17th July 2011 …must come to an end. And our Galapagos cruise was definitely a good thing, perhaps the highlight of our time in South America. Perhaps not perhaps, perhaps definitely. Yes, definitely definitely the highlight. The last morning was bound to be anticlimactic, but the Interpretation Centre on San Cristobal really made sure of » » »
Posts Tagged ‘tourism’
20 July 2011
Sealions and turtles
15th July 2011 Wow. I’m completely pooped, but very happy. Just been snorkelling with sealions and turtles. Earlier we went ashore to post our postcards in a barrel. The barrel has been there for over a hundred years and by tradition any passing ship would check the letters in the barrel and take any that » » »
3 July 2011
Geysers
2nd July 2011 Honestly I’ve never been so cold in my life. You see, the attraction of the El Tatio geysers is in the mystical towers of steam they put out. But within an hour or so of dawn the bright altiplano sun has burned the steam away and rendered the spectacle nothing more than » » »
22 June 2011
Toured out
20th June 2011 It’s actually the 21st as I’m writing, because we curled up for a nap at 7pm last night and didn’t get up again until 7am this morning. Discounting five minutes at 11pm to actually undress. We’ve been to the Colca Canyon and now we’re back in Arequipa and have had our first » » »
22 June 2011
Premature condors
19th June 2011 Dinner at 10:30, bed by 12:30 and then up in the morning at 5:30 can’t be healthy. But our tour bus was picking us up at 7:15 and we still had to pack; the notes from the company said that we needed to only take small bags for the two day trip. » » »
20 June 2011
Cusco moochin’
16th June 2011 Free day in Cusco, and with our legs still feeling the burn from Wayna Picchu we weren’t going to be doing anything strenuous. In fact, we really had no plans at all. So we mooched. To try and make the most out of our tourist tickets we stopped at three different museums » » »
16 June 2011
Tourist milking parlour
14th June 2011 That’s what Aguas Calientes is, the town in the valley that is the gateway to Machu Picchu. The local government clearly issued an ordinance stating that all buildings must be high-rise and made of concrete or cheap brick, and that no attempt must be made to cover the raw construction materials with » » »
14 June 2011
Sacred valley day
12th June 2011 Well today didn’t start too promisingly. Another group tour, although this one is part of our Peru itinerary and the main purpose is to get us from Cusco to Ollantaytambo. Nevertheless, I had been looking forward to being given some context into the Inca sites along the way. So imagine my joy » » »
14 June 2011
Bad trip
11th June 2011 Sorry, this blog includes expletives Today we went on a guided tour of the main sites around Cusco and I was able to reinforce all my prejudices against group guided tours. The tour included the Cathedral, the Temple of the Sun (which we had already visited), and three Inca sites near Cusco » » »
16 May 2011
The rock
13th May 2011 Today we visited what is indubitably the most famous rock in the world, Uluru. Still referred to in a surprising amount of tourist literature as Ayers Rock. We rolled the remaining 100kms to the Yulara village just outside Uluru and started our day with some brunch. The baguettes we chose would have » » »
17 January 2011
I like Langkawi
16th January 2011 We read about Langkawi online, and in the Lonely Planet for Malaysia. Sun, sea, sand, resorts, and a handful of desultory attractions to milk some money from those who tire of the beach; “come for the beaches, there’s nothing else here” was the verdict from pretty much everyone. That’s why our initial » » »