Titanium toes attempts to trek the Inca Trail plus some travels either side

[bPeteb]

We also booked a private guide for Beunos Aires. Bizarrely another Marcelo Welcome! Private Tour Guide in Buenos Aires – CiceroneBA by Lic. Marcelo Mansilla: private tour guide buenos aires, personal guide buenos aires, city tour in buenos aires, tourist guide buenos aires, tours in buenos aires, architecture tour buenos He was highly recommended on Tripadvisor.

As he describes on his website, he tailors the tour to whatever you want. He met us outside the hotel and we started to chat. "What were we interested in?" We wanted to walk, we liked architecture, we liked coffee, we liked food, we weren't shoppers, we weren't interested in churches, galleries and museums were k but only if it was raining. That sorted out, Marcelo hailed a cab and we were off.

On the first day miserable, wet day we started at Plaza de Mayo and ended at La Biela, right beside Cecoleta Cemetary. In between we visited Cafe Tortoni, a cathedral (yes, despite what we said we didn't wat to visit), Ave 9 de Julio, Teatro Colon and of course Recoleta Cemetary to do the gay thing and see Evita's crypt.

That last bit is so not true. We did see it but we let the side down badly by not having seen Madge's movie.

Marcelo was a veritable encyclopedia of information. I don't think we asked a single thing that he couldn't answer. No topic was out of bounds. Previous government, current government, the Falklands, gay rights, crime, justice.

My highlight - my first ever spanish hot chocolate at Tortoni followed by and even better version at La Biela. Yum.

 

[bPeteb]

Cafe Tortoni

my first hot chocolate

Cafe Tortoni

Av 9 de Julio

 

[bPeteb]

 

[bPeteb]

Don't cry for me Madge and Tina...



La Biela

 

[bPeteb]

I'm a sucker for French toast and the BoBo hotel version is a cracker


We started the day walking around the mansions of BA. The size of them is unbelievable. Even more amazing is that some of them are stillowned by the families who built them. Some are hardly ever visited by the owners. The one beside the gorgeous Park Hyatt is a perfect example. It looks very sad from the road



but the photo I took over the fence of the Hyatt shows that the gardens are still being maintained



The Hyatt was as I've said gorgeous. Another ginormous mansion tastefully converted.

 

[bPeteb]

The walk through the mansions continued. Marcelo explained that many of the mansions are now owned by the government and used as reception buildings, or 'clubs' for retired service people.

The surprising thing about the mansions is that they nearly all built in the 1920s and 30s



Huge numbers of dogs in BA and as most people live in apartments there are lots of dog walkers



In amongst the mansions were some art deco gems



Because it was obvious we were interested, Marcelo talked lots about politics. He talked about the Malvinas/Falklands at great length. He is only one voice but I get the feeling that Argentinians couldn't give too hoots about the islands and who owns them. They resent that the government started a phony war that ended up in hundreds of lives being lost. The Malvinas memorial was bizarrely straight across the road from a clock tower that the British built.

 

[bPeteb]

There's a long pedestrian shopping street that runs through downtown BA and taking up a huge piece of prime real estate is a shut up Harrods. Closed when the war started and never re-opened.

View attachment 77647

After a toilet stop at Galerias Pacifico where I spotted this fantastically name men's cologne.



We walked down to what had been BA's original working port but that was soon way too small and has now been 'regenerated'.

 

[bPeteb]

mmm...I'm having trouble uploading photos. Any hints? I've made them much smaller but maybe they need to be smaller again?

 

[Pushka]

They are showing fine. Are you on PC or using the new app? Or because the last few are panoramic?

 

[bPeteb]

I can see them too but when I tried to put up my last post all the pics just had a cross beside them. Using the uploaded. Maybe I'll try the basic upload for the next post. Ta Pushka

 

[RB]

I can see them too but when I tried to put up my last post all the pics just had a cross beside them. Using the uploaded. Maybe I'll try the basic upload for the next post. Ta Pushka

I believe the red cross is likely indicating the photo is too "big". I use Picasa first to downsize each photo before getting them into the AFF uploader-I think people use a lot of different systems

 

[bPeteb]

I believe the red cross is likely indicating the photo is too "big". I use Picasa first to downsize each photo before getting them into the AFF uploader-I think people use a lot of different systems

These were black crosses RB. I've got something going on with my log in I think. It's like it times out minutes after I log in. Even when I'm logged in I still have the facebook Connect button beside my name



and I wonder if it's something to do with that? Maybe that's normal

 

[bPeteb]

Marcelo then took us to the colourful neighbourhood of La Boca



He explained that the origin of the multi-coloured buildings came from them being painted with the leftover paint from ships using the nearby port (I think)







Some famous Argentine personalities

 

[bPeteb]

A future Pele in the making?



Our last stop with Marcelo was Plaza Dorrego Bar where we had a typically BA late lunch

 

[bPeteb]

Our car to EZE for our flight t Lima was early.

No love lost for Uber in BA...



After getting through immigration and security much quicker than we expected we had time to burn.

