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Published: June 20th 2008
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(written by Holly)
well, where to start? we havent been very good at this whole 'keeping the blog updated thing,' so i'll recap breifly to let you know where we've been...
after Potosì we headed to Sucre, where we spent a lazy week 'learning Spanish' and making friends. in the 6 days we were there, i think we visited one museum (of warfare; the Israeli guy we went with, Kafir, got very scared when our tour guide started shaking things because he was pretty convinced the amo etc was all still live. and he was in the army, so i trust his opinion.). We did see a lot of cafes though...good times :-)
Sucre's a really sunny city with a laid back atmosphere; perfect for a chilled out week.
After sucre we headed to La Paz for another chilled few days (we'd got used to it by then) before heading to rurrenabaque. La Paz is an interesting choice for a capital city; it seems to be falling and filling a canyon, and as such keeps all its copious pollution in house, nice for everyone to breathe in. Its really bustling and vibrant though, and had a great
St Catalina's Convent
the convent in Arequipa market which as well as having all the usual tourist stalls, also sells 'witches' things, etc llama foetuses. tasty.
Rurrenabaque was a 45 minute flight away (and 23 hour bus ride back) and took us from the claustrophobic streets of La Paz to the claustrophobic canopy of the amazonian jungle. It was AWESOME! I love jungle soooo much. Madidi National Park is a huge area of protected forest, and we went nearby to an area of private land called Serere that is owned by Rosa Maria Ruiz, who founded the park and then left when she found the authorities who were running it with her were a little too corrupt for her liking. (the company we went with was madidi travel).
Serere was beautiful... virgin forest which was reached after 3 hours on a narrow boat down the Rio Beni, a tributary of the Amazon. we had 4 days in the 4000 hectare forest, and spent it without a fixed itinery, but walking whenever and wherever we felt like it with an amazing guide and lovely translator. Our guide managed to see a green leaf-like stick insect on a green leaf in the dark. that's talent.
We
also made jewellery out of small coconuts (my new ring is my most prized possession out here... im so proud of it). Without doubt it was the place we've been out here, despite being in the middle of the jungle; we had chocolates on our pillows every night in our huts which had thatched rooves and only mosquito-nets for walls. the food was amazing too.... I'd love to take Consuela, the chef there, home with me!
Anyway, after rurrenabaque we went straight to Copacabana in Bolivia (not the famous beach resort of Brazil) in order to see Lake Tititcaca. the lake crosses the border between Bolivia and Peru, so we checked out the Bolivian side first, which involved a visit to Isla del Sol, an island on the lake that the Incas believed housed the birth of the sun. The locals there happened to be having an annual festival to celebrate the sun, so we spent a happy hour or so amongst drunk bolivians who were wearing amazing costumes and masks and dancing incessantly. We felt so lucky to be there!
Unfortunately all this partying meant the island was pretty much closed; everyone was in the churchyard getting
Holly and Shlomi
discuss where to go next at Colca Canyon drunk. However, eventually we found an open hostal and pizzera, so it was all ok in the end! on the way we met Shlomi, an affable Israeli guy who we're still travelling with now. We met as the sun set over the Island...one of the more beautiful sunsets of the trip- hopefully we'll get some pics up soon!
we spent the next day walking the length of the island and then took the boat back to Copacabana. The next day we took the 9am bus to Puno, Peru! yay Peru at last! i've been wanting to go to Peru since..well, ever.
anyway, in Peru we checked out the Uros floating villages on the Lake, and i bought some pillowcases from the indigenous people who were living on the islands, before taking a boat made solely of straw across the lake. the visit was really interesting but a tad baffling...why are the islands there at all? the mountains surrounding Lake Titicaca are hardly densely populated. Still, i really enjoyed the tour!
in the evening Shlomi taught us how to make Shaksouka...best Israeli food ever!!
After Puno we took the bus to Arequipa - Peru's second city. You drive down to it from the mountains, and its seems very strange, a huge city in the middle of nowhere, surrounded only by barren mountains. Its a really nice colonial city though, with a really interesting convent which is painted gaudy red and blue. It was a nice morning walking around it though.
From Arequipa we took a bus to chivay and spent the night, ready to get up early and take the 1.40hr bus to Colca Canyon the next day. Colca Canyon is home to huge condors, that rise up with the thermals at about 8.30 in the morning and circle over the tourist's heads. There were more tourists than condors i think, and a lot of condors.
It was amazing to watch them (the birds, not tourists). We spent the rest of the day sauntering back to Chivay via Yanque, the village prior to Chivay, which was closed for siesta when we got there. Once we reached Chivay we took a trip to some more thermal springs, which weren't quite as warm as the springs in Pucon, but still pretty nice! We had some Catci Sours in the pool... whiskey and cacti fruit go surprisingly well together!
This morning we came back to Arequipa, ready to catch a bus to Cusco tonight. It's all go, go, go around here!
(once again, apologies for typos. I know there are many.)
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