Rare Adventures

Tag: travel

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
Adventures in Huacachina: Sand Dunes and Thrills

Our first sight of Huacachina came soon after we arrived in Ica, we turned up a back road that wound up the sand dunes, then we came over the hill in the coach and there it was, the most stunning and unbelievable view of a beautiful oasis surrounded by the sand dunes the size of real mountains, it was like an image of heaven in a desolate, hell like landscape.

We made our way to our hotel, which was like any seaside hotel on the Med, so a swim was in order. As we got over our trip, we started to notice lines of ants crawling along the ridges of the distant and dunes, more investigation led to the discovery that these were some form of monster trucks.

This part of our South of Lima adventure was called something vague like “Fun in the sand dunes”, as we watched the little dots moving around the full potential of the fun started to take shape.

We met up with our fellow adventures and walked up the dunes to find our truck. Our new companions were Dawn and Reg from Scotland, a couple of doctors on a 6 month world tour with lots of great stories to share along with Bettina, an amazing young lady who worked for the United Nations refugee council.

As we walked up the path we started to hear the roar of the trucks in the boarding zone. We also watched the convoys of trucks coming back down the sand dunes over gravity defying drops and almost vertical climbs back up the dunes.

The afternoon promised a lot of fun, as we also had sand boarding included in the itinerary, hardly ideal for a bloke with a trapped nerve in his back!

Monster dune trucks

The first sight of the truck was amazing, in truth it wasn’t a truck, it was a giant V8 engine attached to a tube framework with seats. It was an incredibly powerful beast and the absence of any real exhaust system meant the noise was more akin to that of an aircraft.

Once we were all aboard, the engine fired up and off we went with engine roaring and sand being sprayed off the wheels as we followed a convoy of similar mechanical beasts up the dunes.

For the next hour we were on a roller coaster through the dunes, as we headed for the peaks. The climbs got steeper, the drops got bigger and the screaming in the truck got louder as our madman driver launched us off the tops of ridges.

The best way to describe the experience is that it was like being live in a Mad Max movie. It was one of the most exciting things I’ve ever done, my adrenalin was in overdrive willing the truck to go faster and fly higher!

Hope you enjoy the video of the sand buggy rides and it brings it to life for you.

Sand boarding for beginners

Eventually we pulled up to stretch our legs, and then discovered this wasn’t a break, it was the start of the sand boarding as we were stood on the top of a ridge. Boards were unloaded from the truck and we stood there looking at the drop, this meant decision time.

My trapped nerve was still an issue, but was definitely on the mend, but the Inca Trail trek was only a week away, so a wise person would have chosen not to go headfirst down a sand mountain, like Dawn and Reg. Not being a wise person, I grabbed the board, carefully knelt down gently, laid on the board and flew down the hill and gingerly stood up at the bottom, no damage done.

Back into the truck and off we went to our next stop with lots more roaring engines, flying off ridges and to avoid trucks coming from other angles. Eventually it took us to the high point of the tour, with an outstanding vista from one of the high points of the region. It was then that we realised there was another reason for reaching this high point of the region, it was the next sandboard opportunity.

Sand boarding for the deranged

After a climb along a ridge, we were faced with a downhill run that was at least 2 km long. There was no reason in the world for a sensible person with a trapped nerve in their back to go headfirst down this hill. However, the constant excitement of the racing trucks had my adrenaline pumping and the next thing I was looking down the mountain, in the company of my young companions. Before I knew it, I was having one of the most exciting runs of my life, going over 50mph headfirst down a sand mountain.

I hope you enjoy the video of our sand boarding and it brings it to life for you.

The truck collected us in the valley below and took us off to another remote part of the sand dunes to watch the incredible sunset over the dunes. At this remote location we all found places on the dunes to settle and just watch the vastness and desolated scene across the desert, providing a fabulous counterbalance to the adrenaline junkie events of the afternoon.

After we had climbed all over the trcucks for photos, and climbed up the sand dunes, we headed back to the truck park and the end of the adrenaline experience, but it wasn’t the end of the day.

We walked back down to the town for the evening BBQ and a few beers with our fellow adventurers but we had no idea how much mayhem was about to follow us as we headed for the bar to celebrate our adventures.

07/01/2026
A crazy night in Huacachina

Some memorable nights come about after a well laid plan, and others come about spontaneously, and after 4 hours overdosing on adrenaline I was ready for a beer or two and whatever would follow.

The scene was set when we settled in the bar overlooking the oasis, with our Scottish chums Dawn and Reg from the dune buggy. The first beer arrived and was gone in a flash, on to the next one and Dawn started to tell us about an obnoxious, misogynous chap called Dave who was from London, he had clearly got up her nose but apart from that we were getting along just fine with tales of mountain biking and then time for another beer.

Suddenly, the atmosphere changed, Dawn started hissing and then said, “there he Is, Dave from London”, as a chap walked along the balcony and took up a seat near us. To our disbelief, it was “John from Raynes Park”, or Dogbite John as we were calling him. Admittedly he seemed to have his faults but there were daggers looks flying between Dawn and John. This which was a bit awkward as he moved over to talk to us, I decided it was time to have another beer and focus on mountain biking with Reg.

Wooksie pointed out there must be a mistake, as he was called John not Dave, but Dawn had made her mind up and put up the barriers. So, we drank up and headed on to the next big event, the BBQ, which involved lots of lovely foot and lots of Pisco Sours, this evening was really beginning to escalate.

Then our Scouser chums Helen and Glenn appeared and joined in the evolving party spirit that was driven by adrenaline overdoses, free beer and now a bottomless jug of Pisco Sours, along with some young people who thought we were younger than we were.

Poor old John was excluded from the fun, so my wife Wooksie, being a truly lovely person went over and kept John company, Dawn continued her hate session and I got to know the young people as we;; as Glenn and Helen.

When the free beer and Pisco Sours ran out, most people of a certain age retire to bed. So we bid farewell to Dawn and Reg from Scotland along with Dog bite John and I decided to test the water with our new Scouser chums about going on to a later bar.

To be fair, they took no persuading at all so we headed to the infamous “Wild Rover” bar. our coach was due to leave at 6am, but 1 more drink wasn’t going to hurt us, what was the worst thing that could happen anyway (there was the problem right there, that is my out of control mantra).

Wild Rover bar

When we entered the bar there was some strange formalities, like I had to prove my age and my identify, which took at bit of time but it was immediately obvious that this place was built for fun and young party people, and luckily for them we had arrived!

Things started quite slowly with a bit too much Abba for my liking but the young people seemed to be enjoying themselves so I put up with the music and joined in. The more we talked (or by now shouted) at Glenn and Helen the more we realised we had loads in common and the night accelerated even further when we discovered that a jug of Pisco Sour was an amazingly good investment, so we bought two jugs just in case they ran out of jugs.

Wooksie was now picking up a head of steam as well, normally she is quite reserved but clearly the company of Helen was encouraging her, then Bettina from the dune buggy arrived and things seemed to take off even further.

An unfortunate incident was thankfully avoided. Wooksie, who was happily dancing to the music and singing along when she headed to what she thought was the dance floor. Thankfully someone noticed that the aforesaid dancefloor was actually a swimming pool and disaster was avoided when she was ushered in another direction.

Meanwhile, the DJ had now decided to insert some karaoke into the evening mix and there were now young people on stage singing along to the tracks. Glenn and I were moving closer and closer to the stage as we were singing along with increasing enthusiasm and picking up momentum, After “Blue Monday”, Joy Division was just too much for us to take, we couldn’t control ourselves any longer, grabbed the mikes and gave the young people a great version of “Love will tear us apart”, to be honest we didn’t need the microphones.

At this point, we noticed a disturbance at the bar, to our amazement one of the bar staff was now walking along the bar pouring free tequila down punters throats. It was just like the scene from Coyote Ugly, amazingly I’d always wanted to do that. The young people were a bit tentative in their indulgence so Glenn and I hustled our way to the front to have copious amounts of tequila poured down our throats whilst Wooksie looked upon with horror.

By 3am, the best of the evening had been had, then we remembered that we had a bus to catch in 3 hours, it had completely slipped our memory, Wooksie was having a lovely time with the cool people near the bar, Glenn and I were still telling stories and becoming friends for life.

Turning the music off didn’t quell our enthusiasm and eventually we were politely ushered from the establishment and sent on our way home. We wandered the streets wondering where we lived and eventually, we found our hotel and got our heads down by 4am.

Breakfast started at 530am and unfortunately it turned out the kitchen was right beside our bedroom, and the preparation started at 5am. So our was curtailed after about an hour by the sound of clanking pans.

It’s always amazed me how much damage one hour’s sleep can be to your physical state, I went to bed at 4am very happy and when I was awoken at 5am to the sound of banging pots, I felt like a dead rat had crawled into my head, farted a lot, had thrown up before dying on my tongue.

At 5.45 we gathered all our gear together, grabbed a drink and some fruit and headed for the rendezvous for the coach to see the Nazca lines, which was only 4 hours away in a minibus.

Dawn and Reg were waiting for us, with big smiles on their faces and were happy to share what a great nights sleep they had enjoyed and asked us how our night had gone.

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

06/01/2026
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