nearly one year older!

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Hola amigos,

I hope the weather back home isnt too bad...he he he! At the moment Im in La Paz, Bolivia. I´m staying in a hostel with its own brewery so we all get one free beer a night 😊 La Paz isn´t as scary as I thought it would be the only unerving sights are the shoe shine boys who run around wearing ski masks but only to protect themselves and thier family from the stigma attached to the job... even so I don´t think I´m going to start agruging if they want to shine my shoes! I went to the witches market today which basically consits of a group of shops selling potions, lotions oh and of course the obligatory dead lama fetus! Aparently they bring luck when offererd to mother earth and are usually burried in the foundations of new buildings. I think I´de risk my luck than have baby lama ghousts wandering around my new house!

On the way to La Paz I stopped of at Lake Titicaca the largest altitude lake in the world. It was breath-taking, so huge you could just about make out the faint siloute of land on the otherside. The colour of the lake changed throughout the day starting of green to differing shades of blue, and grey if there was cloud cover, finishing with a deep purple and rosy tint as the sun sets. I took a boat out to vist the floating islands, Uros, on the Peruvian side. The islands are doing just that... made from tightly woven reeds and roots by people forced of the land by incas. They have to replace the reeds every month in the dry season and every week in the rainy season....can you imagine having to recarpet that often. Their houses are movable quite useful if you dont like your neighbour you can just pick up and leave for another island. The other island visted was called Taquille, their way of life was amazing almost communistic and it functions. On the island you have to live with your partner for 3 years before you can marry because they dont believe in divorce, the women wear shalls with different colour pom poms and if their in a bad mood or somethings wrong in their family they show the negative pom poms so people ask what the matter is and the village can come up with a solution to the problem. Unfortunatly we didnt have long on that island and were hurded on and off at quick speed!!!

On the Bolivian side I stayed at cocacbanna a cute little lake side village with lots of live music and arts. I didnt intend to stay there but whilst waiting for the boat to Isla de sol I met a girl from new zealand who pursued me to stay with them and go out with all the local street artists in the evening were we played pool and of course partook in some salsa dancing. So three days later I was still there! The island was very relaxing I went camping there for a night in the middle of nowhere surrounded by fields and the lake. Unfortunatly there was a massive thunderstorm in the night, therefore I was wide awake all night counting the seconds between the thunder and lightning and hoping our tent wouldnt get hit....well Im still alive so it didnt. The island is ironically suposed to be the birth place of the sun!

So as Ive said before Im in La Paz again Ive been here longer than I planned but there are so many fun people in the hostel and Im starting to run out of energy so it hasnt been too bad. Even if I wanted to leave it would be difficult due to the protests blocking the road, I think they have something to do with transport, petrol costs and wages but Im not sure. It sounds like Boliva is at war with all the loud bangs I think and hope they´re just fireworks. I got caught up in one of the protests today which was a little scary. I was walking near the presidential palce...probably not the best place to be in times of civil unrest. Anyway the next thing i know is everyone started running down the street towards me and shops keepers were pulling down their metal shutters. At the moment the streets are full with police/ army wearing riot gear so I asked one where i should go, he was shouting at people to hurry up. He told me to get behind him then the police barricaded the road up to the palace and a dozen more riot police came marching from nowhere to help with the barracade. It all ended as fast as it had started, the protesters shouted a little and waved thier banners in the faces of stoney faced police and tv cameras, then they soon gave up and the march carried on in a different direction.

Well I better go and get some rest after all that excitment. Its my birthday tommorow I´ve found someone else who shares the same birthday as me and to celebrate we´re cycling down ´the worlds most dangerous road´. It aparently has the most recorded deaths...dont worry guys the company I´m going with boasts a zero mortality rate so thats erm kinda reasuring! Hope everyone is well and keeping out of the way of angry protestors!

Lots of love,
Joanna

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Photos

Me!
Just in case you´ve forgotten what I look like. Oh and do you like my new Bolivian hat?