Highest peak in the Americas

"He said it was the second highest peak in the world," someone explained. I thought, "No way, what about the Himalayas?" Well, he was partially right. Acancagua, in Argentina near the border with Chile, is the highest peak in the Americas, and the highest peak outside of Asia. It's 6,962m, slightly shorter than Everest's 8,848m. Not sure how many mountains in the Himalayas are taller than Acancagua, but Acancagua is the second highest peak of the seven summits (highest mountains on each of the continents).

We drove through the mountains on our way to Chile. It was beautiful. I kept waiting for the glimpse of Acancagua - I'm pretty sure I saw it and we passed it, but can say for sure which peak it was. The snow-capped peaks were lovely though.

Wine country

Mendoza = wine country of Argentina. Italian (and Spanish) immigrants brought wine making with them to the region, and now wine is exported from here all over the world. Two of the most common grapes are malbec and cabernet sauvignon. In fact, Mendoza is known for its malbec. Apparently, malbec means "bad beak" in French, as the grape didn't really take there. But it flourishes here with the altitude and the climate. You can do wine tours here; by bus, by car, by bike or any other way you can get to the vineyards. I went by bike. Not as crazy as you might think!

Tango

Buenos Aires is the home of the tango. The dance/musical genre originated here (and Montevideo, Uruguay) over a century ago. I don't think a lot of Argentines dance tango, but it's survived and thrived, with lessons and shows throughout the city. We tried it; learned a couple of steps, patted ourselves on the back for remembering the short routine. And then we saw a show. Touristy for sure, but impressive nonetheless. All the kicks and spins and turns! And so fast. Our little steps didn't even begin to compare. It was beautiful.

Poor Niagara

Apparently, when Eleanor Roosevelt saw Iguazu, she said, "Poor Niagara". Indeed. Not the highest falls (that's Victoria) but higher and wider than Niagara, split into over 200 different falls. Iguazu falls lies at the border between Argentina and Brazil, with Paraguay just a little ways away. I could see Brazil across The Devil's Throat. So close.

Salta

When I arrived in Salta, I was amazed. I couldn't believe how European the city looked. I could have been in Italy, or Spain. A large plaza adorned the middle of the town; a fountain within, open air cafes surrounding. It's easy to forget sometimes (especially with the recent financial crisis) that Argentina was once one of the richest countries in the world at the turn of the 20th century. But the cities, the cities remind you.

Desert towns and salt flats

So, my South American adventure has sadly come to an end. It was an amazing trip, and I'll try to sum it up soon. But in the meantime, I'll be posting some more lagging entries. This one is from the Atacama desert - the driest desert in the world. The Atacama lies in northern Chile, its landscape filled with sand, salt and lava flows. Over the border from Bolivia, we drove through the barren landscape, through winding (though paved!) roads, past active volcanoes to the desert town of San Pedro de Atacama. Set in an oasis in the desert, San Pedro was tiny and extremely touristy, with every other shop selling tours of the salt flats, sand dunes, moonscapes. But it was lovely, relaxed and warm. A welcome respite after days of cold.

A picture of the 16th century church in San Pedro.














The main drag:













A lovely fire keeping the restaurant warm as we sipped our Chilean wine.

Jungle photos!

So I'm a little behind in the photos. And it was over a month ago I was in the jungle...but some pictures, finally!

Santiago

Made it to Santiago! After a visit to Valparaiso, the cultural capital of Chile. It´s a picturesque town, with colourful houses perched atop rolling hills. And the ocean. Strolled along the cerros (hills) to one of Pablo Neruda´s many houses and to the open air museum, which I couldn´t seem to find. Only part-way did I realize it was all about the murals along the buildings. There are so many impressive murals on the walls in Valparaiso, I hadn´t realized the ones I´d walked past were part of the museum.

It rained in Santiago yesterday, but today it´s beautiful. Saved my trip up Cerro Cristobal for today, and it was glorious. Amazing views of the city with the snow-capped mountains beyond. Santiago is much more picturesque than I´d expected. It´s lovely.

Bs As Markets

I decided I liked Buenos Aires on my first day. I arrived in the barrio of San Telmo on a Sunday and discovered the market. It's lovely. Filled with stalls selling antiques, overflowing onto the streets selling all sorts of crafts. Performers singing and dancing for the crowds. It reminded me of my old neighbourhood. I even took a picture of a store called Portobello Road. I had to. And in the evening, the bands came out, with drums, and the street filled with dancing..