We both have a Priority Pass card that came with the St George card that although cancelled, just keeps on giving. No ccard associated but when my partner presented it at the Star Alliance lounge we were both waved in.

The lounge is nice but pretty small.



Our third AR flight of course left a little early. We were served an odd dinner of very dry slices of pork, with a blob of a sauce neither of us could identify, over some very dry couscous. But there was also a very delicious slice filled with layers of dulce de leche

 

[bPeteb]

We booked the two nights preceding out Intrepid trip at the hotel we'd stay at on the first night of the trip. La Castellana in Miraflores was forgettable in every except location. Super noisy due to it being the hotel of choice of every tour company in the known universe, all of whose travellers have no concept of shutting doors without slamming them or rolling their bags down the tiled hallways at all hours of the night and early morning.

They did serve an ok breakfast, I suppose that's a plus.

We spent the day with Alternative Peru. We booked the full day Lima Food and Socio-Cultural tour. In the morning we visited a local food market a short walk from Miraflores. The morning tour is run by Lime te llena and we scored by having one of the co-founders, chef Jose, taking us through the market and explaining the produce on offer and its origins.



some of gazillion varieties of potatoes grown in Peru



Black corn, a gazillion varieties of corn as well

 

[bPeteb]

We stopped at Senora Rosa's seafood stall





where a super-fresh ceviche was prepared for us - delicious



Followed by an equally delicious paella kind of dish



Lucky we aren't squeamish

 

[bPeteb]

Then Jose pulled up a roller door and sat us down for a tasting of some of the unusual fruits of Peru. Some we knew from home or other travels and some we didn't.






Can't remember what any of them were, apart from the custard apple and passionfruit, but this one I remember from Bali


We tried a variety of passionfruit. This one you eat (crunch) the seeds as well

Sorry, no idea what this was



Or what this was supposed to help me with. Abs or pecs maybe?

 

[bPeteb]

We were met at the market by the guide and driver from Alternative Peru.

First we went to one of the largest cemeteries in the world - Nueva Esperanza in the district of Villa María del Triumfo. Here’s a link to a video that was filmed there in November 2013 when over 1 million people visit this cemetery.





We then visited the home of señora Balvina. She works with a Fair Trade organisation in Peru called Bridge of Hope.

Then we braved the mud



to climb up to the house of señora Ninfa's house, where we had drinks and popcorn. She lives with her mother and four children in a home with huge holes between the walls and ceiling/roof and no running water. At least their community has power. Together with some other local women she started a soup kitchen and is now the president of a local initiative that provides breakfast for poor children and the elderly. When she first started welcoming tourists into her house she had no concept of where the countries were they came from. So Alternative Peru bought her a globe that she uses to learn about the world.

We then went to Ludoteca where and NGO called Jugando Aprendo focusses on helping child domestic workers. They also help local children with their homework. They even have a toilet and a bathroom so that they can teach children how to use them for when they go down into Lima to work.





It was a very sobering afternoon. The land invasions are a subject of much division amongst Peruvians. Peru went through a long period of turmoil where there was virtual anarchy in the country. People fled to Lima to escape the terrorist organisations that were killing them or forcing them to arms. The local mafias took advantage of this and ‘sold’ people title to land that they did not own. The people who actually own the land want the land invasions to stop and title returned to them. Those in the human settlements want certainty and somewhere to live. It’s an ongoing problem that will take a long time to sort out.

We went out to dinner at a really fun restaurant close to Park Kennedy. Our very smooth and good looking waiter knew he had us on a string and kept those pisco sours coming. I sure slept better!

 

[bPeteb]

The next day we had a mission – jeans for Al and trekking pants for me, both of which we'd somehow left at home. We’d been online and found a store that sold trekking gear so headed off in that direction. A considerable time later we arrived to find the store had closed a far more considerable time before. Next stop Larcomar. On the way there we found a Levi’s outlet and Al got himself a pair of very reasonably priced jeans.

On the way there we had a quick walk along the cliffs of Miraflores.






Larcomar had a couple of the usual outdoor suspects – North Face and Salomon – and North Face had just what I wanted. They seemed super expensive but a quick conversion showed they were way cheaper than they would be at home.

Our Intrepid group meeting was at 2 so we grabbed a snack and headed back to the hotel.



The group size was up to 16 and 16 it was – 12 Aussies (including Al), two Kiwis (not including Al), one Pom and one American. Five Queenslanders, five Sydneysiders and two Victorians.

Carlos our guide seemed really nice (and he really was). Straight away there was a problem with numbers on the Inca Trail. Two of the group had not been included in the list for Camino Inca when Carlos went through it. Instead they were on the Quarry Trail. They were convinced they had booked the Inca Trail but their agent had let them down and not told them that the permits for Inca Trail had long gone when they booked in March. Although disappointed, there was nothing that anyone could do to change the situation. We’d been very close to booking Quarry to avoid the crowds so we assured them that they would still be getting an amazing experience (plus and extra night not in a tent!).