Rare Adventures

Tag: health

Island adventures on Lake Titicaca

After spending a couple of days adjusting to altitude in Puno, we set off on our main event, a tour of the islands on Lake Titicaca. Things didn’t get off to a good start, when there was a misunderstanding about our collection point, and we only made it to the quay with seconds to spare.

Wooksie was still tired but said she was feeling a bit better. We headed out into the bay in search of the floating islands, which apparently move about and after a 90 minute cruise we were ready to board.

The guide was excellent and gave us the full run down on their lifestyles, basically they are floating gypsies or nomads. They live on floating islands of reeds so they don’t have to pay any tax, which is linked to land.

Floating Islands and the Uros people

Apparently, the villages rotate as the destination for tours, and they were very geared up to extract our cash, which unfortunately we didn’t have. We saw a lot of arts and crafts but their existence was intriguing. Families build rafts, sometimes there are multiple families on a floating island so like a mini tribe, if they fall they kick the family the don’t like off the raft.

Obviously, this is a bit inconvenient out on the lake, so they actually cut the raft up and give them their share of the island. Each island has a chief, and they seem to rotate through some process of democracy. Meanwhile Wooksies was feeling dozy again and when we got back on the boat she dozed off.

The tour included and overnight stop so we headed further out onto the lake and when we passed a headland we started to be hit by waves. Not surprising as Lake Titicaca is not only the highest navigable lake in the world, it is also one of the biggest so it is like being out in the sea so we bounced around until we arrived at our overnight island.

The guide told us about their subsistence lifestyle and how the occupants traced their ancestors back generations, At this point my alarm bells started to ring, where were we sleeping, I’d assumed it was a hotel when I booked but as we got closer to the shore it was clear that there we no hotels.

Amantan Island

On landing, we were told all about the wonderful cultural events that awaited us, but first it was time for a meal followed by a climb to the top of the island, a good altitude test as it would take me up to 4500m.

The accommodation was actually quite nice, a bit like an Airbnb provided by natives, but it was made of stone and had beds, well in my case, the mattress was by far the worst mattress I have ever slept on, rock hard doesn’t even start to tell it.

We found some new Italian chums from Milan, Luigi and Florence, it turned out Florence was feeling rough as well so the two ladies went to bed (separately) and left Luigi and I to our own devices, so we had a kip as well, until he came to collect me for the trek, which I was rather wishing he wouldn’t if I was honest.

The fact the two women slept reassured me there was nothing out of the ordinary about Wooksie, it was still only 48 hours since we’d arrived so still within the recovery margins. I did the climb with Luigi and we discussed football all the way up and all the way down, I learned a lot about Inter Milan and he learned an amazing amount about Plymouth Argyle.

By an amazing coincidence, I took a photo of the sunset over Bolivia and there were a couple of young people in the shot. On the way down we stopped for a hot chocolate in a little hut, and they were there. I offered to send them a copy of the photo and during the discussion, it turned out they were also from Bristol and lived less than 5 miles from me – what a coincidence.

I got back to the room and Wooksie hadn’t moved, she hadn’t even touched her water either, at this point my alarm bells started to ring as this couldn’t be right.

I didn’t bother with the cultural evening which was half back to the top of the island, and just had a good kip and kept my eye on Wooksie.

Taquile Island

The next day we visiting a different island about 10 miles up the coast but it’s development as a society was quite incredible, apparently there was little or no contact with the other island and their entire social and cultural development was different, it was like a commune where everything was shared.

It was becoming obvious that there was something wrong with Wooksie, she had slept all night, hadn’t drunk any water and was looking pale. When we got to the island, it was a struggle to get off the boat, but she managed it but the climb up to the village was very painful, just one step at a time.

They had a beautiful town square with wonderful views across the lake to Bolivia. We spent a pleasant morning watching the locals go through their dance regimes in their best dress outfits before heading back down to lake level, boarding the boat and heading back to Puno to find a doctor.

