Trinidad and Santiago De Cuba

We arrived in Trinidad later than we expected, at about 8pm, slightly concerned that we didn’t have a place to stay arranged but it looked like there were lots of Casas in the area, so our plan was to knock on some doors and hope they had vacancies. As soon as we got off the bus, we realised that there was definitely going to be no problem- About 10 ladies were gathered at the exit, shouting and waving pictures of their Casa at us in the hope we would go with them. As convenient as this was, we now didn’t know which one to choose, which caused the ladies to become more frantic in their shouts, they had surrounded us and were getting louder and louder to the point we couldn’t distinguish one from the other. At this point I had enough, broke my way through the mob and started walking away from them, I was done with being hassled. But no, this was not allowed, the mob followed us down the road still shouting in our faces. In the end we gave up and picked one at random, which thankfully meant the others dispersed. We were lead to the Casa, where the lady running it had to call her friend to help as she could not read and write to fill in the form with our details.

You work it, clown

...if you are lucky

Trinidad was a lot smaller than we expected, but was very pretty, with colourful colonial buildings and cobbled streets, great for the sounds of the horse and carts passing through, not so wonderful wearing flip flops when its pouring with rain. Unfortunately, the majority of the first day was either overcast or heavy downpours, so after walking around exploring the town, we retreated to a cocktail bar to take advantage of their happy hour.

The 'WiFi zone' in town

...Of course making pup friends along the way

Well, if we must

The following day the weather had cleared up so we took a taxi to the beach about 15km away, Playa Ancon. Although busier than we expected, it was a beautiful place and easy to spend a few hours dozing and enjoying the amazingly clear water.

Taxi to the beach

After some crazy rain

Our next destination was Santiago De Cuba, nearly 500 km away. The bus schedule said it would take 11 hours, and unfortunately there was no night bus option so we would need the full day to travel there. The buses in Cuba are old, and whilst they are not the worst buses we have taken on our trip, it was not a comfortable way to spend a whole day. This also wasn’t helped by the fact Jonno started to have a migraine a few hours into the journey. There was only one stop for food at 11am, and the bus was also slowed down by the rain which at times was so heavy it was impossible to see the road. By the time we reached Santiago De Cuba, it had taken us 13 and a half hours and we were exhausted and hungry, and thankfully instead of the harassment we received in Trinidad, there was one lady offering a Casa which we happily took. The lady did not live in the Casa herself, it was run by a retired man who wanted to hug us a lot, and cooked us some food before we couldn’t keep our eyes open anymore. It also turned out he was extremely patriotic, he told us how strong the Cuban people were, how they would never let America take over and how great all the systems in Cuba were.

'Champion', who always wanted to know what was happening

The faces of the Fatherland

The only option without access to tinder

A lot more rustic than Trinidad

Our first day in Santiago was spent walking around the streets, it’s the second biggest city in Cuba after Havana but a lot more run down. However, there was a lot to see walking down the streets, there is more of an Afro-Carribean population here and while women sit outside their front doors in a rocking chair, the old men hang out in the plazas and play intense games of chess and dominoes. After finding an amazingly cheap cafe ($0.25 for 2 cappuchinos!) we walked to the Moncada Barracks which is now part museum and part school. Although all of the museum was in Spanish, we managed to work out parts of it, with some extra research afterwards. This museum was the site of the first revolutionary attempt made by Fidel Castro on the 26^th July 1953, which was unsuccessful but assisted in gaining more support from the people of Cuba. There were a few more museums we passed but they were all in Spanish which we concluded meant we wouldn’t get that much out of.

There was a mask and costume museum which when we passed, we were told had a dance performance at 4pm which we returned for. Initially there were only 2 other tourists there which felt a bit intimidating, although a few more people arrived later. The performance was good, with some very intense dancing and inevitably we were dragged up to dance too, although at the end after we had given them a tip, they were still trying to pressure us to buy a CD. We walked towards the Malecon, the coastline, but got hassled a lot on the way so didn’t spend long there.

Serious chess game in action

Including lots of macho talk

Pretend capitalist food

Some intense dancing

We were planning on leaving the next day, but the man at the Casa told us the next day there would be big celebrations for the 1^st May and that we should stay and experience it. There was a large gathering at one of the plazas, although by the time we arrived it had dispersed. There was, however, a lot of street parties going on, with music, food stalls and people drinking neat rum from the bottle. We walked around for a while but decided we were not in a day drinking frame of mind so head back towards the centre of the city. We were recommended to visit the nearby cemetery, the burial site of Jose Marti, the first Cuban revolutionary, and also more recently, Fidel Castro. This was a 1km walk from town, but we still had bicycle taxis hassling us along the way to take us, one even cycling all the way there next to us to try and pounce on us on the way out. Fidel Castro’s grave was extremely modest compared to Jose Marti, although this may be temporary place while something more fancy is being constructed.

