Mishaps

We are now in the airport, waiting to check in to return to England. Whilst travelling there have been a few things that have happened that we didn't mention. Here is the list, in no particular order.

Ben was bitten by a dog, (so far, no rabies)
Rachel was thrown off a stallion
A taxi drove off with our stuff in it...without us
Our bus was attacked by locals throwing stones...only one window was broken (not ours)
Ben was electrocuted; twice...in the shower
Had to run out of a mine in Potosi, due to a medium sized rock fall on the pathway out
We were ill for 10 days in La Paz
Rachel got stuck in a geyser
Ben fell of a (small) cliff


There are certainly more, but this is all we can remember right now. We are both in one piece (each), and look forward to seeing you all very soon.

Oh, and we got engaged as well! but that´s not a mishap, that was on purpose.

Landscapes

So, this trip is coming to an end, and the next adventure is about to begin. We have just returned from a 4 day hike to Machu Picchu, and I was thinking about some of the amazing and varied scenery we have seen. I thought I would put a few pictures up. Pictures speak a thousand words, but no words can descibe how stunning these places were in real life!

First time in the jungle.

Waterfalls.

Thousands of kilometers of flat Pampas.

Close up to a glacier on a mountain top in Patagonia.

Pumice desert and geysers.

Patagonian lake district from on top.

The ocean at Penisula Valdes, Argentina.

Salt flats in the Altiplano.

The colourful hills of Jujuy.

We are on the road again in 5 mins, from Cusco, to La Paz, through Bolivia down to Cordoba in Argentina. Should take two or three days. More landscape pictures to continue. Thank you mum and dad for your parcels for the kids! Good bye Cusco.

Written in Argentina

drinking in the last minutes of
golden sunlight, like a tea
thick with honey

grass almost shimmering
warmth on your face
seeing the world through
glistening eyelashes

lapping in the luxury of the
comfortable, creamy sunlight
a soothing balm after
burning heat f day

the long shadws put the
grasses to rest, stretching
long across the fields
like blankets.

Sunrise - a new dawn

This weekend we went to the edge of the andes to watch the sunrise over the Peruvian rainforest. Although it meant getting up at 3am, and a lot of mountain roads it was well worth it. The sunrise photos seem like an apt oppurtunity to announce that Ben will be attending Imperial to complete a PhD in quantum optics in the autumn, and Rachel will be attending Oxford Brookes, and studying Midwifery. A new start we are looking forward to....after a bit more travelling and more volunteering!

Jumping for joy! with two fellow volunteers.

Spinning in the sunshine!

Well, it was quite romantic!

Two fellow volunteers on a hill top watching dawn break over the Amozan.

Squint and you can see not one, but three suns rising! Tres Cruses is know for this stunning effect, and it's beautiful sunrises. Things you can't tell from the photo are that the birds are singing, a hidden river is trickling down the mountain, and the intense feeling of life on the hills and in the jungle below.

The happy couple!!

Bolivia in Pictures

Well, it has been a while since our last blog, and since a picture tells a thousand words, we will be catching up through photos, enjoy! Double click to see the pictures properly.

River crossing on a two day horse riding trip in the rural area around Tupiza, South Bolivia.

Prepared to go into the local miners tunnels in Potosi. Miners work with hand tools and a hammer for pittance in attrocious conditions, a pretty eye opening experience which will make us thing twice about buying precious metals and minerals.

It is market day in the small town of Tarabuco. Indiginous poeple travel from nearby villages on foot and bus. It is bananas!

Locals sitting around during a talent competition in Tarabuco. A moment of realisation when you look up and you are in a crowd of Bolivians in traditional dress.

Our escape from La Paz, surrounded by the Cordillera Real.

The view of lake Titicaca from Copacabana, a cool pleasant evening after the bustle of La Paz.

Bolivia from lake Titicaca, paddling by a reed bed on a day's kayaking trip...that resulted in burnt hands and very tired arms.

