In Yo-Yo between Peru & Bolivia - May 2007

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I had been in Cusco or the surrounding area for 2 weeks, so it was time to move on. I was intending to go to Puno, on the Peruvian side of Lake Titicaca, but as I was a few days behind plan, I decided to take a night bus straight to Copacabana on the Bolivian side of the lake. Whilst I slept on the bus, backpack on my lap, someone managed to take a fiddle inside and sneak my camera, along with all electrical accessories, out of the bag. I was woken up as the guy sat next to me hurried off the bus at an unscheduled stop. Within a minute or so I noticed my stuff had gone. Now, I think I took the theft of my iPod rather philosophically, but I was nowhere near as calm or Aristotical this time. I had invested in a decent digital SLR camera for this trip, but most devastating of all was the 4 weeks of photos on my memory card. I stayed in Bolivia for a grand total of 90 minutes, before deciding to take the 12 hour return bus back to Cusco. There was a small chance that my pictures would still be on the harddrive of the machine in an internet cafe where I had quickly viewed them the day before, and I knew it would weigh on my mind for the rest of the trip if I didn't at least try to recover them.
The bus back seemed slower than ever, and I was getting more and more irrationally irritated with Peruvians and Peru. Drive faster, dammit. When we finally pulled into Cusco, I was literally jumping off the bus before it had stopped and ran to the internet cafe. There was a lad playing a beat 'em up game on the machine I needed, but I convinced him to let me scan the machine for 2 minutes. Some of the photos were still in the recycle bin, so I moved them to a folder for later, then ran to the police station. The Police Officer on the front desk recognised me from 2 weeks previously and must've thought I was either a careless idiot or doing a fraud job. Until 2 weeks ago, I had amassed around 3 travel-years without having anything stolen. The whole affair has really tainted my view of Peru too. Shame, because the people are among the friendliest I've met, albeit theiving scumbags.
Being stressed and pissed off, I decided to withdraw a Peruvian weekly wage and drink my disappointment away, though I'm sure a session of happy-Peruvian-slapping would have been just as effective, would have cost less and led to a far more comfortable bus journey the next morning.
As I had several more hours to kill in Cusco, it was a perfect opportunity to scrub off a few of the To Do's from the To Do list: 1. Ring Insurance; 2. Haircut; 3. Laundry - It's not all rock'n'roll, some of us have to work too, you know.

1. When ringing the UK, you need to contend with expensive and poor quality phonelines, along with the time difference, which allows a maximum of a 2 hour window between the phone rooms opening here, and the Insurance company sacking off home. Oh, and they don't work Saturday's it seems.
My conversation went something like this (I'll not name the company in question, for sake of libel):
"Hello, Endsleigh Insurance, how can I help?".
"Hi, I'm calling from Peru, so apologies if the line is poor and I may get cut off any point, but do you mind if we get straight on with it please?"
"Oooo, Peru. I'd love to go to Peru. I'd love to see those Aztec Pyramids"
"I think you're thinking of Mexico. Anyway, my name is Tim Taylor. This is my policy number; This is my date of birth. This is my postcode. This is my mother's maiden name; This is my favourite Simpson's character."
"Ok. Can I take your name please, and I'm going to have to ask you a few security questions....."

"... and what type of policy do you have with us? Home Insurance? Car?"
"No, Travel Insurance. I have had a camera and iPod stolen whilst travelling. I need to know the process for getting a replacement camera asap."
"Do you have a copy of the original receipts or the original box they came in?"
"Yes"
"Would you be able to send them to us?"
"No, I'm in Peru"
"Oh yes. What's the weather like there? It's lovely here right now"
"That's great. Look, if i can get a copy of the receipts faxed to you, then will I be able to purchase a replacement camera up to
Temple on Isla Del Sol
.. with an "authentic" ritual going on behind methat value?"
"I just work the out of office hours as a messaging service, but I'll have one of our advisers call you to let you know the process, sir. Can they ring you back on Monday?"
"No, I'm in Peru".

