From here we took a boat trip to the Isla del Sol, where we visited ruins, saw objects recovered from under the lake where they think there may have once been pre inca settlements and touched a sacred puma (it was a rock that supposedly looked like the animal, it just looked like a rock to us but we touched it for good luck anyway...)

It took over three hours to trek from one side of the island to the other but it was worth it for fantastic views of the lake.

See photos - http://picasaweb.google.com/trevallion74/Copacabana

written by  billyandsophie on June 15, 2008 from Copacabana, Bolivia
from the travel blog: South America
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We were about to leave when the lead singer invited us to dance in the video. Sophie decided to forgoe her shot at Peruvian pop stardom to video Billy dancing uncomfortably. (Billy here - it only started feeling uncomfortable when the lady singer stopped dancing to start singing a love song up close to me, whilst I had to carry on dancing on my own).

See the making of here - http://www.dailymotion.com/trevallion/video/x5ucx8_making-of-a-peruvian-pop-video-part_fun , http://www.dailymotion.com/trevallion/video/x5ud1k_making-of-a-peruvian-pop-video-part_fun

The next day we took a boat across Lake Titicaca to visit the floating islands of Uros, over forty islands made of reeds and anchored to the bottom of the lake. We visited Chupi: an island named after the flower from the reeds that form an essential part of life for the inhabitants. The reeds are used to built the base of the island as well as the houses and the boats. They also eat the inside of the reed as well as using it for fuel. From the president of the island we learnt that neighbourhood disputes were quickly resolved by simply removing the anchor and floating until finding more suitable neighbours. In a similar way island disputes were resolved by carving the offending household away from the main island! We rode on a traditional reed boat across the lake to another floating island.

In the afternoon we visited Taquile, a Quechuan community where you can tell the age, social and marital status of the inhabitants by the style of their hats.

For pictures - http://picasaweb.google.com/trevallion74/Puno

written by  billyandsophie on June 12, 2008 from Puno, Peru
from the travel blog: South America
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Day Two: Soph woke up feeling sick and felt progressively worse throughout the morning. Despite this we completed the most difficult part of the trek, uphill all the way for 5 hours. Whilst Billy tried out Quinoa soup and freshly caught Trout from the Urubamba river, Sophie laid down in the shade and had a special herbal tea made by the porters to combat sickness. Continued trekking in the afternoon and Sophie left her mark on the trail by puking in the bushes.

Day Three: A day of steady trekking and the opportunity to see two important Inca sites. Chilled out at the campsite that was very much geared towards travellers, complete with a bar and cheesy 80s music.

Day Four: Up at 4.30 am in order to get to the entrance of the final pass of the trail. An easy trek led us to IntiPunku (The Sun Gate) from where we got our first glimpse of Machu Picchu still slightly shrouded in darkness, but beautiful all the same. Close up views we really spectacular, better than any postcard could ever do it justice. Our guide showed us the Temple of the Sun, the royal tomb, the Temple of the Water, Temple of the Three Windows and the Principal Temple. We learnt that an American botanist thought he had discovered Machu Picchu but on clearing the forest to reveal the site he found that a local man had in fact found it, graffitified his name on it, but failed to declare it in order to steal priceless artefacts. Whilst Billy took the full guided tour, Sophie crouched behind a rock feeling sick. She was rescued by a park official and spent the rest of the day in the toilet. (She still thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience).

For pictures - http://picasaweb.google.com/trevallion74/TheIncaTrail

For video - http://www.dailymotion.com/trevallion/video/x5qxfk_inca-trail_travel

written by  billyandsophie on June 5, 2008 from Cusco, Peru
from the travel blog: South America
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Visited the ruins of the Sacred Valley. Ollantaytambo was particularly impressive with it's huge terraces, temples and even Inca fridges.

For pictures -

http://picasaweb.google.com/trevallion74/Cusco

http://picasaweb.google.com/trevallion74/TheSacredValley

written by  billyandsophie on June 2, 2008 from Cusco, Peru
from the travel blog: South America
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The city of Arequipa lies in front of the El Misti volcano which is still active.

From here we trekked the Colca Canyon (the second biggest canyon in the world, the Grand Canyon is the third). The sides of the canyon are made up of ledges which the local communities use as farmland. Huge Condors can be seen in the mornings searching for food. The three day hike was challenging as it was mostly uphill but we were rewarded half way through when we visited an oasis town where we were able to swim and sunbathe. The last morning woke up at 2.30 to trek uphill in the dark but it was worth it when we reached the top of the canyon as the sun was rising.

