Bolivia: Titicaca, La Paz & Sucre

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The last 10 days in Bolivia have flown by, but as usual we have managed to cram plenty in. Due to a road block we took a circuitous route to Copacabana (on the Bolivian shore of Lake Titicaca) from Puno (Peru) via La Paz - 11 hours on a bus instead of 4! Still, the effort was well worth it as Copacabana was fantastic. We arrived to beautiful sunshine and happened upon a festival of some sort, with cars adorned with flowers and bands playing! Darryl even found a bar showing English football so he was very pleased! We found 2 large hills to climb - one with bizarre rock formations which were stunning to explore; the other hill was a perfect perch for watching sunset over the lake. We even found a lovely hotel with hammocks and grazing sheep (!) for our second wedding anniversary.
Ironically it is Darryl who has become the exercise enthusiast (Penny is begging for a rest day) and is seeking out long hikes at every opportunity. We hiked 17km along the lake shore to a peninsular where we found a 70 year old man to row us accross the lake to a small island called Isla Del Sol.
We spent 2 days on the island doing more hiking and exploring some Inca ruins. We were treated to beautiful views out accross lake Titicaca and small glimpses into rural farming life. We did have a near death experience after sitting on a very large boulder that decided to dislodge and roll down the mountain! Fortunately we survived with only a sore finger (Penny) and scratched eyelid (Darryl) but required a few beers to aid recovery!
We then had a few days in La Paz which we both loved. A lively bustling city with plenty of markets, beautiful squares and colonial streets (and at last some shopping for Penny). We explored the witches market and found dried llama foetuses which we decided not to buy...
We had a fantastic day cycling 69 KM to Coroico on the ´world´s most dangerous road´ - 63 KM were downhill mostly on narrow unsealed roads with hairpin bends and drops of several thousand meters! eek! Amazing cycling from an altitude of 4665m down to 1000m - the climate and vegetation change was incredible. We cycled through clouds, rain, waterfalls, rivers and into jungle and sunshine! An incredible day made even better by the fact the hotel at the bottom upgraded our standard room to a suite (complete with a hammock on the balcony ready for Darryl).
Yesterday we travelled from La Paz to Sucre, a beautiful colonial city and again have found the sun shining. Today we went to Tarabuco - an indigenous village 70km away - for the sunday market and happened upon one of Bolivía´s largest festivals where locals from over 60 surrounding communities turn up in local costume and celebrate a harvest festival with singing and dancing - Amazing fun! There was even a huge totem pole adorned with the normal fruit and vegetables, but also alcohol and a half side of cow!
We are loving Bolivia - wonderful friendly people, great food and stunning scenery.

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Photos

Isla Del Sol
´Island of the Sun´ We are thinking about complaining under the trade descriptions act...

70 years old and still smiling
Rowing to Isla Del Sol

Copacabana
Rock climbing!

Death Road
The start of ´Death Road´

Tarabuco Market
Phujllay Celebrations

Comments

[Sara/h (saarke)]

Hi Guys! I'm still reading your stories and following your trips (and being jalous ;) It's funny to hear that Darryl is now 'el hombre de sport' :P Roles are changed. Which reminds me .. how is your Spanish doing?? You had some extra months to 'trail and error', so by now it should be close to fluent ;) Warm greetings!

[Francesca]

I was a little worried when I saw the picture of the rower, I thought it was Darryl, worn out by all the exhausting climbing and walking! Amazing adventures - I shall miss the blog when you are back.

[james]

hi guys happy easter. daz u lazy git i thought you would have at least given that old boy a hand to row!