Altitude!

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Hola Blog Readers!

We thought we´d send a quite blog update before we go to Bolivia tomorrow as we don´t really know what the internet situation is. In fact, I don´t think they have electricity on the island we´re staying on!

After getting back from the trek we realised that we´d only booked one bus ticket from Arequipa to Puno so we had to cancel that (no refund!) and get on the ´recommended´Julsa bus for half the price. The recommendation in the guide book and from the hostel clearly didn´t get us prepared for what was to come! We left Casa De Avila at 7am and I´d been up all night with the runs so I had to sink 3 immodiums to sort it out! The coach didn´t set off until 8:30am and it was absolutely boiling. I have no idea what they were thinking but they didn´t put any air conditioning on and they rubbed salt into the wound by telling us how hot it was inside the coach on the TV screen! This ranged from a freezing cold 33 degrees to a sauna inducing 37 degrees. Laura and I hadn´t brought with us much water or food so when we eventually got to Juliaca at bout 1pm we finally got something to drink.

The coach didn´t arrive in Puno until 3pm and we were glad to be off it! The taxi to our hotel was cheap and the hotel we´re staying at - Inka´s Rest - is probably the best hostel we´ve ever been to. It´s definitely on a par with The Pearl Palace in Jaipur! The manager is great, the interior is amazing and the room is great. We booked our bus tickets with another company to Copacabana tomorrow and then La Paz the day after. The manager has told us we should get a different company when we leave La Paz to come back to Puno for a couple of days in about 3 days time.

Puno is a great little town full of character and some really nice back street market stalls. We also saw Lake Titicaca for the first time today and it is truly awesome (and huge!). The town was bustling all afternoon as we toured the shops and tried to find a cafe to get something to eat because we´d only really had a few breakfast cereals and drinks all day. I wasn´t really feeling up for eating anyway! There was also a huge protest going on in the centre of the town but we have no idea what was going on and there was tonnes of riot police so we left quite promptly.

After getting something from the cafe I started to feel really dizzy and sick. We´re now at 3800m which is 500m more than we were in Cabanconde. I think the altitude is getting to me and it´s probably combined with my dehydration. Laura´s coping fine though and only suffering from being a little bit out of breath. We just had a great 3 course meal and a drink for only 15 soles each! We were both so gutted that we weren´t really feeling like such a large meal!

Anyway, I shall wrap things up for now. We´ll update the blog when we´re back from Bolivia. If you don´t hear from us in a week then we´ve probably been kidnapped. Send out a search party. Lets hope the altitude sickness goes quickly because La Paz is over 4000m above sea level!!

Love Tink and Laura xxxxx

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Comments

[Dom]

Sounds like it's getting pretty horrendous, but you're still in the first week - I'm sure you'llso I wouldn haven tought you'll get used to things in the coming days! Jon might have glandular fever meaning our gig in Sheffield might be cancelled. We're finding out today if we're going to have to pull out but if we do, we loose this show with Bury Tomorrow and we had to impress at this show so we could be main support for Forever Never in October. Pretty gutting but what can you do?? Got a stonking cold, waiting for my card to arrive (don't worry mum, if you're reading this), I can still withdraw money with some ID which is ok! I'm leaving reception on the 25th due to job cuts but moving to the Council Tax reception straight away so it's not all doom and gloom! Anyway, it's annoying this thing doesn't let you do paragraphs! Have fun and I'm looking forward to hearing the rest of it - did the rest of the band subscribe to it?? Send my love to Laura, Dom x

[Clare]

Hello! Glad to see you survived your trek and have managed to find a lovely hotel now! Must say I could do without the updates on Tink's bowel movements but let's just say, god bless immodium... Hope the altitude sickness isn't too bad either, enjoy Bolivia. Clare xxx

[Tink's mum]

Back from Whitby (no internet cafes!)
Hiya! Well it's good to be back home and able to read your blogs again. Couldn't find an internet cafe whilst we were away. Hope you're feeling better - it usually takes at least 3 days for your blood cells to get boosted enough to cope with the altitude. I've taken some great photos with the new camera. Weather has been fantastic here for the past 3 days! Looking forward to reading more of the blog.

[Beccy]

HI!
hey guys!! wow sounds like you are having an amazing time!! I'm so jealous you got to see the Condors earlier in your trip...I'd have loved to have been there! Told my mum and she was jealous too! lol. I hope everything is going well in Bolivia...give us an update as soon as you can get to the internet :). Take care and have fun, see you both in a couple of weeks! Love Bec xXx ps- thanks for the toilet updates Tink :P lol