Final Blog...The End of an Era!

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Well, this is the last one already!! As much as I'm going to miss travelling, can't say I'm gonna miss writing these... :P

After the tour of Salar de Uyuni finished, we travelled up to La Paz, where we only had time to stay for one night. Following a gorgeous, FREE, pancake breakfast in our hostel (which has its own brewery....I've lost count of the amount of times I've wished I loved beer since I've been here!! 😞 ) we set off for the centre, and a nosey around. The quality of the buildings, roads, etc reminds me of Asunción, but it's soooooo much busier! I liked that about Asunciòn, how you could be right in the centre of the capital city of Paraguay, yet still feel like you're in a town. La Paz does have a pretty setting, however, it's hard to describe but it's like an upside down mountain - the very centre of town is the lowest part and all you can see are terracota houses for miles, climbing up the sides of the surrounding valley. Wasn't impressed with the state of the traffic, it's so polluted and an absolute nightmare to cross the road!

That night we went to the BBQ at the hostel, and I have to say it turned into one of the most random nights so far!! All I can say is waaaaaaay too much of ´Don't Let Me Down´ - Fiona haha!!!

We left waaaay too early the next morning...headed for Cusco, PERU!!!!! Yes, I eventually made it, woohoo!!! Teehee!!!! But oh me, what an effort to get there... it ended up taking FOUR separate buses, on a so-called "direct" route! And we had to cross part of Lake Titicaca, was the funniest thing to see our bus floating past on a wee rafty-thing, teehee! Part of the journey was in a tiny minibus, the next in a bus with the teeniest leg room in the world...oh me, it wisnae fine. But we eventually reached Peru, and what was the first thing I saw?! INCA KOLA!!! oh aye!!!! :D

We made it to Cusco late at night, so went straight to our hostel - Loki Backpackers (and have since learned that we got severely ripped off by our taximan.....hmph.). Well, this hostel was another contender for best hostel in the wooooooooorld!! Really spacious and well laid out, with courtyards (with hammocks in them - love it!) and a great party atmosphere. The pancakes and fruit for breakfast = yummmm!!! That night we just went down the road for dinner, well the only place we could find open at 1am - Koco Locos! They did CHOCOLATE and STRAWBERRY pizza!!!!! But sadly I didn't get it, thinking "oh, I'll just get it another time"....then every other time we went they couldn't do it for me 😞. Sniff!

The following day, we took a wander round Cusco, and went shopping in all the artisanal shops and stalls. I loved it!! It apparently is a really big city, but it feels just like a village, it's lurvely 😊. Saw soooooooo many things I could have bought if money had allowed it!! After so many days of continuous travelling it was really nice to have a relaxing day to wander around and take in the Peruvian atmosphere and pretty views. I love how all the streets are cobbled, skinny and old-fashioned, although the constant climbing of steep hills and steps did take their toll on us! That night was our last night out together so we sampled the nightlife in downtown Cusco, where I'm proud to say the club played a SCOTTISH song (The Proclaimers) even though I was most likely the only Scottish person in the entire city, I was ecstatically happy haha!!

The next morning wasn't the best in the world :S, we'd booked to go White Water Rafting at 9am so had to get up before 6am to rush down to the ticket office to buy our tickets for Machu Picchu the following day...oh the joys!! White water rafting was a brilliant day 😊, all of us obviously looking drop-dead-gorgeous in our sexy wetsuits, yellow raincoats, lifejackets and helmets...woohoo!! Nah but really, I absolutely loved it, despite it completely draining me of my already-low energy levels! There was a photographer that seemed to pop up every so often, just when we weren't expecting him, so we've got a great bunch of photos on CD for us to keep.

The next day...time for Machu Picchu!! Which is now one of the Seven New Wonders of the World, although I'm surprised how many people have never heard of it back here in Scotland! It's known as the 'Lost City of the Incas' and was built thousands of years ago, around 1450 I think. Although the weather was awful while we were there, it was an amazing experience and a view I'll never forget. Good job though cos the effort it took to get there...oh me!!! Three taxis taking around 2 hours (with 4 of us cramped in the back of course), then the 'Backpackers' train, then a bus to Machu Picchu itself...and the same journey the whole way back. In torrential rains. There were so many times during the day that we were convinved that us seeing Machu Picchu was just not meant to be, seriously, nothing more could have wrong! But to our credit, we did find a way past every obstacle and eventually made it there; SO worth it! When we first arrived we were surrounded by clouds, due to the awful weather and the high altitude of the site (7875ft above sea level), and were scared it was gonna be a Sugar Loaf situation all over again, when we couldn't actually see a thing cos we were literally 'inside' a cloud!! But no, thankfully by the time we reached the high part of the trail the clouds had begun to clear, eventually allowing us to take really nice photos, although quite scary and mystical-looking!

