In Search of the Guinea Pig

We left La Paz (again) and headed up the road for half an hour to La Cumbre which is well high up at 4900m. From here we picked up an Inca trail that we followed (on foot) down through the Andes for the next three days (56km) - the Choro Trek. It's really good the Choro trek because over the three days you decend from way up high at La Cumbre right down to a low of 1400m at Chairo - which gave us a great variety of scenery i.e. we started up at the snow capped peaks (brrrrrr - twas really cold) and then descended into greener looking terrain and finally ended up in the Yungas (cloud forest) which was really green and steamy and darn right hot (in the 30´s)! The other good thing about us walking down hill is that each step we took took us into a little bit more oxygen - and we needed that! - there was a bit of climbing along the way but mainly down hill - you need good knees for this one. It was the first camping stint of our trip so far and a bit of a baptism of fire on the facilities front i.e. no toilets for three days!

On the last day of the trek (it was lovely and warm by then) we dropped in on a Japanese chap - Mr Tamiji Hanamura who´s lived on his own in a very isolated area for nearly 50 years - he likes to get visitors. He did a spot of travelling all those years ago and happened upon the Yungas - he liked it a lot and so he stayed - he's certainly knocked himself up a very nice garden in the time he's had there. When he realised we were from Britain he whipped out a sketched drawing of the island and asked us to put a marker down for where we lived. There was already an Oldham and a Manchester but we were very pleased to be the first on there from Halifax. After that, out came a proper altlas as Mr Hanamura was very keen to see where we were born and what not - we enjoyed that meeting. From the trail end we got a lift up the road to the town of Coroico - it was nice and hot there and we stayed the night in a super place with a mega view - nevermind the view - we were well chuffed just to see a toilet for the first time in a while.......

After the Choro trek we headed back to La Paz (again) so that we could leave the place for a third and final time - on a bus headed for Copacabana on the shores of Lake Titicaca. From there we continued our trekker training (we're in training for the Inca Trail of course) by walking along a peninsular for a few hours before catching a boat across the water to the lake´s biggest island, Isla del Sol. Lake Titicaca is rather impressive - it's quite big, the largest in South America at 190km long and 80km wide at it's biggest bit - it's also the highest navigable lake in the world at 3821m - and it has a grand backdrop of blue skies (usually) and snow capped mountains. The day after we got to Isla del Sol we walked the full length of the island and then back again a bit before we got a boat back to where we started - grand. We finished our trek in time for the big Chelsea v Liverpool game so we set about finding a TV to watch it on - easier said than done! There was an eco lodge rumoured to have a TV but on closer inspection the rumours were proved to be unfounded. From a high vantage point on the island we looked down over the rooftops for any sign of a TV aerial - once we'd spotted one we made our way down to ask if we could watch the telly. The residence turned out to be a part built hotel (not the first time we've had dealings with part built hotels!) but for a few Bolivianos the owner family were willing to let us in. The father pulled out a telly from one room whilst the missus produced an aerial lead from somewhere else - one of the children then found a remote control and we were in business - amazingly the match was on a Bolivian terrestrial channel. The reception was a bit fuzzy and it was a bit cosy with the four of us (us two, another Brit and our guide) sat in a small bedroom (on the bed) but we were watching the footy just like we would if we were back home and we were happy with that.

After our second night on the Sun Island we headed back to Copacabana and got on a bus headed for Peru. We'd stayed in Bolivia for nearly a month and liked it a lot - crickey that country has a lot to offer - we've seen salt flats, high mountains, cloud forests, altiplano, jungle, pampas and a right big lake. Loads of chilled out space in Bolivia too - only 9 million Bolivians in a country the size of France and Spain combined. If Bolivia had beaches then it'd have the lot - it used to have a coast line but Chile took it off them during the 4 year war of the Pacific back in the 19th century - they're still a bit brassed off about that the Bolivians. Once across the Peruvian border we headed alongside the shore of Titicaca to the city of Puno (about half of the lake is Bolivian and the other bit is Peruvian). We liked it there - a pleasant lively place with lots of pubs and restaurants and a pedestrianised zone - haven't seen one of those in a while. The Peruvians seem to be noticably happier and friendlier than the Bolivians too - maybe it's because they have beaches to go to...?

From Puno we did a trip out to the Uros floating islands. Like it says on the tin - these are islands that float - made of reads they are and sure enough, people actually live on them. Thirty years ago there were about 14 floating islands in total but now there's 42 - tourist money has made living on a floating island much more appealing! The islands are anchored to the lake bed (obviously one wouldn't want one's island to accidently float across the border into Bolivia!!) so they don't float too far. Sometimes the islanders do move their islands about a bit though e.g. if they fall out with their island neighbours (as can happen) then they'll move away a bit. Janine had heard that they have Guinea Pigs running free around some of the islands (after all it's not like they can go far) and so she was looking forward to seeing some. Janine likes Guinea Pigs - so do Peruvians - they like to eat them. Unfortunately we could find none of them pigs. We took a boat ride (on a traditional reed boat) to another floating island - still no cute pigs - perhaps the locals had recently had a big feast...

They have a ´funny´ thing they do around that part of Bolivia/Peru - they like to buy mini desirable items and then they get said items blessed by a proper religious person - the idea being that then the real size item will eventually come to you! They have stalls where you can buy mini all sorts of things (cars, mini money, even mini girlfriends) and then get them blessed. You might sneer at this but hey don't knock it until you've tried it. We were going to give it a go but we couldn't find a mini Bentley Continental or a mini detached 4 bedroom house with integral garage so we gave it a miss.

We left Puno and headed north up to Cusco - former Inca capital. It was a very scenic bus ride, nice mountains and all that and some very pleasant and green valley terrain (river included). The main thing to report from this journey though was that we found (to Janine's delight) Guinea Pigs. We found a whole load of them conveniently living in a kitchen - cute and quite sinister at the same time. Peruvians often have Guinea pigs living in the kitchen - you haven't got far to go when you fancy a good roast [Guinea Pig] then have you?! Our next steps are going to be on the Inca Trail and then we're going to find a beach somewhere for a bit of pre wedding chill. We reckon we'll do another blog before the wedding which is occuring exactly three weeks tomorrow - gulp.

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