Keep on Trekking

So after our climb up Huayna Potosi we deserved a 2 day rest in La Paz doing very little except watching cable TV, eating and buying new jeans for Anne.

July 26 saw us set of in a taxi to 4800m and the start of the Choro trek. This time our guide was Sixto who also was our cook and carried all the food. Normally Anne carries the food and fuel so her rucksack was light whereas James still carried the tent so there was no change for him.

The great thing about the Choro trek is that it is essentially a 3 day walk downhill 3800m down into the Yungas rainforest part of the Amazon basin. Starting at high alpine mountains we passed through the La Cumbre pass before starting our descent on the 500 year old paved Inca road. The views were fantastic of the high mountains and plunging valleys. We were soon passing llama herds taking their produce up over the pass. The scenery once we descended into the valley looked like Scotland and the small houses which families lived in even looked like Scottish croft houses. Continuing down, the track became increasingly well paved and much better than many of the Bolivian roads.

Lunch prepared by Sixto consisted of ham, cheese and tomato sandwiches followed by fruit. Also we realized the ridiculos amount of bread which he had brought with him! Continuing on down we soon were passing through small shrubs and the temperature was increasing despite the clouds rolling in. 2000m of decent brought us to a small village in the Cloud Forest called Cha'llampampa with sore knees from the relentless pounding of downhill descent.

Annoyingly after putting up our tent some little midge like flies came out and starting biting James. Thankfully as dusk fell the flies went to bed and left us to enjoy dinner of sopa and carne de res. Some intellectual conversation followed which is unusual for James!

The following morning dawned bright and sunny and we set of on further descent. The forest was becoming increasingly thick and the weather was like a warm English summers day. We saw a dead snake and more excitingly puma track - but no puma. As we descended further the humidity increased as did the jungle. A short uphill section - unusual on this trek was followed by lunch under an avocado tree. Though unfortunately no avocados. In the afternoon we passed tarantulas webs and even saw some of the small negro spiders. Apparently our guide had been bitten by one as a child but survived - just.

Camping this evening was at San Francisco which consisted of two houses cut into the jungle on the side of a steep valley. Views were great down the valley. We were surrounded by banana trees and fire flies as it went dark. Dinner consisted of freshly caught trout - we think. We watched the forest fires burn all around us - apparently many set accidentally whilst burning for agricultural land and cooking.

Our trek continued down the following day across a very dubious looking bridge which had only been there for three years but pins had snapped and most of the rope was rotten. Safely across we climbed the devil's staircase - a 200m steep ascent - a welcome relief from the unrelenting downhill march. After an hour or so we passed through Casa Sandillani. This is a remarkable collection of houses and gardens. A Japanese chap came here 40 years ago and has forged a living out of the jungle.

Another two hours of downhill walking brought us to Chairo the end of the walk. Here we got a dilapidated 4X4 around 12 km to Coroico a lovely jungle town on a hill with amazing views out across the Amazon Basin. From here we were supposed to get a bus back to La Paz along the World's Most Dangerous Road. Unfortunately all the buses were full and we had to wait a night in Coroico. Although we could have got an open topped lorry across the pass with Sixto - we decided to stay in a hotel instead and get the bus the following morning. The hotel had a swimming pool but annoyingly we didn't have our swimming stuff with us, neither did we have many clean clothes!

The following morning we got onto another old Bolivian bus and set out to this road deemed the most dangerous in the World by the World Bank (they are financing a replacement). Around 300 people a year (mostly on buses) die after their vehicles fall over the precipice. The road construction is a joke and James felt very nervous as we drove along a crumbling dirt road, through waterfalls and squeezing by trucks coming down the hill. Also at times overtaking other vehicles very close to the edge which only ended at the bottom of the valley 1500m below. To make matters worse scores of tourists cycle down the road - as if it is not dangerous enough!

Thankfully we made it back to La Paz after about 4 hours and spent the rest of the day looking for white gas for our stove.

