Explore with Fran

Indeed, a damn good question. What did happen to it? Here I am, back home in the UK reliving my trip through the blogs that I wrote when something starts to look amiss. I have Argentina, then there is Bolivia, oh, and a bit of Chile.

But, where is Peru? Nada. Nothing. I must have completely forgotten to write a blog post about it. I don’t even have a draft saved anywhere in my files.

So here it is. From memory and from my notes. Apologies if I miss anything out and no doubt if I do, Spongebob and Squarepants (you know who you are) will correct the record.

My first stop in Peru was at Arequipa. When I finally got there. This was a trip in itself. Leaving Arica (on the Chilean side of the border) at 8am I had to share a collectivo (shared taxi) with 3 locals who were also heading into Peru. The first part of the journey took the best part of an hour, to the Chile border. We then had a long wait before clearing Chilean customs and off we went again to the Peru border, again for another wait. After finishing up with the formalities it was back in the collectivo and about an hour later we were in Tacna, the first town in Peru.

We got dropped off at the bus station and my first job was to find an ATM so I could get some Peruvian currency. After trudging around two bus stations I managed to find a working cash machine and got my all important Peruvian Soles. Now I had to lug my bag around the station as I found a bus that went to Arequipa, some 6 hours away.

After a breakfast of a croissant and a bottle of Inka Cola I found myself on the 11.45am Tacna to Arequipa bus, run by Flores. My first taste of Peruvian buses. I had been recommended to use Cruz del Sur but that bus didn’t set off til an hour later and I wanted to get back on the road.

The journey was pleasant enough, as much as a 6 hour (that becomes 8) can be and I was deposited in Areqiuipa bus station after night fall. This is where the fun began. I had read numerous stories, and been warned, about taking certain taxis in Arequipa. The town is renowned for taxi kidnappings, where you are taken to the nearest cash point and made to empty your bank account. The taxis to avoid were so-called “match box” taxis and I thought they would be easy to avoid. However, on arrival in Arequipa it seemed that all the taxis were of this variety. Shit, I’m gonna get kidnapped. It’s getting late, it’s dark and i’m tired. Please don’t kidnap me.

So, with bag on back, off I went, out of the bus station, into the street to find a taxi that I hoped would take me to the hostel and not the nearest ATM. And I found one thankfully. A bit more expensive that I wanted to pay but I was grateful to arrive safely at Arequipay Backpacker House in one piece, and with all my money.

And what a welcome. The hostel was one of the best I have ever stayed in. It was a large, modern house with all the amenities one could ever hope for. Large reception, pool table, table tennis table (at which I was later to show my prowess – you reading Vix?), a large TV in the lounge and a 52″ TV in the movie room. And wi-fi through the whole house. It was amazing and only a 15 minute walk to a large supermarket.

I was in a 3 bed dorm with two great English girls, Vicky and Hannah. It’s fair to say that they were engrossed in their Kindles for most of the time but when they got bored, and wanted to chat, they were good fun. We found ourselves travelling on together from Arequipa to first Puno and then onto Cusco.

Arequipa itself is a town with some great looking buildings but if i’m honest, I was expecting a whole lot more after the way that some travellers had talked it up. Yeah, Santa Catalina monastery is amazing, and the centre had some amazing buildings, but again i was a little underwhelmed. It may have been a bit of fatigue, or a case of “No More Rocks” (read this great blog post) but I was slightly disappointed. Traffic mayhem, people and touts everywhere, it was a relief to chill in the hostel in the evening. A cold beer, a takeout and a movie. Bliss.

Colombia is one of those countries that seems to get over looked, passed over by a lot of people on the basis of misplaced notions of how safe the place is. Mention to anybody in England that you are off to travel around Colombia and you are greeted with a “are you serious?” face. This post is the opposite, it is about Colombia, and why you should go.

The Perceived Dangers of Colombia

Won’t you get kidnapped? Held hostage by FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia)? Forced to become a drugs mule? Be held deep in the jungles and be made to work on a cocaine refining plant?

Well, no. Actually you won’t. At least I, nor any of the other travellers I met who visited Colombia did. And there was one recurring theme running through all the comments heard from people had had been to Colombia, “it is my favourite place in the whole of South America”. And you know what? I’m inclined to agree.

First Impressions of Colombia

On first arriving in Colombia, after travelling through Argentina, Chile and Peru, I did experience a renewed sense of culture shock. Where were all the gringos that are synonymous with backpacking through South America? Maybe they had heeded the uneducated warnings received in their home countries about how dangerous Colombia is. Where are the buses catering for travellers that make life so much easier, such as Andesmar in Argentina and Cruz del Sur in Peru?

Discovering, and Loving Bandeja Paisa

And my first lunch stop highlighted how different and relatively untouched Colombia is from the tourist trail. Of all the food on display in the outdoor cafeteria, I could only recognise rice. I later discovered that the meal on offer was a Bandeja Paisa. A traditional dish from Medellin, a dish that I also discovered to be beautiful, cheap, plentiful (on every side street cafe menu) and filling.