14/01/2026
The Nazca lines, a stunt pilot and ancient conundrums

I learned about the Nazca lines when I was in my teens, I read a book about evidence of spacemen landing on earth and apparently the Nazca lines were evidence of their runway. They also drew images of creatures on the desert floor for unknown reasons, many of the creatures live thousands of miles away in the Amazon or out in the Pacific Ocean, not here. The lines date back to civilisations up to 200 BC.

The drawings and lines were only discovered when planes started to fly over Peru in the 1920s, the images are not visible from the ground as they are so big. The images have been perfectly preserved because there is no rain or wind in this region, so no erosion. The landscape is flat and desolate and it is difficult to imagine humans living here it is so alien. There are various theories about their purpose and origins, but it still very much a mystery.

After our big night out, we gathered at 545am with all our gear together, grabbed a drink and some fruit and headed for the rendezvous for the coach to see the Nazca lines. Dawn and Reg were waiting for us, with big smiles on their faces and happy to share what great night’s sleep they had enjoyed, and asked us how our night had gone. We just grunted in response.

I think our eyes told the story, but it was time to head to one of our big events of the holiday, the Nazca lines as part of the PeruHop itinerary.

The journey from hell

I was expecting a transfer to a local airport to fly down to see the Nazca lines, but how wrong I was. It turned out that the minibus was a FOUR hour drive to Nazca, where we picked up the plane. The journey was painful, a cramped minibus bouncing along the 2 lane highways of southern Peru with our heads rocking from side to side as we tried to grab some sleep.

After 3 hours we stopped in the middle of nowhere by a large tower and told we needed to climb the steps. To be honest it was a relief from being in the bus so we climbed the tower, and to our amazement we could see one of the desert drawings right below us. It turned out that the road was built before planes started flying, so the road was built straight through the image as they couldn’t see it from ground level.

If the bus ride was difficult, worse was to come. We arrived at the landing strip in the middle of nowhere. There were quite a few people waiting for flights, there was a conveyor belt of small planes taking off to take passengers over the lines. We then discovered we had to pay a take off tax in cash before we could fly, and of course, we had spent all our cash the night before. One of the local entrepreneurs solved the problem with some fiddle, a lot of commission and cash appeared.

This put us at the back of the queue so we were stuck in a hot hangar, with our hangovers, for 90 minutes before we could get on a plane. We saw Dawn and Reg come back from their tour and got an update on what to expect, and they did look a little traumatised to be honest and we never saw them again.

The flight over the lines

Eventually it was our turn, we crammed ourselves into the plane, strapped ourselves in and put on our headsets. This was no jumbo jet, just 6 passengers and a world of history to discover, and before we new it we were bouncing down the runway and airborne.

Our hangovers had marginally improved by this stage but they soon came back with a vengeance. To be fair, the pilot and guide were very helpful people and wanted us to have an excellent view. So as we approached the first of the images the pilot dipped the wings and put the plane on it’s side so we could all get a better view of the image on our left. As you can imagine, this did not have a good effect on the stability of our stomachs or heads as the plane tipped and righted itself again.

To be even more helpful, the guide announced that they would do another pass from the opposite direction for the benefit of the passengers on the right of the plane, so they too could get a great view. So the plane did a U turn, which involved being tipped on our sides again, going around and levelling up. Then we headed back to see the image on the right of the aircraft. How nobody was sick during this manoeuvre I will never know, with or without hangovers.

And so the routine was set for the next hour in the plane. The incredibly helpful guide and a willing pilot that was only too happy to go around again and again. The drawings themselves weren’t that easy to spot, as they were obviously the same colour as the desert floor, so it required a level of concentration that I didn’t really have, but luckily sharp eyed Wooksie was very helpful as normal. It was like being having a stunt pilot taking us on a tour, the only thing we didn’t do was a loop de loop.

These drawing are really one of the great wonders of the world, their size and intricacy are astonishing when you see them. The origins and purpose are a mystery and the thing that amazed me was that they were drawing of animals from thousands of miles away,

It wasn’t just the drawings, there are also the lines, which absolutely look like a landing strip, they run for miles into the distance and are totally straight and diagonal.