We then rested our legs in the thermal pools of Chivay.

On our last day in Arequipa we visited the market to sample a local delicacy: a drink made up of egg, evaporated milk, vegetable extract/ tonic, fruit, stout and honey! It filled us up and made us feel slightly woozy.

For pictures - http://picasaweb.google.com/trevallion74/Arequipa

http://picasaweb.google.com/trevallion74/ColcaCanyon

For video - http://www.dailymotion.com/trevallion/video/x5mvn0_Colca-canyon-2_travel

http://www.dailymotion.com/trevallion/video/x5mvj8_Colca-canyon-1_travel

written by  billyandsophie on May 27, 2008 from Arequipa, Peru
from the travel blog: South America
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Also visited a church designed by Eiffel and walked to the top of the cliff to see a statue of Christ that marked the end of the War of the Pacific.

More pictures - http://picasaweb.google.com/trevallion74/Arica

written by  billyandsophie on May 25, 2008 from Arica, Chile
from the travel blog: South America
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Visited the nitrate ghost towns of Humberstone and Santa Laura. Saw the geoglyphs (symbols scraped onto the mountain sides thousands of years ago). Some of them had a religious significance but others such as the ones showing groups of Llamas are thought to have been a kind of shop sign!

Visited some more thermal springs but these ones had caves to swim into. They were very dark which meant you had to feel your way through them. Unfortunately Billy mistook a rather large man for the cave wall! Needless to say we didn´t stay very long!

For photos - http://picasaweb.google.com/trevallion74/Iquique

written by  billyandsophie on May 20, 2008 from Iquique, Chile
from the travel blog: South America
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Arrived in San Pedro de Atacama, an oasis town in the Atacama Desert. Got up the following day at 3:45 am to visit the Tatio Geysers, which are hot pools of steamy water caused by volcanic magma underground. It was 10-15 degrees below freezing (pretty cold), but it was worth it to see the huge steam clouds and feel the water bubbling under our feet.

Also visited Death Valley and Moon Valley which look like they sound, saw the sunset and the moon rise almost simultaneously (this only happens when its a full moon), then took great delight in running down a huge sand dune like a couple of kids.

For photos - http://picasaweb.google.com/trevallion74/SanPedroDeAtacama

written by  billyandsophie on May 18, 2008 from San Pedro de Atacama, Chile
from the travel blog: South America
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We visited the Humboldt National Park from here. This is home to one of the smallest species of penquin which only lives in this region. The penquins were incredibly cute, jumping belly first down the rocks, although a highlight for us was the large community of sea-lions that posed for photos and sounded like Chewbacca. We were also lucky enough to see dolphins jumping out of the water.

http://picasaweb.google.com/trevallion74/HumboldtReserve

La Serena has a museum which houses on of the few Maoi outside of Easter Island. The museum acquired the Maoi by accident. Originally the Maoi was donated to La Serena by the president at the time and resided in a local park for many years, (for drunks to pee on!). It was then moved to be part of an exhibition in Barcelona and suffered decapitation during shipping. The insurance money from this paid for it to be restored and to have a special home built for it in the museum. The crack in its neck hardly shows.
Also in the museum are mummies and shrinken heads from Pre-Incan times, one in particular looks like Billy with a hangover/the guitarist from Gorrilaz.

http://picasaweb.google.com/trevallion74/LaSerena

written by  billyandsophie on May 17, 2008 from La Serena, Chile
from the travel blog: South America
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Spent a couple of days in the Elqui Valley.

We visited a collection of bugs, butterflies, fossils and spiders. The beetles were particularly gruesome, some bigger than your hand, with giant pincers and feelers. Reassuringly several of these are found in Peru and Ecuador, we shall look forward to that!

We experienced an earthquake which lasted around twenty seconds and made the windows shake, however it was quite mild compared to the one we recently had in England. They have them all the time in Chile and no one batted an eyelid.

The Elqui Valley is home to the oldest Pisco distillery and the largest Pisco co-operative in Chile. We visited one of the plants and tasted their new lines.

In the evening, we visited the observatory at Mamalluca where we got to see close ups of the moon with its seas, craters and even the American flag. We also saw Saturn, its rings and one of its moons as well as Mars and a number of constellations.

http://picasaweb.google.com/trevallion74/Vicuna

written by  billyandsophie on May 17, 2008 from Vicuna, Chile
from the travel blog: South America
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