South Americans do not speak much English. Why would they need to? But I also noticed that in Colombia, even the few words that were spoken in other, more visited countries, were missing. I really was on my own here, just me and my Spanish dictionary.

And it times it was very hard which led me in the early days to feel that Colombia wasn’t as friendly as the other countries I had visited. How wrong could I be? Colombians turned out to be probably the friendliest of all the people I met. You couldn’t pass anybody without getting a friendly “hola amigo”, or a “que tal”, enquiring how you were. And always accompanied with a large beaming smile. I suppose they have a lot to smile about, they live in an awesome, beautiful country, one that I will definitely be returning to at some point in my future.

Colombia Really Does Have it All

From the culture and numerous museums of cold, chilly and wet Bogota, through the beautifully preserved colonial towns of places such as Villa de Leyva, San Augustin and San Gil, upto the coffee zone and to amazing little places like Salento in the mountains, and further north, to the Caribbean coast where there are gems such as Cartagena and Santa Marta (home of Tayrona National park). Colombia really does have it all. In spades.

The Dark Side of Colombia

Yes, there is a gritty side to Colombia, how could there not be? Colombia still provides some 80% of the world’s cocaine. There is still a large, underground drugs trade which brings its obvious associated issues. There are police with large machine guns almost on every corner. I should know, I spent half an hour on one such corner one day, under the glare of about 8 machine gun toting police whilst I tried to explain in Spanish why I didn’t have a nice little identity card like all the Colombians had! That was fun!!!

And the drugs are plentiful. But if you go to a beautiful country like Colombia, and can’t have an amazing time drinking rum, taking in the sights and enjoying the glorious sun without the need for illegal drugs, then you are inviting trouble on yourself.

Looking for a holiday unlike any other? Somewhere you will never forget? Go to Colombia, now.

Planning this trip, it was suggested that I was heading to South America to search for the Holy Grail. But the question I often asked was, the Holy Grail of what? You see, it can mean many things to many people. We all have different wants and needs in life so one man’s Holy Grail could be another man’s…………well, just about anything.

This got me thinking, how about searching for my personal Holy Grail in a number of categories? As I travelled through the great continent that is South America I knew that I would be seeing some amazing sights, be having some amazing food and maybe, just maybe, also having a few drinks, just to complement the food you understand!

So, with the trip slowly becoming just a memory, here are my thoughts on my Holy Grails.

Holy Grail of……food

Without doubt, Patagonian spit roasted lamb. I had this in a restaurant in Ushuaia, ordering from the menu, as opposed to the “all you can eat” offer that was slightly above my backpacker budget. Taken fresh from the open BBQ, a hunk of meat was hacked off and served up. And as I tasted it, it was divine. Heavenly. Words could not adequately describe the taste as the lamb, so tender it fell off the bone, slowly melted in my mouth. And as I finished, the waiter asked, nay insisted, that I have second helpings. Go on then, I don’t want to be rude.

Holy Grail of……tourist sights

I could have gone for the obvious option, and it would have been here on merit, but the breathtaking sight that is Machu Picchu is a little too obvious. Instead, I am going for a place that I had never even heard of until I arrived in Argentina. The Glacier Perito Moreno is amazing. It is 3 miles wide and 19 miles long and is one of only 3 Patagonian glaciers that is actually growing. From the various viewing platforms in the National Park you get great views, which are at once peaceful and at the same time thunderous, as large chunks of ice regularly crash off the glacier as it continues to move.

Holy Grail of……wine

I hope there are no Chileans reading this, knowing the intense rivalry between the two very important wine growing countries, but Argentina just nicks it for me. The Carmenere grape grown in Casablanca, Chile is a very quaffable alternative but my vote goes to the Argentinian Malbec.
I had plenty of opportunity to sample a few Malbecs in my 7 weeks in Argentina, which included a cycling tour of the wineries in Mendoza, the home of Malbec. Bacchus Bike and Wine tours of Chacras, a 40 minute bus ride from downtown Mendoza. There are other bike tours of the various wineries of Mendoza but the others cater mostly to young backpackers and offer lower quality wines, focussing on getting the travellers inebriated. For me, it is all about the wine, and if you are going to drink only one, make it Malbec.

This post could have been so much longer, a top 5, a top 10, etc etc etc. And there are so many things that could have been included but I had to draw the line somewhere.

The things that have not made it into this top 3 include the beautiful women of South America, be they the flawless wonders of Argentina or the created, pneumatic beauties of Colombia; the friendliness of the Colombian people; and finally, the tackiness that is Hooters, that pervades picturesque cities such as Buenos Aries and Medellin. You understand that I only visited for research purposes, to benefit you guys, my readers.