Christmas, New Year and Lago Titicaca!

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Hola!



So I left you last time just before we went down the working silver mines in Potosi, Bolivia. We learnt the following day that it was not for the faint hearted! After being kitted out in orange jump suits and wellies by our ex-miner guide Antonio we were crammed into a tiny mini-bus and made our way up the hill towards the mines. We stopped first at what appeared from the outside to be a run of the mill corner shop, this shop however was something from a terrorists dream, piled high with all sorts of dynamite and long curls of fuses (which the owners baby was happily playing with!). After some questionable demonstrations involving matches, juggling with sticks of dynamite and sampling the 96% proof alcohol that is the miner's prefered tipple we continued to the mines. Inside the mines we clambered about on slippery, rickety wooden ladders, squeezed through tiny crevices and scrambled up through claustrophobic holes. We also came across several commical shrines to the devil all of which have large phalluses and are often commically smoking a lit cigarette. The miners worship the devil and make offerings to these shrines such as coca leaves, alcohol and cigarettes to keep them safe whilst in the mines. We were all crouched beside one of these shrines and had just performed tradditional ritual offerings when our guide alarmingly began to fix a fuse to a stick of dynamite. The guide's commical little song about TNT did not do so much to ease our nerves as he retrieved a box of matches from his pocket. He then disappeared around the corner for a few minutes before running back to join his twitchy spectators. He then began to count 1...2..3...4...as we all sat there tense and nervous with our fingers in our ears waitng for the ineviteable blast. When after 3 minutes the expected explosion still hadn't happened we were quickly ushered out of where we were sitting by our nervous looking guide, and had to pass just meters away from the unexploded dynamite sat to get to safety. Just as we rounded the corner a thunderous explosion resounded round the tiny, dark passage way, this was not our dynamite but an explosion much bigger and directly bellow us. We were ordered by a panicked looking Antonio to stop and we all stood there, fingers in our ears wondering if we were going to be trapped as explosion after explosion visibly shook the claustrophobic tunnel and rubble fell from the ceiling. After about 20 consecutive explosions we were given the go-ahead to begin moving again. I don't think I have ever been so glad to see daylight!

After our ordeal in the mines we spent 4 days relaxing in Sucre. Sucre has a very Mediteranian feel, with white washed houses with terrocotta rooves and a warm sunny climate, although the hectic street scenes are a constant reminder that you are in Bolivia! We spent a lot of time pottering around the market and making huge tropical fruit salads from the plump colourful fruit, drinking smoothies and watching the nectar eating birds at the veiwpoint.

After a lovely few days relaxing, we took a night bus to La Paz. The bus was all very comfy, but the comfort ceases to mean anything when it only makes one toilet stop in 12 hours and you have a bad tummy! Needless to say we arrived in the frenetic city of La Paz at 8am a pretty grumpy pair to find that we couldn't check into our hostel until 2pm. However, we soon warmed up to La Paz, a dizzy, hectic city set at nearly 4000metres in a huge natural cauldron framed by snow capped mountains. Tiny, flat rooved buildings cling to the sides of the valley precariously and the city spills downwards into it's busy heart, where dozens of markets fill the crowded streets and sprawl for miles, horns constantly blare, people shout, shoe shiners pester and beggars meet you with an outstretched hand at every corner. La Paz is intoxicating and charming, if a little tiring! We were fascinated by the markets, particularly the witches market where all sorts of bizarre remedies are sold including piles and piles of our old friend the llama foetus. Unfortunately our hostel in La Paz was not quite as we were hoping for Christmas, with a broken shower, not many people to socialise with and a room with a window straight onto the busiest road in the city. However, we spent a chilled out day eating a lot, watching films and drinking wine.

