Did we say the journey was supposed to be 21 hours? Well it turned into an epic 38 hours in total! The bus left Lima at 330pm on the 21st July and we rolled into Cusco some 38 hours later on the 23rd July at 530am. The journey started well enough as we left Lima and we were given a nice dinner a few hours later. It wasnt until the bus stopped somewhere at 130am that the problem started. At first we thought they were changing drivers. Then we thought the drivers were maybe having an hours rest. Then at 7am we got off the bus to find we were stuck in the middle of hundreds of other coaches and lorries on a twisting dirt road. We eventually found out the road ahead was blocked by protesters. Apparently this happens a lot in Peru and this particular road had been routinely blocked over the past few weeks. Basically we were stranded with no idea of when we would be able to continue our journey. Luckily some local women had cooked up some food and had stared to sell it to anyone who was hungry. As well as this one of the truck drivers had opened the back of his truck and had started to sell the fruit he was carrying. So none of us were going to starve!
At around 5pm we heard loads of noise from the bottom of the road and could see some movement. The protesters had ended the block and had disbanded coming up the road in numbers chanting and painting all the coaches and lorries with slogans. They all seemed happy enough though and as they passed we all boarded the bus again and slowly re-started our journey. The rest of the road was quite bumpy and full of twists and turns. While Sandy slept I had started to feel quite sick and had a banging headache. When we eventually arrived in Cusco it was 530am. We got a taxi and went to the same hostal we had pre-booked with for the previous night in the hope that they would still have a room for us. Luckily they did and the guy was very nice and didn’t charge us for the previous nights no-show, it wasn’t a problem at all. We went straight to our room, unfortunately on the 3rd and top floor, and went straight to bed.
When we awoke we were both now feeling quite sick and lethargic. We went to walk around Cusco to find some place to eat but this was proving to be such an effort. Eventually we realised it must be the altitude! We were now at around 3700 metres above sea level (abs), and bar one crazy night in 1989, the highest I had ever been! We were walking like very slow zombies and it wasn’t until after a forced breakfast that we started to feel OK again. I think the delay on the bus had helped us acclimatise a bit as the next day we felt fine, if still a bit out of breath upon climbing the steep steps around town.
Cusco is a lovely city. OK it is very touristy, but its such a charming place with it’s cobbled streets sprouting from the central Plaza de Armas. You have to put up with the constant hawking of paintings and other Artesan but the hawkers are pleasant and you soon get used it all. The first thing we did was book up on a ‘city’ tour which to my disappointment wasn’t really a city tour but more a surrounding area tour. It took in most of the surrounding inca ruins but was very rushed and included way too many ‘markets’ for our liking. If we were to do it again I think we would do it on our own. This way you could spend more time at the actual archaeological sites (we had maybe 30 minutes tops) and less time at the tourist markets buying Alpaca and Llama hats and jumpers!
Next up we booked a 5 day/ four night trek to Macchu Pichu, taking in the Salkantay pass on the way. This would be the highest yet at 4650m abs! Time to get some rest, it’s an early start in the morning and we’ve got some laundry to pick up…
We landed in a rainy Lima and jumped in a taxi to take us to Miraflores, the borough of the aptly named Miraflores Hostal we had booked into. We were amazed at how busy Lima seemed, and you’d need nerves of steel to attempt to drive here. Like in most places we’ve been to so far, except the US, everyone has to be first and no-one gives way. This seems to extend to walking here as well!
After around 30 minutes we made it to the hostal and quickly settled in. We were told we could only spend the one night as they were so busy, so we didn’t get too comfy. We went for a stroll around the neighborhood and found a big supermarket where we bought our dinner of chorizo, cheese and bread along with a bottle of wine to wash it down with, very civilised!
