Weronika On Aventura

CHILE Santiago de Chile Valparaiso Punta Arenas & Torres del Paine San Pedro de Atacama Calama Elqui Valley La Serena ARGENTINA Buenos Aires URUGUAY Montevideo Cabo Polonio PERU Lima Huacachina Cuzco Ollantaytambo Aguas Calientes & Machu Pichu ECUADOR Guayaquil Cuenca & Cajas national park Banos Quito Nueva Loja & Cuyabeno reserve Cotopaxi COLOMBIA Cali

What can I say about Cali... I simply fell in love. When arriving in this city I had 6 weeks of my trip left - was planning to stay a few night and then move on to visit at least 3 more places in Colombia. Let's just say I need to go back to Colombia because I never saw anything apart from Cali... Hell, I didn't even make it to the fruit tour that departed from my hostel because I was so busy dancing! My favourite party was one that started in a corner shop where people were buying drinks and dancing to some music in the shop and on the street. Turned out one of the guys there owned a newly opened dance club... he told everyone to come with him and he opened up the place jus for us! :) The normal schedule of the day involved a couple of dance classes starting around noon, some hanging out at the hostel in the hammocks/cooking/around the neighbourhood, and then party till 4a! The next day repeat... There was often late night snacks from in front of La Topa and many cuban sandwic...

I was a bit tired of constantly moving around when I got to Cuenca so I decided to make my pitstop there a little longer. Spent about 5 nights in this quaint colonial town - with a newly built tram service opening up! I went on a walking tour and to a Spanish/English conversation class in the local language school. I also went to the nearby Cajas National Park and that was amazing. It's and incredibly rainy area with very unique climate and many endemic plants. I stalked a group with a guide for a bit, then I walked around on my own and I panicked about getting lost but it was all fine :) On my way back I met a few other people at the mini bus stop and it was a fun drive back and walk back to city center with them. Walk into some random art gallery on our way.

Aguas Calientes is the nearest town to Machu Picchu.  The hostel I stayed at had a receptionist that was a big fan of Michal Szpak and Edyta Gorniak... what?! :-P I rememeber sitting in a cafe with a view and decent WIFI and chatting to Agata on the phone :) On the way back (right at closing time!) I wanted to go down on foot but I was scared on my own since it was gonna get dark. Found a Bolivian family of parents with 2 children to join for the way and we had a lovely chat! I liked even the kids! :)

On my way back from Aguas Calientes and Machu Picchu I stopped over in Ollantaytambo. The town dates back to the 15th century - it used to be a royal estate and has some of the longest continuously occupied dwellings in South America. Being there felt like travelling back in time. An Incan aquaduct system still runs through he town and is still very much in use. The water rushing through it creates a nice background sound for strolling around the cobbled streets.  The red flag on a stick means that in this house they make and sell local alcoholic drink made of corn - chicha. Many inhabitants still wear traditional clothing - some for the tourists, but not all. Women wear skirts, hats and their long hair braided in two strands, which looks a little funny to me - makes them looks like very old school girls :) This particular lady asked if I wanted to take a picture of her - for a fee, of course. Of course I did, she looked amazing in her read outfit. I was very amused to see one of t...

My second destination in Peru after Lima was Huacachina - the oasis town. It looks really cool in the pics, in reality it's not that amazing. The water in the lake is pretty gross and there isn't much around. But what you come for to Huacachina is some SAND SURFING and sand buggy rides and I did just that.  To get to Huacachina I took a coach from Lima, which in itself was quite a stressful event for me. Firstly, most South American countries are notorious for terrible road safety statistics. Secondly, bus hijacking were not unheard of in Peru, especially on popular tourist routes. Luckily everything went well and I could see they were putting a lot of effort into trying to maintain high standards of safety. Before we departed, they walked around the coach taking camera recordings of all passengers (to discourage hijackings), and also videotaped the driver taking the alcohol test. Pretty intense! I arrived at Ica, a town nearby Huacachina, late in the evening, and took a cab to...