No sign of a party yet

Found them

Nice boulder for Fidel

..Not so modest for Jose Marti

Jose Marti watching over Jose Marti

A pretty cemetery as cemeteries go

Walking back towards the city

The other place we were recommended was the Castle El Morro, a taxi ride away, which was built to help Santiago defend itself from pirates, although apparently by the time it was finished there were not many pirates left so it was pretty redundant. It was a pretty building though, even though the only attacks it now received were from seagulls dropping crabs in an attempt to break them and get to the meat, so the place looked like a scene from a crab horror movie.

Built to watch out for the real Pirates of the Caribbean

HE SAW TOO MUCH

On our way back from dinner that evening, we were approached by a guy with some very sorry looking dreadlocks, who asked us to talk to him as he wanted to make friends with tourists. He started off by telling us that he was happy in his life, but he didn't like the police and when they detained him and wanted bribe money he said 'FUCKYOUFUCKYOUFUCKYOU' (with rapid middle finger gestures). After various other police hating stories he then asked us if we would buy him some balloons. Umm no. He then stopped talking and just glared at us, so we decided to make our quick exit before we were asked for any other party items.

We had a look at the bus timetable and the buses to our next destination- Baracoa- left at either 7am or the even earlier 2.30am, which didn’t really appeal to us, so we chose to take a collectivo at a more reasonable 8am the following morning.

Puno, Arequipa and Colca Canyon

After speaking to the guy who owned the hostel in Cusco, who when we had told him we were going down to Patagonia, had advised us to go sooner rather than later to catch the milder weather. We decided to change our plans slightly- instead of going from Peru to Bolivia then to Chile, we would skip Bolivia for now and try and get south as quickly as we could, and then return to Bolivia on our way back up. There were only 2 more places on our list for Peru, Puno and Arequipa,which we wanted to fit in first.

Puno is a town by lake Titicaca, which is the highest navigable body of water in the world at 3,812 metres above sea level. From there, there were tours to a few of the islands on the lake (it's a massive area). We checked out the options at a tour agency and decided on a half day visit to some tombs one day, and a full day boat trip on the lake the next.

A review of the hostel mentioned they liked the 'Dolphin taps'- I can see why they were impressed!

With some time to kill in the morning, we paid a visit to the coca museum, which explained the history and significance of the coca leaf to the people of south America, used as gifts and in ceremonies dating back to before Incan times, and then how it became used by the West to make cocaine. There was also a video showing us traditional dances and costumes, with some dressing up options. We also stumbled across a free gig which was a kind of heavy rock-traditional peruvian music fusion, complete with a guy who alternated between playing the pipes and headbanging.

Just in case you didn't know what a crack head looked like

Of course, a Llama marriage ceremony!

Like something from The Labyrinth

Being dressed as a curtain- Not sure the hair piece is fooling anyone

Handsome

The afternoon tour to the pre- Incan cemetery of Sillustani involved a drive of about an hour into the countryside and a short walk, where we could then see the conical structures made from cut stones. The guide explained that they were mostly used for the important people in society, and some of them had numerous bodies in them, buried in the foetal position with a few possessions. We also paid a visit to a local home, where they gave us a lovely snack of a boiled potato and slice of homemade cheese, and they showed us how they weave rugs from alpaca wool.

Two bulls placed on the roof of every building for luck

Our tour guide insisted we did a photo shoot at every opportunity

A tomb or a very large starbucks cup?

Enjoy these Llama and Alpaca pictures

A feast of dry potatoes and dry grains

Probably not just the family pet

The following day was the boat trip. Firstly, we were taken to the floating islands of Uros, which were man-made floating structures made from totora reeds that grow on the lake. The residents used the reeds for everything- their floors, their houses, their benches, and even chewed on it to brush their teeth. The women wore big skirts and waistcoats in bright colours, and the men wore bright wooly hats. Then, of course, the residents all got out their tourist tat to sell, and encouraged us to pay more for a boat ride to another island with more tourist tat.

The new Cyberdog range in Peru?

We were then taken to the next island of Taquile, where we were highly disappointed to learn that they didn't have any police or dogs on the island as it was so safe they had no need for security (a pup is so much more!) The residents have a unique cultural identity- they wear red and white hats when they are single, and red when they are married, their marriage ceremony lasts for three days but the bride and groom cannot join in the party, they have to stay kneeling the whole time. When they get married, the woman weaves the man a belt partly made from her own hair, and the men spend their free time knitting. We then went with the guide to a local house where they had cooked us lunch, and gave us a demonstration of their crafts and traditional dances. After that, we walked around the island where we were met by our boat to take us back to Puno.

This child is clearly not married as you can see by his head wear

Knitting is taken seriously here

Just a child with a sharp gardening implement

Man with his bag to keep coca leaves in to chew

The main reason why people visit Arequipa is for the tours to colca canyon, the second deepest canyon in the world. We were undecided about if we wanted to do it or not, but again thought we might as well go and see what the tour companies offered and there were a few other things to do in Arequipa even if we chose not to go to the canyon.

