Bolivia & Peru - Inca Royal Highway Sep 18 - Oct 10, 2009

A little backstory before diving into the marvelous countries of Bolivia & Peru...

I recently moved form my hometown of Winnipeg, MB to Edmonton, AB for one reason: to travel. Growing up, I always knew that I wanted to find the kind of work that would offer the opportunity for travel and after years of odd jobs, each consecutive one more in tune with the ultimate job I wanted, I finally hit it big when I was hired to work for Trek Escapes (now called Adventure Center) in May of 2008. Trek, and now Adventure Center, specializes in adventure travel tours to worldwide destinations. As an employee of the company, I work with this product on a daily basis anwering questions about the destinations and the tour operators whose product we sell, so naturally, it is to our benefit to have personal experience in the many places we sell. Included with this new job of mine is a sponsored trip, once a year, to one of the many exciting destinations we sell! Peru was my first foray into the world of adventure travel. Being one of our best selling destinations, I thought it would be a good choice and I wasn't wrong! One year and four months since starting my new job, Peru is becoming a reality for me!


September 18, 2009

I like to consider myself a fairly well travelled individual, having lived in Pakistan and Ghana as a child I was exposed to foreign cultures at a very young age and as such am a little surprised that I'm nervous about this trip to Peru! I figure part of it has to do with the fact that I'm embarking on this trip solo. In the past I've always had friends or family by my side, but this time I'm all on my own, venturing towards a continent I've never stepped foot on before and encountering a new culture that I have no past reference for. I did the due diligence and borrowed a few books from the library to fully educate myself on the people and places I would be encountering, but going it alone for the first time was a little daunting!

It didn't take long for those nerves to subside, because in the course of a journey one is never truly alone. Coupled with the preparations I had made for my arrival, I also had my insticts and common sense along which, when used with a calm mind, can go along way! I also encountered many friendly strangers on this trip, the first one being my seatmate on AC80 from Toronto to Lima. She was an American originally from Peru and in speaking with her she offered me some tips and insights about Limae which I was grateful for! She even gave me her personal cab driver's number in case I needed a trustworthy ride somewhere! Fortunately I didn't need to call him, because I pre booked an arrival transfer with Exodus, the tour operator I would be exploring Peru with. And in spite of our flights delayed arrival the Exodus rep was still waiting for me as I got into the arrival area of Lima's modern airport. Dan, another Canadian I met while getting off the plane and going through customs tagged along with me and my ride to the Miraflores area of Lima where I would be staying for the night at the La Castellana Hotel. The 45 minute ride from the aiport to Miraflores was my first glimpse of Peru, and while Lima itself isn't the most beautiful of cities, driving along the coastal cliffs into Miraflores was quite pretty, even in the night fog! After settling into the hotel my new Canadian friend and I explored Miraflores and found a place to taste our first Peruvian beer and toast to an enjoyable time in Peru!

September 19, 2009

This morning I said so long to Dan and met up with some of my Exodus tour mates for the first time. Lima wasn't actually where our tour would begin, we had to make our way to La Paz, Bolivia.

So once again, an Exodus rep escorted us back to the airport where we caught an afternoon flight to the Bolivian capital, the highest capital in the world at 3600m! Our flight over the Andes allowed us our first glimpse of Lake Titicaca from the air, in a few days we would be on the shores of this enormous lake, but first La Paz! We were met in La Paz by our tour leader Rob and his assistant Jose, and they immediately whisked us into the bowels of La Paz, literally! La Paz is situated in a deep bowl between mountain ranges and it's quite an impressive sight as we descended into the city from the outskirts of the city. Upon arrival at our hotel in the city we were literally left breathless by the altitude as even a short climb up the hotel stairs left even the best of winded! This was about the extent of my battle with the altitude as over the next few days I adjusted to the lower levels of oxygen without many side effects, some of my tourmates were a bit more adversely affected but not terribly.

Our tour officially began that evening in La Paz at the Hostal Naira, with a detailed briefing by our knowledgable guide Rob. He owns and operates the local tour company Exodus used for this particulare overland trip in Bolivia & Peru (http://www.smallgroupadventures.com.pe/) and as a Brit living in Peru he was able to anticipate all the questions and concerns we as North Americans and Europens would have about visiting South America. He pretty well answered any questions we had before we were even able to ask him any! He was very personable and as we would later find out, his ability to relate to and converse easily with the many Peruvians we met along our travels,would come in handy!