Steaks Argentina Steaks

I´ve been in Argentina about a week now, and have probably consumed my average annual intake of beef already. It´s amazing. The wine too! Adam, you should probably include Argentina in your South American travel itinerary. And Rowan. No need for vegetables here...unless you want!

Lago Titicaca! Pictures!

More pictures! Peru!

Pictures of our Machu Picchu trip! Yay!

The amazing flight from Lima to Cusco. Taking us to what was the centre of the Incan empire.Our Machu Picchu trek...we really weren´t roughing it.

Salt flats

From Potosi, I hopped on a local bus to Uyuni. Seven hours later we arrived. Later, we heard about an accident with the bus from La Paz to Uyuni. Apparently, the driver was drunk and flipped the bus on the way, in the middle of the night. I don't think anyone died, but it was pretty terrible nonetheless.

Shopping around a little bit for the salt flat tours, we decided upon a tour that pretty much sounded like every other tour. Three days through the salt flats, past lagoons and onto Chile. I'd been prepping for the cold weather all the way; accumulating a multitude of sweaters and other warm clothing that I probably couldn't even wear all at once. But at least I had them. For I was told that it'd be -25 degrees at night, and not much in the way of heating or insulation. I don't do the cold very well as most people probably know...

Off we went in our 4x4 jeep at 10:30 sharp (which roughly translates to 11:30...). Six of us and our driver. I'd heard some horror stories about other tours, with terrible guides and bad experiences. But I think the scenery is such that despite all that you still love it. And it really was incredible. The salt flats were amazing; a vast expanse of what once was a lake but now the largest salt flat in the world (I think). We visited a town where everyone was either involved in harvesting salt or used the salt to create artisanal products. Imagine just piles of salt, and houses built with salt bricks. Then imagine a random island in the middle of this white expanse with cacti that are hundreds of years old. Weird, yet beautiful.

And with this vast landscape we took ridiculous photos, 'cause there was no perspective. So why not? I'd bought my little polar bear in Uyuni. Time for some silly photos. But alas, not enough time for the plethora of stupid pictures I'd had in my mind...

Everything seemed...well...fairly non-suspect with our guide. He was fairly quiet; spoke only Spanish. No problem. But little did we know it was his birthday, and hence his excuse to get completely inebriated. To the point of uselessness the next day. We were lucky; we were able to flag down another tour to help us out, including providing another driver. A driver who liked racing through the desert - but at least he was sober! Our driver was pretty much drunk the entire second day. Despite this, we saw some amazing scenery. Beautiful lagoons filled with flamingos; strange rock formations; volcanoes; lots and lots of desert landscapes. It was cold, for certain, but not as cold as I had feared. I hadn't needed the plethora of layers I had acquired. Oh well.

The final day was filled with geysers and more desert landscapes. And a visit to hot springs, which were wonderful. 30+ degree water in amongst just wastelands and the cold. So worth it.

And yes, I made it over the border. No problems. It was amazing the difference as soon as we entered the Chilean side. Paved roads! And it was warm! Finally!

Cerro Rico

I visited the silver mines in the Cerro Rico today. An eye-opening experience. I'm in Potosi right now, the highest city in the world at over 4000m. It was built on the rich mineral deposits of the surrounding "cerros". Mining's a bit less important than at its height, but there are still about 4-5000 miners working the mines.

So I've done quite a few things on this trip, and some of them not quite as relaxing as a luxury cruise ship in the Galapagos (though the sea-sickness wasn't all that comfortable...), like hiking up to 4700m, then 5300m, biking down the "death road" outside of Coroico, taking epic bus journeys... But nothing compared to this. Guess I had a clue when I signed the disclaimer saying sh*t happens, including "cave-ins", which apparently kill quite a few miners. Almost wished they'd just left it at sh*t happens...

We went into the Cerro Rico, donning our coveralls, hard hats with headlamps and bandanas to keep from inhaling the dust, silicon and asbestos. Lots of miners die after working in the mines from respiratory diseases. Not difficult to see why as I had a hard time breathing down there. Definitely not for the claustrophobic. We scrambled and climbed through the mine, at times on our hands and knees, down a couple of levels, knowing the way out was back the way we came in. The mine we were in went about 70m down and about half a kilometre deep into the mountain. There, the miners work for hours on end without eating; just chewing coca leaves. We met a couple of miners, one of whom had been working the mines for 37 years, starting when he was just 11 years old. (It's technically illegal to work in the mines until you're 18, but it's hard to enforce.) Another miner was hammering a chisel into the rock so he could stick a piece of dynamite in it to blow it up. We were down there for only a couple of hours, and I barely made it. It was tough. Respect.

It´s about time...