The neighborhood seemed nice but we were beat so we went back to the hostal and watched some TV in the communal area. At around 11pm the girls working at the hostal brought us a ‘free’ Pisco sour! Now I’d never had one of these concoctions before and what with it being the national drink of Peru I was extremely eager to give it a try! It sure looked good: Lime green in colour with a big frothy head. I was almost put off when I found out this froth was egg white, but it tasted good. They brought us a second soon after and although they tasted good, I’m pretty sure they’re wasn’t much ‘Pisco’ in them, as they tasted remarkably non-alcholic for what should be a rather potent drink!
Next day we met the owner who was a lovely, jolly chap. He gave us way too much information about the local area for us to take in but he did find us another hostal a few blocks away called ‘Inkawasi‘. This was a nice place that felt like a home and we’d definitely recommend both of these places to stay at in Lima. Here we met some lovely people: Timmy from Belgium (who, dear readers, we’ll meet again in Cusco) a French chap who does some kind of Improvisation freeform dancing (we weren’t given a show) a German girl who very kindly gave us books for Bolivia and Chile along with some great tips for the rest of our journey and a few other friendly travelers. On the whole we had a very enjoyable stay here.
Along with Pisco Sour I made another ‘drinks’ discovery. This time a true non-alcoholic drink called Inka Kola. This concoction is luminous yellow, very gassy and tastes like bubble gum. Everyone drinks it here. Families and friends share a bottle over lunch instead of water. Normally you wouldn’t touch anything this luminous for fear of radiation but sometimes you have to make exceptions! I think I’ll miss this bad boy when we leave…
I guess we didn’t really do much in Lima. We spent half a day in the city, which was very busy and covered with road and building renovation works everywhere. We enjoyed walks around Miraflores and along the coast more. They had done extensive renovation work here and created a lot of green space along the seafront. Here there were loads of para gliders hovering in the thermals above and it was quite relaxing to just sit and watch as they circled above. Maybe we’ve missed something about Lima but this was about enough for us and we booked ourselves onto a bus to Cusco for the next day. It was to be a 21 hour journey so we had to get some supplies in and charge the old iPods. We booked with Cruz de Sur which was supposed to be a comfortable ride: Was it? Did we make it? … all shall be revealed in the next installment. Till then dear readers, farewell…
We wanted to see a bit more of Panama so we decided to get a bus to Bocos del Toro and visit Isla Colon, an island in the north. We jumped on a Diablo Riojo (the local buses) and made our way to the main bus station. These local buses are so cheap at around $.30 cents a pop, and all though they are very run down with seats broken etc, they sure look cool from the outside (check the gallery!) and you can’t argue with the price!
The bus to Bocos del Toro was leaving at 9pm and it turned into some thing resembling bedlam trying to board it. We were all waiting inside the terminal before being allowed to pass through the gates and board the bus. When we were finally asked to pass through the gates we found we had to pay 5 cents into the swing gate to enter. We didnt have 5 cents and they wouldnt except 10 cents or a quarter so we had to go back into the main concourse and frantically run around to try and find the change! We werent the only ones though and there was quite a hoard of us ‘gringos’ near begging for 5 cents! A crazy system and if we had been informed before hand there wouldnt have been a problem, still I guess it’s all part of a steep learning curve. If you ever find yourself at the main bus station in Panama, just remember to have 5 cents at ready! After all the commotion the bus eventually left at 930pm and arrived, after an uneventful journey, in Bocos at 730am.
Next up we had to get a boat to Isla Colon that took around an hour. It had started to rain when we arrived so we ran across the main plaza and dived into a cafe to shelter and have some breakie, while also planning our next move. We decided on a few places to try for a room and when the rain eased up we started a walk around town. To our dismay the best of the bunch (in the lonely planet anyway) was closed for refurbishment so we started to knock on doors. The first was a B&B and the lady promised us her place was the cleanest, quietest and best priced room available.
