Blog Detail
- Amazon, Andes & Incas
- Tour of Amazon, Andes & Incas - a luxury tour of South America
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Day 1 – I met some of our group upon check in and we fly to Buenos Aires. The flight was fairly unremarkable and as one would expect.Day 2 & 3 - We had a good but busy 2 days in Buenos Aires. On arrival we were met by our guides, Paula and Sandra, and then transferred to our hotel, the Four Seasons. Perfectly located within walking distance of Recoletta, and with some good restaurants nearby, check in was smooth and the rooms lovely. I met with the Sales Manager to run through the following 2 days itinerary and to ensure that the room for the group check in and Welcome Dinner was booked. The hotel were perfectly organised and everything went smoothly. Most of the group were very tired so it was an early night for all! It was great to meet Keith, our Tour Manager, who is from Argentina and speaks Spanish fluently, and also to meet Linda, the Tour Doctor.
The next day we had a morning city tour of B.A. including the Recoletta Cemetery which is huge and very easy to get lost in, plus seeing the Boca District which is fabulously colourful and a photographers dream! Lunch was at a lovely restaurant near the Boca District, before we drove an hour to join our boat for our afternoon cruise on the Tigre. Due to water levels we couldn’t travel as far as probably would have done normally, however it was a nice relaxing cruise and good to see everyone out and about at the weekend, enjoying the river and good weather!Day 4 – This morning was a leisurely start before our flight to Iguassu Falls. On arrival the luggage was taken directly to our hotel, whilst we all went straight to the National Park for a picnic lunch. After lunch we took the 20min train to the Devil’s Throat stop and walked the 1km to the viewing point. The Falls are immense, and totally different to Victoria and Niagara Falls. After approx 45 mins we returned back to the train, which then dropped us back at the stop for our hotel, the Sheraton, and I went with the passengers who had booked the boat trip for our adventure. There was a reasonable walk down to where the boats left from, including quite a few steps however there were hand rails and generally the going was pretty good. The boats get right up close to some of the waterfalls and everyone got pretty drenched. We were all in good spirits on the way back to hotel, in spite of the climb up the cliff to our waiting vehicle!
Day 5 - The weather was looking fairly ominous the next day and by the time we had crossed the border to Brazil it was starting to rain quite heavily. Luckily, Keith our Tour Manager, had planned ahead and bought everyone disposable raincoats whilst we were waiting at the border so when we started our walk to the Falls we were all kept relatively dry. The Falls from the Brazilian side were equally as impressive, in fact due to the bad weather probably even more so! Unfortunately the rain and subsequent thunderstorms meant that passengers were unable to take the helicopter ride but everyone was very understanding about the reason for this. We then had lunch at the end of the walk, had some time for shopping and then proceeded on to the airport for our flight to Rio.
Day 6 – Woke up this morning to a beautiful morning with fabulous views from my hotel room across Copacabana Beach and on to Sugarloaf Mountain. This morning we had a city tour of Rio including a very bizarre looking church (looks a bit like a concrete bunker from the outside but very impressive inside), and a trip up Corcovado Mountain to Christ the Redeemer. We arrived in time to take our photos of Christ the Redeemer before the weather closed in on us. There was a film being made whilst we were at the top so if anyone is ever watching a movie set in Rio and they see someone in a bright yellow Captain’s Choice t-shirt – that would be me, Linda or Keith! We then went on to our restaurant for lunch, which was one of the most amazing places ever. I guess the best way to describe it is as a Brazilian steak house however this really doesn’t do the style of food justice. Basically all of the waiters are constantly moving around the tables serving slices of meat from virtually every cut and type you can imagine, which you accept as much or little as you want, plus a buffet for those who want more salads etc. It is a work of art and how they know who has been offered which meat I will never know. Sufficiently sated, we then took the cable car up Sugarloaf Mountain for the fabulous views of Rio that it gives. We returned to our hotel, via the shops for those that wanted to shop or see a bit more of Rio. En-route back to the hotel, some of us walked by via Ipanema Beach and watched the surfers enjoying the waves after a day at work. This evening was a Samba Show so that we could definitely say we had seen and done Rio properly.
Day 7 – This morning I got up early and went for a walk/jog along Copacabana beach along with the other million people up at 6 in the morning doing their daily exercise, it was a great way to experience the people's Rio. Today was an optional day so some of the group were having a day to relax, others going to visit a Favela (shanty town) whilst most people chose to go to Petropolis which was where the summer palace for the emperor and his wife was built. It is a full day trip, and a chance to see some of the countryside en-route. However the people who visited the Favela said it was a positive and worthwhile experience.
Day 8 – Today was a day spent travelling. Our flight left Rio for Sao Paulo a little late, after having changed gate numbers a couple of times too (only in South America have I seen this happen so much!) and on arrival we checked in again for our international flight. Luckily we had a group check in arranged so whilst our ground agent handled this for us, everyone else could relax and enjoy lunch at the restaurant at the airport. The continuing flight to La Paz was also slightly delayed, but that evening we had arrived at La Paz. The airport is at 3,800m above sea level and as soon as we got off the plane, we could feel the difference. I was aware of trying to breathe more deeply than usual to try and get more oxygen I guess. Our hotel is located 3,400m above sea level, and La Paz ranges in height from 3000-4000m above sea level. Walking generally was a lot slower for everyone the next day, and trying to climb stairs was certainly a challenge!
