Jun 07

Shortly after our arrival in Peru we went on a four day hike to Machu Picchu.

The trail was dotted by Inca ruins that varied from villages....

... to farmed terraces.

The view from the campsite on the first night.

This picture shows an Inca village a few hours walk away from Machu Picchu.

We arrived at Machu Picchu early on day four. It's hard to do justice to the place in a photo. So instead I've decided to show some Inca stonework, in close up...

...and a view of the site in sepia.

Not sure if they quite capture the place.

Although this film shows what I think is a Bolivian drink, their 'mate', being made, it was available also in Peru, sold by elderly women in the mornings mainly. (I have no idea what she is putting in the drink, but it all looked healthy enough)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRZmFiSHAH4

The town of Arequipa was perhaps my favourite colonial town in south and central America.

This is one of the two very imposing volcanoes that looked over the town.

I'm not that interested in convents normally, but the Convento de Santa Catalina in Arequipa was fascinating. The nuns live in silence and rent out a small part of their place for tourists. This was their washing machine.

Arty shot of a lemon.

This is how the nuns purified their water, through local porous rock.

The most unnerving landscape I'd encountered so far was the Salt Flats in southern Bolivia, understood to be the largest in the world. The salt is up to 15 metres deep, and has the appearance of thick ice.

We climbed up here, to over 4,600 metres, from Chile, and the change in altitude was pretty unpleasant to begin with, but fine after a day.

These pictures show the surface just before sunrise and then the sunrise itself a little later.

We found a football from somewhere, too.

Stupidly, I have sent the rest of my Bolivia photos home, so this section will have to be finished when I get back.