There is also evidence of man-made canals and a water course, which is even more inexplicable as there is no water and isn’t much sign of it ever being there now but the climate has changed. I have seen many of the wonders of the world but this one is really up there as the most intriguing.

The enthusiasm of the pilot became a bit wearing after a while, the endless fly pasts of the drawings, U turns and airplane wing dipping to improve the view was taking it’s toll on everyone onboard.

Eventually we landed and the passengers staggered out of the plane, some unable to stand properly, others threw up. Wooksie and I staggered off, thanked the pilot and guide for their enthusiasm and looked for something stable to sit on.

Journey back to Lima

Before we knew it, we were back on the bus and soon back in the town of Nazca to await our connection back to Lima. It was then that we discovered the full extent of the Peru Hop network, and how effective it was. Most people were waiting for a coach to Arequipa, one of the cities we had left off the schedule. From there people were travelling on to Puna by coach.

We had a much needed burger and chips for a meal before boarding the coach, finding a comfy seat and falling asleep.

As we neared Lima, Wooksie started to complain about having stomach pains and was concerned that she might have a stomach bug. After a rough night at the hotel we headed for the airport for our flight to Juliaca for a transfer to see Lake Titicaca and Puna and our high altitude preparation that was about to unravel spectacularly.

10/01/2026
Rediscovering Freedom: Our Adventure to Peru

As the last offspring left the nest, it was time to enjoy our new freedom and start travelling to far flung lands again.

23 years earlier we had completed our last pre kids adventure trekking and rafting in Nepal, Next on our list was the Inca Trail in Peru, but fate intervened and child number one was on the way, and that trip was put on ice.

The last of our offsprings was heading to university so we decided it was time for us to get back on the road again. Now that we had our freedom back the destination was easy, Peru here we come.

After some research, which included the BBC TV series “Race across the World“, we came up with an itinerary. Contacted a few trekking agencies and settled on Alpaca Expeditions tours out of Cusco, there was a 6 week lead so by mid-August we were booked up and ready for the off in late September.

It was at this moment that I had a closer look at the Inca Trekking route and discovered it was VERY steep and at high altitude. This hadn’t really registered 23 years ago, so every weekend we were out doing at least 20km walks up and down any hills we could find around Bristol, with plenty in Wales and in the Mendips.

Our training culminated in a trek up Mt Snowden, the highest mountain in the UK, we dropped our youngest off at Liverpool University, gave him a hug and a wave, and headed off to north Wales for the trek armed with all our new gear and our cockapoo Tess for company.

The trek up Snowden was roughly the same as the toughest day on the Inca Trail but without the altitude. It was quite tough but manageable, even Tess the Dog started to look a bit tired on the way back down.

We headed for our hotel, had a nice meal and went to bed. At this point things took an unexpected turn, I woke up in the night in agony, it later transpired that I had trapped a nerve in my back, probably on the steep decline at the end, and not to be left out, Tess the Dog threw up in the hotel room, probably a bit of exhaustion.

So, the last few days before departure to Peru were spent in the physio going through untold pain with the manipulation, followed by sleepless nights, and more pain.

It was difficult to know the true source of the pain, was it my back or was it the physio. By the time we headed to the airport my walking had improved from a shuffle to a limp but still not a lot of hope for climbing a mountain, but we had a couple of weeks in Peru before the trek so there was hope.

We flew to Lima via Madrid with Air Europe airlines, which seemed to be quite a new low cost airline and they were very good. We upgraded to business class to give my back a chance and by some freaky miracle, lying a bit awkward on the flatbed seemed to do my back the world of good, though it is never fun arriving in a county at 2.30am.

We had 3 days allocated to Lima to recover and look around and it was probably more than we needed. Thanks to Business Class we didn’t need the recovery day and were up and walking around by mid-morning.

