Advertisement
Published: October 19th 2010
Edit Blog Post
We felt like we had to leave Rurre after spending almost two weeks there, so we caught a flight back up to La Paz. Yes, that's right.. Well, it was with a little cessna which was quite interesting!
We met up with some people in La Paz for the weekend, three Danes we befriended at the "pampered" tour and the cheeky chap Graham we had met in Sucre (with all his wonderful friends from Cochabamba)..
Further on from La Paz we headed for Copacabana near Lake Titicaca and "Isla del Sol", said to be the origin of the whole Inka culture.
We must admit to be a bit disappointed of the whole tourist thing going on in this city.
"Of, course it is" you may say. But, the problem is that everyone tries to make money of you, which is quite tiring!
When we went to Isla del Sol, we paid a lot of money for the trip out there. And when we came to the north side of the island, we first had to pay a guide to take us around different sites.
Fair enough, but as Thomas and I aren't fluent in Spanish and the guide didn't speak
English, we wanted to stroll on alone.. No way, he constantly tried to keep us in his group.
We found out why at the end of our tour.
At the final site, the ruins on top of the island, this little man took of his hat and held a speech about how much he wanted to learn English, how little money he got from the company he worked for and how many children he had etc..
What else could we do? At that point we actually had very little money left, as there are NO ATM's working for foreigners in Copacabana (ironic, since the town is bursting with them).
We gave him some coins, and left his group immediately.
Our next stop on the island, was the south side.
When we tried to go a shore, there was a scrubby man and a little boy standing on the beach-side demanding money from us if we wanted to go into land. No way!
We had just paid a lot at the north side, and I felt my temper was at it's boiling point.
It ended with me screaming something very weird to this man "es muy malo, muy malo por
este isla"!
Thomas reminds me of this sentence all the time.
Something I'll never forget is the border control from Bolivia and into Peru, this I'll have to elaborate - bear with me, you won't regret it!
So, when the bus was about to leave Copacabana, the organizer of the company (or something like that) said that he wanted to inform us that there was a party AT the border. In this case, it was very dangerous and therefore he wanted to accompany us through to the Peruvian side.
Ok, wait a minute?!?! AT THE BORDER, or BEFORE? - AT!
At least this time there would be no confusion about where the border was.
The music was getting louder, and in a street constructed for two cars passing, we actually counted 5 cars in width. Us included, which was a BUS.
Some people behind were making bets on whether the cars would be able to pass each other without bumping in to one another. What a sight!
And meanwhile, some Inka ladies (their rear ends aren't all that small you know..) tried to pass alongside.
We finally made it to the checkpoint. And, of course the officials
weren't excluded from the big fiesta.
By the way, our bus was the last to pass before the border closed..
So, apparently they had started the drinking a bit before closing time. The officer stamping us out of Bolivia could barely sit on his chair, or get his stamp to work properly.
He reeked alcohol and were very chatty!
At one point he almost lost his phone, while trying to pick it up from his pocket at the same time as he stamped a girls passport.
I also overheard an other official asking an Asian girl if she was the same as in her passport, when she of course said "yes" he replied with: "you all look the same"..
Easy to say, we had problems with holding back laughter!
Really professional.
Well, after this we had to walk to the Peruvian side. On the way we passed a tiny square which had set up 3 different stages. All playing different music, and against each other. The noise!!
Couldn't hear any of the music they played, it was all very confusing.
On the Peruvian side, there was a "funfair" for the children, which of course were joining the big fiesta.
The town of Puno was our next destination. From here we went to see the floating islands on Lake Titicaca.
It was a weird experience, and very touristy as well.
This is more or less their main income these days. But, they really know how to make us feel welcome.
When we approached one of the little islands, there was a bunch of Inka ladies and children standing waving and cheering.
It felt a bit like the image I have of the hula hula girls on Hawaii, only a lot bigger ladies, with a lot more clothes on..
The "president" of the community on the islands was there, and we were told all about how they make these islands, and about their customs. Really cool!
Suddenly, soon after he had finished, one of the "hula-Inka-ladies" grabbed each one of us and dragged us into their huts.
We were all separated, hence an easier prey.
I ended up buying a table cloth, and when I came in to Thomas' hut I saw to my amazement that he had bought a little weird dream-catcher!? What's up with that?
Anyways, we left the island to the sound of the ladies singing in slow-mo
"Vamos a la playa... oh oh oh oh oh.."
Puno isn't that much of an interesting city, so we went further on to Arequipa where we wanted to to some trekking in the next deepest gorge in the world, check out our next blog if interested!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.074s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 7; qc: 44; dbt: 0.048s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb