Quito - The End
Back again in Quito for some last minute shopping and to meet La familia Ferro again... and of course some more sushi. This before we are flying back to sweden on Sunday the 6th of July.
Los Roques - Paradise on earth
Venezuela and Los Roques is only six hours from Rio and provide windsurfing, diving, snorkling and sunny days. After spending almost a day on Caracas airport sorting out flight tickets to Quito in the beginning of July and flight tickets to Los roques a 40 minutes flight in a tiny tiny airplane took us to the most beautiful beaches in the world and we do not exaggerate when saying this. There are no hotels on Los Roques only posadas which often include breakfast and dinner as well as they can make you a coolbox with food and drinks to bring to the beach. As there are only about 60 posadas on los roques this means it can not come to many tourist at the same time, meaning that you can get a island or a beach to your self if you want. Here we spent six days with constant sun, sunbathing, surfing and snorkeling and just enjoyed.
Incoming flight from Carracas
Northern keys - Snorkling with sea turtles
Espanky beach
Espanky beach - Tina under the umbrella
Krasky boat
Krasky - Fly fishing after Bone fish
Mr Callcenter and our new found friend - Josser
Krasky - Pelicano
Tina in hangmat after a fantastic lunch - botota cebiche and langousta
Game fishing - Crew finally awake!
The catch .... one tuna and two baracudas...
Cayo de Agua
Waves from two sides
Rio de Janeiro
Brazilians say: God made the world in six days the seventh he devoted to Rio and after 19 hours on a bus from the falls we finally arrive here. The weather was great and the day started good but as most swedes know this was gonne become an awful day for us. So after the awful game, a little bit grumpy, we started to look for a hotel or hostel. We finally decided to check in to hotel Atlantis Copacabana inbetween Copacabana beach and Ipanema beach, as the hostels were not satisfactory enough in the mood we were. A nice hotel with a nice view from the pool at the roof, nice big rooms and only two minutes walk to both beaches suited our mood better. This for a cost of only 750 Sek per night we cold not be other than happy, POOR backpacker as we are. There is a lot of things to do in Rio but we are desperatly in need of some sun, bathing and surfing as we have not said hello to our beach wear since Punta Sal in Northern Peru. And sun we got for three days, three lovely days spent on the beach until late lunch after we became real tourists going to sugar loaf mountain and corcovado and the statue of Christ. On the third day we moved to Santa Teresa so we could more easy acces Rios best nightlife in Lapa during the weekend. Not bad at all.... On sunday it starts to rain and it still rains on monday when we go on a favela tour. A very interesting tour but we did probably not see the worst parts. The weather reports reveals that it will be raining on the whole coast of Brazile for the next seven days, so we decided to go somewhere else. So into a travel agencie we went and five hours later we left Rio on our way to Venezuela.
Rio from our hotell roof
Tina sun bathing at Ipanema beach
Surfer doing well
Surfer doing not so well...
Cable car up to Sugar Loaf mountain
View from Sugar Loaf over Copacabana
Corcovado montain and the Jesus Christ the redeemer
Sunset from Sugar Loaf
Surfers at Ipanema
Old men can still play volleyball
Old man explaining how important it is to pass the ball correctly
Fetch the ball after a play and flirts with an older couger...
The redeemers
A Favela south west of Ipanema
A customized power distribution in the Favela
Favela graffiti
Iguazú falls
15/6 Sun - 17/6 Tue
Iguazú falls made eleanor Roosvelt remark "Poor Niagara" and even thou we have only seen the Niagara falls on TV I am inclined to agree with her. It is amazing. Iguazú falls receives its water from 30 different rivers and thumbles down in 275 falls over a frontage of 2470 m, can hardly be more impressive. The town Puerto Iguazú however is very quite this time of the year, I guess the town lives up a lot during high season. This together with that we want a few degrees warmer is the reasons why we now are leaving just two days after we arrived. We have booked a nice busride from Puerto Iguazú to Rio, a ride that will only take about 23 hours, Nice!!
To you Adrian
La Casa del Habano
Storage for wines and cigars The smooking armchairs Chess and cognac...
A Cohiba Siglo No 1 and a glass of Malbec '96
Buenos Aires
We started this trip on Galapagos Islands where it was warm and nice - summer. We are now however in Buenos Aires where the red leaves are falling of the trees - autumn, fall end of the warmth. During the beginning of the trip three months sounded like an eternity but time has passed so fast. Have we been away for two mounts already, I woudn´t have believed it If it wouldn´t been for the trees. Buenos Aires is a big city so we have endulged ourselfes in a lot of walking and interaction with the locals on the buses. This to be able to see most of city parts in just a few days. La Recoleta is a nice area between Palermo and downtown. It carries the Ricoleta cemetery which was inaugurated on 17 nov 1822 becoming the first public cemetery on the city of BA. The most relevant players of Argentine history rest in Ricoleta; politicians, military men (but offcourse), statesmen, priests an so on.... A bit creepy though with small palaces for just one person. In La Boca and Palermo we found our favourite spots. We visit La Boca and the Boca juniors stadium and got bitten by the Tango flue at Tango Boca. In Palermo lies our new favourite restaurant , La Cabrera as well as La Casa del Habano where we spent quite some time. The bar Loco por el futbal was the place to be during the fotball game (however this one did not end well) and apperantly Santa Fe when you wanted to do some shopping, however Tina found her new handbag and boots on Av. 9 Julio.
La Boca and its brightly-coloured facades
Boca Juniors stadium
Diego Armando Maradona finally meets his idol and now ... friend
Ricoleta cemetery as a tribute to the dead ... where also Eva (Evita) Peron rests
Buenos Aires harbour and a mixture of old cranes and new architechture
Avenida 9th Julio and the center of world´s widest avenue...
surrounded by over 15 lanes
La Paz - San Pedro Prison
Sat 7/6 - Mon 9/6
San Pedro Prison - Probably one of the most corrupted prisons in the world. Around 1500 people live or are kept in there, where most of them are convicts charged for narcotics. Inside San Pedro prison the inmates have developed their own laws and rules. The prison itself is devided into two parts. If you have cash you can buy your own flat in there and choose to live in a not so crowded part. No problem to have a TV, drink alcohol, do drugs or have your family inside or whatever...as long as you are willing to pay for it. Seb from Holland had a nice live in Bolivia until he tried to smuggle seven kilogram snow to his home country. Is it reduntdant to say he didn´t make it? He is now in San Pedro trying this very day to sell a inside guiding tour for SEK130 per person. It is okay to visit the prisoners cells and court yard, as long as we say to the guards that we know one of the prisoners - a good name to come up with might be Pedro :) . The guards are very intrested in this since there share of the amount is around 80%. Do they check bags, purses or backpacks when you "visit" an inmate? No, not even close. Seb looks quite high today and is probably not the most reliable person we have seen. He has resently moved from hell to heaven as he describes it. Today he only lives with four hundred inmates instead of the other part where gringo's are not as accepted. We decide to decline his offer for today.
Reminds of a tourist attraction in London...
President Hotel - The highest 5 star hotel in the world, beautiful breakfast, great view and what you expect from a five star hotel. Even nicer is that a suite with two rooms and two bathrooms cost around SEK 900 per night. 
Night view from hotel room
The World´s Most Dangerous Road
Where: Laz Paz, Boliva
Built by: Paraguayian prisoners of the war in the 1930´s
Start: La Cumbre
End alternative I Coroico
End alternative II: The bottom of the valley
Length: 6400 m
Verticals: 3600m
Founder: The Inter American Development Bank
No of dead people per year: 200 - 300 (source: BBC news)
On this graveled road with its lovely scenery build by prisoners who perished during the task we went down on bikes sometimes over 70km/h. Thank god for the great suspensions that swallows the quite big gravel rocks which makes the trip more exciting. To make the trip down a little bit more fun, as well as to avoid cars driving up the mountain which prefers to drive on the inside, we concured the road on the left side. After stepping of the bike on the left side for 13 (Tina) and 17 years (Magnus) it was now time to learn to get of on the right side. This to not repeat what a French girl did not to long ago, stepping of on the left side, taking one step back and falling 200m. She then spend about 3 hours in agony before dying. To get an ambulance out here requires that someone walks in to the ambulance office in La Paz and pay cash up front. This requires that someone can make a phonecall to the office in La Paz and for that demands cellphone reception witch you have to bike all the way down to Coroico to get. So with other words - step of the bike on the right side and for god sake do not go straight in the quite tight curves. These advises all except Smithy listened to very carefully. However, Smithy decided to go straight in a curve, but lucky for him and us right where this happens there are some bushes to hold on to. The bike rider after Mr S was quite terrified when he found a lonesome bike and no sight of Smithy. But a woe never happens on its own. The same day Liz were kept hostage in a car in La Paz until scared enough to leave her pin number to her debit card to some bolivians and Lowney lost his passport. But we all survived, and what a thrill!!!! ..... Lowny, by the way, need to sort his life out when it comes to "keep one's things in order"
La Cumbre at 4700m
La Cumbre is cold this early saturday morning
One for the road - Spirits on the bike and a swallow all composed by ..
the crazy swedish guide
Tina is testing the suspensions
Even if it is steep there are sometime bushes to hold on to .... if you fall off.
