Lake Titicaca & Bolivia

Whilst on Lake Titicaca we visited the Uros Islands, which are floating reed islands anchored to the bottom of the lake, on which communities live, go to school, trade etc. Although the compacted reeds are 2 metres thick its still a strange floating sensation when you are on them. After some shopping opportunities our group made their way to another island - Amantani.

Here we stayed the night with a local family in their house. At the dock we were met by our ´mama´in her traditional dress and taken for lunch to her home. It was basic but we were lucky as she had a solar panel (so we had light in our room) and we had a bathroom (without running water) attached to the house. Others in the group didnt fare so well. (And at least we speak some Spanish so we could converse with them). It was a beautiful location with views out across the lake and was so peaceful and tranquil. We climbed to the highest point on the island and watched the sunset which was well worth the breathless hike.

The plan for the evening was after dinner with the family we dressed up in a poncho and complete with handknitted hats (just so she could recognise which 3 white faces belonged to her) headed off to the local community hall where an Andean pipe band whipped up some tunes for us to dance to with our mama! Despite our reservations it was good fun and we even managed to entertain our mama with our efforts at the local dance moves. (Although Kevin did flummox her with a spot of ´river dancing´mid way through!). Staying with the family really was a unique experience, one not to be forgotten - a highlight.

We then crossed into Bolivia via the most hectic border crossing in the world and headed onto La Paz, the highest capital city in the world set in a bowl surrounded by snow capped mountains. They say it will leave you breathless and it literally does! We had a final supper with our friends from the group at a local Thai restaurant and the following day they flew back to the UK.

An experience not to be missed when in La Paz is to visit El Alto and watch the fighting Cholitas. Indigenous women in traditional dress who wrestle. They do take their bowler hat off but that´s probably to stop it getting damaged! We also had superheroes and dwarf wrestling. It gets quite serious, at one point a Cholita came flying out of the ring over the barrier and landed on 2 foreigners. We booked VIP tickets and with our ring-side seats really enjoyed our night out, even managing to meet a Cholita afterwards for a photo and a kiss! The following day we set off for Chacaltaya - the highest ski resort in the world and hiked to the summit, amid thundery hail storms (why we ask ourselves!)

After all that activity we decided to spend time chilling and relaxing so stayed at Copacabana on the shores of Lake Titicaca and also in the subtropical valley of Coroico. We even treated ourselves to the best hotels in town (don´t worry David hasn´t had a bang on the head & it was still cheap). Going back to La Paz we got a local minivan or collectivo - squeezed in were 14 adults, 4 children and 5 bowler hats! The alternative was the local bus and we had seen a lady with a sheep get on that!

Continuing with the theme of treating ourselves, we booked into a local hotel in La Paz and stayed in a suite complete with jacuzzi in the room. Andrew was in his element being able to lie in the huge bed and watch TV and then get in the jacuzzi and watch more TV!

Well that´s it for Bolivia. Ciao for now we´re off to Chile!

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