CHILE - Valley of the Moon

Forty-six kilometres downhill through the Atacama Desert brought us to the small Chilean town of San Pedro de Atacama. One of the highights was a visit and trek through the Valley of the Moon.

BOLIVIA - Atacama Desert

The Atacama Desert makes Australia's Nullarbor Plain look a bit like a tropical oasis. Its a harsh, desolate landscape with occasional outcrops of cacti in amongst rocks and dust.
The Bolivian border post was like something out of a western movie. Gnarled Alpaca meat hung on bent wire drying outside the doorway. Inside the dusty, dirty, dingy office sat a lone Bolivian guard in a uniform that hadn't seen Persil for many months.

BOLIVIA - Flamingos

Around Laguna Colorado there are smouldering volcanoes and desert lakes filled with several species of flamingos. We were dressed in layer upon layer to keep out the biting cold.

BOLIVIA - Salt Lakes

As we came over the horizon the Salar de Uyuni
opened up before us. At altitude and with a bitter wind we photographed the amazing patterns in the salt flats. This area is now known to contain the world's richest deposit of lithium.

Lake Titicaca

A three hour boat ride from the Puno on the shores of Lake Titicaca we arrived at peaceful Takile Island. Its about the same size as Rottnest Island but has no cars, no roads and no electricity. The steep slopes tested our fitness as we climbed the mountain paths to our homestay.

Here's our wonderful group with our homestay hosts.

SALT PONDS

As a saline stream tumbles down a steep gulley hundreds of salt ponds have provided salt to the local area since Inca times.

COLCA CANYON

Colca Canyon is one of the homes of the mighty condor which spiral upwards from their overnight resting places. In parts, Colca Canyon is deeper than the Grand Canyon.

AREQUIPA

Santa Catalina Convent was founded in 1580. It was a cloistered convent where the second daughter of wealthy families dedicated their lives to chastity, poverty and obedience through prayer and silence!

At Altitude

We travelled as high as 4900 meters where the air is thin and you need to move more slowly. A type of moss covered the volcanic landscape and alpacas roamed where there was water supply.

Ana Maria

Your tour is only as good as your guide. And we had the best! Ana Maria is a native born Peruvian with an intimate knowledge of her country and its culture. She organised events for us that would be available to very few tourists including a sacred ceremony including local medicine men for good weather - and it worked!

Aerials

Our flight from Sydney to Buenos Aires took us over hundreds of kilometres of cracked ice. Even on the internal flights at lower altitudes we managed sots through the small aircraft windows. the Panasonic Lumix TZ10 (believe it or not) has a special setting for shooting through aircraft windows. Like most things on this amazing camera the settings actually work better than manual settings!

Lunch being prepared

Roasted guinea pig is a favourite menu item in both Peru and Bolivia. Your guinea pig is served with potatoes, rice or quinoa and spicy source. Another delicious variation is fried guinea pig with a pepper and quinoa sauce. Its not a good idea to get close too your favourite guinea pig or the prettiest one before you choose which one wil be served up. Its especially not a good idea to learn personal names - you know saying 'I think Miriam looks really cute'.