Before she would tell us how much the room was she insisted we have a look as, apparently, we would be amazed. Well we were. But not at the room, of the sheer Gaul of this lady for trying to rob us of $45 for 1 night! This price had come down from her initial $55, which she had immediately, and in the same breath, discounted as she saw our mouths drop and me have to catch Sandra before she feinted! This lady still wasn’t giving up and as we were leaving she called after us to say we wouldn’t find cheaper on the island… Well just two doors up we tried our luck in another place and to our surprise we were offered a double room with private bathroom and cable TV for $25 p/n. After a short discussion they accepted $20 and we settled in. I wanted to go straight back to the first lady and tell her that there was indeed somewhere on the island that was not only nicer, but more than half price cheaper, but after the initial rush of blood to the head decided to let the old lady continue living in her heavily inflated world.
The weather seemed to get progressively worse the whole time we were on the island and there was some good thunder and lightning shows thrown into the mix. We were both disappointed with the island on the whole. There wasn’t really much to do and we didn’t fancy getting another boat off to another island so we just chilled for a couple of days on the rainy island and watched the busy locals go about their business.
The next day we got the overnight bus back to Panama city. This time we decided to stay at the other side of town away from the old town. We stayed at The Voyager Hostal on Via. Argentina, and although it was in a very rundown tower block building, above a Subway sandwich shop?!, the actual hostal wasn’t bad and the lady running the place was really nice. Panama were playing USA at football that night so there was a bit of excitement around the place. We went out for a meal and a few drinks to join the locals. Panama lost 2-1 and there were a few sad drunk faces on our walk back to the hostal!
Tomorrow we fly to Peru and start our South American adventure proper - we’re both really excited now!
The next day we made our way to Miraflores locks on the Panama Canal. This was one of the reasons we added Panama to our trip. The initial idea was to take a full cruise on the canal which takes you from the Atlantic through to the Pacific along the full 50miles of the canal and through all the locks, but unfortunately we had just missed the full tour, which takes place once a month, and also the weekly partial tour, which leaves every Saturday. This isn’t cheap mind, at $165/$115 respectively so this has been added to our ever expanding list of places to come back to. This trip really is turning into a global ‘rekkie’! Continue reading ‘The Panama canal’
We landed at 8am in Panama City after a night flight from LA. We flew with Copa airlines and it was one of the more uncomfortable flights we’ve had so far. A bit harsh perhaps but I think we’re still trying to compare the flights we had with Emirates, which were a different class altogether. Looking back we were really spoilt! But the Copa airline was very basic and it was impossible to get any sleep despite contorting ourselves into all sorts of positions. And they had no booze. Maybe that’s my real gripe! Anyway we made it safe and sound so I shouldn’t complain too much…
We managed to negotiate a taxi from the airport to Casco Viejo (The old city) for $20. Or rather Sandy did the negotiating, she’s become a real lean mean negotiating machine since we’ve been away! It was actually a fair price in the end, they normally try and charge $25-$28 from the airport. First stop was Lunas Castle (a hostel) bang in the middle of Casco Viejo. It’s in all the guide books as being a good place to start so that’s what we did. The only room they had was in the basement and from the looks of it it is only used as a last resort. We took it anyway just so we could settle down and start exploring instead of trudging round town for a place to sleep. Bare in mind we wanted a ‘room’ rather than a ‘dorm’ - they had enough dorm beds to go around but it’s a young crowd in the dorms and we need at least a few hours sleep at our ages now!
So off we went to explore the old town. Right from the start we loved it. It has a ‘Cuban’ feel to it and is a mixture of old dilapidated colonial buildings amongst some very newly, and expertly refurbished ‘old’ colonial buildings! There are also some ‘no-go zones’ but luckily we had our radars on. It’s a colourful town: from the painted local buses (Diablo Rojos) to the painted houses. Ok most are in need of a lick of paint, or in some cases a complete re-build but it all just adds to the character. And the locals seem quite friendly too, which always helps!
Friday night was party night at Lunas Castle and, although we were warned, our room was right next door to the bar. Admittedly we’ve slept through worse and it really wasn’t bad at all, but the room was fairly grubby and extremely dusty so we sought out a different room in the morning. Luckily they had a spare double room upstairs which was a lot cleaner and we could get the wi-fi connection from the room. The only downside was the room was like an oven, despite having two fans. Anyway we didn’t come to Panama to just stay in a room so if anything it was a good omen to keep us outside exploring this wonderful town!