Lima is a typical third world capital city, heavily congested with clapped out vehicles, mad people on motorbikes and packed buses, all the guidebooks send tourists to Miraflores as the epicentre of fun, and to be honest it was quite a nice place to chill out on the first afternoon.

There are lots of restaurants and you can generally get buy speaking English, there are Irish bars and wandering bands of minstrels playing Peruvian music, and you will be faced by your first deep fried guinea pig which is a bit disturbing.

After an hour or so sitting around it was time to test my back a bit more and do some more exploring and we discovered a very spectacular waterfront. Lima is built on a cliff top overlooking the Pacific Ocean, so technically this was our first glimpse of the South Pacific.

The lower level has the motorway running beside it but there was a pier with a loverly bar overlooking the rocky beach and the local surfers enjoying the waves, I noted their thick wetsuits from bar and decided the water was no place for a bloke with a bad back.

We headed back to Miraflores to test the Peruvian food for dinner and a pint in the Irish Bar before heading back for a good night’s kip. Next day we were beginning to regret having an extra day in Lima, then we decided to take a tour bus to fill the day up and see the city. This turned out to be a very good idea, as there was a lot of good stuff to see and the bus was really the only way to see it.

The city is spread out but we discovered that the muddy hill behind our hotel was actually an ancient pyramid that had only been discovered 25 years ago, up to that moment the local kids had used it for dirt bike riding.

The tour took us around to the main square of government builds which was very attractive, and over the coming weeks we discovered that pretty every city in Peru had one of these. Our fist ancient monetary and some sites of some bad moments between the people and their government which litters their history.

So that was our trip to Lima, a good start but now the real fun begins.

29/12/2025
Culture vultures land in Buenos Aries

We landed back in Buenos Aries for our second visit of the South American adventure. The first visit only lasted about 15 hours but we did manage to get in a tour of the main sights before heading to the airport, so we were looking for something different on this visit.

The trip up from Ushuaia using Flybondi had been surprisingly incident free. After our previous experiences, we were relieved the find the flight on time and we landed in Buenos Aries on schedule, tired but with the evening to look forward to.

We then encountered the Howard Johnson hotel chain, in particular, their hotel naming convention. Now I get the need for branding and consistency but do the hotels have to have almost the exact same name?

Howard Johnson Hotels

So after a long day we got an Uber from the airport to Howard Johnson by Wyndham Buenos Aries, which it turns out is hidden away in a shopping mall. After walking around in circles trying to find it, we finally found the hidden entrance, waited 10 minutes while a couple of other customers faffed about before it was our turn.

The receptionist looked at our reservation and laughed, “You have the wrong hotel”, firstly I didn’t like having to wait anyway, but when he chose to laugh it really did agitate me so I let Wooksie deal with it. It was the first time the pace of our South American adventure started to catch up with us.

Turned out we were at the Howard Johnson by Wyndham Plaza Buenos Aries Florida, when we should have been at Howard Johnson Plaza by Wyndham Buenos Aries Lima, a mile away, a simple mistake to make I’m sure you will agree, and in fact, a naming convention almost designed to cause trouble for innocent customers.

So, we called another Uber for 4 persons, and the driver turned up in a VW Up which is hardly a 4 seater. It patently wasn’t big enough to take us and our bags comfortably but I wasn’t giving in that easy, we then had a stand off as he wanted to cancel the trip but after another very dirty look from me we piled into the car with two big bags on our laps, and finally we made it to Howard Johnson Plaza by Wyndham Buenos Aries Lima. We then discovered that Buenos Aries shuts down on a Sunday night, so there was no big night out for us so a light dinner and a good night’s kip.

Culture options.

For this trip to Buenos Aries we wanted something a bit different, we had already done the city tour so wanted to see a different side of the city. Wooksie was adamant that she wanted to experience the traditions of Tango, we had touched on it in Boca, so we decided we would go to a see a Tango show. We also had time in the day for something else so we decided to do the tour of the street art in Palermo, and in particular the Soho district.