Day 9 – This morning was at leisure to allow everyone time to relax and hopefully acclimatise to the altitude. I ventured out to the markets and took lots of photos of ladies wearing their bowler hats and brightly coloured clothes, which is very traditional in La Paz. This has to be my favourite place so far, in spite of the altitude problems. This afternoon we had a city tour of La Paz including the Valley of the Moon and the witchcraft markets – all very unusual and unique to this area. Tonight, we had a dinner and show however we had also just been advised that there was going to be a general strike in Cuzco which is the day we are meant to fly from here to the Amazon. The problem with general strikes in
Peru is that they shut down the whole city meaning that we would have to spend the morning at the airport so I spent much of the evening on the phone to Australia, finding a solution to this!
Day 10 – Was our flight to Cuzco, via Lima and time for a walking tour of Cuzco which really covered the monastery and cathedral. The Cathedral is immense and has to be one of the largest ever built.Day 11 – Today was a very long day but extremely worth it as it was our day to visit Machu Picchu. The weather was perfect and surprisingly not as many people there as I expected there to be. It all started with a wake up call at 4.30am, breakfast, on to the train at 6am to arrive at 10am before a half hour bus journey to the entrance. We spent 2-3 hours walking around Machu Picchu with Elizabeth, our guide (Inca born and one of the best in the business) before returning back to the town for lunch. We finally got back to the hotel at about 8pm and I spent half an hour trying to sort out flights again before going dinner and fell in to bed at 10pm.
Day 12 - Today we have been to the Pisac markets and Sacsayhuaman (pronounced ‘sexy woman’!) and other Inca ruins. Unfortunately it decided to rain once more however nothing was going to detract from the Alpaca farm and the chance for purchasing some good quality clothing/rugs etc.
Day 13 – Today was the day of the general strike and our flights had all been changed from the 1350 to the 0725 first flight out to Lima. When we arrived at Cuzco airport there was an army of riot police standing guard outside and it was teeming with people inside. Thankfully our ground agents were on hand to help and we managed to get the group checked in without too much difficulty. The first 2 flights out had been cancelled due to bad weather, apparently the cross winds make it hazardous trying to land and avoid mountains!! All in all, general craziness reigned supreme and I would have hated to be trying to manage this as an independent traveller. We were all put on the 1140 flight, which thankfully left only a little later than scheduled and made it to Lima for and our onward flight to Iquitos. We arrived in Iquitos early evening and the scenes there reminded me of some of the larger African villages in the Congo or Uganda with loads of people out and about at night, campfires, food stalls on street corners but combined with a million tuk tuks - there are no roads in or out of Iquitos so no point in having a car! We had a 1.5hr boat trip up the Amazon on board the Amazon Queen to our lodge where everyone headed straight to their rooms.
Day 14 – This morning we visited a local village where we had a tribal dance and tried our luck at firing their poison darts using a type of blow pipe (apparently women are notoriously better than the men but it still took me 4 goes to hit the mark!) and we also went pink dolphin spotting before returning back to the lodge for lunch. This afternoon we visited a local school at another village, and swam in the Amazon (they assured me that there were no piranha's in this particular bit of the river).
Day 15 – Our final flight to Lima is today, as this time we were staying at Lima for just one night. We took the fast boat to Iquitos (45mins) before driving through Iquitos once more to get to the airport. On arrival in Lima we had a spectacular lunch at a seafood restaurant located overlooking the sea which has to be one of the best restaurants and meals of the trip. This afternoon we had a city tour of Lima, which was unfortunately hampered by the bad traffic in the city. Tomorrow morning the group splits as half the passengers are going on the Galapagos cruise extension, whilst the others go to Santiago with me for one or two more nights before returning home. So tonight was our Farewell Dinner and lots of hugs and kisses and promises to stay in touch!
Day 16 – It’s time for me to take on the Tour Manager's hat and I got everyone to Santiago safely to the hotel the Plaza el Bosque Suites. The hotel is lovely and the rooms literally are all suites so everyone was delighted with their rooms. Whilst the passengers settled in to the rooms I arranged lunch and our ‘dine around dinner’ options, and then after lunch we had an afternoon at leisure. Some people went shopping, whilst others sorted out final packing, or just relaxed and caught up on some sleep. Everyone met up with me later this evening for a drink before dinner which we ate as a group in the hotel.Day 17 – This morning we had a city tour of Santiago, which is a lovely city, with lots to see and do. Lunch was at Donde Augusto’s, one of the most famous local restaurants set in the heart of the local equivalent to Covent Garden and then some people returned to the hotel for an afternoon at leisure, whilst the other half of the group took the optional wine tour. We returned back to the hotel in time for an early dinner before flying home this evening.
