From Smiley Fritz to Santiago...: The Road to Death Road!

Today I write from the balcony of my cute twin-bed, mother-and-son hotel room, overlooking the impressive Teatro Solis in Uruguay's capital, Montevideo. Travelling with my mum for almost a month now, and having covered a distance of over 4,500km in some of the world's least reliable and least comfortable buses, we've enjoyed a couple of days wandering the city's beautiful streets and markets, before moving on tomorrow to Colonia del Sacramento, a small coastal town about three hours from the capital. With a ferry across the Rio del la Plata, we'll be back in Argentina, and after three nights in Buenos Aires, I'll be on my way to Santiago, Chile - for the very last international stop of my trip round the world!

While I'm excited to be heading home to see friends and family, and to sleep in my own bed, I must admit I am not looking forward to my year abroad coming to an end, and I'd love to keep travelling! In some ways it feels like only yesterday I was packing my bags and leaving Australia, yet in many ways I look back on the past year, and how I have changed, and my view on the world has changed, and it seems I have been away for an entire lifetime!!!

With the countdown til my return now into single figures, I have some serious catching up to do on this blog, and I'll pick up where I left off - with my first three weeks in South America.

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Leaving the English-speaking luxuries of the U.S. behind, I spent a night on the airport floor in Mexico City, before starting my South American adventure in Peru’s capital, Lima.

The city is a beautiful, busy and traffic-congested metropolis, filled with crazy taxi drivers, street-food vendors and thousands of pedestrians with an average height (or lack thereof!) set to challenge that of China, Mongolia and even Nepal! With evidence of human inhabitation dating back almost 9000 years, Peru is home to some of the world's oldest known civilisations (even if they do incorrectly predict the end of the world...), and Lima is an interesting mix - a modern, developed and 'westernised' city, filled with people who are proud of their indigenous heritage, their history and their interesting cultural background. Not something I have seen a lot of this year. While the Spanish 'conquered' the country, and brought their language with them in the 16th century, Peru is still today incredibly proud of it's indigenous heritage, and Lima's streets are filled with locals speaking a variety of languages, or a mix of more than one!!! Of course, with my already dismal comprehension of Spanish language, I had no idea what was going on!

Nazca Lines Lookout

With a population almost half that of the entire population of Australia, Lima is South America's second largest city (and the second largest 'desert city' in the world, after Cairo), however with the old town district separated from the industrial and business districts, it is not as daunting as it sounds. Staying in the trendy, bustling Miraflores district, I spent my first day in town exploring the old city centre, the impressive San Francisco Church catacombs (over 70,000 human bodies are stored below the ground!) and the city’s many churches, monasteries, markets and gardens.

With a coastal location, Lima’s coastline is a popular recreation area, and while the weather and pollution leave visibility at almost nothing, the city’s drab, ugly beaches were teeming with hundreds of surfers - many who travel from other parts of South America. I enjoyed an afternoon walking along the esplanade, enjoying the bustling city life, and refreshing my haggling skills, before heading to the super-impressive Parque de la Reserva (the Dinseyland of fountains!), where I spent a couple of hours mucking around like a child on the front lawn of my house.

Once again caving in to the convenience of tour travel, I had booked a tour through Peru and Bolivia, and spent my third day in Lima meeting my fellow tour travellers and catching up on boring travel essentials (it’s so inconvenient you still have to do laundry while away!), before dinner in the city’s busy Barranco district.

Covering the major tourist areas of Peru, and ending in the worlds highest 'de-facto' capital city La Paz (it's a bit confusing!), the 21 day G Adventures tour was yet again me taking the easy option out, however was a great introduction to South America, the Spanish language, and the challenges of public transport in my final continent.

*CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE!*

Starting in Lima, the tour headed south along the Peruvian coastline, stopping at the amazing Ilhas Ballestas (a fraction of the size of Kangaroo Island, with about 400 times more wildlife!), and the Nazca Lines, before heading inland to the beautiful city of Arequipa and the less-than-impressive Colca Canyon… with it’s more-than-impressive population of Condors. The tour continued on to the beautiful city of Cusco (and it’s amazing markets, and beautiful chocolate museum!), before a four-day Inca Trail trek to the absolutely breathtaking Machu Picchu in the Andes Mountains. A two-day homestay on Lake Titicaca, was no doubt intended to show us the best of ‘traditional culture’ in Peru, however only managed to highlight the terrible, negative effects tourism has had on locals and the environment, before a final bus ride into Bolivia took away my corruption virginity, and I was forced to bribe border officials to get into the country! After an afternoon at Copacabana Beach (the REAL one… not the Brazilian one!) and a somewhat questionable ferry crossing, the tour bus made a final traffic-congested drive into the spectacular crater-shaped city of La Paz, and the altitude-challenges within.

