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First LUUCC sunday trip of the year with inappropriate water levels on the Ure.

Distance travelled in air: 24125 miles (13 flights)
Number of delays: 4 (3 in Argentina and one in London)
Distance travelled on land: 940 miles
Distance travelled on water: about 50 miles
Number of different electrical sockets used: 4
Country with least stray dogs but most dog poo on pavements: Argentina
Highest point reached: 4900m
Highest point slept at: 4200m
Number of steaks claire sent back to get cooked a little more: 4
Easter Island is one of the most isolated inhabited islands in the world (1290 miles from the nearest inhabited place)
The Uyuni Salt Flats are about half the size of Wales
Longest ladder climbed: 50m
Most descent on a bike in one day: 3700m from top to bottom on the most dangerous road in the world near La Paz in Bolivia

Are online now. Highlights here:

http://zenphoto.pwilkinson.net/southamerica082008/highlights/

And the rest of the photos from Peru and Argentina are now online if you follow the link from the last post.

After a few hours sitting in the plane on the tarmac at Heathrow waiting for a parking space we’re finally home safe and sound.

I’ve been going through the photos and have managed to finish Easter Island, Chile and Bolivia so far. I took over 3000 photos on the trip, deleted about half on the camera then half again on the PC, so I’ve got close to 900 photos left. To save you looking through all of them now I’ll post a highlights album in a couple of days once I’ve sorted the Peru and Argentina pics.

http://zenphoto.pwilkinson.net/southamerica082008/

One night of luxury in the Sheraton overlooking the falls felt well deserved and just about worth the cost for the amazing view from the balcony and the great buffet (complete with Argentinian moet). We have well and truly seen the falls (from both the brazilian side and the argentinian). Back to hostels now and only 3 nights left in Buenos Aires before we fly home.

After a tour of the sacred valley taking in some more ruins we caught a train to aguas calientes, the closest village to Machu Picchu (make sure you pronounce the hard c in picchu to avoid making phallic references in native Peruvian).
After arriving I went up Putucusi, the mountain opposite Machu Picchu which was hard work. Lots of steps with the occaisional wooden ladder to get to the top. Claire went to the hot springs.
Next morning we got up at about half 4 to go and join the queue for buses to Machu Picchu. It was misty at first, but it cleared up after a couple of hours to give the classic postcards views, complete with lamas which are kept there to keep the grass short.

Today we’ve been on the Peruvian shores of lake titicaca. We visited the floating islands, and another island where I had a bit of a swim. It wasn’t as cold as I thought it was going to be, and the sun has been hot all day. A whole guinea pig for dinner too, which is a bit different, a lot of work for a little meat though, but tasty.