We enjoyed La Paz but weren't sad to leave our noisy little room for somewhere more peaceful, so on boxing day we took a smelly, suffocatingly hot and cramped bus to Sorata. After driving along winding hair-pin bends precariously close to cliff edges we arrived in the sleepy (very muddy) town of Sorata. Sorata is perfect, tucked on a mountainside, surrounded by farms and lush green peaks. It was a very easy place to relax, we had a room with a little balcony and views over the mountains from our bed and the eccentric, welcoming German proprieter Petra (and her not so welcoming cat!) cooked lovely home-made breakfasts. Although it was rainy season and the valley was almost perpetually shrouded in a fine, swirling mist and it rained a lot, in a way it was refreshing and added to the atmosphere. We spent 4 days here walking and relaxing. We discovered a lovely little place to eat just off the main plaza with only 2 tables and a kitchen the size of a small wardrobe where you could get a 3 course meal for just over a pound! One thing we particularly liked about Sorata was the friendliness of it's people, however we did have one very commical experience with some locals which I must regail! Following a walk we were sitting on a bench in the tiny plaza eating ice cream, a whole crowd of beady eyes were observing us with great interest from a few meters away, then, given confidence by the encouragement of his companions a middle-aged local stepped forwards with a camera in hand and asked if he could take our photo, and well...once the ice was broken his whole extended family wanted a turn; all of them came up in turn and plopped down in between us to have their photo taken. About 10 family members and a lot of bemused smiles later they were done and I was left with the amusing thought of our photos on the wall of a mud hut somewhere in the Bolivian mountains being proudly shown off to visitors, 'here's the day we met those hilarious looking tourists'. Come to think of it, maybe it was just because we were eating ice-creams in the rain! All in all, Sorata was an endearing little place that we really didn't want to leave. We spent our last night there drinking whisky and playing cards with an English couple.

Our plan had been to go to Copocabana on Lake Titicaca for New Year, but unforntunately due to our lack of planning everything was booked up, so we took a bus back to La Paz with our new English friends. Our bad luck continued when that night George became really ill with food poisoning and gave me and the others in the dorm a horrible fright when he passed out in the middle of the dorm with a thump at 4am! Needless to say we didn't have a boozy New Year, but we did watch thousands of fire-works exploding over La Paz in a crazy out of control fashion, which was quite magical. George was feeling a little better the next day and we had a fantastic breakfast buffet at a Swiss bakery which was a great way to start the New Year!

On the 2nd of January, we left Bolivia for Peru. At first Peru seems very similar to Bolivia but then you begin to notice subtle differences; more evidence of wealth, the presence of moto-taxis, Ceviche and Cuy (guinea pig) on the menu and the women wearing a more top-hat shaped hat than Bolivia's favoured bowler. Our first stop was Puno, a busy, fairly unattractive city on the edge of Lake Titicaca. The Following day we hopped on a boat to take a tour around the islands of Lake Titicaca. Our first stop was the famour Uros (floating islands) where hundreds of tradditionally dressed people live on man-made reed islands, in little reed houses and transport things via esquisetely made reed boats. It was a strange sensation being on an island that ripples under-foot! Unfortunately the floating islands are very touristy now, nevertheless it was an amazing experience and I have never seen anything quite like it! We spent the night with a local family on a natural Island called Armantani which was fantastic, we hiked to the top of the island to see the sunset accross the lake and were cooked local food by Mama on a little fire. The people on the island wear tradditional dress and live a simple life of farming and fishing and what is incredible to see is how genuinly happy they are; hunched elderly ladies greet you with huge toothless grins and children play happliy outside among the chickens. We woke up the next morning to a beautiful sunny day, the distant mountains of Bolivia were clear on the horizon and the huge lake shimmed deep blue like a great ocean. We visited one final island before making our sunny boat ride back to Puno. After dining on some Alpaca (not so tasty) we had an early night before our 8hour bus to Cuzco the following day.

We are now in Cuzco, a pretty city crawling with tourists due to the proximity of the Sacred Valley and the infamous Machu Pichu! Much to our horror we have spied a MacDonalds, a KFC and a Starbucks! However, aside from this, Cuzco is beautiful, with fantastic old buildings, a huge bustling plaza and an amazing market, half of which is devoted to a food hall, where hundreds of women slave over steaming pots of deliciousness. We had lunch here today of spicy rice, fried plantin, egg and avocado, it was just over a pound and delicious!

Tomorrow we visit the sacred valley and on the 9th start our 5day Saltkantay trek to Machu Pichu. 😊

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