La Paz - Isla Del Sol - Cuzco

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So we left La Paz without any major complications on a slow bus ride to the small town of Copacobana on the Bolivian shores of Lake Titicaca. We spent the evening there, enjoying our first taste of (nice) fish in a while in the form of trout fished from the lake, marvelling at the spectacular sunset with the whole horizon appearing on fire. The next morning we jumped on a boat to Isla del Sol, the island where the Incas believed the sun was created, and although the journey was smooth the air was bitterly cold meaning that our toes froze while sat on the top in our flip flops! Upon arriving on the island we had the task of climbing the Inca staircase up from the shore to the cheaper part of the village, a task made more difficult by the altitude and the huge bags on our backs! We were shown to a small cheap hostel by an Argentinian traveller clearly looking for a commission, which he got, and then after a bite to eat Dani and I set off on a walk, joined by this Argentinian, while Kim lay in bed, shattered from a few days of a bad stomach. Our walk took us through many farmed terraces on the steep slopes, covered by various varieties of potato, beans, peas, corn and wheat and onto some small ruins which we enjoyed exploring. Unfortunately I had managed to leave one of my hiking shoes in La Paz and so I was hiking the island in a pair of trainers from a Bolivian market worth less than $4, not ideal, and so I was very glad when Dani led us back along a flat (ish) path as opposed to the terraces.

The views of Lake Titicaca were fantastic from any point on the small island (its only about 7km long and a couple wide) and so after lunch Dani and I headed out on another walk, this time glad to be on our own. Our short walk turned into a bit more of a hike than expected, taking us all around the central part of the island, past hoards of donkeys being led around by their owners, women working hard to harvest potatoes in the terraces below and children having a game of football while anyone and anything carried crates of beer of a boat in preparation for the party tomorrow. The island is less than flat and nearing the end of the walk, with a steep hill ahead of us, our legs very nearly gave up, just about managing to drag ourselves back to the room to get ready for dinner. Since the fish was all so fresh we once agin couldn't resist the offering of trout, the Argentinian traveller coming in half way through our meal and sitting down with us, only to explain at the end that he got a free meal as he told the owners that he had taken us there. Annoyed but shattered that was our long day over, hoping tha Kim would feel better in the morning for a walk to the north of the island.

Hopes materialised and so in the mornng we started the walk down the Inca road to the Temple of the Sun, a major Inca site in the north of the island, once again the beautiful landscape never ceasing the whole way, with the music from the festivities eminating form each of the 3 small villages on the island. Once we had taken our time exploring the ruins, glad that we seemed to get there before any of the tour groups, although the sheep had very much taken control anyway, we set off again back towards the hostel. We stopped for lunch on a little beach where we rested for a while, without swimming as despite the sun the water (and air) was bitterly cold, before heading into the village to enjoy the spectacle of a hundred women dancing in huge traditional bright blue skirts, men in masks and more skirts while a big brass band played them through their steps. The sight was quite amazing, made more so by the lack of tourists there, although this did mean that after 10mins of watching we felt we were intruding and so left the, very drunk, locals to it heading back to the hostel. That night, once again, we headed out for trout, cooked with garlic or lemon, and were joined by a guy we met on out Pampas tour, spending a couple of hours before hand hiding form the pestering Argentinian and playing cards while watching the sun go down.

The next morning we left Isla del Sol, this time the journey considerably less smooth, but made it in one piece to Copacobana where we needed to book our bus out but due to there being no ATM had to wait for the bank to open, selling a couple of reading books to pay for lunch! After an entire afternoon sat enjoying the sunshine or the impressive cathedral, complete with a candle shrine with walls covered in wax graffiti, quite an amazing sight, we oarded out minibus to take us the 7mins to the border. Luckily the crossing into Peru was no hassle, however it was a bit bizarre with all the border officials wearing paper face masks, and we were soon on our bus to Puno, where we changed buses to spend the night heading towards our destination, Cuzco.

Our main reason to be in Cuzco was to trek to Machu Picchu, but found quite a beautiful, wealthy, old colonial city before us, nestled between many mountains, all with slogans marked in the rock in giant lettering. Before we set off towards Machu Picchu we spent a few nights in Cuzco, enjoying meeting up with friends from Cardiff and Chester as we strolled around, watching the town break into a huge carnival with many groups dressed in traditional outfits and dancing through the streets in front of judges, bands marching at their side. So the day of judgement, or so it felt, and with my shoe still somewhere between La Paz and Cuzco (it had been tracked down and a carrier found) we set off on our own trek, me wearing surprisingly clean smelling rental boots.

Instead of paying what felt like unreasonably high prices for a tour to Machu Picchu we found a route possible on your own, and so, with camping equipment and very few clothes we set off towards Santa Maria, with the bus managing to put its side into a wall on the way, at least there was rock there and not a cliff, where we spent a night before getting another minibus to a tiny jungle village of Santa Teresa where our trek started. We hiked along a river, past hundreds of banana trees and avocado trees until we arrived at a hydroelectric power plant, 2 hours on, where we stopped for lunch, the standard cheese sandwiches supplemented with avocado and some fruit closely related to the passion fruit. Reenergised we set off along disused railway tracks though the jungle to Puente Ruinas, where our camp ground awaited at the bast of Machu Picchu. We set up camp in the field, full of what we assumed was an excavation team, setting off once done to the town of Aguas Calientes to get some dinner and pass the time before bed.

The next morning we were up at 4.15am to climb the 1725 steps (we counted them on the way down) in the dark up to the Inca citadel. The reason for the early start is that the mountain behind any picture you've ever seen of Machu Picchu, Huayna Picchu, is limited to 400 visitors a day, and we were desperate to get up hearing that the views were fantastic. Luckily, or unluckily, there was a transport strike on the day before, meaning that the ruins were especially quite today, so after our early start we entered the path up to Huayna Picchu 12th for the day! The climb up was even more gruelling than that to Machu Picchu, although undertaken with two guys, one French one Argentinian, who were a load of fun despite the early starts had by all. Once at the top of Huayna Picchu the views were amazing, including of our tent several hundred metres below, and it even more mind boggling that anyone would dream to build a city up here. The way down down was significantly easier, passing a hummingbird and a giant millipede on the way, glad to finally get to enjoy the ruins after already three hours of hiking! Theres no doubt that the ruins are impressive, the terraces, temples and palaces, all built around the huge granite rocks already there, although perhaps more impressive than the ruins is the setting, the Mayan ruins of Tikal far exceeding the humble ruins of Machu Picchu. That being said we had a great time exploring all the little rooms, finding vizcachas (chinchilla like animals), lizards and some beautiful electric blue birds everywhere we looked, taking our time and even enjoying a nap on the grass, which llamas help to keep short if not slightly soiled!

Once we felt we had seen everything there was to see/we were physically able to drag ourselves up to, we headed back down the 1725 stairs to pack up our tent and head off back down the tracks to the hydroelectric plant where we were able to get a minibus to Santa Teresa, not fancying more walking after a good 10 hours on our feet! In Santa Teresa we stayed the night to make our way back to Cuzco the next day, and after the spectacular bus ride over peaks of 5000m, through jungle and cloud, we made it back to our homely hostel for a solid nights sleep.

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