Blogs from Bolivia, South America - page 526

After several days of exertion and freezing my ass off around La Paz I needed a bit of warmth so I opted to travel up to Rurrenabaque to see the Amazon Jungle and defrost. I took off from La Paz airport in a tiny twenty seater propeller driven aeroplane and had quite an eventful flight, within minutes of departure we flew past Huayna Potosi the flight path afforded us spectacular views of the ascent route and of the summit; which of course was cloud free. Then over the next fifty minutes we dropped from the 4000m altiplano to just a few hundred metres above sea level, skimming just above the rainforest, all the while flying through the most incredible turbulence. The plane did eventually land on Rurre’s grass runway smack in the middle of the rainforest. ... read more

Caught the 25th overnight bus from Cuzco to Puno on the shores of Lake Titicaca. No pfaffing around - bus got in at 6.15am, dropped stuff at hostel, then joined a full-day boat tour at 6.45am. Went first to the Uros floating reed islands. The people first settled in this way to escape the marauding Incas and other tribes. Now some live on land, and some on the water. I was expecting it to be overrun with tourists, but it was surprisingly nice & quiet with only our small group on this particular island. The people use the reeds for the island foundations (constantly replenished as the reeds rot underneath), housing, boats, handicrafts and cattle feed. It´s not all primitive living though - they use solar panels for lighting, radio and TV. Then went to Taquile ... read more

La Paz probably wasn't the nicest city we visited but we had a great night out there! That was the last night of 'The Inca Heartland' trip!... read more

Well, that definitely ranks as the most unbelievably, incredibly, ridiculously, stupefyingly, mind-numbingly brain-dead idiotic thing I´ve ever done in my life. And I´m sure I´ve done some pretty stoopid things before now. The Death Road. The world´s most dangerous road. Whatever you want to call it, it kind of suggests "Stay Away". However, there are numerous companies offering silly gringos the opportunity to throw themselves down it on a mountain bike for sh!ts and giggles. So, having met a nice young girl a few weeks in Peru, who´d done said activity with THE most well known and reputable company, fallen 30 metres down a cliff, scraped up all one arm and shoulder, and been unconscious for 2 days, you might be tempted to think "Stay Away". Hmmm. Somehow, instead, we thought "Let´s save $20 dollars by ... read more

On June 27th, following the Fiesta del Sol at the Community, I joined a group of about 40 people (most of them from Venezuela) to Peru. We travelled from Cochabamba to La Paz by bus through the night (the journey takes about 7-8 hours). The week-long Fiesta del Sol which is really the Inka New Year was most enjoyable and included many ceremonies and other activities including climbing a sacred mountain. The climb took all day and was quite arduous but well worth it. The overnight journey was in a luxury bus where one could almost lie down and we arrived at about 6am in La Paz which is the highest capital city in the world at 12,000 feet. It is a stunning city perched on many hills and overlooked by snow-capped mountains. Another bus met ... read more