From Puno we took the detour to Colca Canyon, one of the world’s deepest canyons. At 3,270 metres deep it is spectacular and at the same time very difficult to photograph effectively. The canyon has been inhabited for up to 7,000 years and both sides of the canyon are dotted with villages, clinging to steep... Continue Reading →
Like all tourists who visit this region, we visited the Uros Floating Islands near Puno in Peru. Along with the floating islands, Lake Titicaca also has several permanent islands which each have their own traditions and history. The Uru or Uros are an indigenous group of people from this region of Peru and Bolivia and... Continue Reading →
We spent two and a half weeks travelling in Bolivia. Entering from Chile via the spectacular Paso Ollague/Avaroa then passing through Uyuni, Potosi, Sucre, Cochabumba and on to La Paz, we saw a lot of the western side of the country. The contrasts, the natural beauty, the poverty and the way of life were all... Continue Reading →
The city of Cochabumba is nestled in a fertile valley and at one time was the ‘food bowl’ for a large area that included the mining city of Potosi to the South. Street markets abound in this region, as they do all over Bolivia and as a traveller, they are always a great place to... Continue Reading →
From Potosi we drove to the historic city of Sucre and spent our first full day here on a drive to the mountain village of Maragua on the recommendation of the tourist office. The scenic drive took us from 2,500metres up to 4,200metres via winding dirt roads, carved along the edge of steep mountains. It... Continue Reading →
Our next stop was another silver mining city – Potosi. The road from Uyuni to Potosi was an excellent bitumen road that wound its way up, down and around the mountains and valleys, making it a beautiful drive. Different to Pulacayo, Potosi’s time was over 500 years ago when Spain ruled the region and the... Continue Reading →
The town of Pulacayo and the Huanchaco mine are just 30 kms from Uyuni and we dropped in here on our way to Potosi. It was the last day of a 4 day festival in Bolivia and hence not much was open including here, but we walked around the old buildings and admired the (thank... Continue Reading →
Although as relaxed and friendly as any place we have found in South America, Uyuni in Bolivia is poor with a capital ‘P’. This is reflected in many of the people, the buildings and the infrastructure of a town whose recent, rapid growth has been driven by tourism. A government struggling financially and the severe... Continue Reading →
At over 10,500 square km's, this is one very big salt lake! It is in fact the largest in the world. Over it's expanse, it's average elevation varies by less than a metre! Although, when you get out on the 'lake', it's hard to imagine why parts of it aren't much lower given the number... Continue Reading →
Leaving Calama, we headed north east through the desert for the border town of Ollague, Chile about 190km's away. The road was very good and there wasn't a cloud in the sky as we slowly climbed to about 4,000 metres. The desert kept changing from rocky to sandy, salt lakes dotting the landscape or running... Continue Reading →
Notes from somewhere else... 