Dispatches from South America

I´m now in Buenos Aires and will be flying to Lima in Peru tomorrow. I can't wait for 2 weeks for the approval of my Bolivia visa, so I'll have to change the whole plan of my trip now and only concentrate in Peru. Will return to Argentina and visit Iguazu Fall at the end of my trip.

10 Aug, Florida, Buenos Aires

Will be going to Huaraz tomorrow which is not originally in my plan. I´ve tried again with the Bolivia embassy in Peru and hopefully I can get my visa stamp in Puno in 10 days time. It seems possible as I´ve just met the Bolivian embassy officer along the street in Lima. He said hi to us and reconfirmed that he had faxed our application to L Paz.

12 Aug, Lima, Peru

Spent the last 2 days touring the area. Joined their local tours but didn´t understand most of the things they said in Spanish. Just for sight seeing and taking some pictures.
Will be returning to Lima tomorrow and catch a flight to Cusco to see Machu Picchu.

15 Aug, Huaraz, Peru

Arrived in Cusco this morning and the hotel that I'm looking for is full. Have to carry my backpack and gears walking up the steep slopes to look for alternative accommodation. Luckily I've no problem with the altitude. Cusco is very cold.
Will be head to Machu Picchu tomorrow.

18 Aug Cusco

Just got back from the awesome Machu Picchu yesterday. We spent 2 days there relaxing and looking at it.
The hostel whom we have booked through the travel agent changed our room without informing us and left the window open with all our belongings inside. We got back and got a shock and immediately changed to another hostel which was much better.
Will go to the Sunday market at Pisac tomorrow and then proceed to Puno on Monday

21 Aug, Cusco

Got diarrhea yesterday night and am now feeling rather weak, cold and a bit of headache. Things move more slowly today.
Will be taking a bus to Puno tomorrow.

22 Aug, Cusco

Took the beautiful van journey to Puno yesterday. Didn´t have time for lunch. Felt tired and suffer from some mild AMS.
Arrived in Puno and spent about an hour looking for hostel as most were fully booked.
My wife suffered from stomach upset during the day and had a bad diarrhea throughout the night. The diarrhea started to hit me this morning and had a slight headache. Headache was better now after drinking some Coca tea.
We cancelled our trip to the floating islands today to take a rest for our weak and tired body.
Just got our Bolivia visa approved and are now deciding if we should extend our trip to take in the sights of Bolivia, especially the Salt Lake of Uyuni.

24 Aug, Puno

Just came back from 2 days trip to the 2 islands in Lake Titicaca. Along the way to Amantani, we had a short visit to the very commercialized floating island. When we reached Amantani, it was an actual island and we have to carry our backpacks and climb up the hill to the hosting house. Imagine at 3800m, just recovered from 2 days of diarrhea and without proper breakfast, we were practically out of breath. And that was not all, after lunch, we took an hour hike up to the mountain top for the sunset. With 5 kg of camera bag, we were the last among the group.
The next day, we went to the next Taquile island which also involved a steep hike up the hill. We realized that my fleece pants was left in Amantani.
We will be going to La Paz in Bolivia tomorrow.

26 Aug, Puno

Lake Titicaca is indeed more beautiful from the Bolivian side. The journey running alongside of the lake is beautiful with snowcap mountains as the backdrop. Bolivia, especially La Paz, is also cleaner with less rubbish, debris and dust than its northern neighbour.
It is rather sad that I don't have much time for Bolivia as I've to fly back to Buenos Aires from Lima on the 30th.

27 Augusto, La Paz

Just returned to Puno from Bolivia. Had been having a running nose and a sorethroat since the last 2 days. Didn't trek nor take a boat trip to the Sun Island in Copacabana. This is indeed a waste that I didn't get to appreciate the lake from the Bolivian side.

29 Aug, Puno

I'm now back home safe and sound after 1 month in South America.
Started to develop into a bad cough when I returned to Buenos Aires.
LAPA, the domestic airline which we were supposed to fly with to Iguazu Fall, crashed at the domestic airport the night before. The whole domestic airport had thus closed down and we didn't know about it until a kind soul informed us while we were waiting fruitlessly for the bus to the airport. We went to the LAPA office to verify that our flight was still operating and took a US$40 taxi, rushing down to the international airport for the AUSTRAL flight. The whole airport was in a mess and our flight was delayed for almost 3 hours.

Iguazu Fall is indeed beautiful and impressive but lacks the bright blue sky for postcard pictures. Nor is it misty enough for the moody type of pictures.
When we were about to take a bus to the Iguazu airport for our return flight to Buenos Aires, we were told that the airport had shut down and was not operating. We had take an 18 hours butt-breaking bus journey back to Buenos Aires for another 25 hours of flight back home.
It rained on our last day in Buenos Aires. We managed to get a refund from LAPA just before we catch our flight back home.
The whole trip was full of screw-ups. Well, we were in South America!

7 Sep, Singapore

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