Puno and Bolivia!

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So we left Cusco and travelled 6 hours by bus to Puno which is even colder and higher than Cusco but it seemed nice enough. To be honest we didn´t see a lot of it as we arrived in the afternoon and were then to head off early to next day to Lake Titicaca, the world´s largest high-altitude lake (it covers 8400 sq km). First we travelled by boat to the floating islands made of reeds, these are man-made islands which are topped up each month with fresh reeds otherwise they would eventually sink. They last for approximately 20-25 years and several families live on each. It was interesting to find out how they live, they literally live off the land, hunting birds and fish and they also keep guniea pigs but they had all been eaten the day we arrived there. I found it quite touristy but thinking about it now, they probably couldn´t get around that as I guess it´s a way for them to make an extra living.

After that we got back on the boat and travelled another three hours to our home stay. We were to stay on an island where about 8000 people live a very simple life. We arrived at the port and were greeted by our ´´mammas´´ (the mother of each family) and we split into twos and threes and headed off to our houses for the night. Our mamma cooked lunch for us which was soup and boiled potatoes and yams with fried cheese, simple but really good. We were then allowed to explore the island so met up with our fellow tour mates and played cards while drinking hot chocolates with shots of pisco in them (highly recommend!). Then back home for dinner and to get ready for the fiesta. Our mamma dressed us up in traditional gear (which we had no choice in whatsoever!) and then headed up to the town´s main hall for a traditional folk band and dancing. I couldn´t participate in the dancing due to an injury sustained on the Inca Trail which I couldn´t explain to my mamma in Spanish so I think she was a bit insulted. Communication was hard, our Spanish is limited and as their main language is Quechua (an ancient Inca language) we couldn´t get much across and neither could she. We tried though and found that Quechua is much harder than Spanish.

We left the next morning for the three hour trip back in the boat. We enjoyed it but as it was an even higher altitude than Puno, most of us got hit with altitude sickness so it was a bit tough. We then had a free afternoon in Puno and got to watch the football that evening but unfortunately Peru lost.

Early the next morning (getting sick of these early mornings!) we left for Bolivia. Our first bus was to take us to the border town of Copacabana (no not the song unfortunately, that´s what I was hoping for!) and the border crossing into Bolivia. It was relatively painless and fairly well organised so we got through quickly then back on the bus. After a few more hours and a hairy channel crossing we arrived in La Paz, Bolivia. It´s an awesome sight to see the city as you come down the highway, it seems to have been built in a huge valley so you can see thousands of buildings on the massive slopes and then at night time the lights are amazing.

Our tour was the finish in a day or two so we wanted to have one last activity together, the Death Road. Also called the World´s Most Dangerous Road, it connects La Paz to Coroico and tour companies offer mountain biking trips. Due to my fear of heights my guide was not too happy about me doing it but I assumed I would be fine and thought I could stay on the mountain side of the road rather than the edge. Well that´s what I thought!

We started at 7am with a drive up to the top of the highway at 4700m above sea level it was extremely cold! The first 45 mins of the ride is part of the new death road which has been built as they used to lose about 26 vehicles over the edge each year. Once 45mins is up the road splits, one being the new paved death road and then a horrible looking gravel road next to it and naturally we were going down the scary looking one. The first two hours or so of the road are quite dangerous as the path can only be about 2-3 m wide and then a 600-700 m drop over the edge so they warn you to be careful. However they did not mention until we were at this point that cars still use this road (!!!!!) so if we hear a vehicle coming we have to go to the edge of the road (yes the edge) and wait for it to pass. Good news for me. I was freaking terrified but luckily it was rainy and cloudy so we had cloud covering the sheer drop (it´s easier to pretend it´s not there that way!) and the rain would also deter cars from using the road. I was very lucky the whole day to not have to pass a car, very happy about that! We did have one guy from our group apparently cycling like an idiot go over the edge but hung onto grass so as not to fall. OMG. We also heard of a Japanese tourist dying five weeks earlier as they were apparently trying to take a photo while cycling and went over the edge, so we were all being pretty careful. So after another 4.5 hours we finished, absoloutely stuffed but proud we got through it!

I then had a few more days in La Paz, I ended up really liking the city, I didn´t think I´d like Bolivia as I heard security was an issue but I never had a problem and felt quite safe walking around and even at night. The next few days involved looking around the markets and relaxing (quite sore from the bike ride) and Liz and I planning our trip to Salar de Uyuni.

We flew from La Paz to Uyuni on a twenty seater plane (again I was terrified) but arrived safely in shithouse Uyuni. Both of us were very glad not to be staying there, what a crappy crappy place, a big dustbowl in the middle of nowhere! We started out salt flats trip almost immediately which involved five tourists in a jeep with a guide (Spanish speaking only so I didn´t have much idea as to what was going on most of the time). We had two lovely Belgians with us and two horrible French ladies.

Firstly we drove quite a while and then arrived at the salt flats and at an elevation of 3669m we were finding breathing hard! They are an amazing sight but my camera broke almost immediately I think from the cold and the salt so luckily my mate Liz was able to take pictures for the both of us. We then travelled again, we luckily had a bit of rain the day or so before so with a bit of water on the flats you get a reflection of the mountains which is incredible to see.

There was lots and lots of driving so my ipod was needed but lots to look at so we didn´t mind too much. We arrived at the first night´s accommodation which was the salt hostel, the building was made from salt, even the bases of the beds! But no heating and no electricity in the rooms, only the common room where we were to have dinner. We shared with the Belgians and left the horrible French ladies on their own seeing as they wouldn´t speak to any of us (very very odd!). Liz and I came equipped with wine to help us sleep in the cold so powered through that and played cards.

We didn´t find it too cold so sleeping wasn´t an issue luckily and headed off early the next morning to find the coloured lakes (there´s a red and a green one). After hours and hours of driving we finally caught a glimpse of the red one which was amazing. It was weird to see lots of snow, flamingos and llamas in the same scene, the photos look weird! And not at an altitude of about 4300m it was even colder! Our next night´s accommodation was extremely basic, a refuge with no heating and electricity for only two hours and toilets that didn´t flush. Awesome. Oh and it also got to -18 degrees at night. So Liz and I got stuck into the red wine again to help us sleep but when its that cold not much helps! We left the next morning very early to see the geysers at 5000m so it was so cold we had to run from the car, take a photo and run back as we couldn´t breathe, plus they smell like rotten eggs so ewwwww.

We then dropped the Belgians off as they were heading to San Pedro in Chile (only an hour away from where we were) and were left with the horrible French ladies. We drove to see the green lake which was also amazing to see and then drove all the way back to Uyuni. There was heaps and heaps of snow so that was awesome to see too. Then just because we like to torture ourselves, got an overnight bus back to La Paz (about 10 or 12 hours). BUT we didn´t know the state of the roads would be so bad so sleeping was quite difficult, but we finally we got back to La Paz.

We luckily got to meet up with some friends from our tour again that night as they had just arrived in La Paz. Then early the next morning I flew to Buenos Aries. My original itinerary was to travel to Chile from the Salar de Uyuni tour but the road was closed due to snow but they re-opened it the day our tour started. It was too late though as I had already booked my flight so I was disappointed but it was a relief to fly for once instead of catching yet another bus!

Well I think that´s enough for now, Argentina next!

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