The following day we got an early bus to Copacabana on the shores of Lake Titicaca. Found a reasonable hotel with stunning views out towards the lake, and spent the afternoon on the lake in a pedalo. For sunset we walked up a small hill past the Stations of the Cross. The hill looked deceptively small but was very hard work at 3800m despite spending nearly 4 weeks at this altitude now. Sunset was fantastic over the lake although the walk down was rather more dangerous. Dinner was in Jardin Colonial. Unfortunately we had to send the food back because it was stone cold and clearly hadn't even been near an oven.

The following day was occupied by another deceptively long walk to the headland about an hour from the town. Passing small hamlets, fishermen and skinny-dippers. Lunch was pizza and was followed by buying supplies for our 3 day trek to the Isla del Sol. This evening we went to a lovely recommended tourist restaurant. Just after the food came the owner came running through and in very good American English explained that they had to put the metal shutters down and turn the lights and music off. This was because there was a huge group of protesting rioters about to pass. In silence and darkness we continued our dinner until the riot was passing, throwing firebombs, and rocks at the shutters. The owner reassured us that they weren't after the tourists and we should go and watch after the meal. We declined and ran back to the hotel!

The following day we left Copacabana early and started walking along a dusty road towards the Isla del Sol. This island was where the Inca's believed that the sun was born. Some mild uphill sections had Anne breathing heavily but otherwise it was a pretty easy going. Before long we had reached a small hamlet were a guy approached us with around 100 postcards from various countries around the world. He persuaded us to let his brother row us 1 and half hours to the Isla del Sol. After getting out at some rocks James very nearly fell into the lake - looking like something from a Carry - On film with one foot on shore and the other on the boat. A pleasant lunch in the sun surrounded by the blue lake was followed by a gruelling ascent up through some Inca Terraces. Shortly after we found a suitable flattish grassy area on which to pitch the tent. Subjected to more fantastic sunsets over the lake we went to bed after a foul meal of tuna pasta - the tuna in Bolivia was basically minced tuna bone.

The next day was warm and sunny and the walk along the ridge to Chincaca was very pleasant although Anne had serious stomach pains after the tuna meal. Chincaca is a pre inca maze of houses also known as the Labyrinth. A further 20 minutes of walking brought us to a fantastic beach of white sand. Sadly since the guide book had been written some new houses had been built right where we were going to camp. After backtracking 15 mins or so we wandered down to a small beach and camped on a very steep incline. A quick paddle in the lake followed by tea of pasta and cheese - decided to skip the tuna bone - was followed by a very poor nights sleep on the incline.

The final day of the walk back to Copacabana was along the north side of the island which is much more densely populated. The day had lots of up and down sections which was pretty annoying. However managed to get to the end at Escalar del Inca - an interesting Inca staircase - by around 1.30pm only to realise that we couldn't get a ferry back for another 2 hours. Eventually got back to Copacabana and James had kindly booked Anne into the most expensive hotel in the town called Rosario del Lago.

Two relaxing nights spent in luxury and we joined a tourist bus to get us over the border to Puno in Peru. Surprisingly it turned out to be a very simple land border crossing - especially after all the horrors we had read. As soon as we arrived in Peru we were subjected to the hard sell everywhere we went. Even the bus driver managed to persuade us to go to his hotel!

Just one full day in Puno was enough. We visited the very touristy Uros Islands which are sold as floating reed islands. Very interesting but not actually floating when you get there. They are however totally man made with the reeds found on Lake Titicaca. Also in Puno we visited the Yuvari an English built Gun Boat from the late 1800's. This remarkable boat was shipped over from England in over 2600 pieces to Arica (now in Chile) where it was loaded onto mules who spent 6 years to bring the boat to its location on Lake Titicaca. It was rusting in the lake until an English woman saved it and has been restoring it over the last 15 years. We even were treated to a short film made by Michael Palin when he had visited!

We have now arrived in Arequipa a massive city at 2300m (we are once again breathing oxygen rich air) however we are going to climb a 5825m volcano over the next two days.

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