WHILE taking you to parts of the world you would not normally see, overlanding has a tendency to keep you away from the real world.
The appearance of WiFi has people scurrying for the sports results and, if it holds up long enough, possibly some actual news.
We have checked on the latest Brexit situation and tried to explain it to our non-British travellers, just not sure we have been able to report anything without getting more confused than them.
Far more interested in the rugby scores.
But every so often, the real world impinges on our journey. And all around us, South America is getting very real.
Behind us, riots broke out in Quito which forced the Ecuadorean government to backtrack on proposed fuel price increases.
Lima was in a state of flux with road blocks and threatened protests against the Peruvian government while Argentina – not many miles away once we have pulled the truck out of the river bed we are camping in – and neighbouring Uruguay headed to the polls today.
And Venezuela, officially still on our route, is in such a state the alternative option of heading down the Amazon to Colombia – remarkably, a bastion of sanity – is on the map on our tour T-shirts.
Far more to the forefront of our minds is the situation in Bolivia and Chile.
Both have been hit by protests, road blocks and turmoil which has forced one rethink to our schedule and has us keeping a watching brief on what lies ahead with multiple crossings between Chile and Argentina on the way south, not to mention departures and arrivals due in Santiago.
All that was a long way from our minds as we made our way back from Machu Picchu to our Cusco base at Milhouse Hostel.
Top of our agenda as we headed back via train and minibus from Aqua Calientes was getting dry, laundry, a shower, getting to the bar and avoiding sleep on the journey as part of the 24-hour challenge to stay awake for a day after our 3.30am wake-up call – some with more success than others.
Dry, clean and laundry crammed into bags for delivery, the final climb of the Inca Trail adventure carried us up the steps to the hostel bar to a wide selection of happy hour cocktails, shots won by throwing bottle tops into a bucket above the bar, chocolate cake, a variety of silly hats and a beer pong tournament which never reached its conclusion.
By the early hours the bar staff were not too keen on letting a couple of Anglo-Aussie survivors stay behind to watch the Rugby World Cup quarter-final, my 24 hours awake ending watching the game on Twitter while my roomie fell asleep five minutes from reaching the target.
Not surprisingly, the following day was not too action-packed – a hefty late breakfast (try the Gordo at Jack’s Cafe if you are ever in Cusco, you will not go hungry), a massage for aching muscles after the trek, some more sleep and a group trip out for a curry at the Korma Sutra.
Very pleasant and pretty restrained amid the first stirrings of trouble ahead. At least for most of us, those on the top bunks in our dorm were glad to be well clear from the fallout of one person’s night out.
Morning came too early for the late-night reveller as a convoy of taxis reunited us with the truck to make the way to our next stop in Puno, our base on the banks of Lake Titicaca.
Not that we stayed there too long – at least at this point – as we headed out the next morning on the world’s highest navigable lake. Very slowly.
Our boat chugged along, giving us plenty of time to enjoy the views over the next two days, soak up the sun, catch up on sleep, attempt to throw corn into mouths between decks, sample the local wine and work out how soon one of the children playing on the roof was going to fall in.
Our slow boat to nowhere in particular did have a few stops to get us on dry land as we headed slap into the heart of the tourist trail.
Well, sort of dry land, our first port of call taking us to a floating reed island to meet the Uros Indians who talked us through how they built the islands – interesting, once our rather long-winded guide had let them explain – before trying to sell us stuff.
And transporting us to another island on an even slower boat.
Back on our normal sedate transport, we chugged across to Amantani island, our base for the night where we were dished out in groups to our host families.
After fears of minimal facilities, our group – most of the Inca Trek veterans plus tour leader Danny – were pleasantly surprised as we found comfortable beds (if you did not move too much), a toilet and good food served up by our Mama for the night.
Meals were interspersed with a walk up to a temple at the top of the island – a steep incline which suggested the Inca Trail had left its mark on our legs, broken up by another lengthy lecture by our guide on the meaning of an Inca Cross.
Something to do with things in threes evidently.
We were beginning to switch off before discovering a bar and alpaca on a stick on our way down, despite his claims the islanders were largely teetotal and barely ate meat.
The local falling drunk into the barbecue and the men drinking in the local shop until late rather ruined his argument as we headed back to our home for the night before heading back up the steep slope in traditional dress for a party or up the slightly less steep stairs to bed.
Our guide had another couple of chances to tell us more than we needed to know as we headed to the neighbouring island of Taquile for another steep walk and a rather less strenuous stroll around the island before heading, slowly, back to Puno.
Which is where the problems on the road ahead started to get more real – a group meeting at the hotel outlining a plan to stay another day to monitor events in Bolivia with a potential second round of voting in their election.
News of problems in La Paz – our first major stop – and road blocks drifted through as the wine flowed and more people descended, clinking, on one of the rooms.
We headed to bed with heads slightly spinning. Partly from wine, partly from altitude and partly from the prospects of what lay ahead – a run for the border or an alternative route via land or air.
All we could do was sit and wait.