After the long trip home, sadly it was time for Helen and I to pack up our stuff and make our way to the bus station. We'd be travelling together back to La Paz, where she'd get on her first of numerous flights home, while I'd stick to good ole buses. Meaning it was time for us 5 to be split up, meh! I'm glad I got to leave with Helen though (even if it was just for the first wee bitty), after so long of constantly spending all your time with four other people, it would be too weird to suddenly be all on my lonesome!!

I won't bother giving you step-by-step playback of the next week, cos even to me it's quite a blur. But I can safely say that I will never, ever be travelling by myself again, least of all in Bolivia! From La Paz, I took a coach to Cochabamba, from there to Santa Cruz, and from Santa Cruz to Asuncion, Paraguay, staying for a night in each stopover. I think it was just a shock to the system, after the excitement and general banter of travelling up until Peru; then to suddenly be found in a dodgy, cheap hostel with no-one to speak to and nothing to do, in a country full of perverts and thieves. Not the most amount of fun for an 18-year-old female travelling alone, eh. Coupled with the fact that I knew I would see everyone at home in less than a week and couldn't stop thinking about it, making me miss them even more and feel even more lonely!!! But I'm gonna stop moaning now :P cos I think you can get the jist of it, the last week was horrible!!!

It was great to see my Paraguayan family again when I arrived in Asuncion, and moreover to be in a familiar place where I felt comfortable and safe. I spent a quiet two days in Asuncion, visiting all our old haunts again, but since I didn't have much to keep me busy, as time wore on I was getting more and more excited and hyper about getting hame!! Saying goodbye to the family was quite sad, but not too bad since I'd already done it before...and had only been back for 2 days.

The next two days were spent constantly surrounded by a plane and/or an airport...I flew Asuncion to Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo to Heathrow, then Heathrow to Aberdeen. I had a good 10/12 hours or so to wait in Sao Paulo airport, which wasn't the greatest since a lot of things in my hand luggage were taken off me, and I had no Realis to spend in the airport. BUT, getting on the long-distance aeroplane made up for it...WOW what luxury!!! I wasn't even in First Class or anything, but still spent most of the flight marvelling over every little thing, especially the toilets!! Really, after my many experiences of Bolivian coaches (which, by the way, have a well-deserved reputation of being the worst coaches in the whole of South America....), the plane did seem like the best thing in the whole world, teehee!

Arriving home on the Thursday was so greatness, I can't describe it. Everyone was at the airport waiting, both my family and friends, which made it so special...even a couple of days later, though, I still felt like I was in a bubble and wasn't really home!! It's so ace just to be able to pick up the phone and have a chat with someone, however sad that sounds!! I had my second and third Christmases on the Friday and Saturday night after I got back (how lucky am I?!?), one with my family and the other with the girlies, they were just the best!! =D I also happen to be the only person who got a White Christmas, teehee! I've been back 10 days now though, and already it feels like I haven't been away...back to the good ole days of getting shouted at daily to tidy my room!!!

So my travelling has now come to an end... I'm gutted about it and Helen and I both really wish we were still over there, especially since the boys and Emily are still travelling and making us jealous!! But it's great to be home and be able to see everyone, and I guess we always knew our money couldn't last forever. I've had the most amazing time, and have absolutely no regrets - apart from not saving even more money to stay longer of course!! I've done things I never saw myself doing, met so many great people, and experienced so many things I never thought I'd be lucky enough to experience. I've learned so much and feel privileged to have been given the chance to do this - would do it all over again any day. If any of my buddys from the past 5 months are reading this - thanks for all the banter times and the special times; you've all given me so many memories I know I'll never forget! =)

I've certainly been hit by the travel bug - bring on the United States in June, woohoo!!!

That's all from me, and South America! I know I haven't put photos up in a while, so once I finally manage to sort them all out I'll post one last blog with some photos of the highlights. Sorry for taking so long between blogs, and I hope I haven't bored you too much with my blabbering!!

Love to all,

Lisa xXxXx

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