very generous family members we spent a couple of nights in the Sheraton Hotel with a room overlooking the falls. It was truly amazing, watching the falls from our balcony, listening to the falls roaring all night, but most importantly running around the National Park each morning before the hoards of knobs (tour groups) arrived.

We started off by checking the view out from above.

The next couple of days were spent walking around the park, checking out every possible angle of the mighty falls.

Reasonably pointless sign i would have thought?

Roger´s new "go to" pose?

We did a boat trip that basically took us right in and under the falls. We got absolutely soaked, and its safe to say that our pissy little $1 ponchos from Peru were friggin useless. (Note - for the record i am quite aware of the little tuft of hair over my forehead that makes me look like Kenickie off Grease)

On our final day we walked out to Tres Frontiers, which basically is a point in the river system where Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay all meet. So the significance of this photo is basically over my left shoulder is Brazil, and over my right is Paraguay..neither of which we visited.

Next we were off on an overnight bus to Buenos Aires. I like to get comfy on these buses...but new boy Roger didnt let me get away with this pose.

After a few months booting around Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia it is with great relief that we have landed in Argentina, and with it we feel back in civilization. The ripping city of Salta was our first stop in Argentina, and if this is anything to go by then Argentina is going to be a sweet way to finish the trip.

Ran up 1000 steps to check out the town views

Visited the local shopping centre and found this great food court where you can drink beers and wine, as well as a joint selling 12 different kinds of steak dishes....in a shopping centre!

Bottle shops where you can sit in and drink a bit of your bottle, then take the rest away. All great Argentinian wines, and all under $20.

The best impulse buys section of a supermarket ever...beers!

Some sweet street art around

Seeing that Fi's dad Roger is meeting us on Wednesday this should signal the end of me having to go to markets. Yee ha

After an overnight bus we will be across the other side of the country at Puerto Iguazu gearing up to see the Iguazu Falls and the silver fox Roger.

After our wonderful few days travelling 4x4 through the Salar de Yuyuni we crossed the border and landed in the desert town of San Pedro de Atacama, Chile. The little dirt roads were aligned with mud-brick shops, bars and restaurants which had not taken away from the cool, desert vibe of this little place. We spent a couple of days riding around, climbing up dirt mounds and checking the place out. And down at 2500m it was a welcome relief from the altitude of the past couple of months.

Next we were off to Argentina and the North western gem that is Salta.

Our last few days in Bolivia were spent on the famous 3 day tour of the mighty Salar de Yuyuni. The tour saw us head from the south of Bolivia through 11,000 sq km of salt flats and desert and into Chile. No need to crack to many funny jokes here as this was one of the highlights of the trip so far.

Day 1 saw us head through the magical salt plains. Thirty odd 4x4 vehicles flying across miles of white flat salt plains. No roads, just choose your own path. Made for some pretty cool photos...

The first stop on the trip was the train cemetary. The old train line has been down for a while, but the train carcases let us crawl all over them and make for some fun photos.

Stopped off at a small village and copped a local football match. You will never hear me complain about the standard of the top oval at McKinnon SC again.

Back in the old Landcruiser and onto the mighty salt flats for some creative pics.

Next stop was a random island in the middle of nowhere that had heaps of my favourite plants on it...cactus. Cost us bloody $4 to get on the island, but it was worth it as i was a little average feeling and used the toilet 3 times.

The first night we slept in a hotel completely made from salt.

Day 2 and we were back on the lack of road again and travelled through some amazing spots...really felt like we were in the middle of nowhere

The landscape changed from salt plains to desert...all the while surrounded by white capped mountains and volcanoes. A geography teachers wet dream.

Eventually we came across some lagoons full of the mighty flamingos. Very impressive sight indeed.

Fi found the world´s biggest broccoli.

Now i will be honest with you, i dont know much, but i presume a little bit about how females piss, but this sign turned everything i know on its head. Is this possible? Is that what happens?

Our last night was spent in the coldest place ive ever been to in my life...Laguna Colorado, and its -12 degree heat. (Apparently it was -25 the other day). Freezing cold, but a beautiful place known for its bright red lake.

After waking up and thawing out we were off for the final leg of the trip, the geysers. At 5000m it is officially the highest point of our trip and also our lives. These geysers are massive gas explosions resulting from the volcanic action going on under the surface. We are saying that 3 months after the disappointing volcanoes in Guatemala we are finally seeing some action.

The last part of our trip was a relaxing soke in a thermal pool at 4900m. The volcanic action below heats the water to a lovely 30 odd degrees whilst everything outside is freezing. Was lovely whilst we were in it, but nearly lost a ball when out of it.

And that was the end of our amazing few days...next stop Chile, and its famous desert oasis - San Pedro de Atacama.

After a couple of months at altitude you would think that heading to Potosi would give us no concern at all. That is actually the case except between the hours of 3-5am every night in bed when my body decides i cant breathe. Anyway im yet to die from it.

Potosi is famous for its working silver mine. A tourist attraction sees you head deep down into the mine whilst the poor miners are working down there. A couple of factors lead to us not heading down there.