Check out our Panama pictures in the gallery »
What a crazy place! We hadn’t planned to go to Las Vegas but while in LA we thought why not. We booked ourselves onto a 2 night 3 day tour which included a day trip to the Grand Canyon.
What with us staying in Chinatown and booking with a local tour operator, it didnt really dawn on us what sort of a tour we had booked up on. So it was quite funny to be part of a Chinese tour package! Of course the guide spoke English as well but it was a kind of ‘translated’ English and the tour almost turned into a ‘Mickey Mouse tour part two‘ what with all the mix ups and stressed out guides!
A quick question: If you buy a bus ticket, should you have to tip the driver for the journey? It’s just we were a bit myth’d at the extra ‘tips’ that the guides demanded on a daily basis. We tried to explain to them that, to us, a tip was an extra gratuity based on service and shouldn’t be an obligatory expense. Of course this was all lost in translation! At one point the guide actually said ‘but this is America…’, to which we replied ‘…but we’re not Americans!’ Anyway we did tip the guide and driver on the second day after the Grand Canyon tour. This was partly due to them demanding the tip but also as they actually did something for it!
Apart from all that, the whole tour was thoroughly enjoyable. Vegas is a crazy place and at the same time really quite civilised! It’s a 24 hour city with no clocks (purposely??) and it is just way too easy to lose track of time, date and where you actually are! In the Venician plaza there is a permanent blue sky with little fluffy clouds. If you spent long enough here you could easily get disoriented. We were staying at The Riviera, hotel and casino. All the hotels are also casinos. The film ‘21‘ was filmed in parts of it and this is the film the tour bus showed on the way! Though it was hard to follow as the sound was turned down low and the subtitles were in Chinese!
Even if you’re not into gambling, which we’re not, there is still plenty to distract you including my favourite hobby, people watching! There’s so many caricatures walking around that it’s impossible to get bored. We’d definitely go back sometime as it’s one hell of a unique crazy place!
The Grand Canyon was amazing. We stopped at the Hoover Dam on the way, which really is a master feat of engineering. I’m fascinated by dams and their structure. In the middle of the hoover dam is where the border lies between Nevada and Arizona, so we were able to cross off another state on our short stop-over in the USA! After this it was about a 4 1/2 hour journey to the Southern rim of the Grand Canyon itself. It is truly massive and you have to really see it to take it all in. No picture could do it justice. The trip was really rushed and we only had 1 hour to have a look around before making the long journey back to Las Vegas. It was actually worth it but it would have been good to have time to do a trek or something. Maybe next time we’ll do a helicopter ride which was out of our budget for this trip.
Next up, Panama…
We’re back in LA now after spending a fantastic week in San Diego visiting my mate Craig. We took a train from Union Station in downtown LA which took just over 2 hours. We both really liked San Diego: the weather was very nice, hot and sunny (but not too hot!), the people were really friendly and there was loads to do plus it was great to spend time with Craig whom I haven’t seen since he relocated 5 years ago. He and his wife Mi Linda very kindly invited us to stay with them for our visit and we all had a great time.
We went to a baseball game at the Petco park, San Diegos’ baseball team’s (The Padres) home ground. It was a good experience and I actually got asked for ID while buying a beer! Eventually the guy served me after admitting that I “looked like” I was over 30!! I think we’ll definitely go back to San Diego for a longer visit sometime, it’s a great to place to do as much or as little as you like, and you’re almost guaranteed good weather!
So, we’re back in Los Angeles now and we’re staying in Chinatown at the Best Western Dragon Inn. It’s a nice change from the camper van. We have a lovely big room with a bathroom (with bath!), BIG TV and internet connection - so hopefully we can update the blog in-between planning the next move, which will be Panama!