We arrived in the accommodation we had booked and were immediately hit with a blast of stale, wet air. The 'en suite' was actually a part of the room walled off, but the shower was hitting the wall with no waterproofing surface, so the water was going directly into the walls and making damp and mould. 3 nights there ensured we both had colds by the time we left.

Anyway, Arequipa itself had a nice old town to walk around and a fancy plaza, extremely touristy but we had expected that. They also had some kind of competition for 'queso helado' (cheese ice cream) going on- called this because they make it in blocks that look like cheese rather than its ingredients- and were offering free samples in most of the stalls.

Gotta love a fancy plaza

Street performer by the 'Queso Helado' stalls

The following day was my birthday, and exploring the sights in Arequipa seemed like a good way to spend the day. We started with a slightly alternative birthday treat- a visit to a museum where they kept Juanita, a 500 year old girl who was a human sacrifice and mummified by the ice. Her body is kept in a box at -20 degrees to preserve it, and apart from her face which was exposed to the elements, she was doing pretty well! The Incas believed the mountains were the home of the gods, and if things were not going too well they selected the healthiest and purest children to sacrifice to them- giving them alcohol to make them unconscious and then hitting them over the head and burying them with offerings of statues.

Let it go, let it go...the cold never bothered her anyway (Not our picture)

Next stop was 'mundo de alpaca' (Alpaca world). Most of it was an overpriced shop where they sold alpaca wool products, but they did have llamas and alpacas chilling out at the back who entertained us for a while.

So many flavours!

Duhhh

We made a few stops in some other places- another plaza with a supposed view of the volcanoes around the city which were not visible that day, and a park which initially looked nice but our opinion changed when we saw they had caged up monkeys for people to see, many of them clearly traumatized or terrified. Then a local marketplace, which had mainly hats, vegetables and meat, with a row of stalls for alternative medicines- including llama foetuses strung up.

For a suggested valentines day gift?

After all these unique experiences it was definitely cocktail o'clock- the local drink of pisco sour was calling. Firstly, a cheap place, then we decided to go a bit more upmarket and have one overlooking the plaza. Then we went hunting for dinner- unfortunately our first and backup choice were both closed but we found a pizza place with wine which was an improvement over our usual basic 'menu of the day' choice.

Pisco time!

After checking out the tour agency options for Colca Canyon and our experience of the arranged tour to Machu Picchu, we decided to try and do it by ourselves instead. We could get a bus to the town at the top of the canyon, walk down, find somewhere to stay at the bottom for the night and then walk back up the next day. From looking into blogs from other people who had done this, it shouldn't be too difficult.

The town of Cabanaconde

We arrived in the town of Cabanaconde, with around an hour of sunlight left, enough time to have a quick walk to check out the viewpoint of the top of the canyon. It did look pretty deep. We had checked into accommodation for the night where we could then leave our big backpacks, ready for an early start.

A disused bullfighting ring

First sights of the Canyon- with a rock that looks a little like a Condor

Sunset over the canyon

Before walking down the canyon, there was first a bus to catch to take us to a place to hopefully catch a glimpse of condors gliding through the canyon, catching the warm air currents. The Condor is a prominent creature in South American culture, they represent the sky, the domain of the Gods, and are pretty huge, their wingspan can be around 2-3 metres. We arrived at the viewpoint and began our wait. Less than an hour later, a few appeared from far in the distance, swooping around, and even though they are not the prettiest of beasts, it was impressive to watch.

Found them!

Very glidey

Quick bit of Condor yoga

Now the bit we were not sure of, how to get back to the town to start the walk. Most people had come with tours in minivans, and the route did not have regular buses. After a bit of waiting, we managed to find a combi vehicle who took us within 3km of town, adding a bit of distance to our walk but the weather was nice and it had some good views

Right, down we go...

Dodging loose rocks and animal poo on the way down

After successfully getting to the edge of the canyon, we began our descent, Jonno making it very clear that a) he hates walking downhill, and b) the views at the top are more impressive, so after all the effort of getting to the bottom all we get are worse views and then have to climb all the way up just to see the view you had seen first. The walk was mostly very steep and gravelly, and at a few points one of us would loose our footing and almost fall. And it was fairly disheartening knowing that the further down we went, the more we had to climb up the next day.

We reached the bottom after about 2 and a half hours and found a few tranquil hostels, very basic except for the fact they had pools using the water from the springs. There was nowhere else to go and nothing to do but chill, which was fine with us.

Our haven at the bottom of the canyon

We were up early the next day for the hardest part- the walk up. We had 5km and an incline of 1,200metres, which Jonno worked out was about 750 of me. We powered up in just over 2 hours, meaning we had almost 3 hours to kill before our bus back to Arequipa, plenty of time for a leisurely breakfast on a balcony of a cafe.

We had one more day in Arequipa to get Jonno some new walking boots as his had fallen completely apart, and we were ready to cross the border into Chile.