"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow mindedness."
- Mark Twain
Hey tribe,
Thanks to everyone who has been following us and your comments and support!
Today is the 10 month anniversary of our travels. 10 months that have been filled with interesting experiences, great memories and overcoming the occasional trials.
We have been on our own for the last few months and in this time have enjoyed Ecuador, going back to Peru, travelling through Bolivia and then to Chile … one common thread of all these places … chilly to freezing weather! But what else can you expect in winter?
The good thing was that there are far fewer tourists and prices are more reasonable.
Ecuador.
After our first visit to Peru and doing the Inca Trail we went north to Ecuador. Over the years I'd read a lot about places like Cuenca, Vilcabamba and Loja. It was now time to go and visit them.
After our initial Spanish classes in Costa Rica we realised we had a lot to learn and decided to do another two weeks in Cuenca. It helped but we’ve still a long way to go!
After Cuenca we spent a few days in Vilcabamba before taking the bus across the border to Piura in Peru.
The one lesson that we’ve learned is that in South America flights across a border can be very expensive whereas internal flights are often cheap. So cheap that it’s as cheap to take a flight as a bus!
Click on the links below to read my stories about Ecuador:
Return to Peru
After visiting Peru and doing the Inca Trail hike we realised there was a lot more to do in Peru. Somewhere along our j way we had heard about PeruHop so we decided to take it from Lima through to La Paz in Bolivia. Piura is a town that you will visit once and never again … but it had an airport and a reasonably priced flight to Lima.
At some point we realised that Carol with her South African passport would need a visa for Bolivia and that if you get a Visa from the embassy it is free that if you get it at the border it costs US $95!
If all went well we could have made it to the embassy before they closed at 12:30. However the plane was delayed and traffic in Lima meant that we would arrive 15 minutes after the Embassy closed.
We spent an enjoyable few days in Lima staying in a hostel in Miraflores. From there we took the Peru Hop bus through Paracas, Huacachina, Arequipa and Puno in Peru to Copacabana and finally La Paz in Bolivia.
This was a marvellous experience and way above our expectations.
Click on the links below for Peru again:
Bolivia
From La Paz we took an overnight bus to Uyuni. Where the 3 day 2 night Salar de Uyuni tour starts.
I try and not use “amazing” as an adjective as it seems so overused and lame … but this trip was amazing. Amazing sights, amazing diversity of landscapes and natural features, amazingly cold weather, amazing roads (tracks?) an amazing number of people in the area, amazing accommodation and altogether an amazing experience.
We finished our trip in San Pedro de Atacama in Chile, went from there to Santiago, and then on to Vaparaiso, flew to Mendoza in Argentina (enjoyed many glasses of Malbec!) and from there to Buenos Aires. We’re now in Uruguay for four days before going back to Buenos Aires, to Iguazu Falls and Florianopolis and Sao Paulo in Brazil.
The last part of this trip has been hectic – booking flights and booking accommodation and trying to fit in all the places we wanted to see in South America.
There’s still much more to writing to catch up and more information … but at the moment not much time!! In future as I add articles I will send links to all you subscribers.
If you haven't done so already please follow us on Instagram where the account name is rovingnotretiredand we are also on Twitterand Facebook.
So till next time … wherever you are and whatever you do … live the moment!
Patrick
PS Please go to my My Best Travel Resources pageon the RovingRetirementsite which has some useful things to buy.
Please pass this newsletter on to (preferably many!) friends – with a request to sign up and join the tribe …
“If you want to do it you’ll find the reasons … if you don’t you’ll find the excuses”