In the morning, we went for a stroll in the spring sunshine around the parks and the around Porteno backstreets, was good to feel the sun again after Patagonia and Ushuaia in particular.

We are not particularly arty, in fact, not arty at all, so the walking tour of the street art was a bit left field for us, but it turned out to be one of the absolute highlights of the trip. We had a really nice, paced walk around the back streets of this famous suburb and you could really feel the buzz, I would imagine nights out in that area would be a lot of fun, there was even an Irish pub.

Street art in Palermo

The street art itself was brilliant. If we had wandered around the streets ourselves, we would have missed so much, not just the art but all the history and buildings that make up the area. Bright vibrant colours on all the walls, apparently vandalism is defined as someone who damages someone else’s art.

Nearly all the walls had artwork on them, from artists all over the world who had come here to leave their mark. I now know the history of graffiti, not to be mistaken for murals of course. It was difficult to really capture all the vibrant colours in the photos as there were so many of them, so I created this video to capture them all.

The time flew by with a great tour guide and interesting company in the group, but before we knew it, we had to bail out and head back to the hotel for our big night out at the Porteno Tango show a few blocks from our hotel.

We got ourselves ready in our least scruffy T shirt and jeans for our big night out. Just before we headed for our night out in at the Tango (at 745 pm) I received an email from Antonio Jungle Trekking that said our accommodation was double booked and offering me their very basic accommodation, no aircon, shared bathroom and a night camping in the jungle – I couldn’t believe what I was reading and it is fair to say it poured cold water on our evening at the Tango, you can read the full story in our Cautionary Tale blog.

Wooksie started to come to terms with possible unravelling or Jungle Trek in Manaus and at least started talking to me again in rather clipped phrases, one of the terms she used sounded similar to anchor.

A night at the Tango

Thankfully, our arrival at the Porteno Theatre went without a hitch, the booking was all in place so no problems to navigate, the welcome was warm, and we were directed to our dining table which had a great view of the stage.

We then found ourselves in the company of another English couple touring South America in the wake of the BBC Race Round the World, exactly the same as us. So, we had much to talk about, and tales to tell of our adventures and experiences and the pre-show dinner and drinks just flew by.

A word on the dinner, the food at the theatre was as good as anything we had enjoyed at restaurants and the Merlot was really good quality, it was relatively expensive but was good value for money.

In the UK we don’t really do show things, it’s not really us but this was a great experience. The whole Tango experience was different to what we expected, the dancing was more akin to what I would have expected in Paris with café culture scenes. I think we were expecting Flamenco dancing, which we now realise is associated with Brazil 😊.

Even though the Tango is associated with Argentina, it clearly has its origins in France and Italy with other European influences, a bit like the whole of Argentina really. So, this was the last act in our Argentina adventure as the next day we headed to Brazil to continue our adventure.

We had a wonderful time in Argentina and I’ve documented the little surprises about the country and what to expect if you decide to come here.

The pictures tell part of the Tango story, but I put them all together to make a little video of the night, which I hope you will enjoy.

07/12/2025
Best of Rio in a day

Rain and fog but we still saw the best views

Day out in Rio

We had 3 days to explore Rio. There are many options that involve walking, jeeps or a variety of other forms of transport, but we also wanted to enjoy the beach life while we were there.

We considered the Flavella walking tour, but after some thought it didn’t seem right to be paying to stare at how poor people live, so we settled on a tour that did the major sites in one day.

We chose a tour with a company called City Rio Turismo via Tripadvisor as it had all the main sites included, but it wasn’t cheap, costing £80 each. It should be noted that the entry fees to Christ the Redeemer, Sugarloaf cable car, and a very large BBQ lunch were included in that price, so it was pretty good value.

Sugar loaf queue

One of the benefits of visiting the tourist hotspots in the rain is nobody else is there, so the legendary queues were missing, getting wet has its benefits. It was a long day, leaving at 8am and arriving back late in the afternoon, but we saw a lot of the city, despite the rain and fog, so here are the highlights.

Sugar Loaf cable car.