Steep .... 400m to the bottom of the valley!
Smithy is checking out the precipices ... very convenient for him
Great scenery
The ones that made it...
La Paz, Bolivia
5/6 Thu - 6/6 Fri
Our noses are still sored from the altitude and blood is invariably every morning. We have not been under three thousand and seven hundred meters for the last two weeks and the air is dry as in a desert. After a couple of hours in a bus from Puno in Peru we finally arrived to the highest capital in the world and the world's highest golf course, not to be forgotten also carrying the highest football pitch. Most of visiting teams do not have the energy to maintain ninthy minutes here. In 1963, playing at home, Bolivia wins South American football championships. 
High mountains surrounds the great cutural center of Bolivia.
The city was founded in the middle of the 1500´s of the conquistador Mendoza which reflects in buildings and metropolitan sights. La Paz like also to boast about the highest five star hotel in the world - President. For SEK900 per night you can get a suite with two rooms, two bathrooms and a magnificent view of he city. Our plan - to stay there if we will survive biking down "The most dangerous road in the world". As far as we know - the lamb from the lunch menu is exquisite.
Traffic lights are used in La Paz and can be useful to you sometimes. Beware though, a red light is more like a recomendation than a statutory rule. Streets and road are like home, occasionally devided into lines when they are wide enough. It is meaningless here where the bus, the bike or the car tend to drive upon instead of within the lines, cruising to pass vehicles that stops wherever and whenever to pick up or let someone off. If there is something not beeing suitable - blow the horn and drive.
Actually, traffic above in an organized manner ... we are far from the "Auto Pista" 
Irish drinking game - drink every minute until drop dead ...
... and get a time stamp in your forehead
The winners .... the Irish boys who has experience of this since primary school.
Lake Titicaca
3/6 Tue - 4/6 Wed
Lake Titicaca is to be one of the new natural seven wonders in the world...or that is at least what the guide believes....
Lake Titicaca is the highest lake in the world and did once belong to the see until the platonic plates decided to put part of the ocean a few thousand meters above see level. Its shores and islands are home to the Aymara and Quechua, who are among Perus oldest peoples. On lake Titicaca we visited the Uros that "lives" on floating straw islands. The Uros dont have to move out of their house if they cant get along with their neighbours. They just to cut the island in two parts and separate them, quite handy, but no TV show.
This day we also got a new mama and papa on Amantani Island as well as a new home, the view was awesome, but the accomodation a little bit to primitive for us to stay a longer time. 
A floating straw island, the "home" of the Uros.
Big mama of this comunity island
A little girl, maybe four years old, rowing a boat...
Magnus - the grim reaper
Bolivian mountains
The Mamas that we could choose from...
.... and the Papas that came with the Mamas.
The view from our new home.
Our "new" kitchen, when did we have soil floors and open fires in the kitchen?
Our new Mama and Papa "dressed up"
Sea level lungs are not made for football at 4000m 
Sunset at Pacha Tata
The whole family in party clothes...
Sunrise at 5.30, only Magnus was awake.
The Inka Trail and Machu Picchu
The Inka Trail to Machu Picchu, starting at Km 82, Piscacucho, at least for us together with our three private porters, one chef and one guide. We did not wanne exhaust ourselfs during this trip. What might have been an adventure a few years ago has now become an almost luxurious hike with porters and chefs doing everything to make you feel like a king and a queen. The hardest day was the second when we hiked from approximately 3000m to 4200m in just a few hours reaching dead womans pass (Abra Warmiwanuska), but our job was nothing in comparison to the porters job. As they carry everything we need during our four days including our things, tents, food, water, table, gas i.e.
First day - At point 82 km where we started to hike the Classic Inka trail
First day - Soon ready for a caravan with matching outfits....obviously in icebreaker shirts, do not kill us....
First day - Great mountain views from point 82
First day - Inka terraces
Second day - Tina is finally reaching dead womans pass at 4200m, a rise of 1200m in just a few hours. Poor porters!!!!
Second day - Chipping for air at 4200m were others just celibrate with a smoke
Lunch in the tent for the guide and the customers
The chef on the other side of the curtain. Also known as Papa Pitofu.
Third day - Runkuracay, a Inka fort
Third day - Kill Bill on the top of the second pass, 3850m
Third day - Intipata teraces, with a difference in temperature from the higher teracess to the lower that is noticable.
