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Firstly, thank you for all the contributions to my Free Belinda fund!! If someone could just let work know it'll be 2014 before I head back that would be super! Please don't stop the donations though, happy to never return to work, or maybe remote login?? Ok, ok, no more boring work talk! This last week has been busy as usual! When I last wrote I'd just arrived in La Paz ( world's highest airport, thank you for reminding me Rick)
Highlights!!
Survived the worlds most dangerous road on a push bike! 6 hours, a drop in altitude of 3,500 metres and 63kms with my hands squeezed on the brakes! No pedalling required!
Found a few spells at the witches market which I know will totally change my life!
Wish I had invested in ear plugs because the two sisters staying in my dorm both decided to bring home company!! Ladies, please, it's not a competition. I mean, yes, sisters can do lots of things together, but geez............
Spent a peaceful night on Isle del sol, a short boat ride from Copocabana on Lake Titicaca.
Did a 3 day hike into the Colac
isle del sole
View from bedroom Canyon, worlds deepest canyon.
Got a massage, because all this time off is so dam stressful and I deserve a massage 😊
La Paz Personally, I didn't like La Paz, while a huge city, with some fun things to do, it just didn't feel very friendly to me. But maybe that was also because I'd come from magical Torotoro, where there were more locals than tourists!
A visit to the witches market is a must. If you can look past all the hanging dead lama fetuses hanging about you can discover the many interesting spells and potions. I've got all bases covered with spells, I got spells to Make someone follow me around like a dog (some poor guy is going to get this one )
Then
A spell to make him fall in love with me
Then
A spell to make him want to marry me
Don't worry, I got a back up plan, I then got a spell to break up the relationship ( let's face it, at the rate I change my mind ill need an upgrade by 2014)
And just for fun I got
Special altitude tea
Made from coca powder, lemon and honey. Tastes like ash tray. a spell for great sex ( that's not for me, I only know great sex, clearly that's for the guy to meet my standards! )
So all in all, best $10 spent at a market!
The only other good thing about La Paz was riding the worlds most dangerous road on a push bike. Tough work squeezing the brakes for the whole 63 kms!!! We started at an altitude of 4.900 meters where it was freezing cold and finished at 1,400 meters where we were in hot jungle surroundings.
The last 33 kms was a rough bumpy dirty road! The scary bit! Want to know what it feels like to be smacked with a bike seat on the butt for 6 hours? Ride the road and you will know! I couldn't sit for 2 days. And I don't have any photos for fear of falling off the edge!
The road is still used by some traffic, though most use a new safer road. 2 days before we did the ride a mini bus carrying 15 people and a motorbike met coming around a corner and the riding guides and tourists turned into search and rescue down
Where the condors fly
It's not an action shot, but there is a condor sitting on the rock to the right. If you can't see it, I can't help you the side of the mountain. Unfortunately not everyone survived!
Isle del sol/ Lake Titicaca I'd heard so much about this place and how pretty it was. But for me, while peaceful and relaxing, it was a massive lake, actually, the worlds highest lake (crossing off a few of the worlds biggest/ greatest etc.... Aren't I).
The fact that a couple of months ago I was playing in beautiful Patigonia meant I'd already been spoilt.
Colac Canyon After arriving in Arequipa from Lake Titicaca it was clear that if you are in Arequipa you HAVE to do Colac Canyon. I may have been a little nervous at first after my last canyon climbing and near death experience, but in comparison, this one was a piece of piss!
After a 3am pick up, a 4 hour drive, a stop to check out the condors in flight at the only place they fly in the world ( oh, another best in the world thing) we hit the track head,
Day 1, 3-4 hours of down. Thank fully there is actually a real track, no climbing required! 4 hours down sounds easy, but after about 2 hours
of direct down your knees are crying for some flat or up!! Once I drowned out the sound of my screaming knees and actually looked around the views were amazing. There are actually a few small villages down in the canyon. In total there are around 2,000 who live in the villages which are all spread out. Most villages might have 10-20 families living in them. Some don't even have electricity. For the more modern villages, they have had electricity for only 6 years. I was well and truly exhausted that night and slept like a baby.
Day 2 we hiked back up a little over the other side of the canyon for 2 hours to visit the capital of the canyon. The school there has about 7 children! Huge ey! Imagine the gossip if one of them has a crush on the other..... Ohhhhhhh
After visiting the capital we then headed to the very bottom 3 more hours across, then about another 30 minutes down. the bottom, Aka, the Oasis, where there are palm trees, grass, pools.
Day 3. A 5am wake up to trek the up up up to the top. With no breakfast, we
Colac Canyon
Some of the villages half way down set off walking. for those who know me, i need to be fed first thing in the morning, not a smart move tour people!! The early start is to beat the heat. Up up up we went, it started to rain a little, but the rain was good for keeping me cool.
A slow slow walk up, dealing with the altitude. Dealing with the stupid conversations in my head. I didn't have the breath to actually talk to anyone. Though even if I wanted to talk you wouldn't have been able to hear me over my stomach groans!!
Sometimes locals with donkeys passed me. In my head I wondered what it would take to get a free ride!! Or maybe if I just pushed the local off the edge and rode the donkey no one would notice right?
3.5 hours later of straight up I finally reached the top. The crowd was cheering.... I was so over joyed that i sprinted the last 100 meters and finished it off with 3 cart wheels, a back flip, a double back flip and a stadium finish pose!!! Ok ok, like I said, there were some strange things going on
Colac Canyon - Oasis
This is the bottom where we stayed. You can see to the left where the track goes up and up and up! in my head, I didn't even have the energy for a fist pump in the air!
It was still another 30 minutes of flat walking before we hit the village and breakfast, a mere egg and a bread roll! Pfffft, please, give me some food!! After all, I did perform at Olympic standards!
The best part of that day, after breakfast they took us to some hot springs!!!! Oh yeah!! That's what I'm talking about! My muscles were saying thank you!!
And that leads me to now! Tomorrow I head to Cusco and will do the 5 day Salkanty trek to Machu Pichu! Oh yeah!! I'm excited!!!
Stay tuned for that story!!!
Peace out
B
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Kylie
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Spells
Free Belinda fund my rear end... I knew it was the keep Bee travelling fund which has expanded to the Bee wants great sex fund OMG... (bring home a spare one of those spells please - it can't hurt LMAO) Sisters, excercise and titties (ok Lake Titicaca - still makes me giggle a bit), I so want what you're having. XX