It’s an early morning bus ride and border crossing, but we are finally in Bolivia, leaving Peru behind. La Paz (which means Peace) is the political and financial centre of Bolivia but not its true capital as most would assume. With its 1.5 million plus inhabitants, it is renowned as the highest city in the …
It’s a early morning wake-up to get ready for our 7 hour bus ride to Puno from Cusco, on the shore of lake Titicaca (pronounced Titihaha). Fortunately, the double decker bus is set up like an airplane’s business class seat which are wide, each with its own TV screen (although all in Spanish) and USB …
Rainbow Mountain is in the Andes mountains of Peru. It is a mountain of seven colours only recently discovered in the mid-2010 once the glacier ice melted off the cap. Our adventure starts at 4:30 am when nine of us are picked up by our guides for the plus 2 hour drive to the mountain …
We are all excited the next morning where we head out to the bus station for our trip to Machu Picchu. The day before, we had seen long lineups for the buses but had been assured that there are many buses and the wait time is less than 15-20 minutes which was correct. The bus …
To get to Machu Picchu, we start our journey by bus from Cusco to Ollantaytambo where you catch the train to Machu Picchu Pueblo or Aguas Calientes as it is also called. On our way, through twisting and winding roads, we first make a stop at the White Christ or Jesus statue that overlooks the …
Cuzco, or Cusco as it is officially named, is a city on the eastern slope of the Andes and home to approximately 440,000 residents. After meeting our fellow G Adventurers (14 women, to hubby’s dismay) the previous night, we take an early morning one hour flight from Lima to Cusco. The altitude of 3,399 metres …
Lima is a city of around 11 million accounting for almost 1/3 of Peru’s population. After a few days here, the things that we notice most is how clean the city is. No garbage sitting around like we’ve seen in so many European or African countries. Also, though many shops and residences have bars on …
It’s time for the wine country of Franschhoek. But first, it’s a bit of mayhem again getting off the ship as we are not at a proper passenger terminal. From the top deck of the ship we can see all of the baggage lined up row by row on the pier. Luckily, it’s bright skies …
We arrive in Cape Town in the early morning. The view off the ship is of Table Mountain, the famous landmark flat-topped mountain overlooking the city of Cape Town. Cape Town is the legislative capital of South Africa (Pretoria is the administrative capital and Bloemfontein is the judicial capital) and is the second d largest …
Richards Bay is our first stop in the eastern sea boat of South Africa. What greets us as we dock is a sea of coal mounds and coal dust. Richards Bay does not have a cruise port, so the ship must make use of the same port as tankers and coal shipping freighters. It is …