What a tiring climb to reach...Machu Picchu & its mountain ;-)...but worth the effort!

Dear all... After a hectic bus trip between Puno and Cusco where we had the most dangerous overtaking of this one year trip (very close to an accident), we arrived in beautiful Cusco!! There are so much to see & do here... Lots of Inca ruins but it is worth noting most of the Inca stuff were replaced by Catholic churches and cathedrals built by the Spaniards... Very nice as well but shame the Inca heritage is now barely visible in the old Inca capital...however there is one thing the colons didn't find... And stayed intact... The famous Maccu Picchu which was built by Incas around 1450.. This site was visited by an American called Bigham Hiram in 1911 and he convinced National Geographic to come back to do a full expedition & take more pictures for the world to discover this WONDER of the World... And it worked!! Since then millions & millions of people went to see Maccu Picchu... And we can say now we are one of them!! We decided to climb to the site from Aguas Calientes starting at 5.30amish with hundreds and hundreds of stairs... Waouhh...so tiring! We were very fast as well as we were very keen to arrive... But when we arrived... Big queue with all the people who came by bus:( A bit frustrating!! But we soon forgot this to watch the sun rise above the East mountains and to lighten up Maccu Picchu slowly! What a great time!! We then had the great idea to climb the big mountain above Maccu Picchu which is called Maccu Picchu Montana... And this was not a piece of cake especially after the morning climb!! Anyway after 1hour and 20 minutes and a tiny bit of water left, we reached the top of this mountain!! We were spoilt with a great view all over the mountains, glaciers and Maccu Picchu which looks tiny from the top... And there you realise how crazy it was in 1450 to build such a city on top of a mountain and entirely made of rocks!! It is so cleverly done with water drainage system, irrigation, agricultural terraces...etc that you think we would have had a lot to learn from the Incas!! As you can imagine, this was a special day even if the site is full of tourists (2500 per day currently and up to 6,000 in July)!!! We took the panoramic train back to Cusco very very tired but the head full of nice pictures!! Cusco is the perfect place to relax and enjoy proper Peruvian food (llama meat, fried guinea pig, ceviche, quinoa salad...etc) as well as our usual standards (lamb kebab and lots of other great burgers...ahahahah)! Check out our pics under the usual sections: Bolivia/Peru, Portraits, Foodies and See and Contact Us.

Next stop is Cartagena in Columbia and the Caribbean coast.. Can't wait to feel the heat and swim in the sea... It's been a long time now we haven't been to the beach... Well 2 months since New Zealand!!

La Paz, Titicaca lake & its islands...and Peru..here we are!!

Dear all,

Here are a few pics on our few days in La Paz, which is impressive by its design and organisation. One part of it, including the airport, is at 4,000m high, on a "plato", and the other part down a valley, which is full of houses that are well built within the mountains. From the plato, you could enjoy a very impressive view on the city and the very famous mountain called Illimani which lays at 6,439m high in the background. We then headed to the Titicaca lake which is well known to be the largest highest lake at roughly 3,900m high. As a record, for the past 4 weeks, we have been living at around 4,000m high so when we will go down, we should be fitter than ever ;-)..Anyway, we enjoyed Titicaca, and its islands such as Isla del Sol, in Bolivia and a few others like Uros and Taquile in Peru. Check out our Portraits section to understand more the inhabitants of Uros who live on floating islands... So far we dont see any difference between Peru and Bolivia apart from the fact that the food is even better ;-) here in Peru...We are now in Cusco and we should understand more about about the Incas culture and history in the next few days. We will be updating the blog after our trip to Machu Picchu...As usual, please visit our standard pages like Bolivia/Peru, Portraits, Foodies and See & Contact us. Take care. Guillaume & Agnes

Amazonian jungle near Rurrenabaque: anacondas, caymans, piranhas, river pink dolphins, various monkeys...and thousands of mosquitoes ;-)

