Sara Travel Blog

The pictures of the daytrip was my introduction to the Argentinian country. The place we visited was the family farm of Nadie (the girl second of the right in the picture above) in an area of the town called Rojas. I was packed off into a car with porteños drinking mate for around 3 hours. I have a taste for mate these days but it really makes you want to go to the bathroom - a lot, and the bathrooms were few and far in between during our drive. The intention of the trip was for the guys to do some filming of a multimedia background for a dance production (coming to England!!!). It is always interesting to me to watch filiming. In particular how someone has an eye for the perfect shot or will see some detail that I know my eye would not pick up.  An important lesson learnt on this trip was the common ground shared between the Antipodeans and Latinos of a good song which must be played over and over. Inclusive of air musicians and loud singing. The country is b...

There is a very good reason why Machu Picchu was awarded one of the new 7 wonders of the world. Many people I know have been to MP either via the Inca Trail or the train and walk up to the site. It is spectacular. We spent the night before in Auga Calientes a small village at the base of the mountain, and then made our way up early the following morning. You cannot spend less than a full day in MP, there is so much to see and do. This place feels like you are on top on the world, it is so steep, and when you have a narrow path to walk on and a sheer drop it is not for the faint hearted.  We both then spent the day rummaging around the ruins. We made out way from from Cusco to Lima via bus which is also not for the nervous person. It resembled a rollercoaster ride with loads of unmade sections. One of the drivers thought he was a in the formula one, we managed to distract ourselves by taking silly videos of pretending to pan pipe on little pipes Fanny had purchases to the...

After much deliberation of our choice of route we decided to head from Lima to Arequipa. We caught a bus for 14 hours to Arequipa. The first photo uploaded on the first Arequipa section is a picture of what we drove through, which is pretty barron, and is an extension of the Atacama desert. We met a couple of friends that Fanny had travelled with previously and we decided to head on a two day trip with them to Colca Canyon, one of the world deepest caynons. 

A short flying visit into my first city in Peru.

The first picture is of Cuicachi, a crater of an active volcano. The lake is freezing so you wouldnt want to swim in it. Also of interest is there are no fish due to the chemicals that come from the volcano. The others are of Cotopaxi one of the highest active volcanos snow capped!! The actual hike itself was probably one of the hardest things I have done.We made a slow drive up to 4500m. From there there is a steep incline to 4800m to a refuge, for a short break and then made a further hike to 5000m. All in all we were walking (or in my case falling) for around two and half hours. The altitude had an effect on my balance, so the higher I went the more time I was on my bottom, to the amusement of my fellow trekkers. I was really impressed with Cotopaxi it is very beautiful volcano. Hiking at the angles we did is hard normally but combining that with an altitude of 5000m enough to make you breathless and weak at the knees and high winds with a freeze factor to have the ti...

As you can probably make out this is a very scenic place. One photo I couldnt get was of the smoking volcano that sits behind the city. The top of the volcano was covered in clouds while we were there. A couple that left later than us took a photo of it, and you could see a plume of smoke. The last eruption this one including lava was in 2002. The last I heard they had to start evacuating people again a few weeks after left there due to seismologists predicting another eruption. I went on this trip with 5 Swiss who I met at school. They was great lovers of the outdoors but also appeared to have the passion to run up mountains so to speak. We decided on a bike trip to Puyo the largest jungle town of the Oriente and 61km from Banos. Most people make it to the large waterfall which was 25km away. The 25km was spectacular cycling usually sharing the roads with buses and cars, and then veering off when a tunnel appears. This is where you see some interesting sites including a brid...

These are some more photos around Saquisili and one of Quito city itself. Cuy or guniee pig are well known food in Ecuador and Peru, but they are also used for cleansing rituals. They are considered to be a sensitive animal so when a person wants to ensure that a child does not have bad spirits surrounding them they have a ritual with a cuy. The Ecuadorians are usually superstitious as well as being religious. The photo of Quito was taken at hotel Quito which became a regular little haunt to have mojitos, which was our own cleansing ritual.

Guide books detail what it is like landing in Quito, however no matter how may books you read it never quite prepares you for when you land in the middle of the city which sits in a valley surrounded by volcanos, and the runway actually passes peoples backyards. First impressions of Quito. It smells a mixture of popcorn and diesel fumes. A little tease as you smell the sweet aroma you almost go to take a deep breath when your throat starts to sting from a nearby blue bus spewing out fumes. There are two main parts that most visitors will see which is Centro Historico (Old Town) and New Town (New Town). Old town is very colonial and very beautiful, the photos of the buildings are in Old town. New Town you may as well be anywhere, apartment blocks, shops, large pavements and huge shopping malls. Part of New Town called the Mariscal Sucre or affectionately known to the locals as gringolandia. Pretty much dedicated to the traveller, though the resources I later...