17 October 2006
South America trip report
Posted by Matthieu under: Travels; Vacations
Here is a quick summary of my vacations during August and September 2006. I travelled from Boston to meet my sister in Lima, Peru where she had been doing some archeological studies for more than a month. We met in Lima and then spent almost three week traveling together through southern Peru and Bolivia. Leslie left a little earlier than me and I spent my last day traveling with Éric, a Québécois that we met in Uyuni a few days before.
We started from Lima and headed south, staying on the coast for a few days stoping in Pisco, Paracas and Nazca. After we made a first step into the mountains and stayed in Arequipa, the second biggest city of Peru. From there we traveled upper in the Andes to the famous Lake Titicaca, and visited the Puno area for a couple of day. We then drove south, staying on the Altiplano, at an altitude varying between 3500m and 5000m and entered Bolivia. 
Our first stop in Bolivia was Uyuni, after a 21 hours bus ride :). We took a Jeep tour in Uyuni’s Salar and the southwest of Bolivia for 4 days, with the company of a guide, a cook and four new friends : Gabi from Germany, Éric from Québec, Mathias from Poland and Xavier from France. After this nice encounter we continued our trip, with Éric as a new companion, to La Paz where we biked
down the death road for about 5 hours and a total of 3500m of vertical drop!!! We then headed back to Peru where Leslie left us. Eric and I spent a few days around Arequipa, taking a tour to see condors in the Colca Canyon and we flew back to Lima where we spent our last couple of days surfing and visiting Peru’s capital.
Trip Facts :
- Length : 23 days (15 in Peru and 8 in Bolivia)
- Total travel time : ~23 hours of plane + ~70h of bus
- Highest altitude reached : 4921m in the southwest Bolivian Altiplano
Money Facts :
- Nazca lines flights : $55/person
- Uyuni Jeep tour : $80/p
- Death road bike tour : $55/p
Total spent (without flights) :
1629$ (35$ per day per person)
Flight Juliaca - Lima (Leslie) : 109$
Flight Arequipa - Lima (Matthieu) : 88$
Roundtrip flights Boston - Lima : 818$
Random Facts :
- ~1400 pictures (click here to look at them)
Best food : Los churros de Manolo, regular or stuffed with chocolate or caramel 
- Best drink : Pisco sour, a mix of Pisco liquor, lime, egg whites, and cane sugar syrup
Best tour agency : B-side adventures the agency with whom we biked down the death road. Super friendly, great bikes and very experienced guides. We had a blast!
2 Comments so far...
Machu Picchu Vacations Expert Says:
11 April 2008 at 22:31.
Nice site I must say, enjoyed reading it.
It is just absolutely amazing when you first see Machu Picchu in your life, I’ve been there like 4 times and I can’t get enough of it. . It really is an unforgetable experience and a journey you must make. I hope you get to visit Peru.
Gerald Jimenez Says:
3 September 2008 at 16:12.
It is a pity that you were not able to sta longer in Boliva as there are many more things to see. But the death road is amazing and to think this was a vital road to La Paz as the Yungas supplied most of the fresh food.