Adios Argentina, Hola Bolivia

Today is border crossing day. We are crossing from La Quiaca, Argentina to Villazon, Bolivia. The scenery and culture has already changed lots since Patagonia. The north of Argentina has more women in traditional Argentinian dress (A knee length skirt, blouse, apron, cardigan, two long braids with beads at the ends, and a wide brimmed hat), the food contains more corn, the markets are full of andean potatoes, and there is more and more llama wool and handwoven tapestry handicrafts. It is also getting colder at night, although the sun is very strong at this altitude during the day, (today we are at 34440m).

We are travelling with a friend we met at Mama Roja now, (did you spot her in the pictures in yesterdays blog?) and it is nice to be three people, all with different favourite things to do and see. The trip will definitely be richer because of it!

Gracias Pachamama

We have just arrived in Purmamarca (Jujuy, Argentina), and opposite me is a small pink peak with iron red, copper green and basalt grey stipes diagonally down it. on the right hand side of the mountain, it looks like the ancient temples of Petra, but carved by the wind and the rain. Below the mountain and to my left is the old colonial town of Purmamarca, and in front of me a veil of trees. I am sitting on our bedroom doorstep, and there is a similar view from bed.

Our journey here was no less amazing. We left Salta at first light this morning with two other people and a guide, from where we headed west into the Quedbrada del Toro (gorge of the bull). A wide gorge where the tren de las nubes begins its long climb to Chile. In its own microclimate, their are no clouds in the gorge, just mountains towering 1000 meters each side. Within 10 minutes the flora has changed too, from shrubby trees to giant cacti; some over 450 years old and 9 meters high. We soon arrived in a Quechua village of about 80 people. They farm llama, Alpaca, sheep and vegetables, and make handicrafts. Raquel has a beautiful handwoven shawl. A few hundred meters above the village of Santa Rosa de Tastil are pre-Incan ruins -- granite stone walls standing about a meter high. They start just below a small peak and once you climb over the brow, you can see that they extend continuously down the other side to cover 11 hectares! Behind them, the gorge continues into the distance with its lush green floor.

We climb out of the gorge over our 2nd highest pass at 4000m and into the puna. As we do so we glimpse the snowly 6380 peak of Chani. The puna in Chile is called the altiplano, or high plateau and it is a wide flat valley that lies at 3400m and extends all the way to La Paz.

We pass through the mining town on San Antonio de los Cobres and on through the puna towards the salt flats for lunch. One of the other members of the group goes all wobbly halfway there. It may have been the altitude, or he may have forgotten to breathe whilst sleeping in the back of the car. Everybody else is fine. The salt flat emerges as a white band on the horizon, and as we draw closer mirages begin to appear all around. This cracked white flat gritty surface is stunning; quite literally as you can´t see a thing, it is so bright and it is hot. It is fine to walk with your eyes closed though, because there is nothign to walk into.

After tuna mayonese sandwiches and a sprinkling of dubious cream cheese we head out of the puna. Storms are brewing over the highest summits as we climb to our highest point of the day, the Paso de Jaman, 4170m. Ben wanted to run to the nearest peak to get a better view, but there wasn´t enough time or oxygen. Just the other side, the clouds are thick down to 4000m where we suddenly view the road that winds down another 2000m to Purmamarca, 30km away.

The scenery changes rapidly as we descend to red rain cut mountiains. Thousands of thin eroded spurs look like a gothic chessboard army. As we arrive in Purmamarca the colourful rocks erupt out of the ground. There are about 7 contrasting shades of rock, all in one view. The quaint little hostel we are staying in is at the back of the town and our bedroom is 5m abouve the courtyard, on the side of the hill. Midway through writing this two people arrived from apparently nowhere: a trail leads up behind our room over another colourful rocky ridge, which makes a hoorseshoe around the town. What a gerat place to be our home for the next few days.

Thank you Mother Earth!