Machu Picchu, one of the New7Wonders of the World - and the absolute highlight of my travels in South America - is a 15th century Inca site located on a mountain ridge in Peru's Cusco region. Unknown to the 'western world' until it's 'discovery' by Hiram Bingham in 1911, Machu Picchu is now Peru's most famous tourist attraction, attracting thousand of tourists from around the world each year - either via the four-day Inca Trail trek, or by train and bus from surrounding towns and cities. The trek, which follows traditional Inca trails through absolutely spectacular scenery, covers 42km, making a mountain pass at a breathtaking (literally!) 4215m above sea level.

Inca Trail to Machu Picchu

Overall, the tour was an easy, efficient and enjoyable way to see Peru, and while I still question how much of a culture, community or location you can really see from an organised packaged-tour, I was glad to have some time off of organising, and have some fun (aka Karaoke) along the way!!! While certain aspects of the tour left much to be desired (Lake Titicaca for one!), the positive aspects of the tour greatly outweighed the negatives, and with a focus on using local guides, operators and vendors, I did at least leave feeling I had managed to get some interaction with locals along the way!

Finishing up with three days to explore La Paz, I kept myself busy in the city's bustling markets, picturesque gardens and main square, and spent an afternoon exploring the phenomenal Valle de la Luna (Valley of the Moon) on the city's outskirts, before risking life and limb on the famous 'Death Road' - one of Bolivia's most famous - and dangerous - tourist attractions.

Valle de la Luna

Originally built by Paraguayan prisoners of war during the 1930's for the transport of cocoa leaves out of the Yungas region, North Yungas Road - more commonly known as Death Road - is a 64km mostly downhill stretch of gravel road which is now open to the public as an adrenalin-pumping mountain bike ride. With eleven months of travel behind me, a caring, first-aid trained mother waiting for me just days away, and a successful downhill mountain biking career in Australia (okay, this is definitely stretching the truth!), I decided to throw caution to the wind, and attempt the ride!

Starting at 4650m above sea level, the road winds dangerously through absolutely breathtaking scenery, through flowing waterfalls, and past sheer cliff faces of up to 600m, to an elevation of just 1200m. With no guardrails, no sealed surfaces, and a maximum width of only 3.2m for most of the ride (that is for 2 way traffic!), the road is a gravel surface, cut into the cliff-face in places, and covered in loose rocks and boulders - just what you want to ride your bike over!

While traffic along the road has decreased drastically since the opening of an alternative route in 2007, North Yungas Road is still open to all vehicles, and is the only road in Bolivia where you legally drive on the left-hand side - so you can look out your window at how close you are to the edge!!! The opening of the new road has dramatically reduced the road-toll, however prior to 2007, an estimated 300 people per year died on the 64km stretch of road - hence the name. The cyclist death toll sits at only 23 in the past 15 years...

Dividing the next 40km of unsealed road into small sections (by the end of which I couldn't feel anything south of my waist!), the guide stopped the group regularly to explain the history of the road, the geography of the area, and the filming of the Top Gear episode which gave the road international fame, all the while reassuring me that my granny-speed was nothing to worry about! Not that I was out to beat any records, but I thought I was going bloody fast... however I think I was overtaken by at least 50 thrill-seekers along the way!

Arriving sore, tired and incredibly relieved around four hours after setting off, I was more than happy to swap a bike seat for a car seat, as we enjoyed a well deserved carb-overload at a local restaurant and wildlife centre, before being driven back along Death Road, finally able to admire and appreciate the views, as the group made our way back to La Paz.

Leaving La Paz behind, I once again enjoyed the comforts of sleeping on the airport floor - this time in Santiago, Chile - as I made my way to meet up with my mum in Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires!