TravelStream™ news feed for member feeling_alive on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/feeling_alive en-us Copyright ©2012 TravelPod.com Thu, 03 Mar 2011 15:26:34 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/feeling_alive/1/1288246301/tpod.html http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/feeling_alive/1/1288246301/tpod.html#comment Travel Blogs http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/feeling_alive/1/1288246301/tpod.html Thu, 03 Mar 2011 20:26:34 +0000 Sun on my skin, wind in my hair, whitewater under my kayak

Iquique Oct 28, 2010 - Iquique, Chile

Iquique, Chile


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Aguas Calientes Oct 19, 2010 - Aguas Calientes, Peru

Aguas Calientes, Peru


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Moray Oct 21, 2010 - Moray, Peru

Moray, Peru


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saving us some money at Ollantaytambo - Ollantaytambo, Peru

Ollantaytambo, Peru

The good news about Ollantaytambo: You can see quite a bit without paying the expensive entrance fee. A place like this can hardly be hidden!

The Inka terraces stretch along the whole hillside. Even in the village itself there is a lot of Inka masonry to be seen.

Peruvians are proud of their Inka ancestors. So the peruvian favorite drink is called Inka Cola, a bright yellow softdrink made of lemon grass. Then there are tens of other brands, all of them rivalling with Coca Cola. Still I liked the Bolivian version better: Coca Colla, named after the colla people of the altiplano. :)

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many tourists and a 12-cornered stone - Cusco, Peru

Cusco, Peru

Cusco is the place to go when you want to feel like a real tourist. Every five meters someone wants to sell you handicrafts or talk you into booking a trip to Machu Picchu with him.

We keep our activities around Cusco to a minimum: We have a look at the famous 12-cornered stone, an impressive piece of Inka masonry.

The entrance fee to the surrounding Inka ruins is pretty high - from 70 Soles (almost 20 Euros) onwards. So we will try to catch a glimpse from the outside and keep our savings for some more travelling. Let`s see if we are successful!

At nearby Sacsayhuaman we at least get a glimpse. The stones are huge, some of them about four meters high. I wonder how the Inkas transported those...

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Inka masonry at Sillustani - Puno, Peru

Puno, Peru

We pass quickly through Puno - we want to move on, so we don`t visit the floating islands of the Uros. Puno seems pretty touristy - lots of pizzerias. The police seems to realize, too, that easy money can be made with tourists: We are stopped when driving without safety belts. As always when someone wants money for himself, the policeman starts talking about how illegal it is what we are doing and that this will cost us a lot of money, about 200 USD. He goes on after we explain that we just didn`t know, that if we don`t pay we will have to leave the van in the country. Finally even my patience is over and I explode: "Listen, we just entered Peru yesterday and I already feel like leaving immediately". He backs off: "okay, but if I see you again without your safety belts you will have to pay!" Won't happen again...

So we head on to Sillustani, an archeological place. Here we see our first bit of Inka masonry and older buildings of the local Collas. The grave towers of the Inka's, made of huge stone blocks, are a lot more impressive. The rocks are put into form to interconnect. Amazing!

On the surrounding countryside the land is still worked traditionally with mules, while on the lake traditional boats made from tortora reed are used. I am a bit shy to take pictures from further up though...

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flowers for cars and a lake crossing - Copacabana, Bolivia

Copacabana, Bolivia

So here we are in Copacabana, the famous pilgrimage village at the shores of Titicaca. To get here we had to cross Titicaca-lake on a slightly scary looking ferry.

On our way many cars decorated with flowers and flags come our way, a first impression of Copacabana. In front of the church, more cars are waiting. For a fee you can have your car be blessed here. We watch a happy crowd of Bolivians bathe their cars in champagne.

We decide to invest our money in a yummy trout. Overlooking the high altitude lake we watch some boats which are dressed in reeds as a tourist attraction. On lake titicaca close to Puno in Peru there are even traditional villages of the Uros that are completely made of reed, including boats of reed and, to top it of, the whole floating island is made of reed. Because the water eats away the reed from below, new reed is constantly put on top. The islands were originally built when the Inkas occupied the area as a way of defense. Just float away when an attacker approaches... :)

German version will follow.
Deutsche Version folgt bei Gelegenheit.
(aber das kann noch dauern...)

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A quick trip to the mountains - Sorata, Bolivia

Sorata, Bolivia

We are curious about Sorata, so we do a quick drive to this small mountain town. On our way to Sorata, we pass through the clouds. Above the clouds there are glaciated peaks, below terraced fields and nicely corroded valleys.

Since we`ve heard about a nice small road that links Sorata with Coroico, we start to drive for some kilometers on it. The narrow road winds spectacularly across the mountains. We`ve heard there is also a nice view of old Inka ruins, but that would probably be some days further on. We are running out of time, so we turn back.

We have already overstayed our visa in Bolivia. For the van it was no problem to get an extension - no cost involved, just had to drop by at the aduana in El Alto close to La Paz. But for ourselves another visa is close to impossible - we have used up our 90 days per year. But as the officers at the immigration inform us, we can just stay longer and pay a fee of 20 Bolivianos per person per day when we leave the country. So this is what we will do...

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Puente del Inca Nov 03, 2010 - Puente del Inca, Argentina

Puente del Inca, Argentina


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Paso San Franzisco Oct 31, 2010 - Paso San Franzisco, Argentina

Paso San Franzisco, Argentina


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