Third day - Orchide that looks like an angel. This place would be like heaven for one person I know, even our untrained eyes are able to spot them.
Fourth day - Finally at the sun gate, the gate to Machu Picchu, the sun is however shining with its absence (Swedish saying).
Fourth day - Machu Picchu - do we need to say more ?
Fourth day - The sun temple in Machu Picchu
Fourth day - The temple of the earth below the sun temple
Fourth day - The view of Machu Picchu from Huaynu Picchu
Cusco - The Inka City
Cusco, 3300m above sea level, and even thou we have been higher during this trip this was the first spot where Magnus felt a little bit sick, but it takes longer for some. Tina was not as strong as she could feel it already the day before on the way to Cusco having a terrible headache. However dehydration could also be a reason for this headache which is easier to get at the higher altitude even thou the temperature is quite low. Even if its quite cold you can really feel the sun burn so when you go here make sure you wear sun block, this as Cusco was resently found to be the spot on Earth with the highest ultraviolet light level.
Cusco is a not to big city (300.000) in Peru located in the south east near the Sacred Valley. It is the historic capital of the Inca Empire (1200s-1532). Many believe that the city was planned to be shaped like a puma. The Puma is one of three animals describing the life where the others, the snake and the condor representing below and above earth. I don't know how many times we have heard about the snake, the puma and the condor, all guides repeat it over and over again, probably the first thing every guide learn when trained.
Tomorrow, Thursday, we are starting the Classic Inka Trail ... should be god fun!
The plaza of Cusco with La compañia de Jesús, in the background.
Inka remains from the Temple of the Sun (Quorichancha) that resists the earth quakes and the Spanish destruction as they build Santa Domingo on top of the temple.
Inka remains on the hill side north of Cusco- Saqsaywaman - The head of the puma
Inka remains - Saqsaywaman
Inka remains - Saqsaywaman - with two tourists or should we call us travellers??
Colca Canyon
25/5 Sun
Colca Canyon is a canyon of the Colca River in southern Peru. It is found 160 kilometers northwest of Arequipa and it is more than twice as deep as the Grand Canyon in USA. Not as vertical and steep but very impressive with the Andean Condors flying on the thermals. A perfect spot to test our skills to catch moving objects with the camera, do we pass the test?? Lucky for us that the condors are the second largest bird in the world and easy to catch in the lens. We got here on a bumpy road in a dusty bus with minimal seats from Shivay where we spent a very very cold night with warm water bottles as companions in bed. We have to say that better companions could not be found in this town. Even thou the small town of Shivay looks inicent this is the only place that we have been fooled, at least what we know of. We will carefully analyze what salesman tell us in the future before making any deals.
The agriculture that can be found in the canyon, the slopes owns by the poor man and the flat areas by the ones with more money.
On the way up to the condors view...
Impressive silhouette of the Andean Condor
A view down the valley - It is not very warm this early sunday morning
Mirador de los Andes
On the way from Arequipa to Colca Canion we passed the highest altitude so far - 4910m. Our home for the last month can handle even this altitude but we don't expect less from the swedish truck that we bye now have spent many hours in. Lucky for us that we are used to compact living. A touch of altitude sickness was close...but we made it.
Tina is sliding the ice and almost feeling like home
Magnus at 4910m
The "Scania truck" that takes us through Peru and Bolivia
Lama's and Alpacka's does not care to much about the altitude ...
... and neither does the girls who sells "Alpacka" clothes
Arequipa
21/5 Wed - 23/5 Fri
To see the champions league final Magnus, Jerry and Smithie took a ten hours bus from Nasca to Arequipa. The best bus ever. Royal class seats reclineable almost 360 degrees which included warm food and drinks for SEK 150. Early morning, after a great coffee, we start looking for the Irish pub. An imported guiness in cans cost SEK55 comparable with the local beer for SEK10. Good game and Man U victory. Maybe we don't have to tell you that Magnus were very happy by the time Tina reached the destination to once again take care of Magnus who would become very hangover the next day - however probably just due to the altitude. During the rest of the days in Arequipa we saw Santa Catalina Convent and the famous Ice maiden, a frozen mummy of an Inca girl sacrificed to the gods 500 years ago. The "Ice Maiden" - a girl between 12 and 14 - was discovered in 1995 in a ceremonial burial pit near the top of 20,700-foot Mount Ampato. The Ice Maiden was the main attraction for the whole group as this is Tinas new nickname - do you all agree??
The main Plaza in Arequipa
Santa Catalina Convent - Garden
Santa Catalina Convent - Kitchen
View over the mountains and vulcano of Arequipa
The found of the Ice Maiden - Juanita