1. I dont want to see a mine
2. I like oxygen
3. I dont like asbestos
4. Beaconsfield mining disaster
5. Chilean mining disaster

Anyway the town itself is definitely nice enough in its own right to earn a visit even if you dont go crawling 100m underground.

Climbed a church tower

Fi on her way to fulltime veggo

and it wouldnt be a blog without some more doggie loving...

next stop Yuyuni and the famous Bolivian salt flats tour.

After that horrid overnight bus trip we made it to sunny Sucre. This place is a little gem on the Bolivian map and we spent a good week here enjoying the sun, and avoiding the altitude that we had copped for the past month and a bit.

Fi with an equally impressive lion mane?

And me and my sweet new Bolivian stylish do...she had a picture of Christiano Ronaldo...it was never going to end well...lucky it cost $3

The latest craze in Sucre for when you cant choose between pizza and lasagne...Pizzaña

(got to use that ñ key again then...so exciting)

On the Sunday we were horribly lucky enough to head off for an hours drive through the country side to Tarabuco and see its wonderful sunday market. If i was to compare this market to the 1000 other markets we have been to, i would rank it as somewhat in the middle. However it was good to see a very rural and indigenous community in the Bolivian highlands.

Who is actually in the market for one of these bad boys?

Had these two little tackers wrapped around my finger...didnt trust their jelly though so no sale...sorry

But without a shadow of a doubt, the highlight of the day came courtesy of some good old fashioned animal cruelty. From a distance it appeared these dogs were having some kind of weird kinky animal loving. However upon closer inspection they were actually attached. Yes these fully grown dogs were somehow siamese twins (despite being different breeds maybe) that were attached laterally at the hip. Was disturbing to watch as one dog wanted to walk one way, and the other was dragged along. The most messed up thing we have seen on this trip.

The following day we were off on another inca trail, this one not as famous as the big horse trip in Peru. Just a little day hike through the rainbow coloured mountains out of Sucre. At the end of the hike we were to see some dinosaur footprints, something we hadnt done before recently.

As mentioned previously the end of our trek saw us stumble into something we have never seen before...dinosaur footprints. Apparently they have been here for a while but that didnt stop us getting all around them.

That brought an end to our great week in Sucre, next we were off to the highest city in the world...at 4090m i was probably in for some more shit sleeps.

So this was one of those places where i looked in the lonely planet and it seemed ok, but then it didnt say in the book that it was friggin miles out of the way, the roads were rooted, the bus trip was shocking, and lets be honest there wasnt really much to see at all.
Having said all that the city of Cochabamba was quite a nice little town to walk around (for an hour or so).

Anyway the big drawcard bringing tens of people to this town is a very impressive statue up on the hill overlooking the town. Its a big version of old JC. To make it more impressive, this statue is actually bigger than the one in Rio that is so so famous.

Well that was about it for Cochabamba. Next stop was a horrid overnight bus to Sucre, one we thought wouldnt take that long when looking at the map....until we felt the road underneath us....

La Paz is dizzying in every respect, not only for its well publicised altitude (3600m), but also for its quirky beauty.

Heard that before? Thats cause its straight out of the Lonely Planet, but a great opening line i wanted to use.
We have used our time in La Paz to recharge the batteries after a crazy few weeks in Peru. Even managed to catch a couple of movies whilst here with our buddies James and Andrea. The movies with subtitles of course. My question for you is though, if you go and see a movie that is half in English and half in Italian with Spanish subtitles then what the hell do you do when the Italian bits are on? Thankyou Woody Allen for this gem.

But it hasnt all been putting the feet up...quite the opposite actually. Our highlight so far being the Gravity Assisted Mountain Bike tour down the world´s most dangerous road - ¨Death Road¨. A crazy 60km bike ride that takes you down from 4700m to 1100m in altitude at adrenalin pumping speeds...just dont look over the edge!

The adventure begins...

The last thing you want before Death Road is a shot of 90% alcohol to get the blood pumping, but tradition is tradition so we obliged.

This monument was built to remember all the Paraguayan prisoners of war who died whilst building the road back in the day. They have had the last laugh as way more Bolivians have since died on the road they built.

An example of one of the many many crosses that litter the road. Sometimes you even see a group of 20 or so crosses from when a bus went over.

And finally...we made it and had survived the world´s most dangerous road!

What they didnt tell us what that half the adventure was surviving the bus ride back up the road...hairy stuff indeed.

The next few days were far more tame as we checked out everything La Paz has to offer.

Moon Valley was a strange place indeed. Just a bunch of rocks really, but quite an interesting place to visit anyway.

Went to the Cholitas wrestling on the Sunday night. Was pretty excited about the prospect of watching women´s wrestling, was slightly disappointed to see they werent the greatest athletes going around. Picture watching WWF which is lame enough in its own right (sorry Killer), then make it 1000 times lamer and you have what we witnessed. Some funny moments in there though.