Sugarloaf cable car

This is a really imaginative attraction and a complex engineering feat. The original cable car went to the first of the outcrops at 220m above the sea, it was built by Swiss climbers back in 1912 as the rock is almost sheer so very difficult to climb. The second cable car extended up to 400m but crosses over the city to give a great view of the harbour and beaches. Obviously, the views from the top are much better so the middle level is now basically a transfer area with a café and a Heineken bar!

Argyle fan in Rio

When you get to the top there are walks around the ridge, but the scale of the concrete structure perched on the pinnacle is really amazing. The view across to Christ the Redeemer would have been spectacular but all we could see was thick cloud.

The main benefit of doing the cable car it to get a view of the vast Rio harbour which stretches into the distance inland. In many ways it is similar to Sydney and its spectacular harbour.

We were being thankful that we could see Copacabana when the rain and thick clouds arrived and we got soaked, so time to head down.

Christ the Redeemer

Because of the weather, our courier Lauren decided we would have an early lunch to see if it improved, however as we passed through the city suddenly the clouds parted, and we saw the statue for the first time. All the images are of a beautiful statue on a clear blue sky day, but not us, just a distant grey finger poking through grey clouds.

A sudden change of plan and we headed up the mountain towards the stature for the break in the weather. The logistics of building it must have been incredible, the minibus took us up the steep winding road to the reception area, where we swapped buses and headed for the summit excited at the prospect of visiting one of the most famous attractions in the world.

We climbed the stairs to the statue reception area and walked around it. It was a totally awe inspiring sight, the statue is as big as I expected. The face is amazingly tranquil as it stares north, presumably towards Rome or Europe.

Heavy rain at Christ the Redeemer

It wasn’t long before the rain came back big time and the clouds closed in and visibility disappeared again. However, we did get a glimpse of Ipanema beach through the clouds. The next day when the sun came out, we were able to see the stature from Ipanema beach as well, this was a great moment.

One regret from this trip was not riding the train up to the statue. The route looked spectacular through the jungle and with gradients steeper than I have seen anywhere else, so if I come back that will be on my list.

Maracana stadium

We had a long drive through the traffic to the stadium and a drive around the perimeter. As a football fan I was excited to see this legendary stadium, but it was disappointing. A massive sprawling concrete structure with walkways heading in various direction so there was very little to see. I am sure it is wonderful inside but as a visitor drive past it was a bit of a waste of time, they didn’t even have a stature of Pele!!

Catholic cathedral

Next stop was the catholic cathedral, which I have to say was a real eyesore. One of the pug ugliest churches I have ever seen, it looked like a concrete wigwam stuck in the middle of the city. To be honest it improved when you stepped inside and the effect of the glass walls took effect but from the outside it was just plain ugly. It wasn’t clear whether it was a design flaw or intended, but it does not have bells or bell tower, maybe the concrete wasn’t strong enough to hold them. So, the ingenious builders built a separate bell tower for one bell, not surprised it hasn’t caught on as a design concept!

Selaron Steps

Last stop of the day was the famous Selaron Steps. Apparently, some chap decided to collect tiles from around Brazil and decorate the steps with them, which was a nice idea and has built a handy little tourist attraction.

Where there are tourists there are markets, so you have to battle your way through Brazil football shirts to get to the steps and then you have to take on the Instagramers doing their photo thing and wanting to take over the steps. There are 250 steps, they start steep and get steeper, so we battled our way to the top to get the tick in the box.

On the way up there are little bars and sound systems to keep you going, there is also a selection of art around the streets that makes for a colourful experience to end the day.

The trip ended up back at Copacabana Beach, and I headed straight to a bar for a recovery drink. Apart from the specific stop offs, we really got a feel for Rio, with its busy traffic and endless concrete high rise blocks, 17 million people have to live somewhere and get themselves around at the end of the day, but it’s not pretty.

So, thanks to Lauren for navigating the weather effectively, and at the end of it, I feel like I’ve seen the best of Rio.

04/11/2025