Finally, some photos from Peru! Some pictures from our Santa Cruz trek, for now...

Mother Whale

One of the most amazing things I did on this trip was to go whale watching. By far the best whale watching experience I've had. The humpback whales were beautiful and I even saw a couple jump out of the water! Breath-taking.

Here's a photo from that day in Ecuador (I know it's been awhile since I've been in Ecuador but I'm a bit slow with the whole photo thing...). Beautiful.

What´s the capital of Bolivia?

Um...Sucre? No, La Paz? No, Sucre?

So, Sucre is the official capital of Bolivia, but only the judicial buildings are here. Pretty much all of the government buildings are in La Paz. And that´s where Evo is too. So, I guess La Paz is the de facto capital? But 10 points if you said Sucre.

Anyway, I made it to Sucre. I was told it was a great place to just relax for a bit, and it is. Finally getting around to taking Spanish lessons (two months into the trip...about time?). And found the best salteñas around - I could see it being a daily ritual. Maybe in a little while I will actually be able to hablar espanol...

Jungle cold

Am back in La Paz! Made it to Rurrenabaque where I went on a great pampas tour. Saw tons of animals: caimans (little crocodiles), alligators, capyburas (world´s largest rodent?), howler monkeys, squirrel monkeys, toucans, and tons of birds! Sadly, we weren´t lucky and didn´t see an anaconda. But that´s okay. We got to swim with dolphins!

On the not so bright side, I managed to catch a cold. Having a cold in the Amazon isn´t so fun, nor are the mosquitoes and sand flies...So, am back in La Paz for a bit for a little rest and recovery!

Into the wild

Off to the jungle! Heading north to Rurrennabaque and into the jungle...Hoping to see anacondas and crocodiles and giant rodents, oh my!

La Paz La Paz

La Paz. It´s high.

La Paz

Finally left Copacabana, despite a conspiracy by the banks to ensure we never left! (The banks happened to be closed pretty much the entire time we were there, and we had no money - some sad meals were had...) Lake Titicaca was great. The floating islands were super-touristy. And the little island they stopped off at on the Bolivian side was even more so. But the Isla del Sol was beautiful. We saw the old Inca ruins, and the rock were the Sun God was apparently born? It looked like a big rock, but it was pretty? It seems like everything entails a lot of hiking and a lot of hills...we hiked the length of the island (told it would be "tranquilo" but there were hills...lots of them).

Now in La Paz, which is also high and also has a lot of hills...

Copa...Copacabana

We made it into Bolivia. One of the easiest border crossings yet. And we´re still at Lake Titicaca, which apparently means grey (or stone) puma in Quechua (not what we know ´caca´means in Spanish...though it´s still funny...and apparently there´s a Lake Poopo as well? Maybe I am 5 years old. ).

I´ve had the song Copacabana in my head, all the way to Copacabana. Sadly I know but two lines of the song, which doesn´t make for interesting singing. For anyone. We´re off to Isla del Sol tomorrow, apprently where the Sun God was born? Then to La Paz, a dizzying 4000+m above sea level (the de facto capital of Bolivia - Sucre is the constitutional capital). And we also happened to catch the last vestiges of Independence Day partying (6 August), which we also managed to catch in Peru too (27-28 July)! Lots of firecrackers. And music. And random parades!

And as I´m lazy and haven´t uploaded photos, here´s some photos that Adam, who was on the same trek as we, posted: http://adamlawler.blogspot.com/2009/08/inca-trail-lotsa-pics.html! And a photo shamelessly lifted from Adam´s blog above...

Made it!

Survived the Inca Trail and made it to Machu Picchu! It was amazing. And I´m tired. All this trekking is too much for me :). Took lots of pictures (as usual) which I´ll try to post later - though I looked like I had a black eye at Machu Picchu as I managed to get bitten by something which gave me a lovely swollen eye (sigh)...But it was still incredible, reaching the Sun Gate and watching the sun rise over Machu Picchu.

Off to Lake Titicaca next!

Machu Picchu!

Off to Machu Picchu tomorrow, on the Inca trail. Which we learned today we won´t really be on until the third day of the trek or so. (The real Inca trail starts in Cusco, which is about 80 km away...) But it will be amazing! It´s also known as the Lost City of the Incas, which was never discovered by the Spanish conquistadors. It was later 'discovered' in 1911 by American Hiram Bingham. Here´s some more info and pictures of what we´ll see. I´m hoping I´ll be less cold than in the Cordillera Blanca...

Little baby sea lions

At Gardner Beach. How close we could get to the little sea lions!