Dear all,

Waoooh...from La Paz at 4000m high and 5 degrees celcius, we arrived in Rurrenabaque with a tiny plane (almost as tiny as in Nepal) with around 15 seats....at 200m high and 35 degrees ;-) What a shock but how nice to feel in a tropical environment again...So we went there after being advised that we could go and see the Amazonian jungle & pampa...and what a delight! Different kind of monkeys, beautiful birds like toucans, caymans & alligators, pink dolphins, anaconda, giant ants eater, piranhas etc...etc...To tell you the truth, the jungle can also be a nightmare especially between 6pm and 9pm ….because of the bloody mosquitoes ;-) My bum, for example had 50 bites easily (how stupid it is to take a shower at 6.30pm on the first night ;-) and thus looked like the world map. Agnes had the chance to swim with the famous Amazonian pink dolphins, that are far bigger, softer than the standard ones but also with a longer and thinner nose...Granted dolphins were playing, they also bit Agnes who had to go to the hospital to check for potential infections. We also enjoyed fishing piranhas before eating them, hunting for anaconda...we found a 3m long one which is the biggest we could find there (the bigger ones are in Brazil). Worth mentioning that we had a great 5 days there together with a bunch of Frenchies (Laura & Cecile in their 25s), Rosbeefs (Alex & Dave in their 19s) and Australian (Martin who was 36) guys...Fort more pics, check the usual sections: Bolivia/Peru, Foodies, Portraits, See and Contact Us. We are currently in La Paz and are heading to Titicaca and Peru tomorrow. By the way we will be in France early July and in London mid-July). Agnes found a great job in her former company and will start end of July. Me, I am still looking into joining back my former company/group...so fingers crossed! Take care and see you soon! Guillaume & Agnes

2 weeks in Potosi, Sucre and Cochabamba...3 Bolivian cities...with a strong historic heritage!

Dear all,

For the past two weeks, we have had the chance to relax in three Bolivian cities which all had or have an importance in Bolivian history: Potosi, Sucre and Cochabamba. Potosi is well known to be the highest city in the world…between 4,070m and 4,300m high, but also for its silver mine called Cerro Ricco and also the “Mountain that eats men alive”. For the past 500 years, 8 million men (including African slaves died here). Finally Potosi is famous to have produced the local and colonial coins in the XVIII century. During the boom years, Potosi became the wealthiest and biggest city in the Americas. Sucre is considered as the most beautiful city and symbolic heart of Bolivia. It is namely where independence was proclaimed…If La Paz is the well-known capital, Sucre is the nation’s capital as written in the constitution. You will see in our pics some great ensemble of white washed buildings…including “La casa de la libertad” where the independence was signed in 1809. Worthwhile mentioning that you will find a 1km area with 12 million years old dinosaur foot prints near Sucre, which is considered as a world heritage…Finally, Cochabamba, is currently one of the booming cities in Bolivia, being the second largest city behind La Paz. For the past two weeks, we have been eating all our dinners with two food lovers who are Carine & Kai…(as you may remember we met them two weeks ago during our trip to the Uyuni salt flats & See our portraits sections) and to tell you the truth food in Bolivia, both local and international, is very good…We have namely enjoyed big pieces of meats and meat fondue ;-)….In Cochabamba, we met my ex-colleague, Anthony, and his wife, Chris, who are both doing a world trip for 2 years….well done you two (see our Portraits section)…Anyway, we very much like Bolivia…we thought it would be kind of Nepal in terms of development but clearly not at all. See more pics in the usual places: Bolivia/Peru, Portraits, Foodies and See and Contact us. Tomorrow we will head to the Amazonian jungle to try to spot some caimans, piranhas, anacondas, and pink dolphins…hehehe..the adventure continues...even if it is closer and closer to its end...

Our fantastic journey to Bolivia and its Uyuni Salar salt flat!!!

Dear all,
After a week in San Pedro de Atacama in Chile and a total of one month in this country, we headed to Uyuni in Bolivia. What a great trip! We shared a jeep with 4 other people, one 24 years old Deutch called Ton, one 46 years old Austrian called Paul and a lovely couple from Bristol, Carine (who is actually half French), 23, and Kai, 29. This part of Bolivia (Southwest) is an awe-inspiring collection of diverse landscapes ranging from the blinding white salar of Uyuni salt flat to the geothermal hotbed, a ground that boils with minerals and the extraordinary colors spectrum of the various lagunas, red for one of them, full of flamingos, and all of that up to 4,600 m high. The first night, Paul & Kai were actually very sick due to the high altitude and both of them had to use the oxygen bottles…The following day, we drove to a lower altitude and everything went fine for them and we kept enjoying our trip all together going from one place to another, with fantastic and breathtaking landscapes throughout our trip. We finally arrived in the famous Uyuni salar…We enjoyed a beautiful sunrise on top of an island overlooking this giant and white salar salt flat…what a special moment for all of us! As usual, please check our pics in Bolivia/Peru, Portraits, Foodies and See us.