2. I was in dire need of a haircut. Anything longer than a centimetre in length and my hair is an unmanageble mini 'fro. I decided to treat myself and pay the 2 Soles (about 30 pence) for a pro to do it, instead of giving myself a quick snip like usual. I asked for a Numero Tres on top blending into a Numero Dos round the back and sides, though something obviously got lost in translation - what I certainly didn't ask for was the Forrest Gump flat-top look. If I had a camera I'd have taken a photo, before playing safe with a simple Grade 2 all over.

3. The laundry proceeded without incident.

Back on the road, I switched busses in Puno, from where it was a 200km bus trip around Lake Titikaka (it seems that C's and K's are interkhangeable in Inca/Inka regions) to Copacabana in Bolivia. I was sat next to a not-unattractive English girl. Somehow we ended up in a conversation about the altitude of the lake. She was totally adamant that the Bolivian end was at a higher altitude to the Peruvian end. I tried to reason with her that a slanting lake is a physical impossibility (although theoretically it could have a dam in the middle. It doesn't), but she was having none of it. Either she was winding me up or my powers of reasoning aint what I thought they were. It really is amazing to think I'm still single when I can bring out such depth of science chat with the ladies. Anyway, I let it lie and changed the subject to the break up of Prince Wills and Kate Middleton, where we found some common ground.
Lake Titikaca is a massive lake in the Andean Altiplano straddling the Peru-Bolivia border. It is 3,800m above sea level, which according to the Loopy Planet makes it the highest lake of that size in the world (whatever that's supposed to mean). The Bolivian navy are based here - You'll notice on any good map that Bolivia is landlocked, and the continuation of the navy is more a geopolitical symbol. Until 1884 Bolivia owned an area of Pacific coast, which it lost in a border war with Chile. There exists a treaty to allow Bolivia an access route to the coast through Chile, but diplomatic relations broke off in 1975 when Bolivia decided it would go to war with Paraguay. It got spanked and now a stalemate exists.
Lake Titicaka is the epicentre on which the Uros people here depend and thrive. The major resource that they live upon are the totora reeds or "ruchas". Quite literally, they live upon these reeds. They have built entire floating islands from dried totora reeds. The islands are a strange, tourist-tastic place, but worth a visit for the novelty value alone.

As I have travelled around South America, there have been several scare stories about the food in Bolivia and I have been advised a number of times to stick to pizzas and coke. Rumour has it you should not eat any of the rinsed food, such as salads, as it has most likely been washed in sewage water. What nonsense. I've had the lettuce, and if anything, it is even tastier than back home, with a hint of sweetcorn and a slight nutty aftertaste.

I arrived in Copacabana early that morning. Unbeknown to me, there was a national Folk Dance Carnival in town. Thousands of Bolivians dressed in all sorts of weird and wonderful customes, accompanied by dozens of brass bands, all of which danced the same six-step dance and played the same short tune over and over again. The tune was not disimilar to the first few bars of the Postman Pat theme tune. The party continued uninterrupted from just after I arrived until long after I left town 24 hours later (I have been assured it was not solely put on for my arrival in the country. But, coincidence?)
That following morning I took an excursion to Isla Del Sol. Instead of catching the tourist boat from Copacabana, I walked 20km around the peninsular, where I paid an 8 year old kid to row me the few hundred yards across the strait. I'm trying to figure out if I do these 4-5 hour hikes because I like the burn or because I'm a cheapskate trying to avoid tourist prices. The island is full of Inca ruins and houses the "Puma Rock", from which the word "Titi-kaka" originates (No, it's not originated from Boobies and Poo, though Lake Poopo is only a few hours down the road). In Inca mythology Isla Del Sol is the birthplace of the sun, which was born out of the lake. Taking it's name as an indication, I packed an small overnight bag prepared for an Isla Del Sol, though Isla-Del-Two-Incessant-Days-Of-Thunder-And-Freezing-Rain would have been more appropriate. I have never seen an electrical storm quite like we had that night.

Now please excuse me, gotta dash, something's up with my stomach........

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Photos

Temple on Isla Del Sol
...with an "authentic" ritual taking place behind me