Our group totalled 12 passengers, ranging in age from 18 - 60+, most were from the UK, I was the lone Canadian and our youngest group member was from the USA. We had a father/son duo, three couples, and the rest of us were solo travellers. Rob took us out to the Luna Cafe, a local restaurant near our hotel, for dinner that first evening where we all started to get to know eachother Everyone was very keen to begin our explorations of Bolivia and Peru and having this as a common element meant we all got along fairly well. That's the beauty of travelling with companies like Exodus, most of your fellow travellers will be like minded and ready for some adventure.


September 20, 2009

Today we began our first and only full day in La Paz. After a sufficient breakfast of yogurt, cereal and toast in the hotel restaurant followed by our first taste of Coca tea (meant to aid in digestion and altitude acclimitization), most of us opted to take in a city tour of La Paz that Rob arranged for us through a local guide. Gary & Dan, the father/son duo of the group, opted to try something a bit more thrilling, they cycled the famous "Death Road" of Bolivia http://www.gravitybolivia.com/. While Gary & Dan went careening down a mountain road, the rest of us got to know La Paz a bit better. We visited the Presidential Plaza, the Museum of Bolivian History and headed up to a look out point for sweeping views of the city and it's surrounding mountains, including the majestic Illimani. Moon Valley was also on our agenda for that day, our tour through it's dry hoo doo like formations was our last stop before heading back to the city centre. La Paz is an interesting mix of spanish colonial influence, modern technology and an older native culture. The traditional "Cholitas" are everywhere and native beliefs still persist. While exploring the witches market we came across many interesting items meant to assist in healing or fulfilling desires. The overarching theme was the "Pachamama" or mother earth deity who watches over planting and harvest. This deity seemed to mean more than others as is it was more prevalent than any others, like an overall protector. This cultural connection and reverence towards the earth is inspiring, I think western culture has gotten so lost in the world of technology and modern comforts that we forget to remember there are greater forces at work in this world. The markets offered their interesting cure-alls, however I was drawn more to the woolen products the Andes are famous for. The alpaca wool products here are better even than anything else I encountered later on in Peru. I was a little sad this was our first stop, I couldn't really stock up! These alpaca wool scarves, hats, mittens, socks, you name it, were soft and colourful and I wish I could have purchased more! They were very affordable and practical souvenirs that are very indicative of the Andean region.

September 21, 2009

Our time in La Paz came to an end early this morning, as we had a long day of travelling ahead of us. We were transferred up and out of the city towards the airport where Rob had his pride and joy shined up and waiting for us. This would be our first of many days in his refurbushed overlanding truck. If anyone in the group still felt like they didn't know their fellow travellers very well, this would soon be remedied, as we spent hours together on that truck! As the driver Rob sat in the front main cab with Jose however this was separated from the back portion of the truck where the rest of us were, so Rob had wired a buzzer into the truck, so if we wanted to stop for a photo op or bathroom break, we just needed to push the little buzzer! We had some interesting and fun experiences on board that truck!

Now ladies, I know you're wondering...is there a bathroom on board the truck? Unfortunately not! Bathroom breaks consisted of stopping on the side of the road in an area that offered some kind of hiding spot for the women to do their busniess. More often thn not this usually was merely a tuft of grass or shallow ditch. Some towns we drove through offered a public restroom, but as can be expected in developing nations, they were not always clean. One would also have to pay a few soles for the luxury of using a private facility, albeit the toilet itself was not always spakling clean, there was no toilet paper provided or even a toilet seat for that matter! This seemed to be the case everywhere we went!!

Moving along...today we sped along a well maintained highway through the Bolivian countryside towards the Peruvian border. It took about an hour to arrive at the border, where we were required to complete immigration paperwork. It took about an hour for the whole group to get processed and then we were on our way again. Having crossed the border, we were now an hour behind Bolivia. A local guide by the name of Enrique had also joined us at the border crossing, he would be escorting us during the next few days of our journey.

This simple yet powerful message I found quite moving.

















































Having now spent the


























Most people visit Peru with the ultimate goal of seeing Machu Picchu, and while I was excited to see this historic arechological marvel, my three week trip covered a lot more during my time there I came to discover the other facets of this country that make it a diverse and fascintating place to visit