One Foot On The Trail

Another long road trip beckons; 11 hours by touristic bus via the Raya Pass to cross the continental divide between the Amazon River basin to the North and the Lake Titicaca basin to the South. The Route of the Sun touristic bus means we will stop to sightsee at some interesting places on our way from Puno to the city of Cusco. A woman displays her wares by the roadside on the Raya Pass We stop at the ancient Incan ruins of Raqch'i, a large walled site that served as an administrative and ceremonial centre and a control point on the road from Cusco, ancient capital of the Incan empire. It is largely ruins now because it was destroyed by Spanish colonists in the 16th century. Whilst we aren't there yet, the reason that Machu Picchu is so special is because it is almost complete, as it was never discovered by the Spanish during their occupation. Anyway, back to Raqch'i, where the Spanish built a stone church on the site, made from the volcanic rocks found locally and, dare I ...

 We leave Chivay and after six hours by road we arrive in the city of Puno on the shores of Lake Titicaca, the highest navigable lake in the world at 3,812 metres and the source of many a schoolboy chortle in geography lessons. We’re here to visit the people who live on the islands and, in particular, the floating reed islands of the Uros people. Our first stop is to visit Taquile Island (not a floating one, just good old terra firma) where the Aymara tribe live. Incan terracing on Taquile Island The matrimonial eligibility of the men of the Aymara is based on how good their knitting is whilst the women focus on weaving. An Aymara man knitting a hat... . ..whilst the women weave From this (land) island we travel to the less conventional floating island of Isla Titino Shaman (population 26) and are greeted by the island’s president, César. The islands of the Uros were first made from reed boats lashed together to provide a defence mechanism where the island could be moved away from ...

After two days exploring Arequipa we leave early in the morning to drive through the Patapampa Pass, which reaches a height of 4,910 meters before dropping down onto the Peruvian Altiplano (high plain) with an elevation ranging from 3,700 - 4,000m above sea-level. This vast plain, that stretches into Bolivia, is home to Vicuña; a wild relative of the Alpaca and Llama. A family of Vicuña on the Altiplano against the backdrop of the El Misti stratovolcano Vicuña wool is the finest and softest animal fibre in the world at roughly 12-13 microns in diameter; finer than cashmere and merino wool. It is also extremely rare since Vicuña can only be sheared once every two to three years through a protected communal gathering process requiring a massive human chain to corral them. Consequently a sweater made from Vicuña wool will likely set you back about £5,000! The Imata Stone Forest We continue our five-hour journey by road before dropping further, into the Colca Valley, to our lodge near the ...

Arequipa is Peru’s second largest city after Lima, with a population of nearly 1.2 million people and a fascinating place to start to acclimatise to the high altitudes we would encounter over the 10 days or so, peaking at nearly 5,000m on the next leg of our journey. The city sits in the verdant Chili River valley in the Andes and is surrounded by three major volcanoes and high-altitude deserts. Chili River Valley Arequipa is also called “the White City” partly because of the white coloured sillar stone used for the buildings. Sillar is a lightweight and porous volcanic rock that can easily be cut into regular building blocks… Arequipa Basilica Cathedral, late afternoon …or worked into intricate carvings Iglesia de Yanahuara Within Arequipa the Santa Catalina Convent is a citadel within the city and is a warren of brightly coloured houses and streets, which at its peak, was home to 300 nuns. Despite the number of tourists it feels a very tranquil place and it is ideal to amble around s...

Thunderstorms rage above us and wake us at 1am, which is not great since we need the sleep ahead of our 3am start to travel to the Macaw clay lick. We have to start early because the Macaws only visit the clay lick for a short time just after sunrise to eat the sodium-rich clay, gathering in huge numbers before flying off to feed elsewhere. I am also getting worried that the trip might be cancelled if the thunderstorms do not abate. We assemble nervously at the meeting point but when we tentatively ask the guides if the trip is still going ahead, they just shrug and say "Of course". Indeed the rain has stopped and, remarkably, the ground remains quite dry apart from a few small tell-tale puddles. What to us seemed like a storm of biblical proportions has just been absorbed by the dry and thirsty rainforest floor. The journey along the river is in pitch darkness apart from, what seems to me to be a too sparing use of a searchlight at the bow of the boat. Occasionally the boat ...

Just under two hours after leaving Lima our flight lands in Puerto Maldonado. A further hour by bus and 45 minutes by boat and we arrive at the Amazonas Refugio Lodge in the jungle, just a few hundred yards trek from the Tambopata River. That evening our guide, Jair, takes us on a night walk where we encounter snakes, frogs, scorpions, leaf cutter ants and this Net-casting Spider, which catapults the web held between its front legs to capture its prey. A Net-casting Spider waiting for unsuspecting pray to walk along this leaf The following day, after being woken in the early hours by the impossibly loud calls of Howler Monkeys we hike through the forest in search of more wildlife. The humidity is so high that we are all sweating after just a few yards of walking. We can hear the wildlife everywhere but it seems impossible to spot without Jair. Who seems to be able to spot the smallest thing on the rainforest floor or high up in the canopy. A Peruvian Chicken Spider (Tarantula) emerging...