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Hola all,
Well it seems that the longer you travel the less often you seem to write entries to a blog. So, although a little bit tired from a late night last night, I have decided to get everything up to speed on my blog.
The first bit of news is that I have reached Bolivia and I couldn't be happier. The first thing you notice is that the certain unpleasant way that Peruvians treat tourists is almost completely gone. In Peru it is as if people working with tourists (which is a majority of the people that you encounter on a daily basis, if not 100%) have one hand out cupped asking for money and have the other hand up flipping the bird. For me it removed me from what I like most about travelling, namely feeling what it is like to live in a new place. I had grown quite embittered by the time I left Peru and was very glad to be out of there.
Anyway, I left with Joe and Claudia for Cocacabana, a small town on the shores of the emerald blue lake Titicaca (I wonder whether it would have as much tourism if
it were called lake Facebooger... anyway). However, after catching a nasty cold on an overnight bus at high altitude without heat (it kisses zero at times) Joe opted to stay in town while Claudi and I hopped aboard the overcrowded, rickety, lifejacket free boat to the island (welcome to Bolivia!). The lake was still, smooth, and a deep blue completely like a shivering jewel. Surrounding the water on all sides are snowcapped peaks reflected blue by the water, and growing in front was the green, oval shaped Isla del Sol (Island of the Sun). After a slow, sunburning hour and a half we stepped off the boat and took a nap on the nearby grass patch. Although the island is very touristy, there was a certain tranquil atmosphere that pudged over the chip I had on my shoulder coming from Peru. After a night spent gawking at an amazing sunset that tickled the water's surface with fingers of yellow and blue with a bottle of Bolivian wine (I will spare description as to save the nice mood of this blog) we were quickly blown away by the brightness and number of foreign southern hemisphere stars slowly fading into brilliance. The
next morning we breakfast and juice overlooking the jewel and its rocky halo before boarding a plank with a propeller back to Cocabana.
After one more night spent drinking wine and wandering the dusty streets of the port town we hopped aboard an evening train to La Paz, the de facto capital of Bolivia. Unfortunetely we found a liquored up taxi driver who made us all realize that taxis lack seatbelts in Bolivia. After a hilarious (but at times eye-shutting, fist-clenching, breath-holding -ly scary) ride around central La Paz looking for a hostel, we settled on Hotel Torino, a medium forget-it-when-you-leave sort of place near the main plaza. The next day I fell in love with La Paz. I am unsure of what "La Paz" means in Spanish, but I can only assume it means "the bigass market" because that is precisely what this city of 1.5 million is. Wandering around you feel as though a Bolivian equivalent of Wal Mart has been turned inside out and has spilled out and multiplied over an entire city. Each street/market (let's call them streekets) has clumps of vendors selling the same category of stuff with everything from pirated movies to lightbulbs.
Tonight, for example, I am planning on wandering through the mop/broom streeket, skipping through the underwear district, and heading to bread-ville to shop for a picnic planned with Claudia at La Paz's Mirador (all cities have a or some Miradors, basically places noted for their great views of the city). After that, and some wine, we are going to catch some live music and wine. Hard life I lead, I tell ya...
The plan from here is to wait for Claudia's departure back to Deutchland on Sunday (24 hour bus to Lima, then a flight home) then take a few weekend long trips to various villages and natural attractions around La Paz (with any luck by motorcycle). There are salt flats, copper coated canyons, towering mountains and countless other things to be seen or climbed near La Paz. I have a feeling I will be here for weeks to come.
Ciao for now
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