But the bus ride up and back was worth it just for the view overlooking La Paz.

The next day we stumbled across the infamous San Pedro Prison. For those who havent read Marching Powder (what have you been doing), this jail is a corrupt haven where inmates create, sell and traffic the purest cocaine going around. They also run cafes and restaraunts in there making life in the slammer really tough indeed.
As with every person ive ever met who has been here, we had a crack at getting in. Loitering around watching the goings on at the front gate for ten minutes or so before the following exchange with a machine gun clad security guard.

Guard (in Spanish)- Is there something you are looking for?
Me - Yeah we were just wondering if we could come inside have a look around, maybe chat with some inmates and try a bit of your cocaine.

• Note - my response was both performed in English, and inside of my head

We quickly sped off around the corner...but yes we tried to get in.

Back to the real La Paz...

This Coke machine says ¨The machine of friendship¨cause you need a mate to boost you up to get a drink.

Righto after a week of fun in La Paz we are heading off tomorrow to Cochabamba. Adios amigos

After leaving behind Cusco our bus took us to Lake Titicaca. The highest navigable lake in the world at 3800m, as well as the best named lake in the world!

The trip saw us first head out the floating islands. A bunch of man-made reed islands which was great to see, but one of the most tourist driven theatres you will ever see. Right down to ten ladies in traditional dresses waving our boat goodbye and at the same time chanting ¨Hasta la vista baby¨. But it was still worth seeing the islands and homes they had made and live in.

This kid either had pants on that were too big, or he had a surprise coming for mummy.

Tourists dollars go far on the islands, couldnt help but notice the irony here

Fi went into the magic tent

and out she came

After the theatre show on the floating islands was over, we were off a few hours down the lake to our home for the night, Isla Amantani. This was way more traditional and authentic experience for us with the indigenous people.

Found a rare Andean 5 legged donkey. This ones name was Foonge.

Climbed up the top of the hill on the island for a cracking sunset.

This was our home sweet home

That night we had to dress up in traditional clothes and head off to dance with our host families. Was easy for the blokes we just had to chuck on a poncho. Fi got the full treatment as a girl. The old lady we were with was ripped and was nearly tearing my arms off with her powerful moves.

On the last day we travelled back to Puno via another small island community of Isla Taquile.

And that was the end of our unbelievable Peruvian adventure. That afternoon we were off, it was earlier than planned, but it was to avoid the following days planned teachers road blockage of every highway in Peru. (Insert joke about teachers whingeing no matter where you are in the world).

Next stop Bolivia....Breathless in La Paz.

Possibly the most anticipated part of our trip was upon us, our 4 day hike on the Inca Trail. Joining Fi and myself for the 4 days were 4 Gippslandians (dont hold that against them) in Mick, Hoops, Nic and Belinda; Team Belgium (family of 4); our guide Santiago; a cook and another 12 or so porters to carry my stuff.

Bright and early on day 1 we rose to a wonderful sunny day...excitement was building.

And we were off

The first day was reasonably easy, but just so spectacular.

Day two was always going to be our toughest. We were to climb to 4200m up massive steps. Basically we were chewing on anything with coca in it. Even chewing on the leaves straight until our mouths and throats went numb...weird feeling, but it helps open up the lungs.

Think this is my new mountain climbing ¨go to¨pose.

Finally we made it to the top and it was worth it!

And down to our campsite...Our tents had exclusive views of the toilet block, but these other people hit a winner.

Day 3 was without a doubt the best day of the trek. Congratulations to Fiona for changing her clothes on day 3, i ran with the same getup. A couple of passes in the mountains, and just hurting your neck looking around at the views. I will let the pictures do the talking.

Im going to Inca hell for this photo

Our last campsite was next to Little Machu Picchu...just a teaser for the following morning.

Then on day 4 we were woken at 3:50 and on the road in the pitch black. In a couple of hours we would be passing through the sun gate looking down on Machu Picchu.

After overtaking every single person on the trail the team caught the first glimpse of Machu Picchu. Excuse the way we look, it was 6:30am

We actually managed to capture the first sun rays hitting Machu Picchu in the morning.

The next few hours were spent exploring Machu Picchu, along with about 4000 other people. Just too many people, wrecked it a fair bit. My suggestion would be to reward the hikers with a few hours of peace in the morning before the day trippers are allowed in. Whilst walking around Machu Picchu i came up with this gem that i shared with the group.

If i dont know a person, then i automatically hate them¨.

That quote was followed up perfectly, and ironically moments later as this knob got his iPad out to take a photo of an ancient ruin.

Deep i know. Anyway managed to get the following pics without too many knobs ruining them. Despite the people, it really is one of the best places ive ever visited in the world.

The Incas are famous for their smart engineering feats, however this creaking wooden bridge we found and walked out on over a cliff wasnt their best work. Found out later someone toppled off it weeks earlier.

So there you have it. Some of the best 4 days of the trip so far. Spent with great people and plenty of laughs. Next we were back to Cusco for an after party, then off to Lake Titicaca (hehe).